DISCLAIMER IN CHAPTER ONE.

Reviews:

Anissa: He's in this chapter:)

Hermioneandmarcus: Aw thank you! Here's the next chapter for you:)

Lunasky99: Aaaah nooo! I did wonder where you disappeared to! Welcome back to the land of the living haha! Blimey you caught up good, thank you for all your comments hehe. I think either Rick/Grace or Daryl/Grace, we shall see ;)

Enjoy everyone!

Chapter 12.

I didn't sleep all night – I just packed all my stuff up and shoved it into my bag after cleaning all the blood off my clothes and arms. I thought things couldn't get worse from the other night but today's incident pushed that out of the water and took over the space in my mind with horrible thoughts. As I stepped out the tent, the sun was once again rising and I saw the door of Rick's tent wide open – at first I thought nobody was in but as I crept closer I saw Rick and Lori snuggling up together as if nothing had happened. I was beginning to lose control over my feelings for Rick but recently, I have found myself… I wasn't even sure, but I didn't see him as a friend anymore, I felt closer to him and whenever I saw him smile at me or if he ever touched me… well he would leave an electric trail along my skin.

"What are you doin'?"

I practically jumped from my skin which caused me to stumble backwards into a bush as Daryl stood in front of me with a confused expression.

"Uh… Hey…"

I forced a smile and he extended a hand towards me, for a moment I just looked at him before I took his hand in mine and I was pulled from the shrubbery.

"I didn't mean to scare you."

"I know… I'm kinda on edge at the moment."

Daryl nodded and I watched him, his face was completely emotionless but his eyes – well his eyes were filled with sadness and anger, I guess he never found Merle.

"What happened in Atlanta Daryl?"

The redneck flicked his gaze up to me and he shifted his position, gripping the strap of his crossbow tightly.

"He wasn't on the roof… He chopped off his own hand to get away and I have no idea if he is still alive."

My jaw dropped a little as he spoke to me. I did feel bad but for Daryl, not for Merle – it must have been hard to find that out.

"Jeez… Daryl I'm so sorry I didn't—"

"Forget it, it don't matter now anyway."

I nodded slowly as I licked my lips, he is the same as me now – he has no family left and now he was left on his own.

"Well… If you ever need to talk—"

"Whatever."

Daryl walked away from me and I decided it would be better if I just stayed away from him, he probably blames me for his brother's disappearance and I should let him have some space. A few hours later, everyone was up and taking care of the walker's bodies, they were all stabbed in the head before being thrown onto a huge pile and burned – the only thing that needed to be done now was the issue with Andrea. Amy still hasn't turned and the group were beginning to wonder if she ever will.

"Grace… Uh…"

I glanced over at Rick who was pointing at his head, I mimed "What?" and he just rolled his eyes and walked over to me, pulling a leave from my hair.

"Oh… I get it now."

I felt a rush a heat rush to my cheeks and I guessed they were turning rather rosy.

"How the hell did you get that stuck in your hair?"

I glanced over Rick's shoulder and looked at Daryl but he was too busy talking to Mac and Bones to notice me.

"I uh… Fell in a bush."

Rick just blinked a few times before laughing at me.

"Yeah, laugh at my stupidness – you're a lovely person."

I shoved him and we both ended up laughing quietly to ourselves - that was until we noticed Andrea talking to Amy.

"Oh god…"

I slapped Rick's arm to get his attention and we both shut up instantly. Amy was slowly waking up and Andrea was whispering things to her, telling her how sorry she was. This was heart breaking to watch and I turned my body to face Rick, I couldn't watch and Rick knew why. After a few more minutes of whispering, a gunshot echoed through the valley and I flinched – squeezing my eyes shut before I glanced over at the two of them. I felt really sorry for her, she had to kill her own sister and that would be traumatising for anyone not just me.

"Andrea… We have to go..."

Shane spoke up for the group and Andrea stood up, wiping the tears away with her sleeve before walking past Dale and into the caravan. We were going to head towards the CDC to see if we can find any answers about the virus – everyone hoped that someone there would find a cure but I was a little bit harder to convince, if they had found a cure – people would have tried to save lives already but it's been weeks and nothing has been found out yet. I just wish the group didn't get their hopes up; it's only going to end in tears.

