Between the Thorns

Chapter 10

Daryl had no idea where he was taking the girl. He walked as close behind Negan as he could without running smack into the large man. As he cluched Jean's older daughter tighter against his chest, it struck Daryl as ironic that he was now doing at least two of the things he has promised himself that he wouldn't do. And not only that, he was doing them both at the same time. Daryl swore to himself over and over again that he would never follow Negan, yet at that moment he was blindly willing to go wherever the man was leading him. And since waking up in Jean's bed, Daryl had convinced himself that it wasn't in his best interests to get involved in her life or her problems. That ended when he beat a man to death for touching her daughter.

The small group walked in a direction that Daryl hadn't taken since arriving in the Sanctuary. Up. The old factory that served as a home base for the saviors was something of a maze. There were whole sections of it that Daryl had not been permitted to enter. Until now. He did his best to memorize the path he had taken, but he was having a hard time concentrating on his escape plan. Rose clung to him tightly at first with the arm she wasn't keeping tight against her chest like it was hurting her. But halfway up the stairs the girl lost consciousness. Her head lolled against Daryl's shoulders and her long skinny legs started swinging loosely in time with his movements. Fainting was never a good sign. He was afraid something was seriously wrong with her.

After walking down a long hallway that was lighted mainly with candles and oil lamps, Negan led them into a large room that was set up like like the lounge area in a high class bar or hotel might be. A few scantily clad women leaped up from whatever useless leisure activities they had been taking part in. Two of them had been playing a game of checkers. When the young blonde one leaped up, she sent the board and all the pieces flying onto the floor. Negan stomped in. Ignoring the women, he tossed his baseball bat onto a small coffee table. It landed with a loud clink, cracking the glass table top. The already startled looking women scattered like high heeled roaches, clearly displaying that they had no desire to be involved in whatever fresh horror was about to take place. The only one that held her ground was Sherry. But even she backed up to hover behind the bar.

"Go get Dr. Carson," Negan ordered. Sherry didn't stop to question the situation or Negan's command. She hurried from the room. The sound of her impractical shoes echoed off the walls as she clacked and clicked away down the hall. Negan opened a door on the far wall of the room, gesturing Daryl inside. "Bring her in here," he said, his tone lower and less demanding than when he had spoken to Sherry.

The next room that Daryl entered was done up as lavishly as the first. In the center of it was the largest bed he had ever seen. The place was so clean it looked like a room in a model home, not the sort of place where anyone would actually sleep. Daryl hesitated near the bed, nervous to set the girl down for fear that she might ruin or rumple what he guessed was Negan's personal living space. The big man stepped forward and yanked the covers back, nodding that it was alright for Daryl to lay the girl down.

The change from being held securely in Daryl's strong arms to being laid down on a set of cold sheets woke the girl. Rose's eyes got wide, and then wider once she realized she was lying on in an unfamiliar bed with two men hovering over her. She shrieked as she immediately began to panic. Jean pushed past the two men. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took her daughter's hand. The woman spoke quietly and calmly to the girl, telling her she was alright and that no one was going to hurt her. Daryl was impressed by how well Jean had managed to pull herself together on the walk up to Negan's apartment. She was so focused on her daughter that she appeared to be unconcerned that she still didn't have a shirt on.

"Where am I?," Rose asked. Since Jean wasn't sure exactly where they were, she hesitated before answering the girl's question. Negan stepped forward. He moved slowly and was careful not to get too close to Jean and her frightened daughter.

"This is my bedroom," he told the girl. Rose glanced around, her sudden curiosity making her momentarily forget her fear. "No one is going to fuck with you as long as you're in here," he added.

Despite his coarse language, Jean was grateful to the man. In the medical center they would have had to deal with prying eyes and questions from everyone that heard what happened. At least here her daughter would have some privacy to deal with what had just happened. She knew Negan wouldn't be helping them if there wasn't some advantage for him. Likely he was trying to hush up what had just happened before anyone else found out. But Jean was still grateful to him for the help.

