𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍
𝐖𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊
︶꒦꒷★꒷꒦︶

"Fields filled with walkers." Rick spoke, Claire leaning over the edge of the second floor railing to listen as he stood with Hershel, Daryl, Roman, Glenn, Michonne and Marcus. "I didn't see any snipers, but we'll keep Maggie on watch."

"I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." Daryl gestured to Glenn, Michonne and Roman. "Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne spoke up, Claire leaning her elbow against the railing and placing her chin in her palm.

"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets."

Glenn shook his head, "So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." She watched as Daryl shrugged, "Been here before. We'll be alright."

Glenn huffed, "That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest." Claire raised a surprised eyebrow at Glenn's brave comment, Daryl moving to stand in front of the Korean boy. "Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it."

"Hey-"

"All y'all." Daryl moved past Glenn, taking the stairs two at a time. Claire turned to face the man, but he brisked right past her. She huffed as he walked into a cell. She frowned in disappointment. He hadn't even said hello since he returned.

She limped after him, turning into the cell where he was running a hand through his hair, sitting on the bottom bunk. "Hey."

He looked up at her, "I don't want to hear about my brother."

"Not here to talk about your brother." She shrugged, leaning against the doorframe, "I'm here to ask why you left without saying goodbye. Without...saying anything."

"Why would I? I don't owe you a goodbye."

Claire scoffed, nodding her head and putting up a tough front, pretending his comment didn't hurt her feelings. "Fine, be an ass. Hell if I care."

★

"Maybe he's stressed." Claire scoffed, looking up at Kira through her lashes, "Stressed? Daryl? Yeah right, the man always keeps a steady head. He's just an asshole."

Kira shrugged, grabbing Claire's other foot to retie her shoes laces for her, "Or he's-"

"Andrea's outside the gates."

Kira turned to look at her brother, who stood breathlessly in the doorway of Claire and Eli's cell. "What?"

"Andrea." He ran from sight, Kira standing quickly and yanking her rifle from the floor. "What-" Claire groaned in frustration, standing to her feet with a wince and grabbing her gun from the bed to limp after the siblings.

"Claire, with me. Kira to the front with Rick and the others." Claire nodded at Kira as the group split up, Claire following as close as possible to Glenn as they ran-and limped-to the bridge between the cell blocks.

Claire winced at the bright sun as they stepped onto the gated bridge, Carol already standing there as Claire brought her rifle to her eye, resting the barrel in the fence. She moved the gun around, looking through the scope to find the blonde woman. Which would be quite easy seeing as she would be the only living person in a field of walkers. She remembered Andrea well enough; she was at the farm. Claire had spoken with her briefly while burying the bodies after the barn.

She held some kind of rod in her hand, pushing a walker in front of her with it. The walker had the rod around its neck, arms cut off and lower face obliterated. It took Claire a second to realize what the womans goal with the walker was, the girl quirking an eyebrow in surprise.

She pulled away from the scope to watch as the others on the ground, consisting of Rick, Merle, Marcus, Roman and Michonne, rushed towards the fence. Their discussion was short lived, but she could sense the hesitance from afar.

Daryl began unlocking the gate, every gun in the prison staying focused on Andrea as Rick cornered her against the fence and spun her around to check her for anything suspicious. "What the hell is she doing here?" Claire mumbled, looking back through the scope to watch. Rick brought her to her knees, Andreas hand in the air beside her head, Rick snatching her bag from her shoulder and tossing it far from them.

"C'mon." Glenn mumbled, pointing his rifle to the air and wrapping his hand around Claires bicep to help her back into the cell block.

Once back inside, Rick was already dragging Andrea inside. Claire winced as she slowly stepped down the stairs, gripping the railing as Andrea embraced Carol. Claire wanted to be happy about the heartfelt reunion, but she couldn't ignore her offset feelings about the woman. They were just attacked and were barely recovering from it and she shows up at their door, coincidentally?

Claire ran a hand over Eli's hair as he followed after Carl, the blonde girl looking over at Roman as he eyed Andrea. Claire could tell Roman was suspicious of her based on his facial expression, and Roman spent more time with the woman than Claire did. She made a mental note to ask him how he felt about her later.

"Hershel, my god." She gaped at the old mans missing leg, looking around at the beaten and battered, yet alive, group. "I can't believe this." She paused, looking over at Rick, "Where's Shane?"

