Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize. Although I don't know a fangirl out there that wouldn't love their own personal Daryl Dixon.
AN: So here is chapter 36. I'm gonna start on chapter 37 today and hopefully have at least that chapter done by Friday but I don't know how that'll work out because my mom is coming to visit soon so I have to get ready for that.
Chapter 36
That night everyone was in a somber mood. They now knew what The Governor was planning and it didn't bod well for them at all. They were all together but scattered out in the cell block.
Rick was holding Judith, Glenn and Maggie were sitting on the stairs, Merle was in the doorway to the block, Michonne and Kale were sitting outside Michonne's cell, Beth and Carol were sitting on the floor, and Daryl, Adrian, Hershel, and Rick were standing against some cells. Then Beth starting to sing to help lighten the mood a little.
Rick, Herhsel, and Daryl started talking in low tones so no one else would hear the conversation. The Rick said he was going out on a weapons run. Daryl volunteered to go to but Rick told him to stay at the prison to keep an eye on things. "And your brother. I'm glad you're back, we all are. But if he causes any trouble that's on you." Rick told Daryl.
Daryl looked over at Merle and then back at Rick. "I got him." Daryl told him. "We got him." Adrian told Rick, finally speaking up. "It'll take more than just one set of eyes to keep an eye on things around here while you're gone and Merle." she told Rick.
Rick nodded that he understood. He knew that she would do what she wanted to anway no matter what he or Daryl said. Rick was also wise enough, at this point, to know that if she was really going to take any kind of orders that weren't life or death, then she was more likely to listen to Daryl than him.
But he saw the wisdom in her words none the less.
"I'll take Michonne, Carl, and Kale with me." Rick told them. "I'll take them. You keep things handled here." Rick told them. They all nodded their agreement to his decision.
Daryl said that he was heading up to bed, in his new cell a few doors down from hers, and asked if she was coming. "I have to talk to your brother first. I'll be up there soon." she told him as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and walked away before he could say anything.
Adrian walked up to Merle, who was still standing by the cell block door. "Rick, Michonne, Kale, and Carl are going on a run tomorrow. As of tomorrow you are officially on probation and me and your brother are your P.O.'s. If you cause any problems for your brother or me, just remember, I carry my knife, machete, and gun everywhere. Lord help you if I've got my bow with me. I will shoot you and it will be painful." she told the older Dixon, not so much as looking in his direction.
"Oh. I see the redhead has her fire back." Merle sassed. "I never lost it. But handling the pain has been a higher priority than sassing people the last few days but I'm starting to feel better. Unfortunately for you." she smirked.
Then she looked at him.
"I don't have any blood family left. So these people take their place. I will do any and everything for them. You may be a dick of a man on your good days, but I know how loyal you are to your brother. Because he's blood and you love him." she told him.
Merle had gotten serious but he didn't say anything back.
"Daryl is the number one person on my list in this family. Because I love him too and I will protect him from anything I think that will cause him any kind of harm. And that means that if I deem it necessary, I will even protect him from you. But I have a feeling that you're not always the dick you like to pretend to be." she told him.
"So this is what I'm proposing. You help me keep your brother safe and I'll help him keep the others safe. That way when shit hits the fan I don't have to keep looking over our shoulders wondering if I'm going to see you back there with something pointed at us. I know you haven't always been there for him in the past. So be there for him now, when it really counts." she told him.
Merle didn't say anything for a minute. "You're one tough woman. Must'a been one strong willed woman back in the old world. Don't see too many of those these days. How my brother landed you, I'll never guess." Merle told her with a little smirk.
Adrian snorted at that statement. "He didn't land me. Forced my company onto him. We just took it from there. I guess in a way we kinda landed each other. We're good for each other. He wouldn't know what to do with a damsel in distress." she said laughing.
She then pushed herself from the bars she had been leaning against. "Goodnight Merle. Be sure to get some sleep. We have alot of work to do before The Governor comes knocking." she said as she walked away to go to bed with Daryl. Adrian walked up the stairs and went to her cell to change some night clothes.
Adrian went into her cell and stripped out of her pants and tank and put on the long sleeve button up she had been wearing the day before and a pair of short black cotton shorts. Adrian had left her hair down for the last few days and had had to brush it more often, which she did before she headed to Daryl's cell.
