"Where are you going?" Lumen asked Merle when he walked to the stairs instead of turning to the corridor leading to the other cellblock.

"They're waiting outside, Daryl's stuff is still in the truck. We're gonna get it first."

"Right," she muttered and followed after him. "Are we going to move the truck closer?"

"Yeah, that's the plan, Rick's gonna do the same with their cars."

When they opened the door leading to the yard they found Oscar sitting on the staircase and Daryl leaning against the wall at the bottom.

"Damn the sun feels good!" Oscar whispered, his eyes closed whilst he was bathing his face in sun rays.

"Yeah, it's a damn paradise, move your ass so we can go down." Merle nudged Oscar's shoulder with his boot.

"Can't a man enjoy a minute of-"

"-Move!" Daryl tugged impatiently at Oscar's arm to get him out of the way, cutting off whatever he was about to say.

"Alright, alright, I'm moving," Oscar exclaimed in mock annoyance as he stood up and walked down the last few steps. Merle and Lumen followed.

When they all got to the bottom Merle and Oscar started in the direction of the truck and she shifted to Daryl's side. She was exhausted and was about to lean against him but stopped herself. Now that all her emotions from all the events were somewhat in check, she felt a little bit insecure about how to approach him. Should she take his hand, sneak her arm around his waist, or let him have his space? She didn't know. They have touched each other plenty during the time they lived together, but it was always more or less in a sexual manner. Has he ever touched her without a 'let's fuck' following right after? She wasn't sure. It felt like those times were ages ago. Suddenly a sad realization of how little they actually got to know each other washed over her. Sure, they talked a lot during their visitations, but you can't really get to know someone like that-

"What is it?" Daryl interrupted her line of thought.

"Nothing!" She uttered way too quickly for it to sound anywhere close to the truth. She cleared her throat and tried again calmer this time. "Nothing, just me being stupid."

"Sure," he snorted, "that sure sounded like nothing." Seeing the battle of emotions on her face he knew she was full of shit.

She moved then, too tired to try to figure out anything at all. She leaned towards him and rested her forehead against his chest. She placed one hand on his side and the other she slid up the sleeve until it reached the hand with which he was holding the crossbow in place on his shoulder.

"It really is nothing, I'm tired, and hungry, and worried, and-" She stopped to take a deep breath to calm herself, she let it out slowly and whispered. "It so strange, after all this time I'm able to touch you and suddenly I don't know how."

He took a moment to process what she said. He put the thought to rest earlier but it kept nagging at him. It bothered him that she seemed nervous around him. He wanted her to be at ease with him like she used to be. So he put his free arm around her back and kissed the top of her head, keeping his lips against her he muttered in her hair, "You can touch me however you want, darling."

"Hey! You two coming?" Merle yelled from the gate where he and Oscar were waiting, "You know I'm glad to see you, brother, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna be your bellboy! Come and get your shit! You can fuck your brains out later!"

"Fuck you!" Daryl shouted back at him but moved nevertheless. "Come on, let's go. The sooner we get there the sooner we'll be back. I got a surprise for you."

"Really?" She shot him a skeptical look. "It better not be handcuffs." She added with just a hint of uncertainty.

"Hell, I completely forgot what an optimist you are." He chuckled but didn't say more.

They reached the gate and even though both sides were cleared, Oscar stayed behind to keep watch while the trio went for the truck. They got inside the catwalk where all the cars were situated.

"Okay, you just stay here while-" Merle stopped in the middle of the sentence when saw Daryl stare at the dead people on the other side of the fence. "Hey, you listening?"

"What?" Daryl asked, sounding as if he was woken up from a dream, lost in thought. Lumen was hovering a few steps behind mouthing 'give him a minute'. Merle only then realized that this world was new for his brother. He spent the last 10 months in that damn cafeteria. This afternoon was the first time he really fought these fuckers and now was probably the first time he had the chance to look at them like this. So he joined him and waited, prepared to answer any questions Daryl might have and hoped he'll have the answers.

