"Only love of a good woman will make a man question every choice, every action.

Only love makes a warrior hesitate for fear that his lady will find him cruel.

Only love makes a man both the best he will ever be, and the weakest.

Sometimes all in the same moment. -Wicked "

– Laurell K. Hamilton

Daryl's POV

Three more weeks passed, things at the prison were almost as good as they were before the virus spread, which was seven weeks ago, luckily no one else got sick and the sick ones recovered entirely, including Glenn and Cecilia.

Speaking of her, she had gotten better, mentally. I had made sure to not let her slip and now time has also helped. Things improved a bit when she was informed that Sean was gone, he was killed not long after she said she wanted him gone.

Rick and I talked about the way to go for days, we just didn't want to put a bullet in his brain and end his misery just like that, we wanted him to suffer until his last breath so we actually decided to feed him to the walkers after cutting his dick off and then we killed those walkers and just left him there to suffer and after a while, we finally killed Sean, who had parts of him missing but he was still alive after the walkers took bites of him. We decided to not let him turn in case Cecilia could see him, that would probably make her lose all the progress she had made lately.

Currently, I watched the blonde that was across the room, she was talking to Rick, both had smiles on their faces. Anyone could think that she was completely back to normal, that she was perfectly okay but I knew she was still affected.

She has been trying to never be alone, if I'm not around she looks for Michonne, Rick, Maggie or Glenn or even Sasha, sticking close to us. She has been asked to help killing the walkers through the fence but she always refuses, not wanting to go near other people, not even when we are around, she also has avoided being too close to the gate, fearing she can be taken again.

I'm glad she's being cautious but she's being paranoid. It had gotten to the point that she doesn't even go to the bathroom alone, she doesn't go showering if someone is not there guarding the door, she always asks a girl to be there, especially Michonne.

Today Rick and I were going on a run, when Cecilia found out she wanted really bad to come with us and she begged both of us to let her come along but I couldn't let her come, not this time. We argued for about twenty minutes until she just stormed out of my cell and spent the rest of the morning with Michonne, Rick and Glenn, even trying to persuade Rick to let her come but he told her he needed her to take care of Carl in his absence.

I knew Cecilia was terrified of being left alone because of what happened the last time I went on a run and she stayed, it made me a bit uneasy as well but I trusted Maggie, Glenn and Michonne, I knew they wouldn't let anything bad to happen to her, especially if they were around her all the time.

I went for my arrows, crossbow and gun and my backpack, we were going to leave in ten minutes. When I went down the stairs again I caught Cecilia already looking at me, she looked away as I reached the bottom of the stairs and said something to Michonne, who was in front of her.

"I'll borrow her for a second," I muttered as I put my hand on Cecilia's back and guided her a few steps away from Michonne.

When we got to the corner of the room, Cecilia leant her back against the grey wall, she crossed her arms and almost glared at me as her blue eyes looked into my own, I sighed, hating her to be upset at me, especially when I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Cecilia," I said softly, leaning forward a bit so our faces were closer. "Trust me when I say you can't come this time, you'll be okay. No one will let something bad happening to you."

"What if they can't stop it?" she muttered in a very low tone.

"I'll be back in less than three hours. He's gone Cecilia, no one in here will harm you in any way," I told her, daring to rest my hand on her shoulder and slightly gave it a squeeze. "If it makes you feel safer, I can lock you in your cell."

"No," she said in a firm tone as she shook her head. "I don't want to be locked like if I'm the bad one here. Just go... I suppose I can survive a few hours without you and Rick."

I leant even further and pressed my lips against hers, I could tell she had a hard time resisting me because eventually she kissed me back. I broke the kiss and pulled her into a hug, pecking the top of her head as I held her close to me.

"I'll be back soon," I whispered as I loosened my grip on her. "Promise."

I completely let go of her, starting to walk away from her. As I was taking a sigh, I felt someone grabbing my wrist, spinning me around and soon I felt warm, soft lips on mine, instinctively I kissed her back until she pulled away. I couldn't help but smile, loving the way her lips feel against mine and knowing that she wasn't as upset at me.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you more," I muttered with a smirk.

