DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: I realize I've been updating almost every day for the past few days. I don't know if I'll be able to keep that up or not but I've enjoyed doing so. The story is just kind of flowing a lot easier now that I have my OCs.

Waiting.

When Leah woke up, she was shocked to see that it was already morning. The sunlight peaked through the blinds covering the single window across from the foot of the bed, the rays casting lines on the hardwood floor. She felt like she had just drifted off to sleep twenty minutes ago though she felt well rested. The soft bed was probably one reason for that.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes before she glanced over towards Daryl. She was a bit surprised to see that he was still sleeping. He had the blanket pulled over his shoulder and half covering his face. She was glad to see him still asleep though because he obviously needed it.

Leah carefully slid off of the bed and tiptoed across the room. When she reached the door, she stared at it, contemplating on how she was going to leave without waking Daryl. The door had a creak to it and Leah was already well aware of that. She slowly turned the doorknob and gently pulled the door open, easing it little by little. It still let out a small squeak, making her look back towards Daryl. She knew she had been successful because he didn't move an inch.

Leah slipped out of the room completely now and pulled the door shut to a crack. She headed out towards the dining room and ran into Hershel drinking a cup of what she presumed to be coffee, seated at the table. She smiled and gave him a small wave, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Hershel bowed his head in a nod. "How is everything?"

Leah shrugged, "Good. Daryl's still asleep. I was able to sneak out without waking him. I was going to go get some clothes for him to change into for when he wakes up."

"That's probably a good idea and I'm sure he'll appreciate that." Hershel took a sip of his coffee. He glanced down at the table before looking back up at her. "I'd usually be reading the newspaper by this time but seeing how the world has come to an end, I guess the only news is whatever we make ourselves."

Leah smiled, "I guess so." She lingered a moment, not wanting to seem rude, before she headed out the front door. She closed the screen door behind her herself so that it didn't slam shut. She wanted to respect Hershel's property and she didn't want to possibly wake anyone. She had no clue what time it was but she could tell it was pretty early. The sun was still coming up over the horizon with a bit of a misty fog to the air.

As she approached the campsite among the patch of trees, she could tell it looked like everyone was up and moving. She immediately spotted Carl and his family. It was the first night that he had been back outside since being shot. Leah thought that sounded terrifying but Carl seemed pretty tough. She was glad he was doing okay. He was the only other kid, same age and everything. He gave her someone to at least hang out with when she didn't want to be stuck with all the adults.

"Hey, Leah," Glenn greeted her, smiling. "How's… Daryl?"

"He's okay. Still sleeping as far as I know," Leah replied.

"That's good. We've all been kind of worried… But we figured no news was good news." Glenn readjusted the baseball cap on his head. "But that's good. Glad to hear."

Leah smiled at him before she headed for Daryl's tent. She climbed in and started digging through everything before she found some clean clothes for him to change into. She hugged the clothes to her chest as she crawled back out and into the open. She noticed Lori, Skyler, Amy, and Olivia were hanging up laundry on a line they had secured stretching from tree to tree.

Skyler smiled at her. She noticed the clothes in her hands and must have realized what she was going to do. "When you come back out here, I'll get you something for breakfast."

Leah nodded and with that, she headed back inside. She passed Maggie and Patricia who were now awake and in the kitchen, Hershel was still seated at the table. Leah made it to the bedroom where Daryl was and slowly snuck back in. He still hadn't moved as she crept across the floor and laid the clothes on the foot of the bed. As she stared down at the shirt she recalled last night.

When Daryl had sat up, she could see a few scars across his chest. It was the first time that she had ever really seen him shirtless—not that she was purposely trying to stare but the scars caught her attention. She tried to ignore them after she saw them. She didn't want to be caught staring and she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. She wondered what they could have been from but decided to try and forget about it all together. She tiptoed her way back out of the room and managed to pull the door closed with minimal sound.

When Leah had returned to the camp, she realized they were setting up to go out and look for Sophia. It was good to know that everyone was going to step up now. Rick had made it clear that no one was to go out alone again—not after what happened to Daryl. She wished he could have enforced that rule yesterday. Glenn paired up with T-Dog and they headed off into the woods. Rick went with Shane in another direction towards the woods. Dale and Andrea were keeping watch. When Leah learned that Andrea was the one who had shot Daryl, she was pissed at her. She didn't understand how Andrea could mistake Daryl for a walker… even though he was pretty messed up yesterday. It still wasn't an excuse.

"Leah!" Carl called out to her, waving his arm in the air to get her attention. "Come on! Come check this out!"

Leah decided to go ahead and follow him. He seemed pretty excited over something and she figured any type of excitement nowadays was worth something. He stopped a little past the RV and bent down in the grass. Leah joined him, bending down beside him to try and see what it was he was looking at.

