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

Forty-Four

Daryl was quiet, deadly quiet when we made our way back to the prison.

I wanted to stay behind and give Merle the proper rights befitting a soldier but Daryl refused and so we left him there amongst the other bodies to rot away in the Atlanta sun. He didn't speak a word to me, not even a grunt of acknowledgement was thrown my way. It was probably a good idea that I didn't say anything, throwing around bullshit excuses like 'at least they're in a better place' or 'they died to protect us' was just plain stupid. I didn't buy any of that when I thought Ebony was dead and I sure as hell didn't expect Daryl to by any of it either. All I needed to do was make sure Daryl came back to the prison then from there it was up to Ebony.

The two of us returned to the prison sometime after lunch according to my watch, Matthew and Glenn were in the courtyard sorting out supplies when Maggie let us in the gate. Everyone seemed to be packing, all the cars were ready, waiting to leave. Something big had happened whilst we were gone. All three of them noticed a lack of Merle within our midst. I shook my head silently as Daryl stalked over to the cell block. Once he was inside, I was ambushed with a bunch of questions.

"Where's Merle?"

"What happened?"

"PJ, where's Merle?"

"Why didn't you bring him back?"

"Michonne said Merle let her go!"

"QUIET!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

They fell silent.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "First of all…don't bring up Merle ever again, not unless Daryl's ok with it. He just had to kill his brother."

The colour drained from their faces.

"Merle's dead," I answered. "Someone-I'm guessing the Governor-shot him. He turned into a walker and Daryl killed him." I shifted my bow, "can you guys tell me what's going on?" It was my time to ask questions.

"Best go talk to Rick," Matthew answered.

I turned around and headed back into the cell block to find Rick. He was packing up our stuff in the cell whilst at the same time trying to placate Judith who was fussing about. "What's going on?" I frowned, dragging him out of whatever world he was living in.

"PJ!" Rick breathed out. "Thank God your back." He dropped what he was going and immediately crossed the small space to come and hug me.

"What's with the sudden lovey dovey?" I asked him, slightly confused. "Not that I'm not loving it but what's with the sudden love?"

"Daryl just breezed in and went straight to his cell-" Rick started to explain before sounds of arguing erupted from up in Ebony and Daryl's cell.

"Get out of my damn face!" Daryl shouted as the two of us walked steadily out of our own cell. "I don't want your damn sympathy!"

"Oh but you want PJ's instead!" Ebony argued.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Daryl scoffed.

I looked at Rick and he shrugged.

"You know damn well what it means!" Ebony snapped. "I wanted to come out with you and find your brother but instead you just jump on out there and ask PJ to go with you. I'm capable, Daryl!"

"I'm not arguing with you about that!" Daryl replied. "I don't actually know what we're arguing about apart from you being jealous of your best friend. Get it through your head, Ebony, I do not like PJ. She's like the annoying sister I never wanted. You have no idea what happened to us out there on the road for eight months whilst you were nice and cosy, screwing her brother. Nothing happened-or will happen, between me and PJ-ever."

"I can see the way you look at her!" Ebony continued.

I raised an eyebrow. Never once had I heard Ebony sound like this before. Made me wonder what the hell was going on with her.

"I don't need this shit!" Daryl snapped.

"You're the one that pushed me away!" Ebony growled. "You come in and tell me that you just had to put down your brother because he turned into a walker. I expected a little-"

"Little more what?" Daryl cut in. "I said I don't want your damn sympathies so keep 'em to yourself!"

"I certain didn't expect you to run your mouth off and tell me PJ helped you!" Ebony added.

"Yeah by keeping her mouth shut!" Daryl snapped. "She didn't start running her mouth off and telling me shit I didn't need to hear. She knows when to run her mouth and when to shut up."

Ebony growled in frustration.

"I don't want your damn help!" Daryl finished off before he stormed out of the cell.

"Whoa," I whispered.

Rick nodded his agreement. "That was very intense."

"I'm gonna go do damage control," I sighed.

"Maybe you should just leave it," Rick suggested when we went back into the cell. "Ebony is pretty upset and we need to pack. We're leaving."

Beth appeared in the entrance to the cell with Judith's baby carrier. "Can I take her?" she asked.

Rick nodded and handed Judith over to the young girl. "Thank you Beth."

Beth smiled at me. "Glad your back, PJ," she told me before she left us alone.

"Yeah I was wondering," I frowned, "what are you guys doing?" I sat my bow on the top bunk and shrugged my quiver off, ignoring Ebony slamming things above us.

"Came up with a plan," Rick answered. "All of us. Lure the Governor in, unlock the gates you and Matthew set up in the tombs-"

"And unleash hell," I ginned. "Good god, Rick. If time wasn't against us I'd take you right here, right now, until you begged for mercy-twice."

I'm pretty sure Rick stopped breathing. He blinked several times before pulling me in for a pretty intense kiss. I ripped off my shirt and threw it on the bed behind me before I started unbuttoning Rick's shirt one at a time. There was a loud ringing in my ears as the two of us kissed like love-sick teenagers. I do love a man with a plan especially when he wears a uniform-well, sort of. Rick grabbed a hold of me and lifted me up so I was propped up against the wall with my legs wrapped around his waist.

"Oh come on!" Matthew suddenly shouted. Rick and I broke apart quicker than rabbits, Matthew had his shirt pulled up over his face and had his back to us. "What the hell man? I need to burn out my eyeballs. Eardrums too."

I laughed and grabbed my shirt. "What's the problem, Matt?" I asked.

"Just got a couple more things to load up than we can work on the defences," Matthew told Rick. "Mind coming with me?" he asked.

Rick picked up his shirt and gave me a brief kiss when he left with Matthew.

I took this as a sign to go up and see what the hell was wrong with Ebony. Up in her cell she was shoving things in bags-toys, clothes…guns. "Don't shove the gun in the bag like that," I advised.

"What the hell do you want?" she snapped at me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Hey, just because you've got the shits at Daryl don't mean you can bring me into it, Eb's. Tell old PJ why you've got a case of the cranky pants."

Ebony glared at me but I didn't falter.

"I love Rick, Ebony," I told her in a calm voice. "I love Rick, not Daryl. Daryl's right up there with Matthew and Theo and Michael-he's a brother. Nothing more."

"I don't need you to tell me!" Ebony argued. "Just go away and annoy someone else."

I laughed. "Ain't gonna happen babe. The woman who endured all the pains of childbirth but cannot endure the pain of a relationship telling me to go away? It was you who told me that the makeup sex was always worth it."

All the colour vanished from Ebony's face. "Wait-back up."

I frowned. "To what?"

"That thing you said about childbirth," Ebony answered.

"The woman who endured all the pains of childbirth but cannot endure the pain of a relationship telling me to go away," I repeated.

Ebony sunk down on the bed, holding some clothes in her hands. "Oh my god."

"What?" I asked.

"I think I'm pregnant," Ebony whispered.