My favorite chapter so far includes a good old fashioned get drunk and hook up scene towards the end :0 This one is rated super M so turn away if you're not into that. Otherwise the show must go on. Enjoy!

When they pulled up on the prison, Rick was in the watchtower looking out across the acres hoping that Daryl would find his way back. They had barely escaped from Woodbury and they were in no condition to make another run back there, but Daryl had become such an important member of the group and his presence was acutely noticed. If they went back to Woodbury, only Rick, Maggie, and Glen would be ready to go on the mission and they had done worse with a lot more people the last time.

The past few days Rick Grimes worried more about his people being able to survive without their redneck bodyguard. Herschel and the kids needed a lot more help than the others might be able to provide. Without the safety of the prison, they might not be able to survive on the run as they had in the previous months.

As he wondered about the future of the group, he was caught off guard when a little jeep pulled up in front of the gate. For a few seconds he thought he was imagining it like a mirage in the desert, but then he saw Daryl jump out of the back seat to yell at him to open the goddamn door.

Carol and Carl noticed the car from the compound and ran down with Rick to open the gate.

"Daryl!" Carl squealed. "What happened to your face?"

"We thought you were dead, how did you get out alive?" Carol wondered.

"Good to see you," Rick gave a smile eager to see a familiar face again. He shook his hand and clapped him on the back. "Let the man breathe."

"I brought some people," Daryl told them, "They found me after I jumped the wall at Woodbury."

"Well they're welcome with us then," Rick beamed as he walked over to Dennis and Lucy to introduce himself.

She felt a little uncomfortable that Daryl was downplaying the way that they initially met him, but figured they couldn't complain since he was more than hospitable in making them feel welcome with his group. He could have told them how Dennis nearly beat him to death. If he was planning on turning against them why would he wait to do it instead of moment he was back with his group.

Ignorant of her companion's suspicions, Annie was by far the best person to ease them into the situation. Her innocence made her the perfect newcomer to fall in love with and she looked so similar to Sophia with her short dirty blonde hair they felt like she had been brought back to them. She shook everyone's hand with the dignity of a perfect little Southern belle and charmed all of them.

Carol looked a little green around the edges when she saw Annie and Lucy felt protective when she noticed the look on her face because she could not place the emotion.

"That's Sophia's momma," Daryl quietly told Lucy to explain the strong reaction.

After the explanation, Lucy tried her best to accept the new people because it was strange for her Dennis, and Annie to be around new people. They still barely knew Daryl and it was a weird sensation to be introduced to his group of people, who they knew next to nothing about.

Rick showed them to the block that they were staying at where Dennis and Lucy picked a room for them. They were used to living in small spaces anyway so Lucy and Annie agreed to share the bottom bunk and Dennis took the top one. Privacy was a thing of the past since they felt safer being together.

They met the others including a young Asian guy and his girlfriend, who was holding a baby, an older man with half a leg chopped off, and a couple kids. Lucy took the time to make sure that Annie met the other kids who were around her age and hoped she would hit it off with them. Rick's son Carl was quite the gentleman and offered to give her a tour of the place as long as it was okay with Lucy.

"You want to take a look around, Annie?" Lucy asked to which the pre-teen nodded slightly not wanting to show that she was happy to be around a boy her own age for a change, "All right then, mister. You look after my lovely lady. Just this room don't wander off," she added as they walked off to go explore the compound together.

"What's your baby's name?" Lucy asked Maggie.

"Oh she's not, um," Maggie stuttered.

"Judith's mine," Rick cut in, "Her mother died in childbirth."

"Sorry for your loss," Dennis held a hand out to him genuinely concerned as he thought about Nell.

Rick thanked them for their concern and excused himself so he could have a chat with Daryl suggesting that the others show them around and get them something to eat. Maggie passed Judith over to Carol and led them to the kitchen area so they could get a bit to eat.

"It's only the three of ya?" she asked as she heated up some rice for them.

"It was four earlier today," Dennis explained.

