Chapter 17

The ride to The Hilltop was quiet. Daryl never regained consciousness and while Maggie lightly moaned as she held onto Glenn's hand the whole way. Jesus met them at the gate as he had been alerted by the guards on duty that they were approaching. Rick explained that they needed Doc Carson's help badly. With the help of several of the people from Hilltop, they were able to get both Maggie and Daryl inside the walls and to the doctor.

Harlan Carson met them at the door to his small clinic. He directed them to put Maggie on one bed and Daryl on the other. "What happened?" he asked quickly.

"Maggie has severe abdominal pain, so we're worried about the baby and Daryl was shot 2 days ago in the shoulder and is still losing blood," Michonne told him.

"Maggie, when did the pain start?" the doctor asked.

"Late yesterday morning," she groaned.

"Why did you wait so long to get to me? And he was shot two days ago?" Doctor Carson quickly took the vitals of both patients, finding neither was doing well.

"We tried to get Maggie here yesterday, but the Saviors had other ideas. We only got away from them a few hours ago. We found Daryl at their camp. They didn't do anything help him," Rick growled.

"Okay, you're here now. I need everyone to give me room to work, so please wait outside. Rick, I need to talk to you for a second first." The rest of the group left except for Glenn who refused to leave Maggie's side. "All I got is two hands and there are two very sick patients. Who do you want me to work on first? They both need me."

Doc Carson has just asked Rick an impossible question. Should he have him try to save Maggie and her baby or the man that was like a brother to him? Fuck, what should he do? "Doc…"

"Maggie, try to save her first," came a voice from behind him. Rick turned to see Emma with tears in her eyes. "Daryl would want that."

Rick knew she was right. "Maggie," was all he said before walking out.

"Doctor would it be alright if I stayed and cleaned up his wound to get it ready for you?" Emma offered. She didn't want to leave him especially now.

The doctor quickly showed her where everything was that she would need and turned his attention to Maggie. Emma tore off what remained of his shirt and a small smile came to her lips. Daryl still preferred his shirts with the sleeves torn off as he did back when they lived together. "Some things never change."

His skin looked so pale to her as she worked to clean the dirt and dried blood off his body. The wound was only oozing at this point, but it looked nasty. Emma used wet gauze to clean around the wound and Daryl groaned when she touched it. He was lying on his stomach, so Emma caressed his face trying to get him conscious again. "Daryl…baby, It's Emma. Open those blue eyes for me… c'mon I know you can do it. Look at me Daryl."

Daryl heard a voice talking to him in the distance. It sounded like Emma, but she was dead. Maybe he was dead now too? He struggled to hear it again, but his head was so fuzzy. He wanted to hear Emma again, "Talk to me," his brain screamed. "Where are you Emma?"

Daryl's eyelids started to flutter and Emma kept talking to him and touching his hair. "That's it Daryl, come on back to me. I love you, baby and I need you to wake up."

He slowly regained consciousness and it was a struggle not to fall back into the peacefulness of oblivion. He was trying to follow Emma's voice. Where was she? His eyes sluggishly opened and he tried to focus on the person that was looking at him. He felt their hand on his head, stroking his hair. Then he heard her voice again.

"Daryl? Look at me. It's Emma."

His eyes opened and Emma was smiling at him. Yeah, he was definitely dead, but if that meant he'd be with Emma again he was okay with that. He could feel her hands on him and he wondered how being dead worked. Could he touch her too? Daryl tried to move his hands to reach out but they felt heavy and leaden.

Emma could see that he was struggling to wake up, so she kept talking to him. Finally his eyes opened and she could see him trying to focus on her. Tears started streaming down her face as they looked at each other for the first time in almost three years. "Hey," she said softly to him. "Welcome back."

"We're not dead?" he whispered coarsely. His voice was not up to normal speaking.

"No, we're not dead," she told him.

"How are you alive? I… couldn't find you, Em. I searched and searched…until we couldn't do it anymore. Where did you come from?" His hand shook when he reached up and touched her tear streaked face. "God, it's you, it's really you. Where are we?"

"Some place called Hilltop. Oh Daryl, it's a miracle I found you again. Now we just have to get you better. The doctor is working on Maggie, he should be here soon." Never in her wildest dreams could Emma have thought that after all this time she would find him and here he was. The man that she loved more than life itself was back. Now they just had to get him to survive the gun shot.

"Maggie, what happened to Maggie? Is the baby okay?" he asked suddenly no longer concerned for himself.

"I don't know. All I was told was that she was sick and they were trying to bring her here, when they got taken by the Saviors."

Daryl struggled to turn on his side so he could see her better. He bit back several curses. "How did you end up with us? I don't remember much about last night accept Negan."

Just as Emma was trying to figure out how to answer Daryl, Dr. Carson showed up. "How's Maggie?" she asked him instead of answering Daryl.

"I'll let Glenn tell you all. So Daryl let's see what you have going on here, it's good that you regained consciousness." He made Daryl lie back on his stomach so he could see the wound better, but all Daryl wanted to do was look at Emma. "Nice job cleaning it up…"

"Thanks. I'm Emma."

"Let's see where the bullet is since there's no exit wound."

Dr. Carson poked and prodded the jagged hole in Daryl's right shoulder and checked the range of motion he had. It was painful for Daryl, but his range was not restricted. Emma noticed Daryl had closed his eyes and his face was tense with pain.

"Well Doc?" he asked through gritted teeth. Fuck that had hurt.

"Daryl, you know I'm not a surgeon, so I would only go in after the bullet if I had to, but I don't think I need to. It doesn't look like it hit any bone and it's not restricting the joint. Sure it hurts like hell, but as long as we stop the infection you have going on and the swelling from the injury goes down, you should be okay. I think we should play use a wait and see approach. Is that okay with you?"

