Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii everyone! Life has been pretty tough for me the past couple of years and i haven't been doing things that I enjoy, like writing but I'm feeling so much better now and I'm going to try an update as regularly as i can. Missed you all :) Hope all of my readers/followers are doing brilliantly! :) xx

The 'show' was over but the residents of Woodbury remained in the arena, they chatted and laughed and made it extremely difficult for Alice and Darly to make their way back to their apartment. Just getting through the crowds was bad enough but it seemed like everyone wanted to ask them about what they had just seen. The person most interested in hearing their thoughts was none other than The Governor and he was blocking the exit, they had no choice but to chat to him.

"So? What did you think?" He asked, smiling proudly. You people are all completely nuts, was Alice's immediate thought, which she tried desperately not to convey on her face. It was only a brief silence Alice allowed whilst she chose her words but The Governor picked up on her hesitation far too quickly.

"It's not quite your sort of thing, huh? I apologise, I figured since Merle had been a fan of our entertainment you both would be too." Daryl's eyes sought out his brother mingling with the townspeople, lapping up the attention like a celebrity.

"Sorry." Alice smiled apologetically, implying she meant no offense.

"Not to worry. Perhaps if I explained why I started this you might feel a little more comfortable." He gestured that they follow him out of the arena, which they did, reluctantly. The couple didn't dare to exchange looks in case something in their eyes gave them away to the leader of the town, instead they focused on the path ahead and the strange words that The Governor spoke.

"You see, It's not just about entertainment, It's education. I want these people to learn that inside the walls of Woodbury those things aren't a threat." Daryl cleared his throat, whether people lived inside Woodbury or a fortress walkers would always be a threat.

"But they are a threat." Alice shot in first, even though she had no idea what Daryl was going to say she doubted that he was going to just politely disagree.

The Governor's welcoming smile disappeared, Alice and Daryl had no idea of the horrors running through his mind, the things he had done to stay alive, the sheer amount of living and undead that he had slain to eventually create such a utopia. He was going to make the world bend to his will, life would be the way he wanted it.

"Yes but when was the last time you saw happier people?" Stunned, Alice looked around them at the parents bustling ecstatic children home, couples walking hand in hand without a care in the world and the elderly being gently assisted back indoors. They were all peaceful, content. Their smiles carried hope,they looked forward to the next day not dreaded it. They worried about the weather and how many eggs the chickens would lay for breakfast not if they were going to be able to survive another day or not. What if The Governor had been right before when he had assumed that Alice was bored after what seemed like a lifetime looking over her shoulder? It could be the same for Daryl. It was possible that adjusting to an ordinary life was just proving difficult.

Daryl glanced to his side, was she actually buying this? It sure looked like it.

"Is this still somewhere you'd like to be a part of?" The Governor asked, his charming smile returning, his question was his favourite one to ask- no one was allowed to leave Woodbury.

"So long as we don' have ta watch no more walker fights." Daryl agreed, figuring if Alice was playing along so would he.

Neither of them spoke a word on the way back to their apartment, there was plenty to discuss but not until they were behind closed doors...only, making their way upstairs, Daryl didn't seem steady on his feet and when Alice finally got him on to the bed he was burning up. She threw open the windows and stripped him down.

"Here." she insisted, holding out a bottle of water.

"I'm fine." he protested but she didn't retract her outstretched hand. A silent argument shot briefly between their eyes, usually his scowl was impossible to top but this time her frown prevailed, if it was for his own good there was no way she'd back down. He downed it in a single go and launched the empty bottle across the room towards the bin, it didn't quite make it in though which wasn't normal for him, his aim was usually spot on.

Alice forced a smile onto her face and moved away from him to pick up his empty bottle so he wouldn't be able to see her trembling. He was sick. She could feel her chest getting tighter with each slowly passing second, she was desperately trying to keep it together but her brain was forcing her to fear the worst. Would he be alright alone if she went on a run to get some medicine or should they try to wait it out?

Suddenly her eyes caught sight of something through the open window, something that allowed her to release the pent up breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding- Dr Stevens! It hadn't even crossed her mind that there were other people to rely on, that they weren't surviving alone together anymore. Without a second thought Alice shouted out to her, asking her to come upstairs.

Daryl was not impressed because, according to him, nothing was wrong. For once though Alice didn't listen to his opinion and definitely did not give in to his stubbornness. She wanted to be the one to look after him for a change.

"Well?" Alice asked the second Doctor Stevens had finished checking Daryl over. The Doctor was still wearing the same reassuring smile she had arrived with but it didn't seem to put Alice at ease at all.

