The next morning your sound asleep with Daryl beside you on his back. "-(Y/n)?" you hear someone whisper through the darkness making your eyes open, briefly glance over at your still very unconscious boyfriend who hadn't moved. You wonder if you dreamed it before you hear it again, "..(Y/n)!" You hear one your brothers whisper yell to you from just outside your tent. You sit up confused, blinking the sleep from your eyes as you slowly roll out of the make shift bed. "Hey, (Y/n)! Wake up!" You hear Rick whisper yell to you again as you sling a shirt and shorts on. You unzip the tent and find yourself face to face with your twin brother. "..Is it late or early?" You ask him sleepily as you step out into the cool still kinda dark air unable to see the sky fully because of the trees you were under. "Early." Rick says as you look over to him. He obviously hadn't slept a wink and he looked very upset.
"What's wrong?" You ask with worry seeing something was weighing on him, your mind instantly awake now. "Can we talk?" He asks his eyes glancing behind you seeing Daryl still asleep within the tent. You nod, "Yeah, what's going on?" You ask as you drag up the two chairs you'd set up outside the mouth of the tent to watch over camp. He sits, shaking his head, "All of it, I guess." He says as he runs a hand down his face looking over camp. You scoff slightly, "I need more to go on than that brother." You say half playfully. He nods thinking, "I don't think I'm cut out for this world." He says seriously, a little shocked he'd finally said it out loud.
You brows furrow at his tone, his icy eyes heavy with doubt as he scans the camp, his gaze landing on his tent where Lori and Carl still slept. You follow his gaze, "What makes you say that?" You ask knowing something was terribly off about him, especially with the glint of anger that flashes across his eyes. He shakes his head, "Just everything that's happened, everything I've learned since I woke up in this nightmare.. I'm just not as strong as you are." He says as he looks down and rubs his tired eyes. "You're the strongest person I know Rick.." You say seriously. You didn't like his current mind set at all. He was one of the best men you knew and you couldn't imagine him thinking so lowly of himself. You practically idolized your big brother and had always wanted to be as brave and as strong as he never failed to be.
He shakes his head at you, not believing you. "Tell me what brought all this on. If there something you wanna get off your chest then spit it out." You'd tell him making his eyes look over at you. Something was eating him alive and you hated seeing it. "Lori's pregnant and.." He tails off as he looks down briefly at his boots. You close your eyes in realization as letting your head drop briefly. 'Fuck. Now we have to stay, no questions about it. Oh god it really could be Shane's. Shit, dose he know about her and Shane?' A million thoughts fly through your mind, as you look up at him obviously struggling with his next words. "And?" You ask, encouraging the cherry on top. His voice is low, completely different as he speaks again, "Her and Shane." Is all he can say as he glares back at the tent with a now obvious anger. You exhale a sigh heavy through your nose at that, slightly relieved he knew, but upset for him all the same. He looks over at you, expecting you to go drag Shane out of his tent and beat him half bloody, but your unusually calm as you nod at his words and look down to your feet.
"You knew." He says lowly, kinda baffled that you'd keep something like this from him, as he leans back in his chair staring at you shocked. You nod once, ever so slightly as you slowly look over at him. He runs a hand down his face in disbelief, "Why didn't you-" he starts but you cut him off, "Because they stopped fucking the day you came back. They know it was wrong, but they thought you were dead.. Hell, we all did." You say as you look down at your boots. "Besides.. How the fuck was I supposed to tell you that your wife was sleeping with our brother? It wasn't exactly my place." You tell him seriously as you look over at him, making him actually crack a brief grin at the ridiculous question he never thought he'd ever hear. Even despite the pang of heart ache your words make him gruesomely aware of how everyone likely knew. He chuckles a little, "Hell, I don't know." He says brokenly, as his sad grin fades from his lips just as quickly as it came. You sigh at him as you reach over and grab his hand.
He squeezes your hand obviously fighting his tears, knowing that his marriage had been a fiery disaster before the fall, but learning this? He fears it might of been the final nail in the coffin that kills his marriage. He loved Lori, she was the mother of his son, but he didn't know if he could keep loving the woman she'd grown into or had been the whole time. "It will be alright Rick. You'll make it through this." You say softly making him nod as he blinks away his tears. "..What if the baby ain't mine?" He softly asks after a few seconds of thinking. You hum knowing there was a solid chance that it was Shane's but you honestly didn't know if Rick and Lori had been intimate since they found each other again.
"Well, have y'all recently.. you know?" You ask over at him, not fixing to ask your bother out right if he'd been fucking his wife. He rolls his eyes, "A few times. The first night I found you all, back at the Atlanta camp, and then twice at the CDC." He says already seemingly coming to terms that it could be his brothers child and not his. You sigh seeing that he wanted to be stoic and not show that it was eating him alive that it could very well be Shane's baby. "It's yours Rick." You tell him flatly as you look out over the camp. "If it's not?" He asks again, worriedly glancing over at you. "There is no way too tell for certain right now, or even in the next few years after it's born. Even if it's not, so what." You state looking ahead, his silence told you he still didn't believe you. You sigh, "Shane's a damned good uncle, but Lori practically blames him for everything they've done together. She'd drive him insane by holding that baby over his head every chance she got. That baby doesn't deserve to grow up with parents who completely hate each other." You say honestly as you look back at him.
