Distance always seems long when you're going somewhere, looking for something or someone. Tracking using the arrow marks on the trees Lacie and Bella searched for Daryl and Merle. Panic surged through Lacie's system, Daryl was her light in this new dark apocalyptic world. She found herself in tears for the first time in 9 months. Bella didn't fight Lacie's grip even though it was starting to hurt her arm. Above all people Bella knew how Lacie was feeling, she also cared about the Dixon she was traveling with. Relief set in when they finally saw the men crouching behind a bush looking at a deer. Lacie let go of Bella's arm and tackled Daryl making him miss the deer. "What the fuck woman?!" He yelled. "They're coming I've seen them in spurts all around the forest. I was worried that one of them could have got you." Noticing his friend in tears he put his arm around her. "Well we better hide then." Bella grabbed on to Merle's arm as to not show the real fear she was feeling at the thought of losing him, the only man who could quite understand her fucked up ideas.

They decided the best idea was to get to the truck and drive back to safety, however once they got to the car a wall of walkers were off in the distance in the direction they need to go. "We have to just go the other way." Merle pointed out not wanting to waste anymore time. He already had to cut off his hand to survive, he refused to die now. The four of them got in to their respective places and Daryl drove off. "Hey asshole... I'm glad you're okay." Bella looked across the truck bed at Merle with a half smile. "YA well, me too." Merle was never good at conveying his feelings, maybe it was a man thing, or just a Dixon one. "Should we suggest going home to Woodbury?" Bella picked up one of the booze bottles off the floor and popped it open as she stared at the walkers attempting to catch up. "Nah the prison is at war with us." Merle looked a head at the driver's seat. "Do you want some?" Bella took the bottle from her lips, then held it forward. "Does a pig shit? Hand it over woman." By the time the four of them lost the group of walkers it was nightfall, and they were 10 miles out. "If we were to head back now they could still be there, or we could lead them straight to the prison." Lacie frowned looking at the illuminated road. "Ya we'll camp here tonight. Hunt then go back tomorrow." Taking a wire and a few empty cans they headed into the woods.

Setting up camp was easy with the flashlight, they even ended up making a fire. Fires might be dangerous and normally they wouldn't do it but, they decided to try it, if this was their last night they were going to enjoy it. Merle and Daryl even pulled logs to sit on, it felt like a normal camping trip. Bella handed everyone their own bottle of booze. "Won't this screw our way of thinking if a hoard comes?" Merle laughed a bit at Lacie's statement before taking a giant gulp of his whiskey. "Girl if a hoard comes we're dead anyway." She frowned and took a sip of her vodka, Lacie didn't want to give up no matter the circumstance. "Don't freak her out ya bastard." Bella shot Merle a glare before defeating half her vodka bottle. Bella knew how to handle her vodka, her body was just used to it after years without a days break. "I was jus' bein truthful City." The older Dixon shrugged his traveling partner's comment off. Bella hated Merle's nicknames for her but, she was used to them by now. "Whatever." She also knew how to shrug him off as well. An hour or so went by and the four survivors were drunk. "W-why do you face?" Bella placed her hand on Merle's face before sliding it off like she was wiping it with a napkin. "You are drunk woman." He responded then gave her a light tap which made her fall off the log. "Fuck y-you no I'm not. You're fuckin drunk." Bella never knew when she was drunk, or if she did she never admitted it. She was honest about other things though. "Would you miss me if I left." Bella picked herself up and sat up right on the long next to Merle. "What are ya talk'in about woman?!" The question she asked put Merle into a dark place. "Ya know would ya think about me?" Bella had never talked to him this way, she had been full of insults and humor but not emotion. Merle in his head and heart didn't know how to respond. In all honesty he would miss the feisty blonde, and he didn't understand how he felt about her. When he was with her he hated himself less and laughed more. No person had ever made himself hate him less except for sometimes his brother but, he didn't look at her as family, it was something different. "No one is hold'in ya 'ere" The aggression in him reached the surface, it was better than feeling anything that could let him down later. "Y-you are an asshole you know that." Bella's tears only made him angrier, in truth it was more at himself for doing that to her. Merle stood up as the rain started, and walked away into the dark woods.

Meanwhile Lacie had stood up halfway through the conversation between Bella and Merle then left to find something to eat. Bella letting out her inner feelings made Lacie think of hers. Would Daryl miss her if she were to leave? Would he think about her? The more she talked to herself, the more she realized she was in love with the redneck. Her face heated up while she searched for a kill. /I should tell him. Even if he doesn't reciprocate at least I won't die with any regret./ Lacie threw her knife into an unexpecting owl. When it fell she grabbed it and started to run back to camp. The rain was falling harder on her way back, enough to lower visibility quite a bit. The closer she got the worse the idea of telling him got. / What if it makes things awkward? What if it hurts?/ Just like that her happiness turned into depression, which left her distracted long enough to slip and fall down a muddy cliff. "Ow!" The mud softened most of the ground that wasn't rocks. Maybe it was a sign, don't tell him it will hurt like a bitch. Lacie pulled herself up to a sitting position then leaned against the cliff letting the rain hit her the top of her head as she hugged her knees.

