Louie managed to keep the lumber-jack built man sedated for a good 10 hours by making sure his sleeping bag was comfortable enough and he had enough blankets. He eventually threatened to punch her in the face so she stopped and got some rest herself. The next morning he awoke to the odd sound of soft voices and a fire crackling. Daryl was always the first to be awake if he wasn't on watch. He didn't like surprises much so he cautiously and blearily exited his tent to see some people eating breakfast: Rick's wife over the fire with Dale next to her, Carol leaving her tent at the same time as him casting him a sad glance and Louie with Glenn sitting on the hood of a car slightly separate from everyone else. She looked over at him and acknowledged that she knew he was awake and turned back to her conversation with Glenn. Daryl grabbed the bowl of beans that Lori was offering with a nod and went to lean against the shade of the RV to start digging in. He looked up as he heard Louie and Glenn's conversation being brought over to the fire side.

"I still don't understand why you stayed with him," Glenn shook his head handing his bowl back to Lori, who poured another generous amount thanks to the surplus of cans they found amongst the abandoned cars. Daryl's ears perked but he pretended not to be listening.

"I don't know," she sighed romantically. "There was something that just… glued us together. It was so destructive. We were beautiful," she paused and stared at the fire.

"I have to know what you're talking about," Lori gave a sheepish smile. Glenn looked at Louie with an expectant stare and she rolled her eyes and gave him a permissive nod.

"Mary Lou's from Michigan," he said proudly.

"I gathered as much. You two went to school together or somethin'?" she asked with a smile. Daryl didn't bother hiding his interest by now.

"Good lord, you aint' really twelve, are you?" he gave her a disgusted look and she responded with a dry one.

She turned back to Lori and sighed, "U Mich,"

"University of Michigan," Glenn interjected. "But we never met each other. Well, she never saw me," Glenn smirked and gave her a side long look. Louie bit her lip and bumped her shoulder against his.

"This is takin' forever. Where the hell is Rick?" Daryl snapped annoyed with all the secretive glances the two were sharing. He didn't like surprises as much as he didn't like being out of the loop.

"Right here," Rick emerged from his tent, securing his belt. He looked at the group that had gathered; everyone scattered, almost afraid to join together with all the loss they had suffered. Devising a plan anyways, Rick had everyone prepared to go into the woods and hunt for the little girl together. Dale was to remain fixing the RV and T-Dog was to stay as well due to his condition.

"Yer stayin' here too," Daryl said when everyone disbanded to grab their things. Louie furrowed her eyebrows.

"What? Why!" she complained.

"Yer annoyin' me right now an' I don't wanna not help ya if somethin' goes wrong," he kept his concentrated stare on adjusting his strings. Louie's mouth dropped open, entirely offended by what he had just casually said to her.

"Work on that story fer me. I want to hear everythin' when I get back," he straightened up, closed her mouth with one hand and left her standing frozen with irritation. She watched from a distance as Dale and Andrea had a heated argument resulting in the latter storming off into the forest with the rest of the group. Well, she thought, at least I'm not the only one having a bad time.

An hour into being alone with the two men and to avoid having to talk to Dale, Louie announced she would scavenge for more stuff. Taking her skateboard, she instead glided through the maze of cars looking for some clothes every so often. She found a pair of jeans and tucked them into her backpack.

"Score," she whispered when she found a pair of sneakers sitting in somebody's backseat but frowned when she found that they were too big for her. The pair of slip on flats that Jacqui had brought her was too small and too tight and was starting to get holes in the bottom. Thinking about the woman made her heart ache but knowing that she left peacefully and without regrets gave her a small amount of comfort. Wiping away any tears that escaped from her eyes, Louie returned to her hunt and found a large traveling purse full of women's clothing size small. Picking out a few plain t-shirts to her liking she decided to change out of the one she was wearing at the moment. She peeled off the grey shirt that was started to smell from the sweat and slipped on the new white t-shirt. It was loose on her and Louie frowned. She knew she had lost weight (everyone had) but it worried her that they would all starve to death before being zombie dinner. She rummaged through the rest of the bag and found another pair of jeans.

"Looks like somebody's been shopping," Dale chirped as she skated in to the camp. She stoically ignored him and went to pass him.

"Louie wait," Dale said and she complied. She might as well humor him, they had enough time to kill. "Please talk to me,"

"I've said enough Dale," she shook her head tiredly.

"Then hear me out," he said sternly. "I care about both of you a great deal, a great deal. When I lost Erma, I lost everything. And you three gave me a reason to keep caring. And then we lost Amy," he paused lowering his eyes. "I failed. I didn't… I just-"

"Dale," Louie softened. "There was nothing you could do,"

"There was," he insisted. "There had to be. But you let Daryl start taking obligation for you and I already lost Amy and was starting to lose Andrea," he started rambling.

