A/n: Univerisity is kicking my ass, the lecturers are all sadists and not even in a good way and I've written so many essays I glared at my keyboard… please enjoy and sorry for any mistakes found!

Warnings: Inaccurate info most likely, religious stuff, child abuse, talks of suicide, Sirius.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or Harry Potter.

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"This world, what it is now, this is where you belong. And I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that's okay. 'Cause at least I can say when the world goes to shit, I didn't let it take me down with it."

-Dale

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Chapter Fifteen

Uncle Vernon had always been an intimidating man. Tall and rotund with huge beefy hands and a face that could turn red and purple within an instant and Harry had always done his best to stay clear of the man if he could, always kept his head down and his voice inaudible.

He always said his thank-you's after he was allowed to eat whatever table scraps were left and always cleaned up even if he never ate any of the food.

He never complained, never questioned the authority that preceeded over him and never ever talked back. Yet he was consistently on the receiving end of his uncle's words -

"Demon child!"

"Freak!"

Abomination!"

Or worst his fists that were like clubs.

The preacher at the church was without a doubt friends with his uncle, every sunday the Dursleys would drop a generous donation as the collect plate went around and people would stare in wonder - or at least that was what his aunt Petunia would brag about because he wasn't allowed within the church- and how Mrs. Walters was jealous and would remain so. Dudley would beam at his mother's happiness and Vernon would shout and tell him to pour the scotch, two glasses.

Preacher Tuley was a kind man at face value, cheerful with the congregation and true believer while standing on the slightly raised stage within the church.

But with his uncle it was as if his face melted away along with the personality and was replaced with a vicious drunk. Harry was made to pour glass after glass of the drink until either Tuley or Vernon were well on their way to passing out, both slurring as they recounted their boy days.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley normally left soon after the first glass, Harry never knew where nor was he ever asked to follow.

Tuley would do either of two things. Fall into a drunken dead like sleep or stare at him with an unblinking gaze, like the snakes Harry glimpsed at on the telly when Dudley watched animal planet. The stare was frightening especially when Uncle Vernon was dead to the world and his surroundings.

"Com'ere 'oy"

Harry ran and Tuley lunged for him, the half full glass of old scotch spilling on his pants and shirt.

Tuley told Vernon that Harry threw the scotch at him and Vernon in a show of solidarity to his friend beat him until his head swam and vision faded to spots of black.

"God will forgive you." Tuley had murmured and pat his uncle on the back as if the man had done the world a great deal.

Moving to the 'backwater shit stain of civilization' as his uncle had called it when he was eight must have been the best and worst time of his life. On one hand there was no more Tuley, the preacher wishing his friend goodluck the sunday before they moved as he stood on the podium.

The entire church had sung along with the man and for once Harry wasn't left at home, he was left in the car.

Alabama was unlike Surrey in the same way a dog was unlike a tree, the people loud and expressive and very naked - his aunt had shrieked several times on their way to the home given to them by Vernon's boss for the duration of his stay. The job was simple, recruit as many laborers for the newest expansion of Grunnings and should he be successful then he'd be in for a fatter pay check and a promotion.

The move was harder on Petunia than it was on anyone else because she refused to socialize with the women in the neighborhood over taken by trailer and mobile homes, and only a select few who had houses were graced with her attention.

Vernon and Dudley however blended in just fine despite their hesitations. Vernon found that the men in the neighborhood loved to drink no matter the time and held his same disdain for anything 'not normal', while Dudley fit splendidly in with a group of rouwdy boys who found pleasure in catching fish and frogs to poke to death with pointy sticks and metal.

And Harry… Harry was left alone again.

The news of the bitch boys had swept the nation and the sunday since the national and international announcement the lone church that rested in the area was bursting with people all screaming questions at the pastor who looked as shaken as Vernon had looked two nights before. Harry had been dragged along, the Dursley's too confused to remember to leave him in the car.

"This revelation is truely shocking, disgusting even!"

The gathered mass agreed and the pastor dabbed at his forehead that was glistening with sweat under the dangling ceiling lights.

