Hello, again! This chapter is probably going to be one of my shortest chapters in the entire story. Sorry about that but the next one is literally twice as long, so you have been warned!

Two Weeks Earlier

Abby sighed as the women around her droned on and on about insignificant and pointless things. Things they were unlikely to see or enjoy ever again in their lifetime. Abby tried to look interested and follow the conversation but she had hard time not thinking of her nightmare. The one that had been haunting her every night for almost six months.

Abby didn't need an apocalypse to giver her nightmares, many years of war had already messed her head up long ago. Every night she dreamed that dream. The one with her staring down the scope of her rifle, sights trained on a teenage boy, watching as he pulls something from his coat pocket as he approaches her unit as they sweep the streets for enemy soldiers. Then she watches in horror as her finger twitches and the boys shoulder explodes in a fountain of blood, her horror only intensified as a piece of paper flutters from his hand to the ground.

Only it isn't a dream, but a memory that she relives night after night. It used to be worse. She used to wake up, screaming and in a cold sweat. She was ordered to get professional therapy and after four months, she was evaluated and they decided that she was done; then she was honorably discharged for medical reasons.

Abby suddenly stood, forcing her face into a neutral mask to hide the distress that had arisen inside her and quietly departed; walking off into the woods. Once out of sight of the camp, she picked up her speed and trotted for a good ten minutes before stopping then sitting down on a log. She put her head in her hands, taking several deep long breaths trying to force her mind to clear, control her panicked breathing and slow her heart rate.

Abby's eye popped open when she suddenly sensed someone behind her. Slowly her hand drifted towards her side arm on her hip.

"Ya shouldn't be out here alone." A deep masculine voice said softly.

Abby dropped her hand to her pistol and turned to see one of the Dixon brothers standing awkwardly behind her, like he wasn't sure he should be there, crossbow in hand pointing it towards the ground. Abby indicated the pistol on her hip as well as her big hunting knife on her belt, then used her thumb to pulled out her dog tags from underneath her shirt.

"I'll be fine, I can handle myself. It's Daryl, isn't it?" She asked him. If it had been his brother, she probably would have kept her hand on her pistol but Daryl didn't seem that bad.

Daryl nodded his head and half turned to leave, before pausing and turning back. "Ya still shouldn' be out here, things ain't like before." He kept flicking his eyes up to look at her but immediately looking down again.

Abby smiled faintly. "You're out here on your own." Abby pointed out.

Daryl shrugged. "Somebodies gotta hunt."

"Where's your brother…Merle, is it?" Abby cocked her head to the side.

"Not likely to be awake anytime soon." He said, shrugging once more. Daryl looked down at his feet as he shifted from foot to foot, obviously not used to talking to people like her, then looked up at her again.

"Why you so far out here, anyways?" He finally asked.

"Just needed some space." She said with a sigh. "You don't get a lot of privacy livin' in a tent." Abby finally got to her feet. "Before shit went south, I'd only returned to the US a month previous. I'm not really used to the civilian life…although this is hardly a normal situation."

"So, you was deployed? Fer how long?" Daryl asked.

Abby was quite surprised that Daryl kept making conversation, it seemed very out of character from what she gathered about him. The man hardly made a peep at camp and when he did say something, it was almost always to his brother.

Abby nodded. "Yeah, I've hardly been in the US over the last eight years. I was a sniper."

Daryl cocked an eyebrow. "You've gotta be shittin' me, you was a sniper? That common for women?"

Abby chuckled and indicated for him to follow as she started back towards camp. "Not at all, only nine others that I've heard of."

"You any good?" He asked as he followed after her barely making any sound as he went.

Abby's face went blank as she had to abruptly control her feelings from roaring up, the images from her dream flashing in her minds eye. "Disturbingly so."

Daryl was about to say something but noticed the look in her eyes and fell silent instead. The walked in silence for a few minutes, neither making a sound as they walked, when Daryl indicated for her to stop. He pointed off into the bush then raised his crossbow. At first, she didn't see anything but the moment before he pulled the trigger, she saw the rather fat rabbit nibbling peacefully on a leaf and then the next second it had a bolt through its eye.

She looked at him impressed. "Nice shot!"

He smirked slightly and shrugged once more before trudging through the thick undergrowth and picking up his catch.

"Is this what you and Merle do? Hunt?"

"Merle's the one who taught me but he don't do it as much any more. To busy bein' high or drunk." He replied grim faced.

"You don't seem the type, to get high I mean." She said after studying him a moment.

Daryl turned and continued on the walk towards camp. "Cus' ain't, I mean I'll drink and get wasted every once in while but who don't?"

Abby laughed. "True. I know I do. Drives my brother and husband both batty!"

"That Shane guy yer brother?" Daryl asked, surprising her once more.

This time Abby scoffed. "No."

"He certainly acts like it." Daryl observed.

"Shane is…" Abby paused for moment collecting herself as grief suddenly hit her. "Was my brothers best friend. Rick and Shane have known each other since they were eleven and Shane's been bossing me around for as long as I can remember. Lori's my brother's wife." She finished sadly.

