When Daryl and Rosie walked down the stairs to the cellar, the first thing they saw was Henry, sitting on the floor outside of the cell, and then Lydia, sitting right across the bars from him. "She didn't want to be alone," Henry reasoned. Rosie wondered why Lydia didn't want her to stay down there with her, but she wanted Henry to. Maybe Lydia just like Henry better. He'd spent more time down there with her, considering he was trapped in a cell himself. Either way, it didn't matter, so Rosie pretended that she wasn't wondering that at all and went to lean against the wall. 

Daryl was looking between Henry and Lydia with an expression that Rosie couldn't make out. It seemed like he was confused and annoyed and unbothered all at once. It didn't make sense. "My ear hurts. Everything hurts," Lydia said quietly, her voice tired and raspy. Rosie felt bad for her. She hoped Daryl would let her out soon. "You still have those pills?" Lydia asked Rosie. 

"Um, no, not right now, but I can get more from the infirmary," Rosie said, giving her a small, tight-lipped smile. 

"Thank you," Lydia said, returning the small smile. Lydia's smile only made Rosie's smile grow wider, so she turned away and looked at her shoes instead. It gave her a weird feeling and she couldn't tell if it was good or bad. After a moment, Daryl set down the tray and grabbed the ladle. He dipped it in the pot of water before carefully and hesitantly handing it to Lydia between he bars. Instead of doing anything impulsive or irrational, this time, Lydia took the ladle, sipped the water, then handed the ladle back to Daryl. "My mom's not coming for me. None of them are. If someone dies, or gets taken, or whatever, they move on. Like they never existed. That's how it's always been," Lydia explained, more to Daryl than to anyone else. Whatever happened last night must have changed her mind about everything, because she was suddenly calm and cooperative, when all she'd been before was hostile and resistant. "They don't come into contact with big groups unless they don't have another choice. That's why I- I was trying to find out everything I could about you guys," she said, gesturing between Henry and Rosie. "So then when I escaped, I'd have something to give them. A reason for them to take me back."

"Your her daughter," Henry said, his eyebrows pinched together with sadness. He just didn't understand how a parent could care so little for their kid. "Does that not matter?" Henry asked. Lydia didn't give an answer. She only looked down at her hands. 

"What about our missin' people?" Daryl asked, leaning his arm against the bars. He was calm, collected, and not angry-sounding at all, which seemed to work better than scaring the poor girl.

"If my mom found them... I can't think of a reason she'd keep them alive," Lydia said. Henry looked away and Rosie looked at Daryl to see if he'd finally get angry, but he didn't. "Sorry."

"She got a camp somewhere?" Daryl asked, still as calm as he was when they walked in there.

"Near the guard bridge. Maybe a mile east," Lydia said. Rosie was very glad she'd had a change of heart. Maybe she could actually become a part of the community. Rosie wasn't even sure why she wanted Lydia to be a part of the community so badly. She just did. She liked her. She seemed like she could be good, and she had nice eyes. Rosie almost rolled her eyes at herself for thinking that. "But we don't... they don't stay in one place for long," Lydia added. 

"The story about your family..." Henry said. Rosie wasn't sure what Lydia's story about her family was, because, unlike Henry, she hadn't been eavesdropping every second of every day. "Was any of it true?" Henry asked. 

"I thought all of it was. I needed it to be. But I had it all mixed up. It was a lie, but the lie wasn't mine. My mom... she told it to me... over and over, for years. But... deep down, I knew... I knew what she was, and... I knew what she did," Lydia explained, her voice getting shaking and her eyes filling with tears. Part of Rosie wanted to try and comfort her, because she knew how hard it was to talk about your parents like they were bad people, when all you wanted was for them to love you. "My mom wanted us to leave, and my dad didn't. He went to see if there was a clear path to the stairs. So he went out there, and my mom followed him... then he was against the wall, scared, and my mom was there. Had that cold look in her eye. Then she- she got her knife. And then she-" Lydia couldn't finish. Her voice broke and she bowed her head, trying not to let herself cry. 

