#Glenn is like oh no one of my friends got a nat twenty even though both me and my son have practiced instruments all of our lives | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mydarllinglover · 1 year

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Alone || Haunted

They had left the top of the hill, walking away back the field Natalia and Daisy patched up in.

"Why are there always so many people bothering us?" Daisy asked. "Why are there so many wars?"

"'Cause, honey, before all this, men could argue over sports, and before sports, they fought in wars. No more sports, they had to resort back to war." Natalia explained.

"Hey, this was a woman." Negan reminded. "This time."

"Yeah and it was you and the jolly green giant backing her up." She raised a brow.

Daryl had sent Daisy over to the patch of flowers, after showing her how to make a daisy chain, giving her something to do.

The two men sat on opposites sides of the log, whilst Natalia laid on the grass, staring at the sky.

It was silent between the three of them, before she started to chuckle, then that turned into a giggle, until eventually she was hysterically laughing.

"Dude, she's lost it." Negan muttered to Daryl, leaning over the log, watching Natalia.

"Shut up, man." He nudged him back over.

"Oh, god, it hurts so bad so laugh, but it's so funny." Natalia continued to giggle, holding her sides.

"Nat, what's going on?" Daryl asked her, shuffling off the log to sit beside her, holding her gently. "What's so funny?"

"My life, Daryl, my whole existence is a joke." She covered her mouth, trying to stop the laughs. "It's, the whole thing is just disaster after disaster!" She cracked.

"And that's funny because?" Negan continued to be nosy.

"Well, for starters I was born in 1985, y'know, the year of the 9000 victim earthquake in Mexico, and the spread of aids, and don't forget the Japan airline crash. Then, at the age of four, my father dies from a peanut, Hello, a peanut, one! Singular peanut! I mean, how the hell does someone just die from that, something so small!" She cracked up. "Oh, and spoiler alert, I found out I was also allergic, cause my mom's drug addict boyfriend, who was supposed to be babysitting me, fed them to me! Cause he was too doped up to tell the difference between them and pretzels! And then my Mom married my step-dad, who was a really great guy, I mean, he got me out of going to Juvie, he was kind, he never grassed me up, he's the one who supported me when my Mother found out I was pregnant in college and cut me off, then drove me to the hospital, when I went into labour during graduation! Which I finished top of my class, by the way, because my boyfriend at the time was too hungover to even bother to show up! But because I was a twenty-two year old mother, no one would take me on! Because they didn't trust it, and they called me unreliable, and a free monthly check ready to happen. At the age of twenty-five, guess what happened?" She didn't let them answer. "Dead people started walking and eating the alive people! Then my boyfriend kills himself, eats my daughter, I have to put down the both of them, which were my first ever walker kills, by the way, and then, I had a miscarriage, with no one around but my dog, who was also murdered!" She cackled at this. "Then I begin a feud with a man who had taunted me with rats! I hate rats! And then more people come along, and these are bad, bad people, they did terrible things, and I was left with no over choice but to kill them, because If I didn't, those bad things would either continue to happen, or they would just slaughter me. But then, then I met you." She smiled at Daryl. "And Rick, and Glenn, and Carl, and Maggie, and Beth and they are all gone! They're dead, the first good people, who made me feel like a person, are all dead or gone, and you're always too busy with other stuff then being around me, you might as well be gone! Anyway, and then, we spend months on the road, I had to spend months on the road with people who hated me, who didn't trust me because of the way I was forced to survive, all with a pregnant woman, who acted as though sleeping with her husbands best friend was such an heinous thing to happen to her, because nothing bad happens to angels like her, and she's just soo innocent, and this baby is such a curse! But she dies, too, because everyone dies, and I get shot! I got shot whilst I was playing ball with my dog, and you weren't there, because you left us! You left us for your brother who kidnapped Glenn and Maggie and beat them, did terrible, terrible things to them, but oh no, that's not the worst thing to ever happen to them, was it! I've been through three wars, I've been shot, I've been held at gunpoint, I survived by myself, and with a group of men who looked at me like I was the freshest cattle at the market, then I had to survive a herd, from inside a car, Oh, my twenty-seventh birthday? We met Evie, and thank god we met Evie, cause she's just amazing, but then a few days later, red poncho guy had to show up then disappear, and then Evie's dad dies, rip, Rick made us move that herd, and then I accidentally kissed you, and get this, if it wasn't for Michonne, I woulda never made a move on you, cause I thought I'd be cheating on my dead boyfriend." She wheezed.

