Day 68:

Location: [Greene Farm]

The group left some food rations for Sophia in the abandoned highway and they made ways to the Greene farm the following day.

Since Carl had been shot he had undergone a long surgery and had a rifle bullet removed. Kid almost died.

"Thank God the rest of you are here," Lori cried out as the group reached the farm.
"We are still in surgery. Carl is loosing a lot of blood and I don't know how much more Rick can give him. Anyone in the group A+?" she pleaded with a twisted expression of concern her eyes tearing.

"I'm AB+?" Andrea piped.

'That comment was absolutely useless,' the doctor thought rolling her eyes. Why would you even open your mouth? She shot daggers in her direction.

"I'm O-" the doctor said reluctantly. She knew that now she would be bound to be the group's national donor.

"Hook me up."


The group parked their vehicles and set up a camp on the Greene property, that's when they were introduced to the members of this family. They came at a bad time because they were having a funeral procession for Otis, who was their ranch hand. According to Shane they had gone out to get supplies for Carl and he had sacrificed himself so that Shane could get away.
Something about his story or the way he told it just didn't sit right... Specially coming from Shane who had decided to completely shave his head.
People tent to cut their hair on random occasions. However, when it is a drastic change, a break-up, a death, a traumatic event, they usually do what Shane just did.

"Nice haircut," Sloane said stalking by his side ready to press his buttons.
"Bite me," Shane shook his head stomping away from the woman.
"Maybe when I'm dead!" She shouted after him.

It was then that Sloane was formally introduced to Maggie, Beth, Jimmy, Patricia and Herschel. She had met them with making the blood transfusion earlier but it had just been a brief medical questionnaire.

They all seemed O.K. to her. She didn't' make an attempt to be polite or anything. She hoped she wouldn't have to be in this farm for a long time. It was then that Jenner approached her with his arms crossed an annoyed expression on his face.

"So, what's your verdict?" She asked looking at him from the corner of her eye.
"They seem like a nice family," he said shrugging.
"Have they been treating you alright?" Sloane asked looking back at the Quarry Survivors.
"I don't expect them to welcome me with open arms, especially after I almost killed them all. Jaqui seems, well, depressed. She's been takin' care of T-Dog and your dog while Glenn makes goo-goo eyes at the farmer's daughter," he said with a smirk.

Sloane only nodded. "Also- you said you were going to cure this thing, but I don't see you working. You don't even have a lab," Jenner began pressing. The doctor began to feel the burden of her words and her responsibility stressing her nerves into knots.
"I hope I didn't make the wrong choice in following you to the end of the world."

She turned to look at him with her sharp eyes.
"Trust me. I have a plan," She exhaled.
"Of course you do," he said rolling his eyes.
Growing annoyed with the man she walked inside of the Greene house. Which was ironically white. (lol)

Inside they were organizing a search party to find Sophia. This only made Sloane's nerves irk. She was so done with this fucking search. She knew that little girl was dead. The only effect that proposing this search would have is that it would relieve Carol's lonely soul.

The group was looking at a map with all the acres in the area. Sloane observed the nearby territory surrounding the farm. They were currently south of Atlanta, she noted that the University of West Georgia was nearby amongst other facilities.
Maggie, who Sloane was starting to like, said she would take a horse and they would split the terrain. Rick was exhausted from the blood loss and Shane was injured. So Daryl volunteered to go alone.

"I'll go with you. It's safer," she said quickly before leaving the room.
"Kaiser will come with us too," she called over her shoulder stretching her fingers scratching the back of the dog's head.

Daryl went to back to get his crossbow and Sloane went to look for Edwin who had become the person she talked to the most, her intellectual partner. Jenner was a doctor as well. He understood death, he knew and respected how easily life could be taken away from someone. Life wasn't something he cherished and worshiped like the others. He understood that adapting was necessary in order to survive.

"You have that look on your face," he commented sitting under the shade of a tree cleaning a rifle he had found while scavenging in the packed road.
"It's nothing," she said shrugging off his comment.
"So what's the plan? How are you manipulating this situation?"

"I-I can't," she suddenly said. "It's become personal," she said looking up wanting to end the conversation.

"I thought you said you had a plan," Jenner said loking at her skeptically.

She remained silent.

"Is it Dixon?" Jenner said observing he was approaching them. "You two seem… close?" he asked carefully.
"He's an ally," she said shortly not wanting to discuss the topic much further. Turning so her blushing face wouldn't give her emotions away.

