Heterochromia Iridum

Hello, you! This one starts off in Daryl's POV, and switches back to Katty after a while. :) Enjoy!

Thank you so much to TheHungryRainbow, jeanf, Javi, addicted2memories, and Bactrian Camel for reviewing. Everyone was so kind! Thanks also to everyone new that has added this story to their favourites or alerts.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters associated with the franchise. I own the plot to this story and any original characters you may see, like Katty or Calum.

Chapter 4: Valuable

Daryl, like usual, was up before anyone else, even the sun. He had walked the perimeter around Alexandria when he had woken up, both to stretch his stiff legs and because he was doubtful of the security that the Safe-Zone had promised to them. Daryl was feeling unsociable and reserved that morning, so he avoided Sasha and Noah, who were finishing up the third watch. It was the shit shift that no one wanted, and though he normally stopped by and exchanged a few words with whoever was on watch, these two he decided against talking to. Both for different, but interlinked reasons.

Sasha, because she was generally on edge and still in the middle of dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for good reasons. Losing Bob and then Tyreese shortly after, her opinion of Alexandria and the reality of the apocalypse was understandable. It bothered Daryl, however, that he recognized, in the back of his mind, that he wasn't that far off from becoming Sasha. Especially after the loss of –.

He scowled to himself and attempted to wipe the appearance of her name from his mind. Daryl could picture her blonde hair and sweet face, taunting him and wracking him with guilt, and he couldn't afford to let it consume him. He had almost done that before they had been found by Aaron, and he couldn't allow that to happen again if he wanted to keep everyone safe.

It was a similar reason, why he avoided Noah. He was a reminder of the one that they had lost, the girl that was too good for this world. She had kept him together when he had given up, and Daryl repaid her by letting her die, minutes from being with her family again. He knew Noah still felt guilty, he could see it in his eyes that he still blamed himself for the trade going awry that day. Daryl empathized with Noah, though he wouldn't say it. He, too, was guilty.

So he avoided them. And he would, until her face in his mind didn't cause his throat to constrict painfully.

Daryl wondered bleakly if that would ever happen.

So he was currently leaning against the railing of the main house, and fiddling with the slightly squashed package of Morley's in his hand.

She looked so different from her, and Daryl welcomed the change. He had trouble remembering her name, but the low, smoky tone of her voice was appealing. Appealing in the way that it was different from the light trill of a dead girl that had haunted him for so long. Their accents couldn't have been more different either, and he wondered if most of his tolerance of her came from these differences. Her hair was dark and she had weird eyes that reminded him of those fluffy white cats. She was attractive and lean and he remembered scolding himself when he stared at her ass when she left him in the garage last night. A girl that had options, even in the apocalypse.

After his initial blow up at her the day before yesterday, he had spent the majority of yesterday sulking, which had even annoyed him. He regretted shoving her, and felt embarrassed that he snapped to the point of laying a hand on a woman. He had always told himself that he wasn't his father, and it made him angry that he had fucked up that badly.

He had been trying to distract himself and avoid thinking about a way to bury the situation, when she had shown up. She had come bearing awkward stares and plates full of pasta, and he had been shocked, to say the least. Even more so when two of the first three words out of her mouth contained an apology.

He had overreacted, and was confused why she was apologizing. Daryl had expected her to hate him, not deliver a clumsy monologue to explain her off sense of humour and apologize to him.

Rick had explained everything that she had told him, and he couldn't lie and say he wasn't curious about her. Her involvement with Merle, Woodbury, how she ended up in Virginia. At one point he had questioned her relationship with Merle, and if she had fucked him, but Daryl had changed his mind when he heard her talk about him. She had spoken about him in a way that you would reference a family member, not a lover.

She looked ready to cry over the news that Merle was dead, and Daryl didn't understand. No one had cared about Merle, cried for Merle. Except for him.

"Morning, Daryl," he resisted jumping when the accented voice sounded out of his field of view.

Turning quickly, he flicked his eyes along her form and studied her briefly. She was petite, with wide hips that were accentuated with black jeans that hung low on her hips. They probably had once fit properly, but now they disclosed her hip bones and a sliver of olive-toned skin. He glanced back to her face. She really was girly and young looking, even after the apocalypse had taken it's toll on her. Her large, different coloured eyed stuck out to him, along with her almost disproportionately full lips.

