AN: So it turns out I lied. I was sick and had the day off today, and I couldn't leave Daryl and Beth in limbo, so I smashed out this chapter. A little shorter than usual but hopefully it'll have everything you need.

I just wanted to point out in my version of events they never burnt down the cabin (they had sex in it instead), so Daryl never got to symbolically say goodbye to the past…

Song: Safe & Sound - Taylor Swift, from the hunger games. Listen to it while you're reading...it'll make you cry :(

The Walking Deth - Part III

Where we Belong - Chapter VIII

The Light

It's past midnight when I trudge up the gravel driveway and on to the porch of the piece of shit shack that my old man and I call home. He's either still awake or he's passed out in front of the TV again, as I can see the blue light flickering through the half drawn curtains on the front window. I step to the door and knock the dirt out of my boots by kicking them against the door frame. I hear him cough inside and I realise he's still awake.

Well may as well get this over with.

I pull the screen door open and it creaks and groans and shudders in my hand. The wood is worn and the paint is peeling and half of the wire mesh has fallen to shit, I don't even know why we keep the damn useless thing on the door, except maybe so my old man knows when I'm trying to creep through the house.

The solid wood door is a foot ajar and I push it a few inches further so I can slip past it. I have to walk past the living area to get to the back of the house, and I have to walk past him, but maybe if he is engrossed in his TV show, he won't notice.

I see him there on the couch with his eyes glued to the TV screen. He glances up at me as I pass by, but his eyes only linger for a second before returning to their place. Internally, I give a relieved sigh thinking maybe I'll escape the backlash tonight.

I step into the kitchen area and put my bag down on the counter then I move to the sink to get a glass and fill it with tap water. I take a few mouthfuls and then tip the rest down the sink. He would kick my ass if he caught me doing that dumb shit. I turn around to check if he is watching, and catch my breath when I see he is standing in the part of the room where the kitchen and living areas meet, eyes fixed on me.

I freeze for a few moments wondering what move to make. There is only one way out from behind the kitchen counters, he is right near it, and there's an empty bourbon bottle within arm's reach. If he's mad enough he won't hesitate to crack that thing over my head.

I end our stand off when I edge towards the counter and dodge my way around it and make a bee line for my bedroom. His hoarse voice stops me.

"Daryl." He calls.

I stop in my tracks. I could make a run for it. I could try making it to my room and slamming the door and propping a chair under the handle, but that always makes him angry, and I've lost three doors that way. I stop and turn to face him.

His face is haggard, his lip is still swollen and his jaw is a mottled mixture of purple and green, his eyes are dark and I see something in them, something I haven't seen before. The unfamiliarity in his glare unnerves me. He looks dangerous.

"I'm sorry son."

I step backwards and almost collapse as I lose all feeling in my legs. I've never heard the words from his mouth.

"I'm sorry 'bout hittin' you the other day."

Other day? What about all the other shit before?

"I was never meant to raise no kids on my own. I don't know what I was doin'. No-one ever taught me right...certainly not your no good granddaddy…but I know I shouldna..."

I know what that look in his eyes is now. It's a look that I have given him for years. Its fear.

I've scared him.

He had wanted me to go hunting with him, but Merle was getting back from Fort Benning, and he had wanted to take me over to Jake's to catch up with some of the boys. I hadn't seen him for eighteen months while he was doing his training, and I had missed him like crazy. I told my old man I wasn't going with him and he lost his shit. I had turned to leave and he smacked me in the back of the head with the butt of his hunting rifle. I had near been knocked out, falling to my knees and gripping on to the leg of the rickety dining room chair to try to keep my balance while my head was spinning around the room.

I had snapped then. I had propelled myself of the chair, wound up as I turned and swung my fist into his sagging, wrinkled face. I had pummelled him to the ground and then I had laid a few boots into him while he lay there unconscious in a puddle of his own piss, shit and moonshine scented vomit.

I could have killed him then, and I think a part of me wanted to, but he was my dad, and as much as I hated the fucker, I couldn't kill my own father. So I rolled him on to his side, cleared the vomit from his mouth and got the fuck out of the house.

Now I was back three days later, and the bitch was scared of me.

I took a step towards him and then another, he stepped away from me until his back hit against the wall behind him. I stopped a few feet in front of him.

"If you ever touch me again, I'll fucking kill you."

He never did touch me again.

