"Who the hell is this guy?" Daryl questioned as he and Beth walked back into the barn.

"Hello, I'm Aaron," the guy said. "I'm from a safe camp," he stated. Daryl just scoffed and looked at Rick. There wasn't a such thing as a safe place.

Rick walked over to Daryl and led him to the other side of the barn. Beth gave the guy a once over before going to sit beside Carl and Judith. Carl passed her the baby and a moment later, Daryl and Rick looked back at the rest of the group. They both walked back to the other side of the barn, ignoring Aaron. "We're going to sent a group out to see if what he says is true. Those who aren't in the group, I want you to go out in pairs and make a perimeter around here."

"Am I with you then, Redneck?" Beth asked, smiling a little. Daryl nodded and Rick took the baby from her arms before she followed Daryl out of the barn. They found a remote part of the woods and stood together. "I'd rather go to the beach than build a snow man," Beth began.

"I'd rather live in the country than the city."

"Never would've guessed that one," she smiled and he looked at her, a slight smirk on his lips. "I'd rather see you smile for real than glare all the time."

"I don' glare. 'S jus' my normal face."

"Well your normal face looks angry," she said, leaning against a tree.

"Maybe 'cause I've got some blonde girl always pesterin' me."

"You love having me around, and you know it. You would miss me if I wasn't here."

It was true. He had real conversations with her, but not anyone else. "Maybe," he smirked. But somehow, it didn't feel like the topic to joke about.

"How long do you think we have to be out here?" she asked.

"'Til Rick calls us back," Daryl shrugged. She pushed off the tree and came to stand directly in front of him. She grinned at him and rested her hands on his shoulders. He tensed at first but settled a little. She pressed her lips to his slowly and he kissed her back before pulling her closer. But after nearly a minute, Daryl pulled away. His blue eyes met hers and he let go of her completely. "Ain't smart, girl. Coul' get us both killed."

"Sorry...I couldn't help it," she said, her cheeks blazing red. He wanted to be angry, but he couldn't bring himself to be. He liked her too much. He enjoyed her company and he enjoyed kissing her. He had wanted to just as much as she had.

"Jus' don' do it again."

"Ever?" she gasped, looking at him with wide blue eyes. "You really don't want to kiss me ever again?"

He sighed a little, knowing that he did want to kiss her again, but he didn't really want to admit it. He seemed like that would solidify whatever this was―if you discounted her calling him her redneck that morning. This was a crossroads and he had the choice of whether to back out now or to continue this course. He knew that this course probably didn't lead anywhere good. One of them would die eventually. But, the rational part of his brain lost the battle. "Ya kno' that ain't true," he stated.

"That's what I thought."

They stood out there for nearly another hour before they heard noise back towards the barn. They went back and Rick had decided that they would go to this camp―reluctantly. He had also decided that they would leave at sun down.

"Isn't that going to be more dangerous?" Beth asked Daryl. He just shrugged.

"Rick's the leader, that's what 'e tol' me."

"Okay..." Beth said a little nervously. She knew that there was a higher abundance of walkers at night, but what was she to do? All she could do was follow everyone else's lead.

XxX

The RV sped down the road as it followed the car in front of them. Beth sat with her sister and they were discussing the possiblities of this new place.

"I don' want this to be another place like Grady," Beth said.

"Or Terminus," Maggie added.

"Woodbury..."

"We haven't had much luck have we?"

"No, but we have to go. We have to follow whatever hope there is."

"You sound like Dad," Maggie said, a little proud of her sister. She knew that Beth hadn't had it easy―none of them really had―but, she was still positive, which was good.

"I still miss 'im."

"Me too, but he's with us, you know he is. He loved us more than anything."

"I know..."

A sickening sound filled Beth's ears of guts squishing and a thump on the front of the RV. She looked and saw a sea full of walkers in front of them. She gasped a little but due to the cautious driving, they were able to make it through the walkers. The only trouble was that the vehicle that had been in front of them wasn't there any more. "Shit," Daryl cursed.

"Do we know where we are?" Rosita asked.

"Not exactly, I didn't see a road sigh through all of the walker guts," Abraham replied. All of them sat, trying to think of what to do, when they saw a flare go off in the distance.

"That's gotta be them," Rosita said. "Aaron had the flare." Daryl put the RV and drive and managed to find his way there. However, what they found was not what they were looking for. It was an injured man.

"Hi, I'm Eric," he said nervously.

"What happened?" Carol questioned.

"I fell, I hurt my ankle...Did you come because of the flare?"

"We did," Eugene said.

"Look at the flare, it's the same as Aaron's," Rosita pointed out.

"Aaron? Have you seen him? Is he okay?"

"He was with us, then he wasn't," Daryl said.

"He was in the car in front of us," Beth elaborated. "We lost them somehow."

"Let's get you inside," Carol suggested.

They got Eric set up inside and she managed to get his ankle wrapped properly. The group weighed their options, they could leave now and have no clue where they were or they could wait. The others may have seen the flare and could be on their way here, but they had no way of knowing.

"Let's just stay for the night, it's dark and we won't have any luck out there right now," Beth stated. Everyone seemed to accept that and they went on to make arrangements for the night. Daryl walked beside Beth, as he seemed to do a lot. "We'll leave at dawn, either way." She was being so decisive and he kind of liked it, she had the qualities to be a good leader―but so did he―neither of them liked to use those qualities unless they had to. He gave her a nod and she returned it.

XxX

They were in luck, the group arrived a short while later. Everyone collectively agreed to stay the night and as it turned out, Aaron was Eric's boyfriend and they were more than willing to help the next day. However, Aaron required being allowed to sleep beside Eric. After some coaxing, Rick finally agreed. Everyone else got settled in for the night. Once again, Daryl tried to take watch, but Beth wouldn't allow it.

"I know you didn't sleep much last night."

"Never do," he stated.

"I don't care, Redneck. You're sleeping for once."

He wanted to complain, but she wasn't taking no for an answer, he knew that. So he gave in.

AN: I meant to post this last night, but I forgot. I'm sorry. Please review!

Updated 1 December 2015