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Chapter Text

Preparations for the battle with the Saviors were going well under way. Rick had brought his people from Alexandria to the Hilltop to prep their cars. The plan was to meld vehicles with sheets of metal so that when they drove to surround the Sanctuary, the cars would act as a barricade and shield. This would give them full advantage since they would be able to shoot at the Saviors with a full defense. Morgan, Carol, Daryl, and Tara were in charge of gathering walkers to create a large herd that they would lead towards the Sanctuary. They’d already set up metal canisters with explosives prior so that they could easily attract the walkers to go the proper route. 

Rick and the others drove the shielded vehicles to a large field, gathering around and making last minute preparations just before heading to the Sanctuary where they would set out their plan on an attack. Gloria looks around to find Enid getting bombarded by Jerry to put on some extra armor.

“Dude, over your shoulders.” Jerry insists, holding the piece of armor out to the young girl.

Enid pouts in protest and looks over to Gloria who made her way over to the two. She makes a face to Gloria as if to ask her to talk Jerry out of forcing her to wear the armor.

“It’s better safe than sorry, Enid.” Gloria smiles at her and chuckles when Enid groans then finally takes the piece of armor from Jerry.

He lets out a hearty chortle when Enid gives in and he nods at Gloria who chuckles at his giddiness and nods back at him. Jerry goes to find Ezekiel, leaving Gloria with Enid. 

“So, you know to stay by Maggie’s side, right?” Gloria says to the young girl.

She nods, “I know, I look after her while she looks after me.”

Gloria smiles warmly at her and puts her hand on her shoulder, “I trust you to keep Maggie and her baby safe.”

“You sound like you’re going away or not coming with us back to Hilltop,” Enid frowns in worry.

“I’ll be back, don’t worry,” she chuckles, “I’m just going to go back to Alexandria first to check up on Daryl and the others, just to make sure they made it back safe.”

An understanding expression spreads on Enid’s face as she nods, “oh, okay.”

“You just make sure you make it back to Hilltop safe with Maggie and Jesus.” Gloria instructs.

Enid nods obediently, “I will, I promise.”

Gloria smiles proudly at the girl before walking away. She was glad that Maggie had Enid by her side, she was also grateful for her since she was the one who helped Glenn when he was trapped outside Alexandria. Maggie and Glenn had unspokenly took her in as their daughter and took care of her, so naturally Gloria couldn’t help but care about her as well. She’d saved her brother’s life and was doing everything she could to keep Maggie safe. 

“Gloria,” Jesus calls out from behind her.

She turns around to face him as he jogs up to her, “what’s up?”

“I heard what you said to Enid,” he tells her with a frown on his face, “but you’re not going back to Alexandria, are you,” his tone was more factual than a question.

“What makes you think I’m lying?” Gloria challenges him.

“I noticed you sneaking out at night through the escape hatch when you think everyone’s sleeping,” he calls her out, “I think you’re doing some preparations for a secret plan of your own.”

He was right, she has been. It was easy to sneak out of the Hilltop with Maggie finally getting some sleep in a proper bed at the Barrington house, and Daryl was off at Alexandria helping Rick. Gloria wasn’t surprised that it was Jesus who caught her. 

She sighs and looks around in case anyone is listening to their conversation then she says in a quiet voice, “you caught me, I’m not going back to Alexandria.”

“What are you planning to do?” Jesus asks, crossing his arms.

“When the walkers are surrounding the Sanctuary, I’m gonna go in there to get Harlan out.” she tells him.

Jesus’s eyes widen at her words, “Dr. Carson?”

She nods, “he’s the Hilltop’s doctor, and Maggie needs him to make sure her baby’s healthy. There’s only so much his books can help me with, and the only way I can make sure of that is to get him back.”

“Let me come with you,” Jesus offers.

“No.” Gloria shuts him down immediately, “you have to stay with Maggie and Enid. I know Enid’s become a good shot, but she’s still a kid. You gotta look out for her because… Glenn did…”

Jesus frowns and ponders for a moment before finally nodding in agreement, he puts his hand on her shoulder, “okay, but you have to promise me you will make it back to Hilltop, and that we will see you again. Alive. Glenn would want you to look after Maggie too.”

Gloria smiles sadly and nods, “I know.”

—

At dawn, Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel had everyone gather and drive their vehicles towards the Sanctuary. They made sure to block off any major exit points in case any Saviors tried to flee. They get out of their respective vehicles, making sure to stay behind the metal walls they’d created. They were all armed with guns and waiting for Rick to give the signal. He looks around to make sure they’re all ready, then he raises his arm and quickly lowers it. At his signal, they all raise their guns and fire three simultaneous shots in the air, calling out Negan. 

Shortly after, a door to the Sanctuary opens and Negan steps out, holding his bat. He looks around and sees that he and his Saviors are trapped by walls of metal. 

“I’m sorry,” he says with a grin, “I was in a meeting, wasn’t exactly expecting anyone.”

Negan’s crew walk out one by one, among them was Eugene. They look around, warily observing the scene. 

“I see that you brought a lot of your people, but there’s no need for any bullets to go flying around. You see, I actually care about my people and I don’t want them to die just because you want to play a game of ‘my dick is bigger than yours’. It is!” Negan paces around, waving his hand around as he speaks then finally he stops pacing and looks in Rick’s direction, “what can I do for you, Rick?”

Rick steps out from behind the metal sheet and begins to name off the people standing by Negan. He gives them a warning that if they stand down, they won’t have to die. Negan shakes his head and chuckles at his words.

“Then what about me, Rick?” he says, gesturing to himself.

“I already told you, twice. I’m gonna kill you.” Rick says confidently. 

“Do you even have the numbers to win this fight?” Negan questions, his grin not leaving his face.

Rick stays silent at that, he and the others also know that they are all outnumbered by the Saviors even with their combined communities. 

“You don’t.” Negan answers his own question then he snaps his fingers, “Simon.”

His right hand man proceeds to move towards the door, opening it, he pulls out Gregory outside to stand with them. Maggie, Gloria, and Jesus all roll their eyes when they see the cowardly leader of Hilltop standing beside Negan.

“Of course he came here…” Gloria mutters with annoyance in her voice, earning a chuckle from Jesus.

Negan puts his arm around Gregory’s shoulders, “so Gregory, what do you have to say to Rick and his piss patrol?”

Gregory straightens his posture and puffs out his chest, his hands on his hips as he looks out to the arrangement of cars and metal, “the Hilltop stands with Negan and his Saviors. Anyone who wishes to remain living at the Hilltop is to stand down and not go against the Saviors. And anyone who opposes the Saviors will no longer be welcome at the Hilltop!”

Gloria seethes at his words, she grips her gun and glances at Maggie, “can I shoot him?”

“Not yet.” Maggie says, glancing at Gloria.

Negan smirks and pats Gregory’s shoulder, “continue.”

“Go home now! Or else you won’t have a home to go back to!” Gregory says confidently, seeming almost menacing if they didn’t already know how cowardly he is.

The residents of the Hilltop look towards Maggie, waiting for her signal or words of guidance. Maggie looks around her, catching their worried expressions. 

“You all do what you need to.” Maggie says, compassion in her tone.

The Hilltop residents look among each other and nod, staying in their place to fight the Saviors. 

“You heard the man. Go back and do… whatever the hell it is you do!” Negan calls out.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s going, does it?” Maggie calls out from behind a metal sheet.

Gregory growls and tries again, “The Hilltop stands with-”

“The Hilltop stands with Maggie!” Jesus cuts off Gregory before he can finish his statement.

Simon shakes his head as he approaches Gregory, pushing him backwards. Eventually, Gregory ends up falling down the steps but there is no remorse or sympathy for the man. He’s brought this upon himself. Suddenly, an explosion sounds in the distance, giving them their cue that their time is about to run out. 

“You have a choice to make, either surrender or die.” Rick calls out.

He begins to count down from ten, only to stop at seven when he starts to shoot at Negan. The others follow his lead and begin to shoot at the Saviors. Endless gunfire, bullets ricocheting off of metal, glass shattering as they shoot the windows, it was a full on war at the Sanctuary. 

“Now!” Maggie shouts, cuing everyone to get into their cars to execute the second part of their plan.

Gloria covers Enid and Maggie, making sure they get into their car safely. She keeps an eye out for them as they drive off, and once they’re out of sight, she rushes off into the woods nearby where she had kept her supplies hidden. She finds her bag and poncho she had found at the Barrington house which she had covered in walker blood. She puts on the poncho but still grimaces at the smell of rotting flesh. Gloria heads back towards the Sanctuary with her knives in hand, undetected by the walkers as her scent was masked by the poncho. She quickly makes her way to the door of the Sanctuary. She had memorized the outline of the place from the notebook and knew exactly where the infirmary was.

Armed with her knives in hand in case she runs into any Saviors on her way to her destination, she makes a beeline towards the infirmary. 

“Harlan!” she calls out once she opens the door.

The doctor turns around as his name is called and he looks shocked to see her. He walks up to her with a frown on his face.

“Gloria? What are you doing here?” Harlan asks.

She walks into the infirmary with a relieved smile on her face, “I’m getting you out of here, put this on.”

Gloria takes off the poncho and hands him the piece of clothing, “there’s a herd of walkers outside, so we have to leave before there’s too many to fight off. You have to make it back to the Hilltop.”

Harlan grimaces as he takes the poncho but listens to Gloria, putting it on and following her out the infirmary. The two rush down the hallway and try to make it back outside as quick as possible. However, they’re stopped when three female Saviors round the corner and yell at them to stop, holding their guns at the two. 

“Shit…” Gloria curses under her breath as they surround her and she raises her arms. 

The Savior who was outside with Negan earlier, Regina, goes up to her and kicks the back of her knees, making Gloria kneel. Regina roughly grabs the knives from Gloria’s hands and throws them to the ground. Once Gloria is unarmed, Regina slaps her hard across the face then spits on her.

“For God’s sake, Regina, take that damn thing off the doctor before he gets sick!” the Savior with a bandana wrapped around her head calls out, she’s still holding her gun pointed to Gloria.

Regina looks over towards Harlan who doesn’t know what to do. He wants to help Gloria but he doesn’t dare try anything as the other Savior has her held at gunpoint. Regina groans in annoyance and yanks the poncho off of him, throwing it to the ground.

“Get back to the infirmary!” she yells at him as she pushes him away, she then goes over to Gloria and roughly grabs her hair, pulling her back, “first you try and destroy our home, and now you want to take away our doctor?!”

“You took him from us first, bitch.” Gloria seethes, not relenting.

Regina grunts angrily as she pushes Gloria away then kicks her stomach. She’s joined by the blonde female Savior as they beat her up. Harlan watches in horror as he calls out for them to stop. 

“Hey doc, get back to the infirmary!” the Savior holding the gun orders him.

Harlan looks at her then at Gloria and he stands his ground, “No. No! You stop this or else I’m not treating any of you!” 

Taking in his words, Regina and the blonde stop beating Gloria as they glare at Harlan. Gloria whimpers in pain, blood drips from her mouth as she looks up at Harlan. The Saviors don’t know what to do as they don’t dare to hurt their only doctor. 

“What’s going on here?” Dwight’s voice rings out from down the hallway. 

He rounds the hallway and frowns at the scene in front of him. As the three female Saviors surround Gloria who’s beat up on the ground, he puts the pieces together as he sees Harlan standing with them. She was trying to get their doctor back. 

“Arat, Laura, take Dr. Carson back to the infirmary, I’ll take care of the girl.” he orders as he steps towards them.

Arat, the Savior with the bandana, and Laura, the blonde Savior, comply and begin to escort Harlan back to his quarters. Regina walks up to Dwight with her arms crossed.

“What do you have in mind for this little bitch?” she questions, an evil smirk on her lips.

“I think Negan would like to keep her where he kept Daryl,” he says, earning a confused look from Regina, “she’s Daryl’s girl.”

His words of clarification cause Regina to cackle and clap his shoulder. Gloria looks up at him, glaring but Dwight shakes his head at her, subtly telling her not to try anything. He knew that if he gave them a reason to hold her in one of their cells, they wouldn’t kill her right away. It was the only thing he could come up with in such a short period of time and he only hoped that he was right.

Chapter Text

Gloria was thrown into a small dark room that smelled like a washroom that hadn’t been cleaned for years. There was no light, as if she was locked in a closet. Her only light source being the seam from under the door. It felt like an entire day had gone by. She sat in the corner of the small room, her knees curled up to her chest as the door opened and Negan stepped into the room. He lets out a low whistle and chuckles as he crouches down to her level. 

“This is so damn right! You are Daryl’s girl, you even chose the same corner he did and you sit like him!” Negan exclaims. 

Gloria glares at him, “you’re going to die.”

“And are you gonna be the one who kills me?” he asks with a grin.

“If it’s not me, it’s gonna be Rick, or Daryl, or even Maggie. I don’t care who it is, as long as you’re dead.” Gloria seethes. 

Negan snickers at her words and rubs the hairs on his chin, “I’m very curious, why do you want me dead so badly? I mean I get the widow, but I didn’t kill Daryl, I only tried to break him and make him work for me, but you got him back in the end, so why? Why do you hate me so Goddamn much?”

“The widow… she was married to my brother, you sack of shit!” Gloria answers him angrily through gritted teeth. 

He frowns at her words in confusion, “your bro- oh… shit.” 

A look of realization reaches his face as he stands back up and paces around the room casually, “Oh wow… I didn’t want to make a racist connection but damn… I am… so sorry for what I did.”

“You’re not sorry at all…” Gloria scoffs at him, “you don’t even know what you did…”

“And um…” Negan leans in, “what did I do, exactly? Other than bash your brother’s brains in.”

“You murdered my brother… took him away from me, from Maggie…” she seethes as Negan nods slowly at her words, tears of anger welling up in her eyes, “now his own kid will never even know the sound of his voice…”

Negan’s expression changes completely at her last words, something seemed to click for him, “the widow’s pregnant?”

“She is,” Gloria says through gritted teeth, “and now she’s fighting a war because of you.”

“And that’s why you tried to get Dr. Carson even if it was almost a guarantee you would get caught.” Negan sighs, “give me one good reason why I should let Dr. Carson back to the Hilltop.”

Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs, “other than the fact that we need him more than you? How about if you don’t give him back, I’ll kill each and every one of you just like I did with your outposts?”

Negan stares at her, putting the pieces together then lets out a breathless chuckle, “my outposts? That was you? That was… all you. Wow… you have even bigger balls than Sasha. You wanted to see blood and you spilled all of it. Alone too… wow!” 

He begins to pace around the room again as he speaks, “you know, I really wanted to meet the damn prick who caused those undead fucks to roam all over my outposts and I really have to admit, I did not expect it to be you, no offence. At first I thought it was just a regular herd until my people found kitchen timers and firecrackers but I thought it was just another group of assholes who wanted to get under my skin. Maybe someone just wanted my attention, but to know that it was just one person who did all that…. I must say I am impressed, and maybe even a little turned on.”

“So what are you gonna do to me now that you know it was me? Rape me and then kill me?” Gloria spits out.

“No. No, I do not tolerate rape. If I’m ever going to sleep with you it’s going to be you who wants it.” Negan shuts her down, a tinge of anger in his voice that she would accuse him of wanting to rape her.

Gloria gawks at him, “in your fucking dreams.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Negan tells her with a grin, “at first, yeah, I was going to. I was gonna bring you back to Alexandria after we got out of this shithole and then smash your beautiful face in with Lucille, or even make Daryl do it for me, but now, after talking to you, learning what I learned I am not going to kill you. I want you to work for me.”

“I will never work for you.” Gloria spits out, disgust in her voice. 

“What if I said that I’ll have my men bring Dr. Carson back to the Hilltop?” Negan offers, making Gloria frown, “you said the widow is pregnant, she needs a doctor, and I’m offering to give him back!”

“You must think I’m a fucking idiot,” Gloria says, Negan frowns at her words, “you took him from Hilltop because you need of a doctor. If you send him back to the Hilltop, you have no doctor. Do you really think I would ever believe that shit?”

“Oh but I would still have a doctor,” Negan says, he crouches down again and looks at her again with that shit eating grin, “you see, Dr. Smartypants, or you may know him as Eugene, told me that you are, or were, Alexandria’s head doctor.”

Gloria scoffs as she understands what Negan was trying to say, “you really expect me to treat you and your people?” 

“I expect you not to let any more of your people die,” Negan stands up again as he begins to saunter around the room, “I definitely know you’re smart enough to know what combination of meds can be deadly and I bet you’re planning on giving that to my people if I make you the head doctor. But, and I hope you know this too, I am smart enough to counter that. You see, a few doors down this hallway is another cell with someone you know, someone from Alexandria.” 

“Who?” Gloria can’t stop herself from asking.

“A Father Gabriel.” Negan reveals. 

She sighs, he’d become an important part of their family. Although Gabriel betrayed them by trying to have their group kicked out of Alexandria, he had been remorseful and since then made up for what he had done. He kept the community safe, learned how to defend the place, and all in all redeemed himself as a person. 

“So, here’s my deal and I’m only offering it once; I have my people escort Dr. Carson safely back to the Hilltop and you work for me as the Savior’s doctor. However, if any one of the people you treat end up dying because of you, I will rip off a part of Father Gabriel and serve it to you on a platter.” Negan says. 

Gloria purses her lips together, contemplating his words seriously, “can you guarantee that Harlan will get back to the Hilltop safely?”

“You have my word, pretty sure I showed you that I don’t lie.” Negan smirks.

As much as she hated Negan, he was right. He did keep to his ‘promises’ and he proved it. Gloria only had one chance to get Harlan back to the Hilltop and back to Maggie, and she knew she had to take it even if it meant she might be stuck in the Sanctuary until the war was over. She had to do this, for Maggie, for her future niece or nephew. For Glenn.

“Deal.” Gloria says. 

“Excellent!” Negan beams and stands up, “I’ll have Dr. Carson out to the Hilltop once it’s safe for any of us to leave, meanwhile, you’ll have to stay in this cell probably until after we’ve won the war. I can’t have any backstabbers roaming around, now can I? You get it. And if I do need any of your medical expertise, I will be having Arat or Laura bring you to the infirmary so that you can do your thing. Can’t have any of my men around a woman like yourself otherwise they might become like rapey Davy did when he laid eyes on Sasha.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Sasha,” Gloria glares at him.

“You listen here,” Negan leans in dangerously close, “you better start changing your tone with me otherwise parts of your priest are going to be delivered to your cell straight away!”

With that, Negan leaves the room and the door shuts behind him. Gloria’s left in darkness again and she sighs. She prays that Negan would keep to their deal but it felt so wrong; she made a deal with Negan that kept her trapped here. Only Jesus knew where she was and it would only be a matter of time before Daryl and Maggie found out where she went. And when they find out, Daryl would come find her. Would it be right for her to try and escape at that point? She made a deal, but it was with Negan. The monster who took Glenn from them. He killed her brother, so what was she thinking now, respecting a deal she’d made with such a vile man. She’d only need to make sure that Harlan was back at Hilltop, then she could get out of there without feeling remorse, but then there was Gabriel, she needed to try to get him out too. 

—

Gloria was left in the room for at least a day or two alone, the only time the door ever opened was when a Savior delivered her meals. Suddenly, a large crash shakes the entire building, fortunately not enough to have the room crumbling down. Just enough to cause dust and dirt to fall from the cracks in the ceiling. 

She listens intently and waits for another crash but never gets one. She only hears people scurrying and the unmistakable growls of walkers outside the door. Gloria sighs, slightly relieved that she’s locked inside where the walkers can’t get to her. She hears gunfire within the Sanctuary, screams and shouts as the walkers roam the building. She figures that either Daryl or Rick must have done this to get the Saviors to waste bullets or get her out. From the sounds of gunfire and amount of growling she can hear, she begins to think it’s the former. It seems like the Saviors were starting to thin out the herd of walkers that invaded as the gunfire and snarls begin to fade and soon, it’s silent once again. 

After a few hours of silence, a gentle knock on the door startles Gloria. She frowns as she looks at the door, waiting for whoever to either open it or speak. 

“Gloria,” she recognises the voice as Eugene’s, “this is Dr. Eugene Porter.”

“What do you want?” Gloria sighs, trying to control her temper since she knows he turned sides.

He opens the door before speaking, “I am in need of your medicinal knowledge for a mutual acquaintance, or if you will, one of our mutual travelling companions.”

“Gabriel?” she frowns, “what’s wrong with him?”

“Well, he’s not hunky dunky.” Eugene says, earning him an eyeroll from Gloria, “he has a fever, and an extremely high one at that.” 

“And where’s Harlan?” Gloria says, but Eugene seems to be unfamiliar to his first name, “Dr. Carson?” 

“Oh, Negan had him escorted out after we cleared the walkers as per your arrangement.” Eugene informs.

“Okay… good, good…” Gloria says, groaning slightly as she gets up, “in the infirmary I’m guessing?”

“You’re staying here,” Eugene says, holding his hands out to stop her from leaving.

Gloria glares at him, “what the hell do you mean I’m staying here? I need to help Gabriel!”

“That is exactly why I am here but I am not in any position to bring you to the infirmary nor do I have that permission. You will tell me what I need to do to treat our mutual acquaintance and I will do so, I trust that my memory-” his speech is interrupted by Gloria.

“We don’t have time for this, Eugene!” she yells, causing Eugene to cower back, “Gabriel needs my help and fast, we don’t have time to play some stupid medical broken telephone, besides he might die if we do it your way.”

“I may not have your medical knowledge but my memory is very extensive,” Eugene says in a shaky voice.

