Triggerfinger
Daryl
After the funeral, they all kept asking him where Juliet was. She'd run off, of course she had. It had surprised him that she lasted as long there as she did, she looked like she was about to bolt from the moment they arrived. And they asked him 'where did she go' and 'is she okay' like he'd known she was going to do it.
"I'm not her fuckin' keeper." he'd eventually spat at them before stalking back to camp alone. The truth was he had as little idea as they did, which seriously irked him. He wasn't feeling all the great after the funeral anyway, not that he'd let on to anyone, and she'd just run off and left him to fend for himself against everyone. He resented her a little for it. She could have at least told him so they could have gone off together.
Daryl wondered whether he should go after her. He could so perfectly envision the roll of her eyes if he did catch up with her. She would not appreciate it, but it was gnawing at him to at least check she was okay. Wherever she was, she didn't have a gun with her.
Instead, he had walked back to camp silently and decided that he wasn't staying there anymore. It only took a couple of trips for him to take his stuff down to beside the edge of the forest and set up down there, and Shane and Lori both interjecting at different times saying that it might be better for him just to wait because it could be dangerous only made him more determined to go. Lori coming down and asking him to help her search for Rick had only made him more determined to stay exactly where he was. He didn't want to be around those people anymore. Fuck it if Juliet was pissed at him. He almost wanted her to be.
Carol came down after a couple of hours. He tried, in light of what had happened to her that day, not to be too irritated about her presence, imagining the exact tone Juliet would scold him in if she knew he had been cruel to her grieving mother.
"What's wrong?" Daryl asked her as she approached. He assumed she had come to ask where Juliet was, if he was with her.
"We can't find Lori - and the others aren't back yet either." Daryl was immediately annoyed that she had come down here to ask about someone he so obviously did not care about the whereabouts of. Even if Lori had told him where she was going he probably would have made a point of forgetting simply because she irritated him so much.
"Yeah. That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em." he told her. It probably wasn't all that helpful, but it let Carol know she wasn't at camp. She might as well stop wasting her time looking for her, although Daryl suspected that, like Juliet, she was looking for any way to get her mind off of what had happened.
"What?"
"Yeah, she asked me to go. I told her I was done being an errand boy."
"And you didn't say anything?" He supposed he probably should have stopped her from going off on her own. He kicked at the dirt with his shoe instead of answering. Carol sighed loudly. "You know, Juliet isn't going to be happy about this new setup. She'll either haul your ass back to camp as soon as she sees or move your stuff back while you're sleeping. She's not going to let it slide." He wanted to say fuck what she thinks, but he couldn't. He did care what she thought, he cared a great deal actually. It made him uncomfortable that Carol was talking to him about it.
"That ain't my problem."
"Look, leave us all, whatever makes you feel better, but she has just lost her sister. Don't be an asshole to her just because you don't know how to deal with your emotions because she needs you right now." Carol informed him firmly. He noticed she sounded a lot like Juliet when she spoke with a little more confidence in her voice. He wanted to yell at her for even bringing it up but he didn't, because at heart, he knew she was right. He stayed quiet, and when he looked up with a reply in mind, he realised she was already walking away back to camp. He sighed and got up to throw another log on the fire in front of him.
It was a little less than two hours later he heard a rustling in the bushes. Assuming it was a walker he grabbed his crossbow from beside where he was sat on a surprisingly comfortable log and took aim. The silhouette that stumbled out took him by surprise.
"Just me, lower your weapon, soldier." He realised it was Juliet as she walked out with raised hands, knife clamped in one. When she lowered her arms she slid the knife back into her pocket, and it was only then she looked around with realisation forming over her features as to why he and all his things were down here. No strong emotion betrayed itself on her face.
"Fuck, I coulda shot you." Daryl lowered his crossbow. Juliet looked almost amused, though it was ill fitted to her current appearance which consisted of the dress she had worn to the funeral, now badly torn, black make-up smudged under her eyes like she had been crying, and a fairly deep cut on her cheek, blood crusted where it had run down after it. It must have been from a tree she hadn't quite avoided. He tried not to stare at her, he didn't want her to feel self-conscious.
