Okay so here's chapter two, it's a wee bit fluffy but ya know...this stuff happens...
Please Review and thanks for the story followers and favs. You guys are really too cool.
Also sorry bout the grammar! This is most likely riddled with mistakes...English was never my strong point at school...
Chapter Two
Daryl Dixon looked up towards the lightening sky, he'd been out all night hunting and the butchered carcass of a doe was strapped across his shoulders, the bird chorus put the time around eight am and he was buggered and ready for bed.
He followed a trail he'd used many times before through some large rocks and up a steep rocky bank, he'd been tracking the Deer all day and didn't catch up with it well into the evening, by then it was too dark to head back and he slept out under the stars.
The redneck readjusted his prize and grit his teeth pushing through the last few miles, he'd been walking well before dawn and the doe was weighing heavily now.
Finally the trailer came into view and for once in his life he was thankful to see it. The truck was parked out front and the drivers door was open which didn't come as a surprise to Daryl, he walked towards a rickety shed and hooked the door open with his foot nearly losing his balance.
Inside was a large freezer and he managed to open the lid and drop the carcass inside, too tired to carve it up.
From there he made his way towards the house stripping off his blood stained shirt and left it draped over the small deck rail then kicked off his shoes. Inside the curtains were pulled and the pungent mix of smoke,alcohol and mould assaulted his senses, a smell he was all to familiar with.
Daryl picked a few empty cans off the table and floor and lined them up on the small kitchen counter then pulled the moth eaten curtains open flooding the small room with light, he'd long ago given up fighting with Merle to tidy his shit up.
He latched the front door open trying to let some air in and then made his way down the narrow hall past his brothers room (which you could tell was his by the strong aroma wafting from under the door.) Next to that was the small shoebox sized bathroom and he went straight in and relieved himself then splashed some water on his face and arms washing away the dried up deer blood that had caked itself to his skin.
Opposite the bathroom was a door with crayon drawing scribbled all over it and Daryl nudged it open and poked his head inside. It was a small room barely bigger then the bathroom with a single bed against the wall and a dresser and desk against the opposite with just enough room to walk in between. The walls were littered with pinned up drawings and paintings and every surface was covered with painted rocks and old broken looking toys.
"Rabbit?" Daryl noticed the bed empty and squinted into the dim room the curtain still pulled.
He backed up figuring she was in the next room over which happened to be his, he'd been trying to get her sleeping in her own bed she was eight years old and weren't no baby anymore but every now and then he'd come home late and find her holed up in his bed like she owned it.
'Rabbit ya best not be in 'ere" He pushed his door open but again came up empty.
"RABBIT!" He yelled down the hall and the snores from Merle's room halted for a second not that Daryl was worried bout waking his brother, the man slept like the dead.
"RABBIT WHERE YA AT?" Daryl looked round the small living room and kitchen then headed back outside.
"RAB-" Mid yell he noticed something move through the open truck door and he walked round to the passenger seat window to look through.
Curled up and half buried under a blanket was his sister sleeping form, her arm draped over her face trying to block the sun out but her cheeks were already coloured red.
"Fuck sake" The redneck muttered and pulled the door open.
"Wake up Rabbit" He pulled the blanket away and she sat up startled and blinked up at him dazed.
Daryl leaned into the cab it was stifling hot and he reached over and touched the back of his hand to her forehead and cheeks which were clammy and flushed and her hair was plastered to her forehead.
The eight year old began rubbing at her eyes her bottom lip jutting out and trembling and before Daryl had time to tell her to hush up she burst into tears.
"Quit it Rabbit ya bout ta give me a dam headache" He quickly scooped her up with one arm and carried her inside and sat her on the kitchen counter.
"Here" He filled up a glass with water and held it out, after a few more sobs Madeline downed the entire glass in loud gulps and her sobs ceased into hiccuping breaths.
"Ya bout done th'n?" Daryl grabbed a paper towel and wiped her face clean, her head bobbed up and down and she sniffed looking like her brother felt, exhausted.
"Ya lucky Merle sleeps like the dead" he moved round the tiny kitchen opening a few cupboards and grabbing a jar of peanut butter out and the last piece of bread in the house. "He wakes up ya dam well know bout it" Daryl scrapped out the last of the jar, figuring the empty crisps packet in the truck was her dinner last night. The girl was already thin just like he was at her age, little twig arms and chicken legs, blow away in a gust of wind.
He watched her nibble at the sandwich her skin had a healthy sun kissed look apart from her face which was still flushed red from roasting in the truck. She had the same piercing blue eyes as him though hers were as round as saucers and framed with long dark lashes. There was a splash of freckles over her nose which Daryl also had when he was her age but they disappeared when he got older and she had long honey brown hair that came just below her shoulder.
Maddie was technically only his half sister, his daddy had gone and got a waitress in the family way, some dumb young thing just outta school. Nine months later Madeline Rose Dixon was born and a few weeks later so was her mothers drug addiction. It was a whole two years before the social services cottoned on and Maddie was taken away, she was put into care until the age of four before Daryl managed to get her. Even though he barely knew her she was a Dixon and Dixon's look after their own even Merle agreed on the adoption (though never out loud).
Soon after Maddies sixth birthday their Pa was arrested one night at a bar and died later on in the cell from Alcohol poisoning, ain't no one was sad bout that. William Dixon was a mean son of a bitch and the day of his wake Merle cleaned his daddies room out burnt all his things and moved back home.
Madeline held out the last bite of sandwich and Daryl couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corner of his lips, she had a kind heart and it was hard to believe she was a Dixon at times.
He demolished it in milliseconds and lifted her off the counter, his older brother had always criticized the way he'd mollycoddled their sister but in reality Daryl had to be the one who protected her from their Daddy, seeing as Merle was never round. In saying that the redneck had never shied away from a good ass whoppin' when she needed it but it was nothing nearly as violent as the beatings he used to get at her age from their Pa, his back was still littered with the scars that told the story and he swore to himself he'd never let William near his baby sister, he'd most likely beat her half to death if he got the chance.
So there had always been that special bond he had with the little girl, he was more of a parent figure then a brother and that was the way it had to be, when Merle moved back it threw a whole new spanner in the mix, one more mouth for Daryl to feed. The oldest Dixon brother secretly liked his kid sister, she was obedient and always did what he said kinda like having his own little servant but his tolerance for yapping kids was low and he found himself yelling at her more then anything else.
Madeline much to Daryl's confusion had taken to her oldest brother instantly and followed him round constantly like a lost puppy for the first few weeks before she learned not too. And although Merle was kinda rough sometimes and picked on her and always ordered her about she never quit admiring him.
"Go git som' sleep th'n" Daryl nudged his sister in the direction of her room he was nearly falling to sleep himself.
She took a step but turned back round
"Wha' you gon' do?"
"Join tha fuck'n circus" Daryl snapped and herded her down the hallway depositing her into her room and closing the door.
The second he'd disappeared into the bathroom. Maddie reappeared in the doorway leaning against the frame patiently fidgeting with the hem of her favourite dress, a blue and white patterned number that came just above her knees with spaghetti straps and a decorative matching bow right in the middle.
The patience however only lasted a few minutes before she crept over to the foot of the bathroom door which was not completely closed and she could hear the shower going.
"Can I sleep in with you?" Madieline called between the gap but there was no reply and she nudged the door open and slipped into the steam filled room.
"Can I sleep in with you Daryl?!" She asked again a little louder.
There was movement behind behind the shower curtain and muffled swearing before Daryl's head appeared.
"Git the hell outta here Rabbit!" He growled making sure the thin material was shielding his body from to curious eyes.
"Ya didn't answer ma question tho" she crossed her arms stubbornly a common Dixon trait completely oblivious to her brothers growing discomfort.
The redneck glared at her if he weren't butt naked she'd be on her way to a good whooping.
"No ya cant bloody sleep in ma bed! Ya aint no baby anymore Maddie so quite acting like one!" He disappeared behind the curtain "now git the hell out 'fore I tan your hind!" the eight year old rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out then stomped off to her room slamming the door closed and threw herself onto her bed.
She stared daggers up at the ceiling where a few glow in the dark stars were wishing they were her brothers face, Daryl could be so unfair sometimes.
