A/N Please Review~ A picture of Lauren will be linked to my profile when the upload is approved.
As Lauren rounded the front of the house for the second time, this time fully dressed, she noticed Andrea was gone and that everyone else was back outside. She looked around and noticed that Rick and Shane were off doing whatever it is they do. 'He must be alright, then.' She thought to herself.
She walked towards the house and as she reached the stairs she felt the familiar tingle in her spin that someone was watching her. She looked around and not noticing anyone, she made her way into the house. She went into the kitchen to see Carol and Lori working with Beth and Rachael to make super. She knocked on the door frame of the kitchen and gave a light chuckle when some of the ladies jumped.
"Can I do anythin'?" She asked, leaning onto the frame and placing her arms behind her back.
Carol grabbed a glass of water off the counter and walked over to her. "Would you mind taking this upstairs to Daryl? He must be getting thirsty by now." She waited until Lauren grasped hold of the cup and gave a slight nod before she walked back into the kitchen.
"Anythin' else you ladies might need?" she asked, carefully pushing off the wall so she wouldn't upset the water. When all she received were heads shaking, she gave a light sigh and started towards the stairs. When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs she paused and gave them a look, and with a sigh she started her way to the second floor.
When she reached the second floor it took her a minute to remember which room was Hershel's and when she did she gave a light knock to the door. When there was no answer she opened the door slightly and seeing his back she crept in silently, trying not to wake him, when suddenly she turned his head and looked right at her, pulling the blanket up to his chin.
"Carol asked me to bring you this." Lauren spoke quietly. She tried not to let her shock at the scars on his back show on her face. "How're ya feelin'?"
Daryl rolled so he was facing the wall away from her, pulling the blanket higher up on his body. "Not 's good as I look." He mumbled.
Lauren gave a light chuckle and set the water down. She leaned on the doorframe and crossed her arms. "D'you need anythin'?" She asked with a small smile.
Daryl looked back over his shoulder and when he seen her smile rolled over onto his back as far as his wounds would let him. "I'm fine." He all but growled out, unsure of how to react to her sudden kindness. The girl confused him to say the least. One moment she acts like she wants to punch him the next she acts like this.
Lauren gave a nod and turned to go out the door. "By the way, I hope ya feel better soon." She grabbed the door knob and pulled the door closed behind her lightly. She stood outside the room, resting against the door and let her heart calm down. For some odd reason she felt inclined to get to know Daryl Dixon.
She walked down the stairs and back outside she hopped off the porch and started off towards the make shift camp ground. Suddenly Shane came jogging up beside her.
"Where you off to Lauren?" he questioned when he reached her.
She looked over at her sudden companion and shrugged her shoulders, "Just off to wander, maybe stop by the RV and talk to Andrea or Dale. Might talk to Rick for a while. Not much really, why?"
The smile she got from Shane was very unsettling, and it actually scared her to an extent. "No reason." He gruffed out, looking away from her and towards the campsite, his eyes instantly locking onto Lori and Carl.
Lauren chanced a quick glance over at him and noticed where his attention was directed, and while she was glad it wasn't directed at her, she felt bad that Lori had to suffer through it. When she was close enough to the camp she veered off towards the RV and poked her head inside and to her relief Dale sat in the booth reading a novel.
"Sorry to be a bother." She smiled, knocking on the door and giving the elderly man a smile.
Dale looked over the edge of his book and smiled back. Setting his book down on the small table he motioned to the seat across from him, "What's up Chicky?" He leaned forward slightly, crossing his arms under his chest.
Lauren took the offered seat and leaned back against it slightly and tilting her head back, he multi-toned brown hair sliding back off her forehead slightly. "Just wanted to pop in, say hello. Get rid of an unwanted puppy dog." She frowned then before slouching over onto the table.
"Puppy dog? Wouldn't happen to be Shane, would it?" Dale always seemed so smart, his thought logical and well thought out.
Lauren glanced up from underneath her bangs and gave a quick jerky nod. "It's not that I hate the guy, he just gives me the creeps, 's all. Like the way he looks at me or Lori for th' matter." She felt a small shutter work its way down her spin and through her whole body before she could stop it.
Dale gave her a small smile, a look of sympathy crossing his face. "Don't worry Chicky. Even if he did get any ideas, you got plenty 'a protection here with us." He reached forward and gave one of her hands a nudge, and gave her a reassuring grin.
