THEN

Daryl stumbled through the hallway of the CDC and into his room. He'd laughed and partied his way through the night and now that it had died down a deep ache found it's way into his chest. When the door closed behind him, his back slid down the length of it until his ass hit the cold floor. A bottle of wine that he'd snatched dangled from his fingertips. He looked at it and frowned. One bottle wasn't going to be enough to forget her.

He'd give anything to have her here with him. To know that she was safe and alive. She'd love this place. She'd love the showers. She'd love the kitchen. She'd love the damn game room and would most definitely challenge him to a game of strip poker.

He chugged from the bottle and let his head roll back to hit the door. Goddamn he missed her.

"I'm sorry, Peach." He whispered into the darkness of the room. "I failed ya. Fucking failed ya."

His throat constricted and eyes began to burn. The last of the wine slid past his tongue and he hurled the empty bottle blindly towards the wall. It smashed with a satisfying crack and explosion of shards.

"I miss ya." He choked out. "Miss ya like hell."

Katie dropped her machete on the concrete floor and her exhausted body followed, landing hard on the air mattress that had been her bed for the last month. How she'd managed to stay alive this long was beyond her. Every day was a cluster fuck.

She'd been on her way into Atlanta when a flat tire and empty gas tank had stalled her group. They'd found a storage unit to hold up in. It wasn't comfortable, but it was safe. Fences and steel doors. Last week there were 10 of them. Today, seven. Three scouts had gone out but never came back.

Katie threw her arms over her eyes and moaned. She was dead on her feet. Sleep never came these days. And when it did it always brought screaming night terrors.

"I need you, Daryl." She said softly. "I can't do this anymore."

A small tear slipped from her eyes and she hurriedly brushed it away. He was alive. She could feel it. But she felt powerless to find him.

Reaching into her backpack, she grabbed a small bottle that she kept from when things felt particularly bad. It was almost empty, because things were always bad. She unscrewed the cap and let the amber liquid burn on its way down her throat. It was nasty cheap stuff they had looted from a trailer park, but it did the trick and helped her sleep. She drained the bottle and threw it across the room hearing it skitter on the floor. As her body warmed, she laid down and closed her eyes, but all she could see was Daryl.

NOW

Eager to get cleaned up, Katie returned to their room and quickly gathered her other set of clothes and soap. She knew the shower would be cold, but she was still excited for it.

They had been lucky. No lives were lost in the fire. But, Katie knew that it was a devastating punch to The Kingdom. She had seen the looks on everyone's faces. This was a blow in a series of blows that was quickly taking down their home.

After her shower, Katie dressed in a pair of warm sweatpants and a soft shirt. She squeezed the excess water from her hair and pulled a comb through, before brushing her teeth. Using toothpaste still made her giddy.

Daryl wasn't back when she returned to their room. Laying on the bed, she wondered if tonight would be the night he would stay and share the bed with her. The past couple of nights he'd disappeared on her, not coming back until morning. She wasn't expecting anything, but it would just be nice to sleep beside each other. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes. They felt heavy and she let them flutter closed. She'd just rest them until Daryl came back.

Daryl was helping a crew begin to clean up until an exhausted Ezekiel asked them to stop and wait until morning. It was dark and everyone was tired. They'd start fresh tomorrow.

On his walk towards their room, he stopped for the whiskey he'd promised. Daryl noticed how his heart jumped in anticipation of heading to where Katie was waiting. Seeing her run into that fire had scared the shit out of him. Not much made Daryl panic, but fires were different. He hated fires- ever since his mom.

It had been torture holding himself back after he'd pulled her to safety. He'd wanted to yell at her and kiss her all at once. All over a damn goat. Daryl didn't know what the hell he was doing. It was obvious that Katie was ready to go back to how things were before. She was nothing but honest with him about that. He was jealous of how easy it seemed for her. But, something was holding him back. He couldn't get there, not like she wanted him to. Not yet.

He swore softly when he entered the room. Katie was passed out on the bed, her lips were parted and she snored softly. He looked down at the whiskey in his hand before setting it gently on the table. Perching on the edge of the bed, he took in her features. His finger itched to reach out and trace the outline of her lips, but he held back.

Since arriving at the Kingdom, he'd been sleeping anywhere but in the bed with her. Another desire he was denying himself. Tonight, he didn't care. He slipped his boots off and carefully, not to jostle the bed, stretched out beside her.

