Hush, Hush
Jamie took a hold of the arms of one of the woman that had been in the camp, half eaten by walkers, and began to drag her over to the row of other dead group members that had been taken care of. Daryl went about with a pick axe, putting it in the heads of all the once living and dead to stop any chance of someone coming back as a newborn walker. She had also learned that they were referred to as geeks by the people of the camp, just as Glenn had when he was speaking to her and Rick over the radio.
"Need any help with that?" T-Dog asked as he saw her pulling the woman along, her tired arms straining.
"Nah, she's not very heavy," she answered back, panting with the exertion of moving all the bodies. "Not anymore," She added cynically, looking down at the hanging intestines that were free of the woman's gut. T-Dog made a face of disgusted agreement before he went back to helping Glenn to move another body that Daryl had just dealt with, chucking it into the fire.
Releasing the woman's arms as soon as she was in a row with the others, she let out a huff of air and straightened up to look for the next on. An agonizing jolt shot through her back and side as soon as she had risen to her full height and she couldn't stop the strangled yell of pain that erupted from her chest, doubling over in pain.
"Jamie," Rick called as he rushed over to her side. She tried to wave him off, but her pain filled cry had alerted most of the camp and their eyes were on her now. She took a breath to try and relax her body, but when she moved to straighten again the reaction was the same, a hiss drawing between her teeth. "What's wrong?"
"You're not…bit, are you?" Glenn asked carefully, noticing that her shirt was so crusted with dried blood and dirt that it was almost impossible to tell. She shook her head, however, and lifted a hand to her aching side.
"I fell yesterday, I think my ribs are cracked," she finally explained, looking to Rick's worried face. She still hadn't gotten a moment to talk to him about coming back for her, and she knew that it wasn't the proper time, anyway.
"What happened?" Daryl demanded as he came back into the main area of camp, only seeing that his girlfriend—or, rather, fiancé—was in pain. He dropped the pick axe and moved over to them immediately, placing and hand on her back that caused her to flinch.
"She said she fell in the city yesterday," Rick explained as Jamie's face masked with pain. Daryl's hand hovered over her back still, unsure. He wanted to show her that he was there, but he didn't want to risk placing his hand down on a sore spot again.
"You sure she wasn't bit?" Shane demanded from where he sat by the fire, previously having been keeping an eye on Andrea by the RV. "We can't take any chances, not after last night." He words sent a bolt of anger through Daryl, but when he tried to rise up Jay took a hold of his arm, using him to lower her body to the ground more easily.
"Shane," Rick started, knowing what Shane wanted.
"Let's see," Shane cut in, swinging his shotgun onto his shoulder as he rose to his feet. "Let's see that there ain't no bite, have someone check her over in one of the tents," he continued, seeing the fury that was covering Daryl face but paying it no heed. Rick looked over to Daryl, looking like a caged animal ready to attack its keeper. The younger man looked over to Rick, seeing the silent question in his eyes.
Dale, Lori and Shane watched from the distance of the campfire as Daryl moved behind Jamie and carefully tugged up the once white shirt that she was wearing. He nearly immediately dropped the material and moved back, hand rising to his mouth. The others of the camp began to dread the words of confirmation that they were expecting.
"Is she…"Lori started, looking to Rick. He had seen the condition of Jamie's back when Daryl had raised the shirt as well, he would know. Rick shook his head before he looked over to Dale with concern in his eyes.
"Do you have any kind of a painkiller?" He asked shakily. Lori rose to her feet and rushed over to Jamie, lifting her shirt carefully as Daryl marched over to where his things were located, his boots kicking up dirt as he went. The elder woman rolled up the blonde's shirt until it was bunched at her shoulder blades, her eyes widening at the sight of the span of bruises that covered the entirety of the right half of her back and her side. The right wing of the angel tattoo on her back was almost completely obstructed by the bruising.
"That's got to mean broken ribs," she said softly to Rick, watching as Jamie turned her head slightly to listen.
"It's that bad?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"You can't keep moving around like you've been," Rick answered gently, looking down at her. She still looked to be in pain. All the moving about and hauling bodies throughout the morning had been the last straw. Her back and side couldn't take any more, her ribs were probably worse off than when they first ran into her the day before. "You'll need to sit out, alright?"
