New Beginnings *6 years later* (December)

The men shot at the on coming vehicle. It was no use and seeing their friend get torn to pieces scared the crap out of the men. More shots were fired at the vehicle as the men got into their own truck in an attempt to make their escape.

This armored car was something Negan needed to know about, and something that they needed to take for themselves but they wouldn't be able to do that now.

Joker did not like anyone touching his cloths and was trying to get the little fluff ball off of him. He waved to Eugene since he was the closet person.

Pony tail! Get over here and help me get this thing off of me!

So far so good....Abby had made it down without the adults knowing. He hoped the adults would head inside soon...the last thing he needed was for them to ruin his plans. This was for the good of everyone!


"You were right...Negan's my dad. I'm sorry for calling your dad names..." He apologized, keeping his tone low. Maybe if he apologized, Abby would be more likely to help him


"I'm going to Sanctuary...to see him....to tell him to stop hurting our people..."

Abby was over his insults by now but the apology was nice anyway. It was also nice to hear Kai admit that she was right. That put a smile on her face.

SO we're going on an adventure? Let's run for it then!

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Beth and Sherry was ready to defend their home but Dwight was insistent that they head back inside. So the woman headed back in but kept a look out for trouble, bot knowing that two kids were missing and two other kids were planing on running away.

Kai was relieved that Abby was no longer angry at him. It seemed she knew exactly what he wanted before he even said it. Good. Then again, Abby had always been a rule breaker.

"Yeah. I figured you knew the way.. and maybe you want to see Negan since you lived with him for awhile..." He shrugged, having no idea how horrible her living conditions had been.


Luckily Dwight was heading in the opposite direction, attracted by the voices of Carl and Glenn as they hunted down the source of the shots. "We should leave now..."

Abby had no idea were Negan was. but she was excited to look for him. When Kai said they should leave Abby nodded and ran off and out of the little town expecting Kai to follow.

I wonder if my play house is still there...I hope they didn't mess it up. So why are you looking for Negan anyway? I didn't think you would care this much. Missing your daddy or something?

...and Gabe hoped that Mikko hurried back. He loved kids, but Noah, the deaf one, was eyeing him wearily. Untrusting. It made it worse that Gabe coildn't communicate, to put his mind at ease...


"You two hungry?" He asked, hoping Sandy would translate as he pulled leftovers from the fridge and prepared to warm them up.

Mikko made it to Maggie and Glenn's place and headed inside. She looked around for the bug and finally found it in the kitchen in a jar. Except it wasn't really a caterpillar anymore but she figured this is what they were after. So she scooped up the jar and hurried out of there.

Mikko ran to her own home not wanting to leave Gabe alone more then she had to and hurried inside her own house.

Ok I'm back and I got Pickles. I think. I hope this is it.

Sandy asked Noah if he was hungry but then Mikko showed back up with their pet! And all thoughts of food went out the window.

Eugene was relieved when Stitch grabbed the intruder. But now the man was calling for his attention. Oy. At times like this, he wished that Carl and Daryl and everyone else weren't busy...


"Make no mistake, this pony tail is top notch... just like our state of the art holding facility, which I assume you will soon experience and can make an educated assessment first hand..." He told the guy as he neared, but kept a safe distance.

"We should put him in holding until Carl is free to access the situation. He did sneak in, after all..." He told Stitch.

I wouldn't say I sneaked in. The gate opened for me after all. and is this how you treat guest? Locking them up? How horrible. Or am I just getting special treatment? Because I'm starting to sense you don't like me very much.

Joker tried to pull away from Stitch but the little alien had a tight grip. For such a small little fuzz ball he was strong.

And Kai wasted no time following. Abby was much older and faster, but he managed to keep up, grateful that she was willing to go with him. He'll, she seemed excited about it.. maybe she had missed Negan? The man had been her parent for awhile, after all...


Making sure the coast was clear and no adults were around to see them, Kai quickly scaled the fence behind her, landing almost soyndlessly in the snow bank that had accumulated on the other side. Pushing himself up onto his feet, he dusted the snow from his jacket and pants, and readjusted the bow that rested against his shoulder...


"So which way from here? And playhouse? That sounds cool..."

We go to the road. She at least knew were that was so Abby headed towards the road and from there she was sure she could find her way.