"No, but like- really close." Jenner pressed. Sloane looked at him blankly.
"I mean it seems like you're the only person he talks to-" Sloane didn't like were this was going.
"He's the smartest person in this camp. If you want to survive I advice you get close to him," She whispered quickly before he reached them. He looked at her confused. She was the smartest person in camp.

"Are you using him as well?" He suddenly asked.
"I can't…" she said in a weak tone looking down.
He looked at her with his eyes wide. Then she turned to greet the Dixon.
"Ready?" She said quickly standing up. He only gave her a gruff nod, indicating he was ready.

Both ventured into the wilderness alongside the dog. The shade of the thick trees was more welcoming than the blazing sun. Sloane was grateful that fall was approaching. The dog was attempting to find the trail of the lost little girl.

"You've been quiet for a while," Daryl said noting her obvious mood shift since the little girl had gone lost.
"What's on yer mind?" he asked.

Sloane looked at him carefully. She didn't know if to trust him with the truth. Would he judge her? What would he think?
She wasn't sure where to start. She had so much running through her mind now days.
She was surprised that he had never brought up the fact that they had kissed a couple of days ago. To make matters worse she shamelessly kissed him the morning after that.

"It's just that- this whole search… I think it's kind of pointless. I mean what if something happened to Sophia and she's well…" she was choosing her words carefully in an attempt to appear as human as possible. "What if this poor child is, gone." She finally said emphasizing the word gone.

"Have some faith Gadsden," Daryl repeated the same sentence he had said to her yesterday. He helped her climb down from a small formation of rocks. She only shrugged; glad he didn't ask why she was here following him into the woods.

"Wait- then," he said slowly. "If you don't' believe we'll find her. Then why are you here?" He looked at her with mistrusting eyes.

"I guess I just…" She said getting lost in thought attempting to craft the perfect lie. He suddenly let go of her hand. Looking at her with angry eyes.

"I just- I know how it feels," she mumbled weakly.
"You're taking advantage of the situation. Aren't you?"

"Daryl…" She pleaded. She pleaded for him to understand her.

"You're using her to have edge over the group. Aren't you?" He repeated feeling betrayed.

She remained quiet. It was pointless to argue.

"Do you know what Carol is going through? Having lost a child? You can't be that sick," he said looking at her with hard eyes.
Suddenly she felt that her face was wet. Tears had unwillingly slipped down her face. He looked down at her and began walking away.

"Actually I do!" She shrieked.
"You can't just judge me on presumed facts you don't know about me!" Her shouts echoed the vast woods.

Feeling her knees become weak, she slowly slipped down in the middle of the forest into a sobbing mess. Kaiser stood close to her burring his nuzzle into her side in an attempt to comfort its master.

She could hear his footsteps crunching the leaves of the group as he approached her.

"This search is pointless. It's been more than 48 hours. The girl is dead. She's not you. She's never been out there by herself! We are loosing people, ammo and time one this wild goose chase!" She exclaimed. Her dog was whining at her side.

His boots suddenly appeared in her cloudy vision.
"Go away…" She said weakly. "Go away and leave me alone."

"Tch…" She heard him mumble something under his breath.

"Sloane," he began in his raspy voice. She realized it was one of the rare that he addressed her by her first name and with such gentleness.

"Stand up and quit crying," he said in a cold tone.
"This isn't you," he said sternly.
"I already told you once and I do not want to tell you again that this won't be us. This is not me. I don't talk about feelings and I'm not someone you should seek comfort in. So that leaves you with two choices you either suck it up and help me find Sophia or you go back to camp."

She furiously wiped off the hot tears that flooded her eyes. She bounced to her feet regaining her composure. Kaiser barking at her sudden actions.

"Fuck you," she growled out viciously, through her gritted teeth.
"What?" He said taken back. The scowl on his face deepening.
"You heard me. Fuck you for judging me. I am not a weapon. I am a human, and I don't know what I have to do to prove myself to you. Whether you want to accept it or not, you and me we are both the same!" She shouted pointing at him with an accusing finger.

He called her name as he trotted towards her.

"Kaiser, Voraus!" she commanded and her hound began barking as she ran back to the farmhouse her breathing ragged

Daryl stood alone in the forest running a hand through his short hair nervously. "G- dammit…" he cursed kicking a nearby rock in defeat. That woman was going to be the death of him…


That same day Daryl returned to the farm empty handed and alone. Without the girl or his partner.

