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Julie's induction into the group was not going to be smooth, that had always been obvious. But it became even more so as Glenn and Maggie pouted in the back seat of the focus like a couple of teenagers who had just found out their parents were chaperoning their school's prom. Once they had informed Rick they would be scavenging materials from Woodbury, he had insisted they take the suspicious couple with them. When all four of them had protested, Hershel had stepped in and ordered his eldest daughter to go. That had settled it.

Julie was riding shot gun, right foot kicked up on the dash while Daryl drove one handed down the road. Julie was absently fiddling with a knife she had packed with her as she mentally took stock of Woodbury. She rolled her head to look at Daryl. "We'll, jump the gate, leave the car, clear it and then we can all hole up for the night."

Daryl kept his eyes on the road as he spoke. "Been thinking that place we met the governor would be a good place to get some lumber, too."

"Be good for building an actual barn maybe," she mused to herself. "There's a gazebo in the town, too. It's whitewashed, but it would do. Carol suggested making a sitting area for everyone to eat at outside. Said people are getting tired of sitting inside all day."

"Sounds like you."

She gave him a bored look. "Daryl, what would make you say that? I for one welcome living the life of a felon." He scoffed at her, but didn't say anything. "What about tools? I'm sure we'll find a lot in Woodbury, but will we find everything we need? We need to weld the sheet metal."

Daryl shrugged. "I'll worry about it. Might be able to find something when I go out scouting later."

"Oh yeah, I'm still on probation," she muttered aloud, "wonder how long that's gonna last."

"Until you quit being such a mouthy bitch," Daryl replied almost immediately. She turned to look at him, only to find he was giving her one of his unreadable looks while he gnawed on his thumb. When he pulled the newly mangled digit away, there was the ghost of a smile threatening to breakthrough. She punched him hard in the shoulder. "Get bit, Dixon."

"Why exactly are we staying there overnight," Glenn interrupted, sounding every bit as put out as he looked. Daryl glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He could practically hear Julie rolling her eyes beside him. "Because this is gonna take a lot of work and we can't be travelling back tired or we could risk getting ourselves killed."

"This is going to be an all day job," Julie put in. "We have to get in, clear it, and then start working on getting everything collected. Moving all that sheet metal isn't going to be easy. It's definitely going to go faster with the two of you here, but that's not going to make it a piece of cake. Besides, there's plenty of places to set up camp. Chances are, even if a few Roamers got in, there's a million places they could be hiding. It's a four block radius and it'd be best if we cleared it before we settled anywhere for the night. That way, if more get in during the night, we won't have as many to deal with the next day."

"Sure we got the fuel for that thing," Daryl asked. Julie nodded. "Oh yeah. I packed enough for it and this car. I covered all the bases. I double and triple checked."

Daryl simply nodded to himself and continued to watch the road. Maggie shifted in her seat and cleared her throat, causing him to study the couple in the backseat. Glenn looked tired. Maggie looked frustrated. He looked to his right. Julie was picking at the ends of her hair with a level of concentration that looked almost painful. She frowned after a moment and tossed them over her shoulder. Daryl thought she had pretty hair. That random thought shocked him and he looked away quickly to chew on his thumb as he watched the road and refused for the duration of the car ride to look away from the asphalt.

Once they reached their destination, Julie hopped out of the car and jogged up to the gold Taurus blocking the abandoned town's gate. She had just climbed onto the roof of the car and was getting ready to pull out her length of rope when Daryl whistled to her. All action came to a halt.

"That's a car," Maggie hissed. Daryl gestured for them all hide on the side of the road behind a burnt out car. Julie was just slipping of the side of the gold four-door when the car came into view. "Shit," she hissed, pulling a revolver out of her waistband and leveling it on the windshield. The car slowed down significantly and Julie scrutinized it. It was a well-maintained Charger. It gleamed in the mid-afternoon sun as it approached. It came to a halt abruptly in front of her and Julie kept her eyes locked on the driver side of the vehicle as the engine cut off and the door flung open. She raised an eyebrow when a teenage boy emerged, hands up in the air. She watched him warily as he stepped around the door and they had what Julie thought had to be one of the most awkward stare downs ever. "You alone," she asked finally.

He nodded. "I was with some people, but they didn't make it. I had to ditch the place we were at quick."

"How many Roamers have you killed?"

"What," he asked, blinking in confusion. She pulled the hammer back on the revolver. "How many have you killed?"

