I am horrible at math. I know the guy that plays Daryl was born in 1969, but I changed Daryl's birth year to 1979. Tabatha is a year younger than him, so she was born 1980. Walking Dead started in 2010, so that would mean that Daryl is 31 and Tabatha is 30.
Chapter 3
May 27th, 1997~
Daryl was trying very hard to hide his excitement. Today was the day his best friend was supposed to be coming back for the summer. He had been waiting for this for two years.
Daryl Dixon and Tabatha Greer had been best friends for years. She was a year younger than him and his family lived just down the road from her grandparent's house. When she was 10 years old her parents moved off to New Mexico for better job offers. It was the worst day of his life, Merle had slapped him upside the head because he had almost started crying. Dixon boys didn't cry.
She had been coming back every summer since then, except for last year. Tabatha had called her grandparents and begged them to tell Daryl that she was sorry, but she couldn't make it that summer. She had summer school.
He had been devastated, but this year she was definitely coming. And he couldn't wait to see her brace-face break out in a smile when she saw all the trouble he had planned for them to get into that summer.
As Mr. Greer's beat up red Chevy pulled into the driveway, Daryl's excitement was almost palpable. He hopped off of the porch with a wide grin and stuck his dirty hands in his pockets.
But the girl who jumped out of the truck was not the girl he remembered.
Her hair was a bit longer than two years ago. If it hadn't been pulled into a tight ponytail it would of fallen to her waist in a long auburn wave. And she had definately grown out of her lankiness. An hour glass figure that was being extremely accentuated by the pair of short jean shorts and midriff revealing yellow tank top. Braces were gone, so was her acne.
Daryl found himself short of breath at just the sight of her. And when she ran up to hug him he had to work hard at keeping himself "calm".
"Well," Daryl thought, "this summer is going to be a blast."
"Estranged wife, Daryl. I haven't seen you in over a decade!" she snapped.
"Yea? Is that supose' to be my fault?" Daryl grunted, slamming his hands down on the table before storming out to go hunting. He really felt like killing something right about now.
Shane stood, mouth slightly agape at these new revelations. "Welp," he said, running his hand through his hair. "This is going to be fun."
Merle lounged back on a log next to his tent. He watched Daryl grab his crossbow and head off into the woods and smiled slightly. Merle wasn't really smart by most people's standards, but he was good at reading people and observing. He had known since they were kids that Daryl and Tabby were gonna end up together. It was always only a matter of time, if things hadn't happened the way they did way back then, they might still be together. Funny how one little fuck up can ruin everything in the blink of an eye.
For his part in it all, Merle had always been ashamed for it. But him and Tabby had hashed their shit out before it all blew up between his little brother and her. He would never admit it, but Merle was really hoping that the two of them were able to get their act together and stop being so damn stubborn. For now he would just sit back and watch it all unfold.
Tabatha wandered down the water where the other women were doing laundry. She cleared her throat as she approached them, they all looked at her with a bit of fear and irritation.
"I just wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier. I wasn't thinking and I really shouldn't of said all those things in front of your children." She averted her eyes and waited, impatiently, for them to reply.
After a very uncomfortable silence the teenage blonde got up and walked over to her. "I'm Amy," she said with a smile and a hand shake.
Tabatha smiled and shook her hand. "Tabatha...but you can call me Tabby if you want." Amy smiled in response and walked off back to the came chit-chatting with Tabatha the whole way.
Daryl came back to camp right after the sun had set. In all the chaos in the day he hadn't remembered to put up a tent, so he climbed into the cab of his truck and pulled a jacket over himself. He wanted to sleep, but his mind just kept wandering to the woman sleeping in the car a few cars from his truck. He had missed her. And when Merle told him that she had shown up at their place with divorce papers it had hurt him.
Sure, he hadn't seen her in about 13 years, but she was still his wife. He thought about her every day, wondering what she was doing, if she was happy. Daryl had always held out some hope that she would come back someday, that they would be together again. But once those words came out of Merle's mouth, he knew it was over, no more hope. He knew he wasn't a coward, but when he saw her car pull up the next few times she came, he hid. A small part of him wanted to go up to her and just yell, tell her she was being selfish, and that if she would just pull her head out of her ass she would see that.
But he didn't. He knew Merle would cover for him, sure he would probably bitch at him for awhile, but he would definitely cover for him. What was going to happen next was what he really wanted to know. Now they were stuck in the same camp together, for as ever long as this shit lasted. Maybe he could win her back, but the how of that was still eluding him.
Thank you to Amaya Dixon and Miss E Charlotte for your reviews =-). I kind of rushed this chapter, I wanted it out of my head so I can sleep tonight lol. I hope you like it, please review and let me know if you have any suggestions =-). Thank you guys so much.
