A/N: Here's the next update! I hope you guys enjoy! I found out that there was an estimated 4 days between the end of season five and the quarry scene in 6x01, so I am trying to draw those days out as much as I can to give you all plenty of Daryl and Thea interactions before more excitement starts.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.
The gunshot was still echoing in Thea's mind when the stillness of the group dissipated. She stared down at Pete's brains on the brick walkway as if they would start sliding back into his head and this would all be a sick joke, but they stayed there. For a minute, she felt relief that this twisted man would no longer be around to torment her or anyone else, but then a sob from the crowd of Alexandrian's pulled her back into reality. A reality where a wife had just been forced to watch her husband executed.
Pete Anderson was not a good person, but Jessie was and she didn't deserve to witness the carnage that had unfolded in front of her. Thea felt a feeling of guilt creep up her spine. This blood was on her hands; Reg and Pete had died because she was unable to keep Pete from taking Michonne's sword.
Her nose began to throb as her adrenaline went down; she needed to get some ice on her face and get a look at how bad of a break she was dealing with.
She took a step back, hoping to sneak away from the bloodshed and get a jumpstart on her own medical care, but as she did she accidentally locked eyes with Jessie over the fire pit. The blonde's watery eyes widened upon seeing the doctor's bruised face, and then flickered down to her husband's body as if she knew it was Pete who had laid hands on her.
Thea couldn't stand to see the pity and guilt in her eyes; it wasn't Jessie's fault, it was Pete's…it was Thea's.
Turning on her heel, she was quick to get away from the courtyard, away from the group and the dead bodies. She only made it halfway home when a voice called out to her.
"Thea, wait up!" Rosita called, jogging down the sidewalk towards her.
Thea turned slowly, not in the mood to deal with whatever reaction her assaulted face would garner from her friend. She had a feeling it wouldn't be a fun conversation.
As Rosita came closer, she began speaking. "Hey, we need you—" her eyes widened comically. "What the hell happened to your face?" Her hand reached up as if to prod at her nose and faltered only when the doctor flinched away.
"Pete, he uh…"
The Latina's face hardened. "I'm gonna kill that son of a—"
"—Rick already beat you to it, actually." Thea interrupted.
Rosita's face changed again, and if the situation had been different it might have been funny how many emotions she was blowing through in such a small amount of time. Instead, it only exhausted Thea more.
"What? What happened?"
The doctor shook her head, sighed, and waved her off. "It's a really long story. Weren't you saying you needed me….?" She quickly tried to change the subject.
Realization crossed her friend's face and she grabbed onto Thea's forearm. "Tara's awake, I need you to come take a look at her."
She felt relief knowing that Tara was finally awake after days of not knowing how she would recover, but her body ached, her face in particular, and she didn't have the strength to walk across Alexandria again. She could do it in the morning, but for now this was something that Rosita could handle.
"Rosita, I need to wash this blood off my face and reset my nose and put ice on it. You are more than capable of handling Tara. Just…get her talking. Ask her what she remembers about the run, ask her how she's feeling. I'll come by in the morning."
"O-okay. Are you sure you're okay?" Rosita questioned, eyes scanning her busted face with concern.
She couldn't bring herself to lie to her friend when it would be so obvious she was lying. She couldn't lie to her friend. "No, I'm not okay. I'm not okay." She admitted quietly. "But for now, I need you to take care of Tara and I will try to take care of myself. Okay?"
The other woman hesitated, looking like she had something more to say, but finally she nodded. "Okay." She agreed simply before turning to head back towards the clinic without another word.
Thea watched her go until she was out of sight, around the corner, and then it was her turn to move.
She wasn't sure how exactly she made it home, only that walking into the house felt like an insane relief. She went straight for the downstairs bathroom, locking herself inside. She wasn't particularly excited about seeing what her face would look like, but she stepped up to the sink anyways, cringing at her reflection.
Her forehead was halfway covered by a dark bruise, but that was nothing compared to the middle of her face. Her nose had been broken in the middle of the bridge, the skin split in the process. The bruising had spread to beneath her eyes; two black eyes and a broken nose. She looked like she was part of an underground fight club.
"First rule of fight club…" she muttered to herself, wetting a washcloth and beginning to clean the blood off her face.
Most of it had dried already and so even after she had washed her entire face there were pink stains left behind. Her nose look worse cleaned up, though, and she realized that cleaning her face was stupid when she needed to set her nose so it would heal right and doing so would only make it start bleeding again.
