Disclaimer- I do not own any parts of the Walking Dead.
Another short one but I am now ready to move on with the story.
I like this one so hopefully you do to.
Danny's POV
Another day and a half spent lying on this bed, bored out of my mind. The only times I was allowed up was to use the bathroom which was whole other embarrassing ordeal. Those times I did take Carol up on her offer, Daryl didn't need to deal with that no matter how many times he said it was fine. We need to keep some mystery in whatever is going on between us.
Daryl hasn't left my side in these two days, even with me assuring him I would be fine for a few hours. My fever is gone and against all odds Herschel has said that it looks like the infection has stopped spreading. He even thinks there is a small chance that it may be getting better although he can't say for sure. The pain is still bad, the worst, but I think I have a handle on it. Well the constant pain is what I can handle now but the sharp pains that happen every now and again, not so much. I still can't walk on it but I don't believe that will happen for a long time but considering three days ago they thought there was a chance I would die then I'd say I'm doing pretty good.
Daryl brought my bag up to me at some point , said he found it sticking out from under a car. I'm still mentally scolding myself for forgetting my emergency bag in an actual emergency, with my bag now back in my possession it shall never leave my side again.
I have my earbuds in listening to some music because he's looking likes he's asleep in that chair beside me. I mean I doubt he actually is but I'll quite happily leave him in peace if that's how he's getting some rest. Music is the only thing keeping me occupied because with Glenn and Merle gone I have no one else to talk to. No one else has even bothered to come and see me, except Carol for food and bathroom breaks but she never stays long enough for a proper long chat. Daryl's not much of a talker so despite me loving his company it is boring, which is a horrible thing to think but to be fair I think he'd agree with me.
The door suddenly swings open with more force than is necessary causing it to bang against the wall. The action has Daryl sitting up straight within seconds but it's fine, because it seems speaking of the devil seems to have made them appear. I pull out my earbuds as Merle comes sauntering in with Glenn right on his heels carrying a pair of crutches.
"Fuck you". Daryl leans back in his chair and scowls at the interruption. "Knock next time".
Merle ignores him and grins down at me, something I can't help but return. I'm so happy they're home.
"We brought ya these", he points at the crutches in Glenn's hands. "So ya can move 'round for when ya better... and only for when that happens". He puts a lot of emphasis on the word when.
"How'd you know it ain't better, you've been gone two days". I challenge him.
"Cause ya look like shit, less sweaty but shit all the same".
I hold my hand out to Glenn, "Give me that crutch".
Glenn starts to hand it over then hesitates, "Why?"
"Cause I'm going to shove it down his throat", I throw a glare at Merle, "so it comes out his arse so I can use him as a crutch".
Glenn withdraws his arm and smiles, the kind of smile where he wants to smile but knows he shouldn't, but Merle isn't paying him any mind.
"I'd like to see ya try squirt". He beckons me, "Come on get up, lets see ya try it".
My glare slips off my face and I smile at him, "I'm so happy you're back".
He grins and steps closer, putting his hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. "So am I. Ya are definitely lookin' better than before. Is the fever gone?"
Daryl doesn't give me a chance to answer him. He gets to his feet instantly. "I gotta talk to ya... outside". He then follows Merle out of the room leaving Glenn and I without a word. Well that's not suspicious at all, they are clearly about to speak about me which is extremely rude.
Glenn clears his throat and then comes round to take Daryl's vacated seat. "So, how are you doing? I'm assuming not good considering their secrecy". He jerks his head towards the closed door.
"My fevers gone and the infection isn't spreading, as far as Herschel can tell, but it's also not shrinking so not really good news, no... But I'm so glad you're back, finally someone else I can talk to".
"Well... apparently Daryl's been keeping the rest of the group away from you. That's what Merle said anyway".
"What, why?" That's ridiculous.
"I shouldn't be telling you this". He casts another quick glance at the door, this time looking rather nervous, but I don't care you can't say something like that and not elaborate.
"Tell me".
"They thought you where going to die, we all did. Not only did he want you to rest he also. I really shouldn't". I just stare at him. "He also wanted to have you all to himself for as long as he possibly could before, well you know".
I know Daryl wouldn't want me knowing this tiny bit of information. If I brought it up to him he'd just grunt and then completely ignore it.
I take in a nice deep breath, "Well I no longer feel like I'm dying so no matter how sweet he was being, you have to come and see me more before I go insane".
"Absolutely".
"Did the trip go okay?"
