Chapter 25

Carol watched Dayna leave the room and heard the click of the door latch behind her. She turned and crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Daryl.

"What?" he growled at her. Daryl had a feeling he wasn't going to like what Carol had to say by the look on her face.

"What is wrong with you?" she snapped her eyes full of fire.

"Beside me being shot, I have no fuckin' idea what you are talking about," he retorted. "But I can tell you are about to tell me, so what's wrong with me that we don't already know?" Daryl fiddled with the sheet covering him. He was a captive audience and Carol knew that. Whatever she had on her mind, he wanted her to just spit it out and get it over with.

"Why are you avoiding her like the plague? I never thought you were one to play games with people's feelings, but you've proved me wrong." Carol sat back and watched Daryl absorb her words. She could tell he didn't expect that. She saw a flash of surprise cross his scruffy face quickly to be replaced by anger. "Go ahead deny it, Daryl. I know you want to, but the truth is you let her fall for you and then you stomped on it. You disappoint me Daryl."

Carol had taken a big risk confronting Daryl this way. She certainly didn't want to risk their friendship, but Daryl needed Dayna. He was just too stubborn to realize it. She also did not know the full story behind them. Dayna had never shared it with her, but Carol was good at putting puzzles together. She knew Dayna and Daryl had come back from that supply run with serious tension between them. Daryl had taken off immediately after they got back and as much as Dayna tried to hide it, she was miserable. Before that, she had watched Daryl as his eyes never left Dayna when she was around and Dayna did the same thing. They tried to hide it from each other and everyone, but Carol noticed everything.

"She's too damn smart for her own good," Daryl thought to himself, "but she had no right to be up my ass in my business." His life was his and no one else needed to get involved in it. He took a deep breath to calm his anger before he spoke. "Listen, first there's nothing between me and Dayna. If she feels somethin' for me that's her problem. I'm not about to get involved with someone like her. And how is any of this any of your business? Stay out of it, Carol. I mean it."

Daryl lay back into the bed exhausted. His little tirade took more out of him that he expected. Damn, he hated being this weak. He closed his eyes hoping Carol would just leave. He knew he had been wrong to treat Dayna the way he did, but he didn't know what else to do. Ignoring her and hurting her was the easy way out for him. What did he know about relationships anyway? He was a Dixon and they always screwed them up. Dayna didn't deserve someone like him, no one did.

"Someone like her? She's a great person, who is kind and thoughtful and people love her. What is so wrong about that?" Carol insisted. She wasn't going to drop this…yet.

"That's the whole problem Carol! She's too good! Once she realized what a piece of shit I am, she'd drop me as fast as she could. I'm…I'm not sure I could handle that, so it's better not to even try!" There he said it, well make that shouted it.

"What's going on in here?" Denise demanded as she burst into the room. "Daryl should be resting, not yelling. Carol, I think it's time to go. I need to check him anyway."

"Okay. I'm sorry I got you upset," Carol told Daryl. He could tell her apology didn't quite reach her eyes. She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek and whispered, "You are the best man I have ever known. Someday I hope you realize how incredible you are." Then she walked out of the room leaving Daryl speechless.

Denise had the old fashion thermometer in her hand. Any of the new ones had a run out of battery power so the old fashion way of taking temperatures was their only option. "You okay?" she asked.

'Yeah, I'm fine."

"Make sure you drink plenty of water, but in the meantime open up." Denise placed the thermometer in his mouth. She picked the chart and recorded the vitals than came across the heart monitor. She removed the thermometer rafter three minutes and read the temperature – 101.4. It was still rising and that wasn't good. She wished they had some IV antibiotics available, but they didn't.

"Not good?" Daryl asked.

"It's still going up and I don't like that." Denise thought for a moment before continuing. "I'm going to give you more meds to work on the fever and infection now. We need to get a handle on this." She walked over to the drug cabinet and took out the necessary meds and gave them to Daryl. "Your body needs strength to heal and that means you need to rest. Will you try?"

"Yeah," Daryl told her. "I am tired. I'll take a nap. Damn, I haven't done that since before all this fuckin' shit began." Denise turned to leave the room so he could sleep. "Hey…thanks Doc," he called after her.

"You're welcome Daryl, now just get better on us, okay?"

"I'll do my best," he told her just before he closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.

Dayna woke up with a start. A quick glance to the clock showed it was four thirty in the afternoon. "Fuck!" she said jumping out of bed." I slept too long." She hadn't intended to be gone from the infirmary for over seven hours. She rushed through a fast shower, tied back her hair and threw on clothes not really caring what they were. She desperately needed to see how Daryl was doing. Call it a sixth sense or something but Dayna had a feeling something was wrong. She pulled on her boots and literally ran out the door.

She in fact ran all the way to the infirmary and arrived gasping. Rick and Carol were talking to Denise when she literally barged in. Their faces said it all. "What happened? I know something is wrong with Daryl." She stopped to catch her breath her hands resting on her knees. No one answered her. "Denise! What's going on!"

"His fever is up."

"How high?" Dayna demanded. "How high, Denise?"

"102.8," she answered.

