Author's Note: Thank you Lila-Renee and Isnotamusedsir for your reviews! They made me smile like a fool(: And thanks to any new follows or favorites. The song at the very beginning of this chapter belongs to Secondhand Serenade, "Fall For You" belongs to them, not me. Just like everyone from the Walking Dead belongs to Robert Kirkman which makes me sad on a daily basis. But enough about that, here's chapter twenty-three, I'm honestly surprised I've made it this far.
Enjoy, xoxo.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.
DEADLY GAME.

"The best thing 'bout tonight's that we're not fighting,
and could it be that we have been this way before?
I know you don't think that I am trying,
I know you're wearing thin down to the core.
But hold your breath, because tonight will be the night that
I will fall for you over again, don't make me change my mind.
Or I won't live to see another day I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find, you're impossible to find."

Taylor could faintly hear a voice signing, a familiar voice, a mans voice, but definitely not Daryl's. No, she would know if it was him, their night together and the way he sung to her... she would never forget that voice. She tried to concentrate, her eyes not able to open, her body not able to move, but her mind still somehow able to work. Her brain worked through years of voices, years of other people singing, she could almost place it, almost...

She felt a hand brush her face but still couldn't open her eyelids, it was like they were clamped shut with concrete.

GLENN. She smiled to herself, still in her mind, she knew her lips weren't moving, but she had figured it out. He was singing to Maggie, he just had to be. 'Fall For You' was always Maggie's favorite song, Taylor remembered the summer it came out she was forced to listen to it on repeat for hours on end. Glenn was singing to Maggie? Taylor would have loved to sigh with how cute the gesture was, but she was only able to think it. She heard footsteps approaching, mummers of voices, mumbles.

"Still not up?" Hershel's voice came through clear as bell, she knew her uncle was in the room now, referring to her. She wanted to scream out loud, I am up! I just can't wake up! Or talk...

"No. Not even movin' anymore." Daryl sat on the edge of the bed, his hand retracting from her face when Hershel came into the cell. He frowned and shook his head, looking down at his hands in a lost puppy sort of manner.

"She'll pull out of this." Hershel's hand sat on his shoulder for a moment, giving it a supportive squeeze before backing up and using his crutches to hobble back out into the main block. Taylor heard the uneven pitter-patter of a footstep and something else. But what the other thing was she couldn't be sure. Why is everything echoing so much? The house doesn't normally echo.

"Sure." Daryl finally whispered after Hershel had disappeared. He sat staring at Taylor's motionless body for a few more moments finally sighing and standing up. She could feel the weight of the bed shift, his presence making her heart ache. Out of all the times she really needed him, this was one of the most important. She couldn't speak or move, she needed something comforting.

"Just wake up." Daryl leaned against the wall of the cell, letting his body slide down until he was sitting against the floor, his head tilted back. He let it fall forward now, staring into his lap. She heard him again, louder. "Please just wake the hell up Tay... I need ya to wake up." She felt a shiver run down her spine at his words, and her heart break into a million pieces at his confession. She sighed and whimpered wishing to speak his name.

"Da...ry...l." Her eyelids moved rapidly under the eyelids, had she said it out loud? It didn't feel like it was just in her head that time. She even felt her lips move.

"Taylor?" His head jerked up at the soft hiss he heard, almost sounding like his name. He got on his knees and pushed himself forward, leaning against the bed. "Say it again."

"Daryl?" Her voice came through more prominent, it was definitely his name. Her eyes snapped open, she blinked a few times in surprise that she was actually able to do it that time. She looked around rapidly, taking in everything before her but nothing was the same. She didn't recognize anything at all in fact. Everything dark and gray, metal, bars? The only thing familiar was Daryl's face coming into view.

"Ya okay?" She saw the relieved smile on his face, but it instantly fell when she didn't answer. "Ya still there?" He waved his hand in front of her face a few times, challenging her to look at him and speak again. Her arm reached up and swatted his hand away as if it was its own action. She could move again and damn did it feel good.

"What'd ya do that for?"

"For waving your damn hand in my face." She gruffed, still trying to get the feel of speaking after not talking for awhile. But it couldn't have been that long since she'd talked. Had it? Maybe a day, two, three tops? "How long... has it been?"

"Ya really wanna know?" She nodded weakly and he glanced around the cell as if expecting it to talk for him. "A couple weeks."

"What?!" That got her blood going, she sat straight up, instantly regretting it when a pounding headache came on and on overwhelming feeling of dizziness shot through her.

