FanFicReader47: Thank you again for the review. Yeah, I have a pretty clear direction of where I'm taking Andrea. Hope you like what I do with her. ^_^ I promise you, I will not disappoint with the whole Merle finding out thing...I actually already have that snippet written...And you'll get your wish with Tea. Not going to reveal too much how I have that planned, but it has to deal with the council...^_^

Another little change, but hey, that's what happens when you throw an OC in and give others life and others still are commandeered from the show itself...Gods, I can't wait for these snippets to all fold into one cohesive storyline again...XP Also, currently going back and reviewing the older chapters now that I've got Tea's dictation down pat, and also read through a few and caught some errors...So, yeah...Won't stop me from posting, probably every couple of days like I've been. Thanks again!

Daryl, Oscar, Sophia, and Carl were combing through the tombs. They'd been given directions over breakfast on what they were supposed to do by Ania. She should have been with them, but she had to go deal with Rick. Daryl was worried she was stretching herself with everything she was doing and how little sleep she had gotten. He was bound and determined to bring Carol back to the group for both Ania and Sophia. Little girl was stronger than he thought she'd be but, then again, she had spent the winter up Ania's ass and trying to act like her, so it wasn't all that surprising. While she definitely was no Ania, Sophia had managed to learn to put away her fear and weakness and at least wear a brave face even if she hardly spoke a word. They rounded another corner, they heard a little thump that had them all on high alert.

"Check it out, man," Oscar said, using his flashlight to point at a door. "Must have missed it last night."

"It's prolly just one or two of 'em," Daryl said quietly as he went to the door and pushed on it gently. "Don't look like they got much fight. They ain't goin' nowhere. We'll take care of 'em on the way back."

He whistled to Carl and Sophia, who had walked off a little. The two seemed to gravitate around each other in a completely innocent and platonic way. Daryl wondered if they even knew they were doing it or if it was the adults' fault for always lumping the two kids together. Either way, they were helping comfort each other through their grief and Daryl couldn't help but be happy about that. That was something he never got as a kid, something he was only now getting with Ania over the past several months.

Walking up to the kids, he looked at Carl's dejected face and couldn't help thinking about what Ania had told him earlier. It was hard, sharing stories of his past, but she was right that talking about his mom to Carl might help the boy. He took another look at the boy as he told the kids to follow him and pressed his lips into a thin line. Now or never, he thought.

"You know, my mom," Daryl started before clearing his throat lightly and started searching the corridor rather than having to look at the kids as he spoke; Ania would cringe if she saw him do that. "She liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims. I was playin' out with the kids in the neighborhood. I could do that with Merle gone. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens gettin' louder. They jumped on their bikes to go after it, you know, hoping to see somethin' worth seein'. I ran after 'em, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends lookin' at me. Hell, I saw everyone lookin' at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed burnt down to nothin'. That was the hard part," he said as he risked a glance at Carl, who was looking down. "You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothin' left of her. People said it was better that way," he said with a chuckle. "Huh. I don't know. Just made it seem like it wasn't real, you know?"

"I shot my mom," Carl's voice rang out, causing Daryl to look at him. The boy couldn't keep eye contact with him either as he spoke. "She was out. Hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real. Sorry about your mom," he said after a moment of silence, looking back down.

Daryl waited until Carl looked back up at him, "I'm sorry 'bout yours."

Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, Daryl gave him a comforting squeeze. It had been hard on him as a kid growing up with the Dixon name, especially after his mom had died. His dad had already been taking the belt to him when Merle wasn't around any time his mother wasn't enough to get rid of his anger. Daryl wasn't Merle as a kid; his mother had always told him that he had a heart of gold and that's why he seemed soft to his daddy and his brother. It wasn't because he wasn't strong, he just had a good heart she'd insisted. It was only now that he was realizing she might have been right. Taking a breath, he ushered the kids onward, ever checking for walkers.

He was still in the lead as the kids followed behind and Oscar took the rear. Daryl was checking the cells, his crossbow ever at the ready when Oscar suddenly shouted behind him, startling him and the kids both. With a scowl on his face, he turned around as the man went into a cell.

