Well, at this time, I'm gonna tell you

What's the wisest plan

When it comes to mixing in with things

That you just don't understand, hmm

Let it alone, let it alone

The Atlanta group were getting used to their new quarters. The deer was used sparingly and lasted them for more than a week. The underground resort gave everyone some semblance of home and normalcy, and it raised morale.

Every day, Macyn and Daryl went out to scout a new part of the land. Nine days after they had first crossed paths with Macyn, there were now two of them well aware of the layout of the land. The others would learn in time, but for now, it was enough.

Macyn was folding laundry when Daryl knocked on the frame of what served as the doorway to a laundry room. Well, it was more of a nook, really, but it served its purpose.

She turned around and smiled. He had seen smirks and hints of a smile before, but this was the first time he had really seen her smile. She had a dimple at the top of one cheek and in this light her hazel eyes looked more green than brown.

"It's a little late in the day for you to be bugging me, don't you think?" Macyn teased.

Daryl managed something between a smirk and a smile. "You're in a good mood."

She shut the door to the dryer and turned to face him, leaning against the machine. She bit her lip and shrugged.

"I like having y'all here. It has been a hell of a long time since I have been around people who cared about each other and looked out for someone's well-being besides their own. Ironic enough that it has to happen in times like these, but I think I might actually be happy."

"You must have had quite a life," Daryl noted. "I was thinking of taking a swim down in the pond. Maybe you could join me and we'll talk about it? What do you say?"

Macyn nodded. "I say, hell yeah!"

Daryl waited for her to finish folding laundry, then they alerted the others that they were leaving the house for a while.

At the pond, Macyn wasted no time in shedding her shorts before pushing her jeans down her legs in one clean motion with her socks and boots. It was over a hundred degrees outside, and the cool water felt good on her skin. She dipped her head under and when she came back up, Daryl was just staring from the grass.

Macyn chuckled. "You never seen a woman in a bikini before, or what? Get your redneck ass in here!"

"That's not exactly what I would call a bikini," Daryl said in reference to her sports bra and cheeky panties. He shed his own shirt and kicked off his footwear before joining her in the water.

Macyn waited for him to drop his own head under water and come back up. "All right, so what do you wanna know?"

Daryl shrugged, splashing water on his bare arms and chest. "You said your mama died. What happened to her?"

"My daddy," Macyn answered. "He broke more than bones when it came to her. He broke her spirit - broke her heart. And that's what killed her."

"Sounds like your parents were just as good as mine," Daryl muttered out. "Had a brother, too. He was in and out of detention centers, but I guess he tried while he was around. Not like we had a good example."

Macyn nodded while she chased a fish in the water. "Damn, missed it. My brother was a good man. A good eight years older than me but he looked out for me. Wasn't anything he could do when my daddy was angry, but afterward, he always made sure I was all right. Can't count the number of times he set broken arms for me. Fingers and toes, too. Doctored bloody lips and iced a bruised face."

"Why isn't he here?"

Macyn grew quiet and swam the rest of the way to the other side of the pond. Daryl followed her, both curious and concerned over her sudden hesitation to answer. He watched from a few feet away while she settled right on the grass, feet in the water.

"Killed in Iraq when I was sixteen. That really sent Daddy over the edge. I got it good for that."

Daryl moved closer to her in the water. He didn't know what to say to that. He had lost Merle, but it wasn't the same. Daryl had everything he needed to fend for himself, but not Macyn. Her brother had left her to fend for herself with her father and then Willy Slater.

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

Macyn's eyes grew; she stood slowly and pointed behind Daryl. He could only assume the worst. Sure enough, when he turned around, three walkers were sliding down the small embankment and into the pond.

When he turned back around, Macyn was gone. He yelled for her to no avail. Cursing her out loud, he tried to quickly devise a plan; his crossbow was on the other side of the pond along with Macyn's gun. Both had been shed along with their clothes.

