Jinx || Daryl Dixon || The Walking Dead Fanfic

-11-

DARYL

As he opened his eyes slowly in the bright light of the lamp, he realised someone was holding his hand. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and saw Jinx curled up in the chair beside him. She was so tiny that she'd managed to pull her knees up, her chin resting on them as she slept curled into a tight ball that couldn't possibly be comfortable. He gave her small hand a gentle squeeze and watched as her eyes flew open. They looked more green than gold in the light of the room and he tried to give her a smile.

She winced as she stretched her legs out in front of her and Daryl knew he'd been right, that position obviously hadn't done her back any favours. He shuffled away from her so he was on the far side of the bed and indicated for her to lie next to him, she hesitated but then crawled onto the bed beside him resting her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her and inhaled the scent that reminded him of calm summer nights as he started to fall asleep again. He couldn't be sure, but as he slipped back into slumber, he thought he heard her whisper "We'll find them, I promise".

The girl was still lying beside him when he woke up and he took the chance to study her face more closely as she slept. The few days they'd been at the farm had done her good, she looked less tired and the time in the sun had brought a scattering of freckles out across her pale face. She looked so peaceful in her sleep and he couldn't resist reaching out to push a strand of hair away from her eyes.

She stirred slightly and shuffled a little, causing him to hold his breath, but her breathing quickly returned to the pattern of sleep. Where she'd moved, the gold chain he'd seen the night before had escaped from the neck of her top, the ring he'd seen also hanging from it and he lifted it gently to look at it closer.

He hadn't sensed the change in her breathing as he'd been studying the jewellery. "It was my mum's engagement ring" she murmured softly, "she gave it to me for my 21st, when she found out about my trip, she made me promise not to bring any of my expensive jewellery because she was worried I'd lose it, but I wanted to make sure I had a piece of her wherever I went." She sighed and her voice shook slightly as she continued, "I didn't think it would be the last piece of her I'd have".

Daryl pulled her in closer, dropping the ring and holding her as tight as he could manage with the stitches in his side. There wasn't much love lost between him and his folks, but he sure missed Merle. His brother was a bastard, but he was all the family he had left, so he understood exactly how she felt about the ring, because he felt the same way about Merle's bike.

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JINX

They stayed laying there like that until the unmistakable sounds of people moving around started to filter through from the rest of the house. Reluctantly Jinx sat up, stretched and gave Daryl a small smile before walking back around the room to pick up her shoes. As he went to follow her, she looked down at him with a stern expression, "Rest" she told him and was surprised when he slumped back down and did as he was told.

As she padded down the hall with her shoes in her hand she ran into Maggie, looking awfully stressed for someone who was supposed to have gotten laid the night before. She went to open her mouth, but Maggie just shook her head and Jinx took the hint. Instead, she held up the sad looking pair of trainers and asked Maggie if she could keep an eye out for a pair of shoes in her size the next time they went on a run.

Maggie smiled brightly, apparently pleased to have a problem she could easily solve and dragged the other girl towards her room where she reached into a closet and pulled out a pair of cowboy boots. "They're not new", she shrugged, "but they've got plenty of life left in 'em" and Jinx was delighted to discover they fit perfectly, and she thanked Maggie profusely the whole way down to breakfast until the other girl had to tell her shut up.