We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.

- Unknown

"Cici! Cici! Cici!" I turned to see Carl running towards me, I was eating breakfast with Glenn and Beth. The young boy sat in front of me, next to Beth, and all I could see at first was his very big smile and how his eyes were filled with excitement.

"Calm down, Carl, what is it?" I muttered, I was still half asleep and very tired, I wasn't ready for all this excitement.

"Guess what? Guess what?"

"You grew an inch?" Beth said sarcastically, Carl just glared at the blonde girl.

"I don't know Carl," I said quickly, seeing Carl opening his mouth to say something, probably mean, to Beth. "Tell me, what is it?"

"I'm going on a run with my dad!" he exclaimed excitedly, and then his smile left for a bit. "He said Michonne is coming with us."

"You don't have to be scared of her, I promise, Carl."

"Hmm," he said unsure. "Maybe I can ask dad to let you come, would you like to?"

"I would love to but," I told him with a sad smile. "I promised your dad I was, uh, taking care of Judith," I lied quickly.

"But Beth does that."

"I know but Beth can't shoot a gun if she is holding Judith, that's why I'll stay, to keep them both safe."

"But..."

"I promised your dad, I'll go next time."

"So you knew?" he asked me.

"That you were going? No, I would have told you otherwise, I only knew I had to stay" I lied again. "But I'm so happy Rick is taking you, while you are in the car you better tell him to take us both next time, it's not fun staying here."

"I will for sure," Carl told me, standing up. "I'll go get ready."

I smiled as I saw Carl almost running out of our dining place, he was so excited about this, I knew he would be. I wanted Rick to tell him about the run, that's why I didn't tell him myself. I had nothing to do in there, I shouldn't interfere.

"What are we supposed to do today?" I asked Glenn, who just shrugged his shoulders. "We can't go out, there's nothing to do inside, aren't any books in here or some board games or something?"

"My dad found a bible," Beth told me. "You could read it."

"Okay," I said nodding.

"And you have watch after lunch," Glenn told me.

"Alright," I said. "I haven't been on watch since I got here but sure, whatever to help you all."

I looked to the other table next to ours. Hershel, Axel, Sean and my mother were there. Hershel was saying some things to Sean, whose hair now was a bit below his shoulders, he had worn it in a high ponytail everyday until now so I hadn't realized how long his light brown hair was.

I also noticed Axel and my mother being way too close to each other, he was saying some things in her ear and she laughed at whatever he said. I also noticed how he tried to grab her hand under the table, she didn't let him but she didn't look angry at him, she actually smiled.

"Hey, come on!" someone said to me, sticking their hand out in front of my face. I shook my head and focused on the person in front of me, it was Daryl.

"What?" I asked confused, looking at his face and then at his hand.

"Come on."

I took his hand, wondering what all this was about. I caught Beth's raising her eyebrows at me before Daryl pulled me with him. I didn't object, I just let him take me to wherever he was taking me.

It turned out to be outside, where Rick was preparing the car he was going to take. Daryl led me further to the right, almost by the end of the building, he stopped there and let go of my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"We won't go out but that doesn't mean we can't have fun," he told me with a grin.

"Okay?" I said with an eyebrow raised at him. "What do you have in mind?"

He said nothing, he just walked to me. He stood in front of me without doing or saying something I started to get nervous, what the hell is he going to do? As millions of possibilities passed through my head, Daryl put his crossbow in my hands.

I gaped at the heavy weapon in my hands and looked up at Daryl with a shocked expression, he just innocently shrugged at me.

"Do you want me to hold it while you tie your shoes or something?"

"Don't be silly," he said with a chuckle. "I'm teaching you how to use it."

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed. "Is this real? Am I still dreaming or something."

"Shut up!"

"Seriously, I do feel extremely especial right now. Are you actually letting me use this?" I asked, looking down at the black crossbow in my hands.

"Yeah, and if you ask one more time, I'll just take it from you."

"Okay." I nodded, still with a big smile on my face.

Daryl said nothing else, he just walked away from me, I was unsure of what he was doing at first but I noticed he was setting a target a few feet away from me, when he walked back to me, he grabbed the crossbow from me and set it on the ground.

"This is how you load it," he told me.

