
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7555243.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con,
      Underage
  Category:
      Multi
  Fandom:
      The_Walking_Dead
  Relationship:
      Daryl/Original_Female_Character(s), Maggie/Glenn, Rick/Lori, Rick/
      Michonne, Merle/Andrea
  Character:
      Daryl_Dixon, Maggie_Greene, Beth_Greene, Glenn_Rhee, Sasha_Williams_
      (Walking_Dead), Tyreese_Williams, Abraham_Ford, Hershel_Greene, Philip
      Blake_|_The_Governor, Rick_Grimes, Lori_Grimes, Carl_Grimes, Carol
      Peletier, Theodore_"T-Dog"_Douglas, Michonne, Noah, Negan_(Walking_Dead)
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-07-22 Updated: 2016-07-23 Chapters: 2/? Words: 7751
****** Sink Of Blood & Crushed Veneer ******
by forsakenfuckery_(diashann)
Summary
     She leaves the safety of her safe house to recover; family, friends,
     and supplies. Sarafina has to gather all of her strength to get over
     her losses, with her sanity still intact, for the sake of her son.
***** The Flashback *****
"I'm so glad you decided on comin' to Augusta with us," A lanky brunette girl
said from the other side of the store, southern twang evident in her voice.
Sarafina Deckhardt stood five foot six in an olive prom dress that was in the
process of being altered, her lower-back length hair tied up for the time-
being. "We went to school and grew up here, it's not a big deal. Besides,
someone needed to wear the dress for you, what with that full leg cast you're
wearing."
"Thank fuck we're 'bout the same size," Maggie forced a small laugh, her face
turning red from embarrassment as Lydia, Sara's best friend, glanced her way
while they both browsed through racks of clothes that people didn't usually
look through. They were at Ms. Delaine's thrift shop, it was a place where both
Sarafina and Lydia worked in high school. Though they really didn't enjoy the
long hours, they always thought it beat working at the bar just across the
street. The town drunkards usually found many ways to disturb the peace of
their much less wasted co-existing residents. Sarafina glanced down at the old
lady who was taking her measurements, she was Ms. Delaine's mother. Cynthia
Delaine wasn't much older than Sarafina, now that she thought about it. She
herself was only twenty-five, and she was sure Cynthia was in her late-
thirties.
Sara looked to her lanky cousin, Maggie Greene. Maggie was smiling and
observing all of the steps the older Delaine went through to prepare her dress
before she started having light conversation with Lydia, both of them now
sitting in the chairs a ways away from the elevated floor Sara was standing on
to perfect the accuracy of measurement. She noticed the old woman's hands
shaking and wondered if their movement made the old woman as nervous of
pricking her as she was of getting pricked. Soon enough, it was all over and
time for her to take the dress off, the old woman pre-occupied with re-
measuring Maggie to make up for the few extra inches that she needed to lose
when re-pinning the dress. Sara felt almost guilty that her child-bearing hips
and more shapely bust was causing poor old Mrs. Delaine a headache. "When did
they say you'd be all healed up?", Sara asked Maggie from the other side of the
dressing room curtain, finally speaking again once the old lady had taken the
dress off and left her to the task of putting her own clothes back on.
"Two weeks 'fore prom, they guessed. Dad gave a second opinion and he thinks
the doctors are right. I don't understand why he just doesn't become my primary
physician, clearly him being a vet doesn't seem to stop him from giving input
on such things, anyway," Maggie said, fiddling at the dressing room curtain
absent-mindedly.
"What I don'tunderstand is how you can ride those damned creatures." Sarafina
couldn't help give a muffled laugh at Lydia's outburst, knowing for a fact that
Lydia had been afraid of horses for as long as she'd known her.
"Horses are not that gawd awful," Maggie argued back in a playful tone. "Aye,
are you almost done in there?" Sara just stuck her hand out of the curtain and
gave a thumbs up, as to say almost, before she lifted her shirt over her head.
She threw the curtain aside, eyes narrowed upon seeing Lydia and Maggie wearing
cowboy hats on the other side of the threshold. "Seriously? You guys are
insane," She brushed past them, only to be pulled back to Lydia's
side. "Speaking of insane," Lydia 's eyes were about to bulge from her head and
she had no control over the matter. It was decided. That was the only reason
for her to be wearing such an expression, Sara was sure of it. "You'll never
guess who I saw with your cousin, Sebastian."
Sara gave in to the game after she was sure she couldn't get away with
straight-facing her best friend any longer, "Nope. Who ?"
"Merle Dixon."
Sara gave her with a disbelieving expression before Maggie blurted, "Who ?"
"His brother went to school with Sara and I, even dated Sara. Merle is much
older than us though, around Sebastian's age, actually," Lydia filled Maggie in
before receiving a squint toward the hind part of her sentence. "Sebastian is
not thatold," Sara amended.