"Why didn't you get me? I need to be here. He needs me!" Dayna practically shouted.

Rick put his hand on her shoulder, "Take it easy Dayna. I was about to come and get you."

"I don't understand why you would get Rick and Carol here before me. He's needs me…I mean my skills." Dayna knew she was getting out of control, but this was Daryl. He was her whole world whether anyone knew it or not. He saved her life, now she had to save his.

"Dayna, Denise didn't send for us. Carol and I were dropping by to see how he was doing when Denise was about to go get you. We got here no more than five minutes ago. She explained what was going on and I was just about to leave, when you got here." Rick made sure that Dayna was paying attention to him before he continued. "Daryl needs a skilled nurse like you, but he doesn't need you flying off the handle. Can you pull it together?"

Dayna took a deep breath in and closed her eyes as she exhaled. Rick was right, she had to get herself back to the calm efficient nurse she knew she was. "I'm good Rick," she said to him before turning to everyone. "I'm sorry." Denise walked over to Dayna and put her arm around her shoulder. Their heads were bent together discussing a game plan for Daryl.

Rick turned to Carol, "What was that?" he asked confused.

Carol laughed at him. "Rick, that was a woman in love." Men were so clueless sometimes.

"Dayna's in love with …Daryl? Our Daryl?"

"Yes and I think he's in love with her, but he's too stubborn to see it. He rather run from it," she told him.

"Wow," Rick said contemplating this unexpected news. He thought maybe something happened between them on the supply run last month, but they were never together after that so he never gave it another thought. "Let's walk back to the house and you can update me on this little drama. I want to know why you think Daryl's running from this."

If Carol could get Rick on her side, then they both could try to make Daryl see what he was missing. With a big devious smile on her face, Carol took hold of Rick's arm and talked the whole way back to the house and then some. Daryl needed to see that he was worthy of someone loving him, he loving them back and Carol was going to need Rick's help to do that.

Dayna sat next to Daryl's bed watching him during his restless sleep. The fever had taken over and she and Denise were doing everything in their power to bring it down, unfortunately nothing was working. He was conscious, but uncomfortable when she returned to his bedside to relieve Rosita. This was well beyond her capabilities right now. Until his fever came down, nothing was going to get Dayna to leave his side.

It was now the middle of the night and his fever still raged. The antibiotics weren't working, the acetaminophen wasn't bringing it down and Dayna wracked her brain on what else they could so. She was already giving him sponge baths of water and rubbing alcohol to help keep him comfortable, but she could see very little evidence that it was helping.

Little beads of sweat gathered on his forehead and lip that brought tears to her eyes. His temperature at last check was just over 103 and anything higher was extremely dangerous. He had fallen asleep a few hours ago and she didn't dare wake him up yet. Sleep was the best thing for him right now. Then again she hoped he was just asleep and not unconscious because he didn't wake during the sponge baths she had given him.

Their last resort was going to be to open up the incision again and see what was going on inside of him. That was the very last resort. Denise was napping in another room, as she didn't want to leave Dayna alone tonight with such a seriously ill patient.

"You know since I met you Daryl Dixon, you turned my life upside down," she said with a small smile talking to an oblivious Daryl. "You saved me from certain death from all those walkers. I was so close to giving up when you stopped, that you really saved me twice… once from the walkers and once from myself." This was the first time she admitted that she had been thinking of taking her own life. Living on her own with no food, water or help with the walkers had become too much for her to handle on her own. "I never would have guessed that a dark, brooding biker could change my life so much. I trusted you the minute I got on the back of the motorcycle, that's why I slept so long that night. I knew I was safe for the first time in weeks. Then you threw me into the whirlwind of saving Alexandria. I never knew communities like this could exist now. I am forever grateful for you bringing me here." Dayna picked up his hot sweaty hand and brought it to her cheek. Her tears flowed down running over his hand and hers. After a minute she kissed the back of his hand that was wet and salty from her crying, but she didn't let go.

The words she needed to say came out easy, with him asleep. "I love you Daryl, but I know that you don't love me back. It's something I am working on learning how to deal with that. I just don't want you to feel the need to hide when I am around and I think that's what you are doing and it breaks my heart that you felt the need to do that. These people are your friends first, your family first and I don't want to get in the way of that. I've never told you how I felt, so I'm not sure what you know or have figured out, but don't worry it's my problem to deal with and I will. I just want us to be friends again. That's all I ask of you." Tears continued to stream down her face as her heart broke.

Dayna had never felt this strongly about anyone before. She had thought herself to be in love a time or two before, but it was nothing like this. The funny thing was is that she really knew very little about Daryl, but what she did know affected her intensely. She wiped the tears away with her free hand as a tiny smile emerged. He was so not her usual type. This wasn't the first time she had thought about this. How stupid and narrow-minded was she to discount that anyone that looked like him wouldn't be right for her? She had wasted years trying to fit the men in her life into the box she had created for them. That box had blown up in her face numerous times and still she went back to it. Now she knew going outside of the box was risky, but worth it.

