Appreciate the support for this story! Here's a long chapter to round out the weekend.

Chapter 34 - Riddle me this

"Woods?" Daryl offered a couple of mornings later. "Already went huntin' early so ya don't gotta see nothin' bein' killed."

God, he really was so damned sweet. But she wasn't about to push her luck and try telling him that again, so Tahlia just smiled, then gave an apologetic shrug.

"Can't today, sorry. Going on a run."

"What?" he said sharply, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't panic!" laughed Tahlia. "It's just me and Mich, you don't have to worry about me putting a whole bunch of people in danger."

Daryl still wasn't happy about it. "Where ya goin?"

"Apparently there's this little boutique place on one of the backroads down south that used to grow and sell herbs and microgreens, so we thought maybe they might have some soil, seeds, tools, stuff like that. Maybe people haven't thought to pick it over yet. Gonna shoot down there and check it out."

"I'm comin'." Daryl said immediately, and Tahlia rolled her eyes.

"You really don't trust me out there?!"

"Naw. Feel like I better come 'n look out for Mich. Make sure ya don't set her on fire or somethin' stupid like that."

Tahlia laughed and smacked his arm. "Set you on fire."

"Wouldn't put it damn well past ya!" Daryl teased, earning himself another smack. "Gonna get my shit, meet ya down by the cars."

They were on the road within the hour, Tahlia driving while Michonne sat shotgun, leafing through a wallet of CD's she'd found under the seat, and Daryl sprawled in the back, happy to try and catch a little bit of shut-eye since he'd been up early for watch before he went hunting pre-dawn that morning.

"Yes! Put the Chilli's on!" Tahlia pointed to a CD.

"Ooh yeah, good road trip album!" agreed Michonne, sliding it in the player and tapping along to the opening bars of Scar Tissue.

"No singin'!" Daryl called from the back.

"Dude, you wanted to crash the run, so you've just gotta put up with what you get!" Michonne retorted before belting out the first two lines of the song over the top of Daryl's tortured groan and Tahlia's laughter.

Really, he didn't mind though. He settled back into the seat and shut his eyes. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

On the dusty backroads, the farmland properties were few and far between, and thankfully, so were the walkers on the roadside. After the better part of two hours, Michonne pointed to a peeling sign up ahead and Tahlia slowed down, turning the car onto a gravel driveway.

"Alright… here we go." remarked Tahlia. "Hope you've still got some good stuff for us, Jackson's Herbs."

The tyres crunched on the metal as the car wound its way up to a small carpark, where there were four abandoned cars, one transit van on its side in the verge-side ditch, and one walker stumbling out from behind the van to meet them. Jumping out of the car, Daryl took the walker down effortlessly, then the three of them cautiously checked their surroundings before deeming it safe to head to the main building just ahead.

The door was swinging off its hinges so they pushed inside, quickly checking for danger, but all was quiet so far. They'd stepped into an open plan entrance area, where a curved wooden reception desk fronted an office space behind, filing cabinets and bookshelves clustered against the back wall.

"Hey, we could take some of the stationery back for the kids. Look, there's highlighters and coloured pens. Ooh, and mints!" Michonne said, leaning over the desk and picking up a mint from a glass bowl, popping it out of its wrapping and straight into her mouth.

"Best clear this building first." suggested Daryl as he beckoned for the women to follow him further inside.

Moving down the corridor to the left of the reception desk, a door led through to a large cafeteria space, the long trestle tables and bench seats the only furniture in the area. A rasping noise sounded from the far end of the room where the serving benches led through a hole in the wall into the adjoining kitchen, and they could see a walker in the kitchen leaning over the bench, its nails clacking and scraping on the stainless steel as it attempted to climb over and reach them. Moving towards it, Daryl raised his crossbow and fired mid-stride, easily taking it down, then dragged the bolt out of the corpse as he passed by.

He gestured to the door. "C'mon. Nothin' to see here, let's go back out."

Michonne followed close behind, but Tahlia peered through into the kitchen.

