Chapter 73: Capability


DPOV

~Over a year ago~

Hiding in the dark, neither myself or Merle preferred sitting by the fire. The closer we got to the day we agreed to take everything from the camp, the further we distanced ourselves from them completely.

Although, as I sat in the shadows, I would watch Katherine, how she radiated positivity, strength and love. Her love for her family, her warmth to her brother, were things I admired her for. Her beauty, her grace and bravery were all captivating me.

So much so, I was in somewhat of a trance as I rolled my bolt between my fingers and would glance at her from under my lashes. Hearing a rustling from the trees, Merle had been in the bushes, taking a leak as he announced so boldly to me.

When I felt a hand come up to the back of my head, pushing me to look at my lap instead of the brunette beauty. Kat was cuddled up by the fire with her brother in her arms and mother running her fingers through her hair, I was forced to look away.

Glaring up at Merle, I had heard a growl of disapproval leave him as he came up beside me. "Hey!" I grumbled at him.

"Don't 'hey' me," his raspy voice growled back at me. "What the hell is wrong wit' you boy?!" he questioned me. "I've never seen you so whipped on a pussy you ain't even ever had," he mocked me.

The brotherly love he had for me, made me question him sometimes. "Shut up," I snarled, my eyes briefly came up to look up at Kat once more.

Her laugh echoed as Shane had been telling her a story, Carl's little giggle was both a nice sight but one I was used to seeing. That wasn't me or Merle, we never had a good upbringing. We never had a bond like theirs. We never would be them. That's not us. I thought to myself.

"I bet she tastes as sweet as she looks," he purred roughly as he sat down near to me but far enough. "Mmmm-mm," he hummed in delight as his eyes were tracing her figure.

How his eyes raked her body, like she was a piece of game had my heart pounding inside my chest. My blood boiling under my skin. "What I would give to find out," he mused to himself.

It disgusted me he was saying this when he knew how she intrigued me. "Shut up, Merle," I snarled at him, stopping him from speaking of her this way in front of me. "She don't want you."

Leaning into me, he stared at me with pure rage. "An' she sure as pissin' shit don't want you neither," he spoke up a little loudly, so loud, that the others all glanced over at us. Not saying a word, Merle glanced to the others before looking back at me.

He was brave for being so bold. "Get your head out of the clouds boy," he pointed a finger in my face while everyone else returned to their quiet conversation. Merle's voice was lowered, just enough so I could hear him.

As the fire would crackle in the distance and the conversations were kept to a minimum, Merle lowered his finger and leaned back. "You remember the plan?" he asked me quietly.

"I remember," I assured him I didn't need reminding.

"Tomorrow..." was the one word that left Merle's lips. His head turning to look at the group huddled around the fire, silent as they were all lost in their deep, sad or possibly, peaceful thoughts.

Seeing them, it was a numbing sight. "We take everything from these bunch of pussies," Merle growled lowly as he glared to the others.

When his head turned back to glance at me, his eyes were hard but his features had been soft, yet serious. "So don't go soft on me over some piece of high maintenance tail lil' bro," he gave me a warning.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I side eyed Merle, then glanced to the group around the fire. Mostly, I looked to Kat, as she was relaxing next to her mother, her brother in her arms as she brushed his hair using only her fingers. Her lips came to the top of his head.

My thoughts were quiet but they were still presently in my mind. To sneak off after they get back from the trip with everything they had...feels like a crime. It can kill them, having no supplies. I wasn't sure if I could do it. Especially not to Kat, Carl, Carol and Sophia.


PRESENT DAY...RPOV

Hearing that Morgan had been working long hours to build a cell, with bars and a door, I didn't know if I could believe it. In the mornings, he would train and as soon as he was done, he'd return to work.

Deciding to go inspect what he was working on, I had seen the brick wall he had made, the bars on the windows, the bench, the door that would lock with a key. All of it, was a surprise to me. "Morgan?" I called to him, his back to me as he inspected his work.

Instantly he turned to look at me. "Wh-why?" I asked him.

Confused as to why he put so much time, effort into a cell, it felt pointless to me. Any threats to us, are going to die. Life's not like it used to be. Not anymore. "It'll give you some choices next time," was his excuse to this hard work he'd done.

Nodding, I inspected it more and eventually, I left him to it.


DPOV

Since we got back from the attack we put against the Saviors, Kat hadn't been the same. She didn't speak of what happened. It was like she couldn't or didn't want to. We shared the bed, sometimes we slept, some other times we would explore each others bodies. And other nights, we just laid there.

Or at the very least, tried to. With Kat finding it hard to sleep, it impacted me more than I could admit to her. She'd slip out of bed, early in the morning, sometimes, before dusk and look after Judith. Other mornings, she would slip out and take watch.

Then, other days, like today, she would slip out of bed and train. Once the sun started shinning through the curtains, I got out of bed and briefly checked on Judith. Leaving the house, I went to fix my bike, to inspect it after leaving it untouched for a few days since I brought it back.

Inspecting a bag that was strapped to it, taking out what was inside, I dumped the bag to the floor. Finding a little figure of a toy soldier inside of it, I inspected it.

"Didn't even notice," Carol startled me a little but I kept calm about it as she approached me. "Got your bike back," she mused as she took a seat beside me.

Staring at the bike, I knew Carol too, hadn't exactly been the same since they got captured. Carol was now with Tobin, as they were now living together and would come around to visit us from time to time.

Most mornings, Carol sat on a swing seat, smoking and clutching her rosary. Maggie stayed mostly indoors or continued with the planting plans they had in development. "Yeah," I mumbled as I sat back with her.

"You got another one of those?" I asked when I noticed she had a cigarette between her fingers. Taking her packet, she handed me the last one she had. "Thanks," I thanked her for being so generous as to giving me one.

Lighting it, I felt a sense of relief as I breathed in the smoke into my lungs. Relieved, it was like I needed one of those desperately. Especially with everything that had been happening these past couple of days.

Carol's eyes were glued to my bike. "Those people you met, the ones in the burnt forest, they took it from you?" she asked me as her head turned to have her eyes meet my gaze.

"Yeah," I answered her. Remembering those pricks. Dwight. Sherry. Tina.

I still remembered their names. "You saved them, right?" Carol questioned me but the memory only annoyed me. The betrayal I felt after saving them, after helping them, it made me wish I had killed them, rather than trust them.

Not answering or looking at Carol, she quickly understood my silence. "Sorry. It's who you are," she apologised as she threw out excuses. "We're still stuck with that."

