𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

          𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 woke up to Casey laying on his chest. Her curly hair was a mess, and she was dead asleep, cuddled into her father. His arm was beneath her as she slept peacefully.

Little did he know that was the best she's slept in months.

His hand went up to her curls, his hands slowly stroking through her hair. He pressed his lips against her hairline. He would've done anything to do that every day he was in the coma. He would take away her pain and let there be happier memories, not her watching him in that bed.

He looked around the tent. It was just him and his daughter and an extra set of clothes. So, before doing anything, he woke her up. "Casey," He whispered, his voice slightly raspy from just waking up. She only curled into him more, and he chuckled a little bit. "Casey Q, time to get up." Her blue eyes opened, then seeing her father looking down at her.

At first, she thought she was dreaming. She thought yesterday was all a dream, but thankfully, it wasn't. It was a reality. Her father was truly alive. "Mornin, daddy." She whispered. Slowly, Rick took his arm from underneath her, and pushed himself up.

"Mornin'"

Casey saw that he now had a bandaid near his ribcage, and she looked up. "Is that from where you got shot?" She asked curiously, sitting up. Rick looked at the clean white bandage on his side, then over at his youngest child.

"Yes it is." Rick said, he looked down at her watching her get on her feet slowly. She was never a morning person. Her hair was messy, but, who was surprised. Rick wasn't, that was for sure.

"Looks badass." He raised his eyebrows at her language.

"Watch your mouth," He scolded she giggled and he laughed along with her. It was hard to be mad at what she said if she wasn't so sweet about it.

"Daryl says I'm gonna have a radass scar in my hand!"

"Don't say ass, Baby." He scolded her again. "What happened to your hand?" He asked, she shrugged, standing up from her sleeping bag.

"I learned how to skin a squirrel, then I cut my hand. Mom thought I was gonna need stitches." She told him, her eyes slightly wide.

"Stitches? Wow." He sighed, knowing his daughter often got herself into messes. A few months ago, she had two fractures in her wrist for flying over a curb on her bike:

Casey grabbed a hairbrush, and left the tent so Rick could change into clean clothes. She ran out to her mother, who was folding up some laundry. "Momma, can you do my hair?" She asked, giving her the hairbrush and a hair tie.

Lori dropped the shirt into a pile, then answering her. "Yes, I can." She answered, taking the hairbrush and hair tie. She pulled her hair into that old ponytail with the two twists. It was easy. It also kept hair from her face, and little curls didn't pop out randomly, like Rick's did if he didn't get a haircut.

"Morning, baby." She greeted after doing her hair. Casey smiled up at her, saying it back. "Sleep okay?" Lori knew she did because in the midst of the night, she got in between her parents.

It wasn't unusual for her to crawl into bed with Lori ever since Rick "died." At home and at camp she would stay in the same bed/sleeping bag. Even before that, when she was still convinced there were monsters in her bed, she'd stay with them. And when Rick started staying in the couch and Lori stayed in their room, ometimes, she'd stay with one of them so they wouldn't be alone. Rick didn't like when she slept on the floor next to the couch, so most nights if he'd wake up, he'd have to carry her back upstairs to her bedroom or he'd pick her up next to him.

When Rick walked out in his new clothes, it was similar to the mornings at the Grimes house when him and Lori weren't arguing, which were rare but good. Lori was doing Casey's hair, and Carl wasn't even downstairs yet.

Rick greeted a few people, and when he got over to his wife, Casey was having a little bit of breakfast already. "Morning, Officer." Lori greeted, smiling as she looked up at him.

"Hey," He greeted back, walking past Amy and Andrea, who both smiled to one another after staring at him.

"You sleep okay?" she asked him, Rick smiled looking at her.

"Better than in a long time," He smiled, Lori looked down at Casey, her hand going through her daughter's ponytail, twirling her fingers in it.

"Miss Casey here snuck in between us, she was on you like a leech the whole night." Lori teased, wiping some of the jelly from her pop tart off of her face with her thumb.

"Daddy?" Casey asked his name and he put his attention to her. That's how it usually was. "How come you're still tired after sleepin for so long?" She asked him, making both of her parents laugh.

"Good question, baby." He laughed she grinned, taking another bite from her strawberry pop tart.

