Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead, just the change in story lines and OC's.
Kushka- Hi, thank you.
Shadowoftheblackdeat- Yeah they're coming, don't worry.
Alwaysand- Hahaha, I'm very sorry. Thank you and I know I really like those bits too.
Enjoy.
Danny's POV
Michonne appears around the side of the house, her steps falter as she sees what's here but it doesn't last long. She stops about halfway towards us. "Merle realised a little too late that he shouldn't have sent Sophia to come and get you".
I grin down at Sophia. "He doesn't trust us".
Michonne moves closer as her eyes start scanning over everything little thing she can see. "You know, Andrea would love this place", she says with a softness to her voice you only ever hear when she says Andrea's name. It's very obvious she misses her.
"Maybe, if things ever settle down back there, she can come here to see this place," I tell her. It's a long and dangerous journey, you only have to look back on our trip to know that it's risky for anyone but maybe we can work together in our communities. We could be allies.
Michonne nods but I can easily see she doesn't think that will ever happen. Some part of me doesn't either, but what's the harm in hoping that it could.
She walks past me and then crouches down at a cluster of plants. She picks something off and when she stands back up to face me she's holding a strawberry. When she bites into it I can see her eyes light up. Sophia hurries over to go and grab herself one.
"Guys!" Tara calls out from behind us. All three of us look at her knowing full well she's been told to come get us seeing as both Michonne and Sophia have failed at coming back. "This place is fucking amazing". She hurries over to me. ""Now I get why you're not coming back". She walks up beside me and stares out across the field. "You think this place will work".
"We can make it work", I tell her, I will do my hardest to make sure this place works for us.
Sophia points at the big green house at the back of the field. "Can we go see what's in there?"
I nod but it's Tara that rushes forward to grab Sophia's shoulders. "Let's go", she then starts steering her through the winding path.
Michonne takes one glance at me and starts to follow them. Merle definitely didn't pick the right people to come get me back. With a small smile on my lips I follow after them.
When we get to the greenhouse Michonne puts her hand out to stop Sophia from just opening the door, not that Sophia would have done but Michonne doesn't know her that well. The greenhouse isn't opaque but it's still hard to see inside, we can see inside enough to know there isn't a walker moving around because we can't see any shadows but it doesn't mean there isn't one on the floor or something else hiding inside.
Michonne pushes open the door, waits a second and then steps inside, I walk past Tara and Sophia and follow her inside. There are a few dead plants, but overall the place is looking just as good as the plants outside.
It looks like the people that had this place before us were keeping on top of it all. There is a big table full of little plant pots with tiny little saplings inside. I pick up one of the pots to look at the writing that's scrawled on the front, Carrots.
"You can come in", I call back out to the two that are patiently, but also impatiently, waiting outside. There's not anything really interesting in here, I think it's mainly used for the plants that are in their baby stages.
Sophia lifts up a crate and the scream that pierces the air has me reaching for my gun that I don't even have on me, Sophia stumbles back into me and then she grabs my arm and hides behind me.
Tara lets out a loud screech and then stamps her foot on the ground as she tries to stamp on what's appeared. The spiders are huge, palm size huge; and there are loads of them. I twist out of Sophia's grip, grab her wrist and yank her out of the greenhouse, Tara hot on my heels. When I'm safely outside I turn just as Michonne hurries outside, she then slams the door shut. She slowly turns to face the three of us but before she can say anything my name is shouted.
Here comes the cavalry.
Daryl suddenly appears beside me, his free hand hovers over me like he's checking that I'm okay. "What… What is it?"
"Sophia?" Sophia runs over to her mum who's holding Riley close to her chest.
"We're fine. It's just"... I start before looking over at Michonne, this is embarrassing and I know she thinks so to. Tara shakes her head at me very subtly. We're all embarrassed, walkers, bad people, killing things. None of that bothers us but we see a spider and this is how we reacted. I know that as soon as I say what's happened we're gonna be laughed at. Merle won't try to hide and he'll make fun of us. Daryl will have this smirk, he'll try to hide it but he'll fail.
I can feel my cheeks heating up as those that came to rescue us all stand around waiting to hear what happened. All of them have their weapons out, fully prepared to have to fight.
I can tell the moment Daryl notices my cheeks turning red because that slappable smirk appears on the corner of his mouth. He knows that whatever it was isn't serious, even if I didn't blush our silence is a dead giveaway.
