A/N: Thank you for the follows and the favorites and for continuing to read.

And a thank you to aliiceroseee for the review! It's beyond great to hear that you love the story and you shipping Marianne and Rick made me smile.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

Chapter Twenty-four

Marianne didn't want to open her eyes. Not only did they feel cemented shut, there was a pressure building behind them. Today of all days, when they were moving, she had to feel horrible even before rolling out of bed.

She was about to force herself to get up when someone shook her shoulder and said her name. Not this again.

Marianne kept her eyes shut, hoping the dream would disappear.

"Marianne, you need'ta get up," the voice said. It was a man this time, not Julia. She wondered what fresh hell was waiting for her. "Marianne," the voice said. Daryl's voice.

She opened her eyes and found her brother leaning over her. Marianne blinked up at him and wondered what he was doing there.

"We're leavin' in fifteen."

"What?" She sat up a little too quickly and had to lean back down on the pillows. "How long did I sleep in?"

"About an hour. I didn't wanna wake you up."

"Why?" She asked, a little miffed.

Daryl bit on his thumb and Marianne didn't take this as a good sign. "You did it again last night. T-Dog found you in the backyard and I helped ya to bed. Rick woke up and saw us."

Marianne closed her eyes. The day was just getting better and better. "What did Rick say?"

"He told everyone about it while you were sleepin'. About both times. And that you had a knife."

A cold weight settled in her stomach and her head throbbed a little harder. Her eyes unfocused as she tried to remember if she had dreamed last night. It felt like she might have. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, not even close."

"What am I gonna do?" She wanted to stop sleepwalking but what she wanted more was for no one to find out what she had done, regardless of the fact that it was eating her up inside. Marianne knew it was selfish to keep putting the group at risk but she didn't know if she'd have a group after she told them.

"We will figure somethin' out," Daryl said. She looked up at him and nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, you don't got a thing to be sorry for. Shit happens. S'not your fault." Daryl sounded so sure himself. If only she could believe it too.

Daryl left the room so she could get ready. She had packed last night and laid her clothes out on the bench at the end of the bed. She unenthusiastically pushed the blankets off of her and stood up, feeling the cold of the hardwood floor through her socks.

Marianne felt stiff and a little sore from yesterday's supply run. She was glad to find that her head didn't hurt any worse standing up then it did lying down. Please let today be okay.

She changed as fast as her injury would allow her to and roughly stuffed the clothes she had slept in into her bag and then collected her weapons, putting them all in their rightful places. She wondered which knife Daryl had to take away from her last night and frowned.

He didn't deserve her doubt, not after everything he's done for her and was willing to do, and she hated herself for it. But then she thought about being stuck under Maggie's car and the sinking feeling she had when she realized no one was coming for her.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Daryl opened the door. "Breakfast." He threw a granola bar and a box of raisins at her in rapid succession. She caught both with ease before they could hit her in the face.

"Seriously?" She contemplated throwing the granola bar back at him to wipe the smirk off of his face.

"Makin' sure yer awake."

"And if I wasn't?"

"I would've had a good laugh."

"Ass."

Daryl grinned. "Your bag ready?" She nodded and he grabbed it. "I'll put it in the truck. We roll out in ten minutes." He paused in the doorway. "You good?"

"I'm good," she said and Daryl nodded. She waited for him to disappear down the hallway before she hid the granola bar and the raisins in her jacket pockets.

She wasn't going to eat right then. Her headache was making her nauseous and she didn't think she could hold any food down for long.

Marianne stalled by making the bed, even resorting to fluffing the pillows which she couldn't believe she was doing because it was stupid. The probability of someone else staying in the house was slim to none and what did it matter if the bed looked nice, but she was desperate.

She didn't want to leave the room and face the group. After waiting as long as she thought she could, Marianne slung her bow across her back and left the room, pausing at the end of the hallway. She'd have to rip the bandage off and get it over with.

