A/N: I wasn't super pleased with how the last chapter turned out, but I did write it at 2am sooo...I may rewrite it eventually. I didn't want to spend too much time on it because I wasn't really going to change too much to the story and didn't want to spend a lot of time just repeating the episode.
The next day my eyes felt terrible. They were tight and stuck shut. It took forever for me to open them and I spent a lot of time in the tiny bathroom putting a wet washcloth on them. I saw that Mom was still asleep. I left her there not knowing when she had actually fallen asleep. I opened the Rv door and stepped out onto the pavement. Everyone who was going through cars stopped and looked at me. No one said anything, but just stared as if they were waiting for me to break down.
I walked away from the Rv in the same direction that I had gone yesterday. I walked towards the same car Daryl and I had been going through yesterday. I slowly started going through the bags again pulling out clothes that I or one of the others could wear. As I shorted I thought about everything that had happened yesterday. First trying to get out of the CDC before the entire place blew up. Then driving back out of town and having to stop to consolidate gas. Finding out Jacqui had stayed back at the CDC.
Oh god, Jacqui! I had been so out of it yesterday that I hadn't even really realized that she was gone. Now it was obvious she must have stayed behind at the CDC. I can't believe that she had decided to stay. Life was a lot harder now, but it was still worth living. Finally the herd of walkers coming through and losing Sophia.
Oh Sophia. Things had finally started looking up and now she was missing. Sophia was just a sweet little girl I don't think she could survive out in the woods on her own. She had been so sheltered all her life. She was almost never allowed to leave the house except for school. Sometimes on my days off I would take her to the park, but that was it. Sophia had never really even watched TV. Between not getting the bill paid and Dad watching it there was hardly anytime for her to.
I had started tearing up thinking about losing Jacqui, but thinking about Sophia had me fully crying again. I held the shirt I was looking at to me as I tried to stop crying. Then there was a hand on my back. I turned and Daryl was standing there looking down at me. I turned all the way around and pressed myself into his chest. He kept his hand on my back and put the other in my hair as he cradled my head.
"Don' worry 'bout it. We'll find her." I sniffed loudly as he talked trying to calm down. "I was younger than her when I got lost in the woods. I was gone for nine days. Found plenty of berries, only problem was I wiped my ass with poison oak. Got back home made myself a sandwich and was no worse for wear other than my ass itchin' like crazy."
I looked up at him and he had a little half smile on his face. He looked slightly blurry in my vision, but I had stopped crying.
"Why are you smiling that's a horrible story." He frowned.
"I thought it would cheer ya up. Made Andrea laugh." He looked off and to the side and dropped his hand out of my hair. I smiled and took his face in my hands making him face me.
"Just spending time with me is making me feel better. And for the record hearing about you being in pain is not going to cheer me up. Although it was a little bit funny."
Daryl did his same little half smile again before putting his hand back in my hair. He leaned down and kissed me hard before tilting my head back. He opened his mouth and pushed his tongue against my lips. I had never kissed anyone before and didn't really know what to do. I opened my mouth and let Daryl do what he wanted; I figured that would be good enough. He wrapped his tongue around mine once before pulling it out and pulling his lips away from mine. I dropped my hands from his face to his sides and grabbed at his shirt. He leaned back in and kissed me once more before pulling away altogether.
"We'll go out and pick up Sophia's trail again today once your mom gets up." He pressed his forehead against mine and moved his hand from my hair to my cheek. "We'll find her you'll see."
"If we're just waiting on Mom I better wake her. She'll want to start looking as soon as possible and would hate it if we waited on her."
I dropped my arms from Daryl's shirt and walked back towards the Rv. As I passed I saw Glenn smirking back towards Daryl and I turned back to see why as I opened the Rv door. Daryl had walked up to Glenn and smacked him upside the head before shoving a finger in his face and threatening him with something. Glenn turned around went about his business as quick as he could. Daryl turned scowling back to the others cars and started to go through the stuff angrily shoving things around. I smiled. That was my Daryl.
I headed into the back room of the Rv and saw Mom was still sleeping. I shook her awake and smiled as she opened her eyes. She rubbed them before looking around. I think she had remembered what had happened and she started to tear up again.