"Hey Dixon," Jaqui approached him carefully. "Any news on Sophia?"

Daryl only shook his head and uttered a gruff "No."
"Oh, and Sloane? Have you seen her?" asked Jaqui meekly. She still wasn't back?

"She left several hours ago. Said she was coming," he explained casually.

She had to be here. Somewhere.

Daryl already knew that she lacked the common sense and would go into the woods completely unsafe and unprotected.

"What?" Rick said alarmed suddenly approaching him.

This caught Jenner and Shane's attention and they both approached Daryl.

"Daryl. What happened?" Rick began asking for an explanation.
"Nothing, she just said was going back to camp," he shrugged casually. It wasn't a complete lie.
"And you let her come back, alone?" Rick retorted his eyes slightly widened.
"We weren't that far off! How was I supposed to know she would get lost?" Daryl said exasperated shaking his head.

"Great. Now we have a little girl and a doctor missing."
Shane rolled his eyes and decided this wasn't interesting enough for him and retreated to whatever he was previously doing.

"You just lost the key to actually curing this disease Dixon," Jenner accused with an impish smile, his arms crossed over his chest.

Both Rick and Daryl turned to look at him with eyes wide.

"I'm just joking," he said with a small chuckle.
"She's inside of the RV with Carol," Jenner chuckled.

The others didn't laugh, keeping their stoic faces on.

"What? It was a joke?" Jenner said shifting his eyes between them. Jaqui actually laughed when she overheard the conversation.
"Sorry Rick. Sorry Dixon. It gets boring around here," she laughed clapping her hands.

"Don't joke about that again," Rick said shaking his head before leaving.

Day 69:

Location: [Greene Farm]

Sloane sat in the porch of the Greene family biting on her thumb processing the events that had transpired since they had arrived to the farm. Next to her was Jenner with a bored expression.

"Great. Now what?" He said rolling his eyes towards her.
"Patience Edwin," she said calmly.
"I swear, if I didn't respect you this much I wouldn't be here."
"No. You wouldn't. You'd be dead!" She said 'dead' in a harsher tone.

She rubbed her temples hatching together a new plan to leave the group.

"Why can't we just leave? Just you and me?" Jenner pressed ignoring her previous retort.
"We wouldn't last a day out in the wilderness by ourselves. We need to have a group and in that group. You are the brains. Daryl is the brawn; Rick is the leader we need people to blindly follow. Others that would be good in the group are Glenn, Dale, T-Dog and I like that Maggie girl. I doubt she'd leave her family. They can all be back ups and help around in sustaining the group. The ones that would only hold us back, and I don't mean to discriminate women or anything, but the ones from this group are just thinking extremely irrationally. Jaqui, Carol, Andrea, Lori, and well Carl would only become dead weight." She sighed.

Jenner looked at her with a raised brow.

"Literally, dead weight," she said with an awful attempt to try and hide her laughter.

Both of them were laughing so hard they did not notice that Daryl had come out of the house and was standing next to them. Looking down at them peculiarly.

"Gadsden," he said in a serious tone attempting to get her attention.

Without even turning to look at him she stood up and stomped away from him.

"Dammit," he said biting the inside of his cheek.
"Women. Right?" Edwin said with a slight huff.

Daryl ignored him and chased after her.

"Hey! Wait," he said grabbing onto her arm.
"What?" she snapped glaring daggers at him, pulling her arm back.
"What-" he began.
"What-" She repeated interrupting him. "Now you want to talk?"
"Talking about feelings is kind of- excuse my language- "fag stuff?" And we agreed we weren't going to do that. Remember?" She added with narrowed eyes.

He opened his mouth ready to speak.

"Goodbye Dixon." She said solemnly once again walking away from him.

"It's still early, you going back out there?" Jenner suddenly said standing next to him.

The man did not respond and simply returned to the woods.
Edwin caught up to Sloane.

"What are you doing?" He asked looking at her with an incredulous look.
"I thought you said he was the key to surviving? Why aren't you working your magic on him?"

She opened her mouth. However, no sound came out. She simply shook her head.

"Please. Believe me, I'm working on a plan." She pleaded.

Jenner was becoming inpatient. He had to do something about this. He would take matters into his own hands. If he wanted to survive he had to play these characters to the best of his advantage.