"Those - those things, those faggots were placed here on earth by the devil! Because our God surely wouldn't give men a womb and pussy would he?!"

Harry flinched a little at the thundering shout of 'No!' and a little girl four people down asked her mother what a pussy was.

"Devil incarnations sent to tempt us! Sent to destroy us! Faggots with cunts and wombs have no place on our land! Have no place in our world! They should all be sent back to hell where they came from!"

The shout was louder this time, his uncle pounding a fist on the pew infront of him.

"They say that any man or boy can be knocked up! That any of us men in here can be a part of the devil's congregation! That our boys will be a-a a bitch-boy! I say fuck them!"

Harry didn't ever remember preacher Tuley using all of the language his aunt had banned Vernon from using around the Dudley but the gathering of people screamed their approval.

"Should any of our children seem even the slightlest odd beat them! Beat the unnaturalness out of them! Beat the bitch-boy out of them! Beat the faggot out of them!"

Uncle Vernon had driven like a madman that night and the moment they were behind closed door Harry found himself dragged to the back of the house and no matter how much he cried out, how much he pleaded, even when Petunia came and told Vernon to stop he didn't.

...

Opening his eyes Harry stared at Daryl's wrinkled forehead and squinted eyes narrowed in what could only be worry. Reaching up a hand he blinked his wet eyes and sniffed a bit, confused why he was crying. Rubbing his thumb along the creases of Daryl's forehead until he stopped frowning so deeply Harry smiled.

His husband was such an old man, it was cute and funny.

"Harry?" rubbing at his eyes he peaked open one to stare into the blue eyes that glowed a bit in the dark like a werewolf and he hummed as Daryl's caloused thumb swiped under his eyes and down his cheeks.

"You okay?" Harry asked and a startled snort left Daryl's mouth, and though he couldn't see it well with the only light being the moon he knew that an eyebrow was being raised at him.

"Am I okay? Harry you were the one crying in your sleep." he replied, voice drier with sleep and if Harry wasn't confused he would feel bad for interrupting his husband's sleep with someonething that wasn't impromptu hormone sex. "You're still crying."

"I was? I am?" he rubbed his eyes again and Daryl sighed, lips chapped but did a well enough job of kissing the few stray tears and Harry hiccuped.

"Harry…"

Harry wiggled around until he was on his side, face pressed into the older man's neck that still smelled heavily of soap, a scent that he breathed in and out as he willed the tears to stop but just like every other body function since his pregnancy nothing listened to him.

An arm wrapped around him, the next rubbing slow gentle circles on his belly, a move that comforted him more and more recently, lips brushing his ear and forehead. Daryl wouldn't push him but he also wouldn't leave it alone, poking in his silent way that Harry called passive aggressive warfare. Snuggling as close to his husband as humanly possible with their kid protruding from his body he took a few a minutes to himself to just listen to the near silent night and smell Daryl as if he was a needy dog.

"Vernon." he mumbled and Daryl sucked his teeth, arm tightening around him.

Daryl had hated Vernon with a passion despite never confronting the man simply because Harry preferred Daryl out of jail, but he had been there for more than a few of his uncle's temper tantrums that he took out on Harry's body like the human punching bag he was.

"What brought this on, did someone say something to you?" the hand on his back moved to his face and Harry squeaked when his chin was tilted up to Daryl's blazing blue. "Did someone do something to you? Who the fuck was it?"

Harry blinked before he giggled and God did he love this man.

Daryl's expession only provided more wrinkles and Harry took pleasure in smoothing them out again, placing kisses along Daryl's jawline and mouth until the man had a tiny grumpy frown. "Harry stop trying to distract me with kisses."

"Mhmm, not tryna distract you.." he murmured absent mindedly, his hand moving down the naked expanse of Daryl's chest and down into the boxers. His husband's breath hitched and Harry pouted when a hand plucked his off and away from Daryl's junk.

"Harry."

"Whaaat." he groaned and looked up in the general direction of the current youngest Dixon who just gave him a raised brow again. "Fiiiine."

