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Jo

I pulled back from Daryl blinking up at him stupidly. "What?" I asked, barely able to breathe. One second things were entirely awkward between us and then he kissed me. What the hell was going on?

I expected him to pull away but instead he stayed close and stared down at me, his blue eyes were serious. "I'm not going no where," he repeated patiently. "I know you been through stuff, and I'm here if you want to talk about it, or not. But I mean it about us being able to start over. Together," his voice was gruff as he said the last word.

My mind was racing a thousand miles a second. I had wanted this from Daryl, didn't I? I had wanted him to admit
to having feelings for me for the longest time. But now, I didn't know. I didn't trust myself to know if that was what he was actually saying. Of course it was nearly impossible to misread a kiss. Though it was a fairly conservative kiss compared to our last one, he wasn't the type to go around just kissing his friends. My mind fluttered back to that morning with the coffee in the tombs. I felt a blush start creeping up my neck. There had been no mistaking his intentions then. But so much had happened, so many things had changed. How could we possibly go back to what had felt like such a carefree time.

He reached up and tucked back a piece of my hair that had managed to grow long enough to reach behind my ear. He tilted his head so he could look me in the eye better and I swear he was watching me think.

When I didn't respond his mouth pressed into a grim line and he nodded.

"Look," he said glancing down at his feet. "I know things ain't always been easy and I'm an ass. I said some stuff," he frowned. "Or didn't say some stuff, I'm not really sure how I got myself into that one," he chuckled once and looked up at me through his shaggy hair. "I know ya ain't like that, I never thought ya were but I never got to apologize and then ya got sick..." he shook his head and looked away as the memories assailed him.

I reached out and placed my hand on his forearm.

He looked up at me again and I was suddenly very aware there was only a few inches separating us. I licked my lips nervously and his eyes followed the motion.

"I just...I want things to be good...with us..." Daryl shook his head and I was pretty sure my surly friend had reached his word limit for the day.

"You're my..." I pressed my lips into a line as I fought for the right words to describe our relationship with one another. "Partner," I finally said. "Things were always easy between us. From the very start, even when I had trouble trusting anyone else, it was always easy with you...I want that back."

It could have been my imagination but Daryl seemed to deflate at my word choice. But he nodded along with what I said regardless.

"So we try and start over?" I asked, I tried to keep my voice as upbeat as I could but just the thought of trying to let go of everything that had happened seemed entirely overwhelming.

Daryl dipped his chin, "mmhhmm." I looked at him for a long moment. He seemed different since the prison. I hadn't noticed it before with The Claimers and Terminus, but he had changed. He seemed more comfortable with himself, more at ease. Maybe even happier. I wondered if his time with Beth had had anything to do with the change. I couldn't imagine it was his time with The Claimers.

Finally, I nodded and smiled at him. "If you can do it, I'm willing to give it a try."

I bent down and picked up the water jug he had inadvertently  thrown at me. I held it out to him with a small teasing smile.

He tried to scowl at me, but only managed to hold it for a few seconds before a smile crept across his face. He snatched the jug out of my hand.

"Stop."

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Jo

It was nearly dark when we got back. We had walked the whole way back in silence, but this time it was a comfortable, companionable silence. We walked close, our shoulders gently brushing each other as we each watched our side of the tree line. It was going to be a cool night and I stopped to zip up my leather jacket.

When we got back to the church inside was warm and happy. There were candles everywhere. Father Gabriel must have gone all out. Everyone was gathered around the front of the church laughing, talking and most importantly eating.

Daryl had me step through the door ahead of him and turned to close it behind us. He paused just before closing it, his eyes on the tree line. I bumped him lightly with my shoulder.

He glanced back at me and I could see something was bothering him.

"Everything okay?" I asked in a hushed voice so no one would hear us.

He nodded thoughtfully and turned back to me with a small smile. "Yeah, just tired."

"We should be able to get some sleep tonight."

He nodded as he closed the heavy wooden door and turned the key, locking us all inside.

We were quiet coming in, trying our best not to disturb the festive air. Rick looked up at the sound of Daryl closing the door behind us. He stood and approached us.

"Everything go okay?" He asked quietly.

I nodded and he turned to Daryl for confirmation as well. "Yep, you?" Daryl asked in a quiet, raspy voice.

Rick nodded and smiled. "We got a feast," he said sweeping his arm to encompass the room. "Get in there before everyone else eats it all." He said with an easy grin. It had been a long time since I had seen Rick this relaxed. Not since the prison.

Daryl nodded and put a hand on the small of my back, gently ushering me to the front of the church. We set the water with the rest of the food and by the time we straightened Carol had already made us each a plate. She smiled warmly at us as we accepted them and stepped away from the increasingly rowdy group.

I nodded my thanks to Carol and moved to sit back against the wall, just on the edge of the candle light. I was a little surprised when Daryl followed me. He had been so much more central t the group these days. He dropped down to sit beside me, his arm gently brushing my own as we ate together in silence. Halfway through Tara passed us a chipped coffee mug.