He shrugs, "Yeah, pretty uneventful actually. I think we got everything we were supposed to but," he shrugs, "I didn't know what any of it actually was".
"And, was Merle okay?" A part of me doesn't actually want to know the answer cause it'd make me angry at Merle if he wasn't.
"He was fine, don't worry."
"You promise", I'm not sure I believe him.
"Promise". The door opens and the Dixons walk back in and Glenn immediately gets to his feet. "I'll come see you later", and then with a parting smile he squeezes past the bodies by the door.
"You done being secretive?"
Merle chuckles. "Yeah, now I'm just trying to convince my dear ol' brother to go huntin'".
Daryl huffs, "You can hunt, you do it instead".
"Yeah but I ain't the one that's been cooped up inside for three days", Merle retorts back.
"Daryl", I interrupt anything that was going to come out of Daryl's mouth because there's no doubt that it would have caused an argument. "You should go. I'll be okay and you do need to go outside at some point. God knows I'm missing it so you must be to". It'd help ease my guilt about him being stuck in here if he would just go and spend a couple of hours out in the sun.
He opens his mouth but then closes it without saying a word, instead he just stares at me, eyes searching for something so I give him my best smile. Trying to reassure him.
Finally he nods, "Fine. But you have to stay exactly where you are". He then turns a pointed look onto Merle. "She stays in bed". I roll my eyes but let him have it because if it gets him out of the room then I can pretend he didn't just give me an order. Although it's not like I can actually walk anyway so I couldn't go anywhere even if I wanted to.
Merle scoffs. "She'll be fine, now fuck off". Daryl's mouth sits in a very thin line, he really isn't happy he's been ganged up on but he keeps it to himself. Instead he leans over me and places a kiss against my forehead, I believe that's the first kiss I've received since I got back. As soon as he disappears from sight Merle drops into his seat and grins.
"So what ya wanna do?"
...
Merle hung around for a good few hours before I made him leave to go and get some rest, he looked exhausted. An hour after he left Glenn reappeared fresh from his very own nap, he brought a pack of cards with him.
I am currently sat in the arm chair that Daryl has spent the last three days in. Glenn wasn't sold on the idea of me moving but I told him I'd get bed sores if I didn't and it's not like I'm asking to leave the room, it was just to move two feet into a comfy chair and I'm using the other one to keep my legs up and straight, bending it is a no no. Glenn is sat in my vacated spot on the bed, we're playing poker and just like I suspected Glenn really isn't good at lying.
The bedroom door is open which is how we notice the woman that walks past. She casts a glance at the man on the bed but it's a quick one, she doesn't even slow down. Glenn however keeps his eyes on the door even after she's long gone.
"What was that?"
His head snaps to me so fast I swear I hear it crack. "What? Nothing".
"Mmhm yep that was clearly nothing."
He hangs his head sheepishly, his cap hiding his eyes. "That's Maggie, Herschel's eldest daughter."
"And?" He's hiding something. He shakes his head once but I'm not giving in. "Come on tell me. There's obviously something going on between you if she's got you looking like a lost kid just by walking past the door".
"We had sex".
I choke on my own breath which causes my leg to twinge, my choking then turns into gasps of pain.
Glenn jumps to his feet, his arms flailing around me as he tries to workout how to help me. "Danny I'm so sorry".
It takes a minute or so but I finally get my breathing under control. "You did what". My voice comes out a little strained, both from the pain and from the utter bafflement.
"It was stupid I know. Don't look at me like that". I relax my face. "It happened when we went out on a run. There was some confusion and then the next thing I know she's saying we should have sex."
Finally I laugh, obviously I was shocked. It was the last thing I was expecting him to say but it doesn't matter to me what he does or who he does. In fact I'm happy for him, he deserves some happiness. "I'm assuming no one else knows about this?"
He shakes his pretty quickly. "No and no one can know about it."
I mime locking my lips with a key. "Secrets safe with me".
"Anyway, she's kind of ignoring me now so..."
"That bitch". How dare she do that to my friend.
He chuckles lightly. "She's okay, she's not a bad person I think she's just lost with everything going on."
"If you say so but if she hurts you, you come to me I'll knock her down a peg or two".
This time he full on laughs but I couldn't be any more serious if I tried. He's my friend, he's in the group of people you don't mess with.
"Oh I know you will. Thank you. I would offer the same for you if you know, Daryl ever hurts you but, well I'm not sure I would even come close to winning that one. But I suppose I can try". Some part of me actually wants to see how that would actually go.
