Mid9ight0Wolf thank you for your kind review and as always thank you to MissTeller-Ortiz-Dixon and galwidanatitud. I know it is taking me a while but I want to try and establish a bond between Kat and Daryl so I'm not boring y'all. Thanks again!

Chapter 13

Kat's POV

Mission complete, the kitchen was spotless and she felt like she accomplished something. Walking past Beth and Cora who were caught up in a game of Candy Land on the living room floor, she made her way outside. Hershel just left with Rick to look over a map and the terrain. So she decided to get some fresh air. Watching out over the farm she spotted the rest of the group looking down at the ground.

Curiosity getting the best of her she went to go see what her cohorts were looking at. As she approached she saw a rope in Shane's hand and noticed that there was a hole in the ground. Taking a peek in the hole that had everyone so fascinated, she was shocked to see a very bloated and disgusting walker. What was even weirder was that Dale had a canned ham and was trying to get the walker to grab it.

"Are we doing some fishing?" She asked the group

"Yeah but he aint biting" Shane said

"Why are we doing this if you don't mind me asking? I mean do any of y'all plan on drinking this water? No offense and I'm no scientist but it looks like maceration might have already set in." Everyone looked up at her "sorry, I mean the skin is breaking down" her late husband might've been a music journalist but he had a masters in Anthropology focused mainly on Archaeology. That was his passion and unfortunately a hard field to get a job in unless you wanted to move around a lot.

"We can't just leave it there. What if someone falls through the well? And we don't want to risk contaminating the water any more than it already is so we don't want to shoot it." Shane said

"Alright but I don't think a canned ham will work. We could be starving and it'll be the last thing even we would go for." She didn't think it was a good idea, she would've closed it off and forgot about its revolting tenant.

"She's right there's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards.
We need live bait."

Everyone but Maggie and her turned to look at Glen "Woah, wait. That is not what I said and I sure as hell didn't mean to imply it." She shouted

Unfortunately she and Maggie's protests were overlooked because Glen decided to jump down the well. "I thought Asians were supposed to be smart" she shouted at Glen

"Hey I think Daryl is rubbing off on you." The man smiled as he was being tied off around the waist

As Glen was being lowered into the well. She was standing off to the side at Shanes request. -'not you you're injured' he told her. She responded with "well so is T-Dog" but it was ignored. Maggie was making sure Glen was okay and Kat was standing next to the well pump. She heard a groan and then saw in slow motion as the pump was pulled from the ground.

Without thinking she shouted and ran toward it trying to stop it from advancing and lowering Glen further into the well. She jumped and landed on top of the pump and then had T-Dog's weight on top of her as he tried to help pull the heavy piece of metal back away from the pit. T-Dog and her both had their hands on the pump and Glen's cries for help must've given her upper body strength she didn't know she possessed.

A few seconds later everyone had their hand on the pump -the only thing keeping glen alive. They pulled with everything they had and then there was enough rope for Shane and the others to pull Glen out. He hit the ground like he was shot out of a cannon.

"Back to the drawing board" was all Shane said after we knew that Glen was pretty much unharmed just shaken up.

Glen stood up with a smile that didn't fit the situation at all and said "Says you" Then handed Dale the rope that Glen somehow managed to wrap around the walker.

She started laughing from her spot on the ground. Her and T-Dog still laying where they ended up last. "Son of a bitch" she hissed as she went to stand up, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder and she couldn't lift her arm up. "Great Hershel is going to get on to me for not resting" she mumbled to herself

Looking over at T-Dog "You all right?" she asked him "Did your stitches open up or anything?"

"Nah I'm fine just winded. How are you?"

"Perfect, I think I dislocated my shoulder and now that the adrenaline is wearing off I can definitely feel it."

"Damn" was his response

"Yep that about covers it" trying to get up "Hey do me a favor and don't tell anyone okay? I don't want Hershel to get upset or have to keep patching us up. I can fix it on my own."

T-Dog looked hesitant but finally nodded "Yeah, sure" he stood up beside her "look, what I said on the highway I don't know what that was, where it came from. That wasn't me. If it's okay, I'd rather you never told anybody about that stuff I said." He kept shooting the group that was gathered around the well worried glances.

