Chapter 37
"Who'll run for the gate?" Rick asked after they had made their way through the first fence.
"I'll do it. I'm the fastest." Glenn volunteered, much to Maggie's dismay.
"Are you crazy? That's a damn suicide run."
"She's right. I can't ask you to do that." Rick agreed with Maggie. "Daryl, Bay, Hershel and Dale, you are our best shots, so Daryl, take Bay and go back to the first tower, take them out from there and cover me. Hershel and Dale, you go up this tower and do the same. The rest of you, spread out along the fence, make some noise, put them down through the fence." Rick instructed before sighing deeply. "I'll run for the gate." he said, not sounding overly excited about it.
They all grabbed their weapons and assumed their positions. Daryl smiled at Bay while he got his crossbow ready to fire up on the watchtower. "Who knew that me teaching ya how to aim and shoot would pay off one day, huh?"
"Yeah." she replied curtly without even sparing a glance at him, making Daryl frown. He hated when she was in a bad mood and lately she'd been in a bad mood pretty much constantly. It made him want to spank the sass out of her. However, he wasn't able to focus on that right now. They had a job to do.
"Alright, there he goes." Daryl muttered when Lori slid the gate open and Rick took off running. They focused and started shooting the walkers that were closing in on Rick, careful not to shoot their fellow group member. Bay kept thinking that those silencers sure have come in handy a lot by now. They've had so many run-ins with walkers, it wasn't even funny, but they had all survived. All of them had had to get their fighting and shooting skills up. Even Beth, Carol and Sophia were managing the walkers pretty well by now. Sophia and Carl, especially, were really good at shooting and had sometimes been their lifesavers from afar.
"He's in." Bay said more to herself when she witnessed Rick entering the third watchtower.
Daryl nodded and switched over to using a rifle, because he was out of bolts, before he cupped his hand to the side of his mouth and yelled out to everybody else. "Light it up!"
Together they took out the rest of the walkers. It had been child's play, almost. Bay took it as a sign of how well the group was working together by now. They had overcome petty personal differences and were a real team, having each others backs and making sure that no one got left behind. It had most certainly paid off, in the past and especially today. They had been able to do what had looked to be damn near impossible from the outside. Even Daryl was astonished by how well it had worked. They had really managed to take the field before the sun even started setting. He was pretty damn elated by it. Before they walked down the stairs of the watch tower, he grabbed Bay by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a quick, hard kiss. "Great shootin', baby girl."
"Thanks." She couldn't help but smile in that moment. They had successfully taken the first step to securing their new and more permanent shelter. Everybody was smiling, and Daryl was even happily squeezing Lori's shoulder when he walked past her. Bay grinned, which turned into a full laugh, when she saw Daryl do a victorious fist-pump in the air. It reminded her of the younger and more carefree Daryl had used to be. Her hope was, that maybe now things would slowly return to normal, and that they would get to relax a little for once.
Unfortunately for Bay, her hopes got smashed pretty quickly. As soon as they had started building a fire, Daryl had walked over to that old bus that laid on its side by the gate, and had started keeping watch. Sure, she easily could have joined him, but whenever he kept watch, he wasn't much for talking or paying attention to her, and Bay didn't feel like sitting there, practically by herself, even with her partner by her side. So she took a seat by the fire in between Carl and Sophia, and nibbled on a bit of squirrel meat all the while shooting dark glances towards Daryl.
"You should bring him something." Carol held out a bowl with meat towards Bay, but the younger woman shook her head.
"If he's hungry he can come here and eat, like everybody else." Bay told her.
Carol watched Bay eat for a moment. She kind of understood where Bay was coming from, but she thought the pretty brunette was overreacting. Daryl was just trying to keep them all safe. Carol got up from the ground, took the bowl and walked over to Daryl, bringing him the food herself.
Daryl slung the crossbow around his shoulders when he saw her approach, then he reached for her hand and helped her up on the bus. "Thanks. Didn't have ta bring me nothin'." he said, even though he immediately stuffed his mouth with a couple of strips of meat.
"If I don't bring you anything you won't eat at all. You need to keep your strength up just like the rest of us." Carol said, wincing a little when she rotated her right shoulder a little.
"What's wrong?" Daryl asked when he noticed her discomfort.
"I think I pulled something when I stabbed a walker through the fence earlier."
