It's my second chapter for the day! I've had a bizarre day (I write a blog about feminism in the modern workplace, and one of the specific workplaces I worked at and did a cultural criticism of…well, they found my blog. So they were not thrilled.) Anyway, the last chapter, I feel, was decent but not great. So I owe y'all another one.

Onwards and upwards!

"How's it look?" Rick asked Daryl, who was up to his elbows in the engine of the Highlander.

"'s a good find," Daryl informed the leader. "Hybrid, too, so'll need less gas."

"Maggie and Star did well, then," Rick grinned, happy with the day's productivity. "Your girl seems to be fitting in well with us."

"She don't like being called girl," Daryl warned him as he dropped the hood back down, and Rick smiled when Daryl didn't correct the "your".

"You know, it's not a bad thing to trust someone," Rick advised his friend. "I get why you don't. But Star seems like a decent person, and she obviously…likes you."

Daryl kicked at the concrete floor with the toe of his boots, eyes cast down. "Why does ery'one seem keen on meddlin' in my business?"

"Probably because you seem so eager to hide it," laughed Rick. "She's a beautiful woman, and we all like her so far. It's a mystery to us why you pretend you don't, too."

Daryl chose not to respond, and Rick had to stifle a laugh. He trusted Daryl explicitly, and loved the man like a brother and best friend. He had come a long way from being Merle's carbon copy to the most trusted member of the family, but there was still a lot Daryl had to come to terms with. It seemed like loving someone beyond friendship was one of those things.

While Daryl had been careful to avoid outward signs of his preference for Star, Rick and Carol had noticed all the subconscious signs. His eyes rarely left her when she was in the room. Ever since the party, he stood literally by her side. When Carl and Star had come sprinting down the street, Daryl hadn't hesitated to reach out to hold her. Not to mention that they hadn't spent the night apart since the party.

Star's preference for Daryl was apparent, too, although she didn't seem as set on hiding it. Rick had it on good authority that Daryl had been the first person to enter Star's home; she had chosen his family over the safety and comfort of association with the townspeople. Not to mention her reaction to Thomas's insulting the man.

"'s nothing," Daryl responded.

"What's nothing?" a female voice asked from the driveway. Rick and Daryl peered around the car to find Star, still in her running gear, walking into the garage space.

"Ah, nothin'," Daryl said quickly. Star clearly didn't believe him, and set her gaze on Rick.

"Rick?" she prodded. He laughed at her.

"Really, Star, it's nothing of importance," he assured her.

"If you say so, boss," she mock saluted. "How's the present I brought you?"

Daryl wiped his hands on his jeans. "Looks good. Don't need no parts or nothin'. Should be good to go, long as the battery lasts."

"Awesome!" Star cheered. "If it's good to go, I was hoping to move it over and bring my car here, too."

"Sure," Daryl responded, overlapping with Rick's, "Your car?"

Star nodded to both. "Yes, and yes Rick, my car. I found it shortly after arriving here and have been stocking it up. There's actually a lot of supplies in my house."

"We should put th' stuff from th' closet in th' Totoya," Daryl suggested. Star nodded in agreement.

"Brilliant idea."

"Hold on," Rick stepped between the two. "What?!"

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"Holy shit," Rick swore as he looked around the garage. Dried herbs hung on strings across the ceiling. The red and black jeep Wrangler was, truly, fully loaded. Daryl and Star were loading the extra items from the closet and living room into the Highlander, and soon both cars were full.

"We should wait until it's dark to move them back to the house," Star thought. "People seeing a caravan might raise some red flags."

"How…how the hell do you have this much stuff?" Rick asked, baffled. His group had never had this many tents, clothing, and gear, unless he counted the peak of the prison.

"I had a lot of time, and my job was retrieving supplies," Star reminded him. "No one really ever questioned if I had found more than I turned into storage. The jeep was a lucky find at a dealership about twenty miles out. They're hard to hotwire, because of all the gadgets."

"And you figured it out?" Rick asked, seriously impressed, but Star shook her head.

"No, I found the keys," she grinned. "No one ever checks the wash bay for keys."

