Daryl was sitting at the bar, sipping on the same drink he ordered over an hour ago. Some guys from work were there, and their girlfriends. But most of them weren't at the bar, they were dancing with their girls. But he knew that Charlotte knew he wasn't that guy; He couldn't just take her and dance with her and public. That wasn't who he was. He would dance with her alone just fine at their apartment just fine. But she knew that and it was okay with her. She just danced with some girlfriends and got tipsy.

They were at Jacks, the skeezy bar of town. They had an 18 plus night on Saturdays, but tonight was Friday so there was no highschoolers there getting taken advantage of by the older guys, or trying to get drinks from the older pretty girls. Fridays were a calm night, they were the undesignated night for the workers like Daryl and his friends.

He glanced over toward the dance area; some girls were looking at Charlotte's hand and her new ring. "It goes all down hill from here." Daryl looked back to find Scotty, a guy from work. He was already drunk.

"Yeah, ya' already told me that an hour ago." Daryl said, not in a mood to amuse the work clown.

Scotty started to laugh, Daryl wasn't sure why. He looked back to see some guy talking to Charlotte. It was one of the things he got used to; people were drawn to her, especially ones at skeezy bars. He got to the point where he didn't charge in every time, Charlotte could handle herself. Once he got to that point, he just sat back and watched her cut them down, she didn't entertain or teased them.

But then he grabbed her wrist, probably wanted to dance, but she recoiled away from him. Daryl was already up and walking across the bar. Charlotte saw him and watched her sigh. He didn't care, because he drew the line somewhere.

Charlotte was eased down onto the bed, she could barely make out Daryl shouting. "Would you calm down?" she said as loud as she could, but her head was pounding and her vision was getting white around the edges, threatening to swallow her up. "Daryl."

"What the fuck happened out there?" good question. Charlotte looked to Rick.

"We had a problem. There was a shoot out. She was in the line of fire." Oh yeah, she was shot. By that fat asshole. "We ran into another group of people, and it got out of hand. We took care of them until more trouble showed up. She passed out."

"Who the fuck is that kid?" Daryl asked, gesturing to the wall, presumably to someone on the other side.

"They left him behind. He got impaled, right through his leg. We couldn't leave him?"

Charlotte could only remember everything in bits and pieces, she remembered getting out of the bar, the kids face, and making it into the car. The migraine was blocking everything out. "Where is that old man, why isn't he stitching her up?"

"He's hurt worse a lot more then me." Charlotte spoke up. "I'm fine…"

"You got shot." Daryl snapped.

"In the leg. My head hurts worse then my fucking leg." He ran out of the room, without a word. She was ready to scream at him, whether or not her head was threating to end her. When he came back he sat next to her on the bed, pulling out a ziplock bag full of prescription bottles.

"Take these." He said, holding out two pills. "Muscle relaxers, they'll get rid of the headache and knock you out for a while." She sighed, grabbing his face. He made eye contact with her and his look shattered her; He looked scared. She always knew things were okay if he wasn't worried, but when her husband was worried over something, it put fear in her.

"Thank you." She said. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Just take 'em." He grumbled. She did, gladly. Anything to get rid of the pain in her head.

It took ten minutes for Charlotte to pass out. Daryl stood up, running a hand through his hair. He looked to Rick. There was no doubt he blamed him for everything. "If I had it my way she wouldn't have come out." Rick said, knowing by the look Daryl had what the man was thinking. "She came out to us, I had no knowledge until she got there. I brought her back alive."

"Why isn't he in here working on her?" Daryl asked again.

Rick walked over to Charlotte's side. "His situation is a little more life threatening." Daryl walked over and started to unbutton her pants. He paused, looking at Rick.

"Ya' mind?" he asked aggressively. Rick turned his back to them and Daryl pulled her pants down past her thigh, examining her leg. It looked pretty gnarly. He rolled her onto her side to look at the back. "Lucky for ya'll it went straight through her. We just gotta get her stitched up."

"I'll do it." Maggie said, grabbing some alcohol. "How knocked out is she?"

"One pill will put you out hard for a good couple of hours. I'd say she's good." Daryl answered. "Won't feel it as much otherwise." Then he glanced to Rick. "Ya' can go check on that kid ya' brought home with ya'." Rick took the hint, ducking his head and exiting the room. Maggie rubbed the alcohol into her wound. "That didn't wake her."

