Keep Holding On

Angela woke to Layla gently shaking her arm the next morning with a smile on her face.

"Come on Angie, breakfast is ready!"

"I'm up, I'm up." Angela said closing her eyes again.

"No you're not, you're just saying that, come on. Don't you wanna go see Daryl?" Layla accused causing Angela to look at her now fully awake.

"What makes you think I want to see Daryl?"

"So you don't want to see him?" Layla asked confused.

"That's not what I meant." Angela tried to explain, but in truth, she didn't know how. She didn't know what to say.

"Angie I'm confused." Layla admitted and Angela let out a small chuckle.

"So am I, let's just go eat and forget this conversation alright?" Layla nodded her response as Angela got dressed and the two made their way to the campfire.

Layla ran ahead of Angela, darting up to the lawn chair Daryl sat in and talking to him. Angela glanced around the camp, taking in every solemn face and the one nervous expression.

Glenn. Something had been bothering him for a while and though he just said it was an argument with Maggie, Angela knew there was more than meets the eye to this story, but she refused to press knowing he'd spill his secrets sooner or later.

Angela accepted a plate of eggs from Carol and walked towards the lawn chair. She met Daryl's eyes for a moment giving him a small smile and a nod that he returned before sitting down between his chair and the log that Carl sat on. She noticed Glenn look around the group before standing up.

"Hey guys," he began, looked like he his secret was gunna be told sooner rather than later. He hesitated as every eye landed on him. "The barn's full of walkers."

Everyone was shocked at what Glenn revealed and was soon gathered around in front of the barn doors. Shane looked through the gap in the door seeing the dead that stumbled on the other side, before turning and storming to Rick.

"You can not tell me that you're okay with this."

"No I'm not, but this isn't our land." Rick stated.

"But this is our lives man!" Shane countered, knowing that if the walkers managed to break free than everyone would be in danger.

Everyone kept putting their opinions into the argument; Lori agreed with Rick, Andrea said that it couldn't be overlooked, Angela saw truth in everyone's arguments, but knew that Rick's was the morally right one. This was Hershel's land, his barn, only he can deal with this or give the group the okay to.

"We've been talking about Fort Bennington for a long time." Shane started but Rick interrupted.

"We can't go!"

"Why Rick, why?" Shane questioned. Angela just watched him from her spot beside Carol and Andrea, she knew that the group was happy here, that most weren't giving up the search that was going on.

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol spoke up and Shane let out an agitated sigh.

"Look Carol, there's probably a good chance that she's already dead. I think we need to go ahead and start accepting that possibility."

"We're close to findin' this little girl!" Daryl started walking around as he spoke. "I jus' found her damn doll a few days ago."

"That's it Daryl you found a doll, nothing more." Shane said and that set Daryl off.

"Man you don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!"

"I'm just saying what needs to be said, and let me just say something else. If she saw you out there all methed out with a necklace of geek ears she'd run!"

Daryl was pissed now, he rushed forward trying to punch Shane, who was also trying to hit Daryl, but Rick and many others were shouting at them and pushing them apart. Finally they stopped their attacks, but both men were still furious. Angela who had been quiet this entire time finally spoke up.

"We can't give up on Sophia, Shane! Daryl found the her doll which is the first solid evidence we've had." When Shane's eyes fell on her, she wished she hadn't of spoken.

"What do you know, huh?" He began, walking towards her. His eyes flashing angrily; Angela stood her ground. "What would you know about evidence, leads, or anything? What would you know about Sophia?" He asked standing mere inches from Angela, who could do nothing more than stare at him.

"She's important to this group, to Carol, and my sister."Angela managed to say softly.

"That's all you know isn't it. Angela I told you the first day, it was dumb of you to put your life on the line for a girl you don't even know. You don't even know what she looks like. You're just a dumb girl, who wanted to be accepted into the group." Shane said turning to walk away, but Angela shoved him causing him to stumble.

