Kit's leg was bouncing in agitation as she took an early watch with Dale. Daryl had gone hunting and Glenn had taken a group with him to Atlanta which meant that two thirds of the people she actually talked to were gone, which left only Dale. "Do you want to talk about it?" Dale asked. Kit tried to give him the most innocent, questioning look that she could possibly muster. "Something is clearly bothering you," Dale continued. "And, you know, it's funny because when Daryl left, something seemed to be bothering him, too. Now, you could tell me what's going on, or I could draw my own assumptions, which will probably be much worse," he teased. He gave her a serious look. "Whatever you say to me, Glenn and I won't stop pestering you, I promise."

"Daryl knew that I was taking a medication and it ran out a few days ago. He wanted the group that went to Atlanta to get more for me."

Dale turned to her, concern etched on his face. "What was it for?"

"It was an anti-depressant but I'm fine, Dale."

"You know you don't have to lie, there are things that we can do."

"Actually," she said with a smile, "I really do feel okay. I needed them because some chemicals were screwed up, but maybe it's corrected itself. I can count all the happy things that have happened to me since this mess started on one hand and this is one of them – having the hope that I may not need the pills. It's kind of funny, actually. I was depressed when there was nothing to make me depressed and then the whole world ends up in the shitter and I'm fine." She turned to him. "It's in the past, and that is where I intend to leave it."

Dale wanted to protest but he could see the pure honesty in her face when she said she didn't need the pills. "If things change, though…"

"I know that I can rely on you, Dale, if I need it. If you could keep this to yourself, I would appreciate it. I just want to leave all of that behind me and I don't need people to worry, or pity me, or anything else."

Both of them jumped when they heard Shane shout "Kit, I have a different job for you!" from only a few feet away.

"What do you need?"

"A lot of clothes need some patching up, if you could." She nodded and climbed down from the Winnebago.

Shane hadn't been kidding when he said some of the clothes needed work. All of them were riddled with tears, holes and every other problem imaginable. At least she had her cat to keep her company as she sat alone, well away from the majority of the group, which she preferred. That is, until she noticed one of the kids staring at her – Carl. "You don't have to just stand there," she informed him.

He cautiously approached the bench she was looking at and gawked at her with pure curiosity. "People are afraid of you, you know."

"Are they?" She wasn't surprised. "Could you please stop looking at me as if I had three heads?"

"Sorry, but yeah people are real afraid of you because you don't talk."

She laughed a little at how direct the kid was before she caught Carl staring at her cat. "You can pet him. Go on," she nodded towards the feline.

"What's his name?" Carl asked as he carefully ran his hand along the cat's furry back.

"Bernie. I think he likes you. Careful, he might try to snuggle up with you in your tent and he is the biggest bed hog I have ever met; you won't get a wink of sleep!"

A big smile split on the kids face, and he giggled at what she had said. Kit admired the fact that he could still smile after all he had been through. This situation could not be easy on a kid and Carl wasn't very old. "Why don't you talk to people?" he asked.

"I guess I'm just not very good at it," she admitted.

"I could teach you!" he volunteered.

"Is that so?" she said, her own face splitting into a smile. "I may just have to take you up on that, Professor Grimes."

"You're really pretty when you smile," Carl said matter-of-factly. "You're also not that bad at talking to people. I think if you talked to people, you could have lots of friends, here." The entire time he was saying this she watched as his face light up in excitement.

"Thank you. I guess you are one of my first new friends, Carl." She held out her hand and they shook on it.

"I don't think you're scary anymore, Kit." He turned to see his mom quickly waving him towards her. "I have to go. Bye!"

Kit shook her head in amazement as he ran off. It was strange, but kids seemed to have a nasty habit of being right sometimes. Her musings were interrupted by a voice actually coming through on her radio, which was definitely a new experience for the camp. She ran over to it and listened to the man's voice coming through, announcing his intentions to go to Atlanta. Her blood ran cold. That man was walking into a death trap and their communication system was so shitty that they couldn't even get through to him in time to warn him.

As she heard Shane and the others arguing over whether or not to put signs up, she decided that it was time she finally became part of this rag tag group of people. "I'll put up a warning myself if I have to," she announced. She hadn't shouted. It had, in fact, been only just barely above a whisper, but the shock of hearing any type of noise coming from her was enough that the others all stopped speaking and turned their heads towards her in disbelief. "People need to know."