"He's just got a bug, Alice." Daryl started to laugh which only made his girlfriend feel even more embarrassed.

"However," Doctor Stevens turned to Daryl a little more sternly, "I'm going to give you something to bring the fever down just to be on the safe side. You two have obviously been through alot and due to the times we live in when you're run down even a minor cold can be a cause for concern." She then handed Alice a small bottle of pills, amazingly still in date.

"He needs lots of rest, I'll leave it to you to make sure he gets it." The Doctor said as Alice showed her out, "I'll let The Governor know that you both need a couple of days off, I'm sure you both need a break." Alice couldn't thank her enough, she honestly felt deeply grateful to her.

It took a couple of hours for the medicine to kick in but eventually he cooled down enough for Alice to snuggle up against him as he slept. Laying her face next to his she smiled, the serious expression he was so used to wearing when he was awake never managed to hang around when he slept next to her. Every now and then his eyes would twitch and she could feel, from where she had laid her hand, his heart beating a little faster.

"I hope you're dreaming something nice." she whispered. When he didn't respond she closed her eyes tight and thought about the last dream that she had dreamt. It was the warehouse one again. The more she tried not to think about it, the more the thoughts would follow her into the depths of sleep where she was powerless to repel them. Sometimes she would resolve to tell Daryl everything that happened but all it took was one smile from him to change her mind.

"Hey." Daryl's voice was soft and calm, Alice forced her heavy eyelids open unsure why Daryl was rousing her from sleep. "Ya were talkin' in ya sleep." Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness of the room enough for her to make out the worried look on his face and when she remembered what she had been dreaming about her expression matched his.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I'll sleep on the sofa" She pulled one of the blankets that were unused at the end of the bed around her, preparing to make camp on the sofa for the rest of the night. Despite feeling so cold Daryl's top that she had worn to bed felt damp with sweat. The nightmare had been a bad one after all.

"Alice." She froze, she knew exactly what he was going to ask because his voice was shaking. "Can ya tell me 'bout it?"

Closing her eyes she replied, "Why?" If she told him everything...what if he didn't look at her the same way anymore? She heard him take a deep breath and appreciated how hard he was trying.

"I can't forget it either." With her back still turned to him she nodded slowly, her heart hurt to know that he was still suffering too. Hopefully getting everything out into the open would do them both some good.

"After you left I got separated from the others, he wanted to tell me that he had seen us before. Do you remember that blocked road after the CDC? That's where he recognised me from, they were sneaking around near us the whole time. It was because of them that the herd came our way, because of them Sophia…" That poor little girl. Alice bit down on her lip, she could feel herself losing it already. She had to get through the rest quickly. Clearing her throat, she continued. "One of the rooms had a walker in it, she was a victim of his too. He wanted to scare me I guess so he gave me this," she said tapping the scar on her upper arm, "then threw me to the walker. If there wasn't that broken glass on the floor, I'm not sure what I would have done."

"You kept a piece with ya." Daryl muttered in almost a whisper.

"How did you know?" She crawled back over the bed, he wrapped his waiting arms around her protectively.

"Ya were holdin' it when i found ya." Daryl tried to block it out but the image of her lying lifelessly on the floor covered in blood flashed into his mind. He had never felt a pain like it in that moment, like someone had ripped out his heart. He never, ever wanted to feel like that again.

"He was never going to let any of us leave there alive, it didn't matter what supplies you brought back. I wanted to protect you more than anything, Daryl. When he started pinning me down and hitting me I fought back and cut him badly. I was aiming for his throat but he'd hit me so fucking hard I couldn't see properly." Daryl didn't say anything out loud but he was finding it harder than he thought he would to hear what she had been through. I should have been there, he kept repeating in his mind over and over as she spoke, I'm supposed ta protect her.

"I managed to get out of that horrible fucking red room and get up onto the roof. I was trying to find somewhere to jump off, somewhere to land that wouldn't break my legs but when i got up there one of them was already there. He was slow, stupid. I used that same bit of glass to take him out but that's as far as I got. I don't think he…"

"He didn't. We got there in time." Alice felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Hey." he continued. She slowly brought her face up to meet his gaze, there wasn't anything different about the way he was looking at her, she could still see the love he held for her swimming in the deep blue of his eyes. "Can't believe I never realised it before, ya definitely a Dixon now, girl! Ain't no one else as tough as us, right?"

"Right!" she laughed, feeling a million times better than she had since the warehouse.