She'd never set her own bone before, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to feel good.
She was right, it didn't feel good.
After allowing herself a few moments to wallow in the pain, she had cleaned up her face again and gone to the kitchen to get some much-needed ice. Only there wasn't any ice in the freezer at her house, and so she found herself standing on the porch trying to decide if she wanted to make the trip next door to check for some.
On one hand, she needed some ice to reduce swelling and just to make her feel better; on the other, she could always just go to bed and get some rest. The doctor in her was telling her just to get the damn ice, the victim was crying out to go upstairs and sleep.
But she was done being the victim, she wanted to get better both physically and mentally.
She walked slowly down the porch stairs and through the grass, up the steps onto the other porch and then inside the house. Doing so in one breath was the only thing that kept her from losing her nerve.
She avoided the living room and went straight for the kitchen, stopping short when she found Daryl, Rick, and the stranger seated around the island.
"How are you feeling?" Rick asked upon seeing her.
Thea avoided the question. "I just came to get some ice. We don't have any over there." She said instead, moving around the island and pulling open the freezer. She pulled the ice tray out and set it on the counter, grabbing a clean dish towel from one of the drawers and wrapping a handful of ice cubes inside and replacing the tray in the freezer.
When she turned back to face the men they were all staring at her.
"Thea, you okay?" Rick asked her, this time his face indicated he expected an answer.
She sighed and pulled out the chair that had been placed beside Daryl, who was eating from a bowl just as the stranger was, and curled into it, pulling her knees up to her chest. "No, I'm not." She said honestly, gingerly placing the ice against her nose.
The men were silent as if they expected her to continue, but she didn't intend on doing so.
Rick sighed. "This is Morgan." He motioned to the stranger before turning and moving to look at some items scattered across one of the tables in the foyer.
Thea returned the man's nod, but didn't say anything more.
Morgan turned to Rick. "You were right. It wasn't over." He said in a quiet voice.
Rick nodded. He was still covered in blood, where it came from wasn't certain, and the casual gesture seemed odd. "We should talk more tomorrow." He paused and moved back to where they were seated. There was a palpable tension between the sheriff and the newcomer. "Listen…I don't take chances anymore."
There was a pause and then Morgan nodded. "And you shouldn't."
Thea wondered how the two men knew each other. It was clear that they hadn't just met this evening, there was a history there. She wanted to figure it out, but she didn't want to push her boundaries. This was something she'd have to figure out through alternative channels.
Something told her one such channel was sitting beside her slurping down his meal.
Her bruises looked worse in the daylight and she almost didn't want to get up and leave her room, but she couldn't just lay in bed all day. She needed to get her body moving so that her mind wouldn't have time to overthink things.
Her hair had grown since she'd chopped it off at the prison. It fell just below her collarbones now and she was able to pull it back and twist it into a bun. It felt nice to have it off her neck, especially with the temperature rising.
Dressing in a fresh pair of jeans and a thin, long-sleeved shirt to save her arms from the bite of the wind, she slipped on the boots she had pulled from Father Gabriel's donation box back at his church. She had other shoes in the closet, but none that were as good for running as these were; she didn't want to fall out of her shoes if something went down, and something inevitably went down when she was least expecting it.
Daryl was out in front of the big blue house when she made it outside. The bike Aaron had given him for recruitment runs was parked in front of him and he was crouched down working on it with a wrench, an oil rag resting on his shoulder.
She moved straight for him. "Morning." She said as she stepped off the sidewalk into the street to stand on the opposite side of the bike as him.
He glanced up at her from his position. "You look like shit." He stated bluntly.
She knew he was referring to her beat-up face and rolled her eyes. "Well aren't you a charmer." She teased, crossing her arms over her chest.
Daryl snorted and pulled his hand back from the bike, rising to his full height and pulling the rag off his shoulder to wipe at his hands. His next words came as a surprise. "You alright?"
Thea hadn't expected him to ask if she was okay. She wasn't okay. She felt exhausted and her heart was heavy with guilt. She felt like Reg's death was her fault. Bowing her head, she shrugged one shoulder as she responded. "Not really. I'm kind of feeling like shit, actually."
He squinted at her but didn't say a word, which she took as a sign of him waiting for her to continue.
"After everything we went through out there, I'm still so weak. If I had been able to fight off Pete and keep him from taking Michonne's sword…Reg would still be alive. His blood is on my hands."
Daryl shook his head two short times. "Ain't your fault."
