It's My Life

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Charlene.

Chapter 14: Cuddlers


Charlene winced as she was forced to her knees before the group of men. Her hair hung around her dirty tired face and she gasped for breath. Her entire body ached with pain and she felt the trail of blood sliding down her back idly from the tears in her skin. The man who led all the tortures slid a bowl of greyish soup to her.

Her stomach screamed for food and she dug in greedily. The terrorist began to laugh deeply, his laugh sent warning alarms off in her body and she shivered in fear of the monstrous sound that filled the air. Her eyes snapped from the food to his and she dropped the spoon promptly. "It's poisoned."

He squat down to her eye level and stroked his beard. "No, it isn't. You're too valuable to just kill off." She warily began to eat again when he asked her with a cruel smile how she liked the soupy meat. Charlene gave a shrug and he laughed that terrible laugh again.

"I've never had dog before, I guess I should get myself some."

She felt as if the air had been knocked from her body. Charlene slapped the bowl against the wall and fell backwards, staring in horror. The man began to laugh jovially. "Maya was it?" He pulled a titanium silver tooth from his pocket and twisted it in the light. "Impressive animal. Killed two men before we got her."

She wanted to scream and cry and kill these horrible men surrounding her. Her body trembled with the rage coursing through her. She could feel her stomach gag at the weight of her friend in her stomach. The man pocketed the tooth and smiled at her again. "You should have heard that dog whine and whimper while we gutted her. I think she lived to see most of her body being dumped into the pan."

Charlene's lip curled while she stared him down. "I'll kill you."

This statement evoked another laugh from the man. He stood before her and shook his head, "You never learn do you?" Suddenly she was being drug back towards the mattress springs- she fought and kicked every step of the way.

Charlene sat up with a start. Her body was sweating profusely and she could feel the sudden return of the painful thrum in her head. The woman groaned and pressed the palms of her hands against her face. She breathed in deeply to calm herself and leaned her head against the wall of the RV. Her eyes turned to the window and squinted at the harsh light that streamed in.

Drag marks littered the campsite. Really, the corpse of a campsite- the tents had been taken down and from this spot she saw Carol wailing into her dead husband. Closure. She could relate the woman's furious destruction of the man she had put up with for so many years.

Charlene sighed heavily and carefully swung her legs over the bed. A tremble ran up her spine as her body protested the movement. She tilted her head from side to side and shook her arms and legs out- testing their strength before proceeding forward.

Rick stepped inside the RV with Jim in tow. Charlene looked up, "Hey, what's going on, boys?"

Rick grimaced as Jim walked to the back where she had been resting. Her eyebrows were raised quizzically. The sheriff leaned down to her ear, "Jim's infected." Her head snapped to the feverish man who had taken a seat at the bed. Charlene blinked a few times, "And you're putting him in the RV, why?"

Rick put his hands on his hips and shuffled his feet a bit. "Jacqui's gonna keep an eye on him. We're heading for the CDC."

The woman grimaced in disapproval. "He's a ticking time bomb, Rick. CDC sounds fine and dandy, but if that animal gets let loose while we're on the road, you'd better hope someone puts him down before he devours everyone in the RV."

Rick let out a breathy laugh, and turned his gaze out the window. "Daryl said the same thing about Amy."

Charlene took a step forward, her brow furrowed in disbelief. "Y'all haven't quieted Amy yet? The fuck, Rick? I go to sleep for a couple hours and now y'all guys are treating these people like they aren't dangerous."

The sheriff grabbed her to prevent her from leaving. Her eyes narrowed in warning and Rick promptly released her arm before whispering firmly. "We don't kill the living. Show some compassion."

The woman gave a cruel, sarcastic laugh. "I can show a whole lotta compassion with a bullet, Rick. You're making a mistake to allow him to suffer through that infection." The man pursed his lips into a thin line as she exited the RV. Her words might as well had been on repeat through his head as they cycled through over and over.