"Do they feel pain?"

"No, I'm pretty sure they don't feel a thing. They're dead," Merle said, glancing back at Lumen who only shrugged.

"Huh, what a waste," Daryl murmured. He turned around and looked between the other two. "So, we going back?"

Merle took out two cigarettes, put one in his mouth to lit it up and offered the other one to Daryl who took it. "Yeah, I'm gonna drive the truck, you two wait here and close the gate behind me, alright?"

"Sure," Lumen said immediately, very used to Merle being in charge of how they did things.

"Yeah, sure," Daryl said, his eyes not leaving Lumen.

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Oscar was watching them the whole time from the other gate, glancing around occasionally. The area was secure, but one can never be too careful, not with those things roaming around.

He looked behind when he heard someone open the door of the cellblock. There was a blond girl he didn't notice before when they were all inside. She now strolled down the stairs and to the yard, not really paying attention to her surroundings. Her eyes glued to the ground. She stopped when she reached the fence not that far from where Oscar was standing. She lifted her head and just stared seemingly at the woods but actually at nothing. She didn't even notice he was there. A roar of an engine from where Merle, Daryl, and Lumen were picking up the truck woke her from her dreamlike state and she looked around. She jumped in fright seeing someone standing there.

"Hi." Oscar lifted one arm in a greeting. "I didn't mean to scare you. I would have said something but you just seemed to be so deep in your thoughts. I didn't want to startle you, which I did anyway, so..." he trailed off, feeling stupid.

"No, it's okay, I should have paid attention, I just- it was too much in there. I had to get some fresh air," she said, not even attempting to smile.

"The old man, is he your dad?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't make much difference though."

"Yeah," They were quiet for a moment, watching the truck stop after it drove through the other gate and Daryl and Lumen closing it before getting in. "I'm Oscar by the way." He took a step in her direction, his arm outstretched to shake hers. She looked at it as if it might bite her, but eventually, she reached out to shake it, watching how her hand seemed to disappear in his much larger one. They were like night and day. Complete opposites.

"I'm Amy." She glanced up to meet his eyes.

"Hey! Stop romancing the lady and open the damn gate," Merle shouted leaning out of the car window.

"Yeah, as if I'm anywhere near the mood to romance anyone, asshole!" Oscar shot back and moved to open the gate for them to drive in.

"Hey there, dollface! Wanna join us for the dinner?" Merle continued when they got in while waiting for Oscar to be done closing the gate behind them.

"I- I think I'm gonna head back inside," Amy said more to Oscar than anyone else. She turned around and hurried away.

"Hey, babydoll! Where are you going? Stay here for some good time! You're breaking my heart!"

"Oh my God, Merle!" Lumen whined from his right, where she was sitting between him and Daryl. "You know what Hershel said."

Merle turned to her, trying to look confused but failing miserably since he started to choke on the smoke trying to suppress the laugh.

"What? I was a perfect gentleman. Asked her out to dinner and everything."

"It will only cause unnecessary trouble, just saying," she replied not wanting to get into that argument again. She looked at Daryl, looking for a backup, but Daryl didn't comment. He never did where Merle's big mouth was concerned. Merle coughed out the rest of the smoke stuck in his lungs while chuckling and went to park the truck in the inside yard.

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They took another door from the yard to enter the other part of the prison. The corridors they were walking through were dim but one could see well enough to move around. There were walker corpses laying here and there but other than that, it was very quiet. Until Lumen broke it off.

"I was thinking, maybe we should talk to Rick one more time, now that everything seems calmer? Push the deal, you know? I'm not sure I'm very comfortable with sleeping in the cellblock with all the other guys."

"What? You think we won't protect you?" Merle asked with a big smile on his face.

Daryl who was walking a step behind her slid his hand from her lower back to her nape. He squeezed slightly and then continued making small circles with his thumb while he leaned closer and whispered, "Don't worry, we have a better place for us."

