d1xonss

[d1xonss]

could i have the link to your spotify playlist? i need to feel something:P

Spotify 💋

[d1xonss]

ITS ON WATTPAD?? WHATS UR USER???

slut4dilfsss

<33

[d1xonss]

is DR only on tumblr? or have u posted it on wattpad / ao3 as well ????

i’ve posted it on wattpad too:)) ao3 on the other hand is a mystery, i have no idea how to use it lmao

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 78 ~ An Eye for An Eye

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 6

✧ Word Count : 5.5k

In this chapter ~ Things begin to quickly go South, resulting in a few dead and one injured, giving the group of survivors no choice but to take their community back the way they had always intended. Leaving no mercy for the dead.

My palms began to sweat and my intake in breaths only grew harsher as we kept trucking on through the giant group of walkers that were still present behind our broken gates. The sick sounds they continuously made filled the thick air around us and only drove me more insane, having to tune them out as I mindlessly walked. Having not once let go of each other, the seven of us squeezed through the endless bodies as quiet as possible. The only difference now was it was completely pitch black outside, making it harder to see and navigate through.

It shocked me that we hadn't caught any of their attention yet, clearly their senses didn't allow them to feel the extreme timidness we all carried, otherwise we would surely be dead. They couldn't smell us either, we had taken care of that. All we had to do was keep calm and keep moving, wanting to get this over with so we all could finally allow ourselves to breathe.

But suddenly, we stopped. Quite abruptly too.

Rick's grip pulled me back to a halt right along with the rest of them, not even needing to look back to know something was wrong. I froze as I could practically taste the freedom on my tongue, one that wasn't far now, before dreadfully glancing back over my shoulder to see what the hell was going on. And my eyes only widened from there once I pieced together what was happening only inches away from me.

Sam's body had grown rigid, a far off look to his eyes whilst he stared at one of the walkers a few feet from us. It was a child. He looked absolutely terrified, like it was all hitting him how serious of a situation we were in. Part of me wanted to kick myself for being so stupid, for not opening my mouth when I had the chance, because I was starting to see now how much I should've. All of our lives were now on the line because he was too petrified to keep moving.

"Sam." Jessie said softly, tugging at his arm gently to try and get his attention, "Sam."

But he didn't snap out of it, not even when she tried to soothe him with more reassuring words. "Come on, Sam." Rick tried, his eyes pleading as he too tried bringing him back down to earth.

But the child's face only contorted into even more fear, tears glistening in his eyes while he watched the dead around us move slowly in paralyzing terror. The few of them kept trying and trying to get him to keep going, begging for him to start moving again, but he just frantically shook his head and the tears finally started to trail down his cheeks.

"I can't." he finally voiced, "I can't!" he cried a little too loudly, the volume alone making me flinch.

Then everything started to move in slow motion.

Two walkers became very aware of his presence and almost immediately tore into him while he screamed for his mom at the top of his lungs, his blood splattering everywhere. My mouth dropped at the scene that played out almost like a movie, watching him being slowly eaten alive was something that would surely traumatize his family. Jessie began to wail dramatically, her hand still holding tightly onto his, not wanting to let him go as he continued to scream in pure agony.

Michonne's eyes caught my own over the people in between us, looking just as panicked as I felt. Knowing that only more of them were going to notice the amount of noise and blood that now attracted them like moths to a flame.

Jessie's own sounds of grief began to overpower Sam once he had stopped breathing, Carl only fighting to pull her along and get her away from the scene before it was too late. But it all happened too fast. More walkers began to swarm around her next to feast on her flesh, her breathing growing heavier and her body practically melting down into the circle of corpses that surrounded her. But she looked almost...peaceful. Her eyes trained to the sky as if she were watching a bird, accepting her fate and no longer having a purpose after what just happened to her own child. It was utterly devastating to watch from a distance.

My attention snapped toward Rick when I saw him start to shake his head in disbelief, his heart no doubt shattering. His shaking hand hovered over his mouth like he couldn't fathom the fact that he was yet again losing someone else. I gripped onto him tighter to try and get him to look away, but he couldn't manage to pull his eyes off of her. It was probably easier said than done considering we were all having trouble looking away from the dramatic turn of events.

Her pained cries lasted much longer than Sam's and it was only drawing more attention toward our circle. As much as we clearly needed a moment to process, Ron especially, we needed to get the fuck out of here and fast.

However, Jessie's hand was still tangled with Carl's in a harsh grip that he couldn't pull away from, trying to move back from the walkers that surrounded her body. But with every attempt it only seemed to worsen, causing one of us to have to act fast. Rick instantly stepped forward once he realized his son's life was now next in line, his hand moving down to unclip his hatchet from the holster on his hip. I had a feeling I knew what was coming next and a part of me wanted to offer and do it myself, but with the severity of the situation, I felt I had no time to even try and protest.

Rick's swing was quick and skillful as he brought the sharp blade down onto her arm, each one more painful than the last. Tearing through her flesh, muscle, and bone. Every slash almost looked like it was cutting deep within him as well, his eyes only saddening further of the things he had to do to keep his own family alive.

Finally after the last harsh blow, her limb broke off and Carl was able to stumble back, the walkers now fully crowding around her to finish what they hadn't already eaten. The remainder of us now left completely still at everything that happened far too unexpectedly.

Though the echo of a gun clicking caused me to look for the noise amongst the quiet, the hairs on the back of my neck beginning to stand. And all our attention went to the sound of the source. Ron stood there with his pistol aimed right at Rick's head with silent tears running down his face, though his eyes were empty and cold. His hands were shaking ever so slightly as he held the weapon, but I could tell he wasn't afraid. His intentions were clear; he was going to kill him. In his mind it's what he needed to do.

"You." he said lowly, gripping the gun even tighter than before.

My large eyes never strayed from the kid, slowly moving my hand down to wrap around Rick's wrist so I could react at the exact moment I needed to. This couldn't happen to him. I wouldn't let this happen to him. No way in hell.

Right as I saw his finger move further to pull the trigger, I instantly tightened my grip on him and yanked him behind me as fast as I could so I would be face to face with the bullet instead. In that moment, I truly prepared myself to die in the place of someone I loved. I would so clearly do it in a heartbeat, an action I hardly needed to think twice about when it came to him. I just hoped Daryl could forgive me.

But the bullet never came. Instead, Michonne had acted fast and took her sword to stab Ron straight through the chest from behind his back, his finger still hovering over the trigger, firing the gun to the right instead of directly toward my head. She then retracted her weapon back, his body falling limp to the ground to which the walkers took notice as they smelled the fresh blood. They started to slowly surround his lifeless form and began mauling on their third meal of the day. And then there were four.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, still feeling my grasp on Rick hadn't loosened and I looked back at him to make sure he was alright. I was met with his widened eyes, disbelief painted on his features from no doubt the things I was willing to risk. "Rose..."

My lips parted to try and say something, but I stopped myself short when I noticed his gaze had unexpectedly looked just past my head, his skin turning a little pale at the sight. When I turned to see what else had gone wrong, I physically felt my blood run cold. There were very few moments in life where you wish you could rewind time and do something all over again. And this was definitely one of those moments for me.

Carl stood there, in just as much shock as the rest of us, with a gunshot wound in his eye and blood streaming down his face.

"Dad?" he murmured before he passed out cold and hit the ground like a rock.

That was all any of us needed to see to jolt forward. Rick rushed around me to pick him up off the ground while Michonne and I killed off any walkers that started to take notice of us. We then took off in a sprint to clear a path towards the infirmary as fast as humanly possible, and I said a silent prayer that Denise was in there and could salvage whatever she could. I couldn't lose him. None of us could.

I didn't even realize I was crying until we were almost there, and the tears just wouldn't stop running down my face. We were so close I could practically reach the doorhandle within seconds, but I was dreading the news we would receive once we got in. I should've thrown a knife at that son of a bitch's head, then he wouldn't have had the chance to fire the gun at all. I should've moved so Carl was right behind me too- or better yet, protected him instead once I saw Michonne inching closer to Ron to attack him.

Millions of different scenarios were playing through my mind, the only thing in common was that they all ended up with me on the ground instead of my boys.

Once we finally reached the small building and I leapt forward to open the door, it was already being pulled open for me. There were a few familiar faces inside the narrow space, watching us with keen eyes and preparing for us to get inside to safety. Rick stumbled through the threshold right in front of us, the door slamming shut once we had all escaped the dangers of the night.

A breath of pure relief left my lips when I spotted Denise standing close to a free medical table, already getting things sterilized faster than she ever had before. "Is this a gunshot?"

"Handgun, close range." Michonne informed frantically.

Rick moved over and placed Carl down on the surface with the utmost ease and care while the two women talked, though his mind was completely elsewhere. "Please save him." he begged, tears streaming down his face, "Please..."

The woman began to work in a hurried manner, instructing Michonne on how to help with the process, but I couldn't hear a damn thing. Everything else seemed far off and warped while my eyes tried to focus on the kid I grew to love more than life, laying there unmoving. There was a numbness tingling in my limbs, similar to how I felt on the road, almost like I was floating. But I didn't feel light in the slightest. All of the guilt and sadness was weighing me down too much, keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground. Hot tears continued to build up in my eyes and spill down my cheeks, unable to bring myself to look at anything else but him.

That is until I heard the door swing open once more with a loud bang. My attention snapped to its direction to see Rick standing there looking at the herd with his hatchet in hand, a certain anger now bubbling inside. My eyes widened when I saw him try to take a step outside but I quickly pushed myself to move in order to stop him.

"Woah, woah, hey, Rick- hey." I tried while I yanked his arm, but he wouldn't look at me. Instead he shoved me away enough to send me fumbling a few steps, and by the time I bounced back, he was already disappearing back into the darkness.

"Rick!" I screamed, but he still didn't even acknowledge my voice. Wow, I was about to take a bullet for him, and he was going to go off and kill himself now? Fuck that.

I stood there for another beat, having a conflicting debate with myself before trying to go after him. "Woah, Rose!" Denise suddenly yelled, "I need your help over here!"

My eyes darted back and forth between the man who just lost his damn mind and his kid, cursing under my breath as I took wide strides over to stand next to them. "Okay, I need to pinch hard right here, keep your hand steady while I get this."

I nodded shakily and followed her instructions while Michonne on the other hand began to panic, glancing back outside the slightly adjacent door and trying to spot Rick amongst the herd. "He went out by himself; you have to let us help him!" she said frantically.

"I just need you two for another second." she replied just as quickly as she worked.

"But he's out there alone, we have to go now!" I shouted in panic.

She looked up at me, "This is his son...just give me a second." she said calmly, yet stern enough for me to hear.

I had no other choice but to nod again with hesitance whilst she continued precisely, though it felt like she couldn't be taking any longer. He was out there all on his own taking on those walkers and we needed to get to him fast if we wanted to keep him alive. But the possibility of keeping Carl alive, that was enough to get me to stay put. And Denise knew it too.

"Okay, done." she finally said.

Exhaling a small breath, I leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead before rushing back outside without another lingering thought. The only reassurance that I wasn't doing it alone was Michonne's footsteps sounding out right behind mine. The two of us scanned around the area to somehow try and pinpoint where he had taken off, though thankfully he left a trail of dead walkers behind. Making it easier to catch up as we followed along the path.

Michonne and I ran through the streets, killing off the dead that spotted our figures while our eyes shamelessly glanced all around for where Rick was holding his ground. And it wasn't long before we spotted him, watching him let out a yell of rage with each dead one he slaughtered with a harsh swing of his weapon. We were over right at his side within a matter of seconds, helping him take them out as we formed a small circle with our backs packed tightly together. Constantly watching our surroundings.

I stabbed one after another, kicking the lifeless bodies away from me when more began to come our way, my focus darting around to make sure the other two were fine as well as we kept pushing. But in a slip of a moment it seemed like, I heard more commotion coming from our right, turning my attention to see Aaron, Spencer, and Heath fighting back as well. Maneuvering their way closer to our small group to help once they realized what we were doing.

Aaron locked eyes with me and sent a small smile with a determined nod before going back to it, silently telling me he had our backs. I couldn't even fathom the gratefulness I felt before I had to snap my attention back to the reality of the situation, my breathing growing uneven and my arm feeling tired with every thrust I gave with my knife. But it didn't stop there. With the more people we had, the more of a dent we were making, Olivia and Eric coming out to join us not long after.

"We can beat them!" Rick yelled to all of us.

More and more bodies covered the floor as we fought together to save the community these people worked so hard to keep alive. It's like a fire was ignited in all of us unexpectedly seeing that we could do this with the right motivation. We didn't need the dead controlling us, we needed to control the dead.

My muscles felt like they were burning, but I didn't stop or falter, not for one second. With every stab I found myself getting angrier, thinking about everything we've lost because of these monsters shoved in front of my face. How they caused so much fear and death in such a short span of time. But at the same time, it brought me so much pride knowing that we were fighting back. Finally, we felt strong enough to fight back.

I recognized more faces from our group coming out to help and it almost brought tears to my eyes at the sight. The feeling was best described as unreal. I almost forgot how powerful we were together, but this was the perfect reminder.

Machine gunfire coming from somewhere in the distance pulled my focus away for only a moment while I looked over my shoulder in the direction it came from. But it was hard to pinpoint with how far away it sounded. Something like that couldn't have been just a coincidence. But before I could linger on the thought, I turned around to see two more walkers reaching out to grab me, quickly slicing through their brains and shoving them back just as I did with all the rest.

The group of us stuck close together to watch every angle to make sure they didn't have an opening, but it was starting to look as though they were backing us into a corner. All the sound and commotion we were making were just drawing more of them in. But there was no way we could just give up now. Not with all of us fighting like hell, coated in sweat and blood, there was no way we could let them overpower us. No fucking way.

"Move it! Back up!" Rick instructed while he continued to swing his axe into another walker skull with a grunt.

We tried, but the plague of them kept creeping closer and I could tell everyone was starting to panic. But just as the panic set it, it quickly dispersed in a near split second.

Suddenly, a huge flame was ignited in the pond across the way in the middle of Alexandria, the sight practically causing time to stop for a moment. Everyone stilled, including the walkers who were now looking toward the orange flames coming from the other side of the community, but I on the other hand couldn't help but smile inwardly. Just as Glenn had sent Maggie a sign, Daryl had shown me one of his own. He was here. And I'd bet any money I had that he was the one to light up the body of water himself.

That was all we needed to keep pushing. All of us continued to beat the holy hell out of all of them, the distraction giving us the opportunity we so desperately needed. It drew just enough of them away so we could keep up with the number coming at us, and we didn't back down.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as more of their blood began to coat the entirety of my clothes, but I still didn't stop. I hadn't felt this proud in quite some time, and I couldn't be prouder of the people who were once sheltered in Alexandria, now physically fighting for their lives. This was a lot to take on at once, but they did it with no questions asked. That just proved how much all of this meant to them, and I just knew we weren't going to stop here.

We were taking it back.

By the time the last dead body hit the floor, the sun was beginning to rise just over the horizon. A new morning. A new beginning. One that was free of the corpses that nearly had us caught in their clutches, a place from which we escaped.

The infirmary had a line nearly out the door, the amount of people that needed to be treated for their injuries was enough to keep Denise busy for the next few hours at least. But we were alive, that's what mattered the most. Even if this place did look like hell, we had made it through because we were in fact strong enough. And it filled all of us with a new sense of hope that wasn't always there.

Gently pushing my way through the makeshift urgent care, I followed the down hall where I was directed, counting the number of doors before I stopped in front of the one that belonged to Carl. For some reason I was struggling with myself to actually step inside, even after I was reassured that he had pushed through. I didn't want to see him like this. The condition he was in was still unfathomable in my mind. I almost wished there was someone who would go in with me, glancing around briefly as if the possibility was real. That's when I spotted Rick speaking to Spencer and Aaron, most likely informing him of his mother's passing, and by the looks of it he wasn't taking it well.

The look of shock and devastation was hard to ignore. The reminder of the woman in question seemed to pain me as well, though it was clear it wasn't nearly in the same way it was for him. Although he was an asshole, he was an asshole that had lost his entire family now. And for that, I felt truly sorry for him.

I then turned my head again to stare at the door, forcing myself to get a grip before reaching out for the handle. The hinges protested when I opened it, taking a quick look around to see there was no one else occupying the space but him. He laid in a bed in the middle of the room on his back, looking almost too still for my liking. But once I saw the rising and falling of his chest, it graced me with a little more relief than I had before. Like seeing it with my own eyes helped much more than Denise's words could ever do.

However, it felt like my feet were nailed to the ground and I couldn't force myself to move any further, as if I wouldn't be able to handle seeing him close up. The truth is I didn't know if I could. But how else was I supposed to find out if I didn't move my ass?

I took slow, tentative steps across the room, moving towards the side of his bed and sat down at the chair that was placed conveniently beside him. I could only imagine how long Rick had stayed in here after everything was over, maybe for his own sanity he had to step away for a moment. Looking closer, I could see his right eye was completely covered in bandages, hiding the wound beneath the surface while his skin looked clammy and pale. It was a bit of a struggle to hold myself together, my shoulders slumping as I exhaled a small breath and reached forward to gently take his hand.

"You're going to be fine..." I whispered, more to myself if anything. He couldn't hear me, that much was certain, but I still felt I needed to say something.

I sighed quietly again, "God, you're such a strong kid. You always have been. I know you'll push through this the same way you've pushed through everything else."

Still nothing. No movement or flinch of any kind. "I just wish I could've known what was going to happen...I would've taken that bullet for you, any time, any day...I want you to know that."

My gaze shifted down to look at his hand, still clasped between my own on the bed, the silence consuming us now. The only noise filling the atmosphere was the ticking of a clock close by, counting down the seconds that I was in here. I was utterly exhausted but yet couldn't close my eyes and rest for the life of me at the mere thought of him not being okay. I felt the need to watch over him even though he wasn't even my kid. He wasn't my kid, but I loved him like he was. I protected him like he was. And that was something I knew would never change.

But here in this moment, I felt like I had failed him.

I instinctively looked back up when I heard the door open again, and there stood Rick in all his glory. He looked terrible. The bags under his eyes from the stress and lack of sleep, still wearing the filthy, blood soaked clothes from last night, and stood as if there was a mountain of bricks on his back.

"Hi." I whispered.

He nodded and pushed himself off the doorway, "Hey." he whispered back.

He grabbed another chair nearby and carried it over, placing it down next to me so he too could take a seat. Neither one of us took our eyes off Carl while the next few minutes ticked by, and I honestly didn't have anything to say. I almost caught myself apologizing, like the situation was somehow my fault, but I knew it wasn't. The only person that could be held responsible for this was already dead, and he was damn lucky he was too.

"He's gonna be okay." Rick finally broke the silence, nodding to himself as if he needed the reassurance just as much as I did.

"I know. It's just hard to see him in here, looking so..." I trailed off, but I didn't need to finish the sentence as he was already nodding his head.

