Panacea - {Daryl Dixon Fanfiction}

Day 70+ - A Fantasy Short Lived

The blond bitch nearly killed him.

Upon returning from a fruitless journey to find the child, he had been mistaken for one of those monsters. Luckily, it was just a graze, and he was further allowed to stay inside the house and was waited on hand and foot.

The older woman, Carol, (mother of the child) brought him a new glass of water every hour, even if he hadn't finished the last. It was a complete waste.

But lying in that bed gave him time to think, and of course he thought of her. His Gabrielle. Where could she be? Who was she with? Was she safe? 

He liked to stay on the positive side of things.

"Babe..."

There was her honeyed-voice, full of concern. He opened his eyes, knowing she wasn't really there.

"You've seen worse..." He muttered to her, picturing her laying beside him. And he had looked worse; she'd witnessed the fight between him and her ex-boyfriend, and although Daryl would proudly say he kicked his ass, the opponent had put up a good fight. Gabry had hen-pecked and fretted like a worried mother over his black eye, which was swollen shut for the next three days, and dabbed relentlessly at his busted lip, and squealed when he set his own nose back in place. 

Damn, how he missed her.

His reminiscing was suddenly interrupted by Carol, who had a tray of food with her this time. "How are you feeling?" She asked him quietly.

He snorted. "About as good as I look." There was a silence between them, and then, unexpectedly, she leaned in and kissed his forehead. The way Gabry would've done.

"You need to know something..." Carol began, and he rolled over slightly to look at her. "You did more for my little girl today, than her own Daddy ever did in his whole life."

Daryl shifted uncomfortably under the sheet. He was never good at this "gratitude" crap... "Nothing Rick or Shane wouldn't have done..."

"I know," Carol said, "but you did. And your every bit as good as them..."

"You're every bit as good as them." Gabry said, linking her arm with Daryl's as they walked out of the church. After attending for a month they still glared at him as if he didn't belong, wanting him gone. "Church ain't for saints, like hospitals ain't for the healthy." She always had a way to put things, to make things better.

Without hesitation Daryl said, "You sound like Gabry." 

He regretted those words as soon as they left his mouth. Now someone knew something personal about him. The most personal thing about him. The thing that made him weak. 

"Well..." Carol said, but instead of continuing with a question she surprisingly remarked, "You should listen to Gabry." 

She then left without further inquiry.

He was glad for that. If he had to talk about Gabry he might fall apart and no amount of Herschel's stitching would put him back together.

***

His next encounter with Carol was in the stable, after a heated argument with the dickbag cop, Shane. It was men like him that Gabry defended him from (or, better yet, kept him from pounding to a pulp); men that thought themselves above him.