Look

One.

          An all too familiar pair of light-brown eyes met Glenn's dark-brown eyes, but Glenn was determined to approach Angélique and not chicken out for once; it wasn't the first time that Reg has come across this scene and it more likely than not wasn't going to be the last. Angélique Smith, a fellow newcomer, was brought to the Alexandria Safe-Zone about 6-months prior to today, having been separated from her group, the Saviors, following an incident that resulted in her being kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead in a nearby barn by a fellow Savior as an act of retaliation against her father and the leader of the Saviors, Negan Smith. An unlikely ally, a Walker (without eyes), would make short work of the Savior before yet another unlikely ally, a recruiter for the Alexandria Safe-Zone named Aaron, would make short work of the Walker and the reanimated Savior... only for Angélique to almost make short work of Aaron! It wasn't exactly a Hallmark-worthy first encounter, to say the least.

           Aaron and his long-term boyfriend and a fellow recruiter named Eric Raleigh, welcomed Angélique with open arms while the leader of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Deanna Monroe, and a number of the other residents, kept Angélique at an arm's length, and Angélique kept anyone and everyone at an arm's length. Deanna wasn't about to allow a repeat of Davidson and Angélique wasn't about to allow a repeat of the Savior. 2-months came and went before Angélique found herself rubbing elbows with any resident other than Aaron and Eric, starting with Enid -- to this day, the young woman in question prefers to spend a chunk of her time with Aaron and Eric --, but kept her guard up. Angélique and Enid bonded over their shared refusal to be ignorant to the chaos beyond the walls, sneaking out in the dead of night to work on their survival skills to keep from getting rusty, their shared distrust of their neighbors, and their shared relief of managing to find someone that understood them, someone that truly, truly, truly understood them.

          "... hey."

          Angélique slid the well-worn axe that she kept on her person at all times back into its corresponding holster all the while Glenn watched warily. A noticeable amount of dried blood had long since marked the wooden handle — it was mainly Walker blood, but a couple of drops here and there had come from that of the living... a snippet of information that coaxed all of the colour into draining from Deanna's face when revealed during that fateful interview. Angélique explained it away as the result of self-defense.

         And that's when Angélique saw it. A newly-applied band of blood-soaked gauze encased Glenn's left hand as an assortment of freshly-formed bruises played Peek-a-Boo from underneath, sending a shiver down Angélique's spine; you can never be too quick to brush off an injury of any kind in a world where you're lucky to find so much as a lone bandage that hasn't been rendered unusable to any extent. Glenn hadn't been in such a state before leaving for a biweekly run with Ai — Aiden can fuck off and die.

         "I-I-I can explain!" Glenn stammered, his face now a bright shade of red as he let Angélique inspect the injury. "I got myself when I was resheathing my knife. That's all."

         "... follow me."

         "... O-OK!"

         ... it wasn't a lie. Glenn had knicked himself with his knife while trying to resheath it shortly after returning to Alexandria from his and Aiden Monroe's biweekly run; this week, Deanna had Glenn and Aiden keep their eyes peeled for a packet or two of tomato seeds and a packet or two of corn seeds. Glenn found two packets of tomato seeds, three packets of corn seeds, and... a packet of tulip bulbs, which he scooped up, up and into his breast pocket as soon as the worn packaging caught his eye! ... brown... brown tulips are Angélique's favourite. Glenn reminesced. 

        Glenn and the rest of the Survivors will have arrived in Alexandria roughly 3-months ago as of next Thursday,  running into Aaron and Eric, with the former looking for a new place and the latter scouring for fresh faces to bring back to their place... where said fresh faces would have to earn the approval of the "landlord" in order to stay. And after being approved, the Survivors were made to stay in a preapproved location for 1-month before being assigned their own, respective residences. Angélique and Glenn are next-door neighbors.

*          *

          Those hazel eyes that put a fear of God into whoever is unlucky enough to meet their gaze were all too visible in the realtively-dim light of the Sanctuary's makeshift marketplace, the barbed wire-ridden baseball bat that rest atop a leather-clad shoulder paling in comparison in every way, shape, and form. But, as long as there was no sign of his beloved daughter, Angélique, this sight is a sight that the rest of the Saviours would just have to get used to being greeted by as long as the woman in question is missing; it has been 6-months. And Negan was at a loss, though he would never fess up. Never.

         "Lucille," Negan tightened his grip on the baseball bat, Lucille. "give me strength."

*          *

          It was half past two by the time the local doctor, Pete Anderson, discharged Glenn from the local clinic, but not before ushering Angélique to the storage room to voice his disdain for the Survivors for the tenth time -- there was something about the Survivors that made it hard for Pete to sleep at night. -- all the while Angélique simply leaned against a nearby wall and listened, allowing her neighbor this moment to rant. And it didn't help in the slightest in the Survivor's collective case that the group's current leader, Rick Grimes, was caught meeting and meeting, alone, with Pete's wife, Jessie. Jessie still swears to the moon and back that it was just small talk between two neighbors, however... Pete and his ever-suspsicious nature suspects otherwise and he isn't afraid to tell anyone and everyone that will give him the time of day.

           A mass of auburn curls tumbled down Angélique's bare, freckled shoulders as she lazily tugged the old, ratty rubber band that she used in place of your standard hair tie. Glenn's jaw dropped and he wasted no time in trying to compose himself before anyone could notice, especially Angélique. Angélique did notice and for a brief, fleeting moment, considered speaking on it... only to remain silent and pretend that she didn't notice. It, A specific event flashed before her eyes and Angélique had to muster all of her strength to keep from falling apart in a crumpled heap on the floor! never ends well. It never ends well. Leaning against Pete's desk for support, Angélique took a deep breath and waited for the flashback to disapate. Glenn couldn't help it.

           "Hey," Glenn whispered, carefully placing his non-injured hand on Angélique's still-quaking shoulder as an added means of support. "I've got you."  

            Angélique allowed herself to lean into Glenn's grasp and sighed, "Thank you."

           "Do you need to lay down for a bit? I can call for the docto -- nevermind, he's heading over here as we speak."