Heterochromia Iridum

As promised, here's the next chapter. Bit of conflict, bit more Daryl POV. Enjoy!

I'm surprised and happy at the number of people that have added this to their alert list, thank you! It's amazing to see that people still take the time to review as well, so thank you to addicted2memories, Guest34, Bactrian Camel, Lorento, jeanf, Javi, and JenTen for the support.

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 6: Wild

The first thing that registered in Katty's hazy mind was how dehydrated she felt. The second was the fact that she was still wearing that exact same clothes as she did yesterday, and that it felt gross. She was stale, uncomfortable, and sweaty; falling asleep with a bra on was a feeling that she had forgotten quickly how much she hated it in her short time at Alexandria.

She scrunched her eyes tighter together, trying to recall what woke her up. Katty pulled the blanket up and over her head when she realized that there was a female voice calling her name. It sounded vaguely like Tara, and Katty decided to play dead, which was how she felt, and pretend that she didn't hear the other woman.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," a grating, singsong voice followed the sound of Katty's door swinging open. Footsteps clunked lazily against the hardwood and Katty quickly tangled her feet around the sheets and blanket to prevent Tara from pulling them off her.

Tara laughed, "Come on. Glenn and Noah are waiting downstairs."

Katty groaned and rolled over, only to have her stomach drop as bed suddenly disappeared. She didn't have to wait long, for the hardwood floor quickly replaced the bed as she crumpled uncomfortably on the ground. Katty didn't move, she just accepted her fate and laid there for a few moments.

A loud snort emitted from the other girl and then the sound of a shutter clicking made Katty swivel and sort her body upwards. Poking her head out, she found Tara standing there waving a polaroid photo with an amused smirk on her face.

"I'm surprised and a little disappointed that you don't sleep naked."

Katty rolled her eyes at Tara, "Waving polaroids doesn't help them develop, you know. It can wreck the modern ones."

Tara ignored her, but stopped shaking the photo anyways. "You should have seen your legs in the air," she laughed. "Get up, or we'll be forced to leave without you." Tara placed a glass of water beside her and then left to presumably go wait downstairs.

Katty reached over and chugged the entire glass quickly, before she groaned, stretched, and finally forced herself to get up. She didn't really get hung over in the sense of headaches or stomach problems. Katty would just feel dirty and thirsty.

A shower probably would have been nice, but she decided to skip it as she would definitely need another one by the end of the day. It could wait. She merely changed her shirt into a tighter vest top so it wouldn't get caught on anything, and put the cargo jacket that was borrowed from Maggie back on.

Walking downstairs, the other three people stared at her expectantly as she ducked them all to fill up her glass again with water and grab a granola bar off the counter.

"Katty, this is Noah," Glenn pointed at the other face that she didn't recognize. Noah was tall and had a young face, and he offered her a smile as she continued to shove the granola bar into her mouth.

"Rough night?" He asked curiously after he looked her over. She chewed thoughtfully at the question. Did she really look that bad?

She shrugged, but Glenn snorted and decided to answer for her. "Rough as in she spent most of the night with Daryl."

Katty immediately blanched and started to choke on her mouthful of food. Right. That had happened. She cringed as she remembered some of her choice words for the other man. 'Daddy' popped into her head, and Katty winced again. He probably thought she was a moron.

"Did not," she frowned at Glenn. Only thing left to do was deny it.

"So what did you two do exactly after you left together?" Tara asked with a suggestive bounce of her dark eyebrows.

"Nothing!" She denied fervently, "I asked him to walk me home so I wouldn't get lost."

Noah snorted, "You realize this house is like across and down three right from theirs right?" Noah was looking at her with a cocked brow. She shot him a reproachful look, not impressed that the new face had decided to join in with their appreciation of mocking her.

"Shut it, all of you," Katty grumbled and hoped that her face wasn't turning pink. She quickly grabbed the map of the area that Deanna had given her the previous day, and packed a few necessities into a rucksack to take. Food, water, a few first aid items; they weren't going very far but you never knew what would happen.

They left shortly after that, and stopped by the armory to grab weapons before they met Aiden and Nicholas at the main gate. Katty had grabbed her Glock 17 and the remainder of her knives that had been kept in the storage locker. She was surprised at the weight that the combined weapons had put on her body, and Katty realized that she had missed carrying them on her person. She instantly felt safer and more confident in the town that was still overall foreign to her.

