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The RV pulls up the dirt road, closely followed by the gas efficient little car that Glenn is driving, the one Shane was fixing up, the headlights lighting up the front of the house. T-Dog, Carol, Sophia, and Andrea are in the RV with Dale.
After the headlights stop blinding him Daryl watches the vehicles from his place by his motorcycle, cigarette hanging out of his mouth and quickly burning down to the filter.
"Hey, what's going on? How's Carl?" Its long past dark by now and Daryl's eyes strain for a moment to make out Dale as he walks toward him.
"Dyin' by the looks of it. Shane and the guy that shot Carl went to some school or somethin' to try to get more medical supplies but they been gone way too long by now."
"Where's Lottie?" Carol asks as she comes around the RV, Sophia isn't far behind her.
Daryl snorts and walks around his bike for no reason other than to try to get his anger out, pulls the pack of cigarettes out of the saddlebag. "She's in there bleedin' herself dry for that fuckin' kid! I don't get it."
Andrea walks up behind Glenn and fixes Daryl with an apathetic look, "If he's dying then she probably shouldn't bother. Do you think he's going to make it even if they get back with supplies?"
Daryl glares at her. "You got that same damn look on your face as all the other people in there, like it don't matter. What's wrong with you people? Lottie might be bein' stupid, puttin' her life on the line but at least she gives a damn. Least she's tryin'." He says in disgust, stomping his cigarette out before stalking off with his crossbow, down the path behind the RV.
Carol asks Dale if he'll keep an eye on Sophia for a moment before hurrying after him.
"You're worried." She says simply as he lights another cigarette. Lottie will probably be pissed when she realizes there's only two left in her pack. He feels a little guilty and then hates himself for feeling that way.
"So?" he snarls indignantly.
"You care about her. You should tell her. It might seem fast and all but things are different than the way they were before the world changed." He snorts at her and she frowns but continues, "Think about it. She's a tiny little thing, walkin' around alone out in the woods when she found Sophia. When do you think she last felt like someone cared about her?"
He frowns, puts the hand holding the cigarette down by his side. He hadn't considered that. In the back of his head Merle's voice is yelling at him about how "caring is for pussies" and "family only, baby brother. Just hit it and quit it." He scoffs and looks away, taking another drag off his cigarette.
"I DON'T care. She don't matter to me. I'm just lookin out for me and mine. Don't matter to me if she bleeds herself to death for a dumb kid." He growls and Carol shakes her head at him, she looks like she's about to cry and he looks out into the field again.
"You're tellin' me that you don't care if I go in there right now and tell her what you just said?"
Daryl's head whips back to Carol and he's frowning, "Shit, man, what you gotta be like that for?" Carol laughs and Daryl smirks a little at the sound, stomping his cigarette out in the dirt.
"I just don't get it. She's funny and she's damn beautiful and she's a little fuckin weird but she could have any guy here. So why's she hangin around me?" he mumbles out, his voice rougher than usual from the cigarettes. Carol shakes her head at him again, reaching out to put her hands on his shoulders. She gets on her tip toes and kisses his forehead, he flinches away at first, surprised at the nice contact.
"She likes you. We've barely met her and I think everyone knows that but you. She told me, and I told you, Daryl. She sincerely...thinks you're amazing. She thinks you're smart and kind and...she said you act like you care and you're a real gentleman and...she likes you. We all see it...Why don't you?" Daryl stares at her and she walks away, up to the front door of the house, where Dale took Sophia. Daryl hangs by the RV and watches her go until he sees Lottie come out just as Carol gets to the door. She looks extremely pale in the porch light and she's taken her jacket off. For a moment he's shocked by how tiny she suddenly seems, standing there in just her tank top next to Carol.
He stalks up to where she and Carol are talking on the porch, Lottie is clutching the wall near the door for support.
"-I mean...I do...so much...it's just so fast and I'm not sure if he-" Lottie stops talking suddenly as he comes up and her eyes flash between him and Carol, she looks worried. Carol smiles knowingly at Daryl and nods her head at him.
"I'm gonna go inside and meet everyone, leave you two out here for a bit." She winks at Daryl and Daryl quickly looks away.
Lottie grabs onto him suddenly and he helps her to the chairs on the porch and sits her down.