“You lied to our group about being a doctor to stay alive,” Gloria reminds him, “you’re not a doctor, I am. So take me to the infirmary and maybe I’ll help ease what little conscience you have left at the same time.”

Eugene ponders for a moment then finally, he nods, “affirmative.”

“Alright, good. Let’s go.” Gloria says as she starts walking out of the cell but then she scoffs when she sees Eugene pulling out a gun and aiming it at her, “seriously? If I was really going to attack you to escape I would have done it the moment you opened the damn door. Now, come on!”

Without another word, Gloria heads towards the infirmary, not checking whether or not Eugene was even following her. She pushes open the door to the infirmary once she gets to the room and sighs softly when she sees Gabriel on one of the patient beds, shivering and sweating. Gloria walks up to his bedside and puts her hand gently on his forehead, a frown on her face. 

“He has a really high fever…” she states the obvious, “what the hell did Negan do to you…”

Gabriel seemed to be unconscious as he laid in the bed, still shivering. Gloria quickly heads to the storage cabinets to see what she has to work with. She rummages through the bins and finds a few IV bags, syringes, and some bottles of antibiotics. From the looks of Gabriel, he had an infection of some sort and it was attacking Gabriel fast. 

Gloria looks over to Eugene who’s still standing by the door, “hey, do you know how to set up an IV?” 

He nods but doesn’t move, making Gloria roll her eyes, “then make yourself useful and set this up for him if you want Gabriel to live!” 

Eugene shakily nods again and takes the IV drip from Gloria. She turns back around and opens the bottle of antibiotics, she proceeds to open the plastic tablets, putting the contents on a small metal tray. She goes on to mixing the antibiotics with the liquid from another IV bag, making sure it’s well mixed before drawing it into a syringe. 

“How’s the IV going?” she says as she turns around to face Eugene and Gabriel. 

“Hunky dunky.” Eugene says, earning a look from Gloria before she pushes him to the side and inserts the needle into the tube of the IV. 

“That should help with the infection…” Gloria says out loud, not to anyone in particular. 

“Will he… will he be stable?” Eugene asks hesitantly.

“Can’t be too sure, but I think so. Gotta monitor his fever though, make sure it goes down otherwise we’re gonna have to target exactly where the infection is.” Gloria tells him. 

Eugene nods, “then your services are no longer required, I’ll need to escort you back to your cell.”

“Are you serious?” Gloria glares at him then scoffs when he aims his gun at her again, “Eugene, we both know you’re not going to shoot me.”

“I assure you that I will, if you do not-” Eugene stops himself with a gasp as Gloria grabs his gun and points the barrel to her head.

“Then do it.” she challenges him, “pull the damn trigger, because that’s the only way you’re getting me out of this room. You brought me here to help Gabriel, and that’s what I’m doing, you take me back to the cell when I say you can.”

Gloria lets go of Eugene’s hand holding the gun and he shakingly lowers it, not saying another word. He retreats to sit down in a chair situated in the corner of the infirmary. Gloria understood his predicament, he needed to bring her back to the cell without any of the others knowing so that Negan would never find out what he did, but she didn’t want to go back knowing that Gabriel could still be dying from an infection. 

Every once in a while, Gloria checked on Gabriel’s temperature and surely enough, his fever was going down. It was a good sign that the antibiotics were working and that Gabriel would be okay. Soon enough, he began to wake up. 

“Gabriel?” Gloria says, her voice gentle as to not scare him; she wasn’t sure if he knew where he was. 

He blinks multiple times, squinting as he looks around as if he was trying to adjust to light. He grimaces when his eyes land on Gloria but there is no look of recognition on his face. Instead, Gabriel looks rather confused and worried.

“Who-who are you? Where am I?” he asks, his voice hoarse.

“It’s Gloria, and you’re at Savior’s infirmary” she says to reassure him but she notices that he was still squinting, she waves her hand in front of his eyes, “can you see me?”

He shakes his head, “no.. I mean… yes, I can see you but… it’s all a blur…”

“Shit… the infection must have attacked your optic nerve…” Gloria sighs, “I already put antibiotics in your bloodstream so it’s not going to get any worse… but I don’t know if I can reverse that’s already done… I’m sorry…”

Gabriel shakes his head and does his best to look at Gloria directly, he smiles at her, surprising her, “no, don’t be sorry, you did what you could. I believe that this was all God’s plan.”

Gloria frowns and she isn’t able to hold in her scoff, “you think God’s plan was to blind you?”

Gabriel chuckles breathily, “no, that’s just a minor complication… but the fact that I am here, and with you, that is not just a mere coincidence, Gloria.”

“What are you trying to get at?” she says with a confused frown.

“You’re in a lot of pain from the loss of you brother,” Gabriel starts, “I believe God has brought me here to try and ease your pain, offer you some comfort.”

Gloria’s jaw tightens as she tries to get a hold on her emotions, “we’re not doing this now, Gabriel, especially not here.”

“Losing him summoned a darkness in you and it’s torturing you,” Gabriel says, “Glenn was a good man, a loving husband and would have made a wonderful father. And from what I’ve seen, he was a great brother to you as well.”

She chokes out a sob at his words, unable to hold it in any more, she nods, “he was the best brother I could ever ask for…” 

“His death was a tragedy for us but you must remember that Heaven gained an angel,” Gabriel says, he reaches out to place his hand on her shoulder, “your brother is your guardian angel, looking down on you, he’s your guiding light.”

Miraculously, his words seemed to have made her feel lighter. A small smile tugs at her lips as she wipes a fallen tear from her cheek. She always saw Glenn as her guiding light, even when he was alive, he’d always know what was the right thing to do. It was like Gabriel had to remind her of that otherwise she would have been lost. 

“I know… I know, thank you.” Gloria says, she then takes a deep breath to get her emotions back in order, “are you feeling okay?” 

“Still can’t see, but I am feeling better,” Gabriel tells her.

“Good, let them know if you start feeling worse,” Gloria says, then she turns to face Eugene, “hey asshole, you can bring me back to that damn cell, but don’t you dare point that thing at me again.”

—

At least another day goes by when the door finally opens again to Gloria’s prison, light pours into the room as her eyes adjust. She feels a hand grab onto her forearm and roughly pulls her to stand up.

“Get out of there!” Arat shouts at her, “And don’t try anything, bitch, or I will kill you.”

Gloria glares at her, wary of the gun Arat has aimed at her in her grip, “where are you taking me?”

Instead of answering her, Arat pushes Gloria to walk in front of her but not without pressing the gun to her back to make sure Gloria doesn’t do anything. Eventually, she is taken to a set of doors that leads to outside. 

“Open it.” Arat orders and without much choice, Gloria complies.

Once the doors are open, Arat pushes Gloria outside where a large crowd of Saviors are gathered around the fences that held walkers in place. In front of the crowd stood Negan, holding his barbed wire bat that was covered in blood and guts. 

“I brought her, boss.” Arat calls out as she pushes through the crowd with Gloria in front of her. 

“Excellent work, Arat, thank you!” Negan grins as he sees Gloria.

“I thought you said you would keep me locked up until the war is over.” Gloria eyes him.

“I did say that, didn’t I? But you know what? I changed my mind!” he takes a step closer to her and puts his arm around her shoulder which Gloria tries to struggle away from him but his hand grips her shoulder tightly, “I’m taking you back to Hilltop!”

“What?” she says, genuinely shocked at his words.

“I’m sure you heard me loud and clear, sweetheart. You’re gonna be seeing your friends, and might I add family, at the Hilltop again!” he announces, finally letting go of Gloria’s shoulder. 

On the surface, the news sounded like a dream come true but Gloria knew not to trust his word. She didn’t have a good feeling about it at all and she knew that she couldn’t trust Negan when it came to her and her family.

“Why.” she says, her tone in a demanding tone rather than a question.

Negan chuckles at this then looks at her, “well, because it just occurred to me that I haven’t exactly punished you yet for taking out my two outposts.”

The dreadful feeling in her gut only doubled with his words, this could not mean anything good for her people.

“You don’t have to do anything, you’re already punishing me, you locked me up and you’re making me work for you!” Gloria argues, although she already knew she was fighting a losing battle; Negan had already made up his mind.

“Yeah, but I need you to feel the pain of losing two communities so that I know for a fact that you will never do shit like that again!” Negan grins, “first, we’ll take a detour to Alexandria and let you see what’s left of that place, then we’ll head over to Hilltop and finish them all off.”

“What’s left? What the hell does that mean?” Gloria stares at Negan in horror.

“Load her up!” he orders Dwight and Simon, not answering her.

“Negan! Negan, what the hell does that mean?! You don’t have to do this! Stop!” Gloria screams as she struggles against Dwight and Simon who forcefully usher her to a large truck and shove her into the back. 

“Relax darling, we’re not going to kill the people at Hilltop.” Simon says as he leans on the truck.

Dwight hops into the back of the truck with Gloria and zip ties her wrists to a pole on the inside of the truck. Gloria glares at him as he does this.

“Negan believes that people are a resource! Death isn’t our goal here,” Simon grins evilly at her as Dwight jumps down from the truck after fastening Gloria to the truck, “it’s infection.”

“Infection?” Gloria frowns, confused by what he means but she isn’t able to confirm anything as they close the back door of the truck, capturing her in darkness just moments before the truck starts to move.

She needed to get out of the truck, she needed to stop Negan from getting to Hilltop. She knew she needed to but there was nothing she could do. She was trapped in the back of a truck, hands bound to the walls with no way out. Still, Gloria had to try. She grunts as she tugs roughly at her restraints, not stopping when she feels the zip ties slicing her skin. A loud crash from seemingly behind the truck stops her from causing any more damage to her wrists. Soon, she feels the truck come to a full stop and hears vehicle doors opening and closing. Gloria tries to listen intently to figure out what was going on outside but she was only able to hear mumbles as Simon and Dwight spoke to the Saviors. 

Whatever the crash was seemed to be unimportant as the truck shortly began to move again. She thought back to what Negan said, they would be stopping at Alexandria so that she could see what was left of the place. Whatever that meant was not good for her people, she could only hope and pray that they were all okay. If Negan wanted her to see the place, that meant he had to let her out, so that was her only chance to stop them from going to Hilltop.

However, that plan seemed to go out the window as she recognised the fields that surrounded Hilltop when Dwight opened the back door of the truck. He hops onto the truck and sighs when he sees her bloody wrists before he cuts her loose.

“Don’t try anything, the Saviors are all armed.” Dwight whispers to her as he drags her out to meet Simon.

“You are speaking to Negan, but my birth certificate says Simon. With whom do I have the distinct displeasure of speaking?” Simon says to someone through a walkie-talkie. 

“Maggie.” her voice says through the walkie, “Maggie Rhee.”

Gloria can’t help but smile softly at the sound of her voice and the fact that she used her family name. 

“Ah, the Widow!” Simon says mockingly then looks over at Gloria, “I believe I have someone of yours who you would love to talk to!” 

He walks over to her with that same sick grin as Maggie’s voice speaks over the walkie, “Gloria?”

“The one and only!” Simon says through the walkie, “I believe she means a lot to you, knowing that she’s your sister-in-law and the future aunt to the spawn growing inside you. I’d like to think that we can get a nice trade out of this.”

“Let me speak to her.” Maggie demands through the walkie, “with what Negan pulled with Sasha, I have to know she’s alive before I make any negotiations with you, so put her on!”

Simon rolls his eyes then holds the walkie to Gloria’s face, “speak.”

Gloria glares at him but says nothing. She didn’t want Maggie to make any type of trade, not with the Saviors, they needed to win this war and anything that could cost them that wasn’t worth it, not even her own life. Simon sighs and takes the walkie away from Gloria but steps up to her.

“Listen, we’re going to get into the Hilltop tonight with or without your help, but whether or not we kill every single person inside those walls all depends on you and if you’re willing to help. Now I’ll give you another chance,” he raises the walkie to her face again, “speak.”

Gloria sighs heavily then reluctantly nods, letting Simon know to push the button on the walkie, “Maggie… I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?” she responds over the walkie almost immediately.

“She’s fine, she’s alive and you have your proof,” Simon takes back the walkie, “now, can we get to our deal?”

“What do you want?” Maggie says.

“Simple, I want Hilltop. Every single person in Hilltop must be out for us Saviors to move in, we’re making this one of our newest outposts!” Simon announces, “Now, I know it’s a lot to take in, so I’ll give you all until dawn to get out of Hilltop and in return, I don’t kill Gloria.” 

“I have 38 of your men here. I’m willing to give back all 38 for Gloria.” Maggie bargains.

“Nope, nope, now that is a completely different deal! Gloria was never even on the bargaining table!” Simon smirks, “my deal is the only one that stands, if you don’t take it, my men will barge into the Hilltop and take it by force.”

“Then you’re going to have to try to take it by force, we’re not afraid of you,” Maggie challenges.

Simon lets out a laugh, “of course you’re not! Oh! I also left out one small thing I think you should know before making your decision,” he roughly grabs Gloria’s arm and pulls her towards him, “I’m gonna have Gloria in the front lines leading my men inside!”

Gloria grunts as she tries to pry her arm out of his grasp. She couldn’t let him do that, she couldn’t be used as the Savior’s shield. As Simon continues to try to make a deal with Maggie, Gloria’s attention is drawn by the distant sound of a motorcycle. Daryl. 

She looks in the direction the sound was coming from then glances back at Simon who seems to have also heard the sound as he was squinting in that direction. Seeing that he was distracted, Gloria knew this was her only chance and she had to be fast. She quickly grabs the walkie out of Simon’s hands and punches him in the face with her other hand. She then dashes behind the parked vehicles just as bullets begin flying. Gloria bolts towards the outskirts of the Hilltop, she would be able to get inside through the hatch but she would need someone to open the door for her.

“Jesus? Jesus, do you copy?” Gloria calls into the walkie as she runs. 

Much to her relief, Jesus responds shortly, “Gloria?” 

“I need you to open the hatch for me, now!” she shouts into the walkie, sprinting towards the hidden entrance. 

She would have to rely on Jesus being quick as she reaches the entrance and quickly crawls inside. Thankfully, the door was already open when she got to the other side and Jesus hurriedly helps her out. Gloria closes the hatch behind her and locks it in case any Saviors were able to follow her. 

“Where’s Maggie? I need her to know I’m safe inside,” Gloria asks. 

“On the balcony at the Barrington house,” he tells her.

“Okay, get me a gun.” Gloria says and follows Jesus as he nods.

Gloria raises the walkie to her mouth as she looks up at the balcony of the Barrington house and spots her sister-in-law, “Maggie, I’m inside Hilltop, I’m with Jesus.”

She watches as Maggie frantically looks around then finally spots her, a smile of relief spreads on her face as she nods. Gloria nods back then presses the button of the walkie again.

“Give ‘em hell.”

Chapter Text

Gunfire erupts through the Hilltop as Maggie shouts her commands from the balcony of the Barrington house. Once Gloria takes the rifle from Jesus, she also joins the ensemble of gunfire, shooting at any Saviors that were trying to take over the Hilltop. She takes cover behind a parked vehicle as she continues to rip into the army of Saviors. 

“Gloria!” 

A voice that sounded like Carol calls out to her but just as she’s about to turn around to find her friend, a sharp piercing pain shoots through her shoulder blade. Gloria cries out in pain, her back leaning on the vehicle as Carol reaches her side. 

“Dammit… I saw them coming from behind you, I thought I could warn you, I’m sorry.” Carol says, helping Gloria stand, “I got Jerry and Ezekiel covering us, let’s get you to the medical trailer.”

Not bothering to protest, Gloria nods and lets Carol help her to the trailer. 

“Dr. Carson!” Carol calls out as she opens the door; at least Negan honored his end of the bargain. 

She sets Gloria down to sit on one of the patient beds as Harlan rushes out to meet the women. A smile of relief washes over his face when he sees Gloria but soon is replaced by a look of concern as he sees her shot. 

He nods at Carol, “I’ll take care of her, you be careful out there.”

Carol nods back at him as a thank you then gives Gloria a smile of reassurance before leaving the trailer, arming herself with the rifle Jesus had given Gloria. 

“Brace yourself, I’m gonna take the bolt out, okay?” Harlan warns her.

Gloria frowns at his words and looks at him, “bolt?” 

He nods, “it’ll be quick, but it’s still gonna hurt, ready?”

She lets out a breath and nods. If she was shot by a bolt that could only mean one thing: Dwight was the one who shot her. So they couldn’t trust him after all. Gloria lets out a cry of pain as Harlan quickly pulls out the bolt, placing it on the tray by the bed and quickly covers the wound with gauze to soak up her blood. 

“You’re a trooper.” Harlan says with a slight chuckle.

Gloria lets out a breathless chuckle then looks around the trailer. She sees a few other wounded people on the other beds, still needing Harlan’s attention.

“Harlan, you should be taking care of them first.” Gloria says.

“I will after I’m done patching you up, it’ll be quicker with you helping me and you can’t exactly help me if you’re bleeding out.” Harlan explains as he patches up her wound.

“Alright, fine.” Gloria says, giving up fighting him.

Once she was patched up, she was on her feet again. The two of them rush over to the other patients to tend to their wounds. As Gloria cleans up blood from a patient’s wound with gauze, the gunfire from outside had stopped completely. She looks up at the window and notices that it was dark outside, as if all the lights outside had shut off.

“It’s over,” Gloria says with a small smile.

“Not yet,” Harlan says, causing her to look over at him, “it’s part two of Maggie’s plan, you’ll see.” 

As if on cue, light seemingly from a truck outside streams throughout the Hilltop and gunfire erupts again. Gloria lets out a small sigh as she continues to tend to her patient’s wound. She frowns when a stench reaches her nose. She looks down at the gauze in her hand, there was red and dark with blood and seemingly flesh. 

“That’s not right…” she says to herself, raising the gauze closer to her nose only to pull away from the material.

The flesh on the gauze smelled like it was rotting but that wasn’t possible, it would take at least 8 hours for flesh to start rotting. And with how strong the smell was, the flesh had to have been rotting for a week. Gloria’s eyes widen when a realization hits her. Infection. That was what Simon said. She remembers seeing all of their weapons coated in dark red, including Negan’s damned bat. 

Gloria looks around at the other patients and swears under her breath when she sees bits and pieces of rotten flesh in their wounds as well. Just disinfecting the wounds wouldn’t suffice, there was walker flesh on their open wounds and that was dangerous. 

“Okay okay… walker bites are spread by blood, they’re blood infections… sepsis… how do you treat sepsis…” Gloria begins thinking aloud to herself.

“Gloria, are you okay?” Harlan asks her as he hears her murmuring to herself.

As if she hadn’t heard him, Gloria looks towards the tray of medical tools and picks up a scalpel. She turns towards her patient and wipes down his wound with gauze and alcohol before cutting a layer of his flesh surrounding the wound; she was grateful that he was unconscious otherwise he’d be thrashing in pain. 

“Gloria, what are you doing?!” Harlan shouts at her.

“Getting rid of the infection,” Gloria says, not looking at him as she concentrates on getting rid of the flesh that made direct contact with the walker blood.

“What are you talking about?” Harlan exclaims, clearly not understanding her.

“Look at their wounds, Harlan!” Gloria snaps, “they all have dead rotting flesh in their wounds and if we don’t get it out, they’re gonna turn.”

Harlan looks down at the wounds and frowns when he realizes Gloria is right, “and you think treating it like sepsis is going to help?”

“Bites are spread by blood throughout the body, so by definition, they’re blood infections. I don’t know if it’ll work, but we have to try something,” Gloria says firmly, “the Saviors didn’t come to kill, they came to infect.”

Harlan ponders for a short moment then nods, going off to the supply cabinet to get more medical supplies. Gloria presses down on her patient’s wound once she’s finished slicing the infected flesh off. When the bleeding is at a minimum, she carefully wraps up the wound with gauze and bandages. She moves onto the next patient and proceeds to do the same thing with his wound. 

While the doctors were hard at work treating their patient’s wounds, neither of them realized that the gunfire had ceased. Dana, the Kingdom’s doctor, and another younger bearded man, who introduced himself as Siddiq, brought more injured fighters into the trailer. Harlan instructed them both on how to treat the wounds and others helped carry the treated fighters to either the Barrington house or their own trailers to rest. Siddiq was accepting of Harlan’s instructions even if he hadn’t understood why they needed to scrape the wounds clean, but Dana had put up a fight with Harlan that she thought it was a waste of time. It was only when Gloria scolded her, explaining that they had to prevent the infection from spreading that Dana had finally quieted herself and got to work.

“Alright, I’ll make my rounds through the trailers,” Dana says.

“And I’ll check around the Barrington house.” Siddiq says, nodding once.

Harlan and Gloria nod at the two of them as they leave the medical trailer. The two of them begin to clean up the medical trailer. The place was a mess of rags, gauze, bandages and blood. Just as Gloria throws away the last of the bloodied gauze into the trash, the door opens, catching her attention as Daryl steps into the trailer.

“Daryl…” she whispers his name when a thought of worry reaches her mind since he must have come to the medical trailer for a reason, she takes a step towards him, “are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He doesn’t answer her. Instead, he quickly walks towards her and grabs her arm and pulls her towards him once he reaches her, enveloping his arms around her tightly. Gloria smiles softly in his embrace as she wraps her arms around his torso. Daryl was worried sick about her, especially when he found out that she wasn’t at Hilltop when he got there. 

Harlan smiles at the two warmly then heads towards the door, “I’ll give you two some time together, and I’ll let Maggie know about the possible infection.”

Gloria pulls away from Daryl and smiles gratefully at him, “thanks Harlan. Make sure there’s someone to look over all the injured, we can’t risk any of them turning.”

