PAST LIVES, daryl dixon.

026 | my baby has to live.

"up in the guard tower." daryl said, nodding his head toward it.

"the guard tower?" rick questioned, making reggie shake his head.

"y'all, that's my sister. i don't want that image." he said, fanning his face down.

"they were just up there last night." rick said, looking at reggie with a chuckle.

"glenn! maggie!" daryl yelled.

that's when the door to the guard tower opened, and glenn stumbled out. he didn't have his shirt on, and by the looks of it, his trousers were only half way on, too. reggie covered his mouth, trying not to laugh, but also out of disgust as glenn tried to button up his trousers and do his belt at the same time. everyone on the ground shared little snickers between them at glenn's state. that's when maggie popped up behind him, thankfully clothed.

"hey! what's up guys?" glenn said, in a nerdy voice. glenn was usually nerdy, but that voice just made him nerdier.

"ya comin'?" daryl asked, making reggie snort so hard that he was afraid he was going to get a nosebleed.

"what?!" glenn said back, almost in disbelief.

"ya comin'?" daryl called again, making reggie laugh harder at glenn's confusion as carol leaned on reggie's shoulder, laughing. glenn looked back at maggie for help. "come on, we could use a hand."

many laughs later, everyone got back on with the task as maggie and glenn came down to help. to reggie, it felt good having something to do again. being busy really did take the worry out of his stomach. it took away the bad feelings he had. it helped him ignore the thoughts of marcus, and the looks that daryl was giving him every time reggie would take a step. he didn't know what was going on with daryl, but he'd been weird. he wasn't being weird with anyone other than reggie, though, and reggie always hated that. he had been like that all week. reggie knew it was his fault. he knew he shouldn't have met up with marcus, but it was also daryl that told him to, because he admitted that he didn't like him. even before marcus was in the picture, daryl had been saying it. then, his karma came right round and bit him in the ass, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

he thought that reggie would just run around after him like a loss puppy the entire time. reggie was doing that. but then, reggie stopped, and daryl didn't know how to act. how was he supposed to act when reggie wasn't there for him to fall back on? how was he supposed to act when reggie wasn't his? he didn't know. he had no answers to any of the questions he had, because he was too afraid to ask them. daryl's mind was a constant whirlwind of fear. he was seen as one of the bravest members, but if they took one step inside of his brain, he would be the most fearful one in the group. he would've beat sophia by a mile. hell, he was pretty sure that his five year old sister was braver than he was. he wasn't brave. not deep down. he was hiding. he'd always been hiding.

"hey, rick?" t-dog said, making them all turn around, like all of their names were 'rick.'

that's when reggie's heart stopped in his chest again. ignoring marcus was probably harder than he thought it was going to be, because there he was, with axel and oscar, making his way to the group. reggie took a deep breath as he tried to stop looking nervous. daryl watched as reggie quickly moved from him, and stood near carol, which confused him. why couldn't he stand next to him? how would carol protect him if something went down? then, it clicked. what if reggie wasn't allowed to talk to daryl, and that's why he had been ignoring him all week? daryl had been ignoring reggie all week, too, sure, but that was only because reggie was ignoring daryl, and daryl didn't want to be the first one to make conversation after he had gone out and came back hurt.