Hearing that, made my head quickly turn, her eyes glued to the floor. "No, we ain't," I disagreed firmly with her as I shook my head. "I should've killed them," I was sure about this. (soft thud)

Carol's eyes met mine slowly, sadly before she placed the packet beside me and got up, onto her feet. Starting to walk away, I felt her distancing herself and knew something was very wrong with her since we found them.

All of them had been affected by their shared time during their kidnapping. "Hey," I called out to her.

Carol stopped, turned and looked down at me. "The ones that took you, Kat and Maggie...what'd they do to you?" I wanted to know, seeing as Kat didn't tell me anything that happened.

This question didn't amuse her. "To us?" she repeated my words. "They didn't do anything," she answered me before she turned back around and left.


KPOV

Getting only a few hours of sleep, I had woken up to being in Daryl's arms, my head over his heart and my eyes feeling like they were wide awake after it all. As much as I didn't like what had happened, I knew I had the strength to kill if it meant saving the ones I cared about.

Which should have made me feel worried, like I was becoming numb to the world but I was calm. I was peaceful, knowing I could do the hard stuff if I had to. Which sometimes, scared me more.

Most nights, I woke up to the sight of my victims, of the lives that I took. Each one would play on repeat and I didn't quiver from the sight. When I woke up in the arms of my lover, I had seen he was still asleep. He looked peaceful but he was just as tired as I felt.

Lifting the covers, I took one of the cotton sheets with me, wrapping it around my body as I got into my clothes. Deciding to practice outside, before everyone woke up and to keep my mind focused on something else, I would aim at the target.

Over and over again, my arrows would strike in the huge red dot. Never missing, I felt the power of my strength with each loud thud that was made from the distance I would take. Adding more space each time I got a perfect bulls-eye.

Feeling someone slowly approach, the sun was starting to rise and I could tell who it was by their footfalls. "Hey," his gravelly voice called to me.

Shutting my eyes briefly, I let out a soft sigh and stopped my constant shooting at my wooden target. "Hey," I greeted him back. Turning to face him, he was keeping his distance but his eyes were studying me.

Silence was over us like a barrier. "Sorry for slipping out of bed early, I just..." I apologised but couldn't find the words to excuse my actions. "I needed some time to practice, before everyone else got up too," was the best I could come up with.

Nodding, Daryl's eyes were on me, watching me closely. "I get it," he assured me he understood me.

Approaching me slowly, his feet scrapped the floor a little. "Don't tell anyone but...I do miss my crossbow from time to time," he tried to make conversation light between us. "Miss having it on my back all the time," his shoulder shrugged.

It had been the same shoulder that was bare, strange as it appeared to me, it was very foreign for any of us to not see Daryl's crossbow slung over his shoulder. "Everything okay?" I asked him as I wrapped my bow around my torso.

"Yeah," Daryl answered almost instantly. "Was going to ask you the same question," he took a few steps closer but there was a gap between us.

He was silent as he stood in front of me as I gazed to the ground. "I know you ain't been getting much sleep lately," he practically told me he was observing me when I least expected him to.

His words were slow and he was giving me time to process it. Raising my gaze, he was hovering close to me. "Not since you got back," he pin pointed how long this had been going on.

"Not since that night with the Saviors. With Carol and Maggie..." he elaborated deeper.

My eyes fell again, I couldn't admit what happened, couldn't discuss any of it in detail. I wasn't ready. "I don't want to talk about it," I told him quickly.

He took a few steps closer to me. "But you should," he tried to find my gaze. "You can trust me Kat," he tried to give me confidence in speaking to him.

Avoiding his gaze the best I could, I couldn't hold up the barrier for long as he crushed it with one small action. His hand slowly reached for mine, as he took it with caution, I took a minute to process how he tried to get my attention back.

"We're in this, together...you and me, right?" he asked me, ducking his body a little to look into my eyes. When he took my hand, I slowly brought my eyes up to meet his.

His hand in mine was warm, gentle and comforting. It made me feel secure. "Yeah..." I couldn't fight or deny him. "We are," I agreed.

For a few moments, we let the silence linger. "Then tell me what happened," he encouraged once more.

Staring into his eyes, it was like seeing a safe haven, like seeing my future. It's us. It's always been us. "We killed them...all of them," I revealed to him slowly. "Even the back-up," I was struggling to tell him the truth.

But I knew I had to. I trusted him with my life. "Carol she...she's not the same. Maggie she, almost got hurt, many times," I informed him that it had changed them, just as much as it changed me.

"I fought hard to protect them, almost gave my life for them," I remembered how many times I had put myself in danger to protect them. Having Donnie in a choke hold, fighting 'Chelle and Paula.

Almost getting gutted too, I still felt the shock from the whole experience in my body. "I killed 7 people in one day...maybe more," I gave Daryl the facts, or at least an estimate of it.

"The fresh walkers, they were me. I had let them turn, Daryl," as I looked at him, I believed he saw the fear in my eyes that I had been trying to hold back. "I don't regret any of it," I shook my head.

His hand squeezed mine gently in his. "That's because you love them," he made up the excuses for me.

They were valid but that wasn't what kept me up at night. "Yes," I agreed with him. I did love Maggie and Carol, they were family and I would do anything to protect my family.

"But I didn't regret killing those people either," I broke the silence as his other hand went to ghost his thumb against my cheek.

He was trying to soothe me. "And it was...so easy," I stared deep into his eyes, never breaking the contact we shared. "It kind of worries me, how it felt like taking lives didn't even matter," I was being completely honest with him.

Gaze soft, expression showing concern, Daryl stood still in front of me. "I don't like killing, Daryl, but I'm not afraid to do it," I finally admitted to him and to myself what I had been dreading to reveal.


DPOV

After the conversation myself and Kat had, I left her for a few hours, to get everything out of her system the way she needed to. I gave her some space, thinking she would need it. Returning to work on my bike, I had been fixing it until Denise approached me with a proposal, Rosita following closely behind her.

Kat a few minutes before they had arrived, had returned home and told me she was going to check up on Judith for a while, until someone else could come over and look after her. The proposal Denise was giving us, was somewhere we could possibly find something of use.

"After I got out of DC, I just drove. I remember seeing it right when I realised I had no idea where I was going," she began with her little anecdote, showing us her markings on the map.

"Edison's Apothecary and Boutique," she gave us the name of the place. "It's just this little gift shop in a strip mall, but if it's really an apothecary, they had drugs," she sounded sure about this.

Keeping my eyes on her, if it was true, it could easily have been one of the first places searched if anyone else knew about it. "How do you know they still got 'em?" I asked her.

She glanced to Rosita briefly before looking back at me. "It isn't that far. I just wanna check," she was making excuses for this trip. "And you and Rosita aren't out scavenging or pulling shifts," she stated the facts outright.

