#Book a table Woodbury

[storywriter12]

@garma-mom I hope that you like this and I hope that I did good on this sorry it took so long

Merle Dixon Relationship preferences

(how did you meet) you met him the first ever time you got to woodbury you were in your own scared and hurt only little scratches but the doctor there patched you up merle took you to a little room where you stayed the night. He was kind to you. He told you if there was anything you needed you come right to him you smiled at him and thanked him he nodded leaving you in. Your new room the next morning you had breakfast with the governor and he asked you all sorts of questions. How did you make it this far? Are you with a group?. You were sad given that most if not all of your group died you told him this and he said he was sorry for your loss and you will have a family here. He brought Merle in and he showed you around you loved the library there which you shared the love of books to him you both had little looks here and there. You saw him blush but looked away. You noticed that his hand was gone but you didn't ask he saw you look at it anyway “cut it off”he said lifting it up, sorry you said to him but he brushed it off that day you spent together was really nice he got you both lunch and showed you around he then showed you to your house. You gasped in shock from how pretty it was “I'm… I'm, I'm hoping that you are going to stay “he said stuttering over his words you turned and smiled at him he left you alone to get settled in for the night and that he will see you tomorrow morning.

(what he thought about you)

He liked you. He liked being around you he spent more of his time with you then anybody else you two would just sit and talk he discovered that you were a baker and a very good cook so you would cook him food if he had to go out and then just give it to one of the guards to save it for when he came home. This touched him no one ever really cooked for him and he liked you even more because you did this he always told you that you shouldn't but you always shut him down so eventually he stopped and just let you bake and. Cooked his other friends would call you his housewife which he smiled at but told them to mind their own business. He would even join you for dinner, most nights he would set the table and then after you two would talk and play cards after you fell asleep and he covered your body over with a blanket. Yes he liked you alot.

(how would he ask you out) he would do a picnic for you and take you out somewhere he knew was safe you both lied down and he was dressed very smartly he looked at you watching the warm wind blow your hair he felt nervous he didn't want to overstep the mark with this he took deep breaths and it just came out

(merle) so you wanna go out with me? As in a date?.....

Silence filled the air until he spoke again

(merle) if you don't it's OK

(You) you cut him off. I would love to! You said smiling at him

He had to check if he heard you right but then it sank in that you said yes he got all tingly which happens. All the time he was around you he smiled at you and now he had to think. Where was he going to take you?

(where would he take you:He came around your house around 2:00pm with a big box. You looked at him with a “what's this? “ Look, you helped him with the box to your living room and placed it onto the table you both sat down on the chairs . then moved to the floor. The box was full of memories from life before CDs with sounds like birds singing, waves crashing and tills in the shop ringing money. You couldn't remember what the world sounded like before now the world just sounds like the stuff of nightmares. He also bought some candles with him, smells what you loved, cut grass, smells of fresh bread, gingerbread, cinnamon and mixed berries. You both just lied down on the floor making convocations with each other he knew. How much you missed life before but you were always so thankful for being alive now.

(First kiss) it was a hit day and you were just in a top and shorts you went to visit him. He was on guard. You climbed up and brought him a cold drink. When he saw you he smiled and hugged you. You of course hugged him back. Kissing him in the cheek

(merle) what was that for?

(you) oh you know you looked like you needed something to get you through the day you smiled at him and he. Bite his lip. Looking at your lips

(merle) why don't you kiss me so where else? Here? I said pointing at my lips. I leaned down and kissed her softly as she kissed me back, wrapping her arms around me.

(you) you felt his hand wrap around you. You gave him another kiss and then pulled away. See you later

(what does he call you) baby, sexy, doll, surger, sweetie boo, his girl, angel,little bear (because you call him your big bear) sweetheart, little petal, and darling

(how does he cuddle you)

(how does he hold your hand)

(when he has bad dreams) he knows he has killed a lot of. People and he knows he would never hurt you but that doesn't stop him from dreaming about that

Dream⬇️the governor saw you on the woods and took you back to woodbury threw you into a cell and left you for days when he came back you barely was alive but he wasn't alone he came back with someone a man who stood looking down at you with petty in his eyes “let it be done “ the governor said walking out if the room and leaving merle with you, merle looked at you pulled out his gun and unlocked the cell door walking in you pulled yourself into a little ball as you started to cry hot tears ran down your cheeks he huffed as you heated the gun click and he pulled the trigger and shot you

After he had this dream he shot up his chest going up and down and he felt tears rolling down his cheeks he waited until the next morning to go around to your house seeing that you were alive and well he made you breakfast in bed

This is a request but merle will be in this book now so if anybody has everyone else they want me to put in this book just go ahead and ask me! 😊

[ghostboneswrites2]

Doe Eyes || CH3 - Wait

See CH1 for warnings! || Chapter list || Masterlist

Photo reference for how I imagine Brandy (your bestie):

        The Governor had decided to start training every able bodied person over the age of thirteen for combat. Andrea had fought for a ceasefire, for some kind of 'live and let live' agreement, but the Governor was hellbent on retaliation and revenge. You didn't get it. A few of the Woodbury dwellers had fallen, but there was a sort of rage behind his good eye that told you that this was much deeper than that. Otherwise, the dude was just a psycho. Either way he had gone from leading everyone in a safe community to leading his community to war. A needless war, it seemed.

        Then Andrea left. The Governor seemed oddly content with it, given their previous 'arrangement'. It led you to believe he probably sent someone after her, too. The same way he sent you and Merle after Michonne. Merle, who, had also left with his brother, who you'd later learned was actually his brother. At least he got what he was searching for with all that violence, you guessed. 

        Then Sasha, Tyreese, and a guy named Alan and his son showed up. They negotiated for safety and shelter, offering their hand in the battle in exchange for such. You had managed to keep quiet, following along with whatever whacky plans the Governor spelled out. You were tasked with assisting in training people on basic gun management. You hated it, it made you sick to show teenagers and regular people how to kill. They were told it was to defend themselves but you knew better than that. Brandy was there too. She learned how to shoot before, but only BB guns. She had decent aim, but she was no killer. None of these people were. 

        When you were on guard one night, Andrea rolled up in a car. You guys let her in, but you didn't see her again after that. You wondered if she was turned out on her own, but you knew better. By then the Governor had strayed further and further from the man who had welcomed you there and showed his true self. There was no telling what he was capable of.

        "I still think we should go." You told Brandy, sitting at her table that night for dinner. It wasn't much, supplies had been scarce since all the efforts were focused on war instead of supply runs. 

        "I can't leave these people, (y/n)." She sighed. "They need me. We're a community."

        "I won't leave you. But I don't think it's safe to stay. I think he's leading us all to our deaths." You shook your head.

        "Whatever it is, we can get through it. As a community. You heard Andrea. One day the history books will talk about Woodbury. Even if part of our story includes mutiny."

        "Mutiny." You scoffed. "What, we overthrow him?"

        "If we need to." She nodded.

        "Please." You waved her off. "These people are too loyal. He's like their prophet or something."

        "No, these people are afraid, and they look tot he man who provides for him." She corrected. "They don't have anyone else to look to. We give them someone better, someone stronger, someone more convincing, they'll follow that person instead." 

        "Oh, you mean like you? Like me? Like Mr. Farris?" You rolled your eyes. "That's a bigger job than we're up for, Brandy. Our best bet is to go. Maybe others will follow. They were ready to leave when the barrier was breached, before Andrea gave her inaugural speech."

        "Yeah, maybe. But how would we keep them all safe out there?" She asked, rubbing her temples.

        "Not like we're doing much of that in here." You mumbled.

        "Look, the Governor's system works. How was he supposed to know there's be a group of rogue prisoners out there?" She argued.

        "You still don't get it, Brandy. They weren't just rogue prisoners. They were here to get their people that Merle kidnapped and beat! And the Governor let him! He stripped that girl's shirt off and did whatever with her!" You snapped. She just stared back at you, stunned. You let go of a breath and ran your hands over your face. "Look," you began, more calmly. "I'm telling you. I've seen some shit. All on his orders. He's not a good man. It's an act."

----

       "What would your daughter think? About what you are?"

        "She'd be afraid of me. If I'd been like this from the start, she'd be alive today."

        The conversation played in your mind. Milton and the Governor. You watched him beat his little scientist, then watched as he tried to force him to kill Andrea. You were sick to your stomach. This wasn't right, not any of it. How could you have let your loyalty to Brandy keep you here, working as one of his henchmen? Milton refused. In retaliation, the Governor stabbed him and left him to turn, and then he'd tear Andrea apart.         

        "In this world, you kill or you die."

        That was hours ago, and like the obedient little soldier you were, you left them there too. Andrea was on her own. You were just glad it wasn't Brandy. Now, you were preparing for war, a real war. You were loading trucks, counting ammo, fueling gas tanks, whatever needed to be done. Anything to numb your mind and keep the images of what was happening to Andrea at bay. You should have helped her, but you didn't. It wasn't like you to put someone's life before your own. You were a fighter, not a martyr. Although, the way things were headed, being martyred was probably in your near future. 

        "Let's roll!" He shouted as everyone piled into vehicles and readied themselves for a fight. 

        "Governor." You spoke up. "I'd like to stay and look after the children we're leaving here. With every able bodied adult out there fighting, they're a defenseless buffet." 

        He looked at you, an unsettling sort of calmness in his eye. 

        "Us too." Tyreese spoke up for himself and Sasha.

        "And the elderly, I've always cared for them." Brandy added. He looked around between the four of you, before he nodded. He handed a weapon to Tyreese. You already had one. 

        "Thank you." He finally said, before they all fired the engines and left.

        You exchanged glances with the other three, before you all spread out. Sasha and Tyreese took watch over the gates. You patrolled the street. Brandy cared for the children and the elderly inside the strongest building with the most supplies. All that was left to o was wait.

        By nightfall the troops still hadn't made it back, but some others did. Karen and the ones who the Governor had gone to attack. Karen said they saved her, after the Governor gunned down everyone that went with him. 

        "We were coming to finish this. Until we saw what the Governor did." A man told Tyreese.

        "He killed them?" Tyreese gasped.

        "No." Brandy shook her head. "That's insane." 

        "He did." The man confirmed. Karen nodded. Brandy wept. Those were her friends, her people. The very reason she didn't run with you when she had the chance.

        You all went to find Andrea. She was alive, but not for long. Milton had turned. She was a badass, so she too him down, but not without her own loss. She was bitten. Your stomach turned over and over as you watched them say their goodbyes. 

        "I can do it myself." She said. 

        "No." Michonne cried.

        "Oh, I have to. While I still can. Please. I know how the safety works." She argued. That last part was some kind of inside joke, you could tell. 

        "I'm not going anywhere." Michonne protested.

        Andrea shook her head. "I tried." She said.

        "Yeah," The leader agreed. "You did.... You did."

        With that, all of you except for Michonne filed out of the room where she was held. You waited, until that dreadful sound rang out. Andrea ended it. Just like she said she would. Like she said she had to, while she still could.

        By dawn you had loaded the surviving members of Woodbury unto a bus and their leader, who you'd come to know as Rick, led you all to safety at the prison and welcomed you with pen arms. You protested at first, but it was what Brandy wanted, and you'd go, because she was your only friend.

[littlegodzilla]

One more chapter. Thanks for rebloging, reading and commenting.

I'm really glad you all like it!

Enjoy the chapter!

*************************

Our Story.

Daryl Dixon x Wife / Daryl Dixon x Reader.

Part 12.

Masterlist.

Warnings: Slow burn. TWD violence. Death. Angst. Little drama. Hurt/Comfort.

Words: 3400.

Summary: the Governor attacks the prison, you all try to resist, Merle is dead and new people is coming to your home.

**********************

Chapter 12. Come back home.

"No, no, I said get out."  You say when you see Daryl appear by the infirmary, where you've been hiding to try to calm down.

"Ain't gonna go anywhere."

"Of course not. Is this another one of your promises?" You ask acidly and he chews his lip.

"I know I shouldn't have left with Merle...I've gone back to doing the same thing I did a few years ago and..."

"I don't give a shit, Daryl, I'm not going to care about you, not anymore."

"Listen to me..."

"No, you listen to me." You cut him off again. "We're going to hang in here, because it's our place, because we've made it our home, but it's big enough that we don't need to address each other, so don't try." You make it clear to him. "Let alone having your brother here." Your voice shakes a little and you swallow trying to compose yourself. "I thought you were back to your old self... but you were right, that time when I came looking for you at your house... you've always been like that, haven't you? You've always been Merle Dixon's fucking shadow..." You shrug because he doesn't know how to respond to that, no doubt your words have hurt him more than he expected.

You throat clear and turn around to take a tally of what you still have, it's not much, in a little while you'll have to go out for new supplies.

"Sorry." He grunts again. "That's all I can say; Merle is my brother and I know he ain't the most desirable person in the world, but I changed, I'm sure he can too if given a chance." He doesn't wait for your response, he turns and walks away from the infirmary, leaving you alone.

Living together becomes complicated, Merle is still pulling a tight rope, only Daryl is calm having him there, Tyreese and Sasha have left with their group, worried about Rick's lucidity at these moments. Woodbury has gone after you guys, head on, with that huge truck full of infected, making it clear he wants you out of there, but Rick isn't going to leave that place at his mercy, he's going to fight for it and so are you.

"I'll talk to him, we'll meet, we'll put our proposals on the table and we'll see how it all works out..."

"He's not going to give up." Merle says. "He'll put on a good face and everything will look perfect, but he'll come back, and slaughter you all, they have more guns, more ammunition, you're no match."

"He won't have it so easy, if we're not going to leave here, we'll protect their walls." You say and hear how the man laughs.

"Yeah? And how do you intend to do that, beautiful?"

"You're both right, I'll go up there with some of you and the rest of you will stay here getting everything ready." Rick continues speaking.

"Well, in that case let's stick to the plan."

**************

"So you're my sister-in-law." You hear a voice behind you and you get goose bumps.

You turn slowly, behind you, leaning against the doorframe of the library, where you spend your free time consulting the medical books there, but now you're helping to pull out the tables there to reinforce the prison security, making little barricades to hide in for when the Governor and his people return.

"I'm nothing to you, Merle." You make it clear to him by shuffling the table.

"That's not true, if your sister is my brother's wife, then that makes us family." He keeps talking. "Oh no, wait, that your sister is dead...so you're my half sister-in-law?" There's acid in his voice again and you abruptly let go of the table.

"What do you want, Merle? I don't have time for you."

"Fine, I won't beat around the bush." He advances toward you, you fold your arms, defensively. "I remember you, you know, I may look like an idiot, but I'm not that much of one. You've always been after your sister and Daryl, like a little puppy looking for company, always there wanting their attention." He goes on. "Now you've got him back to yourself, don't you? It's just you now."

"What are you talking about?" you frown. "She was my sister and Daryl was my best friend, I didn't..."