"What the fuck happened", Merle asks as he makes his way over to the greenhouse door. Michonne starts to move in front of it but then decides not to, but Tara voices her stubbornness.
"Don't open that door", she tells him.
Merle freezes mid reach for the door handle and slowly looks at her. "Why?"
"Because firstly, you'll let them out and I'm still too close for you to do that, and secondly, you don't need to know what happened in there".
Merle seems to decide that that isn't good enough so as he grabs the door handle she starts moving backwards, Michonne copies her although she does it a lot less noticeably. Merle pushes open the door with all the bravado in the world but I see the way his back stiffens when he sees what we saw and the shiver that runs through his spine says he definitely doesn't like how big they are. He slowly closes the door and turns around to face us.
"Bunch of fuckin' pussies." he mumbles to the four of us, "It's spiders". He announces to the people that came running to us when Sophia screamed. I hear a couple of them chuckle which causes Michonne to shoot them a glare.
"Go on then", I argue back, "Go in there and pick one up." I shoot him a knowing look, I know he was slightly scared when he got a look at them but here he is pretending we're the wussies. "And you", I gesture at Daryl. "Stop smirking." He holds his free hand up in surrender and tries to stop himself but I can see his cheek twitching with the effort.
"I can understand," Axel starts. "Sophia but surely they can't be that bad that you", He points at me, "Or even Michonne could be scared of them. I didn't think anything scared Michonne. I mean look at that Stoney expression". She turns her Stoney expression onto Axel who sinks back a little.
"Dude, don't go there", Glenn utters. He then pushes on his shoulder. "Let's go back". Other than Michonne, Merle, Daryl and myself everyone else starts heading back. Sophia left ages ago, she wasn't hanging around here and Tara leaves with a parting warning to Merle.
"Don't open that door and let those… those fucking monsters out".
"How big are they and how many are there". Daryl asks.
"Big and loads", I say a little unhelpfully.
Merle suddenly shivers, sound effects and all. "Fuckin' huge. Whole greenhouse needs burnin' down".
Michonne tuts, "Don't be dramatic".
"Dramatic? I'm not the ones who screamed and ran for their fuckin' lives over them".
"We didn't run for our lives", I try to defend the two of us but it honestly just sounds like I'm being overly defensive. "And we weren't the ones who screamed".
"Maybe not, but both of you are the only two that are embarrassed" Merle points out with a smirk.
Michonne and I look at each other. "I'm leaving", she suddenly declares. "Just get them out so they don't scare Sophia again". I swear as she walks past me she mumbles something that sounds like 'fucking idiot' but I can't be certain and don't ask her to repeat it.
"Why is it that I send three fuckin' people around to get you and you manage to get all of them to ignore me. Huh?"
I roll my eyes at Merle. I didn't say anything to any of them, they all just wanted to see the awe that is this field. "Just get the spiders out".
"Yes boss" he replies sarcastically.
Daryl then nods for me to start walking. "The house is clear. Gotta air it out a little to get rid of the Walker smell but other than that the house is in good condition. Looks like the Walker killed herself, we found the empty pill packets on a coffee table".
I hold out the note that's still tucked in the palm of my hand. "I know". He takes it from me and quickly reads it.
"Oh", he says for a lack of anything else to say. He hands the note back and then takes my hand in his.
Merle has taken some of the others to go check out the other three properties, we'd rather not have any surprises in the middle of the night. The rest of us have retreated into our new property line and are eating some food before we call it a night. The division of rooms has already been sorted so that we don't have to worry about it later. We're all having to share but there are six rooms located up stairs, granted some don't have beds but we have enough bed rolls, pillows and covers to make everyone comfy. A few of the guys have offered to sleep downstairs in one of the living rooms for now. Maybe when we sort this place out they can have their own rooms in one of the other houses. Everyone deserves to be comfortable.
Daryl and I are getting our own room, I tried to say someone could join us but everyone declined. I'm fairly certain it's because they don't want to share a room with two babies.
Abraham is standing off by the gate, as far as I'm aware he hasn't spoken to anyone since Eugene dropped the bombshell on him. Herschel says that it took a lot for them to get him in the car back in town. It wasn't until Maggie shouted at him telling him that he had to get over himself, he wasn't the only one struggling or suffering from the news. Apparently that was enough to get him moving but nothing else. He keeps sending looks over at Eugene but he's avoiding him. If Eugene gets too close Abraham walks in the other direction.
