Rosie liked keeping watch more than she thought she would. She thought it'd be boring, but she quite liked having nothing to do other than to watch. It gave her time to think, and she felt safer being able to see where everyone was. She had no blind spots. She was safe.

One thing she thought was odd, though, was that she could see Rick in the woods outside the fences. She didn't know what he was doing out there, but she figured it probably had to do with whatever he was yelling about before, so she decided to leave him alone. After awhile, though she saw Hershel go out to the fence to call for him. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but she could tell that something was off about Rick.

Rick and Hershel talked for a little bit, but eventually Rick walked off again. Rosie's eyes stuck to him as he walked back across the small bridge. She wondered what he was doing out there. She looked around the trees, trying to see if he was maybe making something or looking for something, but something else caught her eye.

A tree rustled.

But it wasn't small. It wasn't like a rabbit hopped through and shook the branches ever so slightly- it was like someone grabbed onto the branch, pulled it out of the way, and let it fling back behind them. That was when she saw a person.

"Rick! Rick!" she started screaming down from the guard tower. Rick looked up at her, but Rosie could tell he was sort of out of it. "Rick! Get outta there! There's-!"

Rosie was cut off when a bullet flew in her direction, hitting the wall behind her. She ducked down quickly, her heart beating hard in her chest as she crawled inside the guard tower. She waited a few moments for another gunshot, but it didn't come. So she peaked up over the wall to look through the window and was able to see a truck parked outside the fences, people with guns scattered around- some in the woods, some out in the open. But at the center of it all was the Governor.

The mere sight of him made Rosie's stomach churn.

Another gunshot flew through the air and Rosie flinched down again, but the bullet didn't hit her. It must have gone somewhere else. Rosie kept down below the wall on the guard tower as she crawled towards the other side. She peaked over again and saw Axel lying dead on the pavement.

Not even a second later, gunshots started spraying everywhere. Rosie tried to peak over again, but a bullet landed right on the window next to her, so she quickly ducked back down, pressing her back up against the wall. As quick as she could, Rosie flicked the safety off on Glenn's gun and held it at the ready.

That's when she started to hear heavy footsteps coming from the stairs that lead up to the guard tower. The guard tower that she was currently hiding in. Rosie looked around the small room she was in, hoping to find anything she could hide in or behind, but the place was pretty much empty. She couldn't go down the stairs either, so she went back out the door, still crouched low on the platform.

As she crawled around the corner, away from the door, bullets hit the metal behind her, making her flinch at each one. The footsteps got even louder and, soon enough, a man in a brown jacket walked out onto the platform, a large gun in his hands. Rosie only had a pistol. She stayed ducked down behind his back as he fired shots into the prison yard.

Rosie could see Carol using Axel's body as a shield and Carl hiding behind a cement wall, firing the occasional shot up at the guard tower. Maggie ran out into the court with two guns in her hands, handing one to Beth before shielding herself behind a filing cabinet. Rosie had a gun in her hands. She was crouched down just a few feet behind the man. He didn't know she was there. She could kill him right there and he would have no idea.

Her head pounded as she held the gun tightly in her hands, her finger hovering over the trigger. She pointed it at his head. There was no way she could miss this shot. She had to kill him. She had to. He was shooting down at Carol, Carl, Maggie, Beth; her family. She had to put their lives over his.

Rosie had never killed someone before. She'd killed walkers. A lot of walkers. She'd killed rabbits and squirrels and deer. Never a person. Never. But she had to.

So, Rosie pulled the trigger. A loud ringing sounded in her ears as she watched the bullet go through the man's head. He dropped to the floor of the platform. Dead. He was dead. Rosie's breathing quickened as she stepped closer to him. Slowly, she pulled the large gun out of his grip and dropped Glenn's pistol to the floor, replacing the small gun with the one that the man held.

Staying crouched low to the floor, Rosie pointed the gun outside of the fences, using the scope to see if Rick was still out there. He was. And Hershel was in the yard, lying down in the grass. A few more shots fired. Then everything went quiet. Eerily quiet.

A low rumbling sound started to get louder. Louder, louder, louder, and more high pitched. Then it was in their sights. An orange and white truck went barreling down the road, its engine roaring loudly as it increased speed. The truck slammed through the gates, breaking down two layers of fencing like it was nothing. It rode out into the yard, parking itself right in the center.

