A/N: Olive is my own creation, and the rest is not. :) Thank you all for the positive response! As I have stated before, the first few chapters are rushed, but it slows down a bit from here, I promise.

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The general rules of the prison did not need to be explained. Olive, while quiet, was observant and could pick up on the cues from the group.

It was plain to see that Glenn was not happy with her presence in their midst if for no other reason than she had lived in Woodbury for however brief a time. It was too much to have her there so he avoided her entirely.

Rick was taking to her presence quite well in spite of his mysterious mental preoccupation. Olive wasn't sure how else to put it, seeing as 'afflicted' was definitely the word that described the strong, handsome, able-bodied man who reigned as leader. She admired and pitied him simultaneously, even though she didn't yet know the reason why.

Olive liked Maggie from the start. The pair were very similar in more ways than one and on not digging deeper into these two, they could have passed off as near-twins, superficially speaking. Olive's overall approach to everything was darker than Maggie's more light-hearted disposition, but she, like Rick, was hiding something. Everyone here is afflicted by something, she thought.

Something inside Carl was dark and that bothered Olive. He was a sweet boy, probably taking that from his mother, but he had the mannerisms and near-pessimistic outlook like his father. What had happened to this wonderful young man to have broken his heart as it had?

Beth didn't seem to like Olive too much, but Daryl had mentioned in passing how once when he had been speaking to Maggie, she'd told him of Beth's hero-crush on Daryl. Olive understood that the young girl was probably just a bit jealous that there was an attractive woman sharing a cell with their resident bad-ass.

And then, there was Carol. Olive hadn't spoken to her at all yet, but on the third day since she had come to stay at the prison, she was folding laundry when the short-haired woman walked in. Olive knew she'd speak to her now.

"I don't think we've spoken before," Olive said, attempting to be sociable for once. "I'm Olive Nort - "

"I know who you are," Carol said sharply, "and I know what you are." Olive was taken aback. "Glenn said he overheard Merle chatting up a storm about an Olive who lived there and what she did for a living."

Olive swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "He did? Wonderful. Now the rumors are thickening."

"Rumors? Glenn said the details of your exploits were graphic."

Olive nodded. "All lies."

"Listen. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be around the young ones. You might - "

"Do you think I'm going to corrupt them all into lying about being prostitutes?"

"They might do it for real if you're around and act like it's all games to you."

"...based off of the lies about me?"

"Based on the facts about you."

"You can't be serious."

"I think it'd be best for everyone if you left." Olive could feel her hopes of returning to some kind of normalcy fading quickly. Carol shot her a look that said she was entirely serious before she walked away.

Maggie came into the area where Olive stood dumbfounded. "Need any help with that?" she asked, and Olive nodded slowly but remained silent. "Is everything alright?"

Olive handed her the basket of mismatched dry laundry while she took the basket of wet clothes. "I suppose I'm just hopeless," she said softly as she picked up the basket of wet clothes and left the room. Her mind was a wandering mess and she really didn't want to be around anyone but Daryl at that moment - even if she had Daryl, what would she tell him about what Carol had said?

Until the short-haired woman had spoken to her so bitingly, Olive had felt life come back into her veins here. She hadn't felt like that in a long time - it was safety and security. She headed outside to hang up the wet laundry as she seriously pondered leaving the group. If this keeps up, I'm outta here tomorrow.

Daryl finished the last of the new bolts he had been working on all morning. Now his stores had been completely replenished. He smiled to himself, suddenly wanting to find Olive and show her how productive he had been. He knew she was assisting with laundry duty for the day, so he was surprised to find that only Maggie was in that area.

"Where's Olive?" he asked as Maggie turned her attention off of her folding to make eye contact with him.

"She left to go hang the wet stuff outside," she answered. "She didn't look too happy."

"Did she say why?" Now he was worried for Olive, hoping her emotions were in check and that she was doing okay.

"Nope, she just said she supposes she's hopeless."

"Why the hell would she say that?" He was baffled. Just that morning, she had been all smiles and now she was alone and feeling...well, alone.

