&& I'm sorry about how the line breaks have been going. I know it's been confusing when the perspective switches over. I don't understand why my line breaks haven't been showing up when I post the chapters but I hope it's fixed this time. Thank you all for following this story and thank you for the reviews. &&

Night was quiet. Only time I had to myself to think bout Jesse. Think bout her bein' out there. We all lost her trail week 'fore. We lost her. But I knew she weren' dead. I stared out on those trees, my legs hangin' from the end of the guard tower while I kept an eye on everythin'. Lil Bit an Our Boy were sleepin' inside wit Beth watchin' over 'em. I'd pick 'em up on the way in to bed to get a coupla hours a sleep 'fore they got me up.

Heard the footsteps 'fore she started talkin'. That Karen girl. Called her the truck bitch. She sat down side me an started talkin' like she seemed to always be tryin' to do. "I watched my boyfriend die."

"Yep."

"But I think you have it worse. Because you still have hope."

"She ain't dead." In two weeks, I said it a million times. Was startin' to lose all meanin'.

"You'll never move on because you still have so much hope. If you ever move on it will feel like you're giving up on her. So I think I'm luckier. Because I know Kyle is gone. I know I can move on without guilt. It's okay for me to want to be with someone else. It's okay for me to want someone else."

"Don' want no one else. She's still out there. She's been gone fer two weeks. She'll be back."

"You really loved her, didn't you?"

"Don' be sayin' it like she's dead. Don' be talkin' bout her 'tall."

"So you still love her?"

"Don' wanna be talkin' bout it wit ya." Even wit Jesse gone, I still couldn' sit there an talk bout the fact that I wanted to only be wit her. The fact that I loved her.

"Well, what do you want to talk about with me?"

"Don' wanna be discussin' nothin' witcha. Don' wantcha to be round Lil Bit an Our Boy no more either. Know what yer tryin' to do."

I did too. Watched her out in the yard wit 'em. Playin' wit 'em, doin' their laundry, tryin' to sit wit us when we were eatin'. Was tryin' to get on my good side by gettin' good wit my kids.

"I'm just trying to help you, Daryl. You don't have to be so suspicious of everyone."

"I'll stop bein' suspicious when my woman gets back. Till then, leave me an mine the fuck alone."

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"Can you smell that, Janey?"

"Smell what?"

"The smell of the highway. It's different from the woods. They're taking us close to a highway. Do you know what that means?"

"Is it time to run?"

"It's definitely time to run, baby girl."

I was laying on the ground. It hurt to move again and the smell of blood leaked through the air. There was a bite mark on my lower thigh that had made its way through the skin. Usually, Jeremy was better at not breaking skin. I took a deep breath and pushed myself up on my elbows and slowly made my way up to a sitting position. I motioned for Janey to come closer to me and she crawled over silently, watching the tent for any sign of movement. I knew there wouldn't be any. We were camped for a couple of days.

I pulled Janey's hair aside and peeked at her collar. She was healing fine in different areas. They so rarely went near her at all that she rarely got new injuries. The worst they did was smack her for racing to help me. Her collar was almost all the way chewed and cut through. I whispered, "When you get out of here, hit the highway and go south to King County. The prison is an hour's drive north of King County. Get there as fast as you can. There will be a man named Daryl and a man named Johnny. Tell them that I am just off the highway. We'll be heading west as soon as they realize you're gone. Make sure they know that. It will take them about a day and a half to find me. Tell them to hurry. As soon as I run, pull downwards. It will break through the collar. Leave the chain. Ditch the shoes as soon as possible. If you're running through the woods, count to eighty and then break a branch or a twig or something. That will help Daryl get back to me. Do you understand?"

"What about you, Jesse? What will you be doing?"

"I'll be making sure they're going a different way than you."

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"C'mon, we needa get back to the prison. Beth's outta her throwin' up stage but her feet are always killin' her now."

"How far long is she?" Johnny an I were a few miles out from the prison, lookin' fer any sign a movement. Any sign a Jesse. The day 'fore marked three weeks that my woman been gone. That Johnny's sister disappeared.

"Bout four months, we think."

"Damn. Ya'll started foolin' round a month after ya got here?"

"Shit, we're halfway through September now an me an Jesse an Arlene got here in March. I waited a while. Ya can' say I didn'."

"Waited longer witcher sister."

"I'd fuckin' hope so. Ya'll fuckin' fought all the fuckin' time. Carol an I thought ya were gonna kill each other."

