Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Andrea had run as far as she could as long as she could, having to make Keira run on bare feet with a sprained ankle from time to time, but eventually they found people again. No one was following them, and it terrified her more than if they were. Them not following meant they were busy finding Carol, hurting her. Killing her even. She called Caesar at a gas station. He came and brought Michonne's team with him. She was just grateful they came quickly. The man working the counter had been very kind and gave them free drinks since Andrea had no money on her.

He ran into the building. "Andrea!"

She walked over to him and embraced him, Keira sandwiched between them, and he held them both tightly then insisted the paramedic look at them. Caesar thanked the man working the counter and overpaid him for the drinks.

Michonne personally got the information from Andrea and Keira, Caesar was hanging back with Rosita, and he didn't take his eyes off of his girls. He couldn't. He almost lost them and wouldn't have even known it. He had been stupid enough to think they were on their way to Florida. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Michonne waved him over. "I'll see at the precinct, Martinez. Take care of them then we'll talk."

"Ma'am." He gave a respective nod and asked politely to the paramedic. "Could we have a moment?"

She had seen to both of them and was just remaining to comfort them, so she left them.

Andrea sat with Keira on her lap and her cheek against Keira's head. "I saw her."

"Carol?" He moved beside her.

"I looked back once. She shot a man who was about to tackle me. She saved us twice." Tears rose up in her eyes. "I couldn't save her at all. She...took that shot without even hesitating, for us. What do they want from her?"

"We may have an idea, but that's for later." He gently lifted Keira up as he rose. "C'mon."

They walked to his car, Rosita had gone back with Michonne and they would be alone on the drive back to the house. Keira was silent, and Andrea kept her up front on her lap, stroking her hair gently, and Caesar rubbed her back at red lights. Night was falling, and Andrea couldn't stop thinking about what became of Carol. Was she dead right now? Was she being brutalized? What horrors were they inflicting on her? What had Andrea left her to?

Caesar unlocked the door and gave the house a good look to assure Keira it was safe. They went up to their bedroom, Caesar dug in to the closet, and Andrea got a new outfit for Keira. One that didn't reek of imprisonment and death. Her poor baby girl.

"Here." She set the outfit on the bed and cupped her cheek. "Are you all right?"

She didn't say anything.

"You're safe now," Andrea vowed. "I will never let that happened again. Daddy won't either. We'll get Aunt Carol back, and it'll be okay. I swear to you, okay? I swear to you."

She nodded. "I believe you, Mommy."

She hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Get dressed. We'll be right over there."

She snuffled. "Okay."

Andrea headed to the closet, looking back once at Keira. "Why did they take Carol?" Andrea demanded, trapping her husband in the closet by blocking the exit.

"A young girl was kidnapped from her school," he confessed. "A boy who didn't leave a name called it in. Rosita and I believe Carol was taken to get this girl back alive. With the news of Carol just rescuing Beth Greene so fresh right now it makes sense."

"Why kidnap Carol? Couldn't they just come to her like Noah did?"

"The boy didn't say, but we received the footage from the school and neighboring building's cameras that tell us this wasn't random. We saw one of the Governor's men driving the car. This child could have links to the Archer. They're enemies and have had a war going on for years. The Governor kidnapped this kid who is either family to him or one of his men as leverage. If the Archer isn't a heartless bastard, he'll do just about anything to her back." Caesar had seen crime scenes from both the Governor and the Archer. The Governor left bodies piled up, but all there ever were for the Archer were bolts left behind and shaky employees who didn't have a mark on them. The bolts were more of a marker, saying this is my place, back the hell off. It was a gesture that showed he worked with words and loyalty, not blood and fear, and Caesar had a little respect for the men. Well, he certainly didn't hate this guy as much as he hated that godless son of a bitch Governor. Although he would quickly beat the Archer bloody if he laid even a finger on Carol.

Shaking his head, he hoped when this was over they had names and faces. He felt like he was talking about TV characters. Christ.

"The part I can't comprehend is the Governor's man being caught on camera. That's never happened in the past." She had worked a few cases that involved the Governor's men, but no convictions because they were too damn good. "Why would the Governor be so hazardous during a kidnapping? He's always been profiled as highly intelligent and exceedingly cautious. He would have known that place like the back of his hand and all of the cameras in and around that area." She was struggling to make sense of this.

"He wasn't." Caesar folded his arms. "The footage had been tampered with. Doctored. That means one of our own is working for the Archer and is pointing us toward the Governor."

