You know, to be fair, it wasn't you that I had the problem with personally. I still don't if I'm being honest. It's not your fault how we're related.

But standing there in that street, staring at you next to my father, seeing that you were a handful of years younger than me... You have to understand why I wasn't exactly thrilled to throw myself into my father's arms, why I wasn't exact chomping at the bit to get to know you.

Because, unless my math was ten different kinds of wrong, you'd been born when my father was still married to my mother. Which made me think of those few times he'd missed Christmas or Thanksgiving... even a few birthdays, though I'm not really sure if that one was because of you.

But the full implication of that wasn't really hitting me as we stood there looking at you—at your people.

I honestly can't guess what any of you thought when you saw us. We weren't filthy, but we certainly weren't as clean as you.

Lean, wolfish, hungry. Possibly a little crazy. I don't know. I don't really care.

I know what we saw. People who hadn't been wandering for two years. People who hadn't been up to their ankles in blood. People who had rarely been hungry.

And for a moment I was blindingly jealous. 

Shane's hands still gripped my elbows—a solid, warm presence at my back. Kyle stood beside us, the others just a few steps away, huddled together with Aaron as the central point.

My—our—father kept staring at me with that stupid look on his face. Like he really couldn't believe I was alive.

It was almost insulting, in a way.

His eyes followed the chain looped around my neck to the dog-tags resting on my sternum. His gaze flicked from me to Shane, and I bristled as he frowned at the tattoos and scars visible on Shane's arms. 

I pulled gently out of Shane's grasp, standing by myself, but I didn't step away from him. Couldn't when I needed his strength so much in that moment.

"Hi, Dad," I managed to croak.

It was almost funny, the look on your faces. Like your people didn't see the same things I had. Really the family resemblance is so striking I don't see why that came as such a shock.

But jaws hit the ground anyway, your people looking back and forth between me and my father like they were at a tennis match.

Dad took a tentative step forward. "Raleigh?" 

It didn't take long for all those old, bitter feelings to come rushing to the surface. It wasn't the apocalypse that had made me fall out with my family. No. That, if you'll remember, had happened long before the dead walked.

And it hadn't been because of anything my mother had said. No, with her, it was about what she didn't say.

But I'm getting a little off-track as we start to come to the end of my story.

Everyone else stayed quiet, letting me deal with this. Because it wasn't some group of random strangers who may or may not have attempted to kill us as soon as we presented an easy opportunity. It was a group seemingly led by my own damn father and containing my half-sister.

I let out a heavy sigh, looking at the eleven other people with you, then turned my gaze back on my father. "So," I began, crossing my arms, "how's things, Dad?"

A surprised breath escaped him, like he wasn't expecting the cool tone, or the frown as I continued to size up the people surrounding us. Even though this wasn't exactly stumbling across a group of potentially dangerous strangers, I couldn't stop what was now instinct. I couldn't stop myself from looking around your group and deciding who my target would be if things went sideways. 

And I knew without a doubt my own companions were doing the same. Most of your people just continued to stare right at me and my father.

"You're alive," he gasped, nearly catching me by surprise. It did catch me by surprise when he stumbled forward and swept me into a hug, yanking me away from Shane in the process.

All I could do was stare past his shoulder, watching as the understanding began to dawn on your face. Watched as you did and understood the same math I had, and at least had the decency to look away from me.

Dad finally pulled back, taking my face between his hands and looking at me. The only thing I could do was meet his gaze, stunned into a deeper kind of silence when I saw the tears making his eyes shiny.

"You're alive," he said again, like it was some kind of miracle.

Maybe it was. I don't know. Do you have to work and fight and bleed for a miracle?

"It would certainly seem that way," I replied dryly. After a moment, I stepped away from him, half turning back to look at Shane, immediately drawing my father's attention to the people with me. 

I briefly caught the eye of a woman with deep black hair and slightly uptilted eyes. She was the only one who watched us with an appropriate amount of suspicion. Everyone else seemed to have relaxed as soon as they realized I was related to one of their people... er, well, two of their people, I guess.

Whatever. I'm sure it's still as weird for you as it is for me. 

"How... I mean," Dad's eyes flickered behind me, then back to me. "It seems like we have a lot of catching up to do."

I didn't have any idea how to respond to that, either. After scanning the unfamiliar faces around me and finding not nearly enough reluctance, I turned and looked at Shane. He was frowning, arms loose and ready at his sides. Kyle was wound a little tighter, green eyes darting around the group every few seconds.