"Don't play that card with me, precious, we both know you liked my brother too, that's why you were always after them."

"Of course I wasn't! I didn't feel that way about Daryl!"

"Come on, honey, you can tell me."

"I don't have anything to tell you! Daryl was my best friend, of course I loved him, but as a friend, but you corrupted him, rotted him from the inside because that's what Merle Dixon does, he destroys everything he touches!" 

"Get used to the idea that it's a Dixon curse." He replies to you without taking offense.

You don't want to listen to him anymore, you stop what you're doing and walk away leaving him alone. Merle smiles crookedly now having the way clear all he has to do is go find Michonne to continue with his plan.

****************

Daryl is nervous, he has had a confusing conversation with his brother, he is not sure if he is with them or if he will leave as soon as he has the opportunity, it has always been complicated for him to read his brother's intentions.

But he just can't find him anywhere.

"Fuck, Merle." He growls at nothing.

"Where's your brother?"

Daryl turns to look at you, you're carrying your bow with you, in fact you're also carrying your knife and gun, you look like you're going out somewhere, what surprises him the most is that you're talking to him, after the argument you'd had he thought you'd never do it again.

"Dunno, I was lookin' for him, but... I think he took off."

"Not just him... Michonne's gone too." You tell him and he becomes alert.

"Do ya think he took her to the Governor?"

"To save his ass? It's possible." You shrug and he snorts.

"I'm gonna look for him. Can ya cover for me? I don't wanna anyone following me."

"You keep picking him..."

"That's not the point. That asshole is capable of killing himself doing something crazy. I'm not just going after him, I'm also going after Michonne."

"Okay, then I'm coming with you. For Michonne."

Daryl doesn't insist, you've been the one who said you didn't want anything to do with him, that you've now decided to go with him is a step, he knows you're still angry but at least you're with him. He will accept whatever you offer him. You grab your weapons and leave the prison without attracting the attention of the rest of the group. Quickly Daryl sets about tracking Merle with no problems, they have taken a car near the prison, but the marks he leaves on the bed of dead leaves is obvious, even you could track him without any problems.

"What do you think Merle wants to do with Michonne?" You speak after walking more than half the way in silence.

"I thought ya didn't wanna hear from me anymore."

"Okay." You shrug as you continue walking.

"I think Merle is trying to lead Michonne to the Governor..." He shrugs as you do. "I think he's trying to prevent a prison massacre."

"Why, no one's asked him to."

"He knows no one is very fond of him in prison, he does what he thinks is right. If something happens to him, no one will care about him..." He mutters without stopping walking.

"You do..." You look sideways at him.

"He's my brother, but my whole life he's been coming and going from my life, you know that better than anyone." He snorts shaking his head. "Still I can't abandon him to his fate." He gives you a sidelong glance. "I'm sorry..."

"You're a good person, Daryl. That's why you do those things." You try to ignore the pull in your stomach. 

Your weak spot was that you could never stay mad at him for too long.

You hear footsteps nearby, you become alert and saw Michonne approaching towards your position, when she sees you she looks relieved and picks up her pace, you don't know each other too well but you can't help but give her a hug, glad she's okay.

"Where's Merle?" Daryl asks after seeing that she's okay.

"He's gone to see the Governor by himself." She mumbles. "He wanted to make a trade with me, like I had asked Rick to do, but he let go of me and went off by himself."

"Stupid lunatic." Daryl growls. "You take Michonne to the prison, I'm going to go get him."

"You're going by yourself? what if the Governor has captured him or worse?"

"I'll take care of that, you guys get to safety."

You stay silent, Michonne also seems hesitant to want to leave, but Daryl doesn't wait, he just starts walking holding his crossbow tightly against his chest. You two look at each other and start walking in the opposite direction.

"Why did he let you leave?" You want to know again.

"We were talking in the car, Daryl now has a new family, Merle is just a stone in the road, Daryl will move on, but he's stuck in his own emptiness..." she shrugs as she walks beside you.

"I guess he's trying to make things right for the first time..." You try to understand, she nods, but she doesn't look convinced either.

"Sacrificing yourself is not doing the right thing, Daryl will suffer for it."

Daryl will suffer for it.

Those words fall on you like a slab, they make you think about how long that man has been suffering, since you met, barely thirteen you, fifteen him, Dixon was happy and unhappy at the same time, you could see him when you were in the secret place, when he had your sister in his arms, smoking, just talking, you could also see him happy and calmer when he was talking to you, when the bond between the three of you was getting stronger, but then it was time to go back home, to separate until the next day and he would become silent again, his eyes would lose their sparkle and he would even tremble a little if you looked closely.

How much more did he deserve to suffer?

You stop then and look at the woman with the katana who looks confused, but immediately understands what you intend to do.

"Bring them back to the prison, back home, I'm sure we'll find a way to make it all right." She asks you and you nod before turning around and running off in search of Daryl.

****************

But you're late, as you approach the meeting place, where Rick had planned to deliver Michonne, you hear the gunshots and screams in the distance, you don't know what strategy he has followed, if he has prepared an ambush for them or he has entered there shooting left and right. 

It doesn't matter, the point is that he has driven the Governor's group out of there, but Merle doesn't leave. When you arrive, panting and sweating from the run, you see Daryl on the ground, succumbed by his own pain, not far from him, Merle's body. He had turned, not only had Governor not only killed him, he had let him turn so that you could find him, so that Daryl would have to kill him himself. It's twisted and cruel. Merle will never be your favorite person, but even for you that's too much. You set your bow better and approach him slowly. You touch his back to warn him that you are there, Daryl lifts his head and, once again, accepts your embrace, snuggles against your chest, hugging you, letting the burden of his pain be less heavy now. You cradle him gently and caress his back and hair with pampering letting him calm down little by little.

"The asshole came after them all by himself... I don't know what he intended, to kill the Governor or something, but we could have done it all together... come up with some plan..." He continues mumbling leaning against your chest.

"He just wanted to do the right thing, Daryl. In a suicidal and stupid way, but he wanted to do it... to have a second chance..."

"His second chance was in prison, with all of us."

In that you have doubts, after what he did to Glenn, to Maggie, to Michonne, to everyone in general, it seems, but you don't say it out loud, Daryl would do anything for his brother to be okay, he had already proved it to you, but now there was nothing left to do. You sigh and kiss the top of his head, Daryl moves into your embrace, lifting his head, your gazes meet and you watch each other in silence, neither of you say anything, you just sit there, staring at each other, immersed in the color of each other's eyes. Daryl swallows saliva and you brush your lips with the tip of your tongue. You feel his hands tremble at your waist and you sigh, resting your forehead against his.

"Let's go home." You tell him without raising your voice. "We're not done yet, the Governor can't take our house, we have to fight."

"Yes... let's go home."

On the way to the prison none of you say anything, silence is your ally, Daryl needs to recompose himself, after losing Merle he needs his own time to mourn, to say goodbye for good, to get used to the idea that this time, he won't come back, that it's not one of those times when he disappears and after a few months, he comes back. Not anymore.

For your part you feel your skin bristle, it bothers you, you don't know exactly what feeling it is that envelops you right now. It hurts you to see Daryl like this, you're still upset because he keeps making the wrong choices, to your way of thinking, but now you can't hold it against him, he's lost his brother, the last thing that tied him to his family aside from his own last name, he's the only Dixon alive, you want to give him his time to get back to his old self, but you feel a horrible 'I told you so' scratching at your throat. It's frustrating how easily he manages to get on your nerves, since you've met again, you're on constant alert to know where he is and how he's doing and you feel stupid for it. Daryl knows how to take care of himself, fuck, so much better than you, so much better than all of you and yet you feel entitled to berate him and get mad at him like he's a child. You have to stop doing that, it's not healthy and you know it.

When you arrive at the prison everyone is glad to see you again, the absence of the eldest Dixon is obvious, some give their condolences to Daryl, but he just shakes his head.

"What are we going to do?"

"What are we going to do? Fight." You say utterly convinced.

"We can't fight an entire town, we need to take everything we can and get out of here."

"We can't leave, this place is ours, we fought for it." Rick is on your side and that relieves you.

"Rick, I trusted you to save my daughters, but this is too much, I'm not going to put them in danger for this place." Hershel refuses.

"We will not lose our home, we have fought and lost much to have it. But we will act with our heads, we will come up with a plan to make it all work out."

You have no time to lose, you don't know how long it will take for the Governor to arrive with his people, with his soldiers. You quickly gather everything, finish setting up the barricades, prepare everything, leave the most open and easily accessible areas protected, gather food, weapons, all your things, take Judith away from all the action, you don't want to have to lament unnecessary losses because of a mistake.

It's all risky and you know you'll have to do a lot of cleaning up in there afterwards, but you're relieved to know that you're not leaving that place, that you're not running away.

"Are you okay?" you reach out to Daryl, touching his arm.

"Sure, I have to be..." He nods and looks at you. "I guess I should apologize to you again."

"No, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, I had no right..." You sigh and rub your arms. "But I'm glad you're here again, despite everything and... I'm sorry, for Merle..."

"Nah, don't do that, it's not necessary." He shakes his body and taps you on the shoulder. "Come on, we need to finish up and leave before they start arriving."

You don't respond, the conversation ends there, each of you leaving through different doors to finish as soon as possible. 

You are outside the prison walls before the Governor shows up, he is carrying several truckloads of his people, they all look ready for anything, there are women and children too, he has taken with him every person capable of carrying a weapon, it shows how nervous and desperate he looks. You don't understand why, you are not a threat, if he had let Maggie and Glenn go without harming them, they would each go on with their lives as if nothing, but apparently he is not willing to have neighbors.

When they start to enter the perimeter you move towards them, your idea is to ambush them and also to find some unpleasant surprises inside the place that is already waiting for them. Your intention is not to turn everything into a massacre, besides they themselves will clean the whole area of infected, taking away your work.

Soon you begin to hear gunshots and screams inside, you place yourselves in the strategic areas that Rick has selected for each one, when you see people coming out you begin to shoot in a threatening way, you do not shoot anyone in particular, only those who turn to respond to your shots, but you are only threatening them to leave. The last to leave is the Governor.

The prison is still yours, you have managed to get them out of your home. You are happy and excited, but it doesn't mean it's all over. The children return along with Hershel and Beth. Rick still thinks you should go to Woodbury, make sure the Governor isn't out to hurt you again, the idea is to drive your cars after them to further intimidate them. Before you leave, you bring your stuff back inside the pavilion, fix the fence closest to the building plus you take out the bodies of the infected and some woodbury men who will no longer return home to make a pile in the garden and burn them, also to prevent more Walkers from arriving.

After that you get out of there, you don't go too far either, on the way to Woodbury you discover the cars and trucks on the road, abandoned. You stand on guard looking around you, there are Walkers and soldiers everywhere, not all of them have been bitten, others have been executed, friendly fire itself has taken them down.

"What happened here?" you ask and a scream escapes you, frightened, as a woman hits the glass of one of the trucks.

"Help me, please." You gasp as you open the door and she slowly steps out. "He went crazy, he started shooting at all of us..." She says, her voice breaking with tears.

"Where is he now?" she asks, Rick.

"I don't know... but the people of Woodbury are in danger..."

"Rick... we should go help them, we don't know what he would be capable of doing, he's resentful..."

"Yes, we will go there, we will help those who want to come with us..."

"Thank you very much..." Whispers the woman grateful for your help in spite of everything.

The prison is big enough for everyone.

**

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To be Continued...

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Hope you liked it!

See you in the next stories!!

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Taglist: @green-eyedladywrites @minervadashwood @livingdeadblondequeen @bringinsexybackk69 @phoenixblack89

[justaguywhowritesstuff]

Hold On and Stay Safe ~Carl Grimes xOC~ Pt 7

While grappling with the death of his brother in the Woodbury Vs Prison war. Gavin has to learn to live his new life with the people who killed his only living family member. Even once Gavin starts to feel like he was creating a home at the prison things go awry and he's forced to flee on foot while trying to keep a promise he made before it all went to hell. As Gavin wanders the woods and fields alone, he finds his way to a new safe haven, Alexandria. Where he is taken in and cared for, and while those around him try to tell him otherwise Gavin still holds on to hope that his group is still out there. That Carl is still out there.

I do not own any of the characters or plot points that are not my own creations, all credit for those goes to the owners and writers of The Walking Dead.

The story will also have Carl and all others around his age (ie. Enid and Ron) will be aged up slightly so that by the end all "kids" will be 18-19 years old.

Full story on Wattpad

After being escorted around Alexandria, and being forced to hand over my pistol, I was brought to a house where Aaron and his husband Eric live. I learned a little bit about them, that they were together before the apocalypse, that they always wanted a kid, and that they weren't home a lot because they were always out scouting for more people to bring to Alexandria. Eventually, I was led up to the second bedroom they had. It seemed to be styled like a young boy's room, with light blue walls, and a full-sized bed with plaid covers, I almost felt wrong walking into a room that was so normal. Aaron and Eric brought me some towels and a fresh set of clothes so I could shower and get cleaned up in the bathroom that was connected to my bedroom."We were wondering if you would like to come to dinner with us at the Anderson's home. We know you just got here but it might be nice to meet some kids your age, they have a son Ron and a girl Enid who they took in." Aaron said with a kind smile. "She came here from being on her own out there like you." Eric chimed in, in a failing attempt to make me want to go more. "Thank you but I'm good..." I say softly. It's not that I didn't want to meet them, it's just that I just got here and I feel like I'm gonna need a lot of time to adjust. Aaron and Eric both smile and nod understandingly. "Of course we totally get it, it's a big change, so take your time we plan on having another dinner next week if your feeling up to it then." Eric said before stepping away, leaving just me and Aaron. There was a small, uncomfortable silence between us before he spoke. "Don't feel like you have to come, Enid didn't leave her room for weeks after she first got here. So just, take your time." He said with a small smile before leaving the room, closing the door behind himself. I slowly walked around the room inspecting it before I eventually put my dirty bag down on my bed, opening it up and taking out the few things I had managed to hold on to. I pulled out my, also quite dirty, second set of clothes, my tattered book, Josh's necklace, Patrick's glasses, and the broken arrow. I gingerly set them all down on the bedside table, feeling a rush of both relief and a new kind of fear. It had been so long since I had interacted with anyone let alone people my age in a world like this. I think about the last real conversation I had with someone my age, I thought back to the day of the governor's attack, and the last time I ever spoke to Carl Grimes.

[general-kalani]

"My. Office. Now I respectfully request you leave Woodbury before things get messy and people start dyin' in the streets."

He shouldn't be even trying this. There was a gun aimed at him. Ready to be fired.

His brow furrowed though, the whiskey was placed back down on the table, the book he was working in was closed.

The pen he'd attempted to sleight of hand to hide in a pocket in his pants. To use for later when this lady got closer.

