Weeks turned into months after the altercation at the hardware store in Zebulon and Daryl healed quickly. He was a tough bastard, according to Glenn. In those months, Jess and Daryl had talked and worked their relationship out and grew very close.

They'd spent hours together while he was healing and many times she would open up to him, telling him about her time with her sister and why she wanted to find her parents while most others had just accepted the fact that their families were dead. Each time they'd talk, she'd try to get more information out of Daryl about himself but he would just sit there silently and dodge her questions. After a while, she gave up and hoped he would tell her in his own time. It hadn't taken her long to realize that he was ashamed of what he was before he'd joined Rick's group. Perhaps he thought she would think less of him if she knew but there was no way. Daryl was who he was today because of his past. She'd told him so on many occasions but he still held back from her.

Despite that Daryl's past was still a mystery to her, it didn't mean she didn't love the man he was now. She didn't have to know his past to know that he was a man with a heart the size of Texas. She loved him just as he was, even though she rarely told him. Jess knew he was a man of few words and held more stock in actions. Every chance she got, she showed him how much she loved him and he did the same.

Everyday they were together they'd shown each other how much they cared for the other, however, they'd yet to sleep together. Daryl still wanted to take things slow and he knew that it'd take some time for Jess to be ready to take that step. She denied that the men who had held her captive and raped her in Mississippi had that much of an impact on her life still but Daryl knew better. She still tensed when he touched her unexpectedly and he could see the fear in her eyes whenever they had a few moments to themselves to be affectionate.

Even though her body betrayed her fear, Jess was still frustrated. She wanted Daryl to help her get passed what happened to her and she desperately wanted to show him how much she loved him but every time she'd flinch or look at him the wrong way he'd back off. The sexual tension between them had grown so much that it was almost all she could think about.

During the time Daryl healed and Hershel brought Michonne's horse up to riding health, Jess ventured out and found a saddle. As soon as Daryl was back on his feet and providing for the prison and Flame was ready, the two women began making trips outside the prison to find the Governor and Jess's parents. Despite the new home Jess had found, she still had a promise to keep and Michonne was driven to find the Governor. As it turned out, most of the places Michonne wanted to check were ones that Jess hadn't searched yet for her parents. They ended up going out together so they wouldn't have to be out there alone. They'd both done that before and it hadn't gone well for either of them.

Now Michonne and Jess were out there together, they were out for long periods of time, which was beginning to get a bit stressful for Jess. Her desire to be with Daryl was beginning to manifest itself in different ways.

Jess was pulled to wakefulness by an insistent Argo pulling at her braid. The former cowgirl pushed Argo's head away from her to get him to stop as she lay on the ground against the saddle. Michonne's laugh reached Jess as the swordswoman began packing her stuff back into the saddlebags on the back of Flame.

"That never gets old," Michonne chuckled as she patted her horse's neck.

Jess sat up and rubbed her horse between his eyes affectionately, trying to push her dream of Daryl out of her head.

"Yeah yeah," she grumbled. Even though Jess seemed annoyed, she still loved her horse and loved that he woke her up in the mornings but this time she'd been having a really good dream.

Michonne crouched down next to the quiet little brook they'd camped by and filled up her canteen, watching Jess get up and start saddling Argo.

"Must have been some dream," she said slyly.

Jess let out a loud, long sigh as she continued to work. She must have been moaning in her sleep again.

"Sorry. Next time jus' throw somethin' at me so I quit," the former ranch manager yawned as she strapped her weapons to her.

Michonne chuckled.

"We should be home before noon." She pulled a small package out of her saddlebag, "heads up," she said as she tossed it to the cowgirl.

Jess looked down and realized it was a condom, causing her face to turn red in embarrassment.

"Just please get laid so I don't have to listen to that anymore," the dreadlocked woman teased as she pulled herself up into the saddle.

"Dedgumm, girl. Ya thank one's gonna be 'nough," she asked as she tossed it in her saddlebag, trying to hide her embarrassment with banter.

"We can always pick up some more later," Michonne offered as she started leading them to the prison.

"There ain't 'nough left in Georiga ta make me stop dreamin' 'bout them blue eyes, 'Chone," Jess declared with a distant look in her eyes. Almost as if she could see him right then.

"Spare me, please," Michonne pleaded as she kicked Flame into a hard trot.

Jess laughed as she sent Argo after her, images from her dreams still fresh on her mind.

