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

A/N: Reviews make me smile.

Issues.

The next morning seemed just like any other with everyone finally back at the camp. Carl was fully recovered for the most part and Daryl… well, he just fought through it. But now everyone was seated around the camp and eating breakfast, just hoping for a nice day for once.

Daryl stabbed at the mess of scrambled eggs on his plate. It beat having to eat whatever they could round up from a can or something in town. Daryl hadn't been able to go out hunting for quite some time now, and even if he could it still wasn't a guarantee that he'd even find anything. Glenn had gone on a couple runs with Maggie into town and they were able to bring back a few things. The group was able to get some eggs from Hershel in a trade for helping out around the farm. Apparently that was once Otis' job. Lori had taken Carl and Leah a couple times to feed the chickens while Shane and T-Dog did most of the wood splitting, preparing for winter. It was the one thing everyone dreaded the most. Perhaps that's why they were desperate to stay with Hershel and his family. They needed his house if they were going to make it through the winter and the farm was just an added bonus.

"Why are there so many different names for the way an egg can be cooked?" Leah blurted as she took a bite.

"What do you mean?" Skyler spoke, beating Daryl to a response.

"Like… scrambled, sunny side up, over easy, hard boiled, poached? But yet it's all still an egg."

"Poached eggs are disgusting," Olivia made a face. "Or at least they look disgusting. All rubbery looking… Blech!"

Skyler smiled at Olivia's remark before answering Leah. "I don't know? I guess someone just thought it would be a good idea."

"Or they were just bored, had nothing better to do," Daryl muttered.

Leah giggled, "I guess so. It's just weird."

"Can't forget deviled eggs. Man, were those things good. If they were made right anyway," T-Dog commented with a smirk.

Skyler couldn't help but laugh now, "Since we're all talking about egg preferences, I think I'd have to stick with over easy. Then you don't have to worry about the yolk running all over the place."

Alex shook his head, "You're crazy! Sunny side up is the best because of the yolk. You can dip your toast and shit into it."

Daryl set his plate down on his lap and rubbing his face, sighing. "Why the hell are we talking about eggs?" He paused, trying to hold back a small grin, "It's obvious the best part of any breakfast is bacon."

Alex and T-Dog chuckled as Alex shook his finger at Daryl. "You know what's up. It's not a complete breakfast unless you have bacon, eggs, and toast."

"Aw, come on, guys… You're making me even hungrier over here—for stuff we don't and probably will never have!" Andrea piped in now. Amy was seated beside her with Lucas on the other side of Amy. They all three looked over in their direction, Lucas trying to hold back a grin as well.

"I want pancakes," Carl mumbled. "Or French toast. Cinnamon rolls…"

Carl's comment had half of the group groaning over foods that they would probably never have again. It seemed like a bit of a harsh reality check but at least it kept the group from an awkward silence for a while.

"Alright, enough with the breakfast talk. We should be thankful for what Hershel has provided us with. Without his farm, we wouldn't have half of the luxuries we have now," Rick spoke up.

"Luxuries…" Andrea shook her head, sighing. "What a joke…"

"This is better than what we had before. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm awfully thankful for something that's actually fresh." Lori set her empty plate down on the ground in front of her as she brushed off her lap.

"Amen to that," Andrew raised his fork before taking another bite.

The group fell silent again after that. The empty plates were beginning to stack up and it seemed as though everyone would be on their way to start off the day doing whatever needed to be done. But Daryl noticed Glenn had taken a stand and he was awkwardly pacing back and forth a bit, fidgeting with the baseball cap. The Asian glanced over at Dale, receiving a nod of some sort of approval.

"Uh, guys…" Glenn began. His voice was rather quiet, just loud enough to be heard from everyone. "So… the barn's full of walkers."

That certainly grabbed everyone's attention.

Skyler and Leah exchanged glances before looking to Daryl. Shane tensed up as he stared Glenn down. Rick and Lori jumped to their feet with Carl following their lead. Andrea, Carol, T-Dog—everyone started to get up now, abandoning the camp and walking towards the barn. Shane took the lead as he approached the barn door, peering in through a crack to see if Glenn was telling the truth.

"You can't tell me you're alright with this," Shane turned back around to face everyone, directing his words at Rick.

"I'm not, but this is Hershel's property and we're guests here, so we will respect that," Rick shot back.

"Look, man. We've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time—" Shane started.

"We can't go!" Rick raised his voice over Shane's.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane paced back and forth.

"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol stepped forward, folding her arms in front of her and pulling her light weight sweater tighter.