"Thought I was gonna fer a while. When we get her back, I still might."

We turned round an started back to the prison. Me poppin' squirrels outta the trees an hangin' 'em from our belts so we'd have somethin' to eat. Rick was on our asses bout goin' huntin' an bringin' in bigger game if we were gonna be out all the time but trackin' a deer would take time away from Jesse that I jus weren' willin' to lose.

We made our way back to the prison bout nine o'clock an I went on in to put Lil Bit an Our Boy to bed. Had to get Lil Bit from bitch an fucker an had to pry Our Boy outta the truck bitch's arms. They already ate an got baths so I went on head an took 'em to bed. Lil Bit looked up at me wit her big blue eyes an said real quiet, "Poppa Daryl, do ya think Jesse Momma is gone fer good?"

"No, Lil Bit. She will be back. Yer momma is tough. She ain't leavin' us jus yet. I'm spectin' her back any day now."

"And we won't ever let her leave again?" Our boy chimed in.

"Never again," I promised.

I kissed 'em both on the forehead an picked up a book Carol found in all that kid stuff. One bout Jack an his beanstalk. I'd been readin' it to 'em every couple nights. Switchin' it out from that one an a book bout a caterpillar. Fell asleep wit both of 'em on my side of the bed. We didn' sleep on Jesse's side a the bed. Only got a few hours a sleep 'fore I heard shoutin'. Real shoutin'. Not jus the usual hollerin' went on in the prison. An the shoutin' was my name. An it was Johnny, who was sposed to be on patrol.

I jumped up an grabbed Lil Bit an Our Boy, wakin' 'em up an scarin' the shit outta 'em. Bout to head out the door too when it flew open an I saw Johnny standin' there starin' at me, his face white as a sheet. He shouted, "Take the kids to Beth. She's expectin' 'em. We gotta go. We gotta go now! Ya needa see this."

He snatched Our Boy up outta my arms an took off gain. Lil Bit asked all scared, "Poppa Daryl, what's goin' on?"

"I don' know, Lil Bit, but we ain't in danger. We ain't in any kinda trouble. Uncle Johnny woulda told us if we were. Yer jus gonna be stayin' wit Aunt Beth tonight, okay?"

"You'll come get me?"

"Soon as I can."

We barely stopped when we took the kid's to Beth an Johnny's room. After we dropped the kids off, he took off in a full blown run out to the cell block area where a lil dirty blonde girl was sittin', wearin' the pants an shirt I last saw on Jesse. Rick was standin' next to her, studyin' her real quiet. I scared the shit outta her when I yelled, "Ya better start talkin' real fuckin' fast, lil girl. Cause the last time I saw those clothes, they was on my woman."

"That's what she's tryin' to tell us, Dixon!" Johnny cried out. "She knows where Jesse is! She knows how to find her. All we gotta do is follow her path back. All we gotta do is go where she said. Jesse took care of everythin'. We just gotta go get my sister."

"Well what the fuck are we waitin' on? C'mon."

"Daryl," Rick spoke up an I knew I weren' gonna like what he had to say.

"What?"

"You and Johnny aren't listening to what she's been saying. Janey, this little girl, Jesse helped her escape. Jesse helped her get away from people who wanted to keep their hands on her. Jesse's about seven, maybe eight hours away. If you leave now, you'll be in the dark with all the walkers and God knows what else is out there. You need to wait until the morning."

"No!" All three a us said it at the same time. Even that lil girl.

"We ain't leavin' Jesse out there when we know where she is."

"You can't leave her with them! You can't!" she cried out. "They'll kill her. They've already done so much to her."

"What have they done to her?" I snarled.

She jus frowned at me an my blood boiled. I wanted to scream. I wanted to puke. I wanted to kill somethin'. I turned to Rick an half shouted, "We are leavin' now. I'm gettin' my shoes an my crossbow, I'm tellin' my kids 'm goin' to get their momma, an I'm leavin'. Johnny kin come or he kin stay here with the kids. Either way, I'm leavin' now. Ain't leavin' my woman out there with them one more day."

Without sayin' anythin' else, I went back to the room an got my shit. Then, I went to Beth's cell an said bye to my babies. Told 'em that I was goin' to get Jesse an I weren' comin' back without her, one way or the other. Beth promised to watch 'em fer me while I was gone. Told her it'd be bout a day. Johnny was ready when I got back out there. Lil girl pointed us northwest an we peeled up outta there.