Chapter 6

Notes: Now, given the mid-season finale was last night, this will all be 'by the seat of my pants' stuff until February when TWD returns again (WHY, AMC, why so long?) not that my story really followed the show, anyway LOL. But it does take inspiration from it, so I just thought I'd put it out there.

Charlotte was suddenly aware of the feeling of a warm, strong embrace enveloping her, something she had felt many times when she was out there, alone. Even after she had teamed up with Mel and Nick, she was still alone, without him she was always alone.

She awoke fully and opened her eyes and the bedroom of a house came into focus, still bathed in shadow, meaning it must not even be dawn yet.

She suddenly remembered the meeting they had with Deanna first thing in the morning, before breakfast. The last thing she wanted to be was late, but the strong arms that held her had other ideas, they tightened their grip and pulled her close.

"Where'd you think you're goin?" Daryl's hot breath hissed into her ear.

"I have a meeting with Deanna this morning, and I don't want to be late.

"She can wait." He growled into her ear as he nuzzled the valley between her collarbone and shoulder, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her body, and electricity to zing to every nerve ending. She twisted in his arms to face him and their lips crashed together.

Oh, god how he had missed her, he had stayed awake for more than an hour after she had fallen asleep, just watching her and thinking about how he was the luckiest bastard on the planet. This series of events that had brought her back to him had him seriously contemplating that there might actually be some sort of supreme deity up there somewhere and he had silently thanked them, whoever, or whatever they were.

"We … really should get …. Going." Charlotte said, her sentence coming out as more of a gasp of arousal as Daryl, now atop, plundered her neck once more.

"Mmmm." He acknowledged that he had heard her, but he made no effort to stop as he breathed in deep the subtle lavender scent that was uniquely her. She could feel the manifestation of his desire throbbing against her bare thigh. In one move, she hooked her legs around his waist and thrust her hips forward.

Both of them gasped with pleasure as he entered her and with an almost animalistic growl, he began thrusting with wild, reckless abandon. The pleasure was almost unbearable as she threw her arms around his neck and drew him in closer as she matched his rhythm thrust for thrust.

"Oh … Daryl …. Oh god!" She ground out into his ear through gritted teeth as her orgasm hit her like a train. Just hearing her say his name in the throes of passion was enough to send him over the edge as well he screwed his eyes shut and the cords in his neck stood out as he climaxed.

They laid there for what seemed like a fortnight, composing themselves, it didn't matter how many times they made love, it always felt like the first time, every time.

"I am sorry, Daryl, but I really have to get ready now, because now, thanks to you, I am going to be late." Charlotte said as she exorcised herself from their embrace and headed to the bathroom. A devilish grin crossed Daryl's face as he followed her.

"Daryl, really, it's going to look like shit if I'm late!" She said, not really meaning it as he stepped into the shower and embraced her from behind.

"What?! I have to get goin, too and I can't wait for you to finish!" He said as he reached in front of her and grabbed the soap.

"I just figured we'd have a little fun, since we both have to get clean anyways." He said lathered his hands up with soap and ran his hands sensually down every contour of her body. Once he was finished, she ducked under the showerhead, relishing the feeling of finally having hot water.

"Now it's your turn." She said with a catlike grin as she ran her hands sensually down the length of his body. Another growl escaped him as he made to pull her close, but she stepped out of his reach.

"No way, mister, this time I get to do the touching." She said with a cutesy grin, he screwed his eyes shut as his desire grew with every pass her hands made over his body.

"Looks like someone is ready for round two already." She said as she wrapped her small, dainty hand around his cock and began to stroke at a painfully agonizing pace. Daryl's hand suddenly shot forward, gripped her around the back of the neck and pulled her into a raw, passionate kiss.

"I love you, you know that? That whole time you were gone? When I thought you were dead, it was hell. I don' EVER want to live without you again, I couldn't, it'd kill me." He said as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

Tears brimmed Charlotte's eye as she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him sweetly and sensually.

"I love you too, Daryl, you know that I do, when I lost you, it was like a piece of me had been lost, too. But I really have to get going, I'm sorry." She said as she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel.

"It's open!" Deanna said to the knock on the door.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I overslept." Charlotte said apologetically as Deanna motioned for her to choose a seat in the living room of the grand house. Deanna smiled pleasantly at her, if she had suspicions on the real reason for her tardiness, she didn't let on to them; true to her form as a politician, she had a damn good poker face.

