Mercy's first glimpse of the farm... well she wasn't in the least surprised actually. She honestly had expected it to be a little different from the show, but she supposed this was a dream so maybe it shouldn't be surprising in the least that it was exactly the same... her mind was boring.

As they made it up to the porch, there was an older man Mercy had only seen a couple of times thus far, but he was just as old and wise as she'd suspected the first time he'd been introduced, kind of like another Dale... at least that was how Mercy had seen him.

"Who's this?" The man asked quizzically.

The dark haired woman jumped off the horse after lowering the redhead to the ground. "We found her on our way back; she was on the very outskirts of town." The girl answered her father.

"Who's this?" A man unknowingly echoed the older man's question as he walked out onto the porch.

The Asian stepped forward at this point. "We found her outside town. She doesn't have anyone and we couldn't just leave her." He said, his voice slightly hesitant once more now that he was faced with the man Mercy knew was their leader.

The man Mercy knew as Rick Grimm looked her up and down searchingly. "You found her... looking just like this?" He asked curiously, the disbelief clear in his voice.

"Actually she looked a lot cleaner." The dark haired girl, Maggie, admit softly, her own eyes still showing her disbelief from earlier.

Glenn, the Asian, nodded in agreement when Rick looked at him for affirmation. "Woman looked like she'd just come out of a board meeting or something." He said with a slight shrug. "Except for the table leg and knife she was grasping in her hand at least."

Rick looked the woman over closely, who didn't even flinch from his gaze but instead stared him down right back. Well she had gumption, that was for sure. "What's your name?" He asked curiously. "How have you survived?" He and the group had people watching their backs, guns, a small form of protection... and they sure as hell didn't look as good as this woman standing before him.

Mercy was saved from answering when a gruff voice spoke up. "Who the hell's this?" The very southern voice demanded gravelly.

"I was just about to find out." Rick told the man, but Mercy was turning her head already, slightly shocked even though this was her damn dream, she shouldn't be!

Of course if one thought about it, even in a dream it was shocking to meet one of the men you half way loved. Okay so she wasn't like in love with him, but she liked the whole gruff, fuck the world attitude he had. Plus seriously, shooting a bow was hot. Yeah, she wasn't normal, but again, her dream!

"Gotta problem princess?" The redneck demanded.

And suddenly her dream pulled out the one word guaranteed to piss her off faster then a swarm of hornets being poked with a stick. She turned her body fully to face the redneck and stepped forward, prompting him to step back in surprise before he held his ground and glared.

"Don't. Call me. That." She hissed at him angrily, not caring that this was her dream, and one of the men she drooled over was standing in front of her all primed for the picking. All she could focus on was that blasted title that had caused so many fights and tears in her life. Damn dream!

The redneck smirked at her, trying to hide his curiosity with rudeness. "Whatchya gonna do about it... Princess?" He said silkily, ignoring their audience just as she was. For some reason riling this unknown woman that looked like one of those uppity bitches from before was sending a thrill threw him. Her eyes were flashing like lightning and there was an angry flush in her cheeks.

Mercy grit her teeth. "Knock it off." She told him warningly as she crossed her arms over her chest to keep from doing anything drastic, no longer caring that this was a dream and she was arguing with a dream man who wasn't real. He was calling her princess dammit!

"Why should I princess?" He demanded, letting the last word slide out of his mouth slow enough to taunt the nameless female.

Oh that was it! "Call me princess... one more time." She told him firmly, daring him to toss that word out just one more time. She'd show him just what she was willing to do for that.

The redneck smirked at the redhead and licked his lips. "Princess." He whispered loudly.

Mercy uncrossed her arms, pulled back her fist, and punched the arrogant bastard right in the nose; show him not to call her princess! She was no longer half in love with this arrogant, sodding, prick!

The man reared back with an angry yell as his hand came up to his face. "You bitch!" He yelled angrily as he held his now bleeding nose as he grit his teeth to keep from going after the female. Oh if he didn't think he'd kill her with one hit!

"That's better." Mercy said with a smile. "You can toss that word around all you want, God and all his angels knows it true." She told him as she turned and headed for porch steps, only to freeze as he let another insult fly.

"You uppity little bitch! You better not a broke my nose!" He yelled.

