Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Chapter 10

Daryl's Pov-

I loved the feel of waking up with Lyla in my arms, and last night was fuckin amazing, but I couldn't help but think that I sucked at it. She said that I didn't but my brothers voice was constantly in my head "Come on Darylene fuck her like you mean it", "Stop this in love school boy shit ya pansy ass", and "Ya think she really likes your dumb redneck ass?" suddenly I couldn't stand to lay next to her anymore. I got up and went to the campfire, were several of the campers were gathered. "I'm going looking for my brother, who's comin with me?" three men stood up.

"I'm coming with you. It's my fault he is handcuffed up there plus I need the bag of guns I left on the street." Rick said.

"And it's my fault I dropped the key, so I'm going too." T-dog volunteered.

"I know the city like the back of my hand you guys might need me, I'm in." I thought Glenn was the last to volunteer before I heard Lyla's voice from behind me.

"I'm comin to." I turned to look at her.

"No." I couldn't put her at risk.

"Yes I am." Her hands were on her hips now. I rolled my eyes and stepped closer to her.

"No, yer not." I said angrily. She looked kinda hurt. I couldn't stand that, so I grabbed her wrist and led her away from the men and into the coverage of the woods.

"Daryl I'm going, I care about yer brother to ya know." She was trying her best to get me to let her go and I almost said yes but I just couldn't let her go into the city, it was too dangerous. I didn't know how to tell her how I felt so I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard.

"I just can't let ya go woman." I whispered with my forehead resting on hers. She pulled away and I thought she was going to be mad, but she wasn't. She had a smile on her face but it quickly faded and she looked worried.

"Fine I won't go, but ya have to promise me somethin." I just nodded. "Ya have to promise me that ya won't do anything stupid and get yer self killed." I nodded again. "No, a nod ain't gonna cut it this time. Ya have to say it, out loud." Her look of worry was starting to turn to one of panic.

"I'll come back to ya, I promise." I hated making promises. I'd broken the few other promises I'd make in my life, but I was damn sure not going to break this one if I could help it. She stepped back up to me and leaned up onto her toes to kiss me gently. I hadn't realized how much shorter than me she was until that moment. She broke off the kiss and hugged me.

"Be safe." She whispered in my ear before she released me and practically ran to her tent. I turned and went back to the fire.

"Ya'll comin or what?" I spoke to the men as I got in my truck, and set my crossbow on the seat next to me. The other men got in the bed and I cranked it and started driving down the dirt road.

I was thinking about Lyla when I heard the men start talking in the back. Either they were unaware that the back sliding window was open or they didn't care, but they had my attention.

"I'm glad she didn't come, that chick's crazy, she tased Merle for the fun if it." Glenn said.

"I doubt it was for the fun of it Mele's just as crazy, but I heard she threw herself at Shane. When he refused to sleep with her she tried to tase him to." This came from T-Dog.

"Well Lori said that she took a swing at her for talking bad about Daryl. She also told me a disgusting story that Lyla told Merle her fist night at the camp, something about gutting her pet rabbit and feeding the guts to her dog. The woman defiantly sounds like a loose cannon." This time Rick was talking. I was tempted to stop the truck right there and beat the shit out of all of them but I had my brother to find. I didn't have time to waste on those assholes. I thought about all the stuff they were saying as I drove, and I eventually realized who was behind the stupid rumors.

~meanwhile back at camp~

Talitha's Pov-

I waited in Daryl's tent until I was sure they had left, I didn't want Daryl driving away to be my last image of him in my head if he didn't return. I nervously tidied the tent up while I was in there. I rolled up mine and Daryl's sleeping bag and rolled out Merle's, if he came back he would probably want to lie down.

When I was sure they had left I went and started walking the perimeter of camp. I had to keep moving I was too worried to just sit around and wait for him to return. As I walked I thought about how he kissed me. I was on my third trip around the camp when voices broke the trance I was in. The voices were coming from the RV so I snuck up to the open driver's side window to eavesdrop.

"I wish she would just leave camp, and take Daryl with her. They both make the whole camp uncomfortable." I could hear Amy say. Where they talking about me?

