AN: I am so sorry. It took me forever to update because of tons of reasons, and it was just really hard to get these chapters out. Plus, I think not having the show made it even harder for me to write. But now that Season 4 episode 1 has come out, I am so happy and will be back to writing my lovelies! So please, please, please, please, leave me a review. It honestly does mean a lot to me. So, here's you a new chapter. And yes, they did have sex, lol. I'm not a good smut writer so if someone wants to write those for me, just PM please! :) READ ON, LOVELIES!
Daryl and I woke up the next morning, our limbs twisted together. "Mornin'," I said as I wiped the sticky sweat from his cheeks, yawning afterward. He said it back as he released me and threw the covers back a little, not completely exposing our naked bodies. Daryl quickly threw on his clothes and peered out of the window. "Perfect huntin' weather." I sat up and clasped the sheets around me. "That's good. Hopefully we'll get somethin' today." I said, looking up with a smile. He let the curtain fall back into place and started back and sat down on the bed, picking up his shoes.
I slowly got out of bed, letting the sheets fall back on the bed as I walked across the cold floor to my closet, letting him see me the whole way. I opened my doors and grabbed all the clothing I needed and turned around, seeing Daryl looking at me. "You are so beautiful," he said, blushing. I let out a beaming smile and walked over to him, and placed a kiss on his forehead. "You are so sweet." I said, grabbing my bra and throwing it on. Before I could even try to clasp it, his rough fingers were already there, putting it in place. I slipped on my underwear and pants when he was finished. "Pick me out a shirt," I asked, walking over to the mirror. While I was trying to make my hair manageable he walked up behind me, holding a dark blue plaid shirt, with the sleeves cut out. I cocked my head to an angle and said, "Yours?" He let out a small smile and said, "Yeah, I don't wear it much and I figured you'd like it." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks," I said, as I shrugged the shirt on and did the buttons.
The shirt smelled just like him as I walked over to the foot of my bed and started lacing up my boots. "What are we hopin' to get today?" I asked as I stood up, and took notice of my appearance. The dark blue made my eyes pop with even more color, and my hair made my arms look even more toned and tan than they were before. "Squirrel obviously, maybe a deer. There might be some birds ya can take down. Sound good?" I nodded and threw my hair up in a ponytail. I grabbed my bow off the dresser and handed Daryl his as he opened up the door and walked out, making as little as noise as possible. We walked down the stairs, meeting the smell of coffee as soon as we hit the ground floor.
I pushed the kitchen door open and saw Carol and Rick sitting at the island, drinking a cup of coffee. "Mornin'," I said to Rick as I walked across the kitchen to get me a cup of coffee. "You want one," I asked Daryl, pointing to a cup. He nodded yes, and leaned against the counter. "Mornin'. How long are you gonna be out today, Daryl?" He replied it shouldn't take too long and to expect us back by supper. Rick seemed fine with this, but asked, "What are you gonna do about lunch?" I said, "Well, we'll get some things in the woods, maybe take us a little lunch. I know we got Ziploc bags around here somewhere,"as I began searching. After opening the second cabinet I finally found some.
I grabbed four bags, and filled two with leftover deer jerky from the night before. In another I placed trail mix, and in last one I put in some granola bars. Daryl left and grabbed a backpack from the closet and brought it to me, where I put them in and then placed it on my back. "There's a creek in the woods, so we won't need much water. I'll get some plastic bottles and we can fill them up." I went and grabbed the bottles while I heard the men and Carol talking in the kitchen. I grabbed my backpack off the floor when I was done loading the bottles and placed it on the hallway end table. I opened up the closet to grab a light jacket if I needed one. When I opened the door I was instantly met with Mom's smell. My fingers instantly went to her jackets and sifted through them all until I found her wedding dress.
