Hey all! So this one is a little bit short but I put in a nice flashback for you guys to when Daryl and Gemma were teens. Hope you like it! Next chapter is going to be much longer, scouts honor! KEEP REVIEWING PLEASE IT MAKES ME HAPPY! :)

Chapter 4

A young girl with long, dark hair strode through a school hallway. Lockers passing by as she went, a sea of faces that was slowly fading around her. The last bell had rang and most students were hurrying off to catch the bus. She was taking her time. She stopped in front of her locker and began fiddling with the lock.

"Hey, Reed!" A voice came from behind.

She turned and smiled, "Well, well, well if it isn't douchebag Daryl. What are you doin'?"

She turned back to her locker and he approached her and leaned on the locker beside hers.

"Waiting for your ass. Duh. Waddaya takin' so long for?"

"Told you! Its the last day for seniors today so I gotta get all this shit outta here." She had finally opened her locker and was now stuffing the contents into her back pack.

"Graduating tomorrow huh? You excited?"

"Kinda. And nervous. Alright, lets go." She had finally stuffed her backpack full and had slung it over her shoulder. She followed Daryl as they exited the school into the parking lot.

"Wow, Gemma, I wasn't aware to were into such older, dirtier men." Came a laugh as they walked towards Daryl's truck.

"Fuck you, Ashley." Came Gemma's quick response, without even a glance at the other girl.

And without another word the two of them hopped in the truck and were on their way.

Daryl looked over at Gemma in the passenger seat as they drove down a straight away towards Daryl's house.

"Ready for me to be a Marine, Daryl?" She said to him without looking at him. Almost if she had read his mind.

He looked away, "When are you leaving again?"

"One week as of today."

Daryl bit his knuckle and glared out at the road.

Gemma finally looked over at him, "Its just Basic Training, Daryl. Not like Im gonna be in some other country or something."

"Yeah, well. Who the hell else am I supposed to goof off with when you leave?" He tried to joke with her, but he truthfully found none of it funny at all.

"Its only 7 months. I think you can survive. Besides, you have Merle."

As soon as they stepped out of the truck they could hear Merle yelling about something in the house.

He walked out onto the porch upon hearing the truck pull up.

"Gemma Bird!" Merle called out, almost too excited,"Well now whats a fine young piece of tail like you hanging out with this redneck?"

"Shut up!" Daryl called back.

Gemma just laughed at them. She always found it best to just laugh Merle off. He was just the way he was.

Daryl and Gemma spent most of their time down at the creek behind Daryl's house. The followed animal tracks, skipped rocks and talked about what they wanted to do when Gemma got back from basic training. The Georgia summer heat lasted into the evening as the two walked around the forest. Daryl had been trying his hardest to spend time with his best friend and secret crush before she left. He had been telling himself that he needed to tell her how he felt about her, but always found himself unable to even put the words together. He was bad at this stuff and he knew it. But Gemma seemed to see right through him. She always had. He wouldn't be surprised if she already knew. Especially since he had done less and less to hide it lately.

The sun was starting to go down and the crickets slowly began to chirp.

"Im gonna miss being out here." Gemma said, looking around while sitting on a long over the creek. Allowing the sounds and smells of the forest to surround her and Daryl by her side.

"Its not gonna be the same with out." Daryl responded without thinking.

Gemma smiled at him, "Daryl Dixon, are you getting all sentimental on me? You never get like that."

Daryl just stared at the ground as he tried to think of what to say, "Well, I mean..."

"Daryl I get it. Its ok. This is really hard for me too. We've been best friends since I was 4 and you were 6." Gemma almost looked sad now, "We ain't really ever spent more than a week away from each other."

She sat up better and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Gemma." Daryl said.

She pulled her head up and looked at him, "Yeah?"

"Im gonna miss you."

"Aw. Im gonna-"

She was cut off because Daryl had very suddenly crashed his lips into hers. He pulled away and saw the shocked look on her face.

"Ah, shit, Im sorry, I screwed everything up, I always do." He was on his feet now, about to storm away in a huge, hurt, confused huff as he stammered at her.

"DARYL!" She shouted, breaking him from his frantic state, "Its okay. Calm down."

"What?" Was all he could respond with. She didn't hate him? Why?

"I said its okay." She replied firmly. She stood up and walked up to him. She gently placed her hands on either side of his face. He flinched for a moment until when she pulled him towards her and kissed him.

"You knew." He stated when they pulled away.

Gemma smiled and kissed him once more.

"I want you to be mine." He said to her quietly , as if theres was some imaginary person there who would hear.

Gemma looked up at him, confidence and passion beaming from her eyes, "I always have been. And I always will be."

