❪ 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗟'𝗦 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
the offer. ╱ season four, episode nine.

THERE WAS SOMETHING different that washed through the air as the two survivors stomped through the small suburban street. Their bags had some new items littered through them, while they weren't very lucky, they still ended up getting some supplies, splitting the haul fairly with one another. Frankie hadn't felt any hope for a long time, and now, after meeting the younger boy, hope was beginning to crawl its way into her chest.

There was something different about him, she couldn't put her finger on it, maybe a new understanding of him, but it completely diminished his whole asshole persona. And she was glad, Frankie didn't know if she could handle Carl constantly being rude. Hanging around someone who is frequently negative puts quite a damper on who Frankie was. While she was quite sarcastic and sometimes borderline rude, she was nothing but pure sunshine at heart. It was different when this all started. She was so innocent, she didn't think there could be any bad in anyone. But she was sorely mistaken. Now she knows how much loss spreads like a fungus, her view of the world was altered forever.

In some ways, Frankie does ache to be the person she used to be, she misses it. The simplicity of it all. She misses how oblivious she once was, it was so easy to sleep at night back then. She wasn't haunted by the things she has seen, she didn't have the weight she now has. Frankie didn't have to watch her father wailing on an innocent person, she didn't have to see her mother dead, reaching out to them with hunger in her sudden milky eyes. The blue eyes that she loved so much were gone, all she saw are the white glazed-over ones, with no thoughts behind them, with no inclination of the woman she once was. Frankie can't sleep much anymore, her dreams, well memories, are too much for her.

She thought with time, her pain would get easier to swallow, but it doesn't, it never has. Her decisions plague her, and while she doesn't regret them, the what-ifs never leave. She hates how they take over her mind because she's not there, and it gets so bad sometimes she feels as if she can't breathe. They make her feel paralyzed, they make her wonder. She left without a second thought, but she wonders how her father took it. Did he ever look for her? Did he even care? She feels guilty about leaving him behind, she left the last part of her old life behind, her last living family member behind. While he had changed into an embodiment of darkness, he was still her father. There were moments when the old man she once loved shone through all the cold and calculated behavior. But in the end, she knew leaving was the best thing for her to do. Staying was only going to kill her more.

But that all doesn't exist in her mind right now, there's something else that's there. The new path she desperately wants to take is to help this boy find the rest of his group. She knew so much of his story is still missing, but she would eventually receive it as time passes, patience was key. He wasn't ready to share everything, and for her that was okay. When he was comfortable sharing more of his life, she was more than willing to listen. Just as he would do the same for her. There was so much of her story not told, the things that have happened to her will be shared with time. And that's how it should be.

The two had been walking in comfortable silence for a few minutes when Frankie began to hum, trying to fill the void with absentminded noise. The sun drifted over her face, and Frankie could feel the impending sunburn, wishing she had some type of sunscreen. While the sun was blistering, there was a soft breeze blowing between the two survivors, so Frankie didn't bother to take off her fur coat. The coat would occasionally drift and fall off her shoulders as she walked down the suburb street.

"So Kid, what's the plan?" Frankie questioned, breaking the silence as she glanced at the boy beside her. "Am I helping you or not?"

"Um, I guess?" Carl answered, shrugging at her words. "My word doesn't really go, and since my dad isn't exactly conscious, I'd have to check in with Charlie,"

Frankie furrowed her eyebrows, "And Charlie is?"

"He's escaped with me and my dad," Carl replied, his words began to soften, the mention of what had happened to him becoming too much. "He's around your age, kinda off-putting towards strangers, so let me do the talking,"

"Oh, so he's like you?" Frankie teased, but the boy in question only sent her a glare.

"You're not funny,"

The redhead let out a laugh at the boy's glare, "Please, I'm fucking hilarious,"

"You keep telling yourself that," Carl grumbled, shaking his head.

Frankie smiled, tipping her sunglasses down to send Carl a wink. "Oh I will, trust m-"

The smile that Frankie had etched on her lips fell instantly as she saw the chamber of a handgun pointed right at her head. The girl froze in place, her heart beginning to pound roughly in her chest. Carl's eyes instantly jumped to Frankie and the stranger on her left side.

