Chapter 6 - Rick the yogi

Daryl yawned and stretched his arms above his head. It was early morning, the sun just rising, and he was on watch. Nothing to note on this clear morning so far, no threats on the horizon – except for the 50 or so walkers stumbling around outside the prison fence, but that was just normal now. Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement on the hillock to the east of the cellblock, so he picked up his rifle and checked through the sight. He pulled away, frowned for a moment, then peered again.

"Ya gotta be shittin' me."

Tahlia was out there, as usual, but this morning Rick was standing next to her, trying to follow her as she led him through some yoga poses. Daryl continued to watch as Rick was balancing on one hand and foot in an attempted side plank, while Tahlia crouched behind him, one hand gently supporting under his lower hip. Losing his balance, Rick tumbled backwards, knocking Tahlia down with him. Their mouths were both stretched wide in laughter, chests heaving, as they slowly pushed their way back up to standing.

Daryl dropped the rifle down and frowned again. Now that was a sight that he'd never thought he'd see. That girl had been at the prison for less than a week – but somehow had managed to convince Rick – of all people – to get up at the crack of dawn and do this crazy hippy shit with her? What, was she going around trying to recruit everyone? He felt a strange sense of betrayal that he had given a definitive no to joining her in her weirdo stretches, but Rick – the guy who was like a brother to him – had gone along with it, and worse, seemed to be enjoying it, all buddy-buddy with her already.

He took a deep breath, a knot of irritation twisting in his stomach, then peered through the sight again, and once more saw Rick laughing as he awkwardly attempted another pose. This lighter side of the cop was very rarely on display, even rarer these days since he lost Lori, so it irked Daryl to see him laughing so freely with a virtual stranger.

Daryl dropped the rifle again with an angry grunt. Bitterly he sucked on his teeth, and spat over the side of the concrete tower wall, turning his back to the two on the hill. He was still annoyed about the council meeting yesterday, how Rick had weighed in so heavily on conducting the runs. He'd chosen to stay in the safety of the prison these days, and now was obviously happy to spend his time mucking around at dawn with some random while the others went out and risked their lives.

Daryl let out a sharp exhale. He'd had unwavering faith in Rick ever since the CDC, but he worried that the cop was losing his edge, getting soft. Daryl just wanted him to step back up and muck in and lead the charge like he'd always done. The uncertainty of it all made Daryl anxious, and, of course, angry. So, he focused his attention on the woods ahead, imagining shooting each walker he could see right between the eyes, picking them off one by one.

Late morning, he went to the mess courtyard for something to eat before they headed out on the run to the Big Spot.

"Hey, how's things going today?" Rick lowered himself on to the seat next to Daryl, taking a bite from one of the prison garden grown carrots.

"All good." Daryl replied, taking a big slug of water from his bottle, and then shot a sideways glance at his friend. "How's ya mornin' been?"

Rick shrugged. "Fine."

"Uh-huh." replied Daryl, raising his brows. "Saw ya out early while I was on watch. You into that hippy yoga shit now, man?"

Rick squeezed his eyes shut briefly, and ducked his head, abashed. "Argh, so you saw that huh? I was hoping that no one would find out about that. Ever."

Daryl fixed him with a stare, waiting for the rest of the explanation.

"Look, I saw Tahlia out there yesterday, so I went up to see what she was doing, and then gave her a ribbing about how I was busting my ass in the garden while she was sitting on hers up on that hill. Then she said she'd happily bust her ass for a bit in the garden too – on the condition that I sat on mine with her for a bit first. Try out some... yoga. Sounded like a good trade to get an extra hand with the gardens and animals. So, I've been trying it out." Rick shrugged and blushed again. "I mean, so far it's just us laughing while I make a complete horse's ass of myself, but it's worth it because then she comes and helps me for the rest of the morning." Rick spread his hands wide, carrying on as if he needed to justify himself. "I know, I know. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be someone who would know what downward dog is, but, I also didn't think I'd ever be fighting against the undead and living in a prison, yet here we are." He looked at Daryl sheepishly, hoping his justification was enough to let him off the hook. "Although, I'd appreciate it if you didn't let anyone know that I'm a yogi now." Rick grinned, poking fun at himself.

Daryl let out a disdainful guffaw. "A yogi?!" He shook his head at the unlikely scenario that had just been painted for him. "Like the fuckin' bear?! Naw. Naw man, that's just the weirdest shit I ever heard."

