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Danny's POV

The gates come into view and I can feel myself relax slightly. We're home, finally. I am tired and all I want to do is grab Riley and have Daryl hold me. It's late but I know Daryl won't be asleep. He'll be waiting for us by the main gate.

The main gate opens automatically which means they managed to fix it. I wonder how long it took them. Michonne sighs from the driver's seat before stopping the car even though we're barely through the gate and the other two vehicles are still outside.

"Get out". She tells me and I don't argue. I'm out of the car immediately, by the time I've slammed the door shut Daryl is standing in front of me. The worry is evident on his face, he knows something is wrong and not just because he can see a few people in the bed of our truck that he's never seen before. He knows me just like I know him, too well.

"What happened". His voice is soft and I think that's what does it for me. I shake my head and look up trying to will the tears that are now brimming in my eyes to not fall. He grabs my arm and steers me away from everyone, he doesn't stop until we are out of ear shot of everyone. It's dark too so I know we blend into the darkness and that's when I crack. He yanks me against his chest and wraps his arms around me tight but he doesn't ask again.

"How…." My voice is muffled against his chest, I'm not even sure he can hear me properly but he doesn't push me back and I don't move. "How can people do that to other people". I know he has absolutely no idea what I'm talking about but he still doesn't ask. "I let…" My voice breaks. "I let some of them get away so we could help those people but maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe we should have fought just so there was no way they could do it again".

"And if any of those people got hurt in that fight I know you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself", He says into the top of my head, his breath ruffling my hair. "And If you had gotten hurt…." He doesn't finish that sentence.

I lean back to give him a watery smile.

His eyes soften, "What?"

"If I die, would you kill those involved". My mind goes back to Fred and Michonne ribbing me in the car earlier this morning.

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise but he answers without hesitation. "Absolutely".

Someone clicks their tongue behind me causing me to twist my head rather quickly to see who it is. Michonne just gives me a knowing look.

Fred, who is standing behind her grins. "Life on the lamb".

I wipe a hand across my cheeks to clear the tears. "Shut up".

Fred smirks at me but it isn't quite a genuine one. His eyes have no humour in them but he's trying for all of our sakes.

"What are ya on about?" Daryl is extremely confused, I can tell by his tone.

I shake my head at him. "Nothing".

"Herschel is dealing with the injured man", Michonne starts. "Three of his fingers were cut off but he should be fine, Hannah's sister is in shock but the other two are ready to tell us what happened, whenever you're ready". She then nudges Fred with her shoulder and they both walk away.

"Are you ready to hear it?" Daryl stares at me in question. He wants to know what happened, he's itching to know what happened out there but I know he also won't push it.

I sniffle, "yes. We need to know what happened." I pull back out of his arms. "I'm sorry about just…." Not even saying hello, I see his face for two seconds and I break down. "It's been a long day".

Daryl's hand lightly grips the side of my neck as he pulls me in. His lips land on mine for the softest kiss, when he's done he doesn't pull back very far. "Never apologise for what you feel". His breath fans across my face. "I love you".

"I love you".

We walk through the gate to our house, the night isn't too cold so I find that everyone is sitting outside on the front lawn, a small fire in the middle of them all. Hannah must be with her sister but James and two of the other guys are sitting with Trevor and Oscar.

When Daryl and I reach the circle Merle stands up with Riley in his arms, he hands him straight to me before moving out of the way so I can take his seat. "Thank you." I sit down. "But you and I are having words tomorrow".

"Shit, what?"

I just ignore him, I'll let him stew on it overnight. Maybe then he'll be stressed enough to know to keep his mouth shut and to stop gossiping about me to others.

"When you're ready", Trevor tells the three guys. Any murmuring for our group stops and then it's so quiet we can hear owls in the distance.

"Urm, I'm James, this is Jack and Ben. Hannah is inside with her sister and Franks the one with the doctor. There are no words to express how thankful we all are for you saving us."

"If you hadn't done what you did" Ben pipes up, "We wouldn't be alive right now. We owe you our lives". He looks straight at Oscar and then Trevor.

Trevor smiles, "Danny is the one that saved you", he then points across the fire at me, I really wish he didn't. We saved them. I'm not here to take the glory in the things that we do. We are a team, everything is shared.

"Thank you." Ben says directly to me. "We are in your debt".

I shake my head as I pull Riley a little closer. Daryl's hand lands on my shoulder from where he is standing beside me. "No you're not, that's not how it works."

James whispers something to him and then Ben just nods. "I know James told you about the herd at the factory, we got out and we ran for miles but when we lost the dead we decided to try our luck at going back. We couldn't leave James and Hannah out there alone. We've been through too much to just be each to their own. We didn't even know those people were there, they were silent, they blended right in. It wasn't until a machete came down on Frank that we knew we weren't alone. He's got some good reflexes and managed to move his arm out of the way but his fingers weren't so lucky. With him down and us not knowing exactly how many of them there were we knew we didn't really have a chance. They'd surrounded us in a matter of seconds." He pauses "they took Sara". That's the name of the girl they strung up. That's the first time they've said her name. "Ripped her clothes off". Daryl's hand tightens on my shoulder. "And tied her to the tree and then just slit her throat, no hesitation. They didn't care about talking. We tried to get to her but they stood on Frank's hand and said he'd be next if we didn't wait".

