My Desire - Daryl Dixon (1)

Stressful Couple Of Hours

Chapter 51

After heading back inside, I went to check on Beth and saw her happily resting in her bed. Hershel had stitched up her wrist well and now she was sleeping it off. Once I saw that my sister was okay, I then began to sit outside on the porch. Eventually Alicia joined me and I began to braid her hair. I needed a good distraction and this was it while Alicia began to tell me about her day. Once I had finished, I felt Alicia drifting off in my arms before Maggie walked out and joined me. She had a cup of tea in her hand and smiled as she saw Alicia with me before she sat down opposite me and said...

"Here. Thought you could use some tea," Maggie said as she handed me the tea.

"Thank you," I said as I took a sip.

"You've been out here for a while," Maggie said.

"Yeah, I just needed some time to think," I said.

"About slapping Andrea or about Beth?" Maggie asked.

"About everything I guess. Life has just been a little overwhelming over these past couple of days," I said.

"Well we are in the middle of an apocalypse," Maggie said.

"Yeah but strangely enough, I can handle killing walkers better than I can handle family drama," I said.

"You spoken to your mum since the funeral?" Maggie asked.

"No. I can't deal with her. Not now, not with everything else I have to deal with," I answered.

"Yeah, I get that. But it wouldn't hurt for you to try talking with her again. Maybe you can even let Alicia spend some time with her," Maggie said.

"I don't know if I can. Every time I try to talk with her, it's like she doesn't understand me or my pain. She'll try and defend Gavin over and over again, and I just- I can't put Alicia through any of that. I'm her mother and I just need to protect her. I won't let her go through what I went through when I was her age. In fact I was even younger than her age. I just- I need to protect her," I explained.

"You don't need to protect her against everyone and everything, Skye. You're not alone here. People want to help you, including me," Maggie said.

I then smiled at her before I put my cup down and continued to hold Alicia, stroking her hair as I did this.

"You want me to carry her to bed? She could stay in Caroline's old room?" Maggie asked.

"You sure?" I questioned.

"Yeah, of course," Maggie answered before getting up and walking over towards us.

I then watched as Maggie slowly picked her up, trying her best not to wake her before heading inside to put Alicia to bed. Once she was gone, I began to sit there looking at the night sky before I went inside, up the stairs and began to sleep beside Alicia.

The next morning I got up, got dressed and headed outside with everyone else to get some breakfast, and after some discussion about Randall, Lori said...

"So what are you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan," Lori said.

"Is there a plan?" Andrea asked.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked.

"We'll know soon enough," Rick said before lifting his head to point at Daryl, who was coming our way.

Daryl then finally reached us and said...

"Boy there's got a gang, thirty men. Got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead, And our women, they're gonna... they're gonna wish they were," Daryl said.

"What did you do?" Carol asked, clearly not impressed with Daryl torturing someone to get information.

"We had a little chat," Daryl answered.

"No one goes near this guy," Rick ordered.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked.

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat," Rick answered.

"You're just going to kill him?" Dale questioned.

"It's settled. I'll do it today," Rick said before walking off.

Dale then followed him to go and argue why Randall should be left alive.

It suddenly went silent for a long while. Nobody said anything to anybody before Maggie broke the silence and said...

"I'm gonna head back to the house," Maggie said to me.

"Okay," I said.

"Want me to take Alicia with me? Beth might want the company," Maggie wondered.

"Sure, thanks," I said.

Maggie nodded before she said...

"Hey, you want to come see how Aunt Beth is doing?" Maggie asked Alicia.

"Sure," Alicia answered happily before walking off with Maggie.

Once they were gone, I finally looked around me and began to wonder where Jason was.

"Hey has anyone seen Jason?" I asked.

"Not since yesterday," Lori answered.

"Okay, I'm gonna go look for him," I said before running off back to the house to see if he was in his room.

As I got back to the house, I began searching from room to room, looking all over for him before finally hearing his voice in Helen's room. I then slowly began to open the door and entered it before seeing Helen laying in her bed, looking very weak and sick-like while Jason was at her side, helping her eat.

"What's going on?" I asked finally.

"Skye. This isn't what it looks like," Jason said.

"Well then what is it? Because you- you shouldn't be in here," I said.

Jason then arose from his chair and walked over to me before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"J, what's going on?" I asked.

"Mum's sick. She's been sick for a while. The doctors told us that she wouldn't have long and now it appears she may even have less time than expected. She's dying, Skye," Jason said.

Hearing these words made me froze as I suddenly realized why Helen was making an effort. She knew that time was a precious thing and she didn't have much left of it...