AN- Thank you all for your continued support! I have received a lot of great guesses for Rylynn's name, but they are still all incorrect! Keep at it!

Onwards and upwards!

The morning sun cast long shadows across the floor where Daryl slept. After his visit to Rylynn's house the day prior, he had taken a page out of her book and moved the mattress from the tall bed frame to the hardwood floor under the window, and slept much better for it. He could hear a few other sets of feet moving about the house, and began pulling on his jeans and boots to start the day.

Typically, his thoughts would be of breakfast, and the day's work ahead of him, especially now that he had a project in the form of the motorcycle. This morning, however, his mind was being invaded by echoes of Rylynn's voice and the soft chords of the guitar. He shook his head to clear it as he headed down the stairs.

"Morning," Sasha nodded towards him from her perch on the second-to-last stair, gun in hand as per usual. Daryl grunted a response at her as he passed by, and ruffled Carl's hair as he passed by the boy in the hallway. He entered the kitchen and saw a few plates of assorted appetizers out on the counter, presumably from the party that he and Rylynn cut out from. Rick looked up from a chair at the counter as Daryl snatched up an apple, some small sandwiches, and a few patties of hamburger.

"Good morning," he said to the hunter.

"Mornin'," Daryl replied, bread crumbs falling from his mouth.

"You missed quite the party last night," Rick said, watching his friend with interest. "Duck out early?"

Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. "Wasn't my scene."

Rick wasn't buying it. He turned back to his coffee but added, "Rylynn seemed to agree with you."

Daryl was getting sick of Rick's interfering, and he wasn't fond of how Rick was being evasive with his own plans, either.

"Man," he tossed a patty back on the plate, "whatcha problem with her? Ain't like she done nothing wrong to us."

"You said she was with us last night," Rick reminded him.

"She is!"

"Why?"

That stunned Daryl for a second. "Whatcha mean, 'why?'?"

Rick looked right into Daryl's eyes. "Daryl, we're brothers. You have brothers and sisters here that we protect. Folks who have been through hell with us and kept us alive, too. And we are a family because we are careful with who we trust and who we bring in." Daryl maintained eye contact with Rick the entire time. Rick continued on, seeing he wasn't phasing his brother. "I know Rylynn is beautiful, and she obviously has a lot of people under her spell here. What you have to be sure about, is when you say she is with us…is that because you know it to be true, or because you want it to be true?"

Daryl was mildly offended. Deanna and Aaron had trusted him to choose who entered Alexandria, but Rick was doubting his first call. "I know yer heart is in the right place, man. But why don't ya try showin' a little faith in yer own 'brother'?"

He got up, grabbed his crossbow from the back of the chair, and swung it up and over his shoulder. "If ya have do many doubts, why don't ya go over and decide for yerself?" he challenged as he headed for the door.

Rick closed his eyes and sighed deeply as the front door slammed shut. The talk hadn't gone as well as he had hoped, although probably as well as he had expected.

Although, he thought, I might take his advice about going and judging for myself.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rylynn's orange and black shoes rhythmically collided with the pavement in time with the song she was singing under her breath.

One strike comes strike of it strike, love it strike love it strike

Let strike go of strike it, strike love strike comes from strike it strike

We're strike not of strike this world strike for long strike

Faith strike and promise strike, keep me strike honest…strike

She came to a sudden halt, her voice falling off the end of the word as her house came into view and she saw a figure sitting on her front porch. The figure saw her, too, and held up a hand in the way of greeting.

"Good morning, Rick," she said as she came up her driveway, surprised that her second official visitor was the group leader.

"Good morning, Rylynn," he said, standing up to properly greet her. "I'm sorry to show up like this. If I'd know you were out, I would…"

She waved her hand at his apology and cut him off. "No need for that, Rick. I'm not into the whole 'let's pretend the formalities of the world are intact' act. What can I do for you?"

He shuffled his feet a bit, suddenly uncomfortable with his quest. "Ah, well, I'm just trying to get to know all the neighbors. You know, get a feel for the place."

She nodded politely, and then said, "And by neighbors, do you mean the people Daryl has vouched for?"

He looked even more uncomfortable now that she had called him out.

"Rick," she said bluntly, "quite frankly, none have us have much guaranteed time anymore, so let's not waste each other's'. You want to know if I would side with your family when shit goes down, and I want to know that your family is reliable. So let's just be honest and give each other what we want."

Her bluntness both shocked and impressed him. No wonder Daryl was being drawn to this little spitfire of a woman.

He squared his feet again, starting over. "Fair enough. It seems that no one here know anything about you, and yet everyone trusts you. Seems like a shady arrangement to me."

"People need someone to confide in," she responded. "I am that person."

"I don't particularly care if you're useful," Rick said. "Usefulness only goes so far in this world. I need to know that you can be trusted, and it seems you purposely keep yourself a mystery."

She cocked her head to the side. "I do. I'm not overly excited about delving into my losses, reliving the horrors, and revealing my weaknesses to a bunch of strangers. Especially a bunch of dumbass strangers with a sanctuary like this," she opened her arms, gesturing around to the neighborhood, "who are going to get it destroyed."

"You must see that I can't just take your word for that."

"I do see that. What I don't see is how I can prove it to you other than in a pivotal moment. I will give you my word for now, that if you overthrow Deanna, I will fight with your family. And if they kick you all out for trying to make them see what the world really is, I will come with you. If you will have me."

He leaned in and looked her dead in the eyes. She didn't back away and didn't blink.

"How many of the dead have you killed?" he began.

AN: Thank you for your patience! I spent the last week in California, looking at wedding venues and celebrating Easter with my CA family and fiancé, so I didn't have much of a chance to write. However, I wrote this chapter at 37,000 feet for y'all!