*Unedited
Harper
"If you could only see, the beast you made of me,
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free."
I rested my head on the pillow when the door was thrown open. I leapt up, seeing Shane, Rick, Glenn and T-dog carrying in a muddy, bloody figure. I quickly got out, calling for Xena to do the same as my eyes stared wide in shock as the four men laid the guy I vaguely recognized to be Daryl on the bed and left the room, Hershel entering.
I gulped. Hershel, as if sensing my unease, settled a hand on my shoulder. "He's strong, he'll pull through." Hershel gestured to the door and I nodded slowly, leaving Daryl with Hershel in the next room, but placing myself in the chair right outside the door.
------
Squirrel Boy
I groaned, head lulling to the side, nose pressing into the soft, clean pillow. Taking a deep breath in, I smelt a tangy, yet familiarly musty smell.
Smells like the Cap'n...
Drawing the sheets up closer to my face, and, more importantly, my nose, I inhaled more of the fruity tang of her scent.
"Daryl?" Her voice jolted my eyes open. She sat right in front of my face, Xena at her feet. The worry in her shining brown eyes confused me for a second, before the dull throbbing of my side and my head reminded me of everything.
"You alrigh' with me takin' yer bed like this?" I asked. She frowned for a second, then a snort left her and she gave a short-lived chuckle.
"You do know that I hate bed rest, right?" I scoffed.
"Try gettin' hurt less. Usually works for me." The Captain laughed properly this time. My lip quirked up at the corner. Tha's better.
------
Harper
Once I'd stopped laughing, Daryl and I just looked at one another. There was a surprisingly comfortable silence between us. I reached for his hand. He shifted so he was fully facing me, and gave me his hand. A squeeze from both of us at the same time had us both chuckling.
It felt weirdly nice to hold his hand, and to have him hold mine. I stared at our hands, wondering if--my gaze momentarily flickered to my wedding ring--if he ever made me feel that way. It was a marriage of convenience, more than anything. I didn't necessarily want to get married, but my mother wanted that for me, and I wasn't going to not get married on her birthday to honor her.
Daryl seemed to notice the frown on my face, because he hesitated before slipping his hand from mine. I reached back out for it but he'd pulled it back under the covers.
He watched me as I pouted and made grabby hands for his hand. Daryl snorted.
"Yer so childish, y'know tha'?" I grinned widely and nodded as he gave his warm, calloused hand back to me.
------
I jogged around the perimeter of the farm, the first light of a new day dawning. Just this morning I'd decided that I was gonna use this down time to get back into shape, since I'd practically been on bed rest the whole time I'd known this group. It's unbelievable, I mean, sure, I don't deal too well with being told to rest and heal up, but I can't even pinpoint a time that I shouldn't have been resting up since I've known this group.
Like, seriously, since when was I this helpless? Since the apocalypse begun, dumbass. Right. Of course.
It was about time for my next 30 second interval of sprinting as fast as I could. I sped up, zooming around the farm, passing the point where I had started running two laps ago and slowing to a stop thirty seconds later.
Leaning over, my hands rested on my thighs as my chest heaved, my throat dry. I stretched up, shrugging off my backpack which was two large red bricks heavier then usual for strength training, and pulled one of my water bottles out of it.
The sound of footsteps coming toward me from the direction had me looking up. My favourite Korean appeared within my vision as I drank. I waved a hand at him as I chugged half my water down.
"Hey, Harpie, you've been working out." I screwed the top onto my old mountain dew bottle, gulping down the last of my water, then laughing.
"Glad you've noticed, honey." I flexed my arm. "You like what you see?" I asked him, winking. He started laughing.
"Definitely, Harpie, definitely, let me take that bag, your legs are probably jelly now." I chuckled.
"You're not wrong, Pizza God." Shoving my water back into the bag and zipping it up before I handed it to him, not warning him about the bricks.
Glenn took the bag, and it dropped like a stone, bringing him down with it. I threw my head back, laughing like it was the end of the world.
"Jesus Christ, Harpie!!! This is really heavy!! What the hell do you have in it!! It looks so empty!"
Chuckling to myself, I flashed him a wink. "The kitchen sink."
Glenn eyes me questioningly. "It doesn't look like there's a sink in here...?"
I sighed. "It's a British expression. It pretty much means everything."
"Oh, right." Glenn chuckled. "Or should I say, right-o?" He imitated a posh British accent and I snorted.
"Okay, wise guy." He rolled his eyes jokingly. "Do you mind taking that to my tent? And could you ask Carol to take my breakfast up with Daryl's?"
Glenn grinned. "You gonna go see your new boyfriend?"
I groaned. "Is this ever gonna get old for you?"
