Chapter 22

KATE

Daryl was on the road again. Michonne had gone on searches for the Governor a few times since their first attempt, but she wanted to go further and no one (except Michonne) thought it would be a good idea for her to attempt that alone.

Daryl thought they'd be gone two nights - three at the most. So Kate put on a brave face and kissed him goodbye. She had made a great effort lately to not just sit and worry while Daryl went on runs. In the three months since Woodbury, he had been countless times - gathering supplies, bringing back new survivors, hunting. By nature Daryl was a wanderer. He didn't do well staying inside for too long. He needed freedom, time to explore, a purpose outside of the prison walls. In every way he had surpassed her expectations of him as a partner, he had surprised her with his affection, his tenderness and his thoughtfulness. He might do those things in his own way, like waiting until they were alone to dance with her, but he was always trying to be so good to her even if it was out of his comfort zone.

Kate decided the best way she could be a good partner to Daryl was to give him the freedom to go and provide a loving place for him to come back to. She was doing her best to not complain or impose her anxious feelings about his excursions on him.

As often as Daryl went, Kate hadn't been out of the prison gate in weeks. She had always been a homebody and the dangers lurking on the other side made it even less appealing. Occasionally she would hunt with Daryl or go with him on a run, if the area had been scouted and he felt it was safe enough. He was overprotective to say the least, but it made her feel safe and that was something she needed. She was perfectly content spending most her time on the safe side of the fences.

But on the second day Daryl was gone, Chloe from the Decatur Group mentioned that she was going on a run. Gabe had asked Rick if a few of them could make a trip themselves. They felt, as a group, they'd had weeks to settle in and since they'd been used to scavenging for supplies themselves, several of them were anxious to get back to it. Rick had been for the idea, with some conditions. Since a simple run had been what lead the Governor to the prison in the first place, Rick wanted to make sure that certain steps were taken to ensure no extra attention was drawn to them.

On this first trip out, he wanted Glenn and Maggie to lead the group and he wanted it to be a short trip - just a few hours. The plan was simple enough and when Chloe told her about it Kate had the sudden impulse to go. She figured it would keep her occupied, get her out of the prison for awhile.

The eight of them loaded up in the truck and the Suburban and headed to a small town East of the prison. The idea was to go through some of the shops and if they didn't have any luck, maybe explore a couple houses.

Kate jumped into the truck with Maggie, Glenn and Chloe. Gabe, David, Kelly and Mark took the Suburban and they headed down the road. Half an hour later they turned down a small street with a row of shops and a water tower at the end reaching into the sky. They parked between a one screen movie theatre and a dentist's office and got out, gathering at the tailgate.

"Let's split up into two groups," Glenn instructed. "Maggie and I will head over to the hardware store. Anyone want to take the thrift shop at the end?"

"I'll do it." Kate volunteered.

"I'll go too." David offered.

Kate glanced at him and he smiled. She felt a little uneasy, she hadn't talked to him since the wedding and now she wished she had. Rejection was never something she had been good at, she was always too afraid of hurting someone's feelings.

Glenn continued with the plan. "Ok, Mark and Chloe, you come with us and Gabe and Kelly head with Kate and David. If there is any trouble, shout and everyone will come running."

The two groups headed in opposite directions, packs and weapons in tow. Kate stood in front of the brick storefront of the little thrift store and Gabe knocked loudly on the window. They waited a couple minutes and when nothing appeared David took a crowbar to the door and they headed in single file. They swept the store carefully, finding it empty of walkers.

Kate looked around. The store wasn't untouched, but there were still a lot of things remaining. In the front there were racks of breakable dishes and decorative items. Things they had no use for anymore. The walls hung with framed prints, all with neon green stickers on the lower right corner listing their price. She stopped in front of a big picture of a black Labrador standing in a pond with a duck hanging limply from its mouth. The mat around the painting was a camouflage print.

"Who wants this stuff in their house?" she asked Kelly who walked by on the way to the shoe section.

"My Granddad, that's who. He had that same one in his living room."

Kate shook her head. She still wasn't used to Georgia.

The entire right side of the store was racks of clothing. The once well organized rows now were littered with fallen items and broken, plastic hangers, but there were still plenty to search through. She walked through the aisles, reading the little computer printed signs taped to the end of each one. She stopped at the baby section and started flipping through the tiny pieces of clothing looking for stuff Judith could wear. She was growing so quickly and the few items she had were getting too small. She stuffed a couple pairs of miniature jeans and a little knit sweater into her pack as David approached.