"We'll go," I agreed to her request, suggesting that myself and Rosita would go check it out.

The fact I had agreed to looking into the place wasn't enough for her. "I wanted to check. I just wanted to help," she spoke like she was a little offended I wasn't going to bring her along.

Curious, I was sure Denise had training but very little experience of what it was like out there. "How much time you spend out there?" I asked her as I pointed my chin to the distance behind her. To the walls and what lurked behind them.

"None," Denise answered my question.

I'm not taking chances. "Forget it," I rejected her coming along with her bluntly.

Denise though, she wasn't giving up. Not without a fight. "I can ID the meds," she spoke up quickly, defending herself. "I know how to use a machete now. I've seen roamers up close," she listed all the things she was useful for. "I'm ready," she assured us she was up for this.

Glancing to Rosita, she was eyeing Denise like she doubted it too. "You good with this?" I asked Rosita for her views on this idea.

"No," Rosita refused her to tag along too. She didn't approve of the idea at all.

Silence didn't last long when it came to Denise. "I'll go alone, if I have to," Denise had glanced to Rosita, disappointed for the lack of back-up she had given her.

Not liking the idea either, there was an unsettling feeling in my stomach at the thought of her out there with us. Especially if the Saviors were lurking close to our walls. "You'll die alone," I argued.

"I'm asking you to make sure I don't," Denise spoke her point out to us.

Her look was pointedly at me as her words were directly meant for me. Glancing to Rosita one last time for her judgement, she placed her hand over her chest. "I'm not babysitting her by myself," she already refused to go out there alone with her.


KPOV

Hearing a discussion outside, I left Judith in the capable arms of my brother, who had finally finished his shower. After I changed his bandage, I handed Judith over to him and raced down the stairs.

Opening the door, I had caught Rosita, Denise and Daryl all gathered around the front steps of my house. "What's going on?" I asked them, all of them looked to have been glancing to one another during a heated discussion.

"You tell her," Daryl grumbled, gesturing with a wave of his arm to me.

Coming down the steps, I stood between Rosita and Daryl. Both Daryl and Rosita had stared directly at Denise. Waiting for her to say something. "Tell me what?" I asked them.

A defeated sigh left Denise before her eyes met mine. "I want to take a trip to a place not far from here, but neither of them want to go with me," Denise summarised for me.

"It's not safe for you to go out there alone," I declared right off the bat.

Gesturing to me, Denise was thrilled I took her side on it. "That's my point," Denise and Rosita said at the same time. Rosita was staring directly at Denise as she said the same words as Denise.

Snorting out a scoff, Daryl shuffled closer to his bike. "So stupid," he grumbled out a mild complaint.

Denise seemed defeated with these two, as they were being so negative around her. "But neither of these two want to go with me," Denise argued to me, upset that they had no faith in her.

"Then I'll go," I signed up to escort her to wherever she wanted us to go.

Daryl took a step closer to me and kept his eyes on me. "Nah," he denied me my choice. "Not after the shit you've just been through," Daryl was refusing to let me go out there too, just like Denise.

Not liking the fact he was treating me like a child, I understood he was trying to protect me but I didn't need it him making decisions for me. "We are all adults here," I reminded him.

"We can all make our own choices," I made my point known. "If Denise wants to go, we should encourage it," I spoke from the heart. I wasn't going to deny Denise from going out there if she wanted to experience the real world.

Being stuck behind these walls, weren't going to teach her how to survive. "And its our job to make sure she goes out there with confidence and puts the lessons we taught her into practice," my speech had silenced Daryl and Rosita from arguing back.

"If she doesn't practice, she won't survive," this was the main point I was trying to get across.

Denise felt empowered by my speech. "Thank you," Denise thanked me for finally seeing her side of things but soon stopped when she noticed the doubt that came with it. "Well, I-" she tried to defend herself.

It wasn't I didn't have faith but I knew she wasn't ready to go out there alone. "So, are you going with us, or not?" I asked them both.

Crossing my arms, I stood there, waiting for their responses. "Fine," Rosita signed up after uncrossing her arms and shaking her head right after.

"Yeah," Daryl grumbled out his own answer.

From the look in his eyes, I knew he didn't like that I was willing to go after everything that happened out there. Nodding, I felt proud I could assemble this team on my own.

Before we could leave, I had something I needed to do. "I'm going to go let Carl know and ask Michonne to write down the recipe off Carol that got ripped out by Judith yesterday," I announced before I went up the steps and did as I set out to do.


DPOV

Kat had quickly gone to retrieve her weapons. We too got our things and everyone agreed to meet up by the old truck we had parked up by the gate. When we all met up, it was me who was assigned to drive, while Rosita and Denise sat beside me. Kat was sat in the back, keeping an eye out for anything in the distance while hidden behind cover.

The truck proved to be a little rough to drive, as it would squeak and squawk with each gear change. "It-the..." I heard Denise trying to say something to me.

"What?" I asked her what she was going to say to me.

Her lips pursed and her head shook. "Forget it," Denise brushed it off while the gears would grind with each change I did.

For the longest time, I was sure the car was so old, so busted, it was close to breaking apart. "No, what?" I tried again, encouraging her to talk.

"I think maybe you're disengaging it too soon," Denise was trying to tell me what the problem was. As our eyes met, it was a weary but confident response.

It was like she feared me. "I've been driving stick since I was 15, usually beat-up trucks like this," Denise informed me of little facts about her past. "I mean, before-you know, before I left home," she proceeded to give me all the details.

The gears grinding was really starting to rile me up. "My brother taught me, so I just know," Denise drifted off towards the end. She had a brother?

I tried to do as she said but couldn't get it right. The truck screeching with each change in gear. "Daryl," Rosita warned me to slow down.

A road block ahead, a fallen tree was in our way. Weary, we didn't know what to expect was going to happen. "Yep," I reassured Rosita that I saw it and that I was alert.

Knocking on the window behind me, I tried to get Kat's attention as to why we were slowing down. Seeing Kat's eyes meet mine in the rear-view mirror, she had spun to see what we called her to see.

Slowing down, I kept my eyes on the tree, on the road and for anything out of the ordinary. "Stay here," I ordered of Denise as I turned the engine off and climbed out.

Climbing over the truck, Kat landed softly on her feet and pulled out her bow. "Let's check it out," Kat had an arrow in place, ready to aim and shoot at anything that would move.

As we approached the tree, Kat was leading the way for us. "Stay alert, we don't know who's out here," Kat advised us as she really took the leader role seriously. She acts more like Rick every day...


KPOV

While we approached the tree, I had my bow and arrow locked, ready to kill anything that moved. I didn't trust how convenient this all was to me. Hearing a growl, I saw Rosita approach the tree.

