Alright ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers and reviewers, we're back! And right off the bat, I shall tell you that you will get something you've been wanting for a while in this chapter. Will it be Fox's name? Shane getting what he deserves? The discovery of Sophia? The two groups colliding? Mmm, you'll just have to read and find out. Enjoy it guys!

FanFicGirl10: Oh no! Damn Shane i really hate him. Ugh i hope Daryl makes it back to camp in time before something horrible happens. Aww i love that Daryl want to get back to Fox most of all :) Was Merle still a hallucination? Great chapter, Update Soon!

Was Merle still a hallucination? Such an interesting question….maybe….maybe not ;)

hayleyjune13: Shit! This is bad, just bad bad. Can't ya just kill Shane? :p Great chapter!

Yeah, it ain't looking so good for our favorite redneck. Mmm, Shane and all of his issues will be resolved, one way or another ;)

Icec: Aww god love you. That's heartbreaking news about your wee dog. Hope your doing ok xxx

Awww, thanks, I love you too! It was hard putting her down (never had to do that before) but she's in a better place, and so I've been doing ok, thank you for asking, that was very kind of you =)

Unfeigned: This chapter was great, I love the drama... Also I can't wait to see things go down next time. Shane is such a douchenozzle, and as such I can't wait for him to get his own. Thank you for the update! I love this story just as much now as I did when it started, and usually by this time I just want things to be over.

I'm so glad I've been able to hold your interest! This is by far the longest fanfiction I've ever written, and one of the longest things I've ever written period, but as I've said, we are beginning to careen towards the end, so hang on tight! I love the new adjectives people keep coming up with to describe Shane, it's quite entertaining =D

WinterIsComing1015: First of all, yet another fabulously written chapter, nary a flaw in sight. Again your use of description is artful and magical at best - seriously, your prose is something you should be very, very proud of. Second - gah. Ok. I knew it was coming. You told us in the last chapter it was coming. I smirked. I snickered. I outright guffawed. I made some cocky, snarky comments. "Meeehhhh, kill Daryl huh?" "Pleeeeh just like that huh?" DERP. This was painful to read. I mean, obviously. He got really fucked up. But like, I was reading it like "NOOOOO BABY DARYL NOOOOOO!" Also, I was SO wrapped up in the exceedingly awful things he was going through that the "Chupacabra" episode didn't even dawn on me! *flips NY Yankees cap to the front* Yo, dat was some smoove shit, B! I loved the inclusion of his vision of Merle (although that real life rat bastard can't be too far away at this point) as well as some dialog from the show. And now I anxiously look forward to Daryl stumbling back to camp, Fox seeing him, and turning in Shane like "Homie, what did I TELL YOU! Oh, you thought I was playin', B?" And proceeds to beat. That. Ass. YEAH! THAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT! I JUST KNOW IT! (...right?) *sniffles, eyes huge and tearing piteously)

It was a little bit painful in and of itself to write Daryl getting so torn up cause I luff him so much. But all things considering…he could have easily been dead after going end over end down a 100 foot cliff and being cut deep with a knife. There is a reason why Shane didn't go down there to finish the job…who would have thought Daryl to still be alive at the end of all that? Mmmm, Chupacabra, by far one of my fav episodes of the show, so of course I paid homage to it with my own little spin here and there. And will Daryl actually make it back to camp? Bum leg, broken hand, snow's coming down, the wolves are out…things are not looking so hot for our favorite redneck. But Shane…Shane ain't out of the woods by a long shot. He'll get what he's owed, believe me. When that happens, well, just read and find out ;)

DancingUnderMoonlight18: GO DARYL! I really hate Shane...ugh... anyway, amazing work as always and I love all the tension! I'm sorry about your dog, stay strong!

Yes, I think Daryl needs all the cheerleading he can get at this point! But he's tough, he'll fight for it, don't you worry. Thank you for your condolences, it means a lot that you guys care about what goes on in my life =)

Emberka-2012: Daryl almost guessed about Shane. His behavior is more than just a hatred for Rick. He signed a contract with the devil (with the governor).

Aye, Daryl was pretty close. He's no fool, he knows that whatever is going on with Shane runs deeper than simple jealousy of Rick. And Shane has indeed sold his soul to the devil, perhaps unknowingly, but ignorance was never an excuse…

Jerrie Higarashi: This chapter was just amazing! The fight between Shane and Daryl was awesome as well as his Hallucination of Merle ! Right? Lol. I loved when Fox and Daryl woke up, it was wayyyy too romantic for me! Lol. KILL THA GOV'NA! Kill him!

Haha, I try to throw a little bit of fluff in when I can cause they need all the little bits of the good times to keep them going. And was it really a hallucination? It's anybody's call in my world ;) And don't worry, there won't be any loose ends by the time we're done, every dog will have his day by the end.

MrsGooglyBear: Wow, I truly enjoyed this chapter! It just made the shitty day I had today, much better! Thank you! :) As always, I'll be waiting for more of your amazing story! :D

Yay! I'm so glad I was able to help make your day better, that's what art is for! To bring us joy and comfort and beauty especially when the world around is can be so awful sometimes.

KassieaIsa: HOW DARE HE?! DAMN IT SHANE! He tried to do to Daryl what he did to Otis! That motherf*cking asshole. I hope you give him a slow and painfuul death. When Shane and Daryl started talking about the wolves I kept yelling "KILL HIM!" With this crazed and deranged look on my face. My sister was watching me the whole time and now she won't even look me in the eye :P. Oh well. "Move Daryl, move! You'll die if you stay like this! Get up you fucking pussy, move!" made me smile. I love the way that Daryl motivates himself. I cannot wait for the next chapter. Something that concerns me is Sophia's body. I hope that they dragged it away or somethhing so that Daryl won't stumble upon it.

Except with even less of a purpose. When Shane killed Otis it was so he could escape and bring medical supplies back for Carl. Now…now he tried to kill him just because Philip told him to. Not that it took all that much convincing, Shane and Daryl have never gotten along well, and Fox has always been a thorn in Shane's side, and the fact she's so close to Daryl just adds more fuel to that fire. He doesn't take her threats seriously, and he'll realize eventually how much of a mistake that is… YAY! I caused deranged excitement! Awesome! *does author happy dance* Mmhm, Daryl's self talk isn't exactly gentle, but it's effective. And to answer your question about Sophia…they let her lie there, so we will have to see if Daryl shall be the one to find her or if the grisly task will fall to someone else.

Kaleiburzz: That fucking BASTARD! That's it! I want BLOOD now! And Shane's head! ... On a stick! Arrrghhh! And omg, Daryl is such a badass. You have to update soon now!

Mmmmmmm, Shane will get his, but how of course is something you'll just have to read and find out eventually ;) And yes. I'm pretty sure if you open the dictionary to badass there is a picture of Daryl =)

ry123red: ahh how could you leave it at such a terrible cliff hanger?! Fox's reaction to Shane wanting to go with Daryl was spot on, and I could totally picture her threatening him. And of course Daryl kissing her in front of everyone was just adorable. I can't wait for Daryl to return to camp and for Shane to get what he deserves! Looking forward to another chapter :)

Mm, because its what I do best! And it's whats so good for my reviews, lol. I actually re-wrote that scene between Daryl/Fox/Shane and their dynamic several times because I wasn't quite satisfied and in the end I went with the most aggressive of the versions because that's how Fox reacts when she's afraid. Plus she hates Shane, so anything she can do to try and intimidate him is fine by her. And the PDA between Daryl and Fox was something else that I flip flopped back and forth on several times. In the end I left it end mostly based off of some of his reactions in Season 3. He's a little softer now than he was when he first started out on this insane dollar coaster ride. Plus, he really doesn't care what the rest of camp thinks of him as far as that's concerned; they all have their opinions anyway. Don't worry, Shane will get what he deserves…eventually.

