"You're okay?"

"Mm-hm." He'd brought her water. Her mouth was still dry.

"Rick told me." So we're going to get into it.

"You didn't believe it." It wasn't a question.

"How could I?"

The silence hung between them like a curtain.

"So what's the truth? Did you kill them? "

"No."

"Why'n't you just tell him that?"

"Like he would have believed me? Look - he'd made up his mind. He obviously planned from the start that I wouldn't be coming back. He waited until you weren't around to interfere. I'm sorry, I know he's like a brother to you, but he set me up." It all came rushing out of her, and she couldn't seem to stop it.

"I should have seen what he was planning and never let him get me out on the road alone. Once we were out there, he wouldn't let me back in the car, and I was so shocked, I couldn't think how to handle it, how to convince him I was telling the truth and not just making something up to get him to let me back in, so I gave up and went along with it. I thought…" and she choked, terrified of what she was about to say.

"You thought what?"

What was worse? that she'd counted on him to rescue her, and he hadn't? or that she'd turned back into that helpless woman who needed to be protected every moment?

She fought to keep her voice steady. "I thought I couldn't stand up to him alone. I thought that once you got back, you'd come and find me, and we'd figure it out together, and all I had to do was stay safe for a day or two."

His voice was hollow. "You can't put that all on me. What if I'd got killed? You wait to be rescued, you could be waitin' a long while. It's only a fluke you caught up to us this time. Tomorrow we coulda been gone."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and he turned furious eyes on her.

"Sorry don't help," he hissed. "You coulda died out there, waitin' for me to come, and it would've been my fuckin' fault. You coulda died, and I'd never have known it, because I didn't come after you. After all the times I promised myself I'd keep you safe..." His voice sank to a bare whisper. "I didn't come for you."

She felt every bitter, acid-tinged word like a blow. "You didn't have a choice, Daryl. You did what you had to do, and I wouldn't have had you do otherwise. I shouldn't have expected you to rescue me. I should have fought Rick and told him the truth and forced him to let me come back. Maybe I could have helped. Maybe if I'd been there Hershel wouldn't be dead."

"And maybe if you'd been there, you'd be dead, too." His shoulders sagged, and it was all she could do not to reach out to him and try to soothe the guilt he carried.

After a few moments he sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "I meant to come. I would have. It all went to hell so quick. One minute I'm hearin' you're gone, the next there's a tank at our gates and we're fightin' for our lives. There wasn't time. I'm so sorry. I didn't even know where to start lookin'. So every place I been, I left signs for you. I knew you'd understand."

"I did understand, and I do." She smiled sadly and said, "We're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't, Daryl. We make our choices, and we live with them. We just have to keep trying to get it right."

"That sounds more like the warrior woman I know. I was beginnin' to think she'd got lost out there." He patted the ground next to him. "C'mere."

She inched over and leaned against him, his arms coming up to hold her lightly, his forehead resting on the back of her neck. "I been half-sick worryin' about you, darlin'. I ain't really slept since I heard you were gone."

She shifted against him and murmured, "You called me 'darlin'."

"Yeah, so I did. That alright with you?"

"It's more than alright with me, Daryl."