grace knight.

Emme placed the picture delicately in the bag and then placed it over the girls shoulder. “There ya go, now it’s all safe and sound. You’re very welcome. I’m not sure if I ever introduced myself. I’m Emmeline.”

grace looked down at the bag as the girl placed it over her shoulder, then glanced hesitantly back up into her eyes. “i-i know who you are.. y-you’re one of negan’s wives... i’m grace... marshall’s sister.”

the way she was so upset ate at atticus and he wasn’t sure what actually upset her so much, but he didn’t like being forced to look at it or feeling the guilt of it. he hadn’t felt that way in a while and he wasn’t going to start with her. “you really just gonna stand there crying?” he asked and took the paper back, gently this time. he turned and used the table behind him to smooth the paper against it. it still had the waved lines from being wrinkled, but it wasn’t curled anymore. he turned back to give it to her. “there, I’m sure marshall will love it just the same. now go.”

grace whimpered and reached her hands out for the paper as he grabbed it from her again, even though it was more gently this time. but she stopped when she realized he was trying to smooth it out for her, and her head tilted slightly to the side in curiousness. he was trying to help her...? that wasn’t like atticus. but she accepted it from him again. it looked better, although it still wasn’t completely smooth. but she didn’t care. he’d helped. she glanced up at him shyly one more time then ducked her head down again as she turned to walk away, still slipping occasionally, as the sauce had stuck to her shoes. but she readjusted her flowerpot and her drawing in her arms and continued taking small steps, trying not to slip and ruin yet another load of supplies.

atticus winced when she started heavily crying. he didn’t deal with that so well. and now she was definitely going to tell marshall what happened. he’d have to deal with that fun later, possibly a black eye to go with the fun. he watched her for a few minutes and she was barely getting any up, mostly on her dress… and now face. “get up.” he mumbled, rolling his eyes. “get up, here.” and he offered a clean rag and her drawing back. “get out of here.”

Emmeline’s gave a soft nod. “He’s not as bad the others. He’s not mean and that’s important. He’s not scared of us either, at least I don’t think he is. Sometimes people won’t talk to us, they’re scared about what Negan might do.” She shook her head. “It’s okay. I was working on a new pouch anyways. What if something was to happen to your picture.”

grace shook her head swiftly, furrowing her eyebrows. marshall wasn’t scared of anything. anything. but as long as he wasn’t man to the wives. that had to mean something... right? grace looked down at her picture then paused before nodding hesitantly, handing it to the girl. “th-thank you...”

impatient with her, atticus grunted a scoff and snatched the paper from her hand, causing it to wrinkle some, but not tear. he held it up to look at it, out of her reach, and he smirked. “how cute.” he mumbled. “marshall can wait for this picasso, clean it up.” she made a mess and was now being defiant and it irked atticus out of his mind. “now!” he barked, loudly, causing a few people to tune in that were around in addition.

grace gasped when he tugged the paper harshly from her hands, causing her to begin to sob heavily. “g-give it back...” she cried, trying to reach up for it, although he was holding it far above her height. when he yelled at her, she cowered back in fear again and cried harder before immediately dropping to her knees and lamely cleaning up the mess, her dress getting more stained. she stopped in the middle of her work and sat back on her heels, wiping at her flowing tears and marking her cheeks with some of the sauce.

“To Marshall? I know him. We’re not best friends or anything but he’s one of Negan’s men. They keep an eye on us sometimes.” Emmeline dumped out her things and placed them on the ground. “Here. Borrow my bag to keep it safe. I can come back for my stuff later but your picture shouldn’t get ruined.”

grace froze, eyes widening slightly as she moved closer. “m-marshall?” she repeated, making sure they were still talking about him. “h-he’s my brother... i-... is... is h-he nice to you...? i mean... he’s-he’s not mean... is he...?” she shook her head at the offer of the bag. “i-i couldn’t take that from you, really... i can just go give it to him now.”

at first, atticus thought she was just playing the dumb girl role and not understanding what he was saying, but then she clarified and said she didn’t want to and it brought a sharp ‘ha’ laugh out of the savior. “does it look like I or anyone else gives a fuck about what you want?” his tone was quiet, but demanding. his 6'1" figure standing over hers intimidatingly. “go get some rags and clean it up.” yeah, she was marshall’s sister, a big man on campus, but he wasn’t around, was he? which meant atticus wasn’t above bossing this girl around.

when he towered over her, something that came quite easily with their height difference, grace cowered back with a nervous wince, shutting her eyes tightly. she didn’t know if any of the other saviors knew what happened to her, but either atticus didn’t know or didn’t care, because he was invading her space purposefully. “no, i-i need to go find marshall,” she murmured shyly, looking down at the drawing she’d made of the two of them so that she wouldn’t have to look up into atticus’s cold eyes again. “i-i need to give this to him... then i need to-to plant my flowers.”

it was a quiet day in the warehouse, and thankfully because atticus wasn’t feeling like doing much that day. which wasn’t really a stretch from any other day. he was talking to another savior when something crashed 10 feet from them and his head snapped to see what happened. “really?” he grumbled and walked over, a gun in his hand for protection, but he put it in his holster when he neared the girl. “get up.” he barked, and leaned down to grab her forearm and pull her to her feet. “god, you’re like a kicked dog.” he muttered, and look at the three boxes that got knocked, giant cans of spaghetti sauce, most were dented having their fall broken on other cans, but 3 were cracked open and sauce was slowly leaking all over the surrounding floors. “and guess who gets to clean that up?”

