KEZZ 1: As always, thank you and you're welcome.
RaphaeltheCowboy: Let's just say, this has been planned for a long, long, long time...Next episode/chapter, you'll find out just how long storywise vs timewise...lol...^_^
Daryl woke up before Ani two weeks later and held her just a little tighter to his chest. He'd been thinking about how she didn't want to take the test at all until she had more to go on. While it made sense from her point of view, from his it seemed like she was just scared to know one way or another. One hand was resting on her stomach, gently rubbing low even though he didn't know what the hell he was thinking doing it. If nothing was there, he was being like this for nothing. But he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, there was, especially since her stomach had gotten so damn hard over the last couple weeks. He didn't even realize she was awake as he leaned over, kissing her shoulder and leaving a wet trail behind as he sucked and kissed his way up her neck. She turned in his arms and kissed him hard before they rolled as one, Daryl on top of her seated right where he wanted to be, making them both moan.
When they went downstairs for breakfast, they noticed that Sophia wasn't there, the girl leaving a note that she was going hunting with Merle, who had moved into Francine's house weeks ago and only stayed with them once a week. And his excuse for that was for Sunday family dinners, where Ani and Merle both were in the kitchen making a large dinner with Carol bringing something over, the entire group coming together to eat at hers or Rick's house. Ani had given him her grinder and bowl, having decided that she really didn't like the feeling of being out of her mind like that anymore. It just wasn't her thing anymore, and Merle had agreed to not partake around her, as he was more than happy to have a nightcap worth of weed every evening. Sophia, it seemed, had taken to spending time with Merle or Carl if she wasn't with Ani and Daryl.
Francine came to Sunday dinners once or twice, but felt odd because she wasn't actually a part of the group. She and Ani got along alright, but her little comments about how Ani and Daryl were always on top of each other were grating enough for Ani to tell the woman off for it in much the same fashion she had Merle. It hadn't caused any problems between Francine and Merle when she'd told her off, Merle just stating he'd tried to warn her of how Ani argued. In the end, Francine was given a bit of an education on neurodivergence and how other people's expectations of what people like her could do would only bring about heartache for all those involved. While the woman admitted she didn't understand half of what Ani had talked about, she did agree to keep her nose out of where it didn't belong.
Breakfast was just eggs on toast, but Daryl was more than happy to be getting regularly cooked meals for a change. It wasn't just that they had food to eat, it was that Ani was always making sure to make his food just how he liked it, always asking or remembering to the point that she'd make things he knew he liked even if it wasn't a favorite of hers. The other day, she'd managed to catch a few fish with a spear which had surprised the shit out of Daryl. Ani's only explanation was that she'd seen it done on TV and had wanted to try it as a kid. Knowing she'd lived by a river, she'd practiced until she was a damn near pro in her early teens, though she hadn't done it since until she wanted to show off for Daryl who'd stated he missed having fish. She didn't even like fish, yet still fried and ate it just for the man.
Watching her finish her breakfast, he asked her, "Why don't you stay home today? Help Denise out? Maybe..."
"Not yet. Not ready ta be that far gone from ya yet," she countered before sighing. "That otha part, maybe when we get back."
"Finally thinkin' 'bout it?"
"Yeah," Ani admitted. "Still don' wanna see a negative, though."
"What changed your mind?"
"Ya did. This mornin'. Rubbin' me belly like that. Yeah, I was awake. Thought I felt somethin'," she admitted. "I mean, kinda stupid. Ya don' start feelin' nothin' when ya a new ma 'til ya somethin' like 4 months along. I'd be showin' if I was that far along!"
"How do you know that?" Daryl asked, wondering if there was a possibility she was that far along.
"Eh, Jesse had an olda sista that had a couple a kids. I was there for the pregnancy a one a 'em and I was really inta askin' questions. Got ta feel the little sucka kick, too. Freakiest fuckin' thing ta see a hand or a foot, a human fuckin' hand or foot, stickin' out unda the skin a anotha human, but damn if I wasn' fuckin' awed by it," she told him.