Dayna sat there watching his handsome, but fever-ridden face for a while, never letting go of his hand. "There is one thing I need to complain to you about, Daryl," she finally said with a smile. "I am getting very tired of having to take care of you all the time. I think I have become your own personal nurse. First, it was the dislocated shoulder. I'm still unsure on how a guy like you managed to fall off the ladder. Then we have the gun shot. I could certainly do without another one of those and now it's this fever we can't control. Would you stop trying to test my nursing skills? I mean I'm good, but I don't have all the necessary tools here to get you better. So would ya stop making me work so hard?"

She felt his fingers squeeze hers and she quickly looked down to confirm it. "I got sidetracked," Daryl mumbled much to Dayna surprise.

"Hey there," she said softly happy that he was awake again. "What do you mean you got sidetracked?"

Daryl slowly opened his eyes. They were still dull from the fever. "Comin'… down the ladder…I got sidetracked. Can I have some water?"

Dayna popped out of the chair and got him a fresh glass of water. She helped him lift his head to drink, when he was done he collapsed back on the bed exhausted. "Feel like a fuckin' baby who can't do shit for himself," Daryl complained.

"Let's take your temperature again," Dayna told him as she shook the thermometer down. "But what sidetracked you enough to fall off the ladder?"

Daryl reached up and took the thermometer out of her hand and placed it in his mouth stopping any form of answer on his part. He was saved for a couple of minutes. That should give him time enough to figure out how to get her off that topic.

During the three minutes it took for the temperature reading Dayna recorded his vitals and checked the IV bag hey had hanging. The last thing they wanted was for him to become dehydrated on top of everything else. When it was time to read the thermometry, Dayna said a quick prayer as she pulled it out of his mouth. It read 103. The good news was that it had come down .2 degrees, but it was still too high.

"Well?" Daryl asked softly, his throat dry and scratchy from fever.

"It went down very slightly, but it's still too high. What am I missing?" Dayna walked over to the drug cabinet and stared at the options. The classic antibiotics weren't helping, even doubling the dosage did nothing. They needed either both a stronger drug and one that could be administered intravenously. They had neither, but maybe she could make one of them. Yes she could!

Dayna took eight amoxicillin tablets and put them in the mortar they used for crushing pills for those that didn't like taking them. She used the pestle to grind and grind the pills into dust. Then she took some sterile saline and poured that into the bowl with the crushed pills. They had to dissolve completely or they could kill Daryl by acting like a clot.

"What are you doing?" he said. He could tell that Dayna had an idea and was working towards it. He needed to know what it was.

"Just a sec," she said absently concentrating on the mixture. Finally she turned to him, "I have an idea, but you have to agree to it one hundred percent or I won't do it. Got it? It's all or nothing."

"What is it?"

Dayna walked back to the chair and sat down next to Daryl. "We need both stronger meds and intravenous meds to help you. I don't have stronger, but I am pretty sure I can make the intravenous form from what we have. "She saw him following her so she continued. "I crushed up some of the amoxicillin really, really fine so it was like a powder. I then added sterile saline to dissolve it. The powder has to dissolve completely for it to work and not kill you. If you don't want to try it, we won't, but if you do you have to make sure that you are one hundred percent behind it. Anything less I won't use it."

Daryl thought for a minute. "When we had a sickness going through the prison, that's what Caleb and Herschel did. It helped those that weren't too far gone. We got the meds for it on a run we did to a veterinary school. That's what gave me the idea for the run that we did. It worked then for the most part, why wouldn't it work for me?" He was tired of being sick and not being able to do shit for himself. He was hot, achy and weak. He hated feeling this way.

"If I didn't crush the pills enough or if they don't dissolve one hundred percent it could act like a clot and that could kill you. You'd be putting a hell of a lot of trust in me," she told him honestly. Dayna knew that even if Daryl said yes, she'd have to be confident that she did everything correctly. She was a nurse, not a pharmacist after all.

Daryl looked at her without any expression on his weary face. His eyes narrowed the way they did when he got serious. "Are you confident that it's okay?"

Dayna met his stare before getting up to check the solution she had made. She could feel his eyes on her. She swirled it around looking for anything that hadn't dissolved and saw nothing. She checked it again, then once more. It looked good. Dayna turned back to Daryl, "Yeah, I am."

"Then so am I," he said quietly. "I trust you."

The impact that those three words had on her was staggering. She wasn't going to let him down, this was going to work, she was sure of it. "Thank you," was all that she could manage. Dayna turned back counter top and opened a new syringe and filled it with dissolved mixture. She did some mental calculations for the dosage and used the plunger to remove some until it was the dosage she wanted. Then she walked over to his partially full IV bag. "You ready?"

"I got one question for ya first," he said.

"What's that?"

"You gonna check with the doc first," he asked.

"Nope," was all she said.

"What happened to following protocol?"

"Fuck protocol," she said with a straight face.

"That's my girl!" Daryl said with a tired smile. "I knew you had it in ya."

Dayna returned the smile, as she pressed the plunger of the syringe down and the slightly home brewed medicine found it's way into the IV bag and subsequently into Daryl. Now all they could do is wait and see what happened.