Carl let's me go as Daryl crouches in front of Rick who is unresponsive. "Rick, you with me? Rick?" He doesn't get so much as a blink in response.
Sophia walks back over to me and wraps her arms around my waist, holding me as she continues to sniffle and Maggie hands Carl the baby.
"Let me see the baby." Hershel says calling Carl over. "We got anything a baby can eat?" Daryl asks walking away from Rick. "The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon, or she won't survive."
"No." Daryl says immediately. "No way. Not her. We ain't losing nobody else. I'm going for a run." He looks at me, at Sophia clinging to me and then to Carl before shaking his head at me, telling me I should stay here. I nod already thinking I'd be best staying behind.
"I'll back you up." Maggie says straight away prompting Glenn to follow in suit. "Okay, think where we're going." Daryl says before pulling Beth to the side.
They're about to leave when Rick suddenly stands grabbing the axe and running up the stairs. "Rick." Maggie calls trying to stop him, it falls on deaf ears and he's gone before anyone can say or do anything. Carl meets my eye, he looks worried. "He'll be okay kid." I assure him making him nod even though he doesn't look convinced.
The two prisoners go to keep a pile up from happening at that fence, Glenn returns saying only Daryl and Maggie could go for the run cause they couldn't take a car that route.
"Alright come on kids, we should head back inside." I tell the two who were by me. Hershel nods in agreement and so the rest of us venture on back to the cell block. "Carl take care of your sister okay?" I say as I take lead and take my knife out, just in case.
We get back to the cell block fine, everyone kinda just sits in silence as we take in the events from the day. "Do you think my mom could be out there?" Sophia asks coming to sit beside me. "I never saw your mom go down, if she's out there we'll find her." I assure the young girl who nods and rests her head on my shoulder.
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It's been quite a while and we're still waiting for Maggie and Daryl to get back with the formula, I'm starting to get worried. I try and keep my mind off it and start getting everyone something to eat when the baby starts crying. My whole body goes still as I stare down at the food, that night popping into my mind.
Hershel notices my reaction and comes over as he tells Beth to take over. "Come on Selene, come sit down." I do what he says as I try and steady my heart that has become erratic. "Selene?" I snap out of my mind and turn to Carl, he asks if I want to hold the baby, I think his arms were getting tired and so he passes her over to me.
I sit and try to soothe the baby as best I can but it's no use because she's hungry. "It's gonna be okay sweetheart, food is on the way." I tell her softly hoping that I was right and that they'd walk through the door at any second. I feel overwhelmed, this was my first time holding a baby after the loss of mine and her cries were echoing, with my Layla's, in my mind right now.
I continue whispering words of comfort to the baby as we wait and thankfully Maggie and Daryl make it back. He comes over to us straight away, crouches down ready to take her from my hands, I pass her over gently noticing the concerned look he was giving me. I ignore it and turn away from him as he stands and takes over comforting her as the others make her milk. I can't take the crying and seeing as I'm not needed anymore I get up and leave.
It doesn't take me long till I've calmed myself down and so I do return to the others, to see Carl listing out all the names of people they'd lost as potential baby names. He shrugs after saying his moms name, seeming frustrated so I reach out and put my hand on his shoulder, I squeeze it lightly trying to provide him with a bit of comfort before turning to Daryl.
He was feeding the baby, he's so gentle with her I can't help but just watch him in awe."You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker." He smiles down at the baby before looking up at the rest of us. "Right? That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker." Everyone laughs at that, I thought it was fitting. "You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"
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Sophia tells me that she doesn't wanna sleep alone, in the cell she'd shared with her mom, so I offer to let her bunk with me. "Hey Carl you wanna bunk with us?" I offer thinking he might feel the same way Sophia did. He nods seeming glad and so I tell the kids to get ready for bed.
"When do you think my dad will come back?" Carl asks me as we walk to my cell, "I'm sure when you wake up he'll be here." Carl takes the top bunk and Sophia and I take the bottom. It's a bit of a squeeze but she's so scared to be alone that we make it work. "This reminds me of when we were lost in the woods." She whispers making me laugh, "that was something."
"You helped me not feel so scared, I knew you'd protect me." I nod, "I'll always protect you, both of you guys." I say knowing that Carl was listening. "We'll protect you too."
