The cold, bright night sky illuminated the prison from above and reminded Danni of the Fortress in story of Fionn and Sadhbh. She had hoped to find her own safe haven like Fionn's castle Almu. Her dreams had brought them here and to think she'd almost walked away from it all. She chewed on a strand of hair the evening breeze had blown across her face. She contemplated the looming sprawl of the cement building through the fence that Rick was in the process of examining. This was his fourth time around the perimeter of the prison yard. If there was a compromise in the chain link he'd had found it by now. He deserved her trust and any help she could give him.
The earth was soft under her boots, their buckles flashing in the moonlight. She tread silently but for some blades of grass crunching from the first night frost.
She approached from the shadows and startled him. He turned on her, his knife out. "Sorry." He apologized. "What are you doing over here?" He glanced behind her at the rest of the group back in the middle of the yard around a large fire.
"Rick, this, what you've done." She gestured around them. "All of it. I don't know what to say." However in contrast to that statement, words of gratitude tumbled from her lips. Under Rick's tireless and specific instruction the group had spent the day clearing the entire outer yard of the prison of all Walkers and secured the fencing. They were exhausted, but they were safe for the first time in over a week.
"We did it. All of us." He interrupted her.
"It'll be a good place to have my babies."
He raised his eyebrow.
"Its twins."
"How do-"
"Daryl told you about me, what I can do. What I am."
Rick nodded understanding. "Well, two of them, huh? That's-"
"A lot. Its a lot and that's why all of this is so important."
"I'm glad Daryl told me. You are as much a part of us being here safe now as me or anyone else. We wouldn't be here. I thank you for that."
"Only Glenn, Maggie and Carol know about me. Now you do too."
He nodded. "I have a feeling you're gonna be able to help us more than you know now. If this is any indication." He gestured to the safe space around them. "What about going inside, that's where you saw us right?"
"Yes, in a cell block. And some other places a boiler room um...the concrete yard."
"We had supplies?"
"Food anyway, yeah, we were eating fine."
"We push on in then. Tomorrow."
"Look Rick, I'm sorry about last week. I never stopped trusting you, it was myself I started to doubt. Back on the side of the road I got scared. The things you were saying about being together and building a life with each other just spooked me. Like a horse I guess. I've been known to bolt." She shook her head. "And Carol thanking me for saving her and finding Sophia, it really sunk in and I ...I'm not used to people caring about each other and asking for help. Its hard, I've always been on my own."
"Like Daryl? I reckon that's why you two are together."
"I think Daryl and I are kind of the same in that giving help is one thing but asking for it feels foreign. Its very hard. Feeling like you need somebody else, worrying that they'll let you down or say no. That's what we are used to. Being needed is pretty scary too, I guess. But he's actually showing me I can do it. I'm really sorry I acted the way I did."
"We all get scared. Hell, half the time I don't know what I'm doing, but I know we, as a group, matter. I'm able to keep going knowing that." Rick focused his eyes on her after he'd glanced at the circle of folks he was responsible for, who were now laughing, talking and relaxing around the light of the leaping fire.
"Danni, you and Daryl help me and whether you two want to hear it or know it, you do. That's just the truth. I need you both. You promised me way back you would be here. Time to pay up."
She almost smiled. "You're right. Paying in full, okay?"
"How are you feeling, physically and all?"
"Okay. Better now that we're here."
"So where are you now?"
"Just about four months. Yeah, wow its four this week."
He nodded. You're a strong girl, you know that? You're carrying all this well."
She swallowed hard and accepted his words as graciously as she could.
"Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you."
Compliments were still hard to take. But she knew Rick wouldn't say something he didn't mean. She felt some pride battling its way out of the discomfort because she was starting to believe. Believing in herself was almost easier than accepting that others believed in her.
"I admit, I didn't know what to make of you at first." Rick interrupted her thoughts.
"I can't tell you how many times I've heard that." Danni sighed and shook her head, but Rick noticed her smiling warmly in the shadows.
"That day back in Atlanta, rescuing Glenn, well, you held your own, and risked your life out of loyalty to him. I started to get a feeling about you. And then at the CDC, well, you know how I feel about that."
"Shut up or I'll start crying." She warned, only half-joking. "I always pay what I owe, Rick."
They headed back to the center of the yard where the rest of the group sat around the fire eating.
Danni noticed Daryl was still on the roof of the prison transport bus that barricaded the front gate. He'd been there since the sun had set, just staring out at the horizon. She felt he needed his space and had left him alone. He'd worked harder than anyone all day, clearing out the dead.
She took a plate of food Carol had put aside for him and headed up the dirt driveway. She climbed the wooden pallets he'd leaned against the bus making a ramp, then on to the hood.
He saw her and held his hand out. He pulled her the rest of the way up.
"Here eat this. It's not much but If I don't bring you something you won't eat at all."
He shook his head. "You."
"I ate enough." She stared hard at him the way she did, so he took it from her.
"This will be a good place to have the babies. Safe."
Daryl nodded, "Mmm hmm," his mouth full. He looked encouraged. Danni knew that the long day of clearing the yard and securing the fences had given him a sense of accomplishment. After something like that he always seemed more calm and relaxed than at any other time, well almost any other time. As he finished the food, he licked his fingers and all she could think about was him licking something else.
"Wanna fuck?"
He snorted and laughed a little nervously. "Crazy? Here?"
"It would be fun. If we lay down, on no one can see us."
He didn't answer.
"Somewhere else then, the guard tower."
"Not a good time, you know it. Look around."
"I am, Glenn and Maggie already did up there." She pointed to a tower.
"So just cause they're stupid and careless don't mean we have to be."
"Is it the babies? I know I'm a little bigger now but its fine. I got this book when we were at the library and there's no way you could hurt them, the cervix is very strong and covers-"
"Aw jeez don't tell me stuff like that."
"What's going on? You haven't touched me since, since the woods last week. Next couple months you might not want to."
"Shut up." He scolded her. "Know better than that."
"Well?"
"I can't just go disappearing on Rick."
"Is that really why? Because if that's the reason okay. I respect that. But I don't believe you."
He looked troubled. The dream had begun to haunt him ever since he realized it had taken place in the prison, the very place they were headed. Now they were here.
"Hey, baby, what's really wrong?"
When she called him that, her voice so low with concern, he was forced to let his guard down. He sat down and she joined him. It was chilly, up on the bus, so she pulled on her hood, letting her hair spill forward framing her face. She leaned forward, sitting cross-legged listening intently
"I..." He paused. "Ah, this is hard." He looked away. "The night we had that fight, I dreamed." He stopped. "Ah, fuck it. Never mind. Just forget it, its nothin'."
"Obviously it's not." She touched his arm, then casually played with the zipper on the wrist of his leather jacket. He shifted, extremely uncomfortable.
"Just say it."
"We were here, in the prison. I was gonna force you to, you know...from behind." She could hardly hear him. He spoke low, gravelled and he struggled to get his words out. "You kept saying no and I didn't stop. You were cryin' and I almost didn't stop. I know what happened to you when you were a kid and I still kept goin'. Like I wanted to hurt you."
"That's why you kept asking me if it was okay, the other night." She realized aloud.
He started to feel queasy just thinking about it. "Something else. Merle, he was there watching and was proud of me, saying told you so or something." Daryl was still upset. "I hate that."
"It was just a dream."
"Dreams aint the same now. Not since you."
