Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

[312]

0o0o0 THEN 0o0o0

It wasn't long before Daryl and Isabell realized what they were dealing with was much more than just a fire in the city. They drove to the next town over, where her brother lived with his wife and two girls in their blue truck. As they went through the city, they watched as the chaos of the dark night had taken over.

People were eating other people. It wasn't like anything Isabell had ever seen outside of a movie she'd half-paid attention to when she and Daryl were kids.

Isabell bounced her leg up and down, sitting forward in the seat, no longer caring about traffic laws. "They're gonna be okay, right?" She asked of Daryl, twirling the ring on her finger to keep her mind occupied.

"She's gonna be fine, Iz. What would they have been doin' in the city? They're probably safe at yer brother's, sleepin' under a blanket fort."

Isabell nodded. "They did say they were keepin' it lowkey this weekend. With all the excitement, it would have just been easier to keep everyone home."

"Right," He said, his southern drawl carrying out the short word.

Isabell nodded again, mainly to herself to believe the same thing. When they pulled onto her brother's street, it was quiet. Dark. From what they'd learned, this was a good sign. The light attracted them. Sound attracted them. Mindless freaks, working more like mosquitos than humans.

Daryl stopped the truck at that garage door. He looked around. "It's clear."

Isabell pushed open her door, jumping from the truck before feeling under the seat for the handguns she knew were kept there.

"What are you doin'?"

"It's just in case," She said, checking the ammo supply within the gun. "I'm not dying to one of those bastards," Isabell said, handing Daryl the second gun over the seat.

Daryl sighed but relented, taking the weapon from her and hopping out of the truck. He met her at the front of the car. "How're you on ammo?"

"Low. What the hell does Merle use these for?" Isabell reached back into the truck to the glove compartment, where Merle kept a flashlight.

"You really wanna know?" Daryl asked, raising a brow towards Isabell. When she didn't answer, he continued. "When we get her, we'll need to make our way back home. Get the rest of our shit and hightail it."

Isabell nodded, going for the front door of her brother's house. She clicked the flashlight on, shining it on the front door. It was cracked open. "Shit," Isabell cursed, able to hear her heartbeat.

Daryl stepped around her, taking the flashlight. "I'm goin' fist. Yer in no shape."

Isabell agreed silently, knowing that he was right.

Daryl toed the door open, slinking in through the smallest gap he could make to get inside.

Isabell planned on waiting a moment before going inside, but a single gunshot went off inside. She pushed forward, opening the door.

"Izzy, wait!"

Isabell flicked the light on in the living room. On the floor in front of Daryl was Norah, her brother's wife. Only, it wasn't really her. She was one of those things, but she was dead. "Jesus Christ," Isabell said under her breath. She covered her mouth with her hand. It was the closest they'd been to one yet.

"Damn," Daryl looked around the room. The garage door was cracked open. "I'll check there."

"I'll check the bedrooms." With the noise the gunshot had made, Isabell quickly thought to close and lock the front door. Behind her, there was a sudden shuffling and what sounded like knocking on a door. Isabell moved quickly, making her way down the hallway, stopping at the door that the pounding came from. The girls' room.

Isabell took a deep breath, turning the handle with one hand while the gun was poised in her right. She pushed the door open, revealing the oldest of Garrett's kids, Winnie, growling at the door. Isabell thought quickly, pulling the trigger on the gun before the child could get closer to her. The dead freak fell backward onto the ground, destroying what was left of the blanket fort on the floor.

Amongst the blankets, was the remnants of another little girl. Though, which one it was, Isabell couldn't tell. There wasn't much left of her. Isabell's heart stopped.

Daryl came in to find the dead girl, and Isabell knelt by the blanket pile on the floor.

Isabell pulled the blanket away from the girl, trying to get a better look, but still, they couldn't tell. Harley had been small for her age, and even at twelve, she was only a couple of inches taller than her younger cousin, Annie, who was eight. Both children had brown hair, so that that feature wouldn't decide it either.

"It's not her."

"You don't know that," Isabell said, her voice failing her.

