Sorry, I took so long to get this out, this is for Epi 1 season 6. I won't be doing epi. 2 because Daryl wasn't in it.

"I should go talk ta Rick, thangs were kinda tense tween him and Morgen when I left last night." Daryl's sleepy voice rumbled into her ear.

"Morgan?"

"The black guy that came with us. He and rick know each other 'parently."

"Oh, right. I didn't pay much attention to who you were with to be honest."

"It's alrigh', gotta check on the bike too. You ok for a bit?"

Em let out a deep breath, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Gotta toughen up, right. Thank you Daryl, for last night….for everything."

"Seriously, Em? There's no way in hell ya should be thankin' me for sex. I'm the one needs to be thankin' you, shit!" he bit his thumb.

"I didn't mean just that, you took the time to help me when I was overwhelmed, you opened up to me….and the sex too?" she laughed a little.

Daryl laughed with her "Little brother got laid! " Merle jovial voice rang in his head, "It was beautiful Daryl" Beth laughed also. He felt good, he was almost ready to just stay in bed and enjoy the good feelings he had for the rest of the day but he was sure, if he didn't go to Rick, Rick would come to him.

"I'll be back soon," he shyly gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't think much will be done today with everthin' that happened."

"I'll stay home Daryl. Don't worry." she hugged him tightly then let him go to get dressed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Don't want to keep him in there longer than we have to." Rick stood by him as checked the hoses on his bike.

"Naw," Daryl agreed. "Tell ya about those guys he met? The W's."

"Yeah, we need more check points, I'm gonna tell Deanne we don't need to be looking for more people too."

Daryl felt his heart clench, "Fuck it bro, didn't think you should be puttin' yer ass on the line any damn way." Then what the hell am I gonna do here? We need people, he's wrong.

"Feel different about it?"

"Yeah."

"Those people out there, need to take care of themselves." Rick walked off without waiting for an answer.

XXXXXXXXXXX

She was trying to think of something to make to eat, the entire house was empty. She'd just settled on some pasta when she heard the front door open. She really hoped it was Daryl, it hadn't been that long since he'd left but he had promised not to take too long.

She audibly gasped when Rick walked into the kitchen and flinched when she saw his eyes narrow at her.

"Rick, I, uh, I thought you were Daryl."

"Daryl's out messing with his bike."

"Oh, OK."

"Yeah," Rick shook his head and turned to leave, clearly unhappy with her and her response to him.

"Rick, wait." she hated this tension between them.

Rick turn back to her, hands on his hips.

"I talked to Daryl last night. He explained some things." she began.

"Oh, you get it now?" he answered sarcastically.

"No," she answered honestly.

"Well, you'd better. You and everyone in this town had better, or your dead."

Rick was clearly very angry still and she berated herself for not waiting to have this conversation much later or when Daryl was around.

"I just that you killed someone, so…" she tried to find the words to explain, but Rick cut her off.

"He killed, he was a danger."

"I know but it was an accident and.."

"He beat his kids and his wife. We can't take chances."

"You took a chance on me." she stammered.

"Yeah, you regrettin' that, Em? Cause I'm startin' to wonder if you'll just end up dead anyway."

"What does that mean?" Em was getting even more scared than she had been before, this conversation was not going how she'd planned.

"It means if you don't change soon, you will die, either the walkers or people, but someone will get you. Why can't any of you see that I'm just trying to keep you alive?!" he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"I do see Rick." she let out a breath, finally they were back on track.

"I'm not saying I don't see. After everything Daryl told me, I see why you feel the way you feel. It's just I don't understand."

Rick squinted his eyes at her in confusion.

"I don't think it's possible to really understand. Not until you've lived it." Rick opened his mouth to say something but Em hurried on, "I just wanted to say that I get it, there are things you went through to make you how you are but I haven't gone through them and sometimes your reactions might …..scare and ….confuse me but I'm not turning my back on you. I understand You and Daryl and the rest of the group know first hand how to survive this and I'm going to follow your lead."

Rick laughed a little at her speech, "Daryl's lead." he corrected her.

Em smiled a little, "Daryl is the most important person in this world to me, so I guess I'll follow his lead in following your lead."

Rick tilted his head, and gave another small laugh.

"He has complete faith in you, you know, not that you are infallible but he believes you are the best leader we can ever have."