Just as her bare feet hit the dust a shot rang out to her side. Her head snapped to the two women on the ground. Blood spattered the hot Georgian dirt. Andrea immediately hunched over her sister and continued with her grieving. She could respect the woman for at least having the guts to do what needed to be done and on her own- even if she allowed her sister to return.

Charlene approached her tent area only to find it completely dismantled. Frowning she turned around with her hand shielding her eyes from the blazing rays of the sun. Her head screamed and she suddenly found her irritation growing to dangerous levels.

Charlene turned in a circle of complete and utter confusion; her lips were pressed tightly together to prevent herself from losing it. A sudden, gruff and welcome voice spoke from behind her. "Lookin' for somethin'?" The woman turned to face Daryl as he grabbed the foot of another deadened geek- the slight tilt of his lips was not missed by her.

She gave him a scrunched up accusing look. "Ya seen where my tent went?" Daryl's eyes traveled down from her white tank top, black tiny shorts, to her bare feet. He ignored her question and tiny smirk crossed his dirty, sweaty face. "I think you're missin' some clothes."

Charlene scowled and crossed her arms across her body. "I seem to be missing a lot more than just clothes."

Daryl gave a rare rumble of laughter, his lips pealed back into a smile she had only seen once before. "Clearly." His voice was heavy with an almost delightful sarcasm. Charlene was taken aback and she was only able to stare at him before frowning. "How long was I asleep?"

Daryl gave her a halfhearted glare as he began dragging the body over with the rest. The woman followed him and laid a hand on his upper arm with a bright smile. "Comeeeee on, I was just kidding. You really do have such a nice smile." The hunter shrugged her hand off and scowled at her without saying another word.

Her bare feet pattered the hot dust beside him while she gave another sly grin. "So, to see that smile again, all I have to do is lose my clothes?" Daryl stiffened visibly and shot her a look of pure bewilderment as his mind reeled with the implications of her words. He cast several glances around to see if any others had heard.

Satisfied that they had not, he looked back to her with a quirk of his eyebrows. Charlene stepped closer with that infernal, provocative smile that made his heart nearly explode in his chest. Daryl wanted to move away, but his pride wouldn't allow it. He fought desperately to control his breathing as her silken words spread over him like a bucket of cold water.

"Perhaps, that is why my clothes and tent are missing? If this is what you wanted sweetheart, you could have just asked."

She was now standing close enough that her breath was ghosting over his sun-heated skin. Daryl dropped the geek's legs and gently pushed her away from him. His gentleness was betrayed by the pure and utter look of annoyance that contorted his face. Daryl growled as he grabbed the leg of the walker again, "They're in the back of my truck."

Charlene frowned and ran a hand through her wild hair. "Uh, why?" The man scowled as he dropped the geek near the pile of the others. She could have sworn she saw his face flush red in what could have been humiliation or from the heat of the sun, she couldn't be sure which.

He grumbled quietly as he grabbed the pickaxe. "You were still sleepin', no one else done it, figured I'd- what does it matter? It's in my truck." He cut himself off mid sentence and his voice turned angry within seconds. Charlene's eyebrows rose in surprise- she was completely unfazed by his anger. Instead, she was touched by the sudden kindness of his actions, no matter what he claimed the reasoning was behind them.

Charlene couldn't resist the grateful smile that leapt on to her lips. "That's…really nice of Daryl, thank you." His head snapped up to face her; the icy blue eyes were narrowed as he chewed on his lip. The hunter nodded his head and grunted, "Yuh." as he slammed the pickaxe into the skull of the walker.

She walked away from him the smile ever present on her pink lips. Charlen pulled the tailgate down of the blue, rusty pickup. She riffled through the bags before pulling her khaki colored duffle towards her. Her thoughts drifted back to Jack and his mention of a settlement in the area.