"It's ok. It's ok," Daryl said in a comforting sort of voice. He had sat down on one of the chairs outside the cell, and he had his hands in front of his mouth. Henry had found a spot to sit, too, but Rosie stayed standing against the wall. "We've heard enough," Daryl said. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I'm sorry I wasted your time," Lydia said, her voice wobbling with her words. 

Girl's too messed up. She's a waste a' time. That's what Daryl had said. "You didn't," Daryl said, getting up to leave. When he left, Henry followed, leaving only Rosie and Lydia in the cellar. 

"Do you want me to stay or leave?" Rosie asked, fidgeting with her sleeves. 

"Will you stay? At least for a little while?" Lydia asked. Rosie nodded and sat down on the other side of the bars with her knees pulled up to her chest. She was glad Lydia wanted her to stay. She wanted to get to know her better- she wanted to get to know who she was when she wasn't so afraid. "Thank you for helping me last night. Sorry if I freaked you out," Lydia chuckled awkwardly, sniffing and wiping her tears off of her cheeks.

"Nah, it's ok. Can't control it. Same thing happens to me sometimes," Rosie said, giving Lydia what she hoped would come across as a sympathetic look.

"Really?" Lydia asked, raising her eyebrows a bit.

"Yeah. When I'm thinkin' so much at once that it makes it so I can't breathe," Rosie said, pressing her lips together. She didn't usually talk to anyone about this, aside from Daryl and Maggie, and, very occasionally, Ian. But knowing that Lydia had the same experiences sort of made it easier to talk about. "Daryl helps me, though," Rosie said, giving a small it's ok type of smile. 

"He doesn't seem like he'd be that good at that," Lydia murmured, pulling on the sleeves of her dirty shirt.

"He's better than you'd think he is," Rosie said, looking down and playing with her shoelaces. Lydia let out a small, quiet laugh, but Rosie couldn't tell if it was real or not. Lydia kept picking and pulling at her clothing, and Rosie knew it was probably uncomfortable to still be wearing that, so she cleared her throat and asked, "You want me to get ya clean clothes?"

"Yes, please. That'd be great," Lydia said, nodding her head. She gave another small smile, and there it was again- that strange feeling in Rosie's stomach. She took a deep breath and got up to go and get the clothes, trying to ignore the feeling. 

So up the stairs, she went, off to find some clothes that would fit Lydia. But just as she got up the stairs, she heard Tara scream, "Daryl!" Rosie let her eyes search for Daryl until they find him, running towards the guards' post platform. Wanting to know what was going on, Rosie followed him. She climbed up the ladder, and when she got to the top, she could see that Daryl, Tara, and one of the new people were up there, too. 

On the other side of the gates was a group of people. Most of them were wearing walker skins on their faces, but one of them wasn't. She had no hair and her face was covered in dirt. "I am Alpha," she announced, her voice loud and powerful. She had a thick accent. "And we only want one thing from you. My daughter," Alpha said. Upon hearing those words, Rosie realized that this woman- this Alpha- was Lydia's mother. The people around her stared straight forward, scattered around the road. Rosie could see something moving in the corn. 

"What is that?" she whispered to Daryl. 

"Connie," Daryl answered, just as quietly. Rosie looked to her left, where Connie's sister, Kelly, was standing. She had binoculars in her hands and was looking around frantically. Rosie hoped Kelly wouldn't lose her big sister. She liked Connie. She liked how Connie said Daryl and Rosie looked alike. And she liked her smile. 

"Our community is more than capable of defending itself!" Tara shouted down to the group, her voice firm and strong. This was her first time dealing with something like this as a leader. First, it was Gregory, then it was Maggie, then Jesus, and now it was Tara. 

"I show you my face because we mean you no harm. I just want my daughter. I know you have her," Alpha said. She was calm and collected, but in a threatening way that made Rosie's stomach churn. Lydia was wrong. Maybe her mom wanted her more than Lydia thought she did. But that didn't mean her mother loved her. Rosie didn't want Lydia to go back to her mother. Sometimes, she had nightmares about ending up back with David. She didn't want that to happen to Lydia. A nightmare come to life. 

