"What the hell?" Daryl yelled as Sinclaire and Rick approached the gates. He'd clearly had a harder time getting out of the breakfast room than she had, because he was nearly running.

"What what hell?" Sinclaire asked, readjusting Zeke's precarious perch on her shoulder. The little cat had handled everything so far remarkably well. He'd only left a few scratches on Daryl's chest after their unexpected dip the day before.

"What?" Daryl repeated.

Sinclaire sighed and tapped her foot. Daryl stared at her.

"Did you want to come too?" Rick asked, mainly to keep them from swinging on each other.

"Well, wouldn't ya think?" Daryl snapped.

"You're not going to Woodbury, Bowhunter," Sinclaire said flatly.

"The hell ya say! And don't ya try to soften me up with that nickname bullshit, either!"

By now a few others had come out to watch the fight. Marie was chewing her nails.

"Listen, whatever we might or might not be, ya ain't in charge of what I do with my own damn life!" Daryl shouted.

Sinclaire crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"If I wanna go and look fer my own brother then, goddamnit, I'm gonna go and look fer my own brother!"

Sinclaire sighed.

"Ya don't get to-" Daryl stopped suddenly and gave her a look of pure, squinty aggravation. "Fuckin' hell, ain't ya gonna say nothin'?"

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears," Sinclaire said serenely. "I'm pretty sure that we both know how hard it's going to be to find Merle in crazy town without someone getting their ass handed to them. I'd rather not have to face Merle's wrath if I'm the one who gets his baby brother killed." Her gaze softened for a split second as she looked at Daryl. "And I really don't want you to die, anyway."

"I ain't gonna die," he said firmly.

"Sure, because you're not going to go." When he took a breath, clearly prepared to argue the point, she held up her hand. "At least not with me."

"Why not?"

"Because Sinclaire's got a better chance on her own," Marie said from beside him. She'd edged closer during the yelling.

"How ya figure that?" Daryl demanded.

Marie's face tightened, but she kept her chin up. "He's...got a thing about strong women. He likes them. If she plays it right, she'll get right in."

Sinclaire felt a chill race along every nerve in her body, but she only said, "See?"

"Hang on just a second," Nate said from the rapidly growing sidelines. "Don't you think that this is something we should talk about together?"

"Fuck off," Daryl said succinctly.

"Recon is kind of what I do," Nate said through clenched teeth. "And it's not just your people that went with that psycho. Carrie's been with me for a long time and I want to see that she gets back alive."

Sinclaire was regretting her need to make an announcement. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath to speak.

"Makes sense," Rick said before she could say anything.

"What?" she demanded.

"It makes sense," Rick said again. "I know how much you want Merle, but-"

"I don't want him," Sinclaire cut in. When everyone stared at her she realized how childish the denial had been. Of course I like him, but I don't like him, like him, would be the next thing out of her mouth if she wasn't careful. "It's about more than Merle," she said instead.

"And she still has a better chance of getting in on her own," Marie said. "He's crazy, but he's not stupid."

"No one is saying that she shouldn't go on her own," Nate said.

"I been pretty goddamn clear on how she shouldn't go on her own," Daryl snarled.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to sit down and talk this out?" Herschel asked. "Or do you want to keep yelling at each other in the street?"

"Sorry," Marie muttered. No one else spoke, but everyone looked slightly guilty.

"All right," Sinclaire said, giving in. "We'll go back to the house."

She wasn't surprised when everyone from Herschel and his daughters, to Abraham and his merry band followed them in. Rick looked annoyed, but he didn't say anything. It wasn't like what they were doing was top secret anyhow.

"Now," Nate said, taking charge once everyone had settled in. "The mission is rescuing Carrie, Glenn, and Merle from this Governor guy, right?"

"No shit," Daryl snapped.

Sinclaire punched him on the arm. Not as hard as she could have, but it wasn't a love tap either. He gave her a dirty look and edged over toward Marie. Everyone began talking at once, eager to have their plans heard. Abraham wanted to know who was going to be going with his group. Herschel's youngest daughter invited them all to stay where they were until they could get back to the farm, where they could live easily since it was all set up. Carl and Rick began to argue about where Carl was going to go.

