Heterochromia Iridum

Hello, you! Thank you for taking the time to give this story a shot, I hope you enjoy!

Thank you so much to Lykae'Sky, TheHungryRainbow, jeanf, Guest, & Teacup for reviewing and thank you everyone else that added this story to their alert list or favourites. It made me so psyched to see that. Keep'em comin'!

jeanf: Thanks for your input! I actually thought about Daryl's reaction for a while and had a few different ideas before I settled on that one. I definitely am planning on writing some chapters from his point of view, once there's more to say and I will address his thoughts about that whole scene. I was trying to write it in that way that it seemed rough, because he is a rough character sometimes, and I think that at this point (early on in Alexandria) he's still pretty broken up and angry, whether it be about Beth or trying to get used to being in Alexandria. Sorry if it seemed too rough or made you uncomfortable, I tried to get across that Katty wasn't actually hurt or traumatized over it, just bumped around a bit. Thanks again for leaving a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters associated with the franchise. I own the plot to this story and any original characters you may see, like Katty or Calum.

Chapter 3: Heal

Katty stood in the kitchen, leaned against the counter as she ate a bowel of oat porridge for breakfast. She had been awake for a few hours, but had only decided to eat once she deemed it an acceptable hour for breakfast. Not that she had a clue what time it was, she went off the appearance of the sun. Katty wondered if they had working, accurate timepieces in Alexandria.

Sleep hadn't come easy to Katty the previous night, and it hadn't been consistent. She had expected it though, as her circadian rhythm had been thrown off from before. Outside, she hadn't experienced regular sleeping hours. You slept when you could, taking short naps and a few hours at a time to rest and recharge, whether it was during the day or at night.

Even before the end of the world, Katty never slept well. She never understood when people would use the term 'drifting' in reference to sleep. I drifted off to sleep. It was foreign to her; she never drifted. She never floated, or glided from dreaming to awakening. She always slipped, fell, jumped, jerked. Sleep wasn't a place that she left; she would simply not be awake and then suddenly stumble into the waking world.

She had also spent a lot of time in trees over the last few months, so she had a lot of trouble getting accustomed to the expensive queen sized mattress in her room.

Her room.

That was a phrase that Katty had figured wasn't ever going to swipe over her conscious mind again; only in her dreams had she thought it was possible that a house with a room existed for her in the current day. It wasn't really her room though, she thought. She didn't decorate it, didn't choose it, didn't earn it, nothing about this place belonged to her yet, and she wondered if there was going to be a time when she thought of Alexandria as her home.

It still surprised her when she turned the faucet on and something other than the last stream of rust coated, contaminated water dribbled out. She filled a glass and sat at the wooden table, glancing around at the room again. She reached for a coaster at first, her instincts wanting to preserve the expensive piece of furniture for longer. But something made her stop and Katty parked the cup on the table without it. Maybe if the table had rings on it, she would feel more at home. Was that an odd thought? Probably.

A knock sounded somewhere, and Katty quirked her head, confused what it was, before she realized that someone had knocked on the front door. How sad that such a simple thing was such a foreign concept to her now.

Rosita's pretty face greeted her once she opened the door, and Katty was pleased to see that she had her favourite pants in her arms, along with other clothes.

"I didn't even try to wash your other clothes, I just threw them out," was the first thing that Rosita said.

Katty blinked at her and took another bite of her food. "Morning," she mumbled while chewing. "Porridge?"

Rosita looked down at her bowl disdainfully. "No thanks." Rosita brushed past her and walked into her house.

Katty stood there for a moment, looking at the place that the other woman was just standing. "No, please, come in." she sarcastically drawled at the empty space standing in front of her.

"I'm putting extra clothes in your room," Rosita called over her shoulder at Katty as Katty slunk back into the house, closing the door. Rosita disappeared for a minute before returning to find Katty sitting on the couch, finishing her porridge.

"Nice outfit."

Katty glanced down at herself. The closet in her room was mostly empty, but random clothes were left, so she had taken some of them for pajamas. Currently, she was wearing an oversized stereotypical tourist shirt that you would find in Mexico. It was white with the body of a lady wearing bikini bottoms and ice cream cones covering where the character's breasts were. The cotton shorts she found fit, but were also covered in sequins. Katty couldn't figure out why someone wouldn't take these clothes with them when fleeing from Biters, but their loss were her pajamas.