CenaGrace: My goodness! I've spent the past three days reading your story! I'm not kidding when I say that I've been reading it morning,noon, and night. I've even sacrificed sleep to read this. (I stayed up to midnight last night to read it and I had to be up at 5:30) I've never come across fanfiction of this quality. I'm impressed. (I've been reading it at work too!) I just simply could not put it down. You have the characters down so well while also having your own creative twists. I'm very impressed. Top notch. I look forward to your next installment.

Awww yay! Page turning worthiness work! Sleep sacrificial work! yay! These are all the things I really want for my work, not only because I put so much effort into my writing but the fact that its a creative thing that I made…yeah…just that's friggin awesome! *happy author dance* I hope I continue to hold your interest and see you write in, it always makes the Muse happy to see new and awesome reviewers drop in to share their thoughts =D

Emerald Gaze: Well then i hope fox is standing by with her blades cuz shane's gonna need an executioner ben too for when daryl gets back. But if daryl doesn't get back before the other group goes through with phase 2 of their plan then there wont be time for medical attention. Also i'm really curious to see if fox would kill shane first or try to go looking for daryl. I feel like killing him would be first priority but the others probably wouldn't let her so she'd go tearing off in the woods to look for him. as for merle i had a feeling that it was hallucination merle, he didn't to show up in before but he still made an appearance on the search for sofia after daryl falls down a cliff. I hope andrea doesn't shoot daryl this time but then again she's had training by now. Oh the suspense!_!

Fox will definitely stand by her blades. She made a promise and she ain't gonna back down now. She's fiercely protective of Daryl and she's honestly just been looking for an excuse to kill Shane, and that's what separates her from someone like Rick. Rick killed Shane in the show for both the safety of the group and the selfish stress of being unable to handle his explosive temper anymore. Fox would kill Shane purely to make him pay for what he's done, regardless if it would hurt, or help, anybody else. Now of course the rest of the group (or at least some of them) will have a problem with this, and so I look forward bringing that conflict into the spotlight soon. And yes, there is still that deadline of the other group weighing over everything. I have it all planned out and I can't wait to bring it to you =D

thedeadwalking91: I am impressed you noticed me as a new reviewer! I was so gripped by your story that I couldn't stop to review until I had caught up! What a chapter as well! I sympathized with Shane in the story, but always preferred Rick and Daryl! I hope Daryl makes it back and that Fox hasn't run away thinking he is dead! Also, what if he finds Sophia as well?! Soo much angst for the redneck! Such a good story, and I tend to shy away from the badass female characters, but this one works! I hope fox reveals her name as well! Maybe she will if she finds Daryl in a bad way...I can theorize! I'm new to all this writing and reviewing thing, and it means a lot for you to notice that I am new! Thank you! Now hurry up and update! Got to read something when I get in from work! :-)

Of course I notice a new reviewer! Most of my reviewers are regulars to my story and so I definitely notice if there is a new name up. Wildflower has brought me so many reviews, so much more than I EVER expected, but I still treasure and value each and every one, which is why I take the time to personally reply to each of them, no matter how short or long. I agree, I sympathized with Shane in the show, but I didn't devote as much time to his internal conflict in my own story because its center is Daryl and Fox and how their dynamic changes things. And I'm so glad Fox didn't run you off, I know that especially in the beginning she could be a tough pill to swallow, so I'm thrilled you stuck around! I hope I see you through to the end!


Night had come and gone and everyone had made it back except Daryl and Shane. Fox's level of worry had risen increasingly throughout the day as not only she and Rick turned up nothing on the trail they'd found, but also because after they'd trudged their way through the snow and made it back to camp, there had been no word or sign of either of them. The darkness was deepening and as Fox sat by the fire, slowly picking at a plate of mostly cold food, her stomach began to seethe with worry. It wasn't like Daryl to stay out late like this, not when he knew how dangerous these woods could be at night, not with how cold it was. Not when he promised her he'd be back.

"He should have been back by now." She said, staring deep into the flames as the rest of the group tensed right along with her.

"I'm sure they're ok." Lori whispered, but all the same she unconsciously looked at Rick and Carl and a small flicker of relief passed over her face and a spike of jealousy struck Fox like a cold steel blade in the back of the neck.

"She's right." Andrea murmured. "They should have been back. No one is supposed to be away from camp after dark, not without a solid reason."

"Maybe they found Sophia." Glenn chimed in. "Maybe she's injured and they need to wait for light to move her."

Carol curled her knees up to her chest, doing everything but biting at her lip, a picture perfect of a parent's anxiety over their child. Her cheeks were already stained with fresh tears from when Rick and Fox had come back with no news or any sign of her daughter. Pain had washed over Fox from that disappointment and ever increasing worry. Everyone knew that the longer she was out there alone, the less likely it was that she was alive. It wasn't just the cold or lack of food that was the problem. There were predators in the woods, and Walkers, and if Sophia really was hampered by an injury, her odds of survival were that much less.

"Then why didn't they send up the flares?" Fox demanded hotly.

"They could have gotten lost…maybe not realized it yet…" Dale supplied quietly.

"Daryl's no fool!" Fox snapped. "He knows his way around these woods, and the wilds in general. He wouldn't have gotten lost. Shane, maybe, but Daryl, no way." Her teeth were bared and her fingers clenched around the handle of her bowie knife. "Something's happened to them."

"We don't know that." Rick said firmly, but the rasp in his voice said otherwise. "And the last thing we need is for anyone else going off in the dark and getting lost."

Fox looked at him long and slow for a moment before handing what remained of her plate to Carl and his mother before getting up to her feet. She stalked directly towards Rick and Lori's tent which made him immediately get up and follow her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

She didn't answer. She just ducked into the tent and snatched the folded up map that was contained it is plastic bag to help keep it from being damaged and slid it under her jacket, keeping it in place with parts of her belt.

"I'm going out there to find him." She said firmly. She stalked off towards the trees, the same direction Daryl had taken that morning, but didn't make it very far before Rick grabbed her by the arm.

"Oh no! You are not going anywhere!" he hissed, glancing at her neck where the chain of their shared secret hung beneath her coat.

She shook him off and kept going. "Try and stop me." She challenged as she walked away.

"Fox, no!" Rick snarled, running in front of her and now, his eyes blazing like two blue coals threatening to start a wild fire. "I can't let you. It's too dangerous. We need every able body here at camp. The wolves have been howling all night, if something happens, we need every person to defend each other!"

Her eyes burned like diamonds set to blaze. "I'm not going to let him die out there." She growled.

"I understand!" Rick pleaded, stepping in front of her again as she tried to go around. "You care about him and you're worried. I would be worried out of my mind if it were Lori or Carl. But with as dangerous as it is out there, the dropping temperature, the threat of snow, the wolves right outside camp…I can't let you go. I need you here." He put a hand on her shoulder, holding her at arm's length, tilting his head as he stared into her eyes, really trying to get through to her how serious he was being.

Fox seemed to pause, as if considering his plea more seriously. She rocked back on her heels for a moment, choosing her words carefully. When she did finally speak, a judge sentencing a man to death couldn't have held more conviction.