"Here," Daryl said as he suddenly appeared again, holding out a pill in his hand. "It'll help with the pain," he explained as Jamie looked at the white pill hesitantly. She looked up to see the worry in his eyes and knew that he wouldn't lie, so she took the pill in her hand and placed in on her tongue before swallowing it down dry.
"Can you keep an eye on her?" Rick asked Lori as the other woman rolled down the stained white shirt to cover Jay's back again.
"Yea, no problem," She readily agreed, nodding her head. "Can you stand?" Lori asked as she looked to Jamie. Rick and Daryl offered her their hands and let her pull herself up, straightening her body into a straight line. They could hear several faint cracks from her spine while she was rising to her full height, her face holding a grimace. They both eased off and let Lori lead her over to the fire, where she could sit and relax before she did herself any further damage.
Things stayed relatively calm, only an incident where Andrea held a gun to Rick's head when he tried to talk her away from Amy and when Daryl blew up about leaving Merle to die in the city. The pill that Daryl had given her left her disoriented and tired, but she wasn't able to fall asleep and instead watched the motions of the group for nearly an hour before Jacqui yelled out.
"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" She yelled out as she stepped away from the man in question, looking back toward the others. Shane rose up with his gun in hand, everyone else becoming alert as well.
"Show it to us," Daryl finally called out, the pick axe back over his shoulder. The camp had antagonized his girlfriend, he wasn't going to let them get away with it so he'd use that against them. Jim panicked, though, and grabbed the nearest shovel as a weapon, moving to face the men of the camp. They all tried to talk him down, some ordering him to drop the shovel. T-Dog got to him first and took his arms from behind, forcing him to drop the shovel.
"I'm okay," Jim began to chant as Daryl ran up and lifted Jim's shirt, revealing the circular pattern of an open mouthed bite at the base of his ribcage. Jamie tensed up where she was sitting at the sight of the mark, Lori doing the exact same where she was standing a couple feet away.
T-Dog and Daryl released Jim at the same time, backing away from the distraught man. Daryl immediately moved in Jamie's direction, knowing that she was hurt and weak, the painkiller that he had given her probably making her disoriented as well. There was no way that she would be able to take on a walker in her state. It was his responsibility to keep her safe. He looked back at her over his shoulder, seeing that she was alert in her seat and watching what was going on carefully. She looked ready to run should she need to.
When the group all gathered together to decide Jim's fate, Jamie had Lori help her over to stand with everyone. Daryl kept a careful eye on her, noticing the faint sway that she had about herself when she tried to stand still. He was relieved to see that she wasn't in as much pain as she had been before he gave her the pill, but the side effects of the painkiller were also prominent.
"I say we put a pick axe in his head and the dead girls and be done with it," Daryl said first when no one seemed to want to be the first to breach the topic that they had crowded together for.
"Is that what you'd want," Shane asked, looking up sharply, "If it were you?"
"Yea," Daryl answered immediately, "And I'd thank you while you did it." Jay reached her hand out to lay a sweaty palm on Daryl's equally sweaty arm. The idea of having a pick axe put into his head unsettled her and she found the mental picture that it brought about draining all colour from her face. Daryl pulled off one of the gloves that he was wearing to place his hand over hers discretely, knowing what was upsetting her.
"I hate to say it and I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale spoke up, motioning over to the hunter as he spoke.
"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick spat out scornfully, never once looking up from the ground. Jamie put a hand to her head when everyone started to try and talk at once, feeling Daryl's bare hand move to the back of her neck and grip reassuringly.
"The line's pretty clear," he threw in himself, "Zero tolerance for walkers."
"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick started again, looking up at the people around the circle. Jay leaned her head on Daryl's shoulder, looking passed him to where Jim was sitting at the back of the RV. She chewed on her bottom lip as she thought of what was happening, how the group was slowly being torn to bits from one bite. This was what happened when there was one slight bit of unrest within the group. They didn't function very well.
"I'm getting tired," she mumbled aloud, feeling Daryl wrap an arm around her waist when she leaned more heavily against him to the point that if he hadn't been there, she would have fallen over. He helped her to sit down on a log nearby that had been made into a makeshift bench, not wanting her to collapse onto her back or side and injure herself further.
