Sweet Silence ~AWalkingDeadFanFiction~

17. Here we are

"I can go?" Elle repeated as if she weren't believing it, "you're letting me come with you?"
"Yes," he dad said again, "on the terms that you don't try to kill the Governor."
Ellie winced, she knew he was going to say that. She sighed, "fine."
"Now give me your gun," he held out his hand.
"What! Why?"
Rick raised his eyebrows, Ellie admitted defeat and handed over her gun. "What if I get into trouble?"
"You still have your knives." He said, "I just don't trust you with a gun right now."
"Oh, yeah?" Ellie snapped. She stopped herself, he could still say no. "I guess you have a point."
"Don't worry we're gonna have extra just in case," he said before walking off.
Ellie smiled before catching up with him.

*

Ellie followed her dad out of the cell block to the car bay. She went over the information Merle had told her yesterday, three or four men plus Andrea, and be prepared to be betrayed.
Yesterday Ellie was certain there would be a betrayal of some sorts, but now that her dad was taking precautions to prevent her from acting out, Ellie was sure it wasn't going to be their group doing the double-crossing.
"You do realise he's probably gonna have a plan to kill us all?" Ellie asked her dad, "he probably has a group of people ready to attack the prison as soon as we leave."
"We won't let that happen," he replied.
Ellie shrugged, "ok then."
The rest of the group, excluding Merle and Michonne, waved them off. Carl and Carol ready at the gate. Ellie walked pass Glenn and uttered, "be ready," under her breath.
He nodded back at her as she got in the car. Good, she thought, at least one of us is prepared.
She sat in the back behind her dads seat. Hershel was driving and Daryl was on his bike.
Once they had left the prison Rick went through the things to do when they got to the meeting point. The did this at least five times throughout the trip until it was ingrained into Ellie's head, first they would arrive and scope out the area, Ellie was to stay on her dads tail and if separated was to make it to the car immediately, her father also stressed that she would need to be near him, or Daryl, for the majority of the time. She also wasn't allowed to make any 'aggressive advances', as her dad had put it, towards the Governor or his companions. She rolled her eyes at him. However, she didn't hesitate to strap another couple of knives to the inside of her shoe, thigh and hip.
The place they were to meet the Governor was an area made up of a collection of old, rundown barns. Upon seeing it her father handed Ellie back her gun and was only allowed to bring it out in the circumstances of an attack.
Daryl was off his bike and ready to go first, followed by Rick and then Ellie taking up the rear. Ellie didn't like the look of this place. There were too many areas to hide a man with his gun at the ready.
A shot walker determined that they were not alone. Rick continued forward as Daryl lingered behind to have a closer look at the thing. Ellie had no choice but to keep following her dad. The biggest barn there was the ideal meeting place, Daryl went to the opposite side of it to make sure it was safe. Rick gestured for Ellie to remain here with him. They both walked to the door, the whole time Ellie had her gun ready to 'accidentally' fire a shot. In her mind she debated whether it was worth it, if she missed she wasn't going to have an excuse for another one or two shots.
The room was full of shelves of things Ellie couldn't decipher in the dark, a hole in the roof shed light on a table and two chairs. Ellie glanced around the room, there was no one in there but them. Her dad and her shared a look for a moment before a crash somewhere in the room startled them both. Rick made another gesture for Ellie to back up towards the door. She took a step back and held her ground. Her gun pointed to where the noise had come from.
He stepped out of the shadows with a stern look and a black eyepatch covering his right eye. Ellie's heart sped up and she stiffened as the man's footsteps echoed through the building. He slowly made his way to the table in the middle of the room. When he stopped walking Ellie felt as if time itself had paused, her arms shook slightly as she waited for him to do something. To her surprise he raised both of his hands in the air and grinned.
Neither Ellie nor her dad returned the gesture.
Ellie felt her mouth form into a sneer. The Governor's eyes drifted to her, she watched his grin widen as his gaze drifted back to her dad. He chuckled slightly. Rick tilted his head to the side. The Governor's grin quickly faded and he lowed his hands.
"We have a lot to talk about," he said. His deep voice sent shivers down Ellie's spine. She remembered the deep voice, she dreamt about the deep voice.
Before now Ellie had thought that she would kill him on the spot, maybe at least make a move to. Instead she was too afraid to do anything. She didn't move, she didn't speak, her breaths came out shaky and she couldn't stop looking at him. She was so afraid.
"You attacked us," Rick said, "makes things pretty clear."
"I was tryin' to make things clear," the Governor replied, "I could've killed you all. I didn't."
Ellie came to her senses, "you son of a bitch." Rage boiled inside of her. The Governor looked at her with amusement. A smile creeped up onto his face again.
"Here we are," Rick stepped in front of Ellie casually, to stop the man from looking at her. The Governor reached for his belt, both Rick and Ellie raised their guns and clicked a round into the chamber. Ellie's finger was itching to pull the trigger.