"And then two months after that, our friends are brutally killed in front of us, and we get kidnapped, and some guy touched me, and I didn't even get justice, because that was taken from me, from the guy who kidnapped me! And then we escape, I get married, yay! We fight the war, and we win, once again, go us! But then I find out I'm pregnant, whilst hanging above walkers, literally hanging above them! Rick goes missing, my daughter gets kidnapped, I go into labour in the woods, whilst fighting a group of walkers, that I could barely do, because I was so large! We had a couple of good years, really, really good years, and then we move into the woods, and I get pregnant again, but that's fine, because I delivered him by myself, and then Carol shows up, she wants us to take care of her son, you said no, but god damn it, I'm so weak, I just had to cave, we go to Hilltop, and instantly get sent on a mission, Jesus dies, so sad. The kids escape from under our nose. We have to sneak into unknown territory to lure them back, and then we have to fight whisperers in an abandoned building, but then Henry gets hurt, because of course he does, and then the fair, oh, the fair. I spoke to Alpha, I was going to put Archie down for a nap, and she came and spoke to us, and I replied, I had a conversation with her, then walked away, I knew something was off, and I chose to ignore it, because Archie needed a nap, and then she brutally murdered my friends... my daughter had to see her best friend's head on a spike, and I wasn't even there to comfort her. I was in a freaking mine explosion, I was dead-"

"Nat, you didn't die." Daryl held her face, trying to make her stop talking, stop reliving all these memories, but she was on a train that had no other stations. "You didn't die."

"No, no, I did, for a little bit, I was dead, there's no over way to explain it, I died." She grinned at him, like a crazy person. "And I was stuck in this house, it was my old house, with Harry, and Winnie, and everything I did, or wherever I went, he would kill her, and I would wake up in the shower, and he would do it again, over and over, and over again, and I didn't know how to make it stop, I killed him, or I would kill her, or I'd avoid them, no matter what I did, she died, because I can't protect her, I'm not a good mother, and she died because I'm not, and the only reason I am here right now, is because my other daughter had to bring me back and help me get her out of there, and then she- she killed people, Daryl she killed those two whisperers on the hill, I don't think she knew they were alive, and not walkers, because I called them walkers, because I couldn't do it myself, so I turned killing real life, human people, into a game... a game! And she cut her arm. My baby cut her arm, and my other kids, I don't even know where they are!"

"They're okay, Nat, they're fine, they're with everyone, and they're okay." Daryl told her.

"Oh my god, I forgot about the cannibals!" She wiped tears from her eyes, because she was laughing so much.

"Natty, I really think you need to stop laughing, and sleep, instead."

"I've been asleep!" She snapped, looking up at him. "I was asleep for a whole day."

"No, you were unconscious for a whole day, and you lost so much blood, that I had ta donate mine." Daryl turned harsh. "That ain't resting. Daisy, get over here!" He called the girl over, who instantly came running at her fathers instructions.

"Yes, Daddy?" She asked, her Daisy necklace looped in her hands.

"You and yer Mama need some sleep, you ain't slept in over twenty four hours, so yer gonna both lay down, under this blanket." He pulled the blanket out from Daisy's backpack. "And yer gonna count sheep, till I wake you up, got it."

"Daryl..."

