Summary: Daryl and the others have successfully saved Beth from the hospital but not without heavy losses, now travelling to the supposed safe Alexandria Safe Zone to find Maggie and Glenn, the group meet Riley Brooks a young woman with a mysterious past and the ability to see the dead both as walkers and spirits as they fight to survive and the terrifying mysteries surrounding Briarcliff Asylum as they battle living and dead. Daryl/OC, Beth/OC, Rick/Michonne, Tyresse/OC, Beth/OC friendship. Co – Written with WalkingPotterGirl14. Rated T for violence, graphic language and graphic but will be later rated M for eventual sexual scenes. Carol, Glenn and Maggie bashing.

Special Thanks To: Hermione and Marcus, Kima Wolfwood, Monarchslayer and missy7293.

Ghost Orchid

Chapter 6

Remy had Judith sitting on his chest while Beth bathed his cuts. His back hurt like a bitch but it wouldn't the last time as he smiled at Judith who cooed happily as the smell of bacon wafted through the air and his stomach growled in hunger. But he knew that they wouldn't get any of the food. No, they would get scraps if they were lucky or another morning of burnt oatmeal.

Beth looked at him sadly. He looked quiet and his hair was short but in his face as he smiled at Judith. The toddler was cuddling him happily and waved at Beth who waved back.

"Thanks for last night," Beth told him as she bathed his hand.

Remy smiled slightly.

"No problem, cherie'," he said, his Cajun accent coming out slightly.

Beth blushed light pink.

"Is that some sort of French word?" She asks quietly. He nods.

"My parents were of French background. They taught me the whole language. I'm mostly fluent. Some words I can't get, but most of them I can." Beth smiles slightly.

"I was taking French in school when this whole thing happened. I wasn't nearly as close to being fluent. Barely there at all. I can barely speak it." Remy chuckles, leaning up slightly, keeping Judith on his body, this time on his lap rather than his chest.

"It doesn't really matter, anymore. It's not like anyone in this damn place speaks French, let alone anyone in the country." Beth smiles and removes the cloths from his hands.

"It's still cool though. I wish I could speak a language like that." Remy chuckles and plays with Judith as she cuddles him. Beth watches him interact with the little girl and could only wonder what the hell had gotten him in this place, what put him in this torture. He didn't deserve any of this. The cuts, the fighting, nothing. "How did you get in here?"

Remy looks down at the ground for a second before looking back up, a slightly dark look on his face.

"Just a lot of stuff. I was bullied a lot when I was younger so I was looking for an escape. Turns out drugs had been the best. I was depressed, and got addicted to heroin. After a few years, I overdosed, but lived, and my dad put me in here. I'm better now. I haven't touched drugs in ages. They sicken me. Sometimes I feel a bit depressed every once and a while, but it eventually passes."

Beth feels tears threaten to fall as she listened to him. Why the hell had people bullied him? He was nothing but a good man. She grabs her hand and squeezes it, making sure that he was looking at her.

"You don't deserve any of that. You're a great man, and you deserve so much more than just that." Remy smiles softly.

"Merci, Beth," he says quietly. She blushes again at the French accent, but shakes it off a moment later, going back to his hand. He laughs at her reaction, going back to a giggling Judith.

He finally felt at peace for the first time in days.

It took a while for Riley to feel any sort of movement underneath the sheets, and at that point she had still be drawing in her book.

Daryl stirs awake and sees Riley dressed in a pair of dark, acid wash skinny jeans and a dark grey sweater that clung to her small frame. She looked so tiny but beautiful as the sun danced on her as she drew in a black leather sketchbook.

"Good morning," she said softly to him and he smiled, not feeling conscious at the fact that his scars were bared, but Riley didn't seem disturbed by them. She smiled and held his hand.

"Mornin'," he said shyly and Riley gave him a soft smile. He looked like a little boy who was afraid. She checked his back and saw his cuts were healing nicely as she changed the bandage.

"Did you sleep well?" Riley asked, genuinely wanting to know if he had slept better.

"Better than in two years," he said softly and Riley smiled as she gave him a clean, dark green shirt that he put on and Riley leaned into him as they watched the sun from the window.