"Doesn't really matter much, Maggie never paid attention to our friends, she
was so young. And she sure as hell didn't pay any attention to Sebastian's
friend's, either. To be quite honest, Daryl wasn't even our friend, he was
Charlotte's. They're the same age. You, Lindy, and I were the ones who hung
like wet clothes," Lydia's eyes were clouding over with the past and Sara would
much rather not talk about any of it. She didn't want to reminisce especially
not about Daryl. "Alright. Alright," She finally said, pulling Lydia out of her
glory day fantasies. "Why the hell were you telling me anyhow?"
"Well, Sebastian was taking Denny fishing today, right?" Sarafina gave an
impatient nod, desperately wanting to know where this conversation was heading
so it could be over and done with. Pretty sure Maggie wasn't paying attention
to anything anymore, what with the dazed expression on her face. "Well… when
you were in the dressing room, he got back from fishing, I assume. But on his
way back to the shop, he ran into Merle and they all walked off
somewhere." Sara's eye twitched only slightly and she moved her hand to cover
it. "You're shitting me, right?" Maggie looked up upon hearing the tone of
Sara's voice before she chimed in, "Well…we're all done here. You guys can feel
free to go find 'em. I was plannin' on catching up with some school friends,
anyway. Dad said he'd pick me up after, cause I knew I'd want to stay out
late."
Lydia gave her best friend a look of excitement as she heard the ending of
Maggie's words. "No," Sara spoke in an irritated tone, "Absolutelynot." Lydia
frowned and stepped closer to the other woman, hugging her as she gave plea
after plea. Maggie could see that was her cue to leave so she left the shop,
saying goodbye to the other two, even though they seemed pretty pre-occupied
with things as it was. "Why not? C'mon. I know Lindy will be pissed we left her
at home when she hears about this, but we have to do this. One dummy mission,
please. When was the last time you even saw Daryl? Before Denny was born?
C'mon, I know you're the least bit curious as to what he looks like, who he
associates with."
"No," Sara said again, fighting to get out of Lydia's anaconda death grip.
Lydia released her finally, her arms folding. The gesture was quite ridiculous
from Sara's perspective, Lydia looked almost child-like. "What in gawd's name
are you doing, Lydia Carson?"
"I'm pouting, cause I'm mad at you," Lydia said, giving a stamp of one of her
feet as she turned her head away from Sara. Sara nibbled at the tip of her
fingernails before sighing. She was on the verge of giving in completely, she
felt it. "Why are you mad at me, Lyd?" Lydia turned her head only slightly so
that she could look at Sara through her peripheral, squinting slightly before
exhaling deeply, "Well for starters, you're not being a very good parent. Your
six year old son could be god knows where with The Dixon Brothers."
"Sea bassis with him," She said pointedly before adding, "You know Sebastian
wouldn't let anything happen to Denny, and he sure as hell wouldn't take him
somewhere I wouldn't approve of. Plus they're probably just at Daryl's place.
Sebastian said something about there being a barbeque. However, he was supposed
to bring Denny back, first.." Lydia sighed, as if to surrender on that subject
before she was right back to talking again, naming another reason. "Well, then
I'm only mad at you because you and I have worked hella hard to get these
banging figures- We're almost thirty -and you don't want to show them off to
the likes of your ex andmy long time crush." Sara scrunched her nose, still not
believing that her best friend had such poor taste in men. Merle fucking Dixon,
really ? She shook the thought away and then tilted her head to think. "I
mean…I could just go get Denny." Lydia lit up within an inch of her life before
she started jumping and squealing. "Calm down, woman. I didn't say I'd stay.
That's for damn sure." Lydia moved forward and smacked Sara on the ass,
grinning harder than she'd done in a long time. "Shut up and show off that
body. You've got a damn good body to be somebody's Momma." Sara rolled her
eyes, she was used to getting her ass slapped by her best friend. If she had a
quarter for every time Lydia smacked her on the ass, she'd be a millionaire.
Part of her thinks that Lydia only followed her to Michigan State, after High
School, just so the abuse could continue.
The two made their way out of the shop, Sara bidding a good day to Cynthia
Delaine's mother as they did. Lydia had been linking arms with her for almost
the whole walk to Washington Avenue, where Sara was sure Daryl lived. Lydia let
go of her arm and started twirling around, face turned to the pinkish hue of
the sky. This was totallytypical 'nearly thirty' behavior she thought
sarcastically, a smile on her face as she watched her best friend, part of her
knowing that once they reached Daryl's house that all of her excitement would
fade away and her seducing would begin. Merle Dixon had better start runnin'.
"That's the house?" Lydia asked, skepticism in her eyes as she straight-faced
her best friend as she nodded. "How do you know ?" Lydia asked and Sara just
simply turned the other woman's head toward the truck in the driveway, it was
Daryl's for sure. Sara remembered the truck a little too well. "Oh," was all
Lydia managed to say at her moment of stupidity. "It's not like I haven't slept
over here plenty of times, in the past... aaaand, I can smell barbequed
squirrel and deer from where we stand," Sara added pointedly. Lydia only rolled
her eyes.
