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.

0o0o0

~214 ~ 3718

A few days had passed and Isabell hadn't had the chance to talk to Rick about what happened while he, Hershel, and Glenn were out in town. It may have been weighing on her shoulders a bit. Not knowing exactly what had happened and why Rick would have killed those people was driving her crazy. Isabell kept tiptoeing around the sheriff, unsure about him. Sure, she believed that Rick wouldn't kill someone without a good reason for doing so, but there was always a chance that he'd go "dark side" like Shane was quickly doing. Isabell was nervous for herself, for Daryl, and for the others of the group, even taking Glenn into account.

Glenn came back from town even more jump that he had been when he left the farm. He couldn't sit still. In the rare chance that he did take a seat, Glenn was a statue, staring off at a wall or even at nothing. What ever had happened clearly fucked him up.

The only information that Isabell had from the trip was about the boy they kept in the shed, Randall. Still, even then, Isabell didn't know much. She had kept watch some over the shed, but only for a few hours at a time. Daryl had made sure of that.

During the time Isabell stood guard at the door, she heard the boy pleading inside. Whether Randall was trying to convince her that he wasn't a bad guy or claiming that the handcuffs were hurting his wrists, he wouldn't shut up the entire time. Isabell felt a little bad. He couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He was a kid. Randall was someone's kid. He didn't deserve to die if he hadn't done anything wrong.

That didn't mean that Isabell wanted him in the camp. Randall was an outsider. He was someone no one knew anything about, and he wouldn't share anything about himself. Though, thinking about it, Isabell didn't think anyone had the urge to try to know him. Randall was always going to be the boy with the torn calf muscle who was helped and released from the group's hold, eighteen miles away from the farm.

Of course, now that Randall was gone, Isabell was able to breathe again. She was sure she'd be able to sleep at night now that Randall was no longer a threat to them. Isabell wasn't worried that he would get out somehow and hurt Carl or anyone else in the group. She wasn't completely over Sophia's death yet and had no idea how she'd survive Carl's.

Isabell had grown much closer to the boy over the past few days. With Randal on the farm, Rick and Lori refused to leave Carl alone, even for a second. Isabell had agreed, so she spent a lot of her free time playing babysitter. She didn't mind because she liked hanging out with Carol, and he enjoyed being with her. Isabell wasn't as crazy controlling as Lori, so he was able to relax instead of having the constant scrutiny hanging over his head. Together they played a lot of games. Card games, checkers, even working their way up to teach him to play chess.

The Greene family had been extremely accommodating, under the circumstances. Even with Beth being out of sorts, the family was still nice to their camp. Ever since Maggie had talked to Isabell the night she visited Beth, the two got very close. When Maggie wasn't sitting with her sister in the room and when Isabell wasn't busy, the two would relax, sitting out in the sun. They didn't have much to talk about, but they enjoyed the comfortable silence.

One day though, Maggie hadn't been able to sit with Isabell. She wasn't even able to sit still at all, so they walked around the farm a couple times. Isabell, though, questioned as to why she was so anxious.

Maggie had explained that Beth had tried to kill herself earlier in the day.

Isabell was shocked. "No way." she said to the brunette. "There's no way Beth would do something like that. She's so lively."

"I don't think it was her idea." Maggie responded in her thick country twang with a harsh tone to her voice. "Andrea was the last to talk to her. She told me she'd keep an eye out, so I could get some air, and she left Beth alone." Maggie sniffled. "Beth, she broke the bathroom mirror. Tried to cut herself."

Isabell had groaned the second she heard Andrea's name. She stopped Maggie in her tracks and turned to face her. "I wish I could say Andrea didn't know what would happen, but she's been responsible for too many almost deaths recently." The blonde shook her head, looking away from Maggie. "God, I can't believe that bitch would do that. Beth's been in too sensitive a state lately for Andrea to be pullin' that shit."

Maggie paused, with a curious look on her face. She gently took hold of Isabell's arm to gain her attention. "You care about my sister." Maggie pointed out.

Isabell had shrugged and nodded. "I care about you, too. And yer Pops. This group is all any of us have. Gotta treat it like family."

! #$# !

Daryl had been on edge just as much as Isabell had been, if not more. He knew that he had a lot of weight pushing on his shoulders. With Shane hanging on the edge of the sanity cliff, Daryl was next in line for a lot of the responsibility around camp.

Isabell knew Daryl was good for the obligation. Even he saw things that she didn't see. Daryl was smart. A good man for the job.

Daryl was just as shocked as Isabell when Rick and Shane came back to camp all bloodied up, toting a restrained Randall behind him.

