"Looks like we have a welcoming committee." Evelyn mumbled. Carl sighed and Evelyn shoot her head in annoyance, wanting to punch something. Daryl was standing there with Rick and Michonne, looking unimpressed and downright pissed. Evelyn balled her hands into fists, digging her worn down nails into her palms. She was in for it now.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Daryl asked when she stopped in front of him. She raised an eyebrow at him, utterly unimpressed.

"Seriously? You can't work that out for yourself?"

"Don't try to be smart with me." He growled.

"I'm not. I'm asking a serious question."

"Why the fuck would you go outside the walls?!"

"Because I get sick of being stuck in here, maybe? Being in one place for this long puts me on edge."

"So you just bugger off through the front gate?"

"Technically, I went over the wall." Evelyn said, shrugging. Daryl glared at her. Nearby Carl was getting a similar treatment from Rick and Michonne. Evelyn sighed.

"If he's getting in trouble for going outside the walls, he only went looking for me. That's all."

"That's not what Enid said." Daryl growled. Evelyn didn't say anything, just started fiddling with the bandage on her arm. Daryl pointed at it.

"What did you do to yourself?"

"Got cut. I've had worse."

"How'd you get it bandaged?"

"We aren't playing twenty questions, you know." Evelyn snapped. Daryl watched as she pushed past him and headed back to the house. He shook his head. What was he meant to do about her? It was like she wasn't even trying to get along with anyone. Aside from Carl. Those two seemed to get along, which was something. He just hoped that Evelyn wouldn't rub off on Carl. That wouldn't end too well. Rick walked over to Daryl and stood there, watching as Carl was lead home by Michonne.

"What are we supposed to do with those kids?" He asked. Daryl shrugged.

"You know more about this whole parenting gig than I do."

"Yeah, most of the time I make it up as I go along. If I'd known that they were going out there..."

"Don't worry about it. I think they've learnt their lesson."

"You can't be sure about that."

"Doubt Evelyn wants to get her arm hurt again." Daryl muttered, following after the girl. Rick shook his head and headed after Michonne and Carl. Both men were wishing that it was that easy, both men knew that those two kids were not the kind of people to just stop doing something. In Daryl's case he only knew that about Evelyn because of what he was like, and because of what Anne had been like. Was there a chance that she was still alive out there somewhere? If there was, then he had a few questions for her. Starting with why she left Evelyn on her own.


Evelyn sat as still as she could while the needle was pulled through her skin. It hurt. More than she cared to admit, but it wasn't like she'd die from it. Well, unless of course it got infected and the infection couldn't be fought. She hoped that didn't happen. She looked briefly at the man stitching her up, a guy called Eugene. She thought his hair looked funny, but she didn't say anything. He was one of those people who she wouldn't trust easily. Seemed to know too much and seemed like the kind of person who would lie to people to cover his ass. But on the whole he didn't seem like a bad guy. Daryl slouched against the wall, keeping an eye on her. She wished he'd stop guarding her all the time. Was he guarding her for her own safety, or so that she wouldn't run off? Or was it because he didn't trust her? Or maybe it was all of those options. She wished she could understand his motives, but he was one person who she couldn't really understand. Sometimes reading people was easy. Other times it felt nigh impossible.

"Oi! Watch it!" Evelyn yelped as Eugene missed his mark. He apologized and cast off, tying a knot. He prepared a needle and syringe with the antibiotic, injecting her arm with it before he bandaged the wound again. Evelyn shook her head, scowling at how hopeless he was. Had he even done things correctly? Hell, she didn't know, who was she to question him? She still thought that Felix would have done a better job. But she didn't say anything. Mentioning the redhead would simply get her in even more trouble. Instead she muttered her thanks and pushed herself off the bed she had been sitting on with her one good hand.

"Take this for the pain." Eugene held out a small, half empty sheet of painkillers. Evelyn frowned and turned the sheet over to see what kind of painkillers they were, then shook her head and handed them back to him.

"That stuff would only cause more problems." She said. He frowned.

"Why?"