grace whimpered shyly when she saw the gun in atticus’s hand and began shying away until he tucked it back in the holster. she sniffed when he tugged her to her feet and glanced down at the sauce that had splattered on her dress. hopefully she could wash it out later. later, though. right now, it seemed like she was a bit preoccupied. she picked up her flowerpot and her drawing, which, fortunately, hadn’t gotten any sauce on it, then looked up atticus nervously again. then she shook her head swiftly. “n-no...” she murmured, her voice trembling as she took another step back, still shaking her head. “i-i don’t want to.” she looked around for her brother to get her out of this situation, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight. she was on her own with this.

unlike the rest of the saviors, except the wives, grace didn’t have to work. she was negan’s exception. all she had to do was stay out of everyone’s way. but she was curious. she held her flowerpot and her drawing of her and marshall close to her as she walked through the rows of people working in the warehouse, despite how busy it was. her eyes were fixed on an older woman knitting a sweater when she, literally, ran into a stack of boxes, causing them to crash to the floor and spill out. she gasped sharply and stepped back, eyes filling with fear as the man working the station called for atticus to come over and handle it. oh no. atticus terrified her. and god knew this situation would only make him scarier.

Emmeline jumped back, shrinking back at the thought of doing something wrong. Long black hair fell into her face and threw her hands up. “I’m sorry I didn’t know. I won’t touch it again.” She moved one hand to brush hair behind her ear and slightly looked up. “It’s gonna get ruined if you leave there. Maybe you should put it somewhere safer.”

grace quickly moved forward and grabbed the drawing, tucking it protectively close to her chest. she looked up nervously at the other girl, who didn’t seem like she was trying to confiscate it or anything. sometimes some of the saviors would, just because they could. “i-i need to give it to marshall...” she murmured.

“Right of course you can.” it wasn’t worth fighting over. None of this was, her wanting to know what all this was, hell if she wanted to know let her find out he thought. She’d find out from someone else anyway. “They’re dead, they keep other walkers and people we don’t know away. Why would you wanna see it?”

grace readjusted the flowerpot in her arms then stepped closer to the fence, tilting her head curiously. “because they’re people too,” she murmured, looking at him briefly over her shoulder then glancing back to the walker she was studying a few moments later. “i like to look at them and imagine what kind of person they are...”

Things felt normal now, having people around them and being home. He didn’t feel as unsafe as he did in Alexandria. He was almost certain no one else felt that way but he liked being here. This was safety. Rolling his eyes at the people who were staying in the corner away from everyone. “You know you’re allowed to move right? It looks suspicious if you’re just standing there. Wouldn’t want to get in trouble right!”

grace had finally finished the drawing of her and marshall, and she’d been running all over the sanctuary in search for him, to show him, but she hadn’t been able to spot him all afternoon. finally, though, she saw him in the main warehouse area, and grinned, running in his direction. however, as he raised his voice at some of the alexandrians in the corner, she slowed to a stop, her smile and expression darkening instantly. the drawing dropped to the ground as she brought her hands shyly up to her mouth. “...marshall...?”

“You’re not supposed to be out here, that’s why he didn’t tell you.” He didn’t know how she didn’t figure it out, how Marshall kept it from her but it worked apparently. Looking at the flower pot in her arms Dwight assumed she was going to the garden. “Why do you want to go screw around with walkers?”

“i can go wherever i want,” grace replied stubbornly, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked up at him in frustration. all the saviors assumed that she was just a little girl who ran around and didn’t know any better. but she was an adult, and she wanted to make her own decisions. “i just wanna see them.”

This place was nothing like the Kingdom or Alexandria. They were packed in some factory and it was too crowded. Isaac wanted to leave already. “Shit sorry.” he said after be bumped into a stack of things knocking them down.

grace jumped back when someone ran into the stack of boxes she’d been standing by. when she looked over, she saw isaac, and a smile immediately appeared on her face. “isaac?”

Being back at the Sanctuary was supposed to be calming, but instead he just felt more on edge. At least in Alexandria he could avoid people, but here he was stuck in the factory unless he wanted to go outside with the dead like he was now. “They keep other dead ones and people away.” he said to the person looking out at the walkers. 

grace tilted her head and glanced up at dwight in confusion, readjusting the flowerpot in her arms, which she’d intended to plant in the garden, until she became distracted by the walkers. “marshall never told me what they were there for...” she murmured. probably to keep her away from as much violence as he could. “can-can i go out there and see them...?”

In a small bag that crossed her body Emmeline carried a bag of rocks and flowers she found. It was childish but she enjoyed the decorations in her room. Spotting something of interest she strayed a bit and reached for her latest find but something caught her eye and she tilted head. Looking up and around she wanted to make sure it was nothing but a trick. However something startled her and she jumped startled, dropping her bag and her things.

the only thing grace liked about the sanctuary was the garden. she spent most of her time in it. even though it wasn’t as nice as the one in alexandria, it still made her somewhat happy. she’d been picking flowers in it when she saw someone reach for the drawing she’d made for marshall of the two of them and left just outside the edge of the garden area. “hey!” she gasped, stumbling to her feet and grasping her flowers tightly in her hands. “that’s mine!”

“Grace!” Dwight shouted watching her step back from the falling wall. “What the hell did you do!” He didn’t want to yell at her. But he wasn’t going to baby her like Marshall or even Negan did. Closing his eyes for a second he stepped forward. “You… Why were you screwing around here?”

grace gasped and turned around swiftly, clutching the skirt of her dress in her hands as soon as she saw dwight standing there. uh oh. he scared her more than any of the others. even negan. “i-i helped w-with the construction yesterday a-and i wanted to look at it today...”