As soon as we got back to the room, I took my brace off and threw it on the floor. "I ain't never wearin' that darn thang again!" I stomped over to the couch and sat down with my arms crossed. Daryl was watching me carefully.

"What the hell is yer problem?" He finally spoke. "Leann, talk to me. You was fine then all of a sudden ya got all upset." He sat next to me. "What happened?" My brother pushed my hair back. I wasn't sure if I should tell him about what that girl said about me, but I knew he wouldn't give it up until I did, so I told him.

"That girl called me a freak cuz 'a my brace and missin' finger." I said without looking at him.

"What girl?"

"The one I said was a skanky bitch."

"Oh." My brother switched positions. "Well, what do ya care what she thinks fer?"

"Cuz."

"Cuz why?"

I sighed then turned towards him. "Cuz I care about what everyone thanks 'a me. I always did."

"Well, ya shouldn't." He put his arm around me. "You ain't a freak."

"Yer just sayin' that cuz yer my brother, but I bet if ya didn't know me you'd thank the same thang."

"No." He cleared his throat. "But ya know what I would thank?" I looked at him waiting for his answer. "I'd say, wow look at that little girl," he pulled me closer to him almost making me laugh, "ain't she a little cutie." He squeezed me tightly and kissed my cheek. I gave in and giggled. "Now, no more 'a this freak talk." He stood up. "And by the way, ya have to wear yer brace. Ya ain't ready to have it off yet."

I thought for a minute. "Okay. But when we're here not doin' nothin' I'm keepin' it off."

"Deal." Daryl smirked at me. "Now, if ya shut up…I got a surprise fer ya." He went over to a cabinet and got something out. I perked up a little and waited to see what it was. He pulled out two bottles of wine. I gasped.

"Where'd ya get 'em?" I said excitedly.

"That dumb broad brought it with our supplies. I didn't say nothin' to ya cuz I wanted it to be a surprise. Figured we'd save 'em fer later." He got out two glasses. "Ya want some?"

"Yeah!" I jumped up happily. He grabbed me one and we clinked glasses.

"This is to you, little one." Daryl said. "You convinced them people to let us in. That was real smart 'a ya. Good thankin'."

I grinned widely. "Well, also to you cuz we wouldn't 'a made it as far without ya."

"All right. To us then."

I smiled and took the first sip of my wine. I grimaced, it was dry. I don't like dry wine. I'll just drink it real slow, I guess. I sat the glass down on the table and suddenly thought of an idea. "Can we play a game?" I said with such enthusiasm.

"What kinda game?" My brother gave me an amused look.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "A drinkin' game maybe. Do ya know any?"

"Baby, ya know me. I ain't never needed a game to get lit before."

"So, ya never played a drinkin' game before? Not even beer pong?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Who'd you play beer pong with?"

"Ma friends back at Hampton Lake." I answered nonchalantly.

"Oh, right." He raised his eyebrows. "Yer "friends"."

I blinked a few times at him. "Why'd ya say it like that?"

He took a big gulp of his wine then said, "cuz they let ya do meth. They weren't real friends."

"Well, actually, that was Jay that gave me the stuff. What's her name didn't want me to." I heard my brother laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You are." He answered. "Cuz yer sayin' they're yer friends then ya called one of 'em 'what's her name'."

"Oh." I smirked. "I didn't feel like thankin'."

"All right." He raised his eyebrows. "Ya like yer wine?"

I stared at the glass. "…not really. It's dry."

"It ain't good, is it?"

"Mm mmm." I scrunched my nose up. "That's why I wanted to play a drinkin' game so it'd be easier to drank."

My brother sighed. "All right. Let's play somethin'."

"Yeah, but what?"

"Well, there is one I know. Beth taught me." My brother sounded a little nervous. I was definitely curious now. "We played after the prison attack, ya know? We got out together." He cleared his throat. "It's called Never Have I Ever."

"Oh! I know that game! I only played a couple times, though." I switched my position on the couch. "You played with Beth?" He nodded. Now I was jealous. Just like he was when I told him Merle and I drank together. "Okay, let's play."

"One quick game." My brother said. "You wanna start?"

"Sure. Lemme thank 'a somethin' real quick." I thought for a moment. "I never…been drunk with you." I grinned widely.

"…really? That's what ya came up with?" He raised his eyes at me. I nodded. "Well, now I guess ya gotta take a drink cuz I never got drunk with ya either."

"Aw man!" I said and took a small sip. "I suck at this game already."

Daryl chuckled. "All right. It's my turn." He looked like he was thinking then stopped and smirked at me. "I never got bit by a raccoon."

I scowled at him then picked up my glass to take a drink. He laughed at me. "I never got shot!" I mocked him.

"Oh, so that's how we're playin', huh? Okay, okay." He took a sip of his wine, I smirked. "All right. I never got bit by a walker neither."

