Oh, Caroline
These are different days
And the pace of the world has me thinking there's no time
To turn the other way
Take my hand and we'll walk on down the line
"Get your fuckin' filthy hands off of me, you son of a bitch!"
Daryl's ears perked up at that statement, and all the cursing that came after it. He only knew one woman who could curse like that.
The door swung open; Macyn was shoved into the room before the door was slammed shut again. She had a cut on one cheek, and her hair was mussed. Daryl thought perhaps he had seen a glimpse of Merle behind the door.
"Macyn?"
"Daryl!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. "Are you all right?"
She released him long enough to try and take a good look at any injuries he might have had sustained when he was taken. Daryl tried to assure her that he was fine, but Macyn wasn't convinced until she saw it for herself.
"What happened?" he asked.
Macyn smirked. "We're breakin' you out of here, Daryl."
"We? So it was Merle on the other side of the door."
Macyn nodded in earnest and told him about Merle's plan to free him from Woodbury. She told him about being so worried when he was found to be gone, and Merle enlisting her to come retrieve Daryl.
"Did he do that to you, too?" Daryl asked, gently running his knuckles over her cheek.
Macyn reached up to put her hand over the cut and nodded. "Yes, but only because I told him to this time. He didn't want to, I promise. But we figured they'd never believe Merle had fought with me to bring me in if I wasn't a little marked up."
Daryl couldn't stop himself. He grasped her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers. Macyn seemed to tense momentarily, but soon let herself lean into his kiss and against his chest.
"I'm sorry," Daryl mumbled out against her mouth. "I should never have let you go. Should never've agreed it was better to be apart. I don't want to be without you anymore, Macyn. I miss you, so much."
"I love you," Macyn returned, kissing him again. "I'll never leave you again."
Daryl's returned promise was drowned in her kiss. Even when their lips were sore and they had to come up for air, neither wanted to let go of the other. Finally, they sat together against a wall, Macyn's head leaned against Daryl's shoulder.
"We were so stupid," she mused.
"Yeah," Daryl smirked. He kissed her forehead. "Guess I'll have to move my shit again when we get back."
"Guess so," Macyn chuckled. Then, her face sobered and she scrambled to sit across from him. "I almost forgot. I've got to put this gun back together. Help me, quick."
Daryl didn't ask questions; it must have been part of the plan. They waited carefully by the door when they heard footsteps return. Merle's stifled yells caused Macyn to frown.
"That's not part of the plan?" Daryl asked.
Macyn pulled a knife from her other boot and tossed it to him as she shook her head. "No, it's not."
They both stood ready, and when the door opened again, Macyn shot the man holding Merle. Merle fell to the floor with a tumble, trying to re-orient himself while Daryl and Macyn took care of the other two men who had come in the room.
"Brother," Merle nodded. He groaned and held his arm close to his body.
"What happened?" Daryl frowned.
"We came in through the back. Tipped 'em off somethin' was up. They figured out Daryl was my brother and that I was comin' for him."
"We got to get out of here, now," Macyn instructed them. She kneeled next to Merle and took a quick look at his arm. "Broken. This won't be a great sling, but it's better than nothin'."
She started to take off her belt, but Daryl offered his. "It's thicker."
Macyn rigged up the makeshift sling for Merle before she and Daryl helped him up off the ground. Merle handed his gun over to Daryl; his brother could make better use of the weapon just then than he could.
For a brief moment, Macyn thought maybe they had gotten away clean. She and Daryl carefully walked Merle back out the way they had come in; there, The Governor, Andrea, and two other men were waiting for them.
"Let us out and there won't be any trouble," Macyn told them.
"Trouble? For us?" The Governor scoffed. "That's cute. You think you can come in here and grab our prisoner, and just get out clean?"
"Prisoner?" Macyn shot back. "You grabbed him from our shelter. He wasn't doin' anything to any of y'all. We came and got what was ours. If you want to keep what's left of what you got, you had best let us through, safely."
Andrea let out a deep breath. "Let them through."
The Governor frowned at her. "Since when do you think you get a say?"
"I gave you everything on them," Andrea argued. She shot an apologetic glance towards the Dixons and Macyn. "I told you who their strong members were, who to look out for when it came to fighting, and what that shelter had – but I did it because you said you would take what they had and figure out how to mesh it in with what we have here. They are good people, Philip. Let them go – let them try to survive. Isn't that all any of us are really doing now? Trying to survive?"
The Governor's face softened as he reached up to caress Andrea's face. Her pretty eyes continued to silently plead with him. He dropped his hand from her face and commanded the other men to lower their weapons.
