Thank you for all the reviews! I'm loving everyone who is loving my OC and the fact that she feels like she could be a real person. I've actually been planning her out for a while, so I'm happy I'm doing well with her. Some of you have mentioned her and Hershel getting along, and maybe. Honestly, I haven't quite decided how I want to go that route because a teenage looking girl with a rough mountain man might raise a few concerns for a God-fearing man like Hershel...XP Hope y'all enjoy!

They slowly made it through the woods, Daryl and Tea holding onto each other for support. Sophia was behind the pair making small talk as Daryl led them out of the woods. They were quite the duo, struggling along against each other. He was dragging his crossbow and she was barely able to put any weight on her ankle. She'd scared both him and Sophia when he'd re-set her dislocated ankle; tears and expletives he expected but not the full on maniacal laughter that exploded from her lips with them. They both thought she had lost her mind as she worked her way back into a calm state. Once there, she gave no explanation, simply shrugged while shaking her head with a smile. Daryl had chuckled and shook his own head before helping her to her feet.

As they breached the fields surrounding the farmhouse, the pair couldn't even care. Both were starting to lose energy as the pain of their wounds crept up on them. Tea had her head down; Daryl was leaning just as heavily against her as she was him, now dragging his crossbow behind them. She was barely able to put her foot down without crying out, barely managing a hobble. Even Sophia had stopped talking, just holding her doll in one hand, the knife the other. She looked filthy covered in dirt and blood, but she didn't look scared anymore. After everything they'd been through, the little girl had grown a backbone thick enough to rival Tea's, encouraged by the woman's constant praise. They'd managed to make it about fifty feet from the forest when they were forced to stop at the arrival of Rick, T-Dog, Shane, and Glenn.

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked. "And Titania?!"

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl growled out to Rick who's Python was aimed at them.

Rick put the gun down, looking at the pair of hunters in disbelief for a moment before a shot rang out and they both fell. Daryl was quick to roll over as he checked Ania for injury, his pain all but forgotten, finding a deep cut were the bullet grazed her on the left side of her forehead. Sophia, who had been standing behind them and therefore went unnoticed by the four men, was also running to Tea's side. Rick and Daryl were both screaming no at the top of their lungs back to camp as the cop ran up to the girl as well. The fury, shock, and fear overtook any relief and joy the presence of the two missing members should have brought.

Andrea and Dale were fast approaching, causing Daryl to bristle as the blonde woman kept screaming, "Oh my god! Oh my god, is she dead?"

"Unconscious. You just grazed her," Rick said.

"Fuckin' lucky that's all you did, you dumb bitch," Daryl spat as they looked over the girl, Andrea trying to apologize the entire time.

"Is Miss Tea going to be okay?" Sophia asked, causing the others to stop and do a double take of the girl.

"You bet your ass she will," Daryl said, black dots starting to skew his vision as his ears began to ring. "She ain't gone and kept you safe this whole time just to die 'cause some dumb broad don't know how to shoot."

"I'm sorry, Daryl," Andrea tried again.

"Save it for Ania," he spat at her right before his own exhaustion and injuries took over and he dropped next to Tea.

"Look at them. What the hell happened?" Glenn asked. "He's wearing ears!"

Rick tore the things off him, stuffing them in his pocket saying, "Let's just keep that to ourselves."

He and Glenn hauled Tea up between them while Shane and T-Dog dragged Daryl. Sophia was running next to Rick constantly worrying over the huntress's state of being. She talked about how she'd only slept a few hours the entire time they were gone and how she'd made Sophia eat most of the rations they'd found after they'd stayed in a farmhouse. Rick asked her about it and found out it was the same one that Daryl had found the day before. If they would have stayed in the farmhouse for just a few more hours, they would have already been back in camp and the injuries wouldn't have been sustained.

"Carol," Rick shouted as they approached the group standing in front of the farmhouse.

"Oh my god!" Carol exclaimed upon seeing her daughter. "My baby! Oh my precious baby! Are you hurt? You're covered in blood!"

"I killed some walkers!" the girl told her mother proudly as the woman fretted and hugged the child.

"What?!" came Carol's exasperated reply. "How could you let her kill walkers?"

