Chapter Two

Thanks so much for the reviews, guys – they mean a lot. Not sure how many chapters this will be. I have an idea where I want to go with it so I guess I'll just write until I'm done with it

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Andrea really needed to work on her tracking and awareness skills, Daryl thought as he followed Andrea up the ravine, his crossbow light in his hands. She was several feet ahead of him, ambling through the forest in her cute little shoes (how women crucified their feet by squeezing them into overpriced crappy little shoes never ceased to astound Daryl and Andrea was no exception), Glenn's backpack slung over her shoulders, moving as though she had no cares in the world. She was probably whistling a tune, thinking she was back in Florida with her Mercedes parked at the top of the hill.

He'd been following her since she left camp, more or less. She had started poking her head into his tent during the mornings whether they were due to patrol together or not. She never stayed longer than a few minutes, but this morning he was awake but in bed when she appeared. He had been surprised when he cracked open his eyes and saw her head poke through his tent flap; it was early morning and not only was she up and ready to start her day, but he wasn't. Since his near miss in the forest, his sleep cycle had been shot to shit. It was pissing him off. So he'd gotten out of bed, grabbed his gear and followed at a discreet distance. A couple of times he thought about calling out to her but her gait and tension in her shoulders indicated that she didn't want the company. He got that. But after what had happened to him on this trail, he didn't want to just leave her here. So he followed her – what else did he have to do now that Sophia had been found?

He stilled when he saw her stop partway up the hill, pausing to take a long drink from her water bottle, before she resumed her trek. Sweat had trickled down her neck and was running down her arms. The backs of her arms and legs were covered in grit and dry leaves. She was walking slowly but with purpose and he wondered why she had come to him that morning. There was no reason for her to be out here alone, not now. Maybe she had wanted to ask him to join her, had acted as emissary from Dale or Rick or Glenn or any of the others who didn't know when to leave well enough alone. Or maybe she was still atoning, visiting him like she was going to church to repent her sins. He knew that in her own way, she was still apologising for shooting him, that her little visits were based on guilt rather than anything else. In a way he wished that she would just quit already. He didn't want her pity or her sympathy. He didn't want to see it in her eyes, in everyone's eyes when they looked at him and Carol. It made him feel sick and angry.

He spotted the walker long before Andrea did; a lone kid, no more than two or three. For a split second the girl became Sophia and Daryl felt as though all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. For the first time since the world went to hell, he hesitated, and in the several seconds it took for him to regain control of himself, Andrea had despatched the kid (with impressive skill given how he had never seen her use a knife except to cut her food into dainty little pieces like she was in a fancy restaurant) and was scrabbling backwards, over the ravine that they had both tumbled down, hers in an attempt to outrun two big walkers who appeared from nowhere. These guys were wearing expensive suits and fancy casual clothes and were probably from the subdivision that Shane and Andrea had checked out just a few days' earlier. They were so focused on Andrea that they didn't even notice him and Daryl used it to his advantage, silently stalking the two men as he quickly moved through the trees, keeping the three of them in his sight as he closed in on them fast. The first one went over the cliff like a giant undead Lemming before he could get to it, but the second one hung back, tilting his head the gauge the safest route to his prey. Raising his crossbow, Daryl despatched it quickly and easily before calling to Andrea.

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"You wanna tell me just what you think you're doin' out here?" He repeated the question as the pair greedily gulped water and Andrea wiped the sweat and dirt off her face. There was a long gash on her cheek, probably from where she had fallen. It wasn't bleeding but the skin was broken, red and angry.

"What's it to you?" Andrea asked defensively, reaching for her backpack and checking that its contents were intact. Her hair was slipping loose from its ponytail and wet, muddy strands clung to the base of her neck and collarbone. Her face was beet red. "Maybe I just fancied a walk."

"You tryin' to tell me you're out on a nature walk?" Daryl couldn't believe she was capable of such dumb behaviour (even if she had shot him) so he asked, "Are you really that stupid to come wanderin' out here on your own?"

Andrea pressed her mouth into a firm line. "So what if I am?" She asked eventually.

Daryl felt like an idiot when he said, "It's dangerous to be out here, especially on your own." He said, before adding, "In case ya hadn't noticed." He pulled himself into a standing position, ignoring the pain in his side from where his wound still hadn't healed. It was bad but manageable and he doubted that he was going to get any more antibiotics from Herschel. He held out his hand to Andrea and she stared at it as though he'd wiped his ass with it and offered it to her.

"You sound like Rick and Shane." She snapped as she hauled herself to her feet.

"Well ... they ain't wrong." Daryl pointed out. He hated admitting that any lawman was right, least of all Shane, but in this case, both men really did have a point.

Andrea shook her head. "You know what?" She said, suddenly furious, "The men in this group are such hypocrites!"

Daryl actually laughed at that. "Oh, this should be good." He said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back against a tree. "Wait a second – let me get comfortable before ya start yammerin' on about some third wave empowerment crap like it actually matters anymore."

Andrea was momentarily stunned that he had heard of the third wave of feminism, but she carried on regardless. "You all talk such bullshit about no-one going anywhere alone, yet when it suits you, you think nothing of just taking off when it suits you without a care for telling anyone else!"

"Girl, are you serious?" Daryl snapped. He couldn't believe he was hearing this. "The world's ended and we just put fifteen people in the ground and you're bitchin' to me because I'm lookin' out for your safety? Well you're fuckin' welcome, alright?"

Reality reasserted itself then and Andrea blew out a long breath. "I'm sorry." She said eventually. "I just ... I wanted some space to breathe." She said, shrugging. "I told Rick where I was, I took off ... I'm not apologising for leaving." She said defiantly. "Not to you, not to anyone. You're not my father, my brother or my husband."

"Thank God." Daryl muttered under his breath.

Andrea continued, ignoring his jibe. There was little malice in it, anyway. "But ... thank you for saving my ass. It was appreciated."

"Well, you're welcome."

The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Andrea held out her hand. "Can I have my gun back?" She asked.

He nodded and held it out to her, grip-first. When her hands reached the handle she clearly expected him to yield the weapon to her but he didn't. Instead he asked, "So where we goin'?"

Andrea's eyebrows shot into her forehead. "Going?" She repeated.

Daryl tipped his head in the direction of the trail. "You gotta be out here for somethin'." He said. "And you clearly don't wanna come back to the camp and I ain't leavin' ya here on your own."

Her gaze narrowed then, clearly trying to work out what he was up to. "Don't you have anything else to do?" She said, a flash of regret crossing her face as soon as the words were out of her mouth and she clearly realised that he didn't have anything else to do. "Daryl, I-"

He waved off her forthcoming apology. "Unless ya want me to follow you from thirty feet away like I've been doin' this whole time?" He said.

She gave him a weak smile and shook her head. "No, you can come along. I was just going to head to the top of the hill and see the valley. Must be nice up there."

"Dunno," He said, shrugging easily as he released his grip on the pistol and began the ascent to the top. "Never made it that far."

"Me neither." Andrea said, tucking the pistol into her jeans as she fell into step with him.

They had been walking for several minutes when she started to open her mouth, clearly working words around in her mouth as she thought about what she wanted to say.

"Spit it out." Daryl sighed as they threaded through the forest. "I can see your brain workin' from here."

She gave him a wry smile. "The third wave of feminism?" She asked.

He shrugged, returned her smile, but said nothing and they continued their walk up the hill.

TBC.