"Sorry to hear that. We were all worried that those freaks at Woodbury killed Daryl. It's real great y'all brought him back to us."

"Woodbury's a real town?" Lucy wondered.

"Sort of, they have that Waco/Manson family vibe, but the town was real before they took it over."

"That's a shame, it would have been nice for Annie to grow up in a normal community," Lucy mentioned to Dennis.

"We'll take care of her better than anyone else can anyway," he scoffed.

"Are you her kin?" Maggie questioned.

"We are now. The rest of her family is gone."

"Poor dear."

On the other side of the room, Rick asked Daryl some questions about his escape from Woodbury, which he cut down only to the essential information not wanting to remember every detail that nightmare. After a quick explanation, he pressed for more information about the people he brought with him to the prison.

"Are you sure we can trust them?"

"The woman and the girl are fine. Not sure about the man still."

"He have anything to do with the way you look?"

"Yeah, he had a couple questions I didn't wanna answer."

"Why the hell did you bring him here then?"

Daryl sighed trying to think of how to explain what happened. Telling Lucy about Sophia, fighting with them to escape, watching the old woman run off into the woods to buy them time. The kiss. It was a little more complicated than he felt like getting into at the moment.

"A bunch of walkers attacked and she promised me a ride back to y'all if I helped get them out. Seemed wrong to turn on her and leave her out there with the kid. She could have left me tied up to rot. Might have even helped them save the old lady if they had thrown me to them. "

"Well that's the only reason I'll even consider it. We'll keep an eye on them. If they make one wrong move, I'm throwing them out."

"Agreed."

"Oh, and go take a shower. You look like hell."

Meanwhile the others were gathered in the common area making small talk and trying to get to know each other.

"So you carry that thing all around and still don't know how to play?" Lucy asked Glen, who was showing her the guitar he found about a year ago.

"Well I thought I'd figure it out eventually. There was never a good time to practice being on the run and all. Do you know how to play?"

"It must be your lucky day."

"No way! Can you show me something?" he handed her the guitar, but she refused to touch it.

"You play, I'll teach," she offered.

"Can you teach me too?" Annie looked up at her with her big brown eyes.

"Sure, pay attention. You put your first finger on the second string, the second on the fourth one, and the ring on the fifth one there. Yes, like that and then strum it."

He followed the directions exactly, but one or two of the notes sounded flat. Annie covered her ears and made a face.

"Close enough, you have to press them all the way down," Lucy directed.

He tried it again with a much better sound and beamed at her excited that he was finally able to learn how to play.

"Great! That's a C chord and you just learned about half of the world's rock and roll songs."

Lucy taught him a couple more basic chords and then patterns for switching between them. Annie tried to play a couple times and then ran off with Carl and Beth again to go play a card game with them. Within about 20 minutes, Glen didn't sound half bad. Carol and Herschel encouraged him to keep practicing because it was nice to hear some music again after being to long without radios, cds, or ipods.

"You're a rockstar? The world really must have ended," Daryl said as he shook some of the water from his hair.

The others laughed a bit at his joke. Glen looked down and leaned the guitar against the wall.

"You're doing really well," Lucy assured him, "I'll teach you some more tomorrow."

"If you're tha teacher why don't ya play somethin?" Daryl challenged her with a smile oblivious to the fact that she was having trouble not staring at him now that he was all cleaned up.

"No I can't," she fidgeted with the edge of her shirt.

"Can you play Dolly Parton? She was my favorite growing up," Carol smiled.

"No I really can't," she refused and excused herself. Lucy was a private person by nature even the apocalypse couldn't change that. She still found conversations with other people exhausting. They didn't know that the guitar thing would strike a nerve for her so she didn't blame them. It would have been easier to pretend she didn't know how to play, but she wanted to blend well with the group for Annie's sake.

Daryl felt like he had messed up somehow so he followed after Lucy to apologize.

"I didn't mean to put ya on the spot," he cautioned.

"It's not your fault. I-I haven't played in years," she admitted.

"Ya any good?"

