Leon and I just crossed this really high bridge, it was probably the highest bridge I've ever seen. There was a building at the end that must have been a visitation center for tourists because there were pamphlets and a gift shop inside. We found out from looking at a poster on the wall that this bridge is the second highest bridge in the United States. The tallest bridge is somewhere in Colorado.

We thought that was pretty cool though so we went down under the bridge where the river was. It was a long, windy way down but we eventually made it there. "Wow." I said looking up at the bridge. "That's crazy."

"Yeah." Leon agreed. "Not as crazy as two young fools in love who ran away with each other." We looked at each other and laughed, then we kissed for a moment. "I wanna go for a swim." Leon said and jumped into the water. I smiled and copied him.

We played and danced around in the water and laughed and had a good time. It's been about a month since we left home now, and I wasn't regretting anything. I was happier than ever.

I read from one of the pamphlets that there was a nice place to hike right around the same area so we drove up to the spot and parked, then started out on the hike. It took us about an hour to do the whole thing but it was so worth it once we saw the view. There was a big rock cliff at the end that you could stand on and see for miles. The bridge was across the way.

"It's beautiful." I said looking out.

"Yeah, it is." Leon nodded. I pulled out my iPod and took some photos of us. Maybe one day, I can somehow print them out and hang them up. In our house where we'll live together and maybe have a kid…or two…maybe even three. And we'll raise them to be strong like us and teach them how to survive. Then, we'll grow old together. We'll eventually die, but…it'll be quiet like how it's supposed to be. And we can both say that we lived happy lives.

We checked around in the area for food and supplies and anything useful. There were some small shops and stuff where we were able to get a little bit. But we discovered something kind of weird. There was this Christmas shop, why they were set up for Christmas though is beyond me. When the turn happened, it was in the springtime so there shouldn't've been any Christmas stuff left out in any stores.

"Maybe it's an all year round Christmas store." Leon said with a laugh.

"It must be." I said. "But it's still weird."

"It's kind of nice too." Leon held me from behind. I smiled. We stared at the decorated Christmas trees. "Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches." He sang.

"Oh no." I laughed. "Not more singing." I teased him. I actually liked it though. This is what Christmas could be like for us. We decorate the tree and house and sing Christmas carols. Once we have kids, Leon can hold them up so they can put the star on top of the tree. Then, they can open their presents on Christmas day. And Leon and I will smile at each other because things can still be like they used to.

Leon and I found an apartment complex and picked one of the apartments, made sure it was clear, then cleaned up inside and made it our own. Our current location was about three hours from where the lunatic asylum was. We've been gone about two months now and things were great.

I opened my eyes and was looking right at Leon's face, he was still asleep. I just watched him sleep for a while with a smile on my face. We fell in love fast and hard too. I love him so much that I can't even picture my life before I met him. And I didn't even want to try to picture it without him.

I quietly got up out of bed so that I didn't disturb him. After doing my usual morning routine, I went into the kitchen and decided to make us pancakes for breakfast. I had the first batch done and made when I felt arms wrap around me from behind making me smile. Leon kissed the back of my neck a bunch of times but slowly. It felt really nice and I liked it. He moved around to the side of my neck now.

"Stop." I said.

"Why stop?"

"Cuz." I turned and looked at him. "Do you want breakfast or sex?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

Leon looked like he was thinking. "Why can't it be both?"

I smirked. "Don't tempt me." I slapped his ass with the spatula as he walked away, then laughed.

I finished making the pancakes and set the plates on the table. "Adam!" I called Leon. "Breakfast is ready." He didn't say anything back. "Leon?" He still didn't answer me so I walked down the hall and looked for him. He wasn't in the bathroom so I checked in our room. "Leon?"

"Ahhh!" Leon jumped out and grabbed me. I screamed as he lifted me and spun me around. Then he set me down a little harder than he probably meant. A pain shot up my knee and I grimaced.

"Ow." I said.

"What I do?" Leon got serious real quick. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'm fine." I laughed. "You scared me."

He shrugged. "I thought it be funny."

I smiled. "Well, come on. Breakfast is ready."

We sat at the table and started to eat our pancakes. I moved a certain way, which made my knee hurt again. I cringed but he noticed. "Did I hurt you?" He asked.

"No." I sighed and decided to tell him. "I have a bad knee."

"A bad knee?" He questioned.

"Yeah, I had a pretty bad knee injury about a year or two ago. But…" I trailed off and shrugged. I wasn't sure I wanted to tell him the story and relive that awful memory.

"What happened?" He, of course, asked.