"I do."

"You don't!" Isabell insisted.

"Think about it, Iz," Daryl said softly, trying to get her to focus. "Their car is gone. Garrett is gone. If anyone would have been able to get out, it's her. She's quick. Harley's strong. She woulda got out before shit hit."

"The car's gone?" She asked, looking behind her as Daryl towered over her.

Daryl nodded.

"Then they'd be going back to our house. Middle of nowhere. Safe. Home."

Daryl agreed. "We gotta get back."

0o0o0 NOW 0o0o0

Isabell was out in the courtyard, being the only one up in the morning to send off Rick, Michonne, and Carl on their big trip back to King County. While Rick and Michonne funneled in and out of the cellblock with supplies, Isabell waited at the car with Carl. The boy sat in the back passenger seat with the door open while Isabell leaned her shoulder against the green vehicle beside him.

"You try and stay out of trouble, okay?" She said to him.

Carl glanced up through the windshield at Michonne as she headed towards them. He rolled his eyes, looking at Isabell. "Does she have to go with us?"

"That was your father's call. He wants her to go." Isabell studied the boy, watching his glare as Michonne walked around the car to the trunk. "Just give her a chance. I promise she's not that bad. Remember, she brought us food for Lil AK."

Carl's head turned instantly at the reminder of his sister. "You're gonna feed Judith, right?"

Isabell nodded. "Judy will be fed. Don't worry about her, okay? Auntie Izzy's on the job."

Carl smiled. "Alright. I'll see you later?"

Isabell grinned, pushing off of the car. "Be safe." She closed the door for the boy and went around to the trunk where Michonne was closing the hatch. "Watch out for him. He's a good kid, but things have been weird for a while. Makes him reckless."

Michonne agreed, taking a step closer to Isabell. "Is this a test?"

"Yes," Isabell answered quickly with a nod.

"Thought so."

"He needs to do this. He wants to be sure about you, is all. Some one-on-one time should do it."

"Two-on-one." Michonne corrected.

"I told him to go easy on you. Just do the same." Isabell watched Michonne nod. She knew the other woman wasn't looking forward to the next few hours. "If it were up to me, you'd have a golden ticket. But Rick's the leader here."

Michonne shrugged. "Your opinion helps."

"So you want to be here? You want to stay?"

"Got nowhere else to go."

Isabell smiled.

The cellblock door slid closed, and Rick made his way over to the car.

Isabell looked back at Michonne. "Have fun. Don't do anything stupid." The blonde walked away from Michonne, stopping to talk to Rick on her way back. "If you're not back in two days, we're sending a search party."

"We'll be back before dark," Rick assured. "You guys got it here?"

"Of course. Though, I was thinkin' 'bout throwin' a party and inviting the neighbors."

Rick rolled his eyes, chuckling. "Watch the alcohol consumption, huh? I've seen Glenn past the point of no return. It's not pretty."

"Will do, boss." She made her way back into the prison, finding Carol upstairs in the cell with Judith. Isabell smiled at the sight of the small child. "Can I have her?" She asked, already holding her arms out.

Carol looked up from the spot she sat at the bed, surprised by her arrival. "Where've you been?"

"Sending off the others." Isabell shared, stepping forward and taking the baby into her arms as Carol offered her. "Hey there, Lil' AK. How are you?"

Judith was half-asleep, hardly noticing that she was passed between the two women.

"I fed her," Carol informed the blond. "She'll be out for a while."

"Thanks," Isabell said, slowly moving around, rocking the baby. Isabell grinned down at the child one last time before looking up at Carol. "How are you?" She questioned. "I know you and Axel were getting close."

Carol bounced her head back and forth. "I'm okay. I'm better, knowing that Andrea is alive."

Isabell scoffed without hesitating. She closed her eyes tightly when she realized what she'd done. "I'm sorry," Isabell said solemnly. "I know you care about her. And I know how you felt about what happened on the far."

"She saved me. I thought she had died because of it."

"She shot Daryl." Isabell reminded Carol. "After being told to stand down. There's just shit that I can't forget, Carol."

