A True Dreamer - Different in a good way or bad way? You sound so disappointed...V_V
HGRHfan35 - Everyone needs a tree swing, I don't care how old you are. *Spy has spoken* Thanks for the review!
Brazen Hussy - Don't worry, Merle is never discreet for long.
MollyMayhem84 - Well, I was doing deep research into childhood psychological trauma...so that's a major hint as to what's going on with her. And the Lt. was on the right track about rifle's not bothering her...
peonies01 - Aw! I love how your husband comes in third...as an after thought. Sweet. ^_^ Thanks for the review!
skittletitz - Oh, Merle is going to be hard on Fay too. He just has some basic decency when it comes to being the third wheel. (I honestly don't see Merle as that big of an ass...though he is...ah what a complex fellow that Merle Dixon is!)
Surplus Imagination - You are very close in your estimate, my friend. Grace on the swing would be adorable...have to find time to work that in...(damn plot taking over the next few chapters...why can't I make this a story that goes nowhere but just passes time?)
Axelrocks - Guns are freaky man. But then again I've never fired one...so...though I have used bows frequently in my youth...how does that work out? Never hunted though...what a huh moment for me.
LisaBoston - Thank you! And thanks for the kind review!
GG - Is it wrong of me to ship Carl and Wee Boo? I hate when characters get shipped with OC's though...I just don't buy the Carl/Beth thing they're hinting at...not at all. She's too cool for him.
Well, after a few terrible, rotten, no-good chapters, this here's a good one. I promise!
Chapter Forty-Six: Décider De
**Daryl**
He was drawing a diagram of the place he and Rick had scoped out for the ambush for Merle and the Cajun that night after they got back from the supply run. It was an outlet mall on the outskirts of a city, where they figured there'd be a lot of good places for their people to hide, while the Governor and his men would be forced out into the open.
"I figure if we set up our best shots on the roof there," Rick said, "we can have bird's eye coverage for those on the ground."
"The roof is too obvious," the Lieutenant offered helpfully. "I think you could put one or two up there as decoys, but you'd be better off having most of them in the trees to the rear, better coverage."
"I don't think our people are that good of shots without scopes on their rifles," Rick argued.
"Don't need to hit them. This Governor couyon gets caught in the middle of a gunfire show it'll break his men up, half of them will be concentrating on those in the trees, the other half on the mall. Just be sure those in the trees aim low, they won't hit your men at all if they shoot at the ground near the men."
"Still too risky, might get friendly fire shooting like that."
Daryl touched a finger to the side of his nose and rubbed, a habit he had when he was nervous about sharing. "Maybe if we off-set where we'll be, set up due east a ways, we won't even have to worry about friendly fire."
"You might avoid the gunfire completely if you lure the asshole into the mall and set it off somehow." Merle pointed out.
"What? Like an explosion?" Rick asked.
"Could do a lot of damage in a short period."
Rubbing his scruff, Rick eyed their makeshift map. "Naw, I want to shoot the bastard myself, make sure he's dead. Besides an explosion that big'll bring all the walkers in the area down on our heads."
"Yeah, well, your need for personalized vengeance could get your people killed, Officer Friendly," Merle argued. "You really want to risk that?"
"Well yeah, I do, Merle," Rick stated. "We only get one shot at this ambush and I want to make sure we do it right the first time."
"What if you do both?" The Lieutenant interrupted the fight that was about to happen, moving between the men to point at the map. "What if you send the outlet up in fire and brimstone, but position your men about the exits with guns. They can shoot anything that comes out and beat cheeks out of Dodge before the Hole-In-The-Head gang shows up."
"Could we find enough of something to blow the whole place up, anyways?" Michonne broke in from where she sat quietly on the hood beside the map.
Everyone looked amongst themselves.
"I…" the Cajun began tentatively. "Logistics has this bank of Apache helicopters perched on the edge of the training field for emergency attacks. Some of them might have Hellfire missiles still attached to them. The only problem is last I heard Logistics was overrun, could be a pain in the ass to get at them."
"That's assuming we have someone among us who can fly a helicopter," Merle argued.
"That's assuming the missiles are still there," Michonne added.
The Lieutenant angled his head. "Naw, wouldn't need to fly, grande beede, just need the missiles. Set up them up at strategic spots inside the mall, only need to tweak them a bit to set them salauds off. And the missiles might be there, pilots were all shipped off to Atlanta when she was burning they needed men to pilot emergency choppers in the air, med-evacuating civilians from the remote locations."
"How bad was Logistics?"
"Bad bad," the Cajun replied.
"Could we get in and get out?"
"I wouldn't know. For all I know could be cleared out by now with the last herd that moved through. Course, I know the place like it was my own face, I could get you in and through it fast enough to grab and get out."
Rick looked at Daryl for his input.
The youngest Dixon shrugged. "Might be some good stuff to loot at a Marine base," he pointed out. "Could be worth the trouble."
"Especially when it comes to war," Michonne added.
Nodding decidedly, Rick stepped back onto his left foot. "Alright, we'll need a bigger team, we'll treat this as more than a supply run."
"I'd like to go along this time, smiley," Merle spoke up.
Rick nodded. "We need all the hands we can get."
"Well, one more hand, at least, couldn't hurt," the Lieutenant pointed out.
Merle grinned smugly at the Cajun. "How'd it go with that nun of yours, you stick it to her yet?"
Glancing around sheepishly, the Lieutenant hung his head a little. "Shut up, Merle."
"That's the last time I give you space," the oldest Dixon muttered as he walked away, "since you don't seem to know what to do with a woman and free time."
"I know what to do with a woman and free time!" The Lieutenant shouted after the man.
The shouting gathered the attention of Father O'Rourke on the wall nearby and the Cajun turned his shouting into nervous coughs, walking off in the direction of the garden shed.
