When you went home, Aiden crossed the street. Needless to your attempts to avoid him, he stood in front of you and laid a hand on your arm. “Y/N.”

“What’s going on, Aiden?”, you asked reluctantly to stop you.

“Why do you always avoid me?” His question urged you. You shrugged, undecided what to answer. Suddenly he stopped touching you. “I’m not a good person to keep you company.”, you replied, minimizing your voice. You were a nobody… Aiden stopped to look at you, then he lowered his eyes for a second and started talking again. “Deanna wanted to invite you to dinner tomorrow night.”, he said sheepishly. Alexandria’s leader had tried to bring you back to her house for a while, and you always refused the offer. You found it embarrassing to sit at a table full of smiling people, even though you now realized that you could no longer keep yourself away. Four months have passed since you arrived in the community and you couldn’t use more excuses. You swallowed and had to accept his invitation. “Good.” Yoy did not really want to do that. You promised not to make any more friendships because you were left alone, and you do not want to break your oath. “Perfect!”, he said and smiled. “See you tomorrow.” The man smiled at you again and, after saying goodbye, went to his house. You knocked on the floor with your bare foot, looking into the mirror with your arms crossed, undecided what to wear. For the most upscale family in Alexandria it needed something ‘special’, so the choice fell on jeans and tank tops. Or rather, a very dark pants, which were characterized by your legs and a white undershirt, which fell gently over your hips. The evening was unusually hot, so you didn’t need a jacket to go to the Monroe’s. In a few minutes you found yourself in front of their house, when Aiden, very elegant but shy, received you with a beaming smile.

“You’re beautiful!”, he said after opening the door. You did not answer, annoyed by his comment. You entered the house and immediately went into the living room, followed by your host. The soft lights in the apartment and the music in the background made you feel uncomfortable. You turned to look for the rest of the family, but you saw no one except the young man who had come to open the door for you. You looked questioningly at him as he hurried to justify himself: “My brother and my parents have dinner with the neighbors, you would never have accepted if I told you that I wanted to be alone with you.” The anger over this kind of lie rose in you and made you return to the door to escape.

“No wait!” The man came up to you and grabbed your wrist to stop you. At that point, you could not resist, and in response you slapped him on the cheek, which was so strong that it threw his head sideways. “How dare you bitch!”, he hissed. He let go, touched his flushed face and gave you a mixed look of fear and forgiveness. “Shit… I’m sorry…”, he whispered. You leaned over to him. “Do you know what happened to me before I arrived here, and what I did? What I have done to myself?”

He shook his head, startled by your angry look. He takes a step back, still with his hand on his cheek.

“I killed people, a lot…”

Aiden stared at you without speaking. His eyes were puzzled and begging for mercy for the mistake he had just made. You sighed and shook your head. You hate that moment: You would like to escape, to be alone, but what kind of person would you be if you left him here without even giving him the chance to apologize? Did he really deserve it? You looked at him indecisively, less and less ready to go. The people here must be treated with a minimum of respect… “Did you cook everything by yourself?”, you asked resignedly. He nodded with a faint smile and added nothing else. Then you became impatient. “Do you want to stand like that all evening or at least offer me a glass of wine?”, you asked arrogantly. He awoke from his numbness and almost ran into the kitchen to fulfill your request and laughed at all the excuses that came to his mind. All in all, the evening passed quickly. You talked about this and that, talking about your lives before the epidemic unfolded and your plans for the future to and from Alexandria, carefully avoiding the words 'walker’, 'apocalypse’, 'dead’, 'killed’. As if all this never happened. However, it was inevitable, at least for you to think about it. You were sure that for Aiden on the other hand, it wasn’t so much of an effort because he lived in the middle of the world, protected by a tin fence.

“Have you always been alone before you came here?”, he asked naively.

“It’s not a topic that I volunteer to face.”, you hurried to answer. You got up from the table and walked to the window, watching the darkness drift over Alexandria. The man became serious but did not give up. “Did you lose someone when you were out there?” Suddenly everything became easier. The various glasses of wine that you had devoured during dinner helped you looser and less aggressive, giving you the opportunity to speak without fear, without the sadness taking control of you. “More than one person.”, you answered without realizing it. “Do you want to talk about it?” You shook your head resignedly. “There’s not much to say, first my friend, the most important person I’ve ever stayed with, then the group that immediately welcomed me after I lost them, then Daryl…” Thinking about him reminded you strange feeling. Melancholy? Regret? A shiver ran down your back and suddenly you felt cold.