Her tongue wetted her lips while she jerked her old desert tactical pants from the military from her bag. She jerked them up over the tight shorts she had been wearing. Charlene slid the tan weapons vest over her white tank top and dropped extra ammo in the pouches.

Just as Charlene snapped her belt, along with her many knives around her hips and was tying her shoelaces to her black combat boots- Shane appeared with a quirk of his eyebrows and amusement laced his tone. "Preparing for war?" Charlene slid the aviator sunglasses over her eyes, sighing in relief at the temporary alleviation of the pounding in her head.

She gave him half a smile. "We're headed to the CDC, after seeing Jack in the city and hearing of his little settlement- I wanna be prepared for whatever we might come across- and if it's him…I'm going to kick his ass straight to hell. Bastard left me for those walkers." Her tone was venomous as she jerked the bottom of her pants into her boots.

Shane grimaced as he turned to lean against the truck by her side. "Listen- we need to talk about you seeing Jack-" His sister waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Brother, I know what I saw, I know who I was talking to. It was Jack."

Shane dropped his head and just nodded, "Okay." Charlene opened one of the pouches in her tactical pants and pulled a picture from it. A small, tender smile crossed her lips when she spoke again. "I carried this with me everywhere. Kind of a reminder of better times, ya know?"

Her brother hadn't responded. She looked up to catch his gaze boring down on Lori, Carl, and Rick. She scowled and grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to look at her. "Hey!" Charlene snapped her fingers in front of his face and elicited a deep, annoyed growl from her older brother. She smiled. "You need to let her go- I know you couldn't have foreseen Rick coming back into the picture- but he did and ya need to do whatever it takes-"

Shane muttered pathetically. "I love her."

Charlene groaned and placed a hand to her forehead. "Jesus Christ." Her brother laughed pitifully and dully, "I know." She grabbed him again and handed him the picture she had pulled from her pocket.

Shane's fingers ran over the older, faded picture. The corners had been damaged and the picture it self had creases running through it from all it had gone through. It was of him and Charlene when they were young. Shane had his arm wrapped around his little sister, and she was pushing him away with a tender scowl on her face. Shane chuckled and muttered more to himself than to her. "You were always so independent and stubborn, couldn't tell you nothing."

Charlene grinned. "I'd like to think that's one of my more endearing qualities." Her legs swung idly from the tailgate. Shane chuckled and handed the picture back to her. His sister smiled and pushed it at him, "You need it more than I do, brother. Think of it as a reminder of better times. That picture got me through some pretty rough shit, hopefully it'll do the same for you."

Shane stared at her in mostly disbelief and bewilderment as she shut the tailgate and gave him another reassuring smile and pat on the arm. He turned his gaze from her and to the old picture, a tiny smile twisted his lips while he pocketed the picture, knowing full well he'd need all the help he could get for the times to come.


"We're staying for another night?" Charlene asked incredulously. Rick nodded his head as his eyes shot to the setting sun. "Yeah- we can't be driving at night, the lights will attract too many walkers, and we need to bury Amy tomorrow anyway." The woman nodded her head in understanding.

"Well, I want Derek inside the RV. My tent has already been taken down and I'm not real comfortable with the openness of the cars."

The older man smiled and patted her shoulder. "Of course, we'll find room for him. You have second night watch tonight after Daryl, and I'm taking third."

Charlene nodded her head and gave a wave of her hand. "Got it, Chief." She chewed on her lip in thought. She had no fucking clue where she was supposed to sleep tonight and there wasn't any fucking way she was fitting in the RV or any of those tiny cars.

Just when she was contemplating shacking up underneath the RV and seriously dreading it- her cerulean colored eyes landed on Daryl laying out bedding in the back of his pickup. A hesitant, but very serious thought crossed her mind. Charlene sidled up to the blue truck and rested her arms on the side as he was smoothing it out.

Daryl shot her a look and grumbled, "Wha' ya' want?"

Charlene chewed her lip before meet his gaze and gave the biggest smile she could muster. "I was wondering since you have the first watch, and your bed will be empty, and since I don't have anywhere to sleep that maybe I could sleep here until it's my turn for watch?"

The man stilled and stared at her steadily. Charlene could already see the 'fuck no' forming at his lips and she spoke quickly to cut him off. "Wouldn't that be nice, to be all cold and come to a nice warm bed? And you've gotta wake me up for second watch anyway-"

Daryl snarled, "No." He moved to sit on the edge of the tailgate. Charlene moved around and stood between his legs causing him to freeze and stare burning holes into her eyes at the boldness of her movements. She seemed to be either completely unaware or uncaring to his lack of comfort and patted his knees pleadingly.

"Comeeeee onnnnnn, Daryl, it's either here or I'll have to sleep on the cold, hard, ground underneath the RV." Her voice was just short of a whine as she emphasized each of the repelling qualities of sleeping in the dirt. Daryl grabbed her sleeping bag and pointed to the ground by the RV. "Go for it."

Charlene held the sleeping bag in her hands, her jaw was slight ajar with her brows furrowed in a look of surprise and thought. Her head snapped up and she gave him one last pleading look when she heard Dale calling Daryl for his shift. She stopped him from leaving. "You won't even be sleeping here though! And I smell good. Please?"

Daryl swallowed slowly as her hand pressed into his chest to hold him there. He stared down at her and the knot that had formed in his chest grew into annoyance. He finally snarled angrily, "Do whatever the fuck you want! Stop fuckin' touchin' me, woman." He stormed past her towards the RV where poor unsuspecting Dale waved to him cheerfully.

Charlene grinned to herself as she pulled her boots off and crawled into the bedding, thankful to hell and back for having a nice place to sleep that night. Charlene: 1 Daryl: 0.


Daryl approached his truck with trepidation. He paced a few times back and forth, running an aggressive hand through his hair. Charlene lay in his bed- her tiny frame rose and fell with each soft breath. If he hadn't already known she was there, he wouldn't have ever realized until he had climbed in.

Daryl smacked her foot and muttered grumpily, "Hey, wake up."

He almost felt bad for waking her as the small woman stirred sleepily. She sat up and rubbed her eyes wearily. "Wha's goin' on?" Daryl nearly wanted to laugh at her slurred wording and the way she tumbled from the bedding to the lowered tailgate.

He watched as she slid her boots on and didn't even bother tying the laces. Her eyes were still half closed when she pulled that tan tactical vest over the white tank top. She fumbled in one of the pockets and pulled a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Daryl's eyes narrowed as she lit one and took a deep drag- the smoke tumbled from her lips as her body visibly relaxed.

He growled to himself and chewed on his thumbnail. Charlene looked over and a half lidded, sleepy smile crossed her lips as she extended the pack and lighter to him questioningly. Daryl mumbled what she thought might have been a thanks before he took one. He sat down on the tailgate beside her and stared into the darkness that surrounded the little burning embers.

"Didn't know ya smoked."

He felt her shoulders brush his as she shrugged. "Only when I need to wake the fuck up, or I'm in a whole lotta fuckin' pain."

"Which is it?" His eyes looked to her moonlit face as it twisted into a grimacing smile. "Li'l bit o' both."

He nodded his head in understanding as she slid off the tailgate and stamped her cigarette out. Charlene gave him a smile. "Thanks for letting me use your bed." Daryl only grunted in response as she walked off towards the RV. His eyes followed her until she had made it to the roof.

He tossed his cigarette and crawled underneath his blanketing. The last thing that was on his mind as he drifted off was how his bedding smelled so nicely and so very much like Charlene.

As her shift passed by Charlene busied herself with thoughts of anything but the man laying in the pickup truck a few feet from the RV. The more she thought about their conversations earlier that day the more she realized she had really meant all of her flirtations. If Daryl had even opened up any possibility, she would have taken it in a heartbeat.

