Author's note: Please forgive me, this is extremely short due to it being late and me going on vacation tomorrow. Yeah! Anyway admittedly this is so not my favorite chapter-, I struggled writing this one immensely. In fact I'd like to give a round of applause for Eminemchick19 for helping oversee this chapter. And I hope you guys enjoy it. Warning there is Sappiness occurring between Mara and Rick, but hopefully that won't turn you guys off. Anyway thanks for reading as always!
Question1: Is the ending too sappy? Cause admittedly it's 2 am right now and my brain is on i-want-sappy-dream mode right now.
Question 2: Mara's violent attitude ya or nah?
~Cassandra
Disclaimer: If I owned the Walking Dead, I would be able to 'see' the future of this week's episode like Mara.
For a second Mara thought she was in heaven. After all that was the only reality Mara could ever envision both Rick and Daryl leaning over her with concerned looks. She blinked trying focus the blurry images in front of her. From what she could tell Rick and Daryl were there asking her a bunch of questions, while in the background two figure sat facing one another. A sigh escaped her as Mara shook her head once trying to clear her vision. Only this time she was met with a sharp pain shooting within her head. "Shit." Mara murmured to herself as a dull throbbing steadied itself in her head.
"Can you remember who you are?" Rick asked sternly. He had been repeating the same question for five minutes now and he was beginning to worry. As a cop he was briefed on what to check for in cases of concussions. Something Rick wouldn't be surprised if Mara had. According what Daryl said one of the men who took Glenn had slammed her pretty hard into the alley wall in a struggle to try and detach her from his back. Rick sighed running a hand through his hair. If Mara had a concussion then they'd have to take her back to camp. There was no buts about it. Without proper treatment a concussion could turn dangerous, but more so even if it were merely a minor one taking Mara out there wasn't an option either.
"My name is Mara Dolly-Luisa Grayson. I'm twenty-two years old. Have three dumbass older brothers-Bryson, Easton, and Zane. My father is an asshole who disowned me for being discharged and my head hurts worse than a bunch of sailors coming home from a day of shore leave." Mara snapped rubbing her temples.
"She's alright." Rick breathed a small relief smile on his face.
Daryl nodded staring at the small grimacing woman in front of him. The crazy woman tried to take on a man twice her size in order to attempt and help him. It was a fact that baffled him to say the least. He had met a lot of tough talking women back home before the apocalypse, but never one that didn't run or hide in the face of danger. Needless to say it was something that would probably be on his mind later on. Until then he was more curious about a different matter right then. "Dolly-Louisa? Your middle name is Dolly-Louisa?" Daryl asked.
Mara glared at him. "After first lady Dolly Madison and famous author Louisa Alcott. Besides I wouldn't be talking Daryl, especially not with your brother's name being Merle."
Rick let out a small chuckle at least now he knew she didn't have a concussion. There was no way she would be up to a battle of the wits with Daryl if she had one…Or maybe she would, now that Rick thought about it. "Um…guys? While I'm glad that Mara is alright, I think you're forgetting our main issue here." T-Dog reminded cocking his head to the kid sitting in the chair.
Mara blinked her eyes searching around the room worriedly. "Where's Glenn?"
It went silent in the room. The men looked at each other for a second. Rick grabbed her hand gently placing it in his. "He got kidnapped. Those men who attack you, took Glenn and drove off in a car. T-Dog and I heard the commotion from down the road and ran as fast we could to you guys. But by the time we got there Glenn was gone, you were unconscious and Daryl was making sure the kid wasn't escaping."
Mara swore running a hand through her thick mangled hair. Once again she got herself knocked unconscious making her useless in helping protect the group. Her hand balled up into a fist clutching the roots of her dark hair in frustration. Useless. She hated that word. Hated it with a passion. It was one of the five words her father used to describe her, when he disowned her. And it was the word that seemed to fit Mara more and more. "We'll get him back." Mara replied unclenching her hand, "I told you, we would make it out of the city together and we will. We just have to interrogate this guy, then get Glenn."
