"Dauntless!" a familiar voice called from behind Daryl.

Daryl turned to find Philip on horseback, galloping towards them from the stable right by the workshop. "Excuse us, Philip," Daryl said to him, "Grace and I were having a conversation."

"Oh, apologies," Philip responded, trotting his horse up in front of them anyway. "I was just feeding old Spike in the stable and I heard you two talking. Took me a while to realize it was you, when I did, I figured I'd ask if you wanted me to take you to your next customer."

"That sounds good," Daryl agreed, "but I need to finish talking with Grace here first. Would you mind waiting in the stable or something? It's personal."

"Oh, not a problem," Philip assured, though the grimace on his face said otherwise, "who wouldn't wanna wait in a stinky old stable anyway?"

Daryl narrowed his eyes and noted, "Maybe you could clean it while you wait. That should get rid of the smell."

Grace chuckled at his suggestion. Looks like he's back to teasing people again!

Philip gave Daryl a stale look and pulled the reins on his horse to turn it around. "Alright, Daryl, I'll give you and your lady friend some alone time. Just make it quick for me." With that, his horse strolled back into the stable, leaving the two alone once again.

"Grace, I hate to rush you into making a decision," Daryl started, "but it looks like I'm about to be away already, and I can only trust Liam for so long with the girl."

"Liam's here?" Grace asked, seeming both curious and slightly annoyed.

"Yes, he's watching her train right now. He's still hard to trust, but I've learned enough from his behavior to know he wouldn't hurt Mallory. Then again, I don't like the idea of him being here for too long without me or you around to watch him."

"Oh, so you want me to watch Mallory and Liam now?"

"No, that's..." Daryl exhaled with a little frustration, and then he softened his expression once more. "Please, Grace, this would really help me out. At the very least, just this once."

Grace knit her eyebrows, her arms crossed and eyes shifting toward the ground. When she met his eyes, she felt her heart flutter a bit, always taken whenever he expressed his admiration for her. "You're asking a lot from me, but...alright. I'll help you watch her. I don't want her to abandon her humanity either."

Daryl's eyes widened and he nodded at her. "Thank you, Grace. I know you two will get along just fine."

Suddenly, Grace slumped her upper body forward, her arms swaying in front of her, and groaned out loud. "Me and a kid? What are we even gonna talk about? We have nothing in common!"

Daryl shrugged and acknowledged, "You're both women."

"So what?" Grace asked, still slumped over. "Not all women get along, y'know! A lotta women hate me for no reason!"

Daryl thought about all the men he had seen drooling over Grace through the years and knew that there was definitely an obvious reason why other women hated her. After pointing out that they were both women, Daryl recalled a conversation he had with Mallory the first day he met her and started scratching the back of his head. "By the way, Mallory won't actually be a child for long, and, like I said, you're both women, so, uh..."

Grace raised her head with a pout. "Huh? What are you saying now?"

"You'll likely find something to talk about," Daryl explained, a rare embarrassed look on his face, "once she...bleeds."

With that image in her head, her upper body shot back up, smacking her forehead with both palms of her hands, bewilderment in her eyes. "Ugh!" she groaned hysterically. "You're gonna make me talk to her about that?"

"Well..." Daryl started, shifting his gaze away from Grace, "better you than me, right?"

Grace huffed and frowned, dropping her arms to her sides.

"That...came out wrong," Daryl admitted. "Look, my point is that you'll get along better than you think you will. Anyway, I should probably get going..."

Before Daryl walked past her, Grace softened her expression and grabbed his hand. "Daryl, before you go..." she started, pressing her other hand on top of his, clutching him tenderly. Her soft skin contrasted heavily against his callused hand. She looked hard into his narrow eyes and said, "I want you to know that...it's okay to feel things."

Seeing her sincerity, he wanted to believe her. He imagined what life would be like for him if he tried his hand at love once more, but even if he could learn from his past, he knew that he would not deserve a happy life after all that happened. Thinking of that, he pulled his hand away from her grasp, and started to walk away, saying, "I wish it could be."

Grace watched the dark swordsman walk off, her heart still heavy despite having the talk she wanted. She closed her eyes and tried to think about something else, realizing that Daryl might be too broken to be convinced that he should start caring again. That is when she looked back at the door to the workshop and thought about how things could go with Mallory. Have I ever talked with kids? There were my cousins, but there were all older than me, so I guess they don't really count... She took a deep breath and pushed her hair behind her ears, putting on a more serious look. I can't be your mother Mallory, but I'll try to be your friend. I'll do it for you and Daryl.