She whipped around asking Tea, only to notice multiple scowls and the unconscious woman between the Asian and the cop. One of those scowls was on Sophia's face, which took Carol aback. Rick was scowling too, as the woman was hanging limp in his arms with a busted ankle and a gunshot to the head. Glenn and T-Dog were also scowling; Tea had been taking care of Carol's daughter the entire time and the first thing she does is question her? Carol could have been a hell of a lot more grateful.

"Right now is not the time for this," Hershel cut in, taking in both the hunters' appearances. "We need to deal with those wounds. Let's get them inside," he told Rick. "You can take the man to the spare room upstairs. She can take my room."

"She can room with Daryl," Rick countered.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that," Hershel said taking in the age gap of the two and her lack of shirt.

"It'd be better for her if she roomed with him," he told the man. "She's going to need his company when she wakes up."

The older man considered the cop's words and gazed at him speculatively, "And why will she need his company?"

"She's bat shit, that's why," Shane said unhelpfully.

"She's autistic," Sophia spoke up with a lot more anger in her voice than anyone thought possible. "She's not crazy. She's smart and brave and amazing! She kept me safe and helped me be strong! You should stop saying mean things about her, Mr. Walsh! You don't know her!"

"Watch your tone, young lady," Carol said.

Sophia insisted. "He's not being fair to Miss Tea!"

"That's enough, young lady! Stop it!" Carol said, pulling her daughter away with her, not at all liking this new attitude her daughter had. Maybe it wasn't such a great thing she that Tea had been with her the whole time; the defiance seemed to rub off.

"Is what she said true?" Hershel asked Rick, not fully trusting Shane's judgment on the matter.

"Yes, sir, she's autistic. She's not a danger to anyone, but after all this, she might freak out if she wakes up in an unfamiliar place without a familiar face with her."

"And they're together?"

"As far as I know," Rich answered honestly. "I've never asked, they've never said, but he's the only one that calls her Ania. At the very least, they're extremely close friends."

"Daryl said so before Maggie showed up in the woods, that she was his girl," Glenn offered.

"They're injured, they won't be trying anything," Rick reassured the old farmer.

"If you think it's best for them to be together given her condition, so be it," he finally assented. "But know that I expect them to refrain themselves."

"I'm sure they'll have no problems with that. Thank you, they'll appreciate the gesture."

~x~

"How're they looking?" Rick asked Hershel as the man finished stitching up Daryl, who'd woken shortly after they made it to the room and insisted Tea be dealt with first.

"I had no idea we'd be fighting infection so much. If it weren't for the stuff you brought with you, we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly. How did you know how to make it?" the man asked Rick.

"It's Ania's," Daryl gruffed as he looked at the woman in wonder.

"Any idea what happened to my horse?"

"Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it's smart, it left the country," the redneck quipped as he pulled Ania closer to him.

"We call that one Nelly, as in Nervous Nelly. I could have told you she'd throw you if you'd bothered to ask," he told Daryl before walking up to Rick, "It's a wonder you people have survived this long.

Rick and Shane left the room after that, leaving Daryl and Hershel awake, while Ania lay still unconscious, now with one of Daryl's shirts covering her frame. Daryl was worried about her. He'd woken up so quickly, but she was still out cold. The wound on her head had been stitched up and the wood splint had been replaced with a proper one. All in all, there was no reason for her to still be asleep in his mind.

"Hey doc?" he asked in a quiet voice. "She gonna be okay?"

Hershel noticed the change in his demeanor and how he looked at the girl laying next to him. He couldn't fathom how these two had gotten together. The girl was only as old as his daughter Beth from the looks of her, and was with a man seemingly old enough to be her father. For a brief second, he wondered if the man had groomed the young girl. Until the girl woke up and he could ask her a few questions himself, he had to trust Rick about this man.

"She just needs rest, that's all" he assured the injured man. "She's had a rough few days. You'll need to keep her off that ankle for a day or two, and no walking around on it for at least a month without it being wrapped, preferably two."

"Thanks, doc," the hunter said, eyes still on the back of the head of the girl in front of him. "Sorry 'bout the horse."

That surprised Hershel as he stepped out of the room. Glenn, Andrea, Sophia, and a rather disgruntled Carol were waiting outside. Daryl heard the muffled conversation about Ania's state of health and closed his eyes. She was safe, she wasn't fine, but she was safe and she would be fine. He pulled her back flush against him as he cried into her hair, letting out all the grief and fear he had felt at her absence. When he finally pulled himself together, he simply held onto her. It felt like hours before she began to stir, moving slightly only to freeze tensely before beginning to start fighting against his hold.

