That Valley Girl || Daryl Dixon

[ 030 ] Home Sweet Home

It was dark now. We had made a campfire in the middle of the yard and we all sat around it. Well, except for Daryl and Rick. Daryl was on watch by the fence and Rick was patrolling the perimeter. For the third time now.

"Mmm. Just like mom used to make." Glenn muttered sarcastically, holding a piece of the food we had cooked in his hand. He suddenly chucked it across the yard.

"Tomorrow, we'll put all the bodies together. Want to keep them away from that water." T-dog started. "Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have uh-- plenty of fresh water."

"And this soil is good. We could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." Hershel added. He then looked up to where Rick was.

"That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

"This'll be a good place to have the baby." Beth said to Lori. Lori nodded, smiling at Beth.

I ate another piece of the owl. It wasn't that good but it's what we have. I looked at Daryl by the fence, he paced back and forth on top of a turned over vehicle.

I stopped eating and fixed up another plate. I'll bring this to him. He's probably hungry.

I got up with the plate in my hands. "I'll be back." I announced to the group.

I walked over to where Daryl was. And when I got there, I placed the plate down onto the vehicle and started climbing up. Daryl turned around and noticed me. He held out his hand which I took, and helped me up.

I stood on top of the vehicle now. I bent down and picked up the plate, handing it to him.

"Here. It doesn't taste the best, but it's something." I offered him the plate and he took it.

"Thanks." He said, taking the plate. He picked up a small piece and ate it. "Did you eat?" He asked.

"Yea, I had a few pieces." I answered. Daryl was a lot nicer to me now. I mean, at least as nice as he could be. But not mean like he was at the farm.

"How long do you think this place is gonna last?" I suddenly questioned. Daryl looked at me briefly, before popping another piece of food into his mouth.

"Long time, I hope." He said. "Be a shame if we had to leave."

I nodded my head, silently agreeing. We looked into the woods for a bit. Enjoying the comfortable silence before I decided to play a little joke on him.

"Just the two of us up here-- alone. Pretty romantic, huh?" I teased, turning around to look at him.

He looked at me for a second before we both started laughing. Yeah, he was definitely nicer now. If I said something like that back at the farm, he'd probably like— kill me or something.

"Better get back." He said, approaching the edge of the vehicle. "I'll go down first."

One more time won't hurt.

"Sounds good to me." I held back my laugh.

He looked back at me for a second. "Stop." He said, flustered. He hopped down and I followed.

Daryl and I walked back to the campfire. I could hear Beth singing a song as we got closer, Maggie joined her sister. And by the time we got there, the song had ended.

"Beautiful." Hershel said. The way Hershel loved his daughters never failed to make me smile.

"Better all turn in." Rick spoke. "I'll take watch over there. Got a big day tomorrow."

Big day?

"What do you mean?" I asked from beside Daryl.

Rick hesitated for a second. "Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more." He began. "Most of the walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary."