Sorry about taking forever with updating, I've just been busy with a lot of other stories, plots and other things

It was a bright beautiful day and everyone at Woodbury was having a wonderful picnic party, the children were playing and the adults were having conversation with each other. Milton brought some drinks to Andrea and Echo.

"Thank you" Andrea and Echo said.

"Cold drinks?" Andrea questioned when she grabbed the drinks.

"Haven't had one in a while" Echo said, taking a sip.

"Been running the freezers all day, not the most practical use of the generators to my mind" Milton said.

"It's kind of amazing" Andrea said.

"The Governor feels it's worth it"

"Well, to a great party"

Andrea, Echo and Milton clinked their cups together and continued to drink.

"Now if you can just drop me a hint about tonight" Andrea asked.

"Hmm, mere words cannot adequately describe the festivities ahead" Milton answered.

"Big words, they sound simple, yet not at all" Echo said.

"Those are some big words too" Milton said, laughing a little.

"You're not the only one with a big brain" Echo said, playfully patting Milton's head.

Back at the prison, everyone was wondering what was happening to Rick, he was still on the ground and he looked dazed, like he was in a different place.

"Rick" Daryl called out to the dazed man.

Rick was like that for a long time and everyone was getting worried, the baby kept crying and everyone was staring at Rick, wondering when he was going to come back to them.

"Hey, you with me, Rick" Daryl called again, waving a hand in front of his face. Maggie handed Carl the baby.

"Let me see the baby" Hershel asked.

"What're we gonna feed it?" Daryl asked, walking away from Rick, "Got anything a baby can eat?"

"The good news is she looks healthy, but she needs formula, and soon or she won't survive" Hershel said.

"No, no way, not her, we ain't loosing nobody else, I'm going for a run" Daryl said as he strapped his crossbow across his shoulders.

"I'll back you up" Maggie offered.

"I'll go too" Glenn said.

"Ok, I think I know where we're going" Daryl said, then kneeled down to Beth, who was holding a now quiet Sophia, "His dad isn't looking so hot"

"I'll watch out for him"

Daryl looked at Sophia, she stopped crying, but she just had a distant look in her eyes, it was almost the same look as Ricks. He gave a comforting squeeze on her shoulder and stood back up.

"You three get the fence; Glenn, Maggie, vamanos" Daryl said.

Rick suddenly stood up, walked over and picked up the axe he dropped and headed towards c block.

"Rick!" Maggie called out, but he ignored her.

"Get the gate, come on, we're gonna lose the light!" Daryl called out.

Axel, Oscar and Big Tiny soon headed to the fence and Glenn, Maggie and Daryl headed towards the cars.

"There's a Piggly Wiggly at eighty five" Glenn informed.

"No the baby station's been cleared" Maggie said, "Lori asked me to keep an eye out, haven't had much luck"

"Isn't there any place that hasn't been looted?" Daryl questioned.

"Yeah, we saw signs of a shopping center north of here" Glenn informed.

"Yeah, but there's too much to bring on the road, the car will never get through there" Maggie said.

"I can take one of you" Daryl said.

"I'll go" Maggie said.

"No Maggie, after everything you've been through, I'll go" Glenn offered.

"I wanna go; for Lori, I have to" Maggie said.

"Ok" Glenn said, reaching into the car and handed Maggie the bag, "I love you, be safe"

Maggie and Glenn kissed before Maggie walked over to Daryl and hopped on his bike and they drove off.

Everyone was soon gathered around the building and The Governor was standing on the porch.

"All right, hey!" The Governor called out and everyone was quieting down, "The first time we gathered there was nine of us holed up in an apartment, with spam and saltine crackers; well look at us now, we built a place we can call home, may be held together with duct tape and string, but it works, it's ours, I'll take it. So today, we celebrate how far we've come; we remembered those we lost, and we raise a glass, to us!"

Everyone cheered and clapped.

"Hey, where's Michonne?" Echo asked, looking around once everyone departed.

"I don't know, you know how she is" Andrea answered.

"Yeah, but you can't help but wonder or worry"

"I guess that's true"

Andrea and Echo continued to walk around, talking to a few of the residents. After some time, Merle approached them.