I was about to take a bite of pancake when he said that, I stopped and put down my fork while I thought. I inhaled deeply then exhaled before telling him. "When we first got to Alexandria, there was a lady in charge named Deanna. She assigned everyone a job and mine was a runner." I paused. "So we took a crew out to this place…and some bad stuff happened. We ended up trapped in revolving doors. There were walkers on both sides." Leon looked like he was super into the story. "One of the guys on the run crew pushed his way out, my leg got caught in between the door and…I think you can figure out the rest."

Leon's eyes were wide. "Oh damn." He said quietly. "What happened? Did…did you all make it out?"

I looked down sadly. Beth's face came into my mind. "No." I said.

Leon gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

I nodded. "It's okay." I sighed. "It sucks but…bad stuff always happens."

"Yeah, it does." He nodded in agreement. We went back to our food. "Is your knee okay though?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "It should be fine."

"Good." He smiled back. I ate a bite. "That would ruin the surprise."

I gave him a curious look. "Surprise?"

"I'm taking you somewhere today."

I was super curious now. "Where?"

He put the last of his food in his mouth and downed the rest of his coffee. "You'll see." He smiled and grabbed his plate taking it to the sink. I just watched him. "I'll do these." He offered.

"…okay?" I eyed him suspiciously. What is he up to?

The weather had gotten colder because we're in Fall now and also we're up north a little and it gets colder here so I wore warm clothes. Leon still hasn't told me where we're going. It looked like we were high up on top of a hill so I assumed we were going on a hike. But I couldn't figure out what was so special about a hike that he couldn't tell me.

That is, until I saw it.

"Come on." Leon said and held out his hand. I took it and we walked down these like rock stairs. I couldn't believe the view from where we were standing. It was way prettier than the other place we hiked to. We could see everything and I mean everything for miles. There was even a waterfall down below. It was beautiful.

"Oh my Gosh." I said.

"What do ya think?"

"It's…it's beautiful. Just…beautiful." I turned to him. "How'd you know about this place?"

"My parents took me when I was a kid." He said. "It sticks out in my memory so I had to take you. I wanted to see it again too."

"I love it." I kissed him gently then touched his face. "Thank you." He wrapped his arms around me from behind and we just stared out at the amazing view. I also took some pictures. I smiled and let out a laugh as I looked them over before putting my iPod back in my pocket.

"There's just…one more thing." Leon said. I looked up at him with a smile. He stood in front of me and put his hands on my arms. He was just staring at me intensely.

"What?" I said with a smile. He just kept staring at me. "What are you doing?" I laughed. Leon smiled real big and suddenly dropped to the ground on one knee in front of me. I realized immediately. "Stop." I said all giggly.

He pulled a small box from out of his coat pocket and opened it. I could see a small sparkly diamond. Is this really happening right now? "Abigail Grimes?" Leon said looking up at me. "Will you marry me?"

I got really excited and giggly. "Yes." I said. "Yes!"

Leon grinned from ear to ear, then stood up and kissed me hard. We pulled apart and he slid the ring on my finger. I looked at it and laughed. I just couldn't stop laughing. We embraced tightly after that and kissed again.

"I'm engaged." I said.

"We're engaged." He said.

"We are." I grinned. "We're engaged!" I yelled out over the cliff. I leaned back on him and breathed out, then looked down at the ring on my finger. I couldn't believe it.

Our nice moment was broken up by a snarl. We both turned at the same time. There was a walker at the top of the cliff. "It's just one." Leon said. "Just let it roll down the hill."

We watched as the walker took one step towards the stairs, then fell and rolled and tumbled down the hill. We looked at each other and laughed.

Just then, we heard another snarl. Then another. And then more. They were coming and rolling down the hill.

"Leon?" I said.

"Just stay here." He told me. "Maybe they'll all just fall off the cliff."

"Yeah, but…what if they get too close to— I was cut off by a walker that rolled over to where we were standing. We both jumped back away from each other. The walker was able to catch itself and got up and came towards us. Leon quickly killed it and pushed its body over the cliff.

But then, it happened again. And again. More were stopping on the landing. "I think we should—Ahh!" A walker grabbed onto me causing me to stumble.

"Abby!" Leon yelled.

I tried pushing the walker off me but it held on. Without realizing, we got too close to the edge and I went over. I screamed. The walker fell all the way down, but I caught myself and hung on the edge. I tried pulling myself up but wasn't strong enough. "Leon, help!"

"Abby!" He yelled. But he couldn't get to me, there were walkers on him too.

I grimaced as I tried like hell to pull myself up. "Leon!" I yelled. "I can't hold on much longer!"

Leon killed the walker that was currently on him, then was about to come to my aid but another walker grabbed onto him. My eyes widened. I might actually die here today.