"So what you're thinking is that I can get in and get information to you?" Sinclaire asked.

Nate looked relieved not to have to explain it over the dozens of half assed plans currently being voiced and argued over. "Yes. We'd take a small group and camp out in a relatively safe location-"

"So, I'm stuck campin'?" Daryl asked.

"Nobody said you get to go," Nate pointed out.

"Just fuckin' try and stop me!"

"So you do want to camp?"

Daryl stood up, ready to wipe the smug look off of Nate's face, but Sinclaire grabbed his belt and yanked him back down to the couch.

"Look, you're not the only one who has a problem with this," Rick said in a tight voice. "You think I want to waste a week before I get my hands on this guy?" The Governor had seen Rick and seeing him again would blow any potential for cover sky high. Sinclaire knew that a week of forced waiting was going to wear on Rick, but there was nothing she could do.

Daryl opened his mouth, closed it, swallowed hard, and said, "All right." It didn't sound exactly gracious, but it was more than they would have gotten from the Daryl of a year ago and they all knew it.

"Does anyone have a map?" Sinclaire asked.

Eugene pulled one from his back pocket and spread it out on the coffee table. Marie pointed out the route to Woodbury and told them a little bit about the surrounding area. She didn't remember too many details, but it was enough to form a rough plan.

Sinclaire, Rick, and Daryl would go and retrieve the box truck from whatever was left of the bar. Sinclaire would then go on to Woodbury alone. In exactly one week, she would meet them to make a new plan. She wanted to plan for overthrowing the Governor, but she also wasn't stupid. They had no idea how many people would be on his side, or what kind of weaponry he might have in the town. As Nate said, a rescue might be the best they could hope for.

Abraham wouldn't let them borrow the truck he'd been fixing all winter, but he did agree to drive them back to the bar. Seeing the blackened, falling down, half frame skeleton of what had been her home for the last few months felt like a punch in the gut, but she slid out of the truck without comment.

"Still here," Daryl said, walking over to the box truck and opening the back cautiously. Nothing jumped out at him, so he got in and checked the contents. "Nothin' even got messed up."

Sinclaire sat down on the edge of the truck bed and watched Rick look around. She knew what he was looking for, but she didn't see any remains of Lori's body. She didn't know if that was good or bad. At least they'd been able to give Shane and Tiffany a burial. Lori was just...gone.

Zeke curled up in the warm sun spilling into the back of the truck and began to purr. She scratched his ears and the purr deepened. She wondered if she should take him to Woodbury with her. She wondered how she would do without his comforting little form if she didn't.

Daryl finished rummaging through their supplies and then sat down beside Sinclaire.

"Don't like ya goin' off on yer own."

Sinclaire didn't either, honestly. "You know it makes sense. I'll travel faster, I'll get right in-"

"Yeah, and then what? Ya gonna pimp yerself out to get Merle back? How ya think he'd feel about that?"

"I don't care how that idiot feels," Sinclaire snapped. "He said crazy things and threw me off of a cliff and I'm going to get him back and...and..." She broke off and squared her shoulders. "Tell him how rude that was."

"Sure, 'cause he's motivated by manners."

Sinclaire smiled.

"What'd he say that was crazy?"

"What?"

"Ya said he said crazy stuff and then threw ya over the cliff."

"Oh. It was...personal stuff."

"Givin' ya a hard time?"

Sinclaire had no idea how Merle had meant for her to feel about what he'd said, so she only shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want to talk about it."

"Sure ya don't want me to go with ya?"

"You can't."

"Fuck yeah I can."

"But it doesn't make sense."

"Never said it did."

Sinclaire couldn't hold back a laugh at that. A half a seconds' worth of a grin broke over Daryl's face too.

"He's my brother," he said after a long moment. "And I'm just sittin' here."

Sinclaire put her hand on his shoulder. "I know. I'm not going to come back without him. Trust me, Daryl."

