A/N: hey everybody! God, let me first start out by telling you guys how wonderful you are. The reviews and the (mostly) kind words, along with all the favorites and the follows mean the absolute world to me. It really helps, especially with all the shit going on.

So I've had this idea floatin' in my brain for a while now, I just absolutely love the dynamic of a season 4 AU, especially some of them that I've read (waste of an arrow, and heavy) to name a few.

So here goes nothing. Love you guys, hope you love this as much as you loved MY FIRST COMPLETED FANFIC EVER (Flame in the Darkness)

look·ing glass

noun

a mirror.

"she stared at her reflection in the looking glass"

being or involving the opposite of what is normal or expected.

"Through The Looking Glass." She said quietly, staring out the guard tower and into the darkness of the night outside. They had elected to take the first watch of the night after dark, something that he never would have imagined occurring when he first met the youngest Greene sister, but now he couldn't imagine it any other way.

Daryl wondered what the hell she was talking about, he felt as though he could see the gears turning in her head as she stared off into the distance with that thoughtful look gracing her features effortlessly. Her head was in her hands, her elbows perched on the ledge of the tower, her back arched slightly to accommodate her position.

"I can't help but think about it, you know. Times the way they are now." She stopped to bite her lip softly, that same look on her face, "things the way they are now."

"Ya lost me." He said, leaning over the guard tower ledge just as she was and blowing his inhaled smoke out of his nose slowly. He stared at the smoke as it swirled and withered into the air outside, watching it disappear as he tried to figure out what point she was trying to get across.

"It's a book." She said, looking up to him with those huge doe eyes of hers, fiddling with a stray hair that had fallen from the bun she had secured to the top of her head. "You said you liked to read." She said questioningly with a quiet voice, a laugh gracing her lips ever so slightly. He merely grunted in response, shaking his head slightly.

"It's from Alice in wonderland." She clarified. Daryl ducked his head down, "still ain't got a clue what you're talkin' about." He said, flicking the end of his cigarette out and away from them as he watched it fall out of sight and into the darkness.

"The looking glass. It's like.. it's like a mirror." She said, reaching up and undoing her messy bun, letting her hair fall down and around her shoulders as she began threading her fingers through it. It was few and far between when Daryl caught sight of her with her hair down, he felt his breath hitch as she tousled it over her head, shaking it slightly. The girl took his breath away without even fucking trying.

He coughed, clearing his throat as he attempted to focus on anything other than her at the moment, if that were even possible.

"A mirror?" He questioned.

"Yes, a mirror." She said, her tone raising an octave as she attempted to sound annoyed. "Through the looking glass, things are different. Things aren't what they usually would be." She said thoughtfully.

"I still don't get it." He said, scratching his head. He was trying though, but he hadn't a damn clue what she was getting at.

"It ain't a perfect world anymore Daryl, but that doesn't mean this version of the world can't be perfect." She sighed dramatically, "it's like a clock that doesn't turn clockwise, but turns counterclockwise." She looked over to Daryl who had his eyes trained on her, and she had to laugh at the expression on his face, he was looking at her like she had two heads.

"Just because something isn't exactly normal, doesn't mean it isn't perfectly imperfect." She said, lying her head on her arms as she looked over to him, still leaning over the ledge but not doing any "watch duty" as they should be doing, really.

"I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not, Greene." He grumbled, leaning off of the ledge and rolling his shoulders, the ache from the long day setting in, and the position leaning over the wall wasn't helping any.

"I'm not making fun of you Daryl, the opposite, really." Daryl stared at her until she lifted herself away from the wall, walking forwards into his arms, wrapping them around his torso and pressing the side of her face against his chest.

"Things might not be what they used to be, but they're perfect Daryl. This is perfect."

"How can you say that?" Daryl asked. Now he was really confused. The shit around them was not perfect in any way. Walkers, living in a prison, worrying when the governor was going to show back up. Those were only a few of the issues they faced daily. That being said, how in the hell is any of that perfect?

"Because it is."

"You call living in a prison, fighting walkers, and worrying about how long we have here perfect?" He said, lifting her face to make her look at him. Now, he was really worried about what was going on in that head of hers.

"Nothing is as it seems, through the looking glass." She said with growing emphasis.

"You're startin' to worry me, Greene. Did you fall and hit your head or somethin'?"

She giggled, resting her chin on his chest so she could look at him in the eyes, "we're the clock going backwards Daryl, don't you see? Someone on the outside would look at all of this - the world, the walkers, where we live, you and I - and it wouldn't make sense but,"

"But what?" He said. She lifted her chin up to place her lips to his before backing up and staring into his eyes, clasping her hands on either side of his face.

"It makes sense to me."