"Could take it before we head out," he offered.
"And have ya leave me behind one way or anotha when the results come up? Nuh-uh, ain' havin' it. I'll take it when we get back," she told him, heading out the door before looking back at him and chuckling. "Quit poutin' and let's go. I'm still takin' the damn thing, so ya'll known by the end a the day whetha or not someone else is gonna be callin' ya daddy otha than me."
"I better," he said petulantly. "Wanna know now."
"And instead ya get a lesson on patience, me dear, beloved Daryl Dixon," she laughed, bringing her arms around his neck as his came around her hips, both of them sharing a kiss before they headed off to meet with Rick.
Walking out to the road, they saw Denise walking with Beth down the road, Daryl calling out to them. The four individuals met up with Daryl taking his arm off Ani and Beth talking to the woman momentarily. Daryl pulled out the list of things Denise wanted for the infirmary and pointed to it.
"This thing at the bottom here. You're talkin' about the drink, right?" he asked Denise.
"I am, but..."
"It's not medical," he commented.
"No, I drew a line between the important stuff and that. I just figured, if you saw it," Denise said, Ani watching as she started getting nervous and sharing a smile with Beth.
"Alright," Daryl told her.
"Anything remotely medical is a priority," Denise clarified. "And food. Maybe even food before medicine, and gas or batteries or books for the kids or clothes. It's just, if you see it, if it just happens to, you know, be right there..."
"You like it, right?" Daryl asked, willing to get Ania's best friend whatever she wanted for saving Carl and being Ania's friend in general.
"No, I don't drink pop."
"What the hell's pop?"
"Oh, I'm originally from Ohio," Denise said, as if that explained anything, making Ani laugh.
"She means soda, love. Soda for the south, pop for the north, and soda pop a lot a places between," Ani explained as they both nodded their heads, one in agreement, one in understanding.
"Why you want it?" Daryl asked, looking at the list then back at the other woman, bringing Ania back under his arm, her fingers entwining with the hand on her shoulder.
After a pregnant pause, Denise admitted, "Tara was talking about it in her sleep, I think. Either she likes it or she doesn't, but if she likes it, it'd be a really nice surprise. I'm not good with that kind of stuff. And she and Heath are going on that two week run. I just thought it'd be a nice going-away present. Just, uh," she said while waving her hands around, making Daryl hold his up in surrender and wave them a little bit, Ani hiding her smile at their cute antics. "Don't go out of your way. And if it gives you any trouble..."
"I won't."
"Good, 'cause it's not important. I should have just said so instead of drawing a line."
"Got it," Daryl responded as he walked away, giving her a thumbs up.
They met up with Rick and climbed into the black car with him, Daryl in the front passenger seat while Rick drove, Ani in the middle in the back. She'd left the twins with Sophia when she saw the girl walking through the gate with a string of squirrels and a couple rabbits. She wanted the girl to bond with them as well as she lived with her and Daryl, a fact that wasn't going to be changing for the fourteen year old anytime soon. She had no desire to return to Carol's side and preferred Merle in the role of Pops, or grandfather, or even godfather, but not someone she wanted to live with. They'd all gotten pretty sick of his stinky feet and noxious gas after the first week living together with him crop-dusting his farts all throughout the house. Ani and Sophia both had joked with Francine about it, quipping that something had definitely crawled up his ass and died, to which the woman quickly agreed. Francine left them privy to the fact that they use separate blankets so that when she moved, she didn't get a face full of nasty.
As they came up to the gate, Ani was surprised to find Eugene standing guard and opening it, making a motion for the car to halt while Daryl rolled the window down. As Eugene leaned through the window handing Daryl a piece of paper, he told them, "I mapped out some of the agricultural supply places in the area. Even if they've been cleaned out, my bet is that the sorghum would be untouched. Now, that there is a criminally underrated grain that could change the game with our food situation from scary to hunky-dunky." When the members of the car just looked up at him from the map with blank expressions, he continued with, "I'm talking standability, drought tolerance, grain-to-stover ratio that is the envy of all corns. Think about it."