It was absolutely beautiful. She'd never shown it to me. I'd found it one day whenever I was looking for a jacket. I let my fingers glide over the lace three quarter sleeves. I would love to have her here with me, but sadly she couldn't be. "Hey, what are you looking at?" I heard Daryl's voice come up behind me. "Mom's wedding dress. Wanna look?" I asked, moving out of the way and letting him pass. "It's beautiful. You look just like she did, you know?" I leaned against the door frame and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. You ready to head out redneck?" I said, smirking. "Sure am," he said as he closed the door. We told Rick we were leaving and was headed out the door when he wished us luck. We said our thanks as we walked out of the front door, closing it quietly behind us. "Let's go," I said, smiling up at him. He smiled back as we began walking. We were almost out of the driveway when Blake hollered, "Hey, where are y'all going?" Him and T were sitting on watch on top of the RV. "Keep your voice down, man!" I softly hollered to Blake. "We're going huntin. We'll be back round supper time. Don't wait for us. I'll be cookin tonight if we get back in time." They nodded and we began walking away when T said, "Y'all be safe. And NO babies!" Daryl and I just chuckled while we took off in an attempt to find some food for supper.
Once in the woods, Daryl let his guard drop. "Your fingernails have gotten long," he said as we sat down on a log to take a break and eat some food. I looked down and said, "They have actually. I don't think they've been this long since college. I always had to keep them close to the skin cause of the gloves I had to wear. That's one thing I definitely don't miss." I looked up to see Daryl staring at me with a puzzled face. "What?" I asked. "I thought you loved your job, Em." I shook my head. "Of course I loved my job. I just hated the gloves and the yelling family members all the time. Especially when I couldn't save the person. I hated having to go and tell them. It's like I've been around death my whole life."
I took a swallow of water and chewed up a piece of jerky. "Me too." I heard him mutter. "What do you mean?" I asked quietly, not wanting to upset him. "What kind of job did you have?" I asked, curious. "Undercover cop." I was silent for a few minutes before I spoke, "That's pretty...awesome." I smiled and looked at him. "Don't tell anyone though." he said, looking shy. "I would never tell them anyways. That's between you and me." He smirked and said, "How many squirrels do we have now?" I counted seven. "We should see if we can find a deer or somethin with some more meat." I nodded and said, "Sounds good. I could go for some rabbit stew about now. You ever had any?"
Daryl shook his head. "Really," I asked, shocked. "Me and Merle, well when he wasn't in jail or juvie, had squirrel or deer. I know how to hunt rabbit, I just never really did it. Squirrel and deer was just easier. Didn't really need a specific season where I lived at. Plus ya know, they'd never expect a cop to shoot out of season." I let out a small laugh. "Well I'll be. I have shot more rabbits than Daryl Dixon." He gave me a side look and said, "Shut up Emily June." My mouth dropped open. "You cannot play that game with me! I don't know your middle name! It's so not fair." I got up off the log and stood up, stretching my legs. Daryl was quiet for a few minutes while I was stretching until he finally said, "James." I turned my head sideways and said, "Daryl James Dixon. It sounds nice." I let out a small smile and put out my hand, and said "Come on, let's go get some rabbits."
He grabbed my outstretched hand and laced his fingers through mine as we took off. "We need to find some honeysuckle or a brush pile or somethin'. They'll definitely be in there. I know it." I said as his thumb grazed over mine, continuously. The feeling was comforting. "Well let's get to looking." Finally after walking for about thirty minutes, we came upon a huge clearing with piles and piles of dead leaves. "This would be so much better if we had dogs." I said, and Daryl nodded. "I'll go walk through there and I'll draw 'em out. Sound good?" I nodded and said, "Careful." as he took off. He was in the pile for about ten minutes whenever I saw a cluster of about two or three rabbits run out. I already had my bow loaded and took down the first two easily. I had a harder time pulling out my arrow on the last one, but thankfully I got my arrow out in time and shot it as well. "Try for two more!" I hollered down to him. He shook his head in understanding and went back in to get some more out.
Instead of two, three more rabbits popped out again, but thankfully this time, I was all ready. I went over to the six dead rabbits and picked them all up and stuck them on the string tied around my waist. "We can try for deer the next time we're out," Daryl said coming up to me. "Yeah, that'll work good. I don't know if I could tote a deer all the way back to the house with all these rabbits and squirrels around me." I said twirling around making all the animals spin with me. He let out a chuckle and said, "Alright, let's get back to the house so you can make me some rabbit stew." I laughed and wiped the sweat that was running down his face. He placed his hand around the small of my back, and we started heading back to the house.
We were about halfway back to the house whenever we heard twigs snapping. Daryl and I instantly let go of each other and had our weapons at the ready. I looked at him and he pointed at the ground. I instantly recognized them as deer tracks. "Want to?" I mouthed at him. He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, "We better" back. I nodded and silently walked up to a tree that was suitable for climbing, and propped myself up against two limbs while he stalked off careful as could be, and sat down against a tree and waited for the deer to pass. I instantly began doing a deer call when I saw Daryl comfortable against a tree, waiting for the deer to come closer. I did the call a couple more times whenever I saw the deer come into view. It looked like a doe, fairly big though. A couple of seconds later, I saw the deer jump and I let go and arrow as it came in mid jump.
It hit the ground with a thump. I clambered down from the tree as Daryl met me at the foot of the tree. "Didn't know you could call." I smirked and said, "Well now you do." We walked over to the deer and looked her over for a bit. "She seems pretty healthy. No bite marks or scratches. Tons of meat we can put in the smokehouse. She'll be good." I said, looking at Daryl. He pulled me in for a hug and a kiss. We broke apart and I let out a long sigh. "This'll be fun." I said, grabbing the front legs. Daryl grabbed the back and said, "Alright, let's head back."
We walked through the clearing with the sun just beginning to set. Carl was sitting at the picnic table whenever we walked through, and immediately jumped up to come greet us. "Can I help with something?" he asked, quickly. "Grab the string off her belt and take the animals while we string this one up," Daryl said. Carl quickly came over to me and undid the string and ran to get the squirrels and rabbits on the table. Daryl and I carried the deer about halfway before T came rushing over to us. "Here, Em you go sit down. You look ragged." I willingly let him take the deer from me as I went and sat down on the picnic table. I took a bottle of water from my bag and downed half of it. I heard Lori's footsteps coming off the porch, before she sat down next to me, cuddling her baby belly.
"How are ya?" I asked, motioning to the baby. "Just mornin' sickness these days. Completely normal, right?" she asked, making sure. I nodded. "Yeah, mornin' sickness comes and goes. You could have it with one kid, and not the other. I saw many patients like that in my days." I let out a small laugh. "You look like your nourished enough. I take you found the vitamins in the cabinets?" I looked at her shocked expression. "I didn't care that you took them Lori. You aren't just taking care of yourself, you got a little girl to take care of too. I understand even if others don't." She smiled and said, "Thank you, Em. I have another question for you." I nodded and asked her what it was she wanted.
"Well here soon, she'll be coming, but I had to have a c-section with Carl. Will I have to do the same with her?" I pondered the question for a minute. "Well I knew of some patients that had their first with a c-section and the second and third normally, so I guess it'll just depend on how your body wants you to have her. If it comes down to it and either one of you has to be saved, who will you pick? I know you hate hearing it, cause hell I hate asking it, but which one Lori? You can talk it over with Rick if you need to. Just discuss it and then get back to me, okay?" She nodded and said, "Well it's almost time for Carol and I to go cook supper." I stood up and held her a hand. "I'll cook tonight. My treat." I said with a smile. She took my hand and held her other to the baby and got up. "Sure thing, Em. You don't know how much we're thankful to you." I nodded and helped her walk up the steps. "It's understood. I'm just glad that I have you guys." She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm glad that you stumbled up on us the day you did. I really am thankful." I nodded and said, "Me too." We walked through the door and parted ways. Me going to the kitchen, and her going to the living room to lay on the couch. I entered the kitchen and saw Carol grabbing pots. "Hey, I told Lori I was gonna cook tonight. You don't have to cook either. Take a night off." I said, being nice. "I'm finally glad you decided to step it up and actually do something around here for once," she said as she took off through the door before I could get in a word. "Bitch." I muttered under my breath.
