JINX
Carl had knocked on the door of cell block D and handed her a rifle, "Andrea's outside." He told her, she nodded and followed him into the yard. She hung back a little from the group, staying just behind one of the trucks after Merle, Daryl and Rick ran out from behind it.
"Are you alone?" rick called out to Andrea, she didn't answer the question, only calling out for him to open the gate. He asked again and the blonde woman just shouted his name in frustration. Jinx frowned realising that Andrea was holding a walker in some kind of long handled grabber, the same as had been used to surround Daryl and Merle the night they'd rescued them.
Rick threw Daryl the keys and he opened the gate to let her in as she released the walker. "Hands up! Turn around!" rick yelled at her, pinning her to the fence as soon as she was through. Daryl raised his crossbow keeping it trained on her and Jinx didn't move, watching the whole scene unfold over the top of the rifle she held resting on the hood of the truck.
Rick began frisking her to check for weapons, but a walker slammed up against the fence and she screamed. He pulled her away and pushed her down to her knees before continuing. When he was done had leant towards her and hissed, "I asked if you were alone."
"I am." She told him breathlessly as Rick pulled the bag from her back and threw it away from her. She stayed kneeling on the ground as he went and picked up what Jinx assumed was Andrea's gun, though she hadn't seen her drop it. He said something in her ear before pulling her back up by her arm. Everyone else lowered their weapons, looking at their former friend. Jinx kept hers trained on her until they'd all disappeared inside the building of the prison.
She wasn't interested in hearing what Andrea had to say so she stayed sitting outside, the one useful thing to come out of her visit was that they weren't likely to be attacked if she was there and it meant Jinx could feel the air on her skin for a little while.
___
DARYL
They were all in cell block C except for Jinx, who was off on her own as usual. They sat around in candlelight as Beth sang. Rick walked downstairs with Judith in his arms, even Merle came in to listen. Daryl and Hershel were leaning against the doors to the cells and Rick came and stood by them.
"Some reunion, huh?" Daryl said quietly, thinking about Andrea's visit earlier in the day. She'd tried to convince them to stand down, telling them the Governor was building an army. She'd got to meet the baby and then they'd sent her off in a spare car they'd managed to get working after they'd taken the prison.
"She's in a jam." Rick responded, looking down at his child in his arms.
"We all are." Hershel agreed, he and Daryl both watching the infant in Rick's arms. "Andrea's persuasive. This fella's armed to the teeth, bent on destruction."
"So, what d'you wanna do?" Daryl asked.
"We match it." Rick told him turning towards the other two. "I'm going on a run."
"I'll head out tomorrow". Daryl agreed.
"No. you stay here." Rick told him, bouncing the baby slightly, "Keep an eye on your brother. I'm glad you're back, really, but if he causes a problem, it's on you."
"I got him." Daryl confirmed with a small nod. Rick said he'd take Michonne, "You sure that's a good idea?" Daryl asked him, concerned, he still didn't trust the strange woman.
"I'll find out." Rick nodded, looking back down at the baby "And Carl. He's ready. You hold it down here." He told Daryl looking back up at him.
"You got it." He nodded to his friend.
___
Daryl took watch when everyone else went to bed, he was pacing around outside with a rifle in his arms and the crossbow on his back when he first heard the screaming. He ran back towards the cell blocks to realise it came from block D. His heart was in his throat as he ran in, throwing the door open as fast as he could.
He ran into the cell where the screaming was coming from to see Jinx alone. She was still sleeping, crying out for someone unseen to let her go. He dropped the weapon on the floor and ran to her. He climbed onto the bed and pulled her upright into his arms, waking her up.
She stopped screaming, but her eyes were still wide with fear as she looked around her, not knowing where she was. He could feel her almost hyperventilating as he held her to his chest, but she was fighting and trying to push him away until her eyes settled on his and she fell still in his arms.
She stayed like that, frozen, just staring into his eyes for a long minute. He wasn't sure what she was going to do. He thought she was going to push him away and walk off like she had every other time he'd seen her since his return. She looked like a wild animal caught in headlights, unsure whether to fight or flee, but he didn't let go.
