Miri's eyes opened when she hear a ringing coming from the night table where her cellphone was. She rubbed her eyes of sleep as she picked it up, not paying attention to the screen. "Hello?"

"Miri! Miri, something happened!" Shane's frantic voice made her sit up quickly, ignoring the dizziness from the quick movement.

"Shane? What happened?"

"Miri, its Rick." She held her breath as he continued. "Rick was shot and he's in a coma."

"WHAT?" She got out of bed and went into her closet to drag out a luggage bag. "How?!"

"We were helping another County stop some guys that were trying to cross into our county, they said it was just two, that's it, but it wasn't. Another guy came out of the car and shot Rick." Shane took a shaky breath, the adrenaline still making him shaky. "I shot him down and ran over to Rick. I'm calling you from the hospital now."

"I'm already packing." She threw a bunch of her clothes into the bag, not caring about folding them to fit right like she normally does. She had more important priorities. "I'll buy a ticket on the way to the airport."

"But what about that show you gotta do? You've been going on about it for a week."

"Shane, my brother is in a coma from being shot, you think I care about a show when family is in danger?" she cried, a slight hiccup escaping. "I have to be over there!"

"At least call someone so they know where you're going." He offered. "You can't just drop everything!"

"Yes I can!"

"Miri!"

Miri took a breath and gathered her scattered thoughts. "Alright, I'll call my manager. I'll call you when I'm at the airport." She hung up and called Dan, her manager. "Dan? I called you to tell you I'm not going to be on the show today."

"What?" She heard sheets moving around on Dan's end. "What do you mean? We've had this planned for weeks! If you didn't want to be on the show you should've call me a week earlier and canceled. You have to go and that's final."

"Dan," She snapped but stopped herself from snapping again and sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Shut your gob already. I'm not going to be on the show. So sod off, my brother is dying!" She hung up, annoyed at Dan's shit. She then called Austin, who was in America filming a new movie. The ringing stopped and she started to ramble into the phone as she zipped up her bag. "Austin, I have to go see Rick. He got shot and he's in a coma. I'm packing to go see him and I'm going to the airport when I finish."

"Um… who is this?" an American woman's voice answered. "And why are you calling?"

Miri checked the caller ID to see if she called the right person. It was Austin's number, so she wasn't wrong. "Who is this?"

"Well, my name is Julia."

Miri tensed her jaw. "This is Austin's number, how do you know Austin?"

"Well," she chuckled. "I just met him at the bar, who's this?"

Miri was shocked to hear this. She stayed silent as Austin's voice asked Julia who was on the phone.

"They didn't say." She heard Julia say before it changed to Austin's voice.

"Who is this?"

At this point, Miri was raging mad at this point. This guy had the audacity to go and cheat on her. "You can go fuck yourself if you think you can play me, Austin."

Austin stuttered, realizing it was Miri on the line. "Wait, Miri, it's not like that. She's just playing around!"

"No, she isn't and your tone with each other tells me that. I'm leaving you, bye." She grabbed the picture frame of her and Austin. "Oh and you can keep your bloody ring. I'm sure Julia would like it."

She hung up and threw the picture frame against the wall, breaking the glass and ripping the ring from her finger. She threw it onto the bed and grabbed her bag. She'll be sure to have one of her friends mail it back to him tomorrow.

"Fucking arsehole."

"Aussie." Miri jumped when Daryl snapped her out of her memories. "You alright?"

She looked around. She was standing by her tent when she blanked out, remembering Austin randomly. "Yeah, just been thinking a lot these past few days."

"Well get your head outta them clouds, we got a meetin'." Daryl motioned toward where they had the last meeting.

"Okay." Daryl and Miri walked towards the car where Shane, Andrea and T-Dog were waiting. "Where's Rick?" She asked once they made it to the group.