He stood opposite of her, absentmindedly glancing through the clothing. She continued to sort quietly through the baby items, occasionally finding something useful and adding it to her bag.

"Can I ask you something." David finally broke the silence.

"Sure." Kate said, without stopping, moving to the next aisle that had rows of men's clothing and stuffing a black and green plaid flannel for Daryl into her pack.

"At the thing for Maggie and Glenn, you wouldn't dance with me, but then I saw you dancing later with Daryl. Is he your boyfriend or something or are you just not interested in me?"

The term boyfriend seemed so inadequate to Kate. It sounded temporary and casual. It made her think of dates at a miniature golf course and late nights on the phone. High schoolers had boyfriends. Daryl was her entire world.

"Daryl and I are together. That's why I didn't dance with you. Sorry, I should have explained."

David's face darkened a little and he started to say something but apparently thought better of it because instead he just mumbled something to himself and shook his head.

"What?" She demanded. She hated when people did that.

"I just think you could do better than that guy." He said it with a certain amount of disgust that immediately made her angry.

"Really? Better than "that guy" that keeps you fed? You wouldn't even have a place to live if it wasn't for Daryl."

"So is that why you're with him? So you have a place to live? Food to eat? Because, Kate, I've been going over it in my mind and I really can't figure it out."

"Fuck you." Kate rarely swore like that, but in that moment it was either that or slapping him across the face. She couldn't believe he was saying these things, did he really think she was that kind of woman. "You don't know me and you definitely don't know Daryl. You aren't half the man he is."

"Kate, I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"It's just what, David? You know what, never mind, do me a favor and don't talk to me and I'll return it by not mentioning this conversation to Daryl."

"Kate, I just, what are you doing with a guy like that? What does he have, like an 8th grade education, I know you aren't from around here, but backwoods guys like that..."

"Are you serious right now? I don't know who you think you are or why you think you have any right to insult us, but you're a guest at the prison. Don't forget that." She said, staring at him with cold eyes, finally satisfied when he looked remorseful.

She started back to her search, the hangers screeching against the metal bars as she angrily flipped through them. David wandered a few aisles over.

To say she was pissed was an understatement. In the process of welcoming and getting to know the Decatur group over the past several weeks, Kate had interacted with David a lot. He was always around when she and Beth played cards with them and sometimes they'd talk when she was on fence duty at the same time, but it wasn't until he had asked her to dance that she became concerned that he had misinterpreted her friendliness as anything but that. Since then, she had kind of kept her distance. She guessed she was hoping he would just have lost what little interest he might have had, but apparently he was planning to tell her exactly how he felt and if that meant tearing Daryl down on the way he was fine with that.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a loud, terror filled scream. They ran for the door. As David threw it open and they headed into the sunlight they found a small clutch of walkers, maybe a dozen, had descended on the narrow street that ran in front of the building. Mark lay on the ground in front of the hardware store, writhing and bleeding profusely from his neck. A dead walker lay next to him, a knife sticking out of its skull. Chloe, who had been the one who screamed, stood next to him in shock but hadn't pulled a weapon. Maggie and Glenn were fighting off walkers as best as they could with their backs to the store.

Kate pulled her knife and quickly approached the closest walker from behind, slamming the blade through its matted hair and into its skull. It fell with a thud. David was fighting next to her and she heard Kelly cry out when she spotted Mark on the ground. When the six of them had finished off the last of the dead, they stood bloodied and out of breath, looking at one another, assessing everyone for injury.

Chloe's strangled cry drew their attention to Mark who had died sometime during their battle and had slowly started to come alive again. Glenn acted quickly, driving a knife through the side of his head. Mark fell back to the ground, stilled forever. Kelly turned and threw up on the asphalt.

The drive back to the prison was solemn. Kate watched from the backseat as Maggie and Glenn exchanged concerned looks with one another. Chloe was slumped against the window sobbing.

They drove through the gates and parked in the prison courtyard. The seven of them slowly pulled themselves out of the vehicles. Rick and Carl jogged up from the gate, their boots crunching on the gravel. Kate could tell they had spotted the body in the back of the truck and she didn't miss the relief that flooded Rick's face when he knew she, Maggie and Glenn were safe.

