This will be the final chapter concluding season two. The sequel I'm writing for season three is called Keep on Keeping on. I'll have chapter one posted shortly after posting this chapter. If you enjoyed this story and want to see what happens with River and Daryl please check it out!

Guest: haha! Thanks for the laugh :)

FadedBurn: seeing as you took the time to tell me how much you hate my story, I'll take the time to tell you there is a very simple solution to that: Don't read it.

DancingUnderMoonlight18: Thank you so much! I was really upset when they killed Dale off. I really liked him too.

LivinJgrl123: I do try to stick with the plot line for the most part. It's not always easy to balance honoring what happened in the show while not retelling it word for word. If I do stray a bit I'll always come back to the plot. Except maybe in regards to any possible relationship between Daryl & Carol. This and the sequel will always be a Daryl/OC story.

Dalonega Noquisi: I am guilty of uttering those words to my husband too! I would be surprised if any couple managed to make it through the years without saying it (or at least feeling/thinking it) from time to time.

Leyshla Gisel: You'll be seeing the prison pretty quick as I'm posting the sequel today which is going to follow season three.

Emberka-2012: I was trying to show that River could relate to Randal which made it hard for her to accept what Daryl had done. She still loves him and it won't change that.

Alexandria104: Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you've been enjoying the story. I love protective Daryl too.

Piratejessieswaby: The sequel will start where this one leaves off. It'll still be the same Daryl and River. I wanted to do it that way because there's lots of things I felt were messy in this story. It gives me a chance to fix the things I wasn't happy with and get things right.

Chapter 40: Beside the Dying Fire

Everything seemed to be going smoothly at first. Daryl and Rick got everything prepared in the morning to take Randal away from the farm. Relief from the stress his presence had been causing was within their grasp. At least that's how they'd all felt until T-Dog had gone to fetch him from the barn and he wasn't there. Somehow or another Randal was missing.

Part of River was glad that the kid had escaped. His capture and torture had hit too close to home for her. Given what she had gone through in the past she had been able to relate to him in a way the others didn't seem to be able to. However, something about the circumstances of his disappearance didn't sit right with her.

"We have to find him. He could lead the rest of his group right back to us," Rick insisted.

River swallowed and stole a glance at Daryl. There was apprehension in her big green eyes. The things that Daryl had told them... The confessions that he had beaten out of the kid reverberated inside her head. Even River couldn't just let Randal escape.

"We split into pairs," Rick told them. "I'll go with Shane. Glenn you're with Daryl. River you go with Dane."

"How come River gets to go?" Andrea demanded.

"We need someone who's a decent shot here in case Randal comes back," Dane explained.

"Plus River can track," Rick added.

It was apparent that Andrea wasn't pleased with being left behind at the farm. However, she accepted their reasoning with little more than a dissatisfied huff.

"Light's gonn' be fadin'," Daryl noted as he grimaced at the sky. "Best go now if we has any hope of findin' this asshole."

Rick nodded in agreement, casting a weary glance at the sky himself. It wasn't safe after dark. That much they had learned the hard way time and again. You couldn't see the Walkers coming. First they had been attacked at the quarry camp with Walkers seemingly coming out of nowhere. Then again the night before Dale's death had proven the point yet again.

"Let's move," Rick commanded. With that him and Shane were off and moving.

Nervously Glenn looked to Daryl. "Well?" he asked. The pizza delivery boy hadn't the faintest idea where to begin when it came to trying to track someone.

Daryl didn't hear him. His focus was elsewhere as he watched River gather her dog. As she moved about she was discussing a plan with Dane. There was a twinge of jealousy that Daryl felt watching the ease with which the two of them interacted. After his interrogation of Randal, River wouldn't even talk to Daryl.

What Daryl really wanted was to tell River to be safe. Better yet, he wanted to tell her not to go. The thought of something happening to her...

"Earth to Daryl!"

