I smiled down.

It was going to be a beautiful day.

Daryl was gone on a "Bachelors Party" with his dad and a couple family friends. I laughed when he told me that it was them actually going hunting, but never the less I gave him a couple of turkey sandwiches and sent him on his way.

It was the day before our small wedding, but still: I was immensely excited. We decided to wait a couple years before getting married, but I was still really happy. (A/U I know I said they were three years apart, but I decided to change it to 5 years) I wasn't going to have a bachelorette party. Nope. My day was spent helping out my kids. Well they weren't really my kids. I was a teacher at Grand Oak Elementary. I taught fifth grade.

I liked working with kids. It was nice to see them smile. It was almost 1:30, the time we usually get out. I was talking to my kids about their homework, and if they had any questions, to come back on Monday, and I would help them. At the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think about Daryl. I hope he would be back before the wedding started.

"Ms. Miller?" I looked down to see one of my students, Lizzie Samuels, standing in front of me.

"Yeah Lizzie?" I noticed she had a curious look on her face.

"Mr. Giovanni is at the door." Mr. Giovanni was the principal of the school.

"Thank you Lizzie. Did you have any questions about the homework?"

She shook her head and smiled. "I get it. Fractions are pretty easy."

"Well, okay then! Why don't you get you go try to see if anyone else needs help?"

She beamed at me and went to one of the other boys and asked if they needed help.

I went over to the door, and beckoned Mr. Giovanni to come in.

He shook his head. That when I noticed pure terror written all over him.

I stepped out into the hallway.

"Is everything okay?"

"No. The office staff notified parents an hour ago to come pick up their children and to go home immediately. There's been some sort of bio-chemical attack on the U.S. and we were told by the district to send everyone home. Get all your kids, and send them out to the front."

My heart stopped.

A bio-chemical attack? My thoughts raced to Daryl and my stomach dropped. Oh God, he doesn't know. Neither does my mom, or dad. Merle doesn't know either. I nodded, and stepped back into my classroom, while our principal went to go get all of the other teachers.

I stood in front of the class and put on my brightest mile.

"Okay everybody settle down."

Everyone's chattering stopped, and everybody looked at me. There was an occasional whisper but other than that, it was silent.

I knew that if they saw me panicked, they too would panic.

So I decided to play it cool.

"Mr. Giovanni said that due to an emergency staff meeting, we are to have an unexpected minimum day. I would like all of you to gather your things and stand in line at the door so we can walk out to the front of the school."

The class became a sudden chatter of excitement at the news. Everyone hurried to pack up their stuff, and soon a line began to form near the door.

A boy in my class, Brady Johnson raised his hand.

"Yes Brady?"

"I have afterschool tutoring, do I still have to stay?"

I thought about it.

"No we notified all of your parents to come pick you up, so no you don't stay."

He gave me a dimpled smile and started to put all of his papers into his backpack.

I stood in front of the door and held out the quiet coyote sign.

Once I did that, all my kids held out their hands in the sign formation too.

I opened the door and we went out.

We circled around the building and got to the front of the school where other teachers had their kids waiting on the grass.

I looked out onto the street.

Parents had jampacked the streets with their vehicles.

I noticed the line of vehicles going through the schools drop off road was moving rapidly.

Some teachers were asking the parents the name of their child and then shouted the child's name.

I looked over and with determination, I decided to help.

I went over to a large balding man and a beautiful blond woman in one of the cars and asked who they were picking up.

"Mika and Lizzie Samuels."

I shouted over to Lizzie, who was already sitting with Mika.

Before she got in the car, Lizzie asked me something.

"Ms. Miller?"

I looked at her.

"Yes?"

"On Monday, can I see the pictures of your wedding? I think you'll be the most beautiful bride."

I almost wanted to cry, but I swallowed my tears.

"Yes, Lizzie. I'll show you and the entire class."

She beamed.

"Be safe over the weekend, okay?"

She nodded. "Sure will!"

I glanced over to her parents, specifically her father, who'd given me a small nod of the head.

They drove off, and all I could whisper as they were leaving was:

"God Speed."

"Ms. Miller, when is my dad getting here?"

Daniel Watson just looked up at me with tearful eyes.

All of the kids had left hours ago, and all of the teachers had too.

I was the one that volunteered to stay with Daniel.

I knew from, Mrs. Jenson that Daniel's life was one full of neglect and abuse.

We called his parents 15 times, and they never picked up.

I shook my head.

"I don't know, but sweetie, you're going to have to come with me."

He looked scared.

"It's okay, I was just going to go somewhere and I need a helper, do you think you could do that for me?"

He wiped his nose and nodded.

"Okay, let's go to my car."

We went and got in, with Daniel riding front seat.

"My dad never let's me ride front." He seemed actually happy.

"Well you can ride front if you buckle up."

So he buckled up and we drove off. I had my family to look for.

When I arrived at my house, I looked at Daniel.

"Daniel this is my house, and I need your help. I have lots of cans that I need to put in the car, so can you help me with that?"

He gave me a toothy grin.

"I sure can!"

I smiled, "Great! I need to go upstairs to go and get some clothes."

I got out of the car, and went out to unlock the door.

Daniel was right behind and tugged at my skirt.

"Ms. Miller?"

"Yeah?" I was unlocking the door.

"Who is that?" I looked and saw something I didn't expect to see.

Or someone that is.

My eyes widened at the sight.

I've never seen so much blood on a man before.

"Merle? What happened to you?"

As Merle came closer, Daniel hid behind me.

"What's with the kid?" Merle looked...well crazy.

"He's a student. Merle, what happened to you?" I repeated.

"I was at the bar, when some moron came up to me. He wasn't right in the head. He tried to bite me so I smashed his head in."

I stared at him wide-eyed, while Daniel whimpered.

Merle ignored our reactions.

Then asked the question that was on both of our minds.

"Delilah, where's my brother?"

Thank you for reading this means so much to me, I love the walking dead and Daryl Dixon is my favorite character. I wanted to take a different look at Daryl's personality when he's with some he loves (because let's face it, he tends to be a softie a some moments) so I wanted to do a story where it shows someone opposite of him. :D I wanted to put a view on both of the Dixon Brothers, on how far they go for family, and how they would treat people they consider family.