"Yeah, no pressure." Rick rubbed his eyebrows with his right hand, sounding tired.

"No pressure Rick." she shyly placed a hand on his elbow. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Rick let out a sigh and patted the hand on his elbow. "I'd a probably had the same reaction back in the beginning."

Em nodded, glad they were back on friendly terms, "I'm making you something to eat, then you can go back to running this town."

"That's Deanne." he answered sitting at the counter, "but thanks for the food."

"Welcome." she answered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We got a meetin' Em. Rick found some stuff, we need to take care of it."

"What stuff?"

"A damn canyon full of walkers." Daryl gripped her shoulders, "We'll take care of it."

"How?"

"Rick has a plan. Let's go?"

Daryl was half-way to the door when he noticed that Em hadn't followed, she was frozen, eyes wide with fright.

"We'll take care of it Em. We got a plan." he walked back to her and gave her a reassuring hug. "We'll get this done."

"Right," she nodded straightening her spine, "yes, we'll get this done. Let's go."

Daryl smiled at her proudly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We need volunteers." Rick looked around the group gathered together in Deanne living room.

Em bit her lip as people started to raise their hands, Daryl was going, she didn't want to be left behind again. She began raising her hand but Daryl caught it mid-way and shook his head.

"I'll go too," she raised her other hand, giving Daryl an apologetic look.

"Em?" Rick questioned looking between her and Daryl.

"I can do this. I want to do this." she pleaded with Daryl, he would make the decision not Rick, for her anyway.

"Fine." Daryl growled.

"OK," Rick nodded.

"Go over the plan again." Parker insisted after further discussion.

"Again, he just told you!" Daryl snapped at the man, clearly still upset by Em's decision.

"Again," the man insisted. "All of it."

Daryl huffed and got up, dragging Em out of the room after him. Nobody stopped them from leaving.

XXXXXXX

"I don't like this," he told her as soon as they were back in their room. "You'd be safer here."

Em looked out the window, trying to gather her thoughts and not show Daryl how scared she was of both options.

Daryl rubbed his temples and sat at the end of the bed, "You wanna keep her, you gotta train her little brother. What better time than now? Lest y'all gonna have them biters under control." What if somethin' goes wrong? She gonna be there in a sea a dem motherfuckers! "Daryl, she needs to learn, I made it out there with you. I can do it, so can she." FUUUUCKKKK!

Daryl grabbed the closest thing to him, which happened to be a plastic mug and threw it, startling Em from her own thoughts.

"Daryl," she walked to him and placed her hands in his, rubbing his palms with her thumbs soothingly. "It isn't safe anywhere, Pete killed a man, simply because he was closest to him, it seemed like an accident, it could have been anyone, including me. I could have died without you. I know now that dying is a constant danger and if I'm going to go, I want to be beside you. It's the only thing I want."

"I don't think I can watch you die, Em." he let his shoulders slump in defeat. "Not after Merle and…" he took a deep breath, "not after.." he swallowed, "….not after, Beth. I had to put my brother down and I had to carry Beth's body to her screaming sister. I'm not sure I can handle much more of that."

"I'll promise you the only thing I can promise, Daryl. I'll do my damnedest not to die, whether here or out there."

Daryl looked up at her, "Follow my lead always and you are riding with Abe and Sasha, I can't have you riding behind me where I can't see if you are in danger or not."

"Yes sir."

XXXXXXX

Of course everything had to go wrong. A dry run turned into the real thing from one moment to the next. The dead were everywhere and Em was proud that she was able to hold her own long enough for Daryl to get to her. He dragged Em to the car shoving her roughly into the back seat as Sasha and Abe got in.

"I'll be with you in a bit, don't get out of the car." His voice was stern.

Em nodded with wide eyes and Daryl fought the urge to kiss her, "For once I'm gonna say now ain't the time little brother, but y'all can celebrate after," Merle's excited voice buzzed in his ear. Shut up asshole!

"Be safe Daryl." Em gripped his hand, "See you soon." He nodded and closed the door.

XXXXXXXXXXX

For a few minutes, as they herded the giant dead horde, Em was sure that Daryl was never going to let her out of the house again, let alone Alexandria, but everything was going well. They meet up with Daryl on his bike and were successfully leading the herd in the right direction. Everything was going as planned.

Then the horn started blaring, and everything went to hell…again.