"I don't blame you," Louie felt like she was releasing some sort of weight on her heart. "It just hurt Dale,"

"I know and I'm so sorry," Dale said taking a step towards her with a genuine look of regret. "But Daryl was already convincing you-"

"He didn't convince me," Louie furrowed her eyebrows at his false conception. "I convinced myself. He just led the way. Anyways," she turned her eyes to the sky. "I shouldn't have burdened myself on you like that. You took me in after everything that happened. You prolonged my life far enough for me to get to the point where I could make the decision. If you weren't there, I wouldn't have made it this far," she gave him a small smile. With tears in his eyes he engulfed her in a giant hug which she returned whole heartedly.

"I'm no longer your responsibility Dale," she said when they released each other as if it were official.

"You're everybody's. It takes a village," he mused.

"I better check on T-Dog, he looks bad," she frowned.

"I heard that," she heard a distant voice said from inside the RV and followed it.

"I meant it," she gave a sad smile when she entered and found him in the back bunk. "Is it bad?" she asked hesitantly.

"Do you wanna see?" he scoffed.

"No," she grimaced. "Yes," she changed her mind. "Yeah, show me. Maybe I can do something."

He gave her a skeptical look as he peeled away the cloth that he was holding to his wound. She visibly cringed and covered her mouth when she saw the gash that ran straight down his forearm.

"Is it bad?" he mocked her good-naturedly with a wince.

"Do you mind?" She asked taking a step forward.

"You a doctor?" he raised his eyebrows, his body folding away from her hesitantly.

"No, but I'm a poor college student. Same thing," she tucked her hair behind her ear and gently took his hand. "I won't touch," she reassured him and he gave a small nod. "Does this hurt?" she gauged his expression as she raised his hand slowly in he air. He gave her a pained expression and she lowered his hand gently. "I think you sliced an artery. You'll lose a lot of blood if we don't take care of it," she stepped back with a worrisome demeanor.

"I survive the zombie apocalypse to die of a cut," he said grimly.

"No," she said sternly. "You won't. I'm going to look for something that could help," and with that she stepped off the RV and glared into the clear sky thinking of what she could look for. She grabbed her skateboard that was leaned against the RV and took off.

"Where're you going!" Dale yelled.

"Just here, looking for medical supplies!" she called back and heard him warn her to be careful. She looked through every trunk and glove compartment leaving no car unchecked. She then started to look through the more expensive cars; the SUVs and the sports cars. She found under the driver's seat a zip-lock bag full of gauze and tiny band-aids, a half empty bottle of Jack on the floor of a truck and rummaged through a suitcase and took out two plaid shirts. Skating back to the RV she found T-Dog wrapped in a blanket outside talking to Dale.

"You should be resting!" she yelled at him while dropping her things on the hood of a car and bee-lining to Carol's tent. Not finding what she was looking for, she checked Lori's tent and found a needle and thread.

"Whoa whoa-" T-Dog blanched at the sight of the sewing kit.

"Calm down. I'm not gonna touch it but we need to stop the bleeding," she told him and having no other choice he followed her. Taking the soaked and sticky makeshift cloth off his arm, she felt her stomach flip flop at the sight of the wound. "Jesus," she whispered. "Dale, I need a knife!"

"What! Why!" T-Dog yelled when Dale approached them with a hunting knife. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw the girl ripping up the shirt into one long strip.

"This is going to hurt," she frowned and handed him the bottle of Jack. Understanding what she was about to do, he put on a straight face and took a fast swig of the whiskey and handed it back to her. She gripped his wrist tightly in her hand flexing and unflexing to make sure she hand a strong hold; she wasn't wrong about it going to hurt. T-Dog yelled out in pain and tried to yank his arm back but she held strong, continuing to pour the whiskey over the open tear as a make shift disinfectant.. She put the bottle down (T-Dog snatching it back towards his mouth) and took the gauze and rolled it into an oval ball and gingerly placed it over the gash. T-Dog didn't bother to hide his pain. After firmly securing the gauze, she took the ripped t-shirt and tightly wrapped it around his forearm placing the needle between her teeth.

"Is it too tight?" she asked him and he nodded. "Good. The more pressure, the better," she took the needle from her mouth and sewed it tightly so that it wouldn't unravel. "Hopefully that'll hold until we can find a drug store or something," she put her hands on her hips and gave him a solemn look.

"Thanks," he gave her a half lucid response and she fanned herself.

"It's too hot," she closed her eyes. "Dale do you mind if I borrow this?" she asked holding up the knife.

"What do you need it for?" he asked her with a frown.

"Don't be such a scrooge, Dale. I'll use it right here in front of you," she rolled her eyes and sat under the shade of the RV, taking out the jeans she had found earlier. She held them up against her legs and creased the material's thighs where she thought it was even. Cutting through the fabric she tore the rest with her teeth to get an even break. When she was finished altering the jeans, she handed the knife back to Dale with a grin.