"I got it," she assured us she was going to be safe. The growling had come from a walker. Pulling at tree leaves and branches, she eventually revealed a walker pinned under the fallen tree.

Glancing at the walker, he looked pretty fresh, his skin was only beginning to rot. "This happened fast," Rosita remarked. "Tree rotted out. It wasn't people," she was sure of this but I didn't know.

Daryl went to approach the tree, where it broke off. Nodding to me, Daryl assured me it was true and that the whole area looked clear on his side. On mine, it was clear too.

Approaching the truck once Rosita killed the walker and began inspecting what it had with it, I opened the door to Denise's side. "Come on, it's clear," I encouraged her to get out of the truck.

As she climbed out, Denise had stored her machete away, the map in her grasp. "What'd you find?" Denise openly wondered.

"Bottles of booze," Rosita declared her prize as she showed us the bag full of beer. "Any takers?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"No, thanks," Denise quickly refused.

Shaking my head, I agreed with her. "Got to stay alert," I had to keep my head on, I couldn't risk drinking anything and risking another life because I wasn't thinking straight.

"For later," Denise suggested.

Showing the bag to Daryl too, I had sensed Daryl would shake his head, he too refusing the alcohol she found. "I'm not bringing these to the pantry," Rosita announced to us.

Daryl had gone to the back of the truck, taking out our backpacks, he tossed me mine as Rosita took hers. "I'm good," Denise assured her that she didn't need the alcohol either. "They were kind of my parents' thing. Which is why they aren't mine," she told us her excuse.

"That truck ain't gonna make it past this tree," Daryl announced while he glanced around us. "Come on, let's walk," he encouraged us to follow us as he gestured us to trail behind him.

Leading a way around the tree and through the woods, it was our best bet. Ahead of us, were tracks and tracks gave me a bad feeling. "Hold up," Denise called to Daryl.

I had taken a few steps behind him, shrugging my backpack on my shoulders, I kept my bow in my hands. "Looks like a straight shot if we follow the tracks," Denise glanced to her map and then up to where she was pointing.

"No," Daryl refused. "No tracks," he specified what he was saying no to. "We'll take the road," was his suggestion.

And it was our best bet. "That's twice as far," Rosita argued.

Remembering the last time I had followed train tracks, was a memory I wished not to flood my mind right now. It must have been the same memory Daryl had too. "Go whichever way you like. I ain't taking no tracks," Daryl flat out refused as he walked ahead of us.

Leading us into the woods, was our safest bet. Last time we followed the tracks, it lead us straight to cannibal territory. Tracks lead to danger, I can feel it. "I don't trust tracks anymore either, come on," I encouraged them to follow after us.

Following Daryl, I could hear the girls talking before Denise followed us into the woods. Rosita made her own way down the tracks.


DPOV

Strolling through the woods for a while, we would glance to the map for guidance for time to time and when I more or less knew where I was, I could then lead us directly to where we needed to go.

Slowly, Kat approached me to walk beside me. Which was something I had been used to since before we became a couple. "Daryl," Kat called to me softly. "The reason I didn't tell you about what happened...when we were captured..." she drifted off, talking about whatever topic she felt comfortable talking to me about.

"I just wasn't ready," she explained herself.

Knowing that it must of been hard, after an experience similar to hers, she had done what I couldn't do. She killed her kidnappers. She had survived and done it with the help of others. I had been alone and I still couldn't do it back then.

Reflecting on it, now, I could. "I get it," I assured her she didn't need to explain herself.

The fact she was being so open with me now, made me realise she meant what she said. "It's not that I didn't want to talk to you about it. I did," Kat continued her apology to me.

Glancing to her, she no longer hid her eyes, or would shy away when she talked about the real stuff. Now, she kept her eyes up and was alert. Far more than she was before.

What happened, changed her in ways I never expected it to. "I just didn't know how," her tone of voice was so soft, so gentle when she talked to me. "Haven't talked to my dad about it either. Not properly, not in detail," she informed me of where this conversation had gone with those that were important to her too.

This was a surprise to me. Kat had always been upfront with her father, had always been honest with him. If she didn't talk to him, or Carl, or even Michonne about it. Then it really must have screwed her up.

"Didn't know what to say?" I wondered if this was the reason why she didn't talk to him about it.

Shrugging her shoulders, she glanced over her shoulder at me. "Still don't," Kat tried to be light about this topic, to keep it cheerful even if she was sad over it.

Silence fell on us for a few seconds as we walked deeper into the woods. "Next time something like that happens to me again, I'll tell you straight away," Kat was offering this as a way of making the days we were distant around each other right again.

Meeting her gaze, her eyes were soft but her voice was honest and serious. "I'll tell you everything. No more secrets," Kat's voice was laced with sincerity. "I promise," she vowed that she wasn't going to keep me in the dark anymore.

Not having the words to say myself, I listened to hers and nodded slowly. Continuing our journey, the words sat in my mind for a while. Never in a million years would I imagine us this close. And for once, it genuinely feels right between us.


KPOV

Eventually we caught up to Rosita, who had been waiting on us by the tracks, where the road finally met with it. She remarked that it was about time we got there. Falling behind, Denise joined Rosita the rest of the way to the store she was directing us to.

Letting Daryl take the lead, he guided us to the store Denise mentioned to us. All the buildings had been boarded up, possibly during the attack, they had tried to keep their places safe. Or perhaps they had been abandoned before it happened.

Regardless, we approached the building and Daryl had knocked on the door, to make sure any walkers were making their way to us. Handing Rosita is gun, he went to remove his backpack and looked to Denise.

"Alright, us three are gonna do this," Daryl gestured between the three of us. As in, him, Rosita and myself. "You're gonna stay back, got it?" he instructed her.

Entering the building once Daryl opened the door using the crowbar, my bow and arrow at the ready. While we slipped into the room, Denise ignored Daryl and followed after us. Gagging as the stench of death, dust and an old smell filled our nostrils.

Scoping up and down the aisles, we kept our eyes opened for walkers and for the medicine we were here for. "We gonna find out what you had for breakfast?" Daryl questioned mockingly at Denise.

"Oatmeal," Denise answered. "Just so you know," she said, making an amused smile cross my features.

The girl had a kind of energy that was kind of welcoming in a world like this. "Hey," Rosita called to us.

Looking in the direction she was, we found that the building was clear of walkers and that Rosita had found the pharmacy. Using the crowbar, Daryl began prying the shutters to open. "You want me to hold your bags, or...?" Denise asked us as we went to work.

"Yeah," she mumbled when she realised we were too focused to be goofing around with her. As soon as the sound of the door being forced open clicked and rolled, Daryl hopped over the counter.

