Alright, sorry for the wait! I've bee uber busy with getting things ready for graduation, test, prom, and everything else that I've done! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they really keep me going and I wanted to give back by writing a long chapter. So, here you go, enjoy! :D SN: There may be a few grammar mistakes that I missed, forgive me if there are. As usual, the link will be on my profile :3
In the middle of the night, I opened my eyes and didn't even remember falling asleep. I felt the spot next to me and feeling that it was empty, immediately jumped up and ran out of my tent. I sped over to the Dixon tent and took a peek inside, coming to an abrupt stop at the sight that I took in. Daryl had DJ wrapped in his arms, laying on his chest and Merle was off to the side a little.
I smiled at them and backed away from the tent and went back to mine. Seeing them like that made me think about what life would've been like if Daryl hadn't been such a jackass. They were so adorable, it made me heart ache a little. A distant voice appeared in my head: I'm so sorry Anastasia and I love you...
Had that been Daryl that came in and whispered those words to me?
If it was, what did it mean exactly? Did he want to try and be civil now for the sake of our son or did he...actually mean it?
I shook my head and laid back down before I gave myself a headache. The only man I've ever been with was Daryl, I didn't know what it was like to be with anyone else and if he were to honestly ask me to try it again...I think I would. I don't want to die knowing that I didn't at least enjoy myself first, but I don't it to be a relationship that strictly happened because he found out about his son either. Whatever, I'm going to sleep.
I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a bedroom, a nice one at that, which was weird. It didn't look like my bedroom at all. I looked around, taking in the dark blue walls, flat screen tv, a few posters and pictures, but what caught my eyes was the crib set up in the corner near me. Getting out of the bed, I walked over to the crib and gasped when I saw DJ looking right at me with his piercing baby blues that he inherited from his father.
He couldn't have been older than 5 months and he reached his stubby little arms to me and gurgled with a toothless smile. I picked him up and cooed at him, grinning. The smell of bacon reached my nose and I confusedly walked out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. I don't even know how I knew my way around this place and I'd never been here before. When I got to the kitchen I almost dropped DJ when I saw Merle sitting at the table drinking a beer and watching a Nascar race, and Daryl cooking the bacon that I smelled before. His back was to me so Merle noticed me first.
"Finally woman, we didn't think you'd ever wake up. Hand me my nephew will ya?" He asked. I frowned, but handed DJ over to him. Daryl turned around and smiled, beckoning me over to him. I cautiously made my way over to him, still not knowing what to think of all this. "G'mornin', baby," he said, leaning in for a kiss. It was sweet, like syrup and his stubble tickled my face, making me giggle. "Uh, good morning. Where are we?"
"What do you mean? We're in our house." I looked around before looking back at him. "We live here? It's pretty nice. How can we afford it?"
"The hell is wrong wit ya, Ana? Merle and I own our own construction company and you're modeling, but you're on break for obvious reasons," he said pointing the fork in Dj's direction.
"This can't be real. Just yesterday I was in the middle of a forest on the outskirts of Atlanta and fearing for DJ and I's lives from zombies! You and I weren't together and DJ was five! "
Daryl looked genuinely concerned, putting the back of his hand to my forehead. "Have you been watching those damn movies again? Ana you know how you get when you watch 'em. Ion even know why you still buy them."
"It wasn't a damn movie, Daryl! Merle, tell him!"
Merle looked up from playing with DJ to look at me like I was on drugs or something. "Darlin', I have no idea what in Sam hell yer talkin' about. Maybe you should go back upstairs and get some more sleep. The squirt's alright with us." I looked back and forth between the two of them before turning around and heading back up stairs. There were pictures lining the wall and I took the time to observe them. Some were from a photo shoot I did with Daryl when I was pregnant, some were of just me, just Daryl, a group photo of Merle, Daryl an I, some of DJ, and a picture of the house when it was finally done being built.
When I made it back to "my" bedroom, I looked through some of the things on the dresser and the nightstand. On the nightstand was a gorgeous wedding ring and I began tearing up when everything finally came together. This is what my life would've been like if Daryl and I had stayed together, we would be happy and a complete family. Apparently, this is before the outbreak seeing as Dj is only 5 months and it was absolutely perfect. I sighed and laid back in the bed, my eyes welling up with tears because I know that this isn't reality and they gradually began to close as I fell back into a deep sleep.
The feeling of someone poking me woke up for the third time and I sat up, stretching and looked to see who the culprit was. DJ was next to me, grinning and waving. "Morning, sweetie. Did you sleep good?" "Yeah! I slept with daddy and uncle Merle. You're not mad right, mommy?"
"No honey, why would I be mad?"
"I don't wanna make you mad cause I slept with them. I always sleep with you." I smiled at him, ruffling his hair. "It's fine DJ. They're your family too." I dug around the tent for our bags and fished out clean outfits for the day. "Okay, it's time for a bath."
He pouted and quickly scrambled out of the tent. "DJ! Get back here, boy!" I jumped up and ran out of the tent, many of the other campers already up and about. DJ ran into the Dixon tent and I stopped outside. I rapped on the front of it and Daryl poked his head out. His eyes raked up my body slowly before settling on my face. "Yeah?"
"Send DJ out of there, Daryl. He needs to take a bath."
He went back into the tent and a few seconds later, DJ was scooted out with a pitiful face.I grabbed his hand and knelt down to his level. "DJ, what were you thinking? You can't just go running out here like that! Why did you run away from me in the first place?"