She disagreed. "If I knew how to defend myself better I could have kept him from taking that sword. Look at my face, he beat the shit out of me and all I did was scratch his cheek."
"Ain't nothing more you could have done. Pete was a big guy, you did what you could."
Thea scoffed, her head spinning. He had an answer for everything and he seemed to have so much confidence in her ability to fight off a threat. How could he not see that she was struggling to keep her head above water here?
"I wish I had an ounce of the strength you seem to think I have, Daryl. Maybe then I wouldn't be…whatever I am."
He was quiet for a long minute. His eyes studied her face before they fell to his oil covered hands. He shrugged one shoulder as if he was about to say something completely casual, but his words didn't come out that way. He met her eyes again and responded. "You are what you are, but it ain't weak."
What did he think of her? Once again, she was baffled by Daryl's view of her. How was it that he was constantly overestimating her; and why was it that he thought so highly of a simple doctor?
They held each other's gaze for a full minute and as her lips parted to speak, the door of the blue house opened and Rick stepped out, moving down the steps quickly. The spell was broken as Daryl turned towards the sheriff.
"So, is he okay with it?" He asked, referring to something Thea didn't know about.
Rick nodded. "It was pretty much his idea. He gets it." He stopped on the same side of the bike as Thea, a few inches of space between them.
"It's got a bed and a bath, but it's still a cage, you know?" Daryl responded.
Thea got it then. They were putting Morgan in the room Rick had been locking in after the fight with Pete. Why they were doing that, she wasn't sure.
"He gets it. He told me what happened out there with the trucks." Rick was saying.
Daryl set the oil rag down on the seat of the bike, resting the wrench on top of it. "He tell you about those guys he met?" He motioned to his forehead. "The W's."
And once again Thea was lost.
Rick nodded. "Like that walker we saw, yeah. We need more watch points. And I'm gonna tell Deanna we don't need to go looking for people anymore."
There was a long pause as Daryl realized what Rick was saying. He didn't look happy about it as he nodded, stepping away and raising a hand to chew on his thumbnail.
"You feel different about it?" Rick asked.
Daryl dropped his hand, nodded. "Yeah, I do."
"Well, people out there, they got to take care of themselves, just like us." Rick paused. "I'm gonna get him out. Shouldn't leave him in there any longer than we have to."
With that, the sheriff stepped away and headed in the direction of the house he had been locked in previously. As he went further away, Thea turned back to Daryl.
"What's with the W's?" she wondered, trying to get up to speed.
Daryl grabbed the wrench again and crouched down to continue working on the bike. "We found a walker out in the woods with a W carved in its forehead. Aaron and I found another one tied to a tree with a W on its head, too. And Morgan told us he had a run in with two guys who called themselves 'Wolves'."
"Same W's on their heads?" She put it together.
Daryl nodded. "Yep."
"So the real question is, were the walkers other 'Wolves' who died or are they carving up walkers?" she questioned.
He shook his head. "Neither. The one I found with Aaron was tied to a tree. Looked like she'd been strung up while she was alive and walkers attacked her."
Thea's heart dropped. People out there were so disgusting. "Jesus." She whispered, trying not to picture the way the woman must have suffered.
She blew out a large breath of air. "Okay, I have to get to the clinic and check on Tara. She woke up last night."
"She alright?" He wondered, perking up when he heard about the other woman. He cared so much about their little family.
"Rosita was with her all night, she should be fine. I just want to check in and make sure."
He nodded and said no more, going back to his bike and whatever he was trying to fix. She took that as her cue to leave and turned on her heel, marching in the opposite direction Rick had gone in.
The clinic was quiet when she got there. Tara was sitting up in her bed with Rosita sitting in a chair beside her. The latter had a magazine in her lap, her feet propped up on the bed as she read an article to the former.
"Hey, guys." Thea grinned as she stepped inside and moved towards Tara's bed.
The two women turned to greet her and Tara's smile fell. "Oh, my god, what happened to your face?" She asked with wide eyes.
Thea's smile faltered just a little as she came to a stop at the end of the bed. "That's not important. How are you feeling?" she asked.
Instead of answering, Tara shook her head. "You look like you got into an argument with Mike Tyson. What happened?"
Sighing, she came to the realization that she wasn't going to get her answers until Tara got hers. "Pete didn't take too kindly to me telling him no for the hundredth time. But it's fine, Rick killed him. Now, how are you feeling?" she answered in one breath.
