Kayla entered the house with caution, taken back by how normal it was. Clean hardwood, vacuumed carpets, personal belongings tossed about in a casual manner. Even though she only saw the front hallway before turning into the living room, she knew without a doubt that this was a family home. It was so bizarre to think that the group may have a home like this. They haven't had a house like these since the Greene farm which was long gone. After that it was staying in houses while on the road and they were filled with gore, dead bodies, and disgust. After that it was the prison which although was the group's home for a long while, it was nothing compared to a house with hot water and a leather couch.
Before going into the next room, Kayla caught sight of herself in the hallway mirror. Her skin was tanned from the summer sun and covered in layers of dirt and dried blood. The bones in her face were prominent from lack of food and nutrients and there was no doubt her ribs were showing as well at least a little bit. Her hair had grown out to her shoulder blades and in a messy, tangled ponytail where bits of leaves and dirt were visible. The clothes on her body were the ones she's been wearing for what seemed years from the amount of stains and tears in them. She felt so out of place in the home. Here she was looking a mess while the homeowners most likely had trimmed hair, clean clothes, and balanced diet.
As she entered the living room, she couldn't help but take in the nice furniture and filled to the top bookshelf plus the books sitting on the windowsills. "Wow." She said to herself quietly.
"I take it you're a bibliophile." A soft voice sounded, making Kayla turn around in an instant as she went for her gun which wasn't there. The woman must have noticed Kayla's frightened reaction and put her hands up in apology. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
Kayla dropped her hands and offered a small smile. "It's alright." She assured the woman as she took a seat on the chair in front of the bookshelf. The woman took a seat on the couch across from Kayla. "My name is Deanna." The woman introduced herself. "And you are?"
Looking at the woman, Kayla could automatically tell this woman meant no harm. Her gestures, how she carried herself, how she talked. She was weak. Not to be feared.
"I'm Kayla." She formally introduced herself. "Kayla Dixon."
"And am I safe to assume that the man with the crossbow is your…" Deanna trailed off, not wanting to use the wrong term.
Kayla let out a soft chuckle. "He's my husband." She confirmed. When Kayla was summoned to come speak with Deanna, Daryl was hesitant to let her go by herself. He softly, but yet a little firmly, grabbed her arm when she went to walk towards the house.
"Not alone." He protested.
Kayla turned back around and placed a hand on the side of his face. "I'll be alright." She told him, very sure of herself. "Always am." Daryl let her go after that, watching as she walked towards and eventually entered the house.
"I'll let him tell you about him when you two talk." Kayla told Deanna.
Deanna gave a sincere smile as she folded her hands on her knees. She was a n older woman, most likely in her fifties or sixties. Her years showed in her face and were audible in her voice. It was soft and careful and not at all forceful.
"Do you want a place here, Kayla?" Deanna asked her.
Kayla knew Alexandria wasn't a want, it was a need. She needed a safe place for her family.
"My family needs this." She answered.
"Needs what exactly?"
"Safety. Security. A home. We all need that."
"And who were you before the end, Kayla?"
The question caught her off guard. Who was she before the end of the world? It's felt like the world has been over for three lifetimes. Hell, she could sometimes barely remember the old world. The new world gave her so many nightmares and memories, all the things from before were washed away from her head.
"I was an EMT." Kayla answered. "In Georgia. It was just me and Angela, one of the girls outside still."
"So Daryl came after."
Kayla smiled. "Yeah. He came after."
"Well you can never have too many doctors and everyone here has a part. So you and Angela will be shown the infirmary once you all are settled. Two more doctors for our community."
"Is there one here now?"
"Yes. Pete. You'll meet him when the time comes."
Deanna returned Kayla's smile as she stood up. Kayla stood as well and watched as Deanna extended a hand to her. Without hesitation, Kayla shook it firmly. "Welcome to Alexandria, Kayla."
