Disclaimer—I don't own or make claim to the characters from The Walking Dead. I only own my original characters

The King insisted on bringing Shiva with him to Alexandria. I cringe when I think about how Rick will react to that. We load up one of their vehicles with Shiva, Jerry and some guards and they follow us to Alexandria. We kept an eye out for roadblocks, but luckily there doesn't seem to be any in this section of the road. It seems the main roads are where they have set their traps. For now. All the way home I hope and pray that everyone at Alexandria is safe, that the saviors didn't find them, that they didn't get impatient and come hunting me and Maggie at the Hilltop.

Soon Alexandria comes into view. I drive up to the gate and open my door. "Open the gate," I yell as I stand in the door of the van. I see Rosita look down at me from the guard post and motion to them to open it. I drive through the gate and park just inside, leaving room for the truck behind me to park as well.

I climb out and see Rick, Glenn and all the others running toward us, alerted by the radio from the gate. Rick is jogging straight at me. I eye him. Crap, he looks like he's going to run right into me, he's not stopping. I take a couple of steps back, but before I can avoid it Rick has grabbed me in a hug and lifted me off the ground. I grab onto him with a squeak of fright as I dangle off the ground, he's got a good 5 inches on me. "You're back!" he declares while squeezing me tight. "How's Maggie?" he demands as he sets me back on the ground and holds my shoulders. Glenn and the others are standing there looking anxious for my answer. Woah. It takes me a second to regain my wits after that greeting.

"Maggie's OK and so is the baby," I say. "The Hilltop's Dr. is treating her and wanted to keep her there on bedrest for a bit to make sure she was alright." I hear a collective sigh of relief escape those present.

Right then King Ezekiel guides Shiva out of the truck and she roars. My friends all freeze in place with their eyes trained on Shiva now. Some raise their guns and Rick releases me to grab his. I see King Ezekiel take a defensive stance in front of Shiva.

"Woah, everybody just chill," I exclaim with my hands help up in a calming gesture. Rick looks at me and asks in disbelief, "Sandi, why is there a tiger in Alexandria?"

I look at King Ezekiel and ask, "Is there a chance that Shiva could go for a walk or something, just while I explain?" I hadn't expected him to pull her out that quickly. I had hoped that I'd get a chance to explain the tiger before they saw her. Whoops. King Ezekiel gestures to Jerry to take Shiva's chain leash. He says, "Jerry will take her outside to hunt."

"Thank you," I reply. I look at Rick. "Rick, I brought some friends to join us in a War Council." I see everyone's interest perk at the words 'war council.' "You already know Jesus, who is representing the Hilltop. This is Cyndie, who is representing her community, Oceanside." I gesture at the King, "And this is King Ezekiel of The Kingdom. You saw his companion, Shiva, already. She rarely leaves his side. These leaders have all have felt the weight of the saviors boot. They're here to talk about the potential of forming an alliance that could bring war to the saviors, that could take out Negan." Everyone just stares at me blankly as if I told them the Easter Bunny had just arrived ready to fight.

I turn to King Ezekiel and Cyndie. "Your majesty, Cyndie, this is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria. He is responsible for keeping our community alive." I give Rick a wide eyed look, urging him to say something, anything. To trust me.

He moves forward, extending a hand. "Your majesty, Cyndie, welcome to Alexandria. We are very happy to meet others who would like to join us in our quest." I almost burst out laughing. Quest. It didn't take him long to get into the spirit of things.

Luckily the King isn't opposed to shaking hands. He shakes Rick's hand and replies, "I am happy to greet you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria. You have a mighty advocate who told us of your quest. She is very persuasive. We have come to parley and see if our goals mesh with yours."

I urge them along a little bit. "Might I suggest taking this conversation to the war room?" OK, so it is a garage, but whatever. "It would be good for the leaders of each community to meet and discuss the threat there and then invite those needed to join as you discuss logistics."

