Okay, so the scene with Daryl and Carol… adorable! It was so sweet; I knew he had it in him ;D Oh, and apparently he was at the Warner Theater in Erie, PA, which is where I live, around Halloween… and I had no idea… I was SO PISSED!

Disclaimer: I don't own the show but every time I see the anything about it, I have to add another chapter =P

Chapter Six: Popular

He tossed Glenn a walkie-talkie and those staying exchanged parting words or looks with those leaving. We had all survived. And hopefully they would all make it back in one piece and live to tell us about it. Because who knew what the hell they would find in that godforsaken city…

As the group climbed into their cars and headed down the long, dirt trail toward the highway, Daryl appeared at my side, silently watching. For his sake, I even hoped Merle would come back safe and sound.

"Alright, so yesterday I told you about Lexington and Concord," I stated, perched on an awkwardly hacked stump, looking over the small group of kids, who all watched me attentively, almost relieved to be learning again – bet they never thought they would miss school…, "anyone wanna run it back by me? Or anything about it?"

They looked uncertainly between each other, before Sophia tentatively raised her hand. So polite…

"Yup; whatcha got, Soph?" I queried, leaning back and watching the young girl bite her lip, nervously glancing back to where her father was lording over her mother. I wanted to yell out don't worry about that bastard! but refrained, simply offering her an encouraging smile.

"Well, there was the British one; Gage?" At my nod she continued, more confident but still quiet, "when he was takin' 'em back, toward Boston?, the Americans followed 'em…"

"Great job," I smiled, ruffling her hair, earning a tentative smile. I never expected to teach kids – honestly, my goal had been continuing on for a Master's or doctorate, probably teaching college students or working in a museum – but I really was enjoying it. Turning to the others, I queried, "Okay, so what happened when the colonists followed Gage's men back toward Boston?"

Jake's hand shot up and he exclaimed, "They hid behind trees and shot them!" He took aim with an imaginary rifle and shot down invisible redcoats.

"Sounds like my kinda party."

Eliza, Louis, Mike, and Sophia eyed Daryl warily – they had only seen the brawling, ill-tempered Daryl, but Jake just studied him with slight interest – as he stalked up behind me. He had a slight grin on his face, wiping his muddied hands on his pants, looking over the kids with relative indifference.

"Know what?" I mused, giving him a once over that had him shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "I can absolutely see you bein' 1770s militia… maybe not in the breeches and tri-corner hat -," he snorted in disgust as I joked, "but yeah, I can see you pickin' off those damn lobsterbacks one by one… Stick it to the damn man…"

"Hell yeah; screw the damn British," he snorted, "hell, before we found the rest of this ragtag group, that's what me an' Merle were doin' to them walkers…" He hoisted his crossbow to his shoulder and took aim at the treeline.

Letting out a humming laugh, I turned to the kids, who were looking between the two of us with the utmost interest. I don't know who was more surprised about Daryl actually knowing what a lobsterback was, me or the kids. Brows high on my forehead, I clicked my tongue, "Okay, um, don't use the words hell and damn; they're bad and I don't want anyone jumping me for teaching them to you…"

Daryl let out a scoffing laugh before pointing a threatening finger at the kids, brows raised, "Better listen to her; if ya don't yer gonna get stupid."

Biting my tongue to keep from laughing at the horrified, affronted looks on the children's faces, I gave him a disparaging look, "Don't tell them that, Daryl…" Of course the wink and sidelong grin I shot him belied my any irritation in my voice, earning a half grin from the belligerent hillbilly.

"Yeah, well, 't's true…," he gave the kids another warning glower before stalking off toward his tent.

Keeping my amusement to a minimum, I turned and quirked a brow, "Right, so, the road back to Boston…"

WDWDWDWDWDWDWDWD

I had to admit, despite being worried about the others, it was nice not to have Merle breathing down my neck. After the initial discomfort of seeing Merle head off into a hornet's nest, Daryl didn't have a single concern about his brother, either. No one mentioned it, but he seemed pretty at ease with the whole situation, like it was just a walk in the park for Merle. Hell, maybe it was.

The sun was high in the sky, making it around four if I had to guess, though some threatening gray clouds began covering the pale blue. Pushing myself off from the stump, stretching my arms high over my head, I smiled, "Alright, guys, you're good for today."

