I do not own the Walking Dead.

Previously:

"Who is he?"

Instead of answering her, Daryl questioned the group. "Who the hell's this?"

"Randall." Glenn replied simply.

"And why the hell's he here?"

The other moved around to the car as Rick spoke. "Let's talk about that."

Randall had become a problem. It had taken a week for him to heal and when Rick and Shane tried to send him on his way, he was brought back to the farm yet again. Apparently, he went to school with Maggie and would be able to locate the house. With his group out there, it would be too risky to just let him go.

So, for the second time, Randall was locked away.

While this had all been going on, Faye had tried to carry on as normal. Well, normal-ish. That depended on your view of normal, she supposed.

She hung around with Carl, listened to Dale reminiscing about the old days, and would visit Daryl.

Over the week, Faye slowly understood that some things were not to be questioned when it came to the hunter. Things like the ears he kept, the fact that he'd moved his camp away from the others' and what the 'SS' on his motorbike stood for. Of course, she was curious at first, but the matter was dropped once he gave her a 'look'.

She still ran all the way to see him and all the way back, just like he told her to. It was tiresome in the beginning, but then she started to see if she could go faster each time.

However, this particular morning, Daryl was not there. This had happened a couple of times before when Daryl left to hunt, but most of his gear was still at the camp. He had to be back at the farm.

On the run back, she saw a figure moving to where Randall was being kept.

Daryl.

What did he want with Randall? Changing direction, Faye ran towards the man. He must have heard her from behind him as he turned towards the girl. "What ya doin' over here?"

Faye panted a little before replying. "You weren't at your camp!"

"I ain't always there."

"I know, but you weren't hunting either." She shrugged before continuing. "Why are you going to see Randall?"

"I'm, err," Daryl paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "Gonna have a chat with 'im."

Faye frowned.

Nope, that didn't sound right. "Can I ask another question?"

"Make it quick."

"What are you really going to do with Randall?" Daryl raised an eyebrow. "I'm not stupid. We're not supposed to go near him, but you want to have a chat?"

Daryl gave an irritated sigh before replying. "I'm gonna make 'im answer some questions. Dunno if he's gonna be dangerous or not, and I ain't leaving it t' chance."

Faye avoided eye contact for a moment before looking him in the face. "Make him?"

"Make him." Daryl said firmly. The girl nodded slowly, processing the information. "Now, you go back t' camp, shouldn't be round here." The man glanced behind him to the large shed he was walking to.

"Okay." Daryl put a hand on her shoulder and turned her round, giving Faye a little push in the direction of the house. She scowled childishly, but walked away regardless. Had the circumstances been different, Faye might have insisted on going with Daryl.

As it was, though, she didn't want to. If Daryl thought this was the right thing to do, then she would trust his judgement. However, she didn't want to see it herself. She wasn't sure how far Daryl would go.

But if it had to be done, it had to be done. The boy could be a danger to the group and they had to find out.

By any means necessary.

"We'll know soon enough." Rick said as the group questioned him about the plan with Randall, Shane by his side.

Faye had done what Daryl said and headed back to the camp. It had been a while since then, however, and Daryl was re-approaching the group. "Boy there's got a gang - thirty men. They've got heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends."

Faye didn't fail to notice the blood stains on Daryl's hands. So he made Randall talk. "They roll through here, our boys are dead. Our women, they're gonna wish they were."

Huh? What was that supposed to mean?

"What did you do?" Carol said.

"Had a little chat." With that, Daryl walked off.

Faye knew there was more than chatting. When she tried to look at Daryl as he passed her, but he either didn't notice or ignore her.

Rick put his hands on his hips. "No one goes near this guy."

Why would she want to? He was a bad person and he was a dangerous person. He shouldn't be here in the first place, Faye thought.

Lori walked up to Rick and spoke to him quietly. As the cop replied, he spoke to the group. "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

Faye shifted awkwardly, but knew the man was right. Randall could bring his group here if they let him go, and that couldn't happen. People would die if that happened. The men would die and the women-?

Faye didn't know what Daryl meant when he said that. Was it because they'd miss the men? Either way, the group would be destroyed.

But, that was the way life was now, right? They had to do whatever it takes to live. Faye didn't like it, but... tried to accept it.

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked, frowning.

"It's settled." Rick said firmly. "We'll do it today."

Dale followed after Rick when the younger man left, and the remaining group were left in silence.

"What did Daryl mean?" Faye asked and everyone's eyes landed on her. She didn't like that. "What do they do to girls?"

The adults exchanged looks awkwardly before Carol stepped forward and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about that. All that matters is that it isn't going to happen to you."

