Hey guys! Sorry for not posting! I was at a sleepover with my best friends so I couldn't write! Anyways, thanks for the views, follows, favorites, and reviews! Remember I love hearing from you guys! Also, I finished my Wattpad story so I'll be able to post more but, DUN DUN DUN! My air conditioning in my room went out so I officially have no privacy so I may not be able to type as much as I want. This whole fan fiction thing is my dirty little secret that no one in my family knows about because if they knew, I know I would get made fun of till the day I die. I'm still going to type it just might be a little hard with my family breathing down my neck. Thanks and as always, happy reading!

Chapter 20: The First Date

It was the next morning and they had just moved Daryl into their tent after some resistance. It wasn't that long for Brooke to figure out he was already going stir crazy. Brooke left to go find Shane and Andrea walked into their tent with a book. She was still beating herself up for shooting Daryl even though Brooke reassured her it was okay. She saw Shane by the, as she called it, the soccer mom car.

"Hey Shane!" Brooke greeted.

"Hey baby girl! How's Daryl?" he asked.

"He's fine just being ornery." She replied. "Why are you packing all those guns?"

"I'm taking Andrea out shooting today. She's pretty good but she had a scope and only grazed Daryl's head. She needs better aim." He smirked.

"So you're training her to be your assassin?" Brooke joked.

"I didn't mean it that way!" he defended.

"Relax, I know what you mean!" she giggled and saw Andrea coming from behind. She gave Shane a hug. "You be careful out there. You too Andrea." Andrea nodded and they continued packing. Brooke walked back to her tent and saw Lori giving Glenn yet another firm talking to. She pursed her lips and saw Carl coming towards her. "Hey handsome!"

"Aunt Brook, Shane, can you teach me how to shoot?" he asked and Shane came up behind her.

"Um, I don't know." She said.

"You know what we'll ask your mom and dad if we can." Shane said. Carl nodded and walked away. Brooke saw Shane's face and was concerned.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Look in his belt." He muttered. Brooke saw a loaded handgun.

"How the hell did he get that?" she gasped. "We have to tell Lori and Rick." Shane nodded and they walked over to Lori who was talking to Dale.

"Lori, Carl just asked us if we could teach him how to shoot. When he walked away I saw one of the handguns in his belt." Shane said. Lori's jaw clenched and she looked down at the ground.

"Where the hell did he get a gun?" she asked.

"The other day he asked to go get in the RV so he could get a walkie-talkie. He may have grabbed it while he was inside." Dale confessed.

"So on top of all this shit, he lied." Brooke concluded. "Carl!" she called and Carl came running back. She looked at Lori and Rick came running. Shane filled him in on what happened.

"Why did you steal this gun?" Rick asked taking the gun away from Carl. Carl hung his head in shame.

"I wanted to help out." He said. "I wanted to help find Sophia and protect the camp."

"He wants to learn how to shoot." Shane said.

"We can teach him." Brooke offered.

"I can't do all that stuff without a gun." Carl muttered. Brooke could tell Lori thought the idea was unacceptable but Rick nodded. Lori thought for a little longer and nodded.

"I'll give him a lesson today while you go out with Andrea." Brooke told Shane. Shane nodded and he and Andrea left. "Alright handsome, let me go get my gun." She said and ruffled his hair. She walked over and she began to hear snipping noises coming from the tent. She got closer and saw an arrow head going through the net. "Daryl!"

"What? I'm bored." He defended.

"So read that book! I have two others in my bag just don't destroy our home!" she said and grabbed her gun.

"What're you doin'?" he asked.

"I'm going to teach Carl how to shoot." She said. "I'll be back pretty soon." She said and gave him a kiss. "Love you and don't ruin our house!"

"No promises and love you too!" he called and smacked her butt out of the tent. She squeaked and walked on. She heard Daryl snicker and the snipping began again.

"UGH!" she huffed and walked back. She made sure the other arrows were out of his reach. She reached over and gripped the other arrow. "Give me the arrow!"

"You gonna make me?" he mocked and smirked. Brooke did the opposite of what he wanted and twisted his arm. Not enough to be hurting him but just enough to make him wince. His grip loosened on the arrow and she took it.

