So here it is, that sequel I promised how many months ago? Anyway finally I have something to post. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as Damaged People, and if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you head over there first because this won't make any kind of sense to you. Also, planning on making a few changes along the way...suggestions are always welcome just drop a review or PM me!
Disclaimer: Still own nothing but Stefani...
I've always said it's interesting to watch devils cry when angels want to stab you in the back. I like that mixture. –NR
"I'm hungry." Sophia sighed as she leaned against the back door of the truck. Stefani bit down on her cheek hard in order to stop her gut reaction from slipping passed her lips.
"We'll be stopping in a few hours, try not to think about it." Carl said from beside her.
Stefani glanced beside her, watching the hard line of Daryl's jaw. She thought it wouldn't be a big deal, normally the kids weren't that bad to have around, but their new situation made everyone a little more difficult to be around. She let her hand slip over his, her fingers squeezing in order to lighten some of the tension in his body. He was probably blaming her for the two children riding with them, but he hadn't said a word since they got on the road that morning.
"Stefani, do you remember that time we took a road trip to Disney World?" Carl asked as she leaned closer to the front, his chin resting on the top of her seat.
"Yeah, I never made it." She smiled.
"You got on a plane back home before we even made it to Orlando." She smiled back at him, thankful that he hadn't gone any further with the story. She remembered that she'd gotten into it with Lori, even Shane getting upset about the argument. To this day she couldn't recall exactly what had happened, but Shane and Rick didn't speak for a week after that. To Carl it was a fun family vacation, but it was a lot more than that.
"We never went to Disney World." Sophia spoke up and that launched Carl into a long winded explanation of every ride he'd been on.
It was just the distraction they'd needed. With the pair in the back seat finally focused on anything other than their empty stomachs, it was easier to imagine that they were just traveling. The back roads of Georgia seemed to have been spared the gruesome carnage that littered city streets. Stefani only wished that the images could be erased from her mind as well.
Close to dark, the caravan pulled off the main road and started down a dirt path. How Rick knew where he was going, Stefani couldn't begin to imagine. The group had been blindly following their leader for five months.
"I don't like this," Stefani sighed as she eyed their surrounding of overgrown brush that was creeping closer and closer to an old farm house.
"Ain't so bad." Daryl glanced at her for the first time since they'd hit the road. She couldn't help the smile that broke across her lips.
"Course you'd say that," she laughed as she playful swatted his arm away from her. "This is like you're ideal home sweet home. If it was up to you, we'd be strapping ourselves in trees every night."
"Hey, don't knock it til you try it, sweetheart."
The couple was still laughing as they slid out of the car and moved towards the front of the group. Stefani made sure Sophia and Carl were in front of her before she moved closer to Daryl and slipped her arm around his waist, under his vest. Her eyes recklessly fell on Lori leaning against the side of the large SUV, before focusing on how Rick wanted to sweep the area. Daryl leaned down and kissed her quickly before pulling away to follow Rick into the surrounding woods and Stefani moved to T-Dog.
That night, much to Stefani's annoyance, they were actually able to eat well for the first time in too many weeks. The little Daryl was able to teach Rick in hunting had helped the men bring back plenty of meat after their initial sweep of the perimeter. She hated the smug expression on Daryl's face when he came back with the heavy weight of the animals slung over his arm.
"This place is practically untouched." Beth said as she helped the rest of the woman pull together a decent dinner.
"It's a miracle." Lori smiled as she worked open a can of beans.
"We should stay here for a while." There was a collective sigh at the thought of staying in one place for more than a night.
Stefani knew that none of the woman in the room had any pull in that decision. Lori was too afraid of upsetting her husband to mention it to Rick, the Greene girls were too afraid period, and all Stefani could do was bring it up to Daryl and hope he mentioned it to Rick. With a frustrated shake of her head, Stefani walked out the back door to put more meat on the fire.
"You did good." She smiled as she walked passed Daryl skinning the last rabbit he'd caught. "Do you think you could find more around here?"
"Looks like this place was abandoned long before all this shit went down. This is the best place I've seen for hunting in a long time." He told her, throwing the guts into a bucket beside him. "Do you really think he'd listen to me?" He finally said, glancing up at her.
"Worth a shot, you're the only one he seems to trust right now."
"We found a shed out back that had some guns and ammo in it." He said as he moved towards her. "I suggested we spend a few days here, maybe try to teach the kids a little more. He's thinking about it."
"Wow, you are good." She turned to smile at him. A soft yelp escaped her lips as he wrapped his arms around her and brushed his lips against her neck. "Really, really fantastically magnificent." She said slightly breathless as she relaxed against him.
"Get someone else out here to take care of this." His deep voice vibrated against her body.
"Maggie, I'm gonna help Daryl bury the guts. Watch the fire." Stefani called out. She was already being led into the foliage by the time the brunette walked out the back door.
She followed Daryl deep into the woods, trying to be mindful off the tangled roots at her feet. The last thing she needed was to fall on her face and draw attention to where they were. He kept her hand held tightly in his until he found a suitable enough place to bury the animal remains. She moved to lean against a tree as she watched him dig a hole to bury everything in.
Her limbs were practically vibrating as she waited for him to finish. It had been too long since she'd felt this way around him. He probably wasn't taking that long to dispose of the bucket, but Stefani was growing impatient. Hands trembling, she reached up and pulled her top over her head before leaning forward the stretch out her back. Her eyes would occasionally fall on Daryl, wondering if she was getting the desired reaction out of him. Again she reached her hands up to the sky and leaned back, enjoying the slight pops that came from her joints.
