A War On Her World | TWD: D. Dixon

09.05.20 Anniversary Part 3

Tomorrow couldn't have come fast enough. Everyone had their belongings together and were lining up to go home. Elizabeth, Daryl and Benjamin were somewhere close to the back of the line to get the vaccine shot.

Sadly, the process of the vaccine meant having a long, pointed needle being shoved into the thigh or upper arm and needles made Elizabeth squeamish all over. She wasn't terrified of them, just entirely happy to avoid any interactions with the evil tool, leaving her completely jittery throughout the process of the situation.

And of course, her jittery nerves transferred to her son, making him tear up and cry loudly as they got closer and closer to the point of their fears.

"Why of all things are yer' scared of a needle?" Daryl criticised in a harsh tone, one that Elizabeth had come to learn not to take offence to as it was his way of being playful.

"I- I don't know Dare! I'm just weird like that." Elizabeth tried to defend herself, but really, there was no defence. She continued to stutter and move around at the feeling of anticipation in her stomach.

"Oh no, baby, don't cry." She worried immediately as her son's cries grew heavier.

In Daryl's arms was a crying Benjamin. The man didn't know how to react to an upset child, but it seemed that he didn't need to because Elizabeth went from fretting over the impending needle to comforting her son. She quickly moved closer to the growing boy, taking his small hands in hers so that she could rub comforting circles on his knuckles.

It was a sight to see. The affectionate shushing sounds coming from the woman. The look on her face. If he had a camera on him, Daryl would have found himself with the urge to capture the moment.

Maybe the circumstances surrounding the scene were a bit unique, but Daryl couldn't help feeling the way he was when the woman he loved was acting so much like herself in front of him. She always seemed to be able to pull such a strong desire from within his heart that it left him feeling almost completely vulnerable to everything that she was.

"Excuse me, the line has moved forward." An irritated voice spoke from behind the small family. Elizabeth glanced from the sneering, stout man to the large gap that had appeared in front of them.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice." She smiled, trying to defuse the situation. The man was probably just excited to get home, there was no point continuing an unnecessary quarrel.

"Well maybe if you used your eyes." He spat. The longer he stared at her, the more uncomfortable Elizabeth felt.

"Right, well-" Facing forward again, the woman took hold of Daryl's hand and tried to lead them forward to close the growing gap. Only, Daryl wasn't going to have it.

A deadly glare took hold of his expression, his eyebrows creasing together and his lips turning down, making him look more intimidating. The feeling of menace seemed to roll towards the much shorter stranger in waves causing the man to noticeably flinch in response.

"Daryl, just leave it. It's okay." Elizabeth tried once again to leave without causing the situation to become any worse, and luckily for her, Daryl reluctantly cooperated, making her job easier. The two of them moved forward in the line, finding themselves close to the front now. The problem was that the whole scene seemed to place Daryl in a never-ending bad mood. To make matters worse, she could quite noticeably feel the nervous irritation rolling off the unpleasant man positioned behind them. Benjamin must have picked up on the atmosphere as well because he fell quiet, his sniffling being the only indication that he was still nervous about the needle.

"Next, please."

It appeared that Elizabeth had made it to the front much faster than what she had been expecting because when the voice calling for one of them to take a seat was heard, she recoiled closer into Daryl's side with a fearful look on her face.