"That's quite alright, I can't imagine you got much sleep being out there on your own for so long with no protection and no safe place." Deanna said as she poured them both some hot tea.

"Forgive me, but I have already heard so much about you from Rick and the others that I feel like I know you already. I can see now why your nickname is 'Pirate girl' though I have to confess, I was a little nervous the first time I heard Michonne call you that." Deanna said with a chuckle.

Charlotte laughed. "Yeah, It was actually Daryl who started calling me that, because of my patch, and my one eye. At first I hated it, but it kind of stuck."

"How did you lose your eye?" Deanna asked. Charlotte stopped and looked at the older woman for a moment, the teacup half way to her lips. Emotions clouded her eyes and a shadow fell over her features.

"Long time ago, back when all this first started, my sister and I were ambushed by another group, one of them tried to rape her, and I tried to stop it, and he tried to kill me, that's how I got this." She said emotionlessly as she pointed to her ruined eye.

"My sister, who was an ER trauma care nurse tried to stitch it as best as she could, but the only thing we had was fishing line, so that's why it looks the way it does." Charlotte finished as she sat back against the couch and concentrated on the contents of her teacup.

Deanna's look of compassion, and empathy was genuine as she sat her cup down on its saucer on the coffee table between them.

"Does it …. Hurt?" Deanna asked hesitantly, Charlotte could tell she was embarrassed for asking, but couldn't stop the urge to satisfy her curiosity.

"Sometimes, on cold days, or when the weather's fixin' to change." Charlotte replied with a friendly smile toward the older woman.

They sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence until Deanna spoke.

"Ah! I almost forgot, do you have any particular skills, or attributes?"

"Well, I don't know about skills, but I did do a lot of watch duty, and I have been told I was one of the best 'in ant outers' as Glenn put it." Charlotte said with a laugh. "My brother was a motorcycle mechanic, so he did teach me a few things, plus skills I learned along the way." She added.

"Very well, then." Deanna chuckled. "I am sure we can find something for you. Since Rick was your group leader, I will trust him to put you where you will be most useful. Before you do, though, I want you to stop by Pete and Jessie's. Pete is our resident Doctor, and I like all newcomers to get checked out by him before they start going out there." She said.

Given her past …. Experience with doctors, Charlotte seriously considered requesting to decline, but she knew it would be futile. Deanna made the rules here, and she had no choice but to follow them.

"Uh … Jessie? Jessie Anderson?" Charlotte said when a woman of about thirty with fine, shoulder length blonde hair answered the door, she tried not to recoil at the sight of Charlotte's face, but she didn't quite manage it.

"I am sorry if this is a bad time, but I am here to see your husband … I guess? The town doctor?" she said as she rubbed the back of her neck, this was becoming very awkward very fast.

The woman named Jessie brightened. "Oh! Yes! You must be the new girl! I am so sorry, where are my manners, please come in, Pete is waiting for you in the sitting room." She said as she opened the door and gestured for her to enter.

"Ah! You must be Charlotte! Please, sit." He said as he gestured to a stool in the middle of the room.

Doctor Pete did all the customary things a doctor does when giving someone a once-over; he checked her pulse, looked into her eye, her ears, down her throat, tested her reflexes, and finally, stopped to examine her ruined eye.

She mentally cursed, and to think, she had started to hope he would just leave it, since there was nothing he could do for it anyway.

"The stitching job was remarkably … good … considering the material, what did they use, twine?" He asked as he lifted the patch and shone his light on the blank socket that was once her eye.

"It was fishing line, actually." Charlotte corrected, Pete stopped and looked at her.

"Really? Well, now I am impressed." He said as he allowed her to pull her patch back down over her eye.

"I suppose you already know this, but you are very lucky to have survived such a terrible injury without any infection or bone death. Whoever sewed you up knew what they were doing, and that's probably what saved your life." He said.

Tears welled up in Charlotte's eye as she thought of her sister.

"Well, we're done here, as far as I can tell, you seem to be fit as a fiddle." He said as he smiled at her. Charlotte smiled back, but she couldn't shake the creepy vibe she was getting from the Doc, something was off about him, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Say, aren't you the one who cuts hair?" Charlotte asked Jessie on her way out.

"Yes! Why would you like a trim?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty long now, and I wanted to get it back to the way it was." She said as she gestured to her now shoulder length hair.