Daryl gives me a wild eyed look. Oh, I bet this talk is just driving him crazy. I internally giggle, making sure to keep a straight face.

Rick gives me a look and agrees. "Yes, I'd invite you all to join me for a strategy session."

Rick leads the other leaders away, deep in discussion already. Thank goodness he caught on and that's going well so far. Good. That oughta keep him busy for a while.

Glenn comes over and hugs me in gratitude, whispering, "Thanks," in my ear. I look back at Glenn and whisper, "I told Maggie I'd bring you back to be with her as soon as I could."

He looks at me in shock. "We can do that? Do you think we can get through?"

I nod. "I think I've figured out their roadblocks. I have an idea. We'll have to slip out though, cause Rick will never authorize it."

Glenn looks conflicted. I don't think he's ever gone against Rick in his life. Finally he says, "OK, don't give me details. Just grab me when you're ready to go."

I nod. "Have a bag ready," I say and walk away. I have a delivery to make. Everyone else is just standing around in shock. Daryl looks at me. "You brought a damn tiger back?" he asks in disbelief. I just shrug. There is really no explaining Shiva. Seeing is believing. I tell the kids to go ahead and head back to the house and I'll meet them there shortly.

I grab Eugene and ask him to ride with me. We get in the van and drive it over to Eugene's place. I open the rooftop carrier and tell Eugene I have a surprise for him. I start pulling out the supplies I picked up from Best Buy. Eugene sees what I have and starts grabbing boxes from me. He looks up, "Do you know what we could do with this?"

I nod. "I suspected, and hoped that you could find a way to use them to our advantage in this war." He's almost giddy with excitement. I say, "Eugene, I'm under the impression that you're a smarty pants, so you can do this, right?"

He looks up at me. "I am indeed a smarty pants. If knowledge is dropped, I pick it up. I can get this up and running." I smile and pat him on the back. "Good," I say. "I'll help you get it all unloaded."

After I finish with Eugene I strategically park the van back outside. I talk to Jerry who has Shiva and lead them to an area away from the houses. Luckily Shiva looks sated from her hunt and curls up for a nap. I then head to the house. The kids are there, they just finished showering and changing. I gather them up around me after we have lunch. "I'm proud of you guys. You held up over a lot of travel. Through roadblocks, which I know were scary. You were quiet when you needed to be and did a spectacular job. Dad would be proud too."

Just as I'm about to continue, there's a knock on the door. Jordan answers and it's Daryl. "Rick wants ya in the so called 'war room'," he says. "The damn King is demandin' ya presence."

I look at the kids and they make shoo-ing motions with their hands. "Go Mom," says Kira. "Help make this place safe for us." I hug them and head out the door after Daryl. We take the short walk to Rick's garage. As I walk in, I hear the King proclaim, "There she is. Your master of strategy, creator of plans, persuader of people. I want to hear her proposal for how we can take the saviors down and win this war." I'm surprised and I look at Rick. He gestures me forward and says, "Jesus tells us you've been formulating a plan. Cyndie and the King and I would like to hear more about it." He gestures to the others gathered round, Michonne, Daryl, Abraham, Glenn and the usual crowd. "We'd all like to hear it." Wow. I thought I'd place a suggestion here, a nudge there, plant an idea over here. They are actually looking at me like they're interested. Well. I wasn't expecting this. I take a breathe. "I do have some ideas," I start. "What if we could pin them down at their main base for a bit? Give us time to take out their outposts, all of them, while they're occupied?" Rick looks thoughtful. "It'd be easier to get rid of the outposts without them being able to send for reinforcements, but how would we pin them down for long? Even with the four communities, it'd take all of us to keep them pinned down and that wouldn't leave enough to attack the outposts," he says.

I reply, "But what if we used the dead to pin them down? I've heard them talk about a herd on the highway. They've been able to block it off thus far and keep it from reaching the Sanctuary. They have it going in a big circle out there. What if we were to direct the herd where we need them? Make the dead start working for us? Didn't you direct the quarry herd the direction you wanted them to go before, so you have some experience with that?"

