Kit glanced over to the despondent Andrea as she continued the help with the cleanup. Every part of her body was caked in blood, sweat, and dirt – she even wondered if it would ever completely come off. She and Daryl both had a spare moment as Lori and Rick made attempts to get Amy's body. She was sitting down, physically exhausted from the events of the previous night and emotionally exhausted by the extent of loss in the group. "You okay?"
She glanced up and saw Daryl sitting down next to her. She nodded. "As okay as I can be, I suppose, given…" She didn't need to explain further. The bodies piled up spoke for themselves.
"The pills?" he asked.
"Just fine without them. I guess that's one thing to be thankful for." She swallowed hard. "Merle?"
"He's alive, but the bastard wasn't there. Dunno where he went off to, but he was long gone."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He scoffed. "They was right, you know. Ain't no one here sorry 'bout Merle but me. You never liked Merle, so why should you be sorry he's gone?" He hadn't raised his voice, but the anger was very clear.
"You're right," she admitted. "I never liked Merle. But that doesn't mean I can't be sorry he's gone."
"An' why's that?"
"Because I know you miss him…because he's your brother."
Daryl honestly didn't know how to respond. She turned to him and he got lost in those swirling pools of mercury again. "We shoulda taken you with us. I didn't know you was actually a good shot." He supposed that was the best response he possibly could have mustered after what she had just said. The damn girl cared enough to be sorry his brother was missing? Even though Merle was an asshole? It was then that he noticed the marks on her neck.
She caught him staring. "You should see the other guy," she joked. Given that she hadn't seen Ed since the previous day, it was probably safe to say he was dead. In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have made the joke.
Daryl chose not to respond, but a pissed look crossed his face. He would find the bastard that did that to her and find some way to make sure they paid for what they did. A sad look crossed her face. "I haven't seen Bernie anywhere, though."
"Who the hell is Bernie?" Daryl had to make sure there wasn't anyone unaccounted for who may now be wandering around as a walker.
"My cat," she responded. He stared at her, trying to decipher whether or not she was serious. All of this was going on and she was thinking about her damn cat? "I hope he's just hiding." Daryl huffed. He had work to do and he was going to be keeping a close eye on that dead girl – the ticking time bomb.
Just as the two thought that things couldn't get any worse, Jacqui began shouting about Jim being bitten and it looked as if a brawl was about to go down. Kit saw that Daryl, as usual, was eager to jump the gun. She grabbed his arm. "Jesus, Daryl. Calm down." To her surprise, he obliged and lowered the pickaxe that he had been threatening Jim with.
The few members of the group still left were gathered around trying to figure out what to do about Andrea and Jim. Kit wanted to stay out of things, for the most part. She figured that she would be okay with whatever decision the group made. She wasn't picky, but when Rick suggested that the CDC may have a cure, she rolled her eyes, which only Daryl noticed. He didn't understand why she didn't say something, but then he remembered what she had said in the woods about the CDC: it probably didn't have a cure. With this in mind, he said "I don't think the CDC got no cure," he grumbled. He glanced at Jim and he really wanted to kill the poor bastard before he turned but then Kit flashed him a warning look and he thought better of it. For some reason, he had an easier time keeping his impulsive nature in check with her standing there; honestly, he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
As Kit glanced around at the grieving, it made her a little grateful that she had lost her family so early. There hadn't been any hope allowed to bloom only to be suffocated later. She hadn't known Amy particularly well, but when they had finally started talking to each other, she had been so sweet that Kit could hardly believe it. There was nothing she could possibly say or do for Andrea that could soften the other woman's pain, so she figured she would stay out of it and give her time to grieve. But watching Andrea shoot the reanimated Amy brought back memories of shooting her own sisters so she figured that if anyone at the camp could even begin to conceive the agony that Andrea was in, it was her. As the dead were buried, Kit supposed that Dale was right: words had a habit of falling short.
Daryl found Kit wandering around in the woods calling for that damn cat but he figured it would be a break from hauling bodies, so he fell in step beside her. "I'll help you find the hairy menace," he grumbled. Her face lit up as the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face blossomed and in that moment he realized that he liked making her happy. He was so fucking screwed.
As they continued the search, he asked her a question. "Why ain't you talking with the others 'bout where ta go?"
"I suppose it doesn't matter that much to me. All I want is for us all to stay together. You know, not break 'The Fellowship'." His eyebrows pulled together in a thoroughly confused look. "'Lord of the Rings'? No?" She looked a little embarrassed then lowered her eyes to continue the very meticulous sweep she was doing of the forest floor and the trees above it.
"You have good ideas. Hell, I didn't know nothing 'bout the CDC but I remembered what you said a while ago 'bout there bein' no cure, so I spoke up. Thas something they need ta consider."
"The CDC may not have a cure, but I think the fort and the CDC have about an equal likelihood of actually still being running. Though, the CDC likely had more fail safes to prevent it from being invaded by walkers. Both facilities could be secure, but if there's no one there, then we are going to have a difficult time getting in. Personally, I'm more in favor of the CDC."