"I don't think you want to have to deal with me when my face is swollen up and I can't breathe properly." Evelyn said, heading for the door, followed by Daryl.

"Oi! Aren't you forgetting something?" Daryl asked, rather grumpily. Evelyn stopped, sighed, then turned and faced Eugene.

"Thanks for patching me up." She said. Eugene nodded.

"Anytime." Evelyn turned back around and walked off again, trying to ignore the thrombin pain in her arm. It hurt like hell, but she knew it'd wear off eventually. She'd had worse. Daryl walked beside her, not saying anything, though it was obvious that he had questions.

"So you gonna ask, or what?" Evelyn asked. Daryl stopped and looked at her.

"Where'd the bandage come from?"

"I thought I already answered that."

"No, you avoided answering it. Tell me now."

"Why does it even matter? Since when did you start caring? You left Mom, remember? She didn't walk out on you, you walked out on her. If you cared about her, if you ever cared about her, then you'd have stayed."

"Don't turn this on me." Daryl said, stepping forwards. Evelyn felt her heart skip a beat. She had been in this kind of position before. Her step-dad had once stepped towards her in the exact same way. She scowled.

"Did you even know that she was pregnant when you ditched her? Why did you even leave? Was she not good enough for you?"

"Enough! I asked you a question and I expect an answer."

"So do I!" Evelyn yelled back. She was scared. She was sore. She was tired. She wanted to get as far away from Daryl as she could, never wanted to see him again. Maybe it was the pain making her act so insane, making her lose her temper faster. Maybe it was the fear, the memories. She didn't know. All she knew was that Daryl was scaring her. She stepped back, shaking her head and resuming her walk back to the house. She was shaking, could feel it. She'd forgotten how it felt to be threatened in that way. Would Daryl have laid a finger on her? She doubted it, but she didn't really know him. Evelyn fingered the strip of the blue fabric around her wrist, trying to calm her shattered nerves. How was it that she could stare a walker in the eyes and have nerves of steel, but when it came to facing a pissed off Daryl, she became an absolute wreck? As soon as she got back to the house she went and shut herself in her bedroom, curling up in her bed, trying to coax herself to sleep. She doubted that she would get much sleep that night, her arm hurt. She'd never wished so hard that she wasn't allergic to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as much as she did at that moment. Her arm was hurting and the pain prevented her from a sound sleep, waking her up almost every time she moved it.


Daryl quietly entered the room when he heard Evelyn quietly sobbing in her room. He thought that her arm must be getting to her or something like that. He'd had worse injuries, had one of his own arrows stab him, went straight through. He'd pulled it out and shot a walker with it, but he didn't know how well Evelyn could cope with pain. Anne had been rather squeamish, hadn't been able to cope with the sight of blood, hadn't been able to cope with pain too well. For all Daryl knew, Evelyn had taken after her mom. He sat down on her bed and rubbed her shoulder rather awkwardly. What was he supposed to do in this kind of situation? Evelyn froze, then slowly looked up at him.

"You alright?" He asked. She didn't say anything for a moment then sat up and rubbed her eye.

"When you were pissed off at me... when you were yelling at me. You took a step towards me in the exact same way he did when he was going to... you know." Evelyn rubbed her neck awkwardly and Daryl frowned. He knew she had a scar on the back of her neck, knew that her step-dad had thrown her against a table and it had slit her neck open. She'd been lucky her neck wasn't broken.

"I wouldn't hurt you. I know what it's like to be in that position." Daryl said. Evelyn looked at him and frowned, confused. Daryl looked at his hands, not wanting to face her. He didn't like to talk about it. Like she didn't like to talk about what her step-dad did to her.

"My old man used to beat me, like your step-dad used to beat you. He'd get piss ass drunk and just go completely insane. Hell, he didn't even need to be drunk. One wrong move and he'd just go completely off his rocker." Daryl looked at Evelyn. She was just sitting there with a small frown on her face. She looked concerned, but confused. She shook her head.

"I... Don't really know how I'm supposed to react to that..." She muttered. Daryl smiled ruefully.

