My brother and the man were sitting at the dining table. I just finished making him a cup of tea and brought it into to him. "Why'd ya run off?" Daryl asked him. I was about to sit next to the guy, but my brother stopped me by wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me down onto his lap. I almost rolled my eyes, I swear his overprotectiveness is getting worse.

"I didn't want to stick around. After all, I don't really know you." The man said taking a sip of his tea. "And you looked like pretty capable people. I figured I'd get out of your way." He smiled at me. I just gave him a strange look. We were all silent for a while. It was me who broke the silence.

"Oh, I'm Leann, by the way, but you can call me Le. This is my brother, Daryl." I said. The man gave us a nod and smiled at me again but didn't say anything. "And…you are?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Eddie Manns." He stated. "The children like to call me Eddie Bear." He smiled at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"You got kids?" Daryl asked him.

"Uh, no. Just me." He kept that smile on his face.

"Did ya work with kids before this?" I asked him.

"Sort of." He replied. We just gave him a weird look waiting for him to continue. "Photographer." He said. "Family portraits and such." I just nodded. There was another brief pause.

"Well…you can stay with us I guess, we gotta spare room." Daryl said. "But just know this…if you try anythang, if ya hurt my baby sister…I will kill ya in a second."

"Well…" Eddie smiled nervously. "I would never. As I said, I love kids."

"Yeah, I ain't really a kid, though, I'm fifteen."

"I see. Well, we'll be greats friends anyway."

I looked at him sideways and squinted. "All right. But I ain't callin' ya Eddie Bear. I'll call ya Mr. Man, though. I kinda like that." I hopped off my brother's lap and went over to the fireplace and sat down.

"I take it you two are close." Mr. Man said.

"Yeah, that's my baby." Daryl answered him. I smirked.

"I completely understand." He nodded.

"Do ya?" My brother narrowed his eyes at him.

Mr. Man was hesitant. "…yes, I do." He nodded. For once, his smile faded. He must have lost someone close to him. I looked down at the fire.

"Well, I was actually on my way somewhere." Mr. Man said. "I'm looking for something important."

"How important?" Daryl asked him.

"Very. It's medical related."

"We could go fer ya!" I jumped up. Daryl gave me a weird look. "I mean…it's the least we could do fer ya savin' us and all."

"Oh no, I couldn't. I—

"Just let us. It'll be fine." I said to him then turned to my brother. "Okay, Daryl?" He looked at me for a moment then finally nodded.

"Yeah, yer right, Sissy. Let's help 'im." Daryl then looked to Mr. Man. "What did ya say you was lookin' fer?"

"Uh, well, I didn't but it's…an inhaler."

"You got asthma?"

"Well, no. I have bad lungs. It helps." He smiled nervously.

"All right, well…" Daryl got up. "Best not to waste no more time."

"It's really no trouble. I can just go."

"No, it's fine." I reassured him.

Mr. Man still seemed reluctant. "…well, okay, but at least let me come with you."

"Sure." Daryl nodded.

"Great." He smiled. "I have a car a few houses down from here."

"Cool. I'll drive." Daryl said.

The three us traveled to the closest pharmacy we could find. We were pretty much silent the whole way there. I had to sit in the back, I didn't like it. I had gotten used to sitting in the front seat. The backseat just bothers me for some reason.

"It shouldn't be too much farther ahead." Mr. Man said looking at a map. "I think the next turn." My brother turned down the road Mr. Man told him to when it was time. He parked the car right in front of the store and we got out. Daryl put his arm across my shoulders and we walked in together.

The store seemed clear. "Okay." My brother said. "I'm gonna look for some other supplies if you wanna check the pharmacy."

"Sure." Mr. Man nodded.

"I'll go with you." I said to him.

"Wait." Daryl gave me a wary look.

I looked from my brother to Mr. Man and back again. "Don't worry, Daryl. I'll be fine. If he tries anythang, I'll shoot 'im in the face." My brother just nodded at me. I turned and headed in the direction of the pharmacy with Mr. Man behind me.

