Katelyn lay staring at the ceiling. Daryl walked in so quietly that she didn't even hear him. It wasn't until he crawled onto her bed that she noticed and jumped sky high.
"You scared the crap out of me!" She squealed.
Daryl smirked, inching his way up from her feet to her lips.
"You're going to kiss me, and then we're going to have a conversation." Daryl said matter of factly.
Katelyn couldn't help but smile before kissing him.
"Go ahead. You can yell at me. It was stupid and I could've gotten everyone killed." Katelyn said, anticipating the lecture that was coming.
"Uh-huh" Daryl said, nibbling on her neck, "And…"
"I'm sorry. I should've listened to you." She continued but her thoughts trailed off as he nibbled on her ear.
"And…" Now he was running his tongue along her ear, sending shivers through her.
"Um…I…," she tried to complete the sentence but couldn't.
"I was right." Daryl paused as he leaned down until his nose was touching hers.
"Yes you were." Katelyn agreed quietly, feeling stupid about her antics. Looking down at her foot which lay wrapped in a splint propped up on a pillow, she thought about how ridiculous she'd been.
Daryl rolled onto his side.
"How's it feeling?" He asked, looking at her profile and smiling.
Turning her head to look at him, she replied, "It feels good now that I'm off of it."
"Good." Daryl stated, before continuing, "When it's better, you and I are gonna work on your hand to hand combat and shooting. You were right about one thing; I can't leave you behind everytime. At this rate, you'll fall off a ladder or something while I'm not around."
Katelyn stuck her tongue out at him.
"Tell me it's not true." Daryl challenged, grinning at her.
"You know, I managed to make it to twenty years without having any mishaps." She retorted.
"Well you must be making up for those years then cuz you haven't done anything but since I met ya." Daryl replied, earning him a playful smack.
"Hungry?" He asked, changing the subject when his stomach growled.
"Yeah, a little." Katelyn said.
"Climb on. I'll give you a piggy back ride." He said, scooting over to the edge of the bed so she could climb on his back.
"You're kidding?" She asked.
"Nope." He countered.
"Okay." She said, before climbing onto his back and shrieking when he took off running.
#####################################################################################
Carol spent the night in the Governor's apartment but slept very little, terrified that he was somehow tricking her. When the knock on her door came, she was nervous all over again, but then she heard Andrea's voice at the door. Hurrying to open it, she looked relieved.
"You hungry?" She asked, smiling at Carol.
"Sure." Carol replied, looking over Andrea's shoulder to see if Phillip was in the living room.
"Come on." Andrea motioned, leading her into the kitchen where Phillip was standing in front of the stove, stirring something.
"How'd you sleep?" He drawled.
"Fine. Well, better than I would have if I'd stayed in my place." She replied, smiling shyly at him, "Thank you."
"It's our pleasure." He replied, scooping eggs onto her plate.
"What happened last night?" Carol asked innocently.
"Well, sometimes raiders attack, looking to take what we have." He explained, lying smoothly enough that it set Andrea's teeth on edge.
"I'm sorry." Carol said quietly. It was easy to feel sympathy for the townspeople. They seemed like good folk caught in a bad situation and she didn't want to see them hurt.
Phillip actually smiled at Carol's sweetness.
"It's not anything you need to worry about. You're safe here." He assured her, genuinely coming to like Andrea's friend.
"Dig in girls. Don't wait on my account. I've gotta run…meeting with the boys this morning to tighten defenses." He said, leaning down to kiss Andrea on the cheek.
"Do you need me?" Andrea asked, hoping that he'd say no.
"Nah. You two spend some time together." He replied, as he grabbed his gun and slid it into his holster.
"See you in a bit." Andrea smiled, watching him leave, before turning quickly to Carol.
"I'm gonna search his desk. See if the flash drive is in there. We don't have a lot of time and this is gonna get ugly with Rick and those guys so lets move." Andrea shoved the eggs into her mouth and scraped the plates, washing them up really fast.
Moving down the hallway, she opened the door that she was never allowed to, and walked into the office.
"You stand guard. If you hear the door, call out to me." Andrea said before slipping inside.
Carol prayed that she would find it.
Andrea went straight to his desk, searching for the key. Looking around the room, she saw a picture of his daughter and grabbed it, turning it around to discover his blatant hiding place.
Rushing over to the desk, she used it to open the drawer and began rummaging through the contents. Desperate, she dug through each drawer but found nothing.
"Shit." She muttered, realizing that the most likely place for it was with Milton.
Hurrying over to the picture, she put the key back and left.
"What now?" Carol asked.
"We sneak into Milton's lab." Andrea said, grabbing the door to leave with Carol.
###########################################################################
Sitting around the table with the others, Katelyn listened to them talk. Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Tyreese were talking about how to get Carol and Andrea out after the debacle.
"There's no way to know when they get it now. Once they steal it, they're gonna have to get out on their own." Michonne stated.
"Carol's screwed. She can't defend herself if they have to fight their way through the woods." Daryl said, shaking his head. He didn't like this situation at all.
"What do you propose to do?" Tyreese asked Daryl.
"I don't know. There's gotta be a way to get a message to them again to let them know when we'll be there." Daryl said.
"Andrea will move fast. I'll bet she'll have it within the next couple of days." Rick said, thinking about how Andrea works.
"Yeah, she's reckless as hell. She's just as likely to get them both killed." Daryl said, snorting.
"Well, let's hope she's just reckless enough to get it and get the hell out of there." Tyreese said.
"I can get them out." Michonne said quietly.
"You just wanna a shot at the Governor." Rick said, irritated with her.
"Yeah, and that gives me a perfect opportunity. In the resulting chaos, it'll be easy to get them out." She added.
"I'm goin'." Daryl explained, "That's my brother in there too."
"And what if you have to face him?" Rick asked quietly.
"I'll figure it out, but right now, I know one thing about my brother; he don't like workin' for no one so if he's in there, its cuz he thinks he can get somethin' out of it. The minute it don't work out, he's gone." Daryl stated.
"But he can't come back here, Daryl. I don't trust him. He's already hurt Glenn." Rick said.
Daryl was quiet, looking down at the ground. A part of him felt ashamed and the other half felt sad. This was his brother after all.
He felt Katelyn's hand squeeze his knee reassuringly.
"We all got family that we're not real proud of. We love 'em, but we can't live with 'em. I'll give him supplies and send 'im on his way." Daryl said, looking up at Rick.
Rick smiled sadly.