I seemed to have forgotten to put an A/N on this chapter, so here it is- this is one of the days that doesn't actually fit with the show but I thought I'd add it in. Hope you enjoy it.

Also, just received a review from blackcat711, firstly thanks for reading and secondly I absolutely agree with you that just because she's a woman she can't learn to hunt, that's why in the first chapter I put that 'so he thought' meaning that she didn't agree with it, but that was just his ways... also in their life they didn't need to learn survival things because they weren't in the world of the walking dead. Coming from an Irish family with lots of Irish friends, as with any family really, you do have older men with an out-dated view on what women's roles should be, I've certainly fallen victim to it before, so I'm not saying that because she's a woman she can't hunt, I'm trying to get across that her Dad had more old-fashion (and wrong) ideas.

Just thought I'd clear that up- thanks for reading :)


"So… you're Daryl" Ailene said, attempting to break the awkward silence that had built when that had got back to his tent.

"Congratulations" he grunted, "gold star for you" he looked at her and she grinned back, causing his harsh expression to falter slightly, he gave her a small wry smile.

"Ooh, get you Mr Sarcasm" she retored, putting her hands on her hips, "when's the stand-up tour?"

Daryl's response was just a scoff, but he kept the small smile on his face, "you're in the left compartment" he pushed through the tent door, ducking inside. Ailene stumbled forward and followed him, pushing past him to open the compartment's zip as Daryl's hands were full.

"Thanks" he grumbled, as he plonked the bedding down in her new home.

"I'm Ailene by the way" she said, realising she hadn't actually introduced herself.

"Yeah, you said when you had your little field breakdown" he noted and Ailene laughed, before entering the compartment to set up her bedding.

"I did indeed" she grinned, watching as Daryl sat down on his bed, his feet hanging out of the compartment entrance. "Hey, I know this isn't ideal, but I'll try to stay out of your hair as much as I can" Daryl just grunted in response, playing with one of his arrows, not really looking at her. "and I'm sorry if I snore"

"Aw well snoring is an absolute deal-breaker" Daryl joked, putting his arrow aside and focusing on her, she laughed and held up her hands in defeat.

"I give you permission to kick me" she told him pointedly, before returning her attention back to making her bed. Ailene could feel his eyes on her as she put out the sleeping bag onto the low camp bed, once finished she sat up onto it and faced him, Daryl quickly averted his gaze.

"What's Ireland like?" he asked her, which took the Irish woman by surprise, he didn't seem like the chatty type. Ailene sighed, thinking about her home with a soft smile.

"I'm from a village called Glandore, it's just over an hour's drive from Cork city in the South of Ireland" she smiled to him, "pretty place, on the West coast" she looked at him, and unexpectedly he was still listening, "well I was always more of a home-bird, so I went to uni up in Cork and now I live and work there" she looked down at her hands, "not much of an adventurer I suppose, I could never afford to travel"

Daryl was still watching her with a strange look on his face, something she couldn't quite place, she coughed. "Anyway, that's long gone now" she said sadly, turning to make up her already-perfect bed as something to do.

"I'm sorry" he said to her sincerely, before getting up and leaving the tent.


Ailene was still a little confused by the conversation she had had with Daryl, he seemed friendly enough but from what she had observed and from Dale's comments- she hadn't expected it. She had decided to leave the tent and find Carol and Lori, as they seemed to be the ones doing the most 'housework' out of the group. She found them fussing over the fire and trying to decide what to eat.

"Hey there" Lori greeted her once her movements had been noticed, "you all set up in Daryl's tent?" Lori gave her an amused look, Ailene smiled and looked around making sure the subject of their conversation was nowhere to be seen.

"He seems nice" she commented, "rough around the edges, but nice" Lori's expression was one of wonderment, but Carol just nodded and smiled at the younger Irish woman. "Anyway, what needs doing?"

