"Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody."
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The next morning everyone was being extremely delicate with me, like if with just a bad glance I would break down. It was quite annoying to say the truth, I missed her already and I was sad but I was okay.
Michonne was the only one that wasn't treating me differently. She sat next to me during breakfast and informed me they weren't able to fix the fence yesterday, she told me they killed a lot of the walkers with knives, being safely behind the last and only good fence, because there were too many out there and they would be wasting their ammo, because more came walking in now that was no gate.
"They opened the gate from Merle's cell," she told me. "I don't know how to feel about that."
"He won't do anything stupid, he is loyal to Daryl and he has nowhere else to go. He tried to save me and I trust he won't harm us."
Michonne just scoffed at me and stood up. I sighed and stood up as well, I was going back to my cell when I walked in front of Rick, Glenn, Hershel, Daryl and even Michonne had joined them, discussing what to do with our situation out there.
"I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence," Daryl said. I stopped walking and stayed next to Michonne, they all looked at me not knowing what do or say.
"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets," Hershel said, breaking the silence.
"So we're trapped in here," Glenn exclaimed irritated. "There's barely any food or ammo."
"Been here before. We'll be all right," Daryl told him.
"That's when it was just us, before there was a snake in the nest!"
"Man, we gonna go through this again?" Daryl exclaimed, obviously having enough of Glenn's bullshit. "Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now, get used to it!"
Daryl angrily walked away, going up the stairs, two at a time. I wanted to go after him but I decided to stay, maybe I could help.
"Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly," Glenn said.
"I can't kick him out," Rick exclaimed.
"I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you!"
"Merle has saved me more than once, the other day he just saved me from my imminent death," I spoke, everyone turned to me again, not knowing what to say without breaking me, I just sighed out of frustration, I wasn't a porcelain doll, damn it.
"Merle has military experience. He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." I heard Hershel saying.
"What if we solve both problems at once? Deliver Merle to the Governor, bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce."
"How can you even think like that?" I exclaimed horrified. "Merle is a person too!"
"He didn't consider me that when he had me there, when he had Maggie there! He didn't think I was a person when he tortured me! He threw a walker at me, Cecilia! I was tied to a chair, I almost died!" Glenn shouted at me just before he stormed away.
As yesterday, the conversation ended in nothing. We were trapped inside the prison and didn't know what to do. It was too dangerous to go out there, not only because of the walkers but also because of the Governor and his people. He could come back at any time.
I had gone back to my room, I checked on Daryl first and he was lying on his stomach, apparently sleeping, probably pretending. He was really upset about people wanting Merle out and I understood that but I also understood Glenn.
I was resting on my bed when Michonne came to my cell, grabbed my arm and pulled me up, I just stared at her in an oddly way.
"Come on!" she said to me. "We need to relieve some stress."
Michonne led me back to the 'kitchen', she stopped in the middle of the room where there was a big empty space and sat down on the floor.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Working out, thought it might be a good idea, come on!"
We stretched first for around three minutes before we started to do some push-ups, my wounded arm hurt and I was scared I was going to pop a stitch so I stopped doing them and instead did some lunges, beside Michonne.
My mother just eyed us weirdly, she was cooking something behind us. Michonne, Andrea and I but mostly the two us kept in form all these months by exercising regularly. We would do easy things that didn't need any equipment, which made my legs, stomach and arms tone in a very nice way, and all the running I was forced to do to keep alive burnt lots of my body fat and that helped my legs to have a better shape and to let my muscles show more and not being under the fat.
But due to not eating a lot, my body used part of my muscles as fuel as well, so I really wasn't as toned as I should be with all those workouts but I preferred it that way. I didn't want to look like a man or bulk up a lot, but it felt good to be in shape.
At that moment, Merle walked in, he had taped a knife around his right arm once again. He smirked when he saw us working out. As soon as we finished stretching, I had taken off my shirt to not sweat it, I barely had clothes now and we weren't sure when we could go out so I wasn't going to waste our soap, but now that Merle was in front of me, looking me up and down, I felt self-conscious and I would have preferred to be wearing my shirt, even when I was wearing a sport bra, so it didn't look that vulgar.
"Smart to stay fit, nice abs by the way," he said to me as both of us got on the ground to start doing crunches. "I always knew you were hot but not this hot, Blondie."