"It doesn't just stop, or disappear." She told him softly. "What you saw and what you were taught. How you grew up is still there in your head. It's like an old tape playing over and over." Broken, abused, neglected; like me. "I don't know what happened to you but I can guess. It's like that for me too. Time doesn't do the healing, we do. We're gonna get freaked out sometimes, but it doesn't mean I'm going anywhere. You?"
He shook his head. He looked at her wanting to cry. Weak. He chided himself. No one ever said anything like that to him. No one had ever stayed around, stuck with him and she was still doing it. He should be used to it by now, but old habits die hard. I'm not going anywhere. She'd said it even after what he'd told her.
"What if it's in me?" He looked wounded. "To be like my old man?"
He is much better than he thinks he is. Danni thought with empathy. She asked some questions to see how realistic the dream actually was.
"Was I pregnant?"
"No."
"Were the babies there? Were they already born?"
"No. Don't think so."
"Did you actually go through with it?"
He shook his head. "Nah, but i made you cry, you were afraid of me."
"Sometimes dreams are just dreams."
"Why though?" He was so earnest and upset, she had to stroke his face.
"You were pissed at me, don't blame you. I was…' She trailed off for a moment. " I was horrible to you that night." Shame still burned in her chest at the memory of how she'd treated him.
"Sometimes you dream about something that scares you unconsciously to work it out. I know you would never hurt me or force me. Besides, I don't know I how acted in that dream of yours, but I obviously didn't fight back and as much as I love you I'd try to kill you if you ever-"
"I'm a hell of a lot stronger than you." He smiled a little.
"You really wanna go there? Now?"
He looked down considering what he'd just told her and swallowed his smile. "Nah, I know. You wouldn't have stood for it." He said quickly.
"Look Daryl, I'm gonna tell you something. This, what we have…not just sex, all of it, has never been so easy for me with anyone else. You've never once scared me."
He couldn't look at her. He felt too awkward.
"I didn't act like this with any other guy ever. The way I am with you, what I let you do. I let go of all control because no one has ever made me feel so wanted and safe at the same time. I trust you. I'd know if you were, well, a misogynist asshole. I've come across plenty. You're not." She hoped she was making sense. "You always make it about me. You told me that when you make me come you feel like a man. Remember? That's who you are."
He continued to avoid eye contact.
"Daryl trust yourself. You are not like Merle and I know that 's what you're afraid of. I bet you saw some shit, heard a lot of stuff from him. He expected you to act like him, didn't he?"
He ran a hand through his hair nervously. She was surprised when he started talking. "There was this house, not too far from our trailer. Merle hung out there with his prison buddies, nazi fucks, aryan brotherhood mostly. He'd take me along. Those guys all short on brains long on shit kicking. Didn't want to go, but it was easier than listening to him go on about what a pussy I was all the time. I guess I wanted to show him I was as tough as him. The drinking, fighting, target practice, even all the racist bullshit those losers went off about, I just put up with it so Merle would keep acting like he liked having me around. " His voice lowered as he continued struggling with shame.
"Danni, there were these girls that were always there at the house. Them girls let the pricks…I can't believe the stuff those assholes did to them. But the girls, they took it, put up with it like it was normal. I never-" He shook his head and chewed hard on the raw cuticle around his thumbnail. "One night Merle was drunk, on crystal and God knows what else. He made me go and watch the, well, gang rape is what it was. He told me if I didn't get in there and take my turn with his buddies he was gonna beat the shit out of me for embarrassing him in front of his friends. But I wouldn't. Told him I didn't care what he did and left. He did he beat the living tar out of me. But I couldn't. Merle said girls liked it that way, its how they wanted it. Its waht they were for." He paused and swallowed hard. "Danni that girl was scared. I saw her eyes. I wanted to help her, get her out of there."
"That's who you are." Her gut clenched, hearing shame in his voice where there should have been pride, seeing doubt on his face where there should have been resolve in his own values.
She motioned for him to lay down. She took his head and rested it on her lap. She stroked his hair and said "I admire you for standing up to Merle."
"He beat the crap out of me." He reminded her.
"Even more then. I'm glad you told me." It was huge for him to talk about any of this; he was opening up so much more lately. "About everything."
He nodded, feeling a mixture of relief and discomfort at his admissions.
"I don't want to lose that part of us ever. The physical part." She said.
"We won't." He assured her. He was having a hard time keeping firm eye contact, so she looked up and pointed. "See it?" She asked.
"The Thunderbird right?" He asked
"The Phoenix."
"Plains Indians called it Thunderbird, but yeah I guess it's the same thing. Must be November."
The Phoenix constellation was bright and unmistakable above them.
"The Phoenix means its time for you to be reborn in mind, body and spirit, to throw off your old life in order to face what's ahead. You rise stronger and more beautiful from the ashes of your old self. " Danni echoed what Nana Brigid had told her. "It's about healing and getting stronger."
He listened. He liked it when she went off about stuff like this.
"The Phoenix, manifests the eternal cycle of time and existence, symbolizing the importance of old endings and new beginnings," with the extra element of starting each rebirth at a higher level. She remembered what Stephen had always said about it.
"I had a friend who used to say that the Phoenix was about reincarnation, actually dying and your soul coming back as something or someone else. He was buddhist."
"You believe in that? Coming back after you die?" He asked.
"I don't know. I believe in a lot of things because I've seen them and I know they work or happen. But reincarnation? Still don't know about that one yet. You?"
"Dead is dead." He caught himself realizing what he'd said. "Well it used to be. But, nah, I don't think you die and come back as a damn house fly or some shit like that."
After a little more time had passed, he stated, "Better get back."
"Thanks for telling me that stuff." She said, feeling like he needed to know how much it meant to her. He pretended not to hear.
They stood and looked at the stars for a minute longer before he started to climb off. He turned to help her, saying, "I'll go down first."
"I'll hold you to that."
"Stop." He smirked.
They joined the rest of the group around the fire as Herschel and T Dog were talked about how to divert water from the streams coming from the river to offer their own irrigation system for fresh water. Herschel added the idea of planting a vegetable garden. "Tomatoes, cucumbers, whatever is in season."
After she and Daryl sat beside them, Herschel looked over and mentioned "Danni, I never did get that song from you."
"Now?" She looked around.
"Why not?" Glenn asked.
"Please Danni?" Sophia chimed in.
"Well, lately I've remembered a lot of songs my Nan from Ireland taught me."
"Would you know Paddy Reilly then?" Herschel asked enthused.
"Actually yeah."
"We love that one, our mom used to sing it." Maggie said looking at Beth.
Danni had to think for a minute to get the melody and tune right. She cleared her throat and smiled a little. It was funny how the words were in her head as clearly now as when she was a kid.
The garden of Eden has vanished they say
But I know the lie of it still
Just turn to the left at the bridge of Finea
And stop when half way to Coote Hill
'Tis there I will find it I know sure enough
When fortune has come to my call
Oh, the grass it is green
Around Ballyjamesduff
And the blue sky is over it all
And tones that are tender and tones that are gruff
Are whispering over the sea
"Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home Paddy Reilly to me"
My mother once told me that when I was born
The day that I first saw the light
I looked down the street on that very frist morn
And gave a great crow of delight
Now most newborn babies appear in a huff
And start with a sorrowful squall
But I knew I was born in Ballyjamesduff
And that's why I smile on them all
The baby's a man now, he's toil-worn and tough
Still whispers come over the sea
"Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home Paddy Reilly to me"
Daryl felt chills when she sang. Her voice was her own: raw, hazy, cracking; sometimes smooth always sweet and husky, melodic and expressive of emotion from deep within. The sound was so beautiful to him that he wanted to hold her but instead just moved closer so his shoulder touched hers. She noticed. His small gestures were more important to her than his larger ones.
