"Sophia?"

Danni happened to open her eyes and look past Daryl's shoulder as he kissed and bit her neck. She pushed him off and sat up.

"Hell you going? I didn't get started yet. You owe me, for falling asleep before-" he started to complain teasingly and tried to pull her back down.

"Sophia!" Danni said, louder this time. He turned his head back and saw the girl at the foot of their mattress, watching them in the dim candlelight.

"You're not 'sposed to be up here." He said flustered, grabbing his shirt and quickly putting it on. They hadn't gotten any further with undressing than that.

"Danni says I can come up any time I want."

"Not in the middle of damn the night." He grumbled under his breath.

Danni hit his arm hard.

"Anytime. Are you okay bug?"

"Yes, but The Lady talked to me and you said to tell you so I came as fast as I could."

She stood in her purple leggings and the oversized Hello Kitty sweatshirt she wore as pajamas. Her feet were bare, her chin-length blonde hair sticking up on the side from bed head and lack of regular brushing of eight-year-olds. Her blue eyes were wide and her cheeks a little flushed with excitement at her mission.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you mad Daryl; I'll go." She said with an exaggerated pout, slyly knowing he'd smile at her. He did and winked.

"He's not mad. Are you?" Danni nudged his shoulder. "C'mere." She motioned Sophia to come closer. She bounded onto the mattress and bulldozed her small body between Daryl and Danni happily. Daryl moved over so she could fit better. When she looked up at him and smiled, he pretended to scowl. The girl knew better.

"What did she say?" Danni asked curiously, focusing on Sophia's serious face.

He wasn't sure what they were talking about, probably one of those fairy story things they were always making up.

He stood and moved to leave.

"Where are you going?" Danni asked. It might be time to let him know about this...spirit.

"Need air. Be back." He nodded and pulled on his boots, then gave another small smile to Sophia, who was snuggling next to Danni.

"Oh and you fell asleep, not me." Danni corrected him as he turned.

... ... .. .. ... ... .. .. ..

Daryl found a pack of cigarettes on one of the dead guards, when he and Rick raided the armory the day before. Marlboros were now hard to come by and usually stale when found. It had been forever since he'd had a smoke and was looking forward to it. He was a little taken aback to find Rick already at the fence staring off into the distance under the late night sky. Daryl had expected to have the place to himself.

He nodded to acknowledge Rick and held out the pack of Marlboros.

Rick shook his head.

"Officer clean living, huh?"

"I guess." Rick answered, running his thumb over his scruffy chin, his eyes looking exhausted and full of worry as usual.

Daryl lit a cigarette and took the first drag, letting the cold air and smoke fill his lungs then he smoothly exhaled. It immediately took the edge off. He welcomed the familiar, comforting, soothing sense it gave him. He began to feel more awake, more alert but also relaxed and calm.

Rick broke the silence, still pensive. "Lori kicked me out for talking in my sleep. Never done that before. This place has been giving me weird dreams."

Weird dreams.

"These dreams I'm having, all about being in a war and trying to keep my battalion together. Symbolic I guess."

"War?" Daryl couldn't help but ask thinking of his dreams.

"Damnedest thing, don't know why but its the Civil War. Maybe cause Danni brought up Chickamauga recently? Made me think of tenth grade history class."

You were my major. Lieutenant major. The words entered Daryl's mind as if someone else was speaking.

"What?"

"Tenth grade history class, it's all coming back now. Bragg was retreating back from Tennessee here to Georgia and driving back Rosencrans. All the fighting in the woods by the rebels won that battle. The Union soldiers had no idea how to fight like that. Remember?"

"I guess." Daryl didn't pay as much attention in class as Rick had.

"Bloody too. Had the second highest number of casualties in the war after Gettysburg. Was the first major battle of the war that was fought in Georgia."

"River of Death." Daryl referred to the Cherokee translation.