OOOOO
Once everyone had a formal sit down with Deanna, Aaron showed them where they would be staying-at two large houses similar to the rest in the neighborhood. They entered the house cautiously, taking the time to look around and investigate the place they might be calling home. After realizing it was safe, they all moved their belongings into the living room of the one house and got settled in. Kayla made up her and Daryl's bed on the floor out of the soft and clean blankets and pillows that were in a linen closet upstairs. Then she set up a space for Jonathan next to them, happy that he'd sleep comfortably tonight. While she set up, he busied himself with a crossword book he found in the one table in the living room.
Maggie and Kayla both put away the rations in the pantry that were provided, the thought of food only being a room away enough to make them want to cry. For weeks it has been a fight just to see when they'd have any kind of meal again. Now if they wanted something, all they had to do was walk a few steps to the next room.
"Do you think it'll work here?" Maggie asked Kayla as they put away the nonperishables.
Kayla could see Maggie was desperate for the answer she wanted to hear. Fortunately, Kayla didn't have to lie. "Yeah, I do."
After that, they finished the food and returned to the living room where the others were still getting all their things in order. Kayla looked around and saw no sign of Daryl before glancing at the open front door. She headed for the exit, pushing Carl's hat down on his head as she walked by where he sat reading a comic.
"Get a real book." She teased, making him laugh.
On the porch, Kayla found Daryl still gutting his opossum he shot with an arrow the second the gate to Alexandria opened for them. "We food in the kitchen now." She told him as she looked at the blood stained deck. "And pans to cook things in on a stovetop."
"I'm alright." He told her without looking up.
"Daryl."
The way she said his voice in a sharp tone made him look at her. "I know this isn't the kind of place you're used to, but you gotta give it a chance. Otherwise you'll never get comfortable."
Daryl nodded and stopped fussing with his opossum for the moment. "So clean that mess up, blood and all, and come inside. We get the bathroom next and you're getting a haircut." Kayla informed him as she turned to go back inside.
"I ain't cuttin' my damn hair, woman." He called after her.
"I am whether you like it or not. You're gonna catch flies in your bangs one of these days!"
OOOOO
After getting together some clean clothes, Kayla made her way to the bathroom where she relished in the fact that they had a bathroom with clean towels, hot water, and scented soaps. It was the closest thing to heaven in this world. The floors were white and the walls were painted an of blue, a large mirror taking up half of the wall across from the large shower. It was a double sink with toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, shaving cream, and all kinds of other bathroom necessities in the drawers. Kayla reached for the sink handles and turned them, smiling when clean water flowed from the faucet.
Daryl walked in a few minutes later just as Kayla sat down to take her boots off, not missing the flinch of pain in her face. He went over and kneeled on the floor in front of her. "I got it." He told her as he reached down to the laces of her boots. He undid them before pulling the shoes from her feet and setting them off to the side. He took her socks off next, only he threw them directly into the trash can.
"Yeah there was no saving them." Kayla agreed, making him chuckle.
She stood up and allowed Daryl to take his boots off as she shrugged out of her jacket, hanging it on the door and leaving her in her jeans and long sleeved flannel. Daryl watched as she undid her belt and the snap on her jeans, pausing there because she knew when she bent down to take her pants off pain would shoot up in her back. Between the wear and tear her body has seen since the fall of the prison and sleeping awkwardly on uncomfortable "beds", her back has taken a toll.
Knowing she was hurting, Daryl went over to her and offered his help. He knelt on the floor and told her to set her hands on his shoulders while he slid the jeans off her legs. He got them off at her feet and tossed the denim to the side as he stood up. "Arms up." He told her and she obliged. Very carefully, he took her shirt by the bottoms and raised it off her body gently. Once it was off, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pain at the sight of the bruised and scrapes all over her body. He fumbled with the shirt in his hands for a moment before he felt his wife's hands on his face. "We're fine." She reassured him to which he just nodded in response. Her hands went to his shoulders where she began pushing his vest off carefully, the piece of clothing falling from his frame once he dropped his arms. He closed his eyes as her fingers undid the buttons on his shirt which eventually joined the growing pile of clothes on the floor.
