"The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."

– Walt Disney Company, Mulan

Cecilia's POV

A whole week passed until Hershel finally said I was okay to join the others, by then only Glenn and I were left in that block, but it wasn't until a week and a half later that I finally had the courage to leave and go back to my own cell and face everyone.

Carl ran to me even before I stepped out of block A, he wrapped his arms around me, almost knocking me down to the floor, Rick was next to me and he chuckled at us. I wrapped my own arms around the boy, I had missed him so much.

"You are wearing the hat!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course," I said in a duh tone. "It helped me get better even faster. Now it's time for it to go back to its owner." I took the hat and set it on Carl's head.

"If you ever get sick again, you can have it back," he told me with a smile.

Carl took my hand and pulled me all the way to my room, Rick and Daryl following close behind. Once I got there I saw there was a new puzzle on my bed. I had tried to convince everyone to start that one but all of them chose the NYC one, this was from Australia, a place I always wanted to visit. I smiled as I took the box in my hands.

"Thought it can keep you busy," Carl told me. "It's all yours, unless you want some help."
"Why don't we do it together?" I told him with a smile. "We can start it later or tomorrow."

"Sounds great," Carl told me with a smile.

The three of them left me alone then. I walked around my cell, softly running my hands on the blanket over my bed, never feeling so happy to be back in this grey and gloomy place that at some time I had started to call home.

I looked at my now empty backpack and my clothes that now were folded and set on top of a small table, when I left everything was a mess and that table wasn't here. The camera Glenn gave me in that place weeks ago was also there but the picture Rick took of us wasn't anywhere in here, I wondered where it could be and I only hoped it didn't get lost.

I looked at the corner of the room and couldn't help but smile as I saw the crossbow Daryl gave to me months ago, now it was the only weapon I had. I lost my gun and my knife. I was glad I was very skilled with it now.

Being out of block A and back here made me feel like I was back for real, that everything ended. I smiled, feeling so much better than I had in weeks.

I stood up and went to Daryl's cell, hoping to find him there and sure enough he was. I smiled at him as I leant against the door frame.

"Daryl?"

"Princess," he muttered in a surprise tone, but he smiled nevertheless.

"I was wondering if you had seen the picture Rick took before people got sick and all that," I said. "I wanted to see it."

Daryl smiled and then reached inside one of his back pockets, he took out a small paper, or what it looked like paper and handed it to me. I walked to him and I took the paper and noticed it was the picture, I smiled when I saw it. Even when it was in his pocket, the picture was in perfect shape and it made me so happy he treasured it so much.

"I needed that... I was so glad I had it," Daryl admitted as I sat next to him in the bed and took a closer look at the picture.

"We should take another one soon," I said with a smile. "So, each one of us can have one."

"Sounds perfect," Daryl said as he kissed my forehead.

"But let's wait until this heals," I said, pointing to my barely visible and small cut and faint green bruise on my face. "I don't want to remember being like this."

"Of course."

During these two weeks and a half that had passed about half of my bruises had vanished completely and the other half were barely visible, the injuries in my wrists were taking a bit more time to heal, though. The bruises were a constant reminder of what happened and I couldn't bare to look at myself but now that they were mostly gone, things were getting better.

But it had been hard, I felt myself losing all kind of purpose, each day I had less things to hold on, to continue, and more things to choke me, that was one of the reasons why I didn't leave block A even when I was allowed do, I didn't even want to leave my bed. I had just given up. Daryl noticed and made everything in his power to not let me slip, not to allow me get any worse.

I hadn't even noticed I was slowly falling back into the pits of darkness, losing myself and losing who I was. Before I knew it I was almost as bad as when I lost Sophia, except this time Daryl spotted the signs just in time; he grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the pits, from the abyss I was falling in, I was better now but he still hadn't let go, he was still pulling me up, I still wasn't out of that abyss, not yet.

He gave me time to get better and not face people but he decided it was better for me to get me out of that lonely place, he thought it would make me feel better and he was right. Seeing Carl made me extremely happy.