Rearranging himself so he was more comfortable Harry huffed, not in annoyance but from how winded he was from just moving in bed, shit was he tired now.

"I know I'm being irrational and it practically doesn't make any sense for me think about uncle Vernon but - Daryl what if I fuck up our baby? What if by some magical creation I become my uncle?"

"Physically not possible."

"Stop it you, you know what I mean."

"I do and I mean it." the mattress moved as Daryl shifted to lay half upright "You're not that dumb fuck Harry, could never be even on your worst days. What he did, what they all did in that house in no way does it reflect you."

Harry bit his lip and honestly if there was one thing from the very long list of things he wouldn't miss after the pregnancy would be crying. "B-but what if, what if I am."

"I know you'd sooner cut your hand off than hurt our kid. Sure we'll discipline them because of course any baby that comes from you will be a snarky shit-" he teased and Harry snorted through the tears. "But you'll never hurt him like they did you. You're not like them, any of them. You hear me?"

Harry diverted his gaze and Daryl nipped his bottom lip in retaliation "You're so fucking wonderful sometimes I wonder if I really died in the forest that time and this is all a dream 'cause otherwise I don't know how to explain how I managed to get someone as beautiful and talented and loving as you."

He couldn't stop the blush even if he had tried and his face burned red right to the tip of his ears "Dar…"

Daryl pressed what felt like a searing kiss to his lips and Harry returned it. "You see this kid here Harry? This baby? We're not perfect and if we make mistakes that's normal and I'm pretty sure Jacqui or Grimes will be there to correct us" Harry grinned at how annoyed the man sounded about Rick "-but between the two of us this kid is gonna get sick of our love. We're gonna raise him or her together and nothing'll stop us from giving him what we lacked as kids."

"Minus the wifi." Harry added and Daryl quirked a smile.

"Minus the wifi." he agreed.

Growing up he had always been interested in humans, not because they were particularly interesting but because he had always wanted to know why the Dursley's treated him the way they did.

Why was it that Dudley got love, kindness, and compassion while he in return only received hatred, fists, and pain.

What was the difference between his cousin and him that caused two completely different reactions in his aunt and uncle?

The word 'interesting' was maybe too strong or perhaps it was too weak for the level of need he felt to know why he was less desirable compared to his cousin in the eyes of his family.

That question had haunted him for years, up until he got his first real taste of love from his godfather.

Sirius had been a lungful of air he didn't know he needed. Had been that extra something that Daryl's friendship couldn't properly provide and was the answer to all his questions. Was the resolution to all his ostensible 'whys'.

Sirius had been the first adult to show him, love, had been the first grown up to hug him and kiss him good night. Had been the person to make him realize that not all adults were as horrid and cruel as his aunt and uncle had been.

He had even understood why he did what he had done to them, and Harry couldn't have asked for a better godfather. For a better father figure.

But with the revelation that was given by Sirius came the opening of the doors to more questions, deeper questions regarding humans and their behavior and maybe he should have studied psychology as his major but as with everything since his godfather had found him, Sirius was the answer.

He was the reason Harry persued a career as a neurologist, had worked his ass off to the bone for years to be seen and to have gotten any shred of recognition when the time came, because Sirius' best qualities were his mind and personlity. His ability to turn a sober moment into one full of joy and laughter had never been rivalled. His imagination and creativity had been marvelous as well. Everything from his charisma, impish smile to his booming laugh; the man had been a ray of light that had filled Harry up to the brim, finishing what Daryl's own small beam had started.

The huge house they lived in with Remus - Sirius' husband had been one of warmth, the feeling reaching into the very foundation and just the live virus robbed and consumed everything that made a person human, Sirius became lost as well.

Frontotemporal Dementia.

The word alone sounded ominous and Harry witnessed first hand how destructive it was. Had seen the brilliant man degrade into a husk of paranoia, scathing words and amnesia. The doctors had said that he was a rare case, that his age was significantly younger than anyone who had ever contracted the disease but that didn't change the fact that he had it, and they couldn't do anything to stop it.

