A/N- Thank you to everyone who has read and or reviewed! I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this!
1starbright37- thank you! I appreciate the review!
FanFicGirl10- Right! I sure as hell would! ;p
2Witty Nickname-Thank you very much! I really didnt want to move a hard ass like Daryl into a lovey dovey relationship right away (or sappy at all) so I'm happy that it isn't throwing everyone off! I also didnt want the average crazy bad ass and/or broken oc! Thank you thank you thank you for all of your compliments!
~hateofme
When Ann woke up early the next morning to Merle's obnoxious "Rise n' shine!" The first thing she noticed was a thick strong arm wrapped around her waist. The second was Merle's shit eating grin as he stood by the tent flap.
"Tell sleepin' beauty tha' I've gone huntin'." Merle said as he grabbed a small red box from under his pillow. He winked at her and ducked through the tent flap quickly.
She held still for a moment trying to get her bearings. Over all she felt well rested, if a little bit warm. The biggest issue she had was something Daryl was wearing was poking her ass. She shifted trying to move it when she felt Daryl's arm tighten against her.
Wouldn' do that if I were you." He growled lowly at her.
Ann blushed hotly as she realized extremely belatedly what was poking her. Deciding the best option would be to pretend nothing was bothering her she forced herself to fall back to sleep.
The second time she woke it wasn't Merle's voice that woke her, no, it was the hand up her shirt and under her bra rolling and pinching her nipple. She bit her lip trying not to moan. She had already noticed how attractive Daryl was. Rugged, strong, and solid with slanted intense blue eyes that she felt could literally fuck her. But she had never thought he would want anything to do with her like that, so she had quickly laid the thoughts to rest. It was harder to pretend she didn't want him now. With his hand plying her breast it was really rather hard for her to take stock of the situation. She shifted slightly against him involuntarily barely stifling a moan as he thrust his hips agains hers and pinched her nipple, then attempting to sooth it by rolling it between his fingers gently. As he kneaded her breast she couldn't help it any more and moaned pushing back fully on him and his grip tightened. Suddenly he pushed her tangled mess of dark hair away from he neck and started whispering in her ear.
"I told ya not to do that shit princess." He rumbled
Ann didn't know what he was talking about and she really didn't care. She moaned lightly when she heard a voice.
"Dreamin' abou' me darlin'." Merle's voice rang out.
Ann opened her eyes with a snap, realizing she was still in Daryl's cot but sans Daryl. She had been dreaming?! What the hell? And fantastic, Merle had watched her dream about his brother.
"Fuck off Merle." She mumbled closing her eyes, missing the dark shadow that passed over his face.
As he opened his mouth to say something Daryl reached in and dragged him out giving his head a firm shake.
"Git yer' ass up. Everyone's lookin' fer ya." Griped Daryl at her.
She stood stretching as Daryl and Merle left the tent lifting her arms to the ceiling. Wait? Everyone's looking for her? Dammit! She was sure that Daryl would tell everyone fuck off or even tell them nothing happened, but Merle? Oh, well she just didn't want to be thought of as the camp whore. Wondering if she could slip out without anyone seeing she peeked out of the tent, and was promptly met with Daryl's knee to her face.
"The fuck?" Said Daryl looking down at her.
Ann looked up dazedly from the ground laying half in and out of the tent. "I think you zagged when I shoulda' zigged...or something like that I think."
Merle's laughter rang in her ears as Daryl helped her to her feet and quickly let go of her hand. "I'm not diseased or anything." She muttered "And I didn't kick you in the balls, I'm pretty sure you have no reason to get back at me."
Daryl just shrugged and walked away and Merle called out "Hey now sweetness, I think I cin use ya crawlin' aroun' my feet."
"Piss off man!" Ann said a little angry and started to walk away when she felt a hand wrap around her upper arm and pull her back. Turning she came face to face with a very livid Merle. She took quick look at his dilated pupils, 'fucking crack head' she thought resisting the urge to shake her head. He was breathing heavily and her arm was slowly going numb from the pressure he was putting on it. Sarcasm wasn't going to work here and neither would trying to placate him. Apparently it was a lose/lose situation.
"The fuck ya' say ta' me ya' little bitch?" Merle snarled shaking her.
As soon as Daryl saw Merle with her arm he had rushed over to separate the two. He knew how Merle was when he was hyped up on his drugs. With a quick shake from Ann's head he had stopped and waited to see what she was doing. Ann gave Daryl a half assed smile-he thought she was going to calm him down. She almost felt bad.
