"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asks as he stands up, water from the creek weighing his feet down as he moves towards Rick.

"I left her right here. Walkers followed me that way, up the creek. By the time I got back here, she was gone. Figured she had headed back to the group. I told her to go that way." Rick points to the sloped bed creek where Glenn is standing guard. "I told her to keep the sun on her left shoulder."

"Move your feet, you're mucking up the trail." Daryl huffs, adjusting his grip on the crossbow and observing the ground for tracks.

Glenn moves quickly with a few apologies, "Sorry Daryl, didn't mean to be in the way."

"You're good, man. I got clear prints right here, she headed back to the highway." The four men follow the trail until it split away. Glenn and Shane head back to the highway while Rick and Daryl continue to track Sophia. Shane keeps the group busy with chores, raiding cars, and moving the ones near the RV so they can turn around later.

Daryl leads Rick further into the woods, following a trail only the Omega can see. When they come across a Walker that had fed recently, they gut it, looking for any sign it had been near the Omega pup. Once it starts getting dark, the two men make their way back to the highway. Carol starts sobbing as soon as she sees them without her daughter, blaming Rick for leaving her alone. The Alpha walks away, guilt and shame clouding his smell. His Pack and Daryl want to comfort him, and at the same time, want to strangle Lori.

As soon as Rick walks away from the group, Lori leaves Andrea to comfort the distressed Omega and follow the grieving Alpha. "Rick! We need to talk about Carl and Shane. As well as your little "Pack." You know, the one your WIFE and son aren't a part of."

"No. You had the divorce papers already filled out, and that Mark on your shoulder means Shane has claimed you as his Mate. We are done, we raise Carl together but that's it. And our pup is part of my Pack. What do you want to talk about?" Rick glares at the Beta.

"Rick…."

"Glenn, can you go get Shane, Carl, and the Pack. We're going to settle something right now."

"No need." Shane comes over with the others; Daryl, Carl, and T-Dog stand by Glenn, "What's going on?"

"Lori said we needed to talk about you and our pup. Let's talk." Carl walks over to his dad, standing in front of him, facing Lori and Shane.

"Rick this isn't funny anymore. You're my husband and Carl is our son, not a dog. And our son isn't listening to me anymore." Lori crosses her arms over her chest, ignoring the growls of surprise from everyone, including Shane. Calling out the pup in front of a group of Alphas and Omegas was shameful, a jab at their culture. And Carl was old enough to understand just how much his mother, in that one sentence, didn't care about their family.

Rick rumbles loudly and holds out his hand. "There's no ring on my finger anymore! But now that you're not getting your way, you want to ignore all that crap we talked about at the quarry? Fuck you!"

Carl runs towards Daryl, hiding his face in the Omega's stomach. When the man feels his shirt getting damp with tears, he starts purring softly. Glenn pulls the two down on the tailgate of a nearby truck, standing in front of them on instinct. Daryl pulls the pup in his lap and wraps the wing jacket around him. Carl pulls it tighter around himself with rumbled thanks.

"I know you don't want to hear this pup but-"

"They need to get it out of their systems." Carl sniffles, "Dad never yelled at mom, not even when she hit him or threw things. He did it once when I was little, and Mama told everyone that dad was an Alpha with a temper and they almost lost me to Social Services. Dad never fights with mom anymore and she hates it."

"You wanted me to fight back, fine! I'm fighting back cause you're not going to blame our son just because YOU don't want to watch him!" Rick yells at Lori. Daryl focuses on taking care of Carl because the pup is right. Rick needs to get this out. "Just because you're a Traditional Beta doesn't mean Carl is going to be one. Stop acting like everyone else is beneath you! It wasn't Carol's job to take care of the pups when we lost Carl at the CDC, and yes I'm calling you out on your bullshit because I was married to you for a long time and I knew that look you gave her when she came out without him."