Jamie watched as Daryl pulled away, looking irritated as he listened to the argument of 'CDC, no, Fort Benning' going on behind him. He picked up the pick axe that was crusted with the dead of the walkers and camp members, turning to look at Jim.
"You go looking for Aspirin," he said as he looked over to Rick, his features set before he turned to head toward Jim. "Do what you need to do, somebody's gunna have to have some balls and take care of this damn problem!" By the time he had reached in front of Jim, the pick axe raised up, Rick at his gun to the back of his head.
"We don't kill the living," Rick said desperately to the back of Daryl's head. He was surprised when a bandaged hand suddenly moved the gun away from Daryl, the other hand lowering the pick axe that Daryl was holding. Jamie was shaking on her feet, the tension of the group high as Daryl turned to look at her in surprise.
The women of the camp jumped at the loud crack that followed Jamie's quick arm, her hand connecting with Daryl's check. He dropped the pick axe to the ground in shock, his cheek burning in the wake of her slap. She glared at him tiredly before turning away and slowly making her way back to the fire pit that she had been resting at before.
Daryl watched her walk away before a moment before he looked over to Rick, the older man still watching him carefully. "That's pretty funny, coming from a man who just had a gun to my head," he growled out before stepping off, moving over to where Jamie had sat down as he rubbed his reddening cheek. He fell down to sit beside her without a word, knowing that she wasn't going to look at him or acknowledge him being there until he said something.
"He's gunna die anyway," Daryl finally grumbled, looking at the dirt beneath his feet.
"But how he dies is not your decision to make. It's his. If he wanted a pick axe in his brain, he'd already have come to you," Jamie mumbled back, her eyes drooping as she fought sleep. Daryl let out a sigh as he looked over to her slowly, watched her shift around to try and alleviate some of the heat of the late morning.
"Fine, I won't kill 'im," Daryl said sharply, watching her lips twitch in a repressed smile.
"I suppose that's the only promise I'll get from you," she said softly, opening her eyes fully to look over at him. Her hand lifted tiredly to his cheek, her knuckles gently caressing the reddened skin as a look of regret filled her eyes. "I'm sorry about that," She said softly, "But I couldn't let you go off hurting him and end up with Rick shooting you."
"Right," Daryl scoffed, standing up. "Come on, you can sleep in my tent. B'fore you pass out," he grumbled helping her up onto her feet and leading her over to where his tent was. Merle had his own, thankfully, so he didn't have to worry about her raging about being near his brother's things and beginning to throw them down the cliff side and into the quarry. "That painkiller ain't gunna last forever, might as well sleep while ya can."
He picked up her bag on the way by, ducking into his tent and pushing a bag of extra arrows out of the way. He helped her to sit down on the mattress that made up his bed, his sleeping bag thrown over top, before he began to go through her bag, locating a pair of clean pants and a white short sleeved shirt. He moved back over to the entrance to the tent and zipped it closed nearly all the way, getting a look from Jamie as she leaned back on her knuckles, avoiding her injured palms.
"Arms up," he ordered seriously, watching as she raised an eyebrow at him curiously before sitting up again and lifting her arms up tiredly. Daryl crouched before her and took hold of the bottom of her shirt, not wanting her to sleep on his bed while she was covered in geek blood stained clothes. He hiked the shirt up past her ribs, which were more prominent that he had ever seen. The bruise on her side spread forward at the front of her ribs too, proving that she had at least cracked them. He pulled the shirt up the rest of the way, freeing her arms as well. More minor bruises, many of them healing already, littered her shoulders and collar, but he was relieved to see that she didn't have any more from the city.
He leaned forward to place a gentle kiss against her collarbone, one of the few patches of clean skin, making her shiver in the hot space of the tent. His stubble and goatee ticked her skin, flushing her chest and cheeks. "Daryl," She warned softly, too tired to do much else.
"Just sayin' hello, Babe," he replied back, his words muffled against her skin as he made his way up to her neck, pressing another kiss below her ear. He pulled back before he had to force himself to and pulled out another fresh white shirt that was in with her clothes, letting her put that on by herself. "Lie down," He ordered next, placing a hand on her flat stomach and gently manoeuvring her back down onto the bed before he pulled her boots off in one tug, the laces not tied completely up. "That's a hazard, babe, what if we got attacked?"
