Okay, I think something was missed here! I did a double update, but for some reason the first chapter didn't appear right away so a lot of people missed chapter 27 and went right to 28. Sometimes, I hate this website! Please go back and read chapter 27 – Chain Link, if you have not already done so. It'll make this much easier to understand.

Wait For Me

The length of the camp didn't seem long enough for her as she paced endlessly; her eyes looked from the farmhouse, to the barn and to the driveway leading to the road. Jamie didn't know what to do, what to believe. There was so much to think about now that the truth about the barn had come out and she found herself feeling sick. She loved the solitude of staying on the farm; it was a safe place to lie down at the end of the day without the worry that you could be eaten.

At least they had thought it was a safe place.

She wanted the walkers gone, but if Hershel thought of them as sick people, he would never let them kill them and then it was just too unsettling to stay. She didn't trust that old, rickety building to keep the walkers in place any more than a sheet of paper. There was no chance that they would be staying in there. And she also knew that there was never going to be a cure. It was a heartbreaking fact, but how can you cure something that's already dead? It's not like you can restart their hearts and suddenly they won't have skin rotting off their very bones.

"Too much to think about, isn't it?" Glenn asked from the roof of the RV. Jamie looked up to him once before continuing her pacing, a hand moving to cover her mouth as she thought. "Are you sure you should be pacing like that? I can't be good for your leg."

"I'm fine," she called, even though he was right. Her leg hurt more than it had for a while and it wasn't a smart thing to continue with putting it through so much. Sitting around wasn't an option, though. She hated having to just sit around and because she knew that there wasn't much she could do she felt that she at least had to move.

"Come on, Jay, you'll just set yourself back in your healing," Glenn tried to reason, taking a momentary break in his lookout to attempt at swaying her thoughts. She didn't break from her concentrated state, though, and he let out a sigh.

Looking over through the landscape again, he paused when he caught sight of Daryl marching toward the campsite, looking pissed. He swallowed thickly and acted as though he couldn't see a thing, but knew that Daryl was well aware he could be seen. Jamie, however, didn't take notice of her fiancé and instead continued her own march. She was leaving a track across the ground, pushing aside stones, leaves and twigs to reveal the compact dirt beneath.

She turned back when she ran out of room and began making her way back across the camp again when Daryl stepped into her path, halting her movements. She was finally broken from her thoughts at the look on his face, angered and upset. She opened her mouth to ask him what the problem was, since she was sure that he would have been off doing something after Shane's dig about Sophia, but the words were stopped when he pushed his shoulder into her stomach and stood, leaving her draped down his back.

"Daryl!" she gasped out, taking fistfuls of his shirt to hold her torso up but was mindful not to grab near the arrow wound. He turned on heel and marched away from the camp, leaving a baffled Glenn behind on the roof of the RV. "What the fuck, Daryl? Put me down!"

"I will," he grumbled back, not saying anything further. Jamie rolled her eyes immaturely, wincing when his shoulder dug into her gut and sent pain through her abdomen. She wasn't sure where they were going, but she knew that he wouldn't be putting either of them in any danger. Instead, she watched as the dirt changed to grass beneath his feet, moving along toward the forest.

"Daryl, where are we going?" she asked after a couple of minutes of him walking, her stomach beginning to throb in pain. No matter how much muscle she had accumulated over the years it still hurt to have him digging a bone joint into her intestines. The blood was beginning to rush to her head, as well, and it was making her dizzy. "Daryl," she started, but wasn't able to finish when he put her back down on her feet, careful of the shock on her knee.

"Can't get any damn peace up there," he grumbled out, not entirely directed at her. Jamie looked around them in that instant, noticing that they were off to the back of the property, away from prying eyes but still close enough that they wouldn't have much to worry about if they ran into trouble. Jamie noticed that Daryl wasn't carrying his crossbow.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked hesitantly, moving to lean against a tree. She took his hand gently and guided him to stand before her, but he didn't stop there and was soon leaning his hips against hers with his hands on the tree behind her. Her body heated at the familiar presence and her heart began to beat faster within her chest, giving her skin a beautiful flush beneath her tan.

"I'm not going to give up," he announced, surprising her. That was not what she had been expecting. She didn't say anything, though, and simply let him continue on with what he was saying. It wasn't often that Daryl felt the need to explain his actions or his thoughts. "Not on you, or that little girl. Carol isn't sure if it's…if anythin'…" he kept trying to get the right things out, but the words wouldn't come forward the way he wanted them to.