"Carl turned out half way decent." He says sarcastically making you snicker and roll your eyes at him. "You don't hate Lori. I hate to admit it, but as bitchy and insufferable as she is towards you, she dose love you Rick." You admit to him. He nods, "I know.." He says almost with a questioning tone, before letting a tired sigh leave his lungs. "Maybe you don't need to know any more than that." You say and he hums at you agreeing. "Or I could run back to the house, get some divorce papers, grab the prenup you probably didn't make her sign, and maybe even find a paternity test while I'm out and about." You say playfully earning you a genuine laugh from your brother. "That's a good one." He states with a smug grin on his lips as he looks over at you with a playful glare. "Hey, anything is possible." Your say with a smug grin of your own.
~~
It was now late in the morning but the smell of cooking eggs hung in the air at Carol and T made everyone breakfast. Everyone stood or sat around the camp fire watching their second helping of eggs getting cooks while quietly eating their plates. You stand beside Daryl, gently applying an ointment to the stitched gash on his temple. He sits quietly in his lawn chair watching as Andrea nervously sharpens her knife, trying desperately not to accidentally breathe in your general direction. Carol comes over and briefly meets your gaze, making you freeze your movements. Your challenging yet stern gaze makes her immediately look down, choosing to concentrat on carefully giving Daryl his second helping of eggs on his plate. Daryl fights a smirk as you watch her walk away and crouch back down in front of the fire to out the pan back on the rack over the smoldering wood.
He gets another bite of eggs on his fork and holds them up to your face, knowing you were still territorially staring the woman down. You hum and take another bite even though you'd already gave him what was left of your plate when you finished ten minutes ago. You finish making sure his cut was properly medicated before you stand, "There." Your say softly as you kiss his cheek, right above his lips exactly where Carol had two days ago. He slyly smirks as he looks to Carol who was accidentally staring again as you'd stepped behind him to fixed his wild dark hair, he grabs one of your your wrists, pulling it around his head to kiss your palm gently before looking up at you with adoring blue eyes. "Thanks Darlin'." He says softly making you smile and caress the mole on his cheek while he hood your wrist still. You then nod down at his half empty plate, "Eat." You say as he releases you so you can continue fixing the back of his thick hair. Your fingers wander down his neck to give him a shoulder massage as he was tense, either from the fall he suffered or last night you didn't know. Ether way he seemed fine with it, actually relaxing into your touch as you worked the tension from his sore muscles. Your eyes glance to the side to see Lori being extra sweet to Rick, who was obviously still struggling with everything he'd learned recently about his wife.
You watch as Glenn stands and awkwardly walks around to be in front of Ricks tent, his hands in his pockets and his whole body displaying just how nervous he was. He's adjacent to Rick and behind Andrea when he takes a deep breathe to steady his nerves. "Um, Guys.." He says nervously as he scratches his chin, and just like that you knew this peaceful morning was about to take a turn for the worst by his tone. Everyone looks at him while eating, obviously listening to him, and you realize your the only one with an awful gut feeling. "So.. The barn is full of walkers." He says with a voice that almost didn't wanna believe what he was saying. Your fingers stop moving on Daryl's shoulder muscles and you can feel the tension that you just worked out return with a vengeance. Everyone freezes, as Andreas blade stops moving mid swipe. She sits up ridgedly, slowly turning around to face Glenn, hoping he was joking.
Shane steps forward, almost unsure he heard Glenn correctly as Rick slowly glances over to the side. Your eyes never leave Glenn, silently asking if he was sure, not wanting to believe him. His scared brown eyes slowly look over to you and he watches your questioning face turn to a cold almost unreadable one as the blanket of safety that the farm held was ripped away from you, and everyone you care about. Your gaze slides past his head to the barn and without a second thought, you start around Daryl staring directly at the barn. Glenn looks down as you get about a step from him, everyone was so stunned by his words that it hadn't registered to anyone that you'd moved. "I know- I should of told you sooner but- uh.. (Y/n)?" He nervously rambles, fulling expecting you to yell at him by the look on your face. It's when you brush past him and take off in a full sprint towards the barn dose he realize you weren't looking at him at all after he'd said that, but the barn instead. "No- (Y/n)! Wait!" Glenn yells as he takes off after you. Daryl stands so fast that he flips his chair as soon as you broke out onto a sprint. Daryl's chair flying back into the dirt knocks everyone back to reality from Glenn's bombshell as they all take off to chase after you.