He nods in agreement then leaves the trailer, leaving Daryl and Gloria alone. Daryl looks at Gloria longingly, he raises his hand to caress her cheek with his knuckles.

“Are ya a’right? Carol said ya got shot.” he says, his voice soft as he gently brushes his thumb on the dry blood in the corner of her lip.

“Yeah, but I’m okay… I’ll be fine.” Gloria tries to reassure him.

She notices him freeze when he looks over to the tray by the patient bed Carol had set her on earlier. He’d seen it, the bolt Dwight had shot her with. She watches as guilt and anger flash through his eyes, as well as a million thoughts through his mind.

“Daryl…” she calls gently.

“‘T was him… he shot ya…” Daryl says, his voice dangerously low.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” she calls as she cups his face gently to make him look at her, “I’ll be okay, this isn’t going to kill me, I’ve survived a lot worse.”

Daryl’s expression softens as he looks into her eyes, his own brimming with tears as she caresses his face. The sight breaks her heart.

“I thought I lost ya…” his voice breaks, “when I… when I got here an’ Maggie… she said ya were still at the damn Sanctuary… I thought I… I thought I killed ya.”

Gloria furrows her brows in confusion, “what do you mean?” she wipes a stray tear from his face.

“I drove a truck into the Sanctuary… let all ‘em walkers in… if I knew ya were there I’d never…” he cries, his voice trembling in fear and guilt, unable to finish his sentence.

Now it all made sense, the loud crash and the herd of walkers that made it inside the Sanctuary. Gloria was able to easily put the pieces together. 

She holds him close as she lets him cry into her shoulder, “I know you wouldn’t do anything reckless unless you felt it was necessary and you didn’t know… I’m sorry, I should have told you. But I’m okay, as bad as it was, I was safe when the herd got in.”

“Where were ya when I did it…?” he asks.

Gloria hesitates to answer. She knew that she was in the old cell where they kept Daryl, but she didn’t want to tell him that or bring it up. She knew that Daryl hated it there and the last thing she wanted to do was bring back old memories of being trapped in that damned place the Saviors called the Sanctuary. 

“Safe,” she says simply as she lets out a sigh, “that’s all you need to know, I was in a safe place.” 

Daryl pulls away from her and purses his lips at her answer, “did they do anythin’ to ya?” 

“You mean other than beat me up?” she answers, gesturing to her lip.

“‘M serious, Gloria.” he says looking at her intensely, “the assholes there… did they do anythin’ to ya?”

Understanding what he was implying in his question, Gloria shakes her head, “they didn’t, no one did anything like that to me, I promise. The only people who were allowed to ‘handle’ me were women, and they didn’t have that kind of interest in me.”

“Good…” he grunts, he calms down at her words, seemingly accepting her answer, “ya should rest, been a long couple o’ days for ya.”

Gloria couldn’t deny the truth in Daryl’s words. It was only at the mention of letting herself rest that the realization of how truly tired and exhausted her body was hit her. She lets Daryl guide her out of the medical trailer, expecting him to take her back to the trailer they’d stayed in previously. However, she slows her pace when Daryl walks her towards the Barrington house. 

Daryl turns to look at her when he feels her slowing down and he catches her look, “you’re hurt, ya ain’ sleepin’ in no trailer. Gonna get ya a proper bed for once.”

Without waiting for her to protest, he gently tugs at her hand for her to follow him into the house. A small smile pulls at her lips at his gesture; it was a simple thing but it was just like Daryl to take care of her the way he did and it warmed her heart. 

“Gloria!” 

She looks in the direction of Maggie’s voice once she steps into the house, Daryl right behind her. Gloria feels Daryl’s hand loosen its grip on her hand as she makes her way to Maggie. Harlan and Jesus were behind her as all three of them had just left what used to be Gregory’s office.

“Maggie,” Gloria calls as she hugs her sister-in-law, “you’re okay?”

She smiles with tears in her eyes and nods, but she then frowns as she pulls away from the hug, “you had me worried sick! What were you thinking, huh? Going into the Sanctuary alone like that? What were we gonna do if you didn’t make it back to us?!” 

“I’m sorry…” Gloria says, lowering her head, “but I had to… I promised Glenn I’d keep you both safe and that meant getting Harlan back.”

Maggie sniffles as tears stream down her face, her tearful smile returning to her face, “I know… but you still shouldn’t have done that.” 

“I’m glad you’re safe, Gloria. Just… please stop running off on your own and making me tell everyone your plans,” Jesus says with a chuckle, wanting to lighten the mood. 

Gloria chuckles and nods, “I’ll try, but for the record, this time you only knew because you pried.” 

“Fair enough,” he smiles then glances at Harlan, “just… how did you get Negan to agree to give back Dr. Carson?”

She sighs at his question, “I made a deal with Negan. If I agreed to work for him, he’d bring Harlan back to Hilltop unharmed.”

“Ya made a deal with him?!” Daryl exclaims, not wanting to believe what he’d just heard.

Gloria looks back at him and sighs, “I did what I had to do. It was the only way.”

There was a look in Daryl’s eyes that was foreign to Gloria, as if he’d been betrayed by her. He knew her and he understood that she would do everything and anything for her family, even making a deal with Negan. Daryl knew that about her but it still hurt that she would betray her own body and sleep with the man. He knew that Negan had a room with women he called his wives, and he knew they were all innocent, only agreeing to be Negan’s wife to protect their own families. It was because he knew they were safe, in a room that was upstairs that he was able to drive the truck through the walls. He didn’t want to put the pieces together, he wanted to deny it but it was right in front of him. Gloria told him that she was in a safe place when the walkers flooded through the halls of the Sanctuary, the only people who were allowed to handle her were female, and she had made a deal with Negan. Daryl hated it, but he knew she did what she had to. He could never blame her or be mad at her for that, he loved her too much.

“Any deal you made with Negan is null,” Maggie says matter-of-factly, “no deal with Negan is valid within these walls.”

Gloria smiles softly at Maggie, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“You should rest, you must have had a rough couple of days, Dr. Carson already told me about the infection so don’t worry about the rest,” Maggie says, nodding reassuringly.

“We should have people watching over all of the injured just in case, if and… when they turn, we have to put them down immediately to prevent any more damage.” Gloria says. 

“Hopefully they’ll all be fine, Dr. Carson also told us what the doctors did for all the people who got injured,” Jesus says, crossing his arms, “cutting into their wounds to get rid of the infected flesh… not something just anyone could do.” 

Gloria chuckles as Jesus pretends to shudder, “I’d do that for you any day.”

“Please don’t!’ Jesus grimaces.

“Gloria… we did that for everyone except one…” Harlan says, his face solemn as he looks at her, “you.”

All of their faces fall as they register Harlan’s words. Gloria hadn’t had her shot wound treated the way they did the others and she completely forgot her own injury. She only cared to take care of the others that it had slipped her mind that she too was shot by the Saviors. She takes in the grim look on Maggie and Jesus’s faces, if Harlan hadn’t told them that she was injured, certainly the bandage peeking out the neck of her shirt was a giveaway. 

“I’ll be fine,” Gloria tries to reassure her friends along with herself, “I’ve been through a lot worse, we all have. I won’t die from this.”

“Damn right, ya won’t.” Daryl says as he takes a step towards her and holds her hand from behind her.

The moment she spoke after realizing that she could be infected already, Daryl could hear the fear in her voice. It was even more evident in her eyes when she turned to look at him; she was terrified. 

“Ya ain’ dyin’ from this, ya jus’ need rest.” he tells her, his voice soft.

“We should all rest,” Jesus proposes, “Dana and Siddiq are making rounds with the patients, me and Dr. Carson will take over for them after.”

Harlan nods in agreement of his assignment and Maggie nods as well. Without another word, Gloria is led by Daryl to one of the rooms to rest. She sits on the bed, tears welling up in her eyes as Daryl sits on the other side of the bed, taking off his shoes and vest before getting on the bed. He reaches out to her and beckons her to get in the bed, his arms instantly wrap around her once she’s lying down beside him. Naturally, she snuggles into his arms, clinging onto his shirt. 

“Daryl…” she whimpers. 

He presses a kiss to her forehead, “you’re gonna be okay.”

Gloria shakes her head, “don’t talk to me about that right now… I don’t want to think about it… tell me something.. Anything… what happened after Rick left the Sanctuary? How did our plan go?”

She needed something to distract her from her injury. She didn’t want to be afraid but she knew that she was. She wasn’t going to let that get the better of her though, she had to pull through.

“We took over the other outposts, got to the office outpost to find the guns that asshole told us ‘bout… but they weren’t there… Aaron lost Eric an’ the damn guns got moved to where Carol was… Kingdom got gunned down… only Carol, the King, an’ Jerry made it back.” Daryl tells her, holding Gloria closer to him as she whispers a soft ‘no’, “there’s more…” 

He hears her sniffle before speaking, “what else?”

“Rick an’ I tracked the guns… but we lost ‘em ‘cause we were stupid…” he sighs, “he wanted to keep with the plan, but I wanted to ram the damn truck into the Sanctuary… we fought over it and the car with the guns somehow caught on fire… exploded with the weapons still inside.” 

“You and Rick really know how to be dramatic when you two fight,” Gloria says with a small smile on her face as she wipes her tears away. 

Daryl scoffs at that, “yeah… guess we do.”

“Did the Saviors do something to Alexandria..?” she questions as she remembers that the Saviors were supposed to stop at Alexandria to let her see ‘what was left of it’.

“Saviors blew it up…” Daryl sighs, “after they got out o’ the Sanctuary, Negan bombed the place… Carl got everyone to safety though… always thought o’ everyone before himself…”

Gloria hears the sadness in his voice, she looks up at him and sees his eyes wet with unfallen tears, “Carl… no… he’s not…”

“He got bit…” Daryl reveals, “bringin’ back Siddiq.”

She shakes her head in denial as she cries into Daryl’s chest, wetting his shirt. She knew that this war would have casualties, but she never imagined it to be this painful. They’d lost an entire community of fighters, the Kingdom lost their whole army of people. Aaron lost Eric, one of Gloria’s first friends at Alexandria. Her heart broke for Aaron, and she could never understand what Rick would be going through with losing Carl. She’d watched him grow into the young man who took after his father. He was always brave and selfless, someone like him was much needed in this cruel world of theirs. Now Rick had to go on without his son, and Judith had to go on without her older brother. 

Daryl lifts his hand and reaches into his pant pocket, fishing out a piece of paper, he gives it to Gloria, “he wrote this for ya…”

She glances at the paper then back at Daryl before pushing herself off him to sit up. She carefully takes the paper from him and fresh tears well up in her eyes when she recognizes Carl’s writing. 

Dear Gloria,

I’m sorry that this is how I have to say goodbye to you, and I’m sorry I never got to say this in person… I’m sorry for what happened to Glenn, and I’m sorry that I’ll never be able to meet his kid. This is turning into an apology letter rather than a goodbye, isn’t it? 

You’re probably wondering how this even happened to me. I was out there, and I found someone. A doctor, his name is Siddiq. When I found out he was a doctor, I thought ‘hey, Gloria can have another friend’. So I brought him back even without asking my dad if it was okay, but before we made it back, I got bit. Maybe it was stupid of me to try, but I had to, we always have to try to do the right thing, right? That’s what my mom taught me, you always told me that too otherwise there would be no difference between us and the walkers or even the bad people who just take what they want. 

Thank you for everything you’d done for me, protecting me, looking after me, teaching me about music and all that. I wanted to teach Judith all of that, maybe even play the guitar for her like you taught me before, but I guess I won’t be able to anymore. I was hoping that maybe you could do that for her and all the other kids, give them the childhood they deserve, you’re the best one to do it. I’m sure Glenn thinks so too. 

I love you, Gloria. Always will. 

Love, Carl.

“Do you think… do you think he’s in a better place?” Gloria whispers through her tears after she’d finished reading the letter, “do you think he’s… he’s with Glenn up there?”

Daryl purses his lips, pondering how he should answer. He was never religious and he didn’t believe in the concept of heaven and hell, but he knew that some people used it as a form of comfort. 

“Yeah… ‘m sure he is, an’ they’re both lookin’ down at us, watchin’ over us.’ Daryl says.

“Didn’t take you for a religious person.” Gloria says with a small hint of amusement in her voice.

He scoffs then kisses the top of her head, “sleep, I’ll watch over ya.”

Normally, Gloria would retort saying that having someone watch over her while she slept was creepy, but right now, she knew it was the best option. The fact that she could be infected by her wound still plagued her mind no matter how she tried to distract herself. She needed someone to watch over her just in case she turned without knowing it. She couldn’t risk that. 

Chapter Text

In the morning, Gloria woke up to an empty bed. Thankfully, she didn’t feel any different than when she fell asleep in Daryl’s arms. She decided to get up and help with what she could, and she found that many of the patients who were injured from the battle had gotten severely sick. Even with Harlan protesting against it, Gloria still made her rounds with the patients, helping in any way she could. Although she didn’t want to speak too soon, she was thankful that not all the patients had gotten sick. 

“Hey,” Jesus calls as he walks towards her after Gloria had left one of the trailers.

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you,” she says, “a lot of the people who got injured last night are really sick, I think we’ll need more people to watch over them just in case, the last thing we need is an internal herd.”

Jesus furrows his brow in thought but nods, “what about you? You got shot.”

“I did, but I don’t feel sick. Not right now, anyway…” she sighs, “I gotta help with what I can, so you’re not gonna see me bedridden.”

He chuckles softly at her words and nods, “Maggie always said you were stubborn.”

“She would be right,” she smiles, “where is she, by the way?”

“By the graves.” Jesus points in the direction he had told her.

Gloria smiles at him and thanks him before heading off to find her. As she makes her way over to the graves, she hears whistling from the makeshift prison they’d put together while she was at the Sanctuary. Apparently, Jesus had brought back 39 Saviors from an outpost and Maggie had agreed to keep them prisoner. Maggie had killed one of them and sent the corpse back to the Saviors as a warning. The other 38 were the ones Maggie had offered in exchange for Gloria. 

“Hey, hey!” the Savior who was whistling calls out as Gloria walks by, “hey!

Annoyed, she looks over at the long haired Savior she recognized as Jared, “what?”

“Come over here,” he says with a snicker, beckoning her over.

“And why should I?” she scoffs.

“I wanted to ask you something, you look really familiar but I just can’t put my finger on it.” he says, his grin never leaving his face.

Gloria scoffs and rolls her eyes in annoyance before turning around to walk away, she didn’t have time for a Savior’s bullshit.

“Oh! I remember now! Were you related to the Asian guy that Negan bashed in the head?!” he heckles.

His words cause her to stop in her tracks, blood boiling as she turns to glare at him. If he wanted a reaction, he was going to get one. 

“Yeah, you were definitely related to him. Both of your eyes really… pop!” Jared howls a laugh, “he was your brother or something, right?”

Gloria heaves in anger at his words, about to charge at him when Daryl quickly walks up behind her and gently grabs her arm. He was helping with the bodies when he saw Jared try to get a reaction out of Gloria, and he knew it would not end well. 

“Don’ do this… these pieces o’ shit ain’ worth yer time.” he says, hoping she’d listen.

Gloria takes a deep breath, sighing heavily then looks up at Daryl and nods, “you’re right…” 

When the two begin walking away together, Jared gasps loudly, “you’re together?!”

This time, it’s Daryl who turns around as he shouts, “Ya better shut the hell up!”

“He’s only trying to get a reaction out of us, Daryl, let’s just go.” Gloria says, trying to calm herself down and control her emotions.

“Hey! What’s it like to have your boyfriend get your brother killed?!” Jared cackles.

That was it, Gloria had enough of him spewing bullshit. All she saw was red. Without another word, she grabs Daryl’s gun from its holster and storms towards the prison, ignoring Daryl’s calls. She holds up the weapon, aiming it at Jared’s forehead. 

“Say that again, I dare you,” she challenges.

“I just wanted to ask a question, no need to get so worked up,” Jared says, his grin still painted on his face, not moving away from the gun.

His expression and his words made it clear to her why he was provoking her so much. He wanted to die, he wanted her to shoot him. She pulls back the hammer of the gun.

“Gloria,” Daryl calls out to her from behind, “don’t.”

Ignoring Daryl’s plea, Gloria glares at Jared but says nothing else as she redirects the gun and points it at another Savior, shooting him dead in the head. The other Saviors as well as the others of Hilltop are all startled by the sudden gunshot, but Gloria pays them no mind. She just watches as Jared falters, staring at her wide eyed.

“W-why did you do that?” he asks, almost hysterical, “I was the one who provoked you, it was me!”

“I know you want to die, so I’m not gonna give you that,” Gloria seethes, “the next time you try to provoke me, I’ll shoot another one of your people, so maybe the next time you try anything, one of them will shut you up.”

Gloria turns around to see Daryl standing behind her, staring at her with a stunned expression. She sighs and gives back his gun but doesn’t say anything else to him as she walks away. She continues to make her way to the graveyard to help with the bodies. 

For the rest of the day, no one had spoken to Gloria about what happened with the imprisoned Saviors. Maggie understood why she did what she did, she had heard what Jared said to her and it angered her as well. She knew that if she were in Gloria’s shoes, she would have done the same thing. Daryl understood it too, the only reason why he wanted to stop her was that he didn’t want her to be the one to do it. She wasn’t a killer.

Gloria made her way back to the Barrington house after the bodies of their fallen were all buried. She wanted to check up on the patients who had fallen sick and lighten the burden of the other doctors. 

“Hey,” she greets Harlan, “how do they look?” 

Harlan sighs and shakes his head, “many of them have gotten worse… might not make it through the night.”

“We’ll need to watch over them then,” she nods.

“Not you.” Harlan says, his voice adamant.

“Harlan, I can help.” Gloria protests.

“You can help by resting, I’m your doctor, so you’ll do as I say, and on top of that, you saved my life so please, Gloria, let me try and preserve yours.” Harlan argues.

Gloria sighs then nods, giving up the fight, she retreats to the room Daryl had made her stay in the night before. She sits on the bed and sighs, thinking back on what happened in just that one day. She’d killed a Savior in cold blood with Daryl’s gun. She felt that Daryl was upset at her for taking his gun without asking, but at the moment it felt like the right thing to do. Throughout the day as they were burying the bodies, she caught glimpses of Daryl looking at her, but he hadn’t approached her after she shot that Savior. It was like he was trying to keep his distance from her now.

The sound of the door opening interrupts Gloria’s train of thought as she looks up in that direction, revealing Daryl as he steps into the room, gently closing it behind him. 

“Hey,” he says, “jus’ wanted to check on ya, see if ya were doin’ okay.”

“I’m okay…” she says, but Daryl didn’t seem convinced, then after a moment of silence she sighs, “I’m sorry for taking your gun without asking you first.”

He just nods at her words, accepting the apology but doesn’t say anything more. He purses his lips, looking down at the ground in deep thought. Gloria watches him, worry growing in her heart when he doesn’t respond to her.

“Daryl…” she calls.

“Why’d ya do it?” he asks suddenly, “ya didn’t have to…”

“Because if I didn’t do it, you would have.” Gloria replies.

“Then ya shoulda jus’ let me do it!” he snaps, “ya ain’ supposed to be like that, killin’ people in cold blood! That ain’t you! You’re a doctor, you’re supposed to be savin’ people… I’m the one who’s supposed to be doin’ that shit, not you.”

“It’s not that simple anymore, Daryl… I’ve…. I’ve probably killed more people now than I’ve saved…” she lets out a shuddered breath, “that innocent nurse who only wanted to help people died with Glenn…”

Daryl’s heart breaks at her words, “he’d never want to see ya like this…”

Gloria scoffs bitterly at that, “well he isn’t exactly here to see it now, is he?”

Deep down, Gloria hated what she had become. A cold hearted killer with no remorse. She had already lost count on how many lives she had taken. She knew Daryl was right, Glenn would have never wanted her to become like this, and it hurt her even more that she had. 

Daryl was by her side the instant she started to break down and cry. His arms around her as he holds her close, letting her cry in his embrace. He plants a lingering kiss on top of her head.

“That ain’t the real you, ya think it is, but it ain’t. I know that innocent, selfless, helpful nurse is still in there, deep down, tha’s still you.” Daryl says as he gently rocks her back and forth in comfort. 

Gloria clings to him, snuggling in his embrace as she cries, repeatedly saying that she’s sorry. 

“‘Ts okay, we’ll be okay… the fight’ll be over soon.” he whispers in her ear.

Gloria had fallen asleep in Daryl’s arms when a light knock sounds on the door. He looks up at the door as it slowly creeks open, Siddiq peers into the room and nods a greeting to Daryl.

“Is she out?” he whispers the question to which Daryl nods.

Siddiq glances behind him then back at Daryl and beckons him to come outside. He nods and picks up Gloria to lay her on the bed, tucking her in before leaving the room, turning off the light on his way out. He’s met with Jesus, Siddiq and Rick all with solemn looks on their faces. 

“What happened?” Daryl asks.

“The ones who got hurt during the fight… all of them got sick and just now, a bunch of them turned, we had to put them down.” Siddiq explains.

“It was a good thing Gloria kept reminding us to keep watch over everyone who got injured… otherwise things would be a lot worse right now.” Jesus says.

“Daryl,” Rick calls out, “is she okay?”

He nods, understanding what his brother was implying, “she’s fine, ain’t got no fever or nothin’.”

Rick nods at that, “you gotta know… that if she shows any signs of a fever, you have to prepare for the worst. I’m sorry, but we can’t take any chances.”

Daryl sighs and nods, “I got it.” 