"Take it easy." His tone was calm and soothing in rough contrast to her strained and panicky one.

"Weeks? How many? One? Two?" She slowly pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them to herself. She didn't want to lay back down, what if she fell back into whatever comatose state she was in before? Would she lose another week? Month?

"Three," he bit the inside of his cheek, knowing she was going to flip out again.

"Three. Weeks." She tested the words on her tongue, unable to believe such rubbish. If she had been out that long they probably would have just ditched her on the side of the road.

"Yeah." His hand instinctively settled on her knee, trying to alleviate some of the stress.

"That's impossible. Did you guys carry me around til we got here?" She motioned around the room, "where is here anyway?"

"We're in a prison..." he drew in a deep breath in preparation for the shit to hit the fan.

"A prison? You're joking, right?"

"Not really?" He rubbed the back of his neck, looking all around the cell. "You can't tell this is prison?"

"YES." She slid out the bed faster than he could stop her and using the wall as a support she started to make her way out. Her legs felt like jelly from lack of use the past few weeks, but she pushed through it to investigate. She held her place standing in the middle of the doorway, holding onto the wall on one side and the bars on the other. Taylor peeked out and then retracted quickly when she saw faces she didn't recognize, shuffling back to the bed to sit down.

"Who are those people?"

"Axel and Oscar, they were already here when we got in." Daryl swallowed hard. "I have to tell you some other things."

"What?" His darting eyes and the lowered tone of voice worried her, was everyone okay? Maggie? Beth? Rick?

"We lost a few people." She inhaled sharply and cupped her hands around her mouth, not speaking, just patiently waiting for him to tell her the causality list. When she had first realized they moved from the farmhouse she had a sinking, gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that not everyone made it. Hell, she was surprised she was still alive after being in a mini-coma during a move.

"Some of your uncles people, Otis and Patricia. Jacqui, T-Dog, Andrea, Jenner..." he listed them off one by one, her heart sinking with each name.

"Oh my god," she shook her head in disbelief not wanting to believe anything that he was saying. T-Dog and Jacqui were people she had known since she first joined the camp, always giving her welcoming smiles and being nothing but genuinely nice to her. She clutched her hand to her heart, saddened for their loss. She felt her uncle and cousins pain for the family friends loss as well, she didn't know them but they were also nothing but kind.

"Andrea?" She felt a ping of guilt for how they had left things off, getting in a fight and saying nasty things. Daryl figured the remorseful tone in her voice wouldn't be there had she known how hard Andrea fought to kill her before they left the farm. He considered telling her but decided it against, she was gone and there was no point in starting up trouble.

"Lost her at the farm. No one could find her." He watched her carefully trying to assess what she was thinking.

"Oh..." Taylor nodded slowly as her mind made an attempt to wrap around everything he had told her. The farm was long gone, they were living in prison, they had lost so many people, they were living with criminals. It was almost too much to take in at once. "Is there an outside to go to? I need some air."

"Yeah," He stood up quickly, standing next to her habitually waiting for her to fall.

"I'm fine." She used her hand to press some space between them, feeling overwhelmed and suffocated all at once. He nodded in understanding, squeezing by her to lead her out to the field that they had taken days to clear out.

"I have a confession to make." Lori swayed against the fence, her fists clutching tightly to the chain-link fence. Shane peered over at her clearly worried, she had been acting weird since they first arrived at the prison and each day seemed to get worse and worse. He wasn't sure if it was the pregnancy and the hormones or what, but he didn't like it. He didn't like the lost, sometimes terrifying look in her eyes or her somewhat bi-polar fits that she'd been suffering from. It was like she was bi-polar, or schizophrenic, something that just wasn't right. But she was the love of his life and he would never peg her to be crazy, he couldn't.

"What's up?" He walked behind her and rested his head on her shoulder to try and console her. Maybe if he was more attentive she would stop with her emotional fits.

"I... I did something bad." She gulped hard, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"Lor..." he pulled back, standing next to her now with distressed eyes, an uneasy feeling taking over his whole frame. Shane was used to being the one that made rash, bad decisions, not his Lori.

"I just... I don't know what I was thinking." The brunette paused briefly, clutching tighter to the metal in her hands. She watched the walkers slowly crawl by on the outside fences. "I was so mad at Rick for some reason. I don't even remember why. But I... the one night I cooked dinner."

"Go 'head." She had stopped too long, trying to go back on the admission, he wouldn't let her though, now that she'd started he needed to hear it.

