day 11

A finger wrapped in Nutella approached a young woman's mouth which quickly wrapped around the finger and she pulled the finger out, having licked it clean in a matter of seconds. Her nose scrunched up slightly at the faint taste of pennies that followed the taste of Nutella. If she had a source of water, she would have cleaned the blood off of her hands a long time ago. But until she managed to find water, she was going to have to settle with a metallic aftertaste with her finger foods.

Her eyes darted towards the brothers that had saved her from her former companion. They didn't seem to suspect anything. As far as she knew, they thought that she had almost been consumed by one of those things and they had saved her and that was the way she preferred it to be. If they knew that she had had a little… outburst she had a feeling that they wouldn't be as willing to allow her to travel by their side.

"Don't ya wanna clean yer hands, before ya suck off all the blood off of yer fingers?"

She directed her attention towards the younger brother, Daryl. It hadn't taken her long to take an actual liking to the man, not with his brother around. He wasn't as rude and he didn't make a point to constantly refer to her as some sexual object, there for their enjoyment. The worst thing about the younger one was that he was just so damn silent, leaving Merle to continue the conversation with his crude remarks and wandering hands.

"No, I'd rather enjoy the blood, thank you."

Expressing her emotions had never been her strong side, so being polite as a nice gesture was something beyond her abilities. It was the result of her growing up in an emotionally lame home. Her father had been a near-constantly absent salesman who, by her assumption, was very likely living a double life of some sorts. Her mother was a broken woman in her daughter's eyes, dependent on her man and unable to survive without him. If there was one thing that she didn't want- it was to end up like her mother.

"Suit yerself."

She raised her head in order to glance at the younger brother once more. She couldn't help but think that he'd be a handsome man, if only he cleaned up once in a while. Not only were his clothes dirty but his face had specks of dirt all over it. She tried to imagine what he looked like under all that dirt, what he was really like. She liked to think that the dirt distorted the shape of his face and if she were ever to see him clean, she would see a new man.

Not that she could afford to criticize someone for being dirty. Her hands were covered in dried blood and her clothes had random blood spatters all over them and the thighs of her pants had a particularly bad stain that had come from her former companion dying on her thighs. She hadn't had a chance to look in a mirror but she was more than sure that her face was probably dirty and her hair, it had to be a mess. She tilted her head, still focusing her attention on the younger brother who was busy whittling a piece of wood.

Did he consider her to have potential to be beautiful when he looked at her, thinking that all she needed to do was clean up?

She immediately stopped herself at that thought, reminding herself that it was that kind of thinking that was going to get her in her mother's situation. If she would allow herself to think that he was likeminded, that perhaps he also liked her, it was only a recipe for her depending on him and if she fell into that trap, well, she was terrified that she would never be able to get herself out of it. She looked away from the younger brother, her eyes briefly pausing when they passed the older one who was looking at her with a grin on his face.

"Ain't ya gonna introduce yerself t'yer saviors, sweetcheeks?"

The sound of the older brother speaking up made the hairs on the woman's neck stand, although they did so in annoyance rather than fear. She forced herself to look at the man again and she smiled forcefully, acting as if she actually wanted to tell him what her name was. If she wanted to have extra protection, well, she was going to have to put up with these two, at least until she managed to get her hands on a weapon of some sorts.

"The name's Aideen Crawford," she said, hoping to pass off as content. "I am-" she paused. "Was a pastry chef."

"Pastry chef? 'S that one 'f them fancy restaurant jobs?" Merle asked, obviously interested in her former occupation even though he addressed it in a way that rubbed Aideen the wrong way. The woman shrugged slightly, turning away, her mouth turning into a small scowl.

"I do desserts, pastries, breads and baked goods. You know?"

"That's what I like! A woman that knows her place," Merle said before emitting a cynoid-like laugh. "The kitchen!" He laughed even harder, acting as if he had just delivered the greatest punchline the world had ever heard. When the younger brother received a glance from Merle he quickly followed suit and laughed too, seemingly amused by his brother's joke.

"You know, we're not in the 60s anymore, so you should can it with the sexist jokes."

