#Father Gabriel imagines

[justanoasisimagines]

I don’t want to sleep alone - Preference-Set A

Warnings; Mentions of anxiety and past trauma, typical canon violence. Requests are open! Guidlines are pinned at the top of my page A/N; Part two will be up in a few days! So if you don't see your favourite character here, they might be in Part 2 Credit to @cafekitsune for the divider and banner

Rick Grimes; The two of you nearly died after an encounter with the Saviours. Both of you are dragging your feet, both physically and mentally exhausted. When you turn to head towards your bed for the night, Rick stops you. He te;;s you he nearly lost you today and he doesn't want to sleep without you. Taking hold of his hand, you ask him which bedroom. He leads you toward his room because in Rick's opinion, your bed is like sleeping on concrete.

Abraham Ford; Ever since the two of you started getting serious, Abraham began to fear losing you. It comes from losing his wife and children. One thing is for certain he refuses to let that happen. This leads to Abraham asking you if you want to stay the night or insisting you two sleep close to each other for safety. Abraham wants to hold you close to reaffirm your there. It does begin to ease his anxiety when you agree.

Shane Walsh; It's you who tells Shane you don't want to sleep without him. The new world is ferocious, unpredictable, and deadly. Shane has adapted to the new world quickly, without question. So it makes sense for the two of you to share a space. Shane accepts because he doesn't like the idea of you being so far away from him when anything could happen.

Father Gabriel Stokes; Before the dead rose, Gabriel couldn't imagine sleeping with anyone whom he hadn't married. It was a sin in his eyes. The realization death is around the corner for anyone forces Gabriel to realise he doesn't want to miss out on these experiences with you. Gabriel eventually picks up the courage and expresses his feelings, you made sure he's adamant before agreeing.

Merle Dixon; Merle doesn't want to sleep without you. For a couple of reasons; one he doesn't like waking up alone. He wants to wake up with your bodies pressed together. Secondly, if Merle was being completely honest with himself, he doesn't trust anyone in Woodbury, There's no way in hell someone's going to hurt you while he's around. He'd gladly die trying to protect you.

Luke; Luke doesn't want to sleep without you. He feels like it's the next natural stage within your relationship. Living together, sharing a bed etc. Luke is grateful the two of you have found each other. It's only natural he wants to progress your relationship as normal as possible. For Luke, sharing a bed feels like the next step.

Siddiq; Siddiq is shaken from his encounter with the Whisperers. He's never been more terrified of dying before. He's struggling to adapt back to real life, constantly dealing with nightmares When you make the suggestion, Siddiq agrees. He'd thought he'd never see you again. He considers your warm embrace will help him sleep through the night again

Eugene Porter; Eugene is taken aback when you tell him you don't to sleep without him. He can't fathom why you would want to share a bed with him. His reaction is adamant, of course, he does. The entire interaction is awkward, soft and endearing as you both decide who's bed to share.

Benjamin; Benjamin never expected to fall in love. Never expected to find someone in the apocalypse, but he has. He's lying in bed one night, tossing and turning, struggling to sleep. His feet instinctively head him in the direction of your room. When he knocks, you are half asleep. He blurts out he doesn't want to sleep alone. You reply by opening the door wider and allowing him in

Beta; Beta insists you don't sleep alone. Living outside with the Whisperers is dangerous, there's danger at every turn. Beta hasn't cared in the past. When you two get together. things change. Suddenly, he's scared to lose someone. There is someone in his life that he wants to protect. So he insists you two sleep side by side.

Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas; When everyone's sorting out sleeping accommodations in the prison. You surprise him when you tell him you don't want to sleep alone. T-Dog immediately goes in search of a comfortable place for you to sleep. It's nice at the end of the end of the day, to know he's going to fall asleep with you in his arms.

Alden; You and Alden are sitting together reading, your eyes drooping, struggling to stay awake. Alden makes the suggestion you go to bed. However, you refuse telling Alden you don't want to sleep without him. Alden smiles, he truly adores it when you're sleepy and completely honest. Alden replies with you don't have to. Alden leads you up to his room.

Justin; Justin doesn't want to sleep without you through jealousy. He doesn't like the way Daryl's been staring at you. He wants to remind everyone, especially Daryl who you come back to after your day has finished. Who keeps you warm on those cold nights

Noah; Things are always tense in the hospital. There's always some politics going around. Noah's favourite part of the hospital is you. You two are hanging out, when Noah brings it up. He doesn't want to sleep alone, because its time he could have spent with you. The sentiment is sweet and when you agree, Noah asks you which side you prefer.

Jerry; You come to Jerry in the middle of the night, tears running down your face, pain-stricken. Immediately Jerry opens up his arms, embracing you. Jerry sets into consoling you. The world is harsh and cruel and even the strongest people break. When you tell Jerry, you don't want to sleep without him, he tells you you don't have to because he's right here.

Axel; Axel struggles to get accustomed to the harsh reality of the world. You are the best thing to come out of it. Companionship, patience, love. So when you come into his cell asking to sleep with him, he scoots to the side, pulling back the blanket. He tells you, you don't have to ask. He'll protect you from the nightmares.

Gareth; Axel struggles to get accustomed to the harsh reality of the world. You are the best thing to come out of it. Companionship, patience, love. So when you come into his cell asking to sleep with him, he scoots to the side, pulling back the blanket. He tells you, you don't have to ask. He'll protect you from the nightmares.

Micheal Mercer; Micheal is always busy. He takes the job seriously because it's important. However, sometimes he can feel like he's not spending enough time with you. It's why one night, he decides to ask you, to stay. He tells you, he doesn't want to go to bed alone anymore. Not when he can fall and wake up to something beautiful

Negan; Negan smirks when you tell him you don't want to sleep alone. He's been waiting for you to come to him. He didn't want to put any pressure on you, but he's been wanting to share a bed with you for a while. In Negan's mind, it's another way to be close to you. An excuse to feel your body against his.

[gejo333]

SPIDER ROSE🌹🕷️

Father Miguel x Mother Reader

Warning: Mentions of death. Might need tissues for this one🥲

I got a request for this from someone, but it’s taken me a while to get around to it. Sadly the ask disappeared so I don’t know who asked for it🥲.

I hope you enjoy this one-shot.🥰

Wc: 6.6k

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The sky was a vibrant blue, and the sun was bright white as its heat beat down over Nueva York.

It was mid-morning on Saturday when your body felt ready to wake up. You took a deep breath as you sat up in bed. A smile graced your lips as you looked out the window from your brownstone. You looked down at your sleeping husband, arm draped over you. You leaned down and kissed his cheek, gently moving his arm from around you as you got out of bed.

A boost of energy you hadn't felt in a long time washed through you as you got up and dressed. You walked to the bedroom down the hall and gently opened the door. Your heart warmed when you saw the silly way your 8-year-old daughter was sleeping, snoring slightly, just like her father.

You then went to the kitchen, wanting to make a large breakfast for your husband and daughter's two bottomless pit stomachs.

When 30 minutes went by, you heard your husband waking up. You smiled when you felt arms wrapped around your middle and lips on your neck.

"Everything smells amazing, mi amor. How are you feeling today?" Miguel took a piece of bacon from the plate before you could smack his hand with the spatula. "I guess you have some energy today. I'm relieved to see it."

"Actually, I feel really great today. I haven't had this much energy in a while. We should do something fun today, like go to Coney Island. We can go on rides, play games, and go to the beach! And let's just let her eat whatever she wants today." You are suddenly turned around as your husband's hand caresses your cheek as you lean into his touch.

You looked up at him with a small smile, and he looked down at you with worry and fear in his eyes. "Y/n, maybe I should take you—" You placed your hands on his face to stop him from finishing his sentence, shaking your head. Tears threatened to spill from your eyes, and your breathing started to quicken. Fear started to fill the pit of your stomach.

"Honey, I don't want to. We've talked about this. Let's just have an amazing day together as a family. Please." You pleaded as you looked up at him with tearful eyes.

Miguel took a deep breath, tears threatening to leave his own eyes. His heart trying its best to stop it from shattering. He forced a smile to his face as he wrapped his arms around you, bringing you against him.

You wrap your arms around his neck, look up, and kiss his lips deeply, "Thank you."

Moments later, you heard your daughter wake up and walk into the kitchen in her cat PJs. You smiled lovingly at her as she yawned and rubbed sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?"

You place a plate of waffles with a whipped cream smiley face, berries, bacon, and scrambled eggs on it.

You saw her brown eyes light up at the feast before her.

"Good morning! Yay! Waffles! Thanks, Mom." She hugs you tightly from her seat on the stool as you happily hug her back and kiss the top of her head.

"Of course." You smile as you make a plate for Miguel and you as you both sit across from your daughter.

As you eat, Gabi smiles as she sees her father give her mom a piece of his bacon and strawberries, which both her parents love to eat.

She looks at her mom, who gives her father a look only the two know before she kisses his cheek in thanks.

"Hey, Princesa, do you want to go to Coney Island today?" Miguel took the empty plates and put them in the sink.

"Really? Yes, yes, yes! I'll go get ready." Gabi quickly jumped from her chair and rushed to her room. "Don't forget to wear a bathing suit!" you yelled down the hall.

After getting ready and managing through traffic, you finally made it to Coney Island. Gabi excitedly runs ahead with you and Miguel, telling her to stay by your side since it was crowded and you wanted her to stay near you.

"Can we go on this one?" Gabi tugs on your hand as she points to the wooden roller coaster.

"Princesa, I'm not sure-"

"Of course we can!" You interrupt Miguel, who gives you a stern look. You take his hand and give it a love squeeze to reassure your very protective husband that you will be fine. Miguel sighs as he smiles.

"Alright. I'll hold your stuff while you two go on it."

You kissed your husband's cheek as he held the items. You and Gabi happily went on the roller coaster, skipping to the front because you bought fast passes.

As you get situated on the ride and it starts to move, you can see Gabi become nervous as she holds your hand and clings to you. But after that first drop, she became more brave, only needing to hold your hand.

After you left the ride, you made sure to purchase the photo taken while the two of you were on it.

"We look so silly!" Gabi giggled as she looked at the photo. You laugh with her as you see the startled look on both of your faces. You both returned to Miguel, who walked over to you when he saw you in the crowd.

"Dad, look!" Gabi shows Miguel the photo, bringing a wide smile to his face.

"So that's where I heard the screaming from." He chuckled.

"Ooo, let's go on this one next!" Gabi says as she pulls your hand again to move in the direction she wants to go.

After riding all the fun rides, you watched as Gabi and Miguel sat at the chairs with the water gun game. When the buzzer went off, they raced to see which stuffed bear attached to the machine would get to the top first. Of course, Miguel purposely messed up a few times to let Gabi win, as she jumped from her seat when the siren went off.

Gabi chose her prize: a medium-sized, bright blue stuffed animal, a cartoon cat.

"I'm going to name him Sky!" Gabi smiled as she hugged her stuffed animal. She then saw another game in which you use a mallet to try to hit the bell.

"Oh, Dad, can we win something for Mom?" Gabi said as she pointed to the other game.

"Of course we can." Miguel smiled as he winked at you, making you smile with tinted cheeks. Even after being married for 15 years, he still knew how to make you flustered. When it was his turn, he lifted the giant mallet and hit it as hard as he could. Even though his workout regime was a lot less than when he was in his 20s and 30s, his athletic build now, with a dad bod, still could make the bell ring.

After winning a prize, Miguel handed you a stuffed red rose pillow with a cute, happy face.

"Here you go, Hermosa." Miguel wrapped his arm around your shoulders as he victoriously kissed you. His prize for winning the game.

After playing every game possible and eating some carnival food in between, the three of you were now relaxing at the beach.

As you and Miguel watched Gabi play in the water, you leaned your body against him, feeling tired.

You forced your eyes open, the light stinging your eyes a bit, as you saw Gabi hold something up in the air that she had found in the water.

"Mom! Dad! Look what I found!" Gabi happily ran up to the two of you as she sat on the beach blanket, showing you two a beautiful clam that was still shut.

"Wow, princesa, that's a good find." Miguel smiled as he held.

"Can you open it? Maybe there's a pearl!" Gabi couldn't sit still as Miguel opened the clam with a kitchen knife brought for the picnic.

"Here you go."

"Thank you!" Gabi set it down on the blanket as she looked to see if there was a hidden treasure. "Look!" Gabi held up a beautiful white pearl before handing it to you to look closer.

"Oh, it's so beautiful, Gabi. Do you want me to make it a necklace?" Your smile widens when you see her face.

"Yes! Can you keep it safe for me, Mom?"

"Of course, sweetie." You put the pearl in your wallet so it wouldn't get misplaced. As soon as you get home, you will make her the necklace.

After spending a couple more hours at the beach, plus grabbing dinner at your favorite local pizzeria, it was time to head home.

You helped Gabi wash up after playing in the water and sand all day, and then she got into a new pair of pajamas. Then, all three of you got comfortable on the couch watching a movie.

As you were sitting there, you smiled as you heard Gabi's laughter from the movie, trying to imprint it in your mind while you made the necklace. You had taken a sterling silver chain from your jewelry box and made a hole towards the top of the pearl with a needle. You made sure to add stoppers so the pearl stayed in place.

You felt tired after the third movie credits rolled by. "OK, princesa, time for bed."

"Aw, OK." You stand up, take her hand, and walk her to bed. You chuckled when you heard her yawn.

You sit on her bed and help tuck her in for bed. As she sits up, you open your palm to see the necklace in your hand. "Here you go," you say.

"It's so beautiful! Thank you, Mama!" Gabi wrapped her arms around you and hugged you, to which you happily returned. A tear fell down your cheek, but you wiped it away quickly before she could see it.

"You'll grow into it as you age; that's why the chain is a bit longer now." You helped put the necklace on her.

You brush some of her hair back from her face as you take in every detail of her. "Sweetheart, you know I love you, right?"

"Yeah! I love you, too. Can you read me a story?" Gabi takes one of her books and hands it to you. You happily take it from her as you sit fully on the bed next to her, as she places her head on your lap.

After some reading, you notice she has fallen asleep. You carefully place her head on her pillow without waking her, kissing her cheek, "Good night, my baby girl." You look at her for a moment before you slowly walk out of her room. You turn around and look at her one last time.

As soon as her door was closed, you leaned against the door. Exhausted beyond compare, you lean your body on the wall, feeling like you'll collapse to the floor. Before you do, Miguel helps you by letting you lean on him. He was leading you to your shared bedroom; however, you stopped him and gave him a weak smile. "Can we sleep out on the terrace tonight? The sky is so beautiful."

Miguel smiled in agreement as he grabbed all the blankets, pillows, and comforters and brought them outside to the super-soft sofa bed. After making it comfortable, you and Miguel got cozy under the covers. He wrapped his arms around you as he pulled you against him.

"Thank you." You smile as you look up at him. Leaning your head forward, you place your lips on his. His fingers find their way into your hair as he deepens the kiss. You feel water drip on your cheeks. Once you pull away, you see tears fall down his face.

You gently wiped them away with a sad smile as he took your wrist and kissed it. His tear-stained eyes met your teary ones.