The other three people that she was with tensed as they approached who she assumed was Aiden and Nicholas waiting at the gate. The latter two were both tall, with brown hair and matching annoyed expressions.

"Took look enough," The one chastised, and Katty squinted at him, trying to remember his face. He looked towards her, and a grin slid on his face. "Well, hello, gorgeous."

Her face dropped into a disdainful expression of recognition. Right, she thought. She had already seen him once before, on her first day here.

"Katty is coming with us today. Rick cleared it," Tara said, and Katty thought her tone sounded challenging.

Nicholas appeared to take the bait, for he immediately snapped back at Tara, "Rick doesn't choose who comes on runs. Aiden does."

Katty let out a puff of air and waited for the confrontation. Aiden, however, clapped a hand on Nicholas's shoulder while he maintained his appreciative gaze on Katty.

"It's fine with me," Aiden said slowly as he raked his eyes down her body. Katty stiffened and tried not to react. The last thing that they needed was to explain to Deanna why Aiden had been accidently stabbed.

"Good," Glenn commented easily and side stepped so he partially covered Katty from Aiden's view. He too had noticed the unwanted looks from Aiden, which Katty was thankful for. Another part of her wanted to roll her eyes; she didn't need to be protected from this tosser. "So you two can patrol the east side, and we'll split up into teams of two and divide the West. Katty is mapping herbs, so she might take longer," he finished conclusively.

"You didn't let me finish," Aiden scowled at Glenn, and Katty remembered the physical altercation between the two that Tara had mentioned a few days ago. "It's fine with me, as long as she comes with me."

"Fuck that," Tara exclaimed with a dismissive shake of her head, "Katty stays with us."

Katty felt herself twitch in annoyance as they talked about her like she wasn't there. She glanced around at the tense figures and observed the dynamic of the two clashing groups of people. This wasn't going to end well, Katty decided in that moment. She'd have to think of something.

"I know the area better than all of you combined," Aiden argued. "I'll help her mark whatever shit she wants, and get it done faster than any of you. She'll be safe with me."

Glenn scoffed and moved further in front of Katty, "Safe? Like how Tara was safe when you two almost –"

"Oh shut it, all of you," Katty groaned and rubbed her temples. Hang overs didn't give her headaches, but this lot definitely was. Every face that turned to her looked annoyed, except Noah's, who looked more curious what she was going to say.

"Glenn, Tara and Nicholas take the East side. Me, Aiden, Noah will look through the West," she said. "Teams of three statistically do better than twos and now we're mixed up so no one can bitch." Glenn and Aiden both looked like they wanted to protest, but Katty scowled at them in return. "This is the only way I see this working out. Take it or I'm going out on my own. I'm too hung over to deal with this testosterone battle."

She had mulled over the combination of personalities while they were arguing over her. Aiden seemed arrogant and demanding enough to not give in to her going with the other three, as much as she would have preferred it. She wouldn't let herself be alone with Aiden or with Aiden and Nicholas, so they had to be split up. Glenn and Tara would both clash badly with Aiden, and someone would end up hurt. Katty glanced at Noah and hoped that he was as reliable as Glenn and Tara thought he was. She'd be fucked it he wasn't. Glenn and Tara would have to deal with Nicholas, who, with any luck, was less of an asshole when Aiden wasn't around.

Glenn sent a threatening look towards both Aiden and Nicholas before he eventually nodded at Katty. Aiden looked smug, and she frowned at him. Maybe she had made a mistake.

"Fine with me," Aiden said and shrugged at Nicholas. Nicholas looked less than thrilled about spending the afternoon with Tara and Glenn, but he wasn't about to argue with Aiden. "C'mon, let's get the gate open," Aiden ordered, and they both walked away a short distance.

Tara promptly grabbed Katty's face with both of hers and smushed her face towards hers, a serious expression in place. "Don't do anything stupid. If he acts like an idiot, don't try to be a hero," she said sternly, and Katty nodded slightly against the pressure of her hands.

"You guys too. Don't get killed," Noah skimmed his eyes along the faces of his two family members, and Glenn nodded tersely back.

"Hurry up," Aiden snapped at them, and Katty paced herself beside Noah as they approached the open gate. The two teams agreed to meet back in four hours just off the main road, and they, reluctantly, went their separate ways.

It was silent between the three of them for a length of time as they walked through the foliage. Katty was surprised that Noah, though he walked with a noticeable limp, could easily keep up with their pace. He wasn't as silent as she was, but definitely quieter than Aiden as he tromped through the brush and stepped on anything in his path. Katty wondered if that was a metaphor for his life.