"I love watching the sun. When I lived in Brooklyn, I would sit on the roof and watch the sunrise over the city. It was a lovely sight," she said, thinking of the painting she had done and sighed.

She missed painting, feeling the paint under her hands and not relaxing. Doing art soothed her just as music soothed Remy, and dancing cheered up Zoe and Kyle. Tate was cheered up when he played baseball and Violet got cheered up when she was allowed to play the piano.

She thought of her mother then, of how her mother would play the violin in that beautiful, soothing, and haunting way. She loved her mom's violin and her mother taught her how to play.

"I like drawing," Daryl said, surprising her.

Riley felt startled.

"You do?" she asks, looking up at him surprised. He nods.

"Haven't done it in years," he mumbles slightly, looking back outside. "When I was younger I used to though. Let out stress, I guess." She smiles and grabs her journal, handing it to him. His brow furrows. "What are ya doin'?" he asks curiously. Her smile spreads.

"Letting you draw," she says softly. Instantly he shakes his head, pushing it back to her.

"Nah, that's yer book. Ain't mine." She rolls her eyes and pushes it back into his hands, her smile still on her face.

"Come on, draw something. Anything. I don't care."

"Riley-"

"Please, Daryl? For me?" She had that smile on her face and her innocent look that nearly and honestly made him become putty, and he knew he couldn't say no at all to her. He sighs tiredly but takes the book from her hands, opening up to a clean page. She smiles brighter at his irked expression, but she couldn't care less.

"Can't believe I'm doin' this," he mutters. She smiles and hands him a pencil, which he takes, and she looks back outside the window, laying her head on his shoulder. She listened to the pencil scrape across the paper, and wondered how she had gotten here, in a bed with her head on a man's bare shoulder.

How the hell?

She smiles to herself and looks at his tattoo again, her brow furrowing in a curious matter.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I got it when I was eighteen years old. Merle knew someone who did tattoo's and he took me there and I decided to get a devil tattoo, cause everyone has good and bad inside them. They just hide it more than others," he told her as he drew on the paper and Riley smiled at his explanation.

It made sense in a simple way. Everyone had good and bad, they just hid it like Dr. Harper and Sister Jude who both acted like good people but were in reality bad people.

"That's a good saying," she said softly and Daryl blushed as he continued to draw. Riley listened to the soothing wind outside and the trees rustling when she saw a little girl smiling at them warmly as she held a doll and waved.

She waved back and the girl smiled as she looked at Daryl softly.

"Thank you Daryl, for looking for me even though Shane and the rest of the group aside from Rick gave up on me," she said softly and Daryl looked up to see Sophia Peletier staring at him.

"Sophia?" He asked stunned.

Sophia nodded and walked over.

"Mr. Daryl, please don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault or Rick's. It was the walker that bit me," she told him sincerely and Daryl bowed his head as Riley held him.

"I shoulda looked harder. I'm sorry lili ladybug," he said sorrowfully.

Sophia smiled gently.

"There's nothing to forgive. You tried. You and Rick tried to save me." Daryl looks at her with slight apprehension, a bit of amusement, though his shame showed thoroughly, causing Riley to frown slightly.

"Ya sound a lot older," he whispers. "Mature." Sophia smiles.

"I've learned from others. I know that what happened to me is not your fault. I'm happier where I am now, free. You tried, and you tried hard. You had hope, and that's hard to have. I'm thankful for it." Riley looks to see his reaction, but it was pretty much neutral.

"I'm sorry," he repeats again.

"There's nothing to say sorry for. Thank you." Riley watched her disappear, looking at the spot where she was, before turning back to Daryl, who was still looking at the spot where Sophia had been.

"Who was she?" She asks softly. He was silent for a moment before looking back at the paper, the pencil still in his hands.

"Someone from the beginning of all of this," he mumbles, starting to draw again, now a bit slower. She looks back outside and then back at him.

"Mind tellin' me?" He stops drawing and sighs quietly.

"She…she was a little girl," he states silently, still drawing. "Carol's girl. That woman from my group. She's been with us for a long time…she had a little girl, and her name was Sophia. We were on a highway and a huge herd of walkers came by. Chased her into the woods. We spent so much time lookin' for her, only to find her a walker in a barn."