"You could go fetch us some water from the other well near the house?" Carol suggested, "seen as though the other one is erm-"

"Gooey?" Ailene asked with a small grin, "gotcha" she picked up the large bucket and skipped over to the side of the house.

"Hi" Ailene nearly jumped out of her skin, a teenage girl with blonde hair had greeted her from up on the porch of the farmhouse.

"Woah you gave me a fright" she replied, looking at the pretty girl, "hi- I'm Ailene" she smiled, brushing her dirty hand on her jeans before offering it to the nameless girl in a greeting. The blonde laughed and took her hand.

"Beth" she replied, "I like your accent" she noted with a friendly smile, and Ailene laughed.

"Really?" the girl nodded to her question, "well I like yours, its different"

"Different?" Beth scrunched her nose in disapproval, "it's horrible"

"How so?" Ailene, leant on the side of the house, placing the bucket down and giving her, her full attention.

"Well, don't you think it makes us sound stupid?" she asked, eyebrows raised high.

"Nope" Ailene disagreed, "you only sound stupid if you actually are" she grinned, "and I don't think that's you" Ailene went back to pumping water, as the girl stood there a curious gaze on her face.

"Is it true you're a teacher?" Beth asked, peering over the porch railings to her, leaning on the bannister.

"Was" Ailene corrected, looking up at her, "Now I'm 'bumbling idiot extraordinaire' one who doesn't really know what in the world is going on" Beth laughed heartily at this, the sound quite a magical one, leaving Ailene smiling knowing she'd made the girl laugh.

"Well I think you're pretty cool" the girl commented.

"Ah that's because you don't know me" another laugh from the girl caught the attention of the old man who was exiting the house.

"Now, what's going on here?" Ailene guessed this was Hershel, he too peered over the edge of the porch. "You must be Ailene, Rick was telling me about you"

"Hi" she greeted the man, "probably telling you all about how mad I am?" she asked, with a laugh as Hershel's expression reddened slightly.

"Um" he mumbled, looking away from her.

"Aha" she grunted, "Don't worry I won't tell Rick you told me" she smiled at the old man, who in spite of himself, smiled back. "You really have a beautiful place here" she looked over the land, "I'm from the countryside, your farm is very homely"

"Thank you" Hershel took the complement, "very kind of you to say" he looked down at the full bucket, "do you need any help with that?"

"I think I should be able to manage it" she huffed, "I hope" she chuckled looking up at the man, "thanks though"

"Ailene?" Beth asked her tentatively, "I've got some books you might be interested in- would you like to see them?"

"Of course" the Irish woman replied with a smile, an approving one on Hershel's face.

"History was my favourite subject at school" Beth explained, "I miss it" she sighed looking down at Ailene.

"Well, let me go take this back on over to Carol" Ailene grunted, as she picked up the bucket, "and I'll have a look at those books with you"

"Great" Beth skipped off into the house.

"Thank you" Hershel whispered to her, leaning down and patting her shoulder, "she's not had much conversation at the minute"

"Not a problem" she smiled to the old man, before lugging the bucket back to camp. Ailene put it down next to Carol, who was chopping up some of the tinned veg they had stored, she was making a large stew with some of the squirrels that Daryl had caught earlier that day.

"Thanks" Carol looked up, and Ailene had noticed that Lori was nowhere about.

"How you doing?" she asked the slightly older woman, hoping that it wasn't too intrusive, but to her relief, Carol didn't seem angry.

"I'm doing okay" she replied with a small smile, "just getting on with it" Ailene nodded, using that coping strategy often herself.

"Good" she smiled back, "don't you be giving up now" she patted Carol's shoulder, "I'm heading into the house, one of the girls, Beth, wanted to show me some books"

"Aw" Carol looked at the house, "that's nice, she seems like a good kid"

"Yeah, she's pretty adorable" but Ailene felt guilty, "I can put it off though, if you need any help?"

