Really sorry this took so long to update, with midterms and he quarter ending soon, school is CRAZY! Please review, I got a little Jamie/Beth friendship going here. Tell me what you think!
"Wait! It's Andrea!" Glenn yelled.
"Andrea?" Carol asked, sounding shocked. Rick went to open the gate, and Jamie went to stand, but Daryl quickly stopped her.
"We don't know what she wants, yet. She might be with the governor."
Jamie nodded, but Daryl went to stand, then. She grabbed his arm. "I don't go down there, you don't. Like you said, we don't know what she wants..."
Daryl was about to angue when they allowed Andrea into the cemement part of the yard, closing that gate, searing it off from walkers.
Andrea got out, giving them a wane smile.
"Hi guys."
She was met with icy stares from everyone, including Carl.
She sighed. "Look- I swear I didn't know what he was planning. I found out, I tried to warn you..."
"Whose side are you on?" Rick asked, arms crossed.
"I... this war isn't necessary." Andrea said simply. "He wants to meet with you."
"Who does?" Daryl asked, coming down from the bridge now. He turned when he heard footsteps behind him. "I told you to stay up there."
"I know. I just didn't care." Jamie said simply, peering curiously at Andrea. "You actually made it?"
Andrea nodded, smiling slightly. Jamie had grown a lot since she'd seen her, she was still small, but with the bow slung across her shoulder and the coonskin cap, she looked more like Daryl...
"How'd you get out? Last I saw you ran into the house. I heard a gunshot, I assumed you... You know..."
Jamie nodded. "It was he walkers I was shooting. I had one bullet left, almost blew my brains out, but Daryl came back in time."
Michonne eyed her friend with trepidation. "How's the governor?" she asked, voice laced with sarcasm. Andrea blushed, trying to make her wavy londe hair cover the red marks on her neck... He'd finally let her leave to visit her friends, to organize this meeting, but they'd had one last night before she'd left...
"How've you been?" Beth asked, good natured as always. The others were all hesitant to accept her, and Andrea smiled. "Good."
"Where does he want us to meet?" Rick asked simply. Andrea handed him the map.
Just then, from within the prison, Judith started wailing. Beth turned to head in, and Rick nodded. "Bring her out- she's been fussy all day."
"You can bring some people for protection, god knows the governor will, too..." Andrea said. She looked to Rick, grey-blue eyes showing she'd pieced it together. "I'm sorry about Lori."
Rick looked away, blinking hard, and Andrea knew she shouldn't have brought it up.
"The point is, there doesn't have to be a war. We can work it out- no one else neede to die." Andrea said simply.
"Tell that to Axel and Oscar." Carl muttered.
Hevy silence hung in the air, and Beth came iut with Judith wailing in her arms, still.
"She won't calm down. She wants her daddy." Beth said simply, handing her to Rick, who shifted his focus to her.
Almost mmediately Judith stopped crying, grinning, reaching for her father's hair and gurgling happily...
Andrea stared for a minute, ure longing in her eyes... No. She couldn't expect to be allowed to hold the baby, especially after everything...
"What's goin' on?" Merle stumbled out, then. Jamie had chosen to let him out yesterday, and he smiled when he saw Andrea. "Hey Blondie. Finally decided to come visit old Merle..."
Andrea smiled slightly. "Yeah, sure..."
Rick looked up. "Daryl, you and Hershel should come."
"What about us?" Carl asked, looking indignant.
"You stay here with Jamie- you two and Glenn our the greatest assets while we're gone, you keep things calm, fight if you need to, and protect things."
Jamie looked a Daryl. "I swear to god if you bring home another brother..."
And the tension was broken then, as everyone laughed.
"Please let me come with you?" Jamie asked, desperate. The were abut to embark- Andrea had left last night, and they were due to
"No. Rick said no, and I say no. Now you STAY HERE." Daryl said, emphasising the last two words. "And take care for the group."
"But the governor's an asshole- what happens if he takes you prisoner?"
"Then I'll put a bolt through his head and come back for you."
"And then what?" Jamie asked, looking at him worriedly.
"Then we'll either stay and fight or I'll take you and Merle and strike out on the road. If I don' come back, you know what to do."
She nodded. "Take care of lil' asskicker and Carol, hunt, and don't be a pussy."
Daryl smiled slightly, ruffling her hair. "That's m' girl. And if Merle gets high again, lock him in a cell and I'll deal with him when I get back. Be good, y'hear?"
"As good as I can be without you hre to keep me in line." suddenly she hugged him, buried her face in his chest. "Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, Jamie."
And he was gone, heading towards the car.
"She gonna be alright?" Rick asked, looking over at Jamie, who was gathing her bow and slinging her quiver across her shoulder.
"She always is." Daryl said simply.
Rick nodded. "She going hunting?"
Daryl shrugged. "She might. She's been dying to try out that switchblade..."