His hands were in the air, "I'm gonna remove my weapons, to show that I mean to negotiate in good faith. I'd like you to do the same. May I?"
He took the weapons belt off and Ellie flinched slightly, she hoped nobody noticed. He raised his hands again and grinned, "no trouble. Now you." He gestured to Rick's gun, that was still pointed at his head.
Unwillingly, Rick put his gun back into its holster, but he didn't make a move to put aside his belt. The Governor's eye fell on Ellie. She shook her head, "I don't think so."
He chuckled and looked to Rick, "well, if you're not ready to cooperate, I guess we have nothing to talk about."
Rick gave Ellie a look. She rolled her eyes and tucked it away, however, her fingertips lingered over the handle of the gun.
"Suit yourself," the Governor said before sitting down in the chair opposite them. Ellie watched him closely through narrowed eyes. She didn't believe that he would give up his weapons that
easily.
A silence filled the room. Ellie glanced from her dad to the enemy. The Governor and her exchanged eye contact, looking into his eye again made her want shoot him even more. She hated not being able to do anything, except glare at the man who humiliated her.
Neither her dad nor the Governor made a move to start talking. Ellie was slowly becoming bored with waiting for the Governor to do something that she could shoot him for. Outside she heard the sound of a car pulling up close to where they were.
Ellie looked to her dad, he nodded and she went to go check it out. She was almost at the door when it opened. She ripped her gun out immediately and pointed it at the person opening the door. It was Andrea.
As soon as she saw Ellie standing there she flinched and her hand went to her gun as well. Ellie relaxed and put the gun back into the holster.
"Ellie," she heard Andrea exhale.
"Andrea," Ellie acknowledged before turning on her heels and walking back to her place beside her father.
"What's going on?" Andrea asked loudly.
"Nothin'," the Governor replied, "your friend isn't much for small talk."
"You wanna talk, " Rick said, "talk."
"I wanted you to talk," Andrea cut in, "too many people have died for no reason."
Ellie's glare flickered to the other man.
"Let's end this." Andrea continued, "save the bullets for the real threat. We can solve this, that's why I asked you to come here."
"I know what you've done," Rick spoke to the Governor, "I heard about the raids, the heads, Maggie, my daughter."
Ellie inhaled sharply at the mention of her. She started shaking.
"Merle did that," the Governor replied.
"No," Rick said firmly, "you know what I'm talking about."
Ellie noticed Andrea glance from her to the Governor with wide eyes.
"You know all about me and I know all about you. I don't care about any of that," the Governor had no reaction to Rick's words, "we're here to move forward."
He grinned at Rick and glanced at Ellie. She swore his grin grew wider. As if it was instinctive, she took a small, shaky step back. As soon as she did it she felt embarrassed and weak.
After another couple of minutes in silence it was clear that the conversation wasn't going to be picked up again by either of the men at the table, Ellie looked to Andrea who rolled her eyes.
"Alright then," she said, "I've known you both at different times, but only after the world went to shit and you both stepped up for the good of others at great personal risk. There's no reason you-"
"Get to it," the Governor cut her off impatiently.
Rick threw a map on the table, "Woodbury takes west of the river. Prison takes east. No one crosses, no one trades."
Rick had told Ellie that idea on the way over, as soon as she heard it she knew there was no way that he would agree to it. She assumed that her dad knew it as well.
"He's right," Andrea nodded, "we should hammer out boundaries then leave each other alone."
"I'm sorry, what is this?" the Governor demanded.
"It's a solution," Andrea replied.
The other man chuckled. Ellie clenched her teeth together.
"Absolutely not," he said.
"What the hell am I doing here?" Rick snapped at Andrea," you told me, you told me-!"
"Told you what?"
"-you told me he was willing to talk!" Rick yelled.
"I am," the Governor said, "but the truth is, Rick, she's in no position to make such an offer anyway."
Ellie looked to Andrea, she seemed to be somewhat whitening in colour.
"I'm here for one thing only," he continued, "your surrender."
"Well you ain't gettin' shit!" Ellie snapped and rushed forward. Rick pushed her back. The Governor chuckled again.
"You want a surrender, come get it!" Rick growled, "you think we hit Woodbury heavy last time!"
"Just take it easy, alright!" Andrea tried to calm them down,"we're here to settle this."
The Governor still had an amused look on his face. He looked from Rick to Ellie.
"You're right," he said, he pointed to the door, "would you step outside?"
"What?!" Andrea cried. Ellie raised her eyebrows and looked at her old friend.
"Rick and I have a lot to talk about."
She scoffed, "I'm not leaving."
"I came here to talk to him," Rick said.
Andrea looked at both of the men before sighing and walking out.
"She's gotta go too," the Governor gestured to Ellie, "as I said, I came to talk to you and you alone."
Ellie glared at him, "I don't think so."
"If my group can cooperate so can yours," he told her, "you being here just wouldn't be fair."
"Fair? Who gives a flying f-"
"Go stand with Daryl," her dad commanded.
The Governor grinned at her. She was about to react but thought the better of it and angrily walked out swearing under her breath.