A/N: So! It's been a long wait, and I'm not too happy about... well, about most things right now, but anyway! I figured I shouldn't take it out on you guys, but anyway, this chapter seems sort of filler-y to me, but hopefully it'll be enjoyable, and in the long run (like maybe two chapters from now, it'll mean a little more), SO! sorry about the wait! And thanks for the reviews :D

I Love You, Lacey

The next morning Daryl was moved carefully from the guest bed in the Greene home to his tent out in the yard where camp was set up.

Lacey went out of her way to set up his old tent so he'd have more room to heal.
And when he was finally settled in, and Lacey actually believed that he was settled in up to her standards, she asked him once more if he needed anything before he shooed her off with a, 'Woman, you got kids to take care of. I'mma be fine.'

"Fine." she huffed, "But I'll be checking up on you whether you like it or not."
He just rolled his eyes, the strange act of being taken care of was completely new to him, and it sort of confused him and made him uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to tell Lacey that, she was a licensed nurse, and he'd let her do as she pleased so long as in the end he did have to feel the consequences of her motherly wrath.

He grew bored, it wasn't uncommon, when he was a boy he was more often than not bored out of his mind, and lonely. An absent mother, an appearance from his father was about the same as seeing a full moon, (which led him to believe, for a while, that his father was some sort of reverse werewolf, and he'd only show up at home during the day of a full moon. Merle had supported this idea, and had plugged more inklings into his little brother's head about vampires, the Loch Ness monster and ghosts, further scaring a young Daryl Dixon into sleepless nights and collected reason for fear of all things paranormal.) and an older brother who seemed to attract trouble and served the sentences for his misdoings.

He found his escape though, in his imagination, through small tasks and teaching himself the basics of survival. Or like now, he entertained himself by poking holes through the tent screen with one of his arrows. He smirked to himself, knowing Lacey, in her own motherly way might come back and find the holes and scold him for it. He knew she wasn't very confident in her new parenting role, she'd just come into it nearly 4 months ago, (and he'd now been pulled into it, not by force of course) but he could see it in her actions. The girls were her responsibility, their lives were in her hands, and she was worried she wasn't as good a protector as she thought she was. But Daryl knew Lacey was doing well, better than well. She was great. And he was glad to have her little brother stumble upon their camp. And if Ben hadn't have sworn he saw the smoke from their fire pits, they never would have met.

The arrow in his hands stopped poking holes and just sat in his grasp as his mind wandered off, thinking about where he'd be, where they all might be, if Lacey and her crew hadn't joined their group...

"You son of a bitch!"
Robert jumped, startled by the tone in his sister's voice, and knowing that it was absolutely directed at him even though his back was to her.

"Hello, sister dearest." he turned, putting on a casual act, knowing she hated whenever he did that. He was in a teasing mood, and he knew exactly what was up with Lacey.

"You bastard. This is your doing, isn't it? She learned who Mama was, and how to say mama from you. So, of course I put the pieces together to find out you've been teaching her to say other things. Dada? Really? How long have you been planting that into her brain?" Lacey stood with her hands on her hips in front of the lawn chair that Robert sat in just finishing his breakfast.

Robert laughed, putting his plate aside, he folded his hands on his lap, another thing he knew she hated, when he acted completely calm to counter her fuming anger, "Look, I'm sorry, Lace, really. But I'm just trying to help you out."

"Help me out? Help me out! Last night made it on my top 5 most awkward moments ever list. Between the time I went to the store and had to go through your line with a box of flavored condoms, and the time when I sat in cherry jello in the hospital cafeteria and didn't have a change of clothes."

"Lacey. Listen to me." Robbie spoke seriously after chuckling at her recalling her few more than embarrassing times in her life. "I've seen the way you two are together. I know neither of you will admit it, but you have strong feelings for each other. And I'm totally alright with that, so is Jo, I'm not sure about Ben, I think he's just ignoring it, but anyway, when are yougoing to be alright with that?"

