DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Okay, a few things to mention. For those of you who read 'Promises' I apologize but I am putting it on hiatus until this story is finished. (Refer to my profile for further information.) That being said, I've worked this story out and have a fairly good idea on where I'm going with it and how I'm ending it (we're looking at about 38 chapters right now, give or take.) I'll still probably work out a few kinks along the way. Also, I've added yet another different poll to my profile… though this one is more for fun I suppose. I think that just about covers everything. PM me if you have any questions.

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"That's the last of them." Glenn dropped the dead walker's body onto the pile that they had started. After going through all of the rooms, they had come across six more, giving the motel a grand total of ten walkers—which was still nothing for the size of the place.

"Coulda been worse," Daryl muttered. "A lot worse. Lucky for us, this place apparently didn't get much business before the outbreak. Though judging by the condition it ain't surprising."

Daryl replaced his knife back into its sheath and gripped onto the strap across his chest from his crossbow. He glanced the place over one last time before he followed Glenn back out towards the road. Glenn was walking a bit down the sidewalk and headed a little passed the motel.

"Hey—I could be wrong but… does that look like a town to you?" Glenn pointed down the road, raising his other hand to block out the sun that his baseball cap failed to.

Daryl squinted as he joined Glenn's side, "Kinda looks that way. There's something up ahead at least."

"Think we should check that out too?" Glenn almost sounded eager now as he looked over at Daryl.

Daryl gave it some thought. It wouldn't hurt to give it a shot and look the town over, see if there were any little stores that might still contain any useful items that scavengers didn't already get their hands on. But based off the sun's position in the sky it was certainly sometime late afternoon. If they wanted to get back to the house before sunset, they were going to need to leave now.

"Nah, better not. Best to just head back now while we got the daylight on our side. Tell the others about all of this and work from there," Daryl explained.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't really think about that. Definitely don't want to lose the light. But hopefully we'll get the chance to come back tomorrow and check it out." Glenn headed for the Hyundai and Daryl turned to follow.

"Hey, Short Round," Daryl called out to get his attention. Just as Glenn turned back around to face him, Daryl tossed the vehicle key to him. "You can drive. Just try not to get us killed."

"You're back. Did you guys find anything?" Lori was the first to greet Daryl and Glenn as they entered into the house. She had a hand resting on her belly, her eyes searching them over before realizing that they were empty handed.

"We found a motel," Glenn beamed. "Still in pretty good condition. And there's a town not too far from it." He removed his baseball cap and ran a hand through his hair. Rick and the others were slowing beginning to fill in around the room to listen.

Lori smiled, "Really? That's great!"

"Yeah, it's maybe just a few miles or so. Could definitely get there without having to worry about running out of gas," Daryl added. He found himself searching the room, his eyes landing on Skyler. She was already looking back at him and when their eyes met, she smiled.

"So what about this town?" Rick questioned.

"Well… we didn't check it out. Decided to come back before dark, didn't want to risk it." Glenn paused before quickly adding, "Daryl's idea."

"Probably a wise one," Hershel spoke up. He smiled when Daryl and Glenn glanced over at him. "I'm just glad you two are back safe."

It was silent for a brief moment while everyone stood around in the dining room. Maggie approached Glenn and stood by his side, lacing her fingers with his. Apparently whatever issue Glenn had told Daryl about Maggie was resolved—or a misinterpretation on Glenn's part.

"That's it then. We'll head out in the morning."

The next morning, everyone worked on throwing everything together and heading out for the motel. There really wasn't a whole lot to grab seeing as they left most of what they had in the vehicles out front. Everyone grabbed anything they could find that would be useful before leaving—blankets, pillows, food. The motel would have blankets and pillows but it never hurt to have too many.

The group stuck to their vehicle routine as Daryl led the way to the motel on the motorcycle with Skyler. They drove passed a few straggling walkers but nothing to be worried about.

Upon arriving at the motel, Daryl pulled into the parking lot and parked the bike back towards the corner. He shut the ignition off and once again followed Skyler's lead after grabbing his crossbow, walking towards the middle of the semi-vacant lot.

Daryl shouldered the crossbow and walked up to the driver's side of the Hyundai. He tapped on the window to get Glenn's attention as he rolled it down and Maggie was looking over from the passenger side. "Park somewhere closer to the rooms, maybe towards the middle. If we need a fast getaway, this vehicle is all we have."

"Got it," Glenn nodded. He rolled the window back up and did as Daryl suggested.

