Happy Mother's Day!

Now this chapter is much shorter than usual. But I'm thinking about making them around this length now so they'll get to you faster. I'm sorry I haven't updated since the shelter. The move was rough and for a while all I wanted to do was sleep and ignore the world. I'm more back to myself now.

I hope you enjoy. I've already started on the next chapter.

(And yes I changed my username, I like this one much better)

Toby and Carl were sitting together on the bumper of the RV. Dale was there also, having been close when Shane beckoned on Rick and Lori.

T-Dog was nearby as well, glancing at them from time to time as he brought some bags of supplies out from one of the cars they brought back from the highway.

Shane had his arms crossed as he stood with Rick, who was running his hands through his hair in exasperation.

"How the hell did this happen?" Lori was looking from Carl to Toby, "what were you thinking?"

Neither of the children looked up from their shoes. Carl had his hands on his lap, while Toby had hers under her thighs, hoping to hide their trembling. She could feel her body shaking from fear and anticipation. She knew they were in deep trouble and had no idea how much worse it would get.

But she could certainly imagine.

Lori didn't notice her trembling. She was eyeing Carl, trying to figure out what drove him to do such a thing, watching him as he sat silently, she couldn't seem to shake her disbelief.

Dale stepped forward with an apologetic expression, "well, it's my fault. I let him into the RV, he said he wanted a walkie. That you sent him for one," he finished, motioning to Rick.

"So on top of everything else, he lied." Lori put her hand son her knees and bent in front of Carl, in a failed attempt to meet his eyes. "Carl, where is this coming from?"

Carl didn't move or say anything, Lori narrowed her eyes, briefly glancing at Toby. She could see Toby was much more anxious than Carl was, which rose her suspicions.

"Carl," she repeated, "was it you who took the gun?"

There was a long hesitation. Then Carl nodded without looking up.

Lori felt doubtful, "did someone tell you to do it?"

Carl shook his head.

"Carl, look at me," Carl slowly rose his head, meeting his mother's eyes. "Did Toby steal the gun?"

Carl's eyes widened and Toby's head shot up.

"Lori," Rick jumped in, "let's not jump to conclusions."

"Carl wants to learn how to shoot. He came to me earlier, asked me to teach him. Now, it's none of my business but I'm happy to do it." Shane said.

"So, his desire to learn how to shoot leads directly to stealing. That's what you're saying." Lori snapped at Shane, standing up straight.

"Of course not."

"You know Carl, he wouldn't steal. He's a good kid."

"They're both good kids," T-Dog threw in. They turned to him, not expecting his input. T-Dog didn't plan to interfere, it wasn't his business. But he stopped his task of sorting supplies when he decided he didn't like where the argument was going.

"How can you justify that? She's wandering off all the time, making us look for her. She almost got herself killed at the CDC. Then, she almost got Carl killed with her going into that kitchen at the school."

Toby's eyes were unbelievably wide and her face was flushed with exasperation and frustration. She opened her mouth, trying to force out an objection, "I-I didn't-"

"-Quiet," Lori said in a warning tone, shooting Toby a look before returning to the conversation. "Have you already forgotten? This isn't the first time she's stolen a gun."

"Lori, stop." Shane demanded, getting angry aswell, "you aren't being fair."

Carl's jaw had dropped, at a loss for words. He couldn't believe what he caused. The guilt settled into his stomach, making him feel sick. He looked at Toby, who was visibly shaking now, her eyes were wet. Carl was sure that when she finally blinked, tears would fall. Toby was switching her gaze all around, watching the exchange of the adults furiously. Carl couldn't tell if she was more angry or terrified, but he didn't understand why she would be so scared. Carl knew he had to speak up to stop it all, but everytime he opened his mouth, someone else was speaking.

Toby wanted so bad to yell, to scream, to stop it all. She wanted badly to defend herself, she almost felt guilty, wanting it to just be Carl taking the punishment so she could go and hide. But her fear greatly outruled her guilt.

She wanted to tell them, to say something. But she knew better, she knew better than to argue or talk back. It could just make everything so much worse. She had been in trouble with these people before, and each time no punishment was really carried out, but she was sure it would finally happen. And this time it wasn't even something she did, and she would be punished for it.