"Yer brother dead?" Daryl asked, then looked shocked at his own insensitive words. "Sorry." He mumbled. "Spendin' too much time 'round Merle."

Abby forced a smile onto her face. "Its okay. He is but not how yer thinkin'. He was a Sheriff in King's county. Got shot only a few weeks before shit hit the fan. Was in a coma when it all went down. Shane said he went to get him from the hospital but he wasn't breathing and the power had gone out and everyone was gone. I actually don't live out here no more but came home to visit my brother a few days previous."

They walked for the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived back at camp, they parted ways without saying a word to each other. The moment Shane saw her, he took quick long strides towards her and then grabbed her arm and steered her to the side.

"Where the hell did you go? You were gone for an hour! Lori said you didn't look so good when you took off." He whispered fiercely. "I was just about to send a search party for you!"

She cursed the day Rick had told Shane about her…issues. Now he worried over constantly.

"I'm fine, Shane!" She growled out. "I just needed a little space! I get a little claustrophobic out here with all these people. Plus, I don't need people seein' me breakin' down and you need to back off! I can look after myself and my husband can do more than enough worryin'."

A few days later, Abby saw Daryl was sitting a lone by his own fire, skinning a Possum. She looked around but didn't see Merle around any where's, not even in the tent; whose door way was hanging wide open, so she walked over to their campsite.

"No Merle?" She asked as she approached.

"Off some where's gettin' high. Why?" He looked up at her, trying to read her face.

Abby's eyebrow's shot up in surprise. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"Probably. If he wanna git himself killed, that's his problem." Daryl replied as he continued to study her suspiciously, probably expecting a negative reaction.

"Do you mind if I sit? I'm just lookin' for some peace and quiet. I figure you can appreciate that, needing some quiet. Merle's awfully loud, so I wouldn't get much peace if he was here." She said as she smiled at him.

He smirked and indicated a log they used for sitting. "Sure." Then continued working on skinning his Possum.

After several minutes of silence, Daryl spoke up once more. "Why not go for a walk like last time?"

Abby indicated over her shoulder where Shane and Martin were watching her like a hawk. "They didn't appreciate my walk too much. They'd just follow after me and that wouldn't be too peaceful."

Daryl squinted at them for a moment then looked back at her. "Why they watch you so closely?" Daryl asked, then glared in their direction. "They look none too pleased with you sittin' here."

Abby chuckled tiredly. "They're not pleased but at least they can watch. They don't like you much, so they stay over there. So, will everyone else. As for Shane and Martin, they watch me because they think I'm gonna have breakdown every second of the day."

At first Daryl was annoyed at being used as her buffer zone but then realized that she wasn't trying to be mean or cruel. "You have PTSD or something?"

Abby looked off into the forest. "Or something." She said softly.

Daryl fell silent after that. They sat there for a good three hours saying nothing, Abby only left when she heard Merle shouting. "Darylina! Look what I got, baby brother!"

That became their cycle; every few days Merle would disappear and Abby would sit with Daryl, maybe have a short conversation then fall into a comfortable silence. After one of her visits with Daryl, Martin took her to the side out of ear shot of any one.

"What are you doing over there with that man?" Disbelief in Martin's voice. "He's dangerous!"

Abby scoffed. "You don't even know him! And I'm plenty capably of dealing with dangerous men. Anyways, I go over there because he leaves me alone! He doesn't ask me how I am a million times a day and he doesn't treat me like a mental patient!"

Martin went wide eyed at the last statement. "I-I don't treat you like that...do I?" He asked sadly.

"Yeah, you do! I swear you ask me if I'm alright or how I'm feelin' every hour! You watch everything I do and want me to share every frickin' thought that passes through my mind! I don't need to share them with you! I've worked through my shit months ago but you keep shoving it in my face and wantin' me to inspect it!" Her voice was starting to rise.

"I'm just trying to help!" He said as he motioned for he to lower her voice. "You still have those nightmares!"

"An' I probably will for the rest of my life! Everyone whose been to war, does! It don't mean I need to talk about it! You ain't psychologist, you're just makin' it worse!" She spun on her heels and marched off. When he started to follow after her, she spun around again and gave him a death glare, stopping him in his tracks. She spun again and marched off towards the woods. Lori tried to grab her arm gently but Abby pulled way and continued on marching.

Abby didn't know how long she walked but eventually she stopped and started kicking, punching and eventually stabbing trees with her knife. Suddenly she sensed someone watching her. She grasped her knife tighter and spun around to face her spectator. She relaxed a little when she saw it was Daryl, leaning casually against a tree with his crossbow held loosely at his side.

"What're you doing here!" She yelled at him, her rage still not spent.

He held up his free hand to show he meant no harm. "Told ya' shouldn' be out here a lone. 'Specially after runnin' off all worked up like that." He responded calmly.

"I don't need no babysitter!" She practically screamed.

"If you were calm, I wouldn't have followed you but you had a blind rage look about you." He said seemingly unperturbed by rage. "Would hate ta be that tree 'bout now." Daryl continued indicating the tree she had just tried to mutilate.

