Hey guys :) Thanks for the reviews from the last chapter! I loved them all… Hope you all enjoy the next chapter!
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Daryl's voice was rough as he said, "Leave me be, woman, this ain't none of yer business."
"No, Daryl, please don't go, please, Daryl, please don't go yet!" Dean's voice burst out just as Rick rounded the corner to see Daryl, Dean, and Carol having what seemed like a heated discussion. The five year old was clinging to his uncle's leg, looking near tears, and Carol seemed to be about to start crying as well.
"What's going on here?"
Dean turned towards Rick, still not letting go of Daryl, and wailed, "Don't make him go, please don't, I don't want him to go! Carol says he's not better yet, an' there's bad people in the woods, an' I'm not allowed ta go with him—please, Rick!"
Rick held up his hands in a sort of defence, and raised his eyebrows at Daryl, who replied gruffly, "I'm goin' ta look fer Sophia again. It ain't a big deal, Grimes, no need fer you ta get involved."
"You aren't better yet," Carol threw her hands up in frustration, and shook her head, "You aren't, Daryl Dixon, and don't try to lie to me. You're just going to go out there and get even more hurt than you already are, and then this group will be missing two people!" This seemed to be the final straw for Dean, and he let out a wail.
Daryl gave Carol a filthy look, bending down to pick up a now sobbing Dean. He grunted in pain as he lifted the light boy, and Rick noticed that his body was more tense than normal, probably from trying to downplay the pain his wound was causing him.
He decided to throw in his opinion, "Daryl… I really think that you should wait another day or two as well. We've got a search rota going on, and we can afford to have you rest up and get better. Your health is important too."
The other man only scowled at him, rubbing Dean's back while he cried, "Dean, Dean, c'mon, kid, calm down. There ain't no need fer tears, y'hear?"
"I jus'—I jus' don't want you ta get lost too, Daryl. You only jus' found me, an' I know yer side hurts cause you still have a bandage on it, an' Carol said that yer not gonna come back if you go out, an'—an' I really don't want you ta get lost!"
A pained look came over Daryl's face, as he held Dean back for a moment, to properly look at him, "Dean, you know I havta go out an' look fer that other little girl, Sophia, remember? We talked about this, an' I explained that she's still lost out there. I havta find her, like Rick found you. I will come back fer you. I ain't never gon' leave ya alone again, Dean, but I need ta go out fer a little bit, and look fer this girl, okay? Do ya understand me, kid?"
Dean bit his lip, sniffing away the last of his tears, and nodded slowly, "Only if you promise that yer gonna come back."
"I promise."
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"This is still a bad idea," Rick said carefully, once Dean had been sent off to get an apple for Daryl to take out with him. The child was really just given the task to get him out of the way though. The tears had still been drying on his cheeks when he had bolted off towards the house.
Daryl scowled at him, "Don't matter if it's a bad idea or not, s'happening."
"Daryl, please," Carol begged him as he started stomping over towards the stables, "Please just take a moment to think about this, you're not healed enough yet!" He continued to ignore her as they entered the barn, grabbing a bridle from where it had been hanging up on the wall.
It was only when Carol placed a shaking hand on his shoulder, that he acknowledged her, "It don't matter how healed I am or not, woman! That's yer little girl out there, an' I intend on findin' her as soon as I can."
He then tried to lift a saddle up, cursing when his body betrayed him by letting out a moan, and Carol frowned, looking like this was the last straw for her.
"Daryl, please… we… we don't even know if we're going to find her."
This made him pause, and he stiffened just as he was about to open the stable door. Rick watched carefully, not wanting to say anything, just observing the intense glare that Daryl was giving Carol. Finally, after a few long beats of silence, he spoke, "What?"
Tears had started to slip down her cheeks, but Carol stood her ground, and said, "I can't let you go out there, Daryl, I can't let you risk yourself like that. You have Dean now, you have to think of him now, and if that means waiting until you're better to search for S-Sophia, then that's how things are going to go. Please, Daryl, don't make this any harder on me. Just wait another day."
