Disclaimer: The Walking Dead belongs to Kirkman & Co. I just play with their toys.

If travel is searching

And home what's been found

I'm not stopping.

Daryl was impressed. Not only did Miguel make a clean kill on the young buck they had been tracking, but he hadn't tossed up his lunch when they'd had to gut it. The boy was a fast learner, and Daryl was confident that once his group left, there would be better meals on the table.

He hadn't wanted to bring Miguel. Not at first. He had spent the previous day on his own, searching out game trails, setting traps and getting a lay of the land their hosts had been living on for the past two months. But between Carol and Trish's gentle prods, he caved and took the kid with him on his second outing. The mouthy brat he had encountered in Atlanta disappeared once they were out of sight of the main compound. Miguel would never be a true outdoorsman, but he had the makings of a good provider for the Vatos.

By the time the two had field-dressed the deer, the sun was threatening to set and it was an hour-long hike back to the main hall. Scavengers were already starting to gather, and he was anxious to get back. "Need to set extra people on watch tonight," Daryl mentioned casually as they crept away from the kill site. "Fresh blood on us might draw walkers."

"Jorge is in charge of security. I'll let him know." Daryl huffed. Jorge had been sniffing around Trish like a pup with his first bitch, and it irritated Daryl to no end. Miguel noticed his reaction and smiled. "Antonio's family was from Atlanta before his mom took off for Miami ten years ago. After la Maquina found him, she wanted him to keep in touch with family here, and Jorge was pretty much all that was left by that time. Cousins, I think. They emailed now and then. We'd get stories about her. That's how we know who she is."

Daryl didn't reply. Family ties, he could understand. Trish had taken care of one of their own, and that had earned their respect. But it still didn't explain…

"You don't need to worry about Jorge," Miguel continued. "She's not the girl he thought she was."

"Meaning what?"

"Antonio painted this picture in his letters that made her out to be a superhero. To a street kid, she sort of is. To us, she's like Carmen Electra or Eva Longoria. Celebrity. But Jorge wasn't ready for who she's become since leaving Miami, and what this world has done to her. You don't have those blinders on. See her for who she is, not who she was. You treat her like a real person, not someone who sits on a pedestal."

Daryl had never considered that perspective. In all of his musings over just why the hell she'd want to be with a man like him, the fact that he didn't know her hadn't factored in. Sure, he teased her about being a "City Girl," but how soft could her life have really been for Trish to survive the apocalypse as long as she had?

As they walked in silence, Daryl's mind drifted back to something else the boy had said. About what the world had done to her. The scars on her wrist. The brand on her shoulder. Surely, he had been referring to whatever monster had been the cause. Daryl shuddered, conjuring the image of Trish bound in some sociopath's basement. Starved. Beaten. Raped.

Damn, he thought. No wonder she hates people.

"If you want her, man, she's yours. But you need to stake your claim."

"What'cha mean by that?" Daryl replied, dragging himself from his thoughts.

"Y'all are leaving, what? Tomorrow? Day after that, maybe?" Daryl nodded. He knew that Trish was feeling better and getting antsy for the road again. Shane and Rick had talked with him about the best time to leave the previous night, and he knew that most of the folks he had been traveling with were ready to be on the move. "Take a chance with her while you still have one. Don't hit the highway with regret hanging over your head."

Laundry had always been her favorite chore. It was quiet. Monotonous. It kept her busy but gave her time to think as well. And Trish had done her fair share of thinking that afternoon.

As expected, Antonio had asked her to stay with the Vatos. She hadn't wanted to tell him "no," but there was no way she could keep herself in one place for long before the urge to keep moving beckoned. The compound was secure enough, for the time being, and Trish was sure others would find their way to it as well. It could be a thriving community in time. This place would be good for the Grimes family, who needed somewhere relatively safe and stable with a baby on the way, or Carol, whose motherly attentions had already won the hearts of several residents.

But Trish knew her future didn't lie in this place. True, she didn't know where it did reside, but the urge to move on overwhelmed the urge to stay now that she was finally feeling well enough to contemplate it. Absently, she grabbed a shirt off the line and folded it, fully aware that mixed amongst her belongings were Daryl's. She hadn't thought anything of it at first, but as she paused to stare at the tattered plaid in her hand, Trish knew that she wasn't following the group. She was following him.

Daryl and Miguel had arrived shortly before dinner, and had wolfed down their meals before disappearing again to wherever they had stashed the deer to butcher it properly. He'd nodded at her briefly from across the room, but otherwise said nothing. Other than the impromptu date two nights past, and the toe-tingling kiss the night before that, Daryl had made no advances while she'd been in bed recovering from her illness. Yet here she was, folding his laundry, debating if that simple act of domesticity meant more than it appeared.

Trish made quick work with the rest of the clothes, packing them into the rucksack she had also brought down to wash and throwing it over her shoulder. The main hall had all but cleared out for the night, but she knew the sentries would be out and it wasn't much of a walk back to the dormitory. Her ears picked up voices once she was out the door, and a glance in their direction had Trish wondering if her thoughts about Daryl had managed to conjure him.

He was talking to Jorge, about what exactly she couldn't tell, but he was covered in blood that still looked to be fresh. She quelled the panic as she remembered he had just butchered a buck, and a second look showed that he was only coated up to his elbows. Daryl dismissed Jorge with a shrug when he noticed Trish, and she stayed rooted to her spot on the porch as he made his way towards her.

"You're filthy," she observed, shifting her weight and raising an eyebrow. His step was much lighter than usual. The time he spent hunting must have lightened his mood, and Trish felt her lips tugging up into a smirk.

"It's worth it," said Daryl, stopping less than an arm's length away. There was light in his eyes that shone even in the dim light of the evening. She was certain she'd never seen it before.

"Hillbilly," she teased, taking a tentative step towards him and testing his boundaries.

"City Girl," he replied, closing the gap further. Her breath hitched ever-so-slightly as she realized Daryl had never gotten this close to her in public.

"You need a shower," commented Trish, wrinkling her nose as the metallic tang of fresh blood assaulted her. He didn't respond with words, and continued to slowly close the distance until he had cradled her head between his hands. Anything further she might have said disappeared when his lips touched hers and his fingers buried themselves into her hair. Then, just as quickly as he had descended on her, Daryl stepped back, a wicked grin spreading across his features. He brushed his thumb across the bridge of her nose, and Trish's eyes widened when she realized he had just smeared the blood on his hands across her face and in her hair.

"So do you," he teased, winking at her before turning on his heel and stalking towards the building.

**Song Credit** "Hunter" by 30 Seconds to Mars

Holy Crapola! Thank you all for your patience in waiting for me to update. 2012 was not kind to me, and Trish's tale sort of fell to the way-side while I dealt with life & worked on other projects. I know this one is fairly short, but there will be some NSFW goodies coming for you in the next one. It might be a few weeks until I can get it to you, but I promise it won't be a 10-month wait like this last one was.