I do not own the Walking Dead.

Previously:

As Rick walked forward, gun in hand, Faye realised that yes - this was happening.

Sophia was standing right in front of them - eyes white, shoulder bloody and snarling.

Sophia was a walker.

Rick shot Sophia.

The others are digging graves.

I'm sat in my tent, hiding.

From what, I'm not sure. I'm here anyway.

Dale had tried to stop me looking when Sophia was shot, but I still saw it. The old man seemed to be in shock too and didn't do a good enough job blocking me.

I've spent a lot of my time with Carl these few days, more than I originally expected. Should I be comforting him? Lori probably is, but Carl's my... my friend. And friends made each other feel better, right?

Then again, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about this. Was I supposed feel sad? Because I did. Sad because I never met her, sad because Carl's plan could never happen, sad because the group was sad.

"Hey," Dale said quietly, peering into the tent. "You alright?"

I ignored the question. "Is everyone else okay?"

"As okay as can be expected." Dale beckoned me over to him, gently. "The funeral's going to start soon. You going to come?"

I hesitated before I spoke, but decided that yes, I would go. When a member of the old group died, Dad had said we should pay our respects, whether we knew them that well or not.

Standing up, Dale and I walked silently towards the graves.

"Faye?"

Later that day, Rick came to see Faye. It surprised her. At first, she thought he'd been looking for Carl, but he did really want to talk to her. Faye didn't complain, they hadn't had much of a conversation before. "Hi, Rick."

"Mind if I come in?"

He meant the tent, which she had retreated to again, and she nodded.

"I'm sorry that I have to make this quick, I have to find go find Hershel, but I have a big favour to ask."

A big favour? What could Faye do that Rick wanted? "Like what?"

The man bent down to Faye's level. "I'd like you to keep an eye on Carl, stick with him."

Oh.

"'Course, I can do that." Faye nodded. "Is something wrong?"

Rick smiled. "Just a parent's worries. Carl needs a friend. He might act strong after... today's events, but I think he might let it out more if it was with someone his age."

Faye understood now. She hadn't actually spoken to Carl about it yet, but he looked surprisingly dry-eyed at the funeral. "Okay. I can help, I don't want him to be sad either."

"That's good. I'm glad you two get along." Rick stood up, but before he left, he continued. "Are you okay?"

Faye shrugged. "I guess. I didn't know Sophia, but it's still really sad." The funeral had been tough to stand through. It couldn't be forgotten that the Greene's had also lost their family members from that barn - they had just thought their relatives were sick. It must've been like the group they'd provided shelter for murdered them.

Rick gave a small nod before bidding the girl goodbye. "It was nice talking to you."

"Wait- Rick!"

The man turned, and Faye took a breath in and out. She'd been thinking about this since the burial, but wasn't sure if it would be appropriate.

"Do you think," She paused, getting the thoughts back together. "Do you think I could make some crosses and put them by the graves? For my Dad and my brother. It's just, you know, they never got a funeral." Faye finished quietly.

The cop's eyes softened as Faye looked down at her boots. "Of course you can."

"Thank you." Faye said, trying to stop her voice wavering. "Good luck finding Hershel." She gave a little wave as he left.

Faye lay back onto her sleeping back, mulling over her conversation with Rick. She was glad her first impression changed, Rick was nice to her.

Faye's thoughts were stopped momentarily by heavy footsteps passing by her tent, and she guessed it was Shane.

Shane.

Shane was a whole other problem. He clearly didn't want her near Carl, but his opinion wasn't as important as Rick's, right? Rick was Carl's father, after all. Besides, was what Shane said even a threat? Had she just taken it the wrong way because she didn't like him?

Faye was unsure. After today's events, it was obvious Shane liked to get his way.

Maybe she had to ask someone. Her first thought was Carl, but before she set out to find the boy, she realised that that ruined the entire point. Carol was nice too, but she was mourning Sophia and was going to be no help whatsoever at this moment in time. And Faye wanted advice now, she didn't want to disappoint Rick.