"Thanks," Daryl told them as the three in the car drove away in confusion.
When they turned onto the open road, Rick told them, "Today's the day."
"Yeah," Daryl said.
"We're gonna find food, maybe some people. Law of averages gotta catch up."
"I don't know. We ain't seen nobody for weeks. Maybe we ain't gonna find nobody. Maybe that's a good thing," Daryl told him, thinking about Ania's promise for when they got back; he definitely didn't want to deal with new people if she was pregnant.
When Rick picked up a disc that had Daryl asking him not to put it on, Ani dug in her bag and pulled out a cache of CDs, handing them to Daryl and snatching the one from Rick, "I ain' listenin' ta that crock a crap again! That is not music! That's what happens when a dumpster has a baby with a guitar!"
Both men laughed as Daryl put on a Half Moon CD he knew Ania knew all the songs to, enjoying the sound of her quiet singing coming from the back. He turned it up super loud, loving how she sang louder from the back. Honestly, he'd rather hear her voice rather than the man's singing, but she was no Beth. She rarely ever sang without background music, which was why they now had a CD player in their house as well as an impressive cache of 90s and 20s rock music. Her favorite bands they'd managed to collect were a couple Coheed and Cambria CDs and the Black album from Metallica. When he'd showed her that one, she'd immediately put it in the CD player and the two of them had rocked out for hours before Sophia came in and caught them goofing off, both hunters immediately sobering up and blushing. Daryl's favorite had been some AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with a single album of Trapt, which had surprised Ania. But when it came to music she liked singing to, Half Moon, Evanessence, and Shinedown were her favorites.
They drove for a while before Ani hit Rick's arm with the back of her hand and pointed out Daryl's window just as they passed by a farm. It was worth going to check out as it looked like it had relatively been left untouched. Ani couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that 'sorghum' was written on the door to the barn's outer garage. She and Rick took out their guns as Daryl began going through his bag to get out a wrecking bar so he could break the locks on the garage door.
"Hey, hold up," he told Rick, who had gone to check the door as Ani stayed closer to Daryl but still looking around. "It's best to be safe. Y'all cover it?"
"Yeah," they both agreed, each taking up position behind Daryl with their guns raised and ready.
Daryl threw open the door, Ani checking one side of the truck they found while Rick checked the other with a, "We're good. One more time?" he asked, gesturing to the back of the truck.
"It ain't locked," Daryl said, moving to open that door as well.
"Holy shiteballs," Ani commented upon seeing a truck loaded with random goods, a lot of it food.
"Well, would you look at that," Rick said, smiling. "The law of averages."
"Yep," Daryl said, stepping down as both Rick and Ani stepped up, Ani tossing him a couple things she wanted, naming bags of her sweet and spicy jerky that she'd been having more and more trouble finding.
He stuffed them in his bag with a smile as Rick said, "Let's get this thing going, grab our gear, come back for the car later."
"I can drive it-"
"Hell naw, you get your ass in that truck and stay there," Daryl countered, not wanting to be separated from her until they got back home. "Ain't leavin' my sight 'til we get back."
"What's goin' on now?" Rick asked as he and Ani jumped down from the truck, Daryl helping her while she rolled her eyes even as she was smiling.
"Jus' a promise I made 'im for when we get back. Ain' sayin' more'n that for now," Ani told him. "We should take a different way home, see what we can see."
"Think it'll start?" Daryl asked Rick.
"Yeah, I do," Rick said before chuckling. "Sorghum."
"Ta the mightiest a all grains," Ani laughed after him as Daryl closed the truck's back door and went around the passenger. "Only a two seata," she told him. "I'll have ta sit in ya lap, or, ya know, take the car back?"
"Ain't the first time you've been on my lap today," he countered, leaving her sighing and climbing in after him and situating herself on his legs.
