Title: A Hushed Lullaby
Summary: Daryl and Maggie make a shocking discovery while out looking for supplies.
Notes: This is set post season two where the group (minus Andrea) have found the prison. As I don't read the graphic novels, I don't know what's going to happen there so have made up my own agenda.
Spoilers: I heard about a location where TWD season three was filming and a couple of the characters that were there so this has minor spoilers for that. I, of course, don't know what's happening but I don't want anyone to feel like anything has been spoilt by me.

Glenn waited nervously for the door to open and could barely stop a sigh of relief escaping when he saw Maggie and Daryl walk in.

"You've been gone for ages," he said almost immediately. "Everything okay?"

Maggie nodded her head as he approached her, arms seeking to encircle her, to make sure she was really there and safe. He didn't notice that she trembled slightly.

Rick looked to Daryl for confirmation of this and he simply nodded. "Fill you in later," he said as he didn't slow his pace walking through the room.

Since they'd been at the prison, Rick had been determined to utilise the new safe haven but also find out what was close to them that could be of use to the group. They'd found a map of the area but it was of how the area used to look back when the prison was first built and the places around it weren't accurate any more. Rick had taken to making a grid up of the surrounding area and sending a different party out each day to see what surrounded them and bring back any supplies they found.

Today Daryl and Maggie had gone out to search an area. Rick made sure it was nearly always him and Daryl that went out with the others, and if he was concerned about a particular area, if it looked like it might have a high population, he'd make sure Glenn or T Dog went with them.
When he'd sent them out this morning, he'd had no concerns about the area they were searching. But they came back a lot later than any of them expected and neither of them seemed to be in a great mood. He'd barely had a chance to see Daryl, but looking at Maggie he saw she looked a little pale and she wasn't saying much.

"So what happened out there?" Glenn was pushing for more details. Like Rick, he could tell something was off but she clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

"Look, everything's fine, okay? Will you just leave me alone for five minutes?!" she demanded before storming from the room and disappearing from sight.

Glenn looked after her for a few moments, seeming to try and decide what was best, to go after her or not. Hershel stepped up to him before he had a real chance to consider it and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Best leave her to cool off a while. She'll come back when she's calmer."

Glenn sighed, knew he was resigned to waiting for her to return to him but decided he'd do as was expected.

"Come on, it must almost be time for dinner."

Glenn nodded following Rick's lead.

She hadn't intentionally gone to his room, but after she stormed off, she just ended up there.

She lingered by the door, watching him. She didn't want to interrupt him, found something peaceful about just observing the man. But he felt her look and his head shot up towards her. "Sorry," she said when his eyes fell upon her.

He didn't seem concerned that it was her there. "S'okay," he said. "Thought it might be Carol and I can't deal with her right now."

"Are you gonna tell 'em about today?" Maggie asked, stepping inside the room slightly.

"Tell Rick later. Others don't need to know."

She nodded her head at his words and hesitated before she spoke again.

"What do I tell Glenn?"

"Tell 'im what happened. Deserves to know, right?"

"I don't want him to know," she confessed.

The sound of someone clearing their voice made Maggie spin round. Daryl had to crane his neck round to see who it was, Maggie blocking the view. Glenn was stood there, a look of hurt on his face.

"So erm, what exactly is it you don't want me to know, Maggie?" Glenn demanded.

Daryl huffed at the intrusion into his privacy and got up and walked towards the pair. He intended to leave them to discuss whatever they wanted to but as he went to walk past Glenn, the young man snagged hold of Daryl's shirt. "You don't get to just walk away from this! I wanna know," he demanded. Daryl admired the kids' guts but he didn't want to get in the middle of it.

"What do you think happened?" Maggie asked, angrily.

Glenn looked into her angry glare and then to Daryl. His indifference to the whole thing clear, he just wanted to be away from their drama. "What am I supposed to think when you come back like that?" He asked, starting to regret his words and their implications.

"You're supposed to trust me," she said before storming off.

Dinner was tense.

Maggie sat by her sister rather than next to Glenn and the hostility between them didn't go unnoticed by the others, who attempted to keep conversation going nonetheless. Lori engaged Carl as much as possible, hoping that it would help remind the others he was there and they'd not say anything in anger not fit for the youngster to hear. Daryl didn't even show for dinner which didn't help.

Afterwards, Glenn went to relieve T Dog, who was on watch so he could eat and have a rest. Rick was one of the first to leave and was surprised to find Daryl looking over the map and filling in what he and Maggie had found. Rick joined him to see what they'd discovered. Daryl had filled in a building in the grid they'd been too and wrote above it 'Day Care'. He'd also marked the building through with a cross, which they'd done to any buildings that were unsafe in any way.

