A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed/favorited since the last chapter! Surprise it's not Wednesday! Sorry the chapter is a bit shorter than usual.

So it has been a good long while since my last update and I think it's because this story is starting to overwhelm me! I'm not caught up with the show at all (so no spoilers!), but I have ideas for all the way through season five, so probably another 50 chapters or so…. The idea that this story goes on forever...until the show ends...makes me happy because I know what I want to do, but at the same time I will never get to re-charge. So on that note, I will be finishing Season 3 and then this story will be "complete" with a sequel in the works to start with Season 4, part of which is already written! Which should line up nicely with the show because they had that time skip between 3 and 4 anyway! This was my first fanfiction, so I plan to go through and edit as well and update the chapters to get rid of all the little errors I made along the way. Hopefully you stick with me through this and I'll post a new chapter in this story when the sequel is up!

-galwidanatitud: Glad you like Anna's growing spunk! She's losing her shyness as people have probably been waiting for! :)

-MadHatterWeasley: It took a while, but here we are! Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner. I have been having to do a lot more re-watching to get the lines and plot of each episode right :)

-Guest: Thanks, I hope you enjoy this one!

"Hey! Come on! Over here!"

"Hey! Come on!" I ignored Maggie and Carl's shouts behind me and sunk the ax into the head of the walker in front of me. Michonne and I were taking out some of the closer walkers while Maggie and Carl distracted the rest. Daryl and Glenn were laying out boards that we had covered with large spikes and barbed wire. I turned at Daryl's shout and ran over to the truck taking his hand as he pulled me up into the bed with him and Glen. When Michonne got into the passenger seat, Hershel drove us back up into the into the main yard. Rick opened the gate for us, locking it before heading over towards the truck to talk to us. Glenn jumped out and went to meet him as Daryl helped me out.

"They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe some blown tires will stop them." Glenn spoke as we walked up.

"That's a good idea." Rick nodded as he spoke.

"It was Michonne's." I frowned at the way Daryl stared at Rick while he spoke.

"We don't have to win." Michonne spoke from behind us, as she walked over from the truck. "We just have to make their getting at us more trouble than it's worth." Rick kept quiet before he turned to look at Carl and Maggie. He stared at them before looking back at Daryl who nodded.

"Let's go." Rick walked past us and Daryl turned to follow him. I sighed and turned as well heading into the prison. Something was going on, but I had no clue as to what. I walked into the kitchen area and heard my mom and Merle talking.

"You're a late bloomer." I smirked a bit; Merle was right. My mom had really come into her own lately.

"Maybe you are, too." I took a deep breath and watched my mom walk into the cell area. It was time Merle and I had a talk. I walked into the kitchen and looked up the stairs at him. He stared at me before he let his arm hang down and roughly pulled his foot off the rail.

"How's your head?" I couldn't help the slight smirk that slid on my face as I spoke. Merle tilted his head and sneered at me, walking down a few steps..

"Lucky shot, but it's easy to hit a man when his back is turned."

"I would have no problem hitting you from the front." I immediately groaned this was not going how I planned, so before Merle could open his mouth I spoke up again. "Look, we need to get along and I'm not talking about you and the group. I mean me and you; we need to get along for Daryl." Merle stared at me with a relatively neutral expression on his face. "I love Daryl and you love him too, whether you want to admit it or not. Earlier when he was out meeting with the Governor you wanted to be there to keep him safe, you said that yourself, not in so many words, but still."

I watched carefully as he stomped slowly down the stairs sighing. He turned around the rail and stared at me.

"Daryl's got a lot of bluster, but if you confront he usually backs down pretty quick. Out there in the woods first time he ever stood up to me and he was coming back for you." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his hair. "My old man and I never got along, but that mean SOB never got along with anybody. He smacked me around because I gave him lip, I thought if I was gone Daryl'ld fly under the radar."

"Daryl turned out alright." I didn't know quite what to say to Merle. In a very Dixon way he was trying to talk about his feelings. "And with this forced sobriety you might turn out alright too." Merle glared at me and I smiled a bit. "We could really use you Merle; it's a harsh world out there."

Before he could say anything else I grabbed the basket of laundry that had been left on the table and headed outside to get started on it. After the washing, I carried the laundry over the the clothesline, but before I could start Daryl came up to me.

"Ya seen Merle, or Michonne?" I shook my head and looked at him, as he glanced around.

"Daryl, what's wrong?"

"Don' worry about it, I gotta go." He left me and headed to the gate.

"Daryl? Daryl?!" He kept going and I sighed before turning back to the laundry, trying to ignore the sick feeling growing in my stomach. I wasn't sure how much time had passed before my mom came to get me, saying that Rick had something to say to us. I left the laundry to drive before heading over to the yard where the others had begun to gather. I took Judith from my mom and cuddled her against my chest, taking a seat next to my mom on the bench. Rick as usual shifted uncomfortably under all of our stares.

"When I met with the Governor, he offered me a deal. He said...he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne." I shifted Judith in my arms a bit and frowned. The Governor was even worse than we thought. "And I was gonna do that...to keep us safe. I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late." My breath caught a bit as I thought of Daryl out there on his own, probably heading straight for the Governor and his men. "I was wrong not to tell you...and I'm sorry. What I said last year, that first night after the farm...it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live; how you die- it isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together; we vote. We can stay and we can fight, or we can go."

I stroked Judith's back as I wandered back to the cells. Everyone had paired off, discussing whether they wanted to go or stay. My mom had stopped me briefly, but I had dodged her, not wanting to socialize anymore. I turned into the cell and saw Daryl sitting on the ground leaning against the wall, dirty and covered in blood.

"Daryl! Are you ok?" He kept his eyes on the far wall.

"Fine." I laid Judith on the bed, putting pillows against her sides. I went to his side and put a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't move.

"Daryl?"

"Merle's dead." I felt my heart drop. "He went after the Governor, killed a bunch of his men. Must have led some walkers there."

"Daryl, I'm so sorry." Surprised at the way I was choking up.

"He went out fightin' that's how he'd want it." He didn't say anymore and he still didn't move.

"I'm going to go grab the laundry."

He didn't acknowledge me. I ran outside and grabbed the dry pieces off the line before carrying them back in. Daryl was still in the same position and I started folding the clean clothes and let Daryl process on his own. After a while I could feel Daryl turn his eyes towards me, but I left him alone. I tried to ignore his gaze, until he broke the silence, but eventually I couldn't take it anymore. I could just feel Daryl staring at me as I folded clothes and at last I let the pair of pants I was holding drop into my lap, as I turned to him.

"What?" He played with his knife as he looked at me.

"What did ya say to Merle?" I looked at him confused. "He liked ya." I laughed a bit and picked the pants back up.

"I insulted him more than anything." Daryl laughed a bit and stretched before leaning back against the wall.

"Sounds 'bout right." I smiled and then frowned thinking about what Rick had told us.

"Do you think it's worth fighting for this?" I looked up at the cement walls and iron bars of the cell. "It's a prison; is this where we want to spend the rest of our lives?"

"It ain't perfect, but it's ours." I looked at him and smiled.

"It is, isn't it?" Daryl gave me a brief smile and I sighed a bit. He'd be alright.