Even though, Louie would wake up earlier than Daryl, she wasn't in the mood to face him, so until he would stir from his place on the floor, she would look down at his sleeping figure from the cot. When finally, his breathing deepened, she turned over and pretended she was sleeping. She would listen to his groans and bones as he would stretch and then shuffle to ready his things to look for Sophia. Today, after she rolled over and feigned sleep, she felt him hover over her body, his lips right over her ear.

"You snore too fuckin' loud. Quit fakin'," he grunted and used the cot to lift himself up and leave the tent. The sound of his voice pressed heavily on her mind and she allowed herself to shed a few silent tears. Laying there for an extra hour, she mustered up the courage to change and exit the tent; she saw all the men along with Hershel's clan member, a teenage boy, gathered around the hood of a car discussing routes and strategies on how to find Sophia. The boy and she locked eyes for a moment before she tore away and headed to the fire to find some left-over food. Lori was sitting with Carol, talking over their breakfast when they realized Louie's presence. Lori quickly put her spoon down and swallowed whatever was in her mouth.

"I just wanna be the first to say how sorry we-"

"Forget it," she snapped but then softened her tone. "There's no need to apologize. You all were curious and it's human nature, I guess," she said while serving herself some stew. "I just didn't want it to change what you guys thought of me. I didn't want you to forget that I'm one of you," she said quietly.

"Mary Lou," Carol started using her whole name. "I never got to thank you."

"For what?" Louie was confused.

"That day… the day Sophia…" she was unable to finish the thought but carried on anyways. "I saw you in the tree. I saw you. You went after her," her voice started to get shaky. Louie felt tremendously guilty and ashamed.

"I'm so sorry," Louie blurted. "I-I tried. I couldn't- I couldn't find her,"

"Daryl will find her," Carol's voice was stronger and full of hope. "He'll find my baby."

"He will," Louie nodded and smiled softly. "He's good at finding people."

Now that Carl was up and running, Lori asked Louie if she could keep an eye on him while her and Carol were going to make dinner for Hershel's family as a thank-you for their hospitality. Louie hesitantly accepted and stared at the boy in front of her as his mother retreated into the house. Carl looked back at her expectantly. She had no idea what to do with the kid. It wasn't that she didn't like kids, but she never was around any in her previous life. What did they like?

"Can you help me with my algebra?"

Louie's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Algebra?

"That bullet must have hit your head, because I think I heard you say you wanted to do math," Louie asked disgustedly. Carl laughed finding her funny and nodded. "I guess. If you really want to," she moaned and he laughed again telling her to follow him. They sat together in front of the kindling fire and worked on his arithmetic; in actuality, Carl was re-teaching her Algebra and she was fiddling with a stick in the sand barely listening. Louie was trying not to be bothered by the fact that Andrea was sitting right above them in the RV.

"Hey, that's cool. Is that an elephant?" Carl finally noticed what she was making. She turned her head slowly and looked at him with a creepy smile.

"You're funny," he giggled.

"Do you want to learn how to draw?" she asked him and he looked conflicted about abandoning his math. "Oh come on! It won't kill you to draw one elephant! You can make a thank you card for Doctor Greene," she nudged him and he consented excitedly. Sharing his notebook with her, she would draw a line and he would copy it in the space underneath. Going back a few times with the pen, they had finally completed a page with two elephants.

"Yours is better," he sighed. "How'd you learn to draw so good?"

"Well."

"How'd you learn to draw so well?" he corrected himself.

"In college I was surrounded by people who did it as a job, I guess. It sort of rubbed off on me," she explained.

"And practice," a voice behind them drawled. Louie craned her neck to see Rick standing proudly over them. "Practice makes perfect."

"Exactly," Louie said smiling down at Carl. "If you keep doing it over and over again, you'll find your elephant better than mine." Carl went to trace her elephant and started to try again a third time.

"Thank you," Rick said warmly at her and she nodded off handedly.

"Any luck?" she asked hopefully. Rick's face fell and she looked down demurely.

"I guess we'll wait for Daryl," he said looking off into the horizon. He gave her a brief smile before turning to head towards the house.

"Can you teach me how to draw a lion?" he asked hopefully and she complied. While Carl was practicing on the corner of a page how to draw a mane, Louie watched Glenn and Dale exit the RV with very concentrated expressions. Suddenly Andrea's head perked up above them.

"Walker!" she yelled. Louie whipped her head in the direction she was looking and saw a grayish dirty figure limping in the pasture.

"C'mon!" Louie yelled as Carl grabbed her hand and they both ran towards the house.

"Get him inside," Rick ordered as he ran with Glenn, Shane and T-Dog in the opposite direction towards the figure. "Don't shoot!" he commanded Andrea. "Hershel wants to take care of it himself!"

