A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
Chapter 36-Flashback
The phone kept ringing but Dani ignored it. She knew it was Greg but she wasn't about to cave in. She'd done that for too many years.
"Abby get in the car." Dani could hear gunshots on another street and a helicopter flew overhead heading for downtown. "C'mon baby. We're going to Uncle Jasper's." Abigail slowly climbed into the packed car.
"But Dad said.." Dani climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine.
"I don't give a damn what your dad said. We can't stay here. We'll be safe at Jasper's with all your cousins." As she backed out of the driveway, her phone rang again and this time she answered it.
"Stop calling me, Greg. I'm not changing my mind."
"Do not hang up on me this time you stupid bitch!" Greg was screaming at her and she could hear the panicked voices of the ER in the background.
"I'm not having this discussion. Abigail and I are goin' to Monroe and there's not a damned thing you can do about it." She swerved to the side of the road as an army truck sped towards her.
"Listen to me, you ignorant white trash cunt! If you are not at this hospital in ten minutes I'm calling my attorney!" Dani laughed and finally said the words she'd been dying to say for years.
"Fuck you Greg. And fuck your attorney too." She hung up, turned the phone off and tossed it on the pile of clothes on the seat next to her. Abigail was crying in the backseat.
"It's ok baby. We'll be ok." An ambulance pulled behind her, the siren sounding eerily like a baby's cry...
Dani opened her eyes and in the dim light from the lantern saw Daryl pacing the small cell with Jesse on his shoulder, shushing the crying baby. In Daryl's arms, their six week old son looked so small. Dani sat up and Daryl saw she was awake.
"Hey." He whispered as Dani smiled and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
"Is he hungry again?" Daryl nodded.
"I think so." Dani held out her arms. Taking Jesse, she got him settled in to nurse and Daryl sat on the bed next to her. "How long has he been up?" Daryl brushed her hair back over her ear.
"Not long. I wanted to let you sleep but..." Daryl took Jesse's hand and ran his thumb over his tiny fingers. Dani smiled down at the baby.
"I think we'll both have to forget sleep for a while." She looked up at Daryl. "Are you goin' out hunting today?" Daryl nodded.
"Yeah, if that's alright. Rick wants to check the snares early. Last time the damn walkers got to the critters before we could." Dani smiled in relief.
"So Rick's goin' with you?" Daryl nodded, pulling on his boots and buttoning his shirt. Dressed, he leaned over Dani to kiss her and put his hand on Jesse's head.
"Stay safe and come back home." Dani whispered. Daryl nodded.
"Always do." He grabbed his crossbow, looked back at Dani.
"I love you." Dani smiled and winked.
"You keep sayin' that Dixon and I'm gonna start to think you mean it." Daryl smirked and walked out the door.
The first two snares yielded a rabbit and a squirrel. The third snare had been sprung without catching anything. Fresh footsteps were in the muddy ground around the snare.
"Damn walkers must've set it off." Daryl muttered as he reset the tripped snare, though it didn't look like it had been accidently tripped. Rick kept an eye on the woods around them as Daryl worked.
"Hey Daryl, when we were out here yesterday, did you see a tent over there?" Daryl turned to where Rick pointed.
"No…that's new." He stood slowly and both men walked quietly through the woods. When they got closer, Daryl motioned for Rick to stop and they both ducked down. A campfire was still burning and they could smell cooking meat. They could hear movement in the tent and Daryl heard a twig snap behind them. He whirled around, raising his crossbow. The man was so startled he dropped the blood stained mallet he was carrying in his hand.
"Don't kill me! I thought you were one of them!" Daryl kept the crossbow trained on the man's face while Rick raised his gun. The tent flap pushed back and a young girl stepped outside, her eyes wide with fear. In her hand she held a hatchet and she raised it slowly as she stepped towards the men. Rick raised his gun on the man and his hand to the girl.
"Drop it and don't move." Rick looked back at the man. "What's your name?" The man didn't move his eyes off of Daryl.
"Greg. That's Cassie. Look, I don't want any trouble. I thought you were from that other group." Rick looked back at the girl.
"What other group?" Greg looked over at Rick quickly and then back at Daryl and the crossbow.