The feeling of her fingertips on his bare skin was a sensation he hasn't felt in what seemed forever when in reality it was only a few weeks. One of his arms found its way around her waist to pull her into his frame so he could press a kiss to her lips. He felt her smile into the kiss as his other hand pulled her hair from its band, allowing it to fall freely. Even though he knew they didn't have the time for anything more, he just had to feel her lips against his for a moment.
When they finally broke apart, they took their allotted time in the shower. The water in the bottom of the shower ran dark shades of brown and red as the filth was rinsed away from the surfaces of their skin. The conditioner Kayla put in her hand worked like magic, successfully removing all the tangles and knots from her long locks. Daryl aided in washing all the dirt from her back and other places she couldn't reach, a task he took his time in as he ran the soap over his wife's skin. He ran the soap over the birds inked into the skin on her ribs carefully as well as the tree on her lower back when he remembered she had the tattoos she did. For a while he forgot. The one on her collarbone was noticeable more than the others, but the ones concealed by her clothes he forgot about.
Kayla returned the favor, dragging the soap across his back to clean the layers of filth on her husband's back. She went over his tattoo carefully as well as the long scars that would forever a part of his skin. A sight Kayla would never get over. When she placed her fingers to the marks, she felt Daryl tense up as if she pressed hot metal to his skin. She replaced her fingers with her lips as she kissed the marks, making Daryl relax again. Of all the women he's known, she was the only one to do such a thing. Granted, he's never had a woman or a relationship like Kayla before.
Daryl got out of the shower first, wrapping a towel around his waist while Kayla took an extra couple of minutes to shave her legs and give Daryl a head start on brushing his teeth. By the time she got out, his breath was minty fresh and he had even washed his face with the soap he found in the drawer. Kayla wrapped a towel around her body when she got out, eager to brush her own teeth and wash out her pores with the face wash.
Once that was done, the two of them got dressed in clean clothes- simple jeans and t-shirts, only the sleeves of Daryl's shirt were gone in a matter of seconds. The couple gathered all of their other clothes and opted to throw them out, save for Daryl's vest of course. The articles of clothing were beyond anything a washing machine could do.
Before Daryl could leave the bathroom, Kayla made him sit on the edge of the tub so she could cut his hair. He obliged, not seeing the point to try and argue anymore. He closed his eyes as he heard the scissors snip away his hair and fall to the floor onto a towel. It only took a few minutes and before he knew, his hair was at the length it was a long time ago. If he had to guess, when they first settled at the prison. He wouldn't admit it, but it was nice to have it out of his eyes again.
When she was done, Kayla looked at her work and smiled. "Much better." She said as picked up the towel with all of his hair and emptied it into the trash. She brushed her own hair out while Daryl fussed with his hair, trying to get used to the length. He noticed her tie her hair into two separate parts before bringing the scissors up to her hair. She cut it right below the hair tie and did the same to the other part, making her hair fall just above her shoulders. Once she did that she shaped up her bangs and called it good.
"Don't need any walkers grabbing me by the hair." She told Daryl as she tossed the hair she cut off.
Daryl gave her a smile as they cleaned up the bathroom for the next person and went out to rejoin the group.
OOOOO
That night, Kayla fell asleep in the tight embrace of her husband with the knowledge that her family was safe under one roof. They had food in their stomachs, blankets over their bodies, pillows under their head, and a large wall keeping out walkers and other evils of the world. In this moment, they were safe.
A/N: TWO UPDATES HOT DAMN. No but I know how we are all probably dealing with a lot of emotion and sadness right now after last night so I thought I'd give you some happiness through the story of Kayla and Daryl since I'm only on the last few episodes of season five. No dark and sad stuff to be seen in this chapter. Love you guys!
