It was much later when Daryl made it back to the tent, his hands bruised and bloody from interrogating Randal. He opened the tent as quietly as he could and kicked his boots off before he snuck inside. Georgia was laying on the floor, sprawled out on her stomach with her hand in the place DJ usually was. Daryl nudged her with his foot and she groaned. He nudged her again and she rolled over to look up at him.

"Where's DJ?"

"He's in the camper with Dale and Carol."

"'kay."

Daryl turned to make his way to his cot in the corner and Georgia's eyes caught on the way he held his hands, half open, half closed and barely moving them. She asked, "Daryl, what's wrong with your hands?"

"Nothin'."

"Come on." She sat up and extended her hand to him.

"'m fine, Georgia Rayne. Don' need ya fuckin' frettin' over me like I'm a damn child all the time."

"Get your ass over here and let me see your hands, Daryl. I'm tired and if you don't let me see them now, I'll just wait until you go to sleep and I'll look at them then."

"Fuckin' bitch. Always a pain in my damn ass."

"You know it."

He took a step closer to her and extended his hand. She took it in hers and brushed her fingers over his bruised and split knuckles. He inhaled sharply and she sighed. "Daryl, if you're going to kick the shit out of somebody, you really should wear something over your knuckles. It'd stop from cutting them up like they are."

"Ain't worried I been kickin' the shit outta someone?"

"You've been interrogating the Randall boy. I know you have. What have you found out?"

"Nothin' useful yet. Still don' want him out round DJ an Carl an Carol an ya."

She nodded and examined his hand for a long moment before she sighed, "I'll clean them up in the morning. For now, go to bed. You need your sleep. I'm doing laundry tomorrow so change out of what you're wearing. It's starting to stink. And lay out your leather jacket. I'm not going to wash it but I need to wipe it down."

"Alright. Go to fuckin' sleep, Georgia."

"Good night, Daryl."

"Daryl, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"What?" He was fifteen and she was fourteen. She'd just had her first day of high school, the day they gave you the lecture about how high school affected your whole life and how if you didn't do well in high school, you'd never make it to college.

"Well, what do you want to do? Like work or college or military?"

"Ain't goin' into the military. Fuckin' Merle's in the military an it don' help him none."

"Well, Merle's only in the military because they were going to send him to prison if he didn't go."

Daryl looked over at her and glared. She stared back at him defiantly. She knew he hated it when she said stuff like that about Merle but he knew that she really didn't like Merle. He wasn't nice to her. He never had been. She continued, "Seriously, Daryl. I'm going to be a nurse. Wouldn't that be cool? I can work somewhere helping people. What do you want to do?"

"Don' fuckin' know. Guess I'll be round here, workin' on cars an shit. Maybe huntin'. Workin' in a factory or in construction. Next year I'll be workin' in construction. Jimmy's uncle's got a business doin' alright an he'll be needin' some help. Be sixteen so I'll be allowed to work."

"You're good with your hands. You helped Daddy build that shed last year. You'll be good at construction."

"An ya know ya'll be a good nurse. Ya patch my shit up all the time."

"Well somebody has to keep an eye on you."

He smiled at her, one of the smiles that was only meant for her, where his lips parted and spread across his face to reveal his gleaming white teeth. He never smiled at anyone else the way he smiled at her. He only smirked at other people or glared at them. But when he was with her he would smile at her and let his face soften like it only did around her.

"Ya do take care a me. Ya know ya don' have to."

"I know I don't. But I want to, because you're my best friend."

"An yer mine, Georgia Rayne. Even if Merle an my daddy would string me up fer sayin' that to ya. Call me a fuckin' sissy an a pussy."

"Well, they can think whatever they want. Because I know you're not a sissy or a pussy. You are the best man ever."

Daryl laughed and looked back up at the sky stretched out above them. He loved just laying in her backyard with her. It was peaceful, it let him forget that there were other things out there, and let him bask in Georgia's sweetness and peacefulness.

