Special thanks to MollyMayhem84 and FanFicGirl10 for letting me run ideas by them. Also, shoutout to my readers in other lands!

"Daryl," Seraphim looked up at him from her spot against his chest, protected by the heavy weight of his arm. They were driving down a quiet country road, gravel kicking up behind the truck's heavy tires. The windows were rolled down and some soft song played on the radio while her wild curls tangled in the wind. He was taking her home to meet his family.

"Daryl, honey?" Her voice was muffled by his pectoral muscle and the wind.

"Yeah?" He tightened his arm and rubbed one of her curls between his fingers, enjoying how soft the strand felt running over his knuckles.

"Daryl?" Sera's voice was clearer this time, directly beside his head.

He looked down at her, but she was suddenly gone. "Huh?"

"You awake?"

"Yeah," he blinked into the early morning light. The smell of warm summer air was replaced by something grainy and sweet as Seraphim stirred the pot over the fire. "Yeah, I'm up."

"I'm gonna help you stand, okay?" She set the spoon down and crouched beside his bed. "You go do what you need to in the bathroom. We'll head back to your group after breakfast."

"Could leave now, if you want."

"Nope, food first." Grasping Daryl's hand, she let him pull himself up to sitting. "Now, I'm gonna put my arm around you and help you get your feet under ya. There're clothes already in there, but let me know if you need anything."

Daryl felt himself bristling at the idea that he would need so much assistance. "Can do it my damn self."

"Oh, yeah?" Seraphim stepped away from his side and went back to watching the pot of oatmeal boil. If he wanted to be the "big man" who was she to say no? "Well, just give a yell if you change your mind. The bleeding seems to have stopped, but you don't want to aggravate it too badly."

"Whatever."

As he began to assess how he was going to stand without whimpering, Daryl knew he was in trouble. There was nothing close for him to use as a support. It was either ask Seraphim to come back over or hurt himself. With a sigh, he admitted defeat. Looking up to say something to her, he stopped. She was already wrapping her arm around him and pulling him close.

Sera did not see a point in making him ask for help. It was hard enough for him to admit to himself that he needed it; she had watched the internal struggle in silence as it played over his face. Without a word, she helped him to his feet and then let him take it from there. He was a strong man. He could take some pain.

Turning to Sophia who had just begun to move, Seraphim smiled slightly. "Ready to go see your momma?"

Sophia nodded so quickly, it appeared that her head might have come detached in the night. "It's like Christmas!"

Sera didn't try to hide her delighted laughter. "Well, have some breakfast and get dressed. I'll pack up while you eat."

Sera had made far more food than she should have, knowing that Daryl needed as much as he could get. The oatmeal was a steal cut variety, heartier and more filling than the regular sort. She had cooked it with some of the blackberries in order to flavor it better, and to mask the lack of milk and butter. Oh, how she missed milk and butter for cooking.

She heaped a bowl for Sophia, topping it off with more blackberries the way the girl liked most. "Eat up, Chickadee."

"Did you just call her a bird?" Daryl almost chuckled from where he was leaning in the doorway, hand resting over the makeshift bandage. His bare toes wiggled slightly under her gaze.

"Why not?" Seraphim turned and began to fill a bowl for him. "You called me a flower not 24 hours ago."

"Did not." Daryl's response was halfhearted at best. Seraphim had twisted her hair back from her face and into some sort of complicated twisting buns and braid at the back of her head. Something in dark ink on the back of her neck was peaking at him over the top of her collar.

"Yes, you did," Sophia stared at him over the rim of her bowl. "You called her Catchfly."

"Huh," Daryl avoided eye contact as he slowly moved to the small table. "Don't 'member that."

"I'm surprised you remember anything from yesterday." Sera placed his bowl on the table. "Eat up. Don't wanna take you back hungry."

"I'm eatin'," grasping his spoon, Daryl was ready to start when Sera's movements caught his attention. She was moving to pick up the blankets from the floor. "I 'member you said you'd eat this mornin'."

"I've had a bit," Sera wasn't looking at him as she spoke. "I need to get this started."

"Bullshit," Daryl said a quick apology to a surprised Sophia. "You need to eat."

"Daryl –"

"Sit yer ass down an' eat, woman." He didn't shout or stamp his foot. There wasn't even a thump of his fist hitting the table, as there would have been from her father or brothers.

Instead of responding, Sera moved to the pan and began spooning heaping scoops into her own bowl before putting some blackberries on top and sitting across from Daryl at the table. No one had demanded that she take care of herself in a long while, and she had missed it. It was actually kind of sweet, in a rough sort of way. Not that I'll be telling him that anytime soon.

