A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait. I just got really discouraged and fell into a deep slump. I ended up posting the AU in an attempt to get me inspired again even though only two people voted in the poll but it's there if you're interested. It sort of worked but I'm still feeling pretty down about this story.

So enough whining! Thank you to brandibuckeye and Shockra for the reviews. They're greatly appreciated. Thank you for the follows and the favorites. This story reached over 100 follows and I wish I had a longer chapter for you as a celebration. Maybe next chapter.


It was still dark outside when Daryl woke up but that wouldn't last long. For once he hadn't had night watch and managed to sleep for more than three or four hours at a time. He sat up from his spot on the edge of the sleeping area, the furthest one away from the fireplace, and looked over at Marianne, who was one of the closest. He was relieved to see that she was already awake, quietly adding wood to the fire and coaxing the flames to grow stronger. The orange glow from the fire hid the dark circles under her eyes that now seemed a permanent part of her face and Daryl was sure that he had a matching set.

He stood, not making a sound but somehow his sister knew he was up because she turned around and gave him a small wave of good morning before returning to her task. Daryl stretched. So far, so good. She wasn't acting strange yet.

It was the second day since the library and Marianne had been acting normal which worried Daryl because this particular brand of normal wasn't Marianne.

Their first night in Rockwell Marianne had been subdued, staring into the fire while absentmindedly eating her share of peas and carrots. She paid little attention to everyone and everything going on around her and the group had let her be. She had been the first to fall asleep which was highly unusual for her but understandable after the events of that day.

The next morning she was the last to rise which in and of itself wasn't necessarily something to worry about but the smile on her face and her bright eyes as she greeted him that morning had taken him by surprise and not in a good way. He had watched her like a hawk that day, wishing he could be happy that she was okay but his suspicions that something was very wrong grew by the hour and this morning it hadn't changed.

She was standing different, walking different, talking different and nobody but him seemed to notice. Maybe the transformation was too subtle for anyone else to see but he wished someone would or soon he'd think it was all in his head. Maybe he was imagining it and today would prove him wrong.

Daryl went about his short morning routine. The hunger he felt in the early hours had dulled considerably since fleeing the farm so he tended to other things, letting whoever was in charge of breakfast that day to force a fruit cup into his hands.

He briefly left the room to change into a dirtier set of clothing, having taken up the habit of sleeping in the clothes covered in the least amount of blood which was a compromise from having a set of sleepwear that most of them wore. Marianne and Rick did the same thing, both wanting to be as ready as possible to leave and fight if they had to, when wearing sweatpants just seemed plain stupid.

When he returned to the den Marianne was gone and he assumed she was getting ready too. Yesterday, doing the chores required for settling in for a stay longer than a day had eaten up most of their time and while Marianne stayed behind for her turn on watch, Daryl had only been able to roam the immediate area for two hours, killing three pitifully small squirrels. Today both of them would go hunting and scout out the area.

Someone came up behind him and he automatically tensed up until he felt fingers drum against his shoulder. It was Marianne's way of letting him know she was there or needed to draw his attention when they couldn't talk during a hunt. He turned around to see her already fully kitted out and holding up his breakfast for him to take, which was, as predicted, a fruit cup. Marianne hadn't bother to bring him a spoon which was fine with him because Daryl wouldn't have used it.

All he had left to do was to grab his crossbow, check that his gun was ready to go, and grab a couple of more knives. In less than a minute he met Marianne, who hadn't bothered to wait inside, on the front porch. Rick was on watch but she was alone which meant he was checking the perimeter. Daryl had wanted to give Rick an estimate of how long they'd be out but he didn't feel like waiting for the other man to return.

"How does west sound?" Marianne asked, her attention focused on the sky which was starting to lighten.

Daryl shrugged. "As good as any other direction."

Marianne gave a decisive nod and both of them left the porch, heading straight for the trees.

In the light of early dawn, his eyes were drawn by the blood on her denim jacket. They still hadn't found anything heavier than a hoodie and hopefully when they finished going through the houses on the street they were staying on someone would find a suitable replacement.

