Chapter 20

Emma was looking through the cabinets and refrigerator for food options for her and Daryl. It still surprised her to have cold food and hot water and even lights. Sasha walked in the front door and Emma caught her eye. "Can ask you a question, please?"

"I need to feed Daryl, what's the food situation in the house? Do you all have you own stash or is it communal or what?" Emma asked her.

"It's for everyone. Typically Carol cooks, but with her gone I'm not sure what we're doing. So whatever you find… is fine I guess." Sasha knew she couldn't blame Emma for Abraham's death, but there was still some resentment there.

Emma sensed the tone of Sasha's voice right away and she didn't blame her. "Thanks Sasha. Before you go, can I say something?" Sasha turned back to her with big sad eyes. "I don't know the dynamics of this group yet, but I hope to soon. I sense that the friend you lost may have been more than a friend to you, and I am so sorry for what Negan did. I don't blame you for blaming me as I was part of that group, but I want you to know I did not support anything they did. Being with them was a way for me to survive, nothing more. "

Emma put her hand on Sasha's arm in comfort and Sasha looked up from the floor at her. Tears were streaming down her face. Emma did the only thing that she could think of and that was to draw Sasha into a hug. The two women bonded in a moment of sadness and forgiveness. "I'm so sorry," Emma whispered.

"Thank you," Sasha replied as the broke the hug. "Abraham and I had recently gotten together, but we've been friends for a long time." She wiped the tears way with her hands and tried to smile. "So you and Daryl, huh?"

"Yeah, we were together for about a year before the world went crazy. He was off with his brother when it happened and we never found each other again. I can't believe all this time later we finally did. I sure do love that man," Emma told her.

"If I think about it, it kind of makes sense for him," Sasha said.

"How do you mean?"

"We've all been together a long time, some longer than others and Daryl is one of the original members of the group. He's always been one that wanted to do things in his own, never said much, but always had our back. We've all gotten involved with someone as some point or another, except him. Daryl never showed any interest in anyone. Even on the way back here, I saw him smile at you. It was a real true smile, something I had never seen from him before." Sasha hated that her heart was breaking and Emma's wasn't, but she knew it was completely unfair of her to feel that way. It took everything in her to say, "I'm happy for you both."

Sasha headed to her room and curled up on the bed. The tears flowed freely down her cheeks and as sad as she was, she realized that she was happy for Daryl. Some good had to come out of this disastrous experience and Daryl deserved it.

Emma fixed something for her and Daryl to eat from what she could find in the kitchen. Her heart went out to Sasha and her loss. It was horrible that Negan made his point to newcomers by brutally killing one of them. Sasha was devastated by her loss, while Emma was thrilled to be back with Daryl. It just didn't feel right to be so happy, when the rest had lost so much…this Abraham and Maggie's baby.

Just as Emma was about to head back upstairs to Daryl, Rick and his son walked in. Emma remembered that Daryl wanted to see a Carol, but come to think about it didn't Sasha say that she wasn't there?

"How goes the ornery patient?" Rick asked her.

"He's impatient, but I even see improvement since he's had time to rest. Now it's time to feed him," Emma said showing the plates of food in her hands. "I hope it's okay that I helped myself, Sasha said it was."

"Sure," Rick told her. "The food belongs to everyone."

"Rick, Daryl said that he wanted to talk to Carol, but I don't know her. Is she around?" Emma asked.

Rick looked at Carl and didn't say anything for a moment. "She isn't here, she left."

"Any idea when she's coming back, so I can tell him?"

"I better talk to him myself. Carol took off on her own and said she wasn't coming back. Daryl's not going to take that well." Rick had been dreading telling him. He knew his friend would want to take off looking for her, but Morgan already was. Daryl was also in no shape to go anywhere now or in the near future.

"Oh…okay. I'll wait down here then." Emma watched Rick leave and Carl stayed with her in the kitchen. "You want me to make you something to eat?" she asked him.

"Would ya? With Carol gone no one else knows really how to cook," Carl told her.

Emma already had extra food that she had put away in the fridge so all she had to do was reheat if for Carl. She had a plate in the microwave for him and she still couldn't believe that this was possible in this world. Electricity was such a luxury now. As she pulled the plate out, she heard loud voices coming from upstairs. Emma looked at Carl as she put the plate in front of him.