"I'm just gonna go through here then I'll meet you in the hall." she called as she slid across the bench into the kitchen space.

Daryl and Michonne had cleared the employee bathrooms ("Toilet paper and tampons!" Michonne exclaimed happily, piling her find into the corridor) when there was a strangled cry from Tahlia and a loud thud, which had Daryl spinning on his heel and racing back to the kitchen door. Bursting through and skidding on the tiles, he spotted her on her ass with her back up against a cabinet, her mouth and nose pressed into the crook of her elbow.

"Tahly!" he cried out as he started towards her. "You - damn! What is that fuckin' smell?"

Tahlia looked up at him sheepishly. "I opened the fridge. The stink knocked me on my ass."

Her voice was muffled against her arm as she gestured to the large walk-in fridge right in front of her. Thankfully she had the sense to shut the door again.

"Why would ya do that?! Electricity's been off for like, two years!"

"Yeah... I don't know." she replied ruefully.

Daryl snorted at her idiocy. "Dumbass." Quickly striding across to her, he dragged her to her feet and bustled her towards the door. "C'mon, let's get outta here."

"Look!" Michonne had added more things to the pile in the hallway. "That's a mothers' room – found some nappies, wipes and formula!" She tilted her head at Tahlia who was still looking decidedly green. "What happened to you?"

"Ugh." Tahlia sniffed at her top, certain the rotting smell from the fridge had permeated her clothes. "Accidentally unleashed a fridge demon. But on the plus side, I found some herbal tea."

"Rainbow 'round every corner, huh?" quipped Michonne, as Tahlia gave her a big grin.

Clearing the last few rooms along the hall, they took down two more walkers and added a few things to their growing pile, then Daryl carefully pushed through the fire exit door at the far end of the building, squinting for a second as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight.

Up ahead lay the large herb greenhouse, a massively long glass building, although a fallen tree had taken out half the roof on one side, and the front doors had been smashed off.

Daryl peered in, taking in the planter tables spanning the length of the room, a snarl of brown, dead plants hanging from them.

"Just a bunch of dead shit. Ain't much else in here. Keep movin' to the sheds 'round back."

"Can I just-" Tahlia went to step into the greenhouse but Daryl blocked her and put his hands on her shoulders, turning her around.

"Keep on movin'."

"Why can't I-"

"Girl, I know what you're like." scoffed Daryl as he dropped one arm around her to lead her away. "You'll wander in there, get lost in that dead jungle of basil and mint, rouse some walkers that're no doubt tangled somewhere under them tables, end up gettin' cornered then set the whole place on fire just to get yourself back out again, drawin' a whole horde to meet ya."

Tahlia dropped her head back in laughter at that, nudging Daryl in the side. "I set one fucking fire! You ever gonna let me live that down?"

He grinned down at her. "Never."

Just then, a handful of gravel pelted them in the legs, and they looked up to see Michonne standing with her hands on her hips. "You guys coming, or should I just come back for you later when you're done with your gossip and Sunday stroll?"

"Oops, sorry, Michy! We're right behind you!"

They jogged to catch up with Michonne as she led the way around the side of the greenhouse towards the large shed behind. A rusty chain hung from the big double doors, and Michonne slowly pulled it through the handles, the dull clinking amplified by the silence around them. As she opened one door, Daryl immediately stepped inside, crossbow at the ready, scanning the gloomy space, as the women flanked him.

They were standing under a low ceiling a few yards wide which was the floor of the mezzanine loft, then that ended and opened up into a large, high-ceilinged shed space, with several dirty skylights along its length allowing for a little extra light to filter through. One side of the shed was used for packing, evident by the long tables, equipment and packaging, the other side was busy with a variety of tools, boxes and machinery.

That ominous rasping sounded around them, and the trio peered into the gloom trying to determine where it was coming from. Tahlia propped the other door open to let some more light in, just as a large walker staggered towards Michonne, its rotted cheek revealing gnashing jaws. With an easy swing, she took it down, and they edged further inside, moving beyond the low ceiling.