"Nope!" He popped the 'p', and skipped off in direction of camp, turning to me half-way there, only to make kissy faces at me. I groaned, heading up the porch, bumping into someone.
Maggie quirked an eyebrow at me. "Glenn's being an asshat, and he's becoming more and more like me and I hate it." Maggie laughed.
"Bet he learns from the best though." I chuckled.
"You're right, he does." Maggie patted my shoulder and we parted.
I headed straight for Daryl's room and threw open the door. Squirrel Boy jump out of his skin as I slammed the door shut and collapsed into the chair beside his bed. Slumping into the seat, I closed my eyes, head leaning back.
"Could ya be any louder?" Daryl's sleep laced voice groaned, the duvet rustling. I opened one eye lazily, a sprawling grin coming over my face. Only a few tufts of his hair and his closed eyes were visible under the sheets.
"Lots." He groaned again.
"I shouldn't've asked." I chuckled, closing my eye again and sinking further into the chair. "I saw ya runnin' a couple o' laps, ya tired now?"
"Yep. Thought I could get a few seconds of sleep in this chair." I frowned for a second. "You seen Xena?"
"Ya, she came in with Rick earlier, before I saw ya runnin'." I chuckled.
"I really am losing my own dog to the Sheriff, huh?" Daryl scoffed.
"'M pretty sure she still hates me." I laughed.
"No, not really, she's softened up since you got--well, since you almost died." Daryl scoffed.
"Ya think? She was practically glarin' at me when she came in with Rick."
I shrugged, eyes still closed. "It's a step down from trying to bite off your hand and the constant growling." Daryl only grunted.
A knock at the open door brought my eyes open. My attention immediately latched onto the actual, physical, ceramic bowls of food. My jaw dropped.
"Since when did we have actual bowls?" Carol laughed at my expression, passing me my food and Daryl his.
"Since Maggie offered to let us use them when she realised we were eating out of tin cans and plastic containers." I grinned widely as she handed us some cutlery.
"Carol, tell Maggie I love her." Carol laughed again.
"You can tell her yourself, Harper." Just as she said that, Maggie the Queen of Cutlery waltzed in.
"Just coming to check on your head wound, Daryl." She flashed a look at me. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"
"I love you." I stated bluntly and watched her eyes become saucers. Daryl scoffed.
"Ya should've given 'er context." I snorted.
"Yeah, probably." I looked back at her as she peeled away the bandage on Daryl's head to inspect what looked like a near miss headshot. "That was a 'thanks for the bowls and cutlery, I love you' kinda deal." Maggie chuckled as she peered at the wound. "Was that a bullet graze?"
Daryl's eyes shot up toward me, pausing with his spoonful half-way to his mouth, like a deer caught in headlights. He clearly wasn't certain about what he should say to that.
Maggie answered instead. "Yes, Andrea shot him thinking he was one of those things." I frowned, persing my lips before I begun to tuck in, making a mental note to ask Daryl why he was so hesitant to tell me about it.
------
I pulled Daryl's heavy arm over my shoulder, much to his annoyance. He grumbled under his breath.
"Sorry, I didn't quite get that, Squirrel Boy,"
"Weren't s'pposed ta." The grumbling continued.
"This was a part of the deal, buddy-boy; if you're gonna move to your tent to rest, and I mean properly rest, I'm helping you get there. Now, let me take some of your weight." Daryl groaned, but didn't resist, the sudden heavier weight around my shoulders was almost suffocating, but I didn't complain.
Together, we made it to the entrance of his tent, him grunting as he lowered himself in.
"Alrigh', now get outta my ass, Captain." I scoffed.
I turned to leave but stopped, turning back around on my heel, and poked my head into his tent. "Squirrel Boy, did you hold onto my staff?" Daryl eyed me slowly.
"Only you would want tha' back." He picked up the carved staff from between the wall of his tent and his sleeping bag, passing it to me.
I grinned. "Thanks, Old Man." Daryl narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not tha' much older than you." I chuckled.
"While that may be the case, Old Man, your bones were creaking like a seventy-year-old, and don't even get me started on how much your grumbling sounded like my granddad." Daryl was unamused, only serving to fuel my giggles. Daryl sat up suddenly, tugging me into his tent with him.
I squeaked, more out of surprise than anything. He pulled me closer to him. "Do I look seven'y t' ya?" I smirked.
"Only on a Wednesday."
He rolled his eyes. "Ya don' know wha' day it is."
"How you know that? Is it because with old age comes wisdom?" Daryl, fed up with my antics, turned away from me, heaving a sigh. I pouted, shuffling closer to him. "Come on, Squirrel Boy, I'm just teasing."
"I know, 'n' ya know how ta press my damn buttons." I pouted again and tackled him into a hug. He groaned, but didn't tense like he usually does. "Tha' hell are ya doin'?"
