A/N: this is a work of fanfiction, I only own Thea.
Wallflower
By Leah Pensotti
She had spent a lot of time looking out the window.
Even before the outbreak, her life wasn't what you would have called spectacular. Thea Graham had worked at a bookstore in Richmond and lived a quiet life. She liked dense, historical fiction novels and posting up on the couch with ice cream and wine while having lost weekends with BBC adaptations.
Somehow she had survived almost two years after most people had died and walked again. Aaron and Eric had found her barricaded in the bookstore. She wasn't a fighter, and they could see that.
When they brought her back to Alexandria, she was grateful. They put her in a house with a woman named Denise, who was a lot like her...except she refused to leave the house.
Thea liked talking to Reg Monroe, who was an architect and the husband of the defacto leader. Deanna spent most of her time trying to build some sort of society within the walls of the town. She also liked to give pep talks...a lot of them.
But Reg was gone now...so was his son, Aiden, and Deanna. After the herd had moved through the town...there were a lot more bodies to burn. More of their people to bury.
Thea remembered the first time she saw them through the window of her second floor bedroom, when Eric had come back injured and Aaron had brought a large group of near feral people to "audition" for the town. She didn't know who initially scared her more; the man who would become the town constable...or the one with the motorcycle.
They hadn't acknowledged her too much...the constable was caught up by the fair haired Jessie Anderson, and the other...well, he came and he went. He had taken Eric's place recruiting.
Thea believed them, though, when they said they needed to fight. They had seen a lot, she saw the echoes of it in their eyes. Haunted. She became friends with two of their group; Rosita and Eugene. Eugene loved books and learning...while Rosita was everything she wanted to be...tough and fierce.
Since the herd came through, and the people were attempting to clean up...she hasn't had time to sit at the window. She had been helping Denise at the clinic with Rosita, keeping watch over the injured...removing sutures, putting on fresh bandages...nothing too technical.
The constable, Rick, had been keeping vigil at his son's bedside for days...he had lost an eye the night the herd moved through. His devotion touched Thea, seeing him come in and out sometimes toting his baby girl.
One night, as Denise went home to sleep, Thea kept watch with a book and a pot of coffee. She felt bad for Rick, seeing as though he lost Jessie and her kids that terrible night, too.
She saw him slump beside the bed, exhausted. His son moved in and out of sleep, because of the meds and because of the trauma. Thea put her book down and poured a second cup of coffee. She didn't want to bother him, but wanted him to have some sort of comfort.
Thea touched his shoulder gently, "Hey...I brought you some coffee."
He looked up at her, his blue eyes dazed with exhaustion and then looked to the mug she held in her hand, "Thanks...I'm sorry, I don't remember your name..."
She almost laughed aloud...of course he didn't.
"Thea. I'm just in the other room if you need anything."
Rick took a sip of the coffee and nodded, "Thea. That's different."
"Short for Althea. I was named after my great aunt."
Thea felt ridiculous, he obviously didn't need to know any of that. But to her surprise, a hint of a smile pulled at his lips, "It's nice. My son chose the name Judith for his sister. Evidently it was the name of his favorite teacher."
Thea smiled a little, thinking it was funny that after all that had occurred in the world that small talk still existed. She nodded and attempted to sneak out of the room, "Well...I'll just be in the other room...if you need me, er, anything."
As she moved out of the room he called after her, "Thea?"
She turned on her heel, "Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Thea just nodded and made her way back to her book, ruminating on how her named sounded on his lips.
He felt bad that he hadn't remembered her name. She had been everywhere in town...at Deanna's party, at the town meeting when Reg had been killed, she helped to build the walls to lead the herd from the quarry...in his defense, he had a lot going on.
She had been working with Denise and Rosita at the clinic, taking turns keeping watch over Carl and whoever else needed help. Deanna in her final moments had implored him to treat and care for her people like he did his people.
It would probably help if he could remember everyone's names.
Thea seemed nice...reliable. She was a dishwater blond with grey eyes. He wasn't sure he had met anyone with grey eyes before...so that at least would help him commit her name to memory. Thea, the grey eyed.
He looked down at Carl, who was back to sleeping after trying to eat and then taking more meds.
He had failed his son mightily.
By coming to town, he'd killed the whole of the Anderson family. Pete, Sam...Jessie. Pale and beautiful Jessie. She had given him hope that life could exist outside survival.
He hadn't slept almost at all since that night. First Sam being taken, and Jessie being horrified by seeing her youngest son be torn apart, she had succumbed to the same fate.
Jessie's hand still gripped Carl's and if nothing was done, he would've lost his son, too. So with his small axe, he cut her hand off.
Before there was time to run, Carl was shot by teenaged Ron Anderson, who had watched Rick's presence tear through his family. Michonne ran Ron through with her sword, but it was too late. He managed to fire that shot.
Michonne blamed herself.
But if anyone had deserved the blame, it was himself.
Rick Grimes, the harbinger of death.
