Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or its characters. I only own Elise Young.

A/N: Again, I apologise for the delay in updates. My personal life's taken a bit of a beating. My boyfriend and I are going through a really tough time together and my family is also going through a lot of trials, and I have been really unwell with stress. So, I'm so, so sorry for the lack in updates and I will try to get back into updating regularly. I haven't forgotten about this fic!

ShadowXMoonlight: Thanks so much! Sorry the wait's been so long! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Equal-Opportunity-Reader: I'm sure Daryl may punch Shane at some point. I can arrange that for you, if you wish!

shika93: As always, thanks for the support!

Happy reading!

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Can't Make It Alone

Chapter Twenty-Five: Down On The Farm

After the service, the group began to make a strategy for finding Sophia.

Elise was just moving some things from the RV into the tent she'd be sharing with Daryl, so the hunter took the opportunity to approach Rick and Hershel, who were talking near the steps of the farmhouse. He didn't want to have this conversation, but he was doing it for Elise. Well, also for himself and his own peace of mind. He didn't want her getting hurt.

"Can I have a minute?" He asked as the other men turned to him expectantly, and he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably as he turned to look back at Elise, who was happily talking to Carol and Lori, "She can't go out there today..."

"What makes you say that?" Rick asked him, earning an incredulous look from the other man.

"Have you looked at her? She's white as a sheet..." Daryl watched Rick and Hershel exchange a look as he spoke, "She's had the shakes since last night."

Rick had never heard Daryl sound so worried before. He'd never seen him look so concerned. But Elise was more than capable of making her own decisions about whether she should go out on the search for Sophia or not. He knew Daryl was looking out for her, but Rick wasn't sure if this was Daryl's choice to make.

"She's weak, not to mention exhausted. She's sick..." He continued, looking at Rick with almost pleading eyes "She'll tell you she's fine, but she hasn't slept. She threw up half her guts last night, man... I don't want her out there. She barely eats. She doesn't sleep. It's making her ill, Rick. I don't wanna send her out there and have her get even worse."

"Is this true?" Hershel asked Rick, "She doesn't eat?"

"It's been a hard week for everyone." Rick explained, "Food hasn't been her priority. She hasn't been able to stomach it. Daryl's had to force her to at least eat something, but then we've come close to a walker, and she's not used to being so up close and personal with dead bodies. She just throws it all back up."

"She'll be dehydrated..." Hershel said, "If her food isn't settling and staying down, it's going to get harder for her to eat and take sustenance from her meals. I think she needs to stay here and rest. We have food that can maybe settle her stomach. She wouldn't last in this heat."

"Well, good luck telling her that." Rick replied with a grimace, "She's a stubborn woman. Not to mention the most skilled woman here. She'll want to be out there with Daryl."

"Well, I don't want her out there, and if I have to say that to her..." Daryl began, only to be cut off by Rick.

"Be careful how you approach this situation." The ex-cop warned him, "You don't want to make her feel any worse than she's going to when we tell her."

"So, it's agreed? She ain't going?" Daryl asked, looking between the two men.

"She ain't going." Hershel confirmed, watching the younger man's shoulders sag with relief as he gave them both a nod of thanks, "I'll be the bearer of bad news."

About a half hour later, Hershel Daryl, Rick, Shane, Andrea and Elise stood around the hood of a car, while the others continued to set up camp in front of the farmhouse. Daryl didn't like it that Elise was in between himself and Shane. He didn't want the ex-cop getting any ideas about trying it with his girl. He possessively wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her into his side, which earned him a rather angry glare from the woman in question. He was dreading her reaction when Hershel was going to tell her she couldn't go out to find Sophia.

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked them, noticing Maggie approaching from his right with maps in her hand.

"This'll be day three." Rick explained, looking to the group who were all losing hope by the minute.

Elise watched the young woman arrive beside them, and she carefully spread the maps across the car hood. The two had only just recently been introduced properly, and Maggie seemed like a headstrong girl, but she was nice enough to talk to. Maybe she and Elise would make friends. Friends were what everyone needed in times like these.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." Maggie explained, weighing the map down with small rocks.