"Milton the hell is going on here?"

Blubbered out apologies that had Philip sighing, shaking his head as his attention returned to the lady.

"I don't know what the hell you think you can do here, in my Woodbury, but I don't respect it."

Woodbury. A stupid name, she had decided, but the walls were decent and that was all that really mattered. The people manning the gates, though, they would need to be changed. Too afraid to fire, shouting threat after threat, all as empty as the rest.

"You can't come in here! You can't open that! We aren't allowing visitors!" And her reply, all wide smile and hand on her hip--"We are not visiting." They had buzzed around them as they entered, some scattering to hide. There was no reason to kill any of them yet, no one really had the guts to fight against them. That would also need to change. These people, they were too soft, too sheltered. They would die if they continued that way.

Someone who she didn't care to listen to the name of, led them to speak with a man they referred to as the Govenor. The place was fully of stupid names, it seemed. The resident had gone to knock, but Fox pushed them out of the way and opened the door herself, pistol already raised. Hanging casually from her hand, muzzle pointed at the figure within the room.

"Your worst nightmare," Fox grinned. "Why are you in my office?"

[s4rainbows]

Back at it again with this whole challenge stuff.

This Challenge is half “Survive this”, half Legacy, and based around the various stages the main group in the TV Show “The Walking Dead” went through. You don’t need to have watched it to play this challenge, but many requirements will feel arbitrary if you haven’t. Since these aren’t really, uh, generations, I will refer to the individual parts of this challenge as “Stages” Packs required: Outdoor Retreat, Seasons, Eco Lifestyle, Get Together, City Living, Discover University, Get to Work

The Setup:

- You will need either Triplis’ “Kids Quit School” mod ot MCCC to make quitting school possible. - Create your founder and any number of other survivors in CAS, Two of these additional survivors need to be children. - Use your own physical dice or find an online dice roller, you will need that!

General Rules:

- It’s the Apocalypse, so buy mode is heavily restricted. You can’t just go to Ikea and buy  new couch! You will need to use the fabrication and handiness skills to make furniture! Some Random Events and generational rules may allow you to get stuff otherwise

- You may only cook with ingredients you have! If you play this after the release of Cottage Living, use the Lot Challenge!

- You will always play off the grid!

- The monetary cost of crafting is considered “materials”. You can "barter” for materials by using the selling table from City Living, or sell furniture and stuff you scavenged, thus “dismantling” it and salvaging it.

- Any children you have aside from the two you create in CAS automatically suffer a -2 penalty to all rolls they perform, on account of being children. 

- Randomized townies you encounter are generally considered zombies. (or WaLkErS of you don’t wanna use the evil Z word). If they engage you in conversation, consider it an attack and roll a d20, adding 1 for every two levels of fitness the Sim in question has. Below a 15, they get injured in the scuffle and are out of comission for the rest of the day. Below a 10, they get infected and die

- Pregnant and elderly Sims cannot perform any chores or other survival tasks and suffer the same -2 penalty as children!

- Every ingame week, roll on the random events table!

- Play with normal lifespan!

Stage 1: The Atlanta Survivors Camp You just survived the Apocalypse’s initial outbreak and you are settling with a small group outside a large city. However, calamity soon threatens your little sanctuary.

- Move your household anywhere with freerealestate, then take a vacation on the campground lot in Granite Falls.  - Set your money to 5k and start your grind. When you can no longer extend your vacation, your camp gets overrun and you are forced to flee. Roll Fitness checks for each member of your group and disable/kill accordingly. - If your founder dies in this, appoint a new one from the surviving sims

Stage 2: Hershel’s Farm After getting out of the overrun camp and having a little happening at the CDC, you are back on the road and lose one of your two kids in a run-in with a horde. Worse, even, your other kid gets shot and is badly injured! Thankfully, you are offered help by a small family on a nearby farm.

- Kill of one of your two CAS-created kids. Sorry, Sophia! - The other CAS-created kid is now injured for the rest of thi stage and can’t help you out or build skills. - Move your sims to one of the lots south of the Chalet in Windernburg (Or Henford on Bagley if Cottage Living is out!)  and build a little farmhouse big enough to accommodate four sims, with a small vegetable garden and 2 power generating and 3 water generating items. -Create four Sims that “own” the farm and help you out. One of them has to be an elder! - Two weeks into this stage, the farm will, unfortunately, get overrun and also set on fire. Do your fitness rolls for everyone and run for your life.

Stage 3: The Prison Again, you are on the run, but there’s a little shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - an abandoned prison! Now, you just need to like... reclaim it.

- Build a Prison, or download one from the gallery! - Cheat one of your sim pregnant, if you don’t have a pregnancy yet. - Reclaim the prison! Make Fitness rolls for each level + the outside. - After your pregnant Sim gives birth, kill her. Sorry, Lori! - Create a rival 8-sim household and put your sims in a club, and their rivals in one too. Have  “fight (other club)” as one of the activities, then have them visit you and... start... a gathering... ;)

Stage 4 The Prison 2, Electric Boogaloo You defeated Woodbury! ... or did you? Well, you don’t really have time to deal with it right now, because there is a deadly strain of influenza wrecking your community. 

- Start placing ads for roommates. Those are the former Woodbury people you took in! - Every Time someone gets one of the GTW illnesses, roll your d20. Below a 10, they die to the sickness. Kill them, and roll fitness for one of your household sims, since the dead turn into walkers! - Three weeks into this stage, your friend, the Governor of Woodbury, comes back with a fresh new group he roped into his nonsense. Roll Fitness checks and book it. (also kill the Governor. RIP in pieces)

Stage 5: Terminus From bad to worse, you’re on the run again, and split up this time. Divided we fall, huh? Good thing there’s this totally not ominous set of markers leading you to a place called Terminus. I’m sure nothing bad will happen there.

- Split your Household and surviving roommates and pop them all into different empty lots. Play a week with each of them (aging off here, this is meant to happen simultaneously!) and roll on the random events table until you have eight sims left in total. Hope you weren’t attached to any of them. - Put them back into the same household again, and create yet another rival club to beat up. That rival club is Terminus. Surprise, the group with the name meaning “Death” was bad! - Switch to your Terminus household and “invite” your sims over, then lock them in the basement, true sims style. Go downstairs and start a club gathering. Keep an eye on them, every time someone loses a fight, kill them. Do this until you have either 5 good guys left or all of Terminus is dead.

Stage 6: Alexandria and The other blokes You got away from the humanitarians and were invited into the community of Alexandria. Thing are finally looking up again!

- Move to a 50x50 lot and build a little “village” with gardens, energy production and everything you might need. - Create two more 8-sim-households on similar situations and create clubs for them, with the activity to be friendly with yours! These two households will be Hilltop and The Kingdom. - Make one of the Evergreen Harbor Community Spaces a marketplace and frequent it! - Stay in this stage for four weeks!

Stage 7: The Saviour War Things just couldn’t stay okay, could they? You ticked off a horrible cult-of-personality-type organization called the Saviours, who now start their reign of terror against you.

- Create another household and club meant to be mean to you, Hilltop and the kingdom. Make their Leader a magnificent bastard and give that one plot armor. Narrative Immunity! - Host a little multi-club gathering and roll a d8 twice. Look at your own household portrait lineup and kill two of your sims whose portrait position corresponds to your rolls. - Take your strongest fighter, aka the highst fitness stat, aka Daryl Dixon and put them into their own household, to take them out of the equation for a while. They’re the Saviours’ prisoner now! - Congrats, you have been promoted to vassal state. The Saviours demand five of every crop you produce. Don’t hav enough to feed your people? Sucks to be you! - Stay in this stage for 4 weeks, then bring back your poor fighter, and kill off half of the Saviours, add the rest to your household and Kingdom & Hilltop. Their Leader must survive! Keep them in your basement from now on and visit them regularly to gloat.

Stage 8: The Whisperer War Finally, some stability. Oh, whats that? New enemy faction, and this one of even worse? Fantastic.

- Cease communication and trade with Hilltop & Kingdom for two weeks, Then hold a big party! - ...during said party,  kill 12 total sims from each faction. - Create a new rival faction called the Whisperers. Make their two leaders, Alpha & Beta, level 10 in fitness. - Hold weekly brawls with the whisperers. Kill every fight loser, but replenish the Whisperers losses. There’s no end to their forces! - Give Alpha a daughter and take her in after your first clash with them. - When you resume trade, roll a D20 every time you travel away from your lot. Below a 10, your travel party gets attacked by the Whisperers! Roll Fitness checks for every Siim traveling. - Remember the Saviour leader? Yeah, they’re doing better. Have them befried one of your household’s children, and gradually integrate them into your community. - After an additional 4 weeks of this, send your redeemed Saviour leader over to the Whisperers and befriend them. They’re a spy now! - Survive another week, then ply s the Whisperers and attack Hilltop! Move the survivors into your main household. - After this attack, your spy strikes and kills Alpha. Put them back into your household, then gear up for a big fight! - Cheat “Roughhousing ecouraged” in your NAPs, then gather all surviving characters along with the Whisperers and fight!

Did you survive this? Well, until season 11 comes out, that’s as far as we go. You can continue playing with the Random Events and general ruleset!

RANDOM EVENTS:

D20: 1.  There’s a drought. Sell all your stored water and reset your money back down 2. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accoridngly! 3. Electric whoopsie-doopsie. Sell your stored electricty and set your money bck down 4. Roving bandits! The next time travel, all your traveling sims lose their inventory contents! If they had none, kill one of them! 5. Baby Boom! Get one fo your Sims pregnant 6. Other Survivors! Roll a d4 and add the resulting nuber of sims to your household! 7. Tragic accident! Kill a random sim 8. Extra Ammo! Every Sim gets a +1 to their next fitness roll! 9. Thunderstorm! Your Sims may not leave their lot for this week! 10: Supply thief! select a random sim and hoard food for this week. At the end of the week they get found out nd either killed or exiled! 11. Breach! Your wall has a breach! Reduce your funds by 150 to fix it. If you don’t have that much, kill a random sim in the resulting zombie incusrsion! 12. Illness! There’s a flareup of the deadly flu from the prison! Play with this Stage’s rules (regarding the illness) for this week! 13: Re-roll! 14. Sabotage! Your fabricator and woodworking table cannot be used this week! 15. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accordingly! 16. Lost Child! You find a random child, adopt one! (cheat the money for the adoption) 17: Feast! Your Sims make the poorly informed decision to par-tay! Delete all the stored crops you have. 18. Horde! It’s too dangerous to leave the fortifications right now! Suspend all travel this week. 19. Foraging! Cheat yourself enough money and buy a seasonal seed packet that corresponds to this season! 20. Re-Roll!

[mymanreedus]

One of my favorite things about 10x21 is that we got to see more of Daryl’s room.  Like I said in this post last year I’ve always been curious about it and if I could pick any Walking Dead set to poke around in it would be that one.  So I’m glad we got to see a bit more of it even if it was tossed around by Whisperers and pooped on by a rat.  Here’s some little details I noticed.

Dog fanart.  Probably made by Judith and RJ.  The perfect gift for the post-apocalyptic man who has everything.

Speaking of Dog, this looks like it might be Leah’s fox fur.  Did Daryl keep it so Dog would have a familiar object that smells like her for comfort after his dog-mom disappeared so suddenly?  It seems like something Daryl would do.

I loved seeing evidence of Daryl working on his motorcycle by having parts and tools lying around.  I wish they’d have put a whole motorcycle engine on a table in the middle of the room.  That would have been a very Daryl thing to do too.

But of unexpected Daryl things to do . . . painting supplies!  Are the paint brushes for painting and cleaning little crossbow and motorcycle parts or is he making art?  I wrote in my other post that it was a nice surprise to see Daryl had been making fishing lures (which we got another peek at) and I liked the idea of him doing something so contemplative and creative.  So could he be making art too or is it there for Judith and RJ to use when they come down to visit Uncle Daryl?

I was sorta right about Daryl having a lot of “forest fluff” around.  Not as much as I headcanon, but I was glad to see antlers, horns and furs.

I love all the books he has.  I noticed that back at his old Camp back in season 9 too.  It reminds me of Merle’s appreciation for the library at Woodbury and that the Dixon brother’s are both smarter then they’re first taken for.  I know its a stretch but the comic Man of Armor feels like a call back to the “man of honor” conversation between Daryl and Carol from season 2 when he asked her, “What do you want?”  And she replied, “A man of honor.”  And Daryl said, “Rick has honor.”  Does the comic remind Daryl of Rick and that conversation?  Does it remind Carol of that conversation?  My parallel seeking heart wants it to.

Sewing supplies.  Those old jeans won’t patch themselves.

Honorable mention to the loads of lanterns.  Now we know why so many scenes are so dark.  Daryl has all the lights.  A well lit king.

[collecting-stories]

The Formal - ep. 05 - Georgia

Summary: You’re forced to endure the winter formal but you can’t resist cutting out early. 

A/N: How are we liking this rewrite so far guys?

Georgia Masterlist | The Walking Dead Masterlist

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

You had tried in vain, until almost the last possible moment, to get Glenn to take you to the winter formal instead of Aiden. With Maggie only showing up to see you in your dress and then go back home you were stuck with no one to talk to. Aiden had asked you back in September, when you had just broken up with Shane and wanted to appear totally over him, if you would consider going with him to the winter formal. 

You had jumped on the opportunity, figuring it wasn’t a big deal. You would go, hang out with Maggie and Glenn, then leave. It would be painless. Now you were stuck in a car with Aiden and his moron friends driving to the banquet hall in Woodbury while they passed around a flask of alcohol one of them stole from their parents.

“Hey,” Aiden nudged your arm with the metal flask and you shook your head. “Aw, come on. Be a good sport.”

“I don’t drink out of strange containers.” You replied.

“More for me!” He was already halfway to sloppy drunk as it was and he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you against him. You nearly cringed. Part of you was seriously considering finding Shane and asking him to bail you out of this dance.

The banquet hall was tacky in its decoration. Giant poster board snowflakes hung from the ceiling along with blue and silver garland. Balloons were everywhere and there was a sparkly silver backdrop outside for couples to get their picture taken. Aiden coaxed you over in that direction with his friends, all of them posing in some obscene way while you stood off to the side, arms crossed over your chest. You knew you looked like a spoiled brat refusing to have fun but you didn’t care. All these guys were stupid and immature and none of your friends had come to the formal and you really wished you were sitting at Daryl’s doing homework while he worked on the car.

“I’m getting punch.” You announced to no one in particular. None of them were paying you even the slightest attention.  

The music inside the banquet hall was terrible. Arguably the worst blend of hick country and radio pop that you had ever heard but no unexpected for this part of Georgia. You checked your pager once you got to your designated table. No messages.

“Hey,” Shane’s hands came down on your bare shoulders and you fought off a frown, of all the people to get stuck with while Aiden was in the lobby being a douche with his friends.