A few more beats passed before he swallowed thickly, speaking up again, "What happened out there...it's in the past now. But I can't just ignore what you were about to risk for me."

I rolled my eyes, his use of the word risk annoyed me slightly. "Don't act so surprised."

"But I am." he stated, feeling him now looking to me as if he was searching for answers.

"Why?" I muttered, "Is it really that shocking?"

He didn't answer, he couldn't. "Rick...you're my brother. And I'd take a bullet for you. I'd die for you. So...don't act so surprised." I said again, my tone genuine and filled to the brim with sincerity.

He stared at me for a few seconds before letting out a breath of air, wrapping his arm around me to tug me into him insistently. And I let him. My chin came to rest against is shoulder, the two of us relaxing drastically in each others embrace. I thought he understood what I would do for him, the extents I was prepared to go, but clearly, he had no clue that I would defend him just as much as he would defend me. Maybe as the leader it was rare to feel like someone truly had his back. And yet...here I am.

"I'm supposed to take a bullet for you." he whispered, still holding onto me, "Keep you safe...not the other way around."

My brows furrowed and I pulled away to look him in the eye, "Well, with us it's a mutual thing. Get used to it."

A genuine smile broke out onto his face, sighing quietly in defeat, "You're a stubborn thing."

"So I've been told." I said lightheartedly.

I could see his eyes glistening slightly under the florescent lights, his hand lingering on the back of my head and running through the messed up strands of my hair. Trying to convey his thankfulness just with a certain look.

After that, no other words were shared between the two of us. We just sat in the silence, looking at Carl and silently praying that he would wake up at any given moment now. I didn't think any other words needed to be said if I was being honest. It was affirmed and even said out loud how much we both cared for one another, even though we always silently knew. The love and loyalty would always be there, that was something I was sure of.

I parted from the room not long after that, allowing Rick to have another moment alone with his son after telling him I would come by again later. Or as many times as I was wanted, really. The infirmary was a lot less crowded by the time I walked back out, scanning the wide open room for a certain someone. The back of his angel winged vest instantly gave him away, spotting him sitting down on one of the free beds, getting some stiches he needed in the back of his shoulder.

His shirt was pulled slightly aside in order for Denise to work, his head turning back every few seconds to check her progress like he was itching to get out of here. And I couldn't blame him. After the shitty few days we've all had, getting home was now the number one priority.

I slowly moved through the room to approach the two of them, coming to stand just a hairline away from where his knees hung off the medical table. His eyes snapped up, only to relax slightly when he saw it was just me.

"How's he looking?" I asked Denise.

She glanced up from her work, "The wound isn't too deep. But the stitches are to ensure it actually heals properly." she spoke as her hands worked fast.

"I said I was fine." Daryl spoke under his breath stubbornly.

The woman and I shared a look and simply laughed silently with one another. She hardly knew him and yet she could tell just how stubborn and annoyingly independent the man in front of her truly was. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he gave her some shit while I was preoccupied.

I clicked my tongue, "Oh, we know you're fine honey, she just wants to be sure...do you want a lollipop when she's done?" I asked sweetly.

"Stop." he grumbled.

"Or what about a princess bandied, you got any of those?" I asked Denise who looked about ready to burst out laughing.

"Woman, I swear ta God." Daryl muttered in faux annoyance, clearly trying to hide the small smirk on his face.

I gently tilted his chin up with my finger so he would look me in the eye, quickly coming to realize how much I missed his pretty face as I moved some of the hair away from his eyes. "I missed you." I said quietly.

His eyes softened, "I missed ya too."

Denise then moved his shirt back in place and patted his shoulder lightly, "Alright, done. Come back sometime next week and I'll take those out when it's all healed."

"Sounds good." he grunted with a nod, and then the woman was off to help all the stragglers that were still waiting around for their turn to be looked at.

Daryl wasted no time hopping off of the bed and taking my hand in his to head out the front doors, leaving the building in the blink of an eye. "In a hurry or something?" I asked teasingly as he pulled me down the porch steps.

"Wanna be home." he said simply, "Wanna spend time with my favorite girl."

"Me?" I guessed.

He rolled his eyes playfully, "Yes, you. Who else would it be?"

I smiled with a nod of my head, leaning into his side while we made our way towards the house, silently hoping it wasn't completely destroyed from the walkers. Even though the doors were closed and locked, there was still the possibility of some damage we would have to deal with later. I mentally crossed my fingers that nothing was too ruined.

"What about your lollipop?" I suddenly asked.

He shook his head with a scoff, "Don't want no damn lollipop. But I will take that back massage we talked bout."

"You have stitches, I think we'll have to wait a few days for that."

"Ah, damn." he cursed jokingly, "Well, how bout those kisses?"

I looked up at him as I pretended to think, "Hm...I think I could do that."

He smiled down at me and captured my lips in a quick kiss before we were practically jogging down the street to the place we called home.

"Forty-nine ta go." I heard him whisper to himself.

~ Thanks for reading!

Taglist ~ @justareader95 @hayley1998 @ryoujoking @sipsthecoffee @winterassassin1804 @marsmallow433 @catlalice @writingstreetspirit @silentlysurffering98 @mystictf @remuslittlesister @in0320 @mythicalyyours

[d1xonss]

could you possibly write a small drabble of how daryl would react to reader telling him she’s pregnant? i can’t stop thinking about dad daryl, please fuel my addiction🙌

Little Miracle

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Reader

✧ Era : Season 6

✧ Pronouns : she/her

✧ Genre : Fluff

✧ Word Count : 1.7k

AN ~ Um, hi I love dad!Daryl so of course I just had to write this. Slowly but surely getting these requests done lovelies, thank you all for the kindness and patience.

Hope you enjoy! xoxox

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The second hand on the clock was going round and round in circles enough to drive you crazy. How is it that the minutes could pass so slowly when all you anticipated was for it to go faster? Like somehow in this little room, time seemed to freeze when the world outside kept going as usual, as if nothing was wrong. But the reality of it all was reminded to you by the anxiety you felt building up in your chest, and the sinking sensation in your stomach, awaiting what the test results would read.

You hadn’t been living in Alexandria long, hardly long at all if you really let yourself think about it. You were still getting used to the feel of being safe behind big metal walls and living in an actual house with food and electricity. Things you thought you’d never have again. Not only that, but you were still trying to navigate this blossoming relationship with Daryl. Despite having only been together a few months, the two of you had grown very close over time. Bonded in a way that couldn’t quite be formulated into words. He just knew you. And you knew him better than anyone else in your life. But this particular situation, however, was something you couldn’t guarantee a positive reaction to.

You were late. Ten days late if you counted correctly. And though you had been late in the past because of low iron or stress, this was very different. You could feel that it was different.

And as it turns out, you were right. It seemed as though everything grew still as you stared down at the positive pregnancy test. Spending nearly an hour in that bathroom and still not being able to process it fully. How on earth could you process something like this when your life could potentially change forever?

You didn’t think Daryl would be angry, after all, it takes two to tango. And you had been doing…a lot of that ever since arriving at the safe haven. But you also had a dreadful feeling that he wouldn’t exactly be thrilled either. Carl and Judith aside, the man hadn’t exactly been the biggest fan of kids or starting a family as a whole. Knowing of his past with his abusive father and the early death of his mother, you couldn’t blame him in the slightest. The trauma he had to endure was utterly horrible.

Only now that you knew you were pregnant, the topic of discussion was kind of unavoidable now.

Late that night, you laid in bed with the covers bundled up to your chin and your gaze staring mindlessly out the window in front of you. Lost, unknown, worried, it was all painted on your expression. Which is why you purposefully turned your back to the door, not wanting Daryl to come in and immediately notice something was wrong. You weren’t ready to tell him, not yet. Not when you were still panicking about the suddenness, the last thing you needed right now was to deal with his reaction on top of everything else.

Potentially having an abortion didn’t feel right, but actually having the baby didn’t exactly feel right either. Motherhood wasn’t really in the cards for you, but then again a part of you already felt attached. You felt utterly torn.

Just then you heard the bedroom door open with a soft squeak, signaling his arrival home and causing your train of thought to abruptly stop. Your eyes fluttered closed to pretend as if you were already fast asleep, though in reality you didn’t think you’d get a wink even if you tried. His shuffled footsteps sounded closer and closer against the shag carpet, briefly hearing him shrug off his shirt and unbuckle his belt to remove his pants as he typically would do before bed. The mattress dipped down a bit under his weight when he climbed into bed beside you with a small grunt, moving slowly as if he was trying his best not to wake you.

His familiar frame was soon pressed against your back to wrap his large arms around your waist, nuzzling his face in the crook of your neck to breathe you in. It was comforting to him, being able to take in your warmth and your sweet scent was probably his favorite part of the day. Though when he suddenly splayed one of his hands across your lower stomach, you instinctively shifted away from him.

He blinked. Confused. “Didn’t know you were up.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” you nodded slightly, attempting to brush it off, “Just…trying to fall asleep.” 

You heard a soft rumble from him in response before he scooted close to you again, his hand tracing patterns along your hip before again settling on your stomach to pull you closer. A huff escaped you before moving away from him again, trying to silently apply that you clearly needed space. But Daryl was only left feeling a little hurt by your distant behavior, when usually all you wanted was for him to cuddle you.

“Hey, woah, what’s wrong?” he asked quietly, “Why ya runnin away?”

“I’m not running away, I’m just trying to sleep. I don’t need you touching me all the time.” you mumbled.

His eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion, slowly shifting to prop himself up on one of his elbows to look down at you. And upon seeing your brow creased thoughtfully and a frown tugging at your lips, clearly there was more happening than you led on. “Bullshit.”

“Daryl, just drop it.” you snapped, suddenly sitting up to swing your legs off the bed and stand up to get even further from him. 

Your hand came up to run stressfully through your hair as you exhaled a heavy sigh, before hugging your arms around yourself almost defensively. You hadn’t meant to come off so bitter, but you were overwhelmed and fairly irritable, the last thing you wanted right now was to be coddled. But as soon as you saw his slightly wounded expression, you couldn’t help but feel an immense amount of guilt. For keeping this secret and for also putting that look on his face.

However, as always, he remained incredibly patient. He tilted his head at you before sitting up properly, “Sweetheart, come on. Tell me what’s the matter.”

Something about the way he pleaded with you, the way his eyes softened, caused you to just blurt out what had been circling your mind all day. “I’m pregnant…okay?”

Daryl’s body went completely rigid at your confession, his eyes widening further if that were possible, and you could’ve sworn his face turned a little pale. Clearly he was a bit shaken from the news, but once you opened your mouth, you couldn’t seem to shut it again.

“I’m freaking out,” you said bluntly, “I just found out this morning, and I’m still freaking out. I don’t know what to do- I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid, let alone trying to raise one in the apocalypse. But hey, shit happens, and…I think I’m going to keep it.” 

He continued to stare at you, unblinking.

“I know this might be a deal breaker and I can understand that. You can be involved, or not involved at all, but at the end of the day it’s my choice. And I don’t want you to try and convince me it’s a bad idea or I shouldn’t go through with it, because…because I actually want this.” you whispered, your voice cracking slightly.

Swallowing thickly, you couldn't help but fidget with your hands as you continued to ramble, “I didn’t know how badly I wanted it until I had it. And I’m scared, but…it’s a good kind of scared, you know? Like…an anticipation kind of scared. But I know I needed to tell you eventually, so I did. There it is.”

Daryl sat and listened to your entire rant. Not trying to interrupt, or protest with what you were saying, he just…sat there. A thick fog of silence passed over the room as he clearly took more than a moment to try and process your words, but in the end it was plain and simple. You were pregnant, having the baby, and somehow worried about where he would fit into all this. But in his eyes, it wasn’t even up for discussion. He had always been right where he wanted to be; next to you.

Eventually, he stood from the bed, coming to stand in front of you and mentally you braced yourself for the worst. But he didn’t speak, he didn’t yell, he just…pulled you in for a hug. A choked sob escaped your lips when you felt warm embrace wrap around you protectively, not even knowing how badly you needed him until now. Your arms quickly came up to wrap around his shoulders and clung onto his frame, leading to him gently picking you up from off the ground to just hold you for a while. Neither of you said a word as you quietly cried into the side of his neck, feeling his hands gently rubbing your back in response, trying to soothe your worries in any way he could.

The truth was he wasn’t ready to be a dad, he wasn’t at all prepared to raise a kid in a world so unforgiving and cruel. But he’d be damned if he let you take this on alone. It would be scary and unpredictable at times, but as long as he had you by his side, he knew everything would turn out just fine.

“I ain’t goin nowhere,” he muttered close to your ear, squeezing you a little tighter to put more emphasis behind his promise.

Little did you know how much his words would reign true.

Daryl stuck close by your side for the whole nine months, the longest nine months of your life. He always made sure you weren’t overexerting yourself, had enough food and water throughout the day, and overall doted on you constantly. Not that it was much different from how he usually treated you, although now he was even more overprotective if that were even possible. Sure, he had his doubts, his worries from time to time on whether or not he would truly make a good enough father for your little miracle. But in the end, he always seemed to step up when it mattered, pushing all those negative thoughts aside when you reassured him of just how ready he was.

And watching him with your child was like falling in love all over again. Seeing how gentle and soft he became with this new little life in his arms was something precious, something you wished you could hold onto forever. But you had to remind yourself that this was just the beginning. And if the two of you could handle this…what’s the harm in having a few more?

~ Thanks for reading!

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 77 ~ And The Walls Came Tumbling

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 6

✧ Word Count : 6.6k

In this chapter ~ After a long, creeping anticipation begins to nearly overflow their minds with worry, the inevitable comes crashing down upon Alexandria. The walkers forcing their way inside when the walls eventually caved, leaving the ones who survived nearly hopeless on how to take care of the bloody and disgusting mess.

The next day was a blur. A horrible, delusional blur. Being stuck between getting easily distracted or focusing far too hard.

Majority of it was spent trying to deflect as much as I possibly could. Though I couldn't tell you what I was able to accomplish even if I tried. Everyone else was seemingly scattered all over the place. Rosita off teaching a group how to use a blade against walkers, Aaron trying to decipher a way through the sewers in case of an emergency, and Rick basically running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

None of us could've predicted we would be in this kind of situation again, where our new home that we were just getting comfortable with could be potentially burned to the ground. But life never quite stops throwing curveballs no matter how at peace we think we are.

Unfortunately, I found myself on patrol. Walking around feeling like a corpse when my main focus was trying to keep the actual dead outside for as long as we possibly could. But the pressure was no doubt getting close to breaking, and it was hard to say how much time we had left to spare. Rapidly growing to be more and more at risk the longer the seconds ticked by, and our safety was dwindling down to almost nothing.

As I made yet another lap around the gates I spotted Rick standing alone in the distance, looking up at the walls with a furrow of his brow and his hands on his hips. That stance was proof enough of how serious he was taking all this. When I caught his gaze from just the corner of his eye, he waved me over, seemingly having some kind of update or complaint that would most likely cause my anxiety to spike even further. But there was no avoiding it now, not when I had already locked eyes with him.

"Hey." I murmured once I was close enough, balancing the weapon in my grasp as I came to a stop beside him.

His lip turned up in a half-like smile, opening his mouth and began to speak. But something behind his head unexpectedly caught my eye, causing the sound of his voice to become almost distorted in my mind. A cluster of green balloons floating high in the sky, strung together and almost twirling as the wind carried them over the settlement. It was Glenn; it had to be. That was the last checkpoint where he was assigned, the growing pit in my stomach was the only kind of intuition I could put my faith in right now.

"Rose?" Rick's voice snapped my attention back to him.

I shook my head, pointing behind him, "Look."

He turned and followed where I had gestured, the pair of us standing there nearly motionless for a few seconds before I heard him exhale slowly. Clearly, he had the same thought process as I had, the proof we now held that someone from our circle had made it back alive.

The sound of smacking against the pavement caused our attention to be pulled, turning our heads to see Maggie jogging toward us a bit frantically. A small smile on her face at the little bit of hope that she was given.

"You think it's...?" she questioned, looking between us almost expectantly.

I nodded wordlessly, reaching out to grasp her shoulder as we both seemed to visibly relax at just the thought of him being safe. Now having the sign that she had especially been hoping for. However, that relief was quick to get ripped away from us, so quick I almost didn't even fathom the feeling that came with it. Unable to hold onto it long enough to even cherish it.

The slight sound of cracking wood tore through the air followed by the long-awaited silence, before a giant crash that nearly caused the earth to shake. My head whipped around to the sound of the source, only to see that the clock tower had now fallen and destroyed a part of the metal wall right along with it. Everything going down within a blink of an eye. My heart seemed to stutter in my chest. It was happening.

Chills began to break out onto my flesh and the silence that followed had never felt so loud. Everyone around the area became still. Frozen. Fearful. Having no clue what to do now. Although the loud moans and snarls were what seemingly broke us all out of the trance, the reality hitting us like some kind of harsh blow. Somehow it felt like a dream- or really some kind of nightmare. But their dead, gray eyes looked a little too real for it to be all in my head the moment they started swarming in through the broken barrier.

"Everyone get back! Get in your houses, go!" Rick shouted at anyone who was close enough to hear, already springing into action with his weapon. The ripple of gunfire following soon after.

I leapt forward with my knife the moment a group of them got too close, slicing through each and every one. They managed to fill up the empty space so fast without any kind of sign of stopping, spreading like wildfire that we were unable to put an end to. Targeting anything that moved. My arms raised to repeat the same motion over and over again, watching them continuously drop to the ground all while subconsciously trying to keep an eye on where everyone else was running to. But it all happened so fast, I couldn't quite pinpoint who was able to make it to safety. Unable to make out almost anything through the sea of bodies.

My distracted nature only caused me to lose sight of Rick as well. The one person I was somewhat in close quarters with. My eyes frantically scanned around the area for any type of familiar face, but I was only met with the cold-hearted dead. I kicked, stabbed, and pushed as many away from me as I could while trying to find some kind of opening to run towards. But almost everywhere was becoming blocked off.

They all slowly crowded around to trap me like some kind of animal, not being able to see any type of house or building I could sprint towards, they filled up the space too quickly. Leaving me only becoming more of a target than I was before if that were even possible. The number grew greater once they started to close in and I found myself slowly getting surrounded. A feeling of panic began to flood through me as I tried to kill them off, but this couldn't be how I died. This was almost too pathetic.

My breathing hitched and I continued to fight them off from every direction, but suddenly, my saving grace arrived.

"Rose!" a male voice shouted.

Instinctively I spun around to see Rick, Carl, and Jessie firing their weapons at any dead ones that circled me from the Anderson's porch a couple yards away. I didn't hesitate to take the opportunity they had given me and shoved the few lingering walkers out of my way, before making a beeline toward the house. I swear I had never run so fast in my life, my limbs practically shaking by the time I reached the steps to climb them two at a time, Rick placing his hand on my back to usher me inside while the others followed on our heels.

