chapter nine: cherokee rose
5855 words

At the first impact of stone against wheelbarrow, Lin was awake. Her head jerked back, sending a throb through the muscles of her neck. She'd fallen and stayed asleep with it bent forward and now she was paying the price. A pillow slipped down into her lap, having been propped between her forehead and her knees. Someone must have brought it out for her.

She let her legs drop onto the ground, waiting until the faint numbness in her thighs disappeared. It was a really bad idea sleeping like she did but she really didn't care. She could deal with a stiff neck and sore thighs if it meant she was rested.

The screen door opened and Lin looked over, shutting one of her eyes against the rising sun.

"I brought that pillow out to you last night. You were out cold and Rick was in no shape to lift you upstairs." The woman that rode in on the horse walked through the door, reaching her hand out to take the pillow back. Lin handed it back, rubbing at the nape of her neck. "I'm Maggie."

"Lindsey but everyone likes to call me Lin."

"Lin," Maggie repeated with a smile. "We're gathering some rocks from the grove over there for Otis's funeral. There's breakfast inside if you're hungry."

"Starving," Lin stated, turning her head to look out on the land. It was beautiful, tucked away from the road but still accessible. And she imagined they rarely got walkers because of the fences they'd set up. "This place is beautiful."

Maggie nodded, coming to stand next to Lin. "My father's owned the farm since before I was born. It's been in the family for as long as he can remember."

"Well it's beautiful and probably the best thing to have in times like this." To this Maggie just nodded and didn't say anything more. She opened the screen door and took the pillow back inside. Lin stood from the rocking chair, stretching her arms up over her head. She walked inside to eat breakfast, sitting down at the table and eating literally whatever was put in front of her because good food was a luxury nowadays and she'd been hungry for a while.

It was a quiet breakfast and Lin was mostly alone, except for a visit from Hershel. He let her know that Carl was waking soon and she could come see him if she liked. Lin reached for his hand as he passed and she held it between hers. "Thank you," she told him earnestly. Hershel just smiled, dipped his head in a nod and returned to Carl's side. Lin set her plate in the sink to wash, turning back to stand on the porch. The others were due here any minute now, if they still followed the plan Carol had told her about.

Lin shook her head, leaning up against the porch banister. Daryl wouldn't let them stray from the plan. He was smart like that. He kept people alive. She waited maybe three minutes and then the purr of a motorcycle engine drifted her way over the trees. And she smiled. They were here.

Daryl led what was left of the group around the bend, into the view of the woman standing on the porch. Inside the house, T-Dog leaned into the bedroom to tell Rick that they'd arrived.

Daryl brought his motorcycle right up to the house, stopping and turned back to make sure each vehicle made it. The green car stopped behind him and behind that, the rv. The rv door opened and Dale let Andrea climb out. Carol shut the car off and opened that door. Daryl turned the motorcycle off, sitting on the seat.

Lin descended the stairs when Dale came into view, her feet carrying her across the yard to him. Dale breathed out a sigh at seeing her alright, welcoming her into a hug when she got close enough.

Rick, Lori, T-Dog, Glenn and the entirety of the Greene farm group all gathered in the yard at the arrival of the new people.

"How is he?" Dale asked when Lin pulled away. He looked to her first then up at Rick.

"He'll pull through," Lori answered. "Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane," Rick finished. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Lin followed Lori's eyes to see Shane standing off away from everyone else in Otis's too big clothes and now staggeringly lacking of any hair on his head. Dale took Rick in for a hug, Carol going for Lori and T-Dog going for Andrea. It was a small reunion of sorts. The group hadn't been separated like this since Atlanta and even before then they'd always stuck together. Lin rounded the group, coming up beside Daryl. His head tilted up from Merle's bike as she stopped next to him.

"You ain't gonna hug me are you?" He asked, bringing his thumb up to his lip. Lin smiled, shook her head, crossed her arms over her chest.

"Nah. I feel neither of us would enjoy that." She aimed a smile his way to which he looked away but she could see one that pulled at his lips. He seemed to stare off into the distance for a moment and then whirl his head back to Lin.

"How bad was it?" He asked her and to most he would have needed to go more into detail but not Lin. She stepped closer to him, not wanting to broadcast the grizzly details for everyone to hear.

"The bullet fragmented when it hit him. He kept swelling and losing more blood than Rick could give. Hershel waited to operate until Shane got back with the ventilator but if Shane hadn't have come back-" Lin just shook her head. Daryl frowned and squinted up at her.

"What'd the doc say?"