“Hey Shane,” you pulled away from him and stood up, crossing your arms. Your lavender colored dress was partially an ode to Footloose and the excitement you’d had when you first bought it was worn down to nothing now. “Where’s your date?”

“Dancing with friends.” He shrugged, “you look great.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, listen-” just as he started to talk you caught sight of Aiden coming into the hall.

“Oh, sorry Shane. I have to go.” You hurried passed him and linked your arm with Aiden’s, fake smile falling into place, “do you wanna dance?”

“Sure babe.”

You danced with Aiden on and off, trying to stay close to him to avoid Shane. You smiled through a painful hour and a half of pretending to have a good time. When Aiden finally headed for the table you used it as an out, excusing yourself to the bathroom. A few other girls were in there, whispering to each other as you entered and sequestered yourself in the handicap stall. You checked your pager again, hoping that someone might have messaged you but no one had.  

You didn’t want to go back out there with Aiden and his friends but you knew that your mom would be furious if you came home now. She had put so much time and work into the dance and the decorations and the PTA that leaving would be like telling her you hated it all. Not a rational thought but your mother was never known for rationality. There was a payphone in the vestibule of the banquet hall that you had passed on the way inside and some coins at the bottom of your purse so you called for a ride home, knowing your mom wouldn’t find out as long as Aiden didn’t see you leave.

-

The familiar black pickup pulled up in front of the banquet hall that you were standing outside of, braving the cold so you didn’t have to go back inside. He’d barely ghosted to a stop when you opened the door and climbed inside.  

“Sorry,” you immediately apologized as you pulled yourself up into Daryl’s truck. There was a forgotten sweatshirt on the floor that you pulled onto your lap and slipped your arms through in an attempt to get warm. “I didn’t meant to make you come out I just wasn’t sure who else to call.”  

You could’ve probably called Glenn or Tara but then you wouldn’t get to see Daryl looking somewhat like he had just rolled out of bed.

“It’s fine.” He shrugged, “ya weren’t having fun?”  

“No. Aiden is a douche, I can’t stand him. My. mom was happy I was going with him ya know, cause his mom is the mayor but I can’t stand him!”

“So ya said.”

“Sorry, it was just a shitty night. I was only looking forward to it because Maggie and Glenn were going to be there but-”

“Maggie’s grounded.” Daryl supplied.

“Yeah.” You nodded and smiled. “I didn’t mean to drag you out of whatever you were doing.”

“Wasn’t doing anything.” He replied, pulling the truck out of the parking lot and heading back toward King County. “Am I supposed to take ya home or ya got somewhere else to go?”

“What time is it? If I leave before the dance is all done my mom will definitely know. She has to come clean up though so if I time it right-”

“I’ll just take ya back to mine.” Daryl cut in, “got something ya can change into.”

“Thank you.”  

“Ya look nice, by the way.” He was glad that it was dark in the truck because he could feel how warm his cheeks and ears were getting. He felt stupid for saying anything but he couldn’t help himself. You looked beautiful in your formal dress and it all felt a little surreal, even at 22, that he would be driving a girl home from her prom. Daryl was not the kind of guy that had ever gone to prom or even gone on a date before.  

“Thanks,” you nestled further into his sweatshirt as he drove you back to his house.  

He pulled in behind the Jeep, covered by a tarp so no one would notice it in his driveway. His dad’s car wasn’t out front so he led you inside the house first, offering up his old room so you could change. Whatever kind of kid Daryl had been you weren’t entirely sure but there was some evidence in his old bedroom. A single bed with plaid covers, stacks of magazines about cars and hunting, old scraps of metal and tools that he had probably used or still did. A far cry from the peach walls and stacks of books and Emory college memorabilia that covered the walls.  

“Your room is nice.”

“Ya really like ta bullshit don’t ya?” Daryl called from the living room.  

“I’m not bullshitting.” You slipped out of your dress and changed into the sweatpants and King County middle school field day shirt that Daryl had found in the bottom of his dresser. He’d even given up a clean pair of socks for you to wear. You came back out with your dress folded up in your arms. Daryl was sitting on the couch, watching some infomercial on TV. “Thanks for the clothes.”

“Figured ya still owe me a jacket so I’ll just add it ta yer tab.” He replied, shrugging.

“You said ‘keep it’ when I offered to give the jacket back.” You said, trying to imitate his drawl.  

“Yeah not for two months.”

“It’s not been two months,” you dropped onto the couch beside him, “it’s like, the second week of December.”

-

The trouble with having work on Saturday was that anytime you went out on a Friday night you struggled to get yourself out of bed when the alarm went off. But, usually, the alarm went off and you rolled yourself out of bed against your will and you got to work. A routine that wasn’t your favorite but wasn’t entirely unusual. What was unusual was your pager going off instead of your alarm.  

And something moving underneath you.  

You opened your eyes as you felt your body being shifted around again and only then did you become fully aware of your surroundings. You weren’t home. You weren’t tucked in bed after the dance, waiting for a cursed alarm to remind you that you had agreed to take a shift at 7am. Instead you were on a couch. Or more accurately, on Daryl, on a couch, in his house.  

“Shit.” You cursed, sitting up and grabbing your purse off the ground. The pager flashed a call me message from Patricia and you groaned, climbing off the couch and a just waking Daryl to call her back on the phone in his kitchen.  

“Patricia’s Diner-”

“Patty, hi.”

“Oh my gosh, sweetie, there you are. I was just about to call your mom!” Patricia shrieked over the phone. “I was so worried about you! Where are you? Your shift started 30 minutes ago.”

“I’m so sorry, I spent the night at a friend’s house after the dance, I’ll be there in like ten minutes.” You promised.

“Are you alright? You aren’t in trouble?”

“No, Patty I swear I’m fine. I will see you in like ten minutes.” You rushed her through the phone call, promising to see her once more before you hung up. Daryl was still laying on the couch, arm slung over his face. You ran back into the living room and nudged him, “Daryl, wake up.”

“Shit,” Daryl grumbled and rolled away from you.  

“Daryl, please.”

“Go away,” his words were half obscured by the couch cushions.  

“Fine, I’ll walk home barefoot in December back to my house, freezing cold-”

“I’m gettting up.” Daryl rolled back over onto his back and looked up at you the slightest grin on his face as he came further out of his haze.  

“Will you drive me home to change and possibly to work?” You asked.  

“Didn’t know fixing yer jeep meant I was your chauffer too.” He said, getting up and heading into the bathroom.  

“Thank you!”  

Daryl did exactly what you asked, driving you first to your house to change out of the sweatpants and t-shirt that he had lent you and then driving you to the diner for work. Neither of you mentioned the position you had woken up in. The ride was usually quiet in fact; even when he dropped you off at the diner you had said a quick goodbye and then gotten out of the truck.  

The pager had set you off so much that you hadn’t really gotten a chance to think about the way it felt waking up on the couch with Daryl, tucked in between him the cushions. Your head had been on his chest and the more you thought about it the more your heart raced at the way he had tightened his grip on you just the slightest as you slipped out of his arms to use the phone. While you wished you could’ve stayed there longer you were almost grateful to patty for calling you. At least it gave both of you a quick out so that you didn’t have to embarrass yourself in front of him.  

The last thing you needed was to embarrass yourself in front of Daryl.  

-

Taglist: @hopesxxhigh @coffeebooksandfandom @jodiereedus22 @tehfabbooty @thecaptainsgingersnap @of-storms-and-sadness @twdeadfanfic @alwaysadreamingoptimist  @mainokutan @sabertooth-potato @qrangr @bucky-barnes-babies @ly--canthrope @daryldixonandfrogs @jaycc7983 @easnuppa @imaginecrushes @tonystarkismyboy @watchmeaspire @cbarter @onemorebeautifulnightmare @gigilame @enrapturedbythemoon @harpersmariano @cathwritestragediesnotsins @siren-queen03

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter Two

Hey now, there’s a fresh edition of the Aquarium Drunkard Book Club, featuring recent/recommended reads from Justin Gage, Jason Woodbury and yours truly. I tackled the expanded Charley Patton/John Fahey book, Adele Bertei’s Peter Laughner memoir, Lavender Suarez’ groovy Transcendent Waves and Luc Sante’s masterful new essays collection. Click the link and add to your bedside table book stack ... 

[takeiteasypeasybaby]

Save Me: Chapter 59 - Equals

~Hey guys! Chapter 59 is out now :) This is a long chapter so grab a cup of tea and get ready <3 Love y’all~

Molly and Negan start to, for the first time, become equals in their relationship. Molly helps Lydia put down roots and introduces her to someone she loves, however her mental state appears to be getting the better of her.

As I walked out into the snow, people stared at me and audibly gasped at my rapid recovery.

Lydia rushed over and said 'Molly! You're okay! But, you should be resting'.

'I feel fine, my temperature is back up and I'm nice and warm. I'm good, I promise' I said as I pulled her into a soft hug.

'Hey, would you come with me inside a sec?' I asked her as she nodded and followed me into the hospital.

'I wanted to ask you...if you would want to live with me? I have a house here at Alexandria and I haven't been back for a while and I know that you would probably rather be at Hilltop because you liked it there but I jus-' I said frantically.

Like I was reeling off every thought in my mind before she cut me off.

'I would like that' she said softly as she smiled widely.

I nodded, saying 'good'.

'But what about Hilltop, you're there leader' she asked.

'I know, but I just can't be there anymore...where she's buried, I just can't. I have a suggestion for who could take over though' I replied.

She frowned, thinking hard about who it would be.

'Who?' she asked.

'You'll see' I replied teasingly as I ushered her to follow me to my house.

Michonne has given me my keys a while back when we first came back to Alexandria, but I hadn't dared to go inside.

I guess the place just reminded me of Tara and I wasn't sure if I could handle it.

I walked up to my house, it was virtually spotless and untouched so I unlocked the door and I creaked open.

Lydia stepped inside first as I followed, she looked around in awe.

'Wow! I haven't been in a house like this since I was really little' she said smiling.

I too looked around, seeing all the books still in place, especially the ones Tara loves to borrow.

'Yeah, it's a beautiful house. Maybe it will be yours one day' I said smiling.

'C'mon I'll show you your room and I'll take your bags for you' I said as I carried her bag upstairs and opened the door to the spare room.

Upstairs had two bedrooms and one bathroom, so it was perfect for us.

The winter sunshine shone through the window pane, making all the dust in the air visible.

The room hadn't been used since...well Tara.

'This was Tara's room once, before she and her girlfriend moved into their own house' I said sadly as I placed down her bag by the bed.

'Just across the street there' I said as I pointed out the window.

I sighed reflectively.

'You make yourself comfortable while I go and run an errand. I'll be back in 10 minutes' I said softly as I paced down the stairs and back out onto the street.

I saw Luke walking by and I ran after him.

'Hey boss!' he said happily.

'Hey Luke, listen I want to ask you something. It's more of a proposal actually...' I said hesitantly.

'Yes I will marry you' he said sarcastically making me chuckle.

'No, not that kind of proposal...I want you to lead the Hilltop community. I want you to take over. The people adore you and you would be great' I said smiling.

He looked at me excitedly yet also sad at the same time.

'But boss, you're their leader?' he said confusedly.

'Not anymore, I need to be here, with my family' I said softly which he nodded.

'If it's what you want then I would be honoured' he said excitedly.

'Good' I said smirking as I said goodbye, feeling a weight lifted off my shoulders.

I walked back inside to see Lydia sat reading on the couch.

I smiled at her, feeling content that the house felt alive again.

'So...I want you to meet someone, someone who is very important to me' I said anxiously.

She looked puzzled and closed her book.

'Who? Haven't I met everyone here?' she asked.

I paced around.

'Well, not everyone, not Negan' I said hesitantly.

'Wait, Negan?Michonne said he was a prisoner?' she asked.

'He is, technically, but he's someone I care about and I'm sure he wants to meet you' I pleaded as I smiled.

'Okay' she said hesitantly as we grabbed our coats and headed towards the hospital.

We marched up the stairs and opened the door to see Negan reading in bed.

'Molly...who's this?' Negan asked smirking at me.

'This is Lydia, I've told you about her' I said smiling.

She hesitantly walked forward and shook his hand.

'Pleased to meet ya kiddo' he said happily.

'Likewise, I love that book!' she replied enthusiastically as she spotted Crime and Punishment on the bedside table.

Negan let out a hearty laugh and picked it up and handed it to Lydia.

'Knock yourself out kid, borrow it anytime' he replied.

Negan looked up at me and smiled sweetly.

'Molly brought that one back to me from the Sanctuary' he said reminiscing.

'The Sanctuary?' Lydia asked in confusion.

'We haven't discussed that yet' I replied as Negan nodded slowly and mouthed 'sorry'.

'I'll tell you all about that later' I said softly to Lydia as she just watched me sceptically.

Lydia turned her attention back to the book as she said softly 'Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must have great sadness on earth'.

I turned to her as my jaw dropped in awe.

'You know your shit kid, that's my favourite quote too!' Negan said smiling.

'How did you know that?' I asked her.

'It was Henry's, he let me borrow it. My mom never let me read that stuff so...' she said softly, trailing off as she thought about Henry.

I held her hand and said 'Henry would be so proud of you Lydia'.

'Yeah, from what Molly's told me, sounds like you're a damn badass!' Negan added as he smiled at me lovingly.

Lydia wiped her eyes and smiled.

'Thank you' she said to both of us.

We all talked for hours until the sun started to go down and I said, 'we'd better go, it's getting dark now'.

Lydia was reluctant to leave as she fist-bumped Negan and walked out of the room.

I chuckled, walked back over to him and thanked him for cheering her up.

'She's a great kid' he said smiling as I kissed him gently.

'Bye' I said softly as he replied, 'bye darlin'.

I felt happy in that moment, with the people I loved most but a wave of guilt and sorrow overwhelmed me when I came across Tara's box.

I had kept it on the bookshelf and had forgotten about it until Lydia went to place the book Negan had given her on the shelf.

As she did so, she moved a wooden box to the side as she slotted the book in.

I stared at it, wondering what it was when suddenly it hit me, our old family photos.

I had grabbed them from our childhood house before Woodbury.

'Wait!' I said as Lydia moved the box and I grabbed it from the shelf and carried it upstairs.

'I just need it for something' I said as Lydia waited downstairs.

I shut my bedroom door behind me and knelt on the carpet as I pulled off the lid and peered inside.

About a hundred Polaroid's from the 90's were inside.

I was about fifteen in all of these and Tara was about ten.

It was like the wind had been knocked out of me as I gasped through tears as all the memories flooded to the surface.

My hands shook on each photograph as I covered my mouth to muffle the crying.

I didn't want Lydia to worry, I wanted to stay strong for her and everyone else.

But, secretly I was still dying inside, every damn day and just when I thought I was healing, I would get thrown back a couple paces every time.