Daryl didn't move, gripping the saddle tightly, while he stared at the woman. His face was tight and red with anger and supressed emotion, and Rick could see how difficult it was for him not to just tell her to get lost. It was clear to see that Carol had hit the right spot with Daryl, mentioning Dean and his responsibility to the boy.
At last, he pushed past her, muttering, "I'm goin' out tomorrow. Ain't no one gon' stop me." Then Daryl threw the saddle away from him, gasping and clutching his side from the movement, but throwing out a hand to keep Rick and Carol away, "Stupid bitch."
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Carol pressed a hand to her mouth, and did her best to keep the tears from falling after Daryl stormed away from them, her shoulders shaking. Rick put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, saying, "He didn't mean it, Carol, he's just overwhelmed."
"I know," She said in a broken voice, "I know. He would have gone out there today, and nearly killed himself trying to get Sophia back. But—but I can't let him do that. He's got Dean now, and… it's not fair to ask him to risk himself for her. For me."
Then she took a deep breath, and pursed her lips, getting herself under control. Carol nodded once to Rick, and then took careful precise steps out of the stable.
Rick stayed until she was out of sight, and then sighed, picking up the saddle and bridle, placing them back where Daryl had grabbed them from.
The sun hit him as he walked out of the stable block, and he wondered briefly if Sophia could see the same sun, or if she was… if she couldn't see the sun anymore. The heat burned him as he watched Dean run up to Daryl and hug him tightly when he realised that his uncle wasn't leaving.
God, he hoped they would find Sophia.
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When Rick returned to the rest of the group, he could see that Daryl hadn't stomped off like he would have assumed, but was instead sitting only a metre or two away from the rest of the group. Dean was sitting on the ground, leaning against Daryl's legs, and drawing a picture with great detail, from what Rick could see.
Maggie was laughing nearby with Glenn, having come out of the house to offer Dean some sheets of paper and crayons, and then gotten roped into a game of cards.
Rick frowned when he got closer, it looked like they were playing…poker. He laughed out loud when he finally approached them, and saw the worn decks of cards, and the stones that they were using instead of chips. T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn, and Andrea were all involved in the game, though it looked like T-Dog was winning by quite a substantial amount.
"Rick, you in?" Glenn called out when he noticed him, and moved slightly so there was more space for Rick to sit if he wanted, "Winner gets the last few pieces of chocolate that everyone chipped in…"
Andrea let out a yell as Rick started to nod, "You have to have something to bring to the table though!"
He paused for a moment, and then shook his head, knowing that Lori would kill him if he gambled away the last three pieces of Reece's that he knew she had hidden in her bag. "I guess I'm out then." He was met with disappointing sighs, T-Dog looking particularly sad at the missed opportunity to win Rick out of his chocolate.
There was silence for a moment, and then a gruff voice called out, "There room fer one more in that game?"
All eyes turned to Daryl, who seemed to be making new arrows out of sturdy looking sticks, gripping his knife in one hand. Dean looked up as well, smiling widely, before returning to his colouring, tongue sticking out in concentration.
"If you think you can handle it, Dixon," T-Dog replied with a goofy grin. "It might be nice to actually have some competition, that is, if you actually had poker out in those woods of yours."
To Rick's surprise, Daryl only grinned, and stood up out of the chair, dragging it closer with only a slight wince. Dean followed him, one hand grabbing onto Daryl's shirt, and the other clutching his paper and crayons. "Dean, go to our tent, and get the stash." The boy's eyes went wide, and he dropped the paper, "Yeah, kid, bring it out here… we're gon' win big."
Daryl dropped back into his chair with a grunt, and gave T-Dog a dangerous grin, which the other man quickly returned. This could turn out to be a pretty serious game, Rick realised with a smile of his own.
He bent down to pick up the picture that Dean had dropped, and looked at it carefully. It was a drawing of two people, one big and one small, holding hands with each other. They were drawn in childish style, much like Carl's pictures used to be, and it was impossible not to smile when looking at it. There were also trees drawn in the background, and what Rick guessed was Daryl's crossbow in the corner, a mess of lines and lines that looked as if they might be arrows.