Laughing, Rick gave him a friendly shove on the arm. "It's not so bad. Helps stretch out all the kinks. It's good for the soul!" Rick chortled, knowing how cheesy that sounded even before Daryl snorted derisively.

What Rick couldn't say out loud was that it felt good to be out there with the dawn doing something that wasn't about anyone else, about the prison, about providing for other people. It felt good to spend time with someone who hadn't seen him when he'd lost Lori, lost himself, someone who had no expectations of him, and feel light enough to laugh again, even just for half an hour.

"Good for the soul?! What a crock of shit. You better watch yourself man, you gonna end up batshit crazy, just like her."

"She's actually pretty decent. I think she'll fit in really well here. Speaking of Tahlia, that's actually why I came to see you. Michonne pulled out of the run today, and said that Tahlia could take her place. So I just came to let you know the change in plan."

Daryl narrowed his eyes. "Naw man, not takin' her out there."

"I already mentioned it to Sasha and she's on board."

"Ain't her call." said Daryl, through gritted teeth.

"Well, you're one person short, so might as well fill the gap."

"Naw. Don't need her, man. We'll make do."

"Look, Michonne says she can handle herself no problem. She seems solid, capable, I think she'll be an asset."

"What, you been sitting up on the hill singing kumbaya with her and that makes ya think we can rely on her out there? You don't know the first fuckin' thing about that girl! I ain't takin' the chance!" Daryl's voice started to rise. "This run's been planned for two weeks, man! Don't want to take any risks today in case it gets messed up. Already taking rookie Bob on his first run, ain't takin' another newbie along and holdin' her hand as well – I ain't no damn babysitter!"

Rick threw a hand in the air. "What's the problem, Daryl? You wanted more people, and here's one on offer to you. You need to loosen up your hold on this and take some chances."

Daryl's temper flared. "Take some damn chances?! You've been sitting behind these walls for months, man! Fuck you know about chances anymore?! You think you still know what's best out there?!"

"I'm keeping this place running! That's pretty important from where I'm sitting. And I was battling it out at the front before that. Think I still know a thing or two." snapped Rick.

Daryl banged his fist on the table. "You chose to step down from being the man in charge, remember? But you still act like you're callin' all the shots!"

Just then, Carol appeared at the table, hesitating briefly as she glanced between the two men, the tension between them palpable. "Uh... Rick - I want to run another hose down to the stream, see if we can get more water supply. I was hoping to take a look at it today – can you come and help me?"

"Yeah, of course. Let's go take a look down by the fences and see what the walker situation is." Rick stood up, and looked down at Daryl as if he were about to say something else, but instead clenched his jaw, and walked away.

As the group got ready to leave on the run that afternoon, Daryl was still fuming from his argument with Rick. And it didn't help in calming him down any when he saw that fucking new girl waiting down by the cars laughing with Sasha and Glenn. Although he had ended up reluctantly agreeing that Tahlia could come along, he was pissed off about feeling rail-roaded by Rick and Sasha into the decision, feeling like she hadn't done enough to earn her place with them, hadn't proven herself. All he'd seen her damn well do so far was piss about on the hill and act like she was best buddies with everyone. Seething, he was determined not to let her use this as some kind of social bonding exercise, and had decided that he'd keep her well away from himself and everyone else.

When Rick eventually spotted the vehicles coming back towards the prison later that afternoon, he ran down to open the gates for them. The tense mood of the group was obvious as they slouched out of the cars, their eyes downcast, expressions drawn. Something had gone wrong. Rick shot a questioning look at Daryl, who shook his head and averted his eyes. "Shit went bad. Real bad. We lost Zach. And we couldn't get supplies."

Rick drew a hand across his face. "Dammit! Zach? God." He let himself have a moment of grief over the loss, before pulling himself back in control. "Ok. I'm sorry you guys had to go through that, go take a load off, and we'll go back to the drawing board tomorrow. Thanks for trying today guys."

The group nodded at him, most of them heading back towards the cellblocks to refresh and refuel.

Tahlia kicked at a clod of dirt. "I'm gonna go down and help on the fences."

Rick reached an arm out to stop her. "Hey, why don't you go and have a rest first, then come back down later on?"

She shrugged him off, and shook her head sharply, her face pulled tight in frustration. "A rest from what?" she snapped, and stalked down towards the fence line.

Rick shot Daryl another questioning look.