Suddenly, something with limbs and teeth plummeted down from above and landed with a sickening splat right at Tahlia's feet.

"Holy shit!" she gasped, jumping back and staring down at the now broken body of a walker, which was still snapping at her and grasping for her with one good arm. Quickly, she shoved the blade of her katana through its head. "Where did that-"

Her question was cut off as Daryl dashed forward and looped an arm around her waist, dragging her a few feet further into the shed as another walker came tumbling down and landed right where she had been standing.

"Thanks." she breathed, instinctively pressing back into him a little more.

The three of them gazed up, and above on the mezzanine level, a handful of hungry walkers were groaning and hanging over the railing, reaching for them, reaching too far, upending themselves over the barrier and plunging to the ground below.

"How the hell did they get up there?" Michonne asked glancing over at her friends who were still staring skyward, then doing a double take as she saw that Daryl still had one arm tightly wrapped around Tahlia's waist. She raised a questioning brow, unnoticed by the other two, but she had certainly noticed the serious lack of personal space that Tahlia and Daryl seemed to have around one another.

"Guessin' they musta died up there." replied Daryl as another walker crashed down in front of them, and he finally released Tahlia so that he could fire a bolt through its skull.

The last few walkers soon followed suit and fell to the ground, Michonne and Tahlia quickly putting them down as Daryl scanned the open space behind them.

"I'll climb up and check it out." suggested Tahlia, indicating the ladder at the far side of the shed leading up to the loft.

"Naw." Daryl said immediately. "I'll go. You two stay down here." Scaling the ladder quickly, he paused for a moment at the top, assessing the area, then disappeared into the darkness, while Tahlia jogged back to the main door to check they didn't have any danger closing in on them from outside, and Michonne kept her eyes on the interior of the shed.

Minutes later, Daryl was climbing down the ladder again.

"Looks like they were livin' up there for a bit. Not much up there though. Couple guns. Bit of ammo." He had a rifle slung over his shoulder, and a handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants which he pulled out and was about to offer to Tahlia, then thought better of it and gave it to Michonne.

"Thanks." Michonne said, tucking the gun into the back of her jeans, then gestured to the far side of the shed. "Let's scope the rest of this space out."

Carefully, she picked her way down the centre of the shed, Daryl and Tahlia following behind her.

"You want the rifle?" Daryl asked Tahlia quietly.

Tahlia shook her head. "No thanks, I'm good."

He gave her arm a quick squeeze. "Don't need no guns anyway. I'ma keep ya covered."

She smiled at him gratefully as he gently pushed her to walk ahead of him so that he could keep an eye on her as they made their way to the back of the shed.

"Look!" Michonne pointed to where there were large bags of potting mix and compost stacked up against the wall.

"Yeah, let's take some of that back." said Daryl as he dragged a platform trolley across and started stacking some of the bags on to it, while Tahlia inspected the tools hanging on a rack on the wall, selecting a few to take back to the prison.

"Hey, you think I should bring the car 'round?" Michonne asked as they finished stacking two trolleys with tools and supplies.

"Naw." replied Daryl. "Track outside's all overgrown and potholed. Don't wanna risk gettin' the car stuck there. Just drag this stuff back the way we came."

"Great, looks like we're done here then." commented Tahlia as she threw a few more things into a large box she'd filled with random bits and pieces, then hoisted it into her arms. "Lead the way."

They dragged the trolleys back past the greenhouse and down a path at the side of the main building, and, once back at the car, started to stack the items into the trunk. Tahlia pointed to a pod of walkers that were advancing from the far end of the carpark. "Think we'll get packed up in time? Or you want me to go take care of them?"

"Let's see how we get on." replied Michonne, throwing a bag of fertiliser into the trunk. "Oh, Daryl! Can you run back inside and grab all that stuff we left in the hall? And don't forget to pick up some bits from reception on your way past. And the mints!"

With a nod, Daryl threw the last few bags from the first trolley into the trunk, then wheeled the empty cart back inside to collect up the remaining supplies.