Rick handed it to Daryl, and he paused in his scrutiny of the rest of the poker players to give a grin. The lines around his eyes faded slightly, and his face was fixed on this expression that Rick had seen several times since Dean had come into the camp.
Then the moment was over as the boy came running back, two chocolate bars and a half a bag of chocolate drops in his arms. The others all started cheering when they saw the goods, the possibility of winning the now golden jackpot putting them all in a good mood.
"Thanks kid," Daryl winked at him, and took the chocolate from Dean, placing it on a small table next to everyone where the rest of the chocolate was. The meagre pile had turned into a mountain of glorious chocolate within seconds, due to the addition of a new player. Rick looked around, and could see Andrea and Glenn almost salivating over the junk food.
T-Dog flashed a huge smile, and started to shuffle the cards with ease, "Let's get this started then!"
Rick watched for a moment, as their faces went serious, and the cards were dealt. He glanced back as he headed towards his tent, to see Dean tucked up at his uncle's feet like he had been minutes before, a new sheet of paper being turned into a child's masterpiece. The boy had a huge smile on his face, and he kept sneaking looks over towards the chocolate.
Rick had a feeling that Daryl was a lot better at poker than anyone else could ever imagine.
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He was interrupted in the middle of his conversation with Dale by the sounds of loud moans and desolate groans, "No! I can't believe it!"
"There's no way!"
"No!"
From the shouts coming from where the poker game had been going on, Rick guessed that a winner had been decided. He excused himself from Dale, and hurried over, excited to see who had come out on top, and won the colossal jackpot, that was way too good to be true in this world.
He turned the corner around Glenn's tent to see Dean laughing loudly, and holding a stack of chocolate bars in his arms, while Daryl smiled at him, and popped a chocolate piece into his mouth, T-Dog almost on the ground in sadness. From the look on T-Dog's face, he had never expected to lose the game.
There had to be at least a dozen chocolate bars there, and Rick felt a pang of jealousy ignite in him. The last few supply runs had turned up nothing of the sweet kind, so everyone had been savouring their last morsels of chocolate, saving them for as long as they could. He started to applaud, a twinkle in his eyes, as T-Dog glared at him, and Andrea looked like she was about to burst into tears at the loss of her Kit Kat bar.
Dean took a bow at Rick's clapping, and giggled when Daryl scooped him up into his arms. Then Daryl winked at Dean, and took a few chocolate bars out of his tight grasp. He tossed one to each member of the group, rolling his eyes at the yells of thankfulness that erupted out of the four other players.
"C'mon, Dean, let's go have an early lunch, kiddo." Daryl said then, and headed off towards his tent, Dean's arms full of their winning goods.
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Rick didn't see Daryl and Dean until dinner that evening, when everyone had gathered around the fire to eat.
The squirrel that Daryl had caught was roasting on the fire, along with some rabbits that he had snared, and Rick had to admit that it actually smelled pretty good. He would have never imagined himself saying that a few months ago, but these days; Rick rather looked forward to squirrel dinners.
"I'm hungry, I'm hungry!" Dean yelled excitedly, as he ran ahead of Daryl, running around the campfire several times, his eyes bright as he waved his arms around, "Daryl, I'm hungry!"
Daryl let out a hoarse laugh, sitting down in a chair beside T-Dog, "Don't know how, kid. Ya ate like three chocolate bars already today." He nodded his thanks to Carol as she handed him a glass of water.
"He's probably on a sugar high or something," Glenn said loudly, as he watched Dean sprinting around everyone, laughing loudly and giggling. The others agreed with smiles and laughs of their own, Rick especially glad to see the young boy letting down some of his defences around the group, and acting like a proper child. It was refreshing to see him laughing and having fun.
Until Dean ran in a slightly different direction on his route around the group, and tripped on a root sticking out of the ground.
He screamed, and hit the ground hard, and then all hell broke loose.
