Wings of Hope

Twisting her body around awkwardly, Jamie tried to look over her shoulder while she kept her back to the mirror. The stretch of skin was painful from the still tender areas of her back, but she couldn't stop herself from really seeing the work.

"Whoa!"

The male cry caused Jamie to screech and jump, diving for the shirt that was draped over the edge of her bed, looking over to see Daryl standing in the doorway, facing the wood with his face buried in his arm. Her lack of attire on her top probably wasn't what he'd been expecting to see.

"Knock much?" Jamie snapped as she pulled on the jogging top, reaching for her sweater for good measure. It was still cold outside and the house was filled with a chill when the heater wasn't on. Daryl didn't say anything, didn't even move from where he was. He found himself trying to shake the image of her breasts from his mind but was failing miserably all the while. He didn't trust himself to turn around and not embarrass himself.

"Sorry," He finally chocked out, getting an eye roll from Jamie, even though he could not see the movement.

She looked over to him in confusion, wondering if he was actually being serious. Any other guy would have made some kind of crude joke about her 'tits' as they so disgustingly referred to them as, but Daryl looked more embarrassed than she had. Was he that shy?

"It's alright Daryl, it was an accident. You can turn around now, I'm decent."

The teenager looked over his shoulder hesitantly just to be sure, relieved to see that she was wearing both a shirt and a sweater. His mouth was uncomfortably dry and his hands were shaking, his eyes unable to meet her own. Of all the places that she had put her mirror it had to be across the room from her bedroom door. The second he walked in he could see a full view of her front, from the bareness of her torso down to the defined bones of her hips that showed above the waist of her jeans.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly when he still didn't more from his place, something that was completely out of the ordinary. When he was over at her place he usually just walked in like he owned the place. This was new, different; strange.

"I'm fine," He snapped defensively, causing her to smile. That was the Daryl she knew.

Assigned to rest, Jamie found herself lazing against a tree in boredom. Whenever she tried to offer assistance to anyone they would tell her that she needed to rest or risk passing out. Rick had given more blood than she had but he was still allowed to go off with Hershel to inspect the lands for where Sophia might be. Jamie could not deny that she felt her sex had a major part in their decision making. She was a female, she must be more frail than Rick was and therefore needed more rest. Technically, they could be even since she only gave two blood donations while he did three.

"I'm losing my mind over here," Jamie groaned loudly, knowing that no one could hear her. They had all scattered off in random directions a while ago and she really didn't feel like going about and taking a tally of where everyone was. Daryl had gone off on a hiking trip to see if he could find any sign of Sophia, or Sophia herself, and had forbade her to leave the immediate camp ground.

"You can help me if you'd like," Carol's soft, timid voice said from the right of the tree. Jamie flinched, startled, as she looked over to the other woman. Carol looked just as surprised as Jamie did, not expecting the younger woman's reaction to be of fright.

"Carol, I didn't know you were here. You startled me," Jamie admitted as her hand lifted to rest over her speeding heart. Carol smiled softly in understanding and nodded her head. "What's this you say about helping?"

"It's not much, but I was thinking of cleaning the RV," She started, looking down to the ground as her hands twisted in her shirt, fidgeting. "For when Sophia comes back. So she has a clean place to stay." Jamie's heart jumped in her chest at Carol's explanation and a smile touched her lips, her mood evening out to a more mellow tone so she didn't come off as over exuberant.

"I'd love to help; I'm sure Sophia will be happy."

Carol helped Jamie to her feet carefully, letting the blonde woman lean against the tree for a moment so she didn't trip over herself or get dizzy from moving about too quietly. She had been doing that all morning and Daryl had scolded her enough over it; she didn't need him to come back and see her with more bruises after he had told her to slow the fuck down.

"Alright, I'm good now. Where do you want to start?"

"Just sorting some things out right now," Carol started, moving toward the RV at a pace that was alright for Jamie. "Things are so cluttered it's almost impossible to find something." Carol stepped up into the mobile home first, moving over to the small hallway that led back to the designated bedroom and looking at the kitchen space. "Would you like to start here, first?"

"You tell me, you're in charge this time," Jamie replied as she leaned back so that she was half sitting and half leaning on the edge of the small table. "I am here to do as you wish." Carol smiled sheepishly as she looked away, not having the experience of another woman helping her out with any kind of a chore. It was new when she first came to the camp with Ed and the women all shared the chore, but even now she wasn't used to it.