"Here I am." Rick walked toward them, no longer in his uniform and a map in his hands. He placed the map down. "Mornin', guys. Let's get goin'. We've got a lot of ground to cover." He scanned the map. "All right, everyone's gettin' new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Miri found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." He pointed to where Miri and Daryl found the farmhouse and motioned around the area.

"I'd like to help." A tall slim young man walked up to them. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

Daryl put on a long sleeved plaid shirt over his dirty tank and turned away, not realizing Miri was sneaking a peek. She felt guilty. She shouldn't look at him anymore, not with him liking Carol.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked, unsure.

The kid nodded. "Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you."

"All right then. Thanks." Rick patted his back.

"Nothin' about what Daryl and Miri found screams Sophia to me." Everyone turned to look at Shane, who was sitting halfway in the car. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Miri stared Shane down, wondering what the hell made him think Sophia was gone already. "You weren't there to see what we saw."

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay high." Daryl held up his hand around the height Sophia was. "Had to have been her."

Andrea nodded. "Good lead."

Rick looked hopeful. "Maybe we'll pick up her trail again."

"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here," Daryl pointed to an area on the map. "Take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, we'll spot her."

"We'll?" Rick questions.

Daryl nodded. "Aussie and me."

Miri frowned, surprised. "What? Why me?" Normally he would go by himself. "You want me to go with you again?"

He nodded. "'Cause you know how to use that bow of yours and you watch my back better than others."

"Okay, I'll go with." She agreed.

"Good idea. Maybe you and Miri will see your chupacabra up there, too." T-Dog joked.

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked.

Dale, who brought over the guns to them explained. "What, you never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra."

The kid scoffed.

Daryl glared at him. "What are you brayin' at, jackass?"

The kid shook his head. "So you believe in a blood-suckin' dog?"

"Do you believe dead people walkin' around?" Daryl threw back, making Miri bite her lip to stop the laughter.

The kid rolled his eyes and reached for the rifle on the hood of the car but Rick stopped him. "Hey, hey! Ever fire one before?

"Well, if I'm goin' out, I want one."

"Yeah and people in hell want Slurpees." Daryl looked over at Miri and motioned for them to go with a tilt of his head.

She gave Rick a kiss on the cheek before following Daryl towards the stables. She waited outside as Daryl went inside to get a horse. She spotted Alice helping Lori and Carol with folding and was wearing one of Dale's hats to keep the Sun out of her eyes.

Daryl came out with a pretty brown horse with a white spot on its nose and socks. He got on and held out his hand to help her up.

Once on, she wrapped her arms around his waist once she got comfortable and she felt him tense up a bit. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'." Daryl shifted around a bit, not use to this kind of contact and closeness, then moved the horse forward towards the woods.

While riding through the forest, she used her bow to hunt squirrels that he pointed out. He would place the squirrels that they gathered in a bag tied to the horse. He would then hand her the arrow back as he placed the squirrel in the bag.

"Whoa." Daryl stopped the horse as he looked down a slope to a creek, spotting something laying in the mud at the bottom.

She noticed what he was looking at. "What is that?"

"Don't know." She got off the horse so he could get off. "Stay here, so the horse don't run off."

She held the horse's reins as he slid down the slope toward the creek, crossbow ready.

Daryl made it to the creek and picked the item up. He held it up and yelled. "It's her doll." He looked around and bellowed. "Sophia!"

Miri listened for any movement around as Daryl started to climb back up towards where she and the horse was. The only sound they could hear around was birds cawing, but it was too far away. Miri climbed onto the horse and held out her hand to help Daryl on, but he just stared at the offered hand with a frown. "What?"

"Shouldn't I be in front?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Just get on, I promise I won't tell Carol." She gave him a smirk.

He narrowed his eyes at her but didn't grab her hand. "What the hell you talkin' about?"

She shook her head. "Never mind, ignore my ramblings. Come on, we better get going." She held out her hand even more for Daryl to take. They had to get going.

