#twdcommonwealth

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Better Man

Previous

Settling into the Commonwealth was a strange experience for the Dixon family, for starters, it was like being in the old world again, with electricity, stores, parties, and money, yes, the US dollar was the currency used in this place, and for the children who had never seen something like this, it was especially weird to explain.

Another thing that had made Natalia want to run for the hills, was being reintroduced to her parents, who she believed were both dead on a cruise in the middle of the ocean, but as luck would have it, they had wound up here of all places.

Not only was she surprised to find out that her mother had lasted ten years, but also that she had left her husband alive, instead of sacrificing Natalia's step father a long time ago.

The woman who had initiated the couple in, had been very thorough in where she was trying to place where she had seen Natalia's face before, and then it hit her, that one of their upper class elites, had to be of relation.

Apparently, due to their rankings, and how well off they were before, Natalia's parents had earned themselves a level of importance in the Commonwealth, because that was how things were done around here, who cares about walkers when you can have classism and capitalism.

Considering the parentage of Natalia, and her schooling, she was seen as a "well of" Person, from what she told them, at least, though Daryl, obviously, was not, which put them at not complete bottom, but they weren't becoming millionaires anytime soon, this had helped them at least get a house to fit their five children and Dog.

Evelyn, their eldest, had decided she didn't want to join her parents on their move to the Commonwealth, even though they had pleaded, and begged, and bribed, she'd stuck with her decision to go back to the Hilltop, with Maggie and Lydia.

When Natalia had finally met her parents, accidently, whilst on a tour of the community, it hadn't ended as sweet as you'd reckon a thirteen year reunion would go.

Natalia's mother had made a scene in the crowd, over the appearance of her daughters husband and children, the woman could not believe it, and had left in a hurry, not before delivering a slap to the adult woman's face, for her "whorishism."

It was late at night on their third day in the Commonwealth, the kids were all tucked up in bed, after a long day of unpacking, leaving Daryl and Natalia to finish exploring the downstairs part of the small house, changing things to fit their old one, until a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Daryl told her, as she stirred her herbal tea, hoping to lift up her spirits.

"Okay, baby." She sighed.

She dipped the teabag once more, before draining it and tossing it in the trash.

"Nat." Daryl hissed from the front door.

"Who is it?" She asked, leaning against the wall, looking at him.

"Yer step dad." His eyes widened in urgency as he revealed their late night visitor.

"What?" She gasped.

"Nah, I just made it up." he rolled his eyes "He's right outside, alone."

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do, just back away from the door, turn off the lights and pretend we're not home, problem solved."

"Talia." The old man called through the door. "I know you're in there, could you open the door, my old bones can't handle this weather."

"Stop lying, you ain't that old, Peter!" Natalia clapped her hands over her mouth as soon as she spoke, her eyes shooting wide.

Daryl threw his hands in the air, sick of her shit, always running her mouth.

She rolled her eyes.

"Please, honey, I just want to make sure you're okay, y-y'know, we thought you were dead, this entire time, and I still never managed to get over it... too painful." He stammered.

Daryl looked at her, and she sighed.

"Open it." She folded.

Daryl did as told, opening their new front door.

"Thought you guys were dead, too."  Natalia told the man, that had been her step father, longer than her real father was alive in her life.

"Oh, Tally." He sighed, rubbing his balding head, his eyes meeting hers, realising the daughter that he had spent years mourning, was alive, and well, and somehow, had travelled hundreds of miles to end up in the same place as him.

"Nat?" Daryl asked, quietly, wondering if this was too much for her, he'd kick the old man out of his home, if he had to, he didn't give a shit.

"S'fine." She nodded at him, but her focus didn't leave the old man. "Pete, how- what happened?"

"Do you mind if I sit down, this, this is just..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Sure." She waited for him to sit down, before she decided to sit down on the opposite couch. "Daryl, you mind getting Michael a hot tea?"

"'Course." He patted her shoulder, moving towards the kitchen.

"So, that's...?"

"Daryl." She answered.

"Looks nothing like Harry."

"And he ain't nothing like him, either."

"Thats good, never did like that boy. But what.... what happened... to him and- and Winnie?" He stumbled through his sentence, trying to speak through the clog in his throat, that man had loved her daughter, as if she were his own grandchild, it was something she had always admired and respected him for.

"They didn't make it." She whispered. "Was early on, I'm sorry."

