The Good Life - Chapter Eleven

Daryl Dixon had developed a shadow.

Rick watched as Jack followed Daryl everywhere he went. Rick was sure it would annoy Daryl but to his surprise Daryl took to the boy. There was also a good deal of bonding between Jack’s sister, who wanted to be called by her full name, and Sasha.

“Li is what Tom made everyone call me. I prefer my real name,” she’d said.

“Can I come?” Jack asked, when Rick told Daryl he needed help out by the shed.

“Not this time, buddy,” Daryl answered.

Jack hung his head. “Aunt Kyla said I was pestering you. I’m sorry.”

Daryl bent forward, putting himself at eye level with the boy. “You ain’t a pest. This here is just grown up work is all. I’ll be back for dinner and if your aunt don’t mind you can come out on rounds with me.”

“Can I Auntie?” Jack said, brightening.

“I don’t mind. Just make sure you do everything Daryl says.”

He nodded eagerly. “I will, I promise.”

“Ok. Now go help Aaliyah with chores. She’s in the kitchen with Maggie.”

Jack’s face turned bright red at the mention of Maggie’s name. The boy had an obvious crush on her. He looked both excited and petrified at the idea of being around her as he headed off to the kitchen to help.

“If he starts to annoy you let me know. I’ll distract him,” Kyla said.

“He’s a good boy. I don’t mind. What happened to his father?”

“He died fighting in Iraq when Jack was three. So...are you going to do something with Joe?”

“It’s time to burn the body,” Rick said. I don’t want to leave the job to warm weather. The smell will travel farther, maybe attract walkers.”

Kyla nodded. “Need my help?”

Rick shook his head and she went inside. He and Daryl stated toward the shed.

“If she decides not to stay she’ll take Aaliyah and Jack with her.”

“Yeah,” Daryl said, looking at Rick with a quizzical expression.

“It may be a good idea not to let yourself get attached to the boy. Even better, don’t let him get attached to you.”

“Little late. He’s glued to my hip and I know why. He wants a father figure. One that won’t beat on him.”

“Am I reading you wrong when I say it seems like maybe you want a son of your own?”

Daryl noticeably swallowed. “Maybe not. If she leaves, she leaves. I’ll just deal. Same as I always have.”

...

Michonne, Sasha, Aaliyah, Kyla, Jack, and Maggie waited for the lasagna to bake. It was the last piece in the puzzle for dinner to be put on the table. The salad was done, the garlic bread made, and the fruit punch Rosita had made was frosty from the freezer and ready to drink.

“You have such pretty hair,” Sasha said, combing her fingers through it.

“I’m never sure what to do with it,” she said, looking self conscious. “I was only allowed to wear it in a ponytail.”

“Well have a girl’s day tomorrow,” said Maggie. “We’ll go to the basement and give each other pedicures and style our hair. We’ll get all dolled up for dinner.”

“That sounds like fun,” she said. It was, Sasha realized, the most the girl had spoken since she’d gotten up that morning. She was slowly opening up.

Jack, on the other hand, remained closed-mouthed, stealing glances at Maggie whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. Sometimes she’d turn around and smile at him, making him go red as a beet, before he’d find something to stare at while he blushed.

Michonne noticed Carl hiding in the hall, doing his own fair amount of staring, as he looked in at Aaliyah. She didn’t notice or she pretended she didn’t, deciding to keep herself busy with cooking. Michonne eventually went out to the hall and looked down at Carl.

“She’s pretty, huh?” she said.

Carl nodded, looking embarrassed at having been caught red-handed. “How old is she?” he asked in a whisper.

“Fourteen. Your age.”

When he didn’t say anything else, Michonne ruffled his hair.

“We’ve got about twenty minutes before dinner is ready. You could invite her to help you take the decorations down from the tree.”

“I can’t do that,” he said, his eyes widening.

“Aaliyah?” Michonne asked, and Carl backed away as though she’d suddenly turned into a walker. “Carl needs help taking the decorations down from the tree. Think you could help him?”

“Sure,” she said, eager to help out and pull her weight around the house. She got up and came into the hall where Carl was suddenly very interested in his shoes.

“Have you met Carl? He’s Rick’s son. Carl, this is Aaliyah Edmonds. Aaliyah, this is Carl Grimes.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said awkwardly.

“You too,” he replied, equally as awkward.

“Well, off you go. Be careful to box everything up neatly for next year,” Michonne said. “And Carl?”

He turned back to face her, his face flushed. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget to meet me tonight in the living room. You need that haircut.”

He nodded and then continued on with Aaliyah.

“Oh, excuse me,” Tara said.

Tara had almost ran face first into Kyla, who stepped back to allow her entry into the kitchen. Tara had a difficult time looking Kyla in the face. Instead her eyes tended to hover somewhere around her neck or just above her eyes.

Kyla offered a hand. “Kyla Wyatt. Nice to meet you.”

“Tara Chambler. Same,” she said, shaking her hand. She then scurried past Kyla into the kitchen where she grabbed some of the punch Aaliyah had made.

Kyla looked to Michonne. “I know this is a really personal question so I don’t blame you if you don’t want to answer but…is Tara into women? She seems awfully shy around me.”

Michonne made a noncommittal shrug. “Would it bother you if she was?”

Kyla smiled shyly. “No. I’m gay so it would be fine with me.”

This time Michonne smiled. “Well then. You have something in common with Tara it would seem.”