"Well, I let you sleep in a little bit. I figured you could use it." Lori said Rick smiled, nodding his head. He looked at Casey who unbeknownst to him was happier than usual. "Same with Casey Quinn, she hasn't slept like that in a while."

"Hey, Casey, why don't you catch up with Carl. I gotta talk to your Mom about somethin." He suggested, Casey wasn't exactly opposed to it since she wasn't in the eleven or older club.

"Can't," She answered, saving one last bite for her mother or father. She held it up to Lori, who declined. Then to Rick, who was questioning why she couldn't go with Carl.

"Why- no thanks, but why can't you go with Carl just for a couple of seconds."

"Cause I'm not in the eleven or older club, can't hang out with them unless you're eleven, I just turned eight." Rick wasn't exactly the happiest with his son at that point. At first, he didn't understand why Casey didn't hang around him and the other kids because yesterday Carl was. This morning they were running around without her which confused rick because Casey was always was super friendly, even friendlier than Carl before the apocalypse. She had lots of friends at school and always was at someone's house.

"Well, I changed the rules. So, go." He commanded, she shook her head.

"I don't wanna, though." Rick smiled at her, though her stubbornness was difficult, he'd rather be there with her while she was being stubborn than not there with her at all.

"Go hang out with Glenn, then." He really needed to talk to Lori about something. It was something he couldn't say around his daughter. Something that could devastate her if she heard it.

He wanted to go back for Merle, and knowing his daughter, she'd put up a fight for it. "But-"

"I'm gonna count to three and you'll be next to Glenn."

"How about you make it ten?" She sassed, Lori looked down at her, squeezing her shoulder.

"Go," She mouthed

Casey listened, she actually listened. Usually, it was Lori having to be the one counting, and Rick would be the one negotiating. So, it was weird for Rick that she actually listened to her mother.

"Casey, I'm gonna count to three and you're gonna put on the the other shoes!"

Rick had a small work party he had to go to. Casey was forced to go to it while Carl was able to go to a sleepover. Well, Casey was grounded for getting in trouble with her friend, James, at school. They decided to play a game during class and got into trouble.

They were seeing what curse words they could get away with...

Rick and Lori figured they'd bring her to it because what else could they do? Lori's parents were out of town, Shane couldn't watch her since he had to go to the work party, and she was grounded.

"I don't wanna put the other shoes on!" She whined, thinking the converse she had on were nice enough. .

"You have to look nice for this, Casey!"

"I look nice already! You put a stupid bow in and I'm wearing a dress!" She told her off with a scowl on her face.

"1!"

"2!"

"Casey, if you put your shoes on I'll take you to the aquarium." Said Rick as he walked downstairs, tying the tie that was matching with the blue dresses his wife and daughter were wearing.

She put the shoes on.

Rick ruffled the top of her hair, and she hit his hand away as she made her way over to Glenn. "She listens to you now?" Rick questioned before telling her what he had to say.

"I'm just as shocked as you are."

When Casey got over to Glenn, he was staring at his car which was being dismantled as they stood. Dale and Jim were taking the pieces out for the RV. "Why are they takin' it apart?" She asked, Glenn looked down at her.

"Because they're vultures," Casey seemed to laugh and smile at that. "I should've had you get over here and ask them not to tear it apart. Give them the eyes, Case." He joked around with her, she laughed again, looking at the red car.

"It's fine, maybe you can get another one-"

A scream cut off what she had been saying. "Mom! Dad!" Everyone went sprinting into the woods. The screams were coming from Carl, Sophia, and the Morales.

When the rest of camp got over there, those with any type of weapon went towards what they were screaming at. Carl jumped into Lori's arms, and she quickly checked in on him. Asking about bites and scratches.

Unbeknownst to her, Casey kept running. That was a bad idea on her part because that's when she saw her first Walker...

It was all gray, and dirty. It was feasting on a big deer. It was moaning and groaning, delighted by what it was eating.

It turned around, feeling the presence of everyone. He had blood all over his mouth, and his eyes were gray and murky. Casey jumped back away from the creature clearly freaked out from it.

Then everyone started beating on it. Rick, Glenn, Morales, Shane, Jim, and Dale finished it by slicing its head off with an axe.

Casey was standing there wide eyed. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she stared down at the decapitated walker. She bit on her fingernails, looking down at it. God, it was so scary.