The bowman shrugged irritably, feeling a twinge of guilt. "She's pissed coz I didn't let her come in. Made her stay by the cars outside the fences."

Rick gave an exasperated sigh. "Daryl! You didn't even utilise her?!"

"What?" Daryl protested. "You wanted me to take her, I took her." he said petulantly. "I ain't seen her fight out there! Maybe she'd be useless and screw us all over, get us into trouble. Just wanted to play it safe. And it turned to shit anyway. Coulda been even worse if I had to hold her hand too."

He turned to watch as Tahlia reached the fences, grabbed a sharpened stick and launched herself at the walkers, stabbing through at them in a frenzy. In his head, he replayed the argument – well, it was really him shouting a little as he told Tahlia why she wasn't coming in while she did her best to keep her cool – that he'd had with her at the start of the run, and started to feel a little bad.

Rick rubbed his forehead. "I hope that decision wasn't on account of what went on between us earlier."

Daryl glanced down at the ground, and Rick knew he was on the money.

"Look. I'm sorry that I overstepped. It's not my place to tell you how to work the runs. I know that you've picked up a lot and taken charge out there, and I know you're good at what you do. I shouldn't have pushed you to take someone along that you didn't want there."

Daryl sighed. "Ain't that..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He knew that it was important to keep a straight head and emotions in check when they were out there beyond the walls because if you didn't, you could make mistakes and things could go south really quickly. Yet today he'd acted petty and let himself get all riled up, and as much as he was not a fan of the new girl, he knew he'd been unfair.

"I know, she seems like an unknown quantity right now, but I do believe Michonne's word that Tahlia is capable. So, maybe when you're ready you might consider giving her a chance. And in the meantime..." Rick indicated the woman hacking at walkers so fiercely that blood was spraying several feet in the air.

Raising his brows, Daryl glanced at her, then back at Rick. "Capable? She's lookin' like a loose fuckin' canon at the moment."

Rick gave a small conceding smile, then nudged his head in Tahlia's direction again.

Daryl gave a big huff and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll go sort her out."

Rick nodded back, patting the hunter on the shoulder. "Thank you."

As Daryl approached the fences, he watched Tahlia for a few moments as she lunged with lightning speed at the walkers trying to clutch at her through the gaps, a strangled cry erupting from her every time she struck. She stumbled and grabbed the fence with her free hand, and in the next moment a walker had slipped its hand through a broken link, gripped her wrist, and was attempting to drag her closer, snapping his teeth at her arm. She hadn't seemed to even notice, and kept desperately striking at the undead with her other hand.

In an instant, Daryl's rescue instinct took over and he dashed towards her. Unsheathing his knife, he stabbed the walker holding her between the eyes, then sliced the dead hand from hers, freeing her from its grip. Tahlia paid no attention to him, and just launched herself back towards the fence, ready to shed some more blood.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Daryl blocked her with his body, sheathing his weapon then wrapping his arms around her in a tight bear grip, pinning her arms to her side. Still, she pushed forward fiercely, grunting with the effort. "Alright, I think that's enough fence duty for you today." He used brute force to drive her back, shoving her to the inner fence. Pushing her hard against it, his secured her shoulders with his hands. She was breathing heavily, a wild unfocussed look in her eyes, walker blood staining her face and clothes.

He shook her hard. "Hey! Hey!"

Finally, she succumbed to his grip and stopped struggling, fixing him with a stormy glare.

Daryl stared at her. So far, he'd only seen the smiley, friendly side of her, and there was a small part of him that found it strangely satisfying to see her flipping out, losing control, to see that there was something fiery below that cheery demeanor.

He shook her one more time for good measure. "What the hell?"

"What the hell yourself!" she snapped at him. "You gonna have a go at me for this too?!"

When he said nothing, she carried on. "I was useless back on that run! You had me sit by the car like a fucking stupid potato, doing nothing like an idiot, and inside, you guys got attacked by walkers, Zach died, and we have nothing to show for it!"

Daryl glared right back at her, and shoved her shoulders back against the fence. "What, you think if you'd been in there that you'd have been able to save him? That you're a damn superhero who could do somethin' the rest of the group couldn't?" he demanded.

"I'm not saying I could've saved him, just that I could have helped! I could have done something, instead of being there and doing nothing at all while someone died!"

