For the trigger warnings summary, go to the bottom of the chapter!!

After Brooks shot that guy in the head, Daryl sent her home. She'd been walking by herself when Merle jogged to catch up with her, leaving the traumatic scene for someone else to deal with. "Hey, Bambi, you know, you didn't have to do that back there."

"I know." She nodded, not looking at him.

He hummed. "Then why did you?"

"I don't know what was happenin', but I know someone would've disagreed with Rick killin' whoever that was. Best they hate me instead of 'im, if he's gonna be leader." Brooks responded, casually. "Especially if Deanna changes her mind, cause I'm assumin' that man killed 'er husband, righ'? Well, in the moment anger could wear off, best she tries kickin' me out instead of 'im."

Merle let out a breath. "Yea, that's smart. I'm proud of ya, kid."

She tried not to smile as she bowed her head, walking the darkened streets with her father. It was a pretty clear night, the moon and stars shining brightly overhead as they passed the lake which glistened in the moonlight. "Well, someone had to do it." She mumbled. "Anyways, sorry I left without tellin' anyone. I wanted to go, but I didn't want anyone to stop me."

Merle's eyebrows furrowed. "You left?"

"Yea, two days ago with Daryl and Aaron." She said, before stopping in her tracks which made Merle stop. Both turned to look at each other, Merle's face turned into realisation and hers to anger. "I've been gone two days and nobody noticed?" 

Merle began chewing on his bottom lip, trying to come out with something that would make her feel better. "Well, Sophia and Carl were busy with Enid because she went outside the walls, and Michonne's been all over Sasha's case, I've been busy with Rick and Carol plannin' security, 'n' shit... I- I'm sorry, Bambi, we all thought you were with Cam or somethin'."

She took a step back from him, feeling her heart in her stomach as the back of her eyes burned with tears she promised herself would never spill again. She hadn't cried in months, she wasn't going to break her streak, not now, not over people who didn't even bother to look for her in two days. "Where's Cam, then?" Was all she came out with, but Merle could still hear the uncomfortable shake in her voice.

"Honey-"

"Where's Cam?" Her voice raised, interrupting him, clearly not interested in anything else that he had to say. 

"I think he's in 'is room."

"Y'all forgot about 'im too then?" Brooks scoffed, beginning to walk faster away from him. She heard him begin to follow her, so she yelled over her shoulder. "Leave me alone, dad!" She hadn't meant to say it, she didn't even realise she did. It was a wonder though, how betrayal was the emotion that made her brain finally link Merle to being her father.

Merle stood in shock, staring after her. Yes, she was angry, she had every right to be... But, she called him 'dad', for the first time. She acknowledged that he was his father. He'd never forgive himself for not checking in on her those two days, or going to find her, and he did hate himself... However, he couldn't stop his lips from curling upwards. He was her father, and she finally said it.

/----------\

Brooks ran all the way back to her house, she saw Sophia and Carl playing Twister with Judith in the living room. The toddler wasn't even as tall as the mat was wide, so it was funny watching her try and reach what she just couldn't get. Judith took it on the chin though, smiling and giggling every time she fell. "Good job, Jude!" Sophia laughed as the toddler picked herself back up and tried again. 

Brooks didn't stay and watch though, she closed the door quietly so they didn't hear her come in, before she headed upstairs and into Cam's room without knocking. She looked around for her friend, before seeing the light shining from his en suit, the rest of the room dark. She could also hear his shower running distantly, the sound loud in the silent room, the sounds of laughter downstairs hadn't travelled to his seldom used bedroom. Brooks shut the door behind her, before she ran over and knocked on the open bathroom door, not yet taking a step to peer in.  

"Cam?" She called in, when there was no response, she shoved the door open the rest of the way. She saw Cam sitting in the bathtub, fully clothed with the water running over him from the shower above, and a can of beer in his hand. Her eyes scanned around the empty bottles and crushed cans of alcohol all across his bathroom floor. Her lips pushed together as her burning eyes finally let the tears roll down her face. "Oh, Cam." She said softly, stepping over his discarded items.

She leaned over and shut the water off, before getting in the bathtub and kneeling in front of him. His eyes were open but hooded, his blue eyes bloodshot and tired. His cheeks sunken, and his breath reeked at his spoke. "I tried to find you." He whispered, looking back down to the can in his hand. "Why weren't you here?" He cried, a quiet sob leaving his mouth as tears rolled down from his eyes.

Brooks moved as close as she could, taking the now empty can from his hand and putting it on the ground, before she wrapped his two large hands in her smaller ones the best she could. "I'm here now." She assured him, trying her best not to cry in front of him, because he needed her. The fact everyone had forgotten about her, and not a single person apart from Cam came to see her wasn't enough to make her cry, but Cam trying to find her, and slipping off the edge because she wasn't there ripped her heart from her chest and broke it in two.