She closed her eyes to think about this, picturing all the men and women who worked with Caesar and Carol on a daily basis. He or she was a spy, only there to keep the cops off the Archer, and now they were risking exposure to ensure the Governor's ass fried. "This is crazy." Her eyes opened. "Why not just involve Carol legally? If they had an inside person, who is now leaking doctored footage, why not just come to her and have her and all of you search for this child?"

"They kidnapped Carol because she is an easy target and the best person for the job. She not only has the skills to do this job and do it well, but she has the dedication. It doesn't take being best friends with Carol to know she'd stop the world to save a child."

Andrea exhaled. "She's never gives up on any of her kids." They were always her kids too. She didn't know them at all or raise them, but from the second one of their little faces landed on her desk and to the time they were returned home to their family or laid to rest, they were hers. Especially the ones who had been lost. They were the ones who stayed with her the most.

He didn't linger on that. "I think his plan might have started out very hush. Why else would they have kidnapped a cop and sent false information to her boss? I think he had planned on using Carol and his own men to formulate a plan then deploy it to retrieve this child with as little damage as possible. It clearly backfired on them, and now it's all coming to a head. Meaning the Archer is in danger, Carol is in danger, and they need our help."

"Carol was already in danger, Caesar! A drug lord kidnapped her."

"I don't think he was going to hurt her. He singled her out, so he knows what she's capable of. He won't be able to sway her resolve. He had to know what he was getting in to when he kidnapped a loyal member of the NYPD. He wouldn't dare harm her, so that tells us they're now in the hands of the Governor."

"Fuck," she softly exclaimed, running her hands down her face and crossing her arms. She then noticed he was packing her clothes. "Are we going to a safe house?"

"No, you're going to Florida."

"Like hell I am!"

"Andrea!" He looked at Keira, but she was busy with her shoes. "Yes."

"I am not leaving this state, Caesar. You can't make me. I—"

He dropped her clothes to the floor and pulled her flush against him, his lips crushing her. She gasped into his mouth, not at all expecting him to do that, and she closed her eyes as he deepened the kiss. She could feel his fear, his desperation, and more importantly his love. She opened her mouth to his and grasped strands of his hair at the nape of his next, and he pulled her even closer, his grip almost painful. She thought he may kiss her forever.

When they finally broke apart, his nose tenderly brushed across hers, eyes still shut, and he gently kissed her once more. She didn't know if that kiss was meant to shut her up or if it was simply because he couldn't hold back anymore, but she honestly didn't mind if it was either. She still had plenty to argue nevertheless.

"I can't risk him coming for you two again."

"You're not getting rid of me without one hell of a fight and some type of sedative."

"Then you're coming down to the precinct with me."

"I can do that."

"I'll see if Keira's hungry." He cupped and stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry, Andrea. For everything I said—I don't ever want you to leave."

"Me too." She leaned into his touch and smiled.

He made sure Keira at least ate part of a peanut butter sandwich, and to his surprise, she ate all of it with a glass of milk. Andrea changed and filled her largest purse with some gummy snacks for Keira and a blanket. She couldn't stomach any food, so she just had some orange juice, and they were ready to head to the precinct.

"So when we get back, we're installing the alarm system I wanted," Andrea informed her husband.

He smiled. "Definitely."

"Let's go bring Carol home this time."

– – –

Carol came to bouncing—actually bouncing—from hitting a bump in the road. She could feel the handcuffs biting in to her wrists, and she opened her eyes to discover she was inside a truck. She sat up only to have her head bashed against the wall of the truck, and she groaned, sucking air in through her teeth, pulling her legs out from under her. She saw Daryl wedging himself in the corner of the van to keep from slipping around, and she followed his lead on the other side with much difficulty. This was the bumpiest ride. The hell? Were they driving blindfolded? Christ, Sam drove cars in his games better than them.

She let out an uncomfortable groan. "How long have you been up?"

"A couple minutes, I suppose."

"You could've warned me about the bumps."

"And let you miss out on all the fun?"

"Do you know if they got out?" Carol let out a small groan and straightened. "My friend and her daughter? Did they get out?"

He shook his head. "Sorry."

"Don't be. We'll find out, I'm sure."

The ride grew very smooth suddenly, like they stopped diving for potholes, and the truck began to slow way down. Carol braced herself for what would happen next, and Daryl was trying to keep calm about the blood seeping from the gunshot wound, pushing against the tape. He couldn't keep his vision straight. Fuck.

