THE GROUP WALKED THE REMAINING PATH UP TO THE FRONT GATES,

Marcie kept a hand on her gun that sat in her waistband, in case anything happened and the group got attacked.

"Stop right there!"

Everyone raised their guns and Marcie glanced up to see two men guarding the gate, holding long spears in their hands. While she assumed they had good aim, the spears didn't seem all that intimidating to her.

"You gonna make us?" Daryl asked, aiming his gun at one of the men,

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" One of the men questioned his fellow group member,

Jesus, who was standing at the front of the pack, raised his hands to show that they weren't dangerous, "Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." He turned towards the group, "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." The first man, Cal, demanded,

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl growled out and Marcie fought not to roll her eyes at his attitude,

He always came off as such a hard ass, which he was. But once you get to know the hunter, he was sweet.

It took her months to break through his walls.

The doctor stepped forward, "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there."

"Lower the spears." Jesus demanded,

"Look, I'm not taking any chances." Rick told him in a lower voice, "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."

Vivian and the others lowered their guns, but Daryl and Abraham kept theirs trained on the guards holding the spears.

"No." He responded, turning to their leader, "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago." Jesus made eye contact with Vivian and Maggie, "I like you people. I trust you. Trust us."

Rick motioned for Abraham and Daryl to lower their guns and Jesus turned back to the guards,  "Open the gates, Cal."

The metal gates squeaked as they opened to reveal the Hilltop community. Vivian paused in the middle of the opening, her eyes widening. 

There was a dirt road that led up to a large house, but around it were wooden shelters and small campers parked. But that wasn't what surprised her. It was the cows and the chickens, the large garden, and the children running around.

It was more old school than Alexandria, but it was still a successful community. They were able to live without scavenging, having animals and produce on hand.

Rick placed a hand on her lower back, urging her to keep up. He gave her a nod, understanding her shock.

The people they rescued said their goodbyes, with he doctor informing Glenn and Maggie of where the location of his office was before separating.

The gates closed behind them and Jesus spoke, "There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them."

"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne asked him,

He pointed to the large brick house in front of them, it looked like it was built in the 1700s or something, "That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down." Jesus explained,  "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security. Come on. I'll show you inside."

He walked towards the front doors, and Rick shared a glance with Daryl and Marcie before the group followed the man.

Vivian had never seen a house like this before. Living in Chicago, all the houses she saw were either run down, or too flashy for her to be able to see the inside.

But this house, while it was nice, the inside was old in a classic American way. Wasn't her style, but she could picture a rich family in the 1800s living in that house, hosting parties and living off the land. Oil portraits lined the walls, and everything looked in pristine condition. Not even dust on the shelves.

"Good gracious, Ignatius." Abraham commented as Jesus closed the door behind them,

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces." Jesus told them, "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

"Wonder how you get moved up to the big house." Marcie muttered quietly as she stood next to Vivian, 

"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked,

"We plan to build." Jesus answered before glancing over to Maggie, "There's babies being born."

A set of double doors to their right opened to reveal an older man in a nice suit, "Jesus. You're back." He glanced around at all of them, "With guests."

"Bein' a rich, white man." Vivian whispered to Marcie,

"Typical." The younger woman scoffed,

"Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here." Jesus introduced them,

Gregory smirked and raised his arms, "I'm the boss."

Their leader nodded and stepped forward to address the man, "Well, I'm Rick. We have a community-"

"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory interrupted, pointing towards the stairs, his eyes glancing over Daryl's form,

"We're fine." Rick blinked slowly and gave him a tense smile,

Vivian could tell this guy was a pretentious asshole. She's dealt with a lot men like this in her life, and she knew she'd have to fight the urge to punch him in the mouth.

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready." Gregory stated, stepping closer to Rick, "It's hard to keep this place clean."

Vivian tilted her head to the side slightly, pursing her lips, "Assuming you got a maid to do that for ya."

The older man glanced at her, "Good help's hard to come by."

Before she could retort, Jesus stepped up, "Follow me."

The group began to follow him up the stairs, and Marcie turned to the hunter, "Can't fight the shower now."

"Shuttup." He muttered jokingly, nudging her ribs gently.

Rick turned to speak to Maggie, Vivian, and Marcie, "You three clean up first. Need you talk to him."

"Why?" Maggie asked their leader,

He hesitated, trying to find the right words, "I shouldn't. And you gotta start doing these things."

Maggie was a good person to use as a point of contact. She was the one who was following Deanna around, learning from the older woman who was good with her words.

But Vivian wasn't sure she should be trusted being in a room with that prick.

The group were separated into different bedrooms, allowed to use the bathrooms to shower and freshen up. Rick and Vivian went into one bathroom while Glenn and Maggie went to another.

