𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | daryl dixon

- 𝟑𝟒

     "the same walker that killed dale?" rick assumed.

     "that's the one..." he muttered.

     rosaline put her hand on her forehead, sighing. that kid was out looking for trouble constantly now. how come no one was watching him? should she have been doing that?

     rick looked the other way for a moment, clenching his jaw, "i'll have lori talk to him."

     "look, i think... i think he wants to talk to his father." shane corrected him.

     rick jerked his chin to the side, "well i need this randall thing done already."

     shane gave him a side-eye, "man, that needs to wait, okay?"

     "it's my call." rick lowered his voice, to reiterate what he meant.

     "how about i ride out with daryl and rosaline? be good for us to spend a little time together."

     that rang alarm bells in rosaline's mind. she would not let shane and daryl in the same car. rosaline opened her mouth to speak but rick seemed to read her mind, "nah, i need you here."

     "don't think i'll handle it right, huh?" shane asked.

     "didn't say that." rick shook his head.

     "what you say? you know, your son." he started to shuffle through his pocket, fishing out a gun, "he gave me this." the bald man glanced to rosaline, "you should get that back to daryl, huh?"

     she shot him a look before putting the gun in her waistband, "i'll hold onto it."

     shane scoffed before turning the conversation back to his friend, "freeing that prisoner... more important to you than carl."

     "shane i don't think you seem to understand. days are getting shorter, he needs to be dealt with now. carl can be spoken to any day, by rick or even lori." rosaline stepped up for her the man, she now saw rick as a father figure and would defend him despite what anyone else thought. he was more of a father than her real one ever was, "rick has important things to do. carl is going through what you and i know as teenage hormones. let it be."

     "see rosaline, those teenage hormones you're talking about are going to get that boy killed. he needs to know better. that time should be now." shane retorted, swaggering away.

     rick didn't say a word to him as he stormed away. rosaline shook her head as the sheriff laid eyes on her.

     rosaline wanted to reassure him, "you're doing the best you can. like i said before, he's just bitter."

     he ran his hand across his mouth gently, "no i think he might be right. i'll go have a conversation with him. you still have that gun? you mind if i take it?"

     "rhaegar." rosaline shook her head passing him the gun, before calling into the house having the dog hare down the stairs, "find carl." she instructed before smiling gently at rick, "follow him he'll get him to you."

     the game that carl had been practicing with him had been coming to use, he was slowly mastering tracking people down by scent. there was no doubt that this was going to come in useful and rosaline couldn't be prouder of her four-legged friend.

     "thanks, rose." rick waved to her before setting off.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

     jimmy decided to ask rosaline for some help with boarding up the house for the winter against any potential threats. she had agreed to the task before daryl had called her over to the car with t-dog.