Couple more chapters and this will be a wrap. It is duly noted that so much attention going to the OCs isn't what a few of you are into, and it's understandable, really. But I want everyone's story wrapped up, including theirs, and this is what this chapter is. Basically tying up Piper's loose ends. It isn't detrimental to the story as a whole so you can skip this chapter and still be in the know if you'd like. I just wanted to throw it in there for those that are interested in that personal outcome. Thanks for all your patience and for sticking with it.

Chapter Forty Eight

Piper chewed her lip, staring into the flames and trying hard to pretend like she wasn't sitting around with a group of other people. She missed the good old days, when it was just her, Sophia and Damon. She had always had a hard time around other kids her age. She wasn't like them, didn't care to be. She was who she was and that was Merle Dixon's daughter, a total bad ass, even if she was a runt. Not being accepted by the masses hadn't ever been an issue before now.

Ever since coming back from their semi botched rescue Damon and Sophia were completely oblivious to the rest of the world for the most part and Piper was on her own. She wasn't mad about it and she wasn't jealous. Damon was and always would be more than just her cousin. He was her best friend, the person that she'd always depended on, and she was happy that he'd found something real in all of this chaos. But it made for some lonely fucking times for her. Keeping busy didn't really help any because her head was in a fucked up place.

She had been sure that Brody was going to gun her down back there. She had seen the look on his face, the way he had looked at her. In that split second she had known that it was over and that her family were about to watch her be killed.

But it hadn't happened. Before anyone could react at all, Eli had ended it, acting faster than even Daryl or Damon, who were the two that were the likeliest of candidates when it came to saving her ass since her dad had been out of his head with blood loss.

Now the very guy that saved her barely acknowledged she existed, which she understood. He wasn't a killer. He had done what he had done to save her and now he was probably having a hard time coming to terms with what he had done and all she was to him now was a reminder of that. So, Damon was totally preoccupied, Sophia was too, Daryl, Carol, Katherine and the rest of them were all working on building, from sun up to sun down and her dad was still working on recovering. Sam was good company sometimes but even she had made friends since the new arrivals had come here.

She risked looking up across the fire and really wished that she hadn't. Eli seemed to be ignoring the two girls that were flanking him, doing everything they could to get his attention. He was staring right across the flames, seemingly studying her but as soon as she met his eyes he looked away, suddenly interested in the fire himself. Yeah, she was definitely finished with this crap. She stood up, ignoring the looks from the other teenage assholes that had gathered here, and started making her way through the trees and towards the cabin. She would scratch this off as another stupid pointless boring day and hope for a better tomorrow, which was her new thing. It was a lot better than pretending like she wasn't bothered by Eli's new groupies. She was walking slower than usual, trying to get a grip on her stupid ass weird fucking emotions, which was why someone caught up with her so easily. For a small chick, she was pretty fast when making an exit.

"Hey."

The voice had her stopping in her tracks and then she nearly pitched forward, cursing loudly when Eli slammed into her back. He caught her before she was able to face plant the ground but he let her go quickly. She spun, glaring, unable to see him well since she hadn't even turned on her flashlight, relying on memory to get her to the cabin.

"Sorry," he muttered, taking a step back.

"Whatever. You need somethin'?" she asked, not meaning for her voice to sound so damn defensive but she couldn't control it. "I give it another thirty seconds before the Eli fanclub forms a search party to hunt you down so you might wanna make this quick."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and was silent for a few beats. "I finished up with my place last night. I wanted to show it to you," he said hesitantly. "It's cool if you don't want to though. It's been a weird week. You probably wanna head back." He took a step back.

She cursed herself and tried to think of something to say that didn't sound stupid or bitchy but nothing came to mind. He probably knew that she liked him and now he felt sorry for her because he had a selection to choose from now and she probably didn't even make the list. "Congrats on the place but I'll pass. If I don't get back there soon my dad will freak out." There. That wasn't so bad.

"Right. That's cool," he said. Did he sound disappointed?

She turned, feeling worse now than she had before, which was a feat, since she had already felt bad enough.

"Piper?"

She stopped again, her teeth grinding together. Didn't this dude know that this was kind of hard on her? Was he really that clueless? She wanted to get the hell away from him, stay the hell away from him. Forget all these stupid mushy fucking girly ass feelings and move on with her goddamn life. It wasn't easy but she was trying and he was making it impossible. "What?"

