Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead or any of it's characters, just my own OC's and the change in story.
Volkov666- Yep that was the idea. When I wrote Mason Dixon i was 100% making a ref to the Dixon line. So glad you got it.
Shadowoftheblackdeat- I re-read that chapter about 4 times before posting it and never seem to pick up on those mistakes, I've gone back through it and fixed them. I apologise that it was short but I wanted the birth to be it's own chapter but because I have no experience in that area I struggled to make it any longer. Here's a longer one for you.
Please enjoy and review, if you have a spare moment.
Danny's POV
Sophia comes in wearing the biggest, cheesiest grin I've ever seen. Her eyes immediately land on Riley. "Oh my god", I know she would have loved to finish that sentence with the highest of squeals but thankfully she manages to control herself. "Can I hold him?" Her voice comes out a lot quieter that time.
"You can". Daryl then takes Riley from me and carefully places him in Sophia's readied arms. Daryl thankfully doesn't step back too far from her. I love her and trust her with my life but there's still a part of my brain saying 'please don't drop him'.
Merle steps through the door and stands behind Sophia, looking over her shoulder at Riley but he remains silent.
"Hey little man, I'm your auntie Sophia. I have been waiting forever for you".
Merle clears his throat. "Have ya named him".
"Riley", Daryl tells them both.
Half of Merles lip pull back into a smile and then he's letting Sophia hand Riley over to him. He chuckles, "At least I can get out of the whole nappy changing thing". He wiggles his stumped arm a little. With his full attention on Riley he stands remarkably still and doesn't say anything for a very long time. Merle is speechless but this isn't the time to ruin it by pointing it out.
"How ya doin' squirt?" Merle finally says. He's never sounded so tender and honestly it brings a tear to my eye. He suddenly lifts his head to look at me and that's when I realise that that wasn't directed at Riley it was directed at me.
"I've never been happier".
Merle brings Riley back over to me and lays him back on my chest. "I've got somethin' for you".
He quickly disappears from the room, when he comes back in he's dragging a Moses baskets behind him. "We got that cot but I saw this and I wanted to get it for ya".
That's it, the tears I'd somehow managed to keep at bay decide to just fall freely. Merle's face drops and he quickly looks from me to Daryl and then back again. I sniffle trying to say the words to express all of my gratitude as thank you just doesn't seem enough but I come up blank. "Daryl".
Daryl touches my shoulder before taking the Moses basket from his brother. "She loves it, we both do. Thank you".
Merle breaths a heavy sigh of relief and goes back to smiling. "Thank fuck for that. Had me worried there for a sec squirt". Merle leans down and places an unexpected kiss on my forehead. "Get some rest, we'll be back later". He then steers Sophia from the room.
Every hour or so Daryl woke me up to feed Riley, when he wasn't feeding Daryl would hold him. When I awake this time Daryl is nowhere to be seen but I can hear voices drifting through the cell block which means he's probably close by. I put on the pair of cotton shorts that have been hung on the frame at the end of the bed and make my way out of my room.
I follow the voices and find them all sat in the communal area attached to this block. When they see me come through the doorway they all conveniently stop talking making me frown.
"What?"
"Nothin'" Axel quickly says. Well that doesn't sound like their hiding anything at all.
Carol nudges Axel with her elbow. "Come sit down, I'll get you some food".
I sit down beside Daryl who places a quick kiss against my temple and then hands me Riley when I hold my hands out for him. "How's he been?"
"Barely made a sound".
I gently brush a finger over the top of Riley's head, loving how soft his little tuft of hair feels. "Must take after you then".
Daryl doesn't answer but a look of pride washes over his features. He puts his arm around my back and starts rubbing his hand up and down my spine.
Now that I'm sat comfortably I have no plans of letting go of what happened when I walked in. "Someone gonna tell me what the hush hush is about?"
Axel and Merle share a look with each other, with Merle giving him a very subtle shake of the head. Sophia looks very sheepish, Carol keeps her back to me as she makes some food. I look pointedly at Oscar but Daryl's sigh stops him from saying anything.
"Carl found some people in the tombs, they gained entrance through the actual front of the prison. We knew there were walls down round there but stupidly never thought people would be brave enough to risk goin' in. Not with the amount of Walkers that are there. One of 'em was bit so we let them bury her but they've moved on now and are long gone".
"Oh, urm". I don't actually know what I was expecting the secrecy to be about but a group of people turning up wasn't it. "Why'd you make them leave. Did you not like them?"
Carol brings my plate over. "The siblings were nice, Tyreese and Sasha. They seemed like good people but the father and son duo, Allen and Ben." She just shakes her head as a way of describing them.
"Rick's gone a little psycho after gettin' back from his little gallivant", Merle says, "they were told to wait until he got back but those two shit heads didn't seem to want to wait, Carol overheard them arguin' with the siblin's about being able to take the prison. Guess they didn't realise how many people were actually livin' in it, until Carol came and got us. They changed their minds pretty quickly".