"I like this set up." she mused, avoiding answering him in any way and getting straight to the point that he was fairly eager to avoid. "Dead squirrels really give it that homey feel that you were missing before." It worried him that she didn't sound annoyed. In a way similar to a boy pulling a girls hair in kindergarten to get her attention, he wanted her to shout at him, scream, to get a rise out of her so he knew that she cared. He supposed she knew this and that she was being deliberately cavalier about this just to spite him.
"Lori wouldn'ta let me hang 'em up back there." Daryl said as he kicked at the ground with his boot. He didn't meet her eyes, though he could feel her gaze rested firmly on him.
"That why you came down here then?" He shook his head but said nothing. "I hate to ask the obvious but, why then?"
"Didn't want to be 'round other people."
"Am I included?" He looked up at her, icy blue eyes flashing with anger. She did care then. He almost felt relieved that she did. Juliet looked like she was trying very hard not to start screaming at him now, she was obviously pissed off that he'd decided to do this.
"Obviously not." Daryl said sharply. She raised her eyebrows in irritation.
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you pissed at me for asking?" Daryl opened his mouth to reply 'no' but the glare flaring behind her eyes told him not to bother. "So you expect me just to go back up there by myself, to sit by myself while everyone tiptoes around me like I'm a broken fucking glass they can't quite work out how to piece together, to leave you down here where you could be fucking killed and I wouldn't even know until your walker stumbled up to camp and killed everyone in their sleep?" She was being ridiculous, but he didn't dare say so.
"I didn't think…"
"No, you never do! You didn't think through holding me back from running after Sophia, you didn't think about what your eternal fucking optimism might do to me when we found her dead, or about just up and abandoning me today."
"You fuckin' ran off first, what did you want me to do, just sit up there and make polite fuckin' conversation until you decided to come back?"
"So this is my fault? My sister just died, I didn't want to be around anyone for a little while. You didn't have to wait for me to come back, we're not looking for Sophia anymore, your life doesn't have to revolve around spending time with me, you could have gone off, done your own thing for a while. You did not have to move down here just to make a stupid point about how if I leave you for five minutes you never want to see me again."
"Dammit, that's not what this is, okay? It's everyone else bothering me, not you. If it was just you up there I'd be happy to stay there, but it isn't, it's a group who don't want me. I'm useless to them now; I didn't find Sophia. All I can do is hunt fuckin' squirrels for 'em and any asshole with a crossbow could do that."
"Well, you're the only asshole with a crossbow we know at the moment, so I'd say that makes you pretty useful." It was obvious she felt bad for snapping at him. He didn't want her to.
"They'd all be better off if I left. It's my fault she didn't come back."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It is not just your fault that we didn't find her, we all share this blame. You don't think I feel guilty? That was my sister – I never should have gone back that first night, I should have trawled the woods until I found her, bitten or not. And it's not just us, I guarantee you that everyone back there is feeling the same as us; anyone who looked for her thinks they didn't look hard enough and people who never even tried probably feel even worse. God knows how Carol is feeling right now. This is not just on you."
Daryl sat down dejectedly on a large log and realised the fire he had lit had gone out. Juliet sat beside him and put one arm around him tentatively.
"Sorry."
"I forgive you. It's been a long day." He turned to meet her eye and raised his eyebrows at her. "Okay, it's been literally the worst day of my life. If I'd been bitten when I was out there alone it would only have served to make it better."
"Not for me." It was the closest to a heartfelt sentiment Daryl was willing to give her, but it earned a smile that looked like it was about to break into tears and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"No. Not for Carol either. I think… I think dying today would be selfish. Even if it feels like I already have. Even if right now there's nothing I'd rather do." He said nothing, and the silence hung heavy between them. He wasn't sure how to reply, there was no way he could make this better, as much as he might want to. He could sense the second she started crying although she didn't move and the way she touched him gave no indication that she was, so he moved so his arms were around her rather than the other way around and tried not to think too much about the tears rolling down his own cheeks. "We're both fucking emotional wrecks." she said with a sigh as she sat up and wiped under her eyes.
"I won't tell if you don't." Silence again. She looked as though she was wondering whether or not she should speak.
"Do you remember a few days ago, when we were sat up on the RV roof and I told you I had this theory about where Sophia went?" Daryl barely kept himself from flinching when she said her name, but he nodded in confirmation. "My theory was that she got bitten, maybe when she was running, maybe when she was hiding in the creek, maybe even when that walker lunged for her at the car. I thought maybe if she had then she didn't come back because she knew what being bitten meant, she knew she was going to die. Not from the bite, she just knew we'd kill her if she came back bitten. She saw what happened to Amy, to Jim, so she ran away even further from us. She died alone and scared because she thought we'd kill her, and she was right."
"That ain't what happened…"
"You don't know that. I could have held her hand through it, soothed her fever, let her go knowing she was loved, and she was too scared of us, her own family, to come back. She left this world scared of what I'd do if I found her."
"No, Juliet." Daryl said firmly. "She knew you loved her. She knew you wouldn't have let them hurt her, probably knew I cared enough about you to stop anyone else if I asked you." His words earned a wistful smile, which for the first time didn't threaten being broken by a flood of tears after. "She knew you couldn't save her, but she also knew you would never hurt her."
"You think?" Juliet bit her lip, sounding rather like a scared child.
"Yeah. And she's probably watching from above wanting to tell you that somehow."
"I'm not religious." Juliet said with a small sigh, as though she wished she was, as though that might make it more likely Sophia was at peace somewhere.
"She was though." Daryl remembered Juliet complimenting her younger sister's persistence when it came to nightly prayers for things to get better and how it amazed her that even though all the awfulness Sophia had been forced to face from her father and in the midst of the end of the world, that she managed to keep that faith.
"I know. So if there actually is a God, he better be taking care of her." Juliet looked up at the sky, as though directly addressing whatever deity might be listening to her. Daryl gave her a look and she laughed. "You know, I'm very offended you haven't offered me a drink yet. The height of rude manners, it must be said. I come to visit your new home and am offered no hospitality."
"You were a little busy yelling at me."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Juliet said as he got up, located his flask and handed it to her. "I just thought it was me you were trying to avoid."
"I'd never do that." he assured her gently as he resumed his seat next to her as she took a drink, winding his arm around her shoulder again. It was only sitting like this that it really ever struck him how much smaller than him she was. Small and breakable like a porcelain doll.
"I know, but this whole emotional thing is fucking with my brain. It's making me do and say things without really thinking."
"And you're not like that usually?"
"No, usually I plan the horrible things I say." He plucked the flask from her hand and took a long drink of it. "I have a whole mine of horrible things to say about people at any given time."
"About me?" Daryl felt compelled to ask. Juliet actually looked offended.
"I like you. I'm not storing up mean things to say if we get in a fight – we're friends." Daryl felt the same swirl of pride building inside him that he did every time she said they were friends. "Apart from things about your terrible grammar, I have a lot to say about that."
"Of course you do."
"Do you think we ever would have met each other if the end of the world hadn't happened?" Daryl had to smile at her question, if only for the images it provoked. He'd thought about it before and imagined three scenarios with varying outcomes. The first one he'd thought of was that he might have walked into her on one of the rare days he'd been forced to go to the mall for something and earned a sharp 'watch where you're fucking walking' even though in his imagination it was her that was glued to her phone and not looking. Then she walked off. He didn't like that fantasy much. Another was that she might have been hiking one day and gotten lost like she used to back at camp and happened to run into him. She probably would have been a little wary of him as he faked reluctance to show her the way back to her car even though he didn't actually mind helping and was actually glad of helping. In this one however she drove off, no reason to ever see him again. It was better than never even speaking to her.
The clearest idea in his head was that she might have gone to the bar he frequented, the one that one of Merle's loud friends owned. She would have taken a seat in the corner, probably would have read. Merle would have made lewd comments but Juliet just gave off that 'don't fuck with me' vibe so he never would have gone over. It might have lasted every day for a week before after a few drinks one night and Merle's friends being particularly rowdy she would have gotten up, complained loudly about the music they had chosen for the jukebox or the volume of the sports game they were watching and somehow she would have ended up playing pool with all of them, wiping the floor with all of them of course. She'd introduce herself to him, realising he was a less active part of the group, make conversation which he'd indulge her in because he liked that she made Merle look like an idiot. Subsequent evenings she would come straight over to sit with him, even if the rest of the group weren't there.
That was the one scenario in which they might have become friends one day. Daryl liked that one the best.
"Maybe. You lived far away, so there were limited windows, I guess." Juliet nodded understandingly. "Does it matter?"
"Well, if we wouldn't, and considering I lived so far away and I was so rarely here I'm willing to say we probably wouldn't have, then I have one small reason to be thankful that the world did end, even among all the awfulness."
"And Ed died." he reminded her.
"Yeah, but I'm beginning to think that taking Sophia from me might be divine retribution for my being glad that he died."
"Hardly. I'm pretty sure if there's a God he ain't expectin' you to be upset that your asshole father got his throat ripped out." This seemed some consolation to her as she nodded and tucked her hair behind her ears.
"My first night in California I sat in the little apartment I had with my roommate, this girl I knew from school, because we knew neither of us cold bear dorms we'd saved up over the summer, borrowed a little from her parents and got this place." Daryl wondered why she was telling him this, but he gave her an encouraging nod. Juliet often took a while to get to the point, but there was always a point, though sometimes she forgot what it was halfway through speaking. "Anyway, we were out on the balcony eating dinner and we stayed out there to watch the sunset, and the sky went this vibrant purple with a pinkish hue. I never saw it like that again, never that bright or colourful. And I always thought it was the most beautiful thing I would ever see, and for a long time it was. But seeing Ed like that, dead, bloody, knowing I was finally free… That was somehow better." It was the most twisted thing he had ever heard her say, but he understood completely.
"I felt the same when mine died." he told her softly, thumb stroking circles over her shoulder. "People don't understand how good it feels to see them dead. They become this demon thing in your head, you convince yourself they can't die, they'll always be there. In the end they were as easy to kill as any other bastard." Juliet nodded understandingly. It was the first time he had really spoken to her, though of course she knew, either from instinct or the little allusions he made to it every so often. He wondered if the others knew. He'd certainly never engage them in a discussion like this, although it was almost surprising that he was talking to Juliet about it. It took a great deal of trust which he had never thought he would be able to place in anyone. "I'm real glad you didn't know how to shoot when I met you." Daryl spoke so quietly he almost thought she might not have heard him.
"So am I. It would have been even harder to force you into friendship if you hadn't needed to teach me." Juliet replied teasingly. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure if anyone could have though, it would have been you."
"True. My persistence is both a blessing and a curse."
"I'm getting used to it." Daryl said as if it made no odds to him, when actually it was one of the things he liked the most about her. Most people would have given up, she easily could have asked Shane to teach her to shoot, or Rick when he arrived or just given up learning. Instead she had worked at it and worked on earning his respect and friendship. It meant a lot to someone so closed off that she had bothered taking the time even when he'd been dismissive of her, especially when no-one else in the group bothered.
"Liar, you know you love it." Juliet said, grinning as she did. He felt almost proud that he was the one who could spend time with her and make her feel better about things, even on a day as bad as today had been. "It's funny, Merle said something about how persistent I seemed the first time I spoke to him alone, but I can't remember what." She thought for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing. "Shit, I remember now." He gave her a questioning look. "He asked me if we were sneaking off to fuck, and I said no, you were teaching me to shoot, and he said don't worry, if you're persistent enough you'll get there." Daryl laughed loudly.
"Yeah, he was a charmer." Juliet cringed a little at the use of the word 'was', the way he was so casually able to say it, like it didn't even matter than he was gone. To Daryl though it almost didn't.
"Do you miss him?" The question came quiet, like she wasn't sure whether or not asking was crossing the boundary, though he really didn't think a lot was going to constitute that today. He was being honest with her, he didn't mind her questions at all. He wanted to take her mind off Sophia whichever way she wanted him to.
"No. It's just weird not to have any family left."
"Don't be ridiculous, you have me." Juliet said warmly without skipping a beat and he grinned, delighted that she hadn't even needed to think about her response. He supposed they were like that, their own little family. They looked after each other. "Aww, it's cute how happy that makes you." She was back to teasing him, but he didn't care. He looked at the ground and tried to retain some of his gruff composure, but was compelled to look back at her instantly when he heard her laughing softly, not spitefully.
"Shut up."
"I already told you, that's never going to happen, you'll have to try a lot harder –"
He wasn't sure what compelled him to kiss her, why then specifically, he just needed to. It was soft and it only lasted a few seconds before he pulled away, convinced it had been a terrible idea. He looked at her after; she was smiling but saying nothing. That was almost worth it – he'd seen her quiet before, but never literally stunned into silence.
"If that was to get me to shut up, I think you win…"
"That was just an added bonus." Daryl teased her for once. She laughed quietly before biting her lip thoughtfully. "Wanted to do that for a while." He spoke quietly. Talking about this was new territory he wasn't entirely comfortable venturing into.
"Yeah, I wanted you to do it too." she said with a grin. "So, you know, feel free to do it again."
All of his apprehension now gone, he took full advantage of the invitation, pressing his lips to hers again, feeling her smile as he did so. After a grumbled 'this is a ridiculous position for this' from Juliet after a few minutes she ended up straddling his lap to make it easier for them both, although this did nearly cause an issue when he pulled back from her at one point and she hadn't realised he was going to, and almost causing them both to fall off.
They spent the evening in this way, happy with their occasional long kisses, talking to each other about whichever pointless subject either of them fancied at one time, steering away from topics which might ruin the illusion of perfection they had happily created. Eventually they ended up lying on the ground when he honestly thought his legs might go numb, which had made her laugh for a good few minutes. In the small hours of the morning he began to tire and, though Juliet didn't, she happily entered his tent with him rather than going back to camp, content to read by the light of a small torch, one hand playing with his hair as he fell asleep.
Juliet
Though she had only slept for a few hours, Juliet woke feeling refreshed and oddly at peace, though the feeling did not last long and was swiftly replaced by the dull ache of grief for her little sister. She sat up and stretched as best she could in the tent, trying not to think too much about it. Still, the way she had spent the previous evening brought a smile to her face, even though she wasn't entirely sure what she should do now. She actually wasn't at all worried about what he'd say, after all what had ended up happening wasn't all that surprising, she was more worried about the looks she'd get going back to camp in the same dress she'd run from the funeral in, and wondered if she should sneak up now before anyone was awake, change, and pretend she'd been there a lot longer than she really had.
"Mornin'" Daryl said to her after she'd been awake about ten minutes. She looked down at him and smiled. "You sleep at all?"
"Couple hours." Juliet assured him as she slid down to lie so she was facing him. "Just thinking I probably shouldn't hang around too long… Carol's going to be worried about me." She felt guilty now about having left her mother. She wouldn't have enjoyed spending a night with Carol, both grieving with even less to say to each other than usual, but it probably would have been the right thing to do.
"I'll walk you up."
"So they can know we spent the night together?" she joked.
"I'll tell 'em you made me sleep outside to make a point of me moving down here if that'll make you feel better."
"That is pretty believable to be fair. We'll see. We only need to lie if people start asking questions."
Daryl exited the tent first and offered her a hand to help her up, which she gratefully took, keeping hold of it as they began to walk. She could tell it didn't bother him at all, in fact she saw the small, well hidden smile he wore out of the corner of her eye, which was enough encouragement for her to continue as she was the walk back to camp. On the way she complained about the books he had brought down from the house – 'Of all the Jane Austen in the world, Northanger Abbey?' – and he spent most of the walk listening, rolling his eyes, and laughing at her.
She was glad they were still as comfortable with each other as they had been the night before. Juliet had worried that the alteration of what was acceptable within their friendship – if that was even what it was anymore because she wasn't entirely sure – might cause him to try and pull away from her. Instead he seemed more comfortable now, as though a weight had been lifted off him.
They ran into Carol and Andrea collecting water not far outside camp and dropped each other's hands with an almost sly look passing between them as they did.
"Thank God at least one of the MIA's is back." Andrea said with a shake of her head.
"One of?" Juliet asked with a frown forming on her face. "Who else is gone?" She gave Daryl a pointed, irritated look for not having informed her that anyone else was gone. Had she known she would have gone back to camp the night before so they knew not to look for her.
"Rick, Hershel, and Glenn are still gone. Lori was but she came back overnight, and you're obviously here now. Did you go looking for her?" Carol informed them all before directing her query to Daryl. He shook his head.
"I was about to. She found me before I could."
"I told him that he could sleep on the ground as punishment for moving down there. I took the tent, I thought it was too late to come back and wake everyone."
"We wouldn't have minded." Andrea assured her with a bright smile. "Most of us were up pretty late anyway, it's been a little hectic. After Shane brought Lori back he accidentally told Carl she was pregnant and she's not entirely pleased with him."
"You gotta be fuckin' kiddin'." Daryl interjected for the first time. "Stupid woman, bringin' a poor baby into this shit." Juliet agreed with him, and was silently glad that Andrea had broken the news to him rather than Lori so his reaction might be a little kinder when he saw her. "That ain't gonna help if we don't stay here… Babies ain't exactly quiet."
"Who's the father?" Juliet asked suddenly.
"She's saying Rick but…" Carol trailed off, pulling a face.
"We all know what was going on with Shane. Even Rick's gotta know at this point, right?" Andrea finished for her.
"He must do." Juliet reasoned. "Only so long before something like that surfaces. Daryl, see if you can find out for us?" They all knew she was only teasing him by asking. Daryl gave her an exasperated look and she laughed softly. "Fine, leave us all in the dark. I'm gonna go up to the house and see Beth for a little while okay, might make her breakfast to make up for not being here yesterday. Is she angry with me for going off? I really needed to be alone." Juliet babbled, coming to an abrupt halt when she saw the look passing between Carol and Andrea. "Oh God, what is it?"
"I got this." Carol said softly. Andrea nodded, beckoning for Daryl to follow her, which he did without question. "Beth collapsed yesterday. She's been in this catatonic state ever since, she won't move or eat. Not asleep, she's just staring at the ceiling."
"Fuck!" Juliet exclaimed, running a hand through her hair. "I should have been here, I could have helped!"
"It would have happened even if you were here; there was a lot to deal with yesterday. Come on, I'll take you to see her now though, I think it will do her the world of good to see you're back and well." Carol put an arm around her shocked daughter's shoulders and led her up to the house.
"How are you always so calm in these situations?"
"It's a gift." Carol smiled at her warmly. Juliet wondered if she should say something by way of an apology for leaving her the night before, but she decided that any mention of anything that had happened yesterday would only serve to upset them both and would help nothing. "And, for the record, I saw you and Daryl on your way over. You're lucky Andrea's more obtuse than I am."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Juliet said, feigning ignorance as they walked up the steps to the house. She knocked on the door for politeness, and was about to just open it herself when it was flung open, revealing Maggie on the other side.
"I was worried about you!" she exclaimed, sounding thoroughly pissed off.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to cause a fuss." Juliet said, looking at the ground. She knew staying away had been a very selfish thing, but it felt to her like something which had ultimately been necessary. Thanks to staying away she now had the patience for multiple conversations today with people asking how she was feeling and giving her sympathy she had no want of.
Maggie waved off her apology and pulled her in for a tight hug which Juliet gratefully accepted. She liked having someone like Maggie looking out for her. It was a very strange feeling, but not an unwelcome one in the least.
"Don't do it again."
"Yes ma'am."
"Did you tell her what happened to Beth?" Maggie asked Carol as she ushered them into the house and shut the door behind them. The house was welcomingly cool; it was the hottest morning they'd had for a while and it would only get worse as the day went on. Carol nodded in response. "Okay, good, go right up Juliet, she's in the guest room Daryl was in. Carol, there's some stuff from breakfast left over if you're hungry, Juliet, you can have some when you're done visiting Beth. I'll be up in a minute; Patricia wants to set up an IV in a little while." Juliet had to smile, Maggie was so well organised. She could have been a politician or an army general. She probably would have been good at either.
Juliet made her way upstairs and gave a small greeting to Patricia as she exited the guest room.
Carol had been right, Beth was not asleep but she lay on her back as though she was, eyes open and glossed over, completely unmoving. She looked almost as if she were a recently dead corpse, close to alive but not quite there. It was disturbing, but Juliet forced herself to look, plastered a smile on her face and went to sit beside her. She wondered if she should talk to her, but she was quite content just to take her hand. They had her set up in the guest room, not her own. Beth's was probably too small for a crowd of people and medical equipment in case something went wrong. She was just thinking she might go and get a book of hers to read to her when Maggie and Patricia came in. Maggie settled herself on the bed, and Patricia leaned over her, checking all her vitals. It felt like an odd medical drama that Juliet was watching rather than partaking in. She was almost relieved when Andrea came up and struck up a conversation, neither of the others had said a thing since entering the room.
"How is she?" Andrea asked, entering and standing close to Juliet.