The pain in her voice as she'd screamed out had torn him to shreds. He'd known in that moment that what he'd suspected when he'd found her had surely been true and he was devastated. He'd only vowed to Andrea earlier that day to take the Governor's other eye, but that wouldn't be enough, he wanted to take everything from that man, just as surely as he'd taken everything from the girl in his arms.
Finally, she blinked, and in a second the stiffness she had held herself in since realising he was there melted away as she wrapped her arms around his back and pressed herself into his chest. She was shaking, but not crying he noticed. "Did he...?" Daryl sked her, his voice barely a whisper.
She said nothing, but took a deep breath before nodding so slightly he almost missed it. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to leave right then and go back to Woodbury and rip the man limb from limb, but Jinx needed him there. He forced his anger down only to be hit by a wave of guilt. "I'm sorry." He whispered, "I'm so sorry. You went through that and then I left you." He paused, trying to swallow down his own emotions. "I left you to go off with my asshole brother who took you to him."
"He's your brother." She whispered, so quietly he wasn't even sure he heard it. "You left him once, you couldn't leave him again." He held her tighter in relief as he realised, she didn't just forgive him, she'd never blamed him in the first place. She'd understood all along.
She pulled away from him slightly, resting her hands on his chest to keep herself upright as she looked at his face again. He stared at her, almost afraid to move for fear she'd turn back into the other person who'd been inhabiting her body since he returned. "I don't know how to go back to who I was before." She confessed.
"I don't think you can." He shook his head sadly, "something like that, it changes you, but that doesn't mean that everything that comes after will be bad." He remembered the ring in his pocket, he hadn't had a chance to fix the necklace yet, didn't even know where he'd find the tools, but he reached down and fished them out and held them out to her.
She closed his fingers over the jewellery in his palm and pushed his hand back towards him shaking her head. "She wouldn't want to see the person I am now." She told him.
"You're gonna come through this." He told her, not moving his hand, "You'll be stronger because of it... in spite of it." He searched her face, she didn't look entirely convinced, but that light that had been missing in her eyes since he'd found her in Woodbury seemed to flicker. It wasn't back, but hope grew there, growing from his words. He tried to hold the jewellery back out to her.
She shook her head again and pushed his hand back. "Hold onto them for me," she told him, "hold onto them until I'm someone she could be proud of again." A single tear finally escaped from one eye and he dropped the items in his hand onto the bed beside them and held his hand up to her cheek, wiping the tear away with his thumb.
He wanted to kiss her, but he didn't know how she would react. She closed her eyes leaning into his palm and in a whisper, he asked her if he could. She nodded and leaned into him, meeting his lips with hers.
There was a gentle tap from the door of the cell block and they both froze, a knife appeared in her hand out of nowhere, but before either of them could move he heard Carol's voice calling his name.
"Daryl?" she said softly. He called out to let her know he was there. She didn't come any closer, "I'm taking over watch." She informed him. He called out thanks and looked back at Jinx, realising she'd been holding her breath as she finally breathed out, resting her head back against his shoulder and slipping the knife back under her pillow as the door clunked shut again.
"Jinx" he said her name softly and she mumbled something into his shoulder, he leaned back slightly to look at her and asked her what she said.
"I certainly feel like one." She told him with a dry laugh.
He frowned and shook his head; her nickname was wrong for her. She wasn't a jinx, she was a ray of moonlight on the darkest night, "Jennifer." He whispered her real name and she looked up at him with big eyes. He kissed her again and she kissed him back, without any interruptions this time she pulled him towards her, her hands were back on his chest unbuttoning his shirt and he paused.
He pulled back slightly and looked at her, his eyes asking the question he didn't need to say out loud. She'd frozen when he moved away, but when she nodded and whispered, "please" his mouth crashed back to hers and she continued, pushing his shirt back off his shoulders. His hand slid up under her shirt and he felt the rough stitches holding her skin together, but she didn't flinch from his touch, if anything she leaned into it, her mouth trailing tiny kisses from his lips to his neck. "Jenn..." He'd whispered her name in her ear before she kissed his lips again. They broke apart only long enough for him to pull her top off and throw it out of the way before slowly laying her down on the bed.
