Daryl returned soon after that conversation, his expression unreadable and his knuckles bloody. I knew I should feel bad for the kid trapped in the barn, getting his ass handed to him by a redneck with an unbelievable amount of anger built up, but I also knew that Randall was part of a large group, a group that shot me and tried to kill the others. So I didn't really feel anything towards him. I agreed with my brother, he should be killed, for the protection of the group. Not that everyone else understands that.

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale demanded, waving his hands around wildly. "That's it? You're gonna kill an innocent child for something that may not even happen."

Daryl rubbed a hand over his face slowly. "Dale, no offense, but you don't know shit," he states. "This guy's group raped and killed two girls for fun. The entire group did it. And they'll have no problem stormin' in here and murderin' everyone. You really want that to happen?"

Dale's eyebrows furrowed deeply as he opened his mouth. "Well, no, but that's not the-"

"Then it's settled," Rick declares. "I'll do it today."

Dale steps forward again, holding his head high. "How can you make this decision?" he exclaims. "What about the rest of the group?"

Rick shrugs. "They seemed pretty supportive."

Dale shakes his head back and forth quickly. "Lily," he begins, reaching for me.

"Don't look at me," I reply. "I'm with the boys on this one. I mean, c'mon, two of his men attacked us. One of them shot me!"

"Gimme some time to talk to everyone," Dale stammers at Rick, abandoning his conversion mission on me. "We can try to figure out another way."

Rick crosses his arms defiantly. "No, I'm not gonna drag this out. Everyone's scared, Dale."

Dale nods. "Which is why they need to discuss this."

I step forward. "Dale, don't you understand? The longer he's here, alive, the higher the risk of him bringin' his group down on us."

Dale meets my eyes, staring straight at me. "You sound like Shane," he mutters in disgust. He then looks back at Rick. "Think about your son, the message that you're showing him. You're teaching him to shoot first, and think later. I'm asking for one day to talk to everyone. You can give me that."

I scoff and walk off, angry that Dale would risk the entire group for his morals. I end up stalking to the barn, finding solace in the horse's peaceful nature. I turn around quickly when I hear someone enter the barn, but sigh in happiness when I see it's only Coco.

"Hey bubs," I call. The dog pads over to me and I bend down, scratching behind her ears. "I missed you. Kinda crazy how we basically started this hell together, and we're still together." She looks up at me, her brown eyes holding no recollection of the past. "Dale said I'm like Shane," I scoff, moving to rub her belly as she slowly rolls over. "Funny thing is, I believe him. I mean really, what's the difference between us? We both would kill to protect these people, and I would give up my life for most of the people here. It will always be them before me. And Shane, he would lie down his own life, as long as Lori and Carl were safe." I sigh loudly, pulling my legs into my chest.

It doesn't take long for my tears to reach the surface, and I let them fall freely. I never used to cry much, only really letting myself when I deemed it necessary. When one of Shane's buddies got too close, or when I got kicked out. I hadn't truly cried since I had miscarried, that was until Sophia was found. And I wasn't really crying now, the liquid travelling across the planes of my cheeks, but no sound escaping me, my face completely blank.

"Are you 'lright?"

A small squeal echoes through the barn, Coming directly from my mouth. My hand immediately flies to my gun, unholstering it and flicking off the safety with a swiftness seen only in movies. I point it in the direction I swore the voice came from, and stand up slowly.

"Who's there?" I call loudly, a slight shake hidden in my words.

Suddenly warm hands grab me from behind, and I throw my elbow into what I hope is a sensitive part of the body. The person behind me groans lowly, and I spin on my heel, trying to see who attacked me.

"Daryl?"

He looks up at me, his eyes almost tearing up. "It was just a joke," he gasps, rolling around in the dirt, grasping his dick. "I was gonna scare you."

I sink down to his side, trying to cover my laughter with a well placed cough. "I probably should've mentioned that I don't like surprises," I choke out.

He finally pushes himself up, but is nearly knocked over again by Coco, her excitement getting the better of her. I try to pull her off, embarrassed at her eagerness, but ultimately fail. "I'm sorry, she just gets so excited I-"

He brushes off my apology, forcing himself to smile at me. "It's cool. Hey, are you okay, your eyes are kinda red."

I hurriedly wipe at my face, my cheeks burning. "Oh, yeah, no Coco must've kicked up some dirt into my eye," I tell him sheepishly.

He nods at my obvious lie. "How's your side?"

I look at my hands before replying. "It's healin', I guess. How's yours? And your head?"

