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

Twenty-Seven

As soon as I could I handed the baby over to Carl and knelt down in front of Rick. The best way to describe what Rick was experience had to be shock, he was completely out of it. Daryl waved his hand in front of Rick to try and catch his attention but neither of us were having any luck.

"Let me see the baby," Herschel asked, standing beside Beth as best he could. Beth was holding Spirit in her arms, when she put him on the ground, the pup came running over to lean up against me.

"What are we gonna feed it?" Daryl asked, marching towards Herschel whilst Carl held the baby. "We got anything a baby can eat?"

"It's a girl," I informed Herschel when he started going over the baby.

"Good news is she looks healthy," he confirmed, relieving us all of a considerable amount of stress. "But she needs formula, and soon, or she won't survive."

Daryl shook his head. "Nope. No way. Not her, we ain't losing nobody else," he growled, pulling his crossbow over his shoulder. "I'm going for a run. PJ, you're with me. We need both of us out there."

I nodded. "Yeah, sure." Looking around I suddenly realised that there were two people missing. Carol and T-Dog. Sophia and Jade were clinging to Beth but Carol and T-Dog were gone. Lori…Carol…and T-Dog…three people who deserved to live more than anyone and they're gone…now isn't the time to cry, I told myself, the baby needs us.

"I'll go," Maggie volunteered. "Six hands are better than four."

"Ok," Daryl nodded. "Glenn stay here and work on clean up. Get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem." He nodded. "Think where we're going. Beth?" He pulled Beth over to the side as I collected my arrows from the dead walkers that littered the courtyard. Moments later he started shouting out more orders.

I wrenched the last arrow out of a walker when Rick snatched a fallen axe up off the ground and started up the stairs. "Rick!" I shouted after him. He ignored me and vanished inside the prison. "Daryl-"

"I need you to have my back," Daryl whispered in my ear. "This baby needs us. We have to get formula and there is no one I trust more than you to have my back. You with me?"

I hesitated and nodded. "Always," I nodded.

"Get the gate!" Daryl shouted, heading off. "Come on, we're gonna lose the light!"

"You know where you're going?" Glenn asked us as he followed us to the Jeep. "There's a Piggly Wiggly at 85."

"The baby section's been cleared," Maggie cut in. "Lori asked me to keep an eye out, I haven't had much luck."

"Is there any place that hasn't been completely looted?" Daryl asked us.

Glenn paused. "We saw signs for a shopping centre just north of here."

Maggie shook her head. "Yeah, but there's too much debris on the road. A car will never get through that."

"I can take one of you," Daryl spoke up, pulling that leather vest on of his with the angel wings on the back.

"I'm going," I growled before Maggie could. "I can't be here right now. Plus, I know what she needs from looking after Jade when she was a baby." I left the Jeep ad made my way over to Daryl's Harley, ignoring the familiar purr of the engine starting up. Glenn tossed a backpack my way and I slung it over one shoulder as I got on behind Daryl. He didn't seem the least bit phased by the fact that I was covered in blood.

We drove for a couple of hours, stopping only to see what supplies were left in what cars along the way. We managed to find a couple packets of pumpkin seeds-you know the kind that people eat-and stashed them in the backpack hoping that we could plant them. Eventually we came to a stop in the back yard of a children's day care centre that was covered in overgrown weeds. I notched an arrow in my bow once both of us got off the Harley.

"Company's close," Daryl whispered. "We stay tight."

"Like you even need to tell me," I reminded him. "Remember who save your ass when that walker pulled you in the swimming pool?"

"You say that like you've never had someone had to come in and save your ass before," Daryl shot back.

"I have," I frowned. "Daryl, I wasn't always a hard ass bitch. In fact…I was pretty fun once upon a time. I suppose you could think I was like Ebony in a way. Bright, bubbly and always full of fun."

"What happened?" Daryl inquired as the two of us headed into the day care.

"Got caught with a couple others in my squad," I started to tell him. Smashing the window open I continued to speak. "Towards the end of my first tour. We were tortured for information-the enemy wanted to know troop movements, supply routes, passcodes-the works but none of us would budge." I climbed in through the open window, pausing only when I saw the cots lines up against the wall.

Daryl followed.

"There was me and another girl in the squad, Mary King-she was as tough as nails," I continued. "We got singled out by some of the more aggressive insurgents and well…stuff happened…" It was stuck in the back of my throat like a bad taste, I couldn't get it out. "It changes a person, you know?" I turned back to Daryl, "that sort of violation changes a person…Mary killed herself, left the base hospital in the middle of the night and walked out in a mine field. Boom-she was gone."

"And you?" Daryl asked me, pity written all over his face.

"Sometimes I wish I had died," I answered. "It makes relationships hard…I never told Ebony, you know? She was dealing with Jade's father and the abuse he dished out on her…I could never tell her because there is one thing in this world that I hate more than anything and that is pity. I can't stand it. What happened doesn't make me a glass flower-it strengthened my resolve."

Daryl was silent.

"You're the first person beside my commander who knows," I whispered. "Jesus…I never even told my family," I thought. Suddenly, without warning, Daryl hugged me. It was awkward and weird but the fact that he was hugging me to make me feel better gave me a little faith back in the human race.

I broke off the hug and silently went to checking cupboards for anything that a baby could use from bottles, to formula, washable nappies, to clothes and even some of that nappy rash cream. "If you can find some clothes in the lost and found for the kids that would be great," I suggested to Daryl. "Check the kid's locker room-that's where I was always finding Jade's stuff when she lost it." Continuing on I went from room to room, searching and taking what I could priorities before a loud, clunking sound drew Daryl and myself back to the office. The closer we got, the more it sounded like something was eating something else. Daryl opened the office door and carefully proceeded to open the built in wall cupboard. It was then I found myself unable to take Daryl Dixon serious anymore seeing him holding a doll in his hands as well as his crossbow...even when he shot the possum that was hiding in the cupboard.

"Dinner!" he exclaimed like a child.

"You're such a redneck," I groaned. "That ain't going in the bag," I warned him, a grin plastered over my face despite the blood that was still on my hands.