He pulled the string equally balanced on both sides until I heard a click and then he put an arrow in the groove. He took it in his hands again and handed it to me. I carefully took it from him and faced the target. I supported the weight with my right arm and put my left arm around the trigger. I narrowed my eyes, looking at the target and shot it. I missed terribly, I sighed, lowering the crossbow.

"Here," Daryl said, giving me an arrow. "Load it yourself this time."

I tried to load it again but I didn't equally balanced it as needed so Daryl ended up helping me, he didn't even look disappointed or said anything when I missed the first shot.

"You are holding it weird," Daryl told me.

He stood behind me, grabbing the crossbow in the way he would. I looked at it and mirrored his actions, putting my hands close to where he had his.

"You are still grabbing it wrong, this hand doesn't go here."

"Uh, I'm left-handed, Daryl, maybe that's why you think I'm holding it wrong."

"Damn it, I forgot, that makes teaching you even harder."

"How come?"

"Because I have to think like if I were a lefty as well, it's weird."

After Daryl made sure I was holding it correctly this time, even when he kept murmuring how weird it felt because the crossbow was on his other side, he took a step backwards and let me concentrate on the shot and aimed. I narrowed my eyes again, I lowered the crossbow about half an inch and shot. I failed again but this time the arrow ended closer to the target wood thing Daryl set.

Daryl was handing me a third arrow when Rick walked to us, with a thrilled Carl behind him. Rick looked a bit surprised I was holding the crossbow but didn't comment on it, instead he went to Daryl to have a final talk with him before leaving, I knew it was about keeping an eye on Merle and making sure everything was alright.

"Good luck!" I said to Carl with a big smile.

"How are you doing with that?" Carl asked me, pointing at the crossbow.

"Not good to be honest, I thought it would be easier," I admitted. "But hey, I have only shot twice."

"How did you even convince Daryl to teach you?" Carl asked surprised.

"I didn't, he brought me here and just handed me this," I said with a surprised expression as well.

"Hmm," Carl muttered as his lips turned into a smirk.

"Come on, Carl, let's go!" Rick said to Carl, starting to walk back to the car.

"Seems like the C.A. mission still stands," he muttered, looking straight at me, I couldn't help but blush.

"Carl," I warmed him.

"Have fun," he said too innocently to me, that annoying smirk never leaving his lips.

"C.A. Mission?" Daryl asked me.

"Nothing, you know how kids are. He named this run C.A. for some reason. I just play along with him."

"Hmm, okay," Daryl said shrugging.

Luckily Daryl didn't question it anymore and instead helped me load the crossbow again. He stood behind me again as I held the weapon, he moved my hands a bit, putting them on the right spot but this time he stayed behind me, with his hands on top of mine.

I felt like I was being watched so I let myself looked to the left and sure enough Carl was watching us from inside the car, which had just started to move. Michonne wasn't looking at us because she was driving but I was sure she saw us, damn it, and I was sure Carl was still smirking at us.

"Concentrate," Daryl whispered into my ear. I nodded at him.

I turned my head again and focused back on the target in front of us. He slowly moved his body in a slightly different position, making me move a bit as well. He lowered the crossbow a bit, took a second or two to have a better look and together we pulled the trigger, this time we hit the centre of the piece of wood where Daryl had drew a red circle before he went looking for me, apparently he had planned for this.

I was excited but not that much because I knew most of the work, if not all of it, had been done by Daryl, and it was actually him who hit the target, not me.

"So fucking weird to shoot on this side," Daryl whined.

"You still are very accurate."

"Of course I am," Daryl said cockily, I just rolled my eyes at him.

It took me about twenty-two tries to finally hit the piece of wood, I wasn't even close to the red circle, to the actual target but that didn't stop me from lifting my arms in the air and jumping excitedly to celebrate, Daryl just laughed.

"Hey, careful! Don't drop it!" Daryl said, trying to sound serious but the smile never left his lips.

"I won't," I assured him. "But did you see that? I actually did it! Oh my God!"

"Wasn't that bad," Daryl said shrugging, pretending to be unimpressed.

"You're killing my mood!" I said just before I grabbed another arrow and did it all over again, I got to hit the piece of wood again and I just grinned at Daryl.

I tried about another twenty times. I had missed the wood only about six times, which was good, but I hadn't even been close to hit the target.

"Maybe next time," Daryl said to me as I handed the crossbow back to him.

"So there will be a next time?" I asked excitedly.

