A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.

Chapter Three-Bullseye

Danielle was grateful to Maggie for the clean clothes. The jeans were a little snug but would have to do until she could wash her own. She had washed up as best she could and brushed out her hair. Looking at her reflection in the broken mirror, she almost didn't recognize herself. Her eyes were sunken and the bruises stood out on her pale face. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and walked back to the cell block. Carol, walking with baby Judith saw her and smiled.

"Do you feel better?" Danielle nodded.

"Where's Maggie? I need to thank her for the clothes." Carol nodded her chin towards the window.

"I think she's working in the garden with Beth. It's actually turning out pretty good. Glenn found a bunch of vegetable starters in someone's greenhouse and they're coming up rather nice." Judith sighed in her sleep. Danielle walked over and smiled down at the baby.

"She's beautiful. Is she yours?" Carol shook her head.

"This is Rick's baby girl. Her name's Judith. Rick's wife, Lori...she didn't make it through the labor." Carol's voice trailed off. Danielle took another look at the baby and thought of Abigail when she was that small. She fought back the tears, smiled at Carol and started to walk outside. Carol stopped her.

"I lost my Sophia. She got lost in the woods and when we found her…it was too late. Rick told me about what happened to your daughter. I can't say that I know what you're going through but…mother to mother…" Danielle smiled at her, turned and walked outside.

It was early evening now and it had actually cooled off. She saw Rick and Hershel, standing by the garden where the two girls were pulling weeds. Surveying the yard, she saw that one of the mattresses from a cot was propped up with a piece of paper tacked to the center. Daryl was giving a boy lessons on using a crossbow. Danielle walked over to her bag, which was still where she left it and picked it up, turning to walk towards the training grounds. Rick looked back and saw her. He quickly crossed the yard and joined her.

"I see you got settled in." Danielle nodded without stopping. Rick walked in front of her and stopped, forcing her to do the same.

"Where are you going with that?" He motioned to her bag. She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Let's see…I have my bow in here and that appears to be a target. I thought it would be a good idea to shoot at it and keep my skill up." When Rick didn't move, she put her hand on her hip. "What, do you think I'm going to assassinate you all while you sleep?"

"Look, I know Daryl said that it's better if we let you stay. But not everyone is going to feel comfortable knowing you're walking around armed." She laughed.

"Once they see me shoot, they'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing I'm walking around armed." She walked around Rick and continued towards Daryl and the boy. Daryl turned on her, standing between her and the boy.

"What do you think you're doin?" She ignored him and knelt down to open up her bag, pulling her bow out along with three arrows. She walked around him and began checking her strings and the pulleys. Everything looked ok. She pulled her glove on her hand and stood. Daryl took his crossbow from the boy.

"Carl, run over by your dad now." Carl frowned and obviously didn't want to listen but when he saw the look on Daryl's face, he decided this was one time he probably should. Danielle pretended to ignore it and set up for her first shot. The target wasn't that big and she over shot it. She swore and picked up her second arrow. Daryl stood back and watched her.

"You're not aiming level." Wrinkling her nose, she realized he was right and lowered her bow slightly. This time, she hit the mattress but missed to paper.

"Third times the charm," she muttered to herself and fired her third arrow. This one was a perfect bullseye. She smiled with satisfaction but wiped it off her face quickly when she turned and saw Daryl watching her. He nodded at the mattress.

"Not bad. Where'd you learn to shoot?"

"My dad. My dad's family is pure, one hundred percent Louisiana redneck. My grandma told me and my cousins that coming from Louisiana, it meant we were special because we were rednecks with hot sauce." Daryl smirked.

"Yeah but you sure don't sound like you spent your life running around the swamp, learning to shoot and climbing trees." She walked towards the target to retrieve the arrows and he followed.

"My mother and I were not close and my dad died when I was in high school so I went to college in California and just stayed out there until three years ago when we moved to Atlanta. Mother was from a very wealthy family in Jackson, Mississippi. All she was expected to do in life was marry well, serve on charity boards and leave her kids to be raised by a black nanny, just like she was. She was a pretty little spoiled sorority girl at Ole Miss when she met my dad. He was the starting quarterback for the Rebels and she decided that he fit the criteria: handsome, athletic and had the potential to make good money when he went pro. Since he had a large number of female followers, she decided to up the ante and got knocked up with me her junior year. Being the southern gentleman that he was, he married her and she spent the next fifteen years making his life a living hell." She raised her bow, aimed and once again hit the paper target. She was still too tense in her shoulders but this was better for her than any therapy. Daryl stood back and watched. After she shot the last two arrows, she set her bow down and stretched her neck and shoulders before sitting on the ground. She turned her head when she heard his footsteps moving away.