Lori was the only one left in the living room, laying on the one of the couches with her eyes closed. Everyone who had caught a cold was still nursing it but the illness had been particularly hard on Lori. Not knowing whether or not any of the cold medicine they'd found was safe for the baby, she had to do without and suffer the full force of her symptoms.

Marianne thought she could have a clean getaway but she hadn't even started to pass by the couch when Lori opened her eyes and sat up, looking startled at Marianne's presence.

"I didn't hear you," Lori said.

Marianne could see pity mixed with fear in the other woman's face. She was afraid because of the knife. Lori would have an outright fit if she ever found out that Marianne had woken with a gun in her hand and her finger on the trigger.

She rushed away without saying anything back and nearly ran into Carol in the front doorway, who looked at her the same way Lori had.

"Sorry," Marianne muttered as Carol stepped out of the way to let her outside. Not wanting to see more pity and fear, Marianne planned to avoid looking at anyone else's face except for Daryl's.

It was a welcome sight to see most of the rest of them already sitting in their respective vehicles. Only Glenn, Rick, and Daryl were standing around. Glenn was leaning on the back of the hatchback, which it looked like he'd be driving. Rick and Daryl were on the street, next to Daryl's motorcycle which was parked behind her truck. It was still a little strange seeing him on it and not Merle, who had been very possessive of it, barely letting Daryl or Marianne lay a finger on it.

Despite the fact that the sky was covered in grey clouds, the light pressed into her eyes like it was a sunny day, making them ache. She didn't have a pair of sunglasses of her own yet so she reluctantly asked Glenn if she could borrow his, all the while staring at the brim of his baseball hat.

"Sure, you can keep them. I look like a dork in them anyways."

He handed them over and she gladly put them on. She noticed Glenn was staring at her and she couldn't help but glance at his face, which had an odd look on it she couldn't place so Marianne shifted uncertainly on her feet. "What?"

"Of course you make them look cool," he said shaking his head as he walked away to talk to Maggie, who had stepped out of the car and called his name. For a few seconds Marianne watched him leave with her head tilted, looking at him as if he was a strange new species she'd never seen before and was trying to figure out.

Marianne noticed Daryl and Rick kept looking over at her. Unfortunately, she'd have to walk in the general vicinity of Rick to get to her truck. She could avoid walking directly past him by cutting through the yard but she had a feeling Rick wanted to say a few words and wouldn't be deterred by that tactic.

She adjusted the strap of her bow on her shoulder and started down the driveway.

"I was thinkin', since you have room, someone could join you," Rick said when she reached the two men.

Marianne crossed her arms. "I'm drivin' alone today."

"Are you sure?" Rick asked, crossing his own arms.

"One-hundred percent," she said, not betraying that her head felt like it was being pummeled by a rubber mallet. "Shouldn't we be goin'?"

"Yeah." Rick uncrossed his arms. "Daryl's in the lead and you'll be takin' the rear. That sound good?" Marianne nodded at his question that wasn't actually a question. He seemed to ask a lot of those.

Rick left to get into the Chevy which Carol and Lori were now in; Maggie was back in the hatchback and Glenn along with her. Daryl settled onto the seat of his motorcycle.

"See you in a few," Marianne said to Daryl over her shoulder as she walked to her truck.

By the time she got into the truck Daryl had already started to leave. She grimaced at the rev of the motorcycle, the sound piercing through her head. This wasn't going to be a fun trip.

The group left the neighborhood behind for good.

They were, more or less, driving 35 mph on a well abused back road crowded on either side by overgrown trees and grass that looked like it hadn't been mowed in years. A few times they picked it up to 40 but Marianne wasn't privy to the reasons behind the occasional change in speed. She silently thanked whoever it was that sped them up because she was desperate for the move to be over. The quiet hum of the drive could only do so much to soothe her.