"Thirty this month maybe."

"How many people have you killed?"

"Two."

"Why?"

He looked away from her for a second. "My parents. They got bit early on. My sister. I woulda shot her, too, if anything was left."

She uncocked her gun but continued to hold it pointed at him. "Alright, you're free to get back in your car and leave."

"Leave," he asked incredulously, "And go where? You're the first person I've seen in two months. And those fucking things are everywhere back there."

"You heard the lady," Daryl said as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The boy jumped in shock and his breathing became labored for a second. Daryl had his crossbow aimed at the boy's head, but he didn't seem to notice. He was more concerned with breathing at the moment. He had put his hands down and was bent over, hands resting on his knees. "So what are you two? Like, Lara Croft and Bear Grylls or something?"

The absurdity of his question struck some part of Julie in a way that had her suddenly lowering her gun as she threw her head back and laughed uncontrollably. "What's your name, kid?"

"Zach," he heaved as he stuck his hand out. She reached forward and took his hand. "Julie."

"Hey, we don't know him." Julie rolled her eyes at her suspicious companion. "Oh, shut up, Daryl. We're nowhere near home." She looked around his bulky frame toward the burnt out car. "Are you coming out or not?"

Maggie was the first to stand and reholster her gun. Glenn followed at a more sedate pace. Daryl stepped into her line of sight again. "We can't just take him back with us."

Julie watched as Maggie and Glenn searched his car and frisked him for any weapons. Maggie called out "He's clear" when they were through. And Julie looked up at Daryl in triumph. "See, he's harmless. Besides, he's an able-bodied individual."

"Fine, whatever," he muttered in resignation, sounding none too thrilled. "But you're in charge of him until we get back."

"Yessir, Mr. Dixon, Sir," she said with a mock salute, causing Daryl to scowl as he pushed past her roughly. Julie turned back to Zach with a smile. "Okay, so, we don't live here, but um, we're going to be spending the night here. We're here to scavenge scrap metal and some other things for our actual camp. Anything of value you have, bring inside. We're leaving the cars out here. Make sure to bring your keys. We'll siphon the gas out of them once we've got everything inside."

"Why siphon the gas?"

"They can still be hotwired," she explained as she climbed up on the Taurus again, taking Daryl's offered hand as he pulled her up beside him. "I have to go open the gate."

She pulled out her rope with the grappling hook tied on the end and slung it over the gate with practiced ease. "Were you a cat burglar before?"

Julie chuckled as she answered his question. "No."

"International spy?"

"Just go," Daryl snapped in his perpetually irritated state. Julie frowned at his snappy order. "Do you have to ruin every good mood I'm in? Seriously?"

Daryl continued to stare her down stormily and she glowered at him. "I'm gonna start calling you Daryl Downer."

"You do and I'll put a bolt between your eyes," he snapped viciously. Her frown of disappointment deepened. "Daryl Downer."

Maggie covered her stifled giggling with a cough and Glenn patted her back as he looked away from them.

Julie was up the rope and on the edge of the gate in moments. Daryl quickly followed and then they climbed down the other side. Soon, there was a loud squeal as the gate slowly drew back and the trio that had been waiting outside Woodbury scrambled into the gate, piling their belongings just inside.

Daryl and Glenn shut the gate, and Julie frowned at herself when she realized she'd looked up in order to watch the way Daryl's muscles flexed as the solid sheet of metal was pushed back in place. She didn't like the way it made her stomach feel like someone had lit a fire there that was slowly scorching her from the inside out. Daryl happened to catch her gaze and she couldn't stop herself from snarling defensively.

Their new companion whistled low as he took in their surroundings. "This is nice. Why don't you just move in here?"

Julie turned to him, grateful for the distraction even though she was still picturing Daryl's arms bulging in all the right places, covered in a light sheen of sweat as usual. She shook her head to rid herself of the image. "Bad memories about this place for a lot of us."

"You two," Glenn asked, though Zach didn't seem to pick up on the dig. She pursed her lips as she watched him stalk past her toward his wife, who looked just as friendly at the topic that had been broached. Julie sighed and crouched to open her bag at her feet. "You know how to use a gun? And I mean this in an 'are you a decent shot' sorta way."

He shrugged. "I can hit a target."

"That's not exactly comforting," she sighed out, handing him a knife instead of her extra revolver. "You stay behind me, then. We've got to clear the place before we do anything."

