Chapter 3

"Where's Merle?" Izzy demanded someone tell her. The youngest Dixon's face was redder than a fire truck. Tears welled up in her brown eyes. Carol tried to bend down and comfort her, mostly because no one else was listening to the little ones anger. Lori and Carl had been reunited to Rick, their husband and father. Amy with Andrea, Morales with his family, T-Dog came over to Izzy and bent down. "Hey Iz, how are you?" Izabella adored T-Dog even though Merle didn't. She looked at him with sad brown tear filled eyes.

"Where is Merle? Daryl promised he'd come back." T-Dog looked back at Rick and nodded his head to the little girl. Luckily he'd had practice with this. Rick came over and bent down to Izzy's level. She liked him immediately. He had blue eyes like her Momma, and he spoke softer than Shane. Izzy felt safe with him. "Hi there sweetheart. Can I talk to you? Just for a moment." Izzy looked back at Carol, who nodded at the little girl. She allowed Rick to take her up into his arms and sit on a stump a little way away from everyone. He set her down on her feet so that they were on the same level.

"Where is Merle?" She asked him again.

Rick regarded the little girl. "Sweetheart, your brother Merle was being very mean and very loud. He almost got us killed, and when we were leaving he wouldn't come with us. We had a limited amount of time, so we had to leave him behind."

Izabella regarded the man. It was very true that Merle was mean and loud. If they had to leave him because of it… "It's okay if you left him Mr. But my brother Daryl is gon' be mad." Izzy patted his knee and ran back to Amy and Andrea, raising her arms. Amy picked her up and Andrea gave her the one of the necklaces that she'd gotten. She put her head on Amy's shoulder and let her gaze wonder around the camp. Everyone but Carol and Sophia were reuniting with someone, they were sitting with Ed.

Only Andrea saw the look that Ed gave the little girl in her sister's arms, it wasn't a kind look either. She'd seen that look before and she'd die before she let him get to that baby. So, she took the little girl from her sister and went into the camper. She set Izzy down and watched her get the little notepad from under one of the seats, take the pencil out and look at the mean and nice list she apparently had kept long before the end of the world. It had everyone's name on either side. Most of them were on the 'Nice' side. She watched her write Ed's name under Shane.

"What's the man's name Andrea? The one that Lori and Carl were hugging?"

"That's Rick, honey. He's Carl's daddy." She told the little girl as she watched her write Ricks name under Carl's. Her heart filled up when she saw that her name was first one the list.

She gestured over at Amy to come over to them and took Izzy in her arms.

"Why don't we go down to the quarry guys?" She said, smiling at them both.

Later that night everyone was sitting by the fire. Izzy was curled up on Andrea's lap and starting to fall asleep. She saw Carol sitting at the other fire with Ed and Sophia, and caught her eye, without taking her thumb out of her mouth she waved. Carol wave back and mouthed 'Goodnight' to her. Izzy smiled and closed her eyes, but still heard the conversation that Dale started.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

T-Dog spoke up then, "I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me."

Rick answered him, "I cuffed him. That makes it mine."

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glen chimed in.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm going to hide from it." T-Dog told them.

"We could lie." Amy added, holding on tight to Andrea's arm. Andrea shifted the little girl in her arms.

"Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She turned to Lori, "Your husband did what was necessary, and if merle got left behind, it's nobody's fault but his."

"And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale asked them, "Word to the wise, we're going to have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." T-Dog whispered.

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea defended their actions.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that—not that chain, not that padlock. My point—Dixon's alive, and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us." T-Dog got up and left the fire.

Izzy turned in Andrea's lap and opened her eyes. She began playing with Andrea's hair. She heard Lori, Rick, and Carl say goodnight and make their way back to their tent and Ed snoring by his fire. Andrea looked down at the little girl in her arms.

"I thought you were sleeping Iz." She whispered softly. Izzy shook her head.

"So you heard everything?"

Izzy nodded.

Andrea sighed, "Let us tell Daryl. Okay?"

Izzy nodded again and Andrea stood up and helped Amy and Dale up and the four of them went inside the camper.