"Did I do something? Wrong, I mean? Cause you can say you aren't but you seem pissed off and I don't know what the fuck I did. So if I did something, throw me a bone so I can make it right, okay?"

She swallowed hard and shook her head, unsure why the fuck she felt like crying like some weak bitch, but she did. "You saved my skin, dude. Why the hell would I be pissed?" She was telling the truth too. She wasn't mad at him. She was just mad at the situation. She was feeling sorry for herself and after all of this, she thought she was a little entitled to some self pity.

"Then give me five minutes," he said earnestly. "There's somethin' else I wanna show you."

Goddamn him! Why couldn't he just-

"Five minutes," he repeated. "That's all I want."

She cursed herself and then nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

It wasn't a long walk, since Eli's little place was so close to Daryl's old shack. Randy had taken that over and Eli had been stuck sharing the space with the man. But now he was done and even though it probably wasn't the greatest, and wouldn't last more than a few winters up here, she was still impressed when she saw it. These things looked pretty simple but truth was, it was a home, albeit a small one, and it took a lot of work to construct. Especially when you didn't really know what you were doing, which she doubted he had.

"I did most of it on my own but Daryl and Damon helped with the stone. I hauled it and they stacked it so now it'll at least be heated when the real cold weather hits. I'd rather have a fireplace then a wood stove anyway." He pushed open the door and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the pitch dark space.

Once he had the lantern going she blinked in surprise. It wasn't big by anyone's standards. Just a twelve by twelve foot room for the most part but he had definitely put his stamp on the place. It smelled like incense and fresh wood but she detected an underlying hint of pot in the air, which caused her to snort.

"You're such a fuckin' hippie," she said, unable to hold back a small smile.

He grinned and for the first time she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and remembered, once again, that he had killed a man not very long ago and that had dimmed some of that spark he'd had. Her smile fell away and she focused on the room instead of his face. He must have loaded part of one of the trucks down with his own personal finds on one of their trips because there was a lot of stuff. A couple of mattresses stacked in one corner, loaded down with blankets, a few bean bag chairs and a small table near the door where the lantern was now burning brightly. Stacks of books, stacks of CDs and a small boom box type stereo were littering the long narrow counter.

"Is that a bong?" she asked suddenly, spotting the multicolored glass.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and shrugged. "Guess everybody has their vices, right?"

"Shoulda hooked me up, loser. I could have used a decent buzz this week."

He laughed, but it sounded forced.

She pushed her hair out of her face and finally met his eyes. "This is really great, Eli. I'm glad you finally finished it up but I should go." She didn't truly want to, not now that he was actually talking to her again, but it was a little too much. She didn't like being around him anymore, all because of her own stupid hang ups over him, and all she could do was hope this stupid crush, or whatever it was, would go the fuck away soon.

"Hold on," he said, turning and grabbing something that had been sitting against the wall at the foot of his bed. She hadn't noticed it before.

"You play guitar?" she asked grudgingly. Of course he did. Just fucking great...

He nodded and then sat down, said guitar in his lap. "Yeah. Usually just old shit, ya know. I ain't really into anything else. But I swiped some different tunes from that place cause I thought it'd be kinda cool if I could... I mean... Fuck, can you sit down a minute? You're makin' me nervous as hell."

Her brows went up at that. How the hell was she making him nervous? She didn't say anything, even though she wanted to point out that she shouldn't have even come here since he hadn't bothered to speak to her since they'd been back. Instead, she sat down on the bed, a safe distance away.

"So, you been alright?" he asked absently, his eyes focused on tuning the guitar.

She laughed then and it sounded bitter, drawing his attention away from the strings. "Dude, what the fuck is this about, for real? It's been a week since you've even graced my ass with a hello and now you wanna have me come here for some small talk?"

He chewed his lip for a second and then nodded. "I was kinda fucked up over what happened. Still am I guess."

She had been there and saw the whole thing so that wasn't news. He'd killed someone and then he'd thrown up. Hell, Damon had even held his damn hair back for him. "I get it. You wish you hadn't done it and trust me, I wish it hadn't been me you'd had to do it for. So, lets just call a spade a spade. I remind you of somethin' you wanna forget, so I'm gonna take off and don't you ever think for a fucking minute that I need you to make an effort. Cause I don't. There's enough people here now that we can avoid the hell out of each other if that's what you wanna do." She stood up then, needing to get the hell out of this shack and away from this guy.