Lin shrugged her shoulders. "Hershel said he'd be fine. He stabilized after the surgery."

"Were ya there for it?"

Lin's head cocked ever so slightly to the side. "It?" She repeated.

"The surgery," he grunted around his fingernail. He was chewing on it while speaking to her. "Said you were a nurse."

"Oh. Yeah, I was. It wasn't anything big, just hand him this or hold that. If he'd have asked me to do anything more I wouldn't have been able to." Daryl nodded and stood from the bike. Lin, without consciously realizing what she was doing, looking from toe to forehead for any kind of injury, any limp he'd suddenly developed overnight. And she was granted with nothing out of the ordinary. Which was just fine with her.

Hershel brought the group to a shaded spot by the fence. Everyone took one of the stones from the wheelbarrow and set him in a pyre, and Hershel began to pray over it.

"We thank you God for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." Lin had her hands clasped in front of her as she listened. With Daryl on her right, she had to look past him to see Lori, Rick and Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it." Shane deflected. Lin's brows drew together. "I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him." Patricia's voice was thick with grief. "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Lin hated that in this new world, saving one life meant ending another. It was an unfair trade, rooted in this foul new thing that the planet had become. It wasn't just here. It was everywhere, Jenner said so himself.

Daryl, thinking that Lin's head turned his way meant she was looking at him, faced her, prepared to tell her to knock it off but her confused expression had him following her gaze. Shane couldn't keep himself still. He was fidgeting, eyes wide as Patricia begged him to speak about Otis.

"We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up." Lin knew she'd have to check on it, make sure it wasn't that bad. "We've got to save the boy," Shane repeated what Otis had said. "See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you.' And when I looked back-" Shane stopped there. He just stopped. No tears, no quivering lip like Patricia. He just stopped the story and limped over to the pyre to place his stone down.

"If not for Otis," Shane reached down into the wheelbarrow, all his weight on his left leg. "I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both." Shane turned his head over his shoulder, meeting Patricia's tearful gaze. "If any death ever had meaning, it was his." He placed his stone down.

The funeral commenced with a few more words from the bible and a collective amen. Hershel, Maggie and his blonde daughter Beth walked Patricia back to the house. Rick and Lori followed behind them to return to Carl, checking on him and asking him if he needed anything. Lin walked to Dale, tugging on his sleeve to pull him away from the group.

"Are you going to ask me if that seemed right?" Dale took the words right from her mouth. Lin crossed her arms.

"I don't trust Shane." She shook her head, speaking to him in hushed whispers. "I get self-sacrifice but Otis would have never left Patricia like this."

"Do you think Shane left him?" Lin looked over at Shane limping through the grass.

"I don't know."

Lin pushed open the bedroom door, shutting it quietly behind her. The kid lying in the bed looked up at the faint sound, his still sleep-bleary eyes finding Lin.

"Mom?" He asked as Lin rounded the bed. Lin smiled and shook her head, sitting down at his side. She brushed his hair back off of his forehead, feeling his temperature with the back of her hand.

"Not quite, little man." She thumped the tip of his nose. "How you feeling?"

"I'm still pretty sore." Lin nodded and pulled back the bedsheet to check Hershel's work. It looked clean, healing properly, but he was still nowhere near well enough to travel. She feared that this farm dream was just that, a dream. Once Carl could move they'd be back on the road. And they still hadn't found any trace of Sophia. She could still be out there, scared and hungry. And it made her heart ache for Carol because she'd been so close to losing Carl and though she often thought it to herself, she couldn't imagine what she was going through and she hoped she never had to.

"Well it's looking better every day. You'll be up and running circles around your mom and me before you know it."

Carl smiled. "You know you don't have to keep talking to me like I'm a little kid anymore Aunt Lin." Lin set her hand down onto Carl's, her thumb rubbing over his palm. And she smiled sadly because Carl was still a kid, truly desperately to convince everyone else that he wasn't. But he was and to the three remaining members of the Grimes and Donnelly family, he always would be.

"I'm talking to you like you're my nephew, Carl and there's nothing you can do about that." She paused to squeeze his fingers. "Besides, I'm the cool Aunt and it's my job to never let you forget it."

Lin stayed with Carl for a little bit, just sitting with him and talking until he got tired again. She walked out to the living room where Glenn had set her bag last night. She'd been far too worried about Lori to even think about the pack. In the car she'd shucked off her knife because when she sat in the seat, the handle dug right into her hip. With a quick slip of the buckle, Lin had her belt loose, sliding the holster back over it.