"Oh, come on. Leave the girl alone," T-Dog shook his head at Lori incredulously. "It's not like she pulled it out and started shooting, she was scared. There was a lot going on that day."

"And that gives her right to take a gun?"

"Jesus Christ, woman." T-Dog exclaimed. T-Dog had his mouth open, preparing to keep being defensive, but he didn't know what to say. Lori was being completely unreasonable and it almost seemed like she was targeting Toby. Instead of responding again, T-Dog tried to piece it together. He hadn't known Lori to behave this way. Then he began to wonder if she was moody, possibly PMSing.

Shane was at a loss as well, Lori had always been calm and reasonable toward Toby, or at least she tried to be. To him, Lori's behaviour was nothing less than destructive, she was destroying the bridge that had slowly been building between Toby and everyone else. One look at the small girl and he could see it. There was another reason for her behaviour that he knew it must be, she was hormonal. Rick knew why, Lori had told him just that very morning, and it wasn't because she was on her period.

He just hoped he could calm her down, so they could stay on the issue and solve it.

"It wasn't her, mom." Carl said, his voice anything but confident. "I took it."

"Honey," Lori's voice became sweeter, "you don't have to take the blame for her. She has to finally understand that her actions have consequences."

Carl's eyebrows furrowed, even he didn't understand why it was so hard to confess his actions. "No, it was me. Toby was making me put it back, she didn't want me to get in trouble."

"Why did you take it in the first place?" Rick asked.

"I wanted to learn how to shoot. I thought . . . I'm sorry. It's not Toby's fault. She had nothing to do with it, just me."

Toby stood abruptly as Carl finished his confession. She rushed away from all of them without saying a word.

Rick turned, about to follow, "Wait-"

Lori put her hand on Rick's shoulder to stop him. "-don't. Let her cool off."

"Cool off?" T-Dog echoed. "Who's the one that fired her up in the first place? Daryl was right, you really are a piece of work."

"T-" Shane started.

"-Did you not see the look on her face?" T-Dog looked back at Lori with a harsh expression. "Hope you realize, any shred of respect that girl had for you, or any of us . . . it's gone now."

T-Dog turned away from all of them, going back to his task at the cars, shaking his head as he went.

With Glenn's help, T-Dog finished his task of sorting and putting away supplies.

"I'll go see if dinner will be ready soon."

"Should be," T-Dog replied, looking at the sky as Glenn walked off. The sun was setting, making the sky not as bright as it once was.

Carol and Lori had been working on dinner for quite some time, though their was the incident with the gun Lori was distracted by. In the end, Lori went back to help Carol while Rick tended to Carl.

The events with Toby had T-Dog feeling disturbed. His mind would go to her every so often while he was sorting supplies, then he would glance around, wondering where she went. But after running away like she did, he hadn't seen her once.

T-Dog thought about it while looking around once again, until Glenn called out to him a moment later from the porch.

"They're ready!"

T-Dog sent Glenn a nodd and Glenn retreated back into the house. T-Dog's eyes wandered over to Daryl's tent, he hadn't seen him in a while either. After thinking about it, he started toward the tent, it was his first guess on where she would be. He stood in front of it, feeling awkward.

"Hey, Toby?" He called softly, staring expectantly at the tent. He wasn't expecting her to emerge from behind it.

"What're you doing back there?"

Toby didn't respond, she only stared back.

"Everyones gatherin' for dinner," he told her.

"I'm in trouble?" Her tone sounded as if she was asking, but her expression seemed more expectant.

"Nah, Carl explained it to them already. You're not in trouble."

She didn't say anything to that. Her expectant expression seemed to be wiped clean, and she stared blankly at T-Dog.

"Come on, let's go have dinner," he prompted.

"No."

"You're not gonna eat?"

"You gonna beat me if I don't?" she snapped suddenly.

T-Dog was shocked into silence, his eyes wide. It took a few moments for him to find his words, "geez, kid. No, I wouldn't do that."

"What if I get in trouble again?" Her blank expression fell, she looked curious, yet worried.

"No, why would-"

"-Go," T-Dog spun around, hearing Daryl behind him.

"I was just telling her that-"

"-Foods ready, I got it," Dary said simply, as if dismissing him.

"You can come too, man." T-Dog rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. The guilt from leaving Merle behind resurfaced, and suddenly, that was all he could think about.

