Don't Fear The Reaper (R. Grimes & D. Dixon)

15

Two weeks after the farm

they sat down to eat, having had just gone through several houses in a small dingy town, scavenging what they could. Kit was situated close to Daryl; this was a ubiquitous thing now. She hardly ever left his side anymore. She had only gotten up to toss her can away as rick cornered her " kit, you can't ignore me forever" she rolled her eyes. Still, he pulled her out to a farther area "look, I'm sorry, okay would you have rather you had to kill Shane yourself. had to watch him die a second time? I just wanted to protect you." he said gently crooking his head to get her to look at him her eyes filling with tears again but not spilling over "I'm sorry" she whispered he hugged her tight "nothing to be sorry for. we just gotta stick together, I need you too kit so does carl. you aren't the only one Shane meant a lot to." kit nodded rick pulled back kissing her forehead she gave him a small smile before going back to daryls side trying to ignore the rant Lori was on about how she would do things when rick went back to her.

Three months after the farm

they had found a gated community and thought they were safe. That was anything but the case as they raced to get to the vehicles again. Kit tripped in a hole she had just hours before warned everyone about spraining her ankle. "kit!" t-dog yelled "fuck I think its sprained!" she grunted as he helped her up, yelping when he tossed her over his shoulder, taking off running rick and Glenn trailing covering them. Daryl threw the car door open for them before getting on his bike. T-dog tossed her in like a rag doll "fuck Theodore," she cursed as he and carl slid in after her. The car was silent as they made it out of the gated community and back on the road. T-dog and kit looked at each other before both busted out laughing. No real reason was involved, but it lightened the mood as the other occupants also chuckled.

Four months after the farm

the last couple of months had been complete hell when it came to her grievance. When she thought she was having a good day, Lori would bring him up, or she would see something that reminded her of him. But today, Daryl and kit were trying to teach rick to hunt, so she hoped it would help her spirits. Plus, hunts were scarce lately, and it would be better with three rather than two with how many mouths they had to feed. Kit bit her lip as Daryl glared at rick as he stomped his way through the forest, which is a significant contrast to kits and Daryl's quiet ones. Daryl held up his crossbow aiming for a squirrel not far away; rick sneezed just as he was about to pull the trigger scaring it away. Kit choked on a laugh seeing daryls face when he whirled around. He pointed a finger at her, glaring to shut up before he started to scold rick as if he was a child. Kit looked around, trying to contain her laughter. As much as she loved seeing a heated Daryl, he could go for hours, and they needed food. A couple of feet away, she saw some cracked branches. She approached it, crouching low. The tracks were deer, maybe an hour old. Kit turned back to the boys whistling; Daryl stopped and walked over when she nodded. He checked the tracks himself before pointing back at rick in warning, his hands raised in surrender. It only took them 2 hours to track down the buck. Daryl grumbled how lucky they were to get anything with a bigfoot stomping around "how about we just teach you to trap instead" kit chuckled, looking at rick as she led them back to camp, leaving them to carry it. 

Six months after the farm

kit sat next to Daryl, sharpening her knife. The groups fire in the distance; they were first on watch. "hey, Hershel said something about him being in charge of the baby now? Everything alright?" rick asked, crouching in from of her. her hands clenched around the knife and rock tighter, clenching her jaw and meeting ricks eyes

 "were you ever gonna tell me that baby could be shanes?"

 " I don't. How did you know?" ricks eyes widened. Daryl peaked at her; he wondered why she was so pissed the last couple of days. 

"you don't exactly hide your disgust when you look at her. So I thought maybe they were just going through something like fucking always. But then your lovely wife keeps mentioning my now-dead boyfriend. Making it real fucking hard to move on. So I thought some more back to all those angry secret arguments between Shane and Lori. that annoying fucking tension that showed up at the farm between you and Shane. you've known all along, haven't you?" 

" not all along. I had to figure it out on my own too." He tried to defend himself

"But you couldn't tell me? was I just supposed to find out when it comes out looking like him? Thats seriously fucked Rick. Like I want to hit you right now honestly." 

"I couldn't be the one to break your heart kit. I also didn't want to tarnish any memories you had of Shane. he loved you, kit. In his own messed up way, You gotta know that." kit shook her head. 

"Keep your stupid bitch away from me. I've been contemplating her death or scalping her." Daryl hid a smile, nudging her. Rick gave her an understanding sad look before kissing her head and going to walk away. "Rick." she called again, he turned back to her expectantly. "You hide something from me again and I'm gonna kick your ass," she said firmly; he nodded, pursing his lips, and layed next to carl. Kit peaked at Daryl "you know?" 

"merle made a big scene when he caught em' just the one time tho" 

"would you have ever told me?"  

"I don't know" kits leaned her head on his shoulder

 "you're all fuckin idiots; same goes for you too," she mumbled. His shoulder shook as he chuckled, he knew she was serious and hurt, but she also looked like a tiny angry kitten at that moment.

"Could kill her in her sleep; no one would know. Or care," she mumbled, her eyes narrowing on the brunette shapeless twig who was still muttering to herself.

"You ain't killin a pregnant woman brainiac, too good for that," Daryl mumbled back 

"It's a new world; who knows maybe I'm not." 

"Stop"

"Fine." she huffed, sitting up and returning to sharpening her knife. "I'll wait till it's born."

Seven months after the farm

Rick, kit, and Daryl were clearing one wing of the school while Glenn, t-dog, and maggie cleared the other. The others were securely locked in the cafeteria. The last room they walked into appeared to be a sex ed and health class. Daryl broke into the health cabinet, grabbing everything he knew they would need. After several runs with kit, he got the basics of what to look for. Kit and rick grabbed stuff in the front of the classroom cabinets. When kit was done, she zipped back up her bag and turned to look around the room, her eyes zeroing in on the items on the desk. Tossing rick a mischievous look as she picked up the 3d print of the male reproductive system and a condom out of the fishbowl. She turned to Daryl as he zipped up his bag holding up both items. "Mr. Dixon would you care to demonstrate for the class?" daryls eyes went wide "stop," he rasped, zigzagging his way thru the tables to get out of the class as quickly as he could, knocking over a female uterus model in the process. Kit and rick burst out laughing; kit grabbed the bowl on their way out of the classroom and back to the group. She tossed it into the lap of a very red-faced Glenn as maggie tried to hide her face from the looks Hershel was sending the two. Kit chuckled, sitting next to Daryl, who was far away from the group, his cheeks still hot. "sorry, dar," she sang, kissing his cheek. He scoffed, trying to give her a heated glare, but she only smiled wider holding out some jerky. He took it rolling his eyes, nudging her as rick sat down on her other side, taking a piece of jerky from her as well.