"No, Rick Grimes, you don't understand. You've never been abandoned by those who were supposed to love and protect you. Not when it counted most. Not when you needed them most. Daryl's not lost out there. He's injured, severely enough that he hasn't been able to make it back to camp. He could be dying. He needs us. I understand you have responsibilities to the group and why you want me to wait. I'm sure that if it were daylight or if we were back in Georgia and the weather wasn't so horrible you would go yourself. But to me, the risk is worth it." She paused and took a long breath in, as if having to dare herself to continue. "He's all I have. Now, get out of my way, before I physically move you." Her fingers curled around her bowie knife to emphasize her point.

Rick stared at her long and hard for many long moments as if trying to decode some secret language. "Daryl could be dead, Fox. You may just be looking for a body. What happens then?"

"Then I'll bring his body back!" she snapped, and for the very first time he'd known her, Rick heard her voice crack with fear. "Not leave him to the wolves."

Rick nodded. "Be careful out there." He murmured slowly.

She managed a half-smile and put a hand on his shoulder, releasing her grip on her knife. "Thank you. You are a good man, Rick. Now, don't worry about me. Watch the group, keep them safe, I'll be back soon." She squeezed his shoulder and tilted her head at him, locking eyes for a moment. And for a moment, she wondered if maybe in another life, if she had met him in a different time and place, if he would have been the one she would have braved a New York winter wilderness for. If he would have been the one she sang for. If he would have been the one to take her jagged pieces and make them whole. She smiled again for him and kissed his cheek before stepping past him and heading into the darkness.

It was understandable why he made no mention of Shane in trying to stop her. He knew that she would never so much as set foot out of her tent if Shane was bleeding to death, let alone into the wilderness to find him. Somehow, and she had no proof, but she was still almost a hundred percent certain, that Shane was somehow responsible for whatever had happened to Daryl. And if he was, if he was hurt or dead because of him, she would not rest until she had fulfilled her promise. She would kill him, slowly, painfully, ripping him open inch by inch until the snow was saturated with blood and she'd strung him up by his own guts to leave him for Walker bait. She didn't care what Rick or Lori or even Daryl would say about it. Nothing and nobody was going to stop her. If Shane was responsible…he would pay.

She hunted through the shadows, listening to the howling of the wolves. The darkness pressed in on her as the wolf-song and the moaning of the wind cut her down into the bone and made her blood run cold. She gritted her teeth and ignored it and marched on, climbing over the rough terrain, following the trail they had taken last night on the hunt for Sophia. The time ticked away as she hunted for any sign or trace of either man, wondering how far they had gone, what they might have found, and the fate that had befallen them. The icy cold moon climbed higher in the sky, spilling silver moonlight down onto the ground below, helping to light her path. She had climbed all the way to the top of the river where the first waterfall was completely frozen over and finally stopped to catch her breath, foggy billows puffing from her mouth as she did so. She was freezing cold despite her jacket, shivering violently as flakes of snow began to swirl on the air. She pulled the map out and unfolded it, marking where she was with her finger and where Sophia's trail had been. It gave her a point of reference, but besides that she had nothing to go on, nothing to tell her where he might have been, or where he might have ended up.

She folded up the map and tucked it away and then stared out at the terrain in front of her, a vast expanse of forest that led back down to the lake and camp which was over four miles away by now. The stars gleamed cold and bright in between the heavy banks of clouds, her breath fogging like an angry bull's as she got back up to her feet. It was as she was about to turn away, she caught the sight of movement down below. Stretching almost half a mile away down the river, she saw a writhing motion. Whatever was making it was large and moving fast for her to see it this far away. She heard excited yelps and high, thin cries of pain and her heart leapt up from her chest to hit between her teeth.

"Daryl!" she yelled.

She launched herself back down the hill, going at record time to try and see what was happening. She heard no response from her cry, but as soon as she was down the rocky slope she ran flat out, boots kicking up snow and rocks as she plunged forward, snaking down the side of the river, leaping over roots and other debris, vaulting over rocks until at last her quarry came into view.

The wolves were encircled around a piece of prey, tearing at it with hungry, slicing fangs, eyes gleaming like polished orange stones set to blaze in the moonlight. As soon as they saw her approach they whirled on her, snarling with rage, bloody salvia dripping from their teeth. One approached her, snapping its jaws, black fur standing on end as its lips wrinkled to bare its teeth, rumbling growls emerging from its throat. And behind the wolves lay Daryl, bleeding from dozens of bite wounds, limp body twisted at a very odd position in the snow. The other wolves were still tearing at him, jerking him back and forth as they ripped through his outer jacket to get at the meat on his bones.

Fox let out an animalistic cry of her own and pulled two knives and flung them hard, striking one wolf right in the chest, another in the shoulder. The closest one to her she slashed with her loosed kukri knife, the blade biting deeply into its shoulder and back, dropping it with a pained cry. She shoved herself between the other animals and Daryl and crouched over him, swinging her blades wildly, her teeth bared as she dared them to try and take back their meal.

They sprung at her all at once, smacking her into the snow on her back. She screamed violently, kicking them as much as she could, raising her arm for a strike but she felt a muzzle sink deep into her right arm and bite down almost hard enough to break the bone. A strangled screech of pain ripped her throat in two while she used her good arm to slash another wolf away while she tried to jerk her arm back from the one biting her. She kicked the animal in the chest but it still wouldn't let go. It savaged its head back and forth, tearing deep, bloody gouges into the flesh while she howled miserably. Another wolf sank its muzzle deep into her left shoulder, blood gushing free from the wound. Anger flooded her veins like a dam breaking giving her the strength she needed and the clarity from the pain to fight back. She thrashed with all her might and used her left hand to pull her bowie knife free from her belt. She stabbed the wolf that had her right arm in the neck, blood gushing free as she yanked it back. Another wolf was biting at her feet but the teeth hadn't gotten through her boot yet. She kicked it as hard as she could and tore her shoulder free of the other, whirling around and stabbing the animal in the side of the head. It dropped like a ton of bricks and then she was on her feet, bowie in one hand, kukri in the other, snarling like she was one of them.

"Come on!" she growled. "Come and get him!"

The three remaining wolves yelped and fled back into the trees, leaving their fallen pack-mates behind. As soon as she was confident they were gone, she dropped her knives and got down on her knees next to Daryl.

He was a mess, more than a mess. He was a chewed up piece of meat left to rot on the side of the freezing highway. His jacket was crusted with ice and dried blood, there was more scarlet fluid staining the side of his head. He was pale and barely even shivering even though when she put her hands against his skin he was ice cold. She felt for a pulse at his throat and was relieved to feel one, but it was thin and weak. She had to get him out of here. He'd die of hypothermia if she didn't get him warmed through soon.

"I got you, Daryl, I got you." She panted as she pulled him upright, his head lolling on his neck, jaw mostly slack as she draped his arm over her shoulders and began to haul him to his feet. Her arm and shoulder screamed in protest as more blood spilled down but she ignored it as best she could. She dragged him forward, his feet scraping the snow, piling it up into mini drifts in front of his feet. He was completely dead weight against her and without meaning to she slipped under the burden and collapsed into a tangled pile of limbs and powder.

"God damn it!" she cursed. She rolled Daryl onto his back and lightly smacked his cheek.

"Daryl! Open your eyes! Come on, get your eyes open, look at me, I need you to stay with me!" Wonder of wonders his eyes actually fluttered open, but they were a foggy haze of the cobalt blue she truly knew.

