Asha was woken the next morning by conversation at the gate. 'Let 'em out if you want Daryl,' Rick said. 'But you brought 'em back. They're your responsibility.'

Asha peeled her bleary eyes open, her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and her head was humming with the aftermath of the southern comfort. The sunlight streaming through the high window was offensively bright.

Daryl grunted. 'Keepin' 'em locked up ain't a long term solution. I meant what I said about Merle. Gotta make this work. And Asha ain't got no reason to run off to Woodbury now. Hell, she ain't even a problem if she does. Ain't nothin' she could tell the Governor now that Andrea probably hasn't already told him.'

'Your call,' was all Rick said. 'But lock 'em back up at night. I ain't comfortable with either of them roaming round whilst our people sleep.' He looked up at the early morning light coming through the barred window. 'Reckon we'll be back by dark. But if something happens and we're not back by first light, you get our people out. Head north. We'll meet you on the road.'

Daryl nodded. 'See you tonight.'

Asha sat up as Daryl opened the gate, pressing her fingertips to her temples as she did so. Merle was snoring in the corner again. Daryl kicked him and he grunted and rolled over.

'Get up.' Daryl said. 'The two of you have been paroled. But either of you fuck up and I will lock you back in here myself.'

'Shut up, baby brother,' Merle groaned, pulling the thin blanket over his head. The corner of the empty Southern Comfort bottle poked out. 'Man's trying to sleep.'

Asha pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the protest from her stomach and head at the movement. 'What, no breakfast delivery this morning?'

'Breaky in bed ain't an everyday occurrence around her.' Daryl waved an arm towards the open gate. 'Go help ya self.'

Asha paused as she went past him. 'You really gonna let me leave the prison if I want?'

Daryl chewed his bottom lip for a moment, but nodded.

'I get all my gear back?'

''Cept the gun. We need that.'

She harrumphed slightly. 'Guess I'll go see about breaky'.

Before she could even think about leaving, she needed the bathroom, and maybe a bucket of water to dunk her thundering head in, since she figured a handful of painkillers was out of the question.

She found Carol in the open area in front of the cells which was doubling as a cooking space whilst most of their outside access was restricted due to the yard full of walkers. The silvery haired woman looked up with a smile from the large pot she was stirring on a butane burner.

'You're out,' she noted.

'Paroled into the caring hands of Daryl Dixon,' Asha said dryly.

Carol smiled. 'There are worse hands to be in. Hungry?'

'Yeah.'

Carol gave her a bowl of the unappetizing porridge, smiling at the look on Asha's face. 'When we got here, there was still quite a bit of food stockpiled in the kitchen, but i swear half of it's this tasteless porridge. Better than nothin' though right?'

'Well, there is that,' Asha said. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. 'What i really want is about a foot of bacon, a couple of fried eggs and pint of soda water with a splash of oj.' There was nothing better than soda water and juice to deal with a hangover.

Carol looked at her puzzled.

Asha shook her head dismissively, and took the bowl of gloop. It wasn't a dish that needed to be savoured and she shoveled it down as quickly as her stomach—harbouring a grudge from last night's Southern Comfort—would let her.

Carol watched her eat. Asha was wondering whether she was going to have to field another comment about her weight or grilling as to how she'd survived on her own, when Carol said 'Sorry to hear your brother wasn't at Woodbury.'

Asha nodded tightly.

'What are your plans now?'

Asha shrugged.

'You're doing well with Merle.'

Asha froze with the spoon in her mouth. 'What?' She said around a mouthful of porridge.

'You're handling him well. He has a way of getting under people's skin, but he doesn't seem to rattle you.' Carol smiled gently. 'Besides, when he's griping at you he's giving the rest of us, Daryl included, a break. That's gonna be worth a lot around here if he stays.'

'If?'

'Daryl's family. We'll do anything for him, but we don't want to see Merle drag him down. And Merle, well, he's not an easy person to have around.'

Asha thought about that whilst she finished her porridge. Carol, it seemed, would be happy if she stayed—even if it was just to create a buffer between the rest of the group and Merle.

Didn't say a lot about Merle's welcome through.

She looked at Carol, innocuously preparing breakfast for the group and tried to reconcile that image with the cold blooded suggestion the woman had so calmly made to Andrea yesterday. Asha casually glanced around. There was no one in the immediate vicinity. 'I overheard you speaking to Andrea,' she said quietly.

Carol's hands froze, just for an instant, before she quickly resumed stirring the pot. 'And?' She said calmly.

Asha looked her in the eye. 'Makes sense. Quickest solution for everyone—if Andrea can slip out after without getting caught.'

Carol nodded.

'Rick put you up to it?'

Carol's eye's widened and the spoon clanged sharply against the pot, though she quickly looked down and start stirring smoothly again.

'No,' she shook her head. 'And i'd rather he didn't know for the moment, least not until—if—anything comes of it. He's got enough on his plate.'

Asha nodded. 'Yes he has.' She scrapped the last of the porridge out of the bowl. 'Reckon she'll do it?'

Carol considered it for a moment, then shook her head. 'No,' she sighed. 'She still wants to save everyone, him included I think.'

'Hmm, can't object to people trying to save people I guess.'

Carol gave a tiny laugh. Asha held out the bowl awkwardly for a moment. 'Can I help you wash these up?'

