Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize. Although I don't know a fangirl out there that wouldn't love their own personal Daryl Dixon.

AN: So I am so excited to inform you that I am now at least 2 or 3 chapters ahead of this now. I wasn't going to post this chapter but I thought that yall earned it since I haven't posted in about a month but after this chapter I won't be posting another chapter til next weekend. Again, I don't demand reviews but they do make me feel good when I read them.

Chapter 34

It was just past dawn when Adrian woke up. As soon as she became conscious though, she wished she hadn't. She hadn't been in this much pain in a long time. She hadn't even hurt this much after that time that Shane had head slammed her into that semi-truck.

Adrian had been awake for about a half hour before she managed to pick herself up off the ground and walk around a bit to help loosen her muscles up as much as they could. Adrian had finally started to feel slightly human again when they heard Rick calling out to Glenn from the woods.

Adrian, Glenn, and Michonne all started walking towards Rick's direction when Rick informed them that they had a problem. Didn't take them long to spot Merle bringing up the rear behind Daryl. Needless to say, Michonne and Glenn didn't react well. Adrian was just to sore to care at the moment.

Glenn raised and pointed his gun at Merle while Michonne had her sword out and pointed towards him, while Merle was hiding behind both Rick and Daryl. "He helped us get outta there, so put it down!" Daryl yelled at Glenn. "Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you." Rick said to Daryl. Adrian made her way past Maggie and Glenn who were both pointing their guns at Merle.

Adrian walked past them and stood beside Daryl, grabbing onto his firm bicep for both support and comfort. "Hey, we both took our licks back there." Merle said, failing to make his case. "Jackass." Daryl said turning towards his brother. "Hey, shut up!" Merle said to Daryl. "Watch it, Dixon!" Adrian said, turning towards Merle and pointing her gun at him.

"Adrian, not you too." Daryl said pushing her gun down for only two reasons. Because she had let him and because it had gotten heavy since she had started holding it.

"Relax, dear. If I wanted to shoot him, which I really do by the way, I could have done it from where I was standing by the car. And believe me, it's wouldn't have killed him either." she said stepping closer to Daryl.

"And FYI, your brother is a callosal dick." she sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder as Daryl turned back around to deal with Glenn pointing at gun at him. Adrian stayed quiet but then Merle, thinking he was safe started to mouth off. No doubt it was the truth since he had no reason to lie but the more he spoke, the more he got on everyone's nerves.

It finally got to the point where Merle just wouldn't shut up and after getting in Daryl's face, Rick hit Merle with his gun, which not only dropped him like a sack of rocks in water, but also made the asshole finally shut up.

Shortly after Merle had been knocked unconscious the group, minus Michonne, was huddled in a circle discussing what to do about Merle. Daryl was the only one trying to plead his case to the others. Rick said it wouldn't work because he would intentionally rile everyone up, which was probably true.

But then Daryl pointed out that they were now in The Governor's sights and that Merle knew how The Governor thought and that they could use the extra man power now that Oscar was dead. Adrian had to admit the truth in Daryl' words with that statement.

Maggie was saying about how she didn't want him at the prison and Glenn was all fired up about keeping Merle away from the prison as well. Then Daryl started arguing that they were going to let Merle leave just because he was an asshole but bring Michonne back.

Rick argued that she was too unpredictable and that she wasn't going back to the prison either. Adrian was really getting tired of having to beat her dead horse when it came to strangers with the group.

"You didn't know me either when you had me join the group. Not only that but I came with a teenage boy attached to me and we both turned out to be valuable members of the group. I'm sorry to say but your eagerness to let strays join the group has worked out for you in the past." she told them.

Adrian could tell the longer the argument went on, the more they told him that Merle, his only blood family left in the entire world, wasn't coming back to the prison, the faster they were loosing him. She just hoped that when it came down to it that Daryl would see sense and choose them. But Daryl's next words made her pale beneath her black and blue skin.

"Fine. We'll fend for ourselves. It was always him and me before this. No him, no me." Daryl told the group, not looking in Adrian's direction when she firmly grabbed his arm. With that said Daryl pulled away from Adrian and started walking towards the car. Rick caught up to him while Maggie and Glenn split their time looking from her to him.

Daryl had made it to the car and had opened the back hatch before Adrian's body would move and then she walked as fast as her legs would carry her towards Daryl. He couldn't leave her. He just couldn't! She wouldn't let him!

Daryl had turned from the car and was walking towards his brother when she called out to him. Daryl stopped and waited half a second before he turned to her. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, looking up at him with wide, bright green, disbelieving eyes.

