Chapter Thirty Six: Confide
Confide: tell someone about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others.
Day 71
It had been a surprisingly long day for Daisy, with her and Glenn's quest to the pharmacy going slightly awry in that they were obstructed by a gaggle of walkers. But, as the Daisy had come to expect from the Greene farm, the night ended quietly and calmly huddled in a sleeping bag, inching warily towards uncomfortably cold but not quite crossing the line. Being that the night was slightly colder than usual, Daisy had thought it prudent to open the bottle of Pappy she had found in a likely overpriced SUV on the highway some days previously.
Despite her vehemence that Merle would not be given a lick of the alcohol she had lifted from the car for his lecherous tendencies, Daisy found herself sharing said bottle of Pappy with both Dixon brothers, as well as her tent-mate, Amy. It was rather cosy in the two-person tent, but Daisy could not find it within herself to care; she was curled comfortably in her sleeping bag, Amy was curled similarly in her own, and the Dixon brothers were spread out in the remaining quarters.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone who couldn't name an AC/DC song..." Merle scoffed at Amy, taking a hefty swig of the bourbon. Daisy rolled her eyes, they were barely visible where they peeked over the lip of the sleeping bag, but Merle still managed to notice and shoot her a specified sneer, taking another, longer swig as if to spite her.
"Well...I've never met anyone who couldn't name a Bieber song, so...I s'pose we're even," Amy countered.
"Beaver?" Daryl asked, his eyes squinted with suspicion. Daisy snorted a laugh into her elbow and shook her head, curls falling over her forehead.
"Don't even worry about it," Daisy told the two confused Dixon brothers, wholly willing to spare them of Justin Bieber. She slithered a hand out of her sleeping bag and wiggled her fingers in Merle's general direction, he took the hint and passed over the bottle. Nose already wrinkled in anticipation, Daisy sat up and placed her lips around the lip of the bottle, tipping it up to take the barest sip of bourbon. Daisy had never been able to drink hard liquor without a full-body cringe, as was evidenced by the way her head ducked further down into her sleeping bag and her eyes and nose scrunched further closed.
"You sure you can handle that?" Merle asked with suspicion, reaching a hand out to take it back, a small flicker of fear for the safety of the alcohol within. Daisy sighed and shivered, relenting the bottle without a fight.
"That tastes like absolute shit..." Daisy sighed forlornly, wanting to enjoy herself in intoxication, but not quite able to resolve drinking something that disgusted her to her core. What I wouldn't give for a cider...
"Can I have some?" Amy asked perkily, Daisy smiled towards her and examined her thoughtfully.
Merle rasped a laugh, "Go for it, dolly...see if you got bigger balls than Daisy here." Daisy shot him a half-hearted glare—admitting to herself that it was one of the tamest offensive things she had heard him speak—but watched along with him and Daryl as Amy took hold of the bottle. Without grandeur, Amy took a hefty swig, swallowing with a tiny, hoarse cough. Merle gave an impressed hum, "You been holdin' out on us?"
Amy smiled brightly, "Dad gave me my first drink when I was sixteen...he used share his bourbon with Andrea and me sometimes." She dampened at mentioning her sister, but Daisy considered herself lucky that Amy did not burst into tears—both knowing her own limitations in comforting people and wanting Amy to be accepting of life without her sister.
"Didn't expect that," Merle mumbled to himself, Amy passed him the Pappy and sat back, seeming pleased with herself. He took a gulp of alcohol, Daisy felt wary for his lack of a mixer, but had some hope that he would get absolutely blind drunk. Another gulp, Daisy's hope dwindled slightly more.
Later
Daisy sniffled lightly, the sound was quiet, accompanied by only the high whistling of the crickets in the field outside. She crunched a pair of hot Cheetos between her teeth, and stretched her legs out over where they had landed on Amy's lap. The tent was more cramped than Daisy would have liked, but she did not particularly wish to carry out an absolutely blind drunk Merle and a slightly-less-but-still-considerably drunk Daryl.
"Daisy?" A hushed whisper sounded from just outside the door to her tent, she lazily flicked her eyes towards the zipper, but could obviously not see through the opaque material.
"Enter," Daisy said with a tired yawn, the zip opened and a head poked through: Lori. Daisy narrowed her eyes as Lori shone a dim torchlight into the tent, her head thumped in protest. Barely restraining her nose from wrinkling in annoyance—it was too late for Lori 'Drama-Magnet' Grimes to be poking around Daisy's tent—she tried to convey an inquisition by raising her brow. Lori was not looking in her direction, however, instead choosing to survey the multiple persons passed out around Daisy. Not caring for the disdainful narrowing of Lori's eyes, Daisy shook her head in an effort to wake herself up a bit more, then wiggled closer to the edge of her cot.
Wiggling a bit too far, Daisy fell the few inches off her cot onto the uneven floor of the tent, groaning lightly as a particularly unforgiving rock dug into her side. She lifted her weight off said rock and brought her bag closer to rummage through, after a solid minute of searching in the dark of the night—with Lori's torchlight positioned unhelpfully to focus on Merle's snoring face—Daisy located the rattling box of morning-after pills. Taking a moment to breathe a victorious sigh of relief, Daisy threw the box unceremoniously over her shoulder. Her projectile landed true, with Lori huffing a quiet, "Ow." Daisy mumbled a vague farewell, then rested her heavy head on her arm, directing her pleased smile into her elbow.
"That was necessary..." Lori muttered sarcastically to herself, Daisy did not look up until she heard the zip of the tent door as well as Lori's retreating steps. Now that the whole Lori-is-pregnant-with-either-her-husband-or-her-husband's-best-friend's-baby debacle was finally over, Daisy could get some much-needed rest.
