A/N: Don't own (although I'd love to have my very own Norman Reedus :D) don't sue!
Lyrics are from 'Rain' by Patty Griffin
Just a little Christmas drabble, I know it's late but I was working all of Christmas and New Year and now I have a chest infection so just be grateful. New chapter to follow soon :)
Rain
Christmas Drabble
It's hard to listen to a hard, hard heart
Beatin' close to mine
Poundin' up against the stone and steel
Walls that I won't climb
Sometimes a hurt is so deep, deep, deep
You think that you're gonna drown
Sometimes all I can do is weep, weep, weep
With all this rain fallin' down
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holding on underneath this shroud
Rain
It's hard to know when to give up the fight
Some things you want will just never be right
It's never rained like it has tonight before
Now, I don't wanna beg you, baby
For something maybe you could never give
I'm not lookin' for the rest of your life
I just want another chance to live
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holdin' on underneath this shroud
Rain
"What are you doing?" Daryl grumbled, burying his head back under the pillow when the rustling he'd been trying to ignore became unbearable.
"Never you mind." Lochia piped up in an irritatingly cheerful voice that made him want to strangle her.
Carl giggled and Daryl gave up, throwing himself into a sitting position and glaring at them. Lochia ignored him, concentrating on whatever she was fiddling with in her lap.
"Can't you do that in your own room?" Daryl griped peevishly.
"No." Lochie announced flatly, cursing when she pricked her finger on the needle in her hand.
"Let me put it another way. Fu-"
The door flounced open and Cassidy appeared, yawning widely. Daryl fell silent and turned his glower onto her. She'd been disappearing for the last two days. Hours at a time would go by with no one having any idea where she was or what she was doing.
"Out." Cassidy ordered.
Lochie and Carl scampered out of the door without a word of complaint. Daryl scowled mutinously when she laughed.
"Where've you been?" He demanded sulkily, turning away from her and huddling back under the blankets.
"Why? Have you missed me?" She teased, crossing into the bathroom to rinse off her hands.
Daryl muttered something under his breath grouchily. He was not enjoying being sick at all. He half dozed, listening to the sounds of her moving around the room as she changed her clothes and checked her weapons. It was a comforting sound, kind of calming in the hectic aftermath of an apocalypse. He stirred drowsily when he heard her pulling on her jacket.
"Where're you going?" He slurred slightly, pushing back the sheets so he could see her properly.
"Out." She replied unhelpfully, strapping her knife to her thigh absently.
He muttered something under his breath again and she grinned, crossing the room towards the bed. It was a sign of how sick he was that he didn't reach for her as soon as she was within range. She pushed his hair off his damp forehead, perching on the edge of the bed. He had developed a fever almost overnight and Cassidy had been frantic with fear that he had been bitten but in the end they'd determined it was the flu from getting soaked through the day before. He was not a cheerful patient.
"I'll be back soon. Keep drinking fluids and stay warm." She ordered, giving him a dark look when he opened his mouth to protest.
She didn't know who was more surprised of the two of them when she bent down and pressed her lips to his burning forehead.
"What's going on?" Lochie asked warily, her gaze flickering from Carl to Rick and back again.
Rick nudged Carl. The boy's freckled cheeks were pink as he handed her a small piece of cloth. Lochie eyed it suspiciously, then peeled apart the two edges of the cloth gingerly. A small circlet of delicate flowers lay in the centre of the cloth. The sweet smell of the tiny blooms drifting up as she inhaled in surprise.
"Whoa."
Lochie carefully removed the circlet to examine it more closely. The flowers were intricately woven around what she assumed was a metal hanger bent into a rough circle.
"Where did you even find-"
"Cassidy found most of the flowers." Carl replied honestly, fidgeting nervously on the spot. "It's for Christmas." He continued shyly.
Lochie ran her finger along the soft pearly pink petals. It wouldn't last long but the thought was irresistibly sweet. Lochie placed the circlet onto her head. She cocked her head so he could see it from all angles.
"Thank you, sweetie." She bent down and kissed his flushed freckled cheek.
He grinned embarrassedly and dashed off. Lochie studied Rick from under her lashes.
"Thanks."
He blinked shiftily and she grinned.
"Come on, Carl's a sweetheart but he did not have the patience to sit and do all this." She waved airily at her head. "Especially when he's been helping me with my project."
Rick shrugged it off although he didn't deny it.
"I was going to get you something but… you know… apocalypse."
Rick smiled, his tired eyes lighting up and Lochie smiled shyly. She leaned up onto her tiptoes, pressing her lips to his in a brief lingering kiss that made his toes curl. He could smell the flowers in her hair and the sweet underlying scent that was distinctly Lochie. His hands touched her elbows, steadying her against him and she felt her heart flutter. She had never met a man who would think of steadying her as he kissed her. All of the men she had been with had immediately grabbed onto something much softer and much less appropriate. Eventually Rick pulled away and frowned.
"What's digging into my leg?"
"Nothing. I'm just happy to see you." She grinned. "It's Cassidy's Christmas present."
His eye sparkled with curiosity but he refrained from asking. They walked back towards the camp and Lochie whistled as they reached the hotel rooms. Carl, who had been yapping about something with Carol, dashed over to them excitedly.
