Through her closed eyes, CJ felt a dim light reflecting against her eyelids. She felt the coolness of the floor beneath her and the softness of what she assumed was a pillow behind her head. It took a lot of effort, but she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision blurred for a second before focusing on Hershel sitting beside her, holding up an IV bag and smiling down at her.
"Welcome back," he said quietly.
"Good to be here," she whispered, doing her best to smile. "What happened? I pass out?"
"You were dehydrated and exhausted," Hershel replied. "Being a hero take a lot out of ya."
"You'd know," CJ shot back, making Hershel smile. "I thought I was done for a moment there. I don't know if I'd be here right now, if you weren't so stupid as to be down here," she chuckled.
"You know what, I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Hershel grinned.
His smile faltered and he looked away from CJ as though he'd just remembered something. CJ furrowed her eyebrows. "Hershel? What is it?"
"Nothing for you to worry about right now," he replied after a small hesitation.
"Hershel. I might die any second," she deadpanned.
"Clara-Jane you are not-"
"If you have something to tell me, now's the time," she cut him off. "Is it about why Rick came down here? Carl, Judith, are they okay?" she asked quickly.
"The kids are fine," Hershel told her reassuringly. He sighed and looked at her. "Rick found out what really happened... with Karen and David."
"Really? Who did it?" CJ tried to sit up and Hershel gently pushed on her shoulder to get her to lie down again.
"Carol," Hershel answered. CJ's face scrunched in confusion and shock. "He wanted me to tell you because... he sent her away."
"Wh-what do you mean, he sent her away?" CJ asked.
"They went on a supply run," Hershel explained. "He gave her a car and some supplies and told her not to come back here. He didn't want her around Carl or Judith." It was clear to CJ that it was hard for Hershel to repeat Rick's words.
"Jesus," she whispered. "I mean, I understand why he did it. I just.... man," she trailed off with a sigh. "What about Mika and Lizzie?"
"He told Carol we'd take care of them," Hershel replied. "I know you do a lot of that already. Those girls love you."
"And what happens when I don't survive this?" CJ shook her head.
"You will," Hershel said firmly. "Daryl and the others will be back any minute. I'm sure of it."
"Daryl..." CJ sighed with a small smile. "I had somethin' to tell him before he left. He wouldn't let me," she chuckled.
"Well, whatever it was, you can tell him when he gets back," Hershel smiled knowingly.
"If I don't make it-"
"You will."
"If I don't make it..." she repeated. "Can you make sure he knows how much I care about him?" she asked, tears brimming her eyes. "Don't let him blame himself. Don't let him shut you all out."
Hershel grabbed her hand with his free one. "If that happens, which it won't, of course I'll tell him," he promised. "But I'm not gonna have to. Him and the others will be home any minute now."
CJ smiled softly and shut her eyes as she nodded. "Yeah," she whispered, grabbing the charm of her necklace.
A couple of hours later, CJ feeling a bit more awake, but no better. She was sat up on the side of the bed in the downstairs cell, her head in her hands as she meant her elbows on her knees. She couldn't bring herself to climb the stairs.
"Hershel!" she heard Lizzie call out. "Hershel!"
CJ shot up and went to the door of her cell. The sound of growling caught her attention and she saw that a woman had died and was now attacking Hershel on the ground. She tried to run to him but went dizzy and had to catch herself on the doorframe as she coughed.
"Everyone, stay in your cells!" Hershel grunted as he tried to keep the walker off of him.
A man came out of one of the cells with his gun raised and a woman came out to pull the walker off of Hershel. A walker came out of the same cell the man had and grabbed his arm, biting down and making him yell out and fire the gun, sending an echo through the cell block that CJ knew would have been heard by everyone in the prison.
Once the walker was off of Hershel and CJ finally got her breathing steady, she rushed over and helped him up off of the floor. The female walker that had attacked him was crawling weakly on the ground and the man with the gun was being eaten by the other dead man. CJ reached for her gun but sighed in frustration when she remembered that she'd left it in her cell upstairs.
As her and Hershel looked around, they heard Lizzie's voice on the second level. They looked up to see her leading a now dead Henry down the platform.
"Come on. Come down here, Henry," she repeated as she walked backwards.
Hershel and CJ made their way up the stairs, CJ being fuelled by the adrenaline of the sudden danger. They heard Lizzie scream and saw that she had fallen on her back, Henry had landed on top of her, growling in her face.
