Rick, Daryl, and Merle run up to where we are, killing a few Walkers in the process. Carol runs up to Daryl and quickly gives him a tight hug and scolds him slightly for leaving.
Beth greets Daryl as well as Glenn, Maggie, and Alyssa.
After Alyssa hugs Daryl, I storm over to Daryl. He straightens up as he sees me, his gaze never wavers from mine as I can slightly see a hint of remorse in his eyes.
I slap him across the cheek, "Never, ever say something like that about me again. Or else it's gonna be a hell of a lot worse than just a fucking slap." My voice is like venom, peircing straight into Daryl.
He doesn't respond, he just stares at me and bites his lip slightly, nodding.
As my anger subsides, I wrap him in a hug. "Leave again and I'll shove my foot so far up your ass that you'll taste it." His body heat is warm against me as I release a sigh of relief into the crook of his neck. I'm surprised to feel Daryl's arms wrap around my waist, hugging me back. I immediately feel safe, like there's a sort of protective bubble around me.
I hear Alyssa giggle quietly as Daryl and I hug each other.
I break the hug and before I can even fully pull away, a small gasp escapes my lips as Daryl cups my face and kisses me; in front of everybody.
The world fades into the background as I feel Daryl's lips on mine again- the lips I thought I never wanted to feel again. I feel his stubbly beard scratching my chin and his rough fingers on my cheeks. The hair on the back of my neck stands up as an electric shock shoots up my spine.
My hands instinctively cup his face as well as we deepen the kiss, the weight of us being away from each other comes to the surface.
"Damn, Daryl! I never thought someone as sexy as her woul-" I cut Merle off by putting my hand on his face and shoving him away, not breaking the kiss. He cusses me out but I pretend not to hear it.
Daryl is the one to break the kiss, he doesn't look at anyone else but me. "Being away from you made me realize something," His hands are still cupping my face as he tries to find the right words, or the confidence to say the right words. "I love you, Adrian. I have loved you, and I don't ever want to be away from you." A smile tugs at the corners of my lips, "I think..." I look from his eyes to his lips, then back to his eyes. "I can love you." I whisper. Daryl's eyes widen slightly at my words, the weight of Nick becomes present as I silently admit how hard it is for me to love someone.
Alyssa's excited giggle breaks the silence, "Adrian!" She squeals, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Her words make me realize everyone is staring at us, smiles plastered on their faces.
Rick raises both of his eyebrows at us, "As much as I love this...confession, we need to get back in the prison before one of us gets shot."
Everyone agrees and begins to file into the prison, I walk in front of Daryl and Damien practically skips over to me. "I fucking told you so. I literally told you so hard that it basically manifested into being true." I scoff, "Okay, weirdo." "Weirdo?! My best friend and the hottest bitch in this group...minus you and I of course, just admitted their love for each other! Does that mean you're dating?" I shrug, "I don't know but he is literally right behind us to shut the fuck up." Damien smirks and nods, pretending to zip his mouth closed.
When we get into our cell block, everybody disperses to a different spot. Daryl, Beth, and Carol on top of the stairs. Michonne at a cell, Hershel sitting on the steps, Maggie standing near a wall, and Alyssa and Carl sitting on the floor. Damien and I stand near Maggie.
"We're not leaving." Rick orders, re-loading his machine gun. "We can't stay here." Hershel says. "What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie points out, checking to make sure her pistol has bullets in it.
"We can't even go outside." Beth says. "Not in the daylight." Carol adds.
"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn asserts to everybody.
"No, better to live like rats." Merle says from behind the cell door. We had locked him in the lounge area because nobody wants to be anywhere near him.
"You got a better idea?" Rick sasses, turning to Merle. "Yeah, we shoulda' slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."
"Ew...now I feel claustrophobic." Alyssa whispers to Carl.
"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl rasps, walking across the aisle upstairs.
"Y'all should be." Merle says, rolling his eyes. "That truck through the fence thing? That's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place," Merle scoffs. "Shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."
"Let's put 'im in the other cell block." Maggie turns to Rick, fidgeting with her hands.
"No," Daryl says. "He's got a point."
"This is all you. You started this!" Maggie yells to Merle. "What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth quickly asks.
