Axelrocks - Haha, I love a good bromance, don't you? Rick and Daryl are adorable together as buds. I like their bromance, because they don't need words. Somehow they're just there for each other. Daryl and the Lt on the other hand, the Lt talks non-stop and Daryl just listens, asking questions now and then, because deep down I think Daryl has a thirst for knowledge (I base this on how he knew so much about the Cherokee's and the rose story). Seems like Daryl likes to learn new things.
sonshinedaisy - I enjoy a well written nun character. As much as I'm not religious, I've always been fascinated by nuns. I think they make for interesting characters. Thanks for your review!
Brazen Hussy - I think Merle was too shocked by actually receiving an apology that he had no time to prepare a good retort.
MollyMayhem84 - Young Maggie Smith was so beautiful! But to be honest, I still think she's beautiful. Really gorgeous looking older lady.
AFishNamedSushi - To be honest, I like Season 3 Carl, he used to be a brat, but now he's halfway useful. Also, I don't think people torment the Lt enough. He gets away with being cheeky too much, needs someone to check him once in a while.
spygrrl99 - I owe you nothing and you'll enjoy it! (I keed! ^_^) To be honest I never really thought of the Lt and Mother Superior together. I just like the idea of them having the kind of relationship where she torments him and he takes it because he's a good guy.
Surplus Imagination - Haha! Love the sugar and spice analogy! Made my day! XD
Sira1 - Adding a little levity to my chapters is always fun. ^_^ Thanks for the review!
KrisAnthemum221 - The Lt needed that torment, he gets away with too much. He's too easy going, needs someone to check him.
sammipoop - Well, :S xo back atcha!
GG - Oh, sounds like you had a rough week. Geez, I know what family and funerals are like...I'm glad my story brought a much needed smile to your face. I really feel your pain.
Well, because one of my reviewers GG had such a terrible week, I've decided to dedicate this chapter to them. GG, I hope this makes you at least a wee bit happy. ^_^
Chapter Twenty-Three: Lagniappe
**Daryl**
"Hey, coonass," Merle growled. "This what you soldier boys do in your spare time?"
They had split into two groups earlier that morning, Glenn and Tyreese and his man heading into the nearest town on a supply run, while Daryl took his brother and the Cajun on a recon mission to check out Woodbury and area for Rick and whoever he was with.
He had mostly dragged Merle along to keep him from Glenn and the others and since his big brother's shoulder seemed better, he actually preferred to have him at his side. Merle may have been a number one shit disturber, but he was still a good man to have in a fight.
They were moving through an abandoned home near Woodbury, picking up much needed things here and there as they went, digging quickly and efficiently through drawers and such, when his big brother came across a well hidden spank bank mag.
It was either aimed at women or men who liked men and featured a camouflaged gentleman as a centrefold.
The Cajun frowned at the image. "That's not regulation gear at all."
Flipping the magazine at the soldier, Merle beamed. "Well, good to know when the world calms it's tits down you can get a job rebuilding the porn industry."
Daryl scoffed, digging through a drawer of his own. At least they were getting along.
"My Mamere taught me better than that," the Cajun replied. "Be a cold day in Hades when you catch me with my pecker hanging out like that…get it caught on a tripwire or something…"
"There ain't nothing here," Daryl stated. "Let's get a move on."
Stepping over the corpse of a walker they had taken down, Merle slapped it's back on the way by with a laugh. "Sorry we outed you, old man."
"Well, that's not fair to him," the Lieutenant argued, following Merle out of the room. "Could have been the old lady's."
Bringing up the rear, Daryl quietly shut the bedroom door behind him and smirked. They were checking the area around Woodbury before going near the actual town, hoping that Rick and whoever he was with were hiding out, planning their next move. It was a better thing to think about then if Rick and the others were captured. Daryl wasn't so sure they would still be alive if they were actually in Woodbury.
"How many other farmhouses?" Daryl asked his brother as they emerged from the house into the bright sunshine of the beautiful Georgian spring day.
"That I know about? Four others, but they might also have holed up in the dam or a few of the hunting cabins I know about. Of course two of those hunting cabins are used as covers for the Governor's men and one of the farmhouses is frequented by his men as well, though not as often." Merle replied casually. "Of course that Officer Friendly of yours seems wily, he might have different plans and headed out of state if he was smart enough. Hell, he might even be dead already."