"I was going to go to music school, but my mother wouldn't pay for it. She always said it was a hobby I would grow out of when I learned to be an adult. She said she would cut me off if I didn't go to a real college. I took the money," she was still ashamed of her decision, which was why she eventually gave up playing. It was painful to admit that she threw away her dream for the stability of her mother's money.

"You were rich?"

"Yes, considerably. Enough that I would never really have to work if I chose not to."

"What did you do then?" he asked with curiosity. He had already known that she came from a nicer family than he did, but had no idea that she was way upper class. It made him feel a lot smaller around her knowing that someone like her would never have even met someone like him in the old world.

"Well I still wanted to stick it to her so I studied art history instead of business and went to work in an art gallery after college. She wanted me to get married and start a family, but I kept putting it off to focus on my 'career'. Good to know that was all pointless."

"Sorry," he fidgeted and ran a hand through his hair.

As Lucy glanced over at him she couldn't help but look him up and down. Cleaned up, he was much better looking since you could really see his face distinguished by high cheekbones and a strong jaw. Her eyes lowered to his torso. Because he was wearing a sleeveless shirt, she could see well-defined muscles in his arms even though he was naturally thin.

"What was your family like?" she blurted out trying to distract herself from staring.

"We were really poor. Grew up in the mountains hunting for food. Ain't too different than life now. It was safer without all the undead though," he changed the subject not wanting to get into detail about his messed up family. He feared that if she realized just how redneck he was she would never be able to talk to him the same way.

Though they hadn't spoken much with each other, each was beginning to feel the connection strengthen between them. They didn't realize that the loneliness they both felt in the real world made them very similar. It was difficult to share personal details, but both of them were desperate for something to hold onto, which was slowly breaking down the barriers they had put in place so long ago.

"You were more prepared than me. Guess that's what makes you a great fighter now," she complimented.

"You handled the bow real well. Who taught ya?"

"Dennis did. He wanted there to be at least two people that knew how to hunt in case anything happened to him. The other people weren't great with it. I managed to catch on pretty quickly," Lucy stared off to the side remembering all the people they had lost since the beginning. In total 5.

"Thanks for helping us," she continued, "I don't even know where we would have gone."

"Don't mention it..."

"Seriously, I appreciate it. You could have jacked the car and left us on the road."

"Wouldn't have been right. The kid already cryin' her eyes out."

When it got later everyone went to bed except for Glen, who was supposed to take first watch. Rick assured Lucy and Dennis that they could help out the next night once they got a full night's sleep, but it was more because he was still suspicious of them.

Once Annie was asleep, Lucy crawled quietly out of bed and wandered around the room. She climbed up the stairs to the second level so she could look out the window for a while and memorize the surroundings in case they needed to leave quickly.

There were a couple sets of gates that you had to open one at a time to move through them, which could provide an advantage if you locked them behind you. It was a good way to keep the walkers from becoming a hoard. The two watchtowers on either side provided a great lookout for any threats that might be approaching from a distance. The river a couple hundred yards away provided another barrier from potential groups of walkers since they wouldn't be able to swim. The thick walls of the prison felt a lot safer than the cabin, but there was also the possibility that it could trap them inside even though they hoped it would keep the freaks outside.

All in all it seemed like a safe place to stay as far as the set up went. She would have to see what the group was really like in the next couple of days. The majority of them seemed nice no more than the average level of suspicious, but Rick gave her cause for concern. He and Dennis might have too similar a personality to be able to live together. Alpha males always fight each other for dominance.

Rick cleared his throat behind her so she would not be startled. She was anyway surprised to she the person she was evaluating pop up right behind her in the middle of the night.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

"Couldn't sleep," she explained and offered him the seat next to her. "Is the rest of the prison cleared out? There must be a few more blocks?"

"No they're locked up so we didn't bother. Not sure if we'll be able to stay much longer anyway."

"Hard to live in a place designed to keep people trapped?"

"It's safer than most places we've stayed. Beggars can't be choosers."