Louie got the boy to the porch when Lori exited the house frantically and looked relieved to see her son; she ushered him inside, thanking Louie. The Atlanta survivors and Hershel family stood on the porch watching uneasily as the walker trudged in their direction.

"I can get it!" Andrea called pointing the sniper at him.

"Andrea don't!" Dale warned.

"Back off Dale," she snapped and started aiming. Everyone watched the distant Rick slowly put down his gun. Why wasn't he shooting?

"Is that… Daryl?" Carol asked from beside her. Louie's eyes widened as loud crack resounded from Andrea's gun.

The figure crumpled down.

"No!" Louie screamed bloody murder, her voice cracking and echoing across the fields louder than the gun had. Lori grabbed the girl's arm to stop her but she ripped away and tore down the steps and flew across the property towards the group. Her heart was exploding and her head dizzy from pure fear as she throttled through the field. Glenn caught her in his arms as she bounded towards Daryl sobbing and swung her around before she got in the way. Rick and Shane slung him over their shoulders and dragged him back to the house. Andrea and Dale managed to sprint over as well when they realized her mistake. If Louie wasn't so busy wailing over him in Glenn's arms, she would've snapped Andrea's neck cold.

"Sh, it's okay. He'll be okay," Glenn whispered as he carried her to the house behind the group and passed her on to Lori who held her in her arms, looking quite stricken herself.
Lori waited with Louie in her arms outside the room where Hershel and Rick were accompanying him. Louie was quiet and motionless, settling in Lori's neck thinking about what she would do without him. The mother smoothed her hair down and whispered prayers to her.

"Louie?" Lori stirred the girl. The former stood up bleary eyed to see Rick and Hershel exiting the room. Rick put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as she looked to Hershel.

"Are you the young lady who stopped the bleeding for the man with the tear in the arm?" he asked her sternly. She nodded viciously wondering what it had to do with Daryl. "That was very resourceful of you. He could've died from infection if you hadn't done something about it," he credited her and Rick squeezed her shoulder.

"How's…" she looked at the men.

"He'll be just fine," Rick gave her a smile and her face broke into a watery smile. "Go ahead," he nudged her in the direction of the room.

Daryl looked up as the door creaked open. Louie slipped into the room gingerly not looking at him while she closed the door behind her. She approached the bed wringing her hands and raised her eyes slowly to see him in his condition; awake and alive.

"Don't," he warned. She bit her lip from letting any noise escape but had to cover her mouth with one hand and clutch her stomach with the other to steady herself from collapsing. He sighed. "Git over here," he muttered reaching his arm out to her. She floated to him and fell onto the bed sobbing into his bare chest. She wasted no time to wrap herself around him and tucking herself against him. He grabbed her chin and raised it so he could see her tear stricken face. He lowered his head towards her's and pressed his lips against her small pouting mouth. She instantly responded by wrapping her hands around his neck and cheek, pulling him closer; he gently pressed his hands into her lower back to comply.

"Never," she said gruffly pushing Daryl away, receiving an agitated look from him, "do that again."

"Didn't exactly plan it," he brayed before pulling her back for another kiss. She smiled against his mouth and deepened the kiss before he pulled away this time. "Don't start somethin' you'll regret," he grunted.

"Am I gonna regret it?" she breathed against his tender mouth.

"You will if I'm a cripple about it," he pecked her lips.

"Didn't know you were so sentimental about sex, Daryl," she teased in between their soft kisses.

"Shut up," he smirked and tucked her head under his chin.

"I brought you some food," Carol said quietly as she brought the tray into the dark room. Louie's small figure could be seen on the bed next to him, turned the other way, her body rising and falling with her steady breaths. Carol placed the tray on the bedside table and thanked him with teary eyes for all he's done for her and that not even Sophia's father did as much as Daryl did. He only watched the woman with criticizing eyes as to not show her he cared an ounce about her gratitude and muttered about his stitches when she leaned to kiss his forehead.

"She's lucky to have you, y'know," Carol said pausing by the door. "You care about her. I can tell,"

"What'dya want me to do. Paint'er a picture?" he snorted and Carol smiled knowingly before leaving the room.

"Uh, where's Louie?" Glenn asked holding a giant crate of apples.

"Where else?" Lori smiled teasingly and jerked her head towards the tent that was a few feet away from the group's. Louie didn't leave Daryl's side, to his annoyance, for a second. She set the cot up with blankets and sheets to make his resting period more comfortable since he wouldn't be able to move about.

"Uh, hey Louie?" Glenn asked hesitantly outside the tent and she beckoned him inside where she was sitting on the floor next to the cot where Daryl, on his back, fiddling with a screwdriver. "Apples?" he offered and she smiled big and stood up to grab a few.