"Lay down, till you stop with the crazy talk." He demanded, gently pushing her back down, and instructing Daisy to come lay beside her, but of course Natalia opened up her arms for Daisy to snuggle in. "Ain't nothin' gonna get ya, no one's gonna hurt ya, sleep."

Natalia let out a grumble, but she got comfortable, snuggling with her daughter, whilst Daryl "tucked them in" before sliding back up the log.

"Shit, man, I- I knew she had issues, but... she never told me all that." Negan sighed, looking at the pair on the grass, when sometime had passed, that they both had to have fallen asleep.

"'Cause she ain't want no one to know, 'Specially not you, of all people, you only know what you forced out of her. An' she missed out a buncha shit, too..." He rubbed his hands together nervously.

They were quiet for a bit, listening to the silence around them, until Negan took a sip from his canteen, before offering it to Daryl, who took it.

"Not to spin a broken record, but I don't think she's comin' back." Negan started. "You know, I'm... I'm not bullshitting you."

"I know." Daryl replied, sounding defeated.

"When I said that I liked it.... that wasn't part of the act."

"Yeah, I know."

"You know, when your people locked me up, I lost everything. You know, seven years spent staring out that little window... man, it sucked. It got so bad, that even my memories had bars painted on 'em. So when Alpha took me in... I admit it, I... I liked it. It was... it was nice feeling like I mattered again, like I was respected. But she took it too far. You don't kill people that don't deserve it. And you never kill kids."

"Is that supposed to make me like you?" Daryl asked him.

"No."

"Good."

"But what about my winning personality?" Negan tried.

"You tried to steal my wife, and ruin my marriage, shit load of times." Daryl answered, getting off the log, and stirring Natalia awake. "Let's go." He muttered to her, grabbing the blanket, throwing it into Daisy's bag and swinging it over his shoulder, picking up his crossbow, then his still sleeping daughter.

"What about Carol?" Negan asked, at his retreating back, but no one answered him, and so he followed instead.

They had returned home, back to Alexandria, where Natalia was reunited with her two other children, Archie, who was still a baby, didn't understand anything else but to be happy that his mother was awake to hold him, whilst Bambi caught her up on everything she had missed, even the parts that Daisy had already filled her in, on.

Judith, Gracie and RJ, were also just ecstatic to see the woman, and so was the rest of her friends and family.

But of course the nicicites hadn't lasted forever, because as soon as Carol had returned home, all four communities set off to an safehouse, of sorts, an abandoned hospital.

Lydia and Evie had also joined them, and Natalia hugged the two girls when they had sobbed their apologies to her, for failing her, which she had to push that they did not, they were children, children who should never have such burdens to carry.

"You should sit down." Negan told Natalia, when she wobbled around the halls, staring out of every visible window.

"I'm fine, and I don't need to be taking advice from you." She told him, leaning on the window sill of the one she had been currently watching out of.

"Hey, it's what everyone's thinking, they're just too scared to tell you." He gently grabbed her elbow, but slightly tightened his grip when she flinched away. "Natalia, you've gone through a shit load, physically, you need to let your body heal."

"I am healed, okay, look at me, cast's and stitches, what else do I need?" She raised the arm he was holding.

"That don't explain why you can barely walk, now."

"I've been walking all day." She furrowed her brows at him. "And my ribs, I was hidden up in rubble."

"No, no, it's-" He reached for her shirt, going to lift it but she whacked him away.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She accused.

"Your stomach-"

"Daryl!" She called.

"Does he know?" Negan asked her.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, flying around the corner.

"He tried to touch me!" She pointed at the man.

"Yeah, that's cause your wife is hobbling around until she eventually kills herself, Daisy weren't the only one who was cut up, was she?"

"You back the hell down, man." Daryl stared him down, joining Natalia's side.

"Whatever, I'm tired of helping you people." He threw his hands in the air, walking away, in defeat.

"Nat-"

"It's not a big deal, but he grabbed me-

"Show me." Daryl told her.

"What?"

"Show me what happened."

"I- but- nothing happened."

