[A/N: Welcome new favourites and followers and big thanks to reviewers! Really makes my day to hear what you think. Tonbea, glad you thought Seth was convincingly crazy! He was really fun to write and i am a bit proud of how he turned out.]
Daryl started pacing as she spoke.
'And you just let them leave,' he hissed when she finished.
Asha's back stiffened, voice rising in response. 'What was I supposed to do? Tackle Rick to the ground? I was hoping he'd change his mind, let the Council handle it.' She pinched the bridge of her nose. 'Still am actually. Still hoping he brings her back and the group can decide.'
Daryl kept pacing, biceps rippling as he tossed his crossbow angrily from one hand to the other.
She slumped back against the concrete wall of the gate tower, sinking to the ground, watching him pace. It hurt to see him so angry, even though she knew it wasn't really at her. She tried hard to fight the bite of jealousy at his obvious concern about Carol.
'What are you going to do,' she forced herself to ask. 'If Rick comes back alone?'
He snarled at her, boots scraping in the gravel. 'It ain't her.'
Asha sighed. 'I never told you this, or Rick. But when Andrea came to visit that time, back when everything was happening with the Governor, I overheard Carol talking to Andrea, giving her some advice.' She waited until Daryl was looking at her before continuing, keeping her voice toneless and unemotional. 'She told Andrea that she should sleep with the Governor, wait until he was asleep and then kill him.'
Daryl squinted at her, feet suddenly still.
'You know she's capable of doing it Daryl, if she thought it was protecting the group.'
He growled at her and went back to pacing. 'Ya reckon Rick's right?' he asked after a minute, brow furrowed deeply. 'To send her away?'
Asha could see how much the words cost him.
She crossed her arms over her knees and rested her head on them for a moment. 'He's wrong to make the call himself, but...' She swallowed hard and looked up at Daryl. 'I don't know Daryl. I get why she did it. If there was a way of being certain it would work, then hell...' Her mouth twisted in distaste and she trailed off rather than finish the sentence. 'But if we don't draw the line at killing our own, then where do we draw it? And that line matters Daryl, it matters more now than ever, when there are no other rules and there are people...'
People like Carol, and Rick and me…
'We need to know where that line is,' she finished sadly.
Daryl's was watching her intently and she closed her eyes so she didn't need to see the look in his.
He started pacing again and for a long time she listened to the crunch of gravel. Eventually he sat down next to her and they waited in silence for Rick to come back.
As soon as the gate was wide enough to admit the Hyundai, Asha took the weight of the pulley system from Daryl and he charged over to the vehicle. Asha's heart sank as he slammed his palm on the car roof, snarling.
Carol wasn't there.
She sighed, not surprised and not entirely sure how she felt about Carol being gone. Fatigue flooded her body. Whether or not she agreed with it, the decision was made, and without the anxiety of waiting for Rick's return, she barely had the energy to stand.
Rick opened the car door and stepped out into the late afternoon sun, glancing at Daryl pacing angrily beside the vehicle.
'You told him?' Rick accused Asha, as she worked the pulley to close the gate.
She was too tired to even bristle, she just nodded.
Rick scrubbed his hand across his forehead. 'Wish you'd let me do it.'
'I couldn't hide it from him Rick.'
They locked eyes and Rick nodded shortly in acceptance.
'Ya couldn't wait till I got back?' Daryl hurled at them from the other side of the car.
'What, till Tyrese got back?' Rick spat back.
'I coulda handled that.'
'She killed two of our own,' Rick said quietly. 'She admitted it.'
Daryl gave him a flat look.
Asha sighed. She'd hadn't had any doubts that Carol had done it, but there was no avoiding it now.
'She's gonna be alright,' Rick continued. 'I set her up with a car, fuel, supplies. She's a survivor. She's gonna make it.'
'Stop sayin' that like ya don't believe it,' Daryl snarled.
The two men glared at each other.
'She couldn't be here,' Rick eventually ground out between clenched teeth. 'I spoke to her Asha, like you wanted. She admitted it. Said she did it for us, to protect us. That's how it was in her head. She wasn't sorry.'
There was long moment of silence.
'What if she decided someone else was a threat?' Rick said. 'Me? You? Asha...Carl? She'd do it again.'
Asha winced and closed her eyes. The crunch of gravel stopped beneath Daryl's boots.
'Well it's fucking done now ain't it?' he growled.
'Unless she comes back,' Asha said softly. She hadn't realised she'd spoken aloud until she opened her eyes to see both Rick and Daryl staring at her.
'Ya reckon she will?' Daryl asked.
Asha shrugged, trying to focus through the exhausted fog settling in her brain. 'Maybe. Depends on whether or not she thinks Rick was speaking for the group I guess. If it were me, and I'd been kicked out for something I thought I was right to do, once the shock had worn off, yeah, I think maybe I would come back and demand the whole Council hear me out.'