"We'll take the left side," Maggie said, leaving no room for arguments. The trio watched the pair go in silence as they turned toward the first building. It was the one building that had always given Julie a severe bout of anxiety. It was basically the community center of Woodbury where almost all social gatherings were held and it had always been packed with people. There'd been some kind of dance there at one point. While Merle had been forced to chaperone and she to attend by Dr. Stevens ("it'll be good for her to socialize"), it had been disastrous. Merle had spent over and hour and a half stationed outside a stall in the woman's bathroom with Karen while she cried inconsolably with her hands clapped over her ears. When Karen had been unable to coax her to come out, Merle had finally kicked the stall door in and carried her out bridal style, muttering about how that "quack of doctor" had fucked up her head again. The governor had watched them go with a shrewd intensity that had put her further on edge. She and Merle played checkers until sun-up that night.

The community center was deathly silent now, but she could still hear the whispered activities of civilization that had once bustled around the front of the building. Inside, the main room was completely bare save for several folding chairs that were strewn about haphazardly. Daryl pulled a mini-flashlight out of his pocket and flicked it on, casting the small beam around the room in search of any of the living dead that might be lurking in the shadows. The three made their way to the far end in silence, and Daryl sent her a look as he gestured toward the bathrooms by flicking the light from the flashlight in their direction. She nodded and they both approached the bathrooms in unison.

"Ladies first," Daryl murmured dryly as he nodded at the door. She gave him a look of her own and replied smugly, "Age before beauty, Dixon."

Daryl blew out a puff of air in indignation and nudged the door open. Julie slid in in front of him, gun drawn and aimed ahead. Daryl rapped on the metal door loudly and the pair stood in tense silence as they waited. When they were met with no signs of life, they both moved forward more relaxed manner. Daryl began nudging the stalls open with the tip of his crossbow one by one and Julie took the opportunity to raid each stall of toilet paper.

"Guys, you done in there," Zach called from just outside the doorway, "this place is creeping me out big time."

Daryl gave her a pointed look and rolled his eyes before he stalked out of the bathroom. Julie shook her head when she heard him kick open the bathroom door to the men's bathroom loudly. She outright cringed when the door swung back and slammed into the wall with a thud that echoed through the hall. Julie stalked out of the women's bathroom to find Daryl hovering in the doorway to the men's bathroom across from her as he lazily stared down the teenager who was regarding him with open fear. She raised an eyebrow at him in annoyance and he shrugged nonchalantly, his arm propped up against the doorway. "It's clear."

"Ugh," she groaned out in disgust as she turned away and pushed past the pair, stepping out into the open space of the hall. She didn't wait for either of them as she left and jogged off to put the toilet paper with the rest of their things. Toilet paper was always a welcome luxury back at the prison. When she turned back around, Zach was standing as far away from Daryl as possible and the gruff hunter was standing next to a defunct streetlight casually puffing on a nearly burnt out cigarette as he waited patiently. Julie stalked up to him, feeling suddenly irate with him for his disinterest in her and their surroundings and what she suspected to be life in general. And the sharp contrast of his dark figure against the light back drop of the whitewashed community center was disconcerting. There was something about it that seemed threatening. As she made her way over to him, her long strides full of purpose, his sharp eyes trailed over her in a way that nearly caused her to stumble. She halted abruptly before him, wanting to spit venom, but too confused to say anything. Instead, her mounting confusion gave way to a tidal wave of fury.

Daryl responded to her visible ire with a clearly discernable twinkle in his eyes as he held out the barely there stub of a cigarette toward her. When she continued to glare, he waved it before her once. "Last puff."

Panic swept through her as she felt her entire body begin to flush and one corner of his mouth twitched upward. Julie snatched the smoke from his hand as quickly as possible, took the miniscule drag left and then crushed it beneath her foot before she started to stalk toward the next building, her entire back itching as she felt Daryl's blue eyes burn into her from behind.

"You would be my hero," Zach said, addressing Daryl and breaking the intense silence, "if you weren't so scary."

Daryl didn't know what to say to the strange declaration and blinked at the boy who was looking at him in solemn admiration. Zach nodded at him. "That was fucking smooth."

He bristled at that, and shifted back and forth. "Let's just get this over with." He took off before Zach could say another word. He didn't want to hear anymore useless chatter and he wanted to ignore how amused he had been at Julie's random fit of rage.