When he emerged a while later with the rest of their haul, he stopped by Michonne at the trunk of the car, and pointed to Tahlia who was now in the middle of the carpark, surrounded by walkers.

"Y'ain't gonna help her with those?"

Michonne didn't even bother to look up from the trunk. "How many's she got?"

"Dunno. Least ten of 'em." Daryl said, trying to keep the waver of worry out of his voice.

"Is that it?! She can handle that, easy. Gimme a hand with loading this stuff."

Daryl chewed his lip anxiously as he watched Tahlia for a few moments. Admittedly, she did look like she had it under control. He would go as far as to say that she even looked relaxed as she dodged and swung easily at the walkers grasping for her. Taking a breath, he turned his attention back to Michonne, reminding himself that Tahlia was more than capable of looking after herself and he needed to try not to hover over her all the time.

"Alright. Let's see." He dragged a box out the back. "Ain't never gonna fit like that. Put these bags in first."

Between the two of them, they managed to jam nearly everything into the trunk, then Michonne shoved the last two boxes into the back seat. "Cool, that should do it!" she announced, pleased, shutting the door.

"Not a bad score." said Daryl as he pulled a bottle of water out his pack and had a drink, turning to watch Tahlia put down the last walker in the carpark.

After that one was taken care of, she started heading back towards them, panting heavily, her bloodied katana in one hand, the other hand slick with black walker blood and gore, where she had tried to push one away but had met no resistance from its decaying torso and her hand had disappeared right into its stomach, leaving her covered in its muck.

"Look at the state of her." remarked Daryl, mostly to himself, as he ambled over to meet her halfway.

Although Michonne knew that Daryl and Tahlia spent a lot of time together and had become close, today was the first time that she had actually witnessed what they were really like in each other's company, and it was fair to say that she was very skeptical about their apparent status as only friends. Leaning on the roof of the station wagon, she watched the scene unfolding before her with interest - the fact that she was too far away to hear anything that was said was irrelevant because their body language spoke volumes.

As Daryl neared Tahlia, he offered her the bottle of water, and in response she made a face as she raised her blood-covered hands, indicating she didn't want to touch it. He shrugged, and stepped in closer, holding the bottle up so he could pour some water into her mouth. She swallowed gratefully, then he squirted a big stream of water all over her face, making her cough and splutter. Michonne could make out a swear word on Tahlia's lips, as she swung a leg around and kicked him in the side of his ass.

Laughing, Daryl held his hands up in concession, then whipped out the rag he always carried in his back pocket, and took a placatory step towards her, lips moving in what Michonne could only guess were insincere apologies. Rolling her eyes, Tahlia dropped her hands to her sides and raised her face towards his. Stepping in closer still, Daryl stroked her hair back from her face, then dropped that hand onto her shoulder as he started to gently wipe the water from her face with the rag, then continued to clean the blood spatters from her neck and shoulders. Michonne's eyes widened as she noticed that Daryl's expression had now changed from playful to tender, the way he cleaned her almost a caress.

Next, he poured some water over her hand and wiped away the remaining blood and gore with the rag, then when most of it was washed away, took her arm in his hands, and alternated between cleaning her skin and running his fingers carefully over her – unnecessarily so, noted Michonne - inspecting her for scratches and bites, moving all the way up to her neck, moving behind her - where he leaned in and must have said something teasing in her ear, because Tahlia dropped her head back in laughter and nudged an elbow into his stomach - then coming full circle around her and down the other arm.

Tahlia stood there motionless all the while, eyes on him, totally comfortable. Lastly, he used the now soggy, bloody rag to clean the blade of her katana before resheathing it for her while Tahlia smiled in gratitude, lips moving with unheard words. As she spoke, Michonne watched as Daryl raised a thumb to the side of her jaw to wipe away a missed smudge of blood, Tahlia tilting her face to meet his hand, his fingers lingering seconds too long to be purely business. Then, still talking, they casually wandered back across the lot.

Michonne stared at them, shaking her head incredulously, tempted to bang theirs together.