"Come here." Daryl sucked his fingers clean and put the bowl down before motioning for her to come closer. He put his hands on her shoulder and gently massaged the aching area, making Carol briefly close her eyes.
"Oh you have got to be freaking kidding me!" Bay exclaimed when she witnessed the scene that was unfolding about a 100 feet away from them. The jealous streak, that always popped up when another woman even looked at Daryl for a second too long, was rearing its ugly head.
"What?" Sophia looked at Bay with wide eyes.
"Oh... ummm... you're right again. You win. Your turn." Bay said quickly. They were playing a game of 'I spy with my little eye' and Bay let Sophia win the whole time, because she wasn't able to focus on anything but Daryl.
The others saw what was happening as well. The men didn't think much of it and kind of shrugged it off, but the women looked at each other with their eyebrows raised.
"Maybe you should take him some water." Maggie suggested.
"Pfff... right..." Bay muttered darkly and took a last glance over to the bus, just in time to see Daryl stop his massage.
Daryl's intentions had been pure, but when he remembered that the others were able to see them and that his actions could be misinterpreted, he took his hands off of Carol's shoulders. He still remembered vividly how Bay had beat up Cassie, because she had been jealous, and he did not want Carol to suffer from Bay's wrath. Bay had always been stronger than she looked, and he was sure Carol would end up with broken bones. "We should get back." he told Carol, while he took a step back.
"It's pretty romantic." Carol smirked, making Daryl freeze and look at her warily. "I can go back and send Bay over. Some couple time might do you some good." Daryl started breathing again. For a second he had thought she might be coming on to him. That most certainly wouldn't have gone over well with his girlfriend. She might have actually resorted to murder this time.
He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes in question. "Why? She say somethin'?"
"She doesn't have to, does she?" Carol smiled sympathetically. "She misses you. And it doesn't look like she's doing very well with it." Daryl started chewing on his lip and averted his gaze, thinking about Carol's words. "It's dark. The fire's almost like candle light... You two could screw around a bit."
Daryl's head whipped up at that and he scoffed with a shake of his head. "Let's get back." he said again and made to climb down off of the bus. "I'll go down first."
"I'm sure Bay will appreciate that very much." Carol snickered, making the hunter halt in his tracks once more.
"Stop."
They climbed down, but before they walked back Daryl hesitated and cleared his throat. Carol turned around and watched him hem and haw for a moment, then she smiled. "I'll send her over." she told him and earned herself a grateful nod from Daryl.
Carol walked back to the group and smiled at Bay. "Daryl's asking for you."
Usually Bay would have liked to play hard to get, but right now, she couldn't wait to get out of there. "Thank God. Just in time." she got up quickly, making Hershel, Maggie and Beth laugh.
"What's that about?" Carol asked slightly amused while Bay was already on her way.
"Daddy asked me to sing. And Bay can't stand my voice." Beth explained with a laugh. "She likes deeper voices. Mine gives her a headache."
"Awww, that's kinda mean." Carol said, but Beth waved her off.
"She never told me when I was a little kid. She bravely suffered through all the songs I sang for years, before she spilled the beans about a year ago. No hard feelings." Beth smiled before she sang for her father.
Bay crossed her arms and walked around the bus. "What's up?" she asked casually and remained standing a bit away from him.
"Don't be that way." Daryl told her. "I ain't goin' for the bitch stuff. Ya know that."
"Sorry." Bay shrugged and looked at the ground where she was kicking at the dirt with the toe of her boot.
Daryl reached out and gripped her upper arm, pulling her closer. He grabbed her chin in his other hand and tilted her head up, kissing her surprisingly gentle. "Miss you." he rasped ever so quietly against her lips.
"You have a funny way of showing it."
"Bay..." he said warningly. "Was just keepin' ya safe, sweetheart. If those two idiots wanna risk their lives for a quick fuck, then that's their choice. Already lost ya once. I know what it's like, and so do you. You really mad at me for that?"
"No." Bay knew that he was right. She took a deep breath and when she exhaled, she tried to let go of the major part of her frustration and disappointment. She hated being this bitchy. She tried to catch herself and change her way of thinking every time, but sometimes she was unable to. Unfortunately she wasn't perfect. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. The past couple of months were so hard. We were together, but then again, we weren't. I missed you, even though you were right next to me at all times. It sucked."
