Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

Look What You Made Me Do

I was never so thankful for a sunrise than I was the next morning. My husband was able to turn off his brain, sleeping peaceful at my side while I stayed up all night plotting and worrying. When Daryl finally stirred at sunrise I was up and dressed before he wiped the sleep from his eyes. I skipped breakfast entirely, opting to drain three cups of coffee in rapid succession which in hindsight was a bad idea.

"Woman, you're wound tighter than a two-dollar watch," Daryl drawled, eyes never leaving the dynamite he was handling.

I stopped pacing, biting my lip while tapping a finger on my arm. "Is there another Red Bull?"

"No!" Aaron and Apocalypse Barbie yelled together.

"Jeez guys, tell me how you really feel."

I was pretty sure Merle had the last one in his pack. I could steal it later.

"No more jet fuel for ya Red." I rolled my eyes at my husband even though he wasn't paying attention. "And don't be askin' Merle for none neither."

Damn redneck Jedi.

"Aaron, you stick that in the blasting cap and you'll blow us all sky high," I pointed out casually.

Everyone froze, afraid to breathe less it set off the bomb. I sighed heavily. It was going to be a long day. I bent down, snatching the wire from his hand, and twisting it around the battery with more force than was necessary. Maybe Daryl was right about the caffeine.

"T-thanks," he stuttered, sweat beading on his forehead.

"You gonna tell us where the other two bombs are?"

I stood, eyeing Apocalypse Barbie impassively.

"No." She stared me down with an unimpressed scowl. "The less you know the better."

"Sounds like a load of bullshit to me."

"Quick question, are there one or two days a month you aren't PMS-ing?"

She stood abruptly, eyes narrowed as her hand drifted to the knife at her side. "You know what Alex..."

My husband gave me some wicked side-eye, begging me to play nice while we were handling explosives, but planted his large body in front of mine just in case Apocalypse Barbie decided to try her luck. It was more for her protection than mine.

"Hey, easy, we're on the same side," Aaron chided, wrapping a hand around the advancing woman's arm.

Because I had better things to do than beat her ass I put my hands up, and offered her a half-hearted apology I didn't mean. My tentative truce with the hot-pants wearing lunatic died with her former flame. Now we hovered somewhere firmly between almost killing each other and actually trying to kill each other. It worked for us.

"Listen, if this goes sideways." Aaron's face paled which was impressive considering he already looked like Casper the Friendly Ghost. "Which I'm not saying it will," I added, trying to stem his rising panic. "But, if it does, you can't give up something you don't know."

"Makes sense," Daryl added.

His diplomacy skills rivaled even Hershel's these days. Somehow he'd managed to take my side without actually taking my side which only slightly pacified the rabid woman foaming at the mouth.

Thankfully we were spared more drama when a caravan of garbage trucks and a shit-ton of people on bicycles passed by, seriously it was like The Peloton from the Tour de France. The garbage trucks weren't all that surprising given who we were dealing with. Cliché' as fuck, but not surprising. The bicycle gang made me want to blow them up whether they were backstabbing liars or not.