The funeral had taken up any morning hours that they could have used to keep looking. Hershel provided Rick with a far more detailed map than what they were working with. He was also providing them with a home which was invaluable to the exhausted group. So Lin wanted to help, to prove herself useful. She zipped up her pack and threw it over her shoulder, intent on dropping it off in the rv.

Rick was standing out just beyond the porch, his hat in his hands. Lin peered just beyond him to the crossbow-wielding figure that was stalking away from the sheriff. "Lover's quarrel?" Lin asked, crossing her arms over her chest and licking at a split in her lip. Rick shook his head, his shoulder's falling forward.

"Where's he going?" Lin pointed to Daryl walking away.

"Out." Lin was fully prepared to send him a mom look,  the one that said yeah no shit. "He said he was going out to look for Sophia." Good, great even. Lin wanted to help look.

"I'll go with him."

Rick set his hand back atop his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Lin shrugged. "It'll give me an excuse to get better at something." She jogged over to the rv, opening the door and throwing her stuff onto the couch. She shut the door behind her, hurrying to look around to find Daryl. She knew the direction he'd go in, most likely, but she'd rather not try to catch up with him and potentially end up with an arrow between the eyes. And she spotted him just about halfway through the field. With a hand over her knife hilt, she rushed to catch up with him.

Daryl, having long been able to hear Lin's running footsteps, turned his head to see who it was but his stride never faltered. And he scowled when Lin came into view.

"The hell are ya doing?"

"Going with you," Lin stated as if it was obvious.

Daryl huffed and rocked his shoulder to hoist his crossbow up. "I don't need no damn babysitter."

"Well lucky for you I ain't babysitting you. I'm here to look for Sophia." She inhaled and matched her gait to Daryl's. "I'm tired of being stuck in that house and feeling useless."

Daryl pinned her with a look she couldn't decipher. "Ain't you a nurse?"

"What good is a nurse when everyone is in pretty decent shape?" Lin countered. It was a valid question. A nurse was a very handy trade, but she wanted to learn to hunt, to protect her family, to do what Rick and Daryl do. What good was she if she couldn't prevent the cuts and the bruises and the sickness before it happened, before she was called in to magically fix it?

Daryl didn't have a response to that, so the two lapsed into a somewhat content but a little awkward silence. Daryl didn't want to talk nor listen to anything Lin had to say so she just didn't say anything. She kept her eyes constantly moving, searching beneath trees and in the little alcoves that formed around the creek itself. There were so many hiding spots and she wanted to make sure that she checked every single one.

"Daryl," Lin called out for the archer. He spun rapidly around, expecting there to be a walker running at her or something but he lowered his crossbow when he realized there wasn't a threat.

"What?" He grumbled in the way that only Daryl Dixon could.

"I just wanted to ask you if you'd teach me to track. Two skilled eyes would be better than one." Lin shrugged her shoulders to try to convince him. Daryl once again stayed silent, and looked her up and down. She was the furthest thing he'd imagine from someone that would be out here tracking. The bowie knife on her hip looked laughably out of place.

"Ya sure?" Was all he asked. Lin's eyes very very briefly widened and she nodded.

"I am."

Daryl nodded, his eyes landing on her feet then rising. "I ain't no teacher so just shut up and listen." Lin was willing to do so without another thought. She mimed a zipper on her lips which made Daryl huff and turn back around. Lin swore that he laughed though.

He started with the very basics. He listened and then told her that her footsteps were too loud. Lin pursed her lips in frustration, focusing on stepping anywhere but the twigs and the leaves that coated the forest floor. Daryl made it look so damn easy. And he kept trying to hide his laughter whenever she got frustrated.

"Yeah, keep laughing Dixon. Everyone starts somewhere." Lin grumbled as she tripped over a tree root that she definitely shouldn't have tripped over. She rubbed her fingers on the leather of her knife holster, picking at her lip. She followed behind Daryl, marveling at the rare instance that they had not run into any walkers yet. "Is that a house?"

She pointed between the leaves, to where a chimney could barely be seen. Daryl once again said nothing, stalking in the direction of the house. Lin pulled her knife, holding it at her side. Daryl began a slow jog to the house. When he got to the door, he glanced back at Lin, making a double take on the way she was holding her knife.

"Switch your grip on that knife," he demanded. Lin looked down at her own hand. She switched the way she was holding it, the blade poking out down of her fist rather than up. It was how Daryl held his knife, she noticed. He faced the door again, bringing his foot down just to the side of the knob. It swung open, revealing the silent rooms inside.