"I'm startin to wish I'd forced that sandwich down your throat, you look like I could snap you in half."
Lottie giggles a little and looks down at herself, "Please, I'm not half as thin as any of these other girls. I feel like shit when I look at them... all skinny, beautiful, strong, and caring and shit. Well, Hershel's daughters at least, not so much Lori or uh, that blonde one."
Daryl smirks at her, "Andrea, yeah, she lost her sister, hasn't been the same since. But uh-you're a lot more beautiful than... any of 'em, oughta know that. I bet guys were crawling all over you before they all died." He says, looking away somewhat embarrassed. She giggles again and he looks at her, sort of surprised, almost amazed that she really thinks he's funny.
"Guys all over me? No. Never. I actually used to live… I lived in California for most of my life and I swear every girl there was the stereotypical beauty queen. All sandy blonde with highlights, blue eyed, tanned and glowing, thin, toned, tall... I can't say that I find one body type particularly hotter over another but I know that other people do. My most successful relationship lasted about three and a half years and it was…" She stops here like she's caught herself before doing something wrong and she looks at Daryl uncertainly, "It was bad." She ends shortly.
He stares at her for a long while before asking bluntly "He hit you?"
She bursts out laughing at his bluntness and he raises an eyebrow at her. "If I'm going to let you in on some secrets, can I sit in your lap again? I'll tell you how I got my funny little accent and everything."
He smirks at her. "Like hell you're sittin' in my lap. You're not even allowed to touch me anymore."
She pulls her head back, eyebrows furrowing as her lips puff out in a pout. "Why not?"
"Because I ain't bartering with you, either you gonna tell me stuff or you ain't! I'm not gonna let you bribe me or somethin'. Besides consider it payback for laughin' about my itchy ass."
She giggles again at that and then stands up suddenly, she immediately sways badly on her feet and he's scared for a second that she's going to faint so he puts his crossbow down to the side of his chair, preparing to stand and catch her, but instead she takes the opportunity to plant herself in his lap.
"Do you mind?" she asks, mock politely, and then grins up at him brightly.
He scoffs at her, poking at her hip bones. "You need to get some meat on you, did you eat that sandwich?"
She wrinkled her nose at him. "No, I didn't like it, and I'm pretty sure I'm the correct weight for a 'california girl', thank you very much."
He smirks down at her, wanting to run his hand through her blonde bangs. He's about to and then he sees his hand, covered in dirt and blood. He pulls it back from her awkwardly and lets it hang over the side of the chair instead.
"If you're from California why you talk like that? I thought you were from England or somethin."
"My grandmother is - was - from England...London, actually. I stayed with her a lot as a child and then growing up...she took care of me. Even when I had to go live with my dad in LA... she came and stayed with us...and then as I got older when I couldn't take being with my dad anymore... she helped me get a place of my own out there... Her accent really rubbed off on me. I loved my grandmother, she was an incredible woman. She was on my mom's side, I should clarify."
He makes a little hmm. "So you had a british nanny?"
Lottie wrinkles her nose and tugs at his little goatee.
"What the hell?" he grumbles at her, annoyed.
"I'm not really sure. I'm sorry. I just. Like to touch?... You?" she says softly, biting her lip and looking apologetic.
"It's okay." He mumbles, looking away, and then reroutes the subject, "So that boy you were with… he hit you?"
She sighs but smiles. "You're straight to the point, you know? You don't dance around shit. It's rough...but I like it."
"You cuss a lot. Don't mind it." He fires back at her and she giggles again, letting her eyes close as she starts talking. "He didn't really hit me, that was more my father's thing," Daryl tries not to curl his hands into fists at that. Anyone who hits a girl is a damn bastard. Daryl had hated it when Merle pushed his girlfriends around, even if he hadn't been brave enough to say anything at the time.
"He did...other stuff to me." She says slowly, and Daryl narrows his eyes. Other things. "Bad things." She adds quietly and lets out a little sigh.
"I don't like to remember it. I choose not to. It's just... something that happened...I...don't like to think about it, it makes me anxious."
"Ain't just 'somethin' that happened', if you're talkin' about what I think you are then I want to find this bastard and crack him in the face. Maybe give him a couple arrows to chew on."
She laughs and he peers down at her, confused.