"I got you, girl," she heard his voice from behind, her body instantly relaxing.

Turning in his arms, she came face to face Daryl, who was smiling brighter than she'd ever seen. Smirks, half smiles, the relaxed, content smile when they were intimate, those she'd all seen. But this smile, complete with tears in his eyes, had her heart racing. She threw her arms around him as best as she could given their position and stitches and buried herself in his chest, body wracked with sobbing laughter. Tea knew that this wasn't when she'd breakdown. That would come later when the reality of everything hit her and the movie stopped playing in her head. He held her tightly and laughed as he cried too. Their moment was interrupted after several long minutes by Carol, who brought dinner up for the two of them.

Daryl worked the covers up higher over his body; the scars on his back were still a topic of taboo that he didn't want anyone to see. Even Tea had kept her hands off his back for the most part. Tea sat up slightly as Sophia came bounding into the room. The girl wasted no time and had no problem in skipping up to Tea's side of the bed and getting on it, sitting down facing the two occupants. She smiled brightly, happy to see Tea awake and moving.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked the pair a little tersely.

"'Bout as good as I look," Daryl replied, Ania catching the look that filled Carol's eyes as she flitted them over him.

"Tired, bu' I'll live," she replied to the woman, not knowing what else to say. She was still reeling over the fact that the woman hadn't been out in the woods looking for her daughter; she'd have to ask Daryl what she'd been doing.

"I brought you some dinner. You must be starving," Carol said, more to Daryl than Tea. She leaned over as if she was going to say something just for Daryl to hear, but then thought better of it when she looked at Tea snuggled up in his arms. Instead, she just told him, "You need to know something. You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life."

"I didn't do anythin' Rick or Shane wouldn't a done, anythin' Ania didn't do," he told the woman.

Carol glanced at Tea before simply telling Daryl, "I know," before motioning for Sophia to come with her.

"Are you going to be okay?" the little girl asked the hunters.

"'Course we will," Tea smiled warmly at the girl.

The two left the room as Tea leaned over Daryl and grabbed the tray, neither wanting to mention the elephant in the room. Meat, potatoes, and fresh vegetables with dinner rolls and iced tea. She helped Daryl sit up a bit more before passing him a plate and taking one herself. About halfway through the meal, she snorted a laugh, causing Daryl to look at her.

"What?" he asked confused.

"T'is is almos' romantic," she responded. "I mean, jus' need candles 'stead a light's and no stitches and we'd basically be havin' breakfas' in bed, or dinna, s'ppose."

Daryl scoffed at that and they finished the meal in relative silence before returning the tray to the nightstand. They simply held each other after that, Tea with her head on his chest, Daryl on his back with an arm wrapped around her, talking about everything but the last few days. Some time later, an old man she'd never met before walked in and introduced himself. Hershel, the doctor who'd stitched her up, was here to check on the bandages and how his patients were doing.

"Young lady," he said as he finished with Daryl. "Would you mind letting me help you to another room for a chat? Just have a few questions I want to ask you."

"Does she have to leave for you to ask?" Daryl asked the old man.

"I think it'd be best if we have the conversation separate. Alone," Hershel stressed, certain now that the man had preyed upon who he thought was a child.

"I t'ink I know wha's bot'erin' ya," Tea cut in. "Ya don' gotta be worryin' 'bou' i'. I'm autistic and ADHD, no' wit'out me senses. We knew each ot'er near on two months 'fore I told 'im ta stake a claim. I told him, ya hear?"

"What's up, Ania?" Daryl asked, confused by why she was telling the farmer what she was.

"He's questionin' us. Our relationship," she told the man, taking Hershel by surprise.

"Ain't none of your damn business," Daryl said to the man as he lay on his side and pulled her down to him.

Snuggling back into him while being mindful of her stitches, Tea sighed in content. "It really ain'. And t'is is why I didn' wanna say not'in' ta t'e camp. Someone's always gonna say somet'in' 'cause I'm autistic."

The old man was taken aback by that. "Miss, in no way did I think that. I was honestly more concerned about your age. You don't look to be much older than my daughter, Beth, a teenager. He could be old enough to be your father," he tried to correct.