"I know. Was the same for me, ya know? You don't see me throwin' a fit, do ya?"
"It never looked like you were suffering all that much."
"Just 'cause I don't show it, don't mean I wasn't sufferin' from that. Missed ya, too, baby girl." he kissed her again, a long, deep kiss that filled her body with warmth and finally made her uncross her arms in order to sneak her hands underneath his poncho, to rub across his back. "Would have loved to take ya further into the woods... put my fingers up inside of ya... make ya cum hard... Just wasn't the time. Had to be careful." Daryl slid the hand from her chin back into her hair and pulled roughly, making her breath hitch in her chest in excitement. They stared into each others eyes for a moment before Daryl slanted his mouth over hers and pushed his tongue inside, massaging hers passionately. Bay whimpered and sagged against him. She had never done hard drugs, but she imagined that the euphoria and that rush she felt at getting a real taste of him again after so long, had to be similar to what drug addicts experienced when they got a fix of their favorite drug. She groaned into his mouth when she felt a sharp slap against her left butt cheek. "Been wanting to do that for weeks." Daryl breathed against her lips. "Spank that damn foul mood right outta you. You been such a bad girl, Bay." he had to force himself to keep from grinning when he felt her shudder. He knew exactly how to push the right buttons. She had always turned into a highly aroused mess when he'd told her that she'd been a bad girl. He figured that it was that good, little Catholic inside of her, that had the fantasy of getting punished for her sins. She had told him something along those lines years ago, without going into too much detail.
He made her moan by giving her another light slap before he rubbed his hand over her butt and squeezed possessively. He felt her fingers dig into his back in response, and felt her kisses get more feverish. He backed her up against the underside of the bus, cradling the back of her head in his hand in order to protect her from banging it up against the dirty and rusty parts, while his other hand pushed underneath her black sweater. Daryl groaned quietly when he cupped her bra-covered breast in his hand and flicked her nipple with his thumb, making her whimper again. "Missed these... " he growled and massaged the soft globes for a moment, before he detected movement out of the corner of his eye. Rick was closing in on them while he checked the fences for any breeches. "Soon." Daryl promised while he nuzzled her nose while he slowly withdrew his hands from her body.
Bay inhaled deeply and rubbed her face, then she straightened her clothing, even though Daryl hadn't really messed anything up. Rick's eyes held a knowing look when he looked back and forth between the two while he approached, but he wasn't smirking as he had used to back on the farm. "We should all turn in. We have a big day tomorrow."
"How do you mean?" Bay asked.
"I think this place fell pretty early, which means their supplies might still be intact... Infirmary, commissary... armory... This place could be a goldmine." Rick explained what he had been thinking about in the past couple of hours.
"We're damn low on ammo, Rick. Ain't never gonna be able to put them all down like we did the ones out here in the field." Daryl remarked.
"I know. That's why we gotta go in. Hand-to-hand combat."
Bay's eyes widened. "Are you serious? That's a lot of risk to take."
"We can handle it. After everything we've been through these past four months, I know we can. We know how to handle those fuckers. I'll talk to the others in a minute, but thing is... we need all hands on deck. I need to know that you're in. Both of you."
"Nah." Daryl shook his head. "I'm in. But Bay ain't. It's too fucking risky, like she said."
"I need her, Daryl. All hands on deck. Otherwise it would be just you, Glenn and me. Maggie and Bay are the strongest women, physically." Rick said and addressed Bay directly. "You two know how to handle the walkers. So do the others, but like I said, you two are the strongest. I need you two women in on this. The five of us going in hand-to-hand will be our best chance to make this place ours."
"I'll go." Bay agreed to Rick's plan. She felt Daryl getting anxious next to her, and saw him pressing his lips together in a hard line, but he didn't say anything. However that didn't mean that he was okay with her decision.
"Thank you." Rick nodded gratefully. "You two turn in. I'll talk to the others and then I'll take watch over here." he said before he walked off towards the fire.
Bay watched him leave, lost in thought, so she was startled when she was, once again, yanked against Daryl's solid form. "Stupid, crazy girl. Ya wear your leather jacket, ya hear? I don't care how fucking sweaty you get, I don't wanna hear any excuses. If you gotta go do this, then you wear that damn jacket and cover your body the best you can. Got it?"