Inspecting the area, I was making sure nothing came after us inside the small pharmacy that was still fully stocked by the looks of it. "If you set 'em on the counter, I can tell you which," Denise suggested.

Hearing her suggestion was only going to waste our time. "No, we're gonna take it all," I assured her there was no need of slowing us down by checking all the bottles.

"Are you sure? Because-" Denise went to argue as I too hopped over the counter.

Rosita hopped over last as myself and Daryl went straight into unzipping our backpacks and scooping up all the bottles we could fit into them. Rosita tossed her backpack into the room first before she climbed in. "No, it's fine," Rosita cut Denise off this time.

The sound of thudding forced us to stop. Being the first one to go to the counter to listen in, the walker was close. It was inside but it seemed to be trapped. "It's just one," I was sure as the thudding only consisted a slow rhythm.

"It sounds like it's stuck," Daryl agree before we continued to collect all the pills we could.

Not needing to look at anything, we just collected all we could and took the most important ones first. Squeezing them in all the spaces we could use up. Until it could hardly zip, that was when we stopped.

Suddenly, the sound of a shelf moving and glass falling, crashing onto the ground, had startled us. Moving to the counter, I looked over at her and noticed Denise looked as pale as a ghost. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she whispered softly, shaking her head before she turned around and left.

Glancing to Daryl, to Rosita, both of them looked at me with curiosity. Climbing over the counter, they collected the last few pills we could grab and I decided to take a look. Inspecting what spooked Denise so much, that she had to leave the building.

Examining around the room, I had noticed one of the doors that had been shut, no longer was. The thudding began again and following the sound, I was faced with something that would scare anyone who wasn't used to this kind of world.

A walker, sunk into a corner, too weak to move and with a broken leg. Suddenly, I felt footsteps come up behind me and saw Daryl was behind me. As was Rosita, who stood by the door and looked in.

"This must of been what spooked her..." Daryl assumed it was the walker.

Letting my flashlight glance around the room, I saw the word 'Hush' marked all over one side of the wall. I saw an empty crib as I walked in. And I saw a baby's boot sat in a sink. Blood look to have coated the shoe.

Whatever happened to the child, to the walker, I assumed the walker starved to death, and the baby was buried in the sink, as soil covered it, leaving nothing but the boot. "No, this did..." I corrected Daryl as I felt my own heart sink then pound suddenly.

When Rosita and Daryl then looked to where my eyes were glued, they both stood there silent. "That boot looks no bigger than Judith's..." I spoke my mind with a soft sadness in my voice. Poor child.

"You should go outside with her," Daryl encouraged me to leave as he pulled out his knife.

He went to end the walker but I put my hand over his arm. "No," I stopped him. "I got this one," I assured him that I was capable of putting this walker out of its misery.

I wasn't weak. I had to show him that. "Alright," Daryl agreed, shuffling back as I went over to it, taking out my knife, I slammed my knife into its head and watched it fall limp. As we walked out, I was the last one to exit the building.

Grabbing our stuff, we found Denise sat outside, her machete between her legs and something small was in her grasp. It looked like a key-ring with a name on it. As we walked out, she had turned her head away and had wiped her tears away.

This world can be cruel. I'm not sure she was ready for this but at least she tried. "Hey," Daryl called to her, making Denise turn her head to look up at us. "You did good finding this place," he praised her for something, nodding as he spoke.

Taking her machete, she sniffled and helped herself up off the ground as she wiped away her tears. "Tried to tell you you weren't ready," Rosita used this as some kind of apology or 'I told you so' moment. "We both did," she had been referring to herself and to Daryl.

I knew I had been the one to encourage Denise to come out here. But she needed this. She's still new to it all. "I know," Denise tried to brush it off as she tugged on her bag.

Not enjoying the sight of someone who had saved my brother's life being sad, I knew she had a good heart. She wanted to be strong. "But she had to try," I defended Denise. "Can't be stuck inside those four walls forever," was my excuse for her being out here with us.

Leading the way back, the others followed me closely. I had hope this would encourage her to toughen up, to be ready. I hoped this was a lesson to her somehow, that it would build her confidence if it didn't strengthen her spirit.


DPOV

Following Kat and Rosita, I stayed behind to stay close to Denise. This was my way of checking in on her. "So was he older or younger?" I decided to start up a conversation and chose to talk about her brother.

Finding out she had a brother, was a surprise to me and for a moment, I thought I saw her happy when she talked about him. "Older," she answered me. "By six minutes," she revealed to me that they were twins.

A smile on her face as she spoke. "My parents came up with the Dennis/Denise thing on one of their benders. Hilarious, right?" she asked me but I understood plenty about alcoholic or substance abusive parents.

"Nothing scared him. He was brave. He was angry, too. It's kind of a dangerous combination," Denise described him, which only made me picture Merle in my mind.

Keeping an eye open, I couldn't chance it that we were somehow being watched. There was a strange feeling in my gut that rolled up and down inside me. Everything was going off without a hitch so far.

Glancing to the side, the thought of Merle was mostly a painful feeling to me. "Sounds like we had the same brother," I remarked.

Coming towards the tracks, Rosita and Kat went to follow the trail we had come from. Rosita had decided to go my way but when she saw me quickly change my mind. I went to walk on the trail of the tracks.

"Hey," Rosita called to me, stopping me in my tracks while on the tracks.

Pointing the direction she came, I didn't want to fight anymore. I just wanted us to all get along and get home quickly. "This way's faster, right?" I asked them before going that way anyhow. Hearing them follow behind me, I was pleased we were all bonding now.


KPOV

Walking along the tracks, it made me feel a little uneasy, reminding me of the last time I had done such a thing. Walking in the middle, Rosita was to my right and Daryl was on my left. We all had stuck together but Denise was slowly falling behind.

"There's a cooler in there!" I heard Denise yell at us. "Might be something we can use inside," she tried to make it seem like a cooler was going to store the answers to our problems.

For all we knew, the ice was melted and whatever was inside it, was completely useless to us now. Turning back, I took a step closer to her. "We got what we came for," I yelled back to her. "We've got to head back before it gets dark," I encouraged her to keep moving.

At a good distance, we had all stopped to look at her. "Nah, ain't worth the trouble, come on," Daryl encouraged her to follow us too.

Turning back around, we had hoped she would stop messing around and follow us again. Hoping she would catch up, or at least, stay close behind. Hearing signs of a struggle, we all stopped and looked back.

Denise was in trouble. "Shit," I growled before I went running to her. Rosita and Daryl following closely at my sides as we ran.

When we finally got to her, she had the walker pinned down, Daryl had his knife in hand. I had my bow and arrow aimed, at the ready. "No, don't!" she yelled before she struggled, trying to get her knife to level with the side of the walker's head.