Marianne tried to empty her mind and let the road fill it. It was a struggle and it only worked for a couple of hours until her body became too demanding. She began to feel clammy and kept turning the heat on and off. She was incapable of deciding whether to take her jacket off or keep it on. Her head pounded, her mouth was dry, and every little bump on the road made her stomach flip.

She grabbed her full water bottle and wedged it between her thighs, unscrewing the cap with one hand. The first sip was heaven and the next thing she knew, the bottle was over half empty.

For a few seconds the long drink was a relief but then her stomach rebelled. Marianne hit the brakes, flung the door open, tumbled out and doubled over.

The water was still as cool coming up as it was going down. And then, when there was no more water left her body didn't stop heaving and the sour taste of bile filled her mouth. When she was done she felt drained. Her abdomen was sore and she was desperately in need of rinsing her mouth out. The leftover taste made her shudder.

Now that her unpleasant distraction had ended, Marianne's mind turned to the group and she hoped the open truck door had mostly shielded her from curious eyes.

Marianne looked up and saw they were gone.

She cursed. In her haste to not throw up all over the wheel she had forgotten to signal the others to stop too.

She scrambled back into the truck and pushed down the gas pedal, thankful it hadn't rolled away because she hadn't put it in park. She could catch up; her episode having only been less than two minutes combined with the pace they had set should make it easy enough but Marianne had only gone a little way when she stopped at a three way intersection.

It was a decision she wasn't capable of making. The wrong one would be disastrous.

Her grip on the wheel intensified making her fingers ache. She let go and put the truck in park before turning it off, ever aware that she needed to conserve gas.

Marianne's thoughts were erratic and her headache made it difficult to straighten them out. The past few days Rick had casually mentioned his plan for moving on. She tried to remember them but to no avail and she had nothing else to go on. Since she had slept in, she hadn't been there when he had finalized their route. Marianne only had a rough idea of where they were going. North.

Panic crawled into her chest, making it hard to fill her lungs with air. She fought against it and successfully regulated her breathing but that was about it. Her heart rate accelerated, her chest still felt tight, and tears threatened to fall.

Marianne got out of the truck. She had to keep herself together. She walked to the middle of the intersection and studied each road, looking for any sign of where the group had gone but there weren't even any leaves on the asphalt for the cars to disturb.

She was living one of her worst nightmares. To keep her panic from worsening, she reminded herself that this wasn't like last time. Once they realized she was gone, someone would come looking for her, so for now she'd do what Daryl had told her on their first trip into the woods. If she got lost, stay put until he found her.

Marianne climbed into the truck, keeping the door open. The wind was picking up and she wanted to feel something other than the turmoil inside of her and the cold air biting into her skin did the trick.

They'll come back.

Rationally, Marianne knew what felt like an hour to her was, in reality, closer to fifteen minutes but her mind wasn't being rational. Worry made her bite her bottom lip until it was raw. How far away had they driven? Had they noticed she was gone yet?

He'll come back.

She watched apathetically as a walker emerged from the trees and zeroed in on her. She shut the truck door before it reached her and about five minutes passed while she ignored the walker clawing at her window and pressing its face into it. Its raspy growl faded into the background.

Marianne closed her eyes. Her head still hurt and she was exhausted. She felt herself drifting into the peaceful oblivion of sleep but a soft thump pulled her awake. There was no longer any banging on the window and she didn't hear the walker growling.

A welcome sight greeted her eyes.

Daryl was standing a few yards away from the front of the truck, lowering his crossbow. The anxious look on his face stopped her from any feelings of happiness, which were replaced by guilt. She had been so absorbed with her own worry and panic that she forgot to think about how any of the others felt.

Before she could do it herself, Daryl reached the door and opened it.

"Are you alright? Are you bit?" He looked her over for signs of a bite.

"I'm not bit. Watch out, I got sick." She pointed at the wet spot on the asphalt but Daryl was already standing on it.

