"You actually like that shit?" Kit asked, a disgusted look on her face. Dale looked at the Marlboro pack he was holding and shrugged. "Just please don't smoke it around me. It smells absolutely disgusting."

They heard a noise and both jumped, only to see it was just Carol coming to join them. "I wanted to wait for them to come back."

Kit smiled at her to show she was welcome. "I guess no one is getting sleep tonight besides Bernie."

Both she and Carol could see the concerned look on Dale's face. "You don't have to worry," Carol said kindly. "She's safe with Daryl. If anything happens, he'll protect her."

"All I heard is if something happens," he responded grimly.

Carol gave Kit a knowing look and she rolled her eyes. "Go ahead. Get it out of your system now."

"I can't tell whether I should have seen it coming or not." She gave Kit a smile, but it wasn't to mock her; Carol was just appreciating the humor in the situation.

"I sure as hell didn't when I first met him and Merle so that makes two of us. Carol's right, though, Dale: Andrea is safe with Daryl. He has his priorities straight."

"I appreciate what he's doing."

"Believe it or not, I think that Daryl is finally beginning to show us his true nature. He's a good man. He also happens to be one tenacious bastard so he will not quit until Sophia is back with us where she belongs. We are all with you, Carol." The two women leaned against each other sitting on the Winnebago and staring out into the woods, hoping that all three of their loved ones would return safely.

When they did return, Carol was visibly shaken to seek that Sophia wasn't with them and she retreated back into the Winnebago.

The next day, after a very awkward funeral for the deceased Otis, the group was setting camp very quickly before returning their attention to the search for Sophia. Kit was setting up a tent when Daryl strolled over and she greeted him with an enormous smile. "Hey, Griz," she said playfully.

"Griz?" he asked.

"I thought that you ought to have a nickname, too. So, unless you have any objection, I thought Griz suited you well, as in grizzly bear. And let me tell you, it is quite the compliment to be compared to a grizzly."

"Is that so? In what ways do I deserve such a high honor, if I may ask?"

"Well first of all, they are some of the toughest motherfuckers nature has cooked up. When Lewis and Clark first encountered one, I think it took thirteen bullets to ultimately bring it down – at least as the story goes. Their skulls are so thick and tough that bullets have been known to ricochet off of them. If you don't give one a reason, they won't attack you but if you get them mad, you sure as hell better get out of their way. So you remind me of a grizzly."

"I like it."

"Like I said," she smirked. "I think it suits you." She saw that the others were getting ready to search again. "Better throw your stuff in here really fast because we are going looking for Sophia again."

It looked as though they would be among the only ones looking with Rick and Shane in such bad shape. "I'll go up and down the creek," Daryl said.

"We should split up and cover more ground."

Daryl nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."

Kit was a little wary to part with her rifle, though. But Rick was right: Herschel was being very kind to them, so they ought to follow his rules. She placed the gun on top of the truck, staring woefully at it. If Herschel was going to ask her to get rid of her gun, then she had no qualms asking one more favor of him.

As Herschel was headed to the house, Kit jogged after him. "Herschel!" The man turned around and looked at her curiously. "My name is Kit Eldridge." They shook hands and she could tell immediately that he was suspicious, which was reasonable. "I'm afraid that I have one more favor to ask of you. You see, there is one member of our group who has had a particularly hard time since the outbreak and has been absolutely miserable being cooped up in a car all day. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind keeping him in your house for the time being so he has a safe place where he can wander freely and I don't have to worry about him running off."

"Miss Eldridge, I'm not sure how I feel about having your people in my house."

"Well," Kit admitted, embarrassed. "He's not exactly a person. He's my cat." Herschel gave her a surprised look. "He's very friendly and I think he would be therapeutic for Carl. I promise he wouldn't be any trouble, I just want him to be safe."

Herschel gave a small chuckle. "I think something can be arranged. I was afraid that the favor you were going to ask would be a little bigger. What's his name?"

"Bernie."

"Tell you what, if you put him in the house, I'll make sure that Beth takes real good care of him while you folks are here."

"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me."

"Well I'm doing it a little more for him than for you, but you are very welcome."

Knowing that Bernie would be safe and happy, Kit set off looking for Sophia with a much lighter step. Unfortunately, her search didn't turn up anything. Daryl had been trying to teach her a couple things about tracking but to put things generously, her skills were a little rudimentary. She did enjoy the search, in spite of the fact she didn't find Sophia and she felt awful in the Georgian humidity. Even with the heat and humidity, simply being inside the woods was worth it and made her feel at home. These woods weren't the wild, tangled forests in the Rocky Mountains that she was used to – with their towering pine trees and the enormous glacial lakes fed by mountain streams. But, if she closed her eyes and breathed the air when a breeze traveled through, she could almost pretend she was back in Montana. She only ran into one walker, which was quickly eliminated, so the trip was uneventful in both the best and worst of ways, she supposed.