"Don't be silly" Carol chuckled, "you'd be doing us a favour trying to get Hershel and his family on-side to let us stick around"

"Well, let me know if you need anything?" Ailene smiled, "don't let me skip out on duties"

"I wouldn't dream of it" she laughed, nodding towards the house, "go on"

Ailene made her way up the steps on the house's porch, and softly knocked on the door before letting herself in the house. She saw Beth sat on the stairs, she looked up gleefully when she heard the door go.

"Ailene!" she exclaimed, "Okay so I've got some books about medieval England"

"Good choice" Ailene replied, following the young girl up the stairs and finding her room, nicely decorated, "have you read about the wars of the roses?" she asked her with a smile.

"Yes" Beth replied, pulling out a large book and sitting on her bed, "I love the story of the Princes in the tower" Ailene chuckled, and sat alongside her, enjoying a fellow historian's passion.


Ailene came out of the house feeling pretty good, she had learnt that Beth was sixteen, around the same age as most of her students. The girl had lots of questions and Ailene was all too happy to answer them, getting a strange feeling of home from the girl- it was almost giving her normality. She cheerfully skipped down the steps to find Carol still stood by the fire, casually stirring the pot of broth.

"Smells really good" Ailene commented, feeling guilty as she had made the woman jump, "ooh sorry about that"

"You frightened me" Carol laughed, "I was away with the fairies there"

"Sounds like me, most of my life" Ailene replied with a grin, "is there anything you need doing?"

Carol looked around, hands resting on her hips. "Umm" she sighed, "you could gather the bowls and cutlery? They're in the RV"

"Right on it" Ailene replied marching over to the vehicle, catching the eye of Rick, "Oh, hey" she waved at him, "how's your boy getting along?"

"He's coming along just fine" Rick sighed, with a small smile, "he's through the worst of it now"

"That's brilliant news" Ailene smiled, "I can't wait to meet him"

"He's been looking forward to seeing you as well" Rick smiled at the woman, and she grinned in response.

"Even though I'm mad?" she looked at him and his face paled, "I know I am" she laughed, moving past him to the RV.

"You did seem a bit" Rick laughed at her, and she sighed.

"You already know me so well" she joked, before frowning, one hand on the handle of the entrance to the RV. "Hey Rick?" she asked the man who turned around and gave her a friendly look, "Will you let me go out and look for Sophia tomorrow?"

"Sure thing" he nodded, "we need all the help we can get" he stopped to look at her before he turned to walk off, "Thank you, you know you didn't have to offer"

"Rick, you have taken me in when you could have so easily let me walk out" she smiled to him, "I'll help whatever way I can"

"Well I appreciate that" Rick smiled, "but the way you took out that walker, we weren't gonna let you go anywhere"

"It was pretty cool wasn't it?" Ailene laughed, grinning at him.

"Yeah it was" he laughed, "look I'm glad you're here Ailene, and I know I'm not alone in that- you've raised a few spirits since we found you this morning" he leant over and tapped her on the shoulder, "and hey, you've managed to get Daryl talking, not an easy task"

"Ahh I bet he's a real chatty chap, you're just being kind" she winked, before turning and entering the RV and retrieving the bowls she had been tasked with.

Ailene helped dish up the dinner, the group had quickly converged on camp, before settling in to a seat next to Glenn and T-Dog.

"Hey" Glenn greeted her "you all settled in now?" he asked as she took a spoonful of the stew Carol had made.

"Mm" she replied, swallowing the delicious food, "Carol this is great" she told the woman who was sat a couple of seats away, she gave her a thankful smile before returning back to her own food, "yeah, thanks again for all the things you got" Ailene said the Glenn, "I really appreciate how welcome you're making me"

"Well I'm glad" he lowered his voice then, leaning in to look at her, "I heard you're bunking with Daryl?" he grimaced slightly, "good luck" Ailene laughed, looking across the fire to the man in question, he had his eyes focussed on his bowl of food.

"He's not bad at all" she shrugged, "pretty friendly if you ask me" Glenn scoffed, and so did T-Dog clearly having heard their conversation.