"Nobody is going out alone," Shane said, and the tone of his voice made it very clear that he was not going to negotiate on the matter.

Kit shrank a little in defeat and was about to return to fixing the clothes when she saw how distraught Amy was over Andrea. Of the two social interactions she had attempted with new people today, only one of them could be called successful. Best two out of three? She nervously approached Amy to say "I get it." Amy's blue eyes turned to meet Kit's grey ones and, nervously playing with her hair, she continued. "I'm really scared that Glenn might not come back. I mean, it's not like we're family or anything, but I don't really talk to too many people, so I can't really afford to lose any of the few friends that I have."

What came next, Kit had not expected at all. Amy pulled her into a tight hug and held the hug for an uncomfortably long period of time. "Do you think they'll be okay?" she asked.

"Glenn's smart. If anyone can get them out of there, it's him. Plus, Andrea is really tough. I wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with her." Amy smiled. "If they actually run into any walkers, the walkers may piss their pants in fear. She was a lawyer after all and they can be pretty intimidating."

"I needed that," Amy told her. "And I hope Glenn is okay." She glanced over to where Kit had been working. "Do you want some help with those clothes? Carol and I are almost done with what we're doing now, so we could be there in about ten minutes."

It had been that easy. Kit couldn't believe it. "Sure," she choked with disbelief.

Just as Amy was beginning to become inconsolable, the group heard a weird noise echoing through the hills surrounding them and they all stood, trying to ascertain what it could possibly be. Then they all stared, dumbfounded, as Glenn pulled up in an extremely expensive car. Kit felt herself relax a little knowing her friend was alive. After Glenn had explained that everyone was okay and the damn car alarm was shut off, the van pulled up, proving him to be right. "I'm so happy you're alright," Kit breathed, turning to Glenn.

He went over and hugged her as if to affirm to her that he was actually there. "You can thank the new guy. He pulled our asses out of there."She turned and what she saw next was absolutely indescribable as she saw Lori and Carl reunited with the 'new guy' who was obviously Carl's father.

That night as they all sat around a fire, Kit in her customary seat between Dale and Glenn, she heard Rick's story and tried to imagine what it would be like to wake up in this hellish world. As Ed was complaining about the cold and Shane went over to sort him out, Dale turned to Kit and noticed that while all the others had jackets on, she was still only wearing her oversized, baggy t-shirt. "Aren't you cold? I can get you a jacket."

She gave a small laugh. "I think your definition of cold and my definition of cold are two very different things. Try taking a stroll in Montana when it is more than forty below zero and you're wearing little else but a light jacket. Now that is cold. You Georgians are a bunch of pussies. Besides, I like this temperature." This statement lightened the mood for a moment as the others around the fire shook their heads in disbelief.

Unfortunately the lightened mood did last for only a moment because when Shane returned, Dale brought up the subject of Daryl and Kit's heart sunk. As the others argued over who should be the one to tell Daryl, Glenn pointed something out. "It might sound better coming from a white guy." He turned to Kit. "Or girl. I think no matter who tells him, Kit needs to be there. She's one of the only people here who either of the Dixon brothers could tolerate." All eyes were on her now and she fidgeted under their gaze.

Dale put his two cents in. "I don't see a rational discussion coming from this."

"His brother was chained to a roof and left to die. I don't think Daryl is going to react to that any differently than any of us would. Merle may have been an asshole – I won't deny it – but Christ, I can't think of anything that deserves to die like that. However, Daryl is a much more reasonable man than his brother; I think once he gets past the shock of it all you may be able to talk to him. I'm telling you right now, though, he is going to head right back to Atlanta to get Merle."

Shane turned to her now. "Do you think you could talk with him? The Dixons seem to like you well enough."

Kit scoffed. "If by 'like' you mean that they don't hate me, then you're right. I don't think Daryl wants to shoot me with one of his arrows but I don't think my presence is going to diminish his anger." When she imagined the hurt that he would go through the next day, Kit felt sick to her stomach and hoped, if only for Daryl's sake, that Merle was okay. She had been sleeping much better lately, but she knew that she would get no sleep tonight – not with thoughts of tomorrow swirling around in her head.

