𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
chapter forty-four; Pickin' Violets
" You know, you used to be really good at pretending you didn't care about people, but you're gettin' worse at it. "

  VEX WAS TRYING to take it slow. After the conversations she had with Dean and Daryl's genuine concern, Vex was trying.

  She was staying in the middle of the group, she was carrying Judith instead of a gun, walking beside Zeppelin, and taking out their rations.

  Despite the thoughts and self-loathing that came from it, Vex was trying.

  "So did you and Uncle Dean do anything cool?"

  Her daughter made it easier.

  "Nothing much," Vex answered honestly, "We camped outside mostly-- even showed Uncle Dean a couple of constellations."

  "Will you show me?"

  "Of course I will."

  Zeppelin grinned, continuing with her mother's pace.

  "Rick, Carl, and I stayed at a house," Zeppelin said, "Michonne found us. . . The house looked like our old one. . . we stayed for a long time. Some guys showed up so we had to leave. But I got this really cool jacket."

  "It's a pretty badass jacket," Vex smiled small.

  Zeppelin beamed with pride, readjusting the leather as if it was now worth more.

  "How'd you end up with Daryl?" Vex questioned, nudging Zeppelin.

  And then the girl went silent. She shrunk into herself, any and all words drying up in her throat before they could ever be formed.

  She didn't want to tell her mom. About what happened, about Daryl. Aside from wanting to forget her own experience, Zeppelin had a knot of worry that her mother would hold it against Daryl. For being with the men.

  Even though Zeppelin had. Even though she had been angry and hurt and confused; she knew Daryl was different. And she was worried her mom wouldn't see that.

  "You okay, honey?"

  Zeppelin nodded quickly, attempting to bury her discomfort.

  "Just matters that he found us," Zeppelin said quietly.

  "Okay. You let me know if you need to talk, baby girl."

  "I will. When I'm ready."

  Vex nodded, reaching out to ruffle her daughter's hair. The girl smiled weakly, but it grew into a real one when Judith let out a small laugh.

  Vex grinned, bouncing the child slightly as she walked, letting out dramatic coos as she did.

  Zeppelin wondered if this was how her mother had been with her. If her face lit up like that if she made herself look silly only to make her laugh.

  There was something strange about watching her mother being motherly to another person. Not strange bad, just strange.

  They set up camp as the sun began to set. Dean and Zeppelin worked together to lay out their beds as well as Vex's, while the woman sat with Judith.

  Vex was trying to let herself enjoy it. Making stupid faces at a baby just to see her smile.

  "You're good at that."

  "Ah, she's just a happy baby," Vex informed as Rick took a seat beside her, "It's easy when they're happy."

  Rick watched as Vex continued making Judith laugh, until the girl's blinks became slower, and the smiles became smaller. Then, Vex moved to cradle the girl, swaying just barely, and running a gentle finger down the bridge of her nose rhythmically.

  Judith was asleep in minutes.

  "I'm gonna have to remember that one," Rick said quietly.

  "Trade secret," Vex joked lightly, passing the girl to her father, "Thank you. By the way."

  "For what?" Rick questioned.

  "For taking care of my girl," She said quietly, sighing, "I know you're gonna tell me I woulda done the same thing if it was Carl or Judith. And I would have. But still. Thank you."

  Rick was going to say exactly that, but having his words stolen, he only nodded to her. Vex stood, patting his shoulder, before finding none other than Daryl Dixon in a more secluded area of the camp, keeping watch with his recently returned crossbow.

  "How's that leg?"

  "Oh, it's done with church."

  Daryl furrowed his brows, looking up to the woman.

  "It's not hole-y anymore," She explained with a loose grin.

  Daryl scoffed, but a small smile was present as she took a seat beside him.

  "I just want it to be healed."

  "I know," He said after a moment. "It will be."

  "It needs to," She sighed, frowning, "I'm trying. . . I'm tryin' to not feel useless. But it's hard-- I'm not used to being the one who sits back while people are killin' walkers and out hunting. It just feels. . . I don't know."

  "You're not useless, Vex."

  "Yeah, I know that," Vex breathed, resting her head on his shoulder, "Just feels like it when I'm watching everyone else work."

  "You're working. Carrying a kid ain't no joke."

  Vex breathed out a laugh.

  "Seriously."

  "Yeah, yeah," She waved off, soaking in the silence for a moment, "Hey."

  "Hm?"

  "You remember when we were in that Big Spot before all that shit happened?" She said, lifting her head to face the man, "And you were looking for somethin' for Zep?"

  "Yeah."

  "You were gonna tell me something. Or ask me something. . ." Vex said. "Point is, you had something to say. But that shelf fell and shit broke bad and you never got to say it. I don't know why, but it's been buggin' me. D'you remember what it was?"

  Daryl Dixon did, in fact, remember what he was going to say. Of course, he did. He'd thought about what to say and when to say it for weeks leading up to it, and the Big Spot wasn't his ideal location, but the sentence started on its own.

  But after everything that had happened since then, after the multiple times he had failed, or nearly failed, Vex Williams, he couldn't say it. Not now, not here. He wasn't sure if he deserved to say it.

  She waited patiently, her eyebrows just barely furrowed, her eyes searching his own (Daryl never understood how Vex Williams could hold eye contact the way she did), waiting to hear it.

  "I don't remember. That was a while ago."

  "Yeah, I figured it was kind of a shot in the dark," She sighed, "I guess if it was important, you'd have remembered it."

  It was important. Maybe. Daryl was still trying to figure it out.

  "Yeah."