She winked at Kyla and then headed back into the kitchen to make small talk with the others.

Rick and Daryl were late to the table. They’d each gone up to their rooms to change clothes and wash up. Michonne was glad. They’d smelled like burned flesh when they came in. There was no trace of it now. After dinner the men helped clear the table and get the kitchen cleaned up before they headed down to the basement for a game of pool and some drinks before they had to begin doling out guard shift duties.

Michonne and the other women retired to the living room while Carl invited Jack and Aaliyah to the TV room for a movie.

“Keep it PG-13, okay?” Kyla said. “Nothing too violent.”

“Aw, I wanted to watch Fast & Furious,” Aaliyah said. “Please? It’s the last one they made before everything bad happened.”

“How do you feel about that movie?” Kyla asked Michonne.

“I don’t have a problem with it. We’ve seen worse,” Michonne said.

Kyla nodded. “Okay. You can watch it. Then you have to get ready for bed, okay?”

Aaliyah nodded.

“I wanna hang out with Daryl.”

“You’ll see Daryl soon enough when you go out on rounds. Go watch the movie until he’s ready.”

By the time Daryl was ready for his rounds Jack was fast asleep. Daryl carried him up to bed and then dressed for the cold. He’d be out in it for a few hours. He met up with Michonne and Sasha in the hall.

“What do you think? They gonna be a part of the family?” he asked Sasha.

“I really believe they want to be. They don’t quite trust us yet. Kyla is especially wary but that’s to be expected considering what she’s been through,” Sasha answered.

She made sure Daryl’s jacket was snug and cold air couldn’t get in. Michonne watched them together, a smile on her face, feeling happy that they’d found love together in such a trying world. She wondered how long it would be before they, too, were sharing the news of a little Dixon on the way.

Maggie emerged from her room looking pale and her eyes red. “I’m ready,” she said to Daryl. They were partnered up for the evening to do rounds. Maggie was determined to be useful on the wall but at the moment she looked ready to pass out.

“You don’t look so hot,” Michonne noticed.

“No, I’m fine. Just a little nauseous,” she said.

“You can get an upset stomach at any time when you’re pregnant,” Sasha said. “My cousin Gerdie was sick all hours of the day and night from her second month to her eighth month.”

“I’m ready to go,” Maggie said, and then bent forward to vomit onto the floor. They all danced back to avoid getting the sick on their shoes, their faces scrunching up at the smell.

“Thank God these are parquet floors and not carpet,” Sasha said dryly, with a shake of her head.

“I’ll mop this up and be right out,” she said between retches.

“You’re going to bed,” Daryl said. “That’s all there is to it.”

“You can’t…boss…me…” Maggie tried to say, but now she was dry heaving.

“Bed,” Daryl, Sasha, and Michonne said at once.

“I’m useless,” Maggie said miserably.

“Nonsense. You make a delicious lasagna,” said Michonne, before she looked to Daryl. “You okay out there on your own?”

“I should be,” Daryl said. “I got my crossbow, my knife, a gun, and a radio. If I get into trouble I’ll call for help. ‘Sides, towers one and three are manned. I’ll have somebody close by at all times.”

“I’ll be out to relieve you in four hours,” Sasha said, and kissed him goodbye. “You get her into bed. I’ll clean up this mess.”

“No, I’m gonna clean it,” Maggie said, swaying on her feet.

“You are so damn stubborn,” Michonne said, shaking her head.

“But it’s my mess. I should clean it.”

“I got it, now go,” Sasha insisted.

Kyla was standing in the doorway, watching them interact, and it was then that she knew these really were good, caring people that she didn’t have to fear. She was supposed to stay in her room at bedtime so she closed the door before they noticed her. When she climbed into bed she fell into a sleep that was the most peaceful she’d had since the turn happened. For once she wouldn’t have to worry about some man coming into her room to molest her. She didn’t have to worry that one night one of the kids would be the target instead of her. She’d finally found a place she could call home for both herself and her niece and nephew.

…

In the morning there was another shift change. Rosita, Michonne, and Tara took turns on the towers. They wanted to get their shift in so they would have time for their girl’s day later on that afternoon. Daryl came in frozen stiff and ruffled Jack’s unruly mop of curly black hair.

“You fell asleep,” he said, sitting down to allow Abraham to load eggs onto his plate. He’d taken a full eight hour shift on rounds rather than waking Sasha via radio as he’d promised. She came into the kitchen with a glare on her face.

“Why did you do that?” she said angrily. “I was supposed to relieve you.”

“It was cold,” he said. “I didn’t want you walking around in it.”

“Please don’t hit Mr. Daryl!” Jack said, looking fearfully at Sasha.

Her face softened at once.

“Oh, Sweetie. I’m not going to hit Daryl,” she said, and gave him a kiss on his forehead. He’d been tense but he relaxed when he saw her kiss Daryl, too.

“You can relieve me after breakfast,” Daryl said softly and Sasha rolled her eyes while Abraham laughed from his place at the stove.

“What’s so funny?” Jack asked, missing the joke.

“Nothing. Just grown up humor,” Daryl said. “Why don’t we talk to your auntie about a bow and arrow lesson later on today?”

“A real bow and arrow?”

“Well, not a real one. A toy one to start off with. Then, when you’re ready, we can try a real one,” Daryl said.

“That’s awesome! May I go ask her?”

“You’ve cleared your plate, so yeah,” said Daryl.