Upon reaching the yard, they continued toward the back yard, where they could
hear the low sound of music and obnoxiously loud laughter. At this point, Sara
was a bit nervous, she had not signed up for this. She glanced over to check on
Lydia as they stalked closer to where the others were sure to be, amazed to
find that she was wearing the same look of uncertainty. However, the look on
Lydia's face wore away instantly when she heard Merle talking about how
hotSebastian's cousin had been. Sara stopped cold in her tracks and perked up
upon then hearing her name. "Ew," she spat. Lydia chuckled and Sarafina was
shocked that his words hadn't bothered her. As much of a man whore Merle was,
it never seemed to fully bother her, she still wanted him. It was really sick.
Lydia grabbed hold of Sara's hand and the woman staggered forward, a horrified
expression on her face. "Sea bass!" Lydia cooed, both of them appearing in the
backyard. 
Sebastian swiveled around before anyone else moved, Merle taking attention
first, then Daryl, then Karen- a flimsy floozy who worked at the bar O'Toole's
across from Cynthia Delaine's shop. Denny was last to notice his Mother and
Lydia, his face lighting up as he ran to her. "Mommy!" She tugged away from
Lydia harshly, giving her the most unfriendly glare possible before running a
hand through her long brown hair. "Hey sweetie," she said when the boy finally
reached her. He jumped into her arms and she hugged him and kissed at his
head. Sebastian stood and, over Denny's shoulder, Sara gave him a smirk. She
walked over to him, the boy still clinging to her for dear life. "Why didn't
you tell me you had plans," She said in a whispered tone, glancing at Merle who
sat closest to Sebastian.
"I'm so sorry," he said.
"How often does thishappen?" Sara asked, having always wondered why fishing
took so long. Merle chuckled just a bit but Sara ignored it long enough that
when she found out what he'd been laughing at, she grew more annoyed. She
glanced back to see Lydia mocking her. "Lydia. What the hell are you doing?"
Lydia shrugged innocently and Sara's face turned red from her slight
anger. "Awh hell woman, you dun got her mad now," For a moment after hearing
his voice, Sara grew startled, she'd completely forgotten he was there. Her
back was turned to him the whole time. Sara placed Denny on the ground and told
him to go bother Lydia, who was inching closer to the group of people. Sara
turned toward Daryl and gave a faint smile, "Hi Daryl."
Daryl smirked before nodding at her, Karen leaning a little too closely to him
afterward. Sara gave a slight chuckle at the discomfort displayed on Daryl's
face. Same old Daryl, allergic to public displays of affection. But then it
occurred to her, this wasn't the sameDaryl, he was more toned, more scraggly,
if anything he was the opposite of who he used to be in her eyes. Sure, he was
always rude to people, hated PDA, smelled like motor oil, and wore sleeveless
shirts- but now, he was a turn off, still attractive as ever, but a turn off as
he sat there with a woman he normally wouldn't have associated with and a smug
look on his face. He wasn't her Daryl anymore, but then again, she wasn't his
Sara anymore either. She chuckled again at how much people can change.
"Somethin' funny?" Karen snarled.
Sara raised an eyebrow at the other woman's tone and ran a hand through her
hair. Daryl just paused. "Nah. Just laughing." Clearly Daryl was surprised at
Sara's reaction, he was used to that fiery high school girl who used to hit
people over the head with a beer bottle whenever they managed to get on her bad
side, or say the wrong thing.
"Damn, Karen. I was hopin' someone would smack yer ass up. Guess our old
Sarafina Greene is gone, huh, girly?", Merle laughed obnoxiously for a moment,
words aimed at Sara.  "Guess so", She said in response to his words. Sebastian
sat back down in his foldable chair, he gave Merle a look of annoyance, "It's
actually Sarafina Deckhardt now. Too good to be one o'us." She looked down at
her cousin, taking the empty lawn chair next to him, which was presumed to have
been Karen's since her ass was basically engulfing the armrest of Daryl's lawn
chair. "That isn't true," She snapped, slightly surprised when her young son
came and sat on her lap. She held him close to her. Lydia was close behind,
going and taking a seat on Merle's lap. Merle didn't seem to mind but the whole
thing made Sarafina want to lose her lunch. She snapped out of her stupor and
focused on what Sebastian was saying to her, trying her hardest to ignore
Daryl's hard gaze.
"Is true. You went off to college and forgot all 'bout us. All yer friends. All
yer family. Hell, I barely seen Denny since he was born. You gotta beg Chris to
bring ya down 'ere. I'm shocked I was even at yer weddin'."
