chapter fourteen: ask daryl
4488 words

The week of peace was what Lin called it. It was a week where no one left the camp and their only worry inside was how much Randall reasonably ate when he was awake. He was blindfolded wherever they kept him that day, not wanting to risk him being able to place the farm on a map. Lin didn't really know what to think when it came to the kid. She understood he was a threat but he was also a kid. His group left him for dead was the consensus of the three men that went out into the town and returned with another member. If his group left him for dead then no one was coming for him. But if the group just happened to stumble upon the farm and they still had the kid, that was war plain and simple.

Lin had done more practice with her knife and had been able to at least sink the knife into the tree a few times. It wasn't a perfect shot by any means but it was possibly the difference between her living and her getting bit when it came down to it. She'd also asked Hershel if she could look in the barns he had on the property. After the walker incident, he asked her if she'd just look anyway and with a little laugh she told him that she wouldn't, she wasn't a total savage. She wasn't really sure what she was looking for but she just wanted something to do besides Daryl's laundry.

Maggie was the one that found her, leaning her hip against the open door of the barn with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You looking for gold in here?" She asked with a hint of a smile.

"I'll have you know I did ask permission to be in here," she pointed at Maggie, returning her smile. "I'm just bored. I was hopefully to find like a board game of something. A pack of cards would suffice even."

"And you thought that you would find those in the barn?"

Lin shrugged. "Never know what you find now a days."

Maggie paused for a second, just looking at Lin and the barn. "When I was Beth's age I had an archery phase. I bugged my dad until he went out and found me a bow. It should be in that closet but the string's all worn out by now. If you can restring it it's all yours." Lin reached for the closet door, opening it and spotting the bow leaning up against the corner. It was a beautiful bow, probably handmade judging by the stain of the wood. And she was indeed correct in the fact that the string was worn out. It was loose, just hanging between either side of the curved wood. Lin didn't have a single clue about restringing this thing but it was a damn beauty and she wasn't going to turn this down.

Lin took it between her hands, running the limp string between her index and thumb. She pulled it until all the slack was gone, laughing at how far she had to stretch it. Yeah, this bow needed some work. And it wasn't like google was still a thing.

"I'll try my best but I don't have the slightest knowledge about bows." She held it in her hand, liking the weight of it in her palm. Maggie smiled a bit wider.

"Then ask your resident hunter. I'm sure he'd love to help you."

Lin sighed. "What is it with you guys and trying to pair me up with Daryl? He doesn't like me that way."

Maggie's brow arched and she stepped a little further into the barn. "And you do?"

Lin's shoulders dropped a bit. "Maggie, I don't know how I feel about Daryl right now. If anything he's still not over what happened with Sophia. None of us are really. Besides he's a complicated man. It's not as easy as you and Glenn."

"That's because we had sex the first time we went out." Lin's eyebrows shot up at how nonchalant Maggie was about it.

"Damn, Maggie. Didn't know Glenn had game like that."

Maggie's cheeks went a little pink. "He doesn't." It sent Lin into a fit of laughter, the interaction acting as a sort of bonding moment between the two. It wasn't a whole lot but it was something and Lin was glad to have at least one friend on the farm that wasn't a dude or her sister. Yeah, she knew Andrea was there but she hated when Lori compared her to Andrea. She hated when Dale did it even more, even if he didn't mean to, he did.

Lin brought the bow back to her tent, messing with the string the entire way. She needed arrows if she was going to fix the bow. Maybe they could look for a sports store or something, maybe the mall down the street from where she'd lived. She hadn't thought about the mall in a while, throwing it to the wind in favor of just trying to stay alive. The mall had potential for great reward but it had potential for a huge risk of a big building just full of walkers. And if it was already been scavenged then it was a pointless run.

"What's that?" Carl caught her just as she made it back.

"Maggie gave me this if I could figure out how to fix it," she let him come over to see it, running his hands along the grooves of the wood.

"Do you even know how to shoot a bow?" Carl aimed a joking gaze her way.

"Okay, little man, watch the attitude," Lin chastised with a teasing smile. "I'll figure it out eventually."