"If you want," Daryl said with a shrug.

"Of course, thanks."

After that we both, sat on a picnic wooden table that was outside, back in the day the convicts probably sat here to talk or stuff like that, there were only two of these here. Somehow we had stuff to talk about even when neither of us liked to talk a lot with other people. We mostly talked about things that happened during the eight months we spent apart.

Eventually the two of us lied down in opposite directions, my head was next to his mid-section while his was next to my mid-section. I bent my knees up, while Daryl just bent one and let the other hang from the table, swinging it softly as we both looked at the blue sky above us.

"Daryl?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," he assured me.

"But promise me you won't think differently of me and promise you won't tell anyone, absolutely anyone."

"Okay," he told me in an encouraging voice. "I promise. No matter what you tell me, I'll never think bad of you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, except if you created this virus and turned the world to shit, then I would definitely think bad of you."

"I'm relieved then," I said with a small chuckle. "I'm afraid I'm not the responsible one for this."

"Great, that means I won't have to kill you," he told me. "So, what do you want to tell me?"

"Uh, do you remember that you asked me where I met Teresa back in the farm?" I asked him as I felt my heartbeat accelerating.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, I lied, I didn't meet her in college," I admitted.

"I suspected you were lying because you hesitated when I asked and you started playing with your hands but I didn't even question it, just accepted it. So, where did you really meet her?"

"Believe it or not I actually met her in, uh, in jail," I whispered the last part, fearing he was just going to stand and leave me there.

"Oh," he said as he slightly pushed himself up and supported his weight with his elbow and looked down at me, I continued to look up at the sky, avoiding his gaze. "Never thought you were that kind of girl, what did you do?"

"Something really stupid," I told him. "Don't worry, it's not bad. I wasn't a criminal I just – just exaggerated, you know? I, uh, I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell you what I did, because I'm kind of ashamed of it, not of what I did but why I did it, I don't want you to feel pity for me."

"Whatever happened, you can trust me but if you don't want to tell me now, that's okay, tell me when you are ready."

"Thank you," I said with a small smile, finally looking at him.

"So, how did you meet her, Teresa?"

"When I was sentenced and taken to jail I was terrified. I was so scared, I ended up in a cell with five other girls. Two were there for murder, one was a pimp and one was a lesbian and I heard she was into blondes. Teresa just came to me with a smile and I knew she wasn't going to hurt me," I told him. "She introduced me to the other girls and they were actually quite nice. The following days Teresa explained how life worked inside a prison. Told me things to not get picked or bullied and to be respected. She helped me a lot."

"What did she do to end up in there?"

"I shouldn't be telling you this but she dealt with drugs, like a lot. But she was a good person and once we were both out she didn't do anything bad again. We were lucky to be released almost at the same time. She got out first and I got out about two weeks after her, I spent seven months in there, I got eleven months but showed a very good behaviour and my lawyer got me a deal. I was even lucky to have a good lawyer that got me only a year sentence, if I would have gotten more, I would probably be locked in there now, probably dead by now."

"Well, I'm glad you are here... with me." I smiled at him and blushed a bit.

"You don't think bad of me now?"

"Not at all," he assured me, grabbing one of my hands in both of his. "From what you told me I can tell you made a mistake and that you know that, you just got a bit unlucky, but no matter what I'll never ever think bad of you. I have done so many bad things in my life, I'm sure that what you did is probably nothing compared to what I've done."

"Thank you," I repeated it. "I wanted to get it out of my chest and I really hoped I could trust you and now I know I can."

"Always, you can always trust me."

"And you can trust me," I told him.

"I know," he said nodding. "So, how was it like to be in jail?"

"Awful, especially when you are claustrophobic. They had to give me medication to calm me down, I used to have panic and anxiety attacks because of it and everyone in there was scary but nothing happened to me, mostly thanks to Teresa. I had lots of... allies in there, not friends but almost. Life was so hard once I got out, I wanted to study but I wasn't accepted anywhere, I wanted to find a job and everyone turned me down, so Oliver contacted one of his friends, he gave me fake papers, a fake identity."

"How did you know Oliver?"