Turning onto his side, and hugging the pillow, he watched her. "Sweet dreams, Peach."

Daryl's eyes had just drifted closed when Katie thrashed and cried out. Beside him her body shook and tears squeezed out from behind her closed lids.

"Katie?" When he realized that she was still sleeping, he gripped her shoulder and gently shook her. "Wake up. It's just a dream, girl."

At the sound of his voice, her eyes shot open and she lunged for him. Clinging to him, she wept quietly into his neck. He let himself wrap her up in his arms and held her tight until her breathing returned to normal.

Once she had calmed, she pulled away, hanging her head. "Sorry."

Seemingly on its own, his hand moved to her head and stroked her hair comfortingly. "Ain't got nothing to be sorry about."

She leaned into his touch. "Sometimes I get night terrors."

"What are they about?" He asked quietly, his fingers still tangled in her hair.

"I don't always remember. I just remember how they feel." In the dark, she reached for him and Daryl pulled her in and tight against his chest. "It's been awhile since I had one. It's, god it's stupid, but I thought maybe they were gone now that I'd found you."

It wasn't stupid, but he didn't tell her that. Instead he held her quietly, hoping to convey with his body what his mouth couldn't seem to say. "I brought the whiskey."

She laughed against his chest. "I need some."

Reluctantly, he untangled himself from her to grab the bottle. Unscrewing the cap, he handed it to her allowing her the first sip.

"Daryl?" Her voice was timid. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

Needing liquid courage, she took a small sip of the liquor. "I heard you tell Carol that you would babysit me."

Daryl repositioned, propping himself up against the wall. "Carol's hurting."

Katie nodded, but he hadn't answered her question. "But what about you? Is that why you're here?"

He gently took the bottle from her hand. "I told Carol what she needed to hear."

"I'm not here to hurt anyone." She felt like she'd said it a million times, but no one believed her.

"I know." He took a sip. The whiskey went down smooth. Almost too smooth. He'd have to be careful or he would easily find himself overindulging.

"And Lydia? I need to talk to her more, but she's just a kid. And she's been through hell. She's not here to hurt anyone either."

"She needs a friend." He told her as she took the bottle from his fingers.

"I can't imagine what it was like to have a mom like Alpha." Katie mused. "I thought about that a lot when I was with them. I was there because I thought I was out of options. It was the Whispers or death. But, Lydia? She didn't get a choice."

"Ya still ain't told me how you ended up with them."

Katie's eyes closed and she took in a deep breath. "It's hard to talk about."

"I get it. Don't have to talk about it."

She took a pull from the bottle and shook her head. "No, it's okay."

Daryl felt her hand move across the bed and link with his. He let her thread their fingers and together they stared into the dark passing the bottle as Katie shared her story.

"I was with the other group I told you about. There were ten of us for a good while and we were holed up in some storage units. It was safe, but we needed a place to thrive. So, we started sending scouts out. Then they just never came back. It happened so fast. It was dumb, we should have stuck together. Lesson learned, right? There were two of us left." Katie's eyes welled up and she wiped a tear away. "Do you remember Elani from Morning Glory?"

Daryl nodded. Elani had been another waitress.

"She and I had been through it together. She was hurt so bad. I knew I had to get out of those storage units and find help. I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough. We had a camp and that's where the Whisperers found us." She took a long swig of liquor before starting the next part of her story.

"I watched them kill her," she squeaked out. "And I was so sure that I was next. But, they took me captive, and back to their camp. Alpha told me that she had put Elani out of her misery, just like you do with any animal. And that was it. I stayed because where else would I go?"

Daryl's thumb ghosted across her knuckles and Katie cried silently. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. "I thought about leaving so many times. But, where would I go? You can't live out there without a group. And that was if they didn't find me? I knew they would kill me if I was caught. I was stuck."

"Ain't stuck no more." Daryl's voice was thick.

Katie leaned over and Daryl felt her soft lips graze his jaw. He stiffened slightly, and forced himself not to turn his own lips towards hers.

"Thank you," she said, curling into his side.

No wonder the girl had nightmares. He held her close until he knew she was asleep. It wasn't until he felt her body relax and her breath deepen that he closed his own eyes.