I quirked my eyebrow. I thought that was pretty obvious. "I'm hugging my second favourite person on Earth."
"Who's above me?"
"Glenn."
"Wha' 'bout Xena an' yer sister." Daryl asked, turning around to pull me into his arms.
"Fourth then, but Xena's now technically not even around cus she's been superglued to Rick-a-dilly, and she's not even human, so I guess you're third." Daryl grunted, nodding his head against my shoulder. "I never really thanked you."
"For what?"
"Finding my dumbass in that house." Daryl shrugged.
"I don' need thankin' for tha'." I shook my head.
"No, probably not, but I'm glad you did cus I didn't particularly want to stay lost in the woods for much longer." Daryl chuckled quietly, letting go of me. I frowned. "What's so funny that you actually laughed?"
"Ya just admitted you were lost." Amusement danced in his light blue eyes as he tugged a light blanket over him from the foot of his dark green sleeping bag.
"Shut it. Don't tell a soul and I'll shut my trap about how you're secretly seventy." He rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, whatever keeps ya quiet." I grinned widely, reaching over to ruffle his hair.
"Enjoy the eternal boredom of bed rest, Squirrel Boy." I left for the exit hearing him answer with a quiet 'I will' before the blanket rustled and he rolled back over.
I stepped out of the tent, zipping it up after me before I bounced off to finally find my disloyal puppy dog.
------
Eventually, I found my traitorous hound at the heels of none other than Ricardo the Sheriff. For a long time I leant on my carved staff and stared down at her. Rick chuckled.
"I was wondering when you'd stop by to pick up your dog." Xena looked up at me with her deep brown knowledgeable eyes, her head tilted to the side.
"Yeah, I wanted my favourite little traitor to help me search for Sophia, but now, I wonder if she even wants to come anywhere with me that means leaving your side, Rick-a-dilly." Rick snorts.
"Rick-a-dilly? Were'd that come from?" I shrugged.
"Just sounded right, I don't know."
Rick smiled back at me. "Alright, I'll take it. For what it's worth, she's been good company, but I think its time for her to go back to your side--its kinda weird turning around and almost crashing into something that looks so much like a bear." He paused, looking down at her, a small smile on his face. "You know, she's scared the hell out of me a good many times." I laughed and Xena received a pat on the head for Rick before she trotted over to me and nuzzled her head into my side in between by arm and my waist, seeking attention. I ruffled the fur between her ears.
Rick eyed my staff. "Where'd you find that?" I smirked.
"Find it? Oh, Rick-a-dilly, you greatly underestimate my power as your master of the carving arts." He quirked an eyebrow, shifting all his weight onto his right leg and sat his hand on his hip where it jutted out from the way he carried himself.
"You carved that?" His cool, refreshing blue eyes met mine at I grinned, nodding. "Can I?" He asked, extending out the hand that was not attatched to his hip. I stood up straight and passed it over to him. Rick took the staff, weighing in in this hand and turning it over to scrutinize every woodland creature, butterfly, fern frond and other plant at the ends of the staff. Even taking a moment to scan his eyes over the middle of the staff that I'd carved into a swirling pattern which served at a better way to grip the staff.
He finally handed it back to me. I took it gratefully. "Its very intricate. Where'd you learn?" I smiled fondly at the memory of Mrs McGee and my Granddad who had worked together in an art gallery after he'd retired from his Naval duties and just before she'd retired.
"My Granddad hooked me up with someone who knew how to sculpt when he found me stripping the bark off a couple logs I'd stolen from the woodpile next to the fireplace. Saw me making notches in the wood--patterns--it wasn't very exciting back then, but in exchange for helping her cook and clean, Mrs McGee taught Lucille and I how to carve. We liked her and decided we'd help her out with her gardening too. God, that woman was a Rose fanatic. 'Roses this' and 'Roses that', in fact, if our last names weren't Rose, I doubt I'd have learnt to carve." Rick listened, almost choking on his own giggles. "Sweet old lady, she was."
Once he'd calmed down a little, though the sparkle of amusement still laid in his eyes, Rick asked a question I'd thought he'd already know the answer too. "Lucille your sister?" I nodded.
"You didn't hear about that?" He shook his head.
"Its not really a story for anyone else to tell. I guess." Rick scratched the back of his head. "I should get going, good luck with your search."
"Thanks."
With that, I was back in play and out searching for my first twelve year old female friend out in the woods again.
------
I knew I'd taken the long route--I mean, since when didn't I? But I mean, seriously, this is overkill, even by my standards.
Xena and I must've been out here for five hours, and if I might be slightly honest, I think I might be just a little bit lost. Only a little bit. I know the rough direction back... I think? Maybe I should test that theory.