“Who is Daryl?”, Aiden asked and you did not know how to answer. “Daryl was my last ally.” Then the wine spoke for you. “I miss him so damn much…” Aiden got up and approached you. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Were you two together?”, he asked. Your eyes flickered without really knowing why. Maybe because of the wine? “No, I think we were just friends.”

Aiden frowned in confusion. “You think?”

You shrugged your shoulders. “I don’t know what we were, we didn’t spend enough time defining our relationship, so yes, I think we were friends.”

“Did you feel something for him?”

“Absolutely not! Daryl was…” You strayed into the void, trying to remember his face with his always grim facial expressions and piercing gaze. “He… He was a fighter, impulsively natural, but sincere, direct, incredibly loyal to his people, he would have thrown himself into the fire to save us all.”

“Wow…”, Aiden whispered. “And you say you don’t feel anything for him? Seriously?”

“You can’t understand that…”, you replied with a half smile.

“Yeah, probably. Do you think he wouldn’t mind if I tried to comfort you a little?”, he asked, approaching and grabbing your arm. Part of you wondered what the hell was going on in his head, but you were too weak to counteract the alcohol in the vein that instead made your body devote to this affection. You leaned your heavy feeling head on his shoulder and felt senselessly protected. With two fingers, your chin lifted and as your lips were a few inches apart, you thought of Daryl and returned to yourself. You moved violently and immediately refused this contact. “I have to go, it’s late.”, you mumbled.

“Wait, come on… I didn’t mean to scare you.”

You shook your head. “I’m not ready for it, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’ll wait, but don’t go.”

“Why do you insist?”, you asked as you reached the door. “I’ll never be ready for that, I’m not ready to lose anyone anymore.” His eyes were confused. “I’m not pushing you.”

“Anyone who becomes my friend, or belongs to my family, dies sooner or later! Travis, Madison, Chris, Nick, Alicia, Rick, Michonne and all the other people I loved so much! And Daryl…”, you added softly. Now you couldn’t stop dropping the many tears on your face. “What I have now is enough for me.” You wiped your eyes with one hand. “Thanks for dinner, it was great, but now it’s better to go back to my house.”, you said and greeted him with a wave of your hand and without waiting for an answer, you went out into the darkness of Alexandria and let yourself be enveloped by the night.

Your faith was gone again. After completing the usual morning circuit around the walls of Alexandria, you returned home to remove the blood from a few Walkers you had shot on the east side, and then ran to the warehouse for groceries. Olivia beamed as usual, and you thanked her for giving you a quarter of a bar of chocolate. While you were on your way home, mentally checking your day’s obligations, you heard the unmistakable sound of the opened main gate. As a precaution, you decided to look what was going on and as you turned to the entrance, you remembered that Aaron and Eric had been traveling for over two weeks. Maybe it was them who returned from the recruiting round to open the gate, so you had one more reason to look. In the distance, in front of the open passage, you see a fairly large group of people entering; You remained calm about the fact that such a large group came to Alexandria, but accelerated your walk with the premonition that something would go wrong today. The glasses clinked in the basket and when you were close enough to see the faces of the newcomers, you did not see Aaron and Eric among them, but your heart felt like it would stop beating. The basket slipped from your hand and all the jars were broken on the ground, attracting the attention of the group members. How much did you miss this gesture… Overwhelmed by surprise and emotion, you started crying and ran towards them at the same time, your eyes flooded with tears that you could hardly see where you were going; Even so, you would always recognize the figure of Rick, and even he who finally recognized you ran at me in turn until you met him. He squeezed you tight and you let the tears run free. You screamed, not knowing what to say, while the others reached us. Michonne stroked your face and smiled as Carl, next to his father, held you both in his arms. Maggie and Glenn touched your arm, and then Carol came to kiss your forehead and whispered your name. Someone else repeated it, perhaps thinking that he would never hear you speak again in his life.