"There ain't really a way to react to it. But I would never hurt you. Not on purpose." Evelyn nodded and looked down at the scars on her hands, that scrap of fabric still on her wrist. How did she sleep with it on? She took her gloves off, took her Rambo headband off, but not the scrap of fabric around her wrist.

"Does it ever go? Do the memories of what happened ever stop haunting you?" She asked quietly. Daryl shrugged.

"Depends on you, I guess." He knew he wasn't much good at the touchy stuff. Talking about himself wasn't the easiest thing to do. Probably something Evelyn got from him. They seemed to be more alike than he had ever thought possible. He always thought that he'd never have a kid, and if he did then they'd have a better childhood than he got. Seemed like Evelyn missed out on that. She chewed her lower lip, something Anne used to do when she was nervous. Daryl didn't say anything, just sat there waiting for Evelyn to speak.

"He used to put the jug on to boil just before he'd beat me up. Then he'd go along and pour the boiled water on my back. He'd scream at me, just keep shouting, as though I was the one at fault for it all. Mom would be crying in her room. She never did anything to help me. The only reason we weren't in the city when the outbreak started was because he'd beaten me up and Mom decided she'd had enough. Got me patched up at hospital and then we left. She thought we could find you. Thought you'd keep us safe. Then she left me there, I was nine. I was nine with broken bones." Evelyn shook her head and wiped away a tear angrily. Daryl wasn't sure what he was meant to do, so just stayed sitting there. Evelyn rubbed at her injured arm.

"Why'd you leave her in the first place? Was she not good enough for you? Or were things just not working out? Did you ever have real feelings for her?" She asked. Daryl frowned slightly.

"I didn't want to leave her. Jenna thought it'd be better for Anne if I just left her."

"Aunt Jenna made you leave? She always made it sound like you just left Mom one day. Made it sound like you were some bastard who never cared." Daryl shook his head. Of course Jenna had said that stuff about him. They'd never gotten along. She always saw him as redneck scum or something to that extent. It had always confused him that Jenna and Anne could be so close and yet so completely different.

"Stupid bitch." He muttered. Evelyn didn't look too impressed.

"You do realise that she was pretty much in the middle of the city when the outbreak happened? She's either an undead freak or been eaten. She was my aunt."

"She never liked me, pretty much told me and my brother to stay out of their lives, that Anne was better off without me. That she could do a hell of a lot better than me."

"So you just rolled over and took it like a good dog? You didn't even fight for her?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Daryl grumbled. Evelyn shrugged.

"Call it daddy daughter bonding time if you must. But you were never there for us. If you had just fought for Mom, then none of that stuff would have happened. My stupid step-dad would never have laid a finger on me, he'd never have hurt me or Mom. Hell, he'd never have been part of my life." She shook her head.

"I didn't know she was pregnant. I didn't know she was gonna have a kid."

"That's not how Aunt Jenna made it sound." Daryl looked at Evelyn, could see it in her eyes that she was scared. She wanted to know the truth, but didn't know if she wanted to believe it. Daryl didn't know what to say. It was obvious to him now that Jenna had known, somehow, that her younger sister was pregnant, even if Anne herself didn't know. Jenna hadn't wanted him to be a part of his kid's life, hadn't wanted Evelyn to know him. Evelyn sat there, waiting for him to say something. She didn't seem like she was just fifteen. She seemed so much older at times. How much had she been through?

"Why would she..." Evelyn paused, closing her eyes briefly, "Why would Aunt Jenna ask you to leave? Why would she want me to grow up without a dad?" In the gloom, a lone tear reflected what little light there was and Daryl pulled Evelyn into a hug. For a moment she didn't move, then hesitantly returned it, leaning against him. He didn't say anything. She probably already knew why Jenna had asked him to leave. Maybe she had been right to ask him to leave. He'd never been too sure about how things could end with Anne. Didn't change how he had felt about her though. Didn't change that he would have cared for Evelyn no matter what. Didn't change that this choice had never been her's to make.