Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

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~209 ~ 4190

A few days later, Daryl's wounds had started to heal nicely. It got to the point that Hershel suggested that he moved from the house into his own tent. Of course, it was no surprise, Hershel kicking one of their group out of his house. It was obvious that he wanted them all gone. Kicking Daryl out of the house, was Hershel's way of giving the group a quite literal shove out the door.

Daryl would still be on bed rest, but only for another couple of days, and in the comfort on his own sanctuary.

Isabell had helped him down the stairs and onto his cot earlier in the morning. However, now, she had to make sure that Daryl was set while she was away from him for the day. Isabell was worried about him being cooped up in the tent for so long. She knew that Daryl didn't do well just sitting around. He was already complaining as he had the three previous days stuck in the house.

Isabell sat down on the ground next to the cot Daryl was laid on. She sighed. "Are you sure you'll be fine?" Isabell asked him.

"Yeah." Daryl said, simply as he fidgeted with the bolt that he held in his hands. He wanted to get out and use it. Daryl wanted to go out and hunt.

"This isn't one of those things where you can just decide that yer done layin' around and get up. You ain't done healin' yet."

"I know."

"You have to keep off yer feet so you don't tear open them stitches."

"You would know all about that." Daryl joked, mentioning the cut on Isabell's leg that finally healed, leaving a pretty awesome scar.

Isabell groaned. "In my defense, we were kinda on the run for our lives when I had my stitches. I didn't have the option to sit around all day."

Daryl showed Isabell a small smirk.

"I'm serious, D. If you so much as take one step out of the tent, I swear I'll — "

Daryl interrupted her. "You'll what? You'll stab me yourself?"

"Maybe." Isabell smiled, shaking her head at Daryl. "If it comes to that." She paused. "That wound in your side…. It's so much worse than others that you've gotten."

Daryl studied the look on her face and realized that Isabell was legitimately worried about him. "Okay." He said quietly. "I won't leave."

Isabell smiled and sighed. "Alright." She said, patting her hands on her thighs, sitting up. "Let's get that shirt changed. I'll wash it later."

"It ain't laundry day."

"Maybe I'm feelin' domestic today." Isabell snapped. She moved onto her knees to help Daryl sit up. Once he was sat up straight and was able to hold himself up, Isabell turned to grab his backpack to find a shirt. She found a flannel that she remembered, loving when Daryl wore it before the outbreak hit. Isabell smiled, pulling the flannel from the bottom of the backpack.

"Iz, wait." Daryl said, seeing what she had and swinging his legs around to the side of the cot.

Isabell grabbed the collar of the shirt, letting the fabric fall from its tight fold. As it unfolded, something fell from it and landed on the ground. Isabell furrowed her brow together and reached for it.

It was a couple of Polaroid pictures. One was of Isabell holding Harley when she was just born. The other was of her hugging her daughter from behind, outside on their house's porch.

Isabell observed the photos for a silent moment, hardly recognizing the people in the pictures.

"Izzy?" Daryl questioned.

Isabell looked up at Daryl with shock written clean across her face. The shock quickly faded and was replaced with a sense of joy. Isabell smiled and laughed quietly. "I'm sorry. I — just…. Where did you get these?"

Daryl looked from her face to the pictures in her hand. "They were in the truck." He mumbled. "Glove compartment."

Isabell stared at the photos again and started to feel a large lump in the deep pit of her throat.

"Iz, are you okay?" Daryl asked.

"I…." Isabell trailed off, nodding and biting her lip. "I was starting to forget what she looked like."

Daryl scooted towards the edge of the cot so that he could reach out and grab onto Isabell's arm. He pulled her towards him.

Isabell didn't hug him, but she kept herself knelt between his legs. Her gaze remained on the pictures in her hands between them. "Why didn't you tell me that you had these?"

"I'm tryin' my hardest not to talk about Harley 'round ya. 'Specially with Sophia missin'. Ya always get real quiet with it and you bein' quiet can be dangerous."

"I'm sorry." Isabell said, sympathetically. "Ya still shoulda let me know. Damn therapists on TV always said that grieving is easier with the surrounding people."

"We didn't get much time to grieve." Daryl pointed out.