"Carol left right before she did. Maybe they had a heart to heart."

Or Carol ripped her to shreds, Daryl thought as he rushed off to find Olive and make certain that Carol hadn't torn her a new one. He found her in one of the courtyards and watched for a minute or two as she draped wet clothes across a small set of bleachers.

"I can hear you," Olive said softly, knowing full-well that she was being watched by someone though she couldn't tell who it was with her back turned.

"Maggie said you'd be out here," Daryl said, emerging from his place to come over to her. "She said you looked unwell."

"That's a bit of an understatement." She continued arranging the clothes across the hot, metal bench-seats.

Daryl fornwed. "What happened?" Did Glenn have a tantrum on ya?"

Olive shook her head. "I might be able to handle Glenn...not Carol."

"Carol? What did she say to ya?"

"She said it might be better for everyone if I left." Finishing, she turned to face him. He noted that she had a look in her eyes, one of sadness and loss - Daryl's heart sank for her and he promised himself he'd chase away that hint from her eyes.

"Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?" He couldn't believe Carol - the nerve she had to have said that to an undeserving Olive.

"Maybe she's right, Daryl. Your group is a family, and I'm an unwanted house guest."

"That ain't true."

"Everyone's thinkin' it, I'm just sayin' it. I don't think your group likes me being here. They were here first - if they don't want me to stay, I'll leave."

"You can't leave. It's too dangerous outside these gates." He was growing inwardly frantic at the thought of her departure, but was far too stoic and inexperienced to know how to word such sentiments.

Olive didn't want to leave in all honesty, especially not since she'd met Daryl. She sensed he hadn't always been as thoughtful as he was for her and she definitely had his group to thank for that. He seemed, to her at least, like the type of man who would much rather tell someone to fuck off than to open himself to them and let them into his head. With her, things were drastically different - of course, time does that to a person. "I've been out there before and I survived."

"I don't like it." He stepped a bit closer to her, the veil behind his eyes silently pleading with hers in an act of desperation.

Olive's brown eyes clung to his gaze, reaching out a loving hand. She wanted to caress his face, to feel his stubble beneath her fingers and to give him what was left of her. With her hand halfway to his face, she curled her fingers and sighed, pulling back with a sigh - she fought back her urges and won.

"They need you here - I don't give a shit if they like it or not. They'll respect ya or they'll lose ya, and I don't want that to happen. If ya leave...I'm leavin', too."

She couldn't allow him to leave if she did - they needed him far more than he knew, more than his group was willing to say. All she could say in return was, "I'll think about it."

Daryl nodded slowly after a moment's hesitation, knowing that if that was the answer he was given, he'd have to take it with a grain of salt and accept that the decision she made was going to be the best for her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss into oblivion and tell her that everything would be alright, but he didn't. "I have a bone to pick with Carol," he said, silently wishing that they could stand heart-to-heart forever. "I'm gonna go talk to her. I'll see ya later."

Olive nodded. "See you." His eyes gave her a gentle twinkle before he left her standing there thinking about how he was going to approach his coming conversation with Carol.

Daryl stormed into the prison in search of Carol. His steely-eyed gaze, when it settled on her, shot daggers in her direction as he made his way over to her.

"What the fuck was that all about, huh?" he demanded.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, looking at him with a confused expression.

"Talkin' to Olive and sayin' our group would be better off without her."

Carol nodded firmly. "I believe we all would benefit if she left."

"I wouldn't benefit if she left."

"Cut the crap, Daryl. You know better than anyone else here what she's really like."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"We both know how she is - or how she was back in Woodbury and I don't think it's a good idea to expose Carl and Beth to someone like that."

Daryl's eyes narrowed. "Those are all lies."

"She said that, too."

"Then maybe ya shoulda listened!"

Carol winced as he raised his voice to her, surprised because he hadn't yelled at her in such a long time. "Wow." She paused, shaking her head. "Look at what she's done to you."

"She ain't done nothin' to me."

"Don't tell me you actually care for this woman." He remained silent, and Carol feared the worst, her chin quivering. "She can't take you away from us."

