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

Thank you to lizzydahia1 (don't worry about your English, it's way better than my French), x NikiSt x, GraceTM86, elljayde, and brandibuckeye for the reviews! The feedback about Rick and Marianne was super helpful and it's reassuring to know I'm making sense.

I decided to use a lot of real places in this chapter. I changed a name of one town and maybe something else but I can't remember. Google Maps and Earth helped but I took artistic license in certain places, like what's inside buildings because heck if I know.

On another note, when I posted chapter 26 I hadn't realized it was a few days past a year when I posted the first chapter. Some of you have probably been around since the beginning and that blows my mind. Also, I can't believe I haven't made it to season 3 yet. If anyone's curious, it's sometime in December in the story right now.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Daryl knew something had happened the second he stepped into the hotel. It was the way everyone had stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Everyone except Marianne.

"What happened?" He asked the room.

Rick walked towards him. "We should talk. Alone."

"I don't wanna talk. Just tell me what the hell is wrong."

"Everything's okay. Marianne's okay," Rick said.

"Where is she?"

"We really should talk before you see her," Rick said.

"Where is she?" His voice was angry and rough. He wasn't angry at Marianne, he was angry at all of these people who weren't giving him real answers.

Rick sighed. "She's resting."

Daryl launched himself towards the hallway, storming past the group without a glance. Their room was the third one on the right. He rushed to it but slowed down when he went to open the door. He did so quietly and his gaze went directly to her bed. She was laying on her side, facing the door with her eyes closed. At that moment, all he saw was the little girl she used to be. It pulled at his heart. That little girl hadn't even had a childhood no matter how hard he had tried to give one to her.

Once he saw she was safe he calmed down a little. He closed the door slightly, leaving it cracked open. "What happened?" Daryl asked.

"She sleepwalked again. It took us a couple of hours to find her. She was under the stairs behind an ice machine."

Daryl studied Rick. "There's somethin' else. What happened?" He asked a third time.

Rick momentarily ducked his head down and rubbed the back of it. "We fought. I told her to tell someone what was wrong. I told her some things."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at him. "What kind of things?"

"Stuff. About me." Rick shrugged. "And then she told me what happened to her."

Joy and disappointment clashed inside Daryl. He was happy Marianne had finally told someone but it hadn't been him. Out of the whole group, why had she chosen Rick? Would she tell him too?

"She wants to tell you too," Rick said as if he could read Daryl's thoughts.

Daryl looked at the door, suddenly nervous. He didn't know how he would handle the truth but he was going to try his hardest to do what was best for her.

"How bad is it?" Daryl asked, trying to find out how much he should prepare himself before he woke her up.

"I think there are parts that'll be hard for you to hear," Rick said.

Daryl nodded and pushed the door open. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rick walking away. He went into the room and stood next to Marianne's bed, looking down at her. She had the comforters pulled up past her chin and almost over her mouth. Her face, like always when she was sleeping, had that almost peaceful look. He took a deep breath.

"Marianne." Before he could finish saying her name, her eyes opened.

"You're back." She began to sit up, pulling the comforters with her so she stayed under them up to her neck.

"Rick told me what happened," Daryl said. Her eyes flicked away from him and then back. He could see the comforters bunch up as she began to hold them tighter.

"Did he tell you that I'm ready for you to know?"

"Yeah, and he said that you told him," he said in a neutral tone. He was a little hurt about it, which he couldn't help, but he didn't want her to think that he was upset with her.

"Not everything." She rushed to say. "Not as much as I'm gonna tell you."

"I'm not mad you told Rick first."

Marianne bit her lip. "I just don't want to hurt your feelings."

He gave her one of those smiles he never gave anyone else. "You didn't. Not even close."

He pulled the armchair next to the bed and sat down. Marianne started with the night the farm was overrun. When he found out that Jimmy had still been alive, he knew that his death had something to do with her turmoil.

Marianne filled in details where previously she had been vague.

"I was so sure I was gonna hear your motorcycle or a car. When no one came, I thought you were dead or that the group was scattered so nobody could tell for sure who was gone or that they needed to go back. But when me and Jimmy made it to the highway, I found your message and that's when I knew you had left me."

Daryl felt like he was going to implode from guilt. How was he going to survive the rest of what she had to say?

She told him about how she'd almost found them at the ruins and then the town. She recounted the time she spent with Jimmy traveling around Georgia in an untiring search for the group. He kept finding himself biting his thumb.

Then she got to day thirteen.

Daryl nearly lost it when she told him about Frank and Will. How dare they touch her? How dare they hurt his baby sister? He wanted to pummel them until there was nothing left of their faces. He wanted to gut them while they were still breathing and leave them for walkers to eat alive.

He jumped up from the armchair and began pacing, trying to keep himself under control. It wouldn't help Marianne if he couldn't keep himself in check. Now he knew where the scar on her face had come from. She'd have a reminder of that day for the rest of her life.

He was able to calm down a little when she told him about their deaths but he worried more. Was this what Marianne had been holding in? Was she torturing herself because she killed two assholes who were going to rape her?

"You had to do it," Daryl said. "You didn't have a choice. It was the right thing to do."

"I'm not done." Marianne looked at him with wide, sad eyes. "Remember, I told you. There's always more."

Daryl braced himself.

