++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++

Twenty

During the middle of the night as everyone was sleeping and Rick and Daryl paced the perimeter I managed to sneak away. I wasn't planning on hitting it out on my own but my intention was to head back to the campsite where Daryl and I had set up. There was a couple days' worth of food stocked for the two of us as well as a spare can of gas. The food would hopefully be enough breakfast the next morning.

It took me most of the night to find the encampment, there were a few walkers, I managed to dodge a herd but eventually I found what I was looking for. In the early hours of the morning with minimal light I packed up our tent, put the bag of food and started on back towards the group.

When I pulled up Rick was standing there staring at me with the best impression of Sam Winchester's bitchface I have ever seen. Well look who's in trouble now, I thought to myself when I got out of the Jeep. "Morning Rick," I sighed.

"Where have you been?" Rick asked me. "I thought I made it clear that no one left the camp without my express say so."

"Even for food?" I asked him. I tossed the bag at his feet. "The kids are starving so get off your high horse and take them the dang food."

Dang…Ebony used to say that.

Rick snatched the bag up off the ground and stalked back to the camp. I watched him pass by Jade who was sitting there in Daryl's lap counting something on her fingers. He looked at her with a soft, genuine smile and rested his head on top of her cash of blonde hair. She looked happy…sad but…happy.

Suck it up, PJ, I told myself, go and talk to her.

I sighed and made my way over towards Daryl and Jade, the closer I got to them, the more I could make out what Jade was wearing around her neck. It was a small fire opal about the size of a ten cent piece, it was resting in a white gold pendant attached to a fine white chain. Daryl glanced up at me and covered Jade's ears so that she couldn't hear us. "It's about bloody time you came to talk to her. She's been askin' about you."

I crossed my arms. "Daryl-I needed some time. You can't expect me to be able to sit there and nurse her and take care of her when I killed her mother."

He sat Jade down on the log beside him and stood up to face me. "You need to get your head out of your ass, PJ cause this little girl needs you."

"What's with the necklace?" I asked him. "I know it was Eb's but why do you have it? And more importantly, how long have you and Ebony been having sex with each other?" Daryl stared at me like it was none of my business. "And yes it is my business," I added. "She was my friend."

"The necklace was her grandmother's," Daryl replied. "She gave it to me because she said I had a better chance at surviving than she did and that she wanted Jade to have it."

I was lost at this comment. Why didn't Ebony give it to me to give to Jade? Did she think that I wasn't going to be around to tell look after her?

"Are you going to look after Jade?" Daryl asked me.

At this point Carol decided to join our conversation. She came over to the two of us and cleared her throat to grab our attention. "I'll look after Jade," Carol offered. "Her and Sophia are practically sisters now so I can look after her."

Daryl shook his hand. "No. PJ can look after her."

"Rick's already picked his people," Carol pointed out. "Obviously you two are the ones Rick will turn to when he needs something done. Neither of you can be that someone with a child hanging off you. You two are his hands now."

"Thank you," I smiled meekly to Carol. She was right, even if I wanted to focus any sort of attention on Jade, Daryl and I seemed to be Rick's appointed right and left hands now. Turning to Daryl I added, "we should report in."

Daryl grabbed his cross bow and the two of us headed towards Rick as he was sorting through the bag I had brought back with breakfast. I'm so glad that Daryl spoke first. "So what's the plan Rick?" he inquired.

Rick focused his attention all on me. "PJ, you've been in the area longer-what do you suggest?" he asked me.

"We head for my granddaddy's farm," I replied. "That's where Eb's and me were heading when we left New York. That's where any off my family would head. Man's a paranoid insane loony-all the heads of my family are. When his granddaddy brought the land back in the early twenties he built tunnels all over the property that lead from the house to various exit points-it's well fortified."

"What's the problem?" Rick asked me.

"We gotta make our way to Lakeland in Florida," I told Rick. "It's a seven hour drive but considering we have jack shit in the way of gas and winter is coming we gotta look to bunkering down if we can. If you wanna head that way than I suggest it's a good idea if me and Daryl take the Jeep and look for more gas-I'm not liking this but we'll have to head into the city. See if we can get gas out of some of the abandoned cars."

Rick shook his head. "Absolutely not. We need to map our way away from this heard."

"How do you suggest we do that?" I asked him.

"I was going to ask if you had an idea," he replied.

I paused. "Maybe one but with a herd that size it may not work for long, a couple days at best."

"I'm all ears," Rick answered.

"Well these things are all about sound," I explained. "Daryl could hotwire a car and we could turn the radio on really loudly. It will attract them but it will only buy us a few days at best to get a head of them-even then we have no idea if there are other herds out there. I'm guessing that there will be."

Daryl nodded his agreement.

Rick paused. "Do what you can. Be back by lunch time because we are moving on."

"Yes sir," I replied.

"We'll take me bike," Daryl informed me. "Easier."

I nodded my agreement.

We headed towards Daryl's bike but before I got on behind him I needed to know something. "Daryl-you and Eb's-"

"It was the night you and Rick didn't come back from the supply run," he told me. "She was worried about ya and wanted to head out but I stopped her."

"With your penis?" I smirked.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "It wasn't like that-he stopped when he saw the smirk on my face. "She was a good friend, she loved ya a lot."

"I know," I nodded. I got on the bike behind him, "what type of person does that make me?" I frowned. "I was the one that let her go."

For that, Daryl didn't have an answer.