They stopped at an ATM in a small shopping center and Vivienne withdrew $2000 from her account-normally she would've only been able to withdraw a small amount but she'd arranged to be able to draw out larger amounts for tuition payments. She stuffed the money into her purse and hurried to get back in the car. Daryl motioned to her to follow him and they headed out of town in a southerly direction. As they travelled, Daryl thought of and discarded possible places they could hole up in. He needed to be close enough to get Merle when he got released, but far enough away that nobody would stumble onto Vivienne. He thought if he could hide her for a few days until things died down she would be okay. And she could say she'd been with him and that might keep her name out of things. Maybe say she'd broken it off with Graham a while back and had no idea what he'd been doing. In the meantime they could stay by that lake he and Merle had stayed at sometimes-it was offseason right now and the campground should be deserted. He and Vivienne could stay in one of the cabins for a few days. He sighed. He was an idiot, should've just let her handle her mess her own self back there. He could hear Merle laughing at him now.

After two hours of driving he signaled to turn off on the offramp coming up. They would drive about another half hour before they'd come to the dirt road leading to the cabins around the lake. He could only imagine how tired Vivienne was, he was shaking his head frequently to stay awake. Normally lack of sleep wouldn't bother him-he'd suffered from insomnia since he was young, but the shock and strain of the last few hours had worn him out. They'd left the motel around 3, it was nearly six now. They could find a cabin and figure out things after they'd gotten some rest.

He pulled around to the last cabin on the dirt road and parked the bike in the carport and waved Vivienne to do the same. He jerked the back door open and quickly removed his bags and hurried her into the cabin and shut the door quickly. He dropped the bags and began going from window to window to close the curtains, then checked the cabin thoroughly and locked the back door pushed a chair in front of it. Vivienne watched all this silently, standing in the small entryway. He could see she was shivering again.

"C'mon, lie down in here and cover up," he mumbled to her and she quickly obeyed, still silent. The cabin had one small bedroom with a full bed in it. Vivienne lay down and rolled over to make room for Daryl. "No, I'm stayin' in the living room to keep an eye out," he snapped at her. Her eyes widened but she remained silent. He covered her up and left the room quickly, leaving the door open so she could see him on the couch. He doublechecked the doors again and then lay down on the couch, placing his pistol on the table next to it. He'd placed his crossbow within arm's reach as well. He closed his eyes, willing himself to get even a little rest before he had to think about how best to proceed.

Daryl started awake to the sound of his phone ringing. He grabbed it and checked the time-it was just nine, he hadn't been asleep long. Groaning he realized the number was from a pay phone at the jail where Merle was.

"Yeah," he snapped. He could hear Merle cackling on the other end.

"Hey baby brother, what're ya up to?" Merle drawled. His voice was like nails on a chalkboard right now, and Daryl clenched his free hand.

"What do ya want Merle?" he growled into the phone.

"What? That's a fine way to talk to your dear brother," Merle continued to tease. Daryl shook his head and punched a pillow on the couch.

"Merle," Daryl yelled, his voice raising, "what the fuck do ya want?" He could hear Merle go silent in surprise at Daryl yelling at him. Daryl had rarely spoken back to Merle much less raise his voice to him.

"Well, don't know what's gotten into ya, baby brother, but I called to tell ya that they're lettin' me out tomorrow," Merle said quietly. Daryl rolled his eyes. Tomorrow. Great. How was he going to keep Merle away from all this? "Hey, brother, are ya there?" Merle asked, more politely than was usual for him.

"Yeah, I'm here. What time?" Daryl sighed.

"Two. Are ya gonna tell me what the fuck is goin' on with ya?" Merle asked peevishly. His curiosity was up. "Ya finally gone and got yerself a piece o' tail? Did I interrupt somethin'" and at this Merle cackled again, amusing himself. Daryl thought bitterly that of course Merle would laugh at that, why would his loser brother ever find anyone who'd want to spend any time with him. He looked up to see Vivienne standing in the doorway of the bedroom watching him. God if she didn't look beautiful. What a joke this was, the only reason she was in the same place as him was because he'd gone soft in the head when she'd come to him for help.

Daryl tore his gaze away from Vivienne and sighed again. "Shut it Merle, or else ya can find yer own damn ride to wherever the fuck it is you plan on goin'" and he clicked the phone off, then turned the ringer off for good measure.

"Who was that?" Vivienne asked quietly. Daryl looked at her again.

"How old are ya?" he blurted out. She crossed her arms across her chest a little defensively.

"Twenty-one," she mumbled. He sighed again. "Why?" she demanded.

"What the hell were ya doin' with Graham? He's old enough ta be yer daddy," he said tiredly.

Vivienne shrugged. "I don't know, guess I was bored," she mumbled. He looked at her sharply at that answer.

"Ya were sneakin' around with a married man old enough ta be yer daddy cuz ya was bored?" he couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice.

Vivienne had the decency to blush with embarrassment at Daryl's reaction. She shrugged uncomfortably and Daryl was reminded of a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The kid doesn't feel guilty about taking the cookies, just at being caught. Daryl rubbed his hand over his jaw. Best get this over with now, before Merle got involved in all of this. He motioned for Vivienne to sit by him on the couch and looked at her sternly.