"That's a word I wouldn't associate with him" T-Dog grinned at Glenn, who was nodding. Ailene tutted and looked at them both.

"Shh" she told them, "that's my best friend you're talking about" she joked, before casting another glance in Daryl's direction. She had found him friendly, he was a quiet man which Ailene understood, all of her joking and awkwardness was her way of protecting herself and pushing people away. She recognised a similar trait in Daryl, his unfriendliness and gruff attitude made sure no one got close enough to hurt him. Daryl looked up and caught her eye, to which she immediately averted her gaze, trying to stop the blush that had arisen in her cheeks at being caught staring.

Ailene had volunteered to wash up after dinner trying to do anything she could to repay their hospitality, Dale had joined her, which was nice. She liked the old man, he reminded her of the Father she had lost just a few days previously, and his caring nature made her feel at ease. They didn't talk much to start with, Ailene found it strange as he was a pretty chatty man usually.

"You alright?" she asked, peering at him, "you seem a little distracted"

"Yeah I'm okay" he sighed, picking up another dish to rinse, "just Shane's got my back up"

"Aw Dale, don't worry yourself with people like him" she looked around to find Shane sat at the camp fire, a kind of mad expression on his face, "he seems like he's going through something and he's just taking it out on people- not the best person to be around, like" she smiled to the old man.

"I know" Dale sighed, "he's been a lot different since Rick got here"

"Well that's because he's not the leader anymore" Ailene observed, "he's lost power there, and now people aren't doing everything he says"

"It seems he's lost a bit more than power" Dale muttered to her, as she saw Lori walk past Shane, he gave her a strange look, realisation dawned on her.

"Ohh" was all she could reply, "Poor Rick" she winced, going back to scrubbing the pan. Shane got up from his seat in a huff and walked past them towards his tent, "You heading in for the night?" she called to him. Shane stopped and looked at her, she smiled brightly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty worn out" he sighed, moving towards them slightly.

"I bet you are, after walking all that way on your ankle" she nodded to his foot, "well deserved sleep I think" she smiled again, and surprisingly he smiled back.

"Well," he looked at her, "goodnight" and then looked at Dale, "both of you"

Dale waited until he was gone, before giving Ailene an incredulous look, she smiled to the old man and patted her nose, leaving a few suds there.

"I know what I'm doing" she grinned wiping the suds off with the sleeve of the shirt she had donned since the heat had dropped.

"And what might that be?" Dale asked, curious.

"Well the way I see it" she said, lowly, to avoid any unwanted overhearing, "he's feeling pretty 'left out'" she said that using quotation marks at the immature statement, "if people speak to him, include him, then maybe he won't be in such a mood all the time, and hopefully he won't do anything rash" she looked at Dale, "because he seems like the exact person to do something rash"

"Hm" Dale nodded, "good idea" he dried his hands, "and you're right, he is that sort of person"

Ailene piled up the now clean and dry dishes, and carried them back into the RV, she bid Dale a goodnight, before heading off to her own bed.

The tent was pretty quiet when she got inside, she didn't know if Daryl were asleep or not, so she tried her very best to keep her noise to a minimum. She found her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth before changing into an oversized t-shirt she had spied that would be good for sleep. Finally she went to crawl into her compartment, ready for sleep, when Daryl's voice spoke through the walls of the tent.

"Goodnight, Ailene" he said softly, then she heard rustling as though he was turning over in his bed.

"Night Daryl" she murmured, "have a good sleep" she continued, inwardly cringing at how stupid she sounded. She climbed into bed and shut her compartment almost closed, laying on her back she realised that if this was a dream, then maybe when she woke up she would be back where she belonged.

It was with that hope, she fell asleep.


"Ah feck"

Daryl heard the exclamation from the strange woman next to him, he had been awake for a while, but just couldn't be bothered to move. Curious, he unzipped his compartment and poked his head out, obviously hearing his zip, Ailene had done the same. Her pretty face emerged with a sheepish grin on it.