I wiped my eyes and took a swig of some old bourbon left in my room as I exhaled.

I had to wait for my moment, then I could have some relief.

I put on a faux smile and walked back downstairs where Lydia asked anxiously, 'Are you alright Molly?'.

'Yeah, it was just a box of old clothes I had forgotten about' I said nonchalantly as Lydia believed me.

About a couple hours passed and Lydia said she was tired so we wanted to go to bed.

I said 'sweet dreams' as she hugged me and walked upstairs, shutting her door behind her.

I waited an hour, until I knew she was asleep then I grabbed my jacket, my knives and a spiked knuckle duster that Rosita had given me.

I shut the front door carefully behind me as I marched off into the darkness.

There were only guards on duty and from my house, I could easily climb over the fence and get out of the compound.

I just wanted to kill some walkers to release my anger and frustration.

I wasn't stupid enough to go after the whisperers myself but seeing Tara's memory flood my mind, I felt powerless to do anything and I hated that feeling.

As soon as I climbed over, it was pitch-black darkness with only the light radiating from the street lamps in the compound.

I saw a couple walkers in the trees so I picked up a rock and hurled it towards them to make a sound.

Once they heard it I jumped about, waving my arms silently as they turned towards me and started to follow me.

I whispered, 'come on you undead freaks' as I readied my knife and knuckle duster.

There were only two of them so I could take them easily and did so with a swift blow to the head.

But even though I barely made a sound, more and more seemed to come in my direction.

I wasn't panicking, I think I was just alive with adrenaline that made me feel dangerously invincible.

I punched and fought them off as I drove my knives into their skulls, sometimes knocking them over and stamping on their faces.

I was mid stamp as I grunted in frustration when I saw Negan standing behind me take out a walker that was dangerously close to my face.

If he hadn't have been there, I would surely have been dead by now.

I spun around and said breathlessly, 'what the hell are you doing out here. You can't be out here!'.

'I could ask you the same thing! By the way, tell Michonne she needs a better guard at my cell, that fucker let me out no problem' he said in faux amusement.

'How did you know I was out here?' I asked as I wiped off my knife in the snow.

'I can see your house from my cell window and I like to make sure that you're okay. You're unwell Molly' he said as he looked around and saw dozens of dead walkers.

'I'm fine' I scoffed as I started to walk off.

He grabbed my arm and spun me around.

'No Molly, you're not. After what you went through, no one would be. But, you can't be out here, it's not safe' he said sternly.

'I have to do this, I have to do this' I whispered to myself as I shrugged his grip off and kept walking.

'Molly, Molly!' he called after me as I just kept walking.

'Just stop!' he shouted which made me stand still instantly.

I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I exhaled and turned around slowly.

'My sister is dead, Negan! Dead! And there is nothing that I can do now to change that! Tara died, my little sister died, alone and cold, at the hands of an evil woman. I want to kill her! No, I want to hurt her! I want to make her feel every ounce of pain that I did. I want to take something from her, only to watch her beg for her life and then kill her. But I can't do that, because we don't know where they are! Everyone just wants to bury their heads in the fucking sand and do nothing, but I can't! I have to do something, anything!' I yelled at Negan.

He just listened to every word until I had finished.

'Coming out here, putting your life on the line isn't gonna help the situation Molly' he said softly.

I wheezed as tears continued to fall down my face.

'I just need it over, I just need the pain to be gone' I said breathlessly.

Negan walked closer as he gently took the knives out of my hands and dropped them on the ground.

'Come here' he said gently as he reached for my hand.

I tried to pull away as I yelled 'no! I need to, I need to do this!' as I turned around and tried to pick up the knife.

Negan instantly wrapped his arms tightly around my waist as he held me back.

'Let me go!' I shouted.

'Molly, breathe' he said calmly as he held me.

I gave in and felt my limbs go numb as I dropped to my knees.

Negan also dropped to his knees as he cradled me in his arms.

'Shh' he said as he stroked my hair and just held me, 'it's okay' he repeated soothingly.

I rested my head against his chest as I closed my eyes and just concentrated on my breathing.

'That's it' he said softly as he felt my heart beat slow down.

I stood up slowly which triggered Negan to do the same as I turned around to face him and buried my face in the crook of his neck as he embraced me.

He supported my head with his hand as he rested his head against mine and just silently held me there.

His scent, his warmth, his voice all seemed to soothe me and provide me with clarity to move forward.

He was right, I was putting my life at risk for nothing.

Killing the dead wouldn't bring my sister back, not even killing Lydia's mother would, I had to heal on my own.

'Thank you' I whispered calmly against his neck as my hands lingered on his chest.

He kissed my head and replied softly, 'it's okay, I'm glad I found you'.

[crossbows-and-moonshine]

That’s What You Get (DarylxReader)

Can I request an imagine where Daryl is secretly in love with you and only Rick and Carol know but he's been avoiding you cuz he thinks you like Glenn and he blows up one day cuz Rick and Carol is pushing him to tell you and you overhear everything

Warnings; fluff, angst.

If you want me to add you on the taglist, let me know. 

That’s what you get when you let your heart win. Woaaaaaaah. *Dances* Anyone else get that in their head when you read the title? Just me? Okay... lolololol

----------------------------------

You made your way over with your bowl of stew to the table outside the prison, the place was bustling with life with the people from Woodbury now there. You were one of them, the new additions, but you had been there a decent time now to feel like a part of the group. You sat down next to Daryl and shot him a smile, but he just glanced at you before continuing to eat his food.

“This is great Daryl, thanks for catching the deer.” You said softly, he just grunted before taking his bowl, getting up and walking off. You heaved a sigh and looked down to your food forlornly.

“What did I do this time?” You whined, causing Glenn to snort as he sat opposite you.

“He’ll warm up to you eventually don't worry.” He grinned. You and Glenn had become pretty close since you got here, he was like a brother to you and you seemed to spend most of your time with him.

You had no idea why Daryl didn't like you. Ever since you got here you had tried your hardest to get to know everyone, to work hard and be a part of the group. But Daryl was the only one who seemed to not like you and you didn't know why. Anytime you'd try to talk to him, he would just grunt or nod, or even sometimes just get up and walk off, like now. You didn't know if you had some kind of Daryl repellent you were unaware of but it was making you feel like crap. You actually liked him, you didn't know him well but you heard a lot of things and you saw him and what he did for the group. He provided, he protected, you thought he was amazing, he was always so humble about it too, never liking praise or not seemingly being able to see just how important he was in the group. 

You finished your food quietly, wondering what you could do to break the ice, to finally get him to talk to you. You settled on just leaving it, you had seen he had a temper and you really had no desire to be on the receiving end of it. If he didn't like you, then he didn't like you, you’d just have to deal with it.

Daryl walked into the prison feeling on edge and antsy. He hated being around you. But it wasn't because he didn't like you, it was the opposite. Ever since you came here you seemed to be everywhere and he could never seem to take his eyes off you. Always watching what you were doing, making sure you were safe. He had even refused to let you on runs because he didn't want you outside the gates where the danger was, but you were unaware of that. But he saw the way you were with Glenn, how you always laughed, were always around him, it filled him with rage and a feeling he wasn't quite used to. He sat down inside where Rick and Carol were talking and they glanced at him as his leg bobbed about and he chewed his thumb.

“For Gods sake Daryl, just tell her!” Carol chided, she loved Daryl and she wanted him to be happy. She had seen the way you looked at him and she knew if he actually spoke to you, it could be good, yet he seemed to avoid you at all costs. Daryl shot her a dirty look, he hated how his best friends had worked out his feelings for you. They were constantly telling him to tell you and he was getting sick of it. Like hell, he was going to open his big mouth and make a dick of himself, not a chance in hell.

“Just drop it alright?” He snapped, glaring at the pair.

“She likes you man, just tell her, you’ll feel better.” Rick encouraged with a weary smile, but Daryl could feel his temper flaring.

“Ain’t none of ya damn business.” He huffed, shaking his head as he picked the dirt from his nails as a distraction.

“It is our business Daryl because we care about you. You’ve withdrawn so much because of this, because it's driving you crazy.” Carol sighed with a frown.

“I said drop it alright?! Y/n doesn't like me that way, so there's no way in hell I’m telling her I fuckin’ like her! She likes Glenn so get the fuck over it!” He growled before standing up and storming off to his perch upstairs.

You stood there near the door with your jaw slack, you hadn't been seen and you slipped back outside as what you just heard digested in your brain. Daryl liked you, that's why he was being weird, and he thought you wouldn't feel the same. And for some weird reason he thought you liked Glenn, you were baffled honestly. You felt the butterflies bloom in your belly as you tried to work out how to tell him you knew, without him chewing your ear off and making things worse.

A few days went by and you had barely seen Daryl, it seemed like he was avoiding you even more. He was sat in the fields stabbing the knife into the grass, you noticed he did that a lot, he'd sometimes just sit there and you wondered what was going on in that complicated brain of his. You took a breath to try and brace yourself, he would probably kick your ass, but you had to try. You walked over to him and sat down facing him, he looked at you with a frown and looked ready to get up. He was stopped though when you placed a bunch of bolts in front of him, hand made of out wood, you had worked hard the past couple of days.

“What's this?” He asked gruffly, they were the first words he ever spoke to you and honestly, it was a stupid fucking question.

“Uh...Bolts...I made them, I know you could use some more. Consider it my peace offering.” You grinned at him, he looked at you suspiciously before picking one up and inspecting it. You held your breath waiting for him to tell you they were shit, instead he nodded, seemingly satisfied and set it back down.

“Thanks.” He rasped, chancing a glance at you. When you smiled at him he felt his stomach feel weird and he looked down.

“Okay look, I thought you hated me honestly, but I heard you, with Rick and Carol. And I know you’ll be mad, but for what it's worth, I like you too. So any time you wanna just talk or whatever, you know where my cell is. Also, I don’t like Glenn like that, he’s like my brother.” You smiled softly before standing up and walking away. You knew he would feel too uncomfortable for you to stay after saying that and you wanted to give him space. That and also get out of the vicinity in case he exploded with his Dixon temper. Daryl sat there stunned, he wasn't mad you heard him, he was too shocked to be anything at that moment as he stared at the bolts you had made him. It made him feel all funny that you had done something like that for him, that you had told him you liked him.

The next night you were sat in bed reading a book Carol had leant you, it wasn't the best but it passed the time. There wasn't much to do now the world had gone down the shitter. You couldn't watch tv or listen to music, the world had changed. You wouldn't say it was boring, there was always something going on. But running from the dead and trying to survive wasn't the kind of excitement that you were after, so books would have to do. You hadn’t seen Daryl all day and you wondered if you had made things worse between you, but you decided to just let things be. Your eyes looked up over the book when you saw the blanket you had draped over the cell door open a little and your eyes widened a little to see Daryl peaking in, you hadn't really expected him to seek you out.

“You can come in.” You smiled as you closed the book and set it down. Daryl opened the door and closed it behind him, stood there chewing his thumb like he didn't know what to do with himself.

“You can sit down, you won't get cooties.” You smirked, he stopped chewing his thumb for a second as he squinted at you and scoffed, but his lips were quirked up telling you he found you amusing, it made you feel all fuzzy inside that you made Daryl Dixon smile. He sat on the end of your bed and he was fidgety, you knew this was hard for him, you saw how he was with people, he didn't let people get close and he wasn't much for being social.

“I used the bolts before, worked real good.” He murmured quietly, you couldn't help the smile that spread on your face.

“That's awesome, I was worried I made them wrong.” You admitted sheepishly. He looked at you then, you were in an oversized shirt sat with the blanket around you, the shirt fell off one of your shoulders and his eyes were drawn to it for a moment before he looked back at your face.

“Did ya mean what ya said yesterday?” He asked bluntly, just wanting to get it out of the way. 

“Of course I did. I’d really like to get to know you better, instead of you ignoring me.” You said wryly, making him look down bashfully. You didn't know if you were seeing things but you were pretty sure the tips of his ears went pink.

“Yeah...sorry about that.” He apologized. You snorted a little and shook your head.

“Don't worry about it, you’re here now, so that's a start.” You grinned. He looked at you warily like he didn't fully trust you though.

“Why? Why do ya like me out of everyone?” He asked, he looked genuinely confused and you resisted the urge to shake some sense into him.

“Because you're a good man Daryl. And it doesn't hurt that you're hot as hell.” You smirked.

“Yeah right.” He scoffed, looking down once again and blushing.

“Don't make me hit you, I know I’m small but I pack a mean punch.” You teased getting a small laugh from him, you felt like you had been graced with the best gift from God at the sound.

“I look like one of them trolls that live under a bridge.” He huffed with a wry smirk and you grabbed the book and threw it at him, hitting him in the chest. 

“Ow!” He complained, glaring at you playfully as he rubbed his chest, you just smirked smugly at him.

“That's what you get. Its aversion therapy, every time you say something bad about yourself and I hear you, I’m gonna hit you. Soon enough you’ll learn to stop.” You grinned cheekily, he shook his head and smiled, glancing at you. It felt so weird for him, that you liked him, that anyone did. But you, the girl he had seemingly become infatuated with actually liked him back and he wasn't sure what planet he had woke up on.

“You’re a violent little thing huh?” He teased, you flashed him a toothy grin in response.

“Only when I need to be.” You snorted.

“Guess I better behave myself then.” He relented playfully, giving you another half smile, every time he did that your stomach flipped around on you. He stayed in your cell for hours as you both talked and got to know each other, teasing playful banter as you did, and with each passing minute, you both relaxed and found it easier to just talk to each other. You had no idea where this was heading but you enjoyed his company and he seemed to be opening up to you. You hoped one day he would let you in completely.

Taglist; @risingphoenix761 @daryldixonandfrogs @arlaina28 @divadinag

[oldshowbiz]

Woody Woodbury, Comedian: Gene Baylos? Oh, he was hilarious. He was funnier offstage than on. Don Rickles and I used to meet him at the old Wolfie’s, which was a popular diner in South Miami Beach. Gene Baylos would have that place in an uproar. 

Pat Cooper, Comedian: Gene Baylos was one of the funniest guys at a table, but when he got onstage - he didn't change a word in fifty years! But Gene was marvelous sitting at a table at Lindy's or wherever they went. You'd be screaming.

Woody Woodbury: He'd get on stage and say, ‘I just started a new business. I'm in the lint business. The lint business. Just started this business. The lint business.’ And he'd just keep saying that. ‘You ever put your hand in your pocket like this and you find a little bit of lint? Well, I manufacture that. I'm the one who puts that in your pockets.’ 

Peter Marshall, Comedian: Gene Baylos briefly teamed with the singer Johnny Johnstone. They formed a comedy team, but the wives got in the way. ‘My husband needs first billing!’ ‘My husband deserves more money!’ It was their wives that helped kill the act.

