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...

Her older brother caught her easily, his arms winding around her back as she buried her face in his neck, sobs of relief escaping her as she held him closer. As much as Grace didn't want to admit it, she was starting to lose hope that she would ever see her brother again, but once again, Grace's faith wasn't miss placed in her brother, and Rick Grimes came through and found his way back to his family.

"Gracie, oh thank god…" He breathed, pulling back to look his little sister in the face, brushing back her dark hair. Grace leaned into his palm, smiling at the childhood nickname that fell from his lips. Rick was the only person she allowed to call her Gracie.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl ran full forces into Rick's legs, sobs racking his frame as his arms wrapped around his father. Rick scooped his son into his arms, holding him close as the young boy buried his face in his father's shoulder. Lori was the next to come running over, her arms wrapping around her son and husband both.

"Oh thank god…Oh god, I'm so glad your okay," Rick sobbed, holding his family as close to his body as possible, feeling truly happy for the first time since he woke up in his hell hole.

…

Later, once it was dark and they were all gathered around the campfire, Rick told his story about how he came to be in the city…How he woke up in a hospital filled with the undead…How he walked to his home to see his family gone, along with most of their earthly possessions. How a man and his son had taken him in, given him shelter and tended to his wound…

"I'm so glad you're okay…" Grace breathed, her head leaning onto his shoulder from her seat at his side. Carl was curled up in his lap, his head resting against his chest, and Lori was curled under Rick's other arm, her head resting on his left shoulder.

"I'm glad you're okay, Gracie," He sighed, lifting his arm and pulling her into his side, dropping a kiss to the top of his younger sister's hair. He smiled down at his family, ruffling Carl's hair and pulling Lori closer, turning to bury his noise in her hair and breathing in her scent. "All of you…"

Grace felt a pang in her chest as she realized that he didn't know about Lori and Shane's deceit. He didn't know that his partner had been sleeping with his wife…

Clearing her throat, she stood up, dropping a kiss on Rick's cheek and Carl's hair. "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night…" She explained at the confused look that fell over Rick's features. Rick nodded, patting the hand she placed on his shoulder before she turned and headed for her tent.

Pausing at the entrance of her tent, her eyes flickered to Daryl's tent, seeing the soft glow of his lantern through the fabric. Raking her teeth across the flesh of her bottom lip, she sucked in a breath, questioning her sanity as she made her way across the clearing that separated their tent.

Pausing a few feet from the tent, Grace swallowed against the lump that had formed in her throat, trying and failing to calm her nerves. What was she so nervous about? It was Daryl, for god sakes. The pair had spent countless hours in each others tents before, choosing the other's company during those times when they both wanted to escape the rest of the group.

She was about to call out his name when the flap of the tent from pushed aside and Daryl emerged, crossbow in hand. His eyebrows shot up when he caught site of her standing outside of his tent. "What are you doing?"

"Are you going hunting?" She questioned, gesturing to the crossbow and the extra arrows in the case on his back.

Nodding, Daryl slung his crossbow across his back, his arms crossing over his chest. "Somebody's got too"

Grace felt annoyance prickle under her skin at his answer. Only Daryl Dixon would go hunting in a walker infested forest, at night. "You think that's the smartest idea? It's pretty dark out there…"

"I'll be fine. I've done it before," He shrugged. His eyes flicked over her features, taking in the exhausted look in her eyes, a smudge of dirt across her cheekbone, and the paleness of her skin tone. "Are you alright?" He didn't do anything to mask the concern in his voice.

"Fine, fine…I just…I actually came to ask if I could stay here tonight? Three people in a tent get kinda stuffy, and your tent stays cooler to begin with…" Grace bit her lip, trailing off as she shifted on her feet, feeling exhaustion deep in her bones. All of the emotions of the day were beginning to get to her, and she just wanted some uninterrupted sleep.

Daryl sucked in a breath between his teeth when flashes of her in his bed, under him and panting his name, sailed through his mind. God, pull it together Dixon. Clearing his throat, his shifted his weight, trying to will the sudden tightening of his once loose pants to go away. "That's fine. I won't be back till mornin' anyhow,"

She nodded, smiling at him softly starting over to the entrance of the tent, pausing before entering and turning to look at Daryl over her shoulder. "Hey, Dixon…Just…Be careful out there, alright?"

