Clover (Daryl Dixon X Male Character)

Jim couldn't make it

(A/N: I loved Jim but he has to go srrrrrry plus We gotta advance to the CDC somehow)

Jaxx awoke after three more hours of sleep, the RV now moving down the lone roads. His arm repatched and still burning from the bite. Hissing in pain from the sudden muscle spasm in his shoulder, Jaxx felt the comfort of Daryl's heartbeat as the redneck held him closer. "hey there sunshine." Daryl murmured, making Jaxx smile. "Hey. What's going on?" Jaxx asked, noticing Jacquie and Jim in the RV with them as Dale drove. Jim looked near death, and already dead compared to Jaxx. "Headin' to the CDC. Hopin' they got answers, maybe even shelter." Daryl answered as the RV began to slow and hack, its engine sounding totally fucked as Dale pulled over. Daryl left the RV alongside Dale to help, leaving Jaxx alone with Jacquie and Jim. 

"How's he doing?" Jaxx asked, suspecting the answer to be anything but good. "His fevers worse... going into shock almost hourly... I hope we make it to the CDC soon." Jacquie replied, grabbing a nearby bucket for Jim as he began to cough up blood. "Jacquie... get Rick." Jaxx almost ordered, slowly getting up from where he sat. Jacquie nodded and left the RV, trusting Jim in the hands of the Irishman. Once Jim had stopped coughing Jaxx set the bucket down for him, giving the sickly man a warm smile.

"How are ya, Jim?" Jaxx asked, wanting to know what the bite had done to Jim that was seemingly worse then Jaxx's own. "My bones feel like glass... god my entire body feels like its tearing apart from the inside out..." said Jim, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. Jaxx kept his comforting smile, even though he felt his heart break inside. He knew Jim wouldn't last till the CDC, and he hated it. "Your lookin' at me like my doctor on my death bed." Jim said, trying to lighten the mood, but his small chuckle turned into a hacking cough. "I'm sorry. Guess I'm so used to keeping that stupid smile on my face." Jaxx's apology could only be the truth, on many occasions he would have to plaster on a smile and tell a dying child that they would be okay.

"Ever broke it?" Jim asked, pulling Jaxx out of his head. Jaxx thought for a second before nodding. "Sammy Tornelli. She was the sweetest little girl. Wee thing had tumors in her lung, they had gotten so big there was no way of operation without killing her. She fought for eleven months until one day the tumors had finally won. The morning before she passed she asked me if she was going to be okay... I broke. I had to leave work early, which I hadn't done since I started working there." Jaxx's story distracted Jim from his pain, just as he had hoped it would. Hearing someone come into the RV Jaxx saw it to be Rick and left the two alone in the RV, surprising his husband with a hug from behind and making Daryl jump.

"Chill, Wonderboy. Only me." Jaxx chuckled, kissing Daryl's nose when he turned to face Jaxx. "What're ya doin' out here?" Daryl asked, a worried expression on his face. "Left Rick to talk to Jim alone. Hell compared to Jim I'm fuckin' immortal." Responded Jaxx, ignoring the muscle spasm happening in his arm. "But you ain't, kid." Daryl persisted, leading Jaxx to sit in the open bed of his truck next to Merle's motorcycle. "You know I hate it when you call me that. I'm five years younger than you, not that much." Said Jaxx, pouting. Daryl chuckled and kissed his husbands head as Rick came out of the RV. 

"Jim wants us to leave him here," Rick said as the group gathered around him, thankfully close enough to where Jaxx could still sit. "it's what he says he wants." The group fell silent as they thought. "And he's Lucid?" Carol asked, Rick nodded in response. After minutes of figuring out what to do, Shane spoke up. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Said Shane, Jaxx shook his head and hopped off of Daryl's truck. "It's not our call. Besides if you had it your way Jim would still be suffering on the way to the CDC and I would be on the side of the road with a bullet in my brain." Jaxx spoke, seeing anger flash in Shane's eyes. Daryl instinctively wrapped an arm around Jaxx's waist, not to protect him, but to keep him from tackling Shane. 

"You got bit too, how do we know you ain't just like Jim?" Shane demanded, grabbing Jaxx's bandaged arm and forcing the male to cry out in pain. Daryl shoved Shane away, letting Rick hold the ex-cop back as he helped Jaxx back to the bed of the truck. Jaxx hissed and glared at the man, he promised Dale not to tell but he found himself spilling. "Even if I were a walker I would still be morally right. At least I never held up a shotgun to my best friend because I wanted his wife and child to be my own." Jaxx growled, leaving the group in a state of shocked silence. Jaxx once again hopped off of the truck, heading towards the RV to help Jim.

Not long after Jaxx and Rick had Jim sitting against a tree, Rick kneeling in front of Jim to talk. After their goodbyes, Jaxx hugged the dying man and muttered a short prayer for him. "I'll say hello to Sammy if I see her." Jim chuckled, Jaxx smiled to hide the few tears ready to shed. "I wish you safe passage, Jim." Jaxx responded before returning to Daryl's side. the two watched as everyone but Andrea, Amy, and Glenn say their goodbyes to Jim. Daryl only nodded to Jim in respect before going towards his truck, closing the door to the bed of it. 

Jaxx looked on to Jim one last time before hopping into the passenger seat of the truck, smiling once Daryl joined him in the driver seat. "How come you didn't say anything?" Jaxx asked, leaning against Daryl and kicking his feet up on the Dash as the old truck sputtered to life. "Ya know I ain't good with that kinda' stuff. 'Member your stepdads funeral? didn't say a damn thing the whole time." Daryl reminded. Jaxx nodded and looked on as they drove off, following Dales RV. "I guess. You know, we are the very definition of opposites attract. I wear my heart on my sleeve, you hide everything around everyone but me." responded Jaxx, Daryl chuckled.

"Your my light, Clover. What can I say?"