"I'm sorry."

"Please, Hermosa. Let me take you to the hospital so you can get treatment. Please."

"Miguel, we've talked about this. When we found out, my cancer came back, and my odds were not good even with treatment. I would have been barely able to get out of bed, sick and miserable, and still would have died. At least I could spend time with you and Gabi like normal. So that the last few months with me wasn't filled with memories of me being sick, but happy memories."

"But there was a small chance." Miguel barely said above a whisper as he began to shake a little, the reality of losing you coming to his mind.

"Miguel, look at me. The chance was less than 5%. Even the doctors were not hopeful. This past year has been an amazing one. And...And you and Gabi will have so many amazing years. Please, Miguel. Don't willow away when I'm gone. Promise me. You won't." You look up at him as your thumb caresses his cheek.

"I promise."

"OK. Now, let's end this fabulous day on a good note. Let this be...let this be a final good memory."

Miguel took your chin, lifting it as he kissed you deeply. Tears fell down your face as you wanted to remember the taste of his lips, the smell of his shampoo and cologne, and how beautifully they mixed together.

For the rest of the night, you talked about memories from the past twenty years—the five years you were college friends and dated and the fifteen years you were married, with eight of them being with your beautiful daughter. More tears were shed, and some laughs as well. You felt him one last time inside you before you ended up cuddling again, looking at the starry night.

Miguel had sworn he would not fall asleep, wanting every second left with you.

You smiled as you brushed some of his hair from his now sleeping face. Your eyes grow heavy as you fall asleep next to your husband.

You woke up to the early rise of the sun. You took a deep, shaky breath in the beauty of the various colors across the sky. Your gaze turned to your still-sleeping husband. If only you could see his beautiful brown eyes one last time. But you decided against waking him.

Your lips met his one last time as you whispered, " I love you, Miguel, in this life and in the next."

You looked to the sun one last time before a sudden wave of fatigue and peace you never felt before washed over you as your eyes closed, entering the eternal slumber.

An hour passed when Miguel's eyes opened. He looked at the sunrise before turning to look at you. The eerie stillness of your body made his heart skyrocket.

"Y/n?" He gently placed his hand on your face. His stomach dropped when he felt how cold your skin was. It was too cold.

"No...no, no.no, no!" Miguel sat up as he lifted your limp body and cradled you in his lap.

"It wasn't time yet. I wasn't ready. Please come back, mi amor. I'm not ready." His breathing couldn't be controlled as panic and pain filled his entire being.

He caressed your face as his forehead was on yours. Brown eyes staring into your closed ones. If only he could see your beautiful eyes one more time.

"Please, mi amor. Please come back to me." Tears fell uncontrollably down his face as he yelled out loud in pain.

...

Gabriella woke up late in the morning. She gently sat up in bed as she rubbed her eyes. Her lips turned into a pout, starting to feel grumpy as her mom usually came in to wake her up.

The house was eerily quiet except for her father's voice and Uncle's. She grabbed her stuffed animal she won yesterday and walked out of her room towards the sound of people talking.

When she entered the living room, she saw her father on the sofa, hands resting on his knees as his face was in his hands. He was crying. And next to him was her Uncle Gabe, who was consoling him.

"Dad? Why are you crying?"

Her father's head shot up as he looked at her with tearful red eyes. "Gabriella? What are you doing up?"

"Mama didn't come in to wake me."

Her words seemed to bring more pain to her father's face. "Gabriella come here."

She went to her father as he sat her on his lap. He wrapped her in his arms as he cried.

"Dad, what's wrong? Where's Mom?"

Miguel looked down at his daughter as he took in the features she had gotten from you.

"There is something that I need to tell you."

...

Gabi held her father's hand as she watched her mother's coffin get lowered into the ground. She looked up at her father, who had tears running down his face. This past week, since she found out about your passing, her father couldn't stop crying.

She couldn't stop crying, either. She missed you terribly—the way you held her, your smile, your voice, the way you comforted her when she was sad, like now. But now you weren't here to comfort her.

...

7 years later

"Gabriella! Come on! Get up! You're going to be late for school!"

Gabriella woke up startled as she heard her father yelling from the kitchen. She winced in pain as she got up too quickly. Grabbing her clothes to get dressed, she groaned out loud. She had stayed up too late last night.

After getting ready, she reached the kitchen, where her father passed her a plate with eggs and toast.

"Shoot. I'm going to be late for work. Are you going to be OK getting to school yourself?" Her father looked at his watch in panic as he quickly moved around the kitchen to find and grab his things. Gabriella's eyes went to the chain around her father's neck, dangling on it a wedding ring.

A painful ache covered her body as she looked at it. It was her mother's ring. Even though both she and her father have gotten the strength to keep on going after these seven years, it still feels like a fresh wound sometimes.

Sometimes, she would lie awake at night, tears streaming down her face as she looked at a picture of her and her mother together.

"I'll be home in time for dinner. Do you want me to pick up Ricky's Diner on my way home?" Miguel kissed the top of his daughter's head as she hugged him.

"Sounds good!" She said with her mouth full. Miguel chuckled as he looked at his daughter's silly face. Gabi smiled when she saw her father smiling. It's not that he hasn't smiled or laughed in a while; she just knew it was the only moment she knew her father briefly felt joy.

Before her father left, he stopped at the front door as he turned around, " Princesa, remember. Be home by dinner. N-"

"No later. I hear you loud and clear." Gabriella finished his sentence as she gave him an extra cheery smile.

Miguel chuckled, opening the door: "Don't be late. Love you."

"Love you too!"

After eating, she grabbed her bag and returned to her bedroom. She opened her window as she hopped out into the escape landing.

"Another day, another place to protect. Isn't that right, Mom?"  Gabriella smiled as she looked at the pearl necklace around her neck with an additional piece. She opened up a silver rose locket as her thumb grazed over a photo of her mother.

She pulled the dark purple and light pink mask over her face before she stretched out her arm web, shooting from her wrist as she shot off into the skyline.

...

After a long day at school, which included skipping early when she found out there had been a major robbery, Gabriella swung through the city, almost falling and bumping into a few places.

It had only been 6 months since she was bitten by the radioactive Spider when she visited her Father at Alchamex.

Of course, she hasn't told her father, as he would worry to high heaven that she has been putting herself in constant danger. The only person who does know is her Uncle Gabe, who had accidentally seen her stuck to the ceiling.

She was on her way home with an hour to spare before her father would get home with dinner.

The radio earpiece went off: "Send all available vehicles to Alchemex HQ. A large explosion occurred on the north side of the campus."

Gabriella's stomach dropped as her heart began to beat a mile a minute. She shot out a web towards a building, turning opposite from the house.

Her father worked on that side of Alchemex.

Under the mask, her eyes widened as she saw the massive ball of fire and smoke coming out of the building. She found a way in through a broken window.

She coughed as a gust of smoke blew towards her. Running through, she saved anyone who was stuck or unconscious.

"Help! Please help me!" Gabriella heard a woman's plea as she made her way over there. As she turned the corner, she saw a woman trapped under a fallen ceiling...and a man in a white lab coat trying to lift it off her.

"Da- I'm mean, sir, let me help you lift it."

Gabriella stood by her father as she easily lifted the rubble, thanks to her super strength.

After the rubble was removed, the woman thanked you and Miguel before running towards an exit.

Her father turned to her as his eyes widened.

"What are you doing here? You need to leave immediately. This place is dangerous." Her father grabbed her hand as he tried to lead her out of the burning building.

"What do you mean. There was an explosion." She stopped, making him stop with her. "There could be others in there. Sir, you need to get out safely. I'll be fine."

She removed his hand as she was about to go further into the burning building when she heard a crack above her. Before she could register it, the ceiling collapsed, and everything went black.

Her head was pounding as they opened. She coughed as she slowly got up from the ground. Her body ached everywhere. As her vision returned to focus, she saw the rubble she was supposed to be under.

Her eyes widened as she saw a body lying underneath. "No, no, no, no!" She lifts the fallen ceiling off of him. She checked his pulse and sighed in relief. It was slow. She needed to get him out of here.

She grabbed his arm and hauled his upper body on her back, making her way out of the building as quickly as possible.

She laid him on the ground when she was far away from the building. Her eyes scanned to see how much damage was made.

He then coughed. "S-sir, you'll be alright. I'll take you to the hospital." Gabriella felt a hand on her face as tears streamed down it.

"No need, Princesa. I won't make it in time."

Her eyes widened as she heard the name her father called her.

"Princesa? Sir, I don't know what you-"

"I know, Gabi. I've known for a while." Her father removed her mask, showing her face. He brushed her tears away with his thumb.

"You'll be fine, Dad. Promise me you'll be fine."

"You look so much like her. She would be so proud of you like I am." Gabriella held her father's hand against her cheek as tears streamed faster down her face.

"Please, Dad. I can't lose you too."

"You'll be fine. It might hurt for a while. But I know you'll do great things one day."

"No, please don't say that."

"It's OK, princesa. No matter what, I'll always be with you and love you even if you can't see me."

"I love you too."

...

1 year later

Gabriella sat on the damp grass as her tired eyes gazed at the marble slab before her.

Here lies Y/n O'Hara and her husband, Miguel O'Hara.

Around the carved stone were pink roses, her mother's favorite, as she placed a fresh bouquet in the vase.

Gabriella turned around, surprised, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her gaze briefly moved towards the man who resembled her father.

"You can't run away like that, Gabi. I was worried sick about you. You've been here for hours in the rain. You'll catch a cold. I promise we can return to see them once you get some rest and food."

She sighed as she wiped away her tears. "Alright. Bye, mom...Dad."

Listening to him, she reluctantly stood up from the grass, wiping away mud from her legs.

"You promise?" Gabriella asked her Uncle, the one her parents named her after. Her Uncle smiled and nodded, placing a hand on her upper back to guide her out of the graveyard.

They arrived at her Uncle's apartment, her home for the past year.

After washing up, she sat on her bed, knees tucked against her, and stared aimlessly at the picture frame on her bedside. It was a picture of her parents on their wedding day.

She heard a knock on her door, followed by her Uncle walking in. "Hey there, Gabs, I have your dinner here. It would really be great if you ate some of it tonight." He set the plate on her desk before standing by the doorway.

"Thanks."

"Is there anything you want to talk about? Getting things off your chest is better than holding them in."

Gabriella lay down away from her Uncle and whispered, "I'm OK. I think I just need to go to sleep. Good night."

Gabriel sighed, "OK. Good night." Before he closed her door, he walked to the sofa and sat down.

"I have no idea what to do, Miguel. What would you have done?"

...

When Gabriela finally woke up and got ready, it was midday. She forced herself out of her room to at least eat something since she hadn't eaten her dinner last night.

"Hey Gabi, how'd you sleep?" her Uncle said from the living room sofa as he sipped his coffee and watched the news.

"Alright. I'll try to get better. I promise." Gabriella took a bite of an apple.

"Hey, don't worry. You have gone through a lot for just a 16-year-old. The only thing I want is for you to be able to try to live as normal of a teenage life as possible." He smiled at her, to which she returned a small smile. "Speaking of not-normal, the news says there is a disturbance by the Brooklyn bridge."

"Shoot!" Gabriella rushed to put on her suit. Before she jumped out, her Uncle yelled, "Please come back home safe!"

"Will do!" She shot her web out as she headed towards the bridge.

When she arrived, she saw people and cars trying to escape the scene as the vulture was creating havoc. But when she got closer, she noticed it wasn't 'her' vulture, which was hard to register in her mind.

The new vulture threw a car off the bridge with people in it. Luckily, Gabi shot a few of her webs out to save the car. Taking all her strength, she pulled the car back on the bridge. A man and a woman rushed out, and the woman went to the back to get something. When the door was closed, she saw it was a little girl. The sight made her heartache.

"Thank you so much Spider-Rose." The man said.

"Of course. Now, please get to a safe distance."

The man then guided his family away as Gabriela went to deal with this weird vulture.

"Hey! Why are you ruining everyone's day today? And it's a bright blue sky and sunny, too." Gabi dangled from her web in front of the vulture, who was freaking out while flying.

"Are you made of clay? Like, what are you?"

"Where am I? What is this place?"

"It's Nueva York?" Gabriela laughed as she swung about and tried to stop the vulture. But he got out of her strings.

"Nueva York? It's New York."

"I think you must have hit your head or something, man. Maybe you should take a chill pill." Gabriela chuckled as she tried again to obtain him. She failed again as he slammed her against the wall.

"You're starting to annoy me."  He pushed her more against the wall, which started to hurt her head.

A weird warping noise appeared in the air, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a weird orange portal open.

A woman in a white and pink suit flew towards her. And did she see a web-shoot from the woman's wrist?

Within seconds, the vulture was thrown off her, knocked out, and captured.

"I didn't think that would be over so quick. This guy is a pretty weak vulture."

Gabriela stared at the woman in awe. The woman noticed as she walked over and offered her hand, "Hi, I'm Gwen."

Gabriela shook her hand. "Gabriela, but everyone calls me Gabi. You're like me."

Gwen chuckled, "This is your first time meeting another Spider-person?"

"I didn't know there were others like me."

"Oh, there is an infinite amount! It's so cool! We have an HQ and everything, and we go on missions to help save the multiverse."

"The multiverse? I thought it was only a theory."

"I haven't seen a spider like you before. You should totally join us." Gwen said as she opened a portal.

"Really?!" Gabriela's eyes widened in excitement as she smiled underneath her mask.

"Sure! I don't see any reason why not? It's weird going through the portal for the first time. But you'll get the gist of it."

As Gwen said, going through the portal was nauseating, but the feeling disappeared as soon as she saw the beauty of Spider HQ.

Everywhere she looked, there were Spider-people. Knowing she wasn't alone brought tears to her eyes.

An older Spiderwoman in a black and red suit walked up to you and Gwen, not happy.

"Girl, You're in big trouble. Recruiting someone? You don't have the authority to do that." The woman scolded Gwen.

"H-how did... this just happen," Gwen asked, astonished that Jess already knew.

"it was Lyla. You're wanted at his office. Both of you. The name's Jess, by the way. It's nice to see another spider woman, even though it wasn't done through proper protocol." Jess glanced at Gwen, who had taken her mask off.

Gabriella decided to keep it on while trying to dry her tears.

"I know it wasn't done the right way. But she has amazing talent! She has to join! Plus, I know you will be on board once you see her skills!" Defended Gwen.

"Well, since you didn't follow protocol, it's not up to me to decide anymore."

Gabriela couldn't contain her excitement as they walked through HQ. She really hoped she could join, and she thought being here could help heal her pain.

They entered a large office filled with projects. Her eyes turned toward an orange glow. A series of computer screens hovered over a large desk where a very large man stood.

The lenses in Gabriella's mask widen when the man turns around.

She thought she was going to burst into tears. It was her father. But a younger version.

"Gwen." He said with a stern voice.

"I know I'm sorry. But my gut was telling me to bring her here."

"You know the rules. I expect you to follow them." The man who looked like her father walked closer.