Marianne caught him looking at her jacket but didn't seem perturbed. In fact, the smile he knew appeared, not the one she had been using yesterday.

"It's nice to be out again," Marianne said. It had been about a week since the last time she went hunting, too long considering she had been out of commission for about two months after she had found them and he didn't know how long she'd been bedridden when she had been alone. Marianne had a lot of time to make up for.

Marianne walked ahead of him and Daryl studied her more than the woods around them, waiting for something—anything—to indicate what she was really feeling. Under normal circumstances Daryl would know or at least have a clue but the things she had gone through he never would have imagined and he had no starting point to guide him in interpreting her unexpected reaction.

After being attacked and killing two men he thought she would be upset and had planned how he would comfort her. He was sure he had it figured out until she woke up the morning after and smiled, making him scrap his plans and scramble to make new ones but he came up empty.

The day started with the group tentatively feeling out Marianne's wellbeing and every indication his sister gave was that she was doing okay, subtly projecting that she was still shaken but determined to move on. Thinking about it now, he realized her act had been masterful and it was a little unnerving how well she had pulled it off, but not well enough to fool him.

They settled into their usual routine when hunting together but every once in a while, Daryl would take a peek at Marianne.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Marianne said after his latest furtive glance. It surprised him. He hadn't realized she had noticed that he kept looking at her.

Daryl grunted. "Lookin' out for walkers, not lookin' at you."

"Sure you are," Marianne said but she left it at that and they continued on in silence.

Their persistence paid off when a rabbit appeared out from underneath a bush that had nearly lost all of its leaves.

Daryl, his crossbow already loaded, aimed it at the brown rabbit and his finger was on the trigger when a hawk swooped down, grabbed the rabbit, and flew away. For a few seconds he stared at the spot where the rabbit was supposed to be, not quite believing what had just happened but he quickly collected himself and swore.

"That bastard stole our rabbit," Daryl said. This had never happened to him before. Here he was concerned about walkers when he should have been paying attention to the sky.

Marianne's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter as she motioned for him to follow her. She went in the direction the hawk had flown and he readily followed her. The least they could do was try to find the thieving bird.

Seeing that Marianne was keeping her eyes on the trees, Daryl decided to keep his on the ground in case they flushed out another rabbit but his hopes weren't high. It felt like the temperature was in the low fifties and most of them would be keeping warm in their burrows.

They hadn't gone very far when Marianne stopped and pointed at a birch tree bare of its leaves. The hawk was sitting on a thick branch tearing into their rabbit with its beak.

Marianne nocked an arrow and began to take aim. As if the hawk knew of its impending death, it looked at them and then spread its wings to take off. Before it could take flight an arrow pierced its breast and it fell forward off of the branch onto the ground where it weakly flapped its wings a few times before it died, still clutching the rabbit.

"Shame. It was a handsome bird. Red-tailed hawk I think," Marianne said.

"He got what he deserved." Daryl picked the hawk up and pulled the arrow out of it.

"Please don't tell me you're holdin' a grudge against a dead bird," Marianne said, accepting her arrow back from him.

Daryl handed her the hawk and picked up the rabbit, inspecting the damage done to it. "So what? I bet you hold one for that tree you fell out of."

"Point taken. But I would like to add that it was a completely different situation."

Daryl snorted. "Sure it was."

They came upon two squirrels in the next half hour and a third appeared closer to Marianne than him. It was her shot and he waited but nothing happened.

The squirrel was about to disappear behind the tree so Daryl fired a bolt and hit the squirrel, and then he turned around to see why Marianne hadn't. It was hers to kill and she only let him kill an animal she had spotted if he had a clearer shot than her or if it was bigger game that they'd both try to take down.

He found Marianne leaning against a tree with blue lips and eyes closed. Her bow was hanging lethargically at her side. He had focused so much on their surroundings he hadn't noticed how cold she was.

"Marianne," he said as he walked towards her.

"Mmhmm."

