Hope blinked awake at the sound of laughter. It was dark in the cell, the moon's glow the only light. She wiped her eyes and stretched. Grabbing her boots she slid them on without bothering to tie the laces. She reached for the hooded sweater she kept thrown over the top bunk. She slipped on the sweater and jogged down the stairs. The group was crowded around what they had decided would be their cafeteria, outside the gate of the cell block.

She peeked into Hershel's cell and found him sleeping peacefully. She felt his pulse and smiled when it thumped strong and steady against her fingers. She laid the back of her hand against his forehead and was pleased when she felt no fever. Lastly, she checked his dressings and was glad to find the bleeding had finally stopped.

Wrapping her arms around herself she walked over to the group.

Daryl was the first to notice her. He lifted an arm and Hope slid into the space he had created. She rested her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his warmth. Daryl pressed his lips into her hair in response.

"Hershel's doing much better now." Hope commented.

"He hit a rough spot earlier but he woke up a little while ago." Carol responded.

"What do you mean a rough spot?"

"He stopped breathing but Mom did CPR and saved him." Carl chimed in. Glenn nudged him with his elbow. They shared a quick look before Carl looked down sheepishly.

Hope sat up. "He stopped breathing?"

"Yeah it's a good thing Lori acted fast." Glenn scratched the back of his head.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"We didn't see the use in worrying you." Carol patted Hope's knee. "Lori handled it, besides I don't think we could've wakened you if we wanted to."

"Yeah if your snoring was anything to go by." Daryl said with a small grin.

Hope blushed and punched him in the arm. The group shared a quiet laugh.

Daryl pulled Hope onto his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder.

Hope entwined her fingers with his. "What happened to those prisoners?"

Rick looked around for a moment. "They've been taken care of."

T-Dog cleared his throat. "We cleared out a cell block for them. They gave us half of their food in exchange. They promised to keep to themselves and leave us alone."

Hope shifted nervously. "Can we trust them?"

"Rick made it pretty clear we won't tolerate any visitors."

"Damn right he did," Daryl said lifting his cup to Rick.

"That's good I suppose." Hope still wasn't too sure about their new neighbors but the crisis seemed to have been averted for the time being. She thought it best to keep her worries to herself for now.

The group lingered in the cafeteria long into the night. After the day they all had, no one wanted to break the peaceful camaraderie. It was nice to have everyone together safe and sound. Between the warmth of the fire in a garbage can and the comfort of Daryl's arms, Hope found it hard to keep her eyes open.

It was after the fifth time Hope nodded off that Daryl decided to head to bed. "All right that's enough. You can barely keep your eyes open." He tugged her up from her seat. "Let's go."

Too sleepy to argue, Hope just nodded and shuffled off after him.

"Daryl's got the right idea, we should head to bed. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." Rick stood up and stretched.

The others rose and went off to their respective cells. Rick held a hand out to Lori. She took it with a small smile. "Thanks."

Rick walked a few feet before stopping suddenly. He turned and walked back to her. Lori looked at him inquisitively.

"Good night Lori," Rick murmured. He placed a gentle kiss to her forehead before walking briskly to his cell.

Lori smiled, blinking back tears. It was the first intimate contact she'd had with Rick since Shane died. Maybe there was hope after all.

The next week was one of the better weeks they'd had in a while. Hershel was slowly recovering, much to the relief of Beth and Maggie. Lori, Hope and Rick too, seeing as how Lori was ready to give birth any day now. Hope still had some anxiety about it. She wasn't sure she could handle it if Hershel wasn't there. So many things could go wrong and Hope would never forgive herself if she caused the Grimes family any more pain. They'd been through so much already.

"Hey, space cadet. Wake up." Daryl flicked her forehead gently.

Hope swatted his hand away with a smile. "I'm just thinking."

"Okay let's get the other car in. We'll park it in the west entry of the yard." Rick pointed to the west gate.

Rick, Daryl, Carol T-Dog and Hope were moving the cars into the yard along with a few other things that needed to be done to fortify the prison.

"After that we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them."

Hope groaned inwardly, burning dead bodies was the last thing she wanted to do. Daryl patted her on the back.

"It's gonna be a long day." T-Dog said tiredly.

"Where are Glenn and Maggie? We could use their help." Carol asked.

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl pointed to the west tower.

"The guard tower?" Rick furrowed his brow. "They were there last night."

"Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl yelled across the courtyard.

A few seconds later the door to the balcony opened. Glenn stumbled out shirtless, buckling his pants. "Hey, what's up guys?"

"You coming?!"

"What?"

They all giggled at Daryl's question. Hope shook her head.

"Are you coming?!"

Glenn looked at Maggie completely bewildered. This only made the group to laugh harder.

Daryl turned and walked back to get the last car. "Come on! We need your help!" Daryl put an arm around Hope and pressed his lips to her ear. "Now we know where we can go to get some privacy." He let her go with a light push as he got walked towards the last car.

Hope turned bright red and stammered out something unintelligible.

"Rick!" The urgency in T-Dog's tone made Hope look up and Daryl turn around.

Hope's stomach dropped a bit when she saw two prisoners waiting by the fence. What could they possibly want?

Daryl, T-Dog and Rick went up to meet them. After a few tense moments of conversation, the men walked over to Carol and Hope. Daryl locked the prisoners outside of the courtyard before the main gate.