Daryl's head snapped around to find Glenn staring at him expectantly. Clearing his throat, he took one last look at River. "Yeah, c'mon chinaman," Daryl said gruffly as he moved towards the forest.

Glenn rolled his eyes as he followed the veteran trapper. "Korean," he corrected half-heatedly. Daryl smirked. Both of them knew he knew that by now.

Dane and River strolled through the woods. They moved at a steady but comfortable pace with Liam trotting happily along behind them.

"You and Daryl," Dane started speaking in a tone that suggested he was about to give one of his big brother speeches. They may not be related by blood, but he was the closest thing that River had to family.

"What about us?" River snapped defensively. She wasn't even sure there was an us. Sure the two of them had slept together, but this was Daryl Dixon they were talking about, and she could never be sure what anything meant with him.

"You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do." The words didn't come as a surprise to him. Dane had probably realized it long before River had.

Dane stopped in his tracks, forcing River to turn and face him. "Then you need to forgive him," he told her.

River exploded, her voice rising with each word she spoke. "He tortured that kid! Bad enough we all kept him locked up, but torture Dane? That's..."

"Tom!" Dane said sharply, cutting her off. It was a name River barely heard anymore since Jason had died.

"What?" River demanded.

"Look, I know how hard it must be after what you went through," Dane told her. His voice had become softer and more sympathetic.

River turned her head and looked away. All the memories she tried so hard to keep locked away were right there at the surface. She tried not to think of the year of her life that she spent locked away at the hands of the people who were supposed to care for her. It had been hell after her parents death. She tried not to think about her experience at the IKEA.

"But he was only doing what was necessary to protect the group," Dane pressed on insistently. "Daryl was only doing what no one else here could... For the good of all of us."

"By torturing some kid?" River asked disgustedly.

"By getting answers that we needed," Dane responded blandly. "If you love someone you accept them as they are. That doesn't mean you always have to like their actions, but you forgive them, right?"

River glared at Dane and stuck out her tongue. Damn him for using her own words against her. "Right," she agreed reluctantly. She felt better already. Holding a grudge just wasn't in her nature.

Hours had passed and they were no closer to finding Randal then they had been at the start. So far as Glenn could tell, him and Daryl had been wandering seemingly aimlessly through the woods. Now there was almost no light left. They were running out of time.

Glenn sighed in frustration. "I thought you said that you could track him," he complained.

"I can," Daryl growled. "C'mon chinaman."

"We've been out here for hours," Glenn whined as he followed the redneck hunter. "Wait isn't that the farm?"

"Good," Daryl smirked. "Was worried ya couldn't see outta them slant eyes of yers," he teased. Glenn was a good kid and Daryl liked him.

Glenn shook his head, but didn't respond to Daryl's jab. "What are we doing here?" he asked.

"Gonn' see where the kid went."

"What have we been doing for the last two hours then?" Glenn demanded. He was beginning to sound exasperated.

"Didn't want Shane knowin'," Daryl told him. "There ain't one set of tracks outta here, there's two of 'em," he explained when he saw the look of confusion on Glenn's face. "And they's walkin' side by side."

Comprehension dawned on his face. "You mean?" Glenn asked wide eyed.

"Randal didn't escape."

They'd been trudging through the woods for quite some time. Dane held up a hand motioning for River to stop. At her side Liam let out a low, rumbling growl. Something was wrong. River wrapped a hand protectively through his collar.

Dane stalked carefully forward. Removing the binoculars he carried around his neck he quickly glassed the area. River watched quietly. For a moment she forgot where she was. Half of her expected him to follow up by swiping an open palm over top of his head: a doe. Instead he held up three fingers. Of course it was the dead that roamed the woods now, not deer.

They needed to be quiet and not draw the Walkers' attention. River used her hand signals, telling Liam to lay down and stay while she crouched up next to her hunting partner. Her and Dane exchanged pained smiles. It seemed Dane had had similar thoughts as she had. They could just as easily be out hunting a buck rather than an escaped prisoner and the walking dead.

