Take 'em away, take 'em away, Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken 'cause my spirit's not free
Lord take away these chains from me
Some birds' feathers are too bright to be caged
I know I'm not that colorful but a bird just the same

Daryl slipped quietly into Macyn's room; Rick was dutifully standing guard outside the door in case Willy decided to snap again.

A thick fog of tension had settled into the underground shelter since the men came back with Macyn. Rick was able to convince Willy to let them stay a couple more days to make a plan of where they would go next. Daryl witnessed the conversation and had a sneaking suspicion that deep down, Willy was concerned about Macyn's condition and wanted Carol and Lori around to care for the younger woman.

So, perhaps it was also Macyn's well-being that caused Willy to turn a blind eye when Daryl shut the door behind him. Willy had caused enough chaos to have everyone up in arms over him, and he wasn't prepared to have the majority, if not all of the group, up against him.

Ignoring thoughts about what would happen with Willy once Macyn's health was back up to par, Daryl walked slowly to the bed. He was careful to look over every bruise, cut, and scratch on her body. He thought that she looked terrible after Merle and Willy had crossed paths with her in the woods, but that was nothing compared to this. There didn't seem to be an inch on her body that wasn't marred with injury, and it fired up a rage in Daryl like he hadn't experienced before.

"I was asking for you," Macyn told him.

Daryl sat carefully on the edge of the bed next to her. "They told me. How do you feel?"

"Sore. Tired. I thought I wasn't going to ever see you again." Tears slowly fell down her cheeks; Daryl's heart surged with protectiveness over her.

"I'm so sorry I didn't take you away from here sooner. This never would have happened …"

Macyn put a hand on his arm. "It could have happened at any time. You can't blame yourself for what Willy did."

"Trust me when I say that I'm not waiting much longer now. As soon as you're healthy enough to travel, I'm getting you the hell out of here."

Her heart broke; he didn't know that she had been told of his deal with Merle. "I know you will, Daryl. Stay with me for a little bit, will you? I don't want to be alone but I won't feel safe enough to sleep without you."

Daryl obliged her, kicking off his boots before crawling into the bed and spooning up behind her. Her eyelids were getting heavy. Sleep wasn't far off for Macyn.

"What did you do before this?" she asked.

"Before we came here?"

She shook her head. "Before everything went pear-shaped."

Daryl thought for a moment before answering. "Doesn't matter."

Her tired eyes opened, and Macyn frowned at him. "Why not?"

"Because," he answered firmly. "Anything I did before you doesn't matter."

Macyn closed her eyes again and smiled contentedly. Daryl pulled her close, stroking her hair until she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

.&.

Willy strolled out of his room and set a mischievous smirk at Rick where he stood outside of Macyn's room.

"I'm not done with her, you know that, right? You can try and protect her now, but I know the deal that Merle made with y'all to find her. She'll be mine again in just a few days."

Rick shook his head and didn't reply. He could tell Willy how disgusting it was for a man to let the woman he supposedly loved so much he literally would rather let her die than let her be with someone else – how could he let another man ever tough her? If it had been Lori, Rick knew, he would have left his own home with Carl and Lori before he would let another man have her, even for a few days.

His thoughts went beyond that, too. What was going to happen when they left? They were throwing Macyn to one vicious dog, letting her just stay in this shelter with Willy Slater. But, they made the deal with Merle; Rick couldn't see a way around it, could only hope that Daryl had something else in mind.

Willy was obviously disappointed that he wasn't going to get a rise out of Rick, so he mumbled something about going on a meat run, gathered up some gear and had Merle join him. Rick hated to admit it, but besides Macyn and Daryl, those two were probably the best team to be hunting in the area.

"Dad?"

Rick looked over at his son and smiled. "Hey, Carl. You all right?"

Carl nodded. "Is Macyn going to die?"

Rick crouched down to Carl's level. "She's going to be fine."

"Willy hurt her really bad."

"You're right," Rick confirmed. "But Macyn is a very smart doctor, and she told your mom and Carol how to make sure she stays okay."