I still hadn't seen the rest but I was looking forward to, maybe not to see everybody but at lease see my family, meaning Beth, Maggie, Oliver, Judith and the rest I had already seen since I came back like Michonne, Sasha and Glenn.

"What are you thinking?" Daryl asked me.

"Just about how I have missed everybody," I told him honestly."It was good to see Carl again."

"You have no idea how anxious that kid was to see you," he told me. "How are you feeling now that you are back here?"

"I actually feel so much better," I said with a smile as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "You were right, I needed to get out of there."

"I'm always right," he said cockily, I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, aren't you cocky," I said sarcastically before pecking his lips.

"But you love me just like that," he muttered, making me roll my eyes at him again but I kissed him back when he pressed his lips against mine.

Concerning Sean, I didn't know where he was or what they had done to him. No one had mentioned his name since I was told he was captured, not Rick and not Daryl, but I knew he was still alive, the two of them and Michonne sometimes go missing for a couple of hours, besides, Rick's and Daryl's knuckles keep being bloody and bruised.

I kind of want everything to just end already, knowing Sean is still around makes me edgy and uncomfortable. I wanted him to suffer but now I just want him dead... gone forever. I want to end this chapter and start a new one but I won't be able to do it until he's finally dead.

An hour later Daryl actually had to pull me out of the prison because for some reason I was nervous about seeing the others. I told him I wasn't hungry and that I was just going to stay in my cell but he didn't believe my lie, especially after because my stomach gave me away by grumbling, Daryl just gave me a look, grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the bed.

"Come on."

Beth was so happy to see me, she jumped from her seat, ran to me and actually tackled me to the ground when she hugged me, I hugged her back as the two of us stayed on the ground, laughing. The others also laughed at us and Carl even jumped on top of us, not being able to resist it.

Maggie went to help me up and pulled me into a hug once I was on my feet. Oliver smiled at me when I sat almost in front of him but he looked away quickly, Rick told me he felt extremely guilty because he was the one that let us go, it wasn't his fault, I didn't really blame him and I wanted to tell him that but it had to wait until after lunch.

Daryl sat next to me, while Beth was on my other side. Baby Judith was sat on her father's lap, she was the last person I hadn't seen, until now.

I think Daryl and I had only been affectionate towards each other three or four times. One being the time we told everyone about us, we held hands, the next was at Glenn's and Maggie's wedding when Daryl kissed me to show... Sean, I was his, the third time was about four months ago when I went on a run with Sasha and four other people, we should be back in three days but it took us almost two weeks to come back and only Sasha and I made it back. Daryl ran to me, wrapped me in his arms, lifted me up and spun me around and then, still in his arms I kissed him as I wrapped my legs around his waist, in front of pretty much everybody, we didn't care that time, we missed each other and he was worried about me.

Now he was holding my hand in a supportive way but our hands were under the table, so no one, besides Beth, noticed.

When we finished lunch more people, some from Woodbury and some were the people we had saved during these months, approached me with big smiles as they told me how good it was to see me again. I was quite loved mostly because of Daryl, who was kind of their superhero.

Some people were truly happy to see me, some even hugged me, like Mika and Lizzie did, but some also felt pity for me, I could see it behind their smiles and that was what I was avoiding, I didn't want people to pity me, to feel sorry for me. I was okay.

After almost everyone had come to greet me, I stood up and walked to Rick, who looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"I still need to greet one person," I told him. "Can I hold her?"

"Of course."

I took Judith in my arms and the little girl smiled at me with her few teeth. She was around eight or nine months now, she had gotten so big.

I set her on the grass and I sat in front of her and we played with the grass and a flower that was close to us. I never was that good with kids but now that I have lived several months with Judith I had gotten better.

"Hey, Judy, can you say Cici?" I asked excitedly. "Cici, Ci-Ci."