"Th' hell was that about?"
Or not, Daisy thought to herself, opening one eye a sliver to peer at Daryl, who was the owner of the unexpected, grumpy voice.
"What was what about?" Daisy asked innocently, opening her other eye to widen both further, hoping to emphasise her supposed innocence. Daryl did not elaborate, and simply raised an eyebrow that silently called Daisy on her bullshit. She sighed grudgingly, tired of keeping secrets, "Lori wanted me to get something at the pharmacy."
Through the darkness of the tent, Daisy could only just see Daryl squint his eyes in confusion, "What...she got worms or something? Ain't nothin' to be embarrassed about."
Daisy snorted a laugh into her hand, beside her she could see Amy stir lightly but settle after a moment of her silence, "No...promise not to tell anyone?" She looked up at Daryl hopefully. He said nothing, and just nodded lightly, "Say it..."
Daryl scoffed, but said with none-too-small reluctance, "Fine...I promise I won't tell anyone. Hell, only person who'd listen to me would be Merle, and he don't give two shits about none'a ya'll." Daisy wordlessly agreed with his sentiment, and felt better about betraying Lori's trust—though Daisy was not entirely sure why she felt bad in the first place, as Lori had never really given Daisy cause not to do so besides common decency.
"Lori's pregnant," Daisy said abruptly, "She wanted to have an abortion, so I got her some pills." Daryl raised his brows and pursed his lips.
"Shit," he said simply. Daisy hummed in agreement. Daryl thought for a moment, "Is it Shane's, then?" Daisy startled at his further questioning, seemingly impressed at his coming to the same conclusion as she had.
"I think it might be..." Daisy admitted, grimacing as she realised what that meant for poor Rick, "Not that it really matters, even if she wasn't going to get rid of it. Shane doesn't seem the type to step up and take responsibility for his spawn..." Daryl grunted vaguely in the affirmative.
There was a longer silence, Daisy used it to wriggle her way back onto her cot, she scratched an itch on the back of her head and prayed to whoever would listen that bugs had not crept into her tent and laid eggs in her hair. Then she wrinkled her nose at the thought and internally ordered herself to go to sleep—it seemed she overanalysed the itches on her body when she was low on energy. Daisy looked over and saw that Daryl had rearranged himself to lay down, and his eyes were closed. She followed suit and closed her own eyes, feeling lighter than she had since yesterday morning when Lori dropped her pregnancy bomb, glad that she had decided to tell Daryl—knowing that he would not care enough to tell anyone else.
Day 72
Restraining a groan, Daisy stretched her legs out in front of her, cringing at the feeling of the long grass against her bare skin, wishing that she had her jeans on and not her sleep shorts. A vague voice off to the side said her name and she held her hand aloft, eyes remaining closed against the heat of the rising sun. Her fingers closed against a warm mug, she blinked her eyes open and smiled up at Carol in thanks, bringing the mug back towards her to take a sip.
The coffee ran down her throat and seemed to warm her soul, Daisy groaned lightly in happiness and sighed. A light cough drew her attention, Carl stood in front of her chair, and he tapped his foot against hers with a smile. She took his hint and drew her feet back to let him through. Daisy took another sip and studied Carl as he walked past, he had Rick's sheriff hat sitting askew on the top of his head.
"Sweet hat," Daisy croaked around a yawn, shooting Carl an enthusiastic thumbs up when he looked over at her. She smiled around her next sip as he snorted and returned her gesture.
"Uh, guys...I have an announcement..." The group gathered around the unlit campfire glared over to the loud voice, Glenn stood there nervously looking around at the various faces, "There's walkers in the barn." Daisy lamented the few minutes since her waking that her life had been rumour free.
"What?" Shane's outraged voice rose above the rabble of the others, Daisy remained silent. She sank back into her chair, her eyes rolling skyward.
"Whoa, whoa," Rick spoke up, raising his arms in an attempt to calm them all. He sighed, sounding extremely exasperated, Rick rubbed his fingers under his eyes and sighed again, "How do you know this, Glenn?"
"Uh...I saw them...I'm not supposed to tell." Glenn winced, grimacing lightly, "But...I did, obviously. I just, it's not very safe with the baby on the way and all..."
"What? What baby?" Amy asked quietly, furrowing her brow in Glenn's direction. He looked strikingly similar to a deer in headlights, Daisy stopped herself from slapping her hand against her forehead just in time.
"Uh...never mind. I was just—it was an error in...I meant, the baby rabbits, hanging around. They're too cute to be in the way of harm." Glenn smiled hopefully, but it dropped as soon as he took in the disbelieving looks featured on each and every face surrounding him.
Daisy glanced over towards Rick, who seemed entirely defeated, with purple bruises under his eyes that spoke of a long and restless night. He also seemed entirely unsurprised—Daisy assumed that Lori had told him, and felt grateful that at least Rick had not been accidentally told by Glenn in front of the entire group first thing on a Sunday. Well, Daisy did not know it was a Sunday—it being the apocalypse and all—but it certainly had felt like one before Glenn dropped the second bombshell and in so many days for Daisy.
"I'm pregnant," Lori said quietly, the group simultaneously turned to stare at her, all of them with expressions of shock, including Glenn who had not been told exactly who in their group was expecting. Daisy studied Lori and decided that she had spoken in a way that led her to believe that Lori had decided to keep the baby. Though this could be considered good news, it spoke of more trouble, with babies tending to be loud and squalling—not exactly good when one was hiding from walkers drawn mostly by noise. Daisy sighed a final time and took another sip of her coffee, grimacing at its quickly cooling temperature, and longed for a time when she considered an inconvenience such as cold coffee the worst part of her average day.