'You didn't think to mention this earlier?' Rick said sourly.
'Only really thought about it today. Spent a lot of time waiting for people to come home today, lots of time to think.'
Rick sighed heavily. 'Well, if she does, then I guess we'll deal with it then.' Rick turned back to Daryl. 'I take it you got what we needed from the vet college, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation?'
Daryl grunted and as he filled Rick in on the run, Asha pulled open the rear car door and collapsed onto the backseat, closing her eyes, listening to the sound of Daryl's voice without really taking in his words.
A moment later there was pressure behind her back and on her shoulder, and she jolted frantically awake, arms flailing in a disorientated mess. Daryl jerked back above her, bumping his head against the car roof and quickly snagging a hand around the wrist of her injured hand to stop her hitting anything.
The car was in the courtyard, light fading quickly. Daryl held her wrist, looking down at her with a bemused expression. 'Rick's checking on cell block A, then taking first watch. You are going to bed.'
She knew she should care about who was taking watch after Rick, but all she could focus on was the word bed. 'Oh god,' she groaned. 'Bed, please. Yes.'
Daryl backed out of the open door and she forced her tired muscles to move long enough to get out of the car – Daryl quickly wrapping a hand under her arm as she swayed on her feet. 'Jesus Asha, ya about to fall over.'
'Mhhmmm,' she mumbled incoherently, eyes half closed as they climbed the steps to the cell block door.
Even in her sleep deprived state, she felt the difference as soon as the door creaked open. It was cold, quiet, still – like a mausoleum. Without saying a word they both stopped, looking around.
'Shit,' Daryl muttered. 'Guess the rest of them are still in cell block A, or quarantine in the admin block.'
Asha nodded at him, shivering slightly in the eerie quiet.
Daryl kept his hand under her arm as they went up the stairs to her cell.
Asha brushed the sheet she'd hung in the doorway for privacy out of the way, and then they paused, looking at the ball of orange fur curled up in the middle of the pillow on the bottom bunk.
'Damn cat likes you,' Daryl muttered.
Asha pushed gently out of Daryl's grip and picked up the little animal, smiling and snuggling him up to her face as his golden eyes slit open and he started up his broken purr. 'Yeah, I like him too...even though he insists on sleeping on my damn pillow.'
Daryl shrugged, half smile tugging at his lips. 'Cat,' he said, by way of explanation.
She laughed softly. 'You know the kids named him Crookshanks?'
Daryl raised a brow. 'What sort of stupid name for a cat is that?'
Asha shrugged, 'I think it's from Harry Potter.'
Daryl looked at her blankly
'It's a book. Never mind. He seems to like the kids, Carl and Mika anyway. He goes mental if Lizzie goes near him.
'Yeah well, cat's are neurotic by definition right?' He took the purring creature out of her hands and settled him on the top bunk, then nodded towards the bottom bunk.
Asha groaned in relief as she crawled onto the mattress, and then flipped on her side to see Daryl leaning against the cell wall. Her eyes trailed over the definition in his shoulders and biceps where they were crossed over his chest, and she felt a sudden pull, low in her abdomen.
She blinked a couple of times, amazed at her own body. She really was too damn tired for that.
She patted the bed next to her, and tried not to read too much into the sudden wariness that closed over Daryl's face.
'Just for a minute,' she pleaded. 'This place is creepy with no-one else here, and…' She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'It hurt whilst you were gone,' she whispered. Her eyes were still closed when she felt his weight settle on the bunk next to her.
'Yeah,' he mumbled reluctantly. 'Damn well hurts when you're gone too.'
He laid down on his back, and she wrapped her arm across his chest, nestling her head into his shoulder.
'Don't go anywhere' she said.
He was silent.
'At least until I fall asleep,' she added.
'Mhhhm.'
'Daryl,' she murmured sleepily after a moment. 'Don't get any ideas about going after Carol on your own.'
She slit one eye open and watched him intently examining the underneath of the top bunk, a deep crease between his brows.
'I mean it,' she said softly. 'If that's what you want to do I'll back you all the way to the Council, but don't go out there without me or Michonne.' She hesitated a moment and swallowed hard before adding. 'If she comes back, the Council will still have to decide if she can stay or not.'
Daryl would have to vote, and his voice carried a lot of weight these days.
The crease between his brows deepened and the lines at the corner of his mouth hardened as he stared unblinking at the top bunk.
Asha was sorry to bring it up, and she didn't push him further, but he had to be prepared for it.
Eventually Daryl scrubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand and sighed. 'She's got a right to be heard if she comes back. But she's gonna have to do that herself. Ain't like I can track a car far across tarmac anyway.'
Asha nodded wearily against his shoulder and let her eyes fall closed again.
Hell, maybe it was better that Rick had taken the choice off them.
Asha woke up to a mouthful of fur.