"Get off of me." He growled, trying to roll to his side. "I don't need your help."

"Oh yes you do, you miserable idiot. Get up on your feet!" she barked at him, using her good shoulder to nudge him in the chest and help give him support as he staggered to his feet, still mostly leaning on her.

"Go away!" he muttered as he tried to shake her off. "I can do this without you!'

Her brows knitted together in confusion. Now this didn't sound like him. He legitimately sounded angry. She forced him to stand, pressing against his shoulder to help keep him upright.

"Hey, look at me. What's my name?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of his hazy blue eyes. "What's my name!" she demanded.

"You're Merle you dumbass. Told you the pipe would rot your brain jackass." He growled, shaking his head like a dog does with a bone.

Fox's stomach clenched. He was conscious but he wasn't anywhere near lucid. The blow to his head could have addled his brain. She hoped to God it wasn't permanent, but she decided that she had better play along to get him to cooperate.

"Alright, I'm Merle and you're Daryl. Now get something through your thick skull. I have to get you out of here. Can you walk?" she asked looking down and trying to assess his legs but in the darkness and with him staggering over her, it was hard to tell if he had any damage to them.

He nodded but the motion was over exaggerated. Bad sign.

"Ok. Come on then. Let's go." She slung his arm over her shoulder and pushed him more upright and began to walk him further down the river. She knew exactly where they were going, where he probably had been trying to go himself. She just had to make it there before they both froze to death or before he lost all semblance of consciousness.


When he woke the first thing he registered was that it was warm. The second thing was that he was still in a great deal of physical pain. The third was the snapping crackle of a fire. When his eyes opened he saw the amber glow back splash against a stone wall, shadows flicking at the edges of the golden light.

"Steady." A husky voice murmured. "You've been out of it for a while."

The hazy edges of his vision began to clear. He turned his head and saw Fox tending the fire, snapping a few small sticks and feeding them to the flames. She had her coat off and as he soaked in her image he looked across at her arm and saw the gouges there.

"You're hurt." He rasped, immediately trying to reach for her.

"Don't I said." She murmured softly. "I'm ok. How do you feel?" she asked him, green eyes tinged with the golden light of the flames.

He stopped to take a mental assessment of himself. "Like shit." He answered honestly. Every inch of him was sore, he was voraciously hungry, and there were several specific points on his body that it felt like had been pride open with a dull ice pick.

She nodded. "I expected as much." She murmured. "You took a helluva beating out there."

He swallowed hard for a moment to get his words back, but before he could do so she reached over and handed him a shallow little bowl she'd made out of a piece of wood that showed recent signs of being hacked at with one of her knives. She held it to his lips and let him drink the water there before setting it back down near her knee.

"Where is Shane?" he asked.

"Gone. Never came back to camp. I was hoping you would know." She said, looking at him carefully out of the side of her eye.

"He did this." He said, rolling a little so he was more comfortable. He traced his fingertip down the wound across his side and noted that it did indeed still hurt, but its pain was more manageable than before. "He tried to kill me. He left me for dead."

Fox nodded. "When I found you and not him, I suspected as much. He will get what he's owed, Daryl. One way or another." Her tone was murderous and yet restrained somehow, like a verbal representation of her fingers curling around the handle of her knife.

He ignored her advice and sat up enough so he could take in their surroundings. Yes, this had the place he'd been trying to get to. He'd gone maybe half a mile from the cliff's edge where he'd fallen when he realized that he was never going to make it back to camp in his state and he had to get out of the blizzard. The wolves had caught up with him before he'd made it. This little cave, tucked beneath one of the falls in the river, was just big enough for two people and a fire comfortably. He and Fox had sheltered here once on a trip to check his snares and the weather had turned nasty. Now it seemed it served a similar purpose.

"You brought me all the way here?" he asked incredulously as he watched her tend the fire.

She nodded. "Course. Wasn't gonna let you freeze to death out there."

His jaw tightened. "You shouldn't have left camp." He growled, noting the bites on her arm and on her shoulder as well. Those would scar, probably permanently, and she was running risk of them getting infected. Fortunately Benjamin still had a good supply of antibiotics back at camp. As soon as they got back he'd make sure she took every last one of them if that's what it took.

"Oh right, like I was going to let you get killed out here." She snapped. "You can be so dense sometimes."

He rolled his eyes. "Stubborn bitch." He mumbled, but without any real anger. "I told you to stay and watch Rick's back. You could have gotten yourself killed and eaten. Why did you come all this way for me?"

She snapped another stick and fed it into the fire. "Cause you're mine. And I wasn't gonna let you get away." Her husky voice rumbling in her throat as she answered. "Dumbass."

He shifted uncomfortably and not just the physical kind. "I don't belong to anybody." He muttered.

She sat back up sitting cross legged next to him. She rested her arms on her knees and looked over at him, her messy hair tumbling down her chest while her eyes pierced through the haze of smoke from the fire and the half light of the cave. "You're mine, Daryl. And I don't like to share what belongs to me. Shane tried to kill you and Rick…Rick would have made a terrible mistake if I hadn't made up my own mind to come out here. I won't let that happen. You are mine, and I ain't letting go." She growled seriously.

He looked at her incredulously, trying to understand if he was perceiving this all wrong because he'd cracked his head on a rock or if she'd lost her marbles. "What the hell are you talking about?"

She cracked a small smile, one of his favorites. The slow knowing kind when she was about to enlighten him and make something clear when it came to her and her crazy way of trying to relate information from her vortex of a brain.

"You've been mine since the night we locked eyes at camp, way back when I was stealing from you. I knew you were different then. I didn't know how much I'd care about you at the time of course, I didn't know what you'd mean to me. But I knew you were mine. And that I was yours." She paused for a moment, considering her words carefully. "That was why I stayed close to you. Put in the effort to get to know you, to be near you. I had my reasons. Selfishly motivated perhaps, but since when have I been a philanthropist? You are mine, Daryl. And I'm yours. We understand each other, and what's more, we accept each other for everything we are, and everything we're not. You belong to me, and I belong to you." She titled her head down at him and smiled again.

He stared at her for a long time. "You've lost your mind. What this thing is that we've got going, Fox, it's good, and I don't want it to stop. But I don't belong to nobody. Never have, never will." He spoke with brittle honesty. He cared for her in a way he'd never had for anybody else, or probably would ever care for anybody else ever again, but he wasn't a pet that she could snap her fingers and have him sit pretty at her command.

Her eyes burned with a fierce golden light. Without warning she leaned over, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, hauled his head up and kissed him. Kissed him hard, harder than she ever had before. Her tongue pride his lips open and ran rampant in his mouth, inhaling the taste of blood and pain and confusion and a rapidly increasing heated passion that was about to drive every non-emotionally charged thought out of his skull. And she just wouldn't let up. More and more and more, her tongue pressed all around his mouth, so much so that he groaned for want of air and reached his good arm up to tighten his fingers in her hair and crush her even harder against him. He might have been weakened, but he wasn't out, and so he fought back, kissing her just as hard, biting at her lip a little until he tasted copper on his tongue. Now it was her turn to whimper and gasp into his mouth, her body shaking even as her nails nicked into the nape of his neck as she struggled to remain in control. When she finally let him go so he could gulp down a shaky breath she grinned her mischievous little smirk.

"See? You're mine. Don't even try and deny it." She sounded so pleased with herself that it made him laugh at the sheer humor of it all.