"This is perfect..." Rick breathed, "We can finally get this thing organised. We'll grid the whole area. Start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today." Hershel said sternly, earning a shocked look from Rick, "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out."

His eyes then moved to Shane's. The search effort was going to have to be carried out by others, without the group's main leaders. Elise swallowed down the growing nausea in her stomach in an attempt to try and 'man up'. She'd have to go out there, since she was the most skilled person in the group besides Daryl.

"And your ankle." Hershel told Shane, "You push it now, you'll be laid up a month. No good to anybody."

Shane grimaced and ducked his head, shooting a look of annoyance at Andrea who looked over at Elise, earning a soft frown from her. If only the ex-teacher knew what was coming next.

"And you, Elise." Hershel then turned to the young woman, startling her, "You're sickly pale. You don't look like you can hold yourself up much longer. Those dark circles under your eyes... That's exhaustion."

"I'm fine, Hershel." Elise said, ducking her head, "When I vomit, the phobia and the process my body goes through make me feel ill for a while after is all. It's nothing."

"No, no..." Hershel stopped her, "You need rest. You're not going anywhere until you get your strength up. You'll also be dehydrated from vomiting, and in this heat, you'd also be at risk of passing out."

"N-No..." Elise stammered, a grimace plastering itself onto her face, "Please! I have to go! I have to help! We're already two men down!"

"There are concerns for your health, Elise. We can't have you going out there and getting sick." Hershel said quietly, trying to reason with her as his eyes flitted to Daryl, who couldn't look at the young woman, "People are worried about you."

Elise's face suddenly twisted into an expression of rage and hurt as she turned to Daryl, grabbing him harshly by the arm and spinning him round to face her. Her body shook, not just with the weakness but with her anger as well. How dare he try and make a decision like this for her? How dare he tell Rick that she wasn't capable of going out there? He looked guilty as sin. He couldn't even look her in the face. She wasn't upset that he was worried for her, but that he'd gone behind her back without even asking if she was okay.

"You!" She yelled, attracting the attention of the others in camp, "How could you? After everything we've talked about, Daryl! You know how much I need to help with this!"

"You can barely stand up, Elise!" He yelled louder than her, "You're sick, and getting sicker!"

"What, do you think I can't look after myself or something? Or that I'd slow you down?" She snarled, willing the tears away that threatened to fill her eyes, "How dare you make this kind of decision for me? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I'm the man who's gotta watch you slowly going from bad to worse because you're too fucking stubborn to realise that you're killing yourself!" Daryl was practically screaming now, "I never wanted it to come to this, but I don't want you going out there! I don't! And if that means I gotta tie you to a fucking tree to make you stay behind, I'll do it! You ain't goin' out there today, tomorrow or the day after! You hear me?!"

His words stung her like she'd been attacked by a thousand bees. She stared up at him, her eyes now overflowing with tears as three or four escaped down her pale face. Angrily, she clenched her jaw and turned away from him, walking back towards the RV with a hand pressed against her stomach. Daryl watched her go, scrubbing a hand over his face.

"Elise?"

Wiping her face, Elise looked up at the sound of Shane's voice outside the tent she and Daryl were supposed to be sharing. She didn't really know if she wanted to sleep next to him at that moment. She was so angry with him and so hurt that he'd been that way with her.

"Can I come in?"

"S-Sure..." Elise stammered, opening the tent flap enough to let him in, "What is it?"

"First off, I wanna make sure you're alright." Shane spoke slowly and quietly, "I know Daryl was harsh, but he's just trying to look after you."

"None of you have any right to tell me whether or not I'm fit to go out there. I wanna help." Elise answered, grimacing and breaking into tears again, "I don't feel well, but that doesn't mean I can't help."

"This argument is between you and Daryl. You guys have to figure this out." Shane said softly, touching her arm gently, "Listen, I need your gun. Hershel doesn't want guns on his property, so I'm gathering them up."

Elise didn't question him. She just passed him the gun in silence and looked back to her knees, running a hand into her hair as he put the gun in the bag he had. Shane stayed for a few moments, watching her brow crease up again as the upset began to hit her once more.