She raised a brow at him and he rolled his eyes, "Okay, remember what Lori said, about none of us taking a moment to hold onto anything of our old selves? Yes, we live in a psychotic world where the dead come back to life and consume the living. Yes, we live each day scared to go to sleep and even more scared to wake up. But that doesn't mean we have to recreate our lives around our survival. People are people. They're are attracted to each other, likeeach other. People kiss, have sex and love each other. Just because our main focus is survival doesn't mean we have to beat down our other instincts. You like Daryl, Daryl likes you, it's simple, Lacey, seriously, you went to college for God's sake." he paused to scoff fakely before continuing, "I've seen the way you two are. Your feelings are expanding... it's different with him. I can see it." Robert sat back and looked at his little sister, "Even through all this shit you seem like you're truly happy with him... way different than you were with Keenan."

Lacey blinked a couple times a few moments after he stopped speaking, completely baffled, "Woah... I've never had the weird sibling mind reading thing turned on me before." she shivered fakely, "JoJo's right. That's creepy."

Robert smiled, "Just think about it."

"I have...I'm just...I don't know, I don't know if I'm actually there yet, and I don't want to scare him... Though he seemed perfectly fine when Honey said 'Dada'."

Robert shrugged, "There you go."

Lacey laughed, "You utilised a baby to make me and Daryl come closer together?"

"I work in mysterious ways." he said simply, causing Lacey to let out another laugh. "And frankly, I'm sick of the way some people have been looking at you two, like your sinners or something. It's the end of the god damn world, you two can do whatever the fuck you want. Judgmental assholes."

She nodded slowly, her eyebrows raised, "Well! Someone needs a beer...or..." Lacey leaned forward and sniffed, "have you been drinking already?"

"Just make yourselves an item already. Like Laryl, or, or, Lacyl, Darey, Lar- Dar, Darcey! Yeah, that's it! The exclusive couple known as Darcey. The tabloids are definitely gonna run with it."

"It's 8 in the morning! Oh God, it's like you're getting drunker by the second. How did I not notice before?" Lacey started walking backward.

"Mysterious ways!" Robert called loudly and dramatically.

"Okay, I'm going to walk away now." Lacey nodded and turned to walk back toward the Greene home.

"They call me Dr. Love!" he called after her as if it were a known fact to all, catching a few glances from other around the camp. Lacey shook her head.

"No, they don't!" she called back and went into the house to check on Erin...

"Hey." Maggie greeted Lacey the instant her boots touched the wood floor, Lacey smiled at the girl and started for the room where Erin was still sleeping.

"She's awake." Maggie informed the blonde and Lacey stopped, "She asked for you, and I made her some breakfast. She's in the dining room."

Lacey looked at the farmer's daughter then hugged her, "If I could've ever had a sister, I wish it would've been you."

Maggie laughed, and tucked some hair behind her ear when Lacey pulled away from her. "Ya know, once I thought I could change Jo into a girl because I really wanted a little sister. When he was a baby I'd put him in dresses thinking that ought to do the trick. Obviously it didn't work and thankfully he doesn't remember any of that." Lacey rattled off that story quickly and casually, Maggie shook her head, trying not to laugh, but failed. The two women walked into the dining room where Erin was sat, a plate scraped clean and a glass with just about an inch of orange juice left in it.

"Hi." she smiled at the women, though her eyes stayed firmly on Lacey.

"Hello." Lacey grinned and walked over to rest the back of her hand against Erin's forehead, she pulled it away and gave a short laugh, "You feel fine. Slept and sweat it all out. How do you feel?"

"Better." Erin nodded and finished off the rest of the orange juice.

"Good." Lacey sighed, "Now all we've got to do is keep a water bottle full and strapped to you at all times... stay around shady areas."

Maggie took the dirty dishes away and Lacey took the cot from Daryl's old room and she and Erin left the home and entered the camp. She put Erin in Dale's care before going out in search of Rick.

"Lacey! I was just goin' to look for you. We're assigning grids, heard Erin was better and you got Daryl settled in his tent. You in for searchin'?" Rick said as he approached the blonde.

She nodded, "I was just going to ask you about that."

"Alright. I'm gonna pair you with Ben. He's been goin' alone, but after seein' what happened to Daryl goin' alone, I think we should really stick to stayin' in pairs."

Lacey visibly deflated, and Rick raised an eyebrow, "Is that alright?"

She knew Robert would've told Ben what's been going on. Truth be told Ben actually liked Keenan, so there was no doubt in her mind that once they started their search together he'd start up, probably guilt her and demand she stop seeing Daryl. She sighed and waved Rick off, "It's fine. Hopefully we'll find Sophia today. She's been gone way too long."