Daryl loved her eyes. He loved her as a whole but there were so many things that he had loved about her before he had finally figured out that he loved her. Her eyes were the first thing he had fallen in love with. Their color, the fire that they held, the emotions he could read in them. Just the morning before they had held so much love in them before she had left.

Her bright green eyes were full of so many things at that moment it was hard to spot them all. There was pain, physical and emotional he knew, confusion, betrayal. But there was still love there. He was leaving the group, they had become a close family. They had given him a purpose when he had been lost but worse than that, he was leaving her.

She wouldn't come with him even if he had asked because she couldn't leave them. Not now, especially since they had found Kale, which she didn't even know about yet. They were alot alike, everyone knew it but that wasn't the reason they were together.

They had started out as her forcing her company on him. Then they had quickly turned into convenient fuck buddies. But they had grown to love each other. But they had never said it, but to them, they never had to to know what the other felt.

"I'm goin' with Merle. Group don't want him at the prison an' I ain't leavin' him again. I won't do it." Daryl told her. "So you're just gonna leave?!" she demanded again in a half whisper.

"After last night, The Governor will be on our doorstep any day, you said so yourself. We're in chaos, Daryl! Rick just lost Lori, Hershel has a leg and a half, T-Dog is dead, so is Oscar now. Carl, Beth, and the baby are helpless in a real fight as well. Axel can't even fire a gun. Maggie is in shock from all of this, Glenn is too angry to think straight, of not only what happened to him but what he thinks happened to Maggie, and I'm practically half dead. And you want to run away with the asshat that did this to me when we need you the most?!" she demanded of him, not really expecting an answer.

"I won't leave him again. For the last year I've thought he was dead and I ain't fixin' to let him go without a fight. They don't want him at the prison, we're goin' off on our own. I would ask you to come but I know you won't. You're hurt to bad to come with me even if you wanted to." he said to her.

Adrian couldn't argue either of those points because she knew he was right. The group needed her, especially if Daryl was so hell bent on leaving them for his brother. Their group was a decent size but it kept getting smaller, through no real fault of their own. The prison was their home! They had found it, they had cleared it out. They had lost people for that prison!

Adrian knew that she would be practically useless for the next few days unless they had some powerful pain killers at the prison and Hershel needed to look at her injuries. But just like Daryl had said, she wouldn't have left the group even if she hadn't been in such bad shape.

"Daryl, please." she pleaded. "Please don't go." she said to him, her eyes now bright and glassy with unshed tears, her voice quivering. "Everyone I have ever loved in this life has been taken from me. Please, PLEASE, don't be the first one to just walk away from me." she begged him. Daryl said nothing.

"Please, I need you now more than I ever have before." she told him. Daryl sighed and walked over to her. He wrapped his right arm around her and palmed the back of her head, wrapping his fingers in her loose and tangled hair. He softly whispered five words into her hear and softly kissed her temple and walked away.

As he whispered into her ear Adrian had closed her eyes and finally allowed the tears to fall down her abused face. Adrian then opened her eyes to see Daryl walking into the woods with Merle, his arm draped over his younger brothers' shoulders.

"Daryl." she called out to him. But he didn't turn around. "Daryl." she called out again as he walked farther into the woods. "Daryl!" she yelled after him. But by then the trees of the forest had hidden him from her view. "Daryl." she softly cried as she wrapped her arms around herself and her knees began to fall under her weight.

Adrian felt someone gently grab her from behind to make sure she didn't hit the ground. Adrian didn't bother with the physical pain she was feeling because it was almost nothing compared to the emotional pain she was feeling.

Adrian curled into herself and began to cry, not caring that the others were seeing her cry but at least grateful that her hair was covering her face so they didn't see the actual tears.

"Adrian, we gotta go." she heard Rick say softly from behind her. Adrian nodded that she understood and tried to stand but her body was having none of it. Rick, as weary as he was, picked Adrian up and put her in the backseat of the car.

Everyone else followed suit and they took off back towards the prison.

The news of Daryl's abandonment and a new enemy hit everyone hard. Hershel and Beth had been waiting for them in the yard while Rick had gotten out at the gate and walked back with Carol and Carl.

Glenn was still angry and had stormed off to his cell, Michonne had been told to find an unoccupied cell and wait for Hershel to check her over, while Hershel had given Adrian the same order, which had been an actual order instead of the request her had given Michonne.