Lauren nodded and looked around. She noticed a bunch of novels and activity books and she stood up and made her way to the bookshelf and started looking through titles. She gasped as she came across a title she hadn't seen in a while, a book she had read at least a year before the whole outbreak started. She grabbed the book and held it up showing the title to Dale, Blue is for Nightmares. "Dale, please tell me you have the other books to this series!" She walked up to him clutching the book to her chest and giving Dale her best puppy dog eyes.
"I believe I do, somewhere in here. My wife was a fan of the series and when she died I didn't have the heart to throw them out." He walked over towards a trunk under the bed in the master bedroom and pulled it out and opened the lid and inside there were a few articles of women's' clothes, some jewellery and there lying beside it all were the other books to the series. He checked all the titles before closing the trunk and sliding it back under the bed, hidden from sight. "Just as I thought, all there. You wanna borrow that one?" He raised his eyebrow and gave a smile at her overzealous nodding.
She was starting to get dizzy with all the nodding she was doing so she stopped. With a huge grin on her face she leaped at dale and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a squeeze. "Oh thank ya, thank ya, thank ya!" She cheered, hopping up and down a few times before clutching the book to her chest and grinning down to it.
Daryl hobbled down the stairs out into the sun and stopped as he reached the bottom. He looked around for everyone, the frown ever present on his face. When he noticed no one in the path of him and his tent, he slowly trudged off towards it, mindful of his injuries. When he was about half way to his tent his had to stop and catch his breath, as much as he didn't want to. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the field, trying not to haunch over and lean on his knees.
When Lauren exited the RV she noticed Daryl standing in the middle of the yard, doing absolutely nothing and she shook her head and frowned. 'Was sure he was s'posed to be on bed rest.' She thought to herself, starting towards him when she realized he hadn't noticed her.
Suddenly he started walking again but at a slower pace and she noticed how he favoured his left side by leaning to the right. When she was barely even 25 yards from him, she watched as he started to sway, and that was all it took for her to start running. He lost his fight with his conscious and gravity the moment she caught up to him. She looked down at his face, realizing he'd passed out before she looked further to check his bandages. She realized they hadn't turned red, which meant there was not bleeding. She started hefting his arm over her shoulders, tugging his right hand with hers, trying to take most of his weight, which when you thought about it, wasn't all that much due to malnutrition.
She started dragging him towards his tent, knowing that'd be where he'd be most comfortable. When she reached out with her left hand to grasp the zipper of the tent she had to lean to her left to accommodate his weight.
When she got the tent flap open she let Daryl carefully fall off her shoulder and proceeded to drag him backwards into the tent. When she finally got him inside and onto his makeshift bed of a sleeping bag and a rolled up blanket, she stopped to catch her breath. She opened her eyes and she took in her surroundings. There were clothes strung around the tent in random clumps and there was a stack of half finished arrows in the corner. She squatted down and started undoing the half tied laces to his boots. When she was done she carefully let his leg drop back onto the bed.
She walked over and started collecting the worst of the clothing he had strung around and gathered them into her arms. Sending a quick glance over her shoulder to Daryl she zipped the tent back up and made her way to the porch were her laundry bucket still was.
A few hours later Daryl stirred from his sleep and glanced around him, unaware of his location. He didn't remember making it into his tent, or taking his boots off. He looked around a was surprised to see most of his clothes gone, only a few decently clean outfits left laying on the floor. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, careful not to jar his wounds. He reached over to his left and grabbed an arrow and carefully flopped back onto his back. He gave a hiss and regretted going down that rough when his side pulsed in pain.
He took the arrow and carefully rolled onto his side and looked out the screen window in the tent. He lifted his arm half way and started applying pressure to the mesh with the tip of the arrow and let the arrow head poke through, creating a 1mm hole and pulling it back out.
He repeated that for a while, his thoughts drifting as he laid there, bored out of his mind.
An hour or so later he was startled when his tent was unzipped. He rolled over towards his back, still holding onto the arrow that was poking out the mesh in his tent. He watched the zipper move its way around the door frame and clutched the arrow a bit firmer when a hand reached in to pull the door flap open.
Lauren bent down as she made her way through the opening in his tent. Almost dropping the basket of fresh laundry in her surprise, she was shocked to see Daryl staring right at her, clutching an arrow. She stopped and stared at him, unsure if she should explain herself or not when she noticed all the holes in the tent beside him.
She let out a small chuckle as she moved towards the back corner. With her back slightly to him, she squatted down and started taking his clothes out of the basket and setting them on top of a crate in the corner. "Get bored, did'ya?" she asked, raising her brows and jerking her head towards the holes.
A/N Review, and stay tuned!