Ian was sick. Very, very sick. He spent all night throwing up and all day writhing in pain on the couch. Rosie was spending her morning trying to figure out how to fix him. But she wasn't a doctor. She had no clue what to do. Daryl still wasn't back and Carol was gone, too.

The two thought about going to the infirmary, but Ian could hardly stand up on his own, being so exhausted. When Rosie went to get Siddiq, she found that Ian wasn't the only one with the illness. It was almost everyone. It reminded her of the sickness that spread around the prison. She'd managed to make it out of that, so surely Ian would make it out of this. He just needed medicine... or something.

"I'm gonna get medicine from Siddiq and bring it back here. The whole infirmary is, like, packed," Rosie explained to Ian. He was still lying on the couch with his head buried in a pillow.

"Can you get me some more water before you go?" Ian asked.

Usually, Rosie would have said yes. But she was tired of rinsing out the bucket of his thrown-up water. "You're just gonna puke it all up again," she told him, shaking her head. Ian huffed in complaint. "I'll get you some once you got medicine," Rosie promised him.

"Fine. Thanks," Ian said, wrapping his arms around his stomach. His skin was pale and he kept going back and forth between feeling freezing and feeling like he was on fire. It was exhausting taking care of him. I need the blanket. No, get this blanket off of me! It's on fire!

Boys were just wimps whenever they got sick, Rosie decided.

"'Kay. I'll be right back," Rosie said before walking out the front door. She started making her way towards the infirmary, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Carol and Daryl walking down the road with a blindfolded man by their sides. "Oh, thank God. You're back," Rosie sighed in relief, rushing over to the two.

"Hey," Daryl greeted as she got over to him.

"Hi. Who's this guy?" Rosie asked.

"Whisperer. Lydia still in the cell?" Daryl asked. Rosie's stomach churned with anxiety upon hearing that the man just a few feet away from her was a whisperer, but she swallowed the anxiety back and tried to ignore it.

"Yeah. She's hardly left it. I woulda' tried to get her out, but I had to take care of Ian. He got sick and there ain't any room left in the infirmary," Rosie explained. She looked over to Carol, who was holding the man's tied-up hands behind his back. "He's been askin' for you," she said.

"I'll go see him in a little bit," Carol replied. She didn't seem like she was fully there. She seemed like she was a bit out of it. Her focus was fully on the whisperer in front of her and Rosie could practically feel the anger radiating from the woman.

"What d'you mean there ain't any room in the infirmary?" Daryl asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Tons a' people got it. It's like at the prison. 'Cept no one's throwin' up blood. Just stomach acid, at this point," Rosie explained. They got down to the cell that used to be Negan's and Rosie pushed open the door, holding it for the others.

"Come on. Get out. We need the cell," Daryl said to Lydia as they got inside. She was sitting, reading a book, but rushed out of the cell as soon as she was told to. Her face turned anxious as she passed by the blindfolded whisperer. Rosie wondered if she knew him.

As Carol pushed the man into the cell, Rosie left to follow after Lydia, who had hurried out of the building as quickly as she could.

"Hey," Rosie said, sitting down by Lydia's side on the rusty, old playground equipment.

"Hi," Lydia replied in her quiet, raspy voice.

"You ok?" Rosie asked. She quickly regretted it, though, because she always hated that question. Lydia probably hated it, too. "Sorry. Never mind. I hate the question," she said quickly. Lydia let out a quiet laugh that sounded fake. Rosie tried to think of a better question. "What's your favorite... planet?" she asked.

Lydia actually laughed that time. She even smiled a little, despite the pain it brought to her busted lip. "Not this one," she said.

"Yeah. Sucks ass here," Rosie replied, nodding her head. Lydia nodded in agreement. It did suck ass there. Everything all the time was just hurt. Except for when she was talking to Lydia. "Bet it's nicer on Neptune. I mean, we'd die there, but it looks pretty," she said.

"I like Saturn," Lydia said, the small smile on her face not falling.

"Saturn's good, too. Did you know a day on Saturn is only ten and a half hours here?" Rosie said, glancing over at the girl. The smile made the butterflies in her stomach act up again. She looked back at her shoes and took a deep breath. She needed to get over that.

"How do you know so much about everything?" Lydia asked, slightly amused and very impressed by the other girl's knowledge.