Daryl was helping the group prepare for the run to the Big Spot when he overheard Zach asking Beth if she was going to tell him bye. He immediately thought of Jess and realized they were the same way. Beth had the right idea but he wasn't about to let her know that.

"It's a damn romance novel," he interrupted as he dropped a crate in the back of the truck.

"And what would you call that thing between you and the Texan?" Zach teased as he continued to watch Beth walk away.

"None of yer damn business," he replied in a flat tone, suddenly in a worse mood.

It had been weeks since he'd seen her last and it was really starting to cause some mood swings he didn't need.

"Geeze, man. I'm just kidding," the younger man said as they walked towards the SUV to load up.

Jess was too busy grinning ear to ear to whistle their arrival so Michonne had taken it upon herself to do so and kick her horse into a canter. Jess hardly noticed the large groups of walkers at the fences as the doors opened and the pair rode through, slowing down after they were well into the yard.

She and Michonne both dismounted as Carl and Rick came jogging up.

"We're glad to see you two," Rick said in his calm voice.

"Good to see you too," Michonne responded with a smile.

"Good ta be home, fellas," Jess added as she uncinched the saddle so Argo could breath a little easier. She walked Argo towards the stable to finish unsaddling him with a chuckle at the conversation between Michonne and Rick about his beard.

She heard Rick ask how long they were going to stay and was a little disappointed at Michonne's response of "Just a little while". They hadn't had a chance to talk much about the next area they were going to search but Michonne had brought up Macon and how she had a feeling that's where the Governor might be now. Jess, however, wasn't too fond of the idea but hadn't had a chance to say so yet.

Suddenly, the air was filled with the rumble of a motorcycle and Jess couldn't help but stop what she was doing to watch the man that had been plaguing her dreams as of late ride down the hill, leading a small caravan. They must be going on a run, she thought.

Carl noticed her expression change.

"I'll take care of him, Jess," he promised with a knowing smile.

Jess ruffled the young man's hair as she passed him the second set of reins. This kid was smarter than she gave him credit for.

"Thanks, kid," she said as she tried not to run up to Daryl. She couldn't wait to say hello.

The hunter had pulled to a stop and cut off the bike as Jess approached. He looked from Michonne over to Jess, looking her up and down, taking all of her in carefully.

Jess was wearing her blue plaid button up and her hair was in a messy fishtail braid over her shoulder. There was a fine layer of dust on her skin and clothes from riding behind Michonne on the dirt roads and there were a few dried blood smears on her riding chaps. He was glad to see she looked healthy other than the dark circles under her eyes. To him, she looked beautiful. Every time she left and came back, she was more beautiful than the time he last saw her. He guessed it was just the time apart that was doing funny things to him.

"Well, look who's back," he quipped as Jess walked up to him, grabbed his collar, and pressed her lips to his. He smiled into the kiss as he wrapped an arm around her waist to feel her against him. Public displays such as this one were extremely rare for the two of them, in fact she could count on one hand the times they'd shown affection for each other front of others until then. However, it'd been so long since Jess had seen him she just couldn't help herself and he didn't seem to mind either.

Jess heard someone let out a sexy whistle from one of the vehicles behind them. She felt Daryl let go of her with one hand as he held up his middle finger towards the cars\. Rick cleared his throat behind them and the two reluctantly broke the kiss. Daryl kept his arm around her as he sent an apology with his eyes to Rick.

Michonne broke the moment.

"We didn't find him," she claimed flatly.

Daryl looked up at Jess with a question in his eyes and she shook her head, letting him know she hadn't found her parents either. Daryl let his arm drop slowly from around his girls waist to look between the two new arrivals.

"Glad to see yer in one piece," he replied sincerely.

Jess saw Rick look expectantly at Michonne before she added more bad news to the pile.

"We're thinking of looking over near Macon," the swordswoman continued looking at Rick then to Jess, noticing the looks on their faces, "it's worth a shot," she added hotly.

Michonne wasn't surprised to hear Daryl speak.

"Seventy miles of walkers. Might run into a few unneighborly types," he looked up at Jess with a serious expression directing his next question towards her, "is it?"

The cowgirl looked away from him as Michonne stared blankly and Daryl looked between the two women as he felt they may not be on the same page about Macon. He decided to get back to the matter at hand instead of call them out on it. He wasn't happy about having to leave as soon as Jess got there but he had a job to do so he kept his aggravation carefully hidden and got back down to the reason why he was leaving.