Leo DeLyon, Comedian: I just loved Gene Baylos. He was so great. If he got a good write-up in the press he'd go over to a newspaper stand and start tearing out the write-ups and shoving them in his pockets.

Woody Woodbury: Just the way he was was funny. He did crazy shtick and he did it all the time.

George Schlatter, Producer: I used to book him at Ciro's. He was the cheapest man in the world.

Jackie Curtiss, Comedian: Gene Baylos was wonderful and the cheapest guy I ever met. He always wore a vest. He made a rubber insert to put into the vest  and he'd go to the automat. He'd walk through and pick up used teabags and put them in there. Then he'd go over and get hot water. He wouldn't even buy a teabag!

George Schlatter: Someone would say, ‘Gene, how's it going?’ Gene would say, ‘How's it going? Are you kidding? I just closed in Vegas! I'm on my way to play Miami and then I go into the Copa in New York! After that I'm going to Hollywood to do a picture...’ While he was telling you how good it was going, he was picking food up off the tables and putting it in his pockets.

Shecky Greene, Comedian: Poor Gene. Near the end he didn't know what napkin to steal. He would go down to The Friar's Club and he'd fill his pockets with butter packets to take home, but he’d forget about the butter and it would melt in his clothes. Why don't you write about that kind of stuff, Kliph? Why don’t you write about what happens to us comedians in later years and how we wind up crawling on the fucking floor!

[twdeadfanfic]

Life at the end of the world Pt.24

Summary: Your life as a zombie apocalypse survivor. It starts with the Reader settling into the camp at the quarry, before s1 and then follows the show events and storyline, more or less, but with the Reader in it.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Warnings: Slow burn, violence, language.

Author’s note:  I’ve been itching to write a fic like this for a long while and I write it for fun, I don’t claim to be a writer so if you find you dislike this fic, please be kind and just stop reading. English’s not my first language so maybe there’re some mistakes, I apologize in advance. For the same reason, I can’t write character’s accents and things like that. At any rate, I hope you enjoy it. There’d be several parts to this.

Masterlist

When you woke up that morning, a couple weeks after you took in Mark, you were alone in your bed. You had felt Daryl getting up earlier, pressing a kiss to your temple, but you had been half asleep.

You joined the people who were having breakfast, guessing Daryl had head out hunting, but when you made your way towards one of the fences to clear the walkers that were pushing it dangerously, you saw him talking with Rick and Hershel while the two men worked in the growing farm.

After a while, Daryl made his way towards you and you stopped sinking the metal bar into the monster's heads long enough to greet him.

“Good morning. Help me with this?”

“If you need me to.” Daryl sunk his knife into the head of one of the walkers. “But I was going to talk with Glenn, Rick wants us to go on a run tomorrow.”

“Go, I got this.” You answered with confidence. “He’s in the watchtower with Maggie.”

Sasha and Karen where clearing walkers of other fences, and later you’d collect the bodies and drive them away to burn them.

“I think me being this happy is bad for our fences.” You joked, smiling warmly to Daryl, who just seemed confused.

“What you mean?”

“Well... when I was sad, or upset, or worried, I used to let it out here, I’d spend hours here just clearing walkers.” You explained. “Now I still worry about us being safe but I’m too happy to need to vent anything here.” You shrugged shyly.

Daryl seemed shy too, but he smiled at you, moving closer and bending down to kiss you.

“Wait,” you stopped him. “I’ll stain you.” Blood had spattered over your clothes as you worked and was still fresh.

“I don’t care.” He muttered before pressing his lips to yours.

Later that day, after Sasha, Karen and you had burned the corpses, you were in the bathroom cleaning yourself of the blood and dusk, giving thanks once again for having managed to bring running water into the prison. It came from the pit outside, though you weren’t really sure how, into big gallons that you could pump to get a string of water.

It wasn’t a real shower, but it was close enough and the best thing you had had to wash yourselves since the farm.

You hadn’t seen Daryl since the morning, both of you busy, so as soon as you were clean you went out looking for him.

You found him in the yard, sitting down with Carol in one of the picnic tables. You waved at them but they seem to be discussing something important, barely noticing you, so you shrugged and let them be. You went to the backyard, sitting down to enjoy the sunset, waiting for them to be less busy.

Not much later, Daryl sat down next to you. You turned your head to press a kiss to his arm. “Everything okay?”

Daryl just shrugged and you waited for him to explain himself. He wrapped an arm around you, bringing you closer and tangling his fingers in your wet hair.

“Rick doesn’t want to lead us anymore.”

You couldn’t say it shocked you much.

He had stopped going on runs, dedicating himself to the farm he wanted to grow, had stopped even carrying his gun. He’d never been one to make decisions one-sided, but lately, he relied more and more in the others. Glenn and Daryl had been taking care of runs for a while, while Carol did most of the organization around the prison, Hershel helping her and Rick to keep things in order inside the prison, while Sasha and Tyreese had become some sort of bridge between your group and the Woodbury people, the younger sibling becoming a valuable member of the group with her multiple skills.

Still, it was a bit surprising Rick just decided to step away.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah...” Daryl nodded, seeming a bit lost in thought. “He needs a break tho, after everything. He’s earned it.”

You nodded. The time they had spent away from fight and runs had been good for Rick and Carl, you could see it. Not only for their relationship, which had improved considerably, but also for themselves, they seemed more relaxed and happy. It’d be good for Rick to keep playing farmer for a little while longer as some sort of holidays.

“So what happens now?”

“He doesn’t want to take decisions anymore, he wants a group of people doing it now.”

You nodded, guessing where this was headed.

“So he wants to create a...a council I think Hershel called it.” Daryl frowned. “Rick wants Hershel, Glenn, Sasha, Carol and me making decisions, organizing this...”

“It makes sense.” You lifted your hand to run your fingers over Daryl’s frown, trying to caress it away. “You all had been doing it already for quite a while.”

“But Rick was still leading, it was different.” Daryl shook his head.

“It’s not like Rick’s going away, he’s still here to help.” You knew Rick wouldn’t just abandon you, even if he needed a break. “It’ll be fine.”

You could see Daryl was feeling pressured about being a member of the council, making decisions and organizing things, being in charge without having Rick at his side, leading. He’d been doing it already perfectly, though it seemed like he didn’t see it. He never seemed to appreciate what he did for the group and it frustrated you. If only he could see himself as you saw him, as everyone saw him.

You didn’t know how to put it into words, though, and knew that Daryl’d just scoff it away, as he did whenever you tried to tell him how important and valuable he was, so you hoped you could reassure him just with your presence next to him.

You moved your hand to the back of his neck, stroking the hair at his nape and he buried his face on your shoulder, nuzzling at it slightly.

“You’re gonna do just great.”

You both stayed in silence for a while, enjoying the moment of intimacy, being alone together for a little while.

Your stomach ruined the moment when it growled as you caught the smell of the dinner that was getting ready. Daryl chuckled, looking up from your shoulder, amused, and you blushed in embarrassment.

“Carol’s making dinner with some things Hershel and Rick grew and the rabbits I hunted,” Daryl explained you and your mouth watered. It seemed you wouldn’t have to eat canned beans for a while.

After dinner, Rick announced his decisions and the new council, and as you had expected everyone accepted it without much fuss.

Life kept going, your life in the prison improving as you grew both in people and in resources.

After Maggie and Daryl finally caught a couple of horses and pigs, it didn’t take long for Maggie and Hershel to be able to tame them, and eventually, Maggie even taught you how to ride. You were nothing special as a rider but you could do it without falling down, which was enough for you.

Michonne kept coming and going, never staying long as she always headed out after a few hours of rest and resupply, still looking for the Governor, taking advantage of the horses that now you had.

You didn’t know how she could still hope to find him. Maybe she needed to believe it. She always brought things back that could be useful, or just make your life better, like comics for Carl, outdated chocolate bars for all of you, things to decorate your cell... you wished she’d stop risking her life going out and finally settle into the prison, enjoying the life you had built there.

As the skills of the people who you had taken in began to improve, more of them joined you in runs, and soon you were able to go on runs to places you had never dreamt before, bigger or with lots of walkers roaming through them, not that much of a danger anymore now that you were so many.

There were accidents sometimes, of course there were, it was bound to happen with your lifestyle, but it wasn’t that often. The worse wasn’t even in a run, it was when one of the fences gave in, falling down, walkers crawling inside the prison. You all managed to clear them and put up the fence before it could get too bad, but there had been a few casualties.

Since that, bigger groups spent more time clearing the fences, so it wouldn’t happen again, and you were happy when the council, or at least Daryl and Carol, listened to your suggestions. You had spent enough time there to know a thing or two about it. Clearing fences and watch duty were your two main jobs now, though sometimes you still went out on runs, always feeling uneasy when Daryl went to one while you stayed in the prison, especially if he had to spend the night out too, which thankfully wasn’t that often, Glenn and him agreed it was safer to go on runs that weren’t far enough to have to spend the night outside.

Beth, who had the title of owner of the best-decorated room, kept a calendar of how many days had passed since the last accident. Zach had brought it to her from a run, and even though it was pretty and vintagish, the concept crept you out a bit. Still, when you walked into her room to give her back a book she had lent you, you couldn’t help your smile when you saw thirty days had come and gone without any kind of accident.

“I’m going to say bye to Zach, he’s going out for that run,” Beth told you after placing the book back in one of her shelves. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to Daryl?”

“Already did,” you answered, but followed Beth outside.

The run was a big one. Glenn, Maggie, Daryl and you had found the place while scouting during another run. It was a quite big supermarket which was probably unspoiled, with several military tents with supplies still in them in its yard.

Problem was, it was bustling with walkers. Daryl and Glenn had spent days making a plan and finally, they came up with an idea, they would use music to make the walkers leave that area, gathering them somewhere else so you could go to the supermarket.

It worked, now you had to bring back as many supplies as possible from there, and that was what the group was going to do today.

You were supposed to go with them too, but Carol had recruited you to help clear yet another herd of walkers that was gathering outside the fences. They seemed to be endless, more and more showing up from the woods, more of them each day, pushing at rattling the fences. Daryl said the more you were, the more they were attracted to you.

You knew it was important to keep the fences clear, and though you had wanted to help in such a big run, you knew the group that was going was capable, so you hadn’t been too bothered by the change of plans.

You chuckled softly as you heard Beth and Zach talking while she helped Daryl and him to get supplies into the car, the boy telling her how important yet dangerous the run was, though Beth didn’t seem very impressed.

You gave Daryl an amused look, passing him a bottle of fuel, and he smirked at you.

“Time to go.” He announced to Zach.

“Be careful.” You kissed Daryl’s cheek as he turned on the engine of his bike.

No matter runs had been going great lately, no matter Daryl always came back unharmed, no matter you knew how skilled he was, you didn’t think there’d be a day when you wouldn’t worry when he went out, especially if you weren’t with him.

You waved goodbye to Glenn and Zach, who were sharing a car, and followed with your eyes the trail of vehicles as they made their way towards the doors. Before they could go out, though, the doors opened and Michonne galloped in.

You grinned, happy to see her back, and made your way towards her while she talked with Rick and Carl, giving them whatever she had brought back. Before you could reach her, though, you saw her talking with Daryl and then she was getting inside one of the cars to join the run.

Well, you could talk to her when she came back.

Once the vehicles disappeared down the road, you went into the cellblock to take one of the aprons you now wore when working on the fences. Someone had suggested it, tired of scrubbing blood off your clothes, and honestly it had been a great idea. It didn’t stop you from having blood disgustingly stuck in your hair sometimes, another blessing of being short, but at least now half of your scarce wardrobe wasn’t stained with blood.

On your way out you were surprised to find Maggie moping in her cell, she was supposed to goto the run too, though now you recalled you hadn’t seen her in any of the cars.

“Hey, though you were joining the run?” You greeted her from the door.

“Glenn didn’t think it was a good idea.”

Maggie was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees and looking worried. She had looked like that for a few days now, something off with her, though you hadn’t had the chance to ask her about it. You had imagined she might have had some sort of fight with Glenn, and you were waiting for her to come to talk with you if she wanted to before you asked her directly, you didn’t want to come out as nosy, and you had been sure they’d sort things out pretty soon.

“It’s everything okay?” You sat down next to her.

“Yeah...” She nodded weakly and stayed silent for a moment before talking again. “I... It’s not sure but I think I might be pregnant.”

“What?    !” Your eyes went wide with surprise. “How could that happen?!”

“You know how.” Maggie snorted.

“I mean...I thought you were careful so it wouldn’t....” You tailed off awkwardly.

“Yeah, well...” Maggie shrugged.

Another moment of silence passed before Maggie began talking again.

“At first when a week passed and my period still didn’t come I was so scared...but I don’t know... The more I think about it, the more I feel I want it.”

“You do?” You couldn’t hide your surprise and confusion at her words.

“Yeah...I didn’t plan this but I’m not unhappy about it, I think...” She nodded and gave you a weak smile. “I want a life Y/N, I don’t want just to survive. I want a life with Glenn, a family with him.” Her smile was sweet now, and you found yourself smiling too. “The moment’s never going to be perfect, but we can make it work. We can’t be too scared to live. We deserve to have lives.”

You nodded. You liked her words, her ideas, but weren’t as sure as her about it been possible. You would support her, of course, but the idea of having a baby in this world, after Lori and everything that you had gone through, was wild to you. However, you believed Maggie was right, you couldn’t be too scared to live. This was the world now, and you had to make the most of it, try to have the best life as possible in it, not only surviving but actually enjoying life.

You felt all of you were starting to do that now, little by little, as your community grew, as you were safer and thriving, the prison now a home.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” You smiled at Maggie, resting your head on her shoulder, and she took your hand, squeezing it.

“Glenn...he doesn’t really think like that.” Maggie let out a tired sigh. “He’s scared something’s going to be wrong, that something will happen to me during the pregnancy or to the baby...he doesn’t know how we could raise a baby in this world...”

You could understand it, you felt the same. Probably all of you did. But Maggie’s words of hope had almost made you believe it might be possible.

“Well...your sister’s doing great with Judith.” You joked and Maggie laughed softly.

“Yeah...” She gave you a smile. “You know, this is one of the things I like about having a baby here, now. We all help with the kids, we all take care of them together as a group, no matter they’re not ours. That’s good, it’s good for them. A big family.”

You had to admit Maggie’s words were beautiful. Maggie seemed able to see such good, beautiful things, even in this world, and you admired her for it. You nodded, now with a genuine big smile on your face.

“Glenn’ll see it too, I know,” Maggie said with confidence. “He didn’t want me going on a run in case I’m pregnant, he’s already worrying about a baby we might not have.” She laughed though she seemed a bit worried still.

“You two are going to do great, I know it.” You tried to reassure her.

“My father and Beth don’t know it...nobody does. So don’t say it to anyone yet, please?”

“Sure thing!”

You smiled, happy Maggie had decided to confide it to you.