Gemma opened her eyes to see the top of the yellow tent she shared with Daryl. Her stomach churned with disappointment in the fact that her dream had not been a reality. She turned to her side to find Daryl still asleep. The sun was just coming up, they had only been asleep for 2 hours at the most. She crept from beneath the sleeping bag so as to not wake Daryl. She pulled on a pair of jeans, a grey muscle shirt and her boots. She pulled on her belt containing her gun and knife holsters. She then started to grab some clothes and stuff them in a bag. Mostly hers and Daryl's dirty things. Grabbing soap and a towel, she exited the tent.

People were still awake but she was fairly able to sneak by them unnoticed. She grabbed an apple and granola bar for breakfast on her way.

It didn't take her long to wash everything that needed it. They didn't have much between the 2 of them. Daryl was most likely awake by now and looking for her. Finishing wringing out the last shirt, she hauled her wet laundry to the camp.

Camp was as dreary as ever after the events of the previous night. She entered the camp to find everyone bustling around or worrying over Andrea, who had lost her sister, Amy. She brought the wet clothes to the clothes line and began hanging things up. Daryl had spotted her and headed over.

"So thats where ya went." He said walking up to her.

"Figured id get it out of the way." She replied. "I see Andrea hasn't moved."

"Im not liking it. We should take care of it." Daryl shook his head.

Gemma just loomed hard at the woman as she wrung out a shirt once more before hanging it, "She just don't know nothin' about death. Its plain as day."

Daryl nodded. "Well I'm gonna go help with the clean up." And walked away grumbling something something probably rude about the others.

"Be there in a few." His wife responded, finishing the last of her hanging.

Gemma was just about to walk back to the tent to drop off her backpack when she heard Lori scold the boys about leaving Andrea be. Gemma smirked. It was about time Lori grew some balls, in her opinion.

She left the tent and returned back to camp. She spotted Daryl helping Glenn move bodies about was about to go help when Jacqui started calling out, "A walker bit Jim!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and went towards the scene. Shane, Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Gemma where on Jim like wildfire.

"Show it to us." Daryl demanded to Jim.

Jim immediately got defensive and grabbed his shovel, swinging it towards Shane and Daryl.

"Grab him! Grab him!" Shane shouted.

Gemma grabbed Jim from behind, forcing him to drop his shovel and pinned his arms back.

"Daryl!" She called.

Daryl came over and lifted his shirt. Sure enough, a bite.

"Im okay, Im okay, Im okay." Jim kept repeating.

They tied Jim up and gathered in a group to try to figure out what to do.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and be done with it." Gemma said coldly, arms crossed over her chest as she stood next to her husband.

"The dead girls too." Daryl seconded.

"He's not a monster Gemma. Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane retorted.

"Damn right I would." She responded.

"I hate to say this, but maybe Gemma and Daryl are right." Said Dale.

"He's not some kind of rabid dog, Dale." Said Rick.

"Im not say he's a dog, he's going to be one of them." Said Dale.

"He's still alive. I don't wanna have to draw that line." Said Rick.

"I thought the line was pretty clear." Said Daryl, "Zero tolerance for walkers. Or soon-to-be."

"Maybe we can get him help. I heard the CDC was working on a cure." Said Rick.

"Heard a lotta things before the world went to hell." Said Gemma.

"Still. I think the CDC is still running." Said Rick.

"Do you honestly?" Shane asked disbelievingly.

"If theres any kind of structure at all left don't you think thats where they'd be?" Rick responded, "I think its our best bet. Food, shelter, protection."

"Look we all want those things man, but that is a long shot." Said Shane, "Our best bet is Fort Bedding."

"Thats 100 miles in the opposite direction." Said Lori.

"It'll be heavily armed. We could be safe there." Shane replied.

"They were overrun, we all saw that!" Rick replied.

"Do whatever you guys gotta do. Someone has to have the balls to take care of this problem." Daryl grabbed his pickaxe and headed straight towards Jim. He was about to plunge the pickaxe into Jim's head before Rick came up behind him.

"We do not kill the living." He snarled to Daryl, cocking his gun.

"Funny coming from a guy with a gun pointed at his head." Gemma had the barrel of her pistol pointed at Rick's skull.

"We may all disagree on some things but not on this. Go in, put 'em down. All y'all." Said Shane. The pickaxe was dropped and weapons were holstered.

Daryl stalked off, fuming. Gemma followed.

He sat down for a brief moment in a shady spot away from the camp and she sat next to him.

"I had a dream last night. About the day we first kissed. My last day of senior year." She said to him.

Daryl groaned, "What'd ya go dreaming about that awkward moment for?"

Gemma thought for a moment, "I think it reminds me of way things used to be. Before the war."

Daryl looked over at her. The war had changed her. A lot.

"Come on. Better get to finishing that clean up job before camp gets overrun." Daryl stood up and reached down to grab her hand. She took it and together they walked back to camp, unsure of what would await them.