Oh my playhouse was awesome. I got to live in it when I wanted to. I had so much freedom in sanctuary. Negan could be really scary if you made him angry though. But it wasn't bad there.

They moved quickly out of the woods and found the road. She nodded in a direction that felt right and started to walk down the road. The two kids wouldn't have to walk long before an old truck pulled up beside them.

Abby! Shit you've grown. Who's your friend?

abby turned to the truck with a slight jump and gave a little grin to see Negan leaning out the window of the truck. This is Kai.

Well fuck me. Get in son! Negan opened the passanger door. You too Abby. I'll bring you both home.

Negan never thought it would be this easy to get his kids back.

It seemed that Abby didn't hate it there... but his mom obviously had hated it enough to leave. And the tales back home were that Negan had killed Carl's father...


When the truck approached, Kai's first instinct was to hide...he hung back while the man and Abby spoke, then it became clear who he was... Negan. His father..

He hesitated for a moment, but remembered his whole reason for running away was to face this man, to hopefully put an end to this war that seemed to be brewing...


Reluctantly, he climbed into the truck after Abby and closed the door, struggling to buckle Abby and himself in. She was out here because of him, after all. He had to keep her safe.


Unshouldering his bow, he placed it in the floorboard for now to give them more space....


"We aren't staying. I just had to come talk to you..."

Once the two were in the truck and the door was closed, Negan drove off towards sancutary.

It's good to see you both again. We can talk all you want once we get back.

Is my playhouse still there? Abby asked.

Sure is. We cleaned it up a bit but didn't touch the flowers.

Abby was happy to hear that. She was also happy that they got picked up because she really didn't know where Sanctuary was from memory.

They all got to sanctuary and the gates to the town opened up for them. Negan drove in and parked his truck.

Here we are. Follow me to the house. You two hungry?

Abby didn't seem tense at all. Maybe she still liked Negan...

After some time, they made it to their destination a d Kai climbed out of the truck, mindful to retrieve his bow, and gave Abby a hand.


The place was huge, and unlike their community, houses and buildings situated on the ground. Having lived most of his life at treetop, it looked...strange. But convenient. Climbing up to their houses could sometimes be tiring.

When asked if he was hungry, Kai shook his head, still taking in the sights...


"You must be confident that your fences won't break to have your houses on the ground..."

Leading them to his own home. Negan grinned at Kai's comment. Very fucking confident. Nothing gets through our gates unless we let them. If and if something or someone did slip in they would meet a horrible end.

Our community is tight knit. We share everything and as it happens just ran into some good luck with supplies. So there's a lot to go around you two came at a good time.

He opened his door to let the kids in then lead them to the kitchen and gave them each a soft drink. So...lets get to what you want to talk to me about first then we'll catch up on more plesent things.

Kai followed, skeptical that the walls were as strong as Negan, his father, claimed, but would ket it go for now. Once in the house, he was offered a soft drink, which he took. It was a rarity...not because there was no soda back home, but his mom was cautious about letting him have too much sugar. He took a drink, savoring the sweet taste.

Then came Negan's question, reminding him of the whole reason he was here.


"I want you to stop attacking our people. Your men. They took Anton, shot Logan. Why? Why are you doing this? There aren't many people living these days. Maybe we should all be helping each other instead of fighting."

Negan took a seat at the kitchen table and listened to Kai. He thought on his words before speaking.

Well. I toke Anton to get you back. Turns out that kid was more useful than I thought. I don't know anything about Logan or a shooting. I didn't order any of my men to shoot anyone. SOunds like someone was trying to get brownie points. I suppose since now I got what I want I could back off. As long as no one thinks about attacking my place.

Abby sat quietly drinking her drink. Then spoke up. What did you want?

Why, you two of course! Now that my kids are back where they belong I see no reason to attack anyone at the moment.

Kai sat at the table, listening quietly as Negan spoke. Do Anton wasn't here? And Negan would leave Treetop alone if they stayed...but there was just one problem...


"We can't stay. If we do, my mom will come looking for me...and Dwight will come for Abby. We don't want a war. We don't want anyone to get killed, on either side..."

Sometimes it's unavoidable. Your parents will come for you. And I'll deal with them. In the mean time you two will stay here because if I let you leave you'll be dead before you make it back to tree top and I can't let that happen. Ally can show you the play house tomorrow. In the mean time let me show you where you'll be sleeping...