There was some sort of gate on the back of it, and it dropped down to the ground, becoming a ramp. Walkers started stumbling out of the truck, heading straight for Hershel. A man ran out of the truck, his body covered in some sort of armor. More shots started to fire and Rosie moved to aim her gun down at the walkers.

The yard was now crawling with walkers, more and more coming in from the forest as the sounds of gunfire lured them in. Rosie took out walkers one by one from the guard tower as the Governor and his men loaded back into their vehicles.

From behind her, Rosie could hear loud yelling. It was Rick's voice. He was still outside the fences. She turned back around, searching for Rick through the scope. Her eyes found him pushed up against a fence, walkers surrounding him. Carefully, she took out any walkers that were at a far enough distance from him that she wouldn't accidentally hit him. This left Rick stuck with two walkers pinning him up against the fence, more stumbling out from the forest.

Rosie kept her sights on the tree line, waiting for more walkers to walk out into the open. The leaves were rustling; she knew they were coming. But as she looked through the scope, the body that pushed itself through the leaves wasn't dead. It was alive and holding a crossbow.

Letting the gun drop down, Rosie watched with wide eyes as Daryl shot bolts through the heads of the walkers on Rick. She was even more surprised when Merle ran out from behind him with a metal rod in his hands.

Together, the three men took out the walkers that had come from the forest. Rosie turned back to the yard. She didn't want to look at Daryl or Merle. It made her face burn. So, she focused on putting bullets through the brains of the dead.

Her aim got sloppier as she fired off shots faster and faster, her frustration building up inside of her. Why was Daryl there? He left. He wasn't coming back. He left and he now he was there again. He wasn't supposed to be there. Why was Merle there, too? Why did the Governor have to come? Why wouldn't he just leave them alone?

I killed that guy.

Rosie fired off so many shots that she emptied the dead man's gun. She threw it down to the ground and picked up Glenn's pistol again. She was able to kill of four more walkers until that gun was empty, too. She dropped the gun, growling in frustration. Her hands went to her hair, tugging on it as if it would relieve the pressure she felt inside of her skull.

Glancing to her left, Rosie could still see the man she had killed, lying there on the platform. Her breath hitched in her throat, and suddenly, breathing became the hardest thing Rosie had ever done. She stood herself back up to her full height and went inside the guard tower, hurrying down the stairs. It was so difficult to breathe. She tried to take deep breaths, but it wasn't working. They were still coming out fast and choppy, not letting enough air in to keep her heart beating at the normal rate.

Quickly making her way out of the guard tower, Rosie held her right hand up to her chest, pushing hard against her sternum as if that would make it better. She was starting to feel dizzy, still struggling to get enough air into her lungs. As she tried to catch her breath, Rosie quickly made her way back to the cell block.

Hershel, having noticed her struggling to breathe, called out for her to stop, but she didn't. Instead, Rosie went inside. It was quieter in there. She leaned herself up against the wall the second she got through the door, sliding down to her butt and pulling her knees up to her chest. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes as she took deep breaths, slowly but surely calming her breathing.

Before she knew it, Maggie was there in front of her. "Rosie, are you hurt? Are you okay?" Maggie was asking, her eyes scanning over Rosie's body for any injuries. Removing her hands from her eyes, Rosie could see everyone gathered around the cell block. They were all staring at her.

Daryl was there, standing behind Maggie with a concerned expression on his face. The sight of him only made Rosie angrier- if anger was even what she was feeling at all. Every emotion seemed to blend together into one. One that made her stomach ache and her head throb and her lungs hurt and her skin burn.

"Rosie, honey, are you okay? Did you get hit?" Maggie asked, her eyebrows pinched together with concern as she held onto Rosie's arms. Rosie pushed her away, standing back up onto her feet. Without a word, Rosie stormed out of the crowded room, her hand back up to her heart again. She made her way up the steep, metal stairs and into her cell.

Every person in the room watched her go, unsure of what to say or how to help her.

"She was in the guard tower," Carl spoke after a few moments. Each head turned in his direction, not understanding. "She shot that guy."

The room went silent again.

"Fuck," Daryl let out quietly, rubbing his hand across his face. With whatever happened with the Governor, and with him leaving, Rosie was already struggling. Now she had to deal with the feeling of killing someone for the first time. Daryl felt incredibly guilty for leaving her like that- when he did, how he did, what he said. He wasn't sure if Rosie would ever forgive him for that, but he wanted to try. "She been.... What's she been like?" he asked no one in particular.

"She hasn't been talking. She's pissed," Maggie replied, sitting down on top of the table.