"Please," Oscar let out a dry laugh, "do you really think we would let you sleep there? I am happy to get rid of those assholes and that's saying something since I'm bunking with these two."

"Oh," her eyes went from Merle to Daryl, "well, now I'm worried. What's the deal there, what did they do?"

"It's nothing, darling," Daryl stepped in, giving Oscar a look to let him know to shut up. "Nothing we can't deal with. They really are just assholes. Most people are. I'm- we're handling this."

"And here we are," Merle exclaimed excitedly. There were two doors, one at the end of the hallway with a big 'Cellblock B' sign, another on their left with a 'staff' sign. Not giving her time or the space to react, Merle opened the 'staff' door with an exaggerated "ta-da!"

Lumen tentatively peeped inside of the room.

"It's clear we checked," Daryl said from behind her nudging her to go in.

She looked around. It was surprisingly not completely trashed like most places. The afternoon sunlight went in through a dirty barred window. Though dusty, messy, and with all the evidence people left the place in a hurry, it looked normal enough and it was quite big. There was a small kitchen counter, and two round tables with some chairs lying around on the right side. On the left below the big window, there were three couches around a small coffee table. One placed with it's back to the window, one to the wall and one to the room. Above the one pushed to the wall was a board with some notes and next to it was another door.

A click sound behind her made her turn to see Merle locking the latch on the door and she felt the relief wash over her. She couldn't remember the last time they could just lock the door behind them and feel at least relatively safe.

"It's a break room and it has a smoking area behind that door with another couch. What do you say, sweetheart? Ain't we lucky fellas?" Merle said sounding very pleased with himself as if he was the one who built the place for them.

"This is amazing," Lumen breathed out, still looking around.

Daryl moved to the door separating the smoking area taking her hand as he passed her and dragged her there. He closed the door behind them and for a moment he was just staring at her. After a minute or so he reached out to touch the center of her chest. While keeping looking into her eyes his fingers traced a path up to her neck and placed his hand there, adding a pressure only enough to feel her pulse. She let her bag slid from her shoulder. It dropped down to the ground with a thud. His fingers were still pressed to the side of her neck feeling the steady rhythm right under her skin. She watched him close his eyes and take a deep breath then slowly let it out before he slid his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her to him. He bent down to touch their foreheads together and took in another breath.

"I've missed you so damn much," he breathed out in a voice so low she wouldn't be able to hear it, hadn't she be standing this close. She pulled away to search his face.

"What?" He asked after a moment.

"Nothing," she said, a small smile breaking on her face, "I'm just little surprised. I was kinda expecting you to ask for a blowjob."

He chuckled lightly. "I would, but I haven't had a shower in the last ten months, and I rather you don't throw up on me."

"Is this the surprise you talked about earlier?" She asked motioning around them with her hand.

"Nope, I was getting there. When we were cleaning the area with Rick and the others, we found another place you'll love to see. Wanna go take a look?"

"I do, but maybe not right now? I'm hungry and tired, how about we leave it for tomorrow morning?"

"It's a shower."

"What?"

"We found out the showers are functional, I wouldn't drink the water without boiling it first bu-"

"-Are you kidding me?" she shrieked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner, come on, let's go! Oh my God, I can't even remember the last time I hadn't have to use a bucket to wash up." She kept ranting while rushing out of the room. She opened the door but after only two steps she turned back and hurried into the room, "gotta take clean clothes and soap."

"I take it you are happy with the surprise?" Merle called after her from his place on the couch.

"That question was rhetorical, right?" She ran out of the room again with her bag, beaming.

"Oh yeah, well let's go. We'll be on watch while you shower and then we'll switch."