He really did look like him. Except his eyes were red. He was definitely younger, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s. He was larger than her father, which was shocking as he was already a large man. It must have been from the Spider's DNA.

"She shouldn't be here." He looked towards her, her father staring at her like she was a stranger, which she had to remember that she was.

"Miguel, honey. They're just kids. And everyone makes mistakes. So give them a break."

Gabriella breath hitched when she heard your voice.

It was her mom. It was really you. She hadn't seen you in years. All she wanted to do was run into your arms, but she knew you weren't 'her.'

The woman walks over to Miguel, whose face turns to a loving smile as she wraps around her waist.

"Alright, mi amor. I will."

Gabriella smiled. They were married in this universe, too. Maybe they had a version of her back home that they adored and loved.

Gabriella's breath became uncontrollable as she couldn't handle seeing them anymore.

"I-I'm sorry." She rushes out of the room and goes somewhere where she can be alone to cry.

Little did she know that in you and Miguel's worlds, you had lost your Gabriella. Before joining Spider Society, you were a single mother from a one-night stand. It was your world's Miguel, but he was an asshole. So when you met Miguel at Spider HQ, you assumed he would be the same. Of course, you were very much mistaken as you got to know him. He was only sad after he had lost his version of Gabriella when the world collapsed. Your world collapsed, too, so you live full-time in Miguel's world with him. Of course, now married. But your Gabriella had died long before from an outbreak of a virus.

You gave Miguel a stern look, thinking he had upset the young Spider. But you, being the mother you used to be, ran after her.

Gabriella sat in a corner of the dining hall so that very few others could watch her cry. Maybe she shouldn't be here. Seeing her parents' faces and not being able to run up and hug them would be too much.

"Hey"

Gabriella's head shot up when she heard your voice. You sat right next to her and placed your hand on her back to console her.

"I'm sorry if my husband was rude. He means well but sometimes doesn't show it in the best way."

"No, it's OK. It wasn't that...I saw something that brought up some sensitive memories of my past."

"You know, sometimes it's good to talk things out instead of keeping them locked in. It always helped me," you smile at her.

Gabriella's heart ached from those words. Something her mother would say to her. "It's pretty weird..."

"Trust me. I've seen some pretty weird things." You chuckle, remembering the time you had a mission with the Spider T-Rex.

Gabriella exhaled a shaky breath as she took her mask and lifted it off her face. Her brown eyes took a long pause before looking at you. Your eyes were wide as your gut dropped, and your heart lifted as you placed a shaky hand on her cheek.

"Gabriella? I-I've never seen a version of you as a Spider. I-I've rarely seen another version of you at all. You're older than my Gabi." You pull her into a hug. Gabriella couldn't resist as she wrapped her arms around you, tears streaking down her face.

"I never thought I would see my daughter grown up. She was so young when she died."

You smiled as you looked at your 'daughter.' "

After all these years, I never thought I would see your smiling face again."

"I didn't think so either about you."

Her words made your brows furrow.

"Both my parents are dead. My mother died from a relapse of cancer when I was 8, and my father died last year from saving me from an explosion at his job." Gabriella bit her tongue as she tried her best to hold back her tears as that aching pain began to throb in her heart.

You held her in your arms longer than you realized as you heard large footsteps walking towards you before coming to a sudden halt. You looked up with a happy smile as you saw your husband's shocked face.

"Miguel, our baby girl, came back to us."

Miguel took a few steps forward, not believing who was before him. He fell to his knees before Gabriella, and she couldn't help but wrap her arms around him as she cried louder. Miguel wrapped his arms around her as he combed the back of her hair to calm her down. You go on your knees as you hug her, too, again.

Gabriella cried out loud, as did you and Miguel, not caring what scene they were causing. Miguel kissed the top of your head and Gabriella's as he smiled down at his family, once all broken but now brought together through the mysterious wonders of the multiverse.

"I've missed you both so much. I felt so alone without you."

You and Miguel exchanged a look as if you were communicating with your minds as you smiled at your daughter.

"I know we aren't your parents. But if you wanted, we would love to spend time with you." You wiped away her tears with your thumb.

"Does that mean I'm in?" Gabriella looked at you and Miguel with joy and excitement in her brown eyes.

" Of course." Miguel smiled at her.

" I know I'm not your daughter-"

"Gabi, no matter what universe you're from. You will always be our daughter."

Your words melted away Gabriella's walls and warmed her heart as tears threatened to spill again as she hugged you and Miguel.

...

A month later

"I can't believe in another universe you also tripped into the pond in Central Park on your guys' first date. That was always a funny story my mom would tell, embarrassing my father to high heavens." Gabriella laughed as she placed another dish on the dining room table.

Miguel chuckled as he finished plating the rest of the food from the pan. "What can I say? I was on a date with a beautiful woman and was a little nervous."

"A little? Really, honey? You're in front of family. You can admit you were a nervous wreck on our first date." You laughed, getting a playful glare from your husband in return.

"Ah, I remember my brother walking into our shared apartment drenched to the core after the date but still walking in through the door with a goofy grin." Gabriel laughed as he sat down next to his niece. Gabriella almost spit out her water by her Uncle's comment as she tried to hold in her laughter.

"Did that happen to you too?" She looked up at Miguel.

"Yeah, it did. I thought I had ruined the date, but when I got out, and Y/N kissed me and said she couldn't wait for our second date, I was over the moon happy." Miguel smiled as he looked at you, took your hand, and kissed your knuckles.

Gabriella smiled as she looked at her new family sitting around the table. She looked at her necklace, which now had a photo of her father on the other side of the locket. Gabriella's heart felt a warm sadness wash over her. She smiled to her self. She was finally healing.

As she looked up at the younger versions of her parents talking with happy smiles  across the table from her, she thought:

'Mom...Dad. Thank you for helping me find my way back to you.'

————————————————————————

I hope you enjoyed this one-shot!💕

[betyloca]

twd characters with a silent s/o

daryl dixon

• He noticed at camp that you were very quiet or shy.

• When you sat down to eat around the fire with the camp, everyone was talking but you just watched without making a sound.

• until one day you were sitting next to him while he was telling you random things.

until I asked you why you never spoke

- Hey, why don't you talk, are you shy or something?

when I noticed that you took out a notebook and wrote in it

-* showing what it says* I am mute due to an accident that damaged my vocal cords but I am not deaf

• Since then he has been more attached to you, teaching you how to use weapons.

• since you are mute you have the advantages of being more agile without being heard

• teaches you how to use his crossbow

• he starts to get attached to you and always asks to go with you when you have to go get supplies

Rick grimmes

• He was an officer so he realized when he arrived at the camp that you weren't talking.

• By noticing that behavior more, I understood that you were mute.

• He would come to you if you needed help with something, which you always responded with a simple nod of the head.

• I started practicing sign language to communicate with you.

- If you need anything, let me know* communicating in signs*

- * while smiling * I am mute, not deaf, how do you think I can hear others when they talk to me * making signs *

-ohh

- *signing* well the intention is what counts

• well this way they have an advantage when they have to make an ambush

• he likes how well you get along with carl

• whenever they go to look for supplies he has you by the hand so you don't get lost

Gabriel stokes

• this man thought you were shy

• when he sat with you and talked to you you never spoke

• He thought you didn't like him until Carol told him you were mute.

• He started to get closer to you by asking if you didn't mind, you just answered no with your head.

• likes to spend time with you at church

• reads the Bible to you when you have nothing to do

- Are you sure you won't get bored?

- *Shaking his head*

- okay where was I?

• he likes to walk with you in Alexandria when it's night because he's so quiet

• gives you his bible when he goes to get supplies

• He worries when you leave but when you return he is very happy and hugs you.

Merle dixon

• at first he didn't realize how quiet you were and he didn't even care

• Until I started flirting with you I noticed that you never complained but you did blush.

• so I started doing it more often until I made some jokes

• one night when the others were sleeping you were outside your tents while he was talking

• until he told something funny that he saw that you were laughing but you didn't make a sound

- Hey sugar, you're mute, aren't you?

-*nodding*

- ohh I see that doesn't stop me from making you smile, don't you believe, sweetheart?

• He thinks it's an advantage that you're mute, so just like Daryln, he teaches you to be agile without being seen.

• teaches you how to use weapons while whispering double meanings in your ear

• he thinks it's better for you to sleep in his tent than in yours in case something happens and he can't hear you and why does he worry?

• fights with anyone who makes fun of your condition

• whenever they go by car to get supplies he has a hand on your thigh to calm you down

[tricieslune]

Do you ever think that maybe Gabriel dying could be a canon event ?? What if he's supposed to die in every universe ? Just like how Emilie dying is reoccurring event in each one.

We obviously don't know about the movie universe since the other part is still yet to come. But just think about Gabriel dying in the Paris special universe. Well, since the Gabriel in that universe is good and doesn't want to bring Emelie back. So, obviously his death won't be due to a wish. The only way I can think that he might die is maybe he was ultimately caught by the The Supreme and had to face his fatal fate ?? Im just bluffing im sorry but when I had this thought I just had to type this out for some reason.

EDIT : I JUST FOUND OUT THROUGH THE DELETED STORYBOARDS THAT GABRIEL WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE IN THE END OF THE MIRACULOUS MOVIE .WHAT-

[im-out-of-it]

you like gabriel and gideon?? yasss share some hcs of them or with their partners pls

do I like Gabriel and Gideon? YES I LOVE THEM (this will be long so BEWARE) (quick edit, I DONT KNOW IF I DID THIS RIGHT NO ONE HAS EVER ASKED FOR MY OPINION BEFORE LMAO)

I feel they get severely mistreated. Gabriel is talked about in TID as this bad person. but is he really a bad person? his little sister gets humiliated so he takes matters in his hands (even if he fails) and then gets branded as the person who’s the problem. when it’s actually Will. Will is the one with the fake curse who treats everyone like shit and gets zero repercussions for it. what is so terrible that Gabriel did? I mean, he does say some stuff about Jem (not his proudest moment) but he ends up stepping away from his father, his fathers actions, and ends up trying to become a better person.

the fact that Will tries to make it seem that gabriel is only interested in Cecily to “get back” at Will is insane. SOME PEOPLE HAVE OTHER CONCERNS ADMIRATIONS HOPES DREAMS THAT DONT INVOLVE YOU WILL. Gabriel isn’t the one treating a woman as his whore but that’s for another day 😌 in my mind, gabriel is passionate, he has a soft side, and he will fight for what is his. I truly think he’s a wonderful father but it’s a shame we didn’t see him actually be a parent. the writing doesn’t allow us to see Gabriel’s growth. Anna can be seen as problematic and Christopher going to Grace after what she did to James is a little out of character but that’s mainly the writing. CC doesn’t understand how to execute her characters and show growth unless she accidentally does it for someone she doesn’t care about

Gabriel is one of my favorite lightwoods. he’s got one of those soft hearts and uses this defense with his sarcasm and jokes so people can’t hurt him. he has to kill his father and the whole thing ends up being a joke which I think is insanely messed up. I think the whole Gabriel and Will thing doesn’t get talked about. yeah Will has trauma but he uses it as an excuse to be awful to everyone. Gabriel has trauma but he tries to grow from it. Gabriel isn’t out here saying “oh I killed my father and had a bad childhood so I can treat you how I see fit.” I don’t ever recall Will ever apologizing or showing growth for his actions. but I do see Gabriel saying how he wishes to change and actually changing.

imagine if Gabriel humiliated Cecily or used Will’s fathers issues as a joke and song. then everyone would be like “omg Gabriel can you stop being a dickish bastard for one second please?” but Will jests on Gabriel’s trauma so all is well I guess. I don’t think Gabriel gets enough love. I just think almost everyone making Gabriel’s trauma into a song and joke is vastly disgusting and messed up and I hate no one ever talks about it

I adore Gabriel and Cecily together. I think they fit really well together. they’re both fierce, strong, and passionate. it’s a shame we didn’t get to see them grieve Christopher or any of their development. Gabriel not saying anything when Alexander gets kidnapped is sloppy and lazy writing. these two really get shoved in the back after TID

one of my fav Gabriel moments is when he tosses that demon into the river and his one liners are BEAUTIFUL

GIDEON!!!!!! what a sweet, beautiful, and thoughtful man. it’s funny how before he’s introduced, they’re like “you think Gabriel’s awful? wait for his brother” and he’s the most kindest man. is the evil in the room with us????? it’s adorable how he cusses in Spanish because he’s happy 🥲 Gideon tripping over his words and making a fool of himself for Sophie is high tier entertainment. Gideon seems to be a very calm soul. where Gabriel is a more reckless storm, Gideon is the calmness we need. he’s strict with Gabriel but it’s because he wants the best for Gabriel. I’ll always love the moody and quiet brother with the loud and always has something to say brother. we didn’t get enough of them bonding and arguing

now Gideon gets some growth. he goes to Spain and understands his father is wrong and he actively chooses to leave, tries to bring his brother back, and actually helps Charlotte. he’s another of my favorite characters. he’s very quiet but when he has something to say, it’s loud and clear. Thomas really embodies gideon and Sophie. I also really love Sophie and Gideon! Sophie takes a backseat after TID which is another shame

Sophie takes no prisoners and I love her calling out anyone who disrespects her family and herself. (Tessa acting like Gideon is a bad person and trying to warn Sophie off, girl the man you like treats you as some whore shut up already) it’s sad we don’t get more of Sophie. it would’ve been nice to see her as a shadowhunter and the family dynamic. Sophie and Gideon are just really good people full of love. it shows in their parenting because of what we see of Thomas, Eugenia, and some of Barbara. I think Gabriel and Gideon used their traumatic upbringing and decided to be better than what they had. they broke the cycle in a way. and this is only pertaining to their kids, I have no clue what happened to make Robert who he was 😬

one of my fav highlights of Gideon: when he tries to purpose to Sophie and his dry humor and MAN HES JUST SO FUCKING PRECIOUS AND MUST BE PROTECTED and I love Gideon defending Thomas 🥹

I don’t think their treatment gets talked about enough. they are almost perceived as the villains when they have the most growth in TID and are far from being villains. I think they’re both very funny and Gideon seems to have a dry humor that isn’t appreciated enough. in my head, they’re super supportive of one another and constantly are hosting family nights together. I don’t believe the whole the merry thieves first meeting at the academy when their families are close. I really see Gideon and Alastair bonding and hitting it off right away. I also see Gabriel and Cecily being like “we’ve had our childhood taken from us so we are here for you” and just making Alastair feel at home. (IN A GOOD WAY)

I really hate how Gabriel and Cecily get left behind. they don’t get to grieve Christopher. Anna desperately needs some guidance and little Alexander’s kidnapping doesn’t get mentioned or is the focus. we do get to see gideon and Sophie kind of grieve Barbara, but I would have wanted to see more of them with Thomas and Eugenia gets left out. when Thomas gets accused of murder, we don’t see Sophie anywhere near Thomas or see Thomas have a conversation with Gideon about it.

