Daryl sat by Lucy's bed and refused to budge. No one said a thing, who would dare tell him he couldn't; he gave fuck all anyway, he crawled into bed with her after a while and held her in his arms. Her breathing was steady and Herschel said she would likely wake up within 24 to 48 hours. But Daryl cried anyway, for her, for him and for all the time he had wasted.
His fingers went automatically to her hair, he ran them through it softly, pushed her hair out of her face lovingly as Merle and Rick stood there in the doorway. They felt like voyeurs watching Daryl trying to make her comfortable and hold her close to him. Merle had never seen his brother so broken before.
"Come on, let's leave him be," Rick said, placing a hand on Merle's shoulder and Merle followed him out; Daryl didn't even notice they left.
Merle's heart was breaking for his little brother who never had anything good in his life and now was possibly losing the person who meant the most to him. Could fate be so cruel as to have Lucy cross his path just to take her away again. It could, Merle knew from experience that life was a shit show sometimes.
Merle knew all too well that life was not fair and sucked most of the time, Lucy had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, that was all. He didn't even want to think about what would happen to Daryl if she didn't make it. He saw Andrea in the kitchen making coffee on the stove in an old percolator and said a silent prayer of thanks that she was ok.
Herschel sat at the kitchen table and Merle sat down opposite him. Rick grabbed cups and Andrea brought the coffee and sat down as well.
"Will she be ok?" Merle asked Heschel.
"If she wakes up within a day or two yes, otherwise, I don't know…"
The four of them sat there drinking coffee, wondering what else they could do. Soon they would have to tell the others and no one wanted to tell Glenn. Luckily he and Maggie were out in the woods checking snares that they had set. It wasn't night time yet, the house was quiet. Amy, and Beth had taken Marylee out for a walk before she lost her mind.
As Daryl laid there with Lucy he thought about things, and how they drove each other nuts at the quarry. It had been almost fun, he could admit that now, she lit up his dashboard, as Merle would say. The fighting and the banter had just fueled the fire between them. Now he realised that attention from her, negative or not was what spurred him on in those early days.
Lucy might argue with him and say she didn't do the same thing but she did and it made him smile. She would never admit that. He grinned at the thought of their early time together, neither of them had known what was happening to them.
Daryl spoke to a God he wasn't even sure he believed in, pleading for her to be alright. He promised to treat her right for the rest of her life and love her for the rest of his life. It just couldn't end like this, not when they had just finally figured it out.
If she woke up he vowed to never let dumb shit come between them again, life was too short for fights and hard feelings. He was scared to death of losing her, but not enough to let it come between them the way it had.
He had been so hell bent on not caring and keeping her safe and in the end it hadn't worked anyway. It was a slap to his face that he sorely needed, random things would happen, he could not control the world for her.
Bad people existed, that was true before the turn, but he couldn't let fear rule his life and keep him from living it. It wasn't even a living person that did this to her anyway, it was a dumb accident with one of the dead knocking over the shelf.
Things would happen but they would get through them together. He had learned that lesson finally, but maybe it was too late. He couldn't let himself think that way, so he held her tight as the sun started going down.
Daryl wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up, so he wasn't leaving her side. There was so much to do and he didn't care about any of it. He watched the rise and fall of her chest counting her breaths, begging her to come back to him. He had so much to tell her and he began by whispering in her ear; I love you, I'll love you forever, I'll never leave you, please wake up. I need you. I need you so much.
/
Carol and Lori got their heads together and went to see Rick to let him know in the melee that Shane had left. Rick and Merle were on the porch trying to figure out their next moves and if they would need to go look for things for Lucy. Rick waved to Lori and dreaded what they were going to have to tell her, he had to leave again if there was something needed for Lucy. He and Merle had decided not to try and pry Daryl away from her right now. He was too broken by what had happened.
Rick understood Daryl, when he thought Lori and Carl were dead he was beside himself with grief. Walking up on them that day at the camp after Atlanta had been such a dream come true for him, because he had been living his worst nightmare.
Now at least when he looked down off the porch he saw everyone he loved, who he had once thought he lost. He silently prayed that Lucy would be ok, for Daryl's sake and for his own, he genuinely liked her, and they had been so lucky so far. Lucy could not be their first loss, she just couldn't be.
Carl and Sophia were playing together down by the tents oblivious to the drama that was happening and the two women meant to keep it that way. Lori hadn't even told Carl that Shane left. Now that Rick was back that would have to be addressed, and soon.
"This is a fucking nightmare," Carol said as they both walked up the driveway, "Why did he pick now to do this crap."
"Because he's a big baby, that's why," Lori replied as she stopped and turned to Carol, "It's all my fault…"
"No, no," Carol wrapped her arms around her, "Whatever happened, happened, now you deal with it. We all deal with it together."
"Do you think worse of me? Does everyone?"
"I don't and if anyone else does...fuck em." Carol answered with a shrug. Lori burst out laughing at that, Carol was no longer the quiet door mouse she had once been. This tickled Lori like nothing had since this all went down.
"Thank you," She threw her arms around Carol, and her shoulders sagged in relief, Carol was the first person that actually verbalized how she was feeling. She and Rick were trying to work things out but the horse was out of the barn and everything was fucked.
Rick and Merle were up on the porch and when he turned and saw her coming closer Rick ran down the stairs to Lori and pulled her into a hug that reminded her of when they were first married.
"We're gonna be fine," He breathed into her hair, "We're gonna be fine."
As Lori sobbed into Rick's shoulder Carol continued towards the porch to tell Merle the news. He had news for her too and it wasn't good.
/
Carol went right to Daryl who was sitting next to Lucy's bed and just placed her hand on his shoulder to let him know she was there. She didn't say a word, she didn't need to. He had been there for her during her darkest times and she was going to let him know she was there for him.
This world was so cruel to the best people it seemed to Carol, she stayed with Daryl for a few minutes and then slipped out unnoticed.
/
No one noticed a few hours later Beth, Marylee and Amy went out the back door through the kitchen. They snuck passed Rick and Merle who were patrolling the perimeter and Dale who was on top of the RV in a camp chair, but he had nodded off.
The girls were heading to town to look around for something to help Lucy, Beth knew the way and they planned to be back before dark. Lucy had a head injury and Marylee knew that Lucy's migraines were going to be worse when she woke up. She had to do something to help her sister and not be a waste of space. Lucy used to take Imitrex, maybe there was some left at the pharmacy.
It was silly, but to her fifteen year old self who needed to do something to help her sister, it made perfect sense.