The toddler didn't even look at me as I kept repeating my nickname to her, instead she kept looking at the flower in her small, chubby hands. I sighed in disappointment but I kept asking her to say it. Carl told me that while I was gone she started saying 'dada' and he also was trying to get her to say his name but Carl is much more difficult to say than Cici.

"What about Cecilia?" I asked, and finally Judith looked up at me with the sweetest smile ever. "Cecilia, it's a bit long but I know you can do it, Judy. Ce-Ci-Lia."

I repeated my name slowly three more times until I heard Judith mumbling something. I leant forward, surprised, she looked up at me with her big blue eyes.

"What did you say? Can you say it again, Judith? Cecilia."

"Lia, Lia, Lia," she repeated happily and I chuckled at her, being really proud of her, Carl will be so mad I got her to say my name, well kind of, before his. "Lia, Lia."

"Yeah, that's me," I said with a smile. "Lia, I guess."

Only about twenty minutes later Judith's head started to fall forward, she tried to fight her tiredness but she almost fell on her side, so I held her close to me as I took her back to Beth, she fell asleep, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Guess what?" I said happily to Carl as I saw him just out of block C, he was with Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Sasha.

"What?"

"She said my name!" I exclaimed proudly and a bit loud, almost waking Judith up.

"You are lying!" Carl exclaimed in disbelief. "I have tried to get her to say mine for about a month."

"What can I say? You name it's too hard for her," I said. "She calls me Lia."

"Lia? Why would she call you that? That doesn't even sound like your name."

"Yeah, it's from Ceci-Lia, I guess the last syllable it's easier," I said shrugging, Carl just stuck his tongue at me and I did the same, not minding the four adults around us. "I'll just take her inside."

I walked inside the prison with the blonde toddler in my arms, I looked for Beth but she was nowhere to be found. So, I laid Judith on her crib and sat close to it in case she could wake up.

I was getting bored so I thought about doing what Michonne and I always do, exercise. I rushed to my room, put on my sport bra and some sweatpants, exercising in jeans it's not really that comfortable. I was about to go down when I remembered my bruises, I still had a few, I put on a loose white shirt and went back down the stairs, so I could look after Judith while I exercised.

I sat on the floor and started stretching and then I did some squats, first with two feet and then just with one, going as down as possible, I lied down on the floor then and did some crunches.

I hadn't exercised in almost a month, so I got tired faster. By the time Michonne, Rick and Daryl walked in I was already sweating. Daryl just smiled at me, he looked happy, Rick just ignored me, knowing it was normal for me to exercise and Michonne glared at me.

"I could have joined you, you know?" she exclaimed.

"You still can," I told her. "I'm not done yet."

Rick and Daryl left but Michonne stayed, sitting on the floor next to me, starting to do some crunches, which were her favourite. I love working my legs while she preferred her stomach. Michonne and I did the same exercises and the same repetitions for about twenty minutes until I just collapsed on the floor.

"Oh come on," Michonne exclaimed. "Don't tell me you are already tired."
"My muscles are," I muttered. "I can't do one more crunch."

"Our workouts are about two hours longs, you haven't been here for more than one."

"I know, I'm just still weak, I suppose. I'm not in shape I haven't workout in like forever," I whined. "It felt good, though."

I sat up and started stretching about five minutes after, I was done for the day. Michonne just kept encouraging me but I was exhausted, my muscles ached, I just needed a shower and rest for a bit.

"Mich?"

"Hmm?" she said as she lied on her stomach, ready to do some push-ups.

"Do you remember that you told me all things happen for a reason and at first you sometimes think they are bad and then you realize they are actually good?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"When I was in that house, I just thought things couldn't get any worse and they kept getting worse, I felt so hopeless and when I got sick, I really thought I was going to die a horrible death. I never thought I would make it out," I told her, making her stop so she could look at me. "But if I hadn't gotten sick, maybe I wouldn't be here right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I started coughing blood and that's when he really got scared, before that he thought it was just a normal flu and refused to bring me back here but once he saw the blood he freaked out and finally agreed to bring me."
"See? I told you, not everything bad is actually bad."