The door to the truck slid open, a gun greeted them followed by four men. They grabbed Carol and escorted her inside by her arm, and they did the same to Daryl, noting the blood. A man in a suit watched them as they were led inside the building under the cover of night, and they were placed into a clean room with two cushioned benches inside, and one of them set a metal box down on a metal stool they'd just brought with them.

"Clean him up." The suited man stood in the doorway.

"Phillip." Daryl wanted to tackle him and beat his face bloody, but he was far to feeble from the blood loss.

"Phillip?" Carol helped Daryl stand and looked at the man. "The Governor."

He nodded. "Clean the boy up before he dies on us."

"I—I'm not a doctor." She wrapped an arm around Daryl's back and held his forearm, feeling his weight on her more and more.

"No, you're a detective. Damn good too, Williams." He smiled when she didn't squirm. It was more fun that way. "You've taken quite a bit of damage in your day, so I think you can help him out." He closed the door and locked it. "We'll talk when he's all cleaned up."

Daryl fell to his knees and Carol with him. She gently laid him down and grabbed the metal box, finding exactly what they needed inside. She peeled his shirt up, he whined, and she moved more gingerly. She had to cut the tape, and she decided to rip it off quick, hoping it wouldn't hurt as much. Daryl cried out like a wounded dog, and she shushed him, apologizing. She wet the area caked with blood with water, trying to find the wound, and she wiped at the blood. She had no idea how to do this, so she would just have to wing it. This wasn't something anybody would wing, but there was no other choice.

She disinfected the wound, and his hand clutched her wrist tightly, and she soothed him, running her thumb repeatedly and soothingly across his forehead. There was no avoiding this. It needed to be cleaned before she bandaged it. The morgue hadn't at all clean, and who knows what's gotten into to the wound. She couldn't ease his pain, but she could help him through it. She didn't bother with shushing him. She moved the stool closer, guiding his hand to it and watched as he gripped it more and more as she continued to stroke his hair.

Reaching inside the box, she saw items to stitch the wound. She wasn't sure if he needed stitches, and she had no experience in that matter. She passed on it, because she didn't want to put him in anymore pain. Once the wound was clean, she reached for a bandage, but saw how bloody her hands were. They were sticky with his blood, so she wiped her hands on her jeans to try and rub off some of it. She grasped a bandage and bandaged the wound. She turned him onto his side and did the same his back. It was shoddy work. He would need real medical care. What the hell was the Governor thinking? She couldn't do anything for him. He desperately needed blood. She couldn't just cut herself and bleed into the wound.

Her eyes fell on a tube inside the box with needles that could be used for a shoddy transfusion. She even found a note from the top asshat himself. This was the only way to save Daryl, but she didn't know his blood type. What the hell was she going to do? Unless...Phillip though that through as well.

"Daryl?" She set a hand on his cheek. "Daryl?"

"...Hmm..." His head rolled to the side.

"What's your blood type?"

He frowned. "Why?"

"Just tell me."

"AB positive."

"Universal recipient." She began the transfusion, and Daryl began to freak out.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Stay still. I'm giving you blood."

"What? No! Stop!"

"Daryl, you'll die if you don't get blood. My blood will have to do. I've never had unprotected sex, and I haven't been out of the country in years. I've never done drugs, although you may worry because alcoholism runs through my veins." He didn't laugh. "My blood's clean, and you don't get to die on that little girl, okay?"

He clasped her hand and looked in to her eyes, her blood sliding through the tube and into him. "Thank you."

"You'd do the same for me." She smiled.

"Maybe not exactly this," he joked.

She laughed. "No, this is a one-sided thing I can only do for you."

"I'll get you outta here, and we'll call this even."

"I'll get you out of here. In handcuffs, crook."

"Don't read my rights to me yet, officer."

"Not yet."

Her tone was so soft, and he noticed how beautiful she looked at this angle. The lightening made her appear to have a halo, her eyes were a sparkling mixture of genuine concern and happiness—that the transfusion appeared to be working. They couldn't be sure. It'd only been about a minute. Still she looked angelic, familiar.

He could recall another woman from his past—long wavy hair, smile that was too sweet to be at all real, hips that drew the eye, a laugh that was so contagious and powerful that it lit up the entire room. He remembered she smelled of whiskey and soap, and she had an ass that was just damn perfect. She was a figure in his past, one whose face he couldn't recall. He went home with her that night and the next night, and he had to make himself not seek her out for a third night. It was the first time he wanted to actively search for a woman. It was stupid to do. He could have put her at risk. He was new to his position as the Archer, and he was lucky nobody was tailing him. Otherwise she might have ended up dead. Shit, though, her touch was like fire. She tasted like peaches. He could remember that, clear as day. Just not her face. Or even her voice. How long ago was that?