"Need ta ask ya some questions, and I want the truth, understand?" and he fixed Vivienne with a glare, hoping to scare her into being truthful. Not that he'd do anything if she wasn't-he didn't hit women. But he was hoping she would be unsure enough to tell him the truth. "'kay, where's yer family at?" Surely her family would be wondering where she if the police went to looking for her.

"They're in Charleston. The St. Sauveurs." Daryl shook his head, not getting her meaning. Vivienne rolled her eyes and spoke in a sing-song voice, as if she'd said this too many times to count and was beyond tired of having to repeat it. "One of the founding families in Charleston, French descendants, big in banking, law and real estate." She sighed.

Daryl frowned. "So yer family is rich?" She nodded. "Then why aren't ya home with them? Why didn't ya just go home when ya found Graham? They'd keep ya safe right?"

Vivienne shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest again. "Doubt it," she bit out. Daryl was even more confused now.

"Spit it out," he snapped testily. He didn't have time for guessing games and he didn't like playing twenty questions.

Again Vivienne's voice sounded bored, like she'd repeated this too many times to count. "I'm kind of the black sheep of our family-got thrown out of three boarding schools, this is the fourth college I've been enrolled in. Flunked out last semester again," she couldn't meet his gaze and started to pull at the fringe of a pillow on the couch. "Daddy told me if I didn't straighten up he was going to make me come home and I'd be under his thumb until he decided what to do with me," she sighed glumly. Daryl barely kept his mouth from falling open.

"You spoiled little bitch," he blurted before he could choke it back. Vivienne glared at him, and angry tears filled her eyes. "You have money and a family and opportunity and ya throw it all away," he said angrily. "I shoulda left ya back there at the motel." And he stood and started to pace angrily, refusing to look at her. He silently berated himself again. This was even worse than he'd thought. Her family would think he'd kidnapped her or something. He'd go to jail for the rest of his damned life. And she'd go back to her big house and her money and it wouldn't matter to her. He stomped over to her and stuck a finger in her face. "I ain't goin' ta jail for ya, I was a fool ta have helped ya. If ya think this is some more of yer dumb shit that ya can wiggle out of, yer wrong!" And he stepped away from her to stomp outside the cabin into the back yard to calm down. As he slammed the door, Vivienne burst into tears. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that. Not even her father when he had been his most angry with her. She had long ago gotten used to somebody fixing her mistakes and telling her it would be alright. It was widely acknowledged in her family that she wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but she was a pretty girl and pretty girls were patted on the head and chucked under the chin and forgiven. She sat on the couch and cried, confused and hurt that he had spoken to her like that.

After half an hour, Daryl came back in a bit calmer but Vivienne could tell by looking at him that it wouldn't take much to get him to yelling again. She sat up and sniffed, wiping at her face quietly. Daryl pulled a chair over near her and sat down. He took a deep breath to calm down and began to tear at his thumb. "Now, sorry bout that," he mumbled. "Things are bad enough without yellin'" he continued. "If I'm hearin' ya right, no use in ya goin' home now," and he watched Vivienne shake her head. Damn if she didn't look pretty even after crying with a red nose and puffy eyes. Daryl shook his head to clear his thoughts. He cleared his throat. "So, what do ya want ta do?" Vivienne stared back at him, confused. "I mean, ya can't go home so what do ya wanna do? Did ya have a friend ya wanna go stay with?"

"You mean now?" Vivienne gasped. "I thought you were going to let me stay here with you for a few days," and her voice cracked. Seeing that she was about to start crying again, Daryl held a hand up to hush her.

"Yes, I did tell ya that. But what do ya wanna do after that? Ya gotta have some friends ya can go stay with? Some family?" Daryl couldn't believe a girl like her would have no one to go stay with. He at least had his asshole brother.

"Oh," Vivienne said quietly. "Okay," and she seemed to think. "I guess I could go stay with Chelsea for a while until Daddy stops being mad," and she attempted a small smile.

"Okay, who's this Chelsea and where's she live at?" he asked impatiently.

"She's my cousin, another black sheep. She lives in Miami." Daryl nodded.

"'kay then. In a few days we'll get ya on the road ta Miami and ya can wait it out with her." Daryl felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. He just had to figure out how to keep Merle away from Vivienne until he could get her on the road to Miami. He didn't really like the idea of her driving all the way to Miami by herself-she didn't seem very capable of taking care of herself. But he couldn't worry about that. She wasn't his responsibility and he'd done enough as it was. "Maybe call Chelsea tomorrow and give her a heads up that you're coming ta see her." She nodded, relieved he wasn't making her leave now. "go on back and lie down and get some rest," he pointed to the bedroom. She nodded and started toward the bedroom hesitantly. She turned and looked at him seriously.

"Thank you Daryl," she whispered, and his chest tightened at hearing her say his name. Damn he so did not need this right now. He lay back down on the couch and flung his arm over his eyes, his other hand at his mouth where his teeth began tearing at his thumb again. He thought about how he was going to get Merle and where he could take him to keep Merle from finding out about all this. He didn't want to hear Merle's smartass comments or listen to his rude suggestions. He wished more than anything that he had the nerve to just get on his bike and leave everything behind and let somebody else worry about all the bullshit for once.