*Oh my gosh, thank you so much for all the reviews. It really does mean a lot to me and I'm so glad you're liking the story so far! I hope you continue to like it and continue to leave reviews! I will never make consequences for not getting reviews, but I like to update early when I get a lot (except this crazy awful busy week). Thanks again!*

"Hey, what are you doing?"

The knife slipped and cut his palm and the blood dripped down onto his jeans. He cussed. They were his one of two pairs of school jeans and if his daddy saw the blood he'd beat his ass. He whirled around and snarled, "What the fuck do you want?"

There was a little girl. A little tiny girl leaning against the tree behind him and just staring. He could see her little pink bike behind her. It had fucking purple glitter streamers. Fucking little kids. She stared back at him with big brown eyes. They were way too big for her face. They were like full moons in an itty bitty tiny face that was surrounded by all kinds of dark hair. She tilted her head to the side and said slowly, "I wanted to know what you were doing."

"What the fuck does it look like I'm doin'?"

"Are you allowed to cuss? I'm not. I'm not allowed to play with knives either. I don't know what you're doing. What are you doing?"

"Fuckin' makin' arrows. Ya always talk this much to people ya don' fuckin' know?"

"Well, can people our age be strangers?"

"'m a fuckin' stranger. Get the fuck outta here."

But she didn't. She smiled widely at him and made her way over to where he was sitting on the log in the middle of the woods, just off of the bike trail that other kids rode on. She sat next to him and held her hand out expectantly.

"What the fuck do ya want? Ya done said ya don' play with knives."

"Your hand. Give me your hand," she ordered.

"No."

"Come on. My daddy's a doctor."

"Then there ain't no reason ya oughta be out here with me. Get on home now."

"No. My name is Georgia Rayne Carson. What's yours?"

"Daryl."

"Well now we're not strangers. So give me your hand."

He didn't know why he did it and he never understood his trust in the tiny girl with the big stupid eyes, but he put his hand in hers and she grinned at him really big before she went to work examining the cut along his palm.

"Daryl," he looked up at Lori's whisper. He was sitting by the fire, watching it slowly burn out and planning on joining Georgia and DJ in the tent. The boy still hadn't apologized to her and Georgia was pretending that it didn't bother her that DJ wasn't speaking to her. She was being the same as ever to both of them, still mad as hell at Daryl and still protective of her little boy. Daryl still hadn't brought up the fact that she was in that tent packing when he found her.

"What?" he growled. He didn't want to deal with that bitch. She hadn't been out there looking for Sophia every day. She wasn't the one who had to be told that Sophia's momma wouldn't attend her own daughter's funeral. She wasn't the one that was trying to learn how to make their son love them. She wasn't the one trying to figure out what to do with a stubborn ass momma.

"Rick and Glenn and Hershel aren't back yet."

"So fuckin' what?"

"Can you go get them?"

"What?" he stood up quickly, disbelieving at the woman.

"You can track. You can find them."

"Ya gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me, lady! I ain't goin' after nobody this fuckin' time of night. God damn suicide mission. Ain't fuckin' gonna happen!"

"I don't see how you can be so selfish."

Daryl stared at her, his mouth slightly hanging open. He repeated, "Selfish?"

"Yes," she answered self-righteously. "Selfish. This group needs Rick and Beth needs Hershel. Georgia's been in there all day after the funerals and you've just been sitting out here with DJ, not doing anything. The least you could do is go look for them."

"Look here, lady, I was out there every fuckin' day lookin' fer that lil girl! Every fuckin' day while ya dumbfucks sat on yer asses an just bitched bout her bein' missin'. I was out there when her momma didn' care. I was out there when none of ya gave a shit. I fuckin' hunted fer all of ya'll cause ya were too damn stupid to do it on yer own. I didn' smack the shit outta no one when ya fuckin' left my brother to die on a roof. I didn' fuckin' leave after that. I stayed round an made sure ya fuckers didn' kill yerselves. Don' fuckin' tell me I'm fuckin' selfish. I got a boy I gotta think bout now. Do ya even know where yers is? Do ya? He fuckin' stealin' from people again? Or is he out gettin' shot? Ya want yer bitch, go fuckin' get him yerself!"

At his last statement, Georgia's head peeked out of the tent. She asked tiredly, "What's going on?"

"The guys aren't back yet and I asked Daryl to go get them and he won't," Lori said quickly.

"Why would he go get them?" Georgia answered simply.

