"We're not leaving." Rick stated. We were all in the cells room, talking and discussing what it is we should do next. Apart from Merle who'd we locked in the table room. I was on the upper level, sitting on the edge with my feet hanging over. Dad was pacing behind me. I hadn't spoken to him; I didn't want too... I did want too. I wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him that I loved him, but I was so mad and just as stubborn as him. So, I hadn't spoken to him.

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

"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie pointed out.

"We can't even go outside." Beth pitched in.

"Not in the daylight." Carol agreed.

"Rick says we're not running, so we're not running." Glenn stated.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle said sarcastically, leaning against the locked gate.

"You got a better idea?" Rick questioned.

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

"We ain't scared of that prick." Dad spoke up.

"Y'all should be." Merle said. "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, shit, he could just starve us out if he wanted too."

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie suggested.

"No. He's got a point." Dad said begrudgingly. Me and Sophia shared looks, she was sitting on the stairs.

"This is all you! You started this!" Maggie yelled to Merle's smug face.

"What's the difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth spoke up.

"I said we should leave." Hershel stuck by his argument. "Now, Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel reminded us, Rick started to walk away so Hershel stood up. "Get back here!" He yelled, forcing Rick to stop but he didn't turn around. "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."

I was sitting on Sophia's bed, playing Uno with her. Suddenly, dad came into view in the doorway. "Sophia, you mind if I talk to Ellie a minute?" Dad requested.

She nodded. "Sure. Ellie, don't cheat." Then Sophia left. Dad came over to sit where she was.

I picked up Sophia's cards to see what she had, I laughed quietly as I realised I was going to win before putting them down. "I thought she said to not cheat." Dad commented. I glanced up at him before going through the pile, trying to find a pickup four to swap with my green eight. "I'm sorry I left."

"Which time?" I asked.

Dad sighed. "All of them."

I hummed. "Okay, that's cured my childhood trauma. You can go now."

"Look at me." Dad begged, gently taking the pile from my hands and putting it back on the bed. "I wish I was there for you, growing up. I wish I was there for you, for all of it."

"The beating or my first steps?" I questioned.

"Don't do this." Dad shook his head.

I scoffed. "I needed you, and you left. Every damn time. Now, you didn't know what mum was doing but that didn't warrant you only visiting twice a year. You're my father and it feels like you abandoned me every opportunity you could. Hell, you left Sophia after you said you'd be there for her."

"I wish I could get you to understand... Merle's my brother-"

"And I'm your daughter." I interrupted. 

"Before the end of the world... Me and Merle were together all the time. He always had my back no matter what. Always pulled my ass outta the fire. I couldn't just leave him, after everything he's done for me." Dad explained.

"Then why couldn't you take me with you?" I asked softly.

"You're attached. To everyone here. I'm not saying that I ain't, but you're just a kid. You deserve this family. The family you didn't have when it was just you and your mama. Besides, you know how dangerous it is out there. How could I forgive myself if I put you in that position again?" Dad ranted. I looked down to the bed. "I love you, princess. I really do, more than anything in this world. Just because I left with Merle doesn't mean that anything changed."

"It changed for me." I answered. "Now, can you go please? I have a game of Uno to win." I looked back down to my cards. Dad stayed, looking at me for a few seconds before he slowly got up and left.

"Everyone get into positions! Someone's coming up to the prison! I think it's Andrea!" Maggie's voice echoed through the cell block.

We all got ready. Me, Sophia, Carol and Glenn were up on the outside path that connected our cell block to another bit of the prison we didn't really go in. The others were down on the ground, advancing to the gate, slowly. We saw Andrea walking up the path to the fence next to the yard. She had a walker on one of them sticks that they used on the fight night to surround my dad and uncle Merle with walkers. Somehow, this made the walkers not notice her, she was blending in.

Andrea abandoned her walker when she got to the gate and my dad let her in. When I saw it was only Andrea, I went back inside after watching Rick force her to turn around and drop her gun. He was searching her for weapons, and she looked confused and a bit scared. I didn't wanna watch that, so I went back down to the table room to wait for her. I sat on one of the tables. Alone.