Rick looked back to the doorway he'd just entered through and saw no one was around still. "What happened?" he pressed.

"You don't need to know," Daryl stated after mulling over the question for a while.

"Maybe not. But maybe you and Maggie need to talk about it," Rick said. Neither had been very talkative since returning. Not a big deal for Daryl, but Maggie couldn't shake that haunted look from her eyes. Now he looked, had a chance to take in Daryl's appearance, he didn't look much better. They'd all seen terrible things, and those things affected them less and less with time. Yet whatever they'd been out and seen, this time Daryl wore it with him. He hadn't shaken it yet, so that made Rick's skin crawl to think what it could be.

Despite his efforts, Daryl made no attempt to continue the conversation, going back to the map. "So, you taking this section tomorrow?" Daryl asked, pointing to another grid on the map.

Rick sighed, looking at where Daryl pointed too. "Yeah. Considering what we found in the section before it, I think I might take one of the women with me. Maybe even Beth. It seems to be pretty much fields and trees that way." Daryl nodded in agreement. They tried to get the women a little more capable of looking after themselves and that was a work in progress, but it helped that they were going out with the men to do these things. It also built their relationships up. Helped them to trust one another in a deeper way. "Okay, we're getting somewhere. I'd feel better if we were bringing a few more supplies back but that can't be helped," Rick stated. "Dinner was good tonight, you should make sure you grab some."

Daryl just acknowledged Rick's comment but didn't say anything either way. He wasn't about to let Rick know the idea of eating anything made him feel completely sick to his stomach, let alone actually eating.

It was late. Rick had taken over from Glenn on watch.

Everyone was asleep. He tried not to wake anyone as he made his way back to the room he shared with Maggie, but climbing into bed with her, she turned on him.

"Did I wake you?"

"No. I was waiting for your apology."

Glenn sighed, "I'm sorry, okay, I didn't... look, I'm not used to someone like you being with me. Your outta my league."

"So what, I'm a slut?"

"No, of course not. I just thought the worst, I'm sorry. I really am."

She relented. "Okay, I guess I can't hold a grudge forever. Just trust me, okay?"

"I do."

"So you don't trust Daryl?" She teased.

"No, I don't think that, I just think it's a dangerous situations, things happen. I don't think he's that kinda guy and I know you're not that kinda girl. But I do need to know what happened to you guys because you've both been acting weird since you got back."

"Promise you won't say anything?" she asked biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Promise."

"This is perfect," Maggie said, looking at the building.

"Day care? I think Carl is a little too old for this. Unless you're thinking of Glenn..."

"Shut up," she replied. She knew that there was a teasing between the pair, although it seemed to be mostly Daryl that did the teasing. She couldn't blame Glenn though, Daryl didn't seem the most fun guy to tease. She'd herself felt like hitting Daryl at his comment moments ago in a playful way like she would have with Sean, but she didn't know how he'd take it. "There might be stuff here for Lori and Rick's baby."

"Isn't this a place people just dump their kids?"

"Yeah, but some people have to leave their babies here, so there should be diapers and all sorts we can take back."

Daryl shrugged, going along with her. He lead the way, crossbow at the ready. Things seemed quiet and he didn't imagine that there'd be many walkers or other people drawn to such a place.

They were in a main hallway, several doors to choose from.

"There should be some storage area around here where they keep all the stuff," Maggie whispered.

Daryl opened the first door carefully, looking around for any sign of a walker or another survivor. It seemed clear and he stepped inside, Maggie following close behind.

The room was set out nicely with children's toys stacked in boxes neatly around the room. The walls were brightly painted and some pictures and the usual alphabet and numbers littered the wall. He couldn't help but notice the blood stains on the window and wondered whether they were outside or in. This distraction meant he didn't notice Maggie slip away from him and head to the door. She'd assumed that it would be where they kept the supplies. Maybe it used to be, but there was no supplies in it now.

Daryl turned just as she pulled the door open and the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen flopped off the shelf. Her scream startled Daryl even though he'd seen the thing fall from the shelf, he just hadn't expected her to scream. She stumbled backwards quickly. "What the hell is that?" she asked.

Daryl pushed her back behind him as he moved closer to the pile of gore on the floor. "Whatever it is, it's not dead," Daryl said as the thing wriggled about a bit. He poked at it carefully not sure he could make out what it was. It seemed covered in blood, looked like it has been skinned. It wasn't until he prodded it a certain way that he saw it was clearly a baby. Or had been.