You rush through the over grown grass so fast it seems blurry beneath your feet as you race to the barn. You find some slight relief when you see the boards and chain holding the large doors closed, and several pad locks, but you don't slow. You can hear Glenn racing after you, and despite him being taller than you, he can't catch up to you. Not until your boots slide to a stop in front of the barn a mere five feet from the door. You could hear your whole groups foot steps thumping in the grass behind you as they chased after you. Yet your heart sinks when your ears make out the raspy groans and gurgling moans of the at least dozen walkers stumbling behind the old wooden doors. You can't tear your eyes away from the sun kissed wood as it was the only thing that was between them and your family, not until Daryl gently grabs your shoulder. Your hand grabs his wrist for reassurance as you look up and over at him with a worried look as he stares at the doors obviously making out the horrible sound of the walkers behind them as well.
You step forward and Daryl reluctantly lets you, keeping his hand on you until he can't any more, but you had to make sure how many there were. Shane had the same idea as he stalks up behind you, just in case the doors were as brittle as they appeared. Your cold (e/c) eyes look into the dark space between two planes of wood to see a normal looking barn littered with chicken carcasses. There were in fact at least a dozen of walkers stumbling around mindlessly in the dim, dusty barn, slightly exited from sound of the herd of people who came running up. You watch as one stumbles up to the door and falls face first into it, making the doors jerk harshly. Shane jumps back from the doors sudden movement, reaching for his gun that wasn't there when the group all visibly flinched. You stand there unmoving and unfazed by the Walker trying to bite your face off through the small crack you had peeked through. The gashing yellow rotted teeth and growling black hole of the walkers throat reminded you how nowhere was far enough from these deathly things, how nowhere was truly safe for your family.
Shane turns away from you and the now moving door with an aggravated growl as he walks up to Rick. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this." He snaps at Rick a little hatefully, but in this moment your sure your tone would be no better as it sets in that you all could of died a hundred times over already. "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick says back trying to defuse his pissed off brother, but your twins answer only pisses you off in turn. Your head snaps to the side in disbelief as your cold eyes meet Ricks with a sarcastically disapproving chuckle and unbelieving look towards him as you step back to the group. "This is our lives man!" Shane yells completely feeding into the silent panic of the group, while Rick gives you a desperate glance for backup. "Lower your voice." You snap coldly, firmly, turning your angered glare from Rick to Shane. "We can't just sweep this under the rug!" Andrea adds in panicked seriousness. You cut your eyes at her briefly, making her swallow any other words she was spew out before looking back over at Shane. "It ain't right, not remotely." Shane says sternly, starting to pace as he thinks on what the hell to do.
Your eyes meet Ricks and you know he felt like how Shane looked, but that he was keeping it together to prevent chaos. "Okay, we've either got to go in there. We've got to make thinks right, or we've just got to go." Shane says as he stops pacing beside Rick who doesn't look at him, only at the doors thinking. Shane puts his hat back on with stress as he continues, "Now we've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time-" Shane starts but Rick cuts him off. His gaze snapping to Shane's, challenging his brother, "No, we can't go." Rick snaps sternly, his tone telling you shit was fixing to get heated. Your smirk has to be contained as the ghost of his temper you thought he'd long buried beginning to peek through, the very same temper you both shared. "Why, Rick? Why?" Shane pushes, unable to comprehend a solid reason for everyone to stay when Hershel has a whole barn of walkers for absolutely no good reason. Rick looks him up and then back down, his patients abandoning him as his anger was obviously taking over, yet he keeps his feet planted, knowing if he moved, he'd knock Shane square in the jaw. "Because my daughter is still out there." Carol speaks up from beside you making your head lower some as you look over in the general direction where her voice came.
"Okay." Shane says a little over hearing that excuse as he runs both of his hands down his face to take a breathe so he doesn't yell at her. "Okay," he says as he presses his palms together and keeps his voice as calm as he can, "I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility." He says gently towards Carol making her looks away from him, hurt. You look down at your brothers words, knowing he was right but apart of you was clinging to the slim chance she was alive still, just waiting to be saved. Rick glances at Carol, then you, "We're not leaving Sophia behind." Rick states, stepping between Carol and you, fixing to speak some reason to his brother until Daryl butts in also seeing your conflicting feelings. "I'm so close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!" Daryl states sternly as he steps past you to stand beside Rick, he couldn't stand the look of hurt that crossed your face as you stare back at the doors that still moving slightly with the single Walker wanting to tear into every one of you.
Shane shakes his head, "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll!" Shane states as he stares at Daryl, obviously not convinced that she was anywhere close to us or even alive at all. Daryl's eyes were dangerous as he glares back at Shane and steps towards him, "Man you don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" He yells back as he swings his arm to physically dismiss Shane's logic, to dismiss the fact that she probably was dead. Rick puts his hand in front of Daryl mumbling a low "Alright, alright.", knowing if he let Daryl get closer to Shane they'd start fighting. Your eyes snap angrily over to Shane's when he speaks next, "I'm just saying what need to be said. You get a good lead, it's the in the first 48 hours!" Shane yells as he turns around to yell at the whole group staring at him baffled by his harsh words that had been secretly lingering in the back back of everyone's minds. Rick steps towards him in a last ditch effort to calm and defuse him before he exploded, "Shane, stop." He says say he reached for his brothers shoulder to stop his pacing, but Shane brushes his hand away as he looks back at Daryl who was directly in front of you.