"Hey Jaqui, how's it going? Kaiser treating you alright?" Sloane asked walking up to the woman who had grown very close to the German shepherd.

She had decided she was going to try and reinstall herself into the survivor camp. Hence why she was making conversation with the other survivors.

"Oh, he's just wonderful. Reminds me of my old dog." Jaqui said scratching the dog's ears.
"Yeah, I know. I had a weenie dog in the real world. She was the cutest," she spoke in an attempt to appear relatable to the others.

Sloane helped prepare the dinner with Carol who was in higher spirits and had began helping around the camp. Lori would only glare and keep a wary out looking at Sloane suspiciously every once in a while. That's how she spent her afternoon.

"Hey, Sloane. Thank you, for what you said yesterday." Carol suddenly said.
"Thank you for trusting me with-"
"Yes. Don't even mention it," she said briskly ending the conversion before she could babble any of the information she had told her.

Meanwhile Daryl found himself collapsed in the muddy ground of the forest. One of his own arrows had stabbed through him. He was certain that the image of Merle standing before him was a hallucination.

"You should listen to Grey's Anatomy. She's the only one with any brain matter in that damn camp," Merle hissed. "This search for this damn little girl is useless. Instead you should be looking for me! Your brother!" Merle shouted kicking some mud at Daryl's face.
It took every muscle and ounce of will for Daryl to stand up. He wasn't going to die today. Not like this.

Back at the camp Sloane made her way inside of the Greene house.

"Ms. Gadsden?" a male voice caught her attention.
"Mhn?" She followed the voice and found herself walking into Hershel's private study.

"Yes?" She asked in a careful voice.

She knew she couldn't just bash him and say/do whatever she wanted here. This was his land and he was in control. He sat on his desk reading The Bible, which he slowly closed.

"I hear that you are a very accomplished medic," he began "Saw your picture in the newspaper."

The doctor boasted with a wide smile on her face.

"I'm afraid that I am only a countryside veterinarian. So, I was wondering if you would consider teaching my children your medical skills and share your skills with them. Doctors are very rare to come by now a days." He explained eyeing her curiously.
"Of course Mr. Greene," she replied with a small smile.

"In fact, I'm preparing a medical journal in case anything were to happen to me, so my knowledge would not go a-waste."

Hershel was about to speak, he opened his mouth but instead the sound of a gunshot echoed the property.

Herschel instantly jumped to his feet. His face twisted into an angry expression, "Darn it, well I thought I said no guns."

He hissed with his teeth clenched picking up a rifle that was near his desk and rushing outside. His clan immediately came rushing outside from different parts of the house.

Sloane thought it was peculiar that there was only one gunshot. If there were walkers there would be chaos unleashing in the farmland. She made herself at home in Hershel's study. She walked over to his Bible and opened the last passage he had been reading: Apocalypse.

"Fitting," she mused to herself standing up and looking at the books on his bookshelves. There was one that caught her attention: The Case of the Missing Man.

It was then that she heard the door open, "Oh, Patricia," she said walking towards the main entrance. "I was wond-"
"Towels, sheets!" She said rushing past her.

"What?" She opened her mouth confused.

"Bring him into the bedroom, now. Get the doctors-" Hershel opened the door wide a look of panic on his features.
"Hershel what-"
In that moment Rick and Shane came in sprinting carrying a corpse. The body was covered in blood, soot and muck.
Sloane looked at the body. Her eyes went wide and her heart dropped. it was Daryl!

"He's lost a lot of blood!" said Shane.

He was unconscious. She stood there frozen in shock.
Was he- was he dead? His skin was pale and colorless and he wasn't moving.

"Gadsden!" She heard Hershel call. She followed him into the bedroom where Carl had once been.
They laid him on the bed where his head simply bobbed to the side. Hershel already had the medical kit ready.
"What happened?" She hissed as she inspected the body.
"He stumbled in like this. Thought he was a walker so Andrea shot him."

Sloane froze. Her shaking hands turned into clenched balls of fury. 'That stupid bitch!' a dark voice inside of her screeched.

She wasted no time in removing Daryl's shirt he had a deep perforation on his side. And the side of the head was rapidly bleeding out. She grabbed his head in her hands and analyzed the head wound it was but a lucky brush.

"He's loosing a lot of blood," Hershel said in urgency rushing for the blood transfusion kit. "But we don't know what type of blood he is-" Rick said trailing off.
"Do me," Sloane said automatically tossing her lab coat to the side.

