Good morning! Here is another chapter that gives you a better look into things. I hope it does anyway. This one was difficult to start but then I flew through it after I got going. Those are my favorites for some reason. Thank you for reading and for all your awesome reviews. You are all beyond great! We are slowly getting there.

How many of you would be interested in seeing how Buck would do in a ZA setting? I'm really thinking about an after the outbreak sequel to this story. I have a lot of ideas.

Hope you like this chapter! Have a great day!

Chapter Thirty Six

Daryl glared into his coffee cup. He hadn't looked up for a while. He didn't need this right now. Wasn't shit bad enough as it was? Why the hell did she have to show her face and complicate things even more? He was glad Beth had dragged Merle out of there. At least he wasn't going to have to deal with her shit.

He felt Carol's hand high up on his thigh. He turned his head and she was staring at him intently. "Don't." She whispered. She was frowning, her face full of worry. He took a deep breath and then offered her a weak smile.

"You move that hand up any further and we're gonna have some serious problems." he narrowed his eyes.

She laughed softly into his shoulder. It was a soothing sound but it was followed by one that grated on his nerves.

"Well, what are the odds of this? I thought for sure that you would be sitting by daddy dearests bedside right now."

He looked up, making sure he kept his face clear of any anger. He knew what she was doing. She was pissed because he hadn't jumped for joy at her sudden appearance. Buck had always told him that she was crazy. He hadn't believed him. He was starting to believe him now.

"He's just fine. It'd take a lot more than some pussy with a knife to take him out." Daryl said, keeping his voice level.

Philip seemed to flinch a little at Daryl's sudden lack of tact. Jenna glared at him. Carol kept her hand on his thigh. She looked as though she was having just as hard of a time as he was at keeping her expression neutral. He doubted anyone else could see the struggle she was having with maintaining it. But he could see it.

"Carol, how are you?" Philip asked suddenly as though he just realized she was sitting there.

Daryl didn't know why the sound of her name on that man's lips had his eyes narrowing and his anger rising but it did.

"Do you mind if we sit with the two of you? This is a real strange coincidence." Philip smiled and pulled out a chair before anyone had a chance to answer him. Jenna sat down too, unfortunately right next to Daryl.

She smiled at him and then went to brush his hair back from his forehead. He flinched away from her touch. Her smile dropped a little and she shook her head slightly but she wasn't one to be kept down for long.

"So, how do you two know one another?" Carol asked, keeping her voice polite. She was looking right at Jenna.

Philip laughed. "Well, we actually ran into one another a few months back. Quite literally really. I was in a hurry, coming out of the post office and slammed right into Jenna here." He chuckled. "I knocked her down. I felt like a real idiot but I can't say that I'm sorry about that. We've been quite good friends since then."

"Jenna don't have friends." Daryl said vaguely. "You ain't givin' her money are ya?" He kept his reeling emotions in check. Months ago? How the fuck could they have ran into one another months ago? Had she been here this whole time? How different would their reunion have been if she had showed up at him and Merle's apartment instead of on Carol's doorstep?

"Jesus, Daryl. What is with you?" Jenna asked, seeming to be offended for the Mayors sake. "I know you're upset about your father but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on me."

"So... er... Carol? Are you alright after what happened last night? I was informed this morning that this has drawn in the FBI. It's obvious that whoever this is isn't planning on stopping any time soon." Philip looked uncomfortable at witnessing this small drama. He was rambling about things he probably shouldn't be rambling about with common people.

"I'm fine, thank you." Carol said and then busied herself with stirring her coffee.

Just then Philip's phone rang. He looked at the screen and then held up one finger. "I'm sorry. If you all will excuse me, I have to take this."

Daryl felt relieved that the man was leaving their table. He wished Jenna would go with him. No such luck.

Once Philip was out of sight Jenna was glaring at him once more. "So this is how you're gonna be now? You spend, what, a week with that son of a bitch and now I'm the bad guy? I knew you had some real bad daddy issues, Daryl, but I had no idea that they were this bad."

"Is there a point to you being here other than to make everyone miserable?" Carol snapped.

Oh God.

Jenna tapped her perfectly manicured nails on the table top and studied Carol like she was looking at a particularly disgusting insect. "Do you have any idea who you're talking too, little girl? You can't. If you did then you would know to keep your mouth shut. Don't think for a minute that fucking my son makes your opinion on anything that has to do with my family valid. You got that?"

"Watch your fuckin' mouth Jenna." Daryl said in a low voice.

