This story is going to be close to my heart. All of my others have, but this idea has been sitting with me from the beginning, and I've just learned how to make the main character exactly who I want her to be. I really hope anyone that gives this a read will review and let me know if it's worth pursuing, if they'd be interested at all in what happens to these characters. Read, review and enjoy. Thanks everyone

Chapter One

Daryl…

"Ya just know we're gonna get in trouble for this right?" She had that worried look on her face. Why was she always so damn nervous now a day? Always. He never caught a break.

"Yup… and the worst that would happen to ya is what?" He snapped at her. Ever since she started hanging out with Brett and his friends she'd turned into a big chicken. Someone they would've made fun of, or ignored completely… that's what she was. "Grounded?" He snorted in her direction, rolling his eyes, frustrated. "Uh oh, poor Eli's gotta stay in this weekend, sorry, she'll have to miss out on 'guy's night'." He mimicked, flicking back his imaginary hair.

"Guys?" Her face turned toward his in anger, holding on to the post shooting up from the dirt driveway in front of them. The trees were overgrown right around the mailbox. One of the coolest things about this plan was they'd be able to say they'd been inside the house on Mill Road… they'd talked about it since they were little. "Daryl, don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a damn guy."

Daryl dropped his eyes and muttered. "Yeah, I noticed, not like it's a secret."

Eli just pretended like she didn't hear him. She was always doing that. Whenever he'd get mad and say things he wanted to hear an answer to, she'd just shut up. Yeah, frustrated, that's how he always felt with her. She drove him crazy.

And if anything ever happened to her stupid ass… well… even at age fifteen Daryl knew what that would mean. His stomach had dropped at the thought of it in the past. Other than Merle, well, Eli's the only one he'd miss if life tried to go on without her. He'd miss her so much… yeah… it made his stomach drop.

She turned back toward him and frowned. "I don't think anyone's there… this is a bad idea."

He was freaked out, but there was no way he was gonna tell her that. "Shut up, it's fine, quit bein' a baby."

When he looked up to her she was so mad… he'd never seen her face that red. She was soooo mad…. "I'm not a fucking baby."

Daryl tried to swallow surprise. She'd never said that before. Eli hardly ever swore… and she never said 'fuck'… ever… she'd get mad when he said it. He felt a certain power when the word left his lips, it made his spine tingle… his smile was his own when he looked in the mirror and said it aloud. That word was his, his angry weapon he could throw when she made him mad… why was she taking it away? What was wrong with her these past few weeks anyway?

He just stood and watched her long hair sway behind her as she strode up the lengthy walkway. His eyes fell on the weathered door, the spray painted siding, the shutters nailed to the outside of the windows. He remembered what his brother had told him, suddenly and with nausea creeping up his throat. He'd gone there to get high with his friends, he'd "had sex with some slut there"… he'd come home telling Daryl about it… right before Pops heard them and come out of his bedroom screaming bloody murder… ready to kill them both just for talking past nine at night.

"Wait! WAIT!" Daryl's voice carried down the long driveway. She turned her whole body around and stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.

Eli grinned and flipped him off, cupping her hand around her mouth and shouting, "Who's the baby now?!"

That was it. She disappeared inside, leaving the door wide open behind her. The gaping hole she'd faded into got bigger and bigger the quicker he ran to it. He knew right then, the moment her strawberry curls fell into the shadows… Daryl knew it then.

He took a deep breath and followed her into the darkened house.

Present Day…

She wasn't afraid anymore. She'd decided against it in the beginning, and was desperate to keep that decision final. Fuck being afraid. Nothing she could do to change things… nothing. Do what you gotta do, always, do what you gotta do to stay alive. Eli watched her young niece sleep soundly a few feet away from her. She had to hand it to Sarah, she was damn good at setting up a temporary blind. They slept soundly and out of the reach of walkers almost every night thanks to Sarah. And of course Emilie's lesson's. She could thank her sister for that too.

She missed her sister. Em's blue eyes invaded her mind, the way they squinted when she smiled. The way she sounded when she laughed. Eli always felt particularly proud of herself when she could make Emilie laugh. Em was always so serious, life was a bitch, and she treated it like one. So when Eli told a joke that made her sister really laugh… it was like cool water on a fresh burn. It was such a relief… it's no wonder she strived for it so often. Her own selfishness, nothing sweet or sentimental about it the way Eli viewed things. She was selfish, plain and simple. Relying on these memories of the good times to keep her from swallowing a bullet.

Then again, Eli wasn't quite the coward she accused herself of being. She would go to the end of the earth before just letting herself die. You make your own choices… you make your own life… your decisions…. Your fault and your triumph… yours…

It was getting cold, and they no longer had the protection of a home and other people. They'd lost both in the past 48 hours. The people… their people…. Robert's eyes entered her mind. The way they twitched underneath his lids when he kissed her. He never would've thought her eyes were open… but they were. Eli had never shut her eyes during a kiss in her whole life.

Except this one time… like most things… one time is always just different. Different from every other time you've done the exact same thing. Eli didn't even know what any of that shit meant, didn't know why she closed her eyes, or understand her own impulses. She hated him. Like, really hated him. Why was it she gave the best of herself to him… always? She never half-assed anything when it came to Daryl. Who knew when you were going to get him in the same mood he was the day before. Carpe Diem… Daryl Dixon taught you what that shit meant. What it meant to seize the day. You had to, living his life. Otherwise, what was the fucking point?

Daryl…

This place was unnerving, every tower a tall reminder of where they really were.

He didn't hesitate when he and Rick had stumbled across the prison in the distance, just opposite the pond that lay at their feet. Sanctuary, solace, peace… usually words you wouldn't associate with a building with bars across the windows… but that's what popped into his head. Those words.

Making it in wasn't an easy task. He and Rick worked together diligently on a plan, executed it perfectly, but it still took the meat right out of him. As he lay his head down on the cheap pillows that smelled of other men's tears and sweat, the only thing he could picture was what he laid his head on the night before. Dirt. A dusty, rock filled road, nowhere really. That's where they had been the past 7 months. Fucking nowhere.

Daryl's eyes fluttered, finally giving in to the exhaustion that had already taken his body. His mind followed swiftly, as he fell into a deep sleep…

"I just don't know what yer' fuckin' problem is lately." Daryl spit out, fury dripping off the ends of his words. "A few months back you'd a' been jumpin' at the chance to go on one of these with me. It's an adventure." He shook his head, disgust filling his heart. "Yer' supposed to like em', remember? Ya used to anyway… what… is Brett such a pussy that he can't handle shit like this? Ya gone soft cuz of that limp dick piece of shit?"

Her green eyes found his, matched his intense blue. When she stared at him like that it always shut him up. He hated the shame he felt when she'd glare. He'd automatically know he'd been wrong just by the look she shot him. He'd never admit it though. That's something Brett would do… coward. Apologies were for the birds.

"He's not a piece of shit Daryl." Her jaw moved from side to side. She was moving the food around on her lunch tray without taking a bite. He could tell she'd lost weight over the past few months, her collar bones were sticking out… so were her breasts.

Maybe that was it. Maybe that was why she was actin' so different. She'd been moody and weird since she started lookin more like… well… prettier he guessed. That's the word that came to mind when he thought of her now a' day. Pretty. She so was… but some things remained the same. Things about her he'd loved in the first place. Her long strawberry curls, wrapped in golden tendrils. They fell around her eyes when she got shy. He liked that.

Daryl grinned, "Just a limp dick then?"

There it was, the sideways smile he was always trying to coerce out of her stubborn face. "Sorry to disappoint, but I wouldn't have any idea about that sort of thing." She sighed heavily, setting her fork down and glancing over to the table where all her new friends were. Daryl turned slightly to catch Brett and Kyle's eyes on the two of them.

"The fuck they starin' at?" He snapped.

"They asked me to sit with them today." She shrugged as her eyes fell to the table. "I said no."

It was the way she said it… how her eyes seemed to be filled with guilt because she sat with him instead of them… if she wasn't a girl he'd a' punched her in the face. "Well lucky me, Eli. Thanks for sacrificin' a whole half hour for me. Good for you, hope it helps you sleep at night." He continued to glare as she put her face in her hands. Daryl thought triumphantly that he'd made her cry. Good. She deserved it.

