Georgie
Georgie dangled her legs through the railing. The Governor had declared a celebration for Judith's birth, and the prisoners had been treated to days off training, and he had even opened up the stock room where the beer was and allowed everyone a drink. Everyone was happy and relaxed. T-Dog had even made up a batch of Caribbean chicken for the group. Even Daryl had had to admit that it was amazing. But Georgie had an ominous feeling that something awful was going to happen. She wasn't the only one. She and Adele had discussed it in whispers in their cell, not sure what the Governor was really up to. Everyone else was now convinced that he was not as evil as Georgie and Adele said, claiming that he had a heart and was capable of humanity. Georgie unconsciously placed her hand on a particularly angry scar on her stomach and shivered. She heard movement next to her, and someone sat down. She knew it wasn't Adele. She was up in the infirmary talking to Ben. Ever since the birth, Adele had not been able to stop talking about Ben and how amazing he had been. Georgie knew Adele was smitten-as far as she was concerned, Ben had been useless. All he had done as far as she was concerned was catch Judith. But if Adele liked him, she liked him. God knows she needed something to cheer her up.
She turned to look at her companion expecting T-Dog or Glenn. When she saw Daryl, she inwardly raised an eyebrow. Recently, Daryl had been hanging around her a lot. Not enough to be creepy, but enough for her to have noticed. He seemed to mainly be there when she had to deal with Joe. She wasn't sure what his deal was, but he wasn't bothering her. They sat in silence for a moment. That was the nice thing about Daryl-possibly the only nice thing. She could be sat next to him in silence for the whole day, and not feel the need to talk to him. She hadn't totally forgiven him for his attempted betrayal of the group, but she could understand his desperation to leave. She had no intention of staying in the complex either, but neither did she have any plans to leave anyone behind.
Both of them kept their gaze forward, neither speaking for a while. Finally, Georgie turned to Daryl. There was something that she wanted to know. Everyone had been to see Judith-inmates, the Governor, all the ladies in the kitchen. They had all held her, cooed over her, and generally made a fuss. Even Billy had held the baby in his arms. If Georgie hadn't known him better, she would have sworn that she saw a tear in his eye. Daryl was the only one who had refused to hold her. At first, Georgie had assumed it was just him being a jerk. But that morning, she had seen him looking in Lori's cell at Judith. Both of them had been sleeping, and Daryl had been looking at Judith with a look so incredibly sad that Georgie had stared. She desperately wanted to know what his deal was.
"Why don't you want to hold Judith? Don't you like babies?" Georgie wondered if she would even get an answer. A muscle worked in Daryl's jaw. For a moment, she thought he was going to get up and walk away. Instead, he looked down at his (filthy) nails and started to mumble something. "You know what, it doesn't matter." She felt guilty for asking-he obviously wasn't the sort of man who did emotions. She started to over enthusiastically swing her feet, and made a show of looking around her-anywhere but Daryl.
"I don't hate babies." Daryl found his voice. There was no hint of any emotion, his voice was just the same as it always was. She didn't look at him, not sure if she wanted to see how his face looked. "It jus' reminded me of my little brothers an sisters."
"Really?" Despite how uncomfortable she felt, Georgie was curious. No one knew anything about Daryl, other than he had an older brother, the infamous Merle. She wondered what she was about to find out. "How many do you have?"
"None now. 'Cept Merle. They're all dead. Walkers got 'em. I tried to stop em, but I couldn't." He paused as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I use to have a younger brother an two little sisters. An a bigger sister. I'm the third. Me an Susan use ta look afta' the little ones. Help Ma out when my Dad was doing a late shift. Merle didn't do much. He was always out, gettin' into trouble." Georgie listened carefully, almost motionless. She had always supposed Daryl to have some tragic back story of abuse and drugs, something clichéd and romantic, to explain his attitude. She realised that the truth was probably a lot sadder.
"When the Walkers bit Beth, I shoulda put her down, like the radio said. Ma wouldn't let us. When she turned, she killed everyone. Merle pulled me out of the house. The last thing I saw was Ma hugging Beth, an Beth..." His voice trailed off. Georgie felt an overwhelming urge to comfort him somehow, but she felt like any physical contact now would result in a black eye. She didn't want to look at him, but she could see him still intensely studying his nails out the corner of her eye. Finally he spoke again, his voice still composed. "I jus wish that wasn't the last memory I have of her." He turned his head slightly to look at her. "I hate Merle. Me an him fought ev'y day of my life. But he's the only family I got left now." Georgie nodded. She understood Daryl now, his bitterness and anger. She also understood his single mindedness in killing anyone that had been bitten. "If this was a movie," she thought, "I'd say something cool and profound now, and we'd have a connection". But before she could think of anything, a scream ripped through the air. The both of them started. Georgie felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.
"That was Lori," she stared at Daryl, and was struck by a terrible thought. "Judith!" She pulled her legs out of the railings and scrambled to her feet. She bolted towards Lori's cell, Daryl close behind her.