"An' why is that? You said they was abou' equal."
"The fort does fall short of the CDC when it comes to one thing: answers. The CDC may not have a cure, but it will likely have research inside of it, whether someone is there or not. I'm curious about this disease and learning something about it would make me feel a little better, I guess."
"See, if ya told the group tha', they'd probably go to the CDC."
"I do have another reason not to get involved this time," she said with a smirk.
"An' that is?"
"I'd rather not come between the dick measuring contest between Shane and Rick." This earned her a pretty nice laugh from Daryl.
"Ya seem ta have all this figured out pretty well. What was you studying at college with yer fancy scholarship?"
"I was undecided. The university didn't have an 'apocalypse' major so I wasn't quite sure what direction I wanted to go in."
"Look," he said. "It's startin' to get dark, but I'll get up early tomorrow to look for yer cat, if you'd like."
"Thank you." He could see that she really meant it. If the oversized squirrel meant that much to her, he supposed it was worth the time and effort to look for it. To make her happy.
He was up at the crack of dawn the next morning, as promised, only to see Kit already waiting for him. "Right on time," she remarked with a smile for him. He hoped that she had at least gotten some sleep. He knew that she had been up late into the night searching inside the camp for the cat, but he had gone to bed before she was done.
Their efforts, just as before, yielded no results and as they headed to camp he could see that she was absolutely crushed, with tears beginning to form in her eyes over Bernie. He internally cursed himself for having been so useless to her, but he had figured from the beginning that they wouldn't find it. She was walking a number of paces ahead of him, head hung slightly, when he heard a tiny 'mew' come from the trees. His head shot up and, sure enough, after a few moments of scanning, he saw the damn thing huddled on top of a branch. "Well I'll be damned," he whispered. "Kit! Get over here!"
She saw how excited Daryl was and sprinted over to him, seeing Bernie up in the tree, crying with relief. When the cat saw Kit right below him, he ran down the tree and jumped right into her arms, rubbing his face up against hers. A very large smile appeared on Daryl's face. Not because he cared for the cat – the damn thing looked a lot like a raccoon – but because he knew that he had spared her at least one heartbreak.
As she finished loading up her minivan, he saw her carefully tuck the cat into a bed right behind the front passenger seat, leaving food beside him. When she closed the door she ran over to Daryl, practically crying again. "Thank you." She threw her arms around him so quickly that he almost flinched. The hug practically choked him – it was so tight! But he liked it. When she released him from her embrace, her face was very close to his and for a millisecond, she almost looked like she might kiss him. Before he could make anything of it, she quickly dropped her arms to her side and shuffled awkwardly away, getting into the minivan with the Asian.
He must have imagined it. There was no other explanation because she could not possibly be attracted to him in any way. The very idea of it was ridiculous! Inconceivable!
Seeing Jim disappear in the rearview mirror was difficult to say the least. Not necessarily because Kit had been so attached to him, though he had seemed nice enough. She began to wonder whether or not it was worth it to become attached to people in this new world where those that you loved could be so easily taken from you. But then she glanced in the rearview mirror again and saw Daryl's truck traveling steadily behind her.
She knew that only a matter of months before now, she would not have liked Daryl. Hell! She probably would not have even met many people even similar to him. And yet, when he was around her, she felt so good and happy. Not in the way that she was happy around Glenn or Dale or anyone else in the camp or anyone else she had ever met. For some reason, which she couldn't conjure for the life of her, they worked. It was that simple. She felt her entire body grow warm as she caught a glimpse of his face, before quickly returning her eyes to the road. He wasn't particularly attractive – and certainly not very charming – but the more time they spent together, the more alluring he became.
It hurt her a little to think that he would never reciprocate her feelings, but she supposed that she could live with only being his friend.
The stench at the CDC was unbearable for Kit. She was thankful she hadn't eaten anything recently or she would be emptying her stomach right this second. As it was, she was having a difficult time holding down the water she had been drinking. She kept glancing back at her minivan, to make sure that Bernie was still staring at her through the window. She had left the window down enough so that he could escape if need be…if none of them returned. The place was a mess but just as she had suspected, the actual CDC building was secure.
As the others were beginning to become agitated because they thought the CDC was the wrong decision, she placed her hand on Daryl's arm in an attempt to keep him calm. The last thing they needed was for him to go flying off the handle because they needed to concentrate on shooting walkers.
Things were escalating and she was terrified, though it wasn't because of the walkers or the lack of food and fuel. The discord from the other members of the group was disorienting her, pulling her mind in every direction. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her elbow and pull her close. Her arm and Daryl's arm were now touching as he held his crossbow – ready for whatever was coming. Just when Kit felt as if she couldn't take the yelling and crying anymore, the door to the CDC opened.
