Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Walking Dead. They belong to all of their various people and companies. No profit will be made, no infringement intended.

AN: I am messing with the timeline for The Walking Dead a bit. Following the timeline set on the show, it should now be the same day as Cherokee Rose, but I'm speeding some things up just a bit. I've had how I want Vi and Daryl to reconnect planned for a while now, but if I stayed completely true to the timeline…I'd have to wait another (show) day. So, I am mixing the events of Cherokee Rose and Chupacabra into the same day.

Chapter Four

Sophia adamantly refused when Glenn offered to let her ride on the horse with him. It was obvious he was reluctant to allow Sophia out of his site again, but there was no way he would try to force the girl on a horse. She looked absolutely terrified of the idea. He watched as she climbed back into the car with Xander and Vi. They had all agreed it would be best if the car followed them back to the farm instead of going ahead. He and Maggie set the horses into a quick trot as the car slowly followed behind.

"Are you really sure about this?" Maggie asked. She kept glancing over her shoulder at the following vehicle.

"Yeah. They seem like good people. Sophia isn't afraid of them or anything. And if they are good people, and they can help…" Glenn sighed. "The more trustworthy, useful people we can have in the group, the better. When we leave, we'll need all the help we can get."

"When you leave?" Maggie demanded.

"Well, yeah. Now that we have Sophia back, we'll probably want to head out soon." Glenn didn't see the look of fury that covered her face.

"And you'll just leave with them? Just like that?"

"What?" Glenn asked, shocked at the venom he heard in her voice. "Yeah. I mean…I guess…yeah. They're…they're my family. Why wouldn't I leave with them?"

"You're something else," Maggie hissed and kicked her horse into a fast gallop, quickly speeding ahead of him.

Glenn was completely shocked and stopped to stare after Maggie's distancing form. Xander slowly pulled up beside of him. "Everything okay?" Xander asked through his downed window.

"What? Yeah...I...I have no idea what that was about," Glenn sighed. "The world ends and I still don't understand women. We're almost there. Come on." Glenn got his horse moving at a quicker pace. Xander began to slowly follow behind again.

"Any idea?" Xander asked Vi.

"Yup," Vi smirked. "Slayer hearing is really awesome sometimes. He said something about the group leaving now that they had Sophia. She got really upset by it. He got really confused and asked why he wouldn't leave. Then she took off." Vi snorted.

"Oh, that poor man," Xander sighed. Xander could tell by no more than what Vi had told him, and the completely lost look Glenn had, that he and Maggie had been up to something. And Glenn had just blown her off; maybe not intentionally, but the damage had been done. "He is so screwed."

"I think that was the problem," Vi laughed.

"I don't understand," Sophia said softly.

"Neither does Glenn," Xander smirked. "He's discovered that no matter what, men will forever be totally confused when it comes to women. He'll learn to just agree and back away slowly one of these days."

"You're weird," Sophia shook her head. She looked out the window of the car and smiled widely. "Look, I can see a house. And that's the RV!"

Glenn trotted back to Xander's side of the car. "Stay in the car for a bit when we get there. I want to surprise Carol. They're going to be so happy."

"Always happy to help with good surprises," Xander agreed. "Hear that Soph? Think you can sit still just a few more minutes to make a really big surprise for your mom?"

Sophia grinned broadly and nodded quickly.

"Duck down a little so they don't see you too soon. We'll let you know when to jump out," Vi grinned at the happy girl.

Sophia scooched down low in the seat as they followed Glenn into the yard of the farmhouse. They pulled over close to the RV and stopped to wait. Glenn was quickly surrounded by people as he dismounted from his horse.

"Glenn, what the hell is going on?" a big, muscled man with a shaved head demanded. "Maggie got back a few minutes ago and took off to the house in a snit. Then you show up here with strangers."

"Who are they, Glenn?" a woman with long blonde hair demanded.

"Is everything alright?" a man with dark and a scruffy beard asked. He kept looking at the two people in the car.

Several other people were all demanding answers as well. Xander watched as Glenn was surrounded by the blonde woman, a muscular black man, and an old guy with a white beard…and a Hawaiian shirt. Xander decided right then he would get along with that guy just fine.

"They won't even let him talk," Vi mumbled.

"We'll give him a minute, then intervene if it looks like it'll take forever to get out of here otherwise."

Finally, they could hear Glenn raising his voice above the crowd. "Guys! Guys!" Everyone finally began to quieten down. "That's Xander and Vi. We met them on the road…"

"And you just brought them back here?" the shaved head guy yelled.

"Where's Carol? I don't want to have to go over this more than once," Glenn continued with an eye roll. The big guy was clearly fuming, not happy about being ignored.