Jamie placed her hand over his lips gently, silencing his words. He stopped trying to get the words to come when he felt her skin caress his lips, closing his eyes a moment as Jamie leaned her head against his, her forehead slipping against his because of the sweat that had accumulated there. Daryl's hand removed hers from his mouth before his lips caught hers in a soft kiss, the hair of his goatee scratching her chin and making her smile. Who would have guessed that the irritating feel of facial hair was something she enjoyed?

"I can understand why she would say that," Jamie whispered softly, stroking his cheek with her fingertips. "Every time we seem to get a lead we're shot back down and I can imagine that she can only take so much of that. Maybe, for her, giving up is easier," she explained, pressing a second kiss to his lips and offering a sad smile.

"It's her daughter," he growled out, his hands moving to hold her hips in a tight grip. "She shouldn't give up like that!"

"I know," Jamie agreed with a sad smile. "Just stay with her, give her what she needs; hope. Don't let what Shane says do a damn thing. You are not your brother; you are strong, independent and a hell of a lot better person than Shane; cop history be damned. Sophia wouldn't run away from you, Daryl. She trusts you to keep the group safe; she's probably more afraid of Shane than of you." Daryl's head fell to rest on her shoulder as she was talking, her hands messaging his back as his thumbs rubbed circles against her hip bones.

"You'd never run from me."

Jamie smiled and turned her head toward him and whispered slyly against his ear, "every hunter loves a good chase."

A sharp nip against her neck was her answer, drawing a hiss from her as she inhaled sharply through her teeth. Daryl grinned masochistically against her throat, pulling at her hips to press her body against his own. They both groaned at the contact, clutching desperately at the other. Refusing to wait any longer, Jamie's hands slipped beneath Daryl's shirt and began to trace the dips and curves created by his muscles with her fingertips.

"I'm fairly certain that Hershel would consider this a strenuous activity," Jamie teased as her hands began to slide up his front, undoing the buttons to his shirt in the process. Daryl's only reply was to push her back against the tree with his hips and attack her lips again, his teeth biting her flesh and his hand pushing into her hair. She had him stripped of his shirt before long, her fingers gliding along his torso; not one scar was left untouched as she pushed her lips back against his.

"Seriously," he rasped out, his hands pushing her shirt up as his hips kept hers pinned, "Don't. Care."

Jamie couldn't stop herself from laughing as she was pushed down onto the forest floor gently, her butt resting on Daryl's thighs as his hands began to tug at the waist her sweatpants. She pulled her shirt off on her own, exposing the bra that she had been given when her sports bra was deemed destroyed. The humid air was nearly too much, only worsening their already heated bodies.

Daryl paused for but a moment as he looked over the quickly healing welts that were caused by trees and other elements of nature, barely even red scratches left visible on her skin. His hands caressed them lightly, kissing at the red mark that remained on her neck. She was still perfect; in whatever condition she was in he knew that she was always going to be the same. She was his; to love, hold and protect.

Using her core muscles, Jamie pulled herself up enough to grab a hold of his hair and tug him down to lie on top of her, pressing her further into the ground and begin a new play of lips and tongues between them. She kept one arm wrapped firmly around his neck, keeping him in place so that he couldn't pull away again while her other hand moved to the belt of his pants. A startled gasp left her lips, though, when he suddenly pulled on the underside of her pants and pulled them up along her thighs to bare her to him.

Her head fell back into the dead leaves that covered the ground—surely getting many of them tangled in her loose hair—and gave up on trying to attack his belt as he took over the process. His lips moved to her neck again, moving along her newly exposed skin to remind himself of just what if felt like. Gasps and moans were torn from her throat at the feelings that were shooting through her, like electricity dancing along her skin. "Daryl."

"I gotcha," he whispered against her collarbone, sounding more sincere than she thought she had ever heard. Her entire body trembled in such a lack of control, all of the pain that she had been feeling slowly flowing away. The endorphins that were rushing through her blood were too much, completely blocking everything else out and just letting her be.

She cried out blissfully when she felt him press into her, her back arching off the ground and forcing her body up against his sweat slicked stomach. He caught her in another kiss to quiet her and began to thrust, bringing tears to her eyes at the feeling. There was nothing that could compare to when they were together, no moment or feeling. Everything was so unique that Jamie could never contain herself. "Don't stop, never stop," she begged against his lips, her nails digging into his back.