"Yeah, did Shane tell you she threw herself at him, and she tried to tase him when he refused to sleep with her? I guess the Dixon brothers weren't enough for her." Lori's annoying voice flowed from the camper. Was that why she hated me so much, because I supposedly tried to take Shane from her cheating ass? "And that story she told by the fire about killing her pet rabbit…gross." I could hear the disgust in her voice, and tears started to form in my eyes.

"I thought that was funny. I think its funny that she tased Merle to." Andrea spoke up.

"That girl is so crazy she probably did that for the fun of it." Lori laughed causing my heart to sink, and the tears spilled over. Even at the end of the world I was getting made fun of. Girls, even grown women, could be so cruel. I hung out with boys and eventually men my whole life for that reason. I was always taunted for being a tomboy.

I walked back to my tent with tears streaming down my face and ducked inside. I grabbed my quiver and pulled out the sharpest arrow I could find, I held it to my arm and pressed down. It was about to break skin when Daryl's voice my head "I told ya if ya ever did that shit again that ya wouldn't like me anymore woman, now stop!" I removed the arrow tip from my arm and collapsed to the floor where I curled up into the fetal position and cried myself to sleep.

~On the roof top~

Daryl's Pov-

T-dog cut the chain on the door and I kicked it open. "Merle! Merle where tha hell are ya!" I yelled.

"Daryl?" I heard my brother's voice and I ran in the direction. He had a saw in his free hand and the hand with the cuff on it was bleeding badly. I grabbed the shop rag out of my back pocket and threw it at him. "What ya doin here little brother?"

"Came to rescue yer sorry ass, what's it look like?" T-dog handed the bolt cutters to me and I cut the cuffs. Merle tried to get up but he stumbled and fell. "He's loosin blood fast. Let's go before he passes out." I looped an arm around Merle's waist and pulled him up. We stumbled down the stairs and through the store. I tucked Merle into the passenger seat just as Rick came running up with a gun bag over is shoulder. Walkers were following behind him. He jumped in the back of the truck as I got in, cranked it and sped off toward camp. The drive was quiet; Merle had passed out as soon as I set him in the seat.

We pulled into camp and I half carried half drug Merle to our tent and laid him down on his sleeping bag. His wrist had stopped bleeding, so I felt for a pulse and was glad that is was strong and steady. With the knowledge that Merle was ok I went to Lyla's tent. I froze when I saw her. She was still in the bedclothes she had been wearing this morning, curled up in a ball on the floor shivering with an arrow in her fist. My heart sank; hopefully she didn't do what I thought she did. I walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her sleeping body and touched her shoulder to wake her. She shot straight up and reared up her fist with the arrow in it. I quickly caught her wrist before she could stab me.

She blinked fast a couple of times then dropped the arrow and threw herself into my arms. Her body was shaking as she sobbed into my shoulder. I let her cry until her body stopped shaking, and then I pulled her arms with away from me. "Ya didn't…did ya?" I asked quietly. And she shook her head. "Why would ya even think about it?" More tears spilled from her eyes before she finally answered me.

"Everyone hates me." She said looking at the tent floor.

"I don't hate ya." I said. Seeing her cry was killing me.

"But every one else does. They all think I'm some crazy whore that hurts people for the hell of it." She said still crying. I usually ran when I saw some one crying. Dixons don't cry, I didn't know how to deal with it.

"I know. I've heard what they say and it's all bullshit. I overheard the other men talking when I was in the truck, and ya know what I figured out?" she just shook her head. "That Lori Grimes is a jealous bitch."

"Why would she be jealous of me?" I could tell she didn't believe me. Ugh she was really making this hard on me.

"Because Shane liked ya more than her, yer more beautiful than any amount of makeup could ever make her. If ya could shut her up people would start to love ya as much as I do." She was just staring at me with her mouth open.

"What? It's true." I had never been so nice to anyone in my life. This woman was changing me. "Ya can catch flies with yer mouth hangin open like that." I said, and she quickly shut her mouth.

"Uh… I'm confused. What's true, that I'm prettier than her or that ya… uh…ya love me?" she was looking me in the eyes.