"Honey, don't say that, I am incredibly sorry, I'm just thankful that you're here, and I hope they didn't suffer too much."

"They didn't, I promise." She lied, but what could she actually tell him? Definitely not the truth. "So you and Mom, how?"

"With a whole lot of luck, actually." He chuckled, but he didn't even find anything funny. "It was about two weeks into our cruise, they started getting this weird message on the radio feedback, but when they tried to get a response, there wasn't any, then we saw all these helicopters flying over the waters, none of them took notice of the large ship full of people, well, eventually, one had thought we were worth being filled in on, what was going on around the world, they had told the captain, over the bullhorn to redirect to Virginia, here, because of that Helicopter, they accepted us in, let us join the community, me and your mother, we helped set it up, we helped establish the same systems as the old world, matter of fact, you remember your mothers old friend Pam?"

"Yeah, sorta?"

"Well that's the Governor?" He smiled brightly.

"Yeah, I knew one of those, once..." Natalia commented, bitterly. "So, you and Mom have been here, the entire time?"

"Can you believe it, I'm just glad that you're finally here, but tell me, what have you done in the last ten years?"

"Here." Daryl set the tea on the small table in front of the man, he went to head upstairs, give them some space, but Natalia grabbed his arm, tightly, pulling him to sit down beside her, refusing to let go as she pinched the skin, in her grasp, without even looking at him.

Daryl got the message, she didn't want to be alone with the man.

"I see you have a ring." Peter looked at Daryl, "Did you have a wife before?"

He patted his thigh, looking at Natalia.

"Nope."

"Oh." He realised. "Well, congratulations."

"Uh huh."

"Y'know, your mother would be glad to know that you found happiness."

"Don't ruin this by lying to me." Natalia stared him down. "You were there the other day."

"Your mother, she doesn't know much about the outside world, we were very sheltered from it all, she thinks that you just simply left him, and moved on with... another man, that's all it is."

"Who gives a shit? Think I'm a bit old to need my mothers approval."

He laughed, "You haven't needed your mothers approval since you started middle school."

Natalia heard a scuffle In the hallway, but apparently the two men had missed it.

She held up her hand, twisting to look at where the noise was coming from.

"Girls? Why aren't you in bed?" She called.

"Told you to be quiet." Daisy hissed.

"Alright, come on out." Daryl called to the twins. "Now."

"We weren't eavesdropping, promise." Daisy told them, when they shuffled out, Bambi stood quietly behind her sister.

"Then what were you doing, should be asleep." Natalia said.

"Couldn't sleep." Daisy shrugged, as they both walked towards their parents.

"You got your first day of school tomorrow, you wanna fall asleep during class?"

"But, Mommy, I'm scared, you said it's gonna be different to regular school, what if the other kids are mean."

"Or what if they think we're weird, cause we ain't like them, we ain't soft."

"Honey, they're not gonna think that." Natalia shook her head. "And they ain't gonna be mean, either, cause if they are, then you tell me and I'll deal with it."

"But, Dad said that they're not like us, they're weak, and they won't like us, cause of it." Daisy huffed, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Well, your dad should keep his mouth shut, sometimes." Natalia looked over her shoulder at him.

"Mommy, who's that man?" Bambi whispered.

"That's..." She gave it some thought. "Babies, I want you to meet your Grandfather, Grandpa Pete." 

"What's a grandfather mean?" Daisy asked, confused.

"Well, honey" Natalia ignored the teary eyes of her stepfather. "You know how you have Daddy, one day, if you have children, they will have a daddy, maybe, and then, he" She pointed at Daryl, "Will be your children's grand daddy, the daddy of the parent, does that make sense, yeah, well Grandpa Mike, that's my step dad, so that's your grandad."

"Where's Daddy's dad?" Bambi asked.

"Dead, sweetheart." He answered. "Watched it happen, too, don' worry, he ain't coming back."

"Pete, you okay?" Natalia asked, finally paying attention, but making a mental note to bring up Daryl's dead dad talk, later.

"Yeah." He blinked. "Uhm, what are your two's name's?"

"Girls." Daryl urged them to answer, prying Bambi off of him to face the man.

"My name's Bambi."

"Daisy." Natalia warned her.

"Fine." The girl rolled her eyes. "My name's Daisy."

"I'm Bambi." Bambi gave him a small wave.

"Hello, it's nice to meet the two of you, I just- you both are just as beautiful as your mother, when she was your size."

