Staring out the window and continuing to bite her lip, Molly sighed for what must have been the seventh time within the span of ten minutes. She tapped her fingers against the table in the R.V while she did so, trying to force herself to relax as she turned to face Glenn who sat opposite her. He smiled softly at her, knowing that she was feeling anxious at the circumstances she had subjected herself to.
"They're both probably fine." Glenn offered up, shrugging as he grinned slightly. "I mean, the truck is still moving smoothly behind us… There's no reason why you should be as worried as you-"
"I'm not worried." Molly lied, turning to look out the window once more. Though she knew Daryl was perfectly capable of looking after Jacob, she knew just how much her son liked to talk. She also knew just how much Daryl didn't like to talk to people he didn't know.
The whole ordeal could've been avoided, had she purchased the parts her truck needed when she was meant to. Now she was stuck in the R.V, her truck being left behind at the quarry while Jacob was in Daryl's truck with him. Molly hit herself for thinking that it was a good idea to ask Daryl if he wanted to take Jacob. However, she couldn't help but feel as though she had chosen the right path.
Jacob sighed under his breath contently as he watched the trees through his window. It had not escaped his attention that Daryl kept fiddling with anything he could beside him as he kept catching glimpses of him from the corner of his eye. "My Mumma says I should call you Daryl."
Daryl jumped slightly in his seat at the voice that had erupted. He raised a brow as he looked towards Jacob for moment, trying to figure out if he had actually spoken or not. "Did she?" He found himself muttering.
"Ya' she says tha' I shouldn't call ya' daddy because you mighten not like it." He added, not feeling as though he should word his sentences better. Being too young to understand, Jacob didn't realise just how anti-social Daryl was. "She used ta' tell me stories 'bout you."
Daryl's head whipped towards the young boy who leaned against the open window to smell the air. "Yer' ma?" He asked quickly, watching the boy nod. "Anyway… Wha' do you like ta' do?" He muttered, feeling as though he should at least try to get to know his kid.
Daryl eyed the boy from the corner of his eye. When he had first found out that he had a son, he had been in slight denial over his parentage. However, the longer he took in the features Jacob so proudly inherited, the quicker he was beginning to realise that he was in fact, a dad.
There was no denying the three-year-old with his messy mop of brown hair and his facial features that Daryl could remember seeing in the mirror when he was a child. He wasn't surprised to find out that he had his baby blues and not his mothers crystal grey eyes; A feature he had fallen in love with rather quickly when the two had first began to see each other.
"Drawin! An' I like ta' eat cookies and play in tha' garden by tha' trees!" Jacob told him, his eyes lighting up as he turned to face Daryl. "Wha' do you like ta' do, Daddy?" He added, simply not bothering to follow his mothers advice and call the man Daryl. As far as Jacob was concerned, he finally had himself a dad. One of his own like all his friends in play-group had.
Daryl looked back to the road as he frowned, trying to work out the feeling that had suddenly erupted inside him. "Hunt… Get piss-Er… Drink a lot... Nothin' exciting like you thou'." Jacob nodded to himself, frowning due to not really knowing what it was Daryl enjoyed. He twisted in his seat, looking out the window as he tried to locate his mother, frowning when he couldn't see her through the Glass. "Yer alrigh'... Yer ma's jus' up ahead." Daryl found himself telling the boy.
"I-I..." Jacob stuttered slightly, not exactly sure what it was he was doing. "My mumma's meanta' be in our car but now it's gone." He finally admitted, his small hand coming up to scratch at his nose. "Is you and my Mumma gone get married?" He asked, his moment of sadness being swept away at the prospect of living with both his parents.
Choking on the breath of air he had breathed in, Daryl fault hard to regain power over his own breathing as he stared straight ahead with wide eyes. If he was to be completely honest with the kid, the answer would be no. Even before Molly had left he had no intentions of marrying her. To him, marriage was just an excuse to spend too much money and allow people to watch you while you 'tied the knot' with your significant other. Daryl felt like snorting as he remembered Molly telling him that a piece of paper and two rings meant nothing.