When she walked in he was already shoeless and in bed. It wasn't often that he went to bed without a shirt, so she wasn't surprised when he still had on his pants and shirt in bed. Adrian smirked when she seen him like that in bed. She then crawled in at the foot of the bed between Daryl and the wall.
Once she got to the head of the bed she laid down on her side and curled into Daryl's side, since he was laying on his back. She wrapped her arm around his chest and her leg around his, then started to shift around until she became comfortable.
"Good?" he asked her after she stopped moving around.
"Yeah." she sighed as she closed her eyes, not really tired but falling asleep anyway.
Daryl woke up around dawn to find himself spooning with Adrian, which made him feel a little awkward since it was always her wrapped around him instead of him wrapped around her.
Daryl gently pulled his arm out from underneath her head and propped himself up with his left arm while keeping his right arm draped around her slim waist. What Daryl seen when he looked over at her extremely surprised him, he wasn't going to lie.
When Daryl looked down at Adrian he seen the most peaceful look on her face. He didn't think he had ever seen her look like that before. Totally at peace, guard completely down. He then looked over to see what she had wrapped in her sleeping arms.
A fully asleep and completely content baby Judith. 'Must'a got up sometime in the night an' got her.' Daryl thought looking down and Adrian and the baby. He had definitely noticed that she enjoyed tending and taking care of Judith since she had been born but he hadn't ever seen her take her back to bed with her before.
He could tell by the way she was sleeping around Judith that she had done it before, the position looked well practiced. A pillow pushed against the cold, hard wall, her body curled around Judith to create another wall for her protection, her had resting on the baby's stomach. He wasn't really sure why she did that but he assumed it was to feel when the baby moved around.
He didn't want to wake either her or Judith so Daryl gently got out of bed, put on his boots, and anther shirt before he grabbed his crossbow and left his cell. He walked downstairs to see Rick, Hershel, and Merle up eating breakfast, which he only assumed was oatmeal.
"Daryl." Rick greeted. Daryl nodded back while he went to grab his own bowl of food. Hershel seemed down eating but was still sitting at the table for the company.
"Didn't hear Judith wake up anytime during the night. Wonder if she's startin' to sleep through the night now." Rick said.
"Beth should be up with Judith soon. She'll be wanting her breakfast here soon." Hershel said to Rick.
"Wouldn't bet on it." Daryl said as he took a bite of oatmeal. "And why's that?" Rick asked as he and Hershel gave him a curious look. "Adrian got up sometime in the night and brought Ass Kicker back to bed. Surprised the hell outta me when I woke up this mornin'. Didn't even know she got up las' night." he told them.
Rick and Hershel both looked surprised at the news. "Guess we shouldn't be too surprised. She's been protecting that baby since before she was born, even if she doesn't look at it that way. And now that Judith is here she's spent quite a bit of time with her. Taking her outside for some sun and fresh air, feeding her when she can sneak her away from Beth, and now bringing her back to bed in the middle of the night." Hershel explained when they both gave him a questioning look.
"I guess when you look at it like that it really doesn't surprise you as much as you would think." Rick said. "So I'm going to Kale, Carl, and Michonne out with me today to look for more weapons. The Governor could be here any day and his number of weapons and people if far bigger than ours." Rick told them.
"Think that's a wise choice? Bringin' her along?" Daryl asked as he took another bite of oatmeal. "Guess we'll find out. Kale's traveled with her and Andrea all winter so I figure that if anything goes wrong that Kale will be there to help. And Carl is old enough now to help out on runs like this." Rick said.
"I know he used to be one of us, but do you think we can still trust Kale? I mean, like you said, he's been out on the road with Michonne an' Andrea all winter. He was with them a hell of a lot longer than he was with us." Daryl asked, never really wanting to have to bring the subject up to Adrian knowing how she felt about the kid.
"I don't know. I mean he seems like he's happy to be back with us, but he may have changed but just hasn't shown it yet." Rick told him.
"I don't think we have anything to worry about where the boy is concerned." Hershel told them.
"I've been keepin' an eye on him the last few days and in most ways he seems like the boy I remember from the farm. When he got here he didn't care for his injuries or seemed worried about how we would treat him. I'm not entirely sure he would have even told us who he was if it hadn't been for Adrian being taken with Glenn and Maggie." Hershel said. When Rick and Daryl said nothing, he continued.
