Tell a Story

So there is a picture in my profile to go along with the last chapter. Haven't done any pictures in a while so felt like I should do something and that just sort of came to mind when I was thinking about it.

And OH MY GOD, what's this? In this chapter? Could it be...is it...YES...finally the back story on little miss Isabeau Walker! But seriously, read the other stuff as well, don't jump to that part lol.

Daryl leaned on a tree, eyes to the sky, trying not to listen to his brother as the other man took a piss further away. He shook his head, irritated by everything that happened in the last few hours. He was tired as well, having spent all of the previous night either planning or rescuing and arguing. He wanted nothing more than to just crash on the bed in the prison cell with Bo, knowing she was fine. He had to find her first in order to do that though.

"Hurry it up!" Daryl growled, kicking back at the tree just for something to do.

"You try and piss with one hand!" Merle shot back. "Unless you're gonna offer to hold it for me..." He ended in a laugh and Daryl rolled his eyes. He mused on his options. They had travelled back towards Woodbury but kept a distance, not even able to see it but knew it was there. The road was just a short way from them, that they could see, but they kept in the trees.

"How long did you know?" Daryl asked.

"Know what?" Merle questioned, walking back over to his brother and pulling up his zipper.

"That Bo was the Governor's daughter." Daryl replied, looking sideways at him.

"Few months I think." Merle answered with a sigh. "Saw the picture Blondie was talking about but didn't really consider it all that much. Wasn't until I heard about him keeping his little girl around even though she'd been bit that I started wondering. Looked at the picture again and tried to figure out why the one looked so familiar, then I remembered the Doc."

"And now she's there." Daryl muttered. He looked off in the direction of Woodbury and frowned.

"I never asked about anything but..." Merle trailed off for a moment, long enough for his brother to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think your precious little Bo wants to be round him anymore then she'd want to be surrounded by biters. Hell, I figure she'd rather the biters than him. I don't know what he was like before all this but when he found me after I cut my hand off, he was only slightly less twisted than he is now." Merle watched his brother carefully, eyes narrowing slightly, watching the slight fidget that had taken over Daryl as the younger man kept his eyes in the direction of the town. "Dear God, you did it, didn't you?"

"What?" Daryl asked, snapping back to his brother.

"You went and fell for her." Merle sighed, shaking his head. Daryl frowned slightly. "Did I never teach you anything?"

"Shut it." Daryl ground out, pushing away from the tree. He started walking and Merle kept right up with him.

"Tell me something...how's it feel if you picture her with rugrats?" The older Dixon asked. Daryl didn't pause but he did slow down. The thought had never occurred to him, Bo ever having kids, least of all with him. Now that he thought of it, it gave him a strange feeling in his stomach. Merle wasn't entirely surprised by the grin that made it's way only slightly visible on his brother's face and he wondered about what exactly the younger of the duo was thinking to get such a smile. "Yep, you're gone."

"Shut up." Daryl barked. To which Merle did nothing but laugh.

***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***

"That's pretty much it." Rick concluded the tour, turning back to facing his two friends. They were free of Amy, Anna having taken the baby soon as she saw them all. Carl had just offered a nod of recognition towards Shane, a slight hint of a smile. It was sad to see that all these months had taken away the child and left a hardened young man. Shane had been intrigued by the young girl that Carl had turned his attention back to soon as his slight greeting had finished. There was one wild and crazy moment where he almost thought it was Sophia but only because of the blonde hair. The moment passed quickly after he looked again.

"Sounds like it was an intense thing." Andrea commented. "I'm sorry about T-Dog."

"He kept Bo safe." Rick muttered, looking over in the direction that was Bo and Daryl's cell. It was going to be empty for a while, he didn't know how long. But he wasn't going to let Bo just stay in Woodbury if it wasn't something she wanted.

Then there was getting Daryl back. Would he come back if Merle wasn't welcome? They needed Daryl, that was for sure, but could they deal with Merle? Rick didn't exactly know the guy all that well, only having spent a few hours with him before leaving on him on a roof in Atlanta last year. Lori had said he was a disgusting man, always leering, but while he was awful, he did tend to listen to Daryl and he had gone with Glenn and Andrea into town on that run that had ended up picking up Rick and Anna.

As if on cue, the sound of a fussing baby reached them and the trio looked over at Anna coming their way, rocking Amy. Rick watched her, grinning slightly. Something about the sight of her with a child...

"Think someone may be hungry." Anna remarked, passing the young infant to her mother.

"Seems about the right time." Andrea laughed slightly. "Seems to be a very schedule oriented child."