"You don't know me Shane, hell you probably would have let me die that night you shot me if it wasn't for Layla! You don't know, what I've been through since the world's gone to shit, so don't talk all high and mighty when you don't know a damn thing!" Angela yelled. She saw Shane come towards her again, knowing he was probably ready to kill her.

"You stupid little-" He began mumbling through clenched teeth as he shoved her back. He would have done more, but Daryl shoved him away.

"Ya leave 'er alone!"

"Figures you'd come to her rescue." Angela grabbed Daryl's wrist before he could go after Shane again, he glanced at her before ripping his arm away and began pacing again.

"If we want to stay and clean out the barn, I've got to talk to Hershel. This is his land." Rick stated as the commotion began to die down.

"He sees those things as people, his wife and stepson." Dale revealed.

"You knew?"

"I found out yesterday, and talked to Hershel."

"And you didn't tell anyone?!" Shane hollered.

"I thought we could last one more night and we did. I was going to tell everyone, but Glenn wanted to be the one to do it."

"Still I'll talk to Hershel and try to figure something out. We just have to stay calm." Rick said walking off towards the house ending the argument.

Everyone went their separate ways after that. Angela saw Lori lead Layla and Carl back to camp with Samantha following close behind and decided that she'd take a walk around the land to escape the group for a little while.

Her mind was going over everything that happened since the outbreak. The panic at her college, her parents dying, Layla disappearing, Jamie, then went to what happened at the barn and all the commotion. A few tears fell down her face but not many, she was tired of crying and she knew it wouldn't bring her family back or protect Layla.

Angela was brought out of her thoughts when she heard something fall and yelling, she noticed she was by the stables. She saw Daryl leave the stables in a hurry, holding his side, and knew he had probably tried to go find Sophia again and somebody stopped him, he was on stubborn son of a bitch that's much was sure, but Angela wondered who was the one to tell him differently.

Her question was short lived when Carol came out of the stables. Angela slid closer to the barn, hoping not to be noticed as Carol went back to camp. When the short haired woman didn't even glance in Angela's direction she stepped away from the wall and began walking in the direction Daryl stormed off in.

She walked around the farm trying not to seem like she was following him, allowing him to leave her sight. Thankfully she recalled her father teaching her a little about tracking when they were on a hunting trip when she was younger and saw from Daryl's trail that he walked into the woods. Continuing to follow his footsteps, she came to an opening in the trees that held a small lake with a dock leading over the water a short ways. At the end of the dock sat the man she was looking for.

"Hey." She called softly as she carefully walked across the dock towards him. He turned around to look at who called out to him before looking back out over the water.

"What d'ya want?" He asked anger still coursing through him, but not as much as it had been at the barn.

"You alright." She asked a few steps behind him.

"Fine, get back ta the house." Silence stretched between them as Angela looked at him, and glancing around the clearing. She took a breath before reaching down to quietly slip off the boots she wore and join him at the edge of the dock.

"Thought I told ya-"

"I know what you told me, but you're not in charge of me Daryl. I'm a big girl who can make decisions for herself, no matter how young you think I am."

"Yer twenty five, ya ain't no kid." Daryl said not completely sure of how he should respond to her statement.

"Then don't order me around like one, when my decision is to sit here with you and make sure you're alright."

"Told ya I was fine." Daryl stated.

"Sure ya are." Angela said then let her curiosity get the best of her. "What happened today at the stables between you and Carol?"

"The hell do you know 'bout that?" Daryl questioned.

"I just heard something fall, and yelling. Then I saw you leave holding your side and a few moments later Carol walked out looking upset. I swear I want wasn't eavesdropping, I had gone for a walk and had no idea there was anyone in there." Angela rambled, and Daryl made a noise that she wasn't sure was a supposed to be a laugh or scoff.

"There ya go worryin' 'gain." Daryl said looking down at the water. "Was tryin' to go searchin' 'gain, but Carol, she didn' want me to."

"Why wouldn't she? This is her daughter you're looking for."

"Said I'd get hurt, that we didn' know if we'd find 'er."

"She's losing hope." Angela said sadly.

