I do not own the Walking Dead.

Previously:

Merle leaned forward on his one hand. "Leave 'er, Daryl. She ain't ya problem, ain't ya daughter. Got no Dixon blood in 'er."

He'd had enough of hearing that lately.

For once, he ignored his brother and chose to find the little girl from the woods.

Faye was furiously pacing back and forth in her room, pent up anger finally released with nowhere to go. The wall was becoming more and more tempting with every turn in the cell. Spinning on her heels a final time, the girl raised her bandaged hand to hit the concrete, not caring about the pain, but her arm was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"Hey, hey, don't do that."

Damn Daryl and his stupid, sneaky hunting walk.

Twisting out of his grip, Faye turned around to address him.

(Address being the polite term.)

"What do you care?!" She snapped.

The man took a step back, as if expecting her to react this way. "'Cause ya gonna hurt yourself. Hell, ya beat up 'nough already."

"Doesn't answer my question, Daryl." Faye spat out his name. "Why do you care!"

Man, she was really trying to get it out of him. "'Cause, you're important."

The girl snorted. "Funny way of showing it." Sitting on her bed, she faced away from him.

"He's my brother, Faye, I gotta clean up his mess. Merle's an ass, he gets himself in all kinds a stupid shit. I went with 'im 'cause a that, gotta stop 'im bein' bad."

"What, like you stopped him joining up with the Governor? Like you stopped him kidnapping Glenn and Maggie? Like you stopped him getting locked on a roof? Like you stopped him cutting off his own hand?!" She knew that was a shitty thing to say, but she was pissed off. Things just came out her mouth when she was pissed off. "Why'd you come back here if you need to baby sit your big brother?"

Instead of being mad, to her surprise, Daryl seemed to accept her words and reply as if she had never said them. "'Cause I got tired of his stupid shit. Said that's why I went with him, wouldn't do that again."

"Good for you." She said sarcastically, still not turning to see him. When the bunk swayed slightly, she guessed he was leaning on the bed. This conversation was calmer than she had been expecting. Faye didn't know why she was trying to provoke him.

After waiting a few seconds for him to say something back, there was only silence. "What? Are you expecting me to say something? I haven't got anything to say to you."

"I do."

"Then hurry up and say 'em!"

It never occurred to Faye that Daryl might be struggling with his words.

Another ten seconds passed before the girl spun round and pushed him for an answer. "Well?"

"I'm sorry I left."

Oh.

She hadn't been expecting that. Sorry wasn't something Daryl Dixon said much.

Faye was unsure how to process this information. "What?"

It seemed to exhaust the man to have to repeat the words again. Still stood where he was, he said the words. "I'm sorry I left."

Daryl was sorry. Daryl was sorry that he left.

"You still did though." Faye replied quietly.

"I know." The hunter sounded relieved at her reply, as if she would throw it back in his face.

"You're the person that isn't supposed to go." The girl thought the sentence through again before standing up beside him and repeating it, louder. "You're the person that isn't supposed to go!"

Alright, she was angry again, he could work with that. He'd calmed her once already.

Giving what she thought was an aggressive poke to the chest, Faye continued. "And that's not fair! Everybody leaves and you're supposed to stay but you didn't!" The girl hit him in the chest, but he must have barely felt it as his position didn't move. Faye continued to punch the man, but her heart wasn't in it. "Andrea left to go be with her Governor boyfriend, Lori left Carl, Dale left, Jimmy and Patricia left, Oscar and Bit Tiny and Axel left, Dad and Andy-!"

"Faye-"

"No! You don't get it!" The girl cried. "You lost Merle! Merle! He wasn't even dead. Who else, huh? You didn't care about Jimmy or Patricia! They were nice, and Jimmy always beat me at the board games when we played but he was cool. Did you know that?"

No, she thought. He damn well didn't.

"And Oscar and Big Tiny and Axel! I saved Big Tiny! Axel was afraid of guns and the other ones died when you took too long in Woodbury! Did you care about them?"

No, she thought. He damn well didn't.

