Dixon's Girl- TWD

Missing

Daryl Pov

No one had seen Max for over a week now. He hadn't shown up for work, and made no sign of running away. His clothes were still at home and his phone was found in his bedroom. The police were now searching for him, and all Jody could do was worry

"You going to school today?" I asked her whilst making breakfast. She hadn't been in all week

"No," she said quietly, biting the skin around her thumb nail from nerves. I sighed and continued making breakfast. Even merle wasn't convincing her to go in, and he was weirdly strict about school attendance

As I continued cooking breakfast, my dad stumbled into the living space, out of his pit of stench. I hadn't seen him as often recently, not that I was complaining. With Max missing, I was rarely in the house, spending all my time working and searching for him.

"You still here?" Will grunted at Jody, sitting next to her. She moved to the other end of the sofa, not answering him, her eyes glued to the TV. She had the news on.

"Turn this shit off," my dad said, changing the channel

"No!" Jody yelled, putting it back to the news

"This is my house, girl! You'll do well to respect me."

With tears in her eyes, she looked at Will and let her guard down. She begged, "please. I just...I just wanna make sure that they don't...I don't..."

"Spit it out."

Merle finished for her. "Dad, she's watching the news to find out if any bodies are found."

For the first time since my mom's death, a saw a small slither of humanity in my dad. He seemed to gulp, and nodded his head, sitting down and allowing jody to watch the news. Me and merle were almost in shock, but then again, jody once meant something to my dad.

I finished cooking and plated up some food, handing the English breakfast to my family. I gave a plate to jody but she just shook her head. "No thanks."

"Jo, come on. You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"It's not healthy to miss meals. You haven't ate anything in days."

She suddenly stood up, flipping the plate out of my hands and onto the floor. "I said I'm not hungry! Just get off my back!" And so, she stormed into my room, slamming the door shut loudly

I began to clean up the mess made but merle nudged me out of the way. "Go deal with her. I'll do this."

"I don't think she wants to see me right now," I replied through gritted teeth

Merle shook his head in disagreement. He told me, "don't be dumb. She doesn't know what she wants. Go to her."

I followed his advice, and gently knocked on my bedroom door. When I didn't hear a response, I walked in and saw Jody frantically packing a bag. "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked her

"I'm going out to find him."

"Jody," I sighed, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Well the police are doing fuck all so this is my only chance of finding him."

"Stop it," I said, taking the bag from her. She kept grabbing clothes so I put my hands on her shoulders. "Stop it, just- jody, stop, STOP!"

She froze, and once she looked into my eyes, a stream of tears fell from her own. She fell to the floor but I caught her in my arms, cradling her shaking body against my own

"Sshh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"I just wanna find him."

"I know. But if you go out there, searching, then you won't be here to hear any news. You won't be here waiting when he comes home. Alright?"

I cupped her cheeks in my hands as she nodded her head, then leaning against me. I gave her a moment to calm down and catch her breath and soon, she apologised. "I'm sorry for making a mess."

"It's fine. Merles cleaning it up anyway so I really couldn't care," I chuckled, making her laugh through her tears too.

I gave her a faint smile. "Wanna go look for him together?"

She nodded her head and side by side, we went to the truck.

We drove around looking for him. Not just in town, but miles out aswell. He could be anywhere. We were just looking for any sign of him, praying we saw him trying to hitchhike or just something to show he was okay. As we kept driving, I could see Jody getting more upset

"Hey, relax, alright? He's gotta be out here somewhere."

"And what if he's not, daryl? What if he's six foot under or in someone's basement? What if he jumped off a bridge and his body is just floating in a river somewhere?"

"You can't think like that. He needs you to have faith, now more than ever," I reminded her.

Jody leant against the door on my car and I could see she was growing tired, so after a full day of searching, spending way too much money on gas, I drove us home

"Jody, hey, wake up," I told her once we got into town.

She stirred away and I parked the car outside the ice cream shop. "Come on, it'll make you feel better."

A small smile crept onto her face as she got out of the car. We walked into the parlour and I bought us both double chocolate sundays.

"This is really good," she said

"I'm just glad it made you smile."

"It's you that makes me smile, daryl, you know that."

"It's my job. You're my girl, afterall," I smirked, making her blush. She began to giggle as I winked at her, blushing even more. God, I loved to make her blush. It was adorable, knowing that I could cause that reaction, that I made her feel good.

As we were eating, the door to the parlour swung open and merle came rushing in, panting

"Jesus, I almost gave up," he said

"What you mean? You been looking for us?"

"I drove all round town before I saw your truck parked."

It grew silent as we waited for him to explain. But his silence told me he almost didn't want to. Whatever he knew, he didn't want to share it

"Merle...what's going on?" Jody asked quietly

Merle couldn't make eye contact with her. He didn't want to see the moment her heart would break. So he looked at the floor and admitted, "I'm so sorry, darling."

"Why? What's happened? Please look at me." Her voice was soft, because if she spoke any louder then it would surely break

Merle finally looked up.

"They've found a body."