Daryl felt weird watching this girl try to pry feelings from his brother. Lacie had been gone for a while, with the rain as hard as it was he thought it would be wise to look for her. The more he thought about it the more he realized that she shouldn't have gone off on her own while they were all drunk. Tracking in the rain was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack, almost impossible. A few moments when the rain let up a little he saw footprints in the mud which ended at a cliff. Daryl felt something uneasy in his stomach, was she okay? He looked and found an easy way down the cliff using trees as leverage. When he got to the bottom he saw her against the cliff."Lace what are you doing?! Are you okay?!" Lacie looked up at him."I'm fine." Daryl sat next to her knowing she wasn't."Come on Lace tell me." She decided it was now or never. "Daryl.." She tackled her friend over then kissed him. " I love you." Daryl was beside himself. " I don't want to hurt you." As he as that she understood, he didn't feel the same. The pain went through her chest as if he shot her with that crossbow. Lacie got off him and picked up the owl she had killed. "I got this for dinner." She wouldn't look at him. "Lace?" Her heart was telling her that she wasn't good enough for him. His heart and head was calling himself an asshole. They headed back to camp, where they saw neither Bella nor Merle. "I'll go look for Bella." She still wouldn't look at him. "Wait? C'mon Lace don't do this." He grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away. "I am not doing anything Daryl. We need to find them." Lacie ripped her arm from him then followed Bella's heel prints in the mud. Pissed off, Daryl followed Merle's.

When Lacie found Bella she was beating walkers with her bat. Bella used it as an aggression exercise. "He told me he didn't care about me!" Lacie just stared coldly through the rain. "It's whatever. Don't let it kill you. There are worse things at play here. We are in the middle of an apocalypse." The last time she had talked to her this way Lacie had just killed her own father, something was up. "Did you tell Daryl you liked him too?" Bella slammed her bat into a walkers head immediately crushing its skull into it's brain. "Yeah but it doesn't matter let's get back." The rain calmed down and she ran out of walkers to beat down so Bella agreed to head back. The walk felt longer because no matter how much Bella spoke Lacie would only give one word answers. Merle and Daryl hadn't got back yet. Plucking the owl was the best thing Lacie could think of to do now. "Do you think they are okay?" Bella sat back down on the log opposite of her. "They're big boys they don't need us to wipe their asses for them."

Merle was kicking himself for not knowing the right things to say to Bella when she was asking him all those questions. He would miss her if she was gone, he didn't want her to leave. "Merle!" Daryl called from behind him. "What?" He growled at his brother intruding on his thoughts. "C'mon back to the camp." Merle couldn't let his little brother know that he had a soft spot for the city girl. "No those bitches can handle themselves." Daryl just wanted this night to end by now, everyone was just pissing him off. "Don't be an asshole. Let's go." Merle turned his back to his brother. "I am going with or without you." He had a track record of leaving Daryl it only just started to have less of a sting. "They need us. You can leave but I am going back!" Just then a gun shot, the Dixon boys could tell it was coming from their camp. The argument ceased, they ran back to camp. There were 3 people, 2 males and one female. Lacie was on the ground near the owl she had been plucking, one of the males had her in his lap. The other male had Bella by the hair and the unknown female was on the ground beaten up. The brothers regretted leaving the camp even more now. Even though the male holding Bella's hair was pointing a gun at him Merle lunged after him and punched him in the face, nobody hurts Bella. The unknown man tried to shoot Merle but, Merle's punches knocked him out of focus, bullets were just flying. Daryl ran to Lacie then pushed the other man out of the way."Lace stay with me." He applied pressure to her gun shot wound. "N-no I don't want your help." Her words stung, however he wasn't going to listen. Merle ended up killing the unknown man, he couldn't stop himself, not that he wanted to. Once he got over to Bella he noticed her bruised face and bleeding chest, this was the first time he looked at her chest for non-perverted reasons, not that she had much going on there in the first place. "We have to get back to the prison!" Both brothers picked up the girls and brought them back to the truck. Daryl strapped Lacie into the front, Merle kept Bella in his lap on the truck bed. "Bella you're gettin cold." He was actually showing his worry for her. "It's just because I'm a cold hearted bitch." She joked after choking up some blood. The whole drive felt so slow even if he was hitting the gas as hard as he could. Daryl wasn't going to let his friend die like this. Rick was at the gate when he got there. "Open it!" He didn't ask any questions and just opened the gate. Parking as quickly as possible Daryl and Merle jumped out, grabbed the girls, then ran in to meet Hershal. "What happened? Were they bit?" Hershal showed them where to put the girls down. "No just shot." Daryl grabbed his crossbow, he was more pissed off at himself for leaving them than anything. He had to go shoot something. Merle went to the truck to grab another bottle, this wait was making him nauseous.

Lacie had passed out on the truck ride and didn't wake up until morning. Feeling the bed beneath her she sat up quickly, causing pain to shoot through her system. "You're awake." Beth was sitting by her bed holding Judith. "Where's Daryl?" Shot out of her mouth like a bullet from a gun. "He's in his cell." Lacie realized how much of a bitch she was last night. If Daryl didn't like her, that was fine, it's good he didn't lie to her. She pulled herself out of bed, then fell to the ground. "Don't get up!" Beth said scared that Lacie would hurt herself further. "No Beth I have to do this." Using the walls she made it to Daryl's cell. He was dirtier than usual, the noise wasn't waking him either. He must have gotten back recently. Lacie pulled herself into his cell and fell on to his stomach waking him up. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She began to repeat over and over again. His only response was to put his arm over her. Anything he could say would only make her feel worse.

Bella had a different experience when she woke up. Merle had slept at the end of her bed on his knees. Sitting up, she decided not to wake the older Dixon. Without words it became clear how he felt. He might have been to proud to say it but, he wanted her to stay with him just as much as she wanted to stay. The alcohol had worn off, her mentality was stronger. "I see you're feeling a bit better." Hershal walked into the cell with some food on a tray. "Are you hungry by any chance?" Bella nodded then attempted to take the tray, her arms shaky as they were caused her to drop it on Merle's head. This woke the sleeping man instantly. "Fuck!" He wave his arms around like he was going to attack someone until he realized where he was. "What the fuck was that for woman?" Bella and Hershal laughed for a moment. "It was an accident but you're an asshole so you deserved it."