"Fox." He murmured softly. His tone of voice caused her to lose her grin and look at him more seriously. "For the love of God, woman, tell me your name. Please."

She bit her lip. "Why is it so important to you? It's just a label that doesn't belong to me anymore."

He shifted again so he could sit up properly and she scooted closer to him, keeping an eye on the fire as she did so as to not burn her legs.

"What else do I not know about you?" He asked softly. "We put the secrets behind us, didn't we? I've seen you kicking and screaming strung up in a tree like a piece of Walker bait. I saw you screwing Glenn and as mad as I was then, I get it now. I've seen every single feeling you could possibly have- hell I've even seen you scared. Are you really afraid that if I know that last little thing that anything will change? Fox…a day ago I was ready to take you and the bike and get the hell out of here. I still would if you wanted me to. Say the word and we'll go and I wouldn't regret anything. I'd take you anywhere you wanted. I have your back." He sat up and took her by the hand, his fingers twining into hers, pulling her close so his forehead gently touched hers. "And if something ever happened to you…if you got bit…I would do what I had to do. I wouldn't let you walk around as one of those things." His voice was soft but strong, rolling in his throat like deep water churned by steady currents and not for the first time she wondered how he could sound so rough but gentle at the same time.

He heard her suck down a heavy breath and he saw her jaw flinching as she held back tears. Her hair fell around her face, her long messy bangs sliding against his skin as she took her free hand and curled her fingers into the dark strands at the nape of his neck.

"What's wrong?" He didn't understand what it was that was making her upset. Yes, the day in and of itself had been a bitch, they were both injured and hungry and tomorrow they had a helluva fight to get back to camp, but in this second, he didn't know what could be making her almost cry.

Her lips twitched into a half smile, more of it lingering in her eyes. "I almost lost you today, and I can't really get my head around it. Because if I lost you, I don't know if I could do this anymore."

He shook his head firmly. "No. Don't think like that. I'm ok. I've been better, but soon as we get back to camp, Benjy will go to work on me, and you, and it will be alright. We'll deal with Shane when the time comes. We'll find Sophia, and we'll see the end of this fucking winter, ok? Everything will be fine." He wasn't used to this; he wasn't used to someone needing him to hold them together emotionally like this, but he wanted her to know that he had every confidence that they were going to make it. One way or the other.

She nodded very slowly. "I'll tell you. If you promise to say nothing to anybody else. It's only for you, ok?"

He dared to kiss her lips gently, just a warm touch between them before nodding. "Promise." He murmured.

For a moment she closed her eyes and let go of a long breath, her fingers still rhythmically stroking the edges of his hair. When she lifted her head and opened her eyes, the only thing he could see was trust, and something else. He knew what it was and it caused a tremor to go through him, but he wasn't going to pull away, not now. Not when it was true, not when it was thrumming through him so strongly that he couldn't think of anything else.

"Dahlia." She whispered.

He smiled for her and with his good hand he stroked her cheek, twining his fingertips into her messy hair. He rolled her name on his tongue, saying it back to her gently until she smiled back at him.

"It's beautiful." He said, and beneath those words was all she would ever need to know in what he truly meant. She nuzzled his neck and throat and hummed softly before finding her words again.

"I love you."

He kissed the crown of her head, inhaling her smell of woodsy smoke and wildness and felt his head swim. He didn't know where this would lead him, and he didn't care. He had nothing else to lose, nothing left to hide, nothing left to hold him down. But he had her. She was real and as much as he sometimes couldn't believe it, she was more important than the pain and the scars and all of the things he'd held onto so tightly from Before. Before when it was him against the world. He had his own personal world now, and she functioned at the center of it. Rick and the group circled around, completing the rest of his little solar system, and he would have died to protect them. But she was the reason for it. It had been true for so long, he couldn't ignore it anymore.

"I love you too."

She looked straight into his eyes and somehow the look they shared was more intimate than any of the sex they'd ever had. And she sealed it to him with another soft press of her lips on his.

She shifted her position and leaned against the wall of the cave and very gently pulled him to lay against her, his head resting over her chest and he could hear the beating of her heart thrumming strongly in her chest. He could smell the blood from her wounds, but beneath that she still smelt like the woods and smoke and himself and he was soothed somehow, especially when her fingers repeatedly stroked through his hair.

"There's nothing else to say. Nothing else to know. You have the last of me. You have what remains of the world I once knew. Just like I have you. Twisted chains of red and gold, you hold me close and now I know. Now I know, I'm not alone. I have the last of you, safe inside myself, inside my soul, in the silver light from the pale ivory moon."

She sang the words softly barely above a whisper, just enough to carry the simple tune. It was gentle like a lullaby but so completely honest it was enough to make him stay awake to continue to listen to her hum it over and over again. She kept repeating the words over and over until finally he was lulled away from consciousness and into a deep, heavy sleep.


"Thank fucking God." Fox panted. The tree line and the shore of the lake was in sight. She and Daryl had set out from their refuge even before dawn broke and it was past noon now. She had done what she could to brace the wound in Daryl's side, but she had nothing to bandage the bites to his limbs or to set the bones in his hand. The wounds on her arm and shoulder had only continued to increase with pain and discomfort during the night as she drifted in and out of wakefulness, always making sure to have a finger on Daryl's pulse point to ensure he was still alive. But his heart had beat strong during the night and by the time they had set out he was much more like himself. She'd had to help him almost every step of the way and now her back and shoulders were screaming from the effort of supporting him over the rough terrain because more than a small amount of pressure on his damaged leg and it would give out and he'd collapse. She'd checked him over as best she could and there didn't seem to be any major injuries, but he had lost a lot of blood and he was physically weak from hunger. She'd all but dragged him the last mile or so.

There was a sharp whistle from the lookout tree and Fox's heart thudded with relief as she saw people running towards them. Daryl's arm was slung over her shoulder, his head lolling down near his chest. He'd toughed it out the first two and a half miles, but the last two had been grueling and at this point he could barely stand up.

"Calvary's coming." She told him, a wide, stupidly relieved grin on her face as she hauled Daryl forward another few paces. When she looked up again she could see who was coming towards her- Dale, Glenn, Maggie, and Andrea, all of them running flat out fast and hard over the snow.

"Oh my God, is he dead?" Andrea panted as they skidded to a halt in front of the bloody, bedraggled pair.

"Daryl!" Fox barked, all but dropping him as her back finally gave out. He collapsed into the snow, unmoving and a current of fear shot through her. She reached down and felt for a pulse and let out a long breath of relief when it was still there.

"He's just unconscious. Maggie, go get Benjamin tell him to get his shit together, he needs medical attention." Fox panted as she and Glenn maneuvered themselves under Daryl's arms and hauled the unconscious man to his feet to drag him forward. The brunette nodded and took off running back towards the tents.

"What happened?" Dale demanded as he kept a sharp eye along with Andrea for anything that might have been coming behind them.

"Shane." She snarled, her eyes flaming with hatred. "Daryl said Shane tried to kill him."

"What?" Andrea sucked in a sharp breath, her voice soft and completely unbelieving. "Why would he do something like this?"

Fox whipped around to the blonde woman all but baring her teeth. "Ask him yourself!"

"Shane's gone. So is Rick. When Shane didn't come back in by dawn Rick went out to look for him. He hasn't been back since." Dale explained hurriedly.

"Ah shit." Fox snarled, anger and frustration combining with the pain and spilling over finally. "I'll kill that sorry bastard myself!"