"You okay there, Daryl?" She took notice of the far away look in his eyes.

"Yeah. How long do we do this? I don't wanna take too much."

"I'll stop before I pass out."

He nodded.

"When this is over—"

"—you're arresting my ass?"

"It's a nice ass to arrest."

He smirked. "Are you flirtin' with me? Really? Right now?"

"If not now, when? When we're dead?"

"Got a strange sense of timing." He reached up and grasped strands of her hair.

"Hey, I was joking. Trying to lighten the mood."

"You got a dead bug in your hair." He flicked it off his fingers.

"Sure." She watched the blood and shifted so her arm was higher than his. "So, tell me about your little girl."

"She's a normal little girl. She's really happy, extremely hyper, and so creative. And brave. She...doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She's so strong. I don't know where she gets it from either." He paused before confessing, "She's the only reason I'm still alive."

"What do you mean?" Her brows furrowed.

"I...was in to some dumb shit. Dangerous shit. Merle only made it worse."

"If you don't mind me saying...Merle doesn't sound like a good brother."

"He's Merle. It was my own fault. I followed him through everything. I always had."

"What changed?"

"Sophia." His arm rested on his stomach, his fingers on her elbow. "She was born."

She smiled. "Is that why you spoil her rotten?"

He smiled back. "I wanted her to have the childhood I never got. My parents...might as well have not been there. They didn't care for me or Merle much. We were just accidents in my opinion. Doesn't matter much now, because they're both dead. I have Merle and my daughter and the men you met. They're my family, and that's all I need."

She nodded.

"Why'd you become a cop?" He studied her eyes. "Of all the careers an intelligent, crafty, beautiful woman like yourself could've had...why the hell did you choose to become a cop?"

"Because when I was thirteen-years-old, I found my best friend's older sister's body. She had been tossed outside like a newspaper. She was just...out in the open, you know? Like nobody cared. Like she was never human to begin with, and she and the garage were one and the same." She swallowed hard. "I uh, couldn't do anything to help her. I was a few days shy of my fourteenth birthday, and they don't exactly teach you how to help in situations like that."

"Wasn't she already dead?"

She shook her head. "She was breathing. I remember her chest rising a little. Her necklace was moving as she breathed, and I was just...desperately trying to do anything to help her. She died."

His fingers on her elbow wrapped gently around it, his thumb consolingly stroking her arm. "I'm sorry."

"The worst part was when I realized I couldn't do anything to help her. I froze and just stared at her. I don't know how long. I just know that sometime later I began to freak out." Tears shimmered in her eyes, and he wished there was more he could for her. "It could have been seconds or minutes, I don't know. I—I'd just noticed all of her blood on me. I backed up into some trash cans, made a lot of noise, and her brother found us like that."

"Did they find who did it?"

"No." She lowered her eyes. "They never looked hard enough, because they were the ones that did it."

"They?"

"Cops. Dirty cops." Her eyes widened, and she lowered them. "We heard them talking about how people needed to pay their debts to them soon, and we caught them in the act. They were harassing a kind old woman who sold Mexican food on our block. The sons of bitches set her restaurant on fire the previous night for her not paying on time. We wanted to do something, but we were kids. Nobody would have believed us."

"You told her?"

"Karen, yeah." She nodded. "She was twenty and everybody considered her to be an adult, so we told her about it. She knew the woman they were harassing and stepped in. Two days later I found her body. Three days after her funeral, I found the assholes harassing a man I knew very well, and they were threatening to do to him what they did to Karen. I wanted to make them pay."

"So you became a cop?"

"After."

"After?"

She met his eyes. "I hurt them first. I was distraught over Karen and how they brushed it off. I couldn't sleep knowing justice would never be served, because they had the color of blue on their side. I just couldn't let them get away with it."

"What did you do?"

"I wanted to hurt them as badly as they hurt Karen, but I was small and weak." A tear fell free. "So I worked odd jobs for weeks to buy a video camera and then when I could purchase it, I set up it in the woman's restaurant and recorded every word, every movement, every threat. I turned it over to the DA, and they paid. They finally paid for what they did."

He exhaled deeply, not realizing he had been holding his breath, and he closed his eyes. "Good on you."

"Yeah, good on me." She could feel that hollow, dark feeling creeping up on her. "Do you want to know what really hurt the most?"

"What?" he whispered.

