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

A/N: So I lost a follower on this story… But then I gained three. Not sure how that works but I'm okay with it. Thank you. I just wish I could get you little boogers to leave some feedback. ;)

The Price We Pay.

By the time morning rolled around, Daryl realized that Skyler and Leah were already awake and gone. He shook his head in disbelief. How in the world did he not wake up sooner?

As Daryl exited the room he found Olivia headed for the stairs. She casted him a slight smile before she headed downstairs to join the others. Daryl meant to follow but was stopped by Rick.

"Daryl, can I have a word with you?"

Daryl walked towards where Rick was standing further down the hall and away from the staircase. He tried to read the man's body language but all he could tell was that he was exhausted.

"About what happened last night… I just wanted to thank you. Again," Rick paused. "For taking care of Shane when I should have been the one to do it. I should have seen it coming."

Daryl shrugged, "What's done is done. No big deal now, just water under the bridge. We all did what we had to do."

"Well, thank you," Rick placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder, giving a small reassuring squeeze before walking passed and heading downstairs. Lori and Carl exited from their room now. Lori smiled in passing, her hand rested on her belly as she and Carl took off after Rick.

Daryl couldn't help but notice everyone seemed to be turning to him a lot more and even smiling. He wasn't sure what to think of it. How he saw it, he felt like it was partially his fault that Amy died. He had been the one to grab the gun when Shane shot it, ultimately leading that bullet straight to Amy… He shrugged it off for the time being, knowing it wouldn't do him any good to sit and dwell on it now, and headed downstairs with the rest of them.

Once everyone was up and moving, Rick had called everyone together for an announcement of the sorts. Everyone gathered around in the rather large dining room, a handful of the group still looking like they were half asleep.

"What's going on?" Carol asked, hugging Sophia in front of her as she glanced back and forth among everyone.

"I have something that I need to tell everyone. Something I should have explained a while back," Rick began, placing his hands on his hips. "I didn't know it was true until I heard about what happened to Randall… Glenn and Daryl found him as a walker. He had turned but he hadn't been bit."

"Turned but not bit? What do you mean?—How is that possible?" Beth questioned.

"When we were at the CDC, Jenner told me something. I didn't want to believe him. I didn't want to say anything in case it was false. But the incident with Randall proves it… We're all infected." Rick jumped right to it, taking the whole room by surprise. Well, everyone except for Daryl, seeing as Rick had already told him.

"We're… infected?" T-Dog repeated, staring hard at Rick. "But how does that…?"

"Randall had his neck broke. Shane killed him and he came back as a walker," Daryl explained further.

"And you—you kept this from us?" Lori turned on her husband, her mouth agape. She blinked a few times, shaking her head before she pulled Carl close.

"I couldn't risk telling everyone unless I knew it was true. Would you really rather of had me tell this to you all without knowing?" Rick looked out at everyone but no one said a word.

Everyone fell silent as the room grew awkward. Rick's words hung in the air and no one had any clue what to say. It was definitely a surprise—and he'd even go as far to say it was a wakeup call too. No one was safe.

After the group dispersed and made themselves scarce once Rick had finished, Daryl tried to hunt Leah down. He figured now was as good a time as any, and he did need to talk to her. He walked out the front door and sighed once he finally found her sitting on the edge of the old front porch, her legs dangling over the edge.

Daryl walked over and joined her, taking a seat on the edge himself. He didn't say anything at first and nor did she. They sat in silence for a moment before Daryl took the initiative: "How're ya doing?"

Leah shrugged, "Okay, I guess." She stared out at the grass, still not looking over at Daryl. He could tell that she was upset, he just didn't know over what—was it him, was it Amy, Shane, or just everything that happened over the past few days?

"You wanna talk about it?" Daryl cast a glance at her, squinting due to the sun since it had already made its appearance in the morning sky.

Leah shook her head. For a while, Daryl didn't think she was going to say anymore. She lowered her gaze to her lap before she sighed, "I just wish things were different."

Whether Daryl could feel her pain or he just wanted to be able to comfort her, maybe both, he wasn't sure. But he found himself placing his hand over hers without much of a thought. Leah looked over at him at that moment, their eyes locking onto each other before she looked down at his hand on hers. She managed to lace her fingers with his before she leaned into him, resting against his shoulder. It was funny how she knew how to receive and return love much better than he did. But he was glad she wasn't pushing him away.

"Why are you mad at Skyler?" Leah practically whispered, her voice quiet as she continued to stare out at the vacant front yard with her head rested against Daryl.

"Mad?... I'm not mad at Skyler," Daryl replied.

"Then why are you being such an ass towards her?" Leah's words threw Daryl off. She could apparently see the tension that had risen between the two. And it was all because of his damn nightmare—how ridiculous was that?

"Hey, watch your mouth," Daryl warned, turned his head to look at her. He could feel her shrug.

"It's the end of the world. What does it matter if I cuss? You do," Leah looked up at him with a faint smile.

"S'not the point…" Daryl poked her nose and received a giggle in response. She rested her head back against his shoulder. "…I'm gonna talk to her. I just wanted to come talk to you first. Make sure you were doin' okay." He now realized where he was going with this. He wasn't going to tell Leah about her mom. He couldn't bring himself to. He couldn't upset her with that news on top of everything else. But Skyler? He could tell her. He had to tell her.

"Are you okay?" Leah redirected the question back at him. When he didn't give her an immediate response, she turned to look at him. She tried to study his face.

"I've got you, don't I?" Daryl squeezed her hand and forced a small smirk. "I'm gonna go talk to Skyler. I'll come find you afterwards?"

