#like the whole point of TWD IS carl and what he becomes and what he ends up doing as he grows older

[rosadellic]

i really miss carl. twd died after he did

[twddixonn]

Good Boy

Daryl Dixon x Reader one shot

Warnings/Tags: not proof read!!!, sfw, some swears, shane.

this is my first fic on this account, my first time attempting to write a fic in 4-ish years and my first time trying to write a twd fic. honestly it’s probably not great but I hope it’s at least somewhat decent. :-)

(also written and posted mobile so not sure how it will appear on browser, hopefully not too terrible!)

“Leave me the hell alone.” You harshly whispered, turning on your heels and storming away from the scene in front of you.

Your best friend reuniting with his wife and son. Alive. Not dead. This whole time he had you believing that Rick was dead and gone, never coming back. Yet your eyes were seeing a whole different story to the one Shane painted out for you a couple months prior.

Shane followed pursuit, ignoring the former comment you had made and put a firm hold on your wrist before pulling you behind Dales RV to conceal you from the others.

“Hey, hey . I swear to you Y/N, he was dead when I left that hospital room. He wasn’t breathing. Th- the monitors, they all stopped. Everything went dead. He was dead.” Shane iterated, time and time again.

You feel the anger bubbling up inside you, just like all those other times when Shane had told you Rick was dead and to get it through your head he isn’t coming back. Your hands curled into fists, your nails stabbing into your palm leaving crescent shaped indents.

“Except he wasn’t. Is this why you didn’t want me to go there? Didn’t want Lori to go there? Because you knew if you swooped in and saved her and Carl when Rick couldn’t that what- she’d become your damsel in distress? Is this why? Just so you could get your leg over and fuck your partners wife and become Carls daddy? You’re pathetic Shane.” At this point your head was swarming with thoughts and ideas of what you wanted to do to Shane but better judgement got the best of you.

You began to walk off when a hand reached for you again, this time rougher. Shane pushed you against the RV, his brows furrowed and sweat dripping off his temples- smoke nearly coming out of his ears at this point.

“I don’t know what you think you know but you’re wrong either way. I think you’re forgetting that I didn’t just save Lori and Carl, I saved your sorry ass too. I didn’t have to. That was on me Y/N, That was on me. An’ I ain’t ever looked at Lori like that before, she was Ricks wife and he was my best friend. It happened because I thought he was dead.” He all but growled at you in a hushed whisper.

You remained quiet and stoic for a few moments, registering your thoughts before smirking slightly and speaking again. Pushing Shane’s hand off of you, you began to walk away but not before turning and giving one last snide remark, “I think I know right. And, by the way.. really interesting use of the past tense in those last few sentences there.”

Dickhead.

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“I’ve been here for quite a few hours now and yet, still no hello?” You looked beside you to see Rick crouched with a smile on his face, placing an arm around your shoulder which you leaned into graciously.

“Sorry Grimes.. just- a lot to take in y’no.” You said.

“Na’ I get it. Shane told me what happened.” Rick remarked whilst kissing his teeth and shaking his head.

“He did? Really? What did he say?.”

To say you were shocked was an understatement, Shane had really gone out of his way to-

“Yeah.” He breathed out, “Told me how it started, he tried to get me from the hospital but I wasn’t breathing and he thought I was dead. How he saved you and Lori n’ Carl and got you all here.”

“He told you that huh.” You should have known.

Rick started to stand back up, giving you a pat on the back and a kiss to the forehead first “I’m gonna go get some shut eye, you need too aswell. Talk more in the morning Y/N.” Rick turned to walk back towards camp, not before turning and speaking again, “Y/N.. go nice on Shane though ok? He’s a good guy, you just gotta give him a chance.”

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You wake up the next day to the sound of what you thought was - for once - peace and quiet. Until you hear the shouts outside and a woman screaming stop.

Debating between laying back down and just going back to sleep or getting up and out of your tent to see what was going on, you went with the better judgement and begrudgingly dragged yourself to get changed and step outside.

Shielding your eyes from the rays of light beaming off the Atlanta sun with a sigh escaping your lips at the slight breeze that hit your clammy skin.

“You’d best let me go!”- what the fuck was happening this time?

Walking closer you take sight of Shane with his arms wrapped around Daryl’s neck. A fuckin’ cop getting someone in a choke hold the minute they raise their voice? New worlds maybe not as different from before.

“I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic, you think we can manage that?” Rick spoke calmly whilst he crouched in front of Daryl, his chest heaving with rocky breaths as Shane’s tight grip didn’t let up just yet.

“You think we can manage that?” Rick repeated.

You zoned out at this point, eyes boring into the side of Shane’s skull with anger.

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“I’m coming.” You didn’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity to get away from camp for a while. The rising tension taking over was beginning to grate at you.

“That’s five”

Shane piped up “It’s not just five, you’re putting every single one of us at risk.” “Just know that Rick”

“Come on man you saw that walker. It was here.

It was in camp.

They’re moving out of the cities.

They come back, we need every able body we’ve got.

We need em here, we need em to protect camp.”

Staying focused when Shane’s voice is droning on for what seems like eternity is quite the mission lately. Listening to him is beginning to seem like nails on a chalkboard.

“-Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He’s not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in.”

Hearing Loris voice made you gain attention again.

“If someone left Rick behind-“ you began to join the conversation, maybe with the words aimed at Shane slightly. He clearly picked up on it as his eyes shot to you, if looks could only kill, you’d be six feet under.

“Would you want them to go back for him? Or would you let him stay handcuffed to a roof to die slowly?” Your eyes landing on Lori.

“That’s different. Rick.. he.. he isn’t like Merle. He wouldn’t get himself into that position in the first place.” The stern mom tone coming out as Lori tried to keep her composure and not snap in front of Carl.

“You think Merle purposely got himself into that position? He’s an asshole yeah, and he may have deserved it. But he didn’t expect to be handcuffed and then left behind. Not knowing if anyone was going to go back for him. It may have been an accident. But he shouldn’t have to sit there wondering if he’s just going to die from thirst and hunger or if he’s going to get torn to pieces at the hands of walkers. He may not be your family, but he’s someone’s family. You have your husband, your son. You have Shane. Merle is all Daryl has.” You’re not sure if you were even breathing during that, your chest rising up and down at a rapid speed. You felt rage. How could anyone justify this bullshit?

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Sitting in the back of the van was a bit more awkward than you anticipated. Glenn and Rick up front. You, Daryl and T-dog in the back. Maybe the tension in the back of this van was worse than the tension at camp?

You looked up smiling at T-dog as he avoided Daryl’s intense stare, before he got up and headed to the front to talk to Glenn and Rick.

Daryl kept shooting you glances whenever he thought you couldn’t see, a grunt leaving his mouth every so often as if he was about to talk but decided against it.

Just as you looked up at him, he was already staring with his mouth open yet no words seemed to come so he just scoffed and averted his eyes anywhere but at you.

You began to grow a bit frustrated at him. “What?”

“Nothin’” he all but murmured.

“Stop grunting and scoffing at me like a dog who didn’t get enough treats, be a good boy and just say whatever it is you’ve been wanting to say for the last 15 minutes.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at yourself.

You could have sworn you saw a light tinge of pink cross his cheeks before his head dropped down facing his lap.

His mouth opened and closed, before opening once again “Why’d ya stick up for me.. for Merle back at tha’ camp?”

Oh. That’s what this was about? The intense looks he gave you before this made you think it was about anything but this.

“What do you mean?” You had to admit you were somewhat confused at this.

“Ya said it y’self, Merle, he’s an asshole. So why’d ya go out of ya way to defend him? Why didn’t ya just side with the others and leave him?” Head dropping once again as his thumb found its way to his lips as he gnawed on the nail.

Silence.

You were stuck for words. “He is an asshole. Maybe one of the biggest assholes I’ve ever known. But he’s your brother, maybe not the greatest one but still your brother no matter what. He’s all you have left. The others may not understand, but I do.” Taking a deep breath in and thinking about your next words carefully, “I honestly couldn’t give a shit about him. Doesn’t mean I want him to suffer up there on that roof. No one deserves it. Well I mean maybe some people y’no? Really bad people. And maybe Shane. Merle, he’s not necessarily one of those really bad people. He makes mistakes, says things he definitely shouldn’t and has actions that match, but don’t we all in one way or another?”

Daryl was slightly overwhelmed. Not expecting you to be so honest and caring? Somewhat caring anyway. He didn’t know what to say.

You hummed and tapped your fingers against your legs, “Nothing to say?”

“I dunno what you want me to say.”

A grin made its way to your face.

“How about a thanks?”

“Thanks.” He grumbled trying not to scoff afterwards to avoid being called a dog again.

The van began to come to a stop, Glenn saying something about walking from here.

You stood up whilst stretching your arms above your head.

“That’ll do. Good boy.”

You smirked at him before opening the back of the van and climbing out. Leaving a blushing Daryl in the back trying to hide his face as he groaned standing up.

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authors note: it’s not the greatest, I am very aware. but I really wanna get back into writing in general and I thought starting with twd would be the best place to start as it’s one of my comfort shows. there’s not much happening, it’s very heavily based on s1 e3 obviously but it’s mostly just to try and get back in the swing of things! if you have an constructive feedback or any comments you’d like to make, please feel free as it will be much appreciated :-) I’m hoping to improve my writing skills more and more. It will probably take a while (I’ve literally had the first half of this thing in my notes app since June 2024) but I hope to get to the point of making some good fics! thank you for reading if you managed to make it this far!:)

[itsgrimeytime]

drunk on you (part three) || Rick Grimes (TWD) × gn!reader (no apocalypse!AU)

rick grimes taglist: @golden-hoax @mgparker

series taglist: @ryoujoking

Part 1, 2.

AVAILABLE ON AO3

Summary: You'd known Rick forever, as far back as freshman year. He was a guy you (if you were honest) had a crush on; there was just something in his stance and the low drawl of his voice. You'd say that feeling only got worse from there. Before you could blink, he was married and had a kid; and suddenly, despite your best efforts, you felt very out of place. You faded out of his life, and he yours. So when Rick shows up at your door (drunk out of his mind) about 5 years after the last time you spoke to him, you have a lot of questions.

TWs: excessive use of pet names, making out, vague reference to sex, shameless flirting, crying, vague reference to Lori's infidelity, and unresolved feelings.

[[A/N: Rick Grimes in this one is simply whipped. also not me going back on my wordddddd. I might make more, we'll see. Also whoever made this gif has my whole heart. Y'all ever just want to hold a man and tell him everythings okay??? That he's allowed to feel??? No, just me? Okay. Enjoy :))]]

"Rick," you pursed your lips, rubbing at a dish in your sink.

Currently, you are at home -on babysitting duty. About a month after the wedding, their honeymoon kick-started and Carl went to stay with his Dad and Judith (who you'd briefly met at the wedding) staying with Lori's mom.

However, she had an appointment today (or at least that's what she said), so your home was currently filled with two tiny children. Luckily, you weren't doing it alone.

"Rick," you repeated -peering over the counter to look at him.

He was looking at you in that kind of way that you recognized to be just... adoration. The smile on his face perked up, as he watched you do whatever you were doing; he wouldn't even look away for a second. It felt kind of like when he told you he loved you, and you couldn't breathe-

"Stop looking at me that."

"Like what?" Rick countered with a smile -you couldn't decide if you wanted to slap it off or kiss him senseless. Later.

You huffed out a breath, finally rinsing the dish, "You know what you're doing, Grimes."

He suddenly seemed to notice what you're doing, standing up from his seat, "Baby, let me do those, you 'ave done enough."

"That's really sweet, babe, and I would gladly accept it in different circumstances," you hummed, grabbing the next one (as well as debating whether to kill him because of the pet name), "-but you're on kid duty."

His eyes instinctively went to the kids, who to his credit were quietly reading (Carl) and passed out on the couch (Judith). There wasn't much to watch.

These kids were way too well-behaved, it was kind of scary-

"If you won't let me help ya," he was slowly stepping toward you, "-why don't you take a break for a little while? You're stressed out-"

"I am not stressed out," you snapped -directly proving his point.

Rick wasn't moved at all though by your 'intimidation', coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist. You sighed, instinctively leaning into him -breaths solid and mind stirring.

"I 'aven't seen ya like this since your last midterm," he commented -laughing lightly, slowly swaying the two of you in motion, "-what's goin' on in 'at pretty little head of yours?"

You let out a long breath, "I've really gotta finish these dishes, Rick."

"Finish 'em," he hummed, leaning down to put a featherlight kiss on your cheek, "-I'll be right 'ere, waitin'."

You did so, conveniently way less stressed. Every time your breath picked up and your moves started to become frantic, Rick would notice and pull you closer or kiss you on the temple. All the stress would promptly vanish out of your body.

He'd always been able to do that, even when you were kids, talk you down from ledges, 'relax, it's all goin' to be okay, I promise'. It was kind of weird the way you got him now, romantic, you'd never even dreamed of this. You wouldn't let yourself.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, darlin'?"

You laughed, finishing the last dish and putting it into the strainer, "How much young Y/N would lose their mind right now. With you."

Rick snickered, something delighted in his voice, "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," you affirmed, "-They would be..."

You fell silent, even now, all you'd sacrificed, all you'd shoved down still hurt. You had Rick now, but that didn't erase the years you didn't.

"...happy," you finished, a little desolately.

Rick slowly spun you around in his grip, blue eyes searching for yours, and when they found them, smiling -it shot warmth through your chest.

"I love you."

You smiled, hands awkwardly at your side -before frowning, "My hands are all soapy."

"Why does 'at matter?" He tilted his head, grin giving no signs of disappearing.

"I want to kiss you," you explained, "-but I can't do that with-"

"Well," he laughed, moving forward -pulling one hand off your waist and sliding it up to hold your face, "-I can."

Before you could let out a word, he sealed your lips together. Rick always kissed with a little passion, you'd noticed that -so you were a bit lucky that the sink was just behind your back. Otherwise, he would've blindly pushed you into a wall -which hurt last time.

He was slow as if he was trying to treasure you, show you that he loved you. It was less desperate this time, although you were very sure he'd been wanting to kiss you for at least an hour. It was just calming, grounding; the push of his lips, solid and body sturdy against your body.

You couldn't help it then, your hands went to his shoulders, supporting yourself.

And then, he brought out his tongue.

Now, the tongue was new, a lot of trouble -you were really glad he hadn't brought it out in the closet because that would have gone much differently. A little less romantic. More fun though, probably-

He urged open your mouth without hesitation (you were very simple, what can you say), tongue twirling around your own. Still slow, still languid, as if he was carefully wanting to know every little bit of you.

You pulled yourself away, the familiar heat flushing through your body, eyes blinking open to match his. He had the most mischievous little grin there, eyes staying solid on your lips.

Your heart stuttered in your chest.

"Rick," he pushed forward with a simple press of lips, your will was weak, "-we cannot do this right now."

He pushed forward again, more power this time, slowly pulling back, "Your son is in the next room."

"I'd like 'im to see a display of healthy affection," he hummed, still a breath away.

"Don't you think he gets enough of that from Shane and Lori?"

He smiled then, twinkly, "Who says 'ere's is healthy?"

You burst into laughter, as his lips found solace on all the surfaces of his face -the bags of your eyes, the curve of your nose, the corners of your lips, and your cheeks. His grin only got brighter as you laughed -like it was the only sound he'd ever wanted to hear in the world. Or maybe like it was his favorite.

"Okay, okay," you let out a breath, pushing him backward, "-if this keeps going you're going to-"

Your eyes faltered to your hands, and the wet stains on his shirt, "Shit."

"'S no big deal, baby," he hummed, pressing forward to kiss you -simply, "-'ll just get a new one from my drawer."

Right, another new thing, the drawer. Rick stayed over a lot now, and to be fair, you had an extra room (you were going to get a roommate at one point, but that never happened) where Carl could sleep. So, it just started functioning that way. Plus, Rick had a terrible habit of just showing up at your place otherwise. It was much better than that.

The thing was, every time he came over, he brought more of him. Everywhere you looked you could see a little Rick -the boots by the door, the coat on the rack, the extra blanket on the couch, and he'd even brought over some dishes once. That one you weren't sure why.

And it was fine, good even. It's just that you hadn't talked about it. At all.

He still had his place at home, close to Bonnie and the town where you grew up. And while the town was lovely, you had moved on. You just weren't sure that Rick had moved on too.

He'd told you that after getting shot on the job and put in a coma, the department had essentially retired him -out of concern. So, he got a monthly check. He was at your apartment all the time, and yet it seemed like he couldn't get enough of it. You were a little worried about him going stir-crazy in the city on top of everything else. Would it be a good idea for him to even move here?

Selfishly, you still really wanted him to.

It was another day, Saturday to be specific, you were sitting on the couch and Rick's head lay in your lap -mindlessly, you ran your fingers through his hair. It was getting longer now, curling, and he was growing out his stubble -you'd told him frankly that you like both very much.

He had only smiled (the tips of his ears growing pink) and said promptly, "Guess I'll keep doin' it then."

You were happy that you had such an influence, because he was always handsome, but there was something special about having your very own Rick. Not the one when you were kids, not the one from his marriage with Lori, yours. With a kiss of curly hair and stubble.

"You really like the hair, don't ya?" He mumbled out, half-focused because of the rhythmic motion of your hand. It was cute, he was cute.

You hummed, happily -staring down at him, "I love your curls."

He smiled a little, cheeks dusting pink -you absentmindedly let your other hand brush against them. He kissed your fingertips when he could.

"I don't understand why you never let it grow out when we were kids," you expressed, staring at the baby curls on the top of his head, "-It's so pretty."

"'S hardly pretty," he muttered out.

You frowned, moving your hands to cup his face, ever-so-slightly, "You are very pretty, Grimes. Probably the most beautiful person I've ever seen."

Rick fell quiet, something crossing over his face.

"And if anyone else says otherwise," you moved your hand back to his hair, "-I'll beat the shit out of them."

He choked out a laugh, a big smile radiating up at you -eyes with that look again, you could indulge in it this time, though, "Would ya?"

"Well, yeah," you laughed, "-I smacked Shane, didn't I?"

He suddenly sat up, scooting close to your side and facing you -something in his eyss monstrously delighted, "You smacked Shane?"

"Shit," you gulped -trying to think back, "-did I not tell you that?"

"When?" He urged, and he was nearly jumping in place.

"At his wedding," you clarified, before frowning, "-that really doesn't sound good, does it?"

Rick laughed, roaming closer to you, "You did 'at for lil' old me?"

"He had it coming," you retorted, "-plus, me and Bonnie talked about much worse-"

"God," he said suddenly, using both of his hands to cup your face -leaning forward to connect your foreheads, "-I love you."

"I love you too," you responded, laughing a little, "-Does me slapping Shane really do it for you or?"

He laughed again, a bright twinkle, before settling back, "Just can't remember the last time someone did somethin' for me."

You frowned.

"But, of course, you did," he hummed, looking at you in sheer wonder, "-I didn't even ask ya to do 'at."

"I would hope not," you quipped, and his grin grew brighter, "-and, even from a friend's perspective, the guy deserved it. Deserved his shoes stomped too, but you didn't let me leave your side-"

Rick grinned, pressing a short kiss onto your lips, "I was kinda followin' you around like a lost puppy all night, wasn't I?"

You shook your head, letting out a breath, "It's okay though, I didn't mind."

He smiled at you, all soft and sweet.

"Plus, I asked Bonnie to do it for me-"

He laughed loud, eyes hazy onto your features for a moment. At his staring, all you could do was smile and start to laugh, fluster bubbling up your face. His eyes only shined brighter then, and before you could react, he pushed you down onto the couch -lips coming to find yours as you both burst into laughter.

And maybe it got a little feverish, and maybe it got a little rushed. And maybe he picked you up and carried you off to the bedroom without so much as a stuttered step (all hooded eyes and bright smiles).

But that was between the two of you.

A few months later, it was a weeknight -you had just tumbled through the door off your work shift. You usually got out pretty early, but today had been a rough one. You hadn't been expecting Rick, he was (last you'd known) at his place. Had to go back every month at least once for his check, and he usually stayed for a little bit. The drive wasn't long, but it was long enough to want to be avoided.

So, when you brought yourself through the door, you were expecting an empty apartment. You were exhausted, didn't even want to eat -you just wanted to sleep.

Instead, you walked in with the lights on and some shifting in the kitchen.

"Rick?" You offered, slipping off your shoes and shuffling to the kitchen.

"There ya are," he hummed, spinning around to meet you -before his eyes rested solely on you.

He faltered, dropping whatever he had in his hands gently on the counter (you weren't paying attention) -hands coming to rest on your shoulders. They smoothed there for a second, before he nudged up your chin.

"Bad day?"

"I'm exhausted," you sighed, fully leaning into his hands.

He pursed his lips for a second, moving his hand up to cup your face, "Ya eaten today?"

"This morning," you answered -honestly.

Frowning, his other hand dragged his fingertips over your arm, "'Gotta take better care of yourself, baby. You know 'at."

"Yeah, yeah," you groaned, but not making any motion to move, "-I know."

"I'm serious," he leveled with you, eyes starkly matching yours.

"I know, Rick," you responded, "-I'm just too tired-"

"Ya need to eat," he reinforced, guiding you to the bedroom gently -carefully steps to gently bring you there.

"Then why are you-"

"Sleep," he hummed, hands solidly on your shoulders -pulling aside the blankets, "-I'll bring ya some food in a minute."

"Rick," you looked at him, "-I can-"

"Shush," he pushed you forward but you didn't move, "-baby, lay down."

"Really, I can, it's late, you should sleep-"

"'At's enough," he hummed gruffly, grabbing you by the waist and lugging you over his shoulder.

"Rick!" You nearly squealed.

"Ya weren't workin' with me," he huffed out -trying to hold back a laugh, "-gotta do 'at I 'ave to."

"Okay, okay," you laughed, "-I get your point. You can put me down-"

"Too late," he pulled you forward, gently cradling your head onto the bed, "-already 'ere."

You looked at him for a moment, blue eyes the only thing lit up in the room and something in you softened.

His hand remained under your head, and he was close enough to feel his breath -you mindlessly looked at him. Hands blindly reaching for his face, you pulled him to you -one solid kiss.

As you parted, you still held him there -whispering, softly, "Thank you."

Rick smiled, you could see it in the distant dusting of lighting. Brushing your hands up along his jaw, you found his hair -threading through it for a moment. He leaned forward that time, a simple press of lips.

You smiled.

"Okay," he hummed, gruff and maybe tired, "-I've gotta go make ya some food, darlin'."

You nodded, solidly, "I love you."

"Love ya too," he smiled, leaning forward to kiss your forehead, "-sleep. I'll be 'ere in a minute."

"Okay," you hummed, as he pulled the blanket up over you -slowly sinking into the bed.

Just a few minutes.

You don't know how long you were out with a fuzzy mind and warm dreams. Sleep was always better when you were just tired.

"Hey, baby," his voice echoed out, a little sing-songy. The first thing, other than his voice, you noticed was the gentle smell wafting through the air. You instinctively sniffed, mumbling out.

He hummed, pulling you up, "'S getcha up, okay? Need to eat somethin'."

You groaned but moved with him -pushing the pillows up behind your back. Rick was shifting with you, being the one to primarily move you.

"Pick a show," he hummed, putting the plate on your nightstand and rumbling up to the other side of the bed, "-Let's eat, and then we can sleep again, 'kay?"

You sighed out a breath, rubbing at your eyes, and pulling the plate onto your lap, "You know what I wanna watch, Grimes, you put it on."

"Grumpy, aren't ya?" he huffed with a grin -mindlessly grabbing the remote, and putting on your favorite show.

You hummed, and ate.

There wasn't much said then, the silent hum of the TV and the shuffle of eating filling the air.

Eventually you ended up here, curled into Rick's side with your head on his chest and his arm wrapped tightly around you -fingers massaging your scalp. Your arms wrapped around his chest -as close as you could possibly be. He laughed at you, trying to get as close as you possibly could, but didn't object at all. You would never imagine him to. In fact, he actually pulled you closer -arm wrapped around you solidly.

