- Of course I don't own this, The Walking Dead. I wouldn't have to room with three other people to afford my rent if I did. I just happened to sit in on a talk session with Norman Reedus (a.k.a. Daryl) today and it made me want to write a fanfiction.

There are some ships I like: Daryl/Beth, Daryl/Michonne, Rick/Michonne...I liked Andrea/Rick before she died. Andrea/Daryl too. Realizing I like to ship Daryl with almost anyone so much...This is definitely gonna be a Daryl type of fic. I won't know until I begin writing, though, who the lucky lady is...or lucky guy...We'll both just have to find out, won't we?

The latest episode I've seen is "No Sanctuary" so I'll start from there and just veer off to my liking. -

The forest was quiet. Which was good and bad. Good because quiet meant no nearby walkers. Bad because quiet also meant eerie. No sounds were being made, not even from a stray squirrel. It made Michonne feel as if something foreboding was about to happen. She cast her eyes around the group from where she sat beside Rick. They had wandered away from the tracks into a clearing where they had decided to settle down for the night. Noise traps had been set to warn them if a walker happened to get close. Despite the lack of sounds, everyone except Michonne seemed to be slightly more relaxed than usual. They were all reuniting. Now that they had escaped Terminus, now was the time for everyone to revel in the fact that they had found each other and hear about what they each had gone through. Even Rick, who was normally one of the most alert, was lost in the beauty of his baby's face. The only other person who looked slightly on edge besides Michonne was...Daryl.

She cast her eyes over to him now. He was fussing with one of his arrows. It seemed like he was sharpening the tip but she knew that he was really just pretending to be busy so that others wouldn't try to talk to him. Maggie had already asked him to tell the story about Beth three times. She was trying to get a clue about the person driving the black car with the white cross when there was no clue to be found. Daryl had been right. Beth was just gone. And "just gone" was the worst kind of gone. Michonne could tell that Beth's disappearance was affecting Daryl in a bad way. He had been more sullen than usual since rejoining their group.

"You can go over there and talk to people you know." Rick's slow drawl broke through Michonne's concentration. "You don't have to stay over here with us." He placed a bottle gently between Judith's lips as he spoke.

Michonne glanced over at the "us" Rick was talking about. Rick, the baby, and a surprisingly languid Carl, who was laying on his side and smiling gently at the antics of his baby sister. A gentleness sank into Michonne's face when she looked at Carl. She was glad that he and Rick had found Judith. It was the most touching thing she had seen in a while. A small sadness crept into her, as it always did, when she thought about her own child and how she would never see him again.

"No," she said. "I'm going to stay here and keep watch."

"We don't need anyone to keep watch. We have the noisemakers." Rick didn't look up once as he spoke. He was too busy swimming in Judith's blue eyes.

"Well, I'm going to keep watch anyway." Rick finally glanced up at Michonne to see her give him one of her playful smirks. Rick was once again taken aback by this new warmth the warrior woman had. He had always seen her loosen up a bit around Carl but ever since she had found them again after the Governor's attack on the prison, it seemed as if she had made a significant change in her character. Now she was extending her warmth to him too. And it felt...good. Rick returned the half-smile with one of his own. It had been good to have her with him and Carl through the past days before Terminus. He didn't know what he would have done without her. Carl needed a kind of lightness that he just couldn't provide right now. Not when things were so heavy.

"You do what you want to," Rick responded. "Heck, you're going to anyway."

"That's right," Michonne said, with a satisfied nod.

"That's right."

Daryl watched Rick, Michonne, and Carl at the fire. Shadows of the flame flickered on their faces as they smiled at each other. They looked like a damn tableau of a perfect family. Ever since Daryl had rejoined their little group, he had noticed a strange bond that had grown between the three. He almost felt like the odd man out. Which didn't feel good since he had always been Rick's unofficial second-in-command.

Daryl huffed out an irritated breath of air. 'You sound like a pussy,' he reprimanded himself in his head. 'Feelin' all upset 'cause Rick don't seem to need you no more? What kind of shit is that?' He threw the arrow he had been busying himself with aside and laid down on the ground just where he sat, placing his arm behind his head. 'I wonder what Beth would say about it.' His mind wandered to the young, blonde-haired girl as he looked up at the stars. Just when he had started to think that things may be alright...those damn zombies...

