Neon shifted groaning softly and turned nestling her head into the chest that had been pressed against her back before smiling softly as she opened her eyes. She watched Daryl sleep as she cleared the crusted sleep from the corners of her eyes and moved to get up only to feel his grip tighten around her waist. "Come on, saighdeoir, I've gotta take a piss" She murmured wiggling her way out of his grip before grabbing a pair of jeans and slipping them on. She unzipped the tent, letting Spud out, and slipped out after him, the morning sun just beginning to peak over the horizon.

Neon readjusted her jeans and buckled her belt as she stepped out from behind a tree and started back to the tent. "So where're we searchin' today, saighdeoir?" She queried crawling back inside.

Daryl yawned looking up at her from his spot stretched out on the makeshift bed and shrugged lightly. "Dunno, guess good ol' Rick'll want to take over the search," He stated relaxing back with his hands behind his head. "What're you goin' to do if he tells you to play house again?"

She snorted rifling through her a bag to find clean underwear. "Yesterday I was bein' nice, everyone already thinks I'm a loose cannon, I don't need a double tap to the back of my dome when my guard is down," She changed quickly before sitting down to pull on her boots. "If he doesn't want me to go out he can go and explain to Carol why he's stoppin' me from goin' out and lookin' for Sophia," She stretched and rested back on her palms, her eyes falling to Daryl's thin flannel shirt in a heap on the floor, the arms obviously having been ripped off it at some point. Shit, it's dobhi day today. She picked up the shirt looking at it before a grin touched her lips. "Might have to nick this off you, love" She glanced up at him as he shoved the blanket away to get dressed himself and she quickly began to rifle through her clothing to find the dirtiest and began to throw it into a pile. She snatched up her cigarette's and slid one between her lips lighting it as soon as she'd finished and gathered the pile. "If you bring me your dobhi… laundry, I'll dump it in the pile with the rest of it" She called over her shoulder as started towards the RV where a few others were beginning to wake up.

"Morning, Neon"

She glanced up at Carol and jerked her head in a greeting. "Mornin'," She bit back a yawn as she dumped the clothing onto the picnic table where Carol was putting her's, Dale's and Andrea's. "How are you this mornin'?"

She smiled weakly smoothing out a shirt. "I'm fine, how about you?"

Neon shrugged. "Can't complain, though Spud was up and down all night"

"Really? Isn't he feeling well?"

"No, not that, it's somethin' about this farm. Somethin' is makin' him antsy and, truth be told, I can feel it too. I learnt a long time ago to trust my instincts and his and there's definitely somethin' about this place he doesn't like"

Carol looked over at Spud before looking around the farm. "Maybe we should have a wander around and see if there're any more walkers stuck in the wells?"

"Aye," She nodded. "We can do that this afternoon after we search for your little girl"

Carol smiled looking up at her. "Thank you," She said softly. "Both you and Daryl–"She paused trying to gather herself. "You're both trying so hard to find her and even when Rick told you to stay behind yesterday–" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "Just… thank you"

"You don't have to thank me Carol, I–" She hesitated, hands clenching around the shirt in them. "I've got two kids of my own, I know how you feel right now"

Carol looked up at her wind eyed. "You've got children?"

She nodded digging out the photo and handed it to her. "Boy and girl, seventeen and eight" She took the photo back as Carol handed it to her.

"Are they who you were trying to find in Atlanta?"

She nodded. "Their father lived there with whatever slag he'd decided to hook up with recently, they were down visitin' for the week and half way through that week…" A soft self-depreciating huff of a laugh slipped from her lips. "Well, the world decided to take the piss, didn't it?" There was silence for a moment before she decided to shift gears. "Anyway, you want to go draw up some water so we can get this lot started?" Carol nodded before hurrying off to draw some water for the laundry.

"Morning guys, let's get this going, we've got a lot of ground to cover," Rick called everyone over to the wagon as he laid out a map on its hood. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today," He motioned to the map. "If she's made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found she might have gone further east than we've been so far"

"I'd like to help," The group turned to see Jimmy cautiously making his way over. "I know the area pretty well and stuff"

"Hershel's okay with this?"

"Yeah, yeah," His eyes moved off Rick's as Neon's lips curved into a smirk, she knew a half-hearted lie when she heard one. "He said I should ask you"

"Alright then, thanks"

"Nothin' 'bout what Daryl found screams Sophia to me, anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse"

"Aye, anyone includes Sophia, don't it?"

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high" Daryl stated motioning to a small child like size.

"It's a good lead"

"Maybe we'll pick her trail up again"

Daryl nodded tapping the map. "No maybe about it, I'm goin' to borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, get a bird's eye view of the whole grid, if she's up there I'll spot her"

"Good idea," T-Dog tapped the map. "Maybe you'll see you're Chupacabra up there too"

"Chupacabra?"

She grinned softly. "Really?" She looked to Daryl for confirmation and received a short jerk of his head.

