Daughter of the Fallen

Conquer part 2

That night, I was sitting with my parents at the meeting, waiting for it to start. Waiting for Rick to come.

Finally, Deanna spoke up. "We're going to start," she announced.

"Can we wait?" Maggie asked from behind me. "There's still people coming. Glenn, Rick."

Hearing Glenn's name reminded me that I haven't seen him since we went to see Rick which concerned me.

"We're going to start," Deanna repeated. "It's already dark."

I looped my arm through my mom's, already getting nervous as everyone quieted.

"We're going to talk," Deanna started. "Not about the fight. Not about what precipitated it. We're dealing with that. We're gonna talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes."

The mention of Rick's name made me tense up. My mom noticed and put her hand on my arm.

"We're going to talk about how he had a pistol that he stole from the armory," Deanna continued. "About how he pointed it at people. And we're going to talk about what he said. I was hoping he'd be here."

"Maggie said he's coming," I reminded.

"I'm sure he'll be here," Carol agreed. "And I'm sure we can work this all out."

•••

A little while later, we listened as Michonne defended Rick.

"And after being out there," she said. "And then not being how you were out there...it can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is is who you're gonna be...if you're lucky."

As Carol stood up to show her defense, I looked around, wondering where in the world Rick could be.

"Rick Grimes saved my life over and over," Carol began. "There's terrifying people out there. And he rescued me from them. People like me, people like us, need people like him. I know what happened last night was scary. And I'm sure he's sorry for that. But maybe we should listen to what he was saying."

I looked over as my dad stood up to do his part. He patted my hand before starting.

"Simply put," he explained. "There is a vast ocean of sh*t that you people don't know sh*t about. Rick knows every fine grain of said sh*t and then some."

I shook my head in wonder, having no idea how he created the sayings he did.

Everyone looked to me, and I knew it was time to say my bit.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up.

"Um," I mumbled. "When I first saw Rick, I had the same reaction you guys did. I thought he was crazy. He had the crazy beard and the...sporadic movements. He scared me at first. But I quickly realized that all he is is a man who wants to keep the people that he loves safe. That's all he is. I'm sorry that he scared you. He just wants to help you, to help all of us."

I had lied a little, but I knew I had said the right things. Satisfied, I sat back down.

•••

Thirty minutes later, Rick's defenses were still coming in.

"My father respected Rick Grimes," Maggie explained. "Rick is a father, too." I tensed as Carl entered my mind. "He's a man with a good heart, who feels the things he does, the things he has to do. And all of us, who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now. Rick started that. And you won't stop it. You can't. And you don't want to. This community, these people...that family, you wanna be apart of it, too."