He decided the best thing to do would be to run them back out of the water and around to where he could get to the weapons. These walkers though, they were fast. He scrambled out of the water and grabbed for the grass to help him out of the pond. He was in the grass and the three of them out of the pond when he tripped on a tree root. He felt a slimy, decaying hand wrap around his ankle.

And then he heard the gunshots. One, two, three – one right after the other, the walkers fell dead at his feet. Daryl set his forehead to the ground and let out a sigh of relief. Turning back behind him, he saw Macyn, still soaking wet and hardly clothed, barrel of her gun still smoking.

"Sorry to leave you out as bait," she said, coming around to help him up. "I ducked under and swam across, on the far bank. Was the only way I could see to keep both of us alive."

Daryl pulled himself up out of the dirt and nodded. He said nothing as he walked back to the far side of the pond and pulled his shirt back on. With his crossbow over his shoulder again, he started the walk back to the house.

Macyn's clothes were back on and her gun in hand. She ran to catch up with him, grabbing on to his arm and pulling him back. "I'm sorry, Daryl. Look, just forgive me, all right? I can't have you mad at me. The others are great but you and me - we're alike. You get it more than they do."

He pushed Macyn's hand away from his arm and tried to decide exactly what he was going to say to her. He could let her down gently, but the look in her eye told him that wasn't going get the job done.

"It was a mistake to come out here with you, Macyn. I won't lie to you – I wanted to hear everything you told me to say. Been fighting the last nine days to pretend like I could give a shit less. I do it just fine with all those other people and I have known them a helluva lot longer than I known you. Was too attached to my piece of shit brother, and he disappeared. I'm not going to get attached to anyone else. Thanks for saving my life, twice, but just keep in mind that I ain't your concern."

"Where the fuck is that even coming from?" Macyn demanded.

"Don't fuckin' worry about it," Daryl snapped at her. "Just keep your mouth shut and let's get back to the house."

.&.

Well, there it was, that moment that Macyn had been waiting for. She'd gotten overly-attached to Daryl Dixon in the last nine days. She could sit and chastise herself for it, but time was a different thing now. You could meet a person one day and when they died the next, feel like a piece of your heart was forever missing. The bonds between the living were formed differently now, and quicker.

After the walker attack at the pond, though, he had been harsh to her – hell, he'd been asshole. Macyn supposed she should have seen it coming. Both her father and Willy Slater had loved her at one point in time, but that all changed. Just as she had quickly attached herself to Daryl, he had quickly turned on her.

.&.

Daryl sat down to the supper table, dreading the look he knew he would see on Macyn's face. That same look that had been on her face when he dismissed her earlier; hurt, frustrated, and confused. He deserved it but that didn't mean he wanted to see it.

But when everyone sat down and started dishing out their food, Macyn's chair was the only empty one at the table. Daryl frowned and asked if she was joining them or not.

"Said she wasn't feeling well," Lori answered.

"Just since she came back from the pond with you," Andrea added, looking at him with strong suspicions. "She wasn't hurt during that attack, so I wonder what happened."

Daryl raised his brow. "Y'all think I did something to her? Maybe I don't go ape-shit if I catch some man putting his hands on a woman, but that don't mean I'm one to do it, either."

"No one said anything like that," Rick spoke up. "Did you two argue?"

"Something like that," Daryl answered. "Look, it's my business if I want to distance myself from someone or not. All this bullshit that's gone down since the world went to hell – last thing I need is worry about one more breathing being."

He dug into his food then, signaling to the others that he was done with this conversation. They all moved on to another subject, and Daryl was grateful for that. He felt guilty enough without their accusing eyes staring him down.

.&.

Macyn sat on her bed, knees drawn to her chest. She looked at the last picture she had ever taken with her brother. She had thought life was hard then; she'd give anything now to be worried about if any boy was going to be able to look past her bruises to ask her to the homecoming dance. It had all felt so incredibly unfair when they got word that Robbie had been killed overseas; her father's beating had almost been a welcome reprieve from the pains he was feeling at the time over the loss of her brother.

She wished Robbie was here now, to help her understand what Daryl had said to her. Then again, if Robbie were around, she wouldn't have gotten so close to Daryl.