He looked down at the ground and then back at her. "I've stepped in worse. What the hell happened?" Daryl asked in a not unkind voice.

"I forgot to honk the horn." Marianne buried her face in her hands. It sounded worse out loud than it did in her head.

"You look pale. Did you catch the cold?"

"No, but my head hurts real bad and I can't even keep water down," she said in a muffled voice.

"Let me check for a fever." She lifted her face from her hands and he put one of his own on her forehead. "You don't feel hot." Daryl took his hand away and frowned. "It's one of those headaches, ain't it?" She nodded. "You haven't got one in years."

She leaned the left side of her head against the headrest. "I forgot how much they suck."

"I haven't. You okay to drive?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, I have'ta be." She didn't have a choice. There was no way she was abandoning the truck and its supplies.

He looked doubtful. "We can wait a little longer."

"No, everyone's probably worried and Rick's probably pissed we're wastin' daylight." Thinking about having to face Rick made her head hurt even more.

"I don't think he will be. He's the one that noticed you were gone. From where I was standin' he looked worried."

Marianne made a noise of disbelief. "Sure, and the dead ain't walkin'."

Daryl let out a heavy sigh. "I'm still mad at him too."

"You don't seem all that angry," she said with a challenge in her voice she hadn't meant to put there.

Daryl seemed to overlook it and shrugged. "'Cause I'm stoic. Ain't that what you called me that one time?"

"Sure, 'that one time'."

"Yer too sick for that kinda sass."

Marianne's laugh turned into a groan. "Don't make me laugh, it hurts."

She had to assure Daryl two more times that she was okay to drive before he got onto his motorcycle and started leading the way to the group. As time passed by, her apprehension grew.

It was only about a ten minute drive to reach them but it was long enough for dread to settle in. When it came to killing walkers she was nearly fearless, but when it came do dealing with people sometimes all she wanted to do was run and hide.

Marianne pulled up behind the Chevy, keeping one car length between them. Everyone except for Lori was standing around and all of them had turned to look at her and Daryl. She may have been uneasy at the prospect of facing them but she was too miserable to feel embarrassed.

She stayed in the truck and watched Daryl walk up to Rick, who had his hands on his hips and looked a little irritated. Hershel joined them and then Rick called T-Dog over.

Marianne felt cowardly, sitting by and letting her brother deal with the situation and not stepping in herself. It was her mess after all. But instead of joining the conversation, she sat and waited, and while she waited she massaged her forehead, trying to relieve some of the pressure behind her eyes. During the drive she had been able to block out some of the painful throbbing by concentrating on the road but now that diversion was over.

The four men broke apart and Daryl began walking towards her. She opened the door so they could talk.

"So what's the verdict?" Marianne asked.

"I told 'em what happened. They seemed to understand," Daryl said. "Hershel's gonna come check on you and Rick wanted to talk to ya but I told him to stay away for now."

"Good."

"And T-Dog'll be drivin'."

"Is he okay to?" T-Dog was still lagging from his cold and he'd had to wake up three hours early for his watch.

"Better than you." He gestured towards her. "He's not pukin' his guts up all over the road."

"Point taken."

T-Dog walked up and stood next to Daryl. "Hey, you okay?"

"No," Marianne said. That always seemed to be the answer whenever he asked that question.

"It's a good thing I'm here then," T-Dog said, taking her answer in stride and trying to keep the mood light.

"Let me move so you can get in." Daryl and T-Dog backed away to give her room to hop out of the truck. She walked to the passenger side by going around the back of the truck, instead of the front, to keep as far away from Rick as possible.

Marianne got back into the truck, her head protesting at all of the movement. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them Hershel was standing nearby.

"My wife used to get migraines," he said while stepping a little closer. "It takes a lot of out a person."Hershel took a pill bottle out of his jacket pocket. "Here, take some aspirin." He opened it and tapped two pills into the upturned cap.

"No, don't waste it on me."