"I'm twenny two," she informed him, the anger swelling and giving way to all the other emotions she'd kept at bay. "And for t'e record, me momma gave birt' ta me a' t'e same age I am now; me daddy was fordy eigh'. Daryl migh' be twelve years olda t'an me, bu' leas' he ain' old 'nough ta be me daddy, le' 'lone twice me age!"

"I apologize if I've offended you. You need to understand. I thought you were just a teenager. Some men don't care whether a girl is of legal age or not. Not that your gentleman is like that, but I was concerned," Hershel explained, realizing how her voice had hitched up as she talked while her eyes were turning red.

Neither hunter deigned to answer him, opting instead to look at each other. Daryl could see it coming now as the tears started silently falling from her eyes. He could feel her body shaking. Earlier, he'd found it strange how she'd just laughed as she cried for a little bit, but now he understood. She had been pushing it off. As soon as the old man left the room, the floodgates would open and everything that happened to her would come pouring out. Ania would need him if she was going to get through the night with her mind intact.

Hershel was watching the pair, analyzing the looks on their faces. He was still a little unsure of the relationship, but it was obvious as he watched that the two were absolutely in love. The way Daryl's hand came up to caress her face, how her hand tightened its grasp of the sheets at the small of his back, when he leaned his forehead down against hers. It was as if they were the only ones in the room and he almost thought he was going to have to separate them until he saw her eyes shining with tears, pain and sorrow filling her face as a sob broke through her lips as he brought her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Realizing that this was why Rick had been adamant about the girl needing Daryl when she woke up, Hershel heaved a heavy sigh before silently leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Rick stood in the hallway and asked if the pair were alright. When Hershel explained what had taken place, followed by the sound of Tea's sobbing in the room, Rick just nodded his head. He figured the woman would have a breakdown. According to Sophia, she had taken down over twenty walkers out in the woods, had only slept a few hours, barely ate, barely drank, and then had a close call that resulted in her ankle being severely sprained. All of it she'd done in survival mode, the girl had called it, pushing everything down but what she needed in the moment. Rick looked at the door and shook his head sadly before walking away in awe at what the woman inside had been able to do.

Back inside the room, Tea was a sobbing mess. She wasn't going to be able to stop any time soon and Daryl wasn't even going to try to stop her. He just held her close as her body shook, letting her cling to him tightly. Her body was shaking badly, not only wracked by the sobs. It took a long while for her to calm down enough to start talking against his chest.

"I t'ough' I was dead," she sobbed. "T'ere were t'ree on me and I was pinned by t'e one I'd killed. If she hadn' a been t'ere. Oh gods, Daryl! Why didn' I jus' grab 'er when I grabbed Carl? Why didn' I jus' tell 'er ta run when we came up on t'at group? We should a jus' run. And Carol, fuck Carol?! She's actin' li'e I cursed 'er kid by bringin' 'er back! She hasn' said two words ta me for some reason and I don' know wha' I fuckin' did 'xcept bring Sophia home! Kid ain' e'en mine and I almos' died for 'er for 'er mot'a ta treat me li'e shite. Woman was busy makin' dinna and doin' laundry while 'er kid fough' for 'er life. T'en t'at old geeza comes in 'ere makin' li'e he go' a righ' talkin' 'bou' us. I'm so fuckin' useless!"

"Hey now," Daryl said, pushing the hair away from her face. "You're the one who kept that little girl safe. You. How is that useless? You're the one who brought her back. The one that taught her how to fight in the first place. Hell, might as well be her mother, all you done for her. Ain't even yours and you almost died only to get shot in the head. You can't be blamin' yourself for this, you hear? You did right by that girl and her momma and if her mom ain't gonna give you credit for what you did, fuck her."

"She blames me for makin' Sophia figh'. I should a jus' told 'er ta run and 'eld 'em off meself. She'd a been fine," she tried to reason.

"And you'd be dead. Might a never found you."

"You're no' gonna le' me blame meself for any a it, are ya?"

"Not a chance in hell. So do what you gotta and come back to me," Daryl said, taking note of how she was talking. Her nerves were still a mess; she'd once said she'd gotten used to talking how she normally did and naturally talked like that. It was just when she wasn't in control that the Irish came out in full like this.

"Did she e'en look for 'er?"

"One day. Went out with us one day, that's all."

"She don' deserve ta be called a mot'a," Tea spat with conviction, burying her head as close to Daryl's chest as possible.

