cemmia: Thank you!

Ok back from vacation for a few days before I get shipped across country again to drive furniture home...

Lily belongs to me and the slight rearranging that I do everything else belongs to the Walking Dead people...

"Did you find her?" Carol asked her when she and Glenn approached the camp.

"Yes, I did, but she got scared and ran off again. I shouted for her but the walkers closed in on me and Daryl saved my back. He and Rick and Shane are out looking for her now.

"Nope, just Rick and Daryl," Shane said from behind them once he joined the group causing Lily to jump.

"What happened?" Lori asked Lily when Glenn set her on the hood of a car.

"I tripped over a tree root when I turned to go after Sophia and a walker was coming after me. It'll be fine but I need to stay off of it for a little while. In the meantime, Rick told me to tell you guys that he wants you to continue to rifle through these cars. He want's to make sure that we get everything we can out of these cars before he brings Sophia back. Once he does that, he says we can leave."

Glenn and Shane both knew that she had embellished but they knew Rick wanted to keep the others busy so they didn't argue.

The group set back to work gathering what they needed. That is all of them except Carol who was waiting for the return of Rick and Daryl with her daughter.

Lily, who had been forced to the RV, was in not the best mood but there was nothing she could do other than wait and read. The sun was going down and Lily wanted to be outside to watch the sunset, so she took her book outside and crawled on a car hood.

Daryl and Rick came back when the sun set, but there was no news to report other than they gutted a walker.

"What are you doin' balancin' on a car hood?" Daryl snapped at her.

"Watching the sun go down..." Lily responded sheepishly.

"Why?"

Her voice came back. "Because there are few things which a person can enjoy these days and a sunset is one of those things."

"Get back in the RV."

"Why?"

"Because you're injured and being out here during the night is like an invitation to fall again. Come on." He offered her his hand. "Time to call it a day."

"I can take care of myself."

His eyes were stern. "You don't need ta be gettin' hurt again..."

"You've had a long day," Rick said trying to bring the peace between the two. "Daryl's right. If you try to move on your own, you could trip again and hurt your ankle more."

"Fine," she responded sliding off the hood onto her good foot. Daryl pulled her arm over his shoulder and helped her to the RV where he set her down on one of the benches.

"Don't move."

When he left Andrea sat opposite of her and began to clean her gun.

"So, you and Daryl..." she started trying to make conversation.

"What about us?" Lily responded somewhat quickly.

"You have a thing for him?"

"He's bossy and doesn't respect my personal space..."

"No, I'm talking about what just happened out there...You two were bickering like an old married couple."

"He's worried about me, that's all."

"That's all? That's certainly saying something alright!"

"What does that mean?"

"He doesn't worry about anybody but himself. Why does he look out for you?" She'd set her gun down on the table giving Lily her undivided attention.

She sighed before giving in to Andrea. "Back at the CDC he told me something that happened to him a few years ago." Andrea looked up at her with interest. No one in the group had been particularly close to Daryl or Merle so anything about their past was something worth hearing about. By the look Andrea was giving her, Lily knew that it wasn't right to tell her what had happened to Daryl. If he ever wanted to say it, he would, but until then, she wasn't going to say anything. "Let's just say I remind him of someone he used to know and he doesn't want the same thing happening to me that happened to them. That's why he's keeping such a close watch on me. He also feels terrible about my arm, so he's trying to make up for that in his own way I suspect. That's all there is to tell."

Andrea looked somewhat disappointed at what had been said but she didn't press the matter and let Lily drift off to sleep.