"Carl, honey, why don't you stay with Aunt Parker tonight?" Lori suggested once everyone had retired to bed for the night. "Your dad and I have a lot to talk about and we don't want to keep you up." Carl nodded, and Parker wanted to barf.

"Can daddy tuck me in?"

"Of course, I can," Rick stood up, leading him away. "Come on." Once the boys left, Parker looked at Lori, raising her eyebrows.

"You're not going to be 'talking', are you?"

"Shut up, Parker." Lori murmured, "I haven't seen him in months."

"So, are you going to make up for lost time?" Parker asked. "Is that why you're giving me Carl?" Lori's face was red, and even despite the darkness, Parker could see it. 

"Parker, please stop."

"So I am right?" Parker guessed. "Anyway, I'll take care of Carl. Thanks for asking before making that decision." Lori rolled her eyes.

"Don't pretend you don't love his company."

"I do." Parker looked over her shoulder making sure no one was around. "I really want a child someday."

"Maybe you will," Lori replied. "Who knows?"

"No one," Parker sighed. "But, is it really worth having a child if they are going to grow up in a world like this?" Lori looked sad at the mention of what the world had turned into. 

"Well, we'll manage." Once she returned to her tent, Carl appeared to be asleep in his sleeping bag, and once Parker joined him, she realized he wasn't actually asleep. Carl turned to face his aunt, a smile on his face.

"I can't believe Dad's back," Carl whispered.

"I know." Parker chuckled, brushing Carl's hair back. "It's great."

"When do you think Daryl will be back?" Carl asked. Parker shrugged not knowing when he'd be back.

"Uh... he left a few days ago, so, maybe tomorrow?"

"Are you together?" Carl asked, enthusiastically. Parker's eyes widened.

"Why the hell would you ask that?"

"I listened to Amy and Andrea talking," Carl explained to her. "They said you two would make a cute couple."

"Well, I don't know anything about that." Parker shook her head. "I barely know him."

"Maybe you could get to know him?" Carl asked. "And then I'll have an awesome uncle."

"Is that the only reason you want Daryl and me to be together?" Parker asked the boy. 

"Maybe. He could teach me how to use his crossbow." Carl smiled at the idea.

"I think if he did that your mom would shoot him with it," Parker said. "You should get some sleep. It's late." Carl nodded with a yawn. 

"Goodnight, Aunt Parker." With Carl snuggled next to her, his soft breathing was what lulled Parker to sleep, and they were both fast asleep before Shane returned from watch. When he saw the two cuddled together, he realized what was happening in Lori's tent, and his heart filled with jealousy as he lay down in his own sleeping bag and fell asleep. 

The next morning, Parker was hanging out the clothes that Carol had washed that morning when a revving engine caught her attention. Shane was returning from the quarry with his daily supply of water. Parker was carrying the baskets toward the spare clothesline when she heard screams coming from the trees. One sounded just like Carl, and without thinking, the basket fell from her hands and she ran towards the trees, right in front of Lori and Rick.

"Carl!?" Parker shouted. "Carl!"

"Baby!?" Lori screamed for him.

"Carl?" Parker let out a relieved sigh when she spotted him, jumping over the row of cans while Carl ran towards her. He launched himself into her arms and moved towards his mother's arms as she crouched next to them, and both Parker and Lori checked the boy for any bite marks or scratches. Once Carl was safe with his mother, Parker followed Glenn, deeper into the trees. When she stopped running, she saw the walker kneeling next to a dead deer, with two arrows stuck in its skin. The neck had been torn and the walker was feasting on its insides. Rick turned and saw Parker standing next to Glenn.

"Parker, back up!" Rick demanded. The walker heard Rick's voice and stood up, growling at them. Rick hit him with the metal pole he was holding, knocking him down, and the men, Rick, Shane, Glenn, Dale, Jim, and Morales, slammed the walker to the ground. Dale swung his shovel and decapitated the walker, Parker heard Amy gasp behind her. Looking at the walker, Parker approached the men. 

"He's the first one to show up here." She continued to stare at the now decapitated walker.

"They never come this far up the mountain." Dale panted.

"They're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim responded.

"Do you think there will be more?" Parker asked. "I mean, this one could be with a pack."

"I don't know," Rick replied. "Maybe." A rustling in the trees made everyone tense, Parker jumped at the feeling of someone grabbing her hand only to realize it was Rick. He pulled her behind him protectively. Shane raised his shotgun and Parker shook her head. 

"Shane, don't shoot." She pushed the gun down slightly. Daryl Dixon appeared between the trees and saw the dead deer on the ground and the body of the walker next to it.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this.. filthy, disease-bearing motherless poxy bastard!"

"Calm down, son," Dale said, as Daryl kicked the walker. "That's not helping."