"Don't worry, you just hang out here, I'll do all the dirty work!" Tahlia said facetiously to Michonne as she arrived back at the car.

"Took your damn time over there! Getting old, huh?" Michonne teased in return.

"I can still get the job done!" Tahlia grinned, then ducked her head to peer into the car. "Whoa, we're really loaded up here, huh? Nice."

"Sure are. Shall we hit the road?"

Daryl was gazing back across to the far side of the carpark at the abandoned cars. "Gimme a sec. Just wanna check those cars for parts we might be able to use."

He grabbed his tool bag and jogged off across the lot.

Tahlia glanced back at Michonne, who was now staring at her with raised brows.

"What?"

"You told me that there was nothing going on between you and Dixon!" Michonne hissed accusingly once Daryl was out of earshot.

"There's not!" protested Tahlia.

"My ass there's not! I saw you two!"

Tahlia raised her eyebrows with a laugh. "Saw what, exactly?!"

With a snort, Michonne rolled her eyes. "Oh please! You're practically in each other's pockets and you're all..." she made a face, "...weird and playful and... smitten! I've never seen Daryl act like that around anyone before!"

Tahlia shook her head firmly. "We're just friends. That's it."

"Bullshit." Michonne fixed Tahlia with a disbelieving look. "Him and me? Friends. Him and Carol? Friends. Close friends, but just friends. Him and you?! Soooo far beyond the line of friendship that the line is a dot to you!"

"Whatever, Joey Tribbiani." replied Tahlia with a snigger.

"I'm serious! You've unlocked some sort of mushy, soft side of him that no one knew existed! Probably not even him!"

Tahlia laughed. "You've always said I have a way with people."

"Soooo...?"

"What?"

"Is he taking you to prom or not?"

"Honestly, it's not like that."

Michonne threw a mint at Tahlia. "Don't try and tell me you don't like him, coz it's so obvious that you do."

Tahlia gave a little waggle of her brows. "Who wouldn't?! Don't tell me you haven't had any sordid thoughts about those piercing blue eyes, those big arms, that hot-"

"Ugh! Stop!" interrupted Michonne, holding a hand up. "Guy's like a brother to me! Well?"

"Well, nothing, because he's already told me that he's not interested in me."

Michonne scoffed disbelievingly. "He said that?"

"Yep."

"You actually want me to believe that Daryl Dixon – the same man that just five minutes ago was tenderly cleaning you and rubbing you down with some serious TLC-"

"MICH!" exclaimed Tahlia laughing, pressing her knuckles to her cheeks. "I think we've established we're talking about the same person!"

Michonne chuckled before carrying on. "You're trying to tell me that Daryl said he wasn't interested in you."

"Yes!"

"To your face?"

"Yes! He said he only sees me as a friend and nothing more. So."

Michonne gave her a withering look. "And you believed him?"

"He was pretty adamant."

"Well, he must be a damned good liar, then!"

"I know what he said. Trust me. I'll never forget it." Unintentionally, Tahlia let a little sad sigh slip.

"Shit. You really do like him!" Michonne said seriously.

Tahlia scrubbed a hand over her face. "Doesn't matter. Because he's not interested. Anyway, it's a good thing because you know I screw up every relationship I've been in. I'd probably end up freaking out, running away, hurting him and leaving a huge mess for you to clean up."

"You still believe you'd do that shit?"

"Yeah, I do! And something like that could - ooh shh, he's coming back."

Michonne shook her head. "You know, for someone who's all about making connections with people, it's pretty ironic that you run from the deepest most meaningful connection that you can make. Pretty damn stupid, actually."

"Stupid?" Daryl picked up on Michonne's last few words as he joined them back by the car. "What've ya done now, Tahly?" he joked, earning himself a withering look.

"I'll let you two ride up front." Michonne said with a pointed glance at Tahlia. "Gonna see if I can have a snooze in the back."

"Want me to drive back?" Daryl offered and Tahlia nodded, bouncing into the passenger seat.