Daryl continued to silently glare at T-Dog.

"Okay . . . see you there then . . . maybe," T-Dog looked down in shame and excused himself. Daryl was silent as T-Dog glanced once more at Toby.

"You can't say shit like that," Daryl told her once T-Dog was gone.

"Shit like what?"

"About gettin' beat, they're gonna think there's somethin' wrong with you."

"There's somethin' wrong with them," Toby jabbed a finger into the direction of the house. "Everythin's different. Every time I get in trouble they don't do anythin', like it never happened. I keep waitin' for it, nothin' happens. These people can't make up their minds. I'm so sick of waitin'."

Daryl was silent, watching at Toby put the corners of her palms to her eyes. Her breathing was slightly laboured as she tried to regain her composure. Daryl wasn't used to her saying so much at once, or so franticlly. He wondered if she would cry and really hoped she wasn't going to.

"Well, stop," he finally said. "No one here is gonna be beatin' you."

Toby lowered her hands to look up at Daryl, her eyes shining with unshed tears, "'cause Daddy's not here? 'Cause I'm not their problem?"

"No because it's not fucking normal," Daryl spat out his words angrily.

Toby's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Daryl.

Daryl sighed, at a loss as to what to tell her. He didn't want to talk about any of it, he understood her anxiousness to a certain level and did want to help ease her mind, but he couldn't do that without explaining exactly why she didn't have to be scared. And it seemed that would be much more difficult than expected. It became obvious to Daryl that Toby had a very different sense of right and wrong, that that was how she was brought up, and it would be a challenge to work her out of that mind-frame.

When he first discovered this, he thought he could wait it out and she would eventually learn how things really worked, but at that moment he was thinking very differently.

"Look," he sighed again, "this is a fucked up conversation and there's enough of that shit goin' on right now. Let's just go eat, I'm starvin'."

Daryl turned around, starting to walk toward the house.

"Y-You're goin'?"

He shrugged a shoulder and glanced at her as he continued walking, "yeah, didn't eat, didn't get to go huntin'. Got a better idea?"

She shook her head.

"Let's go. And get your damn shoes on."

In the dining room of the Greene household, there were two tables set side by side, made to seat all the people gathering for dinner. The first table, the smaller one, they decided to seat the younger ones together; Maggie, Beth, Jimmy, Carl and Toby. The second table seated the rest of the adults.

Toby was reluctant to separate from Daryl when first walking in, but when Dayl went to a seat without any objection she decided to follow his lead. She went to the seat Patricia pointed out for her without saying a word.

When Toby approached her seat her heart seemed to drop into her stomach at the realization she would be sitting next to Carl. She was reluctant once again, she didn't want to be talking to Carl again anytime soon. Feeling her stomach twist in hunger, she forced herself to sit down but refused to look his way.

Carl shifted in his seat nervously, guilt making his stomach churn. He glanced at her though the corner of his eye, but she was staring down at the table.

"I don't believe I've met you before," Patricia stopped where Guillermo was seated, she was helping hand out some plates. Lori and Rick were doing the same.

"No, señora. Guillermo," He introduced himself calmly.

"Patricia," she said as she placed the plate in front of Guillermo.

"Gracias."

Hershel was watching Patricia carefully, he hadn't been expecting her to be joining them for dinner. He could tell she was trying desperately to keep her composure and force a small smile. She had just lost her husband, Hershel thought about telling her to go rest, but didn't want to embarrass her or make her feel worse.

Guillermo received many looks of surprise at his responses to Patricia. The group was slightly weary of Guillermo, not knowing what to expect from his behaviour. Guillermo, meanwhile, pretended he didn't notice.

Maggie came into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying two plates, "where's Carol?"

"I already brought her a plate," Lori explained as she sat in her seat beside Rick. "She wanted to stay with Sophia."

Maggie placed the plates in front of Toby and Carl. Carl thanked her and Toby simply nodded her head in Maggie's direction. She had already brought her own, Jimmy's and Beth's plates to the table.

"Well, of course," Hershel sent a small smile Lori's way, "I wouldn't expect anything less from a mother. Now, join hands for saying grace."

Hershel outstretched his right hand to Patricia and his left to Rick. Some of the group were hesitant, not accustomed to the gesture, but complied anyway. Daryl however had snatched his hands away before anyone could even attempt to take hold of them.