Crookshanks was pressed in a tightly curled ball against her face and mewed in protest as she sat up spitting. It was morning, and she looked at the thin light seeping through the sheet in the cell door before she registered the fact that she'd slept all night and no-one had woken her for watch. She felt she could comfortably have slept for another six hours or so if the ginger pillow thief hadn't interfered. Still, she already felt a world better than yesterday.
Daryl was gone. Asha frowned as reached down and tugged on her boots – she didn't even remember taking those off. He had better be on watch. If he'd taken himself off after Carol despite their chat last night she was going to skin him alive when she got her hands on him.
Lacing her boots she got up and padded quietly out of her cell and down to his – smiling in relief at the sight of him passed out face first, still in his own boots, crossbow on the floor beside him where his fingers had finally relaxed from the grip in his sleep.
There was the soft swish of material behind her and Michonne came out of her cell, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She gestured silently with her head and Asha followed her downstairs.
'He covered your shift on watch last night.' Michonne said, adjusting the scarf around her dreadlocks. 'Heard him get back in about an hour ago.'
Asha bit down on her smile, feeling her cheeks starting to glow to match the warmth in her chest. 'Then let's get out of here and let him sleep,' she said quietly.
Michonne nodded and they slipped out the cell block door.
'How's cell block A?' Asha asked nervously, taking a long breath as they stepped into the fresh air.
Michonne rubbed her face. 'Got everyone dosed up last night - everyone that was left that was. Glenn's intubated. If we'd been quicker...' She trailed off.
'Don't do that,' Asha said firmly, shaking her head. 'You guys got the meds and you got back, that's what counts - and I know you didn't stop to smell the flowers on the way.'
Her dark skinned friend nodded, but still looked unconvinced. 'So what's the plan for the morning?'
Asha shrugged and looked around the yard, gaze settling on the mound of dead still piled against the fence where Carl and Rick had mown them down. For the moment the breeze was blowing the stench away from the cell block, but they couldn't leave them there. 'You up for a bit of physical labour?'
Michonne lifted her shoulders. 'Not like we can do much to help the people in cell block A I guess.'
Asha nodded. 'I'll go pinch us a couple of cans of something for breakfast, and then we can go deal with that.' She pointed across the yard at the pile of dead.
'Great,' Michonne said flatly. 'You sure breakfast is a good idea before that?'
Asha snorted. 'I'll probably regret it later, but right now I am starving.'
Hershel joined them as they were loading the dead onto the trailer hooked to the dual cab, telling them in a relieved voice that Glenn was breathing on his own. The elderly man volunteered to help – saying he needed a break from the inside of the cell block for a bit anyway - and the work proceeded more quickly with Hershel helping Asha and her one usable hand at one end of the bodies and Michonne at the other.
The three of them loaded up the trailer and drove out into the woods, heading out far enough that the bonfire they had planned wouldn't draw attention of the walkers to the prison.
The pile of dead was crackling and smoking as Hershel and Asha tossed the last of the loose limbs from the trailer onto the flaming pile. It stank, the sickly sweet stench of grilling rotting meat wafting up into the morning air. Asha grimaced, tugging the scarf around her face higher over her nose, and then arching a brow as she met Hershel's eyes. She could feel him grimacing through his own scarf, and he shook his head wryly, tossing a final dismembered limb onto the burning heap.
They stared at the flames for a moment with the particular satisfaction of having an unpleasant job completed - then Michonne hissed suddenly behind them and Asha heard the distinct clunk of the hammer of a pistol pulling back.
The sound slid like ice down her spine and she spun around.
Michonne's back was to her, hand hovering partway towards her sword. Asha could just glimpse the barrel of the pistol bare inches from her friend's face. Looming at the end of the arm gripping the gun, a single cold eye glittering in the morning sunlight, was a face she'd hoped was buried in the dirt somewhere.
There was moment of stillness, silence, as Asha stared in shook at the Governor, then she casually eased her hand towards the small of her back where her colt revolver was wedged in her jeans.
The Governor clicked his tongue against his teeth, shaking his head slowly, as Hershel awkwardly pulled his gun. The old man glanced at Asha, before setting the weapon down on the edge of the trailer.
The Governor's gaze shifted to Asha, just as her fingers brushed the revolver's grip. Her hand stilled, eyes narrowed, as she quickly evaluated her chances of getting the gun out, firing – and actually hitting the Governor rather than Michonne – before he squeezed the trigger and splattered Michonne's brains across the ground.
Not good...and definitely not worth the chance.
Asha exhaled sharply through her nose and dropped her hand limply to her side.
She just had time to see the Governor's lips twist in a cruel smirk before the back of her head exploded in pain and darkness claimed her.
[A/N: Not overly thrilled with the writing quality in this chapter, but hopefully it wasn't too painful to read. And i wanted to get this chapter up because there are interesting chapters coming up!]