"Le?" Daryl said groggily.

"Daryl, yer awake!" I said happily. I went to hug him but remembered the wound on his side so I stopped myself.

"What the hell happened?" He asked me.

"Ya got cut by a big piece 'a metal that fell from the roof and passed out shortly after we got back here." I stated. "Ya really don't remember?"

"I do now." He said. He tried to sit up but I pushed him back down.

"No, Daryl, yer too weak yet. Just rest." To my surprise he actually listened to me. We just sat there a minute. Then, I could have kicked myself. "Oh! Yer probably thirsty!" I said getting up. "And hungry."

I ran to the kitchen and got him a bottle of water and took it to him, he drank it down quickly. Then, I quickly made him one of the ready to eat meals I found.

"Thank you." He said.

"Eat slow or you'll get sick."

"Right." He said. There was a brief pause then Daryl said, "ya really took care 'a me this whole time?"

"I sure did. I had to. Just what you woulda done fer me."

He reached out and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. "Ya look really tired."

"Oh…I-I'm okay." I lied.

"Where'd you get this?" He asked referring to the food.

"Oh." I perked up. "I went out last night and found 'em in a truck behind one 'a the stores." I grinned from ear to ear. He glared at me.

"Ya mean to tell me you went outside while I was here in a coma?"

My smile faded. "Yeah."

He glared at me some more. "You…what have I told ya…

"Daryl, I found more supplies. And I was fine." I smiled. "I didn't wanna leave, but I had to. We had nothin'."

I could tell he was angry, but he seemed to let it go. He sighed. "It's good that ya found more food. I'm proud 'a ya."

I gave him a small smile. "Well…I did have some trouble at a grocery store." I admitted. "Walkers came from everywhere, but I got out in time and trapped 'em inside."

"Ya shouldn't 'a risked it."

"I didn't know they were inside. I did everythang ya taught me, but they just came outta nowheres."

"Well…I'm glad yer safe." He pushed my hair back. I smiled. Just then, I remembered about the other stuff that happened.

"Oh yeah, I went to take the trash out and I locked myself out. I had to climb up the fire escape and through the winda. That's why it's broken." I said nervously. My brother just chuckled.

"Come'er, you." He hugged me tightly and kissed the top of my head. "Guess I was a lot 'a trouble, huh?"

"No, ya wasn't no trouble at all." I smiled at him. We just sat there for a minute like that.

"Say, what made ya wake up anyway?" I finally asked him.

He hesitated then smiled. "…I heard somethin' beautiful." I gave him a weird look. I was confused at first, but then I remembered. I sang to him. I just gave him a smile. That's all I could do, I didn't have anything to say.

I looked down for a moment then back up at him. "I'm sorry, Daryl."

He gave me a look. "Sorry fer what?"

"Fer movin' out and leavin' ya alone." I nervously tapped my fingers together. "When you left me when I was a kid, I was so sad. And then I did the same to you." I looked down sadly.

"Baby." He paused. "It's okay. Don't even worry about that, now. I been treatin' ya pretty unfair lately. I ain't been a good brother."

"Yes ya have! Yer the best brother ever! I'm stupid fer what I did. I don't care about—

"Le, listen to me." He cut me off. "Ya made a mistake, it was an accident and I took it out on ya. I'm sorry fer that, really I am."

"It's okay. You was just mad. I know ya get worried fer me and it comes out in anger."

"Don't try to make excuses fer me." He said. "It's not okay."

I just stared at him. He's never been like this before. I just nodded. "We both did and said thangs we shouldn't 'a." I admitted. "Let's just agree on that."

"Yeah, yer right." He nudged me and smirked.

I sat back and sighed. "So what do we do now?"

He was silent for a moment. "Let's get outta here."

"What do ya mean?"

"Let's leave this place and move on like we always do." He put his arm around me.

"No, Daryl, we cain't. Yer too weak yet. You was just unconscious yesterday."

"I'll be fine."

"No." I stood up. "A few more nights here. We ain't leavin' till I know yer better."

He snorted. "All right. Yes ma'am." I giggled.

"Although, I do thank we oughta move over to the apartment I was stayin' in."

"Why's that?" My brother gave me a questioning look.

"Cuz," I started to say, "there's glass all over the floor."

"Oh yeah." He said. "Guess yer right." We both laughed.

We moved all of our stuff into "my" apartment. We didn't have much besides our food and water and some personal supplies. I took all of my books of course. I left ones I finished next door, though for the next person who stays there. I have been doing that for a while now. I always leave a little note inside for whoever finds it.