Once the front door slammed shut, guaranteeing our safety inside the house, Rick didn't waste a moment tugging me into a bone crushing embrace. I stumbled back slightly from the impact, my own arms coming up to cling to him once I regained my balance, hearing his shaky breathing from all the sudden adrenaline.

"Jesus." he muttered, feeling him move one of his hands to cradle the back of my head.

I huffed softly in amusement while squeezing him, "My heroes..." I muttered into his shoulder.

He chuckled quietly before pulling back to get a good look at my face, his thumb moving up to gently wipe away some blood that had splattered on my cheek. I probably looked like a trainwreck.

Although the brief moment of peace didn't last long, the sound of struggling coming from upstairs is what caused the few of us to share a look of concern. In an instant we jogged up the stairs in some kind of formation, the continuing noise coming from all the way down the hall placed in one of Jessie's spare bedrooms. The other's seemed to not think twice upon entering the space to see what was going on, but I found myself stuck in the doorway, not being able to push myself to move any further once my eyes landed on the scene.

Deanna was laying down on the bed with blood dripping down the side of her torso, all the color seemingly draining from her face as she writhed around in pain. My gaze couldn't help but pan down to her injury, seeing her shirt slightly lifted to reveal the wound, a set of teeth marks embedded in her flesh. The moment I connected the dots I closed my eyes with a sigh, ducking my head down and stepping back a bit to be out of the way while they got her as comfortable as possible.

Carl stood almost rigid just a few feet in front of me, unable to look away from the dying woman all while Judith was being passed into his arms by Michonne, silently urging him to take her out of the room. But he still couldn't bring himself to move. I frowned slightly at the saddened look he had on his face, gently reaching out for his shoulders to pull him back and guide him down the stairs. Not wanting him to see more than he already had to.

"She got bit..." he muttered aloud, his tone one of slight disbelief.

I nodded slowly and squeezed his shoulders a bit, "I know, kid."

We trailed off slowly into the living room, watching as he took a seat on the sofa with a discouraged furrow of his brow. Judith only grew fussier from there, squirming uncomfortably on his lap while her face scrunched up as if she were moments away from breaking out into tears. Clearly, she wasn't very happy about the turn of events either. When I noticed this I reached out and carefully maneuvered her into my arms, bouncing her a bit on my hip to try and prolong the crying fit she no doubt wanted to have.

I wasn't aware of how many laps I had made around the main floor of the house, but I knew it was enough to slowly soothe the upset baby, her head now resting comfortably on my shoulder as I continued to rock her. I wish I could say the pacing helped ease my thoughts as well, but it didn't. Every time I passed one of the windows and was reminded of what was waiting for us just outside, it was safe to say I wouldn't be calming down anytime soon. And now with Deanna slowly dying just upstairs, it only added to the mountain of shit we were dealing with.

After some time passed and the commotion upstairs subsided, I passed off Judith back to Carl once she had fallen asleep, making my way out of the room with the intention to find Rick. After seeing what happened with Deanna, I silently knew he wouldn't be taking it too well, what with him trying to form an alliance and build a trusting relationship with her since day one. It couldn't have been easy watching her undeniable fate.

Eventually found him standing alone in the dining room, shutting the curtains with a harsh swing of his arm in order to keep us hidden a bit better from the walkers outside. Not wanting to draw any more attention than we already had with all the commotion circling around the house. His fame stayed put near the glass however, looking out through the small space in between the fabric to see just how many there were. Wordlessly I finally pushed myself to walk over and stand beside him, following to where his gaze wandered across the way.

There were many groups of them crowding around the different structures, pounding their fists and clawing with their nails to try and force their way into anything they could reach. It was odd to think about. How this whole place was thriving one day and now being slowly taken over the next.

"Can I ask you something?"

He looked over at me when my voice broke the silence, nodding his head silently. "Why is it that...whenever we find some place new, and start to actually get comfortable and build something worth living in...some really terrible shit happens?"

I caught the small shake of his head out of the corner of my eye, "I don't know." his voice muttered thickly.

"Like, do we have the worst luck or what?" I tried to joke with a huff of a laugh.

That managed to get him to crack a small smile, though it faded as soon as it reached the corners of his mouth, "It always follows us."

He seemed a lot more solemn than I thought he would be, but what else could I expect? He was taking this whole thing to heart, putting the blame on himself even though it was far from his fault. But being the leader, he was always kicking himself like this ever since the beginning. That was something I always managed to pick up on.

There were a few nagging moments of awkward silence that followed before I quietly cleared my throat, changing the subject somewhat. "How's she doing?"

He shrugged, "She's making jokes. Talking like normal as if she isn't dying."

"But she knows she is...right?" I asked cautiously.

He nodded, "Yeah...she knows. Michonne's up there keeping an eye on her right now. I don't know how long she's got left, but...we'll take care of it. We always do, right?"

"Yeah, we do." I agreed.

"Jessie says we have enough food in here to last us a while, but I want to get this taken care of soon and fast. I'm thinking they'll cluster eventually and when they do, I'll make a run for the armory."

I gave him a look as if what he was saying was insane, "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"No." he said, "But it's the only plan decent enough that could help us."

I sighed heavily before reluctantly nodding my head, "Okay, then I'm going with you."

"No, no way, there's a whole ass herd out there. Now I know you can handle yourself, but I'd much rather risk my life than yours." he said, fully turning towards me now.

"You sacrificing yourself if stupid." I said seriously, "I can argue about this all day Rick, I'll make you wish you were dead with how long we could go around in circles."

He sighed frustratedly, pinching the bridge of his nose with closed eyes, "Daryl would kill me."

"Well then, it's a good thing he's not here right now, isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow at him, "I always have your back...you know that."

A small smile made its way onto his face, reaching out to gently squeeze my shoulder before he nodded, "Okay."

I smiled a little in return, feeling him completely wrap his arm around me now to bring me closer to his side while we looked out at the disaster just beyond our reach. It crossed my mind for a moment or two on where the others had ended up, if they were making it okay, but I had to remind myself to keep my hope alive. Even if it felt like the most challenging thing in the world right now. They knew what they were doing, how to prepare for something like this, I trusted that they were all holding out somewhere within here. I just wish we had a way of knowing for sure.

An abrupt crash sounded out throughout the house, loud enough to where it caused Rick and I to jump a little and instantly share a look of worry. What the hell could be happening now?

We didn't waste any time jogging through the living room and toward where the ruckus sounded from, though the sight of Gabriel holding Judith on the couch made me do a double take. Carl was suddenly nowhere to be found in the room I had left him in, and a part of me just had a feeling I knew what was going down. Ron and Carl started out as decent friends, but lately they had been at each others throats. It had only gotten worse now that Pete was gone, leaving Ron with anger and hatred, just looking for someone to blame.

The two of us came to a halt at the door that led to the garage, finding Jessie had already beaten us to the punch. She pounded on the wood loudly and called Ron's name through the surface, trying multiple times to twist the knob to open it.

"What the hell's happening?" I asked hurriedly.

She glanced back at me, "I-I don't know. But both kids are in there and I heard something breaking."

"Yeah, we heard it too." Rick confirmed roughly before moving past her and shouting Carl's name through the door, attempting to pry it open just as she was a moment ago.

Could the two of them really be fighting at a time like this? Really?

I stood back as the two parents yelled for their kids to open up the door, but Rick's attempts at breaking it down was doing absolutely nothing. And the sudden noise of walkers only grew louder from just the other side, and the boys quickly began to scream.

That alone made me spring forward, placing my hands on Rick's shoulders to get him to move out of the way before I began to kick at the door so they could make it back inside. My brain grew foggy as their shouts for help only intensified, bracing my hands on either side of the doorframe as I tried to knock it down as hard as I could. Finally after one more forceful hit, the door swung open with a loud bang, breaking the lock in the process. The two teens turned toward the now open entryway with wide eyes, before scrambling their way inside, slamming the door shut behind them to keep the walkers that somehow made their way into the garage, out.

Jessie and Carl were quick to help me lean their bodies against the door to prevent the walkers from shoving their way inside, the strength they had made this almost unbearable. Ron on the other hand only backed away from the scene, a far off look in his eye as he watched us struggle without even attempting to help.

"Back up!" Rick suddenly yelled, coming back into the narrow hall and pushing the couch toward us to place there instead.

The three of us jumped out of the way as he shoved the piece of furniture up against the door, looking back as he held it in place. "We need more than this, we need to stay quiet."

"I'll see what I can find." Michonne said from the top of the steps before rushing back up with a determination in her eyes.

Upon seeing Rick struggle a bit to hold it all by himself, we came together again to help him push against it as well, except for Ron who still wasn't doing shit. "What the hell was going on in there?" I suddenly asked, prodding Carl for answers as to why we had to deal with this now.

"We were looking for tools and knocked over a shelf." he grunted, his back still pressed against the couch.

"We heard yelling." Jessie protested.

Carl nodded, "Yeah, Ron saw them break through the gates. We had to move. That's what happened."

My eyes narrowed in suspicion with the amount of lies flowing out of this kid's mouth. And judging by the looks Rick and Jessie were giving as well only led me to assume they weren't buying this shit either.

"Carl, there- there's a nightstand in my moms room we could use for this." Ron suddenly spoke up, gesturing to the door.

Translation: "We need to talk in private."

But Carl didn't seem to protest, not even after Rick had caught his arm just to be sure that everything was really okay. He went along with it in confidence, that alone letting me know he had the situation handled no matter what the cause of it was.

In the end of all the panicking and franticness, we finally gathered enough furniture to keep the door blocked off from the small herd of walkers that made their way into Jessie's garage like they owned the place. After we knew for a fact it was just secure enough to leave it untouched, everyone seemed to pile up around the windows, seeing just how many of them were now making their way toward this house.

All the noise now coming from the garage, was only drawing the attention of more toward the space which didn't settle any of our nerves. The plan of hiding out in here until there was an opening, was now clearly not as good of an idea as it once was.

I stood tall in the living room, nervously biting at my lip as I moved the curtain slightly to keep an eye on the streets, not even trying to hide my worry anymore. No one was at this point. With the never ending splay of the dead trying to push their way inside, it was hard not to.

"Rose?"

My attention turned to Michonne when she quietly called my name from the hall, silently gesturing for me to follow her somewhere more private. I didn't even allow myself to question it, stepping away and letting her lead me toward the kitchen to be away from the prying ears. Whatever she had to tell me couldn't be any worse than what we were already dealing with.

She cleared her throat softly, leaning a hip against the counter, "She's...asking for you."

I stand incorrect.

"I'm sorry?" I asked as if I hadn't heard her right. But the only response I received from her was a simple nod of her head. "Why me?"

"She said she wants you to be there when she turns."

That completely threw me for a loop. The two of us had never gotten along, always passive aggressive to one another instead of civil, why the hell would she want me? It made no sense in my mind, and the last thing I wanted was to be in the same room with her as she slowly died. But at the same time, I felt as though I couldn't refuse.

So, regardless of everything I was thinking, I nodded wordlessly to her before reluctantly turning to walk up the stairs. From the top of them I could see her form lying down on the mattress at the very far end of the hall. And the closer I got, the worse she looked. Beads of sweat ran down her temple from the fever and there was blood staining her clothes in different places. She probably felt as terrible as she appeared, but yet somehow she still held a faint smile on her face as her eyes remained closed.

My presence lingered in the threshold for longer than needed, but she managed to sense my presence, her eyes opening to look directly at me. "You called?" I asked bluntly.

She nodded, "Yeah...yeah I did."

I nodded back and awkwardly tapped my thighs a few times before forcing myself to move, sitting myself on a chair in the far corner of the room to keep an eye on her. It didn't seem like she had a lot of time left, but I wasn't going to be the one to tell her because in my mind she already knew. She had to have known, the pain she probably felt was unimaginable.

My leg began to bounce anxiously the longer the silence stretched out, finding myself questioning why I even came up here in the first place. So much for trying to be a good person.

"Never been much of a talker, huh?" Deanna suddenly questioned, exhaling a small laugh as if she amused herself.

My shoulders dropped in a shrug, because what the hell else do you say to that? "No, I guess not."

There was a beat of silence before she of course spoke again, "You're probably a little curious why I wanted you here, right?"

Yes. But I didn't make an attempt to respond.

She nodded as if she heard my thoughts. "I wanted you here because I know you won't hesitate. You're tough, you get the job done, no questions asked. You won't let me turn into one of those things."

I didn't know what to think. Should I be flattered? That feeling alone made me uncomfortable.

"We've never really did get along, did we?" she asked when all I continued to offer her was silence, "I suppose I just never knew the right thing to say. But I want you to know I did care. I truly did care about you, Rose. Even though you were never the biggest fan of me."

I rolled my eyes slightly at her almost self-deprecating tone, "It's not...it's not you." I managed to spit out.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

I knew the answer. But was I really ready to open that door to the vault of my past to someone I didn't fully trust? Because once I started, there was no telling at what point I would stop. I wrestled with myself internally for what felt like ages, before eventually just saying fuck it. She was dying anyway. It's not like she would even have the chance at telling this to anyone else.

"You remind me a lot of someone."

"Who...?" she asked.

Here we go again. Her usual pushiness and persistence shining through, one of the many reasons why I wasn't a big fan. Though I still answered. "My mother..."

Her eyes softened a little, her small smile reigning true, "I'm guessing you two weren't the best of friends." she stated, to which I just shook my head. That was putting it mildly. "The truth is...I never quite knew the right way to approach you. You know why?"

"No." I answered with a shrug.

"You intimidate me, Rose." she said honestly.

I raised my eyebrows. Huh. Good.

"You always came off as someone so confident. And from the moment I met you, I could tell you were one of the strongest of the group. You just knew what you were doing- what you wanted, and you went after it. I've always admired how you carry yourself." she said.

I began to fidget with my hands, no longer being able to look at her as she began to spill the truth behind every word she had ever spoken to me. "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot...and then...continued to stumble long after that. It was never my intention to hurt you-"

"You never hurt me." I interrupted, "You pissed me off. There's a difference."

She started to laugh, "I suppose there is. But my point is, I only ever wanted to help. Not just you, but everyone in this community. I had plans for this place. And I trust that Rick will take over and follow through with those plans... but not without making a few adjustments of his own."

The corner of my mouth turned up in a small smirk, "Yeah, he is good at taking things over."

"That he is...but he has good ideas, I'll give him that."

I nodded silently in agreement, leaning back in my seat as I felt a small weight had been lifted from me. We might not have always gotten along, but it was clear to me now that we held a sort of understanding for one another. And I had to admit, it felt strangely relieving.

"So...tell me more about this mother of yours."

My eye snapped back up to her, and suddenly, the weight had returned. "Oh, I don't know-"

"Come on, it's my dying wish." she said dryly.

I let out a heavy sigh to disguise the laugh that threatened to escape. Hearing a genuine joke come out of her mouth was unexpected. But I guess I could say that about a lot of things regarding this conversation. Though with the topic at hand...I had no idea where I would even start.

"I don't know. She was very...narcissistic. And, um...a little manipulative." I said to put it bluntly.

Her eyes widened a bit in disbelief, "And I remind you of her?"

I huffed softly with a shake of my head, "No, no not in that way. You kind of resemble more of the nosy and contradicting part of her."

I thought she would laugh at my joke, but instead she stayed silent as I went on, her eyes fluttered closed as if I were telling her some kind of story. A fucked up story at that she felt she had to envision. "She just wasn't a good mom...at all. I don't even think she was ever meant to be a mom. She'd put me down. Tell me how I couldn't do anything right. How I was just an...utter and complete failure to her."

I paused for a moment, like the memories of her presence haunted me, "I hated her..." I admitted quietly.

"I hated my mom. I hated my dad for not protecting me from her. I hated my sister for always siding with her. But it's not like she knew any better...we were both just trying to win her approval in some way. My whole family was just all kinds of fucked up."

The woman across from me was silent for a long while, though I didn't expect her to say anything after that. It was true, I didn't know when to stop once I've started. Talking about my mother was never something good, but it was also something that I couldn't seem to shut up about if you gave me the chance.

"I'm sorry."

I looked up to find that her eyes were still closed, but I knew I didn't imagine her voice. "For what?"

"For that," she said simply, her tone weaker than before. "For everything you just said. Nothing in your life seemed to be easy, Rose...and I'm sorry I didn't recognize that sooner."

And just like that, I had my closure. The closure I had desperately been craving. It wasn't the same as confessing all these things to my mother, but in a way, it was. And I felt now I could finally start to let her go.

Making amends with someone while they're on their death bed was something I never expected to do, but it felt oddly therapeutic in a way. Not only was I letting go of my mother, but I was letting go of Deanna, knowing we had made some kind of alliance during her final breaths. And it felt freeing.

The minutes ticked by agonizingly slow, my eyes flickering back up every few seconds to check her breathing. Only now her chest was no longer moving steadily like it was before. "Deanna?" I called out quietly, but received no answer.

I stood up to my feet, "Deanna?" I tried again a little louder. But she didn't move.

A hint of dread began to fill me as I finally stepped forward to the right side of the bed, looking down at her now lifeless figure. She was still, cold, and pale. I slowly reached for one of my knives, using my free hand to tip her head back slightly. I couldn't hesitate. That's why she needed me. So without thinking, I quickly plunged the knife into her head before yanking it back out again, hearing the bedroom door creak open just as I was standing back up straight. Talk about bad timing.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Rick standing there, his expression faltering just slightly as I wordlessly shook my head at him. My hands then moved to grasp the thin blankets and pulled them up over top of her to cover her body completely, but by the time I was done, the commotion coming from outside the room only grew clearer. And I knew I couldn't linger on this death for long.

"What's happening out there?" I asked him.

"They're getting in the house." he said, "And we gotta go now."

I nodded and followed behind him as we made our way down the hall, "Okay, how the hell are we supposed to-"

I cut myself off when I walked into the room he stopped in front of, seeing everyone with bedsheets over their bodies, covered in walker guts and blood. The smell was horrid in general, but when you cut one of them open, it was somehow ten times worse. Rick wordlessly squeezed his way passed everyone and into the room momentarily, before coming back out and handing me a cover as well.

I just wanted to die at this point. "You're kidding."

He shook his head, "It's the only way we're getting out of here. Remember Atlanta-"

"Yes, I remember Atlanta, Rick." I interrupted him, "But last I checked, I wasn't the one who had to do it."

"Well, you're doing it now." he said matter-of-factly before tossing the sheet in my face.

God fucking damnit. I took a breath before reluctantly pulling the fabric over my head, walking toward the two dead walkers on the floor that they had managed to cut open. It was a struggle to hold back my lunch while I piled the gross shit all over me, the texture was even worse than I had imagined. But surprisingly I managed.

By the time I glanced back up at the rest, they all seemed to be waiting in anticipation for me to finish up. My eyes locked with Rick as I gestured down in front of me.

"Be a dear and get my back for me?" I asked sweetly.