There's a knock at the door but before I can say come in it's opening and a slightly sweatier Daryl walks in. He wasn't gone long at all but I guess anything's better than him being stuck in here for those four hours.
His eyes land straight on the bed, where I should be and then they land on me. He's squinting at me, clearly not happy with what he's found in here.
"That ain't where I left ya".
I look down at the chair I'm in before looking back at him with my eyes wide. "It isn't? Well that's news to me".
I can actually see him try and work out how to react. Anger or just let it go. After a tense few seconds he sighs. "Are you okay?"
"I am, painkillers are working and it feels nice to be out of bed." Never thought I'd say that. Three days ago I was dying for a bed and now I've kind of had enough of it. I just want to be back in our too small for three people tent. "Did you catch anything?"
He rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah nothin' big but enough to give everyone some meat for tomorrow". He clearly made his trip as short as he possibly could, makes a smile tug at my lips just thinking about it. He wanted to get back here, for me.
The shouting starts as background noise and slowly gets louder, louder to the point we can't ignore it anymore.
Glenn jumps up off the bed and opens the window, as soon as he does we recognise the voice, Merle. Daryl groans and races from the room. We can't hear what Merle is saying but whatever it is he sounds angry, and then I hear the other voice and it makes my blood boil. Shane. Of course they're arguing.
"Give me those". I point at the crutches. Glenn looks at them and then stares at me, his mouth slightly ajar.
"Uh no, they'll kill me if I let you walk out of here".
"And I'll kill you if you don't help me".
"I'm sorry, no. You ain't armed, he is".
I sigh, "Glenn please. I have to help".
"Seriously Danny I have to start saying no to you". He then, to my relief, grabs the crutches and holds them out for me.
It takes ages and in the end we realise there's no way I can hold myself up so I tuck one under my left arm to act as my left leg and I wrap my right arm around Glenn's neck. It hurts like hell, tears are pooling in my eyes but I can do this.
Finally, after taking agonising step after agonising step, we arrive down the stairs and out the back door. Revealing the tent set up and the cluster of people watching the brewing fight. Daryl is trying to interject, so is the Sheriff but they're both being ignored, Merle and Shane don't look too far off actually throwing punches at one another. We move down the steps.
"The fuck I am. It's our stuff and I'm handin' fuck all to ya". Merle growls at Shane.
"Ya part of this group and ya'll abide by our rules". Sometimes I just want to shoot Shane, and this is definitely one of those moments, I'm certain I wouldn't feel bad about it in the slightest. I've only just got here but it's clear what's wrong. Shane wants our stuff, including the gun I found.
"Fuck you! If I had my way I'd have taken the three of us outta here first chance we got".
"Then why didn't you. Ya ain't nothin' but trouble, and there ain't no room here for people who can't take orders".
Merle scoffs, in fact it verges on a snort. "So the fact that we've all risked our lives to help keep these people," he waves his arms around at the gathered group, "safe. Danny nearly fuckin' died savin' that little girl. And there still ain't room for us here?"
"Saved her? She put their lives in danger. Anybody else would have stopped her from runnin' off to begin with".
Daryl lunges forwards, pure hatred written all over his face. "You fuckin' bastard". The Sheriff jumps in between Daryl and Shane stopping the inevitable fight and Merle grabs his arms. If I could I would be running over there and putting myself between them, just like last time.
The Sheriff turns to Shane, his head tilted slightly trying to make Shane look at him. "Shane that's enough, leave it".
"No it's not." Shane clearly isn't listening. "You're thinkin' it, Lori's thinkin' it. If she hadn't been so reckless then Carl wouldn't have been shot".
The air feels like it's been punched out of me. The grip on the crutch loosens and it drops to the floor, Glenn's arm around me is the only thing keeping me upright. They lied to me, all of them.
I got Carl shot.
"You motherfucker". I hear the shout come from Merle but I can't see him. My head is going fuzzy the physical pain and the grief is overpowering me.
Hands latch onto my shoulders and squeeze tightly, I focus on Daryl as he stands before me. My head starts shaking, "No, no... Please". Please let it not be true, please let him be okay.
"Hey". He gives my shoulder the gentlest of shakes, "hey. Listen to me, he's okay. Ya hear me he's goin' to be alright".
"Whe... Where is he?" I have to see him.
The Sheriff appears beside me as he helps tuck the crutch back under my shaking arm. "He's okay. You can go and see him, he's constantly askin' after ya". That's all the invitation I need to hurriedly and painfully make my way to his room.
