𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡, 𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣 had been walking for hours. The family was back together and there was no splitting up this time. They were going to make it to D.C together, as a family. Everyone was here,

except Beth.

Beth being missing was definitely taking a toll on the group. Mostly Ivy, Maggie, Daryl, and Glenn.

Beth was Ivy's only friend since Patrick. Beth being missing has left Ivy weak and extremely sad.

Obviously, Beth was Maggie's only family besides Glenn left. Beth was Maggie's little sister, and as a big sister, Maggie felt like she had failed Beth.

Daryl was with Beth when she went missing. He had completely blamed himself and it didn't help that Ivy had blamed him as well. But then she realized Daryl couldn't have stopped her.

Glenn obviously was very upset because Maggie was upset. Beth was his sister in law. He loved her like a sister, and we wished he could've protected her like a sister.

The group had stopped for a moment. Ivy and Carl had their full attention on Judith. Carl was feeding Judith and Ivy was just standing there. Let's just say, Ivy was there for emotional support.

Ivy put her chin on Carls shoulder and looked at Judith.

"You're gonna be a great dad someday." Ivy spoke softly. Carl turned his head to look at her slightly.

"Thanks." Carl smiled.

"She looks so much like you." Ivy noticed. Carl blushed a bit.

Ivy took her chin off of Carls shoulder and looked around. She looked at Bob and Sasha. She looked at Maggie and Glenn.

Um Carl.... when is it our turn? Ivy thought.

She wanted to be with Carl so bad. But he didn't want her. It was a one sided love, and that's all it would be.

Ivy sighed and walked away, not really knowing where she's going. Ivy walked towards Maggie and Glenn.

The two adults smiled at the girl.

"Boy troubles?" Maggie asked. Glenn laughed and Ivy rolled her eyes.

"Kinda." Ivy nodded. "How did you guys get together?"

Maggie and Glenns faces went blank. Glenn started looking around at his surroundings. Maggie scratched her neck and looked down at her feet.

"Like how did you even know those feelings were there— wait, what are you guys doing?" Ivy asked confused. The two adults looked at each other and laughed. Maggie put her hand on Ivy's shoulder and pulled her closer.

"You really wanna know?" Maggie inquired. Glenn's eyes went wide and he looked at Maggie like she was crazy.

"Is she even old enough— does she even know what the.... deed is." Glenn whispered to Maggie.

"She's old enough. There's gonna be little mini Grimes running 'round by the time they're sixteen." Maggie whispered back, but Ivy heard that time.

"Excuse me?" Ivy whispered-yelled. Ivy's jaw dropped as she looked at the two adults.

"Are you guys about to give me the birds and the bees talk?" Ivy said fearfully. "Oh my Jesus.... did you guys fuck before getting together?"

Maggie nodded awkwardly and Ivy's hand flew to her mouth. Ivy backed away slowly and Glenn began to laugh. Maggie started to walk towards Ivy, but Ivy put her hand up to keep Maggie away.

"Nuh-uh... Get away from me you dirty bastards." Ivy laughed with a horrible British accent. Maggie and Glenn began to laugh along. "I'm gonna go with Carl."

"Yeah, go with your lover boy." Glenn smiled.

"Thanks, father." Ivy saluting the two adults and walked away. Ivy walked towards Carl who was talking to Rick.

"Hey guys." Ivy greeted. Rick smiled at the girl and Carl went to wave, but couldn't because he was holding Judith.

"We're gonna be moving on soon, did you eat anything?" Rick asked Ivy. Ivy nodded.

"Yeah, I ate." Ivy lied straight through her teeth. In reality, Ivy hadn't felt like eating for days. She's been to upset to even think about food.

"I didn't see you eat." Carl spoke. Ivy wanted to slap the shit out of Carl. Don't be a snitch. Ivy thought.

"I ate over there with Maggie and Glenn." Ivy pointed to the couple. Rick nodded and turned towards the rest of the group.

"Alright y'all, let's get a move on." Rick announced. Everyone began to walk, but Carl stayed behind. Carl handed Judith over to Maggie.

Ivy had already started to follow the group, but Carl had pulled her back. Carl had told Maggie to let her father know that they were following, they just needed a moment.

"Are you alright?" Carl asked. Ivy nodded. Carls arms snaked around Ivy's waist and he pulled her closer.

"I'm ok." Ivy smiled weakly. Carl pushed a free strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me. I just wanna make sure you're good." Carl spoke. A tear slipped from Ivy's eye and Carl was quick to wipe it away.

"I miss Beth. I- I wish she was here. I wish I could talk to her about all my problems, I wish I could tell her that M-Mika..." Ivy trailed off.

"I'm so sorry. There's nothing I can say that would take away all the pain, but I just want you to know I'm here for you. We are all here for you." Carl assured. "Even our new friends. You're getting along with them good."

More tears fell and Ivy put her head against Carls chest. Carl rubbed her back as she sobbed.

"C'mon princess. The group is probably looking for us." Ivy lifted her head and looked at Carl with teary eyes. "Shit, you probably can't see. I'll carry you."

"Wait, what? Carl, no-" Before Ivy could protest, Carl was already picking her up bridal style. "Carl, put me down!"

"Shh, sweetheart. Just thank me. And be quiet— you're gonna attract walkers." Carl whispered. Ivy squirmed in the boys arms as she tried to break free.

Carl finally let her go and grabbed her hand.

"We gotta catch up to the group." Carl said, looking at the group getting farther and farther away.

"Then let's go." Ivy smiled as she looked at Carl. She tugged on his hand and began to run.

