Breathe Princess (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter Forty Three

Everyone from the prison had given myself, my mom, and Alison some room to breathe. Daryl had sulked a little when I told him to leave us alone, but he understood; plus I guess being around a girls parents wasn't exactly his favourite pastime.

"You and the motorbike guy then?" Alison asked, sitting herself down at a table in the courtyard. I didn't mind that my mom was currently sitting across from her; she was going to find out eventually.

"Yeah, have been for a while I guess." I shrug and sit down next to her, fiddling with the ring on my necklace.

"Does he know..." My mom started but I quickly interrupted, wanting to shoot her down before everyone found out.

"No he doesn't." I knew she was going to mention Jacob. I still had to pretend that he wasn't popping up every time I turned my head. I hated living my life on the edge f my seat just because I didn't know if I was going to see him standing there in the corner of a room with a stupid smirk on his face because he knew that he was starting to bother me.

"He knows about your heart though I'm assuming?" My mom asked, leaning across the table and handing me a bag. "I picked up these medications along the way. Mainly from Woodbury. I had to have hope that we would one day find you and I knew you'd be needing these." That was something my mom always had; hope. Even when she and my dad found out that I was probably going to die at some point in the near future, she would always be the one to keep everyone's spirits up.

"Thanks Mom," I took the bag off her and placed it beside me on the floor, keeping it close. That was definitely something I didn't want to lose. "I really think you guys are going to like it here. It's closed so it's safe from walkers. Everyone puts in their own work load so no one can say they're not doing anything. Rick's kind of our unofficial leader but don't let Daryl know I told you that." I laughed and winked towards Alison. "I really have missed you." I sent a weak smile towards both my mom and Alison, trying not to tear up. I'd gone so long with out them, I'd almost completely forgotten what it was like to have family with you.

Rick, Glenn, hell even Carol; they were family. No doubt about it. But they weren't like my mom.

Mom's are the people you go to when you're scared, sad, excited... basically every emotion you can feel, you just want your mom to tell you everything's going to be okay and she can make you soup when you're sick. I've missed that kind of familiarity that having her around brings me.

"It's good to have you back, Annora." Alison smiled, reaching across the table and grabbing my hand. She too was someone I'd missed. Her jokes were the best and always made me laugh whenever I wasn't feeling well. She was going to be my maid of honour when Jacob and I finally got married but; maybe now that was never going to happen. To me; Daryl didn't seem like the type of guy to want to get married anyway. But then again, this was the apocalypse, who's to say we will ever officially get married?

"Annora?" I blink a couple of times and look up at my mom who is staring at me. 

"Are you okay?" She had worry etched across her features, her hand shot across the table to grab the free one that Alison wasn't holding on to.

"Yeah mom I'm fine, just thinking." I send her a reassuring smile and stand up, brushing off the back of my pants. "How about I show you where you'll be staying. It's not exactly Four Seasons but it's home." I link my arm with Alison and lead the way to the cell blocks. They were going to need somewhere good to stay.

*

I didn't really keep track of how much time had passed since Mom and Alison arrived. I never really kept track of time in general, but the prison was thriving.
We had a little farm with pigs and horse. We had crops growing and Daryl was always going out hunting and bringing back food for the hundreds of people we had living here now.

It was finally starting to feel like a home; finally starting to feel safe. We hadn't had somewhere safe in such a long time and it really felt like people were starting to get used to that fact.

In the middle of the courtyard, we'd managed to set up what seemed to most people like an open canteen. There was a little barbeque kind of get up on the side where someone was stood cooking the meat Daryl had killed the day before and a lot of people were seated around tables digging into their own lunches.

"Morning Daryl!" Someone yelled across the courtyard as Daryl walked up to where I was leaning against the bar, picking at my own meat that was in a bowl beside me.

A lot of people had finally come to appreciate Daryl for everything that he was doing for the camp and it was nice to see people learning to love him; even if sometimes he didn't want it.

"Smell's good." Daryl complimented Carol's cooking as he walked up to the bar as she liked to call it. She had been taking control of the bar all day making sure people got their food when they wanted it.

"Just so you know," I started, walking closer so I was finally in the line of sight, "I liked you first." I laughed and kissed him on the cheek as he mumbled a 'stop'. He and I had gotten incredibly close over the last couple of months or so. We were pretty much inseparable and I was so glad when I stopped seeing Jacob around every corner.

Sometimes he would show up and it would scare me, but then he would go as soon as he came and everything was back to normal for a few weeks.

"You know Rick bought in a lot of them too." He defended himself, taking the attention away from him and onto someone who was used to the attention. Don't get me wrong, credit where it was due; Rick had gone and bought in a lot more people recently and it was great; but Daryl and Glenn were the ones who were running out and gathering new people for the prison. We'd managed to build quite a community because of those two.

"Not recently." Carol spoke up. "Giving strangers sanctuary, keeping people fed; you're going to have to live with the love." I chuckled at Carols statement. She and I were no longer pretending to hate each other. She was alright in the long run, I just kind of had to swallow my pride and deal with it.

"I want to show you something." Carol spoke towards Daryl. "Patrick, can you take over?" Carol asked the boy who stood round the other side of the bar with messed black hair and thick rimmed black glasses nodded, smiling as he obliged. He was one of those kids that didn't want to say no it anyone at all. He was a good kid.

"You comin'?" Daryl asked, wrapping an arm around my waist and looked down at me.

"Nah, I'm going to stay here, keep an eye on everything. Besides, Mom will be back soon, she'll want some food." He nodded and gave me a quick kiss before walking off with Carol.

Mom had decided that she would help out in what was left of the tunnels to make sure they were cleared. We'd done most of the hard work but she just wanted to be thorough. She went in with a group from Woodbury; we expected them back any minute.

It was just nice to chill out a bit and not have to worry about anything major like walkers being around every damn corner or worrying about where our next meal was coming from.