The next morning, as she was cleaning her rifle, Kit couldn't help but laugh at Glenn as the 'vultures' stripped his car. The small moment of humor was quickly ruined when she heard Carl and Sofia scream in the woods. Within a matter of seconds her gun was loaded and ready for use, if necessary, as she ran to the woods to assist the others. The walker was devouring a dead deer and in the millisecond that Kit had to glance at it, she saw the arrows sticking out of it and knew immediately: Daryl was back.

Unfortunately it became very clear when Daryl arrived that he was not in a good mood. After kicking the walker and snapping at Dale, he asked about the possibility of the deer still being edible. The thought of that made Kit nauseous and it seemed that Shane shared the same sentiments. "I would not risk that."

"Damn shame," Daryl replied. Kit's throat tightened, knowing that before too long, Daryl's day would be made a thousand times worse than it already was.

As Daryl was storming into camp, she heard Shane say "There was a problem in Atlanta." She hurried after Shane as fast as her short legs could carry her and saw the beginnings of massive grief shoot through Daryl as he tried to keep himself at least somewhat composed. Matters only got worse once he heard about the condition that Merle had been left in.

As he lunged for Rick with a knife, Kit tried to intervene. "Daryl, please don't," she begged. But her small voice wasn't noticed by him in his rage and he continued towards the former sheriff. After he had been subdued, Kit rushed over to him, not quite sure what to do. She decided to try and place a hand on his arm only to be forcefully shoved away be Daryl.

She withdrew and stayed out of everyone's way as a plan was devised to go and rescue Merle. Once T-Dog had volunteered, she quickly piped in, "I'm coming too."

"The hell you are," Daryl spat. "You'd just slow us down. 'Sides, do you even know how ta use that thing." He gestured to her rifle.

"I happen to be very good with this."

"Don't change nothin'. You ain't goin'."

Kit didn't know why Daryl had been so insistent that she shouldn't accompany him to Atlanta, but it pissed her off. She was perfectly capable of handling herself. Thankfully, her pissy mood came in handy for washing clothes with the other women. Not a single speck of dirt or sweat was left on the clothes once she was finished taking out her anger on only let her mind wander away from that southern hick when she heard Jacqui say "I am seriously beginning to question the division of labor around here."

When Kit looked out and saw Shane and Carl goofing off in the water, it made her happy to see Carl actually having fun. "It's good to see the kid laughing, though. Besides, Shane isn't that bad when it coming to being a lazy ass." The other women giggled at the comment about Shane.

As they were listing off the things they missed the women turned to Kit and she hated to admit it, but it felt good to know that they wanted to hear what she had to say. "I miss anything that had to do with chocolate," she sighed.

As all the women nodded in agreement, Andrea added, "I miss my vibrator."

What received even more raucous laughter from all the women was when they heard Carol say, "Me too." Kit was actually beginning to feel less angry that she hadn't gone with Daryl. It was a lot more fun to sit and talk with the women. Daryl and Glenn were great, but they were no replacement for good, old fashioned girl talk.

Of course the laughter had to come to an end when Ed lumbered over, looking like a crocodile. The longer he hovered over them and undermined them, the angrier the women got. Andrea chose to address it, telling Ed that if he had a problem, he could do the laundry himself. As things began to escalate, Kit couldn't take it anymore. He was not going to continue like this; all of the anger that she felt towards Daryl, towards the walkers and towards anythin else reached a boiling point. She threw the jeans she had been washing on the ground and said, "Ed, I am about ten thousand percent done with your shit" before decking him as hard as she could.

The other woman stared in awe as they and Ed processed what had just happened. "You should not have done that you little bitch," he growled. Before she could react, Ed began choking Kit with both of his hands and was even lifting her off the ground. As she struggled to breathe, she used one of the only effective options left to her. She landed a decent kick to his balls which caused him to drop Kit as he doubled over in pain. She fell hard, gasping for air, but before her brawl with Ed could continue Shane came over and began beating the shit out of Ed with a fury that Kit had never seen in him before.

As Shane stalked off the women stared at each other, wide-eyed, trying to comprehend what had just happened. What the hell was wrong with the men at this camp? Beating their wives, chaining men to rooftops, implying she can't take care of herself, and beating the shit out of each other. She was beginning to think the women would be better off on their own. They did most of the work anyway.