"I promise." Bay said with all the sincerity she was able to muster. "Come on. Let's sleep."
"Incoming!" Bay yelled when two walkers in riot gear came walking out of a gate and spotted them. "Daryl, let go of me!" she angrily ripped her wrist out of his grasp. She knew he was acting on instinct, but having him grab her wrist to pull her back into formation after every walker kill, was not really helping anything. He tried shooting a bolt through the helmet of one of them, but it bounced right off of the visor.
"Fuck!" he cursed, while Rick pushed and kicked at the walkers, getting them to back off and buy the group some time. The other walkers in the yard started to notice them, so Rick quickly ran towards the gate and shut it, before more were able to pour out into the yard they were in the process of ridding of the undead. Suddenly two more riot gear walkers came out of the door right next to them, which they had already checked and deemed clear, and headed straight for Maggie.
"Hey! Hey! Over here!" Bay immediately yelled and tried to get the walkers away from Maggie while she recovered from the mild shock of being startled. Glenn and Daryl were trying to handle the other two, but they weren't really making progress with them. Only one of them reacted to Bay and advanced on her, while the other was close to Maggie. Doing some quick thinking, Maggie jammed her knife up through the walker's jaw, finally resolving the helmet issue.
"Did you see that?" she looked at Bay with wide eyes.
"Yep." Bay, who was still backing up, nodded and copied Maggie's neat little trick, driving the blade of her knife into the spot between chin and Adam's apple, until the walker crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Her knife got stuck a little, so she stepped on the helmet with one foot and gave a quick yank. Her knife slid free with a disgusting squelching sound and some dark walker blood flying around. At the beginning she had used to shudder and make a face at all the mess, but by now it was just an everyday occurrence she didn't even bat an eye at anymore.
Daryl and Glenn used Maggie's move as well, only that Daryl pushed the walker's head forward and drove the knife into the back of the neck and up into the brain, but it was still effective. When their walkers dropped to the ground and Rick rejoined them, they finally caught their breath and looked around.
Glenn spoke up first. "Looks secure."
"No." Rick immediately shook his head.
"He's right." Daryl agreed with Rick. "See that over there? That's a civilian. Means that the inside could be overrun with walkers from the outside the prison."
"What are we gonna do? If there's walls down... we can't rebuilt them." Glenn's hope deflated noticeably.
"We gotta make sure. We can't risk any blind spots. We have to go inside." Rick said and led the way towards the entrance to Cell block C, while the rest of the group waited outside the fence, wondering what was going on.
Daryl and Rick only had to kill two walkers in the cells of the cell block. The rest had already been taken care of, presumably by the guards when shit had hit the fan.
Glenn ran back outside and got the others and help carry their stuff in, while Rick, Daryl, Maggie and Bay got the bodies out of the cells and piled them up in a corner, so they could drag them outside and burn them later.
Lori, Carol, Beth and the others still looked a little sceptically at their new surroundings, but Hershel and Dale had smiles on their faces.
"It's secure?" Dale asked Rick who was just coming down the stairs, while Bay and Daryl were watching from upstairs with their forearms resting on the banister.
"This cellblock is." Rick told them.
Hershel nodded. "Good. What about the rest of the prison?"
"We'll work on that. Tomorrow we'll go look for the infirmary and cafeteria." the group leader said. "Daryl and I each have a set of keys. Found them one some guards... Everybody pick a cell." he said, ignoring Lori who was reaching out to him with a smile to say thank you. It was painfully awkward, but everybody acted like they hadn't seen it so Lori wouldn't be too embarrassed.
"How about this one?" Bay asked Daryl and pointed at the last cell. "Most private. Nobody will have to pass that on their way down or to their cells."
"Ain't sleepin' in no cage. I'll take the perch." Daryl's statement made Bay's eyebrows shoot up.
"Oh, so you never want to have sex again, then?" She asked him, her voice lowered so the others wouldn't hear.
That gave Daryl pause. He pursed his lips while he thought about it. "Ain't sleepin' in no cage, Bay. We can use this cell for our things and for bein' alone, but I ain't sleepin' in it. I can put a mattress or two out here, right in front of the cell, but I ain't goin' to sleep in there."
"Fine. Let's get to it. I just wanna lay down. Even those crappy, thin mattresses look like heaven right now."