"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel says. Rick doesn't respond, he just turns and begins walking away.
Hershel stands up, using his crutches to support him. "Get back here!" He yells to Rick. Rick pauses but doesn't turn to anybody. Hershel begins to move to Rick, "You're slipping Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy? Now you have to own up to that." Hershel never looks away from Rick. "I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do somethin'." Hershel's voice is a little softer than it was before, a little more needy.
Rick responds without looking at any of us, "I'm gonna go look for snipers." He says, walking away.
Carl looks at Alyssa then at the cell door which Rick walked out of. "I'll be right back." He tells Alyssa before standing and following Rick.
After a little over an hour, Rick comes back. "Feild's filled with Walkers. I didn't see any snipers around, Maggie's keeping watch."
"I can get up in the guard tower." Daryl offers. "Take out half of them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." "Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne notes.
"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets." Hershel says. "So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." Glenn says. "Been here before. We'll be alright." Daryl says, looking directly at me.
"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest." Daryl straightens up at Glenns words and turns to him. "Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." "Hey-" "All y'all." Daryl cuts Rick off before climbing up the steps.
When Daryl is out of earshot, Glenn takes it to Rick. "Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly." He whispers. "I can't kick him out." Rick whispers back. "I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you." I stiffen at Glenn's words.
"Don't talk about my dad like that." I warn. "Well it's true." Glenn replies. "Merle has military experience. He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." "Merle wouldn't do anything to put Daryl in harm's way." Damien adds.
"What if we solved both problems at once? Deliver Merle to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce." "Nah," I shake my head. "I'm not sending Merle to a fucking psychopath."
Hershel sighs, "I'll go talk to Merle." He starts to the lounge area where Merle is taping a knife to his metal stump, replacing his hand.
Absent mindedly, my legs begin taking me upstairs and to Daryl's cell. Now that we actually have time to talk, I'm gonna try and figure out what the hell is going on between us.
I slide my hand against the wall as I walk into Daryl's cell. I cross my arms and lean against the wall. "Glenn's being an ass." Is the first thing that comes out of my mouth. Daryl scoffs, "Never thought I'd head you say that before." He looks up from fidgeting with one of his arrows. "I heard what he said about your dad." I nod, "I heard what he said about Merle." Daryl nods.
There's a moment of awkward silence before I inhale and begin talking. "Okay, so, I'm not really good with like...sappy shit. Or talking about how I feel or... whatever but what the hell is going on between us? Are we dating, are we still just fucking, are we like...I don't know. Those were the only two things I could come up with."
He scoffs, "Up to you."
I groan, "God you and I both suck ass at this. This is gonna make it one hundred times more difficult." I sit down on his bed, he sits up. I fidget with my fingers nervously before speaking.
I look at him, "I want to be together I'm just... scared." Daryl nods, "Yeah well Nicks a fuckin' prick so, I understand why." I scoff, "That he is." I look back at Daryl before beginning to speak again. "So are we-" "Yeah." Daryl nods. I smile a close-mouthed smile and look at my legs, "Yeah." I repeat.
An unfamiliar feeling of warmth engulfs my body, something I haven't felt since the very beginning of mine and Nick's relationship- before he was an abusive asshole. I feel tints of pinks and reds swallow my cheeks and nose, causing the warmth to flow up to my face.
Carol appears in the doorway. "Oh sorry. I was just-" "No! No, you're fine. I was getting ready to leave." I say, standing up. She nods and watches me walk away.
Carl comes running with Alyssa into the cell block. "Andrea's here." He pants. Everyone looks at each other before quickly grabbing our guns and rushing outside.
He all run behind the same truck Glenn used and aim our weapons at her. Glenn and Carol are up on the catwalk behind us.
"Go." Rick tells Merle. Merle slowly runs behind the car in front of the truck and looks around. "Clear!" He tells us.
We all run to the gate, "Are you alone?" Rick yells to Andrea.
Ugh, Andrea.
The sight of her alive makes me wish I wasn't.
"Open the gate!" She yells, directing a Walker in front of her.
"Are you alone?!" Rick repeats, this time louder. "Rick!" She yells.
"God she's a cunt." I groan.
Rick nods and tosses the keys to Daryl. Daryl catches them swiftly and unlocks the gate, pushing it open and allowing Andrea to enter.