I had my mother's looks. I had her fuller cheekbones, and narrower jaw. Merle always looked more like my dad, with the broad, Cro-Magnon forehead, and the jaw that was always thick as if it were held in tension.

The person I held between my hands didn't look like Merle, or my dad. Her skin was soft and smooth like peaches and cream, her blonde hair was like pale gold spiralling down over her rounded shoulders. Her eyes were a clear blue, circled by dark lashes with black colour running down on to her flushed cheeks.

My fingers splayed and she dropped from my hands and down to the desk, coughing and spluttering and raking her fingers over the red skin on her neck.

I backed away in a dazed state of shock, tripping on the chair behind me and stumbling into the aluminium blinds that covered the window.

I looked down to my trembling hands half expecting them to be covered in blood, but they were clean. I could still feel her in my hands. Her blood pulsating, her throat gulping as it struggled to grab a breath.

The howling laughter shook me from my state and I looked across the room to see my old man leaning his back against the wall while he slapped his hand against his knee, swamp dweller style.

"You nearly killed her. You nearly fuckin' killed her." He cackled hoarsely between his croaking howls.

I looked back to the oak desk to see Beth, rubbing against her throat, while she gulped and coughed and gasped in air. Her eyes were fixed on me, wide open with fear.

Faster than a buck with a bee sting, I grabbed up my jeans and yanked them over my legs not bothering with the belt. I shot over to the door and tugged my boots on not bothering with the laces. I slipped on my flannel not bothering to do up the buttons. I kept my eyes to the ground the entire time, not wanting to see her, and not wanting to see him.

"You were about to fuck her…and then you tried to kill her. That's some fucked up gold star entertainment right there." My old man cackled on.

I grabbed my duffle bag and shoved my poncho, the AR-15, and a Beretta inside. I scooped up my Airborne and slung it over my shoulder and turned to leave.

Rethinking it all I stopped in my tracks, dropped everything back to the ground, checked the Beretta had a round in the chamber, and then pulled on the door handle.

Don't look back.

I couldn't help myself; I at least had to see that she was okay. I took one last glance over my shoulder to see she was standing in front of the desk, with her bare knees knocking together, her shoulders hunched over and her terrified blue eyes leaping out against her ghostly pale face. Her eyes were lined with dark shadows of wet mascara that ran down her cheeks like blood from a seeping wound.

I squeezed my eyes shut and stepped blindly through the door slamming it shut behind me. Opening my eyes I marched down the dark hall with the Beretta heavy in my hand.

"What you gonna do with that son? You gonna blow your own brains out? That really is the pussy's way out."

I tucked the gun into the waist of my jeans.

"I gotta leave." I snarled at him.

"Don't leave." I heard Beth's soft voice call out from behind me.

I stopped in my stride for a split second, her voice tugging at my heart like a kite on a string, I shook the feeling away and then continued on towards the main stairwell.

"Daryl, don't leave." She cried again.

I stomped down the stairs and threw my swollen, aching shoulder into the front door to swing it open, and then took a sharp left, vaulting over the low brick wall to land in the dirt beside the fat boy. I threw my leg over the seat, and went to kick out the kicker.

"Don't leave!" Beth shrieked as she tumbled over the wall after me, sending up a dirt cloud as she landed by my feet.

I wanted to help her up but all I could do was stare at her.

"You said you never would leave me." She cried as she tugged on my jeans, and pulled herself to a stand. "You promised. You promised!"

I forced myself to look into her weeping eyes.

"I nearly fuckin' killed you." My voice was surprisingly steady.

My old man jumped on the bitch seat behind me, and nudged his knees in to me, urging me on like a stallion. "C'mon son, let's get outta here."

"Shut the fuck up." I yelled as I jumped off the bike and took a swing at him hitting nothing but air.

"Daryl, what is going on?" Beth shrieked while throwing her arms to the side.

I put my fists to my head and squeezed against my throbbing temples.

"I'm losing my fuckin' mind!" I shrieked back. "I gotta leave before I hurt you again…or one of the kids. Fuck, if it had've been one of them instead of you…I would've snapped their little necks!"

Beth lunged towards me tryin to grip me around the shoulders, and I pushed her backwards with enough force to make her stumble.

"I wanted to leave! I wanted to leave before, but I didn't…I couldn't…and look what I did." I pointed to the red finger marks around her tiny throat.

"That wasn't you, Daryl."

"Who was it then? Santa Clause? You wanna wait 'round and see what other surprises I have for you in my sack?"