Rick sounded far away, thoughtful about the possible meaning of his dream as he related the details. "My enemies keep trying to kill me, put me in the ground, but I'm not ready to die. I'm killing them first. My men are in this trench filled with mud and pools of blood, fighting the Union soldiers. I'm trying to pull them out, each one, but it's too steep and I'm falling in myself. Why the hell did they go down into that trench?"

"It was a turkey shoot. But it went bad." Daryl suddenly explained.

"What?"

"The union soldiers ran themselves into a hole; then our boys stood at the top an' picked them off like turkeys before Christmas. Only it went bad, the sides of the trench were too muddy and they slid; they fell right on into Yankee hands. Slippery mud and giant puddles of blood, trying to scramble back up the sides, but there was too much mud, too much blood pooled up everywhere. They were mostly using knives, bayonets, not pistols or rifles because the fighting was so close up. Blood everywhere."

You pulled me out though, finally. I had a knife wound in my side, but I'd have surely died if you didn't pull me on out Major. Words again entered Daryl's head in someone else's voice,

"Daryl, how'd you know all that? I swear you were in my head watching that dream."

"Must be from school, like you said. History class comin' back or something." Daryl had no idea how he had known. He felt he was watching it like a movie as he'd spoken.

"Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

"Same as you, I guess. Sophia and Danni-"

"No room huh?" Letting Daryl know he didn't have to finish.

"Danni's real good with her. Likes her around all the time."

"Wait until your kids come. She'll make a good mom."

Daryl didn't say anything.

"Almost half way there. You two seem to be handling it well. It can't be easy with things the way they are."

Halfway there. It dawned on Daryl that they were getting closer. He kept his mind focused on the present; he had to. But Rick's words forced him ahead. Danni was further along every day and though she'd kill him for saying so, more vulnerable; at least in his eyes. Since they'd arrived at the prison, he'd been relieved she wasn't fighting with him about sitting out the more dangerous tasks. He was starting to worry that her attitude would change as they became more comfortable with daily life here.

"You know if you ever need any advice or anything." Rick offered interrupting his thoughts.

Daryl cleared his throat and took another drag on the cigarette. He didn't answer for a while then said, "Carl's a good kid."

"Hey, guys what's up?" Glenn joined them, looking disheartened.

They nodded to him as he leaned on the fence facing Daryl.

"Maggie kick you out too?" Rick joked.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, I was kidding."

"Ha ha." Glenn moped.

"Well join the club." Rick welcomed him.

"Daryl, got a second?" Glenn asked

He turned, taking another long drag, expelled smoke from his lungs and faced Glenn.

"Can I ask you about something?"

Daryl shrugged.

"What... okay...how exactly do you... I mean, is it...how do..."

"Spit it out kid."

"Go down on a woman?" Glenn spit it out alright.

Daryl's face reddened and the cigarette fell from his mouth. "Hell you asking me something like that for?"

Rick coughed.

"Because Danni told Maggie that you're, well...really good at it."

"Never took you for the sensitive type." Rick laughed a little.

"We have to talk about this?" Daryl asked obviously uncomfortable, wishing to hell he hadn't come out here in the first place.

"Look she's bugging me. We just had a fight about it."

"I don't want to know about what you two get up to." Daryl complained.

"Or not." Rick couldn't help himself.

Daryl had to laugh a little himself. "Or not." He repeated.

Glenn was blushing now.

"It's not for everybody." Rick tried to validate Glenn.

"No, it's not that I don't want to, I just never have, okay?"

"First time for everything." Daryl said hoping Glenn would just shut up.

"What if I don't do it right? Just give me some tips."

"What are we chickens at a damn hen party?" Daryl was self-conscious at the continued awkward questioning.

"Man to man?"

Daryl shook his head starting to feel sympathy for Glenn. He became serious, his voice was low. "Ask her to show you. She'll show you more than I could ever tell you. Once she does, it's easy."

"Ask her? But then she'll now I don't know and-"

"Look Glenn, she's your girl ain't she?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then ask her. It won't matter. What's the problem?"

Daryl had just given Glenn the key to a good relationship without even knowing it.

"Really?"

Rick jumped in. "She'll like that you care enough to ask."