Rick nodded, "Agreed. Make sure to come back before sundown."

Lacey started off toward where she saw Ben, he was talking to Shane, no surprise there. She nearly expected them to be sharing a tent by now, finishing each other's sentences, borrowing clothes. She almost laughed at her own thoughts, but kept quiet and straight faced when she approached the men.

"I'm paired up with you. Whenever you're ready..." she said, looking up to Ben and trying to avoid any eye contact with Shane. They hadn't spoken to each other since she pulled Robert's shot gun on him on the Greene's porch. But there was a notable amount of regret combined with anger when he saw that she was right about Erin. She even passed a glance to the RV where she saw Dale and Erin on the roof, chatting. When she turned back she saw Shane had followed her gaze and a deeper frown was set on his mouth.
Their eyes met, for a moment, a flicker of triumph, a flicker of a challenge, hands had moved toward their weapons, subconciously of course, as if just resting there, but if provoked... the underlying message was clear. They were an equal match for each other. He was good with a gun, she was great with a sword, but if it should ever come down it, her blade would be quicker than his bullet.
"Yeah. Just give me another minute and we'll head out." Ben nodded and turned back to Shane, who was passing one last glance over Lacey.

The small blonde walked off, a bit of a smug boost in her step.

The 'just another minute' from Ben turned into a good ten minutes, during which Lacey brought Honey and Erin into Daryl's tent for a little visit, and Erin promised she would take care of Daryl while Lacey was gone. Daryl would blame it on the heat, but Lacey was positive she saw a blush rise in his cheeks when the 6 year old had said that.

Honey was practicing her new word when Amy popped her head into the tent, "Hey, Ben's ready."

Lacey nodded to her before leaning over Honey to kiss Daryl's cheek. She picked up the baby and smiled to the injured man, "See ya later."

He nodded, "Be careful."

Lacey laughed as she exited the tent, "Please, 'careful' is my middle name."

"I thought it was 'danger'." Jo said with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure it's James." Robert said, but then with a look of confusion added, "Why is that your middle name anyway?"

Lacey rolled her eyes, "Because. Mom said there weren't any respectable women in our family to name me after so she went with great granddad's name... And she said it had a better ring to it than Lacey Alexandra Joanna Black."

"So is that why you're so butch?" Jo wondered and jumped away when Lacey's clenched fist came rocketing toward him. "Fuck you." she laughed.

"Alright. Let's go. We're all wasting time." Ben's voice called over the laughter.

Lacey went to pass Honey to Amy but the blonde shook her head, "I'm helping search today. Going with Andrea and T-Dog. I think she likes Lori better anyway." she smiled.

Lacey was glad to see Amy getting out there and joining in the effort, maybe she could make up for her sister's air headed actions...

The walk into their grid was a quiet one, it wasn't until they reached the very end of their grid that Lacey wondered aloud if they should keep going a little further that Ben finally spoke.

"I don't care." he said.

"Well, it's not that simple, it's 'yes we should' or 'no we shouldn't', 'I don't care' isn't really giving me much of an answer." Lacey mummbled irritably.

"No, I mean," Ben paused when she turned to actually look at him as opposed to scoping out the area ahead that they might continue to search through, "I don't care about what you do... about Keenan... I heard about the voicemail..."

Lacey remained quiet, unsure of what to say. Whenever they fought she was a step ahead with the next blow, but this... this seemed sincere and he wasn't telling her what to do or how to be or anything. He said he didn't care...

"Robbie told me... And I was going to give you a lesson about morality and promises," he continued, and Lacey rolled her eyes 'Knew it.'

"Hey, don't roll your eyes. I said I was going to give you that lesson, but then yesterday... I saw the way you reacted... To Daryl... When he was hurt... And the way you freaked out when Erin was sick. And the way you saved her and decided to mother her like you do Honey... I realized," he paused to chuckle, "Keenan doesn't rank anywhere near where they do. He never really did... And the way you are with Daryl. It's nothing fake... And uh... he's a good guy. So... whoever you choose I won't be upset or make you feel crappy about it..."

Lacey smiled, looking up at him she thought about of the three of her brothers and he looked like their father they very most, especially with the generous amount of facial hair he was sporting and was neglecting to shave.

"I chose Daryl."

Ben nodded, "Alright... Good." and put on a smile, a geniune one, something she hadn't witnessed in months.

