It had been what felt like hours since Rick and Phillip were left alone. We were still out in the field not knowing what to do exactly. We almost didn't want to go back. Or at least that's what it felt like. I was sitting in the dirt with Caesar across from me and Daryl next to me. Even though we were supposed to be enemies this felt like the group of outcasts in the high school lunchroom. Just three people who didn't belong anywhere but, yet they fit in with each other.

"If you don't mind me asking. How many tours did you do?" Caesar asked as he fiddled around with some grass.

"Not at all. I did 2 tours in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan. I was just coming home when all this started." I told him remembering the day I flew home and the horror that came with it.

"So you've been in the tough of it." I nodded

"On my last tour in Afghanistan I lost my whole squadron. We were on a routine check. It was supposed to be safe but we were very wrong. We were blown up, captured. That was that, I was the last alive. They sent me home after that and I was brought into this." I kept my eyes locked on my lighter with Johnny's name engraved into it.

"That's tough. I'm sorry." Caesar said and I nodded as a 'Thank you'. I couldn't seem to get words to leave my mouth anymore.

"We should head back." Daryl said standing up and we agreed. Daryl held out his hand and I took it as he helped me to my feet. Brushing off some dirt, I grabbed my crossbow and we headed back to the others. Just in time I might add. We got there about five minutes before the Governor and Rick came out of the barn thing. Phillip and his crew got in their car and Rick got into his. Daryl and I took that as we are leaving right now and we got on our bikes and headed out. Daryl went first and I followed next to him. We took an hour or so to drive back to the prison. We made our way around the walkers and parked. I got off my bike and headed straight for Rick.

"What did he say?" I asked him and he placed a hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. Something scared him. I could tell as I watched the storm of emotions crash in his blue eyes. Then he looked away before turning to everyone.

"Let's get inside." And with that we all made our way into the prison. I stayed back for a bit and Daryl waited for me.

"Something's wrong." I whispered and Daryl looked at me with a questioning look on his face.

"What do you mean?" I looked at him,

"Whatever the Governor told Rick, he's scared. Or about to make an extremely hard decision." We got to the door and Daryl stopped me.

"How can ya' tell?" I sighed.

"I saw it in his eyes." Daryl nodded and we walked inside with the rest of the group.

We were all gathered up in the cell block waiting to hear what Rick had to say. The tension in the air was thick. Some of us were scared, others worried, a few of us were just mentally preparing for a war. "So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while." Rick spoke.

"Just the three of you?" Merle asked.

"No, they kicked me out." I told him and Merle looked at Rick.

"Just the two of you?" He asked Rick.

"Yeah." Rick answered with a nod.

"Should have gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle said to Daryl who was standing next to me as he left the cell block.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury. We're going to war." Rick said and then left. Leaving us all with our thoughts. Daryl grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the stairs. He paused for a moment looking back at Merle who just looked back at him before he pulled me up the stairs and into my cell. Once inside he made sure the curtain door was closed.

"Daryl, what's going on?" I asked him and he didn't answer. He just pinned me to the wall and kissed me with a new sense of passion. Almost like it was the last time he was ever going to kiss me. I closed my eyes and kissed him back and he took that as me telling him to continue. Daryl wrapped his hands around my thighs and lifted me against the wall. Using the wall to hold me up I pulled at his vest and shirt telling him I wanted them gone and he obliged.

We pulled away for a moment so that he could remove my shirt once the item was discarded somewhere in the cell and his lips were attached to my neck. He was being rougher than usual but, I was loving every moment of it. The feeling of his teeth grazing across the skin on my chest sent me into a frenzy. He nipped at my skin hard enough to leave marks but not to draw blood. I moaned and threw my head back. Daryl took that as the opportunity to take off my bra and kiss down to my breasts. Daryl's hot breath caused my nipples to peak against the cool air of the prison. Just as his mouth connected to my left breast the curtain flew open.

"Well, I'll be damned." Merle said leaning against the cell frame.

"Fucking hell." I quickly covered my chest as Daryl set me down and I moved behind him.

"By no means. Please continue, don't let me ruin the fun." Merle laughed and I groaned.

"Merle, get out of here." Daryl said as he pulled his shirt back on and I grabbed mine from across the room.

"I need to talk to you little brother." Merle said and he left. I sighed and leaned against the wall.

"So much for that." I grumbled under my breath and Daryl grabbed me by the waist.

"I ain't done with ya'." His voice was dark and heavy with lust. It sent chills up my spine and to my core which was aching for his touch. Daryl left after his brother and I fixed my appearance before heading out.

Daryl had gone off and talked to his brother and I went to check up on Rick. I made my way out to the guard tower. I saw Rick pacing around up in the tower. I headed up to the tower and leaned against the door frame that led to the balcony.

"You know if you keep pacing like that you'll wear a hole in the floor and fall right through. Then I'll have to save your ass." Rick stopped and turned towards me with a small smile on his face.

"I don't mind saving you. It just gets tiring when you do it like.. for the last 20 years." I laughed and Rick shook his head.