Glenn nodded and considered. "Then it's easy? Really?"

Daryl shrugged as if it were nothing. "Yeah. Like anything else, when you know what to do you just do it. What's the big deal? Kinda like dressing a deer, gutting your kill. There's an order to it so once you get it down you just follow it through."

"Okay...thanks, I think I get it." Glenn tried to shake the last image from his mind. Well, look who I'm asking.

Rick grimaced a little too.

If Daryl noticed their reactions, he didn't care. He was practical that was all.

"Ask her, huh? Is that what you did?"

Daryl nodded at Glenn, not ashamed to admit it, letting pride sink in a little, embarrassed, but secretly proud Danni was talking about him like that, to her girlfriends.

Glenn looked resolved. "Thanks, man."

He then changed the subject. "Hey has anyone noticed how weird Andrea's been acting?"

"Something new about that?" Daryl asked.

"I swear she's been coming on to me."

"Now that you mention it, she's been pretty touchy feelie." Rick observed.

Glenn added "T-Dog too, he said she cornered him in his cell and was acting flirty."

"Good for him, he's single right? Keep the crazy away from us." Daryl said.

"So you too?"

"Didn't say that." He didn't want to admit he'd been having the same issues with Andrea, but he felt better knowing it wasn't about him.

... ... ... ... ... ... .. ...

"She said its time for you to go home and get some things and put it in order.' Sophia explained, her head cradled in the crook of Danni's arm.

"What does that mean?" Danni asked looking up at the ceiling.

Sophia shrugged. "That's what she said. I think you're supposed to know what it means."

After remaining deep in thought for a while, Danni gave up trying to understand. Home? Minneapolis? Was it even there anymore? She couldn't mean that.

"Danni, I can't sleep. Would you tell me a story? A Fionn story?" Sophia asked.

"Aw ladybug, I 'm so tired I don't think I'd do a very good job tonight. Sorry."

"That's okay. But I'm bored."

"Hey, I have something cool." Danni reached over to the milk crate side table and retrieved the cigar box of tintypes. She sat up and Sophia did the same curious. They turned toward each other and sat cross-legged. Danni missed being able to pull her knees up to her chest the way she used to when her tummy was flatter.

"These are really old photographs." Danni took the small stack out for Sophia, who took them and looked through carefully.

"These people are really old-fashioned." She giggled.

"Look at their eyes, though. Don't they look real, alive?"

Sophia nodded.

"Hey! She cried out suddenly. "That's the lady!"

She held up the photo that Danni had been drawn to. The pretty woman in the black dress with searching eyes.

"Are you sure?" Danni's mouth was dry, and her heart began to beat unevenly in her chest.

"Yes. It's her."

Gardenia permeated the air again.

Sophia sat up straight and looked at Danni. "She's here." She said softly.

Danni saw the candle flames jumping wildly, reaching as high as they could. She was afraid to turn around.

"What does she want?" Danni asked, her voice unsteady.

"She wants you to go home and set it right. That's what she is saying."

Danni was cold, suddenly freezing.

"Where is home? My home in Minnesota?"

Sophia shook her head. "That's not your home. The lady says your home is the house of the owl."

"What does she mean, owl?"

"She says you know and that you were there. You have to go back."

The house they'd stayed at on the way here where she'd found the pictures.

"Is she upset that I took her...the box of pictures?"

"No, she's smiling now. She says you were supposed to take them because they are yours. She's been waiting for so long. Now you have to go get your other things."

Danni felt a cool touch of a soft hand on her cheek. She turned toward its direction, but she saw nothing, no one. "My other things?"

"Danni, she says please go soon. Please."

Danni felt something wet on the back of her hand. Drops of water were falling on her hand and wrist. Tears. They were tears. But no one was there.

"Sophia is she crying?"

"Yes, but she's smiling too. She loves you Danni. She is you."

"What?"

"She's gone now."

Danni felt overwhelmed with sadness she couldn't explain. She started to cry unable to help herself. As she wept, she felt a deep longing pain in the core of her being somehow knowing she'd lost someone and that ache was unbearable. She almost couldn't breathe for the pain.

