Dedicated to roselovejoytwd because I like her and she's awesome.

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~Rebel's POV~

I shuffled my feet towards the campfire, taking a sharp interest in my surroundings. The pavement we were inhabiting was dry and beginning to split from the lack of rain, making the surface uneven, throwing several cars off balance.

Rust was coating the remaining cars and the paint was peeling off several more from absence of use. Night had begun to fall, leaving the sky to swirl with a mixture of luminous and nebulous blues. You could see the slight twinkling of stars peeping through the dissipating clouds.

I strained my ears to hear the song of the nightingales, I had always thought that they had the most beautiful bird song. It was repetitive and it could get annoying, but it was amazing nonetheless.

I couldn't decipher the sound of the bird, but I could hear something that was not a bird.

It sounded like the hooves of a horse slipping through the cracks in the pavement. I nudged Shane and he did the same for Rick and Glen.

I tapped my ears and pointed in the direction of the noise, raising my bow and loading an arrow. Glen caught Daryl's attention and Glen explained to Daryl what was happening. Daryl took position beside me, standing closer than normal.

My body stiffened but I ignored him. Ignore him, ignore heartbreak. It was really that simple, but it didn't seem that way. He glanced at me every so often and when we had been sitting by the campfire, his gaze remained on me, not wavering once.

The clipping sound came closer and I could hear the low snort of the horse. A dim silhouette approached us, and none to my surprise, there was a slim figure sitting on a lean horse. Slowly the silohouette became clearer and we could see the details.

On a dark brown horse rode a slender girl. Her hair was brown and tousled in every which way. It was being covered by a very western cowgirl hat, matching her boots to the silver tassles. She had emerald colored eyes that blended with her pale face.

"You walkers?" She called out. A thick country accent covered her voice, showing the relation to her western wear.

"Yeah." I called out, my voice coated in sarcasm. The girl must've taken this seriously because she raised a small handgun- unloaded may I add- towards my head in particular. She tried to pull the trigger, but as I said, it was unloaded.

"You might want to load the gun, Sweetheart." I smiled at her. I raised my bow in her direction, leaving the men to follow.

The girl dropped her handgun and held her hands above her head, looking like a cartoon character with her extremely wide eyes.

"Don't shoot!" She cried, fear showing clear in her face and voice. I almost laughed at her, I know we would shoot a walker on impulse, but never a human.

I lowered my bow and the men followed suit, except for Daryl. I turned and looked at him straight in the eye. This had been the first full-on eye contact I had made with him since my decision. He swiveled his head to look at me and you could see the malice in his look.

"Wha'." He spat.

I huffed at him and raised my arm. I swung it back, smacking the metal of his crossbow. Pain shot through my hand but I held back the scream. He dropped the crossbow on the ground, making it fire on impact.

The arrow flung through the air, impaling the car that was next to the out land girl. She flinched and stepped to the side.

"Coulda' killed 'er. Dumb bitch." He mumbled, aiming the comment towards me. The words made me cringe, but I didn't feel the familiar burn of tears I usually felt with an insult. I rolled my eyes at him and stepped towards the girl.

"I'm Rebel. Sorry for almost killing you..." I trailed, signaling for her to tell me her name.

"Maggie. Apology accepted. Are you on the move or is this your permanent homing area?" She asked, curiosity shining brightly in her eyes. I turned towards Rick, not knowing the answer.

"On the move. You?"

"We got a farm house. I'm sure we could take y'all in if ya' wanna come." She offered. Maggie was obviously a kind girl, but I knew better than to judge her right away. She looked smart, so she probably knew that kindness would probably kill her.

Everyone turned towards Rick, expecting an immediate 'Yes'.

"I don't see why not. I'm Rick Grimes." he said, extending a hand towards Maggie, looking much the same as when I met him. Maggie shook his hand gingerly and clutched the hand gun she had dropped earlier, stuffing it in her cowboy boot.

"Okay. Everyone pack up camp!" Shane ordered, shooting a pointed glare at Peter. Even though he looked serious, you could see that Peter was trying not to laugh.

~

"Close the gate." Maggie called from her horse. Lori did as she said and quickly climbed back into the new Lexus that Shane had nabbed from the highway.

We prowled through the ground, following Maggie who was on horseback. I had refused to ride on the motorcycle, Carol willingly taking my place, leaving me to care with Sophia. I had no problem with that. Sophia was adorable, not to mention extremely smart and like able. It seemed Carl had taken a liking to me as well.

We slowly pulled up to a paint-chipped ranch house. The grass was weed-free and the porch contained no grass or soil, making it look modern and like it belonged in the old world. Not this cannibal infested one.

A paunchy, balding, white-haired man sat on a rocking chair in the shade of the porch. He held a cautious, suspicious look in his eyes. We all clambered out of our separate vehicles and stood in a straight line, bearing no weaponry.

