.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

When Stella heard that Daryl and others were back with the antibiotics she didn't hesitate to sprint back into the prison. It didn't matter that she got exposed to the flu. All that mattered was that he got the medicine. After watching what happened to Glenn she couldn't waste a second.

It didn't take long for the sick ones to feel better. Ellie had insisted on staying to treat those who hadn't fully healed. Herschel gave her the label of Nurse Ellie after her heroic acts in the cellblock. They lost a lot of people, one of those included their doctor Caleb. Now that people finally felt better, the whole prison instantly looked more colorful. Despite their losses, most people from their group wore bright smiles, knowing that they had made it through yet another catastrophe.

Levi had shown up to their cell early in the morning when Stella was still asleep. He lightly snuck into their bed, trying not to wake her up, drifting to sleep while holding her which he had longed to do for days inside quarantine.

When morning came around she shot up so quickly when she felt him in their bed that he almost fell off. Her heart skipped a beat with experiment and she didn't waste a second to hug him. She pressed herself against his chest letting a few drops fall from her eyes as the suppressed worry that she had felt washed off her. She didn't let go and she never wanted to again. Every second that she had been away from him he had occupied her mind. The two stayed in each other's arms until the sun rose.

Stella who hadn't been sleeping much the last few days, finally slipped into a heavy sleep. Levi got up and admired her as he packed up the few belongings that he had brought to the isolation cells when she woke up.

"What?" She giggled seeing his gaze plastered on her.

"Nothing. You're just so beautiful." He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Stella looked up at him, letting her hand wrap around the back of his neck to keep his face close to hers making the two stare at each other. Her gaze trailed down to his lips, planting a long and highly awaited kiss on them. The boy leaned deeper against her lips as he adjusted the way he was standing. He made his way onto the bed until he was on top of her, without breaking the kiss. He let out a soft groan against the lips that he had longed to feel again. Her hand traveled to the side of his face and the boy held himself up with his hands on the bed on either side of the girl's shoulders.

The two were so lost against each other's lips that they didn't even notice when the curtains to their cell were pulled aside by Daryl who imminently groaned, annoyed by the sight.

Hearing the man in the doorway, Levi was quick to his feet while Stella shot up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Get that shit out ma face, man." Daryl groaned on the other side of the now-closed curtain.
Stella stared in front of her with her cheeks turning to a deep red color as she threw her head against the pillow in embarrassment.

Levi stumbled over his words unsure what to say making a few scattered "ehh.." and "uhm" escape his mouth. "Shit sorry."

"Get your ass out here, face sucker," Daryl shouted making Levi step outside hesitantly. Stella remained in her cell, pressing her face against the pillow hoping that she could suffocate herself to forget what just happened. She heard Daryl tell the boy something about Rick needing him followed by him practically shoving him out of the cellblock.

After a moment of silence, she felt the sunlight pour into her cell indicating that someone had opened the curtains again.

"Taking the door away didn't seem to help." He said patting the door frame. Stella turned to see him standing slightly leaned against the side of the cell entry, with one of his hands in his pocket sending her a scolding look. "If he gets you pregnant I'll rip him to shreds, you know that right?"

"Ew, gross." She cringed at the man's words. "We were barely even kissing."

"Barley even kissing? I'm surprised that your face is still intact."

"Daryl!?" She rolled her eyes disgusted by the fact that she was talking about kissing Levi with him.

"I'm serious, you know." He said. "He better not get you pregnant."

"Enough. He won't." She said hoping to end this conversation as soon as possible. "Are you gonna tell Dad?"

"Are you kidding? If he found out I caught you two like that he'd kill me for not killing Levi." Daryl said. "I won't tell him a thing." He reassured her. "Imma tell Michonne or maybe Maggie. Some woman who can talk some sense into that blonde head of yours."

Stella tilted her head to the side at the comment. "Please don't tell them."

"You're not getting away that easy." He grinned. "Plus Michonne said that she needed some extra hands anyway. Get up."

Stella groaned knowing that sooner or later the information would reach her father and it wouldn't be pretty. Plus, she had no interest in having yet another talk with Michonne or Maggie. The one with Lori was plenty enough.

She forced herself to her feet as Darly closed the curtain and waited outside. Stella put her shoes on before grabbing the closest jacket which turned out to be Levi's. It was a bit big on her but she didn't mind as the scent of him seeped into her nostrils.

On her way out of the room, she knocked over the backpack that Levi only had unpacked briefly. A loud sigh escaped her lips as the items inside it scattered over the floor. As she went to pick them up her eyes fixated on a rectangular letter with her name on it. She froze as her hand hovered above it unsure if she was going to read it. It was Levi's handwriting. She recognized it immediately. After a moment of hesitation, she lifted the letter, holding it in her lap before quickly shoving it into the pocket of the jacket she was wearing at the sound of Daryl shouting for her outside the cell. She gathered the remaining items on the floor before shoving them back into the bag.

As she walked outside her eyes were immediately laid on Daryl who had made it outside before her, standing next to Maggie talking eagerly about something. Stella cringed as she instantly knew what they were talking about. She turned on her heels but didn't make it more than five feet before Daryl called her over. She groaned, rolling her eyes as she hesitantly walked back. Daryl left Maggei, passing Stella with a smirk. The girl crept up to Maggie, praying that they had been talking about something other than what Daryl walked in on this morning.

"Stella." Maggie stopped her.

"Oh, come on." Stella sighed before stopping in front of the woman.

"Hey, I'm not judging." She put her hands in the air. "Look, I trust you to not do anything stupid. If you ever need, which you will, Glenn has stacks of condo-"

"Ew, stop!" Stella covered her ears making Maggie snicker.

"I'm done." She said. "That was just as painful for me as it was for you."