"Thanks. Picked it out myself," Katty replied, chewing her breakfast thoughtfully and looking at Rosita.

Rosita quirked a smile at her and then clapped her hands together. "You're with me today. Rick said."

Katty lifted her eyebrows, slightly unimpressed. "I don't need a babysitter, thanks though."

"Good, because I'm not a babysitter," she looked at her for a moment, hands on her hips, and continued. "I'm going to be blunt, because I think you're blunt and will appreciate this. We don't know you, we just want to be careful."

Katty wanted to tell her to fuck off, that she didn't need people following her around for Rick or Deanna's benefit, but like yesterday, she kept her mouth shut. She needed them to trust her, and she was the alien here, not them. So it didn't matter that she was going to have everyone in Rick's group probably watching her every move and waiting for her to fuck up. She would either have to deal with it, or leave. Katty didn't say any of that, and she simply shrugged instead.

"Glenn and Maggie were saying yesterday that I should go to the infirmary and help sort supplies, and try to think of any herbs in the area that could replace or help what we already have."

Rosita nodded along to what she was saying. "Yeah, that's fine with me. I usually spend most of my days there anyways; medical assistant when I'm not watching over the wall." She clarified. "I'll wait for you to get changed."

Katty attempted to keep her face straight as she glanced up at Rosita from her seat. "I thought you said you liked my outfit."

"I do. We don't want the other residents jealous and trying to steal from you, though." Rosita managed to keep her face straight as well, though there was laughter dancing in her eyes.

Katty pretended to look pensive and furrowed her brows. "You're right, I need to blend in and not make enemies."

Rosita rolled her eyes and Katty got up and dropped her bowl and spoon in the sink. She would clean it later, when she had nothing to do. When she got upstairs, she found that Rosita had left some things folded on her bed, and she immediately grabbed her black jeans. She smiled. Someone had also fixed them for her; there were now pieces of leather or fake leather stitched at the front of her knees, much like the pants Rosita was currently wearing. It covered the rips that were previously there, and actually looked kind of good.

Katty grabbed a random vest top that Rosita had left for her, a dark, muddy green one, then ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it and pulled on her boots before going back downstairs.

Rosita was waiting at her at the front door. When she saw Katty, she pulled the door open and stepped outside. Katty glanced at her abandoned water glass on the wooden table, and closed the door behind her.

"Thanks for washing and fixing my pants, by the way," Katty commented while they walked to the infirmary.

"Thank Carol, then. She's the one that stitched the patches on the knees," Rosita replied.

"I don't think I've met her yet," Katty pondered, trying to recall the list of people she had been introduced to yesterday.

"You will. She's like, – uh, our den mother," Katty frowned at the small, secretive laugh that Rosita let out. What was funny?

When they got to the infirmary, there was already another person there. It was another woman, either Katty's age or a few years older, and she offered them both a smile as they walked in. Her hair was dark and collected in a low ponytail, accompanied by dark eyes and thick eyebrows.

"'Sup." Was all she said. Americans were so funny sometimes, Katty thought at the colloquial greeting.

"Katty, this is Tara. Tara, Katty," Rosita waved her hand in between them both, supplying them both with half-assed introductions.

Katty awkwardly raised her hand in a quick wave, and Tara grinned and looked her up and down.

"So this is the reason Daryl was so mad yesterday? You're pretty, though," She frowned at her.

"Wot?" was the only unintelligible word that Katty replied.

Rosita rolled her eyes at the other girl, "Tara, knock it off."

Tara raised both her hands in mock surrender, "I'm just saying, if a cute girl like her had said that to me I wouldn't have been so bitchy about it."

"Apparently I don't make good first impressions." Katty scratched the back of her neck.

"I dunno; Glenn, Maggie and Michonne all thought you were pretty funny." Tara supplied hopefully.

Katty replied by rolling her eyes. "Sadly, there's a difference between being funny and having people laugh at you."

Tara laughed and Rosita walked by them, carrying a large, open topped box. She plunked it down in front of them.

"Get to work, ladies. There's this box and four more that we get to unpack, organize, and keep inventory of. After that we have to make a list of supplies we need for the next run," Rosita glanced around them. "Where's Pete? He should be here helping, since he is the doctor."