"Which works out well these days." Shane pointed out. Andrea nodded in agreement. Rick directed them to an empty cell that they could use and then watched his friends go to take care of the child.

"Who'd have thought it with them, huh?" Anna asked, grinning. She looked at Rick then sighed. "Can't believe Daryl would just leave though."

"He wants to stay with Merle and wants to get Bo back fast." Rick explained. Anna nodded with a slight frown, clearly uncomfortable with the fact that they had broken into the town twice and both times missed the med student. "We're gonna get her back."

"Then what? How do we get Daryl back?" Anna asked. Rick frowned and tapped his fingers on his thigh, contemplating. "I don't know Merle but Glenn, Shane, Andrea and Bo do, and course Daryl does. Shane and Andrea know him from the town now, maybe he's different from what we saw back in Atlanta. He could be useful."

"He could also still be the same." Rick pointed out.

"Gotta give him the chance though." Anna stated. Rick looked at her carefully then grinned. He put a hand on her hip and dragged her over then kissed her softly. She grinned against his lips and draped her arms over his shoulders. She kissed his cheek when they separated and looked at him carefully. "Her name's Lucy."

"Who?" Rick asked, caught by surprise.

"The girl. She's talking to Carl but no one else." Anna explained. Rick nodded slowly, glad that his son was helping someone. "He said that she told him her name was Lucy. He's teaching her about aiming a gun, with the safety off of course." She glanced around, eyeing a cell on the upper level. "What are we going to do about Michonne?"

"Hershel says she may have a concussion and she got shot before she even got to us." Rick recited, looking up at the cell. "She was running on adrenaline the last while. Shane and Andrea vouch for her though, say she's a good woman, strong and smart. If she can pull her own weight around here, don't see why she can't stay."

"You're a good guy." Anna muttered softly, smiling. Rick looked at her. "Even if you don't always believe it, and even if you have to get a little hard on everyone, you're still a good guy. You do the things that other people just can't because someone always has to and you'd rather they not." He just stared at her for several long moments before he put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. Her warm hands moved softly up and down his back and he sighed.

"You're incredible." Rick whispered, kissing her head.

***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD****

Milton watched Bo.

Bo watched Milton.

The rest of the place was silent, empty, it was just them. A short while ago the Governor and a few others had gone off for what he said was a supply run but she knew damn well that they were going to the prison. There was no way they weren't going on the attack after what happened and then leaving with the vehicles they had. This was technically the best time for her to pull off an escape, even with the back of her head still sore and her shoulder burning. She wasn't getting another shot, that much she knew. She'd be damned if she was going to play the good little girl just to save her own ass. She was getting out or going down fighting.

"You knew Penny." Bo stated finally, making Milton jump with the sound.

"I met...her and him...just before she was..." Milton faded off with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Bo asked, genuinely curious. Milton looked surprised. "I'm willing to admit that in the few short years that I actually knew her, I hated her. She was born and my mom got sick, she couldn't take care of herself, let another another child and Phillip was useless. He hated his life, hated his job. He spent so much time at the bar that it was amazing that he managed to keep having money for groceries." She stood up and paced around the room then picked up the picture of her family and looked over the faces. "I had to take care of her and she clearly hated me. I was the only person she fussed with, the only person who got screamed at. But i had to take care of her, had to feed her, change her. She stayed in my room. When I was at school and Phillip was at work, mom's nurse had to take care of her, which wasn't part of the deal for her so I had to miss a lot of school to be around for the stupid kid."

"She was just a baby." Milton muttered.

"I was thirteen." Bo pointed out. "Never had any siblings before. When I was five and mom was thinking about it, she miscarried. She never wanted to try again. When she got pregnant with Penny, we all thought there would be a miscarriage there as well." She glared at the picture, gripping the frame. "This picture was taken to try and prove that we were a family. This one here, this was the third attempt, after Phillip had put his hand on Penny's back and I had moved away from her. I was supposed to hold her but she wouldn't stay still, she wouldn't shut the fuck up."

"When did you leave?" Milton asked.

"Five months later." Bo replied, putting the picture face down on the desk. "I had met this man, Daniel Walker. Well...he was nineteen so..." She shrugged and grinned. "Phillip hated him, I was sixteen, too young and all. Mom loved him though. Daniel saw how things were, saw the way I hated being there. I stayed at his place as often as I could. I met him just before the picture was taken and by the four month mark, he told me he got a job in a different city and wanted me to move with him. Mom agreed with him, told us that the family was killing her, killing me, and she wouldn't let me go through it anymore." Bo looked at Milton, watched him watching her with a sympathetic look. "Phillip never knew Daniel's last name. In the month between deciding all this and leaving, mom and Daniel had gone over paperwork, giving me allowance to live with him, allowing me to change my name, take his surname so Phillip could never find me...not that he tried apparently."

They were silent after that, everything else pretty much seemed to settle itself. Milton knew she had to have finished high school and then gone into med school considering how often they were told about her being a med student and the closest thing to a doctor that group had. He wondered about what happened to Daniel, if he had lived to these dark days, if Bo thought he was still out there somewhere, or maybe if they had broken up after a few years and she didn't know or care. Obviously something had happened at some point though between the two, Milton doubted that Bo would have just started sleeping with Merle's brother if she had been with someone else, perhaps even looking for them. He watched her as she leaned next to the window, gazing out at the wall.

"Go. Leave." Milton spoke firmly. Bo looked at him quickly. "You're not going to get another chance."

"You're not going to stop me?" Bo asked.

"Do I look like I could even if I wanted to?" Milton countered. Bo smiled slightly and shrugged. He retrieved her gun from the cabinet and gave her extra ammo. Bo was grateful she had only brought her gun on the failed supply run and not the crossbow. She doubted she would have gotten that back, some part of her figuring the Governor would have taken it with him on his attack.

"I will have to hit you, just to make it look like there was at least some sort of struggle so the dumbass doesn't think that you just let me go." Bo pointed out. Milton frowned then sighed. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact. Bo sighed then punched him, flinching when he fell back into the table and hit the floor. "Sorry."

"No...no...it's good effect." Milton muttered, rubbing his face and his back. "Go now, before you can't go."

She didn't need telling twice. Bo took off, running from the room and the building. She slowed slightly, watching the guard on the wall. He was facing outward so she was able to get to the wall without him seeing. She climbed up slowly, trying to be quiet, but trust him to turn part way up.

"Hey!" His yell was loud and Bo bolted up the rest of the stairs and dove off the wall. She crashed down on the ground and rolled, her shoulder pain flaring up on contact and she bit down on her lip to combat it as she scrambled to her feet. The guard was yelling down at her but she ignored him and ran for the trees. A shot fired out and the sound of splintering wood actually caused her to flinch when she realized it was from the tree next to her.

"Shit." Bo muttered, running onward. She kept going until she couldn't hear the yelling anymore, couldn't hear anything but her own heavy breathing. It was only then that she allowed herself to stop and catch her breath. "This...is payback...for all the...years smoking, isn't it?" Her eyes lifted to the sky as she took deep breaths. "On top...of the walkers...sadistic bastard, you are."

Voices caused her to tense up and hold her breath. She listened carefully, trying to decipher the direction they were from. They sounded like they were moving away from her. They sounded familiar. She blinked several times then took off after the voices, inwardly cheering when they got louder. She didn't bother being too quiet as she stomped over dead leaves and snapped twigs. The voices stopped and she slowed down.

"I swear on the high holy lord, Dixon, you come out aiming that crossbow at me and I will be a very unhappy woman." Bo announced, hands on her hips. Sure enough, Daryl moved out from behind a tree, crossbow aimed down now. He stared at her for a moment but she only allowed him that long. She barely spared Merle a second glance as she strode over to the younger brother and kissed him as if she hadn't seen him in months. Behind them, Merle snickered as Daryl dropped the crossbow and gripped onto Bo's hips. The blonde had enough sense in her head to lift her hand up and stick out her middle finger, which only made the older man laugh more.

"You okay?" Daryl muttered quietly, leaning back enough to take in any damage. His hand drifted across the stitches on the woman's forehead and then pulled her sleeve out of the way to look at the bandaging on her shoulder.

"We can worry about me later, the Governor's gone after the prison." Bo declared firmly. "We need to get there and help."

So what do you guys think? Don't worry, Bo's gonna tell Daryl everything as well but not for a while. Gonna be a lot of stuff happening, life stories among the group will have to wait. Also I think, just to save some time, I'm gonna skip over a few things. The raid on the prison most likely, just Bo with Daryl and Merle isn't going to make much difference. We all know how everyone is going to act with her, be a little cautious and wary but overall still fairly normal, kinda like in the show with Andrea. Definitely going to skip the hometown thing because I have no intention of having Bo or Anna go along for that so it would be pretty much just like the show. Might throw in some stuff with Carl and Lucy but my thoughts with her won't really expand until after the prison.