It was pretty big.

Jesus " most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

Dad " people live here and in the trailers?"

Jesus nodded " we plan to build. There's babies being born."

The door next to us opened and a man stood there " Jesus . you're back. With guests."

Jesus " everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here. "

Gregory nodded" I'm the boss."

Dad completely unimpressed "well, I'm Rick. We have a community-"

Gregory eyed us " Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, mhmm?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

Dad nodded " We're fine."

Gregory ignored him" Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean."

Dad " yeah. Sure."

Jesus rolled his eyes "follow me."

We followed him.

Dad whispered to me " you clean up first. You talk to him"

I raised an eyebrow confused "Why me?"

Dad " I shouldn't. And you gotta start doing these things. "

We walked upstairs.

-----------------------

I was standing in front of the door of Gregory's office.

Then I knocked and walked inside.

Gregory " Julia, right?"

I bit back my attitude " Kendall."

Gregory " That's pretty close."

I shook my head " not really"

Gregory " come on in. Let's chat"

He sat down in front of me "Jesus told me your group saved Dr.Carson. obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back."

Me" my boyfriend saved him."

Gregory nodded " I'll be sure to thank him,too."

Me " What you have here I'm this place, was it here since the start?"

Gregory nodded " yes, it was. "

I pretended to be fascinated " and how....how is it....how have you survived here?"

Gregory " you're looking at how. I'm good at this. And I don't get hung up on the details. Where you live, is it as nice as Hilltop Colony?"

Me " It's just different"

Gregory " how do you feed everyone?. Jesus said you had land of gardens, but no crops."

Me " we just started planting."

Gregory " planting what?"

Me " cucumbers, tomatoes..the usual stuff. "

Gregory " oh, crops...soy, corn, hemp, sorghum."

i nodded " garden stuff"

Gregory " but you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache."

i nodded" It's decent "

Gregory " and your infirmary, is it stocked?"

i raised an eyebrow " Is yours?. We came here hoping to talk a trade. Do you have enough here for that?"

Gregory nodded " you see what I have here. You see what I've built. Jesus said your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart. Let's speak the common tongue here , huh?. You don't have shit. Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy. But we can't just give things away for free. How's this?. Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share. You'd be a welcome addition to the community, a smart and beautiful woman. Getting back to that common tongue, I can make it worth your while."

I was holding back.

Me " Let me stop you right there"

Gregory " listen, honey."

Me " no no no no no, stop with the pet names because i am not interested in guys twice my age and i am 1000000% taken. You don't have any ammunition."

Gregory asked surprised" who said that?"

Me " And you're low on medication. You need things. We need things."

Gregory asked amused " what, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?"

Me " our communities can help each other."

He stood up " thank you, Julia. Been a good talk."

I stood up.

He sat down behind his desk.

I walked to the desk and put my hands on the table " we can help each other. "

Gregory " We're doing fine"

Me " but for how long? Your people are standing on the wall with Spears. Guns beat Spears. "

Gregory raised an eyebrow " are you threatening us?"

I shook my head " I'm trying to make a deal here. "

Gregory eyed me with a little smirk " we could need someone like you. you have that fire in you"

I took a deep breath, holding myself back from choking him and faked a smile " it's your choice. Your people"

Then I walked out and slammed the door shut. I was fuming. The group was standing in font of the room on the chairs. They all looked at me.

Dad " and ?"

I growled at him.

Maggie asked worried " what happened in there?"

I looked at Dad " well, first it was cool but then he started talking me into staying here and that he was gonna make my time here worth it. fucking asshole"

Daryl growled " son of a bitch did what?"