This chapter is a whole lot of Nikki and Daryl so I would love to know your opinion on it!
Also quite a few people have come to me in supporting Glenn and Nikki, which I also love because Glenn is the ultimate sweetheart but I love Maggie too much to do that!
Anyway let me know what you think of Nikki and Daryls interaction in this and also what you think Nikki and Shane's relationship should be like also considering that Nikki is very close to and protective of Rick but also Shane played a massive part in her childhood.
Thanks again for the support guys, love you always!
It was torture, worse than being stuck in a room with a dozen walkers. At least if that were the case you'd have something to do.
All we could do was wait, that's what we were told as Hershel retired to Carl's room with Patricia, respirator in hand.
Perched on the steps of the porch belonging to the Greene family my only view was across the dark fields and the back of Mom and Dad's heads; they were a couple of steps below me.
I wasn't aware that my knee was bobbing up and down impatiently until Glenn placed his hand on it, stilling my movement gently. Laying my hand on his and squeezing was the only acknowledgement I could make to his attempt at comfort.
Trying to stay hopeful was exhausting and doubt always found a way to creep in. My eyes drifted over the messy knot that Mom had her hair pushed back in, I felt my eyes narrow as I thought of the situation of her and Shane.
When was she going to tell Dad? Was she really going to leave it up to me to break my own father's heart?
Just as the thoughts that had been stressing me out from the beginning started to slowly seep back into my head I heard the front door swing open from behind me.
We all stood as one as Hershel emerged from the house, cleaning his hands on a cloth.
"He's stabilizing." He announced almost triumphantly. The smile that had stretched across my face was straining my cheeks but I didn't care as I felt Glenn and T-Dog hug me. Cries of glee from behind me told me that Mom was now crying happy tears at last.
I was currently sitting in Carl's room with Mom and Dad, his coloring was much better and his breathing didn't seem like it caused so much of an effort.
There was silence as we all sat, waiting for the moment that he would open his eyes.
A rumbling from outside distracted me, lifting myself from the arm chair I had slept in previously I moved to the window to investigate.
"They're here." I smiled to Mom and Dad, watching the outline of the caravan being led by Daryl's bike making its way to the farm. I couldn't help but feel warmth wash through me, the gang was gonna be all back together again.
I excused myself from the room and made my way outside, Carol reached me first giving me a tight hug, her frail body felt so fragile as I returned her hug.
"How is he?" Dale asked someone behind me, I heard Mom answer.
"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people."
"And Shane," Dad interrupted. "We woulda lost Carl if it weren't for him."
My eyes drifted through the group, stopping on Daryl who returned my eye contact. He nodded once before turning away. I couldn't help but smile, understanding that that was Daryl's version of saying "I'm glad he'll be okay." Along with giving a hug.
After we had explained to the others that Carl's shooting was nothing more than a stupid accident and that the man who had done it had sacrificed himself to save Carl's life we all made an effort to help the Greene family in creating a rockery and performing a ceremony in Otis' memory.
Hershel said a few words, being a religious man and Shane gave a speech on Otis' last moments, telling the story of how he insisted Carl had to be saved. I couldn't help but notice the obvious stress that graced Shane's features as he retold the events.
Once the ceremony was over and the Greene's were given their privacy to mourn Otis, especially Patricia, we all resumed with the plans on how best to locate Sophia, I couldn't help but be more positive as I watched Maggie spreading a map open across the bonnet of a car as we gathered round.
"How long has this girl been missing?" Hershel asked.
"This'll be day three." Dad replied before turning back to the map. "We'll grid the whole area and start searching in teams."
"Not you, not today." Hershel interrupted him sternly. "You gave three units of blood you wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out."
I nodded my head in agreement with Hershel, Dad coloring still hadn't returned normal.
"And your ankle." Hershel rounded on Shane who had a significant limp since he returned with the respirator. "Push it now and you'll be laid up for a month."