Abraham and Daryl stayed in the common area by the stairs, keeping an eye out of the windows while waiting for the others, 

"How long do you think Rick and Vivian been ugging bumplies?" Abraham asked the hunter, who was standing by the window,

"I dunno." He muttered, not caring for the question or gossip,

The redhead stood, "You ever think about it? You and Marcie settling down?"

Daryl hesitated for a moment, thinking about the question. He wasn't sure where Marcie stood on the topic, they never discussed it.

She never brought it up.

"Ya think shit's settled?" Daryl asked him before stepping away, clearly uncomfortable with the discussion.

Once the women were cleaned up, they headed back down to knock on the double doors where Gregory was holed up.

"Just let me do the talkin'." Maggie muttered before opening the doors, "Gregory."

He glanced over at them, "Natalie, right?"

"Maggie." She corrected him,

"That's pretty close." He smiled, 

"Not really." Vivian stated, crossing her arms over her chest,

Gregory stood, "She calls them like she sees them. I like that. And you are?"

"Vivian."

"Marcie." The two women introduced themselves,

He nodded, "Come in, let's chat." Gregory herded them towards the couches and chairs on the other side of the room.

Vivian stood behind the couch while the other two women sat down in front of her, and Gregory took the chair across from them, "Jesus told me your group saved Dr. Carson. Obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back."

"My husband and Vivian saved him." Maggie responded,

Gregory gave Vivian a quick nod before saying, "I'll be sure to thank him, too."

"This place, what you have here, has been here since the start?" Maggie asked,

"That's right."

"And how...how is it- how have you survived here?" She continued, 

"You're looking at how. I'm good at this. And I don't get hung up on the details." He smirked and Marcie continued to dislike him and his ego, "Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop Colony?"

Marcie and Maggie shared a look, trying to find the answer. They have walls just like Hilltop, but they didn't have a garden or cows and chickens. But they did have solar power and houses with running water.

"It's just... different." Marcie answered,

"How do you feed everyone? Jesus said you had land for gardens, but no crops." 

"We just started planting." The farm girl responded, 

"Planting what?"

"Cucumbers, tomatoes." Maggie began to list off but was interrupted,

"Oh, crops. Soy, corn, hemp, sorghum."

She nodded, "Garden stuff."

"But you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache." He commented,

Vivian shrugged, "It's decent."

"And your infirmary, is it stocked?"

"Is yours?" Maggie shot back and Vivian fought to keep the smirk off her face, "We came here hoping to talk trade. Do you have enough here for that?"

Gregory narrowed his eyes at the women, and Vivian knew he didn't like having his community questioned, their quality and strength as survivors debated.

"You see what I have here. You see what I've built." His demeanour changed, "Jesus said that your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart. Let's speak the common tongue here, huh?" Gregory leaned forward, "You don't have shit. Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy. But we can't just give things away for free. How's this? Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share. You'd all be a welcome addition to the community, smart and beautiful women." Vivian raised her eyebrows, wondering if he was insinuating what she thought he was, "Getting back to that common tongue, I can tell ya, I can make it worth your while."

Maggie raised her hand, "Let me stop you right there."

"Listen, honey-"

"Don't call her honey." Vivian snapped, placing her hands on the back of the couch, trying to intimidate the man,  "We know don't have any ammunition."

"Who said that?"

She didn't stop there, "You're low on medication. You need things. We need things."

"What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?"

"Our communities can help each other." Maggie insisted,

Gregory stared at the three of them for a moment before tapping a book on the table and standing, "Thank you, Natalie, Veronica, Mandy. Been a good talk."

He began to walk back over to his table and Vivian rolled her eyes. Maggie's good and began to follow him over, while Marcie stood and made her way towards the door, pausing in front of it,

"We can help each other." 

"We're doing fine." Gregory stated, "Are you?"

"Let's go." Marcie stated, "This guy doesn't have shit that we can't get somewhere else."

The man scoffed and sat back down at his desk while the trio left the office and met up with the group outside the doors, informing them of the conversation,

"We want to generate trade. Gregory does." Jesus stated, no longer in his beanie and leather jacket, but with freshly washed hair and linen clothing, "But ammo isn't something we urgently need."

"Well, how's that?" Rick asked, 

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine." He explained, "Gregory wants the best deal possible."

"Yeah, well, we want things, too." Daryl grunted, pausing his pacing,

"We need food." Their leader stated, "We came all this way, we're gonna get it."

"I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change." Jesus replied, "We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?"

No one spoke, exchanging glances with each other. They had just gotten the truck full of food, but it wouldn't last. And the crops wouldn't start growing for a while yet.

"We can." Michonne stated,

Rick nodded before staring up at Jesus, "Yeah."

The front door opened and a man walked in, a stressed expression on his face. Gregory opened his office door, "What's wrong?"

"They're back."