"Ren."

She heard over the walkie. Brushing the dirt off her hands she made her way over to where her water and the walkie were on the roof. Picking up the device she clicked the button, "Yeah?"

"How much meat you got left?" He asked.

"Give me a minute, I'm on the roof." She said as she headed back inside and down to where the refrigerator was. She looked inside there and the freezer and told him, "I still have about two weeks' worth since you gave me a whole deer."

"So you don need any?" He wanted to be sure.

"I don't, unless you're looking for an excuse to come and see me." She smirked.

"You doin alright? You need me to come?"

"I'm fine Daryl, I appreciate your concern, but I've gone more than two months without someone checking in on me. But if you want to stop by you can." She laughed. "However, if you have other things that are a priority then you should do that. No more using me as an excuse to get out of deliveries when it's your turn."

"That ain't what I was doin." He replied.

"Uhhuh, lie to me all you want, I know the truth Daryl Dixon." She smirked, "If you have spare meat after all of the other places that you hunt for, I'll take it."

"Alright." He muttered.

"Hey, I do have a question though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you guys have ways of making baby food?" She asked.

"I don know."

She leaned on her counter, "Well I was looking around the campus for a way to reinforce the pipes and finally got into the commons and took a look around the kitchens and there might be some useful things for mashing up meats and pureeing stuff to be able to give the kids the nutrients they need."

"I'll ask the others and see if they might be interested." Daryl replied, "I'll let you know if I'm headin that way after."

"Alright. Talk to you soon." She said back.

"Yeah."

She headed back upstairs and put the walkie back where it was before taking a sip of her water. Never would she have thought she'd be communicating with someone constantly who was associated with such a large number of people, and even though most of the time that was their only means of contact, it made her not feel as alone as before. When he'd told her there were two other communities other than Hilltop and Alexandria, she had become slightly worried that maybe the guys were with some of them, but he assured her that it was good people in all of them.

Looking from the plants she was re-soiling to the walkie, she picked it back up, heading inside to change, knowing that Daryl would contact her back in less than thirty minutes saying that he was on his way, making it pointless to keep working.

"Any walkers in there?" He asked.

"No, I cleared it out already and this is the only way I've found in so there shouldn't be any new ones." She told him as she unlocked the door to the largest building on campus.

"You cleared this whole place yourself?" He couldn't believe it with how big it was.

"Yeah, took a few days, but I got it done." She shrugged. As they walked in, she led him to the cafeteria area. "Hey, I've been wondering something."

"Hmm?"

"Why do you guys call them walkers?"

"Don really know. I guess ca'use they just keep on walkin." He answered, "Why, what'd'ya call 'em?"

"Munchers." She answered.

"Munchers?" He asked, looking at her weird.

"Yeah, you know, because they're always eating. Like they've got the munchies, doesn't matter if they're full or not." Ren looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "You trying to tell me that makes less since than 'walkers'?"

"Nah, just didn expect it is all." He kept walking.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Just not something I would have expected a genius like you to do." He answered.

"Yeah, I know. A lot of people said that, but a lot of people who lived in California did it and a lot of smart people do it to get inspiration." She shrugged, "But you're right, I only tried it once. I preferred alcohol."

"That's a little better." He replied as she pushed open a door and he saw a full food court. Unable to believe the decorations, and the nice chairs, the huge ceiling that was made of glass he asked, "So this was college?"

"For this school yeah. Each place was different. My campus had two different dining halls that served meals cooked to order. We also had some fast food places on campus." She started walking through the hall then realized what she'd said, "Sorry, that probably sounded really pretentious."

"Wouldn't know. Never been on a campus before I met you." He told her, "Don know if that's better than this or not."

She wasn't going to tell him that it was, she'd been given scholarships and grant money to go to the best and most expensive schools in the country, and that made her uncomfortable because how much other people paid to go there. Making her way to the kitchen area she pushed the door open for him to go through.

"My turn for a question."

"Yeah." She closed the door following him into the large space.

"Why are you so ashamed of it?" He asked.

"Of what?"

