* Please review! Im sorry I took so long. I was sick Saturday then Sunday I witnessed a horrible event and just couldn't get it together afterwards. Warning here, if you didn't see the show, there are spoilers here. I didn't go with the show word for word, scene for scene, but I did take some things from it*

Daryl returned to the prison the next day, again telling The Governor he was going hunting. Ashlyn stayed at the town. She knew she couldn't go two days in a row. The Governor would question her taking so much time from the clinic and she knew it. Just like he did the day before, Daryl parked the car and walked to the prison. Rick let him in right away. Daryl carried the back pack of supplies to Lori's cell.

" Doc Ashlyn sent this stuff." He said, handing the bag over to Lori and Carol. " She wrote some directions down and shit."

" What is all this?" Lori asked as she opened the bag and started pulling things out. Daryl shrugged.

" Stuff for you and the baby, I reckon." He said.

A few days later, Ashlyn was able to come back with Daryl. As she asked him to try and get her a few walkers, females, if it wouldn't endanger him too bad. He had killed as many as he could find and lined them up on the ground, just inside the fence. The group gathered around Ashlyn with Daryl standing across from her. They watched as she showed Carol and Maggie, mostly, how to start IV's. She went over how to hook up Lori to it and deliver pain medicine to her.

" Now I can't take all the pain away because I don't want to give you an epidural. Going into your spine and delivering the medicine that way would be too dangerous and too hard to teach them." Ashlyn explained to Lori. " But I can make it manageable for you."

" I understand." Lori said from her spot by one walker.

Again and again Ashlyn went over the IV's. Daryl watched as she explained things, telling them how a vein and a tendon might look the same but how they felt different. She had both Maggie and Carol start IV lines in the walkers, using the same needle over and over again. He hated to admit it but he liked listening to her talk. He liked how smart she was. She was also patient with his group and he liked that more. He pulled her into him more.

The second part of the day was spent with her performing mock c-sections on the walkers. She went over and over again with how deep to cut into the stomach. She opened a walker, showed them the uterus with Glenn turning green and walking away. T-Dog followed the young man. Lori went to rest and Rick decided to patrol the fence. Again Daryl was forced to admit that his woman impressed him. He frowned at the thought while she cut into a walker uterus. She wasn't his woman. She was a woman but not his.

" Okay, you're turn." Ashlyn said when she and the girls moved to a new walker.

She handed over the scalpel to Carol. She guided Carol and Maggie when it was their turn. She stole looks at Daryl, only to find him frowning and staring at her. But that wasn't new. Daryl always frowned. And he always stared at her. Cut after cut, slice after slice the girls worked clean through walkers Daryl had brought them. Ashlyn sutured the females up, showing them how to care for the organ and skin. She talked about control Lori's bleeding and pain management, while Daryl moved with them and watched.

Four times she visited with him, every three days she hid herself away in the trunk of the car. Every night, even if she didn't go to the prison, her and Daryl would meet up in her room. Daryl would give her a report on Hershel or Lori. She would make notes, notes she kept hidden away in her room, right under her mattress. She was making drawings for things she wanted to make for Hershel's leg but hadn't started anything yet. As expected, the limp was slightly swollen and she needed to wait until it went down before she could start making measurements of him.

" Ashlyn has been like a Godsent to us." Rick said to Daryl as they watched Ashlyn talking to Lori while they stood on out in the yard. Ashlyn was smiling and nodding at something.

" She's done right by us." Daryl muttered.

The sun was high and hot that day. He could feel the sweat prickling down the back of his shirt but it wasn't just the heat from the sun that made him sweat. It was Ashlyn. It was watching Ashlyn that did it to him. It was her smile, her laugh, her gentle way with his new family. It was the fact that she was going out of her way to help them. But she wasn't for him. She wasn't like the girls in his hometown. She wasn't meant to be pushed against a wall or taken on the floor of a trailer. She deserved better. She needed better but Daryl didn't know how to be better.

" You figure out anything more with the town?" Rick asked.

A high pitch siren started blaring through the prison and the grounds. Everyone jumped and yelled or started running. Carl clasped his hands over his ears. Ashlyn started asking what the hell was the noise. Rick and Daryl started to panic as they fired bullets into the speakers overhead. Walkers gathered first at the fence then started pouring through.

" Where are they coming from? How are they getting through?" Ashlyn yelled when she, Carl, Maggie and Lori saw the walkers making their way towards them.

" Lori!" Rick screamed.

" Run!" Daryl yelled out as the two ran towards one of the gates.

" We have to get inside!" Maggie yelled.

Ashlyn cast a look towards Daryl who was still yards away. Another fence and gate was between them. It might as well have been miles. The walkers were closing in on them and fast. Rick and Daryl were yelling as Rick whipped out a ring of keys. Knowing there was no other way, Ashlyn hurried after her three companions.

They ran through the prison with the sirens chasing them. They turned a corner, having to turn back around when they encountered a group of walkers. Moans and groans seemed to greet them at every turn. They ran through the hallways, trying doors as they found them, yelling when they were locked. It wasn't until they reached the fourth hallway that they found an open door. The small group pushed inside, slamming the door shut and turning the lock.

" What do we do?" Ashlyn asked.

" We wait here until they pass by." Maggie said, listening in at the door.

" Where did they come from?" Ashlyn whispered.

" I don't know." Together the two women pressed against the door.

" Ashlyn, I'm having a contraction." Lori whined out.

TWDTWDTWD

Rick and Daryl ran through the prison, needing to get to the control room to turn off the siren. They fought through walkers, cutting them down while swearing and yelling. Back to back they worked, firing their guns and shoving knives into dead brains. Working, fighting, pushing, never stopping. Both men feeling the need to protect the group and their women. Daryl hoped Ashlyn was safe, knowing hope was almost useless.

TWDTWDTWD

" I'm sorry." Ashlyn whispered a second before she slicing the knife into Lori's stomach.

The pregnant woman threw her head back, burst into tears and screamed. Ashlyn's own cheeks became wet with tears as she cut. She opened Lori and cut into the uterus. She had to deliver the baby, had to save the child. She had promised. As she pulled the baby out, Lori's screams died down and she went limp. Maggie and Carl sobbed.

" It's a girl." Ashlyn breathed out as she worked quickly to clear the airways of the infant.

TWDTWDTWD

The group quickly took stock of who was still standing in the yard and who wasn't. T-Dog was dead, Carol was gone, leaving only her scarf behind. There was no sign of Maggie, Lori, Carl or Ashlyn. Rick was pacing, Daryl was pissed off. His arms were streaked with blood and sweat. He would find her, dead or alive. He put his hands on his hips. No one would touch her but him, if need be. If she was bitten, he would stay with her through the change then put her down, he decided.

Then the sound of a baby crying yanked Daryl's head up and made Rick turn. Maggie was coming out of an open door, holding a baby against her chest. Carl was pale and looked like he was in shock. Ashlyn...all the air left Daryl's lungs the second he saw her. His hands slipped from his hips. Her hands were covered in blood, clear up to her wrists. There was blood down her shirt and covering her jeans. Her pale, slender neck and face were dotted with the red life force. She was breathing hard and looked just as pale as Carl.

" Where is she?" Rick asked Maggie. With his eyes locked on his woman, Daryl and Ashlyn moved towards each other. Ashlyn was shaking her head.

" I had no choice." She was saying as her tears washed away the blood littering her face.

" Where is she!" Rick yelled. Ashlyn stopped walking and moved to cover her face with her hands as she started to cry harder. Daryl reached out and grabbed her wrists to stop her.

" Who's blood is this?" He asked. Ashlyn was staring at his chest and shaking her head as she cried and Rick screamed. " Who's blood is this?!" Daryl asked again, louder. He let his hands slide from her wrists to her elbows. He gave her shake which made her body jolt. " Woman!" Her eyes flew to his face. They were wide and almost wild looking.

" What?" She asked. Daryl felt his face soften at the sound of her quiet voice.

" Who's blood is that?" He asked gently.

" Lori's." She whispered. He closed his eyes as relief flooded his system. His shoulders dropped and he loosen his hold on her.

" Ain't yours or a walker's?" He asked.

" No." She whispered again. Daryl nodded and opened his eyes again.

