He was sitting at the fire, cutting new arrows when she walked over. He was so focused on his anger and whittling the arrows that when Georgia said quietly, "Hey," he jumped and cut his palm.

"God damn mother fuckin' woman, why the fuck are ya always doin' this shit?" Daryl threw his knife and the stick he was working on to the side and leapt up to whirl around and cuss at her.

"I just figured that I'd let you yell at me now, while DJ is on top of the RV with Dale, as opposed to later, when my son can hear you scream at me."

"Our boy. Our son. Not just yer son. Not just yer boy."

"Our son," Georgia agreed. "Yell at me before he comes over here."

Daryl stared at her for a second before he stalked over to her and jammed his finger in her face. "Some piece a shit that beat on ya an fucked DJ all up was better than me?"

"He wasn't better than you. And I didn't know he was going to hit me when I got with him. And I was only with him for six months. The first time he yelled at DJ was the last time. I left him when he yelled at DJ."

"Why the fuck did ya put up with him? Merle hit ya one fuckin' time an ya left me fer the rest of my life. How many times did that fucker hit ya? How many times did ya let him beat on ya?"

"Daryl, it wasn't like I just let it happen. It started out really nice. I met Eric at work when he commented on a picture of DJ I had on my desk and he asked me out and it was great. He loved DJ and he wanted to take care of us and he didn't pressure me to have sex with him. So I guess I rushed it and he moved in with us after three months. And then, two weeks after he moved in with me, he hit me one morning when I burnt the eggs."

"But ya always fuckin' burn eggs," Daryl interrupted. "No matter how many times ya make 'em, they always get burnt at the edges 'cause ya don' wanna make 'em undercooked an get sick."

"Yes, well, Eric said that he told me to stop overcooking them. It wasn't even really a hit. It was like he smacked me in the back of the head. You know, like Merle used to do to you. Except it was really hard and it made me burn my arm on the stove and he apologized and said that he didn't mean to make me burn my arm, he was just messing around. So I forgave him, but it got worse. He was always smacking me in the arm, or the thigh, or in the back of the head. I had bruises up and down my arms and legs and I had a knot in the back of my head all the time. But he was nice to DJ and no guy was ever nice to DJ. No man ever treated me like Eric did. He was always telling me how he was so glad I was in his life and he told me how much he loved me every day. Nobody had told me that before. Nobody told me that they loved me."

Daryl looked away from her guiltily at that. A man that had known her for three months could tell her that he loved her but he'd known her since he was twelve years old and he couldn't tell her he loved her after he was with her for three years.

"But, he wanted to be DJ's dad, and DJ didn't want a dad. DJ was holding out to meet his real dad because I kept telling him that one day he would meet him and he would love him and he'd be really amazing and take care of him. But that pissed Eric off and one day, he yelled at DJ because he bought DJ a toy truck and DJ said, 'Thanks, Eric.' But, when he yelled at DJ, that was the last straw and I yelled at him and told him never to scream at my son, and he busted me in the mouth. And then he didn't stop hitting me. When he left, he'd broken my nose and split open my lip and my eyebrow. He came back two days later and I hit him in the face with a frying pan and I guess he cut his losses after that because I've never seen him again."

"It don' matter where he was hittin' ya, Georgia Rayne!" Daryl snapped out. "He shouldn'ta been hittin' on ya. I never fuckin' laid a hand on ya no time in our lives. I was fuckin' good to ya an then ya went an did that. Ya put our boy through that!"

Georgia just stared at him silently. Daryl asked, "Did ya jus stay with him 'cause he told ya he loved ya?"

"He made me feel like I was important," Georgia said quietly.

"Fuck, Georgia. I'da known that was gonna happen an I'da told ya every fuckin' day that ya were important an that I…ya know…"

"Know what, Daryl? What do I know?"

"That I…cared bout ya an shit."

"Cared about me, Daryl? You cared about me," she repeated.

"An other stuff, ya know. I…ya know…loved ya."

"You loved me?"

"Yeah. Don' make me keep fuckin' sayin' it. It's fuckin' stupid. Specially since ya didn' love me back."

"I fucking did so!"

"Nuh-uh. Ya left. If ya'd have loved me, ya wouldn't have left."

"You're an idiot."

"Don' be callin' me a fuckin' idiot, Georgia Rayne."