"No, Sophia needs us to be strong. That means we go search the woods and find her. Crying isn't going to help."
Mom sat up and nodded. She wiped her eyes before leaning over and hugging me. I held onto her just as tight and and held back my tears. What I had said was true; crying wasn't going to do anything. I left Mom to get ready and went back out to see what the plan was.
Apparently we were going to head back to where Daryl and Rick had lost the trail last night and move on from there.
Mom came out of the Rv and Rick told everyone to grab one of the weapons Carl had found the day before. I got one of the knives which I thought was pretty much useless. If a walker got close enough to me that I would have to stab it I don't know if I would be able to. After everyone had one I saw Mom walking over to me and she looked worried.
"I want you to stay here."
"No! I need to go look for Sophia too." She looked at me sternly.
"If she finds her way back here one of us needs to be here for her." I was about to protest again when she continued. "I am not going to lose both of you in that woods. You will wait here in case Sophia comes back. You may be an adult, but I am still your mother."
I nodded and she looked relieved before she lent forward to hug me. As she walked away, I walked over to Daryl and held my knife out to him. He looked at it before looking up at me. He raised his eyebrow before lifting up the side of his shirt and pulling out his hunting knife.
"Mine's bigger." He then put the knife back in it's sheath. I rolled my eyes and he took my knife. "Why would I need this?"
"I'm waiting here for Sophia. I thought you might need an extra weapon."
He nodded before pulling me to the side around a car. Once we were partially out of sight he reached around behind him and pulled out a handgun. He then tucked it into the back of my pants and pulled my shirt over it. Daryl turned me to the side and looked at my back before turning me straight again.
"Don' tell anyone. Gun controls goin' around, but I ain't leavin' ya without a weapon."
"I won't be alone Dale and T-dog are staying to."
"Well I ain't. Ya take the gun and use it if ya need to." He kissed my hair before leading me back around the car.
Carl had joined the group of people going into the woods and he looked thrilled. I looked at Daryl and saw he still had the small knife I had given him. I tugged his arm and he looked down at me. I nodded toward Carl and he looked over at him before looking back at me. I then pulled at the knife and nodded again. He scratched his jaw before stepping forward.
"Hey Kid." Carl turned and looked at Daryl as he held out the knife. "If yer comin' ya better be able to help." Carl turned and looked back at his parents with wide, pleading eyes. Rick smiled and Lori looked terrified.
"You better be extra careful with that. That is not just some pocket knife." Carl nodded as he listened to his mother. "I mean it. If I see you playing with it I'll take it away." Carl turned back around and took the knife from Daryl's hand before smiling up at him.
"Thanks Daryl!" Daryl tousled his hair before coming back to stand in front of me.
Carl went back to his father and showed him the knife and I smiled. Rick reacted enthusiastically to the knife and it made me happy to see the two interact so well; especially since Rick had only recently returned. I wrapped my arms around Daryl's waist and hugged him. He put a hand on my back before pulling away and yelling at the group to head off. I watched them all move off into the woods before climbing on top of the Rv to keep watch with Dale.
After a couple hours I got down to fix the three of us something to eat. I pulled out a can of beans and sliced pears before putting them into three separate portions. I took one to Dale on the roof before moving around the Rv to give another to T-dog. I then went back inside to finish my lunch. After I was done I went to get the boys plates. After getting Dale's I went back around to get T-dog's.
I noticed that T-dog hadn't finished his food and looked at him confused. That's when I saw how bad he looked. His face was damp and looked paler than usually. I immediately put down the plates I was holding and pressed a hand to his face. It was burning up. Fever was much worse now than it had been it was the sign of the disease after a bite. I then saw his arm had a poorly made bandage on it. I quickly grabbed his arm and looked up at him
"What happened?" T-dog flexed his hand before he looked at me.
"I cut it on a car door. It wasn't a bite I promise."
"You still have a fever. Come lay down for a while."