"But it wasn't me who you saw was it? You need help! Let me help you!"

I shook my head from side to side rapidly. "I'm too far gone…like Carol. You said yourself; sometimes there's no comin' back."

"Carol was different. We made the mistake of leavin' her alone and she lost herself to darkness. But you don't have to be alone, Daryl. I'm here, I can shine a light for you and show you the way, but if you leave there's nothin' I can do. You'll get lost out there. Alone. In the dark."

"Carols not different, we're the same. Beth, I…" I let out a sob as I thought about what I had done to her. "Beth I hurt you just like Carol did, just like Anton."

"What do you mean?"

"The other day in the bathroom…If you told me to stop…I don't know that I would've."

She stood there without talking for a few moments, her shoulders heaving as she took in deep breaths.

"I didn't say stop, Daryl."

"You would've raped her. She would've been screamin' and cryin and beggin' for you to stop and you would've kept goin'. 'cause you wanted to be in control, you wanted to take what you needed, you don't let anyone stand in your way…you're just like me."

"Shut-up!" I shrieked falling to my knees and covering my ears with my forearms. "Shut up! shut up! shut up!"

Beth fell to the ground in front of me.

"You're hearin' things, Daryl. There's no-one there." She tried to pry my arms away from my ears, her tiny hands clinging on to the skin on my wrists.

"No." I tugged out of her grip by throwing my weight back, and fell flat on my ass. My dad's laughter continued to howl through the air.

"You hit your head." She climbed on top of me and started grabbing at my arms as I struggled to push her off. "You're not well." She cried.

"She's the only person who ever loved you and you were gonna rape her, you were gonna kill her."

"No." I sobbed up towards the stars.

"Daryl, there's no-one there!"

She wrapped her arms around my head and pulled it into her chest, lifting my shoulders off the ground as she went.

"There's no-one there." She whispered into my ear, as I let out loud sobs, and flooded her vest with tears.

"There's no-one there."

I could still hear him, cackling and croaking.

I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame, and pulled myself tight in to her; Losing myself in her comforting warmth and familiar smell. I kept my face buried in her chest, not wanting to open my eyes and see my old man mocking me again for acting like a weepy bitch.

I sobbed into the letters on the front of her vest, while my hands pawed at the panther on her back. My mind pulsated and burned with confused thoughts. I wanted to leave her, I couldn't hurt her again, but I needed her. I needed her more than she needed me.

She pulled me away from her chest and looked down on me with her tearful blue eyes. "Please Daryl. Please come inside." She begged me in a soothingly soft voice.

I stared at her, not able to find the words to respond.

"I know you didn't want to hurt me, I know I'm safe with you, but only if you let me help you."

I wanted her words to be true. But as long as he was in my head, I couldn't guarantee anything.

"Please. My backside is freezin'." She said with a nervous chuckle.

I reluctantly let her pull me to my feet, battling with the part of me that said to run the other direction. She interlocked her fingers with mine and dragged me around the low wall and up the steps to the school. When we got to the door, I glanced back to the bike to see my dad sitting on it with his arms open wide, waiting for me.

"Where're you goin' son? Thought we was goin' for a ride."

I shook his voice from my head, and followed her back up the stairs and through the dark corridors, keeping my head down and watching my shuffling feet all the way back to the room.

She sat me down on the sofa arm and dropped to her knees to tug off my boots, removed the Berretta from my waist and placed it inside my boot, then with a gentle hand, she pushed me backwards so I was lying flat on my back staring up at the ceiling fan.

The lamp light went off, and then I felt her crawling in beside me. She pulled my head on to her chest and began running her fingers through my hair, drawing circles back and forth across my scalp.

"Have you slept at all the last few days?"

I know I didn't that first night; I lost a few moments the next night, so it was possible I slept then, but everything over the last few days had been such a blur.

"I dunno. Maybe a couple hours." I muttered.

"No wonder." She sighed into the darkness. "We're gonna talk about what's goin' on with you, but not until you've had some sleep."

I shook my head against her chest

"I can't sleep." I admitted. Every time I tried the voices would get louder, and the things they said would get darker.

"…do you want me to sing for you, help you get to sleep, like I did for Judith?"

"A lullaby?"

"No. You don't need to hear about ashes or cradles fallin' out of trees."

She cleared her throat that I had my hands wrapped around only moments ago, trying to squeeze out its last breath.

"Close your eyes." She whispered.

I obeyed.