"Nah, we didn't." Isabell turned back around to fold the pictures back into Daryl's shirt. They belonged there. "I told Carol about her. Obviously." Isabell took a deep breath. "And I accidentally let it slip yesterday before dinner that I had a kid."

Daryl looked at Isabell questioningly. "So?"

"So…." Isabell trailed off for a moment, gauging his reaction. "I wasn't sure if you were okay with people knowing about her."

Daryl shrugged. "The more people that know about her, the more she might be remembered."

Isabell looked up to Daryl, a loving glint in her eye. She smiled. "You're pretty smart Daryl Dixon."

"I know."

"Knock, knock." A voice called from outside the tent with a light rap on the nylon tent.

Both Daryl and Isabell's heads moved in the direction of the entrance of their tent.

Andrea was standing outside, with her bag over her shoulder and a book in her hand. "Hey, can I come in?" The blonde asked.

Isabell shifted closer to Daryl, helping him lay back on the cot. "If I say no, would you shoot me?" She mocked, sitting down at the head of the cot.

"No." Andrea said, not really appreciating the joke.

Daryl smacked Isabell's arm lightly with the bold in his hands.

Isabell looked down at him and the look he gave her. She sighed, going along with whatever Daryl wanted of her.

Daryl jerked his head, motioning for Andrea to enter the tent.

Andrea took a few steps into the tent, holding the book out to Daryl. "This is not that great, but…." She trailed off, waiting for him to take the book from her. Once Daryl had the book in his hand, Andrea crouched on the ground next to the tent.

Daryl thumbed through the book quickly. "What, no pictures?"

Andrea stared at Daryl for a moment, her emotion and regret filling her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She said.

Isabell scoffed.

"I feel like shit." Andrea continued, ignoring Isabell.

"Yeah, you and me both." Daryl joked, fluffing his pillow, so he could sit up and face Andrea better.

Andrea shook her head, eye glancing to Isabell for a moment. "I don't expect either of you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do…."

Isabell took in a breath. "Yeah, actually — "

"You were trying to protect the group." Daryl stressed, interrupting Isabell before she could continue. "We're good."

"What?" Isabell asked, her head snapping towards Daryl with an angry look on her face. She was not at all happy that she was being ignored in this conversation.

Andrea nodded at Daryl and looked to Isabell. "We're taking off for gun training pretty soon, if you were gonna join."

Isabell looked away from Andrea, but she nodded her head anyway. "Alright."

"Glenn has some peaches, too." Andrea said, standing to her feet. "If you're interested." She gave a final nod to the couple and went towards the exit of the tent.

"But hey," Daryl called after Andrea, making the woman stop just outside the tent. "Shoot me again, and you'd best pray I'm dead." This seemed to be a joke, so Andrea smiled and left their line of sight.

Isabell turned her body, fully facing Daryl. "I'd never give her the chance to try again." She mumbled.

"'Member when you used to hold me back from starting fights with Harley's friends' parents at them stupid meetings?"

"This is not the same thing as that." Isabell shook her head.

"It is." Daryl stressed. "I'm fine. Move on from it, yeah?"

Isabell took a deep breath, but nodded. "I'm not makin' any promises, but I'll try."

"Good."

"I'm gonna go see what the plan is around camp." Isabell pushed herself off of Daryl's cot. "I'll come back with a peach for you before we leave." She leaned down to kiss his forehead.

"Mkay."

Isabell passed a smile to Daryl and walked out of their shared tent. She spot Rick, Shane, and Jimmy standing around Carol's Cherokee.

Shane whistled, looking in her direction. "Hey, peach man!" He shouted.

Isabell turned her head around, seeing Glen behind her, talking to Lori. Isabell furrowed her brow, confused. She never knew the two of them to be best buds, but she continued towards the car and the surrounding men.

Rick was talking as Isabell approached the car. "The creek flows south, past that farmhouse that Daryl and Isabell found. Maybe Sophia dropped the doll there. The current brought it downstream."

"So what?" Shane scoffed, pointing to the map. "You think she took this road here, and then she went north?"

"Yeah."

"What's up north?" Isabell asked, inserting herself into the conversation. She turned her attention directly to Jimmy, knowing he might have an idea.

Jimmy thought for a moment, taking the map in. "Uh, there's a housin' development. It went in, maybe, ten years ago."