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"Dean!" Daryl yelled, as his nephew burst into tears, and curled up in on himself on the ground, screaming in pain.
Instantly, almost everyone was on their feet, starting to reach for the child, until they remembered that he wasn't good around people. Daryl threw himself down on the ground beside Dean, yelling his name out in a panic, and trying to uncurl the young boy.
"I'll get Hershel!" Glenn yelled, and set off for the house, footsteps pounding on his ground, the sound getting drowned out by Dean's screaming.
"Dean, Dean, look at me! Look at me, Dean, what hurts, kid? Dean, you have ta tell me what hurts, Dean, c'mon, Dean, look at me. It's okay, it's okay, I got you, c'mere now, c'mere. Dean!" Daryl's voice sounded desperate and filled with panicked worry, punctuated by the sounds of the child's sobs.
Finally, Dean unfolded himself, and let Daryl pick him up gently, placing Dean on his lap, and looking him over. Dean sobbed the whole way through, clutching his left arm to his chest while he wailed.
Once he was satisfied that Dean wasn't hurt anywhere else, Daryl stood up quickly, not jostling the boy in the slightest as he moved from a sitting to a standing position. Then he set off at a run towards the house, where Hershel was already opening the door, letting light spill out from the hallway.
Everyone else stayed silent while Dean's cries faded away. They were all shell-shocked.
"Dad, is Dean going to be okay?" Carl broke the silence with a scared voice, pressing his body against Rick's, looking for some sort of reassurance.
Rick knelt down, pulling Carl into a hug, "He's going to be fine. I think he might have hurt his wrist maybe, so he was crying because of the pain, and Daryl just got very worried. Don't worry though, Hershel will take care of him. He'll be fine, I promise."
And that was all that it had been. Rick remembered the first time Carl had tripped when he was younger, and had ended up splitting his chin open so badly that it had needed three stitches. The trip to the emergency room had been horrible, and he could only imagine how much worse that it was for Daryl.
He'd only just gotten Dean back, in this sick and twisted disaster of a world, and Rick's heart had almost stopped when he'd heard Dean's wails. He couldn't imagine how Daryl had felt. The man had been panicking, as only parents can, and the child screaming and crying, and Rick couldn't blame Carl for being scared. He had been scared too, and Daryl had been downright terrified, by the look on his face when he'd seen Dean trip.
It had looked similar to the one he'd had when they'd found Merle's hand on the rooftop.
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"Why don't you go in and see how Dean is?" Lori suggested to him quietly, when everyone had begun to calm down, though they all still shot anxious glances towards the house, "I'm sure Daryl probably needs someone now as well."
As ridiculous as that may have sounded a week ago, Rick knew that it was true.
He nodded, and slipped away from the campfire, quickening his stride as he neared the house. He hoped to God that Dean hadn't been hurt too seriously, as he had no idea how they would treat any one, let alone a child, with serious injuries in this world.
Maggie looked up when he entered the house, pointing towards the room that Dean and Daryl had been in before. Glenn waved nervously to Rick, from where he had been kissing Maggie on the sofa, as if expecting to be in trouble, but Rick only gave him a strained smile.
The sound of crying could be heard from inside the guest bedroom.
Rick knocked gently on the door, having to wait a moment before it was yanked open, and looked inside to see Daryl sitting on the bed, Dean on his lap, and Hershel looking at him with something that looked like relief in a way.
"I think Dean may have broken his wrist," He said quietly, before turning around to continue wrapping Dean's wrist up with bandages. "But obviously we don't have access to an x-ray machine, so I can't be certain that it's not just a small fracture or bad sprain."
Dean was still crying, and trying to pull his hand away, but Daryl kept a firm hand on his arm, holding it in place, and was hugging him tightly with the other arm. Tears streamed down his face, while Daryl muttered in his ear, looking devastated himself, as if the act of having to hold Dean in place was hurting him as much as it the little boy was hurting.
