Title: The Trail
Summary: Michonne goes with Daryl to look for Carol.
Notes: Just a tiny one shot.
Michonne watched him.
Ever since she first came out with him as he searched for Carol they did it the same way. Him up, her down. Every time she'd wait at the bottom of the stairs as he'd come back down to her.
She'd wait for him to hit the bottom step and she'd try and catch his eye, his head down, eyes averting hers and he'd just shake his head a little. No sign.
And he'd always be so sure when they found a place.
He'd always pick a house where there were fresh tracks outside, or maybe a hand print on a otherwise dusty window. And she'd see that little glimmer of hope inside him. That this would be the one, that this time he'd find her. He'd be able to take her back. And she didn't know how that would go. Because as far as she knew, Carol wasn't going to be welcomed back at the prison. he wasn't worried about that. She remembered how he'd come back with Merle and somehow, Rick had allowed that. He had a soft spot when it came to him, it seemed. But Daryl had to find her first.
And that was proving to be tougher than he'd expected.
This was day six now. They'd followed some fresh tyre tracks to these houses. Already tried four of them with no trace. And Daryl picked the most likely ones first. He was losing hope of finding her here and she, well she was just losing hope they'd find her at all. He moved on to the next one reached for the door and started to open it. "Hey," she said as she reached for the handle, hand reaching past his to grip the handle and not his hand. He looked at her intently, at what she was intending to do and she knew the look, that challenging one because she was about to do something he wouldn't like. "You really think she's in there?" she said. Gentle. Because she didn't want to hurt him, didn't want to make it sound like an accusation in any way.
His eyes narrowed a little. Brow creased. "Maybe. She's out there. Jus' gotta find her and bring her back," he said, adamantly refusing to give up. And he went to push passed her, to head in anyway.
But she wouldn't move. Couldn't let him go in side and come out just a little more hopeless, a little more broken. And she hated to see him like that.
It was taken his fight away a little bit more each time. He wanted to save her. So badly. And he couldn't. Couldn't begin to track her down. And he wasn't to blame, not in any way. How could he find her? Unless she wanted to be found, she could hide out there forever. And maybe they'd just gone in the wrong direction. Maybe they picked the wrong road to turn down, maybe they were so damn close to her but they were looking the wrong side of the road. She could be anywhere.
And she knew. Knew he couldn't give up on her. It wasn't in his nature. She slipped her hand back away from the handle, pulled his hand with it, made him let go.
"The trails gone cold," she told him. Watched as he looked at her a moment before he looked down. It was a grief that washed over him. He'd lost her. In a way that was so complete she may as well have been found dead in one of those rooms. But now wasn't the time to mourn, they still had to get back.
He nodded a little. Headed back.