  "You hunting tonight?" Vex questioned.

  "In the morning. Why, you wanna come?"

  "I would, but this super demanding doctor told me I have to rest," She said dramatically, rolling her eyes, "I was gonna say you should bring Zep-- it's been a while, and I'm sure it'd make her happy."

  Daryl smiled, nodding, "I'll take 'er."

  "Good," She smiled warmly, "I'll expect flowers if you find any."

  "Oh yeah? But that doctor's the demanding one?"

  "Oh, without question."

  Vex gave him a teasing grin before departing toward her brother and daughter. Daryl sighed, watching her walk away-- he'd be lost in thought all night, and he hated it.

🗡

  "I wish I still had my bow."

  "We'll find another one."

  Zeppelin twisted her lips, following Daryl further into the forest that was still covered in morning dew.

  They'd managed to get three squirrels so far, but Daryl wanted to get at least six considering the size of their group. Zeppelin had been a little out of practice, but falling into old habits was easy, so she had little trouble remembering what she had been taught.

  She halted as Daryl did, falling silent as he lifted his crossbow and got another squirrel.

  The girl approached it quickly, pulling the arrow out of the tree and holding it out toward Daryl. He accepted it and the squirrel, nodding for Zeppelin to follow him.

  But she grew confused when he shouldered the crossbow to pick a handful of violets.

  "Why are you picking flowers?"

  "What, I can't pick flowers?" Daryl questioned, turning to her after gathering enough.

  "You just. . . don't," Zeppelin noted with a scrunched face, "Are they for somebody else?"

  "Your mom asked for some," Daryl answered honestly after a moment, "She was jokin', but we found some."

  Daryl regretted his words the second Zeppelin's eyes widened.

  "What--"

  "Do you have a crush on my mom?!"

  "The hell do--"

  "I mean, normally, when somebody brings somebody flowers, it's 'cause they like them."

  "I don't like nobody."

  "I mean like like," Zeppelin urged, following the man as he began walking, "You totally do, don't you?"

  "We're friends, Zep."

  "Uh, friends don't get friends flowers."

  Daryl sucked his teeth, glaring at the girl.

  "How would you feel if I started askin' 'bout if you have a crush on Carl?"

  "I'd say no, 'cause I don't," Zeppelin deadpanned, "It's real easy when you don't."

  "Alright, then there's your answer."

  Zeppelin narrowed her eyes, following the man.

  "You know, you used to be really good at pretending you didn't care about people," Zeppelin noted, "But you're gettin' worse at it."

  Daryl did not respond until Zeppelin changed the subject to where they would find her a new bow.

  Vex walked alongside her brother, with baby Judith in her arms, and a rifle slung around her shoulder.

  "Don't your arms get tired?"

  "It's worth it," Vex smiled at the child, resting a hand on the back of her head as Judith rested against her chest.

  Dean laughed, shaking his head as Vex swayed as she walked.

  It was always funny to him that Vex had such a soft spot for children. She'd been a tomboy growing up, and after enlisting at 18, he had hardly believed she'd have kids of her own.

  But after seeing the woman with Zeppelin, it made sense.

  It made sense that Vex would be a mother. Even though he had never imagined it before, Dean knew easily she was the best fit for the role. Even now, seeing Vex with a child in her arms in the middle of the apocalypse somehow made sense.

  Like she was some kind of protector of innocence. Like Vex had hers stolen from underneath her own feet, so she vowed to shepherd any child she saw, care for them as if they were her own.

  "You're gonna be her favorite aunt."

  Vex smiled at the comment, but said nothing, continuing the gentle calming movements on Judith's head as she swayed the girl to sleep.

  She only halted her movement at rustling from the forest in front of them. The group halted, each member raising weapons until Daryl and Zeppelin emerged with a string of squirrels.

  "We surrender."

  Vex breathed out a laugh as Zeppelin approached her quickly and the guns lowered.

  "Is she sleeping already?" Zeppelin frowned.

  "She'll wake back up soon," Vex said gently, "You can hold her then, honey."

  "Okay," Zeppelin grinned.

  Rick let out a single whistle to the group, "Keep close."

  Dean shot a look of concern to Vex, but the trio quickened their pace to close in with the rest of the group as Daryl fell back from the front of the pack. Vex offered him a small smile as he ran a finger over Judith's arm in greeting.

   "Looks like you two had a pretty good morning," She noted, eyeing the squirrels he held.  

  "Yeah," Daryl mumbled, "Found these, too."

  Vex Williams had, in fact, been joking when she asked for flowers. She had been teasing Daryl in hopes of brightening his spirit, even if only a little.

  She had never expected him to reach into his pocket and produce a small, slightly crumpled, hand-picked bouquet of small violets.

  Her lips parted in shock, looking from the flowers to the man who held them out to her, waiting for her to take them.

  Vex adjusted Judith's weight onto one arm, a smile flitting across her face as she accepted the violets.

  "Thank you," She said quietly, after staring at them for a long moment.

  Daryl only nodded, wanting to say more.

  But the moment was shattered by an unfamiliar voice shouting for help.

  And after only a moment of hesitation, the group ran straight for it.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
Hi I'm back! 
This story has gotten a lot
more attention lately and
I just wanted to pop in
and say thank you guys so much
for all the reads, votes, and
comments <3 I honestly
started writing this one
for my own fun and wasn't
expecting much traction
just because TWD doesn't
fit into my normal line up
of fics, but I love this story
and love that people have found
it and love it, too. So 
anyway sorry for being sappy lol,
thank you guys for reading
and I promise I'll get better
with updating <3