With a final peck, I walked away and this time she didn't stop me, even when part of me was hoping she would. On my way to the car I spotted Carl talking to his father, who was leant against the car. Carl turned around and started to leave when I stopped him from walking any further, I crouched a bit so I was at his level.

"Hey, Carl, would you take care of Cecilia while we are gone?" I asked, making a small smile appear on Carl's lips. "She's always asked to look after you but this time you should look after her, not the other way around."

"My dad just told me that, did you talk about it or what?"

"Not really," I said, a bit surprised. "So, will ya?"

"Of course."

I stood straight again and then ruffled Carl's long brown hair, making him grunt and slap my hand away while I just chuckled and got in the driver seat, Rick had already started the engine. Maggie opened the gate for us and I drove out of the prison, holding the wheel tightly, I was getting a bit nervous.

"It's been almost two months," Rick said about ten minutes after we left the prison. "Maybe pushing her a bit out of her comfort zone will help her get better, returning to be the Cecilia we all know, not this scared mouse she has become."

Cecilia was still strong in every way, I was sure of that. If walkers were after her or she was cornered in a building, I knew she would fight and be able to escape but she wasn't afraid of those disgusting things, they weren't the problem, she was scared of something more disgusting but he was long gone now.

"I suppose you're right. If I'm always there she will always hide behind me and I will gladly let her. I have to let go too." I sighed. I wanted to be there to protect her, to keep her away from any evil thing, to just be her knight in shining armour but deep down I knew that wasn't like the Cecilia I knew, she could protect herself, the only knight she needed to rescue her was herself.

I hated that I needed to give her some space so she can become independent again, she couldn't rely on me for everything even when I would love that. She needed to stop being afraid of walking out of block C by herself, or being left alone with Judith, I understood this was hard for her but she needed to get her thoughts together and stop fearing that Sean was going to get her again because he was dead.

"Are you sure about this?" Rick asked me, I knew he was referring to what we were doing.

"I am, as sure as I can be," I muttered, slightly glancing at him.

"Well, I'm proud of you, Daryl."

Cecilia's POV

It had been around two hours since Daryl and Rick left, I would lie if I say I didn't freak out as soon as the car was out of my sight but now I was a bit more calm, I was better.

I was with Carl in our kitchen inside block C, we were just talking, for some reason he had refused to leave my side, I didn't mind, though. I love having him around.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Oliver, two tables away from ours. He hadn't been himself since Teresa died and now with the Se... him, incident, he just got worse. He kept mostly to himself and avoided any kind of eye contact. I felt sad for him.

Teresa was his girlfriend for about three years, if you counted the months after the outbreak started, and he lost her. And even after everything that happened between Sean and Oliver, they got over it and got very close, they were best friends and now Oliver lost him as well, leaving him all alone.

He had always been my friend but lately the blond man hadn't really even talked to me, it seemed like since we got separated all those months ago our bond was almost broken, we were friendly towards each other but all the trails of our friendship were just gone and with this, that bond was completely broken and buried deep down.

A part of me wanted to go talk to him because I missed him but the other part wouldn't dare to, so I stayed in my seat, just glancing at him every once in a while. I moved on after my sister died, after Teresa died, after Andrea and Merle died and I was working on it now that Sean was gone, but if I got over all that, he can as well.

"Cici?" Carl muttered shyly, which was a bit out of the ordinary. I only looked oddly at him.

"Yes, Carl?"

"Do you... Do you think I'll ever have the chance to have a girlfriend?" he asked me as he scratched the back of his neck. His cheek turned a crimson colour and he dropped his gaze to his hands, he was nervously playing with his fingers, making me smile. "Do you think I will even have my first kiss?"

"When we first met I think you told me you would never like girls," I said in a teasing tone. "What happened to that?"

