r2j591: I must thank you for your persistence. Without it I wouldn't be writing as much. You are motivation me to get this done even though all you said was 'Update soon please!'. Thanks. That's all I needed.

Sorry guys, these chapters are much longer than ones I'm used to writing, so I apologize if they get boring. Thanks for sticking with me.

Lily is my OC and I claim the episode edits to make my idea fit. Everything else belongs to Scott Gimple I suppose. Enjoy.

When she woke, the sun was high in the sky and a light sweat covered her face. She lifted her head confused for a second. The sun was out. She wasn't confined in a boarded up room. A gentle breeze ruffled her hair as it blew in through the opening of the tent. Something outside the opening moved and Lily's blurry eyes focused on it. It was a boy.

"Hey, Sleepin' Beauty." It was Daryl. It wasn't a dream. He crawled in the opening of the tent and crouched down. She threw her arms over his head and hugged him tightly. He had never been so shocked as he was at that moment.

"It's not a dream," she whispered.

"Of course it ain't a dream!" he said almost angrily pulling her arms from around his neck and untying them.

"You didn't move," the boy said to Lily.

"What?"

"You didn't move at all."

She looked at Daryl confused. "You slept in the same position all night. That's what he means. To be honest, you looked dead at some parts during the night."

"You must have been tired."

She nodded her head. "I'm Lily. What's your name?"

"Carl."

"Hi, Carl," she gave a weak smile. "What time is it?"

"Late afternoon. Time for lunch."

"Lunch is?"

"Squirrel," Daryl smiled holding up some of the left overs from the previous night. Her stomach rolled.

Carl burst out laughing from the look on Lily's face and Daryl was too.

When the three of them joined the group, Carl was riding on Lily's back and all three were smiling full tooth grins.

"Carl!" It was Lori calling him. "Leave her alone."

"It's ok," Lily smiled. "He's not bothering me."

"Then give me a hand."

Lily walked over to Lori who was hanging laundry and dropped Carl to the ground. Daryl walked over and began talking with Shane and Rick.

"How did you sleep?"

"Apparently I didn't move all night. I looked dead."

"You must have really needed the sleep. So I have to ask, what was it like... You know, sharing a tent with the biggest redneck there is?" Lori asked in a hushed voice so only the women around could hear her.

"It was fine. It's been the first time I've felt this safe in a long time."

"Those are words I never thought I'd hear associated with Daryl..."

"He's a tough one," Carl added.

The woman a tree down hanging a pair of pants added her insight to Daryl. She was older than the others with short grey hair but not old enough to be a grandmother. "The way I've seen him act with you is the first time I've seen him do anything of the sort."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"He doesn't let anyone near his tent which is why we were all shocked to hear he'd let you stay with him," a young woman with blonde wavy hair said. "I'm Andrea by the way."

"Carol." The short grey haired lady said.

"Lets just say he's not one to bring something living back from one of his trips," Lori said in a hushed voice. "And he doesn't joke around with people much either."

"Today was the first time I've seen him smile," Carol said.

"So I assume he doesn't offer to protect people often either?" Lily asked as she pinned a shirt to the string.

"No. No, he's not," Andrea replied. "Are you saying he did that to you too?"

"Yeah, he did."

"What's she got that we don't?"

"Let Daryl be Daryl."

Lori was smiling from ear to ear about something. She'd hardly heard the conversation at all.

"What's got you so happy?"

"My husband came back this morning."

Then as if on cue to ruin a sweet moment, a shout came from the area by the RV. All the women turned to see Shane, Daryl and another man arguing over something.

"You handcuffed my brother to a roof and you just left him there?"

"That's the Daryl we know," Andrea said pointing to his shouting form.

"Yeah."

Daryl thought for a moment before throwing himself at the man who was most likely Lori's husband. Shane saw the attack coming and tackled him.

Daryl drew his knife getting off the ground.

Lily ran towards the group to attempt to stop it, but the second she made it to the scuffle she didn't know what to do.

Andrea pulled her from the scuffle right before the knife sailed through the air.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl spits when Shane puts him in a choke hold.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

"Hey, choke holds illegal."

"You can file a complaint."

"Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. You think we can manage that? You think we can manage that?"

He looked up at Lily before complying to the calm conversation. Shane released Daryl and they both regained their breath.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick begins. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key," T-Dog fessed up. "I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

He sighed before getting up. "Well, if it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, Maybe this will. I chained the door to the roof- so the geeks couldn't get at him- with a padlock."

"-its gotta count for something," Rick added.

Lily watched Daryl wipe tears from his eyes. "Hell with y'all! Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him!"

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori said running to Rick's rescue.

"I'm going back," Rick said. By the way Lori clung to him, Lily could only assume that he was her husband. If he was her husband then what was her relationship with Shane?