"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain." Dale told everyone. Rick looked at his daughter, giving his weapon to Shane and quickly walking over to her.

The look on her face scared him. She'd gone slightly pale and she just looked scared. Like a scared little girl. He didn't like the look on her face, not at all. He quickly held her close, hiding her face in his stomach. He wasn't letting her look at that thing anymore.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." The smell of the Walker made everyone slightly nauseated, it smelt like landfill but ten times worse.

"Case, you shouldn't of ran over here-"

"Shane," Rick cut him off. He was calm about it, though.

Casey didn't need to be lectured. She had just seen something she'd be seeing for the rest of her life. Walkers getting killed, she witnessed one. It scared her.

Rick wanted to protect her from it all, like all father's would for their daughters. He always assumed the worst thing he'd protect her from was boys, or getting her heart broken, but no. He had to keep her from these ugly motherfuckers.

Casey turned around, taking her head away from him. I'm not scared. I'm not scared. I'm not scared. She looked at the decapitated head then away.

Not scared

A loud crunching of leaves and branches was heard, and everyone got on the defense. Nobody knew what it was. Whether it was a walker, an animal, a human being. Nobody knew.

They knew what it was when they heard the frustrated voice of Daryl Dixon.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer!" He shouted. Daryl walked in, seeing the dead deer and the walker. He had a crossbow in hand with plenty of bolts and arrows. "Look at it. All gnawed on by this...filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" Daryl kicked it between every word, pausing between each one just to do it. Blood splatted again, and you could hear the squish, and crush of each bone and gut of the walker as he kicked it.

Dale watched as Casey looked at him as he did it. No kid should be hearing the language coming from Daryl Dixon's mouth. "Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale warned. Daryl clearly didn't like that, so, he stormed over to him.

"What d'you know about it, old man? Why don' you take that stupid hat and go back ta 'on golden pond'?" He asked Dale, being aggressive as usual. He started to pull his arrows out of the Deer, explaining everything he was about to do. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back ta camp, cook us up some venison. What d'ya think? Do ya think we can cut around this chewed-up part right here?" Daryl asked, looking over at Shane, who had his gun on his shoulders, and his arms over it.

"I would not risk that."

Daryl sighed, looking down at it. "That's a damn shame. I got us some squirrel-about dozen or so. That'll have ta do." The walker's head that was cut off started snapping his jaws like a shark, or something. "Oh, god," Amy said shakily, Daryl grabbed his crossbow and then shot it.

Casey jumped back, Rick's arm wrapped around her, holding her close. She was to innocent for the world she was now in. Before she had to be scared of monsters beneath her bed, now she had the fear of being eaten like a full course meal by Walkers. She had to mature. There was no more Santa Clause, tooth fairies, or Easter Bunnies. She had to grow up to be more of an adult at the age of eight unfortunately.

"C'mon, people. What the hell?" He asked before an arrow got lodged into its eye. "It's gotta be the brain, don't y'all know nothin'?" He asked before walking away. Rick rubbed her arm up and down, looking down at her.

"You okay?" She nodded, her eyes planted on the Deer and the Walker. "Don't look at it, let's go." He said, walking away with her.

When Lori saw her husband and daughter, she sighed of relief. She had lost Casey, and couldn't find her. She prayed she was with Rick, and luckily, she was.

Before she could reprimand her daughter for running off. Or hug her because she was glad she was okay, or just do anything, Daryl Dixon let out a loud yell for his brother.

"Merle!"

He didn't get an answer, which was unsurprising to everyone but him. "Merle! Get yer ugly ass out here, I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!" He exclaimed, putting his arrows down.

Shane walked up behind him after putting his guns in his jeep. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Daryl stopped, turning to look at him.

"'bout what?" He questioned, his voice going slightly lower expecting bad news from Shane.

"'bout Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta." He said, walking around to face Daryl. His hands went on his hips before he further explained the situation.

Everyone was crowded around, expecting Daryl to blow at any given moment. "He dead?" He asked, his face dropping into much more of a visible frown than before. He was still calm, but knowing once he heard the story, he'd reign hell on everyone.

"We're not sure." Shane told him, making him outraged. He circled Shane, looking at him with an angered expression.

"He either is or he ain't!"

Rick took his arm off of his daughter, then walking over. Casey was left there standing, and she quickly backed up next to Glenn.  "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll just say it." He said, walking over to Daryl. His head was down, and Daryl looked at him in confusion. Who was this guy?

