Disclaimer: I know I haven't been putting this, but I OWN NOTHING!
Notes: I am sorry that the chapters have been so short, I don't mean that to happen, it's just when I write them on my computer, I use a larger font so I can read them easier, and it shrinks when I upload it, I will try to use a smaller font this time.
"Well, doc, am I off the IL or what?" Charlotte said as Colt looked over her knee, poking, prodding, and manipulating it.
"How does it feel?" He asked, his deep voice soft as his hands inched a little too far up her thigh for her comfort and she pulled her leg away.
"Eh, no more than the other shit that's wrong with me." She said with a dry chuckle as she sat back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
Colt gave her a somber expression that told her he didn't think that was the least bit funny, he rolled his chair back and stood.
"Charlotte, I wish you wouldn't make those kinds of jokes about yourself." He said.
She gave him a weird look.
"Why not? It's not like I can do anything about it anyway, so I take humor in it." She said as she stood to leave.
"If you were my girl, you would never have to worry about those things, because I would've never let them happen in the first place." He said bluntly
Charlotte stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned on her heel to face him.
"What did you say?" She replied, her tone dark. He remained silent, but his eyes never wavered from hers and his jaw was set.
"I have so much more to offer than he does, I wish you would see that."
"Nobody has anything more to offer than anyone else nowadays, the apocalypse is the great economic equalizer, don't you know?" Charlotte replied coldly as she met his stare with one of her own.
"That's not what I mean and you know it." He said as he took a few steps toward her, Charlotte's hands reflexively fingered her machete at her hip as she backed away from him, hoping she could reach the door in time before this played out like she was afraid it would.
I think I have gotten all I need from you for a while, doc. I think its best we don't speak to each other unless it's business." She said as she made a quick exit and brushed passed a surprised Michonne, who had her hand outstretched, ready to grab the knob of the doctor's room. She had been coming to ask for an ace bandage for her wrist, so many years of swinging her sword had resulted in some corporal tunnel.
"Pirate?" She called after her but Charlotte didn't answer, as she rounded the corner out of sight.
Her expression curled into a snarl as she entered Colt's room.
"Just what the hell was going on here?" She asked, pinning him with her steely expression.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He said as he tossed her the ace bandage, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.
In a flash, Michonne had her sword at his throat.
"Look, Charlotte is my friend, and I am gonna find out what happened between you two, and if you did anything to her, Daryl ain't the only one you're gonna have to worry about." She said as she pressed the blade into his flesh, causing a shallow cut.
Without another word, she sheathed her sword and exited his room, closing the door behind her. Colt released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding as he wrung his sweaty, shaking hands together.
After an hour of searching, Michonne had finally located Charlotte on the roof of the house, sitting in a fold out chair, a bottle of wine in her hand and a rifle in her lap, Gavin was at her feet.
Gavin picked up his head in greeting and his long, brush like tail swept slowly back and forth.
"Shit, when you want to hide …" Michonne trailed off as she came to stand beside her.
"Needed some time alone." Charlotte said, her words slurring slightly, Michonne took the bottle from her and discovered it was almost empty.
"Geeze, girl, you didn't even save some for me!" She said as she drank the last of it.
"Wanna talk about it?" She asked as she knelt next to Charlotte
"Colt came on to me." Charlotte said.
"He touch you? Because I'll cut off his hands if he did." Michonne replied.
"No … I left before things could get that far." Charlotte said flatly.
"BEFORE they could? Pirate we got to go to Rick about this, as a former cop, he would want to know."
"And tell him what? That I think his doctor is a sexual predator?"
"Do really want someone like that around here, around the kids? Around Kaela?" Michonned replied.
"Well, luckily for them he seems to be fixated on me." Charlotte said, it was an attempt at a joke, but Michonne wasn't laughing.
"And that's any better because? Look I am not gonna say anything, but if you want some friendly advice, you better tell Rick, and we haven't even talked about what's gonna happen if Daryl finds out." Michonne said.
Silence fell between the two women as Charlotte mulled their conversation over in her alcohol hazed brain and came to the conclusion that a decision was better left until she was sober.
"Care to take over for me? I don't think I am in any shape to take watch." Charlotte said, swaying slightly as she stood.
"Michonne chuckled and shook her head endearingly. "You go on ahead, I got this." She said. Gavin wagged his tail slightly and sat down next to Michonne as she seated herself in the chair, the rifle across her lap.
"Looks like you're going to have a partner tonight, it's probably too hot for him in the house." Charlotte said as she waved a goodbye to them and slowly headed down the stairs. Michonne was Gavin's favorite person next to Charlotte, and he shared his time equally between the two of them.
Charlotte slowly walked to her and Daryl's room, softly humming to herself, the house was pitch black, but years without electricity had made her vision sharp in the darkness.
Suddenly, a dark shadow stepped in front of her, backlit by the minute bit of light from the last quarter half-moon that filtered through the large window at the end of the long hallway. It wasn't Daryl, it was too tall.
"I've been waiting for you." The shadow said. Charlotte backed away as the smell of booze hit her, she recognized that voice … it was Colt.
Charlotte sobered up quick, her instincts to survive overpowering the effects of the wine.
"I don't have anything to say to you." She said as she pivoted around his large frame.