"All done," she said sweetly and returned to her tent to change into her newly made cut off shorts. She stored her sweats away to use for the cold nights and smiled when she felt her legs air out. Lying down on Daryl's sleeping bag she enjoyed the feeling of unstuffy pants until she fell asleep. A few hours after she fell asleep, the owner of the sleeping bag returned and found her sleeping form in their tent. He paused at the entrance and stared at her long legs now free in a pair of shorts he never saw her wear before; he'd remember. He rested his bow and the bag of drugs he had just supplied to T-Dog on the floor and trailed a finger from her ankle to her knee; she stirred with a flinch.

"Hey," he whispered and watched her face change from fear to recognition.

"You're back," she breathed but noticed his stony face. "You didn't find her."

"Carl got shot," he muttered sitting down next to her and rubbing his face with both hands and explained what had happened in the course of half the day.

"Jesus," she breathed. "But that means there's more people. Maybe they can help T-Dog,"

"The Asian kid's takin' him to their farm. We'll stay here 'n wait for Sophia," he sighed. She nodded and observed his face from the side.

"We'll save the story for another day, okay?" she said softly and he nodded solemnly and lowered his head.

That night, everybody slept in the RV due to the lack of numbers at the camp. Andrea and Carol slept in the bunks in the back, Daryl slept on the floor and Louie slept in the passenger with Dale in the driver seat. Louie woke up to find Dale and Daryl gone. Exiting the trailer, she saw Dale looking around confused and concerned.

"Where's Daryl?" she asked him.

"I don't know but Andrea's missing too," Dale frowned. Louie felt anger bubble in her chest. Andrea was still a sore subject for her even though she forgave Dale. Not a second too soon, the pair exited the woods together idly chatting. She narrowed her eyes at them and folded her arms across her chest as they walked absent mindedly into the camp. Daryl approached her, shooting a confused look for her glares she was giving them.

"What's up yer ass?" he frowned. Dale started begging for Andrea's forgiveness and she shrewdly dismissed it.

"Leave me alone Dale," she snapped at him. "Just go back to Daisy Duke over there and leave me alone."

"You bitch!" Louie spat and lunged right at the blonde woman not before being lifted up by Daryl. "I'll fucking kill you!" she shrieked trying to reach the woman who looked at her fearfully. "Should've left your worthless ass at the CDC!" she managed to yell before Daryl hauled her back to their tent and threw her onto the floor in a heap.

"Calm down!" he barked and she looked up at him through her hair, still huffing with anger.

"I can't believe you left with her last night," she muttered looking away.

"This ain't about you," he spat. "Now grow the fuck up,"

She snapped her head at him and throwing him the most heated and menacing glare, she threw herself to the group and turned over to go to "sleep."

"Ugh!" Daryl yelled and left the tent as well. An hour later he returned and commanded, "Git up, we're leaving." She didn't respond.

"Hey!" he barked. "I said git up!" he prodded her butt with the toe of his boot.

"No." Her response was quick and muffled as her face was pushed in the sleeping bag.

"I ain't joking. We're goin'," he warned her.

"Then go!" she lifted her head to yell at him before stuffing her face back down. She lifted it again to add, "And take your stupid blonde bitch with you!"

"The fuck is yer problem!" Daryl yelled getting extremely agitated. It was like dealing with a fucking teenager.

"You, you asshole!" she quickly scrambled to her feet to yell in his face. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest all her anger surfacing.

"The fuck you just call me, bitch?" he snarled dangerously, his blood starting to boil.

"You heard me you stupid, uncivil, moronic, hill billy, country-bumpkin-hick!" she screamed get voice rising with each insult.

Daryl didn't waste one second to grab the back of her neck and crush her lips against his, hungry and demanding. There was this insufferable gnawing in the pit of his stomach that needed to be satisfied. After a moment he parted his own lips and pulled away realizing she hadn't responded. He assessed her face for any trace of emotion which she completely lacked. She was still and unmoving, raising her eyes slowly when he pulled away. Frowning with anger and dejection, Daryl wrenched himself away, his rage starting to resurface quickly. Before he could take a step out the tent, Louie used both hands to grab his wrist and tug roughly.

"No, no," she quietly reeled him back. She wrapped one hand on the back of his head and the other on his ear steadying his face towards her. "It's a defense mechanism," she whispered apologetically and his frown deepened. He realized that she probably hadn't had sexual advances that weren't forced for a while now.

"I don't smell like vomit, do I?" she asked with a soft smile and he snorted and shook his head. "I wanna do it again," she shyly prodded trying to test the waters with him. Daryl only responded by placing his hands on both sides of her head and kissing her forehead.

"I liked you better when you didn't talk," he teased.