"the house is white, and the lawn is dead." - adrianne lenker

the king and carol stand off to the side as the rest of us say our goodbye to the group going out. i know how much ezekiel wants to go look for his son but it's better off he stays here--to keep everyone calm and without worry. just as carol gives ezekiel a long hug the gates open revealing a carriage. kelly runs right into connie's arms as she jumps out of the car pulled by some horses. dog runs along the side of the car, right up to charlie, licking her face. carol and ezekiel rush over to henry, embracing him in a hug. daryl walks over to me. "wish you woulda told me you were going." i say watching the families reunite. 

"you woulda wanted to come. charlie needed you." he replies, ruffling a hand through charlie's strawberry hair. lydia climbs out of the car and i watch everyone's eyes pan to her. she stands there awkwardly staring at her shoes before shuffling over to daryl and i. henry jumps over to his parents, a smile lighting up across his face. i look at the car and see judith's head peek up from the seat along with michonne saying 'hello' to the king. i chuckle and walk over, scooping judith up in my arms and hugging her. 

"michonne." i say, pushing judith's hair out of my face. "i was in the neighborhood, so..." she says with a smile. carol walks over to me as i hold judith in my arms and i realise this is the first time she will be seeing our family in years. "judith?" carol asks with tears welding in her eyes. i nod and she smiles. "do you remember us?" carol asks her, pointing to herself and the king. "charlie and i have been drawing pictures of you since we were little. you're carol, and you're the king." she answers and i let go of her. 

"your hair got really long." judith chuckles. "it did." carol smiles, reaching a hand up to her long grey hair. charlie runs up and she and judith exchange smiles before racing to the fairgrounds. "the plan was to bring henry." i hear tara whisper to daryl, staring over at me and lydia. "gather up all the leaders. we have a lot to talk about." michonne whispers. i follow them toward the theatre where the king sits down on his throne. henry and lydia sit in the audience chairs, looking up at the stage. 

"i know i haven't always seen eye-to-eye with everyone in this room. but i never stopped caring about any of you. i was just trying to protect my family and do right by my people. alexandria's future is here. together, with you. and we lost sight of that for a while. but...i'm here now. we're here now." michonne announces to the rest of us. "i've taken an informal vote with the other council members at the fair, and we all agree. alexandria is willing to grant lydia asylum. she's one of us now. we hope the rest of you can join us in doing the same." gabriel explains and i watch tara's eyes grow a little. 

"thank you. i'll do whatever i can to earn my keep and pay you back." lydia says, a smile plastered across her face as henry's hand holds hers. "if her mother retaliates, it's gonna be against hilltop, not alexandria. i have to do right by my people. i thought we were on the same page." tara argues and i can't get behind her stubbornness. "we were. and, look, when she showed up here i wanted nothing more than to send her right back out." i explain, standing up from my spot on a nearby table. "then you know why i'm not okay with this." tara adds, uncrossing her arms. 

"i do. but i also know why you all didn't trust me and joel when we showed up at alexandria. and how people didn't trust you after seeing you on the other side of that fence in the prison." i add and her face loosens. "i was gonna shoot you on sight when i found you on the beach." rachel adds. tara sighs and shakes her head. "okay. fair." she mutters. "lydia didn't choose where she came from, hell, she's just a child." i say looking over at her. "i left some of my best fighters at hilltop, but if daryl's right about these skin job numbers, it's not enough people." tara explains.

"we should take a group to hilltop to protect 'em, just in case." daryl suggests. "it's a good idea, we can take some from alexandria." i say looking at michonne. "the kingdom too." carol adds. "oceanside can spare some fighters." rachel agrees. "so we head out in the morning?" tara asks. "no, they can take advantage if we wait, we leave today." i say, shaking my head. "agreed. but sending more people is only a short-term solution." gabriel says. "in order to face this threat, the four communities have to present a united front. which is why i'm proposing a mutual protection pact. an attack against one community is an attack against all." michonne explains.

"i like it, we can make these skin freaks think twice before moving to hilltop." i respond. everyone looks around at one another, assessing their faces. "the leadership of the kingdom is very amendable to this idea." ezekiel says. "oceanside's down." rachel smiles. we all look at tara who is smiling. "hilltop's in." she says. "great so how do we seal it? good 'ol spit and shake?" i ask. "i have just the thing." the king smirks, pulling a large scroll out from behind the curtain of the stage. he rolls it out onto the table, prewrote with this agreement. "plans been in the making, huh?" i ask with a smirk, looking at the blank sections for us to sigh. 

rachel walks up and pulls a pen from her pocket, signing her name under the oceanside section. michonne and gabriel sign under alexandria, and the king and queen both sign their name under the kingdom. for a moment i don't know where to put my name. i don't know where i fit in with this. tara then signs her name and then hands me the pen. "you deserve it just as much as i do." she smiles. i sign my name big and bold underneath tara's, finishing the legislation.  

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.