He grunted a greeting at her, and she took that as an invitation to walk up the steps and stand by him. Daryl was grateful that she kept some sort of distance between them, though.

"What're you doing up this early?" she asked him after leaning her elbows on the railing and subsequently, her chin in her open palm.

"Waitin' for Aaron. We like ta leave early," he supplied as he withdrew a cigarette from the pack and lit it. He saw her glance at it shortly and try to hide a smile.

"I'm an early riser too," she offered, even though he hadn't asked. "Not good at being asleep."

"Me neither."

Daryl watched her incline her head towards him and study him, and he wondered what she was thinking. She glanced around him at his crossbow balancing against the rail beside him.

She let out a low, appreciative whistle. "That's fuckin' badass looking."

He glanced down at the crossbow too. It was definitely nicer than his old Horton, and way more expensive than the previous, entry level crossbow. Daryl wouldn't have been able to afford this one before the end of the world.

"It's a Bowtech Stryker StrykeZone 380," He recited to her, and inwardly cringed at how eager and proud he sounded of it. He looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Not sure what any of that means, but Chewbacca had a crossbow, so it's cool."

He immediately forgot about his embarrassment, and looked at her strangely. Any trace of geekiness that he felt over his knowledge of crossbows had diminished. She laughed lightly, and Daryl resisted rolling his eyes at what he assumed was another bad joke.

"No, but seriously, it's top. My dad actually had a compound bow he used sometimes when he went hunting. I was never allowed to try it growing up; he thought I'd kill the dog or something, I guess," she supplied, and he found himself amused at their conversation. She sent another envious glance at his crossbow, and he felt pride swell in his chest at the action.

"Did ya hunt much?" he asked, genuinely interested. He couldn't picture her in a forest for the life of him.

She shrugged. "Not really. He taught me some snares and traps, but wasn't really into the idea of me with actual weapons," she looked at the sky that was now bleached with the first sign of daylight with a small smile. "Would have been useful to know though, too bad. Who taught you to hunt?"

"Taught myself," he answered. It was true, for the most part. Daryl's dad had felt that once Daryl was able to carry a weapon, he should be able to provide for himself. He had to learn how to hunt fast, or he might have gone hungry as a kid.

She nodded at him, "That's a valuable skill. I bet you're glad you hung onto it," she commented, referring to his crossbow again.

He nodded back at her in the affirmative. "Yeah. Ya had alotta knives when ya came in, must know how ta use those," Daryl mused, more to himself that her.

She answered anyways. "I'm alright with them," she shot a grin his way, and he assumed that it was her half-assed attempt at being humble. Daryl had a feeling that she was more than 'alright' with them. "Definitely better with knives than guns, that's for sure."

He scoffed, "Scared of 'em?"

The answering reply came in the form of a shake of her head. "Nah, just not good at it. My accuracy gets messed up with the kickback, I think. Always makes me jump."

Daryl chewed the corner of his thumb and thought for a minute. "Should probably learn," he commented. He refrained himself from offering. That was something that Rick should do, not him. Daryl knew he wasn't anywhere close to being patient, or a good teacher.

The young women looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled at him. It unnerved him, and Daryl glanced away. "Yeah, I guess I should," she replied, and he wondered where the tone in her voice came from. She sounded reminiscent, but he wasn't sure of what.

It was silent for a moment, before she chose to break it. "I'm gonna go back and eat something. If you see Maggie, will you let her know I'll come find her when I'm done?" He nodded at her, acknowledging that he had heard her.

Daryl flinched when her hand reached over a gently touched his forearm for the second time. "Stay safe out there with Aaron, Daryl," she said softly, and he frowned slightly at her in confusion. She smiled at him in return and then slinked her hand off of his arm and walked off. Why was she touching him so much?

He watched her figure retreat back down the street, and Daryl found his eyes drifting back down to her round ass as her hips moved side to side. Damn.

"She's sweet, huh?" he jumped and turned to look at Carol. What the fuck was with all the women sneaking up on him this morning?

Daryl shrugged in response, unsure how to answer Carol's question. He didn't like the look she was giving him, like Carol knew something that he didn't.

Carol continued as if Daryl hadn't given a non-contributing response. "Katty's got a good heart."