While Daryl was satisfied that someone finally listened to him the way they were supposed to, and Seraphim was quietly happy that Daryl seemed to be none the worse for wear after his adventure the day before, Sophia was just confused. Daryl had always scared her a bit, but Seraphim treated him the same as other people would Officer Rick or Glenn. He had been a little loud this morning, but he hadn't been mean. He even said he was sorry for cussing in front of her, like the nice man who had worked at the diner her mom took her to after school sometimes.

Sophia knew that her father would have cuffed her around the head or back for lying about eating, and maybe hit her mom too. He always said that the mother was to blame for what a kid did, because they were supposed to teach them right and wrong. Seraphim just had the tiniest grin as she ate, and Daryl filled his bowl a second time before dividing what was left between each of theirs'.

This was such a strange morning.

O:O:O:O:

When the last of the oatmeal had been eaten, Seraphim had made a bit more than planned, Sophia was put to work washing dishes while Daryl sat at the table folding blankets and repacking bags. Seraphim moved in and out of the house, carrying bags and supplies to the Jeep and back. She could tell he was thinking hard on something, and left him to it while she worked. He would talk to her if he felt like it, and it wasn't much use to question a man before he was ready for it. Besides, he was probably just annoyed that she was doing all the lifting and carrying.

"How'd I get inside?" The question, thrown out into the quiet industriousness of the sunlit cabin, had Seraphim stumbling under the weight of all the blankets she was attempting to carry in one trip.

Crap. She really didn't want to tell him. "Huh?"

"I remember here and there of walking up to the cabin and seein' the two of ya. Then, nothin'." Sharp blue eyes focused on her face, and she was suddenly frozen. "So, how'd I get inside?"

"Carried ya." Sera ducked out the door before he could ask any more questions, giving him a minute to digest what she'd just said.

Daryl looked to Sophia, who was putting the dishes and pot away in their bag. "She means ya'll drug me."

"N-N-No, sir," the little blonde zipped the bag closed and began lugging it to the door. "She carried you all by herself."

Seraphim stepped back inside to overhear Sophia's answer. "Fireman's carry. Across my shoulders."

"Yer jokin'." Daryl wasn't sure how to respond to this information. He was angry that he'd needed help in the first place, hated that he had been weak in front of both the girls, and wasn't sure what he would do if she had in fact carried him.

After a quick scan showed her that nothing had been left behind, Seraphim picked up his boots and walked to stand in front of Daryl. "No, I'm not."

He roughly snatched the boots from her fingers and dropped them angrily on the floor at his feet. Jamming his feet home, Daryl attempted to lean over to tie them. With a grunt of pain, he slumped back in his chair. Sera said nothing, only took his left heel in hand and stood while bracing the sole on her thigh. This put his boot within reach of his hands with less strain. He chewed at his lip in thought before he worked the laces on that boot, and immediately finished the other when it was given the same treatment.

Daryl used the table to pull himself up, not even entertaining the thought of allowing her to help him stand. Fuck! How 'm I supposed to look her in the eye after that shit? She carried me? Good Lord. I may as well be a baby!

Seraphim handed him his crossbow, not surprised when he seized it angrily. She had found three bolts that would work in his weapon, and had placed them in the attached quiver earlier that morning. He readied a bolt, bracing it between his thigh and the doorframe and grunting in both effort and pain as he cocked and loaded it, and aimed down the sights as they exited the house. He didn't care that they had been moving in and out all morning, and that Sophia was already waiting impatiently in the backseat.

"You'll have to give me directions." Seraphim climbed into the driver's seat and waited while Daryl struggled into his own. She wasn't about to offer to help him again so soon.

Daryl nodded silently, catching sight of a compass tattooed on the inside of her left wrist as she drove them down the tree lined path. A shade of light gray, the face was styled to look like old metal. A tree grew around the left side and over the point of North, with a small bird taking flight from its highest point. A rope wrapped and knotted about the right side to just past the point of South with an anchor down from there.

"What's that for?" Daryl jutted his chin toward the ink when she glanced up from adjusting herself in the seat. He found himself wishing her hair was down in the wind.

"So I never lose my way," Sera shrugged and then grinned widely at Daryl's raised eyebrow. She flipped over her right wrist so he could study the letters that looked almost crudely drawn, though he knew it was on purpose. "Riddikulus. It's a spell from Harry Potter, it –"

"It turns scary things into something funny!" Sophia giggled from the backseat. "Why do you have a Harry Potter tattoo?"

"Got more than one, Chickadee."

"More Potter ones?" Sophia sat forward, her chin beside Sera's headrest as the older woman tried to ease down the rocky, disused driveway without jarring Daryl too greatly.

"Yeah, some."

Turning her head, Sophia studied her fully. "Different kinds, too?"

"Uh-huh," Sera nodded with a light smile. "I've got some others."

Now Daryl was interested in the conversation. In his limited knowledge, women with tattoos did not behave the way Seraphim did. They were rough and cussed all the time, not caring how they presented themselves. Then, his experiences were limited to barflies and women who worked with him on construction sites.

