**I hope you guys liked the last chapter! I know it was short, but I promise this one will be much longer! Thank you for reading!
LostJasmine: I'm so glad you like it and I'm going to try my best to keep updating quickly! I plan on sticking with the show, which is why I started it off before Sophia was killed, so I could have the less with drawn version of Daryl. I hope you like this chapter! Thank you for reviewing!
Rose had been quiet on their walk to the farm, Daryl walked beside her, carrying the bags she had decided to take until they could go get her SUV in the morning. Jamie had grown tired of walking, so Rose carried her on hip, the little girl asleep now. They had exchanged a few whispers as they walked mostly her telling him her name, and threatening to cut off his family jewels if she got them hurt.
"We're almost there," Daryl said glancing over at Rose as she saw the faint glow of a fire in the distance and she nodded, patting Jamie's back gently to soothe her when she let out a whimper, Daryl looking at the little girl. "Nightmares?" He asks and Rose nods pressing her lips to her daughter's hair, humming a soft melody that always got her back to sleep.
"She has 'em every night, she never sleeps well." She says sadly "Neither of us do." She glances over at Daryl as he makes a noise, and nods.
"I don't think any one does anymore." He says and moves to walk in front of her when some people start running towards them, and Rose shrinks away, and grips the shotgun in her hand, but keeps it to her side, not wanting to alarm the people that were supposed to help her.
"Daryl, who's this?" A man asked calmly, dressed in police uniform, a young boy stood beside him, a woman who must have been his mother held his hand, and she looked at Rose and Jamie, a look of sympathy in her eyes.
"This is Rose Waters," Daryl said firmly, looking over at a man that stood beside the police officer. He was well built, and had a shaved head, but the looks he were sending her way made her nervous, and she was growing anxious. "I found them out in the woods. They were close to town, close to the walkers." He says and glances back at Rose. "I thought it be alright if they stayed in camp with us…Rick the girl is only six." Daryl says and everyone's eyes turned to Rose.
"If you don't want us here I understand." She says softly, causing Jamie to stir in her arms. "Daryl said this place was safe…But we can go back." She says pressing her lips to Jamie's head when she called out to her, her hand going to her daughter's back.
There was a short pause as Rick looked at her, then at the woman beside him, her giving him a nod before he turned back to Rose. "That won't be necessary." He says and steps forward holding his hand out to her, "I'm Rick Grimes." He says with a smile and she took his hand, shaking it and returned his smile. "This is my wife Lori, and my boy Carl." He says gesturing towards his family and Rose nods towards them.
"Nice meeting you." She says softly, and shifts her weight to her other foot as Jamie nuzzled her face against her hair, yawning.
"This is Shane," Rick turned to look at the man who had been glaring at her, and he still didn't seem too happy with her being here but gave her a nod, "This is Andrea, Dale, Carol, T-Dog, and Glenn." Rose's eyes scanned the group of people as Rick announced them all, and they all greeted her warmly.
"We can get you and your girl inside; introduce you to Hershel and his family." Rick says and waves her forward, placing his hand on the small of her back, "He'll get some food into you and let you two get cleaned up." He says giving her another smile and Rose can't help but return it.
Rose was in the bathroom of Hershel's home, glad to have been able to bathe, needing the clean feeling, and not having her hair a tangled mess. She glanced over at the tub as Jamie splashed in it, giggling as she played with a rubber ducky that Maggie, Hershel's daughter had provided. Rose really couldn't believe it, she had never felt this safe since the outbreak and now here she was, sitting in the bathroom, clean, brushing her hair and watching as Jamie laughed for the first time in months. She had missed the sound of her daughter's laugh.
"Rose," She heard the sound of Lori's voice and she turned as the door creaked open slowly, Lori coming in with some clean clothes and Rose smiled. "I noticed that most of your clothes were dirty so I brought you these to sleep in, and an old shirt of Carl's for Jamie until we get yours washed." She says setting the folded clothes down on the sink.
"Thank you Lori," She says softly, "Jamie and I will be out in a minute, thank you again for letting us stay here." She says standing up and Lori shook her head.
"It's no problem, what kind of people would we be if we sent you and your baby out into that world?" She asks, not wanting to think about the things that could happen to the poor child out there.
Rose smiles a nods, thanking Lori anyways before she left then turned to Jamie. "Come on baby girl, time to get dressed." She says and walks over to the tub, letting the water out before picking Jamie up, and set her on the bathroom rug. She dried her off then slipped the shirt over her head that served as a night gown. "There, good as new." She says smiling down at her daughter before handing her the hair brush, "Why don't you brush your hair while mommy gets dressed." She says and Jamie nods, and goes to sit on the toilet.
Rose winces some as she pulls the towel from around her waist, leaving herself in only her under clothes she had put on after she had bathed earlier; she glanced at herself in the mirror grimacing at the rather large cut that ran down her side. She had gotten a few days prior of Daryl finding them when she had ran into a few not so friendly living people. Hershel had patched it up nicely, but it was still sore. She pulled on the button up shirt Lori had brought her, and then slipped on the pajama shorts.
"All done," Rose turned at the sound of Jamie's voice smiling when she saw her hair brushed neatly.
"You look so pretty Jamie; you're such a big girl now." She says and picks her up, pressing her lips to her daughter's cheeks smiling when she giggled and turning to the door as another knock interrupted them, "Come in."
Daryl had pitched a tent next to his for the two girls, and had come to tell them when he heard the giggles from inside the bathroom, which surprisingly made him smile. He walked in when Rose said it was okay to come in, and he let his eyes meet hers thinking to himself how good she looked all cleaned up.