Right, that was her name. It refused to stick in his mind, so Daryl figured he would have to think of something else to call her. Katherine didn't suit her either, he thought.

He understood why Carol harboured a soft spot for the younger woman, even if she didn't recognize it. Carol had told him and Rick last night about what happened with Jessie and Pete, and how Katty had responded in the situation. Daryl knew that the small part of Carol that remembered being the beaten housewife probably wished she had someone like Katty to stick up for her. Daryl had been somewhat impressed with the petite girl when Carol had explained what happened. The other half of him frowned at her stupidity, rushing in without protection, and he had wondered how it would have escalated had Carol not been there.

"Hopefully her brain is too." He callously replied. Daryl knew he was being unnecessarily rude, and probably trying to dissuade Carol from making anymore sneaky comments about her.

Carol's lips quirked up into a smile, and she was silent for a minute. Carol was always the one person who consistently could see through him. It was annoying sometimes, but Daryl wouldn't trade her friendship for anything. It was nice, having someone that knew him like that. He didn't have that for the majority of his life, and it was a welcome change.

"It's alright to find a woman attractive, Daryl," she reminded him, and it irked him that Carol sounded amused. Daryl scowled at her.

"Dunno what yer talkin' 'bout."

She snorted and rolled her eyes at him. "So you weren't just checking out her butt?"

Daryl felt his face heat up, and he ducked away from her to grab his crossbow. He would wait for Aaron somewhere else, he decided.

"Checking out whose butt?" Goddamnit.

"Mornin', Aaron," Carol greeted the chipper man that had just appeared. She laughed at Daryl's disgruntled expression and retreated inside.

Aaron grinned at Daryl's annoyed face as they walked towards the vehicle that they would be taking while scouting. The bike had been unreliable at best yesterday, so Daryl would be sadly leaving her behind today.

"What was that about?" Aaron asked curiously, and Daryl rolled his eyes. Everyone around here was so damn nosey.

"Nothin'. Carol just likes ta annoy me."

They hopped in the old truck that would be accompanying them, and it was quiet while they waited for Nicholas to open the gate for them. It finally rolled out of their way, and Aaron shifted the truck and spurred it forward.

"So that wasn't Katty that I saw you talking to before I walked up?"

Daryl groaned and slid a hand roughly down his face. Today was going to be a long day.

Katty had felt him watching her, and she couldn't resist swaying her hips more than usual. She had no idea if he had noticed, but it made her grin all the same.

He was interesting, she thought as she chewed on another bowel of oat porridge back at the house. Daryl was quiet and reserved when Merle was loud and obnoxious. Katty hadn't given much thought over the past – what was it? Six, maybe seven or eight months since she had seen Merle? – She hadn't pondered much if Daryl would be a replica of Merle, but she had assumed that as brothers, they would exemplify a lot of the same traits.

Katty wondered just how different they were. It was an odd thought, but the scenarios of how they met her weren't so dissimilar from each other.

"It's boarded up, let's move on." Katty frowned at the sturdy wood that covered the shop in question. She glanced around at the empty street, checking for the presence of any undead. She felt Calum moving around her and towards the door and rolled her eyes to herself. He just had to check for himself.

Katty wished that she had thought to grab the crowbar from the last town that they were in, but she hadn't thought enough ahead. It would have helped more than the Glock in the front of her pants that she barely knew how to aim.

Calum was a much better shot. He had told her when they had first met that he was a military brat, and had moved around constantly growing up. He had grown up at the shooting range, and he and the rest of the men in his family had often gone on long hunting trips when they could. Which is why Calum carried the rifle, and why Katty carried a bat around instead, even if she had a Glock 17 on her.

Heads were hard to miss with a metal bat, especially when you had played ball as a teenager.

She flipped around at the series of crunches and shattering glass. Calum's innocent face greeted her in the middle of shards of glass and splintered wood.

"You wanker," she groaned at him and looked around again. "You're going to draw them to us."

"It doesn't seem to be boarded up anymore, Katty," he cheeked at her and reached carefully around the window to unlatch the door. "It's a ghost town anyways."