My mouth gaped open. "Hey, yer the one that wanted to play dirty." My brother said. I huffed and took a sip.

"I never spanked anyone." I said angrily.

My brother laughed out loud. "Oh man, kid. Ya crack me up. Really." He took a sip. "I never got spanked by my brother." He smirked.

"Hey, no fair! That's a repeat!"

"No, it ain't. Two completely different sentences." He laughed.

"Fine!" I angrily took a sip while Daryl laughed at me. "I never…" I trailed off because when I looked up at Daryl, there were two of him for a brief second. I must be getting tipsy. I started laughing pretty hard.

"What? You ain't drunk already, are ya?" My brother let out a small laugh.

"No, but I'm tipsy." I laughed.

He snorted. "Light weight."

"Okay, okay." I tried to stop laughing. "I never…had a job."

"That's a different one." Daryl said and tapped my nose. He gulped the rest of his wine down. "I never sang in front of a crowd of people."

I grinned widely even though I had to take a drink. I remembered the first time I did that, it was fun. I finished my wine. Daryl poured both of us a refill. "I never went on a date."

My brother thought for a minute. "Mmm…yeah, I guess." He took a sip. "I never…got nothin' fer Christmas."

I stared at him for a minute. "Neither did I."

"Yes, ya did. I got ya that paint set, 'member?"

"Nah uh." I shook my head. "That was a birthday present!"

Daryl looked like he was thinking. "Shit. Yer right."

"Ha! Drink up!" I laughed.

"Yeah, yeah." He took a big gulp. "How's this game supposed to end?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Yer the one that suggested it.

"Yeah, but…we never finished the game." My brother had a strange look on his face. It almost looked like guilt. I was confused and a little curious.

"Why didn't ya finish it?"

He was chewing on his thumb nail. "We got in a argument."

"Oh." I blinked. "Why?"

"We playin' Twenty Questions or Never Have I Ever?"

I giggled. "Okay, well…let's just say whoever finishes their glass first is the loser."

"All right. Who's turn is it? Mine?"

"No, it's my turn. The last one said was the Christmas present one."

"Oh yeah. All right, go on."

I thought long and hard for my next answer. I was trying to dig deeper and find out more things about my brother that I never knew before. I thought about things I did at those parties back at Hampton Lake. For some reason, Jay came up. Then I had another thought. "I never…had sex." I blurted it out. "Well…willingly, I mean." I laughed nervously. My brother just stared at me. I blinked. "Ain't ya gonna take a drink?" He didn't say anything, just cleared his throat. He looked kind of nervous. I gasped. "Wait, yer a virgin?"

He hesitated. "…no, I ain't a virgin."

I blinked. "Then why ain't ya drinkin'?"

"…just didn't expect ya to say that." He grabbed his glass and drank it down. "All right. I lose. Let's do somethin' else."

Daryl and I played cards for a long time. I lost track after a while of who won the most games. It's okay, though. We can say we just played for fun. We also finished both bottles of wine. I was definitely drunk even though Daryl drank way more than me. I laid on the couch practically asleep.

"Don't tell me yer goin' to sleep already?" Daryl said.

"No. I'm just layin' here." I laughed.

"You drunk?"

"Yeah." I giggled.

"Good. Ya got drunk with Merle, now ya got drunk with me."

"Yeah, but I also smoked weed with Merle. Are we gonna smoke, too?"

"No, ma'am." My brother said roughly. "Yer never doin' any drug again so don't even thank of it. Ya hear me?"

"Mhmm." I nodded with my face in the pillow.

I heard my brother chuckle. "All right. I gotta take a piss."

"Me too." I slowly got up. I stumbled a little but Daryl caught me.

Daryl helped me get to the bathroom. He made sure I was okay before closing the door. I did my business then all of a sudden, my stomach felt sick. I hurriedly switched positions and puked into the toilet. I felt better.

I walked outside, Daryl was waiting for me in the hallway. "Ya okay?" He asked me. "Did ya throw up?"

"Only once." I said.

"Great. I didn't want ya to get sick."

I ain't. I feel better." I giggled.

He sighed. "I'm a horrible big brother right now."

"Don't say that. Yer the best." I laughed then stumbled a little. "Whoa." Daryl caught me and threw me over his shoulder. "I'm bein' carried." I laughed.

"Yeah, ya are." My brother patted my back. He carried me back to the main room like that then laid me on the couch. "I want ya to drink some water, baby."

"I told ya, I ain't sick." I laid on the couch.

"I don't care. Drank." He handed me a glass of water. I took a sip, it was nice and cold. I drank it down. "Good girl." My brother said. I laid back down and almost dozed off. "I didn't go to the bathroom yet. I'll be right back."

I nodded.

"Okay. Don't go nowhere. I'll be right back." I heard my brother leave and close the door. It was real quiet. I slowly got up and made my way into our bedroom. I kicked my shoes and shorts off then got into to bed snuggling under the covers. I picked the bed on the right side. It was actually pretty comfy. I heard the bathroom door open then footsteps and knew Daryl was there. I listened to his footsteps enter the room. "Hey? You goin' to sleep?"