The three of them chatted for a bit about the mission they'd just been on, then with a yawn, Michonne settled herself back in her seat for some rest.

"This person had a very eclectic taste in music!" Tahlia raised her brows as she flipped through the CD wallet. "What shall I put on?"

Daryl was shooting glances over at the choices on offer as he drove.

"That one." he pointed.

"No."

"That one, then." His finger landed on another.

"No! You can save your angry death metal for a road trip that I'm not on." she said, attempting to swat his hand away, but Daryl leaned a little closer and tried to grab the CD out of the case while doing his best to keep his eyes mostly focused on the road.

Laughing, Tahlia pushed at him again but he was persistent, so she caught his hand in both of hers and held it firm.

"Daryl! Stop!" she scolded in a voice as serious as she could manage through her giggles. "You're gonna crash the damn car!" She shot him a pointed look. "Again."

"Hey!" he replied indignantly, forgetting about the CDs. "That wasn't my fault!"

Tahlia's expression was one of wide-eyed innocence as she shrugged one shoulder while still keeping his hand wrapped in hers, resting on her thigh. "All I'm saying is that I've never crashed any cars that I've been driving you around in, but if you crash this one, then you'll have crashed more than half of all the cars you've driven me in."

Daryl laughed at that and quickly whipped his hand from hers and landed it on her knee, giving her a horsebite and making her squeal a little as she tried to swat him away once again.

Still very much awake in the backseat, Michonne gave a massive eye roll to herself and resisted the urge to dry heave at their blatant flirtation.

Tahlia and Rick, excited from the day's haul, had spent the afternoon in the gardens working away at changing some of the soil in the veggie patches, replanting some of their crops, and brainstorming ideas on how they were going to revamp and expand their little garden project, working right up until the sun dipped below the horizon and Carol called them up to the courtyard.

Now it was late, the stars shining brightly in the inky sky, and most of the prison residents had taken themselves off to bed, only a few stragglers remaining on the sofas around the fire.

On one side of the fire, Rick and Hershel were sitting together discussing plans for becoming more self-sustainable, Beth tucked into her father's side with a book. On the sofa near them, Karen had her head on Tyreese's shoulder as they chatted away in low tones.

Across the fire, the mood was much lighter as Tahlia, Michonne, Maggie, Sasha and Carol shared riddles.

"Can we please call it quits on these? My brain is aching." Tahlia complained from the middle of one of the 3-seater sofas.

"You've barely used your brain! You've given up on every single one so far!" accused Michonne, on her left.

"Ok, if you get this one, we'll stop." declared Maggie, from Tahlia's other side. "The more there is, the less you see."

"I give up. Tell me." said Tahlia immediately, earning herself a slap on the thigh from Michonne.

From the far side of the 2-seater sofa next to them, Sasha called out, "Bubbles!"

Tahlia laughed at that. "Sash, you're worse than me!"

"What? If there were heaps of bubbles, it'd be hard to see!"

"Oh." Tahlia grew somber. "Damn, that is a good answer. Wish I'd thought of that."

"Hmm, is it fog?" speculated Carol, on Sasha's other side.

"Actually, that's a really good guess. It is kinda in that vein." replied Maggie. "It's darkness."

"Ok here's mine!" said Carol. "What has 13 hearts but no other organs?"

"An octopus." guessed Tahlia.

"Uh, no."

"A room full of pianos." laughed Sasha.

"What?! No."

"A bag of chicken hearts." Michonne's turn.

Maggie guffawed. "That's very specific!"

"Nope." Carol smiled. "A deck of cards."

"Ugh! I would never have guessed that!" Michonne replied. "Ok. I have one: A woman shoots her husband, then holds him under water for 5 minutes. Right after, she hangs him. Then they enjoy a nice dinner. Explain."

"Sounds like what I wish I'd done to my husband. Minus the dinner." Carol muttered with a wry smile.

Sasha laughed and nudged Carol in the side.

"Is this a case from law school?" asked Tahlia.

"No, it's a riddle. Think."

"I've got it!" Tahlia sat bolt upright. "Her husband is a fish!"

