A/N- Are you guys still with me? I hope I haven't bored you to death yet. heh. This is a continuation or a part two, of chapter 4. Let's dive in, shall we?
We were all sitting around the fire, bellies full of deer meat and laughing at the stories we were all telling. Abby was telling everyone about the time we tarred and feathered a kid when we were in school. I laugh as I sit attempting to play go fish with Sophia and Carl. The more I was around these people, the more I felt like they were my family. I felt secure for the first time in a while. I had only just met them, but they quickly grew on me. T-Dogg was quite, but seemed like a good hearted person. Rick and Shane were both strong willed men and I felt safe under their leadership. Dale was old and wise, Andrea was strong, she took nothing from no one. Carol, she was quickly becoming like a mother to me, she listened in the tent, offered her support and I'm grateful to her. I could see Abby was happier, she was talking and warming up. Of course I also caught her eyeing Shane, I laughed a bit at that. She always liked the type that radiated "Alpha Male" and as long as he was good to her, I didn't mind.
Then there was Daryl, I've begun to wonder if I have judged him too harshly. At first I thought he was just like Toby, but now I see he seems to be so far from that. He's rough around the edges, but he seems to have a good heart and a good head on his shoulders. He was the hunter of the group, without him we would probably starve. Toby would of let us starve without a second thought. I laugh as Sophia taps me and draws me from my thoughts. I sit my cards down and tell them I would play again later. With a nod, they both smile and say "ok." I climb to my feet and walk over, sitting down next to Dale and Glenn.
"Evenin' fellas." I say.
"Evening." Glenn says with a smile.
"How are you holding up, dear?" Dale asks with concern.
"Better than before. I'm making progress." I say with a smile.
"That's good, you seem to have perked up." Dale says.
"Just the stress of this new world, having to look over my shoulder to make sure I don't have a walker after me. Looking after Abby." I say as I look around.
"Yeah, I know it can be hard. But as long as we stick together, we'll make it." Glenn assures me.
I like them, they are both so kind. Glenn is kinda of dorky, but he tries. Dale is wise and set in his ways, I can tell by how he carries himself. It's funny to see all these different people together coexisting. I smile a bit as Lori walks by and offers me a bottle of water. I accept and whisper "thanks". Lori is a sweet woman, I can appreciate her strength. I look back at Glenn and Dale as I take a long drink of my water.
"So, what's the story with you and Abby?" Glenn asks.
"We've been best friends since seventh grade. She's a year younger than me, she is like a little sister. We've been through hell and back...and well I guess back to hell now." I laughed a bit. "She and I promised to always have the others back. She's all I have left in the world". I smile as I glance towards her.
"That's good." Dale says with a smile and a yawn.
"Gettin' tired on me?" I ask.
"I think I'll get a few hours before it's my turn on watch. You two behave yourselves." Dale says as he gets up.
Dale smiles and pats me on the shoulder before walking towards the RV. I look at Glenn and then wave Carl and Sophia over. I ask them if they have ever played Spades before. They shake their heads and I smirk. I tell them I'm about to show them. I tell them boys versus girls, losers have to wash the winners clothes. Everyone laughs and agrees. We all settle in for not only a game, but a chance to pretend for a little while that life was normal.
About an hour, maybe two passed. Sophia and I were winning, laughing as Glenn told Carl they would come back. For these hours, we were normal, walkers were forgotten and our hearts were a bit lighter. Then the rain came, Carol, Lori and Andrea made a break for the tarp we rigged up, Glenn, Carl, Sophia and I gather up the cards and run for the tarp. We were laughing as we ran, but then I decided to stop. I handed the cards to Glenn and ran back out into the rain. I laughed, spun around and looked up at the cloudy sky. The rain was cool, refreshing and washed the dirt from my skin. I hold my arms out and spin freely, enjoying this moment, allowing the rain to cleanse my soul. I hear laughter, I stop and see Sophia and Carl both spinning next to me. We all three start dancing, laughing and splashing around. Glenn, Andrea, Rick, Lori and Carol all watch us, but then Sophia and I stop, we look towards Carol and motion towards her. She looked unsure, but Lori manages to nudge her out. Sophia and I pull her towards us, I tell her to enjoy herself. I tell her we're free. She smiles and spins with Sophia and I. This was one of those small joys in life people talk about.
The rain begins to slow, Rick and Lori wave Carl towards their tent after they bid everyone a good night. I wave and ruffle Carl's wet hair. I say goodnight to Glenn and Andrea, hug Carol and Sophia and watch them all walk away. I couldn't help but smile, the happiest moment of my life has now become a dance in the rain in the middle of the world ending. I shake my head and laugh a bit. I spot Daryl walking towards me, he had been out in the woods for a bit. He was soaked, but somehow I don't think he minded. I wave at Shane and Abby, who wave back. They had a little longer to patrol before Daryl and I took over. I walk over and sit down on a lawn chair we had under the tarp. As Daryl passes, I call out to him to get his attention.