Her lack of response worried him. When he reached her, he took her hand. It was freezing but she had stopped shivering. Daryl knew this couldn't be a good sign. He let go of her hand. "Put your gloves on."

Marianne opened her eyes and took off her backpack. It took her a few tries to grasp the zipper and unzip the front pocket to retrieve her bulky gloves. She struggled to put them on and Daryl had to help her.

"We're goin' back," Daryl said as he put her backpack on.

"No, I'm fine," Marianne said looking so far from fine his chest tightened with worry.

"You ain't."

"But—"

"No arguin'," Daryl said in a sharp voice he didn't think he'd ever used on her before. If he did, he couldn't remember when or why.

Marianne stumbled most of the way back to the house, having to rely on Daryl to keep her steady. When they stepped out of the woods and into the yard of the house they were staying at Daryl felt relieved, but only a little bit. Marianne wasn't better yet and he hoped that this could be remedied quickly.

T-Dog was on watch and Daryl called out to him. The other man sprung into action and jogged over to them.

"Is she hurt?" T-Dog asked.

"She's too cold. Take this." Daryl handed his crossbow over and picked up Marianne so he could carry her into the house faster than she could walk.

"Hershel!" Daryl yelled as soon as they were in the house and the man quickly appeared along with Rick, Glenn, and Maggie.

Hershel may be a veterinarian but to his credit, he took one look at Marianne and knew exactly what was wrong.

"Bring her to the fire," Hershel said and Daryl followed the man into the den where they were camped out.

Daryl rushed to the room and the couch was pushed closer to the fireplace by Rick before he set Marianne on it.

"We need to get her out of those clothes," Hershel said.

Everyone except Hershel, Carol, and Daryl cleared the room to give Marianne some privacy as Carol stripped her of her clothing and dressed her in warmer ones. Daryl and Hershel turned their backs on them for the process.

As soon as she was dressed, they cocooned her in as many blankets as they could but Daryl felt like they weren't doing enough.

"Carol, warm up some water. Don't let it get too hot," Hershel said.

Daryl barely noticed as Carol took the soup out of the fireplace and replaced it with a pot of their drinking water.

Hershel had Marianne take slow sips of the warmed-up water and Daryl stood beside the couch biting his thumb. As soon as he could he sat next to Marianne and she leaned against him. She had started to shiver again which Hershel assured him was a good sign. All that was left to do was to wait.


"You've always had trouble with the cold but not like this," Daryl said.

"It may be her diet. Poor nutrition and possible anemia," Hershel said.

"You mean she's not gettin' enough to eat," Daryl said.

"No one is," Marianne said.

"Your body trying to warm itself up burns calories, more than you're taking in, which means you're losing body fat that would help you stay warm."

Marianne sighed. "So what are we gonna do?"

"You need to stay inside when the temperature drops too low," Hershel said. "I think you'll be fine in the 60s but anything below that you shouldn't be out."

Marianne nodded and Hershel left, giving the siblings as much privacy as he could in a room full of people.

"I'm sorry Daryl." Marianne looked away from him and into the fire. "I should've said something before it got so bad. But I kept thinkin' about Lori and the baby and Carl."

A small surge of anger rose up in him. She almost died because she was taking care of other people. She risked her life for the group and he hated it. Did they even appreciate what she does for them?

Daryl didn't want Marianne to think he was mad with her so he contained it before it got out of hand. "It's alright. Hypothermia confuses ya, or so I've heard. Makes you make bad decisions."

"If you're tryin' to make me feel better, it's workin' just a little. I still feel stupid though." She leaned back on the couch. "You should go back out."

"No, I'm stayin' here with you," Daryl said.

Marianne shook her head. "We need the meat. And I'll be okay. I promise I won't go outside."

Daryl triple-checked that Marianne was warm and feeling fine before he reluctantly left to go hunting. She was right, they needed the food and more importantly Marianne needed to eat. He refused to let her waste away.