Later that day, once you were done with your job in the fence, you found Maggie sitting down on one of the tables of an empty yard. She waved at you and you went to sit down next to her.

“My period just came.” She told you with a sad smile. “And you know what? I’m kind of disappointed.”

“Oh...” You didn’t really know what to tell her. “Well, if it’s what you want, you can try again in the future...”

“Yeah...” She sighed. “Once Glenn sees that it’s possible... I know it’s possible to have a life here.”

 Daryl, Glenn and the others weren’t back until the sun had gone down. You were in one of the yards, trying to focus your attention in a book so you wouldn’t be so worried about them, when you saw Daryl and Glenn making their way towards the cellblock. Even from afar you could see in their faces that something was wrong, so you run to Daryl.

“What’s wrong?” You asked but Daryl shook his head, placing a hand on the small of your back and gently pushing you towards your cellblock.

“Y/N!” Glenn called behind you, his face as dark as Daryl��s. “Have you seen Maggie?”

“She’s in her room.” You told him, worry clutching your stomach.

You let Daryl walk you away from the others and towards your cell, giving him worried glances as he still hadn’t said a word. You didn’t push him, waiting for him to talk.

Once inside the cell, he pulled you into a tight hug, burying his face in the crook of your shoulder. You wobbled a bit under his weight but secured your arms around him. Something really bad must have happened...

“Hey, what’s wrong?” You raised a hand to caress his hair.

“Zach...” Daryl didn’t look up from your shoulder. “Walkers got him.”

“No...”

The boy had been showing off to Beth before he left, talking about how dangerous the run could be, but that were only jokes, everything was supposed to be fine, everything had been planned thoroughly.

You felt a lump in your throat, the death of the boy hit you hard, even though you hadn’t known Zach for that long, just for some months. It had been enough to feel him part of the group, especially since he began his relationship with Beth and to help in every run. He had managed to get through Daryl, to form a partnership and friendship with him, which you knew wasn’t that easy. Daryl had appreciated the boy and so had you.

“There were walkers on the roof we didn’t know about, it gave up, they all fell in... We should have known, we should have checked...”

“Hey...” You made him lift his head from your shoulder before he could start blaming himself. “The plan was good, Glenn and you thought it through, you couldn’t know what was going to happen.”

Daryl didn’t say anything, looking at you with eyes so sad it broke your heart. You kissed his lips softly and he put his forehead on yours for a moment.

“A shelving fell on Bob, Zach was trying to help him when it happened...”

You nodded sadly. Zach had had a good heart.

“I have to tell Beth.” Daryl pulled away from you and you saw him trying to control his emotions, hardening his face.

“Want me to go with you?”

Daryl shook his head and left the cell without another word.

You made your way to the cell where Michonne stayed in the rare occasions in which she stayed in for the night. She was on the bed, studying a map.

“Hi, long time not seeing you.”

“Hey.” Michonne looked up from the map. “I’m sorry about Zach.” She reached out her hand and you took it, sitting down on the bed next to her.

“Yeah...he was a good one.” You looked at the map she had been looking. “You’re heading out again?”

“Tomorrow. I think he might have gone here.” She pointed at the map and you let out a sigh.

“I wished you stayed...”

“Once I bring the Governor’s head I’ll stay here forever.”

You didn’t say anything. You were sure the Governor was long gone, dead or just far away, Michonne would never find him. But that was not what she wanted or needed to hear, you could just hope she’d realize it eventually.

You were back in your cell, lying in your bed, when Daryl came back.

He took off his vest without a word and went to lie down next to you. He threw an arm over you, curling up with you, and used your chest as a pillow.

“How’s Beth?” You asked, kissing the top of his head.

“She’s okay...too okay.”

“What you mean?”

“She doesn’t seem to care...like she’s so used to people dying she doesn’t care anymore. Said she doesn’t cry anymore...”

You frowned.  You hoped the world wasn’t turning Beth into something harder and colder than the lovely girl she had always been. But you reckoned she was still sweet and caring most of the time. She was a true survivor now, though, and you knew you had to pay a toll for that.

“I think she just needs time to process it...” You whispered, trying to make sense of it. “She probably doesn’t want to have her heart broke, she doesn’t want to suffer anymore...”

Daryl just hummed. He rolled over, pulling you with him and you curled up against his back, wrapping your arm around his waist and resting your hand on his chest, where he laced his fingers with yours.

“And how’re you?” You ventured.

You felt him shrug but you nudged his shoulder with your forehead until he answered.

“Beth asked that too. I’m okay.” He didn’t sound very genuine and you kissed his shoulder. “Just thought we weren’t losing people anymore...I’m tired of losing people.”

“Yeah...” You snuggled closer.

Eventually, you felt Daryl relax in your arms and you knew he had finally fallen asleep. You closed your eyes and tried to do the same, his presence always comforting you, helping you sleep deeply no matter what.

@momc95@jodiereedus22@osweetdevilo@sapphire1727@coffeebooksandfandom  @the-destielr@checkintoreality@aislingsartistry@daddys-little-princess67@sesshomaru-lover @crossbowking@coltcas@feartheendlesssummer @izumi37 @gruffle1@drina365 @kuolematkorjaavat @daeshaunex2 @xtinkersimsx

I never thought anyone’d like to be tag in any of my stories so thank you! It means the world!

If you want to be tagged please let me know.

[exidtotheleft]

Man of your Dreams | 06

Pairing: Taeyong x reader x Ten Genre: Artist AU/Fluff/Love triangle Summary: Reader is an artist who’s been painting a man she’s seen in her dreams for years. When her and her boyfriend Ten decide on a name for him, she begins to believe that maybe, he’s more than someone she just imagined. Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Epilogue

It was pouring rain. You didn't know when it started or why you were outside, but you didn't have an umbrella or clothes suited for such weather. But this dream was weird. You felt cold, like the rain was directly hitting your skin in reality. You had never felt so alive in a dream before. It was like you were controlling yourself.

Regardless, you were running, trying to get inside. You looked up at the street sign you were approaching. Woodbury Dr. it read. You found yourself wondering up the vaguely familiar street. Eventually walking up to the house at the end of the street. You knew it was Taeyong’s. You didn't even have to consider it, it was like the knowledge of whose house it was embedded into your mind. You walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. Hugging your arms for any warmth you could get.

After a moment, the door slowly opened. The man opening it said your name in a confused tone once he saw who had knocked on his door. “What are you doing outside? Why did you come here?”

“Never mind that, just, can I come in.” Taeyong nodded and stepped aside. You entered the moderately sized house and took a deep breath. Inhaling the warm, welcoming air.

“Do you want me to get you something? A towel maybe? I don't really have anything for you to chance into. Nothing very girly anyway.”

“It’s fine. A towel will do.” You assured. Taeyong nodded at you before walking down the hall to get a towel from the hallway cabinet.

You were still feeling conscious and in control at the moment. You were wanting more from him then just a towel, a way to warm up would be nice. Like…

“Do you want me to light up the fireplace? That could definitely warm you up.” Exactly.

“Sure.” you agreed, walking to him down the hall and following him to where his fireplace was. He handed you the towel and you put it around your shoulders before sitting down on the floor, waiting for the warmth of the fire to take residence in the room. You watched him as he reached to the mantel above the fireplace and pulled a box of matched from the surface of it. Taeyong opened the glass front of the fireplace and sat next to you without a word. He took a match from the box and stroke it. Once the flame erupted,

You woke up. You were shivering as if you were cold. You hugged yourself and felt your skin, you were still warm. You only felt cold. With a huff, you threw your bed sheets off your body and grabbed your journal and the pencil you had set beside it, opening it to the third page.

Dream #1

    I could control myself completely, every action I made was something I decided to do. I could control Taeyong’s actions as normal.

    It was raining outside and I ran into Taeyong’s house for shelter. He let me in and offered to light a fire. When the struck the match, the dream ended

You wrote quickly. You read it over before nodding to yourself and closing the book, putting it back on your night stand.

The one thing you couldn’t get off your mind from your dream was how good Taeyong looked. Maybe that was weird, just a bit. But what he was wearing really stuck with you for some reason. He was wearing black fitting pants and a white tank top. Maybe it was his shoulders and exposed skin, but he looked really good. It got you wondering if you could decide what he wore as well. You were sure you could. Maybe you would persuade him to come see you later. For now, you were worrying about putting the image that bore into your mind onto a canvas with your paint.

You took your sketchbook into your garage, opening the door for light and pulled your water color from your paint drawer. You didn't want to make a big deal of this one so you would just leave it in your sketchbook for ideas you got on the fly. You began to sketch an outline of him standing on the outside corner of the page. His hands were in his pockets and he was slightly leaning forward with one leg bend.

You continued to draw and gradually add more details, getting entirely into your zone. You were so focused, you almost had a heart attack when you noticed someone had walked up the driveway and stood next to you.

“Ten what the hell!?” You complained, slamming your pencil down onto the paper. He laughed quietly in return.  “Sorry.” You huffed and picked your pencil back up, going back to work knowing that he most likely just wanted to watch. He jumped up smoothly and sat on the table you were working on, watching you gradually add details. “Is this him again?”

“Yeah.” You answered while continuing.  “Have you ever drawn me before?” He asked. You stopped for a moment and looked up at him, thinking about it.  “I, don't think I have actually.” “Ah man, that’s messed up.”  “I’ll add you to this.” You looked down at the paper and thought about what Taeyong was wearing before looking back up at him. You tilted your head and scanned his body. Admiring what he was wearing. “That’s weird.” You whispered.

“What is?” “You’re wearing the same thing he was wearing in my dream last night but in black. He was in white.” You looked back down at your paper before sighing. “Well, guess the universe intended for you to be in this painting as well.” you concluded before drawing him on the other side, sitting down.

You continued the process of outlining all over again, looking up at him occasionally to get his details right. Drawing him didn't come as easily to you, you found yourself erasing a lot. “God, you’re difficult.” You complained. “I can't be that much harder to draw.”  “You’d be surprised.” You continued to attempt at getting his proportions and facial details correct, eventually putting the pencil down. “I’ll fix it later.” You scooted away from the desk and looked up at your boyfriend. “What’s new?” You asked him.

“Well, I actually have a question.” “Shoot.” “Could I meet Taeyong? Formally?” “Oh,” “That isn't an issue, right?” “No,” you shook your head. “Shouldn't be, anyway. Do you want me to call him now? I mean, outside what I tell him he doesn't do much. I'm sure if I told him to come over he would.”  “Sure.” Ten agreed with a nod.

You went inside to get your phone, you hadn't taken it with you to avoid distractions. Once you got back out into the garage, you called Taeyong and asked him if he would come over. When he agreed, you told him that you would be in the garage. He said he would be right over, and he was. About 5 minutes later, he began walking up your driveway.

“Taeyong, glad you could come!” You greeted, walking towards him and meeting him in the middle of the garage.  “I’m always willing to come see you.” Taeyong said with a smile. Ten hopped off of his place on the table and leaned on it rather than sitting fully on it. Taeyong looked at him. The smile on his face slowly shifted to a look of, almost disapproval. “Am I in...some kind of trouble?” He asked you, looking back towards you. “Oh, no none. We just, thought you two should meet.” You explained, walking Taeyong over to Ten.

Ten introduced himself and shook hands with the other, speaking a bit. You watched their exchange happily, but your mind started wondering. Where exactly were they standing again? Specifically Taeyong? Oh, right. In the same area that gave away your biggest secret just with a glance in the wrong direction.

You gasped softly through your nose and looked over at your sketchbook. It was still opened to the new drawing. You quickly reached over and shut it, attracting both of their attention. Taeyong squinted at you, a bit confused. But you looked at Ten, and you could tell he had the same realization as you in that moment. “Why don't we go inside.” You invited casually. “It’s a bit, hot out here. And my eyes are tired from the sun.” “I agree, let's head inside.” Ten played along with your excuse. Both of you in a hurry to get Taeyong out of your garage, the one place you knew he should never be in.

Once Ten lead him inside, you shut the door and took a deep breath, you really needed to be more careful than that. You let the door leading to your garage space fall shut behind you as you walked into your living space. Ten and Taeyong were already on the couch. You didn't really want to interrupt them, they were talking about something.

“Really, I’m not suspicious of you or anything.” Ten started. “She just wanted you to know that.” “I was hoping that was the case.” “I'm not super possessive of her, she can talk to other guys, doesn't bother me at all.”

The urge to make Taeyong say something stupid, or provocative to poke some fun at this situation was overwhelming. You so badly wanted to bring out his competitive side. You were thinking about it, how funny would be.

“I’m not just any other guy though, hope you know that.”

‘Shit…’ you pressed your lips together firmly and shut your eyes. You need to learn that just thinking something in these situations is what causes them to happen. You opened your eyes and looked at them, Ten looked at you with his eyes for a moment and flicked them back down at Taeyong, a playful look pulling at his lips. You knew you were in for it. Ten always knew when to play along. This would certainly be interesting.

“Really now?”  “I would say so.” “Are you saying that you shouldn't be allowed her so easily? That you might be some kind of competition for me?” “If that’s how you want to see it—” quick, what to do in this situation trait wise, what should his comeback be? Should it be gentle or harsh and quick? “—I would say I’m pretty good looking myself. A worthy opponent definitely.”

“Definitely.”

And that was how you made Taeyong confident. Ten laughed a bit, meeting your eyes again. He knew you were making him act like this. “Are you saying that I should see you as competition?” “If that's how you want to see it, go ahead. I would certainly agree.” “Let’s let her decide if you’re any threat to me.” Ten suggested before calling you over. You were gonna kill him after this. He was having way too much fun.

“Is Taeyong my competition?” You heard Taeyong laugh as you sat across from them on your coffee table.  “He’s attractive I’ll give him that.” You admitted before playfully putting your hand on Ten’s knee as a way to give him fake comfort. “I don't think you have to worry though. Not too much anyway.” you said with a smile.

The three of you continued to talk as if you had known each other forever. Well, you had known them for a while in some way or another. But you were surprised to see how well you were getting along. Then again, it was more a less a two way conversation between Ten and you with a bit of a twist. But you could tell Taeyong was becoming his own person more so. He was behaving differently than he had when you first met. He was better socially, his conversations weren't awkward. He seemed to be able to do more on his own as well, you were beginning to think that maybe as you gave him more traits, he became more independent. At one point, you wondered if he would become a constant, a real person rather than someone that only existed around you. You really hoped that he did, he deserved a life and total freewill, you wanted him to have that.

[chauhanparkash2052]

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[collecting-stories]

Christmas Eve - ep. 07 - Georgia

Summary: Christmas in King County and a hint at what lies behind the All-American girl persona that you wear. 

A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying the rewrite so far!