"You should turn around. Leave now and no one gets hurt," Daryl said in a threatening tone. Rosie was glad that he wasn't going to give up Lydia. He really did have a change of heart. 

The problem was, though, that Alpha and her people didn't move a muscle. They stood their ground. "Wrong answer," Alpha said, standing tall. Then, she held her hand high up in the air. A moment later, many more humans in walker skins emerged from behind the corn. Alpha had many more people than Rosie ever would have guessed. How had she convinced that many people to wear walkers' faces over their own?

"They don't see her," Kelly whispered to one of the other new people, who Rosie hadn't met yet. Then, Kelly sighed. "Least not yet," she murmured.

"That girl told me what her mom does to her. We ain't sendin' her back to that," Daryl said in a quiet, gruff voice. Rosie was extra relieved to hear it out loud. 

"Yeah, but what if she has Alden and Luke?" Tara asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "Pissing her off could get them killed."

"Then kill her," Rosie said, her voice tense and her jaw tight. She turned a bit to look at Daryl. "You won't miss. I won't either. We could just do it now."

"You know how stupid that'd be," Daryl said, shaking his head. Of course, Rosie knew how stupid that'd be. If they killed Alpha, then her people would probably kill Luke and Alden. They had to be strategic about this, and Rosie knew that, but at the same time, she wanted Alpha dead. 

"Did you kill our friends? We found their horses," another one of the new people asked. Rosie wasn't 100% sure, but she was pretty sure she'd heard people calling her Magna.

"No," Alpha answered. Rosie wasn't so sure she believed her. "Which one of you leads these people?" Alpha asked. 

Rosie looked to Tara to see if she was going to answer, but Daryl did instead. "What the hell's it matter?" he shouted.

"Then I'll just address all of you. Your people crossed into our land. There will be no conflict. Your people killed our people. There will be no conflict. I'm done talkin'. Bring me my daughter, or there will be conflict," Alpha said, her voice firm, threatening, like she meant was she was saying. Rosie and Daryl had only been out of the woods for a week, and there was already a bunch of bullshit going on. Maybe they were better off out there. 

After a moment, Rosie turned to Daryl again. "She can't go back," she said, referring to Lydia, as she shook her head. 

Daryl nodded in agreement. "No one touches the girl," he said before turning away. Rosie agreed, obviously, but where was he going?

"Daryl," Tara said.

"Where's he going?" 

"Daryl, stop," Tara said, following after him. 

"Daryl?" Rosie said, widening her eyes. She hoped her eyes were saying what the hell are you doing? 

"Stay here," Daryl told her before climbing down the ladder. Rosie didn't want to listen, but she did, anyway, because Daryl would be pissed if she didn't. Sometimes it didn't matter whether or not she listened, but in dangerous situations like this one, it mattered a lot. This was one of those situations where he'd get really, really mad if she didn't listen. So she did as she was told. She went back to the ledge and watched as a few of Alpha's people walked off, but she wasn't sure what for. Then, Daryl walked out onto the path. Rosie thought maybe he'd stop right outside the gate, but he didn't. He walked all the way down the path, meeting Alpha at the end of it. 

Rosie couldn't really hear what exactly Daryl and Alpha were saying, but Daryl was speaking for a moment, and then he froze at the sound of a baby's cry. Rosie froze up, too. She searched for the source of the sound to see that one of the masked people had a baby in her arms, and she was cradling it, trying to get it to calm down. What the hell was a baby doing out there? You don't bring a baby to a fight, even if you're hoping it won't end up as a fight. There's always a chance that it will end up fatal, so you don't even take the chance. Everyone knew that. 