Claire raised an eyebrow, pulling her away from Roman to stare at Rick, the group waiting for his response. The man shook his head, keeping silent and looking away from the woman. "And Lori?"

Claires breathing stopped in her chest.

"Claire you—" Claire knew what was coming, a sob escaping her, "You are so bright, and so brave. You have grown into such a beautiful and strong woman, and I am so grateful to have known you. Don't let the world stop you, baby."

Claire cried, gripping the woman's hand tighter. "I love you, sweet Claire. You watch after Carl, and you watch after this baby for me, okay?" Claire nodded, "I love you too, Lori." She choked out, smiling weakly at the woman through her tears.

Claire hadn't realized Hershel continued talking, ears ringing as Lori's final words to Claire echoed in her mind.

"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel spoke for Rick, Claire reaching up and grasping at the tank top covering her chest. She was trying to hide her panic as best as she could, swallowing thickly and taking heavy, steady breaths, trying not to draw and attention towards herself. She needed to learn how to control these damn things on her own.

"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie's voice sounded muffled to Claire, brown eyes flicking across the room to find something to focus her mind on.

"I'm so sorry. Carl..." She heard Andrea's muffled voice, her eyes landing on Daryl, who was staring intently at her, face scrunched in worry. "Breathe." He mouthed, nodding his head slowly as Claire began sucking in heavy—but quiet—breaths, spinning the ring on her finger in circles as she focused on her breaths.

"Rick, I-" Andrea's voice slowly began coming back in her ears, keeping her eyes on Daryl as her chest loosened and her fingers stopped tingling. "You all live here?" Andrea asked, looking around at their makeshift kitchen and living area. "Here and the cell block." Glenn mumbled, Andrea pointing at the cell block, "There? Well, can I go in?" She tried to take a step forward, but Rick and Roman shifted to stop her, "I won't allow it." Rick shook his head.

"I'm not an enemy, Rick."

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." Rick placed his hands on his hips. the groups eyes watching Andrea closely. "He said you fired first." Andrea mumbled, looking around at the group before back at Rick. Claire scoffed, rolling her eyes as she massaged the top of her right knee, the bone sore from holding the majority of her body weight up. Rick shook his head, "Well, he's lying."

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel spoke up, Claire crossing her arms over her chest as Andrea turned to look at the older man with teary eyes. "We liked him. He was one of us."

"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea shook her head in denial, Claire raising a suspicious eyebrow and looking over at Kira, who shared her expression. "As soon as I found out I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out." Andrea turned to look at everyone, eyes pleading for them to believe her; but Claire didn't. They lost Axel because of the Governor. And she was sharing his bed. She knew, she had to have.

"That was days ago." Glenn argued, glaring at Andrea. "I told you, I came as soon as I could." The room stayed quiet, Andrea scoffing as she looked over at Maggie and Kira, both girls glaring at Andrea. The blonde spun to look at Michonne, "What have you told them?"

"Nothing." Michonne kept her composure, staring at the woman and leaning against the caged supply locker. "I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people snd now I'm the odd man out?"

Glenn shook his head, "He almost killed Michonne, his men almost killed Claire and he would've killed us-"

"With his finger on the trigger!" Andrea pointed at Merle, "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" Claire quirked an eyebrow, agreeing with what she had to say. I mean, if they could take in Merle, the creepy guy who tried to kill her friends, we should be able to take in Andrea. But Merle wasn't sleeping with the Governor. She was.

"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 stepped towards her, hand on his gun with a snarl, " We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we well." Claire hid her smile, scratching her lip to hide her joy at the prospect of killing the Governor.

"We can settle this," Andrea tried to reason with him, "There is room at Woodbury for all of you." Claire scoffed at Andrea. Even if any of them wanted to, she doubts they'd be welcome at all. And she's not subjecting Eli to that town ever again.

Merle chuckled dryly, "You know better than that."

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel mumbled, sitting down to rest his leg. "Did he say that?"

"No."

"Then why did you come here?" Roman finally spoke up, clutching his gun on his hip tightly as he stared at her. "Because he's gearing up for war."

There it is. Claire sighed, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the wall behind her. She knew Andrea was here for a reason. She could act like she was doing it to warn them, but Claire had different suspicions.

"The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

"I'll tell you what. Next time you see Phillip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl threatened. Claire smirked, tilting her head to the side as the group silently agreed on what they were to do. "We've taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." Glenn huffed, making Andrea sigh.