Rosie shrugged. "Eugene, mostly. And books. Did a shit ton a' readin' when I lived with just Daryl. He gets boring when he's grumpy," she said.

Hesitantly, Lydia looked over at Rosie and said, "You do, too, you know."

"Yeah," Rosie murmured, pulling at her shoelaces.

"I'm glad you're feeling a little better," Lydia said. Rosie nodded.

She wasn't feeling 100%. She still felt like shit a lot of the time, but now that she had something to do- take care of Ian- she felt a little less plain. That was the only way she could describe that feeling that kept her in her room all day. Plain. There wasn't really anything. She felt sad and angry, but somehow, at the same time, she felt nothing. It was confusing, but it was true. And all it made her want to do was lay in bed.

But now she had a job to do, and somehow, it made it easier to get up each day. Goddamnit. Negan was right.

"Me too," Rosie said, giving a tight-lipped smile. She untied her left shoelace and then tied it up again. "Just hope it'll last," she muttered. She was about to untie her shoelace again, just to keep her hands busy, but she froze in her spot and Lydia's hand slid over top of hers. Rosie's heart hammered in her chest.

It doesn't mean she likes you like that. She's just your friend, Rosie reminded herself.

"You know him?" Carol's voice snapped Rosie out of her momentary frozenness. She looked up to see Carol walking over to the two of them, Daryl walking behind her.

Lydia nodded, letting her hand fall back down to her side. Rosie took another deep breath. "He's the one that watched the Guardians. I mean, the walkers," Lydia explained.

"So he knows where your mother's horde is?" Carol asked.

"Probably," Lydia replied, anxiously bouncing her leg.

"You've put us all at risk!" Gabriel's voice shouted. Rosie looked to her right to see Gabriel marching over to them all.

"We have to find that horde before it shows up at our gates," Carol replied, clearly frustrated.

"So you decide for all of us? Knowing what it could mean?" Gabriel asked, his eyebrows furrowed and his arms held out at his sides like he couldn't believe what Carol had done.

"Doesn't matter anymore. We still gotta find 'em," Daryl said. Rosie could tell that he was a little frustrated with Carol, too. He was trying not to be. He was trying to be understanding. Carol's son was killed by Alpha. Of course, she was angry.

Gabriel shook his head, still annoyed. "I'm gonna be in there with you, and Siddiq is gonna treat his wounds first," he said.

"Siddiq doesn't got time. People are already dyin'. Our people," Rosie said, shaking her head. She didn't give a shit what happened to that piece of shit in that cell.

"He bleeds until he answers," Carol spat.

"That's not your call. None of this is," Gabriel argued. Rosie fought the urge to roll her eyes. Maybe Carol shouldn't have gone out and crossed Alpha's borders in the first place, but that didn't mean she shouldn't use the resources she brought back. It'd just be a waste to care for the man. "You did what you did, but I'm not gonna let it go from bad to worse, and I think the council would agree. Including Michonne."

Carol looked at Daryl for a moment. Rosie tried to see if they were saying anything in eye language, but she couldn't quite tell. After a moment, Carol looked down at Lydia. "Come on. You can stay with me," she said.

"Ian's on the couch. He needs medicine," Rosie told her. "I was gonna go get it, but, uh, I got distracted."

"It's ok. I'll get it," Carol said. She began walking to the infirmary and Lydia followed after her.

Rosie turned to look at Daryl and raised her eyebrows. "Thought you were just goin' to help at Hilltop," she said.

"I was. Got caught with a whole bunch a' other shit," Daryl replied. He began walking back home and Rosie followed. "Kelly was missin' when I got there. Helped find her," he explained.

"She ok?" Rosie asked. Daryl nodded. Now that she knew it wasn't serious, Rosie could make tease him. "How's Connie?" she asked, smirking at him.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "She's fine," he answered.

"Yeah? She ask 'bout me?" Rosie asked.

"No," Daryl said. Rosie furrowed her eyebrows, pretending to be mad at him. Daryl scoffed out a laugh at her. "You're feelin' better," he commented.

"A little. For now," Rosie said, nodding her head. She wasn't sure how long this alright feeling would last. Every time she remembered that Negan was gone, it started to slip away, but she'd been managing to pull it back so far.

"Good. How's Gage?" Daryl asked.

"I didn't hit him any more, if that's what you're askin'," Rosie said, rolling her eyes.

