Hey! I've been working crazy stupid hours and haven't had a chance to write much lately. Its been eating at me...so tonight I decided to stay up until I finished a short chapter even though I have to be up in four hours for work...hell, I was watching TWD marathon anyway. Love you guys, please give feedback. Hope you enjoy...I'm dying to write this damn story!

It was three AM. Daryl laid in the bed of the RV that he and Rose used to share. He stared at the ceiling, wracking his brain.

They'd been looking for her for two months and five days. He couldn't remember when exactly he gave the group the option to stop looking, but he also let them know he'd never stop in the same breath. As it turned out, no one had the heart to quit either.

Daryl replayed the last time he saw her over and over again in his mind.

It had been a quiet few months for the group. They encountered a few walkers here and there but all in all it remained safe enough for them to stay in the same place-and for that they were grateful.

He blamed it on himself. They had all gotten too comfortable, started resting a little too easy-but Rose was his. His to protect and love and keep safe.

"I'm so hot", she said to him. "I just want to go to the lake for just a minute!"

It was midday, and hot indeed-Daryl wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as he and Carl cleaned some fish.

"Alright, gorgeous. I'll join you as soon as we're done." He winked.

She beamed, of course, with her gleeful, child-like smile. Daryl watched her pluck a rubber band from her wrist and put her hair up with it before blowing him a kiss. Her flip-flops made a pleasant, summery sound as she walked away that somehow made the heat less horrible.

When everyone realized she was gone-really gone- they all fell silent. All of their organization and skill, their quick action, encouraging words…vanished, just like Rose did.

Daryl was the first to speak. "I don't want to hear that this ain't my fault."

He left them, then, to retrace her steps. No one followed him. It wasn't long before he found the rubber band and her two shoes-all scattered several feet from each other leading away from camp and away from the water.

Daryl knew she'd been taken. That was her way of trying to let him know, and it worked.

He didn't understand how it could happen so quickly, how no one saw or heard anything at all.

He grabbed her things with haste and ran back to the group-they were exactly as he had left them.

Glenn was facing Daryl, and he held Maggie close while she cried into his neck. He couldn't meet Daryl's eyes, just stared out somewhere far away.

Rick just looked determined. He gave Daryl a knowing look, a promise. We'll find her, brother. We'll get her back.

He didn't know about anyone else at that point, but Daryl still believed it. He could still imagine her scent, see her eyes smiling at him. He could still feel her, and he knew in his heart that if she were dead…or undead, he wouldn't be able to feel her anymore.

Every morning he'd brace himself for the absence of that sensation. Every morning, night, and randomly throughout the day. But it held strong and it gave him hope.

He turned on his side facing the wall, leaving enough space for Rose out of habit, one he knew he'd never break. He stared at the unoccupied pillow and imagined her there; her luminous skin in the moonlight that shown through the blinds, her dark hair that sometimes spilled over onto his pillow.

The night she disappeared was the first time he had ever prayed.