Flip Side {Daryl Dixon}

[All of Us]

Silence was the only thing to be heard when the gates clanged shut behind the cars and horse. It was still all so surreal to them. She was alive. She was here.

Eevee. She was off Bucephalus in a second, the horse happy to wander a few feet away and start nibbling on the grass in someone front yard. The first to meet her was Juno and Carl, both teens nearly taking her to the ground in their elation.

"¡Mis bebés! ¡Oh, cómo he echado de menos ver a mi pequeño rey y mi sombra!" Eevee spoke as she kissed them both on their foreheads. She worked her way down the list of family until she met with the ones she didn't know- Lilith and Jax. The man stepped up first and brightly smiled.

"Hey, I'm Jax. This is my friend Lilith. I think we joined after you got separated. Pleasure to meet you." The little woman smiled back and shook his hand before nodding towards the wary Lilith. And then she finally got to him. Daryl.

"Ghost." Tears stung the back of her eyes as they sprung up in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey there, alley cat." She stepped closer to the frozen man and reached out to slip her fingers between his. "It's been a long time." His free hand skimmed gently through her shorter hair that puffed up in wild waves around her jaw.

"Yer hair." Wild laughter burst up from Eevee and the group at his dumbfounded words. She nodded and leaned into his touch, placing small pecks into his palm and wrist.

"Yes, the hair is gone. It got caught and I had to cut it off to get free. It'll grow back." He lowly laughed before lunging forward and crushing the woman to his chest. Eevee locked her arms around his ribs and buried into her face into his chest. His scent filled her nose and she took in a deep breath, the stench of sweat and rot making her happier than she ever thought it could. It may be gross, but this was him.

"I ain't mad, it looks good on ya." Aaron's voice broke apart the reunion, everyone moving their attention to him as he cleared his throat. The two turned towards him, Daryl wrapping an arm around her back to keep her close to his body.

"Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons." This made them all wary and clench tighter to their guns and blades. Juno shambles to Eevee's other side and pressed against her, the little brunette holding her like the Dixon had her.

"Stay, you hand them over." Demanded a boy with curly hair and skittering blue eyes, lightly jumping away when Rick turned his six shooter on him for speaking.

"We don't know if we want to stay." Aaron jumped into the fray to try and calm the growing tension.

"It's fine, Nicholas." The man swallowed hard and looked at the wild group before him.

"If we were gonna use them, we woulda started already." Merle snarled at the boy, a low scowl pulling down his mouth.

"Let them talk to Deanna first." Rick turned towards Aaron as he mentioned the name. Eevee remembered talking with her too. Well, she didn't really talk much, more just sat and glared at the camera and the woman with a sharply critical eye.

"Who's Deanna?" Snarls the cop, his icy eyes skimming around to see if she'd appear at the mention of her name like a ghost or specter.

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?" Offered the scout with a reassuring smile. The bearded Grimes turned to scan his group for a moment to see how they seemed to like the place, his gaze looking beyond them and out towards the road.

"Sasha." Everyone turned to see what he was looking at, the dark woman taking aim at the shambling walker coming towards them. A silenced gunshot sounded seconds before the corpse's head exploded and the remains crumbled into a pile of rotted limbs. Turning back, Rick lightly scoffed and hefted Judith onto his hip.