When Daryl woke up the next morning he could tell by the sun shining through the flap of the tent that it was later in the day than when he normally woke up. Clumsily, he threw his arm out to his side, expecting it to land on a body, but found nothing there.
He spent a moment wondering if last night had been a dream, albeit a very good one, but when a head popped into the tent, his doubts drifted off with what remained of his tiredness. Brown eyes peered in at him curiously. "Yer awake!" Harley smiled at him, a mouth full of food. "Brought ya some breakfast if ya wanna come eat." She told him.
Daryl felt the corners of his mouth twitch into a would-be smile as he shrugged the blankets off of him, joining Harley outside and sitting down next to her after she handed him a plate of food.
"Did Rick come back yet?" He asked.
Harley nodded. "Early this mornin'." By the tone in her voice, Daryl could tell there was more she had to say but seemed a bit unwilling to.
"And…?" He questioned when she hadn't said anything for a few moments.
Her eyes shifted from him to the ground as she contemplated her choice of words. "Lori's pregnant." She finally said and she felt slightly guilty over blabbing her mouth about something she had sworn to keep a secret, although now that everyone at camp knew, it didn't seem fair that Daryl be kept in the dark about it. Daryl nearly choked on his food. "That ain't even the worst news." She paused as she took a bite of her overcooked eggs and only when she finished chewing and swallowed did she say. "They brought someone back…" She proceeded with caution, eyeing Daryl's twisting face. "… a guy around my age."
His eyes darkened and he lowered his plate. "What?" He grounded out.
"They were ambushed by a group of men. The kid got injured and his group left him behind." Harley reiterated what Glenn had told her earlier.
"They had the right idea."
Harley gave him a pointed look. "I ain't happy about it either, but Rick and Hershel are tryin' to figure out what to do with the kid."
Daryl rolled the food on his plate around with his fork before telling Harley, "Make sure ya steer clear of that guy, alrigh'?" He reached out and brushed down some bits of Harley's hair that had begun to stick up with the humidity, his touch lingering a bit longer than intended and Harley smiled at the gesture.
"Do I look like a person who would intentionally put herself in danger?" She teased and the only reply she got was a snort that told her he thought that was exactly the kind of person she looked like.
"— when he is we give him his canteen, take him to the main road and send him on his way…" Harley opened the door to the farmhouse, entering the middle of the conversation as Rick told the group what his plan was. No one, but Carol and Dale spared Harley and Daryl a second glance as they shuffled into the dining room as quiet as possible so they didn't interrupt the discussion going on.
"Isn't that the same thing as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asked.
Rick replied, "At least he'll have a fighting chance."
Shane, as per usual, was the one to have a problem with Rick's method. "Just gonna let him go? He knows where we are."
"He was blindfolded the whole way here." Rick corrected and assured Shane that the kid — Randall, was not a threat.
It was within a matter of milliseconds that the tensions in the room rose and Harley shared a look with Daryl who knew that it was only a matter of time before Rick and Shane were at each other's throats. "Not a threat… How many of them were there?" He asked a rhetoric question. "You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come lookin' for him."
"They left him for dead." Rick insisted. "No one is gonna come lookin' for him."
Shane remained unconvinced and T-Dog trying to be a voice of reason said, "We should still post a guard."
"He's out cold right now." Hershel informed them. "Will be for hours."
"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane said sarcastically and he began to make his way out of the house, scoffing as he did. "Look at this, folks — we back in Fantasyland."
Harley rolled her eyes at Shane's dramatic antics, but otherwise said nothing considering what happened to her last time she spoke out of turn with him around. A matching bruise on her other eye didn't seem too tempting. Hershel was the one who spoke up.
"You know we still haven't dealt with what you did at my barn." He called out to Shane, stopping the stocky man in his tracks. "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all — this is my farm." He laid down. "Now, I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor… keep your mouth shut."
Shane did not look as though he knew what to say to the old man's proclamation and with a heavy sigh, he turned and stalked out.
"Christ… what an asshole." Harley grumbled not too loudly, but those who did hear sent a small smile in her direction as she had said what most of them had been thinking.