Aiden had attempted conversation with Katty multiple times in the time that they walked, and Katty had successfully ignored all of his comments. She didn't want to allow him to affect her, rile her up. It would make her careless and angry, two traits that couldn't be afforded in the apocalypse.

She wasn't the only one to notice how loud he was being, as Katty's nose twitched and she stopped her progression forward. She always smelled them first, before she saw them. Almost two years into the apocalypse, it was apparent that the dead had reached a new level of decay.

She whistled twice shortly, and the two other men stopped at her obvious signal. They didn't discuss it before hand, but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what it was.

The Biter turned its head towards them, and Katty studied it with a wrinkled nose. Its head was twisted on its neck at an odd angle, the jaw half unhinged. The sunken, unseeing eyes fell unto Aiden, who was the closest to it, and the Biter started dragging its feet through the leaves and towards him. It was slow as it stumbled, having picked up the scent of the living.

Aiden turned his head quickly towards Katty, "I'll take care of it," he stated as he squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. "Watch this."

Katty and Noah shared unimpressed looks as Aiden quickly strode forward and pulled out his knife. Noah, seemingly unconcerned, merely crossed his arms and watched disinterestedly. Katty slipped her hand onto the holster of throwing knives that was wrapped around her left thigh. The short, black knives fit nicely into the cover that she had found in the Alexandria armory, and Katty was pleased that it was much more accessible for her than the pouch that she had previously crammed them into.

Aiden shoved the Biter around a few times, and Katty narrowed her eyes. This wasn't a fucking game.

"C'mon!" He grunted at it as the Biter snapped its lopsided jaw at him and stumbled quicker towards him. The noises that they made always made Katty's gut clench uncomfortably.

Aiden finally decided to put an end to his taunting, and jammed the knife into the front of the Biter's skull. The Biter slumped backwards, and Aiden lost his grip on the knife as the decayed body fell to the forest floor. More shuffling and hissing sounded, and Katty jerked her attention to the right of Aiden. Another Biter was headed towards the reckless male, and it was in a better state than the previous one. Accompanied by a limp, it ambled excitedly as growling rasps emitted from its mouth. Something dark and gooey dripped from the Biter's mouth, and Katty cringed. Gross.

"Aiden," she called warningly as he merely glanced over his shoulder quickly at the Biter and then bent down to grab his knife.

"I got it, babe," he grunted and she scowled and wrapped her hand around the handle of one of the knives at her leg as he fought to get the knife out of the cranial plate. Aiden finally straightened up with the blade in his hand and resumed the shoving game with the other undead figure. A rough shove sent it careening back, but the Biter was like a pendulum and fell into Aiden, shoving him back into the tree behind him.

When Aiden let out a laugh, Katty felt herself getting angry. How many people had she seen, how many countless lives had been taken away from these things, families torn apart, and this fucking child still treated it like it's a big joke that he's in on?

"Stop fucking around," Katty snapped. "Kill it."

"We should tie this one up to kill it before our next run. He's a fun son of a bitch," Aiden laughed and twisted his head towards Katty to make sure she was watching.

Her jaw tensed as she clenched her teeth together, and Katty quickly ripped a knife from the holster. They were handle heavy and designed specifically to not spin as the user threw them at targets. She found that this was the best design when targeting Biters. Katty barely aimed as the muscle memory took over as she stepped forward with her left foot to drive it forward and released the knife.

Thwump.

The knife had been virtually silent until it made impact, and it took Aiden a second to realize that the Biter was dead. He looked at the Biter, a confused expression on his face as he finally noticed the black handle sticking out of the left side of the skull.

Noah let out a low whistle, "Nice throw," he commented, sounding impressed.

Katty didn't look at him, she was focussed on scowling at Aiden. "Thanks," she muttered as she strode forward to grab her knife from the soft scull. Aiden beat her to it and ripped it from the Biter's head, an angry look on his face as he thrust the knife at her.

"I had it under control," he snapped, fixing her with a glare. "It was mine."

She grabbed it from him and wiped it on her pants before sliding the knife back into her holster. "They aren't pets, they aren't yours, and this isn't a game," she hissed at him with narrowed eyes.

He scowled at her for a minute longer before it morphed into a cocky smirk. "You were worried about me," he noted confidently.

"Yeah," she snapped. "Worried I'd have to tell Deanna how her fucking lunatic of a son got himself killed."