"Who the hell are you?"

Frankie's eyes flashed to the person on her side and were suddenly met with piercing brown eyes that sat behind the barrel of the gun. The girl was at a loss for words for the first time ever, worried that a single word would get her shot. Frankie wanted to call out to Carl, she opened her mouth to speak, but no sounds slipped from her lips.

Carl could feel the girl's rapid waves of panic, but there was a part of him that wanted to give her a hard time, knowing that if he teased her the unease she felt would disappear, "Charlie, it's alright, this is Franklin,"

"Oh, you little asshole," Frankie sneers, her fear beginning to dissipate and got replaced with annoyance. She knew that the boy was content with his introduction, seeing the clear smirk on his face. But the unfamiliar boy didn't look amused in the slightest, "I'm Frankie, not Franklin,"

Charlie pauses staring at her for a moment, confused as to who the hell she was and how Carl had found some strange girl in the span of the two hours when he was by himself. But his gun never faltered, even with his attention turned to the boy next to her, "Where the hell did you find her?"

Carl's eyes jumped between the two, concerned by the sudden gun pointed at Frankie, "She saved me from walkers,"

"Oh that's convenient," Charlie snipped, his distrust never leaving the snide look on his face.

Frankie sent him a snarky glare, crossing her arms in defense, not liking the aggression he was giving her. Usually, she would be a lot nicer when a gun is pointed at her, but right now, she couldn't help the snarky comments, "Yeah, it was since the stupid idiot was seconds away from getting torn apart,"

"I was not," Carl exclaimed, his tone filled with betrayal as he stared at the girl with annoyance.

"Was too, twice might I add," Frankie clipped, sending the boy a taunting glance, but the gun still pointed at her making her divert her attention back to the older boy, "Listen, I saved the kid, quite heroically if I do say so myself. It's nothing more than that. I literally just came across him, nothing more. Now, can you please point your stupid gun somewhere else? It's getting annoying,"

"Hey, what the hell is going on?"

Frankie internally groaned at the sudden commanding voice of Sydney pierce through the air as she and Gabi came upon the scene with their guns pointed at the older boy. He quickly whipped around, the gun now pointed at the new strangers. Frankie's heart began pounding in her chest, worried that there would be a small shoot-out between them.

"It's fine Syd, just put the gun down," Frankie stated, her words carefully, trying to remain calm and not think of the fearful possibilities that could arise from this.

"Who the hell are these two?"

"This is Carl and this is..." Frankie began but paused upon not remembering the other boy's name. Her eyes jumped to the boy, hoping he'd fill in the gap.

"Charlie,"

"Oh right," The girl commented, sarcastically hitting the palm of her hand against her forehead, "Apologies, I don't really take to knowing the names of people who hold me at gunpoint,"

"You're forgiven,"

The snarky words made Frankie almost audibly snarl, "Oh, you asshole-"

"Frankie, finish explaining," Gabi interrupted.

"Fine," The redhead breathed, directing to Carl, she continued, "I saved him from being biter meat, and we had scouted a few houses, and everything was going great until this idiot decided to interrupt it,"

"When I see a stranger with someone from my group, how the hell am I supposed to react?" Charlie hissed, his eyes snapping to the girl, finally putting his gun back in his holster.

"Group? You have a group?" Gabrielle questioned, the possibility of finding safety in others becoming quite apparent in her eyes.

"We do, but we're separated," Charlie answered, his words holding a lot more weight than Frankie could decipher.

"What happened?" Sydney asked, carefully analyzing his every word, trying to see if he could be trusted.

"Someone attacked our home, hopefully, we all got out before it fell," The boy looked like the reality of his answer was too much for him, and Frankie almost felt bad for him without even knowing the full story.

"Hopefully? So the rest of your group could be dead."

The words seemed to hit the older boy like a gunshot, and the fury in his eyes made Frankie freeze at the ferocity in his glare. "They're alive,"

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, Kid,"

"They are," Carl piped up, his voice stern and clear. "They have to be,"

There was a small silence that followed those words, and it only made the people with guns more alert, Frankie was getting tired of it, "Can you guys stop aiming guns at each other? I'm getting sick of feeling on edge from the impending shoot-out,"

"Not until she puts her gun down first," Charlie mumbled, his eyes permanently slitted as he glared at the woman who was pointing her gun in his direction.