Finally, she jammed her knife into its skull and began panting as she looked to us. Getting to her feet, she fixed her bag and put her knife back in its holster. Next thing that happened, was she took a few steps and threw up on the ground.

"Oh, man," she coughed. "I threw up on my glasses," Denise whined a little. Picking them up, she cleaned them a little. Going over to the cooler, she opened it up and took out a can of soda. "Hot damn," she sounded amazed for a moment.

Staring at her, I felt my heart pound at the sight of her stupidity. All of this for a what? A can of soda?

Taking a step closer to her, I was angry with her. "What the hell were you thinking?" I asked her. "Making a call like that, after we told you not to?" I questioned her. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" I snarled as I took another few steps towards her.

Avoiding her sick, I needed her to understand the gravity of the situation. "You could've died right there, you know that?" I needed for her to see sense.

"Yeah, I do," she panted out at me.

She was acting like nothing just happened, like she just did a mile run and that was all. "Did you hear me?" I squinted at her.

How I looked at her, was from the side of my body. It was a subconscious stance I had picked up from my father without even thinking. "Who gives a shit?" Denise yelled at me.

"You could've died killing those Saviors, all of you, but you didn't," Denise pointed out to all three of us. "You wanna live, you take chances. That's how it works. That's what I did," she tried to summarise what just happened.

Comparing it to what happened to us when we attacked the Saviors, was nothing like what just happened here. "Take chances?" I retorted her own words back to her.

My body shook from both anger and the stress I was under. "Killing people isn't taking chances," I cleared up what happened the other day for her, so she could understand me better. "It's preventing those chances from happening to the ones we love," I corrected her.

"Like they almost did to me, to Carol, to Maggie," I listed the people who had gone through some seriously tough shit. "If I didn't do what I did, if none of us did, we all might be dead right this second. But you-" I was arguing with her.

How she looked at me, she was taking in all my words and looked both upset and just as angry as I was. "You did this, for a couple of damn sodas?" I couldn't believe what she had just gone through for something so small.

Looking me dead in the eye, as she approached me. "Nope," she said calmly. "Just this one," she showed me the can in her hand.

Feeling my lips purse, I went to open my mouth and tell her off again but Daryl came up beside me. "Kat," Daryl warned me. The look in his eyes told me to drop it.

Rosita was the first one to follow after Denise as she made her way back to the tracks. Daryl walking close beside me as we followed after them. "Are you seriously that stupid?" Rosita was the one to ask Denise this.

Panting, Denise came to a halt. "Are you?" Denise threw back to Rosita. "I mean it. Are you?" she spoke pointedly as we all stopped with them.

"Do you have any clue what that was to me, what this whole thing is to me?" Denise wondered if we understood any of what happened today. "See, I have training in this shit. I'm not making it up as I go along, like with the stitches and the surgery and the..." she drifted off.

Denise then looked to Daryl and pointed at him. "I asked you to come with me because you're brave like my brother and sometimes you actually make me feel safe," Denise gave her reason as to why she asked Daryl to join us.

Her head then turned to look at me. "I'm actually glad you decided to join us," Denise then said to me. "I wanted to ask you, I mean...you're Kat Grimes. You're Rick's daughter," she made this statement like it was supposed to mean something on its own.

"You always protect and save the people you're with," Denise was building me up to be some kind of hero. "If anyone can survive this world and scare the shit out of it at the same time, it's you. You're the kind of survivor I want to be," Denise was giving me far more praise than I deserved.

After, Denise then looked to Rosita. "And I wanted you here because you're alone. Probably for the first time in your life," Denise spoke to Rosita softly.

"And because you're stronger than you think you are, which gives me hope that maybe I can be, too," the hope in Denise's voice was sweet and warm to Rosita. You could see she admired Rosita.

Denise tried to catch her breath. "I could've gone with Tara. I could've told her I loved her, but I didn't because I was afraid. That's what's stupid," Denise commented on all her faults. "Not coming out here, not facing my shit," Denise's speech went on.

Thinking about what she said, I understood her and where she was coming from. She was trying to be better, to be stronger like she saw us. "And it makes me sick that you guys aren't even trying because you're strong and you're smart and you're all really good people, and-" Denise argued.

Next thing that happened, was something completely unexpected and something that made my mouth gape. An arrow flew and came straight through her eye. "If you don't wake...up-" Denise had said as it flew right into her brain. "...and face your-..." Denise could never finish that speech as she fell.

Daryl reached out to take her, guiding her to the ground. Removing my bow, I pulled out an arrow and raised it. A group of men appeared from behind the trees as they slowly began surrounding us. There was no way I could take them all out. None of us could...


DPOV

As we cocked our guns, the guys appeared in front of us. Denise was dead and I didn't stop it. None of us did or could. Appearing from the trees, the men had us surrounded. Kat had her bow and arrow up, while we had our guns at the ready.

But it was too late. We couldn't take them all. Not with their numbers and guns. "You drop 'em now!" I heard a voice say. Panting, I had tried to catch my breath. Seeing Eugene being dragged over to us, his hands tied behind his back and holding him, was none other than Dwight.

Lowering my gun, we all began lowering our weapons and Eugene had been forced onto his knees. "Well, hell," Dwight seemed amused by this situation as I glared at him.

"You got something to say to me? You gonna clear the air? Step up on that high horse?" he asked me as I panted through my nose. "No. You don't talk much," he remembered how little I spoke with him.

They began patting us down, removing us of all our weapons as they took my knife away and handgun away. With Rosita, they took her knife, her machete and her handgun. For Kat, it was her machete, her knife and her handgun too.

The man had also tugged her quiver off her back to place it by her bow, away from her. I wanted to kick the guy in the teeth as he was patting her down. But my eyes were glued to Dwight.

The memories were flooding back to me. "Still getting the hang of her. Kicks like a bitch, but-" he lifted my crossbow up into the air.

Glaring at him, I just wished I could break him limb from limb. "I should've done it," I knew this now better than ever. If I had just killed him, Denise would still be alive.

"Oh, what's that?" Dwight asked with a mocking tone. "Seriously, I didn't catch what you said," he wanted me to say it again.

I wasn't going to ignore him. I meant what I said. "I should've killed you," I was blunt as I repeated myself.

Not even blinking, I didn't care what he did to me. I was going to kill him. Maybe it wouldn't be today but I would, one day. "Yeah, you probably should've," Dwight agreed with me. Neither of us broke eye contact.

"So, here we are. Kind of begs the question, right? Who brought this on who?" he asked us how we got to this situation. "I mean, I get that you'll just have to take my word for this, but...she wasn't even the one I was aiming for," he said with a small smirk.

