Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Twenty-five.

You did this.

Iris walks into Michonne's house "smells good" she smiles, looking down at the food on the table, she sits down next to Judith and starts plating up her food, she lets out a laugh as they start messing around "Ketchup face." Michonne laughs.

Iris looks up to the doorway, she smiles when she sees Daryl standing and watching them, he walks over to the table, kissing Iris on the head before sitting down between her and RJ, Iris starts putting food on Daryl's plate, watching him smile as the others mess around. "It's very good. It's very good. Here." Michonne says.

"On my... Wait. Right here." "No. Actually, no." Iris smiles as she watches Daryl relaxing, he looks over at her and grabs onto her hand, running his thumb over the skin on her hand.

.........

"Good night" Iris whispers, leaning down and kissing Judith on the top of the head, "good night" Judith whispers, slowly closing her eyes and falling asleep. Iris quietly steps out of the room "hey" Daryl mumbles, "hey" she says, walking down the hall and grabbing onto the man's hand, they walk out of the house and make their way into Iris's, "Lydia?" She calls out, looking around the dark house.

They walk upstairs and Iris knocks on the girl's door, "lydia?" She calls out again, "she's probably out" Daryl says when they get no answer, "yeah" Iris says before walking to her room, while Iris kicks off her boots Daryl starts lighting the candles, Iris throws her belt onto the floor and pulls her hair from the ponytail before she sits on the bed waiting for Daryl to finish.

He kicks off his shoes and sits next to her, Iris sits in front of him and admires him, "what?" he asks, growing nervous, "with everything going on, i feel like i haven't actually seen you" Iris says, she carefully moves forwards and straddles his lap, Daryl sits his hands on her waist, she runs her hands through his hair and smiles down at him.

Daryl gently lifts her top and throws it on the floor, his eyes stop on a new scar, "it's from when i was out there" Iris mumbles, "what happened?" Daryl asks, running his fingers over it, "i ran into some trouble" Iris says.

...........

Iris walks through the woods, exhaustion and hunger fighting her to stop, she lowers her body onto the floor, leaning her back against a tree and watching the river in front of her, her eyes grow heavy and sleep wins the fight.

"Wake up" Iris opens her eyes to find a gun pointed at her face, she looks around to see four men standing above her, guns pointed at her, "put your weapons on the floor now" the man orders, Iris glares up at him as she pulls her knives from her belt, she pulls her gun from her thigh and throws it all on the floor at the mens feet.

"Sheriff's department?" the man laughs looking at her hat, "i want that hat" another says, he pulls it from her head and puts it on his, "didn't you hear? The world ended so there is no more police" Iris doesn't speak, she just looks up at the main man.

"Backpack now" he orders, Iris grits her teeth as she pulls the bag off and throws it at the men, "i like this one. She's quiet" she watches one of the men pick up her bag and start going through it, "we've got some freaks coming" Iris watches two of the men walk off, leaving her with the main man and the one distracted by her bag.

Iris quickly grabs her knife and throws it at the man in front of her before he can shoot her, the blade lands in his chest, she grabs his gun and shoots the other man before hiding behind the tree, the sound of walkers growing louder, "drop the gun!" The men shout from behind the tree, Iris peers around the tree and sees them hiding behind two other trees.

She watches one of them as they slowly step out from behind the tree, she slowly stands and grips onto the gun, leaning her back against the tree, she quickly steps out from behind the tree and shoots the man in the side, hiding again as he drops to the floor, "kyle!" the other shouts, Iris watches as he runs to his friend.

Iris steps out from the tree and aims her gun at him, before she can shoot him the man on the floor shoots her, the bullet flies through her side, Iris holds her finger against the trigger, and shoots the man, she drops the gun to the floor and holds her hand against her wound.

She picks up her backpack, wincing as she puts it on her back, she takes her cap again and puts it on, the sound of the man trying to breathe catches her attention, she turns and looks at the man with the knife in his chest.

She kneels next to him, blood seeping through her fingers as she tries to put pressure on it, "you did this" she snaps, looking into the dying man's eyes, "you killed them" she pulls the knife from his chest before using the last of her strength to drive the blade into his head. She picks up her weapons and slowly stands, wobbling as she does.

She stumbles into the river, breathing becomes harder as she walks through the water, when she gets to the other side she collapses against a large rock, pressing into the wound, blood pouring out of the hole.

...........

"I managed to get the bullet out and stitch myself up" Iris says, Daryl leans in and capture her lips in a kiss, he slowly pulls away and looks at Iris "sorry i wasn't there" Daryl says, "it wasn't your fault" Iris says, leaning in and kissing him again, she slowly lifts the mans top, throwing it next to hers.

He careful flips them and lays her on her back, Iris unbuttons his trousers while he undoes her shorts, Iris pulls away when she hears a noise, she holds her finger against her lips, signalling Daryl to be quiet, he gets off of her and sits back, Iris stands from the bed and pulls his shirt on before buttoning her shorts again.

Daryl stands and follows her as she walks to Lydia's room, Iris slowly opens the door to see the girl having a nightmare, "i got it" Iris whispers to Daryl before walking into the room, she sits on the bed next to the girl, gently stroking her hair, Lydia's eyes shoot open.

"Hey, it's okay" Iris whispers, Lydia relaxes and slowly catches her breath, "i got you kid" Iris says stroking the girls hair, Iris watches the girl slowly fall back to sleep, when she knows the girl is okay Iris quietly walks out of the room, "she okay?" Daryl asks from the bed, still only in his jeans, "yeah" Iris mumbles.

A bark sounds from the hallway behind Iris and she watches Dog run into the room, "I guess we aren't doing anything tonight" Iris jokes. She pulls her shorts off, leaving her in Daryl's top, she climbs into bed and curls up into him, she pats the bed and Dog jumps up, laying with them and slowly falling asleep.

"Daryl?" Iris whispers, laying her head on his chest and looking down at Dog, "yeah" he mumbles, "do you ever think of having your own?" Iris asks, Daryl looks up at the ceiling, the woman's question running through his head, "why?" he asks, Iris sits up and turns her body to him.

Daryl watches her, sitting up and leaning against the headboard, "I have something I need to tell you... i should've told you sooner but the time never felt right" Iris says, nervously picking the skin around her nails, Daryl grabs onto her hand, holding it tightly.

Iris lets out a shaky breath "when i was younger my Dad and his friends would sit around drinking, when i was twelve, one of his friends assaulted me" Iris says, keeping her eyes down, "i-i got pregnant" she mumbles, Daryl's body tenses at the woman's words, "my dad took me to a doctor he found and i went into surgery... I was sick for months after but he wouldn't take me to the hospital because he didn't want them to find out... after a while i got better" Iris explains, holding back her tears and anger.

"Rick found me a few years later, I hadn't been to a proper doctor in years so he took me to get checked out... they ran loads of tests and... I was told the surgery was done wrong. The guy that did it wasn't an actual doctor... they told me that the trauma my body went through stopped me from being able to have kids" Iris says.

She looks up at Daryl nervously, biting the inside of her cheek, "i found out that they messed up everything... i'm sorry Daryl" Iris says, looking at the man with tear filled eyes, Daryl gently holds the side of her face, he leans in and kisses her on the forehead before pulling her into his body, Iris lays her head on his chest.

"I love you" Daryl says, running his fingers up and down her back, "even if i can't give you what you want?" Iris asks, "you've given me everything I want" Daryl says, kissing her on the head.