T-Dog parked Otis' truck parallel with the entrance to the parking lot, helping to block the entrance. Rick followed suit and parked the RV behind the truck. With just the two motor vehicles, they had half of the parking lot entrance blocked off.

"Figured that was the plan, right? This old thing probably won't be around much longer anyway." T-Dog joined them in the parking lot now. "Now all we gotta do is get these couple cars that are left in neutral and roll them over to add to our barrier."

The rest of the group began to emerge from the vehicles and circle around. There wasn't one person who didn't have a grin on their face at least once. The motel really was a great find. They could all work together and make it secure, stage a lookout, and each have their own privacy. Overall, it might prove to be a little more difficult to protect than a house but it would work.

Glenn and Maggie immediately offered to go check the town out after they claimed a room and threw a few things in there. They both carried varying machetes from the kit Carl found way back on that highway when Sophia got lost, and they headed towards town on foot following the road.

While everyone was taking a tour of the place and scattered about, Daryl took the time to track Leah down. He wanted to make sure everything was okay with her after her little outburst. He ended up finding her rummaging through what was left in the RV.

"Hey… You okay?" Daryl approached Leah while she was secluded from the others, allowing some privacy. She narrowed her eyes, staring hard back at him but she didn't respond. "Is this about me not letting you come with me yesterday?"

"You can tell Skyler but you can't tell me? And you waited until now to do so?"

It all made sense now. Leah had eavesdropped on Daryl when he was talking to Skyler. That's why she made the comment that she did yesterday. That's why she was upset.

"You were listening…" Daryl muttered.

"Yeah, I was. Because I wanted to know what was going on, why you were being an asshole. I wanted to make sure you were going to apologize I guess. But what I heard?" Leah shook her head, biting her lip. "So my mom is dead because of you, because you left her. You let her get bit."

Daryl remained quiet as he was unsure what to say. No amount of excuses was going to change things. Leah was upset and she had every reason to be. The only thing Daryl could really do was just stand there and let her vent her frustration. Here he had figured Skyler would react this way and Leah would understand. Apparently he had it all wrong.

"Why couldn't you tell me when you first found me—when we were back on Hershel's farm? You told me that she was dead but you didn't explain how it happened." Leah continued, "As for the supply runs? If you don't want to take me then that's fine, I'll go with someone else. I'm old enough now, I know how everything works."

"Leah—" Daryl tried to speak up now to tell her that he did agree with that, that he would take her next time they go on a run. She was old enough and she was very capable. He was just being overprotective. But his words failed him as Leah snapped:

"You're not my dad. You never were and you never will be."

Leah's eyes watered now as she shoved her way passed Daryl and descended down the steps of the RV. It took a moment for Daryl to make himself move in a half attempt to follow after her, only reaching the bottom of the steps and watching Leah enter into one of the motel rooms and slamming the door. The noise definitely caught some attention as Skyler was one of the first to notice. She immediately sought out Daryl and must have known it had something to do with Leah. She took off for the room that Leah had gone into as Daryl went in the opposite direction. He had to give Leah some space for her sake and his.

"Daryl—" Lori had dismissed herself from the others and followed him half way across the parking lot. She was walking by his side and Daryl could tell she was at a loss for words. Why should she be concerned about what just happened? Just because she was a mother didn't mean anything.

They stopped just short of the other side of the motel rooms. Lori attempted to reach out to Daryl, touching his arm in a comforting gesture. Daryl only ripped his arm back and stepped away from her.

"Don't fucking touch me," Daryl snapped. He entered into one of the closest rooms and shut the door behind him, locking it with the small chain. He backed away from the door and towards the middle of the musty room and sighed. He didn't want anyone staring at him or trying to pity him. If anything, he deserved it—every word that Leah said. He wasn't even sure why it hurt so much to hear her say that he wasn't her father. He wasn't. It was just the truth.

He just wanted to be left alone and expressing anger was one surefire way of keeping everyone at bay.

The mirror hanging on the wall caught his attention as he briefly stared back at his reflection. When was the last time he had even looked in a mirror? It didn't matter though, and it didn't help. Seeing his own reflection only made him think about his dad, how much of a resemblance he showed. Not only that but how much of a lowlife bastard the old man was. There were plenty of reasons why Daryl knew he never wanted any kids and now he felt like he was staring back at his answer.

Daryl had clenched his fists as his sides unknowingly before he ended up punching the mirror. It took a good two swings before the glass shattered and fell at his feet. He took a couple steps back, glass crunching, before he inspected the damage. His right hand was shaking and his knuckles were a bit cut up and bleeding.

At least he succeed in destroying the mirror.