"Just like old times," Dane breathed. His voice was barely above a whisper.

Stifling a chuckle, River whispered back, "Almost. Not quite though."

"I got the one on the left," Dane told her.

"Still leaving the harder shots to me," River grinned.

"You wish," Dane laughed.

"Do you think the sound will draw more?" River asked. Her brow wrinkled with concern for those left back at the farmhouse.

Dane shook his head. "We're pretty deep in the woods and in a bit of a gully. The forest will swallow the gunshot. The sound won't carry far."

Little did either of them know that there was a herd already approaching. Gunshot or no gunshot it was too late anyhow.

River nodded and the two of them both took aim. "Who gets the one in the middle then?" she asked.

"I'll race you to it," Dane said knowing that River would gladly accept the challenge.

"You're on," River said with a smile. Her voice was followed by three successive cracks of gunshots. It was hard to say who actually shot the middle one. Likely if they were to examine the body they would have found two bullet wounds in the monster's head.

The body of the Walker they'd just dispatched lay motionless on the ground. Daryl crouched down examining the corpse. It was Randal, without a doubt. They'd found their prisoner, just not quite as they'd expected.

"Don't see no bite marks," Daryl grumbled. His voice was low.

Unlike the hunter Glenn wasn't so eager to get close to the lifeless corpse. He kept his distance and tried not to spend too much time staring at the dead chunk of flesh. "It must have been a scratch then," Glenn reasoned.

"I'm tellin' ya, ain't no marks on him," Daryl insisted.

Rustling in the underbrush several yards to the left caught their attention. Daryl raised a finger to his lips signaling Glenn to be quiet. With expert precision he loaded a bolt in his crossbow and raised it in the direction of the noise. It wasn't the dead that stumbled out of the bushes. Instead it was River that stepped out. Not far behind her came Dane and Liam.

Daryl lowered the crossbow and stared at her. "Damn girl! Got no business walking outta the bushes like tha'. Coulda shot ya thinkin' ya a Walker or sumthin'," he growled angrily.

River smiled, "So cute. You care about me," she teased. By now she recognized the redneck's special brand of concern. Nodding at the body laying on the ground River stated plainly, "Looks like you found our missing person."

"He was a Walker," Glenn explained.

"'Cept he ain't got no bites or scratches," Daryl added.

At that River raised an eyebrow. "Well isn't that strange."

The four of them arrived back at the farm well after dark. Liam lumbered along beside them as if their outing had been nothing more than a stroll through the park. The dog didn't realize the world had gone to shit. To the Chessie they might as well just be on an extended camping trip.

"Where's Rick?" Dane demanded as soon as they were through the door. They had important news to tell him about Randal. Daryl's discovery was concerning to say the least.

"You mean he's not with you?" Lori asked. Panic was starting to strangle her voice. The mother sounded on the brink of hysterics.

"Him an' Shane ain't back yet?" Daryl questioned.

Lori shook her head. "Can you please go find my husband?" She pleaded. Once again she was left feeling helpless as she waited in the farmhouse after dark for Rick to return. Last time Lori had made the same request Daryl had blown up at her. This time he merely nodded and headed back towards the door.

River hurried along side him. "I'm coming," she offered, smiling weakly at him.

"Ya don't have ta," Daryl said quietly. His gaze dropped to the floor.

"I want to," River told him. She reached out and gave Daryl's hand a gentle squeeze.

Even such a small show of affection made him uncomfortable in front of the others. Daryl swallowed reflexively and pressed his lips together. Although River swore she could see the faintest curve of a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Well then, let's go. Ain't got all day." When Daryl opened the door they quickly realized it wasn't going to be so simple. River let out a shocked little gasp and they both stared out in horror.