I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, "I'll never let you go"
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight

Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound

It was past midday when I woke up. The room was bright, with golden yellow light, and it was quiet enough to hear the ticking of the clock, and a soft scratching sound.

I rolled over on the sofa and scanned the room looking for my old man, he had been following me around for days now, whispering shit in my ear, but I couldn't see him now.

Beth's face emerged from beside the sofa and I looked down at her hands to see the scratching sound was her scribbling in her journal. She closed it and put it to the side, grabbed a bottle of water and held it out for me.

I took it gratefully, popped the lid and took a few gulps. My mouth was a dry mixture of cotton balls and ass holes, and the cool water was refreshing.

I glanced to the clock on the wall. It was 4pm.

"Shit I been out almost twenty-four hours." I muttered while rubbing crusts from my eyes.

Beth chuckled lightly. "No, You've been out for nearly two days."

No wonder my stomach was groaning and churning on air.

"You and the kids okay?"

"Yeah we're fine. There were a few walkers at the gate after all the yellin' the other night, but we took care of them."

"Where're the kids now?"

"They're all watchin' a movie. I've been sittin' in here, waitin' for you to wake up."

"Oh." I wondered how long she had been there for, and how much of that time she had spent singing to me. It was all I could remember from my dreams.

Beth took the water bottle out of my hands, and stood it by the side of the sofa. She rested her head back on the arm of the sofa and scanned my face with her big blues.

"Do you feel like talking?"

I held her gaze, even though instinct told me to look away.

"I don't know. I don't know what to talk about. I don't even know what happened."

"I think you had a head injury Daryl; the headaches, the mood swings, the voices. You were hearing voices right?"

"…Yeah."

"Are you hearin' voices now?"

I sat quiet for a moment, listening to the sounds of the clock ticking away, and of our synchronized breathing, as it blew against the leather of the sofa.

"No. I think they're gone."

"Who was it?"

I hesitated wondering what the least crazy sounding answer would be.

"My dad."

"Why would your mind make your dad talk to you?"

"I dunno. I'm no psycho analyst."

"And it was your dad you saw…when you hurt me?"

"Mmm Hmm."

"That was my fault, I shouldn't have hit you, it was so stupid."

"No…it wasn't that...he was there before any of that."

"Did somethin' happen that day─ the day you hit your head─ that made you think of him?"

I squeezed my eyes together, trying to fight away the images that were flashing though my head. I didn't want to tell her what had happened ─or almost happened─ but I had to give her something.

"I've been fightin' for my life for years, but I always fought knowin' that I would either win or die tryin'. With those guys…with them it felt like the only way to win was to die."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I was completely out of control. I'd never felt so weak before, not since I was a kid… And then my dad was all up in my head, fuckin' with my mind. All this shit came up that I thought I had buried."

"If you wanna make sure somethin' stays gone…You don't bury it. You burn it."

I looked back to her soft angelic face.

"How exactly do I do that?"

"You talk about it…You talk about it until you understand it, and then its nothin' but smoke blowin' in the wind."

"I don't wanna talk about it. I wanna forget it."

"But you haven't forgotten have you? You bottled it all inside for years. You were waitin' to explode. That bump on your head, it spilled everythin' out, and you weren't ready for it. You gotta talk about it now, while you're in a safe place, so that doesn't happen again."

"What're you a doctor now, Greene?"

She stood up, and climbed onto the sofa beside me, sitting with her legs crossed and her hands resting on her knees, lotus style.

"You can call me Dr Greene."

"Alright Dr Greene, what do I do now?"

She slipped her hand into mine.

"Tell me…about you childhood."

"It was shit. You know that."

"Well…what did you like to do...you know, for fun?"

"Ride my bike, go fishin'…I watched cartoons sometimes."

"What did you watch?"

"Stuff on Saturday mornin's…This one time, my dad was passed out on this piece of shit sofa we had. There was nothin on the TV but some early mornin' bible show. I changed the channel to cartoons and he lost his shit at me. Jumped up, started screamin' 'bout me touchin' his shit. Ripped the cable out the back of the TV and whipped me with it like a dirty yard dog."

Beth swallowed gently.

"That where the scars come from?"

"Some of 'em."

There was a long silence and the words loomed in the air while I looked to my twitching feet, and watched from the corner of my eye as Beth pouted at me. I honestly couldn't remember where all my scars had come from. I was unconscious for half of them.

