Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands?
Close your eyes and trust it, just trust it
Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air
Have you ever looked fear in the face and said
I just don't care
It's only half past the point of no return
The tip of the iceburg
The sun before the burn
The thunder before the lighting
And the breath before the phrase
Have you ever felt this way?
"Go fish."
Trish drew from the top of the deck and shook her head. Eight cards, and none of them matched. This kid was beating the pants off her at cards. With a grin, she wondered if Lori would let her teach Carl how to play poker.
Everyone had been taking turns keeping her company after Daryl and Felipe had ordered her to stay in bed for the day. It hadn't been as difficult a task as she first thought, for she was exhausted enough to have slept through most of it. But during her more lucid moments, someone was always on hand to make sure she couldn't creep out of the dormitory.
Daryl hadn't stayed with her after putting her to bed a second time, but he had been the first to sit with her once she had gotten up that morning. She had just finished inhaling a bowl of oatmeal when he slipped through the curtain with cleaning kits for their weapons. It was a skill Trish had never bothered to learn, and he was uncharacteristically patient with her as they went through the process with first their knives, and then the guns. The previous night's kiss still hung in the air around them, but the tension that had built up to it was gone, and they had worked in a comfortable silence.
"Do you have any Kings?"
"Of course," Trish replied with a mock sigh and a genuine smile as she passed Carl the card from her hand. He was down to his last card, and there were none left in the draw pile. With a glance down at his pairs, she had to strategize. If Trish asked for what she was certain he had in his hand, he'd win. If she asked for something else, she was out of matching pairs and he would still win in the next round. Resigned, she bit the bullet and asked, "Is that a seven?"
Carl handed it over, a wicked grin spreading across his freckled face. She was glad to see it. He had been hardened by the group's ordeal at the Greene farm before she had met them, and was glad that Carl still had a touch of innocence. Lori hovered near the curtain where it had been tied back after Trish woke from her afternoon nap, and the woman's face melted to see her son's smile.
"Time to wash up for dinner, Carl," Lori said as the boy bounced out of his seat for a victory dance. He didn't even scowl as he passed his mother, who ruffled his hair when he rushed by. But she didn't follow, and Trish cleared away the cards so Lori could have a seat next to her on the bed.
"How's the munchkin?" she asked, pointing at the belly Lori was rubbing.
"Busy, which is both a blessing and a curse."
"You could've sent someone else up."
"I know," Lori said with an exhausted sigh. "But I wanted to see if you or Carol could ask Daryl something for me. Well, for Miguel, specifically." Trish raised her eyebrow quizzically, but said nothing, prompting her companion to continue. "A few weeks ago, he raided a sporting goods store and brought back a couple of crossbows. He's managed to figure out the basics, but, well…we thought it might help to have someone familiar with them…"
Trish chuckled, which miraculously didn't send her into a fit of coughing. "You want Daryl to show him how to use it?"
"How to hunt with it. I know we'll still be leaving soon, but if they can put fresh meat on the table…"
"I get it," she replied with a nod. "No guarantees, but I'll try."
"It's all we can ask for. Thanks." Lori reached out and squeezed her hands in gratitude. "We'll have dinner up for you here in a bit."
Trish tried to lay back down as she was left alone again. She debated closing the curtain, but if someone came in with her next meal, she wanted a way to let them know that it was ok to get her up. As an afterthought, she took the pen and notepad that she had found stashed in the desk, scribbled a note, and left it out just in case.
It was a good thing she had, for as soon as Trish's head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep again.
Daryl must've been stopped a half dozen times between the kitchen and the dorm. Rick wanted to ask about their destination, Dale thought he and Trish should ditch the bikes because of the weather, Antonio finally getting the equipment he had asked for. Not to mention the side-long glances Maggie and Glenn kept throwing him. Good god, did they have an audience last night he hadn't known about? By the time Carol stopped him to ask some ridiculous question about taking Miguel hunting with him in the morning, Daryl had reached his limit.
Dusk was settled over the area and more clouds threatening rain had begun to hover, but there was a stillness in the air that calmed him as soon as he stepped outside. The smell of wet earth and the sound of the night creatures stirring out of their homes soothed him. It was why he had always felt more at home in the woods than he had indoors. It beckoned Daryl. Begged him to enjoy the peace and solitude he had once known.