"Sorry" she apologised, "I hope I didn't wake you" her blue eyes searched his face and he shook his head.

"I've been up for a while" he eyed her, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing" she replied, slight disappointment in her eyes, Daryl frowned at her until she sighed. "Okay well to tell you the truth I though this might all be some mad dream and I'd wake up and it be back to normal"

"Ah" he replied, as she unzipped her full compartment door and sat cross-legged on her camp bed. She was pretty small, but not petite, her figure was strong and able. He hadn't noticed how pale she was before he saw the expanse of her legs, but her skin was extremely white, in contrast to her long almost-black hair. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful, and he could quite happily listen to her all day- the sound of her musical voice stirring something within him.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked, as she pulled on her jeans and tried to tame her wavy hair.

"The same as always I guess" he shrugged, before looking at her, "did you?"

"Pretty much" she smiled, "I always liked camping" he laughed a little at her comment.

"It gets old real quick" he told her, sitting forward to pull on his shirt, and then unzipping the compartment and sitting out to put his boots on.

He heaved himself up out of the tent and grabbed his crossbow, giving her some privacy. He was surprised just how comfortable he felt with her, she was easier to talk to than the rest of the group, didn't take herself too seriously and she was kind. He normally would think that she was quite naïve, but he got the feeling that she could hold her own, and the way that she had killed that walker on instinct was pretty impressive.

A lot of the camp was already up, Carol was hanging washing on one of the lines and Rick was by one of the cars with a map.

"Hey Daryl" he called him over, "you know you checked the creek yesterday? How about you head out near there and check this area" he gestured at the area on the map that Daryl hadn't checked yet.

"Yeh" he replied, pulling on his jacket, "I'll head out in the next hour"

"Take Ailene" Rick instructed, and Daryl frowned.

"I'm better off alone ya know" he argued, but Rick shook his head.

"Look she wants to go out and look for her, and I'd feel more comfortable if you weren't alone" he reasoned, "she could watch ya back, you never know" Daryl sighed, knowing there was no point arguing.

"Fine" he grunted, turning and grabbing a granola bar from the camp before marching back over to his tent. He saw her emerging from it, tripping over the guy-rope slightly, Daryl sighed she was either going to get herself killed, or him.

"Hey" she smiled to him, pulling out a leather jacket from the tent, showing it to him, "Glenn's got style- see what he got for me?"

"Hm" he replied, trying to stop from smiling at her, she was funny.

"Hmm maybe Maggie got it" she frowned, before chucking it back into the tent and pulling on her boots.

"Rick said you're coming out to search today" he told her, and she looked up to him.

"Yeah, I asked him yesterday" she smiled.

"Well you're coming out with me" he informed her, Ailene's smile never faltered, "don't get me killed, alright?"

"Hey Mr Macho" she had straightened, holding her hands on her hips and frowning at him, "I'm pretty tough, okay?" she gave him a glare, he scoffed and returned the glare.

"Whatever" he told her, "Go get a weapon off Rick"

"Fine" she grumbled, traipsing over through camp towards the cop.

"And get some food" he called after her, rolling his eyes that he actually gave a shit.

Daryl took his time getting ready, seeing Ailene walking through camp with a bright expression on her face, she spoke to Carol for quite a while. It didn't surprise Daryl that the two of them got on well, they were both kind-hearted people, and quietly strong, he didn't realise at the time, but he had a lot of admiration for both women.

After a while, Ailene caught his eye, smiling at him she picked up the crowbar type weapon she had been given, and a fairly large knife, and walked over to him.

"You ready to head out?" she asked him when she'd got close enough, he nodded and pushed off the tree he had been leaning on.

"You get enough food?" he asked her, as they began walking towards the forest.

"Yeah" she replied, looking at him with a curious smile on her face, "did you?" she asked, which made Daryl's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, he wasn't used to people caring about him.