" Stay here, alright?" He asked, dropping his hands from her. He hurried over to Beth who was watching Rick as he fell apart. " Beth, I need to take the doc in and clean her up. She's 'bout your size so I can take one of your shirts and a pair of pants?"

" Yeah, sure thing." The quiet girl said.

" Watch the boy. He just lost his mama." Daryl said.

" Okay." Beth said as she nodded and looked back to Carl.

Daryl returned to his doctor and took a hold of her elbow again. He pulled back her into the prison. Thankfully, her tears had slowed down. They hadn't stopped completely but they had slowed down. She was trying to slow her breathing down too but they were coming out in shuddering gasps. He could feel her body trembling while she tried to control herself.

Daryl pulled her closer to him while they hurried through the cell block the group slept in. He moved over to Beth and Hershel's cell. He was going to wash her hands and arms then make her change her clothes. He needed to hurry back to the group than and see what they needed for the baby. He was going to do what the baby needed him to do, get what it needed because he refused to lose anyone else.

Daryl's hand was warm against her skin. Ashlyn looked up at his face but he wasn't looking down at her. He looked angry but she couldn't tell if he was mad at her or not. He didn't speak as he pulled her into the cell and over to the sink. Ashlyn's chest contracted with her sobs. Lori's screams and cries echoed through her mind. Carl raising the gun up and firing kept flashing in front of her.

Daryl reached out and turned on the water as soon as they reached the sink. He thrust her hands under the cold water and started washing and working the blood off her. He rubbed against her skin, needing to see the blood off her. He hated how the red looked against the white of her hands. He rubbed hard, staring at their hands and knowing she was staring at him. He was forceful, he was strong. He forced her hands to open and worked his fingers through hers.

Daryl was frowning and couldn't stop. Her skin was so soft, the softest he has ever felt. She was clean but he wasn't ready to part from her. The blood had washed off easily but he couldn't seem to stop touching her hands and fingers. He was shocked at the difference between them. Her hands were so small he could completely enclose one in his hand, he could make her hand disappear inside his. Her skin was completely unlike his. He was rough and his palms had calluses on them. Hers were unbelievable soft and smooth.

Ashlyn cleared her throat.

" I'm clean." She whispered. Daryl jumped and looked at her. She was still staring up at him, her tears had completely stopped by than but her cheeks were streaked.

" What?" He asked.

" The blood on my hands, it's gone." Ashlyn said.

He looked down at their hands, still under the water. He reached up and turned the water off then pulled away from her. He turned his back and started looking for something to dry her off with. Seeing a towel sitting on a bag, he snatched it up then faced her again. He took a hold of her and started to dry her off. When he was sure her hands and wrists were dried, he put the towel under the water.

" Got blood on your face. Need to clean it off." Was all he muttered.

But instead of handing the towel to her and letting her do it, he took a hold of her chin and tilted her head up. Gently and carefully, Daryl started to dab at her face and cheeks with the towel. He refused to meet her eyes, she could tell. He wiped her forehead, around her temple and down her right cheek. He cleaned her chin, her left cheek, then, shockingly he did finally met her eyes.

Then everything sped up at once. He dropped the towel, grabbed the sides of her face with both hands and slammed his mouth against hers. His breath was leaving his body fast and hard. He pushed against her, forcing her to walk backwards and grab at his waist. His tongue moved into her mouth, dominating and controlling hers. Daryl plunged in and out of her mouth, twisting around her tongue so fast, Ashlyn could barely keep up with him.

As soon as the wall hit her back, Daryl hit her front. His hands dropped down to her ass. He hauled her up, keeping his mouth fused to hers. Her arms went around his neck as heat and lust burned through her like it never had before. Her legs wrapped around his waist. He pushed his hips forward, pressing his erection against her body. He squeezed her ass, wanting inside her more than anything.

" Daryl." Her voice brought him right back to himself. He yanked his head away from her to stare at her face. Her eyes were dark. Her eyelids were half closed and filled with lust...for him? Daryl dropped her straight to the ground and stumbled back. What was he doing? This wasn't the trash he was used too. He shook his head.

" Change your clothes." He said before he turned and hurried away, ignoring how she called out to him.