"Hey!" my mum exclaimed, Merle just raised his arms in surrender and leant backwards as he let out a small chuckle.
"Don't leave out the cardio, girls," he said and then looked from me to Michonne. "You know, if we're gonna live under the same roof, we should clear the air."
Michonne didn't even glance at Merle, she kept her eyes fixed in front of her as she kept doing the crunches. I was really impressed with Merle, letting my lips turned into a small smile. Merle apologizing, well kind of, that must be a first.
"This whole hunting you down thing, that was just business, carrying out orders."
"Hmm," Michonne muttered, not believing his bullshit. "Like the Gestapo."
"Yeah, exactly. I've done a lot of things I ain't proud of, before and after," Merle told her. "Anyway, hope we can get past it. Let bygones be bygones."
Then Merle stood up and turned to leave but stopped in his tracks and stayed put for a few seconds before he turned around again, his eyes on me as he walked to where I was. He knelt in front of me and smirked.
"You know," he whispered so my mother wouldn't hear him. "I just realized my baby brother actually has good taste in women."
"Excuse me?" I asked as I sat up and stopped my workout, I was too focused on Merle now that I didn't notice the smirk on Michonne's lips.
"Pretty face, can actually shoot, long blonde hair, smart, and a hell of a body as a bonus," he told me, still in a very quiet voice as he counted my attributes with his fingers. "You're the whole package, sweetheart."
"Hey, everything okay in there?" my mother exclaimed, noticing how close Merle was too me, whispering things, especially now that I was just wearing a sport bra.
"Everything is good," I said to her but never taking my eyes off of Merle.
"And you are a fiesty one as well, making everything more exciting," he said with a wink before standing up again and actually leaving this time.
Michonne just smirked and looked at me with a knowing look, I just looked at her like 'hell no' and shook my head at her.
"What?" I exclaimed.
"You know," she said her smirk never leaving her lips.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" I exclaimed in an annoyed way.
"No, the two of you are. I wasn't completely sure about Daryl because I don't know him but if Merle noticed it too then it must be true!" she exclaimed.
"What is true?" my mum asked me, walking next to us.
"Nothing important, mum," I said with a smile. "You know how Merle is."
"He didn't say anything out of place to you, did he?"
"No, mum, he actually behaves with me, well sometimes." I added the last part remembering when I gave him the map to the farm and the things he said to me. I shuddered at the thought.
"Alright, if he says something or even does something, you come straight to me or even Rick, understand?"
"Yeah," I said, getting really uncomfortable. "Now mum, let us finish our workout, I'm getting cold." She just rolled her eyes at me but she did walk out of the room, leaving Michonne and me alone. I started to do more crunches and maybe that way Michonne wouldn't talk to me about it again.
"Why do you refuse to accept it?" she asked me, I tried to ignore her as she ignored Merle at first. "Still not ready to tell me about your ex-boyfriend, remember you promised you would tell me."
"I thought we were exercising to relieve stress, I don't want to talk about him, you should have asked before doing this."
"Whatever happened, you should let it go and move on," she told me. "I can tell he's a good guy," referring to Daryl. "I'm sure he won't hurt you in any way. But he's just as stubborn or stupid as you so you should just go up there and kiss him, just like that."
"Woah, kiss who?"
I looked up, thinking my mother was back but the voice didn't belong to a woman. I froze and felt my cheeks go more red than what they already were from the exercise.
"Kiss? She said kill," I exclaimed quickly to none other than Daryl as I nervously chuckled.
"Kill?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Who do you want to kill?"
"A rat, he was just here! I hate rats!"
"A rat, huh? And you were sure it was a he?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Right," he muttered, unsure. "Why are you so red?"
"We were just working out with Michonne," I said quickly and then he looked at me, like really looked at me and his eyes got wide before he turned away and now he was the one blushing, never thought I would see Daryl blushing.
"Oh come on," I muttered. "It's not like I'm naked."
"Half naked," he muttered.
"You didn't care about it yesterday." Okay that came out wrong.
"What?" Michonne exclaimed in disbelief with her hand over her mouth after she gasped.
"You were pretty bad!" Daryl muttered, turning around but avoiding to look at me. "I was helping you and..."
"Helping how? By undressing her?" Michonne asked with a smirk, making us blush even more.
"Sh-she was drenched in sweat, I w-was helping her!" Daryl stated, stuttering a bit. "And I wasn't even looking!"