"Don'tcha mean away from you?"

Carol straightened her spine. "What gave you that notion? I've never said anything like that."

"You don't hafta say it. God, Carol - everybody around here knows it."

"Then how come..."

"Aw, hell. That's like incest the way I see ya."

She appeared hurt and slightly shocked by his words but took them for what they were, and treated them like gospel truth. "And this Olive...could she turn out to make you happy?" Daryl nodded, and he had finally broken the bad habit of saying nothing. This time, Daryl Dixon had opened up about something that he was really, truly feeling and it was all thanks to Olive. Any woman who could turn his tides so drastically and in a fairly short amount of time was worth all the troubles of hell to keep around. Carol nodded, defeated. "Tell her I'm sorry and I take back what I said before."

Daryl acknowledged her words and decided to leave the room before anyone else got themselves hurt. He hadn't meant to hurt Carol - he had just wanted to convey where he stood about her and about Olive. Oh, Olive...

Something had to be done to persude her to stay. He could only convince her to a point, so something else was needed to sweeten the deal. It had to be assertive. It had to be honest. It had to be Rick. He was their leader and the one person clever enough to convince a newcomer to join their family on a permanent basis.

Daryl searched for him, glad that he was spending much-needed time with the baby.

"Rick, can I see ya for a minute?" he asked of the leader, who nodded and handed the baby off to her brother so he could cross the room.

"What's on your mind, brother?" Rick asked, noting that the usually controlled Daryl was appearing to be more worried than usual.

"I need you to talk to Olive," Daryl requested and when Rick looked at him inquisitively, he continued. "She's thinkin' about leavin'."

"What if she wants to leave?"

"I don't want her to leave."

Rick's brows rose. "Oh, yeah? Why not?"

"Lotsa reasons." Rick wasn't going to stand for vague answers. Daryl sighed and chewed the inside of his cheek, nervous about answering the questions further. "She's capable and a hardworker and she's clever - "

"What kinda adjectives are those?" The sheriff's deputy chuckled. "C'mon, man. You can do better than that."

"Fine. She's smart, broken...sweet, and just...needs somebody to love and love her back."

Now they were getting somewhere. "And do you think you're the guy for the job? I mean, all o' that sounds a lot like you, too."

"I think it's density - "

"Destiny, you mean?"

"Shut it. I know what I meant."

"She must be some kinda special girl to make you feel so strongly." Daryl nodded, and Rick could see that Daryl's words and actions were genuine. He was in the midst of having something substantial with Olive, and Rick was not about to let this get away from Daryl no matter what it took in saying or doing for Rick to convince her to stay.

Rick asked around as to Olive's whereabouts. If she was anything like Daryl, and Rick suspected that she was, she could be anywhere with anyone doing anything. When he did find her, she was outdoors on one of those second-level access bridges, the very same one where he had shared words with Lori just a few days before her death. He could feel his head spinning, reeling from the tragic loss of his wife, but said nothing before he stepped onto the bridge.

"Rick," Olive said attentively as he came towards her general direction. "I can go somewhere else if you wanna be alone."

"Actually, you're exactly the person I would like to talk to," he commented, sensing that she stiffened nervously. "I know we haven't really had much of a chance to talk, so I figure now is as good of a time as any."

Olive folded her arms across her chest. "Whatcha wanna talk about?"

"You, if that's alright." She hesitated tentatively and then gave a consenting nod.

"What would you like to know?"

"What happened to you before Woodbury?"

"I came from Mobile, Alabama." She licked her lips and sighed before continuing. "My group used to consist of me, my dad, my brother, my baby sister, my sister's boyfriend, and some of my brother's friends. My dad had been a professional big game hunter - he was almost always out of the country, but we loved him. He taught us all how to hunt, gather food, decipher poisonous plants and herbs, look for water - typical survival skills." She paused. Rick watched as her expression, once fond, now turned to darkness. "When the outbreak hit Mobile, there were panics and riots and looting like you wouldn't believe. My dad was shot trying to get supplies from our local grocery store. Walkers had ransacked the store and broke out of the doors, ripping my father apart. We left and took off for the woods. Stumbled across a tool shed and that's where my weapons come from - I didn't upgrade them until we came across an abandoned hardware store. Most of our group members either fucking abandoned us or were eaten by walkers when they'd been caught careless.