Daryl frowned as he hopped into the cab of the truck, sliding behind the wheel. "Until I see his corpse walking around, he ain't. So shut up and get in."
..-~-..
..-~-..
They moved slower, more cautiously the closer to Woodbury that they got.
Merle directed Daryl down a beaten cattle trail of a road towards an old cabin hidden in the woods, cautioning him that it wasn't used by the Governor's men, but that didn't mean it'd be empty or safe.
They parked the truck halfway down the trail, just off the road where it would be hidden and walked the rest of the way in silence.
Letting the soldier take point, Daryl took the coverman position with a semi-automatic that Merle had fixed from among the pile of crapped out weapons the Lieutenant had stored away, eyeing the surrounding woods as they moved just off the trail through them. They didn't have much ammo left for the semi-auto, but it was better than an old rifle if they really needed it. As always, he kept his crossbow on him, slung on his back just in case he needed it.
Behind him Merle played tail-end Charlie, watching their asses with a 9mm tucked into his belt.
Daryl's eyes flickered to the road at their left, worried that just because it was a road, they were ignoring the possibility that walkers or men could be coming from that direction as well.
God forbid walkers fall upon them while they were too busy being on the lookout for the Governor's men.
Nearing the cabin, the Lieutenant pulled them all into a stop at the edge of the woods. The three men crouched on their hunches, eyeing the building for a moment.
The Cajun raised his scope to his eye to get a better look at her, eyeing the windows for signs of life or un-life as it were.
Lowering himself to his belly, the soldier crawled just out of the treeline, into a low dip that made up the cabin's cattle-trail driveway's ditch. He motioned for Merle and Daryl to stay where they were, as he crept up the small incline, to peer over at the building with his scope.
Slowly reaching around his pack, the Cajun gripped his helmet and tugged it on, securing the chin strap, before poking his head up higher.
Moving with steady, sluggish motions, the Lieutenant got to his feet, crouching low, creeping across the trail into the open area of the cabin's lawns.
Daryl's finger tensed at the trigger of the gun as the soldier moved into a vulnerable position, scuttling to the other side of the trail and into the woods there.
A rifle with a high powered scope duct taped to it poked out of the underbrush almost cartoonishly and if the situation hadn't been so severe, Daryl would have snorted in amusement. Instead he felt his spine tense in preparation for cover fire.
Instead, the rifle pulled back into the newly unfurling, tender green leaves of the bushes and the Cajun gave him and Merle the signal to join him on the other side of the trail.
The Dixon brothers hustled across to join the Lieutenant. Both men crouching low at the soldier's side. He motioned towards a windowless side of the cabin, then made a walking motion with his fingers. Holding up two fingers, he motioned for Daryl and Merle to stay behind to give him cover.
They nodded in understanding, taking up their cover positions, as the Lieutenant scuttled out from the underbrush, hustling across the lawns, moving like the earth itself in his camo.
Reaching the side of the building, the Cajun pressed himself flat against the wall and slid along it until he reached the corner. Peering around it cautiously, he raised his rifle and scoped the unexplored area behind the cabin.
With a wave of his hand, he motioned the Dixon's over.
Picking up his feet, Daryl moved across the lawns, pressing against the building beside the Cajun.
Again the man motioned for them to stay behind, signalling that he spied something through his scope and was going to investigate.
Daryl shifted close to the corner as the Lieutenant darted around it, hurrying away from the building, towards the woods behind the cabin.
Raising the semi-automatic, Daryl watched the man's back as he took a knee just inside the treeline and disappeared into the foliage.
In the heat of the Georgian mid-afternoon sun, sweat rolled down Daryl's back and tickled his spine, but he remained still, eyeing the woods where the soldier disappeared.
Eventually the soldier emerged, crouching low just inside the treeline.
He held up a single finger and made a driving motion.
Daryl relayed the message to Merle who sneered, but nodded.
The Lieutenant was more cautious joining them against the cabin's blindside, but eventually made it back to their location.
Eyeing the Dixon brother's, the Cajun asked the important question with gestures, he made the recon sign by holding both hands to his eyes like binoculars or made an erasing motion with his hand waving palm down in front of him.
Did Daryl want to just sneak back to the truck and leave or did he want to eliminate the threat. He turned to Merle and mouthed 'how many', asking his brother how many men usually travelled in the Governor's groups.