"Oh, that's what I'm talking about, mm-hmm, yeah baby," Oscar said as he grabbed up a pair of slippers.

Daryl, having walked back over to the cell pulling the kids with him, asked, "What the hell you need slippers for?"

"You know, the end of the day. Relaxin'," the man said, causing Daryl to look at him as if he was an alien.

A walker managed to come up on them while they were talking. It was only the groans and growling that alerted them. Daryl was the first to turn while the kids brought their guns up and Oscar stood, aiming his weapon as well. It was the bolt from his bow that went through the walker's head, but the three others in the cell fired several rounds as well. That walked had gotten a lot closer than any of them had been happy with.

"Alright," Daryl said, taking a couple deep breaths to calm himself. Where he had been wishing Ania was with them turned quickly into a thank the gods she wasn't there as he steadied himself while raising his flashlight to look at the walker.

"Must have been in the cell at the end," Oscar said. "We checked everywhere else."

Daryl bent down to take a closer look at the walker, pulling out a knife in the process. "That's momma's knife!" Sophia said, looking hopeful.

Daryl didn't have the heart to tell her what was running through his head. This was Carol's knife. If it was here, lodged in the throat of a walker, how the hell was she going to defend herself? How the hell could she even still be alive? The guilt of not being able to find Carol ate at him. He wiped the blood of the knife using the walker's shoulder, angry at everything and everyone at the moment. Sending the others away, he stayed staring at that walker for far longer than he should have. He knew he needed to get back to the others, to Ania, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Ania had told him that Carol was alive, was so sure of it, and now he had to go tell her the news that no, she wasn't. The grave she'd so desperately destroyed would have to be remade, and it was killing him inside.

He sat on the floor for a while, sighing and trying to figure out how to tell Ania, how to handle Sophia, all while ramming the knife into the concrete floor. That damn door kept opening and closing the entire time and it was pissing him off to no end. As it did it again, he lost his shit and got up, giving it a hard kick before pacing in front of it. Grabbing the walker and moving it away, he raised Carol's knife, ready to kill whatever came out of the room. When the door didn't open on it's own, he swung it open looking at eye level. When he saw nothing, confusion grew until he slowly looked down and found Carol.

Holy shit, played on repeat in his head as he took in her appearance. She had a few patches of blood on her face, but was otherwise unharmed. He leaned in and picked her up bridal style, carrying her back to the cell block.

"Won't Tea be mad?" she asked him weakly.

"Nah, knows her place. Ain't gonna get jealous of me carryin' you back. Hell, she'd do it herself if she was here."

A soft chuckle came, "Tea and Sophia?"

"Safe."

"She had to run. There were almost four dozen. She's fast and good, but not that good, not with baggage," Carol told him. "I killed three as I ran, hid in the closet when another group came around. Didn't expect to get stuck."

"Everyone thought you were dead," Daryl told her. "Well, not Ania or Phia. Ania wouldn't let Phia give up hope. Me neither 'til I saw your knife. Thought I'd have to break it to 'em."

As he walked into the commons, he was surprised to find it empty. Walking into the actual cell blocks, he put her in her cell and left to get her some water. His chest was swelling with pride that he'd been able to bring Carol back. Ania would be overjoyed that he'd found her. Sophia would be too. Making the two of them happy meant more to him than he'd ever admit to anyone. Taking the water over to Carol, he watched as she carefully sipped it.

"You know, I never did say sorry," she said after a couple minutes.

"For what?" he said, absolutely confused.

"For back at the farm. Tryin' to split you and Tea up," Carol said.

"Oh," Daryl replied before looking at the floor. "Ania thought you had a thing for me."

She chuckled, "I did for a moment, I'll admit. But, seeing the two of you together and how you balance each other out, I could never. And besides, it was after my husband died. I was just doing the same thing Lori did with Shane. I realized it after a while. You're like the handsome little brother now, awkward to think of like that but no point in denying it. You've been friend-zoned, pookie."

"Don't call me that," he growled, though they were both smirking like kids in a candy store.