"Dehydrated." Patricia replied with a slightly helpless look down at Beth. "I'll set up an I.V. Best I can do without Hershel." Juliet took Patricia leaving as an opportunity to do the same, darting into the kitchen to find Carol sitting quite content. She sat with her to eat, but the silence around them was heavy with things they could, and possibly should have said to each other.
"Hey." Andrea said as she entered the kitchen a few minutes later. "We're going out to look for Rick and the others. Wanna come with? I don't think you should, but Daryl said it might do you some good to get out of camp. I did point out that you were only just back, but he's being an asshole about it so I thought I might as well."
"You gonna be okay on your own?" she asked Carol with genuine concern.
"I'll be fine. I doubt you'll be long."
"Guess I'm coming then." Juliet said brightly. Andrea nodded. "Let's get our guns then." She got up quickly and the two walked out together and towards the RV where they picked up their weapons and a disapproving look from Dale, who followed the pair as they left the RV.
"Juliet, is this really a good idea, going out now?" Dale asked her. She was sure that his worry was well-meaning, but insinuating that she might be too upset to go out only served to annoy her, as well as make her more determined to go and prove she could.
"Daryl and Andrea will look out for me if I need them to, but I'm just as capable of looking after myself as I was yesterday." she assured him, trying to be polite.
"Are you sure you wanna risk it? You might not make it back." Dale persisted. Juliet sighed and holstered her gun as she walked.
"We'll be fine Dale." Andrea insisted.
"With Shane at the helm, I wouldn't be too sure. He's lost people before." Juliet sighed as she listened to Dale. He was really bad at knowing when to quit, apparently.
"And he's had my back. What are you insinuating?" Andrea asked him pointedly.
"Give us a minute, Juliet." Dale asked her. She shrugged, knowing if she asked Andrea later that she would definitely tell her, and walked quickly off in the direction of everyone else getting ready to head out. Daryl gave a little half smile when he saw her.
"Didn't think you'd be coming. Andrea didn't want you."
"Couldn't let you go out with her without my supervision, she might accidentally shoot you again. Or you might accidentally shoot yourself and fall in another river. God, that's my favourite story ever."
"I nearly died."
"Yeah, but you didn't actually die and all your injuries are healed, so I'm allowed to find it funny."
Andrea made her way over and handed them a bottle of water she had collected. Juliet was just about to pack it, along with the weapons into the trunk of a car when she spotted the same thing everyone else had, a car driving up to the house. It stopped, and she watched the three missing members of the group get out, all seemingly unharmed. Most rushed over, though she was happy just to slowly stroll over with Daryl. They were both amused when Maggie rushed out of the house, straight past her father into Glenn's arms.
"That was cold." Daryl remarked, suppressing a laugh.
"Poor Hershel. Typical, we get everything ready to look for them and now they come back." Juliet sighed, though of course she was pleased they were okay.
"How inconsiderate of them." Daryl replied back. She grinned at him.
"I was looking forward to going out though."
"I'll take you hunting this afternoon. Take the motorcycle, get far away from those woods, see what the other places round here have to offer." Juliet nodded gratefully. The woods still held too many memories of looking for Sophia, so she would be glad to get away from their slightly oppressive presence.
"Apocalypse style date?" she offered with a laugh.
"Complete with shooting some walkers and a few squirrels." Daryl added, luckily not uncomfortable with her joking around with him in this way. They were still well out of earshot of the rest of the group, so she didn't let up.
"We could throw a few squirrels to the walkers, watching them would be like a movie."
"The fuck kinda movies are you into?"
"Fine, shoot down my suggestions before you've even considered them."
Finally they approached the others, just in time to hear T-Dog questioning who 'that' was. They both looked around and realised that there was someone else in the car. Juliet's hand flew to the gun at her side, and she saw Daryl touching his crossbow uncomfortably.
"Fuckin' idiots, bringing someone like that back!"
Daryl had said nothing when they unloaded Randall and put him in the barn, nothing as Hershel had explained his injury came from being impaled on a bar, and nothing as Rick explained they couldn't leave him in good conscience and told them to meet in half an hour in the house to discuss the situation, but after she had taken him back to his makeshift camp, Juliet had told him to say his peace, knowing he had a lot to say about the whole thing.
"What were they supposed to do?" she asked, attempting to be reasonable.
