CHAPTER THIRTY SIX » NEGOTIATIONS
"There's no me without you."

♔

"We need to talk," Glenn stated firmly as he stepped into our cell, his expression emotionless. I watched him with slight surprise as he stopped at the foot of the bed, slowly sitting down.

"Yeah," I replied, beginning to sit up properly. "We do. Glenn-"

He cut me off. "You and Daryl-" I couldn't help letting an annoyed groan escape my lips, but he continued nonetheless. "I get why you're so angry with him but-"

"There aren't any 'buts' Glenn," I interjected. "Daryl's being an asshole."

"Have you even stopped to consider-"

"Stopped to consider what, Glenn?" I bit back. "You know, don't even think about criticising me after the shit you've been talking-"

"I've been trying to keep us all together. I've been keeping us alive!" He defended, suddenly rising up from his position on the bed.

"Oh yeah, because proposing to storm back into Woodbury with no plan whatsoever is a great idea-" I shot back sarcastically, also standing, straightening my back. Glenn's attitude frustrated me, it had been doing all day, all week.

"I didn't see you doing anything about it," he snapped back in response. I raised my eyebrows, taking a step towards him, unable to comprehend how stupid he'd been to utter those words.

"I didn't do anything about it?" I practically yelled. "I spent all day trying to stop you from getting yourself killed! You think that's the best way to lead a group? You don't have a clue how to lead, Glenn."

He stared at me, almost bewildered by my outburst. He shook his head, and I instantly began to regret my words.

"Glenn-"

"Forget it."

I swallowed thickly, watching as he left the cell. I was too stunned to say anything, to get him to stay. Tensions were high and I'd been taking my anger out on everyone, but maybe I was really the one at fault.

~

It was quiet outside the barn.

Rick, Daryl, Hershel and I had left the prison sometime after my argument with Glenn. Andrea had proposed Rick meet with the governor to make some negotiations, and he, after some reluctance, agreed. It seemed to be an obvious decision that he'd take Hershel and Daryl with him, but I was a little surprised when he asked me to come along too.

Rick was inside with the governor and Daryl had gone to collect Hershel from the car. I stood, taking in my surroundings, keeping my eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. In my opinion, the whole thing seemed a little iffy. 

The sounds of tires pulling up nearby grabbed my attention. I began to move towards a beige coloured SUV that had pulled up. I watched in confusion as Andrea, a man in glasses and a dark haired guy stepped out of the car.

"What the hell?" Daryl questioned the three of them as I finally reached him and Hershel. "Why's your boy already in there?"

"He's here?" Andrea asked, seeming as if it was all news to her, a frequent expression I'd noticed on her face recently.

"Yeah," I started, glancing briefly at the two men with her. They didn't seem too intimidating. "What's going on?"

Instead of answering my question, Andrea shared a look with the two men behind her and headed into the barn. I looked at Daryl, who shifted his stare away from me. After a long while of awkward silence, Hershel spoke up.

"Maybe I should go inside."

"The Governor thought it best if he and Rick spoke privately," the man with glasses said, looking up from the notebook he'd been writing in.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl questioned, at the exact same time as I shot back, "Who the hell asked you?"

Daryl and I shared a brief look.

"Milton Mamet," the man started, seeming amused by the two of us.

"Great," Daryl interjected sarcastically. "He brought his butler."

I bit my lip, trying to stifle a laugh. The other man with Milton didn't even bother to hide his chuckle, which only caused him to become exasperated. "I'm his advisor."

"What kind of advice?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Planning," he replied. "Biters. Uh, you know, I'm sorry. I don't feel like I need to explain myself to the henchmen."

"You wanna say that a little louder, I didn't quite hear you," I bit back, sending glares the man's way, at the very same moment as Daryl spoke again. "You better watch your mouth, sunshine."

"Look, if you and I are gonna be out here pointing guns at each other all day, do me a favor, shut your mouthes," the dark haired man said.

I felt anger heating up inside me and struggled to keep my cool, the only reason I did being that Daryl stormed over to him instead.

"We don't need this," Hershel said, breaking up the cold stares the two were sharing. "If all goes south in there, we'll be at each other's throats soon enough."

Daryl lingered there for a few moments longer, before making his way back to my side. I crossed my arms, leaning against the car, not taking my eye off the governor's men.

The silence resumed again until Andrea appeared, the dark haired man shutting the door behind her as she put her face in her hands.

"There's no reason not to use this time we have together to explore the issues ourselves," Milton spoke up, making me look up into the air with a sigh. I wasn't sure what it was about the man, he just irritated me.

"Boss said to sit tight and shut up."

"Don't you mean the Governor?" Daryl asked.

"It's a good thing they're sitting down, especially after what happened," Milton said. "They're gonna work it out. Nobody wants another battle."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a battle," I mumbled, although he still heard me somehow.

"I would call it a battle and I did," Milton held up his notebook. "I recorded it."

"For what?" Daryl asked.

"Somebody's got to keep a record of what we've gone through. It'll be a part of our history," he said, which captured my interest. As much as I hated to admit it, that was a good idea; a documentation of everything.

"That makes sense," Hershel stated, and I nodded in agreement.

"I've got dozens of interviews-" He was cut off by a familiar low growling sound sounding from nearby.

Daryl and the dark haired man, who quickly grabbed a baseball bat from the car, immediately headed towards it, Andrea and I following close behind.