"Why don't you just ask Daryl?"

Lin suppressed her shrug. "I'll think about it okay. Have you finished your chores, mister?"

Carl looked a little sheepish and then nodded but to Lin's master lie detector skills she knew he hadn't. She cocked her head to the side ad he admitted that he hadn't. "Mhm that's what I thought. Go finish them and I'll let you look at this when you're done. And I won't tell your mom."

That seemed to be enough for the kid because he skipped off in the direction of the rest of the tents, likely to finish washing some of the dishes and folding some of his parents' clothes.

Lin turned the bow in her palms. She needed help with this. She also needed arrows. So she swallowed her pride. Ask Maggie or ask Daryl. Ask Maggie or ask Daryl. Lin sighed and stood.

Daryl was out in his little one person camp and from the looks of it he was napping with his arm stretched up to cover his eyes. How she was supposed to wake him up without scaring him, she didn't know. So she called his name. He jerked awake, peeking out from around his elbow at her.

"I need your help again." She lifted the bow up for him to see. "I'm not sure how to restring this."

Daryl sat up, intrigued by the sudden appearance of a recurve bow. He waved her over, clearing his throat as she passed the wood into his hand. "Where the hell did ya get this?"

Lin shrugged, folding her arms over her chest. "Hershel let me look through one of the barns. Maggie came by and said if I could fix the bow I could have it."

Daryl looked it from tip to tip, pulling the string as far as it would go. "So I fix it, I keep it right?" He asked her, obviously joking around with her. Lin rolled her eyes and pulled the bow from his fingers.

"No. I just need your help tightening the string. If you show me what to do then I can do it myself. Then it still be mine." Had she been a bit more childish and a bit more comfortable with Daryl, she would have stuck her tongue out to mess with him. But she didn't.

"Well ya need a bow stringer. Unless red riding hood in there has one you're stuck." He jerked his chin to the house.

"It's robin hood, Daryl and I didn't think to ask. She would have mentioned it if she did." She turned over her shoulder to find the stable. "How far out in those woods did you go?"

Daryl squinted at her question. "Couple miles. Rick's got it marked up on his map."

Lin nodded. "There's gotta be a cabin somewhere nearby. We could find a bow stringer there."

"What makes ya think it won't already be gone?"

"What does the bow stringer look like?"

"A bunch of rope with some leather."

"Would the average person pick it up?"

Daryl had to think for a moment. He would have in an instant, but someone who didn't know about hunting, or even archery in general would have just looked right past it.

Lin took Daryl's silence as her answer. "Exactly. I'll ask Hershel if we could take two of his horses out, get a little riding in too."

Daryl's hand went up to his side, touching alone the fresh scar over his hip that was just a reminder of the last time he'd taken horse out into the woods. "Ya ride?"

Lin swayed from side to side. "I took a few classes over a summer. It was more of a gentle hobby than anything else."

Daryl listened to her plan, letting her explain it all without interrupting. He was curious to see just how much she had thought out. He'd only seen the one farmhouse so she was hinging on the hope that there had to be a cabin in the woods somewhere around here. He knew that the bow would be good for her. It gave her a different method of protection that didn't rely on guns or her big bowie knife. And she was pretty damn excited about it too which was a rarity on the farm. Each day went by without smiles, and it was getting tiring, getting stifling. He knew why she left the day before and he knew that he followed her because he wasn't going to let her go out alone.

"So are you in?" She asked, shifting her grip around the smooth wood. Her lips tipped sideways in a shy smile, awaiting his response. He looked away, his hands touching and tangling. He did that jerky nod and it was all she needed. She moved to hug him but caught herself as she took a step forward. "Thank you, Daryl," she cocked her head and smiled a bit wider, "again."

"Ain't nothin'." He brought his head back around, thumbnail in his mouth. "Go get them horses. I'll meet ya here."

Hershel had been hesitant after what happened the last time Daryl took one of his horses but Lin promised him that she'd watch over the hunter, and make sure nothing like last time happened. Maggie took her over to the stables and the two of them saddled up two of the horses. Lin petted the head of the horse they called Nervous Nellie as they left her behind.