Shane gives you a glance, outright challenging the cold, 'Fucking. Don't.' look on your face. "Let me tell you something else man." He says as his eyes slide to cut back at Daryl. "If she was alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife, and geek ears around your neck? She would run in the other direction!" He roars as he points towards the woods while stepping towards Daryl threatening him. Daryl steps towards him at the exact same time, fulling intending on knocking him the fuck on his ass. Rick immediately gets between them as they all incoherently shout at each other, pushing the both of them back harshly. It takes Glenn, Andrea, and Rick to keep Shane from shoving past them and swinging at Daryl as everyone yells at each other.
Daryl steps back and accidentally slams into you from Ricks harsh shove, letting you grab him as you quickly step in front of him. He doesn't look down at you as he's too busy yelling back at Shane, telling him exactly how fucking dumb and spineless he sounded all the while threateningly pointing at him. You hear Shane shove a few people aside to get to Daryl making him tense ready to pull you behind him if he had too. His hands gently grabbed your shoulders when you hands grabbed his arms to keep him in place, yet he still doesn't move you not wanting to accidentally hurt you with the rage that corses through his veins. "Back off!" Rick yells as he physically pushes Shane back. Daryl doesn't dare move, his instinct to protect you keeping him still he stares Shane down while he walks off some. "Keep your hands off me." Shane spits icily at Lori who's gotten between Shane and Rick completely aware that he was ready to have it out with Rick and Daryl both.
"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick reasons as he holds his hand out to Shane who goes to walk off, "Let me figure it out." He finishes as your eyes look over to Shane who spins around. "Man, what are you gonna figure out!?" Shane roars stepping back towards Rick, ready to hit him for not wanting to immediately take care of this major problem. You pull away from Daryl as you step in front of Rick with one big step. Your hands collide with Shane's chest so hard he physically has to take two big steps back so he doesn't fall back of his ass. He looks down at you, his anger still burning in his eyes, but you take one more step glaring up at him with a certain coldness in your gaze, almost daring him to say something else or to do something. It told him he was about to fuck around and find out, that he was way out of line, and that you would put him on the ground if he got physical with one more person in your presents. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land!" Rick spits back making Shane scoff unbelievablely as he looks over you to his brother in disbelief. You can't help the 'are you fucking kidding me?' look that crosses your face as you look from Shane back to Rick.
It was no secret that you didn't think those kind of rules applied anymore, and the fact that Rick was willing to imply that if Hershel refuses clearing the barn, everyone would just have to accept your new flesh eating neighbors. Rick looks from Shane down to you, and he can see the look on your face. He knew apart of you sided with Shane, but he also knew that you'd back him as you'd stayed quiet this whole time. "Hershel sees those things in there as people-" Dale speaks up as he steps up closer to Rick making everyone look to Dale. "-Sick people." He adds, nodding at Ricks slightly confused look, "His wife, his stepson." Dale tells him making you look to Dale and then down. Now you knew why him and Glenn had been acting so strangely yesterday. "You knew?" Rick asks in bewilderment on why he'd keep something like this from all of us. "Yesterday, I talked to Hershel." Dale confirms making you scoff and shake your head while looking back up at him, a little disappointed.
Shane took your disbelief as his chance to speak again, clearly thinking the same thing you were. "And you waited the night?" He asks stepping to the side of you to get just a bit closer. "I thought we could survive one more night." Dale says, glaring at Shane. "We did." He says sternly immediately shutting Shane down, before looking back to Rick. "I was waiting till morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one." Dale finishes as you look from Glenn to Rick. Shane starts pacing behind you again as Rick looks past you to Shane, "The man is crazy, Rick." Shane says seriously as he steps past you. You grab Shane's waist as he points at Rick, "If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!" He roars as you shove him back from your elder brother, immediately between them, facing Shane with your fists balled. Everyone jumps as the doors slammed harshly with the rest of the walkers now pushing on the door. Shane's eyes go from ready to break with you to worried as he looks past you to the doors as the walkers scratch at them, drawn by the yelling as everyone argues. Everyone backs up aside from you, Daryl, Rick, and Shane. You step closer to Rick and watch the doors shaking. You shake your head, "All I know. Those rickety ass doors won't hold them forever." You say as you look over at Rick who only tears his eyes away to look down at you, "Only a matter of time." You state as you walk off towards camp while assuring the group back to camp and away from the barn so not to temp the walkers that wanted so badly to kill us all.