When she got back to camp, it was nice to finally be able to sleep in a tent with Daryl and get the disbelieving stares of the rest of the group out of the way. She pulled her soaked shirt off and put on one that was significantly less sweaty. "Still don't like the humidity, Dex?"

"No," she replied. "Truth be told, Griz, I'd much rather our group be in Montana."

"An' why's that?" He looked genuinely curious.

"Well, it doesn't have this humidity, for one thing, which also means the insect population is much smaller. Besides, I'd feel more useful there. I know the terrain, I know the wildlife, edible plants and I even have ideas of some places we could camp out and be pretty safe."

"Such as?" he asked, as she crawled onto the sleeping mats they were sharing.

"Wild Horse Island," she said with a smile. "It's an island in Flathead lake – which is a HUGE lake by the way – and unless walkers somehow become very good at swimming, they won't be able to get us there. There is also probably some fancy cabin there bigger than three houses put together, constructed by someone with more money than god."

"You miss it." He could see it in her eyes and he couldn't blame her. She also had a damn good point about the island.

"Yeah," she admitted. "More than anything I miss the mountains."

"We have mountains here in Georgia."

"Daryl honey, the Appalachians aren't mountains, they're hills."

He laughed. "I guess they are a little smaller than you're used to."

She sighed. "Well, if the group ever wants to leave Georgia, I think Montana would be a pretty good bet. Besides," she added. "There were more people in Atlanta alone than there were in the whole state of Montana. We would have significantly fewer walkers to deal with."

After a moment with a faraway look in her eyes, she turned back to him, looking mischievous. "Care to cheer me up?"

"I could think of a few ways."

They kept quiet out of respect for the people sleeping in the tents surrounding them, but that didn't make it any less satisfying. "Damn, Griz," she whispered with a laugh. "You are good."

"Ain't so bad yerself." They lay quietly together for a moment before Daryl decided to bring up serious topics again. "I found some signs of Sophia today."

She quickly turned to him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Somebody was holed up in this farm house not too long ago and from the looks of things there, they would have to have been pretty small. Nobody taller than you could have fit in the place that person was sleeping in. Can't think of anyone it could be 'sides her."

"We'll both go looking in that area tomorrow, then. I hope she's okay."

"Don't tell me I'm going to have to tell the itchy ass story again," he moaned.

"Itchy ass story?"

"Never mind, I'll tell you some other time. Did you notice anything off about Shane today?" he asked.

She nodded. "I didn't really know what to make of it. To be honest, I wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to him."

"You gotta keep quiet 'bout this," he warned.

"What, do you think I'm going to end up gossiping with everyone over tea?"

"You talk with Glenn and Dale, but this has to stay quiet for now." She nodded, seeing how serious he was. "Something tells me Otis didn't have much of a choice to sacrifice himself for Carl and Shane. Shane brought both of their guns back."

She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I definitely won't say anything because for the time being, I can't completely demonize him for the decision. Whatever people want to say about Shane, he loves that kid and what he did saved Carl's life."

"Thas true, but I'm not so sure that self-preservation had nothing to do with it."

"Well, I don't think we'll ever know whether his reasons were one or the other or some mixture of both. But regardless of his reason, he did save Carl's life and I can't condemn him for that, no matter how much he rubs me the wrong way."

"I'm not sayin' ya should. I'm just sayin' ta keep yer eye on him and not trust him too much."

The next morning Kit took a moment to visit Bernie in the house; he was snuggled up to Carl, just as she had said he would – also hogging the bed just as she said he did. Carl didn't seem to mind having him for company, though, so she let him stay there.

Kit was as eager as anyone to continue the search but Herschel approached her with a favor before she could leave the house. "Jimmy was supposed to care for the animals today, but I can't seem to find him anywhere. You seem decent enough, so would you mind taking over for the day?"

"Not at all," she replied, though she hadn't expected to be approached.

He led her to the horse stables then looked alarmed, as though something was missing. "Would any of your people have taken a horse?"

She remembered Daryl mentioning a horse before she had gone to the house and sighed irritably. "Yes. I suppose I shouldn't have assumed he would ask before he took it. Daryl isn't the type to ask."

"He better start becoming the type. This is my land and I can't have my horses disappearing without anyone telling me. Besides, he took the nervous one – she'll probably throw him. Rick is going to have to do something about him."

"I'll talk to him, too," she promised. "Daryl will probably take it better coming from me anyway. I'm sorry he took her and I'll ensure it doesn't happen again."

Herschel narrowed his eyes and let her know what needed to be done in the stables before leaving her to work. She knew Daryl could fend for himself in the woods, but she couldn't help but worry what could happen if he was thrown from the horse. The results certainly wouldn't be good.

When she was finished, it was around noon so there wouldn't be any point in heading out. Besides, she was hungry and wanted to rest a few minutes after working in the stables. She leaned against a tree to eat one of the granola bars she had snatched at the traffic pileup on the highway and unintentionally heard bits and pieces of Rick's conversation with Lori about whether or not they were 'too soft' and needed to start looking at their situation as if it was an equation. Needless to say, this didn't warm her feelings towards Shane. All she knew was that she and Daryl were not leaving until they knew what had happened to Sophia.