He rolled his eyes, but begrudgingly came over and leaned down next to me, beginning to smear the thick substance over my backside as well. "What's with the attitude? You're acting as if you weren't the one to suggest this." I muttered.

"Gabriel's working my last nerve." he grumbled.

I snorted quietly in amusement at the silent grudge he still held against the man, feeling him tap my back once to signal he was finished before we stood back up to face everyone else. After grabbing Judith and passing her off to Carl who kept her hidden under his sheet, we all simultaneously kept our weapons close. Checking the guns for ammo and making sure the knives were in easy reach in case something went wrong.

We all then made our way down the stairs together in a line, finding myself wedged between Rick and Carl in the front while the rest trailed behind. Rick hesitated for a moment before carefully moving the couch that was blocking the staircase off to the side, and waiting for the reaction from the walker front and center. The disgusting creature looked at us for a moment before focusing on something else; not noticing us at all. That was all the confirmation we needed to move forward, steadily making our way through the rest of the house.

My eyes were constantly scanning around the dead to make sure we weren't drawing attention to ourselves, feeling utterly shocked to see just how many of them made their way in here. It was like a huge crowd at a really shitty house party.

The group moved slow, though quick enough that we seemed to be out of there in a flash. But I felt myself growing uneasy. Not because of the hundreds of walkers surrounding us, no. The sinking feeling was for a certain child that was clinging to his mom for dear life, and looked about ready to shit his pants while he eyed he flesh eating monsters surrounding him. I knew Sam was only a kid, barely even ten years old, it was expected for him to be scared. But what worried me most was the possibility of him losing it, and that's what would get the rest of us killed.

We continuously trailed all the way down Jessie's driveway and further down the streets, away from the large swarm of them before Rick suddenly pulled us to a stop. "Alright, new plan." he announced quietly to the others while Michonne and I kept an eye on our surroundings from the front and the back, making sure none of them lingered near us for too long. The grip on the knife I held was tight while my eyes wandered every square inch around us.

I briefly listened in to the hushed voices discussing, hearing Rick mention going back to the quarry to gather some vehicles instead of moving toward the armory. Apparently, there were too many of them spread out and the flares weren't going to work as well as he originally hoped. The main objective now was to get the hell out of here as fast as we could, taking a handful of cars to bring back through the broken gates.

Once the plan was set in stone, Gabriel offered to take Judith back toward his church, to keep her safe while we went out. Rick seemed hesitant at first, still not fully trusting his intentions after what he had said to Deanna to try and remove us from the community. But he didn't have much of a choice, the chance of her crying out here and drawing attention toward us was far too risky. Which is why he nodded to Carl, silently allowing him to pass her over to him.

Gabriel sent a nod in return, beginning to bounce Judith in his arms to keep her calm when Jessie spoke up, "Take Sam too."

I closed my eyes in slight relief. Yes, God please take Sam.

"No." the child protested immediately.

She shook her head, "Sam, please it'll be safer."

"I'm not leaving you. I'm not, I can keep going." he argued.

Jessie vaguely looked around at everyone before having a silent debate with herself, before eventually nodding her head in agreement to keep him within her reach. So close, damnit. A part of me wished to step in and tell her that it wasn't a good idea, but it was far from my place. Not my kid, not my problem.

"I'll keep her safe." Gabriel promised Rick before gradually turning toward the herd, making his way back through the dangerous abyss.

Something about the way he spoke, the way he kept eye contact and nodded with determination gave me hope that he would stick to his word. No matter how wrong he had steered us in the past, he would never risk that little girl's life.

Although the way Rick's eyes couldn't be moved from his retreating figure showed just how scared he was putting his child's life into someone else's hands. But the fact of the matter was, she was in much more danger out here than she would be locked away in the church.

Right now, he needed that reassurance. "Hey," I reached out to find his hand, grasping it gently, "She's going to be fine. They're going to make it, and he's not going to let anything happen to her."

He looked at me for a few seconds before tilting his head in a slight nod, "Right." he whispered before gesturing for the others to fall in line again, "Come on."

The remainder of us gathered around like we once were, holding onto each other in some way to keep us from getting separated. I felt like I was trapped between heaven and hell, suffocating between the endless bodies that crowded around me. The heat was beginning to wrap around me like an uncomfortable force I couldn't escape from, causing my brow to dampen as my anxieties began to get the better of me.

And the cherry on top of it all was how dark it was getting, and fast.

~ Thanks for reading!

Taglist ~ @justareader95 @hayley1998 @ryoujoking @sipsthecoffee @winterassassin1804 @marsmallow433 @catlalice @writingstreetspirit @silentlysurffering98 @mystictf @remuslittlesister @in0320 @mythicalyyours

[d1xonss]

Are you going to do a part 2 for rules were ment to be broken, maybe with smut?

yesss i am.

it’s taken me a while to get back to that, which makes me feel bad because of the number of people who wanted a part two. but i swear it’ll happen🙂‍↕️

[d1xonss]

Are you still planning on writing that series for Rose? Like her life before the apocalypse? No pressure or anything I was just curious

as of now, yes. i have the first chapter written out and pretty much finished, however i haven’t figured out a good time on when to post it.

it could happen within the next few days, or the next few months at this point lol. i guess i assumed people weren’t super anxious to read it, so i decided to take my time with planning it out:)

[d1xonss]

hiii i’m a new reader of urs but let me just say i loveeeee ur work anyway i have a request if you’re taking any.. i neeeed a lil angsty fluffy moment of daryl x reader finding each other again after everything that happened with terminus and the whole prison debacle. just a lil idea i got while reading one of your works!! thank you!!

Finding You

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Reader

✧ Era : Season 4

✧ Pronouns : she/her

✧ Genre : Angst

✧ Word Count : 1.5k

AN ~ @kcundercover4 Hi angel, thank you for the request and the very kind words. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to writing this, I've been in a bit of a funk when it came to creating new ideas. But rest assured, I'm slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. I hope you enjoy! xoxox

When the prison fell, there was nothing left. Nothing but crumbling cement, dented fences, and whatever rotting bodies the dead decided to leave behind. The fire that was set took care of the rest, burning down the place you had once felt comfortable enough to call home. In an instant, everything was gone. And the ones from the community who made it out alive, had nearly nothing left to show for it.

Daryl felt nothing. No sadness, no hint of anger, just…nothing. It was a strange feeling that settled in his chest, a kind of emptiness he hadn’t felt in a very long time. A feeling that couldn’t be described. The best way he himself could picture it was like he was on some kind of drug, one that could numb his limbs and his mind, leaving him feeling oddly tired. Like he didn’t have the energy to get up and keep moving. Although he managed to escape with Beth who wanted nothing more than to get up and go, to try and find their people that she was certain were out there, he couldn’t.

He didn’t see much of a point in caring anymore. Whether everyone else really had managed to escape the brutal chaos, or they bit the bullet, it didn’t matter. Neither of them would catch a glimpse of their family ever again. And he’d much rather swallow down the tough pill now rather than hold out hope, only to be even more devastated in the end. He wouldn’t find Rick, or Carol, or…you.

That was a whole other pill he had yet to get down.

Daryl wasn’t one for openly expressing how he felt, but those who knew him well, knew his feelings ran deep. And the things he felt for you…he could hardly put them into words. It was like his whole life he had never known love until you suddenly walked into it, always looking at him in a way that made him feel truly seen. He didn’t have to say much for you to know what he was thinking. He didn’t have to hide his eyes behind his hair in fear you would see a flicker of vulnerability. He didn’t have to put up a front that he was fine…because deep down he knew that you could see when he wasn’t. He loved you. But now as he sat here alone and clueless, not knowing what had happened to you, it was slowly tearing him apart.

Throughout the following days, Daryl wasn’t too keen on talking. He wasn’t much for eating either. Just a dead man walking. The only thing going through his mind was surviving to see another day and to protect the only person he seemed to have left. But the most painful part of it all was every time he looked at Beth, he saw you. Her kindness resembled your own, along with the light she held behind her eyes that could only be described as hope. The same kind of hope you always possessed. It was somewhat of a bittersweet feeling that was for certain, finding himself to be pathetic that he missed you so terribly, he was starting to pick apart someone else in hopes it would somehow bring him back to you. It wasn’t fair; none of it was.

Though just when Beth began to find a crack in Daryl’s armor, getting him to finally begin to bring down his walls…he lost her too. He wasn’t even sure how it happened. One minute they were escaping the small herd of walkers that had somehow gotten into the funeral home, and the next he was watching some car speed down the road with her inside. Driving further and further away with no kind of indication of where they were going or what they planned to do with her. The familiar feeling of grief wasn’t lost on him, but that didn’t make it any less painful. The only way he was able to see it, was that he failed to save someone else. And when he attempted to find her, he only ran into more trouble.

There were the claimers, a group of men that turned out to not be men at all. Instead they were disgusting monsters that just preyed on fear. Then there was Terminus, a seemingly bright light at the end of the tunnel that led him back to his family, only to be revealed they were cannibals. Leading them like lambs to the slaughter. 

By the end of it all the group was exhausted and defeated, having to literally fight for their lives to make it out of there and now watching it burn to the ground as an end result. Carol’s unexpected arrival had saved them all. But what came next, no one could’ve predicted. The woman led them back to a small cabin hidden within the trees, only for the door to open to reveal Tyreese holding Judith securely in his arms. Both Rick and Sasha took off in a sprint when they recognized their loved ones, reuniting with them in hugs and tears whilst the rest stood back and watched.

But the wind was suddenly knocked out of Daryl when he caught sight of who stepped out of the cabin next, the harsh blow was enough to nearly bring him down to his knees. It was you.

Your eyes widened greatly when you spotted him from across the way, seeing him safe and unharmed despite the horrible things you heard about the community they walked into. You had been worried to the point of feeling nauseous ever since Carol had left to save them, but now seeing that he was alive, the relief that washed over you was unimaginable.

With a breath you immediately began to rush over to where he stood, watching as he stayed frozen in place and just stared. As if he were scared to move, or even attempt to touch you in fear that you would vanish into thin air the moment he accepted this moment was real. He couldn’t deny the sudden racing of his heart as you got closer and closer, the anticipation almost beginning to be too much for him to handle. And then you touched him, tentatively brushing the hair away from his forehead as you had done a thousand times before. The familiar need to see his eyes.

That’s what ultimately caused him to crumble.

His body all but melted at the feel of your soft fingertips dancing against his rough skin, a shuttering and emotional breath leaving his lips as he leaned his head down to bury his face into the crook of your neck. Making himself smaller. Your hand instantly moved up to cradle the back of his head, keeping him steady while he practically leaned his whole body weight onto you. His legs suddenly felt like jelly, like he could no longer support himself and needed you to help with the heavy burden he carried. Every emotion he had kept buried deep down was now unleashed all at once.

You felt his hands come up to hesitantly hold onto your waist, his fingers curling around the fabric of your clothes in a way to somehow keep him grounded. His breathing grew more ragged as he kept his face tucked away and hidden from view, his nose brushing along your pulse to feel you were alive, to breathe you in. The emptiness he felt was unexpectedly being replaced with a sudden ache, but it wasn’t unwelcomed. It was a reminder of the longing and sadness he had felt all those weeks you were apart, the utter heartbreak he wouldn’t dare let anyone see.

His lips pressed a kiss against your skin, the action being so soft and delicate like he feared of leaving even the tiniest mark on you. He couldn’t even imagine what you must’ve gone through on your own, and he wanted to make it known that he wasn’t planning on letting anything hurt you again. A silent vow only you would be able to receive. 

After a few moments of holding him you gently pulled back ever so slightly to really look at him, your heart sinking when you noticed the black eye and scrapes along his face. But those hardly mattered to him, not really. Not when the only pain he could focus on was losing you.

“Are you okay?” you asked quietly, your tone no louder than a whisper.

When he heard you speak he could hardly find the strength to respond. Your soft spoken voice that he was convinced he would only hear in his dreams, now seemed to echo throughout his mind. Soothed his weary soul. His eyes glistened with tears as he simply looked at you, his lip quivering as he desperately tried to hold back the intense emotions he was feeling. As for your question, all he could do was nod his head. His real answer being far too complicated for even him to process. 

He saw the sadness etched on your face before you wrapped your arms tightly around him again, not willing to let go so easily this time. And it was clear the both of you found what you had been desperately missing.

~ Thanks for reading!

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 76 ~ Trapped

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 6

✧ Word Count : 5.7k

In this chapter ~ When Rose realizes that Alexandria becomes at risk of danger, her abrupt decision only adds fuel to the growing fire. In which the herd walkers now surround the gates. Separating them from the ones who they now relied on the most to try and salvage what could be saved.

I felt my brain was running on overdrive, trying to figure out what the hell we were supposed to do about the blaring noise. Briefly I could hear Daryl and Rick going back and forth, arguing on whether or not he should whip around to try and get them in order from the back. But Rick declined immediately. My eyes rolled to the back of my head at the statement; in what world would he ever agree? If you wanted to execute something like that, you had to do it behind his back.

"Turn off that radio." my voice nearly demanded.

Daryl looked taken aback for a moment before he twisted the knob all the way to the left, shutting it down. I glanced down toward my mirrors to see half of them still following behind, before looking ahead to see the familiar sign approaching that read "Alexandria " and it hit me right then and there what I needed to do. My bike sped up slightly to align myself with the passenger side window, Abraham glancing up at me in question.

"Can I have that?" I asked, pointing to the walkie in his hand.

He looked from me to the object a few times before hesitantly handing it out, "Now, don't do anything rash, Missy. We still got fifteen more miles to go."

"I know," I muttered before attaching the walkie to my own clothing, looking back up to the three of them, "But there's no way I'm listening to Rick, fuck that. They need help. I'm gonna swing around, see if I can get control of the other half to follow behind-"

"Not alone ya ain't." Daryl interrupted.

"I have to try." I argued just as stubbornly.

He shook his head firmly, "Damnit Rose, I ain't lettin ya go alone."

"It's not up to you." I snapped, "You guys just have to worry about staying put and keeping the rest of these dead assholes from getting sloppy. I'll keep in touch, I swear." the promise left my lips almost too easily before I was speeding down the road, trying my hardest not to look back.

Their voices shouted my name until I couldn't hear them anymore, but that only inclined me to go faster, knowing that Rick was too damn thick headed to ask for any kind of help. I mean, who in their right mind would take on all these damn walkers alone? A psycho that's who. I swear sometimes I'm the only one with a level head.

"Rose, get yer ass back here right now." Daryl's voice suddenly cracked through on the radio.

I maneuvered my hand to grasp it, clicking the button on, "No."

"Ya ain't doin this shit by yerself." he snapped.

"Watch me." I mumbled stubbornly before clicking it off, the engine of my bike roaring as I tried to find the quickest way back. Knowing I didn't have much time.

The trees on either side of me were merely a blur in my peripheral vision, my speed only increasing when I caught a glimpse of the road coming to an end, forcing me to turn right and head right back toward the community. Hoping to catch up with the other half of the herd, guiding them back to where they were supposed to be following the rest. I knew Daryl was pissed about what I did, but someone had to step in and help. I didn't need to ask anyone's permission to do a damn thing, and today was no different. And I wasn't about to let Rick kill himself over something so stupid.

The sound of static cutting through the silence of my drive made me glance back down to the radio on my jacket, tugging on it to hold up to my ear and get a better listen. It could've just been my imagination, my mind playing foolish tricks, but I swore I heard the briefest sounds of gunshots coming from the other end, before it all went quiet once again. And that left an even bigger pit in my stomach than before.

I quickly clicked the button on, holding it up to my mouth, "Rick?" I spoke, pausing for a moment to listen for his answer. There was nothing but silence. "Rick?" I tried again, only to be left with the same result.

Without another moment of hesitation, I pushed my vehicle to go even faster than before, nearly pushing eighty-five yet there was still not a single walker in sight. The places I was passing by were starting to look somewhat familiar like we had rolled through them before, the aspect only giving me hope that I was heading in the right direction. And right as that thought crossed my mind, I spotted the first cluster of red balloons, and I let myself exhale in relief.

I made another harsh right when I spotted the dirt road, noting the few lone walkers traveling West toward where the sound was once blaring. It only hit me then that I couldn't seem to hear the noise of the horn anymore now that I was closer to home, which brought me some peace of mind.

But as always, it seemed to be short lived.

I turned one last time to make a full U-turn and circle back around, hoping to find the herd traveling along this very road if what Rick was said was true. But instead, I came across the familiar RV, parked in a completely different spot from where we originally placed it. The scene was oddly quiet, the kind of silence that makes your stomach twist with some kind of unknowing nervousness. Quickly pulling my bike off to the side of the road and shutting it off so the rumbling couldn't be heard, I removed my gun from around my torso and planted both my boots on the pavement. Approaching the vehicle with caution.

My steps were slow and deliberate as I did a scan of my surroundings, before getting close enough to the RV to hear what could be going on inside. The sounds of muffled struggling reached my ears, loud enough to where I looked up toward the windows to see Rick fighting back against two unknown men. My eyes widened before I quickly moved around the back, staying low and away from the glass as to not be seen by any of them from inside and headed toward the door.

By the time I had opened it up with quiet caution, I witnessed Rick had wrestled one of the men to the ground and eventually shot up to raise his gun, firing a bullet into his head. My gaze then snapped down to the other stranger who was struggling to get up, drawing his own weapon from just behind Rick's back. But I didn't even give him a chance, raising my own gun in an instant to shoot him in the base of his skull, causing Rick to whip around and look at me with widened eyes.

We both just stared at each other and for a moment, time stood still. His chest fell heavy and deep from the physical fight and the bleeding hand he was clutching at his side, the crimson droplets falling to the ground. His gaze however was harder to read, a mix of frustration and gratefulness. But then again, that's always how he seemed to look at me.

Our attention then snapped toward the windshield when we heard the dreaded sound of walkers coming our way, the large group of them that we were trying desperately to find. Now were coming toward us at full force.

"We'll take the bike. Come on." I urged and gestured for him to follow me out.

The two of us beelined to where I had discarded my motorcycle, quickly picking it up from where it laid to straddle the seat and kickstart it with a roar. Rick rushed over and hopped on the back, keeping his injured hand close to his chest while the other balanced on my shoulder, his grip almost deadly as I peeled it out of there as fast as I could.

I felt him turn around to see the walkers seemingly right on our trail, his actions causing my steering to wobble a bit. My hand came flying down to smack his knee, "Hey! First rule of riding on the back of a motorcycle: don't fucking do that."

He grunted at my harsh hit, though clearly it got his attention. "We gotta get home fast!" he shouted over the noise, "Those assholes in there- I think they staged this thing."

The horn. The distraction. It wouldn't surprise me. There had to be more of them than just the two we had taken care of.

When I didn't respond, he took it upon himself to start scolding me, "I thought I told everyone to stay put where they were. That meant you too."

