Almost to the climax! Well, one of the climaxes, anyways. I start school tomorrow, so updates may be slower. But I will work mu butt off to try and post this and get it out before the new episodes. Please review!
"You theivin' bitch!" Len yelled, backhanding her hard enough to send her sprawling onto the conrete from whrre she'd been sitting.
"What the fuck!?" Daryl was on his feet in a second, shoving Len away.
The whole group gathered around in a matter of seconds, as though encircling a brawl.
Jamie quietly sat up, gritting her teeth and wiping her now bloody nose. Damn, that'd stung. She'd had worse, she reminded herself, no fear, no weakness...
"What's going on here?" Joe strode through the circle calmly, looking at both men calmly.
"This asswipe had his bitch steal my rabbit!" Len yelled, pointing angily at Daryl.
"You best get that finger outta my face if you wanna live, son." Daryl growled. Smething flashed in his eyes that made Len hesitate before he let his hand fall limply to his side, still glaring angrily at Daryl.
Joe nodded to Tony. "Check his things."
"You won't find anything." Datyl growled certainly. He'd left Jamie alone here for a minute while he'd gone to get his bow, but he knew she wouldn't risk getting killed for a piece of rabbit.
Tony wordlessly dumped out the beat-up trashbag. There was a clatter as an old hubcap fell out, part of the old rearview they'd scavenged, before Beth had... There was the thunk as the rear half of the rabbit, there half, fell, right next to the front...
Daryl did a double take.
"I told you! He had his bitch swipe it while I aas takin' a piss!" Len cried triumphantly.
"We don't know that." Joe said calmly. He turned to Daryl. "You say you didn't take it?" he asked seriously.
Daryl shook his head. "No. I didn't take the fucking rabbit."
Joe nodded, his face void of all emotion as he turned to Jamie.
She met the man's gaze as he crouched to be eye level with her, wiping her still-bleeding nose on his sleeve. No sign of tears. Only strength.
"You steal that rabbit, sweetheart?" he asked, voice taking on a gentler tone, like she was something fragile, something easy to break. Hadn't they learned anything from her getting them in here tonight?
"No sir." she said calmly, meeting his gaze. She hadn't taken the rabbit, so there was nothing to be afraid of. Nothing they could punish her for for telling the truth...
"You got any idea how that rabbit got in the bag, then?" Joe asked.
She shook her head. "All I know is, I sure as hell didn't take it."
"She's fucking lying!" Len cried, indignant, and Joe rose to his full height once again. Then, to everyone's surprise, he handed a solid hit to Len's torso that made him double over.
"I think we all know who the liar is here, son." he said calmly, a cold expression taking over his face. "I saw you put it in his bag."
Everyone's gaze hardened at the news.
"These two told the truth- when you tell the truth, everything is fine." he caught Daryl's eye during his speech, as though he was teaching him another rule of the group.
His gaze turned decidedly more hostile as he turned back to face Len. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm sick of this lying sack of shit. He's gonna get punished."
Everyone took a step forwards, almost unconsciously. It reminded Jamie of the time she'd seen a group of coyotes hunting in a pack. That in itself had been rare, since she'd rarely seen a single coyote, so good at hiding they were, but this felt decidedly like when the five dogs had circled around their prey, a limping button buck, before moving in to finish him...
A second later, Len was on the ground, a series of grunts and curses sounding.
She watched it all calmly. No weakness, no fear...
Only Daryl saw the way she flinched when the toe of someone's boot met with Len's nose, saw the flicker of horror cross her face as Len was beaten to a pulp.
Joe looked over a minute later, wiping his bloody hands on his jeans and nodding to the group. "She don't need to see this." he said, nodding to Jamie.
By this time, she'd managed to make her face void of all emotion. No weakness. No fear. It was hard, though, so hard as she watched Len pant and bleed from where he laid on the pavement. That could've just as easily been Daryl, had Joe not seen Len stuff the rabbit in the bag...
