𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 || ᵈ.ᵈⁱˣᵒⁿ

XII

—/<3/—

They didn't find Sophia that day, and it was almost dark by the time they made it back to camp. Daryl had warmed up to the cat already, hesitantly scratching her chin when they'd stopped to drink water and sit down for a few minutes. She slept in the large side pocket of his vest after that and though Daryl grumbled about it, Rory caught him reaching his hand in to rub her head a few times.

"Are cats supposed to be this small? She's like nine months old," Daryl asked as he handed Pumpkin over. They'd made it to his tent first since he'd set up so far from everyone.

"Female cats tend to be smaller anyway but she might be the runt of her litter... and it was probably hard to get food when she was locked in that cabin." Rory replied, holding the cat like a baby and rubbing her stomach gently. "She's probably an inside cat judging by how friendly she is," she added.

"Well she ain't anymore," Daryl sighed. "You got anymore cigs?"

Rory nodded and reached into her back pocket for the pack, handing it to him along with the lighter. He thanked her quietly and lit one up, passing them back a moment later. Rory went to walk away, planning on showing the cat to her brother and friends but Daryl called after her.

"Ain't you gonna stay and smoke with me?"

"Do you want me to?" She blinked at him, shocked that he actually wanted to be around her after spending sunrise to sunset with her.

"Well you don't have to, just thought I could cook up that bird for Pumpkin. Don't think the others will take kindly to another mouth to feed." Daryl faultered. He took a drag of his cigarette to hide his embarrassment.

"Thought you weren't gonna look out for her," Rory joked but she made her way back over and sat next to him on the ground, lighting up her own cigarette.

"I ain't." Daryl lied.

"Yeah, yeah,"

"You're back? Thought you were gonna be gone for a couple days," Niamh said as she wandered over to Daryl's mini camp. "Ooh you got another of those?"

Rory tossed the packet over wordlessly and Niamh pulled out her own lighter as she sat down on Rory's other side. She did a double take when she spotted the void with eyes sprawled out on her best friend's lap.

"Seriously Rory? Another cat? Archie's gonna be pissed." Niamh huffed.

"He'll get over it." Rory shrugged simply.

Niamh gave her a doubting look and then turned to face Rory and Daryl fully. "I have some gossip," she made eye contact with Daryl, "you're quiet enough to keep a secret, right?" She asked him, brushing a braid from her face.

"Depends," he replied.

"Well I'll tell you anyway, they shouldn't have been having the conversation in public if they didn't want anyone to know." Niamh took a drag before speaking.

"I overheard Shane speaking to Lori, turns out they had a little thing going on whilst she thought Rick was dead and now Shane is going batshit crazy trying to convince Lori to leave Rick and be with him." Niamh rambled, not even stopping to take a breath.

"We all know about Shane and Lori, Niamh, they weren't as sneaky as they thought they were." Rory said and Daryl nodded along.

"We jus' pretend not to notice 'cause it's not our business." Daryl added.

"And here I was thinking I was sitting on some juicy camp gossip," Niamh grumbled.

"Don't you think it's suspicious how Shane came back without Otis? He seemed like he was lying when he was telling that story. There was too much detail where there didn't need to be..." Rory looked between Daryl and Niamh.

"You think Shane killed Otis?" Niamh raised an eyebrow. Rory nodded.

"He came back with Otis' gun, there's no way he didn't kill him," Daryl said. "Probably sacrificed him to save himself."

"Jesus christ I need to start paying more attention to people," Niamh said. "Well, I'm gonna go see Mikey, come find me later Rory." She stood up and threw her half-smoked cigarette to the ground, putting it out with her shoe.

"Love you my little croissant." Niamh blew Rory a kiss and then skipped away to find her boyfriend.

"Croissant?" Daryl raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

"Me and Archie were born in Versailles." Rory revealed. "Moved here when I was a baby so she likes to make up weird nicknames with French food."

"Where is Niamh from? I don't recognise the accent." Daryl asked.

"She's Irish. It's surprising she still has the accent though, she moved to the states when she was 10, because her mom wanted to come back," Rory said. "Surprised you didn't guess, Niamh is an Irish name."

"I don't know which names come from where." Daryl grumbled throwing his cigarette into the unlit campfire. "You speak French?"

Rory nodded. "Archie already knew since he was three when we moved but my mom made sure I knew. My sister was born deaf so she never learnt." Rory stubbed out her cigarette, her other hand scratching under Pumpkin's chin. "You from Georgia?" She asked.

"Yeah, never left," Daryl said hesitantly, he wasn't used to telling people about his life. He didn't have the best upbringing, the scars marring the skin on his back were proof of that, but Rory didn't seem the judgemental type, especially not with the cigarette burn marks on her arm that she'd tried to hide with a large red dragon tattoo snaking up her bicep and onto her back.

With the way she spoke about her parents, Daryl didn't think it was them, but they weren't close enough for him to ask. He'd be uncomfortable if she saw and asked about his scars, so he assumed Rory would be too.

"Georgia's nice, it's warm and quiet." Rory remarked looking up at the trees. "You got Radium Springs here."

"I've never been."

"Me neither." Rory snickered.

"Why are you down here anyway? You don't sound like you're from here." Daryl asked.

"I'm from Vegas, we came down here on tour. It's a good thing we left Florida when we did or we'd probably be dead by now." Rory sighed.

"On tour? With your band?"

Rory nodded. "We made it halfway at least."

"Ain't you worried about your parents and your sister?" Daryl began plucking the feathers from the bird he'd caught.

"They died years ago, they didn't have to see all this the lucky bastards." Rory joked. Daryl froze, thinking he'd made it awkward, but Rory didn't seem all that bothered as she watched him skin the bird. "You want me to get the fire going?" She offered.

Daryl nodded slowly and went back to what he was doing. "Mine are dead too." He blurted, regretting it immediately after. He could feel his face heating up, and it wasn't because of the fire. He began mentally preparing himself for questions about his parents, but they never came.

Rory simply nodded and said, "These days your lucky if you're not an orphan, I'm pretty sure half the world is dead."

"Probably more than half, we're way outnumbered." Daryl replied, spearing the bird on a stick. Rory let out a noise of agreement and offered him another cigarette, which he gladly took.

—/<3/—