Rick nodded his eyes still on Mara concerned. Despite her frustrated expression, he could see the pain underlining it. He had no doubt Mara was hiding just how much pain she was in. Agitatedly Rick bit the inside of his cheek. It would be a lie to say he didn't want to spend the next twenty-four hours keeping her under surveillance until the threat of a concussion was gone. But Mara was a grown woman-a strong one at that. And even more so Rick was just a friend nothing more. Besides if anything happened to Glenn, Rick knew it would be his fault. He was the one who dragged the poor kid into this mess. "I'm fine, Rick. Aching a little. Angry as all get out, but I'll survive the next twenty-four hours. I promise." Mara assured him.
He nodded before standing up. Mara was right. She would be fine. Right then they had to worry about getting Glenn back. With a deep sigh Rick walked over to where the kid was. Mara let out a deep breath the minute Rick's back was turned. Her vision had cleared up, but world still seemed lopsided and worse yet Mara felt as if she were about to puke again. All signs of a concussion and all signs Rick couldn't know about until they found Glenn. Besides she was a Grayson. Graysons never left a fellow comrade behind no matter how useless they were. She stood trying to appear as capable of walking a she normally was. However the second she stood, Mara could feel herself lose balance. "Careful there lil' bit. Don't wanna hit yer head again, do ya?" Daryl said, helping her steady herself.
She gave him a sheepish smile. "Thanks I just stood up too fast I guess."
Daryl stared at her a frown cement on his face. "Yeah, guess ya did. Take it slow lil' girl, wouldn't want Officer Rick over there to see ya stumble."
"No, I wouldn't." Mara murmured, "At least not until after we rescue Glenn."
Daryl stared at her slightly surprised by her words. He knew they were more towards herself rather than him, but he had to say lil' bit was continuing to surprise him. After all neither he nor Merle were strangers to concussions. "You sure you're up for rescuing? Concussion can be a bitch."
She frowned, her dark brown eyes narrowing towards the others. "Yeah well, Mara Grayson is a bigger bitch."
Without another word Mara walked over to where Rick was. Daryl continued to stare at her for a moment longer. The damn woman was confusing. It was a mystery how Rick could comprehend her so easily. Cause while Daryl thought himself to be a rather good judge when it came to people, Mara was forcing him to revaluate his judgment every few seconds. He shook his head pushing the idea back. The asian kid was missing along with Merle. There was no time to brood over on some strange chick.
"Those men you were with. We need to know where they went." Rick said as calmly as he could. It was taking everything in his power to act professional and not lash out at the kid in the chair. Glenn was missing and they needed to find him. It was the most important thing on the agenda right then. However, despite the logical Rick couldn't help but let his fury grow each time he glanced at Mara besides him. If it weren't for the distraction of Glenn, Mara probably would've been taken too. A thought that infuriated Rick on itself. And that idea paired with the fact that Mara was obviously in pain was almost enough to send Rick off the edge for some strange reason.
"I ain't tellin' ya nothin'." The kid snorted looking away.
"Lo mejor es hacer como dijo." Mara growled to the kid.
He blinked along with everyone else. Vaguely Rick remembered Mara mentioning to Merle that she was a quarter Mexican, but the fact never really crossed his mind until now. The kid stared at Mara for a second longer before frowning. "Or what? Ya going to feed me to the walkers, if I don't tell ya? I'm not scared of you." The kid spat.
An inexplicable look of rage passed on Mara's face. To say that she was mad was a definite understatement. Between her head throbbing like no other, Glenn missing and the recurring memory of her father, Mara wanted desperately to kill something. That paired with this asshole kid was making her self-control dimmer more and more . "Sería inteligenta si lo has hecho. Porque yo puedo decir ahora no tengo ningún problema matarte." Mara snapped.
She backed away from the kid. When she started speaking in Spanish rather than English that's when Mara knew it was time to walk away. Otherwise she may just kill the kid like she threatened too. Besides her, Rick looked at her with a mixture of curiosity and concern. Mara was sure the poor man was way beyond his stress point and her odd behavior probably didn't help with that. "Jesus Man, what the hell even happened back there?" T-Dog spoke breaking the tension.
