[Updated 11/21/15]

Hey! First of all, let me say thank you for checking out my story! I'm very excited to write my first Walking Dead fanfic. I was actually inspired to write this story by Orange Is the New Black.

Enjoy reading and please review!

"We'll have to talk about how you ended up in here eventually. You know that, right?"

Lena sighed when he just grunted in reply, his eyes never leaving the floor.

This is how every weekly meeting of theirs has gone for the past month. He's been in here for more then a month though. Lena's the one that's new to the prison.

The last counselor was Mike. He really was a nice guy. And he genuinely loved his job! Which was a pleasant change to Lena from the constant hatred and boredom that was plainly written on the people's faces around here.

Mike had to quit his job here since his father suffered from a second heart attack. Thankfully, he survived. Mike was moving back to his hometown in Michigan to help his mother take care of his father.

Mike stayed around for Lena's first week to show her around. He introduced her to the inmates she would be meeting with and to the guards she would regularly interact with.

There were eight inmates that Lena would regularly meet with either on Tuesday or Thursday; four on Tuesday, the other four on Thursday. Lena would also have to pop in Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around 11 a.m. and stay until about 1 p.m. just in case other inmates needed to talk, there was an emergency, etc.

She's been trying to convince Daryl to talk about the event that landed him in prison for three years for about a month now. He never talks. He's actually only says about three things during their sessions. He probably thinks the only reason I continue our sessions is to hear myself talk for an hour, Lena thought.

"Okay…. How about we talk about something else instead?" Lena asks Daryl, hoping that if he gets comfortable enough around her after talking about simple things like how his day is going, etc. he'll really open up.

Daryl just shrugged his shoulders, much to her annoyance.

Lena sighed and moved her attention from the quiet man to the clock. Oh my God, really? she thought to herself, we still have 45 minutes.

Lena absolutely hated wasting time. Not that helping Daryl would be a waste of time, but it wasn't like her psychology degree was being used right now.

"Alright. Forget that. What if I started with myself? What if I told you a little about myself first?" Hopefully this will work, Lena thought. If it doesn't, I don't know how much more of this silence I could take.

He shrugged again in response but this time, he glanced up at her really quickly before returning his gaze to the carpet.

"Okay…Well I moved here from New York after I got my psychology degree there. I live-"

"Why would ya move here to work at some prison if ya lived in New York?"

It took Lena a minute to answer since she was in shock at Daryl participating in the conversation this time. And he didn't just answer a question, he asked one! She was excited! Even if he was asking about a subject she preferred not to talk about.

"Um…my dad was in and out of prison my whole life. He had a lot of anger management issue that was always getting him in trouble. Plus, he liked to drink so…that's not too good of a combination." Lena answered in a quiet voice, suddenly becoming shy and nervous.

Daryl nodded his head in understanding, finally looking up into her eyes. Unlike most people, Daryl didn't look at her with pity. He just looked at her like he had the same troubles. It sparked her interest in him.

"What about your dad? Did you have trouble with him?" Lena asked quietly not knowing if she would get an answer or not. Probably not.

His gaze shifted down to the Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hands. It was actually against the rules for Lena to give him that since his guard said an inmate could harm her with the hot liquid. But after her first session with Daryl, Lena could tell he was a good man. She knew that he wouldn't do something as stupid as splash coffee in her face.

They both stayed silent for a few moments before Daryl heaved a heavy sigh.

"Ma dad wasn't 'zactly the nicest guy."

Lena leaned forward in her seat a little, eager to hear what else he had to say. But he didn't continue. He just left it at that.

She nodded her head and wrote down the single word father on the notepad in her lap and underlined it twice to emphasize it.

"Do you mind me asking about your mother?"

"Nah. Died when I was little. Fell asleep smokin' a cigarette. Burned down tha whole house."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Is whatever," Daryl replied, shrugging his shoulders and moving his eyes down to his coffee again.

"You know…I never actually met my mom."

"Hm?" Daryl's eyebrows drew together in confusion but he didn't look up.

"Yeah. She left my dad and me when I was six months old. So of course I met her but…I just don't remember her." Now it was Lena's turn to shrug her shoulders. She watched him and waited for a reaction. But all Daryl did was flick his eyes to meet Lena's for a second.

After that, they didn't talk about anything else. And Lena didn't try and weasel anymore information out of Daryl.

I had received all the information I was going to get from him today, Lena thought. Which was quite a bit compared to our other sessions, so I'll just let him hang out in the office.

His guard, Officer Rick Grimes, came in a couple minutes early as Lena was taking Daryl's empty cup to throw away. His eyes moved from Daryl to the empty cup to end up on Lena.

"Ms. White, I told you that's against the rules," Rick said after closing her door. He crossed his arms in front of his chest while giving her a look that he would give his son.

"I know…but do you really think Daryl would hurt me?" Lena threw away the cup then met Rick's gaze.

"That doesn't matter. Rules are rules." Rick pulled out his little notebook and pen that was attached to his belt. "That's gonna be a shot on Daryl."

Shots were kind of like detentions that were handed out in school. The inmate's first shot was a warning. If the inmate continued to get shots, based on the reason for the shot, the inmate would be punished.

"Oh, come on, Rick. It's just one little cup," Lena begged him. I would feel so incredibly bad if Daryl was punished because of me, Lena thought.

As if suddenly remembering Daryl, Lena glanced down at him. His eyes were trained on Rick as if he was a threat. The rest of his face was void of emotion.

Rick had put his pen on his paper, but didn't write anything. Lena knew he was thinking about Daryl. Lena has always believed that Rick was actually too nice to be working here, but he enjoyed helping the inmates as they waited for freedom.

"Alright, fine. If you don't tell anyone else, I won't," Rick sighed, putting away notebook and pen.

"Of course I won't," Lena said then stepped back as Rick came up to Daryl to handcuff him and escort him back to his cell.

When Daryl left, Lena could feel a smile grow on my face.