"Yep, I'll be back soon." She grinned triumphantly and kissed his cheek. She walked away to get Carl and they went into the woods. No matter how bored Daryl was he didn't want to bring that boring book that Andrea brought him. He laid there for a little bit and thought about Brooke. Their first date was his most successful date he'd ever had. In fact, all of their dates were the best they had both ever been on.

It was early in the morning after Meemaw's funeral and the light was shining through the windows. Daryl woke up due to the amount of light. It didn't help that he was facing the window. He looked down and saw Brooke huddled against his chest. He was holding her by her back and one of her arms were around his waist and her other hand was holding his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up and stretched a little.

"Morning." She greeted warmly and propped up on her elbow. He did the same.

"Morning, darlin'." He replied and she smiled. She leaned over and kissed him firmly. "How'd you sleep?"

"Very good, you?" she asked.

"Good." He said. It was silent after that. Not for very long but neither of them knew what to say. "So, uh, what are you doin' tonight?" he asked.

"Well, today I'm meeting the girls to go shopping but we usually end around four. After that, I have nothing." She said.

"Well how about we go out tonight?" he smiled and rubbed her arms. "Just you and me."

"Daryl Dixon, are you asking me out on a date?" she asked and he blushed.

"Yeah, I finally am."

"That sounds lovely." She said. "What are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise." He said.

"You have no idea do you?" she asked.

"I'll think of somethin'." He said and she laughed. "You'll like it though, I promise." He put his hand behind her head and pulled her in for another kiss.

"Okay, I'm gonna go fix us some coffee." She said and got up. He admired her curves as she stood up and she looked behind her and caught him looking. She wasn't fat and she wasn't skinny. She had the perfect amount of meat on her bones. "Like what you see, Dixon?" she giggled and put on her hot pink, short, cotton robe. She walked into the kitchen and fixed their coffee. They drank their coffee and said goodbye. He had to figure out where they were going for their first date. He walked into his house and finally thought of something brilliant.

"Hey baby brother!" Merle greeted but just looked at him. "You look even more stupid than usual. What's goin' on?"

"Nothin' Merle." He said and put his keys on the table.

"So, did you do her right?" Merle asked and Daryl rolled his eyes. "Come on baby brother, you've been wantin' to get in her pants since you were 19."

"Merle shut up!" Daryl huffed and he continued to plan their first date. He drove to her new little house that she rented and went up to the door. He wore a light blue button up shirt with the sleeves, of course, rolled up, jeans, and some hunting boots. She opened the door and she was wearing a dark purple dress that came just above the knee and black flats. He handed her the Daisies he had bought and they got into the truck. She was blindfolded and walked into a store. He took off the blindfold and she laughed.

"You took me to the café!" she smiled. He had arranged it so that they were the only ones in the store. There were no tables set up though. She gave him a confused look and he led her outside. There was a single table in the middle of the patio. The twinkle lights were set up and he pulled out a chair for her. She sat down and in front of them were red velvet slices and peppermint tea.

"So how did I do?" he asked.

"It's wonderful!" she said. They sat down and talked, joked, and had the perfect date. They were both so afraid that it would be awkward but everything just came together perfectly.

Daryl snapped out of his memory and reached for the book. He saw the arrows but they were just out of his reach. He would find a way somehow.

In the woods

"Alright, now aim and once you think you can shoot the bulls eye, pull the trigger." Brooke instructed. Carl took a deep breath and fired the gun but he missed the bulls eye. He groaned in frustration. "It's alright, handsome." She cooed. "It took me a long time before I could hit the center."

"Don't call me handsome." He grumbled.

"Why?" she asked in shock. "It's never bothered you before."

"Well it does now!" he snapped back. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Wait, Carl! Is this what this is about?" she asked and Carl looked down at the ground. "Come here." She said and sat down in the grass. He followed her instructions. "Carl, honey, just because you're in this new situation it doesn't mean that you have to grow up. You're still a kid no matter what you say."

"But I need to grow up, Aunt Brooke." He said.

"Listen to me, you don't need to. You may have to learn to shoot a gun but that doesn't mean you have to grow up now. Trust me; you do not want to grow up too soon. I had to for a person that was close to me and I want my childhood back so badly. I had to become an adult too fast and I regret that so much. Promise me that you'll enjoy being a kid as long as you can." She said.

