talk || book 7 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 15

after continuing to hug each other for quite some time, dad eventually let go of our hug to greet everyone else. while dad hugged rick, i started to walk back over to carl. "hey reagan" maggie said from behind me. 

 i looked at her sheepishly and she gave me a welcoming smile. "come 'ere" she said holding out her arms. i was convinced that she would hate me after what had happened. all the events that happened that night started off with negan choosing me. 

once i hugged her i immediately felt better because i then knew that she didn't hate me for what had happened. "are you alright?" she said cupping my cheek with her hand once we let go of the hug. i nodded with more tears forming in my eyes. "it's good to see you" she said with a smile. "it's good to see ya too" i said smiling and wiping my eye. 

 i didn't get the chance to go back and stand with carl before dad took my side again. i know he's not gonna want to leave my side again anytime soon. 

reaching into the side of his waistband, dad pulled out a pistol and handed it over to rick. i assumed it's one from negan's place. all of us stood in silence, looking at each other in happiness. 

dad escaped negan and is okay. maggie is feeling better and her baby is completely okay. sasha and enid made it to hilltop safely. jesus returned from negan's place safely. 

it was now time to talk to gregory about everything that has happened and to see if we can get him on board with helping us. all of us walked up to the main house of hilltop together, and i walked with dad holding his hand. 

we reached gregory's office and tried talking to him about hilltop helping alexandria escape from negan and get rid of him. "no! no way in hell! that was not the deal! you people swore you could take the saviors out and you failed. so any arrangement we had is now done, null, and void. we aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. we don't know each other. i owe you nothing. in fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk" gregory said declining our plea for help. 

"oh, you were very brave staying in here while maggie and sasha saved this place. your courage was inspiring" jesus said mouthing off to gregory. this made me grin a bit. "hey, don't you work for me? aren't we friends" gregory said in response to jesus's statement. 

"gregory, we already started this" rick said stepping closer to gregory's desk where he was sitting. "you started it" gregory said talking back to rick. "we did. and we're going to win" rick said. "they're killers!" gregory exclaimed. he has no hope at all. "is this how you want to live? under their thumb, killing your people?" rick asked in disbelief. 

"sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. sometimes, ricky, you have to count the blessings you have" gregory said and rick was clearly starting to get frustrated so maggie stepped in. "how many people can we spare? how many people here can fight?" maggie asked. 

"'we'? i don't even know how many people we have margaret. and does it even matter. i mean, what are you gonna do? start a platoon of sorghum farmers? cause that's what we got. they grow things. they're not gonna want to fight" gregory said to maggie. "you're wrong. when people get the chance to do the right thing they usually step up. i mean, people just-" tara started, but gregory rudely cut her off. 

"let me stop you before you break into song, okay? and by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?" gregory asked rhetorically. " i will" sasha stepped up as the same time rosita said "give me a week". that'll be an interesting, but helpful combination. 

"rhetorical, okay? i don't want to know. and i don't want to hear another word of any of it, ever" gregory said loudly. rick stepped in. "would we be better off without the saviors, yes or no?" rick yelled. "yeah. sure. okay." gregory said calmly. 

"so, what will you do to fix the problem?" michonne asked stepping in front of rick. " i didn't say we had a problem. you did. and what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview" gregory said still avoiding our proposal. 

 i sighed loudly out of annoyance as dad stepped out from behind me where he was standing. "what the hell man? you're either with us or you aint. you're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth" dad said loudly, he was getting mad about his like everyone else. " i think i've made my position very clear. and i want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me, or being seen on your way out. in other words go out the back. 

rick lead all of out of gregory's office as sasha and rosita mouthed off about him. "we don't need him anyway" i said walking past rick. "yeah that's right. cause we have maggie, sasha, and jesus here" rick said agreeing with me as we all stood in a circle. 

"and enid" maggie added as enid walked into the room. "hey um-" enid started but sasha cut her off by asking what was wrong. "oh nothing, just come outside" she said walking back out of the house, and we all followed her. 

all of hilltops people were outside waiting. "whats going on?" maggie asked. maggie started talking to them, and they got on board with us fighting the saviors. 

as he headed towards the gate dad suggested the plan that we won't need many more people as long as we have the right supplies. we were going to go back home just incase negan comes looking for dad, but jesus stopped us. 

"you don't have to get back, not yet" jesus said. he pulled out a radio. "its one of theirs. we can keep track of them, listen in" jesus suggested. "so if we're not goin' back, what are we doin' then?" i asked. 

" i think it's time we introduce you to ezekiel. king ezekiel." jesus said with a grin. i looked up at dad in confusion. he shook his head, he didn't know anything about this. "king?" rick asked.