"That's true," she admitted with a yawn.

"You should try to sleep. Can't walk around exhausted all the time."

"It was a long day, but I don't mind staying up. We're glad to be here."

They were silent for a minute listening only to the sounds of people sleeping, which was a welcome change from the restless nights on the road.

"I wanted to thank you for taking us in with your folks," she tried to be agreeable.

"Not at all as long as y'all abide by our rules. We've known each other a lot longer. Trust isn't earned overnight," he carefully explained. It wasn't a threat more of a warning that he wouldn't allow some newcomer to harm his people even if they seemed friendly.

Rick scared Lucy a bit since it was clear that he was the leader of the group. Even if everyone else liked them, it was clear to her that he would still have the final say about whether they could live with them or not. She assumed Daryl told him about what happened since she would have done the same thing with Dennis.

"I want what's best for Annie. She's better off with more people around to look after her."

"Seems like Carl and Beth have taken a shine to her."

"I'm glad she met them. It wasn't a great morning, she lost her grandmother."

"I heard earlier and that's a shame."

"As a parent… Do you think that makes me her mother?" she asked her burning question.

Rick was the only adult who could imagine her position of trying to care for a child when the rules were suddenly changed. She never even wanted children to begin with. In the previous months she was fine with the role of a sister or aunt, but the idea that she was now the main woman to raise her in her teenager years scared her. Her own relationship with her mother was always strained and the kid didn't need any bad role models in her life after all the loss she had suffered.

"You can't replace her family, but you can be there when she needs a mother," he settled on the piece of advice with a sad look.

"I'm sorry about your wife… If you need help with the baby I can go out with the others for supplies or something."

"Appreciate it… why don't you try to go to sleep now? It's almost light out. You can catch a couple hours at least."

She excused herself to creep back into bed and managed to sleep a little after all.

For the next couple of days, things slid into a normal routine for the prison-dwellers. They picked a couple walkers off the fences, but there were no huge battles for survival. This allowed the newcomers to feel more at ease with the new group they joined.

Early one morning, Judith started wailing and didn't stop all day until people were ready to cut their own ears off so it would stop. Carol figured out that she must be sick since she had a high temperature and needed some medicine. After a short conversation, Rick asked for volunteers to help him. Lucy offered to help, but Dennis took her place so he could earn some respect from the men of the group. They still eyed him suspiciously waiting to see if he would turn against Rick.

"You sure?" Lucy asked him in private.

"I'm still in the hole for smashing the kid's face in so I think I owe them one," Dennis figured.

"You don't want me to come with you?"

"No, one of us should stay with Annie just in case. That prison fella is a creep."

"Tell me about it. He kept asking me if I was a real blonde yesterday."

"Let me know if I need to beat the boys away," Dennis patted her on the shoulder.

"Of course, Pop. Stay safe out there."

Rick looked in the yellow pages and found a small clinic about an hour away. They had already raided all of the ones that were closer to the prison so it was more difficult to find supplies lately.

As Daryl got his weapons ready, he looked over at Lucy, who was straightening up the kitchen area with the other women. He hadn't spoken much with her since he brought the three of them to the prison and there were still some lingering questions on his mind.

"Anything y'all need?" he approached the ladies.

"A stiff drink would be nice," Maggie joked.

"You know it's been a year to date since the end of the world," Carol told them, "Might be nice to celebrate the occasion."

"Get some Livet 15 year old," Maggie said.

"And champagne," Lucy agreed.

"Round of drinks for the drunks then. Anything else?" he looked at Lucy.

"No, can't think of anything."

He nodded and excused himself to catch up with Rick, who was giving Carl instructions on how to look after Judith while he was away.

"That was nice of him," Carol mentioned.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Asking if you needed something."

"He asked everyone."

"No he wasn't," Maggie laughed, "He isn't tryin' to impress us. We know him already."

"I'm sure he was only being polite."

"That's not his strongest trait," Carol disagreed.

Even though she didn't believe them, Lucy couldn't stop herself from having a stupid grin on her face.