The rest of the group comes over, having heard the commotion. Carol wanders over to Rick's Pack and jumps up next to Daryl and Carl. The pup shifts between them and leans on the woman, allowing her to seek comfort in caring for a cub. The Omega woman lays her head on Daryl's shoulder, seeking peace in his soft, gritty purrs. They stay quiet as everyone watches the Prime scold the Beta woman, who frequently tried to talk over the Alpha, and was put back in her place with a slight raise in Rick's voice and hardness in his tone.

It was dark by the time he was done, panting and dehydrated, and Carl was asleep. Dale suggested that they move closer to the RV, and everyone else could get to sleep if they were done. The group walks back to the cars, silent. Daryl carries Carl in and lays him down on the bench with a throw pillow and sheet.

"Thank you, Daryl, for staying with me." The pup whispers.

"How much did ya hear?"

"Everything."

The Omega swallows, "Sleep, we gonna find Sophia in the mornin' and I betcha wanna help, huh? Sleep." Daryl walks out just as Shane and Lori come to a stop by Rick. The Omega looks at the window and sees the pup watching them.

Rick sighs heavily and gestures for Lori to talk, "What about Shane and Carl made you want to talk to me? How was Carl not listening?"

"He got into one of the cars that had a corpse in it and found a bunch of knives, hatchets, and stuff. I told him not to play with it and he ignored me to show them to Shane. When Shane said to go give them to Dale, he pulled one out, talking about how sharp it was and how it could be useful. Then he asks me if he could keep one. Rick those things aren't toys, he could hurt himself and-"

"I think he knows that Lori, but you already said you don't want him to have a gun. He needs a way to protect himself from Walkers and as long as someone was with him, I don't see what the problem was about-"

"He ignored me, Rick! That's what the problem was. And he doesn't need to protect himself when you and Shane are here. Well, I mean when you're actually in camp instead of-" Daryl walks back into the RV and goes over to Carl, who had his treasure packaged in his lap.

"This what you found?" Daryl asks.

"Yeah, I wasn't playing with it though."

"I know, let me see it." Daryl rolls it out and picks up the hatchet. "Did they have the rubber stoppers on them before?"

"Not all of them. Mama freaked out when I was calling for Shane but when I told her it was just something I found that was cool, she got angry. I didn't mean to make her worried but-"

The voices from outside got louder, making the pup and Daryl go quiet so they could hear what was going on. "-told me to stay the hell away from him and you? That the two of you and Rick were off-limits to me? I have known that man there WAY before his brother introduced you two, and you think you can tell me off; tell me I ain't allowed to even look at my brother? MY PRIME ALPHA?! I'm that boy's GODFATHER for damn sake. Something happens to you and Rick, that boy is my responsibility and you wanted me to not talk to him, look at him, anything! Rick, man, this is not a claim challenge, but when you were in the hospital and we thought you were dead, Lori-YOU TOLD ME, that boy was mine now. My responsibility, my say in his raising, I was to treat him like he was my own, but the second Rick walks into camp you're gonna-"

"Sha-SHANE! Calm down, Carl is asleep and we're still not in the clear in case of Walkers- Lori what the hell do you mean Shane's leaving the Flock?!"

Daryl catches Carl before the boy can run past him. The pup was sobbing, trying to fight Daryl to get outside. With one hand, Daryl closes the window and pulls Carl with him onto the bench. The pup didn't need to hear any more right now. He holds Carl and purrs, allowing his scent to calm him down. "It's my fault. Shane's leaving and it's my fault. If I hadn't pushed so hard for his attention then he and mom wouldn't be fighting, and they wouldn't have drug dad into their mess."

"I don't want to hear that from you." Carol says as she climbs into the RV, "What's happening out there is not your fault."

The voices raise again, and Carl continues to cry. Daryl looks out the window and notices two Walkers almost to the RV. Daryl passes Carl to Carol and makes his way over, throwing the window open and whistling. Muffled cries from the two behind him, plus the scent of distressed pup and Omega, was enough to send the hunter into protection overload. Once the Walkers were dead, Daryl took one look at the others and cut the head of one of the Walkers off, and stabbed it again, pulling the head back in with him. As soon as Carl starts chirping, Daryl snaps.