"That ain't gonna make me move any faster." He finally said.
"We don't got all day, babe." She sighed dramatically.
Dropping the entire bucket into the hole, he kicked the pile of dirt on top of it before taking the three strides to close the gap between them. His hands instantly gripped her waist as he hoisted her up, pressing her flush against him. Stefani sighed as his lips moved over hers. Her legs tightened around his waist as she drew him closer, her tongue twisting against his. Daryl took one hand off of her, moving between them and fumbling with the button on her jeans.
Stefani pulled away, a wicked smile on her lips as she moved out of his arms and slid down his body. She quickly popped the button on her pants and shimmied out of them before moving her fingers to his pants. She worked the belt loose, before popping the button and zipper. Her hand grazed his growing arousal, eliciting a hiss from his mouth before his lips captured hers again. Frantically, she worked his pants down with his boxers before he lifted her up and backed her against the nearest tree. The feel of the bark biting into her skin barely registered to Stefani as Daryl entered her. Her arms around his shoulders, her nails dug into his skin as her body bucked against his.
Daryl watched as she pulled her jeans back up her legs. There was something going through her head, but he couldn't place it. It wasn't until she looked back up at him, that he felt a frigid chill run through his body.
"We can't do that again." She said softly as she started to walk passed him. Daryl felt his blood go from icy to molten in seconds.
"Fuck that," he said moving after her. "I'm ain't gonna listen to this shit again, Stefani. You can't keep changing your damn mind."
She stopped abruptly, turning to face him with her hands up to surrender. "Whoa, cowboy." She chuckled lightly, which did nothing to quell his anger. Taking a small step forward, she took his face between her hands. "Baby, I meant we can't have sex without protection again."
"Don't fucking scare me like that." He said, leaning in and taking her swollen lips again.
"I love you, but I'm not ready to go through that again." She said as she rested her forehead against his.
"Not yet?" He asked just above a whisper. A smile broke across her face. "I mean, if we find someplace safe we could talk about it."
"We're talking now." Her hands slipped around his neck as she smiled up at him. "Daryl Dixon, are you telling me you wanna have a baby with me?"
"I wanna give you the life you deserve." He watched her closely as his hands slipped around her neck. "You're a great mom to Sophia, and you should be able to have a kid of your own."
"Sometimes, I wish I'd met you before all this. Things would've been a lot easier." She laughed as he pulled her tight against him and placed a kiss against her hair.
Rick couldn't stop his eyes from finding her as she broke through the tree line. He'd heard her laugh too many times to count, and the smile on her face made her look years younger. She walked tucked into Daryl's side, her arm keeping him close. For a moment he let himself remember what that felt like. Her chocolate eyes staring up at him, shining from the tears the laughter brought to them, Rick wondered if he'd ever see her like that again.
As the couple made their way up the back porch steps Stefani's gaze flicked in his direction for a brief moment. It almost felt like a knife to his gut the way her eyes narrowed as she watched him before turning back to the man next to her. Rick had grown to appreciate Daryl, respect all that he did for the group. He knew that he was wrong when he said they didn't belong together. If anything, he owed Daryl a lot for bringing out the old Stefani.
Back in the house, the group spread out around the ground floor with plates balanced in their hands and laps. Everyone seemed happy for the first time in the months they'd been on the road. Stefani kept herself close to Daryl, making sure that she could feel his warmth radiating towards her. She could feel Rick's gaze on her from across the room.
She didn't feel herself relax until she knew he was outside on watch and she was upstairs with Daryl's arm draped over her waist as he held her against his chest. The bite from the cold gave her goose-bumps, and she nestled closer to him as she fought for sleep to take her over. Her hand reached up to her necklace, as the other stayed encased in Daryl's. As much as she wanted to sleep, she knew it wouldn't take her that night.
"Stefani!" Shane's voice echoed through her small apartment. She came rushing out of her bedroom when she heard him burst through the door.
"Please, Shane come on in."
"Pack a bag, quick." He said as he moved passed her. Stefani glanced outside to see that most of her neighbors were already packing their vehicles.
"The news said it wasn't that bad." She cried as she followed after him, taking the clothes he was shoving into her large duffle bag out of his hands and doing it herself. "What are we doing?"
"Lori and Carl are waiting in the car. We're heading to Atlanta, there's supposed to be a refugee camp there." Shane yelled as he started packing food from her kitchen.
"What about Rick?" Stefani said, her eyes searching his as she waited to hear what his plan was for their friend. "Is the hospital moving the patients out?"
"I went there first." He told her as his motions slowed down. "He didn't make it."
That was all he said on the matter before he was taking her bags out to the car. Stefani walked mindlessly through her apartment, grabbing the gun her father gave her years ago before moving out of the apartment. Not bothering with the door she stepped out and instantly caught sight of Lori sitting in the back of Shane's car with Carl wrapped in her arms.
"I should follow you in my car." She spoke up as she reached Shane's side.
"You ain't riding alone." He said as he waited for her to get in the car. He pulled out of the parking lot the second she closed the door. It took all of her energy not to break down into sobs like the boy in the back seat.
"The first night you're sleeping on a real mattress and you're wiggling like it's sandpaper." Daryl mumbled against her neck.
"How'd we get a bed?" She asked quietly, though she knew the closest people to them were two doors down where Lori and Carl were sleeping. "Maybe I should go check on Sophie."
"She's fine sleeping down there with Hershel's girls." He pulled her tight against him, preventing any further movement. "You need some sleep, Stef."
"Shh, you're keeping me awake." She sighed dramatically, before twisting her neck and kissing him on the lips.