Gideon and Gabriel are severely underrated and underutilized. they’re the best part of TID (besides Jem) and the only reason I read that ghastly series. they don’t get talked about enough that I see. they get this villain treatment from CC when they’re anything but that. we don’t get to see Gabriel and Gideon much in TLH (which I get it’s not about them but it wouldn’t hurt to feature them) so that’s also sad

but all in all, I love these two so much and I wish we could have had more of them. they’re beautiful, passionate, fun, and humorous together 🥹 (you made me realize more how much I miss them so thank you) I could take more of Gabriel and Gideon tripping over their words and literally themselves to impress the women they’re in love with. it’s a real treat

[havin-fun-imagining-twd]

Still beating

What - dealing with grief as the dust finally starts to settle. Dealing with grief regarding one specific character's death in particular. You know the one.

Genre - heavier, but we get devoted husband/father Daryl out of the mix. And we don't end the chapter on a bummer, never fear. This ain't a French movie, slowpokes

Relationships - wife Reader and husband Daryl as well as your baby. Familial affection with Rick, and that balance between friend and clergy for Father Gabriel.

Perspective - 3rd POV Daryl, and 2nd POV You

Pronouns - she/her

When - time jump! we've briefly hopped to post season 8, pre season 9 (but before The best kind of damn weird). This chapter takes place during the earlier phases of recovery and rebuilding after the war. The previous chapter, Scary as a sleepy kitten, took place during season 2.

TWs - grief, PTSD (including after SA), depression, self-loathing, and some cussing. This chapter is also kinda lengthy, friends, and had to have exposition. (Might should've sliced the chapter in half, but then we'd have another two-parter on our hands :P)

But how long though? - ...20 minutes or so?

Story references and Masterlist link? - under the cut

And is there a pic at the end as a prize for finishing? - yes :D

Have fun and happy reading!

References to other chapters - what we learned in The Interview. There is also grieving/anger as seen in The first Christmas 'without' Part 2 and its conclusion in I don't hate you, a happy reference to Happy 8th of July!, reference to those lovely tugging strings as found in Invisible Tugging Strings, Part 1 and Part 2 (Part 2 I reckon is still glitched and showing as labeled mature, the poor thing's been cleared about 7ish times via help ticket XD ).

There are a lot more details you might recognize, pop on by to the Official Masterlist here, or for those who prefer linear over non-linear, the Chronological Slowpoke Masterlist here

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

Still beating

She was doing real bad. The past few days had been especially bad. Grief has nasty ways of settling in and rearing its ugly head.

He didn’t know too much about what to do to help her, he’d never been good at that stuff. And there was no fixing all that happened, especially not when the last thing that happened was the worst thing that could’ve.

Just like if TJ or Judith died, it was the worst thing. And part of his wife died right alongside Carl.

Hell, she’d been the one to wait after Carl died, then turned, to pull the trigger.

Now, she felt dead, too.

Gabe had to suggest that she check her pulse when it got bad enough.

Just at that moment, as Daryl was worrying and worrying, TJ started to wriggle and hum in an attempt to root at Daryl's bicep, which pulled him out of his own head for a second.

Gently, he began to bounce to try and keep his baby lulled. He knows Y/N wanted to breastfeed only to get her production up (and so TJ’s suckle could get stronger after the surgery), but Y/N was finally asleep.

Beginning with when Denise was killed, Y/N hadn’t been making as much as she first had. Then, the Saviors stopped the RV and surrounded them, and Negan did what he did. Then Daryl himself got taken away, then there was all the fighting.

And then Carl died.

Getting her milk to come back had been proving damned hard.

A handful of not-very-good times, they’d supplemented what milk she did make with watered-down formula and/or watered-down goat's milk.

One very bad time, they’d used sugar water to fill the babies’ bellies until Jesus got back with goat's milk. Just the one time they had to use sugar water, everybody made damn sure of that.

For now, Daryl could crack into what was still left of the goat's milk in the cooler, right? The two women in the Kingdom who had little guys had sent over actual breast milk with Carol a few days ago, but it was used up yesterday. That stuff had been a God-send, he couldn’t thank the ladies enough.

Between the two babies in Alexandria, TJ and Gracie, everyone had to be smart about using what (non-expired) formula was left. And given that the power got cut, keeping the goat's milk fresh was another problem, hence the cooler. The panels and power were back on, but it was spotty and he didn't want to risk the milk spoiling.

There was still a shit ton of clean-up had since the Saviors nabbed Alexandria’s storage, then firebombed the town. To make things worse, those assholes had their own compound destroyed, and Hilltop and the Kingdom got screwed, too. Even the beach women took another beating. Hell, and them junkyard people were literally all fucking gone except their leader chick.

So, Y/N breastfed the two babies as much she was physically able, all while working as the only other doc left standing in all five communities; she was running herself into the ground.

And with Carl gone…

It ain’t fair that she couldn’t make enough — it was Negan’s goddamned fault.

Which leads to what just went on: so Mich had told him, Y/N’d lashed out at Negan and the new doctor kid with the facial hair, what was his name, Sidney?

Daryl hadn’t been at the infirmary when it happened, but, according to Mich, she’d had to pull her out of the room. Once out, Y/N asked her about TJ, Judith, and Gracie to make sure they were safe, then disappeared after Mich had turned around. Straight up and bolted.

Daryl had checked the escape-closet first, but she wasn’t in there or the attic it connected to, wasn't on the roof that lead to.

He’d then checked the burned church. She’d been there, he recognized her boot prints, but she'd moved on. From there, he was able to follow her sooty tracks in the direction of the place he should’ve known to check first.

Sure enough, Y/N'd been at Carl’s grave.

His wife could barely look at him when he approached. He'd simply kissed her on the head and quietly walked her back home. Once home, he'd cleaned and bandaged her hand while she, again, tried to pump enough for the little guys.

Mich had told Daryl she’d get Rick for her, so he’d be here soon.

Daryl wracked his brain, he even prayed to learn what do to try to help carry Y/N through this shit.

At first, Y/N’d been pacing around the room, crying but trying not to, arms wrapped around her picture frame with a photo of Carl in it as if it was the only thing keeping her afloat.

He'd been able to persuade her to lay down, and ended up laying in bed with her and holding her tight, their baby next to them in little bassinet.

Initially, him holding her and pressing kisses to her neck had made her feel worse. More guilty, that is. A handful of days ago, something got into her head that she needed to give him a damn "annulment."

Nah, for real, she’d even said (to Gabe) that the two of them not having ever done the deed yet was "grounds" to give him one. “Grounds to free him,” were her exact words. It was a whole thing, and the couple of failed attempts at trying to do the deed after getting hitched some months back probably made her feel guilty, as if not having sex yet would make him not love her, or?

Father Gabriel had Daryl's back the whole time during the conversation, though, decent dude.

And no, Daryl wasn’t angry or even real hurt that she’d thought she had to ‘free him’ and shit, he knows it was the grief and physical exhaustion that got her to that point. His woman had full-on blacked out and hurt herself that day, which is why he'd brought her to Gabe in the first place.

But the, um, the walls were thinner than Daryl had expected, which is how he overheard from the person that he was gonna love and stay with and stay faithful to until he dropped dead softly confess that she was “selfish” to keep him “stuck” with a “batshit m-mess” like her and “a baby that ain’t his.��

The fact that Y/N kept maintaining how much she loved him and how she didn’t want no annulment helped it hurt less when she’d sounded just about convinced that it was “loyalty to me ’cause we’re close, loyalty to Rick,” and because of “he’s got so much shame. He feels responsible for what the Claimers did,” that made him marry her those months ago. "He loves our ch—my child, and might love me, but it's not fair to him. He deserves better, h-he needs better, the man's been trapped all his life. I-I don't want him trapped, I want him happy!"

Gabe never played into her fears. He been no nonsense about all of it, told Y/N that she needed a damn rest, and asked her to tell him what she thought about it when she woke up.

The good thing was that after a 5 hour period of uninterrupted sleep (during which they used some of the goat's milk for TJ and Gracie), she woke up in a daze at why she’d thought an annulment was something Daryl needed or wanted.

The bad thing was, she was then socked in the gut with more unearned guilt for it, then with worry that she was too far gone, or crazy, all that.

Been a bad, bad few days.

Been a lot of Daryl showing her love that she felt not worth being shown. So that she fell asleep in his arms today was such a damn win!

After getting up to take a leak and finding that Y/N was miraculously still asleep, he thanked whoever was up there, then tried to figure out what else he could do to help her get through today…and right at that moment, TJ started to rouse, so he got his answer: keep their baby comforted. More shut-eye could only do his woman well.

Deftly lifting the little bundle into his arms, he'd kissed the scar above the baby’s upper lip and tiptoed out to the hall, where he was now.

Lightly he bounced, softly he shushed. He held TJ like a football and moved back and forth, back and forth. Babies smell so damn good, and make the cutest noises, goddamn.

After a couple minutes, through the open door, he peeked at his Y/N.

Shit. She was already sitting up and blinking off the sleep.

Whatever it was she did and said today, she felt low as hell about it, that much was clear. Without looking, she grabbed the now-broken picture frame and clutched it to her middle.

"You're supposed to be asleep, slowpoke," he tried to tease.

Her clothes had ashes from where it looked like she’d knelt down then sat down in the burned church. There was some dirt on them, too, from when she’d been at Carl’s grave. Daryl made a note to shake the sheets out later and pick the tissues up off the floor.

That's when the front door opened downstairs.

Was that Ri—good, that was Rick’s voice, he was finally there. There was a second voice, too, was that Father Gabriel’s? It was soft like Gabe's voice was.

Daryl looked downstairs.

Yup, it was Rick with the rev.

He waved them upstairs, but it must’ve been the clunking of the Gabriel’s new cane that got Y/N stumbling out of the room.

“Rev! I would’ve come to you, y-you need to be takin’ it easy.” She hugged the picture frame in one hand, gripped the banister in the other and started to go downstairs, asking Gabe how he felt, urging him to sit down, had his vision worsened, all that stuff.

“Y/N, more rest won’t stop me from losing sight in this eye,” Gabriel responded in his quiet way, remaining on the second step, not going up or down the stairs. He smiled. “You could say I’m the one making a house call to a patient this time."

She held back a sob and bowed her head. Then, she subtly slipped two fingers around the inside of her wrist…

Rick stepped the rest of the way up the stairs and put his hands on her shoulders. “What's going on, weirdo?”

“Ricky, I'm s-sorry."

He leaned closer and took her in for a hug. “Heart still beating?” he murmured.

Her inhale was shaky. “Mmhm. Yours?”

“Beating strong.”

TJ perked up and began to whimper upon hearing her voice. Y/N unzipped her hoodie to—she still had a gun on her?

Okay, that'd been stealth as fuck, it hadn't even been printing. It was the mini one she'd kept on her when they first got here, when Deanna insisted on keeping the weapons locked up. Still, he'd been literally holding her, how in the hell had he not noticed?

Daryl shared a glance with Gabe. Minus her screwdriver, she'd turned in her weapons after what happened the other day.

Y/N handed the small gun to Rick, who looked wary, but accepted it without question. She hesitated before reaching into her boot to hand over her screwdriver, too.

Daryl slid his hand around his wife’s waist to guide her back to the room. Without looking him in the eyes, she cupped his cheek and told him he was a good father. Then, frame still gripped under one arm, she took the baby into the other.

“Let’s try havin’ a snack before I go with Uncle Ricky awhile, okay, chickpea?” she murmured, then unbuttoned the top of her shirt.

Daryl took off his vest to give her some more coverage, then helped her with her top buttons. When he draped the vest around her, she'd turned her head to kiss his hand. He felt his cheeks warm when she did that.

Walking into the room again, she softly told Daryl that he and Rick could sit on the beds. First, she placed the picture frame on one of the mattresses. Next, with their baby latched on and suckling, she went to the end table at the window to sit down on the floor beside it. The way she sat, it was kinda as if she were using it as a shield.

“Rev, please take the chair,” she mumbled to Gabriel with a glance at the only piece of furniture in the room at the time, other than the bassinet, a nightstand, and the end table. Negan had specifically left the rocking chair as a 'gift' for her. The piece of shit...

Anyway, Daryl had got them their two twin mattresses back (hey, squish them together and you get a big-ass bed) the first trip to and from the Savior’s compound after the war ended, once the folk from Alexandria had begun to move back from the Hilltop. Only, no bed frames yet.

“And sweetheart, I’ll-I’ll take the pumps with me for while I’m in there. Wanna make sure you and Aaron have enough for them,” she said to him, voice still raw. Y/N turned to him and gave him a wobbly smile. “Sorry I used up so much of the tissue supply,” she tried making light, but got close to tears again, so stumbled through asking “Can I, um, Rick, m-might can I bring my pillow? Is that okay?”

Go with Rick where, and take the breast pumps and her pillow, why? He made eye contact with Gabriel, who looked just as puzzled. So, he turned to Rick.

Rick lowered his eyebrows as if he didn’t know what she meant, either. He squatted to sit down on the mattress beside Daryl, and looked at his sister. “Y/N, where are we headed?”

Glancing up from the baby to him then to Daryl, she adjusted TJ’s position on her breast while she figured out how to answer, by the looks of it. Another glance at her husband as if she were worried about his reaction...

“Rick, I thought you was here to…escort me?”

?

Daryl had no clear idea what she meant, it was the rev who understood first.

“No,” Father Gabriel told her gently. “Y/N, you aren’t under arrest.”

Under arrest? Daryl fought between the urge to get angry or dead-ass laugh. 'Under arrest??'

It was for real, though. His wife’s tears started flowing again as she turned her attention to Rick and began to stress, “There can’t be no special treatment—”

“—Is this why you handed me your weapons? Why would you be under arrest?” Rick cut her off to question.

She stared as if he’d grown antlers. “I s-struck a patient, and, and—”

“—And I slit his throat open, which is why that 'patient' is in there in the first place,” he cut her off again, firm.

Thankfully, TJ let out a wail the same time she wailed, “Ricky, y-you weren’t his medic!” pausing any further arguing.

Y/N gulped, pressed down on one breast, then the other. “I know there’s not much in ’em, Teddy-bear, but it-it’ll get better. It’ll come back,” she shushed, lifting him up and tucking herself back in. With a few kisses, she shushed, “You’ve gotten so much faster at drinkin', babycakes.”

Daryl got on the floor with her and took TJ back.

She avoided eye-contact again, and her lip wobbled again as she pulled the top of her shirt higher. That told him there’d been not much milk in there. And he could see all over her face that it was switching her on the legs with more false-ass, unearned guilt.

The familiar string in his chest suddenly tugged in her direction—next thing, he was resting his forehead on hers. “Hey. You’re makin’ more every day, angel,” he whispered in her ear. "And you're a damn good ma." Then, he started to help her button back up.

The way her expression softened and her body relaxed toward his felt better than fireworks going off on the Fourth 8th of July.

And as if he were back in that Georgia-in-July heat, Daryl just about melted right there on the floor when he saw his TJ, neck lifted high, making a face-scrunching, gummy smile at him. "Look how strong your neck is getting, ’lil badass, you’re rockin’ it!”

Shit, their kid was the best damn thing.

Y/N leaned against him and reached to lightly fluff their baby’s hair and rub their baby's teeny feet.

