I'd like to take a moment to thank Mrs. Alexandra-Hale, FanFicGirl10, and Emberka-2012 for being the most loyal reviewers a girl could have! I absolutely love getting your feedback :) Please enjoy the new chapter, everyone!

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They were almost four hours into the shooting lesson. Addison loaded a full magazine into the gun, the motion practically automatic now. She cocked the gun and then exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. An explosion of bark burst out from a skinny tree trunk, just right of center.

"Better," Daryl approved from behind her. "You learn quick."

Addison ducked her head and smiled at his praise. It had been difficult to earn.

The first hour, she could feel his frustration with her grow and grow until he had finally snapped, yanking the gun out of her hand and emptying the magazine into the tree she had been trying to hit, dead center.

"How hard is that?" he had shouted, thrusting the gun and a new magazine into her hands.

"We can't all be naturals, Daryl!" Addison had shouted back, shoving the new ammo in. "Why do I even need to learn this? I'm better with a knife," she added, her irritation and frustration getting the better of her.

Daryl's eyes narrowed. "Because we need you to," he hissed. "If there's another herd like that, the more people able to shoot, the better chance we got to survive. And the way you shoot is a waste of ammo."

Addison pointed to the tree. "Right, because that wasn't a waste." She saw Daryl's arm tense and was sure he would haul off and punch her. She took a deep breath and tried a different tactic. "Look, I'm trying, okay? I want to be better at this," she said gently. "I want to be an asset to the group. It's just gonna take time. I get that it's frustrating to someone who's as good as you. Some of us just aren't as good at 'point and shoot' as others."

Daryl ran a hand over his face. "Come 'ere." Addison hesitated for a second before going to him. He turned her around to face the tree. He adjusted the angle of her shoulders. "Square up to your target. Makes it easier. Now, bring the gun up." She did as he said and his hand reached out to cover hers, his chest pressing against her back. She could feel his strong, steady heartbeat against her shoulder blade. She had had to bite her lip in an effort to focus on the lesson. "Put your other hand underneath here," Daryl instructed, reaching around to position her free hand under the one holding the gun. Addison could feel her cheeks burning, and she hoped Daryl wouldn't notice how embarrassingly red they were. "Now," he said in her ear, "instead of just pullin' the trigger, squeeze it."

"Aren't those the same thing?" Addison wondered.

Daryl shook his head and his chin bumped into the side of Addison's head. "Pullin' jerks the gun too much and you'll miss your target. Squeezin' is slower and gives you more control."

"Got it," Addison nodded. At that, Daryl pulled away, and despite the rising afternoon temperature, she felt a chill run down her spine. She took a deep breath to refocus herself and looked down the barrel at the tree. As she exhaled, she squeezed. The bullet skimmed the left side of the tree, shooting forth a small shower of bark splinters.

"Again," Daryl said from behind her.

And three hours later, she had only missed a couple times at the furthest trees.

Addison rolled her shoulders a few times to work out the tense muscles. The sun had passed its peak, and although it wasn't as hot as it had been the previous week, Addison could feel her shirt sticking to her back. She looked over at Daryl, who was absently playing with the crossbow's strap on his shoulder, and was a bit miffed to see that he didn't seem to be even a bit uncomfortable. Granted, he hadn't had the pressure of hitting targets on him for the past four hours.

When he noticed her looking, he stopped fiddling with the strap and surveyed the group of damaged trees. "I think we've gotten pretty far for one day. Let's head back." Addison nodded in agreement and he went to retrieve the bags. Addison flicked the safety on and tucked the gun in her back pocket as she waited for Daryl.

"Shit!"

Addison whipped around and saw Daryl swinging the crossbow off his shoulder. A Walker had appeared out of nowhere, no doubt drawn to them by the four hours of gunfire. It could already smell them and was picking up speed, only about thirty feet from Daryl.

Before she was even conscious of it, the gun was in her hand, leveled at the Walker. "Duck!" she shouted, and Daryl dropped automatically. Next thing she knew, Addison was staring over the barrel of the gun that was pointing at the empty space where the Walker had stood. She ran forward past Daryl, who made a grab for her that she twisted away from. Ten feet from the Walker, Addison slowed, bringing the gun up again. As she got closer, Addison saw the bullet hole that pierced the Walker's left brow.

Then Daryl was pulling her back behind him. When he saw there was no immediate danger, he took a closer look at the body. "Holy shit," he said.

"Did I pass the class?" Addison asked, unable to keep the satisfaction out of her voice.

"Pretty near. Wouldn't hurt to practice a few more times though. You probably just got lucky," he smirked.

"Pfft, you'd've been a chew toy if it hadn't been for my skill," Addison countered, grinning widely.

Daryl shook his head, his smirk turning into a grin of his own. "Whatever." He pushed her forward, away from the Walker and towards their bags. Addison could barely contain the silly urge to skip down the path all the way back to the car.

…

During dinner, Addison noticed how relaxed the atmosphere was. This house practically radiated a feeling of safety. People were smiling over their canned dinners as they talked. While she and Daryl had been out, the cushions and chairs in the sunroom had been beaten free of dust, so dinner was held in soft comfort, something that was a luxury now. Curled up on the floor, leaning against the couch, Addison closed her eyes. For a moment, she could almost believe that the end of the world had never happened.