At first was going to give another angry retort, then realized the man had cracked a joke; which stunned her to silence. After a moment, she sunk down onto the ground with a defeated sigh.

"Sorry, got a bit of a temper." She said as she put her head into her hands.

Daryl put his back to the tree he'd been leaning against and slid down to the ground. "I'd have lost it long time ago if I was the one bein' suffocated by them people. Jus' ignore me, take yer time."

Abby looked up to study him. "Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked him.

Daryl shrugged "Don' know. Why you so nice to me?"

Abby thought about it for a moment. "Guess you remind me of one of my marine buddies. He was a quiet, rough around the edges, very misunderstood but a real sweet heart underneath."

"I ain't no sweet heart!" He growled as he glared at her.

Abby laughed which made her feel quite a bit better. "Yeah he'd say that too. You know the ladies like that quality…the thoughtfulness.

"An' I ain't thoughtful." He grumbled quietly.

"Then why are you here?" She asked quirking an eyebrow at him. "Even Shane didn't follow after my blow up."

"He started to, but that Lori woman stopped 'im." Daryl pulled out a smoke from his pocket, lit it and pulled drag off his cigarette.

"Glad she did cus' he'd only get my blood boilin' more." She sighed and rubbed her head.

She sat there in total silence until the sun started to set, all the while Daryl just sat there and waited patiently. When she finally stood up, she looked around and realized she had no idea where she was. Then she laughed and Daryl cocked an eyebrow.

"Well Daryl Dixon, you're gonna have to be my knight in shining armor. I have no idea where we are." She let out an annoyed sigh. "I hate to say this but you were right to follow me."

Daryl shrugged as he got to his feet, then pointed behind him. "It's this way."

So, they walked in silence for what seemed like a long time and too be honest, it probably was. It had been just after lunch when she'd stormed off and now the sun was setting.

She looked over at Daryl sheepishly. "I didn't think I'd gone this far. It's nearly dark!"

"Ya ploughed through the forest like a charging bull. Half a Georgia probably heard ya comin'." Daryl said with a smirk that she could barely see in the fading light.

"Probably the easiest thing you ever tracked." She said with a sigh, thankful for the darkness; hiding her pink cheeks.

When they finally broke from the cover of the trees, everyone rushed over to see her. Lori stepped out from the crowd and gave her a hug.

"Thank God you're okay!" Lori said into her hair.

Abby pulled back. "Why wouldn't I be?" She said irritated.

She looked around at all the worried faces and noticed that Daryl had disappeared back to his campsite where is brother sat with a cheeky grin on his face. She focused back to the people in front of her.

"I'm fine, just go back to your meals!" She glared at everyone and they all moved off except Lori, Shane, Carl and Martin.

Carl walked up, undeterred by her irritation, and wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. "I knew you were okay, Aunty! Dad always said you were super tough!"

Abby chucked and smiled down at him as she returned the hug, damn he reminded her of Rick. "Tough as nails, just like you!"

He smiled up at her, then grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the table and gave her a plate of food. "You must be hungry!"

She ruffled his hair. "Starving!"

Early the next morning, Abby saw Daryl wandering off into the woods, probably going hunting. She quickly ran after him and when she caught up to him, she grabbed his wrist gently to stop him but he immediately wrenched it away as he turned to face her. Initially his expression was hostile but when he saw it was her, his expression became considerably friendlier.

"Sorry." He mumbled as he rested his crossbow on his shoulder. "Don't like to bein' touched much."

"It's fine." She said with a smile. "I just wanted to say thank you."

He looked at her puzzled. "Fer what?"

"For rescuing me and not telling the other that I needed to be rescued." She continued to smile as she leaned back against a tree.

"You didn't need rescuin'." He said with a shrug. "I just got you back sooner. You'd have found yer own way back eventually. You're much better out here then anybody else in this camp."

Abby smirked. "Besides you."

Daryl smirked back. "That's a given."

Abby suddenly noticed a small pack on his shoulder, then nodded towards it. "You planning a longer trip?"

"Not gettin' a lot 'round here. Figure I'd take a longer trip, see if my luck is better. Plus, I need to get away from Merle, been a particular pain in the ass lately." Daryl shook his head and looked at the ground.

"It wouldn't happen to have something to do with me hangin' around, would it?" She asked and Daryl just shrugged and looked awkward.

After a moment, he finally asked. "You wanna come? You need a break too."

Abby chuckled. "That is a very appealing offer but I better not. Next time you wanna go out for a couple of days let me know, I might come."

Daryl smirked. "Sure." Then turned and started off into the woods once more.

"Happy huntin'!" She called after him.

Like I said, short. I shall apologize to any of my reader from my other story. I've hit a road block and so have been applying all of my free time to this and other fanfictions instead. I do intend to finish...just a little belatedly. Don't worry for all you who are reading this story, I'm practically done writing this story, I mostly just need to edit and proof read it! So hopefully not too many delays!

-Shockra