"You're being serious, aren't you?" Jenna laughed but it was devoid of humor. She leaned into her chair and watched him. "You've got it bad don't you, son?" She leaned towards him then, brushing a hand down his arm. "You need to watch your mouth. Unless, of course, you want me to take away everything that means anything to you now. Remember that I can do that." She smirked and he hated the fact that he looked so much like her just then.

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" He asked angrily, keeping his voice low.

"Ed Peletier." The smirk never left her face.

Daryl felt Carol's hand tighten on his leg and he felt like someone had opened up a trap door. His stomach was in his throat.

"What about him?" It was Carol who finally spoke.

"Well, all the signs to these murders point to him. That's who everyone is spending their time looking for. But thanks to your princess here and that brother of yours, they aren't going to find him, are they?" She was only speaking to Daryl and her voice was a whisper but to him she may as well have been yelling those words at the top of her lungs.

He glanced around nervously. Ed had been pushed to the back of his mind after everything that had happened. He didn't know how she could have known about that. But the answer came to him quick. She'd been watching him. "Why did you come back here? Why the fuck did you hide?"

"I had some unfinished business here. That's all you need to know. And I wanted to see you." She leaned back once more. "And then right when I was ready to head my ass home, all hell breaks loose. You run into miss priss over here, Buck gets out of prison, Ed turns up missing, people start dying. You know, I always thought this little town was about the dullest place on the map." She shook her head. "But it's gotten really interesting."

"What the fuck, Jenna. You're creepin' around spyin' on us? On me? You know how crazy that is, right? And you weren't plannin' on showin' your face at all?" Daryl was trying to change the subject. She had seen it, what had happened to Ed. She didn't know exactly what had happened to her ex lovers son but she knew he had walked into that house and never walked back out again. She had known Merle was there with Carol and she had known that Buck showed up. Hell, she probably knew exactly what had happened after Buck and Merle had left.

"No. I wasn't planning on dropping in and saying hello, if that's what you mean. You seemed to be doing just fine without me."

The sad truth was, Daryl knew that she didn't see anything wrong with that. Abandoning them. Leaving them with Buck. Treating Merle like a dog when she was around. Cheating. Lying. None of that was her fault in her own eyes. She was innocent. She was one heartless soulless bitch.

"What do you want?" he asked after no one else said anything.

She shrugged. "Who says I want anything?"

Daryl had never wanted to hit a woman so bad in his life. "What are you doin' with the goddamn Mayor?"

She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and lit one before she answered. "I really did just run into the man one day. After I found out who he was and how fucking needy he could be I decided to do the right thing and make nice with him. It comes in real handy when you have friends in high places."

"You're fuckin' the Mayor?" Daryl thought he was going to be sick.

She scoffed. "Are you serious? That guy has more issues than even I know how to handle. I just like to keep him close. I'm his friend, Daryl." Her eyes fell on Carol then. "You know, not all women are like yours. We don't move a man in the day we meet'em." She winked.

Daryl glared at her but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. She held all the cards for the moment. One wrong move on his part and he lost everything. Carol, once more, broke the silence.

"So you're just waiting to see who else is going to get killed?" There was no anger in her tone. She was actually curious and Daryl had to admit that he was too.

Jenna blew out a thin stream of smoke and then smiled, glad that Carol was on board with playing her game by wordlessly taking her shit. "I'm curious to find out who this is, actually.

"You're trying to find out who the killer is?" Carol asked, sounding nothing but curious. "How?"

Jenna nodded. "It all revolves around you, sweetheart." She studied Carol, no longer with a look of disgust. "And if someone is after you, then my son is at risk. I'm a cold bitch, but even I got myself a bit of a weak spot when it comes to our boy here."

"What do you mean they revolve around me?" Carol asked quietly as she unconsciously brought her face closer to Jenna's over the table.

Jenna reached out and twirled a finger around a lock of Carol's hair. Jenna smiled when Carol and Daryl both tensed at the same time. "I haven't put it all together yet. But I will."

"And then what?" Carol whispered. She looked like she was damn near hypnotized. He knew how that felt. Jenna was one of the most manipulating creatures walking the earth. Reeling people in was easy for her.

"And then," She winked once more and continued to twirl Carol's hair around her finger, "We make sure our boy is safe and sound, sugar. He can hate me all he wants. You all can, but I'm a pretty good ally when it comes to this shit."

"Is everything alright?" Philip asked as he pulled out his chair.