Georgia Masterlist | The Walking Dead Masterlist

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Christmas Eve in King County, like everything else, was marked by the church. There was the Christmas Eve midnight service that Hershel led, the living nativity set up in the middle of the square, for the days leading up to Christmas, and, of course, Annette’s Christmas Eve dinner at the farm for all the church congregation to gather together. It was more of an open house and you always ended up ‘working it’ though it was really just a glorified dinner, no need for servers and no one got paid for the shift.

“Are you busy on Thursday?” You asked the question innocently, leaving out the part where Thursday was also Christmas Eve.  

“Dunno,” Daryl shrugged, wiping his hands on the rag hanging out of his pocket as he turned to face you. A welcome distraction, having you around had prolonged the work that Daryl could’ve easily completed in two months. He was always stopping and starting when you came over though, more interested in you than in the car. Before he might’ve denied it but after Thanksgiving, he knew it was true, Rick had been right about him having feelings for someone. It wasn’t something he was used to but it was something.  

“It’s Christmas Eve.”  

“I got a calendar.” He replied, smiling when you pouted at him.

“Well if you’re calendar isn’t too booked maybe you’d come to the dinner Annette’s having at the Greene farm?” You replied, “it’s always a lot of fun.”

“Wouldn’t know, ain’t never been invited to it before.”  

“I’m inviting you now.”  

“Dunno,” he walked the short distance to the fridge and grabbed a beer out, “I’m not exactly a participating member of the community.”

“Dale will be there,” you offered, skimming over his last sentence. You knew he wasn’t anyone’s favorite person and you’d heard a good deal of Dixon stories from everyone who had heard that you were getting your car fixed by Daryl but that hadn’t dampened your opinion. Just because a bunch of people thought they knew him didn’t mean they did. “I’ll be there.”

“Ya want me ta spend Christmas Eve listening ta yer yammering on?” Daryl asked. You caught the hint of a smile and you knew he wasn’t as opposed to the idea as he was saying.  

“Maybe...beats me showing up here to interrupt your night.”

-

“So you asked him to come to Christmas Eve dinner?” Maggie asked, standing beside the wooden structure meant to represent the manger, white and blue cloths and headdress covering her jeans and thermal shirt. It was chillier than either of you would’ve liked tonight.

“Yeah, thought it’d be nice, he’s never been.” You pointed out. You had been sent over with thermoses of hot chocolate and cups for the manger volunteers, standing a short way off so that you didn’t ‘break the illusion’.  

“I highly doubt that Patty sent you over here to chitchat. You girls need to be better stewards of your time and your tongues.” Jacqui called, beckoning Maggie over as she spoke. You frowned, watching as Maggie rejoined the nativity cast. You weren’t a fan of King County’s holiest member of the community or her perception that she was better than everyone else.  

Jacqui was a central member of the church, a ward against gossip though she had a tongue for it herself, and a general know-it-all. She had been managing the 7-11 in town since the owner had franchised his small business to them, before you were even born. She even rented the house that sat just to the left. There was a picture of the original business hanging behind the counter at the 7-11, the house with two gas pumps in front of it, an older man and his wife standing on the porch. Somehow all that deemed Jacqui a sort of unspoken ‘elder’ member of the community. A gossip but an important voice in the town. On par with Patricia, Annette, and Hershel though she was younger.  

Her voice was important to everyone but you.  

“I heard you were in again the other day with that Dixon fella, buying cigarettes.” She mentioned when she came over, claiming to want some hot chocolate.

“The cigarettes were his, I don’t smoke,” you replied, watching the nativity scene. Having a job this Christmas had saved you from having to participate with all the rest of the youth group and you were more than thankful for that. “Besides, he’s working on my car, like I keep saying.”

“I’d said you’re spending a little too much time in his company. Might not’ve picked up his smoking but you picked up his need for talking-back.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes as you smiled at her, “sorry Miss Jacqui, didn’t mean anything by it, must be the cold getting to me.”  

“Must be.”  

When she walked away again to reign in Joseph and a Wise Man you capped the rest of the hot chocolate and left it by the church table that was set up for donations. You weren’t lying about the cold, it was nearing forty at night as it got closer to January. Nothing you liked but you made due as long as you weren’t outside for too long. It was only when Patricia made you do ridiculous things like walk hot chocolate across the street to the living nativity that you really had to brave the weather.  

“Oh good you’re back, you got a table. I was gonna take his order but he said he didn’t ‘want nothing yet’ figured he might be waiting for ya.” Amy said, bumping her hip against yours as you took your coat off, whispering and glancing over her shoulder to your section as she spoke.  

You looked back, biting your lip to stop the smile on your face at the sight of Daryl sitting there reading over the menu. You grabbed your apron from the rack and tied it around your waist, “I got it, thanks.”

“He’s some trouble ya know.” Amy mentioned.  

“He’s Just fixing my car.” You replied and even as you said it you knew it sounded like a lie. You walked over to his table, smiling when he looked up at you.  

“Heard ya were bringing hot chocolate ta baby Jesus.” He said, grin in place.

“Yea course, haven’t you read that bit in the bible?” You teased. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Your own hot chocolate?”  

“Coffee’s fine.”

“What brings you in?” You asked, hovering at the table, thankful for the slow night.  

“Figured yer always showing up ta harass me while I work, ain’t fair I don’t give ya the same treatment.” Daryl replied.  

You bit your bottom lip, preparing for a comeback when you heard Patricia call your name from behind the counter. She’d come out of the kitchen to see you standing at Daryl’s table, smiling at him like he just hung the stars and she’d almost had a heart attack. Patricia had seen him come in and had known, the moment he sat himself in your section, that he wasn’t moving anytime soon. She’d listened to you tell her the same story over and over again, that Daryl was fixing the jeep and that as soon as he was done so would your seeing him be.  

“I only see him to pay him for the job.”  

But Patricia wasn’t some naive young kid who you could pull the wool over. She’d been around the block a time or two and knew exactly what kind of temptations you were wading into hanging around Daryl Dixon.  

“I’ll be right back with your coffee.” You promised, turning away from him and walking back to the counter. Patricia looked passed you, eyebrow raised in disdain as she watched Daryl fiddle with his laminated menu.  

“Are you out of your damn mind?”  

“What?” You asked innocently, “I was talking to a customer.”

“I have half a mind to call your mother and tell her you been hanging around Dixon on your off time.” Patricia said.  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Patty,” you insisted. If she called your parents then it was over. Your car would be in Woodbury, you would be grounded worse than Maggie could imagine, and you’d likely never see Daryl again.  

“You watch yourself, you’re in dangerous territory.”  

“He’s just fixing-”  

“Your car. I heard.” Patricia replied.  

“Can you hand me a coffee?” You asked, changing the subject.

She went to the other side of the counter to grab you a cup of coffee for Daryl while you turned back to look over at him. As if on some cue he looked over at you and you smiled. He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck and you caught the faint pink the blossomed over his cheeks.  

“One coffee.” Patricia said, setting it down and catching your attention again, “charge him this time.”

“I’ll make sure to get the dollar from him,” you replied, taking the cup and walking back over to Daryl’s table. Patricia shook her head, despite her friendship with your parents and the Greene’s she’d kept plenty of secrets for you and Maggie over the years. She hadn’t told them about Glenn and Maggie dating, she hadn’t told your parents about your tardiness over Thanksgiving or Daryl dropping off the pie plate when you’d claimed you were bringing the apple pie to Tara. She just wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing not telling them you were falling deeper and deeper into something with Daryl.  

It was unspoken knowledge the way Will Dixon treated his kids. While Daryl’s mother hadn’t been some innocent girl getting taken advantage of she had loved her kids, Daryl a little more than Merle probably. She’d never hit them but she never stayed sober passed three in the afternoon and Patricia could still remember the senior Mr. Grimes coming in after the fire burned down the old house telling them about Daryl arriving home in time to see the place ablaze.  

Losing his mother, watching his brother leave, enduring years of abuse from his father, Patricia couldn’t help but worry that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree with Daryl. She’d been watching for any sign of abuse on you but she hadn’t seen any. If anything, you seemed happier than you had been in a while and it was that Patricia relied on to make herself feel better about not telling your parents that you were occupying your time with a Dixon.  

“Ya working late?” Daryl asked as you idled by his table.

“I’ve got thirty more minutes then I’m free to trudge home in the cold.” You replied, “I’m going to Maggie’s...we’re setting up the barn tomorrow for the Christmas Eve party.”

“Ya need a ride?”

“Do you mind driving Maggie too?”  

He shook his head. Daryl had come to the diner tonight just to see you. Aside from going to Dale’s for work or 7-11 for a pack of smokes he didn’t frequent too many places in King County. He was far from an active member in the community but he’d been turning up more often. The diner for one, the Winter Fest where Otis had spied him at the church table talking to you. He’d come tonight because he definitely wasn’t planning on going to the Christmas Eve party dinner that you had invited him to but he did have a present for you. Stupid, he was sure, but a present nonetheless.  

You paged Maggie to tell her to meet you at the diner and finished out the rest of your shift while Daryl drank his coffee, paid, and left to smoke out in the parking lot. He was there, toking on a cigarette, when you exited the diner with your backpack.  

“I really don’t like closing. I hate having to clean up.” You confessed as you came out to meet him.  

“Shifts a shift.” He shrugged and you rolled your eyes at his words. “Here, ‘fore Maggie comes over and I gotta hear the two a ya bitching about the Nativity or something.”

“You don’t have to drive us.” You replied, taking the box wrapped in newspaper that he had handed you, “is this a present? Did you get me a present?”

“Ain’t nothing special...don’t get so excited.” He said, chewing his thumb as you opened the gift he’d bought. Sitting in the little box was a keychain. A leather strap folded over and fastened onto a thin metal plate that attached it to the key hook. The leather was embroidered with clumsy little flowers in yellow with green leaves.  

“This is so pretty.” You smiled at Daryl, holding the keychain close as you gave him a one-armed hug.

Daryl tensed and pulled away, huffing as he tried to appear indifferent about the keychain, he’d made himself, “none a that, it ain’t nothing expensive. Just thought ya’d like it.”

“I love it, thank you.”

“I’m here, I’m here.” Maggie’s voice cut through your conversation as she came around the side of the truck, brushing out her hair from being pinned back in Mary’s head covering. Daryl dropped his cigarette and stubbed it out with his boot to distract himself from the blush that had started warming his cheeks when you hugged him. “Hi Daryl.” Maggie greeted.

“Hey,” he nodded to her before heading around to the driver’s side of the truck. You climbed in first, taking the middle seat, while Maggie climbed in second. You slipped the leather keychain back into the box and held it on your lap as Daryl pulled out of the diner with the two of you, heading toward Hershel’s farm.  

The ride was quiet, a lull of conversation as Maggie complained about Jacqui and the other youth group kids that had been roped into the nativity. You stayed quiet, knee pressed against Daryl’s and hands gripping present he had given you, unable to contain the smile on your face. The truck drove the dirt path up to the farm and Daryl cut the engine, Maggie already opening the door and slipping out.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem.” Daryl replied, huffing out smoke as you slide across the seat, suddenly cold from the loss of touch. He was gripping the steering wheel with one hand as he watched you get out of the truck, lingering in the door like you always did.

“I do have a present for you, by the way.” You mentioned, spying the newspaper wrapping crumpled on the floor of the truck.  

“Ya don’t have ta waster yer money.”

“Too late.” You teased. You met his eyes and your smile widened. On the other side of the truck  you could hear the front door clatter open, the familiar squeak of the springs on the screen and footsteps bounding down as Beth ran across the headlights to engulf you in a hug.

“I missed you!”  

“Hi Beth, I missed you too!”

Still holding your waist she caught sight of Daryl for the first time and twisted, moving her body behind yours and peeking out at him. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Daryl dropped his cigarette into the ashtray in the truck as he nodded his head to her, “yer Beth I take it.”

“I am.”

“I like yer braids.” He mentioned, watching the sweet smile she offered as she moved further out so he could see the blonde french braids clearer.

“Thank you! My mom did them for me so that my hair will be wavy tomorrow for Christmas Eve.”

“I’m sure it’ll look beautiful.”

She giggled and you bit your lip as your eyes met his. “I’d better get inside, thanks for the ride.”

“Sure thing, see ya ‘round.”

You walked Beth inside, her gaze wandering back to the pickup as she climbed the porch stairs with you. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“No. Daryl’s not my boyfriend.”

“She wishes.” Maggie teased, waiting at the door for the two of you.  

-

The barn at Christmas was arguably one of your favorite sights in the world. Hershel took great pride in outlining the entire building with lights, he hung a oversized wreath on the side with a large spotlight and the whole thing felt like you were walking into a Hallmark movie or a Thomas Kincaide mural. Georgia didn’t a lot of real winter weather but the barn made you feel like you were in some New England town.

“I was sorry to hear your dad couldn’t make it.” Jacqui came up behind you, her voice returning you to the reality of the evening. Hershel’s barn decorated at Christmas was your favorite but the people who filled it weren’t.  

“Yeah, he wishes he could be.” You shrugged. “Working.”  

“That’s what your mom said. At least he’s a good worker right? Must be where you get it from.”

Just passed Jacqui you could see your mom talking to Annette. Her eyes met yours and she straightened up, pointing to her mouth and indicating for you to smile. You straightened your back and offered Jacqui a closed lip smile before answering her, “yeah. Must be.”  

When Jacqui left to talk to another church member your mom made a quick beeline for you, wrapping her hand around your arm and guiding you outside, away from the party. “What did Jacqui want?”

“She was just asking about dad-”

“What did you say?”

“I said he was at work. God, mom we went over this in the car...I’m not stupid.” You crossed your arms in front of you, looking away from her.  

“You didn’t say anything to Maggie?”

“No.”  

“Hey!” She grabbed at your jaw to make you look at her, nails scratching against your cheek, “look at me. Did you tell Maggie?”

“No. I didn’t say anything to anyone mom.” You replied, pulling away from her and stepping back, “can I go back inside or did you want to assault me some more?”

“For Gods sake stop being so dramatic.”

“Dramatic? You dragged me out here to ask if I told some random person that my dad is in rehab for the billionth ti-”

“Keep your voice down!” She snapped, “you want everyone to hear you?”  

“Sorry mama.”  

She smoothed back your hair, pushing stray pieces away from your face and fixing your headband for you before leading you both back inside for the continuation of the night. Neither of you spoke to each other the rest of the evening. Not in the car on the way to the service at church and not once you’d gotten home. You went in your room to change and listened to her in the kitchen, trying to throw together a lunch as she prepared to work through the holiday. A knock on your bedroom door was the only thing to signify that she was leaving and would likely work the whole of Christmas.  

The Greene’s would be confused if you went to theirs too early in the morning and you didn’t want to disturb Daryl any more than you already did by showing up at his. Tara was spending the holiday upstate visiting her sister and seeing her niece. The diner was closed. You opted for going straight to bed once your dress was off and your face was clean…hopefully you’d be lucky and you’d sleep through the holiday.  

-

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