She simply let him hold her after that. The tears fell freely as she talked about everything that had happened while she'd been gone. Tea told Daryl about everything she'd told Sophia trying to keep the girl from freaking out about the situation they'd been in. How the girl had looked up to her for some reason and thought she was some sort of idol now. Daryl told her about everywhere they had been looking learning that they had in fact been to the same farmhouse. Slowly they drifted to sleep, neither releasing the other the entire night.

They'd left the farmhouse the next morning as soon as they woke up. Both had instructions not to do any more walking than necessary and to take it easy, followed by another profuse apology for being judged wrongly. They'd both told the man not to worry about it; they'd talked it over that night and decided it was actually kind of sweet that the old man was trying to protect her. Rick and Glenn had been nice enough to set up Daryl's tent and put his and Tea's things in it, including a double cot and her larger sleeping bag. They were laying down next to each other, Daryl trying to clean his bolts, but was bored as hell just lying down. He'd taken to picking at the mesh windows with it, leaving holes.

"Ya gonna le' bugs in doin' t'at," Tea said as she looked over from her copy of The Lord of the Rings.

Having been trying to keep her mind on anything but the hundreds of shoulda, woulda, couldas running through her mind, she'd taken to reading and remaining silent all morning. Now it would appear she was going to have to talk. She watched as Andrea walked up to the tent. Tea wasn't entirely too thrilled with the woman for shooting her without training let alone a clear shot. It was stupid and reckless and a good way to kill someone. But, she was just trying to protect the camp. She couldn't be too upset about that. All in all, there was nothing to be said about the situation in her opinion. As the blonde woman stepped into the tent, she held out a book.

"This is not that great," she said as she handed it over to Daryl and sat down next to Tea.

Daryl flipped through it and quipped, "What? No pictures?"

"I'm so sorry. I feel like shit," she told Tea.

"Yeah, t'e t'ree a us do," she shot back, though without any ill intent.

"I don't expect the two of you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do..." she trailed off.

"Ya were tryin' ta protec' t'e group," Tea told her.

"We're good," Daryl agreed now that his anger had passed. The woman smiled and nodded before walking away. "But hey," he called back, making Andrea look at him, "Shoot at us again and you'd best pray I'm dead."

He listened to Ania giggle at that. Daryl loved the sound, though he rarely ever got to hear it. Aside from when he'd told her about his itchy ass and when he'd managed to tickle her once when they were stoned, he hadn't heard her do more than a chuckle. He asked her if she had any other books in her bag, to which she pulled out four, meaning her total was five. All of them were thick, though three were technically considered combined books. The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials were all technically multiple books combined into one copy.. She also had Belgarath the Sorcerer, and old book he recognized from his mother's collection, and randomly the final Harry Potter book. Grabbing the one he recognized, they settled into comfortable silence as the mid morning wore on.

"Didn' take ya for a deep book kinda guy," she commented after watching Daryl engrossed in the book for a few minutes.

"Why? Didn't think I'd get it?" he asked a little heated, anger rising at the insinuation that he was stupid.

"Nah, not'in' like t'at. Ya smarta t'an ya show, le' 'lone give yaself credit for. I jus' didn' t'ink ya'd actually li'e books li'e t'is. Pictured ya as more a Field and Stream or Classic Bike kinda guy."

Her voice was still monotone and full of the Irish brogue, but that was more than he'd managed to get from her all day, so he just smiled and admitted, "I had a collection of books back home. Favorite one was one of the copies of the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe."

"No way!" Tea said, her voice finally having some emotion as a genuine smile broke out across her face.

She reached over to her bag and from a different pocket pulled out a final book. It was well worn with the writing on the spine barely visible. The smile on her face was nearly the same one she'd had when he'd given her Jewel and Daryl couldn't help but wish he had a camera. Holding out the book to him, he opened the front to find "The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" written on the front page. He looked up to her smiling himself.

"God I love you," he said as he pulled her down for a kiss.

"God ain' go' not'in' ta do wit' it," she laughed against his lips.

When the rest got back from gun training, Rick found the two passed out in bed together. Laughing silently as he looked into the tent, he couldn't help but be thankful that at least all the important parts were covered with limbs. He was kind enough to cover them with a blanket before anyone else found them. Apparently, they had chosen to ignore the part where Hershel told them to take it easy.

Updated 9/7/21