A/N: this is a work of fanfiction, I only own Thea.
Wallflower
By Leah Pensotti
Thea walked back into the clinic looking at the books Daryl had given her. One was the first "Pillars of the Earth"novel by Ken Follett and the second was "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. They weighed in at nine hundred and fifty and almost fifteen hundred pages, respectively. She had read neither, though she was familiar with the musical that went along with Hugo's book.
Somehow, he had found the type of book she loved. Big, fat historical fiction novels. Thea felt humbled and also more curious about Daryl Dixon than she had been about anyone else in a very long time...even before the world went to hell.
Rosita was making a pot of coffee and she smiled, "So what was that all about?"
Thea shrugged and put the books down on the desk, "I'm not sure, really. It's been a really weird day. All sorts of things outside of my comfort zone happening."
Her friend laughed, "Everything is outside of your comfort zone. Except reading books. I'll never understand it. You're a cute girl. What happened that you are so insulated?"
Thea sighed. A lot of things. Foster and group homes from the age of six, finally aging out of the system without ever being adopted. She lived in her head for most of her life, reading and writing and loving to learn. She had a handful of friends and had never been very successful at dating, only having one real boyfriend.
She never really thought of herself as shy. Thea liked to use the word "reserved." She had a lot of thoughts, feelings and urges...she just kept them in check most of the time.
And then there was that night five years ago. That had really made her anti-social.
Thea shrugged, "I don't know, I've just always been happy with my own company. You know...alone, not lonely."
Rosita laughed, "You so do not fit the lone wolf image."
Thea had to agree.
Rosita grabbed her things and took a cup of coffee to go. Thea bid her friend goodbye and she sat down at the desk with her own cup of coffee and thumbed through her new books.
The clinic had slowed down a lot since the herd initially moved through. With the exception of stitches and minor injuries here and there...Carl Grimes had been the only constant patient.
He had been the only one who had really required surgery, drugs...around the clock care.
After about an hour, Denise came out of the room and smiled, "I think Carl will be going home soon."
Thea raised her head from her book and nodded, "That's great news. I bet Rick is thrilled."
Denise agreed and before she left for home, she looked to Thea, "Going to stop by the food stores and talk with Olivia. Anything you need in particular, Roomie?"
She shook her head, "Not that I can think of, but thanks for asking."
Not long after Denise had left, Carol appeared with a casserole dish and gave Thea a little nod before heading in to see Carl and Rick. When she reappeared, Carol walked over to Thea and smiled, noticing the books on the desk.
"I see you got the books? Daryl stopped by for a minute and before I knew it, he was combing through the bookshelves at the house. He said you seemed to like long books."
Thea nodded, "Yeah. I do. I appreciate it."
Carol flashed her a look that Thea couldn't discern, "There's plenty more if you want to come look through them sometime."
"Uh, thanks. I'll keep it in mind."
Carol gave her a little wave and she wondered if she had a "Talk to me" sign somewhere on her person she didn't know about? It wasn't long after she returned to her book, that she heard someone call her name.
"Thea?"
She snapped her head up, thinking there was an emergency, "Yeah?"
Rick had popped his head out of Carl's room, "You hungry? We've got plenty of food if you'd want to join us."
The hair on her arms stood on end...did she want to turn down the new leader of the town? The same man she hoped to talk to about a library?
Mostly yes. But then again, no.
The cold casserole from earlier hardly filled her belly when she had eaten in haste...so she was hungry, and the food that Carol had brought smelled amazing and it was still warm.
She marked the page and stood, "Okay."
It had been a few hours since he ran into Thea at the clinic. He didn't think he was going to have to see her, he just wanted to drop off the books and be on his way. Daryl had stopped by to check in on Carol when he noticed that her house had many book-filled shelves.
He'd only seen Thea without a book a few times...and since talking about her with Rick...she was fresh on his mind.
Daryl had at first thought that she was just some shy, scared girl. But he wasn't so sure now. She was smart and seemed to observe everyone. Like she was learning to read them like her books, but didn't know how to relate to people as well as her books.
He had come a long way since the outbreak. He wasn't exactly what you would have called "friendly"...but since then, he had found his niche and was a part of a family, something he had never really experienced before.
Thea was smarter than him, she had gone to college and liked to read for fun, but Daryl saw a bit of himself in her. Stand-offish. Wary of trusting others. Good at surviving. She just had a different way of going about it.
The truth was, since he saw her at the clinic holding the books he had left for her, he hadn't been able to get her off his mind. So he walked down to the construction site, where Abraham and his crew were working to rebuild the wall.
He went on supply runs still, and soon he wanted to reform a team to go out with him. The things Aaron and Eric had told him about watching Thea made him think she would be good at it...and now that most the kids were gone, Reg was dead and life at the clinic was slowing down...maybe he could talk to her about it.
Maybe.
Daryl was still getting the hang of talking to new people...starting up conversations...sometimes looking people in the eye. He and Thea met eyes just once...this morning standing on Rick's porch. Her eyes were the color of the sky just before it broke open and poured down rain on creation. They were stormy.
