Chapter: An Agreement for Tonight

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Next Morning

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The group gathered in C Cellblock to discuss further plans about what had taken place. They managed to lead Merle into the small indoor recreational area where the steel tables and chairs were. It also had another locked door which led into another hallway to enter further into the prison.

Nakkita stood on the ground floor with Xavier in her arms. She kept her eyes on Rick assembling a rifle, and making sure the ammunitions was all set. Above on the second floor tier, she could feel Daryl's eyes upon her. All last night and early morning, she ignored him. But she let him take Xavier whenever he asked to hold him, feed him or whatever else.

"We're not leaving." Rick stated loudly.

She snapped out of her thoughts about her being pissed at Daryl to pay attention back to what was happening.

"We can't stay here." Hershel said.

"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie pointed out while she stared at the side of Rick's head.

"We can't even go outside." Beth added in from the top of the stairs.

"Not in the daylight." Carol said lowly with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes flickered toward the windows.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn stated while looking at everyone.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle put in his two cents.

Rolling her eyes until she was staring at Merle with everyone else. Even though she was angry at the Dixon brothers, she knew to take some consideration of what Merle had to say. Since Merle used to be a part of Woodbury for a good while, he understood a good amount of how the Governor acts and thinks.

"You got a better idea?" Rick looked away from the rifle he had in his hands to stare at Merle.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of tis place by now." Merle explained.

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl walked across the top tier walkway and stared down at his older brother.

Nakkita's eyes flickered briefly up toward Daryl. She watched how he started to pace a little in his spot. With his older brother back in the picture, the prison coming under attack, and with her being mad at him, she could tell her husband was not a happy camper. Yet at the same time, he was also trying to make up and prove he was not walking away from them again.

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." Merle continued to explain, but was staring directly at Rick.

The way Rick moved a little on his feet, it was clear Merle's words were sticking. They all knew Merle was correct. But since it was Merle, they could not stand the thought of him coming up with a plan for them. Or even talk for that matter.

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie glanced at Rick.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl said.

"This is all you. You started this." Maggie shouted as she faced Merle.

"What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth cut in, walking halfway down the steel steps with her eyes on Rick.

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel started.

When Rick turned away from him, walking away, Hershel pushed himself off the steel steps. He pulled the crutches underneath his arms and stood up straight.

"Get back here!" Hershel shouted causing Rick to pause in his step.

Hershel crutched his way toward Rick, and came to a halt when Rick turned a little to stare at him in the corner of his eyes.

"You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something." Hershel stated firmly, staring down Rick and then turning away to go back to the stairs to sit down.

Rick looked at all of them before he bowed his head a little. He turned away and walked toward another door in the cellblock to exit out of and enter a hallway to walk through the prison. Once Rick left the room, they began to separate a little in their own groups. Nakkita saw how Carl bowed his head, and appeared to have a deep thinking look upon his face. When he lifted his head back up, Carl walked off in the direction of his father. It made Nakkita a bit curious to Carl's facial expression, and wondering if he was going to go be with his father or talk with him.

Lately, Carl has been surprising her with how he has been speaking up. It was clear Carl was adjusting to this type of life now, and thinking about the survival of the group. Her eyes flickered down to Xavier, watching him sleep peacefully in her arms. She began to think how Xavier will grow up in this sort of world, and be taught mostly about the importance of survival. Although she will make sure he would stay on track academically too, because knowing Daryl, he would be teaching Xavier everything about hunting, tracking and anything about nature.

Nakkita began to walk up the steps, and noticed Daryl stood near the top of the stairs. She saw him stare at her with a soft look, and his eyes flickered down to stare at Xavier. A flicker of anger blossom in the pit of her stomach, but she kept her face perfectly calm. She made no sort of facial movement as she got to the top of the staircase.

Nakkita walked by Daryl to head toward the cell. She heard his boots behind her.

As Nakkita entered the cell, she set Xavier onto the bed. He moved a bit in his spot and then held his arms out toward the entrance of the cell. In the corner of her eyes, Nakkita glanced toward the entrance of the cell to see Daryl.

"Dada!"

"Can I take him?"

"He is your son." Nakkita replied shortly while she moved toward a table to grab her shampoo-conditioner and body wash to go take a shower.

As Nakkita was about to walk by Daryl, who held Xavier in his left arm, Daryl reached out with his right arm. He gently grabbed her around the wrist. She halted in her steps. Her eyes stayed forward, not wanting to look Daryl straight in the eyes. She felt she would become overcome with emotions if she saw the emotions swimming in his eyes.

"Nakkita…"

"What Daryl?"

"We can't keep going on like this."

Nakkita did not say anything, only kept her eyes forward. She felt Daryl's hand loosen on her wrist. Her eyes shut when she felt him close in on her. His breath against the right side of her head. A tap on the side of her head made her to know he rested his forehead against the side of her head.

"I miss you." Daryl whispered in a thick tone, showing he was holding back his emotions.

Her jaw tighten, but she felt her bottom lip tremble.

It took everything in Nakkita to hold back the tears as she opened her eyes.

"Can we talk?"

"Not now." Nakkita replied lowly.