She told him that she tracked down their camp and waited for Will and Frank's group to show up and how she didn't have a clue what she was going to do at first. Daryl had a good idea of what she had ended up doing.

"They were movin' on the next day and I knew we might end up goin' in the same direction. I might've run into them and that's when I decided they had to die. I shot the one holding a rifle first. A head shot. And then the other man too." Marianne looked down at her lap. "It wasn't hard at all, Daryl. I didn't hesitate, not for one second."

"It was you or them." Daryl didn't mean to interrupt her but she had to know. He had to let her know that he understood. "You were survivin'."

"Rick said the same thing. That it was me or them. But it was murder, Daryl. It was murder."

A thick silence descended over them. He wanted to say more but felt it wasn't the right time, so Daryl waited. He would give her all the time she needed. After all the things he hadn't been able to do for her, she deserved it.

"I left the teenager for last. I did pause. Thought about how young he was. Then I thought about how young Jimmy was. Thought about how much pain he was in. I even thought about Randall, how Rick couldn't kill him. But I wanted revenge." She said the last part with so much shame in her voice it made his chest ache. He didn't want her to feel ashamed. There was no shame in it, not in his eyes.

"He said I could take everything, all of their supplies, the truck. That's where I got it and all the things in it. His last words were 'Just please don't kill me'."

There was pain. So much pain in her eyes, in her voice. He wanted to take it away but he wasn't sure how. He was afraid he'd say or do the wrong thing. But he would try his hardest. He would be there for her. He couldn't change that he hadn't been with her then. He knew 'if' and 'maybe' and 'what could've been' were useless but Daryl would've taken the shots so she didn't have to. It would've been him that carried the burden of their deaths, not her.

The second telling was harder in some ways and easier in others than the first.

Marianne told Daryl everything, even more than what she had revealed to Rick. She recounted every second she could remember and every detail. Nothing was left unsaid.

"His last words were 'Just please don't kill me'." Saying that aloud hit her with the full force of what she had done. It took her breath away. She was a murderer and nothing would change that. Marianne could maybe trick herself into believing killing the two men at the camp was self-defense but not the teenager.

"I didn't have to do it. I could've just left or taken his stuff and let him keep a knife and some food. Let him live. I took that away from him." Marianne looked at Daryl and tried to read what was in his eyes but there were so many things jumbled together in them she couldn't guess what he was thinking.

There was sadness, guilt, understanding, and more. Was that pain she saw? Had she caused his pain or was he trying to shoulder some of hers? She didn't deserve that. It was her burden to carry but wasn't that what she was doing right now? Letting him carry some of it. Marianne knew she was being selfish but she couldn't help herself.

She looked away from him. "I'm scared by how easy it was."

"If you're feeling like this, then it wasn't easy," Daryl said. There was a plea in his voice. She guessed it was for her to understand but what was she supposed to understand?

"It was easy at the time. That's what matters," Marianne said, trying to make him realize that what she did was unforgivable and that she wasn't a good person. She probably never was and this proved it.

Daryl shook his head. "It might, but that's not all that matters. You were in shock. That matters. You were assaulted. That matters. They killed Jimmy and you were next. That matters. Don't feel sorry for that boy. Don't for a second think that he wouldn't've hurt ya. Even if he didn't, he would've let the others do whatever they wanted."

Marianne could hear the sense in what he was saying and it confused her. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to stop feeling this."

"What if I had killed 'em the way you did? And for why you did? Would that change how you think about me?" Daryl asked with a new determination in his voice.

"No." Marianne had never thought about it that way. "I'd just be worried about you."

"It's no different for me. I'm worried what it's done to you but I don't care what you did. Hell, I think you made the right choice." Daryl sat on the bed next to her. "And like you said, you changed a little but you're still you."

He had thrown her words back at her and she didn't know what to say.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into him. Hugs between them were far from frequent. It was usually uncomfortable for them but this was one of the times it wasn't.

Marianne was emotionally exhausted. Tears slipped out of her eyes unbidden. She could feel a damp spot growing on Daryl's jacket.

It was a jolt when he pulled away.

"Damn it." Daryl banged his hand against the wall. Marianne flinched, a souvenir from her childhood. "It's my fault. Rick don't own me. I'm a grown ass man. I should've just left 'em."

Marianne briefly closed her eyes. A few leftover tears came out and collected on her eyelashes. She didn't agree with him that it was his fault but she did agree that he should have left them to go back for her. They could've done okay without the group and they probably would have caught up with them anyways.

"If I had to choose between you and them, I'd choose you, so why the hell didn't I?" Marianne knew he wasn't asking her, but asking himself and maybe the universe, so she didn't answer him.

Daryl paced some more before kicking the small plastic trash can by the dresser. It skittered across the floor. He took a few long strides to the nightstand where he grabbed the alarm clock, ripping its cord out of the socket, and threw it across the room. It smashed into the wall and broke.

A tendril of fear was creeping into her chest. The fear wasn't of Daryl but an involuntary reaction from the past. She swallowed hard and pushed down the memories that still plagued her after years of trying to forget.

He went for the water bottle on the nightstand next. It hit the door when he threw it. Daryl was in a rage she hadn't seen in a long time. It was the kind of rage that had led him to nearly beat their dad to death. She didn't know what he'd grab next but it couldn't go any further.

"Stop!" Marianne was relieved that she had managed to keep the fear out of her voice.