"And your brother and sister?"

Olive shook her head sadly. "Both gone." Rick frowned. "My brother hanged himself by his belt from a tree after watching his best friend get eaten. For a while, it was just me and my sister braving the end of the worldand then she, like everything else, was gone."

"I'm sorry to hear that - truly I am. So that's how you reached Woodbury?"

Olive nodded. "Needed a place to stay for the winter. Even with fewer walkers outside, I couldn't risk freezing to death or worse."

"Can't say I wouldn't o' done the same in your situation." Rick shifted his weight and placed his hand onto the fence links.

"Anything else you wanna know?" Please say no...anything but Daryl...

"Daryl thinks awful highly of you, you know."

"I think highly of him, too." Not too obvious now. Watch yourself.

"He told me you'd mentioned leavin'." Olive nodded into his pause. "Mind if I ask why?"

A shrug shook her shoulders lightly. "Some people said I'd better leave, that your group would be better off without me."

"Who told you that?"

Olive sighed, her eyes narrowing. "Carol."

"Ah."

"Glenn doesn't seem to like me too much either."

"He's sore at Woodbury for what happened to him and Maggie. Until he comes 'round, he'll continue to see you as a direct threat. Carol is a whole other problem, and it ain't because of you. It's because you're with Daryl."

"She got a crush on him or somethin'?"

"That's one way of lookin' at it." He turned to face her. "I'm willing to bet Daryl hasn't mentioned this about Carol yet, but she had been a victim of domestic abuse. Her husband was eaten by walkers on a night out camp was raided. Now, Carol had a daughter named Sophia..." And Rick told Olive all about Sophia's disappearance and of the effect it had had on Daryl. Olive's face fell as she listened to the dark, demented tale, and she found herself pitying Carol for more reasons than one.

"I should apologize to her," Olive said with a light shake of her head. "I feel like shit for how I've been so angry with her."

"Don't beat yourself up over it - she can dish it out sometimes, so she probably set herself up for your anger."

"I still feel like a terrible person."

Rick paused, studying her for a moment or two. "I can see why Daryl is so taken with you. You're a good person - I think our group has lost enough good people for one apocalypse." Olive chuckled and Rick smiled lightly. "I'd really like it if you stayed."

"If I stay, Daryl stays, too, you know."

Rick nodded, grinning some. "That'd be the idea."

Olive thought about what he had said. Now that she better understood Carol's situation, she could be more prepared in handling her. Glenn was going to be an obstacle for a while, but it was understandable at least. She thought about Daryl - her sweet-hearted bad-ass - and knew that his group would be torn without him, and that, then again, so would she. She couldn't let go of him - not by a goddamn longshot, so she promised herself that she'd stay by his side no matter what was going to happen. No one, not even the Governor, could stop her now that she had found a group of people willing to put up with her, shelter her, and help her gain back the normalcy she had lost so long ago.

"I'll stay," she said, flashing Rick a small smile before leaving him to his thoughts and heading off to find Daryl and tell him of her decision to stay. The first place she looked was in their shared cell, and as she entered, she nearly crashed into him as he was exiting.

"Olive," he said, seeming almost relieved to see her, "hey. I was just goin' to - " He was interrupted as her arms encircledhis waist and her chin rested against his collarbone. " - look for ya..."

"I'm staying here," she said into the shoulder of his shirt.

Daryl sighed gently before slowly and shakily sliding his arms around her back, holding her body tightly to his.

Neither spoke a word as they each enjoyed the embrace of one another. Daryl had, once again, surprised himself in her presence in that he was greatly comforted by her embrace and had even found himself able to return the gesture. Olive only knew that he was here, she was here, and that they were in this together.

But all good things must come to an end and in the shadow of the coming storm, all will, in its wake, fall.