And like that, the meeting was done and everyone began to file out of the farmhouse, Rick telling Hershel that they weren't going to do anything about Randall today and they needed time to cool off which no one seemed satisfied with.
"I don't know how we keep finding ourselves in these types of situations." Harley told Daryl as they made their way back to their camp.
Daryl just shrugged, "These people ain't realize that being compassionate ain't gonna help us when it comes to the situation we're in now."
Harley looked over at him with an eyebrow raised. "Can't lose all of our humanity, can we?" Daryl's eyes met hers and he gave her an answer that she probably wasn't ready to hear.
"If we're going to survive…"
A week came and went pretty quickly and it was time for them to send Randall off on his way. Rick and Shane packed up one of the cars and threw the kid in the trunk all tied up and blindfolded to ensure their plan would go off without a hitch.
It was nearing dinner time and while Daryl was out hunting, Harley was playing checkers with Sophia and Carl who would not stop giggling over the fact that Harley was not very good at checkers and they had beaten her every single time either one of them played against her.
"You two have to be cheatin'." She grumbled as she accepted defeat once more at the hands of little Carl who had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.
"Oh, there you are." Harley turned her head to see Carol coming up the porch steps with a basket of laundry in her hands and she motioned to Sophia to come to her which the young girl did without complaint. "Hope she wasn't too much trouble."
Harley waved the older woman off. "Don't even worry about it. The kid is practically an angel."
A warm smile lit up on Carol's face while Sophia bore a sheepish grin at Harley's compliment before they made their way back to their tent. Carl, however, looked at Harley with a raised eyebrow and asked, "What about me? Am I an angel?"
Harley deadpanned at the boy, "Hardly." A smile broke out on her face as the boy began to whine and complain about her favoring Sophia which she did not deny although Harley wouldn't say that she favored Sophia over Carl, Carl was just a lot to handle at times as most boys his age were.
"Are you teasing my son again?" Lori asked after hearing all the commotion from inside.
"I would never do such a thing, Lori. How could you even accuse me of something like that?" The amount of sarcasm in Harley's tone made Lori smile at her before beckoning the two inside for lunch.
She set two plates at the table for Harley and Carl and told Maggie, who had been helping her with lunch, to sit down and enjoy the meal while she took food up to Beth.
Maggie didn't seem quite herself as she ate her lunch quietly across from Harley and Harley, not wanting to bring anything up in front of Carl, said nothing about the other woman's odd disposition. When Maggie caught sight of Glenn walking outside the farmhouse, she quickly excused herself from the table and sped after him, leaving her plate of food half finished.
"Can I have her chicken?" Carl asked.
Harley gave a shrug, "You're a growing boy. Go for it."
With a grin Carl reached across the table and plucked the piece of chicken off the forgotten plate and began to devour it, blatantly ignoring Harley's pleas for him to eat slower. It was only when his mother walked by and ordered him to slow down did the boy comply.
"Ah, a mother's touch." Harley joked and she could hear Lori laugh from the kitchen as the woman began to do the dishes. Harley heard the clattering of dishes and she glanced back at Lori who made her way hurriedly up the stairs.
"What's up with her?" Carl asked with a mouthful of food.
Harley stared blankly at where Lori had been and replied with a "I 'unno". Moments later, Lori came flying down the stairs, a kitchen knife now in hand which sent red flags up for Harley who was now alert as can be.
"Carl, why don't you go play with Sophia?" Lori suggested, but by the tone of her voice it was more of an order than a request.
Harley nudged Carl in the side when he opened his mouth to say something back to his mother and he took it as a hint to do as he was told and hurried out of the house in search of Sophia.
"Harley, I need you to go upstairs and stay with Beth while I go look for Maggie, alright?"
Harley glanced down at the knife in Lori's hands and then her thoughts went to Beth who had done nothing but stay in her room for the past week in a catatonic state, it didn't take a genius to know why Lori had told her to go keep an eye on Beth.
Her feet pounded against the stairs as she ran up them and when she reached Beth's room she found the young blonde sitting on her bed looking defeated. When she heard Harley's footsteps at her door, Beth glanced over at her before turning her gaze to the floor.