"We're gonna go check out the Big Spot. One I was talkin' 'bout. Just seein'," he said looking up at Rick. He was pressing to see if Rick would offer to go with them since they were short handed for a big haul because of the buildup on the fences.

"Yeah, I gotta go out and check the snares. Don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers," he said looking down at his shifting feet.

Michonne was quick to offer to go in his place.

"I'll go," she said as she started walking towards the car.

"Ya ain't goin' without me neither," Jess proclaimed as she went to grab her quiver and bow from it's place around the saddlehorn.

"You just got here," Carl said defensively looking at Michonne. That kid had really grown attached to her over the past several months, and she to him. The warrior had specifically lead them in search of comics for the young man and the look her her face when she had found them was endearing.

"And I'll be back," Michonne promised with that smile she reserved especially for Carl as she continued to the car.

Jess threw her quiver and bow across her and she sent Carl a reassuring smile before she jogged over to Daryl. The hunter started his bike and Jess sat down behind him easily, careful to avoid his saddlebags and rested her hands on his sides. Once she was settled, Daryl gave Rick a brotherly tap before he began to roll down the gravel drive.

The farmer ran to the gate and pulled it open for the leaving crew as Daryl revved his bike once and they pulled out of the safety of the prison.

During the ride, Jess had slowly inched her arms around him, and pressed her face into one of his angel wings in a gentle hug for a few moments. Daryl couldn't help his small smirk as he felt her warmth, more than happy to have her back with him and over the clouds at having her wrapped around him. He'd missed everything about her.

Other than the quick hug, Jess was alert for most of the drive and recognized many places that she and Michonne had checked out during their weeks away. They hadn't been driving through unfamiliar territory long before Daryl pulled the bike up outside the Big Spot he'd talked about to Rick. She got off the bike first and pulled her bow from around her as Daryl pulled out the kickstand and leaned his bike over.

While the others were busy getting out and preparing their weapons, Daryl stole another kiss from her. He grabbed her long braid and pulled her around to him to place his lips needily on hers. She let him have his way with her for a few seconds before she poked her finger into his chest hard.

"Not in front'a tha kids, Peach," she teased with a laugh as she turned to walk away from him.

"You didn't seem to mind too much back there," he growled in frustration referring to their greeting kiss from earlier.

She ignored him as they approached the fence that had been erected in front of the Big Spot. She smiled at the music playing from a boombox several yards away. She knew right away what they'd done to pull the walkers out of there. Everyone suddenly got serious and down to business as they all gathered to look at the hole that had been cut in the fence.

Jess had to hide her smile at the sound of Daryl's rough voice as he explained to the newcomers why the fence and army vehicles were there. She missed that gruff, deep voice of his and even during all the time they'd spent together she didn't get to hear it much as Daryl was a man of few words. She also liked how he spoke in short, exact sentences.

"Army came in, put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go. Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain link. Keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs."

Daryl swung his crossbow off his shoulders as a man Jess had never seen before spoke up.

"So they all just left?"

Jess shook her head at his question but apparently Sasha felt she needed to explain what had happened even though Jess felt it was fairly obvious.

"Give a listen," she urged.

"You drew them out," Michonne said appreciatively.

"Put a boom box out there two days ago," Sasha confirmed.

"Hooked it up to two car batteries," Glenn added in a deadpan voice. Something was up with that guy, Jess concluded. He was usually more chipper than that seeing he was the only one out of them that got laid on a regular basis.

"Nice," Jess added as Daryl walked through the fence.

"Alright, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can and we'll come back tomorrow with more people," he ordered as he continued through, alert for any threats.

Jess notched an arrow and held it to the string as she moved quietly behind Daryl, double checking all the places he was searching, while they made their way through the line of tents to the front of the store.

"Come on," Daryl called over his shoulder to her and she picked up her pace.

Being here with him reminded her of the day he'd saved her from the office of the grocery store several months ago. She grinned as they approached the storefront, suddenly thankful to still be alive and knowing she owed it all to the man she was following.

Daryl sat down on the edge of the window panes and tapped his elbow hard against the glass. He was drawing the walkers out of hiding in the store, she realized. After one last check of their surroundings, she sat down on his right a few feet away, pulling the arrow out of its notch to twirl it between her fingers as she waited with him.

