Wings

Hold Together

"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind." – Anthony Bourdain

__________________________

Daryl

After what seemed a lifetime later, they pulled into Alexandria. Several people came to help unload their haul. Daryl looked over to Rick's and found Remy standing there with Judith, Carl, and her dog. Remy held the baby, waiting for Rick and Michonne to see her.

The dog passed right over to him for a pet, and then to Abraham. Carl headed for Rick, and Carol came up to hug him. He thought Carol might squeeze the life out of him. When she let go, and moved on to Glenn and Maggie, he nodded to the girl, still watching him as Michonne took the baby from her arms.

He started her way, and they met in the middle. "Good to see you back in one piece," she said. Not quite as warm a greeting as Carol's, but he wasn't expecting it to be. She was likely still upset at being left behind.

"Ya wanna take a walk?"

She lit up. "Outside? Now?"

"Sure. Rick and th' rest'll be busy for a while. We can check traps if ya want. Gotta be back by dark, so let's move."

—-

Remy

Finally, back outside where things made sense. She knew she didn't HAVE to follow Daryl's orders. That she could go where she wanted, but she also knew how stupid that would be. She knew the value of having a family. People that cared for you. There's no way she would break that trust for hubris.

They walked in silence, their usual way, checking traps along the route. All the traps turned up was a raccoon, but it could be good. Slow cooked with a little homemade bbq sauce, and it tasted a lot like pork. Well. If you didn't know what pork tasted like, that is.

Daryl stopped in the tree line. She stopped behind him. They could see the steel walls of Alexandria from there.

"Ya ain't...yer not mad? At me? Fer not lettin' ya go?"

She scoffed, "let me go? Daryl if I'd really wanted to go, you wouldn't have stopped me. I'd have asked Rick, he'd have been pleased I wanted to help, and he'd have probably said yes unless he thought I was more use at home."

"So what stopped ya then?" he nearly snapped the question.

"We're friends. Family even, I'd say. Wouldn't you?"

He nodded, a quick jerk of his head.

"So, that means we back each other. It means we put each other first. It means I make sure you're good. And you've always looked out for me. So you tell me you need me to stay, to be your best out there, that's what I do. But I'm not always gonna be stuck behind here. One of these days, you're gonna trust me. You're gonna see me like you do Carol. Or Maggie."

—-

Daryl

"...you're gonna see me like you do Carol. Or Maggie." And maybe, someday he could. She had brains enough. And she wasn't nervy or cowering. Just fragile, he thought, as he remembered her episode.

She wasn't looking at him anymore, but at something beyond his shoulder. He turned and saw someone climbing out of a hole that went under the fence. A man. The man carefully replaced a square panel with grass overtop it, and headed into the woods in the opposite direction of them.