Tara looked like a fish out of water for several seconds. "I-what? Holy shit." She sputtered as she took it all in. She turned to Rosita for confirmation and when the other woman simply nodded she faced Thea again. "Are you okay?"
Thea raised an eyebrow in challenge and Tara scowled. "Fine, I have a headache but I don't feel nauseous anymore so that's a good thing."
The doctor nodded and moved to the cabinet where they kept the medicine. She pulled a bottle of pain relievers from the shelf and returned to Tara's side, tipping two into her palm and then passing them along. "These should help with the headache. You're probably going to have it for a few days just because the blow you took was so bad, but other than that you should be fine. So long as you don't slip into another coma and bleed into your brain."
"Jesus, Doc." Tara commented, both her and Rosita looking incredibly shocked by the bluntness.
Thea shrugged. "You woke up so I doubt that's going to happen."
Tara sighed, relaxing visibly. "Maybe you should lead with that next time!"
"Right, sorry." She apologized.
Before anyone could speak further, the door opened and a blonde woman stepped into the clinic. She wore glasses on her round face and a look of nervousness across her features.
"Can I help you?" Thea asked with a kind smile at the potential patient.
The woman gave an awkward wave. "Uh—hi. I'm Denise. I thought maybe I could help you, actually."
Thea frowned. "Okay…?"
Denise moved closer, her eyes shifted to the other two women and she appeared to grow more nervous. "Since Pete is…gone…I wanted to offer my…services."
"Are you a doctor?" Thea wondered hopefully. While Rosita was a huge help, it would be even better to have a second doctor to help around the clinic. It would ease the load on Thea and Rosita immensely.
"Yeah, I mean, not a medical doctor. I'm more on the psychology side of things. But I went to medical school for a while before I switched." Denise rambled out an explanation. Something in Thea's face must have thrown her off though, because she quickly backtracked. "On second thought, maybe I shouldn't. I mean, I stopped for a reason, I probably shouldn't be trying to be a doctor now. And we don't really have the kind of technology that we need so I would only make it worse and be in the way. Maybe you should just forget I ever came by here—"
Thea cut her off. She stepped forward and reached out to rest a hand on the newcomer's forearm to calm her. "Denise, calm down," She said with a small laugh. "You're more than welcome. We could really use the help and I'm sure you'll catch on quickly."
The acceptance baffled the blonde. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously. I'd appreciate the extra hands." Thea stated honestly.
"Oh, okay. Great. Good, that's…good."
Denise seemed genuinely surprised that she had agreed to 'hire' her on at the clinic. If Thea had to guess, Pete probably hadn't been too welcoming of the woman prior to his death; she assumed it had more to do with her looks than her lack of experience. Denise was a beautiful woman, but she wasn't the type of girl Pete seemed to leer at.
She was lucky.
Sometime later in the day, Thea found herself seated on the back of the couch in Deanna's study. The one that Deanna had sat on when she had conducted her interviews of the group. Most of the community was piled into the room with them, Maggie and Glenn were seated on the couch cushions in front of her, Sasha beside the former. A scavenging group who had been out on a run for the past few weeks had returned, and the leader, a man named Heath, was telling them about a massive herd of walkers trapped in a quarry.
"My team, we saw it early on, back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here." Heath was saying. "There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must have blocked the exits with one of those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it. They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them."
"No one's been back since?" Maggie wondered.
Heath shook his head. "DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."
"So all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and making more sound and they're drawing more in." Michonne put it together.
Rick stood at the mantle, hands on his hips. "And here we are. Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us. This isn't about if it gives, it's when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."
"This is—I don't even have another word for it. This is terrifying. All of it." Carol said, playing the whimpering housewife role well. "But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."
A man with close cut blond hair who was standing in the door spoke up. "Maybe there is. I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I could draw up plans. I worked on the wall with Reg. Construction crew—we can try and make it safe."
"Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every day. Building up the exits won't change that." Rick argued.
Thea couldn't help but agree. A herd that massive was too dangerous to just leave alone; they had to act fast.
From where she stood at the window, Deanna spoke up. Her back was turned away from the group, her hair brushed but not quite as neatly kept as she usually had it. She was still grieving. "We're gonna do what Rick says, the plan he's laid out."
"I told you all, we're gonna have Daryl leading them away." Rick put in.
Thea's eyes moved to where the archer was sitting in the window behind the loveseat Rosita and Abraham had dragged into the room. He had his feet propped up on the window sill, a book in his lap. She didn't like the idea of him leading a herd of this size away by himself. This was dangerous.