Michonne frowned at her. "What the...? No! Her husband is not a fish."

"She killed him then she ate him!" cried Sasha.

"No! You guys are terrible at this!" laughed Michonne. "Ok, she took a photo of him then developed it in her dark room."

Tahlia let out a loud groan. "That is so dumb! Alright, I have one."

"I thought you said you didn't know any?"

"I wasn't sure if it was appropriate. Now I don't care. Here it is: I go in hard, come out soft, and you love to blow me. What am I?"

The women all burst out into laughter.

"Tahly!" Maggie hissed through her giggles. "My daddy is sitting right there!"

"Oh, you think he knows the answer to this one? Want me to ask him?" joked Tahlia, unsuccessfully trying to block an elbow in the side from Maggie.

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Isn't it more like, 'I like to think you love to blow me'?"

"And in my recent experience it was more like, 'I try to go in semi-hard and then get frustrated and give up.'" chipped in Carol, attempting to keep an innocent look on her face.

This prompted a fresh bout of laughter all around, and Tahlia wiped at her eyes.

"Get your minds out of the gutter, ladies! It's chewing gum!"

"Aww, man! So disappointing!" cried Michonne.

"Yep, and so was the other thing most of the time too!" said Carol.

"Damn woman, you are on fire tonight!" giggled Sasha, clapping a hand on a snickering Carol's arm.

Just then Glenn and Daryl appeared from the darkness, the former having finished his shift on watch, and the latter having completed a perimeter check. They headed towards the women, looking bemused by the hilarity that they'd just walked in on.

"You girls drunk?" asked Daryl, only serving to incite more laughter, and he glanced at Glenn, who just shrugged.

Maggie schooled her face into a somewhat composed expression as she stood up and took Glenn's hand to lead him away. "C'mon babe, let's go to bed. You know what? I've kinda got a hankerin' for chewing gum."

That did it for the women who all lost it again, and Daryl shook his head. "Don't think I even wanna know."

Just catching her breath, Tahlia managed to get control of herself and patted the empty seat next to her. "No, you don't. Come sit."

He gave her a wary look, but went to sit next to her anyway, gratefully sinking into the soft cushions. Half reclining against the arm of the couch, he lifted one ankle to rest on his knee, dropping his thigh on to Tahlia's without a thought.

"How you doing?" she questioned, giving him a little nudge.

He stifled a yawn. "Tired. You?"

"Same." she replied, rubbing one hand over her face. "Been a long day, huh?"

Daryl nodded, then glanced down at her arm resting next to him.

"Happened here?" Slipping his hand under her forearm, he drew his thumb gently up and down her skin next to a long, red scratch running most of the way from her wrist to elbow.

"Oh. Caught it on the side of the trellis."

"Daryl!" came Rick's call from the other side of fire drum, drawing the hunter's attention. "How was it looking out there?"

Daryl dropped his head back casually against the sofa as he looked to Rick and shrugged. "Everythin's lookin' pretty good, 'cept gettin' a bit of a herd up near Tower 3 again.

Rick rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Thinking about trying to draw some of the walkers back towards the far east side of the woods somehow. Try and disperse them."

Tahlia knew it probably wasn't intentional, but Daryl hadn't let go of her arm, his fingers loosely curled around her, his palm a throbbing centre of heat that was making her feel warm all over. She had a sudden urge to slip her hand into his as much for the comfort she always felt when she was near him as for the increasing desire she felt these days to push those friendship boundaries. Perhaps if they'd been alone, she would have done it, but as it was, she decided instead to slowly slide her arm down a little so that his first two fingers were resting under the palm of her hand and she closed her own fingers over them. Daryl was still engaged in conversation with Rick, and Tahlia would have sworn he didn't register her action had it not been for the slight pressure on her palm as he pressed his fingertips into her, and the soft but definite strokes that his thumb drew briefly over her wrist. Her stomach gave a heavy flop and a shiver ran through her at the gesture.

God, he made a mess of her so easily.

