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Jillian and Merle watched as Daryl stormed off into the woods with his cross bow over his shoulder. Merle placed a hand on her shoulder while she had her hands on her hips. She couldn't understand why he was so angry. Maybe she needed to put an end to their fake relationship. He was so wrapped up in it, he was forgetting that they weren't really together. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him, she did, bad. But she wanted to be with him because he wanted her, not just to protect her.
" Let him be, Jill." Merle said. " He'll calm down." Only Merle and Daryl called her Jill, no one else in her entire life had ever called her that. She found it a comfort that the Dixon brothers had their own nick name for her.
" Why's he so mad?" Jillian asked. Merle sighed and let his arm come around her shoulders.
" My brother cares about you, ain't you figured that out yet? He's convinced himself you guys are together. He wouldn't have kept this going if he didn't want to be with you. Let's just go to bed, he ain't gonna agree but in the morning he'll get it." Merle said.
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Jillian was laying on her left side, waiting for him to come back. She wasn't sure how long she was there alone before she heard him come up to the tent. He sighed as he unzipped the tent. She kept her eyes closed. He zipped the tent shut and she heard him turn. She could hear him taking deep, slow breaths and wondered if he was staring at her. He sighed again and walked to his side of the tent. He set his cross bow down a second before he sat down. She heard him undoing the laces of his boots then slip them off. He always slept with his clothes on and she wondered how he could be comfortable sleeping like that.
He picked up the blankets and she felt the warmth coming from his body as he laid down. He ran his hand through her hair, making a shock go through her. Jillian forced her breath to be slow and even as he brought himself against her back. Merle's words were replaying in her mind over and over again. He cared about her, he had convinced himself they really were together. Daryl moved her hair over her shoulder and snuggled into her neck. She bit her lip as his breath came against her neck. She felt the chills move through her whole body and she shivered. He pulled the blankets over her, thinking she was cold. He pressed his lips against her skin then. He placed gently, slow, sucking kisses against the back of her neck and Jillian had to fight to not moan and arch her back. Her neck was one of her most sensitive places. He had no way of knowing how bad he was turning her on. He kissed her a few more times before he nestled into her and settled down.
The next day, Daryl came out of their tent after her, like he always had. She was by the fire when they caught eyes. He nodded his head to her but didn't come up to her. He came to the log bench and sat down to eat what she and Lori had cooked. Jillian went back to their tent and grabbed her bow and arrows. She sighed and came out of their tent. She turned around and zipped it up. He must have still been mad at her. When she turned back around, she jumped and dropped the bow. Daryl was standing in front of her.
" Stay with Merle." He said as he bent to pick up her bow. She nodded as he handed it to her. " Cop said he wants to leave soon. Merle's taking my truck so you gonna ride with him." His finger tips brushed against hers as she took the bow from him.
" Okay." She said softly.
" Be sharp, pay attention, listen to what's going on around you. Be tight." He said. She bit her lip slightly and nodded again.
" We will be." She said. Daryl shook his head.
" I know Merle will be. I'm tellin you to be." He said. She nodded her head again. She wasn't sure what to say to him. He was looking at her so intensely words just wouldn't come to her. His bright, blue eyes were burning into her. " You eat? You gonna need energy in case you have to run."
" I already ate." She said softly. He nodded that time.
" Come on then. I want you to sit with me while I eat then." He said. She took a deep breath but took his outstretched hand.
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Daryl opened the passenger of his truck and leaned against it, staring down at her. The other men were getting into the other car they were taking. He looked like he wanted to say something to her. She could almost see him wrestling with himself. She found it hard to breath when he looked at her like that. She waited a few seconds before he motioned to the inside of the truck with his head. Jillian nodded and climbed in. He shut the door after her then placed his hands on the window sill. He was still staring at her. She bit her lip then placed one of her hands on top of his. She forced a small smile. He looked down at their hands then rubbed his fingers against hers slightly. Then he took a deep breath and patted the door. He stepped back and nodded his head.
Daryl moved to the front of the truck. He had his cross bow resting against his right shoulder and his weight was shifted to his right leg. His other hand was resting against the back of his neck. He was pissed, she could see that. His mouth was in a tight line. At the last minute, Ed announced he was going to town with the group. Merle and Daryl tensed up right away. Daryl had wanted to exploded but held it together. Jillian leaned her head back against the seat and watched Daryl through the side mirror until he disappeared.
Daryl's point of view:
I was walking back through the woods with my cross bow over my right shoulder and a string of squirrels and rabbits over my left. I saw the cars were back and I quicken my steps. I wanted to see her, I wanted to be sure she was okay, well her and my brother. I saw the guys standing around talking. They seemed to stop talking the second they saw me but I didn't care. My eyes searched and finally found her by my truck. My heart lighten up at the sight of her sitting on the back bumper. I tried not to smile, tried to not let the relief I was feeling show on my face. When she looked up at me, I saw she had been crying. She stood up and started towards me then.
" Daryl." Was all she said. I looked behind her at the men then at her again as she reached me. She put her hands on my chest.