Claire stretched her back, thigh aching the longer she stood up. But she didn't want to sit down, the more she sat, the less useful she felt.

"Rick," Andrea turned to their leader, "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." Rick stood his ground, looking down at her silently. She huffed, spinning to look at the group. " Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

Rick stepped forward to look at her, "You want to make this right, get us inside."

"No-"

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick ignored the woman and entered the cell block. "There are innocent people!"

Claire sucked in a breath as Andrea sighed in defeat. She wanted to believe that Andrea had their best interests at heart, but she couldn't bring herself to understand. Understand why she would allow this to happen. She had to know they had Glenn, Kira and Maggie. She had to know what they did. It wouldn't make sense for her not to know. Claire reached out, placing her hand on Eli's back to guide the two of them back into the cell block with Rick.

★

Claire held Eli in front of her, arm draped across his chest and other hand gripping her pistol as Glenn brought the corrections car to a stop in front of Rick and Andrea.

"Can you spare it?" Andrea asked, flinging her backpack onto her shoulder. Claire wanted to shout no, but whatever it took to get the woman out of there was fine with it. "Yeah." Rick mumbled. The blonde woman looked around at the group, her eyes landing on Claire and Eli.

Andrea sent Claire a tight-lipped smile, "I see you found your brother." Claire tilted her chin at the woman and nodded. "I'm glad you found him." Claire held back her chuckle, "I found him in Woodbury. Keep that in mind when you go back there."

Andrea sighed, turning to look at Michonne one more time. Claire pulled Eli tighter against her, eyes locked on Andrea as she got into the car.  "Well, take care."

Rick approached the open window, handing Andrea her gun, "Be careful."

"You too."

With that, Andrea let off the brake and approached the gate, Roman and Merle working to slide it open for her quickly. "Go!" Merle shouted, Andrea taking off into the field crawling with walkers. The field they worked so hard to clear. The field Andreas boyfriend destroyed in seconds.

Claire took one last glance at the car, before turning her and Eli back towards the prison, the two siblings heading inside. The air surrounding the group was thick; heavy with anxiety and anger. Claire didn't know Andrea well. Hell, she thinks he knew her the least out of the group, besides Eli. But Claire remembered the feeling when she first had a conversation with Axel. A man who bore no real ill will towards anyone in the group. A man who wanted to do good, who wanted to just survive. She didn't feel that with Andrea. She felt unsure with her. Unsure of what the womans intentions were. She could pretend all she wanted, but Claire knew one thing for sure. One thing she knew she could trust forever.

Her gut.

︶꒦꒷★꒷꒦︶

That night was awful. No one could sleep. No one but Judith, anyway. The prison was quiet, no one dared to make a sound. They were all scattered about the cell block, no light but the moon shining through the windows, one lantern and a few candles in the middle of the room where Beth, Glenn and Carol sat.

Claire sat on the bottom step, Maggie sitting a few steps above her. Carl and Eli were on watch, the two boys begging to go with Marcys to feel helpful, and the rest of them were scattered around the room. Minus Merle, who Claire had seen go into the common area earlier.

Claire was scared, she wasn't afraid to admit it. She felt like the Governor already had the barrel of his gun pressed against the back of her head, ready to execute her in front of the people she loved. She felt like she couldn't take too deep of a breath in fear that it'll be her last.

Beth broke the silence of the room as she began singing a song Claire didn't recognize, her soft voice filling the prison and echoing around the walls soothingly. Claire knew the girl meant to calm all of their nerves, but Claires nerves were shot. She couldn't calm down even if the Governor had a spontaneous heart attack and died in his sleep, leaving them all to live their days in peace. Nothing could calm her now.

Claire sent Glenn a tight-lipped smile as he stood to stand by Maggie, the blonde girl standing from her spot as Rick came down the stairs holding a sleeping Judith, Merle emerging from the common area to listen to Beth. Claire limped over to the wall where Kira stood, leaning her right shoulder against the frame of the cell block next to her best friend. Being close to the Korean girl calmed Claire a little bit, just a little. Kira smiled at Claire, tapping Claire's hand and staring off at Beth as she continued singing.

Roman appeared from one of the cells, walking over to Claire and Kira and leaning against the opposite side of the door frame Claire was leaning against. He didn't look down at her, but he brushed his arm against hers, nudging her elbow with his own.

Claire knew this was the start to a long, bloody and drawn-out war with Woodbury, and she knew they only had one option.

Fight back with everything they had.