AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.

Happy New Year's to everyone!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"If he comes here," Michonne said, "then he's not coming alone and he's not coming to have a chat."

"And who the hell's gonna handle him if we go there?" Merle spat. "We won't get in the fuckin' walls before someone snipes our asses and makes him out to be a damn hero for it."

"They can't snipe me if they can't see me," Michonne said. "We're not walking up to the gates and knocking like the Avon lady."

Daryl snorted and sat back a little more against the wall that was supporting him.

Merle had agreed to work with Michonne with less trouble than Daryl had actually thought it might take to convince him. The fact that they had a common enemy seemed to make a world of difference on Merle's views. He didn't want the Governor coming there any more than she did, and he wanted the man dead every bit as much as she did. Both agreed that they could never live in any kind of peace as long as the man was alive. It would always feel like he was just over their shoulders.

They would work together because they were working toward a common goal.

And now the three of them were "meeting" in one of the empty cells in a virtually unused portion of the prison. Daryl and the others had cleared it out when they were making a space for some prisoners who had met, one way or another, an unfortunate and early end, but since then the space had simply sat there empty and haunted with the ghosts of the prisoners and cops that had died in the place.

They didn't want to meet anywhere close to Rick and "his group" because they had a pretty good inclination that he wasn't going to be on their side at any rate.

Daryl could say, pretty confidently, that Rick had never been entirely reliable as a leader. He'd always had a clear dedication, even while saying that everything he did was for the good of the group, to looking out for "his" first and everyone else later.

Daryl could also say that things had definitely taken a turn for the worse since Rick's wife had died giving birth to the baby that they now had to look out for. He'd taken a fast and hard trip on the crazy train and he hadn't come back into the station as far as Daryl could tell.

And the Governor?

He was nuts too.

So really, if the two collided, it would be a case of which brand of crazy was strong enough to overcome the other.

And right now, Rick was under some kind of belief that they could simply coexist. Maybe if they laid low, if they didn't show their faces, the Governor would forget about them. And maybe it was a good plan, but Daryl was learning from Merle and Michonne both that the Governor wasn't exactly the kind of man to forgive and forget. And beyond that? He wanted whatever they had, however little it might be, for himself.

"How the hell you figurin' on gettin' in and not gettin' your ass seen?" Merle asked. "Last damn time we was in there we barely made it out alive."

"But we made it out alive," Michonne said. "We go back and we do it at night. You know that place better than I do, better than even the Governor probably does. You tell us where we go in, and that's where we go in. To do this? We've gotta trust each other."

"OK," Daryl said, feeling like they were starting to reach a point that was actually going to get them somewhere, because Michonne was right…to get anywhere, they were going to have to start from a place of trust. They were going to have to start from a point of equality among them all. "We get in, let's just say we do. What the hell we doin' 'cause we gotta have a damn plan to leave with his ass dead an' our asses not."

Merle sat, looking back and forth between them, and clearly thinking for a moment.

"At night he's alone," Merle said. "We get into the place? Ain't too damn much trouble take out his sorry ass. Get in, get it done."

"I'll help get you two in," Michonne said. "I'll help get you to where he is. If I do? Can you kill him?"

Merle shrugged and looked back toward Daryl.

"Hell…yeah…we can kill him if his ass is right there," Merle said with a chuckle. "Where the hell you goin'?"

"I've got something to do," Michonne said. "Got something to get."

Merle chuckled again and Daryl saw a change in his expression.

"Don't'cha mean someone?" Merle said, drawing it out.

Daryl saw Michonne look away from him, a change in her demeanor for the moment, and Merle chuckled again and looked back at Daryl.

"Blondie," Merle slurred at Daryl. "Fuckin' Andrea."

Daryl felt struck for a moment. He furrowed his brow at his brother and shook his head.

"Andrea's dead," Daryl offered.

Merle shook his head.

"Hell she is," Merle said. "Come into Woodbury not too damn long ago…with this one. But…uh…she's been kinda busy. Been kinda occupied. Ridin' the Governor's dick an' all."

Daryl glanced at Michonne and she was glaring at Merle, her lips drawn tighter than before. This was most assuredly a tender spot for her, and Daryl wasn't even trying to wrap his mind around all the reasons that might be true. After all, he had been under the impression that Andrea was dead…she'd died when they'd left Hershel's farm.

"Andrea's dead," Daryl said, still not believing it entirely.

Merle growled.

"Might be now," he said. "Mi-chonne here? Gettin' away? Mighta pissed his ass off good enough he killed her for the hell of it, but she weren't dead last damn time I laid eyes on her."

Daryl looked at Michonne.

"We left a farm…she got took down by Walkers," Daryl said.

Michonne turned the glare to him, but it softened a little when she let her eyes meet his.

"I found Andrea, in the woods," Michonne said. "About ten months ago? Maybe. She'd been screwed over. Left behind. The people she counted as friends? Were good enough friends that they left her for Walker food."

Daryl swallowed, his stomach turning a little at the thought of having left the woman behind.

He shook his head, not even able to rationalize for himself at the moment why he didn't want to believe what was obviously true.

