RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

don't take chances

SHE MADE spaghetti for Daryl and Morgan when they went back to the house for the night. She tried to imitate Aaron's recipe, but it wasn't the same, and Daryl let her know that. She sat on the counter while he ate, watching his every move. It felt like he had been gone for ages, and if she took her eyes off of him, he'd be gone again.

"You were right." Morgan said to Rick. They both had been sitting in silence for a while. "It wasn't over."

"We should talk more tomorrow." Rick responded. "Listen... I don't take chances anymore."

Morgan nodded. "And you shouldn't."

Rick shrugged off his jacket, still covered in blood. "Deanna wants you in solitary for the night. I'll show you where."

Morgan stood up without argument and followed Rick out of the house.

"They know each other?" Willow asked Daryl quietly, waiting for the front door to shut so she could speak louder. 

He nodded, scarfing down the spaghetti. "Met back in Atlanta when Rick first woke up from the hospital. That's the man he kept the radio for."

She crossed her legs up on the counter, still watching him. She had so many questions about everything, and she debated on asking them all, but she only stuck with a few. "How was it out there? You were gone a while."

He set the plate down beside her on the counter, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Tracked and followed a man 'bout 50 miles from here, but we lost him. Got all the way to some storage place, but it was rigged with traps. Someone piled walkers into the back of food trucks. We were stuck 'til Morgan came along."

She felt sick to her stomach. "Okay, maybe I don't want to hear about the trips, after all. Be better if I stayed curious."

He smirked, scooting his chair in front of her. "A lot happen while I was gone?"

She rested her hands on his when they found their way into her lap and nodded. "On that run, we lost Aiden and Noah. Tara got hurt, and from what I know, she's still unconscious in the infirmary. The next day, Rick got into it with Pete in front of damn near the whole town. He waved his gun around and talked crazy. I knocked him out to prevent further damage at our chances of staying here. Apparently Gabriel had told Deanna that we were dangerous people. That meeting we were at tonight, that was about Rick and if he should stay, and that's also when she told us about what Gabriel had said to her. Pete strolled in and killed Deanna's husband, and then she told Rick to kill Pete. And that's when you guys showed up."

He stared at her for a few moments, trying to process everything she said. It was a lot. A lot of insanity. A lot of grief. A lot of death.

"It's fucked." She sighed. "Everything is just fucked."

"When ain't it." He said, tracing circles on the back of her hands. "Glad you're all right."

She smiled at him. "Glad you're all right, too."

His hands moved around her hips and scooted her off the counter and into his lap. "How's your girl?"

She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, her legs straddling him in his chair. "She's good. Hate to say it, but I think she missed you. A lot."

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I wanna see her." 

Before she could say a word, he wrapped his arm around her to keep her secure as he stood up and took them both down to their room. She covered her mouth to muffle her laughs when he threw her onto the bed and went to the crib. She propped herself up onto her elbows and watched him pick Sienna up. The little smile she had on her face was enough to make Willow melt.