"I'm O-, the international donor right?"

Both Rick and Hershel looked at her surprised.
"What? Surely you can't be serious." Rick said not believing this woman.
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."

A new voice interrupted as Jenner stepped into the room. Sloane fought back the urge to smile despite the surrounding chaos, "I like that movie," she said shaking her head.

"The head injury doesn't look too serious. However, it does seem like the arrow did indeed perforate an artery, " Edwin said washing his hands ready to assist the doctor in her surgery.
"It was a vein." The Gadsden corrected.
"It wasn't a circulatory collapse due to an aortic rupture. He'd be dead by now. I'm assuming he made it all the way to the camp before being shot by Andrea and collapsing."

Hershel began setting up the blood transfusion injecting the needle into her arm. She winced at the sting and regardless of the pain continued working.
"He is loosing a lot of blood, but thankfully it's not too serious." Jenner commented.
"It will be, if we don't take care of it." Gadsden replied as she began cleaning the wounds, Jenner at her side assisting her. Hershel helped her cover other wounds in his body. He watched closely how she cleaned and stitched the wounds carefully hoping to pick up a new skill or two.

As she was working stitching him, she couldn't help but notice the numerous amount of cuts and bruises that coated his body; many of them deep and sealed ages ago. She wondered for a moment just what type of life Daryl had had.

"How noble of you," Jenner said with a small grin as the blood began flowing to the man's body.
"I'm just doing my duty," she said rolling her eyes at him.
"I-I don't know if I should be impressed or worried," Rick said uneasily. Watching her work and donate her blood at the same time. It was impressive.

"Sloane, you gave a lot of blood to my son the other day. You really shouldn't."
"Tell me Rick. Is there another alternative?" she said wincing as the needle wiggled inside of her vein.

She was almost done, she explained to the group that the stitching she was doing was a "continuous stitch."
"And I will be reinforcing it with a… retention stitch," she said as her vision began to blur.

After about an hour or so of surgery he was finally sealed up and the bleeding had ceased. The doctor looked down at her bloodied hands, which were stained with his life. She took in a deep breath feeling her knees weakening she stumbled to the bed for support.

"Sloane. This is enough!" Rick finally snapped.
"Fine…Fine…" She mumbled and Hershel carefully removed the cataract from her and his body.

The surgery was finally over and it had been a success. She carefully stood next to the bed. She was weak and her body was wobbling from side to side. Rick looked at the female doctor's pale expression.

"Doctor, how do you feel?"

Sloane's vision became dark and spotty; she didn't even realize when she passed out.

A few hours later Daryl woke up. He instantly sat up and flinched at the aching pain in his abdomen. He noticed he was covered in bandages and that his torso and head were killing him.

"Don't move," Hershel said carefully.
"You lost a lot of blood," he began.

Daryl felt as if he was seeing two of everything. Now that he was conscious Rick asked him what had happened. He explained how he was getting closer to finding her. Today he had found Sophia's doll by the river, and the horse he had been riding got spooked and had tossed him off a cliff where he fell on one of his arrows.

Talk about luck, huh?

Hershel and Rick stepped out of the room the other doctor had been put to rest in a nearby sofa. Jenner remained in the room.
Rick began to argue with Shane.

"As I see it-" She heard Shane speak, "Daryl almost died for a doll today."

This wild goose chase had to stop. It had caused both the Quarry Group and Herschel way too many casualties.
Edwin realized that he was alone with the Dixon. If he wanted to manipulate the situation he had to play his cards right.

"You got real lucky Dixon," Jenner began in a friendly tone.
"If you hadn't been here on time you would have probably died of hypovolemic shock. Or- exsanguination in simpler terms."
"Luck?" Daryl scoffed feeling exhausted.
"I fell off a horse into a ditch where I became stabbed with my own arrow. I get to camp and I'm welcomed with a bullet to the head."
"Yes," Jenner agreed. "Dr. Gadsden stitched and cleaned you up. She also donated a good amount of blood at the same time. It was truly remarkable."
"Why?" He retorted confused.

He was nobody, why would she even bother?

"We don't know what your blood type is. She's an O- or the national donor so she willingly did it. She gave so much, passed out on Rick. She's been out longer than you." Jenner said raising his eyebrows signaling to the woman that was passed out in the old sofa that was in the same room.

