Hey there, sweet readers! I'm trying to write as much and as fast as I can for you! Real life is so HARD right now, there is a ton of stuff going on and on top of it all I just got a nice little cold. Blah. I'm trying not to be a gloomy goose though. Please review! I need something to smile about. ;-)

Since I haven't said it recently: I own nothing. Nada. Not one ounce of The Walking Dead belongs to me.

Also, we haven't seen much Daryl/ Ella ahem... *action* lately. I'm going to fix that little problem.

Chapter 24

"How did we miss that on the sweep!" Andrea burst out.

Rick had called a meeting to discuss what he and Daryl had found on their stake out of the Bachman kids house. The news of the walkers obviously wasn't setting well with the group. It was like the farm all over again.

"There's a hidden room in the basement," Daryl explained.

"Man, what the hell?" Glenn moaned. "Can't catch a freaking break."

Everyone erupted into questions and cries of worry.

Rick held up a hand, "Alright everyone," he said trying to be heard over the commotion. "Ethan has the room well barricaded and there's only two of them. They're not going to get out of there, but we need to handle this immediately. I refuse to have another barn situation on our hands."

Hershel nodded, "I can talk to the boy."

"That's the best solution I can think of as well," Rick told his friend. "We're not going in there with guns ready to fire at the first thing that moves."

"I want to go," Ella quickly spoke up.

"We don't need a shrink," Andrea quipped. "We need guns. You can't shoot."

"Hey!" Daryl tensed up and Ella touched his forearm.

Andrea shrugged, "Are you planning on talking them to death or what?"

Ella rolled her eyes at the trigger-happy blonde, "Katelyn and I have connected a little. I hate shooting first and asking questions later. There's a reason they haven't killed them. They're kids, Andrea. Let's not scar them anymore than necessary."

"If Ella's goin', I'm goin'."

Andrea rolled her eyes at Daryl's announcement.

"That's enough people," Rick stopped them, before Andrea had a chance to volunteer as well. He already had one temperamental redneck on his hands, he didn't need to watch out for Andrea as well. "I don't want to spook them. Daryl, Hershel, myself and Ella. Let's go."

"Right now?" Ella squeaked out.

Daryl stared at her, "Whu? You wanna bake them cookies or sumthin' first?"

Ella frowned at him, "No."

"Let's go then," he took her hand.

"Glenn, Andrea- take watch and someone find T-Dog. Where the hell is he for chrissake?" Rick instructed the rest of the group before following Daryl and Ella. The four marched across the dead grass of multiple yards and over to the Bachman's house. Like usual, the shades were drawn and it was quiet inside.

"Ethan!" Rick pounded on the door. "Open up. We need to have a chat."

"He's not answering," Ella whispered after a few beats of silence.

"Break down the damn door," Daryl said.

Ella shook her head. "Or you could just try the knob, genius. Maybe it's not locked."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at her.

Rick banged again, "Ethan. Open it up or we will."

Ella wanted to say something about being careful not to scare Jenna, but knew that her request would fall on deaf ears. These men had one mission in mind.

Daryl pushed past Rick and tried the door knob, "Locked," he shot her a pointed look. "Imma break it down.

Ella grabbed Daryl's wrist, "No, that's a bad idea." He turned his blue eyes on her with a Dixon scowl that was no longer intimidating to Ella. Thankfully, Ethan spoke up from the other side of the door, distracting Daryl from his frustration towards Ella's way of always trying to be polite.

"Yeah?"

Rick leaned his hand against the doorframe and spoke, "Ethan, I'd appreciate it if you would let us in so we can chat."

The door cracked open and an exhausted looking Ethan peered out. "What's up?"

Daryl growled, "Let us in, man."

The always overly cautious Ethan looked between the four of them and realized he didn't have much of a choice. He opened the front door wide and moved aside to let them pass. Daryl immediately unshouldered his crossbow, loaded a bolt and headed in the direction of the basement door.

"Yo, man!" A look of panic crossed Ethan's face. "Where you going?"

Ella watched Daryl pause with his crossbow in midair and silently pleaded for him to put it down. She knew that her presence in the house was the reason Daryl was so determined to shoot first and talk later. His body was rigid and his lips were pulled tight, he was in full protector mode despite their disagreement at the front door.

"Just gotta take care of some strays in the basement," he answered Ethan with a growl. "You know anything 'bout them?"

"Whoa! Wait a second, man!" Ethan moved quickly to stand in front of the basement door. "No one is going down there."

Jenna appeared on the stairs and her quiet voice carried down to the men who were in a standoff, "Mommy and Daddy are in the basement."

"Dammit," Ethan breathed out. "Jenna, go back to your room."

The little girl's face tightened and she shook her head, "Are you going to shoot them, Daryl?"

"Man, get the kid out of here." Daryl's voice was low and tight.

Ella moved past Ethan and Daryl to stand at the bottom of the stairs, "We just came to talk, sweetie. Daryl's not going to shoot anyone."

Behind her, the hunter snorted at her obvious lie. Jenna's eyes moved from Ella to the other men standing in the house. They all waited as the little girl decided her next move. "Mommy and Daddy are already dead."

Ethan spoke more firmly this time, "Jenna, please go to your room. I don't want to ask you again."

