Chapter 33

Daryl didn't let out a sigh of relief until they were safely back inside Alexandria. He leaned back into the seat and relaxed for the first time since their search for Emma began. She was officially home. Michonne and Sasha ran out to greet the car. They had both been waiting anxiously all night for them to return. Sasha pulled Emma into a hug.

"I'm so sorry," she told Emma. "I never should have left you alone. It was all my fault." Tears threatened to fall from Sasha's big brown eyes.

"No, it was my fault, Sasha. Not yours or anyone else's, but all mine. I'm just lucky that I had Daryl and Rick to come after me." Emma knew having a guy like Daryl in her life was the best thing that ever happened to her. Not only did he love her unconditionally, but he was loyal and completely trustworthy. The skills he learned before the world fell apart were invaluable now. She knew that he tracked her all the way from where she was doing target practice to the campsite where they found her. She owed him her life. He already had her heart.

"What happened?" asked Michonne.

"It was the Saviors that took her," Rick said.

Daryl growled low in his throat. "That prick, Dwight took her intending to give her to Negan. Apparently he has a thing for Emma, but there's no fuckin' way in hell he's getting what's mine. Not Emma. Not ever." He hitched the crossbow higher on this shoulder. "It'll be a cold day in hell."

Michonne looked at Rick and they smiled at each other. They both got a kick out seeing this side of Daryl. "Glad your back," Michonne told Emma giving her a hug.

"Awesome we get to eat again!" The group looked up and saw Carl holding Judith on the porch. Leave it to a teenage to think with his stomach. Everyone burst out laughing.

"Not today, Carl. We'll let Emma rest up first," Rick told his son.

"Awe," Carl moaned. "No one else can cook."

"I can cook," Michonne reminded him.

Carl looked at his father and they both started to laugh. "Okay, neither of you will ever see a meal from me again!" Michonne said pretending to be insulted. She knew she could not cook.

"Thank God!" Carl laughed before heading inside with his sister.

Daryl looked over at Emma and saw the fatigue setting in on her face. She was starting to crash. "C'mon, let's head inside." He put his hand on the small of her back and nudged her forward. He wanted to get her to their room as soon as possible.

Emma just followed his lead and before she knew it, their bedroom door closed behind them. Daryl could feel her body start to shake so he wrapped her in his arms. "You're okay," he whispered to her. "Don't ever scare me like that again. I think I have more gray in my beard now because of you. He hesitated for a moment before adding, "Your safe, Em."

Emma had been so proud of herself that she had really been strong throughout this whole mess, but once she got back home she could feel it all start to fall apart. She was glad that Daryl saw it too, and he just took control so she would not embarrass herself in front of their friends. She was finally back in the quiet and safety of their room. She could fall apart here and she was.

The sobs started the second she felt his strong arms wrap around her. Daryl moved them over towards the bed and lay down on the soft mattress with Emma still in his arms. They stayed that way until the tears eventually stopped. That took a long time.

"Thank you for rescuing me," Emma said softly to Daryl. She wiped the remnants of the tears away with her hand.

"Why you thanking me? Of course I was going after you. I won't let anyone take you away from me…not again. No fuckin' way," he told her.

Emma lifted her head and smiled up at him. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"You got that backwards," he told her completely believing his words. "Still can't figure out why you still want an old redneck like me. Never made any sense, but I sure ain't complaining. I got the better end of this deal."

"Stop putting yourself down. I happen to love my not-so-old redneck." Emma kissed his lips. The taste of him always made her want more. They kissed for a few minutes and it was Daryl that pulled back first. Emma needed to rest and put sometime in between her abduction and them getting hot and heavy. They still had yet to figure out how to fix her anxiety when it came down to having sex.

Emma nestled her head onto his shoulder. "Do you think you'll be able to do something about Negan?"

Emma didn't see the corner of his mouth lift up. He and Rick had a big surprise for Negan. "Yeah, I do. We need to find that church you were talking about. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, I think I know it. They have a couple spots they use for meetings, but I was at a church a couple of times for the cleanup. Those men are absolute slobs and the women had to clean up the buildings after they get together," she explained.

"You know the layout of the church? Entrances and exits?" This was more than he could have hoped for. This would give them the upper hand.

"I can draw you a diagram of the building. It's about five miles from basecamp off Route 27 about a mile out of Hillsdale. The town is abandoned," she told him. "That may help find it. We were transported in a van, but I paid attention. You taught me to always look for landmarks in strange places." Back when they were living together they would go on walks down trails through the local state parks or just through the woods. Daryl had taught her how to keep track of landmarks and anything that would help her not to get lost. Emma never forgot that.

"God, Em that's great. I want you to rest first, and we can work on the map later," he told her. This was the information they needed. Daryl knew he needed to get together with Rick as soon as possible to plan. They didn't have much time. "When did you think they were having this meeting?"

"From what they were saying last night, it should be day after tomorrow. That's why Dwight was anxious to get back." Emma yawned as the absence of sleep from the night before really was hitting her.

Daryl brushed the hair out of Emma's tired face. He could see her eyes starting to close. "Hey Em, would it be okay if I went down to talk to Rick while you get caught up on sleep. I really need to plan with him."

"I can come…" Emma yawned again," … with you to talk to Rick."

Daryl laughed at her. "You'll fall asleep, you can barely stay awake now as it is. Stay here, sleep and I'll bring you up something to eat later…as long as Michonne ain't cookin'." Daryl placed a blanket over Emma, kissed her forehead and she was asleep before he closed the bedroom door.

Daryl stood with his back to the door for a moment, his head tilted back. This was his time to fall apart. No one was around to see his tears fall as the woman he treasured more than anything lay sleeping in the bed they shared. That was way too close. He almost lost her again.

He didn't like the person he had become after the first time. His anger at the world ruled him and everything he did. It almost cost him remaining with Rick and the others. He was lucky they let him stay with them. Very lucky.

If he had to have gone through losing Emma again, Daryl wasn't sure what he would have done. Most likely he would have gotten on his motorcycle and just left. Maybe that's how Carol felt, he wondered. She and Morgan had not returned yet. He hoped she would, as he wanted her to meet Emma. He was nothing without his green eyed girl.

He was wiping away the tears away with the back of his hand when Michonne came out of her and Rick's room. Daryl turned his head so she wouldn't see, but Michonne had quickly figured out he was hiding his emotions.

She simply wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Michonne could feel his anger, his fear and lastly his immense relief all come out of him as he cried in her arms. He had to get that out or explode and Michonne understood that.

Daryl pulled himself together fairly quickly and mumbled a "Sorry," to her as he pulled away.

She took her two hands and placed them on his scruffy tear-stained cheeks forcing him to look at her. "Don't apologize, there's no need. Families take care of each other. You've been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours, but she's back. You got her back and she's okay." Michonne dropped her hands and smiled at Daryl. "You know you're different now, right?"

"What you mean?"

"You're not as grouchy and brooding as you were." Michonne saw Daryl's eyes harden and she laughed at him. "You are actually happy now and that was never a word I'd associated with you. You just needed Emma and I think this new Daryl is damn great." Michonne kissed him on the cheek, which made Daryl turn red. "Cmon, let's go find Rick."

They found him sitting at the dining room table studying a map. "Tell your girl to stop hitting on me, man. I got enough trouble with the one I got." Daryl figured it was time for a little payback. Michonne had hit the nail on the head with him, but it still embarrassed him.

Rick shook his head and chuckled. He trusted Michonne completely, and knew his friend was just having fun.

She turned to Rick. "That's what I get for telling him he looks happy," she said rolling her eyes.

"Don't make that mistake again," Rick laughed.

"Believe me I won't," Michonne tried to say with a straight face, but failed. She joined Rick at the table laughing.

"You got time to go over this map with me?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Don't need to. Emma knows where this church is, or at least the basic area. She's sleeping now, but when she wakes up she'll make us a diagram of the building. Apparently, they use a couple of places for these meetings. Kinda rotating around. Afterwards they have the women clean up and Emma was one of them." Daryl leaned back into his chair as he watched Rick take this all in. His stomach rumbled reminding him he was hungry.

Daryl got up to rummage through the refrigerator and cabinets trying to find something to eat. Nothing looked good, so he just choose a can at random. After opening it and pouring it into a bowl, he set the timer on the microwave to heat it.

Rick sat up and caught Michonne's eye then Daryl's. "Are you telling me she can give us the details about this place? We don't have to do this blind?"

"That's what I'm saying," Daryl said in between mouthfuls of hash that he had poured ketchup over. Carl wasn't the only one that missed Emma's cooking.

Daryl sat back down at the table and looked at the map. "She told me it's about a mile outside of Hillsdale and five or so miles from Negan's basecamp on Route 27. I'm thinking it's about here," he said pointing at the map.

Rick and Michonne leaned into study the area. "When is this meeting?" Rick asked.

"Day after tomorrow. Don't know if we have time to check it out first or not, what do you think?"

Rick thought for a moment. They needed to do this the right way. It was the one chance to take Negan out. If they failed it would be an all-out war and Negan had the numbers and the man power, they didn't. "Let's get our people here and talk it out. And by that I don't mean the Alexandrian's, just us."

"What about Aaron?" Daryl suggested.

Rick hesitated before agreeing to bring Aaron in too. "But you tell him Daryl, not to say a word to anyone until we decide what we are doing. Okay?"

They quickly determined between the three of them who was going to go get who and they set off to notify their people. Rick felt the weight of Alexandria and these people crushing his shoulders as he out headed to find Glenn. He knew they could not survive a war with the Saviors. They would go down fighting, but they would surely go down. If this plan didn't work, they may need to think about heading out and leaving Alexandria behind. Starting over was better than dying.


A/N- I wanted to end this story on a Thursday and to do that i need to post an extra chapter. Six Chapters left after this one. Big Excitement coming up!

Thanks for reading!