The Rest of your Life

Chapter 13

Beth sobbed as she stepped over the dead bodies, searching for one corpse and one corpse only. Maggie had released her hold on Rory, who wandered closer to the bodies of the dead.

"Ma..." Beth cried, turning a walker over onto its back. Then she was screaming, and Rory couldn't help but think back to Amy as Beth was pulled away from her dead mother.

As quick as she could, Rory pulled out her gun, flipped off the safety and pulled the trigger as soon as they had gotten Beth away. Multiple sets of shocked eyes landed on the child, who shakily put the safety back on and tucked the gun back away before gulping at the dead walker.

•••

There was a funeral. It wasn't much, Carol didn't even turn up, but they put in the effort anyway. Rory decided Sophia deserved better. She should have spent more time with the older girl, taught her the things she didn't know. She didn't understand how it was fair that she survived, yet Sophia didn't. She just didn't understand. Even though it wasn't her fault, she felt a strong sense of guilt for her friends death.

•••

Rory was helping Beth with the dishes in the kitchen. She was kind of glad that her father wasn't in the house for the time being, he was quite scary as of late. The two girls had just been cleaning in silence when Beth went still. Rory looked up in time for the older girl to collapse. Rory gasped as she dropped too, protecting Beth's head as she fell. The sound of falling dishes alerted Maggie and Glenn, who came rushing in to help.

•••

Beth had gone into shock and Hershel was missing, Rick and Glenn had gone to find him, and Rory couldn't do anything to help. The girl felt utterly useless. She was walking in circles when her father found her.

"I need to talk to you." Shane claimed to his daughter. She just nodded in acknowledgement, sitting down on the grass, her father doing the same. "Look, I know you think what I did was wrong."

"Because it was." Rory mumbled, fiddling with her fingers.

"But." Shane scolded. "But it needed to be done. It wasn't safe." He paused when his daughter didn't say anything. "Do you still have you're gun on you?"

Rory nodded and got it out of her waistband, about to give it to her father, but he gave it back.

"I want you to keep this on you." He said, looking his daughter in her eyes. "If anything goes wrong, if you get into trouble... I need to know you will be okay... you know how to handle one, I taught you myself, just... just promise me you'll be safe?"

"I promise." Rory nodded. It was quiet for a moment before Rory spoke up again. "Um, dad? I, uh. Can I keep my knives too?"

"Knives?" Shane quizzed, tilting his head. "What knives?" Rory stilled for a moment before showing her father her throwing knives she had found.

"Ivory, where are these from? How long have you had those?"

"Just before I ran on the highway... I found them in a big truck." Rory confessed. Shane sighed and brought his daughter in for a hug.

"As long as you're careful, I don't see the problem."

•••

Rory didn't understand why Daryl's tent was so far into the field. It was quite the place to get too. As she approached quietly, she saw Daryl sharpening one of his knives. He looked up as the girl got closer.

"What do you want?" Rory didn't answer, just sat by the man quietly. After a minute of silence, he groaned and put down his knife, staring expectantly at Rory.

She didn't say anything, just took out her knives, looking at the older man. He studied her for a second before huffing and standing up. "Come on. I ain't got all day."

The girl grinned. Finally.

•••

"I want you to be able to throw the knife with a little spin, alright?" Daryl asked the girl, correcting her stance and handing her one of her knives.

Rory took a deep breath and nodded. The pair had spent the past hour or so correcting Rory's posture and talking through what she had to do in order for it be safe. Rory grasped the knifes blade, handle pointing to the sky and looked towards the target that Daryl had set up for her.

"Now I just throw it?" Rory asked.

"Mhm." Daryl mumbled. Rory looked to the target and drew her arm back, throwing the knife forward with some force. She held her breath as the knife hit the target, but slumped her shoulders when the knife didn't stick.

"This is pointless." The girl complained. Daryl retrieving the knife and giving it her back without a word. This is how the next hour went as the sky turned dark. Rory eventually got the knife to stick, sure it wasn't on target, but it was something.

Daryl had advised the girl to sharpen her knives and after showing her how, she was sat around his fire doing just that as he made sure the flames didn't die out.

"Hey, Daryl? ...can you keep a secret?" Rory whispered. The man just looked at the girl. "I think.. I think my dad killed Otis..." After some silence, Rory looked up hesitantly as she carried on. "He has his gun..."

"Yeah." Daryl agreed. She couldn't say she was shocked.

"What he did was wrong, but he's still my dad, so I still love him... does that make me a bad person too?" She asked.

"No." Daryl disagreed. "You're just a kid. Ain't your fault."

"There's something about Lori too... she's pr-" Rory's confession was cut short as both their heads snapped up as Carol approached.

"Thank god, Ivory." Carol panted as she held the girl tight. She made a confused sound and looked to Daryl who shrugged his shoulders. "We couldn't find you or Lori."

"Lori? Is she okay?" The young girl questioned only to get ignored as Carol continued.

"And the others aren't back yet ether."

"Yeah." Daryl muttered. "That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for em."

"What?" Carol and Rory said at the same time. Rory quickly gathered her knives and slipped them away before setting the sharpening block back next to Daryl.

"Yeah, she asked me to go. Told her I was done being an errand boy." Daryl confessed, still messing with the fire.

"And you didn't say anything?" Carol accused. The man didn't say anything back. Rory took that as her queue to leave and she ran back to the house.

•••

It turns out it didn't matter that Rory nearly told Daryl that Lori was pregnant. Everyone knew now anyway. Shane had gone to look for Lori and had returned with her, letting it slip that she was pregnant. Lori had a long chat with both children, both of them having asked many questions, and having them answered.

Later on, the children sat in their beds chatting about having a baby around. Carl wanted a brother, while Rory wanted it to be a girl.

However, they both came to the conclusion that just having a baby was enough, and that they wasn't bothered weather it was a boy or a girl.

•••
Rory and Lori or Rory and Shane?

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