"What're ya' doin'?" Daryl's voice cut through the chatter, causing a domino effect of chaos.
Amy shrieked, dropping her outdoor wilderness book and waking the snoozing Braden on her chest. Michonne pulled out her katana, knocking over Andre's block tower. Jamie dropped down hard from the low branch she was sitting on and Billy dropped an irate Emma who started to cry. Even the dog in harness attached to the blonde's belt loops let out a little yip. The redneck looked at the damage he caused but was still too curious about what they were doing in the woods.
He had been watching for a while, seeing the older kids easily scaling branches while Emma threw a fit when she couldn't lift herself to follow. Billy tried to help but everytime he lifted her, she laughed at being tickled. Andre got bored after only five minutes of being outside, wanting toys. The women gossiped about rabbit stew of all things.
"Teaching the younger ones to climb a tree." Michonne answered since Amy had her hands full of fussy baby and whiny Emma. Andre went right back to playing with his blocks.
"Out here?" Daryl demanded, getting annoyed at them playing around. "Don' they got toys out at camp?"
"We needed lower branches for Emma." Amy hissed, standing up with Braden chewing on her shirt. Jamie scowled at the man, rubbing her head. "They aren't playing, we are showing them what to do if we get separated."
"How's that gonna help? Girl can't even pull herself up." Daryl was intrigued, he had not thought of climbing trees to get away from the dead before. Mostly because he could handle himself but for these kids it was a good idea.
"Well, We are kind of hoping she'll be with one of the others." The blonde sighed a little wary at the very thought of any of these kids sharing a fate with Sophia. She pulled a reusable applesauce pack from her bag before turning to Braden with an excited smile. "Mmm, Applesauce baby!"
What came out was orange and slightly lumpy making Daryl turn to her in question. It was Michonne that smirked at him with an eyebrow raised. "It's C-A-R-R-O-T-S. He'll eat anything as long as you say applesauce."
"Smart." Daryl nodded long, his eyes turning back to the blonde busy doling out snacks for all the kids. They shared a bottle of water along with pears and goldfish. He started to squirm awkwardly under Michonne's stare, it was like the woman was trying to read his soul.
"Hey, I've got a question." Amy was suddenly coming towards him with a handful of folding tactical knives like the ones he saw in the back of the humvee. The children sat back on the tree, enjoying their snacks while talking quietly, except the oldest. Jamie was playing with her own knife, opening and closing it to try and do it as fast a possible. "I was talking to the kids about leaving marks on a tree to find a way back or lead us to them if they got lost. You got any ideas?"
"Most people use tacks." He grunted looking away from her to the children. "Won' really notice if ya just carve a check into a tree randomly, takes time ta' make it noticeable for you."
"Tacks?" Michonne asked curiously, picking up a fussy Andre who was just done with nature for the day. "Like cork board tacks?"
"Ya."
When he didn't elaborate and continued looking around the trees, like he was getting antsy Amy smiled gratefully. "Thanks Daryl. I'll be one the look out for some for their bug out bags next time I go on a run. Just one more quick question…when did you get your first knife?"
He actually looks up surprised at that before quinting at her curiously. "Couldn' 'ave been older than the lil' girl when Merle gave me a huntin' knife, why?"
"Oh, well." Amy huffed out an awkward laugh, glancing between Daryl and the kids who were finishing the last of the goldfish and were probably ready to get back to camp. She leaned in a little closer to speak quietly, absently running her fingers over Braden's curls. "It's just I let Jamie keep a knife and Billy is terribly jealous. Emma can't even open and close one without help so she's mostly okay with me holding on to hers for her."
"Let 'im carry around that slingshot in camp." Daryl nodded towards the boy's wrist before smirking down at her. "Broke a lot more windows with the old one I made than any knife. Don' know why you're asking me."
"Well, if you haven't noticed, she avoids talking to most people at camp." Michonne grinned, white perfect teeth flashing.
