Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I've been so busy! I did struggle with this chapter a little because I have so many ideas for future chapters that I didn't know what to write for this one so I am sorry if it's a little boring or not written well but I hope you stay with me because things will be getting interesting really soon ;) I really would appreciate your views on this story so please review if you would like more soon! Hope you're enjoying it so far :) ~ Skye
Update - I've noticed a few errors and fixed them, for some reason I keep accidently writing in first person like I've done in my other story :')
It had been a long time since Lee felt the feeling that she felt in the moment she woke up, safety. The safety and warmth of waking up in someone's arms to be exact, someone who wasn't going to hurt her and this was exactly what she needed. It almost felt like a dream to her it was so surreal, she never imagined something like this would happen yet here she was, falling for someone at the end of the world. She smiled dreamily as she nuzzled against Daryl's chest and listened to the rhythm of his heartbeat, all she wanted was for this moment to last forever. Lee felt his hand move up to stroke her hair softly as he stirred, she looked up to see him looking back at her with a smile.
"Mornin', sleep alright?" he asked her, yawning slightly as he lifted himself up. Lee moved with him, still leaning against him, not wanting to part with him just yet.
"Yeah thanks... I'm sorry for asking you to stay, I just didn't want to be alone last night," Lee murmured. she still wasn't sure if he actually wanted to be with her or if he was doing this out of some kind of pity.
"You say sorry way too much, I would've left if I didn' wanna stay," he replied, still stroking her ginger locks.
"I guess… We better get up," she yawned and went to kiss Daryl on the cheek but as she came closer to his face, he turned so her lips met his. It caught her off guard slightly, causing her to moan which in return made Daryl deepen the kiss. It was more passionate than the previous kiss the night before, Lee could feel his arms snake around her waist to pull her body closer than it already was but the moment was cut short.
"Hey, you guys up yet?" Rick's voice called to them from outside.
Lee abruptly ended the kiss from the sudden interruption, "he knows you're in here?"
"He saw me carryin' you back last night, got a problem with that?" He asked, unsure if she was happy with other people knowing he spent the night with her.
"No, of course not," Lee shook her head, "I was just a bit surprised." She kissed him lightly on the lips before getting up off the camp bed, "is there any chance you could leave so I could get changed? It's not that I-"
"It's fine, you don' need to explain," he smiled and stood up, "See you in a bit." He ruffled her hair before he exited the tent, zipping it back up after him.
She tore her clothes off, though her feelings were strong towards Daryl she was still nervous about him seeing scars she'd rather keep concealed. Many were old, she hadn't fulfilled her urges in a long time but they were still there, threatening to overwhelm her when things were at their worst. She pushed the dark thoughts to the back of her mind as she changed into a clean pair of cargo pants and a black vest top. After pulling on a hooded jacket and her boots, she exited the tent with a smile on her face to find the others had already set to work on breakfast.
"You seem happy," Glenn noticed the unusually cheerful look on her face but she could see the small smirk on his face.
"Well I had a good sleep and nothing else happened before you say anything," She told him as she sat in the empty chair next to him, "how's it going with Maggie?"
He nodded, "yeah it's good, just didn't really it to be this serious."
"I get what you mean," Lee smiled, "it's crazy, but I think we all need a bit of happiness in times like these."
Lee glanced around and saw Rick talking to Daryl by his tent and watched as Daryl walked over to the shed where Randall was being held before going over to Rick.
"What's going on?" She asked him, curiously.
"Daryl's just getting some information out of him to help us decide what to do with him," Rick replied and saw the worried expression on Lee's face, "don't worry, it'll all get sorted soon."
"I hope so," Lee nodded and strolled back to the seat she was previously occupying as she waited attentively for Daryl to come back. She twiddled her thumbs and ate a small amount for breakfast to pass the time and almost jumped up from the chair when he finally returned from interrogating Randall.
"There's a gang of them, thirty men," Daryl told them as everyone gathered to listen to him. He explained how they were well-armed and if they reached the farm, they'd kill the men and do worse to the women.
"No one goes near this guy," Rick ordered.
"You don't have to tell us that, but what're we going to do?" Lee asked.
"He's a threat… And we have to eliminate the threat," Rick replied back, he didn't seem to like the plan but it was the only one that would guarantee the groups safety.
"So you're just gonna kill him?" Dale argued, not agreeing with Rick's idea. The two of them walked away to discuss it while Lee rushed over to Daryl.
"Are you okay?" She asked him, noticing the blood on his knuckles.
"M'fine," he replied, settling down the crossbow by his tent.
"Let me see," Lee held out her hand, motioning him to let her look at his own injured hand. He was hesitant but complied soon after, "you think Rick will really kill him?"
"I dunno but like I said before, I don't care what happens with him," Daryl replied as Lee inspected his hand.
She let him go and sighed, "I don't want him here… But I still don't know if this will solve things, some people in the group aren't happy about killing him and it might break the group apart if it happens."
"Group's already broken," Daryl told her.
"But we're a part of this group… I just don't want to lose anyone else," Lee mumbled, leaning into his hand. "I'm gonna go see if there're any chores that need doing, I'll talk to you later," Lee smiled up at Daryl before heading back to the others.
"Need any help?" She asked Carol, who was folding some clothes.
"If you're offering," She smiled and Lee set to work on the pile of clothes.
"How're you doing with everything?" Lee asked her.
"The best I can be after losing Sophia…" She replied quietly. Lee knew she was hurting but was glad to see that she hadn't given up, she didn't look like it but Carol was a strong woman. Lee respected her greatly for it and also because she reminded her a little of her own mother who was a quiet woman but also very kind like Carol.