I hollered out of the back door to Daryl for him to come help, to which he did. He skinned a couple of the rabbits and chopped them up for me and took them outside and put them in the boiling pot to cook while I got started on some of the other things we got from the hunting trip like leaves and berries that were edible. I made some rice and popped open a can of premade rolls and set the table. "Hey Em, come check this rabbit for me!" I heard Daryl call out. I walked outside and checked the rabbit, which was perfectly done. We took the pot inside and put it all together. Daryl set the table while I put the rice on a place, then the meat, and then some gravy on top. I finished by putting the other things on the side of the plate, and then set them all down. "Looks good." I said, as I took a swig of water.
"Come here," he said. I walked over to him and placed my hands on his shoulders, him flinching a bit at the contact. "Sorry." he muttered. "No need to be sorry, you're getting better with all this contact and stuff. You're doing good." He just nodded and laced his hands around my back, interlacing his fingers. "You did a good job, ya know. I've never met a woman quite like you." I instantly relaxed and hung my head and let out a smile. "Good or bad?" I asked with a funny face. "Definitely good." I pecked him on the lips once, and said, "Well I think it's time for them to eat." He nodded and said he'd go get them. I sat down at the table and soon one by one, everyone started coming in. Daryl sat to my left while Lori sat by me on my right, making Carl a little upset. "Me and you got a long day tomorrow bud, you best sit by her or else you'll be tired of me," I said, chuckling.
"What do you mean?" Carl asked. "Tomorrow I'ma teach you how to do knives. It'll take longer than my bow will. Now, eat up. You'll need your strength for tomorrow." Lori nodded and Rick agreed. "It takes a lot more strength then you think it does, son. If they don't mind, I might come out and watch you, maybe pick up a few tricks." I nodded and the group was thrown into numerous conversations about different things. Blake, Carol, and T-Dog had started talking about the kind of vehicles they wanted or had, or something, I wasn't really paying attention. Rick and Daryl were talking about finding a new place if an event were to go down here. Carl and Lori were too busy stuffing their faces to talk, and all of the Greene's were talking about life on the farm. My dad, nowhere to be found.
I took this moment to think of my mom and how proud she would have been to see this happen. She told me to always be nice, and well even though I was four, I was living up to her standard. I smiled a small smile and took a drink of my water. I felt Daryl's warm hand touch my knee and squeeze it for comfort. I could get used to this. "I'm gonna bring a plate to Glenn," I muttered aloud and stood up and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a plate and put a healthy helping on it and was getting ready to walk out the door when Carol walked in. "Think you put enough on there for Glenn?" she asked. "I put as much on his as everyone else Carol. If you think I didn't give you the same as everyone else, you need to just... whatever, Carol. I'm sorry you hate me, but as you would say, 'Put your big girl panties on and deal'." She scoffed and said, "Of course I don't like you, it's simple isn't it. I used to be a teacher so I can pick up on the habits you do."
"Sure you do, Carol. Now excuse me, I have to get this food to Glenn. I'm sure he's starving from being on watch all day." I pushed past her and out the front door and up to the RV. "Here you go Glenn!" He made a nasty face and said, "Thanks. More squirrel." I laughed and said, "No, hon, this is rabbit. Tastes completely different, I promise." I decided that I'd sit out there for a while with him, so I sat down in the lawn chair beside him. "So Glenn, how's life?" I asked as he took a bite of the roll. "Me and Maggie are good, ya know? I think Hershel's finally realizing that I can take good care of her and I like that." he said, blushing. I let out an aww, and said, "Well I'm glad that you're doing good Glenn. I think Rick said he's gonna be out in a couple minutes to take watch for you." He nodded and thanked me as I made my way down the ladder steps and back into the house.