Sophia took Danni's head in her lap and stroked her hair, as she continued to sob. "Its okay, the lady said its okay now."

... ... ... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .

After shooting the shit for another hour or so with Rick and Glenn, Daryl returned to the perch. He sat against the wall looking at Danni and Sophia curled up together on the mattress as the candles burned low, soon to extinguish themselves. They slept deeply, breathing evenly while Danni's arm protectively circled Sophia's shoulders. Danni's skin was so pale, and her hair so jet black that he wasn't sure what the contrast made more intense. He wanted to run his hand through that hair, tangle his fingers in its silken strands. Tonight, its darkness spilled over her shoulders front and back, cascading like a waterfall over the pillow. Thick, shiny, black but when the sun hit it, tiny strands of blue lightning ran all through the locks. Lately, she wore it in braids or a ponytail in a bandana to keep it up out of her way. She'd always let it down when they were alone together, knowing he liked it. He swore he could smell the honeysuckle even now, across the room. He'd had visceral reactions to scent, all of his life.

They had a honeysuckle bush in the back yard when he was a kid. His mom loved the tiny yellow flowers with the powerful smell that were so pretty and grew so wild. She said they made her happy. She was hardly ever happy. He used to bring some inside for her. He must have been seven or eight. She had smiled, one of the few times she ever did. When the old man found out what Daryl had been doing he'd ripped the bush out and beaten Daryl for acting like such a girl, playing around with flowers. His mother didn't stop his father, she couldn't. But she had smiled. The honeysuckle made her smile, and that was what Daryl remembered most.

Danni's hair always had the same sweet smell and brought him back to his first time, their very first time together. It was all he could smell when she changed his life forever.

As her hair grew, she kept up trimming her bangs. She kept them even at her brows framing her eyes, knowing how much larger they made her eyes look. He loved those eyes, the way they seemed to change shade with her mood, the dark flecks of brown and green in her iris, the long dark lashes making them look enormous. Her eyes broke him but reassured him simultaneously. Every time she stared hard and deep into his own he'd do anything she wanted. The deep, glittering hazel jewels controlled his will. He loved her smile the best, but her eyes were second. He continued to gaze at her, making an inventory in his head.

She was small, only about 5' 4' and delicate, but strong, all muscle, much more so since months of small rations. Seeing her belly grow on that modest frame of hers made him admire her strength all the more. She hadn't changed much anywhere else just her belly. Rick's words came back. Halfway there.

Rick was right about Danni being a good mother. The way she had her arms so protectively around Sophia showed Daryl how she'd be with their own kids. Nothing would hurt them, he'd make damn sure of that. Their kids would never know the pain they had experienced. He'd keep Danni safe too. He swore.

Her hand gripped an old photo. The box it came from was on the milk crate on his side of the bed. He slid over and grabbed it, then moved back to his place against the wall. The light was low, but he could make out the figures in the antique pictures. Soldiers mostly. Young, eager in their uniforms with muskets and courage on display. All slaughtered most likely. His spine tingled when he remembered his dream and Rick's. Why did Danni have these? What was going on?

... ... ... .. .. ... .. .. .

The next morning, Daryl and Danni sat downstairs at the table discussing the need for a run to a Wal-Mart type store to search for baby supplies. It was still up for debate. Daryl didn't want her to go. If he did decide to do the run he'd take Glenn or T-Dog. They weren't sure they'd they find a store and if they did, would there be anything left? He studied a map Rick gave him, looking for likely suburban areas for a big box store while Danni looked over the list Carol and Lori made:

As many packages of baby wipes and disposable diapers as possible

Baby shampoo and soap

Baby talc powder

Cloths for burping and face washing

Wraps and blankets

baby carriers

For breastfeeding lots of breast pads and a nursing pillow-they make special ones for twins.

Two porta cots

For you: comfortable shoes, like sneakers, some bigger t-shirts or sweaters, and chocolate. Chocolate was capitalized.