"Tell me about your momma." Beth said, breaking the silence.

"She was alright."

"Just alright?"

"She liked her wine, and she smoked like a monkey in a side show, but she tried her best. Merle used to give her a real hard time, he was always in trouble, and she was always breakin' up fights between him and my dad... She baked cookies and shit when she wasn't comin' off a bender."

"Did you like that?"

"She was an awful cook. But I liked it."

"…and then she died?"

"Yeah. And it was just me and Merle and my old man."

"Tell me about him… What did he do for work?"

"When I was a baby he worked in a slaughterhouse. Hurt his back or somethin' and got an insurance pay out…that's what we lived off. 'course there was nothin wrong with his back, he was just a lazy fucker who didn't wanna go in to work."

"Do you wanna tell me about the first time...That he hit you?"

I twitched nervously, and sighed to release some of the anxious tension.

"I don't much remember the first time…but I remember the first time he tried."

"Tell me."

"It was over somethin' stupid…I left my bike in the drive, or I forgot to take the trash out, some shit like that. He started throwin' me 'round and Merle jumped in, screamed at him 'If you touch my brother, I'll kill you!'…So my dad near killed him, instead."

"That's…awful."

"He ended up in hospital and all, said he fell of his bike. When he got out he beat on a kid in school, hurt 'im real bad, ended up back in juvie."

Beth pressed her lips together while her eyes searched my face.

"He was in and out of Juvie all the time…I think he liked it there…it was safe… So after that it was just me and my dad."

"And things got bad then?"

Like a massacre in a nunnery.

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

I pulled myself up and wrapped my hands around my knees, rubbing my fingers into the frayed denim, trying to find strength to talk about things I had never spoke to anyone about. Not ever.

"What do you wanna know, Greene?" I said, snappier than I intended.

"I dunno, I'm just tryna understand…"

"Do you wanna know how he strangled me with a tube sock? Or how 'bout the time he held my head in a bucket. You know how much it hurts to breath in water?"

She shook her head.

"You wanna know about the time he beat me so bad they had to rebuild my face?"

"Daryl." She reached forward in an effort to hug me and I shrugged her off.

"Car accident he told 'em, and they believed 'im. He fucked me up so bad that they believed I was hit by a mothafuckin' car. A car!"

Beth forcefully grabbed my head and pulled it on to her shoulder.

I was holding back tears, but I could feel them brimming to the surface, ready to explode.

"My mom left, and then Merle, and I was alone…with him." I mumbled into the soft skin of her shoulder. The tears ran down the sides of my nose, and this time I didn't try to stop them.

"I don't wanna be alone." I wrapped my arms around her, and pressed my wet face into her neck, and sobbed freely into her hair; releasing years of pent up fear and tension.

"I don't wanna be alone!"

"I'm so sorry, Daryl. I feel stupid. I've been sheltered…everythin' I've been through…all the shit in this world, it's nothin' like what he did to you. For someone who is supposed to love and protect you to do that for so long, and to such extremes…it's worse than anythin' else. I didn't know how bad the world was before…but I do now...and I know what was hurting you, and we know how to stop it so it doesn't hurt you again."

She took my face between her palms and drew away from me so her eyes were only inches from mine.

"I'll never leave you Daryl Dixon, Never! Even when I die and I turn into a walker, I'll drag you down and I'll…I'll eat your heart out so it'll always be with me."

I snuffled, and wiped a fat tear from the tip of my nose.

"That's gross…and a lil' creepy."

"I know…but I mean it! I'll eat you all up like peach cobbler."

"You're not gonna eat me, 'cause I'm not gonna let anythin' happen to you. I'll die a happy man as long as I know you're safe."

"No, Daryl, you're gonna be the last man standing. You know why? Cause you're a survivor. You're a tough son of a bitch who won't take no crap from nobody, not even me. You're strong and you can get through anythin'."

"And you gotta stick 'round to remind me of that."

Beth chuckled softly.

"I guess we'll have to eat each other then."

I felt a smile tug at my lips, and I let it linger for a moment, before drawing my mouth back into the firm line I had been holding for most of the past few days.

"There's somethin' else isn't there?" She peered up in to my eyes. She could read me like a book.

If the school were ever to be attacked, the place was too big and there were too many of us to manage without proper leadership. And if we had of had other adults here to come on runs, all this shit ─being outnumbered, hitting my head, going nuts and hurting Beth─ it never would have happened.

"I miss my brother."