Harry had hated the person Sirius had become because bit by bit the man whom he had grown to love disappeared until there was nothing left. Remus tried to best to care for him, bearing the brunt of the attacks, curses and mood changes and while Harry knew he was being selfish he couldn't help but to have felt betrayed back then.

It wasn't fair how he showed him the light only to push him back into the darkness again. It wasn't fair how he had told him for years that he was loved only to scream he was hated.

Sirius had died in Remus' arms while Harry had been at school studying and in his final moments, a silver of clarity had come back and in the video, Remus had quickly taken Harry for the first time in such a long time saw the man who had saved him.

Grey eyes tired and worn, hair a mess and pallor deathly pale but his smile had been wide and brilliant. A beautiful thing that had made Harry cry when he watched the feed.

'I love you Har-Bear. Never forget that.'

Harry treasured those words perhaps more than Daryl's first declaration of love for him.

With the absence of Sirius the void that had spread within him as a child had come back, questions of why sprung forth and for a long time he drowned in them and then Daryl like the grumpy bastard he was, yanked him from his gloom and then Harry found his new resolution.

Daryl was nothing like Sirius but he was what Harry needed and somewhere along the line the need turned into a craving that never stopped, that continuously ran through his veins and took over his rationality until he was left with the sole desire to have.

The little boy who he had met in the forest, who was just as wild-eyed and hungry as he had been, became his sole reason for everything.

His baby kicked low in his stomach, aching more than it should but then again he was willing to bet his due date had either passed or was quickly coming. The pangs of pain that streaked across his abdomen sometimes robbing him of breath. If that was normal he didn't know but it was nothing that he couldn't handle.

Looking back up from the distraction that was his unborn kid he continued to stare at Andrea's form from where he was sitting under the tree by the camp site, the blond woman storming off into the forest leaving Dale to gather whatever shred of dignity she had left him with after their spat.

He hadn't been bluffing when he had threatened her - when he had promised he'd take action should she do something so incredibly foolish again, it was one thing to shoot someone but another to try and shoot Daryl.

"Harry!"

He blinked out of his detached musings and turned to Carl who for the first time in a very long time was up and walking, his blue eyes squinting to block out the sun as if it was offending him for being bright.

"Woah! You've gotten huge!"

He blinked again at the miniature human, then to Rick who was doing his very best to not offend Harry by laughing though no one else seemed to have a problem with doing just that. Even Daryl smirked.

The bastard.

Harry smiled at Carl and brushed his hair from his face "And you've gotten shorter. Didn't you know that staying in bed for so long causes humans to shrink? I think you're about three inches shorter than you once were."

Carl reared back looking affronted, wide eyes on his father "Is that true dad? Did I shrink? Am I gonna be short forever now?"

Rick ruffled his hair, the boy leaning into it a bit but looking no less scared at the prospect of being short for life. "Harry's just teasing you son. If anything you got a bit taller." he reassured the boy who whipped his head back around to glare at Harry, though it soon melted into a pout.

"Mom says you're not supposed to tease sick people Harry."

"Your mum says a lot of things, doesn't mean they are all true."

Carl scrunched his face as if the prospect of his mother telling lies was too far out of the realm of possibilities. Rick snorted softly before nudging the boy into an empty chair beside Carol who gave him a hug and kisses on his hair, Carl turning red at being kissed by another woman who wasn't his mother. Rick sat down in the empty space next to Shane, nudging the man with his elbow until he looked up with a glare that his former partner just grinned at.

Well wasn't that sweet.

It was like watching two idiots try to out-idiot the other and Harry was glad that he at least had entertainment in place of his laptop, romantic comedies were never his thing but he could see himself making a fanart poster of the two.

A small warm hand across his belly told him that Carl was back and his apparent fascination with his unborn kid hadn't tapered even after being shot, the boy's eyes wide with curiosity that reminded Harry of a cat.

"Y'sure there's only one in here?" Carl asked after a few minutes of playing poke-Harry-in-the-side with the baby who kicked more than poked but every time a tiny fist or foot printed on his skin Carl giggled in delight. Looking down at the mini-Rick he shrugged. "Pretty sure there's only one, but if there were two I don't think I would mind."

