Chapter 10

Notes: I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has given this story (and its prequels) traffic, I really, really appreciate it!

Charlotte launched herself at Pete from behind and plunged her knife into his leg, aiming for his femoral artery. Pete let out a yell as Gavin clamped down on his wrist with his vice like jaws, forcing him to drop the knife.

With a bellow, he brought his fist down hard as he could onto the top of the dog's head, knocking the senses out of him and forcing him to let go before turning on Charlotte.

"Tried to hit my artery didn't you, you little bitch? Well too bad for you, because you missed. But that isn't the first time you've tried that and missed, is it?" He said as he pulled her knife out of his leg and advanced on her.

"Maybe I shouldn't kill you, maybe I'll gouge your other eye out, make you live totally blind in this world." He said as he advanced on her.

Suddenly, the metallic click of a gun being cocked rang into the silence of the dark room, Pete wheeled around to see Daryl standing holding his bandaged side, and pointing his revolver, the one he had taken off that guy they had found in the tent while they were looking for Sophia so many years ago right at his head.

Without flinching, without even blinking, Daryl pulled the trigger, the shot rang out into the silence of the night, Charlotte shielded her face from the spray of blood and brain matter as Pete crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"What'd I tell ya, huh?! Touch her again and I'd kill ya, didn't I? You piece of shit!" Daryl raged at Pete's corpse as he kicked it several times.

"Oh Christ… Daryl … you've gone and done it, now. This asshole was their doctor what are we gonna tell them?!" Charlotte said as she ran her hands through her hair.

"Fuck all these pansy ass sumbitches! I'm gonna tell em the truth! That he was a good for nothing piece of shit!" Daryl said, still seething as he paced back and forth like an angry animal.

Suddenly, Rick, Michonne and Carl burst into the infirmary, scaring them both.

"Oh, shit!" Michonne cursed at the scene before her.

"I know, tell me about it." Charlotte said as she ran her hand over her face.

"He had it comin', Rick, you know the good for nothin' bastard had it COMIN'!" Daryl bellowed, still holding onto his side and grimacing as the adrenaline left him and the pain from his exertion set in.

"Deanna's not gonna see it that way." Michonne whispered to Rick.

"I know." Rick said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Rick, this is very serious, I thought I made it clear that killing a living person was not to be tolerated inside these walls, and that the behavior of your people was your responsibility?" Deanna said to Rick, Charlotte, and Daryl first thing the next morning.

"Pete was out of control, he threatened me, and he would have killed Daryl if I hadn't been there to stop him, and he was going to kill me if Daryl hadn't shot him." Charlotte said, willing herself to be patient, this woman and the people who lived in her town weren't like them, they didn't know what it took to survive.

"Is that what I am supposed to say to Jessie and her boys?" Deanna quipped.

"Then let me talk to them." Charlotte replied, holding the older woman's gaze.

Deanna stared back at Charlotte, thinking it over. "Okay, against my better judgement, I will allow that." She said with a sigh as they all stood.

"Consider it my punishment." Charlotte replied.

"I will be honest with you, the only reason why I am not kicking all of you out is because apparently, you all have made your friends here, and a lot of people in this community vouched for you. I suggest you thank them." Deanna said as Spencer walked them out.

"Just so you know, one of those people was me." Spencer whispered to them as he opened the door for them.

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"Charlotte …!" Jessie said as she opened the door.

"Jessie … hi … I was wondering, might I come in?" Charlotte said as she cleared her throat uncomfortably.

Jessie nodded and stepped back and motioned for her to enter.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Jessie asked as she headed toward the kitchen.

Just as Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, Ron came in from the kitchen with Sam following close behind.

"You!" he said, his voice and expression full of hate.

"Now Ron, please! ..." Jessie began.

"No, mom! This stupid bitch and her jerk off boyfriend murdered our dad!"

