"What was that?" Emma asked as she heard a screech ahead of them.
"Wild animals getting wild." Merle said brushing her off.
"It's a baby," Daryl turned to her and Emma quickly dropped her eyes.
Ignoring Merle's insensitive comments, Daryl moved ahead of them. Emma shot Merle a glare before following after his brother. Getting to the bridge, it took her a moment to get her bearings. It had been too long since she'd had to fight her way out of anything. The closest she'd come was putting down a biter or two at the screamer pits. Armed with only her knife, she did the best she could to help Daryl take out the dead.
She stood back, wiping the thick, dark blood off on her pants as she waited for the family to get back in their car and leave. It hadn't even registered to her that Merle moved until she heard the men yelling.
"Merle, what the hell?" She called out, watching him aim his gun at the Mexican man.
"The least they can do is give us an enchilada or something." He said moving back into the car. She watched Daryl move around the vehicle, shaking her head as she watched his grip tighten on his bow. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a Dixon fist fight.
"Boys, come on." She said stepping towards them. "Merle, get out of the car. Let's go, they don't got nothing."
"Get in your car and go." Daryl yelled at the family, keeping his crossbow trained on his brother.
"Daryl, put it down." She spoke softer as she stood next to them. "Please."
She knew he didn't do it for her. When the car pulled away the weapon went down and Daryl walked off. Emma sent a glare towards Merle as he moved to follow after him. Shaking her head, she knew that they wouldn't be able to let this go. There was something different about Daryl. He wasn't the same as the last time she saw him.
Before he'd never say more than a few words to his dad if he knew it could lead to a beating. Even Merle, he'd never go against something his brother had planned. Daryl used to be a follower, and she'd been okay with that because most of the time it had kept him safe. Now she wasn't sure what could happen when the two came to blows.
"You helping people out of the goodness of your heart, even though you might die doing it, is that something your sheriff Rick taught you?" Merle egged on as they continued to walk at a pace Emma was finding much too fast.
"There was a baby." Daryl said, finally coming to a stop to turn on his brother.
"Otherwise you would've left them to the biters, then."
"Man, I went back for you. You weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof. Now you asked for it." Daryl yelled, waving a bolt in his brother's face.
Emma took in some slow breaths thankful for a moment of rest. She caught Merle's gaze as he turned from his little brother. "Come on, boys. It's been a long day. Can't we leave the healing for some other time, like when we have food?" She pleaded, but neither seemed to hear.
She bent down and sat at the base of a tree as they continued to argue. About Merle being left, and them planning on robbing the camp - which she was sure Merle came up with - and then Daryl had to bring up their childhood. She was scrambling to her feet, anticipating the first punch, but instead Merle caught the back of Daryl's shirt.
He'd backed away from his brother, Emma moving in and kneeling next to him only to have him shrug her off. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes, she wasn't sure if it was the memories or anger that had brought them up.
"I didn't know he was…" Merle started, Emma shook her head at him.
"Yeah, he did. Did the same to you. That's why you left first." Daryl said as he pulled his backpack on and stood.
"I had to man. I would've killed him otherwise." Merle glanced at Emma, then back to his retreating brother. "Where are you going?"
"Back where I belong, come on Emma." He held his hand out, waiting to feel her soft fingers wrap around his.
"I can't go back there man."
"I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leaving - again." Daryl said as he pulled Emma closer. "What you said earlier about leaving with him, I wasn't gonna let that happen."
"Daryl, those people need you. I was just trying to make it easier on everyone." She slowed her pace, letting their hands stay together but their arms reached a distance. "They don't want Merle there because he was the Governor's right hand man. But if they knew about my life, they wouldn't want me there either. Maybe I didn't kill anyone or attack others, but I was there with him the whole time, two years I was by his side."
She felt her heart drop when he let her hand slip from his, his eyes leaving hers and glancing at who she could only assume was Merle coming up behind her. He began to nod as if finally understanding what she'd been up to for those years. "You were with him. Did you fuck him? "
Emma bit her quivering lip as she glanced down at her boots. She felt Merle's hand squeeze her shoulder, the heat of his body washing over her back. There were millions of times when she'd thought of this moment when she'd have to tell Daryl how well she knew the Governor. Swallowing thickly she found the courage to look back up, but Daryl was already walking away again. She glanced back at Merle, letting his hand on her shoulder push her ahead.
"You're being too hard on her." Merle said as he stepped up to his brother letting Emma fell behind. Occasionally they would glance back to make sure that she was still following, but they didn't push her to keep up.
"Didn't say nothing."
"Didn't have to, man. She knows what you're thinking before you half the time."
"Boys," Emma called as they got closer to the end of the tree line. "He's here." She said, running to pass them and it was like an explosion of noise.
