Michonne finished Brooks' hair the early hours of the next day, and then both aunt and niece tried to go to sleep, but failed. The thought of there being so many people around in the general area wasn't comforting to either of them. They were on high alert for walkers... Or cannibals, frankly. The scar on Brooks' leg where she'd been cut into was still ugly and large, on her forever.

So, the next day, Brooks put on fresh clothes. A white skirt that she forgot had been in the bottom of her bag, and a light blue slightly cropped top, that settled just above the waist line of her skirt. Brooks even managed to find beat up sneakers which had fallen into her bag's pocket that she'd been carrying around since May and forgotten about. They were a nice change from her usual hiking boots.

When Brooks walked downstairs after changing in one of the bedrooms, and she headed into the living room, Carl did a double take. "Oh- oh- Brooks- uhm- I didn't know you had... Had that." Carl said, swallowing thickly and looking everywhere apart from Brooks who had her blonde braids up in a ponytail. 

"Me neither." Brooks admitted, walking into the kitchen to get some water. "Found it in my bag."

Carl looked to her when her back was turned to him, but found Merle was slapping the back of his head. Carl winced (not in pain, Merle vowed he'd never beat a child again... It's the bare minimum, but go, Merle) in embarrassment, as he offered Merle a nervous smile. Merle spoke through gritted teeth, speaking to Brooks but not taking his eyes off Carl. "I think it looks lovely, Bambi."

"Thanks." She said awkwardly, looking between Carl and Merle's staring competition. Cam walked into the room with Judith on his hip, but he put her down in the living room, and the toddler went straight to Brooks. "Carl, you explorin' today?"

"Yea." Carl gulped, tearing his eyes away from Merle. "As soon as Sophia's ready, we were gonna go meet the other kids here."

Smiling, Brooks squatted in front of Judith. "And what are you doin' today, Judy?"

"Cam says there- that- there is park." Judith responded, struggling over her words a little. "I don't know. But... He- he says fun."

Laughing a little, Brooks nodded. "Yea, I heard park's are fun. I'm sure you two'll have fun."

Smiling, Judith leaned forward and pressed the gentlest and sweetest kiss to Brooks' cheek. "Bye, bye, Auntie Books." And with that, the toddler ran back over to Cam who took her hand.

"See ya, guys." Cam said to those remaining in the room, he got a couple waves, before he left. Once the duo had gone, it was just Merle, Carl and Brooks in the room. In the tense silence it was before Judith and Cam entered... Luckily though, Sophia walked in.

"Finally!" Carl cheered, standing to his feet to escape the intense pressure Merle's eyes were placing on him.

Putting down her bottle, Brooks walked towards Sophia and the girls left the house, Carl following quickly behind. They saw Daryl sitting on the porch, fiddling with his crossbow. "You showered, yet?" Sophia asked, as the three stopped on the porch to speak to him.

Daryl scoffed. "Pigs flyin'?"

"No, but the dead's walking." Carl retorted. Pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes, Daryl glared at the boy until he ran down the steps and waited on the road for Sophia and Brooks.

"Come on, Daryl, my mom wants to wash that vest." Sophia tried, smiling sweetly.

Shrugging, Daryl grumbled. "Your mom's also wearin' a yellow shirt, right now. Yellow should not be worn by anyone over the age of three."

Laughing, Brooks shook her head. "So, you're not gonna let 'er wash your clothes?"

"Not over my dead body." Daryl replied. "You two girls run off now, I heard there's a park 'ere, go play."

"Go play? Daryl, I'm sixteen, Brooks is fourteen."

Brooks scoffed. "Screw you, I'm goin' down the slide."

Sophia laughed along with Brooks, and the two girls headed down the steps. Daryl watched after them with a smile on his face, happy to hear their laughter. The teenagers hadn't had much time for laughing in a long, long time, so it was nice to see them being able to enjoy what was left of their youth.

/----------\

Jessie had come to find them, the mother of half of the child residents (two), and so she led them to her house to introduce the children. Sophia, Carl and Brooks were approached by a random woman in the street, who offered to take them to her house to play... And, they went along with smiles on their faces. Yea, their parents would be so proud!

The ten year old Sam was playing in the living room with dinosaur toys, but they said hi, before continuing upstairs. In the older boy's room, they came across the rest. Ron Anderson, a sixteen year old dweeb, Enid Pitton, a sixteen year old quiet mystery, and Mickey Rowlands, a seventeen year old ex-popular boy. 

(Completley forgot to add Mickey to the Act 5 cast list, but his fc is there now if you wanna check that out xxx)

Sophia was talking to Enid, the pair sat together on Ron's window seat, Enid wasn't doing much talking, but she enjoyed listening to Sophia's nervous rambles. Carl managed to fit in with Ron and Mickey, playing video games with them while Brooks sat in the corner, picking at her nails and twirling her hair.

It's not that Brooks was unhappy in the environment, hanging out with people her own age... But, it was strange. She didn't mind not having the attention on her, sitting in the shadows was what she did best... But, it was a little uncomfortable how easily Carl and Sophia managed to merge. Brooks watched Sophia and Enid, remembering how even though Brooks introduced Sophia to the Samuels sisters, Brooks ended up being the unwanted one. She watched Carl forcing smiles and laughs to the teenage boys' bad jokes, and remembered his close friendship with Charlie back at the prison. As Brooks thought about it, she realised the only people she had like that was Sophia, Cam and Carl... People who all easily found other people much more interesting than her. Thanks to Will, Brooks never would understand how important she was to those people.

"Brooks, you play video games?" Mickey asked.

Smiling at him, Brooks shook her head. "No, I've never done it."

He patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Wanna try it?"

Carl's eyes moved quickly between Mickey and Brooks, a weird pang of jealousy going through his chest. "Sure." Brooks responded, making that pang improve to a whole gut punch. She sat beside him, and he put the controller in her hands, and held his hands over hers to help her find all the controls on the device. "Seems easy enough." Brooks grinned up at him, before looking to the screen.

"I'm done with this, think I'm gonna take a walk." Carl admitted, rising to his feet. "Brooks, Sophia?"

Sophia looked to Carl. "I'm talking with Enid."

"We can go back to my place." Enid said, speaking for the first time in a while. "I'm living with Olivia and my sister, they wouldn't mind."

"I'm down." Sophia smiled, and the two girls left the room with brief goodbyes.

"Brooks?" Carl pushed, looking down to the girl who was sat beside Mickey.

"Oh- uh- I was just 'bout to play." Brooks pointed out, pointing to the screen.

Mickey smiled at her. "No, it's fine, Brooks. Go with your boyfriend, we can play another day."

Brooks didn't have time to deny the allegation, because Carl was grabbing her hand and pulling her from the room. Brooks didn't say anything until they were outside of the house, walking down the road to go back home. "Hell was that?"

"I didn't like the way he was looking at you." Carl responded, suddenly becoming aware he was still holding Brooks' hand and dropping it swiftly.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "How was he lookin' at me?"

He swallowed thickly, remembering how he saw Mickey taking a real close interest in Brooks' skirt. "Doesn't matter. Let's just leave those guys, anyways. They're idiots. They've never even been outside the walls, not since the start."

Rolling her eyes, Brooks watched as Sasha left the community gate with a full bag, and her gun. Brooks stopped in her steps, narrowing her eyes at where Sasha had just left. "Why's she goin' out by herself? She knows we don't travel alone."

"I don't know." Carl responded, not phased. "You wanna go to the park?"

"No, come with me to grab a gun. We're goin' after er." Brooks stated, and Carl obeyed.

/----------\

Carl checked out two guns, and Marliya's knife while Brooks stood back innocently. Smiling at Olivia, and promising the two would get together soon and chat. Brooks knew that wouldn't happen, but that didn't matter to her in the moment. Brooks and Carl left the community, and once they were in the forest, Carl was handing Brooks her knife and gun.

She was following Sasha's trail, just like how Daryl had taught her to do. The last year they had a lot of time on the run, and Brooks enjoyed hunting with her uncle. So, Daryl taught her how to set traps and track her prey, in case she ever found herself alone. "That's my dad." Carl's voice suddenly pulled her from her thoughts.

Humming, Brooks looked to Carl, but then to where he was looking. In the distance, Rick was making his way towards an abandoned house. "Go after 'im. I'll meet y'all back later, I've nearly caught up with Sasha."

"Nu uh, I'm not leaving you." Carl refused.

"Nu uh." Brooks mocked in a high pitched voice, rolling her eyes. "Boy, I taught you how to shoot, I'm fine. Go after Rick, I'll see you back, later." And with that Brooks walked away, and Carl knew he couldn't walk after her.

/----------\

Standing at a distance, Sasha had photo frames set up on a log. She was keeping her sharp-shooter skills... Well, sharp, as she shot at them. Smiling as the glass crumbled and the picture fell to the ground under the force of her accurate bullets. Stepping on a twig made Sasha turn around, pointing her gun at Brooks, but once she saw who it was, she took a deep breath and dropped her gun. "Damnit, Brooks! I could've shot you!"

Brooks wet her lips, muttering an apology as she walked over. "Hell you doin' out 'ere all alone? Ya know Rick said we ain't to leave the community alone. He doesn't a hundred percent trust in it, yet."

"Well, I trust in my skills to keep me alive. That's all I need." Sasha responded, turning from Brooks and raising her gun at the photos, again.

"What did those frames ever do to you?" Brooks joked, grinning.

Sasha simply rolled her eyes. "Go home, Brooks."

"I can't go back by myself. I'm doin' the whole ditzy blonde thing, remember?" Brooks said, leaning against a nearby tree.

"It's box dye blonde." Sasha reminded her.

Shrugging, Brooks sighed. "Can I have a turn?"

"If you're gonna be here, can you at least be silent?" Sasha scoffed, turning to the girl. Biting down on her bottom lip, Brooks nodded and didn't say another word. Brooks was used to the things Sasha was saying, because she got them from most people... A lot... All her life. The comments didn't hurt anymore, well, that's what she told herself anyways, so she stayed quiet... But, even that annoyed Sasha. "Jeez, I changed my mind, can you wait somewhere else and I'll find you on the way back?"

Grinning, Brooks teased. "How do I know you'll come find me, and won't just leave me out 'ere?"

Scoffing, Sasha responded. "Tempting, but I'm not like you, Brooks."

The girl's eyebrows furrowed, and she was responding before she could process Sasha's words. "What?"

"I don't leave people to die." Sasha angrily responded, staring Brooks in the eyes. The fourteen year old nodded, licking her lips and looking down. "Oh, so you do remember Tyreese? That's good, because you never mention him. You never mention that day."

"You want me to bring it up?" Brooks raised her eyebrows, looking to the woman.

Shrugging, Sasha answered. "I would've liked a bit more grovelling!" 

"I went to shoot myself, Sasha, what else do you want from me?" Her voice came out loud, and angry, but she instantly cowered down to the tree in regret. Her armour of fake smiles and positivity slipped for a second. "I- I'm sorry, Sasha. I shouldn't have yelled."

Packing up her gun, Sasha responded. "No, Brooks. You shouldn't have gotten my brother killed."