Gabriel sat in the rocking chair quietly, hands resting on his cane. He caught eyes with Daryl and nodded his head toward Y/N, glad to see her no longer convinced she needed to ‘free’ her husband.

Absorbed in the photo, Rick exhaled, then spoke up. “Y/N, how about we start from the beginning? What happened at the infirmary?”

She pressed tighter against Daryl as a pained noise left her throat. “Did you talk to Siddiq yet?” sounded very small.

“I want to talk to both of you.”

“And Michonne?”

He nodded. “She told me some.”

The big watch she’d kept from Dale tick-tick-ticked on her wrist. Then came the sound of light metallic clinking. Daryl didn’t have to look to see that she must’ve pulled out her brother’s necklace and was tugging on it.

“What I did ain’t excusable,” came out raspy and thick.

“It is," Rick answered.

“It’s not, especially not what I said to Sid—” a sob choked her response. She used Daryl's leather vest to hide her face before hugging it around herself like a blanket.

“Walk me through what happened first, kiddo, before you hit Negan with this?” Rick subtly gestured to the broken picture frame.

So she had smacked Negan in the face? Hot damn, Daryl was more in love with her already.

Y/N swallowed and shook her head. “They’d been lookin’ at it, the both of 'em.”

“At the picture?”

A tiny nod. “I’d left the room, and when I got back, they was looking at it. Siddiq brought it over to him. Tried to make like Negan was sad, too. Fuck that!”

TJ started rooting on his bicep again, but Daryl was on it. “Sorry, pipsqueak, I don’t got the right parts for that.” He started to massage the baby’s belly, and TJ quieted.

“It’s okay to let ’em cry a little, it-it helps restock these,” his wife tried joking, nodding down at her chest.

“Y/N.” Rick was delicate about coaxing her for more details. “You got back into the room, Siddiq and Negan were looking at the picture.”

“Negan’s filthy hands were on it,” she grit. "Lookin' at Carl and me, you with Shaney." The sounds of the pendant being pulled across the chain filled the room along with TJ’s soft cooing.

“Is that when you hit him with the frame?” Rick asked.

“No. I told him not to look at it again or touch it, and if he did, I’d hurt him.”

“Angel, slow your breathin’,” Daryl interjected at the same time that he figured out why those words sounded familiar: it was similar to how she'd warned the last Claimer fuckhead, the one who’d had Carl pinned down and was gon——Daryl shut down this brain for a sec, it was best not to think about that night.

He turned his head to see Rick, red-eyed, tracing his thumb along the photo of Carl, Y/N, Shane and him. Seems as if Rick had recognized her words, too.

“And when was it that you did hurt him?” Rick pressed on.

Y/N swallowed. “About half a minute later when he tried to act like it wasn’t his fault.”

Rick’s composure staggered and collapsed. His voice was hoarse when he managed to say, “It’s not his fault.”

But Y/N was fast to shut it down. “Don’t for one more second make like it’s yours, Ricky, you get that monkey off your back,” she comforted and somehow scolded both at once. “Negan was doing what Negan does when he, when he told you that. It was manipulation, nothin’ real. How C-Carl—” another choked-down sob, more tears.

Daryl noticed her press her fingertips to the spot under her chin, beside her jaw, checking her pulse to prove it was still beating.

“Negan had nothing to do with how Carl got bit,” Rick whispered. “You know it’s true, kiddo.”

“No—our boy wouldna ended up out there, w-with-with Siddiq, if it hadn’t been for Negan.” Her tone got louder and angry, her stress stutter became more noticeable, the way she tugged the necklace turned rougher. “He and his followers was why we weren’t able to trust no n-newcomers like Sid, which is why Sid was still out there alone, and, and, and why Carl went to him! It, it was because of Negan and his, and his, his-his cult!”

TJ seemed freaked out by the louder voice, the baby’s dark, blue-black eyes grown big.

Daryl spoke Y/N’s name to try and bring her back to herself, but she seemed to have very suddenly calmed.

She was blinking at her hand.

Daryl looked, and then saw the two halves of her brother Shane’s chain, broken.

“How many times did Carol warn me that this would happen when I tugged it,” she muttered to herself. "Good thing I didn't decide to tug on the rosary, huh?"

Inhaling, she leaned her head against the wall behind her, staring into space, fingers to her wrist to check her pulse again.

From beside her, he covered her hand in his. Then, pressing his lips to her fist, Daryl took the necklace from it. He could fix it.

“I lost my temper again, I’m sorry,” she spoke to all in the room, her hand cupping Daryl's cheek a moment. Then, more quietly, she looked at Rick. “How many days’ll I be in there?”

Which sent Daryl straight back to disbelief he was hearing those words, what absolute bullshit. “Y/N, you ain’t going nowhere.”

“You’re not going to a cell, Y/N,” Rick echoed.

“No special treatment,” she softly repeated. “If I were anybody else—”

Rick interrupted her “—It’s not about who you are.”

Father Gabriel had gotten up and was making his way to Y/N by then.

Y/N shook her head at the conversation, tired. “If I were anybody else or had any other role, and if he were anybody else,” she caught her breath, “there’d be reper-re-rep—” a few more tries, and she had to choose a different word, “consequences. Assault and battery on an un-unarmed person—a patient—from their medical provider, that’s serious.” Her hand was back to covering her face. She sat pressed against the wall, knees at her chest.

“You and Siddiq are the only doctors left. We couldn’t just put you in a cell even if you had earned it.”

“I ain't a doctor, at best, I’m a medic,” she grunted. “And I did earn it, just ask him and Michonne. As for my,” she made a shaky inhale, “my duties, I can be escorted out.”

“And TJ? Gracie?” Daryl put out there, hoping to guilt her out of insisting she get jail time, like, what the fuck. What kind of conversation was this?

Screw this, he couldn't even sit. He stood, shaking his head and pacing around the room, still holding TJ.

The expression on Y/N's face should’ve been enough to calm him down, along the defeated, quiet way she reasoned, “I’ll pump and y’all will visit. It’s—no, sweetheart—it’s only for a few days,” when he started to dead-ass leave. As if her being in there ‘only for a few days’ would help this bullshit make sense.

But that’s when he ended up snapping, “This is goddamn bullshit! You bopped a sick fuck on the nose with a picture frame, who in the hell will care? Rick, why you even entertainin' this shit?” and he regretted doing so as soon as he barked it out.

The old, invisible knee rammed him in the nards harder when Rick cautioned, "Brother," and Gabe finally opened his mouth, and louder than Daryl had ever heard him speak. “She cares, Daryl. So do I.”

And to make it all worse, their baby had given a start in fear when he’d shouted, and now the poor kid was screaming—and TJ doesn’t scream, shit, shit, he blew up while holding his child?

“M’sorry! M’sorry," he hushed to his baby, "I love you so much, kid, I’m so sorry I scared ya. I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” With a kiss on TJ’s wild head of hair, he murmured, “Pipsqueak, your old man is an idiot.”

Y/N rushed over when TJ screamed, but she didn’t take the baby away from Daryl. Instead, she caressed her husband’s forearm and triceps and spoke to their child. “Your daddy’s got you safe,” she soothed.

He knew she was trying to look him in the eyes, but he couldn’t return it. He’d just scared an infant because he couldn’t check his temper. Their infant.

His wife’s quiet assurance cut through the rushing in his head. “Daryl? TJ ain’t hurt, sugar, and you’re not a bad father. Do some skin to skin, okay?” She pecked a kiss on his cheek. “And that's a dollar for cussing, pay up later.”

She then sat back down on the floor next to where the rev had made his new seat. Daryl took the now-empty rocking chair, unbuttoned his and TJ’s shirts, then nestled the kid on his chest.

Y/N then told the room the rest of what happened, how after Negan croaked out with what voice he had left, saying it 'wasn’t his fault Carl was dead', that she’d turned around and whacked him across the face with the frame.

Siddiq had reacted by grabbing her shoulders from behind to pull her away from Negan — so she had shoved back and kneed him in the dick plus rammed her head against his, dropping the frame in the process. The frame broke as a result—and when it broke, she'd lost her cool, said some shit, and threw some shit. Mich heard the hubbub and intervened, then Y/N hid herself away cause she 'knew' she was 'gone crazy.'

As far as Daryl was concerned, the new doc was lucky all he got was a shove, a knee to jewels, a clunk on the head, and some words and maybe a clipboard thrown at him, because Y/N could fight damned well. She'd had it drilled into her how and when to do it. Freely taught others moves, too.

When she’d showed Carol some techniques, way back, it was one of the things that sent him falling for her.

And…Y/N might’ve not said it out loud, but when she described how Siddiq grabbed her from behind to pull her away, everyone in that room got why it caused her to react strong.

What she described herself as doing would’ve been instinct.

Siddiq wouldn’t know why. Negan might, the fucker had watched the tape of her Deanna interview.

“See?” Y/N blew her nose again, sniffed, and stared at the floorboards. “It’s not right to Sid or the community to, to have what I did go unchecked. And what I said to Siddiq was so cruel. What’s worse is I meant it. Fuck, I still do.”

What she'd said was basically that she wished he’d gotten bit instead of Carl, and that it was just as much Siddiq's fault that the boy was dead as it was Negan’s. That 'he should be dead.'

She grimaced, then caressed the watch on her wrist. Must’ve been thinking of Dale. “Ain’t fair to…Negan, neither. If there’s anything Carl wanted us to understand, it’s that,” she whispered.

Rick lifted the frame to kiss his son’s picture, wiped a couple tears away. “When I talked with Sid, he was…alarmed. Worried. He thought it was off-character.”

Y/N went rigid where she sat. “Siddiq wasn’t there two years ago.”

Daryl lifted the baby higher on his chest and snuggled closer.

Rick shook his head. “You wishing someone dead, or, dead instead of another, is very off-character, it’s not you. No—don’t shake your head, Y/N.” Her brother maintained, “Even back then, after what happened, you didn’t wish me dead. You wished that Shane was still alive, not that I was dead instead. Even if you did say those things, it wouldn't have been the truth, just the hurt speaking.”

“I attacked you and told you I would kill you. And I-I meant it at the time, you know that.”

“And for a couple days, you left, because you didn’t actually want that. You knew it was wrong.”

“Which is why I need to get put away for a couple days. I decided to hurt a patient and his doctor, my own fr—” She wasn’t able to say what was probably the word ‘friend.’ Y/N bit her lip, and continued, “Then hurled words at him what nobody should get hurled at them.” She swallowed a cuss and grabbed another tissue.

“You’re exhausted, Siddiq knows that.” Rick pointed out. “We’re not ourselves when we’re—”

Y/N wasn’t having it. Probably too exhausted, to tell the truth.

“We’re all exhausted. C’mon, man, you just lost your son!” A sob left her and she tried to breathe through her nose. Checked her pulse again.

“You were also reacting to how he yanked you back, kiddo. That's not nothing.”

Daryl gave Rick a warning glance.

Rick saw, nodded, and held up a hand, which made Y/N turn to see what Daryl was doing. But Daryl simply kissed TJ on the head, not saying nothing.

She wasn’t fooled. When Y/N looked back at Rick after giving her husband a look of it’s okay, Daryl gave Rick another warning glare, then a nod.

“You didn’t react like that without reason, Y/N. There’s no shame to admit it was a trigger.”

She grumbled at the word. “Trauma ain’t an excuse to traumatize others.” After exhaling, she ran her hands over her face and took a moment. Hardly louder than a whisper, she challenged, “Ricky, not all my problems stem from the rapes. I’ve always been too hot-headed.”

At that moment, Daryl wanted to scoop her and TJ up and drive them away from everything, keep the two of them safe and unbothered for a month or two or four.

“Getting grabbed like that m-might, y’know, might could’ve reminded me of it—when they—" She ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, it did get me going. But, I,” she paused. “It wasn’t that I saw red or blacked out, I chose to keep goin’ once I’d started. I threw stuff because I was raging, I didn't want to stop because I thought he deserved it.”

Y/N fiddled with Dale’s watch, and turned to Father Gabriel beside her and almost smiled at him, close to the way she used to smile at Glenn, as if he were in on a joke. “Here I’d hoped I was re-domesticated by now.”

“Let us give thanks that you’re still housebroken,” he responded, taking Daryl by surprise. "You're...still housebroken, are you not?"

The way Y/N then cracked up and grinned woke up the butterflies in his stomach.

“Y/N, you’ve come miles since I first met you,” Gabriel told her softly, smiling back.

“All the way from Georgia,” she joked back, then grew more serious. “You’ve grown a whole lot, too.” She wiped her eyes, and Gabe closed his.

“And Y/N,” he shook his head. “You aren’t losing your humanity. I know you’re frightened of that, after what you told me happened to your other brother.”

It hadn’t even registered in Daryl’s mind that Shane’s memory would be scaring her. She loved her brother like hell, but she was always terrified of going down the same path he did.

He looked to Rick to see what his reaction was. His reaction was tear-rimmed eyes and a nod of his head toward TJ, silently asking if he could hold the baby awhile. Daryl nodded, Rick stood, and returned Y/N the frame as he walked by to pick up the little one.

Hands empty, Daryl took out his army knife and the broken chain from his pocket so he could fix his woman’s necklace. Wasn’t gonna be hard.

He heard Y/N whisper, “Hey, punk," to Carl in the photo. "Miss you. Miss you, too, loser,” she said to her brother's photo. He let his eyes travel to where she sat under the window, and watched her kiss the picture and well up. It was the old one of her and preschool-age Carl photo-bombing Rick and Shane, after one of them got some kind of cop award.

Clutching the frame once more to her belly, she and Father Gabriel then started to talk in low voices with one another.

“The red haze in your right sclera is so close to bein' clear. Did you talk to Rosie today? She’s been seeming less depressed.”

“I thought this was me visiting my patient, not the other way around,” Gabe gently hinted. “Y/N, please talk to me.”

Daryl heard her sniffle. “Rev, but I don’t want to have meant those words. I’ve been workin’ on it. It-it might be his fault, but I know he’s innocent, he’s humane—Sid even counts walkers like I do, man, yet still, I—” her breathing shuddered. “After whatever this mess is kicked in, every time I see him now, I hate him. Why do I hate a decent person?”

“Grief,” he offered simply. He gave her another shrug and small smile. “Keep doing what you have been. It will get easier every day, the same way your, um,” he was careful about his wording regarding her tits, “that you have more for the little ones every day.”

She huffed but didn’t raise her voice again, she stayed quiet as could be. “It don’t feel like none of that’s happening.”

“Our perception of things doesn’t always equal the truth, Y/N.” Gabe seemed to take a moment. Maybe he was praying.

Y/N’s fingers found her pulse again.

“We are all healing,” Gabriel next said, and smiled again. “Your heart is still beating, is it not?”

Y/N stared for a few moments, caught in the act. Eyes meeting Daryl’s for a moment, she removed her fingers from her neck, and inclined her head at the reverend. “What about yours?” she asked softly.

