Family Substitution

After wrapping her knee in a clean bandage, Jamie pulled on the shorts and shirt that Daryl had been able to borrow from Andrea. The shorts felt tiny and Jamie felt awkward wearing them but the shirt was comfortable enough. A thought of leaving her shoes off because of what it looked like to wear her shorts and boots at the same time came and left fairly quickly, giving her no further excuse to linger in the bathroom and she soon fled down the stairs. Meeting Shane at the bottom, however, made her wish that she had decided to stay inside for a short while longer.

He glared at her as he walked past, getting a cold, blank stare in return, before continuing to storm out of the house. She actually wondered if there would be damage to the door or wall when it slammed against the wood, but brushed the thought aside and looked over to Hershel, who appeared angered as he looked to where Shane had disappeared.

"I see sunshine's just as chipper as always," she said sarcastically as she walked down the remainder of the steps. Hershel sighed and turned to walk away, Rick stepping away from the table to meet the elder man half way, beginning where they had left off in their discussion.

"Listen, we're not going to do anything about it today," he began, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just cool off." Jamie leaned against the railing as people began to scatter about and leave, Andrea rushing out first in the direction that Shane had gone. Out of respect Jamie nodded her thanks to the other woman, even though she still felt a sting of hatred toward her, before she turned her attention to where Rick was.

"I take it he survived," she started, getting a nod. "And I also take it that Shane didn't do well with the news?"

"Yea, they think that it's a liability for us because we brought him back here," Rick explained. Jamie frowned, confused. He had been blindfolded at all times aside from when they were in that field and she had even taken the longer route and turned back several times to throw him off if he had been concentrating on which directions they took. Even that wasn't a strong possibility because of the fact that he'd been out cold most of the time.

"That…makes no sense," she finally said, getting a look from Rick that silently conveyed his agreement before he departed with Hershel to finish talking about what could be done about them staying behind and with Randal's condition as well. Jamie moved into the room where they had all been gathering and got there just as Daryl was marching out the side door with an upset looking Carol watching him leave. Her heart lurched as she thought about the connection that they had once had because of Daryl's loyalty to finding Sophia, but now they were being torn apart.

Carol caught sight of Jamie as she walked over, her stride slower because of her leg but she was no longer limping. It was a thing that everyone was wondering over since she had gotten back; what pushed her to bare the pain and just stop herself from limping? What had changed while she was in the town with the guys? When Carol had first seen her enter the camp during the attack she had the same darkness to her hazel eyes and a strong demeanour that had been fading away in her weaker state until that morning.

"Did something happen while I was away?" she asked calmly when she was in front of her. Carol looked down to the ground before nodding her head—she was half temped to say "I was wondering the same thing". Jamie sighed softly and looked out the door to where Daryl was walking off toward the back of the fields. She could faintly see that he had set up a camp back there, far away from everyone else. He was pulling away again. "Come on, tell me about it."

"A little while after you left with Rick and Glenn he started packing up your guys things and taking them out to the back of the property. I didn't want him to leave the group after he had worked so hard to be accepted; I just wanted him to stay with all of us," Carol began explaining as she had Jamie stepped out onto the deck of the house, looking out over the vast property. Jamie didn't say anything in reply and instead nodded along and listened carefully. "He…didn't react well to me coming to check on him and starting blaming me for what happened to Sophia. I'm a mother, though, so I know that some people just need to vent and yell so I let him, I told him to yell at me if he wanted."

Jamie slipped her hands into the pockets of her shorts as her heart began to speed in her chest, wishing that there was more that she could do but knowing that she had to wait to hear everything. Daryl had always been someone that was loud or violent about things, but she knew that he would never take it too far and hit someone. For Carol to show that she was going to be there for him would only scare him away all the more.

"He probably doesn't think that he did, but he actually did relieve himself of some of the things on his shoulders. He said that I'm alone, but I think that in some ways, he is too. I mean, you're there for him, but the rest of the group isn't exactly friendly to him. They tolerate him for your sake because they like you, but Daryl's always been someone that didn't fit in. He's pulling away like he had when he and Merle had first arrived at camp and I'm worried about him."

