The reunion with the rest of the group was not at the CDC but down the street, because the CDC was gone, blown up and gone. As they were filled in on the events that transpired during their separation Daryl lit a cigarette and shared it with Lucy, they had both talked about quitting or at least trying to cut down. It was one of so many things they talked about the past few days while they bared their souls and bodies to each other.
That would be a heavy undertaking even if the world wasn't ending, although Dale had said it was just "hitting the pause button." The pause button was stuck as far as Lucy was concerned, maybe they needed this vise more than ever.
But Lucy had promised Marylee she would try and so she was just dragging Daryl along for company on that undertaking. Sharing cut down on how many cigarettes they both actually smoked so it was a start.
Now that they were all together again, she meant to keep her word on a lot of things. She had been absent for most of Marylee's life, she couldn't change that but she could do better.
/
Daryl and Lucy sat together on the tailgate of Daryl's truck sharing the smoke and listening to the experience their friends had just gone through. Shane was detailing it blow by blow, they had all gotten gourmet food, the finest liquor, and hot showers the night before last.
They had spent the night at the CDC, they had walls for the first time, and hot showers and food, but it had not been what it seemed. Rick's walls were not meant to be there, even though at first he thought he had found what they were looking for.
At one point Rick and Shane had asked the man there, Jenner if they could stay but he wouldn't answer. Lucy and Daryl listened intently, and shared nothing about what happened to them.
Finding their group again had put aside the drama of the morning for Lucy, and it seemed to have happened to someone else, not her. She had been angry with Daryl for not shooting that piece of shit right in the head from the jump. But then she understood, what if it had been Marylee and she was the helpless one.
She didn't like that Daryl had hesitated, and they would need to talk about that eventually, but not now. There could not be any hesitation, she would have to accept that if it had been Marylee, she could not hesitate, or if it was Daryl either.
Their friends had been through a traumatic experience as well, and it took a long time to get through the whole story.
The CDC had been a big bust, the only guy there had offered no information really, but had educated them a bit on how the disease progressed, not that it mattered. But it had mattered to him, the test subject film he showed them had been of his wife.
She had been the head of the CDC, a genius by the man's word and he had called himself a janitor. But his isolation had driven him a little crazy, he had spent the whole outbreak and aftermath alone.
Jenner has lost it it seemed, and had locked them in during some kind of doomsday countdown. It made sense, and no one realized why they hadn't thought about that. Of course, they would destroy the place after time had passed and there had been no cure or vaccine. The things that they kept there could not ever be released into the world.
Jenner had flipped a switch and they had barely gotten out with their lives. Rick thought he had just spent too much time alone, and was grieving so much, but it had been more than that. The man had lost all hope, and there was a built-in fail safe to get rid of all the nasty stuff the CDC had behind those locked doors.
Carol had blown them out of there with a grenade of all things? She saved Marylee and Lucy was beside herself with gratitude for the woman who saw herself as a burden. She jumped off the tailgate and ran to her.
"I told you, you aren't a burden, Carol, you saved everyone!" Lucy threw her arms around her. Lucy had not spent a whole lot of time with Carol, and she didn't really think the woman had it in her to be such a badass, but she was so wrong.
That had been the day before, the exhausted group had then gone to an office building down the road to spend the night as they waited for Daryl and Lucy. The next day they were outside in the scorching heat all day not too far from the still smoking building and finally around three PM the pair arrived. There was a lot to tell, the first thing Lucy looked for was Marylee and after they had run to each other and hugged, then she noticed the blown up building.
Glenn practically swung her around when he got to her and ordinarily that would have rubbed Daryl the wrong way, but he got it now. What he and Lucy had and what she and Glenn had were two different things. It had been clear all along but he had not been able to process it.
/
"I see you two worked out your differences?" Merle cackled as he and Daryl sat on the tail gate of the truck later that night. Daryl's eyes were on Lucy, as always, who was with Marylee having their reunion a few feet away and it made his heart light until Merle spoke.
He had been watching the two sisters with their heads together talking softly with a smile on his face a mile wide. He had kept his promise, they were together again, he had not let Lucy down. The past few days had changed him profoundly, it was clear to anyone who looked at him.
"What makes you say that?" Daryl bristled at how intuitive Merle was. Nothing was ever sacred with him and Daryl never got to keep something to himself.
"You're sharing cigarettes with her now, which tells me that your dick has been inside her…" Merle advised.
"That's powerful logic there Merle."
"You got a little love bite right there too," He touched the side of Daryl's neck, "…you finally got your pipes cleaned," Merle laughed, "Good for you, maybe you'll be more pleasant to be around."
"Hff," Daryl huffed with a laugh, "I doubt it."
"You're smiling like a fool, that's a start."
"Whatever, what's the plan now," Daryl asked.
"Think tomorrow we're gonna try and grab up anything we can from the city and move on…"
"To what?"
"No clue brother, no clue."
/
Lucy wanted to sleep with Marylee and Daryl got that, he really did, but he had gotten used to her body next to him the past two nights. Not to mention all the sex they'd had and how good he slept afterwards. He had not slept that hard and well in years. Lucy was like a sleeping pill.
Now he was like a drug addict jonesing for a fix, and he wasn't happy about it. In two nights she had drawn so much out of him with such little effort. It was unnerving. What now he wouldn't be able to sleep unless she was there?
She was still close to him, just a few feet away but it was too far. The office building was large and the room they had all chosen had none of the intimacy of the gas station and the hotel he had stayed in with Lucy.
Daryl lay awake a good part of the night, he didn't want to need her to fall asleep, he didn't want to be so vulnerable that he couldn't pull the trigger on an enemy for fear of hurting her. He couldn't stop thinking about how he had fucked up and almost got her killed, or worse. That man had meant to rape her, it had been apparant and it turned his stomach every time he thought of it.
He had almost failed her and he had no one to blame but himself.
"Next time take the shot," She had said, he looked over at her sleeping and wondered if he ever could. He never froze or hesitated before, this was not good. Shane was on watch and finally around four am Daryl got up and joined Shane outside. They passed the night with small talk, and neither of them mentioned the women in their lives.
"I missed you last night…" Lucy whispered in his ear as they were getting ready to leave, but Daryl just shrugged and kept walking. Every cell in his body wanted to hold her but this was better, this would keep her safe. If he couldn't control his emotions when she was in danger next time she would be dead or worse.
He didn't want to do this but he had to, it was what was best for her.
Lucy watched Daryl walk away, her eyes drawn to that red rag in his pocket; he was frosty to her now, it was coming off on him in waves. One step forwards two steps back it seemed, this was the way it was with him. She should have expected as much, but it hurt so goddamn much. She also wasn't interested in doing this dance with him either, she thought all of that was over with.
Lucy was not down for his bullshit so she just let him go, it was too good to be true and she should have known better. Past experience had taught her this, but she thought he was different and she had trusted him. Now she was sorry about all of it.
They were on their way by nine am, after gathering supplies, then it was on the road to Fort Benning, hoping against hope that someone with answers was there.
She didn't have time for this man drama.