"Thank you." Herschel spoke for everyone. "That was wonderful."
"I'm sure your wife sang it beautifully."
"Yes, she did." Herschel's eyes we cloudy.
After a few minutes, Rick broke the silence.
"Look I know we're all exhausted, this was a great win, but we gotta push a little bit more." Rick snuck a look over at Danni she caught it and who nodded at him.
"Looks like this place fell pretty early, most of the Walkers are dressed as prisoners, guards." He went on. "That could mean the supplies may be in tact."
"They are." Danni said.
If her words surprised anyone they didn't let on.
"They'd have an infirmary, commissary." Rick explained.
"Armory." Daryl added.
"Yes, in a separate building outside the prison. Not too far away, warden's office will have intel on the location of all that." Rick's voice became louder. "Weapons, food medicine."
He looked at Danni again, trying to assure her that he'd found her a place to have the babies. "Could be a goldmine."
"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'll run out before we can make a dent." Herschel commented.
"That's why we go in hand to hand. After all we been through, we can handle this. I know it."
"These assholes don't stand a chance." Daryl backed Rick up.
Danni looked around at the unhappy expressions around her.
"I appreciate, we appreciate everything you're doing but its been a tough march and we're exhausted." Lori's voice pleaded. "Can't we just enjoy this for a few days?"
"There's no time for a picnic." Rick countered.
"That's not what I'm saying." The tension was thick between them. Lori pointed at Danni, "She needs to settle for a bit, get herself in order."
"What do you think I'm trying to do?"
Danni felt on the spot. and said, "Why take the easy way out now? C'mon one more hard day and then we can all sleep for a week."
Rick looked back gratefully.
Daryl let the air hiss between his teeth and spit to the side. "She's right, we can do this."
... ... ... .. ... ... .. .
The next morning Danni didn't argue with Daryl and Rick when they told her she couldn't help with the move inside. She was able to put pride aside and see reality. It was too dangerous. Maybe not four or five months ago, but now. Accept it.
Daryl meant it when he said he'd miss her help. He trusted her to back him up and work just as hard he did. Still, he felt with Glenn, T-Dog, Rick and Maggie, they'd manage.
Danni knew better than to tell him to be careful so she just said, "Hurry up."
She caught him half smiling at her usual sentiment as he turned away. Inside she willed protection on him, on all of them.
... ... ... .. ... ... .. .
The chilly nights left frost on the ground, but the mild days saw the sun higher but still strong. Danni sat with Beth and Sophia on a soft patch of grass in the yard cutting up old towels, and scraps of material into the perfect size for diapers. It was a good activity to take their mind off of the battle going on inside the prison.
Danni had confessed to everyone she was having twins. No one questioned her or seemed to think it was odd. Lori chalked it up to a mother's intuition and she was pretty much right about that.
"I bet you can still get disposable diapers somewhere. Maybe a run to a Walmart or something? I know all the stores have been looted but you never know what you might find." Beth suggested.
"I hope you're right. I want to do that soon and get whatever I can-disposable diapers, baby clothing, and bottles if I can find a breast pump." Carol had been schooling Danni in what she'd need once the troublemakers arrived. Lori mentioned the breast pump, so she wouldn't be tied down so much. She winced at the thought. In fact all of this was so unreal-thinking about that stuff, saying it out loud, but she was going to be a mother. Carol and Lori made lists, cooed over her, reminiscing about their own experiences and actually enjoying themselves. They had an enormous amount of wisdom to pass on to her.
"The disposable things won't be available forever, so I'm going to make sure I have enough cloth diapers. Carol freaked me out telling me how much changing I'll have to do with two babies at once."
"You forgot toys." Sophia chided her.
"Oh, well, yeah, tons of toys."
Sophia smiled.
"Don't worry so much, you'll have plenty of help. I'm real good with babies." Beth assured her.
Danni realized how lucky she was. Between Beth and Carol, Lori and Maggie she'd have plenty of female support. What was that saying, 'it takes a village'? Danni realized this was the way babies and kids were raised as Travellers. Everyone in the clan helps out. She felt Brigid's guiding hand again and almost teared up. She was reclaiming who she was born to be.
"Everything all right?" Beth asked Danni who suddenly looked a little concerned.
"Yeah, It's just the babies haven't moved in a while. I used to feel something every day, but I'm sure they're fine. Probably as tired as I am."
Suddenly Andrea approached overhearing the conversation.
"What if they are stillborn? What if they are dead inside you right now?"
Danni had never considered that possibility.
"Stop." Beth was upset. Sophia looked like she was going to cry.
"What is your problem?" Danni was getting angry. "She's eight, watch it." She motioned to Sophia.
"Okay. Then let's say they live and you die during childbirth."
Beth hustled Sophia away.
"That's not going to happen."
"Why not? How many women died in childbirth before modern medicine?"
"How many didn't? Women did this for thousand of years and were fine. " There's other kinds of medicine
"I just think you need to be realistic. I've seen you acting like it's all fun and games, like you're waiting for your baby shower and everything is going to be perfect. It's not realistic."
"Fun and games?" Danni's voice rose. "You know what, I don't need you worrying about the way I think. Its none of your business."
"It is my business when you are putting us all in more danger."
"Andrea, stay away from me."
Danni walked over to Beth and Sophia who'd moved a few yards a way. "Sorry hun."
"They aren't going to die." Sophia said. "Why is Andrea so mean sometimes?"
"I swear it's because she's bored or something." Danni had to admit. Where was this malice coming from now?
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Dusk fell over the yard by the time Rick finally led everyone to the secure cell block.
"Home, sweet, home." Glenn announced as the group straggled into the dusty, stale gray cinderblock expanse, carrying everything they owned.
"For the time being." Rick added.
"It's safe?" Lori asked scoping out the sizable living space.
"This cell block is. One block for now, then slowly clear the rest of the wing."
"What about the rest of the prison?" Herschel asked.
"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary." Rick explained.
"We'll sleep in the cells?" Carol asked, not as put off as she thought she'd be. Having a bed and being inside a safe structure had its appeal. It also offered some privacy.
Rick nodded. "I found keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too."
Daryl nodded then said "But I aint sleeping in no cage. I'll take the- " He stopped when Danni kicked him. "We'll take the perch." He pointed to the second floor guard's station at the top of the stairs. "C'mon." He said.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... .
Daryl pulled two mattresses from the nearest cell and laid them side by side in the rear corner. They unloaded their back packs realizing how little they had, but at the same time how much.
Danni spread a couple of blankets she'd taken from the last house they'd stayed at neatly over the mattresses. She'd found a couple of plastic milk crates which she put on either side of the bed like night stands, for books and candles making a home anywhere she could.
He watched her for a minute amused and impressed with her precision and talent at putting things together, making spaces work. He then tossed his zippo lighter over before she had to ask. She caught it and lit the candles then threw it back to him. They sat at opposite ends of the mattress, stealing looks at each other in the flickering amber light. She noticed how Daryl's endearing childish behavior seemed never to truly leave him. He was so hard and tough one minute, the next just a kid. She observed him fiddling with an arrow and she looked around to see he'd arranged his stuff on the railings and window sills like kid's hideout. He noticed her smiling at him.
"What?"
She shook her head.
She took the cigar box from her pack and opened it, casually flipping through the tintypes, again struck by the eyes burning through as if they were alive in the pictures. Soldiers and families. There was one picture in particular she felt it hard to look away from. A beautiful woman with dark hair and almost modern features. Her eyes were pleading, asking for something. A widow's dress. The photo left Danni unsettled as she returned it to the box. She closed it and placed it on the crate beside her tarot cards.