Then, the two people who had walked off before returned with two more masked people. They led them out to the middle of the field, then pulled the masks off of their faces and put knives to their throats. It was Luke and Alden. They had gags tied around their mouths and their clothes were dirty, but they didn't look hurt. They were about to be if they made the wrong move, though. The trade was Luke and Alden for Lydia.

Walkers- real ones- started to emerge from down the road and some of Alpha's people went to control them. Daryl started to walk back down the path, towards the gate, so Rosie climbed down from the platform. She met him on the other side of the gate. "What's goin' on?" she asked, her heart beating fast. What were they supposed to do? Let Luke and Alden die?

"We have to give up the girl," Daryl said, not meeting Rosie's eyes. 

"What? Daryl, you can't do that. You can't," Rosie said, following after him as he began to walk towards the cellar. Daryl didn't acknowledge her. "Daryl!" Rosie said, hitting his arm. "You can't!"

"I gotta," Daryl said, his voice showing that he was frustrated, even though he wasn't quite yelling. 

"But, she's gonna-"

"I know," Daryl said, pausing his walking to turn and look at Rosie. He gave her a sympathetic look, but Rosie still wanted to scream at him. "I know, Rose, but we don't gotta choice," he said. He turned back to keep walking to the cellar and Rosie pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, staying frozen for a moment before continuing following after him. 

"Daryl, Tara and Yumiko went to get Lydia," Magna said, walking quickly to Daryl. 

"What?" Daryl asked, clearly irritated.

"She decided while you were out there, when she saw Luke and Alden," Magna explained. Daryl started walking even faster to the cellar, and Rosie had to hurry her steps to catch up with him. 

"Hey, she's gone!" a woman- Rosie was pretty sure it was Yumiko- shouted, emerging from the cellar with Tara right behind her. 

"What?" Rosie asked, her eyes going wide. Where the hell could she have gone to? How could she have gotten out?

"Hell you mean she's gone?!" Daryl asked.

"Her door was open, key was in the lock," Tara explained, catching up with Yumiko. Who would have let her out? "Daryl, you know we have to do this."

"Henry did it. Fuckin' idiot," Rosie said, pressing her pointer finger and thumb into her eyes. 

"Alright, split up. We find Henry, we find the girl," Daryl said. Rosie wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she went off to look for Henry and Lydia with no plans of telling anyone if she found them. She was only going to help them hide, because Lydia couldn't go back to the monster that she called her mother. It wasn't ok. And, luckily for Rosie, she knew exactly where Henry and Lydia could be hiding. So she went exactly there.

Behind the trailers, to the secret exit that Sasha had dug for her, Ian, and Maggie all those years ago, when they needed an escape in case the Saviors showed up. On her way over to the exit, Rosie grabbed a gun and as many bullets as she could shove into her pockets. By the time she reached the exit, she was almost completely out of breath, but she kept going, anyway, because Lydia and Henry were out there, on their own, with no weapon, and Rosie had to find them before anyone else could. When she lifted the woodpile, she heard gasping from below. Then Henry's voice. Hurry, hurry, hurry, he was whispering.

"Henry, it's me. I'm tryna' help you," Rosie whisper-shouted, climbing down the ladder and into the tunnel. She took a deep breath once she got down there, because all she could think about was the note that she had read in that tunnel. The note Carl had written to her. The memory of Carl only encouraged her to help Lydia even more, because Carl had saved Siddiq, and then Siddiq saved Rosie's and many others' lives. 

"Since when?" Henry hissed, reminding Rosie of all the times she had gotten mad at him for trying to help Lydia. The problem was that he always happened to be helping in the stupidest and most dangerous ways possible.

"Since Alpha's got Luke and Alden," Rosie said, following them through the tunnel. She shoved the gun into her waistband. "Hurry up. Daryl's gonna get Dog, and he's gonna follow our scent. We gotta go, now." 

"You're being honest?" Henry asked, just to be sure.

"Yes! I'm not lettin' her go back to that if I can help it. It's shitty and they think it's the only option, but it doesn't gotta be. Let's go," Rosie said, ushering them up the ladder on the other side of the tunnel.