Second Chance

We were all sitting around in the cell block eating our dinner and talking. I sat in a folding metal chair at the table. Sarah sat in my lap, my left arm lightly wrapped around her tiny body so she couldn't fall. She was eating from her plate while I had a conversation with Beth about Judith since I was already done with my dinner.

"Hey Liz!" My eyes snapped over to the direction of Glenn's voice. Out of the corner of my eye, Beth was smirking.

"Yeah?" I held a smirk of my own, knowing that Glenn was bringing up the conversation that I had been waiting for.

"What made you come back to this cell block?" Glenn was grinning ear to ear as well as Maggie.

Sarah continued eating, while everyone else had their attention on me. Only Beth and Carol knew the truth to what was going to be said. They also knew about my plans on bitching about changing cell blocks again.

"I really missed Judith and Carl." For the first time since the Woodbury people came to the prison, Carl smiled at me. "I don't think Rick would'a been too happy if I took 'em with me to the other cell block. This cell block is also much quieter even though it has a baby."

"You didn't miss me?!" Maggie was frowning and others began agreeing with her. Carol and Beth were shaking their heads while Sarah got off my lap and went to Carol.

"Nah, not really. I still rather be in the other cell block." They frowned and I continued smiling. Instead of bitching, I came up with a better idea. "Truth is, I decided to join this council. Someone, or maybe even two, decided that if I joined, I had to come back to this cell block. I don't find it very fair, and think others should have conditions as well."

"What might those conditions be?" Hershel asked carefully. I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling while I thought about it.

"Dunno yet, but as long as the others have conditions, I'll stay." I murmured, while still staring up at the ceiling. Amazingly, everyone that was part of the council agreed to it. "Don't worry, only Maggie and Glenn get the conditions." I smirked as I stared at them once again. They both frowned, knowing that they were caught.

"We are all glad that you're back, even if you rather be with the Woodbury people," Rick told me. I smiled and nodded my head since I didn't want to say anything else.

The conversations between everyone began changing every few minutes. Before long, Sarah and Carl were both asleep, as well as Judith. Maggie and Glenn went to be on watch, while Carol went to check on the Woodbury people. The rest of us soon went our own ways as well, not straying far from the cell block, if they even left the cell block.

I went to my cell to find Sarah sleeping in the middle of the bed. I pulled the thin blankets over her and went to my bags. Using the flashlight, I began searching through them to make sure I brought all of my stuff back from the other cell. A quiet knock came from outside the cell and I turned my head to see who it was. I was a bit surprised to see Daryl, but went ahead and turned the flashlight off before leaving the cell. I followed him a few cells down before he stopped so we could talk.

"Sorry, 'bout Merle an' everything." Daryl was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. I could tell how uncomfortable he was, so I took his apology before walking away, not wanting to make it more awkward for us. "Ya ain't gonna say anything?" he called after me.

"What's there to say? You apologized and that's enough. Rick told me that it was your idea to put me on the council, so that makes up for everything as well, I guess." I spoke quietly since I was one cell away from the cell that Sarah was asleep in. Daryl didn't say anything, but walked away.

I went back into my cell and got into the bed next to Sarah. I carefully moved her closer to the wall so that I wasn't literally laying half off of the bed. I covered us both up before turning on my side so my back was facing the wall and Sarah. My eyes had just closed when another knock came from outside the cell.

"What?" I asked quietly, not bothering to open my eyes again.

"Sorry to bother you. We can just talk tomorrow," Rick said from outside the cell.

"It's fine, what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I sat up and watched Rick from outside my cell. He came into the cell and leaned against the wall across from me. "Don't worry 'bout her. She could sleep through a damn tornado hitting this place and still wouldn't wake up." I knew Rick had been staring at the sleeping girl behind me.

"I just wanted to apologize for what I said last night." Rick spoke quietly.

"It's fine. I get it, we all have changed. Nothing to apologize for." I let out a sigh, not wanting this conversation to turn into a small argument.

"You made Carl smile earlier." Rick said, changing the conversation. Even though I could barely see him, I knew he was smiling.

"I saw." I murmured as I laid back down on the bed since Rick didn't plan on sitting.

"We are all really glad to have you back." Rick walked over to the bed before kneeling down in front of it. "I'll let you get some sleep." He kissed my forehead before getting back up and walking towards the cell door.

"Rick, I'm glad to back. I really missed you guys." I smiled and knew that he was smiling as well as he left the cell so I could get some sleep. I knew tomorrow would be a busy day for us.