Daryl looked at her. It was if he had forgotten she was in the room and was surprised to see her there. That surprise was quickly replaced by guilt and horror. Marianne knew exactly what he was thinking.

She shook her head. "You're not him. Not even close."

There was a knock on the door. "Are you two okay?" Rick asked from the other side.

Marianne wiped the tears from her face, went to the door and opened it a little but not enough for Rick to see the room. "We're good."

"If you need me to—"

"We're okay. I'm okay." She didn't like the look he was giving nor what it meant. "He would never," she said in an angry whisper before closing the door in his face.

How could Rick even think that Daryl would hit her? After what he had seen between the siblings and what he knew about Daryl. She hoped it was his cop side taking over, the one that assumed the worst out of people.

Marianne turned around to look at Daryl, who had his shoulders slumped. He looked defeated.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Okay." She forgot about her own feelings for the moment. How could she make him feel better? "I'm not one to judge. After I punched Rick a few times I drew a knife on him. I don't know what I would've done if Glenn hadn't walked in." Marianne chose to omit the part where Glenn, in his confusion, almost pointed his gun at her.

"You drew a knife on him?" Daryl asked incredulously.

"Yeah, just ask Rick or Glenn." Marianne sighed. "I went a little crazy. Merle would've been proud." It was getting easier to mention Merle and she wondered if it had gotten easier for Daryl to hear him mentioned. "Hell, he would be proud of me for killing those men." She tried to make it sound casual but anyone could hear in her voice how not okay she was.

Daryl stayed silent. He probably didn't know what to say. Maybe he was talked out. She knew she was but she had at least one more thing to say. "You have to make peace with yourself, I can't give it to you. No matter how much I want to."

"As long as you promise to try to forgive yourself," Daryl said.

"I promise," Marianne said. There was a long pause. The heaviness that had been with her for so long was a little lighter. She knew her problems and the pain was still there and would probably be there for a long time, but at least Daryl knew. At least she still had him. "Can we pretend for the rest of the day that everything is normal?"

"Sure we can," Daryl said.

Neither of the siblings felt like being around the group. They didn't speak for awhile and when they did it was about nothing special, only important to her because it was so ordinary.

Carol ended up bringing them dinner, wearing a comforting smile which Marianne returned with a weak one.

After they had finished eating, Marianne made a nest of blankets on the floor in between the beds. She sat with the nightstand on her right, leaning on the side of her bed with her back to the door. Daryl was sitting diagonal to her, leaning against his own bed with his legs stretched out as far as they could go.

"Remember when I made my first kill and you thought I was upset because I killed a rabbit," Marianne said, recalling her first real hunt fondly.

Daryl snorted. "Yeah, but you were upset because yours was smaller than mine."

"And you told me that it just proved I was a good shot because the target was small."

"You're a natural, even as a kid. Better than I ever was with a compound," Daryl said.

Marianne hugged the blankets closer to her. "Don't forget, I'm pretty decent with a crossbow."

"Only because you had the best teacher." Daryl smirked.

Marianne laughed. "Can't argue with that."

The next day and the day after that the cold wasn't the only thing that kept them inside. The freezing rain did too. It was only then that they realized they had lost their one umbrella that the person on watch on the roof could have used to try to stay a little dry. They managed to procure a plastic poncho that wasn't a match for the rain but would prevent the poor soul that wore it from being completely soaked through.

Marianne was taken off watch since it was clear to everyone that she had a hard time keeping warm. Even Beth, who was skinnier than she was, was doing better than her. It was a constant struggle and more often than not her teeth were chattering or she was shivering. She had argued that she was perfectly fine when out hunting but then it was pointed out that the temperature had dropped since the last time she had gone out.

It was tough going in the hotel without a proper fire. It had been debated whether they should take the risk and build one on top of the lobby tiles but the rain had given them the answer. There was no dry wood to burn. They had only collected a large amount of kindling. Anything bigger wouldn't fit in the camper stove, which Carol was never far from. It needed constant attention to keep burning high and, when she wasn't cooking, she had taken up the habit of heating water so everyone could have a warm drink. Unfortunately, they had no tea.

It was late afternoon. The previous night Rick said they would postpone moving if the rain was still bad and it was. They were stuck at the hotel. Rick and Hershel were in the office looking at one of their maps spread out on the desk. Lori was resting in her room. T-Dog had just left for the roof to take Daryl's place. The rest of them were hanging out in the lobby.

There were three couches they had moved to the beginning of the hallway, all placed in a semi-circle facing it so that their backs were to the lobby. Carol, who was presently and patiently nursing the camper stove's fire, had covered them with sheets since the material was a little scratchy. Maggie and Glenn were on the middle couch sitting close together and talking quietly. Beth and Carl were on the left couch with a notebook from the office opened between them. Miraculously, Carl had been convinced to do schoolwork. Beth was good at math so she was talking Carl through some math problems she had made up.

Marianne was huddled under blankets on the right couch, reading one of Carl's comic books so she could understand what the hell he was talking about. He liked to share with her and Beth the stories and his opinions on them. All both of them could do was nod their heads and get the characters from different comics mixed up.

There's was also the fact that the comic books distracted her. The past couple of days were hard. Only Daryl and Rick knew her secret. The rest of them were clueless, only knowing that she had freaked out again over something bad that had happened to her and that she had told Rick and Daryl about it. She felt like a fraud around the group. They thought she was something she wasn't.