"What would you do?" Rick asks you as you watch the group walk back to camp. "Why I'd advise you to go 'talk' to Hershel, if that's what your gonna do." You say with a certain sarcasm knowing that he'd be less that thrilled to kill his wife and stepsons reanimated corpse. Shane has to fight his smirk now knowing you had sided with him in a sense while Rick shakes his head at you. You tilt your head a little surprised he'd think you were alright with leaving it alone, "I'd hurry, before I go up too and start popping off rounds at the fish in the barrel." You say deadly serious as you walk calmly up beside your twin brother. You weren't Shane, you wouldn't make a whole scene and take people in there. You handle it quickly, effectively, and alone because you'd be damned if you were going to let a dozen walkers hang out so close to your groups camp. Rick then knew you would be willing to follow him, but if Hershel didn't agree, there wouldn't be much he could do to keep you from clearing the barn despite what he says. "Go. I'll keep watch. Make sure those doors don't give." You say as you start to walk past him, inspecting the doors one last time as Rick shakes his head and walks off.
Shane and Daryl stay back making you truly were just scoping out the barn for weak spots or potential holes they could sneak through if they got desperate enough for flesh. By the time you walked back around the front they were both still standing against the old tractor that hadn't run in years by the looks of the flat, cracked rubber tiers. You sigh, looks at your boots as you walk back up to them and Daryl pushes off the tractor to meet you half way. "See anythin'?" He asks softly, to which you just shake your head. "Seems secure enough for now." You say as you shake your head at the fact your twin didn't feel like it should be cleared now, rather than later. "Hey, don't stress yourself out. Let your brother try talk the old man into it." He says as he lifts your chin to make you look him in the eye. He knew you were letting it eat at you, the thought of those things walking up into camp while everyone slept fogging his own mind. Though he knew you thought ahead and would run through the worst possible scenarios in order to be prepared for anything. It was a good quality to have, but he hated how it would weigh on you, and he hated he couldn't take the weight from your shoulders.
You nod slightly at him, knowing he didn't like you stressing, but you couldn't help it. The danger of over a dozen walkers less than a stone throw away from camp was enough to make your body physically anticipate the worst. "I'm gonna go back up to the house alright. You comin'?" He asks gently down at you as he caresses your face, making you shake your head some, hearing the doors still moving against the chain that held them closed. "Ima stay here for a bit. Make sure those bastards stay where they are." You tell him and he sighing a bit, understanding, knowing you would likely sleep down there if Rick can't get this sorted until morning. He leans down and kisses your lips, "Don't worry yourself crazy, baby." He he mumbles against your lips making you smile lightly against his as he kisses you once more. "I'll do my best." You say as he nods as he turns and starts walking towards the tractor with you beside him. You don't miss how Shane stares him down with a overprotective big brother glare or the smug grin Daryl returns to him as he walks past him.
You can't help but smirk at your boyfriend who obviously loved how it irked Shane on how he could care less if it bothered him. Leaning against the tractor beside Shane, he looks over at you with an aggravated 'really' look, only making your smirk turn into a smug grin. "Out of everyone, why that asshole?" He asks seriously as he looks down at your shut eating grin. "Least he ain't married." You jab making him scoff at that with a shit eating grin forming on his lips. "Damn. Alright then. Tell me he at least treats you good." He asks making you scoff now. "Wouldn't be with him if he didn't." You say back making him nod in relief. "Good. I'd hate to have to kill him. He's a damned good hunter and tracker." He says making a proud smile grace your lips. "Ain't the only thing he's good at. Trust me." You say humorously, earning you a shove to the shoulder as he groans in disgust. "I didn't need to know all that now." He says with a sly grin making you just giggle and shake your head. "Pay back for having to know about you and Lori for a month." You counter making him laugh briefly.
"Thought we were more careful than that. Did you really know the whole time?" He questions earning him a slow nod from you. "Y'all weren't as smart as y'all thought ya were. Don't think anyone else knew though." You tell him. He nods with a sigh of relief as you both watch the wooden doors that had finally stopped swaying. You both stood there, leaned against the old tractor for about fifteen minutes in comfortable silence before he speaks obviously have been thinking. "Do you really think Hershel is gonna let us clear it?" He asks, the question obviously loaded making your eyes looks down thinking briefly. "No, I don't." You tell him after less than three seconds. "He doesn't seem like the type of man to let us. Hell he doesn't even want us carrying on his land. As if that makes any fucking sense." You grumble in annoyance at the ass backwards logic he was clinging too. Shane nods agreeing, "Ain't that the fucking truth." He says before you turn your head at the sound of familiar foot steps coming through the grass towards you. You see Rick coming down the hill towards you both, a stressed look on his face and Shane doesn't turn his head to look, already knowing who it was.
You pat Shane's shoulder, "M' gonna go get some water, and my gun. I ain't getting caught without it. Especially with this shit show Hershel has going on." You say as you nod at the barn. Shane nods once watching you push off the tractor before looking back towards the barn. Your eyes meet Ricks as he walks towards you now and you can already tell form his expression the talk with Hershel didn't go the way he needed it too. "I take it he wasn't too fond of clearing it huh?" You ask and he only shakes his head. "He's reconsidering it." He says in short earning him a sarcastic scoff as you shake your head and look down from his eyes. "Hey, hey." He says seriously as he leans down to make you look him in the eye, "No matter how this goes, I need your support." He tells you softly, almost pleading with you. You sigh heavily and shake your head, "You know I'm with you Rick, but this? Lori, Carl, your unborn child, and Daryl sleep just up there." You say as you point to camp less than thirty feet from you both. "These walkers are secure for now, but I won't let them live less than fifty feet from them. I will kill them if I have too." You tell him seriously.