As Rick approached the clinic, Daryl and Dennis looked out the windows of the car to make sure there weren't any herds surrounding the place. The coast looked clear so they got out and headed to the clinic. Daryl took the lead as usual with a replacement crossbow they had found the day before. He still preferred the one he lost at Woodbury, but it would have to make due. Dennis followed behind him with Rick taking up the rear and reminding them to keep close together.

Inside there were only a couple of walkers, but the place had clearly been hit bad at some point. There was dried blood smeared all over the walls and the stench of decay was overwhelming. The men had to keep themselves from gagging a few times.

They moved quickly and were glad to find the medicine cabinet without a scratch on it. Rick sighed in relief because without the contents of the cabinet Judith might not have made it through the week. Dennis looted the bottles throwing them in a backpack along with bandages and as many medical supplies as he could get his hands on since they would likely come in handy if things ever went south.

Daryl suggested they move along once they grabbed everything in sight and the group headed quietly back out the way they came. Since the run was going so well, they decided to press their luck and make a pass through town to see if there was any food they could scavenge. With the extra people, the supply at the prison would only last so long.

They drove down the main road for a few minutes until they stumbled upon the general store. Inside there were rows and rows of canned good that were completely unscathed. Daryl let out a whoop since he couldn't believe their luck for once. He and Rick stuffed their packs with corn, green beans, and peaches.

'What do you think? Feel like throwin' a party?" Daryl asked Rick as he pointed to the row of liquor on the back wall.

"Would be nice to celebrate surviving the past couple weeks," Rick agreed and grabbed a couple of bottles.

Daryl spotted a bottle of champagne in its own box so he figured it must be expensive and snatched it up for Lucy.

For a minute they let their guard down to enjoy their good fortune and unfortunately it was just enough time for a walker to start pounding on the door when it saw the fresh meat.

Dennis was the closest to the door and threw himself on it snapping the lock in place. It wouldn't hold forever, but it would buy them some time to figure out a plan. He looked out the window and saw that the place was surrounded.

"Goddamn biters are everywhere," he told the other two.

"Any bright ideas?" Daryl asked them.

Rick looked around for something to help them out. He found the shopkeeper's gun under the counter and ten bullets, not much of a help, but it was something. When he searched in the closet, there were rows and rows of firecrackers possibly stockpiled there to hide it from the police.

"You think we can use these as a diversion?" Rick suggested to Daryl.

"Oh hell, yeah! Cover the window," Daryl told him.

They switched places so that Rick and Dennis could cover the door while he worked on the diversion technique.

"And they tell you don't play around with fire," he laughed to himself recalling all the times he and Merle blew stuff up in their neighbor's yards.

"Throw it off the roof far away as possible and light it up!" Dennis yelled over to him.

"I got it man!"

He bundled together a bunch of the bigger ones that made the most noise and headed for the roof. The hoard outside was not the biggest they had scene only about 20 so there was a good chance at least half of them would make a break for the fire, which would even their odds considerably.

"How do we know when to make a break for it?" Dennis asked Rick.

Before he could respond, they heard the fireworks squeal and shoot into the sky at the end of the road.

"I think that's our sign," Rick smiled back.

Quickly Daryl ran back down into the store and they threw the door open shooting at the walkers that were closest to them. Most of them had sprinted over to the noise and lights like moths to the flame. Only a few distracted ones lingered by the general store.

Rick led the way taking them down one at a time until he reached the car. He started the engine and then looked back to make sure the others were following him.

"What the hell happened to Daryl?" Rick asked Dennis.

"He must have ran back for something," Dennis responded as he turned and ran back to the store.

Inside Daryl was struggling with a walker that had pinned him up against the wall. It snapped and bit at his face trying to tear off a chunk. Dennis crept up behind it and pulled it off of him and shot it through the skull. Daryl quickly grabbed up his pack and the two ran back outside to rendezvous with Rick, who had turned the car around so they could make a quick getaway. The two of them shot a few more walkers as they jumped into the backseat and Rick floored the gas. A walker almost caught the car, but they made a clean getaway.