"You used to call Lori a bitch sometimes. And maybe she kinda was, a little, but she was Carl's mom! And Andrea, you didn't even want her here at the prison! I heard you. You didn't care about any of them!"

It was driving her absolutely insane that he was simply standing and taking. He wasn't even defending himself.

"And what if Carol died? What if I died? Would you care then? Or would you not give a shit about me, either?"

The man frowned. "Ya ain't dyin'."

"How do you know that? You can't watch me every second of the day, Daryl! I don't need you to. Besides, you didn't! I easily could have died when the Governor shot me, you weren't there to stop that! You weren't there to do anything!" She shouted. "But, screw you, I don't need you to care. No one else does! I can look after myself!"

Faye only stopped, voice trembling, when Daryl finally grabbed both her wrists with his hand, bringing them down and wiping her wet face with his other. She hadn't even realised that she'd begun to cry.

"You listen to me," Daryl said firmly, crouching down to her level. "I ain't leavin' ya again, I swear. Stayin' right here. We care 'bout ya, Faye, promise we do. Ain't gonna let the Governor get away with this."

No longer caring, Faye flung her arms around his neck. "Please don't go again!"

After tensing for a few seconds, Daryl returned the hug. "I won't."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Once Faye regained her composure, she spent the rest of the day with Daryl. Much like the scene from the farm, the girl had also apologised to Carol after an offering of food. Of course, Merle was not present at the scene as his brother had asked him to go on watch - ideally in a different area as T-Dog, who still received the Dixon's menacing glare

Towards the end of the day, Faye had retreated to her cell again, Carol telling her to fold what few clothes she had.

(In other words, Carol had told the girl to clean her room. She wasn't the tidiest of children.)

Having finished this task, however, she flopped back on her bed. For sitting around all day, Faye was surprisingly tired. And bored for that matter, but that wasn't so surprising-

"Hey! I'm back!"

"Carl!" Faye said, a grin suddenly on her face. Standing up from the bed, she ran over to give him a hug, resting her head on his shoulder as she did so.

The boy chuckled. "How does running around not hurt your head?"

Releasing him, she shrugged. "It does. Only a little though, like, stinging. The stitches are okay though."

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her answer, but the matter was quickly dropped. "By the way, Michonne said to tell you she brought you your package. What is it? It is that cat thing she brought back?"

"Package? I didn't ask for a cat, I asked for-" Oh. Michonne meant she looked after Carl and brought him back! Well, she could see that, he didn't look injured. "Oh, I'll... erm... go get it from her later. Don't worry about it. How did your trip go?"

"Pretty well, I think, on the Michonne part at least. I like her, I think she can be one of us. We got loads of guns from this guy who helped Dad when this all started, but he was crazy. He didn't recognise us so he shot at us, but then I shot him. He was wearing a bullet proof vest though, so it didn't hurt him too much."

Alright, that was a lot to process. "You shot him?"

"Yeah! I said sorry, but then he said 'never be sorry'. He gave us half his guns in the end, though, and he had lots. It'll blow your mind when you see them." Carl said before continuing quietly. "Oh, and I got this too."

From his back pocket, he brought out a glossy picture. Handing it to her carefully, Faye unfolded the paper to see three faces smiling back at her. Upon a closer look, she saw it was in fact an image of Rick, Lori and Carl. They looked younger, cleaner, and they were happy.

Faye smiled at it as Carl explained. "I thought Judith would want to see what her family looked like. I wish we could have had another with all four of us."

"I know. I never had a picture of me and my mom. I used to have pictures of just the three of us, but even they're gone now." The smile was sad, but still there. "I'm glad I had a picture of my mom even though I never met her. Judith will like it when she's older."

Passing it back, Carl nodded.

Hoping to return to the happy mood, Faye nudged him with her shoulder. "You look better with long hair anyway."

"You think so?" He said, cocking an eyebrow with a small smile.

Standing up from the bed, Faye blushed as she realised what she had just said. "...Yeah." Pausing, Faye brushed her fringe behind her ear before continuing. "Anyway, I've err, got to go see Michonne for the package. Meet you after to see these 'mind-blowing' guns?"