"That group south of here. Their camp is about two day's walk along the creek." Daryl glanced at Rick and then back at Greg.
"What's the deal with this other group?" Greg jerked his head towards the girl.
"Big group of guys. I didn't want them to know about her. Her parents died a week ago and her mother asked me to watch out for her. I thought they've been following us." Rick looked back at the girl, who appeared to not have eaten well for quite a while and then looked back at the man.
"We have a group, a good group with families. We're safe but we can't bring you in until we ask you some things." Greg nodded, desperation all over his face.
"Please. Whatever you need to know. It's just the two of us now and I can't take care of her. I can't hunt, can't fish without a pole. We hadn't eaten real food in two days. If we hadn't found that squirrel earlier, we wouldn't have eaten again today." Rick and Daryl exchanged a look and Daryl shook his head slightly before slowly lowering his crossbow. Rick kept the gun ready but lowered it.
"How many walkers have you killed?" Greg looked confused at Rick's question.
"Walkers?" Daryl glared at him.
"The dead bodies walkin' around dumbass." Greg nodded quickly.
"Oh yes, yes. I'm not sure, I never really kept count. A couple dozen or so maybe?" Rick nodded.
"How many people have you killed?" Greg thought hard.
"Only one, after we left the refugee camp." Rick nodded.
"Why?" Greg hesitated, probably thinking that the wrong answer would get him killed.
"He stole our food and wouldn't stop when we told him to. I hit him over the head. It was an accident and I didn't mean to kill him." Rick looked at Daryl. Daryl couldn't understand how this guy, who was still wearing loafers with his jeans and plaid shirt, had survived this long. He was useless.
"What can you do to help our group?" Rick was continuing the interview but had already decided to bring the two people in. Greg smiled.
"I'm a doctor, or at least I was when I worked at Atlanta Medical." A twinge of recognition hit Daryl.
"What did you say your name was?" Daryl asked. His arm holding the crossbow was tense and Rick felt the change in Daryl's manner.
"Greg Robertson." Daryl flinched. Dani's ex-husband, Abigail's father, was standing right in front of him. Rick recognized the name too and saw Daryl's free hand tighten into a fist. Greg was at least two inches shorter than Daryl and still had the soft look of someone who sat behind a desk all day. It wouldn't take much for Daryl to beat the man senseless. Rick touched Daryl's arm and Daryl relaxed some but kept eyeing Greg hard.
"We need to talk about this first, alright?" Rick said to Greg. He and Daryl walked further away so they wouldn't be overheard.
"Rick, you know who that is?" Rick nodded.
"I do. Now if he were by himself I wouldn't feel all that bad about givin' him some food and sending him on his way but he's got a little girl with him. She's probably about Carl's age. I cannot, in good conscience, leave her out here." Daryl's eyes narrowed.
"Don't you think we should at least talk to Dani before bringing her ex-husband in to live with us? Do you know what an asshole he was to her? You can't make her live right next to him again." Rick nodded.
"Ordinarily, I'd agree with you. I don't know how he's survived a week on his own but that girl is starving and if we leave them out here, who knows what could happen. Besides, we need to find out more about this other group. If we've got more hostiles in our backyard, we'll have to contain the situation before we have another Woodbury on our hands." Rick looked into his friend's face for any sign of agreement but Daryl wouldn't look at him. He felt like he was betraying Dani by agreeing with Rick. Finally, he nodded.
"But I'm tellin' him about Dani and Abigail right here. And if he says one word about Dani, we're leavin' his sorry ass in the woods, understood?" Rick nodded and Daryl turned back to Greg, who was now standing with Cassie in front of him, his hands on her shoulders. He appeared to be very protective of her, like a father would be to his own daughter.
"You said your last name's Robertson?" Greg nodded. "Do you know Danielle Robertson?" Greg's eyes widened.
"That's my wife, I mean, my ex-wife. Have you seen her? And my daughter, Abigail? She'd be almost eleven now. Do you know where they are?" Rick and Daryl exchanged a look and Daryl looked back at Greg.
"I'm sorry to tell you but your daughter died about a year ago. Pneumonia. Dani's with our group now." Greg's face went white and he stepped backwards, sitting down hard on the ground.