"I think it's the other way around." He spoke as he leaned against the railing.

"Oh? No I distinctly remember getting you and Shane out of trouble all the time."

"That was trouble Shane dragged me into." Rick laughed.

"Doesn't change the fact." I said as I leaned next to him. We stood there in silence for a moment. I could tell he was deep in thought about something.

"Come on Cowboy. I know your mind is heavy. Talk to me." I turned to face the field as I watched walkers walking around.

"I lied." Rick finally said as despair leaked in his voice.

"What do you mean?" I questioned him, he wasn't one to lie especially to anyone he was trying to protect.

"The Governor said he wouldn't start a war..." He paused for a moment searching for the right words to say I suppose.

"He said he would leave us if we gave him Michonne." I watched as Rick placed his head in his hands.

"Rick, you did the right thing. She has earned her place here with us. I don't blame you for lying, sometimes we have to lie to protect the people we love. There is nothing wrong with that. I just wish you had at least filled me in." I glanced at him as I watched his shoulders fall as if a large weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"So cowboy, what do we do now?" I started pulling myself off the railing.

"We prepare for war like planned." I was puzzled and I turned to Rick.

"You're not going to tell them the truth?" I asked him, my brows knitted together.

"Like you said, "Sometimes you have to lie to protect the people you love." And there's a lot of people here that I care about." I took note that Rick didn't say loved but cared. As if he was scared to say it like he was about to lose us all. This only caused me to worry more about him. Though, I didn't press him to explain I knew he was battling a lot.

"I understand Rick" I spoke softly and took notice of the tree line as he and I kept our eyes out for the Governor's little rats.

Rick and I kept watch together for another two hours or so. We were mailing looking for spies in the tree line just outside the gates. Since we hadn't seen anyone we figured they were doing the same as us. Preparing for a war we didn't honestly want to even fight. If that barbarian had just stayed on his side of the river we wouldn't be in this mess. Even then it was Merle who kidnapped Glenn and Maggie and took them in the first fucking place. I went over all the events that led us to where we were at this moment and I only made me angry. I was ripped from my thoughts by something moving in the treeline that caught my eye. I looked over at it and I was puzzled because it wasn't a walker I could tell from there, but why would a spy blatantly put themselves in the open like that. Hoisting my sniper up I peered through the scope.

"You've got to be fucking me?" I spoke out loud, surprised at what I was seeing. There in the treeline was Andrea. She looked like shit and I couldn't believe I was seeing her. I thought maybe it was a ghost

"Well I'm not but, I can be." Rick said with a giant smile on his face. I kicked him and shook my head.

"Shut up and look." I told him, handing the gun to him. Rick peered in the same place I did and but, just as he looked I watched something or someone take down Andrea.

"Raven, there's nothing." Rick spoke as he kept his eye in the scope looking where I had been previously.

"I...I must be seeing things then." Rick nodded before handing me my sniper back.

"Raven, have you slept much?" He asked me with worry in his face.

"Um...yeah. Of course." Rick raised an eyebrow at me and I slung my sniper over my shoulder.

"Rick, don't give me the concerned dad look okay. I'm fine." I tried telling him as I headed around the side of the tower to head downstairs.

"Raven." Rick called after me and I stopped turning to face him.

"Rick, I'm fine really." I faked a smile and walked down the stairs. I wasn't sure where I was going at that moment. But, at that moment all I could see was Andrea, her hand up showing a sign of surrender, something told me that I wasn't seeing things. That she was there and it was a gut instinct that I hadn't felt since the war. It was a survival thing, like something in me told me that one of my men was in trouble and needed my help. But this time it wasn't one of my men and we weren't in a foreign country. It was an old friend, right in my own backyard.

Another day came and went, Rick had come and grabbed me from my cell. He told me that he had told Hershel and that he planned on telling Daryl but he wanted me to go with. I agreed and we all met up outside by the gates.

"It's the only way. No one else knows" Rick told Daryl after explaining everything to him. I won't bore you with that all over again.

"You gonna tell 'em?" Daryl asked finally after what felt like an eternity.

"No, not till after." Rick paused looking around like he was scared that someone was going to come out and interrupt us.

"We have to do it today. It has to be quiet." Rick told Daryl and he just nodded.

"You got a plan?" He asked him and the three of us waited to hear this game changing plan Rick had.

"We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others." Rick told Daryl walking up to him trying to keep quiet. That's when it hit me. He was talking about Michonne.

"Wait Rick. I thought we weren't doing this." I asked taking a step towards him.

"Raven's right. Just ain't us, man." Daryl told him.

"No. No, it isn't." Hershel agreed before he left rather quickly for a guy on crutches.

"We do this, we avoid a fight." Rick said mainly to Daryl who seemed to be having a battle with himself.

"Rick what about what we talked about yesterday? What happened to that?" I all but yelled at him. It was like overnight he decided that one person's life wasn't worth anything.

"Raven, I realized I don't want anyone else to die." Rick turned to me, pain in his eyes. I knew what he had meant because I had been there too. Daryl nodded before agreeing with Rick's plan.