Daryl grinned with pride in spite of his own reservations. Smart woman.

"And you gathered all of this in how long?"

"About sixty days," Star responded matter-of-fact. "I hate having nothing to do."

Rick nodded as he looked at the two cars, bursting at the seams. "Yeah. I can see that."

"We can drive 'em back after…" Daryl proposed, but was cut off by screams echoing through the garage. In an instant, he tossed the spear to Star from where she had propped it against the wall, lifting his crossbow from the same place. Rick had his gun out, crouching low and walking stealthily towards the driveway. The other two followed him, Star pulling the garage door shut manually behind them.

A townswoman was running full-speed towards them, screaming and sobbing. Behind her, two walkers were in pursuit. One had its arm partially torn from the socket, another had no eyeballs left after extensive decay.

"Shit," Daryl muttered. The three began sprinting towards the hysterical woman, weapons still drawn. Startled by their appearance, she halted in her tracks, arms raised in surrender.

"No, don't shoot!" she cried. Behind her, the two biters shuffled forward, and four more, torn and decaying and oozing, appeared around the corner she had just turned.

"Merida, keep running!" Star hollered. The woman shook her head viciously, tears streaming down her face. Clearly, all rational had left her.

"For fuck's sake!" Star now screamed at her. "Merida RUN!"

"No, he…he'll kill me!" Merida cried, pointing a quaking finger at Rick.

"Jesus," Daryl muttered under his breath.

"Rick, lower your weapon," Star commanded.

Rick shot her a confused look.

"RICK NOW!" Star commanded again. The sheriff lowered his gun to the ground.

"Get her, no gun!" Star directed. "Daryl, cover me." She leaned into a full sprint, her spear in one hand, with Daryl hot on her heels.

Rick ran up to the frightened woman, grabbing her by the arm. She began screaming and flailing, try to shake free of his grasp.

"Come on!" he shouted at her, practically dragging her towards Star's house.

Star began swinging her spear, her precision reminding Daryl of Michonne as she stabbed and sliced her way into the hoard. The first walker she encountered was neatly speared through the empty eye socket, effectively ending its reign of terror. Daryl shot the second through the temple, and it dropped to the ground as a heap of rot. Star was already on to the third, spinning the spear around once and driving the lighter end through the jaw and well into the cerebellum. An arrow pierced right above the ear, rendering the fourth walker dead. Daryl pulled his crossbow into an upright position, leaving the last walker for Star. It was meandering slightly farther behind, so she had a few seconds to shake off the previous kills and twirl the spear around her back in preparation. It held a grey, skeletal hand out for her, a deep rasp emitting from the remnants of its lungs. Star smirked at it, and, using just beyond the blade of the heavier side, forcefully smashed the pole against the skinny arm, ripping it clean from the torso.

Damn, Daryl thought, admittedly impressed at her tactics. But Star wasn't done with this walker.

She circled behind it, keeping a spear's distance between her and the remaining reach of the corpse. Using the heavier side again, she swept at its knees while jumping to the side, destroying both kneecaps with a sickening crack. The walker crumpled to the ground, but continued dragging itself along with its remaining arm, its empty eyes fixed on the young woman.

Star planted a firm step across the walker's shoulder blade, immobilizing it. Its teeth gnashed as it tried to twist its head around to snap at her ankles, but before it could tear the tendons from its neck, Star thrust her spear into its skull, and the body beneath her feet went slack.

Blood was pumping triumphantly in her ears, and she grinned down at the defeated creature. She lifted her eyes from the battle, expecting to find Daryl nearby. His back was turned to her, however, and he was looking at the sidewalk across the street.

Dozens of Alexandrians were gathered, gaping at her, not in admiration, but in horror. Mothers were covering their children's eyes, men's skin tinged green with disgust.

Daryl turned back around to her. She was their champion, and they were staring at her like she was the beast. The disbelief shone in her eyes, and they flitted over to him, looking for reassurance.

He quickly strode over the bodies in the street to her side, his arm immediately encircling her shoulder, both to comfort and protect her. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, both from exertion and from panic. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from her audience.

