"Do you regret it?" Jenner blinks his hazed mind refocusing as Jaqui asks him that question out of the blue. He takes a second to just look out into the field and watches as the two kids play monkey in the middle with T-dog struggling to keep up with them.
The two rascals have convinced them it's okay as long as they stay in sight and bear T-dog.
"I'm not sure," he admits.
"I understand." She says as well.
She follows his gaze, "On the darker nights I wish I had taken the quick way out, it was as you said s painless death."
"Then why didn't you?" He wonders.
She turns to him, "A small part of me, didn't want to miss the world I know Harry will create." She chuckles and nods inside, "He has this aura that just makes you feel like the dark times are only temporary and salvation is just around the corner."
Jenner can't help but quirk a grin, "Carful you might have jealous Dixons after you if they catch you swooning over their intended."
Jaqui chortles and playfully smacks him on the shoulder, "Oh hush you, that boy is young enough to be my grandbaby."
She looks towards the house, "'Sides anyone with eyes can see that."
Jacqui gives him a sympathetic smile, "Tell me about her?"
He blinks, "huh?" He says.
She simply smiles, "Your wife, my therapist before all this happened, told me that talking about them helps with the pain. My Ernie was just the sweetest. We were one of the first interracial couples to be legally married. He had been a simple farm boy before the war forced him into more." Her eyes glow with widowed love.
"Such a sweet man, he had come upon the bar I had been tending to and saw how one of the patrons had been being rude and came right up and licked him good." She says with a wet laugh.
Swallowing thickly he rasps, "My Candee was a firecracker. We were college rivals, and she was always my ambition to beat. She found me stuck up and I had found her privilege, I had always assumed she simply had it all."
He runs his finger across their wedding bands, "She wasn't, she worked so hard for all she earned. She studied for hours, while I was sleeping."
"She would take extra credit and volunteer for grunt work and she was simply the most brilliant person to ever enter her field." He ends shakily.
"She sounds like an amazing woman," Jaqui remarks cupping his hands in hers.
Merle senses the atmosphere shifts the minute Harry peers into Randal's eyes and the punk seems to freeze as they gleam into each other's gaze. He watches as Harry starts to flex his hand into a fist and his breath stutters.
"No," Merle hears and the tone in his voice makes the hairs on his arms raise, he shares a glance with Daryl only to look back in surprise as Harry seems to hiss out the next word, like a snake.
"You." The word is spat out with so much contempt.
"You just watched, let it happen, even led them to their campsite," Harry says the S's exaggerated as his breathing becomes erratic. The boy's face grows in terror as he seems to come out of whatever Harry did.
"What was that!? Please! I don't know what-" Harry waves his hand with a hiss.
"Shut up." The glasses Harry wears do nothing to hide the contempt bubbling under his skin.
"What is it?" Daryl asks, coming over and placing a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder ignoring the hyperventilating dipshit.
Merle, though he sneers at the tears running down the teen's face, "Pussy." He spits out.
Merle turns as Harry starts to speak, "I- I looked into his thoughts and found out-" Harry stops and turns green and looks as if he is to throw up.
Eventually, he returns his gaze to the kid, staring straight at the shivering punk as he talks, his voice calm and devoid of emotions and that sets alarm bells.
A calm Harry is a scary Harry.
"I found the group he is with and one of the memories he had was," Harry pauses as if speaking it out loud will make it real, his breath heavy as he speaks, "They were just little girls," he breathes out as if he can't comprehend the fact.
Merle stills immediately understanding and withholds the urge to drive his fist into the fuckers face until he's not breathing.
"You're shitting me?" Daryl says with more animosity than Merle expected. He turns just in time to see Daryl stomping over towards the little shit.
Hey, he was gonna do that!
"You like touching little girls!" Daryl roars in the frightened boy's face.
The pathetic weasel starts even harder under his brother's snarl, shaking and crying. Daryl lifts his foot and is just about to slam his heel down but is stopped by Harry.
"Don't, he's already tied up and useless, save your energy for the hunt."
"The hunt?" Merle asks only to see Harry's gaze locked on the trembling boy.
Harry crouches again pressing his finger onto Randal's forehead immediately causing the frantic boy to slump unconscious, "I am not allowing vermin like them to exist." He says standing.
"Will you help me?"
Merle lets a savage grin spread across his face watching, "For you sugar, anything." He receives a feral grin and feels his savage grin match.
