Daryl walked around the manmade lake with a walker across his shoulder and the stares of the Alexandrians boring into his back. He didn't care - he was getting used to it.

He threw the walker down onto the infirmary porch. It landed with a thud, blood from its newly acquired head wound splattering across the sides of the building. Daryl wondered for a brief moment if Dr. Anderson would be pissed, until he realized he didn't give a fuck.

He rapped the door with his knuckles as he opened it and was rewarded with Kate's bright smile as she turned to see who was walking in and discovered him home safe.

She dropped the clipboard she was holding and jumped at him, causing him to stumble back a few steps as she wrapped her legs around his waist and crashed her mouth into his.

"Missed you girl." He whispered against her lips.

"I didn't miss you at all." She said breathlessly.

"Mmmhmm. I can tell."

He walked them over to the kitchen island, setting her on it, staying between her legs, but allowing his hands to run up her legs, her sides, her face.

"Where's your boss?"

"Making a house call. He'll be back soon." She said as he kissed down her neck.

He groaned against her skin. "I wish you'd come home. I feel half-starved."

"Well go eat something." She admonished, pulling away from him.

"I ain't talkin' about food." He said, biting down playfully on her neck and letting out a growl. Kate squealed with laughter and grabbed at his face, trying to drag his mouth back to hers.

From the open door of the infirmary Dr. Anderson cleared his throat. Kate and Daryl pulled apart quickly like two discovered teenagers. Sliding off the countertop Kate straightened her clothes and looked nervously at the disapproving face of Pete Anderson.

"I'll let you get back to work." Daryl mumbled, walking towards the door with his eyes on the ground. "Dr. Anderson." He said, nodding as he passed him on the way out.

"I'll see you at the house." Kate called out to his retreating figure.

In the wake of his exit an uncomfortable silence hung heavy between Kate and the doctor. Kate smiled tightly and headed back to the cabinet where she'd been inventorying supplies and picked up her clipboard off the ground.

"Sorry about that." She said, her cheeks felt hot and she was desperate to move on."How was Mr. Felder?"

"He'll live." Pete replied, his voice clipped. "When you're done there you can practice your suturing on the porch. Your boyfriend left a walker for you. Make sure it's gone before the day is done. I don't want it here."

DARYL

"And you're sure it wasn't roamers?" Deanna questioned, her face tight with displeasure, her fingers drumming the coffee table as she looked back and forth between Aaron and Rick.

Aaron, a glass of untouched sweet tea on a coaster in front of him, shook his head.

"Their fences weren't damaged." He replied.

Daryl stood at the open window, staring down at Alexandria and hoping to remain silent. He didn't think it was necessary for him to be here while Aaron explained what they had found in the devastated community, but Rick insisted he go with them. Daryl knew Rick well enough to know that he was trying to get Daryl to put some face time in with Deanna, to help both of them get to know each other. Daryl was just fine letting Kate do their socializing.

"And you've seen these marks - the W's - around here?"

Aaron turned to look at Daryl who didn't offer an explanation, just chewed at a cuticle and watched a woman walk her dog around the lake.

"Yes, Daryl saw it on a walker just outside our gates. We saw their graffiti too - in the neighborhood and in several places between there and here.'Wolves not far.'"

Deanna leaned back against her couch and let out a tired sigh. She looked at her constable, sitting on the opposite end of the couch in his uniform, waiting for her to speak.

"What do you think Rick?"

Rick shook his head.

"I think we should get more people on the wall. I think we should arm everyone."

"Rick," Deanna admonished. "We've been through this before. I don't want our citizens to be carrying guns behind the gates. It breeds fear. It causes problems. We have amazing fences, we've never had a problem before."

"Those people had fences too." Daryl said impatiently, finally moved to speak. "They weren't killed by no walkers neither. Their parts were hacked off. You haven't had a problem yet because you've been lucky."

Deanna eyed him curiously until Rick, shooting Daryl a warning glance, turned her attention back to his measured response.

