*** Enjoy the beginnings of camp life, not a super serious chapter, just a story builder, as we all settle in at the camp above the Quarry :) - I OWN NOTHING! ***
Neither Dixon liked the leader, Shane. Linney was withholding judgement, wanting to get to know everyone a little better. They were all full of nerves, overwhelmed by the amount of new faces and names they'd encountered.
She wasn't stupid, she could feel him staring at her, checking her out, almost from the moment they'd stepped from the truck. Instead of reacting to it, she decided to play dumb, use it to her advantage; she just wanted them to be accepted into this camp, figuring she could fade into the background once they did.
All seven of them stopped and stared when they met the kids in the group, the two little Morales kids, who hid behind their mother, the other little girl, the tow-headed one, Sophie or something like that, standing next to her mom, a shy smile on her face when Amy and Linney had exuberantly greeted her.
It was the boy, Carl, though, that Linney felt an instant kinship with. He had a mischievous little smile and boldly approached them, Linney first. He shook her hand and informed her solemnly that after Shane, he was the head honcho. She shook his hand back and heartily accepted his offer to give her a tour the following day. She was moved almost to tears to see the kids, alive, healthy, happy.
Linney smiled to herself as Daryl and Merle both groused about setting up the tent, complaining about their spot, complaining about the cots, complaining about the heat. When Merle lumbered off to get more supplies from Dale's RV, Linney sidled over to Daryl's side and spoke quietly to him while he was adjusting the pegs for the tent in the ground.
"How are we going to sleep together now?" The question was posed innocently and she paused, waiting for his response. His entire stance changed; he froze and looked up at her with wide eyes, clearly startled. She waited while he opened and closed his mouth a couple times and then she laughed and pointed at him, a huge smile on her face.
"I meant sleeping, Dixon. Yeesh, get your mind out of the gutter." He glared at her and moved quickly, surprising her again. He scooped her up off the ground, holding her upside down in his arms.
"Ya want the gutter?" He growled at her, tickling her side with one of the hands holding her across the stomach. She shrieked with laughter and he walked over to a ditch in the ground a few feet from the tent.
"Think Merle's gonna use this as a shitter," he grunted, and pretended to dip her to the ground. She cried out, laughing so hard she thought she might rupture something when suddenly they were interrupted by a voice from behind them.
Daryl turned to the visitor calmly, Linney still hanging upside down in his arms. Lori and Shane stood side by side, watching them. Lori looked amused, smiling a little at them. Shane looked non-chalant, as if it were an everyday occurrence for him to find people being held upside down.
"Hello," Linney said awkwardly, giving them a smile. Daryl snorted in amusement and gently flipped her right side up, putting her back on her feet. She awkwardly smoothed her hair while Lori invited them to join everyone for dinner around the fire, to get to know them all a little better.
Daryl nodded at Lori and Linney straightened her shirt, while gratefully accepting the invitation. When they walked away, Lori giggling quietly while saying something in a low voice to Shane, Linney rounded on Daryl.
"That was embarrassing!" She felt her face turning red. Daryl smirked at her and walked back to the tent pegs.
"You seemed to like it well enough." He muttered, driving a peg into the hard earth with a hammer Dale lent him. She knelt next to him and nudged him with her shoulder.
"It's weird to have you happy, that's all, I hope they didn't scare it out of you by finding out your dirty secret: Daryl Dixon likes to have fun." Her tone was scandalized and he looked over at her, askance.
"God, yer annoying, go bug Merle for awhile, would ya?" He nudged her back, hard enough to knock her to her butt.
"Oh, that was low," she growled at him and he turned to glare at her, with a tiny smile on his face. "You should go rat me out to the boss man, he'd come protect you." Linney got to her feet and wiped the dirt from the back of her jeans. She gave Daryl a thoughtful look.
"So you noticed it too?" She asked him casually, keeping her face pleasant and smooth. He glanced up at her, squinting a bit in the late afternoon sun.
"'Course I did, he wasn't exactly hidin' it. May as well stake my claim." Linney rolled her eyes and tapped a boot to his leg.