He went through that night in his mind again, as he had hundreds of times since it happened. He wondered if there was anything he could have done differently...if it was his fault... 'If I could've just let that damn dog alone!' he reprimanded himself.

He was about to drift off to sleep, going over things he had done wrong since the prison had been overrun, when a clanging sound caused him to sit up and get his crossbow at the ready, propping it over his forearm to hold it steady.

"What was that?" a couple of voices asked.

The fact that he still heard that question let Daryl know that people were still too naive. Like Beth. 'Still good people, my ass,' he thought, as he spoke aloud what he knew the sound to be. "Damn walkers."

Michonne had stood up as well, ready to attack and protect. "Should we kill 'em?" she asked.

"Relax," Rick said from his spot on the ground. He was alert now too, though. "It doesn't sound like a herd. Maybe a straggler."

A few people shifted and looked around uneasily but people settled back onto their haunches. Michonne sat back down slowly and Daryl lowered his weapon. The new group took the moment to begin with a pitch Daryl was sure they had been working on since leaving Terminus.

"Uh...Rick?" Abraham, the big red-headed man began. He stood up and put himself in the center of the clearing. "You've probably heard by now but...it is a fact that this man..." He pointed to Eugene, the nerd with with the mullet. "Knows what started all this and how to fix it. Now, me and my little group were headed to Washington, D.C. and...we figured since you folks don't really have anywhere to go no more...you should come with us. We could use the help."

Daryl settled back onto his hand and looked at Rick. He honestly wasn't sure about the nerd with the mullet. He didn't know whether he had the cure or not. And he didn't really want to get his hopes up just to have them crash to the floor later. He watched Rick, who he knew heard but was taking his sweet time with the answer. Daryl could tell that he was thinking about the group's options as his eyes stayed focused on the baby he was feeding.

"Is it true that you have the cure?" Rick asked, staring at Eugene. Going straight to the source.

"It's true," Eugene said, lifting his head to show confidence.

Rick squinted and Daryl knew he was using the lie-detector eyes he had honed as a sheriff before things went bad. "What is it?" Rick asked.

"I believe there's a chemical we can release that kills all the dead things. Fighting disease with disease," Eugene answered in his monotone voice.

"If there's something like that, why hasn't the government used it already?" Rick asked.

"Probably because of the risks involved. Risks that are too complicated to go into right now." Eugene stood completely still as he spoke. Daryl shook his head. The guy was too weird for him. He laid back onto the ground, throwing his arm over his forehead. He pretended not to listen but he was completely in tune with the conversation.

"Try," Rick growled out.

Not wanting to anger anyone, Eugene took a breath and began to speak. "Well...As I told the rest of your...fine compatriots, I was part of a top secret team that was working to create a strain of microorganisms that could combat illness. The trick to this strain was that we would use the exact, same components in the cure that can be found in the virus. Well, this virus...we were working on apparently mutated when it got into someone's bloodstream and spread from there. The only reason I can think of that the government hasn't tried this particular cure is because either they don't know for certain that the "cure" won't infect the rest of the surviving population or because I'm the only surviving member of the 10-person team left that knows the exact formula for the cure."

"Or everyone in Washington is dead," Daryl supplied from his spot on the ground. 'That's not helping, Dixon,' Beth's voice spoke in his head.

"Or that," Eugene agreed.

"This man is our only chance of ending all this," Abraham said. "And I'm gonna lead him to Washington. With or without your help. But I'm hoping to high hell y'all help. Like I said...we need ya. Tomorrow we're heading into the nearest town to look for a vehicle. We can use some backup."

There was a moment of silence and then Rick spoke, making a decision. "Daryl, Michonne, Maggie, and Glenn. Go into town with these folks tomorrow to find a vehicle. And pick up any supplies you can find. I'll head out with Carl to try and find the safest route to take outta here. Carol, can you watch Judith while we're gone?"

"Of course, Rick," Carol said.

"For now, let's just all finish up what we're doing and get some sleep." With his decision made, Rick gave an affirming nod to Abraham and Abraham nodded back.

Daryl just lay looking at the stars for a while, thinking about what they had been through that day. Rick had stepped up in a big way back there at Terminus. He always did. Now there was no mistake about who the leader of the group was and that was fine by Daryl. Less arguments and confusion that way. In fact, he had never stopped looking at Rick as the leader. Not really. The council had been a good attempt at some kind of democracy but if Rick would have come in and said one word, he knew that he would have been following Rick. The man had survival instinct that kept people alive and Daryl respected that.

This evening, though, Rick had wanted to go back and kill the rest of the people at Terminus. Daryl was glad that Carol had come back at that moment to keep him from making the decision to either agree with Rick or the rest of the group. Because he honestly had no idea what his choice would have been. After the Governor destroyed the prison, he knew that it wasn't wise to leave enemies out there. But...he also knew it would have been dangerous for everyone to go back. And Beth wouldn't agree.

Before long, he felt a presence standing over him. Shifting his head a bit, he looked up to see Carol looking down at him.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Daryl said. He looked back up at the stars. Feeling Carol sit down beside him, he shifted over to give her some room.

Carol's voice spoke softly from his side. "We'll find her again you know." Daryl ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth. He hated how Carol could always know what was bothering him. But he didn't mind it as well. It saved him from having to voice it.

"Yeah, well..." Daryl fought to keep his voice steady. Damned if he'd start acting like a little bitch all over some little girl. "I don't think we will." He didn't even have to look at Carol to know that she was looking down at him and seeing right through him.

"I know you're just saying that because you don't wanna get your hopes up," she said. "But we will find her. And I believe you know that."

"What I know is that I need to get some sleep," Daryl said, turning over onto his side with his back to Carol. "I got things to do tomorrow."

"Okay," Carol said. She gently laid her hand on Daryl's shoulder. Not having to say anything, Daryl knew she understood everything. "Good night." She stood up and walked away, Daryl hearing every step she took until she stopped to settle down wherever she had decided to sleep that night.

"Good night," Daryl whispered. He closed his eyes, deciding to go to sleep. He had another day of hell to look forward to tomorrow.

The next morning, Michonne finished saying goodbye to Carl before they both went off on their separate missions. He told her that if she managed to find two Big Cats and bring them back, he'd owe her a favor. And she was going to cash in by making him stand on his head for five minutes. It would be his fault for entering into a challenge with her anyway. You would think he would have learned by now.

Ten minutes in on the trek up the nearby tracks, Michonne was bringing up the rear with Daryl. Maggie and Glenn were filling up the middle. And Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita were leading them.

"I'm surprised you didn't run off by yourself after the prison fell," Daryl said from beside her in his gruff voice. Michonne rolled her eyes. He would never let her live down the fact that she was so similar to him.

"I tried," Michonne admitted after a second of silence.

"Oh yeah?" Daryl asked. "What stopped you?"

"I started to feel like one of them. One of the walkers. Even while I was still breathing," she said. She glanced over at Daryl. "What's the point of even living if it's gonna be like that?" Daryl nodded. He knew exactly what she was saying. "So I doubled back. Found some tracks. And followed them to a little town. That's where I found Rick and Carl." Relief and gratefulness washed over her anew as she remembered seeing them sitting in that room together. It was then that she knew she didn't have to be alone. Not anymore.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "Beth told me I'd be the last man standing. It didn't feel good when she said it though. I don't wanna be no - last man standing. That's some shit."

"Don't worry," Michonne said. "You won't be. I ain't going nowhere." She gave Daryl a playful smirk and then walked ahead.

Michonne had surprised Daryl before with her smile and this time, he was surprised again. He wasn't sure if he would ever get used to it. But her words caused him to produce a bemused smile of his own. She was right. If there was ever gonna be someone standing at the end, it would be her. Daryl hurried to catch up with her. "Hey," he said. He had seen the way she interacted with Carl. Maybe today didn't have to be as hellish as he thought. Not if they could keep themselves entertained. "Wanna see who can kill the most walkers when we get into town?"