His rhythm sped up at her words, his hands moving to clutch at the dirt beneath them, his face pressed into the crook of her neck. Not wanting to hurt him too much, one of Jamie's hands sought purchase on the tree they had been leaning against, her fingernails scratching at the bark as she held on for what seemed for dear life. Daryl freed one of his hands to reach up at remove her other from his back, folding his fingers around her palm and keeping a strong grasp on her.

Her good leg tightened around his hip, pressing him further into her as she gasped for air. There was not enough air, there was no oxygen. The pleasure that rippled through her body left her tingling and light headed, but she wanted more. Never could she ever have enough; there would never be a time when she could deny him or deny herself.

"Fuck," Daryl swore against her shoulder and Jamie knew that she didn't have to wait anymore and was soon holding her breath, her face pressed into his shoulder and her hand once more gripping at his back, her own holding onto his in a white-knuckle grip. His weight pressed down on her and forced her to breathe again, bringing her back to herself. The cool air that blew through the trees chilled the sweat on their skin and allowed them to relax into a peaceful moment.

"I don't want to go back, yet," Jamie admitted softly after a couple of minutes, distracting herself by stroking her nails along Daryl's spine. He would shiver against the feel every now and again, but never once left their intimate embrace.

"I ain't movin'," Daryl declared softly, but loud enough for Jamie to hear him. She paused her stroking for a moment when she heard the sound of tears in his voice, unsure of whether or not she was right, before she resumed her movements and pressed a ghost of a kiss against his sweat slicked shoulder.

"Neither am I—I promise."

Silence fell between them again, only the sounds of the window through the trees and the various woodland creatures breaking the calm. The sun touched their skin every now and again when the tree branches moved in the wind and left a window of space for the light to shine through the leaves. It was so quiet and blissful that it was almost as though nothing was wrong; it gave them a moment to block out the world and pretend that they weren't fighting for their very lives. They would eventually have to go back to camp and face reality, leaving behind the illusions of serenity and normality.

Jamie's hand soon moved up from along his back to begin stroking through his hair, pulling the wet strands through her fingers. "I love you." Daryl was silent in reply, but his grip on her hand tightened for a moment.

"Angel," he started hesitantly, making her pause again. He pulled himself up from her body slowly, leaving her at a loss as she began to miss the warmth of his body again. "Would you have wanted kids before all this?" he asked suddenly, taking her by surprise. That's what he's been thinking about? If she would have wanted kids?

"In truth; not really." Her answer must have surprised him because his eyes widened slightly and he opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out as he changed his mind last second. She smiled endearingly and lifted her hand to stroke her thumb on his cheek. "I'm not really a kid liking person. Sure, they're cute when it's someone else's kid but I don't think that I'd be cut out for taking care of one of my own. I enjoy my own time too much; wouldn't have that with a child. Besides, that would mean no more wild kitchen sex."

"Are you being serious or are you just saying that because it's what you think I want to hear?" Daryl asked, keeping her eyes looking into his. Jamie laughed, licking her dried lips and shaking her head in amusement.

"Daryl, when have I ever told you something because it's what you want to hear?" she challenged, getting a smirk back on his face as he nodded.

"True."

It was hours before they finally left their refuge, even then still reluctantly, and made their way back toward the camp. They were both beginning to feel the effects of what they had done, Jamie limping slightly more harshly while Daryl was forced to slow himself when his side began to ache and throb with every breath he took. However, they would never regret what they had done.

Jamie paused when she spotted Carol taking down some of the clothes that had been hung up to dry, folding them up and placing them in piles by who owned each item. Jamie took Daryl's hand to halt his movements, drawing his eyes down toward her. "You should talk to her," she encouraged softly, motioning over to the mother.

Daryl paused for a moment, his eyes moving over to Carol for a moment before he returned his attention to Jamie and nodded his head. He bent forward and gently placed a kiss against her forehead, lingering for a moment, before he pulled away to move over to the other woman. Jamie smiled softly as she watched them walk off before she limped her way over to the chairs surrounding the fire pit, wishing for nothing more than rest for her abused leg.

"Have fun?" Glenn asked as he walked up beside where she was sitting, stopping in his trek up to the RV. Jamie fell down into one of the chairs with a groan of satisfaction, straightening her leg out before her to try and relieve some of the pain. She didn't look annoyed by his words, but she also did not feel like talking about her escape from reality.

"What's this I hear about a drug store…?" Jamie asked, leaving the question to hang as she looked up to Glenn. Her payback for his teasing worked as a blush rose to his cheeks, his eyes moving to the ground. She laughed softly and patted him on the leg to assure that she was only joking. "Take a seat, kid."

