"But everyone also needs a reason to keep living," Hershel said, looking Rick straight in the eye. "Rick, my daughter has seen a possibility.
"A possibility that, if she has children one day, they can grow up somewhere safe, go to school, and read books."
"We can do that here too," Rick argued.
"Can we?" Hershel interrupted gently. "Look me in the eye and tell me, can we build a school right now?
"Can we make sure every child grows up safely? Can we protect everyone when the next Governor appears?"
Rick opened his mouth, but no rebuttal came out.
Because the answer was no.
They could barely protect themselves. They did not have the strength to do more.
"I'm not blaming you, Rick," Hershel said, placing a hand on Rick's uninjured shoulder. "God knows you've already done far more than anyone should have to.
"You led us through the darkest days. But now... now Maggie has seen the light."
Rick lowered his head in silence.
"You think I should let go," he said quietly, defeated.
"I think you should consider what's best for everyone," Hershel said. "Not what's best for the 'group,' but what's best for every person in it.
"For Carl, for Maggie, for Glenn, for Dale, for Carol, for Sophia."
After a pause, Hershel gave him one final piece of advice.
"And for you too, Rick."
The old man patted him gently, then turned and left, leaving Rick standing alone in the darkness.
After Hershel and Rick finished talking, the argument behind the warehouse was still going on.
"I'm not trying to leave you, Glenn," Maggie said weakly, her shoulders slumping. "I want us to have a future. A real future."
Glenn had his back to her, both hands braced against a stack of supply crates. "This is our future. We built this together."
"Built what?" Maggie cut him off. "A prison that could be breached at any time? An infirmary where all we can do is pray when our leader gets shot?"
Glenn turned around, his face full of pain. "We survived, Maggie. We're together, and we survived."
"Is surviving enough?" Tears finally rolled down Maggie's face. "Glenn, do you know how scared I was when Woodbury attacked the prison?
"It woke me up. I was afraid I'd watch Beth die. Afraid I'd watch Dad die. Afraid I'd never see them again."
She took a step forward, grabbed Glenn's hand, and pressed it against her lower abdomen.
The gesture made Glenn freeze.
"What if there was a baby in here?" Maggie asked beside his ear. "Would you let that child grow up here? Or would you want them to live at Rock Fortress?"
Glenn's hand trembled. All he could say, weakly, was, "Rick needs me."
"Rick needs rest too!" Maggie's voice rose, then she quickly lowered it again. "Can't you see how exhausted he is? Every single day, he carries everyone's lives on his shoulders.
"If Rock Fortress can take that burden from him... if all of us can live under a bigger umbrella..."
"So we're supposed to become little screws in a machine and give up our freedom?"
"Freedom?" Maggie smiled bitterly. "In a broken world like this, what does freedom even mean?
"Glenn, the people at Rock Fortress have freedom too. They're free to choose their work, free to learn, free to love each other without constantly fearing for their safety."
She stood on tiptoe and kissed Glenn's trembling lips.
"I love you, Glenn. That's why I want more for you. For us."
Glenn wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder.
His shoulders shook, but he made no sound.
Maggie stroked his hair and whispered, "We'll take Dad and Beth with us. You can act as a liaison and travel between both sides.
"We can come back often. This isn't goodbye forever, Glenn. We're... expanding."
"When did you decide?" Glenn asked, his voice muffled.
"When I saw their hangar at Blackberry Ranch," Maggie said honestly. "You were too busy staring at the Black Hawk back then. You probably didn't notice there were other military aircraft inside."
Glenn held her tighter and said nothing.
When Rick returned to the cell block, Carl was already awake, sitting on his bed and waiting for him.
"Where did you go?" Carl asked, looking like a little adult.
"For a walk." Rick sat on the edge of the bed and carefully adjusted his posture. "Can't sleep, Carl?"
Carl hesitated. "I was thinking about the library and school Maggie and the others talked about."
Rick looked at his son.
"Those books..." Carl continued. "They really saved them. And people there really borrow them."
"We have books too. Carol even holds story time for you kids," Rick blurted out, but even he did not find it convincing.
Carl shook his head. "It's different, Dad. You know it's different."
Silence spread between father and son.
"If..." Carl began, then hesitated and stopped.
"Go on."
"If Maggie and Glenn want to go to Rock Fortress," Carl said carefully, "will you let them?"
Even Carl had noticed what Maggie was thinking.
Rick did not answer right away. His first thought was that the apocalypse had forced his son to grow up far too much.
He reached out and touched Carl's hair. The gesture made Carl pause. Rick had not done that in a long time.
"I want you to be safe, Carl," Rick finally said. "I want you to have a future."
"Don't I have one here?"
"Here, you have me, Sophia, and everyone else." Rick chose his words carefully. "But there... there may be more."
Carl lowered his head and fidgeted with his fingers, at a loss.
"I don't want to leave you, Dad."
"I know." Rick's voice softened. "And we may not have to leave. There may be another way."
But he still did not know what that way was.
Merge? Become dependent?
Those words spun in his mind, each carrying a different weight and a different cost.
Carl lay down with his back to Rick, but after a few minutes, he whispered again, "Mom said the father and son who saved you in King County are there too. Morgan and Duane.
"Duane goes to school every day, feeds little animals, and learns survival skills and self-defense. It's not fair."
"It isn't fair," Rick admitted. "But the world has never been fair."
"The prison can get better later too, right? It can become like that, right?" Carl turned his head, his eyes filled with pure hope.
Rick looked at his son and saw a trace of Lori in him.
Lori had always insisted that children still needed to learn, even after the world ended. At the quarry camp and on the farm, she had insisted that Carl and Sophia read and write instead of learning to use guns.
He had loved her for that once, and he had argued with her for it too.
"Yes," Rick said. "If we make the right choices, it can get better."
Carl closed his eyes in satisfaction, and soon his breathing evened out.
Rick sat in the darkness, unable to fall asleep for a long time.