He repeats my action, staring intently at his fingers. "Their healin'" he mumbles.

The conversation ceases, both of us falling into an awkward silence. Neither of us had really spoken since the tent, both of us avoiding each other.

"Thank you," I stutter out finally. "For the tent. I mean - y'know after Sophia." I go back to playing with my hands, afraid of what he's going to say.

He coughs lightly, looking at me. "It's fine," he says gruffly. "You would've done the same thing for me."

I nod. "Yeah."

He stands up abruptly, brushing his hands off on his dirtied jeans. He then leans down, offering his hand to me. I take it gratefully, putting most of my weight on the stronger man. His hands are warm, and the skin feels calloused yet soft, his knuckles rough and worn. We stand like that for a while, both of us staring at our interlocked hands. I look up at him, and I see his deep blue eyes looking at me, searching my face for emotion. We step closer to each other, and his gaze seems to pierce my skin.

Without thinking, I lean forward, pressing my lips lightly against his. His warm counterparts hesitate, before moving in sync with mine. Despite his obvious lack of experience with relationships, I feel myself sinking into his kiss, relishing in the feeling of his gentle lips manoeuvring against mine. His hand releases mine, instead reaching up to cup my face softly, while mine find his waist, gripping the rough material of his shirt. Without warning he pushes me away, touching his face with the tip of his fingers, glaring at the ground. My cheeks blaze, and I step back, embarrassed about the ordeal.

"I-I'm sorry," I whisper. "I wasn't thinkin'."

He growls lowly before stalking past me, muttering about having to speak with Randall.

Fuck.

Anger flows through me, and I feel myself grow shaky. I never really knew how to control my anger, taking it out on friends, family, walls, myself. I'm completely alone in the barn, aside from the horses and Coco, and despite what Shane says about me being a shitty person, I wasn't going to attack the animals. Instead I stalk to the doors, slamming them shut, before repeatedly punching them, screaming in frustration. My hands ache once I'm finished, 3 of my knuckles bleeding profusely. I curse loudly, and clench my teeth as I drag the raw skin across my jeans. Why would I kiss him? It was clear he had a mental block about affection or something and I just went and screwed up our entire friendship.

"Fuck!" I screech, finally leaving the small building, and making my way up to the farm house. I stride into the lounge, and collapse on the sofa, resting my legs on the seat next to me. I close my eyes briefly, and find myself sinking into a slumber, my dreams plagued with Daryl and rejection.

"Lily," someone whispers urgently, shaking my shoulders. "Lily, wake up!" I jolt upwards, snorting loudly as I straighten. I scan the room, and see most of the group surrounding the small table in the centre, each of them looking at me. I send a small smile to Rick and Lori, the couple being the ones closest to me.

Rick claps his hands together loudly. "Now that Lily's awake we can begin," he declares.

Glenn raises his hand hesitantly. "How do we do this?" He asks gently. "Do we just take a vote?"

I cough into my hand, purposefully ignoring the stare I can feel coming from Daryl. "We got an uneven number, so is it majority rules?"

Rick holds his hand up. "Let's just see where everybody stands and then we'll talk through the options," he mutters.

Shane steps forward. "I think there's only one way forward," he states, rubbing his hand across his head. I roll my eyes and mutter a response under my breath. Despite me wholly agreeing with the bastard, his presence irritates me.

Dale scoffs. "Killing him, right? Why bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing," he says in disgust.

"If people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick retorts angrily.

Dale's face is set as he begins his argument. "I can tell you it's a small group - maybe just Glenn and I."

Glenn looks up sheepishly, not removing his thumbnail from his mouth. "Dale," he begins. "I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this - this is different."

My eyebrows raise, enjoying the drama burning throughout the group. Dale's eyebrows react the same way, and his mouth drops in astonishment at Glenn's betrayal. "They've got y'all scared." The sentence is a fact, the entire group truly terrified for our future.

I decide to step in, feeling bad for Glenn. "He's not one of us, man. We've lost people already, too many of them," I explain. "You may not care what happens to these people, but I would do anything for them. And if that means shooting Randall myself, so be it."

Dale is silent after I speak, gazing at me in shock. "Can we continue keeping him prisoner?" Maggie asks cautiously.

Daryl shakes his head. "He'll be another mouth to feed," he growls.

Hershel nods. "It's gonna be a lean winter," he answers gruffly. I was surprised my brother hadn't started a fight yet, as I knew how desperately he wanted the boy dead.

"We could ration better," Lori suggests calmly.

Dale chuckles sickly. "He could be an asset," he spits. "Give him a chance to prove himself!"