"But I still can't see how being kidnapped can be good," I said. "It had just made me... fearful, so afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of everything, of everyone, of living," I said with sorrow. "I didn't even want to go out of that block. I sometimes can't sleep at night, thinking someone will get me and take me away."

"That won't happen."

"How do we know? Glenn and Maggie were taken by someone we knew, I was taken by someone we trusted. We are always betrayed by the least person we expect."

I couldn't help but think of my mother after I finished that sentence. She didn't betray us, she did it for our own good, to save us, but it wasn't until a few days ago that I started feeling some anger towards her, she wasn't there for me when I needed the most, as usual.

Michonne was about to tell me something when Judith started crying, this time she didn't sleep much. So I didn't go to pick her up right away, maybe she would fall asleep, but she didn't, she only cried harder. I stood up with a sigh and held her in my arms, the baby stopped crying almost immediately.

I sat down again but with Judith in my arms this time, Michonne just kept doing her push-ups. Soon she started to get a bit restless, I tried to move to another position and made faces at her but she was just getting worse. A few minutes later Beth came in holding a full bottle for Judith, she handed it to me and I fed her. Beth claimed it was time for her snack.

"Here you go," I muttered and Judith eagerly started to drink her formula.

"I always wanted to have a baby," Beth said out of nowhere, making me look at her. "Aren't they cute?"

"I guess," I muttered. "When they are not yours."

"Come on, don't tell me you've never wanted one."

"Uh, not really," I said looking from her to Judith.

Honestly, I never really wanted to have kids, I was about ten when I was completely sure I was never going to have one. I didn't want them to go through the same shitty stuff I went through plus I had other plans, other things I wanted to do and that didn't involve changing diapers. Besides, I'm pretty awkward with little kids, especially babies and toddlers, I suppose, it's just not my thing.

"What about you, Michonne?" Beth asked, Michonne just shook her head and continued her workout, I could see her tense a bit with that question but I pretended I didn't notice. "Oh, come on! Don't tell me I'm the only one!"

"I guess so," I said shrugging. "A baby was never a part of my plans."

I was barely putting my stuff back together just before the world went to shit, there was no space and no time for a kid and it wasn't like I had a boyfriend or husband. I was fixing things after getting out of jail, I just wanted to get a job and start university.

"You and Daryl would make a good-looking baby," Beth said with a grin, making me blush and even choke a bit. I kept looking at Judith as I felt my cheeks getting hotter and hotter. "What do you think, Michonne?"
"I agree," she said with a smirk. "That would be a handsome baby."

"Can you imagine? A baby with blonde hair and blue eyes, and pink cheeks?"

"And Daryl's temper," Michonne added with a chuckle. "And Cecilia's personality."

"Can we just stop?" I exclaimed quickly. "I don't want to talk about this, alright? We won't have a baby, okay? It just won't happen, especially now with the world being like this, we wouldn't be able to take care of another one."

"I kind of want Maggie to have one," Beth said smiling. "That would be cute, a mini Maggie and a mini Daryl being friends with Judith."

"You have an obsession with babies," I muttered. "Even if the world were as before, I don't think I'd have one."

I closed my eyes and remembered the first months after Sophia was born. They were horrible, I was always woken up a few times during the night, my mother would barely pay attention to me, she was either taking care of Sophia or sleeping and my father was away a lot, I kind of blamed Sophia for his absence, I thought she was driving him away, at that time I still loved my father a lot and saw him as my superhero, I missed him.

During the first two years of Sophia's life I only thought she was boring and annoying. I missed my days as an only child. She took so long to learn to walk, I could barely understand her when she talked and she would throw tantrums during meal times.

She also used to take my toys and sometimes break them, not on purpose but that didn't make me less angry. She also screamed and cried whenever I took the toy from her, that continued for several years and as she grew my mum just kept telling me to let her play with it, that we could share, making me even angrier, she was the little girl of the house.