Looking up, Faye saw a sad smile on Carol's face, the look in her eyes unintelligible for Faye to read.

She was unsatisfied with the answer, but the looks on the others' faces told her not to pry.

From that point, the group left to do other jobs, even Carl went to 'check something out'. She would have bothered her friend about it more, but he didn't question it when she left to go see Daryl. Maybe the boy just wanted to see his Dad?

Because of this, Faye was left without much to do. She would go see Daryl, but he didn't seem approachable when he left.

So, she went to her usual spot up a tree, round the back of the house. The view wasn't as good, but it was peaceful and not too many people came by.

"I see the robin has returned to her nest."

Except Dale.

"That's a really bad joke."

"Sorry." Dale smiled. "Couldn't help myself."

Faye returned the look. "What's up?"

"Well, I think it's about time we have another one of our chats." He replied calmly. "Why don't you come down here so I don't have to stretch to look at you."

"I thought we go on the RV for to talk?" Faye asked.

Dale shook his head. "Let's keep this a little more private, shall we?"

The girl shrugged before dropping to the ground. Motioning to the tree trunk, the two sat down. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I'd like to talk about Randall."

Oh.

What was the point? Rick was going to kill him anyway. "What's there to talk about?"

"I just want to hear your perspective." Dale said. "What do you think we should do?"

Faye nodded, as if reassuring herself. "We should do what we have to to keep the group safe."

Dale frowned. "And what is it we have to do?"

"Wait, is this a test?" Faye didn't like tests. She never did all that well in exams at school. Dad always said she was smart, but not book-smart. Faye wasn't sure what he meant, but took it as a compliment.

"No. I just wanna hear what you think is right." He spoke slowly, picking hs words carefully.

Faye was sceptical, but continued to talk anyway. "We didn't know anything about him. Daryl did what he had to do and now we know he's dangerous. We can't just let him go, then he'll get his group and they'll kill the boys and do who-knows-what to the girls - no one will tell me anything. So, we do what we have to do again. We have to... we have to kill him. He's a threat and we have to eliminate the threat."

Dale was silent and the girl was sure he was staring at her, but avoided looking over. "That's the right thing to do?"

"Depends what you think's right anymore." Faye said quietly. "Before the walkers: No. But now? I think the right thing is what keeps us safe. That's what the old group would do. Michael wouldn't even bring him back."

The man sighed a little. "And that's in the past."

"So is the law and prison and all that stuff, but you still fight for it." Faye countered. She wasn't sure why she was fighting against Dale, she didn't really want the boy to die. Everyone else disagreed and thought it was for the best though.

"Do you know what Daryl did to that boy?"

Yes. But she didn't want to think about that. It was hard enough as it was, admitting the truth of this world, without saying someone you trusted could hurt somebody like that.

"I have an... idea of what he did."

Dale waved his hand in front of him. "And you think that was right?"

Faye gulped. She wanted to think what Daryl did was right, that it didn't make him bad. "Necessary."

"And your convinced this the way? To kill a young man?"

Faye didn't want to think about all this, she just wanted to get the Randall problem over and done with.

She was failing the test, badly. "I don't want it to be the way. But, it just, you know-"

Dale raised a hand to stop her. "It's okay, I'm sorry, this is making you uncomfortable. I think we'll end it there." The old man stood up.

Faye was relieved. She didn't like talking about any of this. "Did I get it wrong?"

He sighed. "No. I asked for your opinion, you gave it."

"Okay." Standing up with him, they walked back to camp. Faye tried to change the topic. "Is Carl back yet? Haven't seen him much today."

"I'm not sure, why don't you go look instead of hiding in a tree, birdy." The old man ruffled her dark hair.

Faye was torn on whether to be glad he was in a good mood or annoyed at the nickname. She went with the latter. "Quit it with the bird jokes!"

Carol walked towards the two as Faye complained. "What are you pouting about?"

"I'm not pouting!" Faye crossed her arms and pouted. "Dale keeps giving me nicknames!"

"Aw, I thought Birdy was cute?" The man chuckled.

"My last name is Robbins and you call me Birdy. It's cheesy and unoriginal!"

Carol patted her head. "You don't get to choose your nickname, it just happens. I think Birdy is very cute." The tone of Carol's voice was playful and Faye was glad she wasn't still upset about Sophia. To tell the truth, she'd had been avoiding Carol a little, thinking the woman might revert to the you're-not-Sophia thing. Apparently, this wasn't the case. "Come on, why don't we go find Carl?"