"Oh my God," Maggie gasped behind him, seeing it as well. Daryl stood up and aimed the crossbow and let the arrow pierce the skull of the walker. He looked to Maggie and she looked like she was just about keeping down any food she'd eaten that day.

"C'mon," Daryl said motioning for her to follow him. She did as she was told and when they got far enough away he planted her in a spot. "Stay here and don't move 'til I get back,"

"You're not leaving me here,"

"Wait," was all he said as he left her in the room anyway. She couldn't help but stare at the dead thing on the floor. She was transfixed with it. How the hell it ended up on a shelf in a cupboard she had no idea. She realised Daryl hadn't removed the bolt from it. She knew ammo was low and he needed every arrow he had. She started to make her way over to it. Even knowing it was dead, she couldn't help but be cautious. When she got to it, she pulled on the arrow but because it was so small, she ended up picking up the arrow and the thing still being attached to it. She lowered it again so that it was back on the ground and moved her right foot so that it against the skull of the walker.

As she tried to pull the arrow out, the whole skull caved in and her foot was left in the remains of the head. She still had the arrow in her hand and backed away quickly before turning and throwing up on the floor.

She was on her knees, tears on her face when Daryl came back in. "Lets go," he said, gesturing for her to come quickly. She got up, trying not to sob any more. "Did you find anything?" she asked.

He shook his head.

She followed him back out to the car where she finally realised she was still holding on to the arrow. She held it out to him and he didn't seem to notice for a moment. She realised for the first time since they'd got out that he looked awful. She dropped the arrow down by his crossbow.

"What did you find?" She asked. He just shook his head. "There must have been something there," she pushed.

"I couldn't... it's not safe in there."

They sat their in silence for a while before Daryl didn't attempted to head back for a while. She was sure if he didn't have his arms crossed so tightly around himself she'd see him shaking just as she was.

On the way back he told her not to talk about it to the others. She'd nodded in agreement, knowing that might be hard for Glenn.

Maggie woke up early despite the fact she'd spent some of the night awake talking to Glenn.

He was still sound asleep, so she slipped out of bed and headed to get herself some water. She didn't expect anyone else to be around so early, but there was Daryl, sat in what they'd made their living area. She guessed the place was the guards old room as it had sofa's and was extremely comfortable, not like a prison at all. He didn't notice her come in until she was fairly close to him, he seemed a little lost in his own world.

"You're up early," she commented and as he just shrugged his shoulders she hesitated. "Let me guess, you haven't even been to sleep, have you?"

He just ignored her and she checked around to make sure nobody was about to interrupt them. "Look, I know you don't want them to know what was at that place. I get it, it was horrible. But I saw what was in that room, so you might as well tell me what you saw because you can't carry on like this, clearly."

"Get the hell outta my face, girl." he said, hostility brimming through him as he got up and left her alone in the room.

Rick hadn't gone out for the check he was supposed to.

Lori had been feeling ill and he decided one day of not checking the grid would be okay. He didn't want to send Daryl out when he'd been out the day before and with both T Dog and Glenn having been on watch though the night, it seemed unfair to expect them to go. So he stayed and between him and Carl, they'd pretty much waited on Lori all day. He'd insisted she have a day of bed rest and she'd relented at his persistence.

He'd barely thought about Daryl and Maggie's grid check the day before until Daryl sought him out, lingering around a bit, waiting to get Rick alone to talk.

Rick hadn't failed to notice Daryl's lack of group activity the last few hours. Missing dinner and breakfast with them all.

"I need to head out," Daryl said.

"What for?" Rick questioned.

"The building we went too yesterday. I need to go back," when Daryl wasn't forthcoming with more details, Rick realised he'd have to push for them.

"There's got to be a reason. You're supposed to be on watch soon. And I gotta say Daryl, you look like shit. You want me to let you go driving off for God knows what. Gimme a reason man."

"Clear the place out."

It was all Daryl was going to give it seemed. But Daryl's mind was resolved to do this. Rick knew him well enough by now to know that. Whatever it was about that place, Rick knew it couldn't be good. "Okay, but I'm going with you."

Daryl shook his head at that. "You don't wanna see it,"

"I'm not letting you go alone and I'm damn not gonna send anyone else. It's either that or you don't go."

"You can't stop me," Daryl threatened.

"I'm not trying to stop you, I'm trying to compromise."

"I'll go with him."

Daryl took one look at Maggie and shook his head, no.

TBC