"They had no interest in getting information out of us" Jack adds, "I think they were just in it for the killing. They just want to kill as many people as they can. It's a sport to them".

"They called themselves the Wolves" Ben finishes.

"Now we know why they had W's on their foreheads", Fred makes the gesture of a W on the middle of his forehead for emphasis.

"And ya think this could possibly be the same people that killed that Woman in that warehouse", Daryl asks, I don't answer him but when I look up at him I realise he isn't asking me, he's looking at Michonne across the fire. She was there the last time. She saw it too, other than myself she is the only other one to have seen both.

She looks at me for a very long second before nodding. "I think it could be. Which means they're coming this way."

"We need to prepare and then we go meet them", Merle declares rather angrily to the whole group which causes a murmur to go around the fire.

"They barely outnumbered your group", Herschel tells the three new guys, "And we don't know how many people were in the warehouse, I find it'll be a very slim chance that if they got this far they'd attack a group this big".

I get it, he's not sticking up for them but is he already forgetting what they've done? I know he didn't see either of those women but surely the description of what happened to her is enough. It's enough for Merle. I can feel a bit of anger rising up through me but I squash it, Riley is lying peacefully in my arms and now is not the time to have an argument with anyone.

"You didn't see it man", Oscar doesn't have the same thought process. "It was fucking sick, worse than that. There is no words to describe what the fuck we saw. You want to ignore it on the slim chance they don't come here?"

Herschel's face doesn't change expression in the slightest. "I believe you but we have walls and people and it doesn't sound like there's very many of them." He looks directly at me. "We left the prison, we followed you not Rick, because you were against going after something that could put people in danger. You didn't make stupid reckless decisions on the off chance something might happen".

"Dad", Maggie exclaims.

I suddenly place my hand on top of Daryl's that's still on my shoulder to stop him saying anything. "I killed two of them, Michonne killed another. If they realise who we are, walls will not stop them. They could pick us off, they live out there so they're probably more than comfortable waiting for us to step outside those gates."

"But that's if they even come here. You want to go out there on the off chance", he says a little desperately.

Hands suddenly grip Riley and then Sophia is taking him from me.

"I don't care if they never come here. They don't deserve to live, not a single one of them". I stand up. "I'm not asking you, or any of you to risk your lives for this. By all means stay here but I am not letting them do this to another person ever again. What if it had been someone here, Maggie, Beth, Sophia. Would you feel differently then huh? The fact that I don't even know Sara makes no difference to me, because they do." I point at the three guys, "She was their family and you wanna sit there and try to tell me their family isn't as important as ours, cause you're wrong, to them she was important".

"That isn't what I was saying", his expression is still calm but his voice is getting more and more desperate.

"That's what it sounds like to me. Look, I'm really not asking for help. Merle and I can do it by ourselves. You guys have a home here and I want you all to be safe but I have to do this, with or without your approval".

"You ain't leavin' me outta the shit kickin'" Abraham proclaims as he stands up. "You are one tough motherfucker and if you say they need to go then it's time for them to fuckin' go". He offers me a grin but it's not a true one that I've seen before, Eugene's betrayal is still fresh and I think that's one of the main reasons he's wanting to do this. He wants to keep busy, stop himself thinking about what he lost.

"We're in". Maggie says after sharing a look with Glenn.

By the end of the meeting more than half of our people want to help but I also don't blame those that don't want to help, they don't disagree with the idea but they aren't ready to leave this place, our new safe haven. Instead they're willing to help build this place up to make sure it's fortified.

Merle taps his finger against the map which is the location we rescued Ben and his group from. "We go back here,"

"They'll be long gone by the time we get back" Oscars says.

"Yeah but I can track the one that got away", Merle replies rather patiently.

"As long as the weather holds out", I mumble.

Merle just shrugs, "I have impeccable trackin' skills. Little brother had to learn it from somewhere".

Speaking of little brother, Daryl hasn't joined this planning session, in fact he hasn't said anything about us going back out. I fully expected him to pull me to the side and tell me I wasn't allowed to go or that he would go instead but he hasn't. In fact he hasn't said anything other than he'll be back in a minute but that was ages ago.

I glance around the yard but he's not anywhere in sight. If on the off chance he's completely okay with me going without some sort of fight it's unbelievably strange he's not here to hear the plan. He'd want to know every part of it, more than once, to make sure everything is covered.

I lean closer to Merle so he can hear my whisper. "Where's Daryl?" Merle tilts his head slightly in my direction, he then gives me a very tiny headshake. He doesn't know where he is either. "I'm gonna go find him, he should be here for this".

"Be quick", he then goes back to talking to the group.

I head over to the closest person to me which is Karen, she's standing by the dying fire with her arms wrapped around her. She smiles at me when she realises I'm heading towards her.

"Have you seen Daryl?"

She nods, "I think he's out front".

"Thank you".

I head through the gate just as Fred come's walking back through. He grins at me. "Don't think I've forgotten that I was right".

"Yeah well we didn't bet on it".

He chuckles, "A mistake on my part". He then points out through the gate. "He's out there if that's who you're looking for". He then carries on walking chuckling to himself.

I can only just see Daryl in the dark, he's standing in front of the gate which is allowing some of the moon to shine onto him, if he was one step back he would blend right into the shadows.

"There you are", I announce.

He locks his eyes onto me but there's no smile hiding on his face, he's expressionless. "We need to talk".