"Will do, princess"

…

"Daryl, oh god…" Grace moaned, her back arching off of the grassy ground beneath her body as Daryl kissed his way down her naked torso, stopping to dip his tongue into her belly button, causing a bolt of pleasure to shoot up her spin. "Daryl, please…"

Groaning, he slid his hands down her sides, hooking his fingers in the side of her tattered black leggings and yanking them, along with her simple underwear, down her legs. Tossing the offending material to the side, Daryl slides his hands up her legs, fingers skimming the outside of her calf. Reaching her knees, his grasped them in his hands, gently pulling her legs apart, barring her naked core to his eyes.

"Oh baby…" He drawled, dipping his head down to trail kisses from her knee to her inner thigh, stopping just short of where she needed him the most, to suck a dark mark to the sensitive flesh under his mouth.

Grace whimpered, her fingers digging into the earth underneath her, her body begging for release. "Please, Daryl!" She begged, her hips rocking up toward him as he continued to suck at the mark on her thigh, his facial hair adding to the sensation.

Deciding he had teased her enough, his kisses his way up to the crease of her thigh, nipping the skin softly before pulling back to look at her. God, she was gorgeous. Her entire body was flush, and her breathing was ragged, and upon glancing down at the apex of her thighs, Daryl found that she was wet…So, so wet. "You want me, baby?"

"Daryl, please-ah!"

Catching her by surprise, and causing her to cry out, Daryl dipped his head, licking a long, slow, strip up her womanhood. Groaning at her taste, he shifted her thigh farther apart, dipping down to lick between her folds, his tongue sliding up from her entrance to circle her clit, drawling the small nub into his mouth and sucking it gently.

Grace arched her back, one of her hands shooting down to tangle in Daryl's hair with a wordless cry. Her breath accelerated, every muscle in her lower body tensing as she started to climb closer, and closer to her release.

Daryl groaned against her flesh, slides his of his hands up her thigh, circling it around her entrance briefly before slipping it inside, feeling her walls clench around the digit. Gently beginning to move his finger, he slipped a second in to join the first, curling them upward and smirking when it caused Grace to cry out again.

Rolling her hips against Daryl's working mouth and hand, Grace clawed at the earth with the hand that wasn't tangled in his dark head of hair.

With one last pump of his fingers, and the continuous sucking of his mouth, Grace fell over the edge with a scream.

…

Shooting up in bed with a gasp, Grace took in her surroundings, confused for a moment about where she was.

Daryl's tent. She was in Daryl's tent.

But what had woken her?

She got her answer when a blood curdling scream sounded through the camp.

Ignoring the throbbing between her thighs, and her confused thoughts about her dream, she bolted up from the bed; Grace grabbed the first article of clothing she could find; which turned out to be Daryl's lucky shirt, and slipped it on. She had stripped down to the bare necessities last night in order to stay cool.

Grabbing her gun from under the pillow her head had been resting on, Grace rushed out of the tent, running towards the screams.

…

Grace reached the source of the screams at the same time Rick and a few others did, seeing Carl running out of the woods with a terrified expression of his young face. "Carl! Stay with your mother!" She screamed, pointing toward Lori as she raced off into the woods with the men hot on her heels, guns drawn.

When they reached a small clearing in the woods, the first thing the group saw was a walker feasting on the carcass of a deer.

Motioning for the others to stay behind her, Grace leveled her glock at the back of the walkers head, slowing her breathing and preparing to pull the trigger, when an arrow flew out of the woods and beat her to it, imbedding itself deep in the undead's skull.

Jumping back in surprise, Grace felt her being fill with relief when Daryl climbed out from behind a rock, jumping down to the ground, a look of disgust on his face. "That was my kill." He muttered, circling the deer, stopping at the deep wound the walker had inflected on the animal when killing it. "Think we can just cut around this part here?"

Snorting, Grace crossed her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't eat that if you paid me, Dixon," Pausing for a moment when she felt his eyes trail over her body, no doubt mentally commenting on the face she was wearing his shirt, and barely anything else. "You alright?"

"Fine." He grunted, gripping the end of his arrow and yanking it out of the deer's side with a sickening crunch. Upon confirmation that he was alright, Grace turned, her vision going red as she stomped her way back to camp.

"Goddamn it, Carl!" She yelled, storming over to the boy, who was currently being coddled by his more-than-useless mother. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of the goddamn woods?!"

Lori sprang to her feet, pushing Carl behind her body as Grace drew closer. "Hey! He's scared enough as it is, do you really think yelling at him is going to help anything?!"

Grace clenched her fist, fighting with everything in her being to resist out right punching Lori. "Your son nearly got eaten by a walker, Lori, and you're worried about him being scared?! He ought to be scared! That thing could've killed him!"

"But it didn't, he's fine. So calm the hell down."