"Whoa—is that a caterpillar?" Leah bent down even closer to look at it. She couldn't believe Carl had spotted the fuzzy little creature crawling through the tall grass.

"Yeah! I've never really seen one this close before," Carl admitted.

The caterpillar inched along. It looked like it was black with a thick solid orange-ish brown colored band around its middle. Leah felt like she had seen one before when she was younger but she couldn't really remember. All she knew was that she wanted to pick it up and pet up, but she was afraid that maybe it was poisonous or something. Ever since her mom had told her about different types of insects, spiders specifically, she had been rather terrified of anything with more than four legs.

"That's a woolly bear caterpillar you got there."

Leah and Carl glanced up to see Dale leaning over them. He smiled as he bent down in front of them to join in. He placed his hand down in front of the caterpillar and allowed it to crawl onto him.

"It doesn't bite?" Carl asked.

"This little guy? No," Dale shook his head. "Harmless as a butterfly. There's an old folktale that says these little guys can predict the weather…"

"A caterpillar can predict the weather?" Leah raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"Well, the old legend said it had something to do with these stripes. See how there's more black then there is brown? It's said that that means we're expecting a harsh winter. Of course, there's no real proof that it's accurate or anything. It usually tells more about the previous year," Dale explained.

Leah smiled as she watched it begin to crawl up Dale's arm. He scooped it up with his other hand and passed it to Carl. Carl hesitated at first but grinned from ear to ear once its little legs started working their way across his hand.

"That's so neat. How do you know about them?" Leah looked back at Dale.

"Me? I'm old. I just know all sorts of random things," Dale smiled. "But if that's the legend, let's hope it's wrong. I don't know about you but I don't think I want a harsh winter on top of walkers."

When Daryl woke up, he quickly realized he was alone. He was definitely surprised he had slept in. That was something he hardly ever did—even before all of this. He could hear faint voices from outside in the distance telling him that everyone else was already awake.

He managed to roll over onto his back, sit up, and throw his legs over the side of the bed. The pain in his side wasn't too unbearable considering he'd had a bolt pierced through him less than 24 hours ago. He reached up to find where to tear the gauze off of his head and pulled it off slowly, making sure it didn't stick to the wound and rip off any scab that might have formed. The last thing he needed was to walk back out to the camp and still have his head wrapped up.

Daryl got back on his feet and grinned, happy to even be on his feet again. He noticed there was a clean shirt and a pair of pants folded up at the end of the bed before he gathered them up and quickly changed into them. Just as he was fastening the last few buttons on his shirt, there was a knock on the door.

"Yeah," Daryl called out, signaling the okay for whoever it was to enter.

Hershel opened the door and took a couple steps in. If Daryl didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw a slight frown on the old man's face.

"I was going to see how you were doing, but I'm going to guess you're doing just fine."

"Never better," Daryl muttered.

"Just please try to take it easy. With an injury like that, you really shouldn't even be up and moving. If you pull those stitches out… Well, let's just say I'm not going to be too happy and I can imagine you won't be either," Hershel warned.

"I'm fine. Ain't nothing to worry about. I've had stitches before, I know how they work." Daryl paused, "…Thank you though." He figured now was as good a time if any. He'd need to brush up on his thank yous if he was going to be stuck with these people.

Daryl headed back outside and towards the camp. He noticed a few people were missing and who was left seemed to be scattered about. He spotted Alex and Olivia and figured they were his best bet.

"Where's Leah and Skyler?" he approached them, slightly breaking up their little conversation.

"Well, good morning to you too," Alex joked.

"Hey—glad to see you're up and doing okay," Olivia smiled.

Daryl didn't say anymore. He just waited for an answer, which they quickly got from the look he was giving them.

"I think Leah's with Carl. Something about a caterpillar? I don't know…" Alex shrugged.

"Skyler's with Lori and Carol in the RV. I guess they're having some girl talk that I wasn't invited to," Olivia explained.

"The others went looking for Sophia. They should probably be back soon though," Alex added.

Daryl nodded, "Alright. Good to know." He turned on his heels and walked over towards his tent. If everyone was as busy as they sounded, then now was the perfect time for him to try and move their tent. He didn't want to be so close to everyone. He wanted some space and this seemed like the perfect way to get it. When he thought about it, he liked the convenience of being away from everyone and having his own small fire like he had back at the quarry.

"Uhh—what exactly are you doing? Should you even be up?"

Daryl glanced back to see Skyler approaching him. Apparently girl talk was already over.

"Well, I am. Give me a hand with this," Daryl motioned towards the tent.

"And what exactly are you doing with our tent?" Skyler walked over in front of him.

