In Good Hands

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Aaron was speeding down the dark road. He had been out with Daryl on their third recruiting run together and had decided to split up. Aaron had been waiting for Daryl at their designated meeting place when he'd seen a flare go off in the distance and his heart had stopped. He knew whatever had happened had to be bad if Daryl was actually calling for help

He was just wondering how he was going to find Daryl in the dark trees when he suddenly saw the headlight he knew belonged to the bike, flashing in the trees. He pulled over and hoped out of the car, running over.

"Daryl?" he said, dropped down next to the hunter. Daryl was lying on the ground, pinned under the bike and hand pressed to his shoulder. "What happened?"

"Guy was standin' in the middle of the road," Daryl said, pointing. Aaron turned and saw a man lying on the ground, dead, an bullet between his eyes.

"Swerved ta miss him an' he came at me," Daryl went on, "Stabbed my shoulder an' I couldn't get the bike off."

"Alright," Aaron said, assessing the situation, "Alright. This might hurt." He grabbed the motorcycle and used all of his strength to push it off Daryl. Aaron couldn't see his friend's leg in the dark, but he knew it must be bad when Daryl hissed in pain.

"Can you walk?" Aaron asked and Daryl thought for a moment.

"Might need help," he finally admitted.

"Okay," Aaron nodded, gripping Daryl's arm. "One... two... three."

Daryl thought he might pass out from the pain that shot through his leg. He gripped Aaron's shoulder as he breathed heavily.

"Daryl?" Aaron said. He waited until Daryl nodded before they slowly made their way to the car.

"The bike-" Daryl started.

"I'll come back for the bike," Aaron promised him, "Right now I need to get you back to Alexandria. Your leg is probably broken and you've lost a lot of blood, from the gunshot and the crash."

"But the bike-"

"Forget the bike," Aaron snapped and immediately felt bad. "Someone will come get the bike, okay? My focus is getting you home safe, alright?"

Daryl nodded, but didn't look happy about it.

Aaron drove as fast as he could, knowing he needed to get Daryl help soon. Since they had gotten into the car, Daryl's adrenaline seemed to have dissipated, leaving him tired and in pain.

"Only a few more minutes," he said, looking over. Daryl nodded, his head resting back against the seat. His eyes were closed, his breathing laboured, and Aaron noticed he was dangerously pale.

"Daryl, you need to stay awake," Aaron shook the man's shoulder, forgetting for a moment the wound that was there. Daryl made a pitiful noise and Aaron immediately pulled his hand back, but not before noticing the heat radiating off his friend. He hoped that was just a aside affect of the injuries and Daryl's body trying to heal and not a sign of an infection setting in already.

"'m awake," Daryl mumbled, but his head lolled to the side as they hit a bump and Aaron pressed on the gas a little harder.

They finally arrived at the gate and Aaron ran over, banging on it hard before running back to the car and helping the nearly unconscious Daryl out.

"What happened?" It was Nicholas, "Is he bit?"

"No, he was attacked by some guy," Aaron replied, "We've got to get him to Pete."

Nicholas nodded and came up on Daryl's other side, but even in his state, Daryl flinched away as soon as the man touched him. Nicholas looked questioningly at Aaron.

"I'll get him to the clinic, can you go tell Rick where we are? And Eric too?" Aaron said and Nicholas set off.

"Hang on Daryl," Aaron said, walking as quickly as he could while practically dragging the other man. "It's gonna be alright."

They reached the building that had been set up to be the medical centre/clinic. When he got Daryl inside, Aaron had the sinking realization that Pete wasn't here. Of course he wasn't, it was the middle of the night. Just as he was debating on what to do, Pete walked in.

"Nicholas got me," Pete explained, "Told me you were coming here. What happened?"

"He ran off the road," Aaron said as he heaved Daryl onto the table. "Some guy was standing there and Daryl swerved to avoid him.

"And this?" Pete asked, probing the knife wound.

"Guy attacked him," Aaron replied, "He's going to be fine, right?"

"He's lost a lot of blood," Pete said, cutting away what was left of Daryl's pant leg and Aaron thought he might be sick. Daryl's leg was obviously broken, but other than that there was so much blood and dirt it was practically impossible to see any other injuries he had, though it was obvious they were extensive.

"I'm going to clean his leg first, make sure he doesn't get an infection," Pete said, "Then I'll set the leg and do any stitches that need to be done."

"What about his shoulder?" Aaron asked.

"It'll probably need stitches, but it doesn't appear to have hit anything major so I'd like to do his leg first."

Aaron nodded and turned, prepared to leave and give the doctor some room to work. he had barely taken a step when he felt something snag his wrist. He turned back and saw Daryl staring at him through heavily lidded eyes.

"Stay?" he said, his voice raw and Aaron could do nothing but nod. Daryl never asked for help, so there was no way Aaron was going to deny him this.