"Nat, I could see it all over, I can tell the difference between walker blood and your blood, this..." He gestured to the blood at the bottom of her clean shirt, clearly it had bled through, without her realising. "Is yours. I noticed it from the start, but you didn't tell me about it, so I didn't mention it, but now you're lying and hiding it? Show me."

"It's not that bad, that's why I didn't-"

"Natalia, show me." He pushed, standing opposite to her, seriousness all over his face.

Natalia sighed deeply, admitting defeat, before lifting her shirt, showing him her bruised, bloody and battered torso.

"I patched it up, its why I didn't say anything, and I didn't need stitches, so it's not even bad." She tried to soften the blow.

"Nat..." Daryl sighed, ghosting his fingers along her side, then checked that no one was around. "Baby, you shoulda told me."

"But I'm okay." She nodded, holding his cheek. "I'm okay, Daryl, so it's okay."

"It's not." He shook his head, looking down.

"It is, our children are all alive, you're alive and I'm alive, Dog is even alive." She chuckled. "That seems pretty okay to me."

"No... no, no it's not." He continued to shake his head, not meeting her eyes.

"It is, baby, it is, it's okay." She lifted his face, kissing him gently. "It's okay, Daryl, it's okay." She kissed him again.

He dropped his head onto her shoulder, his arms went around her, but he refused to properly hug her.

"Why don't we lay down, for a bit, find a quiet room-"

"I ain't gonna have sex with yer." He interrupted, through a sniff.

"That wasn't what I was implying." She laughed. "We can just lay down, for a bit, you need the rest, Luke's still working on his part, there's so many people here, and you need rest. You haven't stopped in days."

"M'fine." He lifted his head from her shoulder, looking down at her, his eyes were red and puffy, he looked so sad, it was breaking her heart just looking at him.

"You can't lie to me, I'm your wife and I'm injured, also, you're a bad liar, too. C'mon." She grabbed his hand, heading down the hallway, to find that empty room she spotted earlier, it had a bed in there, it would do.

"Alright, baby, you lay down, I'm just gonna go talk to Diane, okay? You stay here." Natalia pushed Daryl on the bed.

"But you shouldn't-"

"Stay, I'll be a minute." She narrowed her brows, glaring at him with a pointed finger, backing out the room.

Natalia used the wall as support to help her get to the crowded reception area of the hospital.

"Hey, uhm, Nat." Carol approached Natalia's side.

"Nat!" Rosita swooped by, easing Natalia away.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Hey, I'm pissed at her too, she tried to kill my best friend, Daryl might have forgiven her, but I sure as hell haven't."

"Speaking of which. We need some time to ourselves, he's, he's been through a lot, too, he needs a lil break, we're just gonna lay down for a lil bit, you'll come let us know when it's time?"

"Yeah, sure, just make sure you're not moaning too loud-"

"Ro! Good intentions only! He'll barely touch me cause he's too scared he'll break something." She scoffed.

"Go cuddle, you deserve it." Rosita nudged her. "Kid's are preoccupied, we're working on shit, I'll come get you."

"Love you."

"Love you, too." She smiled, and Natalia walked away, passing a book shelf, picking up one of the books on her way back to the room.

"Yer back." Daryl greeted her, laying on his back, his head supported by his arm.

"Told you, I would be. So you forgave Carol, after she put me in a coma?" She asked, closing the door and slipping her shoes off, sliding on the bed, next to him.

"Naw, just tryna make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, again. she said sorry." Daryl replied, sliding further down, resting his head on her shoulder, throwing an arm just under her ribs, above the cut on her abdomen, his left leg covered both of hers.

"I don't wanna hear it, don't care. I was being nice to her, and she almost got me blown up." She grumbled, running her fingers through his hair.

"I know, you tried hard, proud of yer." He mumbled, rubbing his head along her chest as he eased into sleep.

