So... you guys wanted Jamie and Carl to bond through the pain. This is it for a bit, but I swear, I WILL finish season 4 before the season 5 premiere. Review review review!

Daryl and Rick sat out in the grey light of dawn, backs against the tire of the jeep, weapons in their lap. Michonne was situated in the middle of the backseat, and Carl was asleep, head in her lap. Jamie had managed to stuff herself between the seat ahead of her and the back seat, sitting on the floor with her head resting on the seat.

Daryl handed Rick the bottle of water he'd filled at the creek nearby, nodding to him. "Might wanna clean up."

Rick shrugged. "We should probably save it for drinking." he said.

Daryl let a raspy chuckle escape his lips. "Yeah. You ain't seen yourself, then." he admitted. Rick was sporting a nasty cut on his temple, and blood around his moth, plus a few scratches and blood spatter.

Rick chuckled as well. "Yeah, well you don't look too good yourself."

Daryl had a black eye and a bloody lip, and no doubt had numerous bruises on his torso from the beating he'd taken last night.

Still, both men laughed. An easy laugh- they knew each other well enough to joke like this- they were family.

Their laughter dulled to silence, and Rick turned to Daryl, suddenly serious.

"What you did last night- showing up when you did- it meant everything. You could've just walked away. Probably should've- the odds were against us. But you didn't. You being here with us now- that's everything. You're my brother."

Daryl nodded wordlessly, looking solemn. He'd known for a long time- they weren't just people staying together to survive, anymore. They were family. But it felt good to hear Rick say it.

Rick's silence, however, was one of reflection. Daryl had risked everything for them last night. Not only himself, but he'd risked loosing Jamie. He knew how much the girl meant to him, and knew it was proof of how loyal they were to one another.

He hoped he'd have the balls to do the same, were it him and Carl faced with the choice to try and help or walk away. But he hoped it never came to that.

"You know 'bout anyone else who made it out of the prison?" Rick asked finally.

Daryl nodded, lips pressed together and eyes studying his boots. "Yeah. Beth was with us for awhile. Things went to shit, we told her to run- she ain't dead. 'Least, I didn't see a body. She's just... gone."

Rick nodded. He was impressed Daryl had managed to keep Jamie stable through everything- god knew he'd had a hard enough time with Carl.

The car door opened quietly, and Jamie quietly stepped out, hardly making a sound.

"Goin' hunting, baby girl?" Daryl asked quietly, meeting her eyes. She nodded, quietly closing the car door behind her. There were a few scratches on her face from fighting Tony.

"Stay close, alright?"

"Alright."

And she was gone, disappearing into the woods.

Both men watched the area long after she'd gone from view- they knew she was more than capable of handling herself. But that didn't mean they couldn't worry.

Daryl was the first to break the silence, then. "Where you been?" he asked curiously.

Rick shrugged. "Around. Stuck to one neighborhood, mostly. Found some food. We were gonna settle up and look for supplise when that group came. Found Michonne's shirt, I heard them talking. Had to kill one and we left."

Daryl nodded understandingly. He didn't doubt any of the men in Joe's group would've had any qualms about having their way with Michonne had they come across her alone. He was the only reason Jamie had been safe around them, and even then, he'd seen the hungry looks in their eyes.

Rick's eyes settled on Daryl. "How 'bout you?"

Daryl shrugged. "After we lost Beth, we ran into those guys on the road. I went with 'em for a bit- it was safer having Jamie there, I figured, more eyes watching our back. As long as she stayed close to me, everything was fine. They had a system of rules, thought it'd be enough. It wasn't. We'd heard they were tracking somebody who'd killed one of their guys- didn't think it was you. I was planning on leaving before they found who they were looking for. Then I watched the, beat a man for death. We were gonna leave the next night after that, I didn't want her there, but then we saw it was you..."

Rick nodded, understanding. It'd been a rough decision, but he was glad Daryl had chose them.