She could tell he was getting absolutely plastered, but one thing was for
certain, he always told the truth when he was drunk. And not that flimsy
version of the truth that everyone is so used to getting, Sebastian Greene told
the uglytruth when he was drunk. "I didn't forget about anyone," Sara fought
back, her southern accent not as strong as it should have been. "Don't pull
that shit, Sars. Last time you was 'ere, you and Darylina was the best of
friends. Then Chris got insecure an' you culn't even talk to 'em no more. All
'cause the two of yers fucked and he's yer ex," Sebastian scoffed, watching
first as Sara flinched at the word fucked, then as Daryl gave him a warning
glare about the nickname that Merle and Sebastian had given to him, before
continuing his drunken rant. "He din't even know you was a Momma. Til right
now. He's spent time wit Denny, e'ry time you come down 'ere, but he din't know
Denny was yers," Her cousin shook his head at her and it made her feel a twinge
of guilt.
He was right, she was forced to stop talking to Daryl and it had been so long
that soon she just stopped fighting it, stopped caring. She hadn't talked to
Daryl in literally six years, and if Chris knew she was even around him at that
moment, he'd be unbelievably pissed. She guessed Chris had a reason for that
though, with what happened six Christmas' ago before they had gotten engaged.
She cringed just thinking about it, so she shook it from her mind, almost
immediately. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, holding her now sleeping son to her
chest. Sebastian smirked, perking up a bit at the sound of her voice.
"Wassdat?" Sara gritted her teeth for a moment, it was always hard for her to
apologize, even if she was at fault. "I said. I'm sorry,"She said more sternly,
her eyes on Daryl now.
"Thas more like it. Yer a Greene. We dun't take shit, but mos' of all, we dun't
give it," She smirked a bit at his words, mulling them over, wondering just how
drunk he was.
Conversation picked up after that, and when Karen passed out from drinking too
much, things got much better. It was only eight, and Maggie had texted Sara to
inform her that she and some friends were going to a movie and that her father,
Sara's uncle Hershel, would pick her up afterward. It was all a bit strange how
the Greene's were sort of estranged, yet close all the same. Hershel and his
family didn't associate or know the Dixon's or anyone else in Augusta as much
as Sara did. It was probably because Sara's father, the youngest of three boys,
was a professional major leaguer and everyone in town knew her and her sister,
Lindy. Hershel disowned his youngest brother for some reason and they barely
spoke. Sara and her family had resided in town and Hershel and his family lived
a few miles outside of Augusta, closer to Atlanta. Sara's dad and Sebastian's
dad, her uncle Jack who was also Charlotte's dad, remained close and he lived
in Augusta too.
Sara shook the thought almost immediately upon hearing Daryl's voice so close
to her ear. "You want to go lay him down in my bed?" he asked, referring to
Denny, who was still fast asleep. "Uh, sure," she answered, a bit hesitant
after finding Lydia to be staring at them. Daryl stood up straighter, chewing
on his lip when he said, "C'mon then." He started trudging toward the house and
Sara stood careful of her son in her arms before following after him, hearing
what sounded like Merle giving her assa compliment. She ignored it, of course.
Once inside, she looked around, a small smile on her face at the design of it
all. Though he'd rearranged some things, the house still suited Daryl. It was
isolated to every other house on the street, then on the inside there were
heads of mostly everything he'd ever hunted. Sara herself was against animal
harm, but Daryl didn't just kill 'em to kill 'em. He killed them to eat them
and didn't waste one bit of them. "C'mon, you remember the way," he called to
her gruffly as she hesitated in the living room, still looking at all his kill.
"Sorry," She said, snapping out of it and following after him to the staircase.
He led her upstairs and his bedroom was the first on the left, the bedroom
across from it seeming to be bone empty as she peaked into it from a distance.
He cleared his throat after a few seconds of waiting on her to come all the way
through the doorway. Daryl was new to being patient, the only time he ever
really had been was when they were together, which was a long time ago. He had
gotten unfamiliar with the whole patiencething when she left. She entered the
room and looked around, it was still pretty plain- suited Daryl too, she
thought. She carefully laid Denny down in the center of the bed, making sure he
wouldn't roll off onto the floor. She looked up at Daryl, catching an
expression on his face that she didn't recognize. He looked down at her and
then cleared his throat, "He's really…somethin'," Daryl said. She smiled up at
Daryl before leaning down again, placing a small kiss on the boy's head. "Thank
you," she said.
Her head being hip-level with Daryl, she noticed something. He was blocking
from the bedside table, purposely obstructing her view of it. She squinted
before standing again. "Daryl." He made a humming noise to make her aware the
he'd heard her, as he gazed down at the sleeping child, gnawing on his thumb as
he did. "What's that ?" She pointed around him and he jerked back slightly,
knocking whatever it was onto the floor. She couldn't tell if he'd done it on
purpose or not, but she leaned down to retrieve the object at the same time as
he did, knocking their heads together in the process. "Fuck," Daryl sputtered,
falling back onto his butt, sitting on the floor now as he cupped his head in
pain. Sara cupped her hand in her head too, but didn't make much noise about
the pain. She was more of a suffer in silencetype of person. She managed to
look at the cracked picture frame, grabbing it up quickly before Daryl could
get to it. She gasped lightly, her other hand still cupping her head while one
held the frame up. "Is this…us ?" He sighed, taking it from her, chewing at his
lip nervously. "Jus' some stupid thing, dun't know why I even keep it."
