Hershel looked at Jodie's bloody palms, and surprise and worry reflected on his face.

"How did that happen? ", the old man asked and turned to Daryl.

Jodie averting Hershel's gaze, didn't want to say anything, She did the same with Daryl, even though she felt the way he looked at her from the side.

"She fought with this Roderick," said Daryl.

"That doesn't sound like you, Jodie. What happened?", Hershel looked at Jodie, eyebrows raised.

"I would be pissed too if people were talking shit about my family," Daryl finally replied for Jodie.

Hershel sighed and in this one sound lay a whole conversation. Concern, Criticism, Reminder. Without further ado, he bandaged Jodie's hands and ordered her to rest for the next week until the vacancies healed.

"Go back to your cell and get some rest. Glenn is back from his tour, maybe he has something for you again," Hershel winked at her. She nodded, smiling lightly, leaving the room quietly as a cat, and Daryl also wanted to turn away when Hershel held him back.

"You should talk to her. She listens to you. She likes you."

Hershel's gaze was like the one of a grandfather,authoritative, but also so infinitely warm.

"I'm not a fucking psycho doc," Daryl was just grumbling. Just the thought made him resist.

"No, but it can't go on like this, she's always being teased by the other kids because she doesn't talk. She might open up to you and speak to you, it would solve a few problems. Words do more than fists."

Daryl didn't miss the gentle but pressing appeal in his words.

********************

He met Cole on his way to his cell. The tall, young man with the blue eyes looked worried.

"Hey, I just saw Jodie, what happened to her?" He was like a brother to Jodie. Protective, concerned, always trying to settle their affairs.

"Got into a fight with Roderick because he talked shit about her family," Daryl narrowly replied.

"Again, this tramp," Cole said, "He really seems to test his limits, but he has no idea."

"No idea of what?" Daryl had no idea why, but something in his words got his attention. As if he was about to have an important thought, but he had to find it.

"I wish, I knew. She's been through a lot. I don't know what exactly, which is why sometimes I wish she would talk. It would make things easier," he sighed.

"What actually happened? Why isn't she talking? "Daryl followed up.

"Like I said, I knew her from our first camp, and she was still talking there. Not much, because she was pretty shy, but at least a little. Our camp was overrun by walkers and we were forced to flee in small groups or alone. I was with two friends for two months until we found her by accident. Exhausted, covered in blood from top to bottom, but she kept two more walkers from getting us. Of course, she was happy when she found us, but something was different. She seems so cold. Brave, but somehow quiet. No matter what we tried, she didn't speak. I don't know what happened to her, but I'm guessing she saw or did something that traumatized her. "Cole told him and his eyes were sad.

"Who was with her when you were separated? "

"I don't know," Cole answered honestly, and Daryl was biting on the inside of his cheek.

"But she seems to like you", Cole continued.

„Bullshit "Daryl immediately resisted this sentiment.

"She's not in love with you. Trust me, she'd behave differently. At our old camp, there was a guy she had a crush on, but she just seems to like you."

Daryl didn't answer further and didn't ask any further questions. The conversation was over for him. He turned his back and immediately pondered the boy's words.

After trying to talk him out of it for a long time, he finally got to Jodie's cell that night. He'd never been in there before, which is why the sight surprised him a little. On the wall of her cell, there were countless images on which she had drawn the individual inhabitants of the prison. He was also able to find himself among them, talking to Rick, screwing on his motorcycle, checking his crossbow. Daryl's gaze wandered across the small room and finally found Jodie, on her bed, sleeping soundly, wearing a simple top and shorts. There was a small candle on the table in her cell that lit up the dark room a little bit. And then Daryl saw something on the table that caught his attention, and there were lots of sheets of paper and pens, and above it was Daryl's old crossbow.

On a recent tour, Rick and Michonne had found him a new, better crossbow, which is why he left his old one in the armory. It was in good shape, and apparently Jodie had taken good care of it. Daryl kept looking around. There was a guitar in the corner. And in front of the desk on the floor was a little book, and he couldn't say why, but Daryl bent over and picked it up.

He flipped through with quick fingers and found himself a little embarrassed by the fact it seemed like a diary. Daryl was going to put it away, but something made him read it. He hadn't even touched a book years before the apocalypse.

A quiet sigh of Jodie's made Daryl turn on the heel. But apparently she dreamed, because her eyes were still closed. In her sleep she rolled on her stomach so that her top slipped slightly upwards. With horror he looked at the scars, which now seemed to glow darkly on her back.

Apparently, she had more secrets than he thought. Although he knew very well that he shouldn't do it, he turned to the book again, as if a magical attraction would come from it.

"I'll never forget what I was doing, how I talked to Kelly and suddenly Melvin shot. He shot Kelly in the stomach just like that. Just like that. She was pregnant, and my stepfather had killed two lives. And I killed him with a bow and arrow. Strangely, I didn't even feel anything when he fell dead to the ground. No regrets, no anger, no grief. It was like I was dead too, like I was one of them. I tried to keep at least Kelly alive. I knew she was gonna lose her baby, but maybe I could have saved her life somehow, but we were in the middle of the woods. There was nothing I could do. I had no equipment and experience to treat a gun shot in the stomach, or to stop the bleeding. For some reason Kelly was very calm. She asked me to sing, said it was the last thing she wanted to hear with her baby, so I sang to her. She just fell asleep, and I ended it, killed her so she wouldn't come back. I searched her favorite flowers and buried her with it. When I sang it was the last time I used my voice. That I was even talking at all. A bit as if the talent of being able to talk died with Kelly and her baby. As if I had buried all three of them."

A quiet rustle in Daryl's back drove him around again. Jodie stood behind him, her eyes wandered from the opened book right into his face. Her face was completely calm, not upset or angry.

"I... " Daryl didn't know what to say, how to apologize for what he had just done. He'd like to vanish at once.

Jodie finally took the book gently from his hand and put it on the small table.

"Sorry," he said, and he didn't found any words to tell her how ashamed he was of this invasion of privacy.

Jodie just looked at him calmly until Daryl couldn't take her gaze anymore and almost ran out of the cell. Confused and shocked by the realization that she had been through something terrible and probably couldn't talk anymore. As if life had demanded something from her at such a young age. Something that would have been unbearable even for an adult. He would have loved to comfort her at that moment, but he didn't know how. He was not good at such things, neither in words nor in gestures, even though he himself knew this dark place where she had to be.

"Fuck!", Daryl got frustrated when he reached his cell and threw himself at the little cot.

*********************************

Jodie looked after him thoughtfully. She wasn't even mad a bit. He may have read her diary, but she knew that eventually, what happened to Kelly would have come out. What surprised her more was why he had been in her cell. Cole talked to her after she visited Hershel. He promised he would do anything to make things better for her. Jodie had smiled at him to make him feel that she believed him, but she didn't. It would get worse, it would go all the way to the knife. Maybe that's why Daryl wanted to talk to her, maybe he wanted to explain to her why he stood up for her today. Why he yelled at the other kids. Jodie didn't know, but she already knew that she probably would never find out from him. He'd keep it quiet, or beat around the bush. She didn't want to embarrass him, which is why she decided not to bring up the subject.

Evening, Ladys and Gentlemen.Already sah the newest episode of TWD? Hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a comment.

Love liz;)