"Nice try Pal,"

"I swear to god," Frankie hissed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, "If you don't drop the guns, I'm throat punching both of you,"

The randomness of her threat made both of them waver. Charlie sent her an odd look as he stared her up and down, almost as if he was examining her. The way she was portraying herself and how she stared him down made him think that she would live up to her threat no matter what happens. So he begrudgingly slowly dropped his weapon to his side, and Sydney was quick to follow, but not without a grunt of annoyance before the movements.

"She said she was going to help us find our group,"

Sydney's eyes jumped from the young boy to the redhead as she visibly began shaking with frustration. "She said what?"

"I'm helping Carl find his people, I want to," Frankie stated, her words filling with nothing but confidence, trying not to let her nervousness shine through due to the killer glare that was sent her way by Sydney.

The older woman was quick to grip Frankie's upper arm as she dragged the redhead to the side, mumbling to Gabi to keep an eye on the boys in front of her. Frankie tensed feeling the eyes follow them, but her focus was pin-pointed on the tight grip on her arm. Once they were a good twenty feet away, Frankie's arm was released and she was met with a rough glare from the older woman.

"Frankie, are you stupid?" Sydney hissed, her words holding a disappointing weight Frankie never wanted to experience. "You were just held at gunpoint by the older kid, and you met the younger one two hours ago, you're fucking stupid if you think I'm letting you do that,"

Frankie paused, the belittlement slipping past Sydney's lips made her tense, she felt like a child getting scolded by her mom in front of people at the supermarket. The way Sydney was speaking made embarrassment bloom on her cheeks realizing that even though Carl and Charlie were a few feet away, they could hear everything. "I just wanna help him, he seems like a good kid,"

"Frankie, this could be a trap, did you ever think about that?"

"I know it sounds crazy, I know I'm taking a huge jump and this could blow up in our faces, but I wanna help them, it's better than what we were doing, I'm sick of hiding away, I wanna help, I wanna do something," Frankie argued, her true feelings beginning to shine through. The contact sitting and waiting for something to happen or to hide away from the world was starting to eat at Frankie, she was done sitting around doing nothing.

"Do you remember who got us here in the first place?"

"Yeah, I remember," Frankie swallowed, being reminded of their problem at hand made the girl visibly tense up, but she didn't want Sydney to win this argument, so she pushed further, "We shouldn't wait around for something to happen, they lost us and we were careful, so we should try and help someone who needs it. And honestly, do we really have anything better to do?"

Sydney paused for a moment as she stared at Frankie, with her teeth clenched in frustration, Frankie could feel her impending win. "If this blows up in our faces, I'm personally going to kill you,"

"Do whatever you need to do," Frankie let a teasing smile twitch onto her lips as she swiveled around to meet the other just a few feet away, "Alright losers, where are we heading?"

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THERE WAS AN unwanted nature that came with stares that had been sent to Frankie, ever since she and her friends had stepped through the door of the house that Carl and his group were staying in. Frankie could feel the looming gaze of Charlie as he watched her stride around the house, examining the state as she chatted with Carl by her side. Charlie didn't like this, after what happened not even a day ago, new people coming in made him feel on edge.

Charlie hadn't slept much since the prison falling, every time he closed his eyes he could see the sword coming down on his father again and again. There was something about watching a parent die that brutally that makes you rethink everything. He didn't know what he wanted anymore, he was exhausted by loss after loss. He wanted it to end, he couldn't watch another person he cared about die. He needed to know his sisters were okay, he feared they didn't make it out, but deep down he knew they did.

But he worried if they would make it out here. He knew Maggie would, she was strong-willed and he considered her to be a force of nature. He prayed that she made it out with Glenn, and that they were safe, that they would reunite with them soon. But Beth was another story. He knew she was capable of surviving, he had seen it for eight months straight when they were on the road before the prison. Charlie only worried about who she escaped with, he worried that they wouldn't keep her safe, or let her depend on them. She needed to trust the person she was with or else she wouldn't make it out.