"It's no waste. It's why we have it in the first place. And it'll expire eventually, might as well use it while it's good."

Hershel made a good point so she grudgingly held out her hand palm up where, with a smile of approval, he placed the pills. She swallowed them dry and regretting that decision took a tiny sip of water. Marianne held her breath as she waited for her stomach's verdict and let it go when the pills stayed where they were.

"Is there anything else we can get you?"

"A new head."

Hershel chuckled. "It's nice to see your sense of humor is intact."

"Nothin' else seems to be," Marianne said in a low voice.

Hershel gave her a kind smile. "Give it time. It'll get better."

Hershel left and they were off in less than a minute. Marianne reclined her seat as far as it would go and put a damp bandana over her eyes, wondering if she would be able to fall asleep despite the pain.

Even before fully waking up, Marianne knew the truck had stopped. She pulled the bandana away from her eyes and opened them, blinking rapidly at the sudden change from darkness to light.

It looked like everyone save her, T-Dog, and Lori were out of the cars, stretching their legs. Glenn was standing on the hood of the hatchback with Maggie on the ground beside him while Daryl, Hershel, and Rick were gathered around the hood of the Chevy. Beth and Carl were talking and Carol was getting something from the back of the Chevy.

"What's goin' on?" Marianne asked as she put her seat in the upright position. Her head didn't hurt as much as earlier and her stomach felt almost back to normal.

"We hit a roadblock and had to backtrack. Rick, Daryl, and Hershel are tryin' to find a new route," T-Dog said, sounding tired and still a little stuffed up from his cold. She felt bad that he had to replace her in the driver's seat.

"What kind of roadblock?" She asked, putting her sunglasses back on. Her eyes were still sensitive to the light.

"A big tree fell across the road. There's no way we can move it," T-Dog said. He seemed to be treating her normal and wasn't giving her any looks, which was a good sign.

"That's unfortunate."

"Tell me about it. We've been sittin' here for almost half an hour. Those three haven't looked up from the map the whole time." He gestured towards Daryl, Rick, and Hershel.

"Why are you still sittin' in here?" Marianne asked.

"'Cause I didn't want to leave you alone."

"T-Dog, you didn't have to do that. You can get out if you want. I'll be fine."

Marianne had to persuade him to leave the truck. When he did she wondered if he had stayed with her because he knew about her sleepwalking—had in fact seen her doing it.

She sighed and watched T-Dog walk towards the group. As each one saw him, they turned to look at her but, with her sunglasses on and her head leaning back on her seat's headrest like she might be sleeping, they wouldn't be able to tell if her eyes were open or not.

T-Dog joined the three men and began looking at the map too. Carol had finally found whatever it was she was looking for and was handing it to Lori. While the others had only given her a cursory glance, Beth and Carl took turns staring at her, looking like they wanted to come over and talk to her. Not feeling up to talking with them, she hoped they wouldn't.

She got her wish because after a few minutes Rick folded up the map and everyone was getting back into the cars.

T-Dog opened the truck door and climbed in with a smile on his face. "Finally," he said.

"What was the problem?"

"They were tryin' to avoid any highways and big towns without goin' too much out of the way. We can't afford the gas," T-Dog said. Marianne felt a pang of guilt because Daryl had used extra gas backtracking to find her. T-Dog didn't seem to notice. "Carol handed me your lunch in case you felt up to eating." He held up a fruit cup and a package of peanut butter sandwich crackers.

"I'll take it." The longer she had been awake, the calmer her stomach had become until the nausea was gone and all that was left was hunger. T-Dog gave her the food and she set it on her lap before digging the granola bar and raisins out of her pockets.

"I see you didn't eat breakfast. You must be starvin'."

T-Dog started the truck and didn't have to wait long for them to start moving.

Marianne changed her focus to her food, deciding to eat the raisins first and save the fruit cup for last. She was surprised there was a comfortable silence between them while she ate.

