Thought for ages what to write here (something I've never done for an authors note) Thank you for the support. Enjoy ( Though I'm afraid you might not)

Mr Wilson managed to convince his wife not to call the police. He himself knew that his daughter would never go to band practice and that she had been missing a lot more than his wife knew.

At this point they were sitting in the living room of the trailer. Daryl felt uncomfortable and by the looks Merle was giving him, he was too.

"But, David we thought she was here."

Mr Wilson sighed and rubbed his face.

"You said she was here? Why'd she leave?" he asked Daryl.

He also knew, or rather suspected, that the majority of his daughters time was spent with the brothers. It had made him uncomfortable at the start but it made her happy so he'd kept his mouth shut.

Daryl glanced at Merle.

"Well, we uh, we had a bit of an argument" Daryl explained, avoiding their eyes. Mrs Wilson's head snapped up.

"What about?" she asked.

"Ain't none of your business" Merle said curtly.

"When it comes to my daughters safety, it is my business. And what was she doing here anyway?" she turned her question to Daryl but it was Merle who answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Merle asked, standing up angrily.

"Merle" Daryl stood up and put a hand on his chest. He pushed him away, into the kitchen so that the Wilsons wouldn't hear.

"Look, cool it, yeah? She won't think twice about calling the police and we don't need that" he warned.

Merle glowered but nodded.

When they returned to the room, Mr Wilson was talking.

"We need to start checking places she might be" he was saying. At once his wife started making a list: the school, the shopping centre, the ice cream parlour.

But suddenly Daryl knew she wouldn't be in any of those places. He stood up so quickly that everyone in the room stared at them. He looked around, his eyes landing on his brother.

"I've got an idea."

TWD

It started to drizzle as he walked through the trees. He could hear the rain hitting the water in the stream.

He approached Paige silently, in hunting mode.

She was sitting at the foot of the tree she'd been in that first day, her head in her hands. He stopped right in front of her and she gasped in surprise. When she looked up his stomach knotted as he noticed the tears running down her face.

He sat next to her. This was going to be hard.

"Paige, I'm uh, I'm sorry" he muttered. Silence.

"Paige?" More silence. He finally turned to look at her. She was staring at him.

"What?" he asked, confused by the look on her face. He expected her to be angry, upset but she was staring at him blankly as if she was trying to see something that wasn't there. Finally she spoke, her voice husky from her crying bout.

"What are you sorry for Daryl?" she asked. It was his turn to stare at her.

"Uh… For shouting at you. I didn't mean it, I swear."

She stood up silently and walked to the stream. Her feet were bare apart from the tattered remnants of her tights. Her feet were covered in cuts from running through the trees. She sat down and put her feet in the water. It was late and cold but she didn't appear to notice. He didn't move.

"You're sorry for that? Really? Because, you know that was the last thing on my mind when I ran away. I'm not that delicate, you know" she said.

"Then what?" he asked, startled.

She turned around and for the first time there was anger in her eyes, mingled with the pain.

"You lied to me Daryl! Every time I asked if you were Ok, how things were at home, you told me you were fine, everything was good. When you'd turn up at school or at my house with a busted nose or a black eye, I thought there had to be some sort of explanation, a simple reason. I got that you didn't want to talk about it, I respected that. And you know why? Because I was stupid enough to believe that you trusted me enough to tell me if something was seriously wrong. I thought we were friends."

She screamed the last sentence. Tears fell but she wiped them away angrily. He stared at her in shock.

"We are friends" he choked out eventually. She laughed without humor and stood up, staring down at him.

"Yeah, I thought so. But you know what, Daryl? You wanted me to leave you alone? You got it."

She turned to leave and he knew that this was it. If he let her walk away now, he'd lose her, maybe for good. He wanted to stop her, to scream and tell her everything. He wanted to show her his scars and tell her how much she meant to him. She was his best friend in the world. He hadn't noticed when the joking and laughing had become more but it was as he watched her turning to leave that it became clear to him.

But emotions weren't his strong point. They never had been. He had had them knocked out of him by his father over the years. He had grown used to leaving things unsaid, secrets locked up in dark places, never addressed, never spoken of. He couldn't take it if she rejected him. If she saw everything, she might be disgusted or, worse, she might pity him. She didn't know the half of it and he feared that if she did he would lose her.

But then again, as she began walking away, he began to feel he already had.

She quickened her pace and the trees swallowed Paige from view, the silence of all the unanswered questions raging on.

I HATED writing this chapter. It came out well enough (I hope!) but I almost couldn't stand writing about them fighting. I just wanted them to make up this chapter but I restrained myself (just). Was Paige too over-Dramatic? I really don't want her to be one of THOSE characters, but I also really wanted to show how angry she is that Daryl doesn't trust her. AAAARRGGGHHH! I can't win! Anyway, I'm not ashamed to admit that I listened to Beyonce's song Halo like five times writing this. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'm gonna go be sad now soooo,

JAGWALFF

P.S (I'LL GO AWAY AFTER THIS, I SWEAR.)

But I wrote this quite late and I didn't have a lot of time so I apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Note, I'm writing this the way I normally would do mistakes for other people might be fine in Ireland which is always awkward. It'll be like that unless grammar check changes it automatically. Anyway, anyone else notice how you only realize you've made a mistake when you're reading over it after it's posted? Or just me. Sorry. Bye now.