He moved her to where she was just sitting on one before hiking his foot up on the dash and leaning her shoulder into his chest, arms wrapped around her. Ani couldn't help but think he was being protective as he looked down at her, Rick watching them from the driver's seat. Whatever the little woman had promised the older hunter, Daryl was taking it seriously and wasn't about ready to let her go. His eyes widened just a little when he noticed that the man's hand was splayed out on Ani's stomach, rubbing it almost as if they thought...Rick turned his attention back to the road to hide his small smirk. It seemed like the bets that had been placed on the two between a lot of their group were finally going to see either a pay out or a pay up.
They continued down the road until Ani pointed out an old gas station, the trio stopping to see what they could see. Ani went to the building to see inside, but it was pretty well boarded up. Daryl called Rick over to help turn a vending machine over, but it was too heavy for them to flip by themselves. Ani offered to help, but both men denied her, saying that one more person probably wasn't going to help. Daryl got an idea to wrap a chain around it and use the truck to roll it over, Ani just standing back and watching as the two got to work, the pair only allowing her to help by placing the chain as they rocked the thing on one side or the other. When the chain was set, Rick hoped in the truck and drove until the vending machine flipped, Daryl whistling for him to stop the truck while looking inside.
"It's soda and candy," Rick commented, walking up and looking at the contents. "Why the trouble?"
"It wasn't any trouble," Daryl told him, Ani smiling softly at Daryl.
"Denny asked for somethin' 'e's tryin' ta find," Ani informed Rick right before they both were run into from behind, Daryl immediately turning to catch Ani who would have fallen stomach first into the vending machine, both their eyes wide and Ani paled completely at the thought.
All three of them had their guns up within seconds as the man said, "Hi."
"Back up! Now!" Daryl yelled at him, pulling Ania closer and behind him to protect her and pissed as all hell about what could have just happened.
"Keep 'em up!" Rick warned.
"Whoa, easy, guys," the man said, his face covered by a rag while a hat sat on his head; in all honesty, Ani couldn't see anything on this guy that screamed threat, but at the same time, it was very odd to meet a clean stranger in the wilds, as she called anything outside the walls of Alexandria. "I was just running from the dead."
"How many?" Daryl asked.
"Ten, maybe more," he answered. "Once it gets to double digits, I start running."
"Seem capable 'nough," Ani said. "Why run when ya can fight?"
"One wrong move, you get over run, you're done for," he reasoned. "Sorry again for running into you."
"Where?" Daryl asked, taking a half step closer to Ania.
"About a half mile back. They're headed this way. You probably have about eleven minutes."
"Okay," Rick said, dropping his Python. "Thanks for lettin' us know."
"No problem," the man said. "There's more of them than us, right? Gotta stick together," he told them, watching as Ani slowly lowered her own gun and stepped up to Daryl's back. "Right?" Daryl finally lowered his gun feeling Ani pressed against him as the man asked, "You have a camp?"
"Naw," Daryl answered.
"Do you?" Rick asked.
"No. Sorry for running into you. I'm going to go now. This is the new world. Hope it works out for you guys," he said as he turned to start running again, Ani watching him critically.
"I'm Rick. This is Daryl and Ani. What's your name?"
"Paul Rovia, but my friends used to call me Jesus," he said, spreading his hands wide after taking the mask off his face to reveal a trimmed beard.
"You said you didn't have a camp," Rick said. "You on your own?"
"Yeah, but still," he said, his voice dropping just a little as he finished, "best not to try anything."
Ani couldn't help the chuckle that left her lips at his implied threat as Daryl said, "Best not to make promises you can't keep, either."
"Exactly," Paul replied before he began running again.
"How many walkers-" Rick started.
"No, not this guy," Daryl told him, spinning on him in anger at the fact that the man had knocked into Ania and almost knocked her down in a bad way; until they knew for sure one way the other, he was treating her like she was.
"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick finished louder and around Daryl.