"Daryl has more heart than he likes to admit," Jamie said softly. Stopping in her strides, she leaned forward with her hips on the railing of the porch and let out a huff of air. "He probably didn't even know Sophia all that well before she disappeared, but it gave him something to do and then before long he actually began to believe that he would find her. His reason is gone and the girl he was so firmly determined to find can never be saved. I'm sorry that you had to take all of his anger."

Carol smiled sadly as she placed a hand on Jamie shoulder and waited until she was looking into her eyes. There was understanding and concern inside the depths of golden brown and it was reassuring to see it. Daryl would need her just as much as Carol would admit that she needed the both of them. Through the time that Jamie had joined the group and Daryl had taken on the challenge of locating Sophia she had grown closer to those two far more than any of the others.

"Go to him," Carol said softly. "He'll open up to you more than anyone else here."

Jamie let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "That's not exactly how things go with Daryl, but I'll work on it. Don't worry about me if I don't come back for a couple of hours," Jamie added on as she began toward the stairs, pulling at the bottom hem of the shorts awkwardly. She did not like wearing the tiny shorts, they were far worse than what she would wear during the summer and Andrea had shorter legs than she did so that made it worse.

The sun hit the slightly paler tone of Jamie's skin as she was walking along the property, heading for Daryl's new camp. The time that she had been forced to stay inside had taken some of the tan from her skin, but she had more of a flush to her cheeks again and she didn't look as tired and worn down as she had before. Her spirit had returned to her and she wasn't planning on letting it slip away again. It was one of the most important things for survival in the new world that they were stuck in.

Just like with Daryl, Jamie's hair was beginning to lose some of the blonde tone and darkened to a more blown colour as the colder months drew closer and the suns heat didn't brighten the colours anymore. There was a chill that was beginning to carry along through the wind, raising bumps on Jamie's exposed legs as she made her way through the open field. She felt exposed and bare, not only because of the clothing but also because she didn't have her gun or knife.

"I gotta say I appreciate the peace and quiet," Jamie called out in a sense of greeting, looking around at the enclosure that he had made. The remains of a building gave a stronger feeling of security, but it wasn't much compared to being close to the house and surrounded by the others. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," she sang as she looked around, soon hearing the tent material shift as Daryl slipped out through the opening.

"You spoke to Carol," he said right away, not even trying to avoid the subject. Jamie nodded her head and stepped up to him, ducking under a rope that he had hung with animal skins hanging from them. The scent of the dead masked the scent of the living and any walkers around would smell the old blood and rotting skin before they caught their scent inside the tent while they slept.

Once she was standing in front of him her eyes moved up to look at his bright, sky blue orbs and she took a moment to just look into them. "The woman has patience, I'll give her that. After what happened last night she's still worried about you." His jaw muscle twitched at the reminder of the night before and Jamie's light expressions suddenly disappeared as her disappointment and slight anger toward his actions became visible. He wasn't surprised; he'd know that she wasn't going to be happy even if she understood his actions.

Without further hesitation her hand connected with his cheek and a loud crack filled the air. The memory of the last time she had slapped him came back, thinking of Jim and the bite that he had received. As his cheek was stinging and his heart hammering in his chest, Jamie stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, providing him with the soothing comfort after the pain. "I think that Carol is just looking for someone to care for; she knows that her daughter is never coming back and is trying to find someone else to take her place in a way. She knows that you aren't close to the group and believes that is the perfect opportunity to try and help you," Jamie explained, running her fingers through the hair at his nape and feeling his hands move to her hips.

"I don't need nobody mothering me," he replied gruffly, clearly put off at the slap he had received.

"I know, Daryl," she insisted, "But please just give Carol some time. You lost someone that you were determined to find, but she lost her daughter, her blood. She's going to need someone to lean on for just a little while," she tried to reason, pulling back to look into his eyes again. "When Sophia was gone and I was still stuck in the camp after giving blood she was always there, acting as a nurse to me. She was trying to fill the space that Sophia had once taken up; she needed someone to take care of and keep her occupied."