"Let's clean out the clutter first so that we can wipe everything down before we start organizing," Carol suggested finally, looking back over to Jamie. The other woman nodded in agreement and opened the overhead cupboards, looking at the mess of dishes, utensils and odd nick-knacks that were not meant in a kitchen.

"Oi," She mumbled to herself before reaching up to take a couple of cups in each hand, moving them over to the table. Carol took a few in her hands as well and moved them to join the grouping that Jamie had placed down. They soon fell into a rhythm of moving things about, avoiding one another as best they could in the small space. Carol disappeared for a while to get a bucket of water while Jamie scrounged up some rags that they could use to clean things up.

Jamie was horrified at the amount of dead bugs and dust were pushed to the back of the cupboards, making her wonder if the dishes they'd been eating off of her actually clean. She had moved over to start washing off the dishes when Carol arrived back, holding a large dish of water that looked to hold a small bit of soap in it as well.

They switched their places so that Carol was cleaning off the dishes as Jamie was wiping out the counter, stepping up to the doorway to shake the cloth free of dust bunnies and bug carcasses away from the RV. The cupboard passed by slowly, soon moving to the counter, the cabinets, the shelves and the small panty across from the bathroom. Carol went along with the cloth, wiping everything down until it shined. They had to change the water in the bucket three times with the amount of crap that came off the cloths they were using when they rinsed them out.

"I feel better sleeping in here now," Jamie commended as she looked around at the front area. They hadn't been able to start on the bedroom yet, or the bathroom for that matter, but the difference was immediately noticeable. It actually looked like a home, not just an RV. Somewhere the was actually a place to stay and not be disgusted to move around when you sleep.

"Should be turn over to the bedroom area now?" Carol asked as she looked over in the direction of the doorway. "Or do you want to do the bathroom?" Jamie winced at the thought of taking on the bathroom, knowing that there was sure to be walker blood hiding away somewhere from when Andrea had gone ape-shit on the one that had snuck in during the passing of the herd.

"Let's do the bedroom, save the best for last, right?"

Carol hid an amused smile at Jamie's sarcasm and moved down that way with their wash cloths.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked after a couple of minutes, the two only just beginning to fold up the blankets that had been on the bed. They weren't really used in the heat of the summer anyway.

"I'm alright, nothing strenuous," Jamie said easily as she took two corners of one of the larger blankets and helped Carol to fold it. "No reason for Daryl to scold me." Carol smiled at the mention of the redneck, looking down at the floor.

"You two are sweet together," She commented as she took the blanket from Jamie and placed it on top of the pile that was growing on the chair. "He's much nicer to everyone now that you've come here. He used to avoid everyone and stick to his brother, but he seems to want you to be happy so he's trying," She explained, moving to fluff the pillows.

"The Daryl that you all first met isn't the Daryl that I know," Jamie replied quietly as she stopped for a moment to lean against the door frame. "He's just like every other younger sibling that's trying to impress their big brother or sister. Merle's always been there and Daryl learned how to act so he didn't get in trouble with him. I would see how he changed whenever Merle was around but I never called him on it. It's all about survival with him, even before the end of the world."

"How long have you two been together?"

Jamie paused for a moment to look off into space as she thought on the question. "Counting the two passed months, we've been taking for over three years. Although, that first year doesn't really count because neither of us actually knew how to date the other. It was our experimental year." Carol laughed softly, getting a beaming smile from Jamie in return.

"What was Daryl like as a teenager?" Carol asked after a heartbeat, peaking over at Jamie as the other woman adjusted the curtains, wiping the collected dust of them with her rag.

"Two different people," Jamie answered immediately. "Like I said, there was the 'home' Daryl and then there was the 'away' Daryl. He acted like a skittish animal whenever we were at his place, so we avoided there a lot when we were together. Mostly spent time at my house or around the neighbourhood." Jamie stood still as she smiled at the memory of something, getting a curious look from Carol in return. "Try and picture a teenage version of Daryl sitting in a homey yellow kitchen and calling my dad 'sir'."

Carol placed a hand over her mouth to mask the laugh that threatened to erupt, unable to accurately see Daryl Dixon as a teenager at all.