"Sorry," the man said as he moved away. "Gotta run. You should, too. Think you've got about seven minutes."
"What the hell was that?" Daryl asked Rick, moving Ania to press her front against his protectively.
"Odd, that's what that was," Ani stated, looking as best she could 'over' Daryl's shoulder, her height making it to where she couldn't see much.
"He was clean," Rick stated. "His beard was trimmed. There's more going on there."
"He didn't have a gun, either," Daryl commented.
"Think 'e might be a fighta like me," Ani said. "Makin' threats like that and carryin' knives. His bearin's off, too, for someone who hasn' been trained."
"We could track him, watch him for a while," Rick suggested. "Get to know more. See if he's really alone. Maybe bring him back."
"Naw, guy calls himself Jesus."
"Technically, he says 'is friends call 'im Jesus, and, I mean, common Western Christianity paints Jesus as a man with long darker blonde ta lighta brown hair and blue eyes with a trimmed beard. Can' say I can' see why he'd be called that," Ani reasoned, taking in Daryl's dark expression. "I'm jus' sayin'! I ain' sayin' anythin' against ya or tryin' ta change ya mind. Jus' sayin' I can see why. Still a pretentious dick ta let 'imself be called that. Ya really ain' gonna be jealous a a guy we met on the run, are ya?"
Daryl was about to respond when gunshots broke out behind the building. With Ani between them, Rick and Daryl moved as a unit around the corner of the building with their guns up. The sound began again, Ani pointing to a metal barrel with smoke coming out of it.
"Firecrackas!" she said angrily as she turned around.
She was already moving when she heard Daryl ask Rick, "He swiped your keys, didn't he?"
"Shit," came Rick's reply as the three took off in earnest back around the building.
The man was already in the truck and had it started up and pulling out as he yelled, "Sorry!"
"Not yet ya not!" Ani roared back at him as he took off in earnest, both men saying 'shit' on either side of her. "Come on, boys! We ain' givin' up that truck without a fight!"
They ran at a steady pace, Ani being the least winded of the trio. Ani had no idea how long they'd been running before she spotted the black vending machine discarded in the middle of the road. Almost as soon as they got to it, Daryl pulled out his wrecking bar and slammed it into the glass of the machine, pulling out a few different items and stuffing them in his bag as Rick caught his breath. Even though she was the least winded, Ani felt like she was going to puke as the heat began getting to her. While Daryl pulled out some Crush from the vending machine, she pulled her canteen from her bag and splashed some water on her face before taking a sip.
"This was a special request from the doctor," he informed Rick.
"Hey, whatever she wants," Rick agreed as Daryl handed him a broken can of the drink after having taken a drink himself; he didn't even bother handing it to Ania as her nose had scrunched up as soon as he'd taken a drink. "She saved Carl's life, helped Ani. We didn't know her and she turned out to be alright. If there's still people out here, and they're still people, we should bring 'em in."
"What? Like this prick?" Daryl asked, taking another drink of the sugary substance before handing it back to Rick.
"No, not this guy," Rick said as he pulled something out of the machine himself.
"We still got a trail," Daryl said.
"Let's go," Rick said after throwing the can back in the vending machine.
The trio continued down the road, Ani really beginning to feel the heat and exhaustion of not having run this long in a good long while. Daryl was pointing them along the trail, running down a side road at the sight of the tire marks from a tread that was obviously about to blow. It didn't take long, Ani falling behind slightly, for the three to come up to a hilly road where Daryl slowed down. Cautiously bending over to look over a particularly high hill, the three of them were able to see the truck just ahead, the man working on changing the obviously blown tire that had Daryl slowing in the first place.
