Chapter 25

At Hershel's urging she drank more water and took the Advil. The combination soon helped her headache and she was glad, but the thought of having her shoulder touched for the bandage change was making her feel sick to her stomach.

Before removing the bandage, Hershel took off the sling and examined her arm and hand. Both her hand and arm were swollen and bruised. "Don't worry. That's normal." Hershel said reassuringly. He gently squeezed her swollen hand. "Can you feel that?"

At her nod, he smiled again, "That's good news. Do you think you can wiggle your fingers for me?"

Amelia stared at her hand and willed it to move. After nearly thirty seconds of concentration her first finger and thumb twitched. It was quickly followed by all of her fingers wiggling. "Good." Hershel said, pleased. "Does it hurt to wiggle your fingers?"

She shook her head no.

Hershel nodded then gave her hand another reassuring pat. "We're going to change your bandage now. It's going to hurt but we'll try to be quick okay?"

"I need to use the washroom first." Amelia muttered.

"Oh - of course." Hershel replied. He glanced down at her and then at Daryl, "Do you want Daryl to leave the room while we get you out of bed?"

She shook her head as Daryl said forcefully, "I ain't leavin'."

Moving slowly and carefully Hershel and Daryl sat Amelia up and helped her swing her legs over. She sat for a few minutes, cradling her arm against her body and feeling light headed. At some point while she was unconscious Melissa had removed her jeans and underwear and given her a sponge bath, washing away the blood and the dirt from her body before placing the boxer shorts she had brought from their first cabin on her. Her upper half was bare but she was in too much pain to be embarrassed by her semi-nakedness in front of either Daryl or Hershel.

"Can you stand?" Hershel asked.

Her shoulder was really throbbing now but she gritted her teeth against it and nodded. With Daryl and Hershel's help she stood, wobbling a bit but not feeling as lightheaded as she had. However, when she took a step, the pain flared in her shoulder and she whimpered helplessly. Without speaking, Daryl picked her up. He carried her into the bathroom, Melissa following, and stood her in front of the toilet. Melissa stepped in to steady her and he left the small room. She was quick and Daryl carried her back to the bed without even giving her the option of trying to walk, but by the time Melissa and Hershel began to remove the bandage, she was sweating and moaning softly.

Daryl took her small hand in his large one and held it loosely. "Look at me Amelia." He commanded and she stared into his blue eyes, trying not to cry. Once again he helped her control her breathing, encouraging her to breathe deeply when she wanted to pant, and encouraging her to squeeze his hand each time there was a particularly bad spasm of pain.

After placing a fresh bandage on her shoulder, neither Melissa nor Daryl would let her look at her shoulder once the old bandage was off, Hershel tucked her arm back into the sling and then he and Daryl eased her back on to the bed. At her request they removed some of the pillows so she was reclining more. Melissa pulled the sheet up and tucked it carefully around her sling and under her armpits but Amelia balked at the blanket. Daryl frowned and felt her forehead.

"She's warm." He looked at Hershel.

"Of course I'm warm." Amelia said grumpily. The pain was coursing through her entire body now and she wanted to close her eyes and sleep. "I've been moving around and you've got enough wood in the cook stove to heat two cabins."

"Let's have a few bites of broth now Amelia. Just a couple spoonful's okay?" Melissa brought the bowl over from the cook stove but Amelia turned her head away.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, "I can't."

"She's too warm." Daryl repeated himself, his hand smoothing across her forehead.

"She's fine. It's not a fever." Hershel felt her forehead himself but Amelia barely heard him. The pain and effort to move had caught up with her and she slipped smoothly into slumber.

Amelia stared blankly at the ceiling of the cabin. It was just visible in the flickering of the candle sitting on the nightstand by her bed. She had woken after only a few hours and at Melissa's urging she had eaten some of the broth. At the smell of it heating on the cook stove she had felt a faint thread of hunger for the first time since the lake and she hadn't even minded that Melissa insisted on feeding her. She had eaten nearly an entire bowl of the warm, rich broth.

It was early evening but dark was already falling and Hershel and Melissa had left for their cabins, leaving her alone with Daryl. She had tried to convince him to go to his own cabin and get a decent night's sleep but he had refused. Secretly she was glad. Melissa had offered to stay as well but Amelia could see just how tired both the young redhead and Hershel were and had forced them to leave. Anything she needed, Daryl could help her with.