Carl was fourteen years old now and in normal circumstances he would probably have a crush on some girl of his class, or a neighbour or just someone, but the girl closest to his age was Beth and then me and then probably his sister.

"Nothing, I just wondered," Carl told me. "I was just curious about how it felt to kiss someone."

"Why the sudden curiosity?"

"Don't laugh, okay? But the other night I had a dream in which I kissed this girl and well... even when it was a weird feeling, I sort of felt it and it felt... wet and weird. I don't know. So it just got me thinking, that's all."

I smiled at the young boy. I remember I used to have dreams like that before I had my first kiss and he was right... they felt wet.

"I can't really explain how it feels," I said to him sadly. "I guess you just have to experience it yourself."
"If I ever get to do that..." Carl said with a shrug. "It must be nice, though. You and Daryl do it all the time."

"We don't do it all the time," I exclaimed, blushing more than I liked. "But yeah, it feels nice. How do you even know, though? We never kiss in front of people."

"Well... I have to make sure things are okay, you know?" he said, getting nervous again. "Just to check I don't have to intervene."

"Carl! You spy on us!?"

"Just for the right reasons, I got you two together, I have to make sure you stay together. There's nothing to do anymore besides that. If I had known I wouldn't have gotten you together so quickly. It was fun to plan and seeing how things worked and all."

"What am I going to do with you?" I sighed.

"Love me?" he asked innocently as he shrugged. I shook my head as I sighed again.

"You are lucky to be so adorable," I told him as I messed up his hair.

Right then, Oliver stood up and walked out of the room with loud footsteps. He was scary and honestly I was afraid he was going to become crazy and do something like Sean, everyone else was scared but not for that reason, I heard Hershel and Maggie talking the other day, they think he's going to kill himself that's why he isn't allowed to carry a gun or even a knife.

"He won't hurt you, you know that, right?" Carl muttered but I didn't respond, I still could hear his footsteps as he went to his cell. "He was your friend before this, he wouldn't do anything. Besides, if he even tries he has to go through me first." I smiled at that. "And Daryl, and my dad, Maggie, Glenn, Michonne, just everyone. He just won't hurt you."

"Thanks, Carl."

Daryl's POV

"There," Rick exclaimed, pointing to a shop to our left. I smiled and parked the car in front of the store. I put the keys in my pocket and then got out of the car, followed by Rick.

The place was almost intact, I guess people now weren't interested in these things anymore, they were pretty useless now.

But some people probably thought that this problem was going to be over soon and broke into other shops of this kind and stole pretty much everything, thinking they were going to get a lot of money, if they lived long enough they probably got really disappointed to realize money and such things weren't worth anything anymore.

"Come on," Rick told me as he made sure there were no walkers inside.

Rick broke the glass with a kick and then removed the remaining glass from it so we could go through it, luckily it was big enough for us to pass through, we didn't even have to crouch or anything.

The place was untouched, everything was in its place, but everything was covered in dust, I guess this happens when you leave a place untouched for almost two years.

I awkwardly walked around the place, not knowing how or where to start. This was foreign to me and I didn't have a clue of what I was doing. A part of me wanted it to be like before, that there would be a person behind the counter that would be willing to help you out even when I considered them annoying before.

I looked at Rick, who was standing by the broken window, making sure we were alone here and we wouldn't have unexpected 'visitors' but I knew deep down that he was probably giving me some space, giving me privacy.

Never in my life I thought I would be doing this, I never thought I would actually walked into a jewellery store because I needed something, not because I wanted to steal an item, not that I have ever done that.

I barely had money to buy myself food and gas for my truck, much less to buy jewels, I didn't even have a girl to give jewels to back in the day. Besides, I wasn't that kind of man, I thought it was stupid but this was different, I wasn't here to get Cecilia something meaningless.

The idea got inside my head even before she was taken, even before people got sick but I kept it at the back of my head because I knew it was stupid and unnecessary, I knew I didn't need to do this but a part of me wanted to and after all that happened I decided to just do it.