Her thoughts stayed on one topic and when she finished her lunch she decided she had to know.

"What did Rick say about me this morning?" Marianne asked. "Daryl didn't give me any details."

T-Dog looked hesitant to tell her. "Uh, well, he said that your sleepwalking could be a danger to the group. And, uh, he called you a liability."

"He called me a what?" She asked, not quite believing her ears.

"A liability."

"What's he gonna do? Exile me?"

He shook his head. "Rick won't do that."

"How far do ya think he'd go if his family was in danger? Because if you haven't noticed, apparently I'm a danger to this group."

"I don't think you're dangerous."

"You sure about that?" The words slipped out of her mouth unbidden and she inwardly cringed at them.

"What do you mean?"

She turned her head to look out the passenger window. "Nothin'."

The rest of the ride was a one sided conversation, with Marianne's only contributions being an occasional noise or a nod. T-Dog didn't seem to mind and it looked like he didn't expect much of anything else from her.

The brake lights of the Chevy lit up and their little caravan came to a halt. Marianne sat up straight, wondering if there were walkers.

"Daryl must've found somethin'," T-Dog said.

From her angle, Marianne only saw trees but she heard the sound of Daryl's motorcycle fade off to the right. After a couple of minutes of silence, she heard him coming back and then the engine cut off.

She saw him walk to the driver's side of the Chevy and Rick rolled down his window so the two could talk. Whatever was said, it was brief and the cars were moving again. T-Dog followed them and turned onto a dirt and gravel road covered in weeds and only wide enough for one car.

They pulled up to a lone two story house set about a quarter of a mile off of the road. She watched from the truck as Daryl and Rick entered the house to clear it. They shortly reappeared, Rick giving the signal that all was safe.

Everyone sprung into action, looking like a well oiled machine as they each began pulling things out of the vehicles and bringing them into the house. Marianne felt like a broken spare part.

She unbuckled her seatbelt but made no further move to join the group. It was only when T-Dog began taking stuff from the truck bed that she gained momentum, refusing to be useless. She told herself she could do it, that she could be around the others. If they cared so much about her, like people kept telling her, than it wouldn't matter what had happened earlier in the day or last night.

Marianne left the truck and grabbed her bag and her bow, planning to bring those inside first mostly because she was unsure of what else the group wanted from the truck.

When she entered the house she saw that all of the furniture was covered in yellowing white sheets. There were cobwebs on the staircase banister and the ceiling fan in the front room, presumably the living room going by the shapes of the covered furniture.

Beth and Carol began removing the sheets and even though they did so carefully, dust still billowed into the air, making both of them sneeze and everyone in the room began rubbing their eyes, including Marianne.

Carl announced that there wasn't any running water, which surprised nobody, and began opening the curtains, which were also coated in dust, so they could see better while they set everything up.

The extra light didn't do the place any favors. The wallpaper was peeling, the staircase runner was worn through the middle, and there were cracks in the ceiling. Marianne noticed there was a large square area of the hardwood floor that wasn't scratched or scuffed up, indicating there might have been a rug there.

Marianne set her things aside and began helping take the sheets off. Maggie joined her and soon both of them were coughing.

"How long do you think this place has been closed up?" Maggie asked no one in particular as she added another sheet to the growing pile by the front door.

"Judging by the dust, at least a couple of years," Hershel said.

"I guess we won't be findin' any food in here." T-Dog set two large water jugs by the fireplace.

"The kitchen's empty. I already checked," Carl said.

There were no more sheets for Marianne to remove and everything else seemed to be taken care of by one person or another so she stood there with nothing to do and couldn't bring herself to ask someone if they needed help—that would require talking.

She wandered to the hallway in the back of the house. There were three doors, two on the right and one at the end. The closest door was already open and she glanced in at the kitchen when she walked by. The second door on the right opened to a room empty except for a handful of rolled up rugs. The largest looking like it would fit the square of unmarked floor in the living room.