"I didn't know you could ride," Maggie said, leading one of the horses by the reins out of the stable.

"Was a summer hobby for a while." Lin answered, reaching to pet the horse she was leading when it nudged her shoulder.

"Are you sure you'll be alright? Have you told Lori?" Maggie stopped, setting her hand on her horse's nose.

"I'll be fine." Lin shook her head, watching Daryl reached for something inside his tent. She'd left her bow with him, seeing it leaning up against one of the trees. "Lori and I just aren't seeing eye to eye on things. We have to talk it out but I'll do that when we get back." She sighed out through her nose. "Daryl's been restless too so this will be good for him."

Maggie just smiled, the expression confusing Lin.

"What?" She asked but Maggie just shook it off.

"Nothing. Here." She handed Lin the other set of reins so she now held both horses behind her. "Be careful and be back before sunset or else we're sending someone after you."

Lin saluted as best as she could without yanking the reins. "Yes ma'am." She walked the horses over to Daryl, passing him the reins to his horse.

"This the nervous one?" He took the leather straps cautiously. Lin shook her head and Daryl relaxed a little bit. Lin set the reins for her horse up on a tree branch, picking up her bow to take with her. She pulled it around her shoulders and while it pretty much hung off her like a dead thing, it was at least going to stay there for the time being. Daryl waited beside his animal for her. He looked over at her horse by the tree. Someone, probably Maggie, had set a cowboy hat up on the saddle and he wondered, for a brief fleeting moment, if she was going to put it on. If she didn't he was going to, anything to keep the sun out of his eyes.

She did when she lifted herself up onto the saddle. She nearly knocked it off but managed to snag the rim, sitting it right on her head. Daryl shook his, propping his foot up on the stirrup and swinging his leg over the horse. Being back up on the animal was a bit unnerving and Daryl was sure that the pain in his new scar wasn't just phantom.

"You alright, Dixon?" Lin asked then, wrapping the leather rein around her hand as her horse took a step backwards. Daryl looked over through squinted eyes. She looked good in that stupid cowboy hat. Her concerned smile didn't help at all either.

"Fine," he stuttered. He tugged on the reins and pushed his heels into the sides of his horse, racing out in the direction of the woods. Lin shook her head, eyes fixed on the angel wings on his back. She hadn't seen that vest on him before but she vaguely remembered Merle wearing something similar. It moved something in her chest, dangerously close to her heart, to think that he was wearing his brother's vest. The thought of Lori getting hurt made Lin turn back, her eyes looking for that messy updo Lori had been doing the past week or so. But she couldn't find her, and she knew if she spent another second not moving it would be a waste of the precious daytime. And she didn't exactly want to keep Daryl waiting when he was the one that had agreed to go with her.

She caught up to him easily, the archer having not gone very far at all. She had to duck under some trees, her hand over her hat to keep it on, as well as push a few branches away from the horse's eyes but it was nothing really more than light work.

The two kept at a leisurely pace through the closest thing to a path they could find. Lin couldn't remember how much fun riding a horse was. It was relaxing, the gentle swaying of the horse beneath her as they moved. It also took all the strain off her which was a blessing and a half.

"Keep heading straight, yeah?" Lin asked Daryl. He'd let her ride ahead of him, taking the lead with the tracking skill she'd been building slowly each day.

"If ya want." Lin rolled her eyes around to him, his sarcasm not going unnoticed. It was a little dry but god, any humor from him she'd take right now. She leaned forward, petting through the mane of her horse.

"You should be a comedian, Dixon. I think you'd make a killing back at the farm." She was careful with the words she chose and Daryl could tell. He let out a noise halfway between a laugh and a scoff, jerking his head away so she wouldn't see his grin. But she did, she always did. When he looked back she was smiling at him, her shoulders shifted round to face him and her hips still lazily rolling with each step her horse took. Fuck.

"Keep ya eyes forward, sunshine. Might run into a tree or somethin'."

That made Lin laugh. "As if, Dixon. I'll be fine."