"I didn't let you in today coz I didn't know if you could play by our rules. I ain't seen ya fight, ain't seen ya under pressure, ain't seen if you can hold your shit together when you're surrounded by walkers - and now, after seeing that-" he gestured behind him to the fences, "I sure as shit wouldn't want ya near me out there! If you'd been in there today ya probably would've gotten more of us killed by losin' it like that!" he flared.

That comment seemed to take all the fight out of Tahlia, he could practically see it leaving her, and she squeezed her eyes shut briefly, regaining her composure with her next breath. Daryl studied her for a moment, realising that he'd just caught a rare glimpse of something she obviously kept well hidden. A small fizz from a secret bottle of pain that would normally be kept tightly sealed inside her, and it piqued his curiosity.

"I'm sorry. You're right." she conceded. "You don't know me, and you don't trust me. I guess I'm just not quite used to being in a group again and being told what to do, but I get that I need to do things your way." She looked up at him, a slight twinkle in her eye. "Even if you're a dick about it."

Daryl gave her a withering look at that comment.

Tahlia carried on. "I just really, really hate feeling useless and not being able to help. I'm here, aren't I? So let me help."

Daryl's voice was low and hard. "Dunno if you can handle yourself, or protect anyone else. And I ain't willin' to bet any lives on it."

Tahlia gave an acquiescent shrug. "Ok. I guess I'll just have to prove myself."

"Yeah. Best you do that." retorted Daryl, his brows raised in challenge.

Only then, he realised he was still holding on to her shoulders, and snatched his hands away from her as if burned.

Later that evening in the courtyard, Rick sought out Daryl, who was smoking by the wall.

"Hey man. How you doing after everything today?"

Daryl shrugged. "Shit didn't go how we woulda liked. But that's the way sometimes, right? So guess we just keep movin'."

"All we can do." agreed Rick. "Sort Tahlia out?"

"Yeah. She was just pissed and takin' it out on the walkers."

"We've all been there."

"Yep." Taking another long drag on his cigarette, Daryl steeled himself for the next bit of the conversation that he didn't want to have. "Sorry. 'Bout earlier. Didn't mean that you ain't doin' your bit or nothin' like that. I know ya been draggin' us all through this since the beginnin'. Just... wanna be sure we ain't losin' the same old you. The leader. The guy with fire in his blood."

Rick nodded. "I hear ya. I know I've been more... removed since Lori, but I feel like we've got a really good team here to run things now. You, the council. I feel like I can step back. But I want you to know that when it counts, I will always step up."

"I know man, I know."

"And I'll try to keep my big nose outta the runs. Let you lead all that." he said with a wry smile.

Daryl chuckled.

"And," Rick gave Daryl a friendly shove on the shoulder. "You know you've been carrying us all since the beginning too. Wouldn't be here without you. Brother."

Daryl could only manage a terse nod, his chest tightening with emotion at Rick's words.

His brother.

Over the other side of the courtyard, Michonne was sitting drinking tea with Tahlia.

"Sorry I didn't end up making it out on the run today. I heard what happened out there. Are you ok?" Michonne asked gently.

Tahlia shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's shit that Zach died. I only met him yesterday."

"I know, that's awful. I hate that losing people just becomes normal after a while. Like you kind of get hardened to it."

Tahlia nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I hate that too. Makes me feel like I'm losing my humanity a bit. Glad I wasn't in there to see it happen."

"Oh, I heard about that too - Daryl keeping you outside. Man, if I'd been there, I would've told him to pull his head in and stop being such an ass." remarked Michonne.

"Guess he needed someone to keep watch outside the perimeter." Tahlia said cynically.

Michonne rolled her eyes. "Was that his excuse? Just got a bee in his bonnet, that's all. He'll come around."

Tahlia wrinkled her nose. "Hmm, I don't know that he will. Because after the run, I lost my shit for a bit down by the fences. He ended up having to run intercept and drag me away. He was not impressed." She sighed, chagrined. "Last damn person I wanted to see me like that. He already thinks I'm a liability."

Michonne patted her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry about him. He's no stranger to losing his shit. And underneath all that glaring, surly exterior, he is actually a really good guy. Just takes a while for him to warm up, is all. And wait till he sees you wielding that sword. It'll be satisfying as hell to watch him eat a whole load of humble pie for saying you can't handle yourself out there." Michonne grinned at the thought.

She hoped she would be there to see Daryl's face when that day came.

A/N: Haha I know some of you will balk at the idea of Rick doing yoga! I just wanted to put a little light spin on his character - maybe he would be someone who'd give it a go for a laugh.