The stairwell door down the first-floor hallway, the one with roof access, opened and closed, making everyone in sight of the hallway look up. This time, instead of T-Dog going up, it was Daryl coming down. He dripped all the way down the hallway, leaving darks spots on the carpet. Marianne felt bad. Everyone was having longer shifts to make up for her being temporarily pulled from watch.

As if her body was teasing her for her thoughts, she started shivering again. She had stood up and let the blankets she had wrapped around herself fall away from her.

Marianne searched through the blankets for the grey knit hat she had taken to wearing. She hadn't bothered to put it back on when it had fallen off while sitting on the couch. She also pulled her gloves on that she had taken off so she could turn the comic book pages without ripping them.

The hat and the gloves helped a little and the shivering was down to a minimum when Daryl reached the end of the hallway.

"I put a change of clothes on your bed since you forgot," Marianne said. "And there's a mountain of towels next to them." One of the few perks of staying in a hotel was there were a lot of towels. Although, they'd trade in the towels for a fireplace in a heartbeat.

Daryl disappeared into their room and came out looking warmer.

"Did you hang your clothes up?" Marianne asked, back on the couch in her cocoon of blankets.

"Yes, mom," Daryl said as he sat down next to her.

"You can't 'mom' me, not when you didn't yesterday and now they smell like mildew. I had to tie them into a trash bag so they didn't stink up the rest of your stuff."

"My stuff already stinks."

"Yeah, well, I'm tryin' to limit your dirty clothes to a three smell combo. Dirt, sweat, and walkers."

"Sometimes you two are better than television," Maggie said. The siblings turned to look at Maggie, who had a teasing smile on her face.

Marianne nudged Daryl with her elbow. "Hey look. We're on our own reality show. And people said we'd never amount to anything."

Daryl scoffed and Marianne leaned into him laughing. He good-naturedly pushed her off of him, pretending to be offended. It was nice to be playful, to be momentarily happy. Two days ago she couldn't have pictured herself like this.

"Man, I miss tv," Glenn said wistfully. "And video games."

"Me too," Carl piped in. At some point, he had been distracted away from his math and so had Beth, who had a small smile on her face.

"I miss Bertha*," Marianne said. Everyone except Daryl looked confused.

"Who's Bertha?" Maggie asked.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "It's a what. She named her space heater Bertha. Why the hell she would do that, I don't know."

Glenn, Maggie, Beth, and Carl looked at her for an answer. "Don't ask me. I was eight when I got it. Kids do some weird shit."

"Hey," Carl exclaimed.

"That includes you too, Carl." Marianne raised her eyebrows at him. "You know what I'm talkin' about."

It looked like it took a second for him to figure out that she was talking about the time she found him playing with a walker in the woods. When he did, his face turned a little red. Everyone must have sensed his embarrassment because none of them asked what Marianne was talking about.

A few more minutes of conversation passed before they went back to what they were doing when Daryl had come in. Daryl couldn't sit still for long and went to the office where Rick and Hershel still were.

Marianne sat with the comic book open on her lap but she couldn't concentrate on it anymore.

She surprised herself at how easily she could let slip something about her childhood, however innocuous and ridiculous. She usually guarded her words more carefully but the last few minutes she had spoken freely. She had been swept away in camaraderie with people other than her brother. This was a good thing, right?

Marianne thought about how much she and Daryl had changed since the quarry and since Merle had disappeared. Merle being gone was a blessing in disguise for both of them and moreso for Daryl. Well, maybe it wasn't in disguise.

Merle had some sort of hold over Daryl and Marianne could see straight through Merle's bullshit, having had a good big brother as an example of how she should be treated. Daryl didn't have that. He only had Merle to look up to and Merle only had tough love to give, but calling it love was a stretch.

She wondered what Daryl would have been like if she hadn't dropped into his life. No one would have treated him like he was worth anything, like he mattered. He'd be more damaged than he already was and more closed off to the world. He would rarely smile and never laugh.

Her chest burned and suddenly her lungs expanded with cold air that hurt her throat. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath and now she was dizzy. Marianne looked around. Nobody had noticed.

She thought about the people that had become part of her life and she knew that, even if she had never existed, this group was good for Daryl.

Dinner came and went. Marianne was washing the dishes when Hershel came up to her.

"A little bird told me that you're interested in biology," he said.

"And by bird you mean T-Dog," Marianne said. She had mentioned during one of their drives that biology had been her favorite class and she had stolen one of the school's copies of Gray's Anatomy, which she still had when the outbreak happened. She was surprised that he had remembered.

Hershel nodded. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in me teaching you what I know about childbirth. We need more than one person who knows how to help."

"But you're a vet."

"I know it's different but I've delivered more than my fair share of animals in my life. I was in the room for both of my daughters' births. And I read up on it a little when I realized you people wouldn't be leaving my farm." Hershel said the last part with a smile.

"Why me?"

"I know you're not shy when it comes to blood and your experience with gutting animals will be useful. If it comes to a C-Section, you're accustomed to cutting into flesh."

"You're makin' me sound like a serial killer."

Hershel chuckled. "I guess I am. Will you do it? Carol's already agreed to it."