"I know." Carol stood and smiled after a moment, placing a hand on Isabell's bicep for comfort. "I don't blame you." She took her hand away but pursed her lips. "So, word around the block is that you and Daryl are married?"

Isabell blushed. Why was she blushing? It wasn't embarrassing. Still, she couldn't help herself. "Uh, yeah. We are."

"Why all the secrecy?"

"It wasn't really a secret. We didn't get any time to revel in it ourselves. We got married, and then everything blew up. That day. We settled at home after leaving Harley with my brother and hours later were back on the road to try and find her." Isabell shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. She cleared her throat to stop her emotions from getting the best of her.

Carol showed Isabell a look of sympathy.

"Oh, don't do that," Isabell begged. "We'd been living together for nearly fifteen years at that point. I've known him all my life. I didn't need a honeymoon or anything. And realistically, now is the closest Daryl and I have ever been."

"Yeah, you guys definitely seem in your element out here."

"We grew up camping. We were always more comfortable outside. Doing it every day is the adventure we never got to have." Isabell shrugged. "I still had to work to keep the extra money coming in. Although I could do without the flesh-eating monsters at our doorstep."

Carol chuckled at the joke to not wake Judith. "If anything, knowing about you two would have been a deeper insight into Daryl."

"You know him, though. He's never let anyone in like he has you." Subtly reminding Carol of how tight their relationship became after Sophia died. "Well, outside of Harley and me, anyway."

Carol paused. "Do you think that's why you're closer now? Because you both lost Harley?"

Isabell hadn't thought of that. "I couldn't say either way." She said quickly. "If I think we're better without Harley, then I feel like I'm blaming her for why things might have been so difficult before. And if I think we're better with her, that makes things so terrible now."

0o0o0

Around mid-day, Isabell heard a loud whistle echoing through the cell block walls. Daryl's whistle. She checked to make sure that Judith was sound asleep in her bed and left the cell, grabbing her bow and rifle on her way outside. Isabell shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, finding Daryl on the breezeway. "What's up?" She asked.

Daryl gestured his head to the gate at the bottom of the small hill.

Isabell followed his line of sight, spotting a car that had pulled up. She used the sight of her rifle to see who it was. She groaned. "What the fuck is she doing back here?" Isabell asked out loud but to nobody in particular. She shifted the rifle back to hang off of her body. Isabell reached her hand up, asking for the keys that she knew Daryl had. She caught them with ease after he'd thrown them down. "You got me?"

Daryl nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Isabell smiled. She went to the door off to the side of the courtyard and walked the still sealed gated walkway around the side of the field. Once at the bottom, she whistled to the idling car.

Andrea's head whipped in the seat. She got out of the car with her back thrown over her shoulder.

"Sorry, visiting hours are closed today."

Andrea rolled her eyes, stopping a few steps away from the gate in front of Isabell. "The governor wants to talk."

"Does he? That's funny. Completely different turn around from the other day," Isabell said, turning around to see the walkers still roaming their once-cleared fields.

Andrea slides a paper through one of the holes in the chainlink. "Here."

Isabell pulled it through, studying it and finding it was a map. A spot was circled on it in red marker. It wasn't far from the prison or the area she knew to be Woodbury. Almost the halfway point.

"I picked the place. There are no traps. We just want to talk and work something out."

Isabell shrugged, stuffing the map in her back pocket. "I'll talk to Rick about it."

"Will he be there?" Andrea asked.

"I don't know. I don't make those kinds of decisions."

"Can you convince him to come? Tell him it's important."

"My feminine wiles don't really work on him. And to be completely fucking honest here, I doubt anything will come of this."

Andrea scoffed. "You can hate me and still want peace between us; you realize that?"

"Too many of our people have been killed at the hands of his people."

"We had people die, too."

Isabell raised a brow at her choice of words. We. "Who still has the numbers here?"

Andrea wouldn't answer the question, but she knew what it was.

"Thought so." Isabell rolled her eyes. "I'll tell Rick about the offer, but I won't be trying to convince him. He'll have to decide what the right play for us is on his own."

0o0o0

Isabell had gone up to the breezeway to spend some time with Daryl and explain what Andrea was there for. He wasn't so floored by the idea of a meeting, either. The idea of making a peace treaty with someone who pit him and Merle together in a fight to the death didn't seem like much of an agreement.

It was near dinnertime, and before they'd known it, Maggie came to relieve Daryl on watch. At the same time, Rick, Michonne, and Carl were driving up the dirt road to the prison. Both joined them in the courtyard, sliding open the gate so they could drive through. The car parked, and the three of them slid out of the vehicle.

"How'd it go?" Isabell asked.

"Come see!" Carl said excitedly.

Isabell smiled at that. The trip had gone tremendous, and Isabell didn't even need to see their haul. Carl was happy; that was all that mattered. She took a glance towards Michonne, who gave her a nod. Isabell raised one corner of her mouth in return. She joined Carl at the back of the car.

The boy had opened the trunk, revealing their scavenge. "I think we did pretty great."

Isabell's eyes nearly popped out of her head at the sight. A handful of duffle bags that Isabell assumed were filled with guns and ammo. Plastic bags full of baby supplies and a pack'n'play for Judith. "Wow."

"Pretty good, huh?"

"This is great, kid." Isabell scanned the trunk before she spotted something bright green. "Holy shit." She reached in, grabbed it, and pulled it out. Isabell turned the object over in her hands.

Rick pointed at it. "That's for Daryl."

Daryl joined them, having closed and locked the gate back up. "What's that?"

Isabell turned around, offering him a shiny new crossbow.

"Oh, damn." Daryl pulled his current crossbow from his shoulder and placed it on the ground taking the new one from Isabell. He pulled on the tension string, testing it. "This is great."

Isabell grabbed the one from the ground and threw it over her shoulder to carry inside. She paused, though, looking at Rick.

Rick nodded at her, being able to tell what she was thinking. "Carl, give us a moment, huh? Bring some things inside to Judith?"

Carl nodded, grabbing a bag of what looked like toys for the child.

Isabell waited for Michonne, Carl, and Daryl to go inside, arms full of bags. "Morgan?"

Rick hesitated. He shook his head after a moment.

"Long story. 'Nuff said." Isabell promised. "On the other side of our friendship spectrum, Andrea revisited us today. Mentioning something about a meeting with the Governor." Isabell reached into her back pocket, pulling out the map from Andrea. "Figured we'd need to discuss it."

A few hours passed, and the group had eaten dinner together, all the while reveling in the fact that they had the tools and weapons to fight. Once the meal was over, there was a small discussion about the meeting with the Governor. Rick had taken the mealtime to think of what he would be doing with it before making his decision. The man had decided to take Daryl and Hershel with him. Daryl was a given: his skills made him an excellent candidate to take in case of an emergency. Hershel was a curious pick, but it made sense when they realized that if anyone was the group's peacemaker, it was him.

After everyone had finished eating, it was just Daryl, Isabell, and Merle left sitting at the tables, having the worst family reunion.

"He seriously doing this?" Merle asked.

"Guess so." Daryl shrugged.

"And we're just going along with it?"

Isabell narrowed her eyes at Merle. "Yes."

Merle scoffed.

"Look, you don't have to like the idea even a little bit, but you do have to make peace with it."

Daryl looked up at Isabell under his bangs. "You gonna keep an eye on him tomorrow?"

"Of course."

Merle clicked his teeth. "Man, I don't need no babysitter."

"Please. You're a child, Merle. An ornery one at that. One tantrum away from killin' someone." Isabell joked though she was earnest about it. "We'll probably need a few babysitters. I'll ask Michonne for help."

"Fuck you."

Isabell leaned forward on the table. "Harley was more well-behaved as a toddler than you are now."

Merle scoffed, looking away and not making a comment.

"If you're gonna stay, you have to cool it." Daryl reminded his brother.

"And you should apologize to Glenn," Isabell added. "You know, for nearly breaking his face."