"Thank you," Jean told him. And for once she actually meant it. Not like so many other times when she had been forced to thank Negan and she would have rather been spitting in his face. Many criticisms could be made about the leader of the saviors but the man wasn't completely lacking in kindness.

When she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, Jean turned expecting to find Negan standing there. But instead it was Daryl that had approached her. He shrugged off the flannel he was wearing over his t-shirt and handed it to her. It wasn't until Jean had the well worn fabric in her hands that she realized she was shivering. And wearing nothing on her top half except a bra that didn't leave much to the imagination. When she threaded her arms through the sleeves and wrapped the oversized shirt around her torso, she could still feel the heat from Daryl's body lingering in the lining.

Before he could retreat, Jean caught Daryl with the hand she wasn't using to hold onto her daughter. She had no words for the feelings she wanted to express to him. Feelings that were all jumbled up inside her. Guilt mixed with fear and her love for her children. She was grateful to Daryl. Jean didn't even want to think about how much worse the situation might have gotten if Daryl hadn't kicked in the door when he did. She felt she owed him a great debt. One she couldn't even begin to figure out how to repay. For the moment she simply squeezed his hand. Daryl didn't seem to know what to say to her either, he just gripped her smaller hand with his larger one, bringing his free hand over to cup the back of her palm.

TWD

Daryl shifted his body uncomfortably on the expensive fabric of Negan's sofa. Sherry had arrived quickly with the doctor, who had then chased everyone but Jean and her older daughter from Negan's bedroom. Lily wanted to stay with her sister, but Sherry whisked the younger girl away with the promise of candy that she had back in her room. It was for the best. The girl had already seen enough. She didn't need to see anything else. This left Daryl alone with Negan, sitting on one of his fancy sofas in his lounge.

Not only did the whiskey in his hand smell expensive, it had ice cubes in it. Actual ice. They had freezers in Alexandria. But Daryl had gotten so used to drinking things at room temperature that he had never really taken advantage of the small luxuries that his former home offered. At one time he had hated that place and the false security it offered. Now he would give almost anything to be back with his own people and away from this horrible place.

Daryl held his glass in his hand, staring into the amber liquid like he might see his future written there. The last time he had been drunk, he had been drinking with Beth. Beth. She had't crossed his concious mind in such a long time. He tried not to think of Beth, for fear that the guilt and the sadness would overtake him. Beth was just another dead girl that he had failed to protect. Like the little girl and her mother that he could hear crying in the next room. Daryl lifted the glass to his lips and tossed the contents down his throat. The burn in his throat was glorious. The bourbon warmed his belly, already bringing on the promised numbing effects that alcohol always had on him.

Negan downed his own glass, reaching eagerly for the bottle so he could pour another round for both himself and Daryl. The big man swore under his breath, leaning back into the plush cushions of the couch and letting out a long breath of air. For a moment Daryl half expected the man to make some sort of crude joke about the situation. But it seemed some things were off limits when it came to joking, even for Negan. Daryl didn't want to really admit it, but the large man looked tired and worn out. His hair was disheveled and his shirt was rumpled. There was blood splashed across the front of it. After his careful observation of Negan, Daryl looked down at himself. His knuckles were covered in blood. More of it was splattered up his forearms.

"That was some bad ass shit down there," Negan announced, his eyes drawn to the same blood stains that Daryl had been looking at as he held his drink in his hand. "Sure you don't want to work for me?," Negan added. When Daryl didn't answer right away the big man let out a quiet snort of laughter. Daryl was loyal to a fault, Negan had seen that right away. That's why the man had caught his interest. Negan needed loyal men around him the way he needed air to breathe. He had Daryl. The only trick left was figuring out how to get Daryl to be loyal to him instead of that stooge Rick. Jean was the key. Negan was even more convinced of that now than he had been before. He just needed to figure out how to use her.

"You know the difference between me and Rick?," Negan asked. As he waited for Daryl to answer, he got up and retrieved the man a towel from behind the bar so he could clean the blood off his hands.