“Still beating. And that’s the proof,” he assured her just as softly. “Y/N, as for the way you understand your actions and your emotions toward him as not being right, I would like you to take it as a comforting sign. And, you just handed over a weapon you plainly wanted to keep concealed, you didn’t use said weapon to hurt Negan, either,” he pointed out, for which Daryl was grateful. “Perhaps, if you begin to make excuses, begin to feel no sense of having done wrong when you have, I will worry.”

Weirdly enough, he next grinned up at the ceiling. “But I am not, because you are simply broken and in need of healing. You’ll get there, as will I,” he held his hand out to the room. “As will your brother, your husband. All of us.” He sighed. “So long as our hearts are still beating.”

Daryl looked back at his wife in time to see her bit her wobbling lip and nod. Her gaze turned to Rick with the baby. He was kissing TJ’s scrawny little feet.

Her face softened seeing them, and as Daryl’s stomach fluttered again, she turned to look at him. His stomach full-on did a happy flip (and, yeah, he lost his grip on the necklace’s broken link and dropped it).

Y/N said to Rick, “Well, we still need to show ’em that Alexandria—that you—are accountable and fair. How many nights will do, you think?”

Rick shook his head. “Zero. But, because you have a point and won't take 'zero' as an answer,” he quickly added, “how about one?”

“For a piggy, you’re actin’ awful chicken.”

He was unmoved by the cop joke. “Bawk, bawk.”

And Y/N laughed, for what it was worth. And it was worth everything, hot damn was that laugh the best sound.

Daryl figured he might as well check, “What about bail, that still a thing?”

“Not with you owing a whole dollar. That’ll take weeks to pay off,” she said, back to doing her best to lighten up things. He loved her so fucking much, goddamn.

“Supervision when outside the cell,” she stated to Rick.

He shook his head again. “I have a better sentence in mind. When I saw you wearing Lori’s belt earlier today, it reminded me of it. See, and you left this at the infirmary.” He reached into his jacket pocket.

Recognition swept across her face when he held it out. “Do you think he’ll feel safe?”

“The headphone cord is too thin to choke him with, it’d snap.”

“Ricky, that joke was very dark,” she lightly chided.

He squinted, kissing TJ’s feet one more time first. “I hereby sentence you to one night—”

“—Three.”

“One in lock-up,” he spoke over her, then was fast to tack on, “with Daryl and this one as guards.” He motioned to the baby.

"Women shouldn't have male guards," she dryly droned.

"Overruled. You'll also get supervised outings for your duties tomorrow and the day after, including the trip to the Hilltop for Maggie’s prenatal visit. And,” he held up the music player, “you’ll need to listen to music with Siddiq on this. We know it works.” He cocked his head. “Let’s start with 20 minutes per day, like you and I had.”

Some tears slipped out even though she was smiling. She mouthed I love you to him, then asked out loud, “How many days?”

Rick squinted. “Fourteen.”

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

You

“You pick the songs. Whatever you like,” you told him, staring at the photo and rubbing the ‘22’ pendant over your lips. Daryl fixed the chain for you shortly after you’d broken it. You really love him.

Sid accepted the mp3 player out of your hand.

You and he each had one earbud in, one apple beside you, and Michonne sat nearby with Judith. Supervision was your stipulation, yet being proactive about ensuring it had done nothing for how humiliating it was.

Still, you took an objective look and figured Siddiq should know that his safety mattered, that your people were fair and held themselves to standards.

Just looking around the place, it looked as if standards were a given here. That Alexandria’s power grid and some panels were already repaired within two weeks of Negan’s razing was almost unbelievable.

Sucks for the Saviors that cult that the Alexandria community had been built to withstand up to magnitude 4.1 earthquakes and be fairly fire-safe as part of its self-sustaining (and for-politicians) model, so in the least, a good number of the homes were still standing.

Carl's gazebo was another story, as were other similar structures, like the church, but the ash had been washed off by the rain, and the communities' walls were back up.

Next to you, Siddiq asked you how to work the mp3, citing, “Carl had been the one to…”

Had been the one to work it when he borrowed it to visit you out there, in order to show you some kindness. Before he got himself bit because of you.

The words festered inside of you. Whatever. Let them fester, you felt dead anyway.

As you went to point to show him, the picture hung from your outstretched, bandaged hand. The pic you'd chosen this time was another older one from the before-times, not one of the newer polaroids. You'd been the one to take it, actually, using a disposable camera about five and a half, maybe six years ago.

It was blurry, Lori and Carl had been being silly and stopped posing, Rick was mid-comment. You loved this one.

It felt so unreal now, felt fake.

Felt dead.

You checked your pulse. Still beating.

“The, um, just use-use those two buttons there for up and down to search,” you mumbled, tucking the photograph into your shirt pocket. “That one is for back, that one for options. Press down on the middle to click.”

He went huh. “Here’s the Indian music playlist,” he chuckled. Appears he’d found the Desi Party! playlist. Carl told you he’d played it for him.

Before he’d gotten fucking bitten.

How could your heart rage and ache so much if you were dead?

“It’s got all sorts on it,” you replied blankly to Siddiq. Remembering your oldest sister who’d made all the playlists before handing her mp3 down to you, it felt like she was made up. All your siblings except Shane felt made up. Your own mother, the foster siblings over the years, they felt made up, too.

Felt like everyone before was made up.

Fake.

Dead.

“My mother was a big filmi fan,” Siddiq shared.

But you simply repeated, “Pick whatever you like, you’re in charge of the songs.”

There was no emotion in your voice. You didn’t want to chat with him, didn’t want to nerd out about Bollywood music, and also didn’t want to face him after saying such awful things to him early today.

Hating him felt right. It felt "deserved," which is a word you'd learned to not use, thanks to Dale.

Granted, hating Siddiq felt wrong, too, which invited shame to take a seat on your lap.

So, you followed the rev’s advice and took comfort in the shame because it meant your conscience was still ordered in a good direction. It meant you weren’t fully dead yet.

You checked your pulse again to remind yourself that it was still beating. Life was still going. You even have a child that fills you with such an intense, aching, healing love.

Father Gabriel also told you that feeling dead didn’t make you a bad mother or a bad wife or bad person, it simply meant you were broken and grieving.

“Y/N?”

“What?” you growled — and immediately wished it hadn’t come out that way. In your head, you told Carl you were sorry, you’d do better next time. Then, you prayed to stop hating the sight of Siddiq, the sound of his voice. Wished Dale or Hershel or Glenn or T-Dog or Deanna or Denise or Sasha were there for, for—advice, support, you don’t know…

And because the rev has enough on his plate and needs to rest, maybe later you’d risk everyone’s ire and sneak away to visit Mr. Jones at the junkyard. At least he wasn’t dead yet, too. Maybe visiting him would convince him to move back to Alexandria.

“I never apologized for pulling you backward like that,” Siddiq said to you, a little short. Couldn’t blame him.

In truth, you had done all you were going to do to Negan after smacking him the once, but Sid wouldn’t have known that. Wouldn’t have known how grabbing you like that would flip an alarm, either.

No use moping, if your positions were reversed, you’d have wrangled him back, too.

And yet, you just caught yourself licking your teeth and sneering in response to his apology.

But it wasn’t out of anger or hatred so much as…you still aren’t certain what the emotion was. Grief, depression, shame, all three. You supposed it didn’t make a difference. Didn’t feel like much of anything.

Briefly, you put two fingers to your neck to check your pulse again. Still beating. Still alive.

Alive, and needing to eat some crow, as it were.

“Don’t apologize, you were protectin’ our patient. What I did was wrong,” you recited. “I-I threatened a patient and then whacked him across the face.” Your conscience then prompted you to apologize again for what you’d said to him. “And, just—Siddiq, what I said to you was bullshit and lies and m'sorry I said it. Cruel bullshit, naught else. Don’t go believing a word of it.”

He wasn’t clicking through the playlists and songs anymore.

Appearing uncomfortable, he peeked at you before he put his attention back on the mp3. “Michonne said pulling you like that was a trigger, which is why you, um…I’m sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t know.”

First, you relaxed your jaw. “Ain’t your job to know. It’s mine to learn past it.” Next, you spackled on something of a smile and added quietly, “It’s good that you, that you stepped in. Thank you.” You did mean it, for what it was worth.

How many minutes until the twenty was up, you wondered, and tried to not be obvious about checking the time on your wrist. Eyeing Michonne, she seemed more preoccupied with Judith than with being punctual regarding your penance/sentence.

“PTSD is serious. That’s why I’m sorry, I, um,” Siddiq faltered. He went back to clicking through the music choices.

“We all have at least a little PTSD, bud.” With a light nudge to try and convey camaraderie or something, you attempted to tease, “C'mon, you chosen at least one song, yet?”

“Sorry, let me just, uh…” and with a few more clicks, the first song started. It was Bohemian Rhapsody.

“You chose the playlist ‘Songs Everyone Likes.’”

He chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, figured I couldn’t go wrong with that one.”

The memory of belting out this song with Carl, Glenn, Beth, and Maggie before your group even found the prison whooshed back and you started to smile—until you remembered that Carl was gone now. He was dead.

You’d forgotten all of that for hot second, but your Carl was dead. So was Glenn. So was Beth. So was Lori, who'd joined, so was T-Dog, so was...

Maybe you were dead, too. You felt dead—so, you pressed your fingers to your neck to feel for a pulse.

Still beating.

The lyrics of the song began to register. You know, the early parts like ‘I don’t wanna die,’ and ‘carry on, as if nothing really matters.’ Sounded a little too personal, tell you the truth.

And just like that, the song was skipped. You glanced at Siddiq.

He shook his head. “Not the right mood for it.”

“Mm.”

The intro to the next song in the shuffle was very bouncy, and ‘Dance to the Music’ started to jive through the earbuds. You didn’t sway along like you naturally would have. No urge to.

The song played, finished.

“First time I heard this was in Shrek,” Siddiq made small talk while munching on his apple. “Love that movie.”

You might’ve hummed in acknowledgment, you aren’t sure. He handed your apple to you, you took it. Held it.

The next song started, ‘Young Hearts Run Free.’

The song played, finished.

Siddiq made more small talk. “I remember that one in Romeo + Juliet, the one with, um, Claire Danes? We watched that version in high school after we finished reading it.”

You hummed again. Pressed your fingers to your wrist, just in case. But no, your heart was still beating.

The next song started, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash.’

“A lot of oldies,” he commented once the singing began. He took the final nibble off his apple.

“But goodies,” you responded, willing yourself to sound less stiff and monotone. “Modern stuff is on this playlist, too, don’t worry.”

The song played. Finished.

The next song started. ‘Another One Bites the Dust.’ Siddiq promptly skipped it once the refrain started and the lyrics sank in.

“Good call,” you grunted.

The next song started. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’

“Oh n—please skip this one, too." You loved that one, but you’d queued it up for Glenn at his and Maggie’s wedding, and it was not the time to go reminiscing. You swallowed the lump in your throat. Checked your pulse. Still beating. "Please skip 'Thunderstruck' if it comes on, too?”

The mp3 player clicked as Siddiq skipped the song. Next on the shuffle was ‘Under Pressure.’

He adjusted his seat and coughed. “This one fits.”

A combination sigh/groan was your contribution, because he was right. The two of you were the only doctors major medical personnel left standing.

The song played. Siddiq’s knees and wrists bounced to the rhythm where he sat beside you. You stared at your boots. Where’d all the soot and dirt on them and your clothes come from, you couldn’t remember…

…

It was when a strong gust of cold wind blew that you noticed that the music had stopped, your earbud was out, and the sky wasn’t as cloudy anymore.

When did that happen?

You sat up and blinked a few times, your apple still in one hand, Shane’s necklace in the other.

“Hey,” you heard Siddiq call.

What, why were your cheeks wet? “S-sorry, I,” you dropped the necklace, wiped your eyes with your sleeve, and put the apple down, “must’ve, um, checked out.”

“I’m not sure how long it was after it began when I noticed the change,” he let you know. “Is…this what happened earlier?”

You closed your eyes and shook your head. “Earlier was somethin’ else. This was just—” ‘Dissociation,’ was a misunderstood word, so Denise taught you. And you didn’t want to use the word for that reason.

You really wanted to keep a shred of dignity for yourself in the eyes of that guy. He didn’t even know that you’d hurt yourself when you’d ‘blacked out’ the other day…so, you decided upon a white lie highly euphemistic layman's term. “I spaced out.”

He nodded, but his brows sunk, as if he weren’t buying it.

And when he did that thing where someone slightly opens their mouth because they’ve put together a response, you changed the subject. “Listen to anythin’ good while I was in space?”

Siddiq wasn’t swayed. “Do you still feel detached?”

“A little,” you answered truthfully, inhaling deep and checking your watch to try gauging how long you’d been out. Except, you had no recollection of what time it had been earlier, so it was a bust. God save you, you were a mess.

“Sid. I’m sorry you’re trapped dealin’ with this shit, it ain’t fair to you. If, if you wanna bounce early, don’t feel obligated to stay, and, and—like, if you don’t wanna do this whole music thing, it’s fine. W-we don’t want you feelin’ unsafe.”

“Unsafe? Y/N, I…” he paused. “I forgive you for what you said earlier. And I’m not scared of you. Hitting Negan wasn’t okay, but…” another pause. “Compared to the way most others are baying for his blood and how you defended saving his life, I mean—you helped me save him, Y/N—” He lifted his hands, palms to the sky. “You’re my friend, we work together, it’s not like I can’t see that you’re drowning.”

Nothing prepared you to hear that.

He was calling you a friend and was still trying to be understanding, after all that…

You wanted to slam your head on a hard, rough surface and cry from the shame and simultaneous relief. You also didn’t want to accept it, and so pushed back: “You were alone out there too long. Friends d-don’t tell friends they wish they were dead.” And mean it, you did not confess.

But of all things, he merely raised one shoulder and snorted. “I’m a really good friend?”

Tears spilled at the same time that you almost laughed.

No, it's true, you almost laughed. Things felt a little unreal again, but in not a bad way. The most you could do right then was send up thanks for the mercy that came out of the mess. You pinched your wrist first, then felt for your pulse.

“Compared to a few minutes ago, do you feel more like yourself now?” Siddiq made sure.

Huh. You used to ask Shane a very similar question, when he was forgetting his goodness.

You kept feeling the small beats at your wrist, reminding you that you were indeed alive, therefore capable of healing and growth.

“Heart’s still beating,” you sniffled, making yourself smile at him. The hatred and disgust you’d felt earlier seemed to you less like a fact and more like a bad dream.

Then, from the far right of the oak tree, you heard Aaron’s voice saying, “Not yet, man, they’ve got four minutes left.”

Aaron and Daryl then came into view. They waved to you as they walked by with the babies, another reminder that you that you weren’t fully dead inside. Gracie was in a stroller, TJ was bundled in Daryl’s arms. Your husband lingered behind, eyes on you as he absently pecked a kiss to your baby’s covered head.

Something stirred, and your chest fluttered and tugged in their direction, reminding you again that your heart was still beating. So was Maggie’s, so was her and Glenn’s baby’s, so was Rick’s, so was Aaron’s. Life was still going. You had a child, a husband; lifelines. Their hearts were still beating, too.