Ann slowly carefully put her hand up to Merle's face feeling him tense and then relax. She had noticed physical contact seemed to calm him when he was doped up when she met him in the woods the day before.
"Merle." She whispered and his eyes snapped open slightly angry, slightly confused, and a tiny bit vulnerable. He settled for anger as she had thought he would and hoped he wouldn't.
"The fuck you doin'? Huh?" Merle smacked her head to the side and shook her. His shouting and her less than stellar exit from the two men's tent had drawn a crowd and at the corner of her eye she saw Carols husband, Ed, smirking at her.
"I don't much like you like this Merle." She whispered at him. She watched as him mood changed rapidly again.
Confusion etched across his face and his voice was slightly gruff as he asked her. "Wha' happened ta' yer face darlin'?"
Ann looked pointedly down at her arm still held tightly in his hand. "God dammit!" He roared pushing her away. "The fuck y'all lookin' at huh? All y'all can't do shit fer yer selves an' now yer judging me! I don' give a rats ass 'bout any ya'!"
As he stormed away hitting things and knocking his tent over, Daryl grabbing his crossbow and following him, she spied the red box he had taken out from under his pillow that morning, tucked into the back of his pants and mostly under his shirt. Quickly she made up her mind-she was NOT going to deal with a stoned Merle when they got back. Ignoring the shouts behind her she took off at a sprint passing Daryl. Ann wrapped her arm around his back grabbing the box and swinging her body around and in front of Merle. She almost had second thoughts as she saw a flash of regret on his face as he glanced at hers. In the limited thirty seconds she had had to plan this crazy scheme out it was all she had come up with. Before he could push her away she kneed him in the balls for the second time in as many days. As he keeled over she stepped behind him so he didn't see her slip the box into the back of her pants quickly pulling her shirt down over it.
"Sorry Merle!" She said crouching behind him. "I say we call it even." She clapped him on the shoulder and stood meeting Daryl's angry look.
"Can't leave shit alone can ya'" Daryl snarled at her helping his brother to his feet. "Get the fuck outta' here!" And she did.
-A few minutes later-
"What were you thinking?!" Shane snapped loudly at her.
"I-" Ann started to respond.
"You weren't! I've got people running all over the damn camp lookin' for you!"
"And I'm sorry about that-" Ann started again.
"I told you to stay away from them! If you're going to be apart of this camp you need to listen! Not go around fucking the whole damn camp!" Shane all but shouted at her.
Dales angry expression at the way Shane was speaking quickly melted away into precautionary fear as he looked at Ann. She didn't blame him-she was seething.
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." She said in a steely tone. She was positive it was only shock that had him complying but she didn't care. "I appreciate everything that's been done for me here but I never got asked to be a part of this camp, and I'll tell you now, your word is not law." She held a hand up to stay his interruptions "I'm not done. That spot that you're falling off of." She nodded toward the bench "That was my bed last night. I don't owe you any explanation but I think you need to hear this. Merle and Daryl Dixon found me sleeping on a log by the fire. They did not hurt me," well not really she thought to herself. "They did not molest me or any other fool thing that you have in your head. I was offered a place to sleep-that's it. I'm shocked at how you treat those that feed you. Now go fuck yourself Shane." She stood and stormed out of the RV and headed down to the quarry.
She was still angry and she was hurt as well. The anger was for Shane, but the hurt, the hurt was for Dale. He actually agreed with sitting her down like an errant child and scolding her about the Dixon's! True it hadn't gone the way he had wanted it and it was obvious to her that Shane's way with words had upset the older man, but his sentiment had been the same.
She still had that damn box in her back and honestly she was disgusted by it, not just the contents but the fact that it had been in Merle's sweaty pants (although thankfully not touching his ass, he apparently wore underpants) and now it was in hers. She sat near the edge of the water looking longingly at it wishing she could wash off. Of course then she'd just have to put the damn box right back.
"Hey." Andreas voice said cautiously.
"Hey."
"You ok?" She asked pointedly looking at her face and arm.
"Fine." Ann shrugged "I didn't mean to upset anyone."
Andrea smiled "I think they were all more worried and shocked to be honest."
Ann picked up on the they. "They?" She questioned "You weren't?" She wasn't trying to fish for anything just honestly wondered if Andrea had been worried.
"Nah," Andrea smiled at her. "You came back last night from their tent. If either of them were going to go off and murder you I figure it would have been then." She said avoiding the fact that Merle had just hit her.
Ann smiled "Well thank god one of you has some common sense." She looked back at the water.
"Sooo... You sleeping with Merle then?"
Ann snorted and then outright laughed. "HELL no! I wouldn't sleep with him if he were the last man on earth." Andrea looked unconvinced so she explained some more. "He really is nice in his own way. He wouldn't quit bugging me last night until Daryl dragged me into the tent. Daryl said Merle wasn't going to let any of us get some rest unless I had a spot to sleep."
Andrea looked disbelieving "You still haven't convinced me he's nice-or that you wouldn't sleep with him."
She laughed, and after the stress of the morning it felt good. "I just don't see him that way. He's attractive enough-or could be if he just-" She stopped; the drugs weren't her place to mention. "Anyway he's fun to tease and he's rough and abrasive but he's just not my type. Too flirty." She grinned at Andrea
"Too flirty? That's rich coming from you." She grinned. "So where did you sleep in the tent then?"
At this Ann blushed "In Daryl's cot." She mumbled.
"Daryl!" Squealed Andrea.
"Yes Daryl and before you go reading anything into it, it was strictly platonic. He was just easing my fears that Merle would attempt to get it on in the middle of the night." There was no sense mentioning his morning wood or her dreams she reasoned. After all morning wood is a perfectly natural thing and who wouldn't get a sex dream curled up in those arms with a hard dick against their ass? It didn't mean anything on either of their parts.
"Yeah, right. I know you've only been here a day but I have to tell you the Dixon's don't exactly go out of their way for anyone but each other. And even then its rare."
"Hold on now!" Ann thought this was horribly unfair. "Don't they hunt? And skin the animals? And share what they catch? And I'm sure they know how to kill shells! What is all of that if not going out of the way for people here?"
"I think they just do it so they can stay here. And you can't tell me that you don't have the tiniest doubt that one of them was just trying to get into your pants last night!" Andrea huffed at her.
"I don't know what they think Andrea! I barely know them! All I'm saying is a nice deed is a nice deed, I don't care about the reasons because its still something nice that was done." Ann tried reasoning with her and was delighted when she saw a slight nod from Andrea. At least she was considering what she said.
"Come on!" Cried Andrea suddenly changing the subject. "You stink! Lets to for a swim!" She grabbed Ann's hand and pulled turning when she didn't budge. "Come on!" She tried again.
Ann sighed she really really wanted to, but she just didn't trust anyone not to look through their clothes if they left them on the bank. That damn box was just fucking with her now.
"Nah, I'm good. You can go though." She tried.
Andrea put her hands on her hips "You smell horrible and to be honest I can't even tell what color your hair is. No woman willingly puts up with that. Why don't you want to swim?"
Ann sighed again, hopefully Andrea could keep a secret. If she didn't give in now she could see the whole camp questioning her for something she couldn't figure out a plausible lie to. Plus now that she had the box she really didn't know what to do with it.
She pulled Andrea down to sit with her. "Have you ever noticed that Merle seems to have bi-polar disorder or split personalities or something?"
Andrea nodded "Yeah but how did you-"
Ann cut her off "He's taking drugs. I had a friend on coke a couple of years back and I can see the similarities. Sweating, hyper, loud, awake for so long it leads to hallucinations, paranoid, quick to anger, and huge pupils? He needs to come down so..." She whipped the box out of her pants "I took his stash."
Andreas eyes widened "Oh my god! We need to tell Shane! He's going to-"
"No! That's exactly what we don't need to do! I'm trusting you Andrea please, don't say anything to anyone at all. He's going to have a hard enough time as it is and everyone pressuring him isn't going to help matters. Please trust me." Ann pleaded panicked at the sudden turn things had taken.
Andrea still looked unsure but she nodded. "Alright. Now tell me why you can't bathe because of that?"
"I don't trust anyone not to look through it." She confessed.
Andrea nodded and then stood holding out her hand "Come on, hand it over. I'll go hide it and then we can get you cleaned up." She saw Ann hesitate "No one will find it, there's a panel next to my bed in the RV that comes off. I'll put it there ok?"
She saw the logic in this and nodded handing over the red box. "Just don't get caught." She joked weakly, she really didn't know if she should have said anything.
Less then ten minutes later had Andrea bouncing back to the quarry, with a large bag in hand. "I brought supplies!" She hollered to her. She stopped in front of Ann opening the bag. "Got you a bra (don't worry it's one of mine and its clean), underwear (still don't worry, they were Amy's brand new in the package and she's refused to wear them because they're thongs. So really you've got a six pack), one of Amy's T-shirts, a pair of her jeans, and Miranda donated two pairs of one of the kids clean socks. Your feet are really small you know?"
Ann just stood there in shock-these people that she really didn't even know had not only let her stay, fed her, and healed her, but were now giving her clothes? Andrea interrupted her train of thought.
"And," She said sing-song voice "Shampoo, soap, and conditioner!"
Ann was so excited she didn't wait for Andrea and ran full speed jumping into the water clothes shoes and all, surfacing with a gasp.
"Holy shit its cold!" She chattered as Andrea undressed neatly folding her clothes.
Andrea shook her head at the younger woman "Don't be a baby! It's not that bad." And jumped in.
When she surfaced and Ann saw that she wasn't chattering like her she rolled her eyes. "Is you-your sk-skin made of leath-leather or something?" She chattered.
"No you prissy baby! Move around it warms you up!" And then she dove under.
"Fu-kin crazy." Ann shivered to herself trying to tread the water. She stopped short as a fairly horrible thought occurred to her. "Andrea!" She hollered
She spotted her coming up for air five feet on the opposite side of her from where she started. "What's up?" She asked with a grin.
"If you asked everyone for all that stuff they know we're washing right?" Andrea nodded at her so she continued. "Then what's to stop all the men from coming down here? I mean you're at least in bra and panties- when I get out I'm planning on burning mine." To her surprise Andrea laughed.
"For someone who woke up yesterday in camp and then spent the night with two of the roughest rednecks I've ever met, you sure worry about the strangest things. But-" She said sensing Ann's distress "Some of the other women are coming down and some of the men are 'guarding' the other men. Then the men will have a turn."
Ann sighed in relief; at least she didn't have to worry about the men seeing her 'goods' and making fun of her. The community bath was surprisingly fun. Andrea and Amy helped her get her hair cleaned and the dreadlocks that were beginning to form were combed out by an intent Miranda beforehand.
"Don't you worry Ann, my girls hair gets tangled almost as bad as this daily." And she had proceeded to comb through her snarled hair roughly until the waves that she used to have were back full force.
Andrea and Amy attacked her hair with vengeance it seemed, as soon as Miranda was done and thanked. Lather rinse repeat had a whole new meaning by the time they were done with her. She didn't even have anything to say when they triumphantly announced to everyone that her hair color was a dark brown (with lighter streaks that had been bleached from the sun they were sure to add). Even Carol and Jacqui had come down and pointed out spots that she had missed while scrubbing with the soap. As touched as she was all these people staring at her had her feeling a little uncomfortable, and she breathed a sigh of relief as Jacqui, Miranda, Eliza, Carol, and Sophia gathered up and headed back to camp.
"Are you ok?" Amy asked swimming lazily by her.
"Well aside from being the only naked one here I'm peachy." Ann remarked with a smile.
"I'm sorry! We didn't even think about that when we grabbed clothes for you!" The distraught girl cried.
Ann laughed. "Amy! Calm down I'm fine!"
"Yeah!" Called Andrea swimming swiftly to them. "She spent the night with two muscly men, I don't think a bath is going to kill her, no matter how much she thinks it will." She grinned at Ann to show that she was joking.
"You slept with both of them?!" Amy yelped. "I thought it was just Merle!"
"Oh good god." Snapped Ann good-naturedly "Is the whole camp talking about my 'promiscuous' nature now?" She teased only half joking.
Amy started to deny it but Andrea jumped in "Of course they are! You spent the night with them. I tried to set a few people straight but once I tell them you were in Daryl's cot that's all they think about."
"Oh well. Nothing to do about it now. You guys ready to get out?" She said starting to walk up the bank. She was only halfway out when too many things happened at once for her overly relaxed brain to comprehend. Amy shouting "Wait!" , Andrea shouting "No!", the rustle of clothing on the shore and a long whistle piercing the air. She froze 'no no no no no.' Her head screamed at her.
Standing on the shore obviously having just come from out of the woods was Daryl who had just removed his shirt and had froze with his hands on his pants. His face was coloring and he quickly glanced behind her at Amy and Andrea who were still shouting and then zeroed in again on her, looking shocked. Thank god her newly washed and combed hair was doing a bang up job of covering her breasts. Standing next to him was Merle also staring at her, she noticed, however that he flicked his eyes back to Andrea just as much as he did to her, bypassing Amy completely. He had a huge lecherous smile on his face.
"Well now darlin'," Merle drawled "Did we interrupt yer's an' sugar-tits party ou' here?" His gaze slid to Andrea again this time staying on her until she flipped him off. He laughed smacking his leg "We was jus' about to take a dip, sweetness. Don' wanna' go hoggin' all tha' water fer yerselves now do ya'?" He guffawed rhetorically
"Come on Merle! We don't swing your way!" She called thinking quickly and arching an eyebrow at him. It was comical the way his face dropped in disappointment as he looked at them. Then just as quickly the look was gone
"Well I think I migh' jus' sit back an' watch the show!" He hollered and clapped Daryl on the back. "Whaddya say baby brother? Wanna watch a live porno wit' me?"
Merle hitting Daryl on the back seemed to draw him from his catatonic state. He grabbed his shirt from the ground and pulled it over his head simultaneously grabbing his crossbow off a nearby rock and leaning to whisper something in Merle's ear. Whatever it was made Merle's scowl return and he stood shouting at her "You an' me, we got some talkin' ta do tonight ya' hear!" And without waiting for an answer he pushed past Daryl and back into the woods. Daryl shouldered his crossbow without looking at the three women and stomped off after Merle.
Only after they were completely gone from sight did she seem to unfreeze. The logic hitting her that she could have, at any time, just slouched in the damn water to cover her top.
"Oh my god!" Squealed Andrea. "Did you just insinuate that we were lesbians?!"
Ann had the decency to look ashamed "I didn't know what else to say! If I insult him he takes it as a personal affront to 'his manhood'" She made quotation marks in the air "And I'm pretty sure he'd have had no problem showing us nothing is wrong with him. Anything nice would have just sounded like an invitation to him. I'm sorry."
Andrea and Amy looked at each other before saying in perfect sync "But she's my sister!" If she'd had any doubts about those two that cleared them.
"So your saying you're ok with being lesbians just not with each other?" Sniggered Ann.
Andrea clarified "I'm ok with them thinking we're lesbians just not with each other."
"Well the next time the Dixon brothers manage to corner all three of us taking a bath again I'll be sure to let them know that one of you doesn't participate, you just watch." She joked rolling her eyes.
Amy had turned red and Ann started giggling with Andrea joining in and the next thing they knew they were all laughing uproariously and dressing going over their close call with Merle and Daryl Dixon's manhood. As soon as she was dressed Ann was urging the two women to hurry, she was ravenous!
"So eager to get back to your men?" Andrea slyly teased.
Ann tossed her hair. "I'm just eager to let Glenn know he's still at the top of my list." She snootily replied with a wink. "And I'm sure Amy's ready to share her lesbian experiences today with T-dog." She continued innocently as Amy again went red.
Andrea laughed and Ann leaned over to her with a stage whisper and said "I think she is almost as much fun as Glenn to tease."
The three happily made their way back to camp all of them avoiding the Dixon's, and breathing easier as all the men excluding Shane and Dale made their way down to the quarry. Ann groaned to herself, she didn't want to, and she really didn't have to, but in order to keep tension down she needed to come to an understanding with Shane and Dale both.
"Hey Shane!" Ann called to the man who immediately tensed. "Can I talk to you?" She asked noting as he controlled his adverseness to her but missing the distrustful look Lori sent her way.
"Yeah!" He said in a falsely easy voice "What can I do for you?"
She sighed she was used to not being liked, that didn't mean she had to like it though. "You can stop pretending Shane." She said tiredly as his face morphed into anger. "I know we don't see eye to eye-" He snorted but stayed quiet as she glared "Listen, I'm trying to make this easier here. I know you don't like me and that's ok. And I'm sorry I lost it on you. I refuse to ask for permission to sleep in someone else's tent if I have been invited. However I can see that it could be worrisome if no one knows where I am from day to day. I wanted to tell you that, if its ok with whoever is on watch when I go to sleep, I will let them know where I'm going. Will that work?"
He looked at her curiously before nodding grudgingly. "Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I can't respect you. You've got a pair Ann, just make sure it doesn't get anyone killed," He added as almost an afterthought "Or yourself."
Ann looked at him "I think you're just trying to protect everyone here and that's admirable; you just came on kind of strong earlier. I'm sure you've gathered that I don't do well with confrontation." She smiled wryly at him.
A genuine smile snuck on his face and he replied "I'll keep that in mind- and thank you. It's- stressful- here. Sometimes it's good to be grounded, even if it was by a pint size thing like you." He clapped a friendly hand on her shoulder as he walked back to Lori.
"Hey Shane!" Ann called to his back. "Five two isn't anything to sneeze at!" She smiled to herself as he waved her off. She wasn't going to follow his word like it was law, but now that they had an understanding this should be a whole lot easier.
And now for Dale. She wasn't about to holler out disrespectfully to him so she made her way over to the RV and climbed up. He was on watch so seeing him using his binoculars was no surprise, it was more the fact that he was looking in the direction of the quarry that had her raising her eyebrows at him.
"Didn't take you for a peeper Dale, much less on other men." She said lightly. She frowned when there was no response.
Then his jaw dropped open "Shane?" He called out hesitantly.
A loud commotion on the path leading to the quarry caught everyone's attention and she stared torn between anger and laughter. Almost every single man that had gone to take a bath was now trudging up the path, bruised and bloody. Shockingly the only one that seemed truly beat up was Ed, who was trailing along behind the rest of the group. Merle and Daryl were at the front and she winced as she got a good look at them. Split lips on both, Merle sporting a swollen eye that was sure to be quite the shiner, Daryl with a red cheek that was sure to bruise and a shallow gash bleeding from it. She started looking at every single man; T-dog, and even Glenn were sporting injuries similar to the Dixon's, even Jim and Morales were sporting small bumps and lumps.
She watched as Shane stomped over to the group "Does anyone want to tell me WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" He ended on a shout.
The men looked at each other uneasily before T-dog casually swung his arm around Daryl's shoulders and smiled cracking his lip even further, pretending not to notice Daryl's ever growing scowl in his direction.
"Just some male bonding." He shrugged giving a seemingly easy smile at the men. "Right?" He said in a steely voice.
Glenn gave an awkward smile "Yep!"
His acceptance seemed to confirm it for the rest of the men who mumbled affirmatively before taking off to their respective tents. As Ann saw Daryl angrily shrug T-dog's arm off his shoulders and stalk with Merle off to the tent she snapped into action. Quickly springing into the RV she grabbed some cotton balls and a bottle of antiseptic before running off to the Dixon tent. As she went by T nodded at her as she passed his folded arms being given a disbelieving glare by Shane. She talked loudly she approached the tent. Pulling back the flap and stepping in she sat on the cot next to Daryl.
"Now what really happened?" Ann asked soaking a cotton ball in alcohol and pulling Merle's hand away from his lip.
He growled as she dabbed the cut. "Get off me ya' damn trouble maker." And tried to push her away.
She grabbed the hand he shoved at hers with inspecting it and wiping at his cracked knuckles gently with the cotton. "Oh stop it you baby." She smiled as he threw himself back on his cot.
"'M still mad at ya'" He grumbled at her.
"Yes, I'm sure you are." She murmured finishing with his knuckles and placing her hand out for the other one. She crowed internally when he placed his palm in hers with no argument. "Now what happened?"
Merle looked over at her arm and his expression softened slightly and then over to her face; she was positive she saw guilt flash through his eyes before it was gone. He hardened his face and turned away from her.
Ann turned to Daryl when she was don't with Merle and it was apparent that he wasn't going to answer. He was looking at her with a glower and a shimmer of confusion in his blue eyes. As she reached up to his face he jerked his head back.
"The fuck you think you're doin'?" He snapped angrily at her.
Ann barely held back from rolling her eyes. "Making sure none of these get infected. You know," She started as she doused another cotton ball and grabbed at his hands "If you two wont tell me what happened I'll just go out there and ask. And I'm sure they'll tell me in much more detail..." She trailed off as she forcefully switched Daryl's hands.
"Yer' a god damn bitch, fuckin' nothin' but trouble." Snarled Merle still flat on his back. "Might as well tell her Darylina." He said obviously angry.
She turned expectantly to Daryl wincing internally at the amount of anger she found staring back at her. As she waited to hear what she was sure would be quite a story she reached to his face and gently wiped the gash there apologizing for how much she knew it must sting. He didn't say a word only sat there with his arms crossed, and she as sure if looks could kill she would be dead. Just as she was sure she wasn't going to get anything from either of them Daryl turned his head away from her and grumbled.
"Ed, started runnin' his mouth. So we shut it for him." He gave her a sidelong glance as if to see if that was enough of the story.
"And everyone just jumped in a decided to beat each other up?" Ann said cynically.
"God dammit!" Roared Daryl suddenly "He was talkin' bou' you! Ya fuckin' happy now? Git the fuck outta' here! And fuckin' stay away ya' damn bitch!"
Ann rose outwardly calm from the cot and gathered up the cotton balls and alcohol that Daryl had knocked on the floor in his tirade, as she listened to Merle chuckle. "Fuck you both." She hissed as she left the tent.
She stormed across the camp handing off the alcohol to Glenn, who looked like he could use it. "Thanks." He said wincing.
Ann rolled her eyes and sat down next to him on a log, grabbing the items back and proceeded to clean him up. As she finished she sat back and looked at him. "If I understand correctly I'm the one who should be thanking you?" He blushed shrugging his shoulders and she knew she was right. Patting him on the shoulder she left to find T, realizing she had taken the only bottle of alcohol. T-dog was in his tent swearing loudly.
"Are you decent!" Ann hollered at the flap
"Yeah, come on in." Called T. "You ok?" He asked noticing an uncharacteristic silence from her.
"Yeah." Said Ann with a strained smile. "I think your lip is worse than Merle's." She tried to joke. "How are you feeling?"
T looked at her knowingly. "I'm fine, but I ain't the one that just dealt with the Dixon's who probably don't even understand why they defended you."
Ann looked at him startled "What?"
T smiled and shook his head "Im guessing they didn't tell you anything?"
"They gave me the abridged two sentence version." She hedged.
"Sit down girl," he laughed smacking the spot beside him.
T-dog proceeded to tell her about their 'manly bonding' trip as he christened it. Apparently Ed hadn't just talked about her in passing as Daryl had made it sound. Ed had sought them out, loudly asking questions about her, requesting that when Merle was done with her and Daryl had his fill, they just pass her along to Ed. Surprisingly Daryl had lost his cool first quickly followed by Merle. Nobody had known what was going on and T and Glenn (shockingly to her) had jumped to break it up, upon hearing what Ed was saying though quickly turned on the man as well. Jim and Morales had ended the fight and broke them up and apparently that was the end. By the time T was finished telling her everything Ann was in shock. Not only had Daryl and Merle come to her defense which she thought was highly unlikely, but T and Glenn had to?
She smiled a watery smile. "Thanks."
T-dog shook his head "I won't pretend I like Merle but, he's got your back, and so does Daryl. They probably don't understand why and its gonna piss them off. But you've got yourself a couple of hard ass rednecks on your side." He gave her a lopsided grin as she patted his shoulder thanking him again, and left his tent.
She passed by Carols tent and heard a low sobbing. Looking at the cotton and alcohol in her hands she sighed. She knew that no one had thought about Ed's retribution that would fall on Carol and possibly Sophia. She walked up to the tent and gently set the stuff on the floor by the flap. She moved the flap around a bit and when she heard footsteps took off. It wasn't Carols fault her husband was an ass; it was just her fault she chose to stay with him.
Lunch was incredibly awkward with almost all the men sporting their battle injuries and the looks that everyone was giving everyone else were putting her on edge. She avoided the Dixon's on principle and placed herself with Amy and Andrea on one side and Glenn and T-dog on the other.
Trying to soften the tension she heard Andrea say to Glenn "Hey Glenn I think you and Ann are going to have to take a break."
And just like that the tension was broken. Ann, Glenn, and Andrea snorted before outright laughing. Aside from Ed and the Dixon's everyone relaxed, leaving the meal fairly enjoyable.
After lunch Ann volunteered to help everyone with laundry, spending the rest of the day down at the quarry with Carol, Andrea, Amy, Miranda, and Jacqui, watching Carl and Sophia frolic in the water. The day passed quickly and before she knew it she was the last one there gathering up all the leftovers that had been left when the other women went to go cook. It was beginning to get dark as she trudged back to camp and even though her hands were full she couldn't help but be nostalgic for her axes and the sense of security they gave her. She wished again for the hundredth time she had not lost them when she ended up here. She sighed and dropped the clothes off at the RV, seeing as she didn't know where they went, and wondered over to sit next to Glenn who looked strangely uncomfortable by her.
She looked to Amy and Andrea confused but they just shrugged "He's been like that since we got back from doing laundry." Amy whispered in her ear.
Ann looked at the faces around camp, almost everyone that had been in camp and not at the quarry washing clothes was giving the three women odd looks.
Carl's voice broke through the silence "Mom? What's a lesbian?"
Aside from Merle's loud guffawing you could hear a pin drop and it suddenly clicked for the three girls, who started laughing uproariously.
"Don't worry Glenn!" Gasped Ann laughing so hard her sides hurt "I promise you're still at the top of my list! I can't repopulate with Andrea; that's just personal preference!" She, Andrea, and Amy clung to each other laughing until they cried and fell off the log.