"That is what I'm askin'," Daryl said as they walked up the front steps. When they got inside, they could see that Ian had fallen asleep on the couch. "How's he?" Daryl asked, gesturing to the boy.

"Sick," Rosie replied, gesturing to the boy, too. "Are you gonna torture that guy?"

"Probably," Daryl replied, heading down to the basement, where he kept most of his stuff.

"Can I help?" Rosie asked from the top of the stairs.

Daryl paused on the steps, looking back at her. "No," he said. But Rosie wanted to help. She wanted to hit that guy a thousand times. She wanted to kill him, even. "Why you askin'?" Daryl asked her, furrowing his eyebrows. Rosie had never asked to help torture someone before, as far as he could remember.

What he remembered was her befriending the young man in the shed on Hershel's farm. He remembered Rosie calling that boy her friend and getting mad that he had hurt him.

After a moment of chewing her lip, Rosie looked down at her shoes. "He was in there," she said quietly. She swallowed back that anxious feeling again. "Siddiq shouldn't treat him. Have Dante do it," she said.

For a moment, Daryl watched her hesitantly. He couldn't help but worry that seeing the man would make her get worse again. "You good?" he asked, chewing his lip.

Rosie took a deep, shaky breath before nodding. "Yeah. I'mma go see if Siddiq and Rosita need someone to watch Coco. Rosita's sick," she said.

Daryl nodded, still with that concerned look on his face that made Rosie want to melt into the ground and disappear forever. She fought the urge to roll her eyes at his worried look and simply turned around. Just as she was about to leave, she paused and turned back to Daryl.

"Pisses me off when ya look at me like that, ya know," she said. Might as well let him know that it bothered her rather than pushing it deep down into the pit of her stomach where it would forever bother her silently.

"Like what?" Daryl asked. He hadn't even realized he was doing it.

"Like you gotta be careful 'round me or somethin'. It's stupid and annoyin' and makes me feel like shit. You don't gotta be careful 'round me. You gotta be how you always are, or else nothin's ever gonna go back to normal and I'm gonna feel like shit forever," Rosie ranted.

Silence lasted between them for a good three or four seconds, and then Daryl gave a firm nod. "A'right," he said. Rosie turned and went out the door while Daryl continued on down the stairs.

Rosie went straight to the infirmary, where she knew Siddiq would be. On her way there, she passed by Carol and Lydia, who were bringing medicine back to Ian. Rosie hoped Carol wasn't being hard on Lydia at all.

The infirmary was filled to the brim with people in beds, coughing and barfing and shivering and sweating. It was overwhelming just to walk into. Rosie couldn't imagine how Siddiq was feeling. He had to take care of all of them, and on top of that, take care of his daughter, and on top of that, there was now a whisperer within the walls that he was going to have to treat. Rosie liked Coco a lot, so she didn't mind watching her at all.

"Siddiq?" Rosie asked, stepping around the buckets and bowls at each bedside.

"In here," Siddiq called from the other room. Rosie found him in another room, preparing more medicine with one hand and holding Coco with the other as she cried and cried. Judith used to cry all the time, too, right after she was born. She stopped after a while, though. "Hey, Rosie," Siddiq greeted, once he saw that it was her.

"Hi," Rosie said, giving a small smile upon seeing Coco.

"How are you feeling?" Siddiq asked her. He probably just assumed that she was sick, now, too.

"Um, ok, I think. I'm not sick, if that's what you mean. Just weird havin' that guy here... did Gabriel come talk to you?" Rosie asked. She wasn't even sure if he knew what she was talking about yet.

"Yeah," Siddiq said quietly.

"He was there," Rosie told him, staring at the wall behind Siddiq. "I remember."

"Yeah," Siddiq said again. He was struggling to keep it all together lately, too.

Rosie took a deep breath and brought her mind back to where it was supposed to be. She looked at Coco again and her small smile returned to her face. "I was just thinkin' I could maybe watch Coco. Thought you might need a hand, with Rosita bein' sick," she said.

Siddiq snapped back to where he was supposed to be, too. "That'd be amazing," he said with a sigh of relief. "You don't mind?"

"I was askin' more 'cause I wanted to than 'cause I thought it'd be helpful, to be honest," Rosie said. Siddiq smiled and passed Coco over to Rosie.

"Thank you," Siddiq said as Rosie took Coco. "So much."