"I deserved the slap, huh?" Daryl asked, resigned. Jamie glared at him for a moment as her eyes moved briefly to look at the reddened skin that had been left behind from the connection of her hand.

"Damn right you did," she finally said pointedly, meeting his eyes and seeing that there was clarity within them. "But, I don't feel like being pissed off today so I'm just going to settle for that and instead move to the topic of 'why here'."

"No fuckin' privacy back at camp," Daryl growled out, wrapping her in his arms. Jamie inhaled deeply as his scent surrounded her, the only thing that she could think to make the moment perfect. His arms, strong and tanned, encircling her; his smell, woodsy and masculine, all she could breathe; and his voice, whispered hushed words into her ear. She smiled and held onto him tightly, moving to press a kiss against his stinging cheek.

"I agree," she breathed back. "No need to worry about people hearing," she continued, moving to kiss his lips instead. Daryl groaned deeply, making Jamie smile. She sucked in a shocked breath when he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her clear off her feet, but soon began to laugh softly as he began to walk back toward where the tent was located. He had made things up the exact way they had been back at camp, except for that the bed was a bit further away from the door than it had been before so that they would have more reaction time if a walker was able to get onto the property.

Zipping the tent closed behind them, Daryl soon deposited the woman onto the bed, beginning to run his hands along her exposed legs. He found himself rather enjoying the feel of her without the pants, as it had been in the past. The tan on her legs didn't get there from hiding the skin away all the time, and Daryl missed the times that she could recline in the back of his truck in only a bikini.

"I like these," he drawled against her throat as he tugged on the shorts she was wearing. "Now I'ma take 'em off." And that he did. The bed was warm beneath Jamie because Daryl had been lying on it so recently, heating it with his own body. The warmth of the mattress lay beneath her as the heat of Daryl lay above her, encasing her. She felt wrapped in pleasant warmth and all past thoughts of the chill of coming autumn fled from her mind.

Her legs were smooth from her recent shower, giving her time to tend to her body. Daryl's hands didn't miss a single patch of skin, tan and pale, as he shifted above her body and drawing hisses from her when the rough material of his shirt brushed sensitive skin. The day before in the forest had been comforting, allowing them both to simply be. It was too much to forget about the little things in the world; they needed to moments to touch and feel, whisper and laugh. Longing looks and suggestive stares were something that had always been included in their intimate relationship, so they couldn't afford to change that.

It had been more than just the group Daryl was drawing away from, and while the others might not care, she was not going to stand for it. Even in the past, when Daryl was forced to deal with the drama that Merle kicked up about them he had never backed down, and she was just waiting for that spirit to return where the rest of the group was concerned.

Jamie let out a long breath of air as Daryl's fingers gently soothed along where her cut was, the touch reaching her even through the bandages that were tightly wrapped around the injury. In the same moment, his lips pressed kisses to nearly every other place of skin that they would reach above her shoulders, drawing sighs, giggles and hitches of air from her in response.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked breathlessly as Daryl's fingers glided between her ribs leisurely.

"I am," he answered in a husky growl.

Hours later the sun was beginning to set and Jamie was sound asleep, her back to Daryl as she dreamt. His fingers traced her tattoo, the black lines all visible once more. The bruise that she had had before scared him when he saw it, and he was still fearful that one day he might lose her. At the time she didn't have him there to protect her and now that he did have her back he was going to live every day with her as he would his last. Too many times he had nearly lost her. The time to grow up had come and gone, passing Daryl by, but he was catching up quick. Seeing what had happened to Sophia spooked him in a way that no one would ever really understand, not even Jamie.

He was petrified that something like that might happen with her.

How often that he told her that angels couldn't die didn't matter, because there was the torturously, terrifying, true reality that she could die.

Moving closer to her, Daryl wrapped an arm around her waist and buried his face in her hair as he pressed his body flush against her own. Her scent surrounded him, calming his hectic and dark thoughts, and allowed him to begin to slip into a light sleep, never truly falling into a deep enough sleep so that he didn't hear anything moving outside the tent.

