Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking dead.

I'm back to getting the notifications when someone reviews, so I won't accidentally ignore any of you again.

Shadowoftheblackdeat- Hi, I'm always up for them. So drop them to me if you come up with anything.

Alwaysand- They really can't, he's just out to unintentionally destroy their lives.

OldLonBird- Haha yes it does, he doesn't know how to let go and it now shows he'll do anything to get back inside and he doesn't care what it will cost him. Maybe, it just depends on whether he can stop listening to his father long enough to think everything over.

Thank you to all of those that have favourited and followed this story

Enjoy.

Danny's POV

I don't know if it's wrong of me but I stay down by the gate for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not ready to go up there and deal with the aftermath of the Sheriff's stupidity. I heard the moment after Merle told them what had happened. Their voices carried over here, I even heard one of them crying, it made me feel absolutely horrible.

Maggie left me alone after I said I was fine but Michonne stayed here, she still has my bat. She keeps looking at me but she doesn't come over to me and she doesn't speak to me. I mean, what is there to talk about, a man who was in our care was killed just trying to go get his girlfriend. Nothing will ever change that and I will always wonder if letting the Sheriff walk out of this prison was the right thing to do.

I finally hear the sound I've been waiting all afternoon to hear, the sound of engines coming down the road. I pull out my gun just in case it's not the person I really want to see. The truck appears first but I can't make out who's behind the wheel but then a second later the car they took out this morning appears and I can't help but have a little smile on my face. He's home.

Michonne lets them in the gate and when the truck pulls to a stop Daryl climbs out. He looks over the bonnet at me, slams his door shut and hurries round to meet me.

"What happened?"

I sigh, of course he can tell something happened. It's hard to keep secrets from him.

I slip my gun back into its holster.

"Rick happened", Michonne tells him before I can.

Glenn slams his door. "Seriously? We weren't even gone that long".

Daryl's sigh is heavy and defeated. "Can't we 'ave one fuckin' day without him fuckin' shit up".

I grab his hand, "Josh is dead". If Daryl is shocked his face doesn't show it. It doesn't move an inch. "The Sheriff shot him".

Daryl casts a very quick glance at Michonne, more specifically the bat in her hand. He frowns. "Why?"

"Because he could. He saw him and instead of finding out what was going on he killed him and then came back here to gloat that he'd done it for our own good. Josh left his girlfriend back at Woodbury, wanted to find somewhere safe before taking her out of there. He snuck out of here to go and get her. Part of me gets it, he thought we'd probably say no, we wouldn't trust his reasoning but even though he went about it all the wrong way, he didn't deserve to die."

"Shit, how are the others doing?"

"I don't know", I say honestly, "I haven't been back up there since."

He tilts his head to the side a little. "Alrigh', I can go find out what's happening if you want?"

I nod a little eagerly, "Would you".

He lets out a breathy chuckle, not because he finds it funny, more like he can't believe he's having to do it. "I'll be back in a minute".

"Okay, I'll wait here".

He shakes his head before starting his walk up to the prison. Suddenly Glenns by my side.

"Can I tell you something?"

I lean back a little to look up at him. "Sure".

He looks at Michonne before grabbing my wrist and steering me away from her. When he seems satisfied he lets me go and pulls something out of his trouser pocket.

I look down at his hand as he opens his fingers to show me what's inside. It's a ring, a very beautiful ring. The band is covered in little diamonds with a big diamond sitting at the front.

I bring my hands up to my mouth and gasp. "Oh my god! Yes". He drops his hand and tuts, silently telling me not to mess around with him.

"I'm going to ask Maggie to marry me. Do you think she'll say yes. Is it even still a thing now, I don't want to look stupid".

"I know she will say yes, she loves you just as much as you love her." I bounce forward and throw my good arm around him. "I am so happy for you".

He hugs me back. "Thank you. Daryl just stared at me when I find the ring".

I chuckle, "Of course he did."

As I go to walk past Daryl he hooks his arm around my shoulder and lightly grips the back of my neck, forcing me to turn around and keep pace with him.

"I need to ask you a couple of things". He keeps guiding me until he steers me back into our cell.

