Chapter Thirty Nine and Chapter Forty- I've tried five times to post these updates and IDK why they aren't showing up. I'm really sorry. This story is also on Archive of Our Own under KrissyG927 also. Sorry for the problems xoxoxoxo.
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Shane began telling the story to Rick as the older sisters got to do all of the yelling they wanted to do at their siblings. Lucy was still unsteady on her feet and Daryl was making her stay in bed, but she got into it good with Marylee. She understood that she was just trying to help but it had been reckless. They fought and there were tears on both of their parts but they ended it with a hug and Marylee crawling into bed with Lucy.
Daryl joined Rick and Shane out on the porch and lit a cigarette as the other two men talked. Marylee was with Lucy and he wanted to give them privacy and find out what Shane had actually seen.
Basically Shane stopped for supplies in the closest town and hot wired a car. A woman had been in one of the stores alone, saying that her family had all turned and she was all alone. The dead were everywhere and she had been huddled down behind a counter when Shane found her.
Her name was Marion and she was young, about Maggie's age, and he told her he was leaving, explained he had been a cop and she was all too happy to beat it out of there with him. She had been alone for a while and he was the first kind person she had met. He could tell she was traumatized by something, either the living or the dead, but he didn't press her.
As the pair was about to get out of dodge for good Shane saw the three girls running down the street being followed by a herd of the dead. Earlier Shane had thought he heard a helicopter and he was heading that way towards Atlanta. That must have attracted the herd as they were heading towards Atlanta too, but before they got there, they would end up on the Greene farm.
Marion knew Beth, and scolded her right away for being out, even if they had found the medications they thought Lucy would need. Marion didn't even know who Lucy was, or the other girls she was with so she laid into Beth good over it.
Shane just rolled his eyes, he had almost made a clean break with this group.
Then Marion and the girls happened, and she was at present talking to Andrea and Maggie. It turned out she was one of the Greene neighbors and Maggie knew her well. It would have been fine, he and Marion could have just driven off into the sunset.
But then he saw the three teenagers and he couldn't do it. He was a lot of things, but he could not leave those kids out there alone nor could he not warn Rick and the others about what was heading their way. They had a day or two, tops before the fences were breached and Herschel's farm was overrun. There were just too many of the dead headed their way.
"What the fuck are you three idoits doing out here." He yelled as he pulled up next to the terrified girls, "Get in, this is Marion."
"Hey Beth," The woman replied and Shane realized they knew each other. It was indeed a small world.
The three girls jumped in gratefully and began telling their tale of trying to find the steroids that Lucy might need if her brain began to swell. Shane didn't even know Lucy was hurt and suddenly leaving seemed like something that he needed to put off at least a little while.
"Are you out of your minds? You never, never leave the group alone…"
"But that's what you were doing," Beth countered, "Ain't that right?"
"Shut your yap kid," Shane replied as he maneuvered them out of danger in the car, and the three girls laughed at that.
"Beth I don't know what you were thinking," Marion started, "But your father is gonna beat your ass."
"Sure like he did with you and Maggie that time?" Beth countered with a giggle. Maggie and Marion had gotten into their share of trouble before the world ended and Beth was well aware of it. They had been friends for years, and Maggie had no idea her family had all been infected. Leaving with a strange man had seemed like a good idea, but in hindsight, she knew Herschel would have taken her in.
"Beth, that was different..." Marion started.
"Oh because of the pot?"
Shane could not believe what was going on in the car, Beth and Marion argued the whole way back and he had gotten an education on the pre-turn antics of Maggie Greene.
There were no coincidences in this world, it was not time for him to go.
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How could you have left?" Rick asked him as they stood out on the porch much later that night. Andrea was still giving Amy a piece of her mind and had even grounded her. It was not something she could enforce, she knew that, especially with the news the girls and Shane brought back. But Andrea was spit mad and made sure her sister knew it.
There was a herd coming bigger than the one they saw on the road weeks ago and they had to get the hell out of there before it was too late. Shane advised them of this and plans were being made. The women were packing clothes and food and the men were going to gas up the vehicles, they would leave at first light.
"Come on man." Shane replied, "How do you expect me to stay?"
"I don't, not if you don't wanna, but we want you here," Rick answered, "Me, Lori, and Carl, look man, what happened, happened. We can't go back and change it but we can find a way to live with it."
"That's just it, I don't know if I can…"
"Stay with us at least a while, try this new normal before you decide, can you do that?"
"New normal, huh?" He answered, "Guess that's what we got now…"
"You could always leave later if you want…"
Shane couldn't argue with his logic and they needed to get moving fast so for now at least, his plans were on hold. Once they were settled somewhere, if they settled somewhere he would revisit his plans again.
/
The next morning Daryl was up and had already packed his and Lucy's meager belongings into his truck along with Merle and Andrea's. Amy and Marylee would ride with Dale, as well as Merle and Andrea. Lucy would ride with him of course, there was no way he was letting her out of his sight now.
"Ok, I'm gonna carry you out…" Daryl leaned down to pick her up.
"Don't be ridiculous, I can..." Lucy stood up and then wavered as she got her footing and he grabbed her up into his arms.
"Like I said...I'm gonna carry you."
"Oh you're loving this aren't you."
"Uh hu?" He smiled, "You have no idea…"
"Well, eat it up with a spoon Dixon because as soon as I'm not dizzy, you're done."
"You keep telling yourself that," He laughed as he carried her through the door.
Merle was outside loading up the RV with Glenn when Daryl appeared on the porch with Lucy in his arms.
