When they pulled up to the tower path Matthew was at his truck waiting on them. He was holding a patch of snow to his eye and Daryl could see a bright red mark on his neck. The man walked up to him, "That bitch is fucking crazy."

"What the fuck'd you do?" Daryl squared up to him, "She ain't never done shit til she got stuck with you."

"Daryl, just go see if you can talk to her." Murray pushed the two of them apart.

Despite the fact he wouldn't mind putting the prick in his place, looking at his injuries made him more worried about Ren, she'd felt bad about kicking a wolf that was trying to eat her, what would have made her hit this guy? He made his way to the tower, Murray and Matthew going much slower behind him, and when he got there, he saw that the ladder was up. He yelled out, "REN!"

Waiting, he saw as she came out and looked over the banister and lifted the ladder down for him. When he climbed up, she was already back inside the tower and when he walked in, she was sat back at the desk, working on programing the board. Daryl walked over to her, "You alright?"

"Fine." She answered back not looking at him.

"Liar." She would have smiled at seeing him, just like she had last time if she were fine. "What happened to Matthew?"

She shrugged.

"Ren." He reached out to her, taking her chin to make him look at her. Not only did she flinch away from his touch, but he also saw the busted lip and bruising around it. "He's dead."

Her eyes went wide as the rage on his face appeared and he was back out of the door and sliding down the ladder before she could call after him. She called his name as she made her way down the ladder, telling him to wait as he made his way to Matthew.

His fist was against the man's jaw before she even made it to them though. Murray tried to separate them as Matthew tried to fight back but Daryl wouldn't back down, hitting the man again and again. Ren screamed his name and he stopped punching and instead grabbed the man by the collar and pinned him against a tree. "The fuck'd you do?! You fucking touch her?!"

"She's the bitch who hit me first!" Matthew yelled.

"Because you wouldn't get your hands off me!" Ren yelled back and Daryl punched the man again.

"Stop it! All of ya!" Murray yelled firing off a round in the air.

Daryl stopped hitting Matthew but didn't let him go. He held him against the tree still trying to debate about whether or not he should kill the guy.

"Now Matthew what the hell happened?" Murray asked. "You hit her?"

"She fucking started it!" Matthew pointed at her.

Daryl slammed him against the tree "You don't fucking look at her."

"She doesn't belong to you." Matthew smirked, "So you can't tell me what to do."

"She don't belong to no one, she ain't property." Daryl got in his face. "Rapist piece of shit."

"I didn't fucking rape her!" The man defended.

"But you would have. If I hadn't hit you." Ren crossed her arms, she swallowed hard. "I told you three times to stop touching me. And when you didn't…"

"Is that true?" Murray asked him.

"Maybe the animal here rubbed off on her while they were out here." Matthew looked at Daryl.

"Shut the fuck up!" Ren yelled at him.

"Murray you really gunna defend this fucker?" Daryl asked him.

"Daryl let him go." Murray said. Daryl gripped the mans collar tighter, "Dammit Daryl, let him go!"

Daryl shoved him as he let Matthew go and took a few steps back to still be in front of Ren. Murray ran his hands over his face before looking at Ren, "You wanna press charges or anything."

"I just want him gone." She replied, feeling slightly sick.

"Alright." Murray waved Matthew over to him. He then looked to Daryl, "Do you mind waiting until another Ranger comes out here?"

Daryl shook his head, "No other rangers. I'm stayin'."

Rens head swung up to look at him, her chest tight, hoping he meant until she was done with all of the towers.

Murray sighed, "Daryl we don't have the budget for-"

"Fuck the money." Daryl almost growled, "Just want her to be safe."

"Alright, just let the other towers know when you're on your way there, and they'll get out of your hair." Murray gave them an awkward smile before turning Matthew around to walk back to where the trucks were.

When Daryl turned around, he was shocked as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him for a moment. She quietly said, "Thanks." Before letting him go and going back to the ladder and up it.

He followed behind her and when he got into the tower she was back on her computer. Going over to the fridge, he grabbed a cold bottle of water and went over to her. "Here."

"I'm fine." She responded, not looking at him.