"What, no squirrel?" I ask.
"One of these days woman." He says as he walks under the tarp.
"You're gonna what?" I say.
"If I tell ya, then it ruins the plan." He says as he sits down next to me.
"Whatever." I laugh.
I get up, only for a second and walk to the RV to retrieve my eagles from Dale. When I return, Daryl is still there, I admit, I thought he would bolt. I sit back down, placing my eagles down on my lap.
"So, tell me, what's the story of Daryl Dixon?" I ask.
"Whatcha mean? There ain't much to me, whatcha see is whatcha get." He answered.
"Nice to know." I laugh.
Daryl laughs a bit as well, things with him and I didn't seem as tense. He was kind of growing on me in a way, when I stopped comparing him to Toby, he was actually a decent guy. I lean back in the chair as I check my guns, making sure they were loaded and ready to fire if needed. I can see Daryl watching me, I look at him, but he continues to watch me.
"You're good at that." He says.
"Thanks. My friend Linda taught me how to shoot, these were a gift from Linda's husband John." I say.
"You handle yer weapon well". Daryl added.
"Years of practice." I say.
Daryl nods just as I see Shane and Abby approaching. Abby was smiling at Shane, listening intently to the story he was telling. I shake my head, I could see it in her eyes, she had a crush on Shane. I didn't blame her, Shane was cute and looked like he could protect her. Shane and Abby stop in front of us, causing Daryl and I to stand up.
"Ya'll ready?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, ready as we'll ever be." I answer as I tuck my guns in my waist band.
"Imma catch a few Z's, wake me if you need me Murph." Abby said smiling at me.
I watch her walk towards our tent. Once she is safely inside I watch Shane walk away as well. I look at Daryl and take a deep breath as we begin to walk. As we walked, Daryl decided to break the peaceful silence.
"Murphy? If ya don' mind me asking, what were yer parents thinkin'? Don' see many girls name Murphy runnin' around." Daryl asked.
"Who knows, my mom was probably cracked out and daddy was away drinking." I say.
"Ah, sorry." He says.
"Don't be, I'm not. Not my fault, they're probably walkers by now, that's if they lived this long." I say.
My voice lacked compassion, I know, I can't help it. They never did anything for me, doubt they even missed me when child services snatched me away. I shake my head and laugh a bit.
"What about you? Where's your family." I ask.
"No clue, my brother went missing. Still lookin' for him, he's all I got in this world." Daryl spoke as we walked the edge of the woods.
"Sorry to hear that." I say.
"Don't be, not yer fault." He says.
"You got a hard time accepting compassion, don't you?" I say.
"Jus like you? Yer one to talk, you have this wall around you. Then around that wall is an electric fence guarded by pit bulls." Daryl says as he glances at me.
"I had to learn to be that way, life kicks you in the teeth and I had to make sure I was ready to pick my teeth up, stuff them back in my mouth and move on." I say.
"Intrestin' way of lookin' at things." Daryl says.
I nod, Daryl was turning out to be a good listener. I look around and sigh. Toby enters my thoughts, I don't know why. Something tells me he's still out there, somewhere. I silently hope he never finds me, I don't want to risk my friends. Not that I think he could match Daryl, Shane, Rick and T-Dogg, but still, why risk it? I look at Daryl and smirk a bit as I catch him looking at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Who's Toby?" he asks.
"Huh? How do you know about Toby?" I inquire.
"You just whispered his name." Daryl says.
"Oh..." I said while calling myself a fucking moron in my head. "He...he was my boyfriend." I say.
"Was?" Daryl asked.
"What, is this twenty questions?" I ask.
"Jus curious is all." Daryl says.
"Nosey is more like it." I laugh. "Yeah, was...I left his good for nothing abusive ass back in Atlanta." I say.
"'Splains alot." Daryl says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
I grab Daryl's wrist, but flinch when he quickly spins around. He looks at me, I shake my head as something told me I was stupid.
"You flinchin' for starters, ya look like you were expectin' me to hit ya or something. Yer lookin' down at yer feet again. When ya were out in the rain earlier, the look on yer face, it's like you were washin' somethin' away." Daryl said.
I admit, I was shocked. How did he read me so well? Why did he pay so much attention? I sigh as I squat down for a moment, resting my forearms on my knees.
"Ok, fine, you're right. Toby was an abusive son of a bitch. He beat on me, then one day I started beatin' back. I got tired of taking shit from him so I fought back." I say.