"Guess so, she also said somethin' like she couldn' lose me too." Daryl recalled with a strange tone to his voice. Angela could tell he wasn't used to people caring about him.

"I can see where she's coming from I guess." Daryl gave her a strange look causing Angela to laugh lightly. "I just mean, you're important to the group. You helped protect them, feed them from what I understand hearing Glenn saying he's thankful for not having to eat squirrels."

"Damn chinaman doesn't know how ta be thankful for what food he gets." Daryl mumbled.

"He's Korean for one, and just cause he doesn't like eating the squirrels doesn't mean he wasn't thankful for food." Angela chucked. "Anyways, as I was saying, you've also been out there every damn day searching for Sophia. That means a lot to Carol and everyone else. So that's why she doesn't want to lose you, you're someone important to her. To me as well, I don't want to lose you either." Angela spoke quietly at the end, refusing to look anywhere but at Daryl's face.

"Why, why do I mean so much ta ya?" Daryl asked confused.

"You're the only one I feel has really accepted the fact that Im apart of the group now and wanting to help out. I don't know how to explain it Daryl. I just feel... Safe around you. I don't know." They fell into silence again, neither one knowing what to say next.

Angela looked down at their feet, hating the awkward silence that pursued. Daryl's feet were fully submerged in the water while hers just barely went under the surface.

"Hey Daryl," she began, desperately wanting to break the silence. "Do you think I'm too short?" Her sudden question caused him to bite back a laugh, Angela smiled. "Sorry that was random."

"S'fine, why ya askin'?" He said looking down at the water where their feet were.

"Couldn't stand the quiet, needed to get you to say something to me." Angela confessed.

"Ya are pretty short." Daryl shrugged.

"I know I hate my height, alway have. I wanted to be taller, not extremely tall but taller than 5'3."

"Wouldn't let it bother ya. Ya worry to much as it is." Daryl stated and Angela looked up into his blue eyes.

"Guess I do, can't help it though." Angela said breaking her eye contact to look around the clearing again. She noticed a bush a little ways from the dock behind them and with the bush was a very familiar white flower. "Daryl that plant over there." Angela pointed. "Is that the flower you brought Carol a while ago?"

"Looks like it." Daryl answered.

Angela stood from her spot, grabbed her boots, and wandered over to the plant. She delicately touched the white petals, not sure of what this type if flower was. She stood there for a second admiring it before looking to Daryl who stood beside her.

"Do you know what type of flower it is?"

"Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians on the Trail of Tears, the mothers were cryin' and grievin' about losing the little ones along the way. So the elders said a prayer askin' for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength, hope. And the next day, this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell."

"That's a good story." Angela stated softly, she had been staring at the flower as he spoke and finally looked up at Daryl. "Did you tell Carol that when you gave her that flower?" Daryl nodded.

"Yeah." Angela smiled softly at him before looking back at the flowers.

"You should show Carol this. Maybe it will give her hope again, that Sophia's okay."

"Ya really think I should?" Daryl asked suddenly sounding a bit nervous. Angela turned to him, taking a step closer and reaching up to kiss his cheek.

"Yeah I think you should."

Angela and Daryl walked back to camp together after that. Upon seeing Carol, Daryl faltered in his steps wondering if he really should take her out to see the flowers. Angela noticed his behavior right away.

"Hey Carol can you come here a minute?" Angela called out. She glanced at Daryl seeing his uncertainness about the situation. "Just show her the flowers and come back to camp, that's all you've gotta do." She whispered to him.

"Is something up?" Carol said eyeing the two carefully.

"Daryl just has something to show you, that's all." Angela said with a sweet smile, before walking off and towards Layla. She truly hoped everything would be okay.
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Angela was sitting on the porch with Layla, Samantha, and Beth watching Carl play checkers with Patricia. Maggie and Glenn sat on the steps talking until T-Dog and Andrea came up and the commotion began.

No one knew where Rick was; he disappeared with Hershel when he was supposed to go on the search for Sophia with Andrea. Not too far into the discussion, Carol and Daryl joined in. Daryl was pissed at the poor determination for the search.