"Has every right ta be," Daryl muttered.

"Well, we're glad to have you back. And she will be, too," Maggie said, giving Daryl a sad smile. He wasn't sure if she was right.

"So, you're staying?" Glenn asked, sitting down next to Maggie.

"Yeah. You were right," Daryl said, nodding his head a little. You were right, my family, my blood, is right here.

"That's good to hear," Rick said, patting Daryl on the back. No one said anything for a few more moments. Daryl kept glancing up at Rosie's cell, trying to decide what he was going to say. "You can go, Daryl. We'll figure out a plan later. After," Rick said, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Daryl nodded gratefully before heading up the stairs. He needed to talk to Rosie and he knew it wasn't going to be easy, but he had to. So he made his way to Rosie's chosen cell and stood in the doorway. Rosie was on the bottom bunk, kicking her foot against the the bed frame as if it would make all of her anger dissipate. She knew Daryl was there, but he was the last person she wanted to talk to, so she refused to acknowledge his presence.

"Rose," Daryl said to try and get her to look at him. She didn't. "Rosie, come on," he muttered, feeling frustrated with himself and still incredibly guilty. He walked into the cell and sat down on the desk that was across from her. "I know you're-"

"Why're you here?" Rosie interrupted, bitterness in her tone. She could already feel the lump in her throat forming with her anger, threatening to dissolve into tears. Daryl didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer. He felt so incredibly guilty. "You left," Rosie reminded him.

"I shouldn't've," Daryl settled on saying. "I was wrong."

With a scoff, Rosie looked away from him again, trying to keep control of herself. She could feel the anger boiling over. She wanted to hit something- hurt someone. When she looked back, Daryl was still looking at her with worried eyes. He was just as scared of her losing control as she was. He didn't want to be the cause of it.

"I'm sorry," Daryl said.

"Okay," Rosie replied, her tone bland.

Daryl stared at her for a moment, contemplating what else to say. She didn't look any less angry than she did when he first walked into her cell. So far, it had meant nothing. "You know..." he stopped and sighed, "you know that I care about ya."

"You don't have to no more. Ya ain't my daddy," Rosie snapped at him.

"I know I'm not your dad. I ain't ever gonna be your dad, but that doesn't mean I don't get ta care about you," Daryl said, fighting hard to keep his tone steady.

With that, Rosie felt the ball in her throat melt away into tears that travelled up through her face, burning her nose and cheeks until they reached her eyes. "If you gave a shit about me, ya wouldn't've left in the first place," she said loudly, on the verge of breaking down and screaming at him. "But you did."

"I thought I was doing what was right, and I was wrong. I get that now," Daryl replied, still keeping his volume down, hoping it would keep Rosie's volume down too. "I do give a shit about you. And so does everyone else here."

"You don't give a shit! Ya only give a shit when you want to! You only cared 'bout me 'cause it made ya feel fuckin'... important or somethin'!" Rosie shouted, avoiding his eyes.

"You know that ain't true," Daryl said. If anything, Daryl gave more of a shit when he didn't want to.

As Rosie felt tears begin to escape from her eyes, she stood up, ready to walk out the cell door, but Daryl was smart enough to see it coming. He stood up from his spot on the desk and quickly placed himself in front of the door, blocking her path. She growled in frustration, bringing her hands up to her face and pushing hard onto her eyes to wipe the tears away. She didn't want him to know that it mattered this much to her.

"You know that ain't true," Daryl said again.

Rosie spun around and walked further into the cell, trying to regain her composure to stop herself from showing all of what's been stuck in her head, but it wasn't working. The words just started spilling out without any control when she turned around to look at Daryl again.

"You left. Even after that- that Governor guy! Even after Merle hit me! You still fuckin' left with him!" she said. Her voice was starting to break as she spoke, the tears falling without permission. She wished her voice was loud and scary when she yelled, like her dad's, but her voice was high-pitched and sad instead.

Daryl fought hard to keep his calm composure as guilt flooded his brain. She was right. He fucked up. Bad. It was gonna take more than a lame apology to fix it.

"Merle hit me and you went with him! It was like I was with Daddy all over again and you still left! I needed you and you left!"

"I know," Daryl said quietly. When he left, he didn't know Merle was the one who gave her the bruise, but he knew now, and it made him feel even worse about the whole thing.