"Cool." Lacey smiled too, "So we'll go a little further?"

Ben looked up, through the heavy tree branches and leaves, he gave a shrug, "Why not. We still have some day light."

"So..." he said as they continued on, "say if Keenan did show up. You'd still stick with Daryl?"

"Yep. You know me, I'm an honest woman in relationships. Never cheated. Didn't sex guys on first dates and what not. Unlike some people I know who gave it out like free samples." she grinned.

"Shut up. That was a long time ago." Ben nudged her with his elbow.

"Yeah it was... Think you'd ever get back together with one of the many women of Benjamin Black's Bang Book?"

"If I remembered their names?..." he paused, "No."

The two siblings laughed.

"Alright, I have one more question about Keenan then I'll drop it. How did you go from an Irish New Yorker to a Southern bred hick?" Ben wondered out of true curiousity.

"It's not an exact science, Ben." she snorted, "Daryl's qualities just outweigh Keenan's... And if we want to get bedroom personal, there is at least a good 2 inch differ-"

"Ahh! God, no! Stop! Stop it!" Ben covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block it all out.

"What! You asked!" Lacey laughed.

"Yeah! But I don't want to know that. Fuck's sake, Lace, you're my little sister. I never want to hear about that, or hear it, at all, ever... Ew."

"Funny. Coming from the guy who never took his siblings innocence or sleep into consideration when his pick up of the night was faking her way through a screaming orgasm."

"I-... wait... how do you know they were faking?"

"Brother, please." she shook her head with a chuckle.

"Ya know what, never mind. I don't want to know." he shivered in disgust.

"That's what I thought."

Another moment of brief silence came between the two as they both searched with sharp eyes and ears.

"So, um..." Lacey started, she'd been thinking about what Ben said, 'you're my little sister.' But all the time she'd been pairing him off with Shane, him being on Shane's side through everything, he'd hardly acknowledged any of them over the past couple of weeks, leading them to believe he'd changed sides, and families.

Lacey cleared her throat before she spoke, "I was wondering. Uh, Shane and I haven't really been on the same page as of late... and uhm,"

"Your side."

She turned her head to look at him, "What?"

"I'm on your side. He's my friend, he's a police officer. He's a good ally to have in these fucked up times... but you're my sister. You're my family. And when he gave the idea that we had to kill Erin just because she had a fever, that was..." Ben shook his head, his brow knitted together, "That was wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't step up to help you, but... you didn't seem like you needed any help. You were handling yourself so well... You're a leader, Lace. And I'm just a follower... But I'll always follow you. I love you, Lacey. Don't ever question that... Don't ever forget that."

Lacey smiled a watery smile, "I love you too." she put her arms around her brother and hugged him, something she hadn't done in a very long time, maybe not since they were kids. Twice today she'd had a meaningful talk with two of her brothers. She half expected JoJo to have some speech prepared by the time they got back to camp.

"Alright." Ben pulled away first, patting her on the back once before he surveyed the area they had wandered into.

"Say we head back now?"

"Yeah... I guess... Lemme just give a shout first."

Lacey took a deep breath before belting out Sophia's name, she'd wait a couple of seconds before she'd do it again, and again. When no response came, or the sound of someone running toward them, just birds squawking and flying off at the loud, abrupt and unwanted shouting coming from the small girl, they started back.

"This way." Ben snorted when Lacey stepped the wrong way.

"Oh." she shook her head, glad that she was with someone who knew direction well, unlike her. She passed a last lingering glance over the area, but then stopped, and squinted, she hoped her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"I think that's a building over there. A house, a shop, something."

"What?" Ben looked to where she was, his eyes widening slightly, "Should we take a look?"

Lacey looked up, the sun was making its descending arc across the sky, and if Sophia was in that building she would've heard her shouting her name.

"No, let's go back. Tell Rick and see what he wants us to do."

If the town was abandoned they could probably live in it, if it was full of walkers, which was doubtful since they would've heard Lacey's shouts and come after them, they'd clear it out and live in it, either way they might have found something that could work as a place to settle down if Hershel did stay true to his word about their staying only being temporary.

Things, however minor they might be, were starting to look the slightest bit up.

A/N: Hopefully I tricked a few of you with that chapter title, huh? Anyone? :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Walking Dead.