Well, I didn't expect to have my story favored ONCE let alone the amount of times it actually was, and it made me very happy. Thank you!

So since a few of you are waiting – I'll post the next chapter because it's already done and I'm gonna be busier than usual now.

I'm trying my best to not rush the story since I tend to go all over the place and speed things up when writers block occurs, so I hope my pace is alright for a short one.

I'll try to hold out on chapters 4 and 5 (also completed), however. I'll do my best to be patient myself and try spacing them out a bit so I can have more time to work on the chapter I'm struggling to spit out right now.

Make sure to keep reviewing because they make me smile and stuff. Unless of course you tell me I'm a walking potato or something. Then I frown.

Again, thanks for the positive feedback and I hope I didn't begin to slack in this one. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Not wanting to alert any possible lingering walkers that dinner was in close proximity, Lorena silently called out to the little girl, "Tell me where you are!" After a long pause, she heard the little girl let out a shaky "psssst... up here! Nelly!" The horse immediately recognized what was evidently her name and walked towards the direction of the little girl's voice. Lorena looked up and spotted her in a nearby tree. Without having to direct Nelly herself, she was brought to the tree the little girl was currently staged in and asked, "Do you need me to help you down? It's safe, but who knows for how long. I can help you down if you want, and then we can formally introduce ourselves. Sound good?" The girl no longer had a hesitant look on her face and without verbally responding to Lorena's question, she slowly and cautiously lowered herself from the tree and quickly approached Nelly and Lorena. "I'm Sophia. Are you with Hershel's farm too? I was staying there until a few of those walkers saw me in the woods.. I don't have a gun, so I've been running ever since. This is one of his horses. She's really sweet." She said as she stroked the mane sweetly. Lorena, confused but still alert and keeping her knife readily accessible for any stray walkers, offered Sophia her hand. "I'm Lorena. I found Nelly while walking down the road not too far from here. I let her lead the way and luckily she led me to you. Are you hurt at all?"

Sophia took her hand and Lorena helped hoist her up in front of her on Nelly. "I don't think so," Sophia answered, "I'm way too fast. Didn't let any of those things get to me. Only fell once." Lorena smiled to herself as she gave Nelly a swift kick and let her proceed with wherever she would be leading them.

Daryl's POV

Daryl carefully walked along the trail, occasionally kneeling down and keeping a good lookout for any sign of Sophia's tracks. He was having no luck in his search, and despite finding her doll, it didn't give him a lead. His frustration grew rapidly and slammed his fist into a nearby tree. Stunned by the pain he inflicted on his knuckles, he slumped down against the tree, buried his head in his hands, and closed his eyes. Trying to calm his aggression, he brought himself back to a less painful memory.

"Seriously, what the fuck are you doing, baby? I told you I hate surprises, and unless we're in bed, I don't enjoy being blindfolded!" Lorena annoyingly said as Daryl held her hand and led her for what felt like hours, but was really just a few minutes. Her feet were getting tired and her calves were starting to burn. "Woman, you complain too much. We're almost there. Just hold on to me. Have I ever steered you in the wrong direction?" Daryl assured her.

Finally, Lorena mentally confirmed that they reached whatever destination they were supposed to reach. Daryl stood behind her and slowly took off her blindfold. She was completely astonished when she discovered she was at the very top of one of Georgia's beautiful mountains and had the perfect view of Atlanta, not to mention the full moon that was completely formed. She turned around to Daryl and gave him a quick shove in the chest. "You're lucky I liked this idea! How the hell did you manage to get me all the way up here anyway?" Daryl simply responded, "Secret trail," and took her hand in his.

He continued, "Look, I suck at a lot of things. Women bein' one of them. Never knew how to even make 'em smile. If I'm honest, I didn't even know how I could come up with somethin' like this. Then I realized – you make it that easy for me to do." Lorena's eyes quickly began to fill up with tears as Daryl continued, "I ain't gonna be any more cliché than I already am so I'll just say it. You're here, on a mountain, out of all places 'cause this is as high as you make me feel every day. And I wanna be this high, every day after this." Completely in tears now, she watched as Daryl slowly pulled out a box and opened it.

The ring was perfect – it wasn't a typical princess cut diamond ring. It was accented with two small rubies on the side and she instantly smiled at how unique and non-cliché this man was trying to be. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Daryl continued his proposal, "I wanna marry you, Lena. Plain and simple." He tried to keep his sense of humor by adding, "Plus, I don't know any other women with your ring size." Lorena let out a laugh, but was still speechless. She was waiting to snap out of this dream because this moment was too good to be true. It was too surreal. She quickly realized this was her reality. She held out her ring finger all the while gazing into Daryl's beautiful blues, and while choking back a sob, said, "Then what the hell are you waiting for?"