Their second building to clear was a set of interconnected shops which had large heavy curtains hanging in the plate glass windows. They had obviously been used as housing. Daryl pushed open the door and walked in without so much as lifting his crossbow. Julie was strolling around the room. It had been set up as a sort of sitting room or den and she trailed one hand over the back of a well-worn red couch as she studied knickknacks sitting in a glass display counter across from it. Zach acknowledged their relaxed demeanors by throwing himself on the couch, stretching out and putting his hands behind his head.

Julie lightly smacked him in the back of the head with a level of familiarity that Daryl found unsettling and he suddenly found himself standing next to her as she rounded the display case to pop it open. Zach just watched him in detached amusement. The blonde was squatting on the floor next to him her nimble fingers opened the mirrored patrician and she pulled out an iPod and headphones along with several hair clips. Daryl wrinkled his nose as he watched her shove the pilfered items in her bag and then the three were off again, clearing the rest of their side without a single walker sighting.

Maggie and Glenn were not as lucky. They all met up in the middle of the street and Maggie was wiping walker guts from her arms as she neared them. She didn't look disgusted so much as annoyed. "We found three."

"Looks like you two picked the winning side," Daryl said as he hefted his crossbow back onto his shoulder. "Find any good places to hide out for the night? Might as well set up a camp now before we get to working."

Julie's stomach dropped when she saw the building Glenn pointed to, but only Zach seemed to notice the way she paled and he expression became slightly panicked. She followed slowly after them, keeping behind the small group and keeping her eyes focused on the cracked sidewalk beneath her feet. It didn't help that she could remember the last time she'd walked down the very same sidewalk with Merle. He'd put his arm around her shoulder in a way that had made her heart pound in her ears but now made her insides scream in pain.

The cold pit in her stomach grew with each floor they climbed and once they reached the landing on the third one, she broke from the group and stopped in front of the door that she had once walked through several times a day. She hesitated for a moment to reach for the door knob, unaware of the others as they watched her with expressions ranging from irritation to nervous understanding. She kicked the door open roughly and fell back a step, floored at the way it still managed to smell like him. She tucked the gun back into the waistband on her jean shorts and crept into the apartment, where she reached for the island counter for immediate support.

Julie could see Daryl hovering in the open doorway, watching her with that searching gaze of his when he knew she was experiencing something too painful for words. After all this time, he still had trouble understanding just how much of a connection she had had to Merle because he had struggled to maintain one of his own with him.

Merle's outdated magazines were still strewn across the coffee table while her coloring book sat opened in front of the couch with the contents of her battered pencil box full of crayons spread out around it. She back-pedaled toward the kitchen and pulled a half-drained bottle of Jack from one of the cupboards surprising everyone but Daryl, whose face had darkened considerably at the implications of her familiarity. They had crowded into the open room, still a tight group on the alert as they watched the blonde unscrew the top on the bottle of whiskey and then chug several mouthfuls until it was running down her chin and the long line of her throat. She wiped the back of her hand and forearm over her mouth and let out a long sigh that sounded a little ragged.

"I need some air," she managed to get out before she bolted out of the apartment and out of the building altogether. She burst through the door and onto the sidewalk, where she collapsed on the curb, the nearly drained bottle of alcohol dangling from her fingers by the neck. She pressed the heel of her left hand against her forehead and shook her head. "Shit, Merle," she breathed out, chuckling in disbelief, "Shit."

The door to the building opened and closed behind her and her body tensed at the unwelcome intrusion. Maggie settled on the curb next to her.

"The hell do you want?" Julie couldn't help herself from snapping in such a venomous voice, Maggie had always been less than thrilled with her presence and the feeling had always been more than mutual since the eldest Greene daughter was one of Merle's most ardent detractors.

"I didn't think Daryl would be too helpful, so I offered to come."

Julie let out another dark chuckle. "You'd be surprised."

"Look, I know we have our differences and I'm never goin' to understand-"

Julie looked at her sharply. "If Glenn died, right now, how would you feel?"

Maggie pursed her lips and then gently pried the bottle from Julie's loosened grasp and took a sip that wasn't as delicate as expected. She handed it back and Julie took a sip of her own. "Yeah."

Maggie looked off into the distance. "Yeah."

"Great, now they're both getting drunk," Glenn muttered and Daryl cast a glance at him that clearly stated he thought Glenn was overreacting. "They're just blowin' off steam's'all. Ain't nothin' wrong with that."

"We're supposed to be working, Daryl, not drinking whiskey and whining about your dead brother."