Slamming the window closed, he tells Carol to stay with him and goes outside. Being careful not to slam the door, Daryl throws the head at Rick. Shane covers Lori's mouth so her screaming wouldn't draw attention; at the same time, though he was breathing heavily, his fear kept his jaw clenched shut. Rick stumbles back with a curse, ready to lay one in on Daryl until he sees the Omega's face.

"The next time ya'll wanna have it out with each other," Daryl hisses, "don't fucking do it when we're in the open, so anything can hear you. You're arguing so loud ya can't hear the Walkers on the other side of the RV You're also next to people trying to sleep, and you're next to an open window so your pup has heard every fucking word out of your mouths and thinks it's his fault y'all're fighting! And you're doing it so loud ya can't even hear him chirping for ya."

Daryl's voice never raises above a murmur, but each word cut into them with intent. The second the archer stops talking, Carl's chirping deafens them. Rick whines. 'How could he have not heard him?'

"If ya'll are done comparing knots like fledglings," the Alphas flinch, even Glenn, who just happened to come up to them with T-Dog, "Rick and his Pack need to get in there and have a bit of bonding time. The two of you can do it later once he's done being scented."

Lori gets up in Daryl's face, "I'm his mother and I will go in there if I feel like it. I'm not going to let some Beta, redneck trailer trash, tell me what I can and can't do with my CHILD!" She tries to push past him to get in, but Carl's voice stops her in her tracks. The pup was standing in the doorway of the RV with Carol.

"I want dad." He sniffles, "I want dad and his Pack, and Daryl." Carl chirps again, and Rick has him in his arms, scenting him in seconds. Rick and his Pack pile into the RV while Shane goes to do a perimeter check while Lori leaves in tears to sit with Andrea in the jeep. Daryl doesn't move until Carl chirps again; people will never change, it seems.

…

The Flock goes out to search for Sophia first thing in the morning. Dale and T-Dog decide to stay behind in case she shows up back on the highway. They use the kit Carl found since silent weapons would be better than loud guns that could pull a herd down on them. As they head out, Daryl turns to the pup, holding one of the knives from the kit. Daryl makes sure Lori gets the hatchet she scolded Carl for with a bit of a smirk.

"This was a good find kid, they were well taken care of." Carl preens under Daryl's praise, "Next time though, have someone with you when yer gettin 'em. You got lucky the guy was only dead and not a Walker. Keep an eye out for anything else, k?"

"Yes sir!" Carl smiles and runs up to Glenn, asking how to clean them. The Omega could hear Rick's approving purrs and feel Lori's glare on his back.

Carl stayed close to Rick and Lori but only seemed to want to talk to Daryl and Glenn. He went to comfort Carol, talking about what they would do when Sophia got back or talked about the project he had done for class on the Grand Canyon.

Lori scuffs every time he talks to someone else, but when she herded him back to her, he wouldn't say anything. After a few hours, they decide to head back to get food and refill their water. Daryl led the group back to the highway with some reluctance while Shane, Rick, and Carl searched further. Rick tries to give Lori a gun, so the group has one, and she is the only one who knows how to shoot even though she doesn't like to. Daryl ends up giving her the one he found when she refuses to take Rick's. Nodding at his Alpha cause if he had to have one, Rick was the better option, and they split up. Andrea scowls and throws dirty looks at everyone about not having her gun on her, even though she didn't know how to shoot.

…..

They're making their way through the trees when Rick hears a noise. He motions for the three of them to stop. Creeping forward, he smiles when a deer comes out of the bushes and steps into their path. He stops Shane when he goes to shoot it, motioning to Carl. The pup was watching the deer, moving closer to get a better look. The two Alphas watch him get closer; the buck lifts its head, making eye contact with the pup. It was peaceful. Then a gunshot echoes out, and both the deer and Carl fall.

When Carl goes down, Rick screams and falls to his knees, putting pressure on the wound. Shane goes into protection mode, standing over them, gun drawn, waiting for the son of a bitch to show himself. An older, heavyset male Beta comes out of the woods, panting, a rifle in hand. He freezes when he sees the two Alphas with a downed pup and puts two and two together when he sees the deer in between them.