Tara scoffed. "Really? When has he ever helped with anything like this. He just drinks beer on his porch."

Katty pulled the box towards her and started unpacking it slowly, listening to the two women complain about the resident doctor. She had nothing to add, but just found it interesting that people still found topics to gossip about, even in the apocalypse.

The three of them worked in silence for a while, with the occasional comment about the count of gauze, tubing, sterile packages of bandages, and anything else that the box contained. It was mostly comprised of wound dressings of different sizes, packings, and a few boxes of gloves. It was a lot of the lighter supplies, and Katty was impressed at the sheer number that they had managed to acquire.

"Is there a hospital nearby? I can't believe there's all this and four other boxes of it." Katty commented and she wound an elastic band around packages of gauze to keep them together.

"Not nearby. All this stuff is from before we got here, the other team that makes supply runs went on a previous long trip and then left again before we arrived. It hasn't gotten unpacked yet because they're lucky. They haven't really had to use it. Hence why Pete is sitting around a lot lately," Rosita explained, squinting at the pile of IV tubing in front of her, trying to count it.

"So I already met Glenn. Who else makes supply runs?" Katty inquired.

"Not sure the names of the ones that are out right now, but currently it's Glenn, myself, Noah, Nicholas and Aiden," Tara listed off easily. "I'd watch out for Aiden and Nicholas though. They won't exactly have your back if you went out there."

Katty frowned at her, confused. "How can a team that goes outside the walls not rely on each other?"

Tara sighed. "It's pretty messed up right now, like segregated. Aiden tries to make it really into some us versus them thing. Him and Glenn got into it a while ago, and Glenn laid him out. Nicholas isn't as bad, just kind of cowardly. They're both reckless and completely ignorant, though." She added angrily.

"Sounds like they're going to get someone killed," Katty commented, more to herself.

"I think they already have," Tara continued, sounding frustrated. "Told some stupid story how they lost four other team members somehow and they tied up some walker so that they could kill it before the next run. Me, Glenn, and Noah went on that run, and it almost got us killed."

Katty was sure her eyebrows had touched her hairline with how much she felt herself raising them. "They sound lovely," she commented sarcastically. Tara scoffed again and a short silence occurred before Katty opened her mouth again.

"So if I wanted to go out, collect, and map out where medicinal properties are located, who should I ask?" Katty asked, and inwardly cringed at the inflection of her voice as she attempted to sound hopeful.

Tara blinked at her in surprise. "I'm surprised you want to go back out so quickly."

Katty licked her lips and glanced down while she thought her words over. It was difficult to describe how she was feeling sometimes.

"I'm sure I'll get over it; I just feel kind of trapped right now. And I'm worried I'll forget how to defend myself."

Rosita snickered, and Katty glanced at her. "Sorry. You just reminded me of a surly redneck is all. He stalks around like a caged tiger lately."

"If you really want to go out, I can put in a good word for you. I'd say I would just take you out with Glenn or something, but we haven't been here that long and we still have to clear it with Deanna first. So she might decide that Aiden should come too," Tara warned, but Katty was still happy with the idea.

"Thanks, Tara. As long as it isn't just me and Aiden, I'll be alright. I can take care of myself; I just don't want to have to deal with him alone."

She nodded back at Katty. "Fair enough. I'll talk to Rick and Deanna."

After that, the conversation thinned out, and they worked for a few more hours. Katty found that she actually didn't mind their company. They were both kind hearted and Tara would make the odd jokingly flirty comment at Katty, which Rosita would either roll her eyes at or tell Tara to 'shut it'. Katty was entertained, to say the least. They worked through three of the five boxes in total and had scribed an inventory of what came out of all of them, before Rosita decided to call for a break.

Rosita waved Katty away, "You don't have to stay if you want. Just come back in like an hour or something, whenever you get bored. I'm going to go see what Abraham's doing, but if you want to go home for a bit or walk around, feel free. I won't follow you," she sent a wink Katty's way and stood up, brushing her pants off.

Katty followed suit and stood up. Tara stretched her arms above her head, a few joints cracking in protest.

"If you see Pete, tell him to get his ass down here. His house is on the corner next to ours." Tara called after her as she walked out the door to the infirmary. Katty waved in acknowledgement over her shoulder.