"I promise." He said and kissed her cheek. She fixed his hat.

"Alright, let's head back handsome." She replied. "Oh, and like my father said to me when I had my first lesson, this is not a toy it is a weapon." She quoted and he nodded. When they were back at the camp, Maggie was super upset with Lori and threw a box at her.

"Go get your own damn medicine next time and stop putting Glenn's life in danger!" Maggie said and stormed off. Lori stayed quiet and Brooke motioned for Carl to go play with Rudy. Rudy was just done herding the livestock. She heard car doors slam and she looked over to see Shane and Andrea getting out of the soccer mom car. Shane had a stupid look on his face and the same went for Andrea. Brooke knew that look because he gave it to most of his "girlfriends". Brooke had a look of disgust and saw Dale's look of suspicion. He walked towards Brooke and pulled her aside.

"Is Shane okay?" Dale asked and Brooke chuckled.

"Um, yeah especially now." She joked.

"Not about that. I'm afraid that he's done something wrong." He said and Brooke's jaw clenched.

"Dale, what do you mean?" she asked.

"I think he may have killed Otis." Dale said. "Before you get mad, it's just the details are very vague and nothing seems to fit together."

"Listen, my brother…" she thought for a moment. "My brother is a very sweet guy but he has a temper." She warned. "Please, just stay out of this."

"So he did kill Otis?" Dale asked.

"I never said that, just please stay out of it. For your own good." Brooke pleaded. Dale nodded but Brooke knew he wouldn't stay out of it. He walked away but he walked towards Shane. Brooke ran a hand through her hair. She walked back to her tent and Daryl was reading the book that Andrea gave him. She walked in and laid down next to him. She was on the verge of tears because she knew Shane was changing from the brother she once knew.

"Hey, how did it go?" he asked and she saw that he was actually intrigued in the book.

"How did what go?" she asked. "Oh, the lesson! I had a talk with Carl. He felt like he needed to grow up but I think the talk smoothed him over." Daryl nodded and put down the book. He turned a little and kissed her cheek. She sighed and held him.

"What's goin' on?" he asked. "I can tell somethin's wrong."

"It's nothing just…" she thought about something to cover up what was really wrong. "Shane and Andrea did it in the soccer mom car." Daryl burst out laughing but had to hold his side.

"Oh shit! Really?" he howled and that got Brooke laughing.

"Yeah, he had that look on his face." She replied. She felt a lump under him and pulled out an arrow. She gave him a pointed look and he grinned. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"No matter how much you twist my arm, I will have my way." He grinned.

"I guess I'll have to change that." She said and rolled on top of him. A little while later after their time together she cleaned herself up and walked out to get him some dinner that Dale had made. "Hey Dale!" she smiled and Dale nodded his head. "What's up?" she asked concerned.

"Brooke please be careful." He said quietly.

"What?"

"Just do it." He said and gave her a plate. "I'll have your plate ready when you come back." Brooke nodded and walked away. She gave Daryl his plate and walked back out.

"Hey Baby Girl!" Shane greeted and gave her a side hug.

"Oh, hey Shane!" she replied.

"So what did Dale tell you?" he asked and Brooke heart raced. Was this what Dale was talking about?

"He just told me my plate would be ready when I came back." She replied.

"Ok, I was just wonderin'." He said and walked on. "Oh and earlier today! Did you tell Dale about Otis?"

"No." she said and it was the truth.

"Good. I wouldn't want anything to happen." He said but his look was pointed back at the tent. He playfully smacked Brooke's arm with a smile and walked away towards the group.

"Oh God…" she said to herself. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this secret much longer. Someone would find out and Shane would blame her then he would hurt Daryl. "What happened to him?" she asked herself but her eyes got wide. "Lori." She walked to eat dinner and Rudy walked over. He put his head on her lap and whined. He always could tell when Brooke was upset. She smiled and patted his head. She walked back to her tent and so did everyone else. Daryl was already asleep and she kissed his forehead. She felt tears coming to her eyes and she laid down. She turned her body so that she was facing away from him. If he was going to be safe, she needed to stay quiet.