"I'm Sheriff Rick Grimes, and this is my group. This young girl, Maggie, said we might be able to home here for a while. Is this true?" Rick asked the wrinkled man.

"You got guns?" he asked quietly yet authoritatively.

Rick nodded, "We also have several string weapons. We promise not to bear them against you or your family. We can supply hunted game as well as work if required." Rick offered hopefully.

"I'm Hershel. Welcome to the Ranch." He nodded towards a small, enclosed area, surrounded by several trees, "You can home their. We got a bathroom inside if you need it. Please respect our privacy and we'll do the same for you. You're welcome to meals as well. Fires are permitted as long as they're not too large. Have a nice day."

Rick grinned at him and we started to transfer our supplies to the new campsite. We had set up most of the tents and I began to open the last one. This would be Rick, Lori and Carl's tent, so it was fairly large.

I slipped underneath the cover, trying to support it from the inside. This was not my brightest ideas. I caught my foot in the support wire and tripped, wrapping myself in the blue, crackle tarp. I huffed in exasperation and struggled to unwind the material from my body.

"Lemme help." I heard a thick, southern voice say. Daryl. Just peachy.

He stood me up and started to untangle the crinkle fabric from my body. He ended up standing behind me and letting the tarp drop around my feet. I could feel his hot breath fanning across the back of my neck and I fought to hold in a shiver.

"Ye' good?" he asked me softly.

"Didn't think you'd help a dumb bitch like me." I snapped before walking away, leaving him to set up the jumbo tent himself.

I took a seat next to Carl on the log by the dimming campfire. He leaned his head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around his small body. I had always wanted a younger sibling despite all the supposed downsides. I thought kids were delightful.

"Daryl likes you." he said quietly. No one else was sitting around the campfire, but all the same, I looked around to make sure no one had heard,

"What?" I hissed at him, trying to understand what he meant.

"Darly Dixon, likes you, Rebel Hart. He don't look at anyone else like that, he also don't treat anyone else like he treats you. Not even Carol." he stated plainly, like he was bored with this conversation.

"Oh." I whispered, my mouth forming a round circle.

"You like him too." Carl said excitedly looking up at me.

"No!" I denied falsely.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Carl! What are you two talking about?" Lori snapped at Carl and I.

"Nothing." I smiled at her. Carl grinned at me devilishly and looked back at his mom innocently.

"Daryl likes Rebel and Rebel likes Daryl. But she doesn't wanna say she does." Carl told her earnestly.

I shot a glare at Carl and then smiled at Lori one of my famous 'It's a lie.' smiles. It was that smile that had gotten me out of numerous situations that I didn't want to confront. My siblings were usually the receiving end of this smile, and they knew every time I smiled at them like this, I was in trouble.

Lori smiled back at me and for a moment I felt relieved, that moment was shortlived as she bent down to Carl and whispered loudly enough for me to hear, "Sweetie, everyone knows that but them."

I scowled at her and stood up abruptly, "I'm going for a walk."

Lori nodded and I continued on my way down to the small pond that was near the cattle fence. It was the place that caught my eye, ever since we got here, I had been yearning to visit it.

There were hues of rainbow colored wild-flowers growing on the bank and they reminded me of the sweet summer days I had spent at the lake about 7 miles down from Atlanta. Not many people knew of it and the sky there was clear and unpolluted.

"Hey, Rebel." I whipped around, ready to face my attacker, but it was only Peter.

"Hey." I smiled at him, not sure if he could see it in the dark of the night. He took a seat fairly close to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, keeping me somewhat warmer than before.

"Do you believe in love?" he asked me after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes." I said honestly.

"How? You're so young." Peter muttered more to himself than to me.

"I've been in love. If I hadn't, I would still believe in it. I see love everywhere, in animals, flowers, water and nice, sunny days that make it seem alright for awhile. Love is everywhere, you just have to look through the right eyes to see it."

Peter looked over at me, only then did I realize how close we had become. His nose brushed against mine and I could smell the mint leaves on his breath. Peter cupped a hand over my cheek, cradling my face in his large palm.

He leaned in ever so slightly and our lips brushed against each other, sending shivers down my spine. Peter leaned in more and this time, he didn't pull away. We sat their for what seemed like eternity, our lips firmly pressed against each other.

When he pulled away, he looked at me, I could see the mischievous glint in his eyes, telling me that he had wanted to do that for quite some time. He brushed his finger under my eyelid, catching a stray eyelash on his thumb.

"Make a wish." he whispered to me softly.

I thought about that. I couldn't wish for world peace because that was wrecked, I couldn't wish for a new puppy because it would probably get killed. I couldn't wish for love. I didn't want it.

"I wish to stay here for awhile. To be safe. Just for a little while."

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Comment if you're Team Peter or Team Daryl. I'm not sure who I like better, yet.

Thanks for reading!

Video to the side is the song I'm obsessed with, doesn't really have to do with this chapter.

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