Carl was looking at his mother and father, Lori sent him a nod, urging him to go along with it. Carl did as he was silently told and took Maggie's hand when she offered it. Then he reached for Toby's hand, but as soon as their skin made contact, Toby flinched, snatching her hand away while shooting him a look of annoyance.

Beth, who was on the other side of Toby, offered her hand to her. Toby merely glanced at it and looked away, keeping both hands on her lap.

Hershel closed his eyes and bowed his head, "bless us, Oh Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen."

When the prayer was finished, Maggie opened her eyes to see Toby was looking around with a blank expression. Everyone disconnected their hands and began to eat.

Seeing it was then okay to eat, Toby followed suit.

As Maggie began to eat herself she glanced from Carl to Toby. She couldn't imagine having to live through this as a kid. Was there even time for them to be kids these days? And if there was, what did they do? Unlike those living in the Greene household, the group lived in fear with the dead walking. She couldn't imagine what it was like outside of their safe land. Sure, she had made the occasional trip into town to the pharmacy, but that was always uneventful. Well, except for that last trip with Glenn . . .

Maggie pushed Glenn from her mind, going back to her train of thought. To her, it was obvious these people had been struggling, she wondered how the kids dealt with it, surely they felt the stress of their parents.

Maggie cleared her throat a bit loudly to gain their attention, they both shifted their eyes to her and she smiled kindly, "So what are you guys doing for fun? Do you even have time for fun with everything that's going on?"

After asking her question, she watched as Toby went back to her food, taking small bites.

"I like comic books," Carl answered. "I took my comic collection with me when we left the house, so I have those. I had some toy trucks with but I left them behind somewhere . . . There isn't much else, and we're not allowed to go anywhere so . . ."

"What about games? Play any games together?"

"She doesn't like games . . ."

Maggie gave an apologetic smile, switching her gaze to Toby, who didn't looked up from her plate.

"What do you like then?"

Toby didn't answer. After a few moments went by Carl did instead. "She likes comics too, I showed her some of mine and now she's a fan."

Carl began to smile, feeling proud he introduced her to one of his interests, giving them something they had in common. Carl thought that if he made it so she didn't have to talk, she'd feel better about what happened earlier.

Maggie kept her eyes on Toby, smile slowly fading, wondering if she would speak for herself. Instead, Toby just took another bite of her food.

Dale's voice cut in from the other table where he had been listening in on the conversation, causing Maggie to look in his direction.

"Oh, that one is an avid reader, no matter the genre. She'd read a car repair manual if you gave it to her," he was leaning over to them, talking in mock whisper as if he was telling a secret he wanted everyone to know.

Toby swallowed her food nervously. She didn't take another bite, she just held her fork tightly and stared at her plate. Carl turned his head to her, knowing the conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn for her.

Toby silently begged for someone, anyone to say anything to move the conversation away from that subject. She didn't want to be there in the first place, she was only there because there was food and Daryl was there. Before talking to Daryl before dinner, she had actually hoped he would show up with game from hunting so she wouldn't have to have dinner with them.

"She went through all the books I had with me in the first two weeks we spent together."

Daryl snorted aloud causing several to look his way. He didn't look up, just continued to eat. He was thinking about when Toby failed to read a label for a reason he didn't know.

Toby kept her head down, embarrassment made her cheeks blush. She wished she could just evaporate and be done with the stupid conversation.

"Oh, really?" Maggie questioned, momentarily narrowing her eyes at Daryl before turning back to Toby.

"I have plenty of books," Beth said. "You can borrow anything you like, I don't mind."

Maggie nodded, "oh yeah, that's true. Beth has quite the collection."

"What have you read?" Beth asked, trying to carry on the conversation.

Toby had been trying to keep calm throughout the conversation, but it seemed the invisible string in her mind that had been holding everything together had finally snapped. She didn't understand why so many people were suddenly talking to her about books and reading, when nobody had ever brought it up in the years previous.

She finally had enough. She stood abruptly, causing the legs of the chair to screech loudly against the floor. Then, she was out of the room, faster than anyone could comprehend.

Beth looked at Maggie, "what? Did I say something?"