" What's wrong? You alright?" I asked. She nodded. The other members of the group were starting to come over to us, all but Ed.
" We need to talk." She said.
" Where's Merle?" I asked.
" There was an accident." Rick said. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him.
" What the hell you mean an accident?" I asked. Jillian took a hold of me and started pulling me towards our tent. " What the hell is going on? Where's my brother?" I asked her.
" Come in the tent with me." She said.
" Just tell me what happen." I snapped. She stopped walking and looked at me fully. Her dark eyes were filled with tears. I could see her cheeks were red from crying.
" Please come in the tent with me first." She said. I frowned but let her take my hand and lead me to the tent. I had moved all my stuff into her tent two weeks ago. She hadn't said anything when she saw my clothes sitting next to hers.
Once we reached our tent I dropped the animals and followed her inside. She walked by our bed as I zipped it shut. When we faced each other, she had tears slipping down her cheeks and was covering her mouth. My heart was slamming in my chest. Something had happen to my brother, something bad. My brother was all I had left of my family. It had been me and him since I was 18.
" Merle got bit." She said. I dropped my cross bow to the ground.
" How?" I asked.
" I went into the kitchen of one of the shops in this department store we were checking out. I didn't know Ed had followed me..."
" Did he touch you?" I interrupted her. My arms were tensing up and I felt my jaw tighten.
" I turned around and he was right behind me. He grabbed me and tried to kiss me. I pushed him away but he slapped me. He held me against the counter and was trying to kiss me again. We started fighting when Merle came in. He yelled at Ed and when Ed turned around we saw a walker was behind Merle. I yelled to him but it was too late. It bit him on the shoulder." She had huge tears streaming down her face. She took a break to sob slightly. " Ed picked me up and ran out of the kitchen before I could do anything." That was all I needed to hear. I grabbed my cross bow and stormed out of our tent. I was going teach that suma bitch a lesson he won't forget.
" Where the fuck is he!" I yelled as I busted through the camp. I heard Jillian calling after me. Rick was coming towards me with his hands up.
" Now hang on, Daryl." Rick started.
" Fuck you, Rick Grimes. That mother fucker put his hands on my woman, tried to kiss her even though she didn't want him too and slapped her." I was yelling.
" Oh she wanted me too. Been begging for it since I first seen her." Ed interrupted me.
I exploded then. All I saw was red as I lunged for him. I screamed as I punched him in the mouth, knocking him down. I heard everyone start yelling and crying. I brought my fist up and drilled him hard in his face, catching him in the left eye. I felt Rick wrap his arms around me, trying to pull me off as I continued punching Ed in the face. I would have kept going if Shane hadn't joined Rick and yanked me off him. They both turned and threw me to the ground. Carol was screaming as she took Ed's face in her lap. I was flat on my stomach with both Shane and Rick on my back. I looked up and saw Jillian crying as she ran to me. Rick had his knee in one of my shoulder blades and Shane had one in my lower back.
" Get off him!" Jillian was yelling at them. I kept fighting even though I knew I wouldn't get them both off at me. She did something then that shocked me and made me proud of her at the same time. She yanked the gun out of it's holster from Rick and fired it straight into the air. Then she pointed the gun straight at Rick and Shane. " I said get the fuck off him!" She yelled. Her voice was loud and strong even though tears were streaming down her face. Slowly Rick and Shane started to take the weight off my back.
" Jillian, just put the gun down." Rick said gently.
" Don't talk to me like that, Officer Grimes. I know what you're doing, I was a probation officer so don't talk to me like you're talking me off a ledge or something." Jillian said as I stood up carefully. "That stupid fuck put his hands on me when I didn't want them, he slapped me in the face and he got Merle bit, now your gonna give Daryl shit for defending us?"
" Give him the gun, Jill." I said. I didn't want her to accidentally shoot me or herself. " Give him the gun then we are going to take care of Merle."
" You can't go back to the city." Rick said. Jillian handed him the gun then took my hand.
" Maybe you can't but we can." She snapped.
" I ain't gonna let my brother become one of those walkers. Not happening. We gonna find him and put an arrow in his head." I snapped at Rick who sighed.
" He could be anywhere by now." Shane said.
" Daryl can find him. He can find anything." She said as she squeezed my hand. She started tugging me towards our tent.
" We will be back." I said. " Then that mother fucker and I are going to have a talk about what he did to my woman!"
We walked back to our tent quickly and grabbed some more arrows. She took her bow and arrows and we went to the truck. We didn't talk as I started it up and back away. I glanced at her and found she was still crying. She had her head in her hands as she sobbed. She wasn't really my woman, but when we got back from the city, I was going to change that. I was going to make her my woman in every sense of the word. I was sure she wasn't going to turn me down. She cared about me, she cared about my brother.
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We drove to the edge of town then parked the truck. We got out and she told me to follow her. We walked quickly and quietly to the building she said they had been at when Merle got attacked. We saw some walkers but they hadn't seen us, thankfully. She led me through the department store to the kitchen. There was a pool of blood but we didn't find Merle. Jillian spotted the blood trail and we decided to start following it.