A New Day in the Sanctuary

Comfort

Daryl POV:

The door to the cells closed behind me and I felt my heart fall into the center of the Earth; I felt so lousy having to lock her up like that. It wasn't right at all. Not in the least.

I stopped in my tracks after the door shut. I was starting to get upset, angry about what happened to Hazel. The first thing I did was exhale slowly and start toward the medical center in Alexandria. I knew that's where they would have taken Nicole. 

It only took me a few minutes to get there and by then I had calmed down quite a bit from before. I walked in and saw Siddiq and Enid tending to Nicole. They both saw me at the same time and looked at one another quickly. 

"Daryl-" Enid started. I waved my hand at her dismissively. "Not gonna cause any problems, just wanna talk ta her is all," I told them gruffly.

Siddiq and Enid looked at one another again. I looked past them at Nicole, it looked like she was barely awake. They had cleaned up all of the blood but the bruises were starting to appear all over her face. "Well?" I asked Siddiq. 

He swallowed hard then nodded. "Sure," he said apprehensively then started to put his stethoscope back over his neck and jerked his head toward the door while making eye contact with Enid, telling her they needed to step out for a moment.

She seemed to hesitate for just a second, but I probably would have too. Nicole grunted behind me. She had sat up so that she could speak to me properly. "Whatcha want there, Dixon?" she asked me in a hoarse voice. "Ya wanna know what my ol' man was doing with that hussy girlfriend of yours behind my back while we were all in the Sanctuary?"

I shook my head at her, I felt sorry for her. I put my hand up. "I came here to tell you the truth. Ya interested or ya wanna just keep living in that fantasy ya got worked out in yer head?" I asked her, pointing to my head as I said the last bit.

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"I took over the Sanctuary when Negan fell and he was imprisoned," I started slowly. She nodded. "I remember that," she whispered. 

"It was my first day there when I found Hazel. She was forgotten in one of the cells by everyone BUT your ol' man," I said gravely. She put her hand over her mouth. Now she understood.

"My God," she breathed. 

"When I found her, she was a bloody, beaten mess on the floor. She wa'n't wearing any clothes, she was bruised and bleedin'," I continued quietly. "She barely let Rick carry her to my room, she was kicking, screaming, thinking that Rick was Roderick," I told her. "Rick brought her there, where I started to keep watch over her, and been doin' ever since," I said. 

"Nicole, I'm the one who killed yer husband, and I'd do it again for what he did to her," I said seriously.

Nicole was trying to wipe the tears off her face as soon as they fell from her eyes. "I understand," she breathed. "I'm sorry. He told me he found another woman when he was going to see her.  He really was the scum of the Earth," she laughed.

"Most of them are, Nicole. I was married to one before. Abusive bastard. But then I got to put an ax through his skull before he turned," said my best friend, Carol.

I turned around to see her, Michonne, Rick and Aaron. "How long y'all been there?" I asked.

"Long enough to know that we have more to talk about," Aaron said apologetically.

The five of us left Nicole's presence so that she could recover and rest peacefully. We walked to the graveyard where Glenn's body was laid to rest. We came here sometimes to make plans, away from others. Sometimes I wonder if Rick brought us here to do that just so that it felt like Glenn was still involved. Probably a ridiculous thought, but knowing Rick I wouldn't say it was too far of a stretch.