"Uh…Both?" I came out in the form of a question. I hadn't even realized what I said and I was just as confused by it as she was. She just kept looking at me with that confused look on her face. "I don't know, I've never felt like this before." Her confused look turned to one of understanding.

"Ok, well we don't have to discuss this anymore if ya don't want to, but from now on… please don't say the L word unless yer one hundred percent sure ya mean it. I wouldn't like it if ya said it just to make me feel better." She paused looking at me, I felt like a little boy that just got in trouble, probably looked like one to. "Ok?" she sounded sad and I couldn't stand it, I grabbed her and hugged her.

"Kay" I whispered in her ear, and then I pulled her back at arms length again. "So what are ya gonna do about Lori?" I asked her.

"I don't know. I've never confronted a bully before." She was looking at the floor again.

"Ya have to do somethin or she's just gonna keep at it." I knew how to deal with bully's hell my brother is one.

"But I don't know what to do, I'm afraid anything I do will just backfire." She was looking at me now and I could tell she was scared of Lori.

"How 'bout black mail? Tell her to tell everyone that she made everything up or you'll tell Rick that she cheated on him with Shane." I said. I knew it would work the last thing that woman would want was her husband mad at her.

"I guess that will work. When should I confront her?" she asked.

"Uh after ya help me clean up Merle's Wrist?" she hadn't even asked about Merle.

"Oh crap. How could I forget about that? How is he?" she asked a little panicked.

"He's fine, just passed out from blood loss. Calm down its ok." I laughed at her without meaning to and she hit me playfully. Guess she was feeling better.

Talitha's Pov-

I couldn't believe I hadn't asked about Merle, I felt so selfish. But I was glad he was ok, for Daryl's sake. The least I could do was check his wrist and make sure it was going to be ok. So I grabbed my first aid kit and walked to their tent. "What tha hell ya doin in here City?" he asked when I walked in and I held up the first aid kit. I sat down on the floor next to him.

"May I?" I asked holding out my hand for his.

"Ya ain't gonna Zap my ass again are ya?" he asked eyeing me suspiciously.

"Na I ain't gonna hurt ya, not on purpose anyway." I said smirking at him still holding out my hand. He growled before he slammed his hand into mine wincing. I examined it; there was a ragged gash on the side of his wrist. "Damn this is deep, what happened?"

"Dummy tried to cut his hand off." Daryl said answering me. And surprisingly Merle didn't say anything. So I got a wet wipe out of the kit and cleaned the area around the gash.

"Hey Daryl, will ya do me a favor?" he grunted. "Will ya go see if any of the other campers have any peroxide? I don't wanna use alcohol on something this big." He nodded his head and left the tent. It was awkward with just me and Merle in the tent until he spoke.

"Ya know ya ain't so bad City." He said with a laugh. 'That came out of nowhere' I thought.

"Uh, thanks I guess" I said shyly.

"I'm serious, anyone my brother likes so much, and would offer to help find my sorry ass, is fine by me." He said more serious than I had ever heard him be.

"Thanks. How'd ya know that I offered to help find ya?" I asked curiously.

He shrugged "Daryl talks to himself when he doesn't think people are listening and I wasn't passed out in the truck, he was talking bout cha."

"Oh." Was all I could say before Daryl popped into the tent.

"Here, Carol gave it to me." He said and passed me the brown bottle.

I took it, unscrewed the lid and held an old rag under his wrist to catch the excess. "This is probably gonna hurt, so don't say I didn't warn ya." I said and he nodded his head. I poured the liquid on the wound and he winced as it started to bubble. I blew on it to try and ease the pain. When the bubbling stopped I pressed a clean rag on the wound to soak up the peroxide and blood. I pressed a gauze pad onto the gash and secured it with an ace bandage. "All done." I said as I stood up. I was about to walk out of the tent when Merle's gruff voice stopped me.

"Hey City." I turned to look at him "Thanks." He said it with a genuine smile and I smiled back with a nod. I walked out of the tent and to the fire. Everyone was now gathered to eat lunch which consisted of the squirrel that Daryl killed while I had been sleeping on the rock by the lake. Other than the fact that no one looked at Daryl or me where we sat on my log, lunch went fine.