"Well good for you. No man has a right to lay his hands on a woman. And before you say it, NO I have never laid my hands on a woman, in a violent way". Daryl said as he leans back against a tree.
"I never..." I was cut off.
"You were thinkin' it. Maybe one day, you'll stop comparin' me to Toby." Daryl said softly.
I look down, I felt like a bitch. He was right, I judged and compared his every more to Toby. I knew it was wrong, I knew I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt. I look up at him and offer him a small smile
"I know...I'm sorry." I whisper.
"It's ok, not like I'm not use to it. People look at me and think, stupid backwoods redneck. I can't blame you, but I jus hope one day you'll see past it." Daryl said.
I stand up slowly, I nod and sigh. Daryl was right, I needed to stop, he wasn't Toby, no, he was turning out to be so much better. We begin to walk again, in the silence I study Daryl. I watched the way he carried himself, he seemed like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. His shoulders seemed to always stay tense, his back straight and he stomped more than actually walked. Then it happened, I found myself wondering what color his eyes were? I don't know why, it was just a random thought, well that and I never really looked into his eyes enough to take note. I let a few more moments of silence pass before I speak.
"Hey Daryl?" I ask.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Do you think maybe...maybe we could start over?" I inquire.
"Start over?" He asked as he glanced at me over his shoulder.
"Yeah, we got off on the wrong foot. I know I was wrong and I wanna fix it." I say.
"Don' see why that would be a problem." He says.
I smile, Daryl seemed to not hold a grudge against me, which made me happy. I really did want to start over, to let him see that I wasn't the judgmental bitch I made him think I was. I gently grab his hand to make him turn around and face me. I smirk as I extend my hand to him.
"Murphy O'Connor, pleased to make your acquaintance." I say.
Daryl looked at me funny for a moment, but then smiled as he shook my hand.
"Daryl Dixon, ma'am." He says with a laugh.
"Now, that wasn't so hard, right?" I say.
"Woman, yer crazy." He says as he winks at me.
We begin to walk again, not really discussing anything specific. I tell him about my cat, he tells me about an old hunting dog he had and how his dad shot it, then told him it ran away. Daryl was proving me wrong about him, proving those first assumptions I had about him wrong. He seemed like a nice guy deep down, good listener and funny. I laugh as he tells me a joke about a redneck and his dog. I shake my head and smile. We let hours pass as we patrolled and continued to talk about random things.
"Wait, you're sayin' you saw a Chupacabra?" I laughed.
"Yeah, I did. I was out huntin' and I turned around for a split second, when I looked back it was gone. Don' laugh." He says.
"Sorry, it's just, never met someone who actually saw one." I say.
"I know what I saw." He says.
"I'm not doubting you, just shocked is all." I say, giving him a reassuring smile.
We continue to walk, I found myself enjoying this time with Daryl. I know, shocking right? Even though we were in hell, patrolling for walkers, I felt relaxed. We make another round, around the edge of the woods before heading back to sit under the tarp. I lean forward, resting my forearms on my knees as I look around, making sure to keep my guard up and listen for noises.
"I hate to be a mood spoiler, but um...you think maybe we could talk about the other night?" I ask.
"What about it?" Daryl asked while looking around.
"That was the first time I ever did anything like that. I don't normally get drunk and jump into bed with people." I say.
Daryl looked at me, I couldn't really tell what he was thinking. He didn't seem as judgmental as I seemed to be at first, but I was still nervous.
"We all seem to be doin' things we never would of done before, nowadays. I normally don' do things like that either." He says.
"I guess part of me, I was looking for an escape. I thought that escape would be at the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniels." I say while scratching my head.
"I think we're all lookin' for an escape." He says as he glances towards me.
I couldn't figure out why I didn't regret my actions, sure I seemed like I did, but deep down I didn't. That night with Daryl, for those hours I was free, the world around me didn't matter. I felt human, I felt more than fear and anger. I guess I was grateful in a way, grateful for those moments of solace. It could of been worse, I could of woke up with Glenn or T-Dogg. Not that they are bad guys, but they aren't my type. I laugh a bit to myself as I shake my head.
"It's hard to believe that this time a month ago, I was bitching about my life sucking." I shake my head once more.
"Life's funny like that." Daryl says.
"Yeah, it is." I smile and stand up. "Let's take another walk." I smile.
Daryl nods and stands up. He lets me walk past him before he beings to walk. Who knows, maybe this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I joke a bit and ask Daryl if he wanted to go hunting Chupacabras with me. He laughs and tells me to shut up as we walk.
A/N- If you haven't noticed, I have been trying to keep up with the show, there will be parts I add in that don't go in order of the show though. You guys enjoying so far? Thanks so much to those of you who have added me to your Alert and Favorites lists, I appreciate it and I'm happy people are enjoying my work.