The boy whimpers as Harry crouches down before him with an expression of false comfort, "Don't worry, you will finally make something of your worthless existence, Imperio." Harry whispered the last part as he deceptively cradled Dickhead's face.
Whatever Harry said caused the boy to stop hyperventilating and become catatonic and dull.
Merle whistles, "Remind me to never piss you off."
Carol sits demurely with her head facing the window so she can keep sight of Sophia as she listens to the conversation going on, they have all met up inside Greene's dining room. She watches as Harry and Rick talk in quiet voices and catches segments of how they should start the discussion.
She gives Merle a slight smile as she catches his gaze and is surprised when the gruff man nods her way before focusing back on Harry. If there is one thing she knows, it is that the Dixons are wrapped around Harry's finger.
They aren't obvious with it, but she can see the way both of them look at him as if he's their salvation.
"When are you gonna let that poor boy out of the barn?" Dale asks, clutching his hat.
She watches as Rick gives him a look and starts with a diplomatic approach, "That's what we are here to discuss-"
"No, I don't feel comfortable with a rapist running free, especially with children around." Harry chimes in with no nonsense.
"What!"
"Rapist!?"
"Why is he still alive?"
"What do you mean!"
Hershel slams his hands on the table, "Quiet! You will not act like savages in my house."
He turns to Harry with a heavy sigh, "Please explain."
Harry goes on to tell them how they interrogated the boy, who knows Maggie from school, and found out that he is from a group of people who are bigger and more dangerous,
"The group are the most vile scum humans can find. I won't give you the details, but let's hope they never find us. Or our children are going to be in danger."
There is a silence as they all absorb the severity of the situation.
Even with the CDC, they haven't had much struggle or hardships. They've all been lulled into a false sense of normalcy.
She has to constantly remind herself that she almost lost her child and she can't let her guard down like she used to. Sophia is the only reason she lives and to think not even thirty yards away there is someone who would do vile things to her if given the opportunity.
"So you just want to kill him?" Dale asks with a horrified expression.
Yes, that's what they should do, she thinks.
"What would you have us do?" Harry asks, she can see Rick looking disgruntled at the shift in who leads the conversation.
"He is just a kid, we should give him a chance to redeem himself."
Harry blinks at him, "redeem himself?" He leans forward his expression confused, "How does one redeem themselves from rape?"
The old man flinches, "I- certainly he didn't do anything." He tries.
Harry leans back crossing his arms, "Fine." At first, they think he's agreed to redemption, until he continues, "You want to know the gory details, the fact." He spits out the last part while standing up.
"The one he took part in, they stumbled across a father and his two girls." Harry starts, and everyone shifts uncomfortably while Dale looks pale.
"They took the father and made sure he had a good view and didn't want him to miss the show." Harry sneers out the word.
"Please," Dale says.
"Oh, no." Harry dismisses, "You want to redeem him, you should know what he's redeeming from."
"He held the youngest one down as they took turns, they didn't even have to coerce him into doing anything."
"They weren't even 15!" Harry screams leaning over the table into Dale's face.
He takes a breath, "I say we take him out,"
Shane tilts his head, "that we agree on."
Rick clears his throat and tries to take the reins, "Let's all calm down."
"We can't make any hasty decisions, why don't we sit on this and then come back to it."
Harry scoffs, "whatever," and stalks off. Merle gives them all a look that says 'Y'all are idiots,' and Carol has to stop the giggle that wants to escape, it's an inappropriate time for that.
"Dale, I know how you feel-" and she stops listening in favor of watching the three men exit the house.
She catches Harry making his way towards Sophia who is taking medical instruction from Dr. Jenner offers to keep watch on the kids with Jacqui, both feeling they don't need to be in the meeting. She has noticed them two getting close and can't help but think it's cute, even if nothing comes of it.
A/n:
So, I had harry Imperio the boy, easiest way to keep him under control and Harry has been shown to let his darker emotions win out when he wants.
Besides bros a rapist who cares.
Jaqui and Jenner was not in my bingo card but I find them cute. Doesn't necessarily have to be romantic but suicide bonds 'am i right'.
We can see the cracks of the group starting to form as Harry continues to get irritated by the lack of decision making.
Merle just loves watching his feral kitten do his thing.
So probably two more chapters of the farm and then season three