His eyes were glued to me. He was aiming for me. I could feel Kat tense up beside me. "Like I said, kicks like a bitch," Dwight spoke about my crossbow. "It's nothing personal," he assured me.

"You just made it personal," Kat snarled at him.

His eyes never left me. "Oh, I know I did," Dwight's smirk grew. "Look, this isn't how we like to start new business arrangements, but, well, you pricks kind of set the tone, didn't you?" Dwight questioned us.

News of our attacks must have spread. But Kat was in no mood of screwing around with these guys. "Let me make this real clear for you. There is no business here," Kat said in a tone that reminded me of Rick.

Perhaps it was in their blood but when they were ruthless, they could cut people with just their looks and their tongue. "Not between us," Kat squinted at them from the corner of my eye. "Not now, not ever," she wasn't having their shit today.

But that mouth of hers, was sure to get us all killed. "Oh but there is," Dwight was finding Kat amusing as he glanced to her briefly.

Dwight's eyes then glanced back to me, holding my gaze. "What do you want?" Rosita spoke up.

"I'm sorry, darlin', I didn't catch your names," Dwight excused himself as he spoke to the girls to my left. Kat was stood in the middle and was leading this conversation with Dwight. "I'm D, or Dwight. You can call me either," he introduced himself. "So? What's your names?"

He was treating them like they were dumb. "Rosita," Rosita answered. "What do you want?" she was straight to the point.

Dwight's eyes were dead as they looked to Rosita. "Hold up," he put her question on pause. "And you, what's your name?" Dwight then turned his attention to Kat beside me.

"Kat Grimes," Kat answered him, giving him almost her full name. Katherine Grimes. "Now let him go," her tone was firm, possibly glancing down to Eugene. "We can all walk away from this and maybe we won't have to kill you," she tried to negotiate with them, giving them options.

I had plans to kill Dwight, that much was obvious. "You're a tough one, I can tell," Dwight mused. "Negan will like that," how Dwight spoke, made me realise they really were part of the group we had killed.

"Well, Rosita...Kat Grimes," Dwight said each of the girls names. "It's not what I want. It's what you two and Daryl are going to do," he corrected Rosita.

Already, I knew this wasn't going to end well. "You're going to let us into your little complex. It looks like it's just beautiful in there. And then you're going to let us take whatever and whoever we want..." Dwight was setting out a plan.

Kat though, wasn't letting him think he was getting the upper hand. "Did you not hear a single word I just said?" Kat questioned Dwight back, making him look stupid. "That's not happening," she repeated her words from before.

Shrugging a shoulder, he seemed amused by Kat's fire. "It's either that..." Dwight was giving us our options now. "Or we can blow Eugene's brains out. And then yours. And then hers. And then his," Dwight said, grabbing Eugene's collar and wiggling him.

Looking to each of us, Dwight would let his gaze linger on me. "I hope it doesn't come to that, really. Nobody else has to die," Dwight's considerate act wasn't working. Not on me, not on any of us.

"We just try and start with one. You know...maximum impact to get our point across. So what's it gonna be?" Dwight was both threatening and questioning us. "You tell me," he encouraged us to talk.

Dwight's eyes fell on Kat, who was clearly making the decisions for us. "I suggest-" Kat went to make a threatening suggestion as her voice came past her lips in a firm manner.

Although, Eugene had cut her off. "You wanna kill someone, you start with our companion hiding over there behind the oil barrels," Eugene hinted that someone else was with us. "He's a first-class a-hole and he deserves it so much more than us four."

"Go check it out," Dwight ordered as they all glanced to where Eugene encouraged them to open fire. When Dwight look behind him, Eugene saw an opening and brought his mouth to Dwight's crotch.

Biting his dick off, it was our chance to get our weapons as Abraham appeared from behind the barrels and shot at them. Grabbing one of the guys, I took his knife and sliced his throat before I took his gun from him.

As I shot at them, Kat ran over to another, picking up her machete, she hacked at one of the guy's head and sliced it off after a couple of swings, yelling as she did. Taking his gun, Kat began firing and ran to a hiding spot.

Rosita ran to her gun and began firing while she got into cover. All of us got into cover as we fought against them. When Dwight fell, after shoving Eugene off his crotch, we all began firing at Dwight too.

I especially, did my best to get him but walkers were coming closer. Hearing the noise, they came for us. "Fall back! Fall back!" Dwight yelled as he got up and ran back from where they appeared from.

Needing to reload as I kept shooting at Dwight as he tried to escape, I ducked and saw he had tried to shoot at me again. Kat had followed me as I ran to retrieve my crossbow and chase after them. Focused on killing them, I didn't want them to escape.

"Daryl, stop!" Kat yelled at me, stopping me from chasing after Dwight and reminding me of the more pressing matter. Some-point during the commotion, Eugene got shot in the side and Rosita had ran to help him. Rosita was the first to fall to her knees and apply pressure to the wound.

Abraham, soon joined her and asked her something. My mind was numb, as I focused on the moment. Kat was collecting her things and ours as she was the one planning for us to get back to the truck. Rosita, Abraham and myself carried Eugene back to the truck.

Slinging my crossbow back on my shoulder, Kat was using the gun she stole to protect us from walkers as we raced back to the truck. Needing to get back, we had to get Eugene home and safe. We needed to stitch him up.

Seeing Denise's corpse laid out on the ground, the bolt in her eye, it was an image I knew I would never get out of my head again. That bolt was for me. Not her. My own weapon killed her.

Listening to her suggestion while I drove, we had reached Alexandria quickly and got Eugene to the infirmary quickly as the girls did their best to patch him up. Rick had left to bring back Denise's body and to scope out the area for any trace of the group we had just encountered.


KPOV

When Eugene was finally settled, all we could do, was wait for my dad to come back from retrieving what had been left and to scope out the scene. Abraham had gone on watch, to inform us of when my dad would be back.

Stood in the infirmary, I was worried for Eugene, who had saved us during that stand off. "Rick's coming," Abraham informed us as he entered the room. "How is he?" he was concerned for Eugene, like we were.

"Bullet just grazed him, but it's a good thing we got him back when we did," I informed him on what I knew.

Rosita looked up to Abraham as he stood close beside her. "Antibiotics we picked up could save him from an infection. Could save his life," Rosita added to my statement. "That's what Denise did."

Mention of Denise had my stomach churn with nerves. This is all my fault. Faint coughing was heard from Eugene. "You here?" Rosita had hoped Eugene was now fully conscious.

"Present," Eugene responded.

Daryl had been staring out the window, his eyes fell to the ground when he heard the mention of Denise too. "Good," Abraham was pleased Eugene was back with us.