"What do you know about it, old man?" Daryl snapped, getting in Dale's face. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?" Daryl turned to his deer and pulled the arrows out of its hide. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. I was gonna drag it back to camp. And cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed-up part here?"

"I would not risk that," Shane responded, gun thrown over his shoulders.

"That's a damn shame, I got some squirrels. About a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He kept side-eyeing Rick making it fairly obvious that he didn't recognise him. The walker's head perked up and he began to grind his teeth. Amy moaned, disgusted. 

"Oh, God." She gagged, her hand over her mouth as Andrea led her a bit away.

"Come on people, what the hell?" Daryl asked, aiming his crossbow at the walker head and shooting it directly in the eye. "It has to be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"

"Is that Daryl?" Rick asked Parker, as he passed by them. Parker nodded at his question.

"Yup." She popped the 'p' her eyes tracking him as he stormed off. "You'll get used to it." As they walked back to camp, Daryl yelled for his brother. 

"Merle? Merle! Get your ugly ass out here. I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." Parker looked at Glenn and sighed. She knew what she had to do, and when she broke away from Rick and moved towards Daryl, she called out to him. 

"Daryl, can you stop for a second? I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Daryl asked, turning around.

"It's about Merle..." Parker answered. "There was a.. there was a problem in Atlanta."

"He Dead?" Daryl asked, pacing around as everyone in the group watched from a safe distance.

"We're not sure," Parker mumbled, looking down at her feet.

"He either is or he ain't," Daryl replied.

"There's not an easy way to say this, so I'll say it," Rick said, stepping forward.

"Who are you?" Daryl questioned.

"Rick Grimes," Rick answered. Daryl looked at Parker.

"I swear you said you had a brother named Rick." Parker nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. 

"It's him." She nodded her head towards Rick

"So he ain't dead?" Daryl asked.

"Apparently not." Parker looked at the ground.

"Rick Grimes," Daryl said with a sarcastic tone to his voice, "You got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all," Rick replied. "So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Daryl turned around, wiping his eyes with his arm quickly.

"Hold on, let me process this. Saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!?"

"Yeah," Rick nodded, looking at Shane. Parker, who was standing next to Rick, ducked as Daryl launched the squirrels towards the two, mainly towards Rick, and tried to knock him down. Shane pushed Daryl and knocked him to the ground. Daryl grabbed his knife as he got back up.

"Be careful of the knife!" Parker warned as Daryl swung the knife at Rick. Parker went to get between them, but Glenn grabbed her arm.

"No way!" Glenn stopped her. "Not when he's angry." Rick grabbed Daryl's arm and Shane grabbed him from behind, dragging him back as he yelled. 

"You best let me go!"

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane replied.

"Chokeholds illegal," Daryl grunted, still fighting against him.

"Yeah, you can file a complaint," Shane responded. "Come on, man. We can keep this up all day.

"Hey!" Parker shouted, crouching in front of Daryl, "Stop acting like children."

"She's right," Rick said. "I want to have a calm discussion on this topic, do you think we can manage that?" When Daryl didn't say anything, Rick repeated it with more emphasis in his tone, "Do you think we can manage that?"

"Yeah." Parker answered instead of Daryl, "Shane, let him go." Shane shared a look with Rick before releasing Daryl, letting him fall to the ground. While Daryl caught his breath, Rick watched over him.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault," T-Dog said. "I had the key, I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked from the ground.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog elaborated. Daryl huffed and stood up.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Maybe this will." T-Dog followed after him. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something," Rick said. Daryl wiped his eyes and that's when Parker realized he was doing everything he possibly could not to cry about his brother.

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"He'll show you," Lori said, her eyes on Rick, "Isn't that right?" Rick nodded.

"I'm going back." Parker sighed at his words. She knew that was coming, she just didn't expect to feel so scared when Rick said those three words. When Parker told Rick she wanted to go with them, he immediately said no. Although she's always one to fight with her brother, she knew that when he told her he wanted her to stay at the camp and take care of Carl and Lori, he was talking as if he wasn't going to come back. There was a good chance he wouldn't return, and Parker knew it as well as he did. He wanted her to be there to take care of Carl and Lori in case something went wrong, and Parker reluctantly gave in.

"Okay." Parker sighed in defeat. "But you better stop talking like you're not coming back. If you don't, I'll come look for you."

"I'll be fine," Rick promised. "I'll always come back to you three."

"Yeah, you better," Parker murmured. Later that day, Shane and Rick were talking, and Parker knew that Shane didn't support Rick's decision to go back and rescue Merle. He had expressed his opinion about Merle very clearly, and everyone knew that Shane didn't like the older Dixon brother. Following Rick, Shane continued to run his mouth.