"Oh God, did I kill him? I'm so sorry I-"

"How many? How many of you are there?!"

"Just me, it's just me." Rick growls loudly at the two, at the man for shooting his pup, and at Shane for almost killing the man who might be able to help. "I know someone who can help! My Alpha, he has a degree in-"

"Take us there NOW!"

"What's your name?!" Rick's eyes were almost black with rage; the only thing keeping him from going into Rut was the bleeding boy in his arms.

Shane places himself between the two, knowing that he would have to take Carl to get help while Rick murdered the man in cold blood if it came to it. "Tell 'em yer name."

"Otis."

"You better pray he makes it because I won't be able to defend you from my Alpha if something happens to him." They run. They sprint through the woods and open fields, Rick carrying Carl and checking his breathing every step. When Otis starts slowing down, Shane attacks him, "HEY keep moving shit head!"

"How far?! HOW FAR?!" Rick roars.

"Another half mile, that way. HERSHEL! Ask for Hershel!" Rick takes off, leaving Shane to deal with the Beta. He panics, readjusting his grip, feeling his son's blood soak into his clothes. He hears someone call for their dad. Carl? No, still unconscious. A woman. Rick rumbles softly as a Pack comes out of the house; the Alpha was an older man like Dale, but not the Elder.

"Was he bit?" The man calls out. Rick runs to the porch steps.

"Shot. By yer man Otis-"

"Otis?!"

"-Please help him. Help my pup please!"

"Bring him in, I need my full kit!" The group goes into a flurry of movement, but Rick doesn't notice anything, continuing to plead for help. When told, he places Carl on the bed and asks if he's alive. Hershel's response was asking for a pillowcase. Rick gets pushed to the side, waiting as they set up an IV. When the older Alpha asks for his name, he stutters, "R-Rick. I'm Rick."

"Rick you need to give us some room. Now." Rick walks out of the room and steps onto the porch just as Shane and Otis reach it. Rick starts sobbing and whining loudly, needing his brother to comfort him.

"He alive? Is he still-?" Otis pants. Rick wipes the sweat on his forehead, and it gets worse, wetter. Carl's blood.

Shane pulls Rick into his Scent glands, and the man breaks down. Shane wipes the blood from his face and hands him the bandana to wipe away the blood. They follow Rick back inside and into the room Carl was in.

"Ya know his blood type?"

"A-Positive. Same as mine."

"I'm going to need you then." Hershel turns to Otis. "What happened?"

While Otis explains, Rick turns to Shane. "The others don't know. Lori-his

mother doesn't know."

A few hours later, while Shane and Rick were talking, Carl woke up needing blood. The oldest daughter, an Alpha named Maggie, sends them back in. Carl was screaming and crying while Hershel tried to get the bullet fragments out of his wound. Rick's eyes never leave the boy as he sits down and gets ready to give blood. Hershel has Shane hold the pup down as he calls for his father. The longer it goes on, the more agitated Rick gets, until he snaps, growling loudly at the threat to his pup, eyes black.

"Rick! If I stop, he dies! Do you want him to live?!" Hershel snarls. Rick lets Patricia, Otis's Beta wife, hook him up to an IV. When Carl stops crying, Hershel calms both Alphas by saying that the pup had just passed out from the pain but would be fine. They patch him up after the first piece is dug out and then send Shane and Otis to the high school where a FEMA camp was set up. Maggie goes to get Lori and the others.

….

Daryl was leading the group back to the highway, everyone on edge after the gunshot they heard. Andrea had wandered a little way away from the others when she was attacked by a Walker. The others rushed to her, but Maggie was faster.

She hits the Walker with a bat and sends it flying. She turns around and addresses the woman on the ground. "Lori Grimes?"

"What the hell?" Daryl stops next to the woman on the horse.

"That's me." Lori answers her.

