A/N: So, for a while now, I've been so intrigued by Meghan and Philip's sweet relationship, I didn't want it to end the way it did, so I switched stuff up a bit; Lilly didn't make it, she was killed before she had the chance to put the Governor out, and Tara was missing, so still in obvious pain and practically on the edge of death, the Governor takes Meghan in as his own, and does all he can to heal and keep himself alive for her. It's going to be a sappy story just because Meghan was so sweet to him!

Disclaimer:

NOTE: No violence, just some blood and a little bit of gore along with Philip/Meghan sweetness (not in a creep way) and sadness!

My Little One: Walking Dead

::

He was shot at and violently wounded at the prison; but to the child's surprise, he was still here with her. They both had wandered off far from the remains of the prison and found an abandoned ranch home, secluded by trees and wildlife; he wasn't at all in the position to go in alone, but he informed her to stay outside and with that, he handed her his knife before he pushed open the door to search for walkers that might've invaded.

"I'm scared," she cried out to him, standing near the doorway; he turned around to face her and suddenly dropped to a knee, holding his wound; he was bleeding out and without any help, he wasn't going to make it. Meghan, afraid for Philip, ran inside the house and dropped down to his size, using her own two little hands to stop the bleeding. He raised his head and looked at her with his one good eye, blood trickling down his chin. The hot feeling of his blood on her hands made her whimper and she put her head down, too afraid to look. The man let out a wild cough and spat blood to the floor beside him;

"I-I'll protect you," he told her, his voice still the same but no longer the one she remembered as strong and healthy. The young girl continued to hold his chest wound and that's when he noticed her bobbing shoulders and the hair in her face. With one free hand, the man reached out to touch her. "Darlin', don't cry, I'm still here, I'm not leavin'," he said to her in a calming tone, admiring the softness of her blond hair as he carefully stroked it; Meghan slowly raised her head again and saw the forming puddle of blood around them.

"I don't want you to die, you're bleeding bad, please don't leave me," the child was scared, very terrified for his life; without him, she was all on her own, she loved him with everything she had. She put her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly, letting her tears melt in to his filthy locks of hair.

Philip remained as still as he ever was; he put his arms around her and closed his eye. He couldn't leave her, not like this, not a damn mess like this. His breathing though, wasn't so good; the pain was almost unbearable, but he thought of Meghan. He was going to make damn sure he sticks around if its the last thing he does, he wants to see this girl grow, he missed out on Penny's young life, but with Meghan, he can start over. This little child completes him, without her he's nothing but a dead man. Just hearing those words come from her, that made him almost stronger in a strange way; she expected him to be dead in less than an hour, at this rate yes, but that's not the plan. He just had to get up off his ass, suck it up and finish what he started.

"Hey, I'm goin' to be here with you okay, you stay here, I need to go look for somethin' to patch me up, don't worry, darlin'," while he spoke, he pulled her back by the waist, looking up in to those sweet baby blue eyes of hers, brushing back hair with a bloody hand. Meghan gave a simple little nod of her head, and gave the man a terrible look of hurt. She's always listened to him, he was smart, he knew what to do and he was always there for her; they needed each other more than anything.

The man smiled and made a careful attempt at standing; the girl was there to help him. "You stay here, use the knife if you have to, I'll be right back," he made sure the little girl understood what was being told to her and she nodded again, picking the weapon back up from the ground, holding it tightly.

He turned his back on her again and went on down the hall, with his pistol in hand. He searched the broom closet, first thing, and no sign of any walker; the man had finished scoping out the rest of the house just in 20 minutes and he came back to where Meghan should still be, and when he realised she was no longer there, he felt something inside him snap a little bit. It wasn't a good feeling whatsoever. He called out to her in an angry tone, and doing that wasn't healthy on his aching body, he used the wall to help him stand before his legs had a chance to give out.

His lungs were on fire by the time she showed up again, and he was so distraught she found him in tears, crying in to the wall.

"Brian, I'm sorry, don't cry I wanted to help too, please don't hate me, please?" the little girl had cried out to him, still holding the weapon he gave to her, tears marking her face just the same. Damnit, that child was a handful; she's never once seen him cry and now that she has, she knew exactly how much he really cared.

He felt more ashamed with his tears than anything; he wanted to be strong around her, that's all he wanted.