~x~

Andrea was asked to wait outside Philip's office while he dealt with a few other affairs before she was called for. Knocking on the door and entering the room, she gave him an un-amused look before she rolled her eyes. He looked like a school principle about to blow up on the good kid that made one mistake.

"I know why I'm here," she told him.

"You were told we don't go over unless we have to," he reprimanded.

"I just wanted a little practice," she told him with no remorse. "Can't afford to get rusty in a world like this."

"Fair enough," Philip told her, appeased by her reasoning but still not liking her current attitude. "We don't need you on the wall."

"Ok," she huffed before turning around. "Is this because of the fights? I get the reasons you have for them, I just don't agree with the walkers. The fights themselves? I liked those. I didn't know Merle could actually move like that."

"I know ya did," Philip sat back as he spoke smugly.

"How?"

"Could a walked out," he said with a chuckle. "You started walking out. But you stayed. Just like you stayed right now just to tell me that."

"Are you saying that I like you too?" Andrea asked, her mind thinking about how she had been growing to, but the walkers and his blatant nonchalance at their inappropriate use had dampened that greatly.

"I think I'm growing on you," Philip told her confidently while she internally rolled her eyes.

She walked out of his office after what she hoped was a kind smile, almost running into Chrystal on her way in. They exchanged a few pleasantries and then Andrea was left on her own. Wandering around Woodbury, she stopped to talk to several citizens and got a lot of their stories. She found out that a lot of them had actually been saved by Merle, whether it was bringing them to Woodbury himself or saving their skins from the walkers while they were on the road alongside the Governor. Andrea had to say she was impressed with both Dixon men. They had come into the apocalypse belligerent rednecks and druggies and now they were respectable citizens. It made her chuckle to herself at how alike the brothers seemed to be when you looked past the obvious differences in attitude.

~x~

"You rose to the occasion kid," Merle said as he bent over to retrieve his gun, deciding this hunt was over. "When we get back, I'm gonna get you a beer."

Merle was just going to deal with whatever the repercussions of failing this mission were. They'd lost track of Michonne and she'd managed to snatch her damn sword back up before she left. He sure as hell was not willing to become walker chow just because the Governor had some vendetta against being told no.

"Come on, she couldn't have made it that far," Neil said, looking impatient now that he'd gotten a taste of the kill.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Merle told him. "We're done. We're gonna grab a car and haul ass home. This has been a good day's work."

"But she, she killed Tim and Crowley!" he insisted.

"Yep, and you messed her up pretty bad," Merle said, turning around from picking up a second gun. "Anyway, she's heading straight to the red zone. She's as good as dead."

"What do we tell the Governor?"

"What the hell you think we tell him?" Merle said, giving the boy a hard look. "Tell him we killed her. Like I said, man, she's as good as dead."

"I'm gonna keep going," Neil told him, not willing to lie to the Governor.

"She ain't right in the head. She's gonna die. She ain't worth our time. Definitely not our blood, now let's go," he said, walking away and ending the argument.

"This is some serious shit. That's what you said! I'm not gonna lie to the Governor about it."

"You're right," he said, deciding a little more blood didn't matter if it meant keeping himself alive and not having to spill a woman's. "Can't cut corners. You've come along pretty quick their kid. How do you say your name again, kid?"

Neil fixed him with a hard stare, "Gargulio."

"Gargulio," Merle repeated. "Hear that bird?"

As the boy turned his head, Merle pulled his pistol, aimed, and fired before anything else could be done. He repeated the boy's name as he picked up his gun and walked off into the woods. There was a place not too far away that had cars, and hopefully he'd be able to find a working one. It was fucking hot out and he stripped himself of his top shirt to wipe the blood off his face. He walked out of the woods, finding himself behind a strip mall. Merle walked around the front with every intention of finding a car, but that was until he heard voices. Inching closer, he saw a tall, light-haired woman talking about how they could hear the walkers at home.

"And where is it y'all good people callin' home?" he shot out, coming into view with his gun raised.

Two guns were raised in return as shock crossed both men's faces, "Merle?"

Merle laughed and put his gun down, raising his arms in surrender, "Wow!"

He tried to take a few steps forward to look at the China-man, but his little girlfriend cocked her gun and raised it higher, "Back the hell up!"