She wasn't hungry, so she decided to just walk around and get familiar with the town. In all honesty, she knew most of the layout of Alexandria. After a few times of Aaron and Eric visiting her, she had followed them back at one point and had effectively kept hidden. Katty wanted to know if Aaron and Eric were full of shit or not, so she had perched in a tree for some odd hours and just watched all the different sorts of people going about their day in Alexandria. She had been surprised at the lack of guard posts, sharp shooters, or anyone on patrol really. Woodbury had all of that in abundance, so Alexandria had seemed naïve in comparison. She figured it was only a matter of time before they got picked off, which was a large part of the reason why she had declined Aaron and Eric's invitation for so long.

Katty walked slowly as she passed by where she was staying and approached the houses that kept Rick and his group. She was hoping that she would run into Daryl, smoking on the veranda like she had seen him yesterday, but he wasn't there. Katty had been carrying around her peace offering all morning, and was disappointed at the prospect that she might not give it to him today. She fiddled with the small box in her pocket as she meandered around, before she was interrupted from her thoughts.

"Daryl isn't here if you're looking for him," Katty stiffened and quickly turned around, somewhat surprised with what she saw.

There was an older woman with short hair composed of different hues of grey and she wore a tight lipped expression as she observed Katty. She was surprised by what she saw, because the woman was dressed in a floral sweater and slacks, and carting around a baby in a stroller. The clothes and the baby didn't match the woman's stern expression, and the collocation made Katty raise her eyebrows.

The surprise didn't last for long, before Katty felt her face heating up at being called out. She felt like a child with her hand in the cookie jar, and she quickly searched for a suitable lie.

"No – I, uh, was just looking for Aaron, actually," she quickly retaliated, thinking of the first person that came to mind.

The other woman shook her head slightly. "Not here either. Him and Daryl left early this morning, probably won't come back 'til the evening."

"Oh."

She continued to look curiously at Katty, the tight lipped look remaining on her face. She didn't seem to be too pleased with her presence. Katty felt awkward again, and didn't know how to continue the conversation or leave, so she shuffled her feet and glanced around. Her gaze landed on the baby again, who was fixated on Katty as well.

The little human made a disgruntled noise and reached two clumsy, stubby arms at Katty, looking determined. Katty felt a smile crack over her face as she looked at her. She loved kids. She wasn't good at much, she had dropped out of college repeatedly as proof, but she was good with kids. Katty figured if she had to be anything in life, a mom was a good option.

"Judith likes you," The grey-haired lady commented, smiling lightly down at the baby.

"I like Judith," Katty supplied back simply, but didn't make a move towards Judith. "Is she yours?" she asked with a nod at her. It was odd to see a baby in the apocalypse, but Katty couldn't say it didn't make something akin to hope simmer inside her as she looked at the baby.

She shook her head at Katty for the second time. "Ricks." Katty's eyes widened slightly, surprised that Rick had a child. She supposed that it did make sense though, he had a protective streak in him like a father would.

"I'm Katty."

"Carol," the woman replied, and a light flicked on in Katty's head.

"Right! The den mother," Katty grinned at her, and Carol managed a smile back at her that Katty thought looked entirely too innocent on her previously stern face. "You fixed my pants. Thank you so much."

Carol waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "It was nothing. I use to sew a lot before it all, so it was quick."

"No, no, don't be humble. This looks ace, Carol. You didn't have to do it, or make it look so top. My knees thank you as well." Katty hoped the grin on her face conveyed how much she liked the new addition.

"You know, Rosita tried to throw them out before I offered to sew patches on them."

Katty's face dropped into one of shock. "What? I told her they were my favourite!" She scowled in the direction of the infirmary.

Carol looked amused at Katty's displeasure, and looked like she was about to say something before they both jerked their heads in the direction that a loud crash came from.

Katty didn't hesitate, she ran without a thought and without any protection in the direction it had come from, the house on the corner. She didn't turn to see if Carol was following her, but she heard the stroller that contained Judith rolling hurriedly against the pavement, so she assumed she was following her.

She opened the door to find a blonde woman on the floor near the staircase, looking confused and disoriented. Looming above her was a much larger, blonde haired man who looked shocked at Katty's intrusion. He narrowed his eyes at Katty and stepped closer to the woman on the ground. Katty made a noise of protest, and he paused to direct his attention unto her.

