Chapter 9

Daryl told Rick about the ski resort and Rick decided he would see if anyone else had heard about the place and talk to Herschel and the group about heading that way. Rick agreed that the idea of being in the mountains in a more remote area was their best bet for the time being. It beat walking or driving for miles every day and camping and hoping no walkers overran them or violent groups attacked them.

Daryl came back to the tent to find Vivienne waiting for him. "Well, what did he think?" she whispered excitedly. Daryl smirked.

"He thought it was a good idea. Gonna bounce it around to ever'one tomorrow and see what they wanna do," and he pulled her curls teasingly.

Vivienne sighed with relief. "Good. It was pretty up there, peaceful. You can probably find a lot of stuff to hunt up there," and here she frowned when Daryl snorted. "What?"

"I hunt game, girl. Not stuff. If yer gonna stick with me ya need to learn the names fer the things I do," and he laughed at her reddening face.

Vivienne huffed in embarrassment. "Well, why don't you try telling me stuff then?" she snapped back.

Daryl continued to laugh but nodded. "'kay, first off this is NOT a bow and arrow," and he snorted again. Vivienne frowned at him and crossed her arms over her chest, a sure sign of aggravation. "These are bolts, not arrows," he continued. Vivienne sat down by him and he slowly stopped laughing as she pointed and asked what the names were and what things were used for. He quickly became absorbed in teaching her about his crossbow and noted that she picked the information up quickly. He didn't know who had told her she wasn't smart, but they were fools.

That night he brought Vivienne along with him on watch. She couldn't sleep, and she might as well learn something he rationalized. He could hear his brother laughing about this but chose to ignore Merle's ever present taunting in his head. He instead focused on teaching Vivienne about what to look for on watch, how to be prepared for anything unusual or unexpected and decided by the end of their watch that she was a very quick study and in time she'd be an asset to their group.

As they headed back to their campsite after changing watch with Glen, Daryl watched Vivienne head toward the horses in the fenced in pasture. He followed her and watched as she slipped through the fence slats and began to pat and rub the two horses there. He himself had never been on a horse and wasn't about to try it anytime soon if he could avoid it. He'd never been around any long enough to get comfortable with them. He watched curiously as Vivienne motioned to him to step over and give her a hand up onto one of the horses.

"Ya sure 'bout this? I mean, have ya ridden?" Vivienne turned and smirked.

"Yep. Used to ride in shows and won most of the time. 'Course that was fancy stuff, not just trotting around the pasture. But Granddaddy on Mother's side lived in Kentucky and he bred and raised horses so summers when I was younger I spent at the farm and rode bareback all the time." Daryl quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Ain't ya full of surprises," he murmured. He gave her a hand up onto the horse and she signaled the horse to go round the pasture. He leaned back against the fence and watched her as she moved in rhythm with the horse.

"Nice pair of tits bouncing around there," Shane mumbled behind him.

Daryl started and turned around to glare at Shane. "Shut yer fuckin' mouth," he growled.

Shane laughed and put his hands up. "Easy man, just saying your girl's got a nice set on her. Matter of fact, she's got a nice everything on her," he continued.

Daryl growled again and clenched his teeth. "I told ya to shut it," he gritted out.

Shane smirked. "Heard ya. I'm just wondering how a piece of trash like you got a girl like that. Must have more charms to you than I can see, or the girl was desperate," he laughed as he walked away, leaving Daryl fuming. He'd have to keep an eye on that asshole, not let Vivienne be around him alone. He turned to see Vivienne approaching him on the horse. She frowned at the look on his face and quickly slid off the horse, patting him softly and approached Daryl.

"What's wrong?" she asked, running her eyes over his face and body. She could see he was angry about something.

Daryl shook his head. "Listen, don't ever be alone with that asshole Shane," he bit out. To his surprise Vivienne didn't seem surprised by this statement. He looked at her in confusion.

Vivienne blew out a breath of disgust. "Yeah, he's an asshole. Tried to feel me up a couple of times already," and she blew a raspberry. Daryl growled in fury.

"Why didn't ya tell me," he blurted.

"Shit Daryl, I've had that crap going on since I got boobs. Twelve years old and my dad's friends were "accidentally" " and here she made air quotation marks, "bumping into me, running their hands over my boobs and ass. Couple of times if I was home while they were having some shitty party one of the guys would follow me to the yard or the kitchen-anywhere they thought they could be alone with me and they'd try to do more than grab my ass," she wrinkled her nose in disgust at remembering it. "One of the assholes shoved his tongue down my throat once and I almost bit it off," and she laughed at the memory.

Daryl's mouth hung open in surprise. "Jesus Christ!" he blurted. "What the fuck kinda folks did yer parents hang around with?" he exclaimed.

Vivienne shrugged. "Most of my friends had the same shit happen to them too-guys and girls," she stopped seeing the look on Daryl's face and started to blush from embarrassment. She crossed her arms over her chest and started to bite at her lip.

Daryl blew out a breath. "Vivi, I….I don't even know what ta say," he mumbled. She shrugged again, and he recognized that movement as the same one he made when he was beyond embarrassed or humiliated and didn't want anyone to know it. He impulsively pulled her to him and held her to him, thinking how the world could be horrible in so many different ways and how parents could scar their children in ways other than beating them. "I'm sorry," he murmured against her hair. He felt her relax against him and she slid her arms around his waist. "Guess we both had a shitty time of it growin' up," he murmured. Without thinking what he was doing, he kissed her forehead and brushed her hair from her face. "C'mon, let's go get somethin' ta eat and get some rest. Yer gonna learn 'bout guns taday," he mumbled and grabbed her hand and they headed through the fence and back to camp in the front yard.