"I'm doin' this all wrong," he said, shaking his head.

She stood up and headed for the door. "Good night, Eli. And for what it's worth, what you did... I can't ever make it right, or pay you back, but I'll never forget that the only reason I'm standin' here, is cause you did what you did and I'm sorry you regret doing it." She didn't wait around for him to say anything else cause her heart was pretty twisted up at the moment, caught up in emotions that she didn't understand, and didn't want to understand. Her voice had cracked and if she didn't go then she'd break down completely. She shut the door firmly behind her and was about to step away but then froze.

Through the door she heard the first strummings of a familiar song. A very familiar song. Actually it was her favorite fucking song and it was too fitting for the moment. For a second she thought he must have turned on the stereo but there was no harmonica joining in and when she heard the lyrics, and the voice, she knew that this wasn't any pre-recording.

I don't feel the suns comin' out today. It's staying in, it's gonna find another way...

She stood there, stunned at how well he had basically mastered the melody, even the chorus. She realized then that he must have spent a lot of time on this and he had done it for her. She wasn't some kind of sappy assed romantic fucking... girly girl, for fucks sake, but this was fucking... She shook her head, almost angrily, trying to dislodge any mushy crap that was about to try to fill her head.

He was still an asshole for making her feel like shit all week, and even before they had left he'd inadvertently made her feel... weird.

Shit.

Once it was over, and once again all she could hear were the sounds of insects, her hand went to the doorknob but she didn't go back in. She had no idea what to say and it was just gonna be awkward anyway. She might as well just walk away and save them both the misery. Especially now that she was even more confused.

She didn't even have time to drop the knob before it twisted open and Eli stepped out, nearly knocking her over again. He steadied her and then, even from the leftover lantern light that was streaming from the open door, she saw his face turn so red that it would have put even Daryl to shame.

"Thought you took off," he said, his hand still lingering on her waist.

She shook her head. "Was about to but..."

"It sucked, I know," he offered her a self deprecating grin and then shrugged. "I thought maybe you'd appreciate the effort anyway."

She nodded, watching his eyes carefully, knowing they would eventually skirt away from hers but if that's what she was really looking for, she was disappointed, because he didn't look away at all and she knew she had to say something. "It didn't suck at all. Trust me, I'd be the first to tell you if you fucked that song up. It would have been like a personal offense."

She expected him to at least crack a smile at that but he didn't. Instead his expression turned grim, intense, and she would have squirmed under that gaze if he hadn't still had his hand on her.

"I don't regret doing what I did. I'm not a killer, hell, I don't even like to fight, but I would, I'd do whatever I had to do to keep the people I care about safe. I'll get over it, especially in this world, cause if I'm gonna survive I've gotta change. What I won't be able to get over is you walking out of here thinking that I'd rather have you dead than have blood on my hands, because that's as far from the truth as you could get."

She looked away, not exactly sure what to say to that and not exactly sure how she'd ever work out all the feelings that this conversation was stirring in her chest. It was all unfamiliar territory.

"You gotta believe that," he said, his voice strained.

"So why the hell have you spent all week avoiding me?" she asked, feeling stupid and needy for even asking but also needing to know the answer.

He shrugged. "Damon says it's because I'm a pussy but he's an asshole. I just didn't know how to say what I needed to say. I'm out of my league here. But I didn't know you were thinking that I regretted saving your ass. If I had I would have sucked it up and opened my mouth sooner than now."

"And what is it that you need to say?" she asked, her heart beating fast and hard as relief worked its way through her bloodstream. She didn't realize until now just how badly she had wanted to hear him say that he didn't blame her for what he had to do.

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something but then shut it, shaking his head in frustration. "Fuck it," he grumbled, pulling her closer and then kissing her. Well, kind of. It was mostly just his lips pressed against her lips, brief and quick.

He straightened back up, face scarlet again and her brows shot up nearly to her hairline.

"Come on, hippie. If you wanna make up for fucking with my head all week, you're gonna have to do a lot goddamn better than that."

He blinked in surprise, clearly expecting a harsher reaction than that but then he finally flashed her that grin again. The next kiss was a lot different and she found herself backing into the shack. When he kicked the door closed behind him, not breaking the kiss once, she knew that in the morning, she was going to be in some serious trouble with her dad, but at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care very much.