Jinx || Daryl Dixon || The Walking Dead Fanfic

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4 MONTH TIME JUMP

DARYL

Daryl was still getting used to people not only knowing who he was, but actually taking the time to say hi and talk to him as he walked around the prison. He and Rick had brought in a lot of new people over the few months since the Governor's failed attack and there were people everywhere he went now.

He walked over to where Carol was serving breakfast to people in the yard, "Just so you know, I liked you first." She told him as he approached, saying hi back to the people who had spoken to him.

"Stop." He told her shaking his head and throwing a piece of food into his mouth from the bowl she'd handed him. "You know, Rick brought in a lot of them too." He pointed out.

"Not recently." Carol smiled at him, "Give the stranger sanctuary, keeping people fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love."

"Right." Daryl replied sceptically. Carol told him he needed to see something and asked Patrick, a teenage boy who'd come from Woodbury, to take over.

"Mr Dixon," the boy approached him, "I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday, it was a real treat sir and I'd be honored to shake your hand." The boy told him enthusiastically. Daryl licked the food from his fingers and shook the boy's hand before walking away with Carol, leaving the boy looking very pleased as he took over the food station, Daryl didn't understand it.

They stood towards the edge of the yard, looking over where various groups of people were beginning their tasks for the day. "About today," Carol started talking, "I don't know if we're gonna be able to spare a lot of people for the run."

"That place is good to go, we're gonna move on it." Daryl told her through a mouthful.

"Yeah." Carol drew out the word as they approached their destination, "The thing is, we had a pretty big build-up overnight." She gestured towards where Karen and some others were taking out walkers through the fences. "Dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month. They don't spread out anymore." She finished with a sigh.

"With more of us sitting here, we're drawin' more of 'em out." Daryl pointed out. "You get enough of those damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up." He pointed towards the group they were watching.

"Pushing against the fences again. It's manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long." Carol crossed her arms, "Sorry pookie." She told him with a small smile. He rolled his eyes at the nickname; glad Jinx wasn't there to pick up on it.

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Daryl and Zack were loading up one of the trucks when Beth appeared, he saw the boy pause and give her a kiss, telling her he was joining the run. The boy was obviously hoping to impress her, pointing out it was dangerous, she kissed him on the cheek and told him she knew and started to walk away. "Okay, are you gonna say goodbye?" the boy called to her as she left.

"Nope." She called without a backwards glance.

"It's like a damn romance novel." Daryl pointed out as he took the next box to the truck. He thought the two kids were sweet, but part of his mind couldn't help but to stray to Jinx, it had been too long since he last saw her, and he was starting to worry. She was the opposite of Beth, always making sure to say goodbye before she left, they were both all too aware that it could be the last time they saw each other.

Tyreese and Sasha were loading up the other car they were going to take on the run when Bob approached them, Daryl had found him walking the road alone only a week before and brought him in. He respected the man for wanting to jump in and help out straight away. Sasha was more sceptical, "We ain't gonna do it unless it's easy." Daryl pointed out to her as he walked past and Glenn piped up that Bob had been a medic in the army, assuaging some of Sasha's fears that the new man couldn't work in a team.

He had just started up his bike ready to leave when he looked over to see Rick and carl running towards the gate. In the distance he could see two people approaching on horseback and he felt like a weight lifted from his chest. He kicked the bike into gear and drove closer to the entrance as they came in, making sure to stop far enough away that the sound wouldn't startle the animals.

Jinx and Michonne jumped down, Michonne pulling some comic books out of a saddle bag to hand to Carl with a smile. She then turned to Rick and handed him an electric beard trimmer, from where he sat he could just hear her inform him that his face was losing the war. He smiled, hearing Jinx chuckle at Michonne's comment as she took the reins for both horses and began to lead them further inside the prison grounds.

She looked tired, he guessed she hadn't slept much on the road, she never did, whenever she came back the dark circles under her eyes seemed even worse than the last time. He frowned slightly, worrying about her. He'd been out on the road with her and Michonne originally, looking for the Governor, but when it had become apparent that they weren't going to find him he'd decided to stay back, bringing in newcomers and hunting food for everyone at the prison, he was more help there. He had hoped that Jinx would stay behind with him, but the next time Michonne left, so did she, and again every time after that. He didn't know how to ask her to stay, and he didn't know if she would even if he did.

"You gonna stay a little while?" he heard Rick ask the two women.

"Just a little while." Michonne confirmed and Daryl felt his heart drop again, whenever they returned, he always held out hope that it would be for good, so far it never was.

"Well look who's back." Daryl said to the two of them as they got closer to where he sat on the bike.

"Didn't find him." Michonne told him by way of greeting, he nodded slightly, unsurprised.

"Glad to see you're both in one piece." He told them, Jinx smiled at him now, he wished she'd get closer so he could pull her into his arms, but he knew the longer she was gone the less approachable she got, and this had been a long trip. When she'd been back awhile, she'd let her walls down again, but he knew better than to expect it immediately.

"We're thinking of looking over near Macon." Michonne told him and Rick, they said nothing, but their expressions must have given them away as she followed up with an exasperated "It's worth a shot!"

"70 miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighbourly types. Is it?" Daryl asked with a shrug. He didn't let it show, but he felt a small pang of panic when he thought of Jinx doing that trip, maybe it was time to try and convince her to stay. It was apparent the two women had nothing more to say on the matter though, so he changed the subject "I'm gonna check out the Big Spot. The one I was talking' about, just seein'" he told Rick, his voice offering for the other man to join, but he declined.

"I'll go." Jinx and Michonne both answered at the same time, then glanced at each other and laughed.

"You just got here!" Carl called out to them.

"And we'll be back." Michonne told him with a smile as she walked over to get in one of the cars. Jinx handed Carl the reins to the horses and climbed on the back of Daryl's bike. It felt like he'd been reunited with a part of him that had been missing as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Rick jogged forward to open the gate for them and as he started the bike again, he tried not to grin as he felt Jinx rest her cheek against his shoulder. 

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Author's note:

If you've read this far, thank you so much! 

It's been a long time since I've written anything (and I've never attempted fan fiction before) and I've never shared anything I've written except with one friend  - the person who convinced me I should post this here - so it kinda blows my mind that people are actually reading this!

I just wanted to add a quick apology that I won't be posting as regularly as I was before, I had the first 30+ chapters written when I started posting this, but I only have a few more and work's gotten crazy busy so I'm not able to write as much, but I'm going to aim to post once a week. 

I may also do some minor edits to the earlier chapters as I'm rereading them to get my head back into the story and I've noticed a couple of spelling mistakes, so please if you catch any let me know!