Love & survival (Daryl Dixon x oc)

Twenty-six

"You know, you're always welcome at camp if you want to have a better meal than a burned squirrel." I said after a while of silence.

"Nah, ye go."

"Okay then." I was on my way to go back when I realised I forgot to mention something, "Oh, FYI, we had a spare tent, you didn't have to take ours."

"I know." He said and grabbed his crossbow and walked into the woods. "Well, bye then." I said loudly as he was already far-ish away. He kept walking.

In the evening we were in the house at the dining table having dinner. Andrea and Shane came in. "They should've been back by now." She said. 

"Yeah. They just got holed up somewhere. We'll head out first thing in the morning." Shane said while he and Andrea joined us at the dining table. I was sitting next to Carl. "Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay?" Shane continued to the boy. Carl nodded and I rolled my eyes. He's just a fucking kid, you can't expect him to be some sort of insane surival expert like his dad. Fucking hell, Shane. 

"Your old man, he's the toughest son of a-" Shane was cut off by Patricia, "-No cussin' in the house." She gave him a firm look. He apologized. 

Carol called for Lori but Maggie said she wasn't here. "Well, where is she then?" I asked. She looked at me and shrugged while shaking her head lightly, she didn't know. It fell quiet for a moment. "Carl, when did you last see your mom?" I asked him. "This afternoon." He replied.

"She was worried abour Rick, asked me to look in on Carl." Andrea said.

"She went after them?" Dale asked. 

"She didn't say that."

"Nobody panic. She's gonna be around here somewhere." Shane stood up. Everyone did and searched around the house and camp. I sprinted towards Daryls camp. Hoping he'd knew more. Gosh he moved far. "Hey" I said out of breath as I reached him.

"Hi. Lookin' for a place to sleep?" He joked with a slight smirk.

"Although I really like your offer, no." I smirked back still out of breath. "Lori's gone. Do you know more?"

"That dumb bitch must've gone looking for 'em. Yeah, she asked me to go, I said I was done being an errand boy."

"And you said nothing to us?" I asked. He just kept poking the fire. "Daryl."

"What? If she wants 'em so badly, she can go get 'em. I ain't lookin' for anyone anymore." He said waving his arms around, I just stared at him. "What? The little girl wasn't my problem either. Sophia wasn't mine! I'm done looking for people. Leave me be." He walked to his tent. I went back to the house to tell everyone. 

"Well where is she?" I heard Carl ask when I got back. "Lori asked Daryl to go find them. He didn't want to. She must've gone herself." I said as I put an arm around Carl as he wimperd. He realised both of his parents went away. Carl escaped from my arm and ran to his tent. I went after him.

I knocked, well tapped, on the tent, pretty dumb but I didn't want to barge in. After I got no reaction I still did. "Hey, big guy." I smiled. He quickly wiped away his tears, "Hi..."

"Wanna hear a story?"

"Sure"

"Have you ever heard of the incredibly tough guy who was sad, because he lost some of his loved ones?"

"No" Carl slighlty smiled as he knew what I was doing.

"The story is really cool trust me. Wanna hear it?"

"Sure"

"Okay, here we go. So this guy, he lived in a very, very fucked up world." I started, Carl smiled at me in disbelief of the curse word. "He was one of the toughest, he had a bunch of people around him that really cared about him and protected him at all cost. He was alright, he was still alive and he was super cool. But one day, one of his loved ones decided to leave to save someone else. That made him a little sad but he knew the loved one would be alright and come back. Later on that same day one of his other loved ones went after the first loved one, but he didn't know until hours later. When he figured it out he got really sad and everyone went looking for them 'cause they didn't like seeing the though badass guy sad. They got them back and the tough guy lived a happily ever after."

"Wow"

"Do you like the story?" I asked.

"Yeah! Duh. The tough guy seems very cool."

"Oh he is, trust me, he's very cool." I smiled as I saw I cheered Carl up. I hugged him and asked if he wanted to help me set up the reserve tent, he did. Shane had gone after Lori. As Carl and I were packing out the tent T-Dog came in and helped us. Within 20 minutes we had it set up. I was just finished with putting my stuff in. I realised I did the exact same thing as Daryl, all of my stuff on my side of the tent. Like he was still here. "Looks good, Emris." Carl came in. "I know right. Just the company that's less now."

"Are you and Daryl together?"

"What?"

"I don't know, you seem very close, closer than anyone's with him. You guys are good together, you make a, like, power couple." He chuckled.

"We're not together, Carl." I chuckled.

"So you have a crush on him then?"

"Why do I talk to you about this?"

"I don't know. Everybody always answers the tough guy's questions." Carl said and I laughed at his comment. "Yeah, I suppose you're right, tough guy." I said. We continued talking until Shane got back with Lori. We stood up immideatly and walked over to the car. "Oh my god, are you all right? What happened?" Andrea asked.

I was in an accident. I'm fine. I'm fine. I really am. Where's Rick?" Lori answerd and asked. It fell quiet. Douchebag Shane must've said he was back, asshole. "They're not back?" She realised, "Where are they?"

"Look, I had to get you back here." Shane answerd her question.

"You asshole." She said. I completely agreed with her.

"Lori.." Shane started. 

"He's my husband." She started pushing him, he didn't move an inch.

"Lori, I will go after him. I will find him. Hey!" Shane pushed her back, she did move a feet back or so. "Now look, first things first... I gotta... I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's all right, okay?" Baby? She's fucking pregnant? What the hell. It's probably Shane's. How could it be Rick's.

"You're having a baby?" Carl asked wich shook me out of my thoughts. He stepped forward to his mom, "Why didn't you tell me?" Lori stammerd looking for an answer. It was quiet and Carl knew Lori didn't have an answer, he stepped back to me. "Come on. Let's make sure you're all right." Dale invited her back in the house. I went back to Daryl, to tell him that Shane found Lori and she's back safely.

When I arrived Daryl wasn't pleased. "Carol sent you to talk some 'sense' into me?" He asked

"No? I came here to tell you Lori's back." I said wondering what had happened between him and Carol.

"Shane got her?"

"Yup. Anyway how are you?"

"'m fine."

"You sure?" I asked knowing he was lying.

"Yeah" He said way to innocently. I tilted my head giving him a look. "I'm not fine." He confessed.

"Do you want to talk 'bout it?" I asked. He didn't reply. "Daryl? ...Hey?"

"...I didn't leave 'cause I was scared of what was happenin' between... us. I left 'cause I- I-" 

"-Because you cared about Sophia. You like you lost a part of you, right?"

"Yeah..." He said soflty wile looking down.

"Hey, it's okay. It's completely normal, we all felt like that." I said lifting his head up, "Hey. Nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm not afraid, I'm just... I'm feeling a lot of things I didn't feel before, ever."

"You're scared for things to change?"

"I dunno, I guess." Daryl said looking at the campfire. "I set up the reserve tent, but I could stay here tonight, if you'd want that." I said after a while of silence. He looked up at me and nodded slightly. "I only got one bed though." He said. "I know." I smirked.