Thank you for all the kinds words! I've been working on this so much, I got past a block. I may have run into another one but I'm sure it's nothing a few of your amazing reviews won't fix ;D

Words: 2,539

Charlie's head still hurts. She slept all through the night. She can't remember the last time she went to sleep so early and didn't wake until the next morning. She's not arguing, she only wishes the ache in her head was gone. It's nowhere near as bad as the day before. At least now, it's manageable.

Slowly pulling herself to her feet, the teenager heads into the bathroom. There's still blood in her hair. It's dried and it itches. She carefully washes it all out, careful not to aggravate or open the wound on the back of her head.

She'd been so stupid. But at the time, she hadn't cared. You reap what you sow, and all that. Now she's dealing with the consequences of her actions. And it's not the injuries she cares about. She may have been a little out of it when they got back yesterday, but she saw the others. They know what happened. They've already been acting weird around her, now it's just going to be worse. Someone might even try to talk to her about it. Ugh.

Just thinking that makes Charlie stay in the shower longer than necessary. She's stalling. Hopefully, no one else notices that. Once she finally gets out and gets dressed, the teenager makes her bed before sitting on the edge.

She can hear the others downstairs, moving around, making breakfast. She wonders if it's everyone or just the people staying in this house. She hopes it's the latter. She might still have to face some people, but at least it's a smaller number. She at least hopes Daryl is back down there, she's not sure she can rewrap her wrist as good as him. It's starting to hurt more. She hadn't wanted to take the bandage off but she couldn't get it wet either.

Already feeling overwhelmed, Charlie closes her eyes with a loud sigh.

Her door creaks when it's pushes open. Charlie looks up to see who's there. "Hey," She whispers her greeting, offering the boy a small smile.

"Hey," Carl mumbles back while moving to sit next to her. "How's your head?"

"So he did tell you guys," Charlie sighs again. She can't hold it against him. She was the one being an idiot.

"I asked," Carl shrugs. "But, I don't think he really talked to anyone else. He seemed upset."

"Great," Charlie whispers under her breath. She's just causing trouble, isn't she? Going out like that was stupid. More people could've come out to look for her, could have gotten hurt...so stupid. "My head's fine, bud, thanks."

"And your wrist?"

"Well, now that you mention it," Leaning forward, Charlie grabs the wrap from her nightstand and turns to face him. "You know how to do this?"

"Not really," Carl shakes his head but takes the bandage anyway.

"It's easy, I'll talk you through it," Grabbing the edge, Charlie places it on her arm and starts the wrap. She then hands it over to Carl, telling him which way to turn it and how tight. "That's perfect, thanks." Charlie smiles again and ruffles the boy's hair. "Hey, where's your hat?"

"In my room, I just didn't put it on," Carl shrugs. "I'll grab it on the way down."

"Okay. How's your sister?" Stalling, again.

"Fine. Downstairs. Dad's feeding her. Carol made breakfast."

"Yeah," She figures it was Carol. The smell of the food wafting upstairs makes her stomach growl. "Guess that's our cue." She can't avoid them forever. And who knows, maybe they'll just act like nothing happened.

Charlie walks with Carl, letting the boy grab his hat. She herself lifts her hood over her head before they both head downstairs. The kitchen, much to her dismay, is full. Those who Carl had already mentioned along with Maggie, Glenn, and Daryl occupy the room.

She ignores the way their eyes snap to them when they enter. She hides her wrapped wrist and hand in her jacket sleeve. Carol, thankfully, doesn't say much. Just offers her a good morning while handing her a plate of breakfast.

"Thanks," Charlie mumbles for the third time that morning and moves to sit at the table. Luckily, Daryl is the only other person there. The others chose the barstools lining the counter. Except for Judith, who, of course, is in her highchair.

"You good?" Daryl asks her quietly and Charlie nods.

"Yeah," Stabbing a piece of egg, powdered because they don't have chickens, Charlie lifts her fork to her mouth. After that first bite, Charlie quickly shovels the rest of her food down and puts her dishes away. She's out the door before anyone can say anything.

"You know what I like about you?" She asks Buttons after approaching the horse. "You don't care. And you don't talk," As if trying to prove her wrong or agree - Charlie doesn't know because he can't talk - Buttons nickers softly.