"No, but what about tonight? Give me a chance, Nakkita. I can't take this distancing anymore." Daryl told her, not quite begging but close to it.

Sooner or later, Nakkita knew Daryl and she would need to have a conversation. It was paining her being away from him as much as it was paining him. She was angry and upset. A dangerous combination, but she knew sooner or later the two would need to talk it out. In the world they were living now, family and close friends was very important to have. It almost felt rare now.

The conversation she would have with Daryl would be a serious one. She did not want him to do such an action again without her knowing. But also, to not leave behind Xavier and her. She would rather he did not leave the group either, but she was his wife and mother of his child.

"Tonight at the guard tower. I have watch." Nakkita told him.

"Tonight." Daryl whispered against the side of her head.

Slowly, Daryl let go of her wrist and stepped back from her.

Nakkita exited out of the cell with a deep, shaky exhale escaping her. She made her way down the stairs and walked with a quick manner out of C-block before anyone could see the tears leaking over her eyelids.

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At the table with a bowl of oatmeal, Nakkita was blowing on the spoon to cool the oats down before she held it out in front of Xavier. Her eyes shot up when she heard voices raising a bit near Glenn's cell.

She took notice of Hershel, Daryl, and Michonne altogether. Her eyebrows rose, curious of what was being said. Her attention was drawn to the side where she watched Rick come to stand in front of Maggie.

"Take watch. Eyes open, head down." Rick handed Maggie keys to unlock and lock the doors when she was to move through the cleared out parts of the prison.

Nakkita watched as Rick moved toward Glenn's cell with the others.

"Field is filled with walkers. I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch." Rick explained as he set a rifle against the cell wall.

"I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." Daryl explained with his hands on his hips.

Nakkita eyebrows rose. She knew she could help out too with clearing out the field with her compound bow. Her attention drew downward when she felt the spoon moved around. A smile came onto her lips as Xavier pushed the empty spoon away and toward the bowl of oatmeal.

With another scoop of oatmeal, Nakkita blew on it until it cooled off and she held it out in front of Xavier's mouth. She held back a chuckle when Xavier missed some of the oatmeal and it smeared around his mouth.

"Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne added in.

"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets." Hershel pointed out.

While Nakkita fed Xavier, she would listen in on what was being said. She was curious to know the plan against this Governor guy, but also to get the walkers out of the fields.

"So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." Glenn appeared and joined the others in the conversation.

"Been here before. We'll be all right." Daryl stated.

"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest." Glenn said firmly.

Immediately, Nakkita knew who Glenn was referring to. She felt herself tense a bit, knowing Daryl would say something to defend Merle. Although she was not happy about the Merle situation, she knew how important he was to Daryl. Daryl could be mad at the world at Merle, but he would defend him some way. It does not make her happy, but she knew how loyal Daryl was to those he cares about.

"Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." Daryl stepped a bit closer toward Glenn.

"Hey." Rick stepped forward and in between the Daryl and Glenn. He did not want to deal with a fight.

"All y'all." Daryl stated with a wave of his arm.

Daryl walked toward the stairs and up them to get away from them. Nakkita let her eyes follow Daryl before she turned her attention to Xavier, but she continue to listen in on the group as they continued to talk.

"Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly." Glenn said with a low tone.

"I can't kick him out." Rick almost hissed in return.

"I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you." Glenn fired back.

"Merle has military experience. He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." Hershel added in as he did not want an argument starting.

"What if we solve both problems at once? Deliver Merle to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce." Glenn explained as he looked at everyone.

The small group looked at each other, not saying a word but they did take in Glenn's idea.

Nakkita finished with the oatmeal and cleaned Xavier up. She did not want to listen to the group's ideas anymore. She knew Merle was a pain in the ass, but she could only imagine the pain Daryl would be in if the group delivered Merle over like a sacrificial sheep. Daryl would feel betrayed, and that would definitely not be a good thing.

As Nakkita stood up with a happy Xavier, she drew Rick's attention which drew the others. She almost cursed out loud. She thought she heard Glenn cursed about Nakkita hearing what he said. Nakkita simply walked away and she made her way to the stairs. But she was stopped by none other than Rick.

"Nakkita…"

"I won't say anything to Daryl of what Glenn said. However, Daryl does have an idea of what you guys would do with Merle. But know this Rick, if you guys go through with handing Merle over to the Governor without clearing by Daryl, he will feel betrayed. You do not want that, do you?"

"No." Rick shook his head.

Rick looked at her.

"What is to happen Nakkita?"

"We continue to figure out a plan. But first we all must come together as a group because right now, everyone has various ideas which no one is agreeing upon." Nakkita said with a small tilt of her head.

A sigh escaped Rick with his hands on his hips. He looked at her with a small nod. Nakkita gave a small nod in return before she turned back to the stairs to resume stepping up on them. She walked up them and adjusted her hold on Xavier.

As Nakkita walked to her cell, her eyes noted Daryl standing nearby. He gave her a small nod, which she gave a small one in return before she entered the cell. Nakkita knew she would need to emotional and mentally prepare herself for the conversation she would have with Daryl tonight.

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Hi Everyone,

It has been a while…

Here was a new chapter.

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading!