Shadows of the Forgotten
Chapter 7 - Just Like the Good Ol' Days
Waking the next morning, I had instantly shut my eyes, hoping- praying that it wasn't just another dream. After a dream like that, I'd probably crumble if I found out it wasn't real. When I felt two arms tighten around me, I let out a sigh of relief and opened my eyes.
Daryl was still fast asleep, his breath deep and slow as I looked up at him with a smile. Looking back, I couldn't remember a time when I saw him sleeping. He was always the first up and I was grateful I was given the opportunity this time. He looked so relaxed and content, and it instantly put a smile on my face. It was a rare state of calm for him to be in and I selfishly hoped I would be the only one to have the pleasure to see it.
"You have that grin on your face, don'tcha?"
His voice had startled me some, considering that he kept his eyes closed, and my body jumped slightly. His smirk told me that he was proud of himself.
"Well good morning to you too," I mumbled, cheeks flushed. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't be happy?"
Opening one eye, he looked down at me, smirk still securely in place. "None that I can think of."
"Good. I thought it was a dream at first..."
He raised a brow at me almost teasingly. "You ever have a dream that good?"
I shook my head slowly. Sure, I had a few nice dreams of Daryl, but none had been anything like what we shared last night.
With a coy smile, I pulled myself up slightly and presses my lips to his. He responded to the gesture instantly and moved me by the hips so I could straddle his waist. His hands didn't stop there though. Instead, he let them run over my body and under my shirt. I could feel a heat building up between my legs and I knew that if we didn't stop soon, things would escalate a lot quicker.
It wasn't until someone cleared their throat that we sperated from each other. I sat up quickly and straightened myself out, trying my best to avoid Aleah's amused smirk. Daryl, on the other hand, seemed to be glaring at her from his spot on the ground. I would have been giving her a similar look, but when I noticed where we were, I was glad she interrupted.
"Dale's making food, so if you're hungry I suggest getting down there before its gone," Aleah informed after a moment. Then her smirk widened. "And there's some free rooms down that way."
If possible, my cheeks flushed even darker and I nodded a quick thanks before she walked off.
"Why are we out here anyway?" I asked, glancing around.
While there was a row of cells on each floor, Daryl apparently chose to sleep on the perch just above the stairs. It left us wide open for anyone to see. He just shrugged.
"Didn' wanna sleep in a cage." He paused for a moment, his hands running along my thighs. "Didn' think I'd need the privacy either."
With a smile, I watched him fondly, glad our assumptions had been wrong. Maybe now I could convince him to move into a room.
"Think you can handle sleeping in a cage if I'm in there with you?" I asked. As much as I tried not to, his smirk told me my question had come off as more than just that. Not that I minded though.
"Won't be much sleepin'."
I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped myself short. I wanted us to keep teasing each other like this to see where it could lead, but at the same time, I hadn't eaten more than a few crumbs in the last little while and the news of Dale's cooking was almost too tempting to pass up.
Daryl had apparently caught onto my train of thought and sat up with me before helping me to my feet. His grumbling stomach made it apparent that he was hungry too.
It didn't take us long to get to the cafeteria where everyone was located (or so I assumed anyway). Julie and Chris were sitting with Carl and Sophia, with sour looks on each teens face. Glancing their way, the latter didn't seem all too happy either.
Thor was with them too and had instantly run over to me for an overly excited greeting. By the time I had gotten away, my face had been thoroughly slobbered on, which in turn earned a huff of amusement from Daryl. The gesture only ended up bringing my Bernese's attention to him though, causing me to laugh this time.
When we finally got free of Thor, Sophia called Daryl over with a smile. Before he could hide it, I saw Daryl's features soften and a small content smile tugged on his lips. I didn't want to ruin it, so I kept my mouth shut and nudged him softly. I could hear Aleah calling me over, so I figured he could go see what the young girl wanted.
I had turned to make my way to the others when he suddenly brought me back around and planted a firm kiss on my lips. It had surprised me, to say the least, but I welcomed it happily. Before I got separated from the group, he'd hardly shown any form of affection in front of people, yet here he was, doing just that for everyone to see.
"Either he really missed you or the sex is unbelievable," Lori teased as I approached the table. "I would have never thought I'd see the day when Daryl Dixon showed affection."