The unexpected wink and the way Daryl’s gaze softened as he looked at you made you feel as if you’d been freezing and someone just handed you a cup of cocoa with mini marshmallows. The way he next moved his lips to pronounce ‘troublemaker,’ however, you ought to have seen coming a mile away.

The heaviness in your body eased a bit. A smile started prodding the corners of your mouth. Shyly, you returned the wave and mouthed ‘mangy hick,’ your wrist bumping against the photograph sticking from your shirt pocket.

Aaron noticed him acting like a dope lagging and gestured for him to keep up. “Four more minutes and we’ll come back to get her.”

Daryl called out "slowpoke," and waved your baby’s little arm to the two of you as they walked away. He kept peeking behind him, too, it warmed you. When they reached far enough, you once again took the photograph out from your pocket.

With a final peek at Carl’s picture, you sent up a prayer and reaffirmed the promise that you’d made to him. That you’d live for him, do him proud.

So long as your heart was still beating, you’d try to do him proud. “Seems you and I got four more minutes, Sid. What’ll we pick?”

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

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[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Fearless

Previous

Carols whisperer wouldn't crack, they were nowhere near finding out where Alpha's horde was, and Carol knew that if anyone could get someone to croak, it was Natalia.

But she had only agreed to talk to him, if Carol were to babysit the kids, as well as making a special remedy for Bambi and Archie, the woman could work miracles with a pan and a few ingredients.

Daryl insisted that he had to go with Natalia, he didn't want her alone with the freak, he didn't like it.

Lydia had been removed from the holding cell, Daryl had personally kicked her out, Natalia hadn't known this, and she didn't know where the girl had disappeared to, either, or where her eldest daughter had gone, for a matter of fact, but apparently seducing a mind-fucked freak-show was more important than tracking down two teenage girls, according to Carol.

"This is a bad idea." Father Gabriel gave his opinion."

"Shut up, Gabe." Daryl answered, fluffing out Natalia's hair, he liked her curly hair, it made her seem happier, more free-spirited, easier to open up to.

"I'm just being honest, here, this is no offence to you, Natalia, but you are a hothead, where is the logic in sending her in there, she'll just kill him in a matter of seconds." The priest carried on. "What's the point of having a dead, captured whisperer, with no results.”

"I'm not gonna kill him." Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Natalia-"

"Gabriel! I'm not!, Daryl, you tryna pimp me out or let me interrogate a man?" Natalia removed her husbands hands from tugging down her top, exposing more of her cleavage.

"We need results." He explained himself.

"We'll get results, and no one's dying today." She turned to the priest. "Anything that's gonna take Carol off her warpath, so you can stop chasing after her like a lost puppy." She turned back to Daryl. "Are we ready, or not?"

"Yeah, uhm, yes, yeah, I think so." Gabriel turned to the other man.

"Yup." He nodded.

"Perfect."

Her so-called hostage looked to be an middle-aged man, with greying and receding hair, matching his thick moustache and short trimmed beard, he was also quite thin in statue.

His face seemed to be caked in dirt, but it also looked slightly red, maybe sun burnt? But how would he manage that when he apparently was always sporting one of the hideously gruesome masks. He had an bandage taped to his left side, interesting.

He let out an unimpressed scoff when he layed eyes on her.

"My names Nat." She layed on the southern charm, thickly. "A lil birdy told me you got some pretty clever intel that I wanna know, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." She scanned him with fake interest, "Somin tells me you like things hard, though, ain't that right?" She smirked.

"Must be a busy day, up there, if they got a lil thing like you down here." He laughed to himself. "We don't see much of your kind, anymore."

"My kind?" She raised a brow.

"Hunting season came and went a long time ago, all the prizes went the quickest, now, its just what's left, the last thing you can get your hands on, that ain't just about animals, lady."

"I don't know what you’re talking about, we only have the best around here." She shared. "No fighting for scraps. But you know I'm not down here to promote this place. Where is the horde?"

Suddenly the cat got his tongue.

"Hard way it is." She sighed, standing up and leaning towards him, she watched with an impressed grin as his eyes shamelessly looked down her top, she let him, only for a second, before she jammed her thumb into his injury, letting it bleed through the bandage, she pushed deeper as he cried out, attempting to nudge her away. "I'll stop, all you have to do is give me a place, then it'll stop."

"Lady, you ain't the prized prey, you the hunter." He told her.

Natalia looked over he shoulder, an amused glint in her eyes as she met blue iris's, that didn't share her sense of humour.

"But, if we were out there, I would take you like a bitch in heat." The man finished.

Gabriel was quick to move himself in front of Daryl, seemingly "accidently" purposely block his movement, as Natalia sat back, lifting up her left hand, taking in the rings on her finger, before taking them off. "You like?" She asked her victim, switching hands. "They're from my husband, just too bad I'm right handed." She then threw all her force into throwing a punch that would break his nose, and the satisfying crack that followed, confirmed that.

"Ugnh!" The sound that came as he smacked the concrete floor, then, as he gathered the strength to try and sit back up, she threw another, into his cheek, and then another.

"I have daughters, four, that live around here, so you understand why I can't tolerate that sorta language, have some respect." She told him, gently. "Babe, hand me that knife." She layed her hand out, her fingers than wrapped around the weight.

"I would never betray Alpha." The man started speaking. "She rescued me. She protects me. She loves me. She loves us all."

"But she's not gonna come looking for you, is she?" Natalia asked. "That's part of the rules, you separate from the pack, the pack move on, and you'll just be forgotten. I mean, that is what she did for her own daughter, right? Until she waged a war to come back and get her, seems like someone has a hierarchy."

"She sacrificed her own daughter for us." He shook his head.

"She killed Lydia?" Natalia whipped round at the voice of Carol, behind them, not at her house, with her kids.

"Uh huh." He nodded.

"Oh."

"She did." He "Confirmed.” "And I am willing to give my life for her."

Natalia watched the lightbulb go off in the woman's mind, before she darted off.

She rushed forward, handing the knife back to Daryl, before going after the woman, herself.

"Carol." She hissed, as they reached the stairs of their home. "Stop it."

"This ends now." Carol replied.

"You are not involving Lydia! You may have my husband at your beck and call, but you are gonna leave that girl the hell alone."

"He swallowed every ounce of Alpha's bullshit." Carol aggressively pointed at the jailcell door. "Every ounce."

"And I couldn't care less." Natalia shrugged.

"If he sees that Lydia's alive and well, and gets it that his great leader lied to him, then maybe that changes something." Her voice turned desperate.

"Please, Carol. Don't, just leave Lydia out of this, she is in my care, and just like my children, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect her and let her live a childhood, or what little she has left of it."

"Let her make up her own mind." Carol decided. "She's not your kid. This is the only way, and you know it." She sprinted up.

"Hey, you can't go in my house! That's breaking and entering, Carol!" She yelled, as she ran. How did Carol even know she was home?

Natalia had lost, Lydia decided to talk to the whisperer, show her face, for Henry, she had said, before sending Evie, who had also appeared, an apologetic look.

Except, when they had got back to the cell, Daryl was trying to usher them back out, they were only able to catch a glimpse of the two doctors sat behind the unmoving body of the whisperer, he was dead.

"I didn't do it." She called, as she was pushed out. "I gotta go check on my kids." She grumbled, stomping towards her house.

"Should clean up your hand, too." Carol called after her.

"Two birds, one stone, Carol." She replied, entering her house.

The kids were sat at the table, Evie was with them.

"Hey, Mom. Kid's fevers came down, so thought Bambi would enjoy sitting at a real table to eat dinner." Evie smiled at her, but then her eyes bulged at the bloody mess that was her mothers knuckles.

"Mommy! You're hurt!" Daisy gasped.

"What happened?" Bambi asked.

"Oh, just work." She shrugged. "Are my babies feeling better?"

"Yeah, Aunt Carol made us drink a red tea, it wasn't very nice, but she said we would die if we didn't drink it."

"She said that to you?" Natalia asked, anger flooding into her tone, as she walked towards the sink, to wash off the blood from her hand. "Where's Archie?"

"Carol dropped him off with Rosita, she's feeling better too, so thought she might want the company, and so he wasn't stuck with us."

"Carol has some serious nerve." Natalia muttered under her breathe. “Eve's you busy." She gestured to her hand, but the teenager was already up searching for the supplies to properly treat it.

"Mom, come sit down, the girls can learn a thing or two." She ushed her mother to sit at the table, as the six year olds watched eagerly. "Y'know, the first medical treatment I gave, was to Dad." She smirked, looking at her younger sisters.

"Our Dad?" Daisy asked, her eyes swam with wonder, the same as her twins.

"Yeah, gave him stitches, and I was around your age, too."

"Cooool." The kids oohed.

“Eves, what happened to your own hand?” Natalia asked, looking at the girls knuckles, which looked a bit sore, themselves.

“Oh! Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Evie brushed off, pulling the sleeve of her sweatshirt down, covering her hand.

In the night, Siddiq was unfortunately the one to discover the mole inside the walls of Alexandria, it had been Dante, and upon this discovery, the man had killed him, to keep the secret, though Rosita hadn't known this, not until she walked in on the scene with a one year old in her arms.

She almost broke down in tears as she explained to the parents of Archie, how she fought, not just for her life, but for their son's, against Dante and an reanimated Siddiq, and how she hadn't let anything harm him.

And in other news, Carol had led Lydia out of Alexandria deep into the woods, where they had ran into Aaron, that was before a whisperer had spotted the girl, realising the truth of her existence, fleeing the scene, and it was at that moment Lydia had connected the dots on what her place was in Carols scheme, the “help” she needed, causing the girl into also leaving, refusing to not come back.

Natalia bounced her baby on her hip, reassuring her friend, as Daryl beat the ex-doctor, who was actually an whisperer.

"Hope that hurts." He spat, shaking his hand, moving to stand beside Natalia.

"It doesn't matter." Dante said, spitting out blood onto the infirmary floor. "None of this matters. Watch enough people get incinerated, devoured alive, you see how ridiculous it is getting attached to ourselves. But knowing that sets you free." He smiled.

"Is that what you're doing? Setting us free?" Carol entertained him.

"If you learn that lesson, it'll only help you."

"What, so we can be more like you?" Daryl asked.

"Accept the future." He raised a brow, smiling at the man, as he stepped away from his wife and child, lighting an cigarette.

"Why put him through all that hell in the barn just to kill him months later? I-I can't see an ideology behind that." Gabriel pressed.

"I liked Siddiq. "

"Oh, you liked him?" Rosita scoffed.

"He wasn't part of the plan." Dante whispered. "But he found out who I was, so I had no choice."

"What plan?" Carol asked him.

"Encourage your paranoia about us... which will push you into bad decisions. Places like this are cruel promises to their people and they crumble at the smallest nick. Hell, I'm gonna enjoy watching you rip each other apart over what to do with me. Just like with Negan." He winked at the Dixons.

"Easy, we're gonna kill you." Natalia spoke up for the first time. "You ain't no Negan, honey, and there ain't no one around who's gonna sympathise with you, not a single soul, after what you've done, you're the enemy, and now, we have a face to put to the hysteria."

"We helped you." Rosita was still trying to wrap her head around the betrayal.

"Why?" Dante asked. "'Cause you wanted another doctor around? You got something from me, too. Don't pretend you didn't." He grinned, shaking his head.

Rosita begun cursing in Spanish, pacing behind him.

"No one is actually kind. We are selfish. We are brutal. Come on, that's why she's been using her time popping out all these kids, during all this, I was trying to do the both of y'all a favour, I hear boys are always the hardest to raise." He nodded at Archie, but Rosita had kicked him to the ground, hard, ending his monologue about the near murder of Archie Dixon.

She then stormed out of the door that Aaron had just happened to be walking through.

"He's been here four months." Aaron had reminded, during their debriefing on what to do about the situation. "How didn't I know?"

"None of us did." Daryl said, his way of trying to comfort the man.

"We all ate together. Talked about training the militia. He treated Gracie." He choked up.

"You can't do that to yourself." Carol told him.

"Hey." Natalia layed an hand over his. "He treated mine, too, I sat with him, had conversations, you're not the only person who could've or should've spotted him, We especially can't do anything about it now, we do not cause or fault ourselves for other people's actions, we can't do that, it is not our responsibility."

"All we can do now, is figure out what's going on." Daryl gave his opinion, seating himself on top of the counter.

"Mary, the Whisperer I've been talking to, um, told me where Alpha is keeping the herd."

Daryl and Carol both jumped at this, eager to know more, but Natalia took her hand back, placing it to her forehead as she prayed for strength, with a heavy sigh.

"Just over the border, on their side. It's this sunken field. On the edge of the natural forest."

"We can leave right after the funeral." Carol suggested.

"We?" Natalia scoffed. "He said it's on their side, not our business, not our problem. Besides, it really wouldn't hurt to have some compassion, Siddiq is dead."

"You wanna do nothing?" Carol asked.

"Lydia's still gone." Daryl reminded.

"Oh, yeah, because Carol let her go!"

"We don't even know what that means yet." Daryl continued.

"Alpha doesn't know that." Aaron whispered. "With Dante locked up in a cell, she never has to."

"We ain't gonna talk about how this is probably an ambush?" Daryl asked.

"Well, the baby that Connie rescued, apparently that's Mary's nephew. She wants to see him."

"Hell no" Natalia put her foot down.

"I don't think she's lying." Aaron told her.

"Alright. Get a group from Hilltop and meet us there. Second we're done, we're going looking for the girl." Daryl ordered.

"Yeah. I'll radio them. Maybe they can get the news to Michonne, too."

"Alright."

Aaron then left the house, and Carol followed, but Daryl stopped her.

"Hey. Why don't you stay here? I'll go." He said.

"What?" Natalia stood up, facing him.

"Why?" Carol asked.

"You gonna tell me what really happened out there?" He glanced at Natalia, before facing Carol again.

"I told you. Lydia didn't want to come back. I couldn't make her."

"Because you scared her."

"Nat, you weren't there!" Carol snapped at her.

"Hey! Her being here protects us. You know that.

"So, that's it for her now, to be our shield? Just lock her up again? I showed one of Alpha's people that their leader lied to them, and that's good for us. We can push on their wounds, too."

"Oh, of course, yeah, because keeping her behind these walls and keeping her safe is unfair to the young girl, so that she can actually have a chance of growing up, but using her as an tactic is fair game, right?" Natalia mocked.

"Bottom line is, you should have told us." Daryl moved on before the two women could get into it.

"I'll help you look for her, but I don't think she wants to be found." Carol shared.

"Are we talking about her, or are we talking about you?" Daryl pressed.

But she didn't give an response, instead left their house without another word.

"I'll go get the kids ready for the funeral, then, I'm going to take a shower, you can either help me or go chase after her." Natalia told him, heading upstairs.

It was silent for a half a minute, then the sounds of heavy steps moving towards the stairs alerted her of his decision.

The pair worked together to get the twins as well as RJ, washed, dressed, teeth and hair brushed, as well as reminding them on manners and funeral behaviour expectations, it was a lot, and it was a hard conversation on why people had suddenly begun dying so often, when neither child had experienced it since the new people had joined their lives.