Carl quietly stepped out of the car then, a smear of blood along his jawline and a haunted look in his blue eyes that showed some wounds couldn't be seen. Daryl caught the look of concern in Rick's eyes and understood. Last night had fucked with Jamie, too, but someone had tried to hurt her before, she'd said- she knew how to cope. Carl didn't.

"How'd you sleep?" Rick asked, looking over at the boy and forcing a smile to hide his concern.

Carl shrugged, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Where's Jamie?"

Daryl nodded towards the woods. "There." Jamie had only been gone for about twenty minutes, so he wasn't worried. He'd just let loose a birdcall and wait for her response if he was that worried.

Carl nodded. "I'll go see if she needs help with... whatever she's doing." he frowned, realizing it was a poor excuse but using it anyways. Jamie was the only one he really wanted to see right now.

Rick nodded. "Be careful." was all he said, and Carl nodded before he, too, disappeared into the woods.

Rick frowned as he stared at the tree line, deep in thought.

"He's rattled." Daryl said simply.

Rick nodded. "I don't see why he wouldn't be." he frowned. "Jamie seems fine. A little quiet..." she seemed more reserved, a lot less talkative than she'd been at the prison. More cautious.

"She's gotten quieter, yeah. Didn't wanna piss anybody off or say the wrong thing in that other group." Daryl admitted.

Rick nodded thoughtfully, but his brow was still furrowed as he waited for both children to come back.

Carl made his was through the brush, following Jamie's bootprints. They were incredibly small compared to his own, a reminder that his boots, even though they were a size too large, housed large feet. Everything about him seemed to be getting larger these days- his chest broader, arms more muscular- any day now he expected to wake up with stubble tickling his chin.

But he could've cared less about puberty right now. He had a basket full of jumbled feelings to sort out, and Jamie was the only one he knew who could do that. Michonne was one of his friends- his best friends- but even then, she didn't know him like Jamie did. There was something about the way she understood him, something that allowed her to fix parts of him he hadn't even known were broken.

And so he plodded along. He walked for five minutes, then ten, following the bootprints. They got fresher as he walked along, the brush suddenly thinned out, and he found himself standing in a clearing.

Jamie was crouched, back to him, working on something. Probably studying tracks left by game.

"Jamie?" he quietly called her name and she turned, surprised to hear another voice but breaking into a smile when she saw it was him.

It was at that exact moment a walker managed to stumble through the brush and fall into her.

"Jamie!"

She'd had her knife in hand and elbowed it in the chest, squirming and fighting, slashing wildly until she was almost free. When she was about to get up, a dead hand seized her by something on the back of her neck, yanking her down again. There was a muffled click as Carl fired off his gun, and a moment later the walker was lying in a growing puddle of blood in the leaves, dead.

Jamie fell to her knees, and Carl ran over to her. "Did it get you?" he asked breathlessly, terrified if what the answer was.

Jamie looked up, eyes troubled. "No. Didn't scratch me, anyways, I ain't bit..." her eyes desperately searched the leaves until she found it, scooping it up desperately and holding it in her cupped hands like it was precious.

Carl caight a glimpse of what it was, then. The necklace, the one he'd given to her all those months ago, before the prison had fallen- the one that'd belong to his mother, the little gold chain with the blue pendant on the end.

"You kept it." Carl stated, looking surprised as he said it. All these months, through all this hell, she'd managed to keep it.

Jamie looked up at him like he was retarded. "Hell yeah I kept it. I keep everything that means something to me..." she anxiously combed her fingers through the golden chainlinks, searching for any damage. She swore.

"What is it?" Carl asked, dreading the answer. Jamie looked up at him, eyes glassy with unshed tears. "The damn clasp got broken when the walker tore it off me." she said, wiping her forearm across frustrated, teary eyes. "It's broken."

Carl frowned. It was just a necklace, just a gift he'd given to her- but it meant a hell of a lot more to her. That much was clear.

Suddenly she had an idea, looking up at him hopefully. "You got a lighter?"

Carl nodded, pulling the cigarette lighter he'd found awhile back from his pocket, confused as to why they'd need it.

"Think you can melt the metal back together?" Jamie asked, looking down sadly at the broken necklace in her cupped hands.

