Part Two

Jesse blinked as he stared at the picture. It reminded him so much of that horrible candid shot of Andrea and Brock that he had stared at every day in the lab, terrified that he wouldn't be good enough or that Jack and his crew would just decide to hurt or kill them for fun.

"What's their names?" Jesse asked quietly. Just a picture didn't ever sum up a person, but he could tell a few things looking at it. The woman looked older in her eyes than in her face, for one, like she had been through a lot. She was smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. It looked forced.

The little girl looked haunted, too. There was a sadness in her eyes, a nervousness.

"My girlfriend, she's Carol," Daryl pointed at the blonde woman. "Yeah, I know. Carol and Daryl. Real funny."

Jesse didn't laugh. He was pretty sure that he no longer knew how to, even if he wanted to. Instead he just blinked at the man, wondering what all this was leading to. Maybe it was all just one big scam by Jack's crew to break his spirit. To sell him to another master who would turn out to be that much worse than the one he had left.

"And her little girl is Sophia. She's just twelve years old."

Jesse nodded, but he still didn't know what that had to do with him.

"I need manpower," Daryl told him. "I mean, I've got Merle of course, but I need more than that. This guy, Ed, he's pretty hard to find and he's a crazy, evil man. He's hurt Carol a lot before and I'm worried that he'll hurt Sophia too. And if that happens, he's a dead man. Hell, he's already a dead man, I just need to find him first."

Jesse gave a slow nod. He'd done surveillance with Mike before, of course, or acted as a lookout, but could he really function at all right now, in this state? He felt pretty useless.

"But Daryl," Jesse began, cringing slightly as he said the name. Maybe he wanted him to call him "sir" or something like that; Jesse still had a part of him that worried that the older man was going to turn bad, and fast. And he'd told him about Andrea and Brock – how had he been so stupid? He had handed over leverage like it was nothing! "I don't know how much of a help I can be… I mean… You see…" He trailed off, looking down in shame.

"You'll need some help to get up back into fighting shape," Daryl told him. "But I'll help you. And I'll train you. I'm good with a gun, good with a crossbow too."

"A crossbow?" Jesse inquired, "How often do you need a crossbow in a fight?"

"You'd be surprised," Daryl told him. "All right, come inside. We'll get you set up." Jesse nervously followed Daryl up to the front door of a dilapidated house that looked like it was falling apart at the seams. "Ain't much, but it's ours," Daryl told him. Jesse was just happy to see anywhere that wasn't the compound. He could have kissed the chipped paint and cracked steps.


Daryl led Jesse to a small back bedroom that consisted of a bed, a desk, and an old beanbag chair. Again, compared to his most recent living quarters, Jesse felt like he was in Heaven. He laid back on the bed, tired enough to sink against the mattress but far too worked up to actually shut his eyes and fall asleep.

Daryl seemed to notice.

"Listen, Jesse. Let me give it to you straight, okay? Merle's a rough kinda guy but if I say no, he won't hurt you. And I won't hurt you, either."

Jesse looked at him nervously.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you right now," he told him. "The last couple months I… And they know where Andrea and Brock are. I need to get back to them, to protect them. I don't even know where I am right now, or really why I'm here or how I can help you."

"Right now, Jesse," Daryl said, words rolling over his Southern accent with a nice ring to it that Jesse was unnerved that he felt comforted by, "All I need you to do is get some rest and heal up. Think you can help me with that?"

Jesse nodded, still shaking a little, shy and wanting to drink in the kindness even though he equal parts felt he didn't deserve it and thought it was all a game, a joke, or that he'd push some button that would turn on whatever dark side Daryl had. Or maybe it wouldn't even be Daryl but that brother of his, Merle; maybe he didn't really listen to Daryl and after that first night he'd be chained outside like a dog shivering in the cold and maybe the rain.

"Daryl?" Jesse asked as he pulled a blanket over himself, wanting to hide in it forever and not let anything touch him ever again. "Can you tell me about yourself? I mean… you… Merle bought me? How does that work?" He kept his voice low, as if not to disturb him, as if not to make him angry.

"Not much to tell, Jesse," Daryl replied, "We're just two fuck-ups. I've got two good things in my life and that's Carol and that little girl. Other than that, I haven't really done much. Just… just lived I guess. Merle and I have been in trouble as long as we can remember."

"But you always had each other, right?" Jesse spoke up quietly. "That must have been nice, right…? I have a brother but… we've never been close. I'm a lot older." Jesse cursed himself for letting that out, too. Now he would make Jake a target if Daryl turned out to be a bad person… But something in him was urging him to trust Daryl, to listen to him, to let him help him. Maybe it had just been too long since Jesse could trust anyone at all. Maybe he just needed this.

"Yeah… Merle and I always had each other," Daryl agreed. "Get some sleep, okay? I promise… Whatever crazy shit happened to you back on that compound, it's not happening here. I'm not going to let it." With that, Daryl walked out of the room, and Jesse found himself staring after him as he curled up in his blanket. He didn't know whether he could or should sleep, or should stay awake, alert.

He finally decided to try, pulling the blanket over his head and diving into the darkness. It felt softer and warmer than he could remember feeling in months.