Max walked through the gates of Alexandria tired and covered in cuts and bruises and was very dirty. The boy had never been out on his own before and got a little lost, then ran into some problems with walkers. Max didn't have much training when it came to the dead so he did quite a lot of running. The boy himself was surprised that he even made it back. He got lucky.

Max still wanted to tell Rick about Abby, but first, he needed to take care of himself. He headed towards his house to eat and get cleaned up. His mom, Clara, was on the porch before he even set foot onto the sidewalk. "Maxwell, you get up here now!" She yelled. Max obliged. The mother first embraced her son feeling relieved that he was okay. "Where have you been?" She asked releasing him and looking at his face.

"I, uh…I went on a run?" The boy said sounding like a question.

"Out there?" Clara's eyes widened along with her voice. "By yourself?"

Max was about to say that he was when he had a thought. "No. I was, uh…with Abby."

Clara became very angry now. Abby! That girl sometimes. Clara looked towards the home where she resided. She should've known not to let Max go with her on a run. Plus, no one said anything to her about it. Abby's old enough to know not to do something irresponsible like that. The older woman would have to have a talk with her and her dad later. Right now, she needed to deal with her son. "Get inside. You're grounded." She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

"Aw, come on, mom." Max complained.

"Don't wanna hear it." Clara said as she closed the front door behind her.

Abby's POV

I took a shower before I went to bed this morning, I didn't smell too great after swimming in the river so I refused to get into bed like that. It was still early afternoon but I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, even though I still felt tired, so I just decided to get up.

I brushed my teeth and fixed my hair a little but didn't bother to change out of my pajamas, which was a pair of grey and black plaid shorts that looked like boxers and a grey tank top to match. I wasn't going anywhere today so there's no reason to change right now.

I made my way downstairs and yawned while walking into the kitchen. The only person I saw was Daryl, he was sitting at the counter. "Hey." I said tiredly and started to make myself some coffee. There was still some in the coffee pot, I just had to heat it. The mug I picked up looked dirty inside. I scrunched up my nose as I examined it. "Ew." I said. Just then, I felt a hard slap on my bottom that made me jolt. "Ahhh!" I squealed and turned around wide-eyed. Daryl was now getting something out of the fridge. I let out a laugh. "God." I said. I continued making my coffee. "I'm still tired."

"Would ya get up for then?" He asked me.

I shrugged and sipped my coffee. "I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Huh." Daryl said. "Why'd ya do that anyway? Why'd ya stay up all night?"

I couldn't tell Daryl that I stayed up and talked with Leon for obvious reasons so I just said, "I don't know."

There was a brief pause. "What's this about you lookin' fer a boyfriend?"

I looked at him wide-eyed and in confusion. "What?"

"Yer dad and Michonne said you went out the other day lookin' fer a boyfriend."

I blinked a few times and thought…then I remembered. "Oh." I relaxed and waved him off. "That was a joke. I was just jokin' around." I smirked.

"Better be." Daryl raised his voice a little. "You don't need a boyfriend. You got me to protect you." He smirked.

I swallowed my coffee and waved him off. "I can protect myself." I said with my eyes closed and a smirk. "And also, that's not the only thing boyfriends are good for." I couldn't hide my grin.

Daryl smirked too. "None 'a that." He pointed at me. "They only want one thang."

I raised my eyebrows and looked down. "I have had a boyfriend before ya know."

"Oh yeah?" He questioned me and kind of looked up. "He kiss you?"

I gave him a stupid look. "Of course."

"Bet he weren't better than me."

I took a long gulp of my coffee and finished it, then exhaled. "Prove it." I teased him. Daryl started fast walking towards me, it surprised me a little so I hurriedly sat my mug in the sink just before he grabbed my face with both hands causing my lips to pucker a little and gave me a big smooch on the lips. He let me go and kind of shoved me away a little. My eyes were wide but I was smiling with my mouth open. I was shocked that he did that but it was funny too. I could feel the blush on my cheeks.

"I can't believe you just did that." I said while laughing.

"You told me to." He shrugged and bit an apple. "Wasn't I better?" He smirked.

"Yeah." I raised my eyebrows. "You were better." I had a thought just then. "I was probably the best you ever had too." I teased him.

Daryl looked like he was thinking. "You tasted like coffee. You got coffee breath." He teased me back, then laughed.