"I guess Daryl's not taking it well," Carl said picking up a fork to eat. In between mouthfuls of food, Carl volunteered what had happened with Carol.

The both turned towards the hall that had the staircase when they heard Rick yell, "Daryl, no you can't go. Emma!"

"Oh no," she said making a run for their room. She took the stairs two at a time and was slightly out of breath when she made it to the doorway. "What's going on?"

"He can barely walk and he wants to go find Carol. He'd being unreasonable," Rick told her.

"Okay, before we do anything rash," Emma said staring down Daryl who was struggling to get out of bed. "Tell me the whole story. What is going on?" Emma was going to buy as much time as she could so they could reason with him.

Rick repeated for Emma what he had just told Daryl. Carol had left on her own accord because she felt if she stayed she would need to kill in order to help keep everyone safe and she just couldn't do it anymore. He told her how both he and Morgan went off to find her. They found her trail and the dead bodies she left in its wake, but they hadn't found her yet. Morgan convinced Rick to head back and he would continue to look for her.

"What does Morgan know about tracking?" Daryl argued. "Nuthin'! That's why I can find her and bring her back." Daryl stood up, but he was very unsteady on his feet. He sat back down using every curse word he knew.

Emma walked over to him and crossed her arms against her chest. "Are you done?"

"I'm going after her."

"No you are not. First, you can't even walk on your own, so how do you expect to go after her? If a walker comes after you, what are you going to do? You can't fight it off, so you might as well just offer them your arm up for dinner or would you prefer your handsome face? You're in no condition to go anywhere. So don't even think of it." Emma was not going to let him go anywhere.

Daryl gave her a look that typically would have anyone else cringing, but not Emma. "Oh please, you know that look never worked on me. You don't scare me Daryl Dixon."

Rick snickered in the background and Daryl tossed him a dirty look.

"And secondly," she continued, "I know I don't know this Carol, but if she felt she had a good enough reason that she needed to leave, be it the right one or not, it was hers to make. Someone is looking for her and you'll have to put your faith in them that they will find her. When they do she may come back or she may not, but it's her choice. Not yours, Daryl." Emma sat next to him on the bed and took his hand in hers.

"I just got you back, so there's no way in hell I am letting you out of my sight. You need to recover from being shot! You weren't scratched, Daryl you were shot at fairly close range, so you just need to accept that I'm not letting you go. Plus we have three years of catching up to do, so you are not going anywhere." She felt his fingers tighten on hers.

"I think I'm going to leave you two. Emma, you have him well under control." Rick left the room laughing and Daryl yelled after him calling him a 'mother fuckin' pussy bastard.' Rick just kept on laughing.

Emma shook her head, "Time hasn't improved your language at all I see."

"He left me at the mercy of a female I can't resist, when he knows I should be looking for Carol. He plays dirty." Daryl was begrudging realizing that they were right. He knew he wanted to go find Carol, but he wasn't up to it. Not for a while yet and Emma was right. They needed to spend time together to get to know each other again. He would have to count on Morgan to find her.

"You win," he told Emma. "I'm not going anywhere, except I'm starving to death. Weren't you bringing me food?"

"I was, until Rick shouted for me. I thought you two were gonna kill each other, so I ran up here without it. I'll go reheat the plates for us." Emma stood up to head back to the kitchen. "Thank you," she said to him before leaving and pressed a kiss on his forehead.

Daryl grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her down to him. This kiss was a full on toe-tingling-I-want-you-naked type of kiss. It left Emma breathless. This time her heart was racing for a good reason and not in panic. Even in her haze she noticed the progress.

They broke the kiss before it went too far. Emma rested he forehead against his as they both struggled to control their breathing.

"We always did have great chemistry," he said.

"You can say that again," Emma laughed. "Let me go get that food, before you completely distract me."

Daryl reclined on the bed, with his left hand behind his head. "Feed me woman. Your man's hungry," he commanded with a sexy half smile. Emma left the room shaking her head. She had a feeling that this slightly older new version of Daryl was going to prove to be very interesting.