Carl hesitated. "I don't know..."

"Just try. Please?" Jamie pleaded, and Carl nodded. Jamie quietly put the necklace on as much as she could, holding both ends behind her neck for him to take. He hesitated again.

"You won't be able to take it off." he said. He'd basically be melting the only means of removing it.

Jamie looked up at him, annoyed. "I know. I don't wanna take it off. Ever. Now can you hurry up and do it before another walker comes?"

Carl nodded, flicking the lighter on and settling the flames on the broken chain of the necklace, watching the flame dance among the tiny metal chain links.

"It's just a necklace, Jamie." he said finally.

"It's a necklace you gave me. It belonged to your mother. It's more than that, and you know it." Jamie said, still slightly frustrated with him. Since when did everything change to black and white for him? When did he stop seeing the colors of the world they'd lived in together, those weeks ago, back at the prison?

"It means something to me, Carl. You mean something to me. And I never wanna take it off."

Carl let the words wash over him, not saying anything and simply pondering. He looked down to noticed the clasp and chain had melted back together and nodded towards Jamie. "It's fixed."

She allowed a small smile to creep onto her face, but it disappeared when she saw his eyes were filled only with scars. Where was the boy she'd fallen in love with? Had he died last night, died when she wasn't looking?

She paused, looking at him with pity on her features. "It gets better, you know. You don't have to do it alone. He didn't rape you, and it wasn't your fault. He was a sick bastard. You learn to cope."

He said nothing, simply studying his boots. Jamie sighed, starting to walk back towards the road. If he wanted to try and deal with it by himself, he could.

She didn't expect him to say anything, and she was surprised when he did.

"What did it feel like?" he asked quietly. "The first time they tried. I mean, how did you...?"

Jamie knew what he was asking about. The first time someone had ever tried to rape her.

Jamie sighed, keeping her back to him. She didn't let him see the emotions cross her face, and she thought carefully, licking her chapped lips before speaking.

"It sucked. That's a pretty good way to describe it. Ryder was alive back then, we were on our own, on the highway. Stopped to scavenge cars. I was sitting on the back bumped of the truck, keeping watch for herds while Ryder scouted out ahead. Was too focused on watching for a herd, I didn't even see him come from out of the woods. He was on me, then, he threw me down and straddled me and started to take off his pants. I couldn't scream, I don't know why, but for some reason I just couldn't. I grabbed my pistol and gut-shot him."

Carl was paling at the description, standing completely still, but she had a feeling he was still listening, so she continued.

"He didn't expect it. Don't know why, but for some reason the fucker thought I wouldn't have a gun. He got up, this glassy look on his face. His shirt was all bloody, he was tryin' to put his hands over his stomach where I got 'im, but I knew I'd fucked him up real bad and he was gonna die."

"Ryder heard the shot and came running. He saw me on the ground, shaking and dirty, and the bastard stumbling around. He got this look on his face... I've never seen that look on my brother's face before. And I never wanted to see it again. The man fell over, then, and for a minute I thought Ryder was just gonna let him bleed out, slow. But he must've not wanted me to have to watch that, since he pulled out his gun and finished the man, got him right between the eyes. The walkers heard the shots, started coming out of the woods, and Ryder threw me into the truck and we drove off."

Carl was staring into the distance, then, eyes glassy and unfocused, lips parted slightly. Finally, he spoke.

"How'd you get over it?"

Jamie shrugged. "I have no idea. Didn't have time to think about it, I guess- The next thing I knew I was riding shotgun while Ryder drove like hell. We had to find a place to settle for the night, hadda find food- wasn't much time to remember. Had to focus on the now."

Carl nodded. Wordlessly, they started back towards camp. They walked on towards Terminus, both uncharacteristically silent.

They reached the place as dusk was falling, however, came to the edge of the chain link fences.

Jamie grinned- the first real grin Carl had seen all day. She smiled. "We made it." she whispered, eyes bright.

And wordlessly, Carl reached over and took her hand, giving her a wane smile of his own. They'd made it.