"You don't have to worry about me, baby. I can take care of myself," he purred at her and reached out a had towards Katty.

Katty took a step away from him and resisted slapping the shit eating grin off his face. "My name is Katty, not baby, not babe. Katty." Aiden opened his mouth to add something to their lovely conversation, but Katty cut him off. "I don't have the patience to deal with you. Just shut up and do your job, and let me do mine."

She immediately stalked away from him and towards Noah, who looked equally as done with Aiden's attitude. She felt bad for volunteering Noah to go with herself and Aiden, but Katty knew that it probably would have turned out worse if Glenn or Tara had been there.

Katty took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. Aiden, somehow, had managed to keep his mouth shut, though she could feel that his arrogant expression was still fixed on her as she lightly moved through the forest. She slowed her pace as she scanned her surroundings, trying to pick out anything to put on the map.

A slough of water caught her eye, and she nodded at Noah before she changed her directory to the pond. There was a large encasing of Bulrush around one side of the marsh, and Katty quickly marked on the paper an approximate location.

"Why do you care about Cattails?" Aiden asked from over her shoulder. Katty stiffened and felt her nerves grate uncomfortably at his tone. Deep breaths, she told herself.

"Because it's an entirely edible plant and there's a ton of it here. It's worth noting," she explained patiently. Aiden wrinkled his nose.

"I'm not eating that."

Katty chewed the inside of both her cheeks and sent a silent prayer for the strength to resist choking him.

"When Alexandria runs out of stored food, you will. The flower spike kind of tastes like corn, actually," she added and Noah let out a laugh behind her.

"Well, I can definitely think of something else that I'd rather eat first," Aiden commented loudly, and the suggestion made Katty's blood boil. Her calming breaths weren't working anymore.

"Aiden, knock it off," Noah snapped, and Katty sent him an appreciative look. Aiden merely scoffed and raised his arms defensively at the other male.

They walked for a while more, and came across a few walkers that Noah and Katty made a point in beating Aiden to killing. Each time, he would grumble like an irritable child, which he essentially was.

She was in the middle of measuring out where the patch of Elderberries in front of her was on the map, when Aiden appeared beside her again.

"More food?" he asked, disinterested.

"Not really," she muttered back distractedly as she scrawled where she thought they were. "You can make elderberries into medicine. The flu, pain syndromes, allergies, blah blah," she frowned at the map and decided to try to make use of Aiden. "Is this right? Where are we?"

Aiden stretched his arm and placed it across her shoulder as he leaned in to look at the map. "Looks right to me," he commented, and Katty quickly shoved his arm off of her.

"Don't touch me," she snapped as she stepped away from him. Aiden merely sent her a grin.

This went on for a few more hours. Katty taking the time to mark something down, Aiden hitting on her, Noah defending Katty, and taking out the odd Biter. Aiden was really wearing her down, and she could feel her resolve waning. Katty had done alright in terms of what she had found in the border around Alexandria. A cottonwood tree that she found odd in it's appearance in Virginia, but was interested nonetheless. She made a note to collect sap to make a salve from it later, as it would soon be too late in the year to do so. There were a lot of plants that were essentially edible weeds, but she refrained from writing everything down. She would have to go out farther to find anything else that was remotely useful, she mused.

Katty had almost missed the small bell-shaped, purple flowers while she was walking and made sure to grab some Belladonna leaves. The roots would be harvested in the fall, but other parts of the plant could be prepared and stored now.

"What's that one?" Noah asked her, and Katty was thankful that it wasn't Aiden pestering her.

"Belladonna," Katty supplied easily as she placed the plant in her rucksack.

He squinted at the tall plant and thought for a moment. "Isn't that another name for night-shade?"

She glanced at him, surprise littering her features. "Yeah, actually. You can use it for pain, Asthma, as a sedative. Lots of stuff."

He looked dubiously at her ruck sack, "How do you figure out how much before it kills you?"

"We could test on people," she muttered with a dark look towards Aiden, and Noah laughed. "How'd you know what it was?" Katty asked, genuinely interested in Noah's background.

"Mum was into gardening, had a lot of books," Noah supplied with a shrug. "I read about the poisonous ones sometimes."

Katty smiled at him slightly. She had quickly come to appreciate Noah in their short time together. He was light-hearted and would easily make lame jokes or funny comments to calm her down when Aiden pissed her off. Noah was genial and dependable, two qualities that she wished Aiden would exhibit.