Faye brightened out of her mood. Agreeing, she said goodbye to Dale who left to see Daryl. It didn't take long for the girls to find Carl.

She ran up to him, calling to the boy as she did. "Carl! Dale and Carol are callng me Birdy! Be a proper sherriff and stop them!"

The boy turned his head and gave a weak smile. The grin fell off Faye's face as she realised they were at the graves, Carl knelt by Sophia's. She stared at the two small wooden crosses by the large graves, she hadn't returned since they were put in the ground.

"You know, we'll see Sophia again in heaven someday." A hand was placed on Faye's head lightly. Faye guessed it was Carol trying to comfort her. "You'll see your family too. Their all in a better place."

Faye nodded, not speaking. Words weren't needed anymore.

"No, she's not! None of them are!"

Faye blinked in surprise as Carl stood up, staring at him in shock. "Heaven is just another lie! And if you believe it, you're an idiot."

What? What happened to everything he said before? "I thought-"

"I changed my mind." The boy's scowl didn't lessen as he walked away, leaving Faye staring after him in surprise. Where had that come from? He was fine this morning! She thought he believed the people had moved on- that her family too- what?

Faye was beyond confused.

Coming out of her daze, she realised Carol had stormed over to Lori and Rick. "You need to control that boy!"

"Carl? What happened?" Rick replied, making his way to Carol.

"Disrespectful."

"He say something?" Rick frowned.

"He said something cruel about Sophia, Faye's family too." The man turned to look at Faye, who was still stood on the same spot, not looking at them.

"We'll figure it out, it's okay-" Lori was cut off by Carol.

"It's not okay!"

"I'll have a talk with him."

Faye heard Rick approach her, Carol still talking in the background. "You alright?"

Nodding slowly, Faye stayed silent.

Knowing he probably wouldn't get much else from the girl, Rick walked away.

"Hey, Faye," She heard Carl behind her. "Can I say something?"

Faye nodded.

"I'm sorry I said that stuff."

The girl turned towards him, looking at his face. "No, you're not. You have the same look my brother did when he put a giant spider on my pillow, like you were forced to apologise." She turned back around, tone not conveying much. "You're way more moody, though."

Carl ignored the comment and sat next to the girl. Faye didn't look at him. "What happened to make you go nuts on Carol?" And me.

"I went to see Randall and Shane shouted at me."

"You did what?"

"I just wanted to talk to him."

"Yeah, you just wanted to talk to the dangerous guy who could get us all killed. That was stupid, you didn't think."

Carl sighed. "That's what Dad said."

"You're Dad's right." The girl snapped.

There was a pause before Carl spoke again. "...I am sorry, I was mean."

"Well, you were. I don't even know if I believe in Heaven, but it was easier when I thought you believed it too. But you went and stomped that all out, didn't you?"

"I was just mad." Carl shrugged. "What, it's not like I said they were in Hell. I just don't think there's a better place either. They're just... Gone."

"I think that's sad."

"I think that's the truth."

"Whatever. Not like it matters anymore." Faye held her head up with her hand. "We've got bigger problems to be worried about."

"So... You're not mad?"

Faye raised an eyebrow at him. She wasn't that mad in the first place, just confused, annoyed and generally too stubborn to talk to him. But, hey, he didn't have to know that. "Never said that."

He frowned. "Come on, what do I have to do? I said sorry!"

"You call someone's belief's stupid and think sorry is enough?"

"... Yes?"

Faye exaggerated a scowl and almost laughed at Carl's expression. "Faye! Please!"

"I'm kidding, you big baby." Faye stuck her tongue out and nudged Carl with her shoulder. "Go say sorry to Carol."

"Already have."

Faye feigned a hurt expression. "Oh, so you chose her over me?"

"No-!"

Faye snorted. "We need to work on your gullible-ness."

"Gullibility."

"Shut up."

The tone now light, the two children's conversation went on a little longer before they both separated to do different things. Faye went to find Carol, surprisingly to help with chores as she was tired of sitting around.

Carl, however, went into the woods.

Author's Note:

Hello! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they make my day every time! I've taken note of any suggestions.

So, we see how everything around Faye effects her. Carl acts out, Faye tries to ignore it.

Anyway, so I saved this chapter for the ninth! MID-SEASON PREMIERE! HELL YEAH!

...

Except, I'm in the UK so, I can't watch it yet. It premieres over here tomorrow, but I don't have the right channel on TV, so knows when I'm going to see it...

You lucky Americans! XD No spoilers please, I beg of you!

Anyway, the next update will be on Wednesday and on the latest Thursday because I am ill and don't want whatever I post to be complete jibberish.

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

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.