They continued like that for a little while, about half an hour or more judging by the sun on the brim of her hat. She hadn't lost motivation in looking for something out in the wood but she knew that Daryl was. He could only take so much fruitless scavenging. So when Lin saw the beginnings of a log roof, she whipped the reins with a wide smile. Her horse took off, leaving Daryl in the dust with a confused shout sent her way.

There were walkers in the clearing with the cabin and instantly her horse reared back, the sight of the undead startling it. Lin shushed the horse, white-knuckle gripping the reins.

"Easy," she hummed, swinging her leg over the saddle, her hand already reaching for her bowie blade. There were four, maybe five walkers at the most. It was a little daunting at first but when the first walker fell from her knife through its skull, it got easier, turned more into a routine.

She took one on directly, stepping back as it lurched for her. Lin sunk the knife straight through its concave forehead, yelping when a hand wrapped in her hair. A whistle in the air, practically right next to her head and the walker was dead, an arrow ending its snarling. Lin shoved it away from her, inhaling hard to soothe the adrenaline coursing through her. Daryl rode in on his horse with his elbow looped through the reins, his crossbow up and aimed dead ahead. Damn if he didn't look like the lone ranger galloping in and shooting his bow at the same time. It was impressive, she had to admit.

"Thanks," Lin exhaled, wiping her knife off on the cleanest part of one of the walker's clothes, which still wasn't at all clean. She could tell that Daryl wanted to snap something at her, probably for running off like she did but he bit his lips and kept silent. She pointed at the cabin with her knife before slipping it away. "See, cabin in the woods."

Daryl again kept silent but he rolled his eyes at her, dismounting and leading his horse to somewhere he could tie it up. Lin followed in suit, tying their horses to the tree closest to the cabin, away from the woods and close enough to hear if anything happened to wander out and spook them.

They cleared the house quickly, first searching for anything living then going back through for supplies. And just as Lin had hoped, there was a bow stringer. It was tucked under the ripped sofa in the living room, wadded up in a ball so it really did just look like some rope and leather. She dug a little further back into the dust bunnies and smiled wide as she pulled her hand back to reveal a dozen or so arrows that had been stashed there too. She'd gotten lucky, really lucky.

"Hey, Dixon." She called out to the kitchen where he'd been opening all the cabinets to look for anything. He came around the corner with something in his mouth, jerky from the looks of it, and let out a whistle at her find.

"Where'd ya find that?"

Lin stood laying out the arrows on the floor. "Under the couch. Someone must have stashed it thinking they'd come back. It explains the food." A cold chill went through her at the thought that someone was indeed going to come back to find all their supplies gone. "Were there any signs of someone being here recently?"

Daryl shook his head, sucking his thumb into his mouth. "Not from the looks of it. There was dust on the blankets upstairs."

But Lin still couldn't shake the chill she felt. "We should still be quick. If this is someone's stuff then I don't want to be caught here when they come back."

Daryl just nodded and disappeared into the kitchen again. When he returned he had a handful of jerky sticks and one pack of trail mix that was probably expired but they didn't really care. He tossed them down by her on top of the arrows, swiping up the bow stringer.

"Got lucky," he mumbled, untangling it.

"I did, didn't I?" Lin pulled her bow off of her shoulders, holding it out for Daryl to take. He did, looping the stringer up onto either side of the bow.

"Come here," he nodded his head over, bending to let the bow stringer sit on the ground. Lin did. "Stand on that, right there." Lin looked down at her feet, following his instruction and standing with two feet on the bow stringer. Daryl wrapped both hands around the bow and gently pulled up, the stringer guiding the string into the set grooves on either side of the bow. The wood bent with the action and Lin worried for a second that it was going to snap. But once the string set, the bow took to the shape easily, returning to the curve it was familiar with.

"That's it?" Lin asked as he pulled the stringer from either side of the bow. He tested the string, bringing it up and pulling it to his cheek. It went taut, power building up in the woven fibers.

"That's it," Daryl answered, handing her the bow. Lin felt like a little kid getting a Christmas present. Her very own bow and her very own arrows. Now all that was left to do was master it like Daryl with his crossbow.

"Thank you," Lin brought the bow back around her shoulders, the string sitting over her sternum, pressing against her t-shirt. It was way tighter but it felt good, a comforting pressure that she had a silent weapon she could rely on.