Adrian limped off towards her cell with the help of Carl. As they entered the cell block Adrian noticed four new people off to her left. A large black man with a beard, dark muscle shirt, dark pants, boots, and a beanie on his head. A skinny but pretty black woman wearing mismatched shirts and pants. A white man with dark hair and a scruffy beard, pants, long sleeve shirt, and jean vest. And a young man with dark hair as well.

Adrian took careful note of them but was too exhausted to really evaluate them. Carl helped her up the stairs and to her cell before he left her. Adrian decided to change out of her disgusting clothes while she still had some energy and a care. She took off her boots, pants, and tank top and pulled on a large, dark, button up she had stolen from Daryl a few months back when it had still been chilly.

She was just fixing to put her painful body into bed when she heard a set of unfamiliar steps coming up the stairs. Adrian paled, thinking she had finally had a breakdown and was seeing a ghost.

He was tall now, at least six feet. His pants looked old and worn, as did his shirt. His hair was still shaggy and in his eyes but looked lik it had been given a crude hair cut recently.

His face was still the same though. He looked a little more tough than the last time she had seen him, but it was still him. And her system, or sanity, couldn't take much more that day. "Kale? I thought you were dead." she whispered as her knees slowly gave out.

Kale had been told she had been badly injured at Woodbury but it had to be worse than he thought if she could hardly stand. She had a hell of a black eye, both sides of her jaw was a huge bruise but had to be more than just one. Her hair was loose, which he thought was strange since she saw it as a hazard to leave it loose.

Her hair was a little lighter than he remembered it, but no longer than it had been back at the farm. He could see her hunched over so she had to have something wrong with her torso, and he legs were shaky.

But what scared him the most was that she was so pale. The only time he had ever seen her so pale before was when she would wake up from a nightmare.

Kale rushed forward and helped her to sit on her bed, which she slowly laid out on. He could tell she was tired, he could see it written all over her. "How did you make it off the farm?" she asked, trying not to fall asleep. "Met up in the woods with Andrea while she was running from a bunch of walkers. We ran out of ammo pretty quickly. We would have died if Michonne hadn't shown up when she did." he told her.

"I thought I had failed you too. Just like I did with Seth. It was so bad after the farm. I turned into such a cold and distant person. Thought I was an utter failure. Didn't help that I would dream of you and Seth saying that I had let you down. That I had let you die." she said loosing the battle with the sleep her body so desperately needed.

Adrian was loosing the battle quickly but saw Kale give her a small smile as he gently laid his hand on the side of her head.

"I remembered everything you taught me. It kept me alive." she heard Kale say as she finally surrendered to the blissful, painless, dark.

Adrian jerked awake from whatever dream she was having, which she severely regretted. She looked around and seen that it was going to be dark soon. She also noticed that Kale hadn't been a dream, since he was sitting on a stool not far from her.

Apparently alot had happened after she had fallen alseep. Kale told her the Hershel had come up to check on her. She had plenty of cuts and bruises to be sure but it was her stomach and ribs he had been concerned about.

The bruising was deep on her ribs, she may have a few cracked or fractured ribs but Hershel couldn't tell for sure. He had left her with a few pain pills and was told to use them sparingly.

Kale also told her that the group that had been there had been turned out. 'Ran out' was the words Kale had used. Apparently Hershel had tried to talk Rick into letting the new people stay but Rick had went off, yelling, pacing, even pulled his gun before they group was encouraged to leave.

Adrian knew that her body needed more rest so she decided to sleep as much as she could after a shower. Tomorrow was going to be a long day whether her body allowed for it or not. Adrian slept through the night without having to use any of the pills but took a whole on the next morning.

She could tell something was wrong with Maggie but it had more to do with Glenn than anything so she left it alone. No one would mention Daryl in front of her and she was grateful for that. They had enough problems as it was but to her, Daryl leaving seemed to be the biggest one on her list. She knew that in reality that it wasn't. Rick's mind had finally snapped, Glenn was on a warpath for The Governor's head, the group was left without a clear minded leader since Glenn saw it as his duty to take up the role.

Daryl leaving the group was an issue for the whole group, but Daryl leaving her was the last thing anybody cared about. In her mind though it was the only thing that mattered. She knew that she had survived just fine without him before they had met up in Atlanta but the fact was, she didn't want to survive without him now.

She knew she couldn't change that he had left, and she certainly couldn't make him come back.

She had tried but he walked walked away from her.