"Could you... could you help me understand? Could you tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey, choose your words more carefully," Daryl warned him as he marched by.

"Oh, no I did," Shane replied. "'Douchebag' is what I meant. Merle Dixon. That guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me," Rick said. "I can't let a man die of thirst. Me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So, you and Daryl?" Lori asked, sounding skeptical. "That's your big plan?"

"Well, it would be Daryl, Rick, and Parker, but they don't allow me to go anywhere," Parker complained.

"With good reason," Rick said, before turning to Glenn. The boy groaned as he realized what the look meant.

"Come on." He whined

"You know the way," Rick said. "You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself."

"Parker does too!" Glenn protested. "And she wants to go."

"She's not going," Rick told him, giving his sister a small warning look. "It's not fair for me to ask you, I know, but I would feel better if you came along. And I know she would too." He gestured to Lori as he spoke, and she nodded.

"That's just great," Shane scoffed. "Now you're going to risk three men?"

"Four." Said T-Dog, standing up.

"My day's just getting better and better, don't it?" Daryl scoffed, cleaning up his arrows.

"Do you see anyone else here stepping up? To save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked him.

"Why you?" Daryl countered, not even bothering to look at him.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand," T-Dog responded. "You don't speak my language."

"That's four," Dale counted.

"It's not just four," Shane said. "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They are moving out of the cities. If they come back... we need every ablebody we got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp."

"It seems to me what you need most here are more guns," Rick answered, looking off into the distance.

"Right," Glenn said when he realized. "The guns."

"Wait, what guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick listed off. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?" Shane questioned.

"Seven hundred rounds," Rick responded. "Assorted."

"You went through hell to find us," Lori said. "You just got here and you're going to turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I- I don't want you to go," Carl shook his head.

"To hell with the guns," Lori said. "Shane's right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, not even with guns thrown in." Lori stood up when Rick walked towards her, looking at him. "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I knew, and I met his little boy," Rick explained to her. "Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they would follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap if I don't warn him."

"What's stopping you?" Lori asked.

"The walkie-talkie," Rick said. "The one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they were closer."

"Are they our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah," Rick nodded.

"Then use the CB," Andrea said. "What's wrong with that?"

"The CB's fine," Shane told her. "It's the walkies that suck, they're crap. Date back to the 70s, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars."

"I need that bag," Rick told Lori. She didn't seem convinced and walked away from Rick, who then looked to his sister for support. "You're okay with this, right?"

"Nope. Not even a little bit." Parker disagreed. "But if that's what you need to do, then.... come back in one piece." The thing about Rick and Parker was that she knew him better than she knew herself. Parker had gotten used to being able to read him like a book, something Lori and Shane had not yet mastered. In Rick's mind, that little boy and his father were him and Carl. Parker knew that Rick was going to be okay because he had survived everything that had been thrown at him so far and had only woken up from a coma a few days before. 

He had a special ability to stay alive, and Parker often saw him as a cockroach, because no matter what she did to try to get away from him, he always came back. Now, however, she wanted to keep her family closer than ever, but if Rick felt like he had to go out and save a man like Merle Dixon, Parker respected him, because there weren't many in this group who would be willing to put their lives on the line for a man like that. 

While Rick went to prepare his things, Parker ventured over to Daryl, who was sitting alone looking miserable. She couldn't blame him, but she also felt that he needed to be a little more understanding of the well-being of other people and not just his brother. It wasn't like they had actively fed Merle to the walkers and watched them eat him alive. They had done everything possible to save him from that and they are going back for him. "Hey." Parker greeted, sitting down next to him. Daryl looked up when he heard her voice.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you were okay," Parker responded.

"I'm fine," Daryl murmured. "I can't stand your brother."

"I know. Half the time I can't either." Parker chuckled lightly, he didn't try to keep it a secret. "But he did what was best for everyone, Daryl. If he hadn't, Merle would have attracted all the walkers and then there wouldn't have been any hope for any of them."

"They left him there anyway," Daryl mumbled.

"Because it was the only way," Parker tried to reason with him. "And they're going back for him, right? I think you should be a little more grateful." She knew immediately that she had said the wrong thing when Daryl's eyes flashed murderously.

"Grateful?" Daryl asked. "You're talking to me about being grateful when they're the ones who left Merle up there to die?"

"They don't have to go back for him." Parker retorted. "They could let you go on your own, but Rick isn't like that."

"Just leave me alone," Daryl grunted. "You wouldn't understand."

"No?" Parker asked. "I left my brother because I thought he was dead. They told me he was dead, so I left him there. I could have gone back, but I didn't. And now he's back because people helped him."

"What's your point?" Daryl asked.

"Let people help you," Parker told him, standing up. "You might find that life is a little better with someone to have your back."