They made their way through the woods, Daryl and Rick forcing Ani to stay back as the last means of offense if the two of them couldn't take care of the man on their own. However, Daryl pulled her back to tell her to protect her stomach at all times and not to do anything stupid before giving her a kiss and heading out with Rick. She watched as the two men moved around opposite sides of the truck, Rick coming around from behind the man to grab him. He used martial arts strikes to get himself out of Rick's hold, dodging Daryl and slamming him back first into the side of the truck. He didn't stand a chance when Ani caught his arm when he tried to push her away and literally judo threw him over her shoulder and onto the hard ground, backing up as the men pulled their guns.
"This is done," Rick told him.
"Do you even have any ammo?" Paul asked, sitting up to his elbows as he caught his breath; the smallest person in the group was trained more than he was which was surprising. What was more surprising was when both men raised their guns to the walker coming out of the woods and fired at the same time, sharing a look as the walker went down and Ani chuckled, highly amused at her boys' antics. "Okay. You gonna shoot me over a truck?"
"There's a lot of food on that truck," Rick stated.
"And ya pissed me man off knockin' inta me," Ani said, walking to Daryl's free hand and grabbing it. "Kinda ova protective at the moment. Not that I'm mindin' too much yet," she said to Daryl with a smile when he looked back at her with a scowl that turned just a bit softer before he turned back towards the man on the ground.
"The keys," Rick told him, ignoring the two beside him. "Now."
"I think you know I'm not a bad guy," Paul reasoned.
"Don' make ya a good guy, though, now does it?" Ani asked.
"What do you know about us?" Rick warned. "Give me the keys. This is the last time I'm asking," he said as he cocked his gun.
Paul sighed and said, "I left them in the truck."
"Uh-huh," Ani said. "Keep 'em trained, boys. I'll check."
Walking over to the truck, she was pleasantly surprised when she pulled the keys out and walked back over, handing them to Rick. Rick handed her his Python and told her to keep it trained as he went to the back of the truck and found some rope. Ani wanted to comment on how Rick was tying the man up, but she decided against it because there was no way in hell Daryl would be happy with her taking over and getting close to the man. Not until they got home, anyway. Should a neva promised 'im shite, she thought with a small smile as she watched the man search his bag, angry at the fact that it was dripping wet from crushed soda cans.
"Is me jerky okay?" Ani asked, half actually worried about it, half amused at the entire situation, but entirely earning her a glare and a 'shut up' from Daryl which only made her giggle for a moment.
"You're really gonna leave me here like this?" Paul asked Rick. "You're really gonna do that."
"Eh, the knots aren't that tight," Rick said as he worked on tying the man up. "You should be able to get free, long after we're gone."
The man looked at Ani then, the look in his eye telling her the same thing she knew herself; he was probably going to get out of the knots right away. She might not know how to tie knots for securing hands, but she knew that the basic knots Rick was using just wasn't going to cut it in the cold light of day. She could get out of those knots easily enough herself, someone like this guy would find them to be nothing too. All she did was shrug, though, thinking that the man wouldn't be stupid enough to keep following three not only well armed people, but one exceptionally well trained combatant as well.
"Maybe we should talk now," Paul suggested to Ani, the woman obviously contemplating it before the older redneck popped up.
"Naw, here," Daryl said, throwing a partially full can of Crush down next to him before pulling Ani with him. "In case you get thirsty." He all but threw Ani into the passenger seat, her moving to sit between the seats on the floor as he got in and put his feet up on the dash, handing his dripping bag to Ani before she got back in his lap and put it where she had been a second before. "So long you prick!" he yelled out the open window with a flip of the bird towards the rear view window, Ani watching as the man hung his head low.
"Still worked out," Rick said a few minutes later as they moved down the road, Ani handing Rick a piece of chocolate Daryl handed her with a scrunched up nose. "Hey, look at that."
"Yeah, a barn," Daryl said around his own bite of chocolate, looking at Ani like she'd grown two heads.
As Rick began to drive through the field, Ani's face paled at the bumps and the feel of the truck, "Ugh, can we not drive the truck through the field?"
"You okay?" Rick asked.
"Me tummy," she said with a sick face before some bangs on the roof had her looking up.