Jenna smiled at him and moved away from Carol. "I think everything is just fine now.

Daryl took Carol's hand under the table and squeezed it gently. He wasn't sure exactly what it was that Jenna was up too. He was sure that there was more too it than simply keeping him safe. She never cared about his safety before. Sure, she had gotten in Buck's path more than once to save his ass but that had never been about her love for her child. Jenna never did anything that didn't benefit herself.

The only thing that he was absolutely sure of was the fact that things just got a lot more complicated for the Dixon clan.

~H~

Merle had damn near forgotten that Jenna was even there until he walked out and saw Carol and his brother stand up like they were finally ready to leave. Jenna and the Mayor were sitting at their table. He was afraid that she was going to suck Daryl into her web again. The woman could do it easily enough if Daryl let his guard down for one minute. Hopefully that hadn't happened.

Maggie and Glen had their heads together, smiling about something until Maggie looked up and saw them walking towards their table. Glen waved and then glanced at Maggie, rolled his eyes and bumped her with his shoulder.

"You ready to go?" Daryl asked as soon as him and Beth made their way over to them.

Merle nodded, refusing once more to even look at the woman in the chair next to where he was standing. Beth's fingers tightened in his.

Maggie forced a smile. "You want to hang out a little before you go back to the Dixons?" She asked, looking like she really did hope her sister could spend some time with her.

Beth looked up at him then. "You'll be home later?"

"Gotta go see my dad sometime." Merle muttered.

"So do we." Maggie chimed in. "Why don't we just all meet up there at the hospital at six?"

Beth and Merle both looked at her, their eyes widening before looking back at one another. Beth smiled. "That sound alright?"

He nodded again.

"Bring your bike?" She asked, her smile turning playful.

"Yeah." He wasn't sure what he was suppose to do now. Daryl looked like he was beyond ready to go. Carol was staring at them, he could see her from the corner of his eye. Maggie and Glen were even looking and he wasn't sure what to do. She still had a hold of his hand. She was still looking up at him. Was he suppose to kiss her? What the fuck were the goddamn rules to this shit? He needed to research good girls or something.

"Bye Merle." She reached up and pecked him on the lips once more and then dropped his hand and sat down across from her sister.

"Bye Beth." He muttered as he followed Daryl back out onto the sidewalk. He stopped in his tracks and then turned, not able to believe that he had forgotten to remind her.

Maggie inclined her head towards him and Beth turned around in her chair. He knelt down next to her. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Don't go home, alright? Stay away from the farm and don't fuckin' talk to anybody that you don't know. And if ya need me then call Carol's phone." He almost expected her to laugh at him. He was being paranoid and he knew it but he had to make sure she was going to be careful.

But he should have known she wouldn't laugh. Her eyes were large and serious as she nodded. "I'll be careful."

He nodded and then walked away, feeling a little better about leaving her now.

~H~

"Buck looked at his lunch trey in disgust. He wanted to call Carol and have her bring him something that didn't look like slop. He's passed on his last dose of meds, needing to keep his head clear so he could think. There just seemed to be a lot of shit to think about. Too much shit to think about. He almost wanted to just take a fucking nap. Like some sick old man in a nursing home. That's what he'd do. He'd eat his goddamn Jell-o and then he would take a nap and when he woke up he would be able to think a little more clearly.

Someone tapped on his door as soon as he put a spoonful of the nasty shit in his mouth. He'd always hated Jell-o. Too him it felt like he was eating frog eggs with sugar in it. And this shit was even worse cause it was sugar free. He made a face just as the door opened. His eyebrows shot up.

"I come in peace." Andrea said as she held up a white bag.

"Is that from the diner?" He asked, feeling his stomach rumble at the prospect.

She nodded, smiling. "Figured a man like you wouldn't be too fond of the institutional menu."

He rolled his eyes. "Did you poison it?"

"Did someone poison that Jell-o? Cause that is quite a face you're making there, Dixon." She sat down in the chair and handed over the bag.

He opened it up eagerly and pulled out what he was hoping was a cheeseburger. "Jesus Christ, woman. I think I could even look past your high society bitchiness for this. I owe ya one."

Sure enough she had brought him burgers. He thought maybe he was in love. With the food, not the blonde.

"I'll try to forget you said that." She said dryly. "I couldn't decide what to get you. Get well balloons, flowers, a card. I opted for beef. Thought it would be more appreciated."

"Damn straight, darlin'." He said around a mouth full of food.