Seeing the expressions on their faces Dane moved to the window. "We got bigger problems right now," he told everyone. Without a thought Dane grabbed his rifle from where it sat near the door and loaded a round. There were Walkers outside of the farmhouse. Hundreds of them.

The fight that ensued was chaotic. Everything was falling apart around them. It was so hard to keep track of who was where and what was happening.

In the back drop the barn had caught fire. The hot flames licked at the black night sky. On the roof were Carl and Rick. The father and son were stranded. Without a thought for himself, Jimmy took the Winnebago and tried to save them. It was a selfless sacrifice for while he was successful, Jimmy did not make it out alive. He'd given his life to save the others.

Hershel stood like a sentry on the front porch with his shotgun. The horde of Walkers was advancing. Fearlessly the man unloaded shot after shot although it made no discernible dent in the undead's numbers. There were simply too many of them to fight off.

"This is my farm, and I'll die here," Hershel proclaimed.

Daryl hopped over the deck railing and joined the old man. He loaded his own weapon in a show of solidarity. "Good a night as any," he said. It didn't take much to realize that there was no way they could fight back a herd the size of the one they were faced with.

"Don't be stupid," Dane told Hershel. "Your daughters... they need you."

Hershel looked at him and nodded. The farm may have been in his family for a hundred and sixty years, but there was nothing more important in the world than his girls. Following Dane's lead he made his way towards the vehicles. Suddenly a Walker stepped out of the shadows. It's gnarled, bony fingers latched on to Herhel's clothing, dragging the unsuspecting man to the ground.

"Get it's head up!" Dane shouted back at him. He looked through his scope, waiting for a clean shot.

Either Hershel couldn't hear Dane's shouting or else he wasn't able to lift the monstrosity's head. The man and the Walker remained locked in a desperate struggle. One for food, one for survival.

"Jesus Christ," Dane muttered when he realized that there wouldn't be a clean shot. Giving up, he ran straight for them. Using the butt of his rifle like a baseball bat he knocked the Walker off of Hershel and saved his life.

"Thanks," Hershel panted as he struggled to his feet.

A smile of relief spread across Dane's face. "Don't mention it."

The look of horror that appeared on Hershel's face registered in Dane's brain just before he felt another Walker's teeth sinking it's teeth into his shoulder. Dane screamed out in surprise. In all the chaos he must have missed it. He couldn't even say where it had come from. It was just there.

It was Andrea's bullet that took down the Walker. The woman rushed to Dane, taking him in her arms. "Dane, no... No," she weeped.

"It's okay," Dane said softly. "Everything dies." His face was pained, but Andrea could also see a calm acceptance in his eyes.

"But Dane..."

Dane lifted her chin and looked into Andrea's blue eyes. "Life doesn't end just cause bad shit happens," he told her. The same words he'd repeated so many times in his life to River and his brother. "It's up to you now."

"What do you mean?" Andrea asked tearfully.

"I don't want to come back as one of those things."

"Dane... I can't," Andrea protested as she shook her head.

"Yes you can," Dane insisted. "You're strong, and you've come so far. You can do this," he told her as he guided her pistol to his temple. "Just pull the trigger. I'm as good as a Walker now and it's up to you to protect the group."

Andrea nodded. "I am so sorry Dane," she cried as she squeezed the trigger. Sadly she watched the one man who had believed in her and helped her to find her own way fall dead to the ground. "I am so sorry."

Everything seemed out of place. For a moment, as River watched Dane's body fall, it was as if the world was moving in slow motion. It was a stark contrast to the fast-paced chaos they'd been thrown into. River cried out and tried to run back toward the farmhouse. Back towards Dane... Towards her best friend.

There were Walkers there. Too many of them. Daryl quickly reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling River into him. Sobbing, she buried her head in his chest. There was nothing she could do. Dane was dead.

When Daryl pulled away from her River realized that everyone else had scattered. They were either dead or on the road, but no one was left fighting. It was time to go. Time to run. It was the only option any of them had left.