"Me, too." Sasha said. I'll take a car, ride next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep 'em coming, Daryl keeps 'em from getting sloppy."
Abraham liked this plan. "I'll go with her. It's a long way to white-knuckle it solo."
Rick nodded. "We'll have two teams. One at each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on. Rosita, Spencer, and Holly. So, they're out. So, who's in?"
"Me." Michonne agreed.
In front of her on the couch, Glenn leaned in close to his wife. "You should keep an eye on her. Keep going with the plans you talked about."
He meant Deanna.
"I know, but this is important." Maggie protested.
They were speaking in whispers, only Thea and maybe Sasha could hear.
"She's important. People are scared. They need to see her come back." Glenn explained.
Maggie sighed. "That's not the only reason."
Thea wondered what they were referring to, but the way they locked eyes and they small smile that graced Glenn's face told her what was up; Maggie was pregnant.
"Yeah, it isn't." Glenn agreed, waiting for Maggie's okay before nodding at Rick. "I'm in."
"I'd like to help as well." Father Gabriel tried to jump in.
Rick quickly shot him down. "No. Who else?"
Thea knew he wouldn't let her come with them, but she had to try. She wanted to help. "Me." She said simply, raising one hand.
The sheriff's eyes moved to hers and he shook his head. "You're our only doctor now. I won't have you in harm's way."
Though she knew it was coming, she couldn't help but feel frustrated by his decision. She hated that her position in the community kept her from helping like she really wanted to.
"There's gotta be another play." The blond man protested again. "We can't just control that many."
An irritated sigh came from Rick. "I said it before, walkers herd up. They'll follow a path if something's drawing them in. That's how we can get 'em all at once."
"So, what? We're supposed to just take your word for it? We're all supposed to just fall in line behind you after…" the man trailed off as he realized what he was about to say. Or maybe he just lost his gumption.
Rick challenged him. "After what?"
Fueled by defiance, the man continued. "After you wave a gun around screaming, pointing it at people. After you shoot a man in the face. After you—"
Thea cut him off. "—After said man did this—" she pointed to her face. "—to me and his wife and maybe his children."
"Enough!" Deanna exclaimed, facing the group and silencing them.
After a moment of awkwardness, Thea feeling shame for airing Jessie's dirty laundry to the community, Heath spoke up. "I'll do it."
"Me, too." An Alexandrian woman Thea didn't know volunteered.
Tobin stepped forward. "Whatever you need, I'm in."
"Now, who else?" Deanna asked, clearly telling her community it was okay to step up to the plate.
Nicholas raised his hand slowly, despite the subtle way Glenn was shaking his head at him. "I'll go." When Glenn stiffened, Nicholas faced him. "We have to do this. I need to help."
Rick and Glenn exchanged a glance. "You sure you can handle it?" Rick asked.
"You need people." Nicholas said simply.
The sheriff nodded and looked around at the group. "We'll make this work. We'll keep this place safe. Keep our families safe. We will."
"The plan. Go through it again." The blond man said, earning a sigh from Thea.
Daryl spoke up for the first time during that meeting, his voice laced with frustration. "Man, he just said it." He growled.
The man ignored him. "Every part again. The exact plan."
Though it annoyed Thea, if hearing he plan again was what it took for this Alexandrian to accept things then so be it. She just wished she could join the team for something so important.
That night, Thea found herself sitting on the porch railing with her eyes trained in the direction of Jessie's house. Something in her wanted to go and apologize to the woman for what had happened in the meeting that afternoon. She shouldn't have said what she had said about Pete hitting Jessie and the kids, it wasn't her business to announce it to the entire community like that. She felt bad.
Add in the fact that if she had been able to stop Pete at Rick's house, he wouldn't have gone to the courtyard and killed Reg, and he wouldn't have gotten killed himself. While Jessie might be glad to not have to worry about her safety anymore, Thea was sure that she would rather be free of him in a different way. That was another thing she needed to apologize for.
As she was about to slide off the railing and sneak down the street, the front door opened and Daryl stepped out onto the porch. He held his pack of cigarettes and lighter in one hand and when he saw her he glanced around as if he expected someone else to be with her. Maybe he thought Cat was around, or maybe he was just wondering why she was sitting alone.
Thea wished she could go to Cat's place and just sit with someone who had known her for decades, but she had told her sister to steer clear of her. She didn't want Hank to see her with her face beat up, didn't want him to question it or be afraid that something might happen to his mother or himself. It ate her up inside that she would have to avoid her nephew for the duration of her bruises, but it was necessary to keep him from the harsh realities of the world.