CJ ran ahead of Hershel and pulled Henry away, lifting him up and throwing him over the rail onto the cage net. She immediately leant on the rail and breathed heavily, feeling her whole body ache from her fast movements.
Hershel helped Lizzie up and checked her over. "You okay?"
"I called out," she whimpered. "He didn't scratch Glenn. I thought maybe he listens."
"Lizzie, where is Glenn?"
"In the cell," she told Hershel. He shared a look with CJ.
"Go," she told him with a small cough. He looked at her worriedly. "I'm alright, I promise."
Hershel eventually nodded, knowing he didn't have much choice and ran to find Glenn and Lizzie hugged CJ's waist tightly. "I'm scared," she cried.
"It's okay. You're okay. Come on."
She led Lizzie to a cell where a little boy was standing outside the door, probably trying to see what all the noise was for. She gently pushed him back inside and sent Lizzie in there too, sliding the door shut.
"You stay put in here, alright?" she instructed, he voice wavering. Lizzie quickly nodded her head and CJ went to her cell to find her gun.
The second she crouched down, her knees buckled, and she collapsed on the floor. The adrenaline from before had worn off and she felt exhausted. It felt like the room was spinning. She did her best to hold herself up, leaning on her forearms as she breathed heavily. It was no use; she had no strength left in her.
She could hear gunshots and shouting coming from the cell block outside, but it was muffled. She started coughing again, every muscle in her body tensed and ached as she tried and failed to steady her breathing.
The taste of blood filled her senses once again. As she coughed loudly, her throat burned. She became more and more light-headed every time she tried to breathe in. Blood was practically pouring out of her mouth by now and pooling on the floor beneath her face.
White spots clouded her vision as her body depleted of energy. Her lungs felt heavy in her body and weighed her down. Her coughing stopped, but that didn't stop the blood. Her arms gave out and she rolled onto her back as her eyelids drifted shut.
She could barely hear anything other than her slow heartbeat and wheezing as she desperately tried to breathe. A few loud bangs of gunshots and muffled screams coming from downstairs could be heard until it all faded into silence.
Meanwhile, outside the prison...
Rick and Carl were dealing with the large herd of walkers that had managed to break through the fence. They were going around and putting them all down when they heard the sounds of engines approaching the gate. Seeing the truck pulling up, Carl ran over and unlocked the gate to let Daryl's group inside.
Once they were inside, Daryl and the others quickly climbed out of the truck, hearing the gunfire echoing inside the prison. "The hell's happenin' in there?" Daryl asked quickly.
"It's A-block," Rick replied. "Maggie went in earlier."
"I'll go," Daryl decided before running off inside. Bob and Tyrese followed with the bags of meds.
As the three of them sprinted down to the tombs, the sound of people whimpering and crying in fear echoed through the concrete hallways as they ran.
The main door was locked, but they went around to the viewing window to find it had been shattered. The three of them climbed in and Daryl led the way to the cells. "Hershel!"
"Up here!" they heard Maggie call out.
Tyrese ran to find Sasha, and Daryl and Bob made their way up the stairs and into the first cell, finding Hershel and Maggie putting a breathing tube into an unconscious Glenn.
"We got the meds," Bob said, quickly rushing to fish through the bag and find what he needed.
"Where's CJ?" Daryl asked.
"She was with Lizzie just a few minutes ago," Hershel replied. "A couple cells down."
Daryl didn't hesitate to run along the platform, checking in every cell until he saw a sight that made his heart stop. There she was. CJ was lying on the floor, a pile of blood on the floor beside her head.
"CJ... No, no, no," he rushed to her side and crouched down beside her on the floor.
Right away, he saw the thin trail of blood coming from her mouth. He did the first thing he thought of and rolled her onto her side. Her body jolted as she immediately started choking up thick lumps of blood, and it killed Daryl to think about how long she'd been in this state.
"That's it," he whispered, rubbing her back as she choked. "That's it, you're alright."
Once there was no more blood coming up, Daryl kept her lying on her side as he tried to wake her up. That was until the weak, wheezy breaths that had been escaping her throat came to a stop, and her body went limp.
"No, no, hey," Daryl panicked, rolling her onto her back and cradling her in his arms. "Come on, can you hear me? CJ, please, open your eyes for me. Stay with me. Come on."