"I put rat poison in his food." The tears brimmed over her eyes, falling in slow trails down her face. "I'm... sorry! I don't know why... I don't know what made me do it, but I just did. I was so damn mad at him." She took shallow breathes, the simple act of breathing becoming harder with the sobbing.

"Rick's fine?" He looked slowly over at her, his face contorting in shock. "How much did you put in there Lor?"

"A-a lot. Half a bottle?" She shook her head vigorously. "I don't remember. It was like a black out. But... the plates-"

"Taylor?" He let out a deep sigh. "You gave the plate to Taylor?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" She shouted, defending herself, not sure if she should have even told Shane to begin with. "I still don't know why I did it to Rick."

"Lori, this isn't right. It ain't normal." He set a gentle hand on her shoulder, he didn't want her to think he was accusing her of being crazy but after what she'd told him he didn't know what to do.

"I'm sorry." She wiped the tears away from her face. "She almost died, didn't she?" Lori inhaled deeply now, trying to regain control of herself. "It would have been Rick that almost died." Shane nodded solemnly, unsure of what to say anymore. What could he really say when his beautiful wife that was pregnant with his beautiful child was telling him such awful things?

"It'll be fine." He placed a gentle kiss on her temple, holding her close to him in a strong hug. "She's fine. Everything will be fine." He placed his head closer to her ear, "no one will know."

Shane's mind reeled with the new information, it wasn't just the pregnancy, there was something wrong with her. Something seriously wrong, she was loosing it and could potentially hurt more people in their group but he just couldn't bring himself to tell anyone. Especially not Rick. There was no way anyone was going to find out Lori had tried to kill Rick and almost Taylor in the process. He sighed and let his hand fall to her stomach and rubbing it softly.

No one was going to find out.

"It's been bad?" Taylor laid down on the top row of the bleachers, looking out into the field surrounding the prison, it was crawling with snarling walkers. They leaned against the fence, their faces pressing desperately in a futile attempt to get at the flesh they could smell so far away, yet so close.

"What?" Daryl sat up, they had been sitting in silence since they first got out there. Taylor not saying a word but him not wanting to leave her after just waking up from near death.

"Since leaving the farm. It's been bad, hasn't it?" She leaned her head back to its initial position, staring up at the sky with its parted clouds and sun shining down on them both. It was too beautiful of a day to be the apocalypse.

"Yeah... pretty rough." He let out a sigh from deep within himself, thinking back to their travel here, the lack of food, the intense number of walkers, it was really a blessing in disguise that they had even found the prison. They had all been running on empty by the time it showed up in their vision.

"Why didn't you guys kill me?" She sat up, looking down at him two rows away.

"What?" His eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment, he felt like it had to have been a trick question.

"If I was that sick, and everyone thought I turned-"

"How did ya know that?" He interrupted her without intentions of doing so. He didn't recall telling her that her own Uncle thought she was going to be a walker and Andrea was all about putting a bullet in her head.

"I heard bits and pieces. I remember some things." She ran her hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "You guys thought I was going to turn... so why didn't you kill me?"

"I didn't think ya were gonna turn." He whispered, avoiding her stare now.

"Yes you did." She said sternly, wanting him to just admit it.

"I wouldn't let 'em." He finally said, in more of musing to himself tone then really answering her. She could barely hear him, but knew what he had said. Taylor left it at that, not wanting to prod anymore, she knew one more forceful prying question would drive him away. When it came to any type of emotion she always felt like she was walking on broken glass with him and was starting to learn the limits.

Taylor heard the rattling of the chain link fence and spun around, letting her legs dangle over the ledge of the metal bleachers beneath her. Her eyebrows popped up in curiosity not able to recognize the face that she found leaning against the fence. The African-American woman stood with her back to them, facing towards the fence and looking out into the distance as if she was looking for something specific, not the walkers clawing at the fences below them.

"Whose that?" Her eyes drifted back to Daryl who shrugged his shoulders lightly in response.

"Name's Michonne." He slid off the end of the bleachers and went over to stand near her. "Found us a week ago."

"Found us?" She jumped off and dusted herself off, keeping her eyes on the strange woman.

"She showed up here, spinnin' some tale of a crazy Governor or some shit." He shrugged a second time to show he wasn't sure how much he believed anything she had told them.

"Governor?" Taylor practically felt her body jolt, a small gasp escaping her lips. She hadn't meant to show such a reaction but just hearing Merle's words echo through her head made her legs feel like jelly. "She said Governor?" She repeated herself again, making sure she was hearing him correctly.

