When Cassie and Daryl approached the camp the next morning the tension in the air was unmissable. Cassie noticed neither Glenn or Rick had returned yet and an immediate sense of dread kicked in.
Before they had left Cassie had grabbed her top and shirt from the night before deciding to leave Daryl's shirt on. He hadn't planned on asking for it back enjoying how she looked in his clothes. She had noticed before they left Daryl shrugging on a sleeveless leather jacket which had sewn on angel wings on the back. She hadn't seen it before but seeing as the weather was getting colder everyone was starting to add more layers.
She noticed Shane, Andrea and T dog stood around a car loading things into the boot and went over to talk to them. Cassie realised they were maybe going to look for Glenn,Hershel and Rick and even though she couldn't stand Shane and Andrea she knew she had to help find her brother and best friend."Are you guys going to find Rick, Glenn and Hershel?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah" T dog answered confirming her suspicions.
"Wait a minute I'm coming with you" Cassie stated not giving any of them time to answer before she left for her tent. Once she got there she changed out her shorts into a pair of black cargo pants due to the cold weather, leaving Daryl's shirt on with a black denim jacket over the top as she grabbed her bow and quiver.
When she got back over to the group she saw Daryl with his crossbow on his back ready to go with them chugging a canteen of water. She grabbed it out his hand after placing her bow in the boot of the car causing water to spill out slightly. "Save some for the rest of us" Cassie joked giving Daryl a short smile as she twisted the cap back on the bottle.
Just as they were finishing their prep to leave that all turned to see a red pick up truck driving down the dirt path towards them. Once it arrived back Carl was quick to run into his dads arms Lori close behind.
As Maggie ran to Glenn Cassie slowly made her way towards her family. When Rick noticed her he left Lori and Carls embrace before rushing to his sister pulling her in for a hug. "You never said goodbye" Cassie said softly.
"Anytime I have to leave again your either coming with me or I'll make sure to say goodbye. I promise" Rick told her pulling back from their hug as Cassie went over to see Glenn while Rick went back to his wife seeing the wound on her head.
"Cass I'm sorry" was all Glenn said before he buried his head in her shoulder holding on tightly. Cassie could tell something had probably happened on their run that had shaken Glenn up so she hugged him back.
"It's okay Glenn. You came back that's all that matters" Glenn pulled back to smile at her before noticing the serious expression on her face "But if you ever go without saying goodbye again I will hurt you" she warned and Glenn chuckled nervously before T-dog said something that got everyone's attention.
"Who the hell is that?" He asked.
"That's Randall" Glenn explained as many members of the group moved forward to see a boy around his 20s tied up in the backseat with a bandanna over his eyes. The boy seemed to have some sort of leg wound and from the looks of things he was obviously in a lot of pain.
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A short while later the whole group were sat around the Greene family's dinner table. Rick and Glenn had told everyone the story of what had happened in town and how they had met Randall. As Cassie looked around the room she could see Shane's face had his anger over the situation written all over it.
"We couldn't just leave him behind. He would have bled out if he lived that long" Rick told the group.
"It's gotten bad in town" Glenn explained and Cassie noticed him looking down as he spoke not wanting to meet Maggie's gaze which would have been impossible if he looked up seeing as she had her eyes set on him.
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked but before anyone could respond Hershel returned from doing Randall's surgery.
"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can but he'll probably have nerve damage. He won't be on his feet for at least a week" Hershel told them all.
"When he is we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way" Rick decided.
"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea said although Cassie wasn't listening to her as she noticed a familiar redneck enter the room. When their eyes met he smiled at her a gesture which she returned before he leaned against the wall opposite the table.
"He'll have a fighting chance" Rick argued
"You just gonna let him go? He knows where we are" Shane said which made Cassie scoff making Shane's eyes go to her along with everyone's else's.
"In case you were too dumb to notice Shane he was blindfolded in the car. So unless he has super powers and can see through things I think we're alright"
"Cassie's right he's not a threat" Rick stated agreeing with his sister.
"Not a threat" Shane scoffed "How many of them were there? You kill three of their men. You took one of them hostage but they just ain't gonna come looking for him".
At this point in Cassie's mind Shane was just trying to start an argument for the sake of it he didn't have a decent argument at all.
"They left him for dead. No one is looking"
"We should still post a guard" T-dog suggested
which Cassie didn't think was a bad idea seeing as even though the guy was currently wounded they didn't know what he was capable of.
"He's out cold right now will be for hours" Hershel told them
"Well then after that we can set up a guard for him. If anything only for ease of mind" Cassie suggested for Carls sake if anything. He knew he was a curious kid and would want to see the prisoner himself which could only end badly.
All eyes went to Rick as he gave a short nod to Cassie's idea. He knew she was thinking for the best for the group and their family and he respected that
"You know I'm going to go get him some flowers and candy." Shane said with a scoff as he began to walk out the house and Cassie couldn't help the small smile she had when she noticed the small glare Daryl gave Shane when he passed him. "Look at this folks. We back in fantasy land"
"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet" Hershel told Shane which caused him to turn "Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all.This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone Rick talked me out of it but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favour. Keep your mouth shut"
For once Shane didn't give a bitter remark back and simply walked out the house.Cassie couldn't agree more with what Hershel had told him and was glad somebody was finally putting Shane in his place.
"We're not going to do anything about it today. Let's just cool off" Rick told Hershel before the group broke apart. Before Cassie could go and talk to Daryl he had already left the house probably to go hunting.
"Aunt Cass" a small voice called out drawing her attention away from the gone redneck. "Maggie gave me some cards can we play go fish?"