"I can't believe either of you. You're two peas in a pod. Both selfish!"

Georgia came out of the tent quickly and made her way over. She put her face right up in Lori's and snarled, "Selfish? Are you really calling Daryl selfish? Because he isn't. He's been taking care of your dumbasses the whole time I've been around and I'd bet anything that he's been doing it a lot longer than that. You don't call him selfish when you eat his meat. You don't call him selfish when he kills walkers for you. And you don't call him selfish when he saves your ass, your husband's ass, and your son's ass. So you sure as fuck don't call him selfish now, you whiney, self-righteous, snarky bitch. Get the fuck out of our campsite before I break my foot off in your ass. Deputy Do Right isn't here to stop me this time and I will fuck you up bad."

Lori's eyes dashed between Georgia and Daryl before she stomped off quickly. Georgia's eyes followed Lori until she disappeared into the darkness. Daryl said quietly, "Didn' have to do that, Georgia Rayne."

"I did, Daryl," Georgia sighed without turning around. "Despite you hating me, you're not a bad man. You're just as good as anyone else around here. Sometimes, you're better. You don't deserve that."

She turned to go back into the tent and Daryl asked, "Were ya really gonna leave today?"

"I don't know, Daryl. When I saw that little girl coming out of the barn, the only thing I could think of was, 'What if that were DJ'. He and I did fine out on the road. He knew when to hide and how to look for signs of trouble. Here, it's so calm that I'm afraid he'll get settled. He'll get used to it and then, if something happens, he won't be able to take care of himself. Or if something happens to me, they'll treat him differently. Badly."

"Ain't gonna let nothin' happen to ya, Georgia Rayne. Ain't nothin' gonna happen to ya an ain't nothin' gonna happen to DJ. He's gonna apologize to ya tomorrow. Ya know that, right? He don' hate ya."

"Don't make him apologize, Daryl. He has every right to hate me." Georgia kept her face turned away from his and Daryl took a step closer to her. She tilted her head up to look at the sky. "I keep thinking that if I had told you about him before, maybe he would have been with you when the world fell apart. He would have been safer that way. Those first few nights we left Atlanta were terrifying. All I could hear was your voice in my head, telling me not to do anything stupid, guiding me towards the woods. All that shit you taught me when we were growing up, that stuck with me. You're the reason I was able to take care of DJ out there."

Daryl stared at her for a long minute before he said, "Good. Guess I only gave ya two good things whole time I knew ya. DJ an information bout survivin'. Glad ya put it to good use. But he doesn' hate ya. He loves ya a helluva lot. I had Merle with me when things fell to shit. He was at the bar an I was at the trailer. Ran in, told me I had ten minutes to get my shit 'cause we were leavin' an we were doin' it fast."

"I was working at the hospital when people started coming in with the bites. A man went crazy, bit another nurse. I was just the secretary so nobody really cared when I left. DJ was at school. I picked him up, took him home, packed up, and got out of the city as fast as possible. I was headed towards my dad's house."

"Ya kept the house? He died three years ago."

"I planned on moving DJ back there when I had enough money. That's how I was going to introduce the two of you."

"When?"

"When the world fell to shit, I was actually searching for jobs back home. I had an interview for a small business outside of town."

"Ya woulda been livin' in the town. I woulda got to see DJ all the time?"

Georgia looked up at the happiness in Daryl's voice. He was staring at her, the corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smile. One that other people wouldn't think showed glee but she knew that was what he was feeling. She smiled back at him and he crossed the distance between them in two small steps. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him, surprising her for a second as he rested his chin on her head and just held her. She didn't react at all. She just stood there with her arms at her sides and his arms around her. The hug only lasted seconds before he pulled away and stared down at her with his piercing blue eyes. He said calmly, "Yer a good woman, Georgia. A good woman an a good momma an I shouldn'ta let ya get treated the way I did. Glad it was ya takin' care a our boy."

She nodded hesitantly and said, "Well, I'm going to go to bed. Don't stay out here too late, okay? Today's been exhausting for all of us. You need your sleep."

"Be in ina minute."

Georgia nodded and stepped back in the tent. When Daryl went in an hour later, he found her curled into DJ's back. DJ was in the sleeping bag and Georgia was sleeping with only a hoody pulled over her. It was clear that she'd given the angry boy the sleeping bag so he wouldn't have to share with his momma. Daryl grabbed his blanket from his side of the tent and moved to where she was laying. He stiffly lay next to her with four or five inches between them and spread his blanket over them.