The tension in the room ratcheted up exponentially and Glenn swallowed, breaking away from Daryl's pointedly hostile look. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Yeah, I get it," Daryl snapped tersely, "he tortured you. You remind me of it every damn day. All of ya."

He stalked over to the kitchen and yanked open the closest cabinet. There was an unopened bottle of Wild Turkey and he had it open in no time. "Y'all act like that's all he ever done in his life. Big bad Merle, gangin' up on Glenn'n'Maggie Rhee. Like his life started when Rick cuffed him an' ended when you two got yourself snatched like a couple of amateurs." He guzzled down half the bottle in one go and a cruel snarl curled his up lip in disgust. "You were right. You do work better on runs when you go alone. You probably had your fuckin' tongues down each others throats when he got you."

"Daryl, I didn't mean it like that-" Glenn tried to reason, but the other man was too worked up and the burn of alcohol down his throat and in his gut was amping him up further. "Y'all act like yer so much better'n he was. We came from the same place! We came from the same damn place!"

Zach had migrated to the couch, where he was watching the pair in avid fascination from the corner of his eye while he colored on one of the pages of the coloring book.

"Don't touch that," Daryl snapped at him as he pointed an accusing finger at him. "That ain't yours!"

Zach dropped the red crayon in his hand and held them both up in surrender. The hunter slammed the near empty bottle on the counter and picked his crossbow up from the countertop.

"Fuck this. I got better shit to do then watch you throw yerself a fuckin' pity party about having your ass beat one time," he snapped and Glenn watched him leave the apartment.

"You know," Zach said suddenly, drawing Glenn's attention as he picked the red crayon back up and finished coloring the apple in Snow White's hand, "I'm starting to wish I'd stayed in my car."

Glenn fell back on the couch beside him and let his head fall back. he covered his face with both hands and pulled the baseball cap from his head and tossed it on the table. "As if the world isn't fucked up enough, I'm fighting with a guy over whether or not it's okay for me to still be mad that his brother tortured me."

"I slept with a chick after we watched her boyfriend get eaten."

That got Glenn's attention. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, it was actually my best friend's girlfriend, right when everything got really bad," he explained, "so, yeah, it was really messed up for us to do that, but I mean, one of the most important people in our lives had just had his face eaten right in front of us. She's was crying, I was crying-don't tell anybody that-and then we were on the side of the road in the back seat. It was just the one time. But it happened."

They sat in silence, both staring at the front door for a while when he spoke again. "Isn't that the way with everything though? I mean, isn't shit supposed to get worse before it gets better? That's one of those things people always said. I mean, my mom said it a lot, so."

Glenn nodded then. "Yeah."

Zach nodded along with him. "Yeah."

Maggie looked up when Daryl stepped off the curb on Julie's right side. Julie held up the bottle and he waved her off as he lit a cigarette. "Your husband's a dick."

She watched as he lowered himself next top the girl who'd been staring off into space with her in companionable silence. Julie lifted the cigarette from Daryl's fingers and puffed on it while he studied her intently, but Julie didn't seem to notice the way his eyes scanned her face to try and understand what she was thinking as she sat next to him with her brow furrowed and he cheeks stained by long dried tears. Maggie couldn't help but notice the way his elbow bumped against the young girl's arm with every exhale of breath or infinitesimal movement he made and how Julie didn't seem the least bit bothered by the contact.

Julie set the bottle down on the pavement and passed the cigarette back to him before shaking her hair over her shoulder. "Y'know, I actually miss this place sometimes. Because it reminds me of before. It was like being in a really small town just like all the other small towns I'd been in before."

"It doesn't even feel like before was real anymore," Maggie piped up, looking down the empty length of street. "I feel like I've been doin' this my whole life."

"Life is weird," Julie agreed and Daryl snorted in agreement along with her. "I mean, we kill zombies now. Honest to God zombies."

"At least I'm gettin' laid," Maggie remarked dryly, causing the pair beside her to turn and look at her. Julie looked incredulous, while Daryl looked like he was close to laughing as he had ever come in his life.

Glenn and Zach stepped outside to join them and Glenn received a fairly frosty reception from both Julie and Daryl. The latter rose from the curb and stomped off. Julie shook her head up at Glenn. "You need to work on your people skills."

"I need to work on my people skills," he asked almost shrilly as he threw a hand in Daryl's direction. "What about him?"

"What about him? Did he say something insulting? Threaten you?"