Merle shook his head in comedic disbelief. "Yeah, maybe he'll shake my hand or give me a hug right after. Y'all are like an after-school special."

"At least we went to school."

"Good one, Bella. How's that high school education treatin' you now?"

"Are you even sorry for what you did to Maggie?" Isabell questioned, knowing the honest answer.

Merle hesitated, though, seeming actually to think about the question. "Yeah, sure." He said, nodding.

Isabell rolled her eyes.

Daryl looked between the two of them. "Y'all done?"

Isabell placed her palms on the table, pushing herself off of the bench. "I'm done. I'm going to bed." She turned, heading towards the cell block.

"Yeah, yer welcome." Merle spat.

Isabell furrowed her brow, stopping her stride. She spun in her spot. "For what?"

"Go look," Merle teased. "Left you a little surprise."

"Merle…" Daryl warned.

"I swear to fuck. If you left some disease-ridden mongrel in my bed, Merle, I will kill you." Isabell promised, hurrying off into her cell. When she arrived, she noticed the change. The metal bunk bed frame was nowhere in sight, and the two mattresses were pushed together on the floor in the corner.

"Merle's an idiot." Daryl's voice said from behind Isabell. He had followed her into the block, and she didn't even notice. "I asked him to do it while we were on watch."

"And he agreed?"

"Well, I told him I'd find him some smokes on our next run." Daryl scratched the back of his neck. "If you don't like it, I can sleep somewhere else tonight."

Isabell shook her head quickly. "No, I like it." She said, reaching down to grab his hand. "It's good."

Daryl dropped his chin, embarrassed.

Isabell pushed it up with her finger to look into his eyes. "Thank you." She said before leaning forward and pushing her forehead onto his.

0o0o0 THEN 0o0o0

When Daryl and Isabell arrived at their house in the middle of nowhere, they found it just as empty as they left it. No Harley. No Garrett. They hadn't run into their family van on the way either.

Isabell rushed to her daughter's room, standing in the doorway, not continuing inside. She willed herself not to cry. Isabell couldn't. One of the few precious things in the whole world she ever had, and Harley was just...gone.

Daryl came up behind her, slowly, standing to the side of the door. He was so disheartened about the day he couldn't even bring himself to look at his daughter's things. Daryl cleared his throat. "There aren't many on the property, but we passed a large group of 'em on the way here. They'll be here 'fore too long. We'll give it a couple days before we move on."

"It was her. In the room. All ate up." Isabell said, her voice barely above a whisper, no emotion in her words.

"Nah, it wasn't."

"It was."

"Iz, stop."

"Why? Because believing that she's out there somewhere we'll never find her is better?" Isabell turned her head towards Daryl sharply. At least, wherever she is now, she's safe."

Daryl shook his head. "You need ta sleep. You're not thinkin' -"

"I'm thinkin' fine, Daryl," Isabell stressed. "I'm thinking that the only important thing I had in my life is gone. I spent nearly half my life caring for her and protecting her. She was away from me for one night. Not even all through it. And she's gone." Isabell scoffed, looking back into the room. "The night we were supposed to have because we just got fucking married."

Daryl pursed his lips. "You sayin' that's why this happened?"

Isabell hesitated. Her first thought was yes. Her past always told her that bad things came from people getting married. Isabell knew, though, that putting a ring on her finger wouldn't have caused the damn apocalypse. "No," she said finally. Though, Isabell wasn't sure that Daryl would believe her with how long she took to answer.

Daryl let out a breath. "We'll give it a day. And then we gotta leave."

"And go where? We don't know where those fuckers aren't."

"I don't know. The city or something. We'll figure somethin' out. Ima start packing. You go lay down." Daryl insisted, gesturing his head towards their shared bedroom.

Isabell rolled her eyes, walking into her daughter's room. She made her way over to the bed and curled up on the full-sized mattress without bothering to shed her jeans. Isabell grabbed one of Harley's pillows, moving it and holding it close to her chest. She cried silently into it, sensing her daughter all around her but feeling like she was nowhere at the same time.