"Yeah..." he looked her up and down before glancing over at Michonne. "Ya know somethin' I don't?" Before he could get an answer out of her she had already taken off to where Michonne stood by herself, she jogged up to her, slowing down the pace when she was a few feet away.

"Michonne?" Taylor called, waiting for her to turn around before asking the question she was dying to.

"That's my name," the ravenette almost whispered. Her voice was a low murmur and if one wasn't listening closely, they probably wouldn't even hear her.

"I have a question for you." She got closer, closing the large gap between them so spying ears wouldn't be able to hear. Michonne nodded slowly, letting Taylor proceed. "You met the Governor?"

"You know him?" She asked slowly, a look of shock registering on her face for only a second before being wiped away with a scowl. "How?"

"I don't know him, I was warned about him." She dropped her voice to a whisper now, "did he have any other men with him?"

"He's gotta lot of bodyguards." She let go of the fence and faced Taylor fully now. "A Hispanic guy, Martinez I think. A one handed guy, Merle I think it was?"

"Merle's really there? He was serious?" Her jaw went slack for a second, trying to grasp everything that was happening. He wasn't bluffing after all, and if he was right the Governor would still be after them. The farm was gone but Merle had said he wanted to kill them, would that still be true? And of course he was bound to still be looking for Daryl.

"Merle? Ya've seen Merle?" Daryl's eyes looked desperate, like a pleading child. He interjected himself into the conversation. He looked between the two woman with an irritated glance when neither answered.

"He's with the Governor." Michonne said deliberately. "You know him?"

"He's my brother." He stepped between them, taking Taylor by the shoulders. "You knew about Merle? The whole time?" She tried to look him in the eyes but found herself unable to, the guilt rushing through her and crashing like waves. She had never seen such a hateful look in his eyes, especially directed at her, she almost wanted to cry.

"I... I saw him?"

"When?" His grip tightened, the old familiar feeling of rage starting to seep into his veins. When he was met with silence he shook her slightly. "When Taylor?"

"A-awhile ago. At the strip mall, in the warehouse part of that store-"

"What did he say?" Daryl was starting to lose his grip on his temper, every word coming out of her mouth making it slip away further from his reach.

"That the Governor was coming for us. That he was coming for you." He took slow, forceful steps, making her move with him from his hold on her shoulders. He walked until she was pinned against the fence.

"How the hell could ya keep that from me, Tay?" His breath hitched in his throat and with the compulsion to lash out he spoke in a near deadly tone. "My damn brother..." He let his hands go and let Taylor fall into the fence in their wake.

Michonne stepped between them giving Daryl a hard look before placing her hand on Taylor's shoulder as she stood straight up, adjusting herself from the shove. He scoffed and shook his head at her before walking away, muttering to himself the whole way. Taylor felt her eyes sting with tears, she couldn't fathom that he had just reacted that way, he had never treated her like that. Even when they would be in screaming matches, he never laid a hand on her. She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.

"You okay?" Michonne's quiet voice pulled her from the temporary stupor she had fallen into. Her little nod let her now she wasn't injured physically, only emotional damage.

She sighed and rose an eyebrow slowly. "Tell me all about the Governor."

"You want some soup?" Carol stood up from her seat at the large metal table in the middle of the room. Taylor shook her head and sent her a weak half-smile.

"No, thanks though."

"Your uncle wants you to eat. Says you'll need some strength." Carol offered the bowl again, a small smile on her face. "He wants to check you out now that you're up too."

"It's okay, really." She shook her head and waved her hands in front of herself. "Thank you though Carol, really." The corner of Carol's lip twitched and she nodded in understanding. A small peep from behind her made her set the bowl down .

"I'll have seconds!" Carl called, a wide grin forming on his face when Carol gave him Taylor's unwanted bowl.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Shane's voice startled her, coming from nowhere. She spun around on her heels and knitted her eyebrows together.

"Sure." She followed him over to the quieter corner of the room. He looked her up and down and smiled faintly.

"You're feeling better?" Taylor shrugged, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders as she did so. "Walking around and stuff?"

"Yeah, I feel okay, just a little light-headed and sore," she rubbed her arms for show. Shane's smile grew at her words and she internally wondered why he was so elated that she was on the rebound, it wasn't like they were close, or even friends for that matter. Something was strange but she couldn't exactly place her finger on it.

"That's good. Good."

"Is something wrong?" She folded her arms across her chest, reading his suddenly worried expression, like a child that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"No... why?" He ran a hand through his thick locks, trying to force a smile on.

"You're acting weird," she stated plainly.