"Our walls are amazing, but what happens if they get in here?" Rick asked. "We're vulnerable."

Deanna considered his concerns quietly, but finally shook her head.

"I won't do it Rick, I won't arm the residents. I won't turn this place into the Wild West. We can put more people on the wall, I'll even allow them to be armed - but I'm not going to have people sitting in their living rooms, sitting at dinner tables with weapons strapped across their backs."

Rick nodded curtly and the three men were excused.

"It ain't right, Rick." Daryl complained as they stood in the street outside of Deanna's. "Leaves us wide open."

"I don't like it either, but it's not my call to make."

"Ain't it? You're the law."

Rick shook his head. "Don't." He cautioned.

Aaron interjected. "I've never cared that Deanna didn't want us to have weapons, and like she said, we've never had a problem, but what we saw. How those people died."

He trailed off, shaking his head.

"Aaron, why don't you find Rosita. I think she's up in the tower." Rick said. "See if the two of you can't come up with a schedule to keep at least 10 up on the wall at a time. Even if it means we have to build stands along it. We can ask Tobin to get involved, he can pull a few of his guys from construction and put them on it. I'll talk to Maggie and see if she might have better luck convincing Deanna than we do."

Aaron nodded and, looking relieved that there was at least the beginnings of a plan,headed back towards the gate.

"What can I do?" Daryl asked.

"You?" Rick considered his friend for a minute before breaking into a grin. "You need to get your women under control."

"My women?"

"Ya. Kate and Carol."

"Carol ain't my woman." Daryl grumbled irritably. "And you know I got no control over Kate."

"Happens to the best of us." Rick teased.

"Somethin' happen I should know about or are you just having' fun given' me shit?" Daryl asked.

Rick laughed, clearly enjoying making his friend uncomfortable. Daryl looked unamused.

"Michonne told me they had it out on the porch the other night. Guess it got pretty heated, they could hear them inside."

Daryl groaned and rubbed at his face. "Shit. What about?"

"Not sure, I think it had to do with the Andersons."

"Don't suppose they'll just leave me out of this."

Rick laughed. "In my experience, that's not how it works."

Daryl found Kate sitting cross-legged on their bed reading a book with Marilyn Monroe on the cover. At the sight of him she threw the book aside and pulled her shirt over her head.

"Want me to shower first?" He offered, his hands already on her, his thumbs teasing circles around her nipples.

"No." She said, working on his belt. "I can't wait."

Daryl emerged from their room sometime later showered and ready to see how he could help fortify their wall.

Carol sat at the kitchen island eating a bowl of cereal and making a menu for the week. She raised a knowing eyebrow.

"You and Kate reacquainted?"

Daryl grunted a response.

"Daryl, I wanted to talk to you."

"If it's about your fight with Kate I don't want to hear it. It was fucked up what you said to that kid."

He'd tried to avoid the topic with Kate, but duty compelled him to at least hear her out, but he was damned if he was going to get dragged into it with Carol too.

"Maybe not my best moment, but that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. Not really."

Daryl grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the tap. "Go on then."

"It's Pete Anderson. I don't trust him."

"Don't trust him how?"

Carol knew what she was doing. He could say all he wanted that he was going to stay out of it, but if there was something troubling about the man Kate worked with, he needed to know.

"Call it a gut feeling."

"Imma need more to go on than that."

She sighed and drew her mouth into a tight line.

"It was little things at first, things I think I am sensitive to because of my past. But I can hear him and Jessie fight at night from my bedroom window, the things he says to her" Carol said with a troubled shake of her head. "Sometimes she sits on the porch afterwards and cries. It's late, after midnight, I doubt she thinks anyone sees her. Their oldest seems angry, their youngest meek and fearful...like Sophia." Carol looked away at the memory, her lips held so tight for a second they seemed non-existent. "Then the other day, I brought cookies over, as an apology for what I said to Sam. Pete answered the door. It was mid-morning, but I could smell alcohol on his breath and he wasn't playing Dr. Nice Guy. That phoney baloney smile was gone. He looked like crap and he was angry. I asked him if I could talk to Sam or Jessie, he said it wasn't a good time and slammed the door in my face."