"So they decided to leave?" I ask.
Oscar scoffs, "No. Rick appeared, went batshit crazy and scared them out. We thought we'd offer Sasha and Tyreese the chance to stay with us but they couldn't leave the other two so they all left together."
Daryl shifts in his seat to turn and face me more. "We gave 'em a little food. 'cause we knew you would 'ave but at some point soon we're gonna 'ave to go back into the tombs, their group brought in more Walkers and we need to find a way to stop them from continuously fillin' up after we empty them."
I don't like it when they go into the Tombs, there's barely any natural lighting in there so you can only see by torch light. It's why I've never gone in them, it's like the Amazon warehouse all over again but ten times scarier.
"Okay, where's Mich..."
"DARYL! DARYL!"
Daryl is on his feet within seconds, hand laying heavily on my shoulder as I'm made to stay seated. Everyone else stands up to as the shouting continues. The door to our cell block slides open and then Glenn's jumping down the few steps to stand in front of us. He's covered in sweat and breathing really heavily. "There's someone..." He points out the door as he tries to speak around his heavy breaths. "There's someone out... Michonne found someone".
I pull Riley closer to me and ignore Daryl's heavy hand and stand up. "What do you mean? Breath and then tell us".
"Michonne found someone hanging around outside, they were hiding in the tree line when she came up behind them."
Daryl's steps out from behind the table and grabs his bow. "Who are they?"
Glenn shakes his head, "I don't know. I let her back in but she told me to come get you".
Glenn leads the way back outside and as I step outside Daryl looks back at me but he doesn't need to say anything.
"I'm staying right here".
Carol stays by my side as the others run over to where Michonne is dragging a man by his collar through the yard, gun pointed at his head. Sophia appears beside me holding my gun and bat. She helps me put my bat holster on and then hands me my gun.
"What do you think he was doing out there?" Even as Carol asks the question I know she's probably thinking the same thing I am. Did that man follow the Sheriff back? If that is the case then we're screwed, especially if what Michonne says is true.
"Lets just hope he's a curious passer-by".
Merle grabs the man from Michonne and all but throws him through the last gate into the court yard, where he then trips over his feet and lands in a heap on the floor. Daryl is quickly stood above him, crossbow aimed straight at his head. I can't hear anything any of our lot say, I hate being so far away.
The man isn't as quiet. "Don't shoot me, I haven't done anything wrong".
Cell block C's door opens and Carl comes running out, he pauses as he see's me, his face full of hatred but when Sophia steps forward he carries on running over to the group surrounding the unknown man. Herschel and Beth appear next but they don't head over, instead they come towards us lot. The Sheriff doesn't appear.
"Where's the Sheriff". I ask Herschel.
He looks out across the field and points. "He's been out there for a good few hours". I have to strain to see the shape of him through the chain link fence, he blends in real well with the trees. Herschel sighs, "He's cracking, it's all gettin' too much for him".
"Should he really be out there by himself"? Carol asks after finally seeming to spot him in the distance.
"Trying to let him be for now, see if he works through it himself".
"What the FUCK were ya doin' out there. Tell me, NOW!" Daryl shoves the tip of his bolt closer to the mans face.
I can't stand by and not know what is happening. "Sophia?" She looks at me, "Please can you hold Riley?"
She immediately is holding her arms out for him. "Sure, I'll keep him safe".
I hand him over. "I'll just be five minutes".
She smiles, "Go, I've got him".
Just as I go to walk away Herschel stops me. "I don't think you should. You've just had a baby and you look shattered".
"She'll be okay", Carol tells him before I can. I don't want to just pawn Riley off and go head first into danger but this isn't dangerous, I just need to find out what is going on as Daryl and Merle don't seem to be getting anywhere.
Merle finally pulls his gun out and pushes it against the mans temple. "We will not fuckin' ask again".
I move through everyone until I stand at Daryl's side. "Daryl, let him sit up".
If Daryl's annoyed or surprised that I'm now stood next to him he doesn't show it, instead he takes a step back to give the man more room, he doesn't lower the bow though and I'm not gonna make him. Merle does lower his gun and then the man is able to sit up.
I don't know if it's a good idea or not but I tell him my name. "My names Danny and unless you give us reason to nobody here is going to hurt you". He looks around at the faces not believing me. "I know it doesn't look like that but I can promise no-one will hurt you unless you give them cause to". To try and make him feel a little more at ease I hold my gun out towards Maggie, who takes it from me. "Now, who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Jamie, we were told to come and check you guys out".
I know Daryl heard the 'we' but as his whole body tenses I grip his arm to stop him saying anything. Michonne has turned her back on us and his heading back towards the prison gates, probably to see if she can find someone else but if another person had been there, they'd be long gone by now.
"We?" I try and say it very calmly cause Jamie doesn't seem to respond when he's stressed.
"There was another guy with me but he left me behind, told me they'd come back for me".
"Where are you from?" This time he seems very hesitant to answer, I get it. "Is it Woodbury?" He doesn't need to say yes, his face says it all.