I looked at him sleepily and nodded. "Are you?"

"Yeah, in a minute." He said walking over to me. "Ya feel sick?" He pushed my hair back.

"No. Just tired."

"Okay. Come'er." He leaned closer and hugged me, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Yer cute when yer sleepy." His kissed the corner of my mouth a few times making me giggle. "All right, sleepyhead. Get to sleep." I snuggled under the covers and got comfortable.

"Goodnight." I said to my brother.

"Night, sweetheart."

I awoke the next day with a pretty bad headache. Daryl wasn't in his bed so I figured he got up already. I slowly got out of bed and made my way into the other room. My brother was sitting at the table in the kitchen. I walked over to him but didn't say anything. He finally noticed me. "Hey, sleepyhead. Ya feelin' okay?"

"Yeah, but my head kinda hurts." I stated. "Do we have any Aleve or anythang?"

"I think there's some in that crate that woman brought over, but you ain't takin' nothin' until ya eat somethin'."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll go down to the cafe and get somethin' there." I turned away. "Ya comin'?"

"Nah, I ate already. You can go."

I blinked at him in disbelief. "Ya mean, yer really lettin' me go somewhere by myself?"

"Yeah, just don't be too long."

"Okay. I won't."

"But, uh…ya might wanna put some pants on first."

I looked down and gasped. "Oh my God!" I ran into the bedroom as quickly as possible. I could hear my brother laughing at me. Not a good start to the morning.

I sat at a table by myself eating pancakes and orange juice. It was the artificially made crap, but it wasn't that bad. While glancing around, I saw Chad looking at me. I hurriedly looked away hoping he didn't see me notice him, but he must have because he started walking over to me. "Hey." He said.

"Hey." I answered without looking at him.

"You here alone today?"

"…yup. Just me." I still hadn't looked at him.

He seemed hesitant. "…so, I was thinking…ya wanna do something later? I could introduce you to some people and we could just…hang." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't thank so." I finally looked at him. He looked confused by my answer. I ignored it and got up to empty my tray. I didn't notice that he followed me.

"What's wrong? Ya seem mad at me? Was it something I said?"

"…not what you said." I answered roughly.

"W-what do you mean?"

I spun around and looked at him. "That girl, Summer or whoever, called me a freak yesterday."

Chad blinked. "Okay, I'm sorry but what does that have to do with me?"

"Cuz if she's like that then there's probably others, too. And I don't wanna be around it."

"No. We're not like that. That's just Summer…and her two followers. Trust me. There's some really good people here. You just gotta give them a chance."

I sighed. "I don't know."

"You should come with me tonight."

"Why?"

"Because I think you'll have fun. And because I think you're really cute."

My face flushed immediately, I tried to hide it by turning away from him. "I'll think about it, okay?"

He smiled then nodded. "All right. If you decide to come, meet me by the gym."

"Whatever." I said and walked away.

"That was fast." My brother said when I walked in the door.

"Really? I thought I was down there for a while."

"Fifteen minutes."

I smirked. "You would know. What'd you time me?"

"Yeah, cuz if ya weren't back in an hour, I'd come lookin' fer ya." I let out a small laugh then sat next to him on the couch. "I got ya some Advil fer yer head." Daryl said. I held out my hand. "Open." He said. I rolled my eyes then opened my mouth, he put them in and I swallowed them with the glass of water on the coffee table.

"So, that kid I met yesterday, he was there again and he asked me to hangout with him tonight." I said after some time.

"Really?" My brother had a strange look on his face. "You goin'?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. I guess I could. I mean…what else I gotta do?"

"You could stay 'ere with me."

I let out a small laugh. "Yeah, but…we got the rest of our lives to spend with each other."

"No, we don't." He looked at me. "One day, yer gonna meet some bastard and run off with 'im."

"Daryl…I wouldn't leave ya fer anyone."

"Ya say that now, sure, but I can see it. And since ya don't need me no more."

"Why would ya say that?"

"You say it all the time. Askin' me when I'm gonna stop bein' so overprotective."

"Geez, yer grumpy today." I giggled.

"Ain't I always?"

I just gave him a sideways smile. "Sorry." He finally said. "I just…yer my baby sister and I ain't ever gonna stop worryin' about ya."

"I know." I hugged him. "And that's okay."

"It's like ya grew up overnight. Stop it." He hugged me tightly back.

I giggled. "I'm gonna go take a shower." I said and got up. "Feel free to guard the door from perverted men." I laughed.

He gave me a small smile. "Nah, I thank ya can handle it."

I left the room and gathered up the supplies I needed then went back out. I was about to walk out the door but stopped and turn back around. "And fer the record, I'll always need ya." I smiled. He gave me a small smile back.