Daryl turned and looked at her pale face and at the blood that stained her hands and arms up to her elbows.
His stomach churned uneasily, he wasn't sure of what to feel. The last he had known she didn't want to see any of his ass around. He was shocked at the fact that she had actually risked her life to save his. It sounded very unlike her.
He felt a sense of guilt wash over him.

A couple of moments later he turned on his side and returned to sleep. He jolted awake when he heard a large thud as if a large object fell on the wooden floor. He instantly jolted away flinching into a defensive position ready to kill whatever had awakened him. The sudden movement gave him a stabbing sensation on the side. He cursed and reached to hold his wound.

Groaning could be heard from the other side of the room and he suddenly saw the doctor laying facedown on the wooden floor.

"Gadsden?" He called sitting up.
"I'm.. O.K." She mumbled getting on all fours and finally standing up. "I'm just a little weak," she uttered rubbing her head as she made way to his bed.

She lifted one knee and sat on the edge of the bed leaning on it.

"I think what I hate the most about this life is that I always find myself covered in some soiling secretion," she said looking down at her arms.

"You risked your life for mine," Daryl said looking at her carefully.
"You shouldn't move too much or your stitches will tear and you will be at risk of infection. Understood?" She explained changing the conversation smoothly.
"Why?" He pressed, lifting one of his hands and placing it on her face, his thumb stroking the edge of the dry scar that decorated her cheek.

"I would've done it for anyone," she said leaning on his hand. Feeling absolutely exhausted.
"No ya wouldn't," he slowly leaned in and she sat still wondering what he was going to do. He gently pressed his lips on top of her head. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her down to lay down with him. She felt her heart hammering in her chest and her face burning. She felt so lightheaded.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said. 'For being such an ass?' she thought with slight amusement letting some air out of her nostrils in a huff.

"You're forgiven," she said sighing looking down as she pulled her feet up to the bed.

"I want you to know that I'm not the man you think I am," he confessed. His eyes trailed her face in an attempt to see any signs of hurt in her expression.

"Daryl."
"'I've always felt that the perception you have of yourself is an inadequate one," was what she felt like saying instead she simply patted his arm with the little energy she had "You're great."
"I really am sorry for what happened in the woods."
"If we are being honest right now, there is something you should know," she said sitting up.
"What happened in the woods…" She began taking in a deep breath. He saw her eyes begin to water and he sat up leaning on his elbows.

"I was married in another life, and I had a daughter." The tears began to spill.
"Her name was Lucy," she said wiping her tears with the back of her arm accidentally smearing the dried blood on her face.
"She was eaten by a tribe of Amazonian cannibals."

'Wait. What the fuck?'

He turned to look at her with wide eyes. 'Was she kidding? Did he hear right?' Her crying expression and twisted frown was proof that she wasn't.

"What?" he said blinking twice in the most humane tone he could muster.

"It's a long story… I was living in the Amazonian jungle with my ex-husband, who was an anthropologist. He was doing research on some un-contacted, uncivilized tribe and one day while I was in the nearby village working on the Zika case- I left Lucy with Ted and…" she stopped speaking and looked at her blood covered hands and face.
"Ah, I've made such a mess…" she said standing up mumbling a quiet "I'll be back."

Daryl still sat in the bed unsure if she was being honest.
Once she closed the door and she was gone- Daryl felt like he could finally breath. He exhaled and ran a hand though his hair. Part of him wanted to believe that she had been lying to him. However, the pain that was reflected in her eyes and the anguish in her face proved otherwise.

She stumbled to the hallway where she ran into Patricia. Who helped her to the restroom and in cleaning the blood off her face and arms.

"What happened darlin'?" She asked kindly.
"I was just reminiscing on old memories," she said sadly.


Later in the afternoon Sloane suddenly opened her eyes and she found herself half asleep sitting up on the bed. The room was spinning, and from outside the window she could see the orange gleam of the sun setting in the farmland.

She looked at Daryl who was sound asleep next so her and felt at peace knowing that no harm would come to either of them. Still woozy she stood up and approached the window gazing at the beautiful sunset. She didn't realize how long she had been there until she turned and saw his grey eyes burning into her with intensity.

"Don't think I was starring at you- I'm simply more comfortable facing this way," he excused himself turning his head the other way. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand before placing a kiss on top of his head.

"Watch the stitches" he flinched and turned the other way looking away from the woman.
"I'm going to bring you some lunch," she said with a smile before leaving the room.

