We stand in Gregory's office and I have my arms crossed beside pop and he says "oh you were very brave staying in here while maggie and Sasha saved this place your courage was inspiring". I snicker from beside him and maggie hits my arm with her shoulder and Gregory says to him "hey, don't you work for me? aren't we friends?". I roll my eyes and I say "no I wouldn't even use that word for you I would call you a coward". Tara turns to me and sends me a smile as rick tries to talk with Gregory and I just tune everyone out and then I hear Gregory say "sometimes Ricky you have to count the blessings you have".

I push my hand through my long brown hair it's about time for a haircut I am about ready to force my knife down Gregory's throat. My bed and breakfast manner is about done and over with and maggie says "how many people can we spare? how many people here can fight?". I feel pop wrap an arm around my shoulders and Gregory says to maggie "we? I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret". I scoff and roll my eyes at Gregory as we try to talk with him with this argument it's an endless cycle like a figure eight.

I turn to tara when I hear her speak up "you're wrong when people have a chance to do something right, they usually step up I mean people just-" Gregory cuts her off "let me stop you before you break into song, okay?". I growl at him and threaten "cut her off again and I'll throw my knife at ye and I don't miss Gary". I feel pop pat my back which is his way of telling me to calm down. I see tara smiling from beside my dad at me I turn when I hear rick start to get mad "would we be better off without the saviors, yes or no?".

Michonne steps in front of him trying to calm him down and I don't fight the smile that formed that was sweet and cute. "Yeah. Sure. Okay" I run my hand through my hair and I see dad getting angrier and angrier out of the corner of my eye. I bite my lower lip as I hear Gregory say "I didn't say we had a problem. You did"

I roll my eyes at him and I growl from still beside maggie and pop and Gregory continues "and what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview". I scoff and I hear my dad speak up for the first time since we came in here "what the hell, man?". I see tara look down at her feet and I move from maggie and over to my dad and she whispers "let him say his piece, dally". I relax under her hand and my dad says "you're either with us or you ain't you're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth."

I smile at what my dad said and Gregory says goodbye to us and he tells us to leave and we all walk out and I growl when I hear Sasha say "I wanna knock that idiots teeth out". Tara still hasn't let go of my hand but I notice my dad looking at us so I let her hand go and she looks sad that I let her hand go and we all walk outside and we see a group of people with Bertie at the front. I smile at enid and Chrissy makes her way to me and stands behind me and places her hands on my shoulders. I lean against her and I hear dad say "well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers to blow em up burn em to the ground".

I nodd at him and I say "yeah dad's right maybe if we go further out like go to army bases and they're probably cleared out because the army and everyone were on the front lines of this when it happened they could have extra ammo or guns there". Carl nodded in agreement and so does Chrissy "she's right dad maybe we could send out a group and just hope they don't run into the saviors". I run my hand through my hair and rick says "we'll think about that we need more hands, another group negan has outposts". We continue to walk to the gate and we stop at the front and he says "the geography, the distance works against us we gotta get back if they come looking for daryl we need to be there".

We stop when we hear pop say "you don't have to get back" I turn around and I feel tara's gaze once again on me and pop continues "not yet" he brings out a walkie talkie "it's one of their's, long-range". I cross my arms over my chest and he continues as I see enid and carl holding hands I smile at them awww how cute young love "we can listen in, keep track of them". I smile at him and I ask "so, if we're not going back, what are we doing, pop?" he sends me a smile and he says "I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel". A bright smile crosses my face and he says "King Ezekiel" I fist bump "yes I've been wanting to meet him for a while".

"King?"

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We all pile into a suburban and some of us had to pile onto each other and of course, I had to be the one in tara's lap. I giggle when I feel tara's hand glide over my tickle spot "tara I swear to god if you don't quit tickling me I will knee you in the crotch". She chuckles and she says "that doesn't hurt that bad" I giggle sarcastically "not if you weren't a soccer player for four years I was and my kick packs some heat". I hear everyone snickering and dad says "she was her kicks are very powerful" when we finally got there and I stay rooted beside pop and he grabs my hand I send him a soft smile.

We got to king Ezekiel and I find myself smiling when we come face to face with shiva Ezekiel's pet tiger and we move closer I was the closest to shiva. She lays down beside king Ezekiel's throne and I see dad looking between shiva and myself I send him a raised eyebrow he shakes his head at me as rick and Ezekiel talk back and forth. My eyes were solely on shiva and she lays down in front of me like she was wanting me to pet her I hold my wrist out to her and she sniffs my hand. When she laid her head down I place my hand on the top of her head and I hear her start to purr I giggle quietly I see jerry sending me smiles and I see my dad smiling at me.

I love how soft her fur was she was a magnificent creature she raises her head and leans into my hand it seems with time if you don't show fear towards her she won't need a reason to roar or attack. I feel my dad stand behind me he leans towards her and she sniffs his hand like she did mine and when she realizes he is safe I remove my hand and she leans into his hand as she did mine. After the king, Ezekiel tells us he will tell us his decision in the morning and the following day he told us that he wouldn't stand with us because of how peaceful it was before we leave I get beside shiva and I say "you take care of him okay?". She leans her face against my face and I hear pops and everyone laughing she rubs her fur against my face I snicker and I say "you stinker".