When Kit returned to camp she got more than a few strange looks at marks on her neck became visible. Dale immediately scrambled down from the Winnebago. "What the hell happened?" he asked as he stared at her neck. Kit didn't tell him that the bruise forming on her hip from being dropped would probably look worse.

Andrea was still in shock from the incident earlier, but chose to answer for Kit. "She decided to pick a fight with Ed earlier." Before Dale could make a sound, though, she did choose to add one thing. "Don't think that Ed got out of it without a scratch. I'm not saying she should have done it – it was stupid – but that girl can pack a punch. Where did you learn to do that?"

Kit rubbed her right hand, which was more than a little tender after hitting Ed and took a seat near the Winnebago. "I have absolutely no idea. Boxing wasn't exactly a hobby of mine before the apocalypse."

"Are you okay?" Dale exclaimed.

Kit smirked. "It was worth it. That asshole had it coming." She coughed a few times before turning to Andrea. "You and Amy should go fishing; I know you'd been planning it. I think Shane bruised Ed's ego enough that he won't be showing up anytime soon." The older woman nodded and went with Amy to gather up Dale's fishing gear.

Before Kit could even think of relaxing, a very bored Carl sauntered over and pulled a chair up next to her. "So you really punched Ed?" he asked.

"Yep. I kicked him in the balls, too."

Carl's jaw dropped as his mouth formed a huge 'O'. "Do you think you hurt him when you hit him?"

"Well, I think it left a mark."

"Can you teach me?"

Kit's eyes drifted over to where Lori was watching her like a hawk. "I'm not sure if your parents would be too crazy about the idea. Besides, it really hurts your hand when you hit someone like that." She took her glasses off and cleaned them – not that it mattered; they were perpetually dirty here.

"But I'm bored," he moaned.

She glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. "If you're that bored, then you can read a book," she suggested. Carl pulled a face that told her how interested he was in books. "Have you ever read 'The Hobbit'?" He shook his head. "That, my friend, is a book I guarantee you will like. I have not yet met a single person who was dissatisfied."

"Really?"

"Really," she promised. "It is one of my favorite books so you would have to be very careful to keep it in good condition. Do you think you can handle it?" she challenged. He nodded eagerly in response as Kit strolled over to her van to retrieve the book and handed it to Carl.

As he went to find a placed to read it, Lori approached Kit. "I have never been able to get that kid to willingly read a book," she remarked.

"The trick is to make them think that it's really impressive for them to read it. It probably also helps that I'm not his mom."

Lori laughed. "Parents aren't cool enough to listen to."

"He's a good kid."

Sitting by the fire was nice after such an eventful day. Kit had her gun with her, as she now did out of habit, but it was relaxing to see the flames flickering and to hear everyone else talking. She figured she had had enough talking for one day. No sooner had Kit finished her fish when she heard a blood curdling scream come from the Winnebago. She couldn't believe how many walkers she saw swarming into camp, and truth be told she was a little out of practice killing them. Nevertheless, she took pointed her rifle right at one of those fuckers and blew its brains out. Now was not the time to miss her target.

During the adrenaline rush, she lost all concept of time, just trying to get rid of as many walkers as she could without dying in the process.

Daryl was rushing into camp when he saw Kit, standing alone, shooting her rifle. Despite it being dark out, she was incredibly accurate with it, and the speed with which she reloaded was almost moving. She was calm, cool and completely collected. In fact, it almost resembled some sort of macabre dance as the walkers near her fell to the ground. Despite the horror of the situation, he was a little turned on by it. He would never deny that he found a woman who could shoot very sexy. He lined himself up near her, shooting them as well. He couldn't help buy say "Damn, Dex! You actually can shoot."

"I keep telling you people I'm from Montana, don't I?"

When it was over, she felt numb and incredibly sick to her stomach. The smell of all the rotting flesh caused the fish to come up, but she wasn't surprised – she had never had a strong stomach when it came to nauseating smells. There were no words for what had happened, but when she saw Glenn was all right she rushed over to him and they held each other for a long time.

Daryl leered over at the Asian. He couldn't explain why, but he wanted to be the one holding her right now and although he hated to admit it, he actually needed it a little after the type of day it had been. Instead, he stood alone as everyone else, with the exception of Andrea, held their loved ones close.