Daryl and I sat on the couch eating some or the ready to eat meals for dinner. The one I had right now was mac 'n' cheese. I think Daryl had chili. Whatever it was, it smelled kind of gross. I didn't say anything to him about it, though.

"What was that song that ya sang to me?" My brother asked me after some time. I had to think for a moment about what he just asked me.

"It was called Little One by Highly Suspect." I stated. "Did ya like it?"

"Sure." He replied. "I like you sangin' it. It's kinda funny that you'd sang that to me."

"Why?"

"Cuz yer the little one." He smirked at me. I smiled back.

"Yeah, well…I thought it was very fittin'. Ya know, with everythang that's happened?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Ya really gotta nice voice, ya know that? How come ya never sang before? When you was little?"

"I did actually. Just not around you."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Ya never seemed like you would care about that."

He sighed. "Yeah, yer right. Back then I probably wouldn't 'a." He seemed to stare off into space after that. I wondered what he was thinking about and if he was okay?

"Daryl?" I waved a hand in front of his face. "Ya all right?"

He hesitated. "…yeah." He nodded.

"What was ya thankin' about?"

"Nothin'." He looked down. "Just…how thangs were. With us. And Merle. Dad and Uncle Jess." I felt a shiver go down my spine when he mentioned our dad.

"Yeah, you was a lot different back then."

"What do ya mean?"

I shrugged. "Ya just ain't how ya was 'fore."

"Well, yeah, what do ya mean? How was I?"

I had to think for a minute. He was mean and grumpy a lot to other people. My brother wasn't the friendliest person. He would flinch when someone touched him and would never look at no one in the eye. Kind of like me. He was kind of…immature. Can I tell him that without offending him? Probably not. I'll just back it up with something nice about how he is now.

"Le?" He questioned me. "I asked ya a question."

"…it was kinda like you was a kid." I finally said. "Like closer to my age." I paused because I became nervous. "…but you ain't like that no more. Yer a man now." I smiled. "The greatest one I know."

He looked like he got a little embarrassed after I said the second part. "Oh, hush up." He said with a smirk. "I ain't great. I ain't better than Rick."

"To me ya are." I smiled. "Yer my favorite person in the whole world."

"Am I really?"

"Uh huh." I grinned widely.

He chuckled. "Well, yer mine, too." He sat his plate down.

"But…I ain't been completely honest with ya."

"What do ya mean?"

I took a deep breath. "I thought I could handle myself now. I thought I'd be all right on my own. But…after that run I went on yesterday…I cain't." I looked up at him. "I need ya. I still need ya. I almost died. I kept wishin' that you'd come to my rescue."

He gave me a smile. "Ya didn't, though. Ya handled yerself. It was pretty smart 'a ya, too."

"Yeah, but…it coulda been worse." I looked down. "And…the passed few days been terrible. I had nightmares and got depressed. I hardly ate and slept at all. I thank I got separation anxiety. I read about it. I had a lot 'a the symptoms. I missed ya a lot." I said sadly.

"Well, Le…if that's true then why didn't ya just come back over?"

"Cuz."

"Cuz why?"

"Cuz I couldn't!" I said close to tears. "I wanted to show ya I could do this on my own."

"That's no excuse, little lady." He gave me a disappointed look. "It was effecting you in a bad way. What if somethin' woulda happened to ya, huh? How do ya thank I'd feel?"

I looked at the floor. "Sorry."

"Ya should be." He scolded. "Don't ever do that again, ya hear me?" I just nodded. "Good, now…come over here." I gave him a nervous look. "It's all right. Just come'er." I hesitated then moved closer to him. He grabbed me and made me sit on his lap. He laughed. "Ya ain't goin' nowhere's now." He hugged me tightly. I giggled. "You best stop leavin' me. 'Specially if ya thank ya got separation anxiety. That's bad fer you but good fer me."

"Why's it good fer you?" I asked him.

"Cuz now you have to stay with me ferever." We both laughed.

We stayed like that for a long time. It was really nice. I was so glad and relieved that we made up and got all of that out. I felt bad about lying to him about it before. I feel like Daryl and I are closer than ever, nothing can keep us apart. Not even each other.

"All right." My brother said and kissed my forehead. He loosened his grip on me. "You need to get some sleep. Ya said ya ain't slept. So, get to bed."

"Okay." I said smiling. I got off his lap and headed to my room. He swatted me in the process. "Night, Daryl." I said before going into the room.

"Night, baby."