Author's note: Agh, such a short chapter forgive! _ But I've been fighting with this chapter all day literally. I had some many ideas on how I wanted things to happen, but they just didn't seem to work out. The Daryl fluffiness was supposed to be longer and the Rick fluff was suppose to be less cheesy! But argh! I wanted to get this out to you folks tonight like promised. And like always it's one O'clock here and my brain is on sappy dream mode. Plus daydreams of the McManus brothers are also partially to blame here. Anyway I promise next chapter will be better, though definitely not as fluffy or sappy as this one. -_-
On less ranting news, so far I got a lot of good feedback on writing a Boondock Saints story. So I'll have that out for you folks as soon as possible.
Question one: Is this chapter too sappy or cheesy? Cause if it is I'll rewrite it-have no problem doing that.
Question two: Daryl fluff-though barely there ya or nay?
Question three: Rick fluff for all you Rick fans ya or nay?
Question four: Mara's outburst-ya or nay?
Now I'm not going to promise to have the chapter out by tomorrow anymore. But I will promise to have next chapter out before Monday afternoon if I get enough at ten reviews by Sunday morning-cause honestly I could really use the feedback on this chapter.
~Cassandra
Disclaimer: Only a crazy person would believe they could own the awesomeness which is the Walking Dead.
Blood, fire, sweat and the overwhelming smell of the dead orchestrated with the sounds of dying cries and screams. It was everything Mara had saw in her strange vision/memory back in Atlanta and everything she feared. Her heart pounded in her chest as she frantically searched for anyone in need of help. But all she could see through the bloodshed was walkers. Everywhere Mara looked there was another walker for her to shoot down never anyone living. "It's going to be okay, Mara. It's going to be okay." Mara assured herself as she shot another walker, "This will all be over soon or the show won't have any characters to talk about."
From the side of her a loud roaring noise came. Mara glanced over to see a walker lunge at her. She froze watching in slowly motion as it came at her. Even if she tried to get away or shoot it would be too late to do anything. The damn thing was going to bite her no matter what happened. It was the end. Pop! The walker fell to the ground with a bullet hole in its a socket. Mara blinked confused her eyes meeting a pair of bright blue ones. Daryl Dixon. Daryl fucking Dixon saved her. She stared at him for a second more before nodding a thanks to him. He nodded back before turning to shoot another walker. Mara followed suite, but kept a reminder in the back of her head to thank Daryl properly later on. That is…if she were still alive. Though Mara had a good feeling she didn't need worry about having to watch her own back anymore.
Eventually the bloodbath like predicted came to an end leaving it survivors in an inexplicable silence. The only audible sounds heard being Carl's muffled cries into Rick's shoulder and Andrea's quiet sobs over her dead sister. Besides Mara, Glenn let out a frustrated yell. She glanced at him before heading towards the other. There were no words to explain how she felt at that moment. "Is everyone alright?" Mara asked.
"Yes, we're fine. Thank you." Lori croaked. Her right hand grasping on tighter to Rick's shirt. Mara felt her mouth dry at the sight. She bit her bottom lip forcing herself to look away. The jealousy was because she was alone. Nothing else. It couldn't be for anything other than that, Mara refused to let it be.
"What about you, Mar?" Rick choked, "You ain't bit or anything?"
"No. Almost but Daryl saved my ass back there." Mara smiled at Daryl, "Thanks for that by the way."
"Ain't nothin' Lil' bit." He replied looking away.
She let out a small laugh. Leave it to Daryl to be little the things he does. Poor man was just like Rick never taking credit for their own actions unless it was to be blamed for. Shaking her head, Mara stood on her tippy-toe and planted a small thank you kiss on his rough cheek. When man a saves a woman's life, she should always give him a thank you kiss. At least that's what Bryon always claimed. Though Mara supposed that if Bryon were here he'd tell her the rule didn't apply with her.
Daryl froze feeling Mara's soft lips against his cheek. He felt his body stiffen at the almost ghostly touch of them. They were so soft, so light and so strangely pure. It was unlike anything Daryl felt before. And he admittedly couldn't decide whether he liked it or hated it. All he knew was that as soon as they were there, they were gone. "It wasn't nothing. If you didn't shoot that walker, my situational unaware ass would be walker meat." She insisted, "So thank you."
His eyes met hers for a moment. Dark brown meeting blue in some strange understanding. She meant what she had said. Just like she meant what she had said earlier about him being a good man. He swallowed hard watching her move back next to the Grimes family. Suddenly he could everyone's eyes on them-judging them- judging him. A heavy silence of opinion filled the air. Daryl shifted awkwardly on his feet trying to think of what to do. He was never a people person. Hell he was never an anything person; he preferred to be on his versus anything else. Something he had feeling would no longer be possible with fucking Mara Grayson around.
"What are we going to do?" Lori spoke up breaking the silence.
"Nothing for right now. It's too dangerous to be moving around at night. Especially if we're going into uncharted territory." Rick replied.
"As much as I hate to say it, Rick's right." Shane agreed, "Who knows how many more of those motherfuckers are out there."
"Oh god." Carol gasped pulling her child closer to her. Sophia clung tightly to her mother fear evident in her eyes. The sight made Mara frown, she hated when kids were upset. She looked away to the Morales' family who children emulated the same expression as Sophia, then to Carl who was doing the same.
"We're going to be fine. Nothing is going happen with the men and I here." Mara assured, placing a caring hand on Carol's shoulder.
"How do you know that? How do you know we'll be alright?" Jacqui questioned urgently, "Do you see something? Like you did back in the city?"
At the mention of her visions both Glenn and T-Dog perked up. Soon Mara was being bombarded in a flood of questions, even she didn't know how to answer. Until the middle of today, she knew everything there was about this show having watched the first three and a half episodes. After that though she was supposed to lose it all and never have a never vision except for when she found some rare interesting fact written down in that damn notebook of hers. She froze at the thought. The notebook! How could she have forgotten about.
"Mierda!" Mara cried pushing past the crowding people. Without a second thought she ran to the remains of her once glorious Fort Kickass. Ripping through the bits of torn ponchos and broken logs, Mara dove head first into the ruins searching for her beloved rucksack. The rucksack had to be okay it was all she had left of her world. But even more importantly the notebook had to be intact. The damn thing was her only guide for of future disasters.
In the dark Mara could feel the rough cloth of her rucksack underneath her fingers. A cry of happiness nearly escaped her lips as she pulled the large clunking bag out of the debris. It was okay. Not even a drop of walker blood tainted its black brilliancy. Mara took a deep breath momentarily subsiding her relief to pull out the black notebook from inside. A sigh of relief escaped her . Swinging the rucksack over her shoulder, Mara stood up clutching the notebook with her small hands. "Mar, you alright?" Rick's voice asked.
Mara looked up, not at all surprised to see the officer standing in front of her. The man had a habit of chasing after her whenever he thought something was wrong. Almost like she was his third priority in life, which was understandable with him being a family man. Still Mara had to admit it did made her feel slightly special-if not a little better about her lonely situation. "I'm fine. The ruck is fine and more importantly this notebook is fine." Mara replied, showing him.
He gave her a confused look, but nodded. Mara laughed gleefully flipping the pages out it carelessly. "I knew the visions were going to end Rick," Mara explained, "So while you were out taking care of that bicycle corpse, I wrote everything I saw down in this notebook. It holds bits of our future. If something else bad is going to happen, it has to be in here."
Rick stared at her. His blue eyes searching the young woman's brightened face. In all honesty Rick wasn't sure what to make of all this. Did he believe Mara could see the future? Yes he did without a doubt anymore. But the real question was…did he believe in being able to changing it if you knew what was going to happen? It was almost like a catch 22 to him. If he did and they tried to change something then would the alter outcome be worse? Or would it be worth saving someone's life in the end or finding somewhere to safe to stay? "Put the notebook away, Mar." Rick ordered softly, "Something powerful like that should remain between a few people."
"Why? Don't you trust everyone?" Mara asked. It was a dumb questioning seeing how she actually agreed with him about hiding it. God only knew what would happen if Shane read about….about…. Mara furrowed her brows trying to remember just what exactly would be so bad if Shane found it. She searched her brain, but only came up with a blank slate.
"No. It's not that all-I just think it might scare some people like Carol or Lori-" Rick said.
His words fell onto deaf ears though as Mara unabashedly opened the notebook. Unwillingly his eyes drifted down the forbidden pages. However the only thing he could see was the red and blue lines of the paper. No words. No drawings or anything. He looked back up at Mara curious. Vaguely he wondered if she written in invisible ink or something to keep the information safe. But one look at her face told him it wasn't so. Her hands began to shake along with the notebook. "It's blank." Mara muttered.
Rick nodded reaching out to take the notebook from her. "You sure this is the right one, Mar?"
"Of course I am! I'm not that useless" Mara snapped.