"I don't know what I would've done if you weren't here," you murmured, low and just under the hum of the TV.

"Not eaten," he replied, teasingly.

You turned to face him, putting your chin on his chest -he simply moved his fingers to the other side, "Rick, I'm serious."

"I know, baby," he hummed, curling his hand behind your ear and trailing down your jaw, "-I know. 'M glad to be 'ere, 'specially wit' you."

You rolled your eyes, "You're cliché, Grimes."

"'At's the way you like it, though," he smiled, brushing his fingertips down your back, "-and I do like keepin' ya happy."

You sighed, trailing a hand up to dance around his jaw, "Ugh, why can't I just keep you here forever?"

There was a silence then, as your fingers fluttered over his skin -ending up at the nape of his neck, digging into curls.

"I could," he said finally, "-be 'ere, there's an openin' on the floor below ya, I asked."

"Rick," you laughed, "-don't be ridiculous."

His face contoured into something a little defensive, "Why is 'at ridiculous-"

"Move in with me," you breathed out.

Rick froze, breath fluttering out of his chest -blue eyes still lazily strolling along your face.

"If you're going to be in the same city for me," you argued, "-why not just be with me?"

He smiled, that dazzling sort of one that just made your heart twist in your chest -always so in love. You still couldn't wrap your head around it.

Fingers still dancing along your back, he countered, "Ya know 'at means Carl too, don't you?"

"Of course, I-" you spoke -a little in disbelief, "-Rick, I know that you and Carl are a package deal. Your kid comes first, I get that."

"Are you sure you wanna-"

"Rick," you reiterated, sitting up fully now and facing him, "-I love you, like crazy. If you think that I don't love him too, you're insane."

"Not everyone's," he paused, and you realized then he had been thinking about this a lot, "-ready for a kid-"

"Rick," you stressed -holding his face to guide to yours, "-I may not be the greatest at... at kids. But I am willing to try, for you and Carl."

His eyes scanned over you, a bit in wonder, like he really couldn't imagine you sat in front of him, asking what you were asking.

"I just-" he started, "-I wanna make sure you're sure. It's a big deal, and... I don't wanna scare ya away."

Again hung through the air for a moment.

"You're stuck with me," you readjusted your hands -cupping his face, "-I got away once but now you are stuck with me, Grimes. And Carl is a part of you. That means I'm stuck with him too, okay?"

Rick pursed his lips, like he hadn't expected this and something in your heart sunk.

"I'm sorry I ever made you feel like I wouldn't accept Carl-"

"No, you never-" he sighed big and long, eyes dropping to his lap for a moment, he sniffled, "-I just..."

You tilted his face back up to meet yours, and your eyes took in the tears settled in his eyes, you waited for him to talk. Mindlessly, your thumbs rubbed them away -patient.

"I never thought I'd get this after Lori," he cried, soft and just for you to hear, "-I always thought with Carl, people would never-"

You shifted onto his lap, straddling, pulling his head forward into your shoulder -fingers threading into his curls. Your other hand wrapped around his back, rubbing small little circles in its stead.

He cried into your skin for a moment, just tears creeping out of somewhere they had long settled. You wondered how long he'd been holding onto this.

You frowned at the thought, turning your head to kiss his jaw quickly.

"I'm sorry," you muttered out.

Rick seemed to want to move up and say something but you kept him there -gently carding through his hair with your fingers. He didn't put up much of a fight.

"I'm sorry for what she did to you," you clarified, before pulling his face back in front of you, "-really, I am."

"I'm not-"

"I know you're past it, Rick," you hummed, hand smoothing down the side of his face, "-doesn't mean you ever got what you deserved, an apology."

He opened his mouth, but you kept going.

"Just because you adapted," you presented, "-doesn't mean it can't still hurt, Rick. I know it doesn't hurt because of Lori anymore-"

He stared at you wordlessly, like he was desperately trying to listen.

"-but it's okay if it hurts for different reasons," you explained, gently rubbing your fingertips along his jaw, "-Your trust was broken by someone you loved, it's okay to be scared that it might happen again."

Rick hummed for a moment, eyes darting all over your face -like he was trying to figure out what to say. You merely waited patiently, in silence.

"I... I'm scared. Not that you'll... I trust ya, I do. It's just-"

"Rick, baby, stop," you interrupted him, meeting his eyes again, "-you don't have to explain yourself to me."

"But you-"

"Rick," you laughed a little, hands coming to rest on his shoulders -his eyes stayed squarely on you, "-you experienced something and reacted to it. I'm not taking that personally, you were hurt and now you don't want to be hurt again."

He seemed a little stunned, unsure of his own words. You took it as a motion to keep talking.

"I can tell you that I won't hurt you again, and maybe you'll believe it," you offered, "-but because someone broke that trust, there is gonna be a part of your brain that doesn't-"

His fingers brushed against your face for a moment, like he was grounding himself -listening to the words you were saying.

"-and that's not your fault or mine," you clarified, effectively shushing him, "-and we're gonna do our best to fix it, okay?"

Rick stared at you, a little in awe.

"Together," you reiterated, before adding on -less confidently, "-if you want to."

He didn't say anything.

"And," you cleared your throat, suddenly a little flustered with his sole attention and the ever-growing silence, "-you don't have to move in if you're not ready, that's a... a given."

You snapped your mouth shut, eyes dancing along his face -trying to read anything on it. All you got was wonder, and disbelief.

"Uh," you laughed, nervously, "-Rick? Are you... okay?"

He seemed to blink then, eyes clear of their haze, "Shit, sorry, I..."

His tone faltered off again, eyes dashing over you like you weren't even real; he just seemed so shaken by everything. You weren't sure exactly what to do.

"Shit, again, I-" He started, swallowing, "-I mean, yes to all of it."

"You want to move in?"

"Yeah," he repeated like it was the most obvious answer in the world, "-yeah, I want... I want it all."

You raised an eyebrow, asking for clarification.

"I want your help," he spoke, hands trailing up to properly cup your cheek, "-I need your help, I wanna be better. I wanna think... better."

You hummed, raising a hand to come up on top of his -turning and pressing a kiss to his palm, "Okay."

There was a silence then, as he looked at you and you looked at him. It was like a shift, somehow your relationship ticked -like suddenly it wasn't just love but a relationship. Intertwined lives, and goals to better each other; it felt different and you wondered if it was still the same-

"I get the baby thin' now," Rick murmured out, fingers playing with the neck of your shirt.

You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to remember, "Did I call you baby?"

"Mhm," he confirmed, "-'s really... special to hear it. Feels nice."

"Wait, so," your fingers danced around his chest, "-what are you saying, baby?"

Rick grinned, something twinkling in his eye, "Really? You gonna do this now?"

"Oh, yeah, baby," you laughed.

He smiled, fingers brushing over your cheekbones -blue eyes languid over your figure, "'Sure ya wanna do 'at tonight?"

You paused, noting the exhaustion deep in your skin and the sleep-slur of his words.

"Okay," you decided, yawning and nuzzling into his chest, "-fine. Tomorrow."

Rick pulled you into his chest -brushing his fingers along your back, something telling in his voice but everything else so casual, "Whatever ya want, baby."

"Rick-"

Yep, you realized, still the exact same.

[shootfortherightreasons]

;; Something in me really really really wants to write a professionally angry rant about why losing Carl in the show is the worst possible thing that has ever and could ever happen no matter how long this show goes on for.

The question is, do I do it here or do I do it on my personal?

/ discord thinking emote

[justinewt]

Have Mercy - TWD Rewrite Chapter One

[TWD FANFICTION-MASTERLIST]

Next chapter

Summary: The Sanctuary. Anna couldn’t quite figure it if she really lived there freely or if she was kept prisoner. In any case, getting out wasn’t really an option. Her father would never allow it. She had to be kept safe. She got that but, she was not one to follow orders too closely. She was secretly waiting for the perfect opportunity that would allow her to escape.

Words: 6.9k

Warnings: Daddy issues ? (Does it scream daddy issues ? Maybe, idk you tell me. Never said I didn’t have daddy issues tho but maybe this whole fanfic is gonna scream daddy issues at some points lol), fugue, Carl being the pure ANGEL he is (gimme back my baby pls), angst, cursing, language, survival, mentions of death, nostalgic, worrying health and undernutrition, spoilers season 7 & season 8, little season 10 spoiler hidden somewhere (if you know you know eheh)

Sitting crossed-legs on her bed, Anna was staring at the books on the shelves against the wall of her room. A room she liked to think of as a cell lately. A golden cell. She sighed. She was bored and observed absently a fucking plant put on a dresser in front of her. She had no interest in it right now. Leaning towards the edge of her bed, she put her arm under and grabbed a worn-leather diary and opened it to the very first page. June 12th, 2008. Pretty much a couple years before all this happened. She missed the good old time, and although in a way everything seemed simpler now, it was just as much crap. It was the first notebook of a kind of series, where she jotted down everything that came into her head as long as she wanted to write it down. Since primary school, Anna had accumulated an awful lot of them. Since her mother had offered her her very first diary in 2008, when she was just about 9-year-old, the one she was holding in her hands, she had taken a liking to see the evolution of her way of thinking and seeing things, from this June 12th, 2008 to now.

Sometimes, when she would re-read her old diary like this one, she would realized over and over again how much of a spoiled brat she was. To her parents she was sweet, the perfect little girl and at school, with other children, she would be incredibly bossy. A fucking little pain in the ass. In fact, it wasn’t really her fault. She just wanted to show that she had a strong character, like her father and make the latter proud. It had always been about him. She had always wanted to be her daddy's little girl. Let him be proud of her. She sought everyone’s attention because her dad was giving her attention, and therefore she wanted to impress everyone else, to make them admire her, so that she would be able to shove them away whenever she wanted. That would give her power. Her father was an example to her, not especially a good one, but still her most important one. Anna realized it now. That the only ones she could never compete with were her parents. The only ones that she admired. The only ones she had once trusted. Despite what had become of her father after the death of her mother, she could never be able to say to herself that he was a monster. It was twisted but no matter what he would do and how he would behave, she could never ever hate him. She just couldn’t.

Suddenly, someone knocked on her bedroom’s door. While keeping the old diary in her hands, she turned her head in its direction. Dwight opened the door, holding a sandwich and a closed soda can into his hands.

“I prepared you a little snack. You hungry?” Anna smiled slightly while standing up from her bed. She put the diary on it and took the sandwich and the soda can, nodding. A snack would not be refused right now.

“Thanks, Dwight.” He smiled back at her before closing Anna's door as he left. Her stomach growled. She sat down on her bed, took one of her books from the shelves on the wall and started eating while reading it. After a moment, she found herself upside down on her bed, head towards the floor and tossed the empty soda can in the air, until she eventually didn't catch it in time, and it fell on her face. She winced as she slid on the floor. “Ugh, fuck.”

She straightened up and sat on the floor, staring at the can, thoughtful. It had been a while since Dwight had came to her room to bring her food. She looked at the window. It was almost night and the sky was darkening outside. Usually, not many people were still hanging around in the halls at this hour. She stood up, grabbed a black hoodie and put it on. Putting her leather jacket over it. She pulled the hood over her head, grabbed the empty can, and left her room. It was her little night-out time. She walked through a few mazes of corridors, as discreetly as possible, before finding THE specific door that interested her and which led to the fence of the camp. The fence where the Saviors' prisoners installed the dead that had come back to life. She put her hand on the doorknob. Luckily the door wasn't closed. She stepped out onto the front steps and sat there. The walkers hadn't seen her yet. Hidden in the dim light, out of their sight, she clutched the can in her hand and tossed it over the wire mesh fence. It fell to the other side with a hollow metallic noise and rolled to the ground.

She stayed there, watching the decomposed bodies stirred around, pulling on the chains which held them to the fence, in a metallic concert. She let herself be lulled by the unpleasant sound of their frantic groans. Whenever she came to see them, she couldn’t help but think of her mother when she turned. Her rolling milky eyes, her sick pale complexion, her mouth tinged with a cold blue, and her scalp, hairless from the chemo. This image of her, tied to the bed, a plastic bag around her head. This image of her haunted Anna. She was barely 11-year-old when it happened and she still thought about it. Every single fucking day. She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard a whistle coming from inside the building. A whistle she would easily recognize among a thousand, filtered through the door ajar. She was sitting there, still, listening to the door opening behind her. Anna knew who it was. It was obvious.

“Not sleeping, huh ?” She shook her head negatively, continuing to stare at the dead. He crouched down to her left and sighed lightly. “Anna, I don't care if you come and spend time here. You can do whatever the fuck you want. But at night, uh-uh, not the best time.”

“When is it the best time then?” She breathed out, not looking at him. He knew she wasn't talking about coming here in the middle of the night anymore. He knew that she had just radically changed the subject in a single sentence. His expression grew more serious, and he took a slight breath. He stood up, spinning Lucille, vertically against the floor.

“This is no longer the time.” He motioned for her to get up. She did so and stood up before following him inside, her hands tucked into the belly pocket of her hoodie, the hood still on her head. “Your hood.”

“What my hood ?”

“Take off your hood.” She couldn't help but giggle. The big bad Negan, able to pop anyone's head without batting an eyelid, asked her to lower her hood. The world might have become a complete mess, but one had to believe that parental responsibilities remained unchanged, and annoying. She shrugged.

“It’s just a hood, dad.”

“And I’m just your father. Take that off, unless it rains inside.” She lowered her hood and bowed a little, plastering a fake smile on her lips. He was standing in front of Anna, leaning back slightly casually, Lucille in his right hand, resting on his shoulder. Now that image of him was the one everyone had and he had become the one everyone feared, respected or admired, or all three, depending on your point of view. “You better get to bed now, Anna.”

“Yeah, right. Night.” He watched her walk into her room before turning around and walk to his. Once she closed the door, Anna didn't waste time. She walked over to her bed, sat down on her knees and pulled a black backpack out from under the metal box spring. She opened it and looked inside. There were a few clothes, two books, a flashlight, and various other items scattered around inside, like a knife. She had had this backpack long before they were quietly housed at the Sanctuary. As she opened her mouth to talk to herself, she let out a yawn instead. “I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”

She closed the zipper and slid the backpack under her bed. Standing up, she let herself crash heavily on the mattress and rolled on her back. She reached over to the calendar that hung on the wall her bed was against, and draw a new line on it with a pen. This allowed her to keep the notion of time, of the years passing by. It had been almost six years already. So Anna was aabout to turn 18 in a few months now. Time was passing so quickly and so slowly at the same time. It felt awful. She then put the pen down and fell asleep, without even turning off her bedside lamp. Anna slept peacefully. It was a dreamless night. For once, it hadn't been marred by nightmares like it used to. She woke up quietly, rubbing her eyes with her fingers, surprised not to see the light on. She took a few seconds to stretch and yawned while standing up. She took off her clothes from the night before, tossed them into a corner of her bedroom, and walked over to her dresser, just wearing her underwear. She opened a drawer and put on clean clothes before tying her blond hair back into a loose ponytail. She took a box of chewing gum that was lying on a shelf, took one out and left her room. Chewing casually, she walked over to the main room and walked along the railing, watching the workers below out of the corner of her eye. She went down the stairs leading to their level and zigzagged between them, stealing a few things in the process.

The morning was already underway as she walked up the stairs, biting into an apple freshly stolen from a stall. She was surprised to see her father arrive alongside a boy around her age. She frowned. She had no idea who he was but his eye patch and hat caught her attention. Anna looked at her father holding Lucille out to the teenager and then, as he turned his head towards her, Anna acted like she wasn't coming their way and turned around to go back downstairs.

“Anna, come and greet our guest.” He smirked, and then Anna was forced to walk over to them, biting into her apple again. Without answering her father she looked at the way the boy was holding Lucille.

“Don't you know how to hold a bat or what? No, I mean, there are ways to hold Lucille.” She spat out.

“Carl, carl, carl. This is my daughter, Annabelle.” He looked at Carl's hand which was holding Lucille, then clicked his tongue several times in annoyance, shaking his head. “It's true, look how you treat Lucille. Show some goddamn respect, kid.”

He suddenly put his left hand on one of Carl's shoulders, laughing lightly. He showed the boy the workers below and banged on the railing. Everyone looked up at them and instantly knelt down. Her father smiled proudly while Carl stared in front of him with discomfort. After a little while, her father resumed left, almost dragging Carl with him. The latter brushed past Anna as he approached the stairs. She gave him a sidelong glance before throwing the core of her apple over the railing and returning to the halls of the building. While doing so, she quietly followed her father and Carl. They were going to an upstairs bedroom. She tried to listen to snatches of their conversation before turning around when she saw a Savior arriving and walking towards the bedroom. On the way back, she passed Sherry coming out of the hallway leading to Daryl's cell. She looked worried and didn't pay any attention to Anna, which was odd and unusual. She liked Anna, despite not liking her father at all. Sherry understood Anna was still just a kid and didn’t blame her for things she had nothing to do with. She hadn't seen her even though the teenage girl was literally standing in the middle of the hallway. Anna raised an eyebrow, wondering what she had been doing there and why she looked so anxious.

Engine sounds coming from outside brought Anna back to earth. She turned to the window at the end of the hall and her eyes widened. Her father and other saviors were leaving the Sanctuary at this very moment, probably heading back to Alexandria. In a rush of adrenaline, she ran to her bedroom. She changed her clothes quickly and grabbed her bag from under her bed. She wasn't wearing the most adequate outfit to escape, so she had to be quick. Anna put on the black sweatshirt from the day before, her leather jacket over it, opaque black pantyhose under a pair of torn dark jeans and black lace-up boots. She opened her bag to check its contents. There was, of course, the gun that she had stolen in the armory, a knife that belonged to her father, a blanket, a little food and ammunition that she had once again stolen and for which another Savior had taken the blame. She sighed and left her room as she passed the handle of her backpack over her shoulder.

When she entered the hallway where Daryl's cell was located, she saw that the door was ajar. She froze. Not knowing what to do, she quickly hid behind a wall and waited to see what was going to happen. After a long minute, Daryl opened the door fully, glanced down the hall, and slipped away. Anna came out of hiding and followed him silently, putting the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. She saw him enter a room and didn't immediately understand why, but when she saw two Saviors coming from the opposite direction, she looked around and in the rush, entered the same room as Daryl. All of a sudden, she felt someone put their hand over her mouth, and it took a second before she realized that it was Daryl. She moaned in surprise but her voice was muffled by his hand.

“If you scream, I kill you.” His voice was cold and firm. There was no room for arguing with him. She nodded slowly, and he released her. She caught her breath before looking at where they were. They were in Dwight's room.

“We're in Dwight's room, I don't think you'll find anything for you here-” He ignored her and searched the room. He knocked over a table, and when he realized she was still there he glared at her, giving her a death stare. She raised her hands in defence. “I want to get out too.”

“You’re not coming with me.” She clenched her fist, while refraining from raising her voice. She didn’t quite like him and he didn’t quite like her either.

“I didn’t plan on coming with you. But if you want to get the hell out of here too, you should hurry up before my father comes back.” She looked around her and saw loose clothes. Anna grabbed them and threw them at Daryl in a rush. It didn't take him too long to change as she peeked down the hall. Once changed, he moved closer to the door.

“If you're Negan's kid... why do you want to get out of here?” There was genuine curiosity in his voice. More because he was suspicious of her than because he was actually interested.

“None of your damn business. Come on, let’s move.” Anna walked out into the hallway and led Daryl to the back door, leading to where the motorcycles were parked. He walked past her. When they stepped outside she looked up and saw him aim a gun at Big Joey. The latter saw me and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Daryl shot him dead. Footsteps were heard on their left and a man with shoulder-length hair, wearing a black beanie and a long leather coat arrived in front of them.

“Daryl, we have to go.” He looked first at Daryl then at Anna when he saw her. “Who’s that ? You let her follow you ?”

“Don't be stupid, Jesus. Alright, let’s go.” Noises came from the building behind them. The two men didn't lose any more time and exited through the small back gate. Anna imitated them. Her father hadn't come home yet, and she had hopes that she could finally get out. Once outside, she ran as fast as she could to get away from the Sanctuary, even if it meant going deeper into the forest. She wanted to survive at all costs, without being trapped in a fucking ivory tower.

Anna ran for over an hour before she had to stop, totally out of breath and lost. She leaned against a tree, her hands resting on her knees, catching her breath. She breathed out and let herself cry, in the middle of this forest. In the midst of the dead. She was crying because she had just achieved something she had been planning for so long. She dropped to the ground. She was crying because she wanted to see her father again, but not the one she had left behind today. It took her a moment to fully calm down. She took a deep breath and resumed walking through the woods, hoping to find shelter while pulling out the knife she had inside her bag, just in case. She had had to kill some walkers before she hit the road again, but there was nothing she needed to worry about. Everything went fine. All she hoped for now was to never cross paths with the Saviors.

For the rest of the day, she just walked along the road. The air cooled as the sun went down and chills were rising all over her skin. As she stood a few yards from the wreckage of a car left by the side of the road, she froze when she began to hear a multitude of low groans in the distance. She looked around and realized that a horde was coming. She panicked and bent down, pressing herself against the body of the car so as not to be seen. She reached out for the handle and tried to open the car door, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt it open without any resistance. Anna slipped into the car as discreetly as possible and lodged under the glove box after closing the door. She pulled out the blanket she had put in her bag and put it on top of her to hide and prepared to wait for the horde to pass their way. She closed her eyes, convincing herself that everything was going to be just fine.

Each following day, Anna would add a line in the notebook she had taken with her and as the time passed, the page was filling up. On another hand, she was getting more and more tired. She was sleeping badly. On top of that, the most important, she was struggling to find food and drink and was using up her meager rations. After two and a half weeks, exactly 18 lines on her notebook, she managed to find an abandoned house. After making sure that there were no living dead inside, she entered. Upstairs there was a bathroom. The mirror was cracked and covered with a thick layer of dust. She ran her hand several times to get as much dust out of it as possible and after a moment, she could finally see herself a little more clearly. She approached the mirror, staring at her reflection and gently ran her hands over her face. She already had a pretty fair skin, but now her skin seemed much paler than usual. Dark circles were growing slightly under her eyes, and although it could have been worse, her face was a bit thinner. She already had a thin face and hollow cheeks naturally, so the lack of food was even more evident on her. She no longer had just hollow cheeks, but downright emaciated. She looked at her hair. A week ago, she had styled it into a braid, as tight as possible, so as not to be bothered by it, but the more time went on, the dirtier she felt. The last shower she had taken was already two weeks ago.

She rummaged through the bathroom, the bedrooms, and the remains of the rooms in this house, with the sole aim of finding a little something to eat. She had almost used up everything she had taken for food, and she had barely enough water left to rinse her face and hair and take a couple more sips. She also found a pair of broken cisors in a furniture. After rinsing her face, she undid her braid. Her light-coloured hair was greasy and dirty. She took the scissors and tried to cut her hair as straight as possible. She obtained a rather satisfactory trim, in view of the circumstances and the material available, and then, rinsed her hair. The feel of the water on her scalp did her more than good. She settled in the living room and after spending the night in the house, she left the place the next morning. Anna no longer felt afraid of the outside. She killed walkers with ease and only used her gun a few times, mostly using her knife. After another week, she reached a gas station. She smirked slightly, hoping that maybe she could find something there. She didn't really care who she crossed paths with anymore, all she wanted was food.

As soon as she got there, she entered the station to search the premises. She found the shelves emptied or littered with various leftover packages. She sighed and was alerted by noises from outside. She clearly heard voices, but she didn't know who was outside, or how many there were for that matter. She looked around, picked up her backpack from the floor and walked out the back door, clutching her gun in her hand. She zigzagged between the cars parked in front of the station and saw a man entering. She bit her lips. If she had stayed a little longer inside, the man would have seen her, and maybe even attacked her. However, she hadn't heard just one voice and knew that there was still at least one more person outside, somewhere not far from her. And that's when she saw it. This hat. She recognized it as soon as she saw it. It was the hat Carl wore when he visited the Sanctuary almost a month earlier.