"Nobody's killing anybody." Dale tried to soothe the situation. "When Rick comes back with Shane and we patch up Daryl we'll figure out what happened and we'll handle it then."

Fox's eyes had not lost their murderous glow but she fell silent, at least on that particular topic. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other but finally her injured shoulder could take no more and her hold on Daryl slipped. She staggered and fell out from under him, stumbling into the snow, unable to catch herself and going down in a pile of bloody limbs and red hair. Dale lunged to support Daryl before he could fall face first into the snow as Fox struggled to get to her feet.

"Are you ok?" Glenn panted as Andrea helped her to get up.

"When I found Daryl the wolves had already gotten to him. Then they got to me." She explained. She winced heavily and tried to ease the pain in her shoulder but it was to no avail. The bite wounds bled with every motion of her arm and she knew the sooner Benjamin could patch her up the better off she would be.

Dale and Glenn hauled Daryl back to camp and took them to Rick and Lori's tent, the largest one in camp, and Fox could see Benjamin's pale blonde hair in the watery sunlight streaming from between the clouds as he whipped back and forth, gathering all of his supplies.

"Come on, get him inside!" the medic barked as they got closer. Dale and Glenn heaved him inside and then onto the air mattress that Lori had been using after stripping it of the sheets. They all crowded inside except for Andrea who went to tell Lori, Carol, and Carl what had happened and Benjamin staked down the thermal blanket door to keep the heat in, a pile of medical supplies near the head of the bed.

The medic made short work of Daryl's coat and under layers of clothes to get at the flesh and bones. The predator's teeth had bitten through most of the layers but the wounds were relatively shallow. The main injury was definitely the gash to his hip.

"This was no animal bite." Benjamin muttered as he peeled off the makeshift bandage Daryl had used to try and stem the bleeding. "This was clean cut." As he pulled the cloth away more blood trickled free, slower than it had been last night but it was still oozing considerably more than anyone would have wanted to see.

"Ok, first things first, I need to get this clean and pull the debris out, then I can stitch this. As soon as this is stitched up, I can give him a bag of O-neg. Everything else looks like flesh wounds." He gently ran his fingertips over Daryl's chest and abdomen, pressing down, moving in slow circles down his body. "I don't feel any broken ribs or tension in his gut, so I don't think he has internal bleeding. What exactly happened to him?" Benjamin asked as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and Fox helped him roll Daryl's pants down just enough to see the full extent of his injury. The wound was crusting with dried blood and even the skin trembled as Benjamin's light touches felt around its edges.

"Can we give him a painkiller, please? He fell down a hundred foot cliff. He broke two fingers in his hand and we walked the whole way back." Fox stated as she got down on her knees next to Benjamin, wincing as her shoulder and arm gave a painful throb.

"He fell down a cliff? How did that happen?" Dale asked worriedly.

"Shane. Shane either stabbed him and pushed him off the cliff or stabbed him and he fell and Shane left him to die down there. When I found him the wolves had chewed him through pretty badly." Fox answered. The growing heat in the tent caused her to shed her jacket and her own bites were clearly visible through her long sleeve shirt. Glenn winced audibly when he saw the still bleeding mess of her shoulder.

"Christ…" he whispered, his skin tinged with the green of nausea.

"You'll both need antibiotics after this." Benjamin muttered as he rifled through his supplies for a pair of heavy-duty tweezers. "And to answer your question, I need to make sure his respiratory system won't shut down first. As soon as I finish stitching him up I'll give him a bag of O-neg and some saline to help get his fluid levels back to where they should be, and then a dose of painkiller."

He went ahead and sterilized the wound on Daryl's hip, the icy cold iodine staining his skin rusty brown and causing Daryl to twitch. His eyes fluttered open and he saw Benjamin leaning over him, his pants undone and rolled past his hips.

"The hell you think you doing boy?" he growled.

"Digging a stick out of your hip." Benjamin muttered absentmindedly, hardly paying the hunter any mind. Indeed, the only time he had a spine was when someone underneath him was injured.

"Daryl. Hold still, alright?" Fox reminded him, using one hand to find his good one and squeeze his fingers as Benjamin dove in with the tweezers and began to dig small pieces of grit and other debris out of the cut. Daryl hissed through gritted teeth, the three fingers on his damaged hand curling into the side of the air mattress with vicious force.

"Hold still!" Benjamin barked as Daryl squirmed, teeth sinking down into his lip as the painful extraction of the debris that had gotten into his cut continued.

Daryl spat a string of profanity as Benjamin continued pulling little bits of the outside world out of the wound. When he finally had it all out he poured another healthy dose of iodine into the wound and rubbed it in, causing Daryl to twitch and eventually pull completely away.

"Enough!" he snarled, his blue eyes flashing violently.

Benjamin rolled his eyes. "Ok fine, get some weird blood infection and turn into a pool of frozen goo, see if I care." He muttered. He approached Daryl with the needle and thread for the sutures and Daryl looked up at Fox with an exasperated expression. He squeezed her fingers so hard that she was sure the bone was at least bruised and by the time he let go it took her several tries to be able to flex them.

"Seven stitches, not bad." Benjamin said as he tied off the thread. "The rest of the wound is shallow enough it doesn't need it. You'll need to change the dressings at least twice a day, preferably three, keep it dry and keep an eye on it. If it starts changing colors, hurting worse than usual, or oozing, tell me immediately." He popped two pills into Daryl's hand along with a bottle of water. "That will stave off any impending infection long enough for your immune system to get into gear. Dale will you hand me that bag of O-neg and saline please?" he asked, gesturing to a cardboard box near the door of the tent.

"I don't need that stuff." Daryl muttered after he finished swallowing down the pills.

"Oh yes you do. I can just tell but the fact your gums are damn near white you've lost a lot of blood." Benjamin insisted. He helped him sit up against the wall of the tent and uncapped the needle. He tried unsuccessfully to tap a vein, through which Daryl hardly seemed to notice, but after he missed on the second try, the man's head came up and he stared ruthlessly at the medic.

"If you miss again, I'ma take that needle and shove it somewhere you ain't gonna like." He warned. Benjamin blanched and Fox couldn't help but snicker.

Third try was the charm and Benjamin took the bag of blood from Dale and hooked it into the line. There was a small hook attached to the wall of the tent that Benjamin hung the blood up on to let it drip at a slow but steady rate into Daryl's veins. He repeated the process for the saline on Daryl's other arm which caused Daryl to roll his eyes and shift uncomfortably after the line was in.

"Jesus I look like a hedgehog caught in a spider web." He muttered as he tried to get comfortable. Fox snickered a little and he glared at her with empty anger. Benjamin helped readjust the lines of plastic tubing before turning to Fox.

"Alright, your turn Red." He said, tilting his head to indicate for Fox to sit down next to Daryl.

Fox huffed a quiet breath and shifted to sit next to Daryl. Benjamin pulled her injured arm forward by the wrist, extending it and rolling back the sleeve to get a better look at the bite.

"Christ, did they play tug of war with your arm?" he muttered as he started pouring iodine on it, rubbing it in deep causing Fox to hiss and snag her bottom lip in her teeth.

"No, they were giving me puppy kisses." Fox said sarcastically. After Benjamin cleaned the wound and washed away most of the dried blood, it revealed two deep gashes diagonally cut along the length of her arm where the wolf's teeth had bitten in and pulled back like a steak knife slicing a piece of meat.