"Would Daryl mind?" the question was so innocent it made Harry snort, pointing to where his husband in question was shirtless and chopping wood with an ax over to the far side.

"Ever see a puppy with a ball?" Carl nodded but was appropriately confused "Know how excited it gets? Barking and jumping all around?" The little boy nodded again and Harry motioned to Daryl again.

"Well, Daryl would be a total puppy about it."

He waited for the kid to respond but all he got was a gaped expression as if his brain had short-circuited imagining Daryl happy. He honestly didn't care what peoples opinions were of his husband's lack luster personality because Daryl Dixon in society and Daryl Dixon with him were two very different people.

Poking Carl's soft cheek he poked it a second time because - squishy. "You okay there buddy?" Carl just mumbled, head whipping around to stare at the woodsman for the day.

"Right…" twisting until he could see the chatting former policemen he waved at them until they stared at him, one smiling and the other one mildly disgruntled. "I think I broke your kid Rick."

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Maggie glared at Beth who just gave her wider blue eyes as if she hadn't just shoved her older sister in the direction their father went.

"Why does it have to be me?"

Beth rolled her eyes, breaking the persona of innocence expression she had perfected since barely out of toddler years. "'Cause Daddy listens to you, I'm just the baby remember?"

Maggie squinted at the blond teen, sighing before she tugged on her shirt and brushed invisible dust from her jeans. "How do I look?"

Beth rolled her eyes again, smiling that semi-angelic smile that Maggie had hated as a kid but loved now "Just like you always do, now go."

Following the scent of too black coffee from the bedrooms and right where the bay-windows rested, the spot that their father always occupied to see the sun rising or when he just needed a place to think. Maggie slowed down, lingering in the doorway for a few seconds before pushing onward.

She wasn't afraid of their dad in the conventional sense, but his temper was something she remembered vividly along with the alcoholism and screaming at nonexistent figures that only he could see in the eyes of his mind.

She also remembered how loving and sweet had been with her mother before she had passed.

A part of her had been angry that he had found happiness with Beth's mother as if somehow he rejected his first wife and decided to move on with Annette and a new baby called Shawn. The resentment she had felt towards her entire family had made her say and do some awful things because it wasn't fair that she was the only person hurting.

That she was the only one who missed and still loved her mother.

She lashed out in every way possible the older she got, fighting at school and even hanging out with the trouble makers who were known to smoke pot, things just accelerated after Beth was born and her resentment was centered on the small adorable blond baby who her father showered with affection.

It all had come to a climax when one night she figured why should she continue living with people who didn't love her and how wonderful it would be to die after breaking his heart as he broke hers.

"I'll go with mom 'cause at least there I won't ruin your perfect family."

"Maggie... What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about! This!" she pointed at Annette and little Beth who had stopped playing with her dolls to stare at her big sister. "I-I hate it! I hate how you made a new family and forgot about mom! Forgot about m-"

"Sweetheart I didn't forget about your mother how could-"

"Yes you did!" she didn't know when she had lost her composure and dissolved into screams but Beth started crying the instant she did. "Yes, you did!"

"Mags I-"

"It's not fair that I'm the only one who misses her, how much it hurts to think of her and see her still and you're playing house with someone else! How you forgot about me and made a new daughter!"

"Maggie now you know that isn't true, how could I forget about you?" he had reached out to her only to flinch when she moved away.

"Stop lying! Just stop it! If you missed her you wouldn't have gotten married! If you love me you wouldn't have replaced me! You're just like m-mom… e-every...everyone leaves me…"

Hershel had grabbed her by the arms and she fought back, pushing and shoving at him at boney fourteen year old arms until her father managed to wrap her in a hug, something she had felt in a long time, familiar yet painfully unfamiliar. Her vision blurred and her eyes burned as tears that had been held back for so long finally fell.

"I hate you…" she admitted.

"I know." Hershel murmured, hand rubbing her back.

