Chapter 30

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I put on my shirt as Daryl grabbed his crossbow by the door on his way out. "Hey!" Daryl turned to look at me. I walked up to him. "You'll be careful out there?"

"Yeah." Daryl replied. "You be careful too." He pulled me into his arms and kissed my neck and I nodded 'yes' against his shoulder.

He was going outside the walls with Carol and Rick. The three of them thought that we weren't safe still. They were probably right. We weren't probably safe but…I wanted to believe we were. At least, for the time being.

Before leaving our new place, I hesitated on taking my bow. For the longest time or rather since this apocalypse started, I had it on me; even when we were safe in the prison and at the farm. My first instinct would be to take it but that day, I left it there. It was probably a stupid move. I did want to get comfortable enough to feel safe but not to the point where I thought I won't need it anymore. That would be stupid.

Olivia explained how the job went. People came in, asked what they needed and we supplied them. And at the end of each day, we made a list of what was still in our supply store. And leave it to the supplies runner to find what's missing. Quite an easy job on the paper, not so much in real life. We also had to keep an eye of any weapons that was getting out.

"Are you coming to the party at Deanna's tonight?" Olivia asked as I counted the canned food.

"I don't know." I sighed. "I'm not sure I'm ready to mingle, yet."

"You should come." Olivia said. "Everybody wants to meet you guys. And you'll get to meet the rest of us."

"I would love that." I nodded smiling at her.

"Hey, Carol!" I greeted the woman when she came over a few hours later. "What can I do for you?"

"You've heard of the party Deanna's throwing tonight?"

"Yeah, I did." I replied.

"I'm doing some baking and I need some ingredients." Carol answered all smiles.

"I'll see what I can do." I said. "I should warn you, we don't have any eggs."

"Apple sauce will do just fine." She replied

"Apple sauce?" I retorted.

"Secret ingredients to my cookies."

"Secret's safe with me." I retorted. "So, what are you really doing here?"

"Get access to the guns." Carol whispered.

"Chocolate is kind of a trick." I said louder seeing Olivia coming up behind her.

"You actually have it?" Carol asked playing along.

"We can only ration you a quarter bar." Olivia replied behind her.

"Ill make it work."

"Hey, Olivia." One of the men that just arrived greeted as they walked in. "We're gonna need to make a withdrawal."

"Late start?" Olivia asked.

"Boss lady wants me to check that strut on the east wall before the party." He answered.

"Well, head on back." Olivia said. "Meredith, can you take care of Carol?"

"Sure." I nodded while she followed the two men. "Chocolate is in the hall freezer." I opened it and pulled out a quarter bar and handed it to Carol while she was taking what she needed.

I then followed her to the back where Olivia and the two men were. With the weapons.

"You're afraid of guns, ma'am?" The man that greeted Olivia asked Carol.

"Um, no, I…" Carol started. "Well, I had a handgun and I carried a rifle…" She moved to the window. "…when we were on the outside, but I'm not an expert." She turned around to face. "Not with those, at least."

"Well, my name is Tobin." Finally, a name. "And whenever you want, I'd be happy to teach you. Just better to be safe than sorry."

"That'd be nice. Thanks Tobin." Carol thanked him.

"Thank you, Olivia." Tobin said before leaving with his friend. Carol were quick to follow his example, leaving behind her an opened hatch.

At the end of the day, I went back to our new place. Olivia remained behind to take care of a few more things. I took a quick shower and lied down in the couch. Olivia wanted me to go to the party and I knew the others would go. But did I want to go? Maybe. Maybe, it would be good to meet more people. However, I was never one for parties. I don't really like it. And the idea of socializing doesn't sit well with me. I should probably try, though.

The door opened and in came Daryl. "Hey, you're back." He put down his crossbow by the door. "Everything's alright?" I asked after he remained silent; not that he talked a lot.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Are you sure?" He just nodded humming. "Where have you been all day?"

"Outside the walls with Aaron." He shrugged.

"Oh." I exclaimed.

"What?"