•

Rosie had been watching Coco for a good few hours. The sun had gone down just a little while ago and Rosie had managed to get Coco to fall asleep. She had cried for a little while- probably because she wanted her momma, Rosie thought. But Rosie managed to get her to quiet down.

It was only a few minutes after Rosie put Coco to sleep that she heard a loud thump come from upstairs. She thought nothing of it. Siddiq had just gone up there with Dante a little while ago. They probably just knocked something over. They were bound to be exhausted after such a long day.

Up until the third loud thump, Rosie was sure that they were just mistakes. But the third was too many. Too many for it to be normal or excusable. So she hopped up off the couch with Coco in her arms. If something was really going wrong up there, she didn't want to bring Coco with her, so she went next door to Rosita's house.

"Rosita," Rosie whispered as she entered.

Luckily, Rosita was awake, sitting on the couch with a book in her hands. "Hey. Is everything ok?" Rosita asked.

"Yeah. I think so. Just heard a noise and wanna check it out. Didn't wanna bring Coco," Rosie explained. Rosita held her arms out for Coco and Rosie passed the baby over.

"Are sure everything's alright?" Rosita asked once more.

"It's prob'ly nothin'. I'm just paranoid with that whisperer bein' here," Rosie said. She hadn't gotten the chance to check in on the whisperer situation. She'd been too busy with Coco to go ask Daryl.

"Ok. Scream if you need anything. I'll hopefully hear you," Rosita joked.

Rosie let out a small laugh. "You got it," she said, nodding. Now that Coco was safe, she could go and see what was going on with Siddiq.

Now, Rosie understood why everyone was so worried about her. Because now she was worried about Siddiq. He'd had a rough day. So Rosie just wanted to check in and make sure everything was alright.

"Siddiq?" Rosie called out as she crept up the stairs. When she got upstairs, she was about to knock on the bedroom door, but it swung open before she got the chance.

Dante stood in the doorway. "Hey, Rosie," he said with that all-too-happy smile on his face.

"Hi. Where's Siddiq?" Rosie replied.

"Is everything alright with Coco?" Dante asked. He knew Rosie was babysitting. Maybe he had assumed she was coming up to tell Siddiq something about that.

"Yeah. Where's Siddiq? What're you guys doin'?" Rosie asked, narrowing her eyes at the man. He always had a way of making her feel uneasy.

"We were just hanging out," Dante replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"What was all that noise, then?" Rosie asked. Dante didn't give an answer. He stared for a moment, and Rosie got an awful feeling in her stomach.

Just as that feeling erupted in Rosie's stomach, Dante lurched forward and shoved her back to the ground. Only then did Rosie notice the large knife held in his right hand. Just as he was about to bring it down and stab it into her chest, Rosie grabbed his wrist and twisted as hard as she could, forcing his grip to loosen on the knife, which went tumbling to the ground.

"Rosita!" Rosie screamed. She doubted Rosita could hear her, though.

Dante's hand flew over Rosie's mouth, quieting her down immediately. "Shhh," he hushed, just as all the Whisperers did. Panic infiltrated Rosie's entire body as Dante kept his hand pressed down hard over her mouth and nose. She could breathe. "Shhh."

He was in the barn. He was in the barn. He was behind Siddiq. Rosie remembered. She remembered it too well.

Rosie screamed into the man's hand as her hands searched the floor for that goddamn knife. Her lungs burned and her head felt foggy, but she forced her eyes to stay open. She kept feeling around for the knife, but there was nothing. As a last resort, Rosie began clawing at his face, trying to scratch his eyes.

In order to defend his eyes, Dante was forced to release her, giving Rosie the chance to scramble away towards the knife. She could see it hidden just beneath the dresser. When Dante managed to get ahold of her once again, she slipped her hand beneath the dresser and felt around until her fingers wrapped around the handle.

Just as her head began to spin again, Rosie stabbed the knife right into Dante's shoulder. His grip loosened immediately and Rosie used that as her chance to get the upper hand. She flipped him over and stabbed him in the chest once, twice, three times, until he was dead. Completely dead.

As Rosie fell back onto the floor, catching her breath and pressing her fingers against her sternum to feel her racing heartbeat, she began to hear a quiet growling sound coming from inside the bedroom. It only took a moment for Rosie to realize what it was. She quickly slammed the bedroom door shut as tears began to fall from her eyes.

Siddiq was dead. Rosie didn't have it in her to put him down herself.