Rosie turned around again and tried to steady her breathing. Her nails were digging into the skin of her palms and her teeth were sunk deep into the inside of her bottom lip. She looked back at Daryl again. "You said my daddy didn't care much 'bout me, but it was different now. You said," she stopped and took a breath, "You said my dad was an asshole. You said he shouldn't've hit me or beat me. That's what you said!"

"I know."

With every word Rosie spoke, her voice got louder and angrier. "You said that's what made him bad, but Merle did the same thing, and you still left with him!" She stepped closer to Daryl and started pushing him, hitting him, punching him, and he just let her, taking the hits without complaint. "You lied! And you left me!"

"I know," Daryl said again. He knelt down to her height, turning his head away as she continued hitting him. He reached towards her, trying to calm her down, but she kept hitting him.

"I hate you! I hate you!" she kept shouting. "I hate you!" Her punches got weak as her energy seemed to drain from her body, and Daryl gently grabbed onto her forearms to stop her from hitting him any more. "I hate you! I hate you. I hate you," she said over and over until her voice was scratchy and she was empty. She tilted her head down to hide her face. "You still left me," she whispered.

"I know," Daryl said again. He placed one hand on her back and the other on the side of her face, tilting her head to make her look at him. Her eyes were full of tears and her angry look had dissolved into a sad one. "I was wrong. I never should've let you go on that run and I never should've left with Merle," Daryl said, looking into her eyes the same way he did when he told her he was leaving in the first place. "I'm sorry for leavin' you and I'm sorry I wasn't there. But I ain't ever gonna leave again."

"You're lyin'," Rosie's shaky voice said, trying to avoid his eyes. "You're lying!" She started to squirm, fighting his grasp again.

"I'm not. I'm not lying," Daryl said, still trying to get her to stop thrashing and just stay still.

"You are," Rosie persisted. "They're gonna make Merle leave and you're just gonna go with 'im. 'Cause he's your blood. And I'm not. I'm not."

"I'm not goin' nowhere," Daryl said. Rosie shook her head, dropping it down so her hair would cover her face, but Daryl was quick to push the strands of blonde back up, out of her face. "I'm not goin' nowhere. I don't give a shit what Merle does. He's an asshole. He's my blood, but he ain't you. He ain't a part of this family. And that's his own damn fault."

Rosie didn't say anything for a moment, examining his face for any signs of dishonesty, but there weren't any. "You..." she started, unsure of what to say.

"I'm stayin'. With you, a'right? I ain't ever gonna leave you again. This is where I belong. Okay? Here. With you," Daryl said, his hand moving away from her face to rest on her shoulder. "I wanna be here ta help ya."

"I don't need help," Rosie grumbled, trying to sound more irritated and angry, even though her face was still scrunched up as she tried to hold back her cries. "And I don't need you."

"You do. And I need you, too," Daryl said.

"You do?"

"I do."

"Why?"

"You remember when I told ya 'bout how I was before?" Daryl asked her, raising his eyebrows a little. Rosie's expression had softened and she seemed somewhat calm now.

"You said you were an asshole," Rosie recalled.

"Yeah. I was an asshole, and I'd still be an asshole if I didn't have you," Daryl told her, taking his hand off her back and using it to lightly poke her shoulder. He then moved his other hand from her shoulder to hold onto her upper arm, his free hand holding onto the other arm. He squeezed lightly. "I need you, and you need me. And there ain't nothin' wrong with needin' help. Ya shouldn't have ta deal with this all on yer own."

Rosie didn't say anything for a moment, taking in his words. She still had this empty feeling in her stomach, like she was craving something, but didn't know what. "I'm sorry for hittin' ya," she eventually whispered out.

Taking that as a sign of forgiveness, Daryl pulled Rosie towards himself. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. Rosie took a moment, hesitating a little before wrapping her arms around is neck and hiding her face in his shoulder. The feeling in her stomach started to melt away at the feeling of his leather vest beneath her fingertips.

"Ya don't gotta talk about it now if ya don't wanna- the Governor, Merle, the guy in the guard tower. But we're gonna have ta talk about it soon," Daryl mumbled out softly next to her ear. He knew she wouldn't want to talk about it, but he also knew she was going to have to. She needed to understand and she needed to be able to get her thoughts out. So even if she didn't want to, she was going to have to. Daryl only hoped he could make it somewhat easier for her.

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Today has been a ROUGH day for me so now you get a rough chapter 😁

YOUUU'RE COMING BACK AND IT'S THE ENND OF THE WORRLD. WE'RE STARTIN' OVER AND I LOVE YOU DARLING. AND I AM DONE, DEAR.