"T-Dog what the hell are you talking about? This is the first time we've spoken to each other in days." She smirked

"Yeah, alright. You go get yourself taken care of. I'm going to help these idiots pull this thing out of the well but I'll be damned if I'm drinking that water."

Daryl's POV

It was getting late but he didn't want to stop yet. Walking out of the woods he came across a clearing and an old house that looked long abandoned. Pulling his crossbow off his shoulders he readied a bolt just in case any unwanted surprises lurked inside the house.

Crossbow ready he kicked open the front door of the place. Then started to search room to room, all empty. The only sounds he could hear were the creaking of the floorboards under his own weight. When he made it into the kitchen he noticed a can of sardines in the trash can. It wasn't that old he guessed because there was no mold and didn't smell too funky yet. Seeing an open door he readied the bow again and slowly approached it, ready for anything.

Opening the pantry he was a little disappointed that the only thing inside was some canned food and bottles. Then he noticed under the bottom shelf a pillow and blanket. The space was so small that it was clear a child or a midget had to be the culprit. The rest of the house came up empty handed.

Stepping out the back door "Sophia" he shouted hoping she was still nearby. Then he walked to a bush and saw the state flower, the Cherokee rose. There were two that had bloomed and he knew who to give them to. Being careful when he plucked them, he didn't want to damage the flowers, he cradled them in his hand. On the way back toward the farm he found a couple of empty beer bottles and filled them up in the creek. Placing the flowers in his makeshift vase he was pleased with himself, he wasn't much of a gift giver. Hell, now that he was thinking about it the only gifts he ever gave were to Cora. He had to admit to himself that it always made him happy when she liked the gifts –like he was afraid she would throw back in his face. She would never do that though, not Cora. He brought a smile to his own face remembering the time that Merle and him took Cora hunting for rabbits once. Merle had helped her shoot and by the grace of God she hit the mark, she was so upset with herself and us. Merle for letting her actually shoot the rabbit and with him for bringing her along.

"Well what'd ya expect? We are hunting for rabbits" Merle asked her

"I don't know…to pretend shoot them. For all I know that was Peter Rabbit or the Easter bunny." She said through tears.

Merle couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or comfort her so he let Daryl calm her down. "Sweetheart, I promise that was neither Peter rabbit nor the Easter bunny. That was just your ordinary rabbit and we shot him so that we could eat him."

"What?" she became hysteric again "Eat a rabbit? My friend Jordan has a pet rabbit, people don't eat rabbits."

"Yes they do and Merle will show you how to fry him up. We will bring it home to your mom and she will be so happy that she won't have to make dinner. How's that sound?"

"I don't agree with it but your right, mom needs a break" she wiped the tears from her eyes.

A couple of weeks later Merle gave her a lucky rabbits foot, which she promptly threw away.

Kat's POV

Cora had finally tuckered herself out and was asleep inside the tent. Beth was great with kids and was thankful to have her around. She had not been able to fix her shoulder yet so she was trying to nurse it and hide the fact that she was injured. T-Dog was here not that long ago to tell her the outcome with the well walker, not good. It was a good thing they risked Glens life, she joked. She didn't know if these people were looking for danger, why couldn't they just relax and admire the farm for however long they were here.

"Hey, is she asleep?" Maggie asked

"Yeah, played hard today. How'd your run go? Any problems?"

"No issues at all. I got some stuff, I hope she likes it I tried to go off of what Beth liked at her age." She handed Kat a bag full of stuff

"Wow! This is way more than I expected, I was thinking of a candy bar or something. Thank you so much Maggie."

"Well you don't know what's in it yet. She might hate it." The woman joked

"I doubt that" Kat sat the bag on the ground in front of her and used her good arm to pull the items out. There was a package of tiaras, a tea set, some chocolate bars, and at the bottom was a dress-up princess outfit. "She is going to love it" she had to wipe the tears that were building up in her eyes then she gave the woman an one-armed hug and ignored the pain that shot up her arm.

