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ROSALINE FINISHED off her meal, taking a teatowel and wiping down her face before giving the pair thanks just like daryl had done. she sipped down the rest of her drink.
eric gave her a friendly nod, "if any of you two are out there, if you happen to be in a store or something, mrs. neudermyer is really looking for a pasta maker."
"she wants to make pasta?" rosaline asked.
he gave a shy smile, "yeah, we're all really trying to get her to shut up about it so..."
the girl watched as daryl took a sip of his wine, "yeah we can try and keep a lookout for one."
"i mean, we have crates of dried pasta in here, but she wants to make her own or something. i really think she just wants something to talk about, so..." the man explained, "if you see one out on your travels, it would go a long way to..."
aaron gave him a pointed look, causing eric to stop mid-speech.
"alright." she said.
eric picked at his food, "i thought it was done. you didn't ask him already?" he turned to his boyfriend.
"ask me what?" daryl suddenly spoke up, quirking a curious brow.
aaron pushed out of his chair, beckoning them, "come. i've got something to show you, rosaline you can of course come if you'd like."
he led them over to a garage. inside, there was a bike covered with a cream-colored cloth. as well as that, on the shelves, there were various parts that could fit to different vehicles.
"when i got the place, there were some frames and some parts and equipment." the recruiter elaborated whilst daryl went to examine everything laying spread out on the tables, "whoever lived here built them."
"it's a lot of parts for one bike." the marksman commented.
aaron let out a small scoff, "whenever i came across any parts out there, i brought them back. i didn't know what i'd need. i'd always thought i'd learn how to do it, but i get a feeling you already know what to do with it."
of course, he did. daryl was a fan of bikes due to merle. he'd lost the last one they had back at the prison. he definitely missed the feeling of riding one.
"that's kind of you." rosaline stated, taking a good look around the garage.
aaron dipped his head, "he's gonna need it."
"why?" daryl queried.
"i told deanna not to give you a job because i think i have one for you." he explained, "i'd like you to be alexandria's other recruiter. now, i'm not sure about you rosaline because deanna hasn't mentioned anything to me."
she put her hand up to stop him, "no that's okay. daryl will probably be good at that job."
aaron threw his gaze to the floor, "i don't want eric risking his life anymore."
"you want me risking mine, right?" the redneck shot back unimpressed.
"i apologize rosaline." the recruiter said before bringing his focus back to the marksman, "it's because you know what you're doing. you're good out there, but you don't belong out there. i know it's hard getting used to people getting used to you. i understand right now you need to be out there sometimes. so do i."
"i see where you're coming from." the girl piped up, leaning against the door frame.
"thank you. the main reason i want daryl to help me recruit is that he does know the difference between a good person and a bad person."
daryl had decided to take aaron's words to heart, taking a long minute to answer his proposition. his eyes met rosaline's momentarily, checking if she was okay with it. the girl nodded as if to encourage him to accept the offer. she knew it was best for him.
"i got nothin' else to do." he agreed, "thanks."
"yeah." aaron said.
daryl wanted to repay him, "i'll get you some rabbits."
"great." the man laughed.
rosa shook her head, leaving the two to their devices. she'd decided to go and speak to eric some more to get to know him a bit.
"he show him?" eric inquired, hopefully.
"yep." she replied, sitting herself down.
he bobbed his head up and down slowly, "you and daryl... married?"
the young woman giggled, "no, daryl isn't much of a guy to rip out a ring. just boyfriend and girlfriend - i think that's enough until he decides he's ready."
eric grinned, "aaron and i are the same, sort of. you seem very close to him, like bound at the hip."
"you could say that." she smiled lightly, "i just want to make sure he feels okay around here. it's hard for him to be around so many people, just like it is for all of our group."
"that's understandable." he said shortly, "i think he'll get used to it."
"so do i."
"i heard you have a dog?"
"i do." rosaline confirmed, "he's just in the house resting. he's had a long day."
the man hummed, "he can kill the roamers?"
she nodded, "track, round up things, fetch and retrieve."
"impressive."
"rosa?" daryl called out to her softly from the garage, "ya wanna go home?"
the girl took this as a sign that her boyfriend wanted to disappear. he'd had too much interaction for that day. she gave eric's hand a small pat, standing up out of her chair and joining the marksman at the door.
"alright, dare. thanks, aaron, eric. the food was great." she grinned, giving them a wave before being walked out their door.
"goodnight." he waved back.
quietly, the pair made their way down the street once more. probably to go back to the house. the party at deanna's still seemed to be going on.
rosaline squinted as she saw sasha rush out the house, a stressed look on her face. concern filled her eyes as she stopped daryl, "sasha, you okay?"
"fine." she snapped, hurrying away.
daryl and her exchanged a look.
he scoffed, "seems like the party is going to shit."
"best we leave her alone until she cools down. you had a good day? aaron was generous to give you all that." she sighed, crossing her arms.
the redneck cleared his throat, "sure. i've been thinking about what we were doing. out there."
the brunette stared at him momentarily, "what about it?"
"do we really need to do that?"
she looked to the house, "i think you're gonna have to bring that up with rick when possible."
daryl walked up the steps with her, opening the door, "guess so."
"you starting to like these people?"
he rolled his eyes, "i don't know."
she poked him, "you can admit it, at least to me."
the marksman gave a smug look, "a little bit."
rosaline laughed, pulling him inside, "aaron's been the nicest out of them so far, it's okay that you feel like that. now, come on, let's get to bed. i'm not going anywhere near that party now that i've seen sasha storm out."
daryl nodded going up the steps and into their bedroom. rosaline decided that she wanted to take a shower, so she quickly rushed into the room and picked out what she was going to wear to sleep. he stared at her hesitantly.
she caught his eye, "you coming?" she smiled softly.
a ghost of a smile settled on his face before he pushed off the mattress, following after her. there was no one else in the home, they had some privacy again. besides, he really needed another shower.
when rosaline stepped in, daryl joined her shortly. the pair took their time with one another. gently, rosa would wash through daryl's once again, matted hair, making sure to get any knots out.
he stayed there, enjoying her touch as the warm water hit back. in turn, daryl repeat the action on her, enjoying how soft her hair felt in his fingers, the smell of the shampoo enhancing the experience.
she stood up on her tiptoes, peppering daryl's jaw with light kisses. with every touch of her lips, he could swear he felt fireworks setting off inside of him.
this was exactly how he wanted things to be, and he wouldn't change it for the world.
thankfully, it was still quiet when they got out and climbed into bed, dimming the light on the nightstand. daryl felt comfortable with the smaller woman propped up on his chest, his hands playing with her fingers.
unknown to him, all she felt was bliss. it seemed that to her, life inside the walls once more was becoming more accustomed to. perhaps, they could finally lead a normal life?
rick, carl, judith, her, daryl, and the rest of the group, side by side? things seemed too good and for once the girl hoped that it was true that this would last.
"love you, dare." she whispered into his ear, giving him a soft, yet long kiss.
he smiled against her soft lips, "love ya too. i'll start tryin'."
with that, the two settled for the night, shutting the light off, enjoying each other's embrace.
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outside the walls, rick, carol, daryl, and rosaline had met up. rhaegar stayed at home with carl, who took him along to see some of the other teenagers in the neighborhood.
carol started to fish out what she had collected from yesterday in her back, "take your pick." she said to daryl.
although, he looked unsure.
"look, i've been thinking. do we really need these? i mean; things go bad, we do what we gotta do, but it's like you said." daryl turned to rick, "we don't need these for that."
"i'm with daryl. we don't really wanna harm anybody, do we?" rosa looked to them hopefully.
carol gave her a look, "right now we don't."
"you wanted me to try, right?" daryl corrected her, "i'm good."
the marksman refused to take the guns. the older woman offered them to the girl but she shook her head. meanwhile, rick still decided to take them.
she and daryl couldn't hide their disappointment, but it was his decision. rosaline placed her hand on daryl's upper back, supporting his choice. the four returned to the community, carol and rick going their separate ways.