Maggie just shook her head with a baffled expression, not sure what happened. She glanced around, wondering if anyone else knew. She saw Daryl shake his head and continue eating. Her blood began to boil.

Maggie's attention was dragged away from Daryl to Carl, who was shifting in his seat nervously. Carl's head was down just as Toby's was seconds before, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Are you feeling all right?" Maggie asked him, concerned.

Hearing Maggie, Lori turned to her son, studying his face. She recognized the expression, he wore one exactly like it when he broke a window on their garden shed and did his best to look like he had no idea that anything had happened to it.

"What is it, Carl?" Lori thought that if he'd done something else that day, it'd be better if they found out right away rather than later. Lori was still baffled by the incident with the gun, making her nervous to think what else he might've done.

"N-Nothing, " he stuttered while pretending to be busy with his food, but he was only pushing it around the plate. His thoughts and emotions made him lose his appetite. He felt responsible for Toby being upset, guilt about her almost getting in trouble earlier. And then she had to run off, feeling cornered and embarrassed by the conversation. He wasn't sure what to tell them, if anything. Toby told him it wasn't a secret, but he could tell she didn't want to share it with anyone either.

Rick and Lori shared a look, it was obvious to them something was going on. But what? They wondered. To them, the kids were fine just a minute before. They knew there was no way they would get the information from Toby, so they would have to hale it out of their son.

Rick stood and motioned to the others, signaling that he would handle it. The others continued to say nothing. Rick walked around their table to get to where Carl was sitting. He squatted down next to his son, studying his profile for a moment since he didn't move to look at him. Carl was no longer playing with his food, instead he was just staring at the table.

"Carl, can you tell me what just happened?" He asked softly. Carl didn't say anything, but he did lift his head to glance around. He saw right away that the people all around them were trying to unsuccessfully hide that they were listening.

Carl turned to his father, contemplating what he should say.

"You know we can't help you or her if we don't know what's wrong," Rick pushed. "You understand that, right?"

After thinking about it a while longer, Carl confessed, "She can't read." He didn't want to tell, but he thought that if someone knew it wouldn't be brought up again and they wouldn't make her sad.

"What?" was all Rick could say, it definitely wasn't what he was expecting to hear. He looked back at Lori before quickly sliding his gaze around the table, trying to see if anyone had a clue. Apparently not if the open mouths were anything to go by.

"What did you say?" Dale was baffled, "I've seen her read, she spent hours on the roof of my RV with me doing just that."

"No she didn't, she doesn't know how. She told me the other day," Carl mumbled.

"Oh, damn," Daryl exhaled, lifting his elbow on the table and resting his forehead on his hand.

Maggie's head whipped around to him, "that's all you have to say? Oh damn? You should have done something about it a long time ago! Unbelievable," she whispered the last word under her breath.

"What the fuck is your problem? How should I know that?" He tossed his fork on the table angrily, just before he turned to glare at her, he saw Shane rise from his seat and leave the room.

"I don't have kids but I always thought, as a parent, it's your responsibility to-"

"-the hell? She's not my kid!" He growled back at her.

"Maggie, you are way over the line, apologize!" Hershel's voice boomed over the argument.

Maggie's mouth was parted in surprise and embarrassment. She was silent, struggling on what to say. She glanced around, waiting for someone to correct her and claim their relation, but no one did.

"She doesn't have family. She was with her father, but he's gone." Lori supplied, knowing that Maggie was trying to piece it together.

Maggie looked down at her plate. She recalled how earlier that day Daryl had come to check on Toby and advised her to put her shoes on. Before that there were a few times she'd seen Toby with him. She felt ridiculous for lashing out on the man who was obviously keeping an eye on the girl, even though she wasn't his.

"I'm sorry," Maggie apologized.

Daryl made a grunting sound and picked up his fork. He stared at Shane's empty chair as he began eating again. He really didn't want to be there any longer but he didn't see any point in wasting food. Daryl thought hard about leaving and going after Toby, but he guessed that was the reason Shane left. He decided to finish eating quickly and then go. The room was silent for several minutes, only the scrapping of silverware scraping against the plates could be heard.

Glenn, attempting to salvage the evening, broke the silence, He thought it would be an easy enough topic.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar? Dale found a good one. Somebody's gotta know how to play."

"Otis did, Patricia said quietly without looking at anyone.