"Yeah some granola shit" he grunted, looking towards the forest and thinking where they were going.

They walked a while in relative quiet, making their cautious way through the forest. They hadn't seen much that would have signalled that a child would have passed through, but he had come across some squirrels that would be good for dinner.

"Reminds me of my Dad" Ailene smiled at him, as they stood in the bushes, waiting for him to sling the animals in his bag.

"You said he used to teach you to track?" he asked, with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah," she smiled sadly, stirring a curiosity in him at what had happened to her father, "he used to do all that survival stuff with me, I guess he thought I was the most manly out of all my sisters" she grinned and rolled her eyes at him before moving off through the trees.

He followed her off into the woods, they were a couple of miles from where he had searched the previous day. There wasn't much around, but she caught his attention with a low whistle, ears pricked, he looked over to her. She gestured for him to come, once there she pointed to a small house that looked more like a large cabin.

"There's a walker over there though" she turned to look at him, he spied it in the path they would have to take to the cabin.

"I got it" he grunted, moving past her slightly, he raised his loaded crossbow and shot the thing quickly sending it dead to the ground. "come on" he made his way down the small bank they were stood on and through to the clearing where the building stood.

Daryl bent to retrieve his arrow, and lead the way towards the cabin, reloading his crossbow as he went. Once they reached the door, he looked at her, assessing whether or not she'd be able to handle it.

"You good?" he asked her, a frown fixed in place. Ailene adjusted the grip on her weapon and nodded, she had a worried expression but it was a determined one at that. Taking a breath, he hauled the door open and stepped wearily inside. The house looked ransacked, broken pieces of furniture and knocked over lamps or vases, dead flowers spilled out of them. Obviously some other group had been in here looking for supplies, that, or the owners had packed in an extremely messy way.

They walked towards the end of the long hallway, peering in each room as they did so. The back room was a large kitchen, which had two other doors inside it, Daryl moved carefully over to one of the doors he thought might lead to a dining room, or it might have even been a pantry. He felt Ailene stick close towards him as he reached out for the door handle but before he could, the door was flung open against him.

Daryl was pinned against the wall as the hungry arms of a stinking walker grasped at him. The only thing separating him and becoming walker-dinner, was the door itself. He heard Ailene scream and cursed allowed as she ran from the room. The scream had alerted another couple of walkers that must have been hiding in the same room, as suddenly the force on the door became much stronger. He was pinned so tightly against the door that he couldn't even move his arms to grasp his weapon or knife, he was using all his strength to stop the creatures from getting to him.

The hungry fingers and growls were becoming stronger and stronger, Daryl had no idea if this was it, this was how he went, but he certainly felt like it. Trying desperately to free his hand to finally reach his weapon, he fell short, grunting in frustration at the situation and the fact that the woman had left him.

Suddenly, he heard running and felt the pressure of the door ease off slightly. He saw her in between the fragments of the crumbling door, she was beating one of the walkers in the head, smashing its skull. Next she turned to the other one, who had turned its attention from him and to her, as it grasped at her shirt, she tried to dodge out of its way before managing to hit in in the stomach. This sent the thing reeling slightly, giving her enough room to smack its head in. With this commotion, the final walker had stopped pushing against the door and turned towards her, this gave Daryl the opportunity to push free of the door, grab his knife and stab the walker through the skull. Daryl stood there panting as he watched her repeatedly smashing the skull of the second walker she'd taken down, the brownish blood spattering her arms, face and chest.

She finally stopped, dropping the crowbar and walking away from him, she walked out of the room and down the hallway until she exited the house. Daryl took another breath before picking up her weapon and following her out of the house.

She stood a few paces away from the house, her back to him. He walked over to her without saying anything, just stood there next to her, and could see that she had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry" she blurted, tears spilling over down her face that was marked with blood, "that was so cowardly of me". Daryl looked at her, pity flickered through him, he didn't like seeing her upset- something in him wanted to comfort her, make her feel better.