"Cici, Cici," Michonne said, waving a hand in front of my face, I blinked and shook my head as I came back to reality.

"Sorry, what?"

"What were you thinking?"

"Just remembering stuff," I said with a smile. "Stuff of when I was a kid, what were you talking about before I dozed off?"
"I asked you if you have... you know... done it," Beth asked me with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Why are we even talking about this?" I asked as Judith finally finished her formula and starting babbling. "Can't we just talk about... the weather? There's a child in the room!" I exclaimed, pretending to be horrified.

"Come on, Michonne already answered," I looked at Michonne, who just shrugged at me.

"Have you?" I said, raising my eyebrows at her, she blushed slightly.

"Well..." Beth started, looking down at the ground.

"That means yes, doesn't it?" I said, chuckling a bit.

"Just don't tell my dad," she muttered, biting her lip.

Michonne was grinning at the teenager while I just kept laughing at Beth. She was so anxious to talk about this and now that the focus was on her, she didn't look so excited. She kept biting her bottom lip and the blush in her cheeks just got stronger.

"Well, are you going to tell us who was the lucky guy or... we will have to guess," Michonne muttered with a smirk

"You don't know him," she said, looking at Michonne but then she turned to look at me. "But you do... I did it with Jimmy."
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, covering my mouth with both my hands. "I thought you had just dated for like three months and you didn't even like him that much."

"We started dating after we did it..." Beth said, fiddling with the end of her grey shirt. "We were at a party, it just got out of control."

"He was cute," I told her.

"I did it with Zach too," she blurted out, making Michonne and I burst out laughing. "He was... quite good, you know? Anyway... I said it, now it's your turn Cici."
"There's nothing to say," I said casually with a slight shrug.

"That's not fair, I shared my story!" Beth exclaimed.

"I do mean it... there is nothing to tell. Nothing has happened."

"Yeah, right," Beth exclaimed sarcastically, rolling her blue eyes.

"It's true!" I said, a bit hurt nobody believed me. "Why do you think I'm lying?"

"We just assumed you did," Michonne said quickly. "It doesn't matte..."

Michonne was interrupted by Judith, who had started crying once again. Beth quickly took her from my arms and excuse herself, saying Judith probably needed a diaper change. I was glad I didn't have to do that.

Beth left Michonne and I alone, Michonne had already stopped exercising by now and had started to stretch.

"He doesn't want, alright?" I exclaimed, knowing that by Michonne's looks that she thought I was hiding the truth or she just wanted me to elaborate my answer. "I've tried but he just... rejects me."

I couldn't believe I was saying this to Michonne, I was feeling really embarrassed but it also felt good to tell someone. I had never had this kind of issues and I never had a friend to talk about them, I was glad Beth was gone now, I couldn't trust her with this.

"I'm sure he isn't rejecting you, maybe he thinks... I don't know, that it isn't the right time," Michonne said. "But don't you ever think he is rejecting you, he loves you."

"How do you know?" I asked with an eyebrow raised, Michonne just smiled at me.

"He told me when we went on that last run," she said. "He wanted to get back here as quickly as possible to tell you, said he was a fool for not saying it earlier."

"Did he really say that?" I asked her, feeling really happy.

"Yeah," she told me, offering me a smile.

I smiled back at her, feeling some strange warmness inside of me. I know he already said he loves me but hearing someone else say he does, just makes it all more real. I felt truly happy at Michonne's words and I got a huge urge to just go find Daryl and kiss him, but right then Beth came back and handed me Judith, so I guess that kiss was going to wait a bit.

Hello guys, how was your Halloween?

What do you think of TWD new episode? I sometimes want to just slap Carol, she will get herself killed if she keeps acting like this. Btw, next episode will be sick, poor Daryl :/

Btw, I just made a Glenn/Abraham tribute, I willl put the link on here but I'm not sure if it's going to work. Does anybody know why they don't work? Well, if you want to watch and the link doesn't work, look me up on youtube as Iamthemasterpiece

watch?v=u2Jfwx6xVW4