Mercy rolled her eyes as she turned towards him. "Your nose aint broke." She told him before she had a thought. Bending down she yanked one of her strappy heels off her feet and flung it at his head. Of course he ducked that one, but the next one hit him somewhere on his chest, making the girl smirk happily at that. "And I may be bitch, but I aint uppity." She told him before once more turning around and looking at the girl she'd rode in with. "You look about my size... any chance you gotta pair of jeans I can borrow?" She asked as she marched into the house after the girl, ignoring all the people staring at her, including the damn redneck she no longer had a crush on. Fuck him and all the rest of them, this was her dream dammit!

-WD-

Mercy knew the girl was staring as she finished stripping, no thought to decency, before shimming into the pants she'd been given. Maggie's rear and hips were a bit smaller, which meant the material stretched tightly across Mercy's ass, but other then that they were pretty good. Thankfully Maggie also had a shirt the woman could borrow, a rather comfortable tank top at that.

When she'd finished getting dressed and was untangling her hair with a brush, she finally got tired of the staring. "Just ask." She told the girl.

"How'd you get 'em?" Maggie asked, unable to help the curiosity. "And was it before... or after?"

Mercy turned and yanked her shirt back up. "That ones from attempting to ride a bull." She told the woman, pointing at a scar that had been caused when the bull's horn had gored her in the side. Her dad had warned her that she shouldn't do it, but he'd done it and she'd always wanted to try.

She yanked down the material of her jeans slightly, pointing to a cluster of scars that were marring her hip. "That's from a dirt bike accident... I probably should have listened when my dad said I wasn't experienced enough to go up that particular hill." She admit before turning to the front and showing off the one that stretched across her stomach. "Hunting accident." She admit, still feeling stupid over that one but not willing to explain.

After that she pointed out one more, the one high up on her ribs this time. "Stab wound." She finished before yanking her shirt down and continuing with the brushing. "If I told you every single story about every single scar I have on this body... well we'd be here all day and probably for the next few."

Maggie blinked at the woman in surprise. "But I thought..." She trailed off, embarrassed over having been caught judging.

Mercy laughed as she waved it away. "You thought I was a citified female who couldn't handle herself and wasn't even smart enough to know sensible clothes." She said knowingly with a small smile as she finally tamed her wild curls, pulling them into a messy ponytail that draped and swung around her shoulder blades and would be tangled up once more within the hour. "It's a reasonable thought, I was running about in high heels and a suit." She reminded the younger woman without malice. "I'm not from the South, but up north I was definitely not considered city folk. I am... was a lawyer, that was the outfit I was wearing when..." She trailed off and looked around. "All this happened." She admit. "I didn't have enough time to change, or even look for sensible clothing... it all happened so fast."

Maggie nodded in understanding, even if she was thinking something much different then Mercy. "We got lucky." She admit before the curious look took over her features once more. "How long had you been wandering about though?"

Mercy licked her lips as she thought up a good answer, finally she decided simple was best. "It felt like forever." Was all she said before she stood. "I think I should -"

But she was cut off as someone knocked on the door. "I think we need to talk to the girl now Maggie." They both heard the voice of Hershel say threw the doorway.

"Come on in dad." Maggie called out.

The man opened the door, only to pause slightly in surprise. The woman before him looked nothing like the one they'd first met. That one had seemed unfit to survive in anything wilder then a subway station, this one looked very much so capable of punching a grown man for an insult without worrying for her own safety. He could even see a few things that suit jacket had hidden, mainly the strength that only came from manual labor, the tanned skin that could only come from days and years out in the sun, and a scarred up body that one received running threw thickets and such. "You are more then you seem." He said knowingly before glancing at his daughter. "You gonna bring your friend down?"

Maggie nodded, but Mercy smiled at the old man, interrupting the girl before she could say anything. "The names Mercy sir, I'm sorry I didn't get around to introducing myself before my little... argument."

The man nodded at her greeting. "The name's Hershel." He replied before motioning the two women to lead the way downstairs so the group could start the interrogation.


One more chapter for my reviewer zaii because she's so dang curious and I had a little surprise after her last review. I wasn't going to post this until I at least built up a few more chapters, but I thought you might get a laugh out of her reaction so there you go zaii... hope you enjoyed.