"I'll say." Daryl chuckled. They took the two mattresses out of the adjacent cell next to theirs and put them on the ground right in front of their cell. It would be their "public" bed. Inside their cell they put the two mattresses from those beds on the ground and used the beds as shelves for their things. This would be their "sexy time" bed/walk-in closet.
Before Daryl was able to walk out of the cell to lay down outside, Bay grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Let's clean ourselves up a little. You're such a mess." She said with a tired smile.
Daryl knew that cleanliness had always been important to Bay, and that she was having a hard time with their general state of being filthy these days, so he didn't argue. "Yeah. You look disgusting yourself." he told her with a smirk, successfully making her laugh and swat at his chest.
"Sit down." she told him and took off the leather jacket he had made her wear. Then she freed her hair from the tight bun he had also ordered her to wear, so no walker would be able to grab her by her long hair. Usually he let her do her own thing, but in this place, they knew it was overflowing with walkers, and if she had to be a part of the "suicide squad" then he wanted to know that she was as safe as she could be. Bay breathed a sigh of relief when her hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back, and the tight feeling on her scalp disappeared. While Daryl sat down on the lower bunk, Bay dug through her backpack and retrieved the pack of wet wipes, so they could get rid of at least some of the gunk they had gotten on them earlier. They were wet wipes meant for cleaning computer and tv screens, but in these times, they had to take what they could get.
Bay sat next to Daryl and gently took hold of his wrist to pull his arm closer to her. Tenderly she wiped his arm down, removing the biggest blood stains from his skin. Daryl bit his lip and watched her. It didn't show, but he enjoyed her being sweet and caring with him a lot. Always had. It made him feel cherished and important. They haven't had a moment like this since the farm. It felt like it had been another eternity, so both of them quietly soaked up the atmosphere of the moment. When Daryl's left arm was as clean as it would get, Bay lifted it up and ran her fingers along his skin, inspecting every inch.
"What are you doing?" Daryl asked.
"I just want to make extra sure..." her voice was soft and breaking, making Daryl's eyes snap to hers. Bay had tears in her eyes, and Daryl slowly pulled his arm out of her grasp.
"Bay..." he murmured her name softly, making her look at him. "I'm fine. We're fine. We did it."
"We're not done. Not by a long shot." Hot tears spilled out of her eyes without her being able to control it. They were all exhausted. Emotionally and physically, and this was the first time they were safe to take the time and let it all out. The doors were locked. Nothing was coming in without Daryl or Rick unlocking them. While the gates of the building were closed, Bays emotional gates burst wide open forcefully.
"We're gonna be alright. We can handle some tough shit." Daryl said while he grasped the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. When their lips touched, Bay felt everything bubbling up to the surface. She pulled her lips from his and climbed on his lap, locking her ankles behind his butt and her arms behind his neck, clinging to him like a little spider monkey clings to a tree, holding on for dear life. She hid her face in his neck and let her emotions overwhelm her. Daryl held her tight, rubbing his hand over her back in slow, soothing circles while she sobbed quietly. He kissed the side of her head, before he buried is face in her hair and just held her silently, letting the feeling of finally holding her close again, without having to watch out for any danger, fill him with warmth and affection.
"I'm sorry." Bay sobbed. "It's juts all the tension from the past months-" she tried to explain, but Daryl cut her off.
"Shhh... I know... " He held her for a long while, and only spoke up minutes after she had stopped crying. "Let's lay down and sleep. Fucking earned it."
"Yeah." Bay nodded, and for once she could care less about cleaning them up some more first. She climbed off his lap and guided him outside to their bed. Daryl laid down on his back, one arm up with the back of his hand resting on his forehead, the other arm cradling Bay to his side. Even though it was still morning, they were dead to the world within seconds.
"I love you." Daryl smiled when he woke up to those words coming from Bay's lips in a whisper.
With his eyes still closed he turned his head toward her and felt her lips press against his a second later. "Mmmm..." he quietly moaned his approval in the back of his throat. She put her hand to his cheek, rubbing her thumb along his scruff while she deepened the kiss. Both their lips parted and Daryl swept his tongue through her mouth, before he pulled back again. "Love ya, too." he murmured and pressed his lips back to hers for another kiss. "Feel better?"