"Ron, that's enough! I will NOT have you talk to people that way in this house! You get yourself up to your room NOW! I will be up to deal with you as soon as I am done here!" Jessie said, her face reddening in mortification at her son's behavior.

Ron gave Jessie and Charlotte a murderous look as he grabbed his brother's hand.

"Come on, Sam." He said, but Sam jerked his hand out of his brother's grasp.

"No, Ron! I'm ... I'm glad Charlotte and Daryl did what they did! Dad was a bad person, he was hurting mom, and you, and me!" Sam said as he dashed toward Charlotte and hugged her tightly around the middle.

"Thank you." He said as he looked up at her with shimmering eyes.

"Uhhhh … sure." Charlotte said she patted him awkwardly on the head, this almost had her wishing he had been mad at her too.

Sam released her and bounded up the stairs after his brother, it wasn't until Jessie heard both doors slam that they began to talk.

"Look, I just wanted to come and apologize you know … for the way things went down." Charlotte said as they exited the house and sat on the porch swing outside.

"Pete wasn't always abusive, you know, at first it was only when he was mad, or tired from pulling a double shift at the hospital, or having a bad time at work, like if he lost someone. I was blind, then I found out I was pregnant …. Twice. It was such a blessing, because I was told that I would probably never be able to have children, and I wanted them so badly. Pete was wonderful through both pregnancies and it gave me hope that maybe the kids coming along would make things better … I was stupid, and delusional, and blinded by love." Jessie said as she paused to wipe her eyes before continuing.

"Then, the world went to shit, everything happened so fast, all I remember is Pete racing in, telling us what was going on, and he had Denise with him." Jessie said as she paused to wipe her eyes.

"We were on the road for a while, then, Spencer found us, learned that Denise was a resident and that Pete was a surgeon, and asked us to come live in their community. We had two small boys, life on the road was getting tougher as things got worse, and that's how we ended up here." Jessie finished.

Charlotte milled over her story as she took out a pack of Kools she had found on one of their supply runs and lit one, then, after a moment of thinking, offered one to Jessie. The poor woman looked like she could use a smoke, to her surprise, Jessie obliged.

"You know, I quit right before all this happened? Bad timing, huh?" She said with a laugh as she took a deep drag.

Charlotte chuckled. "Same here."

"Son of a bitch!" Negan said as he beat the ground with his bat, Lucile.

"That fucking redneck and his one-eyed floosy have been a thorn in my side from day one! Now they've gone and killed my inside source to that fucking place!" he growled, his face crimson with rage.

"Boss, the wolves are getting restless, what do you want me to tell them?"

Negan smiled cruelly. "Tell them to sit on that place for now, the last thing I heard, half of the group was going out on a huge supply run soon, that means most of their best people will be away. That's when we'll move."

It had been three weeks since the incident with Pete had happened, and everyone, even Deanna seemed to have put it behind them and moved on.

"Where'd Daryl get off to so early this morning?" Rick asked when he didn't see his archer friend at breakfast that morning.

"I don't know, but we were up about the same time, and when I asked him, I was promptly told to 'mind my own fucking business'." Abraham said with a chuckle.

"Well, he took one of the cars, so it wasn't a hunting trip." Glenn quipped.

Suddenly, Charlotte noticed that all eyes were on her, as if they expected her to have the answer.

"Don't look at me, I had night watch last night, remember? He was gone by the time I got home." She said.

Concern suddenly clouded Rick's eyes, it wasn't like Daryl to up just run off in a car without telling even Charlotte where he was going and the pessimist in him just couldn't help but worry that something had either come up ... or had gone wrong. His gaze met Charlotte's and his concerns were verified, because her expression of concern and worry mirrored his.

"Excuse me, I need to speak to Deanna about something." Charlotte said as she abruptly left the table, leaving the others of the group to exchange confused looks.

"Charlotte, hello, what can I do for you?" Deanna said as she invited her in, if she was still sore at her and Daryl about what happened with Pete, she didn't show it. That woman sure had one hell of a poker face.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to do that little shindig we had talked about, we never did get to put it on with … everything that happened." Charlotte said as she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.