"Ugh, Well, let me break it down for you. Glenn hasn't handled anything sharper than a pizza cutter, Dale would probably want to debate the ethics of it, Shane would wonder why I haven't given him the knife because it's technically a weapon, and Jim would wonder aloud if he should have given his sons a weapon." Amy sighed a little sadly, looking down at Emma who was tugging at her shirt.
"Can you carry me?" The little girl mumbled against the blonde's legs, opening her eyes extra wide.
"It's not that far." Amy protested firmly but the girl's eyes did look sleepy. How was it possible that she was so filled with energy just a few minutes ago? With a little groan she handed Michonne the extra wrap baby carrier she had on her so she could keep her hands free before lifting the five year old up on her hip. The older woman already had her toddler safely secured to herself by the time Amy stood up straight. "How did you do that?!"
"I'm a ninja." Michonne replied with such a dry tone that Daryl actually laughed at the scandalized look on the blonde's face.
"Didn' look that hard." Daryl guffawed when both women turned to glare at him in sync. It still took Amy almost five minutes to get Braden secured to her chest while Michonne was like a machine. "What about Merle?"
"What about him?" Amy snapped, still seriously jealous of her friend's wrapping skills. Jamie and Billy wandered over to them with the little boy latching onto her belt loop. Was it really a month ago that she was childfree?
"Wha would he have said if ya asked him about your boy having a knife?"
"I get a knife too?" Billy exclaimed excitedly, giving his sister a smug grin.
"Yes, when we get back to the RV we'll talk." Amy smiled at the boy before glaring at Daryl's surprised face. What was next? Would he tell Braden the truth about his applesauce? "As for Merle he would make a joke about his junk and how he was born a man or something. The women would all have too many opinions to even bother except Carol. She would run from me like I was offering her a knife."
"Ya know her ol' man." Daryl started out, not really to defend the woman but to justify her odd responses.
"We see Ed." Michonne said stonily, leading the way back to camp. It wasn't all that far into the trees. "I left Mike and Terry behind, they'll never find me. I should have done it sooner but the end of the world has some benefits."
"We've all seen what's going on." Amy agreed but shook her head, nodding to the children discreetly.
"What benefits?"
"No, child support or shared custody." Michonne grinned smugly, laughing at the looks on their faces.
"Weren't you a lawyer?"
Amy was inside with napping children trying to put together bug out bags for their little group when she heard a heavy THUD against her door. It definitely wasn't a knock so when she peaked out and saw Daryl staring at her door like it owed him money, she was a little concerned. Michonne had the older kids out practicing their slingshots while she stayed with the youngest three in the RV. Cautiously opening the door, she looked to Daryl with a raised brow before looking down.
It was four dead rabbits hooked grotesquely to a rope.
"Said you wanted stew." Daryl states harshly like she's the odd one for being confused at the dead animals on her outdoor rug.
"Thank you…" Amy slowly bent down to pick up the dirty rope a bit squeamishly. "uhh…I don't know anything about skinning animals…like I have a book but I'm not too sure about what identifying all the organs, and it warns like a millions times-"
She stops when the rabbits are ripped from her hands and he starts to walk away. Rude. What the fuck? Amy knows she has a hard time thinking clearly around that dirty redneck but she thought she was doing O.K.
"Ya comin'?"
What followed was probably the most painfully awkward twenty minutes of her life. Not only was she not good at butchering small animals, Daryl Dixon had a very negative effect on her brain. She probably looked like a dumb blonde just watching his hands move in smooth, sure movements. In fact, he seems more interested in the video baby monitor than the animals in his hands. Can he actually skin and clean game without looking?
"How did you learn to hunt?" Amy psyched herself up after watching him skin three of the rabbits and moving onto his rope of squirrels. Her knife slowly made the first cut like he showed her.
"Gotta eat."
"Oh…what was your first?" The blonde noticed that he was starting to pile his squirrels but still keeping an eye on her single rabbit that still had all its soft fur.
"'Coon." Great, one word responses, he never looked up at her though. She could do this! Holding the adorable, tasty fuzz monster by its legs she was ready. "Hind legs."