"Moving it, what's it look like? I want some privacy—away from everyone else."

"What's wrong with where it's at?" Skyler narrowed her eyes. "You don't need to be up and walking around, much less hauling the tent off."

"Are you gonna help me or not? I'll just ask Alex otherwise," Daryl ignored her.

Skyler instantly caved, and with her help he was able to move the tent and get everything resituated far enough away from everyone that it no longer felt as suffocating. Personally, he didn't want everyone hassling him about what he should or shouldn't do, or how he was feeling, or making dumb comments. It seemed like Skyler quickly got the memo because she didn't say another word to him afterwards, walking off.

Daryl rubbed his face, making sure he didn't hit the spot where the bullet grazed his temple. And just like it was on cue, Andrea was walking over towards him. Even she looked like she was frowning. What was with people today?

"Hey… how are you feeling?" Andrea started.

"'Bout as good as I look," Daryl muttered.

Andrea forced a smile, "Look… I just wanted to apologize. I feel like shit…"

"Yeah, you and me both," Daryl replied. "But don't worry about it… You were lookin' out for the group. We're good."

"You sure?" Andrea questioned. "That easy?"

"What? You want me to keep it against you? Tell you to keep your guard up 'cause I might attack you when you least expect it?" Daryl scoffed. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay…" Andrea nodded. "Thanks." She began to walk away but Daryl called out to her.

"Hey—you shoot me again, you best pray I'm dead." This got a smile from Andrea as she continued to walk back to the RV.

Daryl already felt tired just from walking around and moving all of their stuff, but he wouldn't admit that to anyone. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about trying to locate where exactly Leah had taken off to with Carl. Carl… He'd have to keep an eye on that kid. He figured they were right about at that age where they'd start to become curious…

Just as he looked over though, he could see T-Dog, Shane, and Rick heading back. He spotted Glenn walking up the stairs to the porch to meet Maggie. Apparently everyone was wanting to make a move.

"Glad to see you back on your feet," Rick spoke as he passed Daryl. Daryl only grunted in response. T-Dog gave him a grin as he passed too, going to join the others. But Shane slowed down. He came to a halt just in front of Daryl, his hands on his hips as usual with a smug look on his face.

"Was thinking about taking some of the group out to practice shooting. Thought I'd run the offer by ya for Skyler and Leah." Shane tilted his head back slightly to make himself have to look down at Daryl, as if it made him feel like he was superior because he used to be a cop.

Daryl raised an eyebrow. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting to hear from Shane's mouth. Regardless, he wanted nothing to do with him. And he definitely didn't want Leah or Skyler around him. "I'll teach 'em myself."

"You sure about that? I'm a trained professional. I know how to handle a gun properly. I could really teach them how to feel safe." Shane badgered on.

"I said I'll teach 'em myself," Daryl shot back at him, narrowing his eyes. Shane had become one man that Daryl learned to keep away from. The crazy looks he seemed to give Rick, killing Otis, the secrecy with Lori, and something was up with him and Andrea. There was probably even more but Daryl couldn't rack his brain to think of them right now. He didn't need someone to tell him that Shane was a little off—he could just read it. Daryl was pretty good at observing things and that included people.

"Fine. Whatever, man. Suit yourself. Just thought I would offer. Hate to see any of the women or kids 'round here not know what they're doing or how to protect themselves…" Shane raised an eyebrow as if he were waiting for Daryl to give him the okay. He should have known better than that.

"You done?" Daryl folded his arms in front of his chest.

Shane raised his hands in the air, "Alright, alright. I'm just saying it would be a damn shame if something happened… with you being injured and all."

Daryl was about to start yelling at Shane to mind his own damn business but Leah had joined his side, making him bite his tongue and swallow his words. It was probably for the better. If things would have kept going like they were, he probably would have let Shane have it—he would have called him out on everything, and Daryl didn't see how that could end well. So really, he was thankful Leah interrupted them.

"What's going on? Something about guns?" Leah glanced back and forth between the two of them.

"We'll talk later. C'mon," Daryl shot Shane one last glare before he placed a hand on Leah's back and directed her away from him. Shane finally took the hint and left.

"What was Shane talking about?" Leah tried again, looking up at him.

"Later," Daryl dismissed the topic of Shane. He didn't want to see him nor talk about him right now. "What were you up to with Carl?"

This seemed to hit the right spot as Leah lit up, grinning. "Carl found a caterpillar. Dale told us it was a woolly bear caterpillar. It was neat. And he told us some old legend about its stripes and winter."

"Stripes and winter? Interesting…" Daryl scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah. I got to hold it and everything. Dale said they turn into moths. We were going to find a little box to keep it in but we decided to just go ahead and let him run free."

Daryl nodded, "That's probably for the best."