Without waiting for anyone else to respond, Daryl heads back into the room, closing the door behind him gently. Even before going out into the hall to speak with Rick and the others, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night. Despite how tired he felt, his mind wouldn’t let him sleep. His thoughts plagued him. He’d never seen Gloria kill anyone in cold blood like that before. It was like she was a different person, and that terrified him. It also angered him. What if she became like that because she lied to him about nothing happening to her at the Sanctuary. What if Negan did something to her that made her feel the need to do that. His heart burned at the thought, and it only hurt more when he thought that she might have lied to him about it rather than let him help her through it. 

Daryl was driving himself crazy with his thoughts. Part of him wanted to be upset and angry with her for saying yes to Negan in the first place, but he knew better. He loved her more than anything and he would die for her without a second thought. When it all came down to it, Negan was the cause of all this. He was the one who forced her to say yes and drive a spike through the two of them. He needed to die, the Saviors needed to die. Maybe when that happens, Daryl would be finally able to accept what happened to Gloria at the Sanctuary.

Regardless of how he felt, Daryl continued to check on Gloria throughout the night to make sure she hadn’t come down with a fever. As the sky lit up from the rise of the sun, Gloria began to stir in her sleep. She rubs the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand and blinks repeatedly, adjusting to the sunlight that was filling the room. She smiles as she sees Daryl standing by the window, glowing with warmth from the morning sun. Gloria found herself captured in the beauty that was Daryl. Feeling a pair of eyes on him, he looks over to her and makes his way to her bedside when he sees her awake. 

“How’d ya sleep?” he asks, stroking her hair as she sits up in the bed.

“Probably the first time I slept properly in a while…” she says softly, sitting up then frowns worriedly at him when she sees the exhaustion in his eyes, “you didn’t sleep at all?”

“Nah… couldn’t.” he admits.

Gloria takes in his expression and reaches out to hold his hand, “Daryl, what’s wrong?”

She was able to read him like a book, of course she could tell that there was something bothering him. Daryl just didn’t want to tell her what was bothering him deep down, but he couldn’t lie to her either, so he’d just give her part of the truth.

“The people who got hurt and got sick… they turned last night, Jesus, Rick, an’ Siddiq put ‘em down.” he tells her.

She takes a breath, registering what he had just told her, “a-all of them?”

“All the ones who got sick…” he answers.

Gloria’s eyes well up with tears as she lets out a shuddered breath. Daryl sits down on the bed beside her and caresses her face, wiping away the stray tears that fell.

“How’re ya feelin’?” he asks.

“I’m fine, I don’t have a fever or anything like that.” she replies, sniffling.

“I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout physically.” Daryl says, his eyes boring into hers.

She looks at him and ponders a moment before sighing, “I’m scared… we treated all of those people, me, Harlan, Dana, Siddiq, we did what we could to prevent it, but they still turned… what if… what if I…”

Daryl shushes her, knowing what she was insinuating. He pulls her gently into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her as he strokes the back of her head.

“Ya won’t.” he whispers into her ear.

Gloria pushes away from him at his words, “how do you know? I was the only one who was untreated, I have the biggest chance to be infected!”

“Ya don’ know that! It ain’ a bite, it ain’ for sure that ya’d get infected if ya got hit by one of ‘em.” Daryl didn’t even know if he was trying to convince Gloria or himself at this point.

She smiles softly at his words and nods, “you know what? You’re right, it’s not one hundred percent I’ll turn, like I said before, I survived worse, a lot worse…”

Daryl stares at her as she speaks, unable to control his heart skipping a beat when she smiles at him. Even after all this time, her smile was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and it never failed to warm his heart no matter the situation.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Daryl Dixon.” she says as she wipes a tear he hadn’t even noticed had fallen from his cheek.

“I love ya.” he says, completely entranced by her, he leans into her slowly. 

Gloria lets out a soft chuckle as she closes her eyes, waiting for Daryl’s lips to meet her own. Sadly, Daryl’s inner demons have other plans as they immediately remind him of her deal with Negan. His blood boils at the thought of him and the possibility that he could have done anything with his woman. He angrily pulls away and stands up, heaving furiously. Gloria opens her eyes when she feels him pull away, frowning in concern.

“Daryl? What’s wrong?” she says, getting up from the bed and taking a step towards him, “are you okay?”

He shakes his head, unable to look at her. Suddenly a knock sounds on the door right before it opens revealing Tara as she pops her head into the room. Her entrance causes Gloria and Daryl to look at her.

She clears her throat awkwardly before speaking, “uh, hope I’m not interrupting anything… but um Daryl, Rosita’s looking for you.”

Daryl nods then leaves the room without saying anything to either woman. Gloria sighs as she watches him leave, something was definitely wrong. 

“How are you feeling?” Tara says, smiling softly at her as she steps closer to her, “no fever?”

Gloria smiles back at her and shakes her head, “no fever, I swear.” 

“Good good…” she says then takes a breath, “look um… I was helping out Dr. Carson and the others with the ones who got hurt, and… well, the ones who didn’t have a fever before came down with one just this morning.”

“More people got sick?” Gloria frowns.

“Yeah… most of them said that they felt it coming down last night, but if you’re not feeling it, maybe you’re safe?” Tara tries to comfort Gloria as she looks very distressed.

“I’m not feeling sick at all, the only discomfort is where that asshole shot me.” she says.

“I heard from Daryl… Dwight shot you?” Tara asks hesitantly.

“He did…” Gloria purses her lips, “look, Tara… I know I said this before, but I’m sorry for holding Daryl back from killing him that night, maybe killing him really was the right thing to do.”

“Or maybe it wasn’t.” Tara says, taking Gloria aback, “when the Saviors bombed Alexandria, Dwight was with them but he betrayed them, he shot at his own people and we were going to take him with us to the Hilltop. I still wanted to kill him and I had my chance to, but when we were on our way here, we ran into Saviors who were hunting us down. Dwight was the one who led them away from us.”

“So… you’re saying you think Dwight really is trying to help us?” Gloria asks.

“He saved me when I tried to kill him, and honestly, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that out of everyone who got hurt, you’re the only one who hasn’t shown signs of infection.” Tara explains, “I think he might have saved you too.”

Gloria furrows her brow in thought; Tara definitely had a point. She was the only one out of the everyone who got hurt during the battle to not get sick or feel unwell. If anything, she should have had the highest possibility to turn since they hadn’t treated her wound like the others. Yet, here she was, perfectly healthy save for the wound that was healing in her shoulder.

“I can’t be certain, but I think he shot you with a clean arrow.” Tara says.

“Him trying to save me doesn’t make up for what he did to Denise.” Gloria says.

Tara lets out a sad chuckle, “Him saving you and him killing Denise are two different things. I’ll hate him forever for what he did to her, but I’m still grateful that he helped me in the woods, and saved you here at Hilltop.”

“You’re right…” Gloria says after a moment of considering Tara’s words but then sighs softly, “but you know Daryl’s still gonna kill him.”

“Oh yeah, regardless of him saving you or not, he still shot you,” Tara says, “Daryl’s gonna hunt him down for shooting his girl.”

Gloria chuckles at Tara’s words, knowing she was clearly trying to tease her. At the thought of Daryl, her heart ached. The moment just before Tara came into the room didn’t sit well with Gloria. She needed to find out what was bothering Daryl, the way he suddenly pulled away from her as if he was repulsed by her worried her greatly. She wished that it was just her own imagination playing tricks on her, but knowing Daryl, she knew it wasn’t that simple. 

Chapter Text

After Tara had left Gloria alone to help Jesus or Maggie out with whatever they needed, Gloria took it upon herself to change her own bandages. She noted that someone had moved her things from the trailer into the room she was staying in, making it feel more like her own room. Among the things was her personal first aid kit. She retrieves it from the mess of her belongings all piled on top of a chair and sits in front of the mirror hanging just above the vanity table. Gloria puts the kit on top of the table and opens it before taking off her shirt. She turns her body to get a better look of the bandaged wound on the back of her shoulder. She reaches back to try to peel the bandage off when there’s a knock at the door. 

“Who is it?” Gloria calls out, rushing to try and put her shirt back on.

“It’s Carol,” she answers from the other side of the door.

Not thinking that it’s a big deal since it’s Carol, Gloria doesn’t bother to put her shirt back on, “come in.”

The door then opens and Gloria chuckles when she hears Carol let out a small panicked gasp as she rushes to close the door to prevent anyone from seeing her shirtless. 

“What are you doing? Checking yourself out?” Carol says, chuckling as she walks towards her.

“You know it,” Gloria laughs, winking playfully at Carol then shakes her head, “trying to change my bandage.”

“I can help you,” she offers.

Gloria smiles at her and turns so that her back is facing Carol who quickly takes a step towards her. She proceeds to carefully peel off the bandage as Gloria takes out some alcohol swabs from her kit and hands them to Carol. She gently wipes on and around the wound, apologizing when Gloria hisses at the cold sting. 

“It’s okay, just a little cold,” Gloria says, chuckling softly.

“It’s good that you don’t have a fever… I’m sure you heard what happened last night.” Carol says as she begins to patch up her wound with bandages.

“Yeah… I heard… it sucks…” she sighs and notices Carol’s solemn expression in the mirror, “are you okay?”

“I could be better… we lost a lot of people last night, Tobin was one of them.” Carol says.

“I’m sorry…” Gloria says with a sympathetic look.

She knew that Carol and Tobin had something before she had left Alexandria. Gloria turns around to face her and holds her hand, squeezing gently.

Carol smiles down at her sadly and sighs, “I wanted to ask you something, or rather, I wanted to ask you a favor.”

“Of course, anything.” Gloria says almost immediately.

“I need you to talk to Henry.” Carol tells her.

Gloria tilts her head in confusion. She knew about Henry, that he was the little boy from the Kingdom, but why would she need her to talk to him? She’s never even met the kid.

“Henry’s brother… was killed by the Saviors,” Carol begins, reading her mind, “and last night, Henry took a gun to the prison pen to try and find out who it was.”

A soft sigh leaves Gloria’s lips as she takes in Carol’s words. Right away, she understood why Carol needed her of all people to talk to him. 

“Do we know who it was?” she asks.

Carol nods, “Morgan told me it was Jared.”

“Ugh… I should have killed him yesterday instead…” Gloria sighs angrily.

“Maybe you should have, but that wouldn’t have changed anything,” Carol points out.

“Yeah…” Gloria says, nodding in agreement, “what do you want me to tell him?”

“Well, what would you want someone to tell you for comfort?” Carol asks.

“Honestly, I would want them to tell me that they’re going to kill Negan, but you can’t expect me to tell Henry that,” Gloria says with a soft chuckle.

A smile tugs at Carol’s lips at her words, “then… what would Glenn tell you?”

Gloria stays silent at her question, looking down. Carol puts her hand on her good shoulder gently in comfort. She knew that it was hard for Gloria to think about Glenn, but he was her guiding light. 

She takes a deep breath and nods, then looks up at Carol, “I know what to tell Henry.”

Gloria turns around in her seat to get a fresh clean shirt from the dresser table. She pulls it on and gets up. Carol smiles at her as she follows her out of the room. Both of them make their way out of the Barrington house and Carol points out where Henry is. 

“Thank you, Gloria.” Carol says.

She smiles back at her then makes her way to Henry who is sitting on a log around an unlit campfire. 

“Henry?” she calls out to him as she reaches him, “can I sit down?”

He looks up at her warily as he stops kicking at the burnt firewood and nods, but not without a frown on his face. Gloria carefully sits down on the log beside him, keeping a safe distance to prevent him from feeling suffocated.

“I’m Gloria, I’m a friend of Carol’s.” she introduces herself.

“I know who you are,” he says with a small, shy smile.

She smiles back at him, “I heard from Carol about what you did last night. Do you know how dangerous that was? How dangerous those people are?”

“I know…” he nods, the smile wiped from his face, “I know because one of them killed my brother!”

Gloria lays a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting too worked up, “I know, I know what they did, and I know how you feel because their leader killed mine… he killed him right in front of me.”

“Was it Negan?” Henry asks to which Gloria nods, “don’t you want to kill him for what he did?”

“Honestly, Henry… I do. I want him dead.” she tells him, but she isn’t able to continue as Henry gets up from his seat and faces her.

“Then you can help me! You can help me, and I can help you! They have to die!” Henry exclaims.

Gloria frowns and puts both her hands on his shoulders to keep him in place, “listen to me, you can’t do this, not you. Your brother wouldn’t want you to do this.”

“How would you know?! You didn’t even know Ben!” he shouts, eyes welling up with tears. 

“Was he brave? Was he a fighter but also the most kind hearted person who always took care of you and put you first before anything else? And always looked out for you, protected you?” Gloria asks, tears filling up her own eyes as Henry nods, “that’s how I know, my brother was the same. He’d never want me to taint my hands with blood or kill anyone.” 

A tear rolls down her face, guilt eating at her heart knowing that she’s already done everything Glenn would never want her to do. It hurt her deeply to think about how disappointed he must be in her. She couldn’t let Henry go down that same path, she wouldn’t.

“You said Ben was your brother’s name?” she asks and continues when he nods, she wipes away the stray tear on his cheek, “I’m sure Ben would never want to see your innocence disappear like that, you’re always going to be Ben’s baby brother and it would hurt him so much if you killed someone because of him.”

Henry chokes out a sob and nods, agreeing with her words, he lets out a whimper, “I just… I miss him so much…” 

“I know…” Gloria says, gently pulling him towards her, enveloping him in a hug and rubbing soothing circles on his back, “you have to stay strong for Ben, he’s always going to be looking down at you, watching over you. He’s your guardian angel.”

Henry nods, clinging onto Gloria as he cries, letting out his emotions and the pain of the loss of his brother. 

—

Later that night, Gloria was alone in her bedroom. She was contemplating everything that had happened earlier that day. Daryl and Rosita had apparently gone out to try and bring Eugene back but he had managed to get away, seemingly wanting to stay with the Saviors. Then Gregory had come back, he had apparently gotten out of the prison pen and the Hilltop altogether to go to the Sanctuary, only to come back with nothing but a note from Dwight. It was a map outlining where Negan and his Saviors would be tomorrow, and Rick had made the decision that tomorrow would be the end of the war. They would march straight into battle with Negan and win the war, end it all. 

Knowing that they were going to end it all tomorrow worried Gloria. What if Dwight was sending them into a trap and they could all very much die tomorrow? Even after all he did to try and prove that he was on their side, he was still a Savior, she couldn’t put her full trust in him. And if she did die tomorrow, she’d needed to figure out what was wrong between her and Daryl. 

The sound of the door opening snaps her out of her train of thought only to be brought back as Daryl steps into the room. He lets the door close behind him as he stands by the door, looking at Gloria as she sits on the foot of the bed. He ponders before hesitating to make his way over to her. Daryl puts his hand on her forehead and even though Gloria wanted to fight him on checking her temperature, she leaves it be.

“No fever… tha’s good.” he mutters.

Gloria hums in agreement and takes the hand that was on her forehead in hers as she looks up at him. He looks down at her as well and she recognises the longing look in his eyes. Maybe she was overthinking everything and there was nothing wrong. There didn’t seem to be anything off about how he was acting with her, so maybe it was all in her head. She remembers how he completely changed right when he was about to kiss her; she needed to test it. 

“Daryl…” she calls out, her voice soft and gentle.

Gloria stands up from the bed and lets go of Daryl’s hand as she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her. She smiles when he places his hands on her waist.

“I missed you.” she tells him.

“I missed ya too…” he murmurs.

She takes the chance and leans in to kiss him, only for him to pull away just before they make contact. Daryl takes a few steps back, withdrawing from her. 

“Daryl, what’s wrong?” Gloria sighs, her heart breaking at his regression.

“Nothing…” he says, unable to look at her.

“That’s bullshit and you know it. I can tell when something’s bothering you, Daryl. Tell me, please?” she begs, carefully grabbing his hand to prevent him from moving further from her.

He shakes his head, “not tonight…”

“Then when? When are you gonna tell me if not tonight? Not everyone ‘s gonna make it back tomorrow, I may not make it back tomorrow!” she yells.

“You’re gonna make it! Ain’ nothin’ gonna happen to ya tomorrow ‘r any other damn day!” Daryl snaps back immediately, finally looking at her again.

“You don’t know that!” Gloria argues, “we’re going to fight the Saviors, it may be the end of the war tomorrow but we still don’t know who’s going to make it back! I don’t want to go into this fight and maybe dying with you pissed at me for whatever reason.”

“I ain’t pissed at ya…” he says.

“Then just tell me what it is so I can stop guessing.” Gloria urges then sighs heavily when Daryl stays silent, “you’re disgusted with me, is that it?”

It had been in the back of her mind ever since Daryl pulled back. She didn’t want to believe it but it was the only thing that somewhat made sense. Daryl was captured by the Saviors and he’d held out, not making any sort of deal with them. Yet, Gloria tells them all that she made a deal with Negan in a short period of time, granted he knew the conditions, but a deal was still a deal. She had the idea that he thought of her weak, maybe even thought of her as an outsider now.

“Is it because I made a deal with Negan? You see me as a Savior now?” her voice trembles as she’s unable to stop the tears from welling in her eyes.

“Nah… I’d never see ya as one of ‘em… never.” he says, he fights the urge to pull her into his embrace, but he knew he needed to clear this up now.

Gloria watches Daryl as he lets out a deep sigh. He looks down at the ground then after a moment, his eyes meet hers. He wanted to choose his words carefully, so she wouldn’t think that he was judging her for her choices. He knew that she did what she needed to for the sake of her family. 

“Negan… he has… a bunch o’ women he keeps on the second ‘r somethin’ floor o’ the Sanctuary, they’d be safe from the herd o’ walkers when I crashed the truck into the walls, an’ I only did it ‘cause I knew the workers’d be safe.” Daryl says, watching her reaction carefully, “I know those women… he calls ‘em his wives and they… they do shit for him… heard him say some shit ‘bout wifely duties…”

He lets out a sigh when he recognizes the look of realization on Gloria’s face. To him, it seemed that she realized that he knew what kind of deal she had made with Negan. In truth, Gloria only realized how big of a misunderstanding everything was and all because she didn’t tell him where she was held.

“Daryl, I-” she gets cut off by him.

“Ya don’ need to explain, I get it. Ya had to make that deal for Maggie, for Glenn.” he says, tears welling up in his eyes.

“It’s not what you think, I swear! My deal with Negan had nothing to do with being his wife,” she tells him.

“Ya don’ gotta lie ‘bout it,” he sighs.

“I’m not lying!” she yells, frustrated that he wasn’t listening to her.

He glares at her, getting angry that she was adamant on keeping it from him when he’d already called her out on the matter, “then why the hell were ya so scared to tell me where ya were when the herd came in?! All ya said was that it was safe, ya didn’t wanna tell me where ya really were!”

“Because he held me in your cell!” Gloria blurts out then she sighs, “I was… in the cell they held you in when you were at the Sanctuary. Negan made it very clear where I was.” 

“What?” he asks, expression softening, “w-why didn’ ya jus’… tell me?”

“I didn’t want to bring back any bad memories of when they held you there…” she admits, “but if I knew it would make you think I was sleeping with Negan, I would have told you right away.”

Daryl didn’t know what to say. He felt embarrassed, guilty, and ashamed. He was embarrassed of how stupid he was, thinking the way he did. He felt guilty and ashamed that he pushed her away because of what he made himself believe.

“You really thought that I would say yes to sleeping with Negan?” Gloria asks, Daryl isn’t able to read her expression and fear swallows his heart; she must hate him for thinking of her that way.

“Ya’d do anythin’ for Maggie an’ Glenn…” he mutters.

She couldn’t deny that, she would do anything to keep Maggie and her child safe, “you’re right… but I wouldn’t jump at the chance to sleep with Negan… although it would make it too easy to slit his throat in his sleep.”

Daryl isn’t able to contain his chuckle at her words. He sighs softly and turns around to leave, thinking that she doesn’t want him to be around her after what he’d accused her of. 

“Where’re you going?” Gloria asks.

He turns to look at her, pursing his lips, “ya don’ want me here…”

“Says who?” she asks rhetorically then rolls her eyes at him, “you were wrong when you convinced yourself that I said yes to being Negan’s wife, what makes you think you’re right about me not wanting you here with me?”

“Ya want me to stay?” he asks shyly.

“Yes.” Gloria says, slightly amused, “you know, for a smart guy, you’re an idiot.”

Normally, Daryl would take offense to that and get angry, but at this instance, a smile pulls at his lips. He felt relieved, Gloria didn’t seem like she hated him or was angry at him; then again, his instincts proved to be wrong about her lately.

“Ya ain’t mad at me?” he asks to confirm.

Gloria purses her lips before answering, “I feel like I should be… but I’m not, I told you something that made you think differently, so that’s my fault. I can’t be mad at you for that.” 

“I love ya.” he breathes, he didn’t even think about saying it, it just came out.

“Prove it.” she says, earning a frown from him and she chuckles, “come here and kiss me, you big idiot. You’ve deprived me long enough.”

A smirk reaches Daryl’s face at her words as he steps to her and pulls her into him, finally capturing her lips with his. He kisses her hungrily, his arms snaking around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. Gloria wraps her arms around his neck, letting out a breathy moan as he trails kissing down her jaw and to her neck. Daryl pushes her body back towards the bed, and she lets herself fall back onto the soft mattress, pulling him down on top of her. He nibbles at her bottom lip, earning a giggle from her as her hands begin to unbutton his shirt. Suddenly though, Daryl pushes himself up to look at Gloria. She tilts her head as she looks at him in confusion.

“Should we really be doin’ this?” he asks back, “we’re gonna be endin’ the war tomorrow, we should be preparin’ for it.”