I put out the cigarette he was smoking before leading him into the Rv. I made him lie down in the bed before getting a washcloth wet. I made sure it wouldn't drip too much before putting it on his forehead. T-dog sighed heavily from his spot on the bed and I quickly grabbed some aspirin. I then changed my mind and put it back. If he was still bleeding it wouldn't do any good to give him a blood thinner to try and help the fever. Instead I grabbed a lot of blankets and put them over him.
"It's way too hot for blankets." T-dog tried to push them off.
"I don't have any medicine to give you for the fever and this might help. We need to get your temperature back to normal." He stopped fighting and let me cover him up. I continued to sit him to try and help his fever. I would rinse out the washcloth and wipe off his face and let him rest. He fell asleep for a while and when he woke up he turned and smiled at me.
"Feeling better?" He shook his head, but kept smiling.
"Not really, but by the time I am I'm going to owe you as well as Daryl." I looked at him confused.
"Why do you owe Daryl?"
"When the geeks came through and I cut my arm he killed the one that was coming for me. Then he put the body over me and used another one to cover himself. The smell throws off the geeks. It was a smart move." So that's where Daryl had gone when he left me under the car. "He was helping me back to the Rv when we saw you take off and he went to stop you. He really cares about you. It's obvious, always has been." T-dog then closed his eyes and turned away from me.
I heard Dale saying something from outside and left to see what was going on. When I got out of the Rv I saw the group returning from the woods. I quickly ran to the guardrail and looked over the people walking up the hill. No Sophia. I sighed and looked down holding in tears.
"Lori's gone. Some girl rode up on a horse talkin' 'bout Carl bein' shot and Lori left with her." Daryl was shouting as he climbed over the guardrail. I followed him as he walked towards Dale.
"You let her?"
"I tried to stop her. What was I supposed to do? Drag her off the horse." Daryl put his crossbow back over his shoulder and put his hands on his hips. "Said we're supposed to meet them up the road at a farm with some doctor."
"Well we can't just leave! What about Sophia?" Mom looked around at everyone.
"I'll stay overnight. In the mornin' I can make a sign and leave some supplies for her." Daryl said.
"I'll stay too." I wasn't going to leave Sophia and I didn't want to leave without Daryl either.
"We can't keep splitting up. We'll all stay the night before going over in the morning." Dale said as I shook my head.
"No. T-dog is getting worse. If there's a doctor then he'll probably have antibiotics." Daryl looked at me before going over to Merle's motorcycle. He got into one of the saddlebags and pulled out a gallon bag of medicine bottles. He started to go through it before pulling out a bottle. He handed it to Glenn.
"It's doxycycline.. That's the good stuff too, not generic." Everyone looked at Daryl and he looked around. "What? Merle used to get the clap on occasion."
"That's good for now, but he needs medical attention. Glenn take Carol's car and drive him to the farm the rest of us will wait here." Dale's last suggestion was accepted.
Glenn looked upset, but agreed. I jogged to the Rv and went in to get T-dog. I went into the back room and shook him awake. I explained what was going on and helped him up. I walked him out to the car and gave him one of the blankets before watching them drive off down the highway. I felt a hand on my back and glanced to see Daryl before looking forward again.
"Come on." I let him lead me back to the Rv.
When we got inside I went back to the bedroom and said goodnight to Mom. I helped her lie down and tried to talk her into sleeping. It was hard because she was worried so worried about Sophia. I finally left her alone hoping she would sleep. When I left the bedroom I saw Daryl in the place he had been yesterday.
I got down on the floor and crawled up next to side. It was a tight to fit both of us in the small hallway, but I needed him to hold me. As I was wedged myself in Daryl shifted as if he was trying to move away from me. I finally laid down partially on top of him and looked up at his face. He was looking back down at me with his eyes narrowed.
"I know you don't like getting all cuddly, but I really just need you to hold me right now." He sighed and pulled his arms out from behind his head and held me. Daryl buried his head in my hair and pressed his face against my neck.
"Knew you were gonna be constantly gettin' up in my space." I could feel him smiling and it made me laugh. Daryl grabbed my face and kissed me hard. "Get some sleep." I rubbed my face into Daryl's chest as I closed my eyes.