"I told you! This little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped us!" Daryl snapped pacing the floor angrily.
"Man, you're the one who jumped me, puto." The kid mouthed, "Screaming around trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault."
Daryl glared at him. "They took Glenn and slammed Mara's head into a wall. I have no doubt they could've took Merle too."
"Merle what kinda hick name is that? Wouldn't even name my dog Merle." The kid insulted.
Furious Daryl stepped out from behind Rick and jumped forward ready to kick the kid in the face. Rick grabbed him before pushing him back with some struggle. Daryl stumbled slightly but regained his balance. Mara sighed annoyed, she'd be the first to admit that when pissed off, she lost her normal caring attitude. "Deja de ser estúpido, Daryl." Mara said, she cleared her throat, "You're only pissing me off more."
A small chuckle escaped the kid causing everyone to look at him. He blushed slightly at his slip up before quickly composing himself. Mara couldn't help but feel her murderous rage boil more. Yep she really wasn't like herself right now. "As for you, like I said before, it would be wise of you to be scared of us-especially of my friend Daryl here. He might not be the smartest chip off the old block, but he's definitely the nastiest." Mara turned towards Daryl with a wicked grin, "Daryl why don't you show him what happened to the last person who pissed ya off?"
Daryl blinked both in confusion and shocked by Mara's sudden violent turn. In the short time he knew her, Daryl swore the girl didn't have a violent bone in her body. The chick was always trying to do the right thing and standing up for everyone. Now suddenly she was like a totally different person. He stared at Mara for a second more before a smirk matching Mara's grin graced his face. It looked like that blow to the head knocked some sense into that girl. "I would love to." Daryl replied.
He walked over to where Glenn's bag laid and pulled out Merle's hand. Daryl had to admit he was thinking of doing the same thing moments ago. "You wanna see what happened ta the last guy who pissed me?"
He unwrapped his brother's hand, before plopping it on the kid's lap. The kid screamed throwing the hand off his lap and onto the ground. Mara sighed picking it up as Daryl cornered the kid against the wall. She cringed slightly as she rewrapped with T-Dog's handkerchief. From behind she could hear Daryl threaten to cut the boy's feet off, something that didn't go well with Rick who was now pulling Daryl off the kid. "The men who went took our friend-all we want to do is talk to them-maybe see if we could work something out." Rick assured.
"Something you might wanna consider seeing how you are our hostage." Mara muttered causing Rick to look at her in confusion. He didn't know what was going on with Mara, but whatever it was, it wasn't help with their cause. In fact what probably do best right now to get the kid to crack was Mara's usual understanding attitude. Not this violent unusual one.
"Fine." The kid voiced, "Just keep those to crazy bastardos away from me."
Rick glanced at Daryl and Mara who stood side by side one another with a sadistic smirk on their face. An exasperated sigh escaped him. As strange as it sounded it slightly nerved him that for once Mara wasn't as transparent or supportive as she normally was to him. "I could manage that." Rick settled.
From behind Mara couldn't help but smirk to herself. It wasn't a big victory on her part, but it did help her get one step in proving her father wrong. Rick backed away from the kid. He turned to face them, one of his hands rubbing his chin frustrated. His eyes darted from T-Dog to Daryl before finally settling on Mara. "T-Dog, you and Daryl starting heading out. Mar and I need to talk about her head."
Mara frowned seeing through his lie, but said nothing. Rick deserved an answer behind her aggression. Even if the answer was just one she slapped together to avoid the truth for now. After all there no way Rick and her could go over a lifetime of family issues in a just a few minutes. Nor did Mara want to open up and share those issues with him or anyone else. Hell, she ignored all Easton's attempt to try and discuss her disownment. Both T-Dog and Daryl glanced at him unsurely. "Yeah, no problem." T-Dog replied, he turned towards the boy, "Come on kid, let's go."
