Ava gasped as she sprang up from her light sleep; she snatched her gun from the bedside table and swung it around to aim at the disturbance of her sleep. She glared at the silhouetted figure in her room, growling when she heard the click of a cross bow.
"What the fuck do you want?" Ava hissed, hoping that Kyle wouldn't stir because of the intrusion.
"Toilet." Daryl's voice, heavy with sleep, grunted through the darkness of the room.
"You take a crossbow to the toilet?" she asked, her gun never wavering from where his voice came.
"You take a gun to bed?" he answered, annoyance clear in his tone.
"Touché," Ava smirked as she put her gun back on the side table loud enough for Daryl to hear but not wake Kyle, "Hope you're not expecting running water or anything fancy." Ava told him as she shuffled back down into her bed and relaxed next to the slumbering form of her nephew as Daryl grunted and shuffled into the bathroom.
Ava lay back in the bed listening to Daryl's movements in the bathroom, not to stalk but out of post-apocalyptic instinct. The woman gently moved some of Kyle's hair away from his face, making a mental note to give him a haircut when an opportunity presented itself, before slipping silently out of the bed and taking her gun from the side table and hiding it in the waist band of her sleep shorts. She walked slowly around the bed, her fingers on the edge so she didn't walk into the frame, listening as the bathroom door clicked before opening slowly, Daryl's footsteps padded along the floor towards her, both of them aware of the others movements.
"Why are you outta bed?" Daryl asked his crossbow held ready in his hand, if it had been his decision he wouldn't have trusted the woman, it was distracting them from finding Merle.
"Are you the sleep police?" Ava smiled into the darkness though Daryl couldn't see this.
"Just 'cus you got crackers and a kid don't mean ah'm gonna trust ya." Daryl spat into the darkness. "And just because you have a few arrows doesn't mean that I am afraid of you." Ava remarked stepping forward and nudging Daryl into the direction of her bedroom door before following him out since she had wanted to leave but didn't trust the hick to be alone with her nephew while armed.
Daryl grunted as the pair walked back to the front room of the flat, falling back into the arm chair he had been sleeping in before the call of nature had woke him. Ava smiled, covering her mouth with her hand to contain her laughter when she saw Glenn sprawled out on the sofa tangled in the pink Dora the Explorer blanket, his mouth open in his sleep and his hat beside him from where it had fallen off.
"Suits him," Ava smirked at Daryl, he was leant back in the chair, chewing on his thumb nail as he watched the woman through sharp and suspicious eyes.
"So," Ava started, cursing herself for feeling foolish in her own hideaway as she tried to call on how to converse with adults, since it had been so long, "This camp, what's it like?"
Daryl rolled his eyes slightly, still biting down on his nails, "Just ah bunch ah wankers." He spat out.
Ava fought her smile as she pulled some hair behind her ear, "Is that a fact?"
Daryl simply nodded.
"And why pray tell, are they a bunch of wankers?" Ava asked as she leant against the wall near Daryl's chair.
"They came up here for some shit or other," Daryl told them, "Chained my brother up to the roof and fuckin' left him alive on the roof for the fuckin' walkers."
Ava was silent for the moment, how could she trust her nephew with people that could do something like that, she sighed, "Then you must know that there's not much chance of finding alive if he was left for the dead."
"Nah," Daryl spat out part of his nail, "that fucker there," he swung his arm in T-Dog's direction, "that fucker, being as smart as he is," he jabbed the side of his head, "locked the door so they couldn't even get to him, ma brother cut his own fuckin' hand cus ah what these bastards did ta him." Daryl growled.
"Why?" Ava asked quietly.
"What?" Daryl snapped, chewing the side of this thumbnail.
"Why did they leave him?"
Daryl snorted, "That fuckin' cop," He gestured to Rick was feigning sleep in the armchair across from him, "Said Merle was a fuckin' danger, the stupid bastard don't know wha' he was talkin' about."
Ava glanced down at the floor, "I see no reason why he would lie about that."
"You on their fuckin' side?" Daryl snarled, his hand reaching down to his crossbow next to his chair.
Ava opened her mouth in response but quickly stopped herself, darting forwards to cover Daryl's mouth with one hand and turned the lamp off on the table beside the hunter with the other she 'shh'ed him. Daryl glared, his hands coming up to rip her hand away from him, seeing this, Ava dove forwards so that her body weight fell on him, basically straddling him as she tried to stop him making a noise.
"It's a geek!" T-Dog hissed into the darkness hoping that the source of the banging wouldn't hear him. Daryl's expression scrunched into a snarl as Ava removed her hand from his mouth and pressed a finger to her lips. He looked like he wanted to rip her apart. She returned the nasty look and made an attempt to lean back but froze when the chair creaked. She squeezed her eyes in frustration and held herself in place but the angle that she had lent was increasingly awkward so that Daryl had to hold onto her hips to stop her from falling back off of the chair and onto the floor.
He glanced over at the others, ready to drop a glare on them if they dare give him a funny look. T-Dog stared at the door, his head wet with perspiration, and Rick stared intently at the bedroom door whiling Kyle to stay asleep like Glenn was still sprawled on the sofa under the pink blanket. Daryl narrowed his eyes again, god help the chink if he snored now. They sat like that for five minutes as they listened to the figure shuffle and moan down the hallway outside, occasionally banging into the walls. When the door at the end on the hallway banged shut Ava sighed and let herself relax. They'd have to look out for that bastard on their way out.
T-Dog let out a breath and fell back properly onto the chair, closing his eyes. Rick jumped up and quickly made his way to the bedroom, looking to check up on the small boy on the bed. Glenn snorted slightly and rolled in his sleep. Glancing up Ava smirked at Daryl's raised eyebrow, "Don't think this means you're getting lucky."
He rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him, Ava's smirk grew as she fell back into a crouch, her training had not been in vain after all. Ignoring his venomous look Ava went to check on her nephew to find him still asleep with Rick sat on the bed next to him.
"So, this camp, how'd you get there?" Ava asked as she crossed her arms and lent again the door frame.
Rick looked up at her, " I can't honestly give ya'll straight directions. I don't know the route but when the others wake up they can let ya'll know."
Ava nodded, "But you'll probably need help getting the guns."
Rick glanced down at Kyle's sleeping form, "What about the boy?"
Ava shrugged, "I'll make sure he's safe but if I need you guys to get to the camp then you need to survive and there's not much chance of you doing that without me."
Daryl's voice came from behind her, "You're full ah yasen ain't ya."
Ava didn't turn around to acknowledge him as he stood behind her, "It's not without reason."
Daryl looked between the woman and Rick, "If she wants ta get her hands dirty I'm fine with it, but the kids a fucking liability."
Ava turned to him and narrowed her eyes as she stared up at him, "The kid is my problem, he's knows to keep quiet and low and I taught him how to some weapons if necessary."
Rick stood from the bed, "I'm not happy about it but we need your help, the guns won't do much for the camp if no one knows how to use 'em."
Daryl grunted and walked back into the living room calling over his shoulder, "Get some sleep, we're goin' for Merle tomorrow."