My eyes settled on my favourite dog who trotted ahead of me, fluffy tail swishing against the ground, catching dried leaves in her tail, some of which had been kicked up by her back legs which flicked up with every step.
Its funny, really, she probably has a better sense of direction than I do and she's what? Eight months old? I'm pretty sure I couldn't talk at that age, let alone follow my nose after a lost little girl, take down a few walkers or trott like this Queen ahead of me does. That swagger, my lord, I'd kill for that level of self-love in this era.
I smiled as she returned to me, sitting her ass down, panting heavily, and staring up at me with her killer puppy dog eyes.
"What?" I asked her, and she immediately flopped to the ground, setting a large paw over her snout, and peered up at me. I almost laughed. "You're tired?" She yipped. "Alright, you take us home, Xena." She jumped up onto her paws and I followed her in a slightly different direction to which I thought home was in. Huh, guess I was wrong.
------
I made it back just in time for dinner. I tugged the few leaves out of Xena's fur before entering the camp, and taking my seat beside Glenn, Xena laying out over our feet. Carol passed me a bowl, smiling down at me as she did so. I flashed her a smile as the seat beside me was stolen by T-dog, much to Squirrel Boy's dismay, who instead sat on the other side of Glenn, a hint of a scowl on his face. I flashed him a 'better luck next time' smile to which he rolled his eyes.
We ate, sharing a few stories, but I couldn't help but feel Glenn's anxiety. His leg jumped up and down, disturbing Xena who moved across the other side of the campfire to Carl who's eyes shone with excitement at the chance to pet her. I couldn't help but side-eye him, curiosity raging through my veins.
Glenn's eyes seemed to consistently dart toward Dale's, and whenever they locked eyes, Dale would give him a nod of approval. Almost like he was trying to tell Glenn that everything was okay, and that he shouldn't worry as much as he clearly was.
The second that both him and I were done eating, I nudged his knee with mine. He almost jumped out of his skin. His wide eyes met mine and he relaxed quite a bit. I nodded my head away from the camp and stood, gesturing him to follow me. He looked hesitant, but after another nod from Dale he stood and followed me out.
Once we were far enough away, I sat down, yanking him down by the arm with me, and laid back in the grass, staring up at the dimming sky. I felt his eyes watch me curiously for a minute before he did the same, his tense muscles relaxing slowly.
We lay there in silence for awhile, before I opened my mouth. "You're worried, stressed, tense, anxious, you name it, you're feeling it. What's wrong?" He sighed.
"Is it that obvious?" I chuckled.
"Yeup, painfully obvious. I mean, pretty sure you set Daryl into kill-or-be-killed mode when you jumped through the ceiling at my slightest knee-knocking." Glenn sighed et another world-bearing sigh.
"Can you keep a secret?" I smirked.
"I'm a steal trap, Lil' Bro."
"Okay, so, uh--" He gulped loudly. "ThereswalkersinthebarnandLorispregnant." I squinted.
"Try saying that slowly, cus to me, that didn't even sound like English." Glenn, working himself up as usual, started panicking again. I held his hand, rubbing soothing patterns on his hand with my thumb. "Deep breaths, Pizza God." After a few long deep breaths he opened his mouth again.
"There's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant."
"Ah, you see, that's a lot more English sounding." I thought for a minute. "Yeah, that sounds troubling." Glenn shot me a surprised, and somewhat terrified look. "What?"
"How the hell are you so calm?!"
"Well, the barn's obviously secure enough to hold as many as there are in it, because we would've known about it otherwise--unless I'm outta the loop as I always somehow seem to be--and Lori's a grown woman, she can choose what she wants to do with the baby. It's none of our business, really." I answered, shrugging it off like it was nothing. "Though I doubt Shane will take the walkers in the barn thing very well, Rick'll find a way to sort it out."
"Right," He seemed to have calmed down significantly. "Thanks, Harpie." He squeezed my hand as I shot him a questioning glance.
"What the hell's for?"
Glenn chuckled. "For being reasonable, for being clever, and for bringing me out here to talk."
"Ahhh, it feels good to just talk to people, and to relax--properly, you know, without having to worry about the impending explosion of the building we're in, or about walkers or about being hopelessly lost in a forest, or about what we're gonna be eating. Y'know, about everything. In other words, no problem." Glenn snorted.
"How does that mean no problem?"
I frowned, confused at myself. "I don't know, I can't honestly remember half of what I just said." Glenn burst into laughter, momentarily forgetting his problems. I chuckled along, now completely forgetting what I had said.
That night, Glenn and I returned to the tent I now apparently shared with him. We slept like--well, like people who didn't know that there were walkers in the barn. How hilariously ironic.