"Mhm." Bay nodded, already nibbling on his lips again. They languidly made out for a little bit, before Daryl finally fully opened his eyes and took a look around. It was noticeably darker in the prison, and a glance at the sky through the windows that were up high in the wall told him, that dusk was falling.
"Better get some light goin' in here." he told Bay, and stretched out his tired and sore limbs.
"And some dinner." Bay added and followed suit when he got up.
The group only stayed up to have some dinner, then they went back to their cells to rest some more. Their bodies needed it, especially since they would have another big day tomorrow.
"Good thinking with the spray can, Glenn." Bay praised the young Asian man when he sprayed another arrow on the wall, so they wouldn't get lost on their way back. "This thing is a maze." It was true. Even Daryl, who had a superb sense of direction, wouldn't know which way to run if push came to shove. It was just corridor after corridor with the same gray walls.
Maggie, Bay, Rick, Glenn and Daryl were on their mission to find the warden's office or the cafeteria or the infirmary or the armory. Something useful that would indicate how much supplies and weapons were left inside the prison or at a location nearby, as Rick assumed. So far things had gone well, maybe a bit too well for their liking. They simply weren't used to things being easy anymore, and every time something went off without a hitch, it left them with a feeling of dread. Anxiety was thick in the air. On top of it being a maze, it was also very dark down there. All they had was flashlights. Bay had always found that unnerving. Whenever she turned on a light, she preferred to be able to see everything in front of her. This little spot of light drove her insane, because with it came the fear of suddenly shining it right into the face of a walker she hadn't seen previously. However, just like everyone else, she shut up and swallowed everything down, and kept pushing forward with the group.
They turned right into a new corridors full of cells. The smell of death got stronger, which wasn't surprising with rotting and half-eaten corpses on the ground in front of the open cells. They carefully checked out the cells one by one, checking for walkers. Bay almost dropped her flashlight when Maggie suddenly yelped loudly. Everybody turned towards her, weapons raised, but quickly relaxed again, when they realized that she had just bumped into Glenn. They all took a second to breathe, then they kept going deeper into that dark, eerie maze. They took another right, and another, and another, with nothing but gnawed on corpses greeting them... until they took their next right, and they were greeted by a big group of walkers.
"Back! Back!" Rick and Daryl were shouting simultaneously. They turned around and ran back into the direction they came from, but suddenly, there was another group of walkers, that hadn't been there before.
"That's why I hate flashlights." Bay yelled while they ran into yet another direction, trying to get to safety. "Can't see shit."
There were walkers everywhere. They didn't have time to see where they were going, they just kept running and running, evading the undead as best as they could, until they came up to two big swinging doors. Rick pushed against them, but they didn't open all the way, but enough for him to see, that they were secured from the inside by a pair of handcuffs. Usually that would have given him pause, but in that moment he only wanted to get inside and get away from the walkers, because they were advancing quickly.
"Bolt cutters! Glenn!"
Glenn quickly handed them over, and Rick cut through the chain between the cuffs. The doors opened and they filed inside, before slamming the doors shut and having Daryl secure them with new chain.
"Holy shit! Where did they all come from? We checked those corridors." Maggie was panting, but before anyone was able to answer, they all heard the click of a gun being cocked a couple of feet away. They froze and Rick immediately remembered about the door having been secured from the inside.
"Easy!" they heard a male voice behind them and footsteps coming closer.
"We don't mean no harm!" Rick raised his hands in the air and slowly turned around to face the person, or maybe even several persons, who was having a gun trained on them. "We jus-" he didn't get any further than that.
"Ooohoohooooo... If it isn't Officer Friendly. Out of all the prisons in the country, you and your rag tag band of losers come walking into mine. Well ain't that somethin'?"
Daryl still had his back turned on the whole thing, but he shuddered nonetheless, because he would recognize that voice anywhere. With his eyes wide, he turned around and stepped around from behind Glenn and Maggie. "Merle..."
"Good to see you made it, baby brother." Merle looked at Daryl with a smile. He truly was happy that his little brother was still alive, but his happiness didn't last long, because Daryl was still running with Rick instead of having shot the asshole in the face to avenge his older brother.
Bay was frozen in her spot, more so since she had heard Daryl utter Merle's name, and she noticed the recognition pass over Daryl's features. And then even more, when she finally recognized the voice herself. It was Merle Dixon. In the flesh. This is not happening. No. Not Merle. Please God... You can't possibly be that cruel. I'll lose him again.
