The start

Where there's life, there's possibility

We drove up to the gates of Alexandria as Eugene lets us. Jay stands there sniper ready as she puts it down and nods her head. Rick drives through as we stop Sasha and Aaron coming up to Rick's window. Michonne and I get out of the RV.

"Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry." Rick tells them as Aaron takes off.

"You have food?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah. Enough for another month." Michonne says.

"I need everybody in the church in an hour." Rick tells her.

"What is it?" Sasha asked.

"We'll talk about it." Sasha walks away as Carol steps forward.

"Rick, what's going on?" She asked.

"We're gonna have to fight." He tells her as they drive off. I head over to the gate and get crushed by Jay's hug.

"Told you I would come back." I chuckled.

"Daryl?" She asked.

"He's in the RV. Listen, you guys spread the word meeting in the church in one hour." Eugene nods his head and walks away.

"You go ahead let everyone know. Go to the church. Tell Rick to start without me. I'm gonna secure the gate and guard posts." I look at Jay.

"Alright." Jay heads over to a guard post Tara was at. The two girls head for the streets stopping a person here and there.

I shut the gate tightly pulling on it a few times to make sure it doesn't come sliding open or if a walker comes up and starts banging on it won't open up. I slide the screen through it so nobody can look through the bars. After checking out those places I head over to the church. Everyone was sitting in the pews as Rick was speaking to them. Jay and Daryl were sitting in a Pew by themselves as I walk up and sit on the other side of Daryl.

"And we can work with the Hilltop.
Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food-- eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, Jay and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us.
And then they would try to own us.
And we would try to stop them.
But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece." Rick tells them. Morgan stands up as we turn to face him.

"You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?" He asked.

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us. yes, I'm sure." Rick says.

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that." Morgan says. Like these guys who killed a child would understand. Sure.

"Well, they don't compromise." Rick says.

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us." Morgan states.

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety. No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive." We tried that with the terminus people and almost got us killed.

"Where there's life, there's possibility." Aw that's adorable.

"Of them hitting us." Rick points out.

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this."

"Morgan they always come back."

"Come back when they're dead, too." Morgan snaps.

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before." Rick shrugs his shoulders.

"I'm not talking about the walkers." Morgan says.

"Morgan wants to talk to them first.
I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, 
talk to them first?" Rick ask everyone. Aaron stands up.

"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't." Aaron says and sits back down.

"Looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here they do have to accept it." Rick says as he walks out of the church.

"Sounds like a plan." Daryl says. He stands up and grabs my hand as we head out of the church with Jay follow behind.

"I'm coming with you guys." She says. We stop and turn to face her. Well she is following us.

"Um, yeah you are." I said.

"No, I mean coming with you guys to get this job done. To go kill Negan and his group."

"Absolutely not." I shake my head.

"Why? I've done worse." She crosses her arms as I let go of Daryl and stand in front of Jay.

"I've got a bad feeling about this whole situation. That's why you can't come. I can't let you be there. If you stay here I know you are safe. You can keep in charge of things here."

"Why are you going?" She asked.

"Because Rick expects me to go. He always has the idea for you to stay here and keep schedule on guard and gate duty. I go with him and get things done. I go because Daryl goes." I tell her.

"I need to go. I haven't been out in a while. Please." Jay pleads. I look over at Daryl as he shrugs his shoulders. I know if she stays here she is safe. If she goes, I don't know if she is dead or walker bait. Why does she do this to me?

"Ok. You can go." She gets ready to thank me but I hold my index finger up.

"One condition, you listen to Rick. You listen to Daryl but more importantly you listen to me. If things go south and can't find the others, come back here. Don't go looking for us." I tell her.

"Fine. I will." She hugs Daryl and I as we head back to the house. Jay takes over gate duty.

"Don't let her push you around too much." I tell Daryl. He looks at me.

"You gotta be the parent that tells her no. Because I can't do that. If it's her safety I always tell her no but she always finds a way for me to say yes."

"She's got you wrapped around her finger that's why." Daryl says as he grabs my hand and leads me to the bedroom.

"Yeah, she does. Let's get some sleep." I smile at him pressing my lips to his.

"Yes ma'am." Daryl smirks as we go crashing into our bedroom. Needless to say we didn't get any sleep.