Lifting her arms, Charlie goes to pull her hair back but finds she can't. She rolls her eyes and looks down at the bandage restricting her movements. Grumbling, the teenager tries and fails again.

"The hell you doing?" Huffing, Charlie turns to Daryl with an annoyed expression.

"What does it look like?" She questions rhetorically.

Holding out his hand, Daryl lifts his eyebrows when Charlie furrows hers. She slowly offers him the elastic band and turns around when he motions for her too. Charlie can't help the smile that pulls at her lips when Daryl carefully gathers the tip half of her hair and gently combs it back with his fingers.

She clears her throat and bites her lip. "What?" Daryl mumbles without stopping and Charlie shrugs.

"Nothing," She mumbles. "...Want one for your hair?" Charlie laughs when Daryl scoffs, lightly pushing her away, her hair securely tied out of her face. She stops when she sees Rick in the distance with Morgan, both of them climbing into the car. She blows out a slow breath before pursing her lips.

"That whole thing was a shit show," Charlie mumbles and shakes her head. But she stops the movement quickly. She's not sure if it's the situation or her injury causing her head to hurt. She carefully sits on the ground, trying her best not to make it look like she's stumbling.

"Hey," Daryl crouches next to her and places a hand on her shoulder, turning her head towards him.

"I'm fine, I just, got dizzy,"

"Dizzy after a concussion isn't fine,"

"Seriously? I'm good now, it's passed," Charlie bats his hand away and sighs. "Really. But if it makes you feel better, I'll go see Denise later, yeah?"

Squinting his eyes, Daryl chews his lip and hums. Instead of standing, both Charlie and Daryl sit back on the grass beside each other.

"I am sorry. About yesterday," Charlie speaks into the silence only moments later. She refuses to look at him. "I didn't mean to make anyone worry."

"I always worry," Daryl mumbles before he can stop himself. He bites his lips and props his elbows on his bent knees.

"Aw, you do have a heart," Charlie teases while nudging his shoulder. Scoffing, Daryl returns the motion while shaking his head.

"Now what?" The teenager dares to ask after a few moments of silence.

Daryl hesitates before answer. He knows what she's really asking but he hates to say, he doesn't have an answer. "Go see Denise," He says instead. "Told Glenn I'd help him with something."

An argument on the tip of her tongue, Charlie sighs instead. She already said she'd go see her. Might as well. "Okay," She mumbles while climbing to her feet alongside Daryl. "See you, I guess." Waving over her shoulder, Charlie starts towards the infirmary.

"Hey, She calls out with squinted eyes to the figure on the porch. "You okay?"

"Why?" The lady asks, her voice harsh.

"It just looks like you're about to throw up, is all," The teenager shrugs, eyes narrowing in on the way her shoulders droop.

"Probably because I am," The blonde nods, looking down at the book in her lap. "I came out here for some air."

"Hm," Charlie hum while moving up the stairs and onto the porch. "So you're the new doctor, huh?" Of course, they met the day before but that wasn't exactly a proper introduction. Charlie wasn't at her best. Still isn't, honestly. But she's better.

"Supposed to be," Denise mutters in defeat, glancing at Charlie when the girl takes the seat next to her, peaking at the book in her arms. "I'm testing myself, with these...tests. Trying to, at least."

"Anemic," Charlie mumbles after reading the fake symptoms listed.

"What?" Denies furrows her eyebrows and looks at the teenager who gestures to the words.

"You're patient, she's anemic."

"Of course," Denise hits herself. "That's the only thing that makes sense."

"Right," Muttering to herself, Charlie pushes up from her seat. She plans on leaving, her head feels better. She came and saw Denise! She kept her word, maybe just not in the way she was meant to? But, before she can get far, Denise stops her.

"Wait, how'd you know that?"

"I read a book," Charlie says simply.

"And I've read many. You got that in three seconds, I've been staring at this page for thirty minutes," Denise continues and Charlie breathes deeply, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're stressed, you're taking in too much information in a short period of time. Your brain is overloaded, you just need a break."

"I can't take a break," Denise argues. Charlie raises her eyebrows. "I-I- People are relying on me now."

Looking around in an over-exaggerated manor, Charlie raises her eyebrows. "I don't see anyone hurt or dying at the moment," She points out. "If you're freaking out, you can't help anyone. So take a break."

