Riley woke up the next morning feeling an unusually warm weight on her. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see Daryl still lying next to her, fast asleep. His usually grumpy expression was replaced with a serene one. She laid there quietly and watched him sleeping peacefully. She felt warmth fill her chest as she laid there in his arms. This man, this rough, grouchy, loyal, caring, beautiful man was hers. She never thought in a million years she would ever find such happiness, especially after the world changed.
Riley sighed happily and snuggled against Daryl's chest, listening to his steady breathing. She jumped slightly when his arms suddenly tightened around her and he buried his face in her hair.
"Daryl?" she asked quietly.
"Hm," he mumbled.
"Is everything ok?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper.
"Mhmm," he mumbled quietly into her hair, his arms still wrapped tightly around her. Riley wrapped an arm around him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest.
"We gotta go soon. Pay respects to Dale," he said, his raspy voice making her shiver.
"I know," she sighed. She pulled back some, looking up into his eyes. She never got enough of his blue eyes. They seemed especially vibrant in the early morning light.
"Guess we should get up then, huh?" Riley said quietly. Daryl nodded, loosening his hold on her. He sat up slowly, tossing the covers aside and rubbing his face. Riley shivered and curled into a ball, the chilly morning air hitting her without the blanket.
"Come on, Dinky," Daryl said hoisting himself up from the sleeping bag.
"Alright," she huffed, dragging herself out of the sleeping bag.

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head before turning to Daryl, her breath caught in her throat as he pulled his shirt off. Riley walked over to him as he picked up a clean shirt, he froze in place when he felt her hand touch his back. Riley's hand gently grazed across his back, lightly tracing the long, dark scars that marked him. Her heart broke as she looked at the multiple scars. She had felt them before, but never seen them, she had never imagined they were so bad. She had just assumed they were from years of being in the woods, like the ones on his chest and arms, but this was completely different. Immediately she understood why Merle and Daryl were the way they were, why Daryl kept to himself and pushed people away, why he didn't care to be touched very often.
Daryl stood rigid as Riley's hand slowly trailed down his back. Sighing softly, she slowly leaned forward and kissed him gently on the biggest scar right across the middle of his back. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and held him, closing her eyes and resting her head against him. She wanted to cry for him, for all the pain he must have gone through, the suffering, but she wouldn't. Crying wouldn't solve anything, so she would be strong for him instead. She would love this broken man, and give him everything she had to give. She felt as he took a deep breath and slowly relaxed in her arms.
Riley released her hold on Daryl and moved in front of him. His head was down and his gaze was locked on the floor of the tent. She lifted her hands slowly, placing them on either side of his face and making him look at her. His piercing gaze locked with hers as her thumbs grazed his cheeks softly. She tiptoed and pressed her lips to his, kissing him lovingly. When she pulled back from him she released his face and wrapped her arms around him again tightly.
"Riley-" he said quietly.
"Don't," she cut him off. "You don't need to say anything. I get it." She looked up at him and he nodded lightly. "I'm gonna go change, I'll meet you over there," she said pulling back from him. She slipped her boots on and picked up her hatchet before stepping out of Daryl's tent and heading to her own.

All of the members of the Atlanta group had gathered to pay their respects to Dale. Riley stood next to Daryl, listening quietly as Rick spoke.
"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I made a decision, I'd look at Dale and he'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another," Rick spoke in a quiet steady voice. Riley discretely slid her hand into Daryl's, his firm grip grounding her, helping her keep calm as her eyes teared up.
"I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for what they were. He knew things about us. The truth, who we really are. In the end he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to un-break it, set aside our differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale," Rick finished strongly.

The group stood quietly for a moment before heading back up to the house slowly.
"We need to do a perimeter check," Riley said capturing everyone's attention.
"I agree, that walker got through somewhere, we need to secure our boundaries," Andrea said.
"Alright then," Rick nodded in agreement.
Riley grabbed some supplies, some extra wire, pliers and a few other things and made her way over to the old blue truck where everyone had gathered. Shane and Andrea climbed into the front seats and Daryl and T-dog hoisted themselves into the back. Riley tossed her things down in the back of the truck and squeezed between Daryl and T-dog, holding her hatchet in her lap.
"So, organized crime, huh?" T-dog said nudging Riley lightly with his shoulder.
"Russian Mob," she said looking over at him.
"Was it true? What you told Shane yesterday," T-dog asked.
"Yea," she said hesitantly, looking down at her hands.
"Don't sweat it kid," he said. "We've all got our demons. Way I see it, at least you can take care of yourself. That's better than some men can even do."
"You think so?" she asked quietly.
"Yea. With this new world, people had to get strong, get tough. You were already tough. From the beginning. Way ahead of the rest of us. That day, back on the highway, I knew. You got what it takes. That's more than half of us can say," T-dog said quietly.
Riley laughed lightly and shook her head. "That's an interesting thought, though I can't say I agree with you."