"It's fine, don't worry about her. Happens all the time, sometimes she gets dizzy and falls."

Katty's ears burned and she scowled at his unconcerned tone towards what she assumed was his wife.

"Happens all the time, huh?" she questioned, and was very aware that the flat tone of her voice held all the accusations she felt.

The man stopped his ministrations and stiffened, before looking up at Katty and scowling. The look on his face told her all she needed to know, and she felt her own face morph from a frown into a glower.

"Not that it's any of your business, anyways." The man's voice was low and threatening. He reminded her of any one of the copious amounts of men that had the title of boyfriend to her mother, after her parents got divorced.

"Oh, Jessie, let me help you. Katty, keep an eye on Judith," Carol quickly situated Judith's stroller inside the doorway and put the breaks on it before helping Jessie to her feet. She glanced at Katty with a serious expression on her face, before ignoring the other man completely and slowly walked Jessie out of the room.

"She's clumsy, that one," he stated offhandedly, his eyes glued to Katty's face. There was a challenge in his eyes, and Katty knew he was baiting her.

Katty probably should have kept her mouth shut. She didn't know these people, she didn't technically see what had happened, but her gut twisted uncomfortably. She knew that it wasn't as innocent as it appeared, and by the look on Carol's face, it wasn't just Katty that felt that way.

"There's a good quote I can't quite remember," Katty started, and she knew the change in subject had thrown the other man off, because he squinted at her, confusion etched into his features.

"Something about not teaching survivors to forgive their attackers. Teach them to instead become angry, and to never stop fighting. That's how they will get true justice and finally heal."

The previous scowl had slipped back on his face, and Katty studied him while he thought of a response. The anger in his eyes was ancient. He had been angry for a long time, and Katty pitied him.

"What the fuck are you implying?" he seethed in her direction, and took a deliberately slow and intimidating step towards her.

Katty immediately retaliated and met him head on. She took a large step in his direction and craned her neck to glare up into his face. Surprise flickered through the anger, and Katty deduced that there hadn't been too many women in his life that hadn't cowered when he walked into a room.

"It means," Katty made sure her voice was sharp and clear and that she enunciated every word clearly, "When Jessie wants to heal, know that I'll be here with her, helping her fight."

He growled and leaned closer to Katty. Katty kept her glare steady and refused to blink or even look away from his mean face. "You don't even know her."

"I do," she immediately snapped back at him. "I know her because I've seen my mother, because I've seen my best friend, because I've seen random women on the street, all cower away from people just like you. The stories don't change, only the faces do."

Their bodies were inches apart, and Katty's neck started to hurt as she glared up at him. She felt him shaking, rather than saw it, and she didn't need to look down to know his fists were clenched.

"What are you going to do, hit me?"

There was a tense moment, one in which his arm twitched and Katty really thought he was going to strike her. But –

"I put Jessie to bed, and left some water at the beside table for her."

Katty waited for the other man to step back first before she turned to look at Carol. Carol was leaning against the doorframe, and looked as though she had been for a while. She was looking at the other man calmly, but Katty thought that the look in her eyes was more threatening than anything the either of them had said to each other a moment ago.

Carol was definitely more than just a 'den mother'.

"Great. Thanks," he snapped, before scowling in Katty's direction again. "Get out of my house. Both of you."

Katty sent one last glare in his direction before following Carol and Judith out of the house. The door shut loudly behind them, and Katty could feel herself seething as they walked away from the house.

"There has to be something else we can do. Does Rick know? He can't just –"

Carol sighed. "That's the only surgeon that we have, Katty."

Katty stopped in her tracks and stared at Carol with wide eyes. "That's Pete?"

Carol nodded solemnly, and Katty puffed out and angry breath as she scowled in the direction of Pete's house. She started grumbling ideas of ways that they could harm Pete without getting caught. She knew she was rambling, but Katty was angry and couldn't stop. When she was finally winded, she tried to focus on something else.

Katty glanced at Judith, who was again reaching an arm to her. Katty leaned forward and let Judith grab a couple of her fingers. "Sorry, Judith, but if you ever bring home a man like that, I'll tell your dad and we'll take turns cutting off his appendages with a butter knife, starting with his favourite one. Yes, we will!" she cooed at the beautiful child, her happy tone contrasting with her words. Judith laughed and Katty beamed at her.

