Staying Alive//TWDFanFic

Thirty One

-35 DAYS LATER-

We've been working on building the bridge backup and with Eugene's knowledge, it's been relatively easy besides the 'labor' part. I'm helping Daryl and Aaron put some boards down, Daryl won't let me lift anything heavy since there's a good chance I'm pregnant right now, what impeccable timing. We're not entirely sure because there hasn't been a pregnancy test in sight for months but Siddiq thinks I am due to my symptoms, it worries me having two children in this mess but I won't be upset if I have another. Beth has been back in Hilltop with Hershel and Maggie, I go see her when I can but it's few and far between when I do. I'm handing a savior a board when I overhear Aaron telling Daryl that he's a good dad, I smirk before hearing Justin, one of the saviors, pushing Henry over and taking the rest of the water. Henry stands up and uses his stick to take Justin down before Justin gets back up and goes to go after him. Daryl steps in, "Hey! He's just doing his job." Justin scoffs, "Back off, I don't need a fuckin babysitter man." He goes toward Henry again before Daryl grabs him, he swings at Daryl but misses before Daryl rocks his shit. He fell on the ground and threw dirt in Daryl's eyes before attacking him, pussy move if you ask me. I sigh as Daryl regains his dominance and whips Justin's ass. Rick rushes up and shuts it down.

Rick, Daryl and Carol go off to the camp and go into the 'meeting' tent while I go over to Justin and sit on the log beside him, "What the fuck was that?" I ask, he just shrugs, "I don't know, I'm just tired of being treated like I need a damn babysitter." He glances up at me, "You'd be a better leader for the saviors than any of em, Jo and you know it. You got what Negan was about all you gotta do is fine tune it and put us back on the right path." I scoff, "I don't have the heart or the courage to be a leader, let alone for the fuckin saviors but Carol does." He scoffs, "She looks at us like we're scum." I sigh, "She's just looking out for you guys and you're used to it one way but you'll get used to it this way too." He nods slowly, "Yeah, maybe. Look, I'm sorry for hitting your dude but he needs to learn to back the fuck off sometimes." I chuckle, "Backing off isn't exactly his forte." I pat his shoulder before going back to the bridge.

A short while later, I'm handing off a board to Arat when Carol calls out my name, "Josie!" She looks panicked so I follow her and the others to the lumber yard. There's a herd of walkers coming toward Daryl as he's trying to help Aaron out from under a log. I start helping take out the walkers. Daryl finally gets Aaron untrapped before he rushes him to the infirmary tent. I continue helping the others take out the walkers.

We get back to the camp after they're taken care of and I sit on the log outside of Daryl and I's tent as I start picking at an apple. After a while I see Daryl rushing from the infirmary tent with blood all over him before fighting Justin again, Carol steps in between them, "Stop!" He doesn't but she keeps trying until he finally steps away, "I said stop, I'll deal with it." Daryl glares at her, "Theres only one way to deal with these assholes." He starts walking off and yells, "Jojo, come on!" I get up quickly and catch up to him. We get into the woods a bit before he turns around, "He didn't set off the last horn to divert the herd and I think he did it on purpose, we need to do something about it." I shook my head, "No. You don't need to do anything, let Carol handle it." He scoffed, "You see how she's handling it now, Jo, everything's fucked." I put my hand on his shoulder as he looks at me, "She'll do what needs to be done, you know that." His demeanor softens as he exhales sharply, "You're right, I'm just tired of having to deal with these assholes." I scoff lightly, "You and me both."

Daryl stays with Aaron the rest of the day. As it got dark, everyone gathered by the fire and brought up some logs. I sat off on my own near Ezekiel and Carol before Alden came and sat beside me. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something." I sigh, "Shoot." He seems nervous as he asks, "Do you think there's anyway you could control Daryl?" I glare at him before he puts his hand up, "Wait wait, hear me out. The saviors are worried he's going to do something drastic and I just think if we get a leash on him sooner rather than later, it'd calm them down a little." I squint my eyes as I lean in closer to him, speaking softly, "It's funny all of you are worried about Daryl when I'm the most dangerous one of us all. Believe me, you'd rather me be behind him rather than leading him. So putting a leash on him as you say, isn't gonna work for me and if you ever say something like that to me again, I'll break your neck while you sleep." I pull away and he has a terrified look on his face as Daryl approaches, he motions for him to move so he gets up quickly and basically runs from us. Daryl watches him until he basically dives into his tent, "What was that about?" Tara leaned back, "Josie just scared the daylights out of that guy." Daryl nods, "Yeah but why?" I chuckle, "He asked me to keep you on a leash so I threatened him a little." Tara scoffs, "A little? Breaking his neck in his sleep?" I give a confused look, "How the hell did you hear me over there?" She chuckled, "Please, you were basically hissing at him like a damn cat." I shook my head before I saw Daryl was giving me a look like he was disappointed, "Maybe don't threaten the saviors while they're acting up." I sigh, "He's not a savior anymore, at least that's what he's told me." He sucks his teeth, "Yeah, guess you're right. Anyways, anyone got any marshmallows?" Everyone laughed before Tara suggested, "Why don't we all play spin the bottle or something?" I chuckle, "No thanks." Daryl agrees with me, "Yeah, not interested in seeing my wife kiss anyone besides me." He wraps his arms around me and pulls me onto his lap before kissing me softly. We sat by the fire until everyone started wandering off to their tents, Carol said she'd put the fire out so we went back to our tent and closed it up before laying on top of the worn out sleeping bags.