Everyone had by this time finished their supper and was sitting around the kitchen table, talking, just like before. I grabbed my finished plate along with Lori and Carl's and was about to grab Daryl's when he said, "Nah, go put those up and the others will be brought in here." I was confused for a moment, but I just shook my head and headed to the kitchen to place the dirty dishes down. I placed some water in the sink and a droplet of some dish washing liquid. Living here at home definitely had its perks. I had already began washing the dishes whenever the door opened and I heard quiet footsteps. "Here you go," I heard Daryl say. One by one, he dropped the rest of the plates into the sink. "Daryl, you didn't have to." He smiled and said, "I know, T's washing the dishes tonight. Sure enough, as soon as he said that T came waltzing in through the door.
"I can't believe I lost to you man." T said, while Daryl just had a smug look on his face. "Someone wanna tell me what's going on here?" I asked, playing with my dishrag. "T said he'd never done dishes before and I challenged him. He sucks at rock paper scissors by the way." Daryl said, whispering the last part. I let out a laugh. "Well T, it's pretty self explanatory. You think you can do them?" He nodded and told me to just go ahead and go to bed.
–
The next morning, I felt someone shaking me, waking me up. "Hey, Em. It's your turn for watch." I grunted and rolled up and grabbed my shoes, pulling them on. "I'm ain't about this life," I grumbled as Daryl laughed. "Come on," he said as I put my hair up in a ponytail. "Why don't you leave your hair down today?" he asked coming up behind me, slowly and carefully pulling out my hair bow. "I guess I will, well until it gets hot and then it's gotta go up." He nodded his head and I let out a sigh. He grabbed our bows as T passed us, going to his room to sleep.
Thankfully I wouldn't have to be on watch for long. Rick wanted Carol to learn how to do watch, and plus I had to help Carl learn how to throw knives today. As soon as I opened the front door, I was met with the crisp stickiness of summer mornings. My hair wouldn't stay down for long if it was gonna feel like this all day. Daryl and I walked across the dewy grass and up onto the RV. I took a seat in the lawn chair and let out a yawn. "Sleepy still?" I nodded my head and said, "Yeah. Didn't have my annual cup of coffee. When I was in college and after when I got my job, I'd drink a pot of coffee a day. I love it that much." Daryl and I both let a chuckle out of that one.
We were quiet for a few minutes before Daryl said, "Have you seen Blake being distant here recently?" I pondered the question while thinking of his behavior the last couple of weeks. "Actually now that you mention it, he has been a bit weird." He nodded and scratched his chin, messing up his beard. "You got any idea whats up with him?" I shook my head and peered out over the rising sun. "Man, today's gonna be a hot one," I said, twisting my curls with my fingers. He just nodded and moved until he found a comfortable position.
Daryl and I had small talk every now and then until Rick came walking out the front door with Carol. "Morning guys. Em, Carl's in the kitchen eating some breakfast. You two go in there and get you something before you take him out, and be careful okay?" he asked. We nodded and said our respective greetings. Carol of course, gave me the nastiest glance when neither of the men were looking. As we made our way down the ladder, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prick up. Something was about to go wrong.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME, PLEASE!" Both Daryl and Rick began sprinting off towards the scream. "Carol, get T to help you take watch!" I raced off after the men as we cut through the field across from the house. My strides got faster and faster until I caught up with Daryl. We finally tore into the corn and saw a man hunched over with crows pecking at him. Daryl kicked and shooed until all the birds had finally left. "Thank you guys so much." the guy breathed, finally being able to show his face.
"You've got to be fuckin' kiddin' me," I said as the man's face turned around.