Daryl took the towel, wiping half heartedly at the stains on his hands. He was waiting for the punchline of what he was sure was going to be yet another horrible joke. Daryl was worried about Jean and her daughter. And even if he wasn't already distracted, Negan's crude humor didn't hold much interest for him.

"Naw," Daryl mumbled when it became obvious that Negan was going to sit and stare at him until he answered the man's idiotic question, "I dunno."

"You met him first," Negan proclaimed.

His words caught Daryl off guard. Daryl had been waiting for the man to say something about the size of his dick or how many wives he had. Anything but what he said. When Negan had asked him what the difference between him and Rick was, Daryl had been sure that he could have written a novel on the differences between the two men. Now he wasn't so sure. He had to ask himself if Negan had really done anything to them that they hadn't already done to him? If Rick was in Negan's position would he really have been merciful instead of cruel? Daryl wasn't so sure anymore. Knowing that Jean's husband had been one of the men they killed at the outpost had given Daryl a new perspective on the situation. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep painting himself and Rick as the heroes in all of this.

The soft click of the bedroom door caught the attention of both men. Dr. Carson shuffled over. He was obviously nervous to be in Negan's presence. The man's hands were shaking and he stuttered when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Is she gonna be alright?," Daryl asked, unable to wait any longer for the man to stop stammering and bowing his fucking head to Negan.

"She's more scared than hurt," the man finally spit out. Once he began speaking about Rose's medical condition his words seemed to flow more easily. The man was a doctor. At some time in his life he must have been used to being in charge. "I had to sedate the girl before I could examine her, so she will probably be out for several hours. She has a lot of bruises and both her lips are split. One of her elbows is dislocated. She's going to need to keep it in a sling for a few weeks. Other than that she's unharmed." The man had been directing his words to Negan. But he paused and looked at Daryl instead, speaking to him directly. "Jean asked me to be sure and tell you that you got there in time. It could have been much worse. She's very grateful to you for that."

Daryl nodded, not sure quite what to say. He had helped Jean's daughter because it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do. He didn't expect anything from her. The doctor nodded back. Then he started shuffling back and forth, shifting his weight from one foot to the other until Negan hollered at him.

"Anything else?," Negan asked. Dr. Carson shook his head. "Then fuck off downstairs!," Negan hollered. The man nodded his head and scurried away like a rat in a white coat.

"Thank fuckin' gawd," Daryl mumbled, not realizing until the words were out of his mouth that he was speaking out loud. It had been a long time since he had any hard liquor. The two strong drinks had gone straight to his head, loosening his lips.

"Good thing for Jean you were there this time," Negan remarked.

"This time?," Daryl repeated. He lifted his thumb to his mouth, chewing on the side of it. He didn't like the implication of Negan's words. He felt like the man was hinting towards more trouble to come. And Daryl didn't like the sound of it.

This time? It wasn't the words that Daryl spoke that turned the lightbulb on inside Negan's head. It was his tone. Hearing how upset and angry Daryl was at the very idea that something else might happen to Jean or her pretty little girls was the click of the key in the lock. But Negan didn't want to push him too far too fast. He just wanted to give Daryl something to marinate on for a while.

"Yeah," Negan said, his voice dripping with concern that wasn't hard to fake since he honestly was a little worried for the woman and her girls. Jean was a pain in his ass since since her husband died but she was still good people. She had always been a contributing member of his group. And her husband had been loyal as fuck, a good soldier to the end.

"We have rules. But rules can only prevent so much. I'm afraid that as long as she's single and without a man to protect her, Jean and her girls are going to have a lot of fucking problems."

Negan paused, watching Daryl's reaction to his words. The man was hard to read but Negan was fairly sure he was having his desired effect on the man. But just to be safe he added one last choice tidbit of information. "I already offered Jean my personal protection. Offered to marry her and take care of her and her girls," Negan said, a sly smile spreading across his face, "...but she turned me down. Maybe now she'll change her mind."