"I hate to ask another favor but can you keep these in your room for now? I'd hate for the surprise to be ruined because she is a nosey one."

"Of course, I'm glad I could help. Now you rest up and if you need anything else you shout."

"Thank you Maggie"

Sitting back down in the chair she has claimed for herself she watched as Daryl made his way to the R.V.

"I wonder what he's doing?" she thought

She stared at the R.V for a couple of minutes before he walked back out. She tried to make it seem like she didn't notice him until he sat down beside her. Then he handed her an old beer bottle with a single white flower in it.

"What's this?"

"A flower" he joked

"I can see that dummy, what's it for?"

"It's a Cherokee rose." He took the piece of straw he was chewing on out of his mouth before he started again "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared.
So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell."

Her emotions were getting the best of her again, she knew that crying made Daryl uncomfortable so she refused to let tears fall. "Well Mr. Dixon that is mighty sweet of you" was her simple response. Less was more with Daryl Dixon.

"I saved you some dinner, I was starting to think you weren't coming back" she tried to lighten the mood

"Nah, I had to. You've got a story to tell me." He offered her his hand to stand up but she didn't want him to know that she was hurting. Shaking her head she said "I think I'll sit out here a bit. Go on in the tent you have supper waiting for you."

He gave her a look before he went into the tent then almost immediately came back out holding his plate. "I'll sit out here with you."

"Alright, did you have any luck?" she knew the answer otherwise Sophia would be reunited with her mother.

"A little. I found a farmhouse that looks like Sophia might've been there, someone was holed up in a pantry and they had to of been pretty small to fit in there."

"That's great news that'll help you narrow your search a little."

"Yeah. So what'd you do today?" he looked at her while he took a bite of his sandwich "I hope your answer is rest."

She smiled at him "Actually I did a lot of resting thank you. Then I cleaned a kitchen that my daughter managed to destroy. Finally I topped the day off with unsuccessfully trying to stop these idiots from using Glen as walker bait"

"Hmm"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes and shake her head at the grunt of a response.

"Maggie found some things for Cora's birthday" she told the man

"Who the hell is Maggie?"

"Jesus Daryl you've got to learn people's names. She is Hershel's daughter the dark haired one. She and Glen went into town and she was kind enough to grab a bunch of stuff."

Setting his plate down he stood up and walked behind her. He was about to reach for her shoulders when she leaned forward. "Please don't" she asked him

He gave her a look that looked so hurt she couldn't let him think that she didn't want his touch so she decided to confess

"Believe me I would love a shoulder massage but I might've done something"

"What'd you do?" he asked kneeling in front of her

"Like I said I was trying to stop them from killing glen. Well it didn't work and they lowered him into a walker infested well. My job was to keep watch –simple enough. Well the damn anchor that they were using for the rope broke and I tried to stop it by jumping on it. I think I dislocated my shoulder when I fell then T-Dog fell on top of me."

She couldn't help but smile at his confused face. She wasn't sure if it was her fast broken up recollection of the story that confused him or the fact that she let herself get hurt.

"Do you think it's funny?" he asked "Christ woman, I'm gone less than a day and you get yourself hurt."

"Daryl, it's not a big deal. I've dislocated my shoulder a couple of times. It's an easy fix I was just waiting for a time when everyone was asleep." She sighed "Look Daryl, I know you want to keep us safe but you can't blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. Shit is going to happen. I think a dislocated shoulder was worth trying to save Glen from a walker and I'd do it again."

"No you won't! These people are going to get us killed"

"If it wasn't for 'these people' Cora would've died in the woods a couple of days ago. Dale goes out of his way to watch over us, especially when you're not here. Glen he would do anything we asked just because that's the type of guy he is. These are good people Daryl and so are you. We belong with them."

Sensing that his anger had dulled a little she tried to stand up

He was at her side in a second "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to find a quiet place to fix it"

"No I'm going to get Hershel." He started to walk away

"No. please Daryl. I don't want him to keep patching us up, eventually we will wear out our welcome. Believe me I know how to do it I've had to do it three times before"

He stopped and turned back toward her "What do ya need?"