Rick looked over at Shane. "Take a run up there after gun practice." He ordered the deputy. "I'll hold down the fort here, but take backup. After what went down with Daryl, I don't want anyone goin' out alone. We stay in pairs."

Shane nodded. "Whacha think, Iz?" He asked, looking over at her. "You wanna come with me?"

Isabell scoffed. "No offense to your partner skills, but I think it's a whole lot safer for me here." She snidely remarked. "Daryl's on bed rest, anyway. Someone's gotta bring him food and no one wants that job."

Shane sighed, trying not to let Isabell's comment affect him. He looked to his friend. "I'll take suggestions on a partner."

"See how they do on the range." Rick proposed. "Then take your pick."

Glenn approached the car with the basket of peaches in his hands. Rick and Shane each take a peach from the basket before he moved around the men to pass some to Isabell.

Isabell grabbed two pieces of fruit from the basket and then studied Glenn with curious eyes. She cleared her throat. "Sorry about the 'Chinaboy' thing the other day."

"Don't worry about it." He said quickly.

"You okay?" Isabell asked, noticing Glenn's jumpiness.

Glenn sighed and paused, his moments. The young man looked at Rick and then turned to look at Lori behind him.

Isabell followed his gaze, furrowing her brow. "Glenn?"

Glenn turned his body and attention back to the men around the car and Isabell. Inside, he was torn on what to do.

Shane spoke before Isabell could try to shake Glenn's thoughts. "My binoculars." He reminded the younger guy, gesturing the tool that was around Glenn's neck.

"Yeah." Glenn recalled, setting the basket of fruit onto the dirt. "Yeah." He repeated, taking the binocular strap off of his shoulder. Glenn walked around Rick to hand the binoculars to Shane and went back to his peaches. He gave the group one last nervous look and turned to leave. "Okay, bye."

Isabell wondered about the boy, noticing that something was up. "Glenn!" She called, before he could get too far away. "Hold up. I wanna talk to ya about somethin'."

Glenn paused in his place almost reluctantly.

Isabell looked to Rick. "I'd like to help with the gun trainin'. I could take Daryl's place in the group 'til he's back on his feet."

"You sure?" Rick asked.

Shane shook his head. "Not sure how smart that is." He remarked. "I don't think I've ever seen you use a gun, much less train someone to."

"I know how." Isabell snapped in Shane's direction. "Just don't like to. They're noisy, draw unwanted attention." She turned back to Rick. "Daryl taught me everythin' I know and I taught my kid."

Rick wasn't at all surprised to hear this. He had probably learned about Isabell's kid from Lori.

Shane, however, was full of shock. "Kid?" He questioned.

"Yeah. My kid." Isabell repeated eyeing Shane.

Shane raised his brow and looked up at Rick in disbelief.

"Thank you," Rick said, nodding his head once and ignoring Shane's looks. "We'll be taking off soon."

Isabell smiled in his direction and then took off towards Glenn. She slow-jogged over to him and put a hand on his elbow to grab his attention.

Glenn seemed to jump and pulled away from Isabell's grasp quickly.

"Sorry." Isabell said quickly, holding her hand out in a calming position. "Didn't mean to scare you." She paused as Glenn nodded, glancing away from her. "Hey, are you okay?" Isabell asked, gaining his attention again.

"I'm fine." Glenn snapped.

"You don't seem fine."

"I'm okay."

"Is there somethin' that you wanna talk about?" Isabell probed.

Glenn hesitated, shaking his head. "I don't think I should."

"Glenn, come on. I know that my Chinaboy thing the other day was kinda shitty of me, but I was kinda messed up." Isabell said. "Daryl bein' shot an' all."

"It's not that. I just — "

"Then what?" Isabell forced, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's got you all jumpy. You've hardly said one word to anybody these past few days."

Glenn bit his lip and looked away from Isabell.

"Is it Maggie?"

Glenn's eyes shot to Isabell, and he froze. "How did you — "

"I know I've been payin' a lot of attention with Daryl and mendin' him, but I make a point to notice things that happen around here."

Glenn looked around the camp to see if anyone was staring at him.

"Glenn, do you remember that day that Carl was shot?" Isabell asked. "I had that big freak out, and I was talking about someone named Harley."

Glenn nodded.

