Surviving All Out War (BOOK FIVE IN THE SURVIVING THE WALKING DEAD SERIES)

Trust

"Hey." I smiled as I sat down on the front steps beside Daryl. Daryl quickly turned and crushed out his cigarette. "Don't."

"I can't smoke around ya." Daryl argued.

"We're outside, go ahead and finish your cigarette." Daryl let out a sigh and relit his cigarette, scooting over a tad to put some space between us, as if it was going to help.

"Where's Rick?"

"Upstairs talkin' to MJ and Elijah."

"Everythin' okay?"

"Yeah, I think he's just appologizin' for scarin' 'em."

"What happened when I left?"

"We talked."

"Just talked?"

"Yeah. We talked about our new Negan situation, he apologized for pushin' me away... he actually hugged me, Daryl." I smiled. "I never thought Rick and I would ever be the same ever again. But that? He just gave me a whole new reason to hope that things will get better."

"They will." Daryl gently placed his free hand on top of mine and smiled.

"I'll see ya soon." Rick called into the house as he walked onto the front porch, shutting the door behind him. "We're meetin' in the church in ten."

"Okay."

"I wanna see ya there. Both of you."

"You got it." I nodded. Rick walked up to me and gently pat me on my shoulder.

"It's good to have ya back, Michaela."

"It's good to be back." Rick smiled and walked down the steps, down the street to inform the other council members of the meeting.

"What was that about?" Daryl asked.

"He asked me to join the council again."

"Really?"

"Yep... Things are startin' to get back to the way they once were."

"Yeah, except that you're pregnant and Negan's tryin' to kill us."

"Way to ruin the moment, Daryl."

"Sorry." Daryl half smiled. "Did ya ever come up with names?"

"Negan and I did, but seein' that I'm done with 'em, I think it's best to come up with our own names. Have any in mind?"

"Me?" I nodded. "I dunno, I've never even named a dog."

"Ya named Judith."

"No, Carl named Judith, I just call 'er Lil' Ass Kicker."

"See? You've named something." I laughed. "Seriously, I wanna hear any name ideas ya got."

"I dunno.. I was thinkin'... maybe Joseph Isaac."

"Yours and Merle's middle names?"

"I dunno... it was just somethin' I thought of."

"I like it, Daryl. It sounds great, he'll be named after the two strongest men I know." Daryl instantly smiled. "Alright, what about the girl?"

"I dunno, I'm not good with girl names." Daryl sighed. "What name did you and Negan have picked out?"

"Riley Anne, but that was mine and Negan's name for 'er, I want us to come up with one together." Daryl's eyes slightly lightened as an idea sparked in his mind, but he subtly shook that idea away. "What?"