Michonne gave him a questioning look and it made him wonder if he had jumped the gun. "I mean...we're gonna have to kill some anyway," he said defensively. "We might as well make it fun."

"Killing them isn't supposed to be fun!" Beth's voice echoed in his mind, but he shut it out.

"I have to say I'm surprised," Michonne said. "You're always - get in, do the mission, get out."

Daryl shrugged. "You sayin' you don't wanna do it?" he asked.

Michonne thought for a moment. She felt like it would be immoral in some way to make a kind of sport out of what they had to do. But things were always so formal and serious between her and Daryl. Maybe they could stand to loosen up a bit. Besides, she could already tell that Daryl was already waiting for her rejection. And she never liked to do what was expected. "What do I get if I win?" she asked.

"I don't know," Daryl said, only letting his surprise at her acceptance show for a moment. "What'chu want?"

"A kiss," Michonne said. The words were out before she could even think about them properly. Whenever she played the game with Carl, she always just made the stakes something she knew would make Carl uncomfortable. She was doing the same with Daryl but it wasn't until the words were out that she knew how weird they sounded. "On the cheek," she added. Just to clarify.

As expected, Daryl stiffened up and walked in silence for a moment. "Okay," he finally said. He hadn't been expecting that. And he didn't want to even dwell on what made Michonne put that on the table. It made him too uncomfortable to just think about. He'd just have to win this thing so that he could escape the penalty.

"What about you?" Michonne asked, not allowing herself to feel embarrassed. "What do you want?"

"Ummm..." Daryl thought. "I want you to catch my dinner for a week."

"Oh, come on," Michonne said. "Your penalty is so much easier than mine. I don't even know how to hunt."

"If you can kill a walker, you can kill a squirrel," Daryl said.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Michonne agreed. "Fine. But I hope you know that means you're going down. 'Cause I'm not gonna be your serving maid for the next week."

"We'll see," Daryl said.

"Yeah, we will." They shared a small smile and then didn't talk for the rest of the trip. But that didn't stop a bit of excitement from coursing through their veins.

Daryl got two kills upon entering the village. He retrieved his arrows from their decaying skulls and sent a gloating smile to Michonne, who had her hand on the hilt of her sword and who had drawn it out halfway. She sent it sliding back into her sheath with a sigh. "I think I'm craving some boar," he said as he passed her.

"Yeah, well, if I lose, you'll be getting some rat," he heard her reply behind him. "'Cause that's all I can catch."

"Do y'all have a bet going on this?" Daryl heard Glenn ask as he moved forward to keep looking out for walkers and a running vehicle. "'Cause I wanna get in on it..." He moved into a nearby grocery store to see if he could find some canned food and before long, Michonne followed in after him.

"Are you followin' me?" he asked, after looking over his shoulder to see who it was.

"Don't flatter yourself," Michonne said as she moved to the candy section. "I have a bet going with Carl too. A-ha!" She walked with purpose towards the end of the candy shelf and picked up a box of candy bars that held three Big Cats. "And I win."

"Well, that's good," Daryl said. "You should win something today."

"Ha ha," Michonne said dryly. "We'll see who's trash talking at the end of the day."

"Yeah, we will."

"Yeah. We will." Michonne stuffed the candy bars into the bag that was hanging off of her shoulder and she went right back out the front door. A second passed and then Daryl heard the slice of her blade and the thud of something falling to the floor. "One to two!" she called through the door.

Daryl chuckled and continued his inspection of the store. It wasn't until he felt that he had gotten everything that he could out of the store that he exited back out onto the street. Now that he had gotten some supplies, it was time for him to focus on his other tasks...finding a vehicle, and killing as many walkers as possible.

This town was strange, though. There didn't seem to be many walkers milling around. A lot of them must have moved on to greener pastures. Usually, he would have loved the fact that he didn't have some undead bastard creeping on his ass, but now he needed them to be around so that he could make sure to win the bet. He smirked thinking about how everyone would be wondering what was going on when they saw Michonne catering to him. They wouldn't know what to think. Especially Rick and Carl. And he wouldn't say a damn thing. He'd just let 'em wonder. With renewed energy in his step, he walked forward with his bow aimed and ready to kill.