"Oh my god…" an elderly woman said. That was all it took to start the rain of words.

"Psycho!" someone screamed.

"Fucking crazy bitch!"

"You're insane!"

"Freak!"

"She's crazy!"

Star flinched at each harsh word, and Daryl pulled her closer into him with each insult.

"Let's go," he whispered to her, trying to pull her away, but she seemed rooted to the spot.

"Get out!"

"You can't live here!"

"Messed up bitch!"

"Star, c'mon!" Daryl insisted, pulling her with more force, his arm tightly wrapped around her. She stepped slightly to the side, and it was enough momentum for him to get them moving. They had taken only a few steps when a male voice called out, "Rylynn!"

Out of habit, Star paused and turned. The rock came sailing towards them, and Daryl instinctually pulled his arm over her head and forced them both to duck to the ground. He waited for the sound of it striking the pavement, but instead heard a crunch and Star's pained cry.

Without rising, he looped an arm under her knees and picked her up, sprinting towards her old house, chased by the sound of additional rocks colliding with concrete behind him. He burst through the front door with sheer force and shut it with his back.

"What the hell?!" Rick jumped to his feet from the mattress, where the hysterical townswoman was resting. Star was cradled in Daryl's arms, blood caking her running shoe on one foot. "What happened?"

Daryl's jaw was clenched in rage, and he wordlessly tossed the keys to the Highlander to Rick, snatching the keys to the Jeep in the same movement and making for the garage.

"Star?" he asked the woman in his arms, trying to control the anger in his voice.

"I'm fine," she hissed through clenched teeth. "It's totally fine. Put me down."

He ignored her, and instead opened the passenger door of the jeep and set her down on the seat.

"How's it look?" she asked, eyes squeezed shut. He quickly glanced at her leg. The rock's jagged edges had marred up her ankle and shin, peeling layers of skin off, but his biggest concern was the expose bone and the crack visible in it.

"Don't look," he advised.

"Oh fucking great," she groaned as he jumped into the driver's seat and started the car. Rick was right alongside them, already having opened the garage door, and was revving the Highlander. The two vehicles peeled out of the garage and roared down the block, flying past the angry mob and rolling over the bodies of the slain walkers. They whipped down the block and sailed into the family home's driveway. Daryl launched himself from the jeep, pulling Star from the passenger seat. She was still curled around her injured leg, tears streaming down her face as she insisted, "I can walk".

"Like hell ya can," Daryl responded. Carol was standing at the open front door, investigating the sound of two vehicles screeching their way to the house. She took in the sight of a pained Star, a livid Daryl, and a confused but rushed Rick.

"What on Earth happened?!" she asked, alarmed, as she led the way into the living room. She grabbed a sheet from the clean pile on the stairs and spread it quickly across the couch before Daryl set Star on it. "Shit!" she yelped as she took in Star's injury.

"Is she bit?!" Rick demanded, charging into the house.

"What's going on?!" Carl hollered, taking the stairs two at a time on his way from the second floor with Maggie hot on his heels. .

"Fucking Christ," Michonne murmured as she entered from the backyard. "Someone go get a doctor."

"We killed the doctor, remember?" Maggie responded.

"We need to clean out the cuts," Rick directed, some of his CPR training from police academy kicking in. "We'll have to assess if any need stitches. Then, we'll have to bind and immobilize her leg."

"Immobilize it?!" Star snapped from the couch. "Holy shit, is my leg fucking broken?!"

"Shit, Star, what happened?" Maggie questioned as she examined the injury closely.

"Everyone, calm down!" Michonne ordered loudly. "This isn't doing any good! Carl, go get that kit from the upstairs bathroom. It has bandages and antiseptic wipes in it."

"There's a sewing kit I was using as a prop next to my bed," Carol remembered, rushing upstairs with the young boy.

"That string won't be thick enough," Maggie mused, remembering some of the lesson from her father's clinic.

"Use...floss…" Star gritted, rocking her head back and forth to try and focus. "It's sterile and doesn't break."

"Carl! Bring the floss!" Rick shouted up to the second story.