"Do you still want to provide the entertainment?" Deanna asked as they sat down in the squishy recliners in her living room.

"Yes … but … I still need a drummer." Charlotte said.

"Ahhh yes, you were going to ask Ron." Deanna said

"Yeah … but he doesn't want anything to do with me, which I understand completely, but I think it's best if we keep our distance from each other, at least for now." Charlotte said as Spencer walked in.

"Spencer! Perfect timing! You played in the marching band in high school and college, do you think you can still do it?" Deanna asked.

"Sure, yeah, I mean I might need a week or two to practice, you know, to get back into it." He said.

Charlotte grinned. "Perfect, we can practice together, I haven't touched a guitar in months, and I am sure I'll be rusty, too."

"Great, name the time and place." Spencer replied.

"How about my garage, bout … eight tonight?" She offered.

"I'll be there." He replied.

"Still not back?" Rick said as he joined Charlotte where she had been keeping a vigil at the front gate since after her practice with Spencer after dinner.

"I won't lie, law man, I'm worried. It's not like him to just … up and leave without telling at least you, or me. He took a vehicle, so I know he didn't go on a hunting trip … I don't know I just …" she trailed off as a lump formed in her throat.

"He wasn't acting right either, you know? This past week he's been really … distant and secretive." She said, her voice cracking with despair as tears welled up in her eye.

Rick pursed his lips together, in his experience (especially with having a friend like Shane), when men grew distant and secretive, it usually meant they had someone else on the side.

The thought of Daryl doing that to Charlotte put a really bad taste in his mouth, he just couldn't imagine his friend doing something like that. But, it was the end of the world, and it wasn't like societal rules and guidelines mattered anymore anyway; though, come to think of it, he couldn't imagine that Daryl ever followed them to begin with.

He put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder as he gave her what he hoped was a convincing smile.

"I am sure everything's fine, Charlotte. Daryl always has his reasons for doing what he does, and they always make sense in the end." He offered.

Charlotte looked at him shrewdly and he knew that she saw right through his ruse.

"Thanks." She said as Maggie walked up to them.

"Whoops, guess it my turn for tower watch tonight, catch ya later, law man." She said as she bid them ado.

"What was that all about?" Maggie said as she watched her go.

Rick blew out a ragged breath. "Daryl … he just upped and left early this morning, he took a car and didn't tell anyone, not even Charlotte where he was going and he's been really … distant and secretive to everyone … even her all week."

"You think he's cheating on her?" Maggie said.

Rick looked at her in amused surprise, woman's intuition … it would never ceased to amaze him. "That's what I am kind of afraid of. That's usually how men act when they … have one on the side." He replied.

"Look … this is Daryl we're talking about … our friend! I think we owe it to him to give him the benefit of the doubt." She said.

"You're right, I just wish he wouldn't do shit like this, it puts stress on all of us." Rick replied as he ran his hand through his greying hair.

"I am sure he had a really good reason." Maggie said with a shrug as she turned and headed for home.

"Daryl still not back yet?" Glenn asked as Maggie came through the door.

"Nope." Maggie said with a sigh.

"You think he's doing something bad." Glenn said.

"I don't know … I sure as hell hope not." She replied.

"Look, we've known Daryl for a long time, and he always has his reasons for doing the things that he does, even if they don't make sense to us." Glenn said as she joined him on the couch.

"Reasons aside, when you guys do shit like this, a woman's mind always jumps to the worst case scenario, we just can't help it." Maggie replied as Glenn put his arm around her and drew her in close against him and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I'm sure everything's fine, if anyone knows how to survive, it's Daryl." Glenn said, his words came out reassuring, but in all honesty, he was as stumped by Daryl's behavior as everyone else. He just hoped to god that whatever he was out doing had honorable intentions.