She hears the anger and pain in his voice, and she grabs his hand, stopping him from continuing in his drawing. He doesn't look at her, just stares down at the pages.

"She said it wasn't your fault. You don't need to feel bad about it anymore," she says softly. He nods shortly, looking at her. Her eyes connected with his, and he sees she was completely honest with him. It wasn't his fault, and he shouldn't keep that down. She smiles lightly and looks down at her book, grabbing it in her hands. "What's this?" She asks quietly.

"Wasn't done yet," he mumbles.

Riley looks at it and feels her heart flutter. He had been drawing her on the sketchbook. He had gotten all of the details and she was smiling happily as the sun shone on her and there were flowers in her hair and she had a twinkle in her eyes. He had made her hair longer and looked up at Daryl with a smile on her face as she studied his face intently.

"This is beautiful," she said softly and Daryl blushed at her compliment as she handed it back to him and he continued to sketch her as she walked to the drawers and got out another sketchbook and began drawing him.

The two of them sat in a peaceful silence with the birds chirping outside as they drew each other in secret. In one of the rooms they could hear someone playing the guitar and Beth singing.

Riley smiled then as she listened to the song Beth was singing as Remy played his guitar. Even though they were in their rooms, they could hear and communicate with each other.

Daryl listened to the melody of the guitar and Beth's soft, voice as she sung and someone played the cello. He smiled and leaned against Riley who curled into him happily as they heard children laugh.

Things were a lot different when Dr. Harper, Sister Jude, Natalie and Laura were gone from the place.

They heard Carl laughing outside and looked through the window to see him playing with Emma Davia and two boys and another girl as they noticed Sister Bernadette supervising.

They both smiled as thy heard the bells toll for morning mass. Riley sighs and feels her head drop.

"I wish it could always be this peaceful," she sighs quietly, looking outside at the lawn. Everyone was smiling and laughing, and it just all seemed so…good. Like there wasn't the threat of the people here, and there weren't walkers outside trying to eat them. It was just nice and regular.

Like how it should be.

Daryl looks at her longing face and feels his heart break slightly. He looks down at the page he was drawing on and then at her.

"It's gonna be," he says softly. She looks up and smiles at him, turning back to her sketchbook and continuing to draw. For a minute, Daryl simply watches her draw, as her hand trailed across the paper, filling in every single nook and crevice of the sketch. She had a small half smile on her face, and her blonde hair fell in front of her eyes.

Instinctively, his hand reaches out and tucks them behind her ear, surprising her. She looks up and sees his hand still in the air, falling back down to the pad beneath him. She smiles again at his slightly flustered expression, taking his hand in hers silently, looking at the bruises on his knuckles.

"They look to be healing well," she murmurs, turning his hand over. "You really shouldn't have fought Dandy. He's just gonna give you even more shit now than he did before."

"Don't care," he mutters, taking his other hand and cupping her face with it. She leans into his touch. "Was worth it." Her soft smile returns to her face, but before she could reply a giant bang erupted on the door, and both of them jump apart as Dr. Harper strolls in, his eyes narrowed.

"Sorry to interrupt your 'honeymoon,'" he says snidely. "But we're running low on supplies. You two and a few others are going to go out on a raid. Go to the mall and bring back what's on the list. No exceptions." He turns around swiftly, but before he could go Riley wraps her arm around his wrist.

"Wait, does he have to go?" She says to the man, worrying for Daryl's sake. He was still in pain from fighting. Dr. Harper snorts, pulling his hand away from her grip and sneering at her.

"Of course he does. You may have won yesterday, but that doesn't make your slate clean. You just got her. You still have to help here," he says, looking at Daryl, who glared at the man. "So yes, both of you. Get going to the lobby." And with that, he turned around and slammed the door behind him, leaving Riley standing there with her mouth open like a fish.

"I fucking hate him," she growls finally, sitting back on the bed with her head in her hands. Daryl moves over and pulls her away from the edge, looking at the door.

"Hatin' ain't gonna do anything. If we want to get out of here, we gotta follow his orders for now." She looks up at him and he nods knowingly. She sighs reluctantly and nods her own, grabbing his hand, needing the closeness. He squeezes it affectionately.