"Just give it a second," he said as the others continued to walk through the tents.

There were several seconds of silence before the youngest of them, Zach, spoke. Jess knew Zach, he'd been there the last time she and Michonne had wandered back to the prison. She knew that he and Beth had a thing and he was very personable if not a little annoying sometimes, according to Daryl.

"Ok I think I got it," the boy declared as he leaned against the wall nonchalantly.

Jess glanced over at him as Michonne spoke.

"Got what," she asked. Daryl cut his eyes over at Jess, knowing what was coming next and he knew the both of them would enjoy every second of it.

Zach decided to take a seat on the other side of Daryl from Jess so she and Michonne could be included in the conversation. Jess just raised an eyebrow at the brave young man. She'd met him the last time Michonne and Jess had stopped by the prison and it didn't take long for her to figure out he was sweet on Beth. He was also quiet smart and she hadn't been surprised that he'd lasted up to that point on his own. However, not many people would speak that way to the hunter so he wasn't that smart or he'd known Daryl well enough to know that he really wouldn't hurt him.

"Oh I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn," Zach explained as he sat down with his shotgun over his lap.

"He's been trying to guess for like, six weeks," Daryl grumbled finally looking away from Jess. She just continued to listen to the conversation with great interest, knowing this was going to be amusing.

"Yeah well, I been pacing myself. One shot a day," Zach stated.

"Alright, shoot," the Dixon said.

"By the way you are at the prison," Zach began and Daryl gave a nod as he looked away from the kid and chewed on his bottom lip, careful not to look at Jess or he'd lose his cool, "Yeah you're being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of uh," the young man paused to look for the right word and Jess bit her lips into a thin line to keep from laughing at the one he picked, "surely."

Jess literally sat on the edge of her seat in anticipation of his guess.

"Big swing here," he continued, "Homicide cop."

Jess and Michonne both lost it. Neither of the woman had ever laughed so hard in front of the others before. Jess was laughing so hard she doubled over and held her stomach as she laughed as quietly as possible. Daryl was smiling though he was acting defensively. He'd never seen Jess laugh that hard and he wished she would do it more often. Her laughter was sweet and contagious.

"What's so funny," he asked the two women.

"Nothing, it makes perfect sense," Michonne chuckled, trying to hold herself together.

Jess had to cover her mouth but not before adding her own bit.

"Detective Dixon," she panted, trying not to fall over from laughter.

Daryl just went with the guess.

"Actually, the man's right," he replied coolly and it just sent Jess farther into a set of giggles, "undercover," he added.

He mock glared at Jess as he lead the kid on, unable to take his eyes off the laughing woman close to him.

"Come on, really?" Zach asked seriously.

"Yeah, but I don't like to talk about it cuz, it was a lot of heavy shit, ya know?"

Daryl had to look away so the kid didn't see his smile grow as it became harder to hide that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Dude, come on, really," Zach asked in disbelief.

Jess couldn't help herself and had to throw in another dig.

"Undercover Peach!" She chortled while doubling over again. This also elicited another laugh out of Michonne.

"Peach?" Zach asked curiously but was ignored.

"Why don't you let the man guess for you, kill stealer," Daryl growled, a little agitated that she'd called him a peach in front of the kid. He had a reputation to uphold.

"Kill stealer?" Zach chirped again like a parrot.

"Long story, tenderfoot," Jess gave in explanation as she sat back down, her laughter finally subsiding as she smiled at Daryl before speaking to Zach. "I bet ya can guess mine first try," she said with a wink.

Zach stretched and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright. You're from Texas and got that fancy saddle and horse and how you treat him better than Daryl here, my best guess is a professional barrel racer," he guessed watching her closely for a reaction.

Jess pushed out her bottom lip and gave a surprised nod.

"Impressive, but not quite," she admitted glancing at Daryl who wasn't as impressed. He knew the kid wasn't going to need many guesses. There were a very select few jobs in the old world that required someone have the riding skills and horse that Jess had. Plus she was from Texas.

She wasn't going to be a tease like Daryl so she went ahead and told the kid what she did since he was going to get it on his second or third guess anyway.

"Ranch manager," she stated simply.

"Ranch manager?" Zach questioned her with a raised eyebrow, thinking she was joking with him like Daryl had been.