Daryl felt awkward as he turned his back on Jamie, hearing the sound her of pulling off the tape that held the bandages to her back. His cheeks burned as he thought about how her shirt would have had to be removed in order for her to do that. She hissed in pain now and again as her skin was pulled from the stickiness, ripping it off at times just to make it go faster.

"How does it look?" she asked after a moment of silence. Daryl twitched at the thought of looking at her before he finally glanced over his shoulder briefly. He had to do a double take, however, when he caught sight of the tattoo that she had been telling him about. The bold black stood out against her skin, slightly red because of how recent it was that the needle had met her skin. He turned around completely to get a better look at the wings, barely more than outlines of feathers, and found himself wondering how much pain she must have been in. "Daryl?" she asked hesitantly, glancing at him over her shoulder as she held her shirt to her front.

"They're beautiful," he admitted quietly, his voice hoarse. He quickly turned away and cleared his throat, his cheeks burning once again.

"Dad's gonna be mad as hell," she whispered, pulling her shirt back on slowly, trying not to aggravate the tender skin. "Mom would have been, too," she added on in a meek voice, falling to sit on the end of Daryl single bed. Her long blonde hair fell into her face, hiding it from his eyes.

"You did this for your mama," Daryl said carefully, moving over to sit on the corner of the bed, keeping space between them as he sat beside her. "I think he'll understand that. Even if he's pissed 'bout it." Jamie nodded her head carefully before she let out a great sigh and rose to her feet, glancing at him over her shoulder and offering a sad smile.

"Best be getting home before he sends out a search party," she declared. "Thanks for letting me crash here with you, I couldn't go home last night." Daryl nodded his head awkwardly, looking down at the floor and his booted feet. He was surprised when she leant over and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing a kiss against his hair. He wasn't sure what to do, so he remained sitting completely still, allowing her to hold into him much as he had the night before. When she pulled back she refused to look at him and Daryl knew that she was crying.

She had told him how much she hatred crying and she had been doing so much of it the past couple of days since he mother's death that she dared to become angry with herself. Slipping out his window, she was gone before he had a chance to say goodbye.

Short chapter, I know, I'm sorry. The next one will be much longer, I promise! I've been re-watching the episodes, planning out where I'm going to be going. I wanted to get a more solid plan down before I continued to write things through; I'm not going to follow the exact storyline of the show, there might be some graphic novel references, but I'll throw in some things that happen in the show when I can. We're almost to the new season! OMG!

I also just watched the deleted scenes, and I REALLY wish that I could have been able to see those way back in the beginning because the Vatos scene would have been amazing to write about.(The Vatos are the guys who kidnapped Glenn way back when, and they go back after the CDC blows up.)

Chapter 35 – Take Your Freedom

"Yes, go on," she assured, waving the blonde off. Jamie nodded her head in thanks and smiled brilliantly before she moved away from where she had been standing. She passed Rick on the way, patting him on the back as she said her good mornings, before continuing a steady jog over to Daryl. No one saw that narrowing of Lori's eyes when she saw the other woman clap her husband on the back as she tossed a friendly 'morning' over her shoulder. She watched the blonde with venom in her gaze as Jamie swung her leg over the bike behind Daryl, wrapping him in her arms as they jolted forward and starting down the drive.

"Where are they going?" T-Dog asked first, everyone that remained in the camp pausing to watch the two depart. "Ain't Daryl far enough away from us without leaving the farm?"

"They're going to get some clothes and supplies from the highway," Carol explained, moving up to join the group. "Jamie's running out of clothes and with the cold weather she'll need more than just those shorts."

"So they just decided to leave?" Lori asked, her voice showing the irritation that was well hidden on her face.

"It's not like there's a lot going on around here," Rick answered back. "Aside from watching Randal and helping with chores, there's not a whole lot we need their help with. Besides, I think that Jamie's just looking for a way to give Daryl some space, he's going through a lot right now." Carol nodded in agreement as she accepted the basket of clothes that Rick handed to her, still to be washed. "They've done their share of near-death experiences for the group; I'd say they could use a day to themselves."