"Andrea, The Governor wants to speak to you, it's urgent" Merle informed.

"I'm coming too" Echo said.

"He only wants Andrea scrawny" Merle said.

"She'll wait outside the door" Andrea said.

They all soon walked towards The Governor's office and Echo and Merle waited outside, Echo sat on one of the benches and started to mess with the string on her hoodie.

"So how did you end up with the group scrawny?" Merle asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Echo questioned, not looking at him and continued to mess with the string.

Things were quiet again before Echo sighed.

"I saved Sophia when she got chased away from the group by walkers, I shot one that was about to bite her"

"Wow, you saved the little girl and they still left you behind" Merle mocked.

Echo finally looked at Merle and she had just a blank look, there was no kind of emotions in her eyes.

"I don't really care if they left me by choice or not, but I'm still worried about them"

"Well aren't you just a sweetheart" Merle mocked again.

"You're still worried about your brother, I heard Andrea gave you a few helpful hints on where you could find them, we're not that different"

"I don't really care about those pricks, he and I are kin, they don't really care about us"

"Daryl's Rick's right-hand man now, Shane was having some… issues, he's become a reliable assist to the group, so everyone looks to him when Rick isn't available"

Things were quiet between them again, but then Echo spoke again.

"You really chopped your own hand off?"

"You saw it didn't you"

"Yeah, I was a little startled, you're a real hardcore guy, but I expected that"

"And that's supposed to mean?"

"I knew from the moment we met that you were a tough guy, but when I found out that you were Daryl's brother, it came together; didn't even know he had a brother"

"Well you'd be surprised if he told you more things about himself"

"He's not one to talk much about himself unless he wanted to"

"You think you know everything don't you?"

"No, I'm not the all seeing God, but I learned a trick to actually know what a person feels, no matter how much they try to hide it"

"And what do you see right now, in me, The Governor"

"I see hostility, demons, scary things really; I'll miss the residents, but I sure as hell won't miss a damn thing about you"

Merle stood threateningly and so did Echo, but Andrea came out before anything else happened and she saw what was about to happen.

"Let's go" Andrea said, grabbing Echo's hand and lead them back to their apartment. When they arrived to their room, they saw that Michonne was packing their things.

"We got to talk" Andrea said.

"We got to go" Michonne said.

"The Governor told me what happened" Andrea began.

"And yet I have no idea what's going on, but I'm on Michonne's side" Echo said.

"Michonne, you can't do things like this, you're freaking people out, you're freaking me out" Andrea said.

"The northeast wall is guarded by some girl, we can escape there after dark" Michonne informed and handed Andrea a bag.

"We are not prisoners here" Andrea said as she placed that bag back down.

"No one who comes here leaves"

"What are you talking about?" Andrea and Echo said at the same time.

"It's safe" Andrea said, "There's food, there's shelter, there's people for God's sake"

"That's what they show you, but you can't leave unless they make you"

"You are not making any sense, maybe you need to sit for a minute"

"You need to trust me"

"And you need to give me more to go on, we got a good thing going here"

"I thought this was temporary"

"And I think we need this, I want to give this place a real shot"

"I tried"

"Breaking into houses, that is not trying, that is sabotaging, Echo is behaving more well than you"

"This place is not what they say it is"

Michonne handed Echo her machete that she took from The Governor's house as well. They soon packed everything and Andrea reluctantly went along as well. They were soon half way to the gates.

"Hey, hey, hey girls, where are y'all off to in such a hurry?" Merle called out, then stood up from his chair and walked towards them.

Andrea stopped to look back, but Michonne grabbed her and continued to push her towards the gate.

"Hey, come on now, you're breaking my heart running away like that" Merle said.

"Then you must have had your heart broken thousands of times" Echo muttered.

"We're leaving" Michonne said.

"It's almost curfew, I have to arrange an escort; I mean the party's still going on" The women were quiet. "All right, wait here a second" Merle said and headed towards the gate to talk to Martinez.

Andrea walked towards Merle, "The Governor told us we were free to come and go whenever we wanted"

"Sweetheart, nothing personal here, but you're gonna have to stand back" Merle said.