"They probably don't want to talk to the person threatenin' their kid. The guy is full of shit, but I don't think that means he's beatin' his wife and kids. My ol' man, Ed...they don't remind me nothin' of that douchebag."

Carol shook her head. "Doesn't mean he isn't."

"You tell Kate all this?"

"She said to mind my own business."

"Ain't bad advice."

"You know we can't do that. We've got to know the people we are living with."

"So what'd'you want me to do about it?"

"Just keep an eye on him. If Kate says anything that raises a flag. If you notice anything strange."

"Well she's upstairs readin' some goddamn art book he gave her - that strange enough for you?"

Carol gave him an exasperated look.

"Fine." He grumbled. "I'll see what I can find out."

KATE

The grass around Alexandria's lake was soft and green - perfect for Judith to test out her little bare feet. She teetered along, her chubby hands holding on to Daryl's for dear life.

Kate watched them from the shade of a Sugar Maple, sitting cross-legged on a red and brown plaid blanket she'd found in the linen closet of their house.

"Hey Kate." Jessie said as Sam ran by in a race to the water, a white and blue toy boat clutched to his chest.

"Hi. Do you want to sit down?" She asked, gesturing at the empty spot next to her.

Jessie settled next to her on the blanket and the two women watched as Sam got to the water's edge and clumsily launched the boat into the lake.

"Aaron brought it back for him. He's so excited."

"That was sweet of Aaron." Kate said, watching Sam bounce up and down on his feet as the boat slowly moved away from the shore. "How's Sam doing? You know, with the whole Carol thing?"

Jessie gave an exasperated sigh. "Kate, I wanted to apologize for dragging you into that the other night."

"Oh, don't, it's fine."

"I didn't want Pete to bring it up. I could tell it bothered you."

"Of course it bothered me, but not because you guys told me. I've never known Carol to do anything like that. Back when we lived at the prison she ran storytime in the library for all the kids who lived there. She always seemed so genuinely concerned about the children. I was shocked."

"Sam was pretty upset that Pete told you, but he's doing better now. Carol dropped off a plate of cookies for him. Food goes a long way with Sam, so if I had to guess she's already been forgiven."

"What about you guys?"

Jessie took a deep breath and looked at Kate apologetically.

Kate nodded. "I don't know if I've forgiven her either."

"I'll get over it I'm sure. Eventually. It's just, he has to deal with so much already. He's just a baby. I guess it just brings out the mama bear in me."

"He's a sweet kid. I feel terrible that he had to feel afraid."

Jessie smiled, it was a sad smile and she looked tenderly down at Sam where he crouched down on the edge of the water. Daryl had joined him, holding Judith as she pointed gleefully at the boat as the breeze pushed it towards the middle of the lake.

"I hear they're sending Daryl out again tomorrow."

"Ya." Kate said with a sigh. "Just for the day. He's doing the run with Glenn, Aiden and Nicholas."

As much as Kate didn't want him gone again so soon, she completely agreed with Rick that sending Glenn out alone with Aiden and Nicholas was a bad idea. Glenn needed someone he could trust and rely on and Daryl was glad to do it.

"It must be hard to have him out there so often. Do you hate it?"

"I always worry about him. It isn't so bad if it isn't overnight, those are the toughest. But I learned a long time ago that you can't keep Daryl inside for too long, he needs to feel like he has a purpose. So even though I miss him, a lot, I am so grateful to Aaron for giving him a job. For making him feel needed here."

"Has it been rough for him?"

"Yes, I mean, the man doesn't make it easy on himself." Kate said with a laugh. "He stalks around grunting and scowling, covered in dirt and blood more often than not. That's the Daryl everyone meets at first. Doesn't make the best first impression."