They would survive this place.

They had gotten a few miles away from the asylum when they found the mall. Daryl and Riley had driven in the front seats, looking for the place while Riley looked behind in the truck they used to see who exactly came. She had seen all of them before, but just wanted to make sure everyone was there.

There was Violet, Tate, Zoe, and Kyle. She knew Beth was here with Remy so Judith was in the safety of Kristy, Michonne and Emma. At least Pepper wouldn't hurt Judith. That soothed Riley slightly as she saw Remy riding his black motorcycle with Beth on the back as they all pulled up and looked around the place.

After two years of being in a zombie apocalypse, the mall now looked old and there were cracks on the brick walls. There were decomposing bodies on the ground and the smell was awful, causing all of them to scrunch their noses.

They started to head into the mall when Daryl banged his right elbow against the window to see how many walkers there were. They waited in silence as four rotting faces slammed against the window.

"They look like store assistants," Violet said quietly as she grasped her hammer. Riley had her knives and Beth had a machete while Remy had a scythe. Kristy had an axe while Zoe had a broadsword. Tate had a double bladed sword while Kyle had a metal baseball bat.

They all had guns but none them used them for fear of luring walkers to them as they took out the four walkers silently before entering the hall. Laura was with them as was Sam, Trevor and Natalie and Erin, another bitch.

Laura kicked a box out of her way, causing it to echo and everyone froze.

"What?!" She snapped impatiently at them as Beth and Riley glared.

"You could have gotten us killed, Laura," Violet hissed angrily as they started looking around for supplies and Riley found a Hollister store and looked around with the girls.

It looked oddly enough clear and she saw some jeans for all of them as they looked around and she noticed a blue sweater with stars on it as she saw Beth looking at a pair of jeans. Riley smiles and nudges the woman's shoulder. Beth looks up and see's Riley's expression, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" She asks, a bit of a laugh coming out. Riley nods towards the jeans.

"Get 'em. Trust me, sooner or later you're going to need new clothes." Beth rubs her arms a bit embarrassingly.

"I feel like if I do Dr. Harper's gonna kick my ass," she mumbles. Riley snorts, shaking her head and grabbing a size that looked like Beth and throwing them into her arms. Beth looks at her surprised.

"Just take the jeans and keep them close to you. Dr. Harper won't notice a thing." She picks up her own sweater that she spotted and takes off her shitty shirt, placing the sweater on her body and snuggling into it. "Ah, this feels so fucking good. I'm gonna pick up a few more of these."

Beth laughs at her language before picking up a few things of her own as did the others. For a moment, Riley spared a glance at the list Dr. Harper had given her and sees baby supplies as one of the items. She sighs silently and places the list in the pocket of her jeans, looking around the store. They were all enhanced in the store.

She steps out of the store quietly and looks around, looking for anything that might be the equivalent to baby supplies. As she's looking, she sees Daryl come up next to her, placing something in his own bag. She looks at him with a furrowed brow.

"What'd you get?"

"Bunch a medicine. Runnin' low on that shit." She nods, looking at the list and mentally crossing out medicine. He looks at her bag and raises an eyebrow. "The hell did ya get?" She smiles sheepishly.

"New clothes," She says quietly, gesturing to the sweater. He snorts, but she could see he had a slight smirk on his face. She laughs quietly.

"What else ya gotta get?" He chuckles, shaking his head to stop laughing.

"Baby supplies." He looks behind him and points towards the back.

"Think there's an old babysitting place near the end." Riley's brow raises.

"Really?" She asks as she begins to walk. He nods, looking closer.

"Yeah, right there," he says, pointing towards the doors of an abandoned nursery place. Riley smiles thankfully.

"Thank God. I don't have to go looking," she chuckles, opening up the doors. She feels her smile disappear as soon as she steps in. Nearly all the chairs in the old room were broken or covered in dust. There were dead bodies on the ground, with bullet holes in their heads, thank God. A few of them laid close together, obviously knowing each other.

"Jesus," she whispers.

Daryl steps in front of her, just in case any of them weren't completely dead. He sees the sad expression on Riley's face and grabs her hand, guiding her through the bodies.