Leah nodded, "Okay. Deal."

Daryl slipped his hand from hers and got back on his feet. He made sure to ruffle her hair as she swatted at his hand, "Hey—!" But he couldn't resist because he knew she got flustered over it.

Skyler left the living room and headed straight for the bedroom she shared with Daryl and Leah the previous night—their temporary quarters. The news that Rick shared was a little unsettling for her. They were all infected already? It basically meant that no matter how they died, they would come back. They no longer had to only worry about getting bit. They would turn no matter what—unless their death involved head trauma.

She walked over to the window and pulled the faded curtain back. All she could see from where she stood was a vast amount of land, the mix of fall colors stretching across the grass and trees. A part of her had always wanted a house like this, secluded and out in the middle of nowhere. It seemed peaceful. Almost like they were the only people left in the world. It certainly felt like it, though that couldn't be the case.

Skyler shuffled her way back towards the bed and sat on the edge of it, sighing. She couldn't help but think about Matt and Hannah again. How the walkers came from out of nowhere. How Hannah had been grabbed up by them so easily. How Matt had tried to save her… It should have been her instead.

There was a light knock on the doorframe that brought her attention to the figure standing there. She smiled at Daryl, showing him that it was okay to enter the room. He gave her a nod in return as he stepped forth. She noticed his eyes searched her arm, exposed due to the short sleeve shirt she was currently sporting. She had taken the jacket off and tossed it on the bed moments before Daryl had entered the room. Now she wished she would have kept it on. She still had a faint bruise from where Daryl had grabbed her, though it was fading pretty fast.

"I'm sorry… About the other day," Daryl started.

"Don't be, it's okay," Skyler shook her head.

"I could have killed you…" Daryl muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. "How is that okay?"

"You didn't. It was just… a dream. Stop giving yourself a guilt trip," Skyler patted the bed for him to join her. Daryl shook his head to decline. "I was wondering when you were going to talk to me again."

"Yeah, I know," Daryl cleared his throat, glancing over at the window that Skyler had been peering out. "You didn't harass me as much this time as you have in the past." He forced a slight smirk.

"I figured I would give you your space. Figured you would come talk to me when you were ready," Skyler shrugged. "You seemed really upset and I didn't want to push it."

"Thanks, I guess," Daryl mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

Even though Skyler really didn't spend a whole lot of time around Daryl before the dead started walking, she was beginning to pick up on a lot of his actions. She was beginning to see the real Daryl, the Daryl that wasn't necessarily hidden behind her sister and Leah. He seemed pretty happy around those two—hell, that was an understatement compared to what he was like now. She could tell he didn't seem like a naturally happy person, that he was hurt. She recalled that morning when she had walked in on him changing his shirt. It was the first and only time she had seen him shirtless and she had seen the scars. Of course it all made sense after that, what must have happened to him in the past to make him who he was today. He was damaged. She couldn't help but wonder if that was why her sister fell for him—because Elena had always felt the same way after Michael, and their parents.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Skyler offered. She watched Daryl shift his weight to his right foot, glancing over at her then down at the floor. He folded his arms in front of his chest and shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good… I just—" Daryl paused. He was still staring at the floor. Skyler assumed he was searching for the words to say. "It was just a bad dream. Kind of involved you, Elena, and Merle. And walkers. That's why I… attacked you."

"…Merle's your brother, right?" Skyler never really heard him talk about his family. She wasn't even sure if he had any other siblings. Anything she did know was courtesy of Elena.

"Yeah," Daryl seemed to tense up a bit. "About that…"

Skyler stared at him, waiting for him to continue. She had no clue where he was going with this. Was he going to talk about Merle? Was his brother the reason he's the way he is?... She had become so focused on Daryl and expecting him to come clean about his past life that she was completely blindsided by what he began to explain to her.

"It's my fault Elena didn't make it. I left her by herself—we were trying to get out of the house. She—She got bit because I wasn't there. And Merle—" Daryl kept his head down, staring at his feet as he rushed through his words. "He came, told us that she wasn't gonna make it 'cause she got bit. He had seen it happen and I didn't want to leave her, I swear to God that was never my intention—" Daryl bit his lip. He still refused to look up at Skyler as he kept going. "Merle knocked me out and he left her. That… that's all I know. I never went back and I should have. I never talked to Merle about it and I have no clue if she's—if she's…"

Skyler felt the tears running down her face from the moment Elena's name fell from Daryl's lips. That was how Elena died. She had been bit and she most likely turned. And by the sounds of it, she was still out there as a walker. The more her mind milled over it, the more tears began to fall. Her sister… a walker?

Daryl had finally forced himself to look at Skyler. He rubbed his face, cursing under his breath. "Christ… I'm sorry…"

It was now Skyler's turn to avoid looking at Daryl as she let out a shaky sigh. She found herself looking towards the window as if it were an escape from the real world. She wiped her face and shook her head. Daryl had left Elena by herself. Elena had gotten bit. But Merle?—Merle knocked Daryl out?

Skyler had to tell herself that Daryl was trying to help. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't like that. It was just an accident—a mere coincidence. When she looked back at Daryl she could tell he was upset. He honestly looked like he was ready to cry himself.

It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault.

As much as Skyler wanted to just be able to blame him, to take her anger out on him—she couldn't. Instead, she got to her feet and slowly closed the gap between them. As soon as she moved her arms, Daryl flinched. She pushed passed it and quickly wrapped her arms around him, hugging him in a tight squeeze and crying even more.

"It's not your fault," Skyler mumbled into his chest, hoping that he would hear it and hoping that she would believe it.