"Merle..." Daryl was still stunned. "How'd y-"
"Daryl?" Another incredulous voice entered the mix, and Daryl and the others finally realized, that Merle wasn't alone.
Daryl looked over Merle's shoulder, seeing another man, with a lean built and messy blond hair. He seemed familiar, but Daryl wasn't able to tell why. Not at first, but the penny soon dropped, and it almost sent Daryl staggering. "Pat?!"
A huge smile broke out on the other man's face and he lowered his gun and quickly walked over to Daryl, embracing the shell-shocked hunter in a big bear hug. "Holy crap, man! You got old, you little fucker!" Pat laughed and hugged Daryl tightly.
Daryl's mind was blown. He didn't really return the hug and he didn't say anything, because his mind was racing with a million questions while he stared at Merle, who had a smug smirk on his face.
"Alright love birds, as touching as this little reunion is, reign it in. There's some business to be done here." Merle said as his eyes swept over the other group members. He noticed that China Man had made it as well, and it looked like he'd gotten himself a pretty girlfriend in the past months. He glared daggers at Rick, before his gaze settled on the fifth member of Rick's group. The only one who still had her back turned. He assumed it was a woman due to her height and delicate built. He watched her with a frown, while Patrick released Daryl and told him that it was good to see him. "What's with her?" Merle waved his gun in her direction. "She pissin' herself or what?"
Daryl turned to look at what was going on, and suddenly he realized, that both, Merle and Pat, might be in for a huge shock.
With her back still turned, Bay reached up and pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting it tumble down once again, before she slowly turned around. "No, Merle. I am not pissing myself. You've never scared me before and you sure as hell don't scare me now." she said calmly, but with an unpleasant edge to it, while her expression was icy cold.
Pat and Merle looked at the woman with a frown, but then their eyes widened almost simultaneously.
Merle actually swallowed hard and slightly shook his head. "The hell...? You're dead."
"Yeah. You wish." Bay spat.
"Bayanne?" Pat's voice clearly expressed his shock. "You're... No... That can't be. How...?"
"Didn't jump off a bridge, that's how." Bay told him. She was still glaring at Merle, but when she took her eyes off of him and looked at Pat who was slowly coming closer, she couldn't help but smile. "Had an accident, lost my bag, was in a coma... long story. Wow, look at you. You look so good." she grinned a little, making Pat laugh.
He took her face in his hands and blinked away tears while he smiled at her. "Are you kidding? Look at you, girl. More beautiful than ever. Shit... how did you two...?" he waved around between Daryl, who was enjoying the show with a little smile on his face, and Bay. "Did you know she wasn't dead?" he turned confused eyes on Merle. "But if he knew, why didn't you know? Thought you and Daryl were together?"
"I didn't know." Daryl spoke up. "After Merle disappeared, we were driftin' around for a while. Got stuck on a highway. Lost a little girl. While we were out searching, Rick's son got shot. That's how we got to the farm, where Bay'd been livin' for the past 11 years. Thought I was going fuckin' insane when I saw it was really her. She was real close all that time. Outside Calhoun."
"Calhoun?" Pat's eyes snapped back to Bay's. "That close. Why the fuck didn't you call. We thought you were dead!"
"I didn't know that! I just wanted to stay away from Dalton because everything reminded me of Daryl." Bay defended herself.
"Look. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Merle is right." Rick cut them all off. "We have some other things to discuss right now."
"I'll say." Merle sneered. "For example we have to discuss how you ain't welcome in my prison." The sneer turned into a smug grin when he noticed Rick's lips pressing into a thin line. This was the moment Merle had been waiting for, for a long time.
Thank you for reading!
Dixon brothers reunited and it feels so... good? Probably not.
Thank you to everyone for having had so much patience. Glad to have you all still on board the "Baryl" ship.
Special thanks to the awesome and lovely reviewers:
DarylDixon'sLover
Nurse jean
L'ange maudit
Leyshla Gisel
lewis7
EastDenise
ArcheryLefty
wabi-sabi1090
mamareadstomuch2
snowbird
I'm a Nerd and Proud
butrrfly023
Teacup (love that name)
melsy4473