Title: If You Do Wrong
Summary: Daryl asks Rick to make a decision.
Notes: Just a little idea I had last night. It kinda ran a little longer than I thought but I tried not to let them boys get too talky. Hope you like it.
Rick stopped a few steps away from Daryl.
Stopped short of where the hunter sat leaning his back against one of the watchtowers.
Rick gave him room. Wasn't quite sure when the other man's reaction would happen. What he'd do when it hit him, the finality of it.
Things were desperate all round. The few healthy people left were being pushed with everything they have to try and stop the sick people dying. They were all trying.
"What are you thinking?" Rick asked, noting the far off look on Daryl's face. He didn't look angry. Didn't look anything really. His face was a blank canvas. Rick wasn't sure if it was because he was hiding his feelings so well, or he'd shut them down totally. Had Rick pushed him that far with sending Carol away?
Daryl's eye swept upwards to Rick's own and he had to fight to keep the hunter's gaze, to not turn away from those piercing blue eyes boring into him. It wasn't a menacing scowl, he'd seen those and this wasn't it. But there was still an intensity to the stare that Rick would rather not have been on the receiving end of.
"Thinking about when we first met," Daryl said, surprising Rick with the odd train of thought at such a time. "Thinking about throwing squirrels at ya and trying to stab ya." Rick little out a small exhale of breath, almost a laugh but not quite. "Thinking 'bout how you told me you handcuffed my brother to a roof and then left him behind." Rick's throat seemed to dry out immediately with the reminder.
"And that when I said I was gonna go back and get him, you were the first one to stepping up to come with me." Daryl stood up, so they were eye level now. "You made a bad decision, and you had to make it right. And I didn't blame you for it, because of that. Even though it meant I lost my brother for months, cost him his hand." Daryl took a breath, looked away for a moment, anger rising in him despite his attempts to control it. "Meant he ended up with The Governor... cost him his life. I forgave you for all of that, because even though you fucked up, it was jus' 'cause you made a mistake. I ain't ever expected you to make perfect decisions, but if you do wrong, I expect you to make it right."
"Daryl..."
"I'm gonna some stuff together. And then you're gonna take me out to where you two went. And we find her and bring her back here, and we deal with it then. And if you can't do that, then you need to tell me now. 'cause I don't know how things are gonna go between us if you don't try and make this right, Rick."
"Is that a threat?"
Daryl shook his head. "Jus' how it's gotta be. So what's it gonna be? You coming with me?"
"What if I say no? You still gonna go?"
Daryl nodded. "Have to."
Rick hesitated. "You know, she drove off before I left, she could be anywhere..."
Daryl just nodded again. "I know. Still gotta try.
"What she did..."
"It's done. Nothing's gonna change it. Sending her away don't change it."
"If we find her and bring her back, I can't promise you her safety."
"Don't promise me anything."
Rick nodded, jaw clenched tight. "Fine. We'll go."
Daryl nodded back, started to walk away to get his things. He stopped and turned back to Rick. "If she did the same thing to you, left you out there alone, I'd go back for you too. You know that, right?"
Rick let the words sink in before he nodded. Daryl had been one of the only people who'd constantly stuck by him, no matter what choices he made. And if he said no to this request, he knew, like Daryl said, he too didn't know how this would leave them. He wasn't sure if he could risk that, risk Daryl. All he did for the group, the runs he went on, the risks he took. if Daryl wasn't there to do it, Rick would have to look to the others. Glenn wasn't so keen to go on runs, not with having Maggie back at the prison. he helped out when needed but there was a reluctance too it. He'd never go as willingly and as often as Daryl.
And then there was the hunting he did for them. But he knew one thing for certain. If they found Carol and bought her back, it wouldn't be the end of it. It couldn't be swept under the carpet.
And Rick wondered if Daryl just might get Carol killed trying to save her.