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, ya got somethin' ya want ta tell me?" He said, emphasizing my Rick's name.

He explained the situation, and Daryl just looked...angry, maybe sad as well. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, and hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Daryl turned around, wiping his eyes.

"Hold on, let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?" He shouted at Rick. Casey's eyes widened, and she started biting on her nails. Daryl was infuriated, and when he when he was infuriated, nothing good happened.

"Yeah."

Daryl threw the squirrels at him. Rick stepped back, and then Shane tackled him. Daryl took out a large knife, pointing it at Rick. Casey gasped, Glenn looked down at her, making sure she was okay.

Then they started fighting. Rick didn't retaliate, he just ducked away from Daryl.  Shane, not so much. He ended up putting him in a chokehold to keep him in place.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl shouted, struggling in his grip. He kicked his legs and scratched Shane's arms in an attempt to break free.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane countered, kneeling on the ground.

You could tell Casey was uneasy. She was watching her father and uncle do this to a man. Sure, he was out of control, it was just weird to her...

Daryl grunted as my Rick crouched down in front of him, putting the knife in his back pocket. "Choke hold's illegal." He reminded him, his body was on the floor with Shane.

"You can file a complaint." Shane joked as he continued to struggle. Casey didn't find it to be a joking situation. "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day." Shane said Daryl kept panting, but his struggles died down.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" He asked Daryl, as if he were a child. It was almost as if Daryl was Casey, and was sitting on the steps for doing something bad. Rick was himself or Lori, and she was getting spoken to by them.

Like the time where Casey put her middle finger up to a boy and called him an asswipe. He didn't hear her out on her idea for the project she was doing. She was the only girl in the group, and neither boys liked her ideas. Her being the control freak she was decided to blow back at them.

She knew it was wrong, Uncle Shane had taught it to her. Of course, when he found out he laughed. But the point was that she got into trouble for doing something bad.

That's what Daryl was getting now...

That time when Casey was on the stairs, and her father was crouched down in front of her, she didn't want to hear it at first. Her mother picked her up from school, and the teacher talked to her. When she tried to talk to Casey, she didn't want to. She didn't even want to hear it from her.

Daryl didn't want to hear what they had to tell him. All he knew was that they put his brother on a roof and left him there. That day, all Casey knew was that she was doing something her Uncle taught her.

"Mm, yeah."

Shane let go of him, and he dropped to the ground. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." He said to him, that Daryl was breathing heavily as he sat there. I couldn't tell if he was about to cry for his brother, or just deck my father across the face.

"Casey, you can't put your finger up at school. You have to work with others even if they don't like what you have to say."

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog spoke up, Daryl was on his knees, taking a breath.

His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked over at T-Dog. "You couldn't pick it up?" He asked as if it were that simple. If T-Dog hadn't dropped it in a drain, he would've picked it up.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." He explained to him, Daryl put his head down wiping his eyes. He stood up, throwing a rock in the ground.

"If it's s'posed to make me feel better it don'." He threw a rock on the ground, and it plummeted to the ground.

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him—with a padlock." T-Dog told him, making Daryl stop in his tracks.

Rick looked at him, continuing to say something. "It's gotta count for something." He said Daryl wiped his eyes again. Casey couldn't tell if he was crying or not. Not that it mattered, but, she'd be surprised if she ever saw the 'tough as nails' Daryl Dixon cry.

"Hell with y'all! Just tell me where he is so's I can go get 'im!" Daryl exclaimed, kicking his boots into the dirt like a toddler.

Lori Grimes interjected, standing at the RV.  "He'll show you." She said, looking at my father. "Isn't that right?" She asked, staring at Rick.

Casey went red, she felt like she had to cry. She just got him back, and now there was a chance she would lose him all over again. He just got back home, there was no way he was risking his life again. "I'm goin' back." He stated, letting out a defeated sigh. He watched as his daughter ran off toward the RV behind her mother.

Shane Walsh quickly stopped her from going in. Lori was probably a mess, knowing Rick was leaving again. "Go with your brother." She tried to push past him, but he moved over. She stared up at him with a frown on her face.

