Chapter Info

Title: Take Care of Her

Number: 26/?

Warnings: Angst

Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I'm so sorry for the wait on this! I was having computer issues so I haven't even been able to do any reading, but it's all fixed so I should get back on track. Thanks everyone for your patience and for reading! Comments are love!

Imagineer1392: Unbearably is right! He's already starting to be like *lays over her and hisses* lol! But thank you for your comment!

TheFaceOfAlison: I'm so sorry I wasn't quick on this one, but I hope it made up for it! Things are going to start happening more now, we'll see how that goes. :) Also I apologize on my lack of reviews on your story, like I said I couldn't even read anything much less update, but I'm back! Thanks so much for your comment.

Guest: Thank you for your comment, glad you enjoy it!

The swirls around in her mind were mostly black, but there was some color darting through now and then. It felt like she had fallen asleep in the tub only she couldn't wake up and her entire body was numb. Part of her remember falling off the dock and washing up onto the rock, but her thoughts floated in and out of her. Consciousness wasn't possible, though she heard bits and pieces of voices. The only one she could focus on was Daryl, the love of her life. He was clearer than anything, bringing her to the surface where she almost woke, but then she was swept right back under the waves of color just like she had been the night before.

"Ya better come back ta me, ya hear? You come back ta me. Don't you die on me, you come back to me."

It was if he were right next to her speaking, hearing it clearer than she could hear any of her own thoughts. She gripped onto that, letting it warm her slowly up from the inside out, starting with her heart. Something wasn't right, that she could tell, but she clung desperately to Daryl's voice to keep herself afloat, so she didn't drown in the abyss that currently was her mind. She wanted to scream his name, beg him to help her and take her out, but she couldn't. Her lips wouldn't move and she kept floating.

I'm here, Daryl. I'm staying, I'm not leaving you, not again. I won't...

Daryl hadn't realized he had fallen asleep with his head on Amaleen's shoulder until a soft hand shook him away. He jumped and looked behind him, startled, only to see Lori standing there. Clear tear marks were on her face and a couple more slid past even as she stood there, her gaze unable to stray away from her friend, but she still managed to give him a small smile. He wanted to scream at her that he wasn't going to break, though he knew that was a lie. The moment he saw her lying on that rock, no actually the moment he realized she wasn't lying next to him anymore, he broke a little bit piece by piece until he shattered. He knew that this was Lori's attempt to make him feel better, but it didn't. He was lost without the woman beside him smiling at him with those perfect lips of hers, looking at him with those green eyes, murmuring to him that she loved him.

Goddamn it, Amaleen, why'd ya get outta bed? he thought desperately.

"Hershel wanted me to come check on you guys," she said softly. "Make sure that she's warm. He said that we should do it slowly, warming her up too quickly could cause the opposite effect."

Daryl looked down at Amaleen who was still shivering, though not quite as bad as she was before. She had on a couple blankets and Daryl's warmth around her. He didn't know if it was too much and he gritted his teeth at the thought. He should be the one who knew how to take care of her, he should be the one that knew what to do and what was best to make her better again, to bring her back to them. But he was absolutely clueless, staring down at her shivering blue lips, and more than ever he wanted to scream and toss things around, and let out his wrath. But he didn't, he stayed put. His fingers reached for her face, his thumb mimicking what she did to him many times, before and recently, swiping ever so gently across her lips. For a moment he thought he felt them stop trembling, but as soon as he took away his movements, they began again and he sighed.

"Think she's warm," he muttered. "Should we take away a blanket? What's too fast?" He looked up at the other woman for answers and she smiled sadly.

"I don't know..." she murmured. "Maybe...maybe take away a blanket, and...and give her a little time to lay there alone?" At his glare of death, she backed up a step. "I'm not saying she's better off by herself. Only that maybe it's better in intervals. Lay with her a couple hours, let her lay alone for a couple hours."

"M'not leavin' her," he growled.

Lori quickly shook her head. "Oh no, we're not asking you to. But she needs to heal. Hershel said she most likely has hypothermia and if we don't let her heal, her organs will continue to shut down and she'll die."

Daryl blanched and finally, he slowly sat up. He removed one blanket from her body, though he loathed to do it, and tossed it to the side. His body fidgeted as he stood there, arms crossed defensively over each other and his eyes never left her. She still shivered and that's what worried him the most. Ever so slightly he could see the color returning to her cheeks, but not nearly as quick enough as he would like. Her lips still unnaturally dark when normally they were a soft pink, her cheeks not dotted with a rosy color but instead a washed out shade of white. Her hair was finally dry of the freezing water and he saw that he wasn't the only one who noticed because Lori silently rummaged through Amaleen's bag and grabbed out her brush. Sitting next to her, she softly ran the bristles through her hair to detangle the strands.

"I don't want her to die either, Daryl," she whispered. "She's my best friend."

Daryl's angry face slowly softened and he lay a gentle hand on Lori's shoulder, hearing her sniff softly as she trembled. She was crying again and Daryl could tell from her puffy eyes that she had been for awhile now. It was then that Daryl realized that he wasn't the only person that loved Amaleen, the others all loved her, too. "Can ya stay with her while I go talk ta Rick for a minute?" he asked gently.