"Leg brace…in the Jeep. Med kit. Under the back seat," Star told them. Rick bolted for the garage he had just left. Michonne kneeled down next to Star, gripping her hand. Maggie sat on the arm of the couch, her hand firmly gripping Star's shoulder.

"You'll be fine," Michonne soothed her, knowing the young woman was no-nonsense. She looked up to Daryl, hoping for some back-up. Instead, she found him white-faced, with clenched fists and rage shaking his body.

"Daryl!" she snapped at him. He dropped his glare down to her.

Carl, Carol and Rick came rushing back all at the same time, their items in hand. Carol knelt at the woman's injured leg, grimacing slightly but taking deep, calming breaths. She began to clean the wound carefully, Star's core seizing up as she tried to keep still and absorb the pain.

"What the hell happened out there?" Maggie demanded of Daryl.

"She wasn't bit, was she?" Rick added.

Daryl merely shook his head in response, the tension in his body unwavering.

No good idiot. Why didn't ya kill that last walker? None of this woulda' happened.

"What happened?" Rick said more forcefully, standing directly across from his brother and staring him down.

What happened? What happened? Ya failed 'er, ya piece of trash.

"We…killed the walkers. Last one was hers," Daryl managed to spit out. "Didn't kill it right away, kinda hacked it up first. Wasn't dangerous. Fucking… people heard that bitch screaming, came t' see. Called her a freak. Some fucker threw a rock…"

…and ya ducked 'er down, like the stupid, useless, mindless fucker ya are. Yer th' one who made 'er stop. It's yer fault. She woulda run, but ya stopped 'er and ya kept 'er there. She must HATE YOU.

He suddenly turned and threw a punch at the wall.

"Daryl!" Carl shouted from his perch on the stairs.

"I'll fuckin' kill 'em!" Daryl hollered.

Why don't ya kill yerself? Do 'em all a big ol' favor. 'Fore ya get someone else maimed.

"Daryl, knock it off!" Carol snapped from her work. "I can't focus with you doing that!"

"Shut up!" Daryl snarled at her.

Star was suddenly up and off the couch, her mauled leg suspended slightly off the ground.

"Whoa, Star, sit down," Rick rushed to her side, but she held up a calm hand. Daryl was pressing his head into the wall, hisses of anger and frustration bouncing off the barrier and filling the room. Star used the railing of the stairs and the other walls to push herself forward with her hands, finally reaching him. She rested her hands calmly across his back.

He felt the pressure on his side and shoulder, and immediately recognized it from the many other times. Her handprint was becoming recognizable to him by touch. He lifted his face from the stucco and turned to see her upright, her face wet with tears and streaked with her own blood, but her eyes calm.

"Star, ya can't…" he panicked, but her eyes effectively silence him.

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do," she reminded him firmly. "This is not your fault."

He stared at her, wordless.

"It's not your fault," she repeated. He swallowed thickly, and she brought her hand up to cradle his face.

A miniscule corner of his mind sounded. E'ryone's watchin'. The rest of his raging mind was suddenly quieted.

"It's not your fault." She said again. He leaned his face into her palm, trying to absorb everything she was saying. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest, feeling her heart beat against his.

"I'm so sorry," he sobbed quietly into her ear. She wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Nothing to be sorry for," she told him softly. "You tried to protect me. You tried to pull me away. Thank you."

He buried his face deep into the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath and trying to pull himself together. He bent his knees and picked her up off the ground, bringing her back to the couch. He was aware of everyone's eyes on them, and probably more specifically him, but there would be another time to address that. For now, he was only focused on Star.

Carol began her treatment again, occasionally apologizing for the pain when Star flinched or sucked air through her teeth in pain. Daryl never moved from her side, not holding her, but leaning into her whenever she pressed back against him.

Rick watched the scene with interest. He had never seen Daryl act out so passionately, or seen anyone calm him down so effectively. And now their bond was out in the open.

Watching Daryl keep close attention to Star's every move, with tenderness and protectiveness radiating from him, Rick began to fear for the peace in Alexandria.

The townspeople have clearly turned against her, he reflected. And Daryl very well might kill them for this.