My cheeks had instantly heated up at her observation and I sat down across from the three women. Nate was also at the table, which I found interesting, but Aleah was quick to bring my attention elsewhere.
"Well, we know he missed you a lot," she started, the twinkle in her eye hinting at where this was going. "How was the sex anyway?"
I rolled my eyes at her blunt enquiry, noting the interested look in both Carol and Lori's eyes. Apparently they hadn't had much to gossip about while I was gone.
"It was good."
The answer didn't seem to sate their curiosity though. I was never one to disclose personal stuff so easily, but I had a feeling they wouldn't let me get away with it this time.
"Must have been more than just good if you two took that long," Carol piped up with a grin.
Running a hand through my hair, I sighed, a small smile playing on my lips. "It was amazing..."
The looks that appeared in their faces made me chuckle. It was just like high school again, well, kind of anyway.
"To be honest, I didn't think he had it in him," Lori commented.
Aleah picked up on that and nodded. "Wham bam, thank you ma'am."
Their attention turned to me next, looking for my input. "That's what I thought at first too, but..."
Aleah raised a brow towards me curiously. "How many times?"
The question caught me off guard slightly. "Wha...?"
"How many times did you hit 'the big o'?"
My cheeks flushed instantly at the enquiry. "Why would you ask that with Nate here?"
He didn't seem to take offence though. "Just us girls talking, nothing to be shy about," he said, trying to keep a straight face.
I rolled my eyes and held my hand out, signalling four fingers. Their eyes bulged at my answer.
"Well consider me jealous," Carol teased.
Lori nodded in agreement, both women giggling with each other before they suddenly stopped and looked over my shoulder. Before I could look, Daryl sat between Nate and myself without a word. I had to shift over slightly to make room for him, signalling that he was still worried about how close Nate and I had gotten. I didn't pay much mind to it though, my cheeks a deep red at the fact that I was just discussing our night with the others.
When he turned to hand me a bowl of food, he raised a brow questioningly. "What were you guys talkin' 'bout?"
That, I couldn't answer, but I was glad Aleah took the initiative.
"Just girl stuff."
I could tell he knew there was more to the story, considering the look he turned towards Nate, but he shrugged it off and started eating. I was pleasantly surprised at the contents of the bowl; rice, corn, and some form of meat I figured I'd be better off not knowing about. It was a thousand times better than the food we had been eating over the past year, so I had no complaints whatsoever.
"Feel like lendin' a hand today, Brit?" Daryl asked, barely glancing over at Nate. "We're gonna clear out the infirmary."
Seeing as Nate wasn't going to get eye contact from Daryl, I caught his attention and mouthed a 'sorry' for Daryl. If anything, Nate seemed more amused by Daryl's cold shoulder and he just sent a shrug my way.
"Sure, let me know when you guys need me and I'll be there."
"Back in the cell block whenever you're ready," Daryl answered without skipping a beat.
It was weird to see Daryl revert back to a cold shoulder after having him open up so much. Hopefully he could learn to trust Nate, but I knew that was something that was going to take time.
"I can help out too if you-"
Daryl cut me off with a shake of his head. "Nah, you're not the one that's got to prove themselves."
At that, he finally looked over at Nate, causing an eerie silence to fall over the group. Now he was going a bit too far. Before anything could be said or done, I discretely placed my hand on Daryl's thigh, effectively drawing his attention towards me. He must have known I was going to push my offer of joining them, because he chose to speak first.
"Sophia asked if you could take them outside for a while. Julie and Chris said they wouldn't."
I watched him closely for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not I should go along with it. In the end, I gave him a nod and he got up to leave. Nate was quick to follow with a playful salute, leaving me with the women.
"Ever see a jealous Dixon?" I questioned with an uneasy chuckle.
Carol humoured me with a laugh. "He'll get over it eventually."
I gave her a nod and stood up with a sigh. "Guess I'll go let the kids out. If Daryl jumps Nate let me know."
"Will do," Aleah chuckled.
Running a hand through my hair, I made my way over to the 'kid's table', watching as Sophia's face brightened.
"Ready to go?"