Yes, Amy could do this, pulling at fur her mind shut off. Moving mechanically and responding to Daryl grunted instructions and hand motions. Her mind was not there for the next fifteen minutes it took to clean that rabbit.
"What are you doing?" Billy's voice cut in through the haze with her hand in the small chest cavity.
"Teaching her ta clean your dinner." Drawled Daryl, taking the rabbit from her hands with a frown. "'S good work."
Then he was gone with his squirrels leaving the rabbits on the table already butchered and two children looking at the rabbits in horror. Michonne was grinning at her, wide and toothy but she couldn't open her mouth because at that moment they could hear Emma and Andre yelling into the baby monitor. How?
She was weird. Daryl Dixon bit his cuticle as he watched the camp from his place outside his tent. Merle was making plans, stupid plans, which would most likely be fucked because his dipshit brother was either high on somthing hard or scrambled from coming down. They had been further into the woods when the caravan originally set up camp but Daryl found them right away. Bunch of city folks that could barely set their own tents, let alone live off the land.
The younger blonde sister was different, he had not even noticed her until she threatened to break Merle's knee caps when he grabbed her ass. After that it was hard not to keep seeing her flounce in and out of camp, building things, and just the look on her face anytime someone who wasn't her sister tried to talk to her was better than T.V. While all the others were playing like this was summer camp, the blonde was getting things done.
When she brought all those kids with her his brother sucked his teeth saying her bleeding heart would be what got her killed. While he agreed somewhat, watching as she mothered her four little foundlings, melted something in him. Amy was trying to teach them to survive, always around camp with some book or another pointing out plants to those kids like they would remember. The only way to learn was to get out there and do it for themselves.
"Hey." Daryl was not startled by her soft voice. He froze just a moment before looking up at her kind blue eyes. She had the younger two with her, the baby almost always strapped to her chest with the little girl gripping a piece of paper in her hand.
"Yah." He grunted before he turned back to the fire, not noticing the bowl of soup until it was unceremoniously shoved under his nose. It smelled good, nice and thick with lots of vegetables. Daryl took it with a nod, but they still didn't leave.
"Emma worked really hard to make you something."
The piece of paper was shoved at him quickly before the girl scurried back behind Amy's legs, peaking shyly. It was mostly scribbles with her name written in big blocky letters. The scribbles kinda looked like cartoon rabbits with their big teeth and ears. He could feel his ears burn, not knowing how to respond to the blonde trio. Amy was giving him a pointed look, nodding her head down to the little girl like she was trying to tell him something.
"Thanks."
"What do you say Emma?"
"You are welcome." Emma nods proudly, still clutching onto Amy's belt loops.
"Well, this was just a thank you for teaching me to…" Amy paused, glancing down at the little girl before smiling brightly at him. "Make stew. There's plenty more in my RV if you want seconds."
Then they were off, trotting back to her little campsite where she was welcomed with eager hugs like she had been gone for days rather than minutes. It didn't make any sense, how the girl adapted to being a mom so quickly. One day she was running all over the county, bringing back trailers full of supplies the next she was a regular Betty homemaker. The rabbit stew was good, hearty and filling and he was just about to take up the offer for seconds when his brother showed up, looking smug.
"Where you get that?" Merle demanded, taking a long deep breath through his nose. "Couldn' be the main camp, Olive Oyl burns water."
"Amy." He almost regrets it when he says her name because his brother has that look in his eyes again. Merle had been cutting down the last few weeks but all that's left in his bag is the hard stuff. So, putting off detox has just been getting harder and harder. It was a real possibility his brother would OD on something in his mystery bag.
"Mmhmm." The older Dixon hummed with closed eyes. "Them sisters is something else…and why did ya get stew when I know Olive over there is servin' sketti rings?"
"Nothin'." Daryl snapped before slurping the last of the soup. Now set in just off rinsing it off in the quarry to get away. "Just being nice, you know that girl don' know how to mind her own."
"Just don' be gettin' any ideas." Merle relaxed into his seat with his eyes closed. "Gonna be hitting the road any day now. Just need ta make a trip."