Daryl looked to her hand then to her face, taking in the sight of sunlight peeking through the tree leaves to shine on her. He grabbed it and climbed behind her, but he couldn't put his hands on her waist like she did to him. He worried she'll know how nervous he was just by being this close, and in this type of position of his crotch so close to her ass. He really shouldn't think about that.

Miri looked over her shoulder to look at him. "I think it's safer if you held on, Daryl." His jaw was tight and he slowly put his hands on her waist, the warmth and roughness going through her t-shirt. "Ready?" she whispered. He grunted, signaling he was. She turned the horse around. "Where do we go?" he pointed to the right and she led the horse that way.

The horse started to grunt and move around uneasily. "Easy, easy." She tried to calm the horse. The horse didn't listen as it started to neigh in terror and stand on its back legs, making Daryl slip off and dragging Miri down with him. She screamed as she and Daryl slid down some rocks and landing in water.

Miri's back and hands stung from sliding down the rocks.

"Son of a bitch." Daryl groaned, panting.

Miri sat up and looked over to Daryl. He was laying there panting and grabbing his side. "Daryl?" He just grunted and gasped. She crawled over to him, gasping when she saw blood on his head and in the water. "You're hurt." She removed his hand from his side and gasped. "Oh my God."

There was a bolt in his side.

Daryl grunted in pain.

"We got to get you out of the water." Miri put her arm under his neck and slowly sat him up, his groans of pain in her ear. "I'm sorry, but I got to move you."

She put his arm around her shoulder and he held his side to make sure the bolt wouldn't move and hurt him even more. She moved him carefully out of the water to a small patch of dry land in the middle of the creek. She removed his hand. "Daryl? You got to stay awake." She lightly tapped his face so he could open his eyes again.

He slowly opened them and looked at her. He groaned when she put her hand near the bolt in his side. "Fuck."

She slowly sat him up.

He panted as he took out his knife and cut off his sleeves. She watched as he tied the ends together then wrapped them around his middle and the bolt, to keep it in place.

She took his knife and cut off the bottom part of her soaked white shirt. She wrapped the pieces around her hands, so they wouldn't get infected.

"You alright?" Daryl grunted as he stood up using a branch, he'd seen her wrapping her hands and felt bad for dragging her down with him.

"You're the one that's more hurt than I am." She joked as she stood up, back stinging from the wet t-shirt sticking to it. She looked around. "Where's my bow?"

He shook his head. "Don't know. Don't even know where my crossbow is."

She looked around. "Maybe it's in the water." She started to waddle towards the water when something moving in the bushes caused her to stop.

"Hurry." Daryl called out, worried since she was too far away from him to help in his condition.

She dove down into the water and felt along the floor for anything. She hit her hand on something hard. She grabbed it and rose to the surface. She raised the thing in her hand and saw it was Daryl's crossbow. She waddled over to Daryl and handed it to him. "I only found this."

He grabbed it, keeping himself from looking at her soaked shirt, and held it as she came out of the water.

She helped Daryl move more towards land, near where they fell and looked up. It was going to be a long trip and even longer since Daryl was seriously injured. She saw Daryl take a step and groaned, leaning on the stick. She went around him and under him so he could be leaning on her back.

He panicked and tried to move away, but the quick action made him groan in pain. "What the hell are you doin'?"

"I have a plan." She took the stick from his hands and made him wrap his arm from the top of her right shoulder to her left side. "You can't move that much without hurting yourself more, so I'll drag us up." She stabbed the stick into the dirt and pushed Daryl and herself up a bit. She moved three or four paces up with Daryl kicking them up a bit. She reached for a small tree and pulled, panting hard and hearing Daryl panting and groaning in her ear.

They were half way up when she stopped, needing to stop to catch her breath. "Daryl, kick up in three." She waited for Daryl to nod before she counted to three and with Daryl's help, they jumped to reach another tree.

She flattened herself onto the dirt with Daryl on top of her, the dirt was soft and crumbling under her fingers.