"Keep your chin up." He said quietly, "I'll give you some peace."

In the distance, Daryl saw Shane exiting the tent that he and Elise were supposed to be sharing. It made him anxious that the ex-cop was sniffing around like that, and as much as he knew he should, he didn't really want to talk to her just yet. She'd made it quite clear how upset she was with him. He spotted Glenn and Hershel's daughter Maggie talking under the trees, and he approached the pair, his crossbow slung over his back. He had an idea of how to start making it up to his girl. The thought behind a gift might just bring him back into her good books. Just a little.

"Glenn?"

The Korean man turned to look at him, eyebrows knotted together with confusion. Daryl never came to speak to him personally. Daryl scared Glenn. He was a guy who was pretty badass and usually scowling about something. To see him looking this calm was pretty worrying. Glenn wondered what was going on, although he kind of guessed Daryl was worried about Elise. The whole camp had witnessed their screaming match earlier.

"You're doing a pharmacy run, right?" He asked, watching Glenn's look of confusion change into an expression of horror.

"Oh, no... You haven't run out already..." He breathed, causing Daryl's face to turn bright red.

"What? No! I didn't even know you'd found..."

"Yeah, Elise has them." Glenn was shocked at Daryl's embarrassment about the condoms Elise had asked him to find.

"Some pharmacies sell make-up right?" The older man asked, earning a nod from Glenn, "Can you look for some nail varnish or something? A nice colour..."

"For Elise, I'm assuming." Glenn replied, earning an incredulous glare from Daryl, "Sure."

"Is this to make up for earlier?" Maggie asked, "You guys really got into it."

"She deserves something nice so..." Daryl said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "I gotta get out and look Sophia. Elise likes bright colours so... I guess a bright colour would be best."

"Sure." Glenn said with a nod, earning one of thanks from Daryl who turned on his heel and headed away.

The hunter didn't realise that Rick was sitting on the steps to the porch of the farmhouse, and when he called him, it startled him a little. Rick figured Daryl felt a little useless at that moment. Elise wasn't speaking to him and he probably thought he had no-one else to talk to. Rick was happy for him to busy himself with looking for Carol's daughter.

"You okay on your own?" The ex-cop asked, noticing the shock on Daryl's face.

Since when did the others start giving a damn about him? He'd always been a stupid redneck to them. A bad-tempered, mean, selfish asshole. Maybe it was the fact that he'd been looking for Sophia relentlessly. Maybe.

"I'm better on my own." Daryl called back, "I'll be back before dark."

"What do I tell Elise?" Rick asked, "She's gonna be worried about you."

"Nah, she ain't." Daryl replied with a shrug, "I pissed her off. Hurt her feelings. She ain't gonna give a damn."

"Of course she is." Rick answered with a small smile, "You did what you did for her sake. She'll realise that when she's calmed down."

"Nah." Daryl's voice was much quieter, "Look, I gotta get moving."

"Hey..." Rick's voice was also much quieter as he approached the redneck, "We got a base. We can get this search properly organised now."

"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl asked, trying to hide the hurt he felt over the argument with Elise.

"My point is, it lets you off the hook." Rick replied calmly, trying not to be irritated at the sudden change of Daryl's attitude, "You don't owe us anything."

"My other plans fell through." Daryl said quickly, turning on his heel and heading away.

"Hey, Elise? You need anything from the pharmacy?"

Elise snapped her head up as Lori poked her head through the flap in the tent. Lori's expression softened as Elise's clear distress reminded her of the shouting match between her and Daryl earlier. She climbed inside with a piece of paper in her hand, passing Elise the pencil she had with her. Lori had her own issues to worry about, but she needed to know that Elise was okay.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, Lori." The auburn-haired woman whispered as she wrote down the few items she needed, "I don't know why Daryl felt the need to make decisions for me. But he shouldn't be allowed to take that control over me."

"He wasn't controlling you. He was worried about you." Lori answered softly, "He doesn't care about much, but he cares about you. We're all worried, Elise. We all know you're ill."