Daryl tried to shake it off as he crossed the courtyard to the dorm. As far as he could tell, Trish was up there alone since everyone else seemed to be collecting in the dining hall. He needed to get up to her before boredom set in and she got out of bed again. She'd had a touch of fever when he put her back in bed the night before, and a good night's rest had broken it by morning, but he didn't want to chance a relapse. He needed her at 100% when they were back on the road.
And she would be going with them, of that Daryl was certain. Her words from the night before had been with him all day. "I'm not staying," she had said as he was walking out of her room to find his own bed. "Everything is too uncertain still. If you settle in and get comfortable, you lose your edge and become walker bait. Right now it's time to move. I made my choice before we ever got here. My place is with you and the meal on wheels." He had nodded, but slipped past the curtain without further reply.
He stood there now, watching her sleep, debating if he should wake her or not. As he set down the covered dishes to light the candle on the desk, Daryl noticed a hastily-scrawled note on the desk. "Will wake for food." Smartass, he thought. Once the light was burning, he set down the bag Antonio had given him and reached out to give Trish a gentle shake. She shifted slightly and her eyes cracked open as she took a deep breath. The smell of dinner brought her fully awake.
They ate in relative silence similar to how they had worked at cleaning their weapons earlier that morning. They weren't at a point yet where something needed to be said. All of the anger, the frustration, the uncertainty had come to a head the night before. Oh, Daryl was certain it would start boiling up again at some point, but he had never been one to expect the easy road to be laid out for him. But at least, for now, the road they were on was paved, and Daryl wanted to do something for Trish while he still had the opportunity. All he had to do was wait for nature to run its course…
Trish nearly gutted herself on the desk as she returned to her sleeping area from the bathroom. What the hell was Daryl doing, rearranging everything? When she turned to move around it to the other side of the bed, something soft pelted her in the face. As Trish stooped to pick the pillow off the floor, she saw his boots striding in the direction from the room he had occupied the night before.
"You piss too fast."
"Um…sorry?" She stood and threw the pillow back at him, but he caught it before it could catch him in the face. Without breaking his stride, Daryl took it and the one he had been carrying to the bed, propping them up with hers against the headboard.
"Wanted to surprise you."
Curious, Trish took a good look around the room. He had made up the bed and moved the desk nearer the curtain. Somehow, somewhere, he had procured a laptop and a DVD, and that's when it fell into place.
"Dinner and a movie?"
"You didn't get all mushy on me this morning like I expected. Figured I owed you something for that."
"Mushy's not exactly my thing."
"Figured that, too. Now get over there and make that contraption work." She grinned when Daryl pointed at the laptop.
"Hillbilly," Trish teased as she climbed over the bed to the desk. Within moments the login screen was ready and she heaved a sigh that it wasn't password protected. "City Girl," he mumbled under his breath. When she peeked over her shoulder at him, Daryl had kicked off his boots and was sitting up in bed with the pillows behind him. Once she had gotten the movie started up, Trish joined him.
"Shit. Almost forgot," he said, leaning over her across the bed to get something from the bag on the floor. Daryl was squishing her a tiny bit, and her breath came out in a bone-jarring cough.
"Oh, fuck this," she choked out between each spasm. Trish had gone most of the afternoon without much sign of the illness returning, but this was her reminder that she wasn't quite out of the woods yet. Tears were in her eyes by the time Daryl had gotten her water bottle off the desk, but at least her lungs had started cooperating again. She sipped at her drink while he watched, wracked with concern, and fidgeting with a package of... "Oh my god. Red Vines."
His face was wiped clean of worry at her reaction to the candy. It was her favorite. How had he known? Trish looked from the bag back to Daryl, the question clearly etched in her expression.
"Antonio helped me get all this together," he mentioned, sliding back into place next to her and opening the package. "Found a library while I was snoopin' around and he caught me while I was lookin' at the movies. Said he'd set us up. Saw those when I got the computer out."
Trish wanted to laugh at the irony of it all, but settled for leaning into Daryl and stealing a candy as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Here they were, in the midst of the apocalypse, munching on Red Vines and watching Last of the Dogmen. Everyone else who had paired up just got down to business. Shane and Andrea. Glenn and Maggie.
But Daryl and Trish? Nope, they were on a date. And it was that tiny touch of how things used to be that gave them comfort in this crazy new world.
**lyric credit** "Glitter in the Air" by P!nk
Shoutout to everyone who's been leaving comments these past 5 chapters: LadyLecter47, Alina Maxwell, kim-de-lee, BeingLolaStar, & janeg! It might be a couple weeks until the next installment (super busy at school) but I promise this story is NOT done yet.