"I'm here Glenn. What's going on?" an older woman with very short gray/white hair said, stepping out of the RV. By this time several people from the house had joined the group as well. Before Glenn could answer, the passenger side door flew open and a small blur came dashing out.

"Mommy!" Sophia yelled, running for her mother. Carol released a relieved scream and flung her arms around her daughter. They both collapsed to the ground hugging, laughing, and crying. Xander and Vi slowly stood out of their car, but remained standing by the doors. They watched the happy scene with small smiles on their faces. Vi quickly wiped a few tears away.

"So, yeah," Glenn started, grinning from ear to ear. "That's Xander and Vi…and they found Sophia."

Xander and Vi suddenly found themselves surrounded by the rest of the group. They were receiving "thank you"s, hugs, and slaps on the back. They were being bombarded by questions so quickly they didn't have a chance to even begin to answer them. Finally, the dark haired man with the scruffy beard, stepped forward.

"I'm Rick…Rick Grimes. I can't thank you enough for bringing her back. I know her mother is beyond grateful."

"It's no problem," Vi smiled. "She found us. She's such a good kid. We just did what any decent people would do and helped her get back to her family."

"Where you headed?" the shaved head guy growled, making it clear he wanted them to leave. He was obviously getting irate at no one paying attention to him. Xander and Vi shared a look. They knew people like that…and they were never good people.

"We're not really headed anywhere. Just moving around, trying to find somewhere safe," Xander answered, looking the big guy right in the eye. They had a staring contest for several seconds, until the other man snorted and looked away.

"Ain't no such thing as safe no more," he growled and limped back to the RV.

The blonde woman came up to them and put her hand on Vi's shoulder. "Well, you'll at least have to stay with us for dinner. We're so grateful you found her." She then turned and followed the big guy, climbing the ladder on the back of the RV and sitting in the chair, with a rifle across her lap.

"I know one person who might not be so grateful," the old man with the Hawaiian shirt muttered. Everyone gave him a quizzical look. He smirked, amusedly, "Daryl's been out there every day looking. Think he'll be real upset he wasn't the one to bring her back."

"I think he'll get over it Dale," Rick snorted. "Andrea's right though. You should stay for the night at least. Rest up. If that's alright with you Herschel?" Rick looked over at the old man that had come from the house. The man had a pensive look, and was clearly not happy with the situation, but nodded his consent. He, and those that came with him, returned to the house. Rick smiled widely. "It's settled then."

Sophia came back over to them, dragging her mother by the arm.

"Mom, this is Xander and Vi," she introduced proudly. "They took care of me. I know Xander looks like a mean ol' pirate, but Vi says he's really just a cuddly teddy bear. He was really nice to me. And he's funny. Vi is really nice, too."

Xander and Vi smiled widely at the young girl. It was good to see her so happy.

"I can't thank you enough for bringing my girl back," Carol said.

They quickly reiterated that it was nothing for them bringing Sophia back, they were just happy they were able to find her family. Xander and Vi were introduced to the other members of the camp. Shane was the shaved guy with the bad attitude, T-Dog was the muscular black guy, and Dale was the old guy with the Hawaiian shirts. Rick's wife was in the house with their son that had been shot in an accident. They were shuffled over to a small fire where food was being prepared. They went through the story of the failed hunting trip being why they were in the woods, and how Sophia had stumbled upon them. They left the part about the Walker chasing her out…they didn't think the girl's mother could handle that right now.

"Walker!" was suddenly shouted from the top of the RV by Andrea.

Andrea claimed she could kill it with the rifle, but Shane told her they would handle it. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog scrambled to grab weapons and took off across the field towards the approaching figure. Xander and Vi moved to the end of the RV to look out over the field with the other campers. Dale said "Andrea, don't" as the others made their way into the field. They made it to the figure with weapons raised, only to lower them a few seconds later.

"It's Daryl," Vi whispered excitedly, making sure to say it low enough only Xander could hear. There was suddenly a loud bang from above them, and then Daryl collapsed to the ground. They could hear Rick shouting "No!" in the distance.

Vi immediately took off…at full Slayer speed. She became a blur as she raced to her brother.

"Shit! You have got to be kidding me," Xander grumbled as he took off after the slayer. He had never been more thankful for the years of fighting things faster than him than he was now. Thanks to the conditioning he was able to catch Vi just a few seconds after she reached her brother.

"What are you two doing here?" Shane demanded.

"We need to get him to the house," Rick said, trying to remove Vi from Daryl's side.

Xander moved to keep the other men away from Vi as she looked her brother over.