"You hear that?" Daryl asked, motioning for Ania to turn the music down. The banging got louder the further they went, Daryl yelling angrily, "I think that son of a bitch is on the roof!"
"Hold on," Rick said, Daryl's arms going around Ania protectively as Rick slammed on the breaks.
The man rolled down the window and off the truck with a grunt. Standing up and taking only a moment to look at them before taking off. Daryl moved Ani to where his bag was and opened the door to the truck with a curse, prompting Rick to yell at him as Ani began to laugh. She really didn't mean to, but being in a truck that Rick was trying to use to cut off the man and her man chasing him, it was just too funny to watch. As Rick backed and parked the truck, she watched as Daryl tried cutting the man off.
"We came to a conclusion asshole," she heard Daryl say as she climbed onto the passenger seat, having way too much fun watching Daryl chasing Paul to help even Rick with the walkers that had gotten free. "Go, I got him!"
Paul must not have realized that Ani had only opened her door and not gotten out seeing as he tried to climb in the driver's seat only to be met with her gun in his face, Daryl right behind him with a, "Come here you little shit!"
The two struggled before she watched Paul grab Daryl's gun her own hammer clicking back before she heard him say, "Duck."
Daryl ducked as Paul shot a walker behind him, Daryl telling him, "Thanks," before punching him and quipping, "That's my gun. Come here!"
During the ensuing struggle, the truck started rolling, Daryl yelling at Ani to get out as he pulled the man out himself. Ani contemplated jumping in the driver's seat and putting the truck in park, but she quickly realized she had no time. She jumped out of the moving truck after grabbing their gear, making it far enough to avoid the door, but tripping on a root with a pop of her ankle and crying out as she went head over heels into the water the truck rolled into itself. Daryl yelled for her as he ran to the water's edge and helped her out, Ani unable to put full weight on her ankle again. Walking back up to the other man who had been knocked unconscious by the truck's door as it rolled down the hill, Daryl used his foot to roll him over so he wasn't face down and suffocating. Ani was soaked and shivering as Rick came running up, leaning heavily onto Daryl and grumbling about needing to wear an air cast again.
"You alright?" he asked them.
"Fuck that watas cold!" Ani said.
"Yeah," Daryl said, pissed they'd gone through all that trouble just for Ania to get hurt again. "Law of averages. That's bullshit, man. Let's go check them cars and get the hell out of here."
"What about the guy?" Rick asked.
"What about him?" Daryl responded.
"D, he helped ya."
"Yeah, maybe," he told her. "Got you hurt."
"Got meself hurt thinkin' I might be able ta stop the truck. I wanted ta stop the truck, but there wouldn' a been 'nough time 'fore it hit the wata. Grabbed our gear, though," she smiled widely as she showed him the bag in her hand.
"Ain't worth gettin' hurt over."
"Did he ever pull a weapon on you?" Rick asked, making Daryl look at the two.
"Fine," he relented. "Let's put 'im up a tree."
He left Ania in Rick's capable hands as he dragged the man away from the water's edge. When they got him closer to the cars, Daryl put him down and Ani grabbed the rope from Rick. While she didn't know for sure how to tie knots, she tightly weaved the rope around the man's wrists in a figure eight, pulling the ropes as tight as she could before wrapping the ends around the center and box tying the ropes on the underside of his hands. She repeated the process with his ankles as Rick and Daryl checked the vehicles, finally finding one that worked. Daryl made Ani sit up front while he sat in the back with the man. The return trip to Alexandria was mostly quiet until Rick spoke up, hitting a bump and making Paul move to be leaning onto Daryl, he and Ani sharing a smirk.
"He took a pretty hard hit," Rick told him. "Denise needs to look him over."
"Yeah."
"You wouldn't have gone through with it. You wouldn't have left him."
"I would've, right up in a tree. Got Ania hurt."
"D," Ani sighed lovingly. "I got meself hurt."
