A few months later.

It's been months since the attack and neither of us had really forgotten what had happened. It was getting colder outside. Daryl and i...well, i have no clue what we were. I guess, we are trying to get close again but...i don't know. The last time Daryl and i were close was 6 years ago. A long time ago. He was now taking care of Lydia. And even if i like it or not i am support him. Because i love that stubborn son of a bitch.

EVERYONE walked out of the Kingdom. We had decided to abandon the Kingdom since it was clear that the Skins knew were it was. It was too big of a risk to stay here. I hate the cold.

Michonne "No one can agree on what to do next. And the Council cannot come to any security resolutions? "

Yumiko "Everyone's still reeling, between Jesus, Tara, and the others we lost. "

Michonne "And still nothing from Maggie. "

Yumiko "The Council sent another letter, but... we haven't heard anything back. "

Michonne "Well..."

We saw a few walkers on the field.

Alden was sitting on the horse , talking down to Lydia " Is that them? People watching us now, huh? Well, we followed their rules. Haven't they done enough to us? "

Me "Alden, enough"

He's still hurt that Enid died. We all are. We all loved her. But blaming Lydia? come on.

Daryl "Hey. Why don't you lay off?"

Alden rode away.

Lydia "You don't have to protect me. I know how they feel about me. "

Daryl shook his head "No. Don't mean they get to talk to you like that. "

Lydia sighed "Just, I don't want to cause any more problems."

Daryl „It's their problem, not yours. "

--

We were still walking down the road.

Daryl walked to me "Henry wanted her here. When no one else did. She's a good kid. "

I nodded "i know, Daryl, i wouldn't have stuck around if i had thought otherwise"

Daryl "but.."

I sighed "but every time i look at her i see the pikes with the heads on that hill."

Daryl didn't say anything.

I let out a breath.

Daryl "Who do you see when you look at me? "

I looked at him and saw him looking at me.

Me "you. I see you"

--

The road was already covered in snow. It was getting colder and colder. Some frozen walkers walked to the road. Daryl shot them in the head with his crossbow. He walked into the woods. Ezekiel followed him.

--

It was snowing and i went looking for Lydia who had vanished. I followed her tracks and found her kneeling in front of a walker who was frozen in the little lake. Only his head was out and he was still "Alive"?

Lydia was there ready to let him bite her arm. I cleared my throat. Lydia looked at me and her eyes widened.

I raised an eyebrow.

---

We walked back to the highway.

Jerry "Weather's already kicking in. Even if we hauled ass overnight, we'd never make it. "

Aaron "We need to get off the roads, find shelter between here and the next way station. "

Ezekiel "You have a place in mind? "

Michonne nodded "yeah"

I shook my head annoyed "no, please, no"

At the Sanctuary.

We walked in. It was empty.

Magna looked around " People actually lived here? "

Me "Welcome to the Sanctuary."

--

The wind was howling outside. I was sitting on the stairs.

Daryl sat down next to me "You okay? "

I nodded "Mm. Yeah. "

Daryl "We're gonna make it. All right? We will, i promise"

I looked at my gloved hands "Daryl"

Daryl "mhm?"

Me "could you do me a favor?"

He nodded "anything "

Me "stop making promises you and i both you can't keep"

Then I stood up and walked away.

--

Michonne looked at the map " The next way station is here, right across the river that runs alongside the old route B. "

Magna "I thought the only crossing was back along - the route we were on. "

Aaron "It is. There's no way we'll make it, not in these conditions. Rick's bridge would've saved us. It could've cut half a day off our travel time. "

Carol "But we don't need a bridge. The creeks and ponds are frozen over. As long as we don't all go at once, we could probably just walk across. There, through our old hunting grounds. It's a straight shot. "

Ezekiel "A straight shot through Alpha's territory. "

Carol "We didn't agree to those borders. "

Michonne "Those borders are hers, not ours."

Ezekiel "That's cold comfort if we trigger a war. We don't even know how to fight them yet. "

Carol "It's only a couple miles... "

Everyone was freezing their asses off.

Michonne "Hey, we can cross at night. They won't know that we're there. "

Yumiko "What if they already know? They could've been watching us in that field back there. "

Daryl "It's all the more reason to move now."

Aaron nodded " We can do this. "

Ezekiel "With the elderly? With the children? We can't take horses and wagons across the ice."