He tried to feel for a pulse. Putting his fingers on her neck, he found a slight, albeit weak, heartbeat. He let out a quick sigh of relief, but she still wasn't responding. He felt tears brim his eyes which he blinked away.
"Hershel!" he yelled. "Hershel, get in here!"
Within seconds, Hershel appeared in the doorway of the cell and rushed over to CJ. "You found her like this?" he asked quickly as he was checking her over.
"She was choking on blood," Daryl replied, panicked. "Then she just stopped. What's happenin'?"
Hershel didn't answer the question as he focussed on checking CJ's pulse and breathing. He put his ear to her chest for a moment and quickly sat up. "Get her on the bed quickly."
Daryl's heart was beating out of his chest. He hooked one arm under her legs and the other under her back, picking her up to lay her down on the bed. He brushed her hair away from her face and took a step back to let Hershel work.
"She ain't wakin' up," Daryl said, his voice shaking.
"You brought more breathing tubes, right?" Hershel checked as he took the pillow out from under CJ's head so she was lying flat.
"Yeah," Daryl nodded, not taking his eyes of the woman.
"Get it. And get Bob to bring an IV and the meds," Hershel instructed urgently. "Now."
Daryl ran to get Bob and they came back with what Hershel needed. Daryl had no choice but to stand back and let them work. As he watched them fit a breathing tube into CJ's throat like they had with Glenn, he felt sick. It was awful; he felt completely useless. The person he cared about the most in the world could be dying and all he could do was watch from afar. He saw her stomach rise as she started to breath again, and he felt a tear escape his eye out of pure relief.
He stayed in the doorway and waited. It felt like an eternity before Hershel stood back from her. Bob stayed sat on a stool beside CJ's sleeping form whilst he squeezed the breathing bag every few seconds. Hershel walked over to Daryl, who had his eyes trained on CJ.
"She'll pull through," Hershel said, and Daryl let out a breath. "For now, I'm gonna have Bob help her breathe with the bag, but she should be able to breathe by herself soon enough. She's lucky you came back when you did."
"This wouldn't a' happened if we got back sooner," Daryl mumbled, guilt lacing his tone.
"She said you'd blame yourself if anything happened," Hershel remembered. "I'm under strict instructions to tell you not to do that."
Daryl couldn't help but roll his eyes, though the comment did make him smile on the inside. "How's she been the last couple days?"
"She overdid herself and she's exhausted," Hershel explained. "But she should hopefully wake up in a few of hours or so."
"Overdid herself how?" Daryl asked.
"She's been helping me a lot down here," Hershel replied. "Taking care of the other patients, looking after Lizzie, helping me when people have needed putting down. She hasn't slept well. She passed out just this morning."
"Jesus," Daryl mumbled. "But she'll be alright?"
Hershel smiled and nodded his head. "She'll be alright."
Hershel left the cell and Daryl got Bob to show him how the breathing bag worked so he could take over. He perched himself on the stool beside the bed and Bob left him to it when he knew that Daryl was okay with the bag. Rick came in after about twenty minutes to check on everyone and Daryl explained what had happened. Rick went to tell Carl that CJ was going to be okay and said he'd come back later.
Soon, Hershel returned and checked CJ over before deciding to remove the breathing tube. Much to his predictions and Daryl's hopes, she started breathing on her own just fine. Once she was ported, Hershel left again and Daryl stayed to wait for her to wake up. He gripped her hand in both of his and leant forwards, just watching her. He was sure there were other places he could have been needed, but he didn't care about any of that right now. This was his priority.
He must've been sat there for a few hours before he finally saw her move slightly. Her eyes flickered a few times before they slowly opened. Not all the way, but enough for him to see the blue of her irises shine.
When she turned her head slightly, wincing quietly, Daryl sat up and turned his whole body to face her. "Hey, you're alright," he said gently, gripping her forearm tighter and moving his thumbs in small circles on her skin.
"Daryl?" she whispered, her voice so weak and small, he could barely hear her.
"Yeah, it's me," he responded. "I'm here."
"Hi," she breathed out, her eyes flickering closed.
"Hey," he mumbled, a small smile on his lips. "How you feelin'?"
"Never better," she whispered, faintly smiling back at him. "When did you get back?"
"Couple hours ago," he replied. "We got the meds. Came in and you were passed out on the floor. For a second I thought... thought maybe we were too late."