"Jesus H. Christ, you are one crazy sunnabitch ya know that?" Dennis whooped as he slapped Daryl on the arm

"What the hell you go back for?" Rick laughed.

"More fireworks, o'course!" he raised the corner of his mouth in a mischievous grin.

"I tell ya this was a goddamn good day," Dennis exclaimed, "Extra medicine, extra food, and even some drinks to celebrate!"

When they returned back to the prison their enthusiasm couldn't be contained as they retold the story to everyone else. They cracked open the bottles and declared it a holiday to celebrate their survival, really everyone's survival.

Daryl made sure to pour Lucy the first glass of champagne and was happy to see the spark in her eye being able to drink her favorite beverage again. Dennis poured glasses for Herschel and Maggie, who ranted about the flavor of the scotch being perfectly aged with hints of oak. She attempted to explain it to Glen, who was clearly uninterested as he and Daryl cracked jokes back and forth at each other. The children crowded around happy to see the adults loosen up and allow themselves to laugh, which was uncommon these days. Even Rick seemed to enjoy himself and joined in on the conversation until the sun set and he left to keep watch outside.

With the medicine, Judith finally tired herself out and was able to sleep giving the adults a welcome reprieve. They were able to talk about the good old days before the world was infested by zombies.

"So when my brother Clive came back for the night, he was drunk as a skunk, and in the morning we found him curled up with the cow in the barn," Herschel told the punch line sending everyone into wild laughter.

"I never heard that story, Daddy. Were ya out drinking with him?" Maggie poked fun at him.

"In my younger years we were quite the trouble makers," he smiled at the memory.

"He's making that up. Momma told me he was an alter boy," Beth interjected making everyone laugh more.

"Oh I don't miss those days. Memorizing lines from the Bible that you had to recite in front of everyone on Sunday morning."

"You know what I don't miss?" Carol chimed in, "PTA meeting with the same moms every month. It must have been a rule that the ones with the worst kids were in charge making everyone miserable just like their kids."

"I don't miss exams and term papers. What about you Beth?" Maggie asked her sister.

"I don't miss cleaning the horse stables. So gross," she wrinkled her nose.

"Or doing homework," Annie chimed in with everyone else. She leaned back on Lucy curled up at her feet.

"I don't miss credit card companies calling me when I didn't have money to pay them back," Glen commented.

"You know the apocalypse thing isn't sounding so bad after all," Lucy told them sarcastically.

"There are some things I miss though," Carol reminisced, "Like showers…"

"Or meeting a pretty woman at the bar," Axel said as he smiled over at Lucy. No one noticed that he made a lot of these comments whenever she was in sight. Usually she ignored him so that he would give up eventually. It seemed to be a harmless rotation hitting on every woman around until she told him off and he switched to the next one.

"That's for sure," Dennis agreed with him, "Me and my wife met late one night at the bar. Bet she regretted that one. Couldn't get rid of me for the next 25 years."

He meant the comment lightly, but then everyone's thoughts turned to the people they had lost. Most days they were able to push those thoughts from their minds. Sometimes the sadness crept back in.

"I miss music," Lucy broke the silence, "I used to play it constantly in my apartment."

"Why don't you play something?" Glen suggested.

"I haven't played in years," she repeated.

"Probably forgot," Daryl taunted her.

"No I didn't! There was a chance I could have been famous. You might have heard me on the radio one day," she confidently told them with the warming effects of alcohol in her blood.

"Prove it," he dared with a smile.

"Fine. Glen, where's the damn thing?"

Glen ran over to his room where he left it and handed it back to Lucy. The others perked up excited that something different was happening at the prison tonight.

"Any requests?" she asked.

"Know any Loretta Lynn?" Herschel asked.

"No, but I think I remember Jolene."

"Oh play that, I love Dolly," Carol told her.

