CHAPTER SEVEN: LEOPARD LILY
That night, I finally told Carol what happened to Sophia. I knew for sure that she had been raped. Hershel had wanted to look at her injuries, but whenever he was in the room, she's scream and tried to hide, so Maggie had to check. Maggie wasn't as knowledgeable, but the evidence was clear. There were injuries to her nether regions and dark finger-shaped bruises along her legs and hip. The extent of the damage was unknown. Physically, she may never have a child when she grows up. Mentally, she may never even allow a man near her, again.
With how much horror that was already wrecking havoc on this world, it was difficult to imagine what Sophia was possibly going through.
Carol was able to finally gather herself together when she noticed how her crying was only fuelling her daughter to keep crying. She realised that her daughter was much stronger than she thought and the two aimed to move on from the entire ordeal. Carol had told the entire group a brief version of the story and most of the men kept away from the RV. The only one who stayed was Dale, but he remained on the roof, out of sight.
Daryl came by much later than I thought he would. When he came in, I was already asleep and I was woken up by hands running down my back. It felt good. It felt very, very good. I kept my eyes closed, willing for the person to continue.
I have had the privilege of going to the spa before and all the masseuse there had soft, smooth hands, but these were big and coarse. It felt strength that the women did not have.
"Mmm..." I let out a sharp intake of breath when I realised that I had moaned out loud.
The hand stopped.
I opened my eyes and saw Daryl standing motionlessly beside the bed. He looked almost bashful. "Daryl?"
"What?" he grunted. "Ya said ya wanted to talk later."
"Yeah..." I did, didn't I? Carol probably already told him about Sophia, so what was I going to say to him?
"Why did ya wander off?"
"Nothing," I mumbled. "Just needed some time alone."
"Said somethin' different, last night." I froze and stared at him. One side of his lips quirked upward. "Ya talked a lot. Somethin' 'bout bein' jealous?"
I swallowed and tried to suppress the blush that was already making its way to my face. I hadn't planned on saying that. "W-What else did I say?"
"Me an' Carol. Flowers." He continued to watch me, probably trying to catch any lies I was bound to tell him.
"What about you and Carol?" Perhaps he was going to tell me the extent of their relationship. At least, then, it would put my active mind to rest and I could focus on something else - like staying alive.
"Ya think we make a good couple?"
I stopped breathing. "I... You guys..." My heart sank. Maybe I didn't want to know, after all. "Why did you give me the flower?"
He shrugged before lighting a cigarette.
"You can't smoke in here!"
He popped the window opened and sat on the ledge. "Ya said ya wanted one."
"Is that all?" I asked, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice.
He shrugged.
I poked one of the petals. "Does this one have a meaning? Carol told me about the Cherokee rose that you gave her. It symbolised hope, right?" Was I sounding too desperate for his attention, now?
"It's a Leopard Lily. Actually an iris. Symbolises inspiration." He took a long drag of the cigarette. "Thought it appropriate after ya found da girl."
"Anything else?"
He shrugged, again. "Was used ta treat arrow poisonin'."
I couldn't help but laugh at how appropriate that was. Maybe that was really what I needed. A cure. Maybe that was his way of telling me to stop chasing after him.
"Ya don't like it?"
...
Daryl had a frown on his face as he tried to gauge her expression. What the hell did she want from him? He had went out of his way to get the flower for her - one that he thought was appropriate - and she's still not fucking happy! The dumb bitch...
"It's not that," she mumbled, refusing to even look at him. "I just... The flower would mean more if you wanted to give it to me instead of me asking for it."
Smoke literally shot out through his nose as he tried to suppress his irritation. Women... Why the fuck did they have to be so confusing?
"I'm sorry," she whispered when she must've noticed his frustration. "Don't worry about it."
He groaned and ruffled his hair as he looked at her downcast face. "If I didn't want ta give it ta ya, I wouldn't. Chose that one just for ya."
She peeked out hopefully from under her blanket. With only those wide green eyes staring at him, he was reminded how young she actually was. He frowned. How old was the girl? Must be in her twenties. Much too young for him. He swallowed as he thought about all the inappropriate thoughts he had with her. Shit, he was probably a borderline pedophile. If Merle was here, he'd be laughing his fucking ass off. Shit...
"'M sorry for being so annoying," she quietly apologised. "I don't know why I'm being like this. Maybe it's the head injury."
Yes, blame the head injury. Maybe he'd fall for it. He snorted. Yeah, right.
"Maybe you should check on Carol, tomorrow. She'll probably need some comforting." He didn't know why she was always mentioning Carol. "She took it hard with what happened to Sophia, probably harder than the girl."
He got off the window sill and started walking towards the door. When he turned around, he saw that she had slipped her entire head under the covers and sighed.
...