I force Glenn to stop just outside Carl's door. My heart drops at the sight of him lying in that bed knowing he's there because of my recklessness. Lori walks by me and moves into the room.
You can come in". She pulls the chair round for me to sit in but I ignore the invitation.
I shake my head, a lump forming in my throat. "No, no. I Don... This is my fault. I'm so sorry". Glenn tightens his arm around me as my body starts shaking.
Lori smiles softly, "It was an accident, It was not your fault no matter what any one else thinks or says. Ignore them and please sit".
Glenn doesn't give me much option because he moves forwards forcing me with him, I don't fight it because it'd be extremely painful if I did. As Lori helps Glenn lower me into the chair Carl smiles at me.
"I wanted to come and see you but mum said I wasn't allowed to". He pulls a face which causes Lori to tut jokingly. "Guess what", Carl grabs hold of the Sheriffs hat and places it on his head, it's way too big. "Dad let me have his hat. Isn't that cool".
"It suits you although your head needs to grow a couple of sizes". I reach out then hesitate. "Carl..."
He knocks the hat off and stops me. "I'm okay. Mum says I have to rest a couple more days then I can go back outside." Carl reaches out the rest of the way and grabs my hand in a surprisingly sweet gesture. "Thank you for looking out for Sophia".
I swallow all arguments and force on a smile. "You're welcome. Has she been keeping you company?"
"Yeah but now you're up you can join us". And as soon as he says that Sophia takes that as her cue to enter and jumps up onto the foot of the bed.
"Seeing as you are both bed bound I have plenty of activities to keep us busy". I hear the door close behind me as Sophia carries on talking about what we are doing first.
...
I wake up to a hand touching my shoulder, I open my eyes slowly not wanting to let go of sleep. The painkillers have worn off and I am definitely feeling it now. Daryl is crouched in front of me and when he sees I'm awake he puts a finger to his lips. I'm still in the chair and beside me, on the bed, Carl and Sophia are sound asleep.
We must have sat here for hours, playing games or just having Sophia chat away to the both of us. I didn't really have much to say as my guilt was silently eating me up inside and I didn't want to upset either one of them by getting upset as they both seemed so happy.
Daryl stands up and silently reaches for my arms, I'm glad because now I'm awake again this chair is not comfy at all. I wrap my arms around his neck and then he stands up straight, pulling me with him, I manage to bite my tongue so as not to wake the kids. He hands me my crutch and then he's half carrying me from the room.
The Sheriff is stood in the hallway when we emerge from the room. My guilt returns as I look at the man who nearly lost his son.
My fingers dig into Daryl's neck, "I want to leave". Daryl listens and starts to help me leave but the Sheriff side steps and blocks our way and Daryl seems fine with it, traitor.
The Sheriff tilts his head until I finally look at him. "Danny, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have found out like that, Shane was wrong and he shouldn't have said anything as it wasn't his place to tell you. Carl wanted to be the one".
"He got shot because I couldn't look after Sophia".
"No you did an amazing job helping her. If you hadn't been there she might not be here now." I just stare at him, I can't agree with him but it doesn't faze him. "What happened to Carl was a huntin' accident and the man who did it brought us here. Carl will be fine, in fact give it another day or so and he'll be up on his feet acting like it didn't happen. You understand me? It is not your fault". When I don't say anything he raises his eyebrows.
I concede, "Okay".
The Sheriff smiles. "Go and get some rest as I hear ya ain't actually supposed to be movin',". And with a parting smile he disappears into Carl's room.
I glare up at Daryl. "You knew he was going to stop me".
"I did, and ya had to listen to him".
I mumble, "Another secret, another lie".
He frowns but he knows I'm right, he's lied to me. I asked him who was hurt and he promised me it was just T-Dog.
"The kid was doin' fine, you weren't. I knew you'd blame ya-self and ya had to focus on ya own recovery, that was more important".
Not if he'd died.
"I need to go lie down". How I wish I could walk away, alone.
According to the internet the timeline from when Sophia runs from the highway to when Glenn spills the beans about the barn is only six days meaning that it's only four days from when Carl pulls through his surgery. Because I do not like how quickly he recovered from a near fatal shot to the stomach and because technically I've already messed up that timeline by having Danny and Sophia go missing for four days, I am going to change the timeline slightly. I'm going to make it about a week and a half, sorry if some of you don't agree with it.