He pinches the bridge if his nose stressfully as he speaks again, "He'll kick you off this farm if you do this without his blessing." He says from beneath his hand, his tone almost exhausted at the thought. "If it means my family will be safe here, I'm fine with that." You state making his hand run down his face as his eyes glance up at you with a determining glare setting in. "I won't let that happen to you, Sis. I won't lose you, not again." He says sternly before he grabs your shoulder gently, "Just let me handle this. Trust me to handle this the right way." He says softly with more of an asking tone. You nod, "I trust you brother, but you know he isn't gonna let us clear it. Deep down you know it as well as I do, and so dose Shane." You tell him honestly. He shakes his head at this before locking eyes with you, "Just promise me you won't do anything drastic while I'm negotiating with Hershel." He asks you in a tone that wasn't really asking. You nod at him and he pats your shoulder, "Thank you. Go up to the house will ya, I'm gonna need you for the search today. Daryl was looking for you and I need to have a word with our brother." He says sternly, again not really asking you. "Fine. Don't beat the hell out of each other." You tell him as you pat his arm as you start walking back up to the house.
You immediately head for your tent to get your gun. It didn't matter if Hershel didn't like it, it was your gun and you wouldn't be walking around with over a dozen walkers within a hundred feet of you at all times. You yank back your tents door flap to find Daryl inside already. He was sitting on the edge of the make shift bed, putting some bolts in his cross bow to refill them. His attention immediately shifting from his arrows to you, his eyes softening drastically. "Hey, Rick said you were looking for me? You alright?" You ask him as you grab your gun holster as you walk up beside him and put your leg up on the bed next to him. "Mhm." He hums as he watches you tighten the straps to your belt and then around thigh, loving the way it jiggles as you yank it tighter to be secure. "I have to do something though. N you might not like it.." he says suddenly as you put your leg down watching the confused look cross your face. He sits his cross bow down on the bed beside him and grabs your hips, pulling you to be in front of him. Your hands make their way to his head, one tangling in his hair and the other cupping his face, "What is it?" You ask him curiously as you graze his cheek with your thumb lovingly.
His eyes close instinctively as he leans into your touch, yet a frustrated sigh leaves his lungs. "Might of called Carol a dumb bitch this mornin'." He says regretfully as he looks up at you with the regret swirling in his eyes eating at him. You raise a brow, urging him to continue, expecting a reason why even though you didn't exactly disagree with that statement. "She stopped me from going to look for Sophia. She's giving up on her own daughter, and it really pissed me off. I think I need to apologize to her." He says lowly, searching your eyes for permission to do so. You hum thinking, "Alright, but you should probably let her know that your not interested in her." You tell him as you pull his head back by his hair making him grin as you lean down and kiss his lips. "You let her know your mine. That I won't be sharing you with anyone else, you understand me?" You whisper seriously against his lips that hold his wolfish grin. He stands to tower over you, leaning down as he pulls your hips to his, "Yes ma'am." He mumbles against your lips loving how territorial you were over him. It made a fire ignite in his chest unlike anything he's ever felt before. He's never had a woman like you, and it made him feel like he'd finally won in life to have you to himself.
"Good boy." You whisper humorously to him making him pull back slightly from your lips with a surprised exhale. Your words going straight from his ears, down his spine, and directly to his cock making it twitch as if you were intentionally brushing against him to tease him. You watch his bright blue eyes darken as you slowly smirk realizing he loved hearing those words from you. "Liked that did you?" You tease making his brows furrow some the realization of your teasing tone hitting him, his jaw tightening as his forehead gently meets yours. "Say it again." He asks softly as his gazes set on your eyes, slowly becoming consumed by them, starting to drown in those (e/c) pools that owned him. "Say your mine." You command watching as his eyes slowly dilate from the tension thickening between you two, making a smile ghost his lips again. "Darlin', I'm yours." He tells you softly, genuinely meaning every word as his eyes slowly glance down to your soft lips that held a satisfied grin.
You pull his head down by the nape of his neck until his lips brush yours again, "Good boy." You whisper seductively against his lips. He sighs as his eyes roll shut, letting you kiss his lips gently as he pulls your body closer while pushing his hips against yours. He had always been one for control during his sexual activities so when you took control of him, he hadn't realized how much he loved it until now. It turned him on as much as the thought of bending you over the bed and making you cum until the only word you had in your brain was his own name. He had always known you'd had a serious hold over him, he just hadn't realized how much power you truly had over him until now. He pulls you down with him as he sits on the edge of the bed, never breaking from your lips. His teeth run across your bottom lip, wanting to taste your tongue as he lifts you up by your ass and sits you on his lap. You bite his bottom lip in return, making him gasp as your tongue intertwining with his, dominating his easily when he puts up no fight.