Once the kids fall asleep I slip out feeling claustrophobic and unable to sleep. "Jesus!" I clutch my chest after being scared out of my skin by Daryl who had his crossbow pointed at me. "What the hell you doin out of bed?" He asks lowering it. "What are you?"
"I thought I heard something." He shrugs, "yeah me, I can't sleep." I say before sitting down on the ground, "you feeling okay?" I nod and he sits beside me. "I'm fine, I guess now that I'm not sick anymore it'll be back to sleepless nights."
"I don't sleep much either." He tells me making me nod, "maybe we can keep each other company." He doesn't say anything, instead he turns to look at me, something he'd been doing a lot of recently."I was a drifter." He tells me making my brows furrow, it was a bit of random timing. "Didn't do nothing, just followed my brother, Merle around." I nod not really knowing what to say to that. He seems uncomfortable, "what was your brother like?" I ask him hoping he feels better talking about it.
"Merle was Merle, he wasn't the best brother I know that but he was there and he was my brother." I really don't have good people skills because I'm not sure how I'm supposed to reply to any of this. "I'm sorry that you lost him." I settle with that, squeezing his arm as he continues to stare at me.
"You should try to get some sleep." He finally says making me turn to him, "yeah Sophia is taking up all the space on the bunk, there's no way I can get back in." I tell him with a slight laugh noticing how his lips quirk. "Take my bed," he shrugs but I shake my head. "I couldn't do that, I probably won't sleep anyways so it'd be a waste."
"Do you never get cold?" He turns to me quizzically, "you're always sleeveless, what do you have against sleeves?" He lets out a chuckle and shakes his head at me, "you're weird." He mumbles making my mouth drop, "I'm not weird, you're weird." I reply defensively.
"I don't have anything against sleeves." He answers, "so you rip your sleeves off just as a fashion choice? You just wanna show your arms off to everyone?" He shrugs, "don't really got a reason but it's nice to know you're looking." My mouth closes as I feel my face burn. "I- I'm an observant person, I notice things about everyone."
"Yeah?" He asks leaning forwards slightly, it's only then I notice how close the two of us truly are, his nose is only inches from mine. "You're the one who's always looking at me." I counter making him scoff, "I could say the same for you." He mumbles as my mouth goes dry and I blink at him.
"Cat got your tongue?" He taunts, his eyes flickering away from mine for a moment, he glances down at my lips, then meets my eyes again as I continue staring at him. I didn't realise that I'd been leaning in until I feel my nose brush against his and he takes a breath.
I stop myself as he watches me with curious eyes, wondering what I'm going to do next. I'm not even sure myself but I know that I don't want this moment to end yet.
I glance up at him through my lashes and the second my eyes meet his I don't think before I lean forwards and press my lips to his. It's a soft kiss, one that I regret immediately. I pull away from him and look down at the ground.
His fingers gently find my chin and tilt it up so that he could see my face. His eyes are soft as they drink in every inch of my face, he looks nervous himself, like he's not been in many situations like this before, or maybe he's just a bit awkward.
His fingers glide up my jaw and rest on my cheek, his thumb rubbing it gently as he looks down at me in what looks to be amazement. I lean into his touch, I've never felt so comfortable before, it's like his hand was meant for me, like I was supposed to fit into it perfectly.
He's hesitant as I look up at him but this time he's the one who leans down and captures my lips in a kiss. He's gentle, so much more gentle than I thought he'd be and his lips are surprisingly soft. Soft enough that I could kiss him for hours without complaints.
I let him take the lead, his hands on either side of my face as he deepens the kiss, his thumb still brushing over my cheekbone as he does so. Once he finally pulls away, he keeps a hold of my face as he looks me over. His mouth opens but before he can speak we hear a shuffling and we spring apart.
I push myself off the ground as Sophia comes into view, "Selene where did you go? We got scared." She says as Carl peaks out from behind her. "I wasn't scared." He tells me making me chuckle, "I'm right here. I was just speaking to Daryl about something, go back to bed guys, I'll be right there." They nod and disappear back into my cell as I turn to see Daryl now stood behind me.
"You should go." He says, I want to say something to him but I don't know what to say so I settle for stepping forwards and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. "Goodnight." I whisper as he looks down at me that look in his eye again.
"Goodnight."