"I'm gonna go see what's taking Merle so long." Daryl nodded at her and went back to work on the tent. On the way to the RV, Linney passed Merle, his arms weighted down with their gear.
"Need a hand, buddy?" She asked him, and he looked around the bags stacked in arms.
"Whatdya think I am? Some kinda pussy? Get lost." She glared at him and he chuckled at her irritation, moving towards their tent. Linney continued on to the RV and saw Amy standing out front, working with Glenn to pull out the awning.
"Linney!" The girl cried out, as soon as she saw her approaching. She ran over to Linney and engulfed her in a hug. Linney was in such a good mood she let it slide. "Yeah, there, there Amy, happy to see you too." She said after a second, awkwardly patting Amy's back. Her friend pulled back and pointed at the RV.
"Dale's set it up to stay, no more driving around anymore!" Amy was thoroughly excited and Glenn smiled with her, clearly smitten. Linney eyed the two of them and wondered if either of them would get out of their own way enough to say something about it to each other. She shook her head and clapped Glenn on the back as she walked past him, up the stairs, into the RV.
Andrea was sifting through boxes at the dinette and Dale was putting things in different bags for Jim, back in the bedroom.
"Oh, hey, Linney," Andrea looked up in greeting, smiling strangely at Linney. It took her a moment to realize that Andrea was relaxed and that was why her smile looked different.
"You guys settling in ok?" Andrea asked, pulling out a huge can of peaches and frowning at the label. Linney slid in to the seat across from the other woman and rolled a can of peas back and forth between her hands.
"Pretty well, you know, as well as a foul-tempered redneck will let me, I guess." Andrea looked her in the eye and smirked then looked back down at the box.
"Well, I imagine they'll do a lot of hunting, what with that forest being right there." Linney nodded at Andrea's assumption; it sounded pretty apt to her.
"So I hear there's a watch day and night here." Dale walked up behind her and patted her shoulder briefly before putting a couple bags by the stairs. Linney nodded at him.
"That guy, uh, T-Dog? He said that tomorrow, once we've all settled in, we'll get the grand tour and they'll explain how it works." Dale smiled, happy with that plan. He gestured out the door, "Just make sure you get your private tour with that young man, he seems pretty keen on it." Linney smiled softly, remembering Carl's offer.
"God, I just can't believe there's kids, you know?" She said, looking back and forth between Andrea and Dale. Andrea smiled and patted the lid of the box she was digging through, thoughtfully.
"I never imagined that kids stood a chance, these days." Her face was a little sad and Linney got to her feet.
"Me neither, but I think this group got lucky, finding each other and then finding this place. It's safe. It's got tons of water down at that quarry, woods for game if they were of a mind to hunt any. I even heard that Morales guy saying there's fish in the quarry."
Andrea's eyes lit up. "Fish, really? Amy and I love to fish." Linney nodded and then jumped about a foot in the air when Jim came up behind her and tapped her shoulder.
"Oh jesus! Jim, you fucking scared me!" He smiled ruefully, "Sorry Linney. I just wanted to apologize to you for everything that happened. I was out of my mind, please believe me when I say that I know you are not my wife. I know that. With my head clear, the resemblance isn't even that strong." Linney nodded at him, sensing the genuine feeling behind his words. She put a hand on his arm.
"It's ok, don't worry about it. Shit happens and now we're here where hopefully less shit will happen to everyone." He smiled gratefully at her and reached down to grab the bags Dale brought to the stairs.
"I'm going to take these to Shane." He said quietly, disappearing out the door. Linney looked to Dale, who smiled at her.
"He's really better, you know that, right? He's a good man -" Linney held a hand up to stop his explanations.
"Dale. It's fine, I know." The older man nodded, his face creasing in a grin. Linney looked around the RV.
"So you'll stay in here?" She asked curiously. Andrea looked up to answer, "Amy and I will get the back bedroom, Jim will get the table bed and Dale's taking the couch bed." She smiled at Dale gratefully. He nodded at her and gestured around the small space.