"Okay …" Jessie said as she opened a spiral notebook. "How does Wednesday sound?"

Wednesday sounds great." Charlotte said with a smile as she bid them goodbye.

"Hey there, law man." Charlotte said as she fell in step next to Rick.

"I will admit, I've missed that nickname." Rick said with a chuckle.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, Daryl, Aaron, and Chase were going scouting today, but I am sure they would rather have you along, well I know Daryl would. If you hurry, you might be able to catch them before they leave." Rick said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Hey! Room for one more?" Charlotte said as she jogged up to Daryl, Aaron and Chase.

"Room? Fuck, with you we don't need this sumbitch here." Daryl said as he jabbed his thumb at Chase.

"Hey …!" Chase said, Charlotte had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter at the thief's indignant expression.

"Come on, let's get goin, we're burnin' daylight." Daryl said as he put his arm around Charlotte's shoulders and the three of them walked to their car.

"what's the plan for today?" Charlotte asked.

"We're gonna see if we can try to clear that distribution center." Daryl said.

"Oh, boy, this outta be fun." Charlotte said as she sat back against the seat. In the rear view mirror, she could see Aaron's worried expression.

"Don't worry, man, we won't let you be walker chow." She said as she twisted around in her seat and patted his knee reassuringly.

"Uh … thanks." Aaron said hesitantly as he forced a smile as the car came to a stop jiust down the road from the distribution center.

"We have to somehow get a vantage point without them seeing us." Charlotte said, more to herself than her companions as she got out and scoured the surrounding tree line for something, anything, but all the trees were pines, too straight and tall to climb with specialized equipment, which she didn't have.

"Maybe if we hike up the hillside there, I bet we could see the whole place from up there." Aaron said as he pointed to the surrounding hills.

"Great idea, dude." Let's go." Charlotte said as she clapped Aaron on the back, causing a hitch in his breathing from the impact, the little woman has some strength to her.

"Crap!" Charlotte cursed as they got up high enough to see there were a lot more walkers in the fence than they previously thought.

"Look, there is a gate at the front of this place, I say we open it, use the car to lure them far enough out, than double back and close it, that's our best bet I think." She said.

"Hey, hey, come on! Over here, you ugly bitches! Fresh meat right here!" Charlotte said as she trotted along the fence line, raking the handle of her machete on the chain link as she went. Soon she had the whole herd, hundreds strong following her; their rotted teeth gnashing and drool oozing from their decayed mouths.

"Ready?" She called to Daryl, who gave her a thumbs up from behind the wheel, the gate was locked, but nothing a quick jimmy with her trusty crowbar couldn't fix, the decayed, rusted lock broke easily. Charlotte swung the gates open and made a break for the car.

The herd of walkers filed out in hot pursuit, just like they had planned, every once and a while, Charlotte would hang out the window so they could smell her when they started to look like they were losing interest.

"Fifteen miles should be enough, then we'll take the first turn around up ahead." Daryl said, the trip seemed to take an eternity, mostly because they were forced to go at a snail's pace to keep the walkers interested, but at long last, they reached fifteen miles, Daryl hit the accelerator and made sure the herd was out of sight before taking the next turn around.

"It's getting' dark, we're gonna have to spend the night in there, we'll check the fences to make sure everything is secure." Daryl said.

Charlotte was disappointed at not being able to take a hot shower and sleep in their comfortable bed tonight, but she knew he was right, it was just too dangerous to travel at night anymore.

Luckily for them, the fence was secure, either someone had left the gate to the place open, or … the walker herd was put there as a deterrent to keep people away. They found the distribution center to be locked up tight, so there was little chance there were walkers inside, but they banged on the open door and waited, just in case. When nothing emerged, Daryl concluded that it was safe, and they entered.

"Wow look at this place!" Aaron said as he wondered the entire warehouse in a trance, the place was completely untouched, there were household items, clothes, and food items stacked in crates to the ceiling.

From the woods beyond the warehouse, two men watched with binoculars.

"Did they take the bait?" A voice crackled over their radios.

"Like coons into a trap, boss. What do you want us to do?"

"Take em out." Came the reply.

Notes: Whoa! Hey! Sorry nuther cliffhanger, I know, I am terrible. Sorry for all of the fluff in this chapter, but I figured they had earned it, you know?