Chapter 4

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Seriously." she said.

"Well, now, that's a pretty interesting proposal, there. How do we know it will work?" Shane was smiling. Aliya didn't like him when he smiled. He had one of those smiles she'd seen on cops all her life. The I'm-your-friend-you-can-trust-me smile that was a little too toothy, a little too forced. Disingenuous. Hiding a lie.

"I just told you how it will work." she said, keeping her eyes on Rick instead.

"That is one very interesting proposal, there. Yess'm, I have to say…well, I…" he gave an uneasy laugh, "…I don't know quite what to say." Rick said, studying Aliya's no-nonsense expression.

"Cheap, easy, effective. Hardest part will be the pit."

"Surely you're not taking this seriously." Andrea scoffed.

"Why tha' fuck not?" Daryl interjected.

"It's ludicrous. A pit trap. Burn them?" Andrea had her arms folded over her chest and was shaking her head. "That's just sick."

"They used napalm in Atlanta. We all know that didn't work." Shane said.

"They dropped it from helicopters. It wasn't targeted. The walkers were too spread out to do a lot of good." Aliya was trying to keep her voice calm. "This would be different."

"And just where do you think we can get Napalm? We're not the Army." Andrea again.

"Did you listen to any part of what I said?" Aliya was losing patience. She didn't know why Andrea was rubbing her wrong more than usual but tonight it was hard for her not to walk over to her and punch her in the mouth.

"Ok, ok, let's just all keep this calm." Rick said. "I have two questions. First. Digging the pit. We'll need something big. Really big. Second. Is this the right thing to do? Would it put us in danger?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong about it Rick. You said yourself you were concerned about all the walker activity in town lately and what happens when they start moving? We don't know what they're going to do in cold weather. You've seen 'em horde up before, move in a mass. Remember what happened on the interstate?" Shane started talking faster, getting more agitated with every new thought. "If they come through here and there are enough of them, no fence could hold them and we don't have enough weapons to fend them off. We have to take out as many as we can. We have to cull the herd. Now."

Aliya looked in Shane's eyes. They were gleaming with excitement. Kinda' frightening, but ok, she thought, he's on board, that's for sure.

"There was a big backhoe at that construction company in town. We could use it to dig the pit." Glenn spoke up. He'd been quiet until now, taking things all in. This was a scary proposition they were listening to. If it didn't work, they would be faced with a mass of walkers - more than they could handle. If it did, it might be a way to deal with them once and for all. The best part was, he was not going to be used as bait. At least no one had suggested that they suspend him above the pit. At least not yet.

T-Dog cleared his throat. "Guys. I am all over that backhoe."

Aliya looked at him. "Seriously? You can operate one?"

"Shit yeah," he grinned. "Hea-vee equipment op-a-ray-taaah!" he laughed.

"This is too freakin' perfect." Aliya said. "That's the missing piece we need." She looked at Glenn and smiled. "No walker bait this time. Promise."

"I say we take a vote then." Shane stood up, his chair scooting against the floor with a loud screech. "Everybody in favor of digging a pit and toasting every walker we can shove in it, raise your hand."

"Now, just hold on a minute, Shane." Rick said. "If it works, is this right?"

"Right?" Daryl huffed. "Is it right they're tryin' ta' eat us?"

"It's either us or them." Shane said. "Right and wrong, Rick, it don't enter into this no more."

"Yes, it does." Aliya spoke up. "Rick. I understand. This is gruesome at best. But, what's the difference in doing this as opposed to picking them off one at a time as they're attacking us when we go into town every week?"

Rick looked down at his hands for a minute. "You're right. They're becoming more of a threat. We have to do something." he nodded his head. "All in favor?"

Everyone's hands went up. "You're sure you can take care of the rest if we dig a pit?" Rick was looking directly at Aliya now.

"Piece of cake." Aliya said, nodding. "Do it in my sleep."

"Looks like we're in business then." Rick said, looking around at the group.

XXXXX

Daryl pulled Aliya by the elbow away from the festivities and down the basement stairs to his room. She had a shoe-box-sized package, wrapped in red and gold paper with a gold ribbon. He sat her down on the sofa by the arms and sat next to her. "Me first." he grinned. He was like a kid, almost giddy. He'd been waiting for a couple weeks to give her the present. He'd had to talk Dale into trading names with him, after the others had decided that it would be fun to draw names instead of trying to find presents for everyone. Daryl was skeptical at first, but what the hell, everyone else seemed excited about Christmas, Aliya included, which kinda' surprised him. He was surprising himself at how excited he was.

Daryl handed her the small box wrapped in brown paper with a green twirly ribbon tie. Aliya put it to her ear and shook it.