"Was nothin'." Daryl replied, swiping all the food back up and shoving it into the front pocket of his jeans. Lin gathered all the arrows and slipped half of them into one of the belt loops on her right side, the rest on her left. It wasn't the best method of carrying them but until she had a quiver of her own, this would have to do. "Anythin' else?"

Lin jerked her thumb to the ceiling of the room, to the upstairs level they hadn't checked yet. "Split the upstairs level?" Daryl agreed and off they went.

Lin brandished her knife as she went from room to room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a nursery. The nursery peaked her interest the most and Daryl found her searching each of the drawers. He stood in the doorway, eyebrow arched up to the sky.

"You think we can just find this stuff on shelves anymore? That baby is going to take all we got. We might as well start looking now."

In the end, she found barely anything in the nursery. The best thing she found was probably a set of teething rings, still clean and in their packaging. She put it in her back pocket, knowing she'd have to save them for a long time until the baby could actually use them.

Daryl stood at the window, his fingers between the blinds to look out without obstruction. Lin plucked at the bow string over her chest, the faint humming of it vibrating in the quiet cabin.

"Let's head back, Daryl. I think we got everything that's here."

"Ya sure?" He questioned, not taking his eyes away from the outside. It was a considerate question but she had to wonder when she started calling the shots. She guessed that he didn't want to catch her off guard or something.

"Is it my turn to say that you keep asking me that?"

"You always this full of wisecracks?" Daryl asked right back to which Lin just shrugged.

"Only on a good day. And yes, I'm sure. I'm ready to leave when you are."

Back up on her horse, Lin had to use everything in her to not try to replicate Daryl's badass archer moment from before. She had to work on her aim first, try to build any skill with a bow and arrow. That would come with her knife throwing and her tracking, she was sure. Just take out three birds with one stone, if she was lucky. And with the prizes of their scavenging tucked into her belt loops and her back pockets, she'd say that right now she was pretty lucky.

"Daryl," Lin asked for his attention. He turned his head to her, wrapping his fingers around the reins. "What do you think happens next?"

He shrugged. "We take care of the kid. There's bound to be arguin' on what to do."

"And what do you want to do?"

Daryl couldn't say that he was expecting that question from her. Which meant he had to take far longer than he wanted to to conceive the answer he thought was true. He could say that he wished to follow any member of the group but he had a feeling, a strange quivering in his chest that told him he shouldn't tell her that. She would know better than to believe that. He supported Rick but that wasn't the same as blind faith.

"Keep the camp safe, the people in it. Survive as long as we can."

"Then that's what we do." Lin looked down at her hands holding the tanned leather. "I trust Rick with my life," she paused and Daryl eyed her carefully, his horse side-stepping a raised root, "I trust him as I trust you." She let the silence that followed be permeated only by the cicadas on the trees. Daryl, in a moment that just about shook him off his horse, realized and then admitted to himself that he liked how that sounded, that she trusted him. He didn't think that he deserved it, however. He'd given her so many reasons not to, just through his attitude alone, the way that he used to snap at her. And yet here she was, trusting him. She trusted him with her life and as someone who knew the fragility of life, how just one decision could change it all, he knew he couldn't take that lightly. But he said nothing, words falling short of what he wanted to convey to her. So he asked her something instead.

"Race ya back to the farm?"

Lin's smile could have split the sun. "You're on, Dixon."

an: so apparently there's only three episodes left in season 10 like rip me and everyone else due like bruh when i first heard that i was like wheres the conflict here?????? we've been spoiled by the long seasons. but anyways life has been sucking for me the past few days and i don't really want to fully vent here because i feel like you guys don't want to read that. so instead im putting my effort into school and this book pretty much. daryl and lin are getting closer and ive begun to write season three which is my favorite time like established community seasons are the best because i can do so much with them (also like writing daryl dixon in any kind of domestic setting is my favorite thing because of how out of place he thinks he is but how perfect of a dude he is UGH)

i hope you enjoyed this part and early update, check out my other books, and ill see you in the next part!