Chapter 14

-Tricks, treats and other business-

"Please," Maggie begged. "I'll owe you. Just switch with me." She held out a red stone with the letter S scribbled on it in black.

"I don't know." Emma tossed the purple stone with a yellow G on it between her hands. "I was really looking forward to shirking dish duty."

Halloween at the fort meant their annual Trick for Treats game. Every member of the fort was assigned a stone token and they were supposed to hide it in one of the common rooms the week before Halloween. If someone found your stone, they could extract a "trick" from you. Since everyone was allowed to claim only 1 stone, there was a lot of trading and bargaining in the week between the hiding of the stones and the 31st.

"I'll do dish duty for you tomorrow IF you let me have Glenn's token."

Emma pursed her lips. "Sal has morning watch, he can't do dish duty for me."

"Fine! I'll do it for you tomorrow and the day after." Maggie was desperate.

"Okay." Emma sighed, hiding the smile that tried to slide across her face. "Give me Sal's."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Maggie hugged her and held up Glenn's egg triumphantly. "You're the best!"

"No problem." Emma hid her glee at having obtained Sal's stone. She was going to pawn off mucking onto Sal.

"Did you do this last year?" Maggie asked.

"Every year I've been here." She smiled at Maggie. "Should be more fun this year, given that you lot are here."

"Who got you last year?"

"One of Sheila's boys." She made a face at the memory. "I ended up cleaning out the chicken coop."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, you didn't see what the coop looked like." Emma shuddered at the memory. She hated dealing with the chickens and was glad that was a task regularly assigned to the fort kids.

Maggie shrugged before heading off in the direction of the room she shared with Glenn. No doubt planning to lord it over him.

Emma pocketed Sal's stone and wondered who would find hers. She noticed it disappeared from its hiding place the day after she'd hidden it. No-one had come forward to say they'd found it. Perhaps like her they were waiting for Halloween night.

She really hoped it wasn't one of Sheila's boys.

}.{

"You're kidding." Sal said as Archer placed his stone on the dinner table in front of him.

She smiled. "The horse's stalls aren't going to clean themselves."

"Tank's covered." Rick was sitting nearby. "Michael got me already."

"Three hours of Churchill?" Sal shook his head. "That's just cruel."

Emma laughed heading to her spot at the table next to Michael. She elbowed him, "Thanks for Rick."

Michael grinned at her as she sat down. "You're always saying how messy her stall is."

"Bless you Michael, you're a good friend."

"Not that good." Daryl sat down next to her and tossed a familiar rock on her plate. It was covered with lacy swirls of yellow and blue. "Traded me yours for Rick's."

Emma raised an eyebrow at Michael. "Really?"

Michael smirked "I did make him promise not to put you on chicken poop pickup."

She looked at Daryl "So, what's the job?"

Daryl ducked his head. "Tell ya later."

}.{

Apparently in Daryl speak 'later' meant days, not hours. They'd just finished shoveling up after the first heavy snowfall of the season when Daryl pulled her into his room at the Gatehouse.

"Claiming my time." Daryl said, shucking off his winter gear.

Emma bit her lip, her eyes trained on the bed. "I'm guessing you don't want me to clean your room."

Daryl raised an eyebrow at her. "Take off your coat and stoke the fire." He ordered before flopping down on the bed.

She rolled her eyes at him and headed to the small fire place in his room. "Yessir." Once the new log looked like it would catch, she turned back to Daryl who was watching her with hooded eyes. "That all?"

He rolled onto his stomach. "Massage my back, woman!" He ordered.

She laughed at him. "Are you serious?"

"Fuckin' serious. Goddamn snow's fuckin' heavy."

"Fine." She put her coat back on and started stepping into her boots.

"The fuck you think you're goin?" Daryl asked.

"Put a sock in it, Daryl. I'll be right back." She said as she ducked out the door and ran across the parade square to her room. She grabbed what she was looking for and headed back to Daryl's quarters.

"Don't think that counts as time served." Daryl said, still lying on the bed.

"Wouldn't dream of it." She said, hanging up her coat and placing her boots neatly by the door. She'd given back-rubs before. Daryl must've gotten the idea when he saw her working on Michael's back the other day. Her stomach fluttered, reminding her that this wasn't the same. Mustering her courage, she hopped up onto the bed and straddled his backside.

"That's more like it." Daryl said. His tone changed when she started pulling his shirt up his back "Hey!" He reached around to pull the hem of his shirt down. "Whatcha doin'?"

She swatted his hand away. "Look, you want a massage right?"

"Do it over the shirt." He said gruffly.

"Nuh-uh." She wiggled the bottle of Absorbine she'd snagged from her room in front of his face. "You've got sore muscles and this will help take the ache away."

"Don't need it." Darryl was gruff. "Don't wanna smell girlie."

She chuckled "No girlie smell, I promise. Come on."

He huffed, but allowed her to pull his shirt off.

Archer's eyes fell on the scars covering Daryl's back. She immediately felt bad for making him take off the shirt. He was clearly uncomfortable with her seeing them.

"What?" Daryl looked back at her.

"Just admiring the view." She said, surprising herself with her boldness. His back was well muscled under the scars. She traced a hand along the outline of a tattoo on his back. "Is there a particular meaning behind the tattoo?"

"Shut up 'n get to work." He relaxed a bit, but was still tense.

"Yessir." Rolling up her sleeves, she surveyed his back, trying to figure out the best plan of attack. Deciding to start at his shoulders, she put a few drops of absorbine on her hands and began kneading.

Daryl was tense at first, but as she worked he relaxed. She could feel some knots along his shoulder blades and started to work on them. She enjoyed feel of her hands sliding down his back.

"Mmmmm." Daryl said appreciatively.

"Thought you might like that." She smiled. "Does it smell girlie to you?"

"Naw." Daryl sniffed. "S'okay."

Slowly, she worked her way down his back and along his spine. Laying her forearms flat on his back she pushed outwards from his spine, stretching out the tension in his back.

"Thasgoood" He drawled, his eyes closed now.

Archer felt him completely relax under her ministrations. In so many ways, Daryl was like a cat whose fur had been brushed the wrong way. She liked the idea of petting it flat again. It was nice to see him give in to her completely.

Emma slid her hands down over his arms, working over each muscle. One by one, they gave way under her fingers. Lacing her hand in his, she flexed his fingers back and forth. As she pulled the fingers on his hands to pop the joints, she wondered what those callused fingers would feel like on her own skin.

She had just finished both arms when she heard a soft snore.

Daryl had fallen asleep.

Sighing, she crept off the bed. Emma tossed a blanket that had been warming by the fire over Daryl's back. She threw another log on the flames before making a quiet exit.