The minute we got back to the group on the farm, Beth ran up to me and hugged me while crying.
"We missed you so much!" she cried.
I awkwardly pat her back. "I, uh, missed you all too?"
I see that Andrea is staring at me with a displeased look on her face, "Your sister came back," Andrea so helpfully informs me.
"Oh? What'd she want?" I inquire with a tilt of my head.
"She wanted to know where you were, said she had to talk to you. I don't know why, so don't ask me." By the time she finishes relaying this information to me, she's practically growling.
"Interesting, and what did you all do in response?"
"Well, we told her we didn't know where you were and told her to come back another day." Rick adds in helpfully.
I nod my head in agreement with his decision, then look around wondering where Daryl was.
"Hey, where's Daryl?"
"Hunting." Beth pipes up.
And suddenly I feel like I died because I had no idea how close Beth could have gotten to Daryl while I left to go sort out my self-esteem issues. So I decided to ask another smart question,
"Okay...Where's Hershel, then?"
"In the house." Maggie tersely says.
I leave without another word and walk into the house, seeing Hershel sitting at the table,
"Hi, Hershel." I smile
"(y/n)! Welcome back, it's so good to see that you're alive." He embraces me with a warm hug.
And then I hear loud voices outside. I peek out the window and see that Daryl is back and is making his way towards the house at a brisk pace.
He bursts in and looks around, sees me, and scoops me up so my feet are no longer touching the ground. I can't see his face very well, so I say with laughter in my voice,
"It's good to see you too, Dar." I laugh out.
"Where have you been (y/n)?" He says gruffly.
"I had to go off on my own for a little, but I'm ok now." I smile at him.
And then Carl runs at me full speed and crashes into me soon after Daryl puts me down. Daryl steadies me, putting his hand around my waist for just a split second. My face burns for a few moments as I give Carl an equally eager hug in return. Everyone seems so happy to see me, and I begin to wonder why I even listened to Andrea in the first place.
Later, during dinner, Carol gives me an extra serving and holds her finger in front of her mouth doing the motion 'shhhh'. Maggie, Beth, Glenn and I joke around as Daryl sits almost protectively to my left. Rick seems a little left out, sitting with Hershel, Dale, T-Dog, and Shane, so he walks over and sits on my right. I flash him a smile and continue being happily engaged in the group's conversation.
After dinner, I'm a little lost as I have no clue where to sleep. I almost fall asleep on the ground right there, I'm so tired, but Daryl, to the rescue again, offer to share his tent with me again so I'll be able to sleep comfortably. I happily accept as the prospect of a warm tent sounds incredible because of how cold it is outside.
Inside the tent, I nearly start changing until I realize that Daryl is still in the tent, I politely shoo him out for a few moments so I can get changed. He walks back in and helps me set up a bedroll. The moment my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep.
Hellllooooooo alll!!! It's me! I'm not dead!!! I can't believe it!!! Ok, real talk I actually forgot about this story for a really long time so IM SORRY WHOOPS. I hope you enjoyed this but eh you like what you like.