Then there was Daryl. Faye definitely trusted him, he was the one that brought her to the group. They hadn't spoke in a while though, and she wasn't sure if he'd bother with her problem, but Faye decided she'd find him.

Stepping out the tent, however, it occurred to Faye that had no idea where the hunter was. She vaguely remembered him walking off somewhere, but couldn't recall where.

Suddenly, Lori rushed past her. Turning, the woman realised she'd knocked Faye and apologised. "Oh, sorry, I'm going a little too fast."

"Is anything wrong?"

"Don't worry, I just need to find Daryl." With that, she left.

Bingo.

Faye had quietly followed Lori as she crossed a field to where Daryl must have been.

The girl had no idea why he'd be out there, but he probably had a good reason. It may not have been a good time to go - when Lori returned, she looked more frustrated than when she left - but Faye climbed over the fence anyway. No one was around, so she could go unnoticed.

Realising it would be a long walk, Faye decided to run all the way. Good exercise, it couldn't be a bad idea.

It was a terrible idea.

Heaving for breath, Faye let herself fall backwards onto the floor, legs stretched out as she panted.

Daryl raised his eyebrows at the girl. "What's with the runnin'?"

"I'm asking.. myself.. that now."

"Ya got tiny legs and ya sprinted across a field without stretchin'. I ain't surprised." He went back to what he was doing. "Stand up. Better 'n sitting down."

Doing as he said, Faye took a minute before realising the insult. "My legs are not tiny!"

Daryl shrugged. "You gonna tell me what ya here for?"

"Advice." She said simply, noticing Daryl was busy. Faye sat on the bricks with the man, but not too close. He didn't respond, and the girl became curious as to what he was doing with the sticks. Ones he had finished sharpening were leaning against the stones, and there was a pile of plain sticks by them. Deciding it didn't look too hard, Faye picked up one of the sticks and started to run along it with her knife. After a few minutes of attempting copy Daryl's actions, she finally spoke again.

"Why are we sharpening sticks?"

"I'm makin' stuff, you're jus' butchering a twig."

Faye blinked in surprise, but then looked from hers to Daryl's and grinned sheepishly. He shook his head at her before carrying on with his work. "You gonna tell me what ya want advice for?"

"Oh, yeah." Faye twiddled the mangled stick between her fingers. "Well, Rick asked me to look after Carl and I said okay. But Shane told me to stay away from Carl. I was gonna ignore him like you said, but then... the barn happened and I don't want to make him mad again."

Daryl raised an eyebrow. "He told ya to do that?"

"He didn't tell me, it was kinda more threatening than that. But I might've taken it wrong-"

"He threatened ya?" Daryl raised his voice a little. Maybe Daryl wasn't such a good idea. Someone calmer would be better. Dale. Why didn't she go to him? He would be all polite-

Oh. Daryl was still waiting for an answer. "Well, I might've taken it the wrong way 'cause I don't like him-"

"What'd he say?" The man pressed.

"Erm, 'You best be careful how you act around him, he ain't gotta be like you.'" She said.

Eyes narrowing, Daryl scraped the stick with a particularly hard stroke. "He talk to ya like that again, you go straight to me. He get mad at ya, you go to me. I'll deal with 'im." The man muttered something rude under his breath and Faye guessed it was about Shane.

"Thank you." She was given a grunt in reply. Faye looked over her stick once more before deciding it probably un-salvageable. Picking up another stick, she remembered the other use for the them. She chose three more and shortened one down to size, trying to make the cut as neat as possible.

"That ain't gonna work neither."

Faye shook her head, cutting the other end down. "Will for what I want them for."

"'n that is?"

"Crosses."

Daryl paused his work to look at her, his angry demeanour lessoning slightly. She didn't meet his gaze as she picked up the next stick and lined it up with the first. "Why?" The man could make a guess, but asked anyway.

"Dad and Andy never had a funeral. Rick said I could put these with the graves." Faye replied. The first two pieces of wood were put on the floor - she could remove the gnarly bits later - and did the same for the last two.