"You're not about to give me some motherly advice or something, are you?" Glenn asked worriedly as he looked down at the woman in the chair. Her cheeks were flushed slightly and there were a couple of barely visible leaves in her hair. It didn't take a genius to guess what had happened after Daryl had appeared out of nowhere and abducted her from the camp, carrying her off toward the trees. He wouldn't mention anything, though, because they both deserved that much.

"Would you rather swap stories?" she returned, only causing his blush to deepen before he fell into the chair next to hers and force a laugh from her lungs. "Good choice. Now, what the hell is going on with you?"

Jamie sat with him for a while, listening as he explained in hushed tones what had happened with Maggie in town, all the times they had gone, and then the evening that she and Daryl had been bedridden and he had found the walkers in the barn. She didn't interrupt, barely even nodding her head in acknowledgment. She wasn't really going to say anything and Glenn knew it, but he was also aware that it felt so good to tell someone everything, start to finish. Before long, he was like a broken dam gushing water.

There was only one thing that made her stop him. "Wait, Lori's pregnant?" she asked quietly, straightening up and looking concerned. Glenn nodded his head hesitantly, wondering if it had been wrong to add in that part. "Fuck, that's one decision I would not want to make." She motioned for him to continue, falling silent once more.

"I just don't know what to do with all of this," Glenn admitted as he ran his hands through his hair slowly. Jamie frowned in sympathy before she straightened up in her chair a second time, leaning toward him so that there was no chance anyone else could hear.

"You can't change yourself to make her happy, Glenn. But it sounds like you're very aware that she is right as well, you can't keep acting as the dummy for everyone, letting them use you as walker bait. If she cares about you then it'll break her heart to lose you. She's coming from a good place, even if she's gone the wrong way about it. Did she really break an egg on your head?"

"She put it in my hat and then crushed it in the hat; while the hat was on my head," he explained, closing his eyes at the disgusting memory. Jamie couldn't stop herself from laughing softly, trying to picture Glenn with egg dripping down his face.

"You need to confront her, Glenn. So far it's all been about why she did what she did, but maybe it's time things became why you did what you did. You want her safe; tell her that. Tell her about why you do the things you do; tell her about the time you saved Rick and myself while in that tank." Glenn nodded his head as he listened to her, not expecting to hear something like that from someone that was with Daryl all the time. "And this is your chance," she continued, motioning behind him. Glenn turned sharply to see that Maggie was making her way along the path toward the house, carrying a basket of crops.

"Thank you," he said hurriedly to Jamie before leaping from his seat and rushing off to catch up with Maggie, calling her name. Jamie smirked to herself as she relaxed back into place and crossed her bag leg over her good one with her arms draped over her stomach.

"I should have been a counsellor," she mumbled to herself, looking up at the tops of the trees that canopied their camp. Truthfully, she wasn't sure she wanted to stay on the farm. Sure, it was a great place to stay at the end of a day and it was more secure than anywhere else they had been. However, it wasn't safe to settle down anymore, because there was always going to be the danger of drawing attention to that one place. Moving around prevented that from happening. That was another reason she didn't want to stay with Morgan and Duane. She tried to convince Morgan to move on, but he wasn't ready and there was no way she could press him.

Too bad peace seems to last for very short periods of time in that camp.

Hopefully, the site doesn't miss my chapters again, it's extremely irritating. Also, please answer the question that I asked at the end of 27, it would help me out a lot and I'm running out of time! Just because I'm not updating doesn't mean I'm not writing the chapters. Where I am in writing, they've already met Randal. So…you might want to start reviewing… *nudge, nudge*:P

Next chapter's got some drama between Lori and Jamie!

Chapter 30 – Lanterns to the Sky

"It's a fair question!" she defended.

"For who?" Jamie asked back, looking at Lori like she was insane. "I love my fiancé, I would never cheat on him. Just because you cheated on your husband, whether you thought he was dead or not, doesn't give you any fucking right to assume anyone else would do that." Lori didn't say anything more, leaving her eyes on the ground as Jamie glared at the top of her head. She scoffed after a moment and turned to leave, her strides long and her body tense. "Un-fucking-believable."

She made her way around to the front of the house, seeing that several others were hanging around there as well. Glenn was sitting with Maggie, looking comfortable. He smiled to her when he saw her, dissipating her dark mood slightly and allowing her to smile back. At least someone was happy. She looked over to the barn, watching as Andrea and T-Dog began to make their way back toward the house.

"What's going on here?" she finally asked, looking down to Glenn and Maggie. She hadn't really had time to get to know Maggie, but she trusted her.