He frowned and pushed his hands through his shaggy hair. "Shit, I don't like this."

She nodded. "I know."

"Ya'll about ready?" Abraham asked.

Rick walked over from examining the burnt out bar. "Yeah, I am. Sinclaire, do you have everything you needed?"

She'd forgotten that she was supposed to be packing, but she didn't take long in packing up one of the military backpacks she'd stowed in the box truck. There wasn't much she needed, and there wasn't much she could take anyway. She was planning to play the "lone survivor" card to the Governor.

"Okay, I'm good," she was beginning when they all heard the crunch of gravel.

"What the fuck?" Abraham demanded.

"I don't know," Sinclaire snapped. "They weren't courteous enough to give us a call before they dropped by!"

"Get in the truck," Rick said quickly. "Get that door down, now!"

As Sinclaire pulled down the door, Daryl moved to the front seat, but Rick grabbed him and yanked him down.

"Don't be an idiot," he hissed.

Daryl made a face at Rick, but he stayed still. They all tried not to breathe too loudly as they listened intently.

"Do you think he got them all?"

It was a man's voice and Sinclaire caught her breath when she recognized it.

"I don't know!" A woman answered, sounding furious and worried. "I don't know what else to do, or where to look and-"

Rick slid the door of the truck up again. "Hey, Andrea. Dale? You doing all right?"

The older man's face was pale and his shirt was bloody, but a grin lit him up as they stepped out of the truck. "You're alive!"

"Is this all that's left?"

"Son of a bitch, if it ain't the preacher man," Daryl said. "We'd been wonderin' what the hell happened to ya."

"I..." the man trailed off, looking embarrassed. "I was in the car."

"Thought ya'll soldiers of God were supposed to brave," Daryl said.

"I think it's the meek that are supposed to inherit, isn't it?" Sinclaire asked. She didn't have any great love for the preacher, but he'd never claimed to be a fighter anyway, so she didn't have a bone to pick with him. Daryl glared at her and she gave him a sunny smile.

"No," Rick said, answering the original question. "Carol, Nate, Sophia, and Carl are safe too." He indicated Abraham. "We met up with this man and his group and found some shelter."

Andrea looked at the group. "So, Glenn, Lori, Carrie, and Merle are..."

"Lori..." Rick began and then stopped.

"Lori didn't make it," Sinclaire finished for him. "The Governor took Carrie and Glenn. Merle..." Merle was a big damn hero and now I don't know where he is, she finished to herself.

"Merle saved my life," Rick filled in. "We'll tell you the rest tonight. If you're coming back with us, that is." He split an inquiring look between Andrea and Abraham.

Andrea nodded. Abraham looked at Dale's wound.

"What's the matter with him?" he asked bluntly.

"Gunshot wound," Andrea said in a brisk tone that implied that Abraham needed to watch his step. "I cleaned it out when we got away. It was pretty much through and through and I don't think we'll have any problems with it."

"We got a sort of doctor back where I'm camping," Abraham said. "He checks you out and says you're clean and I guess it ain't a big deal if you stay."

"Losin' daylight," Daryl said abruptly. "If yer gonna go, I guess ya better go."

Sinclaire glanced at the sky and saw that it was well past noon. "You're right. I guess this is goodbye, then." She held out her hand for him to shake.

"Don't be stupid." He pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder, tightening her arms around him. He spoke quietly. "Didn't mean it about the nickname. It don't bother me."

"I'll remember that." She hugged him a little bit tighter and whispered. "And, seriously, get on it with Marie. Speaking as a damaged woman, you're awfully good at recuperation sex."

"That a compliment?"

"Yep."

"Well, I'll have to see about it." He let her go. "Hurry up and get my idiot brother back home. See ya in a week."

She nodded and hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders. She made sure her gun was loaded and then tipped her Army cap to the group before she headed off down the road. Sinclaire was pretty sure that this was going to be her last mission, but if it meant that she got to smack Merle a good one before she died, it was worth it.