Nodding, Carl stood too. "Okay. I have to go see Daryl, too. I asked him to... check something."

"...Alright." Faye replied slowly. That was an odd thing to ask Daryl. She brushed it off as Carl being weird. "See you downstairs!"

"See you!"

"Thank you."

Faye got the odd sense of déjà vu as she once again stood outside Michonne's cell, the woman cleaning her katana. Continuing, she smiled. "For bringing Carl back. And making sure he didn't get hurt."

Michonne had that same look from before, a sort of smirk that looked like she knew something Faye didn't. "Your welcome."

The atmosphere didn't seem hostile-

(Could an atmosphere be hostile? Faye wasn't sure. She'd heard one of the adults say something similar, but she thought the atmosphere was the sky!)

-so Faye stepped inside the cell, the woman's eyes still on her. Somewhat randomly, she let head fall to the side, grinning. "What's that?"

Turning to see what the child was looking at, Michonne joined her in the grin, the look surprising Faye slightly. "That is the amazing cat I found."

The sculpture sat by the side of Michonne's bed, the figure had splotches of bright colour painted on to what she guessed was carved wood. "Where did you get it?"

"When I helped Carl get the picture. It was too gorgeous to leave behind." Faye decided she preferred Michonne to smile. She looked nicer when she smiled.

"So," She began, swaying from one foot to the other. "That makes you a cat person, right?"

The smile faded as the woman's eye brows raised, wondering where the child was going. "I guess. Why?"

"I dunno." She shrugged, still fidgeting. "You're gonna stay now, right? So, I should get to know you!"

Michonne narrowed her eyes slightly, although it wasn't the full glare she would give an adult. That was very scary. "I don't know about that yet."

Faye couldn't help but frown. "... Are you saying that about staying or getting to know you? 'Cause if it's the first then it's okay 'cause I like you now and Carl said you did good-" Faye paraphrased. "And Rick'll listen to him and Daryl'll listen to me so you can stay!"

"I meant... both."

She was definitely testing how far she could go with this woman. "But how can we be friends if we don't know you."

"You want to be friends?"

She was definitely digging herself a hole. "I mean, all of us are friends, so you should be too!"

"What about Merle?"

"Stop confusing me!"

The smirk returned to Michonne's face. "Sorry."

"No, you're not," Faye whispered under her breath, but was sure the woman heard her when she chuckled. "So, what, you're gonna stay all mysterious?"

Stupid smirk. "That's one way to put it."

"Like with secrets and stuff? So I have to figure it out, if you give me hints?"

Apparently, this was amusing, so Michonne went along with it. "Sure."

"Can you tell me one now?"

"Slow down, Sherlock," Michonne said. "You worked out I'm a cat person, come back next week."

Faye scowled. Was she patronising her?

(Was patronising even the right word?)

"Next week? But that's so far away!" They might be dead by then, if the battle with the Governor went south-er than it already was.

Michonne picked up her sword and began to clean it again. "Go play with Carl to pass the time."

Oh, right! Carl! The guns! He was probably waiting for her.

"Alright, I have to go then. I'll talk to you another time!"

The woman was already looking at her sword again as she replied. "'Till next time, Sherlock."

Faye turned to walk away, not without saying one last thing. "You know, most of the group call me Birdy."

Michonne glanced up, perhaps understanding the girl's message. "I'll keep that in mind."

Finally leaving the cell, Faye turned to see Carl leaning against a nearby wall, walking up to her when she saw him. "Hey, what took you so long? You get what you wanted?"

Looking the boy up and down once more, she replied. "Yeah, I did."

Author's Note:

Chapter 24 all done and dusted! This would have had another scene, but my brother is pestering me for the laptop, and I wanted to get something out for you guys!

The Faye/Daryl argument was supposed to be longer, but I genuinely found it hard to write them fighting. It's not normal for Faye to be mad at Daryl so it was odd writing it. Did you guys think it was good? Want me to go back and develop it some more?

Anyway, it's been an emotional couple of days, my best friend for years is finally leaving, so it was good to get some time out from that to just write.

Next chapter will be up on Friday, so I'll see you then!

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

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.