"Guess it's just me." Daryl grumbled, pulling the map towards him.
"Excuse me, I'm healthy," I raised my hand slightly, looking to the group. "I can help."
"I don't need help." Daryl growled back.
"Course you don't" I rolled my eyes, knowing I was going to look for Sophia whether he liked it or not.
"Nikki could be of use to you and I'd feel more comfortable with two of you out there." Dad added sincerely. I couldn't help but smile smugly in Daryl's direction as he looked more pissed off than ever.
"I wanna head back to the creek, work my way from there." Daryl continued, addressing the map again.
"I can still be useful." Shane piped up. "Drive back to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."
"Okay, we can start this thing properly then." Dad nodded.
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives, we need to gun train like we promised." Shane added, I had to refrain from rolling my eyes at the site of Andrea perking up at the mention of gun training.
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel spoke up, looking to Dad. "We've managed so far without turning this into an army camp."
"With respect," Shane spoke back quickly. "If a crowd of those things were to wander in here?"
"Look, we're guests here," Dad announced before Hershel could retaliate. "This is your property, and we will respect that."
I watched as Dad reached for his Python before placing it on the bonnet of the car, Shane was next to surrender his gun but laid it down with much more force than was needed.
I sighed deeply before pulling out my own handgun and placing it on the bonnet with the others.
"What happens if we find her and she's bit, think we should be clear on how we handle that." Shane asked, attitude seeping from him.
"Think it's pretty clear what we have to do if that happens." I muttered, looking directly at him. "What else could we do with her?"
"You do what has to be done." Dad nodded, growing paler still.
"And her mother, what do you tell her?" Maggie asked, I couldn't help but notice the tremor of disbelief in her voice.
"The truth." Andrea shrugged.
After convincing Hershel that whoever was on watch should be armed we dispersed from the bonnet, gathering whatever supplies we needed.
"Be careful out there," Glenn said, pulling me into a hug as I made sure I had my sickle and picked the sharpest knife from our supplies. "Make sure you come back."
"I always do." I smiled, repeating his own phrase. "Don't go falling off a horse or anything in front of Maggie." I winked, laughing at the red tinge that burnt Glenn's face.
I glanced towards the dirt track to see Daryl stalking towards the woods, he was walking slower than normal, his version of waiting for me. After saying goodbye to Mom and Carl I jogged over to him, he didn't speak as I fell into step beside him.
"Daryl." I heard Dad call, making us both turn. "You'll both be okay out there, won't you?"
"We'll be fine." I called back, rolling my eyes. I felt like he was reminding me for the fiftieth time to be back before curfew.
"I'm better on my own but Nikki is a better choice than most of that group." Daryl shrugged, I frowned slightly, not knowing whether to take that as a compliment or not.
"We have a base now, we can map this thing out properly." Dad lowered his voice as he neared us.
"You got a point or are we just chattin'?" Daryl shook his head impatiently.
"My point is it lets you off the hook, you don't owe us anything." I knew Dad was being sincere but Daryl seemed to huff out his reply before strolling off towards the woods again.
I gave Dad a small shrug before jogging once more to catch up with Daryl.
"You ever lighten up, Dixon?" I asked once I'd reached him.
"You ever stop yappin', Grimes?" I smirked at this seeing as I was the only one that gave Daryl the peace he wanted.
"Whether you like it or not you're one of us now, you're part of the group." He didn't answer me as we continued on into the woods.
"Is the crossbow heavy?" I asked after what felt like years of silence. He glanced back at me, eyebrows raised before turning away again.
I was about to roll my eyes when he answered me.
"There's some rabbit droppings and scuff marks around here, you can have a go at shooting it and then you'll see." He grumbled.
"You're gonna let me try to shoot a rabbit?" I asked disbelievingly.
"You won't get to if you don't shut up." He argued back, making me laugh silently to myself. After a while I watched as he took the crossbow from his back before holding it out to me. "Take this and gimme your sickle."