"Beth…" Harley said breathlessly, "… what the hell?"
Beth shook her head, "It's pointless… it's pointless…" She kept repeating. Harley stared at the broken girl before her and with a heavy sigh, she planted herself on the bed in front of Beth and took Beth's cold, clammy hands into her own rough, warm ones.
"It ain't." Harley told her, "It ain't pointless." She squeezed Beth's hands and continued to murmur to the girl. "Ain't pointless… not when ya got your family. People are continuing on with a whole lot less than that." Harley exhaled softly. "It might not ever be how it used to, but ya gotta keep goin'. You might think ya can't ever live with this pain, but ya can… ya can… and it's not gonna get easier, but yer gonna figure out just how strong ya are along the way."
Beth stayed silent and Harley followed suit but she didn't let go of the girl's hands, not until Maggie came rushing in. She spared Beth one last glance and a simple touch on the shoulder before leaving the two sisters alone to work things out.
She found Andrea and Lori downstairs in the kitchen listening to the sisters scream at each other. It was when Andrea and Lori started to go at each other, throwing jabs at one another that Harley decided that the best place for her would probably be away from the house although she didn't go too far.
Glenn seemed to be wandering the perimeter of the house in deep thought when Harley snuck up on him, nearly scaring him out of his pants. "Jesus! Don't do that!" He scolded her as he tried to control his heart rate.
"Sorry, sorry…" Harley apologized although the smile on her face could've told him otherwise. "Why ya wanderin' around like a lost puppy?" She questioned.
"I am not wandering around like a lost puppy." He insisted and when she gave him a pointed look he could only give out an exasperated sigh. "I really don't want to have a whole conversation about my feelings right now."
Harley snorted and hooked her arm through his, pulling him away from the house towards one of the larger oak trees on the property. "Don't really much matter what ya want, unfortunately." She told him and he let out an agitated groan. "Maggie's really good for ya, you know that, right?" She unhooked her arm from his and sat down beneath the tree, motioning for him to sit down beside her which he complied with.
"She loves me." He told Harley who only looked confused at his statement. "She told me she loved me and when we were in town that day, getting shot at… I just… I couldn't think of anything else other than her being hurt if anything were to happen to me and I… froze."
Harley mulled over his words before deciding on her reply. "You're an idiot."
Glenn looked startled at her revelation, "What?"
"You're an idiot!" She repeated and for added emphasis she gave him a firm backhand to his chest which almost knocked the wind out of him. "You love her." She told him. "You love her and you're scared."
An uncomfortable look dawned on his face, "Isn't that normal though? To be scared?"
"Of course it is, but don't you think she's scared, too?" She questioned. "With the world going to shit around us, you don't know if you're gonna make it 'til tomorrow… you don't know if the people you love are gonna make it 'til tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you should push them away."
Glenn sighed and ruffled his hair, pulling at it as he pondered over her words, "Isn't it easier if you just stay at a distance? Wouldn't it hurt less?"
"What's that sayin'? 'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'. Distancin' yerself from people to avoid gettin' hurt or hurtin' others… that ain't livin'." She said. "So, what? Ya convince Maggie to stay away from you and ya never get the chance to tell her that you love her and before ya know it— cuhh —" She made a slashing motion along her throat with her finger, "— one of you is dead and the other is miserable anyway."
There was a lot of turmoil going on in Glenn's eyes and Harley hoped he was taking her words to heart. Deciding that he probably would like to be left alone to sort through his thoughts, she stood up and tousled his hair leaving him with one last bit of advice. "Love while you can."
In the distance, she saw Daryl emerging from the woods, a string of squirrel strung over his shoulder and his entire body covered in the grime of the day; a smile lit up on Harley's face as she was pretty positive that she'd never seen a more perfect sight. As she hurried towards him, her eyes met his and there was a ghost of a smile on his face and a glint in his eyes when she welcomed him back. Daryl couldn't help but think that it was almost like she were welcoming him home and the thought caused a tugging sensation at his chest.
It was when she threw her arms around him that he reckoned no matter where he was as long as Harley was there, he could call it home.
I'm sorry I suck so bad at updating guys D: