Second Chance
Summary: Daryl is happy that his best friend has finally found love, but sometimes he's left feeling a bit abandoned.
A/N: This is set in the future, when Rick and Michonne and the kids are living together. I have a feeling that the finale tonight won't have very much fluff, so here's your fix!
…..
Chapter 5 - Daryl
"This way, follow me," Rick said and promptly kicked in the door.
I followed him, my assault rifle held at the ready.
For a second or two the room looked empty, then a gristly corpse lurched out of a dark corner, catching Rick off guard. I blew its head off with a burst of gunfire.
"Thanks," Rick said and we continued clearing the house.
We found a couple unopened bottles of water and a bit of food in the kitchen. I stowed the supplied in my pack and followed Rick out the back door.
Outside the house, we were immediately surrounded by more walking dead.
"We got this," Rick said.
"Mhm," I grunted, standing back to back with my friend, ready to face any danger together. We've been through worse than this before.
BAM! BAMBAMBAM BAM! The blast of our gunfire shook the night. Corpse after corpse fell to the ground but more kept coming.
Suddenly my gun went quiet.
"I'm out!"
"Here," Rick passed me another magazine and I reloaded.
"Come on, let's get out of here," I said, stepping over fallen corpses, looking for a way out. We were back in front of the house and the whole street seemed to be full of walkers.
"Shit!" Rick cursed.
Out of ammo, Rick slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his machete, the one with the red handle, and continued fighting.
I was soon out of ammo as well. I drew my large hunting knife. If I was going down, it sure as hell would not be without a fight!
"Did you hear that?" Rick suddenly asked.
"What?" My attention was still on the approaching walkers. There were even more now.
Right as a decaying corpse lunged at me, everything froze and I couldn't move.
"Hey!" I exclaimed in irritation at the sudden 'GAME PAUSED' message displayed on the screen.
"What the hell, man?!" I smacked Rick's arm and gestured to the TV with my controller, "We're about to win this!"
"Hold on! I thought I heard a car door close," Rick said.
"Would you chill? She ain't getting back 'til tomorrow," I said, "Let's play."
Rick glared at me from his side of the couch but he turned back to the TV and resumed our game.
Acting fast, I stabbed the walker attacking me in the skull. Rick slashed another one with his machete.
Then we both heard it, the sound of keys jangling at the front door. The couch shifted as Rick jumped up to run to the door.
Before I could react, a walker came at me from behind and sank his teeth into my arm. I fell to the ground and the screen went red. Rick's side of the screen went red a second later.
"Oh, hell!" I threw my controller down in frustration, "Rick!"
We've been trying to beat this level for weeks!
I looked towards the front door. Michonne, it seemed, was back from her trip a day early. She dropped her bag on the ground.
"I missed you!" Rick said as he hugged her tightly.
"I was only gone three days. You missed me that much?" Michonne teased.
"Well it felt like longer," Rick said, pulling back from the embrace just enough to kiss her.
Michonne draped a free arm around the back of Rick's neck and returned the kiss.
I got the distinct impression that nobody remembered that I was there. I sighed and looked around the living room awkwardly.
"Mommy! Mommy!" there was a chorus of screams and scampering feet.
Andre came running down the hall from the kids' bedroom. Little Judith toddled along behind him, trying her best to catch up.
"Oh, my babies, come here!" Michonne knelt down and scooped them both up in a big hug.
"I love you!" Andre said, wrapping his arms around Michonne's neck.
Michonne kissed them both and Judith giggled and patted her face happily. Rick watched them with a soft look on his face. Carl came out of his room and gave Michonne a hug as well.
"Hey, Daryl," Michonne greeted me with a smile.
"Hey," I nodded back.
"Did you bring me anything?" Carl asked hopefully.
"Carl!" Rick chastised him, but Mihconne laughed.
"Don't worry, the gifts are in my bag," she said.
Soon the little kids were tugging on her, anxious for their mother's attention. They had three whole days of craft projects and workbook pages from day care to show her. Rick followed the noisy bunch down the hall, carrying Michonne's suitcase.
All of which left me suddenly alone in the living room. It still struck me as a little strange to see the affectionate side of Michonne. She's changed a lot over the past year and a half. Then, so has Rick. It's nice to see him finally happy, after all the mess he's gone through.
They're my closest friends in the world, aside from Carol, and I guess Glenn too, and I'm happy for them. Really, I am. Even so, sometimes I still feel like an outsider.
"Wow, you guys are still on the zombie level?" Carl's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm," I acknowledged. We'd be a lot further if Rick would stop getting distracted by something every five minutes. 'Something' usually being Michonne.
Carl picked up his dad's controller and gave me a look that said, 'so, we doing this or what?'
I retrieved my controller and reset the level.
We woke up in an eerily abandoned hospital and had to fight our way out, bashing in the heads of dead nurses and patients at every turn.
…..
TBC!
A/N: Did I trick you? Don't worry, the only zombies in this story are virtual! Poor Daryl, he just wants to relax and play a video game but Rick always gets distracted.
Preview: The next chapter will be a Rick flashback. Then I'm working on a story from early in Rick and Michonne's friendship. Chapters from Maggie, Andrea, and Carl are all to come (with more Rick or Michonne ones too, of course).
Second Chance Fact: Daryl Dixon became something of a local hero after he rescued a little girl who was lost in the woods for days. If you ask him about it, though, he'll probably shrug it off. He doesn't like the attention and still insists that the girl saved his life as much as he saved hers.