Everyone was scrambling to do what the could to guard against attacks from The Governor. Glenn, Carl, and Kale had went into the tombs to check out how many walkers were down there. After reassuring Kale that she could manage without him, Kale had agreed to go with them into the tombs.

'Just like old times with that kid.' Adrian smiled as she looked out from the prison yard.
Kale had come back to tell her that the tombs were full and that he was going to help with whatever he could.

Adrian agreed that he should help while she and the baby , who's name she learned was now Judith, got some fresh air and sun. Nobody really liked the idea of her bringing Judith outside with such a threat looming over them but it had been too tense in there and the baby had been cranky, which hadn't helped anybody's nerves.

And besides, Adrian found it cute beyond measure that Judith liked to play with her loose hair.

After a while Beth came outside to get the baby, saying that it was time to feed her. Adrian relinquished Judith but stayed outside. Glenn went to scout the far side of the prison alone. Adrian then pointed out to Hershel that their now crazy dictator was wondering around outside the prison fences.

Hershel hobbled his way down to where Rick was but stayed inside the fence. Rick showed up at the fence where Hershel was and Adrian assumed that they were talking. Adrian seen Michonne out by the bus in the outter yard and decided it was time she talked to the woman that had helped keep Kale alive during the winter.

Adrian felt almost back to normal with the pain killer in her system and made short work of the walk to the overturned bus. "Michonne." she said to the sword wielding woman as she walked up.

"My name is Adrian. We haven't been properly introduced yet." she said to her. "I know who you are. Kale used to talk about you til he was blue in the face. Made me wanna cut his tongue out a few times. Andrea voted on just shooting him." Michonne said laughing.

"I wanted to thank you for looking out for him. He's a good kid and I was devastated when we had to leave the farm and I thought he was dead. But he seems good. A little tougher than when we were separated." she said.

"He said that everything he knew about survival, you taught him. He knew more than either I or Andrea gave him credit for. Helped save our asses plenty of times." Michonne said.

"And how was Andrea? I have to confess, I didn't care for her much before we were forced from the farm." Adrian asked. "Last time I seen her she was exactly where she wanted to be. Although the few times she talked about you I could tell she didn't care much for you either." she said.

"It was more a difference in opinion than anything between us. I handled things differently than she did and personally I just thought she was an idiot on how she handled most of what was thrown at us back then." Adrian told her. That was when they heard the first shot.

Adrian looked around and saw Carl and Beth ducking for cover and Carol was standing next to, what she assumed, was a dead Axel. "That slimy bastard!" Adrian growled and she crept to where Michonne was standing by the corner of the bus. "It's him, isn't it?" Adrian asked, not daring to poke her head out.

"Yeah." Michonne answered. "Swap with me." Adrian said pulling out the gun the remembered to grab. Adrian then noticed the gun that Michonne pulled ot and started firing. "Nevermind." she said eyeing the gun.

Adrian then heard gunfire coming from a different, closer, location and looked around until she spotted the dick in the guard tower firing at Carol, who was hiding behind the body of Axel, Carl, Beth, and Maggie who had showed up with more guns. Taking her chance even though she had nowhere to hide, Adrian started firing at the man in the guard tower.

After firing a few rounds, Adrian noticed that everybody stopped firing. And that just didn't sit right with her. Then she heard the vehicle. Adrian turned to look, hoping against hope that it was Glenn coming back. But she was terribly mistaken. It was a large red and white van that drove straight through the front gates and parked in the middle of the outter yard.

Then the large ramp on the back slammed down and then more than a dozen walkers stormed out of the truck and into the yard. The driver, who was covered in riot gear jumped out of the truck and started to fire at Adrian and Michonne. Michonne dove to the left while Adrian dove to the right. Landing on her side hurt but her adrenaline was pumping so she didn't feel it as much as she should.

Adrian took her focus off of the shooter in the tower and started to fire at the black covered bastard trying to escape. Adrian started to fire at the running driver and managed to shoot them in the face, which made her extremely happy.

'May protect against teeth but goggles aren't bulletproof you sick bastard!' Adrian growled to herself and she started shooting at the walkers in the yard remembering that Hershel was still in the yard.

Michonne took off running through the walkers to get to Hershel. Adrian ran towards the truck and fired at every walker that she could spot. Adrian suddenly hated that her hair was down but as long as she continued to check behind her she figured that she would be okay.

Adrian had just fired her last bullet when she seen Glenn fly past her and towards Michonne and Hershel.

No longer having to keep an eye out for Hershel, Adrian drew her hunting knife and machete and began to get up close and personal with the walkers that were now in her yard.