Sorry haven't updated this n so long! This chapter has a little Jamie angst and some fatherly Daryl. That's ALL I want it read as! Since they are basically ather saughter, afterall. Please review!

"Jamie- we're clearing the tombs today, walkers got back in." Daryl said.

Carl looked up. "I want to go."

Jamie shrugged. "If you got ammo, go ahead." she said. Still, it would've been nice to be alone with Daryl. But this was hardly the time to be selfish...

They ventured down, it was dark, here, smelled like rotting flesh... She hadn't been down here since they'd lost Lori, and she shot a glance over to Carl. He seemed fine with being down here.

The first moan came at where the tombs intersected, she turned, her arrow nailing the walker through the forehead. It fell, and when no more came, she walked forward, retrieving her arrow.

"Nice shot." Carl said, smiling at her, and she felt something flutter within he slightly. If he'd been in love with her for so long, maybe it wasn't just because of what had happened with Lori...

"Walker!" Daryl moved forward, letitng an arrow fly from his crossbow, and she snapped back to the moment. Focus. Love was a distraction, she notched another arow, waiting. And then they were there, on all four sides, just stumbling, herds of them. Carl let loose his shots, they all stood, back to back, Daryl covering walkers in two junctions, the others just struggling to hold their own.

"Move." Daryl ordered, directing them both down the route he'd cleared. They were moving, then, Daryl covered them from the back.. There was another turn just ahead, they were almost there...

Walkers. They were attracked to the commotion, they came around, they were pinned down, walkers on both sides.

"Get back!" Carl yelled.

She let another arrow loose, grabbing another, and another. There were at least ten in the group, all stumbling forward...

The walker closest to her was a little girl, she had already pulled back the arrow and she fired. They walker's head whipped back, chestnut hair suspended for a minute, droplets of blood sprayed the air, and she wasdead, on the ground, an arow through her eye socket.

"Daddy! Daddy, it bit me!"

Another walker was stumbling towards her, she hadn't reached for another arrow.

"My girls. My beatiful girls..." her father smiled weakly, sweat beading on his forehead, reaching out to touch her cheek.

"Jamie! What are you doing!?" Carl shoved her back, ahooting the walker in the head.

Her breath kept hitching. She looked down at her little sister's form, laid out in the grass. Gap-toothed grin, her normally smiling face was pained, breath coming out harshly between clenced teeth.

"Jamie! Snap out of it! Jamie, come on!" Carl yelled. They were being overrun, so many... She lifted her bow, grabbing an arrow, but she was numb, she couldn't feel anything. She notched an arrow, kiling off the walker nearest her, she saw it happen, gut she didn't DO it.

"I'm so sorry..." the gunshot wasn't deafening, but the silence after it was. Her little sister's eye socket, the blood the trickled like tears from it. She fell to her knees sobbing...

Slowly, the gunfire stopped.

They helped Daryl finish off her walkers, but she wasn't there, her normal zest wasn't behind every arrow. Her aim was actually off...

But it was done, soon enough.

"You okay?" Carl asked, looking at her. She nodded shakily. She'd be alright. She started moving to retrieve her arrows, and Daryl stopped her. "You alright?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine." she promised, handing him one of his bolts. She picked up her own arrow, still bloody, putting it into the quiver.

Still, she got sidetracked when she found her arrow still in the girl...

She knelt beside her for a moment, wanting to just freeze and sob, but she couldn't. Not here, and probably not ever. She couldn't be a kid here, not in this world, but she was quiet, hardly speaking and finally heading for the prison yard, ducking into the woods and climbing a tree before she let the tears fall. When she was done sobbing, she came back. After she'd washed her face in the stream, she took a breath. Time to keep acting loke she was fine. She tried to convince herself all he sorrow had bled out of her in the tears.

It was a cold night, she felt it, and she curled up, as normal, under the staircase for the night.


"Lily!" the desperate scream sounded in the dead of night, startling everyone awake. "Lily! Run, come on, Lily, go!"

"Jamie!" instinctively Rick went for his gun, finding her under the staircase, screaming, thrashing... Her lip was bleeding down her chin, blood dripping, it was fresh...

"She's asleep..." Rick said, slightly surprised.

"What the hell's going on?" Glenn asked, running in. "Maggie and I can hear it all the way from the guard tower..."

And the screams were really blood-curdling, terrifying. Because they weren't the scream of walkers- they were the desperate screams of a terrified child.

"Well don't just stand there- wake her up!" Daryl ordered, running down.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!?" Rick said, frustrated. He'd never seen a kid terrified like this, Carl had had nightmares, but none like this...

Everyone was staring, looking horrified, and Rick shook her. "Jamie, come on..."