Dale surprisingly seemed to recognize that she was joking, as did T because she could see and hear them chuckling. Glenn however looked unsure. She did a quick recon of reactions around the camp; the Morales family was smiling and laughing softly as were Jacqui and Jim. Carol was trying to hide a smile and Ed was giving her a dirty look. Shane merely looked intrigued, as if he wasn't sure how he missed the fact that there were lesbians in camp. Merle looked smug and slightly disappointed-it was easy to see where everyone had gotten the idea, while Daryl had crossed his arms and glared at her.
Lori however shrieked and covered Carl's ears and yelled at them. "How dare you expose my son to your trash!" She snarled.
Ann's laughter abruptly ceased. "Excuse me?" She asked angrily.
"You heard me! He's a child! He doesn't need to be exposed to people like you!" Lori spat.
Ann saw Shane's panicked wince from the corner of her eye and ignored him stepping into the woman's face. "Listen lady," she said quietly enough so only a few words could be heard by the others. "It's a god damn joke, but even if it wasn't you can keep your outdated, backwoods, preachy, opinions to yourself. As for your son, he sure as hell didn't hear it from me. Maybe you need to keep an eye on him instead of wondering into the woods. I don't know why you two try and keep your relationship a secret when I'm sure the entire camp knows, but I'm betting you put a little more energy into watching your boy, instead of hiding from him you'll be able to keep him in the dark that much longer." She spat turning from the woman who had gone pale and sat back down next to Glenn.
"Eat up baby, you're going to need the energy tonight." Ann winked at Glenn trying to act as though a mini fight between her and Lori had not happened. Once again the building tension was diffused some of the campers laughing at what she had said, the majority laughing at Glenn. Poor Glenn who had been in mid-swallow was now choking as Ann slapped him on the back. The rest of the meal passed pleasantly and soon enough it was time for bed. She caught Shane's eye and nodded looking up at the top of the RV. He nodded back slightly and turned his attention to an angry Lori.
She tried! She really really did, but that bench was just too small! Ann sighed and wondered out side the RV calling up to Dale.
"Dale, I'm going to go sit by the fire." She whispered up to him. She heard the smile in his voice as he replied.
"Go on, I'll make sure to keep an eye out over there in case you fall asleep or move." He chuckled.
"Thanks." She murmured, he obviously didn't know that Daryl and Merle were mad at her. She was planning on sleeping out on the log though so she was glad that he was going to keep an extra close lookout. She pulled her blanket around her shoulders and started to lay down to sleep when she heard a shuffling behind her.
"What?" She said dully knowing it was probably Merle.
"Are ya' really a lesbian?" Came Daryl's voice slightly embarrassed.
She jumped up and spun around shocked to hear Daryl and laughing a little at his question. Or at least she was laughing until she ran her face into his elbow on his ever folded arms as she stood up. She plopped back down on the log holding the spot where he had kneed her that morning.
"I swear to god it's like you're trying to kick my ass." Ann groaned.
Daryl just looked at her before walking away "You comin'?" He called over his shoulder.
"I think me and my multiple potential concussions are just going to stay here." She mumbled dizzily.
He snorted and turned back to her clumsily picking her up off the log, bridal style. "Ya' know Merle'd kick my ass if I let ya' sleep ou' here." He griped halfheartedly at her.
"Sure he would and then you two would spend the rest of the day holding your own damn actions against me." She snarked as Daryl dropped her roughly onto his cot.
"Wha' happened ta' her?" Merle's voice snapped out of the darkness.
Before she could answer Daryl's voice spoke "She ran her face into my damn elbow."
She could hear Merle snort. "Serves the' bitch righ'" and then "How in the hell...?"
"Fuck if I know." Replied Daryl
"I'm still here you jackasses." Ann had never been a fan of people talking about her like she wasn't there.
"Yeah an' yer righ' lucky ya' are after all the shit yer ass pulled today darlin'." Merle shot back.
She opened her mouth to reply but Daryl's aggravated voice stopped her. "Shut up an' go to sleep the both of ya'."
Honestly she was positive there was no concussion and sleeping in the cot sounded nice. She could finish fighting tomorrow. She lay down without a word quickly snuggling into Daryl, ignoring the way he tensed. She really didn't care; he dragged her in here, and she would more than likely be subjected to him grabbing her sometime throughout the night, not to mention his morning hard on. In her mind if she could deal with all that then he could deal with her curling up on him to get warm.
He hissed and tried to shrink back from her "Yer' feet a fuckin' cold woman!"
"Shut up and go to sleep." Ann threw his words back at him before answering his earlier question. "And no I'm not. A lesbian that is." She whispered and fell asleep.