"Turn around!" Rick yells to Andrea. "What?!" She squeals. "Turn around now!" Rick yells again, cornering her.
My finger is on the trigger of my pistol, the sound of her alone makes me want to pull it.
He pushes her face up against the fence and searches her, Daryl's crossbow aimed at her face.
A Walker launches itself at the fence, right in her face. She screams and Rick pulls her away from the fence and makes her kneel. "Get on the floor." He orders, shoving her down. He finishes searching her and stands up. "I asked if you were alone." He spits.
"I am." She assures him. He rips the bag off of her and tosses it aside.
"Welcome back." Rick says in her ear, pulling her up. "Get up." He says.
Everyone follows him into the lounge area of our cell block.
Andrea gives Carol a tight hug, "After you saved me," Carol whispers. "I thought you were dead."
They break their hug and Andrea looks around. Andrea's eyes fall on Hershel's missing leg. "Hershel, oh my god." She whispers. Andrea looks around again.
"I can't believe this." She looks at Alyssa and I. "Where's Shane?"
I clench my jaw, nobody responds. "Oh, Adrian, I-" She goes to give me a hug but I back up quickly. "Touch me and I will rip your teeth out and feed them to you." She backs up quickly and doesn't respond. "What about Lori?" "She had a girl." Hershel says. "Lori didn't survive."
"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie adds. "I'm so sorry." Andrea whispers, looking around. She meets Carl's gaze, "Carl..." When he doesn't respond, she turns to Rick.
"Rick, I-" Rick doesn't even look at her, he just backs away slightly.
She sighs and looks around, "You all live here?" "No, we're just having a slumber party in a fucking prison." I mumble.
"Here and the cell block." Glenn says. "There?" She points to our cell block. "Well can I go in?" She begins to walk to the cell block before Rick stands in her way.
What the fuck is so interesting about where we sleep that she must see?
"I won't allow that." Rick says. "I'm not an enemy, Rick." "No, you're just sleeping in his bed." I say, approaching her.
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." Rick growls. "He said you fired first." "Well he's lying."
"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel mentions. "We liked him. He was one of us." Daryl says. "I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out I came." She turns to Glenn and Maggie. "I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."
"That was days ago." Glenn says. "I told you, I came as soon as I could." She looks around at everybody's dead expressions.
She quickly turns to Michonne. "What have you told them?" "Nothing." Michonne says, straight-faced. "I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd one out?" "He almost killed Michonne, and he would've killed us." Glenn mentions.
"With his finger on the trigger." She points to Merle who's standing on the steps to the outside door. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" She inhales, "Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out." "There's nothing to work out." Rick steps forward. "We're gonna kill 'im. I don't know how or when, but we will."
Andrea shakes her head, "We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you." Merle chuckles, "You know better than that."
"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" Hershel asks. "No." Andrea replies. "Then why did you come here?" Rick questions.
"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."
"I'll tell you what. The next time you see Philip, you tell 'im imma' take his other eye." Daryl drawls. "We're taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." Glenn growls.
"Adrian," Andrea turns to me. "You wouldn't want your sister in a war would you?" "A man named 'Philip' can't to any fuckin' damage to us. Nice try though." I say, crossing my arms.
She sighs and turns to Rick with a pleading look. "Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out... I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town." She scoffs and turns to all of us. "Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore." "You wanna make this right? Get us inside." Rick tells Andrea.
"No." She says quickly.
"Then we got nothin' to talk about." "There are innocent people!" She yells after Rick as he's walking away.
I groan exaggeratedly, "Why the fuck am I not allowed to stab her? Jesus, she needs some better dick in her life." I say, walking into the cell block.
After Andrea drives off with a borrowed car, we're all sitting in the cell block.
Alyssa, Carl, and Beth are sitting around a few candles and a lantern while Daryl and I are sitting up against the wall, watching them.
after a little bit of silence, Beth begins to sing, "They hung a sign up in our town, if you live it up you won't live it down."
As she continues to sing, I slowly lower my head onto Daryl's broad shoulder, relaxing fully at his presence. I intertwine my fingers with his and he reciprocates.
Damien, who is sitting directly across from us, smiles at the sight.