"Okay, okay, honey," he said as he stopped.

"You made it," Glenn said, causing Maggie to look at him.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked him. "Huh?"

Glenn looked down and then sighed out, "Yeah."

"Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta, no hard feelings," he told the man. "Huh?" When the man didn't answer him and instead looked at the blade attached to his stump, Merle started laughing, "You like that? Yeah. Well, uh, I found myself a, uh, medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?"

"We'll tell Daryl you're here, and he'll come out to meet you," Glenn told him.

"Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle! Won't see me complainin' on waitin' a little while longer to see my baby brother," Merle said as a shit eating grin grew on his face. It fell, though, when he saw Martinez's truck rolling up from behind them. "Shit, girly, get the fuck outta here," he told Maggie, running back to his gun and picking it up, not sure how the hell he was going to get the three of them out of this situation. "Sorry, China-man, but you're gonna have ta come with me if you want your girl to make it."

"I'm not leaving," the girl stubbornly said.

Merle marched over to her as close as he could with their guns drawn on him, "If you don't leave now, one of the men from my town are gonna see ya. They see you, they'll take you to the town with 'em. You leave, you might stand a chance of gettin' outta here."

"What are you talking about?" Glenn asked, but it was too late.

"Shit, here we go," Merle said, raising his retrieved gun at them. "Follow my lead, Glenn, and ya might get outta here with little more'n a busted face, your girl too."

Before he could explain anything else, two of the other scavengers showed up with Martinez, "Everything alright here, Merle?"

"Just tryin' ta convince these fine people to come back to town with us," he said, hoping Glenn would pick up on the lie as easily as he had the psycho bitch's way back when.

It was his woman who said, "We aren't going anywhere with you."

What happened next was out of Merle's control. The two were de-armed, blindfolded, and placed into the back of Martinez's pick-up. He saw Michonne as they drove away, bringing his arm up with his palm out in an attempt to warn her to stay put a while longer, earning him a quizzical glare. Merle rode with the couple all the way back to Woodbury, the only one in the back with them. He quietly warned them to keep their traps shut and the girl to just go along with whatever; they wouldn't rape her, but they'd try to scare her with it. If that didn't work, they'd drop it. They were sick, that's for sure, but they weren't quite that depraved just yet.

As they rolled through the back gate of Woodbury and into the warehouse section, Merle gave them one final warning before turning back into the Merle that Woodbury knew. He couldn't afford to be soft in front of these people. The warnings he'd given Glenn and his girl didn't count as being soft; they knew where his brother was and he needed to get them out of there so he could see Daryl again. That's all that was he kept telling himself, looking for Andrea as he strolled through the town after locking Glenn and his girl, Maggie, in separate rooms.

He didn't find her, but he did go to the Governor's apartment and knocked on the door. When the Governor answered, he was wearing only a robe, but still stood aside to let him in.

"Company?" he asked.

"Just Chrystal," came the reply.

"Hey, Merley," she said as she sauntered naked into the room. "Saw your girl Andrea earlier. She mentioned a girl named T to Phil, here. She from your group?"

"Yeah, crazy bitch. Put me in my place good a couple times," Merle responded.

"You can talk more on that later," the Governor said, giving her a look before turning his sights back to Merle. "How'd it go?"

"We lost all three guys," Merle told him. "Tim, Crowley, the other one."

"Gargulio," the Governor replied as Merle nodded. "Jesus."

"Yeah, she cut Tim down, put her sword through him. Then biters got in the middle of it, then I got her," he said as if he hadn't just laid one big old lie out at the end.

"Damn. Well, we'll dress it up, give 'em a heroes funeral. You tell a story. A supply run gone sideways. Do you have 'em?" Merle gave him an odd look. "Her head. The sword."

Merle had seen this coming, "Um, we got caught in a crowd. The kid had the head, Crowley had the sword. They both got all tore up. I got somethin' else for you, though. A guy I used to know from the Atlanta camp and his pretty little girlfriend."

"They know Andrea?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Anyone else?"