"Oh I don't know." Jessie said, smiling down at Daryl who was now letting Judith splash her feet in the water while Sam talked a million miles an hour at him. "A man that can be so gentle and kind with a child like that is ok in my book."

Kate smiled proudly.

"He's incredible really. I wish more people saw him like that. I get it though,I hate to admit it, but when I first met him I was afraid of him too. Of course, his brother was still alive then and he was the scarier of the two. I remember at the beginning I just wanted them to go, to move on."

Kate wasn't sure why she was telling Jessie that. She'd only ever admitted that to T-Dog and Glenn the night before the fateful run to Atlanta where Merle ended up handcuffed to a roof.

"People change." Jessie said knowingly. "Sometimes for the better."

"I think Daryl was always sweet and good. He just never got a fair chance. He didn't have an easy life."

"So how'd you come around?"

"It was never about him, you know. He always worked so hard for the group. It would've been so much easier for him to just disappear into the woods with only himself to worry about, and God knows the way he was treated at first he had every reason to leave the group, but he stuck with us, hunted for us...killed for us." She met Jessie's eyes tentatively when she said that part. She didn't know if Jessie realized the things their group had been through. "It didn't take long for that fear I had felt to just melt away."

"And then you fell in love." Jessie said sweetly.

Kate nodded. "That part was easy."

"Well, I hope you'll both be happy here. I'm so glad Aaron brought you to us. I hope we can become friends Kate."

"We already are friends." Kate said,smiling. She liked Jessie immensely.

"Mom! Mom!" Sam yelled, an urgency in his voice that caused Kate to look frantically around for a walker. Instead it was just Sam, running up the grass to his mother. Daryl right behind him with Judith in his arms.

"My boat!" He wailed. "It's sinking."

"Well swim out and get it." Jessie said simply.

Sam looked horrified. "I can't! The water is dark."

"Sam, we've talked about this. It's the same as a pool. You know how to swim!"

"I can't see the bottom and there are fish!" He squealed, looking back at the lake where only the tip of the boat remained visible. "Do something!!"

Jessie looked exhausted.

"I've got it." Daryl said, handing the baby off to Kate and shrugging out of his vest.

"Daryl, no, you don't have to." Jessie said. "He'll be ok."

"No I won't!" Sam insisted. Tears had started to make their way down his chubby cheeks.

Daryl didn't respond, he just kicked off his boots and peeled off his socks before heading back to the water, a relieved Sam on his heels.

Daryl waded in, diving under as he reached the spot they'd last seen the boat. He came up for air twice, his long hair plastered to his face, before diving down again and returning to the surface triumphantly with Sam's boat in his hand.

"You saved it! Mom! Daryl saved my boat!!!"

Jessie and Kate applauded.

DARYL

Daryl was flooring it, but the van felt like it was moving in slow motion.He glanced into the rear view mirror just long enough to see Glenn's blood splattered face move in and out of view as he continued chest compressions on Aiden's still and bleeding body.

"Not much longer." Daryl shouted, taking a dip in the road at full speed, causing them to bounce around the van painfully.

"Is he dead? Is he dead?" Nicholas wailed from the far end of the van. The man hadn't shut up since Aiden had been impaled and Daryl wished he would shut the fuck up. He was only making it worse.

He swung sharply around a corner and the iron walls of Alexandria came into view. He slammed his fist down on the horn, hoping whoever was at the gate would have the brains to open it quickly and that Rosita had someone in the tower to pick off the dead that would come running like he was ringing a dinner bell.

"Open the gates!" He shouted out the rolled down window as they approached the entrance and mercifully he watched the gate start to slide open.

He drove in quickly, not bothering to stop and explain to the two nameless Alexandrians who watched open mouthed as Daryl sped by. He roared down the normally serene road that passed the lake and the tires screeched loudly as he made a right turn, coming to a grinding halt in front of the infirmary.

He slammed on the horn a few more times before jumping out of the driver's side and started shouting for the doctor.