Daryl started to move a bit, the friction of his crotch rubbing against her was causing him to shuffle his feet and that made him slip, dragging her down with him.

The last thing either remember was a ripping sound, tumbling down the dirt and green before the air was knocked out of them.

Green blur was all Daryl saw when he tried to open his eyes fully.

That started to clear up when something yellow came into his view. He blinked a couple times until it showed Miri smiling down at him. She had her long hair slightly curled and it framed her face.

"Wh-what are you doin'?" He whispered hoarsely.

She didn't say anything, just smirked, then she crawled over his body until she was sitting on his hips.

He weakly place his hands on her warm hips, causing her to smirk over him. She was wearing the swimsuit from the magazine he had in his tent.

"I've seen the way you watch me," she purred as she ran her fingers through his hair. "And I've been watching you." She nipped at his lips. "And I got to say, I like it." She gave him a wink before capturing his mouth with hers.

Her lips were suddenly pulled away from his to show Merle pulling her head back as he looked down at Daryl.

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better." He smirked down at Daryl as he spoke.

"Merle." Daryl grunted, remembering the arrow in his side and feeling the pain again like a truck hit him in the side.

"What's goin' on here? You takin' a siesta or somethin'?" Merle looked at Miri. "Or maybe you're getting' yourself some pussy, finally."

"A shitty day, bro." Daryl swallowed a grunt of pain, holding onto Miri's hips still.

Merle chuckled. "Like me to get you a pillow? Maybe rub your feet? Or do you want me to leave for this little bitch can rub you off one? Maybe get your dick wet?"

"Screw you." Daryl voice was a whisper as he cursed at his brother, who was still holding Miri's hair.

"You're the one screwed from the looks of it." Merle bent down but still held onto Miri. "All them years I spent tryin' to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lyin' in the dirt like a used rubber. You're gonna die out here, little brother. And for what? A girl." He spat.

"They lost a little girl."

"So you got a thing for little girls now?" Merle brought Miri closer to his face and smelled her hair. "I didn't think you did with this hot piece of ass floatin' around your damn mind all day."

"Shut up." Daryl hissed.

Merle ignored him. "'Cause I noticed you ain't out lookin' for old Merle no more."

"Tried like hell to find you, bro." Daryl tried to explain.

"Like hell you did." Merle growled. "You split, man. Lit out first chance you got."

"You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you. Rick and I, we did right by you."

Merle scrunched his nose. "This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cutoff my own hand?" Daryl looked at his hand to see it was there. "This who we're talkin' about here? You his bitch now? or you her bitch?" he grinned at Miri.

"I ain't nobody's bitch." Daryl responded quickly, use to this talk with Merle.

"You're a joke is what you are, playin' errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers and democrats. You're nothin' but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughin' at you behind your back. You know that, don't you?" Merle looked to Miri. "Especially this one." Her face was blank as Merle licked her face. "I got a little news for you, son. One of these days, they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dog shit."

Daryl's eyes started to close again from exhaustion but Merle slapped his face. "Hey. They ain't your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you'd go back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me and fuck this bitch senseless." He got closer to Daryl's face. "Now you listen to me. Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Ain't nobody ever will."

He stood up with Miri next to him, glaring down at him in disgust. "Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in. Let's go."

"Daryl!" Miri's voice was muffled. "Daryl, get up!" her voice was getting clearer as she called out to him.

Daryl closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Daryl!"

Miri's scream made him jump as a walker almost bit into his leg. The blonde tackled the walker to the ground with a stick in her hand, which she used to stab it several times. She was gasping for breath as she rolled off the body.

Daryl noticed another walker coming up behind her that she didn't notice. He panicked and grabbed the arrow from his side, painfully ripping it out so he could place it in his crossbow. "Miri!" He called out so she could move. "Move!"

She sat up and slowly stared to crawl away as best as she could.