"If you say so," Michonne muttered.
Daryl and I tried to explain to her what happened yesterday morning, we made sure to not leave out any detail and tried not to say things that could be bad interpretated but Michonne just kept smirking and dismissing our story and actually making everything like if we said it in double sense.
"It's the truth!" I exclaimed.
"Mhm," Michonne muttered.
I stood up and grabbed my shirt from the floor, sticking my tongue out at Michonne when I turned to look at her again.
"I'm going to have a shower, if you excus..." I said as I started to walk away but Michonne interrupted me.
"Have Daryl help you out," Michonne exclaimed. "From what I heard he is quite good at that kind of things."
I turned around in disbelief and gave her the finger, which just made her burst out laughing, which was odd for Michonne, it made me crack a small smile but I composed myself and looked at her with a serious and annoyed expression.
"You know what," I exclaimed, pointing my finger at her. "I might just do that."
I walked to Daryl, who was in complete shock at my words, I grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled him with me, I gave the finger to Michonne once again as I walked and she just kept laughing but when I reached the door and was about to leave I heard something that made me stop dead in my tracks.
"Use protection!"
"Go to hell!" I exclaimed quickly, I knew she was just joking and I was too, but why was she doing this to me in front of Daryl? This was so embarrassing.
I walked away quickly, not realizing I still was gripping the collar of Daryl's shirt, I just noticed when I was about to go up the stairs. I let go of it quickly and turned around with a shocked expression, my lips slightly parted.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled.
"It's okay. Hey, why do you even have a sport bra?"
"Do you have any idea of how uncomfortable it is to sleep with a bra on? These," I said pointing to my neon green sport bra. "Are like heaven compared to the normal ones. I saw them in a store and I just had to take them. They have been handy."
I pretended it wasn't awkward to speak about bras with Daryl by flashing him a small smile before turning around and going up only four steps before Daryl made me stop.
"Hey!" he called. "Where are you going?"
"To shower," I said in a duh tone.
"I thought I was going to help you," he told me in a teasing tone and with a smirk playing on his lips. I just rolled my eyes at him.
"I think I'm old enough to do it on my own but thanks," I said sarcastically, turning around once again to leave.
"I'm not sure, that sport bra seems a bit too tight, might need my help." I scoffed.
"Go to hell too, Dixon!" I said, raising my eyes as I walked away with my middle finger in the air, I just heard him laugh at me.
"Alright," he said. "If you need my help, Peletier, just call for me, I'll be there in a second."
"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "I don't doubt that."
I finally got to shower, the water was cold but this time I enjoyed it. I tried not to use a lot of soap or shampoo or water because I wasn't sure when we could go for more. I wrapped a towel around my body when I finished and dried my body, I was putting on my underwear when I heard Carl calling for his dad.
"Dad, dad! You have to come outside! Everyone must come!" Carl shouted. "Come on!"
I tried to put on the rest of my clothes quickly but unfortunately my jeans stuck on my legs because they were still wet. I pulled and pulled until they reached my waist and I could button it. I put on my socks and tennis and wrapped the towel around my head and ran outside as fast as I could.
When I walked out I saw everyone with their weapons raised and a blonde woman on her knees with her hands up in the air in surrender. I took a few more steps closer and noticed it was Andrea. Rick grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up, I smiled at her and she smiled back to me.
We all walked back inside the prison, to our kitchen. Rick was on the lead, followed by Andrea and I was closely behind her. My mother came forward and Andrea went to hug her tightly as we all walked further inside and gathered around. I sat on one table and Daryl stood next to me, while Michonne stood at the very end of the room.
"After you saved me, we thought you two were dead," my mother said to Andrea. "Thanks for taking care of Cecilia."
"We took care of each other," Andrea told her, then she let go of her and had a better look at the place and us, her blue eyes went wide when she saw Hershel. "Hershel, my God! I can't believe this," she said in shock as she kept looking all around her. "Where's Shane?"
A short silence followed her question and the room was filled with awkwardness. Sean turned to look at the ground and Rick just shook his head at her, avoiding her gaze.
"And Lori?"
"She had a girl," Hershel said as Rick just looked at the ground. "Lori didn't survive."
"Neither did T-Dog," Maggie told her.
"And Teresa?"
"She died two days ago," I told her with a dead serious expression.