Elise just nodded and thanked Lori for her time before asking her to leave. About ten minutes passed before another person was outside the tent asking for her, and Elise had just about had enough of having her time being intruded upon like that. She wanted time to think. Maybe she was better off leaving. Going where people wouldn't be interrupting her all the time and interfering with her life. The shadow on the tent door made her snarl to herself quietly.

"What is it?" She snapped, watching Shane's head appear doorway of the tent.

The ex-cop studied the young woman's beautiful face, but her was undeterred by her snapping and her upset. They needed her help by one of the farm's wells. He simply ignored her anger and gave her a small smile.

"We have a problem..."

Approaching the well that had gotten everyone so excited, T-Dog, Dale, Andrea, Lori, Shane, Glenn and Elise all peered inside to see what the fuss was about. A growling came from the well, and Elise took it upon herself to take the flashlight from Dale and shine it down there. The well was rather deep, and it wasn't clear what was making the growling noise, although they all could guess.

"Shane... I need your muscles." She said with a grin, "Yours too, T. I need you guys to hold onto my waist and legs... Just let me lean down further in there to see what's going on."

"Are you insane?" Dale asked, "That could be a walker."

"It is a walker, no doubt." Elise replied, "But I need to check its condition. It's probably starving and desperate for food, but if I can tell what condition it's in, we might get a better idea of how to get it out of there. So, Shane? T? If you'd do the honours."

Shane took Elise's waist and T-Dog got down on one knee, grabbing hold of Elise's left thigh. The young woman took a deep breath and leaned herself forward, feeling T-Dog's other hand move to support her lower leg. Their grips were tight, and Shane also held onto her arm for some leverage. She was almost totally in the well when she finally got to see the walker in question.

"Okay, we have a swimmer..." She spoke slowly, "The body is very bloated, so getting it out of there might be a problem. I'll be astounded if it hasn't contaminated the water supply. You can lift me out now."

Shane and T-Dog managed to haul her out until her feet were touching the ground, and she gripped onto Shane as he helped her back upright. Andrea scowled a little while Lori looked away, and Shane took longer than expected to let go of Elise. T-Dog, Glenn and Dale all looked confused at the reactions of Andrea and Lori, but listened to Elise regardless.

"We can't shoot it. If it hasn't contaminated the water already, blowing it's brains out will definitely do so." She said, spotting Maggie approaching, "We're gonna need some rope. It's just getting it out of there that's gonna be a problem. We can try and entice it onto the rope with something, maybe some meat or even fruit. If it's hungry enough, it'll eat whatever's waved in front of it."

"We should send a rope down and then maybe some meat tied to something else..." Shane suggested, "Maybe fishing line if there's any around?"

Within five minutes, Maggie had a huge chunk of meat tied to a fishing line, and Shane and Dale lowered the rope, and fishing line into the well. The walker simply looked at the meat and continued to growl softly, not taking it at all. Shane looked to Elise, almost in awe of the woman's cleverness so far.

"So what now?" He asked her, not deterred by the current problem.

"I think that maybe the meat was a bad choice." Elise bit her lip and ran a hand over her face, "We need live bait. If something's kicking and screaming, the walker's bound to want it. Glenn? I need you, buddy."

"Why can't you go?" Glenn asked, mortified.

"Because, you're swifter than me. Sharper. Not as clumsy." Elise was trying to sweeten him up, and it caused the others to smirk, especially when she led him away to whisper to him, "Look, do you want Maggie to think you're a coward?"

"No!" Glenn whispered harshly, "But... It's a walker, for God's sake!"

"You've faced hundreds of walkers, Glenn." Elise whispered, "You're brave. You're Batman."

"Did you really just say that?" Glenn asked her incredulously.

"Say it. Say, I'm Batman. Say it." Elise urged him, her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm Batman." Glenn muttered after an eye-roll and a sigh, earning a grin from the former teacher.

"Atta boy."

So, the group got it together to discuss how they would use Glenn to get the walker out of the well. The best option seemed to be getting a length of rope, tying part of it to Glenn and making a tight lasso for the walker, then trying to somehow winch them up and out of the well. The only question was, how could they do it without risking Glenn being eaten or killed?

-TBC-

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading so far!

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