Uuurrggghhhhh I'm mad at myself. I should've gotten this out wwaayyy before today but life is hectic. Apologies.

Anyway, DID YOU GUYS SEE THE PREMIER?! HOLY CRAP! BEST EPISODE EVER!

Okay, got that out of my system, but seriously, PM me if you ever want to talk TWD, because I need to discuss this episode with someone who isn't my psychology teacher!

Okay enough of this useless ranting, I don't own The Walking dead, we already know this.

On with the show!


Daryl walked into the room where Blake was, carrying a chair with him. "Hey." He said softly. Blake's head whipped around, her hand resting on her machete. Once she noticed it was Daryl, the teen relaxed, turning her body to face the man and releasing the handle of the blade.

"Hey." Her voice was quiet and lacked the confidence Daryl had noticed earlier.

"Brought ya a chair…" He said awkwardly, bringing the chair closer to her. As he set it down, Daryl noticed that Blake's eyes were slightly red and glossy, shining in the dark room. "You okay?" he asked, already knowing the answer he would get.

"Yeah." The smile was forced as Blake resisted sniffling. "Thanks for the chair." She got off the edge of the single bed and moved the chair close to the head of the bed, sitting down facing Carl.

"No problem." Daryl left the room. He knew that Blake needed time to herself, she was just a kid.

Blake sat staring at Carl, hoping that the medicine would work. It would. It had to.

What had happened when she was on the supply run was beginning to catch up to her. Out there, she hadn't had time to feel it, but now, she had nothing to do but feel it. For the first time in a long time, Blake remembered what it felt like to be afraid. Luckily, she hadn't let any tears fall before Daryl had come into the room. Now, she let herself feel it. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Blake cried.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

She didn't remember falling asleep, but evidently she did, considering she woke up some time later, her head resting on the edge of the bed. Blake pushed herself off the bed, rubbing at her eyes to try and wake up. Her eyes felt damp, and tear stains were visible on the edge of the bedspread where her head had been.

Blake was embarrassed of the damp spots, and was grateful that nobody else had seen them. She listened to the quiet of the house, he ears automatically picking up on four sets of breathing that didn't belong to her. She could tell everyone was asleep besides her, and reminisced in the calm of the building.

The teen looked out the window at the dark sky. The sun would begin to rise within the hour, so Blake still had some time to herself before Rick would demand answers to what had happened. Hopefully, Daryl could take care of those questions for her.

As Blake sat watching Carl's chest rise and fall, she didn't notice the tears pooling in her eyes. She didn't notice until she felt the rebel tear slide down her cheek. Furious with herself, she swatted at the tears, rubbing her eyes dry. Blake crossed her arms defiantly, refusing to let her emotions get the better of her. It was just so hard not to give in when nobody was around to see it.

Luckily, Carl began to stir just as Blake began to feel the lump forming in her throat.

He groggily opened his eyes, peering through the darkness and finding Blake's face. "Hey." He said, his voice was a bit stronger than it was the last time he was conscious.

"Hey." Blake swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled at Carl, placing a hand on his forehead to check his fever. The temperature was still way above normal, but it seemed to be slightly lower. "How're you feeling?"

"Honestly, a bit better." Carl's statement was truthful.

"Thank god." Blake breathed, reaching for the pill bottle. "They aren't expired."

"I guess not." Carl propped himself up on one elbow, facing Blake.

"…Every four to five hours…" She mumbled to herself, reading the directions on the label. "It's well past time for another dose." She decided, opening the bottle and crushing three tablets in the cup again.

"Why dissolve them?" Carl asked, curious as to whether there was a method to Blake's madness, which, there usually was.

"They absorb into your system faster." She explained as she added water to the pill dust and swirled the cup around. "Your body doesn't have to do as much of the work and can focus on fighting the infection.

"Where'd you learn that?"

"My dad was a nurse remember? I always used to try and read his textbooks."

"Oh, right." Carl smiled slightly, taking the cup from Blake and swallowing the bitter mixture. "You always used to brag about how you knew what to do if someone broke their arm."

"Among other things." Blake smirked back, placing the cup back on the night stand. "I managed to modify the 'removing foreign objects' surgery didn't I?"

"That you did." Carl shook his head. "What kind of kid read medical textbooks to pass the time?" He wondered aloud, a minor insult to Blake abnormal intelligence.

"The kind that are too smart for normal schoolwork." Blake threw back.

"True." Carl sighed. "Did you ever have homework?"

"Nope." Blake shook her head. "Never studied either."

"Yet you got perfect on every single test."

"Apparently."

"That doesn't seem fair."

"Well it's not like they ever taught us anything important in school." Blake thought out loud, realising her straight A's would do nothing for her future. "They didn't teach us anything about survival."

"Well no one could have predicted this." Carl pointed out, drawing his eyebrows together.

"I know, but they didn't teach us any life skills in general. Why does anyone need to know that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen? Why is that a useful thing to know?"

"No clue." Carl realised Blake's point. "But, we did only reach sixth grade before this went down."

"True." Blake had to grin at that. Carl had a way of melting Blake's fear and sadness, if only for a moment. "Very true."

Even in his barely awake state, Carl noticed that the smile didn't reach Blake's eyes. "What wrong?" he asked. He already knew something had happened while she was gone-she had been away for twice as long as she'd said-but exactly what he had no clue.

Blake was taken aback by the question, she hadn't expected Carl to be able to see her well enough in the dark. "I ran into another group out there…" she began, not really knowing what to say. "Daryl was with them."

"Daryl's alive?" Carl interrupted. He hadn't seen him last night. He hadn't seen much of anything last night in his semi-conscious state.

"Yeah he's alive. He's here." Blake confirmed before moving along with the story. "So I ran into this group of men. They were… messed up. Creeps." A shiver ran down Blake's spine as she thought about her experience with the group. "They… took me with them. In the night, one of them took me away from camp." Blake breathed, not knowing how to explain what the man had tried to do, so she didn't. "Daryl followed and killed the guy before he could try anything."

Understanding crossed Carl's face as he realised what Blake had almost been through. He could see her eyes beginning to brim with tears she was obviously trying to hold back.

"Blake…" He whispered, not really knowing what to say. No words could comfort her, and he knew it, so Carl just reached out and took Blake's hand in his own.

"Thank you." She whispered back, holding Carl's strong hand in hers. She could trust Carl. She would always trust Carl.


Awweehhh how cute. Please review!