He pulled the string back and placed the arrow, firing it. It hit the walker right in the head and it landed at Miri's feet.

"Jesus." Miri gasped. She slowly turned towards him and he blushed at the sight. "That was too close."

The front of her shirt was tore and stretched and the shirt she wore over it was missing most of the front.

"What happened to your shirt?" He gasped as he held his side, looking away from her.

"You," she paused as she slowly stood up, showing her back and side all scratched up. "When we fell, you ripped my shirt off. Some of the pieces are over there." She pointed to the water were there were some fabric floating around.

Damnit, seeing her like that was never gonna leave his mind. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off carefully, not wanting to mess with the hole in his side any more. "Here," He held it up towards her. "Put it on. Don't want Rick and Shane rippin' me a new asshole when they see you with no shirt on."

She smiled and nodded, thankful for something to cover her. She slowly put it on, wincing when the shirt touched her back. "Thanks. By the way, I ended up finding my bow when we stopped tumbling." She motioned with her head over to where she had come from before she tackled the walker. There on the ground was her bow and some of her arrows. "We got to add pressure to that." She pointed to his bloody side.

She limped over to where the bow was and came back with a white bundle in her hands and her bow in the other, the arrows she had left were in her quiver that she tied to her belt so it wouldn't touch her back. She leaned the bow against the rock behind him and started to fold the cloth into a square.

She carefully moved the sleeves he used to hold the arrow and placed the cloth onto the spot the hole was in, then she placed the sleeves over it to hold it in place. "There you go."

"I didn't need your help." He glared at her as he slapped her hands away, the memory of Merle still fresh in his mind.

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Whatever." She walked away and started to look up at the way they came, still limping a bit.

"Son of a bitch was right." He mumbled under his breath.

He managed to grab a squirrel that had fallen from their bag and cut it open. He took the meat inside and ate some of it, the warm blood running down his chin. He looked up at Miri and saw she had her nose scrunched up.

He looked away and continued to eat. He needed the meat from the squirrel for some nutrition since he lost so much blood.

'She probably thinks I'm a damn caveman.' He thought, bringing himself down.

'Why should you care what she thinks, little D? She's not family.' Merle echoed in his head as he chewed.

"Ready to go again?" Miri's question got him looking at her again. His shirt on her looked baggy and it showed off her arms and the top of her cleavage from how long it was.

He changed his sight towards the walkers on the ground. "Not yet." He limped his way towards the walkers and cut their ears off. He put them on a string of rope and put it around his neck. He walked passed Miri and started to slowly climb but winced when his foot slipped.

Miri sighed loudly and moved in front of him again. He went to move away from her again but she just dragged his arm across her chest. "No fighting, you're wasting time." She turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye. "Try not to move so much this time."

He grumbled and went to pull away but she dragged him up with her. He could feel her legs shaking against his as they climbed and the birds were squawking around them.

"Please, don't feed the birds." Merle laughed from the top of the ridge. "What's the matter, Darylina? You lettin' a girl help you around? Throw away that purse and climb for yourself!"

Daryl pushed Miri and himself up a bit more by pushing his feet on the ground when he felt her legs shaking again.

"I liked it better when you was missin'." He whispered lowly to Merle.

Miri looked back at him when she heard the whisper, but ignored it and continued. She needed to get Daryl medical attention.

Merle belted out in a laugh. "Come on, don't be like that. I'm on your side."

"Yeah? Since when?" Daryl mumbled before his foot slipped a bit and but Miri pulled on his arm with her body towards the tree she was holding to keep him from falling again.

"You okay back there?" she looked back at him with worry in her eyes and then down the way they climbed.

He nodded and stayed quiet.

She continued pulling them up while he kicked them higher.

"Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass." Merle smirked down at Daryl.

"You never took care of me." Daryl scoffed. "You talk a big game, but you was never there." He felt his anger fuel him to help Miri move faster as he continued to mumble to himself. "Hell, you ain't here now. Guess some things never change."