"He was always protective of Adrian back at the farm, and from some of the stories she would tell me of him, he was protective and even fond of her before they joined your group in Atlanta. I guess you could look at him just like Merle." he said, hearing Merle shift at the sound f his name.
"Merle is loyal to you because you're family. From what Kale told me, Adrian saved his life not long after all of this started. He lost his family to the walkers early on during the beginning of the outbreak. She saved him from walkers not long after he lost his family. She saved his life, took him in, and taught him how to survive. He survived the winter because of what she taught him. Kale is no less loyal to Adrian than you and Merle are to each other." Hershel said to Daryl.
"Is there a reason my ears are burning so early in the morning?" Adrian said as she walked into the room, still wearing her shorts and Daryl's old shirt, holding a now fully awake Judith. It was a little strange seeing Adrian so at ease while handling Judith to the three men.
"Well aren't you just a regular mothering housewife." Merle mocked from the door of his cage. Adrian looked over to him with calm yet disturbed eyes as Rick got up to take his daughter from her. "Yeah, well, it's not my first time around such a young baby." she told him.
"Here. Hold her and I'll get her bottle ready." she said to Rick as she passed over the quiet but fully aware Judith and then walked over to the kitchen area to fix Judith her breakfast.
"I didn't think you had ever had kids." Rick said as he bounced Judith. Daryl stopped eating the last of his oatmeal at this statement, not knowing how Adrian would respond or react.
As far as he knew he was the only one who knew about Seth being her son or that part of her past. When he looked over at Adrian he seen that she had stopped filling a pot with water and was standing like she suddenly had a spine made of steel.
"I did. A son. The picture I have of me and the boy, that's my son, Seth. We lived in Atlanta. We had almost made it out of the city before he got bit." she told them, resuming what she had been doing but not looking at any of them.
"I've seen that picture before. He looked at least fourteen years old. You must've had him quite young." Hershel said.
"So what? Ya got knocked up an' the daddy refused to help out?" Merle asked in a real dick tone of voice. Daryl cut his brother a look that clearly said he didn't approve of his tone.
Adrian had just finished making Judith's bottle when Merle had asked his question. The look on her face when she turned to them clearly said that the answer wasn't a nice one.
"I was fifteen when I got pregnant with Seth. And no, the father didn't want him. That's why he tried to kill me after he found out. What the old drunk bastard didn't count on was me killing him first." she told them as she handed Rick the bottle.
"Goin' to get dressed." she told Daryl as she gave him a quick kiss and then left for her cell.
It had been a few hours since the four members had left on their run. Adrian long since gotten dressed in a white tank top, a thin black long sleeved over shirt, a dark pair of ripped up jeans, and a pair of biker boots she had picked up a few months back.
Adrian was seriously stressed out after waking up that morning and needed some serious stress relief. Her preferred method of stress relief was to just corner Daryl in a dark place somewhere and fuck him until her legs could barely hold her up.
Unfortunately for her, she could't do that today because she and Daryl were in charge so they couldn't just disappear for a few hours where nobody could find them until they were done.
So she had to go the more dangerous route. She didn't know how long she would be out there so she decided to strap on as many of her weapons as she possibly could.
She pulled on her shoulder holster that she had messed around with so it held her gun on her left side and her KABAR on her right. She strapped her hunting knife onto her thigh, its usual place, and grabbed her machete, bow, and her arrows.
Having everything she needed, Adrian left her cell and went in search for the one person who wouldn't stop her from doing what she was going to do. She found him in his cage.
"Merle. Get your shit, you're comin' with me." she told him from his door. Merle just looked at her but did what she said, curious a to what she was going to do that she would choose his help over the others in the group.
Merle followed Adrian outside and stopped beside her when she stopped at the gate that led to the now walker infested field. "So. What are we doing out here?" he asked her, his ever mocking tone present.
"You are going to stay here and watch my back if I need it." she told him as she took off her bow and arrows and propped them against the fence.
"And what are you going to be while I'm watching your back?" he asked, looking at her.
"I am going to be out there. Blowing off some steam and serious stress." she said pointing through the gate. She pulled out her machete and her KABAR and took a deep breath.
"I'm going out there. Close the gate behind me, and for the love of God, don't go a get anybody. Especially Daryl." she stressed as she yanked the gate open and then walked through for her walker therapy session.