"I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on becoming a ghost," she frowned at him. He sent a grin her way and stepped out of the now open doorway, gesturing for her to go inside. Calum was older that her, he had told her he was 29, but she often felt like his mother. He was easily charming and retained his boyish good looks, and was nothing like what she supposed American military kids were designed to act like. Katty had called him a liar many times, but Calum had never admitted to anything else.

"I'll keep watch then if you're so worried. Go on, find something more useful than that hunk of metal."

She mock glared at him as she passed by and tossed her hair over her shoulder and into Calum's face. It was a small, individually owned sporting good's shop, so she doubted there would be anything left. The owners probably cleaned out anything suitable for the apocalypse.

Katty wondered why they had taken the time to board up the front, as the shop was mostly empty anyways. As she navigated through the dark store, she speculated if they had meant to come back and finish emptying it. Where were they now?

There were some duffel bags and rucksacks, so she grabbed a grey one and started to fill it with whatever she walked by that was useful. She grabbed a few first aid kits, a waterproof match kit, a package of tinder that she found, and even an emergency blanket that was shoved between two shelves. Katty shrugged before grabbing a bottle of sunscreen. Better safe than sorry, right? She accidentally kicked a bottle of Muscle Rehab Gel under the shelf, and sighed before bending down to grab it. Her hand touched something cold and hard, and she wrapped her hand around the base of it and dragged it out.

Huh. A machete. Katty pulled it out of it's nylon pouch and looked it over. It was probably overall around 15 inches in length, and had a partially-serrated edge to the steel blade. She attached it to a loop of her jeans and figured she'd ask Calum to configure it properly for her later.

At the sound of a muffled yell and scuffling outside, Katty quickly grabbed the rucksack and took off for the entrance. Her heart was racing and she slowed her pace down at what greeted her. One man was wrestling Calum to the ground as the other looked through the bag that he was carrying. Calum's rifle lay uselessly out of reach, and Katty could feel herself panicking.

Their backs were turned on the entrance to the store, so Katty soundlessly picked up her metal bat. Her hands were sweaty as she felt bile rising up in the back of her throat. She had never killed anyone in cold blood before. She would if she had to though. She owed that to Calum.

Katty took a few quick, short steps towards the men and lifted her bat swiftly into the air. Her world went sideways and the air was pulled from her lungs as she was catapulted into the side of the building and a firm body pressed against hers.

"Well, well, well, the fag's got himself a girlfriend. Calm down, Sugar-tits, my friends here are just introducin' themselves. No need ta be violent."

Katty felt her vision blurring as he pressed his forearm into her throat. He, for unknown reasons, released some pressure off of her trachea, and Katty took a deep breath in. Her vision cleared and she stared into the lined, grinning face of the older man. There was three of them, and he had probably been standing off to the side to wait for her to coming running out like an idiot. She resisted the urge to spit in his face and weighed her options quickly.

She could see her bat rolling away, and she couldn't reach her Glock at the front of her pants with him pressed up against her like that. The machete, maybe, if she could reach down without him noticing. Unlikely that that would happen, so –.

Katty quickly cracked her head forward with the intent to break his nose, and the man let out a whoop of laughter as he took a step back. She quickly reached down with her left hand across her body to her right hip and grabbed the handle of the machete. She led with her elbow and attempted to slash at him as she pulled the blade out, before she felt a rough hand enclose around her elbow and shove her to the right. Her hand buckled and slipped off the handle as she bounced painfully off the wall again. He grasped a fistful of her loose hair and shoved her head into the wall. Pain shot through her as the side of her head collided with the concrete, and her vision started to fade.

"Gotta love a feisty bitch." She heard him laugh loudly to himself as the scene before her faded into blackness. The last thing that she remembered seeing was the glint of a blade strapped crudely to the man's stump for a hand.

Granted, Daryl hadn't called her Sugar-tits, but being pushed against a wall was apparently a common thread. Daryl hadn't been as rough, and had seemed remorseful afterwards, she reminded herself.

Katty quickly finished off her breakfast and left the house again with the purpose of finding Maggie. She strode down to the house that Maggie had pointed out to her on her first day in Alexandria and knocked solidly.

She tried to keep the surprise off her face when a man with a mullet opened the door. He quirked an eyebrow at her as he spooned something from a can into his mouth. They both stared at each other in silence before Katty remembered that she was still required to introduce herself.