She then looked up to see Carol watching her with softened eyes, and she felt her face heat up again.

Standing up straight, she pointed over her shoulder. "I should really get back to Rosita and Tara, or they might make me finish unpacking by myself." She offered weakly.

Carol nodded. "We'll continue our walk then. Come on, Judith."

They passed each other and Katty was only about fifteen feet away before Carol paused her steps to call out to her again. Katty turned around and noticed that even from this distance, she could see the light smile on Carol's face.

"Daryl sometimes goes over to Aaron and Eric's house to eat dinner or work on the bike when they get back."

Katty's mouth dropped open and her face flushed again, but Carol simply turned and continued walking like she hadn't said anything.

Her mouth opened and closed dumbly a few times, before she bristled uncomfortably and turned on heel and headed back towards the infirmary. Was she really that obvious? She fiddled with the object in her pocket absentmindedly.

When she opened the door to the infirmary, Rosita and Tara were standing around and talking. Katty was glad that they hadn't started without her.

"Hey, did you see Pete?" Rosita asked offhandedly as she dragged out another box.

Katty froze before she remembered that the man was supposed to be down there with them, helping unpack and organize.

"No." she bit out stiffly. It was no use telling them about what had happened. It wasn't her story to tell, and it wouldn't do anything other than probably cause more pain for his family and discomfort. He was their only doctor, after all. It didn't sit right with Katty, but she didn't know what else to do.

They both glanced at her and then each other, wondering why Katty had suddenly developed a tone.

"Something piss you off?" Tara asked with an arched brow.

Katty sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You have no idea."

The rest of the afternoon went by slowly but consistently as they all worked and recorded everything. The last box had contained a large case of different medications that the girls did their best in identifying all the familiar ones for the inventory list. It was helpful to know so they knew what they were missing and needed more of. Pete would have to check everything whenever he decided to next show up, to make sure that they hadn't done something like confused Clozapine with Clonazepam.

Katty got along quite well with the two women. They talked about the people in Rick's group that she hadn't met yet, and random facts that they had found out during their own short stay at Alexandria. Apparently Rick had another child, Carl, and Rosita was romantically involved with a man named Abraham. Katty tried to keep up with the names and remember that someone named Eugene had a mullet, but she pacified her worries by telling herself that if she met them it would make more sense.

After staying to chat with them for a few hours, Rosita glanced at her watch and declared that it was soon to be time for her shift patrolling the wall. So they admired their finished and beautifully organized supply closet and shelving for another minute before parting ways.

Katty figured it was getting into the evening, so she decided to go back to the house for a bit before harassing Aaron and Eric, and hopefully Daryl. She took her time walking back to the four-bedroom abode, and washed her dish in the sink from the morning. She reluctantly removed the water glass from the table to discover that it hadn't left a ring yet. It wasn't her table, but Katty wasn't sure if she was glad or disappointed the table had remained perfect in her absence.

Katty busied herself around the house for another hour or so, finding odd jobs to do, and ended with herself refolding and putting away the items that Rosita had brought her. She had told her today that the next time that the team went on a run to the closest department store, they would look for some more clothing items and footwear for her. Katty appreciated the notion, but hoped that she would be going out with them when the time came.

When she found herself silently sitting on the couch with nothing to do, Katty decided it was time to bite the bullet and see if the two had returned from wherever they had gone today. If they weren't there, she would just hang out with Eric until she could corner Daryl and apologize profusely. She thought she had done an alright job of getting Rick's group, for the most part, to not hate her, and she really didn't want Daryl to think ill of her.

She trotted over to Eric and Aaron's house, and knocked softly. When Aaron opened the door, she wasn't sure if she was relieved or terrified.

"Hey," Aaron greeted her easily, and she attempted to smile back and look as though she wasn't nervous. "We were wondering when you'd eventually stop by," he stepped aside and held the door open while she stiffly walked through it. "How was your first full day here?"

"Spent it with Rosita and Tara. They're nice," Katty said with a shrug. Again, she was going to leave out the altercation with Pete and he feelings about that scenario.