"You don't care that mom died so you won't care if I do too." she mumbled through the tears and the arms tightened around her until it felt like her spine was going to snap in half.

"Then I'd follow you, I'd follow you just so I could see my little girl and wife again."

It wasn't the words that made her look up but rather how his voice had cracked. Maggie had seen drunk and angry Hershel but never him crying before.

"Y-you would?"

"Maggie there's no force on earth or in heaven that could keep me away from you." it was said with no hesitation, raw in nothing but truth to the point it made fresh tears rush forth.

"B-but… w-what about-about A-Annette a-a-and B-Beth a-and S-Shawn?"

Hershel looked down at her, arms still tight to the point it was painful but somehow seeing her father's blue eyes almost glowing with tears, the pain visible in them dulled the ache of the hug. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and Maggie blinked when a drop of water landed on her nose from above.

"You're the only reason I haven't followed my Josephine yet Maggie. I love you too much to leave you alone in this world so never doubt that I wouldn't follow you to the ends of the earth."

Hershel sniffed, the sound wet and Maggie shuddered because that only made the fact sink in that she made him cry.

"I love your mother so much Maggie, so very very much, she was my first love, the person who pushed me towards my dreams and who gave me my greatest joy in the form of you. When she died I was lost but you pulled me out of that dark hole by just being here. I wasn't the best husband to her but I swore to her when she died I would be a better father to you, Maggie."

Maggie sniffed and hid her face in his chest.

"I got married again so you could have another chance of having a mother, so you wouldn't have to deal with a broken man who didn't know the first thing about raising a daughter. So I could see you laugh again." he raised her head so she was forced to look at him and Maggie whimpered seeing the shattered expression on his face.

"I failed your mother when she was alive. I was horrible to her, a drunkard. She deserved ten times more than me, more than what I could give her and God knows if I could I would turn back the hands of time and fix everything wrong I did."

"But I can't, so I swore to her I would change, that I would be better for you."

His calloused thumb gently brushed away the tears on her cheek "Everything I did was for you Mags, I have no reason to live if you're not here. My first ray of joy, my little Maggie who had made my darkest days better by just smiling."

Hershel blinked but made no move to stop his own tears from falling "I failed you and I didn't realize. Didn't even notice how much you were hurting. I'm so sorry Maggie… Maggie, I'm so sorry."

Her tears had no direction and her arms found their way around her father's waist "It's okay Daddy, please stop crying...I'm sorry." her words were a mess of sobs and wet sniffles but Hershel just buried his face in her hair, his body shaking.

"I can't change what I did but God as my witness Maggie I'll do better. Please let me do better."

"Daddy…"

Hershel turned around, blue eyes still as bright as when she was a child and his smile still as kind. She walked over and into his outstretched arm, hugging him as tight as physics would allow her to until he grunted, a chuckle leaving him.

"I haven't gotten a hug like that in a long time." draining his mug of coffee he set it to the side and led her to the couches. "What's the occasion?"

Maggie nibbled on her bottom lip before looking up to her father who melted from amused to resigned.

"You're here to talk about our guests." he guessed and she nodded, not bothering to lie.

"They're good people Daddy, they could help us protect the farm, could help us survive far longer than if we were by ourselves."

Hershel grunted, "The Harry fellow told you this or was it, Rick?"

"Neither, I figured that if they're groups like them wandering around then eventually another set will come and maybe they won't be as nice."

"I believe Rick said something similar."

"Well, Rick seems to be a smart man. He trusted you to heal Carl didn't he?"

"And now he wants to overstay his welcome by never leaving."

Maggie rolled her eyes "Daddy."

"We know nothing of these people Maggie, what's to say they aren't pretending? They see the world in such a horrible way, like lost spirits. They've been trying to convince me that our friends and family in the barn aren't sick, that they will never return to normal."

Maggie bit her lip. She knew how her father felt about the dead in the barn, how he saw them as a kind of hope that God was just playing a cruel joke on humanity.

She also knew that he was just in denial, that he knew without a doubt that those people in the barn - Annette and Shawn weren't ever going to come back.