"I doubt that." Stella sent her a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Go fetch Michonne, she needs your help," Maggie said as she walked away from the girl backward. Stella saluted her as she turned to head over to the trucks.

Stella helped Michonne load the dead walkers onto the car that they were heading out to dump far away. Apparently, the fences had collapsed after Stella had left Rick and Maggie last night. A horde had gotten inside the prison gates but Rick and Carl had taken them out.

Sweat dripped from her forehead as she dragged the walkers to the truck. She panted and wiped the sweat with her arm before resting her hands on her hips. Herehsl and Ellie sent her and Michonne a smile as he approached them.

"Greetings, doctor," Stella said, bowing for the younger girl jokingly to which she smiled.

"Oh, come on," Ellie said, nudging her to the side.

"What? I heard you saved lives in there. Including Levi's." Stella said.

"What can I say, she's her father's daughter." Herschel grinned towards his daughter making her cover her face in embarrassment, cringing at his words before allowing him to wrap have arms around her, giving her a side hug.

"How's your arm?" Stella asked the young Greene girl.

"It's nothing. Would've been cooler if he really shot me."

"Stop, that Ellie. You were extremely lucky." Hershel said, his face switching to a mask of full seriousness.

"I know," She rolled her eyes. "But imagine the scar. It would've been badass."

"Or you could've bled out," Herschel told his daughter, worried about her always putting her life in danger. Ellie smirked at his serious expression before turning to Stella.

"It would've been badass." She mouthed earning a wide-eyed nod from her.

"You heading out?" Hershel asked.

"You wanna come?" Stella asked.

"Hell yeah," The man nodded earning a laugh from both of them.

"I would want to but being the best doctor in town, I'm busy," Ellie said jokingly before hugging her dad goodbye.

Stella jumped into the back as the two adults sat down in the front.

"She's gonna get herself killed someday," Herhsel said as they drove away from Ellie who waved them goodbye.

"She's an idiot." Stella laughed.

The trio drove off. The Grimes girl stared at the prison with hopeful eyes. Their group was strong. Despite being attacked by a horde of walkers and a flu, they still managed to get through it. They were strong even with the losses from last night. Stella felt hope. She was happy.

The three finally arrived at their destination which was set deep into the woods where they dumped the walkers bodies. Stella listened to Hershel as he talked about Levi's time in the isolation block. She stared at him with dreamy eyes, hearing the stories of Levi reading for Lizzie and his heroic acts to save them from the walkers.

Suddenly, Stella was brought to a halt at the sound of Michonne grunting. She spun around to see the woman falling unconscious to the ground after someone had connected a hit to her face. A gasp escaped Stella's mouth and she immediately reached for her gun. Raising it in front of her she could see who had appeared from behind the trees.

The governor stood with his weapon aimed at her and Hershel. The face that had haunted her nights now looked her straight in the eye. She froze, her muscles going into a momentary trance as her breath got caught in her throat.

In a moment of panic, she aimed her gun at the man's head, moving her finger to the trigger but he immediately stopped her by shifting his aim towards Herhsel forcing Stella to lower her gun in surrender. Her mouth formed a straight line as she stared at him with hatred and fear coursing through her body.

"Get inside." He nudged his gun towards the truck. "Now."

Stella glanced over at Hershel who met her gaze giving her a reassuring smile before slowly turning towards the car. She stalled for a moment not letting her eyes leave the man. She gave him a piercing stare to which he stepped even closer to her making her flinch backwards.

"I thought I told you to get inside." He taunted her, both of them knowing that he clearly had the upper hand.

"Fuck you." Stella spat at him. The man cocked his head to the side giving her an evil smirk before roughly grabbing her arm. She tried to squirm out of his grip as he forced her inside the truck next to Hershel. "I'll fucking kill you!" She screamed at him just as he closed the door. She placed her shaky hands in her lap without meeting Hershel's worried gaze.

_______

"Don't touch me." Michonne tried to move away from the governor's grip as he placed the bandage over the cut on her forehead from when he knocked her unconscious.

"Stay still," he said shortly before finally letting go of the woman's head. He had forced the three of them to sit on a small couch in the trailer at his camp. Stella's wrists were burning as she tried to fight against the ropes.

"You should eat. It's gonna be a long day." The governor said shoving some food into Stella's lap. But she completely ignored him, not even looking at the plastic bag in front of her. The man noticed her reaction and leaned forward bringing his face slightly closer to hers. "Noboy's gonna hurt you."

"Bullshit." Stella spat at him, clenching her jaw.

"Just tell us what it is please." Herschel tried to keep a calm tone hoping that it would make up for the many comments that Stella had dropped on the governor during the ride to the camp.

"It isn't personal." The man answered shortly.

"The fuck is it then?" Stella snarled.

He sighed deeply before starting. "Michonne, I want you to know. Penny my daughter... She's dead. I know that now. I don't want to hurt anyone. I need the prison, that's it. There are people I need to keep alive. You three are gonna help me take it. No one needs to die."

"I'm gonna kill you." Michonne spat at him.

"No, you won't. That's exactly what that brunette boy said and look what happened." The governor said making Stella jolt forward, squirming against the ropes at the mention of Levi.

"I'm gonna-" Was all she managed to say before Hershel cut her off telling her to stop.

"You want the prison?" The older man asked once Stella had calmed down.

"Yeah, I'll take it as peacefully as I can." The governor said without facing them.

"Your people, our people... We can find a way to live together." Herschel said making Stella scoff inaudible. "These people you need to keep alive, do you love them?"

The governor smiled for himself before standing up. "You're a good man Herschel. Better than Rick."

____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟒𝟐𝟗 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
y'all are not ready for the next chapter.

I'm having a bit of a writer's block + I'm sick but i try to update as regularly as possible