"What was Mom like at our size?" Daisy tried.

"An angel." Natalia answered, quickly, earning a snort out of Peter.

"Y'know, I could tell you girls some story's about your mother." He chuckled, gleefully.

"We love story time!"  Bambi cheered.

"Aunt Nat, He's awake, again!" RJ called, from upstairs.

"He's crying for you." Judith reported, also from upstairs.

"Would you look at that? No time for stories, I gotta go settle your brother again, and you should be asleep too, so I think it's time for Pete to go home, as well."

"You have a son?" Peter asked, his jaw slack, his eyes wandering to Daryl, who gulped.

"Yes, who apparently needs me."

"And the other children, they are?"

"Our niece and nephew, look, it's really late, and I gotta deal with these lot." Natalia sighed, taking the twin's hands, leading them towards the stairs.

"Right, right, my apologies, but, Tally, please, I would love to take you to lunch, maybe the both of you, or all of you, I just want to get to know you and your beautiful family, if you'll let me."

"And what about..."

"Your mother doesn't need to know, not until she or you are ready to make amends, I promise."

"I'll think about it, Daryl, would'ya." She nodded at the door, and he took the hint, moving to open it once again.

"Mommy." Daisy started, as they walked up the stairs.

"Yeah, honey."

"Even though your Mom isn't great, I think you're the best mom in the world."

"I do, too." Bambi agreed.

"Girls." Natalia felt her cheeks get hot, as she smiled to herself. "I love you both, so much." She hugged them tight, as they walked to their room. "But I don't wanna see you until the morning, goodnight, and I love you, your father will be up to resay goodnight, in a minute."

"Momma!" Archie screamed from his bedroom.

"Aunt Nat." RJ repeated.

"Yeah, sweetie, I can hear, I'm coming." She turned back to her twins. "Lay down, go to sleep."

But before she could walk out the room, she rushed back in to tuck them in tightly and kissed their foreheads and cheeks, just as Daryl walked up the stairs.

"Your turn." She patted his chest, going towards the boys room. "Jude, go back to bed, lovey." She shut Judith's door.

"Momma." Archie whimpered, his tiny hands reaching for her, when Natalia entered his and RJ's room.

"Babyboy, what's wrong?" She asked, picking him up, wiping his tears, kissing his cheek.

"He just kept crying for you, guess he just misses you." RJ shrugged.

"I'll take him to my room, so you can get some sleep, buddy." Natalia gave the boy a side hug, kissing his head.

"Night, Aunt Nat." He yawned, climbing back into his bed.

"Night, sweetie." She walked out his room, closing the door. "Sleepover with Momma and Daddy, baby?"

"Yeah." Archie pouted.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked, closing Judith's door, again, after saying his goodnights to her.

"Missed me." She answered, entering their room, the last one for the night.

"Ya missed yer dad?" Daryl asked his only son.

"Momma." He snuggled into her chest, making the woman smirk.

"It's okay, Mommy and Archie cuddles." She dropped him down on the bed.

"Hey, you alright?" Daryl asked, pulling his shirt off over his head.

"About what?" Natalia asked, pulling off her own top, exchanging it for a comfier one, for bed.

"Him." He nodded his head to the door. "Coming to the house."

She shrugged.

"Dunno how to feel, honestly, I'm too tired, what's the point of feeling, shit's just gonna happen anyway." She pulled off her jeans.

"He uh, he wanted me ta give ya this." He hesitated before holding out his hand, a silver chain on his palm.

"Oh my god." She gasped. "He gave this to me at their wedding, said he was trying to buy my approval." She couldn't help the small smile that slipped on her face, as she held the top of it, to examine it, the N dangling in the air. "I left it at my mothers, I can't even remember why, but I was so mad that I did, and he had it this entire time, help?"

She passed it back, grabbing her hair and holding out of the way, so that he could put it back on, which he did, kissing her shoulder when he had done it, but he wasn't expecting her reaction to be shrugging him off and moving to climb in their bed, holding their son, who layed in the middle.

He evaluated anything he could've done to earn that, before getting into bed on his own side.

Archie had fallen asleep pretty quickly and easily, in the comfort of his parents, but Daryl watched out the corner of his eye, how Natalia dragged that initial across her lips, her brows furrowed as she seemed deep in thought.

"You sure you're okay?" He whispered.

"Fine." She dismissed, the chain falling from her fingers, instantly, as she turned over, her back facing him.