I was looking around for different medications, anything that would be useful to us. "You and your brother are cute." Mr. Man said causing me to give him the weirdest look. "I just mean…your relationship. I didn't have a very good relationship with my siblings."

"Oh." Was all I said. I went to rummaging around. Just then, I heard Mr. Man humming a familiar tune, but had to think a minute. "Hey!" I said excitedly. "That's Foo Fighters!"

"Hm. Yes. You like?" He smiled at me.

"Uh, try more like love!" I threw my hands up and walked a little closer to him. "They's my favorite band!…well, was my favorite."

"Me too." He nodded. "And they're so good in concert. You ever been?"

My face fell. "Oh, no. I never been to a concert before in my life. I was only thirteen when the world broke down."

"That's okay. Concerts aren't everything." He grabbed something and put it into his bag. I didn't see what it was. "And I have to say, I don't really think the world is broke down."

I gave him a weird look. "Why do ya say that?"

He was silent for a moment while rummaging through medicines. "Well, put it this way…who did you have before this?"

I blinked at him. "I guess just my brother."

"Okay. Well, you still got him." He smiled.

I thought about what he just said. "Yeah, that's true. But what about you? I mean…yer alone."

"I kind of always was."

"Oh." I looked away then back at him. "You ain't ever had a family?"

"I did but they disowned me because they didn't approve of my work." He nodded. "So, yeah. Yup, I was alone for a long time."

"Oh, sorry." I looked down.

"I'm not." He looked over at me and smiled. "It gave me a chance to really find myself."

I didn't quite know what he meant by that, but he seemed happy about it so I just smiled back at him and let it go.

"Well, I got what I needed." Mr. Man said after a while. "Shall we go find your brother?"

"Yeah, sure." I smiled. He put his arm across my shoulders like Daryl did earlier. His thumb rubbed my shoulder. I don't really like to be touched unless it's someone close to me, but for some reason, that didn't bother me.

We found Daryl over in the electronics section. He looked up when he saw us then gave Mr. Man a weird look once he took notice to his arm on me. He walked closer to us. "Everythang go okay?" He asked pulling me to him.

"Yeah." I replied with a smile. "We're ready when you are."

He nodded. "Okay." He moved me on the opposite side so I was away from Mr. Man. Then the three us of walked back to the car together.

The ride home was different from the ride there. Mr. Man and I talked the whole time, mainly about bands that we liked. It was so weird! Every time I said I liked a certain band or song, he agreed with me! We have so much in common. He's a pretty cool guy. Daryl, however, didn't say a word the whole time.

"I can sang pretty good." I said happily. "Ain't that right, Daryl?"

"Hm. Yeah." My brother said. That was the first time he spoke.

"I sang Foo Fighters songs all the time!"

"Well, perhaps you would like to sing for me sometime?" Mr. Man asked. "I'd love to hear."

"Sure!" I said excitedly. "I won a $500 sanging contest once by sanging Run!"

"Really? That's amazing."

"What contest you ever won?" Daryl snapped.

"That time I ran away into the city, remember? I found a club or somethin' that had karaoke nights. I sang and won! A bunch of times actually!"

"What happened to all that money then?"

"Someone stole it."

My brother was quiet for a minute. "Ya never told me that."

"Oh, I didn't? Must 'a slipped my mind."

"That was so dangerous when ya did that, ya know?"

"I was fine."

"Yeah, but ya coulda got hurt or worse…"

"Well, I didn't." I smiled. "All's good." I leaned back in my seat.

"I hope you don't runaway now?" Mr. Man finally spoke.

"Uh…no." I said. His question caught me off guard.

"Nah, she wouldn't do that now. She knows not to cuz she'd get 'er backside whipped." Daryl said. My face flushed. Mr. Man looked back at me and smiled. That made my embarrassment worse.

"He's just…jokin', right Daryl?"

"I ain't jokin'." Daryl said and almost laughed. "Ya should know that by now." My face was probably redder than a tomato. I shouldn't have said anything.

When we got back to the house, I quickly hopped out but Daryl still caught me anyway. He put his hand on my shoulder but I smacked it away and gave him a dirty look. "What's yer problem?" He asked me.