"They want to join our group," Rick said after Glenn and Maggie joined them.

"No way, we're doing just fine on our own." Glenn told him.

T-Dog shook his head. "Are we? We just barely managed this winter. Maybe taking in more people is what we ought to be doing instead of running from everybody we see."

"They're convicts T," Carol crossed her arms over her chest. "Are those really the type of people we should be letting in?"

"They seem like decent guys."

"What if they're just waiting to take our guns and kill us in our sleep?" Rick asked.

"We've worked so hard to build all of this, are you really considering jeopardizing that?" Carol asked.

"I agree, it's been just us for so long. I don't want anyone else in our group." Maggie chimed in.

Carol frowned. "They're convicts bottom line."

"They probably have less blood on their hands then we do." T-Dog pointed out.

Daryl shifted his crossbow slightly. "I get guys like this; I grew up with guys just like them. They're degenerates but they're not psychos. Hell, I had just as much a chance as ending up with them as I did ending up with you."

"So you agree with me?"

"Hell nah, I think we should turn them loose. Let them try their luck out there like we did."

"What I'm saying Daryl-"

"When I was a rookie," Rick cut him off. "I arrested this nineteen year old boy. He was wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. Blubbered like a baby through his interrogation, through the whole trial. Suckered the jury, he was acquitted for insufficient evidence. Two weeks later he shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

T-Dog clenched his jaw but stayed silent. The others filed out and went back to what they were doing. Hope lingered a moment longer and gave T-Dog a small hug. "For what it's worth, I agree with you. I don't think those men mean us any harm."

"Not much good saying this now though, is it?"

"No but I'll talk to Rick later, in private. Maybe that will help get him to listen."

At this T-Dog gave her a small smile. Hope did have a way with words. He chalked it up to her being a doctor, good bedside manner and all. "All right, go spin your magic on him. Let me know how it works out."

"You'll be the first to know."

Hope couldn't seem to get a minute alone with Rick. After her third attempt was interrupted she gave up and decided to try a little later when things calmed down a bit.

Hope stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She'd been in Georgia almost a year now and she still couldn't get used to the heat. It was a source of infinite amusement for the rest of the Georgia natives. Even Glenn who was a certified city dweller like herself still made fun of her for it, like now.

"Hey Hope don't pass out yet, we still have bodies to burn!"

Hope responded with a not so polite hand gesture. This only caused Glenn to smile wider. Daryl guffawed somewhere off to her right.

"Actually I'm gonna go check on Hershel for a minute, see how he's holding up!"

"That's a good idea; get some lunch for us too!" Glenn yelled back.

Hope breathed a sigh of relief when she was out of the hot sun. There wasn't any relief from the sweltering heat, there never was since there was no electricity for air conditioning. At least the sun wasn't beating on her head anymore. She set about rummaging through some cabinets in search of some lunch.

"Hope! Look!" Carl exclaimed from somewhere behind her.

Hope banged her head on the roof of the cabinet as she tried to see what Carl was yelling about. Rubbing the back of her head Hope turned and gasped. Hershel was walking, with crutches of course, but he was walking nonetheless. Hope put a hand over her mouth. "Hershel!"

"It's good to see you too."

"I can't believe you're actually doing this."

"What other option do I have?"

Hope smiled at that, he did have a point. "I suppose you're right." Hope cleared her throat. "I don't want you to strain yourself, if you're feeling winded or tired I want you to sit down immediately and rest. No exceptions."

"Doctor's orders?" Hershel was almost at the door now, Lori, Beth and Carl following him with open hands waiting to catch him in case he fell.

"Doctor's orders."

Hershel turned slightly and gave her a quick salute before marching through the door and into the open air.

Hope shook her head and went back to looking for lunch. Hope frowned at her findings. They really were going to have to make a supply run soon. Three candy bars and a stale bag of chips wasn't really much for lunch and she didn't want to dip into the main food supply. Hopefully, it would be enough to tide everyone over until dinner.

Hope jumped when she heard a clang in the cell block. Cautiously, she lifted up her shirt and pulled her knife from the makeshift sheath Daryl had made for her some months back. Everyone was outside, which meant that someone had broken in. Whether they were dead or alive was the question. As quietly as possible Hope moved towards the spot where she heard the sound, when she was within a few feet of it she heard the telltale rasping that could only be from a walker. By the sound of it he must've been drawn by the scent of blood in Hershel's cell. Hope tip-toed behind the walker and drew back her knife. Before she could bring it crashing down on the walker's skull, the walker turned and charged her. Caught off guard Hope fell and knife clattered to the floor and skidded outside of her peripheral vision. The walker was now on top of Hope clawing desperately at her. Hope Held him off as best she could. She kept her hands on his shoulders and pushed with all her might. The walker was a few inches from her face, biting the air as he tried to connect with her flesh.

"Help!" Hope screamed on the off chance that someone might hear her and come running. Hope looked around wildly for her knife and her heart sank when she saw it was so far out of her reach. Not that it would have done much good anyway; it was taking all of her strength to keep the walker from chewing her face off.

Hope cried out as her arms started to shake. She was losing ground and she could see the walker getting closer and closer to her face. "Daryl! Help me!"