Daryl said he'd take the list and grab everything. She just laughed at him. There was no way he was going without her.

Danni felt a little overwhelmed by the list. She wished Carol could go with her, but she had a detour planned that only she and Daryl could make.

Maggie approached with a deliberate stride. She tapped Daryl on the shoulder, so he turned toward her

"Thank you, Daryl."

"For what?"

"Thank you, thank you, Lord have mercy, thank you!" Was all she had said before she walked away.

"What was that all about?" Danni asked, looking up.

He was about to say he had no idea when he saw Glenn giving a ridiculously goofy thumbs up sign from the door of his cell. Daryl shook his head with an amused scowl. "Aw, Jesus." He muttered. "Should be thanking you." He said to Danni, who looked completely confused. She moved her eyes back to the list.

... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... .

In the early afternoon, Danni found Maggie out in the yard digging up the area Herschel was planning to use as a vegetable garden. She was on her knees, turning the soil with her hands.

"Hey, Maggie." Danni sat beside her, again enjoying the sun on her back.

She stopped her work and lay back, stretching out her legs, turning her face up to the sun.

"By the way, thank Daryl again for me again for me. huh? He gave Glenn a little pep talk about what we talked about the other day. "

"I thought so." Danni smiled. "I can't believe he even said anything to Glenn. Come to think of it, I can't believe Glenn said anything to him. You have quite an influence."

"He told Glenn to ask me what to do. Can you believe it? Pretty amazing guy you have."

Danni felt proud. "I guess, yeah."

"So, I did. Showed him and well, how could it not be amazing?"

"That's what I'm saying, girl. Men don't know anything. You have to teach them. Believe me if they're worth anything they want you to."

"Glenn still has some learning to do but hey, who's complaining. It's the kind of homework I love."

"I'm still amazed by Daryl though. I mean he got good fast."

"It has a lot to do with you I reckon." Maggie offered. "And his hunting." Glenn had told Maggie about Daryl's metaphor.

"What?"

Maggie explained, and Danni scowled. "That's the second time he's compared me to a dead deer. Eeew. What the fuck?"

"Maybe it's a compliment?" Maggie said.

"Gross."

All they could do was laugh. After a few minutes, Danni got serious and spoke.

"Maggie, everything you're doing is just so ...well thanks. Helping clear this place out, securing the rest of the prison. You're making it safe for us as much as any of the guys. And you are a fucking good shot. I saw you. I wish I could be helping more."

"It's strange but so much of that tarot reading you did seems to be falling into place. I honestly never saw myself doing some of the things I am doing now."

"You're finding out how strong and awesome you are. It's always been there. As soon as I can I'll be right in there with you. You know that right?"

"Oh please, you still do so much. We want you to take care of yourself you know. We are so excited about the babies. You aren't allowed to do anything but take care of them, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh and, by the way, Glenn says Andrea's acting weird, on the prowl I call it. She came on to him the other day. Can you believe it? I guess Rick too. Just watch out for her. I bet she wouldn't dare pull anything with Daryl. I mean you're pregnant and he's... well, he's Daryl.

"I always watch out for her."

"Don't worry, if she's looking for a fuck buddy she's in the wrong place. Our men are taken. I'm going to tell her that." Maggie drawled low, pulling no punches.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. .. ... .. .

"It's just down to the woods past the edge of the fence. I won't be long. I just need a few plants. Feverfew, more yarrow and a couple others." Danni explained.

Daryl caught her as she was making her way alone to the far end of the yard. "Glen will be at the gate the whole time. " She continued.

"You ain't going alone."

"Fine come with me."

He was surprised. "You gonna argue?"

"Why would I?"

"Because you think you can take care of yourself and don't need anybody."

She sighed. "I want you to come. I miss you."

He'd been tied up with Rick for days, securing other parts of the prison and raiding the armory. Rick was right about the place being a gold mine. They had food, medicine, ammo and weapons just like he'd hoped. However, it was a dangerous process getting it all to their central location since most areas of the prison were still crawling with Walkers. They were still clearing out wings, but slowly. Danni felt like she hadn't spent any time with Daryl in ages.