And once the kids were settled he would prepare the town for an attack. He knew that the town would come for the kids so he would have to make sure he was ready to counter attack.

And Negan wasn't taking bo for an answer. No point arguing. If he didn't argue, maybe Negan would stop his guard and they could sneak away overnight...though he wasn't sure if Abby actually planned on staying or not...

He knew why Negan had attacked this time. Because he felt that Treetip had something that belonged to him... him. He was his father after all, and Abby had been his before she was Dwight and Sherry's....


"Why did you attack them all those years ago? When you tried to kill Glenn? Killed Carl's dad? Burned Dwight's face off? Why? Why would you attack the living? It wasn't because of me back then, so why? What did they do to you?"

Noah co tuned to state at Gabriel as if he had grown two heads, not sure if he should trust him. He could sense the ex thug's nervousness and that made him uneasy. When Sandy signed his question, Noah shook his head. Soon, Mikko was back with their pet, and a huge smile stretched across Noah's face..

He was happy to see Sandy so excited and signed to her, explaining what his mom had told him about the changes that her little insect friend was going through!


He wouldn't be able to hear the hunting party down below, calling Sandy's name and only her, because calling him would do no good. For the moment, he was blissfully unaware of the panic they were causing their parents amidst the chaos of the attack....


Gabriel, hearing the calls, looked at Mikko. "Maybe you should tell 'em they're okay.. "

Lexi wished that she could stay until Logan woke, but knew that could take awhile. It could be tomorrow before the kid opened his eyes, and she really needed to get back to her family. He seemed to be out of the woods, at least. Thanks to Lilo.


Casting a tired smile at Maggie, she gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "He will be okay. And Glenn and Michonne will bring Noah and Sandy back. I'm sure of it. If you need anything, don't hesitate to send for me."


With that she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Logan's forehead, then headed down the ladder, shivering from the harsh cold as her booted feet buried in the snow. Pulling her jacket firmly around her shivering frame as the heavy snow continued to fall, she began the trek back home....


She was aware that several were out for various reasons. Missing children, and to investigate the shots that sent almost everyone in a panic.


She thought nothing of seeing the lone figure out in the distance, their identity obscured by the falling snow. The person seemed winded, probably from the harsh cold burning their lungs. She began walking towards them, squinting as if doing so would give her a better vision of them..


She witnessed the man fall back against the tree, the violent coughing meeting her ears long before she saw him. He was on the ground, slumped against the tree before she reached him....and then she saw who it was....


"Oh my God, Dwight...are you okay? " And before he could answer..."SOMEONE HELP!"

"Shhh!" Dwight tried to hush Lexi as she called for help. He was regretful that he had caught her attention. Even though his strength and balance had left him, lungs feeling as if they would collapse at any moment, he couldn't let anyone know how sick he was, how sick he had been. It would only cause worry...and sadness if it was as bad as he feared...

Blood trickled from his nose and the corner of his mouth, but he was quick to wipe it away with the sleeve of his coat, but the bleeding had yet to stop....


"I'm fine." He told her, a little mor angrily than intended. "I fell. Busted my nose on the way down..."

"That's bullshit, Dwight...I saw you...I heard you..you're sick and shouldn't be out here..."


Dwight was silent for a moment, fighting back another violent cough, knowing how much it would hurt. His eyes watering and stinging from the cold, once filled with irritation, now pleading...

"Please, you can't tell anyone...especially Sherry. She doesn't need to worry about this.. "


Lexi softened her resolve. If he was trying to cover it up, the condition had been going on long enough to frighten him. She understood, he was scared, but... "She is your wife. Whatever is going on with you, she deserves to know. If it is minor, or if it's serious, she is your partner, Dwight. How would you feel if she was hiding an illness from you?"

You sure ask a lot of questions. They owed me, that's all you need to know. Now lets get you two settled in.

Negan got up from his chair and motioned for the kids to follow him. Abby got up and pulled Kai along. They walked down the hall of the house and stopped by a room.

You two will share a room for now. This wont be a perment set up. He opened the door and inside the room was a bunk bed. a desk, some shelves with books and toys.

Abby ran to the bed and crawled to the top bunk claming it as her own.

Negan put a hand on Kai's shoulder. One of our dogs had puppies. You'll get pick of the litter. But not tonight. Tonight you two get sleep and don't try to sneak out, security is very good here and I don't take kindly to disobedience.