She slid closer to him and began to slowly and methodically run her hands over his arms and shoulders. "Here, let me see."
"What you doing?" He put the arrow down.
"Checking for scratches."
"That all?"
"Well, it was, but..." She unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall from his shoulders.
Danni looked around at the cinderblock walls and up at the ceiling peeling paint and felt the thin lumpy mattress beneath her. Gray colorless place. Daryl touched her hair. "Gettin' really long." He stroked the loose strands against her cheek. She pulled out her ponytail and shook the raven locks over her shoulders tickling his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair twisting and pulling gently. A chill moved up her spine. She knew what she would say next because she'd said it in her dream.
"Yours too." She pushed aside the bangs of his shaggy brown hair, darkening with length, time and seasons. She moved on his lap as she did in the very first dream she'd ever had about him.
"Would you kiss me?"
"You don't gotta ask." His voice was low.
"Neither do you." she smiled a little. I think I do was what she'd said in the dream.
She tilted her head to encourage him. She'd done it all before. Her fingers came to rest lightly at the base of his neck, and she drew his face closer to her own. She softly bit his lower lip.
She smelled a familiar scent she couldn't quite place. Floral like jasmine, heavy like thick cream, sweet like orange blossom and honey; earthy like rich wet soil. It seemed to fill the entire second floor area. It made her feel a little light-headed. Or maybe it was his kiss.
"We've been here before." She whispered. His face was rough and his mouth hungry for hers. He ran his hands up her back under her shirt. They were fated.
"Hey," she objected softly as he suddenly stopped kissing her. But, he just stopped to move his mouth to her neck. This was where she'd woken up, her panties soaked. She wasn't asleep this time, she was very much awake. He moved her off of his lap and lay her down on her back. He pushed her shirt up slightly, then leaned over, kissing the sparrows while gently pulling her leggings down, looking up to see her small encouraging smile.
"What are you doing?"
"Told you I'd go down first."
He licked her navel ring, tonguing with long strokes over her rounder belly making her sigh and catch her breath. As his mouth moved lower she undulated under his lips almost giggling then bit down on her thumb as her breath came faster and she arched her back. His fingers met no resistance when they slid into her.
"Oh, God..." she gasped, sitting up. He'd never done that before. "How did...where did you-" She lay back down before she fainted, overcome as his fingers joined his lips and tongue as they worked industriously towards their shared goal – to get her off.
"Makes sense, that's all." He looked up, answering her. She pushed his head back down. He had learned with her, practiced on her and knew what worked for her so well that trying something new was easy for him. He liked surprising her.
She started to grind against his hand and mouth to extract more satisfaction. The scruffy stubble peppered on his cheeks tickled her inner thighs with every flex of her hips, giving way to a host of strained, throaty giggles as she continued to rock back and forth.
She knew she was only partly responsible for the origins of his oral talents. He had to have natural ability that only needed her patient tutoring and encouragement to come forward. There could be no other explanation for how good he was so soon.
His fingers repeatedly nudged her most sensitive area inside; that, coupled with some well-aimed flicks of the tongue against her hardened clit, sent shockwaves through her body.
"Yeah, yes, yes," she chanted, rocketing towards the most intense climax he'd ever coaxed from her body. "I can't…I can't believe you're going to make me come so fast," she panted. Stars glittered behind her eyes. Daryl's fingers jerked in and out of her slippery opening like they were on a never-ending loop. His tongue, which must have been tiring from its strenuous but short-lived workout, continued to lap at her with lightning strokes. All of her toes curled inwards and her hands clawed at the mattress, grabbing two giant fistfuls of the soft fabric as her body experienced wave upon wave of violent tremors. Pure contentment ebbed through every artery, her blood delivering the blissful sensations to her brain like a powerful narcotic.
Eventually, Danni unclenched her thighs from around his head and flopped to the mattress like a rag doll. Much to her disbelief he was already on the prowl. Daryl embarked upon a slow journey, kissing and licking his way across the barren terrain of her curvy tummy. Chaste kisses marked his pathway up her body, and upon arriving at the hemline of her t-shirt he hooked both sets of fingers on either side of her hips and eased the silky material up her body until it was rucked underneath her armpits, leaving her breasts exposed.
She felt something chemical between them. Daryl's success rate at coaxing her body into submission was at one hundred percent. It was impossible for her to reject him.
"Are ...you trying to prove... something?" She managed to stammer.
She released her handfuls of blanket and combed her newly freed fingers through his hair. "You're obsessed," she sighed.
"You wouldn't be complaining now, would you?" He teased, coming to a halt at the base of her left breast.
"Nope."
"Sounded like a complaint."
"If there's only one complaint I have, it's that you don't fuck me enough."
"That right?"
"Yup. You never give me the attention I deserve."
"Hell would you call what I just did?"
"Too little too late?"
"You're gonna get it now."
Danni grabbed his right hand and crammed it between her legs. "Bring it on." She demanded. "Get me off as fast as you can."
The next three minutes were a blur.
"Are you?" Daryl asked.
"Y-yes."
Like with the orgasm he'd induced not five minutes earlier, every muscle in Danni's body went taut and she subsequently experienced a full-scale meltdown. Husky, foul-mouthed cries came forth from her throat. She kept going as the excruciatingly sweet, aching heat surged over and over. He finally had to put his hand over her mouth to muffle her tirade. He wanted to listen and laugh but felt self-conscious about anyone hearing them.
Love and lust had become so intricately intertwined that one couldn't be distinguished from the other.
A feverish flush raged its own external war, blanketing her skin with a dizzying degree of warmth. His fingers were still moving inside her, and she was so sensitive down there that his touch became intolerable.
"Stop, Daryl. Please, it's too much," she whimpered, lacking the energy to lift her arms and slap his hand away.
The hand disappeared from between her thighs as soon as the shaky words left her lips. Likewise, his mouth ceased stimulating her breasts, and when she turned her head to the side she found Daryl's sombre face inches from her own.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked.
"No, baby, it was just too good, too much for me, Okay?"
His expression, almost emulating that of when he imparted the his dream her, morphed from a bleak countenance to one of relief and pride, and he returned his hand to what it had been doing, ignoring her protests.
"You bastard, shit..." She kept on, but he wouldn't stop. After two more obvious powerful climaxes, he finally let her collapse, all muscles spent.
"Did you?" Daryl asked.
"Uh huh." She nodded more than spoke. Four times...no five?
The way she clung to him shaking and breathing unevenly, indicated she was in no place for anything else at that moment. Still she moved her hand to his crotch, "Now you, baby..."
He shook his head. "Later. Plenty of time."
Their attraction soared beyond the physical, which helped lay to rest any unsettling insecurities that had remained at some level since the early stages of their connection. They worshipped each other with a measure of diligence only found when two people commit with not only their bodies but also their minds, hearts and souls; it was abundantly clear that they loved each other.
He stroked the side of her face and she kissed him; a kiss filled with so much love and affection that it could lighten the darkest of hearts.
They made out for what felt like an eternity. Soft lips, warm breath, and wet tongues were shared with the tender massaging of each other's faces and necks. Danni was still wondering how he knew what to do? How the hell had he done that to her? She'd never shown him. He hit every spot. Is he reading a book or something? Shit. Fast learner.
