Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, the cover image or am the girl on it.

Her Angel, His Strength

24 Hounded

Waking up was hard the next day. No one said much while Beth, Maggie and Oscar prepared breakfast, a task usually held by Lori and Carol, but everyone missed Rick's presence at the table. The brother watched his newborn baby sister carefully, with everyone else keeping close attention to the two siblings. After eating, the group scattered around, everyone choosing a task to do.

"Everybody okay?" Rick finally made his appearance, shocking everyone who were sitting eating lunch.

"Yeah, we are. What about you?"

"I cleared out the boiler block." Lily's round eyes widened. To do that all by himself was just plain madness.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked, looking as surprised as she was.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." Rick said, patting his son's shoulder, who did not look up from his plate.

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to-" Glenn started.

"No, I do." Rick interrupted him, a glazed look on his eyes. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl.

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though."

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn tried again. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well." Daryl laid out the plan for the day.

"Good, good." Rick nodded, leaving them again, never once looking at the baby on Beth's arms.

"Rick." Hershel screamed, though his only answer was the sound of the gate closing.

Maggie and Glenn left soon after that, just as Daryl, Oscar and Carl did, grabbing their weapons. Lily preferred to stay with Beth to help with the baby, since Hershel decided to go talk with Rick.

"You're good with her." She told Beth, seeing her sing a lullaby to the baby.

"Yeah, she's just precious." The blond girl smiled at her. "It's sad she won't meet her mother."

Lily sighed and looked down.

"Did you talk to Carl? About what happened?" Lily asked and when Beth shook her head, she said, "He likes you, you know that, right?" Beth blushed. "Maybe you should try… You know, it can't be good to keep that kind of things closed up."

"I… I don't know what to say to him."

"Neither do I." Lily frowned, taking the baby from Beth's arms.

When Hershel came back, the two looked at him.

"How did it go?" Lily asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the baby.

"He…" Hershel sighed heavily, sitting himself down. "He needs time." Lily nodded, understanding.

"Yeah, he should take a break." Lily said, looking down at the bundle in her arms. "In the meantime, we'll take care of this little one, right?" She smiled.

Carl and Oscar came back a while later, and when Lily looked at them, Carl told her:

"We found Carol's knife. He wanted to stay a few more minutes by himself…" She nodded and sat down next to Hershel. Daryl and Carol had become such good friends; she knew it must have been hard on him. She could not even imagine what she would do with herself if something like that ever happened to Glenn.

"I'll go see Axel. Hep him out." Oscar excused himself.

Rick came back when Beth was preparing dinner. His demeanour different from the morning. When he stopped in front of Lily, a look of wonder in his face, she knew he wanted his daughter. For the first time, the father held his baby close, not being able to tear his eyes away from her. Carl smiled his first real smile ever since her birth.

When Hershel said that it would do well for the baby to see some sunlight, they left the cellblock, feeling contended for the first time in that day.

"Hey, just- you got her?" Lily heard Rick asking Carl, passing the newborn to her brother's arms.

"Yeah."

"All right." He seemed to be looking for something outside the fences. "Okay. Lily, with me." He commanded and Lily went without questioning. When they came close to the fence, Lily finally noticed what he was seeing. There was a woman there. An alive woman who was being completely ignored by the walkers. A basket full of baby formula and a duck toy on her hands. No sign of a country girl or an Asian boy in sight.


I decided to upload this new image for you to see how I imagine Lily's physical appearance. You can't see much of her face which is one of the things that made me choose that one! I can create a new face out of my mind but have a basis where everyone can go from! I wanted to post that a while ago however, it always slipped my mind. It's been a while since I first starting writing this and I know that most of you already have your own Lily in yours mind's eyes, I just wanted to share mine!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.