"Don't know. Found 'em on the return trip. Martinez helped scoop 'em up. From the looks of 'em, they gotta be set up pretty good. I'll find out where."

"You do that."

~x~

"I loved her," Rick sobbed as he slowly pulled himself together as they made their way slowly to the cell block. "I couldn't put it back together. I thought it was...I made a deal with myself, I would keep her alive. I'd find a place and fix that and then...I couldn't open that door. I couldn't risk it. I was gonna keep her alive, Carl, the baby, and then...I thought there'd be time. I loved her. I love her. I couldn't put it back together. I should have said it. I should have..."

"Rick, ya gotta realize somethin'. Ya not alone. Ya got Carl, the baby, the othas, me. We're all here for ya and we're all gonna keep each otha safe, ya hear? Lori loved ya until the end. Ya know damn well she'd want ya ta keep goin', keep the kids safe."

"I know. I know," he said as he cried.

"Should a seen Daryl holdin' Little Ass-kicker, as he calls 'er," Tea told him, trying to alleviate the sadness just a little.

"He's held her?" Rick said, sounding shocked.

"Yeah, he's actually really good with 'er. So's Carl."

"God, Carl," Rick said as he realized he'd left his son to himself in his grief.

"Daryl and I got 'im, don' worry," Tea told him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I talked ta him last night, well, more like was a sponge for 'is tears like ya's. Seriously, Grimes men are fuckin' faucets, I swear! Little Lady don' even cry as much as the two a ya when she's fussin'!" she joked, earning a good chuckle from Rick who looked grateful. "It's good the two a ya get it out. Not healthy ta keep it in."

"Like Daryl?" Rick asked.

"Ya don' see him when we're alone," Tea retorted.

"Can't say I'd want to," he quipped back as they turned the corner into the corridor leading to the commons.

"Yeah, me lily white ass is prolly the last thing ya want ta see," she said, earning a crooked grin from Rick as he walked into the room.

Almost as soon as he entered, Tea could see the change in his demeanor. Hershel was holding Little Lady in his arms, and Rick was simply in awe of his daughter. A genuine smile graced his face as he held her up to look at her before tucking her head under his chin. He gave the babe a kiss while looking around the room like a proud father should, though he still looked a little off. It would take a while for him to be all together again, but he was at least centered back in reality.

Tea was smiling softly at the sight, warmth spreading through her chest before the pain touching family moments always brought set in. It was so easy putting everyone else back together, but it was hard to contend with her own inner turmoil. Neither of her parents, for as long as she remembered, had ever cared about her. Her earliest memory was of when she was two and how they all but ignored her, even then preferring her planned-for older sister than her accidental self. The memories of love shown to the public tainted by the abuse done in the home. She had never once felt a genuine kind touch until Jesse had hugged her when she caught her slicing her arm up. It had been so unexpected that Tea hadn't had time to get her arm away, covering them both in her blood. She bit the inside of her cheek, hard, as she stifled back the emotions and followed Rick and the others up the stairs and out to the courtyard.

They all walked out and watched the horizon as Rick held his daughter in his arms. A peculiar movement on the fence line caught her eye, causing her to instinctively slap Rick's hip and raise a finger. Seeing what she saw, he handed Little Lady over to Carl and jogged to catch up to Tea as she left the courtyard and went out into the field.

"Ya seein' this?" she said.

"Yeah," Rick replied, pulling out his gun.

Along the fence line, amidst the walkers, someone was walking up with a shopping basket full of what looked to be formula. The dark skinned woman was limping, holding onto her thigh. She and Rick shared a look before they left the field to go into the dog walk, Sophia running up behind them. As the walkers began to notice the woman, who fought them with swords, Rick and Tea managed to get out of the fence-line and help the woman, Sophia hot on their heels with Carl coming down to help too. Rick went for the woman while Carl grabbed the shopping basket; it was indeed carrying the much needed sustenance for the baby. They made their way back into the safety of the fence and Rick laid the woman down to assess her injuries and make sure she hadn't been bitten. Tea took a close look at her face before gasping in shock.

"Holy shit!" she told Rick, pointing at the woman. "It's Ms. Hawthorne!"

Updated 9/9/21