He didn't know why, but they unnerved him.
So...maybe he'd talk to her about supply runs.
Thea ate like a bird, but she and Carl seemed to get along well. Carl had spent a few days in the school with her and Reg before most of Alexandria's old ways came crashing down. Things that Rick usually blamed himself for.
Carl seemed tired, losing his eye and going into shock had run his body over, but he was on the road to being freed from the confines of the clinic. Denise had said so right before leaving for the night.
Rick watched Thea as she sat at the foot of Carl's bed. With her hair pulled back, he could more accurately make out the shape of her face. It was round with high cheekbones and an expressive brow topped off with full lips and a pert nose that had a crook at the bridge...like she had broken it before.
She met his eyes once, and he smiled and looked at Carl. He hoped she didn't think he was staring...Rick was just hoping to figure her out. It was clear she wasn't scared, but she came off as a bit of a wallflower. Instead of dancing at the prom, he pictured her observing everyone and making notes in her head. If she was as clever as Eric and Aaron thought she was, the town would need her and Rick would be happy to find her a new job.
Carl drifted off to sleep and Thea collected the plates quietly and walked them out of the room and to the sink. Rick followed her and offered to dry them, hoping to ask her about why she was given teaching and not put on the supply runs.
She scrubbed the plates and forks with a brush and handed them silently to Rick. Suddenly he heard himself say what he was thinking without any sort of warm up or lead in, "Daryl told me that Aaron and Eric were impressed with how you survived for a year."
Thea turned off the water and turned to him with an unreadable look on her face. One of those expressive eyebrows raised, "I guess so. I didn't kill a bunch of roamers or anything. I just avoided any conflict. I did my best to be invisible."
"So...my question is why didn't you end up on the supply runs?"
Thea shook her head, he could tell she wasn't willing to talk about it and instead gave him a very vague answer, "I, um, Deanna...she gave me the choice. I'm not good at physical stuff. Clever or not. I just used what I could to my advantage. I'd be dead weight on a supply run. Nobody needs that."
Rick knew there was something she was leaving out...something she hadn't told anyone. While she dried her hands on a towel, he surprised her and himself by reaching out and taking her hand gently. She looked down and back up to him, like nobody had touched her for awhile.
"Thea...we're rebuilding this place. I haven't given everyone that didn't come here with me a fair shake. I considered everyone a liability instead of an asset. You're smart. You're clever. This town needs you. I want to get to know everyone and find them a job to flourish in. I think you can help me do that."
She shook her head, "How could someone like me possibly help someone like you?"
He didn't really have an answer for that. Rick realized he was still holding her hand when he saw something out of the corner of his eye through the window...he turned just in enough time to see Daryl stalking away from the clinic.
Thea followed his gaze and saw him, too.
Rick's blue eyes pleading with her to help him had struck her dumb. First of all, he took her hand. Something that hadn't been tried without her ripping her hand away for awhile, but this time she didn't move. She felt like a cat that had a blanket thrown over it.
Was he asking her to spy on people? To recruit people based on their strengths like Aaron, Eric and Daryl once had? Or was he asking her to help with something different all together?
Secondly, his eyes were so goddamn blue.
She he given him enough of the truth. She would be a dead weight on the supply runs. Thea had to be clever at the beginning to survive...because her body wouldn't let her run...because of what had happened five years before. The night that had not only broken most of her body, but also what was left of her spirit.
When Rick couldn't answer her and he turned to look out of the window, she saw something that surprised her more than the constable's touch. Daryl Dixon was walking away. He must have seen them through the window...what he thought he saw was a whole other problem.
Rick dropped her hand and Thea wanted to go after Daryl, but she'd never catch up with him. Instead, she just watched his figure getting smaller and smaller as it walked away from her.
She thought of ways to tell Rick the facts without telling him the whole story, "I had some surgeries awhile back. I can't run. I can walk quickly, but that's about it. I'd be amazing bait, and I'd probably would get eaten. That's why I had to be so clever to survive."
He sighed thickly, "Damn. I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?"
Thea shrugged, "Life."
Rick smiled, like he understood and he turned to walk back into Carl's room. Thea called to him, "I'd be happy to help in any way I can, Rick."
He turned and looked at her with a smirk, "I'm gonna hold you to that, Thea."
A/N: you guys are seriously amazing! Thanks for ALL the love! I'm so pleased you all like Thea and the story so much! She has a lot of things she doesn't want to talk about. Which one of the fellas will be able to get her to spill first? What is she hiding? Up next: Thea and Daryl.
So so many reviews! Thank you to: the four Guest users, aishiteru naru, Southern Nerd (Aw! So sweet! thank you!), SinfulRoses (We shall see ;), Angie B (Duly noted. Thea will make a choice, but will have a romance with both), enchantmentanjel, Kingi (thank you so!), Sarah, KikiBee22 (the time jump was dumb luck on my part! But I'm happy about it! :), Rebornrose1992, CLTex (Daryl and Thea will be awkward and sweet, while Rick and Thea will be hot and flirty)...you all are amazing!
Thanks and Love!
Leah P!
xoxo