Daryl was so stuck in his memories that he didn't even realize he was subconsciously writing in his notepad to her again.

Still can't find her. I can't find shit anymore. Hell, I can't even find myself. Thinking about the night I proposed to you. I swear if you were alive I would propose to you all over again as many times as you wanted me to. These people are wasting their time trying to make a decent man out of me. I ain't. Not since I lost you.

Daryl slammed the pen down, finally let himself give in to his never ending grief, and began to silently sob to himself. There was no way he was going anywhere near that farm until his eyes were dry as a bone and his pain was buried deep within.

Lorena's POV

Due to a few walker encounters, they had to make a few stops in their travels. It was nothing Lorena couldn't handle; she's twice the survivalist she normally is when she has others to protect, and after what Sophia had been through, there was no way she was letting anything happen to her newfound friend, nor was she about to surrender Nelly just to get away. Only 30 minutes of their travels had passed and Lorena was already attached to the horse and Sophia. After bringing her knife down in roughly 4 or 5 lifeless, bloodthirsty brains, they finally had a clear path ahead of them, a path that led to what seemed to be a farm up ahead. Sophia squealed and pointed ahead, "We made it, Lorena! This is it! Where Nelly lives and I live!" Lorena smiled, breathing a sigh of relief at Sophia's familiarity with the location.

Hershel was in the midst of tending to his garden while he heard a familiar sound coming from nearby. He looked up and instantly recognized two very familiar faces "Nelly? Oh my word… Sophia! Carol, your little girl is back!" He exclaimed to Carol, who was on the opposing side of the farmhouse wringing out a few newly washed undershirts that belonged to Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog. Carol quickly turned around, and sure enough, there was her little girl, safe and sound, being carefully lowered off of Nelly. Sophia instantly spotted her mom and ran towards her open arms.

Hershel helped Lorena off Nelly as well and the two introduced themselves. Happily sobbing, Carol yelled over to the guys, "Sophia's back! And we have someone to thank! Get Daryl and bring him back here now!" Lorena began to smile at Carol's gratefulness towards her, but her heart instantly sank and she gasped at the name she heard Carol speak. Hershel took note of this and asked politely, "Something wrong?" Lorena quickly snapped out of it. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't heard the name Daryl in months and I was taken back for a minute. I was engaged to a man named Daryl. I lost him."

Hershel sympathetically put a hand on her back. "Come on; let's get you acquainted with the rest of the group." He led her into the farmhouse and Lorena was overwhelmed but delighted at the amount of survivors there were under one roof. Being a natural born hugger, she introduced herself and hugged every single one of them. The group could easily tell this was her first encounter with living and breathing beings in a while.

Daryl's POV

He was crying for longer than expected; he felt the humidity diminish slightly and realized the sun was just about to set. After violently wiping his face with his hand, he got up and bucked up. Lorena would never want him to be in this much pain and she would've wanted him to live his life as long as he possibly could. Besides, he wasn't about to give up on Sophia. He lost Lorena and Merle and there was nothing he could do about that anymore – but he couldn't bear to witness another loss, especially that innocent little girl.

He was about to head out on his search for another hour when he heard the soft sounds of a familiar voice call after him, "Hey, Daryl! Come on! You can come back now!"

He quickly turned around and saw Sophia with Carol standing right beside her. He was at a loss for words; he couldn't even smile or call back to her. For the first time in a long time, he felt relieved. He didn't find her himself, but they didn't lose her for good. That's all that matters. She was alive and unharmed. Due to the amount of crying he did a few minutes prior, his guard was completely down and he let Sophia jump into his arms.

Daryl fought back tears, because there was no way he was going to let Carol see his vulnerability that was struggling so hard to reach the surface. Sophia shook him at the shoulders with her little arms and exclaimed, "My mom just told me you were out here, in the woods, looking for me. Every day! And you got hurt! What were you thinking? You know I'm tough!" Daryl laughed and hugged her again. "Sorry, guess I underestimated ya. You're a big girl, Sophia. Your momma best be proud." Daryl stood up, grabbed Sophia's hand, and headed towards Carol.

Once the three of them began heading back to the farm, Carol informed him of their new guest. "We've got a newcomer. She was the one who saved Sophia. They rode in with Nelly. Can't believe she survived after you fell off her, but she did." Daryl chuckled. "That dumb old horse actually helped save someone? Wish I could've had the same luck with her." Carol laughed and continued, "It was like a movie, Daryl. It's so rare to keep a survivor for more than a day in this world, and we have three of them today. And the new girl, she's beautiful and tender hearted; I can tell. But she's alone. She's been alone for the majority of this time. I didn't get to hear her story completely but she was overrun and never made it back home."

Daryl stayed quiet and his expression dropped as he thought about Lorena. She never made it back home either.