She continued to run her fingers through his hair, as he slept, it didn't matter that she was in an unbearable amount of pain, they're gonna make him risk his life in a few hours, and he was too caught up about her, she needed him to believe she was okay, so she'd do what she could to make him believe that.

She didn't realise she'd started humming that song, the song she used to sing to the twins when they were in the womb, Eyes Without A Face, fuck, she loved Billy Idol.

Rosita burst through the door, eventually, looking alarmed.

"You guys gotta get up, they found us, we're surrounded." She told them, when Daryl jumped awake.

People were running around like crazy, when they left the room, throwing things, grabbing things, fixing things, and then some breaking things, it was hectic and chaos.

"Girls, get away from the window- oh... shit..." Natalia muttered, when she pulled the twins from the sills, but then spotted the mass amount of walkers just outside. "Alright, duck and quietly walk back to your area." She told them. "Go play with the cat."

"Archies playing with the cat, with Evie and Lydia." Bambi told her.

"Then go play with Archie, Evie and Lydia, playing with the cat." Daryl told them, resting his hands on both their heads, steering them in that direction.

"I'm scared." RJ grabbed Natalia's hand, his other was holding Gracie.

"But we're safe up here, y'know that." She told the both of them, crouching down.

"You've seen how many are coming." Gracie pushed. "Lot's more than we have."

"That? Pfft, I've seen more, this is lightwork." She kept her cool. "Come on, let's go play with this cat, huh? We don't have to worry about this."

"But you always fight, Aunt Nat, you're the best at it, my daddy said." Gracie said.

"Aunt Nat's on rest, she ain't fighting nothing." Daryl pressed, not only speaking to the kids.

"Yeah, Aunt Nat's gonna sit this one out." She scrunched up her nose at them.

"Our plan is the same." Gabriel started, when everyone stood in the reception area, as he went over the logistics of what would happen.

Natalia stood beside Daryl, even though she wasn't allowed to participate, she wanted to know what her husband was going to be doing. She held his hand, resting her head against his shoulder as they listened.

"We lead the horde away, just not from oceanside as we had planned. Once the walkers are clear, we evacuate to Rendezvous Point B. Luke. We ready?" Gabriel asked the man.

"Yeah, yeah. Uh, technically." He stuttered, standing up.

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of hope." Natalia commented.

"Shut up, he's nervous." Daryl muttered, lowly, kissing her head as he spoke, with out people hearing.

"So, these are the final pieces that we need to connect to the wagon. But in order for it to do the pied piper thing that we need it to do over the cliff, we gotta get from A to B, and I gotta plug and plug, and then we should be good to go." He explained.

"That wagon is on the other side of the horde." Magna, who had returned from the inside of the cave, traumatised, stated.

"So... someone's gotta go through it?" Jerry questioned. "With skins in there?"

"Four groups. Two in each. One carries the cargo, one protects. It's crucial that all the equipment makes it to the wagon." Gabriel continued.

"We can make it through. I'll help." Lydia offered.

"We're willing." Bea, from Oceanside, spoke up. "But not if she goes."

"And why's that?" Natalia asked.

"Stand down." Daryl told her.

"Well, we know she's earned trust with you, but... Oceanside isn't ready. Not with this."

"Says the girl who was shooting to kill at the age of ten."

"Stop." Daryl pushed.

"That's fine." Gabriel said loudly, trying to drown out the commotion of the other two. "As it happens, Lydia's role is in here."

"Look, we're not all gonna make it through." Daryl spoke to the group now. "But this is the only way."

"If Daryl's going, then so am I." Kelly declared.

Natalia made Daryl say goodbye to the kids, before he was required to gut up, she thought it would be best if they didn't see their father dressed up in walker shit, and smelling of it, too."

"You're not gonna die, are you, Daddy?" Bambi asked, hugging him tightly.

"Naw, sweetheart, I ain't." He promised. "I don't die, remember."

"That's cause you can beat anything, Daddy."