"Fuck, yeah if you ain't gotta go digging in for the bullet I'm all for that," Daryl agreed.

"Alright, then I'm going to debride the wound and pack it with some sterile gauze. I'll get some antibiotics for you and something for the pain. We need to keep you hydrated as that will help you replenish the blood you lost," the doctor told Daryl and headed toward his supply room. He came back with a couple of pills and a canteen of water. "Take these and I'll get started on your shoulder. I won't lie to you, it's gonna hurt."

"That's okay Doc. Can't hurt more than when I hadda pull an arrow outta my side," he told them.

"Daryl!" Emma exclaimed. "Who shot you?"

"Keep him talking while I work on him, Emma. It will help distract him," Dr. Carson said as he probed the wound with his fingers. Daryl tensed as pain shot through him.

"Well?" she encouraged him.

"You could say it was my fault. I was looking…for a lost little girl and fell into a ravine. Don't ask …how. Fuck." Daryl had to hesitate for a second. "I hadda arrow cocked in my crossbow and it released as I fell. Damn Doc, you sure you ain't trying to dig it out with your fingers?" Daryl closed his eyes to the pain. He was determined not to look weak in front of Emma.

"Oh my God. That awful, Daryl. Why did you have to pull it out? Couldn't you wait for someone to help you?" Emma could picture him doing this. He was always so strong and capable.

Daryl took a deep breath and kept talking through the painful procedure. "I had two walkers comin' at me and needed the arrow to take at least one of them out. It was that or die and I sure as hell wasn't ready to die yet. That's this scar here." Daryl pointed to the puckered circular scar on the left side of his abdomen.

"Well you are about to add another one to your impressive collection." Harlan had learned not to ask questions that was none of his business. Why Daryl's back was covered in what had to be whipping scars was none of his business, but he was curious. "Emma, let me show you how to dress the wound so you can do it for him when you go back to Alexandria."

Emma simply smiled at the doctor. What was Alexandria she wondered? Was that where they lived? Would she be allowed to go?

"What about Maggie?" Daryl asked after the dressing was applied.

"I need to keep an eye on her, so she's staying here for a while. Do you need supplies or does Alexandria have them?" the doctor asked.

"We got 'em," Daryl replied.

"Thank you Doctor," Emma told him with a smile.

"It's Harlan, Emma. No need to be formal these days." He touched Emma's shoulder before heading back to check on Maggie.

"Where's Rick?" Daryl asked.

"Outside with everyone else waiting. Maybe I should tell them how you're doing?" Emma said looking at Daryl.

"Yeah, but first come here next to me." Daryl was lying on his back now. His pain was down to a strong, but dull throb.

Emma squeezed next to him on the narrow bed. "What?"

Daryl reached up slowly with his left hand and pulled her towards him. He didn't stop until her lips met his and they kissed. Their first kiss in years. It was a soft, gentle kiss that was full of love. Any question that Emma may have about Daryl and his feelings for her was instantly answered with that kiss. He still loved her. She had no doubt about that.

"Looks like someone's feeling better," a deep voice said from behind Emma.

They broke the kiss and Emma turned around with a smile. Rick was standing there grinning. "What the doc say?"

"Guess I'm gonna live," Daryl said cracking a small smile.

It had been a very long time since Rick had seen Daryl with anything close to a smile on his face. Emma was having a good effect on him and Rick was ready to find out more about her. "Emma, can you give the rest of the group an update on a Daryl while I talk to him a second?"

"Sure," she told him. Daryl grabbed her hand before she left and gave it a squeeze. Then Emma headed outside to give them time alone. She knew exactly what Rick was doing and she had nothing to hide.

"I need to make sure that you are good with Emma being with us, cause if you're not we can leave her here," Rick told Daryl. "You never mentioned her ever, so it's whatever you want."

Daryl knew that Rick had no idea what Emma meant to him. There was no way he could, since Daryl never said her name again after that horrible day when he lost her in the chaos. "No, I want her with us…with me. I know I've never said shit about her before, but I couldn't . I just couldn't when I thought she was dead. Nothing made sense after that."

Rick got what he was trying to say. This was one of the reasons why Daryl was the way he was. Michonne had picked up on it, but Rick never gave it any consideration. She always thought Daryl looked sad and she was right. His tendency to be off by himself increased as time went by, instead of getting better. He had suffered a great loss or so he thought. The smile Rick had seen told him that they were all going to see a different Daryl now that he had Emma back. At least something right had come out of the mess Rick had started with the Saviors. Everything else had been an absolute disaster.

"Good to hear. She seems like she'll fit in especially if she puts up with your cranky ass," Rick laughed.

"You know it!" Daryl said cringing a bit as he laughed. The damn pain was still getting to him. "When are we getting outta here?"

"If you are ready to travel, we can load up. Maggie and Glenn are staying here for a while."

Daryl kicked himself for forgetting about Maggie. "How is she?"

Rick looked down at the floor before meeting Daryl's eyes. "She lost the baby."

"Fuck," was all that Daryl could say.

"Yeah, exactly. Harlan's gotta do a procedure on her and then she wants to rest here for a while. Let me check with him that he doesn't need you for anything else." Rick turned to find the doctor, but looked back at Daryl for first. "We gotta figure a way out of this, bro. Negan can't win."

"We will. When we get back we can all meet up and talk it out. Now go find the Doc."

Rick walked out of the room looking for Dr. Carson. He wondered how much Emma had told Daryl about her involvement with the Saviors. Somehow Rick didn't think Daryl was aware of that yet and he wondered how that would affect their relationship. The Saviors were ultimately responsible for both Abraham's death and that of Maggie's baby. Would Daryl and the other's blame Emma? As Rick went to find the doctor is was something that continued to bother him.