"It rattles. What is it?" she smiled. "Dixon if this is part of something dead, I'm gonna kill you myself."

"See for yourself." he said, nodding at the present. Aliya pulled the ribbon off and opened the paper. She paused to look at him cautiously, her head down, eyes looking up at his, lower lip starting to curl into her mouth at the corner. She was nervous, he could tell that much from the lip. Aliya pulled off the lid slowly and moved the cotton aside.

When she saw the contents, she froze, lip in full bite. She looked up at Daryl again. "Dixon?" She blinked, looked down and looked up at him. "Are those…?"

"Yeah. "

"They're…beautiful. I…" she stammered, staring at the pair of pearl earrings. "I've never had pearls before." She picked up one by the gold post and looked at it, twirling it between her thumb an forefinger. "Beautiful." she whispered.

"Lori tol' me every girl needs ta' have a pair a' pearl earrings."

"Daryl, thank you. They're just…I just…they're perfect." Aliya had a little tear in the corner of her eye. "I can't wear them."

"Why not? They'll fit. Don't you like 'em?"

"I love them. Too much. I'd be so afraid I'd lose them. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to them." she said, closing her eyes.

"Don't wear them out of the house, then. Just wear them here."

Aliya was quiet for a moment and then nodded her head. "Sure. Yeah. I can do that. Just here." She was smiling now, as she ran her fingers lightly over the smooth, cool, small round orbs. "Thank you." she whispered, looking up at Daryl again. "Damn. This makes mine seem stupid."

"You had my name?" Daryl said. "How'd ya' get my name? I thought Stuart had my name."

"I made him trade me." she giggled. "This is really going to suck." she said, handing him the box from beside her.

Daryl took the box and was surprised at the weight. He shook it. It didn't make much noise. "What tha' hell?" he said. "Open it?"

"Yeah, I guess. I feel so bad now." she winced.

Daryl pulled the ribbon off the box and tore into the paper, pulling the lid off and pushing aside the tissue paper. He stopped when he saw the four spray paint cans. He picked one up and rattled it. Empty.

"Really, you shouldn't have." he said.

"I didn't know how to wrap a water tower." she said quietly. Daryl frowned, obviously confused. He turned his head sideways and wiggled the can in his hand and looked at her sideways. "It's the only way I could think to tell you what I've been doing. For the last two months, every time we've gone on a supply run or to check out a new place, I've been leaving directions. For Merle. Sometimes on the town's water tower if I can, sometimes on store windows or the sides of buildings. Places he'd see if he hit town. Sometimes just on cars."

"What?"

"Merle Dixon. 40 miles south. East Laurel. Merle Dixon go to East Laurel. Stuff like that. To tell him where you are."

"You been tryin' ta' find my brother?"

"Yeah. That's ok, with you, right?" she said, searching his eyes for any sign of emotion. "It just seems like the only thing to do. He's out there and we're out there running around - who's to say that we've not been in some of the same places. We need to find him, Daryl. You need to find him."

"Bet Rick gave ya' shit about that." Daryl said, rubbing the back of his head.

"At first, but I just reminded him of a couple things and he backed down. Shane was the one that was really pissed, though."

"Fuck him."

"Pretty much what I said, give or take a few other choice words." she grinned. "So you're not mad?"

Daryl shook his head and turned away. Aliya put her hand on his knee. He turned back and looked at her. "This 's…" he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "…tha' nicest thing anybody ever did for me." he said quietly. Aliya looked at him closely. He was biting his thumbnail and he had a strange look on his face. He kept looking at her and then looking away. She had no words either right now, realizing how close Daryl was to losing it, so she just nodded.

Daryl sat the box down beside him and took the small box out of Aliya's and sat it down on top. He turned towards her and put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug, holding her close for a long time. Aliya was surprised by his actions and put her arms around his back, pressing against him. Daryl's head turned slightly and she realized that he'd kissed the side of her head. She pulled away slightly, in time to see that he'd had his eyes tightly shut.

"Daryl." she said softly. He opened his eyes. Their faces were just inches apart. "You remember that time you got thrown by the horse at Greene's farm and got the bolt through you?"

"Yeah." he said.

"Remember telling me that you saw Merle and he said he was the only one who was ever gonna' care about you?" her voice was a shade above a whisper.

"Yeah." he nodded his head.

"He was wrong." she shook her head. "Way wrong. I do. I care about you too." she said, reaching up and putting her hand on the side of his face.

Daryl's heart pretty much melted at that point. He'd never had much in the way of friendships, but he knew that in the last few weeks they'd grown pretty close. He'd never had girl friends, let alone anyone who'd just told them something like what she'd said. Not only did she care about him enough to say it out loud to him, she had been proving it behind his back all along. Without him even knowing it.