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They heard the shouting before they turned the corner to the hallway in which the shower room was. They couldn't understand what exactly was said but it wasn't anything good for sure. Lumen and the guys quickened their pace. When they rounded the corner first thing they saw was Axel only with a towel around his waist leaving the tattoos on his hairy back exposed. His wide frame was blocking partly what was in front of him but soon they saw Rick with a troubled face and in front of him Lori and Maggie both with damp hair. Maggie was wearing only her boots, panties and shirt and was clenching her pants in their hands. They got there just in time to hear Lori hiss.

"See, Rick? This is what happens when you want us to live with criminals. Do you want us to look over our shoulder constantly? To-"

"-Hey, lady, it was an honest mistake!" Axel didn't let her finish. "There is no schedule and we were locked up in that cafeteria for ten months. You follow me? The others might be satisfied sleeping in their own filth but I want to-" He stopped and turn around when he saw Rick and the two women look to the hall behind him.

"-Oh, hey, guys. Oscar! You know me, man. Tell them I'm not some creepy rapist."

All eyes went to Oscar who shrugged, "He's not, as far as I know at least."

"Thank you very much," Axel said before looking back at Rick, eyebrows raised. He glanced at Daryl for confirmation but didn't get any. Daryl continued to watch silently. He was pissed. All he wanted was to get in the shower with Lumen. He didn't give a crap about this stupid argument.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Lumen asked, eyeing Lori's very pregnant belly hanging out of her shirt.

"We're alright," Maggie said but Lori shot her a look of disbelief.

"No, we're not, this man has sneaked up on us whi-"

"-For the thousandth time I wasn't sneaking up on nobody!" Axel defended himself.

"All of you shut the fuck up!" Merle shouted over them and then continued more quietly. "If there are any of them biters left within these halls you're gonna bring them all here."

That made them all successfully go quiet.

"I don't understand this." Oscar shook his head, "Why were you two in the shower by yourself in the first place? Are you all stupid? Someone always has to keep watch." He said it as if he was asking the women but he was looking at Rick who was rubbing his face with his hands trying to get rid of some of the exhaustion he was feeling.

"They weren't alone," he said in the end. "I was keeping watch, and I thought I heard something. So I went over there to take a look, but it was nothing and then I heard Maggie scream. It couldn't be more than two minutes that I was gone."

Maggie nodded, "Yeah, I was almost finished so I turned around to get my towel and saw- Axel, was it? standing in the doorway, I really don't think he was creeping on us. He looked surprised." She didn't want to say it out loud, but she blamed Lori's exaggerated reaction to her pregnancy. Everybody knew her emotions were all over the place, more so now when the delivery was approaching.

"You think? If he wasn't why was he just standing there staring at us then, huh?" Lori hissed.

Axel made a pained sound at the back of his throat. "I haven't seen a woman for more than a year. I'm sorry but protecting your damn virtue wasn't the first thing on my mind. I am a man after all."

"You hear that, Rick? I want them gone, it's not safe with them here." Lori's voice cracked and she looked like she was about to cry.

"Look around, Lori! It's not like we can just kick them out." Rick tried to reason with her. "We'll just take more people next time to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings." She looked like she was about to protest some more but Rick didn't let her. "This was a misunderstanding, Lori, nothing more. Isn't that right?" He looked at Maggie.

"I'm sure it was," she said glancing at Axel. "And frankly I'm fed up with standing here without my pants on, let's just go back."

"I'm rather enjoying the view if you catch my drift," Merle gave her a wink while blatantly tugging at his waistband. Lori shot Rick a look as if Merle just proved her point and grabbed Maggie's hand to drag her away.

Rick placed his hands on his hips and exhaled loudly, "let's just try to not let something like this happen again, yeah?" He addressed Axel.

"Hey, man, it's not like I was planning on it, you follow me?" Axel raised the hand that wasn't holding the towel in place palm up.

"Right, I guess I'll see you around," Rick murmured tiredly before turning around and jogging after his wife and Maggie, not really looking at the others.

When the trio got out of sight Axel turned around. "My ass is fucking freezing off here, you follow me? Pardon my French, madam," he quickly added. "You all mind if I go first?"