And she couldn't get enough of it. She just wanted more. More time. More touch. More him.

But this would suffice, for now.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on keeping her breathing slow and steady and her thoughts above the waist, relaxing into the warm familiarity of the man at her side.

Daryl and Rick had been batting some ideas back and forth on how to draw the walkers away from the fences for a while, when Carol, on the next sofa, nudged Daryl's foot with hers to get his attention, then, with a little smile on her face, nodded her head in Tahlia's direction.

She'd fallen asleep, her head slipping to the side every so often and she'd jerk it suddenly back up, only to repeat seconds later.

His lips crooking at the sight, Daryl watched her fondly for a while, then, carefully slipping his hand from under hers, he pulled the cushion out from behind his back and rested it on his lap then tucked one arm behind her shoulders and guided her head down to the cushion with the other.

"Head's gonna snap clean off if ya keep doin' that. C'mere."

Momentarily startled by the awakening, Tahlia quickly relaxed into Daryl's touch, and let herself be laid down on his lap, tucking her knees to her chest and shutting her eyes again, snuggling into him. Gazing down at her warmly, Daryl scooped his fingers under a lock of hair at her neck, tucking it back away from her face, then laid his hand on her side, settling back into the sofa.

Suddenly, he became aware of the silence that had fallen over the group.

Looking up, he was met with surprised faces all staring at him because of that tender gesture that was so out of character for the Daryl they knew, and he whipped his hand from Tahlia's side as if stung, rubbing his brow and wishing Tahlia – who was blissfully unaware of the scrutiny - wasn't lying on him so he could run for the hills.

In that moment with her, Daryl hadn't thought anything of what he'd done, especially considering she'd already slept in his lap before, and their friendship had progressed infinitely since then. That level of physicality, closeness and caring had become second nature to them, but of course, no one else had really been privy to it because they spent most of their time together alone in the woods.

From the other side of Tahlia, Michonne shook her head. Had she not just spent the day with the two of them and seen firsthand how intensely close they had become, then perhaps she would have been staring too, but as it stood, she just wondered how the two of them could be so blind and in such obvious denial about what was between them. Either Tahlia had gotten the wrong end of the stick from Daryl about him only wanting to be friends, or he was lying through his teeth, because it was clear as damn day that they were well on their way down a path that travelled far beyond friendship, they were both just too stupid to realise it.

But for now, she decided she'd better break the awkward silence and rescue the poor guy who looked as if he were wishing to be anywhere in the world but here.

"Lucky you got someone looking out for you, Sleeping Beauty!" she nudged Tahlia's butt. "Nearly broke your damn neck!"

Not quite back asleep yet, but eyes still shut, Tahlia pulled a middle finger at Michonne, which earned her a slap on the butt in return.

With a laugh, Michonne rested her elbow on Tahlia's hip, using it as an arm rest, and looked over at Daryl. "Give us a smoke, would ya Daryl?"

Grateful for the distraction, Daryl quickly lit a cigarette for her and passed it over, then one for himself.

Michonne looked over to Hershel. "Hey, Hershel, shoulda seen the size of that greenhouse at the place we went to today. It was massive. Think you'd have been impressed."

"Is that right?" replied Hershel. "I've been trying to think if there's any way we could build some kind of greenhouse here, or something of the sort."

Conversation stirred up again to Daryl's relief, but he tipped his head to rest on the back of the sofa and stared up at the sky to steer clear of any questioning looks that might come his way. And slipped his hand back onto Tahlia's waist because his palm was itching with the effort of keeping it off her.

He could feel Carol's eyes on him, and when he couldn't stand it any longer, glanced over to where she was staring at him, eyebrows raised, a knowing smile on her face.

He gave her a hard look. "What?"

Carol shrugged innocently, her eyes flicking between Daryl and the sleeping Tahlia. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

A/N: Any thoughts on the collective noun for a group of walkers? I used pod in this one but was thinking maybe a snarl or a gnash of walkers would be fitting! :D

Also I'm excited to share the next chapter which is where the name of this fic comes from.