"Hey," she shakily reached over her body across her stomach and put her hand on top of his, which was still clinging to her arm. "I'm okay. You kept your promise." She shut her eyes again as they stung with tiredness.
"You should go back to sleep," he said, and her eyes opened again. "Hershel and Bob treated you when you were out. Said we were lucky we got back when we did. Hershel said you hadn't been sleeping much."
"He needed help with the others," she replied, her voice breaking. "Is everyone okay? Lizzie? Glenn, he alright?"
"Everyone's okay," he nodded. "Maggie's with Glenn. He's stable."
"Good," she sighed. "When can I go outside?"
"Not yet," he replied. "You gotta sleep more. Give yourself time to get better first."
"I'm alri-" She cut herself off with a cough, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
Daryl quickly got up and grabbed a cup of water from the side and sat back down beside her. He put his hand behind her head, and gently tilted her head up, holding the cup so she could take a few sips. "You were sayin'?"
"Shut up," she chuckled quietly. She lay her head back down on the pillow. "Thanks."
Daryl took her hand in his again and she smiled warmly at him; he looked back at her with the same soft expression. Despite her pale, glistening skin, her damp, matted hair and the dark circles around her hooded eyes, she still looked the way Daryl had always seen her. Perfect.
The sound of footsteps approaching her cell made them both look away from each other and over at the doorway to see Rick standing there with a look of concern, which quickly softened when he saw CJ awake.
"Hey, sheriff," CJ greeted, tilting her head a bit as her voice broke.
Rick came into the cell and smiled back at her. "Good to see you awake. You had us all worried for a minute there. How you feelin'?"
"Better," she sighed, blinking slowly. "How's Carl? And Judith?"
"Both okay," Rick nodded. "Carl's been worried sick about you. He wanted to come down here but..."
"I get it," she smiled. "I'll see him when I get outta here."
Rick looked down and scratched the back of his neck nervously, his free hand resting on his hip. "Hershel said he talked to you."
She knew right away that he was referring to the 'Carol' situation. She pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah. He did," she whispered. "I got it."
"Got what?" Daryl asked, looking between them. "What's goin' on?"
CJ looked at him, opening her mouth to speak but then stopping herself. She looked up at Rick who shook his head at her subtly. He needed to be the one to tell him, which she understood.
"We need to talk. In the morning." Rick eventually said to Daryl. "It's been a long night for all of us."
Daryl was clearly sceptical but nodded anyway. "Alright."
Rick nodded at him and then turned back to CJ. He held his hand out to her and she let go of Daryl for a second, reaching up to take it. "I'm glad you're okay," he smiled.
"Yeah, me too," she breathed out with a small laugh. They held each other's hands for a few seconds and squeezed before letting go.
Rick left the cell and Daryl turned back to look at CJ. His face still had a look of concern as she watched his eyes. "Go back to sleep," he mumbled, noticing how she was struggling to keep her eyes open.
"I will," she whispered. "You don't have to stay here. Go get some rest."
"I don't want you to be on your own down here," he replied quietly.
"Awww, you big softie," she teased, poking his cheek as he lightly swatted her limp hand away, making her giggle. "I'll be fine. Survived a few days, I can survive one more night. You go."
Daryl sighed and held her hand. "You know you scared the shit outta me when I came in and found you like that."
"I know," she whispered, stroking his knuckles with her thumb and looking down at their hands. "But hey, I'm alright. Not gettin' rid of me that easily, Dixon. You're stuck with me."
Daryl rolled his eyes and chuckled at her as he eventually stood up. He let go of her hand and fixed her blanket, pulling it up to cover her, smiling down at her.
"I don't think of it as being stuck with ya'," he shook his head. He leant down and moved a strand of hair out of her face before placing a light kiss on her forehead.
CJ felt her cheeks heat up and a shy smile form on her face. When he moved to leave the cell, he stopped by the door and turned back to face her. The only light source in the cell was the lantern in the corner, but it was enough for her to see that he was blushing too. He pursed his lips into a soft smile before walking away.
Once she heard his footsteps go down the stairs and leave the cell block, her shy smile didn't falter as shut her eyes and relaxed. She quickly fell asleep smiling. Something she wasn't sure she'd ever done before.
Tomorrow, she decided. Tomorrow, she'd tell him how she felt.