Riley's gurgling away in his basket, when Daryl finally lets go he puts his hand in the basket and lets Riley grab his finger.

I take a seat on the bed, "What's up?"

"Merle told me you hurt yourself".

"A little but I didn't do it on purpose. I just didn't realise my own strength in that moment".

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you have strong emotions. You get angry when someone you love is hurt or in trouble. I love that about ya but Rick, he's usin' it. He knows how to get a reaction out of you and we all fall for it every time. He's tryin' to get a rise so big out of you that you mess up." Daryl removes his hand and comes and sits beside me. "He wants to show them ya ain't who they think you are. He knows he can't do that unless he gets you to crack. You can't let him get to you like this anymore."

I scoff, "That's easier said than done".

He lays his hand on my bare thigh and squeezes his fingers a little. "I need to stay away from him. We all know this isn't the last we'll see of him, he's now killed an innocent, things will only get worse from here".

I flop sideways onto the bed with a heavy sigh. He's right, again. Everytime the Sheriff and I have ever spoken it's turned into an argument and each time my reaction has gotten worse. He's trying to turn me into him and I've accidentally fallen for it.

"Don't let me turn into him" I mumble at Daryl.

He grabs my arm and pulls me back up, causing me to bump into him. "I won't, but just know if it happens I'll still love ya. We'll just take Riley and fuck off to a cabin somewhere".

"That sounds nice", it really does. Just me, him and Riley living alone in some little cabin. Away from everything and everyone.

Daryl clears his throat, "Glenn tell ya what he's plannin' to do?"

"He did, I couldn't be any happier for him. I'm so happy he's found someone".

He rubs the back of his neck with his other hand, a `I'm nervous` trait. "Is that, ya know, somethin' you'd want?"

I laugh, I don't mean to and I do regret it when his cheeks turn a little pink. "People show love in different ways. Some people like the idea of marriage to let the world know that they love each other, others don't need to do it." I pull myself up onto my knees and place my hand against the side of his face. "If you asked me to marry you, I would 100 percent say yes but I don't need you to. You're mine and that's all that matters to me. If everything we've been through doesn't prove that then nothing will".

He grabs my waist and pulls me onto his lap making me straddle him. I give a very light kiss on the lips before pulling back with a smile. "Disappointingly I have to wait four to six weeks before you and I can do anything again".

"Merle made a huge point of tellin' me, didn't like that I already knew. I read them books to".

He then leans forward and kisses me.

There's a knock against the wall and when I pull away I can just see the side of Sophia as she tries to stay hidden out of view.

With one last quick kiss I stand up. "You okay?"

She finally steps into view. "They're ready to hold a little gathering for Josh".

"Alright, we'll be out in a sec". I follow Daryl's movement as he stands up. "I haven't gone to see them yet".

"Ya can't avoid them forever". He starts walking towards the door making me follow after him.

"I could try".

He scoffs, "and you might succeed but I'm tellin' ya, ya ain't allowed to anymore".

I purse my lips behind his back, "Not allowed!"

"Not allowed". He just repeats back to me.

When we get outside I look over at everyone gathered around a grave. They've made a cross for his headstone and they've laid flowers down. The grave is empty though, Merle and Daryl went out the way he went and they couldn't find his body. They managed to track him to a road but that's where he disappeared. They looked up and down each side of the road for signs of him stepping off the road but they couldn't find any. I really hoped we'd be able to retrieve his body, give him a proper burial but he could be anywhere, especially if… Especially if he tried to run from the Sheriff first.

A few of the new people look at Daryl and I as we come up to them and join the circle around his grave. Herschel starts talking after opening his bible to a bookmarked page.

I stand in silence listening to those that wish to speak, I listen to their words with tears in my eyes. Daryl's hand is lying soothingly on my back but when I know everyone is done I take a step away from it.

"He came here for safety and I failed to protect him, there are no words strong enough to express how sorry I am. He believed this place to be so safe he was willing to bring the person he loved most here. I want to make this place the place he thought it could be and I want all of you to know that I will try my hardest to not let anything like this happen again. I will do everything I can to make sure that all of you stay safe".