"Don't look," he says quietly to her. She nods, keeping her head up and focusing her eyes on his back, gripping onto his hand tightly. As they walk closer to the back, where most of the baby supplies probably were, a slight crash from within sounds, and both of them freeze. "Stay here," Daryl commands, letting go of her hand and raising his crossbow in defense.

He walks closer to door and waits a second before opening the door quickly, aiming his weapon, but feels it loosen up once he sees what had made the noise.

"Oh shit," he mutters.

Riley looked to see why he had frozen and felt her stomach drop in horror, as she looked at the scene as they stepped into the room and saw cribs with names, David, Lucy, Olivia and Quinn. They were babies and the others...she risked a look and wished she hadn't as Daryl pulled the blanket back and three crying babies were alive and softly crying.

"Oh my God," Riley said shakily as she reached to pick one up and the baby stopped crying as it looked at Riley with teary eyes. Riley gently brushed away her tears as Beth and Remy saw the scene.

"Oh fuck...these are the ones that ran away a year ago," Remy said, swallowing back bile as he looked at the familiar faces who all stared back with decaying faces. Remy felt Beth rest a hand on his arm and he grasped it.

"Where's their parents?" Violet asked she suddenly heard more babies crying and they followed the noise as Violet saw two familiar children. Her breath caught as she started running towards the truck as it drove off on the road.

"Vi!" Michael cried hysterically as Jeffery started crying. Violet ran faster as she tried to reach her two siblings but to no avail, hot tears swimming down her face.

"Jeffery, Michael!" She screamed loudly as she tried to give chase, as the others caught up and tried to comfort her.

Daryl bowed his head and took Riley's hand tightly. Whoever had killed those people at the nursery clearly wanted the kids and had left three behind and he dreaded the answer.

"My brothers, Tate...my baby brothers," Violet sobbed hysterically as she clung to Tate who held her tightly as they both cried and Remy punched a sign, cutting his right hand in despair.

"GOD FUCKIN' DAMNIT!" He yelled helplessly and Beth pulled him into her arms as they all broke down.

Daryl saw Riley softly cry and pulled her into him. She gripped onto him tightly, her hands shaking with the horror of what they had just witnessed against innocent children...that people were killing children and pregnant women.

Those poor babies.

"Why is this happening?" She asked shakily and Daryl kissed her hair tenderly.

"Cause people are cruel, and it's every man for himself...they don't care about kids or families, the ones who are good. That's why we gotta take a stand when the times right." She nods, closing her eyes in pain and looking down at the baby girl in her arms. She had stopped crying, but was still whimpering every few seconds.

"We can't just leave them," she whispers. "We have to take them back." Daryl nods, looking down at the girl in Riley's arms. She looked to be maybe a year old, a little less, probably around ten months. Her hair was dishevelled, sticking up in random places, and was light blonde.

Tate helps Violet stand up, her body shaking from grief, and he glares down the road. He holds Violet close to her and looks at Daryl and Remy.

"We're chasing down that car. We can't stand by and let them leave with her siblings. Take those babies back to asylum, and make sure they get fed. Something tells me they haven't gotten that in a while." Daryl nods as well as Remy, and both help the girls back into the mall as Violet and Tate walk off towards a truck near the end.

As they walk inside, Riley looks back down at the little girl while Beth went over to the other two. One of them being a little boy, not even six months old, and another being a little girl, around nine months. Both were still crying as Zoe and Kyle came into the store, seeing the crying babies.

"What the hell happened?" Zoe asks, coming over and picking up one of the babies in the crib. Beth explains.

"The parents were killed. And the people who killed them took off with Violet's siblings." Kyle's eyes widen.

"Michael and Jeff?" Beth nods. Violet had mentioned them plenty of times. "They're alive?" Remy shrugs, taking a look at the little boy in Beth's arms.

"Apparently. They're setting off after them. Gonna bring them back." Zoe looks over at Riley and sees her cradling a baby girl in her arms, back and forth as she tries to soothe the baby. Daryl stayed next to her, looking down at the little girl. Her eyes were clear now, and from what Daryl could, see, they were a light shade of blue.