Grinning broadly, the kids scattered, aside from Sophia, who tucked her papers into her pocket carefully and gave me a small 'thank you'. Smiling, I replied, "You're welcome, Fia."

With a brilliant smile, she took off toward her mom, carefully sidestepping her father (though fortunately he missed it, head tilted back and loud, rough snores filling the air), whipping out her notes and showing them to Carol. Her mother, quiet as ever, took them, looking over them with a proud smile. She turned slightly, shooting me a grateful smile, before Ed snorted loudly and sent them both scurrying toward the tent.

Sighing slightly at the sight, I turned my attention to the trio of girls approaching me. Riley and Tory didn't look too happy and Amy looked like a girl on a mission, a deep scowl on her face.

Fantastic…, I blew a strand of hair from my face and kept my face neutral, though I couldn't help but be ready for a confrontation. Amy stopped just before me, fists on her hips, "Why did you let him go?"

Jerking my head toward the RV, I started toward the vehicle; honestly, I knew this had been coming. Amy and Danny were too close to be anything but together. Not to mention she had been shooting me death glares since the group left.

"Cat, why did you let him go?" she queried once more, jogging in front of me, tense and stoic, and giving me what she thought was an intimidating glower.

"Because I don't control him, Amy; anything I would've said wouldn't have had any effect on him," I replied slowly; I had already gone over this with Tory, Riley, Jake, and Mike, none of whom were all that enthusiastic about me letting Danny go off "by himself", "he's a seventeen year old guy; he knows everything and he thinks he knows what he's doing."

"You didn't even try," Amy frowned, eyes tired and worried, running a hand through her hair, "I tried with Andrea, but she's stubborn as hell…"

Riley touched her arm and muttered, "C'mon, we told you it wasn't her fault… Danny decided he wanted to go."

"How do you think he would feel if we made him stay?" Tory inquired, arms folded across her chest, "he would have been a pissy little brat…"

Amy let out a reluctant laugh and I put on my most placating smile, "He's gonna be fine and so is your sister. Just think of it like that; Andrea's stubborn, Danny's stubborn. But they're stubborn enough to get back here to you; I promise you that."

Her hostile attitude dropped almost immediately and her shoulders slumped. Chin quivering, she muttered brokenly, "I'm just worried about them, both… Andrea's the only one I've got left…"

Riley and Tory hugged her, a third bestie in their clique, and ushered her away, the former sending me an apologetic smile. Lips pursed, I blinked, shaking my head and turning, running headlong into Shane. Stumbling back slightly, I flailed, only to have one arm caught and myself steadied by the ex-deputy.

He let out an apologetic laugh, glancing toward the girls, "What was that all about?"

Leave it to Shane to be on top of things, eyes everywhere. His look was one of concern, making certain that there wasn't any real friction going on around camp. With Merle gone, there hadn't been anyone to watch over aside from Ed, but even still, no one wanted to see me and Amy have a brawl (well, maybe the guys, but that was neither here nor there).

"She's just worried about her sister," I responded, shrugging, "and Danny…"

Brows high, he gave me a sly grin, "Danny, huh? Well, as long as she's not too torn up…"

"Eh," I grimaced, "bad choice of words, Shane… but no, I think she'll be alright. An' I think the other's will be alright, too."

"Yeah, me too," he nodded, glancing around curiously, before leaning down, quietly questioning, "how's Dixon doin'?"

That one surprised me… Jeez, today was just full of surprises, wasn't it? No one usually worried about Daryl, aside from me, and no one ever asked about him. Shane seemed to realize this and let out a slight, 'yeah, yeah', though his gaze was still prodding.

"He's good," I answered, nodding, scanning the area for the youngest Dixon, "hasn't really said anything about Merle, except that he's gonna be bragging a whole helluva lot about the number of walkers he's gonna take down."