The door of the infirmary flew open and Dr. Anderson and Kate hustled down the steps quickly to the van.

"It's Aiden." Daryl shouted, wrenching open the door to reveal Glenn still performing CPR.

"Shit!" Pete exclaimed when he saw the stakes of wood sticking out of his chest. "Get him inside."

Daryl did as he was told and he and Glenn hoisted Aiden out of the van, vaguely aware that the anguished cry he heard behind him was Deanna.

They settled him as gently as possible on the hard marble surface of the kitchen island and Pete went to work, shouting orders at Kate that she seemed to understand.

"Aiden? My boy!" Deanna cried from the doorway, dropping to her knees as she saw the extent of his injuries. Reg stood helplessly at her side gawping at his son as Pete Anderson tried to save his life.

"What can I do?" Daryl asked, feeling useless and in the way as Dr. Anderson and Kate rushed around him, he wanted more than anything to escape the room.

"Get her out of here." Pete demanded, throwing an almost angry glance in Deanna's direction. Daryl moved to help Deanna off the ground, but she turned to him and viciously hissed, "I will not leave my son."

He nodded in understanding and slipped out the front door to join Glenn and the growing crowd.

When he heard Deanna wailing he knew Aiden was dead.

KATE

There was so much blood. It had soaked Aiden's shirt so entirely you couldn't even tell what color it had been. Pete had cut it off of him and it laid open on either side of the body like flayed skin. A spike of wood, the only one Pete had managed to remove before Aiden bled out, was forgotten on the floor. The other two still stuck out of his chest. His face was ghastly white and streaked with blood, made more gruesome only by Pete's blade that jutted grotesquely from the side of his head. It was then that Deanna and Reg knew their son was dead. It was then that Kate heard Deanna's gut wrenching scream.

"They shouldn't be here." Pete said, this time in a defeated whisper. Kate, her own arms covered in Aiden's blood, crossed the infirmary floor, slippery with blood and littered with used gauze, and knelt in front of Deanna.

"I'm so sorry Deanna."

Deanna sat defeated, her eyes unseeing and pinned to an unknown point in the distance.

"My son." She repeated in a quiet voice. With the determination she normally held in her face gone, she just looked worn.

A voice shouted from outside, desperate and full of fear.

"Mom?! Aiden!?"

The voice brought Deanna's eyes back into focus.

"Spencer. We can't let him see his brother like this."

She scrambled off the floor with Kate's help and Reg reached out and grabbed onto his wife. They clung to each other and moved as one body towards the porch.Kate and Pete Anderson followed.

A crowd of Alexandrians, drawn by the screams, stood gawking as the Monroes emerged from the infirmary - unable or unwilling to look away from the fresh pain of their own.

Spencer was just taking the steps up onto the porch, his face begging someone to tell him that his fears about his brother were unfounded, but with one look at his parent's faces he knew. He went to them his face crumpling into a pained frown. They pulled him into an embrace, an awkward huddle that would forever be missing a piece, the sounds emerging haunted and too familiar.

"What happened?" He wailed. "What happened?"

Kate sought Daryl's face in the crowd. She found him standing by the van, Glenn at his side. Both men bloodied and grim. She wanted to go to him, to throw her arms around him and comfort him, to reassure herself that while Aiden lay dead inside, Daryl returned from the same run safe and whole, but the path between the two of them was blocked by the Monroe's and so she stood useless. Just another spectator to the pain.

Spencer extricated himself from the grasp of his mourning parents and searched the growing crowd until he found who he was looking for. Nicholas sat against the infirmary building, staring blankly into space, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He looked like a small and frightened child.

"Nicholas!" Spencer cried out. There was an aggressiveness in his voice, a demand.

Nicholas's head shot up, his eyes guilty and wide.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice breaking as he pleaded for an answer.

Nicholas shook his head helplessly.

"What happened to my brother?" He wailed. "You were supposed to have his back."

It was, as far as Kate knew, an unfair statement, but she learned long ago that people said unfair things when death was involved.