"Go to hell Daryl." Her voice was so low that he almost didn't hear her. He watched as she lifted her face. "Just so you know, nothin' about your comfort or popularity has anything to do with how well I sleep at night."

Eli stood then, knocking the table forward. Daryl almost fell out of his chair as she tore out of the cafeteria with force. He would have gotten up to follow her… he really would have… but Brett stood and raced after her before Daryl even had the chance to get his thoughts together.

Piece of shit. Daryl thought with malice in his heart. Best-friend-stealing piece of shit… All he'd wanted Eli to do lately was just stay. Just stay and listen… like she used to.

He used to walk up to her front door, amongst the beer cans scattered on the porch, and she'd bolt out after the first knock. Her parents never asked where she was goin', guess they didn't care. That's why they were best friends. Neither of their parents gave two shits about them. That's why she was so easy to talk to. That's why he could sit there with her, silence between them, and not feel weird. With others, his silence would make them squirm. They always had to fill it with some stupid joke or fact or conversation piece.

With her he'd be quiet and she'd let him. She always just let him be who he needed to be in the moment. He didn't want to lose her. Why was he pushing her away with every word? Daryl hated himself most moments of the day, but nothing like when he felt he'd disappointed the girl with the strawberry curls.

Eli…

She had let Sarah go off on her own again. Eli was becoming soft. The girl asked for time alone and instead of insisting on her constant presence at her side, she'd just let her. The harder she fought her young niece, the more the girl hated her. She was so young, but she acted like she knew everything there was to know. Sarah would argue with the quick wit of someone twice her age. Eli knew she had Em to thank for that. Her sister would never raise a girl who wouldn't challenge authority if she didn't agree with it. Em would never raise a girl who wasn't her own person a hundred and ten percent of the time.

Thing was, Em was gone, and now Eli had to be responsible for Sarah. And Eli was Sarah. Needed constant control, to know every detail of every single thing going on around them. Sarah needed something Eli had always known she needed. To be valued. To know that other people, older… younger… whatever… knew how valuable her opinion was. No one was to talk down to her… not ever.

Eli completely understood. She also completely understood the trouble and pain this attitude could earn Sarah throughout her life. Eli had lived it, lived through the consequences of her own careless actions. Sure, she was lucky to be alive… right? Well, it didn't always feel that way. Sometimes the guilt and humiliation would threaten to swallow her whole. In those moments her skin would blotch red, her cheeks would get hot, eyes filling with tears she refused to let spill over to her cheeks. Eli would have to untangle the good things from the bad in those moments. Just so she knew there were still good moments to be had.

As she lay in her blind, waiting for Sarah to return from her first morning hunt on her own, his face entered her mind. The last time she'd seen him. That last time… what it had done to her… it was surprising any good thoughts still came to her in these quiet moments. But quiet moments… that's what they had together. When the whole word was loud around them, deafening, threatening to strangle the very life out of their veins… they'd lay down in the tall Georgia grass together. They'd create a straight line in the field behind her parent's home, upside down and cheek to cheek. She used to close her eyes and take deep breaths in, smelling every wildflower and grain of sand in a fifty mile radius. He'd close his eyes and breathe her in. She knew it. He'd never tell her so, but she knew it anyway.

She missed him. Eli had missed him for quite a few years before the world fell into ruin. It wasn't the end of the earth that was their undoing. It was every other bad thing that could happen, every single bad thing that might happen to someone, it'd happened to either of them. Both of them, or just one… and they'd tried their best to get through it. They were the kids from the bad end of town. One that tried her hardest to get out, the other who just accepted his fate as someone who'd never amount to much…

She felt ashamed that she'd ever believed that to be the truth. Daryl Dixon would always amount to more than you would expect. Always. Out of every person she'd ever known, he was the only man that never disappointed her. Never. He lived up to his word. He made promises he knew how to keep.

That's why she gave the best of herself to him. It's why she always would. If Eli ever saw him again, she'd let him know. Let him know how much he meant to her throughout her whole life. That without him… she would have died that day. That day at the house on Mill Road…. She'd have gotten lost inside of its walls, like the other girls that had gone missing in the few years before what had happened. If Daryl hadn't been there with her… She'd be dead. Bottom line. End of story. Daryl Dixon saved her life. And she'd never even thanked him for it.