"We need someone else." Rick said looking and Daryl and we both immediately knew he was talking about Merle.

"I'll talk to him." Daryl said and Rick shook his head.

"I'll do it."

"I'll go with you." Rick stopped him.

"No. Just me." Rick said just above a whisper before he left leaving Daryl and I alone. I scuffed and kicked a rock nearby.

"I can't believe him." I said looking out at the walkers gnawing at the fence just 10 feet from us.

"What? Can you blame him." Daryl asked me and I turned to look at him.

"And you're okay with this? Sacrificing a good person. Just..." Daryl cut me off.

"To save the rest of us. To make sure I don't lose you. Damn right I am." I shook my head.

"That's not fair, Daryl. She has every right to be here as we do." I scolded him. It was sweet to know he would do that to save me but, not at the expense of her being tortured.

"Raven, I care about you too much to put you in harm's way. If there is a way to prevent that. Then I'm willing to do it." Daryl said, taking a step towards me.

"That's selfish Daryl. Really fucking selfish." I turned from him and headed inside ignoring his voice calling my name. I had to warn Michonne. Tell her to leave while she still could. I only hoped that I wasn't too late.

We had spent the day prepping for the war that was never coming. I didn't have time to talk to Michonne alone. Someone was always right there and I didn't want anyone else to know. We drove the truck back up the gate after setting up some traps with some barbed wire. Rick had opened and closed the gate for us. Glenn was first out of the truck followed by Daryl who insisted on grabbing me by the waist and helping me down. I smiled but I was still pissed at him about the whole thing. Wouldn't you be?

"They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe some blown tries will stop them." Glenn said walking up to Rick.

"That's a good idea." He responded.

"It was Michonne's." Daryl said almost like he was telling Rick reasons to keep her.

"She's got a lot more where that came from." I said turning back to the truck to grab the tools.

"We don't have to win. We just have to make their getting at us more trouble than it's worth." Michonne said and Rick didn't say anything back he just looked at her. That was till Maggie and Carl came back up from distracting the walkers.

"Let's go." Rick said after giving Daryl a strange look and we all made our way back into the prison. Secretly I hoped that Rick had changed his mind about giving up Michonne. But, who knew. We all had gone our separate ways. I needed to find Michonne and for some reason once we walked into that building I had lost her and Rick. Hell even Daryl left me. I rolled my eyes and found Carol with little Judith.

"Can I hold her?" I asked, setting my gun down on the table. Carol nodded and handed Judith to me.

"Hey baby girl." I said as I gently rocked her in my arms. It made me smile to see her bright blue eyes staring up at me. It was moments like these that made me forget about the world we were thrown into. Her small laugh brought a smile to my face as she wrapped her little hand around my finger. I blocked out everything and everyone around me. Back in my mind this wasn't the world we were stuck in. Granted I didn't want a white picket fence and weekend barques with the neighbors. But, I did want my family back. It was a wish everyone here had.

"Raven, Rick's looking for you." Carol said coming back. I nodded and handed Judith to her before placing a kiss on her little nose.

"Thanks." I told her and grabbed my gun and headed out to the yard.

When I got there only Daryl was there. "Where's Rick?" I asked him and he shrugged and just then Rick came around the corner.

"It's off. We'll take our chances." Rick said quickly and I immediately started looking around for Merle.

"I'm not saying it was the wrong call, but this is definitely the right one." Daryl said and Rick looked just as worried as I did.

"Where's your brother?" I asked Daryl.

"I can't find him or Michonne." Rick answered quickly.

"Fuck." I said.

"They've gone." Rick told us.

"Come on."Daryl said as we ran inside. Daryl led us down into the electric room.

"He was in here. Said he was looking for drugs. Said a lot of things actually." Daryl said as the three of us fanned out across the room.

"Like what?" Rick asked him as I turned the corner to find a small pillow case

"Said that you were gonna change your mind. Yeah, he took her here. They mixed it up." Daryl said.

"Damn it! I'm going after him." Rick yelled making his way out the back door.

"Rick wait!" I called after him and Daryl followed.

"You can't track for shit." Daryl yelled and I agreed.

"Then the three of us." Rick said, turning back to us.

"No, just me. I said I'd go and I'll go." Daryl told him and I shook my head.

"Like hell I'm letting you go out there alone." I told him and he looked at me.

"You're so damn difficult." Daryl paused before looking back at Rick.

"Look they're gonna come back here. You need to be ready. You're family, too." Daryl said and he pushed open the door and walked out. Rick looked at me scared to let me go.

"We'll bring her back. Get everyone ready." I told him and he nodded. Just as I was about to leave he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms.

"I hate you going out there." He whispered.

"You know I'll always put my life on the line for the people that I care about." I told him as I hugged him back.

"Be safe." He said, pulling away. I laughed and gave him a soldier salute.

"Yes, Sir. I always am, cowboy." I told him with a smile before running out and after Daryl. We both hopped on our bikes and headed off Daryl taking the lead. We weren't at all prepared for what we would have to face once we found them.