With wisdom beyond her years, Jenna ignored her brother and spoke again. "Let Daryl shoot them. That's not mommy and daddy down there anymore. My mommy and daddy don't eat people."

"Jenna!" Ethan was exasperated now and torn on what to do. If he left the front of the basement door, Daryl would barrel down the stairs and take care of his parents with a bolt to the head. He couldn't figure out how to get Jenna to wait in her room without actually taking her there. He had never heard his nine-year-old sister talk about their parents in the basement before and her statement startled him. Jenna was stronger than him. She wanted Daryl to do something, which Ethan himself couldn't bring himself to even think about doing.

Ella noticed Ethan's resistance to leave his post at the door and moved up the steps herself. "Let's go to your room, sweetie." She placed her hands on Jenna's tiny shoulders.

Jenna shook her head. "No."

Ella turned and looked back to Daryl whose face was twisted with an anticipation, which he was trying to keep under wraps. He met her eyes and silently encouraged her to continue to persuade Jenna to leave the top of the stairs. Rick and Hershel stood watching the scene unfold in front of them, breath held in waiting, Rick's hand ready to draw his gun at the first sign of trouble. When Ella turned back to Jenna, the child's big green eyes met her own brown eyes with sadness.

"Please, let me come down stairs, Ethan. Don't make me be alone."

"Go to Katelyn's room then."

"She's not there."

Ethan sighed and conceded to his sister's request. "Lower that thing, man." He told Daryl before motioning her down the stairs with a wave of his hand.

Jenna grabbed Ella's hand and they walked down the stairs together, the little girl's hand had her own in a death grip. She was trying to be strong, but Jenna was scared to death. Her fear was a stark reminder to Ella that this world was no place for a child anymore. She felt a tiny butterfly of movement in her own stomach and tried not to let her imagination wander to the horrors outside the fence of the development.

Daryl was on fire, he was thinking back to when they had met the Bachman's, how Jenna had been left alone for days with the walkers in the same house. "You left your little sister here alone with those geeks down there?"

"They can't get out! It's secure and Jenna knows not to go down there. I had everything locked up."

"Why don't you just tell us why they're down there," Rick instructed firmly.

Ethan collapsed against the door leading to the basement and took a breath before speaking. Emotions flooded his face in an instant. "Man, I was coming back from school. Trying to get home as fast as I could. I left as soon as things started to get bad so that I could be here and protect them…" Ethan's words trailed off as he began to remember what he had come home too. "There were already some of the dead inside the development. When I finally got inside Mom was laying in the kitchen … the fever had already started and Dad…. He was gone already. He had Jenna and Katelyn trapped upstairs in the hall bathroom."

Little Jenna left Ella's side and slipped her hand into her brother's. Ethan looked down and gave her a sad smile before wrapping her fully into his arms.

"I knew what needed to be done, I had heard on the emergency broadcast, but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't shoot my parents. Man, I've shot so many of them. But mom and dad… I can't. I just can't."

Hershel spoke, "I understand."

Ethan nodded and quietly said, "I'm not strong enough to take them out."

Rick moved forward and grabbed his gun. "We'll do it."

It took Ethan several moments before he could move his body from the spot in front of the door. When he did, he moved as if his body was 100 years old. Slow and shaky.

Ella stayed upstairs with Jenna and Ethan while the three men moved cautiously downstairs. Even though they couldn't see, they could hear the moaning and cries of hunger as Daryl let the walkers loose from their place of captivity. Two gunshots rang through the air and Jenna flinched, burying her head into her brother's side. However, the siblings were strong and neither shed a tear when Hershel came back up to ask where they wanted the burial plots dug.

"Man, where the hell is Katelyn?" Ethan asked after all the commotion had died down. The middle child had no idea what had just transpired in the last 20 minutes.

\\

"I need you," Daryl breathed into her ear, his words tickling her skin. He was freshly showered from the day's hard work and smelled like soap. Ella inhaled his scent and leaned back into his chest, allowing his lips to trail over her jaw line. He reached around and grabbed her breasts. Her nipples hardened when he ran his rough thumbs over them through her t-shirt. She let his hands roam over her body as they stood in the kitchen, knees weakening as he worked her over.

"You still mad at me?"

She shook her head, "No."

Their disagreement while in the Bachmann house had continued after returning, over how quick Daryl had gone in ready to shoot first and ask questions later. Now, he was coming to her for make up sex. Sometimes Ella wondered if he just picked fights with her for the sole purpose of getting to have make up sex.

She didn't say anything about the lack of condoms again as he led her into the bedroom. She didn't think it mattered anymore anyway. Besides, the things he was doing to her body made her completely forget everything beyond his touch.

"Please, Daryl. Please," she begged him not to stop. Her moans only turned him on more, causing him to press into her faster and harder. He leaned down to bite and lick her shoulder without stopping his fluid motion over her.

Ella whined into his mouth as their lips lightly grazed each other. He held her close to him as her body twitched and she screamed out in pleasure. He found his own release and growled into the crook of her neck as he tensed above her and let the waves of satisfaction roll over his body. When he fell asleep, arms and legs wrapped around her, Ella placed a small hand over his large one that rested on her flat stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut, tried to forget that she was keeping a secret from him and let sleep find her.