"What happened?" Rick asked, his voice a mix of concern and compassion.

"Walkers." Glenn spoke up. "We entered the stores on a deserted street and came out to a group. Mark walked out without looking first and ran smack into one. We managed to fight off the rest."

Rick nodded and sighed heavily.

"Everyone else ok?" He looked around at them, they were all bloodied and in a daze. Kelly and Chloe had silent tears streaming down their filthy faces. Glenn nodded.

David approached Rick.

"I realize we're only guests here." He began, giving Kate a sharp look. "But would it be OK if we buried Mark in your cemetery?"

"Of course it is. I'll help you." Rick turned and looked at Kate curiously, obviously not missing the point David had tried to make.

Kate averted her eyes.

The men all grabbed shovels and headed down the grassy slope to the gravesites. An hour later, joined by the rest of the Decatur group, as well as Hershel, Carol and Beth, they laid Mark to rest.

After he was buried, Kate stood under the catwalk between two of the cement cell blocks washing her bloodied arms and face off in a bucket of water that she had filled from the big blue barrels. She kept going over the afternoon in her head, it had turned out so differently than she had imagined. She thought it would be an easy run, she could get outside of the walls, keep her mind off of worrying about Daryl. Instead she had an unsettling conversation, witnessed a man's death, fought off walkers for the first time in a while and was now feeling guilty about the words she chose to use with David. She felt tired, sad, a little ashamed and incredibly homesick for Daryl. She cupped handfuls of water onto her arms over and over until all the dried splashes of black blood were gone. She wished the showers were up and running so she could wash away the sorrows of the day. She leaned over the bucket, splashing cold water over her face.

-DARYL-

Daryl and Michonne pulled through the gates of the prison having had zero luck finding any sign of the Governor, but with plenty of supplies to show for their efforts. They probably could have pushed on further, but Daryl was anxious to get back. It wasn't just because he missed Kate when he was gone, but he worried about whether she was safe or not. He'd pointed out to Michonne more than once that it was just as likely that the Governor would show up at their gates as it would be that they'd find him in their searches. Every time they headed up the road to the prison he would find himself holding his breath until he saw the gate standing and people carrying on with their duties as they should.

Once they were safely on the other side of the gate, Michonne slowed the car and Daryl rolled down his window. Rick walked up, resting his arm on the top of Daryl's door and peering in at them.

"Did you have a good run?"

"Got a lot of supplies, no sign of the Governor." Michonne replied.

Rick nodded.

"How'd it go here?" Daryl asked.

Rick sighed and looked up towards the prison.

"We let a small group go on a run. It didn't go well. They came across a group of walkers, Mark from the Decatur group was killed. We just finished burying him."

Daryl and Michonne looked towards the cemetery.

"Daryl, I should tell you, Kate was on the run."

Rage and fear flooded through Daryl's blood.

"What the hell Rick?! What the fuck did you let her go on a run for?" Daryl snarled.

"Daryl, she's a grown woman, if she wants to go on a run, I can't stop her. I'm not her father, I'm done forcing people to do things. Whether she stays or goes is between you two."

Daryl glared at Rick. The car suddenly felt very small.

"Well either drive up there or let me out of this damn car." He threw his arm up towards the prison.

Rick and Michonne exchanged a look and she put the car in drive and headed to the courtyard. She had barely come to a stop when he threw the door open and burst out. There were about six or seven people roaming around the courtyard, but Maggie's face was the only one he really knew, he stomped up to her.

"Where's Kate?"

Maggie looked a little taken aback, Daryl was clearly angry, but she pointed towards the water barrels and said, 'I think she is washing up." and he turned and stormed around the cement building and out of sight.

Daryl found Kate splashing water on her face, her back towards him. Emotions warred inside him: anger, relief, worry. Part of him wanted to just hold onto her, reassure himself that she was ok, but Daryl wasn't in command of his feelings and a lifetime of anger had hardwired his system.

"Kate!" he shouted, his voice echoing off the cement walls that rose around them. She stood and turned, happiness and relief written all over her face and for a brief second it was almost enough to cool him down. But like so many other times in his life, rage won over.

He barreled angrily towards her and he watched her face fall.