"I'm sorry," she called over her shoulder. She heard him stop.

"Sorry about what?" His voice was low and there was an edge to it.

"Sorry that I had to tell you that about your brother." Danielle turned and looked at him over her shoulder. He shook his head and kept walking. Danielle sighed and got up to retrieve her arrows. She needed the practice.

Beth watched from the garden as Danielle shot at the target again and again. Maggie saw her staring and kicked her sister in the leg.

"Quit staring at her." Beth moved out of her sister's reach.

"Do you think she's telling the truth? About what happened to her? She's not acting like you'd think someone would who had that actually happen to them…" she trailed off and looked at her sister apologetically. Maggie glared at her.

"What do you expect her to do? Curl up in a ball crying because of that? Completely check out on everything and forget about surviving just because she's been dealt a shitty hand?"

"You watch your mouth now missy," her father moved quickly and quietly on those crutches. "You girls don't need to be over here gossiping about someone you don't know nothing about. You have no idea what she's thinking right now. She lost her little girl and went through quite an ordeal." Beth interrupted him.

"If she's telling the truth. I heard Daryl say he doesn't believe her." Hershel frowned at his daughter.

"That's because it involves his brother. And no one wants to think that their kin is capable of that. That doesn't necessarily mean she's not being honest about it." Maggie looked over at Danielle, who was packing up her bag.

"I know what they are capable of in Woodbury. I don't doubt she's telling the truth." Hershel patted his daughter's shoulder.

"Come on inside girls and get washed up." He looked over at the fire pit where Axel was stirring something in the giant metal pot they found in the cafeteria kitchen. "It looks like dinner is almost ready."

Later that night, Daryl came downstairs from watch in the guard tower. He didn't ordinarily take the night shift but he needed to get away from everyone and think for a while. He didn't realize he'd dozed off until he heard Glenn's footsteps on the stairs. Glenn started to speak to him but thought the better of it. When Daryl walked into the cellblock, the only sounds were the rhythmic breathing coming from the cells. He paused by Rick's when he heard the baby stirring. Rick obviously hadn't yet heard her so Daryl picked her up and fixed her a bottle. Cooing quietly to her, he walked with her as she ate. When she fell back to sleep, he laid her back down on the mattress next to Rick. Now tired himself, Daryl climbed the stairs to the landing prepared to crash. He stopped when he realized he wasn't alone.

"What the hell are you doin' up here?" He whispered to Danielle.

"I can't sleep in a cell," she whispered. "I tried but had to come out here. I didn't think anyone else slept here." He frowned, angry now.

"Well you thought wrong. I sleep here." She pulled her blankets and pillow over to the far corner of the landing.

"Look, it's late and you need to sleep. I'll stay over here. I'll find someplace else tomorrow, okay?" Daryl didn't like it but for once was too tired to argue. He moved his blankets further away and lay down, his back to her, but was too aware of her presence to sleep. He rolled over and looked towards her. The full moonlight came in through the windows and he could see she was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. He thought he could see tears on her face.

"Are you ok?" He whispered. She shook her head. Giving up on sleep for a little longer, he slid over to sit by her.

"How old was your little girl again?" Danielle sat up, wiped her face and pulled a wrinkled picture from her back pocket and handed it to him. It was a wallet sized school picture of a grinning little brunette, her hair in braids.

"She was nine. She would have turned ten in another couple of months. She was so excited about getting to be that two digit age." He smiled at the picture and handed it back. She brushed her finger across the picture and kissed it, the tears starting again.

"This is all I have left..." she was losing the battle to keep the tears and her grief inside. She shook her head, wiped the tears away and looked over at him.

"What about you? Any other family besides…" her voice trailed off. He tensed but let it go.

"No. My mom died when I was still a kid. My dad was a drunk. Merle was all I had."

"No kids?" Daryl shook his head and smirked.

"None that I know of anyway." He moved away from her and lay back down on his blanket, facing her.

"You should try to get some sleep. We've still got work to do tomorrow. Rick wants to clear out another cellblock and check for supplies. He might let you come along." She smiled and lay down turning on her side towards Daryl.

"Thanks for saying I could stay." Daryl didn't answer. Instead, he asked the question he really didn't want to know the answer to.

"How did you get away from Merle?" She shook her head.

"You really don't want to know the details." He propped his head up on his hand, a little pissed off.

"You weren't too shy on tellin' details earlier." Danielle bit her lower lip and thought about it.

"Let's just say," she said slowly, rolling on to her side away from him, "don't put anything near my mouth you don't want bitten off, okay?" Daryl flinched and turned over. He needed to sleep.