His focus was broken when he heard the revving of an engine and the sound of a vehicle moving forward. He didn't have to wonder where the sound came from because a small storage truck soon came around the corner and presented itself to him. Abraham stopped in front of him and hopped down from the driver's seat. Eugene and Rosita hopped down from the other side. "Look what we found just sittin' there nice and pretty just waitin' for us!" Abraham said. "It didn't even take us long to find it."

"This gon' get us up to Washington?" Daryl asked.

"Yep," Abraham said. "Good engine on her. We just gotta keep her gassed up. And there's plenty of room in the back for all of us to squeeze. Two people and a little person can set up front. You see me, Eugene, and Rosita could all fit up there in the driver's part."

Daryl nodded. It seemed to be as good a truck as any. He sure hadn't been expecting to find anything as good as this. It was like a little blue gift from heaven. "Where's Michonne?" he asked. "Since we got what we came for, y'all wanna head back?"

'If we head back now, I'll win,' he thought with satisfaction.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her," Abraham answered. "I saw Maggie and Glenn a little while back. They were heading toward the police station to look for more riot gear or somethin' like that. Maybe she's with them."

"Let's go," Daryl said. He headed off toward where he assumed the police station would be. Toward the center of town. 'Cause cops always seemed to think they were the center of everything. He would keep that particular opinion to himself when around Rick.

They wandered a couple of miles and it wasn't long before they turned a corner and saw all three of them. Maggie, Glenn, and Michonne. They were standing around a black car.

"We don't need to look for a vehicle anymore guys," Rosita said. "We found one a couple miles back."

Neither Maggie, Glenn, nor Michonne responded. Daryl began to feel that something was up. They were all just staring at the black car. Not saying anything. "What is it?" he asked.

Finally Michonne moved. She took a step back. Opening up a space so that Daryl could see. His eyes landed on a white cross. His heart skipped a beat and he rushed forward. "This is it, right?" Maggie asked, emotion in her voice. "This is the car you said you saw Beth get taken away in!"

Daryl didn't respond. He was too busy inspecting the car. It looked just as it had that night except one of the tire's was flat. Punctured. It looked like it had been stabbed with a knife. Daryl tried to open the back door on the driver's side but it was locked. He moved to the driver's door and yanked. It opened with ease. With dread and hope filling him equally, he bent down to look inside. His breath shortened when he saw blood on the back seat. Blood but nothing else. He reached forward to touch it. It was sill warm. He pushed himself back out of the car. It was still warm! They could still be here!

"Beth!" he yelled. "Beth!"

Maggie joined him. "Beth!" she yelled. "Beth!"

Everyone else tried to shush the two. "Maggie, you're gonna bring walkers," Glenn said, moving forward to grip her arm. She shook him off. "Daryl. Daryl!" But the two didn't pay attention to the people behind them. They moved forward and began to look around the town.

Michonne, with her sword pulled from her sheath, ducked down to look inside the car. She noticed the blood as well. But it didn't seem to be a lot so it was probably not from a major injury. She stood back up and just as she feared, she noticed a couple of walkers appear from behind an abandoned restaurant. She rushed forward and took them out, not waiting for them to come to her. With a quick glance further up the street, she saw that about forty more were on their way. She ran back to Daryl and Maggie. "Come on," she said. "Let's go. There are walkers coming. We can look for Beth later."

She knew neither of them wanted to leave but she could see that they were finally listening. They got their weapons at the ready and, still looking behind and around them, they all began to run back toward the truck. Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita got into the front while Michonne, Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn opened the back of the storage and piled in. Glenn closed the door behind them. It shut with a clang and they were engulfed in darkness.

Daryl spoke from somewhere towards the front of the truck. "Beth is here. I just know it. I'm not going to Washington until we find her."

"Me neither," Maggie agreed.

Michonne slid down to take a seat on the floor of the truck. 'It's gonna be a long day,' she thought. 'And now's probably not the best time to tell him I won. Three to two.'

- Okay. So this is gonna be a love triangle fic. Michonne/Daryl/Beth. Tell me who you root for in the comment section. -