"'Yes, sir. I understand, Sir. Of course, sir.'" Jamie said, holding a mock look of fear on her face as she repeated what Daryl must have said when they were teenagers. Carol only giggled harder as she turned away, placing the pillow she was holding to her face. "My mom pinched his cheeks when she saw him, that was hilarious."

"Oh, Lord," Carol gasped out as she traded the pillow with her hand, closing her eyes. Jamie decided that she had cheered the woman up enough and couldn't stop her smile growing at the joy that brightened Carol.

Carol sat, hours later, on the chair inside the bedroom of the RV, fixing a tear in one of the pillow cases with the small sewing set that she and Jamie had found in their gut of the mobile home. She looked over at the blonde at the thought, seeing that she was still sitting up on the bed but her head had fallen to the side to rest against the wall. She didn't snore in her sleep, but she made the odd noise that was between a moan and a word.

She paused in her sewing for a minute to watch Jamie, her long blond hair pulled back into a band at the base of her skull. Her skin was dirtied and dusted just as everyone else's, the odd patch were cleaned from when she had wiped her hand on her face unconsciously while they were cleaning and ended up wiping the soapy water on her skin to remove the dirt. Her body was angled so that she could faintly see her left tattoo—only just the top feather. She looked too thin for her body, her neck more slender than it should be and her arms missing any fat to show only the lean muscle beneath her skin. She thought back to when Daryl had called her his fiancé and wondered what the story behind it was. She didn't wear any kind of a ring, but that didn't always mean he hadn't proposed.

The door opened at the front of the RV a moment after she had resumed her sewing, drawing her attention to the man who had just stepped in. Daryl looked around the space with a surprised look crossing his features. He looked over the neat stacks of dishes on the counters, which were freshly washed, and the cleaned drapes and shelves. Carol averted her eyes back down to her sewing, glancing once over to Jamie. The sound hadn't woken her, not even alerted her.

Daryl was soon standing in the doorway, a piece of barley in his mouth as he chewed on the end.

"We cleaned up," Carol said softly, looking over to Jamie. Daryl's eyes shifted over to her as well, settling on her sleeping frame. She was awkwardly leaning back and to the side, probably hurting her neck and shoulders. She was leaning on her bruised side, too. "I wanted it to be nice for her."

He didn't need to even wonder who 'her' was.

"I didn't think I was in the right place," Daryl said in reply as he looked around himself again. Carol huffed a laugh before she resumed her work. She looked back up when she heard him set something down and was shocked to see an empty beer bottle, filled most likely with water, with a white flower inside.

"A flower?"

"It's a Cherokee Rose," Daryl explained, pulling the weed from his mouth as he motioned to it. Jamie shifted in her sleep at the sound of his voice, but still didn't wake up. Daryl kept his voice soft, whether to allow Jamie to sleep or because of the delicacy of the situation it wasn't clear. "The story is that when American Soldiers were moving Indians off their land, on a trail of tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way. Exposure, disease, starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the Elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits. Give 'em strength, hope.

"The next day, this rose, started to grow right where the mother's tears fell." Daryl stopped then, beginning to fidget with the barely in his hand as he looked over to Jamie for a moment, just to look away from Carol, before he glanced back at her again. "I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother."

Carol took a moment to wipe at the tears on her face, trying to keep her head up high.

"But I believe this one," Daryl motioned down to the Cherokee Rose, "Is blooming for your little girl." Carol couldn't bring herself to say anything, only wiping away more tears as she bowed her head down and looked at the work in her hands. Daryl slipped into the small space once to carefully move Jamie until she wasn't leaning against the wall but was lying on her good side, her hand reaching for his in her sleep.

He looked down at Jamie's sleeping face for a moment, seeing that she had wiped at her face at some point and washed off some dirt.

"She keeps saying that she's fine, but I think she's more tired than she's willin' to admit," Carol said softly as she watched the pair in silence for only a moment. Daryl huffed a laugh and pulled back slowly, letting her hand fall back down onto the mattress. He paused once as he turned to leave, looking back at Carol.

"She's going to love it in here."

Daryl came back later that night as Carol was finishing helping with dinner, slipping into the RV when he noticed that Jamie was nowhere in sight. He spotted her curled up on her side, still fast asleep, on the bed in the back room. He moved over to sit gently on the edge of the small cot, looking down at her face. Her hair had begun to pull loose and had resulted with some falling into her face, the rest still held in the loose pony tail.