"You went on a run? Without me?!" He thundered. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? What were you thinkin'?"

He was standing over her, his face in her's and for a minute he felt so much like his father, but it was clear Kate wasn't afraid of him. He watched her eyes flash with anger.

"I can go if I want! I'm NOT going to be a prisoner behind these walls while you leave ALL. THE. TIME!" She was gritting her teeth and he realized he'd never seen her angry like this before.

He pointed his finger in her face, "You'll stay if I say you will!" he yelled, not believing for a second he

had the authority to force her, but hoping she did.

She actually laughed, an angry bark.

"You don't get to tell me what to do Daryl." She practically spat, shaking her head.

"Kate, are you ok?" An unfamiliar man's voice came from behind them. Daryl turned to see one of the new people and the animal inside him came alive at some other man acting as a protector to Kate and from him no less. He'd sooner die than hurt a hair on her head.

"David. I'm fine." She said with annoyance.

So this is David, Daryl thought. The same David that asked Kate to dance. The animal inside him roared.

"You don't look fine." David said, this asshole bravado in his voice.

"SHE'S FINE! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." Daryl snarled over his shoulder.

"I wasn't asking you." David replied calmly.

Daryl saw red. He stormed towards David and with one punch knocked him out cold.

He had heard Kate yell, "Daryl don't!" at the last second, but he couldn't have stopped if he had wanted to. He stood angrily over David and looked up to see Maggie, Michonne and a few faces he didn't have names for come around the building. He looked at Kate. She looked pissed, she shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. He still felt the rage coursing through him. He knew he had to cool down. He walked past Maggie, Michonne and the open mouthed strangers, grabbed his crossbow from the car and headed to the gate.

Daryl spent the rest of the afternoon hunting. He didn't catch anything, he was too angry to be quiet enough. He did kill four walkers and took out some of his aggression on them.

He'd lost control. He knew he had. It had happened many times throughout his life and even the group hadn't been spared his bouts of rage. The first time he met Rick he went after him with a knife and if it hadn't been for Shane's choke hold who knows what would have happened. There had been other occasions too, but he'd never turned his anger towards Kate and he felt terrible. He would have calmed down, but that prick David had to interfere. Like Daryl was some monster that Kate needed protecting from, when he had long ago devoted himself to keeping her safe. He was sorry he had yelled at Kate that way, but he would knock David's ass out again in a second.

He returned to the prison at dusk and he was glad to see it was Glenn at the gate.

"Dude, and the KO goes to Daryl Dixon."

"Ya, I'm a real dick." Daryl said flatly.

"No man, I get it. You won't get any shit from me."

Daryl nodded. "What about Kate? She ok?"

"I don't know, gonna have to figure that one out yourself."

Daryl headed up the slope.

Their cell was dark, but he could make out Kate's body on the bed, turned towards the wall. He slid in against her, his hand circling around her waist, his fingers finding the bare skin between her shirt and jeans. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in deeply. He started to kiss her shoulder and she pulled away from him.

"You don't get to do that Daryl." She said quietly without turning towards him.

He felt wounded and he let go of her like she was hot metal. He quickly scrambled out of the bed, grabbing his crossbow and heading towards the cell door.

"Where are you going?" She demanded, sitting up.

"Figure you want me to go." He was confused, he'd never had a relationship, he didn't know how reasonable adults handled conflict. His parents screamed, threw things, his Dad hit his Mom, he'd leave and not come back for days. He knew he didn't want that, but what he was supposed to do was a mystery to him.

"No, I don't want you to go." She sighed, flipped on their little light and sat at the edge of the bed. "But you can't just come in here thinking we can have sex and everything will be ok."

Daryl just stood there looking at her. Sex was the best way he knew to connect. When they were together like that he felt so close to her and all he wanted right now was to know everything was ok between them. She continued on.

"You were gone for days, like usual, and you come back and instead of being happy to see me, you start yelling at me like I'm a child. I get that you were worried about me or even that you were mad I went, but did you ever stop to think about what a difficult situation I had gone through? All I wanted was you to come home so I could feel safe again and instead you made me feel worse."

"Kate, if something had happened to you..." His voice broke and he trailed off. Tears threatening.

Her face softened. "I know." She stood and went to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and putting her head against his chest. He held her and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry" He whispered hoarsely.

"I am too."