“We are,” Gloria says, then she roughly pushes him back so that he’s laying on the bed and she straddles him, “it’s called boosting morale.”

She pulls off her shirt and tosses it, then leans down to kiss him greedily. Daryl isn’t able to suppress his moan into her lips, seemingly agreeing with her as his hands slide from her thighs to her waist. 

Tomorrow would be the day they ended it all, the war, the Saviors, Negan. All of it would be over and they would come out as victorious, they had to. Negan had put them through hell, it was only right that they win the war. Once they had won, once they had killed Negan and destroyed the Saviors, they could finally rejoice and rebuild. They could live like they should have originally, happy and peacefully. It had to be that way. 

Chapter Text

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to be the ones who ambushed Negan, not the other way around. They’d taken down a few of Negan’s men thanks to the map Dwight had given them, but now it seemed that they all walked right into his trap. Whistling from the Saviors alerted everyone as they all raised their guns. All ready to fire at the sight of any Saviors, only to be surrounded by them as Negan’s voice boomed throughout the field.

“Well damn, Rick, look at that! Pegged again, pegged so very hard. I ambushed your ambush with an even bigger ambush!” Negan calls out, however, he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Come out and face us!” Rick shouts out.

“Oh, but I am everywhere! You can try and run, see how far you get!” Negan challenges, even in his voice they could hear his shit eating grin, “I also got your old pals with me here. Eugene! He made all of this possible, oh and Dwighty-boy! By the way, he didn’t cross you all on purpose, nope! He’s just a gutless piece of shit who will now get to watch all of you die! All. Because. Of him.” 

Gloria glances at Daryl when Negan mentions Dwight, she notices him tense up. Of course he’d be angry at this; he wanted every reason to hate Dwight so that it would make it easier to kill him, but now, he proved that he was willing to throw away his life to help them. 

“I also have Gabriel here! We’re cleanin’ house today!” Negan calls out, “Are you ready? Three… two… one.”

On Negan’s count, the Saviors pop out from the horizon and fire at Rick’s group only to have their guns explode in their hands. The Saviors scream in pain at their malfunctioning weapons as Rick’s group glance at each other in confusion.

Realizing that this was their one and only chance, Rick shouts, “Now!” 

Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel charge in with their combined forces, all shooting at the Saviors. Gloria follows closely behind Maggie as they both make a beeline for Negan, both of them shooting at the Saviors getting in their way.

“He’s getting away!” Maggie shouts, causing Gloria to shoot in Negan’s direction.

The women watch as Rick chases him down the hill towards a single tree, both of them trusting that he will finish the job once and for all. They turn their attention towards the Saviors in front of them with Jesus by Maggie’s other side. The Saviors had knelt down and put down their weapons with their hands above their heads in surrender. Jesus and Gloria look to Maggie as she nods at them, giving them permission to lower their guns. The three of them make their way towards Daryl and Michonne as they watch Negan get his throat slit by Rick.

“He did it…” Gloria whispers. 

Maggie tearfully smiles at her words and nods. They all observe as Negan clutches his now bloody neck, falling to the ground from the sudden loss of blood. Rick walks back towards the crowd and looks passed Daryl, looking for someone in particular. 

He gestures behind him once he makes eye contact with Siddiq, “save him.”

His words form a frown on Maggie and Gloria’s faces as Siddiq comes forward and rushes towards Negan. 

“No… no! He can’t! He has to die!” Maggie cries out, trying to rush over to stop Siddiq but Michonne catches her, holding her back.

Gloria gapes at Rick. Images of Glenn getting bashed in the head by Negan floods her mind and all she sees is red. If he wasn’t going to finish him, she will. She storms towards Negan but Rick grabs her arm to hold her back. 

“No, it’s over!” Rick tells her.

She glares at him, “it’s not over until he’s dead!”

Gloria throws a punch at Rick but he catches her wrist tightly in his hand. She struggles to get out of his grasp so that she can finish off Negan, tears streaming down her face in anger and frustration. Rick looks over towards Daryl, silently calling him over to help with Gloria. He only lets go of her wrists when Daryl is by her side, holding onto her. She breaks down as her legs give way, falling to her knees and crying.

“He killed Glenn… he killed Glenn!” she sobs into Daryl’s chest.

Rick begins to give a big speech about how the Saviors and the other communities can all live together in peace and harmony. All as long as they no longer go by Negan’s ways, but Gloria wasn’t listening. She was upset, angry, and hurt. She didn’t want to live amongst people who willingly called themselves Negan, and she definitely could not live in a world that her brother’s killer was still alive while Glenn was buried six feet under. 

Everyone had gone back to their respective communities. Gloria sits on the ground in front of Glenn’s grave, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

“Big brother...” she calls out the endearment in Korean, “Rick didn’t do it… he didn’t kill Negan… he let him live…” 

Her voice breaks as tears stain her face as she weeps, “how could he… how could he let him live after what he did to you? You saved his life and he lets your killer live… it’s not fair… it’s not fair…”

She hears footsteps come from behind her as Maggie comes up to her. She crouches down and puts her hand on Gloria’s back, soothing her as she cries. Gloria turns to look at Maggie who also has tears in her eyes. She chokes out a sob and leans into her, crying in her embrace. 

“We’ll fix this…” Maggie says, her voice sounding weak and tired, “but first, I need to talk to you.”

Gloria looks up at her and nods, wiping the tears from her face. Maggie smiles softly at her then gets up and makes her way to the Barrington house. Gloria follows after her and spots Daryl as he ushers Dwight into a truck. She catches his eye and he purses his lips, unsure of what she was thinking, but she nods at him. She knows that he has to do what he has to do. He nods back at her and gets into the truck. Gloria rushes forward to catch up to Maggie who was talking to one the Saviors they had held captive, Alden. 

“I want to help you like you’ve helped me, I want to provide for this place,” he says.

Maggie ponders for a moment then nods, “okay.” 

She doesn’t wait for his response before continuing on her way to her office in the Barrington house. Gloria doesn’t ask about the matter as she respects Maggie’s choices and follows her silently into her office.

“I saw Daryl driving out with Dwight,” Maggie says as she sits down at her desk, she looks up at Gloria, “do you think Daryl is really going to kill him?”

Gloria shrugs and sighs, “I don’t know. He helped us but he’s done a lot of bad to Daryl.”

“Do you think it would be wrong for Daryl not to kill Dwight?” she asks.

“That’s for Daryl to decide. I’ll support him regardless, I just hope that if he does kill him, it’ll be quick. A mercy killing of sorts.” Gloria answers truthfully.

Maggie nods at her answer then sighs deeply before speaking again, “do you think Rick was right for not killing Negan?”

“No,” Gloria says almost immediately, “he was wrong about that, the Saviors were under the rule of an evil man, some of them were forced into following him, so I get not killing all of the Saviors, but Negan? Negan should be dead.” she lets out a shaky breath, “Maggie… what should we do?”

“I’ll talk to Daryl and Jesus, we have to come up with a plan to show Rick that his decision was the wrong one to make,” Maggie tells her, she then frowns worriedly at Gloria, “are you upset at Daryl for holding you back?”

Gloria shakes her head, “Rick asked him to… Daryl respects Rick even if he doesn’t agree with his choices, Rick’s his brother.”

Maggie smiles warmly at her and nods, “we’ll figure something out.” 

Her words reassure Gloria as she leaves the office and begins to make her way to the room that she had stayed in while she was injured; it had officially become her room now. As Gloria walks towards her room, the front door of the Barrington house opens and Jacob steps in, greeting her with a smile as the door closes behind him. 

“Jacob?” she greets with a questioning look, “what are you doing here?”

“We’ve been staying at the Hilltop since the Saviors bombed Alexandria,” Jacob reminds her, “you were busy with everything before, so I get why you never noticed me or Mindy around.”

“Yeah sorry,” Gloria lets out a small chuckle, looking down at the floor slightly embarrassed, “it’s been hectic…”

“I’m sorry… about Glenn” Jacob says, making her look up at him, “I never got to say this until now… but when I heard what happened to him… I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with what happened,” Gloria tells him, she then lets out a sigh, “Negan’s alive and Glenn’s not… I don’t know how any one of us can be okay with that…”

“I know… I’m sorry… hey, if there’s anything I can do to help you-” 

“You know there isn’t…” Gloria says, her voice shaking as she speaks, “because you know the only thing I want is to see Glenn again…” 

Jacob frowns sympathetically then nods with a sigh, “yeah… I know…” 

Suddenly, the door behind Jacob opens again and Mindy pops her head in, “hey, we’re leaving soon, you got everything?”

He looks back at her and nods, “yeah, I put everything in the truck.”

Mindy nods then looks over at Gloria and her eyes seem to soften, “Gloria…” 

“Hey Mindy,” she says with a forced smile. 

Mindy walks towards Gloria and pulls the younger into a hug, surprising her as Mindy’s never done this before.

“I’m so sorry about Glenn,” Mindy says before Gloria could say anything, she then pulls away from the hug, “if there’s anything that me or Jacob-”

“Mindy,” Jacob stops her, gently pulling his sister away from Gloria and subtly shaking his head, “don’t.”

Mindy seems to understand as she turns back to Gloria with a soft smile, “Jacob and I are headed back to Alexandria, did you want us to give you a ride back too?”

Gloria shakes her head, “no, I… me and Maggie are going to be staying here.” 

“Okay, don’t be afraid to reach out if you need anything,” Mindy says, she then turns around and is about to leaving the building with her brother following her.

“Jacob, Mindy, wait,” Gloria calls out just before they leave, she waits until they look at her before she speaks again, “take care of each other and keep each other safe. You don’t… you don’t ever want to know what it’s like to lose each other…”

Jacob and Mindy look at her sympathetically, glancing at each other before nodding, “we will, we promise,” Jacob says for both of them. 

Gloria nods at that then gestures to the door, “you guys should head back, get back to Alexandria before it gets dark.”

The two nod in agreement then bid Gloria farewell as they leave the Barrington house. Gloria sighs heavily before finally heading back to her room. She lies down on the bed and stares up at the ceiling. She hated the fact that Negan was still alive, she felt that Rick had betrayed her and Maggie. He told her that he would kill him, but now those were just words and empty promises. 

She hadn’t realized how tired she was, physically and emotionally, until she had woken up from her nap. It was already late in the evening, and she found herself under the covers. She smiles to herself knowing that Daryl must have been the one who tucked her in. The door slowly opens as she sits up on the bed. Daryl walks into the room and carefully closes the door, not noticing that Gloria was already awake until he turns to look at her. He’d expected to see her sleeping but instead sees her smiling softly at him. 

“Sorry…” he mutters, “did I wake ya?”

“No,” she says, shaking her head, “I woke up just before you came in.”

He nods, biting his bottom lip as if he was nervous. He takes off his vest and places it on the chair in the corner of the room and goes to sit on the bed and proceeds to take off his boots. 

“Daryl?” she calls out to him, making him glance over his shoulder at her as he hums in acknowledgement, “Dwight… did you…” she trails off.

He sighs softly at this and shakes his head, “nah… I let him go.” 

Gloria was slightly surprised at his answer, but deep down she was proud of him, “you did the right thing.”

Daryl nods but doesn’t say anything else in that regard; his mind seemed to be elsewhere. His fingers fiddle with the hem of his shirt as he was in deep thought about something. 

“Do ya remember what I said to ya ‘fore the war started?” he asks, not looking at her as he tries to hide the blush forming on his face.

Gloria chuckles at his question, “you said a lot of things to me.”

A smile tugs at his lips as he nods, agreeing. He then pulls something out of his pant pocket, his fingers fiddling around with the item, nervously twirling it in his hand. Gloria studies his movements, unable to see what’s in his hand. She notices the blush on his cheeks as he looks down, curiosity begins to bubble inside her as she’s never seen him this nervous or shy before. She can’t help but think that he still looks absolutely adorable even when he’s biting his lip, hesitating to get the words he wants out of his mouth. After a moment of fidgety silence, Daryl finally takes a deep breath. He looks up at her as if he’d been trying to find the courage to look into her eyes, taking the item in his fingers, he shows it to her. Gloria looks down at his hand and gasps at the sight of a silver ring with a synthetic sapphire stone embedded in the middle.

“Marry me?” he asks, shyly.

Tears of joy well up in her eyes as she smiles and nods, “yes.”

She happily holds her left hand up for him to put on the ring. 

Daryl takes her hand in his, a shy smile dancing on his lips, “ain’t ya supposed to say ‘I do’ or somethin’?” 

Gloria chuckles and playfully rolls her eyes at him, “fine, I do, better?”

He hums as he slides the ring on the proper finger then watches as Gloria pulls back her hand and looks at it in awe and pure admiration. 

“Ya sure ya won’t regret it?” he asks, unsure of himself.

Gloria looks back at him with a raised eyebrow, “I’ll never regret saying yes to you.”

Daryl only nods at that and Gloria’s still able to see the look of uncertainty in his eyes. It was up to her to show him that she meant it, that she loved him and that she was more than happy to call herself his wife. 

“Hey, come here,” she calls to him and pats the empty spot on the bed.

He ponders for a moment before moving to lay down next to her on the bed. Daryl didn’t understand himself sometimes, ever since the idea of properly  proposing to Gloria crossed his mind, he felt so shy and nervous, and most of all, terrified. He’d been out late at night in the woods hunting when he was a kid; he’d led an entire herd of walkers away from their community; he had just fought in a war against the Saviors and none of those things ever scared him. Yet the idea of asking a simple question to the woman who already let him believe she loved him more than anything terrified him. He guessed that he was afraid she would reject him, but now that the hardest part was over and she actually said yes, he was second guessing himself. He really needed to sort himself out.

“Daryl,” she calls out to him again, snapping him out of his thoughts as he looks at her, “take off your shirt.”

He freezes at her words as he gapes at her, blush rushing to his cheeks as he registers her words and he lets out a shy chuckle. Gloria reaches out to him as he starts to unbutton his shirt, hooking her fingers around his forearm and pulling him closer. She closes the gap between the two of them as she kisses his lips passionately. 

Daryl kisses her back, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him. Gloria reaches up to finish unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it off to reveal his broad chest and strong arms. He pulls away from the kiss for a second as he tugs her shirt up and off her head, capturing her lips again with his once the article of clothing is thrown somewhere in the room.

He uses his body to push her to lie on the bed and Gloria lets out a small giggle into the kiss. Her giggle turns into a soft moan as he trails kisses down to her neck and chest. Her arms wrap around his neck as he marks her skin with love bites and kisses. Daryl kisses his way up her jaw, catching her lips again but this time in a gentle and loving kiss. He pushes himself up with his arm, parting from the kiss but he’s just barely hovering over her.

“Gloria Rhee,” he says as he looks deep into her eyes, “I love ya.”

She smiles warmly at him and caresses his face with her hand, “you mean Gloria Dixon.”

Daryl responds with a loving smile and leans down to kiss her again. 

Chapter Text

The next morning, Gloria is wrapped up in bedsheets with Daryl’s arms around her. She snuggles into his chest, still fast asleep. Daryl, on the other hand, is already awake as he fiddles with her hair, waiting for her to wake up. He didn’t want to pull away from her in fear that he would wake her up. Soon enough, Gloria begins to stir in her sleep as she wakes up, making the cutest sounds he’s ever heard. An adoring smile on his face as he watches her open her eyes.

“G'mornin’, Mrs. Dixon.” he greets her, making her giggle. 

“Good morning,” she says back, leaning up and kissing him tenderly. 

As Daryl’s arms are already wrapped around her waist, it’s easy for him to move her body so that she’s lying on top of him. His hand firm on her back, pressing her bare body close to his, deepening the kiss even further. 

Gloria pulls back from the kiss, gasping for air as they part, “I should get up, I have a watch shift with Rosita.” 

Daryl hums in acknowledgement but pulls her back down to kiss her again, “Rosita can wait,” he mumbles against her lips.

She whines in protest and reluctantly pulls away from him again, only giving in when she looks down at him, “fine… five more minutes.”

Daryl scoffs at that, “yeah right… I ain’t gonna be done with ya in five minutes.”

He doesn’t wait for her to respond as he moves to kiss her neck, lapping at her skin and sucking roughly. Gloria lets out a breathy moan as her resolve slowly fades with every second his lips caress her skin. 

—

“Someone had a rough night,” Rosita calls out to Gloria when she sees her climbing up the watchtower to join her.

Gloria ignores the fact that she felt the blush rushing to her cheeks at her comment, Daryl had kept her much longer than she had intended, “yeah, sorry… something urgent came up,” she says once she’s on the platform with her.

Rosita hums in acknowledgement and glances at her, only to do a double take when she sees her neck. She has to keep herself from bursting out laughing; unbeknownst to Gloria, Daryl marked her neck with plenty of hickeys and lovebites. 

“What?” Gloria says, eyeing Rosita when she catches the woman trying to hold in her laughter.

Rosita shakes her head with a grin, “nothing.”

“Really? Nothing?” Gloria says with an eyebrow raised.

She lets out a laugh and gestures to her, “you should have taken a look in the mirror before coming out.”

Gloria tilts her head in confusion, she had to rush out of the room without being able to take a look in the mirror because of how late she was for her shift. On her way to the watchtower she was able to straighten up her clothes and somewhat fix her hair, what could Rosita be referring to? She gasps when she finally figures it out, her hand grabbing the collar of her own jacket to cover up her neck; she remembered that Daryl paid extra close attention to her neck that morning. Rosita laughs when she sees Gloria trying to cover up her neck, seeing that she’d figured it out. Gloria’s face grows beat red as she groans, letting go of her collar when she covers her face in embarrassment with both her hands. 

Rosita’s laughter dies down when she sees the ring on Gloria’s finger, a soft smile on her face, “Daryl finally gave you the ring?”

Gloria lowers her hands from her face, although she could still feel the heat from her blush, she looks at Rosita then glances at the ring and nods with a smile then furrows her brows, “you already knew about it?”

“I did,” Rosita says, “I was with Daryl when he found it. It was the day we took Denise out to the apothecary. He found it in a glass display and asked Denise what she thought was good for you, it’s funny to think about how shy he was when he asked her about it.”

Gloria smiles sadly at the memory of Denise, “she knew my favorite color’s blue…”

“I remember how she made us choose a color for a personality test,” Rosita chuckles softly.

“You had to be so specific on your olive green that you almost drove her crazy trying to figure out if descriptives played an important part.” Gloria says.

“What about you and your icy blue?” Rosita throws back.

“Hey, she called me out on that and then you couldn’t stop teasing me about Daryl’s blue eyes.” Gloria eyes her playfully then sighs, “I miss those days…”

Rosita nods and sighs as well, “yeah… it was always the three of us in the infirmary back at Alexandria…”

“And now she’s gone…” Gloria says, looking down, fidgeting with the ring on her finger.

“Listen…” Rosita starts as she looks at Gloria with a serious expression, “I’m sorry for how I acted before.”

She waits for Gloria to look back up at her before continuing to speak, “I only thought of how I felt and what I wanted… I was selfish and only realized that after.”

“You were hurting too, I knew where you were coming from… and if we’re gonna be honest, I know I wasn’t exactly the most fair to you either.” Gloria says with a small smile.

Rosita chuckles and nods, “yeah, I still get a bit pissed when I think about how you just yelled at me in the middle of the street, made me look like an idiot.” 

“Are you gonna punch me in the face like you did to Eugene?” Gloria jokes.

When the others were beginning to head back to their respective communities after the Saviors had surrendered, she’d witnessed Rosita punching Eugene in the face. Gloria had assumed that it was for when he threw up on her when her and Daryl tried to get him back; she overheard her angrily ranting to Tara about it when she’d come back.

“Are you gonna puke on me?” Rosita confirms Gloria’s assumption.

Her words cause Gloria to laugh and she gently nudges the other’s shoulder, causing her to laugh as well.

—

For the next few weeks, life was regular at the Hilltop. Gloria would help Maggie with checking on the baby. Rosita would go off to the Sanctuary to help with repairing the building along with some others from Alexandria. All of the Saviors that were held as prisoners at the Hilltop had gone back to the Sanctuary to keep the place up and running, the only Savior who was allowed to stay back was Alden. Maggie was happy to see that he was actually willing to help and build for their community. She began to see that he was able to change for the better and actually become one of their people. 

“You know, I think you’re starting to show a bit,” Gloria says as she walks out of the Barrington house with Maggie.

“Are you calling me fat?” she scoffs, pretending to be offended by her words.

Gloria playfully rolls her eyes, “I’m calling you pregnant.”

The women’s attention is drawn towards the gate of the Hilltop when it begins to open. The two watch as a truck drives through the gates. Once the vehicle is parked, Rick gets out of the truck from the driver’s side and Michonne from the passenger’s side. Gloria’s face falls at the sight of the two; she hadn’t been able to forgive Rick for not killing Negan yet even though she knew Maggie, Daryl, and Jesus already discussed the matter. 

Gloria and Maggie walk up to Rick, Michonne, and Daryl who had already met up with them as he was tinkering with his bike. Gloria crosses her arms as they exchange greetings, only nodding in response to them greeting her. 

“How is everything at Alexandria?” Maggie asks.

“Good… good, things… things are good,” he says then he nods towards Daryl, “I need to discuss something with Daryl.”

Gloria glances over at him but doesn’t say anything as he bites his lip and nods. Rick leads the way with Daryl following him, leaving the three women. 

Michonne smiles softly at the two of them, “how are you two doing?”

“Fine.” Gloria says then without another word, walks away from Maggie and Michonne. 

Michonne frowns at her as Maggie watches her walk away sympathetically. She understood how she was feeling, deep down Maggie wasn’t even sure if she forgave Rick for letting Negan live.