"This just might." Maggie said as soon as she began to thread into the needle. She looked scared as she glanced at Daryl.

"Ya've done this before haven't ya?" he asked.

She paused. "I know how to do it." Before Daryl could suggest waiting for Hershel, but then they heard screams from the other room, figuring they wouldn't be done for a while. How hard could stitches be?

Daryl braced her leg as Maggie began to tear into the skin. It took a couple of seconds for Charlotte to come through, she looked at them with an amuzed, glazed look. "What are you doing?"

"Sitichin' you up." Daryl answered.

She laughed. "It hurts."

Daryl smirked, still suppressing her leg down. "Yer fine, just lay back, it'll be done soon." Charlotte laid her head down but continued to stare at her husband; she was gone mentally.

"I'm sorry Daryl." She said, smiling yet.

"Fer what?" he asked.

"The baby." She said. Daryl glanced at Maggie, who averted her eyes away from him.

"It's okay."

"I'm so sorry. I couldn't handle the stress. I feel awful-"

"Babe-

"And you are just doing fine. You don't even care."

"I never said I was fine." He said quietly. "Lay back and relax." Charlotte looked at him briefly before closing her eyes. Daryl stared at Maggie; she wouldn't look at him. Once Charlotte was stitched he stood up. "Ya' can leave, I got it."

She stood up as well and stared at him with wide eyes. "Daryl-"

"I said I got it." He dismissed. She blinked a few times before ducking her head down, walking out of the room. His eyes followed as she left. When the door closed he sat on the chair next to the bed.

Pain was the first thing that hit her.

Charlotte opened her eyes and grabbed at her leg, it was sore. Then she noticed she was in her underwear. "Ya' up?" she looked to find her husband.

She squinted at him. "I feel like shit." She propped up against the bed frame, running a hand through her hair. "What the hell, I feel like I got hit by a train."

Daryl sat next to her on the bed, pulling her into his chest. "I remember I was gon' take you to the cost before all this." Charlotte tried to maneuver her head to look up at him. "I jus' wanted to get ya' out of Georgia; To California or somethin' cause I knew ya' wanted to be by the ocean. Out of that shitty town that did nothing for us. Other than ya', I had no good memories from there. I didn't want my kids to grow up in a place I hated." Charlotte didn't know what to say; he didn't say much, especially like this. "And I was excited for the baby; I would stay up and kiss your stomach. And I didn't think that would be gone. Or that it would make me feel nearly empty." He rubbed his hand up and down her back, clearing his throat. "I was an asshole to ya' and I'm sorry. I didn't know how to control it or make it stop."

Charlotte had no words to stay; if she did they were locked up inside her. She felt completely empty. "Earlier you said I was fine, and I'm not. I wanted to give you everything, to move, to have a little girl. I wanted to give ya' both a life we didn't get. But now…. Now I can't. I couldn't handle it if I had to worry about you both as much as I have to worry about you. We found each other but I still could lose ya' any time."

"I love you." Was all she could say.

"I love you Charlotte."

She fell back asleep. Daryl left the room and passed Maggie. "I'm bringing some food to her."

"She's sleeping." He said, slipping past her.

"Daryl-"

"Leave it be." He muttered to her, not bothering to look at her. It was none of her business. He went down the stairs and found Rick and Shane. "What's the deal with the kid ya'll brought back with ya?"

Rick inhaled, hands resting at his waist. "We patch him out and drop him off to go somewhere to fend for himself. Give him some supplies." Shane laughed, a sarcastic one, shaking his head and pacing on his feet.

"So ya' get shot at and ya' rescue one of the assholes?" Daryl asked.

"Couldn't agree more." Shane said.

"Daryl is a little biased." Rick snapped to Shane, clearly they were arguing before Daryl got down there.

"Damn right I'm biased; my girls upstairs recovering from a shot thanks to those pricks." Daryl raised his voice. He couldn't grasp why they didn't just leave the kid for whatever reason.

"And what if he goes back and tells them where we are?" Shane asked. "Then we have them all rolling through here lookin' for revenge."

"What if he's with Crawford?" Daryl asked Rick in a low voice.