"I just didn't wanna take a bath, mommy." He was on the verge of tears and I sighed.
"DJ, you have to take a bath, baby. Nobody's gonna want to play with you if you smell bad. Don't you want to be fresh and clean so that you can play with your friends?" He nodded and I smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you like that, you just made mommy a little angry, okay? Turn that frown upside down and we'll go take a really quick bath."
"Mommy, uncle Merle said he wants to cut my hair. Dixons don't have long hair, it's for girls!" I chuckled at that. That was the same thing he told me when I told him that I liked Daryl's hair a little long.
"Do you want your hair cut?" He nodded.
"Alright, I'll talk to your uncle about it after our bath."
With our bag of clothes and towels in hand, we made our way down to the river for a quick clean up and came back with no problem besides the occasional rustling in the bushes. Shane came up to me and I was a little nervous, this was one of the first times he's talked to me since I've been here.
"Hey there, Ana. Having a good morning?"
"Uh, yeah. Just getting back from cleaning up," I said motioning to my wet hair.
"Ah, alright. I was just making sure everything was good, considering the fact that you did just come from out of the woods."
I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to imply that I as bitten or something? Something didn't sit right with me about that guy, but I shook it off and smiled at him politely.
"Yes, everything was perfectly fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to, sheriff."
I brushed past him, pulling DJ along with me and went to drop off our dirty clothes to the tent. "Aye, Ana, come 'ere real quick," Merle yelled from across the site. I rolled my eyes as DJ ran in front of me to him. "Yes, Merle?"
"The hell's wrong wit ya?"
"Nothing, just Shane all up in my business, but really, what did you need?
"I was wonderin if it was alright if I cut the squirt's hair? You already know about us Dixon men, we don-"
"You don't have long hair, it's for girls, yeah yeah. Sure I don't mind, just don't take too much off and be careful."
"Be careful? Girl, ya musta forgot who yer talkin to. Careful's my middle name."
"Hm, Merle Careful Dixon...nah, doesn't sit well with me," I said grinning, dodging a punch he had coming toward my arm. "I'll be in the truck when you're done." He nodded and took Dj over to a nearby log. I watched as he took out a pair of shears and look over his head before he began cutting. I walked over to my truck and got in, instantly relaxing into the leather seats. My truck was always a comfort zone for me, It was where I went to be alone and just think. Of course today just wasn't the day for that because there was someone knocking on my window. Daryl was standing there looking at me. I unlocked the door and he hopped in, whistling while he looked around at the inside.
"Well, ain't this fancy. How much this run you for?"
"It was about twenty-five grand, not too much."
"Not too much? That's almost how much I make in a year. Guess you really were better off without me," he said sadly.
"Daryl, about that...I'm sorry."
"You ain't got nothin' to apologize for, Anastasia. I shouldn't have been such an asshole to you. I was wrong for sleepin with that girl that night. I was drunk and she came on to me. I wasn't thinking straight, but I remembered what happened that night and when I came looking for you, you were gone. I just figured that you left me and that's why I became so angry at you. I also wanna apologize for choking you. I've never put my hand on a woman and I felt like scum after I did. I just want you to forgive me and I want to get to know my son."
My eyes began watering and I turned my head away so that he wouldn't see me cry. I felt him grab my face gently and turn it to face him. He used his thumb to wipe the tears away that snuck their way out of my eyes and leaned in to kiss me softly. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me and his tongue traced my lower lip, asking for permission. I decided to be a tease and deny his request, pulling away from him.
"Fuckin' tease," he growled.
"I've always been a tease, where have you been?"
I saw Merle coming towards the truck and I opened the door for him.
"My nephew looks like a real Dixon now. He's almost as good lookin' as his ol' uncle Merle."
We both rolled our eyes and looked down next to Merle at our son, who was hiding shyly behind Merle's right leg.
"Come on, DJ, let mommy and daddy see your new haircut."
He came out from behind Merle's leg and I smiled at him. He really was handsome and he did look like a true mix of Daryl and I with a hint of Merle mixed in there a little. I peeked over at Daryl and noted that he looked at DJ with a sense of pride and admiration. Almost as if he couldn't believe he created a living creature.
"Merle! Come on, we're getting ready to head out!" Glenn's voice cut through the campsite, ending the moment.
"What, already? Merle, are you seriously about to go back into the city? I just got you back, what if something happens?" I asked, worried.
"I'll be fine, nothin' can kill me if I don't do it myself, Ana. Just keep Darylina and my nephew in check and I'll see you when I get back."
Daryl was looking down at the ground and DJ was just sitting in my lap.
"You're leaving uncle Merle? Can I go with you?"
"Sorry, lil' man, not this time. You need to stay here with yer mama and daddy. I'll be back and then we can go on another hunting trip, alright?"
He nodded and latched onto Merle's neck, who in turn just patted him a few times and set him back in my lap. Daryl just nodded at him in acknowledgement, not wanting to show any affection in front of me for whatever reason.
With all the goodbyes out of the way, we all got out of the truck and headed for the center of the campsite. Morales, Glenn, Amy, T-Dog and Merle were all getting ready to head into the city in Shane's jeep.
Everyone bid their farewells and the group rode off in the direction of the city.
I sighed and turned back to DJ and Daryl, ready to get the day started.