"hey, i'll be back. you alright for a few minutes?" Dallas asked, looking at his brother. Tyler nodded, folding his arms against his chest and trying to push away tears.
Dallas followed Daryl out the house, confused by the softer and kinder expression that was on his face, when hours earlier he was telling him to piss off.
Daryl led Dallas around the pond that was close by, still relatively silent. he slowed to a stop when he reached a small patch of flowers, and pointed at them.
Cherokee Rose's.
Dallas looked at him with confusion.
"you were there when i gave Carol one," Daryl spoke, looking between him and the small patch of roses. "i'm sorry about your mom. i heard what happened."
"well," Dallas wrapped his arms around himself. "shit happens i guess."
"yeah, but this ain't just shit," Daryl told him, settling to look at him. "and i'm sorry about what happened this morning."
Dallas looked at him, a bit of shock on his face. Daryl hardly seemed like the kind of guy to be acting like this. he gave a small nod, and, to his surprised, gave a slight smile.
they sat down, looking over the pond and talking. Daryl went quiet for a moment before asking,
"so why haven't you been with your mom much?" he asked. "wasn't spying or nothin'. just overheard."
Dallas hesitated before replying. he didn't know Daryl very well, and hadn't really opened up to anybody about his relationship with his mom. he hadn't even really told Tyler.
but Daryl looked genuinely interested in knowing why. he just couldn't find it in himself to bring it up; he felt ashamed.
"it's not that i didn't want to," he stated, picking at the grass and not meeting the gaze he knew Daryl had fixed on him. "i guess her and i just don't have the best relationship."
"how come?"
Dallas looked off, eyes landing on the house.
"has to do with shit with my old man. it's not really that interesting. we should be getting back though, Rick is going to be back soon."
Daryl agreed, and stood up. he held his hand out, and pulled Dallas to his feet. they walked back, standing close together as they did.
"you wanna smoke tonight?" Dallas asked as they got closer. "we can meet by the same place as last time."
Daryl looked at him, and hesitated before nodding, the same slight smile returning on his face.
everyone was sitting on the house's porch steps when they got back, even Tyler. T-Dog and Andrea we're approaching the house from the other direction when the got there.
Glenn stood up to meet the four.
"do you know what's going on?" T-Dog asked as they came closer.
"where is everyone?" Andrea piped in.
"you haven't seen Rick?" Glenn questioned.
"he went off with Hershel, we were supposed to leave a couple hours ago," Andrea responded, coming to a stop in front of him.
"yeah you were," Daryl spoke, the agitation coming back on his face. "what the hell?"
everyone looked around at each other.
"damn, isn't anybody taking this seriously?we got a damn trail." Daryl exclaimed, and turned around. "ah, here we go."
he stopped when he saw Shane approaching with the bag of guns, one in his hand.