With that, she stormed away from him. She brought the collar of her shirt up to her eyes, quickly wiping them. "Casey, come on now! Talk to me, girl!" he tried to make it better, but she didn't care. She wanted as far away from him as possible.

Right now, she thought Shane was a bad guy. He said Rick was dead and he wasn't. Now, he's keeping her mother from her. She's not seeing it as Shane keeping her from seeing her mother cry. At the hospital, she didn't know what happened, and neither did Shane, really. From her perspective, he's trying to keep her parents from her after what he's been doing.

After calming herself down as well as she could, she walked to her tent. Her hands were at her sides, and she calmly walked inside. Rick was standing there, buttoning up his shirt.

She didn't stop herself before looking at him and saying, "You can't go." He sighed, kneeling down in front of her. His hands went on her arms, squeezing them lightly.

"Baby-"

"No! You're not allowed to go." She said, his hands went on her small arms, looking her in the eyes. His hand went up to her cheek as one tear fell down her face. "You just got back. Why do you want to leave again?" She cried, he pulled her into his arms tucking her head into the crook of his neck.

"I'll be back in no time, I swear." He whispered, as she clutched onto his shirt.

"Please don't go, Daddy." Rick's eyes got watery at the quivering of her voice, and how she had to beg him to stay. He didn't want to go, but he had to.

"I met a man and a little boy. They took me in, took care of me. If they didn't, I could've died, and I would've never seen you again. They're why I'm here." He told her, his hand softly playing with her hair. "They're going to Atlanta, and it's bad there, Case. I gotta warn them." She sniffled, looking at him. His arms were still around her as she looked at him.

Her eyes were red and glossy. She had tears streaking down her freckled cheeks. "How would they know, you can't warn them." In her mind, there was no communication. Rick had walkie-talkies with them, and they were in a bag left in Atlanta. He had to get them.

"I had a walkie-talkie in a bag I left there, I was gonna meet with him." His hand went on her cheek and his thumb wiped her tears away. "You get that?" She nodded her head yes and quickly hugged him again.

"I'm comin back, I promise you." He lifted her up off the ground onto his hip like he had when she was little. Her head was on his shoulder.

When he lifted her up, she felt tinier. She was lighter, not that Casey was a heavy kid at any stretch. She just seemed a hell of a lot smaller now. The Grimes children were healthy kids, they didn't weigh too much or too little. But right now, Rick was sure Casey weight much to little

When seeing Rick Grimes walk out with his eight year old on his hip, it confused Shane Walsh of how he could just leave. He had not one but two kids and a wife.

If it were him, he wouldn't do this to his family...

"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?" Shane asked him.

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody—Not you, Shane; Lori least of all." Rick knew Casey didn't have to hear what Shane had to say, he also knew she wasn't gonna let him go anytime soon.

"Tell her that." Shane made him stop in his tracks.

"She knows." He then kept walking, Casey's head was on his shoulder, a few tears still flowing down her face and onto his shirt.

"I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just—could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked following behind Rick and his daughter. Rick wanted to get Shane off of his ass. He didn't need to explain why.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl warned him, Shane looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh no, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon—that guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dyin' of thirst." Shane told him, Rick didn't seem to care. Merle was still a person. Doesn't matter what he did, he's a person. Not an animal. Thus he shouldn't be treated like an animal.

What was also going through his head was that if he didn't go to this man, this horrible, racist man who would step on anyone's faces to get to the top, or to get his way, he'd be setting a bad example for his two children. He'd be setting the example that you don't help anyone if they need it.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. 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." Rick explained to the man, who still wasn't in understanding of what he said. Merle Dixon wasn't a human, he was an asshole.

He walked away again, over to everyone else. He quickly fixed how he was holding Casey, putting her on his hip more. God, she was so light.

"So, you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked him.

That's when Rick turned to Glenn, who looked to argue. "Oh, come on," He sighed, not wanting to say yes. He'd just gotten back, he needed a break and now he has to leave again.

"You know the ways You've been there before—In and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Glenn took his hat off, raking his hand through his hair. "It's not fair of me to ask—I know that—but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick said, pointing at Lori who did feel better. Glenn knew where to go, that was undeniable.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane asked, looking around at everyone.

"Four." T-Dog corrected, Daryl scoffed as he cleaned his bolts on the log.

"My god, it just gets better and better, don't it?" He asked, Shane put his hands on the back of his head, pacing back and forth.