A few days of low temperatures passed, meaning Marianne was stuck inside and beholden to the fireplace. She was reading a mystery novel without much enjoyment when Glenn and Maggie returned from their run. She glanced at them briefly and saw their triumphant smiles. She turned back to her book, not in any hurry to see what they had found because she'd be inventorying it later along with Beth and Maggie.

"We've got something for you," Glenn said, making Marianne look back up at him. He looked very proud as he set his duffel bag on the coffee table.

"What?" Marianne asked suspiciously, wondering if this was going to be a joke. If it was, hopefully it'd be funny.

"I think you'll like it," Maggie said, coming to stand next to Glenn. She sounded genuine enough which peaked Marianne's interest.

Glenn purposely blocked Marianne's view of the duffel bag as he unzipped it and pulled something out of it.

"Stop being so dramatic," Marianne said.

"It's called anticipation," Glenn said, but he turned around to reveal what he was holding up.

A grin broke out on Marianne's face. In front of her was a brown leather Sherpa jacket. She was still wearing her bloodstained denim jacket, which she quickly took off and let fall to the ground.

Glenn handed her the new jacket and Marianne put it on.

"Good, it fits," Maggie said.

"It's perfect," Marianne said with a smile she couldn't stop. "Thank you, both of you."

"Don't thank me," Maggie said. "Glenn found it packed away in an attic. I told him he was crazy to go up there."

Glenn shrugged. "We've been looking for a new jacket for you and I figured, since it was summer when everything happened, winter clothes would be packed away. Oh, we found some other stuff too."

He took a few more things out of the bag and laid them out on the coffee table. There was a long sleeve thermal undershirt, a pair of black gloves, and a brown knit hat. Marianne looked at all of it in awe. Aside from Daryl, no one had given her anything before.

Marianne gave Glenn a quick hug and when she pulled away he was the one that looked in awe, making Maggie laugh. Marianne, still smiling, grabbed the gloves and put them on. She flexed her hands and found that the gloves were stretchy enough that she might be able to shoot her bow with them on. Then she swapped her grey knit hat for the brown one.

Maggie pointed at it. "I thought it'd look better with your jacket than the one you have."

"The world may have gone to shit but at least I look good," Marianne joked, giving Maggie a smile and a short hug to show her appreciation of her thoughtfulness. "Find anything else good?" Marianne asked.

"Toiletries. Extra clothes in case anyone wants to change," Maggie said and Marianne nodded. It had been cold enough to deter the group from doing laundry since it now took longer for the clothes to dry and they never knew when they'd have to move. "We snagged some dry shampoo too."

"I call dibs on usin' it first," Marianne said.

"Too late, I already did." Maggie said. "Right Glenn?"

"I'm staying out of this," Glenn said with his hands raised as if he was surrendering.

"Where is it?" Marianne asked Glenn and he pointed to his duffel bag. The two women looked at each other and then both dived to grab the duffel bag. Marianne was faster. She turned around and launched herself over the couch with the bag.

"Hey! No fair," Maggie said playfully as she opted to skirt around the couch instead of going over it. This gave Marianne enough time to start dumping the bag of its contents but the thing she wanted rolled across the floor and under the desk before she could stop it.

Maggie didn't know that it had rolled away so Marianne dropped the bag and quickly backed away from the stuff. When Maggie's back was turned she went for the desk, knocking the rolling chair aside and as soon as she closed her hand around it she felt a hand grab her leg and pull. Marianne squealed in surprise, a noise she didn't think she'd ever made before.

She let Maggie pull her out all the way before twisting her whole body to loosen the other woman's grip on her. It worked and she freed her leg but before she could try to get up, Maggie was nearly on top of her reaching for the dry shampoo. She kept it as far away from Maggie as she could, stretching her arm to the limit.

Marianne hooked her right leg around Maggie's waist and rolled both of them over so she was now on top. She scrambled to her feet and made a run for it with the dry shampoo in hand.

Marianne was planning to run out of the den and into a bathroom to lock herself in but instead she collided with Rick who had just appeared in the doorway seconds before she was going to go through it.