Cold air passed through her right down to her core interrupting her thoughts. Danni swore they weren't alone. She felt eyes on her. She propped herself up on her elbow and scanned the room flickering in the candlelight, but no one was there. She did notice, however, the flames were jumping extraordinarily high indicating the presence of a spirit. She knew that spiritual entities drew candle flames up, extracting oxygen, making them leap and stretch. She felt something watching them.
"What?"
"Nothing." She said laying back down. She didn't want to alarm him; besides, she didn't feel any negativity.
After a while he admitted, "Merle took me to a hooker on my sixteenth birthday."
Danni couldn't help but laugh. She caught herself. "I'm sorry, that's awful. But what a fucking stereotype. Like a bad movie. I'm sooo sorry." She kissed his cheek.
He finally saw how ridiculous it was. All the years of pain and shame from the incident started to melt away when he saw it through her eyes.
"You didn't though right?"
"No, I told you, you..."
"Good. I'm the lucky one who got you first." She paused, then added. "Do you even know how good you are?" She had a feeling he didn't. He shrugged almost shyly, his face against her neck.
"Tonight..."
"Shit." He said almost laughing.
"What?"
"Merle would kick my ass for eating at the Y all night. That's what he'd call it. Always telling me only pussies eat pussy."
"Fuck him. Guys like Merle won't go down on a woman because they are afraid that they don't know how to do it right."
"Well he don't and that's a fact." It felt good saying that.
"Some guys are only interested in themselves. They won't do something just to make the girl feel good."
"Don't know what they're missing."
She held him. "You are your own person. Don't forget it."
"Merle'd say I'm your bitch now."
She pulled herself on top of him and reached between his legs. "Okay, bitch then fuck me. Your turn. No excuses."
"Yes ma'am." God I love her.
Gardenia. That's what it was, gardenia flowers. She smelled it again. Everywhere.
...
She felt almost high from last night. I want him all the time, and this is why. He turned me into a sex junky, unable to go a single day without receiving a fix. "Oh that sounds sooo bad, so cheesy." She whispered to herself and almost laughed at her ridiculous description, as she wrote the words in her journal. But it was true. Whatever he had tried to prove last night, he did; no argument from her. He had given her an exhilarating calm that took every ounce of stress and worry from her the way he always could. She scratched out the phrase. "Just bad."
She lay beside him, watching him sleep deeply, a luxury he rarely afforded himself. He'd been opening up so much lately. He'd confessed his dream and even told her something of his past. She turned on her side and began to write. Write what she saw and how she saw him. He'd hate that she was doing it. She smiled.
Before she put the pen to paper, Danni again felt a presence; air moving when it wasn't supposed to. She looked around in the early morning light, pale sun streaming through the barred windows, shadows striping the floor. They were alone, but still, she felt like someone was watching her as she watched him.
His face was peaceful, relaxed, actually calm. His features combined to convey so many raw emotions. Like a kid's story book. But only for her. She started to write.
Only I can open the pages and find them easy to read. I can understand a look, a glance, everything right up front. He is so honest. I can see the feelings he fights so hard not to express with words, betrayed every time by his own face. He's no mystery although he thinks he is. I can decode his every mood, his every thought spelled out by the slightest wince, scowl, nod. Every crease in the outside corner of his eye. Every eyebrow raised in a look of surprise, annoyance or disbelief. I understand each squint or gleam of his eyes that combine with a lick on that lower lip. He is an open book for me.
She remembered the first few times she'd ever looked in his eyes. She'd hardly known him then, wasn't sure what to make of him exactly, but those eyes pulled her in. They used to scare her a little.
His eyes are a weapon leaving me defenseless, breaking my will effortlessly. Demanding. Piercing. He can bring me to my knees with one look and a second later, make me feel like we are the only two people on earth. He can tell me he loves me or hates me with his eyes. Dark blue diamonds. Unyielding one minute, vulnerable the next. Eyes that speak when his lips can't or won't. Eyes that see through to my soul.
He has rough, roaming hands that show no mercy and I wouldn't want them to. Fingers that can elicit sweet agony one minute and in the next, be tender, gentle, caressing me softly. A delicate stroke against my cheek with a hungry, probing finger inside. His touch scrambles my senses.
She watched his mouth move, lips pressing together slightly in his sleep.
His lips, rough, punishing and brutal as he drags them over my skin can easily move with the softness of a whisper. I love when he murmurs my name in the dark, helping me to sleep with those lips pressed against my neck. Making me shudder as they trail down my torso inch by inch, all warm breath and promises
She smiled even more when he turned toward her, still asleep, grunting, and put his hand on her hip. He was facing her now, his arm under his pillow, cradling his head.
She followed the contours of that arm, past the crook of his elbow to the curves of his bicep toned from lifting, carrying, pulling, shooting. That crossbow must weigh fifty pounds. Repeated movements of everyday survival. Muscles toned by a loss of body fat from weeks of too little food, offering most of his small share to her, and too much extreme exertion. He never complained, never relented. She thought about the feel of those arms pulling her to him, wrapped around her shoulder or holding her back trying to stop her from making a mistake. He held her down to save her life in Atlanta. He carried her back in those arms. She'd hardly known him then. It was all so tentative, so exciting, scary and new. Now, she could hardly remember life without him.
His shoulders were strong, not necessarily broad in a physical sense, but broad with respect to the weight he carried on them. Her safety and well-being, now the responsibility of being Rick's second. That's what he was. Who'd have thought.
She felt air move again; then from behind her a warm soft feminine touch on her cheek, sweet, cool breath on her neck. She turned her head quickly, but Daryl's hand on her hip grasped and pulled her hard toward him, burying his mouth on her shoulder, biting playfully.
His sleepy "You awake?" was sweet and rough. He didn't know how his husky slow-talking still disarmed her sometimes. That voice was the destroyer of her "no." She closed her journal as he stirred.
"What are you writin'?" The blue eyes flashed curiously, eyebrows raised, as if he knew exactly what she'd been doing. She noticed his voice was more than sleepy, he sounded exhausted.
"Stuff." She reached over and touched his face. "You feel hot. Fever hot. Are you okay?"
He sat up slowly. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck. The past two days had taken a toll on him physically. Clearing the yard for hours and then the next day pushing their way inside and killing what felt like hundreds of Walkers had left him sore and spent. Running on adrenaline had masked his exhaustion until now. Even with a good night's sleep he was drained. He felt that actually sleeping so deeply had thrown his body off.
Seeing him awake now, she noticed how prominent the dark circles under his eyes were. His face was flushed. "You look terrible."
"Don't feel so hot neither."
"Why don't you stay and try to sleep more. You're sick."
He shook his head. "We gotta push though inside. Find the cafeteria and infirmary. Get a decent amount of food back here."
"It can wait. I'll tell Rick you need a break."
Danni read his expression and knew it was pointless to argue. He'd only give in to her so much, so often. She knew when not to push.
... ... ... ... .. .. ... ... ...
Daryl was so out of it, feeling a headache starting, that he didn't notice the looks they were getting as they joined the others for breakfast on the first floor at the common table. Maggie gave Danni an amused, wide-eyed nod and winked. Danni immediately realized what she meant.
She and Daryl weren't alone in a tent halfway up a long hill anymore.
Oh shit I was really loud. And all that swearing. Fucking place probably echoes like crazy too.
"Oatmeal again?" Danni asked trying to act normally.
Herschel was obviously avoiding eye contact as was Rick. Carol smiled like Maggie while passing over the pot so Danni could serve herself. She filled a bowl for Daryl too. He grimaced. He hated oatmeal.