"Good, so you didn't offend anyone else?" Aaron offered her a cheeky grin, and Katty swatted at him playfully. She didn't respond either, both because she didn't want to dignify that with a response and because she had, in fact, greatly offended someone and didn't want to get into it.

"Hey, long time no see, my pet." Eric said to her from a pot he was stirring in the kitchen.

"Pet?" Katty wasn't sure she liked where this was going.

"Yup, you and Daryl are like stray cats that we feed but wont let us cuddle them." Eric took his thumb and dotted some sauce on her nose with a grin. "It's just about ready if you want to stay for dinner."

"Thanks," she paused. "So… Daryl's here?" she tried to sound casual, and slowly glanced around, looking for the aforementioned person.

"Told ya," Aaron called to Eric from their office.

"Yup, you did." Eric agreed.

Katty groaned and dragged a hand down her face. "Shut up, don't make this more painful for me than it has to be."

"He's in the garage. Wait and I'll make a plate for you to take to him," Eric offered, and Katty wondered if he would even take it if she brought it. Nonetheless, she agreed and waited while Eric put together two plates of pasta. She blanched when she realized that she would be eating with Daryl alone.

He handed them to her too soon, and she was then walking like a turtle to the garage door. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand to knock before deciding that it was a stupid idea and she pushed the door open.

The butterflies in her stomach were moving uncontrollably, and Katty almost dropped the plates when she took note of Daryl leant over a motorcycle, doing God knows what, all arms and shoulders made of muscle and dirty and –

He glanced up briefly, and probably had expected Aaron or Eric, because he did a double take before staring at her.

"Hey," he grunted at her after a brief silence, or that's what she thought it had sounded like. He looked just as uneasy as she felt, surprisingly. He didn't seem as angry as he had yesterday, either.

She apparently was silent for too long, because he stopped what he was doing completely to turn towards her.

"Hi."

Did that sound dumb? What else could she have said, when him simply greeting her was enough to make her forget how to say 'Hello'.

"That for me?" he asked, gesturing to the larger plate in her hand. She nodded dumbly and handed the dish to his out stretched hand, that was covered in grease and dirt. It made her smile slightly, the look suited him.

A thick, awkward silence covered them as he leaned against the wooden shelving where some tools and odd parts were kept.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. She was supposed to make some monumental apology and end with a witty, clever comment that made him laugh and instantly forgive her. It wasn't supposed to be awkward and she wasn't supposed to just sit here and stare at him eat like a creep.

Daryl was focussed on the food in front of him, and Katty took a few quiet, deep breaths.

"I'm sorry."

He immediately glanced up with a furrowed brow at her, looking almost confused. He was probably confused at why her apology was so shitty, she thought.

"I honestly didn't want to piss you off; it was my attempt at a shitty joke to break the ice. That isn't an excuse, though, and I just wanted to explain and say I'm sorry that I spoke about you or your family like I know shit, or made you feel threatened or defensive or embarrassed or anything," Katty wasn't sure if that apology even made sense, she just kind of rambled out something until she couldn't think or any more words for Daryl. She tried to maintain eye contact with him, but after the first initial 'I'm sorry', she lost her nerve and retreated her gaze to anywhere but him.

He watched her with his intense eyes and blinked a few times. Katty wondered if she should just go, he probably didn't want to talk to her or look at her and she was just –

"'S'alright," her murmured at Katty, and he was now shoving his food around his plate with his fork, basically playing with it. Katty was stuck by how he chewed his lip for a moment, and tried to figure out what he was feeling. Did he look embarrassed?

"Shouldn't have pushed ya. Ya okay?" he nervously flicked his eyes up to her again and then back down to his plate.

"Yeah, no, I'm – completely fine," she felt her heart speed up as she watched him.

He looked up at Katty again and nodded solidly at her, and she remembered she had brought him something.

Katty quickly stepped forward and placed her plate on the tabletop beside him before reaching into her pocket and grabbing the item she had been carrying around all day. She placed the unopened, but slightly squashed carton of cigarettes beside him.

He looked confused again.

"Peace offering," she said with a smile.

"Nah, don't," he shook his head at her, "Take it," Daryl immediately grabbed it off the wooden surface and tried to give it back to her.

Katty raised her hands in the air and shook her head, her smile still in place. "Nope, no take backs, Daryl. I don't smoke anyways, so you can think of it like you're doing me a favour, if you want."