Leon was able to get that walker off. My hands slipped and I let go just as he grabbed me. We locked eyes right before he hauled me up. I landed right in his arms. We held onto each other. We just got engaged and almost died.

We pulled apart and looked at each other still breathing heavily. The herd that was coming down the hill was gone. We were both still alive.

"Well," Leon started, "you know what they say about people who are in a life or death situation together, right?" He said in between breaths. I looked at him. "We're bonded for life."

I thought about what he said and breathed out, then laid back on the rock. He laid there with me. That might've been the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. But…we made it.

Leon and I should be celebrating our engagement, but after that near death experience, we were both still pretty shaken up by the time we got home. So we really didn't do much the rest of the day. Once we got in, we showered together and had sex. Then we ate dinner and had sex again, then we went to bed.

The next morning, we seemed to wake up at the same time looking at each other and smiled. "Morning, fiancee."

"Morning, fiancé." I said sweetly back. We kissed, then snuggled up with each other. I stared down at the ring on my finger with a big smile. "I can't believe I'm engaged." I giggled. Then, I had a thought. "Actually…are we engaged…or are we already married?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Don't you wanna have a wedding?"

I scoffed and gave him a stupid look. "How would we do that? Who would we invite to the wedding?"

He shrugged. "We don't have to do that. We don't have to have a big ceremony or anything." He said. "We could just…do something. Or go somewhere special."

I smiled at him sweetly. "That's what a honeymoon is, sweetheart." I teased him.

Leon let out a laugh. "We'll think of something to do for a wedding."

"Okay." I raised my eyebrows and started to get out of bed. I threw on one of Leon's shirts to make breakfast in.

Standing there at the stove, I was thinking more about the future while cooking. We could have an actual family here. I pictured Leon down on the sidewalk teaching our daughter how to ride a bike while I watch from the balcony with a smile on my face holding our newborn son. Years from then when the kids are grown enough, we can go on family bike rides and hikes. And then we can have picnics.

I smiled to myself. That's what I want. This is the life I always wanted but never thought I would actually have. Now that it's actually happening for me, I can't even think about what my life used to be like before. And I didn't want to either…because I was finally happy.

Leon set up a portable DVD player that he found and magically still worked so we were planning to watch a movie tonight. I walked over with a bowl of popcorn. "So," I started and ate some popcorn, "what are we watching?"

"There's some movies there." He pointed to a shelf. "Let's see." He started looking through them. "We could watch The Santa Claus?" He turned and smirked at me.

"No." I said and laughed.

"What about Animal House?"

"No." I gave him a weird look.

He laughed. "What about Shutter?"

I perked up. "I've seen it but it's really good."

"I haven't." He said. "Wanna watch it?" He turned and looked at me.

"Sure." I shrugged and continued to eat popcorn.

He put the disc in. "Hey, save me some popcorn." He teased me. I giggled. Leon sat back and put his arm around me, we were in the chair together. I moved closer to him and put my head on his chest. We fit together perfectly.

The movie started and Leon was already making commentary. "He's not even that good of a photographer." He said while chewing. "I could do so much better."

"Okay." I raised my eyebrows and teased him.

"I could." He said. "That's what I wanted to do before the turn."

I looked at him. "Really?" He nodded. I looked back at the movie. "You never told me."

He shrugged. "We never talked about it."

I thought for a minute. "I wanted to be a tattoo artist."

Leon let out a laugh. "Tattoo artist?" He said sounding surprised. "I never wouldn't guessed that."

"Well now you know." I smirked at him.

"You must be pretty good then."

I thought about his words then smiled. "Yeah. I guess I was."

"You'll have to give me a tattoo one day." He put his arm out. "I'd like one here." He showed me on his forearm. He already had small ones in certain places.

"What would you get?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I've always liked dragons."

I giggled a little. "Yeah. Dragons are cool." There was a pause. "I have a tattoo."

"Yeah, I know. I've seen it." He smirked at me.

"You should feel special." I smiled.

"Why is that?" He asked while looking at the screen.

"Because you're one of the few people who have seen it." I smiled at him sweetly. He looked at me and laughed. I giggled. It's true though. My dad doesn't even know about it. I've never told him and it's not like he'll ever see it because of where it is. I don't care if he knows about it now, but…it just never crossed my mind to tell him.

"I like being special if it means that." Leon said. I smiled.

Narrator's POV

Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon were driving around in a car. They decided to go north because that's the direction that Max told them that Abby and Leon headed. They had no idea where they could be, as far as they knew, they could be anywhere by this point. However, the two men decided to risk it and go north. They had to start somewhere.