Her heart fell and she looked away from him, wishing all of it didn't hurt as
much as it did. Fact of the matter was that he still had that picture and that
mahogany frame, he still had something of hers, and she still had something of
his.
 
===============================================================================
===============================================================================
 
 "Mom," the boy with dirty-blonde colored hair said for about the trillionth
time and she shook her head, looking over at the ten year old in the passenger
seat for just a moment. "What, Denny? What ?" The slightly-tanned boy looked
out his window, replaying the catastrophic events before his no longer innocent
eyes. He hated seeing nothing but wasteland after wasteland. "Are we there
yet?"
She sighed, keeping her eyes fixed on the road, "I told you. We passed it
already and no one was there. It was just a bunch of smoke. 'member?" Her voice
sounded a bit more panicked than she planned it to. She glanced into her rear
view mirror momentarily to see her dad's slugger, sitting up in the backseat,
covered in dried up blood . She shivered, thanking god her dad had died long
before any of this bullshit. Her father died of pneumonia two years earlier
after her last visit to Georgia and her mother was out there somewhere, kicking
zombie ass and taking names. She was estranged from her mother after her being
so unfaithful to her father, so it didn't matter. Then again, it was mostly her
father's fault, being a traveling athlete and all.
She then thought about her poor step-mother, Sylvia, who her father had re-
married to when she was sixteen; her sister, Lindy; and her best friend, Lydia.
Sylvia and Lindy died right in front of her, being consumed by those damned
monsters. Sara had to admit she wasn't so sad to see them gnawing away at her
cheating dirt-bag husband, Chris. And Lydia? She'd lost track of Lydia. Though,
she was sure she was still out there somewhere, what with their occasional
midnight chats on their long range walkie talkies. They had actually planned to
meet up, that's why Sara desperately headed toward Augusta, knowing that she
could stop and scavenge the nearby prison for supplies. Lydia was supposed to
meet her a few miles past the prison, at Delaine's Thrift Shop. Hopefully they
both made it that far.
She and Denny were leaving the comfort of her safe house in the woodsy areas of
Charlotte to search for the remnants of the Greene family; meet up with Lydia
at Delaine's; meet up Sebastian, who was driving their grandmother up from
Savannah, at the prison; and meet up with Lotty, who was coming from
Montgomery, Alabama, at the prison too. She stayed in contact with them, having
hacked her way into what remained of a cell phone company near Myrtle Beach.
She and her step-sister Stephanie's husband, Rupert, found a way to link
everyone their own Verizon phones and activate them. Sebastian and Charlotte
already had the provider so it was easier than one would assume. All Rupert did
was gather everyone else in the group their own Verizon's from the abandoned
place, programmed them, and then linked everyone's numbers- including Sebastian
and Charlotte's which Sara had given to him. It was a piece of cake from then
on. He used to work in the I.T. department for the phone company's before the
world went to shit, now he was just a really good hacker of anything
electronic. Among her group of survivors back at the safe house, there was
Stephanie, Rupert, their daughter Isobel, a guy named Carlos, and his little
sister Kelly-Rae. 
"Denny. Denny? AIDEN." She called to her son who was staring off into space the
whole time, still not having answered her question. "Yeah, mom?" He finally
said, half-startled. "Now would be a good time to get some sleep. We won't
arrive at the prison for another hour and I need you to have some form of
energy." He nodded at his mother before turning to face her, instead of the
window, getting as comfortable as he possibly could with his seatbelt on. He
closed his eyes and she knew immediately that he was sleeping when she heard
his heavy breathing. She glanced down at her phone as it started to light up in
her cup-holder. She picked it up. "Talk to me, Sea bass."
***** Together *****
Sara turned around the low shoulder of the road a bit too sharply and woke
Denny up, the boy looking around slightly startled before sitting up. "Are we
there yet?" She looked over at him, wiping tears from her eyes with one of her
hands while the other still gripped the steering wheel. "Mom?" he saw her
distress before wiping the sleep from his eyes to be sure he was seeing
correctly.
"We're almost there, baby," she said, glancing over at him a bit distracted for
a moment. Denny smiled at her before he brought his eyes to the road. "Mom,
look out!" The boy screamed and so did Sara, slamming her feet on the brakes as
she nearly hit someone. A living, breathing, someone. The car jolted from the
sudden stop and in that moment, Sara was lucky she'd always told her son to
wear his seatbelt, even if the world had ended. She was certain that he would
have flown through the windshield otherwise. She wore her seatbelt too, but her
head still made impact against the tip of the steering wheel, a small gash on
her forehead, bleeding profusely.