"I'm Katty," she offered at the blank look on his face, and he stuck out a hand.

"Eugene. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Katty," he replied and firmly shook her hand when she clasped his. Katty resisted the urge to smile at the Southern accent.

"Ditto. I'm, uh, looking for Maggie?" Was she at the right house? She vaguely remembered Rosita telling her about a member of their group that sported the funny hairdo, and assumed that she was at the correct house.

He blinked at her a few times, before he turned and walked into the house and away from her. Katty snorted at the odd response and decided to follow him into the residence.

This house was gorgeous and well-furnished, which didn't surprise Katty anymore. Cream colored walls complimented the hardwood and beige furniture, and the random dark framed pictures of flowers and other plants. The white kitchen was at the other end of the open room, and Maggie and Glenn were sitting at two of the stools that were against the island.

Eugene walked up to the both of them, and Katty followed a few steps behind. Both of them shot her smiles.

"Maggie, you have a visitor." Eugene supplied and then gave Katty a curt nod before disappearing down the hallway.

Katty stared after him with an amused grin. What a weird guy.

Maggie wiped her hands on her pants and stood up from her seat. "Ready to go, Katty?"

She nodded at her, "I guess. I don't really know what we're doing, though."

"Deanna wants me to introduce you to the different sites around here and have you meet some residents that live here. Then she wants to meet with both of us."

Katty groaned, "Great. Two of my favourite things. Introducing myself and being useless."

"The second of which you're pretty good at," Glenn teased and Katty scowled at him. He seemed to have a death wish, because Glenn just laughed at her expression.

"Stop complaining," Maggie poked her side as she walked by an Katty squeaked. "We're actually going outside the wall for the construction zone."

Her ears perked and the sour expression on Katty's face slipped off. Maggie could sense the question she was going to ask, and nodded. "Yup. We'll go grab some of your weapons if you want."

Katty sent a rude hand motion to Glenn as they left, which he returned happily with a different one of his own. She laughed as Maggie closed the door behind them.

"You and Glenn have the same sense of humour," she commented dryly at Katty as they walked towards the armory.

"You mean an awesome one?"

"I was actually thinking of two other words that started with 'aw'."

Katty nodded in understanding at Maggie, "Awe-inspiring and award winning, right?"

"Close. Awkward and awful."

Katty kicked a rock at her as they approached where the Alexandria armory was located. A woman named Olivia greeted them, and waved them through to grab what they needed.

Katty zeroed in on her trusty machete and her Glock 17. She reached for a few of her other knives, but decided against it. She doubted she would need them as they weren't going very far.

Tara and Rosita were on watch at the wall, and Tara waved them off as she closed the gate behind them.

The walk, though it had been nice to get outside the walls, had been entirely boring. The construction crew had been close by and were gathering materials to improve the wall, which Katty was baffled how it hadn't been taken down by a herd yet. Deanna had mentioned previously that this area of Virginia had been one of the first to be evacuated before the world collapsed, so it was possible that Alexandria had gotten lucky in it's time. When they arrived the construction group had been talking about transporting and piling up mounds of dirt on the inside of the walls to reinforce them better.

Katty kept it to herself, but she had a rude thought that you could tell by looking at the walls that they were designed by an Architect and not an Engineer, as they looked clean and effective from the inside, but were not necessarily designed for function. At least the light plays off the corrugated sheets of metal nicely, she thought sarcastically.

A few members had introduced themselves to Katty and were pleasant, if a bit short with her. Abraham was quite the character, with a stern, drill sergeant face accompanied by red hair. He was loud and bossy and apparently quite in his element. Katty pictured him wearing a Tricorne hat and a white wig, even though the 18th century naval hat wouldn't have made any sense, she felt it would suit him.

"I'm surprised there aren't that many Biters around," Katty commented to Maggie as they made their way back to meet with Deanna.

"They send out people when they can to try and clear the area better, and I think the reduced visibility from the wall helps to not attract them either," Maggie explained, and Katty nodded in understanding. She wondered how long a wall that large had taken to put up. She remembered Aaron describing it to her as huge steel sheets, but it looked more like tin to her. They returned Katty's gun to the armory, but she kept the machete at her hip. She wasn't sure if she was allowed a weapon now, but Maggie just shrugged at her so she decided to keep it.