I couldn't suppress the disappointment when I heard the door close. It wasn't his fault. I was the one who kept pushing him away, but Carol really did need his support. His absence would probably help me cope better with this stupid jealousy. If only Dave was here... Maybe he'd help me forget, again, but I felt bad for using him like that. It was even worse knowing that he knew I was only using him and he was okay with it. Well, he was. Obviously he wasn't when he left that day.
As I continued to ponder, the sudden dip of the bed brought me out of my thoughts. The cover was pulled off me and calloused hands pressed lightly against my back. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Daryl leaning over me.
He grunted and adjusted his position, so that he was straddling my legs. I gulped. As he moved backward and forward, I could feel heat gathering at my core. I quickly hid my face into the pillow and held back and moan. Bloody hell... Did he know what he was doing to me?
He suddenly stopped and leaned back. I tried to look up at him, but it tugged too much at the stitches on my left shoulder.
I wiggled a little, trying to get a better view, but froze as he let out a low, husky growl.
"Stop," he groaned. "Fuck..."
He shifted, again, and after a moment, he continued the massage. This time, however, I couldn't help but notice something poking at my lower back - something that wasn't there a few minutes ago. "Daryl..."
"Don't say ma name like that, girl." He leaned forward and I could feel his warm chest against my back. The pressure was uncomfortable, but not painful. His breath against my face made me shudder.
"Daryl..." I tilted my head so that our lips were only a breadth's length apart. His dark blue eyes were dark with desire. I wondered if he could feel my heart pulsing through my body.
Before he was able to close the distance, I turned my head, again and his nose hit my cheek. "Fuck, girl. What the fuck?"
"Carol," I mumbled into the pillow. "Can't do that to her."
"Whattaya talkin' bout?" he growled against my ear. "Nothin' between me 'nd 'er."
I slowly turned back to look at him. They weren't in a relationship together? "B-but... I thought..."
"Stop thinkin'." He took the opportunity to crash his lips on to mine and I groaned loudly. It felt much better than I ever could've imagined. Twisting my hand, I managed to pushed the back of his head to bring him closer. "Fuck..." he mumbled as he shifted to gain a better position. Somehow, he managed to readjust us so that he was under me with his arm around my waist.
"Mm... Daryl..." I sighed as I laid my head on his chest. For a man who was nearly completely covered in muscle, he was extremely comfortable. I slipped a hand under his shirt and stroked the toned abs underneath. As my hand neared the hem of his trousers, I felt the skin underneath tremble uncontrollably.
He groaned and pulled my hand out of his shirt. "Gonna make me do somethin' I'll regret if ya don't stop."
I smiled against his chest and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, I was woken up with a massage on my back. I sighed and snuggle closer to my pillow, but stopped when I realised that it wasn't as soft as I remembered it to be. I took in a deep breath, relishing in the scent of grass and pure manliness, before opening my eyes. I looked up and saw his hooded eyes watching me. "'Morning."
"'Morning," he mumbled back. "How's yer shoulder?"
I tried to rotate my left shoulder, but winced. "Probably not gonna be able to do much for at least a couple more days."
He nodded and continued on gently rubbing my back.
The next few days to my recovery passed by like a dream. Since Sophia had been found, Daryl didn't have much reason to linger in the forest after a hunt, so he spent most of his time with me and we spent most of that time in bed - nothing too naughty, mind you.
Hershel had visited at least twice a day and we tried not to be in a compromising position whenever he came knocking. The veterinarian didn't seem perturbed that Daryl was always in the room and I was grateful that he kept it all to himself.
When he finally deemed me well enough to leave, I couldn't be more relieved. I began to slowly move all my limbs to try to get all the stiffness out and the blood running. Never thought I'd be so excited to be released back into a world that was full of flesh eating corpses.
As I slowly made my way across the grass to where my sleeping bag... was? I looked around and saw that it hadn't been strewn across anywhere. That means that Daryl probably stole it while I was absent.
I couldn't help the smirk that had spread across my face. I had stolen his tent while he was injured. I guess it was only fair if he did the same.
I walked over to his tent and crouched down. When I looked inside, I was surprised to find that not only was the sleeping bag in there, but there was also a small bouquet of Leopard Lilies. I crawled in and held it into my hands. So what did this mean?
I turned around and let out a shriek. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" I shouted at Daryl who was crouching just outside the tent, staring at me.
"Ain't doin' no sneakin'," he said in his raspy voice. A cigarette was dangling between his lips.
I scrunched up my nose at him. "Gonna give me a heart attack, one day."
He smirked and crawled in before dropping his crossbow to the corner. "Hopin' to give ya somethin' else."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at him, teasingly. "I think these flowers are quite enough, no?"
He leaned over me. "No."
Just as he was about to kiss me, there was a gasp by the tent entrance and we both jumped apart to see Carol staring back at us in shock.
"Carol - "
The woman dashed off without a word, leaving us both dumbfounded.
