Both Eyes Open - Daryl Dixon (under editing)

Survive.

Lara awoke to Fergus padding his paws against her stomach and chest, his whiskered nose nuzzling and tickling her neck affectionately. She stifled a giggle, smiling as she pushed herself into a sitting position on the mattress she had hauled downstairs the previous night, and laid in the living room for everyone to crash on.

She held Fergus by the collar and gently lifted his face close to hers and smiled as the dog licked her nose and wagged his tail.

"Good boy." She whispered, before getting to her feet, her bag on her shoulder, and headed for the stairs, with Fergus close at her feet. She ascended the stairs to us the bathroom to clean up and then made her way into the rooms, raiding the closets for clean clothes. Buried within the furthest room were a whole heap of jeans underneath a neat, untouched pile of plain t-shirts.

Lara gently dropped her bag and began trying on the clothes, thanking God when she discovered the perfect fit of most of them. She stuffed a pair of well fitting, flexible and durable jeans into her bag, pulling all of the older, dirty clothes from inside and tossing them to the side. She then repeated the same process with all the grey and black t-shirts she found, before pulling on a plain black top, black jeans already with a few scuffs on the denim, her heavy duty boots, and a black leather jacket.

She turned to a chest of drawers and rummaged around in the drawer till she found a little shoe brush and black polish for her boots, which she immediately put to good use, salvaging what she could.

She dug around in her bag to find the small bundle of hair ties she had stuffed in one of the pockets and pulled her half dry hair into a ponytail, before returning her cap to her head, thinking of Dale and Theodore as she pulled it on.

Once she was satisfied with her moderately presentable self in the mirror she nodded and headed downstairs, nearly stumbling over Fergus, who ran ahead of her to the sound of Carl and Michonne chatting.

Lara stood in the hallway, peering into the room where Carl and Michonne sat smiling and chatting happily between each other. They had both cleaned up somewhat, and were sitting down to eat breakfast for the first proper time in months. Lara relished in the sound of the pair conversing, blessing the fact that it wasn't the snarling, snapping sound of walkers she had grown so accustomed to. She breathed slow and steady, feeling a tightening in her chest. She had found some of her people. Her family. Some that she could trust, but she didn't feel whole. Not yet anyways.

"Mornin'." Rick grumbled from her left, startling the girl in the hall. She looked to she Rick standing in the kitchen, appearing so domestic with a pot in his hand, setting it on the stove whilst looking at her with a weary but genuine smile, casting an quick eye over her new appearance. She couldn't help but admire the man. He had been through so much, and he still finds reasons to smile.

She smiled in return, making her way into the kitchen to see what he was up to. She frowned into the pot at the odd concoction of food he had thrown together. Rick chuckled a the expression and she leant back away from the stove as he explained,

"For the road. Better than stale chips, crackers and water."

Lara nodded her head in eager agreement, before stopping abruptly at the sound of Carl laughing. Rick looked over his shoulder for a moment and sighed, turning back to her.

"He hasn't laughed in a while." Rick told her, leaning on the counter top beside her. "It's nice to hear that sound again. Whatever gets him through..." He waved his hand in the air carelessly, "...all this."