"These are ours."
"Both of them?" Katy asked in astonishment as she looked up at the two houses that stood in front of her. Aaron nodded before Katy, Rick and Carl ran inside excitedly to look around their new home. Everything looked so clean and comfortable in there, there was even running water -- it was like before. The other house was almost exactly the same.
"I'm so excited to shower." The woman exclaimed.
Carl and Rick stayed in that house so that they could shower and use the bathroom while Katy went into the other house to clean up. After finding spare clothes and towels, she entered the bathroom. The hot water felt amazing on her skin and washing her hair, along with the dirt it seemed to wash away the bad times and it felt heavenly.
Once her skin was pruny she stepped out of the shower, dried herself and got dressed. It was unreal to look and feel so clean, that hadn't happened since the outbreak. Her hair now not coated in grease began to form natural waves and her face looked fresher than it had in months.
She walked out to the porch of the house with a smile where she saw Daryl taking the organs out of an animal he had shot. A few of the others were there too, cleaner than Katy had ever seen him and Rick no longer had a beard.
"You took ages." Carl exclaimed.
Rick noticed the woman and nodded with exaggeration. "Daryl wouldn't let anyone in the house while you were showering. Abraham went to walk in and hell almost broke loose."
Daryl had never seen his wife looking so beautiful and he couldn't keep his adoring eyes off her. She looked like a new person. She noticed and made her way over to him, crouching down and noticing the animal insides properly.
"This is nice." She said sarcastically.
"Could be dinner." He shrugged as Katy wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "You smell nice."
"So would you if you showered."
➳
The group had decided to all stay in the same house that night -- they didn't quite trust the place yet and they weren't willing to risk anything. Daryl and Katy sat beside Judith's crib, he had his crossbow next to him just in case. He wasn't even willing to shower or change clothes.
"How long was I in there for?" Michonne asked as she came out of the bathroom.
"About twenty minutes."
"I could not stop brushing." She grinned.
"Finally, plaque is dead." Katy laughed with her.
A knock sounded on the door and they all became alert: usually, a noise in the night would mean walkers. Rick opened it to see Deanna standing outside. She was the second person to comment on Rick's new lack of facial hair, who would have known it would be such a big deal.
"I just wanted to stop by and see how you're all settling --" She cut herself off as she looked around at a number of people in the house. "Staying together. Smart."
"No one said we couldn't." Rick answered her back.
"No, you said you were family. That's what you said." The atmosphere felt kind of tense. "It's amazing to me how people from completely different backgrounds and with nothing in common can become that."
"I don't mean to be rude Deanna but we do have things in common, it doesn't matter what we were before." Katy spoke up.
"You're all quite wise."
"Everybody says you gave them jobs."
"I have. I'm just trying to figure Mr Dixon ou."
Katy scoffed slightly. "I've barely even done that."
➳
Daryl hadn't wanted to explore Alexandria with Katy so she had looked around alone. It was a nice little community. He was still on the porch when Katy got back and he was talking to Carol, neither of them noticed Katy approaching.
"Take a shower or I'm gonna hose you down in your sleep!" Carol shouted playfully -- Katy thought that was an odd comment to make.
"Calm down." The brunette was immediately defensive. "If anybody's hosing him down, it will be me."
"She was just messin' around." Daryl assured his wife as he pulled her in between his legs as he sat on the fence of the porch.
"I just think that's weird to say." She admitted. "Hosing you down. I'm pretty sure you'd willingly shower with me."
"Do you mean that?" Daryl asked -- he may have wanted to prove a point but he was also in love with the girl and hadn't been alone with her for some time.
"Is Mr Dixon actually thinking about having a shower?" She placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.
"You serious about the shower?" He asked slowly.
"I'll shower with you."
Without another word and only laughter filling the air, Katy pulled the man into the empty house and up the stairs. She removed his vest and shirt, biting her lip at the sight of his fit body.
"I love you." She whispered kissing his chest and running her hands over his deep scars.
Daryl admired the way she tried to show all of her feelings for him so much and he hoped that one day he could be as open as she was. He kissed her deeply, pulling her t-shirt over her small frame and holding her tightly, their bodies pressing together.
➳
Daryl mumbled sweet words into the crook of Katy's neck as they lay together in the bed of the room they had chosen to stay in. The feeling of being in a private room together, not in the middle of an exposed road felt so good.
"Katy!" The voice of Noah sounded loudly throughout the house. "You in here?"
"What the hell?" Daryl asked with annoyance, his over-protective nature making itself clear.
Katy jumped out of the bed and threw her clothes on quickly, guessing Noah wanted to speak to her about the job she had been appointed.
"I'll see you later." She kissed Daryl quickly before running downstairs and bumping straight into Noah.
"We're going on a practice run."
He informed her as they began to walk together. Their houses were fairly close to the gates of Alexandria where the others were waiting for them. Glenn, Tara, Nicholas and Aiden were standing ready to leave on the run.
"You took ages." Tara complained when the two joined them.
"Katy took ages to come downstairs." Noah said.
Glenn's eyes narrowed at his friend and he smirked. "Was Daryl not there, I heard he wouldn't leave the house."
"He was upstairs."
"You look a bit dishevelled, almost as if you got ready in a rush." Katy shook her head at Glenn's raised eyebrows.
"Fuck you." She mock scowled before the two of them burst into loud laughter.
"Don't worry about it." He told me. "You know how many times Maggie and I have been caught."
➳
"Not ready for runs yet."
Aiden shouted from behind Tara, Noah, Glenn and Katy as they walked back through the gates. The tension was high because due to the Alexandrians lack of survival skills Tara had almost died -- nobody was too happy.
"Pretty sure you got that the wrong way around." Glenn yelled.
Aiden began walking faster to catch up with Glenn, grabbing him by the shoulder. That's when Katy knew that shit was going to go down and she moved closer to them. Alexandrians gathered around to watch as they shouted at each other in the streets.
"You follow my orders out there!" Aiden demanded.
"Then we're just as screwed as your last run crew."
Aiden stepped closer to Glenn breathing heavily in his face before he pushed him harshly. Glenn's jaw clenched as he tried to keep calm but Aiden had threatened his friend, not just himself.
"No ones impressed, man. Walk away."
"What is going on?" Deanna called sternly.
"This guy's got a problem with how we do things."
"No!" Katy fired back. "He almost got Tara killed."
"Why did you let these people in?" Aiden looked at his mother.
"Because we actually know what we're doing out there."
At Glenn's comment, Aiden swung his fist around but Glenn ducked and narrowly missed it before punching Aiden back and making him fall to the ground. Nicholas launched himself at Glenn but missed and pushed Katy to the ground with all of his weight; before anybody could do anything Daryl had jumped forwards and pinned Nicholas to the ground.
Katy got herself up off the ground as Rick tried to get Daryl away from the Alexandrian. He couldn't stand the thought of anybody hurting his girl. Katy knew that the fight needed to end and she quickly made her way to Daryl putting her hands on his shoulders knowing that he wouldn't move if it risked hurting her.
"Calm down." She told him soothingly. "Daryl."
Daryl let the girl pull his body back so that he was standing up straight. She put her hands on his cheeks and sent him a nod, everything was okay.
"I want everyone to hear me." Deanna called out. "Rick and his group are part of this community now. As equals."
"Understood." Aiden said clearly upset.
Deanna looked up at Daryl. "Thank you, for knocking him on his ass."
• Edited •