"I won't be able to do much runnin' anyway," she returned, getting a smirk from Daryl before she jumped at the feel of his hand at the button of her pants. "Hey," she warned again, but he took no heed and slipped the button on the pants free, sliding the zipper down and revealing more skin. She glared at him silently for a moment before giving up and just lying back, letting him undress her.
His hands ran along her sides before slipping into the pants she was wearing, pushing them down as far as he could before the fact that she was lying on them got in the way. She jumped again when his hands slipped around her hips to her ass and ran downward, pushing the pants down to her thighs. She sighed softly at the feel of his hands on her person, finally beginning to relax when she realized that he would not actually do anything.
Considering that he knew she only ever wore boy short style underwear, he knew that she must have been out of wearable pairs for her to wear regular black panties for the first time that he'd even known. He was tempted to just leave her in her underwear, knowing that she was hot—both from the heat outside and the view he was receiving—but he didn't want to risk anyone else stepping into the tent and seeing her half naked. He pulled the pair of sweat pants that he had remembered seeing her sleep in in the past and pulled those up her legs, getting a smack on the arm as he groped at her ass again when he was pulling on the new pants.
"You're unbelievable," she mumbled aloud, not even bothering to open her eyes.
Daryl just grinned and leaned over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders as he looked down at her. She knew that he was above her and tiredly opened her eyes, the fact that she was lying down making it so much harder not to fall asleep. What they hell had he given her?
"I missed you," she admitted softly as her hand lifted tiredly to his neck, running her hand along the skin there before she moved to trace a finger over his lips. Daryl didn't linger another moment and ducked down to press his lips against hers, the soft feel of hers contrasting with the chapped and dry feel of his. Her hand pushed back through his hair to pull him closer to her, parting her lips slightly to take in his bottom one.
"Hey, Dixon, get out here, man!" T-Dog yelled from the outside of the tent, "This ain't the time to take a nap, we've got work to do."
Daryl pulled back from Jamie and glared over at the entrance to the tent, just wishing that he could get rid of the annoyance. However, Jamie was fast falling asleep and he felt like putting that pick axe somewhere that he wouldn't get shot for. He looked back down at Jamie, her hand having slid from his hair suddenly, to see that she was beginning to doze away into sleep.
He helped to lay her out, flat on her stomach, and left her to sleep. She was nearly immediately out, her hands under her head on the pillow. At least then her back would have some proper time to heal. His eyes lingered on the exposed expanse of flesh on her lower back when her shirt rode up, showing the two dimples that were just above her sweat pants, before he slipped from the tent and zipped it most of the way closed behind him.
This chapter was interesting to write, and I'm sure many people are cursing out T-Dog; why must you interrupt! Well, don't worry, there will be moments in the future that doesn't include Daryl being unallowed a nap time ;)
Chapter 11 – Ripples
"Wow," Dale said as a greeting when they came over, a small smile in place. "I almost didn't recognize the two of you. You look much better now, dear, I bet that was just what you needed?" He asked, looking to Jamie ask he spoke.
"I do feel a lot better, I was starting to forget what it felt like to be clean," She joked back as she looked down at herself, glad that the white shirt was thick enough that it wasn't completely prominent that she wasn't wearing a bra. Daryl didn't mind, though.
"Well, Dixon, I was starting to think dirt was your natural skin colour," Shane threw in as he moved over to join as well. Jacqui held down a laugh as Jamie discretely flipped Shane the bird, hiding the hand gesture from the two kids that were sitting with their mothers. Daryl smirked and draped an arm around her shoulders, getting a disgruntled look from the cop.
"How're your ribs?" Rick asked when a silence fell over the group, his attention turning to Jamie.
"They're still really sore, but the sleep that I got definitely helped. So did that painkiller," She said as she accepted two bowls from Carol with a quick thank you, handing one down to Daryl. The group was slightly unsettled at the sight of the youngest Dixon sitting with them, not quite accustomed to it. However, they didn't want to be rude to Jamie, because they all knew that if he left then she'd go to, so they welcomed him as well.