The man inside was concise, which was good. Kit was grabbing things from her car to bring with her: her yellow day pack, Bernie, a few other things but all she wanted was to get the hell away from the graveyard they were standing in.
Thankfully, the tense atmosphere soon became relaxed as Dr. Jenner showed them some hospitality – after a blood test of course. Kit stuck to a very small glass of wine; she had learned that she did not have a particularly high tolerance for alcohol and much more than that single glass of wine would not yield positive results. Daryl, on the other hand, apparently had a much higher tolerance and was taking advantage of the copious bounty that the good doctor had offered them.
Her interest was piqued when Shane enquired about what had happened there before they had arrived. Though no one else in their group was in the mood to have what would undoubtedly be a very morbid conversation, Kit was ready for that conversation at any time it was convenient. Like she had told Daryl: she was curious. Much to her dismay, the discussion was ended early.
Her dismay was quickly ended when she had heard the glorious words 'hot shower'. Feeling the warm water running over her was absolutely indescribable. It felt as if when the sweat and dirt were washed off of her at least a little piece of the pain from the past couple of days was washed away with it. And she was willing to take her dear sweet time in the bathroom. She did as Jenner said and kept her shower reasonably short, but she stayed in the bathroom a good long while, giddy from how clean she felt.
Not very far away, Daryl had just stepped out of the bathroom, only to come face-to-face with Dale. "I've seen the way you look at her, you know." Daryl tensed, thinking he had a pretty good idea of what was next. In this case, Daryl was very happy to be wrong. "I've also seen the way she looks at you."
The old man had to be crazy. "Nah, she's with the Asian kid."
"I can assure you," the old man said "that she and Glenn are nothing more than friends. I was going to say something a while ago, but things went south too quickly at the quarry to have this conversation. Before we left, I didn't know what to think about you two. Then I saw how you helped her find Bernie and assumed that it wasn't because you had a fondness for cats." He rubbed the side of his face, clearly flabbergasted. "I'm not even going to begin trying to comprehend whatever this is, but I now think that it's a good thing…for both of you. Just don't keep her waiting too long."
With that, the old man continued on his way, leaving Daryl at a loss for words. That geezer was so adamant, that Daryl figured he would take a chance.
He knocked on the open doorway to Kit's room. When she turned around and saw him, her face lit up and Daryl began to think old-timer may just be right. "Hey, Dex." For the first time ever, Daryl saw her in a shirt that wasn't three sizes too big and thought to himself that it was a very nice sight. He had assumed her tits weren't very big but without a baggy shirt hiding them, he saw that she definitely had more to offer in that department than just about any other women in their group, with maybe the exception of Andrea. It was a very pleasant surprise.
"Hey," she replied. "You really clean up nice." She turned to a very disgruntled Bernie who was sitting on top of a ledge in the room. "Cleaning him was a pain in the ass, but I figured I won't have to do it again in a while." As she said this, she sat on the floor, looking more relaxed than Daryl thought he had ever seen her. He tentatively sat down next to her, noticing that the cat was eyeing him. He could have sworn it looked like it was deciding what it thought of him, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. That cat should not have reminded him of Dale as much as it did.
Kit leaned against Daryl and he thought that this was as good a moment as any to grow a pair. He turned to her and, gently holding her upper arm, kissed her. At first, he could tell that he had surprised her but after a second, she placed her hand on his shoulder and gave clear indication that he was free to continue. After they pulled away from each other, they could see the shock on one another's faces and they cracked up a little bit.
She took one of his hands and placed it under her shirt, sending a none too subtle message of what she wanted that night and Daryl was happy to oblige.
After they had 'broken the new place in', as Kit had called it, they sat together on the floor again, enjoying the quiet together just like they had back at the quarry, except now they had a few extra benefits added in. Daryl turned and gave a devious smile. "You must have one hell of a run burn," he said with a smirk.
He turned her shoulder to see her back and she gave the only reply he could have expected from her. "Admiring your handiwork?"
He laughed. "Actually, I'm lookin' at yer ink. Didn't know you had any." Across her shoulder blades, spanning the entire width of her back was a jagged mountain range. Below that, two trees stood on either side of her spine. It wasn't his style – they were hippie tattoos – but the work was good and he had to appreciate that.
"I figured no matter where I go I'll take the mountains with me." She admired his as well, though she felt the same way about his tattoos as he felt about hers. "We are definitely two very different people," she remarked before she noticed the scars running crisscrossing his back.
He turned so she couldn't see his back anymore, self-conscious. To his complete surprise, she didn't give him a look of pity the way most people would have. Instead, she looked down at the tops of her thighs where Daryl saw parallel lines running up and down.
"Seems we ain't that different." He could scarcely believe it. "Seems we've both been in some pretty dark places and I know I sure as hell don't want to return there." Their backgrounds didn't matter, their differences didn't matter, and the world around them didn't matter. What mattered what that they understood each other in spite of those differences. "Come on, Dex, let's go to bed."