Hershel had placed a small metal rod on each side of Dean's wrist, to keep him from bending it, and was in the process of wrapping what looked like metres upon metres of gauze around it to secure the wrist.
"You're being so brave, Dean, well done for being so good for Hershel. I know it hurts a lot, but in a few minutes he'll be done, and you can get something for the pain," Rick pulled up a chair, and tried to comfort the boy in the only way that he could, reaching out a hand to squeeze Dean's shoulder, "Well done, buddy, you're so brave."
Daryl looked up for a moment, to nod his thanks to Rick, before focusing on Dean again, trying to comfort his nephew, and hold his arm steady for Hershel at the same time.
At last Hershel was finished, and Dean curled up against Daryl, his arm swathed in tight gauze and tape, and completely immobile. Hershel wordlessly handed Daryl two small white pills, which he managed to coax into Dean, before the child fell asleep, exhausted from the drama and pain of the whole event.
"Thank you." Daryl grunted out as he rearranged Dean in his arms, and stood up carefully.
"Why don't you stay in here tonight? I don't have any problem with it, and it must be uncomfortable in those tents," Hershel offered immediately, seeing Daryl about to head for the door.
Daryl paused for a moment, but then shook his head, "Deans needs structure. He needs ta have someplace ta call his 'home' an' I think that its best if he gets used ta the tent. S'not like we're gon' be here forever. Besides, the kid likes the tent. Calls it 'camping' an' he's already conned me outta my bedroll and blanket, plus two of Glenn's pillows. He's got a nice set up in there."
Rick watched as Daryl left the room then, Dean in his arms, and then turned to Hershel.
He was praying that the other man might be reconsidering his decision to not let them stay on the farm, after having to watch a hurt five year old be taken back to his tent, but he couldn't read Hershel's face. After a moment of silence, Hershel looked down at the double bed in front of them, and took the heaviest and softest blanket off it, handing it to Rick.
Then he placed another blanket and two feather pillows on top of the pile, saying, "I'd appreciate it if you would take these to Daryl. I don't—I don't want either of them to be cold."
"Thank you, Hershel; I'm sure Daryl will really appreciate this. And thank you for your help with Dean, it means a lot to Daryl, and the rest of the group."
"No thanks necessary." Hershel turned to go out of the room, before pausing, "And if anyone else from your group needs anything, we have spare linens and blankets in the house. Don't hesitate to take what you need."
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Rick unzipped Daryl's tent carefully, calling out in a quiet voice, "Um, Daryl? Hershel sent me out with some stuff for you."
He entered when he heard a grunt, and looked around the small tent with his eyebrows raised. Dean was sleeping on top of the small mat that Daryl owned, covered in blankets, and looking as cosy as anyone could. There was a few weapons and chocolate bars on the ground, as well as a pile of clothes, but other than that, the tent was bare.
Daryl lay on the ground, clearly settled in for the night, with no blanket or pillow, or anything. Rick held out the bundle of blankets and pillows that he had, and watched as the other man narrowed his eyes, "I don't want no charity, Grimes. Me and Dean manage jus' fine."
His version of fine clearly included Daryl giving everything to Dean, and sleeping on the bare ground, but Rick held his tongue about that.
"It's not charity. Well, maybe it is, but all of us need some charity right now. It would be stupid not to take this... C'mon, Daryl, just let someone else help you." After a long silence, Daryl reached out to take the pile, glancing over at Dean.
"Thanks, Rick. We'll see you tomorrow."
He nodded, "Okay. I hope Dean feels better in the morning."
And then Rick walked away from the tent, feeling a slight rush of happiness. Maybe things would start to get better. Having Dean around was good for the camp, the child seemed to lift everyone's spirits, and remind them that sometimes that the simplest things bring joy. And maybe Hershel would allow them to stay. And maybe they'd find Sophia, and everything would be good.
Maybe their group could be fixed after all.
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I hope you guys liked this chapter :) Would love to hear some feedback from you all, especially those 'silent readers', and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can! Hope you all have a good week :)
Review…?
Thanks for reading,
ArmedWithMyComputer xx