"Nothing it's just painful so I was going to step away from everyone else. So I don't bother them."

"Wait here" He gave her a pointed look "I mean it, I'll be right back"

"Yes sir" she watched him walk up to the R.V.

Daryls POV

"Hey Dale?" he called up to the man who was keeping watch

"Daryl? What can I do for ya?"

"Can you keep an eye on the tent I'm taking Kat for a walk?"

"Oh yeah, it's beautiful tonight. I'll keep an eye out. You holler if you need me." The old man positioned his chair so it was facing more toward their tent

"Thanks" he started to walk back to Kat, who luckily hadn't decided to go off and play Martin Riggs.

"Come on" he helped her out of the chair and noticed how her face twisted in pain. He tried to sound gentler the next time he spoke "How do you know how to fix this anyway?" he was curious but also wanted to distract her from thinking about the pain.

"Well, when you grew up with John Fitzgerald as your father you learned how to do a lot of things" she laughed "He didn't believe in doctors. Once my sister went to the hospital because she cut her hand with box cutters and he was disappointed that she only needed six stitches. I can still hear him ranting 'If you're going to go to the hospital you better come home with at least double digits.' He was a strong believer in super glue."

"Super glue?"

"Yeah I have a scar on my hand from when I cut myself chopping onions, I wasn't paying attention, I knew I needed stitches. I also knew it was less than ten so I grabbed one of my father's many tubes of super glue and glued the cut up. He wasn't neglectful just had a different way of doing things. He was a great man, always there for us."

When they had walked a good distance he stopped and turned toward her "What do you need me to do?" he was worried. He'd had broken bones and probably worse but never a dislocated shoulder.

"If you want to help it will go faster. It tends to take me a couple of tries because I stop when it hurts."

"Yeah just tell me what to do" maybe he should get Hershel he didn't want to see her in pain and he certainly didn't want to be the reason she was in pain.

"Alright just let me sit down" he had to help her down so that she didn't just fall on her ass. He kneeled beside her injured arm "You are going to pull my arm slowly so that it is in front of me"

"Ready?" he asked

Then he slowly started to move her arm so that it looked like she was going to give a thumbs up. "Alright then I need to rotate my arm but keep my elbow into my side until you feel resistance." She showed him the motion with her good arm. How could she be so calm she was clearly hurting?

"Perfect" she said between panting "Now I'll keep my body still and you are going to lift my arm up a little bit then rotate my arm back toward my body"

He did as she instructed and he felt the pop in her shoulder his eyes widened afraid he did more damage. She, however visibly relaxed. "See not so hard? I'll just be sore for a couple of days."

What the hell? She acted like it was nothing. That pop sounded painful and he felt it through her arm. She was something else he thought she was tough before but he'd never seen her endure physical pain. "You never said the reasons why you had to learn to fix your shoulder" he was still curious

"Oh, well the first time was when I competing in a softball tournament I was defending home plate –I was the catcher and this amazon came running toward me. I had the ball and all I had to do was tag her –she'd be out then the game was over. I watched that bitch drop her shoulder and I prepped myself and my stance for a hard hit. She got me right on my shoulder fell on top of me."

"Did you win the game?"

"Hell, Yeah I didn't drop the ball. Dad was so proud of me" Daryl couldn't help but smile along with her "Told everyone he worked with how tough I was. He never said it but I know he wanted a boy. He would buy me dolls and stuff but I tried to make him happy so I started going fishing with him, softball, always tried to suck up pain. My sister was the girly one."

"What were the other two times?"

"What?" she turned to him

"You said you've had to do this three times before, what were the other two times." He didn't like the way her face went blank. Like she didn't want to remember whatever happened

"Another time, I'll tell ya. The sky is gorgeous, you never realize how many stars there are until there is pretty much zero light pollution" She laid down to look at the sky "Lay down with me"

Laying on the side that he did not just pop back into place he put his arm out for her to lay her head on him. She curled into his side and laid her head on his chest. Closing his eyes he just savored the feeling of her so close to him.

"Isn't it amazing?" She asked him

"Yeah" but he wasn't talking about the stars.