Isabell approached Rick as Shane secured the boy in the tool shed. "What the hell?" Isabell questioned. "The whole point of you makin' that trip was to leave him out there. What the hell happened?"

"There was a herd." Rick explained quietly. "We were cornered."

"Doesn't mean you bring the bastard back!" Isabell stressed. "He doesn't belong here!"

Daryl looked to her, wish his eyes squinting from the setting sun.

"He knew Maggie from school. He knows where we are." Rick shook his head.

Isabell scoffed. "Even more reason to leave him to the damn fishes."

"We couldn't." Rick paused. "I couldn't."

"So what do we do?" Daryl asked, quietly.

Rick looked to him, thinking. The man rubbed the sweat from his forehead. "We need to know what he knows. Find out about his group. Where they are, what they do. Make sure there's no one coming for him. Or us."

"He won't just tell us those things." Isabell assured, gaining Rick's full attention. "Randall's a kid, but he's not stupid. Even if his group wasn't lookin' after him out there, he'll look after the group."

"I can do it." Daryl said, nodding. He looked up at Rick. "I'll get him to talk."

Isabell shook her head at Daryl. "You're kidding, right?"

"Wha'?"

Isabell grabbed Daryl's arm and tried to pull him away from Rick. "We'll just be a second." She promised the man. Once they were out of earshot, Isabell spoke again. "D, this is not the backwoods of Georgia. You can't do those things anymore. 'Specially not here."

"We need answers. This is how we're gonna get 'em."

"'We'?" Isabell repeated. "'We' might have been you, Merle and Robby doin' that shit years ago, Daryl, but it ain't you now. Robby wan't good and you know that." Isabell snorted a laugh. "God, how many times did that son of a bitch almost kill you? That alone should tell you that copyin' him ain't the way to do this."

"I told ya long time ago, I'm gonna protect my own. This is how I do it." Daryl insisted. He marched towards the shed. As he passed Rick, Daryl mumbled. "I got this." When he opened the door, Shane was exiting the shed.

Shane angrily made his way to Rick. "The hell is he doin'?" He asked, jerking his thumb back to Daryl and the tool shed.

Isabell joined the two men cautiously with Shane being one of them. "He's gonna interrogate Randall. Or at least his own version of it." Isabell pursed her lips, looking to Rick. "This is yer doin', by the way." She said. "I hate this side of Daryl, and he — "

Loud screams cut off Isabell's complaints to Rick. The screams were followed by groaned of pain the echoed. It started to gain the attention of the others around the camp.

Isabell sighed, shaking her head and looking to her feet. "It's getting late. You go deal with them." She said, looking to Rick. "Tell them what's going on. I'll get Daryl. This information you need, it can wait 'til mornin'." Isabell turned toward the shed.

"Isabell." Rick said, making Isabell pause her steps. "We're gonna handle it."

Isabell swallowed, her mind flashing to her saying the same thing to Daryl about Harley before she was born. "I'm not sure that makes it any better." She admitted before she continued to the rundown building. Isabell slowly opened the door. When she entered, she saw Daryl was bent over a bit, holding the front of Randall's shirt. Daryl's fist was poised, ready to swing.

"Yer group." Daryl shouted. "How many?"

Isabell came up behind Daryl while taking loud steps so that he wasn't surprised by her presence. She grabbed his fist and held it tightly, preventing him from swinging it forwards.

Daryl turned his head, glaring at her questioningly.

"We're not doing this." Isabell said.

"'Course we are." Daryl said, forcing his fist from Isabell's grasp. He clocked Randall hard in the face.

Randall groaned and fell onto his side. "I told you I don't really know anything." Randall promised. "I didn't need to know anything, so I didn't know!"

"Shut up!" Daryl ordered, pointing an angry finger in the kid's face.

"Hey!" Isabell screamed, putting herself between Daryl and the boy. "I said you were done." She pushed Daryl away.

"Y-you should listen to her." Randall nodded.

Isabell tilted her head to look at Randall. "Listen, kid. I'm not doin' this for you. The people here need their rest, and they can't do it with yer bitch ass screamin'. You'll tell us what we want to know." Isabell smiled wickedly. "Tomorrow. When my friend pays you another visit."

Randall looked up at Isabell in fear. "You can't let him do this! It's torture!"

Isabell shrugged, leaning over with her hands on her knees to look at Randall. "I tried to stop him from doin' this." She said, before putting a blindfold over his eyes. With that, Isabell let out a large breath, dropping her tough facade. The blonde left the young boy in the darkness, pulling Daryl roughly until he came on his own will.

Daryl scoffed once he was clear of the shed. "Good job in there, boss." He said sarcasm dripping from his words. "Makin' me look like a bitch. How the hell do I get anythin' outta him now?"