"No." Daryl answered, honestly. Eyeing the boy to make sure he didn't burst out crying at the simple fact. However, rather than cry, Jacob frowned as he nodded his head slowly. He watched as the boy twisted in his seat, eyeing the back of the truck with in awe as he looked in the mirror to see what it was Jacob was looking at. "Ya' like bikes?" He mumbled, noticing that the only thing he could possibly be looking at was Merle's bike. Jacob simply shrugged his shoulders, containing to stare at the two wheeled contraption in awe. Daryl allowed him to do so, finding nothing wrong with his curiosity as he continued to follow after the others.
Daryl swore loudly as he threw his arm out to stop Jacob from flying out his seat when he pressed his foot on the brakes, hard. His head shot to the left as he looked down at Jacob who looked slightly shaken but unharmed. When he was convinced that no harm had come to the boy, Daryl looked back up as he narrowed his eyes at the R.V that was now producing puff's of smoke.
Without a word, Daryl grumbled under his breath as he motioned for Jacob to stay in his seat while he opened the drivers side and excited the car, shutting the door behind him.
Molly shared a look with Glenn as the pair listened to Dale moan and yell about how unreliable his R.V was becoming. Risking a glance back at the bedroom in which Jim was currently dying in, Molly shook her head and moved to exit the R.V needing to get away from the yells of pain.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose." Molly heard Dale say as she moved around to the front of the R.V and eyed the contraption in which he had opened, trying not to breath in the smoke. Rick leaned in to take a closer look, his face falling blank at the sight. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."
"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked, putting his hat back on his head in order to block the glare from the sun meeting his eyes.
Dale chuckled a little. "That's all it's been so far." He admitted, his head tilting slightly. "It's more duct tape than hose... And I'm out of duct tape." Molly chewed on her lip, taking a few step forwards and getting a good look at the engine.
"Have you... Er… Try using a belt." She finally spoke up, stopping the two men from bickering as the pair turned to face her with furrowed brows. "The tape is great and all but it's easily melted from the heat. If you tie a belt around the pipe there-" She motioned towards the pipe. "-And secure it in place tightly, it should last a lot longer than the tape... It wont last forever though." She admitted. Though the next few moments were silent, Molly tried to keep any anxiousness from her face as she eyed the two men who seemed to be trying to calculate her out. In the end, it was Dale who broke the sudden silence. "You know how to fix vehicle's?"
"Not necessarily." She admitted, shrugging slightly as she cleared her throat. "My dad use to sell used cars when I was a kid on the weekends. Some of them were a little unreliab- Well, most of them were actually unreliable… Anyway, he use to let me help out sometimes."
"Worth a try." Rick told Dale who nodded. The old man was quick to get to work, pulling his own belt from his jeans and moving to grab his tools from the R.V.
Before Molly even had a chance to figure out what she wanted to do while they waited for Dale to finish, Jacqui came dashing out from the R.V her eyes wide and looking more frantic than Molly could ever remember someone being.
"Ya'll It's Jim." She was quick to inform the group. "It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore." Molly sighed, knowing from the pained yell's that it was unlikely Jim was going to be able to hold on for much longer.
She excused herself from the small group that had began to grow as she ignored Shane announcing that he was going to drive down to the gas station he could see and made her way back towards Daryl's truck. She smiled softly and waved at Jacob who waved back from his spot in the truck.
As she made her way towards the passenger door, Molly felt a tinge of guilt fill her at the fact that she simply didn't want to have to deal with Jim while he was in so much pain. She felt bad for the guy and knew that he wouldn't want to be crowded while he was dealing with his issues and decided that one less person around the bed wouldn't hurt anyone.
Molly reached out and pulled the door open, leaning against the truck as she looked in. "How're you doing, Jake?" She asked softly, eyeing the boy closely incase he decided to try and lie to her.
"Good." He admitted. Moving so that he was on his knee's and looking out the front window. "What's goin' on, Mumma?" He asked, bouncing on his knee's slightly as Molly sighed.
