AN: I am so sorry for 1) falling way behind on my review replies and 2) taking so long to finish this story. All I can really say for myself is Avengers :) I hope to finish this with one more chapter. It's a bit condensed from what I had originally planned, but it is my hope that next week I can get the last chapter of this out along with the first chapter of a Daryl's POV sequel I hope to write along with season 3 :) For that reason constructive criticism is especially welcome as I intend to change my style up a little when writing from Daryl's POV. Let me know if I have any quirks that are distracting (over using certain words, awkward phrasing you have noticed a few times, ect. I know I make Daryl storm out too often, I just like watching him walk away ;) I will work on that)
Safe
Chapter 9: By the washtub behind the barn.
Daryl managed to avoid him completely in the few hours leading up to the funeral, but Glenn wasn't worried. To be honest he felt rather proud of himself. He'd taken the plunge, shown Daryl how he really felt, and it left him feeling confident and more than a little sexy.
Daryl disappeared to do whatever Daryl things he had to do right after the service, but Glenn managed to catch his eye and received a minuscule nod in response to his tight smile. Glenn decided to leave him to whatever it was he had to do and approach him in the evening. Daryl always seemed a bit more comfortable around him at night.
Glenn went to the house to see if there was anything there he could help with and was instantly recruited for an emergency run into town with Rick to look for Hershel who had disappeared shortly after the funeral. Glenn wouldn't have minded if it hadn't led almost immediately to him being cornered for an awkward "I care about you please be careful" shakedown from Maggie in the kitchen.
"Don't you go gettin' yourself killed now, ya hear?" Glenn gave a nervous chuckle and tried to squeeze past her toward the door, but she blocked him and stared hard into his eyes waiting for his platitudes and reassurances. Glenn placed his hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a brotherly, completely non-sexual manner.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine. And we'll bring Hershel back in one piece." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and tried to move past her again, but Maggie wrapped her arms around his waist and managed to pull him in for a kiss. He held himself rigid, but she was pulling away before he could disengage himself. She gave him a watery smile and turned away. Just before she left she cast one last look over her shoulder.
"You come back in one piece too. I love you." She turned the corner and bounded up the stairs not waiting for an answer. Then Rick called him from the front entryway and Glenn hurried out to meet him, still too stunned to notice Daryl stalking off into the woods from the direction of the side kitchen door.
Glenn tried to discuss the unsettling new development of Maggie being in love with him with Rick, but the other man misunderstood and was quick to reassure Glenn that Maggie loving him was good and that he should soak it in while he could. Rick spent most of the rest of the ride talking about how he knew Lori was the one, and by the time they got to town Glenn didn't think Rick was going to be able to help him after all.
They found Hershel in a bar that looked almost untouched by the horrors all around it. It was eerie to see him sitting bellied up to the bar like a worn out cliche. The whole thing made Glenn uneasy, so much so that when two men entered the bar, the first new faces they had seen in over a week since they had stumbled upon the Greenes', his immediate reaction was deep suspicion rather than cautious relief. Glenn didn't know one way or the other whether the men were really enemies or just friendly and desperate. Either way he trusted Rick's judgement, though he was a bit shocked when he'd killed them with so little warning.
Any misgivings Glenn might have had about Rick's newly discovered brutal streak were squelched by fear when they found themselves besieged inside the bar with the dead guys' pals. After a moment's planning Rick sent Glenn to make a run for the car with Hershel covering him. He was halfway there when he heard a gunshot so close he could almost feel the bullet whiz by and turned to see one of the men from the other group howl in pain, dropping the gun that had been trained on Glenn. Instantly that icy all encompassing terror he had felt while he was hiding alone in the liquor store just a few short months ago engulfed him. He managed to cower behind a dumpster before the panic overtook him completely, and stayed there until Rick came and got him.
They escaped the town, the guy who'd skewered himself whimpering in the back seat with Hershel slumped over him sleeping off his bender. Glenn was still shaken from his near miss. His life hadn't flashed before his eyes exactly, but a bunch of thoughts had rushed on him at once and had made his feelings crystal clear. He'd thought of Maggie and her attachment to him, how good it had felt to rescue her, and Andrea and Dale and how much the three of them would miss him when he didn't come back, but mostly he thought of Daryl. How he good he smelled and the way he seemed to have scruffy stubble even if Glenn had seen him shaving less than an hour before. How graceful he was and how much he hated canned veggies but would always eat them dutifully without complaint. How destroyed the look in his eyes had been when Sofia walked out of that barn.
Decision well and truly made, Glenn brought up the subject of Maggie again but this time made it completely obvious what he was asking.
"How do I tell Maggie I can't be with her like that without hurting her too bad?" Rick was quiet for a few long moments, staring out at the road. Glenn had almost decided that Rick was going to pretend he hadn't heard so he didn't have to deal with sticky emotional dilemmas when he finally answered.
"Well I guess all you can really do is try your best to be kind. She is going to be a little heartbroken anyway you slice it, and she won't have the luxury of avoiding you because our world has gotten very small. Eventually her heart will heal, and some day you might be friends, but until then all you can really give her is honesty, and as much space as you can manage."
Glenn nodded, he'd come to a similar conclusion. "So you think I should tell her the truth?"
Rick considered this for a moment. "I think I'd leave Daryl out of it for now if that's what you mean." Glenn blushed hotly and looked away. "Give her some time to get over you before she has to deal with knowing that she was replaced with someone else she has to see every day. You two have been pretty discreet up til now, a little longer won't hurt anything."
Glenn nearly corrected Rick's assumption that he and Daryl had been intimate, but checked himself, realizing with a warm feeling in his stomach that it wasn't wrong. At least, not anymore.
Hershel roused himself just as they were pulling up to the farm. Within ten minutes he had a makeshift operation going while Shane scowled nearby and quietly argued with Rick. Glenn's intention had been to go have words with Maggie immediately upon their arrival back to the farm, but he was waylaid by Dale pulling him aside.
"Could you go talk to Daryl please?" Glenn looked at him questioningly. "He isn't taking the loss of Sofia very well. He yelled at Lori earlier and an hour or so ago he said some really awful things to Carol. We're all upset. I know he probably has more right to be a little unhinged than most of us, but I really think he needs someone to talk to, and I know you're his friend."
Glenn nodded, all thoughts of Maggie forgotten, and went looking for Daryl instead.
Glenn found him at his fire on the edge of camp, meticulously honing one of his hunting knives. Daryl's things were strewn out around him in a very un-Daryl like fashion, taking up all of the convenient places to sit in a four foot radius. Glenn stood there awkwardly for a few moments, silent until it became obvious Daryl had no intention of making room for him.
"Dale says. . ." He started, but Daryl had jumped to his feet as soon as he managed the first syllable and crowded into Glenn's personal space.
"You come here to talk about that old man?"
Glenn gulped. "N-No?" Daryl shoved him backwards into the open tent.
Doing laundry by hand was hard. Glenn grabbed another shirt out of the hot soapy tub and started scouring it on the ancient washboard. He had already accidentally torn off six buttons, and his hands were red and sore from the repetitive motion and the harsh soap. He'd had almost nothing useful to do in the week following his trip into town with Rick, and had so annoyed Lori hovering around trying to be helpful that she had practically hurled the massive bag of dirty clothes at him.
He'd set to work at the pump behind the barn, well out of sight of the main house which was good because he had almost nothing on except his new blue cotton briefs. His male logic had indicated that this was the only way to do laundry, because if he washed all of his clothing at once, he would have a whole extra day before he had to wash his clothes again. He'd felt a bit self conscious at first, but it was a nice day, and it had been so long since he'd allowed his skin to breath for any length of time, that he soon decided it was rather pleasant and then forgot about his unclothed state all together.
Shirt now fairly clean, Glenn wrung it out before dunking it in the slightly less murky rinsing water, doing his best to squeeze out all the soap. He shook it out and gave it a critical once over. It was a button up ladies blouse and he was pretty sure it was Carol's. He wasn't sure if it was supposed to be the dingy red-gray color that half of the things he had washed seemed to be, but it didn't have any noticeable stains so he considered it a win and hurried over to hang it on the drying line he had set up nearby. He plucked the next item up out of the sudsy water, and was scrubbing it for over five minutes before he was able to identify it as a pair of Daryl's jeans. His favorite pair of Daryl's jeans actually, the snug ones with the tiny, pinky-finger sized hole on the underside of the left back pocket. Glenn's touch instantly became far more delicate.
This thing with Daryl was. . . different than he had expected. Mostly in that it wasn't really that different at all. Daryl gave no outward indication that his situation with Glenn had changed one iota. He still kept mostly to himself, self sufficient at the very edge of camp, almost as if he was getting ready to bolt. If it weren't for the three, rather hurried sexual encounters that Glenn had managed to initiate this past week, Glenn would wonder if he had imagined the afternoon in the barn. Glenn tried not to stress about it, Daryl was certainly in a vulnerable state after Sofia and Glenn had no doubt that in time he would open up, but this relationship with a guy business was new to Glenn and he worried sometimes that he was doing it wrong. Unfortunately the only gay guy he knew that he could ask was most of the problem, so mostly Glenn just fretted and tried his best to give Daryl breathing room.
He looked up about midway through his tub of clothes to see Maggie, amused, offering him a sandwich. It took him a beat to realize he was still in just his skivvies. He hurriedly pulled on the nearest shirt, one of Daryl's sleeveless rags. Maggie frowned slightly and Glenn wondered if she suspected the real reason he broke up with her, but she shrugged it off and reached for her own sandwich, clearly intending to stay until Glenn had eaten.