Shane lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. It was my call.

After that morning, I didn't want to make any more decisions. Turns out we don't always get what we want.

Slowly, I turned back to my father, whose eyes slid to mine from where he had also been staring at my husband. I think he was waiting for me to begin introductions right there in the middle of the street.

"How did you know we needed cough medicine?" I finally asked. 

I hated the idea that you had been watching us somehow without us realizing it. Yeah, I get you ended up helping us, but it was scary to think that someone had been close enough to realize one of us was sick. If you'd been like a few of the other people we'd run into, we wouldn't have received medicine for our oversights.

"We heard him"—you pointed at Aaron—"talking about how... Shane's cough had gotten worse," you said, hesitating over Shane's name, your eyes flicking toward the man in question and Sacha, obviously unsure who you were talking about. You looked at me again. "We thought it might help."

"Why would you bother?" I asked. "Why would you give us your medicine?"

I think the bitter, suspicious tone caught Dad by surprise. But none of you really had an answer until the Asian woman I'd noticed earlier said, "Well if you don't want it, give it back."

It was impossible to stop the small smile that tugged at the corner of my mouth, even as Dad quietly said, "If they need it they can have it, Lisa. They don't mean us any harm and we have enough back home."

I snorted, shaking my head incredulously. A small scuff of boots on pavement sounded behind me, then Shane's hand was on my shoulder, his breath against my ear as he whispered, "What do you want to do?"

As soon as he asked, he turned away, coughing violently enough that it nearly dropped him to his knees. Kyle darted forward to catch his brother and I whirled back to you and my father. That wasn't the kind of cough a little bit of suppressant would help. Shane was sicker than he'd been letting on, and I'd let myself not notice just as long as he kept acting like everything was normal.

"Do you have more medicine?" I demanded. "Antibiotics, anything like that?"

"We—"

"Might," Lisa cut you off, ignoring the dark look you sent her way. She cast another suspicious gaze over our group. At that point, I very nearly liked the woman.

Yeah, yeah, I know. She wasn't exactly welcoming us with open arms. But that just makes her smart. I wouldn't have trusted our group either.

Shane had managed to stop coughing, his hands pressed into his knees as he gulped down air, shaking slightly with either pain or exhaustion. Maybe both. I kept one hand on his back, rubbing lightly, ignoring the light sheen of sweat the fever and coughing fits had coated him in.

Dad looked at Lisa, giving her a warning glare that she blatantly ignored. "Why's he sick?" she asked, keen eyes sweeping over Shane as he finally stood up straight.

I assume she was looking for a bite mark, which would almost be funny if the very idea didn't strike me with such a bone-deep terror. Funny in the sense that if he was bit, he wouldn't wait to change. Terrifying in the sense that I don't think I could survive that.

"A cold," I answered reluctantly. "More likely some sort of upper respiratory infection."

"Is he contagious?" Dad asked, not even looking at Shane, which made me kind of bristle. He was sick, not deaf or stupid.

"Maybe," I admitted, shrugging. "It's not fatal. He just needs some antibiotics and a few nights of decent sleep. Some rest." Now I cut a sharp gaze at Shane, who just shrugged and gave me a half-smile.

I watched carefully as you all traded glances, some nodding, some just shrugging. Like you took in people all the time. Like it was no big damn deal to bring a bunch of freaking strangers home.

Not that I was particularly thrilled by the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of people I didn't know either. But I could still feel Shane trembling slightly where his shoulder touched mine, where his hand rested on my lower back.

Lisa was still watching me with that hawk's gaze and I met it steadily. I wouldn't pose any threat to her people, just as long as she didn't pose any threat to mine. A long moment passed before she finally just kind of smirked, shoving her gun back into the holster at her side.

She crossed her arms and looked toward where Dad was conversing quietly with two other members of your group.

Again, I felt Shane's breath on my ear as he murmured, "You good?"

I nodded slowly, folding my arms and leaning back into him carefully. "It's... weird. But if they have medicine, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth." My voice was as quiet as his.

He nodded, his hand brushing down to my hip. The touch wasn't heated. It was just... comfort. A silent gesture that told me everything I needed to know—he was here, he was with me, he'd support my decisions in the same way I had supported his.

Sometimes I wonder what I possibly could have done to deserve someone like him in my life.

I turned slightly, not caring who was watching as I brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. I could feel the small smile he gave me before my father cleared his throat.