"My little girl's dead?" His voice trembled but his eyes were dry. "And Danielle? Is she ok?" Daryl nodded.
"Yeah, she's fine. Like I said, she's with us now." Greg stared down at the ground.
"I…I want to see her. Please. If she's with your group, I need to see her. I have to find out what happened to my daughter." He looked back up to Rick and Daryl. "Pneumonia? You say Abigail died from pneumonia?" Rick nodded.
"Yeah, she did." Greg stood up and put his hand on Cassie's shoulder again.
"Please. Can we come with you? We can leave the tent here and we don't have many belongings. I need to talk to Danielle and I want Cassie to be taken care of. I promised her mother. Please." Rick glanced over at Daryl who reluctantly nodded.
"I'll head back now, talk to Dani." He turned and headed back through the woods for the prison.
When Daryl walked into C Block, he saw Dani and Jesse sitting with Beth and Judith on the floor. Judith was alternating between playing with her toys and crawling over to touch Jesse. Daryl's heart was pounding as he thought about how he was going to tell Dani about Greg. Dani looked up and saw him standing in the doorway but didn't pick up on anything wrong. Instead she sat Jesse up in her lap and pointed.
"Hey look, your daddy's home." Jesse kicked his legs in response and gurgled as he put his fingers in his mouth to suck. Daryl walked into the room and sat on the floor next to them. Judith crawled over to him and wrinkled her nose up as she grinned. He smiled back and leaned over closer to his son, watching him as he wriggled in Dani's arms. Daryl put his hand on Dani's shoulder and she finally looked back at him. As soon as she saw his face, she knew something was wrong.
"What is it? Is it Rick?" Daryl quickly shook his head.
"No but I need to talk to you." Dani frowned and stood, Jesse still in her arms. Daryl motioned towards Beth. "Let Beth take him for right now, ok?" Dani hesitated and then carefully handed him to Beth.
"He just ate so he should be ok." Beth nodded.
"I've got him, don't worry." Dani followed Daryl back into their room. Dani crossed her arms and faced Daryl.
"What is it?" Daryl bit his lower lip and finally looked at her.
"We found someone in the woods today. A guy and a little girl about Carl's age. Rick questioned them and he decided to let them into the prison, probably put them in D." Dani nodded, confused.
"Ok, why is this somethin' we need to talk about then?" Daryl stepped closer and lowered his voice.
"Because it's Greg." The name didn't register for a second but when it did, Dani doubled over like she'd been punched. Daryl caught her and helped her to the bed.
"Greg? You mean my ex Greg?" Daryl nodded. "What the hell is he even doin' here Daryl? How the hell is he even alive?"
"I don't know, I didn't ask him." He tilted her chin up to look at him. "I told him about you and Abigail." She drew in a sharp breath.
"What did he say?" Her voice was cracking. Daryl hated putting her through this pain again.
"He just said that he wanted to see you, to find out what happened." She nodded and took a deep breath. "He has a little girl with him, she's probably twelve, thirteen. Her parents died a week ago. He said her name was Cassie." Dani jerked her head up.
"Cassie Dolan? Ed Dolan was Chief of Staff at the hospital. Real outdoors lover, went hunting and fishing all the time. Greg hated him but had to play office politics so that meant going fishing with Ed. His wife Tina was a friend of mine, even after Greg and I split. Cassie played with Abigail. I can't believe…" Her voice trailed off and her hands began shaking. "Not now, not now…he's going to blame me for not going to the hospital…oh I can't deal with this right now." Daryl knelt down in front of her and held her hands.
"Hey, you aren't dealin' with this alone. In fact, you don't have to deal with this at all. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to. As for Abigail, you don't owe him an explanation. Her death was not your fault, you hear me?" Dani nodded her head and exhaled slowly.
"I need you and Jesse. Please. Just the three of us together for a little while." Daryl nodded, stood and left the cell. A minute later he was back with Jesse in his arms. Dani took him and cradled the baby to her chest. Tears ran down her face and Daryl knew she was remembering Abigail. Daryl sat next to her and held her.
"I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here Daryl." Daryl kissed her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"You won't ever have to find out."
A/N I'm sorry…you didn't expect them to live happily ever after just yet did you? Sorry for the short chapter…next one will be a doozy!