You smirk into his lips, knowing he'd completely given up his control to you, letting you do whatever you pleased with him. Your hand tangled in his dark hair pulls his head back, forcing him to come away from your lips earning you a delicious groan as you kiss up his neck. He smiles when your gentle lips give him goose bumps as he wonders what the fuck he did right to have ever deserved you in the first place. "You have no idea how much power you hold over me.." he breathes out in a low whisper, making you hum in amusement as you suck harshly on the soft flesh of his neck just under his ear. He hisses slightly from the sudden sting of pressure before groaning in pleasure as you mark him as yours, just as he'd done to you before. You pull back to admire the dark mark starting to form on his skin as he sits still sorta panting with his head back, praying you'd keep going, but he also knew you both had shit to do. "I had no idea you were a switch." You whisper playfully in his ear making him smile and chuckle lowly at you. "Neither did I. Not till you hit me with that shit." He says as he lifts his head to look down at you, "All I know, is you're gonna be the end of me with that mouth of yours." He says as he grabs your chin and kisses you roughly once more as he stands up with you. Holding you up firmly with one arm as if you weighed nothing at all. "Can't think of a better way to go." You say playfully when he pulls back to look up at you.
His low chuckle towards you rumbles his chest before he lets you slide down his body to stand in front of him. "I gotta go. I'm supposed to help Rick out together the search party for Sofia today." You say softly as he fixes your hair, putting some behind your ear. He doesn't miss your non hopeful tone as you look down. "We'll find her. She's close baby, I know she is." He says sternly trying to reassure you, knowing you blame yourself for her original disappearance still. He lifts your chin again when you don't look up at him or say anything, "Ya hear me?" He asks, his sure cool blue eyes meeting your (e/c) ones. You nod making him smile lightly down at you, "Good." He says as he kisses you once more, letting his lips linger on yours for a few seconds. "Now get outta here before I keep you in bed with me." He says playfully making you snicker at him as he sits back down on the bed and puts his cross bow back on his lap so he doesn't pull you back into it. "Alright, alright. I'll see you when we get back." You say as he continues what he had originally been doing while you pull back the tents door to leave. "Hey." He says making you pause as you step out of the tent to look back at your lover, "You be safe. I love you baby." He says seriously with gentle eyes that hold your gaze. You smile lightly at him, "I will be. I love you too babe." You say watching his lips curl up slightly before you step all the way out and start for the green car Shane had claimed where Rick and Andrea stood.
You hold back your groan of disapproval at the sight of the blonde as you grow closer to them. Her voice already annoying you as you make it to the car, yet thankfully, as soon as she sees you, she shuts her mouth. Rick watches you and lets you make it to them before continuing explaining the area where Daryl found Sophia's doll. "Where the doll was found and where Daryl found that set up in the abandoned house shows she could be moving this way south." Rick explains and you nod agreeing, thinking the same thing. "If Sophia kept in that direction, she might of gotten out of the forest and into the farm land. So we'll take 74 up to Ivy Road, then push down south on foot through the forest till we hit Christopher, go east a couple miles, and then double back." He explains. You hum in approval about to add on how she could be held up in the only other farm that hadn't burned, because that's where Maggie suggested you look next, when Hershel catches your eye coming directly for you three.
"Rick." Hershel calls making Rick and Andrea both turn around to face him. "Hershel." Rick says calmly, "We just have our guns out because we're gonna go look for Sophia." Your brother begins to explain making you have to physically fight the urge to roll your eyes, instead choosing to watch the old farmer roll your his sleeves. "Before you do that, I could use your help with something." Hershel says, almost acting as if you and Andrea weren't even there. You keep you face as neutral as possible as you nod, "Count me in then." You say calmly as you noticed Hershel seemed slightly on edge, like it was something that needed urgent attention. "Me too." Andrea says making your eyes cut over to her for a fraction of a second before landing back on Hershel. His eyes land on you only for a second, "Thank you ladies, but I just need Rick." Hershel says seriously before looking back at your brother. Rick fights a sigh as he looks to Andrea who just smiles politely at our host, "I'll be down at the barn keeping watch until your ready." She says as she grabs her gun off the hood of the car and tucks it in the ass of her jeans waist band.
She walks off and Hershel glances at you as you look at Rick with an 'are you sure' look. Rick just stares at you with a calm sure face, knowing he had to go with him, and you nod at him understanding. "Just give me a holler when your done brother." You say as you glance back at Hershel, who nods points with his chin for Rick to follow him. Rick follows Hershel off behind the house and you can't shake the uneasy feeling Hershel had given you in that moment. What else could this man be hiding, all you knew was you didn't trust him as far as you could throw him. Which wasn't much at all. You swallow your uneasy feelings as you roll up the map and put it back into the car. You walk back to camp and grab a drink of water before Lori catches your eye as she walks up to the house with two buckets. One full of chopped carrots and the other full of the green ends of them. She stops in the shade behind you, obviously hot from the heat of the sun and the weight of the two buckets. You sigh and walk over to her with a bottle of water. She looks up at you curiously, a certain 'what the fuck are you doing' look gracing her face at the sight of you, only to look down at the bottle of water you held out to her.