“Please tell me that I don’t dream anymore…”, you pleaded between your sobs. You didn’t want to close your eyes and think that they wouldn’t be here when you opened them again.

“It’s not a dream, Y/N.”, Michonne assured you with her warm and clear voice. Rick kissed your temples and tickled you with the beard that had grown beyond measure in recent months. “You don’t know how long we’ve been looking for you.”

“I also searched for you, I left traces and…”

The shrill gate that was closing interrupted you and caught your attention. You turned to the entrance and for the second time your heart stopped. You let go of the man’s embrace, only to run towards the person who has just crossed Alexandria’s main gate. He dropped the crossbow to the ground and ran for you.

“Daryl!”, you yelled. When you were in his arms, he grabbed you and picked you up, hugging you tightly and releasing a liberating scream. The next moment you both dropped to the floor and Daryl took your face in his hands and looked at you with a deeply moved expression. His fearless eyes, now completely without anger, have given way to feelings. He hid his tear-stained face in your throat as the sobs shook his chest. His hands clung to you, desperately seeking a contact that had never been so intense among you both. You returned the tight hug in the silence and smiled with your tear-streaked face. Today you found a part of yourself that you believed you lost forever… The others of your family have also reached you both and now you were involved in a big hug that you represented as the pulsing core.

“Do you know them?”, Aaron’s voice surprised you. He and Eric had been right behind them and you nodded.

“We heard you screaming, but we didn’t immediately understand what happened.” Aaron turned to his boyfriend, looking for words of support.

“I’ve never seen anything so exciting!”, Eric said. “Neither do I!” Aaron put a hand to his own heart. His eyes were shiny.

“Are these the people you told me about?”, he asked.

“Yes, it’s us.”, Rick answered for you. His voice made you tremble and you smiled involuntarily, fixing his blue eyes on yours. You exchanged the look and nodded and then you looked at the two men who brought your family back to you. “Thank you so damn much, guys!”

“Did you see?”, Eric asked, tilting his head forward. “What?”

“There is still hope.”

“Y/N…” Listening again to a familiar voice that whispered your name made your heart melt. It was Daryl carrying a child in his arms behind you. She had grown, and if she didn’t have the same eyes as Carl, you would not recognize her. Judith, who instinctively opened her arms for you. While the others left for the time being, Daryl told you that Tyreese had saved the child in the prison. In your research, you noticed that not even Maggie’s sister was among you all. “Where are Tyreese and Beth?”, you asked in a deep, serious voice. You were afraid of the answer, because if someone is silent for now, that’s never a good sign. Daryl darkened his eyes and looked down. He shook his head sadly and that made every word superfluous. Your voice trembled. “No…”

Daryl put a hand on your shoulder and walked away, perhaps to hide his sadness from everyone. You thought about how cruel it is to find and lose those you love on the same day. You didn’t know Tyreese and Beth very well, but you knew that they were fantastic people, just like everyone else. As they rambled through your thoughts, you were surprised by Michonne and Rick approaching you with their sweet yet reassuring smiles. They asked you how you are.

“I’m glad you’re here, but by now I’ve given up the idea of ​​finding you again…”, you replied, leaving Judith to his father.

“Is that why you stopped writing your messages?”, the woman asked, looking sideways at you. You narrowed your eyes to two slits. “How do you mean?”

With a wry smile Michonne put a hand in her jeans pocket and pulled out a pile of crumpled pieces of paper and handed them to you. Your letters. You understood that they had found all, every piece of paper that you had left between Georgia and Virginia, collected and kept them. But how was that possible? “We were looking for you.”, Rick said. “Then, when we found Daryl, we followed the trail to the last clue you left on the car.” He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “When you stopped leaving the hints, we thought something had gone wrong.”

“Well, there is more or less what happened, I was captured the same day by another group, and I lost my notebook because of them.”

“Captured?”, Rick asked and raised his eyebrows repeatedly. “And you fled or did they release you?” You did not want to tell him anything that had happened to you, it wouldn’t improve things. “What’s the difference?” The sheriff shook his head slightly annoyed. “You know, it makes a difference… I just want you to tell me.”

“And I would rather not have to do it.” Rick stared at your eyes and said nothing. You supported his look. “You can’t force me to.”