"We have to go," Daryl told her firmly. He let River pull away from him far enough that she could look up to his face. There was pain in his eyes. It wasn't for himself. It was for her loss.

"No," River said blankly.

"Damnit River!" Daryl growled as he tugged her towards the motorcycle that had once been his brother Merle's. "Git on," he commanded her. There was no patience left in his voice. Those Walkers were already too close. Every second they wasted the abominations drew closer.

In a state of shock River looked back at the horde of Walkers and the burning barn. Hell on earth, that was the only way she could describe the scene. If there was a God, he was punishing them. Peeling her eyes away from the grisly scene River looked down at her dog. Liam. Her baby. His tongue was lolling out of the side of his mouth as he waited for his master to give him a sign.

"Forget the dog," Daryl told her. "Ain't worth dyin fer some mutt."

"He's not a mutt," River retorted. Through her tears came a choked laugh.

"C'mon!"

"I can't leave him," River cried. There was no way she could bring herself to abandon Liam. "He's all I got left."

"Tha' ain't true," Daryl said sharply.

With tears in her eyes River looked up at Daryl. Sadness, loss, that was all he could see in her green eyes that were normally so full of life. Dane and Jason were both dead. She had no family. Just Liam.

"How can you..."

"Ya got me, don'tcha?" Daryl stared at her. His blue eyes pleaded with her to go with him.

River closed her eyes and counted to three. She half expected to open them and find herself laying snuggled up in her own bed outside of Fort Nelson, all of this nothing more than a bad dream. Except it was still the nightmare they'd all been living that greeted her when she opened them.

"I can't. I couldn't live with myself," River said finally. "I'll be fine. We'll catch up with you."

"I ain't leavin' ya."

"I'm not giving you a choice," River said stubbornly.

Her heels were dug in. Daryl knew well enough that the battle was already lost. "Yer as bad as a damn mule, ya know that?"

River chuckled. Sure, she'd been called that on more than one occasion. "Carol needs help," she said as she pointed towards where the older woman was cornered.

Daryl frowned. Carol did clearly need help. There was no way the woman would make it out on her own. Still, he didn't want to leave River.

"You help her. I can take care of myself." River insisted.

Daryl nodded solemnly. By now he knew River well enough to know that nothing he could say would change her mind. Every minute he wasted arguing with her the Walkers gained ground. All he could do was trust her choice and hope that she would be okay.

"Daryl wait!" River called after him as she wiped away the snot from her tears. This time it was her turn to ask."Did you mean what you said?"

"Huh?"

"That I have you now... Did you mean it?"

"Said it, didn't I. Course I meant it."

Tears were welling up in River's eyes again. "I love you, Daryl."

Daryl grabbed River, pulling her body tight against his. Leaning down he pressed his lips against hers. For a moment stolen in the chaos they were locked together in a passionate kiss. The rest of the world momentarily fell away. Nothing matter to either of them than the other.

"I love ya too," Daryl told her. There was such raw emotion in his voice as the words escaped his lips for the first time. His icy blue eyes locked with her deep green ones. River was sure she could see a hint of tears hidden within. "Now go, and whatever happens ya keep on keepin' on. Ya hear me?" Daryl demanded gruffly, pushing her away from the oncoming horde.

With one final nod River turned on her heals and disappeared with Liam into the woods. A lump formed in his chest as Daryl watched her go. All the hoping and praying in the work wouldn't keep her safe, but that didn't stop him. At least he knew if anyone ought to be able to survive out there on their own it would be her.

Once River was out of sight Daryl swung a leg over his bike. She trusted him to take care of the others. She saw that good in him. That was more than anyone had done before and he wasn't going to let her down. Once the rest of them were safe he'd go back out and he'd find her. Daryl would go back for River. He'd find the woman he loved again.

The End...

Well not entirely. Check out the sequel Keep on Keeping on to see if River and Daryl find each other again.