His body shook heavy with sobs as he broke down, dripping wet with freezing cold water. "I don't want to be like this. I want to be better for you... I want to be better." He cried, his alcohol-stunk breath hitting her face time and time again, but she didn't cringe back, she just held him. She was there for him, she didn't leave him, she wouldn't, not again.

"Let me help you, Cam." Brooks whispered, making his eyes meet hers. "Just let me help you, and we'll get through this together, alrigh'? I'm not goin' anywhere, you're not alone."

His chin trembled as he tried to keep the sobs in, his head hitting the tiles behind him. "You're not mad at me?"

Brooks smiled gently at him, smiled through her pain, and her grief, and her trauma, she smiled for him. She wasn't happy, in fact she was ready to crawl into a ball, scream and cry until she dies, but she smiled because he needed her too. "No, Cam. You said once that I'm not like Will, and neither are you. You're not beyond repair, you can recover from this with help... Besides, what else is family for?" She held both his flesh and metal hand tighter, before doing something she'd never done before. "I love you." She stated, confidently. She'd never said it first before, only ever once said it in reply to Sophia a year ago, and a couple times to Michonne over the year, but that was it. She'd never said it first, but Cam needed to hear it, and she needed to say it.

"Love you more, kiddo." He whispered in his scratchy voice.

/----------\

Cam was asleep now. She had to help him change from his soaking clothes into comfortable pyjamas so he wouldn't catch a cold. She sat on a chair beside his bed, watching him closely in the dim, yellow light of the lamp that was on. He kept rolling onto his back, and so she kept rolling him onto his side - just in case. She had a red bucket in her lap which she was tapping her fingers against in the silence, watching him.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Brooks looked up to see Abraham. He stood tall, his entire body was clenched and he was breathing deeply, a face full of anger. "You didn't tell me." He stated. Brooks swallowed thickly, biting down on her bottom lip as she stared up at him. "I showed you that photo, and you didn't tell me. He was my son, Brooks! I had a right to know!"

"Are you happier now that you know?" Brooks countered, eyebrows raised. He didn't respond. "Abraham, I didn't tell you because it doesn't change the fact that he's dead. I didn't want you to go through the fresh grief of losing your child all over again. I was tryin' to protect you."

His jaw was clenched, his fists were tight, bruised slightly. "I tried to kill Eugene."

Brooks' eyebrows raised. "Why didn't you finish the job?" Abraham's head cocked to the side in slight confusion. "If it was up to me I would've killed 'im already."

"Rick, Daryl and your father stopped me." Abraham responded. "Make no mistake, Tick Tack, if he steps outta line one more time, he's dead." He began walking towards Brooks, making her tense in fear. He stopped himself, and relaxed his body before he sat on the end of the bed. He looked to Cam, before back to Brooks. "Tomorrow you take me to where he is buried."

"No." Brooks refused, looking back to Cam.

Abraham scoffed. "Excuse me?"

Brooks wet her lips, before responding. "Cam needs me. I can draw you up a map, or you can wait a couple weeks, but either way, I'm not leaving Cam. Not when he needs me, not when he's apparently got nobody else who'll look after 'im."

"I'll wait." Abraham decided after a moment of silence. "I don't think I can go alone." He looked down, hands ringing together as he fought off harsh tears which burdened his eyes. "My boy killed himself."

Brooks looked down to the ground, the image of him hanging there, lifeless, swinging gently was burned into her brain forever, yet she couldn't remember his laugh. The brain was cruel that way. "My red and black flannel?" Brooks began, making him look at her. "I know it's too big for me, but there's a reason I wear it everyday, and that reason is that it was 'is. Everyone loved 'im, he was selfless, 'n' kind, 'n' brave, 'n'... I wouldn't be 'ere today without 'im. He saved my life, the first time he met me. Then he cooked me pancakes that mornin'. He was a good man, not a boy, a man. He grew into one of the strongest people I'll ever know."

Abraham reached over, putting a strong and appreciative hand on her shoulder. "Thank you." He whispered. "I'm glad he had friend like you."

Brooks looked up to him, and smiled sadly. "Sir, it was an honour to know your son."

And with that, Abraham couldn't control himself anymore. He fell down to his knees, and buried his head in his hands. Brooks put her hand on his shoulder, and he leaned towards her, resting his head on her leg as he sobbed. Cam was still dead asleep, his alcohol coma taking over, making him dead to the world, none-the-wiser to Abraham's grief.

Abraham didn't leave the ground the whole night, but she didn't try to calm him down either. She allowed him his grief, and his emotions, she allowed him to express them how he needed too. She stayed there, and offered a shoulder to cry on as he sobbed, and a comforting hand on his back when the numbness took over. She was there, she didn't speak, or undermine him... But, she was there, and that's all he needed.

-Trigger warnings!
Mentions of suicide