She stood slowly, stretching her back. "Let's go down to the pit and get this started. I wanna go back tomorrow. I'm not sleeping up there more than I have to." She shot a glance up to the windows on the third story and then made to follow Daryl, who was loitering off in the distance on the other side of the street. Once the other three started after her, she jogged up beside him and they led the way.

"Zach, why don't you go move our supplies indoors," Glenn asked and he nodded as he started off toward the gate to gather their things. Maggie turned to her husband. "I'll help him, so he knows where to go when he's done."

Once they reached the pit, Julie pointed to the large building behind it. "If there's gonna be anything useful, it'll be in there. I don't know if we'll fine anything to cut the sheet metal."

"We'll figure something out, let's check her over again."

The three of them entered with their weapons drawn. Daryl banged on the Metal wall and the resounding thwap it had created, echoed loud enough to attract anything lurking out of sight. They waited until it was clear they were alone and then broke up to explore the area.

"Here we go," Daryl muttered to himself as he found several tools and circular saw set out in a neat row. Julie approached him, a crowbar in one hand as she watched him study the circular saw. "I think this is where Milton did his 'experiments'. Good place for it. They kept the Roamers nearby, so there was always a ready supply of test subjects."

"Was that the butler?"

She quirked a smile. "Yeah, that was the butler."

"Alright, let's get this stuff out and sorted. Still gonna need a welding mask and a blowtorch. Let's start breaking down these walls."

Four hours later, all five of them were covered in sweat and breathing heavily as they cut through the walls of the building, which had looked to be less sturdy than it actually was. Julie wiped the sweat from the back of her neck and onto her shorts before she and Zach picked up one of the smaller cuts of metal and began hauling it toward the military truck. Maggie and Glenn were busy fitting what they had already salvaged so far into it.

"You think maybe this would be good for fortifying the outer fence," Glenn asked and Julie shrugged, "Maybe, I don't know much about that kind of thing."

Maggie shook her head in the negative. "There's been such a build up over the last few weeks. I mean, the fence had never been clear since we've been there. We'd have to have a bunch of people go out there to do it or they'd all push up against the fence in certain spots and it's just not worth it. Besides, who would do it?"

Glenn didn't look disappointed, just resigned. He nodded and helped lift the sheet metal into the back of the truck. "Let's get going. If we work fast enough, we may be able to go home in the morning."

"You know, I actually miss that crappy bed," Julie mused, "thing squeaks something fierce, but it's comfortable."

"It's home."

Julie scoffed at Maggie and smirked. "I don't know about that..."

They stopped at dusk. Maggie and Glenn took the bedroom and Daryl took Merle's armchair for watch. Julie lay stretched out on the couch, staring at the ceiling with her mind blissfully empty. She hadn't daydreamed idly in a long time.

"Does anybody else miss the sound of traffic," Zach asked from his place on the floor in the middle of the room. Julie rolled onto her side to get a better look at him over the coffee table. "I miss being able to drive down roads without seeing any dead bodies. I miss not having to look over my shoulder to make sure I'm not gonna get bit. Or shot."

"Do you miss your friends?"

Daryl watched her from the corner of his eye to see her shrug. Her expression was relaxed. "Didn't have any friends."

"Wasn't that lonely, I mean, you came into this with nothing."

Daryl turned fully to watch the pair now. She was shrugging again. "I came into this with nothing and I'll probably leave it with nothing. I'm okay with that. I don't like the idea of leaving people behind to hurt after I'm gone."

"Sounds like personal experience."

"Go to sleep Zach," she said in a clipped voice as she rolled over completely. It seemed as though Zach had gotten a little too personal.

"What about you," Zach asked him, looking toward where he was sprawled in the thickly cushioned armchair. He fixed the boy with a pointed look. "I miss not being asked so many damn questions. Go to sleep."

As Daryl let his head fall back into a more comfortable position, he thought he could feel Julie smiling all the way from the couch, which seemed an odd thing to feel from so far away. I'm going fucking crazy like Rick, he thought darkly, even though this inexplicable feeling made him feel light enough that he didn't really care at all.

The tall grass was the deepest green she had seen in a long time and she spread her arms out at her side so that she could feel the blades skim her palms. She used to imagine they were fairy kisses when she was a little girl. The sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy and white like fresh snow. Unable to stop herself, she twirled in place, stopping only when she caught sight of the two farm houses set apart by another field. They had fallen into great disrepair. The one on the right looked like its roof was beginning to cave in on the left side and the other one had several boards hanging off the side facing her. She turned her back on them and stepped back in horror when she focused on the line of forest that surrounded the remaining three sides of the expansive field. The tree line was covered in walkers, snarling soundlessly as they watched her.