I can see the gears turning in his head as he stares at me, thinking it through. The King bursts out in delight, "Rick, your Sandi is a woman beyond measure. You are lucky to have her. Make the dead work for us indeed!" He chuckles. I look at him, realizing he misunderstands. He must have misconstrued that hug Rick gave me when we arrived. I say, "Oh no, we're not..." when Rick cuts me off, putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, "I am lucky to have her. Very lucky." I shoot a disbelieving look at him. What?

I'm just about to call him out when Michonne distracts me, asking, "OK, say we can direct the herd there. How do we make sure the most saviors possible are inside and pinned down? Who's to say we don't catch them when not many are home?"

"Timing," I reply. "The saviors have a monthly meeting. First Friday of the month like clockwork. 10am till noon, Negan is closed up with his Lieutenants. We strike then, during that time frame? We catch not only the most people, but all Negan's Lieutenants with their escorts from their outposts. The outposts will be more vulnerable without their leaders as well."

The whole room stares at me in shock at that little tidbit. I go on to explain my idea of getting the workers out to safety right before the walkers arrive. If we take out the sentries with snipers after the meeting starts then nobody will notice the workers leaving. If we get them out, then they won't fight for the saviors and it'll be to our advantage. I then lay out the idea for the blacksmith at Hilltop to attach armor to cars to protect us. Drive the cars up right before the walkers arrive to distract from the workers escaping and make them think we're attacking right then. Keep their attention on the front while we take the innocent out the back. Blow open the gates and send the walkers right in. Then we can contain them with little effort while we take out all the outposts.

Soon, others start throwing ideas out. Jesus suggests taking the workers to the Kingdom where they'd be safe since it's close. King Ezekiel agrees. Abraham brings up removing the sentries in outlying areas around the Sanctuary to ensure they don't see us coming. Rick mentions Eugene has come up with a way to produce bullets, that he could have a good supply ready for us in a week. Cyndie mentions that Oceanside has a large supply of weapons. The ideas just start flowing and soon I'm occupied writing them all down. This is good stuff, I want to make sure we don't lose anything. Daryl and Glenn both throw out ideas and I'm so excited. This is working. This is going to work, we're going to win.

At some point, someone brought in dinner and we ate while talking. By the time everyone is done, it's dark and I have pages of notes. I want to organize them so they make some sort of cohesive sense. I don't want to lose any of the great ideas everyone had. We actually have a plan, one that is stacked for us to succeed. I am amazed at how receptive to my ideas they were, in fact, they only shot one of them down completely. I scowl, it had to do with going in and taking Negan out during the chaos of the walkers when they first arrive. They decided it had too much risk, but I really think it would have worked. It would have eliminated the head of the problem right off and made sure he doesn't wriggle out and escape. Ah well, I'll bug them about it some more, maybe if I put some thought into it, make it less risky, they'll change their minds.

Rick has escorted Jesus, Cyndie and the King to their sleeping quarters for the night. Some of the other Alexandrians have already left for home. Just Daryl, Michonne, Glenn and I remain.

Daryl looks at me. "How the hell did ya round up those people so fast?"

I smile, "Well, I already knew where they were. I was going to tell you about the communities we could lobby to join us when I was giving you all information the other day, but then we got interrupted. I figured as long as I was out and about after dropping Maggie off, I may as well see if I could even get them to agree to talk. I knew our timeline was short until the next Lieutenant meeting and I didn't want to wait another month."

Michonne smiles, "Thanks Sandi. You really delivered on the intel along with some good plan suggestions."

I stand up. "Anytime. Well, I've got some work to do to get these notes straightened out," I say, heading for the door. "Possibly sleep for a week as well. Goodnight all." I get a chorus of goodnights and go home. A shower and my bed are all I want right now.

A/N I know, kind of a filler chapter. The planning needed to be done, and she managed to get all the leaders together. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter.

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