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WHEN THE BRIDGE blew up, Leo wasn't there. He didn't see the plumes of smoke that rose into the clouds, he didn't feel the ground shake beneath his feet and he did not see Rick Grimes in his final moment.
He considered himself lucky for that.
Rick was. . . well, he was the best leader that Leo had ever encountered. He was fair and honest, open to hearing everybody out, he lacked a god-complex because he was humble enough to acknowledge that he was just as human as those under his leadership and perhaps his best trait of all- he cared.
Too much, actually. Even after learning of Maggie and Daryl's betrayal, Rick still sacrificed himself and the bridge he'd worked so hard to build for the sake of Hilltop. He was the very reason that Aria had a safe home to grow up in and Leo would never get to express his gratitude for that.
It wasn't something he liked to dwell on because it was much too painful. They'd lost Rick less than two years after Carl, which. . . obviously sucked but it did offer a little consolation- they were together now.
Leo dipped a clean cloth into a bowl of water and gently dabbed at the thick smears of mud staining Rosita's face. She was the reason that Rick Grimes had crept into his thoughts, seeing her made him think of his old home and the greatness it had once held under the rule of the courageous man and his sacrificial tendencies.
Rosita was out cold when she was brought to Hilltop by Aaron and Jesus - who'd apparently been meeting in secret for several years - it was a consequence of her dehydrated state. Leo slid an IV into her arm and provided her body with the fluids it required. After a night's rest, she'd be right as rain, ready to head on back to Alexandria.
The door to the infirmary opened with a rusted squeak - clearly, Earl had been neglecting his door-oiling duties again.
Aaron walked into the room slowly. His eyes darted across to Leo but his lips stayed sealed.
Leo swallowed against his sandpaper throat. He wasn't ready for this - facing his old friends. They'd want reasoning. Justification. Apologies, and he couldn't offer them any, because truthfully, it was all still a blur to him. He knew why it happened, why he'd done it and why it felt like the right thing at the time.
But it was reckless and impulsive, completely out of character for someone as calculated as himself. He thought things through excessively and drove himself mad with the mass of potential 'one in a million' outcomes. But that day. . . those months. He'd lost all sense of self.
"How's. . ." Leo's voice trailed off. The name he wished to speak felt like a razor blade in his throat - he could get it out but not without tearing himself open. "Is she-?"