She made her way outside where she stumbled upon Andrea and Dale sitting in the porch steps outside of the house. Andrea's face was twisted in a frown of concern and anxiety.

Out of the sudden the doctor felt the wooziness and peace leave her. It was instead replaced with anxiety and fury, which boiled in the pits of the stomach.

"You," Sloane hissed through gritted teeth. If looks could kill…
"You shouldn't be allowed to even look at a damn gun!" She exclaimed in rage stomping over to the woman.

Andrea jumped to her feet in her defense.

"Do you think it was my intention to hurt him? I didn't know it was him!" She shouted back.

Her jaw was clenched and eyes a blaze, her mind racing.
When out of the blue the doctor froze. She stood frozen and looked at the blonde before her with wide blazing eyes. Andrea and Dale where shocked when Sloane started laughing. She burst out cackling like a witch her throat laugh echoing the farm.

Dale's eyes glowed in fear.
Andrea looked at her in shock, lowering her defens
e.
"You are-" Andrea didn't manage to finish her sentence. In a flash she was laying facedown on the floor. Gadsden held her clenched fist in her other hand. Dale rushes to her side immediately.

"You make me nauseous," she began. "You almost killed Daryl…" She muttered to herself.
"And even worse- if that was a walker you still wouldn't have been able to kill it!" she continued laughing cruelly, leaning against the porch pole.

"You're insane!" Andrea shouted, holding her face still with disbelief.

A nasty scowl returned to her face.
"You've been warned. You too old man-" she sneered at Dale.
"No offense, but biology and the odds aren't in your favor. If I were you I'd spend my time more wisely than for caring for this ridiculous twat," she spat out venomously before stalking back to the main campgrounds leaving both Andrea and Dale completely speechless.

As soon as she was gone Andrea instantly ran inside of the house to Daryl's room. She slapped the door open, jolting him awake from his recovery nap.

"Daryl!" She screeched.
"If this is you apologizing-" He began.
"I'm sorry." She shouted holding onto her hurt cheek, "I am very, very sorry for shooting you in the head- but more importantly. Stay away from that-that monster!" She shouted.
"Sloane Gadsden is the real monster! And- I can't understand why she is so fixated on you. Be careful. And stay away from her!" She shouted.

What had just happened?

Meanwhile outside Sloane approached Rick who was currently engaged in serious conversation with Shane.

"Rick, we have to talk," she began interrupting the conversation. She wobbled as she stood in the middle of the field on the verge of fainting. Her stomach still churning in indignation.

"This madness- the guns, it has to be taken under control!" She exclaimed.
"That is exactly what we were talking about," Rick said turning to her. She sighed relieved.
"We start gun training tomorrow," he continued.
"What?!" she hissed. "But Rick- training times, time, energy, ammo! Where are we supposed the get ammo from?!" she challenged back feeling weaker, it was then that she collapsed falling forward only in time for Shane to catch her.
"Ah.." She said weakly.
"I-I think I need some food-something with sugar," she said with her head bobbing to the side.
"I'll take her back inside for the dinner," Shane said quickly as he squeezed her arm tightly. Sloane flinched her eyes towards him as they began walking back to the house dusk setting around them as they walked.

"How kind of you to offer to walk me Shane," she whispered to him still not taking her eyes off the house.
"
You think I can't see you scheming with that, suicidal doctor, Jenner?"
"Are we that obvious?" She retorted sarcastically.
"Neither you Jenner or Dixon are well-liked around the camp. So thread carefully," he warned once again squeezing her arm with his meat hook grip.

As soon as they entered the house Shane plopped Sloane in one of the living room sofas where she rubbed her temples feeling extremely weak. It was then that Jaqui sat next to her and brought her a slice of bread and a glass of water.

"Bless your soul Jaqui," she said as she stuffed her mouthful of the bread and gulped the water to quench her thirst.
"You look so pale. Are you O.K?" She said pressing a hand to the other woman's forehead. "I'm alright," she breathed.
"Gave a lot of blood today, I'm just weak," she said leaning her head back towards the couch pillow. Jaqui praised her and patted her hand carefully comforting the weak girl.

"And Kaiser?" she suddenly asked.
"He's outside, Hershel doesn't want him around the food when we are eating," she explained briefly.

It was only a couple of minutes later that the tables had been set and everyone gathered to have dinner.