A month had passed, with them living in the Commonwealth, Natalia had agreed to meet up with her stepfather, Peter, but she hadn't allowed her children, she decided she'd be keeping her family away from her parents, until her mother wasn't such a large question mark, on whether she would "attack" them or not, until she had joined Peter on one of their lunches, making the man double back on his promise.

Apparently, Monica, her mother, had given up on her daughter, but not her grandchildren, Peter, the weasel, had shared the news about their twin daughters, their two "adopted" daughters, and their son, she especially wanted to meet her biological grandkids, is what she had said in her own words.

It had taken Natalia a week, to finally approve of her mother joining them for dinner, in the instance that she pays, to be near her kids, letting them meet the wicked woman, this had only been, as Monica had kept appearing in the places they were, trying to make her own meet and greet happen.

"There's my lil cowgirls!" Natalia cheered, her Pumpkin, Archie, in her arms, as the twins were the first to emerge from the haunted house, dressed in identical cowboy outfits, Daisy sporting a green scarf, and Bambi in blue. Judith, who was dressed like a witch, followed, RJ and Daryl were the last to come out.

The Commonwealth had thrown an whole festival to celebrate Halloween, and it was the first time the kids would be even celebrating a holiday, which had made Natalia very, very giddy.

"Here, Luicfer, here's your devil mask, did you enjoy it?" She asked, handing RJ his missing part of his costume.

"RJ cried like a lil baby." Daisy told her, tilting her cowboy hat back.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Dais, didn't you scream for your daddy, when the fake walker came out?" Judith asked her, raising a brow.

"Yeah, only cause he didn't let me bring my bow, I woulda handled it." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, you ain't seeing that bow of yours again, since ya decided ta bring it to yer class." Daryl weighed in.

"It was an accident." She argued.

Judith nudged her head to go get a cake, from the bakery Carol works at, whilst Daisy argued her innocence, and Natalia smiled at her agreeing she could go off, on her own.

"Mommy, I wasn't scared of the house."

"I know you weren't, baby." Natalia told Bambi, petting one of her braids.

Carol had then walked over, with a tray of baked goods, letting the three pick off it.

"What do you say?" Natalia reminded.

"Thank you." All three kids groaned.

"Thanks, Carol" Natalia spoke for Archie, snapping bits of the cookie off so that he could eat it.

"So, what do you think?" Carol asked.

"Takes a minute to get used to all this, you know?" Daryl spoke.

"You know, this place was up and running long and before we ever got here." Carol commented.

"We're aware, my mother never lets me forget it." Natalia rolled her own eyes.

"Point is, maybe we don't have to do anything to make it work."

"No, there's always something you gotta do to make it work." Daryl slightly tapped the swinging apple, as the kids played around it.

Cheers erupted as Pamala Milton emerged from her building, her assistant, Maxine followed behind, with a tray of candy floss, as the Governor chucked candy into the crowd.

"Kids, scatter, where she is, your grandmother isn't far away." Natalia warned the twins.

"Well, she isn't gonna miss the pumpkin you're lugging around, if your idea is to hide from her." Carol warned.

"Yeah, but the perk of that is that Archie doesn't know many words, compared to his sisters, so he can't do or say anything to cause anything. He's just my sweet lil adorable pumpkin." Natalia kissed the poor boys cheeks, whilst he ate his cookie.

Next, the Governor had started the costume competition, a little girl who was dressed as Michael Mercer had won 10 lottery tickets, he was the guy who was in control of the "Military/ police force" at this place.

"I always thought she was so classy." Carol smiled as everyone clapped for the woman.

"I never knew anything about her." Daryl added.

"She shouted at me once, cause I got juice on her expensive rug, I was seven." Natalia sighed.

"Hey, you two look busy." Carol caught Connie and Kelly's attention, as they walked up to the three.

Connie smiled at Archie, waving her finger at his costume.

"Connie's a reporter for the paper, and we've got a full day, so..." Kelly explained, signing as she spoke.

"How's work?" Daryl asked.

"It's nice to be reporting again, but Commonwealth news isn't exactly... hard-hitting." Kelly translated as Connie signed.

"Have you met Pamela yet?" Daryl continued.

"I've interviewed her once before the world fell." Kelly translated again. "Yeah, and you also got her uncle kicked out of Congress, so..." Kelly said for herself.

"That was you?" Carol asked.

She shrugged with a smile.

"We got to go. We have a lot to do before the masquerade ball, so..."