Moving slowly and very carefully from the wall he had stained in blood, Brian limped toward Meghan and patted her delicately on the top of her head. She was tense before the pat, she only assumed he was mad at her and wanted to punish her for leaving, but he did the exact opposite, she smiled at the gesture and from his over-coat, he pulled out a tiny bottle of rubbing alcohol and lucky enough for him, some wrap. The bullet though was still lodged in his left shoulder, it hurt like hell, but the frightening wound straight through his chest was almost completely numb.

He needed a place to sit down and start on his wounds. "Don't do that again Meghan, I don't want anythin' happenin' to you, you here?" he was a little stern with his little speech, he had to but she took it as is and helped him in to the kitchen of the little house.

Meghan let go of his waist for a second to pull back a chair at the table so he had a spot to sit, he sat down and let out a sigh with his hands rested in his blood-soaked lap. His eye was closed and his head went slowly to the side; Meghan released a little whimper of worry and reached out to touch his face startling him awake. She gave him another one of her saddened looks that broke his heart everytime;

"I'm awake, don't worry little one," the man said with a sweet smile and with a little help from her, he was sitting straight up in the chair with just a tiny hunch in his back; he was very exhausted and lost so much blood.

Meghan was only eight years old, but she knew how to help someone in need; she stood before him and took a quick look at his bloodied clothes where the wound was in his chest. "Will you be mad if I help you with your hurting spot?" the little girl asked as her blue eyes found his green one.

The man swallowed and situated himself before shaking his head with another smile; "Not at all but let me take my coat off first," he said to her and then began to pull his arms free from his long sleeves, which only caused more pain since he was trying to hurry and get it off. Meghan put her hands on his arm and he stopped, watching her pull it free and she did the same to the other one; she was a gentle little thing. After it was removed from his body the little girl stared at his shirt that was completely soaked in blood, turning the color of it a dark red.

He saw her brows furrow strangely and that's when he took her two hands in to his one and stopped her from crying at the horrible sight. "I'll take it off and you take it and give the sleeve a good pull, okay?" he instructed the young girl and she nodded her head in acknowledgement; his hand was warm and she loved the feeling.

As he shifted around in his chair trying to get it off after the buttons were undone, he successfully pulled each arm from the sleeves and handed the weighed down shirt over to her. She held it in both hands like she was holding a baby, looking down at it in fear, but she did what she was told and pulled on one of the sleeves like no tomorrow until they both heard an instant rip! He cracked a crooked grin at her and she handed him the sleeve;

He then placed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and the wrap on the table, using the sleeve as a cloth to wipe away all the blood.

Meghan couldn't help but watch as he did that. She was scared, surprised and nausiated by the sight but she had to get over that sometime; he finished cleaning himself up a bit, the pain still there and with every breath he took it felt like he was being mutilated all over again, but the little girl before him soothed his nerves by softly rubbing the top of his hands. He was in terrible pain and she watched his open wound glisten as his insides were met by a little break of sunshine.

It shook her; "Now time for the rubbin' alcohol," he said aloud so she knew to watch while he did it; this would be good life experience for her. She needed to know what that was for in case she needed it some day.

He poured half the bottle over the open wound and his head fell back against the chair, using his thighs to squeeze the hell out of as the burning pain erupted inside him. He tightened his jaw and let his eye meet Meghan's again. The girl continued to watch and noticed how it bubbled and became the color white, almost foamy like. It just looked beyond painful, being able to see inside of his own body like that, she wanted to cry again;

"Will you pour the rest over for me?" he asked, handing her the bottle, slouching himself backward so she had room to dump it. The girl frightened, as she was took the bottle and poured it all over, making sure no area was left untouched. She wanted to get it over and done with and it felt really good to be able to help him like that. Eventually the bleeding subsided, but now he needed to get himself wrapped up so he didn't catch an infection.

As he stood up in a hurry, he grabbed on to the back of the chair for balance and reached out for the wrap that was on the table;

He looked at Meghan and handed it to her. He wanted her to know these things, just in case anything ever were to happen to him. "Put the sticky side on my left side like this," he began, grabbing her little hand that had the wrap in it and pressed the right side of the white wrap to his skin, showing her just how to do it. She felt the heat of his skin radiate on to her own;

She looked up at him one more time before continuing, wrapping a good amount of the sticky stuff around him until his entire wound was covered and the wrap was tight.

From the open window above the sink, Meghan could hear the birds chirping and saw the sun shining through; her face lit up in an instant and Brian took notice of it. The man sat back down in the chair and began to pick at his bullet wound, the pain damaging whenever he moved his left arm.