Jamie thrashed, lashing out with a blow to the nose that sent Rick staggering back, surprised.

"Jamie. Hey, come on. Don't be like that." Daryl said calmly. He'd be surprised if she could hear it over her own screaming, but it was worth a shot.

Walkers. They were everywhere, around her, beside her, all closing in on her But it wasn't her she was woried about. It was Lily. They'd been walking the feilds like they normally did, looking at the wild flowers, the colors, like they'd used to, when they'd come. A sea of monsters, literally swarming them. They grabbed Lily first, dragged her out of sight, and then they went for her, teeth biting, scratching, tearing her apart...

That was the leastifher problems, though. Because she could hear Lily's terrified screaming above it all.

"Jamie! Jamie HELP!" she shrieked, desperate.

"Run! Run, Lily, get to high ground, climb a tree!"

A walker seized her by the shoulders, was shaking her. He didn't stop, and she punched him square in the face, managing to break free, stumbling.

"Lily! Lily, where are you!?"

Beth was crying, horrified at the screaming, and Hershel held his daughter, looking on sadly.

It was then she saw the small human arm the walkers were fighting over, detatched, and she knew. She couldn't scream, couldn't cry, just fell to her knees and felt her world crash down around her...

"Jamie. I'm right here, Jamie, Ain't nobody gonna hurt you..." Daryl said, cupping her chin in his hand. She tried to pull away, frantic, but he didn'r let go. "Nothing is gonna happen to you..."

Her eyes fluttered open and she was gasping, covered in sweat...

She was too terrified to think for a moment, but she locked onto Daryl's face. Pant, get oxygen, then think...

"Am I bit?" she managed to get out.

"No. You kept screaming for Lily..." Rick said, looking concerned.

"Come on." Daryl ordered, pulling her to her feet. She walked beside him, out into the prison yard, away from everyone's stares...

"Come 'ere." he said, opening his arms. She threw herself at him, sobbing. She never would've done this if she'd been in front of the others, but they were alone, here, in the cool night...

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

She nodded, but any possible words were choked off by sobs. Finally, she got them out.

"Lily..."

"Your sister?" Daryl said, taking a shot in the dark.

She nodded. "In the tombs... I killed a walker... that looked like her." she got out.

"What happened to her?" Daryl asked, afraid of the answer.

"B-bit. I had to put her down." and then she was drowni again, and Daryl pulled her close.

"Walkers- they came. They tore me apart... But I could hear her screaming when they did it. They tore her apart..."

"It didn't happen. She's dead, Jamie, she's dead, I promise, it never happened..."
He wished the same could be true for Merle. His brother might've been torn apart, HE might've been screaming all the way... He'd never know.

He sighed, stroking Jamie's hair. For once, she'd taken off he coonskin cap, and he gently sank onto the dew-covered grass, holding her and just letting her cry...

When she was out of tears they just sat, until he finally broke the silence of the night.

"You wanna go back in?"

She nodded, and we wet a rag with dew, dabbing at the blood that'd now dried al over her.

"Damn, you bit yourself good. It hurt?"

She nodded, shivering. It was cold night, and Daryl led her towards the prison. She went back to settle in her place beneath the stairs, but Daryl gently stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, nodding up towards the perch, where he slept.

She hesitantly followed him- he'd made it his own up here, with a pillow and blanket Carol had insisted he have, and he settled down. Jamie hesitated for a fraction of a second, before laying down as well, worming her way as close to him as she could possibly get.

Daryl smiled slightly, she was pratically burrowing into him, but he liked it. It felt good to feel her small body beside his own, to know she was right next to him, that walkers hadn't gotten in somehow and found her. Ot f all of the people in the griup, he was closest with her, with Carol as a close second...

He put his arm around her, and she relaxed further, nuzzling her head into his chest befre completely relaxing, asleep.

Daryl smiled. Maybe being a parent wasn't so bad- he didn't see what his shithead of a father had been griping about all those years ago. And if he could've, he'd have let this moment last forever.

He woke up with no blankets and Jamie wrapped in them all, contentedly nuzzled against him, still. He chuckled slightly- he'd have to get his own blanket, the kid must've managed to take it from him while completely asleep, which was impressive.

Normally he'd be up by now, but he decided against it. If he did, he wouldn't be able to just watch her sleep. For some reason, he felt good when he did- maybe because she looked so helpless in her sleep- like the child she really was. Plus, it was amazing to think a girl who could look so much like an angel could be such a badass when she was awake...

"Blanket theif." he muttered, trying to look mad. She mumbled something about finding arrows, and Daryl couldn't help it. He had to crack a smile. She certainly was his daughter.