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

6-year filler

Kit woke up with a jolt, gasping for air as she rapidly sat up. Immediately regretting doing so as pain shot thru her ribs, neck, and head. "take it easy," Daryl whispered. she looked towards him to see he was seated directly between her and Rick's beds; the dark circles under his eyes were an obvious sign he hadn't slept. The faint smell of burnt hair lingered in the air. Her eyes returned to rick, briefly looking at the bandage wrapped around his midsection; she remembered seeing blood when she approached him, but it's not like she had time to even inspect it.

"Is he okay?" she whispered back, her voice hoarse from smoke inhalation. she reached over to the side table, grabbing the glass of water, hiding a hiss of pain.

"yeah," he lowly growled. Watching her take a small sip before setting the glass back down. "you know what you did was stupid, right. Reckless and dumb. You're the one with the brains. Where the hell were they?" he spits, his southern accent coming out more robust as he said certain words.

"I'll admit that was not my original plan, But I couldn't just watch him die, not again," she said weakly.

"So I got to think you were both dead instead?!" 

"dar-" she reached out to touch him; he smacked her hand away, standing and moving away from her. The action alone cut Kit deeper than anything he could say.

"What the hell would I have done if you both were just gone? Huh? And the kids?" he said, a sharp edge to his voice as he paced at the foot of her bed, his raised voice acting as a jackhammer to her already throbbing head.

Kit scooted over in the bed. "Get in bed."

"Hell no, I ain't-"

"Get in the god damn bed Dixon," She said, adding a harsh tone to her words.

Daryl glared at her but took his boots off and climbed into the bed next to her anyway, trying to hold strong in his stance, but he couldn't, not when she was so close, fighting off any what if's he had and shoving the reality that she was there and okay down his throat. 

She took hold of his hand bring it up to show him his burn, showcasing her own as she traced it. "We made a pact; we go thru it together. Leaving Rick at fate's mercy when I was right there. Daryl, it wouldn't have sat right, and If he died or was just lost forever, I would never forgive myself. I wasn't trying to hurt you, Daryl, or make you think we were gone. I was trying to save our family." she said softly, releasing his hand to brush his hair away from his face. "Besides, even if I died, I wouldn't leave you alone; I love you too much. Haunt the shit out of you, afterlife delight, and your ass is on the menu."

"Stop," Daryl chuckled, pulling her closer, his head resting on hers. 

"Sleep, dar. You can scold me more later just, for now, sleep," she mumbled, snuggling into his chest, easily falling back to sleep to the familiar sound of his heartbeat, Daryl not far behind, raw exhaustion taking them over.

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Six Months later

Jesus, Maggie, Glenn, Ezekial, Sasha, Jerry, Merle, Rick, Daryl, Bea, Cyndie and Kit stood together in the Dixon/Grimes Dining room in Alexandira. 

"So, the time has come to unite our communities as a single embodiment" Ezekial cheered joyously as Rick pulled the large roll of paper free from the leather tube it was incased in and carefully rolled it out on the table, in the middle of them all to see. In bold letters on the top was multi-community charter of rights and freedoms. 

"Whys it look like the declaration?" Merle asked

"I needed some sort of an official set up to go off of. what's more official than that." Kit defended, Rick and Daryl fought a smile moving to each rest a hand on her back.