"If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask," Lee told her before changing the topic. "Do you think killing Randall is the right thing to do?"
"I don't think killing anyone is right," Carol responded adamantly, "but I also think our safety is more important."
"Yeah, I'm just worried about the consequences…" Lee scratched her head as she finished folding up clothes and told Carol she was going to lie down in her tent for a while.
"Hey, Lee?" Dale's voice called to her from outside.
"Yeah?" Lee sat up to see him standing at the entrance to the tent, "you want to talk about Randall, right?"
"You can't think that killing the boy is the right thing to do, I'm trying to get Rick to change his mind but it's the majority vote on this matter," he said. Lee walked out so it was easier to talk to him.
"I don't know what to think, if he was like the men he was with then I wouldn't have a problem with it at all," Lee confessed, "but I don't know what he's guilty of other than surviving, even if it meant living with a group of monsters."
"I am sorry for all that you've been through, but if you think that we should take more time to decide what to do with him than you need to speak up about it," he said, convincingly, "it isn't right to just execute the boy when we hardly know anything about him."
"People are just scared; I'm scared… If the rest of his group found out about us, then we're all dead. I don't know if I should be involved with this matter If I'm honest," Lee scratched her head, unsure of what else to say.
"You're a good person and so is Daryl, I'd trust you both more than the likes of Shane and he's the one who put it in Rick's head that we should kill Randall," Dale continued to try to convince Lee that she should speak her mind to Rick about her opinions.
"I don't know… I'll think about it," Lee shrugged.
"Thank you, I know you'll do what's right," He smiled slightly before walking back to his RV and Lee lay back down in the tent and thought about the events that had already happened that day and the hard choice that the group had to make.
Since Randall had been brought back, Lee was more on edge even though she pretended to be calm in front of the others. It was an obvious choice to put the group first before anything else but Lee couldn't bring herself to be responsible for someone else's death and she wanted nothing to do with it. Slowly but surely, those thoughts were replaced by thoughts of Dary, she was amazed at how she trusted him enough to let him stay with her in the night but she was also terrified of uncertain events that could break them apart. After losing her whole family, she told herself that she wouldn't get this close to anyone but she couldn't help it around Daryl.
The decision about what to do with Randall took place in Hershel's house, everyone had gathered and Lee leaned against the wall as Dale argued his point against killing Randall. Any option other than execution was put down, from driving him back out to letting him prove himself and become part of the group. Most of them were just scared of the possibilities of Randall's group finding out where they were if Randall was let loose but Dale never gave up defending him.
"This is a young man's life," he told them all, "and there is no proof that he did anything wrong."
"Dale's right…" Lee started to agree with him after staying silent, "I think we should try to take him out again, leave him somewhere far away from here."
"Christ, Lee," Shane shook his head, "after what he did-"
"He didn't do anything to me from what I can remember," she said, becoming increasingly frustrated. The past couple of days, she had stayed far away from Shane because of his instability, she didn't trust him as much as the others. "Suppose it doesn't even matter what I think anyway…"
"Everyone's opinion in this matters," Rick said, a little more calmly than Shane, "now I know this is a difficult choice but-"
"I don't care anymore, do what you want but I'm having no part in it," Lee sighed and walked out the room, ignoring Daryl's attempts to hold her back to calm her down.
The air was pleasantly cool on Lee's skin, she sat down on the steps and rested her on lap. She enjoyed the time alone but still heard raised voices from inside, she knew it was the only way to keep them all safe but sitting around discussing someone's execution was a completely new and bizarre situation and she couldn't handle it. After a while, she heard the front door open and turned around to see Dale, "what happened?" She asked him.
He shook his head, "you already know the answer to that. Thank you for siding with me, it's good to know there are still decent people around." She watched as he walked off into the fields, leaving him to some time alone himself after all the commotion and it wasn't long before the others exited the house.
"So you're really going through with it?" Lee asked Rick.
"Yeah, it has to be done," Rick replied, placing a reassuring hand on her arm.
"I know, it's just... There's so much death already, it's not fair that we have to turn on each other as well," Lee shrugged, ignoring the looks that Shane was giving her like she was in the wrong. Rick nodded a goodbye to her and left with Shane towards the shed where Randall was while Daryl stayed back.
"You alright?" He asked her.
"Yeah, don't worry about me," she nodded in reply, "just go and get it over and done with."
Lee retreated back to her tent in silence and collapsed onto the camp bed, pulling her hood up to cover her eyes so she could try to get some sleep. She wanted a distraction from the events about to happen but it was all that she could think about, thinking about the positives didn't seem to help much but what she heard next terrified her.
Screams and shouting brought Lee out of her exhausted state and she sprinted outside, some of the others were already running to the source of the noise. As she got closer, she saw a figure lying on the ground and felt her stomach turn as she saw who it was and what had happened.
"Shit…" Lee muttered under her breath. Dale was groaning in pain from what looked an attack from a walker, Lee's eyes gazed down at the large wound from which his insides were hanging out of. The blood was drenching the grass beneath his body, Lee knew there was nothing that could be done. All she could here was the cries of everyone around her, while she herself just stared in shock at Dale with Andrea leaning over him and crying more than the others. Lee turned away, unable to keep looking at the gruesome site and closed her eyes but the unexpected sound of a gunshot made her jump. It took a few seconds for her to realise what had happened, someone had stopped his suffering and it dawned on her that Dale was gone.
