Aidan P.o.V

"Hey, something's been bothering me. Will you go out and patrol with me?" Daryl asked as he walked into my room, his crossbow slung over his shoulders.

I looked up from the book I was reading as I raised an eyebrow at him. "Is the mighty and glorious guard dog asking me for help?" I joked out at him as I stood up out of bed.

"Shut up and grab your shit," he grumbled out quietly as he walked out of the room and headed downstairs.

I took a step forward, testing my ankle. It was a lot easier to walk on, but I still had pain if I stepped on it the wrong way.

Hershel insisted on bed rest, so I've been pretty damn bored these past few weeks.

Granted, boredom in days is not necessarily a bad thing.

I grabbed my weapons and put them all in their respective places before grabbing my bag with emergency supplies and slipping it on my back.

As I left the room, I ran into Maggie, who looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I lifted my finger up to my lips and pointed at a waiting Daryl who was standing by the front door.

She grinned as she nodded her head, and I made my way next to Daryl.

Thankfully Maggie understood that I was going stir crazy. After my last adventure, Hershel has been very up in arms about me, not leaving my bed to go do anything until my ankle was healed.

"So what's up?" I asked him as we made our way out of the house, passing Rick and the gang.

"Hold up," He responded gruffly as we walked over to Rick.

"Hey, we're gonna go out and patrol the area. I figured I'd bring our Princess with me, it seemed like she could use the exercise." He said with a smirk as he looked at me.

Rick looked between the both of us, a worried expression on his face.

"Aidan, should I send back up with you guys? Ya know for protection for Daryl." Rick said with a wink.

I looked over at Daryl to see his face red. "Shut the hell up! Come on, Princess, before I leave your ass." He growled out as he stomped away.

I waved at Rick before running after Daryl.

As we made it past the tree line, he turned to look at me, the carefree look on his face from moments before exchanged with an anxious look.

"Look about what we talked about the other night-" He started to say quietly as he watched me, his body tense.

"Daryl, don't finish your sentence. If you're here to tell me that you're going to protect me or some dumb hero shit, don't. We both know you're not the white knight kind of guy, and besides, we both know I don't need protection." I said as I smiled sadly at him.

The last thing I needed was for this dumbass to try to protect me and get hurt in the process. I didn't deserve his pity.

"No, that's not what I was talking about. Just shut up and listen to me," He said as he leaned against the nearest tree before running his hands through his hair.

Right, of course, like he would ever offer to protect me anyway.

What a dick.

Anyway.

"Look, you said those guys were hunter's right? What would happen if they never returned?" He asked me.

"Well, I suppose he would send-" I stopped mid-sentence, my body tense, as I realized where this was leading.

Of course, why didn't I think about this sooner?

"That's what I figured, come on. We need to go back to that shack. Hopefully, they haven't found the bodies yet." He said as he pushed himself off of the tree and began to walk away.

I followed behind him, quietly, not really paying attention to anything. My mind going a million miles an hour.

The shack was close enough to the farm that if they found the bodies, that means there was a high chance that they knew about everyone at the farm. Even if they didn't know about me, they would never let another settlement live in peace. He would never allow that.

Luckily since we both knew where we were going, the journey didn't take very long at all.

We stood on the outskirts of the tree line, watching the shack, looking for any indications that someone might be there or was there.

"Looks clear enough to me, but stay here. If someone is here, I don't want them seeing you." He said as he stepped forwards. I drew my bow and readied an arrow, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

I watched as he made his way over to the shack, his body crouched low to the ground, but ready. He almost reminded me of a snake, tense, coiled, and ready to strike.

After walking around the shack, he waved me over. I nodded as I walked towards him, my eyes scanning the treelines for anything he may have missed.

"Someone was definitely here," He said as he sheathed his dagger and reached for the door.

Just as he turned the door handle, I heard a distinctive click, and I jumped forward, knocking Daryl to the ground as a shotgun round blasted through the door.

I landed on top of him as we just stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before I realized the position I was in and scrambled up off of him.

"I uhh sorry," I mumbled out sheepishly as I looked down at the ground, my face cherry red.

I don't even know why I was blushing. It was just stupid Daryl, after all.

"Listen here and listen, well, Princess, because I don't say this often but, you have nothing to apologize for, you saved me yet again, but if you ever pull that stunt again and try to save me, I am going to kick your ass. Ya, hear me? I don't need no protection." He said as he stood up and moved around me, peering inside of the rather large hole that the shotgun made.

Did he just… thank me? Such high honors coming from the lord of assholes himself. I guess he wasn't completely a dick after all.

He opened the door slowly and stepped inside, finding a single piece of paper on the floor.

He picked it up and read the note before rushing out of the house, grabbing my hand and practically dragging me along with him.

"Daryl, stop! Tell me what's going on!" I screamed out at him as I tried to dig my feet into the ground. He was acting panicked, and Daryl was the last person I would expect to panic.

Whatever was on that note must have been bad.

"They know about the farm Aidan. We have got to get back and warn them before it's too late!" He said as a helicopter flew overhead.

We both looked at each other, our eyes locking for a second before we started sprinting towards the farm.

I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or it was him in that helicopter, but considering how much noise that thing made, we were about to have a swarm on our hands.