Aideen immediately regretted her decision to tell the two men off, because as soon as she did, Merle's expression soured and she could tell that he was not amused. She hadn't thought about it earlier, but now that she did, he certainly didn't look like the kind of man who was used to others telling him off, at least not without consequences. She waited, attempting to anticipate his moves. She half-expected him to stand up and run towards her violently but when he did stand up, he merely pointed his finger at her and said: "Ya can't be runnin' yer mouth t'someone that's riskin' their ass t'keep ya safe, got it?"

After that, he walked away, giving Aideen the impression that he was more mature than she had given him credit for earlier. He had appeared to be a big oaf of the bad kind and while he wasn't her favorite person, he wasn't senselessly violent, at least not towards strange women.

"You shouldn't talk like that t'him. Merle don't take kind to women who don't respect 'im."

It was tempting for her to laugh at Daryl's warning although she quickly decided to repress the laugh. After all, what if he shared the same temperament as his brother? Even though he seemed to be the calmer, saner one, there was certainly no telling what he was like beneath that dirty exterior of his. She shrugged in hopes of indicating that she made a mistake.

"I ain't fuckin' with ya. Merle ain't the kind of guy who'll let a woman talk to 'im like that without consequences. Yer lucky I didn't have t'pull 'im off of ya."

"You're telling me you would have pulled him off of me? I might just be a pastry chef, but I'm no idiot. You're no hero."

Daryl stopped whittling almost immediately when he heard her last sentence. You're no hero. His heart sank as he admitted to himself that she was right, he was no hero and there was no chance that he would ever be even close to a hero. Even if they had saved her from being eaten by a Walker, they weren't heroes. Dixons weren't heroes, never had been and never would be. The only thing they were good for was being drunk and hunting, at least Daryl. Merle was also exceptional at getting into trouble which had been evident in him being absent for a large portion of Daryl's childhood.

He forced himself to look up at the woman who sat across from him, dipping her finger in a jar of some chocolates spread. He allowed himself as she took her time licking every bit of chocolate from her fingers. There was something delicate about the way that she handled herself, to him she appeared as if she could break under the slightest amount of pressure, which was weird seeing that she wasn't exactly petite or skinny.

It was the way that she moved and the way that she looked at things. He couldn't explain it to himself better than that. Her eyes were the most delicate part of her, at least from afar. It was difficult to tell from where he was sitting but the sheer size of them had an intense effect on him. They were fairly wide and the color was captivating, how was he supposed to not be intrigued by them?

"Ya have no idea of what I am or ain't," he replied sourly, deciding that he wasted enough staring at the woman.

She felt kind of bad, since her words obviously affected him but soon began attempting to relieve her guilt. She certainly didn't plan on sticking with the brothers forever, so what was the point of trying to spare their feelings? It wasn't like the older one had any intentions of doing that for her and somehow she doubted that the younger one would do it too. She looked away from the younger brother, forcing herself to not feel bad about hurting his feelings.

She once again focused her attention on the jar of Nutella in front of her, carefully scraping the sides with her fingers and liking the sickly sweet spread off of her fingers, welcoming the taste of pennies as a distraction from the Nutella.

The night had been quiet and Daryl had finally had a chance to collect his thoughts. For some reason he wasn't able to concentrate with that damn woman sitting around, doing stupid things like eating some damn spread from a jar or playing with twigs that were scattered on the ground. He had welcomed the opportunity to keep watch, just in case their campsite wasn't site.

He sighed, thinking how fucked up things were beginning to get. Not more than two weeks ago he was at his home, hunting for food when he wasn't doing whatever work he could get. Now he was running off to Atlanta with Merle and some woman who was covered in blood. Running away from some damn monsters that ate people. Shit, he had been convinced that that was the kind of stupid crap that only belonged in movies. But here he was, keeping wake just in case those things tried to attack them again.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he saw a figure stand up abruptly and walk off into the trees. He waited a moment, debating whether he wanted to follow the figure, which obviously wasn't his brother. He looked at Merle, who seemed to be sleeping pretty peacefully and decided that his brother was far more capable of taking care of himself if he was awaken by the walking dead than the woman was if she ran into one.

He stood up and headed in the direction of where the woman had disappeared into.

It wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing from the sound of her retching. Figuring that it would be better for him to wait until she finished, he stood back and tried to keep an eye on her figure in the darkness. While she was struggling with what little contents she had in her stomach he mused what could cause her to need to release her stomach.

"Feelin' better?"

"Fuck!" He couldn't help but laugh as she cursed in surprise. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Saw ya stand up 'n wanted t'make sure ya were 'kay."

"You saw me stand up? Jeez, are you a…" Aideen paused to try to think of an animal that would be able to see in the dark. "An owl?"

"Ya really should clean the blood off of yer fingers, bet that's what's makin' yer sick. Besides, ain't ya afraid of getting' infected from the thing's blood?"

Aideen looked at the man whom she could barely make out in the dark. What was she supposed to say to him? She didn't want to tell him the whole truth but she certainly didn't want to risk him thinking that she was infected. Her heartbeat picked up as she tried to decide on what she was going to tell him. When he cleared his throat, as if he was impatient for her answer, she jumped right in with an explanation: "He wasn't one of those things when the blood got all over me. Someone-" she paused, wondering if he thought that it was the biters (as she had named them) that caused the deaths and changed people. She had experienced firsthand that a bite wasn't what made you into one of those things.

"Someone had attacked him and I tried to help him. I left to get supplies… and when I got back he had changed. Must've been bit or something…" She immediately praised herself mentally for being good on the spot and coming up with a solution. Judging from the silence on Daryl's part as they walked back into the direction of the camp, she figured that she was successful.

However, Daryl was far from being convinced of her story, something just wasn't right. If he had been attacked, why wasn't she a victim too? And if she went to get supplies, where were her supplies when he and Merle found her, nearly being consumed by the former person? Not that he liked to suspect that she did something, after all, why would someone like her, someone who had been a pastry chef before everything went haywire, kill someone? It wasn't like she was going to be good enough with weapons to take down a man double her size.

"Ya sure that how it happened? I don't remember seein' ya with any supplies," he said, deciding to speak up about his suspicions. After all, he wasn't one to stay quiet about something that aroused his suspicion.

"I didn't find any," Aideen replied, a bit too quickly. She sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to get very far with lying. She could lie to people that she knew well because she knew what they would believe. This was a complete stranger that had saved her life. She had thought she'd be able to pull it off, but apparently she wasn't destined to do so. However, much to her surprise and delight, he didn't say another word about her companion.

day 14

She had already been with the men for far, far too long in her opinion. It didn't help that she felt like the younger one was constantly throwing her a distrustful glance, as if he suspected her. He had no reason to distrust her, at least not from the way she behaved around him and his brother. She tried to ignore it, pinning it as a part of his personality rather than actual suspicion.

Staying with the brothers had its perks though. Both of them seemed pretty skilled at hunting and they were ruthless when it came to killing the biters, allowing her to saunter behind them, knowing that she wasn't really going to get in harm's way. Heck, if she didn't disdain the older brother's attitude towards her she would have considered staying with them for good.

"Aideen, wanna come 'n hunt?"

Aideen's head shot up at the sound of Daryl's voice. He hadn't really spoken a word to her after she lied through her teeth to him. It had been a relief to not be forced to interact with both brothers at once, since conversing with Merle required self-restraint and patience. Silence wasn't her favorite, but it was welcome while she was accompanied by strangers.

"No thanks," she said, declining as politely as she could. She watched as he shrugged and began to walk away.

"Finally got some alone time with me, huh, sweetcheeks?"

The sound of Merle's voice caused Aideen to immediately stand up and jog lightly after Daryl. "Changed my mind!" she called out, raising her voice only slightly. She would rather be in the presence of Daryl, who was a bit intimidating at times, than in Merle's company, who just rubbed her the wrong way. She wouldn't want to end up trying to stab him too, resulting in Daryl turning against her. She was sure that if that happened both Merle and Daryl would make sure that she would rue her decision to take action.

"Merle change yer mind?"

At first interpretation, she thought that he meant that Merle had talked her into going but upon seeing a hint of a grin on his face, she could easily assume that he was insinuating that Merle had driven her off. She tittered slightly, tilted her head back in amusement. At least Daryl wasn't blind to his brother's behavior.