A knee nudged her shoulder. Addison opened her eyes and looked up to see Daryl giving her a questioning look. "You okay?" he asked quietly. Addison smiled and nodded. Satisfied with that, Daryl turned back to listening to the conversation between Rick and T-Dog about setting up a watch. T-Dog volunteered and Rick nodded.

Slowly, the room began to empty as the group retired to their rooms. Addison was one of the last left, with Daryl and T-Dog. Two battery-powered lanterns lit up the sunroom. Rick had decided that all blinds and curtains should be shut at nightfall to keep the lights from drawing any unwanted attention, despite how secluded they were. When Addison yawned for the fifth time in two minutes, she decided to call it a night. She waved goodnight to the men and made her way through the dark house and up the stairs to her room with a flashlight. In the dim light, she stripped down to her tank top and changed her jeans for a pair of frayed boys' basketball shorts, pilfered from a Wal-Mart at the beginning of the end. She crawled into her sleeping bag and turned off the flashlight.

…

It was dark. Addison could barely see her hand in front of her face. The hall seemed to stretch on forever, but that was probably because she was going so slowly, her hand keeping contact with the wall to her left. She finally reached the staircase and was three steps down when she heard a clatter of cans from the kitchen. It sounded like someone had knocked several of the empty ones to the floor. She descended the rest of the stairs, wishing she had thought to grab the flashlight. She hadn't thought it would be so dark.

Addison finally found the entrance to the kitchen and felt her way along the counter. She accidentally kicked the pile of cans that had been knocked over, making herself jump. She took a moment to calm down. There was a thump from the sunroom.

"T-Dog?" Addison called out softly. There was no response. As she walked carefully through the dining room, she could hear heavy breathing from the sunroom. She wondered if T-Dog had fallen asleep in there, but corrected herself, knowing he was more responsible than that. It was still dark as pitch in the sunroom, so Addison felt her way to the wall-window and grabbed the curtain, pulling it open to allow the moonlight in.

The Walker sensed her before she saw it, and lunged over the coffee table, growling savagely. Addison cried out in shock and fumbled for the gun at her hip. She swung it up as the Walker fell on her. Pushing at the rotting body with her feet to keep it away, Addison pulled the trigger. A choked click. The gun was jammed. The Walker clawed at her face, missing by inches, and she mustered her strength and shoved with her legs, propelling the Walker back over the coffee table with a sickening thud. Unfazed, it got back up, advancing once again. Addison tried cocking the gun and pulled the trigger again. Another choked click. It was no use. Addison sprang up and turned to ran toward the library on the other side of the sunroom.

Another Walker appeared. She was cornered.

The new Walker forced her back. Its face became lit by a shaft of moonlight. Will's jaws gnashed hungrily at her.

Addison screamed.

Hands were grabbing her, and she struggled with everything she had to fight them off.

"Addison!"

Her eyes snapped open.

She was in her room, on her bed. There were still hands on her arms, but they belonged to Daryl, who was standing over her. His crossbow was on the end of the bed. Addison took several deep, shaky breaths and pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"Nightmare," she groaned, rubbing her face with a hand.

"Some nightmare. Your screamin' woke up the whole house," Daryl said. "What was it about?"

Addison looked down at her hands in her lap. "Will," she whispered.

Daryl sighed. "That's all over," he told her. "You got nothin' to worry about."

"I thought the lessons would help," she said quietly. "Like if I knew how to use a gun… I don't know. Didn't work, obviously."

"Just give it time," Daryl said. "You okay now?" Addison bit her lip. She knew it was a nightmare, as vivid as it had been. Nothing could happen to her. She opened her mouth to tell him she was okay.

"Could you stay tonight?"

Daryl looked as taken aback at the request as Addison felt once it slipped out. Addison prepared herself for his 'no', but was surprised when he nodded. He pulled the desk chair up to the foot of the bed, next to his crossbow. "Get some sleep now," he said, grabbing his bow and setting it in his lap. She lay back down, pulling the sleeping bag up to her chin. In the dim light of the moon that shone through the window above the bed, she could see Daryl, appearing as if he was standing guard over her, keeping the nightmares at bay with that crossbow of his.

From the first time they had met, she realized, this man had been protecting her. Most of the time, he was protecting the entire group as well, but that still included her. She had a feeling that if he really didn't care to, she could have easily been Walker food by now. But recently, he seemed to be putting more effort into keeping her safe – just her, not the whole group. It started after the Walker attack, after she killed Will. He was the one that came into her room to see if she was okay and to listen to her story. Then he had been the one to suggest shooting lessons and even offered to teach her himself when they both knew Rick was more than qualified to do so. Even by teaching her to shoot, he was protecting her. And then tonight. He was the one that had come into the room, though she had apparently woken everyone. He came with his crossbow, fully prepared to fight off what he probably had thought was a Walker that had somehow gotten in. Now he was sitting there, protecting her from her own nightmares. She knew she was probably reading into his actions too much, but…

There was a funny feeling starting in her stomach. The more she thought about Daryl, the stronger it became. She could feel her cheeks beginning to grow hot and ducked her head further into the sleeping bag, certain that even in the dark, her flushed face could be seen. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it was no use; she had the thought and now it was stuck in her head.

I like Daryl Dixon.

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I'm so sorry for the inexcusable lateness of this chapter. I've had the worst writer's block on the face of the planet. This chapter might not have been that great, and that'd be because I had to force a lot of it.. Please let me know what you thought! Love.