"Daryl, I didn't leave because I didn't love you. You and I both know that. You're just an idiot and you still want to blame me for everything because you can't accept that you and your brother were wrong! I came here to apologize and explain what happened with Eric, to let you know that I'm sorry I left! But you are a fucking idiot, Daryl Dixon. An emotionally stunted fucking idiot!"

"Ya know, I didn' say it, but ya never said it either. Weren' like I was the only one could talk!"

"You would have freaked out if I had said it first!"

"Would notta!"

"Whatever, Daryl."

She turned to walk away and he stopped her by grabbing her arm. He snarled, "No. Ya said I could yell at ya an I'm gonna get my time in. How could ya be so fuckin' stupid? Why didn' ya jus come home? Why didn' ya jus come back an get me an tell me that ya needed me an I wouldn'ta cared 'bout anythin' else? Ya coulda jus fuckin' came home."

"Home? I could have gone back and lived with my dad because I couldn't make it in the real world? I couldn't do that."

"Didn' mean with yer daddy. Meant ya coulda come home to the trailer. I didn' change nothin' when ya left. Kept it jus the same. Merle fucked some shit up, made messes, shit like that. But I didn't paint an I didn' move nothin' an I had the same furniture. I wanted ya to come home."

"Well, here we are now. It's not the trailer and it's not our happily ever after, but this is our home now. So you got what you wanted, Daryl. I'm home."

He stared at her for a very long time, his piercing blue eyes confused and brooding, and asked, "Are ya sayin' ya wanna be back together?"

"Daryl, we haven't been together in almost nine years. And you're still pissed off at me all the time. I'm not saying we start having sex again or that you start kissing up on me. I'm saying that we stop arguing as much and start acting like co parents, which means that you cannot storm out after DJ every time he storms out. And we approach him unified."

"So yer not wantin' to fuck like bunnies, right?" Daryl said cautiously.

"Right."

"Good. Guess 'm done yellin' at ya. We oughta find our boy. Then I gotta help Rick with the kid an ya gotta talk to Hershel bout movin' DJ into the house. An if he says no, talk to Dale bout movin' DJ into the RV. Don' want him sleepin' in the tent anymore."

"Alright. Come on."

They turned together and made their way to the RV where DJ was watching Dale show him and Glenn how to play with spark plugs to get the RV to start. Dale looked up and waved when they walked closer. Dale called out friendlily, "Hey, Georgia, Daryl! Your boy is great with engines! He's helping out really great!"

"Good," Daryl said shortly. "Somebody oughta teach him. Even if it is a Chinaman."

"Korean, Daryl," Glenn said flippantly without even looking at him. Georgia smiled at how used to it he was.

"Could we borrow DJ for a second?" Georgia asked quietly. He looked up at his mother and frowned. His eyes passed from his mother's friendly face to Daryl's blank stare.

"Hurry back with him now," Dale laughed. "We have a lot to teach him if we want him driving the RV before too long."

"We won't be long," Georgia promised.

Even with the scowl painted on his face, DJ stomped over to his mom and followed her and Daryl off to the side. He growled, "I'm not apologizing."

"Ya oughta 'pologize to yer momma. She's tryin' to do what's best fer ya an ya keep hollerin' at her."

"Well, you do too!" DJ snapped back.

"Don' matter what I do!" Daryl argued. "She ain't my momma!"

"But she was your girlfriend!"

"Both of you, quit arguing," Georgia ordered. "DJ, Daryl and I are adults. Our relationship isn't great but it exists because Daryl wants to be in your life. He wants to help me take care of you."

"So what? Not gonna call him dad."

"Then don't call him dad. He never asked you to and I never said you had to. Daryl isn't going to lay hands on you or me. You need to know that, and you need to respect him."

"Why, just 'cause he's my dad?"

"No, because he's been taking care of us this whole time. He didn't have to do that, but he did. And that was before he found out that you're his son. So from now on, you will be respectful to me and him. I know you're mad at me and that's okay. I don't expect you not to be mad at me. But you will be respectful from now on. Understand?"

"Yes, Mom."

"And Daryl's going to respect you and me too. Isn't that right, Daryl?"

"Yes, Georgia Rayne."

"Good. Go play boys. I have stuff to do."

Georgia spun on her heel and walked off. DJ looked up at Daryl and asked, "Was she like this when you knew her?"

"Full a herself? Yeah pretty much."

"She's been like this since I was born too."

Daryl nodded in agreement and ordered, "Go back to workin', boy. Got shit to do today."