"Merle? He made you feel safe, huh?"

I gave my head a gentle shake.

"No, not Merle..." I had to catch my breath at the memory of him and what he said to me that day by the truck. He had called me brother and made it official that I was part of his family. I needed him, not only as a leader but as a friend. "Rick."

Beth's hand left my cheek and squeezed my hand and she gave me a sympathising smile.

"We'll go to Washington."

"You want to?"

"Yeah. I miss everyone, and I know you can't do this all on your own. I know we need them."

I couldn't do it on my own. I liked the kids. I liked being here with Beth. I liked the school. But it was nothing without my family.

"What about the kids?"

"Well if when we get there they won't take them. I'll hang back and you can go find the others, see what's up. Bring them back to the school if they'll come. If they haven't found anythin' better."

I didn't like that idea; Leaving Beth alone with all the kids while I searched through Washington. If we got there and they wouldn't take in the kids, I would have to think up another plan, but I wasn't going to worry about that now. I just smiled at Beth in agreement.

"When you're feelin' better, you can teach me how to drive the bus. If we end up having to split, you'll need the bike. And It's kinda a part of you right?"

"I like it, but it's just somethin' to give me an edge."

"You deserve somethin' to give you an edge."

I smiled at her, and then wiped the last of the tears from my face with the back of my hand.

"You know I love you right?"

She moved her hand from my cheek and rubbed it over my chin. "I know."

She dipped her head forward and took my lips gently between hers, and fluttered a kiss on them.

My stomach growled interrupting our moment, and Beth giggled in reaction.

"Think you deserve somethin' to eat, too"

Beth made a chicken and vegetable soup for dinner that night. I was so hungry I ate four bowls and still could have gone for another, if the kids didn't snap it all up.

All the kids seemed to avoid me that evening, keeping their eyes down when I passed. I knew I had been awful to them the last few days, with all that was going on in my head, and I would have to make it up to them somehow. Watch the little mermaid with them or something.

There was one kid I knew I had hurt more than anyone else, and I knew I shouldn't wait to make it up to him.

When everyone went to the kitchen to clean up after dinner I pulled him aside.

"Can I talk to you?" I tugged gently on his shoulder trying to get him to follow me out of the room.

"Nah, I'm busy." He shrugged me away.

"C'mon it'll only take a second." I nodded my head to the open doorway and walked off hoping he would follow.

I walked out the door and a little way down the hall with the sound of his joggers tapping the floor behind me. I turned and stopped him with a hand to his shoulder and knelt before him like a knight would a king.

"I'm real sorry I was nasty to you." I crooked my neck and looked up into his lowered blue eyes, covered with a curtain of dark hair. "And I'm sorry I threatened to hit you. That was wrong. Real wrong. No one should ever do that to you, not me and not your daddy."

Austin's eyes rose to meet mine, and I sighed against the rush of emotions I felt seeing the hurt within them.

"I weren't feelin myself, but I'm doin' much better now, and I'm gonna do all I can to keep you and all the kids safe. I care 'bout you, you're a real cool kid."

I carefully put my hands to his shoulders and tugged against him pulling him into my chest. I wrapped my arms around his tiny frame and gave him a squeeze, and his little arms squeezed me back. There were only a handful of people I had ever hugged in my life; My mom, lil' ass kicker, Beth and now him. I pulled away from him before the sentimentality sunk in and I started crying again.

I brushed away the hair from his brow to reveal a smiling face, and I smiled back at him.

"And Awse."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for savin' my life."

His lips drew back to a tooth filled grin.

"Don't mention it, Da…Daryl."

I sighed, picking up on the mistake he had almost made again.

"I ain't your daddy."

Austin nodded his head.

"I know…You're somethin' much better."

AN: So in-case you still need an explanation; Daryl most likely had a concussion from cracking his head on the concrete floor, made worse by being punched in the head, and he went back to his traumatic childhood as he made the link between being overpowered by O'Reilly and being overpowered by his dad. All of the bad shit he did was because of his dad whispering in his head. Thought disturbances are common with head injury, and apparently treated with rest...but I'm no doctor so I could just be pulling a Hollywood.

The main point is, we got Daryl to reveal his past that I 99% made up.

Hope this was satisfactory (I cried when I wrote this...did I make you cry?), and I'm gonna take that break I said I was going to have now.

Will be back in about a week with a couple of soppy, lemony chapters, and then back to action for the 'season finale'.

xxx