THIS SCENE WAS HARD TO WATCH, LET ALONE WRITE, SO TRIGGER WARNINGS ARE IN PLACE HERE

The next day, Rick and his family moved out with Michonne; not much was left in the small town they had come across, so they had no choice but to keep moving and hopefully come across something else, like a store or another city.

They were busy catching up and conversing when Saint barked three times, signalling danger. They all turned to see a herd of walkers—not enough to run from, but too many to fight simultaneously.

"Fass," Theo commanded, sending Saint to two of the walkers. Theo finished them off once they had been tackled to the ground.

"Ugh!" Theo yelled as he threw one of her knives at the walker's head, killing it.

"Retrieve!" Theo spoke, making Saint retrieve her knife.

"Good boy!" She smiled as the group continued to move.

A few more hours passed, and walkers were speared and were easy to avoid.

Michonne said, "I thought there would be something—a house, a store, anything with food."

"You know Saint and I could do a quick hunt. Could you find a rabbit or something?" Theo asked

"Guys", Carl spoke, noticing a car ahead.

Rick and Carl ran over to ensure safety while Michonne dealt with a walker to the side. While they were doing that, Theo had caught a rabbit.

"Give me an hour, you guys eat that," Theo said, throwing the rabbit on the car's hood.

"Alright, an hour," Rick repeated.

"Before nightfall," she smiled. Come on, boy." Theo began walking away before her father could argue even more.

She wondered for a few hours before it became dark, and nothing had come into sight, so her only choice now was to head back to that car.

As she approached, she realised something was wrong. Saint was growling, and his eyes were focused.

"Saint..." She stopped him from barking.

She moved forward and hid, looking at her dad with a gun to his head, a weapon to Michonnes, Carl with a knife to his neck and someone having their life beaten from them on the floor to the side of the car.

Theo panicked.

Admittedly, her next move was stupid.

She grabbed her gun and shot the one man on his own, doing nothing before hiding once again. 

"Now, who the hell just shot at my man?" The apparent leader yelled out. 

They all looked over to the forest in front of them.

"Whoever the hell you are, I suggest you make yourself known, or the kid gets it!" He yelled as Carl cried out, making Theo surrender.

"Let them go!" She yelled out, hidden behind the bushes

"Get out of there!" He yelled out, "And don't even think about shooting that gun again!" 

Theo held her hands up before revealing herself.

"Well, what do we have here, boys?" The leader smirked as she threw her weapon to the ground angrily. 

"Theo..." Rick warned, knowing they could do much worse than he wanted to admit.

Panic was setting in.

This was a dangerous situation.

"Let us go", She asked again, "This is your only chance", She warned. 

"I think I'll pass on that sweet thing..." He smiled as Theo was grabbed and taken to the ground

"You see, you're outnumbered!" The leader yelled at her as she hit the floor hard. 

"Hey!" A familiar voice yelled as Theo fought off the man, pushing him, scratching him, begging.

The man landed a couple of punches before stopping, making Theo want to reach for her knife, but the positioning was wrong, and she couldn't get it.

"Let them go, it was me!" Rick yelled, his voice coming out desperate.

"Oh, I'm going to have fun here, baby girl" The man on top of her spoke evilly as he grabbed both of her hands in one, and the other went to his belt.

"Get the fuck off of her!" A deep Southern voice yelled, but it wasn't Merle.

It was a voice she would recognise anywhere.

Daryl.

She began holding back her tears at the thought of going through this again.

She begged.

She screamed.

"Daryl, " she begged, crying to the only man she knew could save her now. 

The man struggled to grab her cargo pants as she moved about.

But her thoughts of her safety were pushed aside when she saw a man on top of Carl, who mirrored the same actions.

"Hey! Get the fuck away from him!" Theo yelled, making the man laugh.

Her heartbeat could be heard heavily in her veins; she was so angry, so scared, frightened.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out, making everyone look to see Rick had managed to head butt the man away from him, Michonne having time to grab her Katana and stab the man holding her.

She looked up at the man holding her and realised he was no longer looking at her.

She used her knee to kick him in the nuts, making him roll off with a groan.

"Theo!" Another person yelled out as a pair of hands helped her. 

Daryl came over and kicked the man in the stomach over and over.

All that fear and frustration lashed out at the man beneath him.

She looked up to see Merle had come back before shooting another man away from Rick. 

As soon as she was free, she ran over to Carl, tackling the man entirely off of Carl, who quickly ran to Michonne as Daryl fought off the man hurting her before.

Theo positioned herself on top of the man, grabbing her knife and about to stab the man in the head, when she caught sight of her father ripping out that man's throat with his teeth.

As that man fell, he looked over to Theo.

"He's mine", Rick growled. Theo went to move, but the man pushed her before grabbing her by the throat and beginning to choke her, standing up in the movement.

"I'll kill her, " he announced, making Daryl, Merle and Rick move forward.

"Let her go. Now," Rick said in a low and deadly voice. The man pulled his arm tighter, turning Theo blue.

"Let. Her. Go '' Rick walked over to him, scaring him into dropping her; Theo desperately breathed in the air, choking and struggling to balance. Daryl ran over to her while her father dealt with that man in the most inhuman way possible.

Daryl rubbed her back before she turned to engulf him in a hug.

It was like being wrapped in her safety blanket. 

It is like putting together two puzzle pieces, completing the image.

Daryl held her close, letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in.

She cried as he kissed her head.

Daryl cried as he held her close, realising she was indeed in his arms again, that she wasn't dead. That she was alive. 

She was back with him, and he never wanted to let go of her again.

He covered her ears with his hands to try and drown out the awful images in front of them both, bringing her close to his chest so she couldn't look either.

Despite Daryl's efforts, she listened to her father doing horrible things to that man.

Her heart pounded, and she never wanted to leave his arms again. She wanted to stay like this forever.

"You're okay." He took her face and gently placed his hands on her.

The smell of sweat, blood and real tears was all she could sense.

But the comforting smell of wood and cigarettes clouded her mind as she took in the leather-like cent—her favourite smell.

She looked over to the man who was previously on her, a bolt in his head, bloody and bruised and barely looking like a man.

She shivered at the thought that just happened.

"I'm okay..." But she hadn't realised she was crying, making Daryl hold her close again

"Theo... I," Daryl began but was stopped by a dog barking.

Theo turned to see Saint running back to her.

She held her hand out and stoked Saint, introducing Daryl.

"You got a dog?" He smiled, petting him. She smiled before looking up at him. She grabbed his head and kissed him, finally.

Joining their lips, relaxing into one another.

Relief.

Stress.

Pain.

Happiness.

Love.

"Dad?" Carl spoke from behind her.

"Get some rest, all of you", Rick instructed Carl and Michonne to enter the car and get some rest, making the most of the night.

"Daryl..." Merle called out, making Daryl realise his brother was standing there, too; he looked at him before they exchanged a hug, holding one another tightly.

"Thank you for keeping her safe", Daryl told Merle as they looked at Theo. 

"I think it was the other way around", Merle smiled. "Debs, " he called out to the woods, where the minor girl ran over to Theo, hugging her tightly. 

"Are you okay?" Theo asked the girl as she walked back to Merle.

"Yeah.." She nodded before looking at Daryl, who looked confused. 

"You alright, man?" Daryl asked, looking at Rick, who was in his own world.

"We should talk" Rick looked at the two brothers as they left Theo alone with Debbie, heading over to Michonne and Carl so they could talk.