Gloria heads over to Glenn’s grave and crouches down when she’s in front of it. She lets out a deep sigh. She knew that she would have to come to terms with how things were eventually, but at this moment, she couldn’t. Gloria couldn’t talk to Rick or Michonne about things yet, the last time she did she lashed out at them. Originally, she wanted to go back to Alexandria after the war and after Maggie had given birth to her child but she can’t do that anymore. Maggie and Gloria wouldn’t be able to go back to Alexandria anymore because that was where Rick kept Negan. It didn’t matter that he was locked up in a cell, just knowing that he was there was enough. She tried to fight for it because she knew that Daryl wanted to go back to Alexandria, but like a lot of things, Rick was the one to make the final call. 

“Gloria,” Rick calls out to her as she’s been sitting at the grave for a while, “can I talk to you?”

“About what?” she asks, not even looking up at him.

“About how you’ve been acting around me and Michonne.” Rick says, authority in his voice.

“And how have I been acting?” Gloria finally looks up at him as she rhetorically asks, “like you let my brother’s killer live?” 

She clearly knew that she shouldn’t be acting this way and talking to Rick the way she was, but he was in no position to act as if she was the one who was causing problems. 

Rick sighs, “I’m sorry but I can’t kill Negan, and I can’t let you kill him either.”

Gloria angrily stands up and faces him, “Why?! Why does Negan get to live but Glenn, Abraham, Sasha, Denise, Spencer, Olivia, Eric… why did all of them have to die?!” 

“Carl… Carl didn’t want anyone else to die…” Rick says, his eyes tearing up at the mention of his son, “it’s what he wanted before he died.”

“Do you know what Glenn wanted before he died?” Gloria says and she continues before Rick could respond, “he wanted to be with Maggie. He wanted to be the father of his unborn child but now his child will never even know the sound of his voice because that bastard killed him!” 

“Gloria…” Rick takes a step towards her, “I’m sorry-”

“No!” Gloria shouts, cutting him off mid-sentence, “you’re not sorry! If you were sorry you would have killed him or you would have let me kill him! You’re only sorry you can’t do anything for the man who risked his life to save yours because of a promise to your dead son!”

She roughly pushes past him and makes her way back to the Barrington house where she goes straight to her room. She spends the next hour in her room, breaking down and crying. Gloria didn’t know what had come over her in the last few weeks. She’d become a lot more emotional than she’d usually be, snapping at things that wouldn’t normally irritate her. Sometimes she would even lash out at Daryl for the smallest things. Of course, she would always apologize after and they both decided it was the aftermath of the war. 

She felt horrible for what she said to Rick, but she wasn’t able to stop herself before it just slipped out. She knew it was cruel of her to bring up Carl in that manner, but she got so angry that she couldn’t control herself. She didn’t even know if she could come back from that even if she apologized to Rick for it. 

A knock on the door interrupts her thoughts and she wipes her face of the fallen tears as Daryl opens the door. He closes the door behind him and makes his way to sit beside her on the bed. He reaches out and holds her hand as his other arm wraps around her back. 

He plants a kiss on her temple, “are ya okay?”

“Do I look okay?” she asks rhetorically, sniffling.

“Nah…” he says, “ya look like shit.”

His words cause her to chuckle softly, then she sighs, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately… I’m lashing out at everyone and sometimes I think I even piss off Maggie with the shit I say without thinking.”

“You’re jus’ goin’ through somethin’.” Daryl says, rubbing her back soothingly.

“Yeah… something that’ll make me lose all of my friends…” Gloria mutters then she looks at Daryl, “do you regret marrying me?”

“No,” he says, quickly shutting her down as he wipes away a stray tear from her face, “I’ll never regret it, stop thinkin’ that way.”

Gloria sighs and leans into him, letting him hold her close, “Rick and Michonne probably hate me now because of what I said…”

“I prolly shouldn’ta told Rick to go talk to ya…” Daryl sighs.

“What did Rick want to talk to you about, anyway?” Gloria asks, glancing up at him. 

She feels his body tense up at her question, which was never a good sign. When he doesn’t answer, Gloria pushes herself up to look at him. His eyes avoid hers as he looks down; something was definitely wrong.

“What is it?” she asks.

Daryl bites his lip, hesitant to speak, “Rick… he asked me to… to go the Sanctuary and lead the Saviors.” 

Gloria gapes at him as she registers his words, she then scoffs and shakes her head, “hell no, that’s not happening, you are not going back there.”

“I… I already told Rick I’d go… we’re leavin’ in the mornin’.” he admits, still avoiding to look at her.

Daryl knew that this was definitely not the best time to tell her, but he had no choice. If he left in the morning without telling her at all, that would make everything worse. Gloria looks at him in disbelief.

“Let me get this straight… you already told Rick that you’re going to the Sanctuary with him tomorrow?” she confirms then scoffs when Daryl nods, “you’re just telling me then, not even discussing it with me before agreeing to go.”

Daryl tries to hold her hand again, “‘m sorry…”

Gloria angrily gets up from the bed, not letting him touch her as she faces him, “you all need to stop saying you’re sorry when you aren’t! Rick’s making decisions again for everyone, sure, that’s fine, whatever! He doesn’t seem to care about his own people anymore… but Daryl… how could you agree to even stepping foot back in that place again? Did you forget what they did to you?!”

“How could I forget!” he snaps at her accusation, also getting up from the bed, “how could I forget that they beat me every damn day, never let me sleep, playin’ this stupid ass song every fuckin’ hour, feedin’ me fuckin’ dog food sandwiches?!” 

“Then why would you ever want to go back there!” Gloria shouts, ending his rant about his torture at the Sanctuary. 

“I don’t!” Daryl heaves, getting worked up at the memories of how he was treated, then repeats in a quieter voice, “I don’t… but Rick… he needs me there, says the Saviors need a leader in order to create somethin’ better.”

The room is filled with an awful silence as Gloria’s heart breaks at his words. 

“Rick needs you… t-the Saviors need you…” Gloria says in a broken voice, she fails to keep her tears in, “but you never thought about how much I need you?”

Daryl opens his mouth to speak but before he can say anything, Gloria heads for the door. Quickly, he reaches out and grabs her hand before she can leave.

“Gloria, please-” he calls out, pleading.

She yanks her hand out of his grasp and glares at him, “don’t.”

Without another word, she exits the room, slamming the door behind her. 

Chapter Text

After her fight with Daryl, Gloria spent the night on the couch in Maggie’s office, crying to herself. She was unable to stop the tears from flowing no matter how much she tried. The door to the office opens as Maggie comes into the room with a mug of hot tea. She closes the door behind her and looks at Gloria sympathetically as she makes her way over to her. Maggie sets the mug on the coffee table in front of the couch and sits beside Gloria. She wraps her arm around her and pulls her into a comforting hug. 

“I overheard your argument with Daryl,” Maggie says, “he’s going to the Sanctuary with Rick?”

Gloria nods, sobbing at the reminder, “how can Rick be so damn insensitive to ask him something like that? He knows Daryl can never say no to anything he asks…”

Maggie gently pats her back, “what are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know… I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do…” Gloria sighs, “I don’t want to let Daryl go back there, not after everything he’s been through in that damn place… but he already told Rick he’d go… and he’s a man of his word, he’s not going to take it back.”

“Can I tell you what I’d do if it were me?” Maggie asks in a gentle voice, only continuing when Gloria nods at her, “I’d go with him.”

“What?” Gloria asks with a confused frown.

“If it were Glenn, I’d go with him. I wouldn’t be able to let him go and face all of those bad memories alone. I’d be there for him no matter what. It’s either he goes with me or he doesn’t go at all. We go through everything together no matter what because that’s what being married is all about,” Maggie explains, she takes Gloria’s hand in hers.

“B-but what about you? I need to be here with you and make sure you’re okay, and the baby-” Gloria gets interrupted by Maggie.

“I fought a war with this baby inside me, Gloria, I’ll be just fine running a community. And, if there are any complications, we still have Dr. Carson.” she smiles warmly, “besides, you can use me as an excuse to regularly come back to the Hilltop and check up on me with Daryl.”

Gloria smiles gratefully at Maggie and hugs her tightly, “thank you…”

Maggie chuckles and hugs her back, “you should go and pack your things, I heard that Rick and Daryl are leaving early in the morning. I’ll stall them so they don’t leave without you.”

Heeding her word, Gloria quickly heads back to her room to grab her things, packing essential items into her bag. She slings the bag over her shoulder as she leaves the room and exits the Barrington house in time to hear the revving of a motorcycle. Gloria spots Daryl already mounted on his bike and Maggie standing by Rick who’s in the truck he’d come in. 

“We should head out now,” Rick calls out to Daryl through the window of his truck.

Daryl nods at him then looks at Maggie when he feels a hand on his arm and Gloria getting on the back of his bike with him. He looks back at her with a bewildered expression.

“The hell ya think you’re doin’?” he asks.

“What’s it look like?” she asks rhetorically, “I’m coming with you.”

“Nah, ya ain’t. Get off the bike right now!” he says, raising his voice at her.

“You can either bring me there with you or I walk there on my own, either way I’m going to the Sanctuary with you.” Gloria stands her ground.

Daryl sighs heavily, “why’re ya doin’ this?”

“You made a choice to help your friends, so I’m making a choice to help you. I’m not letting you go to the Sanctuary and face everything on your own.” she tells him.

“‘S Maggie okay with ya doin’ this?” he asks.

“She’s the one who gave me the idea,” she tells him.

Daryl looks towards Maggie who’s already looking at the two with a small smile and she nods at him, knowing that he wanted confirmation that she was alright with Gloria leaving to go to the Sanctuary. He lets out a breath then revs his bike again, letting Rick know that he was ready to go. 

“Hold on tight,” he shouts over his shoulder.

Gloria wraps her arms around his torso, doing as he instructed. Then he zooms out of the Hilltop with Rick’s truck trailing behind them. 

—

The first week of living at the Sanctuary proved to be difficult for Daryl and Gloria. Being surrounded by Saviors, Daryl told Gloria to stay away from them as much as possible. At first they were offered Negan’s old room seeing as they were supposed to be their new leader, but Daryl wasn’t having it. He didn’t want to sleep in a room or bed that used to belong to Negan. Instead, he chose a random apartment-like room; it didn’t need to be cozy or feel like home, it was just a place to sleep. The Sanctuary would never be their home. 

Gloria usually stayed at the infirmary where she would be the main doctor for the place and when she wasn’t she’d be in the room Daryl had claimed for them. Now that it was night time, she was sitting in bed, reading one of the books that were on the bookshelf when there was a knock on the door. Wary, Gloria gets up from the bed, putting the book faced down on the bed. She makes her way to the door and unlocks it, she didn’t trust the Saviors enough to leave the door unlocked. She opens the door slightly and sees Laura standing outside. 

“Yeah?” Gloria says, not opening the door any further.

“I… found these, thought you’d want them back.” Laura says, holding out her set of daggers that Daryl had given her way back at the quarry. 

Gloria opens the door wider and takes the daggers from her, “thanks… but how did you know these were mine?”

From her knowledge, the daggers were taken from her home in Alexandria. She didn’t have her name on them so there was no way for an outsider to tell who they belonged to.

“Daryl made us all look for them, he said that we took them from his house and that they belonged to you. They were the only ones in the storage that matched his description so I just guessed…” she rambles, “if they’re not, I’m sorry, I’ll take them away.”

“They are… they’re mine, thanks.” Gloria says, a soft smile on her face when she thinks of Daryl’s gesture.

“And.. Gloria?” Laura says, a worried look on her face, “I’m sorry…” 

She examines her body language, taking in that she seems somewhat sincere, “are you apologizing for all of you or just you?”

“I’m apologizing for what we did to you that day you came in… when me, Arat, and Regina just beat you up… we were angry at you all for trying to destroy this place, and we took it out on you-” Laura’s cut off by Gloria.

“I get it, you hated us for trying to destroy a place you guys called home, so when you saw me, all you saw was red, you put all your anger on me, I get it.” she tells her.

Laura gapes at Gloria, stunned, “t-thank you… I honestly didn’t expect you to say that.”

“And I didn’t expect you to even apologize,” she says with a genuine smile, “just don’t let Daryl know what you did to me, he may not be as forgiving.”

Laura chuckles softly and nods, “I’ll get out of your way now, if you need anything, just let me know.”

Gloria nods and shuts the door as Laura takes her leave. She smiles down at the daggers as she walks back to the bed. She never thought that she would see them again. Gloria puts them on the desk beside the bed and crawls under the covers to get some sleep. Daryl told her that he’d be back later tonight since he needed to help Eugene out with some mechanical things and to not wait up on him. Turning off the light, she lies down under the covers and drifts off to sleep.

A few hours later, Gloria is woken up by a loud thump on the door. The room is dark but she’s able to tell that she’s in an empty bed. She sits up and panic pumps through her veins as she hears the growls of walkers in the hallway. She quickly gets up and equips her daggers on her belt before heading to the door; she needed to find Daryl and make sure he was alright. When Gloria opens the door, she’s greeted by an empty hallway. It’s eerily dark as she walks through, she makes her way to the large main room where the workers produced. 

“Daryl?” she calls out through the empty hallway.

Fear strikes her when she hears the snarls of a walker that rounds the corner, limping its way towards Gloria. Instinctually, she reaches down to grab one of her daggers but there is nothing on her belt.

“What?” she exclaims, confused and panicked when she finds herself unarmed.

She stumbles back with the walker snapping at her, she grapples the walker, grunting as she pushes it away from her with all her strength. She keeps her eyes on the walker as her hand touches a rod of some sort. As the walker staggers towards her, Gloria grips her newly found weapon firmly then lets out a battle cry when she slams the weapon on the walker’s head. The snarling stops as it falls to its knees. The walker chokes as it looks up at Gloria and her blood runs cold when she sees its face.

“G-Glenn..?” she whimpers, tears now streaming down her face.

Gloria’s breath is staggered as she stares at the sight in front of her. This was a sight she never wanted to see ever again. Glenn’s skull bashed in as blood pours down his face. No, this was impossible, how could this be happening? She has the instinct to look at the weapon she was holding and to her horror, she was holding the barbed wire bat Negan called Lucille. Gloria screams as she drops the bat. 

“That is no way to treat my Lucille!” an undeniable voice booms from behind her.

Gloria turns around to the sound of the voice and standing before her was none other than Negan, towering over her, somehow already holding his bat in his hands. 

“Well, would ya look at what we have here!” he says, taking a step towards her, “you bashed your brother’s head in!”

“No.” Gloria says through gritted teeth.

“You killed your brother!” Negan shouts.

“No!” she screams, pushing Negan away from her.

A low chuckle emits from Negan, “well, you sure as hell disappointed him with how many people you killed… you might as well have killed him with your own two hands.”

That was something Gloria couldn’t deny. Glenn would hate her for what she’d become: a cold hearted killer. 

“You know what a fitting punishment would be for something like you?” Negan says, then he snaps his fingers and gestures towards her, “take care of her, I’m gonna get something to eat.” 

Negan turns around and walks away as another figure emerges from the shadows. She hears a snarl as the figure moves towards her. 

“No…” a choked sob escapes Gloria’s lips as she watches Daryl stumble towards her. 

He wasn’t Daryl anymore, he’s a walker now. She shakes her head in denial, screaming as it reaches her. She struggles with it and gets pushed back. She looks into his once blue eyes, now glazed over and lifeless. Gloria had to kill the walker, push the walker back into the wall and slam its skull into the cement until its brains were coating the wall. She knew she had to, but she couldn’t, not this one. Not him. 

“I’m sorry… I can’t do it…” she whispers as she cries, the walker snarls at her.

She lets go of the walker, letting it lunge towards her and she wraps her arms around what was once her husband’s warm body, accepting death as the walker rips into her flesh. Blood gushes down her body, coating everything a crimson red. The pain is unbearable but she soon feels numb as the world around her becomes a blur and she falls into complete blackness. 

Gloria jolts awake in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. She looks around and finds that she’s in the same room she’d fallen asleep in. She lets out a huge sigh of relief that it was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real. Suddenly, the same thump she’d heard that woke her up in the nightmare sounded again. Just like before, she gets up and equips her daggers she’d put on the desk and heads out. It was a devastating cycle, reliving the nightmare over and over again. Killing Glenn, finding Negan, Daryl dead. Over and over again and she couldn’t get out of it. Had she died and this was her hell? An infinite loop of killing her own brother then getting killed by her husband at the hands of the one man she hated more than anything. 

—

“Fuck, man, I don’ care, let’s just figure it out in the mornin’.” Daryl says, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Affirmative.” Eugene says, agreeing, “I shall head back to my quarters then, good night.” 

Daryl half-heartedly waves him off as he makes his way back to his temporary room. He carefully opens the door as he notices that the lights were out, he figures that Gloria was asleep. He shuts the door silently behind him and proceeds to take off his vest, placing it on the armchair. He pauses when he hears something inside the room, listening intently he makes out that the noises sound like whimpering. 

“Gloria?” he calls out to her as he makes his way over to her. 

Worried when she doesn’t respond directly to his call, he turns on the light. Gloria was still asleep but she was sweating, stirring and whimpering out, constantly saying ‘no’. Seeing this, Daryl immediately shakes her shoulder gently to wake her up.

“Gloria, Gloria!” he calls, trying to wake her up. 

Finally, she jolts awake, gasping loudly just like she had in the continuous cycle. Her eyes instantly fill with tears in fear; her body had woken up but her mind hadn’t registered yet. Her tears roll down her cheeks as she heaves deep breaths. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Daryl says in a soft voice as he holds her close, “it was jus’ a nightmare, it ain’t real, none o’ that was real.”

The sound of his voice calls her mind back to reality. She feels the warmth of his body and his arms around her. She finally turns to look at Daryl, terror still evident in her eyes. Gloria reaches to him and cups his face, looking into his eyes to find those beautiful icy blue orbs staring back at her. She lets out a breathy sob as she breaks down and cries. Daryl pulls her into his embrace, gently rocking her back and forth as she sobs. 

“Shh… ‘ts okay… you’re safe now…” he coos gently, pressing a lingering kiss on her head. 

After a while, Gloria’s sobs and cries die down into small sniffles. Daryl’s hold on her doesn’t loosen as he continues to rock her back and forth. 

“I killed Glenn…” she whispers in a worn out voice.

Her words stop Daryl from rocking her, “what?”

“I killed Glenn…” she repeats, “I was here… and I woke up… I heard walkers outside and I went out…”

Daryl purses his lips, listening intently to her as she tells him about her nightmare. He knew that the war and everything that had happened to lead up to it took a toll on her, but he didn’t think that it would push her mind into this level of torment; trapping her in a loop where she killed her own brother and he killed her as a walker, Daryl didn’t know what to think of it. He didn’t know what to do, he only knew that the nightmares would keep coming. He hated it because he couldn’t do anything about them. He swore to protect her but how the hell was he supposed to protect her against her own mind? 

“When was the last time ya had a nightmare?” he asks, maybe if he could figure out what could have triggered it, he could help her.

“I don’t… I don’t remember… I think maybe… back at the prison?” she whispers, still clinging onto Daryl.

He nods at that, remembering back when she told him about her nightmare the one time he wasn’t there with her as he was out hunting. 

“Next time we go back to Hilltop, ya wanna stay back there?” Daryl offers but Gloria shakes her head immediately.

“No… I’m not leaving you here.” she says, snuggling closer to him.

“Okay…” is all he says.

Daryl knew that he couldn’t let her sleep alone anymore, at least not at the Sanctuary. He figured that it was a repeat of history; the first time he left her to sleep first without him, she had the worst nightmare. He couldn’t say for certain that that was why she had the nightmare but it was the only thing he could think of. 

—

As the weeks went on, Gloria and Daryl got the hang of things in the Sanctuary. Many of the Saviors actually started to look up to the two of them as their actual leader. Laura and Gloria were even able to become friends as they spent more time together. She had Gloria’s trust and she was left in charge of the Saviors when Daryl and Gloria would ride back to the Hilltop to visit Maggie who had given birth to Glenn’s son. She’d named him after Hershel, Glenn would have liked that. 

After coming back from a short ride out, Gloria was now in the infirmary. When Daryl and Gloria felt that they needed a break from the Sanctuary but couldn’t head back to the Hilltop, Daryl would take Gloria out and teach her how to ride a motorcycle. The Saviors had a bunch of bikes in their makeshift garage so Daryl spent time to build her a bike that matched her physique. 

“Oof…” Gloria breathes out as she leans on the patient bed.

For the past week, she’d been having random dizzy spells and weird stomach flutters that she couldn’t explain. She shrugs it off as her not being able to eat properly due to a lack of appetite. Usually she’d have Rosita in the infirmary with her, but Daryl had asked her to oversee the workers for a while as Daryl needed to check another department of the Sanctuary. 

“Gloria!” a voice calls out from the hall along with quick paced footsteps. 

She turns around as Reilly, a Savior who was held prisoner at the Hilltop, opens the door to the infirmary, “what is it?”

“Daryl… he’s hurt.” he says, trying to catch his breath.

Without hesitation, Gloria turns to grab her med kit and heads out of the infirmary, “what happened?”

“Some plank fell on him, hit him in the head and now he’s bleeding… a lot!” Reilly explains as he leads her down the hallway, “in here!”

Gloria enters the room Reilly had led her to without thinking, her thoughts only on Daryl. She looks around, expecting to see the worst but instead she only sees a clean bedroom with two male Saviors glaring at her. She furrows her brows in confusion, about to put things together when the door closes behind her. She turns around to see Reilly standing with Jared.

Jared grins at her and mockingly waves, “hi!”

