Your Crying Shoulder

I'm going

I sat in my make shift camp I had made with my mom and grandfather. I knew I didn't want to be anywhere around when Daryl found out about Merle. I felt bad for officer grimes who had to tell him. Screaming started erupting from the camp and I knew they must've told him. I flinched at the yells of distress. I dared a glance over my shoulder and saw Shane had Daryl in a choke hold on the ground and officer grimes was eye level with a struggling redneck. I sighed and went back to sharpening my knife as I heard my grandpa chuckle. I looked up at him and arched an eyebrow as he smiled,

"He's a rough one ain't he?"

I looked back back over at the group seeing Shane had now let go of Daryl. What really made my heart drop was that it looked like he was crying. I didn't even think dixon's could cry. I turned back to my grandpa and sighed,

"has every right to be. The man just lost his brother"

i heard him chuckle again and I arched an eyebrow,"what?"

"Nothing bud" he smiled shaking his head.

I was confused, but decided not to push it. Once I saw he wasn't looking, I stole a glance back at the group. Daryl had stormed off somewhere and the others seemed to be getting stuff together. I turned back towards my grandpa and noticed it seemed he had gotten paler, thinner too.

"how you doing on insulin?" I asked.

"Got enough" he said.

"How much is enough?" I pushed.

He sighed and adverted his eyes away from mine,"Mae don't do this now"

 My heart started pounding with worry as I stood up,"how much"

"About a weeks worth" he sighed.

My eyes widened and my heart was about to pop out of my chest. Before he could say anything I stormed up to the camp and found officer Grimes looking over a map of the city,

"Officer grimes?"

He jumped a little, but calmed when he saw me,"Mae...please call me Rick."

I just nodded and fixed my shirt sleeve,"what are you doing?"

"Looking over the map of Atlanta. We're going back for Merle" he said.

"Can I come?" I asked jumping at the opportunity to potentially find a pharmacy.

"I don't think so Mae" he said.

"Look no offense officer grimes, but I'd be going with or without you. My grandpa needs insulin and I need to see if the pharmacy in town has any and it would be a lot safer going with a group than on my own" I said.

he sighed,"Mae it ain't safe, I'll look for it when we are there"

"No I'm going. I have to! He is my responsibility not yours. You can't keep me safe forever officer grimes. I'm not a weak 10 year old anymore" I said sternly.

He sighed,"trust me, I have never once In my life ever thought you were weak. You were the strongest 10 year old I had ever met and I can see that hasn't changed."

"So I can come with?" I asked.

He ran a hand through his hair,"alright, but you stay with someone at all times"

I nodded and and walked back over to my camp, grabbing my bag before walking to rejoin the group.

"So you're willing to risk 3 lives to save some deuschbag like Merle dixon" Shane growled.

"Hey watch your mouth" daryl glared.

"No I did, deuschbag is what I meant" Shane growled.

"There's a bag of guns there. I dropped them when I got attacked. Before I made it into Atlanta, I scavenged them all from the station. It's still sitting there in the street." Rick said.

Everyone's eyes widened and no one argued with Rick anymore as we got ready to leave. I walked over to the truck and set my things down as I felt a rough hand on my shoulder. Turning around I came face to face with daryl,

"The hell ya think her doin?"

"What does it look like I'm doin dixon? I'm getting ready to go save your dumb ass of a brother" I said.

"You ain't goin" he growled.

"Yes I am whether you like it or not" I said stubbornly.

"Don't be stupid! It ain't safe" he said.

"Does it look like I care? There's a pharmacy there I need to check. Grandpa's out of insulin so I'm going whether you like it or not! Plus officer grimes already said I could go" I growled turning back to the truck.

"Why you call him that? His name's Rick" he said.

I froze and memories started flooding my mind. Tears threatened to spill but I quickly fought them off and turned towards Daryl,

"Just do"

Before he could respond, I quickly walked towards my mom to let her know I was leaving,

Daryl's pov

I stood there and watched as Mae stormed away. I didn't want her going. My focus needs to be on completely finding Merle, not protecting some damn girl. Especially her and whatever she is hiding. There was a reason she didn't call Rick by his first name and I was determined to find out why. I placed my crossbow next to her bag and stormed over to Rick,

"hey ya about ready, good lord takin ya long enough"

 He sighed and put his gun in his pocket,"yea just about."

"When were ya gonna tell me bout the girl goin?" I grunted.

"Who Mae? I tried to make her stay, but the girl is stubborn" he sighed looking in the direction of the girl.

I watched him as he looked at her. There was somethin that changed in his eyes, but it couldn't tell what the hell it was and it bothered me,

"You know her before all this?" I grunted.

he didn't look at me, but answered,"you could say that"

"Care to explain or ya just gonna be a dick and leave me hangin?" I growled.

Finally the cop turned to me and said,"it isn't my story to tell"

"What the fuck does that mean?" I growled, but he didn't answer and walked towards the truck.

Sighing I looked over at Mae who was with her mom and decided to go tell her to get her ass in the truck if she's goin.

Mae's pov

"Hey I'm about to head out"

"Mae this isn't a good idea" she scorned.

"He's about to be out of medicine soon. I have to go" I said.

"Mae...maybe it's for the best" she whispered.

My eyes widened with what she was saying,"wha!....how?....what..how can you even think that! That is your father!"

"I know honey, but he is getting up there in age and there will come a day when there is no more insulin for him. Maybe it's best for him to go like that and not by one of the walkers." She sighed.

I started breathing heavily as I fought the anger inside. I clenched my fists tightly at my sides. How could she even be ok with this!? I felt her rest a gentle hand on my shoulder causing me to flinch,

"I know you wouldn't understand sweetheart, but..."

"I wouldn't understand?! Huh?! Because I didn't have a father?! Because the low life piece of shit you married beat me every damn day while you travelled on vacations to the Bahamas and Florida!" I yelled.

"Mae!" She gasped.

"You know what...whatever! I'm leaving!" I said.

"Be safe. Love you" she said with tears in her eyes.

I flinched again when she said that and as I turned to storm away, I came face to face with Daryl dixon. My face paled as I starred at his guilty face only confirming one of my worst fears. He heard everything I just said.