"Knowing that I might have been able to save Karen. If I had just called 911, if I had just moved quicker. She might be alive, and Caesar wouldn't be in so much pain over it."

"It wasn't your fault it happened, Carol. She died tryin' to do something good. I know it's shit, but you can't blame yourself. From how you talk about her, she wouldn't want you blaming yourself."

"You're right." She wiped her eyes. "She wouldn't."

"And she cries."

She laughed a little. "And you bleed. Profusely."

"I'm not a demon."

"No? Then why do they call you the Archer and not Daryl?"

"It strips me of my humanity," he replied. "It's just a title, and a title's not a man. It brings fear to people who may cross me and to my enemies. When they see me, they see the Archer, not a man, not Daryl. They see what they want to—never me. It's easier to kill a title than a man after all. Well, for some people."

She frowned. "How did you wind up like this?"

"A shitty life and then...I couldn't stand being hungry one second more." He stared at the ceiling. "Have you ever been so hungry...that the only thing that reminds you that you're alive and not in hell are the sharp hunger pangs that course through your entire body? That makes you want to puke, but there's nothing in your stomach, yet still you salivate. You can...even taste the food in your mouth, but it's not there. The waves of nausea sweep through you, over and over."

She nodded. "When I was a kid."

"That was my life for years...then I met a man who needed someone like me. Someone he could shape into anything."

"He shape you into the Archer?"

"Not at first, but eventually."

"I...I wish I could have helped you."

"I don't."

"Why?" She ran her eyes over his face.

"'Cause if you'd helped me, I wouldn't have become who I am and I wouldn't have my little girl. It was worth it for her."

Again she nodded, her fingers moving to her locket. "I know what you mean."

His eyes moved to her face. "You have a kid?"

"No, I just meant I know what you mean. Had I taken some offers I got as a child, I wouldn't have ended up where I am. Although where physically I am at the moment isn't that amazing, but I do like my life. I love my job too."

"You do?"

"Every second of it."

"I hate my job. Isn't really even my job."

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

She exhaled. "I'm guessing they won't take you until you're cleaned up and not on the verge of dying, so try and relax."

"Easier said than done."

"Just try."

He reached over and grasped her hand. "I'm glad it was you."

"Glad what was me?"

"I've been watching you for a couple years, following your cases and seeing how good you are at your job. You are my just in case, and not because of accessibility. You're unbelievably passionate and dedicated and intelligent. I knew you were the only person I could turn to if anything happened to any of my men or my kid."

"Were there other candidates?"

"Your partner. Martinez."

"Caesar?"

"It was my brother's idea. I told him no. He has a kid himself and a wife. His street has too many cameras, and far too people walk that way. I didn't want to risk someone seeing us take him, and I didn't want to have to sedate his kid and wife. He's a damn good cop, but it was always you."

"That's...sweet and atrocious."

He smiled a little. "It wasn't like I could ask."

"You could always try."

"All right. Carol Williams, do I have permission to kidnap you in case my child is abducted from her elementary school by my enemies?"

"No, but thanks for asking."

He laughed and slid his fingers through hers, interlocking their hands.

She smiled and shook her head, her gaze on the blood, and she didn't how much she'd already given him. Not much, she was sure, but she wasn't entirely sure how much to give him. If she passed out then she would know that was enough. Or too much. Surely, the Governor would intervene if that were to happen. He wanted Daryl in top form, so perhaps her as well. Or if he wanted to use her as leverage, he would need her alive.

Shifting on the cold cement floor, Carol's eyes fell on his face. His eyes were closed, taking her advice to relax, and she studied his face. There wasn't much else to look at around here, and it wasn't a bad view. He wasn't...obviously handsome, no. At second, more thorough glance, it became a little more evident. His personality wasn't half bad either. If he wasn't a criminal...

Furrowing her brows, she shook her head. Uh, no. Scratch all of that. He was a criminal, and there was no use pretending otherwise. She would take down the Governor then the Archer and go back to her life. She would make sure Sophia was taken of. She owed Daryl that much, but she couldn't turn her back on her job. She took an oath, and she wasn't going to break it, no matter what her feelings were. She felt he was a good man and given the chance he would escape this life and raise Sophia better than he was now. It didn't change who he was or the choices he'd made. He had to know it wasn't personal. It was just her job—her life. She hoped he would forgive her one day. She'd do what she could to lower his sentence, but in the end it was out of her hands. As always.

She closed her eyes, no longer able to look at him, and she counted seconds that turned in to minutes, trying to figure how long it had been since this transfusion began.