Eugene however keeps sending Daryl looks and I know Daryl is over it. He just wants to put it all behind us and move on but I still can't so as Eugene starts walking closer to us I stand up out of my chair.
I shake my head at him. "No". Daryl's hand touches my back as I step in front of him but he doesn't say anything.
"I need to apologise". Eugene starts.
I cut him off. "You just want to apologise to make yourself feel better, I can see the guilt eating you up inside but I don't care. You thought you were invincible because people would protect you but Daryl could have died. Do you understand that? My god, if he had then you wouldn't be here right now." I know that Daryl stands up behind me because his hand moves up from my lower back to the back of my neck, he gives it a very light squeeze. I know I wouldn't have killed Eugene but I definitely wouldn't have let him come with us but at this moment he can take that piece of information however he likes.
"Danny". Daryl says lowly.
I ignore him, "You know what's worse about this whole thing. The fact that you knew you couldn't save the world yet you went around acting like you could. Acting like you were the most important person in this whole fucking world." I gesture around the area at the people who are still here. "Have you apologised to every single person here for getting their hopes up, making them think they had a chance. Have you apologised to Rosita for how she put her life on the line for you every single day, how she lost people she loved because they thought you were worth it. My life isn't ruined because you lied, this right here", I gesture at the house, "Is what I wanted and we got here but what you did…."
"I couldn't survive." He suddenly says. "I don't know how to survive, I am a coward. I was going to be left behind and saving the entire world is all I could think of that would make me important enough to protect".
Rosita is on her feet in the blink of an eye. "When the first person died protecting you you should have come clean. So many lives could have been saved."
"I regret every life that has been lost from my selfishness, and for every person that got hurt while protecting me." Eugene looks straight at me, his hands twisting into the hem of his shirt. "My lie made me believe I was indestructible because I knew you would follow me because what I was offering would make a better life for your son to grow up in. I never would have wanted you to get hurt but I've seen what you can do and I knew you could protect me. But you have to believe me, as soon as the Walkers started appearing I knew I had messed up, I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I saw a glimpse of you before it grabbed me and I saw you holding Riley. I feared that you would save me, that this time the life that would be lost would be that of a baby. For the first time ever I didn't want to be saved."
That last sentence is what stops me from saying anything else. What he did was wrong and no amount of sincere apologies will bring back all the people that died or for all the lies he told but I have to let it go. I know that's what Daryl wants me to do, because we did find him and he did come back unharmed.
"I would have run to get you", Daryl says as he speaks over my head, "even if you hadn't claimed to be able to fix this shit hole. I did that off of my own back. What I can't forgive is how ya put my wife and baby in danger because you couldn't listen. It doesn't matter what you can or can't do, ya never do somethin' so fuckin' reckless again. People aren't there to save you just so you can keep doin' stupid shit."
"I am sorry for everything, to both of you", Eugene then turns to face everyone who is here. "And to everyone here. I understand if I can never be forgiven or if I have to earn it. I will do everything I can to show you all how much I regret my actions". He then bows his head and scurries into the house.
As I turn to face Daryl his hand falls away from my neck. "You should take your own advice" I say quietly so our conversation can try to be just between the two of us.
He raises an eyebrow, "What part?"
"Don't do anything reckless". He just admitted he would have still gone over and saved Eugene, it had nothing to do with whether or not he could save the world.
His other eyebrow shoots up. "Ya gonna try an' tell me you weren't gonna do the same thing".
"I…." I clamp my mouth shut and scowl up at him. "Shut up". He's right, of course he is. I would have one hundred percent gone to try and help him. I probably wouldn't have gotten as close because I had Riley but if I hadn't had him I would have done the exact same thing as Daryl.
Carol suddenly chuckles, "You two are a, preach what I say not what I do, pair". I glare at her but she just ignores me. "If you both just did what you told the other not to do then neither of you would have to worry about the other all the time."
"Stay out of it Carol". I try to sound stern but I let a little bit of humour seep into my voice so she knows I'm joking.
"No can do. I love watching this". She then gestures at us as a whole. "Now, I'm gonna use my 'mother' voice. You two should go to bed. I'll take Riley and Judith tonight."
"Carol, no." That's not fair on her, we all need to sleep just as much as each other.
"Daniella", How on earth does she know my full name, actually you know what Merle. "Go to bed. Now!"