"We saved it for you guys, Gabriel gave it to us."

I took the mug and lifted it to my nose. I was surprised to find it was wine. I took a sip and passed the mug Daryl. Daryl took a sip and passed it back to me, our fingers touching gently. I couldn't help but remember back to our time at the CDC so long ago now.

Abraham stood up, holding his mug of wine. "I would like to propose a toast!" he called boisterously and something in my chest tightened. My good mood from earlier was immediately swallowed up. This was it. "I look around this room and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors!"

Everyone cheered and toasted. I took a small sip and passed the mug quickly to Daryl. A broad grin stretched across his face. When he met my gaze he frowned. I tried giving him a reassuring smile but he narrowed his eyes at me and bumped me lightly in the shoulder. He wasn't buying it. I rolled my eyes but turned and jerked my chin towards Abraham. Daryl nodded. He knew I wasn't a fan of Abraham.

Abraham waited until everyone was done, still standing there with a plastered on smile on his face before he spoke. "Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning fight the undead pricks, forge for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? Cause you can do that. I mean you got the strength, and you got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender."

I stopped watching Abraham and started watching the group. I saw expressions of shame and worse, consideration. I let out a shaky breath because I knew, knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was not going to follow Abraham anywhere.

"Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little roadtrip. Eugene, what's in DC?"

Abraham turned to his companion almost dramatically and turned the floor over to him.

Eugene climbed ungainly to his feet. He gripped his coffee mug tightly and his small eyes darted around the faces of the group. "Infrastructure designed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

Abraham nodded and stepped back up. His presence was so much bigger. He drew the eye straight to him when he and Eugene were standing side by side. I squinted at Eugene for a moment wondering if it was by design, like mine was when I was with Daryl. I didn't think so.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the restart button to kick in you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole things started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one," he said motioning to Judith.

I looked over at Rick, wondering how he felt with this man trying to hijack his group. But Rick's face was utterly impassive as he quietly played with Judith.

Abraham continued. "Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there who don't got nothing left to do 'cept survive."

The whole church was dead silent. Beside me, I could feel the tension radiating off of Daryl. He didn't consider himself a leader, but people would look to him for his opinion. I glanced over at him. His blue eyes looked troubled as he watched Rick.

Rick chuckled once and Judith cooed. "What was that?" He asked in a bright baby voice. "I think she knows what I'm about to say...she's in. And if she's in, I'm in," he looked around at the faces which were all looking to him. "We're in. Let's do it."

Everyone was laughing and clapping. They climbed to their feet as they clapped Eugene on the back and chatted excitedly about the upcoming trip.

Daryl and I continued to sit side by side against the wall. I took a huge swig out of the mug, half draining it before I handed it back without looking at him.

Everyone was laughing and talking. The mood was light and happy, but I couldn't shake the feeling I had. Going to Washington was not the right decision. It would be more overrun than Atlanta. It had a higher population. Even if there was infrastructure there, who's to say the other survivors would be willing to take in strays. This was our territory. We were comfortable and familiar with it. It was safe.

I let out a breath, forcing myself to control it and stood. Daryl looked up at me, raising a brow. I flashed him another reassuring smile. He frowned up at me, glancing down at the half drained mug and then back to me.

I smiled again, this time forcing it to reach my eyes. "I have to use the little girl's room," I said.

He nodded and turned back to the party taking a swig from the coffee mug. There was a lightness about him now, something that hadn't been there before. He seemed content with the groups decision and I clenched my teeth as I turned and walked out of the church. I wouldn't make him choose between me and the group, that wasn't fair to him. If they all decided to go to DC I would go my own way.

I didn't really need to pee, I just needed air, but I did anyway. The night was cool and the wind shifted through the leaves, making them rustle.

I was just doing up my belt, slipping it back through the loops of my shoulder rig when I noticed. I froze, my hands still holding onto the ends of the belt and turned in a small circle. All I could hear was the wind in the trees. The forest was absolutely silent.

I glanced back at the church some fifty feet through the trees. Soft, warm light glowed through cracks in the boards covering the windows. I did the buckle but left the zipper down on my jacket so I could reach my knives. I turned in another slow circle, straining all my senses to see if I could pick anything up.

I was out here, which could account for the silence, but I was quiet in the woods. I tended to not upset things. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something out there. I had been stalked in the mountains a few times by large predators and that's what this felt like. Walker's didn't hunt you, they came straight out and attacked and they certainly weren't silent. My mind ran over all the native predators in this region. There weren't many options, which left humans.

A stick cracked somewhere behind me and I whirled around. I had a knife and my kukri in my palms before I finished the motion. But all I could see was the inky blackness of the forest. Someone was watching us.

I took a step in that direction, staying up on the balls of my feet and my knees soft so I would be ready to fight if I had to. There was hardly any moon which made it difficult to see. When I moved towards the sound there was sudden motion as whoever was watching me fled. Definitely human. I tore off after them deeper into the forest.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much for reading. Please vote/comment.