"After you," I heard Daryl say to the man, as three walkers shuffled towards us.

"No way, you first."

I huffed, glancing at Andrea who shared a similar expression on her face. I pushed past the two men, heading towards the first walker and slamming my knife into it's flesh. Andrea had just handled one and went to go for the other but the baseball bat man stepped in.

I heard more growling and turned behind me to see a couple more of them appearing. Once we'd taken them all out, I watched as Daryl rifled through a walker's pockets, taking out some cigarettes and offering it to the other man. The two of them began talking, obviously completely forgetting the previous tension between them.

I turned to Andrea, giving her a small smile. "How are you, Blaire?"

"I've been better," I shrugged, thinking back to everything and how everything had seemed to have gone wrong ever since Glenn, Maggie and I were captured.

The two of us began slowly heading back towards the barn. "Everything okay?"

"Not really," I said, glancing behind me at Daryl and the other man. I sighed, giving her a tight smile. "Story for another time."

"Hey, pretty, didn't catch your name earlier," the man said as I shot a sideways glance to Andrea, who gave me an apologetic smile.

"I'm Blaire," I answered curtly, raising my eyebrows. "And you are?"

"Martinez. Pleasure to meet you."

"Wish I could say the same," I responded, not here to make friends with the enemy. I heard Daryl chuckle, and we met eyes, but his smile fell slightly, causing me to sigh. "Daryl, can we talk?"

Before he could reply, I took his arm and pulled him back as Andrea and Martinez walked ahead.

Daryl watched me expectantly for a moment, not saying anything. I sighed, finally giving in. "I'm sorry." He shrugged. "Daryl-"

"It's alright," he eventually said, surprising me slightly. "You were right."

"Wait..." I trailed off, tilting my head as I looked at him. I did not expect it to be this easy. "I was right?"

"Don't make me say it again."

I felt my lips pull into a smile, thankful that Daryl let go of this argument easily. "Wanna hug it out?" I teased, opening my arms out, knowing full well that he wouldn't by the blank and unamused look on his face. "Nah? Suit yourself."

I patted him on the back as we reached the barn just as Rick and the governor left, heading silently to their different vehicles. I shared a look with Daryl, the two of us following Rick to the car. I caught Andrea's eye as I opened the passenger side door, and gave her a gentle nod before she disappeared again.

~

"So, I met this Governor," Rick informed the rest of the group once we were back at the prison. I leant against the wall, my heart pulling towards Glenn, who wouldn't even look in my direction. "Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you?" Merle questioned.

"Yeah."

He turned his head to Glenn. "Should have gone when we had the chance, bro."

I frowned, my eyes looking back in my boyfriend's direction briefly before turning my attention back to Rick.

The mood was low already. In fact, I didn't think it could get any lower. Apparently it could.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury," he paused and I took a deep breath. "We're going to war."

Rick's words lingered in the air for a while, everybody's faces going pale. I couldn't stand watching it much longer and was the first to leave, heading to my cell.

I was scared of course. I knew what the governor was capable of. And I knew that there were a hell of a lot more people in Woodbury than there were of us. They could easily be raising an army. We wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hey," Glenn's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, immediately feeling guilty about what I'd said last night. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure," I said as Glenn sat beside me, giving me a weak smile. "I'm sorry about what I said."

"You were right."

"Surprisingly, you're not the only person that's said that to me today," I said, causing him to exhale with a quiet laugh.

"When you left this morning and we still hadn't made up-" he cut himself off, shaking his head. "I can't be mad at you and I can't have you being mad at me."

"Me either," I agreed, taking his hand. "Glenn, what I said-"

"You're right, I'm not a leader," he stated firmly. "I'm not like Rick, I'm not like Hershel, I'm not like-"

"Nobody asked you to be," I replied, feeling incredibly bad to have been the one that made him feel like that. "People still listen to you, including me. You know that right?"

"They listen, yeah, but they look to you, Blaire," I glanced up at him. "They trusted you to make the decisions-"

"Glenn-"

"Today when you were gone, when Rick was gone, when Daryl and Hershel were gone, it was a mess. And a lot of stuff happened that shouldn't have," he shook his head, seeming to think back to it all. "I just- I know that if you were here instead, a lot of it wouldn't have gone down. Mostly because you don't take shit from Merle. But also because everyone would have looked to you like they'd look to Rick or Daryl."

"You still handled it," I reassured, although I was completely flattered by his words. I didn't know he thought like that. I didn't know that people saw me like that. I was always just voicing my opinions, trying to help get us somewhere. "I was out of order last night. We're a team and I should have had your back."

"We are a team, Blaire. But I'm glad you were there to shut down my ideas," he said, and I raised an eyebrow. "They were stupid and reckless and could have seriously put us all in danger."

"You were angry," I assured. "We all were. Especially me."

"The difference is that I let it affect my decisions. You put it behind you for the sake of the group," he shrugged. "I just didn't know how to do that."

"From now on, we work together," I said. "It was just me and you from day one, Glenn. We've always been a team and we always will be. There's no me without you."

He smiled, his coffee coloured eyes brightening up again, making me grin. "We're good?"

"We're good."

❃

Words: 2226
Published: 17th February 2017

Such tensions much high.

I'm glad Glenn and Blaire finally talked over their troubles. And Daryl and Blaire finally made up 😂 #TheBrotpIsBack

I'm looking forward to the next chapter...

Thanks for reading!