She shifted and winced. She should be sleeping, she was exhausted both physically and mentally, but images kept flashing through her mind. Freddie leering at her; Andy's face after he had been stabbed; the handle of the knife sticking out from her shoulder; they flickered through her mind uncontrolled and she wished desperately that she could turn them off. She shuddered and the pain in her shoulder intensified, forcing a low groan from her throat.

Daryl was there instantly, "Amelia what's wrong? Should I get Hershel?"

She shook her head, "No, it just hurts."

"Hold on. Hershel said you could have more Advil if you needed it." He went to the kitchen, moving as confidently as a cat in the darkness, and she could hear pouring water and the rattling of pills. He returned and handed her the pills, holding the glass of water so she could drink from it.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded but as he turned to go back to the bed he had made on the love seat she caught his hand. "Please, stay in the bed with me." She murmured.

He hesitated, "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. Please, I don't want to be alone." She pleaded.

He searched her face for a moment before standing and stripping off his shirt. Wearing only a pair of boxers, he blew the candle out and moved around to her uninjured side. He slipped into the bed beside her and she turned her face so he wouldn't see her grimace of pain as the bed jostled her.

Without speaking he eased his body closer to hers, wrapping his arm around her waist and resting his head on the pillow beside hers. She gripped his forearm with her good hand and carefully turned her head so she could tuck her face against his throat. She breathed in his familiar scent as he ran his hand up and down her bare side. She could feel the roughness of his fingers, the calluses that covered them but his touch was gentle against her flesh. She lay quietly for a few moments, marveling that such a rough, hard man could even have this type of gentleness in him.

There was something she had wanted to ask since she had woken but she had put it off, some part of her afraid of what the answer would be. Now, lying in the darkness, feeling the warmth of Daryl's body against hers, she swallowed and forced herself to ask.

"Andy..." she said but Daryl interrupted her almost immediately.

"He's dead." He squeezed her waist.

"I know. I remember." She remembered everything with horrifying accuracy. From the look on Andy's face when he had been stabbed, the sound of his voice calling her name, to the certainty that she was going to die as a dead Freddie reached for her – she had an idea that those moments were forever burned into her brain.

"Daryl, he – " she paused, trying to decide how to word it without making herself sound completely crazy, "Andy wasn't bitten but he turned anyway."

He stiffened against her and when he didn't say anything she hurried on, "I know that sounds crazy but please, you have to believe me. Neither of those two horrible men were Walkers when they first caught us and they didn't bite him anyway, they stabbed him."

When he still didn't say anything, she whispered, "Please - say something Daryl."

He let his breath out in a harsh rush. "I believe ya." His hand resumed its gentle stroking, "Did anyone from the group tell ya that we were at the CDC?"

She started to shake her head, winced at the pain it caused in her shoulder, and said, "No, when was that?"

"It was a while ago and it's a long story. I'll tell ya the whole thing someday but what's most important right now is what I'm about to say."

She nodded, "Alright."

"The CDC guy, I can't remember his name, Jenner somethin' maybe. Anyway, he was a scientist guy and they had done a bunch of tests and shit on people and Walkers you know? Tryin' to find a cure I guess."

She nodded again, her face still tucked against his throat.

"He told Rick, well he told him that –" he swallowed convulsively, she could feel the motion against her mouth, "we all carry the virus in us." He finished in a hoarse whisper.

She didn't respond but he could feel dampness on his throat. He cupped the back of her head and kissed her forehead, "Don't honey." He whispered, "Don't cry."

"That's why Andy turned when he died." She said in a voice choked with tears. She stiffened as something else dawned on her, "And why you asked me if Tony had any bites on him." A tone of accusation entered her voice, "You should have told me then."

"Yeah, I should have." He replied. The genuine regret in his voice immediately dampened her anger.

"This is so fucked up." She muttered bitterly.

"Yeah." He shifted against her, moving his hand back down to her side and settling it on her hip. They were quiet for a while and Daryl believed Amelia was asleep until she suddenly spoke, her words muffled against his throat.

"Promise me something."

"What's that?" he responded

"If I die, you put one of your arrows through my head." Her voice was so low he had to strain to hear it.

"You ain't gonna die." His hand squeezed her hip so tightly, she gasped a little.

"I might." She said bluntly. "There's still a chance that I'll get an infection. If I do, I'm dead."

When he didn't respond, she lifted her head, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, and stared at his face just barely visible in the dark. "Promise me Daryl. I can't, I won't end up as one of those things. "

"I promise." He answered.

"Thank you." She kissed him softly, lightly on his jaw before relaxing against him. She was suddenly exhausted and with Daryl in the bed beside her, she might actually get some rest. She closed her eyes and drifted.