"I uh," He cleared his throat scratching the back of his neck, "I got you a tent set up, your things are in it, and there are two cots for you and Jamie." He says with a nod and turns to leave, stopping when he felt Rose's hand on his elbow.
Rose smiled when he turned around again and moved closer to him, hugging him with one arm, Jamie pressed against his side as she did so. "Thank you for bringing us here." She murmured catching him off guard and he held his arms out awkwardly, not sure what to do until she pulled away again. "Jamie and I…We couldn't be more thankful Daryl, thank you." She said again and Daryl shook his head at her, trying not to seem so effected by her show of affection.
"It's fine…Just make sure your kid stays out of trouble, last thing we need is another missing girl on our hands." He grumbles, then turns away from them and heads back to his tent, leaving the two girls to find the tent for themselves.
Xxxxx
Rose lay in her cot, her daughter curled up into her side her fingers twisted into her hair while Rose read her book in the dim light from the flash light she had in her hands. Jamie had started off in her own cot, then made her way into her mother's when she had another nightmare.
Rose sat up slowly when she heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the left side of her tent, and she uncurled Jamie's fingers from her hair, turning her flashlight off as she saw a shadow approaching her tent and she swallows hard.
"Hey lady," A sigh of relief passed Rose's lips when she heard the sound of Daryl's voice and she laughed a little shaking her head, "You up in there?" He whispers and she stands up, glad the tent was so big and unzipped the door smiling at him.
"Yeah I am, you need something Daryl?" She asks softly, and he shakes his head moving so she could step outside the tent. She looked up at him, the soft light from the moon shining down on her face and she brushed a few messy curls behind her ear, glancing back in the tent to make sure Jamie wasn't waking.
"I'm just checking in, making sure everything's alright." Daryl says, pulling at the strap of his crossbow, "I saw your shadow through the tent is all." He says and Rose laughs a little and sights stretching her arms behind her.
"Yeah everything's fine, I just couldn't sleep and Jamie's taking up most of my cot." She says with a small shrug, glancing to her right when she saw Glenn sneaking around and she raises an eyebrow. "Does he do that often?" She asks turning back to Daryl who shrugs.
"He's sleeping with the Maggie girl, I'm the only one who's noticed it seems." Rose can't help but smile a little shaking her head. It was so normal, sneaking around with a girl behind her father's back. She thought to herself that she was going to like this place; it almost made her forget what was happening outside the fences of the farm.
"Jamie's fast asleep; you want to go sit somewhere?" She asks titling her head to the side smiling a little as Daryl shrugs and she turns, checking on Jamie again before zipping up the tent. She followed Daryl to the small fire that was only a few feet in front of their tents, the fire was small, only sparks of a red glow shown through the burnt wood, but it gave enough heat to keep Rose from shivering.
Daryl set his crossbow beside him on the log, his eyes wandering around their surroundings, up at the sky, then finally back to Rose. He hadn't been looking for anyone; it had just been him and Merle for the longest of time. But now his brother was gone, he barely spoke to anyone in the group other than Carol after he went looking for Sophia. Rose wasn't what he expected her to be, when he first saw her and the little girl sitting around the fire he'd assume she'd be another pansy, scared shitless of every little noise, and shot at anything that moved. But Rose wasn't like that, when he had approached him she held that shotgun with pride, didn't flinch, didn't shake, hell she didn't even shout. She was a mom, she was young, and she was a survivor, something he'd already grown to like in the few hours they had been together.
"So Daryl," Daryl snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her as she smiled, "What's your story?" She asked sweetly, leaning towards him some and Daryl's lips tightened, his hands resting his on the top of his thighs. He wasn't one to give out his life story, and he didn't plan to start.
"Don't matter," He says with a shrug, looking away from her towards the woods. Rose rolls her eyes, noting to herself it get him to reveal his secrets one day if she were going to be here long.
"Not the talkative type then?" She asks raising an eyebrow at him, stretching her legs out in front of her, the warmth of the small fire making her skin heat up. Daryl shrugged again not answering her question his eyes moving down her legs and to the fire, listening to the sound of the bugs, the horses in the distance, and the quiet breaths of the rest of the group members as they slept.
Rose sighed, "I used to be a nurse." She says which caught Daryl's attention, "Went through eight years of medical school, and got my nursing degree. I worked at a high school." She said with a roll of the eyes, running her fingers through her hair. "I hate to say I miss it, but I do." She says looking at him as he watched her, listening to her intently.
Daryl had loads of questions for Rose, she'd been on her own with just her little girl this entire time, and he wondered where the husband was, how she learned to handle a gun, how to hunt. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to know, he didn't need to be getting himself attached to the girl just she she'd end up dead like everyone else.
"Where's Jamie's daddy?' He asks now, out of curiosity and he didn't think it hurt, but he saw the anger sweep across Rose's face before she shrugged.
"Don't know, don't care." She says bluntly trying not to think of Ryder; how he left as soon as he found out she was pregnant with Jamie. Daryl's eyes lingered on her face, wishing now he hadn't angered her with his question, he stands up, picking his crossbow up with him.
"I'm going to go now, you best get to bed." Daryl mutters looking down at Rose one last time before leaving, trotting in the opposite direction leaving Rose alone and she sighed standing up.
She didn't know why she had wanted to get to know him, maybe it was because he had brought her here, or maybe it was because she was lonely, but she knew she shouldn't even be thinking about getting close to anyone, she had to look after Jamie, keep her safe, she couldn't let her guard down so someone could hurt her, or her daughter, no matter how good looking that person may be.
