Sugar and Spice

Chapter 11

Finally, the surgery was over it was a lot of effort and I was thankful that Hershel was here without him Carl would never had made it by the end of the whole ordeal I was exhausted which the older man seemed to notice.

"There's a guest bedroom upstairs second door on the right take it for the night," Hershel said as he removed the gloves whipping off the excess with a cloth as I took the offer heading towards the stairs. "And Sam thank you I couldn't have done it without you." I offered a small smile before making my way upstairs slowly following the directions till I found the room instantly flopping down onto the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I fell into a deep sleep.

I was woken up to the bed sinking down followed by a hand gently brushing a strand of hair out of my face, the hand travelled down my face to caress my cheek as I let myself lean into the gentle touches with a smile. When I finally decided to crack my eyes open I stared up at Daryl's smiling face it was a rare and beautiful sight that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Good morning." I teased with a bright smile of my own as I beckoned him to come lie next to me in the single bed, which he happily took the offer coming to lie on his side facing me. "How did everything go last night?" I asked quietly as his arms came to wrap around me loosely, stroking over the exposed skin of my side.

"Alright, took Andrea out to search for Sophia ran into a walker but it didn't cause any trouble," Daryl trailed off before leaning forward to place a soft kiss to my lips which had me letting out a content sigh. "You okay?"

"Yeah it was nice to get back into everything felt like a breath of fresh air." I said quietly with a small smile as I thought back to before this all happened. "What's happening with everyone else?"

"That guy Otis got killed last night and they're having a funeral for him." The hunter told me quietly before getting out of bed and offering me a hand which I gladly took, allowing myself to be pulled up to stand in front of him. I leant up to place one last kiss onto his lips before walking out of the room and out the door to pay my respects. The Greene family and our group were crowded around a large pile of rocks at the base of a tree, I walked over slowly to stand next to Glenn as Daryl came to stand beside me. Once we were all here Hershel began the prayer and during it I huddled closer to Daryl as a sudden sadness took over me, it it weren't for this man Carl would never had made it, the hunter intertwined our pinkies together not so keen on being that affectionate especially here which I was happy about. Just knowing that he was there gave me a sense of comfort.

"Shane would you speak for Otis?" Hershel asked once the prayer was over, I tore my eyes away from the pile of stones to the man in question who was standing there with a look that I couldn't quite read.

"I ain't good at it." Shane replied quietly as he shook his head at the thought, he glanced over the faces of the group before stopping on Lori then skipping to me, it was only a split second but I saw it before he turned to the Greene's again. "I'm sorry."

"You shared his last moments with him please I need to know that his death had meaning." Patricia said in tears while she stared down the bald man with tear streaked tears. Shane let out a shaky breath as he thought about the words to say to the grieving woman.

"We were about done. I was limping. It was bad and they swarmed us he told me to go on and save the boy." Shane looked like he was about in tears as he stumbled over several words. "He gave me his pack and shoved me ahead run he said I'll take the rear ... I'll cover you and when I looked back." The man couldn't finish the sentence as he stared into Patricia's eyes, with a sigh he limped over to the pile of stones retrieving a stone from the wheel barrel to place onto the pile. "If it weren't for Otis then I wouldn't have made it out alive neither would Carl. It was Otis that saved us both, if any death ever had meaning it was his." With those last words he turned to the pile and placing it on top as the Greene family continued to grieve. I watched silently as the man limped away from the group and slowly we began to disperse as I walked over to where the cars were. With a sigh I leant up against my truck watching the others go about there day, I was happy that we had found a place to set up camp. Without me even realising it the group had a meeting about Sofia before Daryl came over to me.

"Hey I'm gonna go look for Sophia and I know you want to come but they need you here to help set up camp."Daryl told me, I thought over the words for a moment before sighing reluctantly and giving him a nod.

"I'll set up a tent for us where's the rest of your stuff?" I asked causing Daryl to go over to Merle's bike and handing me the bag from it with a smile before leaning down to place a small kiss to my lips. I let my arms wrap around his neck and bringing our lips together again, the kiss was slow and sweet but only lasted a few more minutes before we pulled away again. "Be safe." I whispered with a smile which he returned.

"Always am."