Summary: Set in S3E9 “The Suicide King.” What if Andrea had been able to break through the men holding her back? What if she still had her gun and knife on her? What if she sided with the Dixons? What if things had gone differently?
You know how sometimes you feel helpless to stop or do something? Or how when you suddenly realize that the man you thought of was good turned out to be a completely different guy? That’s how Andrea and Merle felt. The Governor had both Dixon brothers beside him, the crowd cheering for them to fight to the death, Andrea in shock by Milton, until she told him, “Someone has to stop this.”
“Andrea, don’t,” Milton warned her.
She didn’t heed, because she knew she had to help Daryl. He was her friend. She couldn’t let that happen. Not even the guys that tried to hold her back could stop her from doing what she thought was right; she knew was right.
She walked towards the Governor, which she knew was actually named Philip.
“Stop this! This isn’t right!” she said to him over the noise of the crowd.
“Your friends shot at us and killed people, Andrea. Someone has to pay for it,” he told her.
“No; not like this. Let them go. Give them back their weapons and let them go back to the prison. I’ll even go with them. He’s my friend and all Merle wanted was to find his brother,” she said to him.
“They want blood and someone has to pay.”
She aimed her gun at his head, standing by them, instead of Philip.
“We’re walking out of here with our weapons and when we do, you’re going to let us go peacefully.”
Finally, he told some of his guys to give the brothers their weapons back and the crowd went silent.
As they headed out of Woodbury, Andrea kept her gun aimed at Philip, just in case. Then, once they were out, she put her gun away and they headed for the prison.
“Thanks,” Daryl said to her.
“Well, I wasn’t going to let anything like that happen.”
“You just grew some balls standing up to him like that, toots,” Merle commented.
“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Daryl. I could’ve let him keep you, but I didn’t. You’re his brother. You have a bad way of showing how much you love him, but you do love him,” she replied.
As they walked, Merle had a new appreciation for her. He hadn’t known her for long, but two years ago, she hadn’t been a real fighter. Now she was. He knew it had to be because of the fact of losing her sister, Amy. When she spoke like that, he knew it came from personal experience. He didn’t know her very well, but over the past months of being at Woodbury with her, he had learned some more about her. Merle had never cared about anyone but Daryl and himself, but he had started to care about her. He found that they were alike. They were both castoffs that held on to whatever it was, just to stay alive. They were fighters, because they had to be if they wanted to survive.
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