"It's not huge, but it'll seem wonderful now that we're stationary." He paused and walked back to the bedroom, coming back with three sleeping bags.
"We had these extra, thought you three might want them." Linney took them, the bulging items filling her arms. She looked down at them and laughed. "Anything else of ours left here?" Andrea shook her head, "Nope, Merle took it all." Linney made for the door and Dale put a hand to her arm to stop her.
"Linney, if you three need a bathroom, feel free to come use this one." Linney's eyes grew wide as his words registered.
"You got the toilet working, what about water?"
"You'll need to bring a bottle of water, but we got something rigged up." Linney grinned at him.
"That is good news." Andrea chuckled and Linney carefully made her way out of the RV, waving with her occupied fingers at Amy and Glenn, who were relaxing in the lawn chairs under the awning. Back at the tent, Merle looked over at her, from where he and Daryl were standing, talking to each other.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing at her armload. Daryl stepped forward and relieved her of them one by one, tossing them into the tent.
"Dale thought we might want them since they won't need them." Merle grunted and bumped her shoulder before walking away, heading towards the woods.
"He's probably goin' to smoke." Daryl put emphasis on the word and Linney grimaced.
"Ew." She said and Daryl shrugged, "Leave him be." Linney looked over at him like he was crazy.
"Since when have I ever been able to 'leave him be'?" Daryl rolled his eyes and Linney eyed his brother's retreating back warily.
"You think he'll be ok out there, getting all messed up with no one to watch his back?" Daryl stared at her like she had lost her mind.
"Merle can take care of Merle, don't you forget that." Linney pressed her lips together, not quite buying it but then Daryl took her arm and pulled her towards the tent.
His face was hard again and she wondered what was going on. He hooked the tent door open and Linney saw that the tent had been split in two, the canvas wall that provided a 'family camping home' (according to the box the tent had come in), dropped down to give a little privacy to each side. She saw, with a sinking stomach, that two cots were assembled on one side and one on the other.
"Oh," she finally said, not looking at him, "so you and Merle got your room all set-up?" Daryl pulled her into the side with the two cots, and then zipped the door closed. The tent was so huge that Daryl could stand comfortably in the center of it.
He bent down towards the two cots and looked back up at her quickly to make sure she was watching. He pushed the two cots together and then picked up two of the spare sleeping bags, unzipping them all the way open so they made flat, thick, blankets. He lay them out over the pushed together cots and then bent to a bag of bed linen she hadn't noticed until then; she realized that someone from the RV must have given them to him or Merle.
When he wrapped a fitted sheet over the sleeping bags, tucking the ends under the edges of the mattresses, she grinned, realizing that he was making a large bed, something close to a double size. He picked up two pillows and Linney quickly picked up two pillowcases from the bag and passed them to him. When he had a sheet and another blanket on the bed, he turned to her, a hesitant smile on his face.
"Whatdya think?" He asked, quietly. She looked from the bed to him and smiled back.
"I think you and Merle have a really small bed to share over there." She pointed back at the wall, indicating the small room on the other side, and he pressed his lips together, frowning at her.
"Oh, it's like that, is it?" His voice low and angry, but a tiny smile on his lips. Linney stepped towards him and gave him a quick hug around his chest before sitting on the edge of the bed.
"It's great." She finally said, her voice happy and sincere. He ducked his head, looking almost embarrassed and then knelt on the ground at her feet.
"I'm not tryin' to be an asshole ok?" He said, looking up at her. She gave him a puzzled look and he explained himself.
"I don't know if this is it, if we're good here, if it's safe," he put a hand on her knee and squeezed lightly, "but I know that I don't want ya on the other side of a wall. You'll sleep better here with me." She looked back and forth between his eyes, wondering at the expression in them. She spoke slowly, "So what you're saying is, 'don't jump my bones quite yet", right?" He chuckled and sat on the bed next to her.