"Hey." He knelt down, gently taking her chin to try and turn her to him, "It'll swell if you don't ice it."

"Its fine." She didn't look at him despite her turned head.

"Ren. It's alright." Daryl said.

She looked at him and when her eyes met his they started to water, and her lip started to quiver. Forcing herself to look away from him she quickly stood up and walked towards her tools and wiped her eye. Her voice was shaky "I'm fine."

He stood up and watched her as she ran her hands through her hair. He heard her take in a shaky breath and then muttered, "What the fuck is happening?"

"What'd'ya mean?" He asked.

Her voice cracked "My fiancé cheats on me and then some guy assaults me? What the hell is this? Why all at once? What's wrong with me?"

Tears started streaming down her cheeks and Daryl moved over to her carefully. He wasn't the best at dealing with people when they were like this, but she'd never been like this before, and he'd honestly been worried about it the first time when she wasn't about her fiancé. But he guessed it was all coming out now. He put his hand on her back and she turned into him, her head in his chest as she started to cry. Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her, his hand stroking her hair as she sobbed.

"Ain't nothin wrong with you." He muttered against the top of her head, and he would know considering all the things that were wrong with him. She was amazing, but he was too afraid to tell her that. So instead he just did what he thought was best and held her until she calmed down.

She'd finished her work for the day and was happy that Daryl was there, despite the fact that she'd cried like a five-year-old in front of him, but she felt safe again. He'd left her to work, not bothering her any other than to make sure she ate and to check her lip and bruises. Ren had heard him moving behind her and when she turned around after finishing programing the board, she saw he'd made their bed on the floor again.

He was already laying on it and didn't look at her as he said, "You can sleep down here if you wanna, if not cots all yours."

"I'll sleep down there…I might actually sleep some then." She let out a laugh.

"Didn sleep well last night?" He asked.

"Barely slept at all with Matthew around. Gave me the creeps from the very beginning honestly." She moved from the chair and sat down on the sheets.

"How'd…how'd you get him outta here?" He'd honestly been wondering.

She laughed again, "Well after he wouldn't take his hands off of me, I elbowed him. And when he hit me, I happened to be holding my soldering iron and went for his neck and then hit him back. I don't think he thought I would fight back, so when I did, he didn't know what to do."

"Your brother teach you that?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, took my first punch when I was twelve so I wouldn't be shocked the first time I ever actually got punched." Daryl gave her a concerned and confused look and she smiled, "Don't worry, he didn't hit me. It was part of a class. But he did make sure that after that I could hurt a man twice my size…He tells me that I'm too nice, that even though I want people to be as nice as I am, that I should never expect them to be…because people try to hurt nice people like me…I knew he was right, I've just never really experienced it before."

"He cares a lot about you." Daryl said, "Sounds like a smart guy."

"He is. He'd like you." She held back a smile.

"Yeah? Why?" Daryl asked.

"Because you don't hesitate to do what's right." She told him. "You saw my lip and immediately went into action. Hammond likes people like that, not the people that just sit back and watch, or record it on their phones."

"Well I ain't gotta phone."

She laughed, "Of course you don't…do you at least have a cigarette though?"

He nodded grabbing his bag, "C'mon."

Ren followed him out and he pulled two cigarettes, lighting them before handing her one. She took it from him, holding her arms close to her body despite wearing her jacket. He knew it had gotten a lot colder than when they were together before and so he shrugged off his heavier jacket.

"You need somethin thicker." He draped it over her shoulders.

"Yeah, I didn't think we'd be out here this long, so I didn't bring anything else." She said pulling it tight over her shoulders, "But aren't you going to get cold?"

"I'll be fine 'til we go back in." He told her, "You can wear it while you're workin too."

"Thanks." She smiled at him. Moving in closer to him she leaned her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his. Her voice was soft, "Thanks for coming back…I like it a lot better with you around."

He felt a heat in his cheeks, so he didn't look down towards her. No one had ever said that to him before. And someone like her was the last person he expected to say it, or they would have been before he met her. All he responded with was, "Mmhmm."

A/N: Be sure to let me know what you guys think! I always love writing an angry protective Daryl!