I knew he was only joking but it made me a little mad that he didn't say I was good too. "Yeah, well…you don't even wanna know what you tasted like." I said as I walked by him, I was only half joking. He laughed.

My dad walked in from outside now. "Oh, you're up?" He said sounding a bit surprised. "I thought you'd still be asleep."

"Nah." I just shrugged. Daryl walked out pretty much as my dad come in. "I don't really get good sleep anymore. But I guess no one does." I crossed my arms.

"Yeah." He said. "So where were you yester— My dad was cut off by the sound of a knock at the door. He answered it. It was Max's mom. Wonder what she wants?

"Hi, I don't know if you remember me but—

"Clara." My dad said and nodded with a smile.

"Yeah." She said then paused. "We have a bit of a problem."

"What is it?" My dad asked concerned.

Clara turned her attention to me. "Abby, I would appreciate it if you tell me the next time you take my son on a run. He doesn't have much experience so I don't even want him out there yet." She looked at my dad when she said the last part and shook her head.

I was super confused and just stared at her. "Uh…what?"

"Max said you took him on a run yesterday." Clara sounded more angry now. "He came home covered in cuts and bruises."

My mouth was open and I shook my head a little. "I didn't…" I trailed off and stopped myself because I suddenly had a thought. I remembered that Max wanted to come with me yesterday but I turned him down, if he followed me then he might know about Leon. Maybe if I lie and take the fall for him, he won't get in as much trouble and he'll keep my secret too. "Uh," I looked down, "yeah, sorry about that." I looked back up at her. "I thought it was okay."

Clara's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Well…just don't let it happen again."

"Sure thing." I said.

My dad gave me a look, then looked at Clara. "Sorry about this. I had no idea."

She nodded. "Neither did I." She left after that.

My dad closed the door, then turned to me. "Abigail, what were you thinking? Why would you do that?"

"I didn't." I admitted. "He must've followed me."

He gave me a look. "You just said—

"I know. I just didn't want to get him in more trouble."

My dad stopped and breathed out. "Okay." He nodded like he understood, then he walked away.

I looked down at the floor. If Max really followed me…I wonder how much he knows? I'm gonna have to have a little chat with him later and find out.

Later that day, I helped make dinner. I found an apron the other day when I was out, it had a funny saying on it. It said. I guess you can make a housewife out of a hoe. I thought it was funny and wanted to wear it in front of the others, especially my dad. I loved teasing him with stuff like that.

"Hey, you guys like my apron?" I asked and showed them. They all looked and kind of laughed.

"I don't like that." My dad said.

"Why not?" I smirked.

"Cuz my daughter isn't a hoe." He said. Me, Daryl and Michonne all laughed pretty hard at that.

"Well, better get started with dinner." I said. I had another thought to tease him some more. "Wait…should I wear nothing but this?" I smirked.

"Stop." My dad said. We all laughed again.

I got to making dinner now. We were having spaghetti, I was currently stirring the sauce in the pot and thinking about Leon. I really enjoyed the time we spent together last night. I daydreamed about it with a smile on my face as I was stirring.

"Abby?" Michonne said bringing me out of my reverie. I looked at her. "You okay?" She kind of smiled a little.

"Yeah." I said feeling a bit embarrassed that I was caught. "I was just…remembering something funny." I cleared my throat and looked down at the sauce. "This should be hot enough."

The four of us and Judith sat at the table and ate our spaghetti dinner. I was telling them one of my stories and making them laugh. "There was this kid in school that used to walk around like this," I scowled and hunched my back, "like he hated everyone and wanted to kill them. Then the one day in the cafeteria, one of the lunch ladies made him laugh and I was like," I jumped back dramatically. They laughed. "It scared me."

"Why?" My dad said.

"Cuz that kid had one expression." I said. They laughed again. "I mean…I don't wanna be mean. He had a nice smile." I grinned. "…but it scared me." We all laughed some more.

The rest of the dinner was nice, but I couldn't get my mind off of Max, which was making my anxiety spike up. I had a good idea and decided to make cookies after dinner. Some for us, some for Leon as a trade and some for Max. Maybe I can bribe him?

After I made the cookies, I divided them and took some up to my room to hide for Leon, then grabbed five for Max, the rest can be for us. I put them on a little plate and walked them over to Max's house ringing the doorbell. Clara answered the door, she looked a little surprised.