That caught him off guard. He missed her too. "All right then."

As they walked, she said, "I need to talk to you about something."

He hated when she started a conversation with those words. It made his gut automatically clench.

"I have to go back to that house we stayed at on our way here. The one with the owl."

"You leave something?"

"No, I have to find something."

He winced, his face asking her what she meant.

"I am being contacted by a spirit." There she said it.

He was as wordless as she expected him to be.

"A spirit." She said again.

"Repeating a thing don't make it better. Or more possible."

"She told me I have to go back home and find something to put things in order."

He was silent.

"I guess home is that house."

"You know how batshit crazy you sound right now?"

"Hey, look who you're talking to. You know I have to go with this stuff. It's who I am. You used to think my dreams were crazy, my tarot. Why is this any different?"

"You're talking about ghosts telling you to do something that's likely to get you killed. Ghosts? Seems different to me."

"I have to go."

"Don't want you to."

She stared at him.

"Danni this ain't some tea you can get me drink or card to pick out for you. This is dangerous."

She kept staring hard.

"Stop." He glared back, his eyes taking on that piercing, knee-weakening power. As much as her stare could break him, he ultimately had that power as well, and she had to look away.

"Daryl, please. It's important to her; she needs me to help."

He struggled with her 'please'. But he wasn't losing her for some stupid imaginary reason.

"She?" Who the hell is she? Sorry. No," He wouldn't relent. Why didn't she see the danger? She was pregnant for gods sake. She needed to stay here where he could protect her and their babies. Now that they were at the prison, it was supposed to be easier. Why was she making things difficult? He went on, "Don't you remember what it's like out there? The farm? How hard it was to get here. Running from place to place getting overrun everywhere we went? Jesus where is your head at? You forgetting there's Walkers crawling over the rest of damn the world?"

"No, I know it's dangerous. But I have you. You'll come with me. I'll be fine with you."

"You'll be fine staying here."

She noticed his face retained the hardened, protective scowling mask he usually let down in front of her. He was holding on to it and glaring the way he did when they'd first met. She knew he was furious or terrified or maybe both. She was feeling the exasperated frustration with his stubbornness that she used to feel so often. She wanted to kick dirt at him like she used to. "I don't need your permission. I was just hoping for support. Come with me if would make you feel better. But I have to go."

He shook his head. "Two sides of a fence and were on opposite ends."

"I'm going. You can't stop me."

"Damn right I can stop you and I will."

"You're being a jerk you know."

He grabbed her wrist, squeezing. He was angry, and when she started to turn away he yanked her arm back harder than he meant to. When she cried out in pain, he let go as if hit with an electric shock. She knew it was his fear, but it still hurt. "Hey!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to..." He suddenly turned and stalked up the hill. "Do whatever the hell you want!" He couldn't trust himself not to hurt her, no matter what she'd told him the other night. His anger scared him.

"Daryl where are you going? Don't walk away from me!"

He ignored her and kept walking. She hadn't even made it back to the prison entrance when she heard the thundering engine and saw him racing the chopper down the dirt drive. Glenn opened the gate and shut it behind him. Daryl never looked back.

One step forward two million steps back. She thought. She hurried to the first floor of the cell block, ignoring Rick's worried questioning. "Where did Daryl go? Danni what's going on?"

She reached the second floor and looked over their space; she took a deep breath seeing all his stuff still there. "Okay, okay," she breathed.

Let him go, but only for a little while. She could wait if that's what he needed. She could wait.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . .

Daryl had been afraid of his father before his mother died. He could remember her cries, sometimes her screams. She was also a victim of his father's temper and belt. Daryl tried his best to shield her, but it was no use. He was just a kid who couldn't even protect himself. He felt so helpless not knowing how to stop her tears, how to protect her and fix her life. The honeysuckle flowers were so stupid. Nothing he did was ever right. Then after the fire, his old man told Daryl what a stupid, worthless and unwanted little shit he was. How his mother set the fire on purpose to kill herself to get away from him because he was such a disappointment to her as a son. It was all his fault. It wasn't an accident.