Stealthily, she reached him. Coming up behind him, she pointed her gun in his direction. He felt her presence as he stopped moving. Anna didn't know if he would recognize her. He had only seen her once and at the time she was in great shape, clean and well-dressed. She was confident and arrogant. Now she was much more bony, pale and exhausted. She was no more than a shadow of herself. On edge.

“Put down your gun.” He did so, slowly. He was far too docile for her liking and she understood why when she heard the click of a gun near her ear. The man who had entered the station had visibly come out.

“Put down your gun, right now.” It took a few seconds before turning back to him, who for his part had never seen Anna before. He repeated himself, his brow furrowed. She sighed and bent down to put her weapon on the ground. When she stood up, he slid her bag down her arm, forcing her to turn around. “Who are you ?”

Her first instinct was to want to say “I'm Negan” but if she thought twice about it, that might not have been the smartest decision. Not many persons would spare anyone saying that. She had always assumed the Saviors had many enemies. She looked away, holding her back bag in her hands before looking at the man again. Carl had retrieved his gun and was looking straight at her.

“I-” Carl cut her off.

“I know who she is, dad.” The man turned his head towards him for a moment, still watching Anna out of the corner of his eye.

“How could you know who she is ?”

“I had a hard time recognizing her, but I know where I've seen her before.” He marked a pause. “At the Sanctuary.”

“Who are you ?” Carl’s father ignored my question.

“What were you doing there ?” She rolled her eyes.

“Do I need a reason to be anywhere?”

“If you were there, it is because you are part of the Saviors and no one leaves this place. So why are you out here, alone, huh ?” Anna tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear. Carl's father, whose name she still didn't know, kept staring at her suspiciously. She sighed.

“I left the Sanctuary, at the same time than someone from Alexandria. Uh, Daryl, I think.”

“Annabelle,” She looked at Carl when she heard him call her by her full name. “What happened to you ?”

“I've been outside for 25 days, it's more and more difficult to find food and I almost died two or three times, but it's fine.” Carl looked at his father. Anna glanced aside, before anyone spoke to her again.

“Dad, we can’t leave her here.” The latter then laid his gaze on her. He only half believed her and must have found her very arrogant given the position she had apparently found herself in during the previous weeks. Anna was still, pleasantly surprised at the kindness that Carl seemed to be capable of, without even really knowing her. It seemed that he didn't give too much importance to first impressions.

“What's your connection to Negan?” Carl’s father asked.

“He’s my dad.” He froze for a few seconds before looking at Carl again, shaking his head slightly.

“If Negan wants to find her, he will find her. We have bigger concerns right now. Come on.” Carl faced his father, wanting to try to convince him to help her. Anna was more than grateful to him, she really needed a shower and something to eat.

“Dad, we can’t leave her here.” He insisted. “We’re not talking about anyone.”

“That’s right, Carl. We’re talking about Negan’s daughter.” He shook his head again. While he was talking to his son, Anna had an idea. “I'm not going to take the risk of endangering everyone by bringing her back with us.”

“Wait, I could be your bargaining chip.” Anna started to feel desperate. “Please, I really need to take a shower and eat something else than beef jerky.” He looked up at her, but he didn't seem to really look at her and as he didn't respond, Anna was slightly destabilized, waiting for him to say or do something. He put his gun away and pulled out a knife from his belt. She watched him without moving, not knowing what he was planning to do with it until she heard a rattle not far behind her and saw Carl's dad come around her to stab its skull in the utmost calm, as if it were nothing.

“Alright. Let's not hang around any longer, you never know who else you might bump into.” His remark was not trivial. It was directed to Anna, to make her understand that even if he agreed to take her with them, it was more reluctantly than anything else. Anna followed them to a car.

“So, you, who are you ?” Before getting in, she looked at Carl’s father.

“Rick Grimes. Now, get in.” He walked around the car to get to the driver's seat. She sat on the backseat, keeping her backpack against her during the whole ride. They didn't have tied her hands or blindfolded her. They really had to be in a crisis. She looked at Rick as he drove. So that was him that she sometimes heard her father talk about. Rick Grimes. She had never met him before, but she obviously knew the name.

When they got to Alexandria, Anna felt everyone's gaze falling on her. Some Alexandrians closed the gate behind them as Rick pulled the car over. She watched Carl and his father walk out before seeing Rick approach her door. He opened it and grabbed her arm firmly so that she came out while keeping her under control. She put the handle of her bag back over one of her shoulders as she stepped out. Not caring about the questioning looks on them, he accompanied her to a house, followed by Carl. Daryl didn’t look like he was there otherwise Anna could be sure he wouldn’t have been pleased to see her here. Rick opened the front door and finally let go off her arm.

“The bathroom is upstairs, you can go take a shower. I'll go get some clothes for you, and then you will follow me somewhere. I don't want to keep you free, wandering around, for now.” He walked out of the house as Carl walked into the kitchen to take a quick look at the contents of the cupboards.

“I'll get something for you to eat. Go take a shower. You are safe here.” She smiled briefly at him as she went upstairs, keeping her bag with her. Anna opened the bathroom door and put it next to it. She took off her jacket and top, letting them fall to the floor. Suddenly, she heard the door open behind me, and she whirled around.

“My father brought you the clothes,” He froze and turned his head, handing her clothes. “Sorry.”

Anna smiled, holding back from laughing, he had almost instantly turned peony red when he saw her from behind. Luckily he hadn't seen me her from the front, he hadn't seen the beautiful prominent ribs. She still had to face him to retrieve the clothes he handed her but she didn’t care, she was wearing a bra. He looked back at her and a glimmer of concern passed in his left eye.

“Anna-”

“I’m fine, Carl.”

He looked her in the eyes before looking down, nodding, and leaving her alone in the bathroom. She put the clean clothes on the edge of the sink, finishing undressing before taking a good shower. She let the hot water run over her skin. She shivered slightly and for a moment she no longer felt tired or hungry. She genuinely felt good. She took her time, washing her body, rubbing her scalp almost raw to be sure to remove all the grime. Chills ran all over her skin as she stepped out of the shower. She put on her underwear and the clothes that Carl had given her earlier. It was just a simple black tank top, a checkered shirt and plain jeans, but the feeling of the fresh fabrics caressing her clean skin was a nicer feeling than she expected it to be. She stuffed her leather jacket into her bag, put on her black boots and walked out of the bathroom, holding her backpack by the handle. Anna walked downstairs. Rick was standing next to a woman with hair styled in thick brown dreadlocks who stared at her. Rick came up to her.

“Give me all the weapons you have in your bag.” Anna opened her bag and handed her gun and knife to him. He retrieved the weapons one after the other and when he took the handle of the knife in his hand, his gaze fell on something engraved on it. He shifted his thumb. Negan S. was the something engraved on the knife’s handle. He quickly looked up at Anna after seeing it and kept his gaze on her while handing the gun to the woman. She took it. “We’ll keep this.”

“What about my knife ? Can I have it back ?”

“I’m gonna keep it, better not for the owner to found it here. Alright, follow me, Anna.” He wasn’t as threatening as back at the gas station. Anna didn’t argue and followed him. They went onto the street, walked past a couple of other houses and made their way to a black gate that opened onto an outside staircase leading to a basement. As Rick motioned for Anna to come down first, she saw a figure approaching them quickly. She turned her head and recognized Daryl.

“First Dwight and now Negan's kid?” He sounded pretty pissed off. He stopped in front of Rick, giving Anna a look. She frowned.

“I got a name, dickhead.” Rick glanced at her but didn’t even comment.

“Yeah,” Daryl mumbled. “Who gives a shit.”

“Daryl, we’re gonna keep her here.” He pointed to the door at the bottom of the stairs. “As a bargaining chip, just in case.”

“Yeah, but watch out kid, if anything happens because of you, I'll kill you.” He gave Anna a death stare but she just looked bored by his demeanour. Daryl walked away and Rick gave Anna a slight push to get down the stairs. He then opened the door to the basement and let her inside. He left the door open behind them, pulling out a key to unlock a cell and motioned for her to get inside.

“We'll get you something to eat in a little while, until then, keep quiet.” Rick then walked out of the basement and closed the door behind him, plunging the girl into the silence.

She looked around slowly. It was a simple room, not very large, with stone walls. On the floor behind her was a thin mattress, a blanket and a rectangle flattened pillow. Light filtered through a skylight at the top of the wall to her left. She sank onto the mattress with a sigh, pulling her bag closer to her. There was not much left inside it now that she had had to give her weapons to Rick and get rid of her old clothes. There remained her jacket, her notebook, a few crumpled sheets of paper, her blanket and an empty tin can as well as a crushed water bottle. Anna took out the tin can and the bottle, taking up space in her bag for nothing. She threw them in a corner of the cell. She took out her notebook and leafed through it until she came to the page that contained all the lines she had drawn. She searched her bag for her pencil, but its lead was broken. With a sigh, she grabbed her bag and threw it against the cell door in front of her.

Anna tilted her head and grabbed her pendant in her hands. She opened the chain clasp, and placed the necklace in the palm of her right hand, opening the pendant. Inside were two photos, on each side. On the left side, there was a photo of her parents at their wedding. A small baby bump started to loom under her mother’s dress and a bright smile extended the corners of her pink lips. My father stood to her right, dressed in a black and white suit. It was a change from the leather jacket he was constantly wearing nowadays. Anna's gaze fell on her father's face, who was smiling. He had nothing to do with today's Negan. He didn't look so threatening, and yet he was already a hot-tempered man back then. In the photo, he looked so harmless and calm. She looked at the other photo, on the right side. On the latter, Anna was already 6 years old. Her father was carrying her on his shoulders. She let out a sad chuckle. She remembered that day. She was playing in the garden and after getting tired of doing so, wanted to catch a fruit that was hanging from the apple tree. Unsuccessful, her parents got out of the house and her father, who is a very tall man, had taken her on his shoulders so that she could reach the branches of the tree. Her mother wasn’t in the picture because she was the one taking it.

An involuntary tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it off with the back of her hand. Anna knew that the trigger, the thing that had completely changed him, was her mother's death. And she knew she was more important to him than anyone, that her life was worth a thousand times that of one of his lieutenants. If she died, the last spark of goodness and humanity that were still somewhere in her father would die with her. He would become a real monster, worse than now. The teenager was feeling bad for leaving the Sanctuary overnight, but she wanted to try and help the other survivors. She wanted to try to change her father. She wanted to find the father she could see in these photos inside her necklace. She jumped slightly at the sound of the basement door opening and reflexively closed the pendant of her necklace. She looked up and saw Carl standing there.

“I thought you might be bored, staying here all alone, so, I brought you these.” She put her necklace back around her neck as she stood up and walked over to Carl to grab what he was holding out to her. He held two comics in his hands, and passed them through one of the spaces in the cell grid. She smiled at him as she took them.

“Thanks. That’s nice of you.” She looked at the comics' cover pages then looked up at Carl. “I had similar ones at the Sanctuary.”

“Really ?”

“Yeah. Dwight used to bring me comics whenever he would find some.” A sad smile spread across her face and then Daryl's words, mentionning Dwight, came back to her mind. “Dwight came here ?”

“Uh, yes. He was among the ones who came with Negan to collect stuff.”

“No, I know. I mean… did he already come here ?” Anna gestured to the cell she was in. He nodded, following her hand with his gaze.

“Oh, I see. Yes, he ended up here not too long ago, actually. He had given us information about the Saviors”

“What for ?”

“To help us defeat the Saviors, and therefore your dad.” She didn't seem surprised. She knew that some people wanted him dead. It was hardly something surprising. He opened his mouth to pursue. “We're going to assault the Sanctuary soon. We've already made a plan and collected enough guns.”

“When is the assault planned ?”

“Tomorrow.” Anna looked away for a second, then returned her gaze to Carl. She opened her mouth to speak in turn, but was cut off by the sound of the door opening again. Rick appeared in the basement.

“Carl, what are you doing here ?” He looked at her and the comics she was holding in her hands. They answered his question on their own. “Can you leave us, please ?”

Carl nodded slightly, giving Anna a look before stepping outside. Rick opened the cell gate and stood in front of her, a hand resting on the weapon at his belt. She saw the handle of her knife, also at his belt, but slightly hidden by the shirt Rick was wearing.

“We're going to storm the Sanctuary. You better get as much sleep as you can tonight, because I'm taking you with us.” She had a blank face, but her eyes had widened slightly. She had run away from the Sanctuary, and she felt oddly happy to be able to return there. Rick turned and stretched his arm out to the side, as if to grab something. He then handed Anna a plate. “Eat and rest. Everything will happen very quickly tomorrow.”

She took the plate and looked at the food. As Rick closed the cell again and walked away, she didn't hesitate to sit down on the thin mattress and devour her meal. It wasn't much, but she felt full afterwards. She hadn't eaten a real meal for several weeks. She stayed there, sitting and yawning for long minutes before finally falling asleep. She was awakened in the middlef of the night, by the sound of something falling to the floor. She straightened up with a start and narrowed her eyes, looking around to see where the noise was coming from.

Looking up, she saw the small window overlooking the street, ajar. Anna stood up, wondering why she was open, and stepped forward until her foot stumbled against something that went off and hit the wall. There was a metallic sound that echoed through the whole room. She winced, fearing she had made way too much noise, but it was actually fine. The moonlight shone a blade and Anna gasped quietly, rushing to take the object in her hands. It was her knife. Her father’s knife. She ran her fingers over the engraving of her father's name on the handle before retrieving her bag, still in a corner of the cell after she had thrown it there a few hours before, and shoved it inside. She was willing to bet that Carl had something to do with this. She glanced outside. It was calm. Everyone must have been still sleeping. She hit the skylight shut and went back to bed.

[To be continued...]  

Next Chapter

Published (05/09/2021) by Andrea

Fanfic dedicated to @cathrin2405

[fanficimagery]

Take on the World; pt. 2

@browneyes528​ said: Hi I loved your Walking Dead fic "take on the world". May I please request a part 2 for "take on the world". I think it will be great to see them get together. I'm a huge Walking Dead fan.

Words: 8K Warnings:  Typical TWD violence, just not as detailed. Also in this AU, I will not be mentioning Negan and his bunch, but the Wolves are a threat.  On a personal note, I was writing this during my "break". Bits and pieces of it were flowing easily, but then I had to force myself to finish it when something terrible happened in my personal life so I'm sorry for the abrupt ending and the blah-ness of it. Tags: @kingtwhiddleston​

Settling in at Alexandria was more work than you anticipated.

You had kept your word to Maggie, going on to have a conversation with Deanna and her husband about your strengths and what you could bring to the table. She wasn't too keen on the idea of you teaching anyone how to fight, but her husband was quick to have her sleep on it before totally turning the idea down. After all, if an unsavory bunch found Alexandria and decided to take it by force, it would be a great deal of help to have any able-bodied person help defend their home besides just Rick and Michonne who had been appointed Constables of the town.

You were eventually given the go ahead to teach whoever wanted to learn to defend themselves from the living and the dead, so long as Deanna or her husband could oversee for the first few weeks. You didn't mind, especially when it was her husband because all he did was write in a notebook of his while occasionally shouting out words of encouragement.

Everyone seemed to settle in fine, with the exception of Daryl who didn't like being confined. You understood his point of view perfectly well, but even he couldn't be a grump for too long. Not when he saw how happy it made Rick to have his children safe for once and when one of the locals had a motorcycle just sitting in their garage that they let Daryl work on so he had something to ride.

The Alexandrians slowly came to terms that the authority inside the town was being spread to more than just Deanna and her husband, and only a few had problems with that- namely Deanna's sons who got away with mostly everything. But then her eldest son died when out on a mission with Glenn and some others, and another local thought Rick was trying to make a move on his wife Jesse. However, the turning event was the unfortunate death of Deanna's husband at the hand of Jesse's own husband when in a scuffle with Rick, and Deanna had no problem letting Rick take charge. Deanna went on to take Maggie in as her second and gave Rick free reign of how he wanted to run things so long as he told her before any big changes.

Everything seemed to be going good for a while, conflicts being worked out when the tension was on the verge of exploding into a brawl and the locals finally putting their trust in the way the Constables and Deanna were running Alexandria. There were still a few conflicts that lingered, mostly between the teenagers, but everyone seemed to brush it off as teen angst that would eventually resolve itself.

It was easy to fall into a routine once you were comfortable, it being easier that you weren't totally trapped inside the walls and were allowed to keep the woods clear around the town. But it was inevitable that something would come up, making those in charge wonder if their little haven was actually safe, and that something came in the form of the walking dead with 'W's carved into their foreheads.

          - - - - - - - - - -

A sound startles you awake and it takes you a moment to realize what it actually is when it happens again. Someone's knocking on your bedroom door. So rapidly kicking your legs to disentangle the sheet from them, you slide out of bed and stumble towards the door. Opening it, you're surprised to find a sleepy Carl standing there with a fussy Judith.

"Hey, Y/N," he yawns. "Sorry to wake you up, but Judith isn't going back down like she normally does. Do you mind taking her for a bit?"

"Not at all." Taking Judith from his arms, you yawn around a smile that's directed at Carl who tiredly rubs at his eyes before turning to go back to the room he shared with his baby sister. Then feeling the baby shift in your arms, you turn your attention to her before shutting your door once more and gently bouncing her in your arms as you walk to bed. "What's wrong, huh? You feel like playing instead of sleeping like a normal human being?" Judith coos and you can't help but melt no matter what time it is. And speaking of time, you glance at the clock on your bedside table and quietly groan when you notice it's only after three in the morning.

Sitting on your bed, you pull one of your pillows forward and set it down in the middle of your mattress before laying Judith down. She coos some more, giggling when you tug on her little toes. "Yeah, yeah, kid. Get it all out while you can."

You play with Judith for a while, tickling her around her thighs and waist. As she laughs, you make faces at her and grin when she finds amusement in it. But when you grab the edge of your sheet and run it gently over her face, you're surprised to see her eyes close and then take longer and longer to reopen. Sensing victory, you scoop her back up and place the pillow she'd been laying on a little closer to your own pillow. The pillow supports her back while you curl around her, continuing to run the edge of the sheet against her face until she finally drifts off. You even hum Somewhere Over the Rainbow, drifting off to sleep yourself when Judith doesn't reawaken.

Since the whole world went topsy-turvy, you've become a light sleeper since you had to keep a lookout for the dead. So even though you're in a dead sleep, you can still feel when there's a presence hovering over you. Reaching out with speed you didn't even know you possessed, you latch onto someone's wrist as they're reaching for Judith.

"Hey. Shh. It's fine." The familiar timbre of Rick's voice makes you exhale quietly, your grip on him relaxing until you let him go.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. Got up to check on Judith and she was gone. She cry and wake you up?"

"Hmm. No. She was keeping Carl up so he brought her in."

He huffs. "M'sorry about that. Here, let me take her."

Again you reach out, this time shoving his arm away. "Don't you dare, Grimes." From the corner of your eye, you catch sight of your glowing clock and bite back a whine. It was now only after five in the morning. "She hasn't been asleep long. She's fine here." With the faint light coming in from your window, you tiredly grin. "If you want the comfort of your daughter being nearby, climb in on the other side. But do not wake her or I will never forgive you."

Rick quietly chuckles. "You sure?"

"Mhm. Get in bed, Rick. I don't care what anyone thinks. At least I'm not in your lap this time."

He sighs longingly. "And what a damn shame that is."

You snort, Judith jerks in her sleep, and you immediately curl around her once more. There was just something babies loved about being cuddled and you had no problem sparing a few for the little girl if it meant she fell back to sleep. As Rick settles in on the other side, carefully removing the pillow under Judith's back so he could get as close as possible, you glare at him while mumbling, "I hate you."

"Sure, sweetheart. Now get some sleep. We're patrolling tomorrow. Daryl's got something to show us."

Falling asleep, curled around Judith and legs nearly tangled with Rick's, comes far too easy for you. But rather than thinking about it and wondering what Rick could possibly be thinking as well, you exhale softly and let Rick's breathing lull you to sleep.

The next time you're woken up is because you're punched in the chest. It doesn't hurt, it's a faint little hit, but it does startle you into consciousness. When your eyes fly open it's to see Judith wiggling around and happily punching out randomly.

"She got you too, huh?" Rick sleepily mumbles. "I got hit on the mouth."

You giggle softly and reach out to tickle Judith beneath her chin before turning onto your back with a sigh. Groaning softly, you stretch and ask, "What time is it?"

"Time to get up. You go ahead and take the first shower."

"Yes, sir."

In the early morning daylight hours, as you sit up and turn so your feet touch the floor you're more aware of what you're wearing. Or rather what you're not wearing. Shorts. You're not wearing any shorts and you can't believe you actually slept in the same bed as Rick with only a t-shirt and underwear on.

You try not to let on how flustered you suddenly are when you stand and then immediately tug your shirt down as if that'll help you feel less flustered. Thankfully Rick doesn't mention anything and you try not to make it seem like you're rushing as you go to the closet and put together an outfit from everything you've stuffed in there.

With your outfit in hand, you head towards your bedroom door and open it. You nearly yelp, gasping instead as you curse beneath your breath. Daryl stands there, hand poised to knock. He stares at you before his gaze drifts over your shoulder and his eyebrows raise in surprise as he grins. "Well I was gonna ask if you'd seen Rick, but nevermind. Found him."

"Don't be a smug prick. All we did was sleep."

He shrugs. "Not my business, but if this continues does that mean I can move into Rick's room since he'll be sleeping in here?"

"Ugh." You push passed him, fighting off a smile as the hunter chuckles.

Heading towards the bathroom, you're relieved to see it's unoccupied and lock yourself away inside. You know it's pointless to shower since you're going outside the walls today, but the luxury of hot water still amazes you and you haven't passed up a hot shower since you've settled in Alexandria. But still you keep the shower short, skipping the shampoo and conditioner, and just sudsing up your body and face before rinsing off.

Then once you're dressed appropriately for the day's trip, you exit the bathroom and head back towards your room. Rick's the only one there, his own clothes in hand as he sits on the edge of your bed. When he notices you, he smiles.

"Daryl took Judith downstairs. Eat and we'll be heading out soon. It's going to be an all day trip."

"Yippee," you deadpan. Rick chuckles as he stands and, as you toss your dirty clothes into a hamper, he heads out of your room in order to get to the bathroom himself.

Taking a moment, you can't help smile at his retreat. Then turning towards your bed, you're pleasantly surprised to see that Rick fixed your bed for you so you didn't have to. With nothing more to do other than pulling on a pair of boots, you do so and then head downstairs.

There's a small group gathered in the kitchen as Carol and Maggie whip something up for breakfast, and you avoid Daryl's gaze from where he sits at the table feeding Judith some applesauce. Though the second you lean over the kitchen island and steal a slice of tomato from the two working women, you can't help but freeze when Maggie says, "Sleep well? Because we heard something really interesting right before you came down."

You gape as the group around you snickers, and then you whirl around to glare at Daryl. "You're a goddamn gossip, Dixon!" The occupants in the room finally lose their composure, everyone laughing at your expense. Tossing the piece of tomato in your mouth for a moment, you then go on to defend yourself after it's gone. "Nothing happened. We slept on opposite sides of Judith and that's it!"

Rosita snorts. "Wasted opportunity if you ask me."

Several others hum in agreement and you groan. "Yeah? Well no one did. Now can we please drop it?" You reach in for another piece of tomato, but Carol whacks the back of your hand with her spoon. As you pout at her for the reprimand, you take the plate of breakfast from Carl who hands it to you with an adoring smile. "You are my favorite Grimes, kid. Never change."

You're able to eat your breakfast in peace, letting the conversation wash over you as if this were a normal day and the dead weren't roaming outside the town walls. Rick soon comes down to join everyone and Maggie passes him a plate before he can take his seat. He sits next to you, squeezing your knee under the table, and you grin in response while also praying to the Gods above you don't blush.

When all is said and done, and people start to head on out, you linger back while waving on Daryl and Rick with promises you'll only be a minute. As a majority of the room clears out, with the exception of Carol and Maggie who are cleaning up, you grab Rosita's arm to hold her back as well. She raises her eyebrows at you in surprise and you grin reassuringly.