"Yessir, honest ta goodness ranch manager, or cowgirl. Ran cattle 'n' everythin'," she described looking out at the people still milling about the tents, lost in days that were long gone.

"That was too easy," Daryl complained.

"Well at least he's still got ya, Detective Peach," she teased her man with a wink, "heck, even I dunno what he did."

Zach just shook his head.

"I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

"Yeah, you keep doin that," Daryl said in a bored tone.

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once 'n' a while," Jess added with a Texism.

Right at that moment, there was a loud thump against the glass behind them and it was back to business. The hunter and cowgirl didn't even flinch as they stood up and walked around towards the entrance. Daryl held his hand out for the crowbar Glenn had so he could open the door.

"We gonna do this, detective," Michonne asked in a joking voice, not quite ready to let go of the moment.

"Let's do it," Daryl answered as he grabbed the iron object, Jess right behind him.

They cleared the few walkers that had made their way to the front of the store easily and Tyreese pulled out the last of the dead ones while Sasha took charge.

"Alright we go in, stay in formation for the sweep," she briefed looking around at the group, "after that you all know what you're supposed to look for. Any questions?"

Jess tuned out the banter between Sasha and her brother as she tapped Daryl's arm to let him know she was behind him and they went in for the sweep. Luckily, there were only a couple of stragglers and they were easily taken care of.

At that point, they grabbed baskets and went in search of the supplies they needed the most. Jess went with Michonne and they took turns throwing a few things into the basket. They hadn't been told to pick up anything for anyone back at the prison so they set about getting the few supplies they'd not had time to get out on their own. When they rounded a corner they both froze at the cardboard monster before they realized it really was just cardboard. Michonne dispatched it with an angry look before they continued down the aisle.

They happened to pass by the condom section and Michonne threw a small box at Jess with a smirk on her face while the cowgirl just shrugged and slipped it into the front pocket of her jeans. Never know when they might get back out to get more and she was hoping the one Michonne had given her earlier wasn't going to be enough for the time they were staying at the prison.

They continued down the aisles together for a few more minutes before a creaking and dripping sound caught Jess's attention. When she started looking around for the source of the sound a crash and a cacophony of glass shattering interrupted her. She and Michonne shared a look before heading towards it.

"What happened," Glenn yelled from across the store.

"Everything's alright," she heard Zach yell, "we're over in wine and beer!"

Jess tuned out the voices as more creaking caught her attention and stopped to listen in the middle of the aisle she and Michonne were on. Michonne halted as she noticed Jess was standing there, looking up at the ceiling.

"What," the dreadlocked woman asked.

"Somethin' ain't right," Jess confessed as she started following after Michonne, her eyes still on the tiles above.

Just as they rounded the corner to see Bob stuck under a fallen shelf, a walker fell through the ceiling, it's intestines getting caught on the broken metal beams between the ceiling and roof. Jess immediately withdrew an arrow and notched it to point at the walker.

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now," Glenn stuttered nervously staring up at the dangling dead body.

"Time to cut 'n' run, boys," Jess hollered from behind him.

"Bob's still stuck. Get 'em out of there," Daryl snapped loudly as he moved away from the dangling walker.

At that point, all hell broke loose and walkers were raining down from the ceiling. Jess and Michonne split off from the main group, dodging the falling dead. Once the onslaught stopped, they began to pick walkers off together as they made their way back towards the spot Bob had been trapped. Bob was screaming for help and even though Jess didn't really know this guy, she didn't want to see him die either. Michonne took care of the ones that got close while Jess used her arrows to clear their path farther ahead, pulling her arrows out of the dead and replacing them in her quiver as she passed.

She rounded a corner to see Daryl on top of some boxes with his six shooter, shooting at more walkers than he had bullets for. Her quest to help Bob was momentarily forgotten as she saw the most important person left in her life in danger.

"Chonne!" Jess yelled at her friend as she pulled another an arrow out of her recent kill. Michonne understood what Jess wanted to do. After spending so much time surviving together, they'd formed a pretty close bond, one that didn't require many words.

"Go!" She yelled as she sliced through another head.

Jess pulled out her pistol from its place on her leather belt and started gunning her way through the slow walkers. Most of them had been too damaged in the fall to move very fast but it didn't mean they weren't still lethal and she wasn't going to waste any time getting to Daryl. She saw him look up as more debris started falling from the ceiling and that's when she noticed the helicopter.