"Carl is a heavy sleeper." Lori said. "Nothing wakes that kid up."
"Sophia too. A heavy sleeper." Carol added
"Oh lord, I wish I was." T-Dog sighed with loud exaggeration.
"Amen." Glenn had to stick it to her as well.
Danni's cheeks were crimson. She looked over at Daryl, still clueless, glad he was being spared this embarrassment. It would kill him. She couldn't hold back laughter thinking about it. He'd absolutely die. She laughed loudly and couldn't stop for a good minute or two. She held her stomach and couldn't breath for laughing so hard.
"You having a fit or something?" Daryl asked her.
That got her going again. She couldn't stop laughing.
After a minute everybody was cracking up, chuckling with loud guffaws except Daryl who just scowled and said, "All you damn people should be medicated and put in a rec room with ping-pong tables and hand puppets."
... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... .
Daryl headed back into the cell block after settling Danni and Sophia outside on the grass. He did wish he could stay with them and take it easy for at least part of the day. He wanted to lay on the grass in the sun and listen to them tell stories. He was feeling a headache and maybe he was starting to get a fever. He never paid attention to stuff like that and wouldn't have even acknowledged it if Danni hadn't said something. She's making me soft, he complained to himself.
He was searching for Rick but as he turned a corner inside the door, he ran smack into Andrea. They both jumped back at the same time and Andrea smiled, her light blue-green eyes meeting his deep cobalt ones.
Daryl looked at the floor and mumbled, "Sorry," and started to walk around her.
She grabbed his arm. "Just a minute, Daryl."
He instinctively pulled away from her while yanking his arm out of her grip. "Make it fast," he grumbled, "I'm busy."
"Can I help you with anything?" Andrea offered.
"Nah, what do you want?"
Andrea moved here eyes slowly down his body to his feet and then back up again.Wait, did she just give me the once over? She was smiling as she approached and stood right in front of him, their bodies almost touching. He stepped back but she took another step forward. He swallowed, wanting to break for the door but refused to give in to that instinct. He wasn't afraid ofAndrea.Damned bitch, but why did he suddenly feel like he had gone from being a hunter to being prey?
She reached a hand up towards his face, slowly, as if she was reaching out to pet a frightened animal and placed it on his cheek.
He flinched, and jerked back away from her touch as quickly as possible. "Hey!" It was Andrea. What the hell?
"Your cheeks." She said feeling the heat from the fever. "They're flushed." She tried to push a piece of his hair back from his forehead.
"Hey, watch it." He moved back even further from her and looked down at his feet. "I'm fine," he mumbled.
She pulled her hand away and took a step backward, looking serious. "You are not, you're burning up. Doesn't that girlfriend of yours take care of you?" She asked, now glad she'd so boldly invaded his personal space. Damn, she'd touched his face and he hadn't shot or stabbed her. He was all talk, she decided.
"Wife. She my wife. I told you I'm fine." He said, turning and heading for the door. This was too weird and he couldn't process it just then. Andrea recalled that he and Danni considered themselves married.
"Hey, Dixon," Andrea called after him. "A wife is supposed to notice things like this. Yours is obviously dropping the ball."
He didn't turn back or say anything else.Andrea? He thought of the Truly disaster. But this was Andrea. No way. I must have a bad fever.
She watched him walk away noticing how attractive he was. Why had it taken her so long to see it? It had been a while since she'd had a man. Shane felt like years ago. The night after they'd left the burning farm she'd seen Danni and Daryl fighting, and felt a shift. She knew Danni took him for granted and walked all over him. He might be looking for a little something on the side. Besides she was pregnant he couldn't be getting much. Andrea's desires were taking over. That freakish little whore treated him like crap, she saw it every day. No wonder Shane had hated her so much. She'd pulled something with him too, Andrea just knew it. Daryl could use a little more in his life. Just for fun. All she wanted was a little fun with him.
Suddenly she felt a cold breeze blow on the back of her neck. She turned shocked. She was indoors the air warm, still and slightly stagnant. Maybe I'm coming down with something myself. She dismissed the sensation. She headed back to her cell and felt someone shove her hard from behind. She pitched forward, falling to the floor on her hands and knees.
"Hey, who?" Daryl?" 'She whipped her head back, but no one was there. She was completely alone in cell block C.
As she looked around, confused, the overpowering smell of gardenia wafted around her head. She knew it because it was one of the flowers her mother had always grown in her garden. The scent was so strong she almost gagged.
...
Danni sat with Sophia on the grass by the inner fence of the prison yard just beside the cement courtyard outside their cleared cell block. Herschel and Beth had taken Carol and Lori further in to the center of the field to scope out planting areas. Rick, Glenn, T Dog, Maggie, and Daryl were in the process of exploring other areas of the prison searching for the cafeteria and infirmary, and getting a sense of the likely hood of being able to clear out other cell blocks. Carl was patrolling the front gate.
It was late morning and the sun was warm, almost hot. Danni let it beat directly on her spine, relaxing her muscles. She was starting to experience lower back pain and sore shoulders as the weight in her belly increased. She removed her hoodie and let the rays penetrate easier through just her t-shirt.
"When is your tummy going to get really big?"
"It's a little bigger, wanna see?"
Sophia nodded and Danni pulled down her shirt showing how round her belly was getting. She wasn't big enough to show much under her sweatshirt, but the t-shirt clung tightly to the growing bump.
Sophia put her hand on the roundness. "Oh, they are moving in there." Danni leaned back on her hands. "You're not really big yet." Sophia complained.
"Next month I think you'll see." Carol mentioned that five to six months was when other people notice. Halfway there
Sophia untied the red bandana from around Danni's head and undid her ponytail. She started brushing out the glossy black locks that reached more than halfway down her back.
"Two braids or one?"
"One today." The girl adeptly separated Danni's hair into three even sections and began weaving them into a thick braid. "Sophia, I wanted to ask you about the lady you saw in the house last week before we found the prison."
The girl looked up. "What about her?"
"Have you ever seen her before?"
"No."
"So that was the first time?'
"Yes but I saw her last night. And the night before that."
"Here?"
Sophia nodded. "She came with us. The first night we were here, she was outside with us by the fence." Sophia pointed to the transport bus barricade. "She was watching you and Daryl the night you guys were up there on the bus."
Watching us.
"Last night I only saw her for a minute. She walked by my mom and me in our cell. I was awake and she looked at me, then went up the stairs to where you and Daryl were. Danni, she wants to talk to you. How come you won't listen?"
"I can't see her."
Sophia didn't seem afraid. "Oh, I don't think she knows that."
"Does she ever say anything to you?"
"No, she cries a lot though."
"What does she look like?"
"Well, she's pretty. Her hair is black like yours and she had a black dress on the first time I saw her, but the last two times she had a gray dress. Old fashioned dresses, the long kind with a white apron. She had a olden times nurse's hat on. White with a red cross on the front. Did Daryl see her? She went right up the stairs."
"No." Nurse?
"Danni if you can't see her and my mom and Daryl can't, does that mean she's a ghost?"
"Well, I'm not sure ghost is the right word."
Crying, sadness. Ban Sidh, banshee? Wailing woman or was it weeping woman? Why is she here, following us?"
Sophia nodded. "Yeah, ghosts are scary. She's not scary. She seems nice but she's just so sad. Who is she?"
"I'm not sure, I wish I could see her."
"You believe me?"
"Of course."
"My mom said I'm just having dreams."
"Sophia I think you're the only one who can see this woman. If she says anything to you, let me know. And anytime you see her tell me."