She was about to look around for something to do when someone wrenched her in their direction. Glenn gave her a panicked look. "Kit, there's this situation that I'm not supposed to be talking about, but people should know about it but it's another person's private business and –"

"Glenn!" she interrupted. "Calm down. Let's get something to drink and find a quiet place to talk this through."

"Okay." He nodded like a kid who didn't know what to do. "Okay."

They found a nice, shaded area well away from all the others where they could talk. "So you're not supposed to tell anyone about this?" she asked.

"No."

"And it's their private business?" He nodded. "So why exactly do you think other people should know?"

"Well I think there are certain people who deserve to know and certain things that need to be done about this person's situation."

"Glenn, you're really not giving me much to work off of." Glenn looked so torn apart over the situation that she supposed he may have to break his word for his own sanity. "I can't give you any advice about this unless you tell me what's going on. If you tell me then I promise not to breathe a word to anyone unless I think it is absolutely necessary."

He pulled a conflicted face before finally beginning. "So you're a girl, right?"

She laughed. "Unless I am very much mistaken."

"So you would understand girl things."

"I imagine so." She got a huge grin on her face. "Is this about you and Maggie? I may not be very good at giving girl advice but I can tell you right now: she is a catch!"

He looked down in misery. "I need help there, too, but this isn't about her. What should I do if I knew someone was pregnant?"

Kit sighed, realizing how complicated the situation could get. "Lori." He nodded. "I'm assuming she hasn't told anyone but you yet." He nodded. "Keep it that way," she said firmly.

"So wait, you think she's doing the right thing. You know, as a woman?"

"Look, Glenn. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with anything Lori is doing, but I can completely understand why she's doing it."

"That makes one of us," he moaned.

"She would probably react better to a woman talking with her to be quite honest, Glenn. But if you don't want her to know that you told me, I won't breathe a word."

"She probably plans to tell Rick, right?" he asked desperately.

"I don't know what she plans to do, but keep me posted if it makes you feel better to talk about it. But, from a woman's perspective, everything she is doing makes sense given her situation. That is, apart from getting you into the tangled mess – she had no right to do that. But everything else makes sense."

Daryl lay in the river listening to the insults Merle was throwing at him. "You his bitch now?" he asked, referring to Rick.

"I ain't nobody's bitch," Daryl growled.

"Yer playing errand boy to a bunch of pansies, niggers and democrats," Merle taunted. "You're nothing but a freak to them – Petite, too!"

"Not Kit."

"Ha, you think that bitch cares about you?" Merle asked. "Nah, she saw an opportunity and she took it. Yer nothin' but someone ta protect her and give her a good fuck. They all laughin' at you behind yer back because you ain't nothing but redneck white trash to them. She's just goin' ta scrape ya off her shoe, just like the rest of them. They ain't yer kin…yer blood – her least of all! Ain't nobody ever goin' to care 'bout you 'cept me little brother. Now get up before I have to kick yer teeth in."

Daryl woke to see a walker chewing on his boot and after his struggle with the undead, he sat for just a moment and wondered if what Merle had said about Kit was true. Probably was.

Much to his displeasure, Merle appeared again at the top of the hill, only to taunt him again. "I just don't think yer man enough to do it!"

Hell he was man enough. Nobody else was looking out for him – that was for sure. It wasn't as if Kit had moved mountains for him. Daryl meant protection from walkers, a meal ticket and sex; that was all he could imagine her seeing in him.

Glenn saw Kit pacing around camp, trying in vain to find something to do. "What's wrong," he asked.

"Daryl isn't back yet and it's almost dark."

"You know Daryl," Glenn assured her. "He's the last person I'd worry about in the woods alone."

"I wouldn't worry, either," she said replied. "Except he was stupid enough to take a horse without asking this morning and the horse he took has a habit of throwing people. If he isn't back by dark, I'm looking for him. I don't give a damn if anyone helps me, either."

"Walker!" They all turned to Andrea on top of the Winnebago.

"Just the one?" Rick asked.

As Shane and T-Dog went after it, with a panicked Rick hot on their tails, Kit figured there should be at least one other level-headed person there to help Rick, so she ran after them, too. Before too long, the figure approaching them began to look less like a walker. In fact, it was beginning to look like Daryl.

Rick still had his gun pointed at Daryl, as Kit ran over to try and look him up and down, only to be shoved away. "That's the third time you've pointed that gun at my head. Are you going to pull the trigger or what?"

Kit was about to ask Daryl what the hell happened when something hit him and he dropped to the ground. She heard the bullet pass right above her head and froze to try and process what had just happened.

Rick started screaming "No!" to whoever had shot Daryl and Kit ran over to him, hoping she could maintain some semblance of control so she wouldn't begin to panic. Even so, she couldn't help but scream Daryl's name as she cupped his face in her hands, hoping he would live.

A/N: Let me know what you think. I'm especially curious to see if you all like Daryl's nickname.