They had turned back around in a slow circle in order to meet back up with Glenn, Tara, and Nicholas by the agreed time. In that period, Katty was able to practice throwing knives at three more Biters, which she was somewhat thankful for. She was determined not to lose her skill in dealing with the undead while residing in Alexandria. Katty didn't want to think about what would happen if Alexandria fell and she was unprepared.

The three others were waiting for them a short distance off the main road, close to the Alexandria main gate when they finally made their way through the foliage. Noah and her both let out a relieved breath to find their two friends virtually unscathed.

"How'd it go?" Tara called out to her as they approached. Aiden went with Noah to talk to the other two men about numbers and compare notes on the areas that the two groups had covered, but Tara and Katty hung back near the forest edge. Katty took her rucksack off and unzipped it with the intent to show Tara what she had noted.

Katty stood with her back to the treeline, and sorted through the few items that she had collected, intermittently displaying and explaining to Tara what possible uses that the plants may have. Tara looked over the map with her and seemed overall interested and impressed with what Katty had found, even though it technically hadn't been much.

"Every bit helps," Tara commented assuredly after Katty had voiced her slight disappointment.

Crack.

A branch snapped lightly behind Katty, and Tara glanced up with alert eyes over Katty's shoulder quickly. Her mouth opened quickly to shout a warning, and Katty, with her slow reflexes, turned at the sound.

A Biter ambled out quickly from the edge of the woods, growling and snapping in their direction. Katty fumbled and dropped the map and her rucksack and she rushed to grab anything to defend them with. The Biter was large and tattered, tripping forward and righting itself sporadically as it toppled around on a broken ankle.

Katty was closer by a few feet, but the Biter bypassed her and lunged for Tara, who shuffled to grab her knife as well. Katty clasped the handle of her machete, moved forward, and swung the knife into it's skull. The body fell into Tara and Katty struggled to pull the machete from the walker. She tripped over the dropped rucksack and the three bodies tumbled to the ground unceremoniously.

They both groaned and Katty rolled off of the top of the pile of humans as Tara lay winded on the ground for a minute, under the corpse.

"Tara! Katty!" Glenn's worried yell sounded as multiple pairs of feet ran towards them. Glenn quickly pulled the Biter off of Tara as Aiden dragged Katty up from her dazed position on the ground.

"Add another one to the list," Tara said breathlessly to Glenn as she quickly looked over Katty for any injuries. "Thanks, girl." She said amicably, and Katty only nodded in response.

"That was bad timing," Katty commented as she collected her rucksack and machete from the ground.

"Yeah, no kidding," Tara agreed, and then bit her bottom lip and looked at Katty strangely. "It was weird though, the Walker completely overlooked you."

Katty stiffened slightly before shrugging in Tara's direction. "I think he just missed me, they're pretty stupid sometimes."

Tara frowned and looked at the unmoving Biter, confused. "Yeah, I guess. Looked like he ignored you, though."

"I'm not really on their radar. I think it's 'cause I was out there so long; I probably always smell like them." Katty supplied jokingly as they walked towards the front gate. Tara and Noah snorted a laugh.

Aiden came up beside her and swung an arm over Katty's shoulder again, "So when would you like to go back out, just us?"

Katty's skin crawled as she roughly shoved his arm away. Her fragile patience was thread-bare after hours of taunting and harassment from Aiden, and she scowled at him. "I'd love to but I have so many other things I need to do before that. Like drink bleach, stick something sharp in my eye," Katty tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You know, the life of a busy girl."

Glenn laughed loudly as he guided Katty by the elbow away from Aiden and through the main gate of Alexandria. They walked for a few more seconds before Aiden gave a loud, incredulous laugh.

"Oh, I get it." He taunted loudly.

Katty twisted away from Glenn and stared at Aiden with narrowed eyes. "Get what, exactly?"

"That this is just your game," Aiden shrugged, "I've met girls like you before," He explained as he slowly walked towards Katty. The volume of his voice didn't decrease, it rose as he neared her. "Playing hard to get because they want a man that'll show them what they want."

"You're fucking delusional," she seethed at him. Katty was vaguely aware that their arrival and Aiden's loud voice was causing an influx of residents around them, but she refused to look way from Aiden. If intimidation was the game he wanted to play with her, she wouldn't back down.

