Author's Note: Videos for characters canon and original, can be found on my Youtube channel via the link on my profile.

Undertow

"I think this is a really bad idea," Deanna Monroe said, surveying Alexis over the top of her steepled fingers.

Alexis glanced around the room, taking in its quiet splendour, the oak-panelled walls and antique furniture, before dismissing it all, pushing her blonde hair back out of her face, revealing the black eye Pete had so kindly bestowed upon her. Her piercing gaze met Deanna's head-on, forcing the older woman to look away, uncharacteristically capitulating to the younger, surprising Alexis slightly despite herself.

"You're not going to be dissuaded, are you?" Deanna said, twisting her wedding ring around her finger.

"I know what I'm doing," Alexis said quietly, "it's not like I haven't been out there before."

"But look what happened last time" -

- "I trust Aaron," Alexis said, cutting across her.

"And you trusted Earle," Deanna said, finally looking at her.

Alexis studied the other woman for a long moment. "You think I'm just a shit-stirrer, don't you?" she said, her voice shaking. "Rocking the boat" -

- "I exiled Earle for what he did," Deanna said, standing up, "and his so called buddies for daring to back him up, trying to justify his sins as though I was the one at fault, that I didn't understand. But I understood alright." She exhaled sharply, her gaze drifting to the window, dwelling on the church steeple, the embodiment of all she held sacred; safety, security, survival. "The situation with Pete is a whole different ball game," she then said, her eyes meeting Alexis's again. "Whether I like it or not, we need him - Alexandria needs him."

"Look what he did to me, Deanna," Alexis snapped, "look what he's doing to my sister on an almost daily basis. Somebody has to stop him - I've tried and failed too many times, and I'm sick of it - I'm sick of being unable to protect my own family" -

- "Which is why I'm giving you permission to go out with Aaron," Deanna said, sitting down again. "It'll give everyone a chance to calm down and let the dust settle, and when you come back, maybe we can sit down and talk about the situation in a civil manner, yes?" She raised her unplucked eyebrows at Alexis, arrogantly expecting Alexis's unequivocal acquiescence to the arrangement.

Alexis bit her lip, before nodding, hating herself for being a hypocrite.

"Well, off you go," Deanna said, gesturing to the door with a theatrical flourish, "and watch your back out there beyond the walls - be goddamn safe."

"I'll be safer out there than in here," Alexis said before she could stop herself, slamming the door behind her.

Jessie stacked the tins on the shelf in alphabetical order, more for the distraction than anything else. After her husband had attacked Alexis, her sister taking the blows meant for her, Alexis had moved out and in with Aaron and Eric, sleeping on their sofa instead of her own sumptuous bedroom, refusing point blank to live under the same roof as Pete anymore. And now Alexis was once again leaving the shelter of the Safe Zone's walls for the wilderness outside, she and Aaron searching for what Deanna classed as 'suitable' survivors to strengthen their community.

She picked up a can of Crazy Cheese, turning it over in her shaking hands, her vision blurring as the tears threatened to overwhelm her again. Alexis was her baby sister, the only family she had left apart from her husband and sons, but she couldn't choose between them. Deanna might tolerate Pete for the sake of Alexandria, but for Jessie it went beyond that. She didn't want her boys to grow up without a father, but that was the ultimatum Alexis was putting before her.

Jessie set the can down, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She and Alexis had been brought up to take care of themselves, but Jessie tended to accept her fate whilst Alexis fought it; Jessie thinking of the greater good, Alexis thinking of the few. It was this that worried her so, fearing Deanna might be moved to exile her sister on the grounds she was disturbing the peace one too many times.

There had been the trouble over Earle, Alexis returning from scouting for survivors, saying Earle had tried to force himself on her when they'd been away from Alexandria, Earle denying it, his friends inadvertently condemning him by rushing to his defence, arguing things were different now; that the world had changed and the rules of civilized society were no longer applicable in an apocalypse. Deanna had exiled all three men, but it hadn't been a decision made lightly. And now Alexis was making merry hell over Pete, and Jessie just didn't know what to do, caught between a rock and a hard place as their father had been so fond of saying.