"Knowing Abby," the father started to say, "they're probably in a house somewhere. We should stop and check every place we come across."

"That's the plan." Daryl said. There was a brief pause. "She hates the cold so maybe they didn't go north." He suggested. "Maybe she went back to Georgia." He looked at Rick and let out a small laugh.

"Yeah." Rick smirked a little. "I don't thank she'd do that though."

Daryl went back to staring out the window. There was a long pause between the two men as they thought. "Hey." Daryl said. "You give any thought about how we're gonna get 'er to come back?"

"What do you mean?" Rick glanced at his friend.

"What if she don't wanna come back?"

Rick thought for a minute then sighed. "I don't know. We'll have to explain to them how important it is for the groups." The man nodded. "Once she knows, I'm sure she'll come back with us."

"What comes after then?" He asked. "You really gonna let that guy live with us? With her?"

Rick inhaled before answering. "I really don't want that but…" He trailed off.

Daryl thought for a moment. "We could kill 'im." He said. "That's the simplest way to get 'er to come with us. And we won't have to worry about what to do with 'im after."

Rick sort of smirked at the other man. "As much as I'd like to…I don't think Abby would be too happy with us if we did that."

Daryl looked back out the window. "Yeah."

Abby's POV

I wasn't sure what time of year it was exactly, but it was getting colder. As much as I loved our little apartment, I did not love how cold it gets here. We talked and Leon and I decided to move back a little south. We could always come back if we want to.

We had Leon's motorcycle still, the air was cold on my face causing my eyes to tear up. It must be late November or early December, which means I should be twenty now. I'm finally not a teenager anymore.

I think we were back in Virginia actually. It was getting dark and we were still on the road. "I don't see any places around." Leon said. "We might have to set up camp and spend the night in the woods."

"Are you serious?" I said. I really didn't want that.

"We'll be okay." He said. "Hold on." He sped up a little, then began to slow down once we reached a better part of the woods. He pulled over and parked by a tree. We both hopped off, then Leon hid his bike under some bushes.

"You think we'll be safe enough here?" I asked him looking around. It was completely dark now.

"Yeah, I think we'll be fine." He nodded at me.

We walked around in the woods a little trying to find anything we could use to make our area a little more secure. I kept getting these strange feelings, but decided to keep them to myself and not say anything to Leon. I just really felt like we were being watched, like someone else was here. I figured that was just me being paranoid though.

However, I heard a noise at one point and looked behind me. Leon didn't have a reaction so he must not have heard it. "Did you hear that?" I said.

Leon looked at me. "Hear what?"

I shook my head while still looking behind me. "I heard a noise." I stated. "Actually, I've been hearing things. I've been feeling things too." I came clean and admitted. "It just really feels like someone else is here."

"Yeah." Leon breathed out. "I've been feeling like that too." He said. I looked at him. "I didn't say anything though because I didn't want to freak you out."

Just then, the crickets stopped and it got super quiet in like an instant. "Leon." I whispered. "There's definitely someone out here."

Right after I said that, there was a noise like a twig snapping. I gasped and looked in the direction it came from, it was too dark to see anything though. I suddenly got the urge to pee. Leon immediately stood up and pointed his gun.

"Alright, asshole!" Leon yelled. My eyes widened. "We know you're there! Come out!" It was quiet, then we heard footsteps. Leon started shooting at the sound.

"What are you doing?" I scolded him. But whoever was there started shooting back, so I had no choice but to shoot too. I stepped in front of Leon, then felt something go through my shoulder. "Ahh!" I screamed and grabbed at it. It felt long and thin whatever it was.

"Oh shit, Abby." Leon said in concern. "Come on." He grabbed my hand and we started running. "We gotta get you outta here so we can take care of your wound." We continued to run.

Narrator's POV

Rick and Daryl were stopped in the woods for the night because there wasn't anywhere to go. The two men could hear voices in the distance and followed them. They caught up to the figures but couldn't make out what they looked like.

All of a sudden, they were being shot at. They had no choice but to shoot back. "I think there's two of 'em." Daryl said. "I got a good aim on the taller one."

Rick suddenly had a thought. Could it be them? "Daryl, wait." He tried to stop the man but it was too late. He shot an arrow. The scream sounded like a female. They both realized at the same time.

Daryl looked up slowly with his mouth opened. He knew he just shot Abby. The pair ran off as they stood there in a bit of shock.

"Shit." Rick said. "I didn't see where they ran." He tried looking around. "Come on. They couldn't have gotten too far." Daryl was standing completely still with his head down. "Daryl?"

"I shot…I shot 'er." The man said in disbelief. "I shot Abby."