"Are you alright?" She said to her son immediately before hearing a knock at
her window. He simply nodded, the fear evident in his eyes as he watched the
blood trickling down her face. She turned away from him after giving a small
pat of encouragement to his head and then she turned to the window, seeing a
stocky black man. She lowered the window just a bit. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't
paying enough attention," She said, about ready to get on her way. The man gave
a small smile and accepted her apology, and just then she noticed a few more
people coming to the road, from a nearby campfire in the woods that Sara just
barely saw. In a way, it made sense that people were there, what with the
random line of cars at the side of the road. "Ma'am, you're bleeding pretty
bad," The man repeated for the third time, only, it was the first time Sara's
heard him, having been too busy staring at the people who started forming in
the distance. It had been a healthy amount of people.
"Yeah…", she finally said, moving her hand to touch the blood that was
streaming down. The man who established himself as T-Dog asked her to unlock
the door, and when she didn't, Denny did. As soon as the door opened, she
staggered out, T-Dog helping her over to sit down on the ground. Denny was at
her side instantly, after grabbing the slugger from the back seat, watching
eagerly as the man got into their car and moved it to line up with the others.
"You're damn near on empty, you know that?", She squinted up at T-Dog who was
now accompanied by a dark-haired gentleman. "Yeah, I know," She tore a piece of
her sleeve and held it to her head to slow the bleeding. It didn't work too
well.
Rick sighed before turning to look across the road, back at the others who were
gathered together, worried looks on their faces. He looked back down at the
two, "What's your names?" Sara looked as if she was going to pass out, so Rick
raised his eyebrow at the boy. "I'm Denny, this is my Mom." She finally
recovered enough to say, "Sarafina Greene." Glenn, who was coming over to see
what had happened, overheard her words, curiosity getting the best of him, "As
in Hershel Greene?"
She stood a bit uneasily, heart throbbing at the mention of her uncle who she
presumed to be dead, just like her grandmother.
"She's dead, Sars," his voice said from the other end of the line.
Sara was so stunned she almost didn't understand, "What?… how?"
"She fell asleep in the truck and…she just didn't wake up." She could hear
Sebastian's voice crack and she knew instantly that he'd shot her in the head
to complete the process. "I'll be at the prison by midnight. Be there," He said
after moments of being quiet. She exhaled into the phone, trying to stay
strong. "See you then."
"Yeah, he was my uncle," She chewed at her lip a bit, the woozy feeling being
washed away by the rush of adrenaline she felt upon seeing the looks the three
men gave to each other. "C'mon," Rick said, wrapping an arm around the woman to
help her cross the road, Denny never leaving her side the whole time.
Somewhere between Rick putting his arm around her and finally reaching the
other side of the road, Sara closed her eyes. She heard Rick give a slight
laugh and she was slightly confused until she heard him speaking. "You'll never
believe who we found." She opened her eyes and though her vision was slightly
abstract, she heard the excitement of her son as he rushed to someone. "Maggie!
Beth! Uncle Hershel!" She heard his cries and immediately fought the need to
pass out. She needed to see those familiar faces. More than anything. Someone
sat her down, she couldn't really tell who, but soon there was a cold rag at
her head, from the sound of pouring she heard, she only assumed the water was
from a bottle or a canteen of some sort.
"You look like hell," A female voice said. Maggie.
"Wish I could say the same, cousin," Sara smirked dimly. "You would, if yer
dumb ass opened yer eyes," Another voice said, and though a few people
chuckled, her heart stopped. That voice. "Daryl?" She said opening her eyes,
water trickling down her face from the rag, filling her with a twinge of
pleasure and relief.
"The one and only," He said in a gruff tone.
 
===============================================================================
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It had been two hours of people fawning over her and staring at her and Sara
still couldn't believe her eyes, trying to stay as perfectly still as she could
while Hershel gave her gash some stitches. "So how do you two know each other,
again ?" Maggie asked for the second time, sensing how uncomfortable it made
Sara because she would tense up every time someone even mentioned it. Beth gave
a muffled laugh. "We went to high school together…sort of."
"Lie," Daryl smirked from across the campfire. Sara waited good and ready until
Hershel did the finishing touches on her stitches and moved out of her way to
squint at Daryl. "How the hell is that a lie?" She asked in a harsher tone than
she'd meant. "I'm eight years older than you, thas' how," She disregarded his
words.
"We dated," He said to Maggie after a moment of silence.
Sara rolled her eyes, only showing a sincere smile when Denny came to sit
beside her. She wrapped an arm around him. "Boy, you grew up fast," Daryl said,
slightly taken aback.
"Swear I was just thinkin' the same thing," Maggie said, the shock evident in
her voice. "I remember when he was just a little tadpole and Sara was freakin'
out 'cause she thought there was no way in hell she could raise a kid. I mean,
she was only nineteen," Maggie and Beth both laughed, recalling the memory.
"Thank god she and Chris got married right away though, otherwise, Uncle
Richard would've killed someone." Hershel gave a disapproving look, a small
smile on his face soon after. Daryl just looked annoyed at the whole
conversation.