"Why is he so mean to her? Doesn't he love her?"

God, how did he explain this to his young son? "Well, Carl, he says he does, but sometimes … sometimes people who say they love someone, they don't know how to show it. There can be a lot of reasons for that, and we'll probably never know the right one."

"Do you think Macyn loves Willy?"

Carl hadn't asked this many questions in years; Rick could only surmise one thing. "You like Macyn a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah. She's nice."

"She is. I don't think she loves Willy. I think she's scared that he'll hurt her or worse, so she does what she has to do to survive."

"What about Daryl?"

"What about him, son?"

Carl shrugged. "I want him to take care of Macyn."

Rick smiled. "He's going to do whatever he can, I think."

.&.

"Tell me about your husband, please."

Carol looked up from the water-filled basin in an attempt to judge by Macyn's countenance if she had really asked that. Indeed, the younger woman was looking back at her with a pleading look on her face.

"He was a monster."

It seemed as though that was all she was going to offer, so Macyn nodded and looked away. She knew that Ed Peletier had died, but she wanted to know how. With a sympathetic curiosity, Macyn wanted to know what Carol had gone through. She wanted to know that a woman could be terrified every day of her life and still have hope that it would go away one day.

"I prayed every day that God would change him," Carol continued, gingerly laying the washcloth she had been using to help Macyn clean up a bit more on the side of the basin. "That he would love me again … that he would see Sophia as his daughter – the way a father should. But it just never happened. Then the infection came. I was selfish and foolish to think that this was God's reckoning for Ed and every other terrible person in the world. I didn't realize until it got to Sophia that it was punishing all of us."

Macyn swallowed. "What happened to Ed?"

Carol took a deep breath. "The first camp we were at, outside of Atlanta … there was an attack. They got to Ed first. He was dead before any of us really knew what was going on. Daryl had the job of doing in the corpses – I couldn't let him do that to Ed. I did it. All those years of beatings and of him touching Sophia and … just, everything. It came out every time I brought that tool down into his skull."

Macyn didn't know what to say. She couldn't say she hadn't had the same thought about Willy, but something had always stopped her from killing him in his sleep or after he passed out after a drinking binge. She wasn't like Willy; she couldn't hurt someone.

"I know what you're thinking," Carol told her. "You're thinking that you're not like him – that you're not a violent person."

Macyn raised her brows. "That's almost exactly what I'm thinking."

Carol gave her a sympathetic smile. "I thought that for a long time. Even when Ed was already gone, it took some gumption to bash his head in. It becomes a point of survival, Macyn. Ed would have risen up and attacked us. Willy will try again to kill you, and he won't stop until he's done it. If Daryl leaves you here – and I don't see him doing that without a serious fight – Willy may not physically kill you, but he'll break you down until you don't care whether you're alive or dead."

She picked up the washcloth again, and Macyn could tell the conversation was actually over at that point. While Carol helped her clean her wounds and re-bandage as necessary, Macyn thought about what the woman had said, and everything clicked.

Macyn wasn't a violent person, but she was a survivor.

.&.

They all ate well that night. Willy and Merle had managed to find and kill a couple of rabbits in addition to bringing back some fish to fry up. Since it would probably be their last good meal before leaving the underground shelter, the group tried to eat as much as possible.

After supper, Glenn volunteered to take the night watch at Macyn's door. Willy made a smart remark about the group trying to keep Macyn safe while they could, but he was mostly ignored. He took a bottle of whiskey to his room with him, seemingly disappeared for the night.

Daryl waited for everyone else to settle down before slipping back into Macyn's room. He crawled back into the bed with her and kissed her sweetly.

"I was hoping you would come back," Macyn admitted. "I like when you're here when I sleep."

"I like being here when you sleep," Daryl returned. He ran his fingers carefully through her hair. "There's something I have to tell you."

Macyn nodded. "If it's about the deal with Merle, I already know."

Daryl frowned. "How?"

"Lori and Carol thought I should know. I didn't want to say anything until you were ready to talk about it."