"Hellfire," she said as she saw him kick one in the face then start shooting. She finally got to him and pulled one of the walkers away while shooting it in the head and easily dispatched the other ones between her and him.

"Daryl, let's go!" She she yelled as the ceiling buckled. They started making their way over to Bob, Daryl leading the way, her eyes on the falling ceiling.

A walker jumped out in front of Daryl and just as Jess raised her gun to shoot, a bullet burst through it's skull and it dropped. She heard Zach over behind a shelf to her left.

"Get Bob," he barked as he took out a few more walkers.

She put away her gun and covered Daryl with her bow as he took out the walker that was after Bob with a curb stomp and Zach rushed over to help him lift the shelf.

"Time to go," Daryl quipped, pulling Bob out from under the shelf.

Just as Bob got to his feet, a piece of a broken beam fell, hitting Jess in the head. She stumbled a few steps before she went down to her knees and dropping her bow, completely dazed from the hit. Michonne saw her go down and rushed to help her and she grabbed the woman's bow. However, the cowgirl's hunter got to her first, wrapping one arm around her waist and hauling her to her feet right as they heard a heart stopping scream from Zach.

Jess was still dazed but not out if it enough to not hear Zach's dying screams as they all watched him get bitten, then go down. Daryl had to look away when the walker bit into the young guy's neck and blood started flowing. Jess heard someone scream Zach's name before she was being hauled off.

"Go, go!" Daryl stormed as the the roof started coming down.

The group flooded outside and they were followed by a cloud of dust.

Once they were outside, they stopped amid the tents to turn back and look at the destroyed building. Most of them stood in silence at the loss of their comrade but Daryl was still running on adrenaline and fear. He didn't see what had happened to Jess, all knew was that when he looked up she was on her knees and his protective instincts went into overdrive. He found an empty cot in one of the tents and gently sat her down on it to inspect her for bites as she looked at him with a blank look. Satisfied she wasn't bitten, he inspected the cut on her head.

"Damn woman, you got the worst luck," he murmured as he used the collar of her shirt to wipe away the blood trickling through her hair and down the side of her face.

"Tell me som'in I dunno," she croaked in a voice heavy with her accent, blinking her dark eyes at the concerned blue ones in front of her.

"How many fingers am I holding up," he asked as he waved three digits in front of her face.

"Hold still, ya cuss," she grumbled glaring at him. All his waving around was making her growing headache worse. He did as she said and she answered, "three."

"Well, it don't look like ya got a concussion but we'll get Dr. S to take a look at ya when we get back," he said as he stood.

When he turned around, everyone was still looking at the store in somewhat disbelief. The loss of Zach was going to weigh heavy on them for quite some time, even for Daryl. He liked the kid more than he let on and it was a shame that he died so young. He was going to have to be the one to tell Beth because it was his failure. This new leadership role sucked.

He was just about to round up the group when he felt a hand grab his arm. Jess pulled herself up to in front of him, leaning most of her weight into him to help keep her steady. In a move that almost surprised Jess, she felt his arm go around her and he pulled her close to him in a one armed hug, burying his face in her hair.

"Zach?" She asked as she slung her arms around his neck.

"He was just a kid," Daryl whispered.

Uncaring of her bloody head and face, she pressed against him and held him tighter to her in a hug.

"I know," she admitted turning her face up to press her lips against his jaw before holding him close to her.

They stayed that way for a few seconds before she released the hug but kept an hand on him to help steady herself as they exited the tent. She was still reeling a bit from the blow to the head but was able to think clearly enough.

"Let's go home," she said loudly so the rest of the group could hear her.

They all turned to look at her oddly before heading back to the cars. Daryl gently guided her towards the SUV to ride back in but she brushed him off and walked ahead to his bike with as much dignity as she could muster. He didn't want to be away from her so he just got on and started up the bike after attaching his crossbow to the front.

Before Jess could mount, Michonne jogged over to return Jess's bow.

"You alright," Michonne asked as her friend took the bow and slung it across her body.

"I'll be fine," she assured with a nod to her friend before settling on the bike behind Daryl.

Michonne looked to Daryl for assurance and he gave her a nod to let the woman know Jess wasn't hurt too badly. The swordswoman took his word for it and returned to the SUV for the ride back.

Daryl made sure Jess was holding on tightly before he started up and lead the way back to the prison.