"Sounds like Merle," Shane replied dryly, "how you feelin' about good ol' Merle, by the way? We've been trying to keep him away from you…"

We? Hmm, Daryl and I would have to talk about that; I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it. Anyway, I gave him an 'are you kidding me?' look, earning a grin in response.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck and giving me a reassuring smile, "don' worry about him, okay? Nothin's gonna happen, 'specially not if Dixon has anything to say about it, I think…"

At my silence, he shot me a final grin before heading off toward the woods, his shotgun propped up on his shoulder. Maybe this time he was going scouting, not meeting Lori for a clandestine tryst. I was sick and tired of watching them skulk away when they thought no one was looking; was it really just me and Daryl who knew about it?

"Hey, there, Cat."

Wasn't I the popular one today? It was driving me nuts; I hadn't been an incredibly unsociable person before the invasion, but I was the kind of person who needed my space, and being bombarded by seemingly everyone in camp left me a little more than frustrated. Not to mention, the one person I had been looking for – increasingly, it seemed – was nowhere to be found. Turning, I still smiled warmly at Jim, "Hey, there, Jim; how've you been?"

Jim and I hadn't talked all that much in our time up in the mountains, but he was always very polite to me and the kids. He helped Dale out with the RV, looked for firewood (and not in the same sense as Lori *coughcough*), and chatted in that amiable, easy way with everyone. I knew Jacqui was especially fond of him.

"Oh, I'm not doin' too bad," he replied with a small, polite smile, "have you seen Dale? Morales and I found a boat the other day; it's pretty banged up but Dale's been looking for somethin' in his RV to fix it back up."

"Oh, that's great!" I exclaimed, pointing toward the water's edge, "he's down there with Amy; been keepin' her company since Andrea left."

He thanked me and made his way to the shoreline, giving me a small wave over his shoulder. Heading over to my tent, I slipped inside and grabbed my crossbow, hoisting it over my shoulder and grabbing my backpack.

Heading outside, I made my way to the Dixon tent, raising my hand and letting it fall awkwardly to my side, "Hey, Daryl…"

I paused, waiting, until I heard a slight grunt from inside. Peering inside, I smirked at the sight of him sprawled out on his back, one arm over his face and one over his chest. His breathing was normal, not slow and even; I had obviously woken him up.

"Sorry; I didn't know you were sleeping," I apologized, hovering gawkily in the threshold, before letting the flap fall back down, hitching my backpack over one shoulder.

"Well, what'd you want?" His voice was deep, rough with sleep, and when I peeked back inside, he was eyeing me from under an arm.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to join me for a stroll in the woods," I replied with a sheepish smile, "actually, I wanted to maybe try and hunt…"

"I know you're small, an' all, but did ya know you're noisy as hell?" he queried idly, still lazily laying spread-eagle on the floor.

Laughing, I dropped to the ground, ignoring the sharp, dirty-male smell and rested my crossbow on my lap, "Hmm, well obviously I wasn't loud enough to distract some people…"

"They're like damn rabbits…," Daryl groaned, rubbing his face in annoyance, "I am so frickin' tired of seein' Walsh's bare ass…"

Letting out a loud laugh, I covered my eyes, "Oh my God; how many times have you caught them?"

He glowered at me as I tried to stifle my laughter, pushing himself up from his sleeping bag, "I don't keep track… More times than I'd like, that's for damn sure…"

"Well you'll be happy to know that big bad Shane is on watch right now and Lori's down with the rest of the gang at the lake," I replied, leaning back and propping myself up on my hands, "so you wouldn't have to see Shane's bare ass… though it is probably pretty nice…"

His glower turned dark (because for some reason even when he scowled at me, it was never angry) and he dropped himself back onto his sleeping bag. Rolling onto his stomach, he waved me off when I tried to question him.

Baffled, I crawled over to him, crouching low and getting in his face, "Daryl?"

"Prob'ly show you if you asked," he growled, "hell… prob'ly wouldn't have to ask…"

Blinking, I dropped to my stomach, facing him, and replied, "I was joking, Daryl. The whole 'screwing my best friend's recently widowed wife' isn't really what I look for in a guy…"

He didn't reply, leaving me to bite my lip, frowning. His irritation shouldn't have affected me so badly, but I found myself desperately hoping he'd forget the whole thing. God, one stupid joke about Shane's ass… If I hadn't been so worried about the whole thing, I would have found his jealousy endearing.

Licking my lips, I sighed and stood, climbing out of the tent and earning the weirdest look from Dale and Jim as they made their way to the RV. Waving a 'don't ask' hand, I stalked toward the quarry.