"It won't matter," Denise mumbles. "I can't stop thinking about it."

"Okay," Sighing, Charlie moves forward and takes the book from Denise. The woman splutters in surprise and jumps to her feet to follow the teenager inside.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She demands while watching Charlie move around the room, collecting all the medical books she can find.

"Helping," Charlie grunts under the weight of the books but she continues stacking them onto her arm until the last one.

"And how is this helping?" Denise asks in confusion. Her minds whirling a little. One second she was sitting on the porch, about to lose her lunch, and now a teenager is stealing all of her books.

Ignoring the question, Charlie drops the books onto the bed and sorts through them while humming to herself. "Ah, The Basics of Medicine, perfect," Tossing the book to Denise, Charlie snorts when she struggles to catch it.

"You do know I went to medical school," Denise says while flipping through the pages.

"Never would've guessed it," Charlie mumbles, ignoring the glare sent her way. "You're the one freaking out. There's no shame in it, medical knowledge is hard. How about we try walking before we run, yeah?"

"I-"

"It won't matter how much information you try to shove into your brain within a few days, you know what you know. You'll learn what you'll learn. But you can only do that in the time it takes you. We'll get by."

"You keep saying we,"

"I mean, I can leave if you want," Charlie points to the door, even takes a few steps but Denise is quick to stop her. "We'll quiz each other, it'll be fun."

"Fun," Denise repeats, her tone full of disbelief. "I think you need to look up the definition of the word."

"You got some paper and pens around here?" Once again, Charlie ignores the doctor's words and moves across the room to find what she'd asked for. "Perfect," She mumbles to herself. Chris had this great learning method, it helped her remember the things she taught her easily enough. Maybe it'll help Denise. "Alright, doc, get comfortable. We're gonna be here for a while." It's not like she has anything better to do.

"So he just walked out of the room?"

"Yeah," Denise nods with pursed lips. Charlie thinks it's because she's trying to hide a smile. "But the next day he acted like nothing happened." She shrugs and lets out a long sigh. The young doctor herself sits on the bed, across from the teenager sitting on the gurney she'd rolled out onto the floor earlier. "What about you?" She starts again after a moment. "You're Daryl's kid, right?"

"Oh, my gosh," Charlie whispers under her breath and lowers her head to pinch the bridge of her nose. Why do people-? If she really thinks about it, from an outsider's point of view..."No. Not...really."

"Not really? What's that mean?"

"I'm not gonna talk about this," Charlie mumbles and pulls one of the many books next to her into her lap. She looks down at the words but doesn't really see them.

"Why not? I just told you about the time I had to tell my high school boyfriend that I liked girls. You can expand on this 'not really' business," Denise argues, lifting her hands to put air quotes around those two words. "So, he's not your dad. Are you related?" Charlie sighs quietly but shakes her head softly, gaze still locked on the book in her lap. "How long have you known him?"

"...Since the start of this," Charlie weakly gestures outside, toward the walls. "We're not related, but..."

"But what?" Denise stresses, leaning forward in her seat.

Groaning, Charlie throws her head back and rolls her eyes. "We're family," She shrugs. Why is it so hard to say those words? "We all are. But Daryl...oddly enough, was the first one of them I trusted."

"Why's that odd?"

"Have you met the man?" Charlie shoots back without hesitation, chuckling a little when Denise laughs. "And..I-I don't know what it's like to...have a...dad," She words sounds weird coming out of her mouth and Charlie grimaces. "So, I don't know. Maybe he's like an older brother?"

"A much older brother," Denise's response pulls a laugh from the teenager who nods. Before either can say anything else, the door burst open and someone Charlie's only seen in passing enters.

"There's an emergency town meeting," The woman, slightly out of breath, tells them both before turning and rushing from the building. Charlie and Denise share a worried look before hurrying to follow.

I've been wanting to do the hair scene for awhile. Originally, he was going to braid it. I thought it'd be funny that Daryl just randomly knows how to braid.

Ooh, a budding friendship between our favorite, badass teenager with major mental health problems and a doctor who has way to much anxiety. (I mean, same though) What do you guys think about that?

Also, Charlie might seem okay in this chapter but...let me just say things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. Ohhhhh, I love putting characters through physical and emotional turmoil. It brings me joy.

Any character interactions you guys want to see?

'-'