Glenn groans "I'm so sorry, I thought we'd managed to stop Rick before he got too close".
"And this other guy, he knows how many people we have in here?" Daryl asks.
Jamie shakes his head and nods in my direction, "Not everyone, we didn't know she was here or the baby. You haven't been outside all day".
"Shit!" Merle swings his arm down harshly, "The other fuckers gone back to tell this Gov'ner that we're 'ere and now we've kidnapped one of them. Fuckin' great".
"It's okay though", Jamie slowly stands up with his hands raised slightly, "It was just a scouting mission, we were never going to do anything and if you let me go I can go tell them all is good and not to bother you guys".
Daryl fake chuckles, "nah, it don't work like that. We can't just take ya word for it so ya stay here. If they're comin' to get ya then we hand ya over. Make a trade, our safety for yours".
Glenn and Merle are on Jamie duty. Beth is inside cell block C safe with Judith and Sophia is inside D block with Riley. Carol and Axel are with her. I have a chair and am sat in the cat walk between the two blocks with my rifle. Everyone else is dotted around the yard trying to keep watch of every possible spot. Michonne has gone with Herschel to try and get the Sheriff back inside as he still hasn't come back. We don't know when or how the Gov'ner will appear but we know he will.
As the shot rings out, I know that that time is now. Jamie hits the floor, blood flowing from the gun shot to his head. Glenn and Merle dive for cover as I use my rifle to find where the shot came from.
A vehicle comes racing down the road and with a squeal of the breaks it stops and the doors open. The men that appear use the doors as cover as they start shooting, my shot misses as I suddenly have to move as they send rounds my way.
Shit! This has not gone at all like we thought, they killed their guy. I want to say it was an accident, that they missed Glenn or Merle but part of my brain knows it wasn't. They deliberately shot their guy. I run down the stairs into C block passing a terrified Beth.
"Get in a cell". I shout at her as I run past. I push open the door slightly and kneel down. I aim my rifle at one of the men by the car and take in a deep breath and let it out. When I'm steady I take my shot. The mans head snaps back as the bullet penetrates his skull and then he's down. I take a shot at the next one but he ducks down as my bullet ricochets off the top of his door.
I just manage to lay my eyes on Daryl before I have to hide behind the wall as I get shot at again.
The bullets hitting the metal door makes my ears ring. I'm stuck and I can't help anyone out in the court yard. They're all stuck hiding behind walls and benches, they're trapped like fish in a barrel.
I can't peer out the door even as a crash echoes out. But then just as quickly as it started it stops. I wait a couple of seconds before taking the risk and peering through the door gap. The cars turning around and his now driving off but in the middle of the grass yard is a van that wasn't there before. It has our front gate stuck to the front of it where it's rammed through it. The back has a ramp that's been lowered and Walkers are stumbling out of it.
I scan the area again with my rifle, worried that one of their guys is still stood in the tree line but after searching up and down I can't see anyone. Daryl takes the risk first and steps away from the wall and after a beat we all follow him. I push the door all the way open and step outside.
He looks at me and nods as I rush towards D block, he's okay. I slam open the door and nearly cry with relief when Sophia, Carol and Axel step into view. I drop my rifle onto a table and rush over to Sophia to take Riley into my arms. I hold him against me as tight as I'm able to and look at the three of them in turn.
"Are you guys okay?"
Axel chuckles. "Are we okay! We heard all that outside, are you okay?"
"We're good, we're all whole. Just need to get Michonne and Herschel out of the grass yard, it's full of Walkers".
"What!" Carol looks towards the door like it'll show her what's outside.
"They rammed through the main gate and... they shot Jamie". I have no idea what they gained from it, what their plan is but something's definitely going to come from it.
The main door opens and then Daryl and Merle walk inside. I head straight for Daryl, he holds his bow out to the side where Merle takes it from him. As soon as I'm within arms reach he reaches out and pulls me in for a hug. His other hand reaches between us and he puts his hand on Riley.
"Are you okay?" He mumbles into the top of my head.
I nod against his chest. "Are you?"
"Ya scared me. They just kept shootin' at ya".
"I got one, how many were there?"
"I could see six, we got one that was hidden in the tower. No idea how the fuck he managed to get in there. Herschel and Michonne are okay, and so's Rick".
I tilt my head back to look up at him, "This is all his fault".
"I know and he knows it to".
He loosens his grip so I step back but I don't move away from him and he keeps his hand against the back of my neck as the others come over to us.
"Danny says they shot Jamie", Carol says, voice laced with confusion.
Merle takes a seat. "Michonne thinks they've done it to use him as an excuse. Make us the bad guys. Apparently a lot of people in there just blindly follow the leader".
That's a sick way to rule, and worse, it will work. We've taken one of their own so now they'll be up for anything to get revenge.
Riley starts fussing in my arms. "I'm gonna go feed him".
Daryl squeezes my neck, "Alrigh'".