Both Sophia and Carl nodded enthusiastically and stood up to follow me out. Thor was instantly on our heels, tail wagging happily.
"So, do you guys have a ball or anything?" I asked as we neared the exit.
"I found a soccer ball a while ago," Carl informed, "but there's only three of us."
"Four," I corrected with a grin. "Thor and I verse you two. Unless you're scared you'll lose."
A determined look washed over his face and he gave me a nod. "You're on."
Once we got the ball and made it outside, we set up makeshift goals with random pieces of garbage that were in the yard. Then we started to play.
I wasn't out to win or to let them win, just to have fun. For Carl and Sophia, they hadn't been able to be kids for far too long and I wanted to give them some of their happy go lucky childhoods back. If that meant running around, chasing a ball for a few hours, then I'd do it, no questions asked.
"Come on, Sophia! Pass it!"
The young girl wasn't fairing well with the sport, but that didn't mean she wasn't having fun. With an ear to ear smile, she kicked the ball as hard as she could, sending it past Thor and a little ways away from Carl. Before he could get to it, I ran over and threw him over my shoulder, keeping him from reaching the ball.
"Riley, that's cheating! Lem'me go!"
He was laughing as he squirmed to get free, so I kept him there, giving Sophia a chance to score a goal.
"Sophia, the net's open!" Carl called eagerly.
She took a second to comprehend what she was being told, but once she understood, she ran to the ball and started kicking it towards the goal. Thor was bouncing around her excitedly, but not causing her any problems as she ran across the field. Once she was close enough, I let Carl go and watched as Sophia kicked the ball between the posts. As soon as it was through, she turned around excitedly and threw her hands in the air.
"I did it! I scored!"
I couldn't help the smile from spreading on my lips as she jumped around happily with Thor. As they celebrated, Carl had turned to retrieve the ball, but I stopped him and nudged him towards the other two.
"Thanks Riley."
One of my brows raised curiously. "For getting the ball? It's the loser's job after all, right?"
He rolled his eyes briefly and chuckled. "For taking me and Sophia outside. I, uh- we didn't get to play or anything and I think she really enjoyed herself."
A grin worked its way onto my lips at the obvious care he showed for her and I gave him a quick nod before he ran off. Carl might be growing up fast, but he was growing up mature and level headed. I had a feeling he was going to go far in this world, and he was going to do it the right way.
Smiling to myself, I tracked down the soccer ball and started walking in that direction. It had gone over a slight slope and ended up rolling to the fence. When my eyes landed on it, my smile faded and my hand immediately checked for my knives. I had both my kukris strapped on while we were playing so I was in a good position to approach the three men at the fence.
The first one was the tallest, a bald, African-American man, followed by a blond with a handlebar moustache, then lastly, a short, balding man with glasses. I took the three in as I approached, keeping in mind their distinctive blue prison jumpsuits.
"That little girl's got one hell ov'a kick," the blond commented casually. "It's nice that they can go outside and play."
I stayed quiet as I studied them. They must have been the one's Rick mentioned earlier. The group had helped them clear out a cell block for them to stay in and they were to keep their distance.
"Didn't Rick tell you guys to stay clear of the area?" I asked after a minute. "I don't think he'd be happy if he saw you here."
"We're sorry, really," Mr. Moustache continued. "We tried clearing out the bodies, but they were people we knew, good men. It's... It's hard, you know?"
I could feel the sceptical look tugging on my features. "You're prisoners... Not exactly what I'd call 'good people'."
"We haven't killed anyone," he defended quickly. "Sure, I like my pharmaceuticals, but I've never killed anyone."
I took the bit of information in and nodded to the next man. "And you?"
He seemed reluctant to speak, but finally gave in. "B&E."
I turned to the last man, his expression unnerving me slightly. "Tax Fraud."
With one last nod, I picked up the ball, but when I opened my mouth to speak, I was cut off. It wasn't by one of the prisoners though. No, it was a southern drawl that cut me short and it didn't sound all that happy.
Footnote:
Such a fun chapter to write, we'll see how long that lasts anyway XD
If you noticed, I added in another prisoner. He's in the comic books so there might be a slight spoiler later on... woopsies.
And Riley responded with four to Aleah's question because, well... they didn't stop after the last chapter ;P
