Part 7: And I Forget About You Long Enough to Forget Why I Needed To.

Daryl was grabbing up supplies as he headed for the door. "WE CAN'T GO TO ATLANTA, BOY! HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS? DEAD, EVERYONE THERE IS DEAD AND IS CRAWLING WITH THE WALKING DEAD!"

"I know it is, but I'm not leaving her there to die." He was grabbing his jacket when the loud boom of something exploding went off outside.

"Goddamnit, fine, but help me load everything into the truck so we can get the fuck outta here," he stopped to point his face in Daryls face, "but I ain't dying over this stupid bitch, and I won't let you either."

Daryl woke up in his tent and stared at the roof, why was he thinking of that day again? It's been two months since they tried to get into Atlanta, to find Alba and save her, but the city was overrun. They met up with this group and started staying out here in the quarry, Merle and him had been discussing where to go from here before winter settles in, but so far had come up with nothing. Mainly because all he could think about was her, and how he had failed her…again.

He could hear the other people at the camp moving around and figured it was about the time he should get up too. Merle had left earlier on a run to try and find supplies with a few of the people and he should probably go out on a hunt and see if he can find anything.

He nodded at Lori as he came out of his tent at her place in front of the fire cooking some breakfast for everyone, "You hungry?" she offered him a plate.

"No, I'm alright, I'm gonna head out and hunt for awhile, I'll be back in a few days or so." She just nodded at him as he headed for the woods.

He heard the screaming the closer he got to the deer he'd been tracking, he knew he was close to camp.

However coming around the corner and seeing everyone surrounding the deer and the dead walker, he lost his temper. He'd worked hard to get that damn deer. After finishing everything he headed back to camp yelling for Merle, but that damn cop followed him wanting to talk to him.

"He dead?" he felt his temper rising and every word out of the cops mouth angered him more and more until he saw red and next thing he knew he was on the ground in a choke hold by Shane. While this damn fucking Dudley Do Right kept trying to calmly talk to him, but he couldn't hear anything they were saying.

"Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Lori answered.

Daryl nodded and walked off, pissed off but finding some relief in the fact they had decided at least to go with him to save Merle.

Within the hour he had his bag packed ready to head to Atlanta with these assholes to go save his brother, starting to get impatient cause all they were doing was standing around talking, he stomped on the horn of the van, "C'mon, let's go!"

He started pacing along the back of the van, he was getting more and more anxious the longer they just stood there. Merle had been handcuffed on top of a roof with no water for more than 24 hours in this Georgia sun, he was scared of what they would find when they got up there.

When they finally pulled up on the train tracks to walk the rest of the way, he almost jumped out of the van and started walking.

"So what should I expect?" he asked the cop named Rick.

He shrugged at him as they worked their ways down the alleys getting closer and closer to the department store.

T-Dog went around a corner first and froze, throwing his hands up and backing up a few steps. The rest of the guys paused, Daryl already had his crossbow raised to see what was going to come around the corner.

A girl with a shotgun raised and pointed at T-Dogs head stepped around, she had a black ball cap on and a black neck gaiter raised over her mouth and nose. He kept his crossbow aimed at her head, not realizing at first, but as soon as she spoke he almost dropped the weapon.

Rick had raised his hands in the air, "Whoa there, we don't mean you any harm."

The laugh made his hair raise on the back of his neck and he was positive his heart had stopped beating, cause he knew he'd stopped breathing. "Then what are you here for, Barney Fife? A stroll through the city? It is a pretty day ain't it?"

He took him a minute to even find his voice, and when it came out it was still raspy like he hadn't had a drink of water in days, "Alba?"

Her cold green eyes shot to his, her aim on the gun faltering for just a moment before she pointed it at him. He lifted his hands in the air, but still took a few step forward, everyone in the group was staring back and forth between them, silent.

With one hand she reached up and pulled the gaiter down, and he gasped again, it was her. She had her hair braided down her back, and had a new scar down the right side of her top lip.

She started laughing, hysterically, "Well I'll be damned, I was hoping you were dead. Where is your piece of shit brother, is he dead at least?"

"No, we're here to save him, these dumb asses left him handcuffed to a roof."