She simply nodded and he patted her shoulder once before taking a lingering look at his lover, and then turned to leave before he talked himself out of it.

He found Rick in Hershel's room with Carol and Beth. The women both stood up and Rick looked over at him, his eyes full of all the frustration and fear that Daryl himself felt, adding on the sadness from his friend's suffering. It was clear now that what happened to her wasn't the result of the other group finding them, she simply fell, but that still didn't mean they weren't a threat. They sounded like the type of men that would go looking for her simply because she got away. They were the type of men to think of her as "their" property even though she never belonged to them. She belonged with Daryl, and she wasn't a piece of meat. She was human same as them and she deserved to be treated like such, not captured and thrown in a fridge for someone to come along and take away.

"Still asleep," he muttered, assuming that's why everyone stayed silent and just looked at him. Rick let out a breath and Carol and Beth glanced at each other, but didn't say anything. Hershel moved himself so he was closer to where Daryl stood.

"Any other kind of changes?"

Daryl paused before shaking his head. "Not really. She's still pale, still shivering, lips still blue. Had two blankets on her, took one off, and Lori's with her now."

Hershel nodded and nobody said anything for a couple minutes. There was a lot to think about between if they should do something about the other group, and what they would do for Amaleen. Daryl was fully aware there was a chance she would never wake up. It wasn't like they had the tools to give her the medical care that she needed. They had Hershel and he was better than what a lot of people had, but there was still the issue of her organs. If they stayed as they were, she would slowly deteriorate and just slip away. Daryl flinched; that couldn't happen. He wouldn't survive losing her like that, not after he just got her back. It was like something was playing with him, giving her back to him after so many years only to rip her away again.

"We're doing the best we can," Hershel finally said, though they weren't sure if he was trying to convince them or himself. It was true, though, there was nothing else they could do except wait.

Daryl went back to Amaleen after their conversation, Rick following behind him to check up on her. When they got there, they found Lori sitting on the edge of the bed with Amaleen's hand in hers. The unconscious woman was still shivering, but even Daryl could tell that her color looked a little better. Between the blankets and the body heat from him and Lori, it was helping her get better. Rick walked over and silently ran his fingers over his cheek before he looked at the other two in the room. Of all the people on the ship, the three with her at that moment were the closest to her. They were the ones wishing for her to just wake up and say something, even if it was just a hello. The fear was real, and it was worse than any of the walkers that might be gathering outside their gates.

"We hafta go back."

The words came from Rick causing Lori and Daryl to look up at him in confusion. Rick's eyes hadn't left Amaleen, but they did when he noticed they were looking at him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, leaning against the wall and putting his hands on his hips. "You serious?" Daryl asked, his voice sarcastic. It was more than a bad idea to go back there, and he knew exactly where "there" was.

"We hafta know if they know where we are. If they do, we hafta pack up and leave as soon as we can."

"Amaleen's sick," Lori said.

"I know. But better sick than dead."

Nobody could argue with that.

"Take Glenn and Maggie," Daryl said, sitting down on the floor against the side of the bed, pulling his legs up. "I'm not leavin' her."

Rick smiled. "Didn't think you would. I ran it by them earlier and they're for it."

Lori and Daryl exchanged a look, Lori frowning, but neither of them would be arguing with him. Going back to North Morton was an extremely bad idea, but it had to be done. Those were the type of men that wouldn't hesitate to kill someone, or do worse before killing someone. Daryl didn't want Amaleen anywhere near that place or those people.

"Just be careful, okay?" Daryl said gruffly, looking away at the knowing smiles on Rick and Lori's faces. Daryl tried so hard to act like he didn't care, well at least about anyone except Amaleen, but he really did. These people were his family without a doubt and he would do anything for them.

"We will," Rick said as a promise, walking over to lay a hand on Daryl's shoulder, before heading out of the room.

They did the same thing Rick and Daryl had before by parking a mile down the road and walking through the woods into town. They hid in a different spot just in case they had been spotted before. There were a couple men Rick recognized from before, but some he didn't recognize. The leader was walking around observing everyone, a cold glint in his eyes. The man was even larger than the man Amaleen called Bulldozer, otherwise known as Tommy, the cut of his hair clear that he had also been military once as well. Rick wondered if they had been in the same squad before it all went down.

"Travis," someone called and the man looked over, indicating that was him, and he walked over. There was a conversation held that Rick, Glenn, and Maggie couldn't hear, but by the look on his face when he turned around, it wasn't a good one.

"Brad! Quail! Get your asses out here!" he barked, stomping for the store down the road. Rick let out a breath and kept his eyes moving over the other group. There had been no more talk about Amaleen or Tommy or their group, which Rick supposed was good, but it could possibly mean that they were planning in secret. If they knew where the docks were and that Rick's group was there, and that they were the ones that took Amaleen "from them."

"Rick," Glenn hissed, causing Rick to hold up a finger and shake his head, trying to keep him quiet so he could hear what happened when Travis came back out of the store. "No, Rick, look!"

Rick looked behind him, or rather turned his head to, just in time to get the butt of a gun to his face, knocking him out.