Walking over, the priest stooped to one knee and smiled at them. "A dollar to a dime says he doesn't."
Smirking, Daryl parted with the group of men, hurrying to catch up with the Cajun.
"Hey, Fay, wait up," he called after the man.
The Lieutenant turned and waited for him to catch up.
"What's wrong, cabri?"
Eyeing the convent around them, Daryl hesitated, touching a hand to his chin. "Carol told me about your little girl, is she okay?"
"She'll be fine. Don't really know what set her off, but it's not the first time she's gone into hysterics, course it wasn't ever that bad, but…probably due to what she's been through."
Daryl nodded. "You need me to do anything?"
"Not much you can do. Not sure anyone can, really."
"Okay, you need me, you know where I am."
The Lieutenant nodded. "Yeah, sure."
"Hey," he added as an afterthought, "sorry about Merle, he only teases people he likes."
"I know. He doesn't bother me one bit."
Smirking a little, Daryl bowed his head. "So did you?"
"What?" The Lieutenant asked, knowing full well what Daryl was getting at.
"You know."
"Me and an ex-nun on the front lawns of a convent in front of God's own? Yeah, that would go over well at the pearly gates."
The youngest Dixon scoffed.
"Speaking of women who blissfully run our lives, how's your girl doing?"
Flinching at the mention of Carol, Daryl shrugged. It wasn't that he didn't know how she was doing, he was just somehow oddly protective of even her feelings and emotions, like they were something other people shouldn't just casually ask and know about.
"What's 'cabri' mean?" He asked, changing the subject with something that's been on his mind for a long time.
The Lieutenant paused, before grinning. "Cabri? It means 'goat'."
"Why do you call me a goat?"
The Cajun stroked at his own chin playfully. "The scruff, you reminded me a little goat when I first saw you. Course it's better now."
Daryl touched his scruff, he had trimmed it a few days ago, but it was growing back little by little. "Yeah, well, that damned nun of yours tried to get me to shave the other day, thought she was going to hold me down and do it. I thought the least I could do to appease her was trim it."
"You still remind me of a cabri," the Lieutenant said with a wink. "Those girls keep on trying to groom you and you'll actually pass for a country gentleman, yeah?"
"You start calling me 'your fair lady' and I'll punch you in the mouth, Fay." Daryl growled.
"Alright, Eliza, just settle your tits down."
"Fuck you, Cajun." Daryl snarled, storming away.
"Hey, couyon!" The Lieutenant called after him. "Don't go too far! I've grown accustomed to your face!"
Pausing long enough to flip the Cajun off, Daryl continued on in the direction of the garden shed where he spied Carol emerging.
"I'm just heading out to take watch on the wall for Maggie," she greeted. "Let her get some sleep tonight."
He nodded.
Despite her saying this, she followed him into the shed.
Inside Daryl found she had gotten into some old wire and had strung up the shards of stained glass from the ceiling like some kind of mobile and had replaced the simple black curtains with what looked like curtains made from a flowery old blouse.
He eyed the changes to their 'home' quietly, setting his crossbow down on the workbench nearest their bed.
"Thought I'd make it homier in here," she explained softly from the doorway.
He nodded, reaching up to touch one of the dangling pieces of coloured, rippled glass, setting the piece trembling.
"I had some time to myself for once, got bored." She went on.
He offered her a small grin, pleased that she was trying to make the shed into a little nest of her own. Truth was he liked the fact that she had put a feminine touch to their shed.
She smiled back at him and took a few steps forward, hand reaching out to smooth back some of his errant hair from his eyes.
"Suppose you think I need a trimming," he said.
She shrugged reaching up to playfully tug at his scruff. "It doesn't bother me. I'm not about to tell you what you can and can't do to yourself."
"I could do with a trim," he admitted softly. "If you want."
"When I get back from watch," she said, pushing up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to the tip of his nose, pulling back with a small, proud grin.
Wrapping his arms around her waist carefully, he pulled her back in for a decent kiss, sliding his mouth over hers.
He wanted her to know the things he couldn't say with just a kiss, but he honestly had no idea how to go about it. Did he just kiss her and hope she got the message? Or was there some kind of trick to it?
Intimacy wasn't something he was highly experienced in. In fact it rated up there with opera plots and classic kabuki actors as things he knew about. Hell, he wasn't even sure what the hell kabuki was…
Carol's small, strong hand landed against his chest and he thought for a moment she was going to push him away and prepared to step back.
In a flash, almost as though panicked, her hand curled in his shirt and she pulled him down closer to her.
Grasping her by her hips, he lifted her up and onto the workbench behind her, settling between her legs, mouth still trying hard to convey things it couldn't normally convey through action not words.
Reluctantly she pulled away, her hand on his shoulder to steady herself. "I really have to get on watch." She whispered almost sorrowfully.
He nodded and pressed one last kiss to her swollen lips, helping her down off the workbench the same way he helped her up.
Carol flashed him her bright grin and adjusted the new scarf she had fashioned for herself. "I'll be done my shift at midnight," she said.
He nodded.
"Keep the home fires burning," she teased, grabbing the worn old rifle she was using for wall duty.
"Hey," he called after her, "uh, we're heading to a Marine base tomorrow."
Daryl never felt the need to share his plans with anyone, but he thought she should at least know what he was up to now that they were sharing a shed.
She nodded.
"We might not be back tomorrow night, it's an hour or so away and there's probably a lot of walkers hanging around it." He went on.
"I'd imagine a military base might be a good place to loot," she said.
"We're hoping so."
Giving him her gentle smile, she bowed her head. "I'll be back later. Be awake, hm?"
He smirked at her tone and nodded. "Yeah."
The Cajun Dialect
Décider de – To decide to.