Images and diagrams flashed through her mind. Things she had thought forgotten rose to the surface. She wasn't going to let on how much she was looking forward to it. "Okay."

"I'm glad to hear it. We'll start tomorrow." Hershel began to walk away.

"Wait. We need equipment, medicine, and books to tell us what to do if somethin' goes wrong. Why wing it when we don't have to?" Marianne asked. What else were they going to do? They were already traveling around Georgia and they might as well have a destination in mind.

Hershel liked the idea and Marianne didn't envy him when he went to tell Rick about their potential road trip. Anything involving Lori was touchy and especially so when the baby was involved. She was relieved to see that Rick took to the idea in stride.

The whole group was gathered to discuss what could be a big undertaking.

"We can't risk goin' to hospitals. They'll be overrun," Rick said.

"How about an OB/GYN?" Maggie suggested.

"That's a good alternative," Hershel said.

"And the medical books?" Marianne asked. She was eager to get her hands on some. They had decided to get more than ones about childbirth.

"A bookstore might have some but where we need to look is a college library," Hershel said. "Hopefully one that has any sort of degrees like nursing."

"There's medical schools in Atlanta," Glenn said.

"We're not goin' there. When we went back for Merle we were lucky we didn't run into more than a few walkers. I don't want to count on luck," Rick said.

"How are we going to find these places?" T-Dog asked.

"We need a phone book," Hershel said.

"Give me a second." Marianne walked to the concierge desk and went behind it. A phone was on a shelf next to one of the drawers she had opened and under that phone was a stack of phone books. Marianne grabbed them and dropped them on the desk with a small thump. The group migrated over to her while she spread the phone books out.

"They still print these?" T-Dog asked.

"I don't think this place has wi-fi to look stuff up on the internet. Has anyone seen a computer?" Glenn asked. No one had.

"They're all from last year," Marianne said. "We got one for Atlanta, one for Athens, and one for Eatonton."

"I'm surprised they don't have one for Macon," Maggie said.

Marianne shrugged. "At least we have the Athens one."

Rick was impatient to start looking. Marianne went to the windows, taking the Athens phonebook with her, so she could see better. Everyone waited while she scanned for colleges and OB/GYNs.

"There's a Piedmont College and the University of Georgia in Athens," Marianne said.

"I'd say that's no more than a two hour drive," T-Dog said.

"Yeah, two hours before walkers." Daryl didn't sound all that optimistic.

"We don't have much of a choice. They're the closest ones," Marianne said. "There's a few OB/GYNs there too."

"Has anyone been to Athens?" Rick asked. There were shaking heads all around.

Daryl crossed his arms. "So we're goin' in blind?"

"For now," Hershel said.

Rick looked around at them all. "We need to find a city map."

The rain had let up during the night and even though it was still gloomy outside when the day dawned, they packed up and left the hotel.

"Good riddance," T-Dog said, as the hotel disappeared behind them.

"I give it one out of five stars," Marianne said.

It was T-Dog's turn to drive and Beth had joined them, sitting in the back seat. Marianne was happy to be back in her truck.

She blasted the heat so much the windows fogged up a little and T-Dog had to close his vents to stay comfortable. Beth had taken off her jacket and it looked like T-Dog would if he could.

"I think you're gonna melt us," he said. Beth gave a shy laugh.

"I'll turn it down once I get warmed up," Marianne promised to the two of them, not feeling at all bad that she was roasting her fellow passengers.

They took US-441N with no problems until Rick steered them off of it, heading northeast. When Rick stopped them, he told them they were a few miles south of Rockwell, a town no one knew anything about except that it was really small. They decided to take their chances and drive through it. A few minutes later, still outside of Rockwell, a small building appeared in the distance.

Her blood ran cold and she was glad she wasn't behind the wheel because she would've sped up and drove past it. She knew it wasn't the same gas station, that Jimmy's body wasn't rotting behind it, but it looked so similar.

Marianne bit at a hangnail. The closer they got the more differences she spotted. This one would be fine. This time nothing would happen.

Their small caravan stopped and Marianne got out of the truck as if nothing was bothering her. Her heart sped up and she took an extra effort to look calm so that even Daryl wouldn't notice her mini freak out.

"Glenn, Daryl. You're up," Rick said. Internally, she breathed a sigh of relief. Externally, she crossed her arms and looked mildly annoyed like she usually would whenever Rick passed her up for doing something like clearing buildings. She'd volunteer for the next one before he could voice his decision.

As soon as Glenn and Daryl cleared the building, Marianne and Rick went inside. Her heart skipped a beat when she entered. It was the exact same layout as the other gas station. She resisted the urge to back out of the door.

Marianne side-eyed the cashier counter. She told herself that Glenn and Daryl had cleared the place so there was no one hiding behind it. She forced herself to look around. It didn't look like the place had been looted. The shelves were filled with junk food, which they would pass up because they wanted to use what space they had left for real food. She knew someday, there would be a time when they were so hungry they would wish for anything edible.

They found some canned food and took all the water bottles and the sports drinks. Fitting it all in the cars meant a couple of them would have to sit crossed legged while the drinks took up floor space. Daryl's eyes kept wandering over to the beer which he didn't take but he did raid the cigarettes and pocketed all of the lighters. Glenn grabbed the few bags of beef jerky that were left. Marianne grabbed all the little individual packets of pain killers and allergy pills. She also took all of the sugar free gum. It wasn't the greatest alternative for dental hygiene, but it would be the next best thing if they ever ran out of toothpaste.