Leah couldn't help but to go with her initial reaction. She was angry and she couldn't get passed it. She had to let it out. She didn't realize she had made the mistake of taking it out on Daryl. It just seemed easy at the time, nothing or nobody else to turn to in that moment. She just assumed that he would be okay and do what her mom used to do when she was mad. When she yelled at her mom over something—usually something ridiculous—her mom would just comfort her or do something to try and make her laugh, change the subject. But Daryl just let her yell at him and he left without a word.

"I don't know how much you heard, but he really is sorry." Skyler was still sitting on the bed with Leah in the room that she hid herself in. She tried to explain to Leah the circumstances but Leah already knew.

"I didn't listen to everything," Leah admitted.

"He just wanted to protect you is all. Even I told him I wouldn't want you to know… But it wouldn't be right to keep it from you. He was going to tell you."

"I didn't mean to say what I did and now I feel bad. I didn't think he'd just walk away…" Leah sighed. Now that she thought about it, she had never really been this way towards Daryl. Not before the outbreak.

"I think he understands. He just wanted to give you some space." Skyler placed her hand on Leah's knee. Leah instantly noticed that she still wore her wedding ring, and for whatever reason it was like it had just dawned on her. Maybe she was just being selfish in some naïve way—she had lost her mom, her cousin, and her uncle. But she wasn't the only one who had lost family. Skyler lost her sister, husband, and daughter, and Leah knew that Skyler's pain had to be worse than her own. Skyler was a lot closer to all of them than Leah was. She just had to be thankful for still having Skyler, and Daryl. They were all Daryl had left now too.

Skyler got back to her feet, "I'm gonna go talk to Daryl. See if we can smooth all of this out." She looked down at Leah and forced a smile.

"Okay," Leah nodded. She waited for Skyler to leave before she got up off the bed herself and headed back outside. She could see Lori approaching Skyler as they met half way but they were out of earshot. Leah moved in closer to everyone else before she noticed T-Dog and Rick were walking over to join Lori and Skyler. The four of them had moved to one of the doors as T-Dog knocked on it.

"Yo, Dixon. Open up," T-Dog folded his arms. He glanced over at Lori, "You sure this is the right room?"

"Yes, he went into this room. I've tried talking to him and tried to get him to answer me but I'm getting nothing," Lori replied. She tucked her hair back behind her ears seeming rather nervous.

"Daryl?" Skyler tried now, receiving nothing but silence.

"Get yo cracker ass over here and open this door, Dixon," T-Dog tried for a more humorous approach, something that would have been sure to get a reply out of Daryl. Yet it still remained silent.

Rick shook his head, "He would have said something by now. It's not like him to ignore a remark like that for sure."

Skyler twisted the doorknob, surprised that it was unlocked this whole time, but fell short when the chain caught. "Daryl? Come on, this isn't funny…" Her voice wavered as it became apparent that she was beginning to worry.

"Ain't no way in hell I'm gonna try to slam the door down," T-Dog immediately replied.

Leah still stood back quite a ways as she watched everyone. She could hear and see all of their actions just as plain as day and it was beginning to make her worry. Why wasn't Daryl answering?

Andrew now approached the small group with a fire axe in hand. The others looked at him with bewilderment.

"You want in, right? So then step back," Andrew warned.

Lori, Skyler, Rick, and T-Dog all took a few steps back just as Andrew took his first swing. He was aiming for the chain that was attached to the door, the hard thwacks of the axe rattling the small chain with a heavy force. After a few tries, and still no response from inside the room, the chain had been ripped off the wall and the door swung open slightly. Skyler was the first to enter the room, followed by Rick and T-Dog.

Leah stayed put and waited for them to come back outside. Lori and Andrew stood just outside the door and seemed to be waiting for the verdict as well. Only when Skyler reemerged, she looked distressed. Something was wrong.

Skyler walked away from the room as the others slowly followed her. And that's when Leah took that as her opportunity.

Leah entered into the room now, not sure what to really think or expect. Everyone seemed upset but not to any extreme. But that's when she saw what they did—the broken mirror, the blood, and the open back window. Daryl had punched the mirror and he left.

Leah really regretted taking her anger out on him now. He just left. He didn't tell anyone where he was going, he didn't say a word. Gone, just like that.

So now it was Leah's turn to step up. She adjusted the Glock in the waistband of her jeans, always carrying it since Daryl gave it to her. She gripped onto the window sill and looked back towards the front door before she slipped out of the window unnoticed. She had no clue where Daryl could even be but she knew she had to find him. She had to fix things—they had to fix it together.