She laughed again before looking at Rick, "Well a word of advice, leave him there to rot, and I'd handcuff him too while you're up there. Let them die together, ain't nothing but a couple cockroaches that'll get you all killed."

Rick took a step towards her, "Listen, why don't you come with us? We have food and shelter not far out of town, you don't want to be here in the city by yourself."

She propped the gun on her shoulder, shooting another disgusted look back at him. "I'd rather die than live side by side with the Dixon boys, and if yall were smart, you'd do the same."

She turned and started walking away, he ran after her and saw her truck parked a little up the alley. "Alba, please….just come with us, I'm begging you."

"Rot in hell, Dixon. Give your brother my regards as well." With that she hopped up into her truck, started it and drove off.

Every nerve in his body was screaming, he thought she was dead, for 2 months now he'd believed she was gone. There she was, right in front of him, alive and well, tougher than ever, meaner than ever. He let her walk away from him again, and in this world she can't be alone.

He thought about just leaving Merle and chasing after her, but Rick walked up behind him at that point. "What do you wanna do, Daryl?"

He stood there waiting on her truck to turn around and come back, but it didn't. "Let's go get my brother."

"Ayudame! Ayudame!"

This day could literally not get any worse, he thought as he shot one man in the ass with his crossbow as they were throwing Glenn in their car.

Merle was gone, now he's done got his ass kicked by a few fucking Mexicans, and wasn't able to keep them from taking Glenn, so now he was just going to make sure this little scrawny punk that started it all wasn't going to get away.

Now here they were, staking this place out, bust in and talk to some man named G.

Every time he thought the day couldn't get any worse, it does. They're having a heated discussion about whether or not it was smart to hand the guns over, the guns they almost died for.

He thought Merle was the most stubborn man in the entire world, but now he was starting to think this man Rick had him beat. Cause here they were, inside this building with 20 guns pointed back at them, why in the world did he listen to him? They were gonna all die.

"Felipe! Felipe!"

Now here's this old lady dragging Rick through the crowd fussing about somebody's medicine and he was following them. What a weird fucking day.

His breath caught in his throat as they walked into what looked like a lunch room, where tons of other old people are sitting, and there Alba was again, knelt down in front of this one old guy that was having an asthma attack.

She turned as Felipe showed up with the inhaler, her eyes widening when she saw him. She stood up and dusted her hands off on her jeans and started to walk out another door, he saw Rick going with G, so he went after her.

"Alba, please."

Her hair was piled on top of her head the way he used to love, she had changed into that same old oversized Metallica shirt he recognized. She had her arms crossed across her chest when she turned around to look at him.

"Where's Merle?"

He looked down at his feet, "We didn't find him."

"So he's still alive too?"

"I suppose so."

She chuckled and went to turn back around, "Like I said, a bunch of cockroaches."

"Finch, just wait a minute." She stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "Come with us."

"Is Amy dead?"

"I honestly have no idea, I didn't go look."

She nodded her head and started walking again, this time he caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "Finch, you can hate me all you want, but don't be stupid, I'll keep you safe."

Her green eyes weren't as bright anymore, they were cold, even colder when she took both her hands and shoved him into the wall and held him there. "Oh, like you kept me safe before, Dixon? I can handle myself, and I'd like to never see your face again."

He stood there for a moment, being so close to her again, her hands on his chest, he decided to just take the risk. In one quick movement he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his, a shot of electricity shooting down his body when her lips touched his.

She stiffened at first, but he kissed her like he'd been wanting to kiss her for 8 months, he put every apology he never gave into this kiss, every word left unspoken, every feeling he ever had for her. He had both of his hands on either side of her face and she had reached up and placed her hands on top of his.

"Ahem."

She shoved him off of her and raised her hand to her mouth, just as breathless as he was. They looked to the door to find Glenn and T-Dog standing there smirking at them.

"Rick sent us to get you, we're leaving, but I think we can wait for a few more minutes if you need us too." T-Dog said amused.

Without another word, Alba turned and stormed off down the hallway, and he let her go. "We're at the quarry outside of the city if you change your mind!"

She just kept going.