Deanna greeted them at the door with an inviting smile. "Please, come in. I'll grab some lemonade for you two."

Katty still hadn't gotten use to the fact that Alexandria still had novelties like lemonade or fucking ice cubes, and she stared at her glass oddly before taking a drink.

"So, Katty, what did you think of the construction crew and the wall?" Deanna asked conversationally as they walked downstairs, and she had probably expected Katty to be astonished at the craftsmanship and capabilities of the Alexandrians. Deanna was nothing if not invested in her community.

Katty chewed over her words carefully for a while. She wanted to be honest, without being rude, which was a difficult task for her usually. Being blunt, along with being crass, was what came naturally to her and learning to bite her tongue wasn't an easy feat. But she also wanted to point out some flaws she noticed to give Deanna and the community something to think about.

"I'm not an engineer or anything, but there were some things that concerned me," she eventually replied, and kept her eyes on the glass in her hands as she swirled the contents around.

Deanna's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

Katty lifted her eyes to meet Deanna's and she hoped that what she had to say wouldn't come across as offensive. "I understand that it was probably easier to construct and place the fence with the beams situated outwards, but it really wouldn't do anything to protect against the combined force of a herd. They're talking about piling up dirt, but it might make more sense to slowly start transitioning the support beams on the interior. They look easy to scale as well if they're on the outside."

The other woman's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline, they were raised so high. "Those are all valid points and I appreciate that you have brought them to my attention, Katty. Was there anything else?" Deanna asked calmly.

Katty chewed her lip and wondered if she should shut up. She didn't. "It boggles me why the wall wasn't constructed to include the only watch tower that you have. It leaves room for anyone to see the entirety of Alexandria. The wall should either be changed, or we should work on tearing the tower down."

"The tower didn't have a purpose for us to include it, and materials were too precious to spend building around it. We also try to keep up with the populace of Roamers in the area, and haven't encountered a herd yet."

"It's not only herds that you have to worry about," she muttered, her mind drifting back to the monster that ran Woodbury. Katty didn't comment on the tower, not wanting to argue about it's usefulness. She could see Maggie watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"You sound like Rick; he mentioned using the tower for a watch rotation, too." Deanna commented interestedly.

Why haven't you fucking done that then, she wanted to snap. The structural integrity of Alexandria demonstrated its naivety to her, and she felt her stomach sink at the foreboding feeling.

Deanna was smiling at her, and Katty wanted to leave her presence. Deanna would ultimately do what Deanna thought was best for the community, and Katty knew her opinion didn't count for much.

"See, Katty, you're already invested in this community, in wanting to keep it safe. This means something to you."

She shrugged and remained silent. That wasn't entirely true. How Katty felt was more like being invested, immersed in a fairy tale. She didn't know that much about the residents, but she thought that they were akin to children that needed to be protecting. Why hadn't Deanna organized programs to show the residents what to do in different types of emergencies, where to meet if everything, when everything went to shit? How to defend themselves at the very least. How unprepared they were frightened her and her palms started to sweat.

"Deanna, you mentioned you had some grid plans for us to look over?" Maggie's voice came to Katty's rescue as she reminded Deanna of the original point of them being there.

Deanna's face lit up as she unrolled the large blueprint in front of the three of them on the table. "I've been laying out what the agricultural reserve will eventually look like. This is just a first edition rough draft, but it's exciting. We have the chance to be entirely self-sufficient,"

She had mapped out plots of land around Alexandria that she felt were suitable for assorted gardens. Katty thought that it would be more beneficial to have the gardens closer together, but she understood that they had to work with what Alexandria offered. Katty looked over the writing scrawled around the plots of land, comparing it to the list that she had constructed in her head about the same.

"I think this is a great start," she murmured to herself, running a finger along the handwritten names. "Some of these I was going to suggest to you, actually. Onions have antibacterial, antiparasitic, and antifungal properties, and have been found to contain prostaglandins, oddly enough." She glanced at both of their blank faces. "Prostaglandins are, uh, in most tissues in the body and help with injury and illness." Katty ducked her head back down to the table.

"Garlic is a good idea as well, other than antibacterial properties, it helps with gastrointestinal disorders. Move them next to the tomatoes, though," she commented, moving along and tracing where the fruit was labeled. "Garlic, onions and tomatoes all grow as companions and do well together. It'll save space."