"We will allow them to return home safely," he ordered.
"But, sir …" One of the men objected; he was silenced with just a look from the more powerful man.
The four blocking their way stepped aside. Daryl and Macyn kept on guard while Merle held his tongue from hurling insults at their captors. All of them waited for a spray of bullets to come once their backs were turned, but, not soon enough, they were back at the truck.
"We got lucky," Merle groaned, tightening the belt that served as a sling for his arm. "This ain't the end with them."
Macyn shook her head. "Never thought it was."
.&.
Back at the shelter, Macyn sat Merle down in the medical room and had Carol get the man started with some painkillers. She poked her head then into the Grimes' room, to check on the baby and Lori.
"Everybody seems to be healthy and happy," Beth smiled, sauntering out of the room as Macyn slinked in.
"I would say we are," Lori agreed, smiling down at the little bundle in her arms. "Thank you, Macyn. For everything."
"You kept your promise. You said you wouldn't let them die, and you didn't." He hugged her tight, and Macyn gratefully hugged him back.
"I told you I would. Listen, why don't you go get Beth to show you were the extra pillows are? And see if you can find some extra blankets and a laundry basket. We'll make her a little crib."
Macyn waited for Carl to be gone before relaying to Lori and Rick what had happened in Woodbury.
"He'll come after us now, for sure," Rick affirmed. "I can't imagine he'll leave us alone for long."
"It's still winter," Macyn commented. "They're trying to maintain resources just the same as us, I'll bet. Once things warm up though, we're going to have to watch our every step. They'll come at us before we're ready, I'm sure."
"So what do we do?" Lori asked.
Macyn, for once, wasn't sure. She looked to Rick, questions in her eyes. Rick looked down at his wife, at his new baby girl, and finally back at the young woman who had become part of their family.
"We start preparing now. We send extra people on hunts to come back with more food. We gotta stock that deep freeze full as we can. No one goes out on their own, even just to get rid of trash."
Macyn nodded. "I'll leave you guys to your happy day. Sorry to blemish it with all this, but we couldn't wait to address it."
"We understand," Lori assured her.
Beth and Carl came in then, and Macyn helped them construct a makeshift crib for the tiny infant. Then, she and Beth left the family to celebrate their newest arrival.
"Let me know if you need anything. I'll check on you later," Macyn promised, shutting the door behind her. She let out a deep breath; she wanted nothing more than to drag Daryl into their bedroom. Merle was waiting for her to set his arm though, and wouldn't be happy about waiting for long.
"'Bout time," he muttered when she came in the room, confirming her suspicions.
Macyn smirked. "Sorry. Was checkin' on Lori and bringin' Rick up to speed. How's the arm feel?"
"Better after some pain killers," Merle ceded. "This gonna hurt?"
"Probably," Macyn told him. "But I'll try to make it quick. Then we'll get you in a cast."
She made sure all of her supplies were set out, then took a feel of Merle's forearm. Setting the bone wasn't going to be the easiest of feats without an x-ray, but that wasn't an option for them. She gentle applied pressure and noted where Merle winced the hardest.
"How'd they break it, anyway?" Macyn asked.
Merle let out a deep breath. "After they shoved you in the room with Daryl, I went back with them to The Governor's office. They started asking me questions about how I'd gotten you there, and what exactly I thought I was doing back in Woodbury. They asked me about Willy Slater and when I told them what had happened when we came back here – damn it, woman!"
"Hurts less if you don't expect it," Macyn told him, carefully setting his arm across his body again. "Let's get you in a cast, then you're free to go."
It was mostly silent while she constructed the cast around his forearm, making sure that it was tight enough to stabilize the injury but not so tight as to cut off circulation. She was cleaning up and waiting for the cast to dry when Merle spoke up.
"I couldn't have gotten my brother back without you," he said.
Macyn turned around. "What did you say?"
"Oh, you heard me," Merle groaned. It was as if being nice like this pained him more than the broken bone. "And I don't mean just tonight. I abandoned him with those other folks when they left me in Atlanta. Shouldn't-a done it, but I was selfish. Wanted to get back at the group. Nearly sacrificed my brother for it. Should have been me that day in the forest, helping him take down that herd, then finding a good shelter like this."
Macyn glanced up at him from where she was fiddling with some instruments on a tray.
"Not that I'm not glad he met you, Macyn. Trust ole Merle on that. I'm a rough ole – what was it you said that time? An ole coot. You nailed it. I got a lot of reasons to be angry. I'm a fighter though – Daryl, God love 'im, he's just a survivor."