Rick seemed to hesitate. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault." He said. "She walked in front of him. I saw it." He nodded. "And it looked like you got her shoulder. She'll be alright." He tried to reassure the man. Daryl gave the father a glare even though he couldn't see it in the dark. "Come on. Let's go after 'em."

Abby's POV

Leon and I found a small cabin in the woods. It was just getting light out now and we were taking care of my shoulder where I got shot. I looked at what was pulled out of my arm. "I thought I got shot." I said.

"You did." Leon raised his eyebrows. He was wrapping up my wound for me.

"I meant by a bullet." I said. "This is an arrow." It was still kind of dark so it was hard to see. "Someone shot me with a crossbow."

"Could've been a bow and arrow too."

"No." I shook my head. I knew what the kind of arrows looked like that Daryl uses. "This is for a crossbow." I stated. It was getting lighter now. Come to think of it, this looks like one of Daryl's arrows. I thought. "This is Daryl's." I said to Leon. "Daryl really shot me?" I said in disbelief and looked at the arrow. I knew they'd be mad at me for leaving, but I didn't think they'd be that mad. Mad enough to shoot me. "It had to have been an accident." I said seriously to Leon.

"Whoever it was is gonna be dead if I see them." Leon said. "Accident or not, they shot my fiancee. And nobody is getting away with that."

"Leon." I looked at him seriously. "You can't kill Daryl."

He gave me a look of disbelief. "They shot at us! He shot you!" He yelled and kind of scared me. "I don't think they care too much about you anymore to shoot you."

I gave him an angry look. "It was an accident!" I yelled back.

"I don't care." He shook his head. "If you don't want him dead, then you better hope I don't see him."

I stared at Leon wondering how serious he was about that threat. If that really was Daryl, he's out here for one reason and that reason is me. So we're definitely going to run into each other again.

"We should get back to the bike and keep moving." Leon said once it was a more appropriate hour."

"Yeah." I agreed and grabbed my bag slinging it on my back.

"I'm gonna use this bathroom and pee first, okay?" He said.

"Alright." I told him. "I'll be outside." I walked outside and closed the door behind me. After taking a few steps, I was grabbed from behind. Whoever it was put their hand over my mouth so my scream sounded muffled.

"Don't scream. It's me." The familiar voice said. My eyes widened. They let me go and I moved away a little and looked at them. It was Daryl, of course.

"Daryl?" I questioned. So I was right, he did shoot me.

"Abby." My dad said coming out from behind the cabin.

My dad too? "Daddy?" I looked back and forth at them. "How did you guys find me?" I shook my head. "What are you doing here?"

"You know why we're here." My dad said. "We been out here for two months lookin' for you."

I suddenly felt angry. "Well I didn't wanna be found." I said smartly.

"Well, ya had yer fun." Daryl said now. "Yer ass is comin' back with us so don't give us no problems."

I was about to say something when the door flew open and Leon ran out with his gun pointed at Daryl. Daryl immediately pointed his crossbow back at Leon. "Leon, don't!" I yelled.

"Put it down!" My dad yelled with his gun pointed at Leon.

"He shot you!" Leon said.

"I know, but I'm fine." I said. "I didn't die so you can't kill him."

"That matters?"

"Yes." I said with wide-eyes looking at him. "Leon, if you really care about me, then you'll put it down."

Leon's eyes slid over to me, he looked at me looking at him desperately. He breathed heavily, then put down his gun. Immediately after, I saw an arrow go through Leon's chest and he fell to the ground.

I spun around with my eyes wide looking at Daryl. "NO!" I screamed. I ran to Leon and got down on the ground next to him. "Leon. Leon." I shook him. Daryl got him right in the heart so I knew he was dead before he even hit the ground, but I wasn't ready to accept it yet. "Leon! Leon, no!" I screamed and cried. "You can't be dead! Come on! Leon!" He wasn't moving at all though. "You killed him!" I screamed looking at Daryl. "You killed him, Daryl!" I picked up some dirt and threw it at him. "How could you?" He moved aside a little to try and dodge the dirt that I threw at him.

All those thoughts about the future with Leon and our kids…Christmas, decorating, opening presents…bike rides, hikes, picnics…they all disappeared from my mind because they would never happen now…because Leon's dead.

"NO!" I screamed. I felt my dad's hands on my shoulders. Slowly, I pulled the arrow out of his chest.

…all because of Daryl. I turned my head and looked at him with pure hatred and snapped his arrow in half while looking at him. I couldn't read his expression.

I turned back to Leon and cried. Laying my head on his body, I sobbed into his chest.

:(