Michonne " Then we'll have to go by foot. Yes, it's risky, but we're only carrying enough food to last us another day or two, and this storm could dump enough snow to make these roads impassable for weeks. It's either we make it to the next way station or we die. "

Ezekiel sighed.

Daryl was rubbing his fingers to keep them alive.

Night.

We were walking through the thick snow. It was still snowing. And it was still cold as hell. We could barely see anything.Suddenly we stopped walking. I saw figures standing there through the snow. Daryl shot the first one. It fell to the ground. We walked closer to them. They were dead. The walkers were frozen in place. Holy shit. They were still growling though but they couldn't move. Michonne killed all of them just in case. We continued walking and stopped at the river.

Ezekiel "There's the river. We made it."

Daryl " I'm gonna check the ice. "

I nodded "I'm right behind you."

We walked onto the ice.

Daryl "Yeah, I think we're good. "

Ezekiel "We have to assume they have eyes on the borders. Make sure the others are ready to go. "

Jerry "Done and done. "

Daryl looked around "Hey, where's Lydia? "

Carol "I'm gonna go find her. You get everyone across. I'll be right back. "

Then she walked away.

Ezekiel "All right, let's move."

Suddenly a walker popped up next to Daryl from the snow.

Me "watch out"

Daryl killed him. Suddenly walkers started to show up from under the snow.

Michonne "move"

We were all trying to move across the ice while killing the walkers.

Alden " Let's go. Let's get off this. "

Magna " Daryl, incoming. "

More and more were coming.

Yumiko "We got to get across to the other side now! "

Aaron " Not too much weight on the ice. Not too many at once. Not too many at once. "

Alden " Is it them? "

Michonne "No. Not here. Not in this."

Ezekiel "Get them across. We'll hold 'em back. "

At Hilltop. In the mansion. Night.

We were all warming up here.

Jerry " It's like our new Kingdom, only it's Hilltop. Hey, if we call it "Kingtop," maybe we could make that a thing. "

I smiled a little.

Daryl walked to Lydia "You should try to get some sleep. We're gonna head to Alexandria in the morning. "

Lydia nodded "Okay. Seems nice there. "

Daryl "yes it is"

Lydia "Why'd you leave? "

Daryl "One day. Try to get some sleep."

Then he walked over to me "you too"

I smirked "don't tell me what to do, Dixon"

He rolled his eyes amused.

Next day. Morning. At Alexandria.

We walked through the front gates. Judith ran to us and hugged Michonne.

She picked her up "hey, how are you? What happened?"

Judith had some rosy cheeks and giggled "it's cold"

R.J ran to us. Michonne picked him up, smiling "oh, hi"

The kids started to play in the snow.

In the infirmary.

I looked at Negan who was lying there on the bed. His leg got fucked up during the storm.

Negan "Well, look who's here, wifey"

Me " Thank you. For saving her. "

Then i gestured to his fucked up leg " You always did have a flair for the dramatic. "

He chuckled "Well, last time we were here together, Rick had just slit my throat open. So this... Hell, this ain't nothin'. She's a special girl. A damn spitfire. Just like you"

I rolled my eyes "Get better. "

Negan "You know, Dr. Babydaddy said that you got caught in the storm with the Royalty Brigade. Is everyone okay? "

Me "Do you really care? "

Negan "Look, I don't know any of those people from Adam. I do know what it's like to lose a kingdom, see things fall apart. And it sucks ass. "

Me "The Sanctuary's a shithole now. "

Negan chuckled "Well, hell, I could've told you that. All you had to do was ask. So, you cut through their territory. Ballsy. "

I shook my head " We don't even know if they were there. The point is, we came together, and we made it. "

Negan "Common enemy, common goal. "

Me "Or facing evil brings good people together."

Negan rolled his eyes " Same thing. It's just that no one ever thinks that they're the evil one. "

I nodded.

Outside.

I saw everyone playing in the snow. They were all throwing snowballs at each other. I smiled at them. Suddenly i felt someone drop snow in the back of my shirt. I yelled surprised when the cold snow hit my body and melted against my body heat. Daryl started to laugh. I glared at him and picked up some snow. He ran away. I followed after him and threw myself at him. We fell into the snow and i rolled on top of him.

I giggled "why did you do that?"

Daryl "so i could do this"

then he grabbed me by the back of my neck and pulled me in for a hard kiss. I kissed him back just as hard.

Daryl muttered into the kiss "i.love. you. princess"

I smirked and kissed back even harder.