I whipped my head back over my shoulder, absolutely baffled, "You're really gonna yell at me about this now? After I just saved your ass?"

"You're not listening," he argued, "It was a stupid call, Ro. You needed to stay back with them."

My blood began to boil as he continued to ignore the fact that I just saved his life. "I'm pulling over in about five seconds if I don't get a thank you." I deadpanned.

"Thank you." he quickly replied, "But I just wanted you safe. Not in the middle of this mess."

I nodded briefly, "I know...but I couldn't stand by and let you handle it alone."

He didn't say anything else, and I couldn't look back to get a read on his face. But he gripped my shoulder a little tighter, as if silently thanking me again.

There wasn't another word uttered between us, our bodies rigid while I continued to race toward Alexandria. I couldn't stop thinking about the dead chasing us the whole way there, having no idea how we were supposed to take care of the rest of them. This was going to end badly, I could feel it, but we didn't have another choice but to go back. Even though once we got in, there was no way we could get back out.

It took all of merely moments before the front gates began to come into view, and the horde wasn't letting up. I tried to pick up speed in hopes to get us through faster, my hands nearly shaking whilst I gripped onto the handlebars. Rick started to yell from behind me at them to open the gates, waving his arms around like a lunatic to get their attention. Deanna's figure stood atop the platform, her expression could be only described as terrified as the people on watch rushed down to help us.

My eyes snapped to the gate once more when it began to open, racing through the small gap and skidding to a halt the second we were safely inside. Rick gripped me tightly once more in fear he would fall off with how abruptly I stopped, and my eyes glanced up just in time to catch one last glimpse of the herd. Their snapping teeth and decaying faces were just out of reach before the metal doors slammed shut, hearing them begin to pound on the surface over my own heavy breathing. They were cornering this place as we speak, trapping us like rats.

A crowd quickly formed around us considering all the commotion, dismounting the bike and turning around in time to see Maggie rushing toward me, "Oh my God, oh my-" she cut herself off and placed her hands on my cheeks, checking me for any kind of scratch or bruise, "Are you alright?"

I nodded shakily, "Fine...just fine."

She breathed out a sigh before wasting no time wrapping her arms around me, holding me so close I swore she'd be able to hear how fast my heart was still racing. Though the truth was I was far from fine. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the gates just over her shoulder, the growing sound of them only inflicted a bad feeling inside me that somehow, someway, they would get in.

"Rick! You good?" Daryl's gruff voice suddenly came in through the radio attached to Rick's belt.

I pulled away slightly from Maggie's embrace when I heard the worry in his tone, sharing a look with Rick before he held the device up to his mouth to respond. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just made it back to Alexandria. The RV broke down, Rose and I ran into some trouble. But before you ask; yes, she's safe."

There was a brief pause, "She there with ya?"

Rick wordlessly extended the radio over to me to which I sent him a glare before snatching it out of his hand. The last thing I needed was to be scolded again. Regardless, I stepped away from the prying ears of the small group that stood near the gates, dreading to click the thing back on.

"...I'm here." I muttered.

"What the hell were ya thinkin?!" he wasted no time getting into it.

I closed my eyes and pulled the radio away from my face, not expecting the sudden loudness as I sighed to myself. "I'm sorry, okay? I know you're pissed. But Rick could've died out there if I hadn't shown up when I did. We made it back, but there's no way any of us are getting out anytime soon, the whole place is getting surrounded as we speak."

The radio clicked just in time for me to hear him mutter, "Shit." before it was silent for a few more seconds. Clearly contemplating his next move. "M' on my way."

My eyes widened, "What? No, there's no way you'll even be able to make it in here."

"Watch me." he repeated my own stubborn words back to me.

"No," I repeated more sternly this time, "Don't try to play hero right now, okay? You gotta stick with those two out there, they need you. Just finish taking the walkers the rest of the way and we'll figure something out when the time comes. I'm safe...did you hear that part?"

He sighed softly, "Yeah, I heard ya. But that don't make me stop worryin."

I nodded to myself. It was safe to say the feeling was mutual. "We'll figure it out...we always do."

There was another long and loud pause as he stewed over my words, before reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I was right. "Alright...I love you."

I smiled a bit, "I love you too. Be safe out there, keep in touch if you can."

"I will. And for the love of God, just stay put til I get back."

I rolled my eyes, "We're stuck in here, how am I supposed to leave?"

"I dunno, ya always find some kinda way, woman." he said, his deep chuckle echoing in at the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, whatever." I mumbled before slowly clicking the device off with a slightly heavier heart, trying to shake off the feeling as I turned back to where I left my bike and beginning to walk it back toward the direction of my house.

Everyone was gathered around in front of the walls with worried looks on their faces as I passed them, listening to the banging grow greater and louder, clearly moving from the front entrance to huddle around the entirety of the place. I tried to ignore it the best I could manage, but it was hard when it didn't seem to stop. I hoped these walls would stay standing, I prayed that everyone would be safe until we figured out a plan. But that's never really how it worked out now. Not in this unforgiving world. I also couldn't help but notice how this place looked like some kind of warzone, spilt blood staining the streets along with a few lingering dead bodies. Though it wasn't the least bit surprising considering the assumptions Rick and I had come to.

I found myself drifting back toward where the community was gathered, watching Rick speak out to them about how we were planning to handle this situation. Trying to give them a little bit of hope that everything was going to be alright, but it didn't even look like he believed his own words. How could he when his voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of their snarls?

My footsteps slowed to a stop beside where Carl stood, feeling him look over at me the moment he saw me approach. Neither of us said a word, simply wrapping an arm around each other whilst silently listening amongst the quietness of the people. I took a moment to glance around at all the weary glances they were giving each other, every single one of them having doubts. Hell, I couldn't have understood that more than I did right now, but I wasn't going to let any of them see that. I had to keep a brave face despite how scared I truly was, despite knowing it always ends up the same goddamn way.

Eventually they all started to disperse, clearly wanting to keep their minds off of what was going on just outside. Carl wordlessly pulled me along to move just like the rest, and I let him. I needed a distraction from the fact that the person I loved most in this world was still out there, leaving me clueless on where he was or what was happening on their end. I know the weight of the choice I had made, but that didn't make it any easier to take.

The two of us gravitated toward a spot away from everyone else, sitting down on the curb side by side, watching a few people write a handful of names on the metal wall of who we had recently lost. In my mind it was a good way to honor them, but clearly they didn't waste any time doing so, which almost made it even harder to process. Seeing that only made my eyes wander to the rest of the mess that was left behind, the damage that couldn't be undone considering the reminder they were quite literally painting right before us.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked him after a few moments of silence.

He looked at me and sighed, "These people...they got in somehow and started attacking. I don't know how many of them there were, or why they targeted us. But they had this weird marking on their foreheads that I couldn't make out."

I froze at the last words that left his mouth. "Son of a bitch...I knew it." I muttered to myself.

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"Well," I sighed, "This isn't exactly our first run in with these people. But I sure as hell hope for their sake, it's the last."

He nodded slowly but didn't press further about what I knew. And I appreciated it more than I let on. "We took care of it. I don't think there's any of them left to come back."

I nodded, "Judith?"

"She's okay." he confirmed.

My shoulders slumped with the littlest ease, glancing around again at the many people working around here like ants. Busying themselves with anything. "God...when did everything become so messed up?" I asked aloud.

The kid shrugged, "When did it stop being messed up?"

His sarcastic tone threw me off a bit, causing me to smile when I needed it most. "You got me there." I said before gently nudging his side.

I heard him laugh quietly before the silence settled once again, my eyes instinctively turning back to what was right ahead of me. Though when I caught sight of the same wall, Glenn's name was now being written next in big black letters. My heart felt like it was starting to sink when it hit me then that he too was still out there, long enough to where these people considered him to be dead. I tore my gaze away from the sight when I couldn't fathom the thought anymore. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

"You okay?" Carl asked, quickly noticing my change in mood.

I nodded slowly, "Yeah...I think...I think I'm going to go keep watch for a while. Give myself something useful to do."

His brows creased slightly in worry, "You sure?"

I nodded once more reassuringly and gave his hand a squeeze, before standing to my feet and heading back toward the front entrance. The disturbing noises only worsened when I approached, climbing up step by step to look out and see just how many walkers we were dealing with on the other side. I grabbed the sniper that was already sitting there, looking out into the sea of corpses that only seemed to keep flooding in steadily. They were continuing to make their way around the entirety of the walls, pushing on them and banging just like they did back at the prison. Even those came falling down too.

The creaking of the ladder made me glance down to see Michonne climbing up as well, making her way to the top to wordlessly look out at the same damage that I was seeing. She let out a defeated sigh the moment she saw the numbers, while I scanned every square inch of our surroundings to try and pinpoint just how many we would eventually have to deal with. But I kept losing count. It was never-ending, more and more trailing in through the tree line and drawn to all of the noise the rest of them were causing. Just an endless cycle of dead pricks that we couldn't get rid of.

"How you doing?" she finally spoke up.

I shrugged pathetically, my voice caught in my throat for a few seconds as I truly didn't know how to respond. I wasn't holding up very well by any means, the small hint of fear that everything would be destroyed was now going to be constantly on my mind. Making me realize that coming up here to have it dangling in front of my face probably wasn't the smartest choice. But then again, I couldn't handle seeing Glenn's name on that wall.

"I'm okay."

Her gaze panned toward me out of the corner of my eye, seeming like she didn't believe the lie I just told. "You're worrying."

I scoffed, "Yeah...yeah, I am. I'm worrying about how Daryl's still out there where anything could go wrong, leading the other half of walkers away. I'm worrying about the fact that these could eventually force their way in, because let's face it, they always do. And...seeing Glenn's name on that wall...definitely isn't helping anything." I ranted, the word vomit pouring out of my mouth.

She was silent for a long moment, seemingly taking it all in. "You call that being okay?" she asked lightheartedly.

"No," I huffed with a shake of my head.

She laughed quietly and nudged my shoulder, "No one said you had to be. It's okay to worry, hell, I know I am."

"I'm trying to stay positive." I claimed as I let out a breath, "But let me tell you, it's really hard to be when shit's hitting the fan. Especially like this."

"Yeah. I get it..." she trailed off when she saw the look on my face, and clearly, I wasn't hiding my emotions very well. I never really could hide them from her. "What...?" she asked cautiously.

I shook my head silently, feeling my thoughts scattered all over the place, thinking about every little thing going wrong when the original plan was supposed to work out perfectly. I had hope that it would, just this once, things could actually move in the right direction. But now I just felt utterly foolish.

"I just...I shouldn't have left him." I eventually admitted.

"What?" she asked again, "You feel guilty?"

I didn't dare open my mouth or even attempt to answer her, but apparently that was the only kind of answer she needed to know the heavy truth that was weighing me down. "Rick is alive because of you. That's not something to feel guilty for."

"But I still left Daryl behind in the process. Just like that. And now I have no idea if he's even going to make it back- so many things could happen out there."

She scoffed, "I don't think Daryl of all people is who you have to worry about. That man is invincible. And he's not going to stop without a fight to get back here; Glenn too. We just have to be patient."

In the back of my mind I knew she was right, they were both smart enough to handle this kind of crisis on their own. But that didn't stop me from feeling any less shitty about leaving him behind in the first place. The rash decision I now couldn't take back. I saved Rick, but what if Daryl ended up in some kind of danger and I wasn't around to save him? It was like the butterfly effect in a way. Once choice could alter everything. And all I could do now was put my trust in Abraham and Sasha to have his back.

"I'm more worried about Rick." she suddenly spoke again.

I looked at her upon hearing her muttered comment, waiting for her to elaborate. "He has so much on his shoulders right now. With trying to keep all these people calm, and figuring out a way to take out these sons of bitches...I can't imagine the pressure he's being put under." she slightly trailed off as she glanced back over her shoulder, spotting him below us just a couple hundred feet away.

My eyes narrowed just a bit as I watched her, taking note of how she held her gaze on him for longer than I ever expected, the slight twitch of her lip was involuntary at the mere sight of him. The best part was, she didn't even realize she did it. I found myself looking back and forth between them a few times, my own knowing smile returning to my face before silently nodding to myself.

It could just be me reading too much into her commentary, but I needed something a little more positive to talk about anyway. So, I was going to act on this little situation.

"Hm...you're worried about Rick?" I asked, my tone having a slight teasing edge.

Before I could blink she was already giving me a small glare, "Yeah, so?" she shrugged and adjusted the gun strap on her shoulder.

I raised my hands in defense, "It's just nice he has you watching out for him, that's all. Relax."

"I don't like this game, please just say whatever it is you're really thinking."

I smiled to myself and took my sweet time responding, clearing my throat a bit, "Well, I just heard through the grapevine...that he's single..."

"Stop." she protested immediately.

"He is." I countered back.

She gave me a somewhat pointed look, "What he is, is my friend. And that friend has a thing going on with Jessie that I don't think anyone should meddle with."

"Friend?" I repeated in disbelief, "You can't use that excuse with me. Daryl and I were just friends at one point too, and now we have the best sex you could imagine."

"Oh my God- I'm ignoring you now." she stuttered a bit at my blunt comment.

I laughed softly, "Alright, okay, I'm done."

She nodded slightly, "Thank you..."

A brief pause passed as I debated whether or not to poke the bear further. But I felt she had a right to know how serious I was despite my lightheartedness. Even if she didn't want to hear it. "You know, you're about one of the only people around here that make him feel calm during times like this. Safe...and at peace."

Her eyes softened a bit, and she didn't protest or try to interrupt. "I wish I could say the same for me, but really I just stress him out most of the time." I joked to make her laugh, "His kids also adore you...I'm just saying."

I ended it plain and simple, leaving her to process on the obvious information. She nodded to show that she heard every word, yet she didn't say anything else. Not that there was anything else really to say. But by the lack of response I got when telling her just how much she truly meant to him, was all the confirmation I needed.

Although I had no idea she felt that deeply for him, I felt I was already rooting for them far more than I was supporting whatever relationship he was pursuing with Jessie. Not that I would ever tell him that, or try to advise which way he should be leaning. But one thing was for certain, I thought he needed to start looking at what was right in front of him instead of chasing someone he was never meant to have.

It seemed to grow dark fairly quickly, the remainder of the day practically flying by. I spent most of it up on the platform, gripping onto the sniper like it was my lifeline right alongside Michonne who seemed just as anxious as I remained. However, she was much better at hiding it. We talked back and forth after a while, to try and get our minds off of the deadly things. But it doesn't help that the thing you're trying so hard to avoid talking about, is quite literally standing in front of you.

With the amount of pile up those things caused, it was only making the walls weaker if they kept up with it like they were. Trying to avoid thinking about that possibility was one of the hardest things to do right now, but I couldn't let my mind dwell. Not yet at least. We still had time.

Once the hour grew later to the point where I couldn't stop myself from yawning, I began to head back home and turn in, wanting to at least try and get some sleep. Though I couldn't help but notice a figure standing in front of all the many names written on the wall, the sight causing me to slow to a stop. It only took me a second to realize it was Maggie, staring right at Glenn's name without moving so much as an inch. Making me question for a moment if she was even breathing.

My eyes saddened at the briefest image of her slightly grieving over him, the man who was most important to her, who could be anywhere out there. It was something that she should never have to do, having the fear of the unknown eating away at her as all she could do was hope. I watched her closely as she took a rag from the ground and started to scrub his name off the thick sheet of metal. My heart instantly seemed to break. And all I knew to do now, was to be there for her in a moment where she couldn't ask for help.

My approach was hesitant and careful as I stopped at the wall right beside her, not sparing a moment for her to acknowledge my presence before I picked up another towel that was tossed to the side. Silently helping her wash away his name letter by letter.

It began to fade with a little bit of time, the soap and water running through the paint and cleansing it away. Leaving only a brief image of what used to be written there, which to me was far better than how it was before. She turned to look at me once we were finished, her eyes glistening but thankful for the silent reassurance I was willing to provide. My actions speaking louder than my words could in this moment; that I believed he was still out there too.

I laid in bed the rest of the night staring up at the ceiling, nearly giving up on the possibility that I would get a wink of rest. It was almost laughable that I thought I'd be able to begin with.

All day I've been trying not to let my emotions get the best of me while constantly seeming to spiral, yet somehow it was always worse when nightfall hit. When you're able to think the most without any kind of diversion, which led me to believe that's why I hated it the most when I was alone. It caused me to ponder all of the things I could've done differently within the past day, week, or even year. Leaving me with almost too much to think about.

"Rose?"

I practically jumped out of my skin when I heard the hushed voice in the threshold of my bedroom door, instinctively reaching for the nightstand drawer where I had my gun. But then my squinted eyes met Maggie's through the sea of darkness, and I exhaled a sigh of relief. Yeah, don't shoot her.

"Jesus, you scared the shit out of me." I whispered with my hand raising to my chest, feeling how fast my heart was beating.

Her expression grew sheepish as she slowly stepped into the room, "I'm sorry."

I waved her off, "No, no it's okay." I reassured before sitting up on the mattress, "What's going on?"

"Uh..." she hesitated a little, lingering awkwardly by the edge of the bed, "I just...I don't know if I can be alone tonight." her quiet voice admitted.

My eyes saddened a bit, seeing we were both in the same boat with this heavy loneliness. Neither of us wanting to spend it completely alone. I immediately pulled the blankets back for her, patting the space next to me as a silent invitation. She smiled gratefully at my understanding, moving around to the other side of the bed and climbing in comfortably under the covers just beside me. We both laid back in silence, neither one of us feeling the need to fill the void.

I didn't know how much time had passed as we simply listened to the soft sounds just outside the cracked window, but it was clear both of us were still awake. Admittedly it was comforting having someone next to me in a moment like this, especially Maggie whose conflicting emotions matched my own. Knowing at any point, I could speak up about what was surely circling both of our minds. And she would listen.

"You know why I came here?" her tired voice unexpectedly asked.

I looked over, seeing she was on the brink of falling asleep. But I responded regardless out of pure curiosity. "Why?"

"Because...you feel like home to me. I'm glad you're here." she whispered before letting out a small sigh in content.

My heart fluttered with a warmth of comfort, finding I couldn't respond the way I wanted to as I was thrown of guard at her sincerity. So, instead I simply leaned down to press a kiss against the top of her head, smoothing her hair down gently to express how much that meant to me to hear out loud.

~ Thanks for reading!

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[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 75 ~ What Lies Ahead

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 6

✧ Word Count : 6.8k

In this chapter ~ The group discovers a new threat to Alexandria; a herd of walkers that were unleashed from where they were once trapped. They must now figure out a way to draw the flesh-eating monsters away from the place they now called home. But of course, things don't exactly go according to plan.

"Look, I know this sounds insane...but this is an insane world. We have to come for them, before they come for us. It's that simple." Rick announced as we all stared at the scene before us.