The two teens ran through the forest like wild animals. They giggled, tripped over things, and just had a good time. It was great to feel like a kid again.

When they reached they reached the group, everyone looked at them with big smiles.

Except Rick.

Rick stopped the group and he came forward. He had an angry look on his face.

"Do you two have any idea how many walkers y'all might've just attracted?" Rick scolded. Carl scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"We weren't even being that loud!" Carl defended. Rick ran a hand over his mouth and placed his hands on his hips.

"We were just being kids." Ivy muttered under her breath. Rick stepped closer to the girl and she flinched.

"Y'all were being irresponsible. Carl you know better— and Ivy, well, I can't say I expected any different." The group grew shocked at Ricks reaction. Ivy shot Rick a dirty look, and Carl was about to inject.

"Whatever, fuck you too." Ivy spat. She grabbed Carls hand and pushed past Rick.

The group began walking again. Rick had found his way back to the front of the group. Ivy had taken the job of carrying Judith so that the adults didn't have to worry about the baby.

No one had really talked in the group after the little altercation. Ivy was fed up with Rick, but everyone is angry in an apocalypse. Ivy just didn't know why she had to be blamed.

Ivy had always been blamed for something in her life. She had good parents and a good family but everything that went wrong was miraculously her fault. So it wasn't her first rodeo.

As the group walked, a walker came into view.

"I got it." Michonne spoke. She went to grab her sword, but was quickly reminded that it wasn't there. She laughed slightly before grabbed the gun and hitting the walker with it.

Ivy admired Michonne. She was gorgeous, badass, honestly everything you could look for in a woman.

A few hours later, the group had stopped. They had started a fire. All the group members were sitting along the camp fire and talking.

Ivy had her head on Carls shoulder and he had his arms around Ivy's shoulder.

The group shared stories, laughed, they just tried to make the best of their circumstances. It was Ivy's turn to tell a story.

"Can we talk about your outfit, Ivy?" Maggie asked.

"No we may not." Ivy smiled sweetly, making the group laughed.

"Do you have a story to tell Ms. Ivy?" Carol asked sweetly. Ivy lifted her head off Carls shoulder and thought for a moment.

"Oh! I have one!" Ivy beamed. The group all looked at her and listened closely.

"So, my sister— Aaliyah, she was 17 when this started. So she was at the age where, you know, people start doing it." Ivy spoke. The group laughed slightly. "So Aaliyah never really brought guys over, never talked about liking a boy or even having guy friends. So my parents were naturally confused."

"But one night, I heard something weird coming from Aaliyah's room." Ivy started.

"Uh-oh." Rosita laughed. The group laughed a bit as Ivy continued her story.

"Nah, nah. It wasn't like that, like I heard her window open and a bunch of movement. So little twelve year old me went to go check. I walked into her room and it was locked, so I picked the lock with a bobby-pin." Ivy laughed.

"You were a bad kid, I know for a fact." Glenn pointed out. Ivy shrugged and smiled.

"I liked to think of myself as... someone who took risks. Hey, you only live once." Ivy put her hands up in defense.

"Let the poor girl finish her story." Tyreese said. Ivy smiled at him and she continued.

"So I walk into her room, and she's not in her bed, her window is wide open. The curtains were open and it was like a horror movie. So I start crying and screaming that Aaliyah got kidnapped." Ivy said. The group laughed at the girls story. "So then my parents came in and they're trying to calm me down."

"They had to explain to me that she snuck out. So they called me sister multiple and told her to come home." Ivy spoke. "She came home, pissed that her little sister some how managed to rat her out. And that's not even the best part."

"How can it get any better then that?" Carl asked. Ivy looked at the boy next to her and smiled.

"So glad you asked!" Ivy beamed. "So my parents start pressing her and asking if she was with a boy because her hair was all messy, she was wearing a button up shirt and one of the buttons were broken off."

"So they're all like "we're you with a boy, you can tell us!" and they kept pushing and pushing and pushing and then my sister just goes, "I'm a lesbian! Goodnight!" and storms up stairs." The groups jaws dropped and they were left stunned.

"Are you serious?" Maggie asked.

"Deadass." Ivy nodded her head.

"Us lesbians have such odd ways of coming out." Tara smiled proudly.

"I was expecting some crazy shit but that was monkey shit crazy." Abraham laughed.

"Do you speak english?" Ivy inquired. The group laughed a bit more before Rosita spoke.

"Can we talk about the elephant in the room?" Rosita asked. The group looked at her with confusion. "Um... Ivy and Carl. Biggest topic. Are you guys dating or no..."

"No." Ivy said quickly.

"You said that really quickly." Carl said, sounding almost offended.

"Well we aren't. What do you want me to say, that we are?" Ivy argued. The group watched awkwardly as the argument unfolded. But honestly, this wasn't awkward. It was rather entertaining.

"Ok but like the way you said it— I didn't like it." Carl spoke.

"Do we need to talk about this somewhere else?" Ivy inquired angrily. Carl nodded his head.

"No, I'm done talking about this." Carl spat. Ivy looked at him with a dirty look and stood up. She walked towards Glenn and Maggie, sitting with them.

"Sorry guys, didn't know Carl was gonna be such a drama queen about a simple fucking question." Ivy spat. The group tried not to laugh at their arguing but Tara burst.

Ivy and Carl both rolled their eyes.

"Hey, hey. Let's calm down, get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us." Rick spoke.

"We always have a long day ahead of us." Ivy scoffed.

Teenage girls are mean, Carl thought.