Gritting her teeth, Grace looked past Lori at Carl, nodding to Carol a few yards away. "Carl, give me a moment with your mother. Now." As soon as her nephew was out of hearing rang, Grace tore into Lori, letting all of her anger at the woman bubble to the surface. "All I have ever asked of you is to never, never, let him out of your sight. And what the fuck did you go and let him do, huh Lori? You nearly let him get killed, because you couldn't watch your own goddamn son!"

Grace's voice was growing in volume, her face flushing red and her hands clenching into fists as her anger grew. "I have worked my ass off to keep both of you safe, and you can't even do the one goddamn thing I asked of you! Where were you, huh?! Running around with your head in the clouds?! Pull your head out of your ass, Lori, and take a look at the world around you! This place is dangerous; Carl could have gotten killed today because you weren't paying attention!"

"You think I don't know that?! You think I don't know that I could've lost my son? I'm not stupid, Grace!"

Grace was about to open her mouth to retort when Rick burst through the brushes, no doubt hearing her yelling from the clearing in the woods.

"Hey! That's enough!" Rick shouted, placing himself between the two women, looking from Grace to Lori, and back again. "Someone wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"

Shaking her head, Grace ran a hand through her hair, willing her anger down to a slow fizzle as she glared at Lori over her older brother's shoulder. "Nothin' Rick."

"Didn't sound like nothin'"

"Well, it was." Looking down at her bare legs, Grace realized she was exposing far more skin than normal. Fighting the urge to tug at the hem of the shirt, Grace crossed her arms over her chest, clearing her throat sharply. "I'm going to get changed." Giving Lori one last withering look, she turned and headed back to Daryl's tent to retrieve her clothes.

…

After redressing, Grace emerged from Daryl's tent, heading back to the center of the camp to see Rick, Daryl, and a few others gathering supplies into the back of the box truck they showed up in yesterday. Growing increasingly concerned, Grace strode over to Daryl, reaching out a catching his forearm when he made to climb in the front of the back of the truck. "What the hell is going on, Dixon?"

"We're goin' after Merle. You're goddamn brother over there left him to die on a rooftop." He growled, wrenching his arm out of her grasp, heaving himself up into the back of the truck.

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Turning to her brother, where he was arguing quietly with Shane. "Rick, what the hell is he talkin' about?"

Giving Shane one last glare, Rick turned to his sister, resting his hip against the back of the truck, running a hand over his sweat slicked face and blowing out a breath between his teeth. "I handcuffed Merle to a pipe on the roof of the department store…T-Dog was supposed to let him go, but he dropped the key."

"And now you're going back to find him?" Cursing when her brother nodded in confirmation, Grace drug a hand through her hair, tugging on the strands as she turned and kicked the tire of the truck. "You just came back, you just found us, and you're going to up and leave again?! What if you don't come back?! Do you have any idea what that will do to Carl? Do you have any idea what that will do to me?"

Her voice had lower to a whisper at the last sentence, feeling the prickling sensation in the back of her eyes that signaled a wave of impending tears. Reaching up to swipe at her eyes, Grace couldn't hold back a soft sob as Rick reached out and drew her to his chest. Tucking her face into his neck, Grace fisted her hands in the back of his shirt, breathing in his familiar, comforting scent. It brought back memories of their childhood, of playing in the park across the street from their house, and of Rick defending her against the bullies at school.

"I can't lose you again, Rick…"

Tightening his arms around his sister, Rick pressed a kiss to the side of her head, feeling the same fear she was. He didn't want to leave them, he didn't want to risk never seeing his family again, but he owed it to Daryl to help him find his brother. He knew what it was like to be separated from your sibling. "You won't. I'll be back as fast as I can, but I have to do this. I'm the one that left him there…"

Nodding against his neck, she sniffled, squeezing her arms around him tighter. "I know, I know…Just, please, please promise me you'll be careful?"

"I promise, Gracie, I promise." He kissed her forehead, squeezing her one last time before pulling back. Giving her a soft smile and patting her shoulder, he made his way around the truck, hopping into the passenger's side.

Clearing her throat, Grace wiped her eyes with the heel of her palms, bushing her hair back out of her face and calling out to Daryl as he began closing the door to the box truck. "Hey Dixon…Watch out for my brother…And take care of yourself, alright?"

Daryl nodded once, his lips pressed together in a grim line. "Will do, princess." Reaching up to pulling the door down, he paused, hesitating. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say…Tell her to be careful? Tell her that he liked her? Ask her to come with him?

No.

The last thing Daryl wanted was to bring Grace into a walker infested city. The woods around camp were dangerous enough, and he worried enough about her when she was there.

Still at a loss for words, Daryl blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Hold down the fort, princess."