"I heard what you were telling Rick before. About what the guards at the other place tried to do to you," he clarified and Katty froze and glanced around quickly. That wasn't information that she wanted to advertise, and she skimmed the faces of the people around her. Most looked confused, luckily. She turned back to Aiden with narrowed eyes; where was he going with this?

Aiden leaned in close with a knowing grin on his face. "You probably wanted it," he stated simply, and Katty felt something snap.

The last thread of patience had snapped and come apart, and suddenly all Katty could see was the colour red.

Daryl had been making his way down to the gate to start his afternoon watch shift, when he was greeted by a familiar scenario. A growing crowd of residents, with Glenn's group of supply runners as well as Aiden and his lackey in the middle. Different from last time, however, was the appearance of Kat, dangerously close to Aiden as the bigger male spoke loudly.

Daryl narrowed his eyes and quickly made his way over. He could see Rick and Michonne in the distance coming up from the lower street as well.

"I heard what you were telling Rick before. About what the guards at the other place tried to do to you," Daryl scowled and felt his blood boil that the self-entitled asshole had eavesdropped. Rick had indeed informed Daryl and Carol of everything that the girl had told him her first day in Alexandria, including that. Aiden was talking loudly, obviously aware that there were quite a few people around, and he seemed to want to put on a show. Fucking prick.

"You probably wanted it,"

Before Daryl could react in anger at, Kat tucked her chin and drove the crown of her head into Aiden's face. Seeing the petite girl headbutt the larger male made Daryl stop and he stared, somewhat astonished, at the scene before him.

Aiden cried out and stumbled back, clutching his jaw and mouth with his hands. Kat immediately grabbed the knife that Aiden had dropped on the ground and whipped it to the side, seemingly unthinking. It stuck in a skinny tree off of the paved road with a satisfying noise, and Daryl raised his eyebrows. It was either a lucky toss or the girl actually had some skill.

"Katty, wait –" Glenn tried to get out as the small girl charged towards Aiden again. Glenn, who was closest to Kat, grabbed the back of her backpack in an attempt to stop her, which ended up being futile. She slipped out of her coat and backpack and threw the bag back at Glenn, who stumbled back under the sudden weight.

"Stupid bitch," Aiden spat as he swung at her, and Kat took a quick step back and leaned away. Aiden clipped the side of her face, and Kat turned to the side and drove her elbow in the direction of his face again, but it only landed on his chest. Aiden shoved her arm away roughly, and the girl stumbled away from him. Aiden's mouth was freely bleeding now, and Daryl wondered interestedly if Kat had managed to knock out any teeth with her headbutt. Aiden swung at her again and Kat ducked down and swept her leg around his before driving her shoulder into Aiden's abdomen.

Daryl knew that he should step in and stop the fight, but he found himself impressed with the younger girl's efforts, and wanted to see more of it. It reminded him of someone, and he squinted at Kat while he tried to figure out what.

He stumbled and fell backwards over her leg, and Kat stood over Aiden, furious. Daryl was closer now, and he found himself transfixed by her. She was wild looking, everything from her messy hair to the look in her eyes, and he skimmed his eyes quickly over her. She was coiled tighter than a spring, all her muscles shaking and tensed, and Daryl could see the artery in her neck pulsing.

Wounded animals were always more dangerous than they looked.

"Get the fuck up," she ordered at Aiden as he lay winded on the ground.

Nicholas was suddenly behind her and grabbed Kat's arms, tugging them behind her back. She yelped in pain at the unnatural stretch of her limbs and Daryl moved forward to interfere. Kat was faster though, and raked the heel of her boot against Nicholas's shin. He hissed in pain and his grip loosened, so Kat swung her elbow back and into his gut.

Nicholas leaned forward with a grunt and Kat drove her head backwards into his face, repeatedly, until he stumbled away from her. His nose was dripping blood, and he went to charge at Kat again, before Rick stopped him. Suddenly there, Rick grabbed Nicholas by the shoulder and restrained him from attacking Kat again.

"Katty, stop!" Rick yelled gruffly at her, but she had already turned back towards Spencer.

Spencer had risen to his feet again, and Daryl realized with a twist of his gut that he was halfway through pulling the handgun at his side. Daryl started to push through the thin crowd to get to Kat; visions of a blonde, lifeless body in his arms filled his mind, and he felt himself panic. Not again. Not like this again. He felt himself stumble on a resident's foot as they struggled to get out of his way.