I knew no one would be encouraging this, or even accepting or letting me do this, not even Michonne, but I knew Rick would, so that's why I asked him to come with me, not only for safety reasons but also because I needed him in so many ways right now that I couldn't even explain, it was so weird that I needed someone like that. The others back at the prison thought we were just getting stuff for Judith.

"Everything okay?" Rick asked when he noticed I had moved more than a few inches in the last ten minutes or so.

"Yeah, well maybe, actually no... I have no idea what to do, where to look. I just don't know." I sighed as I admitted it, I never liked to tell people stuff like this because I felt exposed and I had always done things myself, never needing help from someone else.

"Come," Rick said as he walked further into the store and looked down at the glass counters that let us see the jewels inside. At the very back though was what I came looking for.

I looked down as I rested my elbows on the glass, bending down a bit so I could have a closer look. Rick moved to the left so he could help me look, all the things I saw were beautiful but there was nothing that made me feel like that certain piece was the one.

"Rick," I spoke, not looking up at the blue-eyed man. "You already went through this, how did you do it?"

I heard Rick chuckled as I took a small, simple ring with my big and dirty hand. It was cute but not what I was looking for so I put it back down.

"Well, my sister helped me to be honest. It happened maybe seventeen years ago, I was so young and I had no idea what I was doing," Rick confessed. He chuckled as he stopped looking and he closed his eyes as he was remembering. "She took me to this store and the woman there showed me so many rings it overwhelmed me but then I saw... the one, you know? But it was so expensive, I just couldn't pay it. My parents had to give me money because my sister told them how much I wanted that ring, it was ridiculous. It wasn't even for me and I wanted it so bad. She loved it probably more than I did... Lori, she wouldn't take it off. That made it all worth it."

"What about the next part, you know? What did you do?" I asked nervously, I tried to hide the fact that was making me uneasy but Rick could tell.

"I took her out for dinner, we normally did that but this was a fancier restaurant and instead of dropping her off at her house we walked around this park close by. We were in front of this statue that was there and I just knelt on one knee and asked her, just like that. Simple, cheesy and now that I think about it, pathetic but she said yes, which is what matters," Rick finished with a chuckle.

"Right," I muttered, chuckling too, but mine was a nervous chuckle. I never thought I would be like this over this kind of things, actually I never thought I would be going through this kind of situation.

"Daryl, look, don't be nervous about it, just ask her, I'm sure she will say yes. She loves you."

"I know, it's just... I feel like I'm rushing things and that everything will get awkward and eventually come to an end. I mean, we haven't even been together for a whole year and after everything that happened lately, what if she hasn't recovered and she isn't ready for this?" I asked, turning to face Rick, who was already looking at me. "She almost died and was abused by that fucking idiot and her mum is not around anymore, I just don't want to mess more things for her."

"If you feel it's not the right time, then be patient and wait until you think it's right," Rick said as he took two steps towards me. "You told me about this weeks ago, which means that you have had this on your mind for quite a while, you want to do this and it might be unexpected but maybe this is what Cecilia needs. Something happy, something that will give her strength to carry on."

"I hope you are right," I mumbled, still unsure.

"Look, life is not what it used to be. People went on dates, did romantic stuff and were together for a while before even thinking about getting married but now the closest thing to a date is being on the tower keeping watch at the same time and as we just witnessed, life is so fragile. We don't have the luxury of hesitating, of thinking things twice, because once we make up our minds, it might be too late," he told me as he put his hand over my shoulder. "Look at me for example, I loved Lori with all my heart, even after what she did. But I was too busy trying to keep everyone alive that I... neglected her. I wanted to kiss her and hold her and tell her that I still loved her but I couldn't, I was too hurt, especially because I had to kill my best friend. I couldn't even look her in the eye and I kept making excuses to not be around her and I couldn't do all the things that I wanted to do, the things that my anger and resentment stopped me from doing. She was gone and it was too late."