At the sound of a knock on her door, Macyn quickly shoved the picture into a drawer on her nightstand and bid the knocker to enter.

"You missed a good supper," Daryl told her, shutting the door behind him. "Last bit of the deer."

Macyn shrugged. "Not hungry anyway."

He sighed. "Look, Macyn, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. Shouldn't have said it the way I did."

"But you still meant it."

He sat down at the foot of the bed. "You've been bunkered down here so long, you don't know what it's like out there. We seen so many people get killed, I don't ever expect to see these people live another day. When those walkers showed up today, then I turned around and you were gone, I panicked. Scared the shit out of me thinking they could get to you before I could. When I saw you were okay – that was an entirely different kind of panic. I was so relieved that you were okay and I'm not really sure how I feel about caring about that so strong. Not after nine days. Don't mean to put you off, but I have to distance myself from wherever this was at."

Macyn couldn't fault him for that. "Self-preservation?"

Daryl nodded. "Pretty much."

"Fair enough. Thanks for explaining it to me."

Daryl nodded and made for the door. "How'd you think to swim under to get across, by the way? You thought of that fast."

"Always been a quick-thinker. In school they told my Daddy I was grades ahead of my age."

Daryl hesitated still to open that door. "I hope you know I'm pulling away not because I want to."

"But you have to," Macyn finished. "I get it."

He mumbled a good night, closing the door behind him. He stood outside her door for just a minute, waiting to hear her cry just like his mother had done when his father broke her heart time and time again.

In the two minutes Daryl stood outside her room, all he heard was a light switch turn off and the lamp switched on before the mattress rustled and the room went silent.

.&.

Over the next few days, they kept their distance, interacting only when entirely necessary. They hunted together once more but without any of the friendly banter.

When the need for meat arose again, Macyn opted to get up early and go out by herself. She had done it before, so there was no need to worry she would be anything other than fine.

She was forty-five minutes gone and well into the woods tracking another deer when she heard the forest floor crackle to her left. Freezing for just a moment, Macyn listened whether or not the noise was coming her way; certainly, it was.

Cursing herself for coming out alone when she had several perfectly good people to back her up at the house, she kept running in the direction she had been going. She would lose the deer, but without a silencer on her gun, one shot could attract every walker for miles – then she would really have a mess on her hands.

When the sound got too close, she ducked behind a bush, waiting for it to pass. The two men who emerged into her line of sight weren't walkers, but she recognized one. For him, she would stay behind that bush overnight if she had to do it.

It took several minutes for them to pass, but as soon as they did, Macyn scurried out from behind the bush, ready to head back to the house and hide away.

As careful as she was, the branch she stepped on and snapped caught her off-guard. Before she could turn around, she heard the footsteps running back in her direction. Maybe if she just pretended like nothing had happened; like she didn't know they were there …

"Macyn? Macyn Ballard, that you? Girl, I got a bone to pick with you."

.&.

By nightfall, Macyn hadn't returned and none of them liked it. They were too far out of earshot to hear a gun go off. The group had a decision to make.

"We leave her out there overnight, it's a death sentence," T-Dawg spoke up. "She gave us shelter, food – all of this we have now, Macyn gave that to us."

"It's too dangerous to go out in the dark," Andrea chimed in.

"We leave her out there, it could be Sophia all over again," Carol chimed in with a sad voice. "We owe Macyn at least a brief search before we give it up until morning."

The mention of Sophia – a harsh loss for the group – hit everyone. Perspectives took a different shape. They decided that Rick, T-Dawg, and Daryl would go out and look for her.

"You've been out here with her before," Rick told Daryl. "You show us where she would go."

Daryl agreed and took to the front of the group. He kept his crossbow and flashlight trained in front of him, but his thoughts weren't exactly focused on the task at hand. The event he had feared – the reason he had pulled away from – it was happening. He wanted to find Macyn, but not if she was going to be anything other than the woman who had saved him in the woods that day and in the pond not so long after.