The house smelled old, like must and mold had become really good friends in the apocalypse. Lin brought her wrist up to cover her nose. On first glance, the house looked empty but Lin knew better than that. Daryl took to the left and she kept going straight, dropping her hand from her nose. She was getting used to the smell but that by no means meant that she enjoyed it.

Something moved in the house. Something creaked. Lin's eyes darted up the staircase as she backed herself into the corner. She wanted to say something, to call Sophia's name up the stairs. If she was here and she heard movement, she was liable to hide. That being said and considered, she had to be ready if anything dead decided to creep down that stairs at her. It would have the high ground above her, putting her at a disadvantage. But she had to make noise.

She balled her free hand into a fist, held it up a few inches from the wall and hit it hard. She was sure that anything that hid in this house would have heard that and come running. Daryl did. He popped out of the room he'd been in, crossbow up and head on a swivel. He must have thought something had happened. Lin shot her hand out, telling him that she was fine but that he needed to stay back. He seemed to get the message but he didn't lower his crossbow.

"Sophia? Lin started softly, barely anymore than a whisper. Nothing moved, nothing responded. So she tried louder. "Sophia? It's okay sweetheart." Once again nothing. Lin looked to Daryl who nodded to tell her to try again. "Sophia?" She was shouting now. "You can come out now, baby. It's alright." Daryl brought his crossbow down, concluding that there was nothing and no one in the house. He walked over to the back door, pushing it open.

"There's a cupboard in there. Got some blankets and food. She coulda been stayin' here."

"Are you sure it was her?" Lin asked him in chorus to the sound of her knife slipping back into its holster.

"It's small enough for her but it coulda been anyone," Daryl stepped down and out of the house, beginning the search outside. Lin took the stairs two at a time, stepping dead in the center of them because she really didn't want any of them to collapse on her. The upstairs was just about as empty as the first floor. When she came back down Daryl was waiting for her. His back was to her and she stole a glance back into the house to assure that she'd checked as much as she could.

"Hey," Lin spoke softly as to not startle him. He was standing in front of a bush, eyes cast down on it. "Do you know what they are?" Lin asked him, pointing to the white flowers blooming on the thin bushes.

"Cherokee Roses." His thumb came down to the petal, knocking against it. "Bloom for all the little ones on the trail of tears." Lin sunk down to look closer at the plant. She rubbed the soft petal, a smile beginning on her lips.

"Bring one back for Carol," Lin suggested, phrasing it more as a statement than a question. "It should be you."

"Why me?" Lin tipped her head back to look up at him. "Ain't one for that girly shit."

Lin shook her head. "It isn't girly. You've been searching nonstop for her and I know Carol's been crying every night. And I know you know it too." Judging by the way that he shifted his head away he did. "I won't tell anyone if that makes you feel any better. Us girls have plenty of other gossip, you know," she joked, trying to at least get Daryl to lighten up a little bit.

Daryl reached down to the plant, breaking the flower at the base. And they were then presented with the struggle of finding where to put it without crushing and shattering the fragile petals. Lin brought her hand up to her temple, pushing away the hair that had snuck away from the braid she'd done earlier that morning. And it gave her another idea.

"Here," she took the flower from him, guiding it through the crossing strands of her hair. The archer didn't question it, just watching her in silence. He turned back to the bush and plucked another flower. Lin brought her hands down from her hair, shaking her head to ensure that the flower wasn't going to fall. When she looked back up from the ground, another flower was thrust almost right into her nose. Daryl was holding out another flower for her to take.

"You givin' me a flower, Daryl Dixon?"

Daryl's brow creased. And he almost pulled his had right back but Lin took it by the stem, slotting it right by the first. He jerked away, shoulders squaring up. He was closing off, the doors of the dam inside him shutting hard. And Lin saw it.

"Sophia!" Daryl yelled out into the woods, making Lin jump where she stood. She rushed to meet him where he was, setting her hand on the crook of his bare elbow.

"Hey, I was making a joke, back there." Daryl's eyes went to the flowers in her hair and they stayed there until the end of her statement had him dragged his gaze down to meet hers. "I just I know tensions are high right now and we've got the entire back breathing down our necks here. I get that, Daryl, more than you know."

"This ain't no time to be making jokes! We got a little girl out here who needs us." He snapped at her. "Got too many people back at camp just loungin' around. Too busy gossipin' and sewin'."

