For my sister | Negan |

65 - Tomorrow

It's early in the morning when I reach the gates of the Hilltop. I'm exhausted, but excited. In a few short moments, I'll be seeing Ella again.

The Hilltop's on high alert. As they should be. Sentries are stationed at the top of the wall and they aim their rifles at the car. I don't know a lot of people from the Hilltop, so I've never seen them before. Let's hope they don't shoot me to pieces.

'Get out of the car with your hands in the air', one of them commands. 'Try anything and you will get shot.'

A little shakily, I do as they say and step out of the car. I make sure to keep my arms up high when I stand beside it, making sure they don't see me as a threat.

'Who are you and what are you doing here?'

'I'm Christina Stavros', I yell at them. 'I'm from Alexandria. I used to be, anyway. I was the doctor.'

The guards look at each other uncertainly. That doesn't bode well. Maybe they've never heard of me. Maybe they don't trust me.

'My sister's with you', I hurty to tell them. 'Her name's Ella. She came here the day before yesterday, right? Please, I want to see her.'

'She told us she escaped the Sanctuary', one of the guard says. 'If you're her sister, they were supposed to have caught you in the woods.'

'They did catch me', I yell back. 'They brought me back to the Sanctuary. But I... got out.'

I've been thinking about what I was going to tell everybody once I got here. I'm definitely not telling them that I got into some sort of relationship with Negan. Or whatever you want to call it. They wouldn't understand. Especially Maggie...

But I thought about him a lot on my drive here. Only after literally putting some distance between us, I could really grasp the intensity of it all. How it went from him manipulating and threatening me at Alexandria... to dragging me to the Sanctuary and making me work for him... to seeing another side of him, growing to like him even when I fought it. I started to trust him, but then he ruined it all when he nearly got me killed. How frightening he was after I tried to escape, how vulnerable he was just last night.

He could make me feel so good. But so horrible too. Clearly, none of it was normal. Or healthy. But I meant what I told him when we said goodbye. I'll miss him.

But again, that's not something anyone hear needs to know. To everyone here, there's no question about it. Negan is the enemy. So I came up with a story that I'm prepared to tell the guards. Only I don't have to. Yet.

A familiar face appears beside the guards on the wall. She must have heard something and decided to check it out. Her eyes narrow as she takes me in, but then a surprised smile spreads over her face.

'Michonne!' I call out, relieved. 'Can you let me in, please?'

I'm glad to see her order the guards to open the gates for me and I hurry back to the car to drive it inside. All I want is to close my arms around my sister and never let her go.

Michonne has climbed down from the wall and walks over to the car as soon as I park it inside the walls. More curious faces pop up all around when I get outside, but Ella isn't one of them.

'Where is she?' I ask Michonne, maybe a little frantically.

'I think she's inside the house. But wait...'

She stops me when I try to head straight for the big house right at the center of the community. A little impatiently, I turn back to face her.

'How did you get here?' Michonne asks me. 'Ella told us you got caught. She was losing her mind, because she was sure he wouldn't let you get another chance to escape. She was scared he might even kill you. What happened?'