Daryl pulled himself up onto the railing across from her and took a cigarette out of the pack. He tossed the package to her without a word and she caught it with ease. She shouldn't make a habit of smoking, but it had become their thing.
When both cigarettes were lit, Thea finally asked the question that had been eating at her all day.
"How do Rick and Morgan know each other?"
It must not have been what he expected her to say because eyebrows rose slightly before he answered. "Rick was in a coma when this whole thing started. When he woke up, Morgan found him. They got separated, met up again while we were at the prison. That's where we got all them guns. Rick said he was batshit crazy, but I guess he straightened himself out."
"Wow, that's quite the history." She commented, taking a drag of her cigarette.
Daryl nodded a couple of times before asking his own question. "Why you out here by yourself?"
She debated on telling him a lie, but ultimately the truth came out. "I'm trying to figure out if I should go apologize to Jessie."
"For what?"
She rolled her eyes. "You heard what I said in the meeting. It wasn't my business and I just told all of Alexandria. She's gotta be pissed at me, or at the very least upset that everyone knows."
Daryl shook his head. "Everyone already knew Pete was a piece of shit."
Maybe he was right about that, but it wasn't really her place to go around talking about it. She was pissed at herself and at Pete Anderson and she had let it get the better of her in the meeting. The blond man, who she'd come to learn was named Carter, didn't help the situation with his stubborn inability to agree with the plan.
"I don't know. I just think I should say I'm sorry." She shrugged, eyes turning downward to the glowing end of her cigarette.
Daryl grunted. "You ain't gotta apologize for nothing."
There he went, continuing to baffle her with words she didn't understand. Why did he seem to always be going to bat for her? She had to change the subject before she said something stupid, but she didn't want to leave it at that either. Stupid was just going to have to come up.
"Why not?" she asked him, brow furrowing in confusion. "Why shouldn't I feel sorry for causing her husband's death and then blasting her business to the people of Alexandria?"
He heaved a sigh, shaking his head at her and puffing on his cigarette. "You can feel it all you want, doesn't mean you need to say it. He attacked you, broke your nose. Jessie should apologize to you for that, if anyone should apologize. But she doesn't, and you don't."
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she should comment on his words or how frustrated he seemed to get by her insinuation that this was her fault. What was the problem with feeling a little guilt? But maybe he was right, maybe she should just keep her head down and try to forget about this whole thing. It was easier said than done.
She pulled a puff of smoke into her lungs and sighed, decided changing the subject was better than frustrating him further.
"So, this plan Rick's cooked up….do you think it's going to work? I mean, a herd this massive isn't going to be easy to handle."
Daryl was silent as he finished his cigarette and then tossed it into the street. "I think we gotta do what we gotta do. If it doesn't work, then we find another way."
She wondered if he was scared or worried about what the outcome of the plan would be. Did he ever get scared or worried or was he just as tough as he on the inside as he appeared to be on the outside? She knew he was different from what he projected, but sometimes she wondered if he put on a show with everyone else so that no one would believe her if she tried to tell them he had been kind to her.
Before she could stop herself, she spoke up. "I don't know how much I like the idea of you out there on your bike by yourself, leading this monstrous herd so far away from home. Even with Abraham and Sasha out there with you, I don't like it. I don't like any of you being that close to things if something were to go wrong."
He eyed her for several long seconds before shrugging. "Got a good doctor back home if we need help." He grunted.
She appreciated the compliment, but wished she could go out there with them. She hated how valuable her job was. "Maybe you need a good doctor out there with you in case you can't make it back home." She suggested.
Daryl slid off the porch railing. "You wanna be out there, it's not my decision to make." He commented before disappearing back inside, leaving her with a lot to think about.
In the morning, a team would head out to start building the wall on the intersection of Marshall and Redding in order to turn the herd away from Alexandria.
She would go with them.
She'd use the time to build up case to Rick as to why she should be allowed to join them on the mission.
She wouldn't rest until he let her come along.
A/N: So, this chapter only spans one day of the four between the seasons, but I don't plan on doing three more chapters for three more days. I just wanted to give you all a feel of what Thea's feeling right now in the wake of Pete's outburst. I hope you guys enjoyed the slower pace of this chapter and didn't get too bored, also I hope you liked the interactions between Daryl and Thea.
Please review if you have the time!