Daryl would never argue. What his father said seemed true. His mother was dead, and Merle wasn't around. They wanted to get away from him. Nobody gave a shit about him so they just left him. He never did anything that would make anybody want to stay around.

He walked in the brush, watching the sun setting behind the trees, not knowing where he was going. He needed his escape in the woods. Danni was going to leave him too. Die just like his mother and it would be his fault just like her death was his fault. Or she'd take off and not look back just like Merle. She didn't want him taking care of her. Why else would she argue about going on that stupid wild goose chase. She should know how worried it would make him, how dangerous it was. They were settling in somewhere and he finally felt he was doing right by her. But obviously he wasn't if she wanted to leave. Who'd blame her? He'd been afraid of this since the beginning.

He questioned ever going back to the prison at all. Suddenly he heard the popping of rifles to his right. He automatically hit the dirt and moved behind a boulder. He heard shouting off in the distance and hoofbeats coming closer. He sat up checking his cover and made sure his gun was ready, loaded, safety off. He lay the crossbow down. These were no Walkers. He crouched. His heart beat faster as the noise got closer. He waited, but nothing happened. The noises grew deafeningly loud then died out, but he was alone the entire time. Daryl stood, breathing heavily, almost gasping. He whipped his head left to right, making sure he was alone. He was shaking, and sweat dripped from his brow. He had no idea what just happened. Suddenly that voice spoke in his head again. Never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper my faults, and the many pains I have caused you. Daryl was shaken, to his core. That couldn't have happened, his voice said inside his head.

... ... ... .. ... .. .. ... ... .

His past was haunting him again. God damn, what had happened to Daryl? Who'd hurt him that much? Danni wondered, letting tears fall on the pages of her open journal. She couldn't help herself. Hormones and seeing his devastated face turned on her faucets.

His self-loathing was holding on for dear life inside him. It wanted to wear her down too, but she was tougher than that. She'd fought her own battle with it, and she was going to stay and fight his too. Had it been this hard for Stephen, with her? Probably. Danni was pretty messed up when he met her especially after Tara's suicide. He was relentless and patient and wore her down until she saw what he saw in her. She wouldn't give up on Daryl. She remembered a poem she'd read the night at the CDC when he'd shown her his back, and he'd seen hers and they wordlessly knew that sharing scars meant they could trust each other. But she was readier than he was.

Everything about my heart is a crime scene.

I drink to forget things it takes me two beers to name.

I pour my breath into things only worth forgetting.

I have nothing left to say to the ghosts.

Their cold hands and bitter mouths keep kissing me awake

when I have asked them nicely and then not-so-nicely

to be left alone.

I have nothing left to say to the ghosts.

Two decades full of nothing but monsters and crime scenes

and sometimes I am the monster and sometimes

I am the crime scene. There is nothing I would undo

so much as things I wish would wake up forgotten.

-Clementine von Radics

She'd applied this poem to herself when she'd copied it into her journal, but now she felt it echoed him.

She wasn't sure how many hours had passed as she lay with her head on the pillow still damp with tears, worrying that he was gone for too long. The entire cell block was silent and enveloped in the shadowy silver darkness of moonlight on concrete. Everyone must be sleeping.

He's outside; he needs you. The words played through her mind in someone else's voice and the next thing she knew her boots were on, her hood up, and she'd silently crossed the first floor of the cell block. She pushed open the heavy door to the yard seeing Daryl's back rising and falling, his breath uneven as he leaned his arms on the fence, his head bowed, staring at the ground.

"I'm not letting you do this." She said standing next to him. He didn't startle he'd sensed her presence. "You're not driving me away Daryl." She stood, focusing past him out at the night sky topping the tree line.

He wouldn't look at her as he spoke. "Thought you'd be gone by now, halfway to your ghost house."

"No, you didn't. You knew I wouldn't go without you."

"Told you, do whatever the hell you want."

"You are not shutting me out."