"Harley was my daughter. Mine and Daryl's."

"I didn't know you had a kid." Glenn seemed to relax as he said it, realizing that the focus wasn't on him.

"That's because I've been really good at keepin' it a secret. Until recently anyway." Isabell joked. "I had a chat with Carol about the other day about her. I wanted to make her feel like I know what she's going through."

Glenn paused. "How old was she?"

"She was ten." Isabell told him. "She liked to go hunting with me and her dad. She was at my brother's in the city for the weekend that the outbreak hit." Isabell swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling about that weekend. "We went back for Harley as soon as I saw the news. We couldn't find her, but my brother's apartment was covered in blood, so we put the pieces together."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you know you can trust me. Because I know how it feels to have a huge weight on your shoulders and not be able to talk to anyone about it."

Glenn sighed and looked around, seeing no other eyes on him. "If I tell you, you can't tell anyway. Not even Daryl." He thought for a moment. "Well, given his anger issues, you'd better make that especially Daryl."

"Thirty something years of knowing the guy and I promise you we both still have our secrets from each other."

Glenn nodded, and thought about whether to spill his secret. He took a deep breath. "There are walkers in the barn."

Isabell furrowed her brow. "Walking walkers, or dead undead?"

"Walking walkers." He clarified.

Isabell nodded. She thought about it quickly and soon realized that this might not be a problem for them just yet. The barn had held up thus far with the walkers inside. "Okay. What else?"

Glenn narrowed his eyes at Isabell. "How do you know there's more?"

"You haven't loosened up your shoulders yet." Isabell pointed out, with a smile. "You're still carrying somethin'."

Glenn scoffed, not realizing how observant Isabell actually was. "Lori's pregnant."

Isabell stumbled for her next words. "Uh…. Wow." She took a step back away from Glenn. That statement hit her like a ton of bricks. "Pregnant?" Isabell questioned quietly.

Glenn nodded, barely moving his head up and down. "She had me get a pregnancy test the last time I went on a run into town."

"What's she gonna do?"

Glenn just shrugged. "She hasn't made a decision."

"Well, at least she's got you lookin' out for her. She shouldn't make that decision on her own. It's kinda a big deal." Isabell showed Glenn a nervous, one-sided smile. "I'm sorry you got that weight on ya."

"It's okay."

"Do you wanna talk more about it later?" Isabell asked.

"Nah, that's okay." Glenn responded, finally looking like he was breathing right. "I think I'm just glad that I said something to someone."

Isabell smiled, gesturing back to her tent. "I've got to get some food to Daryl before he starts complainin'." She showed him the peaches that were in her hand.

"You're not gonna tell him are you?" Glenn asked quickly.

Isabell shook her head. "Of course not. He won't know until other people know." Isabell started to walk away from Glenn, but stopped herself, looking back at him. "Just don't say that you know anythin' specific about Harley. They all know she existed, but only you and Carol know that much."

"I won't." Glenn insisted. "Thanks for telling me all of that. I know it's probably hard to talk about."

Isabell took a breath and nodded to him. She left him with a final smile and walked into the middle of the group's camp. Isabell noticed that Rick, Lori, Dale, and Shane were gathered in the center of the arc by a picnic table that Carl sat on. She smiled at the sight of Carl up and about, thankful that he was doing better. Isabell walked over to the table and crouched down to his level. "Hey, bud." She said with a smile.

Carl looked up at her from under the sheriff's hat that he was sporting. "Hi, Izzy." He replied grimly.

Isabell noticed his uninviting appearance and looked to him curiously. "You okay? What happened?"

"He stole a gun." Lori said accusingly, frustrated at the situation. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to suck up to my son right now."

"Lori…." Rick said, trying to calm his wife.

Isabell shook her head at Rick. "It's okay, Rick." She stood from her crouched position and joined the small group.

Lori turned back to the others, practically ignoring Isabell's presence. "What's he thinkin'?"

"He wants to learn how to shoot." Shane reasoned. "He asked me to teach him. Now, it's none of my business, but I'm happy to do it." He looked to Lori. "It's your call."

"I'm not comfortable with it." No one responded to Lori's claim, so she spoke again. "Oh, don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here." Lori looked to her husband. "Lori?"