Lin stepped back. "Is that really what you think?" She asked, despite the anger thrumming under her skin. The asshole really thought all she'd done was just sit around. She'd held her nephew's skin open as Hershel dug for the bullet fragments and that was a feeling, an event, she was absolutely sure she'd never forget. And she wanted to spit that right back into his face.

"You ain't provin' otherwise. Had to show you how to hold a damn knife." Daryl was going for the jugular and it was working. Lin's hands twitched at her side the further he went on. She was the little kid, the weak one with no survival skills of her own. Lori had done everything for her, even now. She'd convinced Shane to let her have a gun and Shane had thrown it back in her face. Dale had then taken it, not trusting either of his girls with guns after the CDC. Lin had brushed it off, but now, in the face of her biggest fear, it was all coming back to swallow her whole.

Daryl watched her face go slack, her expression melting away into the grass. He'd never seen her do that, go entirely still and yet so hurt at the same time.

"Let's head back. They'll be waiting." As she walked right past Daryl back into the forest they'd come from, he stared right at those pretty white flowers weaved into her red hair.

They got back to the farm a little more than an hour or two later. Lin pulled the flowers from her hair, pushing them into Daryl's hand without a word. She left him alone, running in the direction of the house, catching the screen door as Beth walked out.

Daryl watched the door rattle as it shut, Beth turning her back his direction to watch Lin dart inside. His fingers tightened around the stems. He needed two bottles and some water.

Lin sat down on the bed, Carl's head turning toward her. "How's it feel today, tough guy?"

"It doesn't hurt as much now."

"Scale of 1-10?" Lin asked, reverting right back to her nursing ways.

"About a 3," Carl nodded, his hand going for Lin's. She held it, humming and squeezing it in time with the song. "Dad said you went out looking for Sophia. Did you find her?"

Lin sighed. "Who told you?"

"Mom did. Did you find anything?" Carl pressed. Sophia was his friend and he was just as worried as everyone else.

"Daryl and I found a farmhouse deep in the woods. Someone had been staying in it not too long ago. We don't know if it was her but we're hoping it is." Carl nodded. Lin exhaled, bringing his little hand up to her cheek. Carl was the light of her life, the closest thing she was ever going to get to her own kid in this world. And she knew that she'd do anything to protect him.

"We're gonna find her," Carl told her. Lin smiled sadly.

"Stop growing up, mister," Carl batted at her hands as she went to ruffle at his hair. He giggled, his hand going to his chest that no doubt stung with the actin. "Alright, I'll stop making you laugh. You tired?"

Carl nodded. "Okay, little man. I'll see about getting you some dinner in a little bit." Carl nodded again and settled back into the bed. Lin stood, bent low to kiss his forehead and took her leave from the room. She stood out on the porch and sighed. Daryl's words echoed right back in her ears. She was just sitting around, sewing and lounging. He'd been right. And she hated it.

She wanted to do something about it, anything to just prove that she could live in this world. She was no Andrea, no Maggie, so was by no means Rick. She was just Lin. And that wasn't enough. She descended the front stairs, heading back to the tents. Dale was up on the rv, in the perch she'd been so familiar with. He took to the position so easily. He was wise, wiser than most, and she wanting nothing more than just a pinch of his wisdom, his advice.

"Dale?" Lin asked to the roof of the rv. The man peeked over at the call of his name.

"Lin," he greeted, nodding over to the ladder for her to climb up. She did, sitting herself at the edge of the motorhome with her legs dangling over the side. "You alright?"

"Why'd you take my gun?"

Dale's head turned over to her. And she knew her question had surprised him. He paused, taking a full pregnant moment to deliberate on an answer that was truthful.

"I didn't trust Andrea with hers after the CDC. I thought she'd be too tempted after it all. With you I knew that wasn't a problem. I knew that you just wanted to help. But I couldn't let myself let you keep it. You're so willing to help, to put others over yourself, and you nearly died because of it." Lin had to realize that this was the first time anyone had mentioned her separation from the group in the CDC since it happened. "You, Amy and Andrea so quickly became the most important things to me. I couldn't just let you put yourself in danger."

Lin knew he meant well but she still shook her head. "That wasn't your choice to make, Dale."

"I know that. I've come to know that." He breathed. "Your gun is down in the glovebox. I just ask that you be careful, Lin." She nodded, more to herself than anything.

"I will, Dale." She picked at the skin around her nails, not standing up to get her gun yet.

"Is there something else, Lin? You seem quiet." And yet somehow Dale could still read her like a book.

"Can you teach me to shoot?" She asked of him.