Charlie had always been protective of his sisters, ever since he was a little boy. His family was such a huge part of his life for as long as he could remember. They were his lifeline, and he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. But here they were, now scattered and lost without a home.

He ached for there to be more out there, not just death and loss. But in his experience, as of right now, that's only what he's seen. Since the farm, since the prison, he had lost so many people who meant the world to him, and he didn't know if things could get any better. He certainly didn't like these new people just showing up out of nowhere.

There was something about them, he didn't like it. He didn't trust them. The girl that was with Carl made his skin itch. It bothered him how easily she started a conversation, how easily she chatted with Carl, how quickly he let her in. He didn't understand what was so special about her, what made Carl open up to her and tell her about what happened. She was just a girl with a stupid fur coat. What the hell was that about anyway?

He couldn't even loom over that fact, he felt like he didn't have time to take in every aspect of her and her group. He felt as if they were going to attack at any minute, and now they were going to help him find their group. It all felt wrong, why was she so generous, her other friends didn't feel that way. So why did she? There was a clear difference between them and her, it was so noticeable. They seem affected by the current state of the world, all while she was cracking jokes and wearing ridiculous things to get some sort of attention. Charlie thought she was insane, just from her appearance alone. And now, with the way she was carrying herself, he felt even more certain that he shouldn't trust her.

The only good thing to come out of this was finding out that Sydney was an ER nurse before the world had ended, so she could take a look at Rick and make sure he was still alive. Gabi was by her side, getting anything that Sydney needed. Charlie felt a little bit of relief fill his lungs, seeing that Rick might actually be okay. He had been fearing that Rick would die on his watch, Charlie didn't know anything about caring for someone's health. He didn't want to be responsible for another death, he couldn't be responsible for Carl losing his father, he just couldn't. And with Sydney here, Rick could have a fair shot.

While they were taking care of the older man, Charlie kept his eyes closely wavering over Frankie and Carl. Watching how she was with him, he noticed something he didn't a second ago. A minute ago Frankie was cracking a joke, but now, she had a reassuring hand on Carl's shoulder. He couldn't hear her words, but he could see Carl nodding along with her words. Lately, the boy would've shoved off any type of calming hopefulness, but right now he seemed to be taking it in. Charlie was truly astonished.

"Rick seems to be doing okay," Sydney began, wiping off none existent dirt on her thighs as she stood up. She glanced toward the group around her. "From what you told me, he probably has a few broken ribs and from what I can see, he definitely has a killer concussion. But I won't know anything more until he wakes up,"

"Do you know when that will be?" Charlie questioned, looking at her inquisitively as he leaned against the doorway of the living room.

"Sorry kid, I have no idea," The woman shrugged, a look of sympathy filling her features, "Right now, it's really just a waiting game,"

There was a beat of silence that followed Sydney's words, a new emotion of dread hung in the air, no one not daring to speak. Charlie had nothing more to say, so he stayed silent as he closed his eyes, leaning his eyes against the wood on his side. The limits of his exhaustion finally washed over him and he felt like he could pass out. He just needed a moment of silence and this was exactly what he needed. But of course, someone had to ruin it.

"So, does anyone wanna go on a boardgame hunt? I could go for a killer game of Uno right about now," Frankie's upbeat words tear through the silence, hitting Charlie's last nerve.

While he wanted to jump down her throat, call her out on her shit, and get to the root of why she and her group are here, but he stopped himself. Right now, he couldn't. Not after Sydney had helped out with Rick. But at that moment, he decided that he did not enjoy Frankie's presence, and he would do literally anything to avoid interacting with her.

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𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘:

Hey besties!!!

FRANKIE AND CHARLIE MET 😁
AND HE HATES HER HEHEHE
really giving grumpy x sunshine eh???? 😏

I'm really excited for the stuff coming up
it's gonna be crazyyyyyy and I'm excited to
share it with you

IMPORTANT: I posted a new twd fic called
false god if you're interested! It's an oc x oc
based in season two
( greene daughter x grimes brother)

ALSO‼️‼️‼️‼️
Check out my TikTok I've got
a few Charlie and Frankie edits up
and I love them sm

TikTok: @gardensongsswp

hope you guys enjoyed!!!