"Gonna give me more of your head shrinking crap? You don't know shit. You got no idea. You think it's all about Merle, some bullshit like that? You don't know anything about us. Stop acting like you do. I don't want you here. Just go."

"Nope."

"Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you? Get away from me. I'm gonna hurt you, and I won't be able to stop myself. Keep away."

"You're gonna beat me to it, is that it? Leave me before I leave you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It won't work.

"I told you, go!" He yelled, he paced, he furiously swiped and blinked back tears refusing to let them fall. He acted like the Daryl on the roof back in Atlanta. She wasn't afraid then, she wasn't afraid now.

Danni wouldn't move. "You don't mean it."

"Don't tell me what I mean."

"Then don't yell at me. I don't deserve it."

Was she crazy? "Fine, I'll go." He tried to push past her, but she grabbed his arms and pulled him to her. He could have ripped himself from her grasp, but he didn't.

"I'm not letting you run away from me. It won't work with me. Not me." He let her hands move up to his shoulders while he looked down breathing heavily.

"By the way, happy anniversary." She said softly with affection.

"What?

"It's a month today. We've been married."

His face fell. He struggled with acepting what she was saying and doing versus following his old instinct to retreat to painful but familiar isolation. She was taking that option away from him. He was caught. "I...I don't know what to do." He tried to keep his voice steady.

"Stay. Just stay."

They stared out at the night covered the field for a while.

"Daryl, will you please go with me to check out the house? I won't go without you. So it would mean a lot if you would come with me and help me."

"You won't go?"

"No, not without you. I respect your feelings on this." She realized her stubbornness was part of the problem and for him she'd temper it. For him.

He didn't know what to say. He was getting what he wanted, but it didn't feel right, or the way he thought it would.

"You are way more important to me than whatever this spirit wants." She reassured him.

"I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"I know, I know."

Her voice suddenly changed. "It's not far now." She took on a slow drawl and was pronouncing things differently. He thought she was joking, playing around, when she took his hand and began to walk through the gate into the grassy yard. He waited for the punch line. It didn't come. Danni walked out a little farther into the field. She pulled him along with her, gripping his hand tightly. She spoke seriously, in someone else's voice. "We had received word of General Bragg's refusal to retreat from the Union army. As a nurse, I had been ordered to meet the troops in Tennessee, but, I was searching for you, I felt that you would try to stay in Georgia near home and not retreat to Chattanooga. I did find you here amongst the others who had been lost as General Rosencrans pushed through the Confederate line." She fell on her knees and tenderly patted the grass as if there were something more under her hands. "I searched among the men left for dead. So many left behind." She fought back her tears "Twentieth of September, 1863. We were here. But when I found you I was too late. I watched all light leave your eyes."

Her tears finally welled up. Daryl showed no flicker of emotion as if he knew it as well. He continued to listen. She stood to face him.

"You kept your promise as did I. Our vows were forever and though painful to wait I have found you again, only not in passing." She stood. "It broke my heart to wait. My wait is over. Our wait is over."

He saw her eyes change, and her face relax. Her voice returned to its normal rhythm, cadence and accent. "What are we doing over here? Am I crying? " She felt her cheeks wet with tears.

"You asked me to follow you. You were saying all..." He stopped. "Do you remember anything you just said?"

"No, I...the last thing I remember was back up there at the fence with you. What, what happened?" She wasn't frightened as much as curious about losing time. He looked frightened. He knew she had to go back to that house.

"I'll go to that house with you. But we do it my way. You listen to me and be careful."

"Thank you."

Something strange was going on with both of them. Not her usual conjure stuff. His dreams, Rick's dream, now this? He wondered if he had to worry about it.

Danni gave him a sly look. "It might be good. We could get away and just be on our own for a little bit?' We never had a honeymoon."

He shook his head and winced at her. "See, this is what I'm talking about. This is dangerous shit. Jesus, you thinking about a damn...honeymoon." He barely got the word out.

She laughed, and he refused to smile but she saw his eyes looking thoughtful above his scowl.