"Same thing."
"No," Merle said, shaking his head. "My brother stayed alive however he could. Then he met you. Now he's a fighter. Thank you for that."
Macyn gave him the ghost of a smile. "What can I say, Merle Dixon? You're the dickhead older brother I never had."
They both had a good laugh about that before Merle retired to his room. Macyn finally managed to cross paths with Daryl where he was coming out of the shower room, no shirt on and hair in his eyes.
"Never could resist a man who smelled good and came out of the shower room drippin' wet like that," she teased him.
Daryl's mouth pulled up into a grin as he slinked towards her, throwing his shirt over his shoulder and pushing her into what was once again their shared room.
"Never could resist … you," Daryl returned with a mischievous pause before claiming her mouth.
.&.
Lori looked down at the sleeping bundle in her arms; her look was not that of joy but rather distress.
"Really, Macyn, this isn't necessary. We shouldn't waste what little we have," Lori pleaded.
"If things were right in the world, this would have happened totally different. You'd still have the same baby, but I probably wouldn't have been your doctor. I wouldn't have known you – hell, most of us probably wouldn't have known each other. But, you probably would have gotten a baby shower, too. Everyone's been real careful about going out to find something for the baby, or takin' something from their own belongings to give you and Judith. So, shut your mouth and be grateful."
Her words sounded harsh, but her countenance was soft and teasing. Lori gave Macyn playful slap on her arm before Beth and Carol shooed Lori out of the kitchen area. The four women in the group, besides Lori, were putting together several different treats for the group to enjoy. Macyn had determinedly dug through the recesses of their food stock to find cake mix, a bag of potato chips, and a box of a pre-made pasta mix that just required meat to be added. With Daryl and Merle's help, they were able to come up with some ground meat fit for the group.
Baby Judith was one month old today. While most complications, save for a little bit of colic, had held off after the child's birth, without the resources that would normally be afforded to them in this day and age, Macyn had worried about malnourishment, SIDS, and any other thing that could interfere with a newborn's otherwise good health. With careful watch by everybody though, Judith was thriving and looked to be as healthy as any other one-month-old. In celebration of that, Carol had suggested they have a group dinner. Once all the planning was put together, the whole thing had turned into a sort-of baby shower.
They sat around the table and feasted on the pasta-squirrel-meat concoction, laughing and telling about good times. Once they'd all had their fill, Carol and Macyn cleared the table while Beth and Maggie got the cake ready.
Everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to a cake with no candles and a crying baby. While everyone munched on cake, Lori finally got to take a look at the gifts everyone had rounded up.
Maggie, Beth, and Hershel had a children's Bible for Judith, something they had managed to bring from the farm when it was taken over. Glenn had found a warm flannel shirt and, with help from Carol, cut and sewed the thing into a baby's dress. Daryl and Merle, who had been hoarding animal pelts from the meat they obtained, had put their survival skills together and made her a warm cloak that tied together down the front. Macyn had found some old baby toys in the trunk she and Daryl had brought from her old house. Rick and Carl came up with a new photo album they had put together from the frames Lori had grabbed from their house when the city was evacuated, and some cardboard and string.
Finally, Carol came forward, somewhat teary. She handed over a small christening gown. It was frilly and pristinely white. There was a little bonnet that went with it; the pink of the ribbon that tied the bonnet around the baby's head matched the delicate pink of the ribbon that accented the hem and collar of the gown.
"When Sophia was baptized, Ed wouldn't let me spend much on a christening gown for her. This one was the prettiest one to me anyway. She looked so perfect in it."
"Carol, we can't take this from you," Rick spoke up.
She nodded. "Yes, you can. Sophia can't use it anymore and, if she were still here, I know she'd want to give it on to Judith. Please."
Lori swallowed; her voice was thick when she replied. "Thank you, Carol. Of course this means that we'll have to have a baptism for her when it warms up."
"The pond would be real nice for that," Beth spoke up. "Daddy could do it."
"Oh, Beth, I don't know …" Hershel said, shaking his head.
"She's right. That would be perfect," Rick agreed.
So it was settled. When the weather warmed enough, Judith would have her baptism ceremony. That might mean another feast, but meat would be more plentiful then, and perhaps they could even scrounge up some fruit or vegetables.
Macyn stood back to watch the whole scene; she had never had a family before and loved the one she had now. It wouldn't stay happy like this, she knew. It never did. For now though, it was pretty perfect.