"Yes." Hershel nodded, "and he was very good too."

It then occurred to Glenn that there was no longer such a thing as an easy enough topic.

Shane stepped out of the house and onto the porch. The light from the front door illuminated some of the yard and just outside of the light, he spotted Toby's small figure walking further away.

He called out to her and bounded down the porch steps. She stopped, turning to him briefly before continuing to walk in the opposite direction.

"Wait," he said as he approached her. Fortunately for him, she stopped, but she kept her back to him.

"What," she said, her voice cracking.

Shane ran a hand over his head, "I owe you an apology. I've been a complete asshole to you. Even from the start I was, without meaning to. I'm sorry."

Toby was confused, because her back was to him she didn't bother hiding her expression, he couldn't see anyways. She had shed a few tears, but right then, her bewilderment at his apology distracted her from crying.

"Huh? But . . . why?" she had no idea what else to say.

"Why what?"

"Why are you . . . sorry?" She said the last word quietly, as if it was foreign to her.

Shane wished she would turn around, "because you didn't deserve the way I treated you."

Toby still didn't turn, instead she looked down at her bare feet. She realized that she had left her shoes inside the house, everyone else had taken theirs off at the door so she had done the same.

"I've been . . . out of sorts lately." Shane had to think for a few moments, trying to figure out how to explain himself. "It's been stressful. I wasn't acting like myself, and because of that I thought it would be better to keep you away. That was why I yelled at you to go before. I was being stupid. I don't want to scare you off or leave you in the dark. I want to help you, I want to be there for you. I was doing it wrong before, I should've told you about your dad. I don't know where he went or what happened, but after so long, I should've told you he wasn't coming. I've been doing wrong by you since the start, that's why I'd to start over."

"Start over?" she echoed unsurely.

Shane stayed a few feet back, he wanted to reach out to her but thought better of it. He kept his distance to give her space.

"I want you to trust me. I want us to be able to trust each other. I want you to be able to trust me to make the right call."

Toby hesitated, thinking over Shane's words. Her frustration from before had almost completely evaporated. She finally turned to Shane, but only halfway. She looked up at him, her expression revealed to him her unsureness of the conversation. "Right call?"

Shane could barely contain his relief upon Toby finally meeting his eyes. Toby responding and giving eye contact were both signs that it wasn't going as bad as he thought it might.

Shane crouched down to her so he could be closer to eye level with her, "meaning, when I do something you trust I have a good reason and that reason is to keep you and the others safe."

Toby didn't respond to that. Shane thought hard, wondering how he could make things more clear.

When Shane thought of something, he turned his head and pointed to the barn. He looked back at her intently, "what do you think about that?"

Toby's eyes followed the direction of his hand, "the barn?"

"About what's in the barn."

Shane lowered his hand, watching as Toby stared hard at the barn. He was patient in waiting for her answer.

"They shouldn't be there," she answered quietly, still staring at the barn.

Shane practically beamed with reassurance at her answer, "And the right call would be to get rid of them, that would keep us safe. That's the right call."

Toby still didn't look away from the barn. She was processing what Shane was telling her. She was still very unsure of Shane, but she was sure she didn't want to be sleeping near any corpses, she saw nothing wrong with getting rid of them. She didn't understand why they were letting them stay in there.

After they were both silent for a while, Shane spoke, "we'll get back to that later. There's something else I want to talk to you about."

Toby finally turned back to him, looking expectant.

"About what happened in there," he motioned to the house.

Her eyes widened slightly and she began to turn away, hoping to make a quick escape. To stop her, Shane gently touched her arm, being cautious of any physical contact he gave her.

"Hey, don't go." Toby stopped at his words, but was once again, looking the other way. "I understand that you may feel embarrassed. But it's not a big deal. Sure, it's a useful skill to have but there are more important things to learn, especially now. The world is different, and it's still changing."

Toby looked back at him, her eyebrows scrunched together.

"Carl told us after you left," he explained. "I told you before we came here that when I got the chance, I'd teach you how to properly use a gun. I'm keeping my word, the most important thing for you to learn right now is how to defend yourself. Once you can do that, if you want to try and learn to read, I'll do my best to help."