His older brother held up three fingers, then four.
Nodding, Daryl turned back to the Lieutenant and shrugged, before holding his hand to his eye like a scope.
The Cajun nodded, raising his rifle to give Daryl cover fire should he need it, as Daryl moved around the corner and approached a window carefully.
The first window he came to was a bathroom, so it didn't provide him with a sight of any men, so he moved on, cautiously moving past the backdoor and sliding up to the next window. Slowly he peered around the sill, into the dark room.
He ducked his head back quickly, before peering back into the cabin again. Spying a familiar blonde laid up on a couch, Daryl smirked and looked about for signs of more familiar faces. He eyed the handgun on the coffee table beside her and the way her leg had been splinted and raised a curious brow.
Whistling low, he prepared to duck as she fumbled for the gun.
Thankfully she recognized him before pulling this trigger.
"Going to finish the job you started at the farm?" He asked through the open screen.
"Daryl?" She asked.
Carefully, he moved into view in the window. "Who's with you?"
"Michonne."
Nodding, Daryl squinted at the woman. "Okay, I'm going to come inside, you tell her not to cut my fucking head off, okay?"
Andrea nodded.
Signalling the Lieutenant and Merle to calm down and join him, Daryl approached the backdoor.
Carefully opening the door, Daryl spied the statuesque black woman already waiting for him at the end of the short back hall, arms crossed, face emotionless as usual.
He eyed her quietly, before moving past, his brother and the Lieutenant not getting by so easily.
The woman moved to stop both men, sizing them up coolly.
The Cajun took her in, the face, the katana, the boots, before slipping by her in the narrow space she left with her body.
Merle flashed her a taunting grin and bumped shoulders with her on his way through, not content to slink by like a little bitch.
Taking in the cabin before releasing the tension his body held, Daryl eased onto the coffee table beside Andrea.
"You look like shit," he greeted.
"Thanks. After you and Merle took off, I tried to get out of Dodge as well, but my only option was jumping off the wall."
"The others with you?" Daryl asked.
"Rick and Maggie, they went out on foot yesterday to find some antibiotics for me."
"Antibiotics?"
"Bone went through the skin. They wanted to be sure it wasn't going to kill me. I don't think it's infected yet."
Daryl sneered. "Goddamn. You okay then?"
"Yeah. As long as I don't move it doesn't hurt like a fucker...just don't touch it okay?"
"I won't. What about Rick and Maggie? They okay?"
"Well, Rick was getting pretty restless waiting here with me, but we had no gas to get out of here and with my leg walking wasn't an option. They said they would try to find some gas while they were out, but it's an all day trip in all directions to anywhere on foot."
"How'd you find them?"
"They found me. Didn't make it too far from the wall, Rick was on his way back in for you. Guess he didn't need to go back."
"If he was smart enough he would have kept running in the opposite direction of Woodbury," Daryl replied.
"You find the others?"
Daryl nodded. "Yeah, they're safe."
Andrea nodded. "Thank God."
"Don't thank him, it was my ass out there criss-crossing the countryside trying to gather you all up."
"Thank you, Daryl." She returned with just a hint of mockery.
He sneered.
Andrea's eyes were focused then beyond Daryl and he looked back to find Merle and the Cajun milling about idly.
"It's okay, he's with me." Daryl said.
"You join up or something, Daryl?" Andrea teased. "What's with the soldier boy?"
"Ah, Lieutenant Lafayette Vancoughnett the fourth," the Cajun introduced politely, extending his hand.
"That's a mouthful," Andrea replied with a small grin. "Andrea."
"That's a lot less admittedly." The Lieutenant said.
"I don't want him in here," Michonne broke in, eyeing Merle with a cold look.
Daryl eyed his brother as Merle prepared for a smart assed reply. He cut him off before Merle could cause shit.
"He'll head back for our vehicle and pull it around out of sight with yours. Won't you Merle?"
His brother beamed. "I would, Darlina, you know that. But unfortunately some asshole forced me to cut my own fucking hand off. Can't shift gears."
"I'll help you, podna." The Lieutenant said calmly. "Come on."
The Cajun Dialect
Lagniappe – A pleasant, unexpected surprise.
Podna – It ain't a cowboy thing. Cajuns actually call friends 'podna'.