"Jim's not feeling to good so they're gonna see if there's anything they could do to help him out." She told him, honestly. If there was one thing Molly had learnt since being a mother, it was that she didn't feel comfortable lying to her son. It was a trait she had most likely inherited from her father who saw fit to teach Molly the meaning of life the moment she even learnt how to talk. "I can't be to sure what they're doing though."
Jacob nodded as he turned to look up at Molly, turning to point behind him. "Daddy got a bike!" He whispered in awe as Molly stiffened slightly. She forced a smile onto her face to hide the surprise at how blissfully unaware her son was of the fact that he had just referred to Daryl as his dad. "It's real big, huh?"
"I don't think that's Daryl's, Baby." Molly told him, recognising the bike the moment she set her eye's on it. "It's Merle's... His brother." She added upon seeing the boy's brows furrow. "He's not with us at the moment but he's somewhere out there right now." Molly jumped when she noticed movement on the other side of the car. She froze as he head shot up, only to let out a deep sigh as she noticed Daryl looking at her. "What's going on?"
"He want's ta' be left 'ere." Daryl muttered, his voice barely above a whisper as he eyed Jacob through the drivers window, trying not to be to loud and possibly upset the boy. "Said he can't take the journey no longer." Molly sighed as she nodded, looking up when she heard a pained yell to see Rick and Glenn all but dragging Jim off the R.V. "Hey." She quickly spoke, kneeling down to look into Jacob's eyes. "Don't you worry about a thing, okay?" She whispered, her hand holding his forearms gently as she insured he was looking at her rather that the scene taking place outside.
A look of pure terror filled Jacob's face as his arms shot up to his mother who was quick to push herself to her feet, picking him up in an instant. Molly allowed him the comfort of wrapping his arms around her neck tightly as she eyed Daryl who was in turn, eyeing her back. "He alrigh'?" Daryl found himself muttering, not knowing exactly what was expected of him.
"He'll be fine." Molly told him gently, thankful that he was at least trying to be helpful to her. "Hey, I thought you liked Bike's, huh?" She muttered to Jacob who was quick to lift his head and take a look at the bike in the bed of Daryl's truck in all it's glory. Molly took a few steps towards it. "Big ain't it?"
"Real big." Jacob spoke in awe, his hand moving to touch the structure. Molly looked back over to Daryl who hadn't took his eyes of the boy. Seeing the questioning look she shot him, he simply nodded as Molly moved forward and allowed Jacob to touch the bike. He grinned madly at it, his eyes shooting over to Daryl. "You riden on it?"
"Mhm." Daryl nodded slowly, chewing on his inner lip in order to hide the small smile that wanted to take refuge on his face. It was in that moment that Daryl realised that having a son wasn't so bad. He was thankful that Molly had raised him to be humble and not bratty like Carl seemed to act.
The sun had begun to set in the sky quicker than anyone expected that day. The air seemed to be thicker and full of emotion the moment the small gathering of vehicles moved on from where the R.V had broke down; Leaving Jim behind. Though the bright side of the spectrum was that Dale had managed to get the R.V working again with the help Molly had given him and T-Dog and Shane had found a bunch of food in the gas station they had checked out.
However, the fact that they had lost five people that day, four of which had left on there own accord to find family didn't settle well with a few members of the group that remain. Though Molly knew it was only a matter of time before all was forgiven and Jim was just a happy memory that came to an unfortunate ending.
Molly sighed deeply as she forced a wave of anxiety back, eyeing the large structure out the window of the R.V. They had rolled to a stop outside the CDC and though she tried to feel optimistic about the whole thing, Molly wasn't so certain coming this far into the city this late at night was such a good idea.
However, when she noticed that she was the only one left in the R.V, she was quick to push herself to her feet and move towards the door, hoping onto the pavement and almost instantly turning towards Daryl's truck.
Her brows furrowed as she allowed her eyes to trail down to the ground, her breath hitching at all the bodies littering the streets. She swore under her breath, wishing that a boy of Jacob's age didn't have to see the sight before them. Molly looked back up, making a move towards Daryl as she stared at him wide-eyed and come to a sudden holt.