"Hey." I smiled. "Sorry to bother you. I was just wondering how Max was doing?"

"He's fine." She said. "He's in his room resting."

I nodded then paused. "Well…would I be able to see him? I brought him some cookies." I smiled.

Clara kind of sighed. "Sure but…make it quick. He's grounded."

"Okay." I let out a laugh. I followed Max's mom into the house, then up the stairs into his room.

"Max." Clara said. "You have company."

I stepped into his room, he was playing with a Nintendo DS and looked up at me. I smiled. "Hey, Max? How you feeling?"

He looked a little surprised. "Fine?"

"Good." I looked down at the plate. "I brought you some cookies." I held then out.

"…thanks." Max raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be downstairs." Clara said and walked away.

I dropped the act as soon as Max's mom left and was out of earshot. I walked more into the room and pinned him with a dead serious stare. "You followed me yesterday?"

Max looked a little taken aback. "Uh…yeah."

"Where?" I squinted.

"…to the river."

I stared at him a minute and tilted the plate almost dropping the cookies. "What do you know?"

Max swallowed hard. "I know. About your savior friend." He was trying to act tough but that wouldn't work on me. "And don't even think about trying to bribe me with cookies because as soon as I'm ungrounded, I'm going right over to your house and telling your dad."

"Max, you can't." I said wide-eyed.

"Why not?"

"It would cause so many problems." I shook my head. "Besides, you owe me. I did you a favor today." I pointed out. "Your mom came over and yelled at me for taking you on a run and I went along with your lie so you wouldn't get in more trouble than you already are." My expression hardened. "So if you blow my secret, then I'll blow yours and you can have fun being grounded for a month."

"That doesn't scare me." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Once I tell your dad and everyone knows what you're doing, it'll take the heat off of me and put it onto you."

I exhaled angrily. This conversation wasn't going how I planned it out in my head. "Max, I'm asking you as a friend. Don't do this to me."

He snorted. "Some friend you are. You think I'm just some dumb kid. I thought you were different but you're just like everyone else."

I rolled my eyes. Teenage drama. "Max…you're not just some dumb kid, but you are a kid. Your mom and everyone else just wants to keep you safe." I breathed out. "One day, you'll be older and you'll wish for what you have now."

Max looked down and looked like he was thinking. "Okay, fine." He finally said. "I'll keep your secret." I sighed in relief. "On one condition." I looked at him. What could he possibly want? "Next time you go out…can you get me a skateboard?" He grinned.

I smiled back. "Sure."

I met Leon at our spot the next day. "I brought you some cookies." I said with a smile plastered on my face and handed him the container.

He looked surprised. "Stop." He said and immediately opened it and ate one. "Aw so good." He said while chewing and closed his eyes. I had to laugh at his reaction. He shoved a whole other one in his mouth.

"Oh my God. Slow down." I said. "Jeez, you'd think you never had a cookie before." I let out a laugh.

"Cookies are my favorite." Leon said while still chewing. "My mom used to call me Cookie Monster."

I laughed. "I'm so gonna call you that now." I teased him.

He laughed and nodded. "Oh yeah. I have something for you too." He finished chewing and swallowed then got something out of his bag. It was a big jar of pickles.

"What?" I said surprised. "No way." I took them from him and looked at them. They were really dark green. "Are these homemade?"

"Yeah. Someone at The Sanctuary knows how to make them." He nodded.

I grinned real big, then opened the jar and bit one. It was really good. "Oh my God. It's been so long since I had a pickle." I finished that one and grabbed another.

"Yeah. You said the other night that you loved pickles so…" He shrugged.

"Thanks so much, Adam." I smiled.

"Don't mention it, Cathy." He laughed. "And thanks for the cookies too."

We smiled at each other. Something changed in the air and my smile faded as we stared more intimately at each other. Leon took a step closer to me, I responded by moving closer to him. We both leaned in, our lips locked. The kiss lasted more than five seconds but less than ten…probably. It was nice.

We pulled apart and smiled at each other. I suddenly thought about when Daryl kissed me yesterday, it was more of a funny like joke thing. But my kiss with Leon was passionate, it was completely different. It was just a kiss, but it changed everything. I knew right then from that moment on that things would be different between us.

