Your Guardian Angel (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14

Brielle looked over at Daryl as they drove down the road. They had the windows down and she was enjoying the breeze as it whipped through her hair. Daryl had a small smile on his face as he drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the open window to his left. Brielle looked behind her and saw Sam sitting with his tongue sticking out as he was enjoying the breeze on his face as well. It almost looked as though he was smiling too. They were all pretty happy to finally be on the road and headed towards their destination.

Behind Daryl and Brielle, Rick drove a SUV similar to Brielle’s with Michonne, Carl, and Judith with him. Behind them, Glen drove a four door sedan with Maggie and Carol. They took some of the supplies from Brielle’s Jeep and distributed them into the other vehicles giving Brielle, Daryl and Sam some more room for comfort. Before they left, Brielle, Rick and Daryl mapped out the roads they would take staying off of main highways and away from major cities.  

Brielle sighed heavily and watched the road in front of them knowing the journey was not going to be an easy one. Daryl looked over at her wondering what was going on through her head. He grabbed the steering wheel with his free hand and reached over putting his hand on Brielle’s thigh. She looked up at him and smiled.

“What you got goin’ on up there?” Daryl asked nodding his head towards her.

“I don’t know. I’m just worried about this trip,” she said quietly.

“What about it?” he asked confused. He was certain this was what she wanted to do since the day her met her.

“Don’t get me wrong. I want to do this, but at what cost to others?” she asked looking over at Daryl.

He noticed the fear in her eyes and squeezed her thigh slightly.

“No one is on this trip that doesn't want to be. Even Glen, so don’t worry ‘bout that,” he said trying to reassure Brielle that no one was doing something they did not want to be doing.

Brielle nodded and went back to looking out the windshield. Daryl kept a cautious eye on her knowing a lot of her anxiety was due to what happened at the hospital in Atlanta. There was a part of Brielle that was still blaming herself for the deaths of Jackson and Beth.

“You worrying ‘bout what they think?” Daryl asked trying to get Brielle to open up.

Brielle continued to stare forward and thought about how to respond to Daryl’s question. Daryl kept his eyes towards Brielle as much as he could while driving. He started to bite his lower lip in concentration.

“Oy,” he said trying to get her to look at him.

Brielle looked over at Daryl and shrugged. “I guess I am,” she admitted.

“Why?” he asked curious. He never pictured Brielle being someone who worried about what other’s thought, especially about her.

“Because they are your family and their opinion matters to you, so it matters to me,” she said finding her hands extremely interesting at this point.

Daryl scrunched up his face slightly and thought about what Brielle was saying.

“Guess I didn't think about it that way,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, well, I've thought about it. I've been thinking about it,” she said quietly looking up and forward again.

“Stop,” Daryl said and grabbed Brielle’s hand tightly.

She looked over at him with worry in her eyes.

“They’d of said something to me if they didn't approve of you,” he said and squeezed her hand again.