A giant herd of walkers were trapped in the quarry ahead, a number of semi-trucks lodged on either end of the open pit that prevented them from escaping. None of us knew how the pile up happened, or how the hell so many of them had managed to get stuck, but all we knew was that we needed to take care of it. Fix it before it became a problem. If we let this go on any longer, one of the trucks could give out without us knowing, and then the herd would be heading straight for Alexandria.

"This is where it all starts tomorrow!" he continued, "Tobin gets in the truck, opens the exit and we're off. He hops out and catches up with his team at red, staying on the west side of the road. Daryl and Rose get on the bikes-"

But his voice was suddenly drowned out by the loud sound of rumbling coming from just the other side of the quarry.

"You see that?" Sasha yelled.

Our attention was drawn to where one of the vehicles that was blocking the exit, slowly falling into the large open space, giving the walkers an opening to escape from the far side. My eyes widened as the opportunity became greater and greater for them to slip through the cracks, not giving us the chance to wait until tomorrow like we planned. We wanted to be able to control this, to lead them away from the community, and now it was all happening abruptly.

"It's open! We gotta do this now!" Rick called out urgently.

Upon hearing that, the rest sprang into action and headed toward the vehicles we were meant to take for each of our roles in the plan. We all seemed to have the same panicked looks printed on our faces, yet a determination in our eyes, wanting to protect the safeness of our home more than anything.

"Tobin's group, get moving now! Go!" Rick shouted.

"No, Rick we aren't ready!" Carter tried to protest.

He ignored him, "Sasha! Abraham! You meet Daryl and Rose at red. Let them take the walkers through the gauntlet."

"Yeah, we meet at red." Sasha confirmed with a nod of her head before she and Abraham quickly climbed into the maroon painted car.

"Get ready to hit the flares!" Rick yelled right before he gave Tobin the signal to open up the entrance, letting the walkers out.

I saw the red car disappear out of the corner of my eye, keeping my focus solely on the two semis that were slowly being pulled apart by the large pickup and strong chains, the dead clawing their way out the second they had the chance. The magazine of the machine gun I held clicked as I loaded it, firing a few bullets at the first few I saw while slowly backing up, using the sound to draw them closer alongside everyone else. And when I saw the red flares, I knew it was time to move.

The cars around peeled out of the area to head to their selected checkpoints, leaving no more than a cloud of dust behind. I dashed in the other direction with my eyes locked downward, reloading my gun and strapping it across my torso before hopping onto the motorcycle. It loudly roared to life when I started it, sensing Daryl following suit beside me to straddle his own bike, securing his weapon around him. My eyes drifted to the side mirror, revving the engine a few times to train the walkers attention directly onto us. The decaying eyes easily caught onto all of our noise, their snarls intensifying as they dragged their feet in our direction. Leading the pack of them straight toward us.

"Ya ready?" Daryl called out.

I nodded subtly, "As I'll ever be..."

With one last lingering look to one another, the two of us took off at the same time down the dirt road. All of the walking dead following close behind us.

"Sorry I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world is going to need Rick Grimes."

I read that last part over and over so it would echo in my mind. The new world. That felt like the right thing to call this period of time, and Rick Grimes just so happened to fit the role.

After introducing myself to the man named Morgan, Rick didn't waste any time taking the two of us, alongside Daryl, back to the house to get everything straight. And partly to be out of such a public eye. I had learned a great deal of things on our journey back, but the one that remained the most important was Morgan was the man that had saved Rick's life in the very beginning of all of this. The first person he came across after waking from his coma. He had sacrificed a great deal for Rick and now just recently saved Daryl from what I had briefly overheard...I liked him already.

The house was quiet as we all lingered in the kitchen, sitting myself at one of the barstools of the island with Daryl practically glued to my side. Loudly slurping some cereal like he hadn't had a real meal in months. Though despite his eagerness to get something in his stomach, he continued to offer me bite after bite even though I insisted I wasn't hungry, he wouldn't stop until I ate. It was like the second he caught a glimpse of my beaten face, he felt guilty he wasn't here to prevent it, and was now trying to make up for it in every possible way.

"You were right." Morgan spoke up, looking toward Rick with a smile, "It wasn't over."

Rick nodded to himself, his eyes glancing around the room as if looking for something to fill the awkward silence in the air. But it was clear he didn't want to get into anything in front of the two of us. "We should talk more about this tomorrow. But listen...I don't take chances anymore."

Morgan hummed in understanding, "And you shouldn't."

Another pause drifted through the room, almost as if Rick didn't know how to act around such a familiar face he hadn't seen in what felt like years. When no one else had the urge to speak I tried to defuse the tension a bit, especially since the man couldn't have walked in at a worse time witnessing Rick blatantly murder someone.

"So, you two go way back, huh?" I questioned.

"Yeah, we really do." Morgan confirmed, "Hardly knew a thing when we crossed paths. Looked like an idiot trying to kill his first walker." he tried to joke.

I bit back a laugh upon seeing Rick's reaction to his comment, "Oh yeah, I'd love to hear about it."

He opened his mouth to speak, but Rick abruptly cut him off, "I don't think we need all this tonight. We should just...rest up."

"Rick, come on." I said, sending him a look, "At least let him get settled a bit."

He just shook his head, "No, we're all tired. Let's just turn in for the night, yeah?"

"Ya look like shit man." Daryl piped up, "Better wash up before anythin."

Rick scoffed, "Right." he muttered, before nodding toward Morgan to follow him to show where he would be staying.

The man seemed to instantly get up to follow him out, not putting up much of a fight considering he was in our territory now. Wanting to abide by the rules Rick was setting in stone. But a part of me felt a little bad for him, knowing exactly what Rick meant when he said he wasn't taking any chances. He would plan on keeping Morgan in one of the cell-like rooms until they talked properly. And after seeing it for myself, it wasn't particularly cozy.

The front door closing brought me out of my head, and I immediately glanced over toward Daryl to find he was already staring at me. "Go ahead." I whispered.

His eyes saddened the longer he looked, but he couldn't quite open his mouth to speak. I shifted myself off of my seat to come closer and stand between his legs, raising my hand to move some of the hair that was stuck to his face. "Come on. Ask me."  I tried again.

A heavy breath escaped him as he felt my touch, "What happened?"

"I'm glad you asked," I said lightheartedly which earned a scoff from him, "There was a fight that got a little too out of hand. The doctor here, he was abusing his wife. His family. And the second Rick and I tried to stop it; he obviously lashed out and did some damage. But everything's fine...I'm fine."

He studied me. Hung onto every word I was saying as if trying to decipher if I was telling the whole truth. Gripping onto every last detail. "Same asshole Rick just shot?"

I nodded, "That's the one."

"Would've taken care of the son of a bitch myself." he spoke lowly.

"Oh, I'm sure you would've, honey." I said sweetly, taking the time to brush his hair back again, "But don't worry about it, okay? It's done."

He studied me for a moment longer before reluctantly nodding his head, his arms coming up to wrap around me and draw me in even closer, "I missed ya." he mumbled into my shirt.

I laughed softly, "You have no idea." I muttered as I ran my fingers through his hair soothingly.

It didn't take long for us to trail back to our own home and stay within each other's reach for the rest of the night. Talking nonstop for what felt like forever as we each swapped stories about how terrible the past couple days had been for the both of us. While he was out there dealing with a group of dead ones that trapped him and Aaron in a car for hours, I was stuck in a different sense dealing with something just as dangerous. In hindsight it all seemed pretty dreadful, but I felt it was worth it just to be in this moment with him again.

I missed this. And I found comfort in knowing that I would sleep soundly tonight, not worried about the dangers lurking outside as long as he was right here.

The sound of Rick's voice roughly came through the walkie that Daryl had attached to his jacket, reminding everyone of what their job was as we all spread out in different directions. I could still feel my heart racing at how unexpectedly things had gone downhill, feeling not at all prepared for the turn of events. But we didn't have much of a choice now, just a very long and dreadful drive onward.

My eyes briefly flickered down to the speedometer to see we were going about fifteen miles an hour, just fast enough to stay out of reach of the dead continuing to trail on our asses. I kept checking my mirrors every few seconds, a little paranoid that something would go wrong even though things seemed to be running smoothly thus far. Well, as far as smoothly could go considering the walkers managed to get out a whole day earlier than we had anticipated.

"How ya doin?"

I looked over when I heard Daryl's voice cut through all the noise, nodding my head reassuringly. "Fine...just still a little shook up. I hope everyone's alright."

"Yeah, me too," he agreed with a shake of his head, glancing back at the horde with a furrow of his brow. It seemed to be doubling in size already, there had to be thousands that were stuck in that quarry until they were starving. The two of us probably looked like two giant pieces of steak that they just couldn't get a hold of fast enough.

He glanced back over to me after a moment, eyeing the motorcycle I rode, "The bike runnin okay?"

I sent him a knowing look, "Yes, it's running fine. You know, I think the guy who fixed it up has a little crush on me. He did it for free."

He grinned, "Nah, I think it's gonna cost ya."

"Oh, yeah? How much?"

He thought to himself for a moment, tapping his fingers on the handles before saying, "Fifty kisses...and a massage." he quickly added at the end.

I laughed and nodded along to his terms, "Alright, done. I guess I'll have to start paying up by the time we get back."

"Guess so." he shrugged, sending me a wink before looking back at the road in front of us.

I woke the following morning feeling sore and a little disoriented, my lower back especially throbbing from the extra weight of uncertainty that I still continued to carry. Blindly I reached out to the other side of the bed to try and feel for him, but the space beside me was cold and empty. Not that it surprised me much, that man always woke up at the crack of dawn.

My brows furrowed a little as I opened my eyes to see if he was anywhere around the room, until I spotted what was sitting on the nightstand. It was a little piece of torn paper with my name scribbled across it, accompanied by a pretty yellow flower. I smiled to myself before reaching out to pick it up, reading over what he had wrote.

"I'm outside working on the bike. Take your time waking up, come out and keep me company.

-D <3

P.S. Saw the flower and thought of you."

His sweet words only made my smile soften. I really had missed him beyond what I could fathom.

It didn't take me long then to get up and put on some real clothes so I could head outside and join him. The house was filled with a comforting kind of silence as I headed through the kitchen, not at all like the sinking feeling that had been present the past couple days. With everything going on and the high tension flooding the community, it felt nice to sense that things were actually moving forward now for the better. I pulled a couple granola bars from the pantry before heading out the front door, seeing him hunched over in the driveway working on his prized possession.

My approaching footsteps caught his attention almost immediately, his head turning to glance over his shoulder at me with a scrunch of his face that could only be caused by the blinding sun. "Mornin." he greeted.

I smiled, "Goodmorning." I repeated before sitting myself down beside him, extending one of the bars out to him, "You hungry?"

"Oh, uh..." he trailed off before raising his hands to show they were coated with grease and other kinds of disgusting grime. I shook my head in amusement before opening the wrapper myself, holding it up to his mouth so he could take a bite without touching it.

"How does she run?" I asked as I gestured toward the bike.

"Great," he mumbled with his mouth full, "Was makin a weird noise towards the end of the trip, wanted ta take a look before we go back out."

My brows furrowed a little in concern, but I shook it off quickly before he was able to notice, "Right..." I nodded, "You guys are leaving again soon?"

He glanced back at me again, offering a small shrug, "Dunno yet, Aaron hasn't said nothin. Why, you tryin to get rid of me?" he joked.

"No," I huffed softly, "I'm just asking. I'd like to know how much time I can get with you before you're off out there again."

I noticed how his gaze softened a bit before turning to face me properly, "If ya didn't want me doin this...you would tell me, right?"

"Hey, I was the one who encouraged it." I assured softly, "I want you to get out there as much as you want. I want you to put yourself first for a change."

He scoffed with a shake of his head, "Ain't ever gonna put myself first as long as yer around, baby."

My eyes rolled playfully but I couldn't stop myself from smiling, "Fine. Do whatever you want, I give up." I mumbled sarcastically.

I heard him chuckle deeply before he wrapped an arm around my frame to tug me closer, leaning down to peck my lips a few times. Each one a little bit longer than the last to melt the fake frown right off of my face.

"M' gonna keep doin it," he murmured as he brought his forehead to rest against mine, "But trust me, m' plannin to be here a lot more than out there."

His reassuring tone brought a sense of relief to me, nodding my head in agreement. I just wanted him happy, no matter what the cost was. But what I really needed to do was accept the fact that I was a big part of his happiness, still finding it hard to convince myself of that at times. It might seem ridiculous, but I was continuously in disbelief of the luck I was given in receiving a man like him.

He placed one final kiss on my lips before pulling back a bit, "Alright, now gimmie another bite." he said playfully before leaning down toward my hand to eat more of the granola bar.

I laughed softly as he turned back to continue to tinker with the motorcycle in front of us, picking up a new tool with a quiet grunt. The wheels were turning in my head while my gaze lingered on him, finding I had an idea.

"You should let me drive this one sometime." I stated casually.

His movements halted momentarily before he turned back to raise a brow at me, "It don't work exactly like the last one."

"I know." I nodded confidently, "But I think I know what I'm doing."

"Yeah, why's that?"

"I have a pretty good teacher." I winked.

He glanced at me once again with a somewhat bashful grin on his face, "Stop..." he muttered in slight embarrassment, his neck flushing a bit red.

A small silence settled over us again while he continued to work, leaning back on my hands and crossing my ankles out right in front of me comfortably. I took in the surroundings of the settlement, watching people out and about this morning yet it was a little different than what we had gotten used to. After everything that happened last night, it was clear that the people were still a bit shaken at how it all escalated, and I couldn't even imagine how Deanna was handling it at all.

She was finally starting to see the harsh reality of the real world, but at the cost of losing yet another person she loved. I couldn't predict what she planned to do now; continue to run this place? Or have Rick take over like we've been pushing for since the beginning? He could do it, but it all seemed like a lot. Especially since he hasn't tried to lead a large group like this in...well, ever. The prison didn't really count in my eyes considering he just mostly kept to himself and the crops, while everyone on the council made all the big decisions. I couldn't help but wonder how he was handling all this as well.

"What if we get cha one?" Daryl asked suddenly.

I snapped back into reality, "One what?"

He gestured to the motorcycle in front of him, "A bike. What if I found ya one and fixed it up for ya? Would ya ride it?"

My eyes brightened with excitement, "You'd really do that?"

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, "Noticed there's a dump not too far from here, that place is probably a goldmine for hunks of junk."

"But you'd make it really pretty and shiny for me, right?"

He chuckled, "Course...anythin for ya."

I smiled sweetly at him before leaning in to leave a quick kiss on his cheek, only to pull away with a scrunched up nose when I tasted whatever kind of dirt had gotten on his skin. He chuckled in amusement as I wiped my lips off a few times, turning my head to spit whatever had gotten in my mouth. "Gross."

"I'll wash up before I come back inside." he promised.

"Yeah, you better." I muttered, taking my sleeve to wipe my lips one last time, "I don't want a trail of mud to follow you on our nice clean floor."

He hummed in amusement as he unscrewed another bolt, "Yes ma'am."

My hand reached out to gently nudge his side, before instinctively glancing up at the sound of someone's approaching footsteps that came from just down the street, seeing Rick heading over with a serious expression on his face. That alone caused my heart to sink a little. Leave it to him to always ruin my mood.

He nodded to us in greeting before resting his hands on his hips, "Morgan's all settled in." he announced.

"He okay with it?" Daryl grunted.

The man shrugged, "It was pretty much his idea. He gets it."

"I don't know...I don't really like the fact that we had him sitting in there like a caged animal overnight." I muttered as I glanced up at him.

"He gets it." Rick repeated, "He wasn't stable the last I saw him...I want to make sure he's okay before I put my trust in him again."

The two of us nodded in reluctant agreement, understanding his reasoning. Though clearly not expecting this kind of welcome. "You know, he told me what happened out there with the trucks."

"Did he tell ya about the guy's he saw...with the W's." Daryl gestured on his forehead.

"Just like the walker I saw out there, yeah. We need more watch points. And I'm going to tell Deanna we don't need to go looking for people anymore."

My brows furrowed, "But they just started recruiting again, why would you want them to stop now?"

"It's not safe." he said simply, "People out there, they gotta take care of themselves." There was a beat of silence between us as he chewed on his lip in thought, but seemingly came to terms with the decision he made in the end. "I'm gonna take Morgan out of there. Shouldn't leave him longer than we have to."

My eyes narrowed a little as I watched him walk away, feeling my good mood suddenly drift away just as I expected.

"Well, that's that." Daryl said with a small shrug.

I frowned slightly before reaching down to squeeze his arm, "I'm sorry, love...I know how much you liked that job."

"Pfft, you kiddin?" he scoffed, "Now I can spend more time here. Hang around and bug ya whenever I want."

I paused for a short moment, "...Is it too late to try and change Rick's mind?"

"Hey!" he laughed at my dry response, reaching over to gently pinch my side which caused me to squeal.

I looked ahead to see the familiar red balloons coming into view, the same ones we had set up merely hours ago to the selected spot where we needed to meet. The walkie abruptly clicked on once more, hearing Sasha's voice breaking through the mild static, "We're at red, at the bottom of the hill."

Daryl reached up to speak into the device, "Alright. Here comes the parade."

The two of us began to pick up speed slightly as we came down the decline, still keeping a safe distance away from the walkers. I could almost feel their cold, dead fingers trying to grasp at us every time I checked back to see how far away they remained. But as I took another glance at my right mirror, I could spot a handful of them trailing off into the woods.

My hand retracted to make the engine grumble again in hopes it would draw them back onto the road to follow the rest, needing to keep them all in line. And while it grasped their attention again, I couldn't help but notice something strange while I was distracted with the ones who wandered. I squinted my eyes to see a specific corpse had what looked to be the letter "W" carved into its forehead, the same marking we were briefly discussing not long ago. Although I couldn't put a finger on why, something about seeing it made me oddly uncomfortable.

Our bikes smoothly glided onto the main road once we reached the bottom, seeing the car Sasha drove pulling out in front of us once she saw we were close enough. Daryl nodded to them wordlessly before we began to follow behind the vehicle toward the next color of balloons lined up.

I glanced over at Daryl once we were safely on the steady road, deciding to speak up. "Hey," I called to grasp his attention, "When you guys were talking about the guys with the W's. What exactly was that all about?"

"I dunno," he answered honestly, "Aaron and I saw some dead bastard with that marking on him. Thought it was nothin...til Morgan mentioned he had a run in with a guy that had the same thing carved into his head."

I nodded slowly, "You think it's a cult or something?"

"Could be." he agreed, briefly glancing ahead to make sure he was driving straight.

I went quiet for a moment, almost not wanting to say what I was thinking out loud. "Should we be worried?"

His gaze softened a bit upon hearing my obvious concern, "Nah. Even if something happens, we can handle it."

Nodding my head again, I managed to flash a little smile before looking forward again. I didn't want to worry about the potential outcome for any longer than I had, knowing we had much more important things to focus on.