"You're taking over my classes today, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," you're quick to say. "I just- can you keep an eye on Carl and Ron, please? Something is going on between them and I have a bad feeling it's going to come to blows pretty soon."

Rosita frowns. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. It's either teen angst like everyone believes because I've seen the way things get tense when that girl Enid is around, or Ron still blames Rick for everything gone wrong with his family and is taking it out on Carl. Either way, I don't trust Ron."

"Yeah, of course. I'll keep an eye on things."

"Thanks."

Quickly thanking the women for breakfast, you then make your way outside where the two men are waiting for you. You give them a nod before walking ahead of them, each of you having to check out weapons from the armory before you can go on your trip.

"So what exactly is on the agenda for today?" You wonder as you strap a couple of knives to your thighs, a glock in a holster at your waist, and take the offered rifle from Daryl as he makes sure you're well enough prepared.

Daryl and Rick share a brief look, a look you know all too well. They're calculating exactly what to say in front of Denise- the woman currently on shift and in charge of marking down who takes what weapons.

"Supply run," Daryl's gruff voice answers.

"After we clear out a bit of the woods around the place, Abraham wants to expand outward, so we need to give him the all clear."

You nod. "Sounds good." A handful of minutes later and you're dropping into the backseat of a car. Scooting towards the middle so you can lean forward in between Rick and Daryl, you ask, "So what else are we doing? Don't think I didn't notice that little look between you guys when Denise perked up after I asked what we were doing."

"More an' more of the dead with W's carved into their foreheads are showin' up," Daryl says.

"Of course they are." You sigh. "Just when I get comfortable things gotta go to shit." Both men snort in amusement and you groan as you fall back into your seat.

Daryl drives around to the back of Alexandria and parks, and then he takes the lead into the woods surrounding the town. There's not many dead lingering, so you and Rick resort to using knives while Daryl watches your back.

Dispatching of the dead is gross, but quick, and then Daryl's double checking all the bodies. He drags a few aside, turning their heads with his booted foot. "See? Someone's doin' this on purpose and I don't like that they're so close to home."

"So what are we gonna do? Recon?" You ask. "We can't raise the alarm in Alexandria unless we know for sure. We don't want everyone panicking."

"We tell Aaron," Rick says. "He's good at remaining unseen and no one will question him being gone for a few days."

"Sounds good to me." You glance around, sighing when you notice more dead wandering closer. "I wish I were still in bed."

"Yeah I bet you do," Daryl mumbles.

You immediately turn around to glare at him, but seeing Rick with his head down as he tries to fight off a smile softens you. Instead, your shoulders droop and you roll your eyes before turning around to dispatch the newcomers.

It takes a few hours to clear the woods and pile the bodies for burning, but it eventually gets done. There's an hour break where you rest and eat what little rations Daryl had stashed in the car, and then it's on to drive an hour or so out to hopefully find some supplies that the town could use.

"I can't wait to get home," you say while loading up a box of dusty canned goods. Daryl grunts, adding in a find of his own that he had recovered from a nearby house. "Do you think I can get an invite to spaghetti night now that you finally found Eric his traditional pasta maker?"

The hunter snorts. "We'll see."

Once the trunk is loaded up with what little supplies and goods the three of you have managed to find, you crawl back into the backseat and prepare to take a nap on the drive back to Alexandria. The drive is quiet, with the exception of the beginning where Rick and Daryl bicker about what CD to listen to.

The music and the bumpy drive lulls you into a light sleep, so you don't know how much time has passed when the car slows.

"What the hell?" Daryl's gruff voice makes your eyes flutter open before you sit up, scooting towards the middle so you can see out the windshield.

Rick leans forward. "That wasn't there before."

The that in question is a downed tree and it's blocking the only road back home. Daryl parks and cuts the engine, and all three of you exit. You grab your rifle, but hook the strap over your head so the rifle hangs diagonally across your back. And not wanting your hands empty, you grab two daggers by their hilts- one in each hand- and keep an eye on your surroundings as you follow after the men.

Rick walks up to the portion of the tree that's in the road, testing its weight with his foot as he tries to rock it back and forth. Daryl, however, walks over to where the base is.

"Shit." You and Rick immediately glance at him. "This tree didn't fall on its own."

"No?"

"No."

You follow behind Rick as Daryl waits to explain his findings, but just seeing what Daryl's found makes your stomach churn. "It's a clean cut." Both men look at you and you gesture to where the tree's obviously been cut. "If it'd have fallen on it's own, it'd be a jagged cut all around. It's clean around the front where someone took an ax or chainsaw to it, but then it's jagged at the end from where they pushed it over."

Daryl nods. "That's right."

All three of you glance at each other, dread filling you, before your gazes all dart to your surroundings to see if there's anything else out of the ordinary. Everything is eerily quiet around you that it's easy to hear a distant rumble and possible crash before a horn is left to constantly blare.

"What the hell is that?" Jogging back towards the road, you look towards the sky off in the distance of where the noise is most likely coming from. Not even a minute has passed before you see the faint smoke reaching a height that's visible to you so far out. "That's Alexandria." You realize with horror.

"We're about half a mile out," Rick says.

"We're not pushin' this tree out of the way with just us three." Daryl tells him.

"Then we run." Without waiting for their opinion, you jump over the downed tree and take off towards your home.

Rick and Daryl mustn't have had any doubt because they're right there with you, and had this been a lighter situation you would have poked fun at the hunter for being just a tad slower than you. Fear and adrenaline for what you could possibly find has your legs pumping continuously and you don't pay attention to the sweat beading down your back as you run.

Alexandria finally comes into view and immediately you grip your knives tighter. The dead are everywhere, attracted to what appears to be an 18-wheeler that's been driven into the watch tower, the tower having fallen and creating a hole for the dead to enter the once secured town.

Daryl looses arrow after arrow as Rick shoots round after round at the dead. The noise attracts some of the dead towards you and you readily use your daggers to plunge into their brains, grunting through the exhaustion that's threatening to slow you down. You and Rick clear a path for Daryl, and he climbs up into the truck to disable the horn.

Once disabled, it's easy to hear the screams and shouts of Alexandrians. Daryl hops down in between you and Rick, and three of you stare at one another before nodding.

"Be careful," he grunts.

Daryl disappears inside and, just as you attempt to follow, a hand grabs you by the bicep. You turn to ask Rick what the problem is, but before you can utter a word his lips are crashing down on yours. You inhale sharply in surprise, but quickly return the sentiment before he can pull back to lean his forehead against yours. You try to meet his gaze, but his eyes are cast downward as he pants heavily.

"Not that I was against that, but-" a walker groans and snaps his teeth as it comes between you and Rick, causing you to separate, and you quickly stab it in the head. You grunt as you retake your weapon, and sigh when you look at Rick. "What was that about?"

"We don't know what we're about to walk into," Rick says. "I don't want anymore what if's between us."

"O-Okay."

"And if we make it out of this, I'm moving into your room so Daryl can have mine."

You grin, shaking your head in brief amusement. "If that's what you want, then okay." Yours and his attention is stolen by a small group of approaching dead, and you quickly dispatch them with tired grunts.

Everything happens so fast that you barely have time to nod before Rick's running off. You give yourself a moment to gather your wits and then you're running off as well, striking down the dead that is in your way.

Inside the walls of Alexandria is complete and utter chaos. There are small fires here and there, but the main concern is that the dead greatly outnumber the living- especially the living that chose to fight back rather than hide in their houses.

As you jog towards the house you share with Rick, Daryl, and the kids, your arms get tired very quickly with all the various dead you have to stab. Your focus is on getting to the house that you don't notice one of the supposed dead is moving a little quickly until the being is swinging a machete at you. You yelp and try to dodge, but the blade manages to slice your bicep.

"What the hell?!" Thinking the person is an Alexandrian who's so caught up in the fight that they attacked you by accident, you don't outright attack back. Not until you notice the raggedy clothing and the wild look in the other person's eyes as they lunge at you again.

Your daggers don't have the same reach as the machete, so you're ducking and dodging as you try to slip the blades back in their holsters before reaching for your rifle. Fortunately, someone else sees you struggling and takes the shot you can't.

Another being rushes you, but as you finally get a hold of your rifle the other being pulls down the bandanna from covering the bottom half of their face. "Carol?" You utter in shock. "What the hell happened here?"

Dressed in worn clothing and with a bit of mud smeared around her eyes, Carol shrugs. "I don't know. One second I'm watching your neighbor having a smoke and the next someone is running up on her and slits her throat. They're everywhere, Y/N! They even ransacked the armory."

"Where are the kids?"

"I told Carl to watch Judith. They're still at the house."

"Then that's where I'm going. Be careful."

"I will."

Carol recovers her face and sprints off, and you grip your rifle in hand as you rush towards your house now.

You're grateful there aren't too many dead stumbling around the street your house is at, so it's a straight shot home. But the closer you get, you realize there's an individual on your porch that's trying to kick down the front door.

Blood boiling, you slow your run so you don't alert the person to your presence. Then standing at the bottom of the porch steps, you raise your rifle and take aim. "Hey!" The man whirls around. "Get the hell away from my kids." One shot drops the man where he stands and you quickly run up the steps, pulling a dagger from your thigh holster and stabbing him in the brain.

The door opens, startling you, and you sigh in relief when you see Carl there with a rifle of his own. "Y/N?"

"Yeah, it's me. Where's your sister?"

"Enid's hiding with her in an upstairs closet."

"Good." You tiredly stand tall once more, smiling softly at him. "You watch the back door, I'll keep watch up here."

He says nothing, instead his gaze then lands on your arm. More specifically the blood that's dripping from the tips of your fingers. "You're bleeding."

"Huh? Oh yeah." You pull apart the tear in your jacket, hissing when the cut on your arm pulses with pain. "It's not too bad. The bleed is slowing down. See? I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

You meet Carl's concerned gaze, nodding. "Yeah. If I start feeling dizzy or anything, I'll let you know." Offering him a smile, you don't turn your back on him until he nods and makes his way towards the back door.

Taking a moment to gather yourself, you turn back around and leave the door open a crack while focusing on the threats ambling around the street. One by one you pick them off, grateful that you don't spot another living being trying to slaughter those you spent a couple months getting to know.

It seems like hours have passed when you see familiar faces start to appear, you waving them over into the safety of your house. The sun is setting when the one face you'd been anxious to see finally pops up and it's like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

"Hey." Rick comes to a slow, carefully walking up the porch steps and shouldering the strap to his rifle. "You good?"

"Small hiccup," you say while lifting your injured arm a little, "but nothing life threatening."

When he reaches you, he gently grabs your arm to check the wound himself. Satisfied that you told him the truth, Rick lets go of your arm in favor of gently cradling your face in his hands so he can kiss you. You grin against his mouth, one hand grabbing onto his wrist to steady yourself as you return the brief moment of affection.

Rick ends the kiss, laying his forehead against yours. "Who else is here?"

"Carl and Judith are fine," you say. "Enid was here, but she ran not too long ago and then Jesse, Ron, and Sam ran in behind Michonne, Deanna, and Father Gabriel."

Rick steps back and glances up and down the street one last time before gesturing you inside. "We got the gate locked up and Daryl set the pond on fire to lure in the rest of the dead around here. Unfortunately there's still a hole in the wall so we'll have to stay indoors until morning. With the sun gone, we can't risk working in the dark."

"Agreed."

You and Rick enter the house, he quietly shutting the door and locking it behind him. Jesse is on the sofa, splattered with blood as she hugs her children on either side of her. Father Gabriel is in the arm chair, already looking to Rick for answers on what they're to do next. Carl is sitting on the top of the stairs, bouncing Judith on his knee and looking quite grim.

Rick notices and starts up the stairs towards his children. "What happened?"

Carl doesn't answer, but he does say, "Michonne and Deanna are waiting for you. They're in your room."

Rick glances at you over his shoulder and you readily follow after him. Passing Carl and Judith on the stairs, you can't help but ruffle their hair and grin when Carl huffs and tries to duck out of the way. But the second you enter Rick's room, the mood quickly sobers. Michonne is standing by the window, arms crossed over her chest, and Deanna lays in bed- sweating profusely and looking paler than normal.

Rick's hands plant themselves on his hips, his shoulders dropping as he sighs. "I was foolish." Deanna smiles tiredly, coughing not even a moment later. "I let my guard down for a moment and one of the dead surprised me around the corner."

"She fought as long as she could," Michonne says, "and I happened upon her too late. She had a chunk taken out of her side."

Even though you and Deanna didn't necessarily get along, your heart breaks for the woman. You step forward and offer her a feeble smile, one which she returns. "Don't cry for me, Y/N. I tried my best, just like you taught me. It just wasn't enough. I wasn't enough."

You nod, not having any words to say that would offer her any form of comfort. Rick reaches out, sliding his arm around your shoulders and tugging you into his side when he sees your crestfallen expression.

Michonne asks what the next plan of action is and Rick informs her of what's going on. Since it's nearly dark out, the only thing they can do is to wait it out until morning. Her gaze then falls on Deanna who admits she wants to go out on her own terms right before she succumbs to the infection and Rick sadly hands her a gun he had on his hip that had a few bullets left in the clip.

Rick gestures for Michonne to leave the room with you and him, and the three of you gather just outside in the hallway. "Do either of you know where Spencer is at?" She quietly asks.

"He's holed up with a few others down the street," Rick says.

"Is there any way we can let him know about his mother?"

"We can try the walkies," you admit, "but there's no telling if anyone with him has one."

She sighs. "I don't like that he doesn't know his mother is dying."

"I don't either, but if no one in his house has a walkie then it's no use."

Rick clears his throat, unclipping the walkie on his own belt while he gestures towards your room. "I'm gonna do check-ins. See how everyone is holding up and let them know to keep quiet until morning."

You and Michonne look at one another, and the moment Rick is out of earshot she looks back towards you and smiles. "You know, I'm pretty sure everyone saw that moment between you and Rick out on the porch."

"Can we not," you groan. Michonne only smiles in response. She continues to stare, quite smugly, and you can't help but huff a small laugh. "Tell you what, when all this is said and done and we're still alive, I'll give you all the juicy details."

"Deal."

The two of you then head downstairs and your brief amusement vanishes when the sounds of the dead just outside the house reaches your ears. The sounds of their rasping, hunger fueled moans make you uneasy, but it's the sound of breaking glass and what sounds like one of the metal shelving units in the garage falling over that makes your heart pump furiously with fear.

"Ron!" Jesse immediately jumps up from the couch, rushing towards the garage door.

Shouting resonates from within the closed off room and your gaze darts around the room in a panic. "Where's Carl?!"

Father Gabriel stands from his seat, Judith in his arms, and your stomach sinks when his gaze darts to the garage door. He shrugs, ready to apologize, but you turn on your heel and rush after Jesse.

The two teens spill into the house the second Jesse yanks the garage door open, looking a little roughed up, but everyone's attention is on the fact that the boys throw themselves against the door just as arms reach through and attempt to grasp onto any living being. You and Jesse waste no time in helping them keep the door closed as Michonne uses her katana to kill the dead closest to the door so you all can shut it.

Rick rushes down the stairs just as the windows along the porch are shattered. "Everyone upstairs. Now!"

You and Michonne hold the door so Jesse and the boys can run. When they're clear, as well as Father Gabriel and Judith, you and Michonne push off the door and take the stairs two at a time while Rick tries to barricade the bottom of the stairs.

The first floor of the house quickly floods with the dead and you rush back downstairs to grab Rick by the back of his shirt. "Come on! We gotta barricade the top."

Rick reluctantly gives up and, as soon as you make it to the second story, Carl and Michonne are tossing bedside tables and a mattress onto the stairs. Rick rushes into the nearest room, sliding a long dresser out to barricade the top of the stairs in order to prevent any dead from making it any further.

Locked in the room with a sickly Deanna, everyone does their best to remain calm. Thankfully Judith has managed to fall asleep through all the ruckus and the only sound is Rick pacing back and forth as he tries to come up with a plan for a way out.

After what seems like an hour or so, Rick looks up in surprise. "I know how to get out of here."

"Yeah? How?" You ask.

"We've done it before. To walk with the dead, you have-"

"To smell like the dead," you mutter, nose wrinkling. "We have to cover ourselves in blood and guts again."

"Exactly." Rick looks around, nodding and looking a little lighter to show just how much hope he has in his plan. "Gather sheets and cut a hole in each one to drape over our heads. I'll start dragging bodies into Y/N's room so we can gut them in there."

It's absolutely disgusting work to watch Rick cut open the dead and yank out their intestines. Jesse quietly sobs the entire time she's being coated in guts and blood, but her sons remain stoic throughout the entire process. You had managed to get through to a few of the others on the walkie, giving them the plan in case they were in the same tight spot your house had ended up in.

When it's finally time to move out, you're doing your best to breathe through your mouth. Father Gabriel volunteered to take Judith beneath his sheet and promised to get her safely to the church where a few others had checked in from with hardly any dead walking around the place. And when everyone looked to Deanna, she assured everyone she could pull the trigger when she felt like it was time.

As you're walking down the stairs, Rick takes the lead to test whether or not his plan actually worked. It does. The dead stumble up to him, sniffing, before realizing he doesn't smell like food and continue on. Some head upstairs now that the path has been cleared, but most remain stumbling around the first floor. Then linking hands, or grabbing onto the back of someone's sheet, everyone keeps in a line as to not get separated. And as everyone starts to feel overwhelmed by all the pressing bodies, Deanna shouts in a rage before multiple gunshots ring out.

It's almost like a weight's been lifted off your shoulders when everyone makes it out, but that relief is shortly lived when you hear Jesse's youngest son Sam shout. Sam is shouting as the dead converge on him, Jesse is screaming for her son who she won't let go of and she too is quickly overwhelmed by the dead. But in the process of being eaten alive, she's yet to let go of Father Gabriel's sheet and with all the noise it's only a matter of time before Judith wakes. So not seeing any other option, Michonne uses her katana to cut Jesse's arm off so Father Gabriel can hurry to safety.

Everyone seems rather frazzled when they finally make it clear of the feeding frenzy. But just when it seems like you can breathe, Ron stumbles to the side. The teen is clearly in shock over witnessing the rest of his family dying so cruelly, so it's no wonder he whips out a gun from beneath his sheet. What is a shock, however, is that he points it directly at Rick.

You and Carl freeze, and you grab onto Carl's arm when he tries to run around you to be at Rick's other side. Ron's hand shakes from fear and anger, and no matter what Rick tells him he won't put the gun down. He obviously blames Rick for his father's death, even though it was Deanna who gave the kill order, and now blames Rick for his mother and brother's death as well.

You can't seem to make your mouth work in order to talk Ron down, and no matter what Rick or Carl say he doesn't seem to be hearing them. It's only when you see Michonne sneaking up on Ron do you feel a little bit of hope, but that hope quickly dies when she runs her katana straight through the teen's back. His aim wavers and his finger squeezes the trigger.

A gunshot rings out.

Everyone involved flinches, but it's you who stumbles back. You blink in surprise and then glance down, your hand trembling as you raise it to hold your stomach.

"Y/N?" Carl says.

You don't say a word, instead you start to gather the bloodied sheet in your hands to lift it out the way. Beneath it, the gunshot wound on your stomach bleeds out.

"No." You glance up at Rick's whimper and watch as his expression crumbles. "No, no, no."

Your knees give out suddenly, but Carl is quick to catch you by the elbow. He hooks your arm around his neck and Rick rushes to your free side to do the same with your other arm. Michonne readily takes the lead, using her katana to cut down any dead in the path towards the infirmary where Denise and a few others had hid.

Rick and Carl carry you between them, and you're still in shock that the pain hasn't really registered with you yet. You see a few friends standing guard outside the infirmary and they quickly help Michonne clear the way for Rick and Carl to get you inside.

Rick immediately starts making demands of Denise- the poor woman stammering that she doesn't know how to perform any form of surgery. Rick and Carl finally put you on a gurney, and only then does the pain hit. You groan out and the two Grimes' slow their movements, carefully adjusting you. And finally seeing just how serious the situation is, Denise steps forward and starts to recall some information she'd been reading from the books the last doctor left behind.

With Denise frazzled under Rick's looming stance, Tara steps in and eases the man back. You pant heavily, doing your best to keep your sobs quiet as Denise and Tara turn you this way and that way to determine whether or not there was an exit wound. There isn't which means the bullet will have to be dug out.

"She's losing a lot of blood," Tara quietly mumbles. "Are you sure you can do this?" She asks Denise.

Denise glances at Rick, then down at you. You offer her a feeble smile. "J-Just dig it out. I w-won't blame you i-if-"

"Hey. Shh," Tara says. "It's okay. I didn't mean-"

"It's okay," you say. Teary eyes dart between the two girls as you gulp. "Just do your best."

As the two women start prepping and wiping around the wound, you make too much noise that Michonne ends up suggesting they dose you with morphine. Tara does and just as you feel yourself sinking into the comfort of the gurney beneath you, the edges of your vision darken and the last thing you see is Rick helplessly staring at you

The second Y/N is out, Tara and Denise start furiously working. The longer Y/N is out and the more blood Rick sees gushing out, the more anxious he feels. But the moment Denise mentions finding a universal donor within Alexandria for a blood transfusion, Rick can't take it anymore and marches outside. Michonne follows him, as well as several others who'd been waiting on the porch, and they let Rick take the lead as he angrily strikes down dead after dead.

It takes hours, but eventually the hole in the wall is patched just enough so no more dead can stumble in. Those left alive split into groups- one to clear out the houses that had been broken into and the other to start piling bodies for burning later on. Then when there is nothing left to do, Carl urges his father back to the infirmary to check on Y/N.

On the way back to the infirmary, Rick stops by a water spigot and cleans himself off as best as he can. He takes a moment to gather himself and when he feels like he has himself under control, he makes the short walk to the infirmary and walks right on in. Tara and Denise look extremely tired, but they're doing their best to strip bloody sheets from a gurney.

Rick's breath stutters, the girls look up, and Tara is quick to make the connection between Rick's heartbroken expression and his stare on the empty bed. "No, no, no! She's alive. Y/N is still hanging on," she says. "We got the bullet out and she's resting now, but until she wakes up we can't determine just how okay she is. You can go back and see her."

He quickly nods, exhaling harshly before running a hand down the length of his face to rid his eyes of the tears that had quickly gathered. Once he's positive he's not about to have a breakdown, he heads towards the room Tara points out to him.

Y/N looks like a completely different person, but that's to be expected from someone who lost so much blood. Rick pulls up a chair to the side of the bed and he cautiously reaches for her hand as he takes a seat. "The family is safe; we all made it, but there were several Alexandrians that didn't," he says, voice low and gravelly. Rick then sighs, looking Y/N over and hoping that her eyes would open. He hunches over the side of the bed, holding onto Y/N's hand while brushing his lips against her knuckles. "We got the walls temporarily patched up and have already started cleanup. You really are lucky to be stuck in this bed." He chuckles drily. When there's still no movement, his expression falters. "I can't do this without you, Y/N. Please don't make me do this without you."

Rick lays his head on the bed, eyes closing as he prays to whoever is listening that they don't take Y/N away from him. Not now when things are finally moving forward between them. And since his eyes are closed, he completely misses when Y/N's brow furrows.

You feel utterly exhausted and a little nauseated when your eyes flutter open. You attempt to swallow, but your throat is absolutely dry and you whimper. A grip on your hand tightens and your gaze immediately darts to an exhausted looking Rick. "W-water," you rasp.

"Y/N?" His shocked expression quickly turns to one of relief, he then letting your hand go to pour you a cup of water from the pitcher on the bedside table. You manage to pull yourself up just enough so you can drink without choking, you then falling back against your pillow with a sigh. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." You blink sleepily at him. "How are the kids?"

"They're fine. Carl's worried about you."

Weakly smiling, you say, "Of course he is."

Rick leans on the side of your bed, elbows pressed into the mattress as he holds himself up. "You know, Carl heard what you said." You frown in confusion. "He heard you through the door when you told one of the attackers to get away from your kids."