"Nothing." I shrugged. "I just thought you were out there brooding on your own. Didn't think you'd have company." He just stared at me. "So, did he tell you about the party?"

"Said I gotta go." Daryl answered.

"Olivia said the same to me." I continued. "Do you want to go?"

"Do you?"

"Not really. But we probably should." I sighed. "Everyone's gonna be there." I grabbed his hand. "Go and hit the shower, please."

"Yeah." He pecked my temple and rose from the couch.

It was already dark out. Daryl and I stood outside of Deanna's home. We could see the shadows of the people that were attending the party. It appeared that none of us wanted to go inside. And we didn't.

My arm was in the crook of his arm as we walked back to our house. "I don't think I told you that before but you clean up pretty well." I commented softly.

"Yeah?" Daryl looked down at me. I nodded smiling. "You too."

"Daryl. Meredith." Aaron called as we walked past his home. "Hey."

"Thought you were going to that party over there." Daryl greeted back.

"Oh, I was never going to go cause of Eric's ankle. Thank, god." He replied.

"Why the hell did you tell me to go, then?"

"I said try. You did." He explained. "It's a thought that counts thing."

"All right."

"Hey, come in." Aaron invited us. "Have some dinner." Daryl glanced down at me. "Come on, guys. It's some pretty serious spaghetti."

"I'm pretty sure this party's better than the other one." I smiled at him.

It was Bolognese pasta and it was good. We ate in silence for the most part. It was sort of awkward as Daryl's slurping noises filled the room. Oh, guess who didn't get any wine? Yeah, this girl again.

"Thanks." Daryl grunted putting his fork down.

"Mmm, when you're out there," Eric started. "If you happen to be in a store or something, Mrs. Neudermeyer is really looking for a pasta maker. And we're all really trying to get her to shut up about it." He continued. "I mean we have crates of dried pasta in here, but she wants to make her own or something. I really think she just wants something to talk about, so…if you see one out on your travels, it would go a long way to…" Eric trailed off as he exchanged a look with Aaron. "I thought it was done. You didn't ask him already?"

"What's going on?" I asked them both.

Aaron and Daryl disappeared in another part of the house as I was left alone with Eric. "How's your ankle feeling?" I asked him as I took the empty dishes to the sink.

"Better. I'd be able to run in a few days." Eric smiled.

"Glad to hear, you're doing better." I said.

"And how are you doing?" Eric asked me.

I snorted. "It sure takes some getting used to but…I'm doing okay." I exhaled. "I'm just worried for some of us. They're still wary of this place."

"Well, you've been on the road for quite some time, I guess it's understandable."

"Being on the road is one thing. Getting screwed over, times and times again is another." I explained sitting back down across him. "It's this we are scared of. This place is wonderful and all but deep down we expect this to be taken away from us Like it did before."

"Meredith." He rested his hand on mine. "You are safe now. There's nothing to worry about."

"I want to believe it. I really do." I smiled.

"Believe it." Eric said. "This is your new home."

"So, what did you and Aaron talked about?" I asked Daryl later that night.

"He offered me a job." He said taking his shirt off.

"What job?" I asked him and he got under the covers.

"He wants me to recruit people with him." He answered.

"And you said yes?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"So, you're giving this a chance." I smiled scooting closer to him. "About time."

His hand when to my rounded belly and he put his left arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. "Figured could be good for you and Lil' bug."

"Speaking of. We're gotta start thinking about names." I commented as his hand travelled farther down.

"Can think about that later." He said and kissed me.

"You're right. There's still time." I moaned.

I didn't know what came over him but I knew I enjoyed it. I mean we haven't been this intimate since we left the prison. Which felt like an eternity ago. It turns out that I have missed him more I thought, I didn't know that people could be drunk in love but now I knew the feeling. Things were definitely changing and I didn't dislike it.

Note: I know it might be a little OOC but it felt natural and fitting. Also, it seemed weird to me when I was writing them being domestic in the post-apocalyptic word. Maybe that's how the group felt when they found Alexandria. It's so normal and yet unnatural, especially after what they've been through.