This simple fact griped her to no end. The last man she had been with was Jack- and that had been so long ago Charlene wasn't even sure she remembered what it felt like to be touched by a man she cared about. And that was just it: did she care about Daryl or was her mind being stupid and just craving his body?

Daryl made her smile even when he was being a jackass, and made her smile even more in his rare acts of kindness. His touch electrified her and then just the thought of him warmed her all throughout her body. She groaned inwardly. Charlene was so far gone, it just wasn't even remotely fair.

How would a relationship in this type of world work? What happened when people got tired of each other? What happened when they didn't and one of them died? The thought of Daryl dying twisted her insides painfully. She supposed it didn't matter anymore- she was already down for the count, there wasn't any use in shunning the man. It would only cause her more annoyance and more than likely confuse the fuck out of him than it would do good. The feelings would always be there.

Charlene figured she would just continue on as if there wasn't anything and secretly enjoy his company for the time being. If he ever gave any sort of possibility of something more then she might present the idea to him- but until then she needed to keep this all to herself and continue on as if there was nothing for the peace.

Charlene was good at that- there were so much she had shoved to the back of her mind already, one more thing wouldn't make any difference. She would just forget about it, simple.

Her thoughts were jerked to a close as she saw Rick climb onto the RV. He gave her a smile and she returned it. "You're early."

He put his hands on his hips as he looked around the campsite. "Yeah- couldn't sleep, hearing all that yawning from ya, I thought I might come and relieve you."

Charlene grinned sheepishly. "Ah. Yeah, thank you."

She gave him her seat and went to leave when Rick spoke curiously from his newly assumed perch. "Where are going to sleep?" Her eyes snapped to his as she chewed on her lower lip and shrugged with a devious grin. "Well, I thought I might try and sneak in with Daryl and finish out the night."

Rick gave a short bark-like laugh and shook his head. "Like slapping a sleeping bear."

Charlene grinned and chuckled along. "Nah- this is much more dangerous. I would know. Wish me luck."

The last she heard from the sheriff was his quiet chuckles. Her boots hit the dirt and she began her trek towards the rusty blue pickup. She slid her feet from the shoes and climbed onto the tailgate slowly. Charlene froze as Daryl shifted underneath his covers. When the movement ceased, she continued her cautious journey towards the open side of the truck bed.

Suddenly Daryl sat up, fully alert and quite shocked at her leaning over his bedding. Charlene rolled her lips awkwardly and gave him a sheepish smile as he growled warningly. "What the fuck are you doing?"

She inhaled deeply before beginning slowly. "Well, there are five hours left and I thought since I didn't have a bed made that maybe it'd be okay if I curled up on the other, empty side of your bed."

Daryl glared at her with the utmost irritation. "You thought wrong. Get the fuck outta here." Charlene's frame slouched in defeat before she finally perked and jerked the pack of cigarettes from her pocket and waved them in front of his face as tantalizingly as she could.

"This entire pack could be yours for that little space of bedding."

She gave him a pleading grin as he stared at the pack and then back at her. Just when she thought he was going to throw her from the bed of the truck, Daryl snatched it from her hand and grumbled under his breath. "Don't fuckin' touch me."

Charlene could have squealed in delight as she happily crawled under the covers. She laid her head on her duffle bag and her body sagged into the comfort of the bedding. Her back brushed with Daryl's and he suddenly growled lowly in her ear. She could feel his breath rush over her skin and sending shivers all up her body. "What did I tell you?"

Charlene cringed and mumbled into the bedding, "Sorry." A tiny smile crossed her face as the man shifted and continued to grumble in annoyance. Her teeth dug into her lower lip as her chest swelled happily. She fell asleep quickly and with a smile on her face for the first time in a long time.


Hey y'all! I hope ya guys enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it, what you think of Char and Daryl, or Shane, or whatever! I don't care, I just would love to hear from y'all! Thank you for reading!