"Well, I'll tell you what, I'm as real as your chupacabra." Merle gave him a wink as they stopped to gain their breaths.

"I know what I saw." Daryl replied weakly.

"Daryl." Miri panted as she touched her back, feeling blood soak onto the shirt and skin. "You're losing more blood."

Daryl just grunted as an answer. He was dizzy, so he slowly placed his head down on Miri's wet hair and shoulder.

"Daryl? Daryl, you need to stay awake. Come on, we're almost at the top." Miri tried to keep him awake.

He opened his eyes and looked up. She was telling the truth.

Miri tightens his hold on her and she started to climb. When they were close to the top, she tried to pull both of them up but wasn't strong enough.

He noticed and used his last bit of strength to kick the ground hard, sending them flying up.

He landed on top of Miri, both of them panting hard and wincing in pain. He tried to ignore the fact she was pressed up against him, her hair in his face, her chest pressed around his arm as his hand was on her waist.

Miri went to move, whimpering from the stinging of him on the scraps of her back but she unknowingly rubbed herself more against him.

"Stop." Daryl gasped. "Don't-don't move." She froze under him, feeling the hard poke against her. He didn't need her to feel how turned on he was just by being this close to her and this position. They stayed still as they tried to gain back their breaths. He tried to think of things to make himself go soft, but it didn't help when he could smell and hear Miri under him panting like that. He decided to roll off and go on his good side, his back facing her so she couldn't see his boner.

"We have to get back before the sun goes down." Miri groaned, leaves crunching from her moving.

Daryl softened enough to turn and look at her.

She was on her hands and knees, her thighs shaking a bit. She sighed and pushed herself to her feet.

He followed after her, slowly standing up holding his side.

"You still dizzy?" She asked concerned. "You were mumbling to yourself when I felt your head on my shoulder."

"I'm fine." He started to limp away from her. "Keep up."

Miri rolled her eyes and followed after.

They must've been walking for nearly an hour and a half when they finally saw the farm house through the trees.

"God, I've never been so happy to see this place." Miri mumbled as they limped out of the forest. She was exhausted. They were both wet, dirty, blood, hurt and exhausted.

Daryl was dragging his crossbow on the ground behind him and the only sound between them was their wheezing breaths.

Four people started to run towards them. It was Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog. Rick pointed a gun at Daryl's head, slightly shaking from seeing them in that shape.

"Is that Daryl and Miri?" Glenn asked as the two stood there, too tired to say anything.

Rick looked over at Miri wide eyed, seeing the blood on her.

Daryl took a deep breath. "It's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head." Everyone relaxed and put down their guns. "You gonna pull the trigger or what?"

Suddenly, two gun shots went off somewhere and Daryl fell onto something soft with a searing pain at the side of his head.

Miri screamed as she dropped down with Daryl, barely dodging the bullet aimed for her.

"No! No! No!" Rick screamed.

Daryl touched where the pain was and saw blood.

Shane and Rick helped Daryl up and put on arm around their shoulders. "I was kiddin', man." He replied, a bit shaken up from the brush of death.

"Come on." Rick spoke to T-Dog. "T-Dog help Miranda back to the farm."

Daryl peeked a look at Miri to see she was being picked up by T-Dog. "She got hit?" He whispered to Rick.

Rick shook his head. "No, nearly though."

"Oh, my God." Andrea gasped as she ran over. "Oh, my God, are they dead?"

"Unconscious. You just grazed him and missed Miri." Rick answered her as they dragged Daryl away.

"But look at them." Glenn sounded worried. "What the hell happened? He's wearing ears and she's wearing his shirt."

Rick tugged on the rope of ears, breaking it and stuffed it into his shirt so no one else saw. "Let's keep that to ourselves."

"Guys," T-Dog called out, holding up the doll Miri had handed him. "Isn't this Sophia's?"