"Trust me, I'm no fuckin' pansy, I want to, badly." Linney peeked a look over at him and saw he was holding a hank of her hair in his hands, twirling it around in his fingers. He glanced up at her and then continued, "But I think, for now, things are complicated enough, I just want to keep ya safe, see if this works. But I'm selfish, n' I'm askin' ya to stay here with me," he gestured around their little room, "though, I understand if it ain't enough for ya." Linney nodded and was surprised when he continued.
"We're both what those assholes on tv called, 'damaged goods', and with the whole fuckin' world bein' damaged goods, I think we oughta go carefully, not risk ruinin' anything." Linney turned to him, forcing him to look at her.
"Of course I'm ok with this, if you hadn't done this, I probably would've been creeping into your tiny bed every night anyhow, and pissed Merle off." He laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Linney put a hand up, holding his against her head.
"Besides," she started, her voice soft and promising, "who else is going to have a belly I can warm my feet on at night and then cry like a little girl when I do?"
She only a had a moment to laugh at the expression on his face before he grabbed her around the waist and pushed her back onto the bed, tickling her and threatening to stick his foot up her shirt.
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When Daryl left to go scout around the camp and look for his brother, Amy appeared so quickly that Linney had the feeling she'd been lurking around waiting for Daryl to go.
"Nice, looks cozy," Amy said, looking around the tent. Her eyes landed on the big bed and she latched knowing eyes onto Linney's face. "That looks especially comfy," she teased. Linney frowned at her, hoping to scare the blonde off with a bad mood. Amy laughed at her and swatted her arm.
"Oh calm down, Lin, you've always got a bug up your butt," Linney grunted and smirked at Amy who cocked her head to one side and continued, her voice matter-of-fact, "You may as well resign yourself to me, I'm not going anywhere and we're friends whether you like or not." Linney sighed and then gave Amy a small smile.
"Ok, fine," Linney grouched and Amy laughed again before sitting on their bed, obviously settling in for a chat. Linney sat on the floor across from her and folded her arms across her chest.
"Get it off your chest, Amy, it's obvious you're here to bother me with more than just smiles and friendliness." Amy smiled slyly and looked around the room until her eyes landed on Linney's backpack. She darted forward and grabbed the bag, yanking it open before Linney could stop her.
"Hey! Amy! That's my private -" She started to scold the girl but Amy reached in quickly, caught something at the bottom of the bag and pulled out Linney's secret item, a box of condoms. Linney felt her skin flush purple and reached out to snatch it from Amy's hands.
"Put that away!" She hissed urgently, glancing out through the net roof, hoping no one walked up on them.
"Does he know you have these?" Amy asked, her voice genuinely curious, as she shook the box a little in Linney's direction. Linney pressed her lips together and glared hard at her friend. "No." She said faintly, refusing to meet Amy's eyes.
"So... does this mean you're...?" Amy trailed off suggestively and Linney shot an exasperated look at Amy. "No! I mean... not yet... I just, I just wanted to be prepared, so the option could be open..." Linney felt foolish and stupid and stared down at her hands. Amy tossed the box to Linney, it landed with a thump in her lap. She slowly picked it up in her hands and licked her lips nervously.
"Look, Amy, please don't say anything, I don't want to seem like some kind of hormone-fueled predator to everyone, or to have him think I'm expecting... we talked about it and we're not gonna... right now, you know, it's not a good time..." Linney wished for a second that Amy didn't exist but changed her mind with after Amy's next words.
"Linney," Amy got to her feet and turned to the door, "I'm not judging." She placed a hand on the canvas and peeked back over her shoulder at Linney, winking at her, "I say, go get it." Linney surprised herself by laughing, as she shoved the box back in her bag, covering it with clothes, watching in bemusement as her friend strolled away, back to the RV
Go get it... yeah, we'll see about that.
*** Big thanks to reader Atilia Dawn Black :) Your reviews put a huge smile on my face and lit a fire under my butt to write even more quickly, just so I could get more of your wonderfully flattering reviews! Hope you enjoy, everyone, should update again later today as I have plenty more time to write today, and hopefully this weekend! ***