"How smart you are." He looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Every time you talk about it you apologize or brush it off. You go back on what you said as if you wished you hadn't."

She swallowed hard, his blue eyes boring into hers, "It's…it's not that I'm ashamed…"

"Then what?"

"People always treated me like I was special, like I was different because of how smart I was." She walked further into the kitchen, "I just wanted to be normal, like everyone else. I mean I started high school when I was twelve. Everyone put me on a pedestal, and I didn't want to be up there. I don't like complaining about it either because I know that some people would have killed to be given the chances I was given, but at the same time I would have killed to be like them." Ren let out a slight laugh, "I mean I was a senior in college when I went out on my first date and I wasn't even legal yet. And then when I talk about things like the fact that I went to a better college than this one that was more expensive and that I got a dream job during my masters program, I realize that I think it sounds like I'm better than the person that I'm talking to when I'm not, it's just that kind of stuff is all I know, so I apologize because I feel bad that they weren't able to experience it too, because I know when I hear about them getting to go to prom I'm jealous."

"I didn go to prom neither." Daryl told her, "I dropped out of high school when I was fifteen."

"Really?" She cocked her head to the side, "I wouldn't have expected that."

"What'd'ya mean?"

"I mean you just don't seem like a drop out." She looked back at him, "Like yeah I can't see you having your nose constantly in a book, but I can see you doing well in shop class and chemistry. Hating English because the teachers try to convince you there's symbolism in everything when there isn't. But I didn't see you as a drop out. You're not stupid and you don't seem like a quitter."

"Yeah, well, shit was different back then." He said surprised she thought that he was smart considering just how smart she was.

She let out a slight laugh, "Yeah it was."

Walking around the kitchen she saw what she was looking for and pointed, "This is the stuff I was talking about, blenders, smoothie makers, food processors. They seem to have it all. Plus, there are pots and pans if people need those."

"You don want any of it?" He asked.

"I mean there were a few things I grabbed but other than that I'm good." She told him, "Doesn't take much to take care of just yourself."

"By the way, you never told Maggie what you wanted in exchange for fixin those AC units." He said while pulling things down from shelves.

"Don't really need much." She answered, "Maybe a blanket or two, it takes too much power to try and heat the whole level I live on during the winter."

"You could stay with us durin winter. Plants don grow then." Daryl looked over at her.

"I'll think about it." She chuckled lightly, "I'll stick to being useful and not a burden for now."

"You ain't a burden." He told her.

"It was a joke, Daryl. I know you don't think I'm a burden." She patted him on the shoulder. "Now what all of this stuff are you taking so we can pack it up."

"Tryin to get rid of me that quick?" He smirked.

"No, I was going to make you dinner and everything, but it's going to start getting dark soon and with that it'll get chilly too." She told him, before looking up at him with a hidden smile, "Unless you want to leave ASAP."

"Nah, I can stay tonight."

She was curled up in bed under three blankets. This was her favorite part about winter, being able to curl up under a lot of weight and be nice and warm. It was almost as if she slept deeper too, like her body was going into little hibernations. However, a loud bang from downstairs startled her awake.

Throwing the blankets off of her she slid on her tennis shoes before running to the stairwell. The constant, quicker but quieter banging she heard told her that it wasn't from the front door. It was the pipes. "Shit."

Ren flew down the stairs and looked at the gauges on the wall. They were about to bust. She grabbed the wrench and started tightening the nut she was used to having to turn for the water to stop but it made the banging noise louder. She tried to focus on where it was coming from and it was where she'd replaced one of the pipes, it had been a little bit smaller, but she'd sealed it with the welder. It was to high for her to reach that shut off valve on foot, so she ran to the corner of the room and grabbed the ladder she had.

Moving back over to the pipes, trying to ignore the loud and invasive sound she climbed the ladder and began trying to turn the bolt. The pressure on it made it even tighter and she strained every muscle she had.

The hot water heater exploded. Pressure from the flooding water knocked her ladder over and Rens head slammed into the concrete floor, knocking her unconscious.

A/N: Let me know what you guys think :)