"Angel," Daryl whispered as he lowered a hand down to her hair, pushing aside the locks. She stirred at the touch, turning her face into it. "Time to get up, Angel. Or you won't eat tonight." She exhaled loudly, the same sign that she always had for when she was beginning to wake up. Daryl leaned down to press a kiss against her forehead, just as he had wanted to do earlier that day but felt he couldn't in front of Carol.

"Welcome back," she mumbled out as she felt the familiar stubble on her forehead and brow.

"Been back for a while, Angel, you've just been sleeping," Daryl teased lightly. When he pulled away Jamie's eyes were open, looking up at him tiredly. "Dinner's ready. Best get up if you plan on eatin'."

Jamie groaned softly and moved to pull herself up, getting a helping hand from Daryl as he moved off the bed so that she had more room to manoeuvre and could swing her legs off the bed. Her boots sat on the floor so that the bed didn't get dirty and her stained socks were visible.

"Carol let me sleep?"

"She thought you needed it," Daryl answered softly as he waited for her to pull on her boots. She soon had the laces all done up and sat up straight to stretch out her cramped back, moaning in pleasure when her spine cracked in several places. She rolled her shoulders once before she stood up carefully, making sure that the blood loss wasn't still eating at her.

"No poison oak today, right?" She teased, getting a fierce glare from Daryl that had her laughing. She leaned forward into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing a kiss to his lips as she continued to giggle to herself. "I'm sorry, it was just too tempting to resist."

"I made Andrea throw up for laughing at that story," Daryl warned, but that just made Jamie laugh harder. He shook his head at her overtired ways and pulled her back up straight and moved toward the exit of the trailer, a giggling woman following after him more slowly. She paused, however, at the sight of the bloomed flower sitting on the counter by the door.

"Is that-"

"Thought she could use it," Daryl whispered to her, looking down at the flower. Jamie nodded her head before she leaned against him for a moment and looked down at the white flower. She had heard about the story from Daryl a while back, but she hadn't even thought about it for years. She soon smiled softly and pressed a kiss against the side of Daryl's neck, giving him a silent signal to move on. The others were already swarming around the fire that they had built, talking softly into the darkening night.

"Look who finally woke up," Shane said in greeting when Jamie moved over to them with Daryl at her side.

"Let's see how you'd react if I sucked two quarts of blood out of you," Jamie returned, getting a blank stare back from Shane that made Andrea snort in laughter. Jamie moved over to try and help Carol and Lori to serve, but Daryl pulled her over to sit down before she even had a chance. "Come on, I've been resting all day! I can hand out bowls without passing out!"

"Stay," Daryl ordered as he pointed at her, the dirt crusted on his hands making her grab his palms and draw them to her face to get a better look. She soon pushed them away from herself and pointed up at him in retaliation.

"Go wash your hands, ya brute!"

I know that this is coming out a bit late at night, but I wanted to get it out before I had to go back into the school work tomorrow. The 'Andrea incident' is coming up soon! I am honoured to hear from all of you that I am helping you with your with-drawl from the Walking Dead until the fall. I promise I will keep you all entertained as often as I can!

Chapter 23 – Kill The Sound

"This ridge shouldn't be too far off," she mumbled offhandedly as she looked around the thick area of trees, noting that the sun had moved a fair bit through the sky since they had first set out.

"Whoa," Daryl ordered in a murmur, pulling on the reigns to stop the horse's forward momentum. Jamie turned to look at what had caught his attention, examining the river that was to their left. She squinted her eyes through the sunlight and trees to try and catch sight of what he had stopped for, looking along a fallen tree.

"A doll," she mumbled to herself.

"Might be Sophia's. I'm 'a go down and get it, you stay here with the horse," Daryl ordered as he carefully manoeuvred himself off the saddle without Jamie needing to dismount. She slid forward on the saddle and took the reins in her hands, keeping the mare steady as Daryl began a descent down the hillside. It was steep, but there were plenty of rocks, roots and fallen trees that he was able to use as his footholds. She couldn't help the nerves that erupted when she saw him pull the crossbow off his shoulders, just encase.

He stopped only to pick up the doll and look around the immediate area.