"You sure you want to ride your bike?"

Rick questioned my choice of transport and I shrugged, he was standing opposite me and I couldn't stop gazing into his pale blue eyes. For a moment I was lost in them but then I shook my head and focused my attention, I felt like a school girl.

"Well I don't have much of a choice anyway, there isn't any more room in the other cars and I'm not abandoning my bike, it will come in handy at some point."

The sheriff nodded slowly and rubbed the stubble that seemed to be growing quite quickly on his chin and jaw.

"I don't feel comfortable with you riding alone…"

At that point, as if he knew he would be needed Mac appeared by my side and I had to crank my neck to look at him.

"She won't be alone; I will be riding alongside her."

The sheriff glanced at Mac before leaving, he didn't even say anything to me he just… left. I sighed deeply before mounting my bike and kick starting it.

"You don't mind do you?"

Mac glanced at me and shook his head.

"Not at all, I wouldn't mind the company anyway – Bones can be a pain in the ass sometimes."

I smiled and chuckled softly, we were at the back of the group – all the cars and the caravan were ahead of us, we would only drive ahead if there was a problem. When we all started moving we left the quarry and got onto the highway, the journey shouldn't take too long – I hoped anyway, my ass would get pretty fucking numb.

"Mac…?"

We were driving pretty close so if we wanted to talk, we could hear each other from over the engines of the two bikes.

"Yeah?"

I bit my lip, the subject was a little bit sensitive and I had to be careful not to go into much detail.

"Hypothetically speaking… If you knew something that could ruin a certain persons relationship… and could really hurt the person, is it right to tell them or should I keep it a secret to protect them…?"

Mac raised an eyebrow at that; he obviously knew it wasn't a simple question so he took a little time to answer it.

"Well it depends on how good your relationship is with this person?"

I licked my lip and slowed down a little.

"Let's say we are really… really close."

Mac hummed and tapped his fingers on the handles of the bike.

"I would tell them, it's better to get it out of the way instead of being in the line of fire later on."

"I… I don't understand?"

Mac sighed and I glanced back at the road, making sure I wasn't going to unexpectedly crash into the back or T-Dogs truck.

"Well what if this person finds out by accident, if it was me I would prefer to find out to someone I was close to – it would make the blow that little bit easier."

Now I understood, he was right – I don't know why I didn't think about it before. Rick needed someone close to him to tell him, I don't know if I could watch Lori and Shane living a lie anymore, carrying on with their lives as if nothing happened between the pair of them. It had been clawing at my insides ever since I found out.

"So I should tell this person?"

Mac nodded and looked at me for a moment.

"What's this about Grace? What aren't you telling me?"

I forced a smile and shrugged.

"It's nothing, its hypothetical remember…"

"Right… Okay then…."

He knew something was wrong but I wasn't going to tell him, not until Rick knew – I will tell him as soon as we arrive at the CDC, at least then I could get him on his own and the weight off my shoulders would be lifted. We were driving for about a half hour before the caravan broke down, it was bound to happen at some point – Glenn was supposed to bring the van back to fix it but somehow that got 'misplaced' funny thing that. Mac and I drove past the cars and parked on the grass.

"What's happened now?"

Dale had his hands buried in the engine, I knew nothing about cars – I was more of a biker chick than a beetle girl and by the looks of things, this couldn't be easily fixed. Glenn and Andrea were talking and the rest of the group were starting to surround the caravan.

"How long will this take?"

Shane asked, he was obviously an impatient prick. I decided I was going to answer for Dale.

"As long as it fucking takes Shane, why don't you sit down and chill out as right now… You're just getting in the way."

Shane turned to me, his face was a picture and I didn't show any sign of backing down. Soon enough he would be begging Rick for forgiveness.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up?"

I stood up and took a step towards him, standing an inch away from him.

"You planning on making me?"

Shane licked his lips and clenched his hands into fists, at that point Rick was ready to step in and so were Mac and Daryl – nice to know I have backup.

"That's what I thought."

I rolled my eyes and walked away from him, taking a seat on the grass by my bike before checking my ammo. We were going to be here for a while, might as well get comfortable.