Rick nodded his head. "I know, I have my concerns, too, but — "

"There's no 'but'." Lori insisted. "He was just shot. He is just back on his feet, and he wants a gun?"

"Better than him bein' afraid of 'em." Rick explained. "There are guns in camp for a reason. He should learn to handle them safely."

There was silence as everyone waited for Lori to continue her argument against Carl having a gun.

When she didn't, Dale spoke up, eyeing Isabell. "What's your take, Isabell?" He asked making everyone's eyes snap to her.

Isabell licked her lips. "You want my opinion?" She asked looking to each member of the group. Isabell received a nod from each of them. Even Lori, after a moment. Isabell sighed. "Daryl and I taught Harley just a year shy of his age. Last year for her ninth birthday." She recalled.

"You would let your daughter walk around her with some random gun in her pocket?" Lori accused with a heavy glare.

"No. She'd have her gun in her holster that I bought for her." Isabell stressed. "Daryl and I taught her how to use it safely. If she wasn't hunting, it was on the rack." She took a pause. "We also taught her how to protect herself if she had to."

Lori shook her head at the blonde, and then looked to Rick. "I don't want my kid walking around with a gun."

"How can you defend that?" Rick asked, gesturing to Isabell knowing she had a solid case. "You can't let him go around without protection."

"He's as safe as he'll ever be right here." Lori paused. "Look, everything you're saying makes perfect sense. It feels wrong. I mean, I didn't feel good about him following you out into the woods and I wish I'd said something. I should have gone with my gut."

"He's growing up. Thank God." Rick told Lori, taking careful steps towards her. "We've got to start treating him more like an adult."

"Then he needs to act like one." Lori pressed. "He's not mature enough to handle a gun."

"Maybe the little man should speak for himself." Isabell suggested, shrugging her shoulder. "He should plead his own case." She ignored the glare she was getting from Lori and looked behind her at Carl.

Carl looked to Isabell and then to his mom. He stood from his spot on the picnic table. "I'm not gonna play with it, Mom. It's not a toy." Carl said, standing closely to Isabell. "I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun."

Lori was at a loss for words at her son's words.

Rick looked to Lori. "Shane's the best instructor I know. I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl."

Lori looked around to everyone in their small group. It was obvious that she was still very unsure, but she took a deep breath. Lori stepped around Isabell to get her child. She grabbed his chin gently, forcing him to look at her. "You will take this seriously. And you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you're not living up to our expectations — "

"He won't let you down." Rick said, interrupting Lori and looking down at Carl.

Carl looked up at his father and then to his mom. "Yeah."

Lori looked down at her son and put two hands on either side of his face, lovingly before she turned away from Carl.

Isabell turned, smiling down at Carl. She held out her fist to the boy.

Carl smiled back at Isabell and bumped his fist with hers.

"Isabell." Lori called, turning back around to look at her.

Isabell quickly dropped her fist, looking guiltily towards Lori. Looks like she had celebrated too soon. Isabell raised her brow towards Lori. "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Isabell nodded, following Lori as she moved a few paces away from the group.

Lori stopped, turning around to face Isabell. "We're different people. I get that."

"We are very different people." Isabell insisted, suddenly becoming very wary of the conversation that she was about to have.

"And I have no idea if you taught your daughter that stealing and lying is how she gets her way — "

"It wasn't." Isabell chipped, speaking through her teeth.

"Even so," Lori nodded, "Carl's a good kid. And I don't want to give him any ideas about how he needs to approach things."

"I'm not giving him any ideas about anythin." Isabell shook her head. "Harley was always able to tell me her side of things before I jumped to any conclusions. I was just trying to get you to hear him Carl out."

"I listen to my kid."

"Do you?" Isabell questioned, her brows pushing together. "'Cause what I just saw was you talking about your son like he wasn't even there. You kept asking Rick, Shane, and Dale why he did it, instead of asking him why he did it."

"He's a child." Lori stressed.

"Who has grown up so quickly in the past few weeks." Isabell argued. "I've seen it. Carl has recovered from the accident so brilliantly." She took a deep breath, wondering if Lori was ever going to interrupt her rant. "Carl knows what's good and what's bad. I'm certain of it. He's a good kid with some good ideas. Listen to him." Isabell snapped, taking her leave towards Daryl's tent.