The last door led to the basement, which she had no interest in exploring and hoped Rick or Lori would tell Carl to stay out of it.

Marianne shut the basement door, walked to the beginning of the hallway, and leaned on a wall so that her back was to the hallway and she faced the living room. Only Daryl was absent and she wondered where he was.

"Do you think it's safe to use?" Carol asked, pointing to the fireplace.

"I guess we'll find out when we start a fire," Glenn said with a shrug.

Rick shook his head. "Not if it means burning the house down."

Hershel bent over to examine the fireplace. "The flue was closed and once we clear out the spider webs we should be okay."

Marianne felt a presence behind her and quickly turned around. She was startled to see Daryl standing there. She hadn't seen him in the kitchen or the empty room and she knew he wouldn't have been poking around in the basement since he didn't have a flashlight.

"Where did you come from?"

"Outside," Daryl said. She gave him a questioning look. "The back door's in the kitchen. It opens onto a porch. Be careful on the stairs. I think they're rottin' through."

"Alright." Marianne turned back around and Daryl moved to stand next to her. "There's some rugs in the room next to the kitchen. If they're not gross we can spread 'em out. Give us something a little more comfortable to sleep on."

"Why don't you go tell them that?"

"I told you so you could tell 'em," she said. Daryl raised his eyebrows at her. "Look, I don't feel like talkin' to anyone. I don't even feel like fightin' with Rick right now and that's my new favorite pastime."

Daryl snorted, shaking his head. "I'll tell 'em, but you have'ta talk sooner or later."

"Later sounds good."

The rugs were inspected and found to be a little dusty but in a good enough condition to sleep on. Some of the furniture needed to be moved to lay the rugs down, which wasn't a big deal since they were going to rearrange things anyways.

Barred from doing any heavy lifting Marianne went halfway up the stairs, where the railing stopped and a wall started, and sat down, getting a nice view of everybody in the living room while being partially hidden from sight.

When the living room was organized to satisfaction, a discussion on sleeping arrangements began which made Marianne retreat even further up the stairs when she heard her name mentioned. Sleep had become a touchy subject for her but now that it was a group issue, she could no longer disregard it and fall asleep hoping for the best.

She sat on the top step, covered in shadows trying not to listen to the conversation happening below her but every time her name was said, it sounded loud and clear.

Marianne sighed. A twinge of pain behind her eyes reminded her she wasn't completely over her headache. It threatened to come back any second and she hoped it would go away by morning.

Hershel appeared at the bottom of the stairs and she inwardly groaned. He began walking up the stairs and she reluctantly scooted to the side so he could sit down next to her like she knew he was planning to.

"How are you feelin'?" Hershel asked as he eased himself down next to her.

"Better." She began picking at some loose threads of the staircase runner.

He nodded. "Do you get migraines often?"

"No."

"Must be the stress you're under," Hershel said.

"Everyone's stressed." And they weren't getting sick or sleepwalking or freaking out over a walker that looked like a person they used to know.

"I think you've had more than your fair share."

"Don't make excuses for me." She glanced over at Hershel. "Look, I don't want to talk right now."

"Fair enough. I'll just tell you one more thing. We've figured out where you're sleepin'. You'll be in the middle of us so if you get up you'll end up wakin' somebody."

"Great," she said, not sounding like it was great at all. Here she was, wanting to get away from people and now she'd literally be in the middle of them. And as if she wasn't feeling bad enough about it in the first place, if she did sleepwalk she'd end up interrupting one or more people's much needed sleep. She wasn't looking forward to bed.

Daryl had the first watch of the night. He sat on one of the dining room chairs Carol had brought out onto the front porch, with his crossbow leaning against his leg. For now it was calm outside and he could hear people getting ready for bed in the house. Soon all would be quiet.