"Go ahead." Lumen stepped back to lean against the wall.

"Sweet, thanks," Axel said and swiftly walked inside.

"I'm gonna wash up too," Oscar said before following after him.

"Yeah, you two keep an eye on things here. I'll go too," Merle nodded to himself and went inside muttering, "won't take long."

Soon enough they heard the water running. Daryl glanced around the hallway, took Lumen's hand and tugged at it, "Come on, we can wait around the corner." 

She pulled her arm out of his light grip. "No, we are supposed to look out for them, we can't do that around the corner."

"You know that they're there most likely jerking off to that long legs image still fresh on their mind, right?"

"I guess, so?" she answered, earning a chuckle from Daryl.

"So? Who are you? Where did the shy 'not now, your brother is in the next room' girl go?"

"She spent last few months traveling with your brother who unfortunately isn't shy about his needs, as you very well know," she said dryly, but it had hardly the effect she expected. 

"What has he done?" Daryl's expression turned cold, a million images running through his head.

"Oh no, no, no, he hasn't done anything," she was quick to explain. "But he gets horny a lot, and I wasn't about to help him with that. We haven't had always the luxury of privacy, so he just went off somewhere nearby. He didn't want to leave me alone for too long in case something went wrong and we had to make run for it. I minded my own business and kept watch so nothing would sneak up on him..." She trailed off, closing her eyes, frustrated. "Wow, it actually sounds terrible when said at loud like this. Sorry."

Neither of them said anything after that, only the sound of running water and an occasional grunt could be heard from the showers. She opened her eyes when she felt him touch her arm to find him right in front of her. She didn't hear him move. He checked the hallway before focusing on her again. He ran his hands up her arms, palmed her shoulders and then continued down across her chest. He lightly cupped her breasts before squeezing them, pushing her against the wall, he pressed his body against hers. She took hold on his elbows, lifting her head up because she expected him to kiss her, but he just kept staring at her. She wanted to ask if he was upset, she doubted it though, she never saw him upset. Angry, that's more likely. Was he angry? She hoped not. Nothing good came out of that one. She was about to break the silence but never got the chance.

"Well damn," Merle hollered from the doorway making her jump, "is this how you keep an eye on things here? Good to know! I'm gonna be sure to never have you on watch together. We would all get eaten." Oscar and Axel were right behind not looking very happy either.

"It's free now," Axel said while walking past them in the direction of the cellblock, "night" he called over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

"Night," Lumen replied so quietly he surely hasn't heard her. She couldn't bring herself to talk louder due to her embarrassment. She completely forgot to watch the halls. How could she forget?

Daryl snorted and turned to face his brother, "I was keeping an eye on things just fine. You're just jealous," he said with a grin and then dragged Lumen to the shower room.

"Did you really?" she asked Daryl once they were inside.

"Did I what?"

"Pay attention, I feel so stupid now, I can't believe I just forgot. It was stupid." She scolded herself while taking her pants off. "So did you really watch out? Daryl?" She turned to him when he didn't reply to find him staring at her ass. His eyes slid up to her face and he nodded.

"Yeah, I did. Go on," he urged, motioning with his hand to her body.

"What, you want a striptease? I don't feel very sexy Daryl, I'm gross," she said, feeling self-conscious now that he was watching her like this.

"Alright." He sighed, and started to peel off his own shirt and continued until he was naked. He reached around her to grab the soap she had ready and gave her a wink before walking under one of the shower heads and pushing the button for the water to flow. Lumen watched him wash for a moment before shaking her head and doing the same as him.

"Fuck, it's cold!" she shrieked when the water hit her skin, "Why didn't you say anything, you could have warned me."

"I don't mind it, I kinda needed a cold shower." He smirked.

"Ass," she muttered while she hurried to get herself as clean as possible as quickly as possible.

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Now that the holiday time is over I should manage to go back to weekly updates. Fingers crossed ;-)