My biceps protested a little at the weight of the cross bow as I tried to hold it while I handed Daryl the sickle, it wasn't so bad after I had raised it to eye level like I'd seen Daryl doing numerous times now.
"K, it should be around here somewhere, bend your knees so your steps are lighter." I tried to do as he said without looking like an absolute moron but I definitely wasn't succeeded.
I heard him hiss gently before pointing slightly to the right, the small rabbit was sitting between the roots of a large tree, sniffing the air. Part of me wondered if it picked up our scent and that's why it was currently glancing around but we were concealed in the bush.
Without making any direct contact with me Daryl gestured to where I should be looking along the crossbow, making sure it was aligned, he was bent to my level, moving the crossbow up and down to where he thought it should line up roughly with the rabbit.
I couldn't help but feel slightly sad for the creature that was in front of me, it was so cute and fluffy and harmless, not knowing or caring what was happening to the world around it.
Daryl gave me a sharp signal that I assumed meant I had to shoot so I shook myself from my reverie and felt my finger close down on the trigger. This was a different world now, we couldn't die of starvation because of the cuteness of our food.
My shoulders slumped as the arrow hit the bark about two foot over the rabbits head that had now scurried off into the woods.
"Woulda been a miracle if you hit it." Daryl grumbled, walking forward to remove his arrow from the tree. I couldn't help but feel a surge of stubbornness light up in my stomach as I watched his back retreating away from me.
"I know I can do it, I just have to get used to the weight it's different to a gun." I heard a huff escape from Daryl and I felt my mouth open in surprise when I realized what I just heard was a laugh.
"Are you laughing at me?" I asked, slightly offended.
"Y'know unless you really believe the whole "be your pray" thing then yeah I am." He grumbled back. There was no trace of a smile on his dirt caked face but I knew what I heard.
"What are you shitting on about?"
"You twitch your nose before you shoot, you look like the damn rabbit." He mumbled, taking the crossbow from me and loading the arrow back into it before handing me back my sickle.
"I do not." I argued back, slightly embarrassed.
"Fine, if you wanna believe that."
I was forced to follow him through the bush in silence for another while. Still feeling self-conscious about my nose twitching habit.
Just as I was about to ask him a question on tracking we broke through into a clearing, a dirty house was situated in the middle, the grass around it overgrown and the wooden boards graying with age.
"Stay behind me." He ordered before raising his crossbow and kicking the door open. I followed him in, sickle raised and knife held tightly in the other hand as we made sure the house was clear. Creaking floorboards was the only sound that echoed around the house.
I watched as Daryl took a tin from the trash can in the kitchen, sniffing it gingerly, making my nose wrinkle.
"Psst." I called, pointing towards what I assumed was a small pantry, floor to ceiling doors concealed it but one was cracked open slightly.
My breath stayed frozen in my lungs as I watched Daryl creep towards the doors, crossbow raised. It was like he was moving in slow motion as I glanced around us, making sure we were alone.
"She was here." He said confidently as he lowered his crossbow. Now that Daryl had opened the doors wide I could see what looked like a makeshift nest on the ground, blankets had been gathered to make a bed. "That tin hasn't been open too long, neither."
"Sophia?" I called out gingerly. "Honey, it's Nikki and Daryl, you're okay now."
I don't know what I was expecting, for Sophia to come barreling down the stairs towards us maybe or pop her head out from the living room, grinning. No matter what I expected, the silence was still disappointing.
"Maybe she saw us coming and ran, didn't realize it was us?" I suggested, Daryl shrugged before turning on his heel and making his way out of the house, calling Sophia.
"What's that?" I asked Daryl as I strode towards him, he was holding a white flower, stuffing the stem into his back pocket, making sure the petals weren't damaged.
"Something to keep Carol going." He mumbled, turning away from me and walking back towards the woods.
"You're not an asshole." I mumbled under my breath to his retreating back, grinning slightly.