"He ain't so bad. He's just a bit rough 'round the edges," Daryl explained, feeling as if he needed to excuse Merle. "Sort of had to be, growin' up where we did."

He wasn't really lying, not technically. Merle did have to be tough when they grew up and it did shape him into the man he was now but there was also a large portion of his personality that Daryl attributed to juvie and prison. Every time he returned back, Daryl had always found himself trying to remember if Merle had always been that way. Each time there was something new, something he didn't feel was familiar.

Against her better judgment, Aideen decided to reply to him: "Tough childhood?" She immediately regretted the decision as she reminded herself that she had no intention of traveling with them much longer which meant that she had to avoid growing to like them or, more specifically, Daryl.

"Ain't none of yer business," Daryl retorted by default. He was used to not wanting to share anything with others and usually, some dumb broad wouldn't be any different but she wasn't just some dumb broad. Not that she had exhibited any extraordinary skill, as far as he knew she was just as dumb as he was. Maybe it was those big gray eyes that lured him into wanting to tell her something more or the delicacy he had seen in her. Whatever it was, it annoyed him.

"Didn't have a ma 'n dad enjoyed the juice more than me 'n Merle. Ain't exactly a walk in the park."

Aideen wasn't exactly familiar with the juice but from the context she figured that it meant alcohol. If that was the case, it would help explain the behavior of both the brothers. Merle probably had too much freedom which turned him into the annoying, sexist man he was and Daryl might not have had much affection resulting in a quiet, intimidating man. She refrained from imagining what growing up in a home without a mother and an alcoholic father was like, for the sake of not feeling for the Dixon brothers.

"Sorry to hear that."

day 15

She needed to get out of there, and soon. It was weird- something had happened when she went out hunting with Daryl. They didn't converse much, just him occasionally telling her about how to hunt and she shared an anecdote about her former companion, saying that it had been her father to avoid accidentally letting it slip that she knew the man that nearly killed her. Somehow those interactions wound up causing her to feel giddy around him. Happy that he was around and sad when he wasn't.

That was something that she just couldn't accept. Wanting to be around a man was not like her, no, it wasn't Aideen Crawford. Maybe it was Lucille Crawford, but Aideen would rather be dead than become her mother. It didn't occur to her that it was a natural feeling that a lot of women, not just her mother, experienced. To her, wanting a man equaled weakness and weakness was taboo.

"Here."

She looked up, surprised to see a raisin container. She looked at it for a while, studying it and the hand that held it. She wouldn't have had to look up to see who was handing her the container, but she did just to see his face. Even though her feelings had changed, the indifference on his face told her that he didn't feel the same, that there had been no development for him. It only further enforced that she was becoming like her mother.

"Merle 'n I are gonna go huntin', get some proper food. 'Til then, eat this."

She accepted the container, realizing that this was her chance. She forced a smile of gratitude, not wanting to tell him that she was allergic to raisins. "Thanks." She watched as he walked towards Merle and the two of them began to talk to each other in low voices, obviously trying to circumvent her hearing their words. She didn't bother trying to listen, after all, what good would their conversation do for her when she was going to up and go as soon as they left?

"We'll be back. Just stay here 'n watch the camp, 'kay?" Aideen nodded, acting as if she intended on waiting for them.

She watched as they left, disappearing off of the road and into the trees. She immediately put the container down but she didn't dare get ready to move right away. Instead she studied their little makeshift camp, taking in every little detail. They had moved quite a bit since she first joined them, gone for miles and miles. Every day the surroundings were different. She liked this life, always on the go, always seeing some place new.

After a good half hour she stood up and hurriedly packed her bag with her things, taking a knife that Daryl had used to whittle wood. Both Daryl and Merle had their main weapons, so what harm was she doing when she took the knife?

In only a few minutes she had packed her part of the camp and she began to jog lightly down the road, hoping to find someone willing to take her up in her car or a car to steal. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but suddenly traffic seemed to stop and a lot of cars seemed… abandoned.

Whatever it was, it just meant that she could easily get herself a ride to Senoia.

A/N: Yes, this is a new story. I have no idea how often I'll be able to update this, but I'll try to alternate between this and Forever Yours and I'll try to be regular. just had this idea in my head forever. It's sort of ridiculous how long it's been in there. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!