"Oh god." Your eyes widen. "Rick, I'm so so-"

"Don't. Those kids are yours as much as they are mine." His words give you pause, but then you can feel your face heating up as your bashfulness kicks in as it always does when it comes to Rick and any talk of a relationship between the two of you. "You've been there for Judith her entire life and you helped Carl into becoming the young man he is today by not letting the harsh world completely remake him into someone terrible. Those are our kids, Y/N. If you want that, of course."

You hadn't realized your eyes filled with tears until you feel the hot trail they leave behind after slipping from the corners of your eyes. You sniffle and reach up to wipe the tears away. "I do. I want that."

Rick beams at you, his own eyes a little misty. You can't help but chuckle as he leans up, pressing a kiss to your forehead. "Good, because Daryl is already talking about renovating my room to his liking. It appears I'm moving in with you."

"Well if that's the case, you better go air out our house after all those dead were in there."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on that." He leans up and kisses your cheek this time, he finally feeling like it's okay to leave your side.

As he stands up, you smile as he stretches and then groans when his back pops. Then as he's walking away, you can't help but say, "Just so you know, if you hog the covers I'm kicking you out and you can share with Daryl."

Rick snorts, only looking over his shoulder at you to smile.

Not even ten seconds later and Tara's entering the room, eyes sparkling with mirth. You narrow your eyes suspiciously at her, but she merely rolls her eyes in return. "What? Let me have this. We've been waiting for this thing between you and Rick to blossom for forever."

"So I've been told. Now tell me, Doc Jr, when can I get out of here? I've got a household to maintain."

[soniaxdixon]

The New World; Series, Pt 3

okay, two parts in one day but I really just felt like writing. enjoy this part!! 

Okay so this is my first time writing a fic and obviously will be my first series but I’ve just rewatched TWD for like the 17th time and my obsession with Daryl has reached new levels. I hope that it isn’t too shit and that you guys actually read/like it. Thank you in advance for baring with my average writing but I mean, how else will I learn? Anyway, enjoy!

Sonia x

Season 1

Part 3 of ??

Summary: Y/N Grimes is Rick’s younger hot headed sister. When Rick gets shot and falls into a coma, Y/N’s world ends. Y/N Finds herself at a quarry near Atlanta with her nephew carl, sister in law Lori and her best friend Glenn where she meets her new family including the equally hot headed redneck Daryl Dixon. Over time Y/N and Daryl begin to form a friendship, finally allowing one another to open up to someone and maybe finding someone they can actually love.

Words: 1790

Okay, I couldn’t hold out much longer with the whole slow burn thing, something happens in this fic...

Warnings: swearing, a little angst, slight mention of gore.

With your brother, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dogg gone you found yourself struggling to think about anything else other then something happening to them. What if they got surrounded by walkers, what if merle flips and does something to them. Constant ‘what if’ questions rolled through your head as you paced in your tent.

“Y/N!” You heard dale holler

“Hey Dale, what’s up?”

“You’ve been in your tent since they left, wanted to get you out here with the rest of the group, make sure you’re okay.” He said with sincerity.

“Thanks, Dale, I’m all good, don’t you worry. Got any jobs for me to do? I’d like to keep my mind busy.”

“Not really any jobs to do but you’re more than welcome to relax in the RV, I’ve got a couple of old books in there, maybe that’ll put your mind at ease.”

You nodded gratefully and made your way inside the RV, shuffling through Dale’s book collection until you settled on one, reading in the bed until the words began to sling together and you fell into a deep sleep.

You were woken up a while later by Carl gently shaking you. You jolted awake and grabbed your knife when you realised you had fallen asleep for god knows how long.

“Woah! I’m just here to let you know dinners ready.”

You scooted off the bed, stepped out of the RV and walked over to the group sitting around a fire, fresh grilled fish already on a plate for you. You sat next to Lori and nudged her. “I missed dinner prep? How long was I asleep, I should have helped.”

“You must have needed the rest, it was best to let you sleep.”

You nodded as you shoved a giant fork full of fish into your mouth while your stomach growled.

This night was like any other, sitting around with your family, chatting like nothing was wrong in the world, though you found yourself subconsciously searching for the archer who would usually sit across from you, constantly sneaking glances at each other. Your heart rate sped up at the thought of him and then the reality that he wasn’t there set in again, as did the worry. You were pulled from your thoughts by Andrea’s voice.

“Where are you going?”

“I gotta pee, geez, try to be discrete around here” Amy responded earning a laugh from the group.

You went to take another bite of your fish when Amy’s scream filled the air. You threw the plate and reached for your gun as you watched Amy being ripped into, Andrea already running towards her with Jim. Walkers started hastily shuffling out of the trees towards your family as you and the others sprung into action.

“Lori, Carl, you get behind me now!” You yelled over the gunfire shoving your nephew out of dangers way and putting yourself in the middle of it. You aimed at the nearest walker and BANG, it fell, a bullet between its eyes.

You noticed another hobbling towards carol, BANG, another down.

You continued to pace backwards until it was safe to send Lori and Carl into the RV. A walker lunged at you, BANG, now it was at your feet. You turned for a second when you heard Lori scream as Shane shot a biter that was close to her.

As you turned around another one lunged at you as you brought your gun up,

Click.

Your stomach knotted at the sound, you were out of bullets. You pushed against the walker with all your force as its teeth gnashed at your face. You could feel your arms weakening as its teeth got closer to your face, your feet began sliding in the dirt. You couldn’t bring yourself to pull one hand away to get your knife, this one was too big, the slightest move now and you would be gone.

BANG

The walker collapsed on top of you, knocking the air out of you as you went down. Suddenly the body was tossed away and a hand was outstretched. You realised who it was, grabbed his hand and he hoisted you up off the ground.

“Thanks, Daryl.”

He nodded and then proceeded to take out the walkers that just kept coming. You noticed how he shielded your body with his own as the dead got closer until finally, there were none left.

When everything was clear, he stormed off towards his tent without saying a word to you.

You found rick and threw your arms around him

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He mumbled into your hair

“For what?”

“For protecting Carl and Lori.”

“It’s what I do.” You chuckled slightly as you let go of him, your eyes flicking over to Daryl’s tent.

You built up some courage and started trekking towards his tent, stopping suddenly at the entrance and struggling to think of what to say. Before you had the chance to say anything he broke the silence.“Leave me alone.”

You stood there for a second before you shook your head and began unzipping the door to the tent and stepping inside. He stood up from his bed and loomed over you.  “Stupid girl, didn’t you hear what I said? Leave me the fuck alone!”

At this point he was yelling in your face but you stood your ground, getting angrier until you looked up into his eyes, you could see how red they were, he’d been crying, your anger slowly faded.  “I don’t need your fucking pity, get lost.”

He turned, expecting you to leave but instead, without even thinking, you wrapped your arms around his middle and he stiffened at the sudden contact, staring at his bed in front of him, then looking down at your arms that linked around his waist, holding him tight, grounding him. You felt his breath become shaky as he let himself cry which only made you hold him tighter.

When his breathing began to slow, you gently unlinked your arms and he turned to face you, tears staining his cheeks.

“I’m not here to offer you pity, I came to say thank you for saving me. I came to see if you were okay.”

He just stared at you for a second before you carefully reached up and wiped a single tear that was rolling down his cheek, then slowly, you snaked your hands around his neck and brought him into another hug. This time he didn’t flinch, he melted into you, placing his head in the crook of your neck while he let himself calm down.

“M’ sorry I snapped.” He whispered into your neck.

You pulled back and looked into his eyes, the blue being highlighted by his unshed tears.

“You don’t have to apologise, I get it.”

He nodded as his hands found your waist and he pulled you into another hug. This man had never been shown proper affection, he had never shown it to anyone but he so desperately craved it and you understood that, you finally gave him the affection he needed, that he deserved. You stayed like that for a minute before you pulled away, grabbing his hand and leading him over to his makeshift bed, a cot in the corner of his tent with his sleeping bag on top. You sat with him on the end of the bed and finally built up the bravery to ask.

“Daryl, what happened out there?”

He looked at you and struggled to form the words, tears threatened to fall from his eyes again until you reached for his hand and took it in yours.

“He wasn’t there, he ain’t dead but he was gone. Cut off his own damn hand, cauterised it. Tough son of a bitch. We went to look for ‘im but then this kid showed up and started yellin’, some guys took Glenn and we got into this whole thing, thought they might’ve had Merle too y’know. They didn’t. By the time we sorted everything out our damn truck was missin’ so we had to walk back. Thats when we heard the gun shots. Y/N I ran, I ran so fast and ya wanna know why? Because I thought I was gonna lose ya. I couldn’t lose ya too. I don’t know what it is but something inside me goes crazy whenever you’re around. I ain’t good at this type a thing, I don’t know how to explain it but it’s like I need to protect ya and I don’t know why. We’ve hardly talked but when we do it’s like my chest is on fire.

You couldn’t take your eyes off him, you hung onto every word for dear life, like he was reading your mind, like he was reading your emotions. Before you knew it you were pulling his face towards yours, pressing your lips against his, fitting together like a puzzle, like he was the one piece you have been missing your whole life. You slowly pulled away and looked at him, his eyes still closed from the kiss, a small smile gracing his lips, causing you to break out in a smile too.

“Daryl.” His name had never sounded so sweet, he opened his eyes looking deeply into yours as his cheeks flushed red. “That’s exactly how I feel.”

You spoke for a while, exchanging stories of the past. For a man who was so reserved, he seemed to open up to you like you were the only one who held the key to his stories. He told you about Merle, about his mother. He told you about his father, the things he used to do to merle, to him. You didn’t push him, you didn’t ask to see the scars, you simply listened and that was all he needed. The noise of everyone outside had finally quietened and that was your cue that it was time to retreat back to your tent.

“I’m gonna head back to my tent, I’ll see you in the morning.”

He wanted to ask you to stay, he needed you to stay. He felt like that was the only way he could sleep but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

You wanted to stay, fall asleep on his chest like the many nights you had dreamt of, but you didn’t want to push what had happened. You slipped out of his tent, zipping it closed and walking over to your own. You couldn’t help fight the smile that crept on your face.

Neither you nor Daryl got much sleep that night, replaying the moments that happened, longing for each other in a way like never before.

[ddixons-angel]

Fated: Season 5

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff),  implied smut/sex

A/N: And we’re back with another chapter~ this one (to me) is on a bit of the longer side but I really enjoyed writing it ^^ please let me know what you think!

Chapter 10

The next morning, those who were assigned jobs got up early to get ready and head out. Glenn, Tara, and Noah went to meet Aiden, Deanna’s son, Jacob, and their friend Nicholas as part of the supply run team. Maggie went to see Deanna as she was appointed her assistant, Abraham left bright and early to go find Tobin, the man who was in charge of the town’s construction team. Gabriel went to tend to the town’s church and Eugene had become the town’s engineer. Gloria and Rosita step out of the house together and Gloria spots Daryl sitting on the railing of the porch, fixing his crossbow. 

“You go ahead, I’ll meet you there,” Gloria tells her with a smile.

“Alright,” Rosita says, smiling back then she goes on her way to the infirmary; she was the other appointed medic from their group.

“You have anything planned for today?” Gloria asks Daryl as she walks up to him.

“Nah,” he says, not looking up at her as he tugs at his crossbow, “I’ll jus’ be here, guardin’ the house ‘r somethin’.”

“You’re not a guard dog, Daryl,” Gloria frowns at his words then sighs when he stays silent, “after my shift at the infirmary, you want to take me outside the walls to go hunting?”

Daryl finally looks at her, his fingers pausing whatever he was doing with the crossbow and a smile tugs at his lips, knowing what she was trying to do, “really?”

“Yeah, it’s been awhile since you took me on a hunting date, what do you say?” Gloria asks, a shy grin on her lips. 

“Ya’ll be at the infirmary, righ’?” Daryl asks and Gloria nods, “I’ll pick ya up after yer shift.”

“Pick me up? When did you become a romantic, Mr. Dixon?” Gloria teases as she leans closer to him, gently pressing her lips to his in a tender kiss.

He smiles into the kiss, his hand reaches up and caresses her face when she pulls away, “ya really want me to look forward to this date, don’t ya?”

Gloria blushes slightly at his words and is about to say something else but the door to the house opening catches their attention as Carol steps out. Gloria turns around to greet her but seeing her attire, she gets tongue tied, not knowing what to say. Carol was wearing brown pants held up with a thin belt, her blouse was neatly tucked into her pants and over her blouse she had a lavender blue button up sweater.

“Time to punch the clocks and make the casseroles,” Carol says in a sing-song voice as she adjusts her blouse.

“What?” Daryl says, furrowing his brows looking in Carol’s direction, his face falls to one of shock.

“Make dinner for the older people, moms who need a break, people who can’t cook,” Carol tells them as she looks out into the community, “get to meet a lot of the neighbors that way.”

Daryl scoffs at this and goes back to fidgeting with his crossbow, “a’right.”

“Have you taken a shower yet?” Carol narrows her eyes at him, looking at Gloria when he hums a yes which was obviously a lie, “Gloria, I’m giving you the job to make him take a shower.”

“You make it sound easy,” Gloria chuckles.

“Well, we need to keep up appearances,” Carol says as she begins to make her way down the steps of the porch then looks at Daryl, “even you.”

“Hey, I ain’t startin’ now.” Daryl tells her then nods pointedly to Gloria, “plus, ain’ like she minds.”

Gloria rolls her eyes at Daryl’s words, “I wouldn’t mind it if you were clean either.”

“Hear that?” Carol says, raising her eyebrow at Daryl, “get cleaned up or I’m gonna hose you in your sleep.”

“Ya look ridiculous,” Daryl calls out as Carol walks down the sidewalk. 

“I should get going too, I’m already late,” Gloria says, making her way down the steps of the porch, “I’ll see you later.”

Daryl smiles softly at her and nods. He watches her as she makes her way down the road to the infirmary. His smile fades as he sighs, leaning back on the beam connecting the porch to the roof of the house. Daryl wasn’t sure if Gloria was aware, but he felt judgemental eyes on him when she kissed him. He was certain he knew what they were all thinking, ‘why would she choose him?’. Daryl didn’t care what they thought of him, but just because he didn’t care, didn’t mean that he liked being watched and judged all the time. 

---

Gloria had met up with Rosita and Denise at the infirmary and they first did some inventory checks to make sure they had enough medical supplies. If they were short on anything, they would make a list and give it to Aiden for things to look out for when they went on runs. While going through the inventory, Gloria’s eyes catch a book sitting on the shelf near the bottles of medicine. She picks it up with a thoughtful look on her face; it was a book all about medicinal herbs. 

“Do you guys collect herbs?” Gloria asks Denise, catching Rosita’s attention.

“We’ve been planning to,” Denise says, “Deanna even has a whole garden patch for us to plant the herbs so we don’t have to go out there every time we run out.”

“You guys are resourceful,” Rosita says with an impressed smile, “can we see it?”

“Sure!” Denise says enthusiastically.

She leads the two women outside to the garden just outside the infirmary. Rosita and Gloria walk with Denise as she gestures to it. Gloria and Rosita look at it then frown at each other.

“It’s...empty?” Rosita points out.

“Yeah...” Denise looks down, “like I said... we’ve been planning to collect herbs but... I’m no good out there, Pete doesn’t want to go out there, and Aiden and his group wouldn’t know what to get even with that book.”

“Well, you have us now,” Rosita says, glancing at Gloria then back at Denise with a smile, “we’ll go out and get the herbs.”

“But... I was hoping you could teach me how to stitch and all that...” Denise says hesitantly.

“Rosita and I can take turns,” Gloria suggests, earning a nod from Rosita, “one of us will go out there while the other stays here and teach you what you want to know.”

Denise smiles brightly at the two and is about to express her gratitude when a commotion breaks out near the main gates. All three of them look towards the area and see Glenn and Aiden seemingly about to fight. Gloria frowns at this and curses under her breath as she sees Jacob also part of the crowd surrounding them. Maggie and Deanna also had seen this and started to make their way over. Gloria runs over to the crowd as Aiden swings a punch at Glenn but he nimbly dodges out of the way and Glenn punches Aiden in the face, knocking him to the ground. Daryl, who had also come out because of the ruckus, tackles Nicholas to the ground as he was about to attack Glenn. Gloria finally reaches the crowd and lets out a small growl when she sees Jacob about to approach Glenn. She roughly pulls Jacob back by his arm, he stumbles out of the way as Gloria glares at him.

“Don’t.” she says in a dangerous voice as she points at him. 

“Daryl,” Rick says as he pulls Daryl up from on top of Nicholas. 

Rick had come back to the community with Carl just in time to see the altercation. Daryl shrugs Rick’s hands off him as he backs away, huffing in anger. Daryl paces back and forth, still eyeing Nicholas like a beast stalking its prey. Rick looks over to Gloria and signals her to take care of Daryl as he tries to diffuse the situation with Deanna. Gloria nods and walks over to Daryl, holding his arm to try and calm him down.

“I want everyone to hear me, okay?” Deanna starts, speaking to everyone and anyone who can hear her, “Rick and his people are part of this community now, in all ways, as equals.”

She pauses for a moment, almost expecting a rebuttal from someone but gets none, “understood?” Deanna says this looking directly at her son. 

“Understood.” Aiden says, shrugging as if he was the bigger man.

“All of you, turn in your weapons,” Deanna orders then she gestures to Aiden, Nicholas, and Jacob, “then you three, come talk to me.”

As the crowd disperses, Daryl looks past Gloria as he and Rick make eye contact. The two of them seemingly having a wordless conversation in their minds with each other. 

“I told you I had a job for you.” Deanna starts, looking at Rick, “I’d like you to be our constable. That’s what you were, that’s what you are.”

She then looks at Michonne, “and you too. Will you accept?”

A short silence emits between them all as Deanna glances between Rick and Michonne, patiently waiting for their answer. Michonne smiles approvingly at Rick as he chuckles softly, then finally he nods.

“Okay.” Rick says.

“Yeah, I’m in.” Michonne says with a smile.

Daryl scoffs at them as he shrugs off Gloria’s hand on his arm. She watches him worriedly as he angrily huffs away, picking up his crossbow and walks back towards the house. Gloria glances back at Rick, Glenn, and Michonne before chasing after him. 

“Daryl!” she calls out as she runs towards him.

He doesn’t stop for her as he continues on his way, he tosses his crossbow onto the porch while he walks up the steps. Gloria sighs as she watches Daryl go back to his usual spot on the porch. She carefully makes her way up the stairs and approaches him.

“Daryl..?” she calls, her voice soft.

“‘M fine!” he huffs, not looking at her.

“You and I both know that’s bullshit,” she says, reaching out to make him face her, “talk to me, what’s wrong?”

Daryl scoffs at her and shrugs her hand off, “ya say tha’ as if ya don’ know! Like ya don’ see how all ‘em pricks look at me like I don’ belong ‘ere!” 

“You do belong here, you belong with us!” Gloria’s heart breaks at his words. 

“Nah, I shouldn’ be here... not protected by these damn walls, even Deanna can see tha’... why ya think she hasn’t given me a damn job yet?!” Daryl paces around as he angrily vents his feelings, “she coulda put me on that run team wit’ Glenn ‘r construction wit’ Abraham, but nah! She jus’ sees me as a useless fuckin’ redneck...” 

“Daryl...” Gloria sighs, she felt guilty that she didn’t know the extent of how much the town’s judgement actually bothered him, “if you want to leave, we’ll leave.” 

“Rick ‘an Michonne jus’ signed up for their jobs, they ain’ goin’ nowhere.” Daryl scoffs bitterly.

“Then we’ll go, just the two of us. The others will understand.” Gloria says, sincerity in her voice.

Daryl looks at her, pondering for a moment before shaking his head, “nah... ya’ll be good right here wit’ yer pretty boy ex lookin' over ya...” 

“My what?” Gloria frowns at him.

“Jake ‘r whatever the fuck his name is! He yer ex, ain’t he?” Daryl snaps. 

Gloria sighs, figuring that Glenn told him about her past with Jacob, “we only went on a few dates, that’s it. It was nothing!”

“Well he sure still seems serious ‘bout ya...” Daryl huffs, “he’s a better fit for ya anyway, a clean ass cop’s the perfect match for a doctor...”

“Just because you think he’s a better match for me, you think I’ll just be with him?” she frowns, hurt and anger building in her heart.

Daryl looks at her, “better ya be with someone like him than a nothin’ like me...”

He knew that he was being irrational with what he was saying, but his jealousy was overriding his wave of emotions. He hated himself for it but he wasn’t able to control it. Daryl was angry and upset at how things had become. He wanted a home for his people, a place they could all feel safe and not worry about food the next day or feel the need to sleep with one eye open. They had finally found it in Alexandria but Daryl felt that the Alexandrians accepted everyone but him. He’d always been an outcast even before the end of the world, but after finding and becoming a family with his own people, he didn’t want to lose that. Daryl was terrified that his people would start to see him the way the Alexandrians saw him. He just wanted his people to be happy, and if he had to withdraw himself and push them all away so they could have that happiness and safety, he would do it no matter how much it hurt him.

The look in Daryl’s eyes gave everything away. How much he was hurting to the point that he wanted to run away from everyone he held dear. Gloria saw that and in an instant her anger dissipated. She couldn’t let him think of himself as nothing, she wouldn’t. 

“You’re not nothing,” Gloria says, she carefully takes a step towards him and Daryl watches her as she reaches out and gently caresses his face with her hand, “you can’t be nothing when you’re my everything.”

She pulls him into a deep tender kiss and Daryl melts into her touch. She wraps her arms around his neck as she pours everything into her kiss. She knew that words wouldn’t suffice so she had to show him how much he means to her. Slowly, Daryl began to ease into the kiss, his harsh emotions from before were dissolving with each touch. Unfortunately, his keen senses picked up yet again the feeling of judgemental eyes on the pair causing him to pull away from her. 

“People ‘re watchin’...” he mutters, slightly ashamed that he was giving into their stares.

“Then let them watch,” Gloria whispers breathily onto his lips, surprising Daryl as she pecks his lips again, “I gotta let them know that no matter what they think, I’m yours and only yours.” 

She captures his lips again in a steamy kiss and runs her hands down his chest. Something inside Daryl changes at her words and he quickly pulls away from the kiss. 

“Nah,” he says, earning a worried look from Gloria, “I ain’ lettin’ ‘em see nothin’.”

Daryl grabs Gloria’s wrist and pulls her into the house and to one of the bedrooms on the main floor. He presses his lips to hers once more as he backs her up towards the untouched bed. His lips trail her jaw as he showers her in kisses, earning a few giggles and moans from her. His hands begin to unbutton her blouse that acted as an outer layer and Gloria does the same with his shirt. Once undone, she pushes his shirt and vest off his shoulders altogether just before Daryl strips her of her tank top. She lies back on the bed with Daryl on top of her, her fingers tangling in his hair as he kisses down her neck to her chest. 

It had been so long since the two of them were able to be intimate like this with each other. They had their moments back before the prison was attacked but even that felt so long ago, they needed this. Daryl didn’t know it but he needed Gloria to show him just how strongly she felt for him. He felt that his importance and presence within the group was deteriorating every second he was inside the walls and his confidence to be himself was going with it. To know that Gloria was willing to throw away the potential life there, leave with him, and even let him claim her in public proved to him that Daryl is indeed her everything. 

“I fuckin’ love ya...” Daryl says breathlessly as he pulls her naked body to his.

Gloria giggles and snuggles into him, “I love you too.” 

“‘M sorry... ‘bout earlier...” he says nuzzling into her hair.

“For which part? Pushing me away again? Calling Jake my ex?” Gloria playfully eyes him, making him hide in the crook of her neck, “or not wanting to be affectionate in public?”

She says the last part with a hidden smile and Daryl hears it in her voice as he looks at her with a smirk, “I ain’ lettin’ anyone see ya like this but me.”

Gloria chuckles and moves her body so that her head is resting on his chest, her arm draped around his torso, she lets out a content sigh, “so... when we get our own rooms, I’m guessing this one’s ours?”