"Hell yeah." He grinned at Daisy, hugging her too. "Alright, lemme say goodbye, to my lil man." He took Archie out of Natalia's arms, giving him a dramatic kiss on the cheek, making the baby giggle. "He's getting heavy." Daryl bounced Archie in his arms, weighing the boy.

"He's getting old, soon, we're gonna have no babies left." Natalia pouted.

"That's not an excuse to have another one." Evie piped up.

"We ain't having another baby." Daryl told her. "Five is definitely enough."

"Five, but Daddy, you only have four kids, me, Daisy, Evie, and Archie." Bambi pointed at herself and her siblings.

"Yeah, but Lydia's also under our care, which technically makes her our kid, in a way." Natalia reminded the girl.

"Oh."

"Daryl, time's ticking." Gabriel walked past them.

"That man, he offs one person and thinks he's God, himself." Natalia grumbled.

"Hey, help me gut up." Daryl spoke quietly to her, passing Archie to Evie, kissing both their heads, then giving the twins another goodbye hug, kissing them, too, before reminding them all to stay safe and be good, and that he loves them.

"Alright, stay still for five minutes, Mommy'll be back." Natalia told the kids, following Daryl to the gutting station.

Daryl put the hoodie and the jeans over his clothes, and Natalia put on the large gloves, digging her hands in the matter and spreading it over him.

"I hate that I can't go with you, I hate feeling useless." Natalia told him, as she applied it on thickly, making sure no walker will sense him.

"Better to be useless in here, then dying out there." He told her, "You've done enough, already, you deserve to sit this one out."

"I know, but I still hate it." She pouted.

"Get your back for you, dear?" Luke asked Jules, as he helped her gut up, across from them. "You know I got your back out there, too, right?"

"Oh, and the rest of me?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm good to get that, too."

"Hey, you okay?" Jerry asked Magna, who was also going. "I mean, going back into the herd after everything..."

"I'm fine, you?" Magna smiled, meekly.

"Not at all." He replied truthfully.

"She gets to go..." Natalia rolled her eyes, as she finished up.

"She ain't end up in a coma." Daryl patted down her hair. "Hey!" He turned to Negan, who was stepping from foot to foot, looking rather uncomfortable. "Why you clean?"

"I ain't going." Negan admitted.

"You've done this more'n any of us."

"I am on the tip-top of every skins' kill list. Especially fee fi fo asshole. So if the idea is to get through without drawing a shitload of attention, then I am the last person these people want standing next to them."

"Please, Negan." Natalia stepped towards them, acting all innocent like. "Please, y'know, I'd feel a lot better if you went with them. I mean, no offense to these guys, but, no one will do a better job then you will, I mean, you're skilled, you know what's up, and... you got a winning personality." She played his own words against him. "You'd do it for me, wouldn't you? I'd go out there, but, I'm pretty weak, at the moment. But-- I'd feel so much better if you went with them." She went as far to stand on her tip toes, gently kissing his cheek, sealing the deal. "At least think about it." Then she led Daryl away.

"You're sick." He grumbled to her.

"Need to help somehow, don't worry, I'll bleach my lips, if it makes you feel better."

And it had worked, because Negan had gutted up.

"I love you, don't die on me." Natalia told Daryl, when Gabriel had called time.

"I ain't never gonna." He promised, he kissed Natalia, with tongue, and she knew exactly why, when he pulled away, staring down the tall, gutted up, man, wearing his whisperer mask.

"Daryl, you finished?" Gabriel asked him.

"Yup." He squeezed Natalia's hip, walking with the others, out of the door.

Natalia stood next to Judith, when they closed it again.

"He's gonna be alright." She told the girl.

"I know." She sighed. "Doesn't mean I'm not any less scared."

"That's a good thing, reminds yourself that you care, you're still alive and human."

He waved goodbye to the pair, smiling at them through the window, and they waved bye, back, and then Natalia took her and Lydia back upstairs, they didn't need to see the downstairs part fill up with walkers.

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