Georgia woke up the next morning and the first thing she saw was Daryl's face, a foot away from her own, relaxed and deep asleep. She smiled at him. She hadn't seen him so relaxed since she'd met him again in the world of the walking dead. In his sleep, he'd turned towards her and he was laying on his side, curled into a ball, like he always slept. Unless something slept against him, he'd curl into himself, pulling his knees to his chest and keeping himself closed off. She understood his need for the fetal position. The position he'd curl into when his daddy was beating on him again and there was nobody there to protect him from the belt.

Daryl moaned in his sleep and made a small whimpering noise in the back of his throat. Georgia sighed and scooted closer to him. She crawled over so that she could reach him and shook him gently. Daryl groaned and swatted her hand away. She sighed and shook him again. She whispered, "Daryl, wake up. You're having a bad dream. Wake up."

He groaned and grabbed at her hand. When she tried to pull it away, he held tighter and pulled her down against him. She tried to wriggle away but he just held tighter and yanked her closer. He buried his face in her hair and groaned, "Quitchur fuckin' wrigglin'. Always fuckin' squirmin' when I'm tryin' to fuckin' sleep."

"Daryl, this isn't nine years ago. Wake up and let go of me."

"Nope. 'm dreamin' an I wanna keep dreamin' so shut the hell up."

Georgia stopped moving and her breath caught in her throat. She asked, "Is this what you dream about Daryl?"

"Told ya to shut up, woman."

Georgia moved so that she was staring up at him. His eyes remained closed and, if he hadn't spoken to her a second before, she'd be convinced that he was still sleeping. His breathing was even and there were no signs of movement from him. She stared at him until he cracked one eye open and growled, "Whadda fuck do ya want, Georgia Rayne? One fuckin' day I try to sleep in a lil past fuckin' sunrise."

"Is that what you dream about, Daryl? Us living together still?"

He glared down at her and let go of her, pushing her away from him angrily. He snarled, "Can' have a fuckin' minute a peace, kin I? Not a god damn minute."

"You are the one who dragged me down here and wouldn't let me go, you stupid fucking redneck! You're the one who told me it was like your dreams. You did that! I didn't. You did that and I'm just asking questions!"

"What the fuck do ya gotta ask questions fer? Can't ya jus shut the hell up bout shit? God fuckin' damn, woman!"

She punched him in the chest as hard as she could and Daryl snarled, "What the fuck is yer problem?"

"You're my god damn problem, Daryl Dixon! You can't grab me whenever the hell you feel like it. You bounce back and forth between wanting to grab hold of me and wanting me as far away from you as possible. I get that our situation isn't normal but you need to figure out what the hell you want because I am not doing this!"

She drew her arm back to hit him again and he grabbed her fist. He snapped, "What the fuck do ya think I want? I don' know how to do this shit! I tried to get ya to come back once. Been a long time since we done thought we figured anything out, Georgia!"

"We've never figured anything out, dumbass!"

"Well there's a fuckin' problem!"

"You want to figure something out? You want to figure things out, Daryl?"

"What the fuck do ya think?"

"Well then let's figure some things out, Daryl!"

She leaned forward, grabbed his shirt in her hands, and yanked him forward, startling him and throwing him off balance enough to yank him forward. Like the first time they kissed, she shocked him when she smashed her lips to his. Daryl's hands found her shoulders to shove her away but she locked her fingers tighter to his shirt and kissed him harder, darting her tongue out to lick his lips. She pulled away and snarled, "Kiss back, Daryl."

"What the fuck is this settlin' an solvin'?" he demanded.

"I figure you should get your fill of touching me before we go out there and send our son mixed signals. So is this helping you figure shit out, Daryl?" she spat out at him.

He stared at her for a long minute, confusion evident in his bright blue eyes before they narrowed into a deathly glare. He said shortly, "Fuckin' fine then."