Shane rubbed his face, clearly agitated. "I think it's about time we've just considered the other possibilities—"

"We're close to finding her," Daryl stepped forward now. "I just found her damn doll!"

Shane laughed, "Yeah, you found a doll, Daryl. That's what you did. We're no closer to finding her than we were that first day."

"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" Daryl glared at him, taking another couple steps forward. He felt Skyler place a hand on his arm and he quickly shrugged her away without even a glance.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. Been thinking it for a long time now but it's about time we've all faced it!" Shane returned a glare back at Daryl.

"Shane—" Rick warned. "We're not leaving Sophia behind. So just drop it."

But Rick's words went right over Shane's head as he kept going. He paced back and forth getting worked up over the situation, almost laughing at what he thought was ridiculous. It was obvious the whole group was against him because no one spoke up to take his side.

"Let me tell you something… If she saw you out there, all covered in blood and limping, she'd have run in the other direction! For the same reason Andrea took a shot at you!"

"At least you have the decency of telling the truth on that one," Daryl spat, narrowing his eyes. He could tell his comment confused everyone else but Shane knew. Shane was very well aware of what Daryl meant. At least he wasn't that stupid.

"Wait, what's going on?" Amy questioned, searching everyone's face for an answer.

"…Shane?" Lori took a step forward now, her eyes wide with what seemed to be fear.

"Enough," Rick spoke up. "We'll just talk to Hershel, see if we can't get everything situated—"

"What'd you say to me?" Shane closed the gap between him and Daryl, glaring down at him.

"I think you heard me jus' fine." Daryl stood his ground, his words bitter.

And that was all it took to push Shane over the edge—just those few words and he had lost it. Daryl could see Shane clench his right hand into a fist and he had already expected him try and punch him, most likely in the face. But that's where Daryl was wrong.

Shane's fist connected with Daryl's left side, hitting him right where he had impaled himself on that damn bolt. Daryl didn't even take the time to recoil or double over with the pain it shot through him because his anger took over like fucking auto pilot. He threw his fist back at Shane, connecting with his jaw, before they both just started to keep at it throwing punch after punch.

"Shane!—Shane! Stop!"

"Shane, enough!"

"Daryl—"

"Guys, knock it off!"

"ENOUGH!" Rick yelled over everything, stepping between them and throwing his hands out to push both men back by their chests. Lori, T-Dog, and Andrea held Shane back as Daryl noticed Skyler, Carol, and Glenn held him back.

Daryl shrugged everyone off of him, keeping a glare trained on Shane. He realized he was breathing fairly heavy just from the small brawl, his side screaming with a pain that felt like he had just been skewered once again. The son of a bitch took a cheap shot—he definitely got two good punches in, directly to his side. Daryl certainly felt the impact of those punches.

"Let me talk to Hershel!" Rick started back up again. "I'll figure this out."

"Man, what're you gonna figure out!" Shane yelled, pacing again.

Daryl watched Shane's movement and actions. He was almost expecting him to blow up on Rick now. Whatever it was that Rick had said or done to Shane, it must not have exceeded the limit that Shane could tolerate.

Daryl placed a hand over his wound, involuntarily flinching in pain at the slight touch. He cursed under his breath when he realized he could feel the warm crimson liquid that had already saturated his shirt.

"Daryl?—" Skyler immediately stepped in front of him, grabbing his arm and moving his hand out of the way to reveal the blood. This caught everyone's attention except for Rick and Shane, who were still in a heated argument about what to do.

Daryl ripped his arm back out of her grasp, "I'm fine…"

But Skyler didn't leave it at that. No, she had to talk it up to Shane. The one thing Daryl did not want her to do.

Skyler broke Shane and Rick apart, breaking up their argument and walking Shane back a few steps, her voice raised. "What? Is Shane not man enough? You have to start shit with Daryl—fight him while he's injured, and then take a few cheap shots?"

"You best come get this girl," Shane looked back at Daryl. "I ain't kidding."

"Enough! Shane!" Rick yelled.

Daryl stepped forward and grabbed Skyler by the arm while still holding his side. She tried to pull away from his grip but failed as he was much stronger than her, successfully pulling her back towards Leah and Carol.

"You did that on purpose!" Skyler yelled at Shane.

"Skyler," Daryl warned, gritting his teeth. He caught a glimpse of Leah next to him, her face full of fear.

Shane finally bit his tongue and stormed off, back towards camp without another word. It felt as though the tension had lifted and everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.