"Well if you shoot him with an arrow he might think you like him. I thought that was your way of saying that?"
He blushes and looks away but her hands reach up and tie themselves together behind his neck and he looks back down.
"Look, I know maybe I'm being stupid so I'll just cut this out," she starts and Daryl frowns, swallows, looks away. Cut it out? She's done with him probably, done with his stupid stories of getting lost in the forest when he was little, done with letting it slide that he'd shot her in the leg, this is the part where she tells him she doesn't really like him, she's just been playin' him for a fool this whole time. "Daryl…I have to…well I think I-"
The front door suddenly slams open and Lottie's words get stuck in her throat, she sits up immediately, it's Rick.
"Hershel says he can't wait any longer, they need to start doing surgery now. He says he could use you there, will you come? Please?" Rick says in a rush, a pleading look stuck on his face. She nods, getting up quickly and very nearly falling over again.
"Shit." She whispers out, reaching a hand out for anything to steady her balance. Daryl is on his feet in an instant, grabbing her shoulders.
"Hey, you don't gotta help them! You're already bleedin' yourself dry, you can't do everything!" He says angrily, he almost wants to shake her but he doesn't.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head to the porch. "I have to do everything I can, and I will. He's going to need more blood too, so you know...just in case." She shrugs, and then suddenly she's on her tip toes, craning her neck and tilting her head upwards to reach him, she kisses him on the lips, softly but firmly. His eyes flutter shut for just a second and then she's gone.
When his eyes flutter back open he barely catches the screen door shutting behind her. He stares at it for a moment, putting his hand up to feel his lips like he can still feel hers there and then he plops down into the chair again grumbling, "Shit."
Carol comes out of the door after that and she's grinning brightly at him, "I didn't mean to watch but... I saw that whole thing. Daryl, I'm so excited!" She's wiggling around a little bit and he bows his head down a little bit.
"Can't catch a break, man, it's like a damn soap opera around here."
"What happens in the next episode?" Carol asks cutely and he looks up at her shaking his head.
"I guess I tell her she's gotta be mine." He says, looking to Carol for confirmation and she shakes her head at him as a truck pulls up in front of the house.
"You don't tell a girl she's yours. You ask her." She says simply and then sits down across from him, "So really you have to figure out how you're gonna do it. And when."
He closes his eyes because shit, now Carol is giving him advice and he's fallin for some chick he just met and Merle would be giving him so much shit right now and how did he get himself into this mess anyways?
Rick comes storming out of the house, Hershel and his daughters hot on his heels and they meet Shane as he gets out of the truck, alone.
Daryl stands and watches. Hershel grabs the supplies and takes them inside, yelling "No one tell Patricia, not til after, I need her!" and his girls follow him inside.
Shane relays what happened at the school to Rick and Daryl narrows his eyes, listening. Shane doesn't sit right with him, and his story doesn't make any sense. He snorts and sits back down. Carol is watching Shane and Rick wide eyed.
"Sounds like a bunch of bull shit to me. Somethin else happened there, Shane's a damn liar." Daryl whispers, not meeting Carol's eyes and she looks back at him, nodding a little and looking out into the trees.
Lottie and Hershel come out some time later and Hershel tells Rick that Carl seems to be stabilized.
Lottie looks even paler than before, like she's going to be sick and Daryl wants to grab her and sit her down, he almost makes a move to but he stops himself. Carol frowns at him.
"Go to her, you know you want to." She prompts but he shakes his head.
"Don't want everyone starin' at us."
Hershel, Rick and Lori go back inside and tell Otis's wife that he died. She can be heard sobbing. Lottie comes over to where Daryl and Carol are sitting and she smiles at Carol, "I'm glad I met you, Carol. I like you." She says with a smile, and then turns to look at Daryl. "I'm so tired." She says softly and reaches out a hand, he takes it and brings her into his lap, careful not to move the gauze taped to her left arm where some blood can be seen peeking through.
She curls up on him and Carol smiles and makes a little "Awww" winning her a well meant frown from Daryl but Lottie doesn't notice anything but the way Daryl has interlaced his fingers with hers before she falls asleep.
At some point, Daryl removes her from his lap and lets her sleep on the chair while he sets up his tent, then he moves her into it, luckily without any of the others noticing. He falls asleep next to her, feeling warm.