"You came back didn't you" he said, relatively softly, "don't worry about it"

"No don't say that" she shook her head at him, "I was scared and I left you" she violently brushed the tears off her face, with a frown in place. Daryl sighed, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder and shifting slightly on his feet.

"Yeah but you came back" he replied, wondering whether or not to pat her out of comfort. "Come on, you're just getting used to this" he said, with a sigh, reaching out and touching her shoulder, hoping it would give her some comfort. "how many walkers have you killed?" he asked her, she looked over at him, her tears has subsided for now.

"I guess those two make three" she sniffed, looking at the floor. Daryl frowned, he wondered how she had managed to survive out there for so long without killing any walkers. This woman was certainly a mystery to him, he remembered what she had been saying the day before- that she woke up and she was here. He shook off all the questions that he had, and just looked at her, replacing his frown with a slight smile.

"See?" he reassured her, "It'll get easier" he sighed and looked out to the forest.

"Are you hurt?" she was eyeing him, but he shook his head.

"Nah I'm all good" he grunted, looking at her wearily, "shall we get going?" he asked, "there's no way Sophia would have been in there"

"Yeah I'll come" she smiled at him weakly, reaching out for him to hand her the weapon. "I'll be better next time" she vowed, more to herself than him, taking a shaky breath before he began leading back towards the forest.

Ailene was pretty quiet the rest of the day, they walked for a while, checking in small crooks in trees and by a nearby stream.

"Here" she called to him, passing him a water bottle, he took is gratefully as the heat of the day was starting to get to them. "Do you think maybe someone had come through here?" she crouched down looking at the ground. "I mean it certainly looks disturbed" she looked up at him, but he paused, looking around him studying the shrubs.

"Hmm" he let out a breath, "yeah I think you're right" he crouched near her and looked carefully, coming to a similar conclusion as she did. "It doesn't look like dragging, not like a walker, it looks more like footsteps"

"What we don't know is if it was Sophia or not" she whispered looking at him, they were quite close together, so close he could see the freckles on her face.

"That's right" he swallowed, looking away from her "This stream has gotta lead somewhere" he stood up and looked along the riverbed, but then he sighed looking up at the sky, "we should probably head back though, we're a while walk away and the sun's going down"

"We can search for a little bit longer surely?" she asked him with a frown, hands on her hips, "another hour or so?" Daryl looked at her face, she was pleading with him, obviously trying to do the right thing.

"One hour" he informed her, "we'll head downstream to see if there's anything there"

"Thanks" she smiled, beginning to walk along the riverbank.

They walked for a few minutes in silence then Ailene broke it, "Hey Daryl?" she asked him, he didn't look at her, continuing along their path.

"Hmm?"

"What's Sophia like?" she asked, "I haven't wanted to ask Carol because-well- obviously" she babbled.

"She's quiet, good kid" he mumbled, "her dad wasn't good to her, either of them" he swallowed, "if you know what I mean". Ailene looked over at him with a sad expression and nodded.

"I know exactly what you mean" she sighed, causing the flicker of intrigue to ignite in him again, who the hell was this woman?

"She got chased by walkers into the forest" he explained, as they stepped over a large log, "Rick went after her, they got split up and she's not been seen since" he sighed, "I tracked her for a while, but I lost her"

"It's not your fault" she said, stopping walking and turning to look at him, "you know that right?"

Daryl just scoffed in response, he knew it was his fault, he should have been able to track her. She was a little girl for Christ's sake, how could she have got so far that she could have eluded him? Why was she trying to make him feel better? It scared him that she actually cared.

"Daryl" he spun around to face Ailene, her voice was stern and her expression mirrored it, "you need to stop blaming yourself" he stared at her for a minute, before looking away in anger.

"Are we looking or what?" he grunted, "stop chatting like you know me" he stormed off away from her, not caring if she was behind him or not.