Andrea gave him a look, but walked back to the others.

"See, there's always a reason why we can't leave yet" Michonne said. Andrea was quiet for a bit.

"Clear!" a voice called out and the women turned towards the gate.

"Now if I was y'all, I'd find some shelter before nightfall" Merle advised.

Michonne looked like she was surprised as Merle unlocked the gates and opened it up.

"They knew we were coming" Michonne said, "This was all for show"

"Do you hear yourself, how can you know that and why would they bother?" Andrea questioned.

"Ladies!" Merle called out.

"Close the gates" Andrea said.

"No!" Michonne protested.

"I practically begged The Governor to let you stay"

"I didn't ask for that"

"You didn't have to, that's what friends do for each other"

"Goes both ways"

"So you want to run around out there with walkers on chains eating twigs, is that right?"

"We held our own"

"Eight months, eight months on the road, moving place to place, scavenging, living in a meat locker, that was no life; I'm tired, I'm tired, I don't have another eight months in me, not like that, and you" Andrea sighed.

"What about me?"

"I'm afraid you're gonna disappear, you and Echo; we always talked about this place didn't we, a refuge, that idea's what kept us going"

Things were quiet between everyone for a while.

"Are you coming or not?" Michonne questioned.

"Don't do this" Andrea pleaded, "Don't give me an ultimatum, not after everything"

"Are you coming or not?"

Andrea didn't say anything, she looked confused and troubled, and that seemed to be Michonne's answer.

"You just slowed me down anyway" Michonne said as she passed Andrea and towards the gate.

Echo looked between Andrea and Michonne, not sure what she should do, but she knew what she had to do, so she began to catch up to Michonne, but Andrea grabbed her arm.

"Don't go, not you too" Andrea pleaded.

"I'm sorry Andrea, but it's safer out there than in here" Echo said, then she looked at Merle, "It feels like something is pressed to my throat and if I make a wrong move, it's the end, and I feel like I have to keep an eye open every night"

"It's not like that, it's safe here"

"…I'm sorry Andrea, I hope we can meet again" Echo said, getting her hand out of Andrea's grip.

Echo turned to give Andrea a hug, and then she turned away, pulled her hood up and walked out of the gate, catching up with Michonne. Merle closed the gate as Andrea got closer and she looked through the crack as they walked away.

"Why're you following me, I thought you wanted to find your group?" Michonne questioned.

"I do, I just thought I'd see you off when we head to the coast, but if the coast isn't safe, you can come with me to find my group, they're really nice people, you'll fit right in" Echo said.

Things were quiet again between the two for a long while.

"I know you didn't mean that" Echo spoke.

"Mean what?" Michonne questioned.

"That Andrea was slowing you down"

"How would you know if I meant it or not?"

"Because if you wanted to leave so badly, you would have left on your own, but you were persistent on getting Andrea to join us"

"…You're sharp, I'll give you that"

"You're not the only one who can see through people" Echo said with a smile. Michonne smiled back and they continued to walk.

It got dark and Glenn was standing at the guard tower, waiting for Daryl and Maggie to return. Glenn then started to hear an engine, and then he saw headlights.

"Guys they're back!"

Axel, Oscar and Big Tiny began to make some noise so that they could lead the walkers at the front gate away. Glenn shot at two walkers as they got closer, then Big Tiny opened the gates up for them. Maggie and Daryl soon made it inside, where everyone was gathered and the baby was still crying. Maggie and Beth began to prepare the formula and Daryl took the baby into his arms. Once they were done with the formula, Beth handed Daryl the bottle and he began to feed the baby. The baby soon stopped crying and drank the formula; everyone was happy and relieved that the baby was being fed now.

"She got a name yet?" Daryl asked.

"Not yet, but, I was thinking maybe Carol, then there's Andrea, Echo, Amy, Jacqui, Patricia or… Lori" Carl suggested.

"You like that, huh, lil' ass-kicker" Daryl said and everyone laughed.

After that, everyone headed off to bed after a rough day, Daryl noticed that Sophia was still the same on the way to the perch, he knew she was depressed since Echo disappeared, but now her world must have crumbled after she lost her mom. What could he do after she lost her family?