She felt an odd sense of relief at Shane's words, they felt right. What did it matter that she couldn't read? It mattered much more that she could barely aim a gun, Her aim with her knives might've been better, but not in a way it would potentially save her life.

Toby knew there was no way she'd be able to kill a Walker on her own again, not unless it was lying on the ground before her, making it easy to stab it in the head. There was no way it would happen again, the first time under that RV back at the quarry, she was just lucky.

"Thank you, for hearing me out." He said, seeing she was thinking it all over. "You should go get some rest, I'm gonna go help clean up. We'll talk more about training tomorrow."

Shane stood and turned to walk back to the house.

Toby stood there, watching Shane leave. She was slightly shocked, was someone really going to show her how to hit the target?

When Daryl finished dinner he took his plate to the kitchen and cleaned it himself. Before leaving he saw Shane was helping the others clean up. As he walked passed, he tried to catch Shane's eye, wondering if he had really gone to see Toby and what he might've said. He looked oddly content with himself, Daryl even noticed him slightly smiling.

As he got onto the porch, he heard T-Dog call out to him so he turned around.

"What?" Daryl felt annoyed, he just wanted to go to his tent and get whatever awkwardness with Toby over and done with. He'd been thinking of what to say to her the rest of the dinner. He was tired, it'd been a long day. He didn't understand why T-Dog was suddenly around him and Toby.

"I was just wondering if you talked to Toby."

"I've been eatin'," Daryl snapped.

"No, no, I know that. I meant about earlier, what happened with Lori and Carl."

Daryl raised an eyebrow, "kid don't say much. Even to me."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure she was okay."

"That's why you were talkin' to her 'fore dinner," Daryl pointed out.

T-Dog nodded, "trying too, didn't go well."

Daryl thought how hesitant Toby was to go to the dinner, and he remembered her anxious tone when she'd been talking to T-Dog.

"Whatever it was, sure she's fine now," Daryl turned and walked down the porch steps. He heard T-Dog trying to tell him something but he just ignored him. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what happened, he didn't like Lori and definitely didn't want to hear more reasons to be annoyed with her, it was a waste of energy. He thought that if the kid wanted to tell him, she would.

Daryl went to his tent, inside he saw Toby lying on her back in Merle's sleeping bag. She lifted her head up to glance at him. She had his flashlight on, standing upright between the two sleeping bags, lighting up the tent.

Daryl zipped the tent closed behind him, then went to his sleeping bag. Toby didn't say anything, she was slightly anxious, she knew Daryl knew, just as Shane had. Daryl settled himself into his sleeping bag. They were both silent for several minutes, neither of them were even trying to pretend to sleep.

Daryl had thought over what to say several times, whatever he came up with sounded wrong. Even what he finally said, seemed even more wrong, "Can't read, huh?"

Toby felt her insides tense with anxiety, practically cringing at his words. She hadn't realized until the dinner how much she actually didn't want people to know.

Daryl was lying on his back, staring upwards. He didn't think she would respond, he knew there wasn't much to say to what he asked.

"It took me a while when I was a kid, to uh, figure it out I guess," he admitted. "Merle nearly gave up on me."

That's when Toby turned her head to him, surprised, "Merle?"

"Yeah. He taught me everything, mostly anyway."

"Did he teach you how to use your crossbow?"

Daryl shook his head, "nah, wasn't really his thing. My old man shot crossbow, I learned a bit from him then figured the rest out myself."

"What did Merle teach you?"

"Like I said . . . everything. He's been more my dad then my old man ever was. I probably shouldn't tell you most of the things he taught me."

"Merle said he left lots."

Daryl glanced at her, "he told ya that?"

She nodded.

Daryl looked away. He rubbed his eyes then sighed, "need the light tonight?"

"No."

Daryl reached for the flashlight and turned it off.

Toby spent the last several minutes before falling asleep wondering what life would've been like if she had a brother like Merle.

Now the opening scene and the dinner scene was curtesy of Rash007, she wrote those scenes herself. I revised them, and added more because you all see how I tend to over do it with detail. She did an awesome job, they're great scenes.

Again, sorry for the wait. Since the next chapter will be around this length I hope to have it done a lot sooner.

Tumblr: TobyJustGone

Thank you for all your support throughout the last few months. You've all been a wonderful help and I couldn't be more grateful for your wonderful reassurances.

-Penn