Rick grunted and stumbled back into someone while Marianne fell backwards onto the ground, but still stubbornly holding onto the dry shampoo.

"What the hell?" Daryl grumbled as he steadied Rick and looked around the man to find his sister on the floor and Maggie standing over her.

The two women burst out laughing and the looks on Rick and Daryl's faces made them laugh even harder.

"Ow, my ass," Marianne said as she stood up.

"What's going on here?" Rick asked everyone in the room other than the two brunettes. They were all smiling and some of them were laughing too.

"They really want clean hair," Glenn said. From Rick's expression this answer hadn't cleared anything up.

"They're fighting over dry shampoo," Carol answered more helpfully, amusement lacing her voice.

Rick looked between them both with astonishment and then gave them a stern look. Maggie and Marianne, who had managed to quiet their laughter, glanced at each other and started up again.

"I'm sorry officer," Marianne said between laughs. "Are we disturbing the peace?"

The corner of Rick's mouth twitched.

Marianne moved her gaze to Daryl and the look on his face made her laughter die down a little. What was his problem?

Rick offered his help to her to stand up, which was unnecessary but Marianne accepted it anyways.

Not long after, Marianne, Beth, and Maggie settled down to inventory everything that had been scavenged that day. Floor space had been cleared on the same side of the room as the fireplace and the three of them sat in a semi-circle with an empty space in front of them ready to be filled with the contents of the bags beside them.

They had unpacked all of the canned food and Marianne was tallying how many cans of green beans they had when Daryl walked up to them.

"Marianne, we got some squirrels to gut," he said gruffly.

She wasn't really in the mood for that nor did she like his tone and plus, she was already doing something. There were other people around. "Ask Rick."

"Rick's busy."

Marianne huffed. Rick was always busy. "Ask T-Dog."

"He's on watch."

"Glenn?" She asked.

"Not after last time," Daryl said and she had to admit he had a point.

"What about Carol?" Carol had recently learned how to gut squirrels and she needed more practice.

"Marianne." He sounded exasperated.

"Well, if you insist."

"I do."

"Fine." She drew out the word fully intending to sound like she was grumbling.

Marianne followed him with a sigh, suspecting that he wanted to talk in private because he didn't actually need help skinning squirrels.

They went into the kitchen and Marianne was happy to see six squirrels on the counter. They weren't fat but they weren't starved either. It still wasn't enough to feed all of them but it was better than the three squirrels Daryl had returned with yesterday.

Both of them got down to it and Marianne hadn't even finished her first squirrel when Daryl spoke.

"What's goin' on with you?" He asked, getting straight to the point and not pussyfooting around it.

"Nothin'." She shrugged.

"Yer actin' weird."

"I had a laugh so now I'm being weird?" Marianne put her hands on her hips, getting blood on her clothes. "I'm happy. What's so wrong with that?"

"But you ain't happy," he said, adamant in his belief.

"You can't tell me what I am or am not feeling Daryl."

"After what happened—"

"What? I kill two men in self-defense—which you told me to be okay with—and that means I can't be in a good mood? Would'ya rather I fall apart?"

"No, I want you to be okay with it but you're not being you," he said.

But I'm being the new me. "People change."

Daryl shook his head. "Not like this. Not overnight."

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" Marianne asked. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? He was making the situation more difficult than it had to be. Plain and simple, the old Marianne was gone.

"I wanna be but this ain't normal and I think you know it too."

Marianne snorted. "Are you my shrink now?"

"No, but I wanna help." The plea in his voice was a stab to her heart.

"There's nothin' to help," she said. And it was true. Marianne was certain she was beyond help. Things had gone too far to go back to how she used to be.

I'm a lost cause.

"Marianne—"

"Stop. If this is all you gotta to say to me, save your breath and leave me alone." She put the knife and squirrel down. "I'm done here."

As she walked away from her worried brother who loved her more than anything in the world and only wanted to protect her, Marianne felt sick to her stomach.


A/N: Any thoughts? Reactions? I'd love to hear from you.