She strummed the strings a couple of times and tried to familiarize herself with the feeling of the wood again. After she remembered the notes, she played them a couple of times and closed her eyes. The room filled up with the sound and echoed the way it should as she belted out the song that used to be one of her favorites. She remembered the calm feeling she used to get when she played like she was on top of the world and no one could ruin her day.

"Damn you got soul for a Yankee girl," Dennis commented when she stopped.

"Thanks? I think."

"That was great," Carol cooed.

Lucy realized what Daryl had done when he challenged her and she smiled over at him silently thanking him for giving her the push to do something she loved again. He nodded and raised a glass without another comment.

For the next hour, the others requested songs and Lucy picked them out on the guitar so that they could all sing along and have some fun. When it started getting late, Carol and Herschel sent the kids off to sleep and followed after them. Axel was already passed out in his seat softly snoring. Maggie and Glen had disappeared a half hour ago to be alone somewhere. Dennis carried Annie to bed since she had already fallen asleep, which left Daryl and Lucy sitting across from each other.

"You tired?" he asked.

"Not really," she said carelessly.

"Let's have a nightcap on the roof," he suggested so she followed him up the stairs to a small maintenance ladder that led them outside. He sat near the edge of the roof and took another swig out of the whiskey bottle they had already put a dent in earlier.

Lucy knew she was already drunk, but took the bottle when he passed it and took a shot too. She started staring at him again knowing that she felt that tingling that made her want to pounce on him, but felt nervous about crossing that boundary. Her experience with men was limited since she had never had a real boyfriend. Not that she was a virgin, but the thought of continuing to see him every day unnerved her more than a one night stand.

"It's a shame we can't do this more often," she made small talk.

"What d'you mean?" he asked thinking that she meant being alone with him on the roof.

"Relax with everyone and throw a little party. It was nice to see the other guys having fun for a change."

"Yea," he agreed as he watched her in the dim light. The moon was half full so it wasn't pitch black out. She shivered a little as a breeze passed by them and he wished he knew what to do to close the gap between them, but he had never been great with women. Daryl always felt himself get tongue-tied and his chest tighten when a pretty girl paid attention to him.

"You're a nice guy probably nicer than people notice."

"No I ain't," he disagreed.

"Yes you are. You're always looking out for other people."

"That's cause I don't want them bugging me or gettin' us all killed," he fired back as he stood up and crossed his arms. Lucy realized she was saying the wrong thing even though she didn't understand why he took the compliment as an insult.

"So you're a bad guy?"

"Damn straight, kind your Momma warns ya not to get involved with."

"We're alone up here. Should I be afraid?" she teased him.

"Fuck yeah," he spat and took another swig to calm his nerves not sure of what she would say next.

"Nah a bad guy wouldn't have a problem with taking advantage of a girl alone with him," she took a couple steps toward him trying to intrigue him, "He would grab her and make her scream his name."

"That what you want?" his voice lowered an octave.

"Take advantage of me," she whispered as leaned in closer to him.

He was drunk enough to not question her meaning even though he would never have touched her without the push. With the moon half full there was just enough light where they felt comfortable to act on their lingering desires. He grabbed her small frame and grinded his body into hers. Reacting instantly, she kissed his neck like she had imagined herself doing and her lips made their way towards his pressing firmly against them.

He never quite figured out how to kiss a girl since he had never gotten serious enough with one to learn, but she was too drunk to notice.

Before she could, he picked her up and dragged her over to the wall covering the stairwell pushing her so hard against it the uneven grain cut into her back, but she liked the pain. It made her alive in her body not the numb detachment she normally felt. He smelled like sweat, but his kisses tasted sweet from the scotch.

She pulled his hair and dragged her fingernails down his back urging him to make it rough. Without missing a beat he unbuckled his pants and she followed suit the cool wintery air raising goose bumps on her skin. He thrust inside her making her cry out.

It wasn't romantic. He didn't kiss her again and she didn't care. They weren't pretending they were in love and it was over quickly, but it was a comfort to forget the world even if it was for a short time.