"Yeah of course cmon" Cassie said with a small smile as the young boy grabbed the cards and walked out the front door with her. The pair made their way towards the small picnic bench that they had sat at previously for Carl to do his homework.
"Did you know?" Carl asked causing Cassie to screw her nose up slightly in confusion.
"About what?"
"That my moms having a baby" Carl answered getting straight to the point.
"I did. I only didn't tell you cause your mom wanted it to be a secret till your dad knew. And then after he found out they wanted to tell you at the right time I'm sorry" Cassie felt terrible about having kept the news of Loris baby from Carl but she knew it wasn't her place to tell him.
"It's okay Aunt Cassie. You keep my secrets for me" Carl told her which made Cassie sigh softly as she got the cards ready and they began the game. "What's it like to have a sibling?"
"It's the best" Cassie answered truthfully thinking back on her time growing up with Rick "It'll be slightly different for you then it was for me seeing as me and your dad were twins but still this baby will be one of the most precious people in your life"
"I'm gonna be the awesome big brother" Carl told her with a grin showing her just how excited he was. "I'm gonna protect my little brother or sister from everything"
"I have no doubt abou-"
"Go Fish!" Carl shouted excitedly cutting her off causing her to laugh along with him as he started to do a victory dance.
Cassie dealt the cards out again after congratulating Carl on his victory so they could start a new game. "Do you want a little sister or brother?"
"I don't mind really. I guess a sister would be cool then we'd be like you and dad" Carl answered.
The two sat at the table together talking about the new grimes family member they'd be getting soon and playing go fish. After a while whilst Cassie was looking at her cards Carl looked over her shoulder too see a certain redneck approaching them.
"Aunt Cassie your boyfriends here" Carl said causing Cassie to go bright red in the face.
"Wha- he's not- who told you that?" Cassie stuttered out which made Carl laugh harder.
"I heard Glenn talking with Maggie" Carl told her. Cassie mentally slapped herself for trusting Glenn with her secret but she had been excited to tell her best friend about it.
"We'll your just gonna have to keep it a secret aren't you" Cassie said extending her pinkie to her nephew who wrapped his own pinkie round hers.
"Does this mean Daryl's gonna be my uncle? If he is does that mean I can use his crossbow!" Carl asked his aunt excitedly standing up pretending to shoot a crossbow.
"Slow down you cheeky monkey okay. Let's just say that right now Daryl is a very important person to me and I care about him a lot"
"Do you guys kiss all the time?"
"Go!" Cassie yelled with a laugh pushing her nephew off the picnic bench with her foot.
"Bye Aunt Cassie have fun smooching Daryl" Carl laughed picking up the cards and running off to find his mom and dad. Cassie ran her hands threw her hair shaking her head slightly at her nephew as he ran off.
Cassie turned in her seat as Daryl approached standing slowly and walking over to him. "Hey"
"Want to hunt?" He asked getting straight to the point. Just as Cassie was about to answer Maggie came running out the farmhouse over to Cassie.
"Hey Cass. Oh hi Daryl" she greeted them. "Can we talk?"
"Now?" Cassie asked glancing at Daryl. She really didn't want to have to choose who to hang out with but it seemed she wasn't getting a choice.
"Yes please it's Glenn.Something happened and I don't know who else to talk to" Maggie confessed reaching out for Cassie's hand to pull her towards the farm house.
"Can we do this later? I have to go save Glenn's relationship" Cassie laughed as Daryl nodded his head to her question. She quickly leaned forward to place a quick peck on his cheek before going inside with Maggie.
Daryl watched her walk away with the brunette his cheeks flushed pink slightly from the sudden kiss on the cheek which he enjoyed.
"Hope you don't mind sitting in Beth's room for this it's just I don't want to leave her alone when she's like this" Maggie told her as she led her through the house to Beth's room.
"No no it's fine honestly" Cassie reassured her as the pair sat down in arm chairs in the corner of the room. "So what's Glenn done?"
"It's more what I've done" Maggie told her confusing Cassie "I told him i loved him"
"Okay I don't see the problem here"
"When they were out in the town he froze. Blames me for it says I got in his head"
"God Glenns being an idiot. He does love you Maggie I think he's just scared of feeling it. He doesn't want to love you because then it'll be even harder if he loses you. Or if you live and he dies he doesn't want you to be hurt" Cassie said hoping she was making sense.
"But he's hurting me now. How does this help anything?" Maggie asked.
"It doesn't. But don't worry soon enough Glenn will realise how stupid he's being and snap out of it" Cassie reassured Maggie. "And if he doesn't apologise anytime soon tell me and I'll deal with him for you"
"Thank you Cass" Maggie laughed softly "Now what about you and Daryl" Maggie noticed as soon as she said the man's name the blondes cheek went dark red. "Because I noticed you didn't come back from his camp last night and your wearing his shirt"
"We may have you know done it" Cassie said shyly as Maggie's smile widened and she squeezed Cassie's hand.
"Oh god I'm so happy for you Cass"
"Thanks Maggs" Cassie thought for a moment before she said "Isn't it funny it took the world ending for us to find some one we care about"
"It is" Maggie agreed "Do you think if you met Daryl in the real world you know before all this it's be the same?"
"Probably not. I wouldn't get to know him and realise that the whole asshole thing is just an act" Cassie answered
"Do you know if you love him yet?" Maggie then asked out of no where.
"I'm pretty sure if I said 'I love you' to him right now I'd scare him off"
"Better then Glenn's reaction" Maggie added.
"I could grow to love him" Cassie answered and Maggie smiled. "And hopefully he'd feel the same"
Little did Cassie know as she sat in the farmhouse the exact redneck she was talking about was beginning to fall deeply in love with her and he didn't even realise it.