Sitting in one of the far corners of the room, I scanned around thoroughly at the people that were crowding one by one into Deanna's living area. Needing to discuss a new problem that had unexpectedly occurred.

A man named Heath had just returned from a two weeklong supply run alongside his friends Annie and Scott, only to come back and report that something serious was building to the point of no return. Thousands of walkers had allegedly been trapped in a quarry not too far away from here, and the pressure was getting dangerously close to cracking. He went onto explain how people in the past must've tried to block the exits the best they could, but it just wasn't working, and the amount was just getting too high to ignore anymore.

So of course, we needed to take care of it. Why is it always something?

"So, all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and they're just making more of it. Drawing more in." Michonne had concluded.

"And here we are," Rick said, "Now, what I'm proposing I know sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us. This isn't about if it gives, it's when. It's gonna happen, that's why we have to do this soon."

There was silence all around us and Daryl and I shared a nervous glance as we stood side by side up against the wall. I knew we could take care of this once we had the plan settled out, but I was more anxious that everyone around us would underestimate themselves, which could ultimately cause us to fail. We couldn't be weak when it came to things like this.

Carol was the first one to break the tension, "This is...I don't even have a word for it- this is terrifying. All of it. But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."

"We're going to do what Rick says." Deanna spoke up, "The plan he's laid out."

I smiled a little to myself. She was trusting him.

"I told you all, we're going to have Daryl and Rose leading them away on the bike," Rick continued.

"I'll help too." Sasha spoke up, "I'll take a car, ride next to them. It can't just be those two. I'll keep them coming, they keep them from getting sloppy."

Abraham stood, "I should go with her. It's a long way to white-knuckle it solo."

Rick nodded, "We'll have two teams. One on each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on, so Rosita, Spencer, and Holly are out. So, who's in?"

"Me." Michonne said almost immediately.

Glenn and Maggie seemed to have a small, hushed discussion on the couch before Glenn nodded his head towards Rick, "I'm in."

"I'd like to help as well." Gabriel piped up quietly.

"No," Rick shut down without missing a beat, "Who else?"

There was a brief pause as everyone glanced around the room to see who would speak up next, before a man named Carter put himself forward, "There's gotta be another play. We can't control that many."

"I said it before; walkers herd up. They'll follow a path if something is drawing them. That's how we can get them all at once." Rick explained.

"So what? We're just supposed to take your word for it? We're all supposed to just fall in line behind you after..." Carter trailed off, suddenly seeming to regret his choice of words.

"After what?" I challenged, daring him to say something else.

His gaze snapped back up when he heard my unexpected comment, "After he waved a gun around, screaming and pointing it at other people. After he shot a guy in the face. After he-"

"Enough." Deanna snapped.

Her words put an end to our bickering, leaving another quiet moment lingering in the room. "...I'll do it." Heath suddenly offered.

"Me too." Serena spoke up.

"Whatever you need, I'm in." Tobin said.

People from all corners of the room then began to join in to my surprise, even Nicholas stepped up and said he would gladly come along. I didn't know if I trusted him, hardly at all after seeing how beaten and bruised Glenn was after spending last night with him alone. But in this kind of situation, everyone counted.

"The plan, go through it again." Carter requested.

Daryl huffed, "Man, he just said it."

He brushed him off, "Every part again. The exact plan."

I sighed and leaned my head against the wall behind me. This was going to be a long ass meeting.

The group of us had managed to make it a few miles out which only left my mind drifting. No one really warns you when you sign up for these kinds of things that it can slowly become mind numbingly boring. Your eyes scanning over the same things repeatedly as time seemed to go by impossibly slower.

The only thing that was really keeping my spirits high now was the fact that I was able to take out my new bike. I don't know how, but within the week of trying to plan this entire thing, Daryl had actually went out time and time again until he managed to find a motorcycle to fix up for me just like he promised. It was an older model and a little beat up, but I loved it. And I loved the look on his face even more when he proudly presented it to me for the first time. It warmed my heart how much he beamed with pride just by bringing me back something special.

"You seein this?"

My attention diverted from the road to where Daryl was gesturing, seeing that a small group of walkers were slowly veering a little too far off to the right. Again, seeming to have more interest in the woods than continuing on with the herd. I tried to make some noise to get them back in place, but this time it didn't seem to work. Like they were already too far out to care about where we were attempting to lead them on.

I racked my brain on how to try and get them back before they ran into another one of our groups within the trees, but the sound of the car door opening in front of us made my thought process come to a complete halt. Abraham abruptly swung the passenger side door open and leap out in some kind of rush, before heading straight in the direction of the forest to chase after the walkers. My brain almost couldn't even fathom what he was doing.

"Hey-" I tried to warn as he sprinted past me, but he didn't listen.

Instead he kept going, waving his arms around and screaming like a goddamn lunatic trying to get their attention. "Abraham! What the hell are you doing? Get your ass back here!" I yelled after him, but he couldn't seem to hear me over his own yells and laughter.

I huffed in irritation and tried to keep an eye on his figure to pinpoint how far he was willing to go, spotting him weaving through the trees. All the sound he was making eventually grasped their attention again, getting them to follow behind him as they obviously picked up their pace to try and reach for him. He swerved through the ones in his way, having to kill about one or two before making a complete break for it back to the car.

I wanted to stop this bike, stop the whole thing and just beat the shit out of him for doing something like that. Nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack while Daryl watched the whole thing in amusement.

He quickly ran past me, "I'm gonna kick your ass! Don't do that!" I yelled after him.

"I'm still alive, Missy!" he called back.

"Not when I get my hands on you!"

He smiled at me while he laughed in pure delusion, before hopping back into the moving car, allowing myself to let out a breath of relief knowing that he was okay. Although I looked over to Daryl in slight disbelief, he however didn't look phased in the slightest.

"Ginger's are crazy." he put simply.

"Yeah, batshit crazy." I agreed.

The plan was set in stone; all that needed to happen now was to execute it.

A few small groups began clearing the areas, setting up the number of checkpoints where the others would eventually meet. Their jobs were simple, set up the right color of balloons so people would know which is which and make sure it was free of walkers, prepped with supplies just in case an emergency happened and they needed to hunker down. All while we would be leading them away from Alexandira.

It was pretty simple to some of us how this was supposed to go down, but others obviously had their doubts. I understood that everything was happening very quickly, but this couldn't wait. We couldn't just brush this off. So, personally I wanted to tell them to suck it up and move on.

A few of us were heading to the armory to check and see how many spare weapons and ammo we had for when we would do this. If everything worked out the way we anticipated, we could get this done and over with within a week.

Rick opened the door for the rest of us to pile in, only to pause in surprise when we saw Eugene on the ground with a fearful face, Carter pointing a gun straight at his head from above. Once he heard the door open, his head whipped over to our direction, his skin instantly growing pale.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked in disbelief.

But he didn't answer me, causing me to glance around the corner to see Spencer, Annie, and Tobin standing off to the side near where the guns were perched. Looking like a bunch of deer in headlights.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked lowly as he fully stepped inside to analyze the situation.

"I'm taking this place back from you." Carter said, his grip tightening on his gun and a slight quiver lacing his voice.

Rick looked a little taken aback, his gaze turning towards the others who were present in the room, "That's what you were talking about in here?"

"It's what he was talking about." Spencer said with his hands raised in defense, "The rest of us didn't want any part of it."

Rick just simply nodded his head, "See, I would have set up some lookouts. That would've been the smart thing. You know...if I happened to-" he suddenly cut himself off and snapped Carter's arm back to snatch the gun back from him before the man could do any damage.

Once he had it in his hands, he shoved the man onto the floor and pointed the weapon at his face while tilting his head at him. I took a subtle step back to offer Eugene a hand, helping him back up to his feet as we all watched the ugly scene unfold.

"You really think you're gonna take this community from us?" he asked with an edge to his tone.

The man couldn't respond, looking up at him with wide eyes and now looking more like a kicked puppy than the whole tough guy thing he was trying to pull off. "From Michonne? From Daryl? From Rose? From me? ...Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Rick continued to question.

"It was just me." Carter whispered. "It- it was just me. Just- just kill me." he muttered in fear.

I looked up at Rick once he said that, seeing that a part of him looked to be considering it. But I knew that couldn't happen. Not when he had killed Pete just last night, and these people were still holding some kind of grudge for it. And by "people" I meant Carter. The room was thick with tension, and nobody wanted to breathe a word as they watched the two men with anticipation. Rick had that same far off look in his eyes, one that was all too familiar for me to recognize, and I didn't want him to do something he regretted later.

"Rick..." I voiced to get his attention.

He met my eyes for a beat, before nodding his head, "Yeah, I'm good...I'm good." he reassured before lowering the gun from his skull to hand it over to me.

I took it from his grasp and quickly tucked it behind my back, "You can try to work with us." Rick told him, "You can try to survive. Would you do that?"

All the man could do was nod his head.

I could tell we were less than a mile away from seeing our next checkpoint, the first real accomplishment we had come across. After the four of us had drew them out to this point, the rest were in the clear to head back home as they had done their part. While we would continue on about twenty more miles to ensure they wouldn't be making it back to the shared community. It seemed like we were in the clear now.

That is until an unexpected sound ripped through the air that made my blood run cold. A car horn blaring through the silent air behind us, distracting almost half of the herd. Son of a bitch, I had to jinx it didn't I?

Daryl immediately pulled out the radio to try and get a hold of someone to see what was happening. Each channel he turned to, no one was there to respond or report back. And right now it seemed impossible to stay calm.

"Rick!" Daryl yelled into the walkie.

A few seconds later, it finally clicked, "I'm here." he said, his voice barely registering over the static.

"What's goin on back there?" he asked.

"Half of them broke off, they're going towards Alexandria." he said with a shaky voice.

My head whipped over to Daryl upon hearing Rick's words, watching his face drop upon processing the one thing we dreaded to hear. And in an instant, I felt that same sense of worry I had brushed off before, somehow knowing from the very beginning that something would go wrong out here.

"Mother dick." I heard Abraham mutter under his breath.

Yeah...mother dick.

~ Thanks for reading!

Taglist ~ @justareader95 @hayley1998 @ryoujoking @sipsthecoffee @winterassassin1804 @marsmallow433 @catlalice @writingstreetspirit @silentlysurffering98 @mystictf @remuslittlesister @in0320 @mythicalyyours

[d1xonss]

so excited to see that you’re back!!! i need the next chapter of desert rose asap

yayy i’m glad to be back:)) new chapter will be out within the next two days

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose is seriously the best Daryl fix I’ve read, so amazing 🤩 🧡

thank you, love!!

[d1xonss]

hey! I really loved your “enchanted” fic!!! I was hoping you could make the same type but daryl and reader now share a home in Alexandria and he’s obsessed with her and her baking. Just cuteness and domestic daryl

hii, thank you! i actually have a oneshot that’s basically exactly like this right here. but if you’re wanting something more specific just let me know:)

[d1xonss]

Hello! It's been a little bit since I've uploaded anything new and I'm sorry for the random disappearance, however I had to give myself a much-needed break. Mainly I wasn't feeling too inspired to write or create anything new for the past few weeks. But I'm back:)

I'll get to answering anons and uploading new chapters of my series as soon as possible. Just wanted to pop on here to say that I missed you and to give a little update on where I've been<3

xoxo

[d1xonss]

muah💋

Desert Rose

Chapter 74 ~ Do it

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 5

✧ Word Count : 6k

In this chapter ~ After the shaking and unnerving incident occurs with Rick's violence, the group has to figure out how to convince Deanna to sway her decision when it comes to letting him stay in the settlement. And Rose plans to not let it go down without a fight.

My head hadn't stopped throbbing. Not only because of the concussion Pete had given me, but because of the constant series of thoughts swirling around my mind on an endless loop. Usually, I was always very supportive of what Rick does and the decisions that he stands for, but yesterday, that was a different story. Aiming that gun at everyone and threatening them the way that he did, it wasn't going to get us anywhere. Even if his words were nothing but the truth, these people weren't going to listen when they felt scared. That wasn't how it works. What he needed to do is get through to Deanna. If he did that, then everyone else would follow.

I was itching to talk to him after the events of yesterday, but Michonne really did a number on him, leaving him still uncurious even after eighteen whole hours. Personally, I wished I was knocked out the same way rather than feeling like a dark cloud of shit was hanging above me. After the fight, Abraham took me into the infirmary to get looked at by a woman named Denise who Pete was apparently training, thankful that there was someone else with medical experience.

She informed me that I had a concussion and a slightly fractured nose, causing some bruising to form underneath my eyes and leaving me looking like a goddamn Dalmation. I looked and felt terrible, so I thought Rick was a lucky bastard to be asleep to mask the majority of his pain.

It was late in the morning when a small group of us got word that he was finally up, not hesitating to gather together and see him while we had the chance. Deanna had suggested that he should be held in custody in an empty basement within one of the spare townhomes, wanting the door to be locked from the outside. Basically, holding him in some type of cell which I though was ridiculous. It wasn't like this man was some kind of monster that needed to be cooped up forever, she was taking it to such greater highs that everyone else watching was starting to think she was right. When she wasn't.

The few of us slowly entered through the door of his room to find him sitting up on a mattress that was on the dirty floor, bandages all over his face along with a hint of distress and exhaustion. Michonne was sat in a chair in the corner of the room, beating us all to the punch as it looked like she had been here for hours, just as anxious to talk with him as the rest of us were.

The man's eyes obviously widened the moment he saw the state I was in, the memories clearly flashing through his mind. "Are you alright?" he wasted no time to ask.

I scoffed, "I'm fine. You should see how you look right now."

He rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose stressfully. "Where'd you get the gun?" Michonne suddenly pressed.

My gaze traveled to the ground the moment she spoke, unable to maintain eye contact with either Rick or Carol, not knowing who would come clean. Not knowing if we should just tell them all that it was our stupid plan to begin with.

"You took it, right? From the armory?" Carol asked, "That was stupid...why did you do it?"

My eyes widened a little at her, though I quickly covered it up as I glanced away again. Wow, talk about throwing someone under the bus. Part of me wanted to burst out laughing at the look on Rick's face at her accusatory tone, I mean why not just let him make up the lie instead?

"Just in case." he finally answered with a shrug.

"Deanna's planning to have a meeting tonight, for anyone who wants to." Glenn informed as he shifted nervously.

"To kick Rick out?" Abraham asked.

I sighed, "To try."

"We don't know that." Glenn gently argued.

Carol shook her head in frustration, "At the meeting, you say you were worried about someone being abused and no one was doing anything about it. You say you took a gun to be sure that Jessie was safe from a man who wound up attacking you. You say you'll do whatever you want them to, just tell them a story that they'll want to hear. That's what I've been doing since I got here."

Michonne narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"Because these people are children, and children like stories." she said simply.

I crossed my arms over my chest, "It's not just a story, it's one lie on top of another to cover our asses. We can't keep up with that forever."

"We have to try." she replied, "If it means keeping Rick here, getting them on our side, then we have to try."

"What happens after the nice words, and they still try to kick him out?" Abraham asked.

There was a moment of silence, no one knew what to say. Surely without saying anything however, we all knew in the back of our minds that we would never send Rick back out there on his own. The rest of us would just end up following him back out into the harsh reality of the world.

"They're guarding the armory now." Glenn announced, "The front, the back, everywhere because they don't trust anything anymore."

"We still have knives." I muttered.

"That's all we'll need against them." Carol finished.

Rick sighed and ran a hand over his face in frustration, "Well, tonight at the meeting if it looks like it's going bad, I'll whistle. Carol grabs Deanna, I take Spencer, Rose has Reg, the rest of you will cover us; watch the crowd."

"Woah, woah," I raised my hands for him to stop, "Why the hell do I get the big tall guy?"

"Because I know you can handle it." he said without hesitation.

"We can talk to them." Michonne interrupted, "It doesn't have to go down like that."

"Yeah, we will." Rick snapped, "But if we can't get through, we take the three of them and say we'll slit their throats."

"Like at Terminus?" Glenn clapped back.

"No," Rick denied quickly, "We just tell them. They give us the armory and it's over."

There was a beat of silence before Glenn sighed, "Did you want this? Really?"

"No. I'll admit, I hit my limit I-...I screwed up. And here we are...now if you'll excuse me, I was gonna sleep some more." Rick muttered before laying back down, his back turning to face us while he closed his lids as if to block us out completely.

I rolled my eyes with a scoff at his lack of decency to end the conversation, not wasting another second before I was the first one out the door to leave him, hearing it slam behind me. I hated how nonchalant he was acting, as if this didn't affect him or anyone else in the group at all, our fate quite literally weighing heavily on this meeting. But here he was, dreaming away without any worry of what's going to go down tonight.

Without thinking twice about it, I began walking in the direction of Deanna's house with such determination in my step, hoping that I could somewhat sway her decision before it was finalized. It wasn't hard to guess which way she was leaning. But what baffled me the most is that she would rather let Pete stay, with no more than a beat-up face and his own separate house, than Rick who was just trying to protect every ignorant person in here.

Maybe I was a bit biased when it came to this, but hell, so was she. The only difference was I knew Rick would never do anything to blatantly hurt us. Instead, he's only made sacrifices to protect us from things that were so much bigger than we could've ever expected. He only wanted the best for everyone, and that was it.

I raised my fist to pound on the front door a few times, waiting impatiently for an answer. I knew she was home, hiding out away from everything like a coward would typically do, the thought of her possibly avoiding the conflict only caused me to knock again. Using more urgency than before.

Seconds later the door finally opened to reveal the woman herself, her eyes widening slightly when she saw me, "You got a minute?" I asked, already making my way into the house without waiting for permission.

She sighed after I brushed past her, closing the door quietly before turning to face where I stood in the living room, "Rose-"

"I want to talk about the meeting happening tonight." The woman paused for a moment, clearly unsure of how to proceed. "The meeting that you set up to try and kick Rick out of Alexandria, ring a bell?"

"I know what you meant," she muttered as she folded her arms over her chest in a defensive manner, "I suppose I just don't see the point."

I shrugged, "I thought you wanted opinions for this type of thing. I'd like to think mine matters too."

"Of course, your opinion matters. But I want to talk to everyone about what happened and what we need to do about it moving forward."

I huffed softly to myself, "If that involves sending Rick away...it's not going to work."

Deanna stared at me blankly, "Tell me what that means."

I stepped forward a bit, "You took all of us in. You interviewed us one by one, and then made up your mind to let us stay with the rest of you. And now that it's not going according to your plan, you're switching it up. You want a group of people who may or may not have the whole story, to essentially vote and decide if he'll be kicked out. It's ridiculous, and it's not leadership."

"That's not what will happen." she defended, "Tonight is just about letting everyone say their peace, and then I'll make the decision as I've always done."

"But those people don't know him. He was just frustrated at everything you people still don't seem to understand." I argued.

"Rick took a gun and pointed it at people." Deanna snapped.

I scoffed, "He didn't pull the trigger."

"That's a metric? That he didn't pull the trigger?"

