AN: Thank you all again for all the views, favorites, follows and supports! Daryl now has a quest! Rylynn's real name could literally be anything! Don't fret over his poor chances- he might just get some hints along the way.
I also had a request for some more information on Rylynn's nickname. Yes, "Rylynn" is a name of an actual, beautiful guitar piece, played by Andrew McKee. Please PM me for the link, or you can simply youtube that information.
My other chapters are relatively short, because I write them after work on the weekdays. This one will be longer, because I have today off. Hurray!
Onwards and upwards!
Darly happily spent last two hours of sunlight on the floor of Aaron and Eric's garage, tinkering away at the bike with the recently acquired parts. As the white walls of the space became tinted with the golds of the setting sun, Daryl heard the house door open, and Aaron's tennis shoes appeared at eye level.
"How's it going?" his friend greeted him.
"Fine," Daryl responded, twisting a final lug into place and sitting up. "Went out and got the parts I needed with Ry earlier."
A small smile appeared on Aaron's face. "I heard. She stopped by a while ago to tell me she didn't see any replacement vehicles on the way."
"Nah, didn't see much. Ran into a herd, but nothing' else."
"Glad to see you both got back safely. I know Ry can handle herself just fine, but I felt better with her having someone else out with her."
Ya got it backwards, a mildly resentful voice said in Daryl's head, but he kept the comment to himself.
"Did she get your entire life story out of you?" Aaron asked, laughing a little. Daryl shot him a confused look.
"She has a tendency to do that; people just seem to spill their guts to her," Aaron said. "I think she had me and Eric's history out of me within an hour of her talking."
Daryl shrugged, but the resentful little voice kept going. She didn't get the whole story, just the worst parts.
"Well, anyway, we're about to lose daylight so I was checking to see if you were still here. I wanted to see if you were going to Pete's house later, for the party."
"Another party?" Daryl scoffed. "Don't y'all ever do anythin' else?"
"WE," Aaron corrected him. "You and your family are part of this now. And it's his son Ron's birthday today. Awkward timing, I'll give you that, but every kid deserves to be special once a year."
Not you, the voice hissed.
"Your whole family is invited, of course," Aaron added. "I sent Ry over to invite them when she stopped by."
"Ry's gonna be there?" Daryl asked, trying to sound indifferent. Aaron fought to keep the smile off his face.
"I hope so, because I asked her to pick up a gift on her previous run from all of us."
Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. Since everyone else is."
Aaron smiled widely and clapped Daryl on the shoulder as he walked back inside. "Fantastic. See you in a few then."
Daryl suddenly forgot his nervousness when he, just as quickly, remembered the trade he had proposed to Ry.
"Ay, Aaron," he called. "Got a question for ya."
"What's up?"
"Ya said Ry didn't give ya her name when she came here."
"That's right. We just call her after that guitar piece."
"But did ya ever find out what it is? Her name?"
Aaron paused, contemplating. "I don't think so. I mean, she's never told us to call her anything else."
Daryl frowned. "Never even saw another name…I dunno, like in her house?"
Aaron shook his head. "No, I've never been in her house. I…I'm not even sure anyone else has been over. She's always outside."
Daryl huffed in frustration.
"Why?" Aaron pried. "What's so important about her name?"
"Nothin'," Daryl deflected. "Just curious."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Daryl, hurry up!" Carl hollered, pounding on the bathroom door from the hallway. Carol walked out from one of the bedrooms, investigating the cause of the noise.
"Carl, what's wrong?" she asked. Carl looked at her and rolled his eyes.
"We were supposed to be over at Ron's like ten minutes ago, and I have to get my shoes from the bathroom, but Daryl IS TAKING FOREVER TO SHOWER," he yelled the last few words straight into the door.
"Buzz off," Daryl retorted from the other side of the shower. Carol sighed.
"Thank God he's finally showering," she told Carl.
"I can hear ya!" Daryl hollered. Carl laughed. The door cracked open, and Daryl's hands appeared with Carl's shoes. He chucked them at the boy's general direction, one colliding with Carol's knee as Carl jumped to avoid being hit by the other.
"Daryl!" Carol yelled in protest.
"Take ya damn shoes," he responded as he closed the door again.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The group was gathered in the living room, idly catching up from their day apart, when Aaron and Eric knocked on the door. The group followed the duo down the street, with Sasha carried out the chocolate chip cookies, and Carl looked excitedly at the bike with the bow that Eric was wheeling along.