"I'm so sorry," she said to all of us. "You all live here?"
"Here and the cell block," Glenn replied.
"There?" she said pointing to where the other door in the room led. "Well, can I go in?"
"I won't allow that!" Rick said firmly, as he stood in front of her to stop her from going there.
"I'm not an enemy, Rick," Andrea said, hurt was evident in her eyes and voice.
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up."
"He said you fired first."
"Well, that's bullshit!" I exclaimed, standing up and taking a couple of steps towards her, Daryl attempted to grab me by my arm to stop me but I just jerked it away. "We were out there minding our own business when he just fired at us, could have killed us all."
"He killed Teresa and shot an inmate who survived in here," Hershel told her.
"We like him," Daryl added.
"I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came," Andrea said. "I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."
"That was days ago," Glenn exclaimed.
"I told you, I came as soon as I could."
Then she looked at all of us in disbelief, lingering on me. I just looked down at the floor as I heard her sigh, then she turned around and faced Michonne.
"What have you told them?"
"Nothing," Michonne said calmly.
"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"
"He almost killed Michonne and he would have tried to kill me and you if we would have left with her, we told you that place was odd!" I shouted at her, losing my patience. "And he would have killed us all..."
"With his finger on the trigger!" Andrea shouted louder than me, pointing at Merle. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?"
"He warmed me!" I shouted back. "I would have left with Michonne if it wasn't for him!"
"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 exclaimed, walking towards Andrea. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will." Andrea just looked at him in disbelief.
"We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you."
"You know better than that," Merle said with a slight chuckle.
"I won't ever go back there," I told her with a dead serious tone. "Neither Michonne nor Merle will."
"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" Hershel asked.
"No."
"Then why did you come here?" I asked her, glaring at her, I was next to Daryl again by then, I finally sat down again, but I hadn't calmed down yet.
"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," Daryl said. "Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye."
"We're taken too much shit for too long, he wants a war? He's got one." Glenn exclaimed.
"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," Andrea told him. "Look at you, you've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."
"Oh shut up," I exclaimed, standing up again. "Stop pretending you care about us."
"You want to make this right, get us inside," Rick told her.
"No." She shook her head.
"Then we got nothing to talk about," Rick said angrily, walking away.
"There are innocent people!"
A very long silence followed. What did Andrea come for? To make us quit? To get us to Woodbusy so we can all pretend to be best friends or something like that? And since when did she start to call that man Philip? She has seen what Philip has done to us, tried to kill us, had Glenn and Maggie in there and tortured them, actually killed Teresa and still she's on his side.
"I want to talk to you," I heard her say to Michonne. "Outside."
Even when I wasn't invited I followed them out, Daryl once again grabbed my arm to stop me but I assured him I was going to be fine, with a nod he let go of me and I went after the two girls I had got to love as my big sisters, even when one was acting like an idiot.
"You poisoned them!" I heard Andrea say to Michonne once I caught up with them.
"I just told them the truth," Michonne said, she was still very calm.
"I didn't choose him over you, over either of you," Andrea said as she looked I was standing next to Michonne now. "I wanted a life. Once we entered Woodbury, you became hostile."
"That's 'cause I could see it, the two of us could see it."
"See what?"
"That you were under his spell from the second you laid eyes on him," I told her, speaking for the first time.
"That is not true," Andrea exclaimed.
"And you still are," Michonne said.
"No, I am there because those people need me." I scoffed.
"I needed you," I told her.
"And what about these people?" Michonne asked.
"I'm trying to save them, too!"
"I did not realize the messiah complex was contagious."
"Go to hell, Michonne!" Andrea exclaimed, walking away.
"He sent Merle to kill me," Michonne said and I was so surprised to hear her still calm tone. "Would have sent him to kill you, too, if you had come with me, and you know that. That's why Merle warmed Cecilia, he knew he would go after all of us. But you didn't come, did you? You chose a warm bed over a friend. That's why I went back to Woodbury, exposed him for what he is. I knew that it would hurt you."
Then it was Michonne who walked away, leaving an astonished Andrea behind. I walked to Andrea and looked her straight in the eye.
"You know her, Andrea, she saved us, she took care of us. You have known this man for what? Not even a month! He wanted to kill us, remember the guy that was saved with us? He was killed along with all the National Guard guys," I told her. "He had heads in fish tanks, how twisted is that?"