Daryl nodded at her answer. After watching Faye fumble with the knife a little longer, he picked up the sticks she lay on the floor and removed the bumps for her. "Ya know, my Mom used to smoke in bed, whinin' all time with Virginia Slims. Then I'm out with the kid's, Merle gone off, 'n I can't keep up with 'em. Get round corner and I see 'em all starin' at me, sirens all goin' off. There's fire trucks, too, takin' up the street. It's my house there watchin', my Mom burnt to nothin' on the bed."

Faye listened silently as he continued. "They said it was better that way, but I dunno. Not seeing her didn't make it feel real."

"I'm sorry." Faye said quietly.

He turned to her with a small smile. "Sorry 'bout yours too."

Returning the look, Faye was glad he understood losing someone.

"RV's probably got some string somewhere, run back 'n get it."

Faye looked at him, puzzled for a moment, before realising what he meant. Getting up, Faye began to walk back to the farm house.

"Said run, not walk!" Daryl called to her.

Spinning round, Faye frowned. "Why?"

"'Cause ya got tiny legs, kid, better practice runnin'." He gave a little smirk as the girl sighed in frustration, but did as he said.

"Fine!" She shouted over her shoulder.

"Ya runnin' back too!"

Carl had been amused at the sight of an exhausted Faye, who he caught running back from a trip to Daryl.

She'd ignored him when he asked what she had in her hand - which were in fact the crosses, but he didn't need to worry himself about that - and put them away in her backpack for now. She decided she'd deal with them at sunset.

So, in the meantime, Faye had a favour to do.

Faye noticed immediately how Carl was trying to occupying himself. His mother had told him to rest, but he had apparently got bored of that quickly. So, Faye improvised.

The two children had worn out the limited supply of comic books (They had read the grand total of three), so they looked for other things to do.

For a while, they went to see the horses. When they came back, they lounged in the RV, and Faye managed to get talk about life before the outbreak. School, mainly, was a topic that didn't bring up bad memories. Well, at least they were memories of Faye forgetting homework rather than the dead rising.

This didn't last, however, and they went outside again. They tried climbing trees, but found that tiring and Faye almost fell off when she stood on a weak branch.

Leaning against the tree trunks, they spoke of the day before. "You really went all the way with bullshit."

Carl smirked. "It got my point across, didn't it?"

"Yeah," It also got Faye told off, but she didn't mention it. "It was funny."

They talked a while longer, and when there was a pause, Faye finally asked about the barn.

"So... the barn."

"What about it?"

Faye frowned. "You know what I mean."

The boy sighed. "It was just a shell of her, right?"

"You still have to mourn Sophia," Faye looked at him. "Whether that was actually her or not."

"I am. Have. I don't know. I was just expecting we'd find her, and I'd bring her here and that's where we'd stay. But..."

Faye gave him time to think. "I think Dad did the right thing. Shooting her. That's what you did, isn't it?"

"...You don't think that because of me, do you? You can't just say things like that."

"No. It was still the right thing. I would've done it, it wouldn't be right to leave her like that."

Faye saw what Rick meant, Carl needed someone to keep an eye on him. Faye did her best to keep calm with her answer, though it annoyed her that he could say that so lightly. "It's just... not as easy as that. No way. You say you would, but it's different. Do you... get it?"

Reluctantly, the he nodded.

Neither of them pressed each other more, but Faye was glad she'd gotten a little from the boy. The two children sat quietly for a while as the sun lowered in the sky, almost sunset.

"How old are you?" Carl broke the silence.

"Isn't it rude to ask a woman that?" Faye said, turning to the boy with a little smirk.

"You're not a woman, you're a girl."

Scowling, Faye ripped up some grass and threw it at Carl who held his hands up in defence, laughing. Some of the grass landed in his hat, and Faye decided not to mention it.

"Twelve. But I'll be thirteen in December." The annoyed look was still on her face, but was playful.

"I'm twelve too." He replied. "How do you know when your birthday is anymore?"

"I know the date, it's the 12th. But I don't really know when January is anymore. So... when the next winter's gone, I'll be thirteen for sure."

"You're lucky, my birthdays in the middle of the year."