Leon and I hung out every single day for weeks. We were officially a couple and I loved spending time with him. I would go out in the morning and come home late in the evening or sometimes if it got too late, we would just stay out all night.

I loved laying there by the riverbank and looking up at the night sky and seeing all the stars. Leon knew a lot about space and pointed out certain stars and planets to me. Afterwards, we turned to face each other with our foreheads touching. It felt so nice to be so intimate with another person. I've never felt this way about anyone before. I think I'm in love with Leon.

"That was a good one." I said to Leon as he looked at the big fish he just caught. "I'm jealous of who gets to eat that." I smirked.

Leon laughed. "Well, you caught way more than me so…"

I smiled. He took his big fish off the line and put it with my fish. "Hey, what are you doing? You caught that. That's yours."

"I want you to have it."

"No, you got it." I said seriously. "You take it." I picked it up and threw it at him, then laughed.

He smirked back at me. "You're difficult sometimes, Cathy."

"Cathy was always difficult." I teased back.

"Yeah she was." We both laughed, then kissed each other.

I smiled at him, then touched his face. "I gotta go." I said beginning to gather my stuff.

"It's early." He stated.

"I know but," I slung my bag on my back, "I promised Max I'd get him a skateboard, and I still haven't gotten it so I told myself that today I'm definitely doing it."

Leon was quiet a minute. "Max?"

I smiled. "Don't worry. He's just the kid who lives next door. He's like my little brother." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh good." He grinned that grin. We kissed again before I left.

I handed over the fish that I caught and it was divided amongst all the residents. Now I was testing out Max's skateboard around the community. It's been a long time since I skateboarded and I kind of missed it.

It was getting dark so I headed towards my house but continued to ride in the street. Daryl was on the porch smoking a cigarette. I figured that was enough skating and walked up onto the porch to go in. "Yer pretty good." He said.

"Thanks." I smiled. "I used to skate before. It's been a while." I shrugged.

"Where'd you get it?"

"Just in some little store." I stated. "It's not for me though, it's for Max."

"Max?" Daryl questioned.

"Yeah the kid next door. I promised him I get him one." I let out a laugh.

Daryl kind of smirked. "I remember when I used to get thangs fer you." He said. I looked at him. "Now ya get 'em yerself." I let out a laugh because I didn't know what to say to that. "You go out a lot now."

"Uh, yeah." I said feeling a bit guilty. The others think that I go out looking for food and supplies but I'm actually just hanging with Leon. At least we're by the river that we can fish though and I have something to show for it.

There was a brief pause after that.

"Looks like you got some sun on yer face." Daryl said.

I touched my face. "Yeah, I can feel it too."

"You should put somethin' on that."

"Yeah." I nodded. "I will." I looked towards the door, then back at Daryl. "I'm gonna go in I think."

"Alright, night." He said.

"Night." I smiled. I went straight up to my room after that. I took a shower, then looked at myself in the mirror. My nose and forehead were red from sunburn, there was a little redness on my cheeks too. I remembered what Daryl said and put some aloe on it. It felt nice.

My dad walked in when I was getting ready for bed. "Oh good. You're home." He said. "Abby." He shook his head, then paused. I gave him a curious look. "Where have you been?"

"I just went down to the river and got some fish." I shrugged.

"No, I mean…where have you been for weeks?" He said. "You know you don't have to go out every single day, right?"

"I know." I shook my head. "I like it." I shrugged.

"Well, I would like it if you gave yourself a break. Take a couple days off."

I stared at him. I didn't see what the big deal was. "Why?"

"Because I'm worried about you." He said. "And I miss you. So does Judith. She keeps asking for you every night."

I looked down feeling guilty again. "I'll go see her. Is she still up?"

"No." He said quickly. There was a pause as we just stared at each other.

"Dad, I'm sorry, okay?" I said. "I didn't realize. I just thought…about helping out."

His expression softened. "It's okay. Just…please consider what I said about not goin' out so much."

"Sure." I said.

My dad walked over to me and kissed my forehead. "I love you."

I smiled. "I love you too." We said goodnight to each other, then he left and I got into bed. I stared wide-eyed at the wall. My dad wants me here, Leon wants me there and I wanna be there more than here but I also don't want to upset my dad. Fuck. I thought. What am I going to do now?

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