Present Time
Daryl continued to watch Mac as she finished up her blades. He smiled to himself as he remembered those first days with her.
Mac got up and noticing Daryl sitting there, came over and sat in front of him.
"What are ye smiling at" she asked.
Daryl shrugged, but still had a smile. "Was just thinkin' back to when you first showed up here. You were a mess and a bit of a crank".
"Yeah well you were a right wee shit yourself."
Daryl snorted. He had been. He was hard as hell on her. He didn't trust her one bit, and had been one of the ones to interrogate her, along with Rick. They had done the whole good cop, bad cop routine on her. And obviously Daryl had not opted for the good cop role. They had never really been able to get details out of her as to why she had been held, and why they had beaten her and thrown her to the walkers. She had always been vague. But something had tugged at him about her. And rather than admit to himself any of the possible reasons why, he worked at making her life hell for that first month.
But Rick had eventually decided to trust her, and as it turned out, she was a hell of a fighter and had proved herself to the group numerous times. Daryl of course took longer to give her his trust, but she had definitely earned it.
He remembered back to a day when they had been out looking for game. He had almost stepped on a rattlesnake who had heard them coming and coiled up. Daryl had never even heard the damn thing. Mac had grabbed him at the last second and yanked backward. Unfortunately they were on a ledge, and it had rained recently, making it muddy. Daryl slipped and went down, smacking his head on a rock and he rolled down the side of the hill. He had landed in a mud puddle with walkers in it. Mac had scrambled down as fast as she could to land in front of him in time to ward off the walkers. She'd saved his life that day.
Daryl was playing with a piece of grass, and he looked up at her, head cocked. "You ever gonna tell me what happened that day?"
Mac abruptly stood up and brushed her pants off. "Naw, nothing to tell." She grabbed her blades and headed back to their tent.
Daryl watched her walk off, knowing that there was something more to the story. He wasn't sure why he was so intent on finding it out. He usually didn't give a rat's ass about people's personal problems. But he found himself looking at Mac a little differently. Whatever it was, it was too much for her to talk about it.
It was obvious to the group that Mac and Daryl were a team. And not just in the sense that they worked together. They had a synergy and a bond that no one else had. It was almost as if they knew what the other was thinking and going to do when it came to defending the camp, scouting, or even raiding. They were partners in the truest sense. They did just about everything together, yet it wasn't a sexual or romantic partnership, not like Glen and Maggie. They shared sleeping quarters, but no one in the group ever even considered that anything other than sleep was going on. It had turned into an unbreakable bond.
Daryl stared down at the piece of grass he had been playing with. He was having to admit that he wanted to know more about what was going on behind those deep brown eyes of hers. He'd never cared about any of that shit before. The few women he'd been with had mainly been fuck partners. He wasn't gonna get all sappy and puppy dog-eyed at no woman, hell no. He'd wanted to scratch his itch and move on.
He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. He better get some sleep, they left at dawn for this run.
They'd spent two days in the truck. Their asses were sore, but they had been able to pass the time with their bantering and teasing. They hadn't seen much, but then according to their map, they hadn't really expected to. They were almost to their target area, and with luck on their side they might be able to find something. Mac was hoping to at least find somewhere secure enough to sleep. Sleeping in the truck was anything but comfortable. And Daryl tended to snore.
"I do not snore girl". His hand at the top of the wheel, the other hanging out the truck window, he gave her a sideways look.
"Oh aye you do my bonnie lad." Mac nodded as she said this, trying not to laugh. Truth be told, it wasn't that loud and kinda cute. But she wouldn't tell him that. Because then he might catch on that rather than sleeping, she'd been watching him sleep, his face relaxed and peaceful in a time of turmoil and tragedy. She wished she had an excuse to just gaze into his blue eyes. Eyes that could go from cranky, to teasing to deadly in an instant.
"Pfft. I do not. Besides, you farted in your sleep. And it smelled." Daryl threw this back at Mac like it was the insult to end all insults. Mac just laughed at him, leaned over and ruffled his hair. "I always take credit for my farts love". Daryl snorted at that, and then laughed.
Mac looked at him a few minutes later when they were only a few miles from their target. "Did you know…" she started, "that the Scots and Irish were the ones to populate the south, and who eventually became the rednecks you yanks all know and love?"
Daryl looked at her with a "what-the-fuck" look on his face.
"Aye". She looked pleased with herself. "They fled their homeland to escape the religious persecution. The Irish stayed along the coast, but the Scots made their way down to the south and eventually became what's referred to as the rednecks. "
She leaned over and squeezed his leg."So you my dear boy, are probably just as Scottish as meself".
"Hmmff". Daryl looked at her. That was an interesting tidbit there for sure, but he felt like his leg was on fire from where she grabbed him. He wished she'd do it again to be perfectly damn honest.
"So why are you here, in good ole America?" he asked her. "Were you living here before all hell broke loose?"
"Nay. I was over here on business, this fucking plague broke out and that was that. And here I still am".
"You miss it?"
"I try no to think about it."
Daryl loved it when she said words like 'about'. They came out more like 'aboot'. Not that he was admittin' shit.
At last they came up to their target town. They were on the outskirts of it and decided to scan the outlying area first. They spent half the day scouting, and not finding much of anything. A couple of blankets here and there, a can of expired green beans. They decided to call this part a failure and head into the main section. Out of the corner of his eye Daryl spotted a cabin tucked back in some trees. He pulled the truck off and headed towards it.
"Lets try this one before we head into town" he said.
They parked the truck and left the keys in the ignition. Daryl locked in a bolt and hoisted the cross bow up, ready for anything. They moved into the house and cleared the rooms. They were dusty, no signs of life. And worse, no signs of supplies
"Dammit" Mac breathed. She moved into another room.
Daryl went through the kitchen and started rifling through the cupboards when he heard Mac yell out.
"JESUSFUCKINGCHRISTMOTHERFUCKINGSHIT!".
Daryl ran into the room to see Mac up on a chair both her sword and dirk out and looking pale.
"What the fuck Mac, what's wrong?" Daryl asked, worried as hell.
"SHIT THERE IT IS AGAIN FUCK FUCK FUCK!" If she could have climbed any higher onto the chair she would have.
Daryl spun around, thinking a walker was in with them and ready to put a bolt through its head when he noticed she was staring at the ground and shaking.
"What the fucking shit is that?!"
Daryl looked down and saw what had Mac freaked. Then looked back at her, absolutely amazed.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He busted out laughing. He laughed long and hard, doubling over when his gut started to cramp.
He managed to get himself upright again, wiping tears from his eyes.
"That my big, bad zombie killer, is a palmetto bug". He stepped on it, making a loud, disgusting crunching sound.
He laughed again, thinking back to her tickle attack at the woods. "So my 'wee lass', yer afraid of a little bug?" He laughed at her thunderous gaze.
"Payback's a bitch, ain't she little girl?" Laughing hard again Daryl hefted his crossbow up onto his shoulder and strolled out.
Mac glared at his retreating back and threw her dirk into the door frame.
She climbed down, skirting the bug remains. "Little bug my arse" she grumbled as she retrieved her blade.
She was looking at some of the pictures on the wall, of a time long past, when he heard Daryl whoop. He had gone downstairs to take a better look at it.
"Jackpot baby!" he yelled.
Mac made her way down the stairs into a basement, and noticed a trap door in the floor was open. She stuck her head down and saw Daryl standing there, arms wide out from his side, chest puffed out. He turned in a circle with a big grin.
"Jaaaack pot".
A/N: So it seems Daryl has stumbled upon something interesting, what could it be? Coming next, the discovery that could save their camp, and drunken moment leads to something more.