I do not own The Walking Dead.

Previously:

"But now Merle took Michonne to fulfil the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late." The way their leader rushed the last words reminded Faye of the way she had told Carl. "I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry."

No one argued with him.

"What I said last year, that first night after the farm, it can't be like that. I can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, is not my call. It can't be. I can't sacrifice one of you for the greater good because we are the greater good, the reason we're still here. Not me. This is life and death. How you live, and how you die. It isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go, we choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight, or we can go."

If there was ever one thing Faye wanted to remember of Rick, it was those words.

After the meeting with Rick, Faye sat with T-Dog on watch. Mainly because she had been determined to watch for Daryl's return, the other's didn't want her to be alone, and T-Dog was fun. He joked a lot, which was nice. It kept the atmosphere light-hearted while the girl wasn't feeling that way herself.

But she could feel the sudden tension when T-Dog put a hand on her shoulder before she even looked up.

Because putting a hand on someone's shoulder was comforting, which meant something bad must have happened to need comfort, which Faye immediately tied to Daryl not coming back. Jumping to her feet, shrugging off T-Dog's hand in the process, Faye's eyes darted to see what the news was.

When she re-focused, however, the girl simply saw Michonne walking to the guard tower. She stopped her panicking.

(Faye took note that she really needed to gauge the situation before breaking out in blind fear. Seriously. It was getting out of hand.)

This was the opposite, this was great! The woman's return meant Merle's return which meant Daryl's return. There were many reasons the hunter didn't greet her himself. He might have been tired, or putting away whatever vehicle they use, or talking to Rick, or controlling Merle, or something. Continuing the list would achieve nothing but comforting herself, which she didn't need to do.

"Look, Birdy, it's just Michonne. Cool it." T-Dog said, chuckling at Faye's sudden changes of mood.

Folding her arms, she replied, flicking her bangs behind her usual ear. "Shut up."

"Go on, see what she wants." He replied, an amused grin on his features.

Doing as he said, Faye climbed down the ladder of the tower to find Michonne waiting for her. Assuming the best, Faye smiled. "What's up? Daryl brought you back, right? Look, Rick never told us, so none of us agreed to handing you over, especially not me, 'cause I think you're cool, and-"

"Don't worry. Rick had to consider it." Slowly, a sly smile spread across the woman's face. "You think I'm cool?"

"You have a sword, a funny cat-"

"Amazing cat." She corrected.

"An amazing cat and you helped us get Glenn and Maggie back. I'd say that qualifies you as cool."

Apparently in approval, Michonne nodded. "Glad you think so."

Grinning, Faye nodded too. Michonne was cool. And pretty badass. But, not as badass as Daryl. "So, what happened? Where's Daryl?"

The look of amusement faded as a serious one replaced it. "Merle let me go, but went forward by himself. Daryl caught up with me, but went ahead to get his brother. He's not back yet."

The girl's face dropped.

He wasn't back?

It's not a big deal, she told herself, he would return later. Telling herself not to worry, Faye pressed her lips into a thin line.

The concern rose up as quickly as she tried to bat it down. But how long would later be? Would later be an hour? A day?

"Stop worrying." The finality in Michonne's voice surprised Faye. "Daryl will be fine, and he will return. It's strange how only you can't seem to realise his loyalty to the group."

She felt the need to apologize after that tone of voice. "Sorry."

Shaking her head, Michonne continued. "There's no need to say sorry. You just need to let yourself fully trust him. I highly doubt he would ever say it, but he is very fond of you. While you were unconscious after the attack, he was always the one keeping an eye on you."

"He did?" Faye smiled a little when she received a nod. Logically, the reasons why she should trust Daryl were larger than the reasons she shouldn't. Come to think of it, there was only one reason she couldn't quite do it and months worth proving him worthy. "I'm trying to. I know that I should, but then I worry all the time and he notices and then he has this little sad look in his eye and only I notice it and that makes me feel worse-"

"All you need to know is that Daryl is loyal and Daryl is strong. He will come back and he won't die easily."

"Alright." It felt good to have a second opinion, and that opinion at least sounded unwavering. "I'm just jumpy, what with everything going on."

Michonne didn't seem surprised. "I would be concerned if you weren't. It's good to be on your guard, but getting paranoid is a step to far. You should remember that."

Nodding as she took in the words, Faye came to the conclusion that Michonne was a mixture of Hershel and Andrea. Andrea always gave her advice, and Hershel always gave her wisdom. It was a good mixture to be. "So, you're okay?"

"I'm okay. Go on back to T-Dog, he'll be waiting."

Faye's smile returned. "Can I check up on you later?"

Michonne's amused expression returned. "What make's you think I need checking up on?"

"I dunno, you might have a concussion? Besides, it's been a week, right?"

As she began to walk away, the woman gave a quiet chuckle. "We need to get you a watch."

"But that would ruin the magic!"

"Maybe it shouldn't work then."

Faye laughed. It felt good to laugh. "A bandana and a watch that stopped, I'll be the best cowboy ever!"

"You're an odd one..." Michonne paused, as if contemplating whether she should actually say the word. "... Birdy."

"'Till next time, Sherlock."

"You know, most of the group call me Birdy."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Looks like her message got across.

The girl felt slightly triumphant as the older woman walked away, smirking as she thought.