"Oliver was visiting his sister in jail and saw Teresa, claimed it was love at first sight, quite cheesy if you ask me. The three of us got quite close even before we got out. He helped us in everything, including with those fake identities," I said. "I found a job quite quickly after that, I was accepted in college and was going to start studying as soon as the semester started when all of this shit happened. My fake name was Cassandra Swan, people called me Cass, or Cassie."

"I prefer Cecilia," Daryl told me with a smile. "And Cici, but mostly Cecilia."

"Do you?"

"Yeah, you don't?"

"Not really, I would prefer Annika or all the nicknames I was called for that name but that name was a reminder of my old life, my life with my parents, my dad, so when I moved to NY I adopted the name Cecilia and soon people started calling me Cici."

"Annika, huh?"

"Annika Cecilia," I said with a small chuckle. "My mother used to call me Annie or Ann, it took her almost two years to stop calling me that, my father never called me Cecilia, which I'm glad."

"I like Annika way more, can I call you that?"

"Nope."

"But you said you like that name more."

"It brings bad memories."

"Maybe if I start saying it, I'll replace the bad memories with good ones, hmm?"

"Maybe, maybe not," I said sitting up as well. "We'll see."

"Okay," he told me. "Let's go inside, I'm supposed to keep an eye on Merle."

I didn't really remember but Glenn had said I had to take watch after lunch, which totally spoiled the great day I was having with Daryl. I was supposed to be with Maggie on that tower but for some reason she couldn't join and Sean took her place.

I have to admit this job is pretty boring, but unfortunately, very important. I lied down on my stomach, looking all around me with a rifle ready, while Sean was in the same position but on the other side.

Sean was an outgoing, funny person, he was charismatic and really good-looking but from what I had been told he completely changed since the death of his uncle, Shane. He hasn't gone crazy, like Rick, or like me when Sophia died, he just changed. I think he hasn't said more than ten words to me since I got back.

Glenn took my place about three hours later, I couldn't help but grin at him before I walked down the stairs and walked back inside the prison. I smiled at Merle as I passed him and waved at my mother when I saw her.

I went up the stairs and I had to pass Daryl's cell to get to mine and as I did I saw him there. He was sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, he was playing with one of his arrows. He stopped me and called me in.

"How was it?" he asked me.

"Boring," I admitted, leaning against the wall. "I didn't even have someone to talk to."

"What about Sean?"

"It was like he wasn't even there," I told him and he smiled at that. "I would have preferred anyone to be there in his place. How is Merle behaving?"

"Quite good, actually. He ain't stupid, he knows when he has to look down and accept the way things are."

"Yeah." I nodded.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I was going to my cell, maybe rest a bit, or go ask Hershel to let me read that bible he has, I have nothing else to do, and what are you doing?"

"Uh, well, checking my arrows, see if you didn't damage them earlier today," he said with a teasing tone.

"You were the one that came up with the idea, don't blame me!" I said with a chuckle.

"Well, now you'll have to make me some."

"Like if I could."

"I could teach you."

"I would like that," I told him, taking a few steps towards him and leaning against the bed and looking down at him. "Why do you want to teach me to shoot?"

"Hmm," he muttered, shrugging. "It can come in handy someday. You can make your arrows and actually use them as a weapon without having to shoot them, unlike bullets. You can only use those once and you can't stab walkers with those if you need to act quickly."

"I guess that's true, but why teach me?"

"Who else would I teach? Merle knows how to do it, the men are not interested and the other women can barely shoot a gun, all of them would be a waste of my time, but you – you showed me I wasn't wasting my time with you."

"Are you sure?" I asked with a chuckle. "I barely got to hit the wood thing out there."

"You did good, for being your first time," he told me, looking from me to the arrow in his hands. "Come here."

He moved to the very end side of the bed, still leaning his back against the wall and now his left side as well. I sat down and eventually lied down on my stomach, lifting and crossing my feet in the air. The atmosphere was so calm and relaxed it almost felt like nothing bad had happened and that we weren't inside a prison.

We didn't say anything for a while, Daryl kept entertained with his arrow and I played with the tips of my hair, that was in a high ponytail; it didn't feel awkward or anything like that, we were just enjoying each other's company and the fact we could actually relax and enjoy it.

Eventually my eyes got heavy, I rested my head on the pillow, facing Daryl, my left arm hanging from the bed, and my feet in the same position from before.

"Funny, how we both fit in here," I murmured. "This bed is tiny."

"I know."