He glanced up in time to see Kat lunge forward and thrust the heel of her hand into Aiden's wrist. His grip slacked and she grabbed the gun from it's place at his side. Kat smacked him across the face with the gun, and Aiden's face twisted to the side, before his body caught up with him and he fell.

"Daryl, grab her!" Rick ordered at him when he noticed Daryl break through the ring of people.

Kat turned and threw Aiden's gun over the heads of whoever was around, and a splash vaguely registered in Daryl's mind as he encased Kat, pressing her arms to her side and making sure that her feet were away from him.

She struggled against him ardently and Daryl ground out, "Kat, stop – it's me," as he restrained her in his arms.

Kat stopped trying to kick and throw elbows, but she still squirmed against his body. "Daryl, let me go," she demanded as her backside ground against him. He felt his entire body stiffen as blood rushed downwards to an inconvenient location.

"Kat, fucking stop," he growled in her ear desperately, which was ignored as the angry woman was still fixated on the dazed and confused form of Spencer. Daryl hoisted her up over his shoulder, and started to walk away with the fuming form of Kat draped over his back.

She was seething, and Daryl thought it was probably from a combination of embarrassment and rage at being manhandled by him. He made his way over to the water as she threatened him.

"Daryl, put me down. I'm not above grabbing your arse."

Daryl rolled his eyes to himself and scoffed. "Any excuse ta touch me, huh girl?"

Kat spluttered an unintelligible response, which Daryl ignored as he reached the edge of the water.

"Ya need ta cool off," he decided, and ignored the British squawk of, 'Wot?' as he shifted his grip tighter on her sides and forcibly pushed her body upwards and away from his shoulder with a grunt. Kat was in the air for a few feet before she landed with a decent splash, submerged in the water.

Kat broke through the surface of the water once more, spluttering and spitting liquid out of her mouth. "Fucking prick," she spat at him, and Daryl felt himself stiffen again, turned on. She was hot, angry and wet, and he hated it. He needed to get out of here.

Rick and Michonne had successfully broken up and dispersed the crowd, other than the key essential members, and Rick made his way over.

"Get the gun while you're in there, Katty," Rick ordered sternly before he looked at Daryl. "Don't take off; I might need you again," Daryl nodded but inwardly groaned. The last thing he wanted to do was stick around.

Rick turned at the appearance of Deanna hurrying down the road, and quickly strode over to meet her. Daryl watched as Noah, Glenn and Tara approached the two people as well, obviously intent to tell their side of the story.

Splat!

Daryl felt something akin to wet fabric hit the side of his face, and he turned, instantly furious, towards Kat.

"The fuck is yer –"

He stopped mid sentence to stare at her, a loss for words. Her shirt was gone and she had her arms stretched towards her head, working to tie her wet hair back as she watched his expression. Daryl found himself staring at her chest, which was covered by a thin, white cotton bra. He could see the outline of her nipples against the fabric, and his throat went dry.

"Can you hold that for me? It's getting in the way of me finding the gun," she said sweetly, and Daryl narrowed his eyes. Kat put her hands back down to her sides and leaned forward while she continued to look for the gun alone the bottom. The motion made her breasts press firmly together and accentuated her cleavage. Daryl bit his tongue and attempted to keep himself from becoming slack jawed. He didn't hold the shirt; it just plopped uselessly to the ground as he stared at her.

Add that to the list of uncomfortable moments that he had with Kat.

She didn't look up, just continued to probe her foot along the bottom as she waded, and Daryl wondered if she was purposely folding her arms under her chest to drive him nuts. He shook his head to clear it. No way that would purposely be directed at him, Daryl reminded himself.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, she finally crouched down further into the water to pull something up. Clasping the gun triumphantly, Kat looked up towards him as she made her way over. He tried to ignore the way her breasts bounced and how the water dripped off her skin as she touched dry land and walked the short distance to him.

"Rick, I got it," she called over Daryl's shoulder. Daryl heard multiple pairs of feet make their way over, and turned to observe Tara, Noah and Glenn making their way over.

Glenn strode forward with Kat's jacket and backpack, and she took them gingerly from him. "Sorry for chucking my bag at you," she mumbled, and Glenn shook his head, unconcerned with the action.

"No hard feelings, you were upset. Prepare yourself for an earful though," he warned as Rick and Deanna approached. Aiden and Nicholas were walking towards them as well, but at a much slower pace. They were both holding various places on their bodies that had been hurt, as well as lightly touching their faces. Daryl smirked, glad that she had done some damage to the two assholes.

