Forbidden Love- Rick Grimes Love story

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Rick POV

Andrea looked between us, "I've known you both at different times, but only after the world went to shit. And you both stepped up for the good of others at great personal risk. There's no reason-" The Governor snaps to me cutting her off, "Get to it." I step forward placing a map down, "Woodbury takes west of the river. The prison takes east. No one crosses, no one trades." Andrea nods, "He's right. We should hammer out boundaries, then leave each other-" The Governor cuts her off again, "I'm sorry, what is this?" I look between them as my anger builds up. "It's a solution." Andrea answers for me. The Governor laughs, "Absolutely not." I look to Andrea angrily, "What the hell am I doing here? You told me-" The Governor cuts me off, "Told him what? You told me he was willing to talk. I am, but the truth is, Rick, she's in no position to make such an offer anyway. I'm here for one thing only," He pauses leaning forward, "your surrender." I smirked leaning forward, "Oh, you want surrender? Come get it. You think we hit Woodbury heavy last time?" He smiles at me as Andrea steps forward, "Just take it easy, all right? We're here to settle this." The Governor nods, "You're right. Would you step outside?" He points to the door for Andrea. She looks to him confused, "What?" "Rick and I, we got a lot to talk about." Andrea scoffs, "I'm not leaving." I start to get annoyed, all I want is my people safe and to get home. "I came to talk to him." I tell her and her face turns to hurt. Andrea shakes her head as she leaves the building.

The Governor motions for the chair across from him and I agree to sit down. I sigh, "So you're the Governor." He laughs then shrugs, "That's-- that's their term, not mine." I nod, "Oh. But still, you're beholden to your people." He nods, "Well, of course." I glare at him, "You have responsibility to them." He nods again. "Wasn't Merle your lieutenant?" I ask him hoping to hit a nerve. The Governor smiles before he sighs, "He was helpful, yeah." I shrugged, "But you knew he was erratic. You blame him for scooping up Glenn, Maggie, and Madison in the first place?" He nods, "Exactly. I was trying to sort it out when you attacked." I could tell that he was lying, trying to butter me up. "So it was his fault?" I asked him and he nods, "He's a wild card, but he's effective. He gets the dirty jobs done." I looked away and sighed, "I thought you'd take responsibility." He smiles and points towards me, "I thought you were a cop, not a lawyer." I wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face, he deserved what I could do to him. I shrug, "Either way, I don't pretend to be a governor." The Governor shakes his head, "I told you, I'm their leader." My anger raises as I lean forward, "You're the town drunk who knocked over my fence and ripped up my yard, nothing more." He licks his lip, "Didn't you ever misjudge someone?" I have misjudged people, but not people like him. I knew exactly who he was and what he could do. His voice broke my thoughts, "Hmm? Andrea told me about your baby. That it might be your partner's." I look away not allowing him to see that he was getting under my skin, Judith was mine. No matter what. "But you're caring for her with his wife and I admire that. Restitution for your own lack of insight. For failing to see the devil beside you." He finished. Every time I looked at him, I could see all the events that occurred between us. Him kidnapping our people, to raping Madison, then to killing some of our people and tearing down part of our fence. I slowly looked up at him, "Oh, I see him alright." He laughs before tapping the table, "I brought whiskey."

The Governor sat down and sat a glass in front of me before pouring whiskey in the cup, and then doing the same to his. "I care about my people and I don't take their deaths lightly, and I know you don't either." He picks up the map I gave him before throwing it down, "In a way, this fight, it's a failure of leadership." I shrugged, "Then leave us alone." He laughs as he takes a sip of his whiskey, "Well, now, that would be an even bigger failure. You've moved into our backyard. You shot up Main Street. If I let that threat persist, I look weak and, well, the whole thing crumbles." I shrug, "Well that's your problem, your choice." He smiles, "Now, isn't that why we're here? Choice. If we choose to destroy everything we've fought for over the past year... we're gonna kill everyone we know. At your prison. Back in Woodbury. People we love, Rick." It was strange because he did make a point in stating that our war would kill everyone we love, yet his only solution to it was for us to surrender. If he truly cared about his people, he would take the deal I offered him. He broke my thoughts, "I was at work one day taking shit from a boss half my age and an IQ even lower. And the phone rang. My wife had been in an accident. "Sorry, Mr. Blake, we did everything we could." I sat there holding that phone, knowing that I would never see her again." I understood the feeling, I had only seen Lori maybe for a quick glance before she died. He snapped his fingers, "Gone. It was just an accident. No one's fault. She left a voicemail asking me to call her, but I hadn't had a chance yet. I sat there clutching that phone thinking, "What did she want?" Just to check in? Ask me to pick something up for dinner? What did she want?" I picked up the glass and raised it to my lips, taking only a small sip.

Mads POV

"Hey, you're not going!" I hear Glenn yell from the cell block and I rush to see what the commotion is. "I don't need permission." Merle told him as he packed more ammo into his bag. "I can't let you." Glenn stands tall. Merle rolls his eyes, "You can't stop me." I sigh, "If you're gonna live here with us, it's gonna be on our terms. If Michonne can do it, why can't you?" He looks up to me and scoffs, "'Cause it's my brother out there, that's why. What's the matter with y'all?" Glenn shakes his head, "I'm not gonna let you put them in danger." Merle scoffs, "Nut up already, boy." Merle looks over to me, "This guy cops a feel of you and you all pussy out like this?" I walk over raising my fist up at him, about to hit him when Maggie grabs me pulling me back. I thrash against her, "Get off of me, I'm gonna fucking kill him! Let go of me!" I push her off of me as I stand my ground. Merle heads for the exit, but Glenn blocks him. "Get out of my way." Merle warns, but Glenn shakes his head, "No." Merle goes to grab Glenn, but Glenn tackles Merle down the stairs. Merle gets on top of Glenn and starts to strangle him, I run over and grab Merle holding him in a headlock. "Get off of me!" He screams. He reaches his sword hand to get me, but Michonne grabs it before it can cut me. A loud gunshot goes off causing all of us to stop and look to see Beth holding a gun in the air. "Let me go!" Merle thrashed against me, "Let me go!" I released my grip then kicked him away from me.

Hershel's Pov

I saw Andrea sitting alone and I decided to go and talk to her. "How's it going in there?" I asked as I sat down and she looked up to me almost heart broken, "They kicked me out. I don't know what I'm doing here." I rubbed her shoulder, "You're trying to help." She looked up to me, looking like she was about to cry, "What happened with Madison?" I look away for a second then back to her, "He's a sick man." She wiped away a tear and I knew she knew exactly what happened between the Governor and Madison. She put her face in her hands, "What am I gonna do now? I can't go back there." I placed a hand on her hand, "We're family. You belong with us. But if you join us, it's settled." She looks over to me and sighs, "I know."