Redemption - The Walking Dead

Come on, coach.

"Room for one more?"

Daryl kickstarted his bike and nodded Carol over with a warm smile.
She climbed on the back of the grumbling bike. After wrapping her arms around Daryl's waist, she leaned her cheek on his shoulder blade. The leather on his back was hot from the spring sun. She shut her eyes and smiled to herself. Her grip around Daryl's waist tightened as the bike accelerated forwards. Being on the back of a bike always brought her a rush of excitement.
Carol had been bored in Alexandria, Negan had been working pretty much from dawn to dusk for most of the week so they hadn't had any real time to see one another. She figured now was a good time to spend some time with Daryl. Carol didn't want to lose him, but she could feel it slowly happening. Despite Negan's lack of sleepovers, Daryl hadn't been coming home at night.

They eventually pulled up to a creek with a small bubbling waterfall.

"Alright, let's see if we caught any fish."
Carol watched as Daryl made his way to the river bed. He dipped his hand into the water and pulled out an empty net. "Damn."

"I thought you would be good at this by now." Carol teased.

"Ain't had any luck this week."
Carol wondered if there was a double meaning to his words.
"But, I got a good feeling 'bout this one." Daryl cursed as he pulled out another empty net from the water.
Carol laughed.
"Oh ya think that's funny huh?" He splashed some water at her.

Carol squealed. "Hey quit it!"

They had a good time the rest of the morning, checking various traps and nets and messing around, but not finding any food.
They eventually made their way back to Daryl's bike.

"Guess I'm no good luck charm?" Carol offered Daryl a smile as he tied his gear back onto the saddle.

He shrugged. "It's always a hit or miss."
Carol bent down and organised her own pack. When she looked up she noticed Daryl was staring at her shoulder, she cleared her throat and moved her hair to cover it again. She wasn't sure if there were any marks there but, judging by the change in Daryl's expression, there must have been signs of Negan on her skin.
"We best get a move on."

"Actually Daryl before we go, I wanted to ask you if you're alright, if we're alright."

Daryl nodded. "We're fine."

Carol huffed. "Well, alright then."

"But uh, you should know. We had a council meeting, few days ago after I got back."

"Nobody told me there was a meeting?"

"I didn' wanna wake you again, you looked exhausted."

You didn't want to see him again, Carol thought to herself. "We had had a long day the day before, all of us."

"They want you to step down as a leader." Daryl chewed his thumb nail.

Carol nodded. "You couldn't have told me sooner?"

"Didn't know how."

They rode back to Alexandria in silence. Carol felt betrayed by Daryl. How could he not have told her there was a meeting being held about her? Did he even fight for her side?
She climbed off his bike and walked away without a word. She needed to go find someone else and she wanted to Daryl to see her find him.
Daryl watched with a scowl on his face as Carol approached Negan with his shovel in hand and that stupid grin on his face. He watched her pull him into a kiss.
As Carol turned away from Negan, her eyes briefly met with Daryl's.

•••

Negan grunted as he dug his shovel into the hard dirt. His tight white tshirt was almost see through in places with sweat. He was digging his fourth fence post hole of the afternoon and he was exhausted. His sudden extra workload hadn't gone unnoticed. He was very sure it was no accident that his free manual labour was suddenly highly sought after.
He took his cap off and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He leaned on the handle of the shovel and placed his cap back on.