Now this was something Dale wasn't too sure about. "Lin, you know Hershel doesn't allow us to carry on his property."

"So we go out into the woods. Take some old bottles and just shoot."

Dale turned a little further in the lawn chair. "What is this about, Lin?"

Lin shrugged. "Everyone in the camp can shoot better than me with one eye closed. I'm the weak one, the odd man out. I just want to pull my own weight and not have to rely on anyone else for it. Rick's been straining enough as it is and there's no way I'm asking Shane. You're kind of the last person I've got here."

Dale looked at her and saw the daughter he never had. She was scared and just wanted to help. And he wanted nothing more than to teach her what little he did know, but they couldn't risk breaking Hershel's rules. Carl was still in bed and Sophia was still lost. There was no way they could survive out on the road in a time like this.

"I'm sorry, Lin. But we can't risk that. Shane wants to hold a shooting lesson. I know you don't want to but you should ask him." And Lin just nodded. It was the answer she expected but not the one she wanted.

"It's okay." She stood and set her hand on his shoulder. "I'll take watch tonight." She gave him no room to argue the issue, climbing down the ladder and stepping back. She rubbed her hands over her face, the heels passing over her closed eyes. This whole apocalypse thing was really such a drag.

She got to her tent, had it halfway unzipped, when a twig cracked behind her. She straightened up, spinning around to face the person who'd been sneaking up on her. Or rather hadn't been sneaking up on her because there was no way in hell Daryl Dixon, the master tracker and hunter that he was, didn't notice the twig under his boot. She expected his chapped lips to part and say something but instead, he stepped closer and thrust his hand out to her.

She looked down at it, at the bottle he was holding. The second flower he'd picked sat in the makeshift vase, waiting for her to take it.

"I picked two flowers," he urged her to take it.

"Did you give Carol hers?" Lin asked, reaching for the bottle, their fingers brushing along the way. Daryl nodded, the motion sharp and quick, just a downward swipe of his head. "Thank you, then."

He did that jerking nod again and stepped back, pulling his arms up to cross them over his chest. "Heard ya talkin' to Dale." Lin's brow arched up a few degrees.

"You spying on me, Dixon?" She joked before catching herself because this was the same thing that had thrown him over the edge earlier. She didn't want to tread around him like he was a stray dog but that was hard to do when he snapped at her for just a joke. Daryl was a man, not an animal. But it was safe to say that she was pretty shocked when he chuckled at what she'd said.

"Not really spyin' when you're talkin' loud enough for the entire camp to hear." Lin looked down at her hands. "I ain't lettin' Shane teach ya how to shoot. I know ya don't like him." Understatement of the decade but Lin owed her life to him. If it weren't for Shane, she'd still have been in Atlanta when they dumped napalm in the streets. She would have been one of those things by now.

"Hershel won't let us carry on his property, Daryl. It was a stupid request in the first place."

"I'll teach ya." For the second time that day, Daryl was offering to help her. "Go back to that little farmhouse and set up some targets. It's far enough away from the farm that it wouldn't cause trouble."

Lin was containing her growing smile by the moment. "Are you sure?"

"Ya keep askin' me that question."

Lin raised her free hand. "Sorry, it's just a habit." Her thumb caught the edge of the bottle's label. "Thank you, Daryl. I'm sorry I made those jokes too. They were dumb anyway."

Daryl shook his head. "Don't. I'll show ya how to shoot. Just none of that sap shit." Lin smiled and nodded, holding her flower in a bottle with both hands.

"Okay," she mumbled. Twice today Daryl had offered to help her, to teach her something. Twice today he'd proved that he was a good man, more than just a redneck hunter along for the ride. "I'm taking watch tonight," she said lamely to which Daryl just nodded to. He stepped away and began to walk back to his tent, leaving Lin to just her thoughts and her flushing cheeks.

She tipped her head forward, her chin to her chest, and buried her nose in the petals of the white flower. It smelled very faintly of rose, maybe lily. And she smiled.

When Daryl looked up at the rv later that night, he could see the blooming white petals of the Cherokee Rose tucked behind her ear.

an: so this is one of my fav chapters for lin and daryl because the flower thing is so cute. i've finished writing all of part one of this book (seasons 1 and 2) and it's a pretty hefty thing in terms of word count so im hella excited for the next parts bc they're so cute and i really do like lin for who she is rather than just daryl's love interest. 

i hope you guys enjoy, watch the new episode tonight!! and ill see you in the next part! (possibly considering adding a second update day so im not like halfway through season 2 when season 10 ends ya know??)