"She's seen worse." Daryl muttered calmly. She had to be tough, she reminded herself, and maybe tough entailed watching somebody get the ever-living shit beaten out of them.
Joe smiled slightly. "Sure she has. Still, wouldn't wanna make a mess. Take 'em out back." he ordered, and Tony obeyed, seizing Len under the arms and dragging the barely concious man outside. Joe nodded to them, flashing a smile and focusing his attention on Jamie.
"See? You tell the truth, an' you'll be fine, sweetheart." and they were gone
Jamie scrambled over to where Daryl was sitting as soon as he was gone, an expression of fear on her face.
Daryl quietly cupped her chin in his hand, examining her nose. The bleeding had slowed, but it must've hurt like hell...
And then she had pushed him backwards so he was sitting and was in his lap, arms wrapped around his neck, head buried in his chest. He could feel her shaking.
"It's all right, baby girl. It's all right." he whispered roughly, instinctively rubbing her back. They were both oretending they couldn't hear the sounds of blows striking flesh, the grunts and groans of pain as Len was beaten out back.
"What'll they do to him?" she asked quietly, eyes wide. She meant Len, of course- sure, the man was a liar and a jerk, but that didn't mean she'd wished this on him.
Daryl shrugged. "Don' know. Maybe beat him real bad, maybe kill him. He's the one who put the rabbit in our bag."
"Yeah. You're right." Jamie said. She was still shaking, though.
"What's the matter, baby girl?" he asked, looking down at her, concerned. He meant beside the obvious, beside the fact a man was most likely being beaten to death out back and there was nothing they could do about it.
Jamie just trembled as she looked at him anxiously. "That coulda been you out there." she whispered. There was a grunt of pain from out back, and she let her eyes fall closed and buried her head in his shoulder. "They coulda believed Len an' you'd be out there, and I'd be alone."
Daryl stiffened. The very thought of it happening enraged him, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't discount her fears. They were, unfortunately, pretty damn realistic. If Joe hadn't seen Len and told the others what'd happened, they'd have taken his word against them. And it would've been them.
"Anything like that happens to me, you leave. Y'hear? Grab what ya can and run, and don't ever look back. If I make it out alive, I'll come find ya- if not, you hafta keep goin'."
"What's the point of going on alone?" she asked, looking disheartened.
"The point is I didn't make you my daughter so you could up and die as soon as I did. You're a Dixon, kid. Didn't chose it, might not wanna be- but you are. You can't change that. Dixons don't just up and die- we fight. I'm gonna die, you're gonna die- we're all gonna die someday, baby girl- so die for somethin' worth dying for. Not for me. You understand?"
She nodded, looking tired and suddenly a lot smaller than she usually was. She'd stopped trembling, now, laid still in his arms, blinking slowly and trying to ward off sleep.
She was still just a kid. He loved it and hated it at the same time- she was smaller than he'd have liked, more of a target, of course, but she was still childlike enough at times to crawl in his lap and curl up beside him. Still dependent enough that she'd probably cry her eyes out if he got bit. Sure, she was a badass, but he was her father- as close to a father as she'd have, now. She just might give up if she lost another Dad.
He sighed. Thankfully, the sounds of the beating outside had grown quieter, not so loud as to dominate everything. Jamie, despite the odds and the hell of a day she'd had, still kept her eyes open. Daryl couldn't help but smile- that was her, always fighting.
"They're gonna kill him, aren't they, Dad?" she asked quietly.
Daryl nodded. "Yeah. Ain't nothing we can do, though. He made his choice. You hungry?" he suddenly remembered she hadn't eaten all day.
"No..." she muttered sleepily. It was a lie- she was starving. But she was more tired than hungry, anyways.
"Get some sleep, then." Daryl said, vowing to make sure she ate something in the morning. He smiled when he looked down and saw she was already asleep before lightly dozing himself, Jamie settled in one arm, crossbow lazily propped up in the other.
It was unsettling, but he managed to sleep despite the hollers of men egging one another on and the cries of pain from out back.