"This is a nice place, aside from that mess." Julie's entire body beat along with her heart in that moment and her breath caught in her throat. She turned slowly, inhaling sharply at the sight of that crooked smile. She launched herself at him with a strangled cry of his name and he roared with laughter. "Good to know my girl ain't forgot me just yet."

She wiped furiously at her cheeks. "I miss you so much and nobody understands." She sat back on her heels and sniffed as she scrubbed at her face again. "You weren't here last time."

"Well, I had some things I needed to do somewhere else. You been worryin' yer pretty littl'head awful bad, ain't ya," he said in that knowing way he'd had that had always irritated her, but she loved it now. "What's that about?"

She looked around at the walkers as they watched the pair sitting in the tall grass, "What's wrong with them? Why aren't they moving? Where is everybody?"

"They'll be along later," he promised as he tapped her knee to get her attention, "this is our time righ' now. Wha's goin' on with ya, huh, Peaches? Why'd ya stick aroun'?"

She sighed out her nose and pulled a couple blades of grass from the ground, tearing apart the roots. "It's what you wanted, isn't it? For me an' Daryl to stick together. You wanted him to keep me safe. And you wanted me to keep him safe. Right?"

"An' how's that workin' for ya?"

She snorted in annoyance. "Wonderful."

"Yeah, I figured you two'd be goin' at it like cats'n'dogs," he chuckled, watching her. "You look good, Jules. You look real good. You happy with 'em?"

She blushed under his intense scrutiny and gave another shrug. He was making her nervous. "I guess I'm as happy as I can be...with you gone."

"You could always stay here, Doll," he offered, "we could just stick together like ol' times. Jus' the two of us."

She gave him a watery smile. "Really? Right here? You'd stay here with me? You wouldn't leave again?"

"I never left," he said quietly, taking her hand in an uncharacteristically gentle way, "you know I wouldn'ta ever left you. Just feels like I did, but-"

She grasped his hand in both of hers. "Come back with me," she begged, "it's gotten better and-"

He shook his head and tugged her to him, "No, I gotta stay here. 'Sides, it's safer here. But you could stay with me if you wanted, y'know. It could be just the two of us like it was, just the way you've been wantin'."

Julie wrapped her arms around him, letting her head fall to his shoulder. There were tears sliding down her face again, but she ignored them as she watched the walkers from a distance where they snarled at the edge of the field. She held onto him a little tighter. The familiar surroundings made her feel immeasurably safe and his presence instilled her with a sense of boldness she'd never known. "I loved you, did you know that?"

"Shit," he laughed, "I may'a been awful thick, but yeah I knew it." He was quiet for a long time and she finally noticed that she couldn't hear the dead as they snarled. There were birds singing and the breeze rustled through the tall grass beautifully, but there was no snarling. "I knew it when I took you back with me. Knew you was gonna be somethin'." She closed her eyes as her insides clenched. "Why didn't you stay?"

"I should have," he admitted finally, "but you can stay here with me now. You just have to want to."

"I do want to, but what about the others. They should be where with us if the Roamers can't get in."

"They'll be here soon, I promise." He wiped at her wet face with his thumb. "They'll be here real soon. Everybody will get here."

"Daryl'll be so happy to see you," she breathed out. She made to stand and he held onto her hand tighter, drawing her attention to the sad look in his eyes. "Daryl can't come."

Julie felt herself freeze in shock, confused and admittedly a little panicked. "But why not? If the others are coming, he'll be with them! He has to come."

He shook his head and tried to smile in sympathy, but it came out as more of a grimace. "No, he doesn't know the way."

"Then you can come with me and we'll show him. He can't be out there by himself-"

"No, once you decide to stay, you stay."

"Fine, then I'm not staying," she snapped, visibly upset with how their conversation was going. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't want his own brother to come with them. "He should be with us."

"He can't come here," he said again as if it explained everything, but she just simply didn't understand. She backed away from him and the farther away she moved, the sadder he looked. It broke her heart all over again, and shook her head when he reached for her. "I'm sorry, Merle, but I promised myself and you I'd look after him. He's family."

Julie turned away from him and broke through the line of walkers. She had to get back to Daryl and the others, they needed her.