Rick sighed and looked at Shane, who was confused. "What's Crawford?" Daryl swore; Shane didn't know about Crawford. No one answered. "What the hell is Crawford?"

Before they could answer, Maggie came back through. "My dad looked at her, said she was lucky. She can try walkin' tomorrow."

"How about the kid?" Rick asked.

"Dad said if ya'll are sendin' him off, he's good to go tomorrow." She answered, staring at Daryl. Daryl stared back with a look that said, Don't bring it up. Rick looked between the two, confused at the tension. Shane was shaking his head, leaving the room. "Are ya' sendin' him out?"

"18 miles out, he's gone tomorrow. We'll give him a knife, some water."

"I want to go up there and beat the shit out a' him." Daryl bit, glaring at Rick before walking out.

The next morning, Maggie helped Charlotte stand. It was shaky at first, but she could make it around. "How do ya' feel?" Maggie asked.

"Weak, but my leg feels fine." It was a half-truth. She stood by the window. "So what are they doing with Randall?"

"Rick and Shane are taking him 18 miles out, with water and a knife and sendin' him off." Maggie answere passively.

"He doesn't stand a chance out there by himself." Charlotte wouldn't wish that on anyone; who knows how long it would be until Randall found people, and that's assuming they'd take him in. He would be alone, might as well been the last person on earth.

"I remind ya' that him and his friends got ya' shot." Maggie laughed. Charlotte looked at her and smiled. Maggie's smile dropped and looked to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked.

"Glen said he froze at the shootout- because of me." She said. "Like it was my fault cause he cared about me. How it changed how he did things."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Charlotte asked. "He's being causious."

"According to him it's not." She said, a sad look dawning on her face. "He seems to think that's a bad thing. It's cause I told him I love him."

"Men are complicated. Blaming their feelings on us because they can't handle it." Charlotte said lightly. "Give him time, he's gonna' man up. It ain't hard to see he loves you too."

Maggie smiled a little bit. "Ya' think Daryl is more cautious since he has you?"

Charlotte snorted. "Me and Daryl are a special case." The girls laughed. "It's hard to say for sure, we've just always been there. Don't have anything to compare it to with me not being here."

"He's a good man. Easier to see that with you around."

Charlotte smiled and then the door opened. "Glad to see yer walkin'." She grinned wider at Daryl. Maggie excused herself and once she was out of the room Daryl wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers. She held his waist and laid her head against his chest. "We gotta' talk about ya' running off."

"What about it?" she mumbled.

"It's gonna' stop. It's gotta', before ya' give me a god damn heart attack." She hummed a little, understanding where he was coming from.

"Then we both would have to stop." She said, straining her head to look up at him. "And we both know it won't happen."

"Compromise." He said.

She laughed. "How? We are stubborn people Daryl and that's what we do; we run off and get into trouble."

For a moment he was quiet. "Sometimes I wish ya'd be like Lori and stay here and do laundry and shit. But I guess I married ya' because ya' weren't like that."

"I promise to keep you in mind before I run off." She promised.

"That don't rest my mind." She kissed his chin. "Jus' take it easy for a bit, please? We'll come back to this later."

"I can do that." He kissed her on the lips. After a moment he deepened the kiss, pushing her toward the bed. He laid her on it gently, crawling on top of her and supporting himself by the elbows. She tugged at the hem of his shirt, encouraging him to take it off. He broke the kiss to pull it over his head. He came back down to unbutton her shirt from top to bottom. He kissed her collarbone, down her sternum, pausing at her stomach while she squirmed at the sensation. He began to unbutton her pants and suck on her hip bone until he froze.

"What is it?" she asked, frustrated. She had been waiting for this. They married couple hadn't had time to exactly get intimate lately.

He sat up. "They're back, I hear the car. They left to get rid of the kid a couple of hours ago." She silently cursed his good hearing as he stood up and looked out the window. She propped up on her elbows and stared at his bare back, scars from his childhood large an obvious. He had long stop being embarrassed by them, at first he had been self-conscious about them. But they had gotten past that point a long time ago. He'd lay on his back and she'd trace her fingers over them and kiss down his back. "Son' bitch." He swore.

"What is it?"

"They have the kid with him and he's in the god damn front seat."

AN: Thanks for all the lovely reviews guys :) leave some more please? You guys are so great. Tell me what you think, what you want to see.