"Hey brother, you're supposed to carry your bride through the threshold, not outside…" He elbowed Glenn who couldn't suppress a laugh.
"Fuck off Merle, I'll carry my girl anywhere I want," He answered as he carried her down the stairs and deposited her in his truck passenger side.
Merle leaned over to Glenn and whispered, "He's too chicken to ask her, I gotta help him along."
Beautiful Thing Chapter Forty
Life was almost normal again, almost, except for the dead, but they were safe now, really safe. It had taken a while but Glenn finally got to keep his promise to Maggie.
Daryl and Lucy walked towards the place where Glenn had set up the white sheet on the side of the prison and the film had already started. Somehow they had found a copy of Red Dawn, the original and everyone was cracking jokes about them being in their own Red Dawn, just with the dead instead of a hostile invasion. They had found the prison by accident and cleared it out in one day, all of them working side by side to get rid of the dead and make their home behind the walls.
Rick had finally found his walls, a secure place for Carl and Lori after they cleared out the actual buildings and that took a week or more. It was finally safe and all of them could finally breathe. Tonight they were all taking a long deserved break, after months on the road with nowhere to lay their heads at night.
"Hey, Luce wait a minute." He stopped walking and held her hand so she would stop, "I gotta."
"What's wrong, you gotta go pee?" Lucy asked, pointing to the guard tower in front of them, Shane sat up there keeping watch over all of them with Marion, the woman he had found in the city when he had rescued the kids from the herd, "Go behind the..."
Daryl shook his head and almost regretted starting this conversation, he had tried to do it so many times before in the past few weeks once he knew that he wanted this. But he had made up his mind to do it and now that he had decided he couldn't wait to get it over with. Most men would want to savor a moment like this, remember it, but he just wanted to be done.
"I know my timing sucks and it probably always will, but it's kind of our thing." He gave her a shy smile. Lucy smiled back, he was right, and whatever was on his mind she knew it would be forever before he got his words out.
They had come so far in a really short time, but he still had trouble expressing himself sometimes, they still fought, they were a work in progress. No matter what they were in it together now, stand or fall.
"Yeah it probably does but its…"
"I wanna marry you…" He cut her off so he could just get it out and be done with it. The words had been spinning around in his head since that night on the farm when Merle gave him the ring. He always knew he'd eventually ask her, but he had been carrying the ring around in his pocket for so long now
"What?" Lucy stopped short trying to process what he had just said. The Daryl that had once pushed her away had just said that? She looked over at their friends just a few yards away, was he serious? Or was she dreaming? Merle glanced over from where everyone was sitting in the grass and noted the seriousness of their conversation and quickly elbowed Andrea who was already wearing the other ring.
Merle had given it to her long ago, but everytime he asked Daryl when he was going to ask Lucy his brother kept saying it wasn't the right time.
"Oh shit Andrea he's finally asking her," Merle whispered.
"Finally," Andrea smiled and kissed his cheek.
Daryl stopped and turned to her, taking the ring out of his pocket, and held it up to her, "Will you?"
Not knowing what to do next Daryl put the ring in her hand and Lucy stared at it. She was half expecting it to burn her palm, this was not what she ever expected to had never talked about anything like this and it wasn't like there were any laws anymore, or churches.
"Where did you get this?" She stammered, overwhelmed with her feelings all of the sudden. For a long time Lucy had thought she wasn't the marrying kind, even a long term relationship was new to her. Now she slept next to Daryl every night, they weren't perfect but they were learning and doing their best.
"Merle, it was my mom's, he saved her rings," Daryl answered, "He gave it to me months ago, been carrying it around in my pocket all..."
Lucy didn't say anything for a beat and Daryl started sweating, this was a mistake, he didn't regret asking her, but he hoped things wouldn't be weird now between them. He didn't blame her, this was a dumb idea, he wasn't Merle, and it just wasn't in the cards for him.
"Would you be wearing one?" She looked at the ring in her hand, there were no such things as weddings now, she could just slip the ring on with no fanfare and then she'd be Daryl's wife. It still would be everything to her, if that was what she wanted, and the commitment would be just the same.
"I can…I want to..."
"Here," She handed the ring back to him, and his face fell for a second thinking it was over between them for good this time, "You put it on me…"
Lucy held her shaking hand out as he slipped the ring on with his own shaking hands. Tomorrow he would go to town and find a ring to wear. Daryl was amazed that he could not wait to get one and put it on.
"I said I would never get married," Lucy mused as he pulled her closer, resting his forehead to hers.
"I never even thought about it at all," Daryl explained.
"I heard you…"
"What?"
"When I was out, I heard your voice …" She wrapped her arms around him, " I dreamed about my father, I could hear your voice, were you singing?"
He nodded and then she was crying, and he took her into his arms to comfort her, "Don't cry Luce it's ok…"
"I'm scared of what I would do for you." She sobbed into his shoulder, "I want to be married to you. These are happy tears, you're the only person I'd want to do this with."
"I can't promise you much except that I'll always fight for you and for us and keep you and Marylee safe."
"I guess we're married then…"
"I guess we are," He answered and pulled her closer to him, they hugged for a while then he put his arm around her and they walked to the group and sat down in the grass next to Merle and Andrea. Beth and Marylee had made popcorn, and Amy passed some to them. Daryl pulled Lucy over to sit between his legs, and she settled her back against his chest to watch the movie.
Not all of their nights would be as wonderful as this one and there was still trouble out in the world, the dead were walking, people like Ed and his friend the Governor, whoever that was were out there, but tonight they were watching a movie, and that was a beautiful thing..
The End