Her eyes landed on Rick before she scanned the trees again. Her heart sank when she caught Martinez's gaze. For a moment she thought he was going to shoot at her too, but instead he gave her a smirk before running off. She wanted to follow him, but she wasn't sure she had the willpower to shoot him down.
The hiss of a biter caught her attention and she was back in the action. She plunged her knife into the head of what used to be a woman. The sickening pop that came as she pulled it back out made her stomach roll. Trying to hold it together for as long as she could, Emma continued to kill any corpse that got to close. Between her and the three men, it wasn't long before their immediate area was clear, but there was still a whole prison yard they had to cross.
TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD
"You're getting pretty good at that." Philip smiled at Emma as she pulled her knife out of a man's head.
"I'm surprised by how easy it is." She wiped the thick blood off on her already dirty pants before slipping the knife back into her belt and moving to pull the body aside. "Do you think this is going to work, these walls?"
"It has too." He told her as reached out for her hand and pulled her further down the road towards the progress they were making on the town barriers.
"I never thanked you, for what you did for me." She bit her lip as she thought about her real reaction.
"I believe you threatened to put a bullet in my knee cap more than once." The laugh that escaped his lips made butterflies form in her stomach.
"You can't blame a girl when it feels like her insides are melting." He pulled her closer into his side, placing a gentle kiss against the top of his head.
"No, I guess you can't." Again he laughed as she moved away from her and helped the other men secure a higher barrier. "Come on Sugar, we could use a little help here."
TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD
"You still with me, darling?" The older man asked as he finished stitching Emma's arm back up.
"Sorry," she gave him a small smile. "You're a doctor right?"
"A veterinarian, but it's just as good." By this point he was already wrapping gauze around her arm.
"If I tell you something, no one else knows, do you think we could make that a doctor-patient secret?"
"Honey, we don't exactly take too kindly to secrets, especially from strangers."
"It won't be for long. I just have to tell someone who won't necessarily judge me. Daryl and Merle ain't gonna like it." Hershel nodded his head, wiping his hands off on a rag as he waited. "I think I'm pregnant, pretty sure actually."
"Do you mind if I ask who the father is?" Emma looked up at him with scared eyes before taking a steady breath.
"The Governor," she spoke the name softly almost as if she expected him to materialize if it was spoken too loudly.
"Did he…" Hershel couldn't ask the question, only hoping she'd understand.
"No, he was really good to me in the beginning. These last six months, he's been a different man. But just because it's his don't mean it's bad. I don't know how to tell them, him." Emma reached up to wipe at the tears spilling from her eyes.
"No one is going to throw you out of here in your condition." He reassured her, coming to sit beside her and lay a comforting hand around her shoulders. "Rick can be a reasonable man, Daryl would stand up for you."
"Not after he hears this. He's barely looked at me since he found out I slept with that psycho."
"You should tell him, and then worry about the group. If it makes you feel better, I'll stand up for you if no one else does. This is something to be celebrated." He offered her a smile, which brought one out of Emma's tears.
"What are we celebrating?" Daryl asked as he moved into the cell door.
Hershel gave Emma a gentle squeeze before standing up. Daryl helped him reach his crutches before he was steady on his foot, and leaving the cell. He called over his shoulder, "It's good you're here, Emma."
"You okay?" Daryl asked as he stood across from her, watching as she ran her hands over her face.
"I'm exhausted." She released a heavy sigh as her hands fell from her face. Daryl moved towards her then, gently taking her arm into his hand to inspect Hershel's work. She could see the guilt etched in his face. "It wasn't your fault, just a stray bullet. Is everyone else alright?"
Her hand reached out to rest against his cheek, but he pulled away before either could enjoy the intimate sensation. Emma felt a pit begin to form in her stomach, and that only brought her back to the reality that there was something growing inside of her stomach. She saw the way the group had been relieved to see that he'd come back. They weren't as joyful to see her or Merle, but that was to be expected. She remembered the woman that had nearly flung herself at Daryl when they'd finally made it inside the prison. There was obviously something between them, and Emma'd be lying if it didn't make her the slightest bit jealous.
"These people really are your family now, huh?" Her voice sounded foreign to her, deeper and gravelly.
"Don't mean you ain't a part of that." He was looking down at his hands, avoiding her watery gaze.
"But if it came down to me or them."
"Won't happen," this time he did look up at her and the intensity of his gaze sent a heat wave through her body. "They need me because of what I've done for them, but you were always there, Em. I took advantage of that before."
"You never took advantage of me, Daryl Dixon. That may have been the only problem I ever had with you." She gave him small smirk, nudging him with her arm. She was glad to hear the small laugh escape him as he headed for the door.