"I'm sorry, man," I muttered. "You are right. You just have to do what you feel like doing, no second thoughts, no waiting until tomorrow, because there might not be a tomorrow."
Rick nodded at me and went back to look down at the jewels and I did the same, every once in a while Rick would show me something he found cute but still I hadn't seen anything that screamed to me that it was the right one.

When I first got the idea... the feeling of wanting to propose to Cecilia, I was unsure of it and ignored it at first but the feeling just got stronger. I talked to Rick and would hint it but he never caught on.

I had told Rick about it probably two or three weeks before all the chaos but it was exactly the morning we found out about the virus and people dying and turning in Block D that I told Rick I had made up my mind and I wanted to look for a ring. It was the morning right after Cecilia had told me she loved me when she thought I was sleeping. He encouraged me to keep with it and Rick actually got happy with the things I told him, I said I was going to discuss it with Carol but I never got the chance.

Actually, now that Carol was gone I felt obliged to ask Rick for permission to marry Cecilia. He was a fatherly figure to her and I knew Cecilia loved him as a father. Rick smiled and gave me his blessing and now he was here, helping me with this when no one back in the prison knew what we were really doing, especially Carl, he would get so excited that something would give him away, if he just didn't spill anything, which I think he eventually would, at least to Michonne or Glenn.

"If it serves of anything," Rick said suddenly after a long silence. "Glenn proposed to Maggie after they both were kidnapped and you know what happened to them. He asked her right in the middle of this war with the Governor. Those were hard times and look at them now. Maggie was really affected and it took her time to get over it but she did. They both did. Like I said, maybe it's what Cecilia needs, what the two of you need."

"Yeah," I muttered, not knowing what else to say. I really couldn't do anything with deep talks.

I kept looking and looking. I was actually getting a bit discouraged that I wasn't finding anything that I just loved, nothing was standing out for me. I sighed out of frustration when I just saw it.

I crouched as I took the silver-coloured ring in my hand.

The ring had a big diamond in the centre, as the rest, but there were small white and light green stones covering most of it. The ring was uncommon, which was what I liked plus green was Cecilia's favourite colour, this was definitely the one.

"I found it, Rick," I told him as I showed him the ring. He looked at it quickly before giving it back to me as a smiled formed in his lips.

But immediately after that, Rick rushed me to get back to the car. We had taken too long in there. When we walked outside we saw about ten walkers coming our way, we hadn't even heard or seen them before. Rick got into the driver seat while I got in the passenger seat this time, as we agreed we would before all of this. I handed him the keys quickly, before any of them got to the car.

We didn't shoot or stab any walker but Rick actually ran two over, making blood splash all over the place but we didn't stay long enough to watch it.

"That was close," Rick commented about two minutes later. "I'm glad we came out of there without a single stain of blood in my clothes."

"Yeah," I agreed. Sometimes it was better just to run and not get your hands dirty.

I raised my hand as once again I looked at the ring, it was just perfect. I knew Cecilia would love it. I was actually so excited about this, I wish Merle would be here, even when he would just mock me for this but I knew he would be happy, he liked Cecilia and she liked him. Normally, people didn't like him but Cecilia was different, she was able to see beyond his flaws and rude attitude and got on his good side.

"You better start thinking about how you are going to ask her," Rick told me with a smile on his lips.

"Rick?"

"Hmm?"
"Thanks for coming with me," I told him. "No one else would have agreed to come on this crazy run with me."

"That's what we do," Rick told me, allowing himself to glance at me for a second before he looked back at the road as he kept one hand on the wheel. "We support each other."

Hello guys, who watched this week's episode? There were two parts that really broke my heart. I won't get into details for the people who haven't watched it but it was Enid, and Rick talking to Michonne at the end of the episode.

I have a question to all of you. In season 5, when Daryl goes with Carol to Atlanta to look for Beth, should Cecilia go instead of Carol, or should she go along with the two of them or should they just disappear and Cecilia has no idea where they are and she gets mad when Daryl is back? What do you think will be best?

And pleaseeeee tell me what you think about Daryl is thinking about doing :D