Daryl Dixon: A Beautiful Disaster (SEQUEL)

Chapter 16: Plans Made

My eyes are heavy when I go to open them. It's like I have to use all of my strength to do so. The light barely illuminates things to me as they open, the harsh fluorescents making it even more difficult of a task. When they do open, and the blurriness subsides, I see my surroundings. I'm not in the guest bedroom of our house in Alexandria, I'm on a cot in the infirmary with two people fallen asleep and slumped over in chairs. "Spencer?" I call out to him, his dusty brown hair obvious to me. My voice comes out in a whisper and I cough a bit as I say his name again "Spencer."

His head springs up and when our eyes meet he's standing instantly at my side "Shannon, thank God. We were starting to really worry."

"Worry? Why? What's going on?" I ask him, my voice finally starting to sooth as I talk.

I guess we were talking loud enough to wake up Maggie, the other body slumped down in a chair "hey, I knew nothing could hold you down." She smirks starting to stand and come over to the side of the bed.

"What's going on?" I ask again, trying to sit up in the bed but feeling too exhausted to actually move.

"You've been out for about 24 hours, Denise said it was probably a concussion." Maggie explains.

"Concussion? What, no? I was just exhausted from everything that happened." I try and explain to the two of them.

Spencer shakes his head "we tried everything to wake you up. You were out Shay, and your fever was pretty high, too." He puts his hand on mine.

I move away from his touch though, not because I wanted to but from disgust at hearing my old nickname "please don't call me that." I whisper out to him. I see Maggie eye him then back to me as both wonder what's wrong with it. I quickly explain "everyone used to call me that, including Clint and his men. I'm not that person anymore."

"Fair enough. Shannon it will always be." Maggie smiles, getting what I'm trying to say and ready to move the conversation on.

I can see Spencer is still hurt by my actions so I put my hand on his this time and say "thanks for being here when I woke up."

"Of course" he returns, a smile returning to his face.

Maggie excuses herself from the room "I'm gonna go let Rick know you're fine. He has somethings to talk to you about as well."

"Okay, Thanks!" I call to her.

When the door opens to the bedroom I am in, I hear a scuffle and a low voice before the door closes "who's out there?" I ask Spencer, not able to hear anything Maggie was saying to them.

He shrugs and mutters "Daryl" he averts his eyes from mine as the name slid out of his mouth.

I scowl, annoyed he'd be waiting outside the bedroom and not in here. I quickly realize the thought I had and curse myself for it. I will not fall back into things with him, it's too painful. "Have I missed much?" I ask Spencer, needing to get my mind off my own thoughts.

He shrugs again, lighter this time and sits down on the cot near my feet and meets my eyes "not really. I know Rick talked to everyone in town but I'm not sure how it went."

"Why?" I question.

"Cause I didn't want to leave you." He sheepishly returns.

"Well thanks, means a lot." I return to him. We just sit in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

A few more minutes pass by when Rick and Maggie come back into the room "it's good to see you awake, had us worried." Rick says to me.

"What's going on? What have I missed?"'I ask, further sitting up in the bed.

Rick looks at Maggie who pops her head out the door and nods towards Daryl. He comes and stands, barely inside the room "Daryl's going to go and talk to his father. Try to defuse things in a way."

"Defuse things? What does that mean?" Spencer asks with frustration.

I look at him cautiously but wait for Rick to elaborate further "well, you escaped and they know Daryl and Rosita weren't actually on their side so they'll probably come after them."

"And I'm sure they think we were tha ones to attack." Daryl chimes in, his voice scratchy and low.

"Then how come they haven't attacked us back yet?" I ask, still looking at Rick.

He shrugs "not sure but we are going to try and get around a battle."

"How the hell do you plan on doing that? This guys an actual monster." I say, eyeing Daryl.

He doesn't flinch, and instantly responds "that's why ima go talk to him. I know him, I'll figure what he's plannin'."

"You guys haven't seen each other in almost 20, right? But you know him?" I ask incredulously, all my anger coming out and my voice oozing with sarcasm.

Daryl returns "Ima take care of him, whatever it takes."

I roll my eyes and Rick adds "we were waiting for you to wake up. We want you there when we go." He says.

"What?" Spencer and I both spit out together. We eye each other then everyone else in the room.

Maggie stays silent, her hands in her jean pockets. Daryl stares at me, and I know he's biting his tongue from saying something. Rick explains "he wants you, and he needs to see you on our side and that he can't have you."

"I— Alright, I guess." I simply say back, not having any words to say back.

Spencer argues "what? No? She was just basically in a coma. She doesn't need to go out there and face these guys again." Rick holds his hands up, to tell him to calm down but he keeps going "why don't we send just Daryl to their camp to figure this out, why does she need to be involved anymore?"

"Spencer, stop" I say firmly and he looks at me "I'm the reason we are even in this mess. I'm going." I leave it at that. He shakes his head in disapproval and leaves the room in a huff.

Maggie tells us in a low voice, "we can go in the morning, head out at sunrise. We should bring the tank with us."

"Yea, we will. I'll get the group together and let em know what's going down." Rick agrees, moving to leave the room.

Maggie goes out with him and it's just Daryl and I left. His eyes pierce into me and I stare down at my feet, unwilling to look into his eyes "just wanted to tell ya, Clint will most likely be there."

"Got it" I return, not willing to get into it with him.

Daryl turns to leave but pauses "if yew want me to, I'll take him out right then and there." He offers.

That's makes me turn to look at him. I don't know what to think of or even what to feel. Daryl's willing to go behind Rick's back and ignore the plan to kill Clint for me, to end that chapter of my life. We stare at one another, so much unsaid. He's waiting for me to say something back but I don't know what to say. Part of me wants him to do it, but the other knows what damage that could cause for everyone else. If I was alone with him, just him and I, it would be the smart thing to do. But I'm with a group now, a family, and I can't just think of myself, "no, we can't do that." He nods and then leaves, leaving me alone in the room to wonder and imagine what's going to happen.