"This isn't really deep enough to require stitches." Benjamin commented as he turned her arm over in his hands as necessary to make sure he'd cleaned it well and then he picked up the tweezers again. "But it will probably scar over. So congrats on your first series of battle scars from the end of the world."

He picked through the wound and pulled out any pieces of debris causing Fox's feet to twitch and curl while Daryl's good hand found hers and he curled his fingers through her own, letting her exert the pain she was in on him. After it was finally clean enough for Benjamin's liking he used a bit of antibacterial cream that hurt like a branding iron against skin and then wrapped it tightly in gauze and taped it down to hold it in place. Then he turned to the wound in her shoulder.

"Slide your shirt down please." Benjamin asked as he waited to start working on the wound.

"You don't need us anymore right?" Glenn asked worriedly when Daryl was shooting him a dangerous sort of look as the Asian's eyes darted from Fox's bloody shoulder and back to the medic.

"Nope, you can go." Benjamin said dismissively as Fox slowly moved her injured shoulder so she could pull the shirt down and away, exposing a large portion of the skin leading towards her breast which was starting to make Glenn go slack jawed. Dale reflexively pulled him away and zipped the tent up behind them as he did so.

"Well there is good news and bad news." Benjamin said as he began the same process of cleaning out debris with the tweezers and rubbing in copious amounts of iodine. "If this was a little further to the left, the teeth could have potentially snagged your jugular vein or carotid artery and then you would have bled out right then. As it is, the teeth scraped your upper collarbone so I can imagine this hurts like a bitch. The damage to the bone will heal in time but you need to watch it very carefully. If you feel even the slightest bit off physically, you need to tell me so I can start you on a heavy dose of antibiotic. If you get an infection in the bones, it could kill you before you even realized how ill you were. The marrow is where you make fresh blood cells, its not a process you want to be screwing up." He warned. "And this one is deep enough that it'll need stitches, so hold still." He said, practically sitting on Fox's lap to hold her down as she writhed in agony from the continually applied pressure and poking at the injury. Daryl let her abuse his good hand to the point the bones throbbed with discomfort but by the end of the whole thing she looked ready to pass out from the pain. At last Benjamin tied the knots off and cut the thread and released his hold on Fox by moving off of her. The woman tilted her head back and finally released a heavy, shaky breath. Her shoulder was burning badly now, the pain so much that it was damn near enough to make her cry- almost as bad as the initial bite itself. Daryl could see it in her face despite how much she was trying to hide it.

"Benjamin. Get her something for the pain, would ya?" Daryl asked.

Benjamin looked between the two of them carefully. "Alright, let me find something in my tent and then I'll be back to bandage and set your hand." He said before ducking out. He trudged through the snow and the blistering wind towards his little tent that was covered in a huge mound of leaves like everyone else's. He pulled the stake out of the thermal blanket that kept in the heat and ducked in, pulling his bag of tricks towards him, going through all of the pockets and bottles, looking for a painkiller he could spare. He was saving what remained of the heavy stuff for when Lori gave birth, but he still had some mid-line prescriptions that would at least give Fox and Daryl both some relief. He pulled out one of the bottles and then left his tent but on the way back he heard raised voices from the other members of camp. He was trying to edge his way around it back to Rick and Lori's tent but then Dale called his name.

"Yeah?" he asked, his teeth already beginning to chatter from the wind that picked up, carrying snowflakes with it.

"Come over here." He said, waving him to where he was standing with Glenn, Maggie, and Andrea.

"Dale, I'm just saying, as a precaution, maybe we should…" Andrea pressed, her arms folding over her chest and her hip cocking a little to the side in a stand of defiance.

"What's going on?" Benjamin asked, trying to control the chattering in his teeth.

"Andrea thinks that it might be a good idea to…how did you phrase it…sedate Daryl and Fox for a little while in case Shane comes back." Dale's dark eyes were worried as he looked from Andrea to Benjamin and back.

"I'm just saying…if Fox was right…and Shane comes wandering back into camp and she knows about it…she'd flay him alive without even asking for what happened. For all we know, Daryl could have provoked Shane and in the scuffle he went over the cliff and Shane panicked."

"That's no excuse." Maggie growled firmly. "We don't leave our own to die at the bottom of a cliff."

Glenn nodded. "I think there's something wrong with Shane. He's different. He's slowly been becoming something else. He was always a hot head, but nothing like this. I mean you saw the wound on Daryl, you said that was deliberate, right?" he asked with a look towards Benjamin.

The medic shifted uncomfortably. "I said it wasn't an animal bite. It was a clean slice."

"From a knife." Glenn substituted with a nervous glance at Maggie and then at Dale.

"Wasn't Rick supposed to have been back by now anyway? Isn't this his problem, I mean him and Shane are friends right?" Benjamin asked, glancing at each person cautiously.

Nobody really wanted to answer that. Rick hadn't been himself either, not since Sophia had gone missing. He'd barely spoken to anyone, just sinking down into himself and spending long periods of time alone. He'd left camp early in the morning, just barely telling Lori that he was leaving and would be back later before walking away. Dale had disapproved but Rick had been gone before he could say anything to the man.

"Rick will be back." Dale insisted. "He just needed some time to get his head together."

"Meanwhile we have to deal with a couple of psychos." Andrea muttered with a heavy sigh.

"Is it dangerous to sedate them?" Glenn asked, meeting eyes with Benjamin now.

"Fox no, Daryl possibly. I would prefer to wait until his blood levels are normal before trying to suppress his body from functioning; you know what I'm saying? I don't think it would kill him, but it wouldn't be a good thing." Benjamin answered.

"Well then just sedate Fox, she's the main one I worry about anyway. Daryl's crippled at this point, one good leg and one good hand." Andrea said, and it was to her credit that she did look worried, but it wasn't just for him. It was for the increasing precarious situation the group found themselves in.

"Do you really believe she would kill Shane?" Dale asked incredulously.

"You heard her say that she would, Dale! She wasn't even there, she doesn't have any proof that Shane purposefully hurt Daryl." Andrea snapped.

"Andrea…either way, unless Shane died in the same struggle that Daryl was injured in…he left him there for dead. Notice he hasn't come back to camp. He could be fifty miles away by now." Glenn said very softly. "I know you guys are close but…Shane hasn't exactly made the best choices for the group."

Andrea's blue eyes grew very downcast but then hardened with resolve. "Do what you want. I just don't think we should let Shane walk into an ambush until Rick is here and he can help us decide what to do." She turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving the others looking towards Dale.

"What do you wanna do Dale?" Glenn asked quietly, looking to the old man for guidance. Without Rick here and with Daryl the subject of the possibly impending implosion of law and order there was really no one else left to turn to. The old man rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably before readjusting his rifle.

"I'm not siding with Andrea out of nepotism; I agree with her. If Shane comes back into camp and Fox finds out, she could try to kill him, and without a gun, none of us are strong enough or skilled enough to stop her before she could injure us. And if we start shooting, then how long before we end up killing each other off entirely. Sedate her. If Shane and Rick aren't back by nightfall we'll have a bigger problem on our hands." He looked at Benjamin who nodded his acknowledgement and then Dale took his leave, back towards the watchman's post.

"Do you think he's right?" Glenn asked as the wind continued to howl around them.