I kiss her forehead and she purrs and Ezekiel says "she happens to like you lady dahlia" I send him a smile and I say "yeah well the feelings mutual lady shiva". I rub her sides and she hops up and places her paws on my shoulders and leans her head closer to me I start laughing like she was giving me a hug. I hear my dad let out a relieved breath "good lord kid I was thinking she was attacking you" she hops down and I hear king Ezekiel start to laugh and jerry says "shiva wouldn't hurt a fly dude unless she feels threatened". I smile at her and after we leave I hear Ezekiel say my dad could stay here and hide the saviors don't step foot inside these walls.

I smile at him and I walk beside carl and tara tries to talk to me but I was still mad that she called me a kid which to her I was but let me tell you she kissed a kid too. I keep trying to forget about the kiss and we stop in the road after we left the kingdom and carl says when we find a steel cable with sticks of dynamite "this is for a herd". I nodd in agreement and rosita says "yeah that's why it's a steel cable it's not just for one walker". I stand off to the side beside pop and he places his hand on my shoulders and Sasha says "we need these explosives".

I cross my arms over my chest and rick says "we need to figure out how to disarm it first" rosita gets low and brings out a black container and tara chuckles nervously and backs away. I shake my head and rosita says "backing up is not gonna make a difference if this thing goes off" then we hear negan's voice over the radio and he says "we got ourselves a red situation I need a search party see if daryl went back like the dumb animal he is". I scoff and get angry and then pop rubs my shoulder and tara walks over to me and grabs my hand and she says "he's safe at the kingdom they won't find him there dolly". I see pop sending me a raised eyebrow and I say "thanks rae" she smiles when I used her nickname I gave her a long time ago.

She lets go of my hand and rosita says as she stands to her feet "we need to unwrap the secondary explosives the dynamite and the RPGs make sure these casings are not messed up and do not mess them up either this thing could still blow". We jump into action and follow her orders and I unwrap the dynamite easily and try not to blow us all to kingdom come. Then we look up when carl calls for rick and we see the herd coming around the corner and he says "we need every stick and every RPG Dahlia, Jesus, and Sasha can ya'll make it back to the hilltop on foot?". I turn to pop and he says "yeah we can come on guys" we hop over the guard rails and tara says "dahlia be careful".

I nodd at her and flash her a smile after she told me that and as soon as we got back to hilltop I grab an old history book inside the Barrington house. I keep turning the pages of the book and then I hear the door open and I see it's Chrissy and pop walk over to me and he asks "what are you looking for?". I smile at him and I say "army bases that are far away from the sanctuary if they are so far they won't be overrun now or some that won't be completely looted". He nodded and we carry them out of the room and towards our trailer and Chrissy says "okay here's one it's called 'US Army Corps of Engineering' it's in Norfolk, Virginia".

I nodd in agreement and I say "okay that will be our first stop then after we check there we'll go to another one it just depends if we don't lose the light". I look at pop and he says as he draws the lines on the map "that will be from here to Norfolk will be 1 hour and 31 minutes how many bases did you wanna hit?". I write down the name of the base that Chrissy found and I say "I was thinking three". I keep searching the names of the army bases around here and the only ones I came across were either abandoned or closed down they kept them updated before the modern world came crashing down.

I find a base called 'Fort Pickett' and I say "what about Fort Pickett?" he nods at me and he says "we can check that one it's in 'Blackstone, Virginia' I haven't been in years but it's worth a shot". I nodd and write that name down and I just hope they have guns in there I know it's a long shot but at least we're checking every angle and every nook and cranny. I smile and continue to write it down and I say "and we can check the other one at Virginia beach" he nodded in agreement. That night before we went to bed because it was gonna be a full day for us tomorrow and at dinner, pop asks from the front porch in front of the grill he was cooking chicken "so what's going on between you and tara?".

My eyes widened and I see Chrissy giggle quietly beside me I hit her arm and I say "nothing why?" he closes the lid and leans against the doorway and he says "I don't know it's just when she wouldn't let go of your hand is there something I should know?". I bite my thumb and I turn around and lean against the counter and I say "if I tell you something do you promise not to tell dad?". He chuckles and he nodded "I promise" Chrissy starts stirring the mac and cheese and I was fixing the mashed potatoes and I say "when I went on that run with tara?". He nodded at me and Chrissy stands beside me and gives me her undivided attention.

Pop sends me an encouraging smile and I say "and we found a community called oceanside and we told them we wouldn't tell them where they're group was because they didn't have anything we wanted or needed and when we fell asleep that night after dinner we shared a room and". I bite my lower lip and I could still feel the way her lips felt against mine and my thumb glides over my bottom lip and I bite my thumb and I say "and she kissed me but then she pushed me away when she still thought she had Denise waiting on her and she told me she didn't wanna waste her time on a little girl". Chrissy wraps her arm around my shoulder and I say "it was like a time bomb set into motion we knew we were destined to explode". Pop walks over to me and joins in on the hug session and he pulls both of us into his arms and I say "I don't know what to do pop".

I turn to him when he pulls away and he says "here's what we're gonna do when we leave here tomorrow and go find some guns and ammo we're gonna go to the outlet mall in Virginia and we're gonna get you some new outfits that will make miss tara weak in the knee's if she still sees you as a little girl well baby you gotta show her that you're a woman". I find myself smiling and Chrissy turns to the door and enid walks through it with a smile on her face and she says "and I can help with that too". I giggle and pop says "get over here enid get in on the hug" she dies laughing and pulls her in and I wrap my arms around her neck and we die laughing at that moment right there just being with my dad and my family made my heart leap for joy.