"Thanks," she gave him a giant smile and instead of returning to the floor she climbed over Daryl and lay on her side, in between him and the tent window, her head on his shoulder forcing his arm to wrap around her back to grip his tool properly with both hands.

"Heads up. Andrea's coming," Glenn called from outside the tent. Louie tensed and Daryl bumped his nose against her forehead, mockingly. She took a bitter bite out of the apple in response to await the hated enemy. Andrea from a distance could see in the tent and looked at the woman lying next to the Dixon man chatting confidently and casually with him as if he wasn't the most intimidating human she'd ever meet. Daryl too had an affable and harmless air to him as he spoke to her, playing with the screwdriver. Both were silenced when they saw her enter the tent cautiously.

"I brought you…" she held out a book for him as a peace offering. He grabbed it with furrowed eyebrows and flipped through it.

"What, no pictures?"

Andrea apologized to him and even passed a sorry glance to Louie while she spoke. Daryl dismissed her pathetic banter by assuring her he would do the same thing to do what's best for the group.

"Hey," he stopped her as she was leaving. "You shoot me again? You best pray I'm dead," he glowered. She smiled and retreated back to the RV. "What?" he asked looking down at the girl in his arms who was frowning at the blonde's back.

"Dumb bitch," she muttered and Daryl chuckled and tightened his hold on her.

"C'mon girl put your arms into it!" Shane barked playfully at her. Shrieking from surprise, Louie shot the gun accidentally hitting the target. Rick and Shane had taken the women and those unfamiliar with guns far out near a deserted project to practice their shooting. Nobody would be unarmed or ever unprepared they decided. At first she didn't want to leave Daryl but he nudged her off the cot telling her to leave him alone. She looked at Shane with her eyes widened and laughed throwing her head back. He tried to appear angry but pursed his lips to keep from laughing. "You ain't gon' be lucky next time if you shoot like that," Shane said with a laugh. He got behind her, which suddenly made her feel uncomfortable.

"Like this," he said putting his hands around hers and positioning the gun properly. "Hold your breath," he told her, his voice directly in her ear. She could feel his solid chest almost touching her back. She complied. "Aim." She squinted at her target. "Let go of your breath." She slowly exhaled. "Fire." Bang. "Again." Bang.

"Thanks,"

"No problem."

"You can let go."

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry," he said sheepishly backing away from her. She shivered as he started to observe the others. Maybe it was just her.

"You got it Louie?" Rick asked approaching her. She shrugged and he asked her to show him. She followed Shane's directions that were ringing in her ear still. "Good. Your stance is a little off. Do you mind?" he asked politely. She shook her head and Rick got behind her much unlike Shane did; more respectful. "You wanna move this… this leg back," he said gently touching her right leg. "This arm's gotta stay strong underneath this one," he positioned her stance and stepped away. "There. Try now." Louie fired the gun again feeling much more control of the gun in her hands as it recoiled. "Good job," Rick smiled before treading on like Shane did.

Yeah. It wasn't just her.

Returning to camp, Andrea sat in the back of the truck bed with Louie. They sat in terse silence together.

"You can't stay angry at me forever," Andrea finally broke the quiet.

"Watch me," Louie bit not even looking at her. "You better stay out of my way," she added before hopping off the bed when they reached the farm. "I know how to use a gun now."

"How'd it go?" Daryl asked as she marched into their tent grabbing her guitar and sitting on the cot, her legs over his stomach.

"Oh, you know," she said picking at a few notes. "I threatened Andrea with a gun."

"Y'all women are too damn emotional," he muttered tracing a finger down her arm. He frowned. "Why do you smell?"

Her finger slipped as she strummed the wrong note. "What? I do not," she argued trying not to look at him. His frown deepened and he yanked on her arm to bring her upper body closer to his nose. She yanked herself out of his grip when he started sniffing like the professional hunter he was.

"That ain't your sweat," he said suspiciously.

"He was only trying to help me aim," she finally said almost inaudibly. But Daryl still heard her and sat up slightly.

"Who," he demanded. She didn't respond, only continued strumming with her lips drawn tight. He sat up and motioned to get out of the make-shift bed.

"Daryl no!" Louie said abandoning the guitar and trying to wrestle him down. He struggled with the girl before he looked at her seriously.

"Did he touch ya?" he barked. When she didn't answer right away he repeated the question, "Lou. Did. He. Touch. You?"

"No," she said firmly. He breathed heavily trying to subdue his anger before lying back down completely. He reached for her bicep and pulled her down on top of him.

"You stay away from him, understand?" he murmured and she smiled.

"That's the first time I've heard you say my name, I think," she peered at him coyly.

He rolled his eyes. "Fuckin' women," he muttered before pressing his lips against hers.