Sophia nodded and added "She smells pretty too. I always smell flowers when I see her."
Danni smelled flowers last night; gardenia.
...
"Hey, sit down." Rick forced Daryl to a seat around the common table on the first floor of the cell block. Danni had just entered and saw him looking exhausted, flushed and slumped in the chair.
"I'm fine." He said to Rick. "Aw jesus..." He said, seeing Danni rushing toward him.
"What happened?"
"He almost passed out. I think he's been over doing it. Seems like he's coming down with something."
"That's a fever." Danni said touching his forehead.
"He should get some rest, we've done enough today." Rick offered." Herschel might have some aspirin or something."
"I have something else, I can make a tea to bring fever down."
"I'm right here." Daryl hated being fussed over and talked about.
He stood up, but was immediately unsteady on his feet.
...
"C'mon." She took his arm as they walked up the stairs. "You're going to lie down and rest and I'll make you something for your fever."
He wouldn't lean on her, embarrassed about his moment of unsteadiness.
"I'm fine." He kept repeating.
"Well, just humor me then okay?"
She made sure he lay down. After taking off his boots and listening to him complain some more, she dug the dried yarrow from her pack.
"Just rest okay. They can manage without you for the rest of the day. I'll be back." She brushed the damp hair from his burning forehead.
"Don't let me sleep too long." He called after her as she descended the stairs.
He was damned tired and his head was pounding, but they still had so much to do. The cafeteria needed to be broken down and the supplies moved to the cell block. He yawned and stretched. Just a nap, he told himself. Just a quick nap. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
...
Danni started a yarrow infusion right away, putting one ounce of the dried herb into a quart jar and covering it with boiling water Carol prepared for her on the camp stove she used for cooking. It would be ready to drink in and hour.
Herschel approached, curious about her activities.
"I have some aspirin or ibuprofen if you want to give it to Daryl for the fever." He offered. "Rick told me he's coming down with something."
"Thanks but I'm making a remedy my Nana used. She taught me how to do a lot of healing with herbs." She held her breath, waiting for his reaction. He didn't say anything so she explained.
"This is dried yarrow. The flowers are everywhere, I got all this from around your farm."
He continued to listen, so she went on, "He can drink the tea and I'll use a cloth soaked in it to compress his head, feet and hands. Yarrow opens the pores and encourages the body to sweat the fever out. It is one of the best herbs for that. Wound healing too."
Herschel nodded. "It's not my way, but that kind of know how could be a benefit. For minor things I suppose. Save the real medicine for serious ailing."
She nodded. "I plan to get back out to the woods to search for more plants. I have a list of some that are local. Feverfew especially. It's for headaches. You're welcome to help."
"If you end up needing any of my medicine, let me know." He gave her a small smile. Was he humoring me? Well at least he didn't insult me.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..
The dizziness returned and Daryl held on to the mattress as the ceiling turned circles. This didn't usually happen unless he was drunk, he thought tiredly; he let go and let sleep take over. His heavy lids closed.
The air was thick with smoke making day look like night. The noise of the cannons was getting closer. Daryl knew he only had so much more ammo and was trying to make it last as he crept forward, now on his hands and knees. If he could get to the trees he'd have an advantage. The Union soldiers were no match for him and the rest of his troop when it came to the Georgia backwoods. They'd played out many a good ambush from the trees and bushes all having the advantage of growing up sharing the terrain and universal language of hunting calls. The fighting in the brush was fierce and chaotic, as the trees and thick undergrowth made it difficult to move in an orderly fashion which was what the northern boys were used to; it negated the effect of the Union cavalry and artillery. Their men stumbled into confederate bullets and capture and were made prisoners. The fires ignited by rifle bursts and exploding shells trapped and killed many of the wounded.
Right now however, he was laying exposed in the field longing for his home, the woods.
His acute hunter's ear heard the sudden popping of rifle fire as the left flank was broken. He had no choice but to stand where he was and fight. He aimed and ran forward only to feel the exploding heat as the bullets ripped through his shoulder then abdomen. He fell and lay in the mud, knowing with certainty he would bleed out and die. She came to his thoughts. He'd promised her he'd come back and they would start their life. He married her the day before marching out. It was supposed to be for a few months not two years. His confederate brothers stumbled past his head, some falling wounded, some tripping over those already dead beside him. He'd never felt so scared in his life, but a good soldier accepted his fate.
Daryl awoke, heart pounding unaware of his surroundings. He immediately felt for bullet wounds in his stomach, grabbed his shoulder. The pain from the dream was searing through him even as his eyes opened. He was breathing heavily.
He waited about ten minutes and then sat up. He was hit with a dizzy spell, but it passed quickly. He took a couple of deep breaths but couldn't clear his head of the feeling of dying.
...
"I could have told you he was sick." Andrea stood in the door of her cell.
Danni was headed past her carrying the jar of yarrow tea in a hurry to get to Daryl, but stopped. "What did you say?"
"He was burning up this morning, looked exhausted but you let him go help Rick anyway? After the past two days? No wonder he's in such terrible shape right now. Don't you ever pay any attention to anything but yourself?"
"Mind your own business." Danni started to walk away, so Andrea called out louder, "Truth hurts does it?"
The cell door slammed on Andrea's hand catching both women by surprise.
"You bitch!" Andrea lashed out. "You could have broken my fingers!"
"I didn't..." Danni was nowhere near the door there was no way she could have done it. Andrea knew it and felt a chill. Suddenly the smell of Gardenia was everywhere.
"You should see Herschel about that." Danni said and left her.
...
He was asleep. She sat beside him, laying the yarrow soaked cloth on his forehead. She wondered what Andrea was up to. She'd been keeping out of Danni's business for a while, since Shane. Now what was she starting?
Danni looked at Dary'ls eyelids, closed but twitching like he was active in a dream or seeing something in his unconcious.
He saw her face and thought he must be dead. She was kneeling beside him in the mud, pressing a cloth to his bloody forehead trying to hold back tears, but he knew her better than that. The sounds of gunfire, shouting, agonized screams of the wounded, footfalls and horses had died out in the past few hours until nothing but crickets and low moans and cries of the injured remained. He lay among the others left for dead in the muddy field. Suddenly he felt a gentle touch and thought he had passed and was in heaven when he opened his eyes. "Lor..." He coughed.
"Shh." She said, "I'm here."
"Lorelei, how..."
"I found you. I've searched every battlefield from Chattanooga to Dalton to find you, now I...do not tell me I am too late. Do not tell me that here at Chickamauga so close to home, I am too late. We are almost home...don't leave me now."
He felt her tears hit his face. He was willing himself not to weaken but his body would not coöperate.
The cloth was cool on his face, he opened his eyes and saw Danni looking at him, concerned. He wasn't in a muddy blood soaked field, he was on the thin lumpy prison mattress.
"Who's Lorelei? Danni asked. "An old girlfriend you forgot to tell me about?" She was half smiling.
"What?"
"Merle's hooker?" She laughed. He didn't, so she told him. "You were talking in your sleep to someone named Lorelei."
He was serious, eyes far away. "You watched me die."
"What?"
"Nothing." He shook the strange dream from his head.
"But you said,"
"Nothing. Just a dream. One that don't mean anything."
She continued to compress his head, then had him sit up to drink the tea.
She started singing as she unbuttoned his shirt and wiped down his chest with a second yarrow soaked cloth, opening his pores, releasing the fever's heat. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes letting her take care of him, not complaining for once. Her voice was as soothing as her hands.
I can't tell you anything you don't already know.