Lori smiled a bit, she liked seeing at least some happiness amongst the group,
they had been on the side of the road for at least a day, arguing and
bickering. They were about to go scavenging for fuel just as the woman and her
son showed up. "How old are you, Denny?" She finally asked, hoping that Carl
could have someone his own age to play with. The boy looked at his mom before
whispering his age. "Wow, you're ten?" He simply nodded.
"I'm sorry," Sara said to Lori. "Denny is a little shy. He's always been like
that. Only really talks to people he's known from growing up." Lori nodded,
completely understanding, "Don't apologize, it's completely fine. I was just
thinking that the boys would like to play some cards in the tent." Denny perked
up a bit, "What do you have?!" Everyone laughed at his outburst. "Just a stack
of UNO cards," Lori said, handing the deck of cards to Carl. "C'mon!" He said,
gesturing for Denny to run after him to the tent, not too far from the adults.
Hershel got an idea about something that the group had been previously
discussing, gesturing for Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog to come with him. Rick asked
Daryl to stay put because he only needed Glenn and T-Dog, because they were the
ones who were going on the dangerous hunt for fuel. "So, he's ten? When's his
birthday?" Sara smiled at Lori, it was nice to have someone interested in her
son. It was nice to have a fellow mom to talk to. "September sixteenth," She
gave a coy smile. "That's nice, a fall baby." Lori's attempt at making small
conversation had failed miserably, but Sara was happy she had tried, all the
same.
"Hmm…" Maggie said after Lori and Carol walked away to do something else. Sara
was in the middle of staring at a half-sleeping Daryl Dixon to take much notice
until she felt the hard gaze of both Beth andMaggie upon her. "Jeesus…What?"
She said to them, being slightly startled upon turning to face them.
"Denny is a Fall baby," Maggie stated.
Sara rolled her eyes, "Thank you, captain obvi-" Maggie interrupted her again,
"You told us you were pregnant in March, you got married, in April. Either
Denny is two months premature or you've got some 'splainin' to do." Sara's eyes
widened half of a fraction. "You're insane."
"Oh. My. God," Maggie said, coming to the obvious realization. "Him ? He's the
guy from the Christmas party who you had that fling with. The one Chris caught
you kissing ?" Maggie looked in Daryl's direction, not believing that she
didn't know this whole time that Daryl Dixon had anything to do with her older
cousin. "Please. Please. Tell me I'm imagining all of this and that Denny's
many years of notlooking like Chris are not starting to unravel before my
eyes."
Beth sat there, completely stunned. She looked between the two of them, not
knowing who was worse with the temptation of men. "Maggie. You're imagining it.
Chris was Denny's Dad."
Maggie squinted at the wording, "But did he father him? Did he fertilize one of
your bountiful eggs?" Sara looked almost at a loss for words, she felt sick,
"Ew. Really ? Yes. He did. Okay?" Sara stood up before realizing there was
nowhere she could go to run away from the conversation. However, her phone
vibrated, and she realized how much time she'd lost track of.
"Hey, Sea bass. What's up?"
"I think I just drove past your car, are you okay?" He asked, the concern deep
in his voice as she could also hear the whooshingof an open window.
"Oh, yeah, Denny and I are fine, but just loop around to where you saw my car.
I sort of broke down. I'm at a campsite with Maggie, Beth, Hershel, And Daryl-
with a few others, too." She heard him sigh, she knew Sebastian usually hated a
change in plans, but she could hear him revving down the road now. He stopped,
lining up with the other cars. He hopped out and made his way deeper into the
woods, following the dim light from the camp fire's dying embers, gun in a
holster at his side.
"You alri'?" He asked again upon seeing the stitches on her forehead.
"Yeah, Uncle Hershel fixed me up real nice." She examined his blue eyes and his
sandy brown hair. He was the dirtiest she'd ever seen him. She exhaled,
remembering just how lucky she was to be seeing him and dove straight into his
arms, sobs escaping her. Sara didn't even know she'd wanted to cry, but it was
happening. Over her head, he smiled faintly at his cousin's Beth and Maggie,
trying to assure them that everything would be alright.
He pulled away from her after a moment of holding her, "Where's Denny?" Sara
saw the genuine concern in Sebastian's eyes. Every since Denny was born, all
Sebastian did was look out for him. Sebastian looked out for Denny, in many
ways, better than Chris ever had. She appreciated it, she really did. "He's in
that tent over there," She gestured to it, "Playing UNO with another boy around
his age." Sebastian glanced at the tent and then nodded in approval. As his
eyes were on the path to finding her face again, he paused and smirked.
Sara looked up at his face with slight confusion before she followed the path
of his vision. He was looking at Daryl, who was well asleep now, snoring his
brains out. She smirked a bit, remembering that Daryl only snored when he was
sleeping on his back or when he was really tired. "Don't," She said, recovering
from her memories, turning to see the devilish expression on Sebastian's face.
"Sebastian."