"Is that for Ron?" he asked.
"Yep! Hopefully it fits him," Eric responded. "Ry brought it back from a run for him, and she dropped it off a few minutes ago. If you like it, you might ask her to keep an eye out for another one."
Carl looked embarrassed at the idea of asking for something as frivolous as a bike. "Nah, I wouldn't want her to do that. She could bring back other stuff that we need."
"Ry would be thrilled for a reason to run more," Eric promised him. "Right, Daryl?"
Carl turned to Daryl. "You went out with Ry today?"
"Yah," Daryl responded. "Why?"
"Ron says she's the best runner they've ever had. He said, once, that she came back with fifteen pounds of food in her pack and was rolling a spare tire for the camper!"
"It's true," Eric said. "We needed all of those things pretty urgently. Her old running partner had knee issues and she went out on her own."
"Wouldn't know nothin' 'bout that," Daryl said. "I carried the parts today."
Eric and Carl both laughed as the troupe reached the front door of their destination. Rick knocked, and the door flew open almost immediately.
"Rick!" Jessie greeted the leader happily. "Welcome!" She looked past him to see the rest of the crowd. "Aaron! Eric! Maggie! Everyone! My goodness, we are so happy you came! Come in!"
She stepped aside to let them past, and they filed into the house. Deanna, Reg, Aiden, and many other members of the community were already gathered inside. Julie went off to show Sasha where to put the cookies, and Pete snuck out front with Eric to hide the bike in the garage.
Everyone was dressed in nice, pressed clothing. The house had white walls and clean, tan carpeting, with family photos and polished wood tables. Daryl was keenly aware of how out of place he seemed in his long hair, dark jeans, black shirt and leather vest. He went over to a chair and started to sit down, but then saw that everyone else was standing and slowly, so as not to draw attention, straightened back up. He looked around for a member of his group, but saw that they had all dispersed among the rest of the partygoers. Carol was chatting with Sam, Ron's little brother. Rick was conversing with Maggie, Glen, and Jessie. Carl had already broken off into a group with the younger members of Alexandria. Daryl looked around awkwardly, leaned back against the wall, and then thought better of it and stood upright again.
"Daryl, come here for a second!" Noah called from the food table, where he was standing with Aaron and Reg. Daryl's eyes darted around, and then he carefully crossed the crowded space to the young man.
"Aaron was telling me that you're pretty close to having that motorcycle fixed up," Reg said.
"Ah, yeah." Daryl nodded. Reg paused, waiting for him to go on.
"Ah, oh, yeah, I have 'bout an hour or so left, maybe. The shock absorbers on the front of the frame need…"
The front door creaked open, and Rylynn stepped through, grinning broadly.
"Ry!" Sam shouted, hurrying away from Carol and launching into Rylynn's arms. She caught him in his flying leap with one arm and hugged him tightly.
"Hey bud!" she said. "Happy birthday!"
"Ryyyyy," he laughed as she put him back on his own two feet. "It's not my birthday, it's Ron's!"
"Is it?" she teased. "Well then what did I get this Sam dinosaur for?" She produced a tiny, plastic stegosaurus from the front pocket of her jeans and snuck it into his hand, giving him a wink.
"Thanks," he loudly whispered to her. He noticed that she was keeping her other arm behind her back.
"What's that?" he asked, peeking around her as she turned to block his view. "Did you bring it?!"
She smiled and produced a box wrapped in paper from behind her back. "This?"
He was visibly disappointed as she handed it to him. "Aw man, a present for Ron?" He walked it obediently over to the couch, where a few other gifts lay. "I thought it was…"
He turned back around, and his face instantly lit up. She was standing there, holding an acoustic guitar that she had produced from its hiding spot on the front porch.
"YES!" Sam hollered, catching his mother's attention.
"Sam, watch your voice please!" she called over, and saw Ry standing there. "Oh Rylynn, come inside! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you arrive!"
Rylynn stepped further into the house, closing the door behind him. Her eyes caught Daryl's as she scanned around the room, and a secret smile played across her lips.
"No worries, Jessie. I have quiet feet."
Daryl gave her a joking glare at the inside reference. She grinned back and crossed the room, smiling and greeting people she knew along the way.
"Reg!" she exclaimed, and the old man opened his arms out to him. She hugged him tightly. "Deanna finally let you out of the house?"