"God, what's Dr. Harper gonna think?" Kyle says, afraid for the kids lives. If he saw kids that were from the outside all hell would break loose.

"Then he's gonna fucking deal with it," Daryl growls. "We're not leavin' a bunch of babies behind. Ain't gonna fuckin' happen." Remy nods in agreement as does Zoe, and that's when Kyle sighs.

"I hope you know what you're getting into," he says quietly. Beth looks at the boy in her arms and smiles slightly.

"We do."

When they got back, it was like they were waiting for a bomb to go off. Since Laura and the others travelled in a different truck, they had no idea that they brought back the babies, and neither did the people in the asylum.

Riley rocks the baby girl in her arms gently as they reached the gates and were let into the asylum as they finished driving through and got out of the truck as they started bringing in the cars.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Dr. Harper yelled angrily and they all looked to see Dr. Harper storming over along with Dandy as they stormed to where they all were, and Daryl pushed Riley behind him along with the baby as did Remy with Beth.

"They disobeyed orders, Edward!" Laura cried, pointing an accusing finger at them all. The doctor sneered and made a move to grab the baby when a part of the fence broke and a small herd swarmed towards them as the doctor and his little gang screamed in fright.

Daryl dragged Riley and the others inside as they heard someone scream and looked up to see Natalie getting piled on by walkers as they started ripping her to shreds, blood spraying everywhere as the woman screamed.

"C'mon!" He said grabbing Riley's hand as they ran into the hallway and tried to meet the others as they Michonne look in alarm at them all, with worry in her eyes.

"What the hell is going on, Daryl?" Carol demanded as the asylum alarm went off and they saw Dr. Harper avoid being eaten as Riley and Beth soothed the kids when they saw a few patients escape for freedom as Dandy opened fire on them.

Gunshots echoed as the patients were shot dead in front of them all.

Daryl felt Riley swallow beside him and pulled her into him as Remy shoved some chairs against the door as Sister Eunice and Sister Bernadette hurried in with the children.

"God help us all after the shit you've caused!" Carol said glaring at Kristi, Zoe Beth and Riley. Kristi glared at the woman.

"We haven't caused any shit!" she hisses at her. "The fence collapsed on its own! We've had nothing to do with it!" After the shots finally die down, the rest of the people pile into the asylum hallway. Dr. Harper glares once more at Riley as Daryl steps in front of her again. He strides up to her, his eyes narrowed, and points at the baby girl in Riley's arms.

"What the hell is up with that?! We asked you to bring back supplies, not the actual fucking babies. We only have supplies here for the babies that are born here, not for anyone else outside of this place. They can't stay!" Surprisingly, Beth speaks up from next to Remy.

"We're not going to just feed them to the walkers outside," she snaps at the man. "They're human too, and they deserve to have a normal life, just like any other normal person. They're parents are dead." Dr. Harper glares at the young woman before looking at everyone, his brow furrowing.

"Where have Tate and Violet gone?" He asks. Remy looks down.

"They went off to get her siblings back. I don't know when they'll be back." Laura snorts.

"Good. Less crazies around the better." Zoe suddenly places the baby she had in Kyle's arms and swings her fist in the air, hitting Laura head on. She flies back as Zoe stands there proudly. Dr. Harper prevents the woman from falling and glares hatefully at the woman.

"How dare you?!" He hisses, stepping up to her. Kyle steps in front of Zoe before he could get any closer, and Dr. Harper steps back, his eyes still narrowed. "Those babies are only going to cause us trouble. They're your problems, because we still certainly not be taking care of them."

"Good," Beth spits at him. Dr. Harper helps Laura away as the others glare at them. Before anyone could ask any questions to her, Riley walked back to her room that had been close by and looks down at the little girl, who was looking up at her with curious eyes.

"God, what am I gonna do?" She whispers in slight fear. She had taken care of kids before, but what about now? What was she going to do?

She hears the door open behind her and didn't even have to look to know it was Daryl. She knew how he walked by now. She sits down on the bed and looks up at him.

"What am I gonna do?" She asks him quietly. He could sense the fear in her voice. "I don't know how to take care of a baby girl, not by myself."