Nicholas scrambled to his feet.

"I...I...I tried to help him Spencer. It wasn't my fault."

He looked wildly around the crowd. They stared back.

"It wasn't me. I tried." He cried, pointing towards Glenn and Daryl. "Ask them what happened to Aiden."

It was clearly an accusation and a hum of disapproval emanated from the crowd as, finding it easier to find fault in newcomers, they turned accusing eyes on Glenn and Daryl.

"Are you serious, man?" Glenn replied. "You're really going to blame us?"

"They were careless," Nicholas shouted, gaining confidence from the crowd's willingness to hear him out. "We didn't think it was safe. They made us!"

"The fuck we did." Daryl spat and Kate could see he was on the verge of losing it.

"Is that true?" Deanna asked, her grief-stricken face looking for something or someone to blame.

"They wanted to leave him to the roamers." Nicholas cried. "I went back for him, Deanna, I swear, I went back."

Daryl was on him in a second, his hands gripping his blood stained shirt, slamming him against the wall.

"WE fuckin' went back for him you coward. We almost died tryin' to cut him off of there." He snarled, his face inches from Nicholas's. "Where were you? Huh? WHERE WERE YOU, YOU LYIN' PIECE OF SHIT!?"

He slammed him harder against the wall and Kate could tell he was fighting for control, trying to keep himself from going too far, cementing his bad reputation with the Alexandrians.

Kate started towards him, but Dr. Anderson grabbed her arm, holding her back. She shook out of his grasp, desperate to keep Daryl from doing something they'd all regret.

"Alright. Ok. That's enough."

Rick's voice cut through the gasps of the crowd. He climbed the steps of the porch with authority and Kate felt a wave of relief. She hung back, electing to let Rick control the situation.

"Daryl." Rick entreated. "That's enough."

Daryl's eyes were black and fixed on Nicholas, but with a final shove he released him. Nicholas stumbled forward, holding the back of his head and glaring after Daryl.

"Better keep your fucking hands off me you redneck trash."

He sounded braver now that Rick was there, but he underestimated Daryl's self-control and was caught off guard when Daryl turned back onto him, slamming his fist into his face.

Kate ran a washcloth under the faucet and wrung it out.

"Your boyfriend has quite the temper." Pete said as he stitched up the gash under Nicholas's eye.

"He's my husband." She said quietly as she went to Aiden's body, using the washcloth to try and clean the blood from his skin.

"Well, whatever you call him, he's developing quite a reputation for himself around here."

Kate didn't respond. She just wiped at Aiden's face, trying to make him presentable in case his mother wanted to see him one last time. She reached out a shaky hand to pull Pete's blade from the side of his head, a fresh onslaught of blood spilling from his temple.

After Nicholas had dropped to the ground Kate had run to Daryl's side, pulling him back away from the porch, trying to calm him down. Pete was at Nicholas's side, helping him up and around the Monroe's who were being led off the porch and back to their home. The crowd lingered, transfixed by the drama, telling themselves they were concerned and not entertained.

She wanted to go home with Daryl. She wanted to talk him down, make him ice his hand, tell him it would be ok, but Pete had called to her from the porch, insisting he needed her help in the clinic and Daryl had urged her to go.

So she returned to the infirmary and watched Pete stitch up the victim of her husband's temper and tried to ignore the seething looks he sent her way as she cleaned Aiden's body.

Pete finally clipped the last stitch. He opened a bandage and covered the wound.

"Keep it clean and dry. I'll take them out in about 10 days. Put some ice on your eye and maybe your head too, he slammed you pretty hard. Let me know if you start feeling dizzy or ill."

"Thanks doc." He said somberly, standing. He made his way to the door, but stopped just short of it, his face contorted hatefully.

"Tell your boyfriend to watch his back." He said, raising his voice and pointing a finger in Kate's direction. "You people don't belong here."

"Hey, stop it." Pete said, ushering Nicholas out the door. "She doesn't deserve that, I won't have you treating her like that."