"Rick sent me, you've got to come with me. Now. Carl was shot, but he's still alive. You need to come now, I will explain on the way." Lori shoves the backpack off and gets on the horse. Daryl grabs the hat off Glenn's head and the rag out of his pocket; he hands it to the woman.

"If Carl's been shot then Rick's going to need these. The smell of his Pack will keep him calm enough to deal with once the shock wears off." The Alpha smiles and thanks Daryl before turning to Glenn and giving him instructions on how to get to the farm before taking off. They met back up with Dale and T-Dog and told them about the run-in with the Alpha on a horse and Carl being shot. They decide to leave to go to the farm and leave some supplies in case Sophia returns. Daryl decides to stay the night on the road, give Sophia a chance to show.

"Glenn you have to go, reconnect with our people." Dale waves away any complaints from the Alpha, "We need to get T-Dog there. The cut is getting worse, he has a serious blood infection and if we don't get him help, he will die."

"Why'd ya'll not say anything." Daryl huffs, throwing a rag at Dale, "Keep your oily rags off my brother's bike. Besides I got Merle's stash."

Shane's Pack gathers in amazement and disbelief. Why would Daryl keep this medicine a secret? He puts a bag of pills on the truck hood and starts digging around. Then he starts naming stuff off, "Crystal, X. Don't need that."

Drugs, it was drugs. Andrea huffs; of course, Daryl had his brother's drugs. The Omega tosses a bottle to Glenn. "Got some kickass painkillers."

He pulls out another bottle and hands it to Dale. "Oxycline. That first class, not that generic shit. Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl shrugs and takes the bag back to the bike.

"What, you're just going to hide your drugs to get high later unless we have another emergency?" Andrea growls at the Beta, "Why was it that none of us knew about any of this, huh?"

The Beta woman tries to grab the bag from Daryl's hand, but he snarls, thrusting the bag behind him. Glenn takes it from him and backs away towards the bike. When Andrea tries to follow, the Omega cuts her off, teeth bared.

"What is your problem?!"

"The people whose two-cents I give a shit about knew; Rick's Pack and Merle. The rest of you can't be trusted, but T-Dog needs them and you were just in the right place at the right time. Fuck you, blondie." Daryl growls.

"Daryl, why can't we be trusted?" Carol asks.

"Cause he's-"

"Shane." Daryl speaks over the Beta woman, "You're part of Shane's Pack, and he's a Traditional Alpha." Daryl walks to Glenn and locks the pills in the seat of the motorcycle.

"I catch anyone but Glenn and T-Dog in here and there will be hell to pay."

…..

Carl was still asleep, and no one had gotten back yet, so Rick went to sit on the porch and wait. Hershel follows him out to talk.

"This place is beautiful." Rick looks out at the fields, watching the sunset.

"It's been in my family for some 160 years, passed down to each Alpha heir." The old Alpha replies. Rick nods; a Traditional Pack then. An old one too.

"It looks like it got by untouched. You're lucky."

"We lost friends, neighbors. It took my wife and stepson." The man's shoulder showed a faded Mark, but he had said wife. The situation was either like his and Lori's, or the second wife was a Beta. Still, Rick apologies for his loss. "God spared my daughters and I'm grateful for that. This Pack here, we're all we got left, just hanging on until there's a cure. This- this will pass as all plagues do. It's just nature's way of correcting itself, restoring balance."

"I wish I had the same strength in the belief that you do." They watch together as Maggie comes up with Lori. The Beta woman jumps down, crying and hands shaking as they hover over Rick's bloody shirt. The Alpha leads him into the room where their son lies, Lori pushing past him to cradle her son's head in her hands.

"Mama's here baby." She sniffles, "Mama's here." She curls up next to him and prays he wakes up. Maggie walks in quietly, handing Rick the Pack things and leaving again. Lori grabs his hand, wanting comfort, and only that. So, Rick gives in, holding her hand and smelling his Pack to ground him. Glenn from his hat, T-Dog from his bandana…. and Daryl, from a chain with a rabbit's foot. His Pack was with him; they prayed for their pup with him.