Gloria groans and rolls her eyes, of course this was a fucking trap. They used her weakness for Daryl to lure her here. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she huffs.

“We’re getting revenge for Kyle!” Reilly replies, visibly angry.

Gloria furrows her brows in thought, Kyle… he must have been the Savior she shot when Jared tried to provoke her at the Hilltop. 

“You can blame Jared for that,” she says, gesturing to him, “he’s the asshole who got your friend killed, although, you should all be used to that type of shit already since you were under Negan.”

“We are still under the rule of Negan!” Jared says, “the Saviors will rise once again, but unfortunately you won’t be able to see that because we’re going to kill you first.”

Jared quickly glances to one of the Saviors behind Gloria and he grabs her from behind. She struggles to get out of the man’s grasp.

“You better let me go or else-” she gets interrupted by Jared.

“Or else what? Look around! You’re surrounded by Saviors and no one is coming to save you. No one even knows you’re in here!” Jared says with a smug grin on his face.

“Just kill the bitch already!” Reilly says impatiently. 

“Now hold on, let’s have some fun with this one,” Jared says glancing back at Reilly then looks back at Gloria as he struts up to her then tears her outer shirt, revealing the scars on her arms and chest, “let’s reopen your scars, shall we?”

He grins maniacally at her as he takes one of her daggers from her belt. He’s about to make the first cut on her skin when Gloria raises her leg and push-kicks him back, making Jared grunt and slashes downward, cutting a deep gash in Gloria’s thigh. The momentum in her kick pushes her and the Savior who was holding her backwards, crashing into the entertainment set behind them. Fortunately for her, the Savior cushions her fall. 

“Get her!” Jared shouts angrily at Reilly and the remaining Savior. 

The two charge for her as Gloria gets up from the ground, she’d already grabbed her other dagger out from its sheath, ready for either of them to reach her. She swings her arm up and pierces the unnamed Savior’s neck, killing him instantly. She pulls the dagger out from the Saviors and spins around with her dagger already up and slits Reilly’s throat. He begins to choke as his neck bleeds out, his body falling to the ground. 

Jared tackles her to the wall, pinning her down with his forearm on her throat, cutting off her air supply. He grabs the wrist of the hand that was holding onto the dagger and slams it against the wall until the blade falls from her hand. He scowls at her as he leans in, putting more weight on his arm. Gloria chokes as she tries to breath, her hands claw at his arm, desperately struggling to break free.

“I’m gonna kill you, I don’t need a weapon,” he snarls, “I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands!”

He cackles as he strangles Gloria but his laughter is ended abruptly by a single gunshot. Jared’s body drops dead to the ground and Gloria gasps for air as she slides down the wall, violently coughing and taking deep breaths to regulate the airflow back into her lungs. Daryl is at her side immediately after shooting Jared. 

“Gloria,” he calls out to her in a gentle voice despite how angry he was at the sight of her getting strangled by a Savior

Judging from her pale face and bloodshot eyes, he knew that if he came any later he may have lost her. Daryl pulls her towards him and holds her close, letting out a breath of relief that she was alright, given the circumstances.

“Daryl,” she calls out breathlessly, “I’m gonna need stitches.”

He pulls back from the hug and looks down at her to see what she was talking about and frowns when he sees the bloody gash on her thigh. 

“Dammit girl…” he sighs then picks her up bridal style and heads out of the room, ordering the others to clean up the mess before heading to the infirmary. 

Rosita follows him to help with Gloria’s injury. Daryl sets her down on the patient bed carefully and backs away to let Rosita take care of her. 

“I hope these aren’t your favorite jeans because I’ll need to cut a hole in them,” Rosita says, looking at Gloria.

“I’ll set the new fashion trend,” she says, chuckling softly, letting out a small cough; Daryl goes up to her and pats her back when he sees her cough. 

Rosita smiles and takes her words as permission to cut her jeans. She begins to cut the fabric around the wound, removing it from the wound. Gloria hisses at the sting of alcohol swabs on her skin as Rosita proceeds to clean her gash, she looks up at her apologetically as she continues.

“This isn’t even the worst part,” she says.

Gloria rolls her eyes playfully at her, “you say that as if I’m not a nurse.” 

Rosita chuckles at her retort then looks through the med kit, frowning, “doesn’t look like we have any wound closures…”

“They’re all back at Hilltop…” Gloria informs with a sigh.

“Alright…” Rosita says, taking out what she needs for stitches, “stitches it is then.”

Gloria lets out a deep breath as Rosita begins the stitches. She can’t help but whimper at the needle going through her skin, she always hated giving stitches because she knew how much they hurt. Daryl wraps his arm around her shoulder at this and presses a lingering kiss to her forehead as she clings onto his shirt. It felt much longer than it actually was but Rosita finally finishes the stitches and Gloria lets out a sigh of relief. She leans on Daryl who’s now holding her to sit upright. Rosita proceeds to clean up the excess blood around the wound and bandages it up to prevent infection.

“What the hell were you even doing in there with those Saviors anyway?” Rosita asks.

“I was stupid and fell for their trap, they told me Daryl was hurt,” Gloria tells them, glancing at Daryl, “I didn’t think twice about it and just followed them to that room.”

“We would have never let those Saviors get you if Daryl was really hurt,” Rosita says.

“I know… but I was worried, once I heard Daryl was hurt I didn’t care about anything else.” Gloria looks down. 

Rosita sighs and looks at the two once she’s finished patching up Gloria’s wound, “I’ll leave you two alone now.”

Daryl nods at her while Gloria thanks her verbally. Rosita smiles softly at her and nods before leaving the infirmary. Daryl waits until they’re alone to hide his face in the crook of Gloria’s neck. 

“This is exactly why I didn’t want ya to come here with me…” he whispers.

Gloria sighs at his words, “we already went through this…”

Daryl had been trying to convince Gloria to head back to the Hilltop and stay there ever since they stepped foot into the Sanctuary. He shakes his head and steps back from her.

“I shoulda jus’ left without tellin’ ya…” he says.

Gloria scoffs at him, “you really wanted to just leave me behind and have me pissed at you?”

“I’d rather have ya pissed at me an’ alive than hurt ‘r dead!” he snaps at her, “y-ya woulda died if I hadn’t made it in time!”

He paces angrily around the infirmary, angry mainly at himself for letting her come with him. Daryl clearly knew how dangerous some of the Saviors were.

“Ya should be safe back at Hilltop with Maggie an’ Hershel…” he sighs heavily.

“I’m safe when I’m with you too…” Gloria says, pursing her lips as she watches him.

“Clearly not… look what happened to ya…” he says, his back facing her.

“Daryl…” she calls out before carefully getting off the bed.

Gloria’s good leg steps down first but once her foot hits the ground, she knows there’s something wrong. A sharp, piercing pain in her lower abdomen causes her breath to hitch and she falls to the ground, her arms clutching her torso. Daryl drops down to help her as soon as he sees her on the floor in pain. 

“Wha’s wrong?” he asks fearfully as she lets out a pained cry. 

Gloria shakes her head as she whimpers, “I-I don’t know….”

Daryl does his best to reassure her that she’s going to be alright then he starts to shout for Rosita repeatedly. Gloria’s weeps and whimpers soon fade as she falls out of consciousness from the pain. 

Chapter Text

Daryl and Rosita rushed Gloria back to the Hilltop as they had more equipment at the community as well as Harlan to look after her. She was lying on one of the patient beds of the medical trailer with Maggie by her side as Harlan’s assistant, she’d asked Daryl to help her take care of Hershel for the time being and that they’ll get him when she wakes up. When Gloria finally awakes, Maggie is right beside her greeting her with a warm smile. 

“Hey,” she says sweetly. 

Gloria tilts her head when she sees her, “Maggie? W-what are you doing at the Sanctuary?”

Maggie chuckles, “take a look around, silly, we’re not at the Sanctuary.”

She glances around and realizes that she’s in the medical trailer back at the Hilltop. She sees Harlan looking through some other files and looks up at her, greeting her with a smile. 

“What happened?” she asks, turning back to Maggie.

“You got attacked by some Saviors and Rosita patched you up, then out of nowhere, you collapsed. Daryl said you were in a lot of pain but he didn’t know what it was.” Maggie reminds her.

Gloria nods at the information, “I don’t even know what that was… my lower abdomen just started hurting when I stepped on the ground, it felt like a period cramp but… a lot sharper and more intense.”

Harlan walks towards her and Maggie with a thoughtful frown as he listens to her explain the pain she had felt, “Gloria… when’s the last time you had your period?”

She looks at him and ponders a bit, “I think… a few months ago… maybe just before the war ended?”

“That was four months ago!” Maggie exclaims.

She frowns at Gloria in disapproval then her frown is replaced by an excited smile, she glances up at Harlan then back down at Gloria, “you could be pregnant!”

“W-what? No! I can’t be…” Gloria laughs nervously at Maggie’s assumption.

“Please, not having your period for almost four months right after the war ended? I know how active you and Daryl were,” Maggie teases with a smirk.

“Maggie!” Gloria whines, embarrassed as her cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Harlan chuckles at the two, “well, Maggie might be right. From what you and Daryl told us, your pain started when you stood up and after the Saviors attacked you, right?”

“Yeah…” Gloria confirms, not necessarily liking where this was going, “but just because I didn’t have my period and got sudden pain in my lower abdomen doesn’t mean I’m pregnant.”

“Let’s put an end to the mystery of whether you are or not,” Harlan says before Maggie can try to convince her that she is, “Maggie, can you turn on the ultrasound machine?”

She smiles widely and does as she’s told right away. She wheels the device over to the patient bed and turns it on. Harlan goes to get a tub of ultrasound gel and brings it to Gloria, opening the tub, he gestures to her to lift up her shirt to reveal her belly. 

Maggie scoffs playfully once Gloria lifts up her shirt, “you’re already showing yet you’re trying to deny it!”

“T-that’s not… I might have just… gained weight or… something…” Gloria stutters, she was starting to feel ridiculous at having ignored the signs. 

She hisses slightly at the cold temperature of the gel as Harlan spreads a thin layer on her tummy. He reaches out for the transducer then places it on her tummy. Gloria frowns as the three of them look at the screen on the ultrasound. Maggie lets out a joyful chuckle, Harlan grins happily while Gloria freezes at the image; it was small, but there was a fetus moving about on the screen. 

“You’re pregnant!” Maggie exclaims, overjoyed, her reaction causing Harlan to chuckle.

“I’m pretty sure the pain you experienced was round ligament pains.” he tells her, but Gloria speaks before he can continue.

“That means my ligaments were stretching because I have a baby growing inside me,” Gloria says, her face blank with shock at the news.

Harlan nods and smiles at her, “you did your reading.”

“I’ve never read anything about them being that intense though, are you sure that’s what it was?” she asks.

“It’s very rare that they hurt enough to make you pass out but it happens, especially if you’re under a lot of stress and well… with you being at the Sanctuary,” Harlan didn’t even need to finish his train of thought.

“You’re right… round ligament pains…” Gloria furrows her brow in thought then looks at Harlan with a worried look, “that usually starts in the second trimester… right?”

“It can start earlier, but yes, usually it starts in the second trimester,” he confirms.

She lets out a shaky breath, “that means I’m at least three months pregnant…”

“Well, judging from the ultrasound, you’re actually four months pregnant,” Harlan corrects her, causing Gloria to snap her head to look at him.

“Four?!” she exclaims, fear and worry evident in her voice.

Maggie places a hand on her shoulder, “hey, it’s okay, you’re gonna be fine, you’ll make a great mom.”

Gloria does her best to calm herself down. Being pregnant scared her, knowing that she would be a mother scared her. She didn’t know if she would be able to do it. She’d never actually thought about having kids of her own, she didn’t have time to think about it when she was studying and she didn’t want to think about it after the world ended. She’s never been this scared in her life. 

“You have me and Dr. Carson to take care of you, and Daryl too, you’re in good hands, Gloria,” Maggie comforts as she reads the scared look on her face.

“Daryl… he doesn’t know yet…” she lets out a breath and glances at both Maggie and Harlan, “how do you think he’ll react?”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Maggie answers, smiling reassuringly at her, “I’m sure he’ll be happy, I think deep down he loves kids, I mean look at how he is with Judith and Hershel.”

A small smile tugs on her lips as she registers Maggie’s words. Daryl was exceptionally good with kids, whether they were a newborn like Hershel or a toddler like Judith, they loved him just as much as he loved them. 

“Come on,” Maggie says, helping Gloria up from the patient bed after cleaning the gel off her tummy, “I’ll take you to your baby daddy.”

Gloria chuckles at her and hooks her arm around Maggie’s. Together they carefully walk back to the Barrington house still mindful of Gloria’s injured leg, but not before Gloria thanks Harlan for his help. Maggie leads her towards the nursery where she left Daryl with Hershel before. Her sister-in-law opens the door and Gloria feels her heart melt at the sight they’re greeted with. Daryl was holding little baby Hershel in his arms, rocking him back and forth as Hershel bables incoherent words. Gloria’s eyes well up with tears at the sight.

“Daryl,” Maggie calls out, then glances at a teary-eyed Gloria and tries to hold in her laughter as she goes to take Hershel from Daryl’s arms. 

He smiles at Maggie then goes to Gloria’s side once Hershel is safely with Maggie, “hey, ya a’right?”

“Dr. Carson said that she should be resting after what she’s been through,” Maggie calls out, giving Gloria a knowing but teasing look that was missed by Daryl.

“I wanted to see my nephew first though,” Gloria says before Daryl can usher her back to her room.

Maggie smiles at that and steps to Gloria with Hershel. She looks down at the baby boy in her arms adoringly and gently strokes his cheek with her finger.

“Hey, buddy,” Gloria cooes, earning a soft giggle from the boy, she leans down and kisses him lightly on the forehead, “your Aunt Gloria loves you so so much.”

Hershel begins to wriggle in his mother’s arms before letting out a yawn, giving Gloria and Daryl the cue to leave and let Maggie put her son down for his nap. Daryl carries Gloria to her room, much to her protest, but he wasn’t letting her put any weight on her injured leg. He rests her on the bed when he gets to the room and goes to close the door. Gloria sits up on the bed, fear, anxiety, and nervousness hitting her all at once as she thinks about telling Daryl the news. She stares down blankly at her hands as she tries to calm herself down, taking deep breaths only to have her eyes well up with tears again. 

“Ya had me worried sick ‘bout ya…“ Daryl says as he sits down on the bed, not yet looking at her, "Did Dr. Carson tell ya what was wrong?" 

Gloria shakes her head, still unsure of how to tell him, "it’s… It’s nothing…" 

"How’s it nothin’?! Ya were in so much pain ya couldn’t even talk!” he says, unintentionally raising his voice, he finally turns to look at Gloria, his face softening when he sees the tears in her eyes, “what did they do to ya…?" 

"Nothing…” she repeats, not looking up at him. 

Carefully Daryl reaches out to her, caressing her face with his hand, making her finally look up at him, “talk to me, sunshine… wha’s wrong?”

“Daryl…” she whispers as a tear rolls down her cheek, “I’m… I’m pregnant.”

He widens his eyes at the news, his first reaction is to pull away in shock. Dread and despair fills Gloria’s heart at his reaction. This was it for them, he didn’t want to have kids with her and now he was going to leave her because she was pregnant. 

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” she says as she sobs, her body shaking.

Gloria expected him to get up from the bed and walk away but instead she feels him shifting closer and wrapping his arms around her. He plants a kiss on her forehead.

“What are ya sorry for, huh? Ya ain’ got nothin’ to be sorry for.” he whispers into her ear as he lets her snuggle in his embrace. 

“I’m pregnant…” she repeats as if it’s the worst thing in the world.

Daryl pulls back slightly and looks down at her, “why’re ya sorry for that?”

“Because it’s not what you want… it’s not what you signed up for and we weren’t even trying and now you’re gonna leave me-” Gloria’s rant is abruptly stopped when Daryl presses his lips on hers, kissing her tenderly.

He pulls away to cup her face in his hands then kisses her again lovingly as if to convince her that he wasn’t going anywhere. Daryl only pulls away when he’s sure that he conveyed his message, he looks deep into her eyes as his thumb strokes her cheek.

“I ain’t going anywhere, I’m gonna take care o’ ya, both o’ ya,” he says with a warm smile.

The fear and anxiety she felt earlier had disappeared from the sincerity in Daryl’s words, but now she felt guilt. She was sure Daryl only said that because she had made him feel bad and didn’t want to be a bad person.

“But you don’t want this…” she mutters.

“Who said I don’t?” he asks rhetorically, surprising her.

“What?” she lets slip out.

“I want this…” he admits, he’s unable to hide the blush rushing to his face, “I realized it when I was holdin’ Hershel… lookin’ down at him in my arms and him lookin’ up at me, started thinkin’ what it would be like to have our own… so yeah, I want this.”

Gloria gapes at him, feeling her eyes well up again, “and you’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

Daryl notices the tears and chuckles softly, “guess it’s true what they say ‘bout women changing completely when they’re pregnant.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she frowns at him.

“Ya were a blubberin’ mess ramblin’ ‘bout me not wantin’ ya anymore, overthinkin’ shit ya should never be thinkin’ ‘bout, doubtin’ everythin’ we’ve been through, you’re even cryin’ every five seconds,” Daryl calls her out; even though he was calling her out on her mood swings, there’s was no hint of anger or annoyance in his voice, just amusement.

“I am not!” Gloria cries out, breaking into another sob.

Daryl can’t help but chuckle at her as he pulls her into his arms, “‘s okay, I still love ya…”

“You better…” she mutters, causing him to smirk.

Daryl holds her close as Gloria lets out the last of her tears. They sit in each other’s arms for a while when a thought crosses Daryl’s mind.

“Ya know ya can’t go back to Sanctuary like this.” he points out.

Gloria purses her lips at his words. He was right, she could never go to the Sanctuary while she was carrying their baby. She didn’t care what the Saviors could do to her, she knew she could fight them off but she had to protect their baby. She wraps her arms tighter around Daryl.

“You’re staying here with me then,” she says, “I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“But I promised Rick…” he mutters.

“Then I’ll talk to him, he should know better than to fuck with a pregnant woman.” Gloria says.

“There she is,” Daryl says with a side smile as he kisses her head.

—

For the next few days, Daryl and Gloria had stayed at the Hilltop. Rosita went back to the Sanctuary to take care of things and make sure the place wasn’t falling apart. She was very understanding of Gloria’s injury and when she found out that Gloria was pregnant, Rosita was eager to take over her spot at the Sanctuary. Gloria found that Rosita was very protective over her, not wanting her to ever step foot back into the Sanctuary after finding out the big news, and to that she was very thankful. 

Now she is in her room in the Barrington house as she puts on a jacket over her t-shirt to hide her ever-growing baby bump. Although everyone at Hilltop knew Gloria was pregnant, she didn’t want to be showing off her tummy everywhere as a reminder. She zips up her jacket for more coverage and heads out of the room. As she makes her way downstairs, the front door of the Barrington house opens and Gloria is met with Rick and Michonne. She stops in her tracks as she’s on the last step and catches their eyes. It feels rather awkward since Gloria hadn’t spoken to Rick since she yelled at him in front of Glenn’s grave. 

“Hi…” she greets, not expecting to see them first thing in the morning.

“Hey.” Rick replies back, shifting on his feet, not knowing what to say to her.

“How are you feeling?” Michonne asks, coming from behind Rick, “I heard what the Saviors did…”

“I’m fine, it was just a scratch.” Gloria smiles at Michonne then looks at Rick, “can we take this to Maggie’s office? I uh… need to talk to you about something.”

Rick glances at Michonne as if unsure but then he nods, “okay…”

“Michonne can come too,” Gloria says with a slight chuckle in her voice as she steps down the last stair and leads them to Maggie’s office, “I can’t promise I won’t bitch out, and I know you’ll want Michonne to protect you.”

She hears Michonne try to stifle a snicker from behind her as she opens the door to Maggie’s office. She sees that it’s empty as she walks in, leaving the door open for Rick and Michonne then leans back on the front of the desk. Gloria crosses her arms in thought as the other two come into the room. Michonne is behind Rick as he leans on one of the chairs in front of the desk. 

“First I want to say I’m sorry,” Gloria starts, looking Rick in the eyes, “for what I said to you about Carl the last time we spoke. I was out of line and I should have never said that to you.”

She notices Rick and Michonne’s eyes soften at her apology. She was sure they held it against her and loathed her for saying what she did, and if she wanted this conversation to not end in a horrible fight, Gloria knew she’d have to first apologize for it; put their potential bad blood behind them. 

“I didn’t like what you said but I do understand why you did… you were angry and still mourning, I get it. That and…” Rick sighs, “I did break my promise to you… I told you, I told Maggie, that I would kill Negan but I didn’t and you were upset.”

“Upset is an understatement,” Gloria chuckles, “but thank you for understanding.”

“Thank you for apologizing,” Rick smiles at her, “also… I’m sorry for what happened to you at the Sanctuary, I hate that it did, but I am glad to see that you’re okay.”

“I want to say that no one could have predicted it but… that would be a lie, they’re Saviors, it was bound to happen eventually.” Gloria says.

“That’s why we need to rebuild the Sanctuary and show them that their ways of doing things is over, I actually wanted to talk to Daryl about how we’d get things to work better at the Sanctuary.” Rick tells her truthfully.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Rick,” Gloria says, “Daryl’s not going back to the Sanctuary, he’s staying here with me at Hilltop.”

A look of worry flashes in Michonne’s eyes as she overlooks the two, not knowing how this conversation was going to end.