She stands still staring at it, almost as if she didn't know what you wanted her to do with it. You refrain from sighing at her, "Here. Trade ya." You say as you take the bucket stuffed full of the green ends from her hand, actually having to place the bottle of water in her now empty hand. "I don't-" she starts to argue making your eyes snap up to hers sternly. "You need to stay hydrated. Now drink the damn water and take that to the house. I imagine they'll be needing those for supper. I'll take these to the horses." You say as you step back to walk off, not really in the mood to argue with her. "Thanks, (Y/n)." She says meekly as she unscrews the cap and takes a few swings. "Mhm." You hum as you turn, heading for the horse barn.
As soon as you get done distributing the carrot caps to nervous Nelly and Bucky, you see Diablo looking directly at you. His ears were forward, staring at you sternly, as if he was trying to will you to give him the whole bucket of sweet carrot treats he knew you had. You giggle at him and walk up to him, "I didn't forget about you big guy." You tell him as you pull out a few and let him gently take them from your palm. He nickers at you as you reach for a few more, wanting to hand feed him, knowing he didn't get much contact since he was locked up when you came across him. Just as you grab the last few from the bottom of the bucket, Beth comes flying around the corner with a terrified look on her face. You look over at her as she gasps in fear at the sight of the giant grey stallion so close to your head. "G-Get back from him!" She says in a low shaky tone. You raise an eyebrow and look up at Diablo confused, "From him?" You ask point at the horse with your chin, not moving from him as stares at her intensely. She nods vigorously as she slowly steps towards you. "Daddy said he's very dangerous (Y/n)! He's crazy!" She whisper yells at you, stopping just far enough that he couldn't lunge at her, even though he hadn't shown any sign a of aggression towards you when he had many opportunities too.
As soon as those words left her mouth, as if he knew what she'd said, his ears flatten against his skull and he dose in fact lunge at Beth, teeth barred and everything. She jumps back with a yelp as he instinctively snorts threatening her if she got any closer she'd be sorry. "Hey- Hey.." you say softly to the huge horse whom rises his ears immediately at the sound of your voice and lowers his head towards you, gently nudging your body closer to the stall, as if protecting you from the teenage girl who stares at him with fear practically radiating from her. You gently stroke his head between his ears relaxing him, knowing he was scared of her because of her own fear. He blows again when Beth takes another step back from you both, "Easy boy. She's as afraid of you as you are of her. She won't hurt you. Easy.." you sooth as you stroke his nose before holding the carrots up to his mouth. He happily takes them and munches them while you continue to stroke his face and nose. "..How are you doing that?" She questions completely baffled at the fact he was letting you touch him and feed him. You smile as you pet him, "He knows your afraid of him, but he doesn't scare me. He knows that." You say before you kiss his nose wanting you a friendly snort before he pulls his head back into his stall to eat some hay. You step back and grab the bucket only to see Beth with a gobsmacked expression on her face.
"What?" You question humorously as you walk past her considering her still dumbfounded look upon her face. "That horse has almost killed every one of us since my step-mother died. Daddy wanted to shoot him because of his aggression, but he couldn't bare it. She loved that horse more than anything so he couldn't kill him. So he locked him up for our safety. He hasn't trusted any human since. How did you get him to trust you?" She asks as she runs up beside you to walk with you to the house. "I don't know. I just trusted him not to kill me and I guess he trusts me not to kill him." You say simply as you walk around the house. "It's kind of amazing (Y/n). You know that right? I mean he's dangerous-" she starts in an amazed ramble. "He's not dangerous." You cut her off as you look over to her. She immediately looks down, as if ashamed. "He was taken from the plains, from his family, only to lose the woman he grew to trust and he ended up locked away for god knows how long until I let him see daylight. He just didn't trust the people who have kept him locked up." You tell her gently and she nods kind of agreeing.
"I thought it was cruel too, and I never wanted that for him either." She admits as you both round the house. "But I'm glad he trusts you. If Daddy lets you guys stay, you might can take him out of his stall. It's been way longer than it should have been for him. He only gets to go into his paddock attached to his stall instead of the pasture with the other horses. He can jump the fence and then we'd never get him back. Especially now.." she tells you. You smile, "I'd like that. I do know how to ride you know." You tell her as you start up the stairs. "Really?" She asks brightly earning you a laugh at her reaction. "Yeah, I had a horse once upon a time. It was along time ago though, so it'd be nice to get back in the saddle." You say as you open the screen door for her. "We should definitely take a ride one day then, I know this great swimming hole just behind the house. Maggie and I used to swim there every summer." She says brightly. "That's sounds nice, I look forward to it." You say before someone drops an empty pot in the kitchen making her jump and you turn around curiously. "Wanna go see if they need help?" You question Beth as she now almost hides behind you. "Yeah I think we should." She says amused as she listens to whoever was in the kitchen grumble to themselves.