Much to her dismay, Sloane was seated next to Lori and she didn't mind sitting next to Edwin. The doctor noted that Lori inched away from her and had a sallow expression and kept on looking down at her empty plate. From the looks of it, it looked like something was bothering her, not that Sloane cared enough she simply ignored her.

"How's the redneck doin'?" he said in a whisper leaning over to the side. "We'll talk later," she hissed back.
"People think we are up to- no good." She said flatly.
"So-" she simply kicked him from under the table.

Maggie, Hershel's daughter started serving everyone the food when Carol stood up, "I'm going to take a plate for Daryl, he must be hungry," she said in a considerate manner.
"Doctor," she said meekly.
"Please come with me so you can check on him. Please?" She said curtly. With a tight lipped smile Sloane stood up excusing herself from the table, following Carol to the bedroom.

Daryl was awake, the lights in his room were dim and he had his glare focused on the vintage flower pattern on the wall.
'As if it was so interesting,' thought Sloane with a smirk.
Carol approached him and set his dinner on the small table next to his bed.

"Thank you so much," she said kindly.
"You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did for her in his whole life," Carol said feeling heartfelt reaching for his hand.

He shrugged her hand off his.

"I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done," he brushed off the compliment.
"I know," Carol added.
"You're every bit as good as them," she finished with a small smile.
"You can take a look at him now doctor," With that Carol excited the room in a rushed matter.

Daryl noted that Sloane had a sly smirk plastered on her face as she observed the scene before her.
'What the hell are you smirking at?' Daryl thought to himself.

"Well," she approached him in a teasing tone.
"It looks like you've got a fan girl," she said more to herself chuckling.
"Don't be jealous," he retorted with a hint of humor.

She couldn't help but laugh. She pulled out a statoscope that Herschel kept around.

"How do you feel?" she said sitting next to him in bed. She ran a hand through his short hair ready to clean his head bandages.
"I'm fine woman. Leave me alone," he grumbled crossing his arms over his chest annoyed. Distancing himself from her.

She sighed. 'That's Daryl for you… the moment he feels vulnerable he shuts down.'

"Daryl, I'm not leaving until I'm through with your analysis. You don't have to be afraid of the doctor. "Doctors are your friends"" she chuckling lightly.

"Aren't the people at the table waiting for you? Don't you have to eat?" he said looking around nervously..?

"Nonsense," she replied patching up his head.
"And yes-I am very hungry, but I will not eat until my I know my favorite patient is doing O.K. So let's start all over- How do you feel?" She asked as patiently as she could.

"I feel fine!" he snapped feeling more and more aggravated by the second.

"Any pain?" She continued asking as she removed the blanket from his chest.

"Yes- my entire damn body!" he complained.

Sloane nodded seriously. She noticed the many scars that were marked all over his body.

"On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is your pain 1 feeling nothing and 10 being-"

"Sloane." He snapped, "I'm fine really." He said through gritted teeth. 'Jesus H. Christ why was he being so hostile out of the sudden?' She did the best she could to ignore his thoughtless behavior.

"I still have to change your bandages," she said slowly removing the bandages from his muscular torso. He avoided eye contact as she did. His stitches remained fine. She noted the way he would attempt to cover himself and this many scars. He was praying that she didn't bring them up.

"I take pride in my stitching, odds of them tearing are slim. Unless you go and do something stupid," she huffed. "Which you better not," she warned.

He didn't say anything. Just kept his eyes fixed on the wall.
She continued and felt his pulse, which was a little high for the normal rate.

"Your pulse is a little higher than normal so-" It was then that his hand flinched upward and held her face in her place. Both of his eyebrows were burrowed in emotion and his lips in a straight line. Sloane grabbed his arm tightly pulling her head away.

"Daryl." She warned with hard eyes.
"I don't know why you are upset and I do not pretend to know-"
She didn't finish her sentence. She shut her eyes tightly as his hands reached for her face. He smashed his lips against hers interrupting her.

Sloane was speechless.

'What? What did this mean? What was he thinking? Why did he kiss me after being so aggressive? Was he playing games with her head?' She wondered if she had imagined the entire scene.
'Did this mean they were… a thing?' she felt her head spinning. He let her go and she looked at him shocked. Her eyes were darting all over his face seeking for any sign of what emotion he was feeling or a clear explanation. Her breathing was ragged, her heart jumping at her throat. She stepped away cautiously. Her face a bright shade of scarlet.

"Sloane! Sloane!" He said leaning over his bed.

Thud! She had fainted.