The four of them made a final sweep of the place and began to head out of the door.

"Hold on," Rick said. He walked to the small magazine rack near the door and crouched down to look at the bottom shelf. From behind some auto magazines he pulled out a Georgia Atlas. He flipped through it and then held it up for the others to see a two page spread. It was a map of Athens.

The find bolstered them and Marianne could feel the group gaining more confidence in their mission. As they drove away from the gas station, Marianne hoped that the Georgia Atlas was a good sign.

"So, Beth. What's a food that you miss that we can't get anymore?" T-Dog asked.

Marianne groaned. "Not this again." T-Dog was obsessed with reminiscing about food.

"Um, pickles?" Beth said.

"No, we can find pickles. Think of something we can't find or make," he said.

"Rocky Road ice cream," Beth said.

"That's a good one. What about you Marianne?" T-Dog asked.

"It's pizza. My answer is always pizza."

"You can do better than that," T-Dog said with enthusiasm and encouragement.

Marianne sighed. "Pepperoni pizza."

"That's not what I meant."

"With green and red peppers," Marianne continued. T-Dog huffed and Beth laughed.

They drove past a few farms before they entered Rockwell unceremoniously. A blue and white sign that had seen better days welcomed them to the town. It had been a little more than half an hour since they had left the hotel.

As they drove by more small farms and houses, Marianne wondered what Rick was looking for. Before they had left the gas station, he said he wanted to take a break to find more gas in Rockwell if it was clear of walkers and so far there hadn't been any.

Soon after that thought, the brake lights for the hatchback Glenn was driving lit up. While still in the truck Marianne looked around where they had stopped. They were on a stretch of the road where the houses had smaller yards and were closer together. Marianne glanced at the truck's gas meter. They were at a quarter of a tank and the others wouldn't be any better.

People began exiting the vehicles and Marianne reluctantly left the truck.

Daryl walked towards her. His face was red from the wind and she could swear that there was a tinge of blue to his lips.

"You're like an ice cube. You should sit in one of the cars and try to warm up a little."

"Nah, I'm good."

"I bet you can't feel your face right now," she said.

"I can feel it fine," Daryl said a little too defensively.

Marianne took a glove off and touched his cheek with the back of her hand before he could stop her. "You're lying," Marianne said and he swatted her away.

"Okay everyone." Rick clapped his gloved hands together as if he were a football coach gathering his players for a team huddle. Marianne and Daryl turned their attention to him. "We need gas and while we're at it, I want us to look through these houses. We might be coming back to stay here after we're done in Athens."

This was interesting. Rick usually said 'a few days', 'a couple of days', or 'less than a week' when talking about where they would be staying. Marianne wondered if Rick had this place in mind for the rest of the winter.

Food wouldn't be a problem for awhile if the houses in town had stocked pantries and there was plenty of land to hunt on. But they were near I-20 which could be a problem since it appeared walkers liked to collect on major roads and then there was the issue that people could exit the highway and take the road they had, going straight into town right past the houses they were about to search through. So, maybe they shouldn't stay the whole winter. A couple of weeks sounded good.

Rick assigned T-Dog and Glenn to siphon gas. Marianne butted in telling him she would help with the houses and Maggie volunteered too.

"I'll go with Daryl," Maggie said. "You don't mind, right?"

Daryl looked at Marianne. She tried to tell him with her eyes that she didn't want to be paired with Rick. She wasn't ready to be left alone with him. "Whatever," Daryl said.

She glared at Daryl and Maggie. She was pretty sure Maggie had stuck her with Rick on purpose but she didn't know what Daryl was playing at.

Marianne looked at Rick, expecting him to say they should switch partners, but no. The one time she wanted him to be bossy, he wasn't.

The two pairs each took one side of the street. Rick and Marianne walked to their first house in silence. She didn't know what to say and never having been a conversation starter in the first place compounded the situation.

A different kind of tension existed than before. They hadn't talked much after their big conversation three days ago. There hadn't been an opportunity and neither of them had gone out of their way to make one. And where exactly did they go from there anyways? Sharing secrets wasn't a miracle cure to their relationship. Things between them weren't magically fixed.

Although, she didn't hate him anymore. A small part of her still blamed him for what had happened to her. After all, the past couldn't be erased. It would take time to get used to the idea that she didn't dislike him. This didn't necessarily mean she liked him. God, this was all so confusing.

Her life experiences hadn't given her a map on how to navigate what was happening. She wondered if Rick was having the same problem.

Whatever was between them took second place to the task at hand. When they reached the front door of the first house she pushed whatever issues they had to the back of her mind.

By the fourth house they had settled into a rhythm. Rick would bang on the door. They would wait. So far, two out of the three times a walker had answered. They took turns on who entered the house first and when they were inside they each took roughly half of the place to search.

The fourth house was one of the bigger ones. Marianne was finished with her half before Rick was done with his. She joined him at the last door he had to look behind.

Rick knocked and it didn't take long before more than one walker began clawing at the door from the other side.

They looked at each other and Rick nodded at her. Both of them positioned themselves. Marianne would open the door and Rick would attack.

On the count of three Marianne opened the door enough to let the first walker try to slip through. She used her weight as resistance so the door wouldn't fly open.