"You never heard this?" Dale asked. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a Chupacabra" Jimmy began laughing.

"What're you brayin' at jackass?" Daryl snapped at the boy.

"So you believe in a blood sucking dog?"

"Do you believe dead people are walkin' around?"

She grinned softly shaking her head. "Spud and I will start in this area here and head north east," She tapped a spot on the map. "Should take us a few hours and then we'll come back and check in before movin' into this area" She motioned to another area of the map.

Rick nodded. "Alright," He looked to Jimmy as he went to grab the shotgun off the hood of the wagon. "Hey, hey, ever fire one before?"

"Well if I'm going out I want one"

"Yeah and people in hell want Slurpee's" Daryl stated hoisting his crossbow up as he turned away from the group and walked off.

Neon trudged towards the house, walking was killing her feet and since there was a barn full of horses and she had a whole other quadrant to search, she'd figured she'd make her job just that bit easier and search on horseback. "Maggie," She caught the elder Greene girl just before she headed towards the chicken coop. "Is your Da around?"

"He's inside checkin' on Carl"

She gave a nod of thanks giving Spud the command to stay as she climbed the stairs to the house and kicked off her filthy boots before stepping inside, she glanced around for a moment before finding Hershel in the kitchen washing his hands. "Hershel, I was wonderin' if I could I have chin wag with you for a moment"

He turned as he tried his hands with a tea towel and nodded. "What is it?"

"Just wanted to ask if I could borrow one of your ponies, please?"

He gave her a once over with a critical gaze before nodding slowly. "All right," He motioned for her to follow him. "I would have said no, one of your group already took one of my horses out without asking but since you were polite enough to ask, I don't see why not"

She grinned in embarrassment as she rubbed at the back of her neck. "My da, god rest his soul, brought me up to be polite, the one and old time I disrespected him I got a rap across the knuckles with his shillelagh," She laughed softly rubbing her knuckles out of instinct, at the time it had hurt like a son of a bitch. "I never disrespected him after that and he'd be rollin' in his grave if I didn't use my manners every once in a while," She cast her gaze around the farm as they walked towards the barn. "Even if the world as gone to the dogs"

"I'll let you take Pat," Hershel motioned to a chestnut gelding with a slightly swayed back and a narrow face. "He's calm, quiet, not a thing would faze him"

She nodded before feeling a tug on the back of her shirt and glanced over her shoulder to find a black mustang straining against his stall door. "Who's this?"

"This is Jake," Hershel stroked the length of the stallion's face. "He's a good horse, calm in the right hands and cheeky in the inexperienced ones"

She nodded stroking Jake's neck, his nose pressing into her torso as he blew softly through his nostrils giving a gentle whicker. "I grew up ridin' a stroppy old chestnut Irish draught," She smiled remembering Lucy. "She used to bite and kick at everyone, until she bit the farrier one day and he socked her in the gob, never bit anyone after that"

"He seems to like you"

She smiled scratching the horses ear. "Aye, you're a smart lookin' fella, ain't you?"

"Tell you what, why don't you take him out, he hasn't had nearly enough exercise recently"

"Cheers," She scratched under Jake's forelock before she remembered Maggie had said she should talk to Hershel about her brother. "I've been meanin' to ask," She turned to look at Hershel as he started to walk away. "Maggie said I should come talk to you but what with the well and everythin' it slipped my mind," She felt the stallion nibble on the hem of her shirt and pushed his face away slightly. "She clammed up when I mentioned my brother," She watched him with a hawk gaze for a reaction. "Has there been someone that looks like me come through here? Male, brunette, grey eyes," She turned her arm to show him the tattoo of the family crest. "Same tat"

Hershel looked at the tattoo and then nodded. "You must be the sister he said he was looking for"

"Aye," Her heart lurched in her chest and a smile wound its way to her lips. "How far ahead is he?"

"He left the morning young Carl was shot," Hershel frowned softly. "He said his sister had children"

"I do, currently they're MIA," She looked back at Jake as he tugged on the back of her shirt. "Which way did he go?"

"Towards the town, he wanted to get supplies before he moved on"

A broad grin slip to her lips as she patted Jake's neck. "Sorry bud, but our ride will have to wait, I need to go see if my baby brother is still in town," She looked up at Hershel. "How far is it to the town?"

"Not far, about a mile or so, just turn right out of the main gates"

She nodded and gave a whistle to Spud before rushing out of the stables and sprinting towards the 'Am, she skidded to a halt throwing open the door and threw her things onto the dash as she grabbed her keys and slid them into the ignition before pulling away from the campsite and put her foot to the floor. For the love of god, Quinn. You'd better still be in that goddamn down. I'm not losing everyone I care about.

Authors Note

The next chap has something big in it... actually... I take that back it has two big things in it, and one of them has been a very long time coming.

Reply Time!

galwidanatitud: There may very well be, especially since the two of them aren't exactly friends.

FreeSpiritSeeker: Most definitely, it's like, holy shit, I can see again!