Tragic Coincidence | Daryl Dixon

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I sat in the cell block and looked around at my fellow group members, my family. They were dirty, worn down, broken and just plain tired. Every last one of us was tired of the inevitable endless fight that was our life, and now we had even more things to worry about. The Governor had attacked us, and almost succeeded in killing several of us. Glenn had a minor gun shot wound to his shoulder, and Hershel sprained his only ankle trying to out run some walkers. I didn't know how much fight many of us had in us, but the love we had for each other, the will to protect the family was what kept us going from day to day.

The group's voices were growing louder with every passing minute, all of them arguing about what to do with Merle. I personally didn't care at the moment, if it got Daryl to stay here then so be it, I would do anything to get him to stay and not leave us again. He promised me he wouldn't leave us again, and I trusted him in that, it was his irrational troublesome brother that I didn't trust. I sat on the stairway to the cells with my head leaned against the railway, Daryl sat beside me. We might have declared our love for each other, but that didn't change who we were. We weren't going to go all lovey dovey and start holding hands and kissing around the group, that wasn't who we were. But the occasional touching of are arms was enough for me to know he was there.

"What do you think Emma?" I heard Rick's voice say pulling me from my thoughts. I jerked my head up and gave him a questioning look as I never heard his question. "About Merle staying here" He added, leaning against a cell. Suddenly all eyes were on me, including Merle's who was locked in the other section of the cell block. I shrugged and leaned against my knees, pulling them closer to my body. "I say he stays, he's the only family Daryl has left" I said softly, looking from Rick to Merle who was trying his hardest to hide a smirk on his face. 

I felt Daryl gently rub my arm with his hand before taking it back and standing up, walking over to Rick. "You cant really expect us to sleep under the same roof with him, after what he did to us?" Glenn said coming from behind me, his voice echoing loudly throughout the prison. Merle just smiled over at Glenn, whom I glad didn't notice or he would have probably attacked him right there. "Merle's staying" Rick said finally before walking outside through the cell block, letting Merle in, in the process. Carl chased after his father while Merle walked over to where his brother stood. 

I sighed and stood up slowly, still slightly sore from the attack earlier. I hobbled over to where the two Dixon men were standing, getting slightly dizzy with each step I took. "You alright?" Daryl asked with concern as i leaned against the wall beside him. I nodded slowly and looked up at the two of them, more like four with as dizzy as I was becoming. "Cant hack it little girl?" Merle asked with a chuckle looking down at my short stature. I glared at him before a short pain went my side, and I clutched it tightly in my hand. "Don't talk to her that way" Daryl growled at his brother before wrapping an arm around my waist helping me stand. 

I slowly removed my plaid button up shirt and tossed it onto the ground, and lifted my blood soaked tank top. I killed so many walkers earlier I never even thought that any of this blood would have been mine. I groaned seeing my wound looked infected and my stitches had ripped open, blood pouring out of the wound. "Get Hershel" Daryl told Merle when he noticed my wound. Merle tried to object, but once he looked at my wound himself he nodded and went off to find him. "You'll be alright Em's" He said softly as he led me into a cell. "I always am" I said giving him a small smile. Michonne walked past us and gave me a small nod, I hadn't had the chance to talk to her too much but I did like her already.

After a couple hours Hershel had my side restitched and cleaned up, and i felt instantly better. I was laying once again in Hershel's cell seeing as that's where all the medical supplies were, I started feeling  bad that he never got his own cell. I sat up slowly not wanting Hershel to have to sew me up a third time in a few days. It was boring sitting here, but Hershel told me he would have Carl take me down if I tried to leave. And I would laugh when Carl would occasionally walk by the cell and pretend to glare at me before he started to laugh, Carl knew he couldn't take me down even if he wanted to.

You would think being a doctor I would be able to stitch myself after all these times of getting hurt, but my wounds seemed to always be int he most awkward positions. I started to hear yelling again, this time it was Glenn yelling something about what happened with Shane and I, and I shook my head realizing that was probably going to be brought up. Shane tried to kill me, so Daryl and Rick killed him. Merle tried to kill Glenn and Michonne, so it was only fair that he earned the same fate. Except Merle was Daryl's blood, and he would do anything to protect his own.

I then heard Daryl yelling about Merle staying, I then heard his loud footsteps going down the stairway. He stopped right outside my cell and leaned against the door frame. He smiled slightly when he saw I was sitting up reading an old magazine, instead of limping around losing blood. "You gonna stare at me all day Dixon, or are you gonna come in?" I asked with a smile, tossing my knitting magazine over onto the table and making some room for him on the bed. He smirked before walking in slowly and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Merle's staying huh?" I asked softly, reaching over and playing with the tips of his dirty fingernails. He sighed and laced our fingers together before scooting closer on the bed. He nodded before gently rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand. Daryl wasn't ever going to be that man to ravish you in the woods against a tree, but everything he did to me was perfect. The way he kissed me tenderly and slightly awkward, but always could make you feel how you felt. These tiny moments like this made me appreciate the man in front of me that i loved so much. 

"You said Merle was the only family I have left" He said gently, asking in more of a statement than a question. I nodded and smiled sadly that really none of us had much family left anymore. "He isn't the only family I have Emma. Your my family too, you always have been" He told me taking my hands and kissing the back of my knuckles. I smiled brightly and leaned up to peck him quickly on the lips, "If that's the case, then can you break me out of this cell?" I whispered against his lips when we pulled apart. Daryl leaned forward and moved his lips closer as if he was going to kiss me again but right when his lips stopped short "Not a chance" He whispered and pecked me quickly before standing up off the bed. 

"Ass" I said chuckling at him as he started to walk out of the cell. "You love me though" He said softly before winking and walking through the cell block. I heard the chatter of everyone in the cell block, and the random sounds of guns being reloaded, but that pleasant sound lulled me into a deep sleep.