I keep on trying, I should just let it go.
I keep on singing, your eyes they just roll.
It sounds like someone else's song from along time ago.
You already know the story and the chords are just the same.
You already know I love you, and I sound like whats-her-name.
But you can't stop me, I want you to know.
I know it sounds like someone else's song from along time ago.
(Wilco)
... ... ... ... ...
"What are you doing out there?" Danni looked at Fionn on the other side of the cell block gate. He was in the outer hall that led to the rest of the prison. More mice on that side I bet. The young cat had made himself at home in his new environment, mousing constantly. He was rubbing against the bars waiting for her to let him in.
"Stay here."
She returned to the second floor where Daryl was sleeping again, finally feeling a little cooler. The fever was slowly coming down. She took his keys and headed back to the cat.
She got the right key on her third try. It turned it noisily in its latch. She pushed the door open and bent down to pat the cat's head as he swished by her ankles. That's when she felt herself pushed roughly back into the ante-room. She stood up to see a dirty guy in prison issue pants and a white t shirt raising a heavy wrench over her face. He shoved her back against the wall and whispered harshly in her face. "How many of you?"
His eyes were darting back and forth, wildly. He looked like he'd been hiding out somewhere in the prison for months.
She didn't answer, shocked by the sudden appearance of this intruder, so he backhanded her across the mouth.
"Your boys killed my posse." He hissed. "Where are they?"
She saw his panicked eyes shift to the table to her right, where some guns were laid out. He was nothing but a threat, not even really a person to her that moment. After Truly, Danni's survival instinct was in high gear. Kill or be killed. Daryl had drilled that into her head: Kill or be killed and you don't hesitate.She heard his voice and saw the threat to her, the babies, the group. Her fear was turning to anger on a dime lately. She knew what this guy was thinking as he glanced back and forth from her face to the guns. If only she could somehow get him off of her and beat him to the table she could grab a gun and...
"Hey! Motherfucker what the..?" He suddenly flew back off of her as if someone had grabbed him and he hit the barred door behind him. Danni sped to the table and grabbed a handgun. She released the safety and spun back expecting to see Rick, Glenn, anyone, but she was still alone with the prisoner. He charged her with a shiv he'd pulled from his back pocket. She was about to pull the trigger, without thinking twice.
Before she could squeeze, a shot came from behind her.
"Rick, there's the other one!" She heard T Dog shout. He'd killed the intruder. She stood staring at the body on the floor in front of her wondering how exactly the guy had been pulled off of her. Or who had done it.
The shot brought most of the group running. Before anyone had a chance to say anything, Daryl pushed past T Dog, moved Danni aside and shot an arrow directly between the eyes of the dead prisoner with a soft sucking sound.
"What happened? You alright?" he looked back at her.
"Fine."
"Why did you do that?" Maggie asked. All eyes were on Daryl.
He realized no one else knew about the infection. He looked at Rick.
"Shooting the guy not enough for you?" Glenn tried to laugh, but Rick and Daryl's postures were radiating a heaviness that went beyond a reaction to Glenn's bad joke.
"Where did he come from?' Rick tried to divert attention and get his own serious question answered.
"Through there." Danni answered. "I was looking out for Walkers when I opened the gate for the cat, I had no idea..."
Daryl ripped his keys from her belt as she spoke. "...there'd be a live son of a bitch. Are there more?" She knew he was pissed. She could hear him now. He was going to let her have it.
"We don't think so. T Dog and I ran into a small group of men in the cafeteria. Thought we'd taken care of them."
"Guess this is the one slipped out on us." T-Dog finished for Rick.
"Took care of them?" Herschel asked.
Before Rick could answer, Andrea jumped in.
"Why did you do that Daryl? The guy was dead. But it figures, give Danni a gun and we get another death. Did he actually deserve it?"
"Shut your mouth." Daryl assumed Danni had taken the shot. He turned to Andrea. "She was protectin' the group, even your sorry ass."
Danni had enough and she could fight her own battles. "Stay out of my business. I don't know why you're getting back in my face all the time now but I'm-"
Andrea went at her and Danni grabbed the other woman's hair.
"Hey, I shot that asshole!" T-Dog moved to break up their fight.
"Enough!" Rick shouted. "Daryl had to do it or that guy would have turned. He'd be-" Rick's outburst stopped the two women in an instant.
"A Walker? But how?" Glenn asked. "He wasn't bitten."
Everyone's eyes were on Rick. "I know I should have told you."
"Told us what?" Lori asked.
"Back at the CDC, Jenner said that we are all...infected. We all carry whatever this is, this condition or disease. Whatever it is that makes us turn, its in us already."
"So you're saying that when someone dies no matter how they die, they become a Walker." Herschel summed up the terrifying situation.
"And you kept this from us?" Carol's voice broke as her eyes bore holes into Rick. "How could you?"
"You knew about this?" Glenn asked Daryl, his voice accusatory.
"I made Daryl keep it to himself. I was waiting for the right time."
"Right time?" Lori asked. "You lied to us!"
Lori led Rick away, angrily bombarding him with questions. The rest of the group dispersed, shock making them walk slowly and almost aimlessly.
Daryl looked at Danni's dark expression, trying to figure out how she felt about the news and that he'd kept it from her. She wasn't looking at him or anyone else, he couldn't read her. She bent over and stepping on the corpse's neck, retrieved his bolt from the head of the dead prisoner and handed it to him.
"C'mon, you're still sick, you should be resting." She said in monotone, walking by him, not meeting his gaze. She headed upstairs. He looked a little sheepish, but followed her back up stairs.
T Dog looked incredulous as everyone walked off, leaving the dead body with him.
"Hey, Glenn, somebody, help a brother out?"
...
"That tea you gave me worked. Feel a lot better." Daryl ventured after what felt like hours. He hadn't even busted her for taking his keys and acting so recklessly, as much as wanted to. Sometimes she still surprised him. He was pissed, but she was probably just as mad about him keeping Rick's secret from her. He'd let her go first.
She was still in her head somewhere. What did this mean for the babies?
"You ever gonna talk to me again?" He asked.
"If we're all infected, then so are the babies."
"Got a point?"
"What if they're born Walkers and rip me apart?"
He sighed. He'd rather have her yelling at him for keeping it a secret from her. She ignored him and kept going. "What if we all die? We're all three of us Walkers. if we are...you don't hesitate and don't try to save us."
"What are you talking about?"
"If I die in child-birth, or the babies do. We'd turn... and ... what if I come back, what if I attack you?"
"Stop. You seen how its gonna be okay. You seen it in your dreams. We'll be fine."
"But you'd need to do it. Promise me."
"I'm not talking about this."
"All I'm saying is-"
"It doesn't need to be said. This doesn't change a damn thing. We still keep going, keep killing them geeks and keep living. Don't think about something you can't do nothing about."
Genius. He was right.
"I don't plan on us dying anytime soon." He added.
"Okay.' She took some deep breaths and considered his words, thought about her dreams. "Okay." She couldn't control the fact that they were infected, but she could do her damndest to stay alive.
"Thought you'd be givin' me hell for not telling you."
"Oh yeah, about that-"
"Make me sorry, c'mon." He ordered in that sweet, rough, drawling slow-talk; destroyer of "no."
She pushed him back on the mattress and held his arms over his head. "Oh, I will. Then its your turn. I know you're pissed at me too."
"Bet I am." He growled into her mouth as she moved to kiss him.
She suddenly stopped. "Do you smell that?"
Gardenia. Everywhere.
"Will you just shut up for once so I can kiss you."