"Can I give it to her now?"
Lochie rolled her eyes, digging something out of her pocket and handing it over. Carl took it carefully as if it were made of glass and disappeared in search of Cassidy.
Cassidy was on watch on the roof, peering into the distance. She cocked her head curiously when Maggie clambered up onto the roof besides her. She glanced up at the sun. She wasn't due off watch for another hour.
"Carl wants you." Maggie informed her with a suspiciously wide grin.
Cassidy eyed her for a long moment and then shrugged, climbing down to find Carl waiting at the side of the building. He looked edgy and she examined him worriedly.
"What's up?"
His cheeks were distinctly pink as he handed over something wrapped in an old t-shirt. Cassidy took it warily, unfolding the neatly tucked in material. She pulled out a sheaf of papers bound in a soft leather cover tied with a rather ragged ribbon. Cassidy stared at the unusual object in amazement.
"Open it." Carl urged, his blue eyes sparkling excitedly.
Cassidy sighed but followed his instruction, unbinding the ribbon and flipping back the soft leather case. It took her a long moment to understand what she was seeing.
"How did you-"
Carl shrugged.
"Me and Lochie did it. We took turns writing it."
Cassidy stared. She had no idea how long it must have taken them to make it, not to mention where they'd managed to scavenge all the blank paper.
"This is… really…" There was a blockage in her throat and she coughed to clear it.
"Do you like it?" Carl asked worriedly.
"I love it." Cassidy breathed, startling him with the obvious display of emotion playing across her face. "Really."
Carl smiled and toed the ground shyly. She wrapped one arm around him and hugged him tightly. They pulled away when Lori's voice echoed around searching for him. He slipped away with a last smile and Cassidy carefully tucked the book back into the t-shirt. Daryl was awake when she crept back into their room.
"What's that?" He croaked, his throat sore from all the sleep he was being forced into.
She handed it to him and he studied it with a frown as she explained.
"Where'd they get a book?"
"They made it." She kicked off her boots and climbed onto the bed. "Lochie has an eidetic memory. She wrote the entire thing down from memory."
Daryl stared at her. It was almost beyond his comprehension the time it would take someone to do that. He could see that Cassidy was affected by it, her hands were trembling slightly as she took it back from him.
"I guess if we're getting all gooey I should give you your present."
Daryl blinked in surprise, squinting up at her as she carefully tucked the book away into her bag. She rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out a sheet of paper. She stared at a spot over his shoulder as she handed it to him. It seemed to take him an interminably long time to unfold the small piece of paper, his fingers wouldn't seem to cooperate properly. Eventually he managed to smooth the page out on his knee. In the centre of the page was a tiny drawing of an arrow. The shaft and delicate feathers were formed by minute words twining intricately into each other. The head of the arrow curved and flared into a dangerously sharp edge.
"It's a tattoo." He could feel her breath on his cheek, she'd leaned towards him to look at the drawing in his lap. "If we ever get out of here, I'm going to get it." He followed her small slender hand as it lifted from her side to touch the smooth patch of skin over the albatross above her heart. "Right here."
Daryl was speechless. He knew the arrow somehow represented him for her, just as the albatross represented her sister. His throat felt full and his mouth was dry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her reach out to retrieve the drawing and his grip tightened reflexively, the paper scrumpling up in his hand.
"Okay, if you don't like it-" She broke off abruptly when his free hand clenched her hair tightly in his fist and he yanked her towards him roughly.
It was a sign of how sick he was that he had to break away first to catch his breath. Her face was almost as flushed as his but she frowned at him nonetheless.
"You're making yourself worse." She scolded, unlatching his hand from her hair and pushing him back against the pillows.
She tried to remove the drawing from his hand again but he moved it out of her reach, leaning over and tucking the small piece of paper into the pocket of his jeans on the chair by the bed. He tried to grab her again but she slid out of his grip and re-arranged the fallen blankets around him.
"You need some sleep. Throwing up all night isn't exactly healthy."
She flicked his hair off his forehead with a sideways grin, climbing up from the bed. She pulled the raggedy curtain across the window and locked both doors. She could see his eyes glittering as they followed her movements around the room.
"Hey-"
His voice was rough from the mistreatment of his throat while he'd been ill and he paused. She didn't know if he was searching for something to say so she decided to save him from himself.
"Don't worry, redneck. I'll still be here when you wake up."
He frowned as if he wanted to argue with her but he didn't have the energy and she grinned, sliding into the chair besides the bed and propping her bare feet up on the edge of his bed. His eyes stubbornly flickered closed no matter how hard he tried to force them open. His lips pursed in annoyance even as he fell asleep and she grinned. He twitched a little in his dream and his hair fell back over his damp forehead. She brushed it back, running her fingers through his damp hair soothingly. If he'd been awake he would have given her one of those puzzled awkward looks he always got when Carol looked at him with doe-eyes as if he was her personal saviour, but since he was deeply asleep she felt safe enough to indulge in a little girly behaviour for once. He shifted in his sleep, throwing his arm out and coiling it around her feet. She sighed, leaning back in the chair and listening to his steady breathing.
"Merry Christmas, redneck."