"You look really ridiculous in that nightgown, Buck." She grinned as she reached into his bag and pulled out some fries.

He snorted and then glared at her. "Bastards wouldn't give me my goddamn pants back. But hey, I'm naked under here if you're interested."

"You're disgusting." She grumbled and rolled her eyes.

He shrugged. "Just as well I suppose. It would probably scare ya to death."

She was looking away towards the door and tried to stuff a fry in her mouth to hide her laughter. "What would? Your awful knife wounds or your dick?"

He choked. The crazy bitch was trying to kill him. He had to cough to dislodge the food from his throat and that caused a lot of pain.

"Oh shit, Buck. I'm sorry." She looked like she really was. She moved from the chair to the edge of his bed. She moved the table away and leaned over him, snatching her drink from the bedside table where she had sat it when she came in, offering him a drink. He took it and sucked on the straw greedily.

He finally handed her the cup back and settled back against the raised mattress. "That fuckin' hurt." He grumbled.

She tried to hide a smile. "I really am sorry."

"I can tell." He muttered

"So, how are you feeling, other than the damage I just did, of course?" She asked. He took note of the fact that she was still sitting on the edge of the bed and not the chair.

"Like shit." He said dryly.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked as her eyes met his.

Was this chick for real? He wasn't sure if there was a double meaning to her words or not but she hadn't moved still, she still had her body facing him and her hand on the other side of him, holding up most of her weight. Until she ran that hand up his thigh, over the blanket.

That angry kiss from the night before flashed in his mind and then his hand was in her hair, yanking her face towards his roughly. She scooted up further so she wasn't leaning over him so much, sliding that brave hand the rest of the way up his leg until she felt him right under her fingertips. He was over eager. He hadn't been with a woman for a lot of years. Especially one that seemed to know exactly what to do with her hands.

She ran her fingers over the length of him and then pulled her mouth away, eyes wide. "Are you serious?" She breathed.

He shrugged. "Can't be helped, darlin'. I'm a big man."

He pulled her face forward again and then slipped his hand up the back of her shirt. It had been a long time since he had felt skin that soft and he felt like a fucking virgin as he groaned into her mouth. He hadn't been kissed like that in long time either. He lost his head in the feel of her and pulled her against him, instantly he dropped his hand and pulled his mouth away, hissing in pain.

"Shit. Are you okay?" She pulled back, further than he would have liked.

He sighed and then looked down at the hand that wasn't quite wrapped around him and then looked back up. She moved the hand away.

"I think I'm gonna go ahead and go." She whispered.

"I think once I get outta here we should think about fuckin'." He winked.

"You're disgusting." She said again, like blaming him made her feel better.

"And you're a dick tease."

Just then someone else tapped on the door and then a bored looking doctor came into the room holding a clip board.

"Hey, Jim." Andrea said as she moved from the bed back to the chair.

Buck had to shift around a bit so the doctor wouldn't look down and see the raging hard on that she was planning on leaving him with.

"Hello, Andrea." The doctor said without looking up from the paperwork. "Well, Mr. Dixon. I'm Dr. Rothenberg. Looks like you're a lucky man." He finally glanced at Buck.

"Sure am. Getting' flayed like a fuckin' trout was always a dream of mine." Buck grumbled. Was this guy a fucking idiot?

"I just meant that it could have been a lot worse." He said dully.

"I suppose." Buck said as he rolled his eyes towards the ceiling.

"I'm going to have to ask you to go ahead and lower the front of that gown so I can take a look. Make sure everything is still clean."

Buck leaned up, glancing towards Andrea who didn't look like she was in the mood to go anywhere anymore. He dropped the front of the hospital gown and then laced his hands behind his head while the doctor unwound the gauze from around his chest and midsection. He kept his eyes on Andrea as she looked on in fascination. When he was finally exposed she covered her mouth and then brought her eyes up to meet his.

Even the doctor let out a low whistle. "Lucky indeed." He muttered.

Buck knew what they were seeing already. They had used dissolvable stitches on the inside and staples on the outside. Two long deep gashes formed an X on his torso. When it all heeled up it was going to leave one wicked fucked up scar.

The doctor cleaned him up and then rewrapped him. Without a word he left them alone once more.

"I didn't realize it was that bad." She said in a quiet voice. "You really could have died."

"It'd take a lot more than some pussy with a knife to kill me, darlin'." He rasped as he laid back once more.

"Good." She said, and sounded like she actually meant it.