"You see anyone else here steppin' up to save your brother's cracker ass?" Asked T-Dog.

He looked at him, answering right back at him. "Why you?"

"You wouldn't begin to understand, you don't speak my language." He said.

"That's four." Dale said

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Come on, you saw that walker. Come on, you saw that walker It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." He said

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns," Rick said, Casey's eyebrows knitted together. Where was he going to find guns?

Glenn took a step forward, seeming to know what Rick was talking about. "Right, the guns." He said, his head nodding up and down.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane questioned, a confused expression present on his face.

Rick answered him, knowing he was now getting somewhere with all of this. "Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. 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 in the street, waiting to be picked up." he said, stepping in close to Shane.

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted." He said, matter-a-factly.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked, Casey looked at her. Lori's heart nearly broke all over again seeing her red eyes, she was sobbing. It hurt  her to see Casey like that again.

Suddenly, Carl spoke up. "Dad, I don't want you to go," Carl told him, Rick slowly turned his head to his son with his daughter still in his arms.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." She said Rick started walking over as she stood up. "Tell me. Make me understand." She begged him.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. 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'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Rick told her, Lori looked down and back up at him.

"What's stopping you?"

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. We planned to connect when they got closer." He explained to her.

"These are our walkies?" Asked Shane, who was now sitting down. Rick turned his head, to him, answering.

"Yeah,"

"So use the C.B., what's wrong with that?" Andrea asked him.

"The C.B.'s fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap-date back to the '70s don't match with any other Bandwidth not even the scanners in our cars." Shane told her, Casey didn't understand, then again she was only eight years old.

"I need that bag," Rick told my Lori before walking over to Carl with Casey still on his hip. When getting next to him, he carefully placed his daughter down. He knelt to their height looking at them both. "Okay?" He asked him, Carl nodded his head, and he put his hand on top of his head stroking his hair. "All right," He said, no quieter than a whisper.

When he got up to leave Lori sat down next to her daughter, Carl went off with his friends again. Her hand went on Casey's back. "I'm sorry, Case." She apologized, even thought it wasn't her fault.

"I don't want him to go."

"Neither do I, but, he's doin' the right thing. You know that?" She asked, Casey nodded her head yes. "Sometimes I wish he wouldn't, though." Lori sighed before standing up.

Now that Casey was alone, she ran over to the white truck they were taking. Her blue converse with untied laces nearly tripped her up as she did, but, she managed.

Daryl had put the trunk door up and she had quickly ran over to it. She put her hands on the edge, and started pushing herself up. The hot metal was on her palms and she slightly winced as it hit her bandaged cut.

She tried to push herself up, kicking her legs as she did. "Hell ya doin'?" She rolled her eyes before trying again. Stupid Daryl.

"I'm going with." she sassed pushing herself up again.

Daryl had walked over, his hands going beneath her armpits and he took her off. He carried her over to Rick, who was conversing with Dale and Jim.

"Let go, stupid!" She exclaimed, kicking her legs.

"Found this one tryin' ta sneak inta the truck." Casey looked at her father, who turned to see her. Her legs were off the ground and her shoulders were slumped.

"Just wanted to help." she muttered, Daryl dropped her onto her feet, walking away.

"Thank you," Rick said to him, Daryl said nothing back.

He looked down at the eight year old, who wouldn't even look at him. "Casey Quinn Grimes, you best explain to me why you just tried to sneak in there." She shrugged, not looking at him. "Hey, look at me." He knelt down in front of her, and she looked at him.
"If Daryl hadn't found you, it could've been bad. The city is dangerous." She nodded, looking down at her blue shoes.

He looked down at them too, seeing her untied laces. He brought one onto his knee, making her balance on one foot as he tied her shoe. "I wanna go with you." He shook his head no.

"Absolutely not, your to young."

"So's Glenn." Unfortunately, Glenn was walking by as she said that. He sighed, shaking his head at the little girl.

"Casey, you're not going." He told her off as he tied her other shoe.

Suddenly, she launched herself into him to give him a hug. "Please make it back, Daddy." His arms went around her just as quickly as she hugged him.

"I will, I promise, baby girl. I promise..."

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

a/n:

poor casey lol.

ummmm so obvi she has an attitude problem, but since it's Casey it's queen shit. Kay? Good.