"I wasn't tryin' ta do that, D, I swear." Isabell insisted. "You wouldn't have listened. He needs a break or you'll kill him before you can get anythin' from him." She sighed. "Look, what you did, might still help. If we do that good cop, bad cop shit you see on the TV, I can get him to spill everything without breaking a single bone in his body."

Daryl shook his head, walking towards their camp in the trees.

"His blood shouldn't be on our hands, literally or figuratively." Isabell said. Her words made him stop. "He's just a kid, D."

"A kid who could bring a whole lotta hell our way." Daryl explained, taking angry strides back towards her. "You know that it's better we find them before they find us."

"His people aren't lookin'. They all think he's dead, right?" Isabell shook her head. "So, what? We do this for everyone we meet now? Ever single person we come across, they are all tryin' to kill us."

"Might as well be. 'Specially if we got somethin' they want." Daryl reasoned. "This farm is prime real estate, Iz. There ain't no nice for the sake of bein' nice anymore. That ain't the world now."

"There are fourteen people in this camp, Daryl. Do you really expected us to try to get the world back to normal?"

Daryl groaned. "You don't get it, do ya? It can' ever be normal. There will always be dead walkin' or lyin' in the streets. We are so screwed to hell, we are far passed fixin' any of this."

"That's not true." Isabell said quietly.

"God, Izzy. Just let it go." Daryl said, walking off towards camp.

Isabell stared off after him. She couldn't bring herself to stop him again, or even follow him back to their tent for bed. Isabell sighed, deciding that she should stand watch over Randall's tent for the time being. Someone had to do it and since no one else was in her sights, Isabell took on the responsibility.

Daryl wasn't himself anymore. Losing Sophia had taken more of a toll on Daryl they Isabell had realized. Before he might have believed they would find someplace safe to stay. Someplace they could build. Now the world was a hopeless place in his eyes. If that were the case, what were they holding out for? What were they fighting for?

"Hey!" Randall's voice shouted from inside the shed. "Hey! I know you're out there! Can't a guy get some water?! I'm dyin' in here!"

Isabell groaned, rolling her eyes. She went to the nearby well and filled a bucket full of water. Isabell returned to the shed and slowly made her way inside. She stood directly in front of Randall and tore his blindfold off.

Randall let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God. I thought it was your boyfriend."

Isabell held the bucket in her two hands, tilting it so Randall could take a small drink. "He's not my boyfriend." She stated. "And her probably wouldn't be as accommodatin' as me."

Randall took a large gulp of water and pulled his head back, leaning against the wall. "You're probably right."

Isabell sat the bucket across from the boy and crouched down in front of him. "It'd be a lot easier for you if you'd just tell us what you know."

"And give up my crew?" Randall questioned. "Hell, no."

"So, you'd rather have my friend torture you and beat the information out of ya?" She asked with her eyebrows raised. "He could kill you, ya know."

Randall shrugged and looked away.

Isabell thought for a moment, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "How'd you wind up with them anyway?"

Randall hesitated, not answering her question right away.

"I'm just curious." Isabell assured. "You don't have to give up any specifics if you don't wanna."

The boy nodded and looked up at her. "Met 'em how you get up with anybody these days. They found me. Walkin' the side of the road. Picked me up."

"And you were by yourself?"

Randall nodded.

"What about yer family? You've gotta be what? Sixteen? Seventeen?"

"Nineteen." He quickly corrected.

Isabell showed a small apologetic smile. "Sorry. Nineteen. Even still, ya should have a mom or a dad. Maybe a sibling or two." The blonde studied Randall as he slowly looked away from her again. "I guess not."

Randall sighed. "I was with my mom and my brother. They didn't make it."

Isabell nodded, unsure of how to respond without being too sympathetic for him. "Well, uh, you know, I don't think she'd like you bein' around those guys. I know my people. They wouldn't have hurt yours unless they were threatened first."

Randall scoffed, suddenly angry at what Isabell was saying. "You don't know my mom. And you don't know my crew. Your guys killed my friends.".

"And they rescued you!" Isabell reminded. "We took you when yer friends left you to the walkers. Our doc fixed you up."

"Of course. You've all been extremely hospitable." Randall said, sarcastically, looking around his cell. "The two other guys tyin' me up and takin' me to the high school. Plannin' to leave me for dead."

"But they didn't."

"And your boyfriend, who can't keep his fists to himself. Y'all've been great hosts." Randall joked. "Remind me to leave a review in the guestbook."

"I'm sure we're treatin' you a hell of a lot better than some others would." Isabell said. "And, again, he's not my boyfriend."

"You think so?" Randall questioned angrily.