"I'm not." Shane's defensive tone threw her for a loop, it wasn't like she had accused him of killing anyone.

"Um... you are?" She locked eyes with him, hard and steady. She could tell he was growing frustrated. "What the hell's wrong with you Shane?"

"I said nothing, drop it." He said through gritted teeth, he was growing tired of running in circles with her, and the more she prodded, the more he saw himself spilling about Lori's little crazy spell that had almost killed the girl in front of him.

"No." She unfolded her arms, dropping them to her waist and propping them on her hips, she knew talking back to Shane was never a good idea and it always ended in a stalemate argument.

"Are you back talking me?" His eyes narrowed on hers, expecting her to shut her mouth and walk away, but that didn't usually happen.

"Maybe." She replied smugly, her childish attitude making its triumphant return.

"Alright, fine. You just bought yourself a one way ticket to walker duty."

"Ugh." She started to walk away, turning briefly to ask one last parting question. "Whose on now?"

"Daryl." He flicked his hand at her, starting to walk back into the cell block.

"Oooooh big punishment." She suppressed the frown that threatened to form on her face, she knew he didn't know about their fight and wanted to get under his skin one last time. His urge to force his authority on her never went over well for either of them, even though she didn't exactly want to see Daryl at the moment, she didn't have to let Shane know that; in fact, she could play it off like it was the opposite of punishment.

"What?" He spun back around and waved his hand at her. "Forget it, don't go." He spit out quickly, realizing why she'd said that and what it a mistake it would be to send them to the guard tower together. He already had to deal with Maggie and Glenn's shenanigans, he didn't need theirs too.

"Too late, boss man."

"Hey." She knocked softly on the wall beside the vacant door, startling him for just a moment. He lowered the sniper rifle and set it on the ground beside him, trying to not turn around and look at her, knowing she would look like an abused puppy. The sad eyes, the hurt look from him lashing out at her. But he wasn't ready to apologize, hell he never apologized so he surely wasn't ready to do it now. She sighed at the fact that he was ignoring her, but understood where his anger was coming from. She couldn't say she understood or accepted the way he'd gotten physical with her, but the animosity from keeping such a secret from him.

"I'm sorry." She finally blurted out, leaning against the door frame lazily. She rolled her eyes when he still didn't make a move to look at her or even acknowledge her presence. Taylor decided to continue on, "I should have told you. But... he... he said he would take you back with him." She walked forward with soft steps, taking the seat next to him. "He said the Governor would kill the rest of us." Daryl snorted and used his foot to push the chair so it was facing towards the main gates.

"Ya think I woulda just let that happen?" He finally spoke, quietly and evenly.

"I don't know what I think, or was thinking." She pulled her hand up to her lips, biting on the nails in an old nervous habit that she'd thought she'd broken back in high school.

"Did he tell ya where he's stayin'?"

"No..." she let her eyes fall to the ground, taking her hand away. "But Michonne does." She waited a beat to speak again, leaning over to force his chair to face her. "She'll take us."

"Why would she do that?" He scoffed, rolling his eyes at her for turning his chair. Her stubbornness and occasional bravery with him that others lacked never ceased to amaze him. How was she even talking to him after what he'd done earlier? He tried to clear the thought from his mind when the new idea of getting his brother back intruded.

"She has a grudge against the Governor. He did some fucked up shit to her." She bit the inside of her lip thinking back to the awful things that Michonne had told her. In all honesty it frightened her, if she didn't believe Merle about the Governor coming to kill them she sure as hell did now. She was even more afraid for the other women in their prison group; he was a sick, sadistic, son of a bitch. Despite that, she knew what she was going to do, something stupid and irrational, but for him, she'd do anything.

"So she wants to kill him?"

"For her own reasons, but if everyone in our group wants to live..." she trailed off slowly before starting up again. "She said he likes to play games, deadly games. But she's ready if we are..." she stood up and got ready to leave the guard tower so he could be alone with his thoughts. He followed after her, grasping her forearm softly, afraid that she would retract from his earlier outburst.

"Sorry..." he mumbled, looking down at the floor. Her lips twisted up into a tiny half-smile. It wouldn't wash away the memory of the hatred in his eyes, the terror that constricted her heart at his forcefulness, but at the very least she knew he was sincerely sorry. Something that all the men in her past had never been.

"We're going to get your brother back." She propped herself up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him gently on the lips, his hands instinctively falling to her hips. She glanced up into his icy blue eyes that were so much softer than earlier and whispered, "I promise you that."