I raise my hand. "Dale, how many times do we have to say this?" I start. "He's a danger to the group. We can't risk it. Do you want this man to be walkin' around, havin' the power to decimate this entire farm?"

Rick shakes his head. "We're not letting him walk around," he states firmly.

"We could put an escort on him."

Shane scoffs at Maggie's idea. "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?"

"I will," Dale decides. Of course he will.

The breath escapes my lungs in a gasp. "None of us should be walkin' around with this guy!" I exclaim.

Lori's head dips in a nod. "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," She agrees.

Hershel re-enters the conversation. "Can you drive him further out?" he asks. "Leave him on the road like you plann-"

Lori interrupts him. "They barely made it back last time," she hisses.

"If you go through with it, how would it happen? Would it be painful?" I think about Patricia's words, wondering the same thing. We hadn't actually discussed the method of it, though shooting him seemed the most...humane way.

Shane seems to disagree. "We could hang him? Snap his neck," he responds.

"Shootin' is more humane," I remind him. Were it up to me, I'd want to die quickly.

"Woah, woah, woah," Dale calls. "You're talking about it like it's already decided!"

Daryl stops him. "You've been talking all day," he snarls. "Goin' round in circles. You wanna go around in circles again?" Despite my indirect anger at the man, I find myself smirking at his retort.

Dale glares at him. "This is a man's life and it's worth more than a five-minute conversation!" he cries. "Is this what we've come to? We kill someone 'cause we can't decide what else to do with him?" he rolls his eyes. "You save him and now look at you. You had him tortured and he's gonna be executed. How are you any better than those people that you're so afraid of?"

Rick acknowledges his statement, with a small smile. "Dale's right. We can't leave any stone's unturned. We have a responsibility."

Andrea raises one of her eyebrows. "So what's the other solution?" She asks. "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet."

"So let's work on it!" Dale yells, sending glares to each of us.

Rick stares back at him. "We are!" He growls, bringing both his hands down to rest lightly on his belt. I can see him spinning his wedding ring around his finger, a habit I come to recognise as a nervous gesture.

Carol suddenly stands up, glaring at Dale, Rick and I in turn. "Stop. Just stop. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this," she grinds out. "You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide - one of you, all of you - just leave me out of it."

Dale looks at her through narrowed eyes. "Not speaking out or killing him yourself - there's no difference," he shoots back. "Doing either will result in the same thing; that boy's death."

"That's enough," Rick demands. "Anybody want the floor before we make the final decision?"

Dale steps forward once again, focusing his attention on Rick. "You said that we don't kill the living," he reminds him.

I respond to the comment. "That was before the living nearly killed us."

Dale still tries to plead with us, wringing his hands together. "If we do this, the people that we were - the world that we knew is dead," he explains, desperation dripping from his words. "This new world, it's ugly. It's harsh. It's survival of the fittest. I don't know about you, but that's a world I don't wanna be in and I don't think any of you do. Please, just do what's right. Is there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

"He's right," Andrea admits, standing as well. "We should find another way," she finishes firmly.

Rick nods before returning his gaze to us. "Anyone else?" I join his gazing across the room, watching each of our groups' faces turn away, looking at the ground. I was surprised the Greene family hadn't stood with Dale. I didn't blame them, I wanted the kid dead too, and I hadn't lied when I said I'd do anything for this group. They'd transformed into my family before my eyes, being there for me more than my own blood had. Maggie and Lori were the first real girlfriends I'd had since I was a teenager. Rick was essentially my brother, more than Shane was. Me and Daryl had a connection, one I hadn't felt before. I felt safe with him, as if nothing could touch me, though I had no clue where we stood now, not after the incident earlier. Glenn was one of the first people to introduce themselves to me, along with T. Hershel and his family were like relatives, you know the cousins you never really saw, but had a close relationship with. I would fight tooth and nail for them, and I would without a doubt lay down my life for them.

No one had stood up, despite the long wait. Dale looks around, disgust written across his papery features. "Are y'all gonna watch too? No," he scoffs, "you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try and forget that we're slaughtering a child. I won't be a party to it." He sputters angrily. He walks across the room, reaching Daryl last. "You were right, this group is broken," he tells him quietly, before stalking from the house, banging the door behind him. My eyes widen, surprised Daryl had said that about us.

Little did we know, Daryl had never been more right in his life.

A/N they kissed and Ive never been happier. Urm I go away next week so I can't update, but I will be writing so I can update a whole bunch the week after. Please please please review, I love criticism, It helps to make my writing better :)