He couldn't wait for tomorrow, for dawn to break bringing a fresh start along with it. Today was a day he never wanted to repeat. When Rick had honked he thought it'd have something do with Lori or that Rick had seen something that Daryl had missed. In no way had he expected the real reason why they had stopped.

The horror that rose inside of him almost matched what he felt when she hadn't arrived at the highway safe and sound. It was a nightmare turned into reality.

How long had she been gone? Was she hurt? Did the truck break down? Why hadn't she signaled for them stop? His mind had raced through scenarios of what could have happened, however impossible most of them were.

He and Rick had a short, heated argument. Rick didn't want him to take off by himself to go look for Marianne. He didn't want Daryl alone but Daryl was faster on his own and to him, there was no time to waste. The urgency he felt to leave made him walk away, cutting the fight short, and take off on his motorcycle.

The door opened and he turned around to see Marianne coming out of the house. The moonlight fell on her face and he could see the dark circles under her eyes.

"You should be sleepin'," he said.

Marianne sat down on the chair next to him. "I'm not tired."

"Yeah, and I'm not hungry." Daryl said with a scoff.

"Are you getting enough to eat?"

"Don't be spinnin' this conversation off of you and onto me."

"Okay then," she said with a mischievous look on her face. "How long do you think Rick's gonna let us stay? He didn't say anything about leavin' in the morning." Daryl just stared at her. "What? I'm not conversin' about you."

Daryl shook his head. There was no stopping her when she turned her mind to teasing so he let the matter go and planned to talk with Marianne about her tiredness later. "Tomorrow and then we're probably outta here."

"I'm sick of movin' and now it feels like we'll be doin' it the rest of our lives." Marianne sighed. "Most of the time I didn't stay more than a night in any place until I got hurt."

Daryl did a double take. It was the first time she had mentioned anything specific about her time separated from the group apart from how she had injured herself. At the moment, he didn't think he'd ever get any details from Marianne without pushing her to talk and he wasn't close to the point where he would resort to that.

Was she ready to open up? He had to ask her and maybe if she answered, her sleepwalking would go away and hopefully the nightmares that went along with it too. "Who's Julia?"

Her head turned sharply towards him and he saw a spark of panic in her eyes. "How do you know that name?"

"You said it last night. And that you had to find her."

There was a long pause and Daryl thought she was going to get up and leave without answering him but then, in a quiet voice that was almost a whisper, she began to talk.

"I don't know what the 'finding her' part is all about. Must've had somethin' to do with the dream I can't remember. I'm glad I don't." Marianne looked up at the stars and there was another long pause. "I found a woman in a house near the one I was stayin' in. With a bite, bleedin' all over a bathroom counter. Bit by her sister-in-law."

"And it was Julia?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, it was Julia." Marianne sighed again. "I helped her. Got her to bed, made her as comfortable as possible. Put down her walker niece in the next room. And I watched her die. And then drove a knife into her head."

He could sense that there was more she hadn't told him yet so Daryl stayed quiet in case Marianne wanted to keep talking but after awhile it was evident that she wasn't going to.

"Is that what's been botherin' you?" He hoped that was all but by the way she had gone on about how bad whatever it was that had happened, he had a feeling this wasn't the only thing haunting her.

"I guess it must be, a little. I wasn't alone anymore and then I was again. Nobody in the whole world knew I was alive." Marianne looked down at her lap and messed with the end of her braid. "But it's just a small piece."

"So there's more?"

She looked up and into his eyes. "There's always more."

A/N: Notice anything different about this chapter? It's longer! I aimed to write a longer chapter and this is about 2k-3k words more than the other ones, except for chapter 18 which used to be the longest. I wasn't expecting to write this much and I hope it didn't get boring.

Please let me know what you think about the length. Do you like it, dislike it, don't care? At this point I'm not sure if I'll make this a regular thing or if I can even write this much for each chapter. It does take me a couple of days longer so that's a downside.

Any reactions or thoughts? I'm really interested to hear what you have to say.