"Behold the Queen of the Pantry!" Aaron joked as he came through the doorway, making Jessie a mock bow as she turned around, only to stop short at the sight of her tearstained face. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, stepping forwards. "I - Are you alright?" he asked, wincing a little at his words, when it was patently obvious she wasn't alright.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jessie said abruptly.

Aaron looked at her for a long moment, before nodding, not wanting to put anymore pressure on their already fraught friendship.

"Can I help you with anything?" Jessie asked, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Uh... Alex sent me over for the applesauce," Aaron said reluctantly, wincing again. But to his surprise, Jessie laughed, shaking her head almost fondly at her sister's foolishness.

"She hates the stuff," Jessie explained, enlightening Aaron. "Even the sight of it is enough to make her barf."

"That makes two of us," Aaron said, backing away as Jessie opened a cupboard, taking some white-labelled jars out of it.

"She's never told you about how she hates applesauce?" Jessie said curiously, setting the jars down on the table.

"It's not really something that's ever came up in conversation," Aaron said, shrugging his shoulders. "But you must know better than I do that Alex is a closed book, whether it's about applesauce or otherwise."

Jessie nodded, seeming to struggle with herself. "Is - is she okay?" she suddenly said in a rush, her eyes shining with tears again.

"Shouldn't you ask her that yourself?" Aaron pointed out gently.

"This morning she crossed the road to avoid me," Jessie snapped. "I think that says it all."

"I can speak to her for you - if you want," Aaron hesitantly suggested.

Jessie just nodded, biting her lip before turning away from him.

"So you're heading out into the wild blue yonder again?" Holly said, throwing herself down onto the loveseat.

"No shit, Sherlock," Alexis said, rolling her eyes.

Holly flipped her the middle finger. "I s'pse anything's better than seeing Spencer pouting about the place," she then said, examining her bitten fingernails airily.

"I'm blaming you for that," Alexis accused. "You're the one that ditched him."

"You're the one who told me to!" -

- "No cat-fights!" Eric interjected, silencing both girls. "I feel so guilty about you going out there," he then said, squeezing Alexis's hand, his eyes anxious as they scanned her sullen face.

"No, I'm glad to," Alexis tried and failed to say lightly. "I'm going stir-crazy in this cess-pool."

"That sounds suspiciously like sedition," Aaron observed, coming through the doorway.

"I love it when you go all West Wing on me," Holly said, rolling her eyes this time.

"I prefer him when he's doing his Basil Fawlty impression," Eric twinkled, making Alexis smile despite herself. Eric's almost obsessive love for all things twee, quaint and most of all British, had become an in-joke in Alexandria, amusing Alexis no end. Whilst Aaron collected car number plates, Eric secretly hoarded tea-cosies, the more bizarre, the better, Alexis coveting anything with a cow on it.

"Did you get the jars of applesauce okay?" Alexis then asked Aaron as he set his backpack down on the coffee table.

"I had to literally prise them from your sister's fingers," Aaron joked, only to stop short at the sight of Alexis's face. "Look, you should really go and see her before we leave, Alex," Aaron then said quietly, exchanging a glance with Eric. "She's worried about you."

"If she's really that worried, why doesn't she leave that bastard she calls a husband?" Alexis snapped, tears springing to her eyes. "Why does she put up with his shit - why do we all put up with it?"

"It's not just the roamers or walls that keep us in here, kid," Aaron said, sitting down beside her, "it's the fear."

"I'm not scared of Pete," Alexis said, flaring up.

"No, but we're scared of losing him," Aaron said gently. "He's the only proper medical personnel we have."

"But that doesn't give him the right to do what he wants."

"I'm not saying that" -

- "But you are," Alexis argued, getting to her feet. "You're all Team Pete now because he saved Eric's leg."

Aaron stared at her, before looking away, his jaw tightening.

Alexis glanced at the door, before pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Look, I'll meet you by the gate," Alexis said, struggling to keep her voice civil, Aaron acknowledging her with a brief nod of his head. "See you later, alligator," she then said with some difficulty to Holly, their old catchphrase catching in her throat.

"In a while, crocodile," Holly said with a smart salute.

"Bye," Eric said softly, giving her hand one last squeeze. "Stay one step ahead, sweetie."

"Always do," Alexis said, "and always will."

Eyes stinging from the black smoke, new hope
Loose rope, risen from the undertow...