Maggie had taken to seeking Glenn out whenever she had a spare moment in the week since Glenn had broken things off. Glenn didn't know how to deal with her constant presence He'd defaulted to trying to act normally and being very very careful not to lead her on at all. It had worked out surprisingly well in that they'd actually become quite good friends, and after three days of Glenn very determinedly shying away whenever she tried to get physical, even that had begun to peter out a bit. She still talked about the future in terms of them being a couple sometimes, but Glenn was always quick to change the subject or deliberately misunderstand that when she said we she meant just the two of them.
"So I 've been thinking about us." Maggie started and Glenn cleared his throat deliberately looking away.
"We're friends." He replied to her unspoken question.
"We're more than friends." She shifted a little closer to him and nudged him with her shoulder. Glenn took a large bite of his sandwich to avoid answering.
Maggie watched him chew for a few minutes. When he was done she turned the upper part of her body and stared at him until he looked her in the eye. "I think you need to man up Glenn. If you died tomorrow I would be destroyed whether we are sleeping together or not. But if we aren't then I will always regret not taking the joy when I had the chance. We don't have time for all this pussy-footing around each other. The truth is either one of us could die tomorrow. Or the next day, or the day after. So grow a pair."
Well crap.
"I...uh." Glenn was saved by Andrea, running towards them while calling Maggie's name and insisting she was needed at the house. Maggie paled a bit and ran off toward the main house, passing Andrea without a glance as she came to a stop near Glenn.
They watched as Maggie hurried off toward the house. Glenn saw Daryl just past the RV looking at him so he smiled and waved. Daryl didn't smile back, but he nodded before going back to whatever it was he was trying to repair. When Glenn turned to ask Andrea if she knew any more details about the problem at the house, she was staring at him with an odd look on her face.
"What?" He asked, moving a hand to his own face as if he might find something stuck to it.
"What are you doing Glenn?" Andrea's tone wasn't quite accusing, but it wasn't exactly inquisitive either. She had her arms folded in front of her and her eyes looked troubled. "If you're going to be with Maggie that's fine, but don't lead him on like this." She eyed Daryl's shirt, hanging loose and half open on Glenn's smaller frame.
"What are you talking about? I'm not with Maggie."
Andrea raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Since when?"
Glenn frowned and glanced toward the barn. "Since we found Sofia."
Now Andrea looked puzzled. "Everyone knows you two are together. You're always talking. Lori's constantly going on about the romance of it all. I'm fairly certain Carol's going to throttle her sooner rather than later on Daryl's behalf."
Glenn had to admit that they had been together a lot lately. "She's my friend. She just needs someone to talk to."
Andrea didn't seem convinced. "Dale said you told him you were sleeping with her."
Ugh, Dale and his colossal mouth. "I was." Glenn admitted. "Back when we first got here, but I swear I haven't touched her since I got together with Daryl. I haven't told her about Daryl yet, but I made it abundantly clear that I can't be with her."
"Does he know that?" Andrea was looking at the stump where just minutes ago Daryl had been angrily pounding away at some bent out of shape farm tool. He was gone now, and so was his crossbow. Glenn went cold.
Glenn was dressed in his own clothing and pulling the last of the (slightly crunchy) laundry down when the green hatchback pulled up to the front of the farmhouse. Rick climbed out of the drivers seat looking sour and gave Shane a hard glare for a moment before the other man grunted and went around the back of the car to open the tailgate. Most of the group had gathered by the time Shane pulled a bound, blind-folded, very much not gone Randal out by the collar of his shirt. Glenn noticed that Daryl was finally back from wherever he'd been all afternoon, his face dark and closed off.
With a jerk of his head Rick directed Shane to take his charge back to the barn, then he turned to address his small band of followers. Glenn and the others stared at him silently waiting for some sort of explanation.
"We have a problem"
Glenn imagined he could feel the collective "No Shit" from the assembled camp.
"Randal is from around here. He knows the Greenes."
Carol half raised her hand like she was a highschooler with a question and Rick tipped his head toward her. "I don't understand. Why is that bad?"
Surprisingly it was Daryl that answered, his gruff voice gentle as he spoke to Carol. "It means he knows were we are. He could lead the rest of his group right back here if they decide they need a little vigilante justice."
Rick nodded in agreement. "But we're not gonna let that happen."
"What are we going to do about it?" T-Dog asked. Rick hesitated.
"We don't have to do anything about it this second. Better to wait and see what we can find out." By now Shane had returned from the barn and he was frowning at the back of Rick's head as the other man walked over to Daryl and started to speak softly. Daryl looked grim, but he was nodding his agreement and murmuring quiet responses. After a moment he looked up and his eyes sought out Glenn's. He held Glenn's gaze for a long moment before he turned and headed past Shane toward the barn. Glenn had a very bad feeling about this.
AN2: I didn't have time to rewatch the season, so my timing of things might be a bit off. The conversation between Glenn and Maggie happens between when Andrea says she will sit with Beth for a while (after Lori told her to tell Glenn to man up) and when Andrea comes to find her because Beth tried to kill herself which Andrea (creepily) seemed to think was good news. Sorry if this has glaring errors, want to post before I leave for the weekend and I just got a text we were leaving way early