"Isn't anybody taking this serious?! We've got us a damn trail ta follow!" He exclaimed as he threw his arms around angrily. His eyes landed on Shane walking towards the group. "Here we go." Shane had a shotgun in hand, giving it to Daryl and passing out the rest of the guns.

"Can you shoot?" He asked when he came to Maggie.

"Can you stop. If you pass out these guns my dad will make you leave." She threatened.

"Shane you can't do this." Angela said leaving the porch, he shoved her gun in her hand.

"This is how it has to be if you wanna protect Layla." He said to her before speaking to the rest. "If we wanna live we've got to take matters into our own hands and protect ourselves, the ones we care about." He walked past Angela and to Carl giving him a gun as well until Lori stepped in. Their argument didn't last long once T-Dog diverted everyone's attention.

Rick was walking out of the woods with Jimmy and Hershel, accompanied by two walkers. Everyone ran to the three men, trying to grasp what was going on, why everything seemed to be falling apart as chaos began taking over. Shane began arguing with Hershel at first then Rick stepped in.

"Shane just back off, then we can talk."

"What's there to talk about, you're holding things that are trying to kill us! They're not sick they're gone and I ain't gonna feel nothing for them, because all they do is kill!" Shane shouted. "They killed Amy! They killed Otis! That's all they do!" Shane pulled out his gun pointing it at the walker Hershel held, that was once a woman.

"Hershel, does a living breathing person just walk away from this?" Three rounds were shot into the walkers chest. Shane kept talking as he shot another couple of bullets into the thing's lungs. Then another into its heart. "It's not alive, it's dead and it's gonna kill us."

"Shane enough!" Rick shouted.

"Yeah that's right man, that is enough." Shane killed the walker and ran to the barn. He was constantly shouting about the situations at hand and the walkers, antagonizing the ones inside the barn as he broke the chain and removed the board blocking it.

Angela pushed Layla back towards Lori and Carl as she joined the line that began forming as walkers filed out of the barn. She aimed her gun quickly but carefully and shot as many freaks as she could. She felt sorry for killing these, only because Hershel's thoughts on the outbreak, but she had to protect Layla and the group so she shot off every bullet she could.

Soon the walkers stopped their assault and everyone lowered their weapons. Angela looked around at the bodies; everyone of them meant something to the Greene family and they just killed them. Angela heard the footsteps coming up behind her and turned slightly to see Layla and Samantha stop a few steps away from her.

Everything was calm for a moment until Samantha stepped forward protectively, watching the barn as a deep growl escaped her. Angela's focus snapped back to the barn as a shoe appeared in the door. What used to be a young girl stepped out; her clothes worn and torn, a bite mark from one of the walkers apparent on her neck, and her eyes were lifeless. Angela had never seen this girl before, but when no guns were raised and Carol's cries were heard, she knew exactly who this child was. Sophia.

Out of the corner of her eye, Angela saw Daryl stop Carol from rushing to the living corpse that was once her daughter. She hated this day, all hope for this eleven year old girl was gone, shattered by Shane's outburst. The search was over and everyone's worst fears were confirmed.

"Sophia." Layla's broken voice spoke out as she walked forward.

Angela dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her baby sister as Rick walked up to the decaying body of Sophia. He waited for a moment with the gun aimed at her and Angela could only imagine what ran through his mind before the shot rang out.

Layla burst into tears and Angela went to bring her closer, but she pushed away and glared at her, tears streaming down her face.

"You told me we'd find her, you and Daryl both and I believed the two of you!"

"Layla, sweetie I'm so sorry. I really thought we would." Angela said pathetically, she knew that no words would comfort her sister.

"First mommy and daddy, then Jamie, now Sophia. You couldn't save any of them! How are you gunna be able to protect me!?" Layla cried "Its hopeless isn't it?" She took off towards the house then and in that moment with tears falling down Angela's face she realized how heartbroken and grown her baby sister was.