"We were goin' back for her," Daryl said. "Were goin' back, but she went down. Lori seen her go down. T-Dog…she went down."

He realized, even as he said it, that he was supporting something he no longer believed. And it bothered him, maybe, because even when they'd agreed to leave her behind, even when they'd insisted that she was gone, he'd had a feeling that she wasn't dead. He'd had a feeling they gave up on her too easy.

They gave up on people too easily.

Rick gave up on people too easily.

"Left her behind, like trash," Merle said. He chuckled again, a laugh that Daryl knew well and he knew it wasn't genuine at all. "Left her behind…but'cha buddy Rick? He's good at that shit, ain't he lil' brother."

"What the hell's she doin' with this crazy ass fucker?" Daryl asked.

Merle chuckled.

"Someone leave your ass behind? The be-ne-volent Governor offers you a key to his own little fucked up Paradise?" Merle offered. "You take the fuckin' key…or…in her case, the damn dick."

A quick glance at Michonne told Daryl that her hackles were up.

"He fools people," Michonne said. "He's fooled almost everybody there. Andrea didn't see through it. She…just didn't see what he was."

Daryl could hear something in her voice. Maybe it was hurt? He didn't know what had happened there, but there was something about the situation that made it hit very close for Michonne. He knew, whether he heard it or not, that there was a story there.

"But you did?" Daryl asked.

Michonne stared at him but didn't respond. She wouldn't be made to speak if she didn't have an inclination to do so.

"You still want her back?" Daryl said. "You still want us to get her?"

"Gonna be hard enough to kill the damn asshole," Merle said. "If she ain't out in the damn open and willin' to go? We can't run no fuckin' rescue mission."

Daryl shot a warning look at his brother and then returned his gaze back to Michonne. She nodded her head slightly, either at his question or at Merle's statement.

"I'll get you in," Michonne said. "I'll get you to him. You two good ole boys oughta be able to kill one man. When you're done? Get out of Woodbury the best way you can. I don't need anybody's help. I'll get Andrea myself."

Merle hummed like he was satisfied with this, but Daryl shook his head.

"No," he said. "We go in together, we take care of the asshole together, we get Andrea together, and we get the hell out…nobody's leavin' any damn body else behind."

"Reckon we all get our asses killed together too?" Merle asked.

"If that's what happens," Daryl said.

"Suit yourself," Michonne said. "But if you come with me? You came because you wanted to. Not because I made you."

"When the hell we goin'?" Daryl asked.

That struck Merle and Michonne both silent. He could tell that they both had something they wanted to say, they both had ideas about when they should go, but neither of them wanted to be the one, at the moment, to say exactly when they'd move out for this possible suicide mission.

And maybe it was a suicide mission, but so was waiting on him to come…and going to him? It meant, at least, that the prison wouldn't fall. It meant that everyone there would survive, and they would do it without a madman in their back yard…even if there was a possible madman within their very walls. At least, maybe, there was hope for Rick.

One look at what he'd done to Carol and Daryl, at least, knew ther was no hope for the Governor.

"When the hell we goin'?" Daryl repeated. "You say tonight, we go tonight…I don't give a damn."

The two exchanged a look.

"The sooner we go," Michonne said quietly, "the better."

Merle grunted like he agreed with her, something that might not happen all that often.

"Longer we wait," Merle added, "better the chance is his ass pops up here with a couple dozen automatic weapons. And he's got some heavy damn artillery."

Daryl sighed.

"Tonight or can we sleep on it? Figure out what to say around here?" Daryl asked.

Figure out what to tell Carol and Sophia to do if they never came back.

But he never said the rest of what he was thinking.

"We can wait until tomorrow," Michonne said. "I think we've got a day, but we really shouldn't wait too much longer than that. It'll give Merle time to figure out the best place for us to go in, and it'll give me a little more time to figure out a plan of attack for us…something to get us in and out with the least chance of casualty."

Before they could continue to say much more on the issue, there was screaming from the courtyard of the prison, all of the buildings somewhat backed up to it, this one being no different, that drew all their attention.

Daryl got up from his spot and made his way to the door that opened to the courtyard, not far from where they were hunkered down in discussion, and peeked out of it to try and see what was happening at a distance.

Down near the gates he could make out that someone was there. Someone had come to the prison and they were being let into the gates, but it didn't look like they were coming in peacefully…or maybe the lack of peace was coming from their side.

Daryl couldn't make out much, though, besides Rick and a few others huddled around someone that was now on the ground in the confusion.

"Looks like we got guests," Daryl said.

When he turned back to look at Merle and Michonne, both of them were on their feet and both of them were standing fairly close to him.

"The Governor?" Michonne asked.

"Don't think so," Daryl said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if it ain't some damn body he knows…"

"Means we know 'em too," Merle said. "Better find the fuck out if we gotta get our asses there tonight…we might be fresh outta damn time…"

Daryl looked at Michonne and she nodded slightly her agreement.

"Let's go see what the hell he wants," Daryl said, starting out the door with both of them close behind him.