Carol smiled. 'Thanks, but lets get everyone fed first. Here.' she passed Asha two bowls. 'I think Beth and Hershel are out in the courtyard.'

Mid morning, sun blazing in the sky, found Asha on the little landing outside cell block C. She sat, slumped back resting against the concrete wall, knees drawn into her chest and throbbing head cradled in her hands. Damn, but she used to have better drinking legs than this. She could only put it down to being half starved.

Next to her, though the gaps in the wooden pallets leaning on the landing cage, the walker filled yard was a slow moving mass in the corner of her eye. Maggie had been right when she'd said earlier that the pallets wouldn't offer much protection from bullets. The risk of attack was one of the reasons she should just go. Wash her hands of these people and walk away.

Daryl's offer to let her leave the prison had been hanging over her head, and she'd spent the morning in a haze of awkwardness and confusion. Her gut pulled for her to grab her stuff and set off after Nash. Her head—in more ways than one thanks to the Southo—told her not to be stupid. Don't rush into anything. You don't even have a lead on where he might be, and wouldn't it be nice just to go and have a quiet lay down for a bit?

She hadn't though. Instead, she had helped Carol with chores—whatever she ultimately decided, she was eating these peoples food and doing that without making any sort of contribution didn't sit well with her. Maggie and Glenn had slunk off somewhere together. Merle had disappeared somewhere into the prison. Daryl had slipped outside at some point, even though Asha wasn't really sure how far he could go with the yard full of walkers. She'd avoided Beth and the baby and Hershel, as much as possible, difficult when everyone was more or less restricted to inside.

She'd come out to see if she could get the lay of the land, or at least figure out where the exits were. It was a bit of a bust though. The only place she could get to from the landing without stirring up the dead was the courtyard, and there was nowhere to go from there. So she sat on the landing and watched the deadheads through the gap in the pallet. Their slow movement as they milled in the yard, the shuffle of their feet, was almost hypnotic. Without really being aware of what she was doing, her eyes tracked across each walker she could see, searching for one that was the right height, right build, right face with that telltale tattoo around its left forearm.

Then she lifted her eyes to the woods out beyond the fence, tried to think if that's where she wanted to be. On her own again. Wondered how long she could keep kidding herself that she could survive long term out there without Nash.

She heard the tap of Hershel's crutches coming up the stairs before the door to the landing pushed open and he maneuvered himself awkwardly through it.

'Thought I might find you here.' His voice was calm and friendly.

Asha kept her eyes on the woods beyond the fence.

'I know Daryl told you could leave if you want. You made any plans yet?'

Well at least he wasn't beating around the bush. Asha shook her head without shifting her gaze.

'Good. Not a decision to be rushed.'

Asha heard him shuffling around until he was leaning up against the door. The words he was waiting to say started to weigh in the air.

Asha glanced across at him. 'But you've got an opinion right?'

Hershel chuckled quietly. 'Of course. I'm the resident old man of this group. Wouldn't be living up to my end of the bargain if I didn't have an opinion right?'

Asha fought the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. 'Well. Go on then,' she said waving her hand.

'Don't be rushing into anything.'

Asha arched an eyebrow. 'That's not much of an opinion.'

'Just give it a bit of time. You're in no real state to be on your own out there.'

Asha bristled before she could help it.

'You'd be foolish not to admit it,' Hershel said. 'And so far, you don't seem like a fool. Bit headstrong maybe, but not a fool.' There was a beat. 'What would the plan be anyway?'

'Find Nash.'

'Then what? Just the two of you against the world?'

Asha turned her head to look at the old man directly. 'It's safer that way.'

'Maybe you could bring him back here?' Hershel said.

Asha's heart leapt in her chest, and she paused for a moment stunned at the hope she'd just felt at having both. She turned her face away, hoping Hershel hadn't seen the flash of hope across her face, but she was pretty sure she was too late.

'You could cover a lot of ground from a fixed base, search properly.'

'What difference does it make to you if I find him or not.'

'I'm not doing it just for you,' he sighed. 'We need new people, we keep everyone out and we're going to wither away and die—if the Governor doesn't take us all down first. I won't lie to you. We're having troubles at the moment, but i'm hoping that if you hang around long enough, you'll see we're good people, that its worth taking a chance on what we could build here.'

Asha tipped her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Build something. A life, instead of just surviving on the road. It was what Nash wanted. He'd talked about it often—finding somewhere safe with good people to make it happen.

Her first camp had tried that. She remembered what that felt like. The sense of community, of something worthwhile.

It hadn't lasted.

'It's just a pipe dream,' she said bitterly.

'Not if we make it happen,' Hershel said. They were silent for a minute. 'Just, tell me you'll think about it.'

Asha nodded, lips compressed sourly. 'I'll think about it.' Gonna be hard to think about anything else now wasn't it.

'Good.' He reached into his back pocket and pulled something out. 'A little reward for not being a fool.' He pushed it into her hand. It was a tube of antiseptic cream. He nodded at her arms, bare in her tank top, and covered in scratches. 'Some of those look like they could use it. Maggie mentioned you had a couple of bigger scrapes that could do with it too.' Asha turned the tube over in her hands as Hershel steadied himself on his crutches to leave.

'Hershel,' she said as he pulled the door open. 'I can see what you're doing, and I don't like being manipulated' —Hershel didn't look even a little ashamed— 'but I am going to think about what you said.' She held up the tube. 'Thank you' she said honestly.