AN: Hey y'all. I'd really love some reviews…last I checked…hadn't gotten any in like two chapters…I'd like to know what y'all think. And, unfortunately, I couldn't reread the previous chapter before I started on this one…so sorry it it's off (My flash drive got left behind on Easter and I didn't have internet as I wrote it) On a separate note, I have a new story out for Boondock Saints…if you haven't seen the movie it is so awesome. I honestly wouldn't have even watched it Norman Reedus wasn't one of the main characters. So if you're a fan…please check it out. Thanks for reading!
Lily sat beside Daryl and helped where she could. Their hands were forever intertwined as John examined his ankle.
"Well," John said, standing to his full height. "It's broken," he sighed. "How'd you manage to do this?"
"Jumped off a roof," Daryl replied. "Two stories."
"Jumped off a two story roof?!" Lily exclaimed.
"Ya. Walkers was on us, an' I let Mason go down the fire escape, but it broke 'fore I coul'. Had ta jump."
"It's amazing this is the only injury you have," John said nervously. "I'm gonna go check on Mason. I'll have to set your ankle later."
Once he was out of the room, Lily look at Daryl knowingly.
"He's the reason you were coving them, wasn't he?"
Daryl didn't answer for a moment. "Mostly," he admitted. "Wanted ta make sure our baby was safe."
"What our baby really needs is its dad."
"An' it'll have one," he assured Lily. She sighed and rested her head against the bed. "A doctor too."
"Why don't we get back to our house?" he nodded. "I'll get Rick or somebody to help me get you there."
"Don' need 'em."
Daryl started to get up from the bed, but Lily stopped him.
"Are you crazy? You can't hop all the way down the beach!"
"Got crutches," he said as he grabbed them from the wall. She blushed madly.
"Sorry…" Something felt off between them, she couldn't put her finger on it…but something was definitely off. Lily opened the door and waiting for Daryl to go first. He kept his ankle up as headed toward their house.
When Emily saw Lily she ran to her and hugged her waist. Lily paused and bent down to the girl's level, placing a kiss on her cheek. She saw Daryl up ahead and moved to his side, bringing him to a stop.
"Are you okay, Daddy?" that simple phrase sounded so wrong to Daryl's ears. Even after the whole year, he wasn't used to people caring whether he lived or died, and he sure as hell wasn't used to being called 'Daddy'.
"I'm fine," he replied coolly.
"You don't look fine," Emily motioned to his swollen and bruised ankle.
"Well, I am."
Lily, sensing that Daryl was in a mood, she pulled Emily aside, not wanting her to get the backlash of whatever was Daryl's issue today.
"He had to jump off a roof to help Uncle Mason," Lily told the raven haired girl.
"Whoa! That had to be scary! Is that how Uncle Mason lost his leg?"
Lily wasn't sure how to answer that. She wasn't there so she didn't know the specifics of how Mason lost his leg; all she knew was a walker bit him and Daryl, instead of shooting him, decided to try and save him in anyway he could.
"No," Daryl said. He turned around and faced the two girls. "He tried ta save me and got 'imself bit!" he quickened his pace, creating some distance between him and the girls.
"Emily, why don't you stay with Beth for a little while longer, please?"
Noticing the desperation in Lily's voice, Emily nodded and walked back to the house. Lily hurried to catch up with Daryl. He briefly glanced over at her before continuing along his path.
"Yew can leave me the hell alone too," he said.
"Did I just hear you right?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows.
"Ya! Leave. Me. The. Hell. Alone! I don' need yer help!"
"Daryl I-"
"Whut part of that don' yew understand!? Go!"
"Fine," she tried to keep her composure. Tears welled up in her eyes and she didn't understand why he was suddenly being like this. "Fine Daryl…I just…" it was too late. The tears were spilling from her eyes like a waterfall. "I just leave you be."
She hurried away from him and to the dock. She needed to get as far away from him as she could. Nobody had ever been able to turn her into this…whatever this was. She didn't understand why he was so…so cruel to her all of a sudden. She'd never been like that to him…ever!
"What's wrong, Emily?" Carl asked the younger girl as she sat in the window crying. As Lily told her to, she went back in the house, but she didn't stay there. She snuck back out and listened to the conversation.
"They're fighting…"
"Who?"
"Mommy and Daddy…"
"My parents used to fight too," Carl took a seat next to her. "But, they always worked it out."
"Not them…Daddy's never yelled at her like that…and Mommy was crying…"
"Why don't you go try to make her feel better?" Carl offered.
"Come with me?" Emily wiped her tears. Carl nodded and offered his hand to the younger girl. They both walked out onto the dock where Lily sat, her legs hanging over the edge. Emily sat on one side, Carl on the other. "Are you okay, Mommy?" Lily wiped the tears from her freckled face and looked at the girl on her right.
"Yeah…I'll be fine…just some adult stuff. Don't worry about it."
"What happened?" Carl asked, curiously.
"I had a fight with Daryl…that's all," she tried to put on a brave face for the children.
"Do you want me to go beat him up?" Carl asked, seriously. This earned a chuckle from Lily.
"No…that's okay. I'll let him do that himself."
"What was the fight about?" the freckled faced boy asked.
"Him being a stubborn jerk. He just doesn't let anybody help him I guess…"
"You've helped him before," Carl pointed out.
"Yeah, and he helps you all the time," Emily agreed.
"Kids," Lily sighed. "I'm honestly not sure what's wrong with him today…"
"Carl!" they all turned to see Rick making his way outside.
"Over here!" Carl called back. Rick walked down the beach and to the end of the dock where the trio was sitting. They all turned to face him.
"What's wrong?" he asked Lily when he noticed her puffy eyes. She just shook her head.
"Daryl's being a stubborn jerk," Emily said, repeating Lily's earlier phrasing.
"Ah," Rick said. "Kids, why don't you go in the house for a bit, so I can talk to Lily?"
"Aw," Carl complained.
"Do we have to?" Emily groaned.
"I'll come in, in a little while. Then we can do something together," Lily promised.
"Okay," the two kids said, defeated, before going inside. Rick sat in Carl's vacated seat.
"Y'know, when Lori was pregnant with Carl, especially once she reached about the four month mark, I got really edgy and stressed out. I'd be mad for no apparent reason, and that just made everything worse…I don't know what it was, nerves or what…but becoming a parent is scary, scary thing."
"It's just as scary, if not scarier on the mom," Lily said bitterly.
"That is true, but think about Daryl. You know him probably better than he knows himself sometimes. But, it seems to me that he's never had anyone truly care about him, protect him, or love him. Especially not the way you do…And the fact that you're a pretty girl carrying his child doesn't help anything."
Lily scoffed at the 'pretty girl' part. She never really thought she was pretty, especially not now, when she was blubbering like a baby, eyes all puffy and red.
"That doesn't give him an excuse to be an asshole to Emily or me."
"No, it doesn't," Rick agreed. "But, don't hold it against him too much. He loves you, that much is obvious to anybody here. And I can assure you that he's kickin' his own ass at this very moment."
Lily laughed a little.
"Thanks, Rick…" the two stood from the dock and embraced each other.