"See you later." Daryl nodded.

Natalia watched her husband as he looked after the woman, with her sister, holding their son rather tightly, a weight on her chest, that had been there since a month ago, felt rather heavy.

"I hear the both of you are going to this ball." Carol smiled.

"We got to get to work." Daryl spoke for her, taking Archie from Natalia.

"Yeah. See you guys later."

"Yeah, see you, Carol." Natalia smiled politely.

They had dropped Archie off at the Daycare before getting ready for work at their home, where they had also met up with Rosita.

The three of them had ended up working at the military, Daryl and Rosita were troopers for the army, whilst Natalia, with her college degree's, had ended up becoming an interrogator/ detective, something she was planning on becoming, before she had become pregnant, of course. But it meant that they all worked at the station together.

"Hey, there you guys are." Rosita smiled as they walked up. 

"Hey to you, too" Natalia jogged forward, hugging the woman tightly.

"You want to tell me about any cases?" Rosita asked.

"Oh, you know I can't do that, that's for the big leagues to know, sorry, but Mike asked about me helping out with your guys training today, so, there's that."

"Mike? You're calling him Mike?" Daryl asked. 

"Well, yeah, we do work together, a lot, same as he calls me by a nickname." Natalia looked over her shoulder at him, holding Rosita's hand, as they walked in the rain. "Not a big deal."

"Yeah, yeah, I bet it ain't." He grumbled.

Once they had reached the abandoned houses, Natalia went off to speak to Mercer and the other lieutenants.

"Hey, you guys doing okay?" Rosita asked Daryl, watching him watch his wife.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine, why do you ask?" He replied.

"I don't know, you guys seem pretty tense with each other, you hardly talk with out making things awkward."

"I don't know, neither." He sighed. "Probably got something ta do with her parents being around, gotta be weird for her."

"Yeah, yeah, could be that, or maybe it's just something to do with finding out her husband left her alone for months to go live with some woman in the woods, then lie about it for years to come, whilst she was pregnant, with his kids." Rosita said, thoughtfully.

"She- she told you-"

"Of course she did, said she forgave you... but, I was with her, when you wasn't, I had to see the pain she was going through everyday, Michonne might've lost Rick on that bridge, but Nat lost you, and you never were really gone."  She left him with that, before joining the other trainees.

"Welcome to the kill house." Mercer began, when ready. "In this exercise, killing is not your primary goal. I'm looking for speed and teamwork. Two teams of two will start the course simultaneously. One team goes through the house on the right, the other team takes the house on the left. There's one weapon per team, that must be shared. Your objective; get through the house, and all the rotters inside. There will be a rotter marked in red at the end of each house. First team to take out their red gets one step closer to earning their stripes. But fail to work as a unit, see what you get. Dixon, wanna tell them the teams." Mercer waved for Natalia to step forward.

"Alright, Hart, your with Tomas. Espinosa and Green. Quintana, Johnson. Dixon and Daniels. Team up, and lets get to it, we ain't got all day."

"You mind if I go with Espinosa? We make a good team." Daryl asked, as Natalia handed him a knife, looking at Mercer.

"Daryl, I didn't choose the teams, we did it by random, there's no switching." She looked at him through her brows. "So work well with Daniels, you guys are up first"

"We got this. I know you're the fastest and I'm the baddest, so we're good." Rosita laughed with her team mate, Green.

"Let's do this." He nodded back at her.

"Hey, I'm Jake." Daniels introduced himself.

Daryl put the knife in his open hand.

"What's up, Jake?" He grunted.

"So, I'm guessing that's your wife, heard she's Mercers new deputy, or something." He nodded at Natalia, who checked with the rest of the duos, before walking away to stand by Mercer, again. 

"Your guess is as good as mine." He replied.

Mercer raised his hand, before blowing his whistle, letting the two teams start.

"Taking it he doesn't work well in a team."

"Neither of them, really,  but they're good at what they do, can get creative when need to."

"But that's not what this is about, its about teamwork."

"That's the part which scares me." She sighed.

Daryl had ended up failing the mission, when Daniels called out for him, Mercer had to shoot the walker.

"Man, what was that, He was good, I was right there." Daryl told him, as they walked out the house.

"I said speed and teamwork." Mercer replied. "Green, Espinosa, nicely done. Dixon, You're with me."

"You're an idiot." Natalia snapped at her husband, following behind the large man.

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