"Andrea?" I think out loud, confused. I thought we'd lost her back at the farm. "She's with the governor." Daryl answers, his voice giving a slight growl letting me know he was annoyed.
"Stay behind me." He instructs as we grab our weapons and run out with the others. Rick Daryl and Merle take the lead as Andrea walks up to the remaining gate. She has another woman with her, a brunette and then she's holding a walker at arms length with a pole.
She pushes the walker away as Daryl opens the gate for her and her friend to slip through, Rick has his gun pointed at them immediately and is shouting, the brunette reacts faster than Andrea and drops her her knees with no hesitation, keeping her hands on display in the air.
Michonne and I walk out from behind the wooden crate we'd been waiting behind. I note the look on Michonne's face as she looks at Andrea, I'm guessing that they knew each other then. She looks like she'd been betrayed, I almost ask her about it until I notice the girl beside Andrea. She hadn't stopped looking at me, not once.
It was beginning to unnerve me.
I approach the small group trying to understand why this girl was still staring at me, even whilst Rick was checking her for weapons her eyes never left my face. As soon as I got just the smallest bit closer her eyes widen and before anyone has anytime to stop her she's on her feet and running at full speed in my direction.
I don't anticipate her moves fast enough because next thing I know I'm getting knocked to the ground. I tense up ready to fight her off when I realise she's not attacking me, she's hugging me. Her grip is tighter than a boa choking its prey, leaving me with no room to move.
She's pulled off me in seconds, Rick holding his gun to her head as she cries, her eyes still on me. Daryl is by my side too, he pulls me behind him as he also holds his crossbow up at her. "What do you think you're doing?" Rick hisses sparing me a glance before his glare returns on this girl.
I look past Daryl's shoulder, there was something familiar about her but I couldn't tell what, did I go to school with her? I try to step towards her but he tries to pull me back. I'm concerned, she wasn't trying to cause me harm she knew me and I knew her somehow. She can't form a coherent sentence with the way she's sobbing, "cece." All the blood drains from my face at the simple nickname.
"Aelia?" I push past Daryl as he and Rick look between me and my sister. I feel frozen in place, Rick has stepped back a bit but his gun is still out, Daryl's crossbow too.
My brain stops working, my baby sister is stood in front of me sobbing her heart out and I'm just stood there gaping at her. It's when she begins to fall to her knees that I react, I take a step and catch her immediately, my own eyes beginning to burn.
"I got you, oh my god, you're here and you're okay. I got you, oh my beautiful, beautiful baby sister." I whisper words of comfort as we both sink to our knees together. I hold her so incredibly tight it probably hurts her but she doesn't complain as we sit and we cry on the cold rough ground together.
I hold her until she's ready to pull away from me, once she does her words all still jumble together. I wipe the tears from her eyes and help her up to her feet before I place my hands on her shoulders. "Hey, I'm here and I'm okay, I'm here with you so let's breathe okay? Come on breathe with me Lia." A few moments of deep breaths and she's calmed enough to speak.
"You're here? You're really here?" I nod as I stroke her hair, I remember how that was the only thing that would calm her when we were younger. "I'm here." I repeat as she takes me in. "What happened to you? Where were you? We looked for you for years, dad never stopped looking but we thought... we thought you were dead." She hiccups between words.
"I..." I don't want to say it, her hands grip mine but once she feels the scarred skin around my wrists she glances down. Her brows pull together as a frown pulls her entires face down. She begins to pull my sleeves up but I stop her as she gasps and more tears spring to her eyes. "What happened to you?" She asks again, I can't help but look away as I pull my sleeves back down. I don't want to talk about it, not with her. I don't want her to know, to become hurt by what I'd endured.
"The man that kidnapped me, he kept me in his basement." Her face crumbles completely, exactly why I didn't want to tell her right now. "What did he-" I shake my head and pull my arms from her, "Aelia, I don't... I don't want to talk about it."
I'm surprised when I feel a light touch on my shoulder. It's Daryl, I send him a reassuring smile and shake my head at his questioning glance, letting him know I was okay before I quickly wipe my eyes. "Is this him? Is he the one that-"
"No no no, I killed him a year ago. This is Daryl he found me that day." I quickly interrupt her before she has a chance to attack Daryl, she looks between us and nods but still eyes him warily. "I'm sorry." I shake my head at my sister too, "it's okay, I wanna hear about you, last time I saw you, you were eleven." I let out a breath as that hits me, "you're all grown up." I guess for some reason I believed she was still that eleven year old, not this fully grown woman stood before me.
I take a quick glance around the courtyard to se that everyone aside from Rick and Daryl had gone inside. I catch Rick's eye and I nod at him, he nods back before he turns and follows after everyone else. Now only Daryl remained stood behind me like he thought my sister would attack at any second. She was giving him a similar look and I feel very weirdly in the middle of them.
"It's not safe out here." Daryl grumbles before shooting Lia another distrustful look making me nod, "we'll just be a minute." I tell him softly, he gives me a hesitant look but ultimately nods and follows after Rick.
"What's his problem?" Aelia asks glaring after him, "nothing, he's just worried about the governor." Her brows furrow, "what are you talking about, the governor is a good man." It's my turn to match her look, "no he's not, he shot up this prison, he abducted and killed our friends." She shakes her head in disbelief. I feel weird about the turn our conversation has taken and I don't want to continue it so I suggest we go inside.