"Kid, I know we are. I haven't always been with this group. I joined up with them a month or so back. I've been out there like everyone else."

Randall shook his head, not wanting to hear anymore. "Look, lady. All I wanted was the drink. I don't need you lecturin' me. Or keepin' me company."

Isabell nodded and stood to her feet. "I was tryin' to help. What my friend is doin' to ya is wrong and I didn't want you to get hurt again. I can't stop him from doin' what he will tomorrow. So I hope you decide to tell us everything." Isabell didn't wait for a response and quickly left the shed without another word.

Maybe Isabell had gone a little too far while she was talking to Randall. Of course, she knew that if Daryl were to find out about their conversation he'd be furious, but she didn't care. The kid didn't deserve to be beat to death. Isabell didn't see his old group as a threat. They had abandoned Randall and weren't coming back for him. In their minds, he was lost to the walkers.

Isabell felt bad for Randall and it wasn't really her fault that she did either. She was a mother. Randall didn't deserve Daryl's beatings. He hadn't done anything wrong. That was true, but she didn't think he could be a part of their camp. Not after being with the bad guys' group for so long. Randall wouldn't be able to change.

Her relationship with Daryl, whatever the relationship was anymore, was certainly strained because of the drama with Randall. Isabell didn't like when they disagreed. When it came to one of the few things they disagreed on, it was like mixing oil and water. Nobody wanted to get in the middle of their fights. Their fights could last for days before they finally dropped the subject altogether, never mentioning it again.

! #$# !

Seven Years Earlier….

"Daryl, are you sure?" Isabell asked, nearly biting her entire nail off of her finger. "I'm not so sure that she's ready."

"I wanna ride, Mama! Let me ride!" Harley begged, jumping up and down at her mother's feet. "Please, Mama, please!" The little girl looked at Isabell with her big eyes, matching the blue color of her father's.

Isabell bit her lip and sighed, moving her attention to Daryl.

"Yeah, Mama." Daryl smirked towards Isabell. "Let 'er ride."

"Okay." Isabell nodded after a moment. "Put her on."

Daryl grabbed his daughter under her arms. He picked her up from the floor and placed her on the bike. "I think yer overreactin' anyway, Iz. It's a tricycle. It ain't like she can tip it over."

"But she can crash it."

"She'll be fine."

"Yeah, Mama. I'll be fine." Harley insisted.

Daryl crouched down next to the bike and smiled at his little girl. "Alright, Harls. Put yer feet on the pedals. Hands right here." As Daryl pointed, Harley complied. "Mkay, use this to steer and push yer feet to the pedals to move it forward. Got it?"

"I got it, Daddy. Let me go." Harley cried with an excited smile.

Daryl let go of the little red tricycle, and he stood to his feet. "Go on, little girl." He insisted.

Harley looked up at her mom.

Isabell hesitated before she smiled down at Harley and nodded her head.

Harley smiled back at her mother, and took off like a lightning strike.

Isabell held in a breath. "She's growing too fast."

"I'm sure that's why yer really freakin' out about this bike thing." Daryl assumed, smirked at Isabell before continuing to watch his daughter ride around the empty space in the living room. "Ain't got nothin' to do with the bike."

Isabell shrugged. "Maybe, but still."

"Look, while I got ya here, I gotta talk to ya about somethin'." Daryl said seriously. "Merle's gettin' out next week."

Isabell turned her head quickly towards him and narrowed her eyes at him. "No." She said simply.

"Izzy, c'mon."

"No. I finally got his mess from the last time he was here cleaned out and, really, I shoulda been wearin' a hazmat suit." Isabell said seriously. "We need that for Harley's room. We don't have the space."

"We can give him your room." Daryl offered.

Isabell laughed at the thought. "You're jokin', right?"

"You don't sleep there anymore anyway. Always stayin' with me or Harley. You don't need that room."

Isabell paused, thinking. "Is this why you brought home that bike for her?" She whispered, taking a half step towards him. "Thought you could butter me up with a happy kid?"

"No. I did that for her. Thought she'd like it."

Isabell scoffed. "Daryl, I cannot let him back in this house." She insisted. "I won't. Especially now that Harley talks and understands what we say. Imagine what would happen the second that he walks through that door."

"He's family." Daryl reminded. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Not push him onto me, that's for sure."

"Izzy…. C'mon. It'll only be for a little while. You can kick him out whenever you want to."

Isabell bit her lip, thinking. "He has two weeks." She said finally. "Just two. And you need to get him a night job or somethin' to do. I don't want him here when I'm alone with Harley."

Daryl smiled and leaned over to kiss Isabell's cheek. "I love ya."

"Two weeks." Isabell stressed. "Two or I will kill him."