He pulled a chair over and sat next to the table, resting his hand on Daryl's arm.

"This is probably going to hurt," Pete said and before pouring some antiseptic over Daryl's leg. Daryl couldn't held the pained noise he made, cleaning his hands into fists.

"Aaron? Aaron!"

Aaron turned his head and saw Eric rushing over as best he could on his almost healed ankle.

"Are you okay? Nicholas didn't tell me what happened, just that I needed to come here."

"I'm fine," Aaron said calmly, "But Daryl was hurt."

"'m fine," Daryl grunted weakly as Eric hobbled around to the other side of table.

"Bleeding does not constitute fine," Eric said, "When your leg looks like that you're the opposite of fine."

Daryl just grunted, though whether it was in response to what Eric had said or out of pain they weren't sure. Pete was just finishing cleaning his leg and Daryl's injuries were much more obvious now and Aaron could see that several of the cuts were going to require stitches.

"Daryl?" They heard someone call. It was Rick, the rest of the group following close behind. "What the hell happened?"

"It was an accident," Aaron said, "There was a guy, the bike crashed... Pete's fixing his leg now."

"His leg's broken, he's going to require stitches for a lot of these cuts and for his shoulder, I'd be worried about a concussion, but so far he's managed to stay awake pretty well, and other than that he's going to be bruised and sore and he's going to need to stay off his leg for while," Pete reeled off. "I was just about to set the break when you came in."

"I'm right here you know!" Daryl but out, though there wasn't much force behind his words. The archer was shifting restlessly and Pete placed a hand on his ankle.

"Try not to move until I've set and immobilized the break," he said, "Too much movement will make fixing it harder."

Daryl stopped moving, but his eyes kept darting around the room and his breathing was becoming heavier. It wasn't a big place and he was currently surrounded by Pete, Aaron, Eric, and his almost his entire group and it was starting to make his feel claustrophobic. Aaron noticed and exchanged looks with Eric.

"Maybe we should give Pete some room to work?" Eric suggested, "I'm sure he and Aaron can handle things here." The group started to protest, but Daryl managed to catch Rick's eyes and the former sheriff herded everyone out the door.

Daryl felt like he could breath again. At least until Pete started moving his leg. It wasn't the first time one of Daryl's bones had had to be reset and this was actually one of the few times it had been done by an actual doctor. That didn't make it hurt any less though and it seemed to be made worse when it was done and the doctor started on the stitches. Daryl bit down hard on his lip, but couldn't stop a couple pitiful noises escaping. It seemed like forever before the doctor was finally done and he opened the door, allowing Eric and the group to re-enter.

"Will he be alright?" Rick asked.

"He'll be fine," Pete nodded, "Needs to relax, nt move around too much. I want you to stay here over night." He directed this last part at Daryl who groaned in frustration.

"I ain't gonna sit here all night and have you starin' at me," Daryl said and Rick knew then that he would be definitely be okay if Daryl was still sniping at people.

"Fine, then someone else can stay with you, but you need to stay here," Pete said with indifference.

"Aaron and I can stay," Eric said immediately and Pete shrugged again.

"Don't matter to me."

Aaron looked at Daryl. The hunter wouldn't meet their eyes as he nodded minutely.

Rick tried to hide his surprise at this, but slowly the group said their goodbyes and trickled out of the room.

"We'll be back tomorrow," Rick said before following them out, leaving his brother alone with Aaron and Eric. But he didn't leave. He stopped just out of their line of site and watched.

Aaron had a hand resting on Daryl's side and was helping him sit up slightly so Eric could slide a pillow under his head. Eric said something then and Rick was surprised when he saw a smile smiled playing on Daryl's lips.

"Hey."

Rick turned and saw Carol standing there.

"You coming?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, glancing back at Daryl. Carol looked too.

"This place has been good for him," Carol murmured, "Well, those two have been good for him. I was really worried for a while there. After Beth... Aaron and Eric have helped him a lot."

"Yeah..." Rick said again, watching as Aaron brushed some hair off Daryl's face. "I just don't want him to let his guard down too much. When this place goes wrong we need him."

"And he needs us," Carol said, "But when things go wrong here I think we need to realize that Aaron and Eric will be coming with us. Because Daryl needs them too."

Rick nodded absently, chuckling slightly as he watched Daryl's face redden as Eric fussed over him and Aaron waved him off.

"Out of everyone in this place, those two are the ones I wouldn't actually mind havin' around all the time," Rick said and Carol laughed silently.

"Come on," she said, "Daryl's in good hands."

Thanks for reading! I love fics with Aaron/Eric/Daryl whether it's friendship or slash. I also love hurt/comfort stories so I figured I'd combine the two!

Thanks so much for reading and let me know what you think!