"I was kidding," Daryl growled, looking around him. He looked directly at Vi and scoffed. "Hell! Know my brain's scrambled if I'm seeing you."

"It's just a scratch, you big baby," Vi said, pulling her hand away from the bloody gash on the side of his head. He blinked at her in utter confusion.

"He probably has a concussion. Scratch or not, that's a lot of force hitting the side of his head. And it looks like he had a hell of a time before getting here," Xander told her, kneeling down to take a look at the wounds. "He has a really bad puncture on his left side. It goes all the way through. Looks almost exactly like Kennedy's wound when Rona accidently…on purpose…shot her during training that time. He bound it well though. It's not bleeding too badly." Xander rebound the makeshift dressing Daryl had used…from his shirtsleeves.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl demanded, trying to shuffle away from the fussing people.

"What the hell is going on here?" Shane hissed.

"We need to get him to Herschel," Rick tried again desperately. Glenn and T-Dog stood behind their leader, shuffling from foot to foot.

Daryl, Vi, and Xander ignored them completely.

"That's Xander. I told you about him," Vi said, moving to get under his arm to help him stand. "Now get up. You know I'm going to tease you forever if you shot yourself with that crossbow, right?"

Xander took up his other side and they began to get Daryl on his feet.

"You're really here?" Daryl slurred. Vi smirked and nodded at him. "Bout damn time." Daryl went limp as he made it upright.

Xander and Vi stumbled slightly under the suddenly dead weight, but quickly got Daryl sorted and started moving towards the house with him.

"Look at him! What the hell happened?" Glenn squeaked. He grabbed Daryl's fallen crossbow and began to follow them across the field. "He's wearing ears!"

Rick looked at the man suspended by the two newcomers. He grabbed the string with the four Walker ears dangling from it and shoved it in his pocket. "Let's keep that to ourselves."

Andrea and Dale came sprinting up to them. "Oh my god. Is he dead?" Andrea gasped.

"Oh, now you worry about it. After you were told not to shoot." Vi snarled at her.

"Hey, who do you think you are?" Andrea sniped.

"Seems like she knows him," Shane growled. He kept shooting angry, distrusting looks at the two people carrying the redneck.

"We don't have time for this," Rick interrupted. "We need to get him in the house so Herschel can work on his wounds."

They made it to the house where the old man from earlier was standing. "Bring him in here."

Vi and Xander placed Daryl on the bed. When Herschel moved to remove his shirt Vi caught his arm, stopping him. "Nobody else touches him," she said coldly.

"I need the pack from the car," Xander told the redhead. He gently moved Herschel out of the way and began to strip Daryl's bloody shirt from his body.

"Herschel's a doctor," Rick protested as Vi dashed out of the room.

"A veterinarian," Hershel answered and Xander's curious glance.

"Field medic," Xander said. "I'd accept any help you could provide, but Vi was serious. She won't let anyone else touch him."

"And who the hell is she to decide who can do anything?" Shane hissed, pushing his way into the room.

"Get out," Vi snarled coming back into the room. She had a large pack that she placed on the bed beside Daryl, unloading a much larger amount of supplies than Herschel had laid out.

"Now listen here…" Shane started trying to crowd the girl.

"We don't have time for this," Rick grabbed his arm, pulling him away.

"You can't be serious! They just show up. They just happen to have Sophia. And they just happen to know Daryl! Don't tell me you don't see something wrong with this!" Shane fumed.

"Actually, this is the first time I've ever laid eyes on him," Xander quipped, not denying Vi knew Daryl. "Now, get out so we can get him patched up." Xander looked up and glared. "And so help me, if you come within ten feet of Vi again you had better pray someone is there to protect you."

"Are you threatening me? What are you going to do?" Shane fought Rick's hold.

Xander laughed darkly. "Threatening? No. Just fair warning. And Vi doesn't need me to do anything. She can take care of you all on her own." Vi smirked at Xander, and to prove his point, grabbed Shane by the back of his pants and tossed him from the room. Rick quickly left the room, casting a confused look over his shoulder. Vi slammed and locked the door behind them.

"Shouldn't have done that," Daryl groaned. "He's gonna be an even bigger ass now."

"Please, he's about as terrifying as a Pomeranian. Yaps about like one too," Vi grinned. Daryl snorted, then groaned clutching his side. "Just be still. Let Xander...and…uh, Herschel take care of you."

"I'm fine."

"Uh huh," Xander poked him near the hole in his side. Drayl growled and flinched away. "Yeah. Now be still or I'll make Vi hold you down."

Daryl grumbled unhappily but let them stitch him up.