Moving from her seat across from him she sat on the soft and plush couch that despite its many years never wore away, her hand entwining with his weathered one to squeeze it.

"I know them, Daddy, they're good people." the Greene patriarch looked as doubtful as he had when Beth had declared at eight she had eaten all her vegetables and that no they weren't under the table.

"Jacqui loves to cook 'cause she had to learn in order to feed her younger brothers when she was a kid, Carol wanted to be a dancer when she was a little girl, T-Dog's name is actually Theodore Douglas, Shane is a sour puss but he loves kids, fishing and hunting, Daryl and Harry are crazy in love with one another and only Harry can really make him smile, Harry was a neurologist and knows a ton of fancy words."

"Merle is uh... He's a bit mean but he loves his family, Rick is honorable as they come. Glenn is really sweet, he knows a lot about the stars and said he had gotten a scholarship to that fancy school called M.I.T, he also knows a lot of different species of herbs and-" she cleared her throat a blush rising on her cheeks when her father's expression darkened a bit.

"Carl is really sweet and wants to be like his dad when he grows up, there was another child in the group called Sophia but she's missing."

Hershel hummed "And what about the other two." Maggie shrugged a bit "I haven't gotten to learn much about them yet, only that Andrea had a younger sister and Lori is Rick's wife."

Hershel dragged his hand over his face, blue eyes leveling his daughter with not quite a glare but an annoyed stare nonetheless.

"And you want me to trust these people just because you say so young lady?" the question had weight behind it because if they did indeed turn out to be bad people then it would be Maggie's fault for having them remain, but she trusted Glenn.

"Yes, I do daddy."

Hershel groaned loudly and covered his eyes with a hand, Maggie only laid her head on his shoulder and took in the unique scent of the outdoors mixed with spearmint. "They'll help us protect the farm daddy, they aren't perfect but neither are we as humans. It'll be okay and good for us, I promise."

His only response was to brush a kiss on her head but she counted it as half a win.

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D.H

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Who the fuck did he think he was? Telling her he'd kill her should she do something that could have saved a life had the situation be different?

Andrea swung the ax against the tree, the sharp blade cutting into the hard bark of the trunk.

"He'd kill me?! And they all stood there! No one said shit!"

Another gouge marked the tree and she screamed in frustration, striking the trunk again and again until the ax became stuck within the meat of the trunk and refused to budge.

She had pulled the trigger in an effort to take down a walker, how was she supposed to know it was fucking Dixon stumbling about in the grass? He should have raised his hand or something to let them know, to let her know he wasn't a walker.

Brushing her hair back from her eyes Andrea turned, blue eyes glaring in the direction of the camp where she had left Dale, the man telling her to not be so irrational as if she was the one threatening to shoot people so casually.

Fuck Dixon's bitch and fuck Dale.

In fact, fuck all of them who didn't stand up for her! All of them were too busy riding the British bastard dick to realize just how bad of a person he was, twisting them around his finger to the point he had Rick in his palm more than Lori did.

He pretended to be nice, to be sympathetic and sweet, a savior no one needed or asked for and they all ate it up like hungry dogs.

Amy's death had made her one of those hungry dogs for a while until anger made her see reason until she could see just how much of a manipulator he was, today been a prime example.

"Fuck all of you." she murmured, hand wrapping around the red handle of the axe before tugging on it.

"I'm not some whiny bitch who needs saving!" the axe refused to budge.

"I'm not going to die out here begging for my life and I sure as hell am not useless! - come to fuck out!"

The ax's blade budged just a bit, small pieces of bark falling to the ground. "I did what I had to do! What we're supposed to do! Kill walkers without question!"

This group was getting weak, like a rot steadily building from the inside. If they couldn't see her side of things then maybe it was too late for them, but not her.

Yanking on it she yelped when it suddenly came lose and she tumbled to the ground, the wind and anger getting knocked out of her. Staring up at the sky through the canopy Andrea panted, sweat making her hair cling to her forehead.

Turning her head to the left then right she stared about the forest, peaceful without a sign of danger and maybe this was the ideal life, one where they could relax and live in peace. Where they didn't have to worry about being eaten while they slept. This was a good life they could have there.