Rick stared at her somewhat shocked by her outburst. She looked down her dark brown eyes refusing to meet his. Shame and embarrassment filled her rapidly red coloring face. There was something more behind her outburst besides the notebook turning empty. He just knew it by looking at. The emotion on her face was the same one Rick saw back in Atlanta when interrogating Miguel. The same one he wanted to know so desperately know about. "Zane's inscription inside." Mara mumbled, "It's not a fake and I only have one notebook."
"I'm sure there's some explanation for it, Mar." Rick reassured.
Mara shook her head mournfully. "It's blank just like my mind is. I can't remember anything, Rick. I can't remember anything my brothers told me about this show-I'm a no go. Just like everyone said I was. I am a fucking useless no go." Her eyes met his for a second. "My father was right about me."
His blood froze at her words. Her confession was something Rick had been desperately trying to pry from her. And while it didn't tell everything about the issues between Mara and her father, it certainly was a big puzzle piece. A big painful puzzle piece Rick wanted nothing more than to erase from her somehow. He reached out to cup her chin. Seeing her defeated like this was something Rick couldn't stand. It wasn't like her. It wasn't like his Mara. "Mara, I'm going to tell you this once and once only-and I want you to remember it whenever you think you're useless-"
"Don't." Mara hissed pushing herself away from him, "Don't you dare tell me how I saved your life. Cause it's utter bullshit and I'm tired of hearing it. I'm tired of hearing everyone say I saved them. It's fucking lie! I didn't do nothing. I'm just some fucking OC who can't do anything right. Just ask my father, he'll tell you. I'm useless-"
Rick slapped her. She froze, her dark brown eyes staring at him in shock. He hadn't it her hard, but the mere fact Rick hit here was enough to bring her to sense. "You done?" Rick asked impatiently.
Mara punched him. Unlike Rick though, Mara didn't bother to hold back. He blinked the look on his face matching the one that was on hers moment ago. She wiped her hands on her jeans. "Yeah, I'm done now." Mara said almost embarrassingly.
A small smile flickered on Rick's face. If anyone else had punched him, he would have been pissed. But when Mara did slap him, it was almost reassuring to Rick. It meant the Mara he knew and loved was back. He moved his jaw. The ache wasn't nothing big. Small in reality compared to what it would be like if Shane hit him. "I must admit, you have quite a right hook there for someone so small." Rick joke.
Mara frowned looking down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean punch you-honest I didn't. I just reacted."
"It's alright, I think your punch did more damage to you than me anyway." Rick smiled taking her hand. He raised it up catching sight of the bruises beginning to form on her knuckles. Subconsciously he ran his thumb gently over them strangely captivated by them. His mouth went dry with a desire he couldn't quite place. All Rick knew was that he suddenly wanted to kiss each bruise on Mara's hand.
He let go of her hand, turning away to look at his wife-the woman he promised his love to for eternity. However unlike when he looked at Mara, Lori didn't return her gaze. She was too caught up in something Shane was telling her. It only made his mouth go dryer this time in jealous and shame rather than desire.
"I'm okay now, Rick. You should go back to Lori. I'm sure she could use some comforting from her husband right now." Mara suggested.
He shook his head turning back to Mara. "Lori will be fine. You and I though, we need to talk about this whole vision thing."
Thanks for all the amazing reviews! I love hearing what you say. It really makes my day.
Thanks to PeaceLoveUnicorn94, Emma, shreba, Hope and Love, Anon, Guest 22, Guest, Texas Bobcat, GyspyWitchBaby, CapnJen, Paper Grenade and ScornedxRose for reviewing last week's chapter! I won't lie I am tired as heck, so I am only going to answer a few reviewer today. But I promise I'll get to everyone next time.
Guest 22: Lol you made my night with your review as always! I hope this meets up with your expectation. As for book writing that's something I'm working on, but haven't gotten too far yet. I'll tell you though if I ever finish something I write.
PeaceLoveUnicorn94: While I would love for this to be a three way relationship, I don't think Rick or Daryl like sharing. *pouts* Though the thought has crossed my mind. However I feel like Mara be shared would kind of make her like Lori-even if it is consensual.
CapnJen: I fully accept initiation into the McManus cult.
Texas Bobcat: I hope her small kiss with Daryl is enough to hold you over for now. I come clean with you though, Rick almost kissed Mara instead of slapping, but I felt it was a little too soon for them. Since to me, he's still struggling to try and hang out to his marriage.
Paper Grenade: Thanks for answering all my question. You have no idea how much I appreciate them/