Carl walked over and put an arm around Jamie, and she gave him a look. He put his arm by his side and stood at a comfotable distance, and she nodded. She was alright with standing beside him.
"He'll be back." Carl said, trying to reassure Jamie as Hershel, Rick, and Daryl pulled out.
Beth, tool was looking lost as she wanted her father drive away.
"I know. Beth's the one that needs reassurance." Jamie said quietly so Beth couldn't hear, moving to be closer to her friend.
"You think he'll come back?" Beth asked. He blue eyes were still worried she was still staring into the horizon, though the car had long since faded into the distance.
"Of course he will. Daryl always does..."
Without warning, Beth had backhanded her, and she was on the pavement.
"Daryl has TWO LEGS! Dammit!" and she was running into her cell, sobbing uncontrollably.
Jamie painfully got to her feet. Being smacked with concrete hadn't been expeced, her entire right side was theobbing painfully from the impact, but she shook it off.
Maggie looked at her, concerned. "You okay?"
She nodded gruffly. She never talked while she was in pain- never allowed weakness to be heard in her voice. The pain was slowing, now...
"I'll go talk to her." Maggie said, turning.
"Don't." Jamie grunted, trusting her voice, now. She started forward. "I'll settle it. She don't need a lecture right now. She's afraid."
She left a sheel-shocked group behind her.
Finally, Merle spoke. "Should gt inside. If I know the governor, he'll sent a group out here to beat our asses..."
Jamie stepped into the cell despite the hysterical sobs. Judith was nearby, she'd sensed Beth's distress and was wailing, too...
Jamie sighed. She sucked with kids. No, actually- she was just afraid. They all reminded her of Lily. She picked up Judith, stroking the baby's thin head of blonde hair. Neither Rick, Lori, or Shane was blonde, but maybe blonde hair skipped a generation in either of their families.
She bounced Judith quietly, slowly, the baby calmed down to stare at her, though, looking distressed at he way Beh was sobbing.
"You're scaring the baby." Jamie said quietly.
"So?" Beth asked, venom obvious in her voice as she looked up from the pillow. Tears covered her face, her normally neat blnde hair was strewn about...
"So you might wanna stop." Jamie said. She figured it was at least worth a shot...
"No. I can cry if I want to. Just LEAVE me." Beth hissed.
"I would, but Judy bawls her eyes out when she can hear you crying. Trust me. My sister..." She trailed off, swallowing. Lily had always cried when she wasn't nearby or when she cried as a child...
"Well?" Beth snapped. "Aren't you gonna tell me to man up- grow a pair? Like you? Get off my ass and DO something?"
Jamie shook her head, still stroking Judith's hair absently. "I can't make you do nuthin'. You gotta decide what you want."
"I WANT you to go away!"
"We both know you don't mean that." Jamie said, and Beth sighed.
"I-I just..." Beth stared at her. "You don't understand it. You don't know what it's like..."
Jamie said nothing, and Beth realized the mitake she'd made, Jamie had had a family at one point...
"I... I just... Maggie and Dad are all I have left..." Beth sobbed quietly. Jamie sighed, setting Judith in her carseat and moving it outside, taking her place bside Beth.
Her friend fell into her arms sobbing, then. "He's only got one leg. He can't move all that fast anyhow, and once he runs out of ammo..."
"Who says anything is even gonna happen, Beth? Rick's going to TALK to the governor, not to kill him."
Beth looked up at her. "So? Stuff could happen, what if the governor takes hem prisoner..."
"Daryl told me if that happens he'll put a bolt through the governor's head and come back. And Daryl wouldn't leave yor father behind unless there was absolutely NO choice. Even then, Daryl would MAKE a way for Hershel to escape."
Beth nodded slowly, sniffing, wiping her eyes.
"I just- I just HATE when Rick takes him out on these missions. He's only got one leg, he's the weakest... Why does he always have to go along with what Rick says?"
Jamie nodded. "I know the feeling. Daryl always goes out with them all the time. And I know if he keeps temptin fate, one of these times..."
Beth nodded, pulling her knees to her chest. "I wish I could be brave."
"You are. Most people would be crazy by now- not us. We're here- we're IT."
Beth nodded. "Sometimes I'd rather be dead."
"Who wouldn't be?" Jamie asked simply, and Beth smiled. "Business as usual, then."
"Pretty much." Jamie said. Beth touched the red mark on her friend's cheek gingerly. "Did I do that? I'm sorry- I guess I just lost it..."
"Don't worry about it. I've had worse. Still, though- you hit hard, when you wanna." Jamie said, smiling slightly.
There was a happy gurgle from the doorway, and they both laughed to see Judith looking at them from her car seat, drooling all over, waving her arms at them.
"Looks like she wants you." Jamie said, standing.
"Where are you going?" Beth asked, looking after her, perplexed.
"Gotta go make sure Merle stays in line." Jamie said simply, and Beth nodded, undesanding. They both hated to be left behind while their father's were gone, but everyone had a job to do.