Lori, Miranda, and the girls greeted me with bright smiles – aside from Amy, who offered me a tentative one (at least she wasn't glaring again) – and the kids beckoned me toward the water.

"No way, guys, I'm just gonna chill on this rock," I replied, draping myself lazily over the rock, abandoning my crossbow and backpack, "maybe take a nap…"

"Pleaaase, Cat?" Jake was probably giving me his best puppy dog look, one that I would have denied even if I had my eyes open, "you don't wanna play with us?"

"I can't hear you," I replied dryly, letting my limbs fall over the rock's edge, breathing heavily and trying not to dwell on Daryl. Part of me was pissed that he took the joke seriously and made such a big deal over it; the other part of me was desperate to make things right with him.

"What were you doing in Daryl's tent, Cat?"

Cracking an eye open, I peered at Tory, who was staring down at me with a smug smile, while Riley looked somewhat disturbed. Lori, Miranda, and Carol exchanged wide-eyed looks (like someone had any room to talk), and Amy just gaped, thoroughly disgusted.

Riling, I quirked a brow, scoffing, "Glad you think there's some crazy scandal going on to keep your life more interesting, but not a thing…" I snapped my eyes shut to avoid looking at Lori at the scandal bit, frowning at how bitchy I sounded.

"How do you feel about him, since we're talkin' about it?" Lori queried, obviously unconcerned at my irritation. It wasn't like no one had noticed my closeness to Daryl, and his fighting his own brother because he made one too many crude remark had everyone's interest piqued. I'm surprised they hadn't ganged up on me earlier about it…

"Guys, maybe she doesn't want to talk about it," Carol suggested, earning an appreciative smile from me.

"There's nothing to talk about, ladies," I affirmed with an easy laugh, my stomach rolling anxiously at the thought, "but as soon as I hear any sweet gossip, I'll let you know."

"Like the gossip between Amy and Danny?" Miranda questioned, giggling, drilling the blonde about everything that had happened between her and my little Danny since our arrival. Half listening, I kept the juiciest (and most disturbing) details for future teasing and found myself drifting off in the warm sunlight.

"Cat."

Starting, I hit my head on the rock and groaned, glaring up at Daryl, who had his crossbow resting on his shoulder. He gave me a smug smirk, like I deserved bashing my head against a friggin' boulder.

"Asshole," I rolled onto my feet and regarded him curiously. Fifteen minutes ago he had been in a snit and now he was cool? Well, shouldn't have surprised me; his temperament was a light switch; anything could turn it on or off in an instant.

"Hell, thought you knew that," he mused, jerking his chin toward my stuff, "thought you wanted to hunt? Ain't got all day, girl…"

Lips pursed, I hid my grin, scooping up my backpack and crossbow and pointedly ignoring the intrigued looks the ladies were exchanging behind my back. I'd be in for the Spanish Inquisition when I got back...

WDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDDW

So, please let me know what you think! I was worried about making Daryl jealous, but I think it's him… I mean, he's got a quick temper and who really wants to hear the person you're into talk about someone else's ass? Haha; oh, all credit to talking about Shane's ass and Daryl's impression of it go to Grim1989!

Nelle07: haha oh yeah, there's gonna be more comments like that in the future ;D I was totally thinking swimming scene sometime in the future…

Quicksilvermad: Thanks so much! Glad you're liking it :D

Dalonega Noquisi: :D

Aurora528: Thanks! I know; I've got to start making them longer =/ Ah I'm so glad! That's what I thought with that scene :D Definitely gonna be more Daryl/Cat coming up, so I'm excited for that!

Ivycake101: Why thank you! Hopefully you like this chapter too!

Sheena: Thanks! Oh, that's why I'm shipping them off to the woods; gotta get some time together XD

Readergirl66: Thank you so much!

Spoiledrotten94: thanks!

xXx Tinkies xXx: ooh, exactly… They'll have some fun I think ;) I'm so glad you're enjoying it and hopefully this chappie will be just as good haha; I really appreciate the comments!

RedLil: woo! Thanks!

CrashingUpward: Here ya go! Lemme know what you think! =)

Immortalarmy: Thanks!