Reluctantly the kid followed T-Dog, obviously biting his tongue to keep from saying anything snarky. Behind him, Daryl walked crossbow aimed threateningly at the kid. One wrong move and Daryl wouldn't hesitate to shoot. Rick watched them, waiting a few seconds after they left before looking at Mara. He stared at her. His gorgeous blue eyes filled with worry. "You okay? Cause I never seen you like that Mar."
"Everyone gets angry Rick-even Gandhi." Mara replied looking away.
"Anger's one thing, Mar-but you were like a totally different person there." Rick near hissed.
Mara crossed her arms. Her dark brown eyes stared back his angrily. "Well obviously you don't know me that well-cause this is me. Just the angry pissed off version of me. Hell if you could ask Bryon, Easton or Zane they'd tell ya I was calm if anything! Cause I can tell you right now Rick, you haven't seen nothing yet! Us, Grayson-we get scary violent when mad."
"Then why are you mad, Mar. Because I don't believe for one second your angry about Glenn getting taken. Not when you said he would be fine, yourself,." Rick demanded to know.
She went silent, choosing to chew on her bottom lip rather than say anything. Rick's outburst nearly caused her to have major word vomit. Something she refused to let happen. Mara would talk to Rick about her visions, about her facing a walker by herself, hell she talk to him about her major dislike of his best friend, but her family remained off topic. No matter how much the truth struggle to escape her lips. No matter the fact she knew more about Rick's family than what he thought. "We don't have time for this Rick. We need to rescue Glenn from whoever has him." Mara finally replied.
Rick sighed, his anger turning into frustration. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't keep shutting people out like this, Mar. Not when something is obviously bothering you-and has been since I reunited with my family. Look if it's about my family then-"
"Rick, it has nothing to do with your family." Mara said, taking a deep breath, "It's mine, that's bothering me. And there's nothing you can do to change that. Nor is there anything I feel like sharing with you-I'm just not that type of person. Hell, I don't even talk to my brothers about my issues-cause it's not their problem. It's mine."
Rick shifted awkwardly trying to find the right words to say. A small smile made its way to his face as he found them. "You know, when I was wondering around my old neighborhood dazed and confused about everything that was happening, there was this odd woman following me. No matter how much I tried to keep my emotions to myself, she always knew how I was feeling or what I thinking. And somehow she was always able to find the right words to say to me. For a while it kind of annoyed me, seeing how I barely knew her. But as much as I hate to admit it, if it weren't for her words I probably would given up…If it weren't for her and her strange habit of forcing me to share my burdens with her, I don't know where I would be. Now-I am just trying to help her the same way she helped me."
Mara smiled sadly to herself. "Liar. You would've been fine without me."
After all Mara was just what her father said she was. All pretty words, but no real strength when need. In other words…she was useless.
Thanks for all the amazing reviews! I love hearing what you say. It really makes my day.
1bakedbre: Don't worry I do have something planned, you'll just have to read to find out. ;)
Eminemchick19: I can always count on you for your honest opinion and I love that about you! I can't wait to read more of your updates! _
The Swiftstar: Thanks for answering all those questions, I promise I do my best to try and fix what some of reader's tell me about my story if there's anything wrong with it.
Okgurl87: If you're husband is anything like Daryl then I am so totally jealous. I need to find a man just like Rick or Daryl, but I suppose that's near impossible.
ScornedXRose: I'll try to make Mara a little more badass, but it'll probably be more of a growing thing than a sudden thing. Cause although Mara comes from a military family, her relationship with her father is fragmented and her brothers are the overprotective type. I hope though this chapter helps suffice a little in the badass category.
Axtla3000: I'll keep your vote in mind-no seriously I have a tally going on here of what everyone prefers.
MunkieMagic: No problem. I love Rick too, and would never leave him by his lonesome. Hell it breaks my heart seeing him so torn up in season three right now.
Azrael Blood: No thank you for the review, I love hearing from you.
Texas Bobcat: Here's another chapter for you, hope you like it.
Savannah's Angels: I'm glad you found it too, I enjoy your support.