The truck slowed to a stop near the fence that marked the edge of the property and they quickly unloaded from the truck. They spent majority of the day walking the fence line, checking for weak points and repairing any spots that needed it. At one point they came across a group of walkers on the edge of the property, all of them more than happy to have something to vent their frustration on.

When they got back to the farm they joined the rest of the group for dinner around the campfire. Things were quiet, everyone still somber after Dale's death.
"Hey kid!" Riley said as she sat next to Carl on a log near his family's tent.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"Is everything ok?" she asked nudging him with her elbow.
"Yea," he said quietly.
"So why're you over here looking all depressed?" she asked.
"I'm not," he said in a clipped tone.
"Is that right?" she asked unconvinced.
"Yea! That's right!" he said standing up angrily. "I said I'm fine!"
"I call bullshit! Now sit down," she said gesturing to the log. "Before your mom comes over here thinking there's a problem."
"There is a problem," he said plopping back down next to her. "You won't quit bugging me," he huffed angrily.
"Look, you don't wanna tell me about it, fine. I can respect that," she said. "But you should talk to someone about it. It'll eat you up if you don't"
"Yea," he said noncommittally. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what," she said looking over at him.
"What's it like to kill people?" he asked.
"What?" she asked in shock.
"I know you've done it. That day, with Jim, me and Sophia watched from the car. Everyone was worried that you were dangerous," he said.
"Carl," she sighed.
"Its my fault Dale's dead," he said quietly. "I saw that walker before, in the swamp, and I didn't kill it."
"What?" Riley said surprised. "Carl, that's not-"
"Don't!" he cut her off. "Don't say it wasn't my fault! It was! If only I had killed it, Dale wouldn't be..." he trailed off.
"Carl! You didn't kill Dale!" she said firmly, moving in front of him and kneeling down so they'd be eye to eye. "Yes, you made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. But that walker killed Dale! Not you!"
"That's bullshit, and you know it!" he said angrily. "Stop treating me like a baby, I know the truth!"
"The truth," she said. "So, mister grown up wants to curse and hear the truth, huh?" she chuckled. He looked her in the eyes, squaring his shoulders as if to show he wasn't afraid of what she had to say.
"Alright, fine," she sighed. "You really fucked up, kid. You went where you had no business being, and lead a walker straight to us. And Dale paid the price for that," she said in a hard tone. If he wanted to be treated like an adult, she would talk to him like an adult. "Now, you can sit here and drive yourself crazy stewing in your guilt, or you can learn from your mistake. You have a decision to make, kid. Are you going to honor Dale's memory by pulling yourself up and becoming a better, stronger person, or will you sit here letting it eat you alive?"
"I-I don't know," he struggled to answer.
"People die, Carl, every day," she said sternly. "Even before all this happened. It's inevitable, Me, Glenn, T-dog, your parents...you. Everyone has a time limit. The question is, how do you want to spent the time you have? Sulking and feeling sorry for yourself over an accident? Or learning how to be stronger, how to survive so you don't lose any more people," she said, staring him down.
"I get it," he said.
"Alright," she said quietly. "No more cursing! Your mom wouldn't like it," she said standing up. "See you later," she said turning to walk away.
"Riley!" Carl called out.
"Yea?" she said turning to look back at him.
"Please don't tell my parents!" he said nervously.
"Ok," she said softly, turning to walk away.

She made her way across the field to Daryl's camp, seeing his silhouette as he sat by the small fire. She quickened her pace nervously. She had to admit, she didn't feel like it was such a great idea to be so far away from the group after what happened to Dale.
"Where you been?" Daryl asked quietly as she sat down next to him.
"Talking with Carl," she said quietly. "He's having a hard time with Dale's death."
"Kid's gotta grow up some time," he muttered.
"I don't disagree, but he is still just a kid," she sighed. "Though, I'm starting to wonder what the hell is going on with Lori," she huffed.
"She's knocked up, right?" Daryl asked, confused.
"Yea, I already knew that. I'm talking about with Carl. He told me he went into the swamps yesterday. Lori would have never allowed that, so where the hell was she while her son was wandering around out there?" Riley said. "Call me crazy, but if I had a child in a world like this, I'd want to know where they were at all times."
"Too caught up in her own mess," Daryl said.
"I guess your right," she said. "But she almost lost him once already, she needs to get it together and be there for her son."

They fell into silence after that, Riley becoming increasingly more irritated with Lori by the minute. Didn't she realize how lucky she had it compared to some of the others? Carol had just lost her daughter for goodness sake. It was a miracle that Carl survived that gunshot! She should be paying more attention to him, rather than playing pitiful me on the world's smallest violin. She got herself into this mess, getting pregnant in the damn apocalypse, but she still had responsibilities.

Riley ran her hands through her hair roughly, deciding that she'd talk to Lori tomorrow. She wouldn't break her promise to Carl, but Lori needed a wake up call.