___
JINX
There was sunlight streaming past the bars on the windows when she woke up. She laid there squinting for a couple of minutes feeling like something was off, when it dawned on her; she hadn't woken up screaming for the first time since she'd been back. She smiled as the memory of the previous night came back to her, surprising herself not just by feeling an actual emotion, but that she felt genuinely happy. As soon as she realised that though, she felt the darkness start to creep back in, but she turned her head to look at the man still sleeping beside her, and his face chased it away.
At some point in the night, he'd put his trousers back on, she'd noticed that about him before, he tended to sleep fully dressed, always ready. This time though he was still shirtless, and she appreciated the sight, although she had no doubt he'd have probably put his shirt back on too, had she not been wearing it.
The night before had been perfect and awkward and wonderful. They'd felt like teenagers fooling around for the first time in a too small bed where anyone could catch them, but no one did. Daryl had been gentle with her, almost treating her as if she were fragile, but not quite. Her memory could feel his hands on her still and she stretched a little to kiss his forehead while he slept. What he didn't know and what she wouldn't tell him was that his touch had erased that of the last person who'd touched her. It hadn't just been wonderful for all the regular reasons, but he'd also given her body back to her and he would never know how grateful she was for that.
She wriggled out from under his arm and stood up, looking for her discarded clothes on the floor. When she found them, she pulled her jeans on but stayed in Daryl's shirt, she was in a bubble of safety here, with him. She was afraid that if she stepped outside the cell, the way she was feeling would fade away to nothingness again.
He murmured "Jenn" in his sleep and rolled over to face the wall, exposing the scars on his back. She sat down on the small bed behind him, one leg tucked underneath her and traced her fingers across the knotted skin. He'd never told her about them, but she'd glimpsed them before back at the farm. She realised he understood pain just as well as she now did, she'd seen it in his eyes when he'd held her last night, waking her up from the nightmare. These were old scars, the kind that grow with you, he must have been a child when he was given them.
She felt his breathing change as she moved from tracing his scars to the tattoos of two demons on the back of his shoulder and she knew he was awake. He let her finish tracing the outline of one before he rolled over and pulled her into him. "Come back to C tonight?" he asked her, she hesitated. The thought of leaving the little bubble of solitude she'd created for herself filled her with dread. Letting Daryl in was one thing but letting herself out was completely different. He saw the panic on her face and shook his head slightly, "Don't worry", he told her, kissing her temple, "come back when you're ready."
"I love you." she told him, hoping he understood everything she needed those three words to convey.
They heard the sound of talking and a truck door opening and closing outside, Daryl told her Rick was going on a run soon and they both sat up. She scowled a little as she reluctantly shrugged his shirt off so he could put it back on. He caught her waist and ran his thumb down the right side of her ribs, just a short distance away from the cut there, inspecting her stitches. When he seemed satisfied that they were in decent condition his other hand traced the small tattoo on left side of her ribcage. "What's it say?" he asked her softly.
"Shouganai, it's Japanese," she told him, "It loosely translates to 'it is what it is', essentially if you can't do anything about something, don't waste time being angry or worrying about it." She shrugged and Daryl nodded knowingly before giving her a quick kiss.
"I gotta go, see Rick before they leave" she nodded and they both stood up, finally finishing getting dressed. "You're not coming back to the group today?" It was half a question, half a statement, she didn't need to answer. "Just don't go down in the tombs on your own," He told her, stopping her as she went to buckle the belt that held her knives, he tilted her face towards him with one finger, "Please?" he asked softly, "I can't deal with you acting like you've got a death wish."
She nodded, "Promise." If anyone else had said that to her she would probably have told them where they could stick their damn death wish, but she could see how much it had hurt him to see her shut down and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as he smiled with relief. He picked the weapons up from where he'd discarded them the night before and looked back at her with a smile, leaning forward to press his lips to her forehead before he disappeared out the door.