"Are you okay?" the young girl asked, standing before him, worrying for his health all over again. Brian only nodded and looked at the wound; "Yeah I'm fine, I just need somethin' to pull the bullet out with and everythin' would be perfect, you stay here, I'll look for somethin'," the man explained to her and left the room.

He'd left his knife whenever he was gone, he wasn't going to take any chances while he's with her. He climbed the simple staircase to the top floor, holding on to the railing as he went up, and that's when it hit him! He let out a muffled curse word just before his grip slipped from the railing and he was forced right back down the stairs, and he just lay there at the bottom limp. Meghan heard the ruckus from the other room and ran to see what was going on, and that's when she found Brian laying still at the bottom of the steps with a walker right beside him with two broken ankles.

She was suddenly over-come by several emotions all at once; she knew she had a weapon and Brian was going to be walker food if she didn't hurry up. "Brian, Brian!" she cried out as tears fell from her face, holding tighter than ever to the knife.

He didn't move, not one flinch.

The walker was close to him, the sound of it groaning and growling terrifying her; she watched it struggle to crawl its obese body across the floor, where he had fallen from the stairs as well over top of Brian, to the other side. The fat thing could barely move, "Get away from him!" Meghan cried out and with that, she charged towards the walker, it's mouth dripping with saliva and muck, and she plunged the knife deep in to it's head from the top, and the penetration itself made her cry; she's never hurt another person in her life, and seeing the knife in its head and the blood draining out, she couldn't believe what she's done;

The little one cried and cried, leaving the knife deep in the walker's cranium, waiting for something, anything to happen.

"M-M...Meghan," was the only thing she heard overpower her sobs; his soft whisper snapped her back to reality and soon the little girl was by his side, crying over him. He hit his head hard on the stairs while coming down, but as he began to move, there were no signs of broken anything, but his wound was bleeding again, and he looked gruesomely pale.

In the process of the fall, a loose nail must've cut at his face, he looked disturbed and no matter what, he still continued to bleed.

"You're bleeding, I'm sorry!" Meghan cried and ran right in to him as he came to a final sitting position against the wall; her face was buried against his warm soft chest and the smell of blood was astounding, but she grew used to it. She'd love him no matter what he smelled like or what he looked like.

"H-he bit me," Brian admitted as soon as the silence came around, his arms almost tight around her little form. Brian felt the little girl's tear stained face move across his skin and she looked up at him like she had no clue what he just said. She knew exactly what he had said;

He took in a deep breath and closed his eye for a moment, mouth half-open. He didn't want it to be this way, hell no, but there was no way he'd survive a large shoulder bite. The damn thing must've bit him when he was too stunned by its strength from the fall, to even realise or feel anything. Brian wanted to cry so damn bad, but he couldn't let her see that again. The man swallowed and looked down at her, as she looked down at his legs sprawled out before him.

"P-Penny wo-would've loved you," Brian said with a smile and he closed his eye with a little chuckle and a cough. Meghan cradled herself up in to his lap and melted in to his bare torso, eyes gazing and scanning his face.

"Whose Penny?" she asked, tears still falling as she spoke, reaching out to hold his hand. The man reopened his eye and turned to her gaze. "She was m-my da-daughter," he gave her an answer, adoring the way her petite hand and body felt against his. He was definitely not going to make it, and he could already feel his body begin to shut down, ready for the reanimation. Meghan stared in to his face in silence, her eyes welling up so much she could hardly see anymore.

"I love you Brian, please don't leave, please," she cried, never turning her eyes away from him, her little hand holding on to his own for dear life. She truly loved him, she loved him as much as she loved her grandfather, her mother, she wanted him to stay here forever with her; the man let the back of his head hit the wall, but his eye found hers. He had a smile on his lips and she used her only other free hand to trace a fingertip over his sun-dried lips. She couldn't believe this was actually happening to her, to Brian. He was her guardian angel, he was never supposed to leave, but with one little kiss to her forehead, and a strong embrace, he began to fade;

"I-I won't e-ever leave you, I promise..." and those were his final words, before his entire body went limp and he felt suddenly cold to the touch. Meghan cried on for what seemed like hours, she didn't want to put him down, she couldn't shoot him, she couldn't bust his skull in, she loved him.

"Goodnight," was all she said, before she bunched herself up in to a ball against his body, and fell asleep.

::

E/N: So, did you readers enjoy it? It was almost hard to write this, and the ending was bittersweet I would say, there will be more of these two coming around soon, so I hope you fans enjoyed reading such a sappy story, thanks for reading!