“I don’t want to force you, but I would wish to hear the story.”

“I don’t have to talk about it, Rick.”, you interrupted. “They paid for what they did to me, you can be sure of that.”

“I just want to make sure you’re okay.” You assured him: “I’m fine, after a long time, I’m finally fine, and now it’s important that we’re back together.”

“How long have you been here?”, Michonne asked. “Since December Aaron found me while trying to escape a group of Walkers, he saved my life.” Rick approached your face and lowered his voice. “What is this place?” Meanwhile, Carol and Glenn came up to you. You smiled lovingly as you answered the sheriff. “This is a community that welcomes the lost, it’s a safe zone.”

“Not like Terminus, I hope!”, commented Glenn. “Terminus?”, you asked, confused. Glenn looked at you and seemed to be searching for the right words to describe this place. “Terminus is your worst nightmare.” You recognized their shocked faces and tried to imagine how they lived in these last months, but to no avail. Apparently you were not the only one who had seen the living hell out there. When you wanted to ask for clarification, Rick interrupted you: “Later we’ll tell everything, okay? Well, tell me who’s the boss here.” You talked to him about Deanna and her role here. “She’ll explain everything to you, don’t worry.” As you spoke, a tall, muscular man approached us. He had a mustache and red hair, so intense that it looked dyed. He turned to Rick suspiciously and asked him what he thinks about this place.

“Y/N says it’s safe.” The former sheriff introduces you to the man who says he is named Abraham Ford. He did not stop for a moment to look around, glanced at you just to shake your hand, and then returned to his stoic supervision. You threw a questioning look at Rick, who immediately explained the situation to me: “Glenn found them when he escaped from the prison, and Abraham and his group joined us when their mission failed.”

You raised your eyebrows. “His group?”, you repeated. He told you about a few people, not very far away from us. “The guy with the Vokuhila’s name is Eugene and the girl by his side, Rosita, in the beginning they were on their way to Washington, but then they decided to stay with us, and Rosita and Abraham know how to defend themselves well.”

“What about Eugene?”, you asked. Rick looked at you with an enigmatic expression: “You will find out for yourself.” You looked at him and narrowed your eyes, a bit confused, but decided not to ask further. “Who are the other two?”, you asked, referring to the dark-skinned man and the dark-haired girl. “He’s Father Gabriel, a priest we met when we ran away from Terminus, the girl’s name is Tara, she was part of the governor’s group.”

“What!”, you blurted out.

“She didn’t even shoot that day, Glenn rescued her from the Walkers that invaded the prison.” At first you thought it was not right for her to be here. Even the thought of the day you escaped from prison makes you angry. Then you reflected and put aside the grudge, relying on Rick’s judgment. “Later I will go to greet her.”

“Good.” Rick stopped for a second and stared at you, then asked you: “What did you do with your hair?”

“They didn’t reflect me anymore.”

Deanna’s voice surprised you. The woman came in person to welcome the new group. “You must be Rick. Welcome in Alexandria.” The two leaders shook hands, though she recognized a slight indecision in the former sheriff’s posture. No matter how many times you tell him that this place is really safe; He will not really believe it until he sees it himself. Deanna invites him to her home, as well as the rest of the group. “I would like to speak to each one of you if you intend to stay.”

“We don’t know yet.”, Rick replied, looking at you. You tilted your head to the side and didn’t understand his words. When doubts overcame you, Carol approached and held you by the arm, smiling. On the other hand, Michonne took you by the hand and winked at you, and Carl, behind you, leaned his head against your back. All this happened under the puzzled eyes of Deanna and Rick approaching you.

“It doesn’t really matter how we decide.”, he told the leader of Alexandria. “Our family is together again.”

»Where is she?«

»Don’t know, haven’ seen 'er since that day.«

»But is she alive?«

»Guys…«, a female voice interrupted. »Look, here.« Silence fell on them as the black ink reflected in their eyes. Hope flooded their hearts.

»Is that the same calligraphy?«

The man shook his head. »Doesn’ matter.« His hand pointed to the last line. »She’s it.«

»It doesn’t have to be very far.«

The group began to search further, animated by new hope. Unfortunately, they still didn’t notice that they were walking parallel to the train tracks…