"No, I know," Rick countered. "Almost as soon as we got to Alexandria, you got it. You saw..." Rick sighed heavily. "You and Michonne, and Glenn, you all tried to tell me. So shut up," he said, purposely hitting a bump and sending Paul back into Daryl's shoulder, prompting Daryl to roughly shove him off to the window. "'Cause I'm finally listening."
It took until after the sun had set for them to make their way back to Alexandria thanks to issues on the road. They'd made Ani stay in the car as they cleared some debris from a storm that had blown through a couple days ago. She was happy she'd saved the bag from the truck because at the very least they still had the jerky to share. She'd pulled it out a while ago and handed one bag back to Daryl while she and Rick shared the other, though she ended up taking some from Daryl too, both men chuckling at how much she loved the jerky. After another prolonged silence, as they pulled up to the gates of Alexandria, Daryl began talking again.
"You know, I was thinking," he started. "Back before we went out to the quarry. The morning after we got back. You said we shouldn't be looking for people no more. You were right."
"No," Rick countered, Ani having no clue as to when that particular conversation had taken place. "I was wrong, you were right."
They drove the car straight to Denise's house, Rick and Daryl carrying Paul while Ani gingerly tried her ankle to find that the pain had primarily subsided. Rick was the closest to the door as Ani stood behind Daryl, so he was the one who knocked. He had to knock twice before the light came on to let them know the women were up. When the porch light came on, Ani couldn't help the nervous breath that escaped her and had Daryl looking back.
"Sorry to wake you up," Rick's voice sounded as Ani gave Daryl a small smile.
"Who's this?" she asked about the man in their arms.
"Come on, man, he's heavy," Daryl complained, having taken the man's torso by himself. "Oh, that, that thing, it didn't work out. It's this asshole's fault. Sorry."
"Lay him on the bed," Denise said.
"Alright, take a look at him," Daryl said. "He ain't stayin' though."
As they all got to work, Ani went over to a drawer in the infirmary and opened it up. Having spent a good amount of time helping set the place up, she knew where everything was. Looking at the wrapped test in the drawer, she shook her head before quickly grabbing it and putting it in her back pocket. She didn't notice how Tara was standing there smiling nor how she bent down and whispered in Denise's ear that she'd just taken a test to take at home. It didn't take long for Denise to give the man a clean bill of health, stating he'd just been knocked out and there wasn't even a sign of concussion. They took him to the house where Morgan had kept the W man and left him on a thin mattress with a blanket. Leaving a note, cookie, and bottle of water, Daryl held onto Ania as Rick spoke.
"We'll see," he said. "It is pretty stupid of us to go out there, isn't it?"
"Hell yeah," from Ani combinded with a simple, "Yep," from Daryl.
"Do it again tomorrow?" Daryl asked as they left the house.
"Yep," Rick replied.
Daryl took Ani to their home, pulling her upstairs before asking, "Did you take it?"
"Nah, but I got it ta take 'ere," she said, pulling the test from her back pocket.
"What you waitin' for?"
"Best ta take it first thing in the mornin'."
"Take it now," he demanded. "You promised when we got back. We're back. Go take it."
He could see how nervous she was as she took a deep breath in and held it. Releasing it, she moved into the bathroom and shut the door as Daryl sat down on the bed. He could hear everything happening in the bathroom, from the wrapper being opened to her zipper coming down, his breath bated. When the sound of sobbing reached his ears, he ripped the bathroom door open and wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm sorry," he said, his own voice breaking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't've-"
"Happy tears, baby," she said, pulling back and kissing him deeply before her sobs turned into a laugh as she showed him the test, the double lines dark and obvious to the world. "Guess I should've listened ta Denny the last month."
^_^ And now, if you go back through from chapter 5-fucking-8, you'll start noticing a lot of little things that I kept up and then plainly stated were symptoms...^_^ This reveal was a LONG time coming! ^_^ Yay! I really hope that I hid the Easter eggs well until it got brought up...It's a little earlier than I wanted, but that's also because my plans for the story have been evolving as I watch the series again...