"I don't know, Macyn." He ran a hand over his face and into his hair. "I thought that I'd be able to find a loophole or convince him otherwise, but he seems pretty set on this."

"He's your brother. I know he loves you, so I don't understand why he doesn't want you happy."

"It's exactly what you told him before," Daryl told her. "He's afraid I'll leave him behind. If you're with me, Macyn, you've got to be with him, too. I know he's hurt you, and I know he's helped Willy hurt you, but –"

Macyn interrupted him. "You don't have to tell me that, Daryl. Your family is my family. Maybe you should let me talk to Merle. Plead my case."

Daryl took a deep breath and considered it. Although it was possibly their last option, he was hesitant to let her anywhere near Merle. Daryl loved his brother but – well, he'd just said it himself. Merle'd had a hand in hurting Macyn a couple of times.

"I can read that look on your face," Macyn said. "I hate to be stubborn, but this is something I think I need to do. I'll do it with or without you thinkin' it's okay."

"At least let me sleep on it."

Macyn agreed; Daryl pulled her close again. They settled into a peaceful sleep. Daryl was comforted by having Macyn so close and knowing she was okay. Macyn slept restfully, knowing she was safe in Daryl's arms. That peace only lasted them so long, however.

Just after sunrise, Macyn was riled from sleep by somebody pulling Daryl out of the bed. She didn't have to look hard to know it was Willy. Daryl fought hard against him, but somehow the other man overpowered Daryl; Macyn had an idea that Willy's extra strength came from that bottle of whiskey he had taken into his room the night before.

"Willy, what are you doing?" Macyn yelled, scrambling out of the bed after them. She grimaced in pain, yelling for the others as she got up the steps and out of the house as quickly as she could.

Willy had Daryl on his knees in front of the house with a gun at the back of his head. Willy was growling about how Daryl came in and tried to steal his woman, and if he couldn't get rid of Macyn, well, he'd just get rid of Daryl.

Glenn, Rick, and Merle came bounding out of the house, all of them drawing on Willy.

"You three better step back," Willy warned. "Won't take nothing to kill him before you can even kill me."

"You're not that quick," Rick growled back. "Put the gun down, Willy."

"Please. I'll stay. I'll do whatever you want," Macyn begged as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran to Glenn and wrestled the gun from his hands; it didn't take much. She put the barrel to her head and kneeled in front of Daryl, facing Willy. "You want me dead? I'll do it myself, but you have to let him go. You haven't loved me for a long time, Willy Slater, and I know you just don't want anyone else to have me. Let Daryl live, please, and I'll put a bullet right through my brain."

"Macyn, no," Daryl said, shaking his head. "Put the gun down. I ain't worth it."

"See there," Willy told her. "He knows it himself that he ain't worth it."

"He is to me," Macyn answered. She cocked the gun and used her free arm to wipe the tears from her bruised face. "What's it going to be, Willy?"

"Take her up on it," Merle encouraged Willy. "Keep me out of quite predicament."

Daryl glared at his brother. "No, this is my deal. Macyn, you can't take this on yourself.

"Yes, I can. I don't want to live without you," she answered. Her eyes met with Willy's; he shook his head. "Willy, please. If you ever wanted to do one thing for me, let this be it. Then it'll be done."

"No, I want him," Willy answered. "Get up off your knees, girl."

Macyn lowered her gun and her head. She had tried, but she just couldn't get them out of this. She looked at Daryl.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know it was going to turn out this way."

"Don't apologize," Daryl told her. "You made my life worth livin'."

Macyn nodded and struggled to get to her feet. She let out a deep breath; Willy's eyes were trained on the back of Daryl's head, still. She might never get another chance like this again.

"Willy, look at me."

He looked up at her, and Macyn gave him just enough time to process that he was staring down the barrel of her gun before she pulled the trigger.

A/N: Thanks for FanFicGirl10 for always reviewing! I look forward to your feedback every time I post a chapter! At least I know someone is reading! Also, I think this is going to round out at about 15 chapters ... we'll see though. :) Thanks for reading!