Welcome to the group, Michonne.

Daryl's return wasn't as happy as Faye had hoped it to be.

The man barely said a word when she ran to meet him, his small smile strained as he dismissed her before reporting to Rick. It had taken her a minute or so to finally figure out why, sitting on the steps of the cell block, but then it dawned on her.

Daryl had come back, but Merle had not.

It was also clear that he hadn't been captured, or the feeling in the hunter's step would have been determination rather than defeat. Merle Dixon was dead.

This left Faye with mixed feelings as she let Daryl go do... whatever it was he needed to. The older Dixon had mocked her, scolded her, but - whether he did this indirectly or not, she would never know - he made her just that bit tougher. Made her grow up a little. It didn't matter who she was, bad stuff was coming, and bad stuff was coming for her. And she better be ready for it.

Did she wish for him dead? No. He scared her sometimes, but Faye had yet to wish someone dead.

(Even the Governor. All she wanted was for him to leave them alone so they could live in peace. Well, whatever peace the apocalypse could provide.)

Now, she and Daryl were even more alike. Both shot in the head, both the last of their family.

Then, she did feel something. Something she could recognise, at least.

She was angry. Angry because the Governor killed another one of their group. Angry because that death hurt Daryl. Angry that Merle abandoned his brother. Faye knew how it felt to have the only family you have left ripped away. It was horrible. Now, one of her precious people had to go through that grief. All because Merle Dixon was reckless! Surely he knew it would be an impossible task; there was no way the Governor would attend the meeting alone. Now he was dead and Daryl was alone.

Wait, no, Daryl wasn't alone. He had her, and Faye had no plans of dying any time soon.

Standing up from the steps, the girl walked through the cell block, straight to Daryl's room. Apparently, the hunter must have kept his conversation with Rick brief as he was already in his cell, crossbow dropped on the floor as he leant against the wall, head drooped down.

Not wanting to see him like that for long, Faye quietly stepped into the room. She found the crossbow at her feet, and decided such a cool thing shouldn't be left on the floor. When Daryl didn't react to her picking up the weapon, she wrapped her fingers around the cold metal and lifted it onto the bed before looking at the man.

His pants were torn at the knees and his hair was more dishevelled than usual. It was the way his whole body seemed to want to sink to the ground that gave him away the most. Moving beside him, the girl leant against the wall too, close enough for him to realise her presence. His blue eyes swiveled to meet her green for a second before breaking contact.

"You know," She began, unsure where she was really going with the sentence and if it would help. She knew when Andy died, she didn't think of anything bad he did. Maybe Daryl would be like that too, even if Faye herself wasn't think the best thoughts of the older Dixon at that point. "Merle once told me it doesn't matter who you are, you do what you've got to do to protect the people you love and yourself, too."

Daryl scoffed quietly. "Sure as shit don't sound like nothin' Merle ever said in his life."

"Well, his version was ruder and sounded tougher with an accent, but that was the lesson I took from it."

"And ya point is?"

He was being very uncooperative. "Erm... that Merle wasn't all bad."

"Ya say that like ya knew 'im. Merle didn't have any good in 'im."

"I know him well enough to know he wasn't evil. That means he did have good in him, in my book." Faye paused, thinking again when she received no reply from Daryl. "Alright, maybe he was a bit dumb 'cause he fought the Governor by himself, and took Michonne, and got his hand-" She stopped. That was not reassuring. "But he was trying to help when he did that stuff. Or, at least, that's what I'm going to think."

There was silence after that, and Faye found herself leaning against Daryl's side, hoping someone's presence might comfort him a little. She supposed this was like putting a hand on his shoulder, but less awkward. Maybe her words were naïve - Daryl had called her that before, but didn't particularly mean it as an insult - but he wasn't complaining. Perhaps he saw a side of Merle the man didn't normally see today.

"He got shot in the chest. Found 'im chewin' on some guy." Daryl finally said, voice quiet. "I put 'im down."

Faye did not like opening up to people about her family. She barely thought of them herself, finding it easier to numb herself to the memories. But Daryl had opened up to her, as much as a Dixon could open up, over the past few days, and he had kept every promise but one. It was about time she started to trust him again. "I wasn't there, but Andy got overwhelmed by the walkers, I think. Dad too. His stomach was all ripped open, and his neck. The 'some guy' he was trying to chew on was me. I put them down."

The two simply stood there for a while, the silence comfortable. Daryl only moved from his spot when the beginnings of a group discussion were heard, both of them leaving the cell in quietly, neither speaking of the moment of weakness.

"Can I vote?" Faye asked as they walked down the stairs. "Rick said we're doing that now."

He glanced at her. "I know, he told me. And it depends what ya vote is."

"Doesn't that kinda defeat the point of voting?"

"Kinda." The hunter replied. "What is your vote?"

"We fight."

Author's Note:

So, I know it took a week again, but there are some family issues that I won't go into the details of - so updates will be once a week for a while. Eventually, I can up the amount of chapters again, but not for a few weeks, so bare with me! :)

Season 3 will be completed next chapter! And as for the reviewer mentioning a kiss, don't worry, I have it all planned out! It's not too distant in the future.

Anyway, I'd like to hear more of your thoughts for this chapter, there weren't many reviews last time! I hope the chapter was good enough.

See you next Saturday!

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

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.