Rick killed the walker and it slumped backwards, letting the other one reach its arm and then its shoulder through the crack in the door which Marianne opened wider. Only wide enough so Rick could kill it.

With the second walker dead Marianne only heard a muffled growling. Maybe one was in the closet?

She completely opened the door and Rick went in first. He had only taken a few steps into the room before he stopped. She had to peek around him to see what he was staring at.

Marianne frowned at what she saw. There was a small walker tied to a chair with duct tape over its mouth. It used to be a little boy, younger than Carl, with dark brown hair. It was wearing dinosaur pajamas featuring T-rex.

When Marianne saw that Rick wasn't getting ready to kill it, she squeezed past him and shot an arrow into its head. The walker's death seemed to startle Rick out of whatever reverie he was in.

She realized Rick probably hadn't killed a child walker yet. This wasn't her first one. Sophia had been and it had been a thousand times worse than killing a child walker she didn't know. Maybe the rest weren't as hard as they should have been because compared to the horrendous feeling of killing Sophia, the other two she had killed were relatively easy.

Rick continued to stand there staring at the boy walker but she could tell he wasn't lost in thought like before.

"The first time is really hard. The second time sucks but the third, easier than I expected. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it was," Marianne said. Her words weren't exactly comforting but it was the best she could do.

"Carl used to have those pjs," Rick said.

Well, shit. How was she supposed to respond to that? Her mind scrambled for something to say.

"But it wasn't Carl. And it wasn't a child. It was a walker," Marianne said. There, that was practical. Although, it had sounded better in her head. Her delivery lacked sympathy and she did have some.

"I know," Rick said. He left the room, walking right past Marianne without looking at her. "Let's go. We need to finish these houses."

Marianne shook her head. She let his rudeness slide this time.

As they continued to clear the rest of houses Marianne hoped they wouldn't come across another child walker but they did. Rick ended up killing a little girl and a preteen boy while Marianne killed a pair of twin boys with coordinating outfits.

Both were grim faced when they rejoined the group where they, along with Maggie and Daryl, told everyone what they had found. Except Rick and Marianne left out the dead child walkers. If Maggie and Daryl had come across any, they had also kept that detail to themselves.

Almost every single house had walkers inside and Marianne wondered how many people from this town were still alive. Probably none. She guessed dying in your house was better than dying while out in the cruel world, running and terrified for your life. It must be better to be terrified for your life while surrounded by the comforts of your own home. She wouldn't know. Home had never been a comfort.

Not wanting to rely on 441N the entire way, they decided to travel through the western part of the Oconee National Forest, heading north as straight as they could. While still in the National Forest they stopped by a creek to fill up on water.

The drive was boring which was fine with Marianne. Boring meant safe.

They took Colham Ferry Road right into Watkinsville and cut through the town before getting back onto 441N. There was an abandoned car every once in awhile, sometimes a few, that they would stop to check for gas but there wasn't a single big pile up.

They were on Macon Highway, headed straight into Athens when they came to a stop at the edge of a bridge. Marianne got out of the truck and saw why. There was a small white sign with green letters that read 'Athens Clarke County'. It was time to plan a more detailed route.

Most of the group was milling around the hatchback's hood which the atlas was on, opened up to the Athens map. Glenn was bending over to get a closer look at it.

"Where are we exactly? What's this bridge over?" Marianne asked, looking around for another sign.

Glenn looked at the map, then flipped it to a page that zoomed in on the area they were in. "I think it's McNutt Creek." He pointed out a spot on the map.

"Mc-what?" T-Dog asked.

"McNutt. With two 't's," Glenn said. Marianne smirked at the fact that Glenn felt the need to tell them how it was spelled.

"It sounds like the end of a bad joke," Maggie said.

A bad joke Merle would like.

It took a minute for Glenn to figure out the roads they had to take.

"The most direct way to Peidmont is taking South Milledge Avenue which turns into North Milledge Avenue. Then we either turn onto Hill Street, Cobb Street, or Prince Avenue," Glenn said.

"I say Prince Avenue. There's an OB/GYN on that street." Marianne said, looking at the list of addresses she had written. "It can't be more than a five minute walk away."

"We should go there first. It's more important," Hershel said. "We want the equipment and medicine more than the books."

"So, that's a no to UG?" Glenn asked.

"For the moment," Hershel said.

Marianne, T-Dog, and Beth got back into the truck and waited for Rick to start driving.

"I hope for our sake most of the city evacuated," T-Dog said.

Marianne put the truck into drive. "We can't count on it."

They were driving down North Milledge Avenue towards Prince Avenue when a big red two-story building appeared on the right. Marianne almost dismissed it but then she saw a sign that said 'Lane Hall' and under that 'School of Nursing' and under that 'Library'.

"Hey, T. We just passed the library."

"No kidding? That's great," he said. "I thought we'd have to wander around campus and get a little lost before we found it."

North Milledge Avenue ended and they slowed down as they turned onto Prince Avenue, which they were barely on when they stopped in front of a red brick building. It was a pharmacy which was confusing since it had the same address number as the OB/GYN.

"There's gotta be more than this," Marianne said as she pulled the truck up next to the Chevy, which Rick was driving. Marianne and Rick each rolled down a window.

"What do you think?" Rick asked.