Slowly, I turned back to him, scowling as he gave me a look of disapproval. Like I was a freaking teenager again, and like he had any right to tell me what I could or couldn't do, especially with my own damn husband.

Barely twenty minutes and things were already edging toward strain between us. Maybe I should have taken the hint about how well this was going to work out.

But Shane turned away from my, bringing his free arm up to muffle another of those awful coughs and I didn't care. I didn't care that I was effectively putting myself at the mercy of a father who'd all but cast me out nearly ten years ago. I didn't care that I shouldn't show such a desperate hand.

"Please," I said quietly to my father, to all of you really. "Please, if you have something that will help, please let us come back with you."

My heart damn near stopped when Dad actually hesitated. My eyes went wide as he pursed his lips in thought, casting that critical eye I knew so well over my family. He lingered longest on Shane, then Aaron, more or less dismissing the others.

Stupid bastard.

Oh, don't look at me like that. I just call it like I see it.

But anyway. I waited for his eyes to finally meet mine again, wound tight as a spring. He sighed, and I wasn't particularly surprised by how short-lived our "joyful" reunion had been. Dad seemed to be almost reluctant to say something.

Thank God that Lisa wasn't.

"We can't just hand out medicine for nothing," she said, voice flat and realistic.

"Then name your price," I shot back.

"Not here," Dad interjected, and you all looked around cautiously. That told me plenty, I suppose.

We weren't the only people around it would seem. Briefly, I looked at Kyle, silently asking if they'd ever found out who had been responsible for that scream this morning. His only answer was a quick head shake.

Great.

It surprised me when you spoke up. "We can bring them back with us. We've already told them where we are—not that it's a secret." You brushed back a stray strand of dark hair and looked right at me. I swear it was like looking in a funhouse mirror. You said, "You aren't going to do anything to hurt us."

We all shook our heads gravely. No we wouldn't. Not if we could help it. In reality, we just wanted to be more or less left alone.

We were sick and weary of death. For ourselves, for others. Even with all the ugliness we've seen and wrought it was never in us to enjoy hurting anyone else... with perhaps a few rare exceptions.

But that's neither here nor there and we've already hashed out the details of those instances. 

Finally, Dad looked to Lisa, who gave him an insolent shrug, then he looked to a few others who nodded. I could still sense some reservation in the air, but that was fine.

I didn't care how friendly the welcome was, just that we'd recieve it.

You gave me a tentative half-smile that I tried like hell to return. Honestly, I don't think I was very successful.

Dad looked at me, again cast that overly critical eye along the people behind me, then said, "Come on. You can get cleaned up and then I suppose we have some talking to do, Raleigh."

I was sure that was going to be just a bucket of fun. But if it meant Shane not coughing his lungs up, I couldn't care less about what precisely we were going to be discussing.

Lisa looked at Aaron and said, "We'll go back to get your stuff." She looked at Dad. "We'll meet you back home."

He nodded, but Aaron didn't move, gaze flicking between Shane, Lisa and myself. Shane gave him a short nod and Aaron eased himself away from our group. He gave Lisa an appraising look that she returned.

I couldn't stop another faint smile from curling the edge of my mouth. Even then, not really knowing her, I figured Lisa was quite a handful at even the best of times.

Shane draped an arm across my shoulders. As we started walking, he asked, "Are we staying?"

"Just as long as it takes for you to get better," I whispered. "I'm not making the same mistake twice."

With those words I couldn't stop myself from casting a sideways glance at Kyle. Shane tensed, like he knew exactly who I was thinking about. He kissed my temple, but didn't say any more as we started to follow the rest of your people.

There was a patter of light footsteps retreating and I turned in time to watch Viktoria run after Aaron and Lisa. The woman gave them both a narrow look, but Vik ignored it, only meeting my eyes.

I raised an eyebrow, but she just shrugged, sticking close to Aaron.

They both gave us a small nod. I knew they'd look after each other, but that didn't seem to matter to the growing knot of tension that was attempting to strangle my heart. Still, that was a better aternative than letting Aaron go alone with her.

I might have been inclined to like the stern woman, but that can hardly be confused as trust.

I didn't really trust any of you, even Dad... but, like I said, gift horse.

I wasn't about to turn my nose up at something the universe had shoved in front of my face. 

You were blood—as little as that means to me now. You had what we needed and all I could do was hope that the asking price wouldn't be too exorbitant. 

So we went with you... and now here we all are.