Nicholas shot her one last glare and left.

She turned back to Aiden, wiping the blood from his arms. She was horrified when a suffocating sob escaped her chest.

"Don't cry Chicago." Pete said gently, moving quickly to her side to hug her. "He shouldn't have said that to you."

"I don't understand why he would say it at all. He doesn't even know us."

He sighed and looked at her pitifully.

"Kate, believe it or not, we don't see this sort of thing around here. Your group arrives and suddenly children are being threatened, fights break out in the street, guns are stolen and people get killed. Are you trying to tell me that's a coincidence?"

She looked at him, hurt. "We're good people Pete."

"You are a good person. Beth and her sister seem like good people. I don't know, maybe there are some others I don't know that could make it work here, but I've seen enough to know that not everyone belongs here. Nicholas is right about that much."

"Nicholas is a liar." Kate said, panic welling up in her chest. If Pete was questioning their place here, how did the rest of the community feel. "They'd never do anything to Aiden or anyone else."

"Look, I don't mean to upset you. I know you care about these people, but I don't want to see you cast out, trying to survive outside of these walls. I don't know what Deanna will do once she's had time to process everything, but I don't want you to get caught up in it. You don't belong on the road." He reached out and wiped a smear of blood and tears off her cheek with his thumb. "I care about you Kate."

She took a step back

"If they go, so do I."

Daryl

It was long after midnight when Daryl moved quietly from their bed. Kate was sleeping, unaware of his inability to quiet his mind enough to sleep. He picked his pants up off the ground and got dressed, ignoring the buttons on his shirt and slipping his last pack of cigarettes into the front pocket.

The house was silent and he moved without detection down the stairs and out the front door, taking a deep breath of muggy Southern air. He pulled a cigarette from its pack and stuck it between his lips, lighting it up and taking a drag. He relaxed a little and started up the street hoping to clear his mind.

The cicadas screamed and Daryl slapped at a mosquito as he made his way up the street. Two doors down Pete Anderson sat as still as a statue on his porch, the burning cherry of his cigarette the only thing betraying his presence. Daryl noticed it too late and hoped if he walked by quickly he could avoid an interaction.

"Well look who it is." Pete sneered as Daryl approached.

"Doctor." Daryl said with a nod, not slowing his stride.

"You know, bringing the boss's son home dead - not very smart Daryl."

The slur in Pete's words told Daryl everything he needed to know and he kept walking, shooting him a baleful glance as he went.

Pete stood, refusing to be denied the fight he was intending to pick. He called after him.

"You don't belong here Daryl! I think you know that. Everyone else does too, they're just too chickenshit to say it to your face. I just hope when they kick you out you have the decency to let Kate stay."

Pete's words had their intended effect and Daryl wheeled around and stalked back towards the doctor who stood in the middle of the street waiting.

"That ain't the way it works."

"You mean, 'isn't'"

Daryl stared at him blankly.

"You said 'ain't' - ain'ts not a word."

"Sounds like a fuckin' word to me."

Daryl could feel the rage coursing through him and he wanted nothing more than to send his fist smashing into Pete's straight, white teeth. Teeth his parents undoubtedly paid more money for than Daryl's parents spent on him his whole, wretched life.

Pete chuckled joylessly. There was no trace of the smile, no trace of the Dr. Anderson the Alexandrians knew. "What an embarrassment you are to her. You know she doesn't need you anymore, right? She's safe here now, we'll take it from here. She doesn't have to keep sucking your dick to stay alive."

Daryl pounced on him. They hit the street hard, and the air in Pete's lungs escaped in a noisy groan. He grabbed for Daryl's face, but Daryl was too quick and reared up, pulling his arm back poised to punch.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Pete wheezed. "Wouldn't look too good if you knocked the town's friendly doctor out."

Daryl stopped, his fist frozen in mid-air. His breath came out in choppy, angry shudders. He was shaking.

Pete smiled and Daryl's fist flew.