These beds were obviously really, really small and in other circumstances I would have said they were very uncomfortable but they were the best thing we could have now.

"Doesn't it feel weird to be in a prison? Wouldn't you want to stay away from one?"

I would, normally. My seven months in jail were more than enough to want to stay away from one for the rest of my life but during these hard times this prison was actually like heaven. We had big, strong walls, fence after fence after fence, except now, they were damaged. We had toilets, showers, each one had their own cell, which were like our own rooms. We didn't have to sleep in tents anymore, being out there in the cold and vulnerable to walkers.

"I would, yeah," I told him, grabbing one of his hands, I had been looking at them for a while now and I just couldn't resist myself any longer. I examined it as I talked. "But this is better than any other place. This can be a five-star hotel during these times, we are fortunate to be here."

"That's true."

I kept his big hand in my hold. It was a bit bigger than my own hand and against everything I thought, it was extremely soft, except for one or two callosities in it, probably from the crossbow. I played with his fingers until he spoke.

"Find my hand interesting?"

"Only thing I could find here to entertain myself with," I said quickly, letting go of it, I wasn't even noticing what I was doing, and I felt myself blushing, I only hoped Daryl wouldn't notice, but seconds later I heard him chuckle.

"It's okay," he told me, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers, and he chuckled again after he did that. "You hands are so skinny, damn."

"No, they aren't," I said, even when I knew they were. I had lost so much weight during the last year or so and I did lose from my hands and fingers too. "Yours are just kind of big, so compared to yours they just seem thinner than what they actually are."

After that none of us said anything else. I smiled at him and he smiled back. He moved himself further from the wall so he could lie down, still lying on his back. He set the arrow on top of him, with his other hand on top of the arrow and he let himself close his gorgeous blue eyes. I smiled once again, feeling so relaxed and comfortable, and seconds later I closed my own blue eyes.

"Cici, Cici! Cecilia!" I had fallen asleep about five or ten minutes ago. I just realized I had actually fallen asleep when my mother started calling me and woke me up. I groaned and moved softly but I didn't open my eyes. "Cecilia!"

I opened my eyes a bit and saw Daryl starting to open his own eyes as well. I groaned again and tried to ignore her but she kept calling me.

"What?" I yelled.

"Come here, I need your help."

"I'm sleeping!"

"Come here, Cecilia!" I groaned again.

"Go and come back," Daryl muttered in a sleepy tone. "Just see what she wants so she'll shut up."

"Cecilia!"

I moved and that's when I noticed our hands were still intertwined, I squeezed his a bit before letting go of it. I stood up and with half-closed eyes, messy hair and a bad attitude I went down the stairs and met my mother at the bottom of them.

"I was sleeping!" I exclaimed.

"In this world you can't have naps anymore, we all need to work together."

"What do you need?"

"I'm going to prepare dinner, I need your help."

"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief. "You woke me up for that?"

"Yes," she said sternly, starting to walk towards the kitchen.

"But you usually do it alone," I commented, rubbing my eyes.

My mother said nothing, she just kept walking. Once in the kitchen she gave me a pan and told me what to do, I just glared at her as she told me what I had to do but I did as I was told, I knew I had to do stuff as well but being awoken like that made me extremely upset and my mum seemed to be in a bad mood as well.

"Hopefully Rick and Carl will get back soon, they'll be hungry," my mother muttered.

"And Michonne," I added.

I just realized my mum hadn't said a single word to Michonne. She thanked Andrea for keeping me safe but what about Michonne? She helped as well, actually, she did most of the work.

"She kept me alive, you know?" I said.

I had no idea why I couldn't keep on good terms with my mother, I always had to find something against her to make me upset and pick up an argument with her. I wanted to find her to make things right between us but lately it hadn't been like that, things had been like they had always been and even though I wanted to forgive her and leave behind all those things she did before and after the turn and just get along, but at the moment I was really wondering if I could ever do that.

Hello guys, hope you likes this chapter, personally it's one of my favourites.

So, there was a big revelation, so now you know a bit more about Cecilia's background. But what do you think she went to jail for? If you guess right, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you.

And slowly, Daryl and Cecilia are getting closer, what do you think of their moments together in this chapter?

What do you think will happen in the next chapter?

As always, thanks for taking the time to read my story. Thanks for commenting and getting it to be somewhat popular :)