"You know what!" I yell-whispered. "Why do ya always gotta embarrass me?" I crossed my arms angrily. My brother smirked at me.

"Oh, that's why yer mad." He slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "I'll embarrass ya real good." He suddenly grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder.

"Daryl!" I said angrily. He carried me up the stairs and into the house. Mr. Man followed behind with that stupid grin on his face. Daryl put his crossbow and our bags down but not me yet.

"I really appreciate you two helping me out today." Mr. Man said. "And of course the hospitality."

"It's no problem." My brother said.

"Put. Me. Down!" I said. Daryl finally set me on my feet.

"Geez, someone's cranky today." He said. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I didn't get much sleep last night." I admitted.

"Neither did I."

"Yeah, but yer used to it."

"If yer tired, why don't you lay down then?" Mr. Man said.

"I was gonna say that." Daryl said roughly and looked at Mr. Man for a second.

"I'm fine." I said. "I'll just chill fer a bit." I went over and laid on the couch.

"Scoot." Daryl came over to me and said. I switched positions and moved down. He sat where I was laying my head. I was about to lay down at the other end but he grabbed me and laid my head on his lap. I honestly didn't care, I just laid there. I could see Mr. Man in one of the chairs. I turned over and faced the couch.

Things were quiet for a while. "She's a sweetheart." Mr. Man said.

"Yeah." My brother said and started petting my hair. "She's a good girl." They must think I'm asleep. I'm just going to go along with it.

"Is she really fifteen? She looks younger than that?"

"Yeah, she'll be sixteen in a few months actually. She does look younger, though. She always did."

I was getting a little angry, but still didn't say anything.

"You know, I, uh…I had a twelve year old daughter named Lisa." Mr. Man said. What? He told me he was alone and didn't have any family.

"Really?" My brother asked.

"Yeah, she was…she was the love of my life."

"Sorry." Daryl said.

"It's okay. We had some great times Robin and I."

"Robin?" Daryl said. "I thought ya just said 'er name was Lisa."

Mr. Man was quiet for a minute. "Did I say Lisa?" He laughed. "My mistake. Lisa was the mother of my daughter. We weren't married."

"Oh, okay." Daryl said.

"Yeah, we were still a pretty happy family, though. I never wanted to leave them. Hated being alone."

"I don't thank anyone wants to be alone."

"Very true." He sighed. "I really miss them at times. Le kinda reminds of my Robin. That's why I've come to like her so quickly."

Daryl was quiet for a moment. "I understand."

"Cherish her. You never know what you have until it's gone."

"Of course." Daryl said continuing to pet me. "Sorry, about yer family."

Their conversation was super weird just now. Mr. Man told me something earlier and just told my brother something completely different. I wonder what's up with that? Why'd he lie? And who'd he even lie to? Was he telling the truth before? Was he really alone or did he really have a daughter? He seemed like he was being honest when he told me all that. Maybe he just didn't want to talk about it at the time? But he said he liked being alone because he was able to find himself. This doesn't make sense. And what with he getting his girlfriend and his daughter's names mixed up? This is all just too weird.

"So, where are you folks from anyway?"

"Atlanta."

"Atlanta, Georgia? Wow, you've come a long way." Mr. Man said.

"What about you?"

"I've lived here my whole life. Well…I moved around a bit, but I never left PA. There was never much to do, but I don't know. They say if you move away, you always come back."

"Never heard that one." Daryl said. "But we never been outta Georgia before this."

"You like the heat?"

"Sometimes. This one does." Daryl put his hand on me. I almost giggled. "Thank I'm gonna take 'er upstairs." He lifted me.

"I could take her." Mr. Man said quickly. There was a brief pause. "I just, uh…thought I could be of some help."

"…it's okay. I got it." Daryl lifted me and carried me up the stairs. Thank God. That would have been so weird if he let that guy carry me.

Daryl laid me on the bed. I groggily reached up and hugged him, he hugged me back and kissed my forehead. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah." I said quietly and rolled over.

It took me a while to fall asleep because I kept thinking about that conversation between my brother and Mr. Man. Eventually though, I just decided to let it go and I finally fell asleep.