Daryl chuckles at her words then presses a kiss to her forehead, “if ya want.”

---

Later that evening, after they had all dined on the dinner Carol had prepared for the entire group, Gloria stands on the porch leaning on the rail with Glenn. She had called him out after their dinner as her curiosity and worry about the dry run was all she could think about. 

“What happened out there?” Gloria asks.

“Aiden, Jacob, and Nicholas led the three of us out, told us how their supply runs worked and that they lost three of their people on the last run,” Glenn explains.

“Three?” Gloria frowns at this.

“That’s what they said... Aiden said that it’s because they didn’t listen to his command but honestly, I’m calling bullshit on that.” Glenn sighs.

Gloria chuckles, “don’t let Gena hear you swearing like that, or she’ll give me shit for teaching you bad things.”

“Hey, I’m the older one,” Glenn nudges her with a chuckle.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t teach you bad things,” Gloria grins cheekily at him, making him roll his eyes, “anyway, continue. Them losing people couldn’t be the reason you came back so pissed.”

Glenn sighs and nods, “you’re right, it wasn’t. They found one of the walkers that killed their friend and tied it up.”

“They didn’t kill it?” Gloria asks, a disapproving look on her face.

“That’s what I was thinking... they said that it was some kind of pregame ritual to get their heads on straight, I think they were gonna use it as some kind of shooting practice... but it got loose so they started whistling for it to come out,” Glenn explains.

“They could have gotten you all swarmed if there were more around, what the hell?” Gloria says, anger rising inside her as she takes in how stupid these people actually were.

“Yeah... when it came out, Tara grabbed it and it was about to bite her so I went in and killed it.” Glenn says and scoffs, “then Aiden yells at me as if I did something wrong, as if I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Gloria puts her hand on his shoulder and squeezes gently, “don’t waste your feelings on these idiots, they’ll have to learn the hard way that we’re the smart ones.”

“Yeah but I don’t want the hard way to be losing anyone else, whether it’s us or them.” Glenn says, a frustrated look on his face. 

“I know, that’s why you’ll have to lead them to the right path, keep them in check,” Gloria says, patting his arm before leaning on the rail again.

“Don’t think Jacob wants me to keep him in check though,” Glenn chuckles and shakes his head.

“Please, I’m sure you can beat him up now,” Gloria says.

“You know he used to be a cop?” Glenn asks rhetorically.

“Yeah, I know, and apparently you told Daryl too,” she eyes him playfully, “you told him he was my ex?”

“I never said he was your ex, I said you went on a few dates with him and that’s it, I guess he just jumped to that conclusion,” Glenn defends innocently, “how’s Daryl doing though? He didn’t look too happy earlier.”

“He’s fine, just feels a little out of place but he’ll be okay,” Gloria smiles softly. 

Glenn nods as he leans back on the railing, looking into the house, he smiles, “well... seems like he’s trying to blend in a bit.” 

Gloria furrows her brows at his words, slightly confused. She looks over at Glenn and he nods pointedly into the house. Gloria turns around and sees Daryl through the window. He had actually cleaned himself up. Glenn and Gloria glance at each other and chuckle before going into the house. 

“Look who’s finally clean,” Glenn grins as he leans on the kitchen island counter. 

“Stop...” Daryl groans, rolling his eyes as he sits on one of the kitchen stools. 

Gloria chuckles and sits on the stool beside him, “I’m proud of you.”

Daryl shakes his head to hide under his long hair, his face blushing, “thanks...”

“So how long has it been? Two days? Three days?” Glenn asks, wanting to tease Daryl a little more. 

“Jus’ ‘cause you’re her brother don’ mean I won’t hit ya...” Daryl grumbles. 

“Relax Daryl, he’s just teasing,” Carol chimes in with a smile, “besides, I’m pretty sure he just wants to know who won the bet.” 

“Bet?” Daryl says with a frown, looking from Gloria, Carol, and Glenn, “what bet?”

“How many days it would take until you took a shower,” Carol informs him.

Daryl knew that for the sake of their own entertainment and boredom, their group would make bets and play silly games but he never thought that he would be the centre of their bet. Not that he minded since it was harmless, curiosity was getting the better of him though.

“So who won?” Daryl asks, surprising the three of them.

“Me,” Gloria says with a shy smile.

“Yeah, but for the record, I was going to say three days first,” Glenn says.

“Yeah.... but you didn’t.” Gloria smiles cheekily at him.

“What’d ya win?” Daryl asks, eyeing her curiously. 

“First choice on the rooms,” Gloria tells him, making Daryl chuckle with a nod. 

Footsteps coming from the stairs took their attention away from each other as Rick made his way down to the main floor. He was in a jacket that replicated that of a police uniform. 

“Ya a cop again?” Daryl asks, breaking the silence.

“Just trying it on for size,” Rick says with a sigh then looks at everyone, “I think we can start sleeping in our own rooms, start settling in.” 

“I take it we’re staying then,” Carol points out.

“Yeah... yeah we’re staying.” Rick says, finalizing the decision for the entire group. 

---

Next Chapter

So with Rick’s decision, they’re staying in Alexandria! I hope I captured the fight scene properly and Daryl’s little breakdown, I honestly didn’t really like how they just left Daryl to go off on his own and cool down, he needed someone to be there with him which is why I had that little intimate scene happen hehehe please let me know what you think!!! 

In regards to everything that’s happening though, I really want to say I hope everyone stays safe and healthy, please don’t panic, we will get through this!

And as always, I would really appreciate any comments left for me!

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

@twdeadfanfic​ | @fandomfanatic97​ | @crossbowking​ | @watchmeaspire​ | @spidergirla5​ | @kamieshep​ | @letsstarsfalling​ | @molethemollie​ | @alicewinchester99​ | @neilox​ | @womanup22​ | @jodiereedus22​ | @theonlyone-meeeee​ | @theunofficialduke​ | @inlovewdxx​ | @delightfullykrispypeach​ | @mrsfortune1306​ | @wolfkg​ | @funeral-7 | @wnygirl2012​ | @alispaceme​ | @themihala​ | @aavocadocloud​ |  @polkadottedpillowcase​ | @felicisimor​ | @depressedfrog2​ | @spacexkiddo0

[wolfwhiteflowers]

I gotta rant ... Eh ok 🐺 n moody. this post ...I’m just repeating things & stuff.

I feel like I can't go on Twitter or say something cos .. I don't wanna argue. Don't @ me 🙈 yet I go make posts. 🙃

I feel annoyed cos there's positive posts about Caryl out there and I just want them to get it and not be upset(and make anti-Caryl-like posts). But oh well then. Some are just negative always so. Anyway, it's hard to wait for the ep and be bored and wanting to see random Caryl fluff stuff & meta.

I looked at Twitter and stuffff 😾 ...its awkward. Tumblr is a safe place I guess.

I feel like screaming ..”We are in the angst arc now!” This arc is like making it possible~ for Caryl to be romantic potentional (not bffs) and though dramatic but I'm sure Caryl is endgame. It seems to be that way IMO. Especially since Leah is similar to Carol. Things are changing. I feel we’re starting a new Caryl-chapter that is romantic-like and angsty. Well, I’ve been calling it s10C with those bonus episodes.  I would think it’s a bad sign if Carol didn’t react jealous or so about Leah or something, and if writers didn’t make the episode about Caryl overall.

The weird thing is that I thought I would be having unpopular opinions or be awkward in the Caryl-fandom when the spin-off show starts because of some TWD/non shippy related storylines that may happen. Like I might quit or something. So it's like oh ok so it’s now and not after the twd show. Oof surprising ..

And that I was like on the FENCE and upset back when CZ was going on in s9. Anyway Idk why it’s different with Daryl/Leah. Maybe, with CZ it was sudden and Kang just started to showrun. So I didn’t know much how the writers will do. Now I think I do..and I think Leah/Daryl is CZ 2.0 as in they are not endgame.

I guess people like angsty fics (with happy endings) but not when there's angst in tv shows of your ship or fave character. I forget that(in any fandom). People don't like angst. There's always fandom drama when it happens. I feel like some Carylers quit and dropped out of the angsty story midway of it, we're not done. There are like 24 episodes ep to go. And idk how it will go and how spin-off will go. So whatever is good for you or ...try to follow the narrative. Idk..I’m expecting big new drama coming. I'm sure there is a happy ending thing later on from this angst arc. Like the spin-off show is coming later on or could be around s11B. Maybe I'm good at spotting angst arcs and figuring things will be fine. Idk I just try to follow the narrative and if it's not going too bad then it's gonna be ok...and if I still like/interested in what writers are doing. The ep Diverged already looks positive for Caryl in the angst arc to me. And that it's all still overall about Caryl.

Idk but guys .. If there's angst and about romance things, then that's a big deal. Writers are starting to make Caryl possibly to make them romantic and not platonic. Like they've been doing that since s10 actually or.. S9f. !!! ...s10 is so Caryl-y. 💕

Awhile ago I wanted some kind of Caryl / Daryl angst fic set in s9. Those time jumps. Like when Daryl would be jealous of Zeke, and pining Carol for years and would love/hate her visits to him in the woods. (He was so depressed) Anyway tv writers are exploring more in that area now lol. Idk it's like Kang planned it. She added this subtle angst in S9...and then was like” no wait this is good angst.” I'm still shocked how s9 finale went. So then it becomes this sad Daryl angst with Carol visiting him a bit and Leah leaving him. And then Caryl kinda restarting their bond in s10.

So I think there'll be a love triangle plot and it might be planned before. Maybe with Connie at first but now it's with Leah because LR is too busy or writers wanted to do it differently. I mean... Caryl very possibly canon and endgame or Carol wouldn’t be breaking up with Zeke and be single...and episodes being about Caryl & spinoff show.

Sigh people talking about Daryl. It's confusing. It's like they want to hate on him right away. Maybe Daryl is bit different than we thought but still Daryl. We haven't seen the ep yet..to explain why he does the things he did. He's not abusive .. He's frustrated and he argued. Maybe it's a Carol stan thing... But I know Carol was on rage and even went too far... And still did what is right and is still a good person. Anyway idk they need to talk and rebuild their trust again. Just ...normal relationship things and they will be fine like in 3 episodes. Again all this drama is about Caryl when he’s upset/projecting? about Connie (and Leah?). 

And the whole love/sex thing, I don't get why that makes him OOC and calling it a fling. Maybe in the show it will make more sense to how Daryl are things with love/sex. I still think he's like a slow burn kind if dater or lover. It's so crazy to expect that one person he dates is his one true love. Like how? And how lucky that is though? Anyway .. ‘Slowburn dater’ makes sense to me..cos people do make mistakes. And based on spoilers he knew Leah for awhile so it's not a fling. And Leah is IMO similar to Carol...so = first love is still Caryl in a way. Is Leah even his first love? The point is I still think Daryl is still Daryl.

Ok so looking at haters’ tweets and lol I know its bad but OMG they really are spite-shippers and they just wanna hate on Caryl and Carylers. ‘Gee what about your ship?’ I see a *few comments from them worried about Leah and a few that were like ‘oh wait Daryl had been in a relationship before’-their headcanons a bit ruined.  Anyway I feel more and more confident that D0nnie isn’t happening or even be in majority in, what I think, a love triangle plot. It’s gonna be Caryl vs Daryl/Leah. (idk if it’s in a big way or subtle way in s11.) It’s not gonna be D0nnie vs Daryl/Leah and then oh look Caryl spin-off show. So...I don’t think C0nnie will be into this plot much. And yeah ...,to me, the endgame is still Caryl because of the spinoff show.

Maybe it’s a subtle something love triangle plot...and Leah is actually comic Pamela..or Sherry or something. If’s writers actually wrote it in a way that’s based on comic Carl, Sophia, and Lydia. That would be cool but Idk how that works by adapting that. Anyway, we’ll know more about Leah later on. I still think she’s for plot device. L is for comic!Lydia. lol

Also another rant I guess... some people are just always negative so .. yeah. Try to avoid the negativity then. Some of them ..are still here so I guess they’re still positive about Caryl without saying it.

idk I guess I see what I think the writers are trying to do for s10C and s11. And I’ll feel more confident in my thoughts once I see the each episode. So far I think Caryl is endgame.

[angelthefirst1]

The ballerina begins to dance again in fifteen minutes...

Last season I was extremely hopeful that perhaps masked Ninja would end up being Beth and that a big reveal would be similar to Morgan at the end of Coda-not far from finding team family, taking his mask off and revealing that he was indeed still alive. Providing us with a repeat Coda. Anyone that has been followed my posts over the years knows that I believe the actors use social media to give hints as to what is coming in the show, and that specifically-Emily's side projects since she's been gone, are planned by AMC and deliberately picked for her to symbolically shadow TWD. Thinking about some of the projects she has worked on, they include... The following-where she is a member of a cult and she is killed like this... 

Same overall theme to Alpha who had "A following"with the whisperers, and is killed in the same way. The flash (self explanatory)

Ten days in the Valley-About a missing girl The concussion-About a lady who gets a blow to the head. The Knick-About a brilliant surgeon who pushes the boundaries of medicine. If Beth is to survive her gunshot, she would at some point need medical attention. Forever-about a medical examiner who is immortal and studies the dead. In TWD universe we have seen examples of studying the dead/immortality, at the CDC in season one, and Milton in season three-who is a researcher and scientist, and we see hints of something similar happening with the helicopter group too. Love on the sidelines, which-as the title suggests would indicate her love story is on the sidelines. Being played quietly PPP Bullet proof Picasso-also self explanatory...

The messiah (Beth has always been portrayed as a sacrificial Christ figure) she sacrificed herself for Noah while wearing the cross bracelet. And we believe she will rise again and as with Jesus there was an empty tomb and Beth we saw no grave.  All of these could well be symbolic of Beth's story in part... And then there's some of Emily's songs which many in the past have speculated are about Bethyl. Songs like Last chance and more recently her song played on the TWD The Turtle and the monkey which played in episode 1005 (10+5=15) So keeping all this in mind...when I saw her post this...

About doing ballet and getting stronger, my mind at the time was focused on Ninja and I hoped she was learning to fight like Ninja and perhaps was just saying she was learning "Ballet" to cover for leaning marshal arts. But after re-watching 510 (5+10=15) the other day I saw Maggie open the music box and my mouth fell open and my brain exploded...

How did I miss this connection???

I suddenly remembered Emily's new album called THE SUPPORTING CHARACTER (PPP)

And her new song called 15 minutes (5+10=15) in which she becomes the BALLET DANCER.

Carl hands Maggie the music box in 510 and says "I found this when we were looking for water" (water = looking for the Lord-I'll explain this further down) Maggie "What is it?" Carl "I think it's used to play music" Carl "It's broken, I thought you might like it" Maggie "Thanks Carl"

Emily's new single/album is produced by SEAHORSE SOUND STUDIOS which is also represented in 510 (5+10=15) by this...

The walker trapped in the car in 510 is release by keys with a yellow seahorse. It’s trapped in the yellow "Seahorse studio" and even looks to have pointed toes like a ballerina and possibly a nod to ballet shoes to match...

Daryl, when he sees this car, deliberately runs away from it and goes on his search for WATER and comes across this dead deer

Time and again in this show (and others) whenever a deer dies (Christ) a person lives. If the deer lives-the person dies. Carl, Rick, and Magna's group prove this-just to name a few. In biblical symbology, deer represent devotion, and safety in God's care. Deer are a symbol of thirst and longing for the Lord. (Beth) Old testament David wrote about God, “As a deer longs for flowing streams (Water), so my soul longs for you. Jesus said "whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" Understanding the eternal water that Jesus speaks of will make more sense of 510 and why they were so desperate for water and then get drenched in it.

It's all about Beth (Jesus) return.

So for those who perhaps don't fully understand or haven't heard the gospel of Jesus Christ it's basically this. Mankind broke God's moral law (The ten commandments-Don't lie, steal, dishonor parents, commit adultery etc...) The payment for breaking even one of God's laws-even once is eternal death. God became a man (Jesus) who was free of the fallen nature and so was sinless. He sacrificed himself to pay the fine or penalty that was owed to mankind, having broken God's laws. So he died on the cross, but because he sacrificially paid for the sins of the world that were not his, God raised him to life and he defeated death (He wasn't owed the death penalty) He defeated death not just for himself but for all who ask him to take their place or payment. Water is life for humans so the reason Jesus calls himself the living water that springs to eternal life is because his water (sacrifice) if accepted brings eternal life to the drinker. So if a person lives (eternally) it's because Christ dies in their place, and they receive the eternal water Jesus has offered them. Beth was heavily portrayed as Christ, and Daryl (like old testament David) was longing for Beth when he went looking for water and he found the dead deer. Indicating Beth was indeed alive, he just didn't know it.

Emily's new song, video clip and album has heavily included symbolism of Beth from 510. including Beth being water and also the music box/ballerina. 510 (5+10=15 minutes) The water aspect is shown-or not shown i should say, by her album art cover. Which depicts her in the dessert (showing a lack of water just like the group in 510) but Emily is wearing the same pink that is found inside the music box. With the white shoes a nod to the white skirt. 

And this post Emily made about getting stronger at Ballet...

Was a repeat of this scene with Daryl and Maggie...

Daryl "She was tough, she didn't know it-but she was".  

The music video for 15 minutes is depicting the music box in 510. The video clip is very short and on a repeat loop, just like the ballerina in the music box it spins round and round.

For added emphasis i have hummed part of the music-from the music box that plays at the end of 510, and combined it into the introduction of Emily’s song, (please excuse the bad humming) but oddly the two fit together. whether that’s just pure luck or not, i don’t know but i found it interesting.  

In the video, Emily is dressed as a ballerina in the background but doesn't actually dance, it's a different ballerina dancing. Just like the music box ballerina represents Beth, but isn't actually her.

In photo’s Emily posted of the Video shoot, we see a ballerina dancing in front of oval lights-a hint to the oval mirror from the music box in the background.

Some of the lyrics to the song also made my ears prick up. Such as this...

While filming the small video clip for Fifteen minutes Emily posted some Instagram stories, which also tell Beth's story and I will go into below. Watch it and then read below.

This may seem to be an unplanned impromptu video, but it's not. Everything in this clip is scripted and planned. Every action and word is repeating Beth and Daryl scenes.  I'll point it out to you line by line... "Jacob's playing the piano, in my music Video that's coming soon" a reminder of Beth (music) playing piano and the music box playing again soon.

Jacob throughout this conversation is stuffing his face. Repeating Daryl doing the same in Alone.

Emily "Do you want to add to that?" Is a play on "What changed your mind?"

Jacob "Yeah you're gonna love it" (Daryl was trying to tell Beth he loved her)

Emily "What else? Ya think it's gonna be pretty good" Another play and repeat of the "What changed your mind" line, good people, and Beth playing “Be good” on the piano. Jacob "It's beautiful"

Emily "Thank you" repeating the thank you note. (In the background while Emily says thank you, we hear someone shout ooohhhh repeating the oh moment)

Emily laughs and says "what if you'd said no" which i think is a play on Daryl saying nothing to Beth when she asks "Don't you think that's beautiful?" Emily "Do you have some notes for the song?" A play on the thank you note. Jacob says he doesn't have any notes, repeating Daryl telling Beth she doesn't have to leave the thank you note.

Emily "Okay GOOD, because it's already mixed and mastered. Another mention of good.

Jacob ends the short clip with another reminder of the good theme by saying "The good thing is..." and it ends there abruptly, just like Beth and Daryl's story ending on the good people theme abruptly. This whole clip is a playful version of Beth and Daryl's main plot points from Alone.

Considering Emily posted about her ballet teacher saying she was getting stronger. I really find it odd that Emily doesn't actually dance in this video, she is just in the background.

I mean... she was apparently taking Ballet lessons and then does a ballet themed video clip-that would be a perfect opportunity to show some moves in. But it seems the Ballet theme video actually serves a different purpose-to tells us beforehand that the music box ballerina is about to start dancing again... 

Hopefully you can all see the connections here, and it's provided you with some much needed hope that Beth the music box ballerina is about to dance again soon. 

I do want to give a shout out to Emily Kinney Info on Instagram who is amazing at archiving all Emily's posts and provided me with some Instagram stories, clips and photos, which would have been lost in time.

[whateverisbeautiful]

Reveling In Richonne

#170: The Takedown (10x13)

So the answer to that final question of “what if my family needed to be saved from me?” is brutally answered in the final bit of this hallucination where Savior Michonne meets her demise. And y’all, it was a lot to take in.

Cuz after the lineup, Michonne and some Saviors are running and she’s hit with arrows by Daryl. As she falls to the ground, Daryl approaches and before Michonne can get up, Rick’s signature boot (which has another cameo coming up🙌🏽) pins her arm down as Rick aims his gun directly at Michonne.

On one hand I was like now TWD you have put Michonne through so much trauma in real life and now you’re about to insinuate even more trauma through this imagined trip where she has the most depressing demise from the love of her life. Like please let this woman finally be at peace.

And then I remember also thinking now you know Michonne was probably the baddest savior walking cuz when you have to get a double kill from Daryl and Rick, that means you did some damage.

@spacecarols

But what I like to think is that this Evil Twin Michonne absolutely did do some damage...because she took their Michonne away from them.

Roll with me on this, Michonne was still with TF in that line-up and Evil Michonne took her out so y’all know Daryl and especially Rick would stop at nothing to take out whoever took Michonne away from them.

Of course I hated having to see Rick aim a gun at Michonne and especially pull the trigger. Like it felt straight up blasphemous to witness. But the one saving grace in my mind is thinking that they were doing all this still out of love for the Michonne that Evil Michonne took from them. I know it’s my mind doing all kinds of mental gymnastics for a tripped out not-even-real scenario, but hey I can’t help being the Simone Biles of Extra. 😂

Either way though, this whole trip was such a wild ride and, while it was very interesting to see all these scenes reimagined, I was still ready to get the hell out of the darkest timeline at this point. And Michonne was too, cuz when this trip ends she immediately throws up and I was like girl same.

We needed to purge that horridness from our body and soul. It totally makes sense for Michonne to have such a visceral reaction to how awful that trip was cuz it’s everything she worked not to be. It’s the empty unfulfilling life she fought hard not to live.

And there was such a relief being able to leave that alternate reality and come back to the Michonne that lives a prosperous, fruitful, and admirable life. One where she has family and experienced true love and motherhood, and got to be a leader that cares for her people. That’s the Michonne I know and love and this alternate reality just emphasized that. It emphasized how Michonne overcame the darkness, both internal and in this dark world, to become a light in so many lives.

Michonne later asks Virgil what he sees when he’s tripping like that. He says he sees these pleasant and fond memories of his family and he wanted Michonne to get that too. But Michonne lets him know her trip took her family away from her. And yes it did. All those people we saw in those scenes; Daryl, Glenn, Rick, Carl, Sasha, Abe...They are her family and she’d do anything for them so it had to be so painful imagining herself as the cause of their harm.

And then she gives Virgil the most accurate description of that trip by saying it showed her hell. No lies told. So I was looking at Virgil like, when Michonne says she saw hell that is not at all...

I didn’t want Michonne to have to go through any kind of hell in her final episode but here we are. And what I did like is how true it is to her character that losing family would be the ultimate hell to her. She values and cherishes both her larger family and especially her immediate family of Rick, Carl, Judith, and RJ and the thought of life taking her on a path that would keep her from this is truly the darkest reality for her.

They’re her heart, y’all. And she’s theirs.

And in her final episode I’m glad that the overall emphasis of this trip is that the universe got it right by bringing Michonne and Rick together and how much that union saved the both of them, saved their communities, and gave them the beautiful family they have that, thank goodness, is very much real. 🙏🏽

Michonne was a boss in both realities, but I’m grateful we got to spend years watching her in the reality where she could be so much more than a boss, but also a mother, a wife, and a shining light amidst the darkness. 👌🏽😌

@michonnegrimes

[the-walking-daryl]

The Walking Winchester Chapter 10

Summary: What Y/N and Darly find in the clearing is not what they expected.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader 

Warnings: angst, asshole Negan, swearing

The sight you seen when you entered the clearing made you stomach turn, Rick and a bunch of others that you had grown close to on were on their. You tried to stop as soon as you seen them in hopes of going unseen by the huge group of people who were surrounding your friends, but the thought was wiped from your mind the moment a pair of hands grabbed you from behind and the voice of the man you hurt earlier spoke up, “you ain’t going anywhere now you little bitch.”

