Daryl Dixon Imagines

Found and safe

By formylovetodaryldixon on Tumblr

A

s you walked toward Daryl, with his body leaning slightly on the car with the hood open as he tried to find the problem in it, you noticed that perhaps it wasn’t the best time to show him what you had just discovered in one of all the abandoned houses in the city. The car didn’t start and every minute that passed he only got frustrated.

Daryl heard the faint sound of your boots behind him and he straightened himself up to look backward.

“The damn car doesn’-” He paused when he saw the puppy in your arms. It was a baby German shepherd that you found in a corner of an old kitchen. Thin, thirsty, and completely alone. “Where did ya find that?”

His slightly furrowed frown was not the best expression he could have.

“Don’t call him ‘that.’ It’s a dog, not a thing. And I found him in a house. He’s very thin so something must have happened to his mom.”

Daryl watched him with no emotion in his face.

 "Leave it where ya found it.“ With indifference, he turned around to the car.

You watched the puppy sleeping on your arm.

You weren’t even affected by his words. It would be cruel to leave him there, but you could know and even understand the reasons why it was a bad idea to have to take care of a puppy in that world. The dog could cry while you were hiding from a walker. It was a mouth to feed and care for. One more reason to worry about, even if you lived in a place like Alexandria.

But the puppy was only an abandoned soul, fragile, innocent and without any guilt for being born in the midst of an apocalypse.

“I found him and he’s mine now. I’ll take care of him.”

In front of you, his back tightened.

“We don’t need it, (Y/N). It will only be one more mouth to feed.”

How to make him understand that the puppy and you two mattered the same? Even if that meant using a little of the food you two got in the search for supplements.

“Please don’t feel superior for being the dominant ‘race’, Daryl…” You said with a kind voice, just to make him understand what you thought. “We all are mouth to feed.”

He turned around; his brow completely furrowed this time. He could never convince you that having that responsibility was unnecessary in your lives, but maybe you could converse him otherwise. Despite his hard and stubborn personality, he used to give in to certain things if they were about you.

“Okay then…” You said calmly and put the puppy on the cold ground. The little one complained, walking with trembling feet toward you. You stepped back a bit and pulled your gun out of the back of your waist.

You weren’t going to shoot the puppy but that little act of coldness had to convince him. It had to work…

Under his confused look, you clicked the safety off and aimed at the puppy.

“The hell are ya doin’?” He didn’t move from his place, but he talked with a slightly surprised voice.

The small body on the ground kept moving towards you as if in those few minutes that he was with you, he would have chosen you as his new mom. It was a recognition of his kind towards the body that gave him some protection.

“It is inhuman to leave him abandoned. At least this way he won’t suffer…”

Your finger touched the trigger and he took a step forward.

“You’re crazy, woman!” He grunted in frustration, snorting irritably before turning to the car and closing the hood. “Take yer damn dog and help me find another car.”

Your body relaxed and you put the gun back in place before squatting and taking the puppy. He passed you by after taking his backpack and his crossbow to look for another car on the street that was free of walkers. None of you wanted to tempt your good luck so it was better to hurry up and leave the place before it got dark.

You knew that the task of taking care of the puppy could be difficult and even a little dangerous as long as he remained a puppy, because he wasn’t yet aware of the danger. But maybe when he grew up his instinct would help him to lead himself, to feel the danger and avoid it. If you trained him well he could be a good companion to you two even if Daryl didn’t admit it.

“Don’t be upset, Daryl…” You walked behind him across the street. “I’ll even let you choose his name.”

“I don’t care to name it. And right now I’m tellin’ ya that animal ain’t gonna sleep in our room.”

5 minutes later you drove the black car out of the street and between the old buildings of a city that once was busy and full of life. The puppy rested on your lap as you drove past what once was part of civilization, and minutes later you entered the road surrounded by tall trees at each side of the way. Daryl relaxed in his seat as the orange light of sunset shone against the window from his side, as if that beautiful sunset wasn’t part of that world.

His gaze followed the walker you both left behind while listening to its snarl in the distance.

Daryl was silent, thoughtful, and he took the puppy from your lap. Daryl looked at him with quiet interest, because after all, you both hadn’t seen anything so small and helpless.

The puppy tried to lick Daryl’s face, and he pulled away in surprise.

Although you didn’t say anything aloud, the laughter began to tickle your chest at the thought of what would happen from now on. The puppy would be fine with you two. Behind Daryl’s mask of ‘I do not care what happens to him’ you knew that he would take good care of the puppy. Daryl would give the puppy a chance to live safe because every living being deserved that opportunity.