"Yes!" I retorted in utter frustration, the one word seeming to echo around the quiet house as for a moment no one said anything.

That is until I turned my head to see Reg and Maggie standing there with widened eyes, clearly having heard the majority of the conversation. Apparently, she had the same idea as I did. I scoffed quietly to myself, "Perfect. Please, come join the party." I gestured sarcastically.

Reg hesitantly stepped closer, "Is everything alright in here?"

"Oh, yeah." I waved off, "Another argument between us doesn't seem to be anything new, right?"

Deanna's eyes narrowed at me, "I'm sorry, Rose but I'm going to do what I have to. Whether you approve of it or not." she said before opening the door for me again, a silent signal for me to leave.

I laughed to myself quietly in disbelief, glancing over at the other two as if to make sure I was reading the situation right. And that's when Maggie stepped forward. "Hold on. You're askin her to leave just because she wants you to understand our point of view on this?"

"No, I'm asking you both to leave because I don't want to discuss this anymore. The meeting is tonight, and I trust I will see you two there to talk about it then." she responded calmly.

There was a heavy silence that fell over the room for a few lingering moments, before Maggie was the first to slowly step outside, following the woman's wishes. After seeing she wasn't putting up much of a fight I couldn't help but follow after her, but not without pausing in front of Deanna to see she had her head ducked away from me.

"You're scared." I said quietly, "You think I can't see it, but I do. You're scared of the reality here, but no matter what you do now...what you decide, it won't change the fact that sooner or later, you need to grow up. And face what the world has come to."

After that I didn't give her the satisfaction to respond as I left without another word, seeing Maggie waiting for me by the stairs with an apologetic expression. We walked together in silence for a while, just stewing over what was said and what I knew she surely heard. Deanna always had a way of hearing but not listening. Having an excuse for everything I had come up with as if she knew Rick better than we did. As if she had been through half the shit we've been through with him.

There was that same quality of hers that never failed to frustrate me to no end; her acting as if she knew everything. The things we had been through, the things we had to fight for, she swore she understood it all. But the reality of it was, we were the ones who had seen Rick struggle and fight and cry in all different scenarios, and this was how it was going to be in the end? Fuck that.

It would be one thing if she had an open mind, a considerate heart as to how our group would be feeling about the situation at hand. But she didn't want to listen to our side of the story. She didn't want to hear anyone breathe the slight possibility that she might be in the wrong for once.

Once we were far enough away from their house, my steps began to slow to a stop on the other end of the sidewalk, rubbing my eyes in frustration. "God, I'm so over it." I muttered.

She quickly took my hand away from my face, "Careful." she scolded lightly, reminding me of the bruises. "How're you feeling?"

I scoffed, "I'm fine, I'm always fine. That asshole isn't as bad as I thought he would be."

"Ro, he broke your nose." she pointed out.

I shrugged, "And I stabbed him, it seems like we're even to me." I stated casually before letting out a sigh as I shoved my hands in my pockets, "What the hell are we going to do? I mean if she really decides to kick him out, we can't stay here, right? There's no way."

She let out a breath, "I don't think I would be able to stay, and I have a feeling the rest would follow suit. We just gotta focus on tonight, make a good argument."

"I really hope things don't go south." I mumbled.

"And if they do?"

My teeth gently chewed the inside of my lip as I shrugged, not wanting to give her the real answer. If things really did go bad, I would probably end up following through with Rick's plan, even if the others weren't fully on board. We've tried everything with these people, and it didn't seem to be working, and there was no way in hell Rick could be banished. Not if I had any say in it.

"I've got your back no matter what. You know that right?" she asked.

"Even if I make the wrong decision?" I questioned.

She was silent for only a short moment before quickly nodding her head, "Yeah. I can't have you take it on alone, can I?" she smiled.

I smiled back a little, "No...I guess not."

She then didn't waste another moment before pulling me in for a hug, feeling myself sigh in relief knowing that she would always be here. No matter the situation. Somehow she could always make me feel more confident about whatever kind of fucked up shit we would have to face. It took me back to when I was worrying about the war with the Governor, how scared I was of losing the fighting battle. But her reassurance meant the world. We might've gotten hurt in the process, but we won in the end. To me this wasn't all that different.

I felt her then release me to gently place her hands on the sides of my face, "Now, I want you to go home and get some rest. Try not to think about it for the next few hours, okay?"

"I can't just rest, I have to go check on Carl and Judith. Someone has to make sure they're alive since their dad is being held in a special psycho room." I joked.

She laughed lightly, "Aright, check on them but then head straight home. You need the sleep babe, you look awful."

My mouth dropped, "Gee thanks."

"You know what I mean," she said with a playful roll of her eyes, "Please?"

I nodded, "Okay fine, mom. I'll rest."

She huffed out a small laugh and gave my arm one last squeeze before turning to head back down the street, waving a small goodbye as I assumed she set off to find Glenn. I didn't linger in the same place for too long before I turned left toward where Rick's house was located, slightly anxious to see how his kids were doing. The more I let myself think about it, the more I realized I hadn't seen Carl around in quite some time. Like he too had been occupied just as the rest of us.

My hand reached out to knock, before shaking my head silently to myself and just pushing the front door open, "Carl?" I called out, closing it behind me without a second thought.

There was a brief moment of silence before I heard heavy footsteps coming from right above me. And it took only about two seconds for him to come rushing down the stairs and crashing into my arms in a tight hug. I stumbled back a little in surprise but laughed it off and wrapped my arms around him in return as I felt his shoulders deflate.

We stayed like that for a moment or two before he pulled away from me to get a better look at my face, "Are you okay?" he asked genuinely, worry painted on his features.

I nodded slowly, "Yeah...yeah, I'm okay."

"I couldn't believe what that asshole did to you. I'm so sorry." he replied.

"Hey, I'm fine. And so is your dad, we both just got a little too involved yesterday."

He shook his head, "I haven't seen him since it happened. How's he doing?"

I wrapped an arm around his shoulders as we walked further into the living room together, "Physically he's fine...but I just think he's really dealing with a lot up here." I pointed to my own head.

He nodded wordlessly, understanding what I meant all too well. My gaze then drifted up to see Judith in a small fold out crib in the middle of the living room, standing up and peeking at us over the top with her big brown doe eyes. I smiled at the sight of her and quickly crossed the space to pick her up, holding her snugly against me whilst I sat down on the couch beside Carl.

"Hi, sweetie." I whispered to her before kissing the side of her head.

"She missed you, you know." he said.

I tilted my head, "Yeah? Well, I've missed her too...both of you actually." I said matter-of-factly. He looked down at his hands that rested in his lap, trying to avoid my eyes. "Where have you been, kid?"

He furrowed his brows, attempting to act oblivious, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you haven't been around here...like at all. At least not for the past couple of days, I haven't seen you, no one really has."

"I've been here the whole time." he said with a scoff and tried to brush it off as nothing.

But I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment before raising my eyebrows, silently telling him to spill and actually tell me the truth. He couldn't lie to save his life, especially not to me. I thought he knew that by now but here he was, trying to sneak his way past the bullshit detector.

After glancing up at me once more, he finally gave in and sighed, "I've...been sneaking out of the gates." he confessed.

My eyes widened as I took a breath to speak, "Wait! Don't yell at me yet, just let me talk."

I sighed with a shake of my head, "Oh, by all means go ahead."

He shrunk back a little in his seat with a breath, "Okay, so this girl I met here; Enid...well she always sneaks out of here to go off and be on her own in the woods. I followed her once just to make sure she was okay, but then it sort of became a habit. And half the time she doesn't even want me around. But I didn't do it for some stupid reason...I just did it because I wanted to make sure she was being safe."

I waited a few seconds in silence before raising my eyebrows, "Can I talk now?" I asked, watching as he hesitantly nodded his head with a worried look in his face. "Carl, you can't do things like that. I understand you just wanted to help, and I think you are about the sweetest soul for wanting to keep her safe, but she's not your responsibility. If she wants to go out in the woods alone, you have to let her. She's going to keep doing it no matter what."

He nodded solemnly, "Yeah, I know. I just thought I could...change her mind? Maybe that was stupid to think-"

"You aren't stupid for wanting to help someone." I interrupted gently, "But don't ever put yourself in danger because of it, you hear me?" He met my eyes and nodded. "You need to take every precaution to keep yourself safe. And not just for you, but for your dad...and for her." I motioned to Judith, raising her arm up to make her wave her little hand to him.

He laughed lightly and gently took her from my hold, placing her down in his own lap, "I know, you're right. I won't put myself in danger like that anymore." he promised.

I nodded, "Good." I spoke, moving my hand over to Judith so she could grip onto one of my fingers, "So...Enid, huh? You got a crush on her?"

His expression grew bewildered, "What?! No!" he said a little too quickly.

"She cute?" I asked casually.

"She's- she- I don't...I don't know." he muttered defensively.

I then couldn't help but cackle, "Take it easy, I'm just messing with you. But hey, if you're risking your life out there to make sure she's safe...she must be pretty important."

He shrugged his shoulders a bit sheepishly, "I guess. But really...she's just a friend."

I hummed, "Well, then tell me more about this friend."

"...Really?" he asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, why not? I got time." I reassured softly, leaning back against the couch cushions to get comfortable.

His smile only grew at the opportunity to talk about her, another kid his age that he had managed to befriend. I stayed quiet as he went on and on about their shared interests, gladly listening to him talk about anything that brought him happiness. Though it was also something to help distract him, knowing that after the sun went down, we would only be left with uncertainty.

The atmosphere seemed to be filled with loud chatter, yet somehow the same unnerving silence as we all gathered around outside to await the meeting we all dreaded. The chill that nipped my skin was the only thing I could allow myself to focus on, not wanting the anxious thoughts to flood my head.

I didn't get a wink of sleep like Maggie had suggested, but the truth was I didn't expect to. I never slept well by myself, Daryl being absent for two days now only made that more apparent. Some would say it's weak to depend on someone so much, but I didn't care. I hadn't felt that kind of safety before in my whole life, I felt it was only right to take advantage of it.

But all that aside, there was no avoiding what was right in front of us.

I stood between Maggie and Abraham as we all waited to start talking about the big fat elephant in the room, but the elephant in question was nowhere to be found. I hadn't seen him since this morning, but Michonne claimed to have spoken to him only about an hour or two beforehand. This only made me worry. I knew he wanted to be here, for one reason or another, but he wasn't. It led me to believe something else was going on that we didn't know about.

"We're going to start." Deanna finally announced, standing up to her feet.

I shook my head and stepped forward, "Can we wait? There's still a few more of us coming, Glenn and Rick."

"We're going to start." she said a bit more sternly, "It's already dark."

I gave her a weird look. From what I gathered we were all supposed to meet here after the sun went down, but whatever, fuck me, I guess.

"We're going to talk about what happened, not fight. Not what precipitated it, we're dealing with that. We are going to talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people, and we're going to talk about what he said."

Was it too early to object? I hated the way she was making him sound. It was like she was purposefully describing him as an unhinged lunatic that was flailing around the street shooting anyone who got in his way. No, he was trying to protect someone from getting abused, and while he was all worked up, people tried to put a stop to it all while claiming he was the bad guy. He was just agitated and trying to do the right thing. But I knew I would have my chance to talk, and I couldn't wait.

"I was hoping he'd be here." Deanna continued, glancing around the small crowd.

"Michonne said he's coming." Maggie interjected.

Carol agreed, "I'm sure he'll be here. And I'm sure we can work this all out."

Surprisingly, Deanna allowed us to have the floor first, make any statements we wanted to before the situation was discussed further. Michonne stepped up first to speak about Rick and to make a defense, but I found myself zoning in and out. Not able to fully listen because I was too focused on what I could say to say about him myself.

How was I supposed to make it short and sweet when he had done so much for not only me, but for everyone in our family. Hell, he made us all a family. He stepped up to take on the leadership role when no one else would and considering everything that happened within these past two years, I'd say he did a pretty damn good job.

"And after being out there," Michonne began to wrap up, "And then not being how you were there...it can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is, is who you're gonna be...if you're lucky."

Carol was next. "Rick Grimes saved my life over and over. There are terrifying people out there, and he rescued me from them. People like me, people like us, need people like him. I know what happened last night was scary, and I'm sure he's sorry for that, but maybe we should take the time to listen to what he's saying."

Then suddenly it was my turn as all eyes turned to me. "Rick...has helped me and our family in unimaginable ways. And he's saved us from things that some of you people couldn't even conjure up. To you he might seem crazy...but if you were out there like we were, and saw the things that we have...it does change a person. It makes you build up these walls to help protect yourself and you can't tear those walls down, otherwise you die. As harsh as it is, it's true. Rick is a good man and wants what's best for everyone. He didn't pull the trigger for a reason because he didn't want anyone to die...he just wanted to be heard. He wanted you to try and understand. You just need to start listening."

Abraham put a hand on my shoulder as he moved up next to speak, "Simply put; there is a vast ocean of shit that you people don't know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit, and then some."

When he didn't say anything else, I placed my hand on top of his, "Best one yet, Red."

He smiled down at me just as Maggie then stepped up to the plate, "My father respected Rick Grimes. Rick is a father too. He's a man with a good heart who feels the things he does; the things he has to do. And all of us who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now. Rick started that. And you won't stop it. You can't. And you don't want to. This community, you people...that family...you want to be a part of it too."

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. All things considered I think we made our points well, and in the end it all just proved how much we cared about him. But of course, it wasn't over yet.

Deanna then took her turn as she walked into the circle to face everyone, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Before we hear from anyone else, I would like to share something in the spirit of transparency. Father Gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday, and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted...that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before this community. And not one day later, Rick seemed to demonstrate all the things Father Gabriel said. I had hoped Gabriel would be here tonight...but I decided to speak on his behalf."

My mouth hung agape at what she was saying, turning towards Abraham to make sure I wasn't losing my mind, "What a little rat..." I muttered.

"What a little shit." he corrected.

"I don't see him here Deanna," Jessie pointed out, "So, you're just claiming what someone else said...did you tape him?"

She paused, "Well, no. He came to me unexpectedly."

"Gabriel's not here." I called out.

"Neither is Rick." she countered back.

My eyes narrowed at her, wanting to open my mouth to say some smartass retort, but the movement we all spotted from the darkness had our attention in an instant. It was Rick, revealing himself from the shadows, a fresh layer of blood coating almost the entirety of his face. He was carrying a lifeless body over his shoulder and was breathing quite heavily as he slowly limped toward the circle we created. Not really a good time to kill someone in my opinion.

Everyone gasped a little at his appearance and even I found myself grimacing at the splatters of red on his skin, along with the various bandages that were still covering the previous injuries.

He took the body and threw it down harshly into the middle of the crowd, some flinching back at the sight of the dead walker, "There wasn't a guard on the gate, it was open." he said hoarsely.

"I-I asked Gabriel to close it." Spencer sputtered out.

I rolled my eyes.

"Go." Deanna commanded sternly.

Spencer didn't waste another moment before he was sprinting out toward the main entrance, and then everyone's gazes turned to Rick. "I didn't bring it in. It got inside on its own. They always will, the dead and the living, because we're in here. And the ones out there...they'll hunt us. They'll find us. They'll try to use us. They'll try to kill us...but we'll kill them. We'll survive and I'll show you how. You know, I was thinking... I was thinking, how many of you do I have to kill to save your lives? But I'm not gonna do that, you're gonna change. I'm not sorry for what I said last night, I'm sorry for not saying it sooner. You're not ready, but you have to be. Right now, you have to be...luck runs out."

I felt myself relax as his voice trailed off, feeling reassured and yet strangely hopeful at yet another one of his famous speeches. He held everyone's attention just as he did yesterday, only this time it was different. There wasn't a single person here who doubted his words in this moment in time, like for once everyone was finally starting to understand. Finally starting to listen. Well...almost everyone.

The group all turned in unison when we heard more loud footsteps suddenly approaching the scene. Out of the clear darkness I could faintly make out Pete's figure as he held up Michonne's sword, a fire behind his eyes as he just caught the end of what Rick was saying, only seeming to fuel that fire within him.

"You're not one of us! You're not one of us!" he yelled.

Reg quickly stepped forward to block him from coming any closer, "Pete- Pete, you don't want to do this." he tried calmly.

The crowd became tense as we watched Reg try to calm the drunk, angry man down, and I placed my hand over my knife just in case he somehow got through. I felt my arm being tugged back by Abraham, but I didn't budge. There was no way any of this could end well.

"Get away! Get away!" Pete screamed as he shoved Reg back, but the blade in his hand lined up right at the man's throat, easily slicing through his skin as he tumbled back in shock.

Everyone around me gasped in horror followed by a scream of terror from Deanna as Reg fell back into her, choking on his own blood. Abraham wasted no time trying to rush by me to get Pete under control, but I wasn't about to let that happen.

"I got it!" I said with a little too much excitement as I ran up to the man and easily knocked the weapon from his grasp. He attempted to fight back in his intoxicated state but I dodged his swing as I knocked his knee harshly to where he fell flat onto the pavement. I took my opportunity to turn him over onto his stomach, positioning myself on his back and grabbing hold of his flailing arms to pin them down. Placing my knee on the back of his neck for good measure as he struggled beneath me.

"I've been wanting to do this since we first met Pete." I said tauntingly as he continued to squirm, "Sorry it has to be so public. I know it must be hard to have people see you on your ass again for the second day in a row."

"This was him! This was him!" he shouted from beneath me.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, get over yourself." I muttered, digging my knee deeper into his flesh until he groaned and finally shut his mouth.

I tore my attention away from the asshole long enough to see Reg slowly dying in Deanna's arms, while she could only sob for him desperately. Everyone's widened eyes were torn back and forth from Deanna and Pete, their own tears pooling upon watching the unexpected turn of events. The worst part about it all was there was nothing that could be done, nothing that could save him. It all happened within seconds.

And it was at that moment when we all heard Reg stop moving, and Deanna's cries quieted. She slowly looked back up, "Rick..." she muttered to get his attention, "Do it."

Instant chills ghosted upon my skin, and I looked up to see Rick taking out his gun and turned back towards my direction. I turned my face away quickly, and he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, killing the asshole in an instant and I felt him grow limp in my hold.

"Rick?"

My head whipped around when hearing a sudden and unfamiliar voice right behind my head, my eyes instantly growing wide. Daryl and Aaron were standing there along with a man I didn't recognize, staring in complete shock at what they had just witnessed. Wow, talk about terrible timing.

When it finally registered that he was here, I quickly rushed over and hugged him tightly, relief washing over me that he had made it back safe. His crossbow fell carelessly from his grasp as he squeezed my shoulders, resting his chin on top of my head.

"Ya alright?" he asked in slight disbelief.

I laughed softly, "I am now..."

~ Thanks for reading!

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🥀 Season 5 Moodboard for Desert Rose 🥀

(this season is officially done!! such a bittersweet feeling as this was one of my absolute favorites to write<3)