It just wasn't the life she wanted.

Pulling that trigger made her feel alive, gave her a purpose, she held the power for once and she wanted more of it, and it was obvious she wouldn't get it from here on the farm under Rick's thumb.

Maybe before all of this happened she would have found a friend in Shane, back at the quarry he had a fire about him that drew people towards him like moths to a flame but now he was contented to just sit and relax as if danger wasn't all around them.

The old him would have agreed with her, would have backed her up, but not now.

Standing she walking a couple of yards into the woodland, mapping out her steps carefully before crouching by a set of thick bushes, reaching inside and dragging a backpack out.

Unzipping it she rummaged through the supplies that had been stored there for some time now, just in case. Slinging it over her shoulders she picked up the ax once again, turning the metal in her hands a few times.

Being complacent and idle wasn't for her.

This group was longer for her, not with people like Rick and Harry calling the shots.

Andrea let her feet guide her, boots crunching leaves and twigs under them until she was a few feet within the big red doors of the barn. Licking her suddenly dry lips Andrea moved closer, placing a palm on the door and was rewards with something banging from the other side, the heavy chains rattling.

They were happy to play house with a bunch of these things cooped up just a few feet away from them. Killing machines that would sooner rip out their guts had been within arms reach of them for so long, and now they knew no one was willing to do what was right.

Stepping back two feet Andrea looked towards the house where they all were gathered, a sneer crossing her features.

In this life your couldn't be weak, weakness got you dead. Weakness was a symptom of being unwilling to live and she was not weak.

Raising the ax she brought it down on the chain link, the first one cracking but not breaking. Raising it again she sent the blade clashing against the thick steel of the cow chain and the walkers inside all groaned, the sound seemingly waking them up from whatever dormant inanimate sleep they were in.

This wasn't a fuck you to anyone.

"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Hey! She's breaking the chains!"

The next hit broke the chains and the heavy links fell to the dirt ground with a dull thud. Looking towards where Merle was shouting she clenched the handle of the ax and slapped the doors, the movement making them creak open.

Andrea stared at the running figures of her group, some being ushered inside of the house before she turned her back and ran as the first few dead pushed further out into the open, the stench of rot wafting from the barn burned her nose briefly.

This wasn't a fuck you to anyone, this was meant to be a wake-up call for them all.

.

H.D

.

It was as though everyone was living the same nightmare, one made of greying flesh and the missing heartbeat of a child.

The other walkers were laying dead on the ground between them and the barn, brains splattered on the dirt or impaled through the head.

That was normal for them, to kill walkers without a second thought but a kid?

"Sophia?"

"Oh god, not my Sophia…"

A kid wasn't something they encountered much if at all and even though they were dead it was still something that was edging the lines of taboo and wrong.

But it was still a walker, a corpse, and as wrong as it was to kill a child the best they could do was put her out of her misery.

"I'm sorry."

.

.

A/n: Hullo my lovelies~ The delay is because personal time is nothing but a myth I've heard of only whispered by the hopeful on my campus. My brain is tired to the point I said fuck-it when I have assignments to hand in tomorrow hahaha… ah, I'm fucked.

Good news is I've decided to upload a chapter of a Harry/Shane fic I've had in my treasure chest since forever, it's titled Training Wheels, inspired by a fanart I found a few years back of a ruggedly handsome Harry with beard and all, the art was superb, so you can swing by and tell me if you like it or not.

I've also decided to upload the Punisher/Harry Potter one I asked about a few weeks ago. I also want to know if it's just my inability to find stuff or is Hotel Artemis (a really good movie that's kinda lacking in my opinion but John Wick-ish sorta setting. Give it a try) really not a part of the fandom listing because I have a Harry/Everest fic I want to upload but no tab to place it under - sad.

Anyway! The next chapter for Kilter hopefully should be out before christmas break, no promises because midterms are being done as I type and then a month from now is finals. Yay. So happy.

Thanks to all of those who reviewed, faved and followed. 'Til next time!