"I know," she mumbled. "I saw them and her dead walker daughter, he explained why he had them, I admit that's a bit... sick but..."
"But what?" I interrupted her. "Hmm? Why can't you see it? How did he brainwash you? I was talking with Carl when I heard the shots, he ruined the fences, I was out there and I almost died! Walkers cornered me and you see this?" I asked pointing at my stitched right arm. "One of his men did that, it wasn't Merle, and speaking of him, remember what Phillip did to Merle! He made him go against Daryl, who in their right mind does that, huh? Daryl almost dies as well!"
I glared at her for a few more seconds and when I noticed she wasn't going to say anything, I just shook my head at her and walked away, going back into the prison, leaving her all alone, maybe my words could get into her brain and made her see clear.
About an hour later we all gathered outside, it was time for Andrea to leave, I didn't want to because I was quite upset at Andrea but I did go as well, I stood by the door, next to Carl, who eventually put one of his arms around my waist and rested his head against my side, I put an arm around his shoulder and rubbed the end of it as Glenn brought Andrea a car.
Nobody said anything. Andrea looked at all us but her glance lingered on Michonne a bit longer and then turned to look at me and Carl.
"Well, take care,"she said to us before getting inside the car. Rick handed her a gun and they exchanged a few words. She started the engine, Merle opened the gate and she drove away from us.
I would have run back inside if Carl wasn't right next to me with his small arm around me. I was so disappointed and hurt because of Andrea. If she didn't choose him over us before, she did that just now.
Later that night, we all gathered together in the hallway in front of the cells. Beth starting singing, probably sensing how awkward the atmosphere was.
I was leaning against a wall, next to Daryl and Hershel when Rick walked to us with Judith in his arms, I think it was the first I saw him holding her, maybe after what happened with the Governor he was finally getting his sanity back.
"Some reunion, huh?" Daryl commented.
"She's in a jam," Rick told us.
"We all are," Hershel said. "Andrea's persuasive. This fella's armed to the teeth. Bent on destruction."
"So what do you want to do?" Daryl asked.
"We match it," Rick told us. "I'm going on a run."
"I'll head out tomorrow," Daryl said immediately.
"I'll go too," I said.
"No, you two stay here," Rick told us. "Keep an eye on your brother. I'm glad you're back, really, but if he causes a problem, it's on you."
"I got him," Daryl assured him.
"I'll take Michonne."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Daryl asked, I just gave him a look.
"I'll find out and to see how she truly acts I need to see it without you present," Rick told me.
"Alright," I said nodding. "I'll take care of Carl."
"Actually, I'm taking Carl as well, he's ready," Rick muttered as he looked down at Judith, who was starting to wake up, then he looked straight at Daryl. "You hold it down here."
"You got it," Daryl assured him with a nod.
Rick walked away as Judith was about to start crying, Hershel gave us a nod before he also walked away from us to sit down, it must be tiring to stand on only one leg, that leaves only Daryl and me.
"I know you wanted to go," he whispered to me.
"I just want to get out of here, I miss going on runs."
"I miss hunting," he told me. "Don't worry, we'll go on a run soon."
"We?" I asked him with a small smirk on my lips.
"What? Don't you want to go with me?" he teased. "I wanna go out there too, so you are either stuck with me inside here or stuck with me outside."
"Don't I have another choice?"
"Nope."
"Damn," I muttered with a small chuckle. "I guess I rather go out there, I feel trapped in here."
"That's because we're trapped," Daryl said in a duh tone, I just punched his arm. "Ouch!"
I just stuck out my tongue at him, and shocking enough he did the same to me. I just chuckled at how adorable he looked.
"What?" he exclaimed.
"Nothing," I said with a big smile on my face. "Nothing at all."
Little did we know that Beth had finished her song and everyone in the room were looking at us instead of looking at her. Sean, my mother and Oliver had a frown on their faces, Merle and Michonne had each a smirk on their lips and the others were just enjoying the show with happiness because we were actually having fun, even in such hard times.
____________________________________________________________________
Hello xx
So I finally got Season 5 on Netflix so I will be able to watch it and continue writing this :D :D
As you can see Daryl and Cecilia are getting closer, :D What do you think of this chapter?
QOTD: Did you like Merle? And what do you think of the way he gets along with Cecilia?
Please vote, comment and fan! <3