His hand closed around her wrist as she passed, he spun her around and pushed her up against the wall and his hands took on a mind of their own as they roved over her body, a wave of nausea rose in the back of Charlotte's throat and she choked on it as his hot, whisky laden breath hit her smack in the face and she wretched as she could feel the result of his growing arousal pressing into her thigh. Thinking on her feet, Charlotte took advantage of his distraction, she unsheathed her machete and rammed the handle into his stomach.
She knew Colt had his fans in the group, she had overheard the things he had been telling them about her; how she had come on to him and how it was her who was obsessed, not him … and they believed him. She was afraid to kill him without any witnesses seeing what really happened, it would be their word against hers.
With an animalistic growl, the Doc backhanded her with all of his strength, he shoved her against the wall and pinned her there by her throat with his arm. In the scuffle, her machete fell to the ground with a loud clatter that echoed down the hallway. She prayed that someone had heard it as she sputtered and gasped for breath under his unrelenting grip, her feet scrambling uselessly against the floor.
Next to Michonne on the roof, Gavin stood, Michonne spooked from his sudden movement. "Geez, dog, you trying to give me a heart attack or what?" She said as she watched him take off for the down stairs with a sense of purpose, she shrugged and continued scanning the tree line for any sign of movement, other than the occasional wildlife, or walker.
Charlotte sputtered and struggled to loosen the unrelenting pressure from his arm at her throat, her vision was fading, and unconsciousness was trying to claim her, she fought against it, terrified what he would do to her once she lost her battle with it.
Suddenly, the pressure on her throat was lifted and she fell to the ground on her knees, the sting of the impact jolting through her entire body. Gavin had latched his vice-like jaws over the doc's left forearm, Colt pounded the dog with his fist, but that only made him dig in more, his years of police training coming back to him.
"I'll show you, you fucking dog." Colt said as he drew for his pistol, but Charlotte was faster. Colt stopped in his tracks as he felt the cold steal of her dessert eagle pressed against his temple.
"I don't think so, you piece of shit. You fucked with the wrong bitch." She said. Doors were opening; people were starting to come out of their rooms now, some holding candles.
"Hey, hey! Just what in the hell is …" Rick didn't even get his entire sentence out before Colt was tackled to the ground, Gavin went down with him, still gripping his forearm.
"You son of a BITCH! I KNEW you were no good! We should have LEFT you in that hospital!" Daryl said as hammered Colt four or five times before Glenn and Rick were able to pull him off.
Charlotte's senses slowly came back to her. "Gavin, off!" she commanded the dog; the huge german shepherd released his hold on the doc's arm and returned to Charlotte's side and sat, he leaned against her leg as she stroked his large wolf like head.
"What happened?!" Maggie asked. Charlotte was suddenly aware that the side of her face hurt … a lot. She gently touched it and came back with blood, which she was almost grateful for, because she had evidence of what had happened.
"Doc assaulted me, he was drunk, if Gavin hadn't come along, I think he would've raped me." She said, her voice still hoarse from being choked.
Upon hearing this, Daryl let out an animalistic roar of rage as he bucked and fought against Glenn and Rick's hold.
"That sumbitch is gone! You hear me?! GONE cause if he ain't than I'll kill him!" He bellowed, a wild, feral look in his eyes.
"We can't very well throw him out now while he is unconscious." One person that was a member of the hospital group that was rescued with Colt and his sister said.
"Sure we fucking can, FUCK this asshole!" Daryl said as he kicked at the man's unconscious form. Rick didn't say anything, but those who knew him well could tell he was considering it. As a former cop, the two things that pissed him off the most were men who beat women, and child abusers.
"No, we can't, we aren't going to be those people, we'll take him to his room, and we'll put a guard on him until he wakes up." Glenn said.
Rick nodded. "Okay, mind volunteering? I am embarrassed to say that I don't trust myself to do it." He said, Glenn nodded as he and Rick tentatively let go of a still angry Daryl and hoisted the still unconscious man up by his arms.
"We'll send him on his way in the morning." Rick said as they drug him away.
Daryl watched them until they were out of sight, anger burned in his belly, he could feel it eating away at him.
He turned to Charlotte. "Why didn't you yell for me?"
"It's kind of hard to yell for help when you're getting choked." She said as she coughed and rubbed her throat. Daryl's gaze softened as he tilted her head to get a better look at the injury to her face. There was a long, deep cut from Colt's college ring, and the whole left side of her face was already swelling and starting to bruise.
He wanted to kill that asshole for what he did, the thought consumed him, but he knew Rick would never allow it. He blamed himself, he had a funny feeling about the man back at the hospital, and he should have known better than to ignore his gut instinct, it had gotten him so far in this new, cruel world.
Charlotte couldn't help herself, as soon as they were alone in the hallway, a wave of emotions washed over her, too many to decipher and suddenly, she was throwing her arms around Daryl's neck.
"Daryl, I was scared as hell, I thought he was gonna kill me, or worse." She said as the tears came in waves, running down her face, stinging the cut on her cheek.
Daryl held her close, wishing he could tell her that it would all be okay, that no one would ever hurt her while he was around, but he couldn't make those promises, so he just held her.
"Come on, let's take care of that cut and get some sleep." He said as she put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to their room.
Notes: Wow! Okay! sorry for the delay in update! I have been busy! I have also been struggling with the direction this story wanted to take, VS the direction I WANTED it to take, and well, the story won, I hope you enjoy it. As it has become "Guardian Angel, Vol 2" LOL.