"What about a few weeks into Summer? Season are all we're gonna have anymore." Faye finished and Carl nodded at her answer.

Then the sun set. Then Faye remembered the crosses.

Faye told herself that she had suggested it and shouldn't feel uneasy, but she did anyway. Telling Carl she had to go do something and she'd be back later, Faye got up and went to her tent. Instead of taking out the crosses and showing someone, Faye simply picked up the whole bag and slung it on her shoulder. As she stepped out the tent, the girl was surprised to see Daryl standing there. The look on his face was serious, but not angry.

He nodded to the bag. "You wanna go do that now? Figured I'd go with ya."

Faye replied a 'yes', and the two walked began to walk down to the graves.

They were stopped however, by Shane. "Where you two goin'?"

Seeing Faye avoid eye contact, Daryl spoke. "None of ya business."

"I think it is-"

"Well, tough, 'cause it ain't." With that, Daryl turned and strode away, Faye quickly catching up with him.

When the reached the graves, the two stopped in front of Sophia's. It wasn't for long, but Faye felt that she couldn't just walk past it.

Faye took the two crosses, bounded by string, and Daryl helped her securely place them in the ground.

The girl stood before them as she spoke. "Can I have a minute?"

She couldn't see it, but was sure Daryl gave a single nod before he replied. "I'll be over there."

"Thanks." It surprised her that Daryl was willing to do this for her, but didn't ask why. It helped knowing that someone was there.

Once alone, Faye found herself sitting in front of the crosses, backpack at her side.

"Hey, Dad. Hey, Andy. I just... wanted to say that... I'm okay. I found a group, but I did what you said while I was on my own! I found this guy called Daryl, he's cool. You'd like his crossbow - it's a bit scary, but really awesome too. Carl's my friend, and he wears a sheriff hat all the time. He annoyed me earlier, though, so I put grass in it. I'm hoping it'll fall all over him. Rick and Carol are nice too. I don't like Shane, but Daryl said I should ignore him 'cause he's full of it." Faye smiled as she recalled all the members of the group. No one would hear what she was saying, but carried on anyway.

"I still have the knife and gun you gave me, Andy, so don't worry. I'm safe. And I remembered everything you said, Dad, so I finally proved that I wasn't day-dreaming when you taught me all that stuff. Daryl said I can't sharpen a stick properly and I butchered it, but I'm still not sure why we were doing that in the first place. I still listened though!" The girl went on to tell him about all the running she was doing too, and she could climb trees with Carl.

"I- I-" I'm sorry. "Whenever I next see a basketball net, I promise I'll be tall enough and I'll get the ball in every time just like you guys did. Well, you did miss, but I'll get better and then I'll be the better than you guys."

"I-" I'm so sorry. "At night, we sleep in tents, which is really cool. It's just like the camping trips we used to go on, and you'd where that stupid fishing hat and Andy would burn the food. Well, maybe not the burnt food, but Dale and Carl have the hats."

"I-"

No. Come on, Faye. Spit it out.

Hanging her head, the girl finally let out the words she'd been dying to say.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I never wanted to shoot you!" The girl took some shaky breaths before she continued.

"It's my fault. Maybe if I didn't run away, I could've killed a few walkers for you! The ones that got you!" Tears rolled down her face. "And I'm sorry I'm not very strong and I'm not very smart and I'm not much help but I promise next time I will be! I'm sorry I let you turn and I'm sorry I left you there on the road!"

Faye almost jumped as a hand was placed on her shoulder. It was Daryl.

"And I promise that I'm gonna be strong now and I don't need you to worry. And- and- this is the last time I'm gonna cry over you 'cause I can't cry anymore!"

Hiding her face in her hands, Faye sobbed.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for the reviews, they make my day!

There's a little scene with Rick that was suggested, sorry it's not too long though. This chapter is the longest yet! I normally try to keep it within the 2000 words range.

Next chapter will be up on Tuesday or at the absolute latest Wednesday, but that's just because I have a lot of homework to be doing.

Please review, I love to hear your thoughts and advice!

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.