Before she could even do anything about it, Sebastian was well on his way
around the campfire to where Daryl was sitting. She covered her eyes, not
really wanting to see how this would play out. Sebastian hoisted himself onto
Daryl, straddling him. Sara could hear the groans of a groggy Daryl and
instantly she wanted to die. You would think that in the apocalypse, Sebastian
would at least lay off of messing with Daryl. If you did, you'd be
thinking wrong.
"Get the fuck off me!" Daryl said harshly, even after he became aware of who it
was. "Sebastian I will cut yer balls off! Get off uh me!" Daryl squirmed and
Sebastian only laughed.
"Wassdat ?" Sebastian said as he made it virtually impossible for Daryl to
move. Beth and Maggie giggled, which only angered Daryl more. Sara was
desperately holding in her laughter when Rick, Hershel, Glenn, and T-Dog came
to see what the hell was occurring. "What's going on?"
"Just boys being boys, Rick," She burst into laughter, watching Sebastian
tremble with his own uncontrollable laughter after finally managing to get
Daryl to say the phrase Darylina wants your sweet lovin'. It was kind of like
Sebastian's own person game of 'Say Uncle'. Daryl shoved Sebastian off of him,
muttering something that Sara was sure to be politically incorrect, before
getting out of his chair and storming off somewhere, crossbow in hand.
"Look, now you've got him all riled up," Rick said, a small smile on his lips.
Sara didn't think that it was a time to be doing much playing, it was time for
serious thinking. The group that had aided her and reunited her with her family
were in desperate need of gasoline and a damn good plan. There were so many of
them and even Hershel was stunned to see Sebastian, Sara knew it was because
traveling in big groups wasn't always the best idea when huge hoards were
around. The group apparently had learned that the hard way, what with Beth
still mourning the loss of Jimmy who had lived next door to them their whole
lives. It was always quite obvious to Sara, as well as to Maggie, that Beth
would end up with Jimmy. Obviously God had other plans for Beth's heart,
though.
"You gonna go after him?" Sebastian asked, nudging Sara forward.
Sara shook her head and moved out of his reach so he couldn't keep bothering
her. "Go on, I'll watch Denny," Sebastian folded his arms, waiting for her to
get to walking in the direction Daryl went, it was almost like an old western
when men challenged each other to gun duals. Sara sure as hell knew when to
stand down, she wasn't about to get into this with her older cousin, not now
anyway. "Fine," She muttered, obviously irritated by the turn of events.
Sebastian came into the camp, made a mess, now she was left to pick up the
pieces of said mess. The mess being Daryl Dixon and his man feelings.
She picked up her father's old slugger and wandered off in the same direction
as Daryl. After a few moments of walking, she found herself resting against a
tree, trying to catch her breath. She hadn't eaten since that morning and she
didn't think the loss of her blood was really helping the case. She couldn't
really blame anyone for her lack of eating though. She was a mother, most of
the food she had she gave to her son.
"Lookin' for me, huh?" Daryl said, coming up beside her, startling her half to
death. After she recovered, she nodded at him, sweat covering her brow and
drenching her black tank top. She scraped her Converse against the tree trunk
she was perched upon, trying to get a bit of mud off of the bottoms. "I had no
choice. Sebastian made me."
"That sounds like somethin' yer dickhead cousin would do," Daryl grunted. Sara
laughed lightly, it was a serene sort of laugh, the kind that Daryl missed. She
grinned for a moment before bringing up something she'd wanted to since she got
to their site. "Speaking of dickhead. Where's Merle?" She asked, concern lacing
her words. She really hoped she wasn't bringing up a sore subject. Daryl never
took kindly to sore subjects.
Daryl scratched at his head for a moment before staring into her eyes. "We got
separated…" Though Sara heard the sadness in his voice, she could see it didn't
really touch his eyes. She kinked an eyebrow before nodding slowly. "I hope
he's alright. Lydia and I got separated too… and Lindy…." She trailed off,
knowing the pain showed on her face the moment he stepped closer to comfort
her. "I'm sorry," He said, his hands on both of her arms, cross bow around his
shoulder.
"It's okay, really. I still have Stephanie. I'd rather have one sibling left
than none," The moment she said it, she wished she could take it back. She had
seen that she'd hit Daryl hard. "Oh… Daryl," He dismissed it automatically, the
pain still on his face. He felt awkward just standing there while she was just
expressing her feelings so he grabbed her up by the collar and pulled her into
a hug. She melted into him, the guilt still ringing through her.
"I missed this," Sara spoke against his chest and it made him smile. He said
nothing though so she took that as her cue to just shut up and enjoy the hug
that he was risking his life in the middle of the dark woods to give her. She
felt that she owed a lot of explanations for most of the past but that could
wait until they were safe and they were all together. That's when a light went
off in her head. Together. She pulled away from Daryl and he raised an eyebrow
in concern as he watched her rubbing the tears from her face and out of her
eyes. "Wasswrong?" He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he now watched
her fiddling through her pockets for something.
"I have to call Lotty."
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