Katty grabbed a pencil off the desk and scrawled tidily in the lower corner. "I'm just writing down Ginger, Nutmeg and Cinnamon. They're less important, but if we end up having space in the off season, all of these can be dried for long term and have antimicrobial effects."

She glanced over to the other two women. Maggie was grinning at her and Deanna had her arms crossed, looking thoughtfully at Katty.

"Sorry," she blurted, feeling uncomfortable. She had definitely overstepped a boundary, and started to chew her lip while she waited to be scolded.

Deanna uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on either of Katty's upper arms. "No, this is wonderful. With you and Maggie together, I think we can make this happen."

They talked for a while longer and Deanna listened patiently while Katty and Maggie discussed the pros and cons about the current layout of the gardens. She nodded along with what they were saying, and Katty, for the first time since she arrived in Alexandria, started to feel valued. Deanna paused their discussion to take Katty's hand in both of hers, and Katty looked at her curiously.

"Katty, I'm so glad that you decided to give Alexandria a chance. You are so valuable to this community."

Katty flinched violently away from Deanna as the sentence left her mouth, and Katty tripped back a few steps. The moment played back in front of her eyes, over the confused face of Deanna, and suddenly it wasn't Deanna's voice anymore that was speaking. Her voice had morphed, dropped, adapted and taken on a grating, awful tone. Katty immediately felt the physiological response of anxiety, and everything in her body constricted. Her throat felt tight, constrained – why was it so hard to breathe suddenly? Her vision became a tunnel and her sympathetic nervous system kicked in. Her body chose to flee without her consent and Katty stumbled back and tore up the stairs, out of the house. Katty could vaguely hear mumbled voices calling out to her, but she couldn't stop. She probably looked like a wild animal, but couldn't bring herself to care as the blood rushed around in her ears and her feet wouldn't cooperate and slow down to allow her mind to catch up.

She heard a grunt, and she wasn't sure if it had come from her, as she crashed into someone. Their hands were immediately on her upper arms as they planted her in front of them and said something.

She scrambled, and tried to get away. Her mind was frantic, and she felt their grip tighten on her.

"You are so valuable to this community."

"Kat –"

Adrenaline pumped through her all her arteries and veins as Katty's mind finally caught up to register that there was someone in front of her and it wasn't the Governor and that she wasn't in the dark room anymore.

"Kat."

"Kat, look at me." They had rasped at her lowly, and Katty snapped her eyes up to the person's face. The blue eyes that greeted her suddenly became her lifeline, and she forced herself not to look away.

"Yer alright, just breathe."

The grip relaxed on her upper arms as she took a few shaky, gasping breaths with some direction from her salvation.

"Yer alright," the gravelly voice repeated to her again, and she finally recognized it.

The blurry mess cleared to form Daryl's face, and Katty worked to steady her breathing more as she raked her eyes over his features, committing them to memory. Her mind was blank, which was probably good as it didn't give her time to feel embarrassed.

Daryl's hand released her arm to slide down to grasp her wrist lightly as he regarded her carefully. "What happened, Kat?" he asked her as he scanned the area around them, and she realized he probably assumed there was a Biter or something equally as awful around.

She finally found her voice, but she was disturbed by how meek she sounded. "Panic attack," she stated quietly, and his eyes snapped back to hers with a confused furrow of his brow. Katty wanted to touch his face, make sure he was real, but she stopped herself. They stood there, watching each other for a while, blue and hazel locked on blue.

"It's nothing," she mumbled at him. He continued to slide his eyes along her face, and didn't say anything.

"Katty? What happened? Is everything okay?" Maggie's anxious voice sounded behind her, and Daryl jumped away from her. He released her wrist like she had burnt him, and Katty glanced at him again before she looked to Maggie.

She cleared her throat and attempted to give it back some of it's strength, though it still wavered. "Sorry. I'm alright."

Maggie approached cautiously and looked at Daryl briefly before she reached out a hand to take Katty's. "I got it from here, thanks Daryl," she said to him with an appreciative smile.

Daryl shrugged and then looked Katty up and down once more before he nodded and slowly walked off.

Maggie, still holding her hand, walked Katty to a tree near the section of water and sat them both down. They were silent for a while as Maggie probably waited for her to explain herself. Katty didn't know how to start, or what she could divulge to her new friend. She appreciated that

Maggie hadn't let go of her hand, though. Katty took a few more minutes before she attempted to vocalize what had happened.

"I'm sure Rick and Michonne filled everyone in that I was at – at Woodbury," she started, and glanced over at Maggie. Maggie hesitated, then nodded. "At first, it was alright, I was assigned to be a guard and I was part of a team, you know? But, after a while, something happened, and how the Governor saw me changed, and he convinced me I had this other purpose for Woodbury," Maggie couldn't take her eyes off Katty as Katty stared off at the water while she explained. The matter-of-fact, uncaring tone that the other girl was using disturbed Maggie, and she felt a chill go up her spine.

"The Governor tried to take what he wanted from me, and he tried in the form of torture, I guess; sharp words and hands and even sharper knives," Katty shut her eyes tightly as she tried to gloss over the details, make her explanation vague and frightening sounding so that Maggie wouldn't ask questions. "I was in the dark for weeks, and every time they would try something, he would tell me how much I meant. How valuable I was to the community."

Neither of them spoke for a while, Maggie just stared at her with huge, understanding eyes.

"Did he get what he wanted?" Maggie asked quietly, and Katty tried to keep her expression neutral and unwavering. The other girl had undoubtedly assumed a completely different meaning to Katty's words, a separate, just as horrifying scenario, and Katty felt guilty that she was telling half-truths.

She thought the question over for a minute before answering. "No, he didn't. I don't think he ever would have. So I had to leave."

"The Governor kidnapped myself and Glenn, and tried to get us to reveal the location of our group," Maggie said, and suddenly it was Katty who was staring at her with wide eyes and Maggie who was looking off into the water.

"He tortured us too," she sent Katty a look that was full of fire and anger and everything in between, "He tortured me and Glenn in very different ways."

Katty stiffened at the implications of her words, and tightened her grip on Maggie's hand. She felt something bubble up in her throat, and a sob escaped her lips.

Her composure crumbled and broke before her, and Katty cried. She cried for Maggie and Glenn, she cried for herself and for Calum, and she cried for Merle and for Rick's entire group. For every tear that broke from her chin, she pictured a different face that had been broken by the monster of a man. Maggie was crying with her, gasping and hiccoughing and they held each other as their bodies shook.

When it had subsided, Maggie spoke quietly, and told her about Michonne and a woman named Andrea, and how the woman had just wanted everyone to live but had lost her life in the process. Maggie talked about her dad and how she had watched him get slaughtered. They sat there for a few hours, both their voices hoarse from talking and crying, and Katty listened as Maggie retold all the horrors her family had lived through from the Governor and even a few more. She told her how her sister Beth died, ripped away so soon after she had finally found her.

Guilt was weighing in Katty's stomach, and all she had the strength to do was listen. She wanted to tell Maggie more about what had happened to her, what was happening to her, but she couldn't. She couldn't afford to give anymore details away.

Lies are easier when they're camouflaged with vague stories that danced dangerously close to the truth.

Maggie sent her a watery smile when they were done, and Katty laughed inappropriately. Maggie looked like shit, all red faced and runny nosed, and she was sure she did too.

The other woman laughed with her, and then stood up and brushed her pants off. She dragged Katty up with her, and pulled her into a firm hug.

"Let's go clean up and then you're coming to the group dinner with me," Maggie stated, and left no room for argument. Katty, still feeling both guilty and needy for human contact, just nodded at her. They linked arms and walked in the direction of houses.

"So," Maggie started, and Katty could hear the teasing note in her voice that she both loved and hated. People that could still smile after facing so much tragedy were people that the apocalypse needed. "Daryl, huh?"

"Sod off," Katty barked, and then they both erupted in laughter again.

A/N: Hello, you! This one was hard to write for me! This started off as originally being a filler chapter that contained Daryl and not much else, but it ended up being something else.

So you got a little Daryl, a little Merle, and a little Maggie. I can't wait to give more hints to what happened with Katty at Woodbury and what she's hiding. Keep in mind that she doesn't technically lie, she just skirts details to mislead people. It will piece together eventually.

Please review and let me know if you want me to continue!

-Submechanophobia