Evie was already out, with no other Doctor in the community, she had volunteered to take on the rounds and to do house calls for all the people who had got sick from the infected water, most of them were already on the mend, luckily, but Carol's special tea was helping.

When they quietly opened Archies room, he was playing with his blocks, curiously, as though he was trying to work out a specific pattern for them to be stacked.

The couple leaned against the doorway as they watched, taking in their youngest child, Daryl glanced at his wife, hearing a small sniffle from her, noticing the tears that welled up in her eyes, the sad expression on her face as she watched their baby.

"He's alright." He murmured, tapping the back of her hand with his own.

"We almost lost him, Daryl, we almost-" She choked up, screwing her eyes shut, tightly. "I knew something was off about that guy, I felt it in my gut, and I just left it alone, that's not me, I never make a mistake, not like that, but-- and Henry, I saw her, I spoke to her at that fair, I knew it was her and I ignored it, now, Carol is going to get herself killed for revenge, and you, and it's all my fault" She dug her fingers through her hair, pulling at it with frustration.

"Hey, hey, come on." He grabbed her wrists, stopping her as he walked backwards, towards their room, shutting the door.

"It's all my fault, this is all my fault, Henry wouldn't be dead, Tara and Enid wouldn't be dead! And I haven't done anything to do anything! Our friends are dead and I did nothing to prevent it! Now, Archie was almost eaten, eaten alive by Siddiq, the doctor who helped me with the twins, who Carl risked his life to save, I mean, the irony in it all." She laughed with horror.

"Nat, stop, just breathe." He sat on their bed, bringing her to stand between his legs, rubbing her arms up and down, trying to get her to concentrate on him instead of breaking down and snapping. "Archie is safe, alright, he's fine and alive and I've checked him over, Rosita's checked him over, so has Evie and you've already done it about five times, he didn't get bit, he's gonna be fine, and he's too young to even remember last night."

"That's not the point, Daryl!" She raised her voice. "I could have prevented it even happening, I could have prevented all of this, but I didn't."

"You couldn't have done anything." He held her tightly, trying to get her to come off of it. "There's nothing that you could've done, you didn't know, but you know now, that's what matters."

"If,... If I never killed that guy... If I never killed those guys, that day... Glenn would still be here-"

"Nat, stop it!"

"Glenn would still be here, then Maggie wouldn't of made me distract Michonne, she wouldn't of tried to kill Negan, and the bridge never would of exploded, Rick would still be here, and none of this would happen, because Rick would've known what to do, he would've known what to do, and this wouldn't be happening, then Henry wouldn't be dead, and Carol wouldn't be going nuts, and they wouldn't all be dead, but they are, and it's because of me that they are, I can't keep anyone alive."

"Natalia, listen ta me-"

"Do you regret having the kids?" She seemed to have awoken from her self-deprivation.

"What?" He looked at her, he wasn't sure if he should be stumped or angry at her question.

"Just, our lives would be so much easier if we didn't have them, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't of had them, cause we never planned them, that was all your fault, okay, my body just bakes like it's supposed to do, but you're the one who gave it the ingredients, but I just mean, like what if there was another world in which we didn't have kids, so we could just focus on ourselves, and maybe we wouldn't be so preoccupied and less people would have died because of it, which is kinda funny if you think about it, but totally morbid, y'know, like take a life, leave a life... well, birth a life, but then there's reincarnation, we have three kids, a lot of people have died because of me, but out of those people, three of them could be our kids, but then what if it turns out that it's one of the bad people I've killed, instead of the good people, like what if one of them is Harley, now that would be bad-"

"Natalia! Shut up! Just stop talking, damn." He could barely keep up with her talking 100MPH, but he was catching bits of it here and there. "Just... just shut up, we're gonna be late for Siddiq's funeral." He slightly nudged her away from him, getting up from the bed and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Natalia look a deep breath in, then exhaled, before moving to have a quick shower, before getting ready, building herself back up.

"I remember this passage from my studies. Written by a scholar centuries ago who was trying to understand the impossible." Gabriel told the crowd at Siddiq's grave. "Let me live if life is better for me and take my life if death is better for me." He had surrendered himself to fate because his world defied logic. Defied justice." He walked towards the mound of dirt, throwing a handful on top of Siddiqs cocooned body. "We created you from it... and return you into it... and from it we will raise you a second time." With every pause, he threw another handful. "Evelyn... would you like to share some words?" Gabriel looked to the girl, who was stood with the Gage boy, who had a bruised cheek, but no one cared to ask about it. "You probably spent the most time with him, than all of us."

Evie looked around, as the people waited for her to speak, she then turned to her parents, who gave an encouraging smile along with an nod.

She then stepped forward, clearing her throat.

"Uhm... I met Siddiq when I was only seven years old, which means, Carl Grimes had risked his life ten years ago for him. And Siddiq never let himself forget it. Because since before Uncle Rick allowed him into our community, he was already pushing himself to help in any way he could, it didn't matter who you were, he just wanted to help, no matter what..." She let herself peer into the grave. "Siddiq was my mentor, but he wasn't my first mentor, no...but... he didn't even know me and he saw my potential, he never left me out despite my age, either... I mean, the man was teaching me fractions the same time he was showing me the proper way of how to amputate a limb." She laughed with watery eyes.

"Boy am I thankful you could both multi-task." Joe, the amputee from the story commented, earning a chorus of laughter.

"Then he was teaching me how to read blood, and what it could mean, that's how I found out a certain person was having twins, yet he failed to share that it was my own mother." She earned another chuckle, and a small smile from Natalia, the twins were looking up at her realising that they were their mothers twins. "Siddiq was a person who was full of light, he was a person for the people, he was fearless, he never had to prove to us that Carl Grimes sacrifice wasn't a waste, because that was just Siddiq, that was just who he was, and we dall have many thanks to give..." She then crouched down, picking up a handful of dirt. "I'm going to miss you, Siddiq." She said, lowly, before dropping the handful.

Next

[spacedoutcowgirl]

I am truly fearing for every blonde’s safety. Felix got Marinette threatening his bloodline, Adrien literally has Gabriel as a father, Zoe needs to hop out of Marinette’s tweets before Kagami finds her, and who knows how Gabriel decided to terrorize Amelie today. They need a support group or something 😭 I loved the new update btw 🫶🏼

meanwhile emilie is STILL in the basement.

the only thing marinette and gabriel have in common is their shared hatred for felix, gabriel probably ghost writes some of those hate tweets on mari’s account tbh.

i’m just imagining them all in a support group like: “raise your hand if anyone here has ever been victimized by a french citizen over social media?”

[unagrancantidaddepanes]

anyways all my homies love felix fathom, mf was doing what the social services could never do ❤️❤️❤️ king shit

[beetrootbug]

Okay, so I understand Andy's applefarm/ Welcome Home crossover AUs, that's all well and good, i love this.

BUT CONSIDER!

Mandela Catalogue/ Faith crossover AU HEAR ME OUT-

[poptart-cat-78]

My own interpretation of young von Glower. A small boy. Uppy coded.

The left is his wolf form, the right is his human form.

[flameandindifference]

Yeah, actually, I totally AM all for this kid meeting more religious figures.

I can only imagine the sheer comedy of it!

[im-out-of-it]

PSA: I STILL FUCKING HATE WILL HERONDALE AND HE IS A BASTARD 👏🏼

Will said, “some shadowhunters have always been bastards. My family has good cause to know it.”

well that’s ironic because you’re a bastard but we must be ignoring that? are we ignoring how you’ve treated Tessa in the beginning, all Jem has been through, Sophie’s treatment, literally almost everyone in TID, how you treated Gabriel-

and I don’t care if anyone wants to argue Gabriel but Will threw the first punch. he came after Tatiana, Gabriel’s sister. say what you want about Tatiana (I hate what she did to her brothers) but she was just a child with a silly infatuation. she at the time didn’t know any better and how he treated her was gross and then assaulting Gabriel because of it, and acting as though Gabriel is some ghastly villain, the fuck?

and yes, Gabriel hasn’t always been kind (he’s a sweetheart and I love him ok?????) but he’s not the one who started this feud if you want to call it that. Gabriel owns up to what he did, staying by his fathers side and choosing to be better.

at least Gabriel grows and becomes a better person. I’m not defending what he’s done wrong but I feel like gabriel actually grows and adapts as a character. I don’t see Will changing and to say this statement is humorous and ironic in all

Will has made jokes about the most traumatic experience Gabriel probably had. having to kill his own father. I’m sorry but that’s not a laughing moment??? that’s something I would guess stays heavy in Gabriel’s head. if I were Cecily, I would not be allowing that shit. everyone just accepts this????? if Gabriel made a joke about Will’s father, on the devil, all hands on deck!!!! then Gabriel would be seen as the bad guy. and it’s mainly CC and her writing that do this because she purposely does this thing consistently.

this is part of the terrible and lazy writing of CC. she has men go through things (herondales) and then doesn’t have them own up to what they did wrong. there’s no trying to change, adapt, grow. it’s just stale

Alastair grows a lot in my opinion, Alec slightly grows (it’s still super bad though. he deserves better too.), I even think Matthew kinda grows. literally so many characters grow but who never takes accountability??? majority of the herondales. they’re basically out here “I went through trauma but I will treat anyone how I deem desirable and y’all will accept it”. this is just my personal take on the family and the characters. plus it’s super repetitive because CC keeps doing the same thing over and over again.

it’s tiring honestly. I don’t think Will has ever apologized for how he has treated Gabriel or Gideon (which I don’t think was as bad but I also can’t remember) and his apologies always come off as half ass. also I feel like Tessa kinda settled for Jem because he was sick and they thought he would die anyways??? and that doesn’t sit right with me. but these are just my opinions and takes on these matters

I still fucking hate Will and what he did to Gabriel is unforgivable.

personally I would’ve cut out all the Will stuff in TLH (especially the weird fucking grieving sex he and Tessa love and the abandonment of their children basically) and added more Gabriel and Gideon content. yes im Lightwood biased but it’s not my fault they’re better lmao

let’s see gideon and Alastair bonding, add Gabriel as a parent. maybe have him talk some sense into Anna!!!! see gideon reassuring Thomas that he knows he’s innocent and didn’t kill anyone. see more of Eugenia. once again: IT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

[hodgepodgebitches-temp]

Streamer AU info for Crowley & his siblings:

Their mom comes from family money, no matter who she ended up with she was going to be set for life.

Gabriel is the eldest.

Michael is the second born.

Gabriel & Michael have the same Dad.

Uriel was born from a short term relationship their mother had after her first husband died.

Anthony is the product of her second marriage, his parents divorced when he was 8 and his father vanished. It was fairly messy and his father wanted nothing to do with his mother after the fact, something that they have in common and part of why he goes by his last name online.

[nixthelapin]

@mothrasthorax you know, I actually half agree with you

Looking at it more, I think I do actually like the costume. Much better that our universe’s (Though og Hawkmoth ain’t so bad).

However, I’ve realized why I didn’t initially like it, and why I don’t agree with that “dapper” part- I just can’t stand that man’s face. He is just so ugly that everything he wears just looks horrible (maybe that’s why I like the og Hawkmoth one lol). And seeing that good-person, kind expression on his face just feels so… wrong. Maybe that’s just because of how we’ve seen him for the past several seasons, but he just has a villain face, man idk what to tell you 😂

Woah we got the whole set guys! Now we have alt-Alya, alt-Nino, and… wait

WTF IS THAT??

Gabriel. What. Even.

You somehow managed to have an even worse costume than normal 🤣 They did you dirty my guy

[bamfkeeper]

Parents.

Kurt Wagner x F!reader

RQ: 'CAN WE PLS GET MORE DAD!KURT HC'S??? PLS I BEG' - @thel0v3hashira143

Warnings: Baby themes, mentions of breastfeeding and other recovery things from birth and pregnancy.

A/N: Pleaseee I love Kurt as a dad <3 Dad!Kurt has to have a goatee I don't make the rules 😩

Kurt loves being a dad. He's always wanted to be a father and he was so excited when you got pregnant and gave birth. He was so attentive to you, and during labor and the birthing process, he was there helping as much as possible.

When it was the first night home from the hospital, he made sure you got your baby inside safely and you got to bed right away. He didn't want you moving around too much. He had already prepped the bedroom, the bassinet was beside the bed for you to easily reach for your baby at night for feedings.

He had water, cream, medicine, everything you needed. He popped up at night when he felt you move, checking on you nearly every hour.

If you wanted to only breastfeed, he'd absolutely be okay with that, and he'd make sure you were alright doing so. He would help you pump and offer bottles if you needed, but he'd mostly try to respect your wants.

I don't think Kurt would care what gender the baby is. He'd love it no matter what. I always had a feeling that if he had a boy he'd name it Gabriel.

Names in general can be played with. You can imagine him going the religious route, or the German route, or if you have a name you like from your own culture, then you could choose that. Kurt is just happy you're having a baby, the name isn't something he's going to argue about with you.

Kurt is absolutely super protective over the baby and you, especially fresh from the hospital. He advocates your wishes to all your friends and family. No visitors, no pictures, no holding the newborn, etc. whatever rules you have.

You love watching him hold your baby, how he cradles them in his arms and hums so sweetly. He gently rubs his nose into the baby's tiny one, he's so gentle with them.

He kisses your baby's feet, listening to the sweet giggles because his beard tickles their toes. He loves to give them raspberries too.

He likes to sing German lullabies or songs to your baby. His singing voice is actually really good.

You thought Kurt was protective before, but once your baby moves around more often, he becomes even more so. Anyone says anything about your baby's appearance or yours after your pregnancy, he loses it. You didn't think that would get you going but...damn.

Your baby would be bilingual. They'd learn English and German growing up.

Walking is fun. With the tiny tail your baby has, balance is much easier, so your baby is walking long before normal babies walk.

As your baby grows, their little voice develops an accent in both languages, and you both adore it. Kurt is so proud of your little one, going on and on about how smart they are and how they get it from you.

Kurt loves dressing your baby too, he definitely puts them in little overalls or lederhosen.

Kurt plays with your little one all the time, especially at parks, he loves pushing them in the swing and sliding down the slide with them in his lap. He absolutely makes up extravagant make believe scenarios about sailing the seas on a big pirate ship, aka the couch.

Speaking of...pirate costumes for Halloween is a MUST.

Also let's not forget the spoiling your child will endure. Kurt gets them whatever they want. Stuffed animals, toys, clothes, sweets, within reason of course. But he can't resist.

Kurt loves to cook German dishes for you and your child, it makes him happy to do and it connects you and your child closer to his roots.

Bedtime stories are big for Kurt too. The showman he is, he tells the stories in different voices, he completely acts out the parts to make your child giggle and laugh. He tucks your little one in and gives them a kiss, a soft lullaby, then it's off to dreamland.

You adore seeing this side of Kurt, he's grown into a wonderful parent, even if he did have some worries before. He is absolutely perfect. A perfect father and a perfect husband.

Dividers by @/adornedwithlight

Cover images: Immortal X-Men #7 (2022), Pinterest for others