He hesitated, and then nodded at her. "Thanks." He busied his hand with toying with the package for a minute, before opening it and popping a cigarette out of it.

"Why d'ya have 'em then, if ya don't smoke?" Daryl fumbled in his pockets for his lighter before he flicked it a few times and cupped his hand around the end of the smoke to light it.

"Friend I was with smoked, but he's somewhere that I'm not and I don't think he'll need them," she tried to keep the sadness out of her voice when she spoke about Calum, but she knew a sad smile was on her face by the concerned look he shot her way.

"Sorry," Daryl said, and then added, "That ya lost 'im." The garage door was open so he didn't bother to go outside with it, Daryl just stood there and quietly smoked.

Katty shrugged. "Maybe I'll see him again someday, who knows." He nodded again at her, and she watched him smoke for a while, blowing it out in the direction of the open door.

She couldn't help herself. "Like Merle, right? Maybe we'll see him again."

Daryl paused to look over at her. "He died," he stated simply in a softer voice than his usual rasp, and watched Katty for her reaction.

Her heart and gut immediately clenched, and she thought she stopped breathing for a second. There was a familiar, thick feeling in the back of her throat, one that she hadn't felt since she last cried over Calum. The space behind her eyes burned, and Katty didn't look at Daryl, in fear that she would lose it if she did. A large part of her wanted to call him a liar. There's no way that Merle, Merle fucking Dixon, could be dead. But she recognized the honest tone in Daryl's voice, and didn't question it out loud. What reason would he have to lie?

She swallowed thickly and took a long, slow, deep breath. "I'm sorry," she licked her lips and fiddled with a string on her jeans. "He was rough and hard to deal with half the time – most of the time, but he was always unashamedly and irrevocably Merle." She sent a sidelong glance his way. "He talked about you a lot, you know. Cared a lot in his own, messed up way."

Katty assumed that Rick had told Daryl everything that she had said the previous day after Daryl had stormed off, because he didn't ask any questions or seem confused as to why she knew him. If not, she anticipated that she would explain it to him one of these days. She hoped that eventually she would get to tell him the whole story of how Merle saved her life. Katty knew it wasn't going to be tonight, though. It was much too long a story, and she had a few too many butterflies for her to concentrate for that long.

Daryl had a softer look on his face as he listened to her speak about his brother in silence, and Katty decided that she liked the expression. Daryl wasn't what someone might call conventionally attractive, but he was something and she wanted to figure out what exactly that something was.

Katty glanced at him again, hopefully. "Maybe we can swap stories sometime about him. I'm sure you have some good ones." She offered Daryl a small smile to accompany the suggestion.

He raised his thumb to his mouth and chewed on the skin by the nail as he mulled over her words. Katty always found the most interesting people were the ones that thought their words over twice before they said them.

"Yeah," Daryl finally agreed. "I have a few."

Katty stood there for a minute, raking her eyes over his profile as he focussed his gaze on something random in the garage. He fidgeted under her stare, and Katty knew she was probably making him uncomfortable.

Against her better judgment, Katty quickly reached out a light hand and placed it on his forearm.

Daryl flinched and stiffened at the contact, but he finally looked at her again, which is what Katty wanted. She dropped her hand from his arm quickly.

"Thanks for listening to me ramble," she said gently, "I'll let you get back to the bike now."

Daryl didn't say anything as she grabbed her untouched plate from beside him and took her leave. When she glanced back at him from the doorway, Daryl looked deep in thought, and she smiled at the scene.

Once Katty shut the door to the garage behind her, she quickly scarfed down her now almost cold plate of food. It didn't make a difference with her, and it still tasted better than anything she had eaten outside of Alexandria. Aaron and Eric sent her questioning looks, but she interrupted anything that they threw at her with compliments to the chef and assertions that she was tired. She probably looked nuts, but she didn't want to talk about Daryl with them, and Katty made a half-assed excuse to leave and retire to the house she was staying at.

That was it, she thought to herself as she strolled home in the evening light. It didn't happen with some monumental apology or witty comments; it didn't happen with humour or passionate sidelong glances. But something did happen, even if that something didn't have a name yet.

A/N: I know I've been skimpy on the Daryl interaction lately, don't worry though, more to come!

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-Submechanophobia