Rick looks at Gloria as he chooses his words carefully, “I understand why you don’t want to go back to the Sanctuary, and I know you don’t want Daryl to go back either but you need to understand that I need him there.”

“I need Daryl here!” Gloria raises her voice.

“No one’s a better leader than Daryl, I’ve been there when he was leading and I’ve seen it, I’ve sure you’ve seen it too!” Rick argues.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it, he’s an amazing leader and I’m so damn proud of him for it,” Gloria pushes herself off the desk she’d been leaning on and takes a careful step towards Rick, “but I’ve also seen how anxious he is every second he’s behind those walls. He tenses up whenever we pass the hallways the Saviors beat him in, he always tries to avoid the hall with the cells he was held in and whenever we have to pass them… there’s a fear in his eyes I’ve never seen before.”

Gloria’s eyes well up with tears at the memories. She never brought it up with Daryl but she knew how much just being behind the walls of the Sanctuary affected him. She needed Rick to understand that instead of making him let Daryl stay with her in the time that she was pregnant. Gloria also feared that after their child was born, Rick might make Daryl go back to the Sanctuary. It was an irrational fear, she knew that Rick was never the type to do that to her, but the fear was still there regardless of what she knew. 

“You haven’t seen it, but I have, Rick. He cares about you, he sees you as his brother. You say the word, he’ll be there… just like last time… he’d die for you, and you know that.” Gloria lets a tear roll down her cheek, “I know you care about him… so please, Rick… don’t make him go back.”

“I… I didn’t know… I didn’t know it still affected him that bad… last time I visited, he told me he was fine with it,” Rick sighs.

“Of course he’d say that… he’s a man of his word.” Gloria says then sighs when she feels that Rick wasn’t giving in.

Without another word, Gloria slowly but carefully gets down on her knees, kneeling before Rick. Her actions startle Rick and Michonne who both usher her to get up.

“Gloria,” Rick says, “come on, you don’t have to do this, get up, we can talk about this properly.”

“Please don’t make him go!” she cries, not getting up, “I’ve never begged anyone for anything in my life, Rick, but I’m begging you now, please!”

Rick sighs and tries to pull Gloria up by her arms when Maggie opens the door to her office. She gasps when she sees Gloria on her knees. Thinking something happened to her or the baby, she rushes over to pull her up.

“What happened? Is it the baby? Does it hurt?” Maggie asks, frantic.

“Maggie!” Gloria tries to shush her sister-in-law, finally allowing herself to get up.

“Baby?” Michonne gapes at her.

“You’re pregnant?” Rick asks, shocked.

Gloria sighs, “I guess it’s out…”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Maggie asks, her full attention on Gloria.

“I’m fine, I swear.” she answers.

“Then why were you on your knees?” Maggie asks, frowning.

Gloria glances at Rick then back at Maggie, “I was… asking Rick not to make Daryl go back to the Sanctuary.”

Maggie turns to look at Rick with an angry glare, “Gloria’s pregnant and you still want to take her husband away to the damn Sanctuary?!”

Gloria quickly grabs Maggie’s arm before she can lunge at Rick, “he didn’t know! I didn’t tell him yet.”

“What?” Maggie turns back at Gloria, “why not?”

Gloria sighs and glances at Rick and Michonne who also have a look of concern as well as curiosity, “I didn’t want my pregnancy to be the reason Rick let Daryl stay back with me. I wanted him to understand what staying at the Sanctuary means to Daryl, how it affects him so that he can make the right choice by him.”

She looks right at Rick when she says her words. Gloria can tell that she had struck a chord in Rick just by his expression. He ponders for a moment as if looking for the right words to say then finally, he nods with a smile.

“First of all, I’d like to say my congratulations on your baby,” Rick says, earning a soft smile from Gloria.

“How far along are you?” Michonne asks.

“Four months…” Gloria says sheepishly.

“You went to the Sanctuary with a baby?!” Michonne exclaims.

“In my defense, I didn’t know until I got attacked and made it back to Hilltop.” Gloria says, earning an eye roll from Maggie.

Michonne chuckles at this, “that’s going to be one tough baby.”

Rick nods with a chuckle, “now, where’s the father?”

“I think he left this morning for a hunt, said something about the kid needing protein.” Gloria tells him, worry building in her heart as she still hasn’t had any confirmation from Rick yet.

“Well, when he comes back, tell him I need to discuss something with him, gotta figure out who he thinks is a good replacement for him at the Sanctuary,” Rick says, smiling warmly at Gloria.

She lets out a breath of relief then grins at him but she groans when she feels tears wetting her eyes again, “why the hell am I such an emotional pregnant woman!”

Her words earn her a laugh from the other three. Maggie pats her on the back as Michonne hands her the box of tissues that’s sitting on the desk. 

For the remainder of the day, Michonne was with Maggie and Gloria discussing potential names for the baby. Rick had gone out to speak with Jesus while waiting for Daryl to return. As promised, Rick had relieved Daryl of his position at the Sanctuary all the while congratulating him on becoming a father. The two of them soon came to the conclusion that the Saviors would never rest easy if they were led by someone who was not a Savior so Daryl nominated Laura. He’d noticed that Laura had become good friends with Gloria over the time they had been there and they felt that they were able to trust her. Rick decided that with the help of Eugene and Rosita by Laura’s side, she was the best suited candidate. With that decision being final, they would all be happy; the Saviors would be led by one of their own, and Daryl wouldn’t have to be inside the walls of the Sanctuary. He would be with his wife and child, where he belonged. 

Chapter Text

It was mid afternoon at the Hilltop, people were going about their lives and doing their chores around the community. Gloria lies in her bed with a tired smile as she watches Daryl cradle the newborn baby girl in his arms, cooing at their daughter she had just given birth to mere hours ago. 

“Hey,” Gloria calls out as she sits herself up on the bed, “haven’t you hogged her enough?”

Daryl looks at her and scoffs playfully, “ya’ve had her for nine months, and ya say I’m hoggin’ her.”

“That’s not even the same thing! And for the record, I didn’t even know I had her for the first four months.” she argues with a pout.

“Tha’s yer fault.” Daryl replies with a smirk then looks down at the baby girl in his arms, “isn’t it? Hm?”

Gloria isn’t able to hide her smile as she sees Daryl talking to the baby, she then opens her arms in his direction, “can I at least get some affection from my husband then?”

Daryl looks at her and smiles at her words, he steps towards the bed as Gloria scoots to the side, making room for him to sit down. Cradling the baby in his arm, wrapping his other around Gloria who snuggles into him. She leans her head on his chest as she smiles down at their daughter. 

“How did we make something so innocent and pure like her?” Gloria says softly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping girl.

“She gets all that from ya,” he says, pressing a kiss on Gloria’s forehead, “she wouldn’ be here if it weren’t for ya.”

“You say that as if you don’t know how babies are made,” she chuckles, making Daryl roll his eyes.

“I mean it,” he looks at her sincerely, “ya carried her for 9 months, yer body protected her, even from the Saviors and ya didn’t even know ya had her. If ya weren’t as tough and strong as ya are, she might not’ve made it.”

Gloria smiles at his words and brushes their daughter’s cheek gently with her finger, “I can’t take all the credit for that, she’s a little fighter too, I just did my role as a mother, even if I didn’t know it yet, my body for sure did.”

Daryl hums in agreement, “an’ I’ll protect ya both, like a dad’s supposed to.”

Gloria looks at Daryl at his words, “hey,” she calls out to him in a whisper as she caresses his face.

There was a sadness in Daryl’s voice and Gloria knew where it came from. She knew very well what kind of man Daryl’s father was and what he did to Daryl and Merle when they were kids. 

“You’re gonna be such an amazing father, I can tell.” she says with a soft smile.

“Can ya?” he lets out a small chuckle.

Gloria nods, “just by the way you hold her, you’re a natural. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had more experience, and I’m not just talking about Judith.”

“Hmm… maybe I do an’ jus’ never told ya.” Daryl teases with a smirk.

She eyes him playfully, “you’re lucky I love you.”

“You’re right, I am,” he says, pulling her in for a kiss, “I’m the luckiest man alive.”

Gloria giggles into his lips and kisses him back tenderly. Their kiss is interrupted by a knock on the door, the two pull away from each other as Maggie opens the door with a smile.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” she asks.

“Not too bad, given that I just popped a baby out of me,” Gloria says with a chuckle.

“Are you able to walk?” Maggie asks, “Carol’s downstairs with the others, if you’re too tired I can let them know.”

“I think I’ll be okay, I may need you to help me down the stairs though,” Gloria smiles.

Maggie chuckles and nods, going over to Gloria as she gets off the bed, “since you got attached, you hold onto her,” Gloria says to Daryl.

He scoffs playfully and gets off the bed as well, not denying that he did get attached to their daughter fairly quickly. The three of them make it out the room with Daryl carrying the little girl in his arms as they go down the stairs. Maggie gently holds onto Gloria as she takes each step and finally they’re on the ground floor. Gloria turns into what she considered the lobby of the Barrington house and she’s greeted by delighted smiles of people from Alexandria and the Kingdom. Carol is the first to go up to hug her.

“We came as soon as we heard it was happening,” she says as she pulls away from the hug, “how are you feeling?”

“Tired, exhausted, can’t wait to sleep,” Gloria says with a chuckle.

“I have some bad news for you then,” Rick says with a teasing smile, “you and Daryl aren’t gonna have a good night’s sleep for a while.”

“I don’ sleep much anyway,” Daryl mutters then turns his attention to their daughter who had woken up, “right? You’re gonna keep us up, aren’t ya?”

“I’ve never seen Daryl like that before,” Aaron says in awe as he watches the two.

“He was like that with Judith,” Michonne grins at the sight.

Daryl looks at the others who are staring at him, slight blush creeping on his cheeks, “what?”

Tara shrugs, “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard you be so… gentle before?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what kind of hold she has on you,” Rosita grins as she teases Daryl.

Eugene nods as he stands beside her, “I have to say, witnessing Daryl as amiable as he is right now is really a sight to behold.” 

Daryl purses his lips and looks to Gloria for help and she chuckles as she shakes her head, “alright guys, that’s enough, you’re embarrassing him.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Daryl,” Ezekiel smiles warmly at him, “I believe what the others are trying to say is that you are a natural with your kin.”

“You’re a natural, dude!” Jerry chimes in cheerily.

“Thanks..” Daryl mutters, his face still a light shade of pink.

“So!” Jesus starts, clapping his hands together, “Have you two decided on a name for your little girl?”

His question turns their immediate attention to Daryl and Gloria, patiently waiting for their answer. They all look eager to chime in with suggestions if needed. Gloria smiles at this and glances at Daryl.

“Go ahead,” he says with a small smile.

Gloria nods then looks at the others, mainly focusing on Maggie and Carol, “we decided to name her Sophia Bethany Dixon.”

Grateful smiles light up Maggie and Carol’s faces as they hear the name given. Gloria lets out a breath of relief when they thank her with a deep hug. She and Daryl had discussed it when they found out they had a daughter. Gloria thought it was only fitting to name her after Sophia and Beth to honor the girls. 

—

Sophia is now a few days old as Gloria places her in the crib beside Hershel’s. She’s finally drifted off to sleep after a crying fit. Gloria lets out a soft sigh then goes to check on Hershel and smiles at his little sleeping figure. She tucks them both in to make sure they’re sound asleep then leaves the nursery. She makes her way to Maggie’s office and knocks three times before opening the door.

“Hey Maggie-” Gloria says as she opens the door but cuts herself short when she doesn’t see her sister-in-law in the room.

Instead, she’s met by Jesus standing by the door, Rick leaning on the desk, Daryl sitting on one of the chairs placed along the wall, and Ezekiel and Aaron standing by the chairs facing the desk. Gloria blinks as they all turn to look at her.

“Everythin’ okay?” Daryl perks up when he sees his wife in the doorway as if he’s ready to ditch whatever conversation is going on.

“Yeah, I’m just looking for Maggie, wanted to let her know the kids are out,” Gloria smiles at him then glances around the room, “so what’s going on here?”

“Nothin’-” Daryl tries to speak but he’s interrupted by Rick.

“Shouldn’t she have a say in this?” Rick says, gesturing to Gloria.

Gloria furrows her brows in confusion, crossing her arms and leaning on the door, propping it open, “have a say in what?”

“We’re trying to decide who Sophia’s Godfather should be.” Aaron informs her.

“Godfather?” Gloria lets out a chuckle, amused, “let me guess, you all have amazing reasons for why we should pick you?”

“I’m a King!” Ezekiel exclaims.

“I saved your life,” Aaron reminds her.

“Daryl’s my brother.” Rick says matter-of-factly.

“Come on, you call me Jesus.” he says, giving Gloria a knowing look.

“Ya see what I had to deal with in the last hour?” Daryl groans.

She shakes her head as she lets out a laugh, “okay… Ezekiel, you’re gonna be too busy taking care of the Kingdom and looking after Henry. Aaron, as much as I am very appreciative of you saving my life, you have your hands full with Gracie, already. And Rick, being Daryl’s brother means you’re already her uncle. Plus, all of you are busy in your own communities anyway.”

Jesus looks at her with a grin, “does that mean I win?”

“I can’t say I don’t like calling you Jesus and being her Godfather. ” Gloria tells him.

As she speaks, the main door to the Barrington house opens and Maggie, Carol, Rosita, and Tara walk in. The women glance at each other as they see Gloria standing in the doorway of Maggie’s office, propping open the door with her body. 

“What’s going on?” Maggie asks as she walks towards her office.

Gloria turns to look at Maggie, “the guys are fighting over who’s Sophia’s Godfather.”

“My bet’s on Jesus.” Tara chips in, “his name, it’s Jesus!”

“Thank you!” he exclaims from inside the room, then grins cheekily, “and you were about to name me Sophia’s Godfather before they walked in?”

“Well, no,” Gloria chuckles as he pouts, “I was about to say that you’re going to have to fight Carol on the Godparent position.”

Gloria had this conversation with the women before Sophia was born. Maggie and Gloria had an agreement that since they were directly Hershel’s and Sophia’s aunts, it wouldn’t be fair for the others to give each other the title. Maggie had appointed Tara as Hershel’s Godmother. Rosita was perfectly fine with being their aunt. Daryl was more than accepting of Carol being his child’s Godmother. 

Rick, Jesus, and Aaron groan in disappointment, knowing that it was impossible to beat Carol in a fight, as Ezekiel grins happily, “oh glorious day! I have been named Godfather of the lovely Sophia Bethany Dixon! Haha!”

The others look at Ezekiel in confusion while Carol freezes at his words. Gloria glances over at Carol and notices her cheeks flushing a light pink. A grin spreads across Gloria’s face and her grin is noticed by the other women and they all turn to look at Carol. She looks at them nervously and fidgets, making the other women giggle. 

“Congratulations, Carol.” Gloria chuckles, patting Carol’s arm. 

She rolls her eyes playfully at her and smiles, “thank you, now if we can stop him from announcing it to the world, that would be nice.”

They laugh at her words as Ezekiel says his speech, announcing his relationship with Carol, earning a groan from her. Everyone except for Carol is immersed in Ezekiel’s poetic proclamation of love for her when a baby’s cry catches Maggie and Gloria’s attention.

“That’s Hershel,” Maggie says, instinctually heading towards the nursery, then a second cry can be heard.

“And he woke Sophia…” Gloria sighs as she follows Maggie into the nursery. 

—

A few months have passed since Sohia was born. She is now able to sit up with some assistance as she plays in the nursery with Hershel beside her. Gloria sits on the other side of her in case Sophia loses her balance and falls. Maggie comes into the nursery with two bottles of formula and sits down on the ground beside her son.

“Here,” Maggie says, handing a bottle to Gloria, “just so they don’t whine when they’re hungry.”

She chuckles and nods, “thanks, we both know how impatient these two can get.”

Maggie smiles and hums in agreement as they watch their children. Hershel and Sophia were both busy playing with the toys in front of them. As the two of them reach for the same toy, Hershel reaches it first but lets go of it when Sophia grabs it and lets out a small whimper when she isn’t able to get it. Hershel watches her as she giggles when she is able to get the toy then he gently reaches over to her and pats her head. The sight of brotherly affection brings tears to Gloria’s eyes as Maggie smiles in awe at the two. 

“Did you see that?” Maggie says, her voice full of delight.

Gloria nods, sniffling slightly as she tries to hold in her tears, “Yeah…”

Maggie looks over and her brows furrow in concern, “Gloria… what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

“Nothing… he just reminds me so much of Glenn…” she says with a soft tearful smile.

“There’s more to it than that,” Maggie reaches her hand out and holds Gloria’s, “there’s been something bothering you even before the war ended, don’t think I didn’t notice.”

Gloria looks at Maggie and sighs deeply, “I disappointed Glenn…”

Maggie frowns at this, “what makes you say that?”

“I let revenge, hate, and anger get to me, I killed a lot of people-” Gloria is cut off by Maggie.

“We were fighting a war, what did you expect?,” Maggie tells her.

“I became a cold hearted killer, Maggie…” Gloria lets out a breath, “I killed a lot of people on my own because I wanted all of the Saviors to die to avenge Glenn. I wanted them all dead so I did what I thought was right, I thought they were all bad people… but now I see they can be people we can even trust, like Alden, Laura… what if I killed people who didn’t deserve to die?”

“That’s the unfortunate thing about a war, people die. A lot of people die, even those who don’t deserve it, you were protecting what was yours, taking back what belongs to you. You did what you had to do.” Maggie tries to comfort her.

“What if I didn’t have to kill all those people? What if I only thought it was what I had to do because I was blinded by rage? What if I made the wrong choices?” Gloria says as a tear rolls down her cheek.

“Then you admit that you made a mistake,” Maggie reaches out and wipes the tear away, “admit that you made a mistake then fix it.”

“How? I killed a lot of people, Maggie… how do I fix that?” Gloria asks.

Maggie ponders for a moment then smiles softly, “do you remember back at the farm when I was mad at Glenn for telling everyone about the walkers in the barn?”

“How could I forget? You egged him.” Gloria says with a slight chuckle.

Maggie chuckles and nods, “I did, but then afterwards, you came up to me and gave me good reasons to give him a chance to explain himself. Did he ever tell you what he said to me?”

Gloria shakes her head, “he didn’t, and I never thought it was my business to ask.”

“He told me that he knows he screwed everything up with me by telling everyone about the barn, and that he knows there’s no going back in time to undo it, but he believes that he can make up for it by doing the right thing.” Maggie explains.

“That is such a Glenn thing to say…” Gloria chuckles, “do the right thing… how do I know what’s the right thing to even do?”

“I asked him the same thing when he said it, and can you guess what he said to me?” Maggie says.

Gloria ponders for a moment, “that his heart would know.”

Maggie widens her eyes in awe, not expecting Gloria to actually be able to guess, then smiles and nods, “exactly.”

Gloria smiles at Maggie then she looks at Hershel and Sophia as they share toys with each other. Sophia coos at Hershel as she hands him a building block and Hershel responds with a babble. Gloria’s heart had her answer, she’d start by properly raising Sophia and protecting her, making sure that she would know the right choices to make. That’s only the start but that’s how she would be able to make it up to Glenn. 

—

“Hey, she’s almost a year old,” Gloria says over her shoulder as she sits on the bed with a notebook propped open.

“Already?” Daryl responds, sitting on the bed and leaning on the headboard with Sophia bouncing in his lap, “you’re growin’ so fast.”

“Mhm, today’s day three hundred and fifty,” Gloria says as she writes the number on the top of the page.

She’d been keeping a journal since the day that Sophia was born. Gloria wanted to be able to keep track of her daughter’s daily progression, and to make sure she didn’t lose track of her birthday; if the adults weren’t able to have a birthday, at least her daughter would be able to have one. 

Sophia lets out a babble and points to Daryl’s face then begins to giggle. He raises his eyebrow at this and playfully eyes her.

“I think she’s laughin’ at me,” he says, earning a chuckle from Gloria, “are ya laughin’ at me? Huh? Ya laughin’ at yer dad?”

“Dada!” Sophia squeals.

Daryl freezes in place as Gloria snaps her head back to look at the two, “did she just… call you Dada?”

“I dunno…” he says in a whisper as he stares at her.

Gloria puts the book on the nightstand beside the bed then moves to sit beside Daryl, “Sophia, did you say Dada? Can you say that again?”

Sophia looks at her mom and blinks, letting out a few incoherent babbles. Gloria remembers that Harlan told her babies tend to babble things that sound like mommy or daddy when they’re around Sophia’s age but they might not have any recognition of what those sounds mean. She decides to test it; she waves her hand in front of Sophia to get her attention then points to Daryl.

“Dada!” she says again.

“You’re her first word!” Gloria exclaims happily.

Daryl grins and leans down to kiss her forehead, “knew ya were a daddy’s girl.”

“Don’t ruin the moment,” Gloria rolls her eyes playfully.

He chuckles then leans back as Sophia decides that she’s going to plop on Daryl and snuggle him, “Dada.”

Gloria smiles at the sight and kisses the top of Sophia’s head then moves up to kiss Daryl’s cheek. She adjusts herself so that she’s lying down beside him.

“I guess this is how you’re sleeping tonight?” Gloria says as she sees Sophia closing her eyes.

“Guess so.” Daryl says softly then carefully moves his arm to wrap around Gloria, pulling her close to him.

For the last two and a half years, life had been hectic for Daryl and Gloria to say the least. The outbreak that caused the end of the world was a blessing in disguise as they had only found each other after the world ended. Many would and have considered them an unpredictable couple, but together they fought through the odds. Whether it was fighting the walkers or the people who turned into monsters because of the outbreak, they would get through all of it together. They belong together. They are fated to be together.