Glancing to your right you see that they have Daryl and are already dragging him towards the rest. The man holding you follows closely behind the two that are dragging Daryl until they reach your line of friends dropping you both to your knees at the end. As soon as your knees touch the ground you spin around in attempts to attack the man behind you only to be met with a backhand. This enrages Daryl and he goes to make an attempt of his own until the door to the R.V. swings open to reveal a tall man holding a baseball bat. 

As he approaches the group you take him in fully starting with the bat, from a distance it appears to be a normal bat but really it is wrapped in barbed wire. The hand holding the bat is wrapped in a single leather glove that matches his jacket. Before you get the chance to inspect the rest of his appearance he speaks causing your whole body to go rigid. 

“Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close,” you hear a voice all too familiar say causing your head to instantly snap up so that you are looking at their face.

“Dad?” you force out interrupting the speech that you could tell he was preparing to make. 

He stops the moment the word leaves your mouth and spins around to face you, “Y/N? What the fuck are you doing here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing. Last time I saw you was when the hellhounds were dragging you away.” 

The moment the words leave your mouth he is picking you up by your forearm and dragging you into the R.V. 

“I’m serious Y/N what the fuck are you doing here?” he all but growls at you as soon as the door closes “Hunting thing, saving people, ya’ know the family business,” you reply sarcastically causing him to give you the same look he’d give you while hunting, “fine, I came here with Sam and Dean to help people. We’ve done it before and saved a lot of lives so we figured why not do it again, but I got separated from them.”

“So the note, it was you,” he mumbles so quiet that you barely catch it. 

“You found the note?” you ask in confusion, “I left that for Sam and Dean so that they could find me. Now I have all those people relying on me and no way to know for sure that they are going to get out of here.” 

“Even if you found your brothers that doesn’t mean that they are gonna help you sweetheart. The issue you and that little group outside is worried about has nothing to do with monsters.”

“I know Sam and Dean, these people are just as bad as monsters and both of them would agree with me,” you state confidently.

“You brothers have been with me for about a week so that shows how much you truly know darling.”

“No, that’s not true. If they were truly here they would have come looking for me by now,” you scoff.

“They were looking for you, but they found me instead and were just too happy to see dear ole’ dad,” your father retorts with a smug smirk, “I’ll even prove it to you.”

Picking up the walkie talkie that is attached to his waist he pushes down the button to speak, “how are things going over there boy?”

There is nothing but static for a minute before you hear Dean’s voice come through, “Everything is running just as you would expect.” 

The color drains from your face and your stomach begins to turn at the sight of the cocky smirk your father is wearing, “okay so if they are here you must know about our plan.” 

“Oh indeed I do darling.”

“Then why are you doing this?” you ask, your voice shaking out of nerves.

“They killed a whole outpost of our men, do you expect me to just let that go?” 

“Your men were taking all of Hilltop’s supplies, making them do all the dirty work while your so called ‘saviors’ reap the rewards.”

“I don’t need you to tell me what my men were doing. I’m the one who gave ‘em the orders for christ’s sake!” he shouts angrily causing you to flinch. Seeing you shrink back your father sighs before speaking again, “you should know that actions have consequences.”

“Can’t you just make an exception for me? I care about these people, they are like family to me.”

“I don’t make exceptions darling, what type of a leader would I be if I did that?” 

Hearing that he won’t spare any of the people you have grown to care about you begin to sob causing him to grab you by your upper arm dragging you out of the RV. Part of you expected him to shove you back into the line up but he simply forced you to your knees beside him before he began talking.

“Pay attention,” he demands walking in back and forth in front of everyone, “Give me your shit or I will kill you. Today we invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. If you have shit, you give it to me, that's your job,” he states as if it is something that should be obvious.

“Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You built something, you thought you were safe, I get it. But the word is out now and you are not safe anymore. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want, and what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now, the more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door you let us in,” he says before pausing to chuckle. “We own that door so if you try to stop us and we will knock it down. Do you understand?”

When no one replies he looks around the group and speaks again, “What, no answer? You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill any of you, I just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me and you can't do that if you're dead, now, can you? But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you're gonna pay,” taking a deep breath he adjusts his jacket becoming more serious than before, “So, now I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you.”

Raising the barbed wire bat he has been carrying since you first seen him he speaks proudly, “This-- this is Lucille, and she is awesome, he proclaims before looking at the group again, “All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor.”

After a minute of silence your father breaks the tension with a sharp inhale, “Huh, you got one of our guns, no, whoa,” he says, pausing to think for another minute, “Yeah, actually you got a lot of our guns.”

As he is talking he begins walking in front of everyone once again only to stop in front of Carl, “Shit, kid, lighten up, or at least cry a little, he says with a laugh before continuing his walk.

He didn’t stop again until he heard Maggie sniffle, looking down at her disgust and sympathy covered his face momentarily, “Jesus, you look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now.”

“No! No!” Glenn shouts lunging at your father and beginning to attack him. 

“Stop it! God--!” he shouts grunting from the still coming attack, “Nope, nope, get him back in line.”

“No,” Glenn grunts his objection as two of your father’s men begin dragging him back to his spot, “No, no.”

At this point you can’t keep quiet any longer so you rise from your spot and look directly at your father, “I don’t know what you’ve been through since we last saw you dad but this is not the way. Let everyone go and we can all go home and figure it out together. You, Sam, Dean, and me. This isn’t you, we don’t kill people we save them. You raised me to believe that was my life motto and now you’re running around to be some big bully named Negan? Dad your name isn’t Negan it’s John fucking Winchester and the John Winchester I know wouldn’t be doing this.” 

With a laugh your father turns to you and has two of his bigger men hold you in place before turning to the group, “All right, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First one's free since it's an emotional moment, I get it. Sucks, doesn't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit.

At the end of his rant he stops right in front of Carl, “this is your kid, right?” he asks Rick before laughing at the expressionless face the boy is holding, “This is definitely your kid.”

“Just stop this!” you shout before Rick has the chance to say anything, you had grown to care for Carl and refused to let anyone hurt him, even if that person is your father.

“Hey! Do not make me kill the little future serial killer, don't make it easy on me,” your father retorts, “I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order, but I simply cannot decide.” 

“I got an idea,” he says with a laugh a few seconds later.

“Eenie meenie miney mo catch a tiger by his toe,” he calls out walking along the line, “If he hollers let him go,” He says before pausing and pointing the bat at yet another person, My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are it.”

“Anybody moves, anybody says anything,” he calls once he has made his final decision, “and I’ll cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father before we start.”

“You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry,” he says nonchalantly before releasing a breathe, “Hell, you're all gonna be doing that by the time I’m done.” 

TWD Forever Tags

@mrstellerwinston @phasma-trash @moonchild1507 @just-afann @babypink224221 @his-paradox @strangewhovian-blog @sexyvixen7 @oncemorewithfeelingg

Daryl Dixon

@nikki082489 @fuzzy-panda @hells-mistress @leather-mommy @apocalypse-haven @melancolizando-o @kathieycarrerarosshley @dovies666 @raven-black102 @marjoriey @jodiereedus22  @xxboesefrauxx @hp-hogwartsexpress @characterobsessed @sourwolf-sterek32 @dietothemusic @hurricane-abigail @adventurous-blob @sassysmiles 

The Walking Winchester

@namelesslosers @sexyvixen7 @nikki082489 @hana-song137 @sourwolf-sterek32 @scarletpines @fuzzy-panda @charlottie2998 @Noots4Jesus @nsggmc @raven-black102 @futuristicallygeneralballoon @darylandhiscrossbow @anomiatartle  @pockerfacechick @darxetta18 @seninjakitey @adventurous-blob @team-flashh @sassysmiles @singhfae

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Predictions and Musings for 10b (Mostly Musings ;D)

Okay, let’s talk predictions. The big question everyone is asking is whether I think we’ll see Beth in 10x10, or, more broadly, when I think we’ll see her.

I’m not willing to rule out that we’ll see her in 10x10. If we do, I think it will be minimal. Like an after-the-credits scene where only the audience sees her, but none of the characters do. That said, as we head into 10b I’m feeling more and more like she won’t actually surface until the season finale. Again, not ruling out 10x10, and I’d be happy to be wrong. But that’s not my strong, gut feeling either.

I’ll explain why. And I’m going to frame this post in terms of clocks. We’ll talk about the clock in Edwards’ office in 5x08, the 10:16 clock in 7x08, and how I see the rest of the season playing out.

Let’s start 7x08. I’m not sure how me and my fellow theorists even got started on this, but we’ve been discussing it for the past week or two. It may just have been that someone (it really wasn’t me) remembered the clock.

So here’s the thing: when Daryl escapes the Sanctuary in 7x08, he runs into Dwight’s room after a vat of pickles spills in front of him. He hides there for a time before escaping. Behind him, when he runs down to the corridor is a clock that read 10:16. Now, during s8, most of us were still hoping Beth would appear sometime during or near the end of All Out War, so we weren’t seriously considering S10 for her reappearance at that time. So we weren’t sure what the clock represented.

Now, as we’re in S10, and we’ve had all these ridiculous clues that she’s about to reappear, the 10:16 clock becomes really interesting. Because 10x16 will be the season finale of this season.

Remember that in this scene, when Daryl goes into Dwight’s room, there’s a ridiculous amount of Beth symbolism. He eats peanut-butter, he looks at the chess pieces, several of which are reminiscent of Grady, there are fish on the wall (water), we see his scars, etc. And of course this is him escaping his imprisonment, which has heavy parallels to Beth being imprisoned at Grady. So everything about this scene screamed Beth.

But let’s talk specifically about what happens in front of the 10:16 clock. Daryl is trying to escape and some Saviors who are evidently handling food supplies drop a glass jar of pickles and it breaks, spilling across the corridor. That’s why Daryl runs into Dwight’s room. These Saviors talk about cleaning it up and he doesn’t want to be seen. He waits until they’re done cleaning up the mess and the corridor is empty again before making a break for it.

So, do you remember what’s up with pickles? Via the St. Nicholas/Pickle story (X, X, X) there should be three resurrections at some point. Daryl’s “I Never” line in Still about Santa Clause probably points to this. What Santa Clause/St. Nicholas will bring him is a resurrected Beth. 

(We also had a big emphasis on pickles during S7 via Eugene.)

But the myth says that St. Nick resurrected not one, but three boys/children/people depending on the version. I’ve theorized that the three resurrections will be the three remaining death fake out couples. (Glenn is dead for real, so not him.) I think the resurrections will be Beth, Rick, and Ezekiel. We haven’t seen Ezekiel’s death fake out yet, but I still think we will. And per Jerry’s shoe thing in 10x09, I think he’ll be involved.

Do all three resurrections have to happen simultaneously? I don’t think they HAVE to, but they COULD. And given that there’s a good chance that Beth and Rick are in the same place (helicopter people) I think there’s a good chance they will.

But the point here is that Daryl sees the pickles in front of the 10:16 clock. The way I’m interpreting that is that St. Nicholas will bring Daryl his gift at least in episode 10x16. So that’s why I think it’s less likely that we’ll see actually see her in 10x10.

Also, @wdway​ found something interesting in Slabtown that may support this:

“This is the scene where Beth has just come from Dawn's office and she is stopped in the hall by Dawn. It's always been strange about how this number was featured. I also want to point out the envelope type hang on the door if you enlarge it you can see that it's a pink (Pink Theory)…. Back to the number 5+5+6=16. So we have a 16 there's no true way of knowing if it's directed to this episode 16 or not.

Let's play around with what 16 and what these numbers in TWD world might look like as far as episodes. In s5e16 Conquer. In s5 series episode 56 was Self-Help. (Both very Beth-centric symbolism episodes.) Looking at 16, series number 16 was s2e10, 18 Miles Out (Beth’s suicide attempt). S1e6 was TS-19, the episode where TF was at the CDC eventually blew it up. (For this reference, see @angelthefirst1’s meta HERE.) By the way in the little library in the facility during a scene with Lori and Shane there is a 10-10 clock in the bookcase.”

But what does that mean for 10x10?

Well, let’s talk about the clock in Edwards’ office in 5x07. We’ve never done a very convincing job of figuring out what this clock points to. The hour hand points to the 10 while the minute hand points to the 8. Again, back in S5, we were definitely NOT thinking this pointed to S10. So there’s that. But even if we do so now, it seems to point to 10x08, the MSF. And MAYBE that’s a thing. I think there’s one way it could be, but overall it’s not terribly convincing. More on that in a minute.

But here’s the thing:

I actually think this clock may point to episode 10x10. Let me explain why. Warning: it involves math.

Due to Jesus’ death, we figured out that an hour represents a season as a whole, rather than the individual numbers pointing to episodes. That doesn’t work as there are only 12 numbers and 16 episodes. We saw the 9:30 clock behind Jesus and Carl in S7 and Jesus died in 9x08, which was exactly half-way through the hour/season. So I got out my trusty calculator and did some math. I tried this several different way and WAY over complicated it for myself. The easiest way to do it is this:

If you divide 1 hour 16 ways (by 16 episodes) each episode would be represented by 3.75 minutes. So if they want to point to something in episode 8, they would do 3.75 minutes multiplied by 8 episodes and you get 30. So they would point the minute hand of the clock toward 30 minutes (as they did with Jesus) to represent something happening in the MSF (episode 8). I hope that makes sense.

If you’re a visual person, check out this pie chart. If the minute hand is pointed at the 8 (40 minutes) then you divide that by 3.75 minutes for each episode, and you get roughly 10. Now, it’s not exact. It should be pointed at 37.5 minutes rather than 40. And honestly, it might be. This clock is very blurry because it’s in the background, and it may point to slightly before the 8. It’s just too hard to tell for sure.

Hence, I think this clock points to 10x10.

Now, anyone who reads @frangipanilove​’s posts knows her theory is that the 10x10 clock actually points to 10x11 for various reasons. (Read HERE). And I can totally get behind that. I don’t know how it will all play out but she’s got some amazing evidence and it won’t bother me at all if this is actually pointing to ep 11 rather than 10. What she and I have kind of settled on is that both episodes (10 and 11) are sure to be super-important.

Different clocks truly do need to be interpreted different ways. For example, the 10:16 I mentioned above. Applying the number system I laid out above to it doesn’t produce anything specific. So I really think that clock, which reads a time of 10:16, literally points to episode 10x16. For the 10:10 clock, this system KIND of works. It obviously wouldn’t point to 10x10, but it would be 10x02 or 10x03. Both those episodes had lots of TD symbolism in them, but nothing much beyond that. But of course 10x02 plays into your 2 and 11 theories, and the fact that 2x10 was 18 Miles Out.

And then there’s THIS POST about how the time 10:10 on a clock has historically represented when certain famous assassinations happened. So, it’s possible we shouldn’t be reading into the numbers on this clock at all.

I can totally see tptb using different systems for different clocks, specifically to throw us off and make the symbolism insanely hard to interpret.

But what will be in episode 10 and/or 11?

Obviously this is all speculation, but let’s return to this scene in 5x07 and some things I’ve mentioned earlier in the week. Beth goes into Edwards’ office to ask what medicine she needs to give Carol to save her. He tells her, and then she walks into the dark tunnel/hallway. They also talk about Beth having the “key” to the drug locker.

So I’m thinking what we’ll get in 10x10 or 10x11 is the “key” to where Beth is and it will have a lot to do with healing. Part of it is healing Carol. (I’ll talk more about Carol tomorrow because there’s a LOT going on with her right now and it ties directly into Beth’s return.) But I know a lot of people have theories that Beth will bring a cure for the zombie virus as well. I don’t harp on that overly much, but I think it’s a real possibility, especially with what we know of the helicopter people and them purifying water. So this scene in Edwards’ office was a direct foreshadow of when/how/in what manner Beth will return.

For me, I think it will be directly tied to Connie. I’ve been saying since the beginning of the season that 1) Connie would get a death fake out. We’ll have to wait and see what Daryl finds, but I think this episode was the beginning of Connie’s death fake out. I think he’ll either not find her and Magna at all (just gone) or else maybe he’ll find blood and her sling shot or something else that makes him think she’s dead. Eaten by walkers. So I think he’ll believe she’s dead and for him it will be a major replay of Beth’s death.

So if anything along those lines happens, I think that in episode 10/11 he’ll find out that she’s alive and where she is. You know how I keep saying he and Carol will jump on his bike and go look for someone, and I’ve said I think it will be Connie? Yeah, it’s really kinda happening that way, guys. I can’t say for sure they’ll go on his bike, but much like back in S5, they’ll leave together to go find someone who’s (most likely) been taken hostage by another group. In S5 it was Beth. Here, it will be Connie. And we’ve solved the problem of why Carol would go with Daryl: because the cave in was her fault and she has super-heavy guilt over it.

And I think Connie will end up where Beth is in some way and will help bring Beth back to Daryl, fulfilling the symbolism from 10x01 where she brought Dog to him on the beach. So I’m thinking we’ll learn Connie’s whereabouts in ep 10/11 and while it won’t be about Beth in an obvious way, it will lead to her. And maybe Daryl will finally come face to face with Beth in 10x16. That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway. But again, these are just predictions and could prove to be wrong.

More random-but-compelling evidence for 10x16? This also from @wdway​:

“While I was looking at all this from I remembered something that I played around with a while back and I even mentioned it I think to you guys but now that it's closer to us it might mean more. At the end of the episode Coda we have the fire truck and that number on the side the 82. Coda series number = 59. 82+59= 141. S10e10 will be series number 141.”

This may not entirely fit into what I said above, but maybe we’ll learn what happened to the fire truck, or just what happened during the missing 17 days, in episode 10x10? No idea. Just a thought.

This is more general, but in terms of episode structure, consider this: Beth disappeared in ep 8 and the music box woke up in ep 10. I know Connie won’t technically disappear until ep 9 but the catastrophe leading to it happened in ep 8 and Beth was technically in 5x09. So having Connie “show up” again in some capacity in ep 10 makes sense. Just saying.

One more note: given that we are already experiencing a death fake out for Connie, and that I think she’ll end up where Beth is, and by extension, where Rick is, it has occurred to me that she might be the third pickle resurrection, rather than Ezekiel.

Maybe.

Overall, I still lean toward Ezekiel. Why? Well, mostly because he’s one of the four death fake out couples. And while I love Connie, she’s not AS mainstream a character as Ezekiel. I don’t think she’s had enough time on the show, enough depth of character to qualify as the 3rd pickle resurrection. But I also mentioned Jerry because of the shoe thing in this episode. And of course Heath and Jadis/Anne are still missing as well. So there might be several minor character returns that go along with the three big ones. But I still think overall the big ones will be Beth, Rick and Ezekiel. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Okay, other predictions.

Episode 14:

As I said, I’ll talk more about how Carol fits into all of this tomorrow, and there are a lot of ties, but here are some basic speculations about 10x14.

We know people often die in episode 14 of a season. (4x14: Mika and Lizzie; 5x14: Noah; 6x14: Denise, etc.) Some of my fellow theorists have thought for some time that Father Gabriel will die before Beth returns.

Why? Because he’s the embodiment of the Sirius symbol.

Okay, this becomes a really interesting discussion about the Sirius symbolism and the characters who embody it. Remember the Sirius symbolism has to do with dogs, stars, and having only one eye. I can’t think of a character who embodied the Sirius symbolism in 5b, after Beth was shot. Noah, perhaps. Honestly, nothing about him screams Sirius to me. Other things to do with Beth symbolism? Yes. But Sirius, not so much. Although there is that shot of him looking at the blue dog collar in Them after they eat the wild dogs.

In S6, Denise showed up. She had both eyes, but there was a motif about her glasses and her being kinda blind. Not to mention, she died by being shot through the eye.Though she didn’t died BEFORE Carl lost his eye, she died soon after. She also saved his life. 

At that point, Carl, with his one eye and many ties to Beth, becomes something of a Sirius embodiment.

In S8, Carl dies. And right about that same time, Father Gabriel loses his sight in one eye, in an episode that ALL kinds of callbacks to Still, Alone, and Coda. Since then, he’s been the embodiment of the Sirius symbolism.

See why we suspect he might die before or right around the time Beth reappears? 

It’s also interesting to note that he was perhaps the last one to speak her name. He talked to Maggie about her in Them, and while we saw Beth in Sasha’s flashback in that, and since then in the portraits hanging at Hilltop over Maggie’s desk, no one has actually said Beth’s name since FG did in Them.

In other words, the last person to have spoken Beth’s name is now the embodiment of the Sirius symbolism.

Other stuff on episode 14:

It’s important to note that we don’t KNOW any of this stuff about episode 14. People in the fandom are simply speculating on it. We know there will be an episode entitled “Look at the Flowers” and given that that phrase was so heavily emphasized in 4x14 with the girls, it would make sense for it to be the title of 10x14.

This from @wdway​:

“People have been speculating for the last couple of months that episode 14 will be the episode at the hospital that was used in Slabtown. We also have had sightings of the King in the city which makes people think it might have to do with the story line that has been set up with his thyroid condition.

I want to show you a shot that's taken from earlier this season where the king is on the Hilltop radio waiting for Carol to come and he's going to tell her about his condition but before she gets to the radio he stops and leaves. This is a shot of the radio.

Look up the number at the top the very top one is 145. Now we know that the comic book issue of 45 is when Andrea wakes up from being shot in the head. And here's the radio set at channel 145 and the King is about to talk to Carol and it's concerning a medical issue. You probably know what I'm about to say serie number 145 will be S10e14.”

To me, this also backs up the idea of Ezekiel’s death fake out. The 145 ties directly to Andrea’s death fake out in the comic books.

I’ll end there. I think I’ve rambled enough for one day.

Disclaimer: I wrote this over a week ago, before Ep 9 even aired. So yes, I know that due to spoilers, some of the stuff I’ve written above is already invalid. For example, it doesn’t look like we’ll see Connie in 10x10 or find out anything about the missing 17 days.

I didn’t want to change anything in this post, partly because I’m lazy 😋 and partly because, as far as these being possibilities we’re considering, they’re still valid, even if they don’t happen in this coming episodes. Just think of them as food for thought.

So, thoughts?  😉

[wclsh-a]

CHARACTER STUDY META.

so, this is mostly a post for my followers who aren’t familiar with twd / shane walsh, and are wondering what kind of character he is. please note that i’m writing this based on how i personally view shane, so some of this might not be actual canon, although i try my best to stick to canon as closely as possible. however, even if you are familiar with shane as a character, i’m hoping this post will give a bit of an idea of how i write shane. anyway... putting this under a read more bc it got kinda long

alright, let me talk about my portrayal of shane walsh for a moment. shane is a guy who starts out being neither entirely good nor entirely bad. i feel like when it comes to shane, a lot of people see him as either or, but what i love about the walking dead is that most of the characters aren’t just all ‘good’ or all ‘bad’. the so-called “good guys” of the series actually do bad things at times, and the “bad guys” of the series actually do good things at times, or at the very least comes off as good at some point or another.

and with shane, he kind of goes through a change throughout the first two seasons. he starts off more on the scale of a “good guy sometimes doing bad things,”  but as the series goes on, things gets more and more blurred for him to the point where he ends up more as a “bad guy sometimes doing good things.” i’m not going to go into too much details about what brings about this change, but tl;dr; after believing his best friend, rick, was dead, shane fell in love with and entered a relationship with rick’s wife, lori, and after rick turned out to be alive, lori left shane for rick, while rick basically took over the leadership of the group that shane had been leading and kept safe up until then, and so shane started to blame rick for putting their group in danger and people in their group getting hurt and killed from rick’s decisions (or at least shane sees it as rick’s decision making being the fault,) and shane also struggled to accept and come to terms with how lori was suddenly treating him like he had only been hurtful to her and carl and acted like she never even cared about him to begin with and told him to stay away from them, etc.

.... anyway.... that whole thing’s a mess so i’m not gonna go into that any more in this post.

from before the outbreak, all the way up to when rick came to the atlanta camp, and even a little after rick showed up, shane was shown as someone who cared about people and their safety. some might disagree here, and bring up scenes like where shane refuses to go after and help the people in their group who got stuck in the city as shane not really caring. but when you look at it, the people in the group that was still in camp with shane, was people who either a) was old b) didn’t know how to use a gun / how to fight c) got frightened / terrified / panicked at the sight of walkers and / or d) were just kids. to take any of them into the city where they knew walkers were in large herds in an attempt to save the others? to shane, that seemed more like sentencing them all to death. shane also knew that those in their group who was in trouble in the city was more equipped to handle themselves and had a better chance at figuring out a way to save themselves, and also since shane and the others weren’t able to stay in contact with them over the radio due to poor reception, shane had no guarantee that they would even stay where they were by the time shane and the others could’ve reached them if they did try to go after them. all in all, shane had plenty of reasons to not try to help them, and no reason aside from it ‘being the right thing to do’ to try to help them. 

it’s not that he didn’t care or didn’t wish he could help. to him, it just wasn’t worth the risk.

some examples that he did care about others than himself, is how he selflessly put his life at risk to try to help his best friend, rick, who was in a coma at the hospital during the outbreak, and, when he realized there was nothing he could do, he still put a bed against the door to the room rick was in, in a desperate last hope of a miracle that rick could somehow survive. another example, is how shane looked after carol and sophia, even more so after noticing how carol’s husband abused his wife. he always made sure to check up on them, and when carol apologized on behalf of her husband for something her husband did, shane assured her she had nothing to apologize for. and when he finally caught ed in the actual act of trying to abuse his wife, shane intervened and brutally beat him up, warning him to never lay a hand on anyone again. another example is how he looked after jim when he had a sunstroke, making sure he stayed in the shadow, and got enough water and was able to cool down, and when jim got bit, how shane was one of the people who expressed that he didn’t want to kill him and that it didn’t feel right leaving him behind even though jim had asked for it himself. 

one thing i’ve noticed is that shane constantly talks about his disapproval when it comes to taking risks that puts the group’s safety at jeopardy, and i mean, if he truly didn’t care, he wouldn’t constantly worry about putting the group’s safety at risk.

that being said...

he also has a lot of flaws and issues. 

shane has a mindset where he thinks he’s always right, and struggles to understand other people’s opinions if they’re at odds with his own, even after hearing them out. this goes back to even before the outbreak, but it wasn’t as noticeable back then as post outbreak, as he was more willing to “agree to disagree” in order to maintain the peace, because back then, disagreements rarely meant the difference between life and death, so he could live with swallowing his own pride more easily because it rarely came at much of a cost, whereas decisions after the outbreak often did...

this mentality, especially on top of his strong desire to keep the group safe, can quickly bring out a lot more negative sides to shane when people start disagreeing with him. best case scenario, he’ll think you’re just a naive idiot who he doesn’t much care for or care to listen to (this is usually the case if he thinks you don’t have much influence / power over the rest of the group, like with dale.) worst case scenario, he’ll look at you as a great danger to the group, one that needs to be dealt with to keep the rest of the group safe (this is usually the case if you are in a leadership position, like with rick.) either way, people disagreeing with him can quickly lead to shane becoming frustrated, hotheaded, etc, especially after rick takes over leadership of the group and he starts to feel everyone shift towards supporting rick and no longer listening to anything shane has to say.

also, while shane wants to keep the group safe, he is not always a person you can rely on if you ever get yourself in a pinch. in fact, chances are he’s not going to be willing to risk himself or others to come back for you, unless there’s a really goddamn good chance of success or at the very least a really low risk for others getting hurt / killed. and even then, he’ll be hesitant about it.

he has also proven to be willing to sacrifice a good, decent person to save himself and someone in his own group, as proven when a man not in their group, named otis, accidentally shot rick’s son, carl, and carl ended up needing medical supplies to survive. so when shane and otis went out to get said supplies, and got crowded by a herd as they tried to leave, otis rescued shane, however shane ended up shooting otis in the leg to draw the herd to otis, giving himself an opening to save himself and get the supplies back to carl. he didn’t take any pleasure in doing it, and struggled with it afterwards, but he justified it to himself by the fact that sacrificing otis had ensured that shane had managed to get back with the supplies and thus saving the kid.

shane also has a whole bunch of other issues that are connected to his dynamics with rick and with lori, which includes an obsession with lori, jealousy of rick and lori’s relationship, a growing hatred / resentment towards rick ( partially because of said jealousy, but also partially because he genuinely thinks that while rick has good intentions, he is a danger to the group, especially since the group seems to blindly put their faith in rick and has stopped listening to shane at all.) but that’s a whole different story and this post is already getting too long, rip

[shannen-writes]

Underrated ships meta series - #1 Rick and Lori (The Walking Dead)

This post is the first in a new meta series I’ll be writing about my favourite and most underrated ships in fandom. All posts in the series will be tagged as #underrated ships. To kick it off this series, I’ll be discussing Rick and Lori Grimes from The Walking Dead.

I think I’m one of a small handful of people that actually loves Rick and Lori as a ship. Generally, I think their relationship is very misunderstood and because it’s not the typical “passionate” or “fiery” relationship that people tend to fall in love with in fandom, the depth and complexity of their love is overlooked. 

Rick and Lori were married for many years (although we never found out exactly how long, we can assume it was around a decade, if not more) so from the pilot episode, their relationship is already very developed. I’ve seen a trend in fandom whereby ships of this type aren’t very popular. I assume it’s because as shippers we love to see the process of two characters meeting, getting to know each other, falling in love and witnessing all the emotional ups and downs that go with that. However, I think there’s a beauty and realness to ships like Rick and Lori. There were issues in their relationship - they argued and there was a distance between them - like there are in most long-term relationships. It was no doubt a result of the pressures of everyday life as parents having the responsibilties of a child and a home. Rick likely worked long hours as a deputy sheriff and over the years people can change and grow apart. But what’s always clear is that there was always love between Rick and Lori during that time, no matter how hard things got between them. 

When Rick woke from his coma he was driven by a singular desire to find his family. Believing her husband was dead and that the world was coming to an end, Lori fell into Shane’s arms and developed a sexual relationship for him. This is something that I’ve always felt Lori has been unfairly hated for. Her actions were completely understandable given the circurmstances and I’m sure many people in the same situation would behave the same way. It was clear that she was never in love with Shane and her actions were those of a grieving woman in a highly emotional state. Her love for Rick was shown immediately by the fact that she still wore his wedding ring around her neck. 

Also Rick told Lori that he knew she and Carl were alive because when he went to the house all of their photos were gone; photos that she kept right by her bed. Yet another indicator of how much Lori still loved Rick. Not to mention that the blue flannel Lori is wearing in the first episode is actually Rick’s. 

The second Lori saw Rick for the first time and realised he was alive her love became even clearer. 

Lori thinking Rick was dead and thinking they’d lost each other forever was a wake up call for them both. It made them realise that all the difficulties they’d been facing in their relationship leading up to then weren’t important because they still loved each other. 

I remember when I first watched TWD I was so sure that Lori would carry on with Shane behind Rick’s back, but she didn’t. The second she knew Rick was back there was no hesitancy or doubt, Rick was her husband and he was the man she loved. Rick knew very early on what had happened between Lori and Shane, and he accepted it because he saw it for what it was. He understood that Lori didn’t cheat on him or ever stop loving him, she slept with Shane because out of grief and because she thought her husband was dead. The certainty and security of their love was something they shared; Rick knew how much Lori loved him and Lori knew how much Rick loved her. 

Rick and Lori’s relationship was never thrown in our faces, but they shared moments of tenderness and affection that showed how much they loved each other. 

They were also a partnership. They leaned on one another and communicated openly. When Carl was shot, in particular, the way in which they united and relied on one another for strength was clear.

But it wasn’t always plain sailing. They disagreed sometimes - Rick did things that Lori didn’t want him to, putting himself in danger in the process and Lori didn’t tell him immediately about her pregnancy or her decision to have an abortion (which she then changed her mind about). 

Yet there was still an honesty between them, even if that honesty wasn’t always immediate. And through everything they were always each others’ anchor. Rick, in particular, with all of the pressures that was placed on him as the groups leader, turned to Lori for support and she acted as his voice of reason. Lori and Carl were what kept him centered, his reason for living and his strength.

As Andrew Lincoln rightfully said, Lori and Carl were the two engines of his life. He was also right when he said the below quote: 

“They are their first loves. They're almost at a cellular level. They love each other and they can't help that. Even though they're broken, they're the last memory that they have of their life before.” (x)

Rick and Lori’s relationship is rocky and it’s far from perfect, but their love for each other is in their DNA. After the events of season 2, Rick and Lori become estranged and their relationship breaks down in season 3 leading up to her death.

But once again it’s so obvious that these are two people that are in love but that have been through so much shit and are stuck in such horrendous circumstances that they simply can’t make their relationship work. In their final scene together, Lori’s says “I thought you were coming out here to talk about us”, which shows that she wanted to get things back on track with Rick. And her reaction to him walking away from her is the look of a woman who is broken hearted to be losing the man she loves. 

When Lori dies, we see that Lori’s love for Rick wasn’t one-sided. Despite how closed off and cold he seemed to be towards Lori, her death completely broke him. 

Not only does he wail in despair and fall to the ground sobbing, he then goes into a catatonic state and a fit of rage as he kills every walker in sight and repeatedly stabs the walker that ate Lori. Rick’s mental state is so affected by Lori’s death that he hallucinates a phone call with her and proceeds to have multiple hallucinations whereby he sees Lori and even interacts with her.

(my gifs)

The phone call is so heartbreaking because we finally hear everything Rick has been thinking and feeling about Lori. He admits that he still loves her and says he couldn’t put it back together. The regret of not being able to make his marriage work and not telling her exactly how much he loved her before she died was eating him up inside.

It confirmed that Rick never stopped loving Lori, and that deep down inside he always hoped and believed they could find a way to be together again. His hallucinations were the only way his mind was able to deal with her loss and the devastating regret of never saying goodbye and telling her all the things he wanted to say. 

By the point that Lori died, Rick had already been hardened by the new world and experienced loss and death, but losing his wife is by far the most profound loss he suffers up to this point and we really see how deeply it affects him. It’s not the kind of death where he cries once and then moves on. His entire mental and emotional state is detroyed and the impact of it takes its toll on him throughout the whole of season 3. Even in the final episode of the season, when he’s leaving the prison, he looks up to the gate where he last spoke to Lori before she died. 

It’s really no surprise that Rick reacted this way to Lori’s death. She’d been his partner for most (if not all) of his adult life. She was the woman he had shared everything with for decades; his wife, his best friend, his confidante, his anchor, his comfort, the mother of his child, his safety. She was everything he’d ever known and regardless of how distant they became or the circurmstances that pushed them apart, she was his constant. Rick would always, no matter what happened or how much time passed, love Lori. 

Even in death, his love for her is clear. He continued to wear his wedding ring for a long time after she died and dedicated his life to raising Judith as his own. This is something that’s taken forgranted by fans. It was almost a given that Rick would care for Judith and be her father, when in reality, he could’ve refused. He could’ve resented Judith because she’s Shane’s daughter and a living reminder of his best friend who who murdered and that slept with his wife, betrayed him and tried to kill him. He also could’ve resented Judith for leading to Lori’s death. In fact, I think part of him did initially and that’s why in the immediate aftermath of Lori’s death he couldn’t bring himself to see her or hold her. But the second he did, he loved her and knew she was and always would be his daughter regardless of biology. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that Rick loves Judith partly because she’s Carl’s sister, but it’s also because she’s Lori’s daughter. He lost his wife, but he has Judith who is a piece of Lori just as Carl is. But more importantly, Lori specifically told Rick that no matter what happened he was always going to be the father of her baby. 

Rick loves Judith because she’s daughter, but everything he has done for Judith and every ounce of love he has for her stems from his love for his wife. It’s so easy for people to forget that, but if Rick didn’t love and respect Lori as much as he did, it’s possible he may have never come to accept and love Judith as his own daughter in the way that he did. 

I love Rick and Lori’s relationship because I think it’s a real relationship. It’s not the kind of great epic love story that draws people in, it’s more subtle than that and more alike to relationships that ordinary people have. They had their ups and downs, neither of them were perfect and their relationship broke down more than once, but through all of those downs, their love remained strong. They were always connected and there was an inevitability to them. Even when they were at their worst, they still believed in their hearts they’d be together again. They had a mutual respect and understanding, and they were a partnership. Rick turned to Lori for support and advice when he was at a crossroads and didn’t know where to turn. Lori leaned on Rick for strength as her husband and father of her child. She trusted that he would always keep them safe and act in their best interests. Unfortunately, their story ended tragically. Lori died never knowing how Rick truly felt and Rick had to suffer the soul-destroying pain of losing his wife and live with the guilt of her death and regret that he didn’t tell her he loved her whilst he still had the chance. But even in death their love lives on and no matter how much time passes or what changes, Rick will always carry Lori in his heart because they were the love of each others’ lives. 

*none of the gifs are mine (except the two I’ve stated)*

[storytime-hoe]

Tough Love Ch.11

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x O/C

Summary: Story picks up during season three as the group goes into Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie from the Governor. However, they pick up another prisoner of Woodbury, Emma (O/C). She is a thief who fears friendships after her hard losses. She stays on the move, studying communities from afar and then robbing them blind. She has stayed alive this way for a while until the Governor catches her in the act. Now she finds herself with the group from the prison in a mission to kill the Governor for what he has done to her. She plans on stealing supplies from the prison group after the Governor is killed, but she might be growing a little too close to the groups members, especially one man in particular: Daryl Dixon.

Warnings: Slow burn, language, usual twd violence, mentions of abuse/rape

Authors Note: Hope you all enjoy this one! It’s a sad one I would say and we get some background info about Emma’s past. I kinda just made that part up without putting any forethought into it so it might be a little rough.

Previously: Ch.1         Ch.2       Ch.3       Ch.4     Ch.5      Ch.6     Ch.7       Ch.8       Ch.9       Ch.10

It took me a few more weeks to recover from the bullet wound. I hated sitting around in my room, unable to go out on runs with the others. There were a lot of mouths to feed and I wished I could do something to help out. I had been a scavenger and looter from the beginning, so I obviously couldn't hunt down or track anything to eat like Daryl could. I really felt useless.

And that wasn't good for me because every day that went by that I wasn't able to be of any help, the more my thoughts started to become poisoned. I couldn't help but feel like a burden all the time like every other fucker here who had everything brought to them on a silver platter. It wasn't good for me or my mindset and eventually I slumped into a depression.

I used to have these periods of depression all the fucking time before the turn of everything. I lived in a shit trailer park with my mom and little brother. I would feel the crushing responsibilities of taking care of them both, even though that should not have been my fucking job, and I knew I would never surmount to anything more than a doublewide. I would end up just like my damn mother, and I couldn't stand her most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved her, but fuck was she hard to love. She never held down a job, so my waitressing gig was all that brought in money for us. We kept our bellies full, which is all that we could ask for, but when we did have a little extra money for luxuries, Mom would blow it all on booze or gamble it all away.

As much as I hated her for her lifestyle, I saw myself becoming the exact thing. I already had my interest perked with gambling, but unlike her I still had some self control. Waisting money wasn't all on her either. I had to have a few smokes back then. Now those were what really got me through the dark times, that is before it became acceptable to chop down rotting humans, which is what I really needed to do if I was to get out of this slump.

When the day came that I could lightly run on my leg good enough, I made the decision to go out on my own. I took a gun and a backpack and marched myself straight towards the gates without anyone saying anything to me. That was to good thing about looking like a pissed off bitch all the time, people steered clear of you and never questioned your actions.

I thought I was going to get out free of curious minds until I heard the pesky little boy shuffle up behind me.

"Where are you going?"

I stopped in my tracks with a deep sigh. "I thought you might be happy to see me leave, Carl?"

The boy wasn't looking at me when I turned towards him, he kept his eyes trained on the gun at my hip. Rick had confiscated gun rights after he heard that Carl had shot an innocent boy in the fight against the Governor. There was some dark shit going on in his head, that was for sure.

"Well, don't get your hopes up too high. I'm coming back."

His lips pressed into a thin line. "Good."

My eyebrows raised in surprise. "Good? You want me around now?"

His expression was hard as he looked at me with a drawn brow. "Are you sure going out alone is a good idea? Daryl said we aren't sup–"

"I know what he told everyone," I interrupted with more anger in my voice than I'm proud of, but when it came to Daryl making rules for me I couldn't help it. "Listen, kid. Can you just keep quiet about this?"

"How long will you be gone?" He peered up from under his hat, interrogating me like the mini sheriff he was. There was no mistaking the worry in his words, however. I guess I really had grown on the little guy if he was actually worried about me.

I gave him a lopsided smile and said, "I'll be back before sun down. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I always am."

"I just think taking someone with you might be a good idea." He motioned back to the prison. "Michonne usually goes out around this time. Can't you just wait for her?"

I shrugged it off. I could've waited around, but I needed to be out on my own again. It was strange how I had sworn to be by myself for the rest of my life and then I was suddenly part of this group that was seeming to grow every minute. More and more people were brought in through the gates and it was becoming overwhelming, especially since I had not been able to escape. It was also exhausting trying to make everyone feel comfortable around me all the time. I tried being nice and smiling and to not be annoyed, but the more I tried the worse this stupor I was in got. For just this day I wanted to go out on my own and scream and hack down the dead and just feel what I wanted to. Not to mention how fucked up I was about what Beth had told me about Daryl liking me. I wanted my mind to shut the fuck up for a day, and the only way to do that was to be alone with a knife and some Walkers.

"How about I just meet up with Michonne once she heads out? I won't go far until she joins me."

He looked skeptical. This damn kid was always seeing through me.

"I promise," I lied, giving him a not so gently pat on the cheek, making a light smacking sound as I did.

Without another word I walked out of the gates of safety, ignoring the pang of guilt I felt about straight up lying to a child. Poor thing didn't deserve to worry over me so much.

I swallowed hard as I practically ran into the tree line, going much much farther out than I had intended. I really had wanted to stay rather close incase something did happen to me, it was my first day out after all, but being the mindless creature that I was I couldn't control the sense of freedom that swept me up and carried me through the trees.

I felt alive, like nothing could touch me now. I was an invincible motherfucker out here once again. An invincible motherfucker who was slightly lost.

It took me well past nightfall to see the lights of the prison shinning through the trees once again. I expected to walk back in unnoticed. To go straight to the newly fixed shower house and wash away the sweat and grime that I had accumulated. I expected no one to really notice or really care that I had been out passed when I claimed I'd return. But boy was I fucking wrong.

Whoever was keeping watch in the tower must have alerted everyone that I was approaching because inside the gates I was greeted by an angry looking Rick with Carl marching up behind him.

"You ratted me out," I accused the kid instantly.

"Carl did the right thing," Rick began, his voice reminding me of the tone my school principal would use when I got in trouble. Wow, what a throw back.

Just like back in school, I rushed to explain myself and make up a few excuses along the way. Talking myself out of trouble was a gift of mine. I had done in the previous world and in the current one on multiple occasions. I remember getting caught red handed looting some camps, but with a few well placed tears and a convincing story, people will let you get away with anything.

"I said I'd be back aft–"

"You also said you'd meet up with Michonne," Carl interrupted me before I could even get started.

Rick looked back at Carl and pointed at the prison door. "Why don't you go inside. Keep Judith company."

He wasn't too pleased that he was about to miss my scolding, but I was sure as hell happy he wouldn't have the honor. How embarrassing was this? An adult woman who was about to have a her ass beat because she went for a stroll. Pathetic.

"We were worried sick," he began after Carl had gone. "People were out looking for you."

I shook my head. "They shouldn't have been. Don't risk other lives for me. I didn't mean to scare everyone, but I needed to take a day by myself. This whole 'living in a community thing' is new to me."

"You're one of us now. We get concerned where the safety of one of our own is involved. Whether it be you or any of the others, going out alone isn't an option, especially if you just recently recovered from a serious injury. There are plenty of people who, I think, would be willing to join you anytime you wanted to go out."

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I reframed. This was a load of horse shit. "I don't need any permission to go where I want to. Hell, I could walk out forever right now if I wanted."

"That's true," his tone was much calmer, but the disappointment in his eyes ate away at me. "But it'd hurt an awful lot of people to see you go."

His eyes bore into me, making the guilt wash over me just before he turned to walk back inside. I had always been so petrified of losing people over and over again, that I had never thought about how they would feel if I was the one to disappeared. Beth had become a close friend, she would be heartbroken, I'm sure. More than she was when her boyfriend died that one time on a run. She hadn't been blinked an eye when she heard the news, but she was just unfazed by shit like that now. I saw the real sadness in her eyes when she would tell me about people from the past, it weighed her down like it did any other person. Carol too. I would chat with her some nights. She had all sorts of people that were taken away from her, we all did, and when she talked about someone like her dead daughter, the hurt was as strong as if it had just happened that day.

That's the thing about loosing people. The pain never really goes away. It chips away at a piece of your heart and that piece never fucking comes back, it's just gone.

I had been one selfish bitch to risk putting that hurt into anyone. God, Daryl would lose his fucking mind if I never came back. Or I assumed he would after how he had worried about my leg healing. He was really keen on being my protector after what we had gone through together, probably because he felt bad for me. Either way he no doubt was worried shitless when I was out alone. I cursed myself for doing that to him. Sure, he drove me crazy sometimes, but I never wanted to hurt him like that.

The cool wind blew hard against me and I went to take my first step towards the door to find Daryl. I owed him an apology, it was the least I could do. But before I got anywhere the door slammed open and out came one wound up Dixon.

I hadn't seen him in days, but he wore the same look that said "I'm going to fucking kill you". Why had I missed that look?

"The hell were ya thinkin'?"

Coming at me like that was not the best move. My defensive walls were up in a second and I was in his face yelling in a heartbeat.

"I was thinking I needed a minute alone. Sorry it got your panties all in a twist to see me enjoying myself instead of wallowing in a cell all fucking day."

"I would've gone with ya," he started, his eyes flashing with a hurt that I instantly wished I could fix. Why the fuck couldn't I calm down and explain everything to him like a normal person. I needed to tell him how depressing the prison was getting and that I know he wanted what was best for my by making me rest for weeks but that didn't stop the fact that I was losing my damn mind. But of course I wasn't that type of normal person.

"I don't think you understand what alone means." I wanted to keep the fire in my voice, but it was flittering away at a rapid pace. I felt like shit and he was making me feel worse about what I had done by the second. I cowered under his harsh stare slightly, my arms crossed over my chest in a lame attempt to make me look bolder.

"I don' think ya understand that ya coulda been fuckin' killed." He was still yelling at top velocity despite me backing down, his voice a graveling husk. I think he expected a heated argument from me like always, but I was in the wrong on this and I knew it. I know when to admit that at least.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't expecting a genuine apology, so he was taken aback by it. It took everything in me to swallow down my pride and continue. "I didn't think it would bother everyone like this. I didn't realize you all cared so much."

His throat bobbed with a swallow. I wished to fucking God that I could read what was going on in his head, but he hid it all so well. "Yeah," he huffed out, nodding his head slightly. "Our fucking mistake."

There it was, another piece of my heart breaking away.

I really fucked up this time. I wanted to make it better. I wanted to scream at him that I was fine and I wouldn't do it again and that I cared about him more than I was even comfortable with. I wanted to get over myself and wrap my arms around him like I had so many nights ago during my panic attack.

I didn't want to loose a friend like Daryl Dixon. I never wanted to hurt people like that. I didn't realize I had the power to hurt anyone anymore until Rick had told me so. I only wished I had realized it sooner.

I didn't want this hurt that pounded in my chest, not only from my own broken piece, but because I had been the cause of a piece of Daryl’s heart cracking away too.

Except maybe this time I could put the pieces back together somehow. 

I doubt it.

***

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