Rick walked over towards Daryl now, noticing the blood that had soaked through his shirt. He looked concerned. "You need to go see Hershel. See if he can't fix that."

Daryl nodded as he slightly stumbled back, Skyler quickly grabbing a hold of his arm and Rick jumping to grab him if need be, apparently fearing he was going to fall backwards.

"Are you okay to walk?" Rick asked Daryl, though he looked more towards Skyler for an answer.

"I can walk just fine. Why don't ya go figure out what hothead's problem is," Daryl muttered. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he clutched his side and forced his feet to shuffle forward towards the house. Skyler and Leah both rushed to his side, following him. Hershel wasn't going to be happy…

"Hershel!—" Leah called out for the old man once they had made it passed the screen door.

The pain in Daryl's side had only gotten worse since they walked from the barn. He was too hardheaded to let Rick help as he was now leaning on Skyler to keep him upright, gripping the blood soaked portion of his shirt in his fist.

Hershel entered the dining room from around the corner as his eyes were immediately drawn to the blood. He shook his head, "Bring him this way. We'll get him on the bed and I'll stitch him back up."

Skyler helped Daryl back to the room he was in just yesterday. Daryl got himself situated on the bed laying on his right side again as Hershel gathered up everything he was going to need. Leah and Skyler stayed in the room this time though. Skyler sat down in the chair beside the bed and had Leah sit in her lap. Hershel came back into the room with a metal tray full of little odds and ends of things to use on Daryl's reopened wound.

Once Daryl could hear Hershel behind him, he undid the last few buttons on his shirt and pulled it back far enough to expose the saturated gauze covering the exit wound. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to afford Hershel cutting off anymore of his shirts and he'd just have to hope this shirt could come clean. Otherwise he'd have to start planning out a supply run just for damn shirts.

Hershel gently pulled at the tape and removed the gauze, tossing it onto the tray on the nightstand. Daryl glanced down at the wound and cringed. It was inflamed and still bleeding, the majority of the stitches having been ripped out and tore through some of his skin.

"I thought I asked you to take it easy. How exactly did this happen?" Hershel asked as he grabbed a pair of tweezers from off of the tray.

"Shane attacked him," Skyler answered for him. She brushed her hands through Leah's hair, Daryl noticing it must be a nervous tick for her.

"That'll do it…" Hershel sighed. He began to pluck the torn stitches out of Daryl's skin, making him twitch. "I'll do my best at trying to get this stitched back up but I can't make any promises. It looks like Shane's attack did a number on your wound."

"Whatever ya gotta do…" Daryl mumbled. He shut his eyes and waited for Hershel to finish, not wanting to have any sort of conversation at the moment. And only after what felt like fifteen minutes or so did Hershel complete the little procedure, covering the wound back over with a patch of gauze. He had stitched what he could and patched it back up after cleaning it out.

"I'll leave you be in the meantime. But I'm serious. If you want your wounds to heal, you have to rest and not overexert yourself," Hershel explained before he grabbed the metal tray off the nightstand and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Daryl refastened the buttons on his shirt as Leah jumped up off of Skyler's lap and sat on the edge of the bed now.

"I knew I didn't like Shane…" Leah muttered.

"Yeah, that makes two of us," Daryl replied. He glanced over at Skyler who now wore an incredulous look on her face.

"What's really going on? What was all that between you and Shane?" Skyler demanded.

"Don't worry about it. Just mind your own business and keep away from him."

"Daryl, I mean it. This is serious. That guy has some issues and I think we're entitled to know what's going on," Skyler tried again.

"Just drop it," Daryl responded.

"I agree with Skyler. We deserve to know," Leah spoke up.

Daryl sighed and rubbed his face. Leah always had to step into the discussions and make him cave. He had no problem keeping up his stubborn act with Skyler but anytime Leah wanted something, he had to let it slip. He just couldn't deny or ignore her.

No… This time was different. He'd have to bite his tongue on this one. They would be better off not knowing everything that was going on with Shane. If they knew, they would act out on it. They'd act differently around him and draw more attention to themselves. It was only natural. Daryl just had to figure they'd be better off not knowing and just keeping to themselves, staying away from Shane. Daryl would just keep an eye on them to make sure.

"Not about this…" Daryl shook his head. He didn't need Leah knowing that Shane had killed a man in cold blood. He didn't want her to panic over her safety. As long as he was with her, nothing would ever happen.

Skyler sighed in frustration, "I don't understand what the big secret is. He's obviously crazy."

"You don't know the half of it…"