"Turn into the parking lot," Marianne said. "Even if nothing's back there we still need to get off of the street. We're too out in the open."

Rick nodded. "You first."

They both rolled their windows back up and Marianne turned into the parking lot and it didn't take long for a group of red brick buildings to come into view. She parked in the very back and the others did too.

Most of them left the vehicles. They weren't sure which of the buildings was the right one so Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog went to scout them out. Marianne stayed with the others. She, Maggie, and Hershel were on high alert for any walkers while the rest stayed safely in the cars.

The four men came back. "I think we got it," Daryl said.

Hershel switched places with T-Dog and Hershel, Daryl, Rick and Glenn went to break into the building. Marianne knew something was wrong when they came back too early.

"What happened?" She asked.

"This particular OB/GYN did not perform births on site," Hershel said.

"Damn it." Marianne would've kicked a car tire if she was near one.

"But we still managed to pick up a few useful things," Hershel said.

"That's not good enough. We didn't come all this way to fail. There's another one we can try. I don't think it's far from here," Marianne said.

"Okay, here's what we do," Rick said. "We go through the pharmacy while we're here and then we find the library."

"We passed it on the way here," Marianne said.

"We did?" Glenn asked.

"There was a sign." Marianne almost snapped at him. She was impatient to get things going.

"How about you lead the way," Rick said to her.

To cool off and to keep warm, Marianne stayed in the truck while the others raided the pharmacy.

When they left for the library Marianne saw two walkers shuffling across the street a little ways down Prince Avenue.

When Marianne really got it into her head to do something, she wanted to do it right. When they walked into the library and Marianne saw the shelves and shelves of books, Daryl hadn't seen a look on her face that close to the one she had when she had told him about her college acceptance and full ride scholarship. She had gone on and on about what she wanted to study and what she wanted to do with her life.

He had been just as crushed as she was when she lost the scholarship because of their asshole dad. For awhile Marianne had emotionally shut down and Daryl got into fights to let off some steam in an attempt to not kill their father.

If it wasn't for her invested interest, he wouldn't have cared very much about the task at hand and probably wouldn't have put too much thought into it. He listened as Hershel told everyone what to look for. Then he, Marianne, Glenn, and Rick went to the basement, with flashlights ready, while the others went to look through the first and second floors.

The four of them made a systematic sweep of the basement before they started looking at the books. Frankly, Daryl wouldn't be surprised if someone had died down there and turned into a walker. Stranger things had happened.

They split into pairs, Marianne and Glenn and then Rick and Daryl, each taking a book cart with them. The library had more than medical related books so it took Rick and Daryl a few shelves to find a section on nursing. All of the books everyone collected would be brought to the first floor for Hershel and Marianne to sort through and choose what was really needed so Daryl and Rick didn't hold back. They pulled a few nurse's guides to prescription medication, a few with 'fundamentals' in their titles, some about diagnosing, a couple about being a surgical nurse, and anything else that sounded remotely useful.

Rick and Daryl finished their half of the basement and Daryl waited for Glenn and Marianne at the bottom of the stairs while Rick started bringing the books to the first floor. He didn't have to wait long for the other pair to appear.

"Get anything good?" Marianne asked brightly.

"Nursing stuff," Daryl said. She was in a better mood than earlier. He noticed that she had tried to keep her temper in check, something she hadn't cared all that much about doing in the past.

"That's great. We found some on surgery and some other stuff but I didn't see anything about childbirth specifically. Maybe the others found something."

Rick came back down the stairs for the fourth time. "Are you three gonna help or just stand there?"

Marianne pursed her lips but didn't speak. Daryl was surprised she didn't say a word to annoy Rick. What exactly had happened between the two of them? Marianne hadn't told him and, with everything else that had happened that day, he had forgotten about it.

The four of them carried all of the books upstairs in no time. The rest of the group had also begun adding their finds to the growing pile which Hershel and Marianne started picking through and sorting.

Marianne suddenly stopped what she was doing and frowned at the book in her hand. "There's a few shelves I want to look at again," she announced.

"I'll go with you," Glenn said.

"You've got ten minutes," Rick said.

Marianne shrugged. "Fine with me."

Daryl looked back and forth between Rick and Marianne. What the hell was going on?

Glenn and Marianne left for the basement. Daryl decided to check outside to see if the coast was still clear. He walked up the street, looked around at the intersection, then walked down the street and looked around there too. He saw nothing and no one.

The ten minutes were almost up when Daryl went back inside but Glenn and Marianne were still gone. Five minutes passed and then three more. Rick was looking increasingly annoyed and Daryl wondered if Marianne was doing this on purpose.

"What's taking them so long?" T-Dog asked.

There was a faint pop and then another. For a moment, the whole group seemed to freeze in place but not everyone recognized what the sound was.

Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog ran for the stairs.

*One year the heat in my dorm room didn't work so my favorite college roommate of all time came prepared with her contraband space heater she called Bertha. She didn't have an explanation as to why she named it and I don't know why but I couldn't resist adding it in.

A/N: The beginning of this chapter was tricky and you can blame it for me not updating a couple of days earlier. I feel like someone might think Daryl is acting out of character but do remember that he basically raised Marianne so this version of Daryl will be a little different.

Also, the ending was a surprise to me because it's not what I had originally planned but trust me, this version is more interesting.

Any thoughts? Reactions?