"Katty, this has to be quick because Aiden and Nicholas have to go up and see Pete to make sure nothing's broken," Deanna cast an unimpressed look towards her, "But Rick and I have a few things that have to be addressed.

Kat opened her mouth to argue, but Rick held up a hand. "We got the story from Glenn and Aiden both, Katty, you don't need to add anything."

She didn't look happy, but closed her mouth anyways and settled into silence.

"Fighting between our people isn't tolerated at all," Deanna chastised as she looked between both her son, his friend, and Kat. "We're trying to build a community, how are we supposed to do that if we can't depend on everyone to keep each other safe? Katty, if you have a problem with anyone you can take it up with myself or Rick," she focussed her gaze on the dripping girl, who scowled back at Deanna.

"I understand that Aiden has been verbally harassing you the majority of the day, which I will discuss with him later," Deanna shot a stern look to her son before looking back towards Kat, "But you can't solve that with violence. You're not children anymore, we shouldn't have to teach you not to hit."

Kat's jaw tensed at the jab, "You've got to be fucking –"

"Katty," Rick snapped. "Quiet. Listen to Deanna; if you have a problem with someone here, there are other ways to solve them than this."

Aiden and Nicholas sent smug looks to each other, which Daryl scowled at.

Rick turned to Aiden next. "You're an adult," he reprimanded. "When a woman tells you no, you don't keep berating her to get your way. And you definitely don't bring up in a crowd of people past traumas and you don't victim blame," Rick ground out at him, his anger flaring up as he stared the both of them down.

All three were now glaring at their feet, and Rick and Deanna looked them both over for a terse minute.

"This discussion is finished. Now, apologize and shake hands so we can –" Deanna started, but the three young adults interrupted with varied vocalizations that expressed their disagreement.

"She's crazy, I'm not touching her!"

"No way."

"Fuck that."

"STOP IT," Rick loudly abolished over their complaints. "Katty, you can start."

"I'm sorry you're such a piece of shit," Kat sneered at Aiden, who scowled at her in response.

"Katty!" Rick snapped.

Her shoulders raised and fell three times as she took multiple, deep breaths to calm herself. Kat glanced between the two men, still angry, but her tone was less sarcastic and taunting, and instead grouchier. "Sorry," she muttered and stuck out her hand to Aiden.

He glared at her before Deanna shot him a pointed look and he sighed before he clasped her hand briefly. "Sorry." Aiden bit back at her.

Kat repeated the process with Nicholas, who shook her hand for an even shorter amount of time, and Deanna nodded her head, seemingly satisfied.

"Aiden, Nicholas, go to the infirmary," she sternly ordered. Aiden cast another angry look at Kat, which she returned full force, before he walked away. Deanna follow and walked behind the two stalking figures.

"Katty," Rick pinched the bridge of his nose, "Go get dried off, you're going to get sick."

Kat nodded and Tara walked forward and grabbed her hand. Kat cast one last look at Daryl and he raked her eyes over her wet form before she smiled and turned away to leave with Tara. Fuck, did she see that? Glenn and Noah followed behind them, most likely to talk about what had happened.

Once they were a distance away, Daryl looked towards Rick, who was still standing there with a hand roughly rubbing over his face.

Daryl's lips turned into a smirk, and he snorted, trying not to outright laugh.

Rick looked over and frowned at him, "What's so funny?"

A short laugh escaped Daryl at Rick's displeased face. "Nothin'. Sorry, Principle Grimes," Rick shook his head, disbelieving. He eventually laughed as well, and then ran a hand through his short hair.

"Shut up, Daryl," Rick tossed at him, but it held no anger or malice, so Daryl snorted again.

"Gonna give me a detention?" he chuckled at his own joke.

Rick sent him a look that read as unimpressed, before he smirked. "If you're lucky I'll put you and Katty in detention together, brother." Rick took his turn and laughed at Daryl's blush and sour expression.

"Dunno what yer talkin' about," he muttered before he turned on heel and stalked off towards the wall for his watch shift, intent to get away from Rick and any images of a wet, angry Kat that would disrupt his thoughts and his focus. Fuck, there they were again.

A/N: Hello, you! Thanks for finishing another chapter. The next one will pick up where this one leaves off, and will have more Katty and Daryl in it. Was going to add some more Merle to this chapter, but it would have made it too long and I want to avoid rushing any scenes.

Review if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you think! Constructive criticism welcome as well, guys.

-Submechanophobia