Finally, Carol, Sophia and Glenn came back from the pathway and the others came back from the yard. Rick came in first with Andrea right behind him. As soon as Carol and Andrea were close enough, they hugged each other tightly. I forgot that Andrea saved Carol that night on the farm when the walkers attacked. Dad came over and sat next to me, I could feel his eyes on me and I could see Merle watching us, but I didn't look at either of them.

"Hershel, my god." Andrea let out when she saw his lack of leg. She turned in a circle as she looked around. "I can't believe this... Where's Shane?"

"He's dead." Rick responded, bluntly. 

"And Lori?" Andrea pushed.

"The baby didn't make it. Turned into a walker before she could give birth." Hershel responded.

Andrea's jaw dropped. "Oh my god."

"T-dog's dead too." I responded.

"I'm so sorry." Andrea looked sympathetic. "Rick, I-" Andrea took a step towards him, but he took a step back. He was clearly still upset about the whole Andrea and the Governor thing. Andrea took a deep breath before speaking again. "You all live here?"

"Here in the cell block." Glenn nodded.

"There." Andrea pointed. "Can I go in?" Andrea started walking towards it, but Rick stood in front of her.

"I won't allow that." Rick denied.

"I'm not an enemy, Rick." Andrea reminded him.

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence and shot us up." Rick responded.

"He said you fired first." Andrea furrowed her eyebrows.

"He's lying." Rick stated.

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel added.

"We liked him. He was one of us." Dad continued.

"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea shook her head. "As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shootout." 

"That was days ago." Glenn pointed out.

"I told you; I came as soon as I could." Andrea replied. None of us said anything to her. Andrea turned back to Michonne. "What have you told them?"

"Nothing." Michonne stated.

"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd one out?" Andrea questioned.

"He almost killed Michonne, he would've killed us, and he beat Ellie." Glenn reminded her.

"I didn't know that he hit Ellie but wasn't it Merle's finger on the trigger. Wasn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you, Glenn?" Andrea raised her voice. She sighed and ran her hands down her face. "Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Phillip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out." Rick denied. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

"We can settle this. There is room for all of you at Woodbury." Andrea tried.

Merle chuckled. "You know better than that."

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel questioned. "Did he say that?"

"No." Andrea denied.

"Then why did you come here?" Rick asked.

"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack." Andrea said to us. I ran my hand through my hair and glanced at Sophia. She looked just as worried and scared as I was.

"I tell you what. Next time you see Phillip, you tell him I'm going to take his other eye." Dad warned her.

"We've taken too much shit for too long. If he wants a war? He's got one." Glenn said angrily.

Andrea turned back to Rick. "Rick, if you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's going to happen. He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make this right? Get us inside." Rick tried.

"No." Andrea shook her head.

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick said, heading towards the cells.

"There are innocent people in there, Rick!" Andrea called after him.

I was sitting in mine and Sophia's cell, sitting on my bunk and playing with Teddy and the Barbie doll Santa had brought me for Christmas. Andrea suddenly walked into my cell. "Hey." I smiled at her.

"Hi, Ellie. It's good to see you again. Under different circumstances this time." Andrea nodded.

"It's still not the best though." I sighed, putting down Teddy and my doll.

"Before I leave, I wanted to apologise." Andrea started.

"For what?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nobody can blame you for staying in Woodbury to survive."

She smiled at me. "Thank you for saying that, but I was talking about something else. That day your mum took you into the woods. You asked me to help you, I didn't... If I stepped in your mum would still be alive. I'm sorry."

"She was trying to kill me. My mum, I mean. She pointed a gun at my head." I responded. 

"Oh my god." Andrea breathed out.

"It worked out in the end. You don't need to feel guilty." I smiled at her.

"It's good to see you again. I missed you and everyone else." Andrea said softly.

"We missed you too. We would've come looking, ya know. But T-dog saw you go down." I informed her.

She nodded. "Thank you... I hope I'll see you again. Hopefully, under better circumstances than we're in now. I'm going to try and fix this."