Though she knew deep down that Daryl would make a wonderful father to Jacob, she hadn't expected him to take to it so quickly. She watched the pair closely, her eyes seeming to fill with a few tears at the sight before her.
It seemed as though Daryl was with Molly on the fact that he didn't feel as though Jacob should see the carnage that was the streets surrounding the CDC as he had Jacob in one arm, his crossbow in his other as he walked towards Molly, wanting to pass the boy off in order to help keep the group safe with the use of both hands.
Jacob, who was doing as he was told and keeping his eyes closed, had rested his head on Daryl's shoulder, listening to his surroundings as he did so. "Thank you." Molly whispered emotionally as she reached out and took her son, her hand coming up to the back of his head as she smiled at Daryl who nodded.
"Watch ya' step, Molls." He muttered as he motioned for her to follow after the group while he brought up the rear. The group moved through the bodies and the sand bags in as much silence as they could muster. Though Carl and Sophia let out quiet cries ever so often, Molly was thankful that for the most part, it was silent.
"Do you think this is such a good idea?" Molly whispered back to Daryl, her eyes taking in everything the surrounding area had to offer and though she didn't want to be the one to say it, she had a bad feeling that the CDC was uninhabited. "I don't like this..."
"Me neither." Daryl finally admitted, his voice quiet and hard to catch.
"All right everybody... Keep moving." Shane whispered out, ushering everyone past and insuring no one was in any danger. "Go on... Stay quiet, let's go." The closer they walked to the CDC, the harder it was to breath in fresh air as the smell of corpses filled their noses and mouths.
"This is bad..." Molly found herself muttering to herself, coming to a stop behind the group as she watched Shane and Rick fiddle with the closed metal shutters. "Don't do that!" She hissed out when Rick banged loudly on them, the noise filling the air and echoing.
"There's nobody here." T-Dog pointed out the obvious, barely containing a cough.
"Then why are the shutters down?" Rick demanded, raising a brow at the man who held his hands up slightly.
"Walkers!" Daryl's booming voice made Molly jump as she spun around and stared at the corpse that was slowly making its way towards them. She felt Jacob stiffen in her arms as she tried to calm him, ignoring the cries of the two kids. "You led us into a graveyard!"
"He made a call!" Dale defended Rick, ignoring the way Daryl's anger seemed to grow.
"It was tha' wrong damn cal-"
"Shut up!" Shane demanded, advancing on Daryl as Molly scowled at the man. "Shut up, you hear m-"
"Back the fuck off!" Molly snapped, looking up at Shane as she slid between the two men. "He's just stating the obvious!" She added, watching as Shane growled and spun around, moving back towards Rick.
"Rick, this is a dead end." He told the man who was hell bent on communicating with the intercom. "Do you hear me? No blame. We've gotta go, we can't be here, this close to the city after dark is a death wish, Rick... Fort Benning is still an opti-"
"On what?" Molly demanded, finally angered at the fact that she was putting her son in danger because of the men in front of her. "No food, no fuel. That's like what, one-hundred miles?"
"One-hundred twenty five, I checked the map." Glenn corrected her as Molly shook her head, trying to decided in that moment what was best for Jacob. She turned to look at the only person she actually trusted, despite the fact that she had left him years ago.
Daryl was already looking at her and grumbled a few choice words about Rick before he reached and motioned for Molly to move back to the truck. "C'mon, we're gettin' outta' here." He told her as she nodded, thankful that she didn't have to be the one to make the decision she wanted to take.
A small commotion broke out behind them as a few others began making there ways back to the vehicles while Rick began screaming and shouting. Molly eyed the street nervously as she tried to keep a good grip on Jacob in order to keep the boy out of harms way.
Before anything else could happen, a loud noise erupted from behind her as she came to a stop and spun around in an instant. The shutters seemed to open as a bright light filled the area surrounding the door. and though she didn't want to think about it, Molly had an incline that it wouldn't be the last time she had to apologise for being wrong to Rick Grimes.