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The Barrington House did have a certain charm to it, especially when you had become accustomed to the apocalypse lifestyle. Even more so when you had become accustomed to the lifestyle of Negan’s Sanctuary.
The charm, unfortunately, did little to lessen how daunting this whole thing was.
Alden sat in front of a far too expensive desk, in a far too expensive room, right across from one Maggie Rhee, sitting at said desk. Definitely no less daunting. She was looking at him as if he should be able to know why and what they were talking about, and maybe he did. If they were doing some type of interview screening thing to tell who, out of all of the Saviors they were keeping locked up, were worth introducing to their community, then yeah maybe he does know, but if that isn’t the case then Alden’s at a complete loss. Maggie seems the type to enjoy keeping people on their toes like that, though.
Alden’s both trying to show that he’s confident and not intimidated, as well as trying to show that he completely respects Maggie and her authority. He isn’t entirely confident that he’s pulling off the balance that well. He’s also pretty sure that he might look like he actually is just a ball of nerves. So, mission practically failed before they’ve even started talking. Great.
Finally, Maggie takes pity on him and starts talking, completely throwing any sense of confidence that Alden might have had, out the window, with just three words.
"What's you're classification?"
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Alden squirms in his seat impulsively. Out of all the things he might have expected her to start with, it was safe say he was not expecting that. Sure, he had known the topic would have to come up at some point but not as the first question she asks him. He tries not to look so much like a deer in the headlights and clears his throat, eyes blinking a little too quickly to be normal. Maggie tilts her head in a ‘go on’ gesture.
"I-I'm not like a caregiver or anything, I'm just... Me.” He says not smoothly, accent coming out a tad stronger than he would have liked. He laughs not nervously and shrugs. “This is it." He finishes, desperately hoping that maybe Maggie could pretend his answer wasn’t suspicious and they could move on and never bring this particular subject up again.
Maggie scrutinises him for a moment. She unclasps her hands and uses one of her hands to gesture towards him.
“So, you’re a neutral” She says simply, without a hint of any judgment, neither for the classification or his questionable answer. Alden lets out a small breath of relief.
“Exactly, yeah” He nods, grateful smile starting to make its way onto his face. Maggie nods once, contemplating for all of two seconds before flipping his whole world upside down, once more.
"Think you can answer again without lying or are we going to have a problem?"
Alden’s eyes go wide at the accusation, along with Maggie’s complete lack of any change in emotion. He definitely got the impression that she really could see right through him.
A million thoughts race through Alden’s head, he quickly becomes overwhelmed at the complications this could potentially make. Would this be something Maggie would send him away for? After trying so desperately to prove himself and show that he wanted to help Maggie. Everything was about to click into place, he was about to do something good and this is what was going to be his downfall?
That was surely unfair, for something he couldn’t control?
It doesn’t take long for the anger to dissipate. He understood.
He was a liability.
“Alden.” Maggie calls, voice slightly softer than earlier, which was somehow both comforting and made Alden’s stomach churn.
"A little.” Alden murmurs, words too quiet for even Maggie to hear.
"What was that?" Maggie says, even though they both know goddamn well that Maggie clearly knows exactly what his classification is.
“I’m a little.” Alden states, lifting his eyes from where they’d been staring at his lap and makes eye contact with Maggie, lips pressed together tightly.
Maggie takes the words in stride, easily moving onto her next question.
"What's your age range?" She asks, as if admitting to being a little wasn’t already an entire ordeal in itself.
"Oh, I'm not. I don't need a caregiver. If that's what you're asking. I'm fine on my own." Alden stutters out, tripping over his own words in his haste to get them out as fast as he can. As if that tactic worked well last time.
Maggie raises an eyebrow at him, changing her own tactic.
"Younger than seven?"
Alden stalls. "What?"
Maggie hums, seeming to realise that she definitely has the high ground, she’s got everything figured out, she’s won the game. There’s no coming back from this now. Alden can’t help but feel a little like he’s in the company of the Cheshire cat. He trusts Maggie, but his earlier claims of not being intimidated are completely out the window now.
"Younger than five?" A beat. "Younger than three?" She chances.
"I don't know!" Alden snaps, turning his head to look as far away from Maggie as possible.
Ah.
Right on the money.
"You are a young little, huh." Maggie says, not seeming surprised per se, just like she’s finally proved a theory of hers, which does nothing but make Alden more frustrated.
"Four to seven." He mumbles under his breath, only slightly petulant, as retaliation. If she’s going to know that he’s a little, he’s not going to let her think that he’s a baby.
"You're gonna have to speak up." Maggie tells him, the smirk he can hear in her voice makes him want to stomp his foot, which in turn makes him want to be swallowed by the floor.
Alden clears his throat in an attempt to seem more grown up. He can prove that he can have a conversation about being a little in a completely adult headspace. Maybe that would show Maggie that he is not a liability. Nor a baby.
"Four to seven." He says clearly, hoping the blush that’s started showing on his face doesn’t spoil the confidence.
He immediately backs it up. "But I don't even regress that often, I don't need to." He’s quick and desperate to explain.
If anyone ever says that Maggie isn't generous, here she is, right now, giving Alden the biggest benefit of the doubt possible.
Clearly her look must also show the doubt though, because Alden bites his lower lip and follows up on his age range.
"I mean I would give you my medical records but," He shrugs awkwardly. "I don't really have them on me. 'Sides, this is already embarrassing enough Maggie." His eyes dart back and forth between Maggie and the floor.
Alden isn't the type of person to lie, she's learnt in the past few weeks. He hasn't said that, neither has anyone else. Maggie just has a confident feeling about it. He’s an honest person.
Maybe that's a flaw that has actually landed him in trouble before, too honest. She wouldn't be surprised. His boldness has certainly left an impression.
So, she does believe him about the age range. At least that at the time he'd done those examinations and had those records, it was true.
Since then, the world has fallen into something so very different, though. He must know things like that can change. It was a pretty well known fact that things like age ranges could easily slide to the older or younger side, depending on trauma or other experiences in that realm.
She isn't going to be the person to bring up this point, not yet at least. She's already dealing with too much right now and she'll be saving Alden a little pride.