"you did the right thing." she comforted quietly.
he dipped his head, "hope so."
she hummed, "you're meant to be going out with aaron today, right?"
"yeah, you coming?" daryl asked, somewhat hopefully.
the brunette shook her head, "no, glenn had asked me to stay behind this morning because they wanted someone to go out with them on their run." she explained, "i found you a leather jacket for riding though, i put it on the counter downstairs."
"thanks." he murmured giving her a peck on the cheek, "i'll go then, probably best to get that bike out of his garage."
"okay, be careful," she warned, letting her palm linger on his arm before walking away.
he started to walk away, "you too."
within around ten minutes, the girl could hear the gates opening and the rev of the motorbike sounding across the street. that meant daryl was going. she gave a silent prayer for his safety and went to find carl.
he'd been sat on their porch, chucking a stray stick back and forth for rhaegar to chase after.
"hey, carl." she sat down on the steps next to him, "i gotta go on a run, i have to take rhaegar. that okay?"
the boy gave a small smile, "sure."
"everything coming along alright, the other kids being nice?"
"yeah. i think that girl enid... she doesn't like me." he admitted.
rosa frowned placing an arm around his shoulders, "i'm sure that's not it. give her some time, she might warm up you. you are pretty scary." she teased.
carl let out a laugh, "thanks." his gaze lifted as he saw glenn gesturing to rosaline slapping the back of his head. quickly, he reached around rosaline's head and gave her a hard slap.
she yelped out, "what was that for?!"
the teenager couldn't help but keep down his giggles, "glenn told me to do it. he wants you to come over."
"oh right!" she stood up, patting his sheriff's hat, completely forgetting about his previous actions, "you keep a lookout for your little sister, okay?"
he nodded.
glenn was becoming impatient, "rosaline! get your ass down here." he screamed to her jokingly.
"alright!" she yelled back, rosa quickly uttered her dog's name causing him to follow whilst she jogged down the street to meet up with the korean.
"took you long enough," he smirked.
she rolled her eyes, "i get it. what spot are we hitting?"
the asian leaned closer to her ear, "you're gonna have to ask the asshole there." he murmured.
rosaline scoffed, her eyes landing on aiden who was looking down at a map having a chat with his pal nicholas. her face couldn't stop from being scrunched up in distaste.
"you scowl like that anymore you're gonna get wrinkles." glenn teased.
she punched his back playfully.
in the foreground, eugene was complaining about being dragged along the for the run. however, glenn had informed her that morning that they needed him for what they wanted.
aiden gave him a look full of cheek, "we're not driving all that way so we can just drive back with the wrong shit."
eugene held up the device in his hand, "it's a dozen of these. they're consistent in appearance across manufacturers. the shit will be right."
rosa was aware that this was just his cowardice again, "well the components inside might not be consistent."
"i will install said shit, i guarantee it will be right." he pressed while they packed their things, "then the grid will be fully operational again."
noah was still not convinced and shoved the pistol with the holster in his chest. he was going. rosaline sighed and slapped the back of the truck, making rhaegar hop in.
that caught aiden's attention, "what's this? dodge the fare?"
"he's more useful than you think." rosaline shot back at him, "get used to it."
glenn took a checklist and started to tick it off. it was stuff they needed. he passed the girl a big which she chucked in the back. aiden gave her an unimpressed look before speaking to deanna who had arrived with his father, reg, to check up on how their packing was going.
"rosaline." deanna caught her attention.
she tilted her head, "yes?"
"i've thought of a job for you, you'll be a medical apprentice and if you don't have a busy schedule you may go on runs like this so if anyone gets injured you can help. glenn had already brought it to my attention, as your dog comes into use too." the leader of the community informed, walking up to where the german shepherd was sat, giving him a scratch behind the ear.
the brunette dipped her head, "alright thanks deanna."
"daylight's burning! let's go." aiden demanded.
glenn joined them in the back. rosa couldn't help but groan as aiden put on a terrible mix of his songs, blaring it out of the truck.
"great. another mix." noah whined in frustration.
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aiden... he's very annoying. can't lie.
don't forget to vote and comment!
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