Seeing Daryl so distant from me, it hurt how it felt like we were back to square one even if we weren't. Catching his gaze, he quickly bowed his head and looked out the window. "I was not trying to kill you. I was looking for a moment," I heard Eugene say as Rosita left the two to talk.

"You found it," Abraham assured him that Eugene found the perfect moment. Abraham had leaned over the bed to look at him.

Walking over to the backpacks, I began storing all the medicine we had found into the cabinets. "Do you apologise for questioning my skills?" Eugene had asked Abraham.

"I apologise for questioning your skills," Abraham had apologised. "You know how to bite a dick, Eugene. I mean that with the utmost of respect," Abraham teased Eugene only slightly. "Welcome to stage two."

Not sure what they were discussing about, had the circumstances been different, I would of smiled. Or laughed at this exchange. But I was sad and left feeling guilty. "Don't need to welcome me. I've been here a while," Eugene assured Abraham.

Taking a few steps closer to Daryl, I too looked out the window and saw my father park the truck close to the graveyard. "I gotta go," Daryl announced to us all as he left us. Feeling my heart ache, I could feel the distance begin to rip us apart.

Watching Daryl leave, vigilantly glancing to his frame as he walked down the street to meet with my father, they exchanged words before my dad made his way over to us. Daryl...


DPOV

Offering to bury Denise myself, I took the weight of her death onto my shoulders. That bolt was meant for me. I was the one who was supposed to protect her. I failed her. If I had killed Dwight when I was supposed to, this wouldn't have happened. I was the one to blame.

Being in the room with Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Kat was where I needed to be. But where I wanted to be, was with Rick, looking for them and bringing Denise back home. I knew Kat didn't know what to do or say.

There was nothing to say, or to do. All I could do, was need space. I needed time to reflect. As I was burying Denise, letting her fill the hole that was meant for me, I had help from Carol to cover her in the soil that was supposed to cover me.

Taking a small bottle of whiskey that Rosita had found, I downed it without hesitation. It should have been me. I should have killed him. Carrying on my work, Carol just stared at me. "You were right. I knew it when you said it," Carol told me.

Carol referred to our conversation the other day. That we were no longer stuck with being the people who saved others anymore. We now had to save ourselves. Today proved it to me more than it ever did.

Not able to talk to her. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Not to Rick. Not to Kat. Not to Carol. Not to anyone. I just wanted to dig. And I wanted to kill Dwight for the times that I didn't.


CPOV

Making my way to Judith's room, I had put her in bed and rest her in her cot. Giving the monitor to dad, I then began my journey straight to my room. Hearing sniffles of crying coming from Kat's room, I knew my sister's breathing pattern when she slept and I knew she was awake.

With her having the door wide open, possibly waiting for Daryl, I sensed she was still awake and crying over what happened today. Not needing to knock, I stopped by the wall leading to her room. "Kat?" I called to her.

She didn't answer. Stepping into the room, her back was to the door, her body curled up and she was hugging the pillow tightly. "What's up?" I asked her, taking a seat next to her in bed.

"It's been a tough day," she answered me. "A tough week," she added as she sat up in bed. "With Denise, the Saviors, the day of my capture..." she drifted with a shake of her head.

I knew of everything that happened, I heard briefly the details of what happened and I knew Kat had a run in with the Saviors again today. "Kat," I lightly rest my hand on her shoulder. "I'm your brother, talk to me," I encouraged her to talk to me.

To her, if I didn't listen, then who would? "What's been going on?" I asked her calmly.

Wanting to soothe her from this nightmare, I knew she was running things in circles in her mind. I knew that Kat was having trouble with facing something and I wanted desperately, to help her.

Sighing, Kat looked into my eye and I shifted just enough to return her gaze. "We've lost so much and...I could of stopped it," she told me. "I keep failing people Carl. I can't keep doing that, not again," she shook her head, a voice of determination was clear through her words.

She felt it was her fault Denise died. I could tell. "Hey, Denise's death is not on you," I assured her. "None of you are to blame," what happened, wasn't any of their fault.

Glancing away, I looked for the right words to say. "Sometimes, we don't get to see what's coming," I said once I finally figured out the words I needed to use to express it to her. "All we can do, is live in the moment," this was what she had to think about.

"But-" Kat went to argue but I wasn't going to let her win this one.

She needed me to win this one. For her own sanity. "You can't beat yourself up on everything bad that happens to us, Kat," I tried to make her see sense. "You can't control who lives, or who dies," I explained how she couldn't play God.

"No one can," this was the truth that I was selling to her.

After a few minutes of silence had passed, I climbed off the bed and glanced at Kat. "I better go back to my room," I was bidding her a good night. "Daryl will be here soon, he can hold you and make you feel better."

"He won't be back for a while," Kat had stopped me from leaving by saying this. "I know him well enough to know he'll be up most of the night," she had enough knowledge of her boyfriend to say this.

Kat placed her hand on the spot beside her. "Stay," she pleaded with me. "We can share the bed like little kids again," she smiled at me. "Daryl won't mind one night alone," Kat sounded sure of this.

I didn't really want to tread on Daryl's toes. "You sure?" I asked her.

Nodding, Kat offered me a tight lipped and sad smile. "I'm sure," she assured me this was what she wanted. "Tonight I just want a night with my brother," she told me.

"With my first best friend," this was all it took to convince me she really did want to just have me with her. Placing my hat on the bedside table, I slid under the covers with her and snuggled up with her.

For the first time, I held my sister, comforting her after the many years she had done this to me. And for once, I think she actually had some decent sleep as we cuddled each other up. You protected me for so long. It's my turn to do the same, Kat.


A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! So, as you know, this story is getting so close to the huge moment with a certain bat holding, leather wearing bad guy. So, get ready. It's going to be a big one. As for that, to get this story moving faster, I would like 5 reviews again. This is our deal.

Arrangement, as usual. The sooner I get the 5 reviews, the quicker the chapter comes out. 5 REVIEWS, THE NEXT CHAPTER OUT AS SOON AS TOMORROW AGAIN.

Fun fact, I am already writing the second chapter of seventh season as you are reading this. What I have planned for season 7 might feel a little slow paced but there is a lot going on. Especially if you expect the unexpected. Get ready guys, it's going to be a good season.

Questions to answer in the 5 reviews:

1) What did you think of this chapter?

2) Favourite moment in this chapter?

3) What did you think about Kat's little outburst with Denise?

4) How do you feel about Kat taking that lead in the conversation with Dwight?

5) How do you feel about the whole little rift between Kat and Daryl?

Until those 5 reviews, again...

Much love,

HeroJustInTime90