"Leave him. He ain't one of us, and we come first. If we don't kill him he's gonna die from that injury on his leg. They might as well have left him where he couldn't put us in danger."
"Maybe you should go to the meeting and tell them that."
"Meetin'… Fuck that."
"Well I'm going. I'd like to hear what they have to say."
"They ain't gonna want me there. I'm not a part of their little group anymore. Not useful to them unless we got someone to look for."
"I want you there. I think it would be good, you're a strong voice and they value you opinion whatever you seem to think, and you just need to present a good argument rather than swearing and yelling at them." She knew she was making a good point because he grunted rather than tried to argue with her, which usually meant he couldn't think of anything to say. "Fine, stay down here, feel sorry for yourself. They're going to notice that you're not there and ask me and I'll just say 'don't worry, he's too busy being a petulant child and worrying that none of you like him'."
"Not a child." Daryl huffed under his breath. She just laughed and shook her head.
"Of course not. I'll come find you after we're done."
Juliet made her way to the dining room of Hershel's house, grabbing a seat beside her mother while there was still one to take. Carol smiled warmly and gave her a questioning look.
"He's refusing to come. It's like talking to an eight year old, I swear to God."
Juliet said very little in the discussion, it was too big a group for her to want to be loud and she had little to say on the matter. She hadn't been there when Randall had been found, could not give a medical opinion, and no longer had a little sister whose safety she had to protect by being overly cautious. She was there to listen and learn before giving her final judgement, not to share a loud, possibly unwanted opinion like many of them were. Carol appeared to be there for similar reasons, but the two shared silent looks, agreement when Hershel, T-Dog and Andrea spoke, exasperation when Shane did, and exhaustion when Lori tried to interject.
Daryl arrived a few minutes in and nodded in her direction. He stood on the side-lines and said nothing, but it meant a lot to her that he was there. Carol looked pleased to; Juliet knew that she liked him and she wanted him to stay part of the group. They were both pleased he was making the effort.
As soon as the raised voices began Juliet had to stop herself from putting her head in her hands and "audibly groaning. Of course this was turning into a fight; the group was too divided for it not to.
You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane scoffed as he stood up, ready to walk out. He called back to them as he went: "Look at this, folks... We back in fantasy land." Hershel clearly was just as sick of his bullshit as Juliet and Carol, as he went after him.
"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel announced. It was obvious Hershel forgave the members of the group who had taken part in the massacre, they were just doing as they had to. He recognised it was Shane's idea, and his fault. "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all: this is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favour... Keep your mouth shut." Juliet honestly had to refrain from applauding the old man. Someone needed to put Shane in his place, and she was glad it was him. Of course, Shane was less pleased, but he managed to walk off with nothing more than a sigh to signify his annoyance.
"We're not going to do anything about it today." Rick reasoned. "Let's just cool off."
Juliet and Carol both got up to go over to Daryl, but he was out the door before either of them could say a word to him. Carol would have been happy to let it go, but after a quick apology Juliet went flying out the door after him.
"What, you pissed at me now? You were being a child earlier, you're not allowed to be irritated that I called you out on it." Daryl kept walking, ignoring her, and she kept going after him, eventually catching his arm and bringing him to a halt. "Just talk to me okay? Sorry if I hurt your feelings."
"I don't care about what you said earlier. I just… You told me to come to that thing so we could get somethin' done, I went, and ain't nothin' being fuckin' done. That kid's still in the barn. What if he gets loose, what if his group come for him? The whole time he's there, we're all in danger. He could kill you or Carol and neither of you give a fuck."
"Of course I care… It's dangerous to have him here. I think they just want to be a little more inclusive of the views of the whole group before they try and kill a teenager." Daryl sighed as she spoke and looked at the ground. "I get that your angry. If Sophia was here I would be the same. Actually, even now she isn't, morality aside, I think killing him is the safest way forward, but the second we start killing people who've done nothing to hurt us, we become nothing better than a walker. We have to see if there's a better way to do this." The look of anger on his face turned to one at least of partial understanding, and she knew she was getting through to him.
"Sorry for takin' it out on you." he said quietly. She grinned and leaned up to kiss his cheek. He out his arms around her and hugged her close for a second. The nice apology almost made their small argument worth it.
"I forgive you this time. C'mon, let's go on that hunt now. I think you need to shoot an arrow at something."