"I broke out, I kid you not," Reg jested as Rylynn turned to hug Eric warmly. Daryl gave her a greeting in the form of a tight smile. She rolled her eyes at him and hugged him, then let go before he had a chance to process what was happening.
"I see you brought the guitar," Eric said, gesturing to the instrument in her hands.
"Yep. I thought it might be nice to wind down the evening with," she said.
"Are you going to play your namesake?" Reg asked. "It is always such a beautiful piece."
"Maybe. I'm open to requests," she said. "Birthday boys get first picks, though."
She was wearing a fitted black t-shirt, a blue and green scarf, and dark jeans. Her two-toned hair was half pulled into a pony tail, half draped down her shoulders. Daryl noticed that she wasn't wearing any makeup at all, and her largest knife was tucking into her waistband. She looked up at him, and he hurriedly looked away before she caught him staring.
She leaned towards him and whispered, "Having fun yet?" He just gave her a look.
"Haven't decided," he muttered back, and she gave a small laugh.
"But Daryl," she said, even lower, "look at all the people talking about whiskey and painting their bedrooms a different shade of tan. They're all complimenting each other on the state of their front yard."
He wrinkled his nose. "Guess we can't talk anymore, livin' right down the street an' all."
She gave a bark of laughter. "Speak for yourself. My house looks nothing like this."
"How so?"
She smiled, almost to herself. "I don't know…it's not so…clean. Like, clean-cut. It's all so fake, you know? Their guns are hidden from view. They have old photos from back when we had printers. They worry about having platters for the food."
He looked around and saw all the shiny, shallow components.
"Michonne's sword is over out fireplace," he said suddenly. Why did he share that with her?
"My knives are all on a magnetic strip in the kitchen, where all the fancy Japanese chef knives are supposed to be," she responded, then looked at him expectantly. Trade.
He felt his entire body and being relax, forgetting the unfamiliar surroundings and falling into this increasingly familiar game with her. "My crossbow's on the towel rack in th' bathroom."
She giggled. "Um…my mattress is on the back porch. That's where I sleep."
"We have a bag o' guns on the roof behind th' chimney."
"I have a backpack of canned food and granola bars in the tree in my backyard, right over the bird feeder."
"Ahh…" he was running out of things to say. "Carl's shoes were in the bathroom."
She gave him a bewildered look. "What?!"
He shrugged. "I dunno, it came to mind, 'cause I threw em at him earlier."
She started cracking up. "That is so random but also hilarious. I can see it now. You guys are such a family. I'm almost jealous that I don't have someone to toss shoes at."
He cocked his head at her. "It's just ya in that house?"
"Yeah," she said. "I didn't come with a group, and there were a lot of empty houses, so I got my own."
Daryl thought about what it would be like to have an entire house to himself, and couldn't quite picture it. He had always shared his space with other people, whether it be the tiny trailer house with Merle and their parents, or the cell block, the farm, the camp grounds, and the large house with his group.
"It's a little lonely sometimes, and it feels like such a waste," she said. "Four bedrooms and one me. But I'm over at Aaron and Eric's a lot, or out running. So it all works out."
"Aaron said he ain't never been over to yer place," Daryl commented.
She frowned, concentrating. "No, I guess he hasn't. Never really thought about it, to be honest. But anyone is welcome anytime. I like the company. I guess I'm just rarely there."
He nodded, understanding.
"I have to say," she said, turning to face him, "I'm surprised you are here. I didn't expect you to come, and all cleaned up, nonetheless."
He shrugged. "Figured why not."
She playfully nudged him. "That's the social spirit, Angel." He nudged back at her use of the nickname, so she shoved harder. He leaned into her to block her momentum, and she grazed his shoulder and fell forward. He grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her fall and she laughed as he fought back a similar reaction.
Across the room, Carol and Rick were watching the pair.
"Isn't that that girl who came by last night?" Carol asked. Rick shook his head in disbelief, smiling.
"I believe it is," he responded.
"She's pretty," Carol noted approvingly. "Not that any of that really matters anymore, I suppose."
"Deanna told me she's a good person," Rick added. "Goes on runs on her own and brings back whatever they need. Never causes any trouble."
Carol continued watching as Rylynn said something to Daryl that caused the man to scrub his eyes over his face and finally let out a quiet laugh, which led to Rylynn giggling even more.
"Good for her," Carol said, a proud smile crossing her face. "And for him."