"Da fuck..."
From the look on her face, I knew that I hadn't been too far off with my assumption that something may have been going on between Daryl and Carol, but it seemed that it was only one sided and Carol didn't know. "Maybe you should go after her," I told him. I didn't want any misunderstandings in this group, especially when I may be in the very core off it. Being the new person, it was already difficult trying to find my place in all this. I didn't want to be the reason that the group breaks up.
"Why da fuck do I hafta do that?" Daryl laid on his back with his arms crossed underneath his head like a pillow.
I gave him an exasperated look. "You know how I thought that you and Carol were together?" He nodded, confusion still on his face. "Well, I made that assumption while conversing with Carol. She spoke so fondly of you that I thought you must be with her and... I think she came to the same conclusion."
His tanned skin seemed a shade paler. "God damn ya'll fuckin' women." He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Why ya'll always givin' me so much God damn trouble."
He still didn't seem to want to comply to my request. "Daryl, she's an emotional wreck, right now. Just talk to her. I'll... I'll come with you if you want."
With a sigh, he finally conceded. He extended a hand, gesturing for me to go out first, which I promptly obeyed. "Nice view," he commented. I groaned when I realised why he wanted me to go first. That pig...
We walked over to the RV where Carol was sulking with Dale beside her. Thankfully, Sophia was nowhere to be seen. The elderly man gave us a sympathetic look before walking out.
"Carol..." I started when no one seemed to want to talk. "I'm sorry about how you found us and..." I paused to look at Daryl for help.
He seemed as lost for words as I was, except I guess he never was much of a talker.
"Daryl and I... Daryl and I are..." I stopped. What was our relationship like? Were we actually together as in boyfriend/girlfriend or were we friends with benefits? "Intimately involved." I frowned at my own words. How did that sound like to her? Did it make me seem like a whore?
"Just go away," Carol said in a tired tone. "I don't want to talk about it."
I bit my lips before nudging Daryl with my elbow. He shrugged. "We didn't want to hurt you. It just happened."
"Please. I just need some time."
I stared at her. The words seemed so familiar to me. Hadn't Dave said something similar? Carol had been so kind to me during my stay here. I didn't want to hurt her. I didn't want to lose her. "I'm sorry..."
"Daryl! Carol!"
We turned to see Rick walking towards us. "Sydney." He nodded his head towards my direction. "Glenn has something to tell us. It's important."
We gathered around the campfire. Glenn was the only one standing and he looked extremely nervous. He looked at the house several times where Maggie was standing. "There are walkers in the barn," the Asian boy finally blurted out.
There was a moment of silence where everyone let the new information sink in.
I turned to Daryl who didn't seemed too fazed, but Shane quickly exploded. "And when were you going to tell us this?"
Glenn looked guiltily downward.
Shane cursed and stood up. "We're gonna kill those motherfuckers."
"Wait," Rick stood with him. "We should talk to Hershel about this."
"I already did," Dale told us. "And what he does is none of our business. This is their home. We have no right to interfere with the way they do things."
"Dale's right," I injected. "We already found Sophia. Isn't that the reason why all of you decided to stay here in the first place? Now that we've found her, we can leave. We don't have to interfere with their way of life."
Shane actually seemed to consider this. I thought he would immediately reject any suggestions I made, but perhaps he was more reasonable than I had given him credit for.
"Then we'll redistribute the guns and leave tomorrow morning," he told us.
There was a murmur of agreements and protests. It was nice staying here where walkers weren't constantly trying to kill us, but knowing that there was a mob just a short walk's length away really put the damper to things.
That night, I laid in the tent, unable to sleep. I turned and saw that Daryl had his eyes closed, but I couldn't be sure whether he was actually asleep. Placing a hand on his chest, I managed to wiggle closer to him until my head was pressed against his side.
One of his arms slipped out from underneath his head and pulled me even closer to him. This may be the last night we'll ever get to be this comfortable - to feel this safe. I may have easily thrown into the open how we could just leave, but I've gotten used to this place and the memories that it held for me. I'd also miss the Greene family. No matter how adamant Hershel was that he didn't wish for us to be here, he had conceded every time and treated all of our injuries with minimal complaint. He was a good man.
What would become of this family if the walkers managed to get out?
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I love writing Daryl and Sydney together. I hope you guys enjoy it just as much reading about them!
Now, on to the bloody season finale that left me frustrated and rather disappointed. I really, really wished that they hadn't left it like that, only for us to wait half a year for the rest! It just didn't feel complete. In The Talking Dead, they mentioned how comic issues are like this too, but the comics I read never require us to wait that long. Who do you think Negan chose? My bet is on Glenn.
Thank you galwidanatitude and gypsyma91 for reviewing!
Thank you also to everyone who has favourited and followed this story!
I always like to hear from all of you.