"How many?"

Darting her gaze from the windshield to his eyes, Seraphim felt the warmth of a blush creep over her cheeks. "More 'n a few."

They had reached the paved road, and Sera turned toward the highway. "Once we reach the highway, do we head north or south?"

"North," Daryl began to scratch at his side.

"Don't scratch. You'll only make it worse." Sera caught the tilt of Daryl's head and his eyebrow raise in disbelief. "What?"

"Got a hole through my side. Don't know that I'm getting' much worse than that." Sophia's giggle from the backseat had him smirking at the redhead. "See? Even the little chickadee knows I'm right."

Taking a cigarette from her wrinkled pack, Seraphim offered him one as well. "We relyin' on Chickie back there to tell us right and wrong now?"

"Why the hell not?" He paused to light his smoke. "She seems ta have a decent head on her shoulders."

"True enough."

Sophia patted the twist that ran from her front part down the side of her head to just behind her ear. "When are we gonna get there? I want to see my mommy."

"We'll be there soon, honey."

"Yeah, 'bout a half hour or so. Sorta depends on gettin' through the traffic snarls."

Sophia, who had seen some of Seraphim's more interesting ways of avoiding traffic jams, giggled again. "It's okay. Janice can handle it."

Daryl turned so he could see the little girl more clearly. "Who the hell's Janice?!"

"The Jeep," Sophia responded as if it were common knowledge.

Seraphim laughed. "She'd decided the Jeep's name is Janice, and that she's hardcore."

"Yeah?"

"Apparently."

Daryl was surprised at the conversation and the enjoyment he was getting from it. He wasn't used to talking openly with people, but Seraphim was different somehow. It wasn't because she was a woman, there were plenty of them in the group, and he didn't speak with them. Hell, he was usually more nervous around women; especially attractive ones. Maybe it was the way she spoke with the same sort of accent he used? Or the way Sophia smiled at him so trustingly? It was that look that finally drove the point home.

The reason he spoke so openly with the two females in the Jeep was because they treated him as if he was exactly the same as them. Seraphim looked him in the eye instead of to the side or at his chest. She didn't have a man to send to give him commands, and she asked him to do things rather than attempting to order him about. Also, he didn't think any of the other women he knew would give him help without making a big deal out of it and making him feel like a child.

Sophia's reaction to him last night and this morning was also a pleasant event. She had never been one to look any of the men in the eye, but she had him. She looked at him as if he were nice. Like he was clean.

Merle may have been right when they were younger: no one loved him like his big brother. But maybe he was worth something after all. He wasn't someone that people should – or could – care about. But, he had proven himself to be an excellent hunter, and no one would be able to say that he had been wrong about finding Sophia alive. He had been right, she was just fine. Anyone who said otherwise could kiss his ass.

When they reached the traffic snarl, he pointed out that they would have to push some of the cars out of the way. Seraphim only smirked in return and told him to hold on.

"I don't know how smooth this is gonna be, but I'm damn sure it's easier than pushing cars."

The Jeep rumbled over the shoulder of the highway and down into the grass running between the pavement and the woods. While the suspension made the ride bearable, they still bounced around as they moved over the ground and some debris. Seraphim let out a whoop as they slipped a bit in the wet grass, kicking up mud as she pulled them out of the skid. Sophia let out a squeal of delight, and Daryl grinned openly in return. It'd been a long time since he'd been mud running.

"About two miles down there's a mailbox." Daryl grunted as Seraphim bumped them back up onto the highway. "Name's Greene."

"Right or left side?"

"Right."

Not even five minutes later, they saw the mailbox. It was one of those huge black metal affairs meant to hold both regular mail and small packages. The white lettering on the side read "Greene" in chipping, cracked paint along with the house number. Seraphim slowed and turned into the drive carefully.

Seraphim found her heartbeat fluttering quickly as Sophia began to squirm in the backseat. She knew the little girl was anxious to see her mother, but Seraphim felt a little nervous. It was the same feeling she had the first day of kindergarten, and how she always felt when she competed with her bow. What if no one liked her? Would they let her stay with the group for a few days while she figured out where she should go next? Her grandparents had a house in the woods of Alabama. Maybe she would try to make her way there? Before the questions could really take root in her mind, Sophia began jerking at her door handle.

"Mommy!" Sophia's voice broke as she yelled out the window at the group that had gathered to watch the Jeep's approach.

Seraphim stopped quickly and hit the door locks. "Go on."

Sophia rammed the door open with her shoulder and tore across the dusty grass as Seraphim climbed down and watched as a thin woman with short, gray hair sprinted toward the girl.

"Looks like today is gonna be a good day, Mr. Dixon." Seraphim smiled up at him as he moved around the front of the Jeep to stand next to her.

Daryl nodded back. "Looks like."