Benjamin shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. "Fox is a dangerous person. She doesn't abide by normal social rules- not because she doesn't know them, because she'd rather do her own thing. Fine. The world's ended and society's gone. Personally I don't really care if Fox has a vendetta against Shane. But Dale is right. If she kills him because he left Daryl for dead…how long do any of us have before we're next? Maybe not from her, but from someone else putting blame on us for pain they've experienced? We either come through this as a group, or we'll all die from it. And we know we can't fight the world out there on our own. We don't want to. Or at least, I certainly don't. So if drugging Fox to the gills to keep her from wrecking havoc is what it takes to maintain order in camp until Rick decides what we should do…fine by me."

Maggie nodded slowly as did Glenn. They all went their separate ways and Benjamin went back to his tent and looked into his bag, fishing out a tiny bottle of clear fluid labeled ketamine. This would knock her out without a problem. He felt a little twinge of guilt as he dug around in his bag until he found a clean needle and tucked it into his pocket. He was abusing the knowledge he had from his medicine training and he knew it. It was for a good reason…but he'd still be lying and tricking who was essentially a patient for ulterior reasons. But he wasn't really going to hurt her, right? He was just going to knock her out for a few hours until her head cleared and by then Rick would be back and he'd decide what to do. He went back to Rick and Lori's tent, sucking in a deep breath before he ducked inside.

"Took you long enough." Daryl growled when he saw him come in.

Benjamin shrugged. "Listen, we should move you two into your own tent cause this stuff will make you groggy and you won't want to move once Rick and Lori turn in for the night." He could hear his accent thickening as it always did when he was nervous. He bit the inside of his cheek to bring himself back to the moment and focused on the task at hand.

Daryl nodded and shifted to look at Fox who was still staring at the ceiling, her eyes screwed up in pain. By now the entire bag of O-neg had drained into his veins and he was feeling ten times better than he had before coming back to camp. His appetite was back and he realized he was hungry enough he could have eaten several raw squirrels but Fox couldn't. There were several slabs of jerky left that he'd stashed in his tent and the thought of food motivated him as he slowly tried to get to his feet, his hip gave a powerful twinge and it took him two tries to stand. He took the bag of saline that was still about half full off the hook and held onto it as he turned to Fox to help her.

"Come on Fox," Benjamin huffed as he helped pull the redhead to her feet. She winced and hissed and tried to jerk out his grip but Daryl reached out to steady her. Benjamin led them towards their tent. Fox crawled inside and disappeared into the dark little cave with a quiet sigh. Daryl followed suit and Benjamin after finding Daryl rifling through a small stash of some of their smoked jerky and one of their last cans of fruit. He split half and gave it to Fox, who shook her head and pushed it back towards him.

"You should eat." Benjamin advised. "You need the food to reset your system."

"Can't you just give me some of the IV stuff you've got?" Fox groaned as she shifted carefully, sliding back towards the tent wall, looking longingly at the bag of fluid Daryl had restrung on one of the tent's hooks.

Benjamin shook his head. "If it were really an emergency I would. I know you feel like shit right now but trust me if you eat you'll feel better. Come on. Sooner you eat something the sooner I can hit you up with a painkiller and you can sleep this shitty day off, alright?"

Fox sat up and glared at him. "Fine." She huffed. She took what Daryl offered and chewed through it as quickly as she could despite the nausea churning in her stomach. When she looked up at Daryl and saw that he was looking significantly better it renewed her motivation. Benjamin slipped out and brought them each thermos worth's of the camp's fresh water supply and handed it to them. Fox accepted it gratefully to wash the salty taste of the jerky off her tongue and then leaned back. Benjamin sat on his heels and pulled the vial of ketamine and the needle out of his pocket, drawing up a large dose. There was a twinge in the back of his neck as he drew the medicine up into the syringe. They were trusting him…and he was betraying it.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked, noticing that he was taking his time.

Benjamin dropped his hands, capping the needle again. He could feel his voice shaking in the confined space, his accent thick and the words almost butchered. "Dale and some of the others are worried that…that Fox might try and hurt Shane if he comes back into camp before Rick does."

Fox's eyes narrowed as she sat up. "So what…what we're you going to do?" she snapped her hand out and batted the vial out of Benjamin's hands, fumbling for it before the medic could get it back and read the label with narrowed eyes. "Vitamin K huh? What were you going to do Benjy, put me to sleep?" she snarled.

"It wasn't like that!" he whined, fear shooting through his spine as Daryl curled his fingers on his buck knife a vicious look in his eyes. "It was just enough to have you sleep for the rest of the day. Hopefully by then Rick will be back and he can make a decision about what to do about Shane." Daryl still looked like he was half a breath away from gutting him open so Benjamin continued, the words bitten to pieces by his shakiness.

"I believe you two about what you said happened! I think Shane is a crazy fuck and I don't personally care if you beat the shit out of him or drive him out of camp or whatever it is you wanna do! All I want is just for the group to not fall apart! Lori is less than a month from giving birth, Rick and Shane can't say three words without throwing punches, Sophia is gone and we haven't had fresh food in weeks because there is nothing left! There are wolves and Walkers closing in on us, shit is hitting the fan! The last thing we need is to turn on each other! Which is why I said something in the first place!" He was practically shouting by this point and so he lowered his voice with a very shaky breath. "But it's Rick's place to deal with Shane. We listen to him as a leader, right? He's the one that makes the hard calls, and he's the one we hold responsible when this happens. Its his job, whether he likes it or not." He paused briefly, judging the reactions from the two of them. Daryl seemed to be calming down, but Fox was still very edgy, like she might flay him alive if he couldn't jump back in time and silently he blessed her injury to give him an advantage. "The ketamine will take the edge off the pain and help you sleep. It won't hurt you." He managed to add.

Fox looked at Daryl who fixed her with what was to Benjamin a wordless look but to Fox it spoke volumes. She turned her gaze back to the medic, green eyes burning brightly.

"Shall I pacify you, Benjamin?" she asked, her tone dangerously low and vicious. "Here's what I'll do. If Shane shows his miserable face in camp before Rick comes back, I won't lay a hand on him. But after Rick is back, and if he does anything less than drive that son of a bitch out of camp, then I will make my move, but not before, understood?"

Benjamin let out a shaky breath. "Fine. Whatever you want." He took the bottle of ketamine back from her and pulled the needle back out of his pocket, redistributing half of the dosage back inside the bottle before withdrawing it again. "Now, you do actually need to rest. So I can give you this?" he asked.

Fox nodded her head and held out her right arm, which Benjamin took and found a vein and pricked her skin, injecting her with the fluid in the needle. When Fox pulled her arm back she let a warm, sleepy smile grace her face as the ketamine began working its way through her system. She leaned back against Daryl's chest who huffed a breath of brief discomfort at the pressure. The medic reached into his pocket and pulled out four pills and tipped them into Daryl's hand. "Two now, two more in a few hours. If you need more come and find me." The hunter nodded and Benjamin made a very quick, grateful exit. As soon as he was gone Fox fluttered her eyes open and Daryl looked down at her.

"What a cool liar you are." He growled. "If I didn't know you better I'd be worried."

Fox snickered. "If Shane shows his face, I'll rip it clean off his skull, even if Rick is there to watch. He's not getting away with this. He's the root of all our problems. As soon as he's gone, life goes back to normal."

Daryl shifted slightly, letting her head sink down to his lab on his un-injured side. "Get some rest. Sophia is still out there, we have to find her." His fingers ran rhythmically through her messy hair. Fox huffed a slight sound of acknowledgement before her eyes closed again and she surrendered the fight for consciousness.