He sipped his coffee and thought about Thea in the next room and wondered what her story was...and what she did all day.
It made for a nice distraction.
Halfway through reading about the time Mary, Queen of Scots spent in the French court, the one with the motorcycle, Daryl, walked into the clinic. It was dawn, and her shift was almost over. She turned down the page she was reading (something she didn't like to do) and looked up. He didn't meet her eyes, but looked in her general direction.
"I thought Denise or Rosita might be 'ere."
Thea shook her head, "Rosita will be here in about an hour. Anything I can help with?"
Daryl shook his head, "Just stitches. I can wait."
Thea walked after him before he made it out the door, "If you need them taken out, I can do that. But you wouldn't want me to stitch you up."
She nearly face-palmed, evidently she was full of things that she didn't really need to say today. He looked at her briefly and shrugged, "Alright."
Thea pointed to a chair and he sat in it as she gathered her supplies; rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, surgical scissors and a pair of tweezers. Daryl pointed to the back of his left shoulder and she found the wound...it looked like he had been cut with a knife.
She cleaned it with the rubbing alcohol and then carefully picked up the first knot with the tweezers and then snipped. As she pulled out the stitch, he asked curiously, "Aaron and Eric. They found ya, right?"
Thea was a little shocked that he knew anything about her. She had laid low for so long, she thought she was the human equivalent of wall paper to most of these people.
She attempted to concentrate on the stitches, "Um, yeah. About a year ago...in the bookstore I worked in. I hid out there."
He nodded at her answer and she continued to snip and pull out snitches, "Ya don't sound like yer from around here."
Thea nodded, trying to to be distracted by the lean muscles in his shoulder and arm, "I lived in Richmond. Originally from Pittsburgh. I went to school at VCU and just kind of stayed...for ten years..."
She felt odd talking to the back of his head, he hadn't really looked at her anyway...he didn't know much about him aside from the motorcycle, the crossbow and his friendship with Rick. He seemed like kind of a loner...like she was.
He had noticed her one day while they were prepping to lead the herd from the quarry. She had been talking with Rosita and Eugene after one of Rosita's training sessions. He hadn't gotten to know that many folks in town, mostly because he didn't trust it.
It was a little different now. Everyone seemed to prove themselves the night that he, Sasha and Abraham came back and discovered the town had been overrun.
When he first started recruiting, Aaron had told him about the people he had brought back. Thea was one of the first. Aaron and Eric had watched her for a few days, surviving solely not to be noticed by the dead. Not fighting, not hiding...but avoiding. Aaron thought that Deanna might put her on the supply runs, insisting that she was wily and clever...but instead she put her with Reg teaching the kids and making plans for the town.
Now Reg was gone and most of the kids were gone.
And like himself, she didn't seem very talkative.
"How's Carl?"
He felt the tips of her fingers graze his skin lightly while she took out his stitches and she answered quietly, "His Dad's been in there all night. Took him some coffee earlier. He looked tired. Carl's been asleep, mostly. Denise has him on some heavy meds."
They had all been through the shit as of late, but none as much as Rick. He'd seen hide nor hair of his friend for days. They had all decided to give Rick a bit of a breather until Carl was up and about while they cleaned up the town and mended the walls.
"Alright. All done. Keep it clean and dry."
Daryl stood up and they looked at each other for a moment, a moment it seemed neither of them were expecting.
"Well, I appreciate ya helpin' me out."
He realized when he said it, it came out mumbled, but Thea just smiled and nodded, "Anytime."
When Daryl had left, Thea tried to keep busy until Rosita came to relieve her. She had been taken aback by the way he had looked at her; shaggy haired, sleepy eyes and a half smile. Like he was thinking about something that he found amusing.
She had put aside the scissors and tweezers to be sterilized, when she heard weeping coming from the next room. Thea thought about it and even though she was total shit at trying to help comfort people, she decided she would at least offer to sit with Carl if Rick wanted to go home and try to sleep.
She walked in and kneeled beside him, "Go home and sleep. He's stable. I'll come in here and sit. Rosita's shift is next, I can stay as long as you need me to. But you need sleep...he'd want you to be rested and healthy."
He looked at her, his bright blue eyes stinging with tears and he shook his head, "What if he wakes up?"
Thea shrugged, "Then I'll come and get you. I promise."
She wanted to tell him he was no good to anyone this way, if he was going to lead them now. But she thought the better of it.
Once again, she was a total failure at trying to comfort others.
Rick nodded and looked back down at Carl, "You sure? Haven't you been up all night?"
She couldn't help but smile, "Yeah. But you haven't slept in days. Go on."
Thea saw a ghost of a smile on his lips, "Thank you."
She watched as Rick headed out of the clinic and into the early morning sun. Thea made another pot of coffee and grabbed her book and took up residence at Carl's bedside until Rosita appeared for her shift.
A/N: hi all! I got challenged by a reader to make a OC/Rick/Daryl Fic. Since I've written one for both of those characters, I just came up with a whole new girl, lol. Let me know what you think!