𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 | 𝐭𝐰𝐝 ¹

07.

   Cheyanne sat quietly in between her mother and Merle. She traced her pencil over a blank sheet of paper in the sketchbook Daryl had found for her yesterday. When the man gave it to her, she was absolutely ecstatic.

   Daryl's right hand was on the steering wheel while the other was against the window. He continually stole glances to Nicole and Cheyanne; he could see how annoyed they were getting with Merle's ridiculous remarks.

   Nicole had to keep reminding herself that she had been called worse than what Merle was calling her. She had to keep reminding herself that she couldn't let this man dominate her. She had to keep the weak, little girl she used to be, buried inside of her core.

   "Whaddya say this next pitstop we go off and get it on?" he leaned over to whisper in her ear. Nicole took a deep breath as she held back the tears. Every single thing he said broke her down more and more. It was getting harder to not say anything.

   "Leave 'er alone, bro," Daryl muttered out, biting his fingernail.

   Merle didn't shut up. He kept running his mouth and Nicole was getting to her breaking point. It wasn't until a Jeep jerked out from a hidden path in the forest. Daryl slammed on the breaks, which jerked Merle forwards and he banged his forehead on the radio.

   "Karma's a bitch," Nicole muttered under her breath, loosening her grip on her daughter.

   "At least I ain't-a bitch." Merle snarked back, holding his forehead in pain.

   Nicole saw that the Jeep had stopped a couple of yard in front of them. It sat idle as the people inside sat debating to get out of the vehicle. Eventually, the people in the vehicle got out and began walking over. Their hands were up in surrender.

   Nicole instantly recognized one of the men walking toward them. "Shane?" she uttered out. She rushed to open up the truck door and made a b-line to the man. Nicole swung her arms around his neck.

   "We thought you were dead," he muttered into her greasy, blonde hair. "Lori said you went to Atlanta to find Nolan and then they bombed the city," he continued to hug the woman. Shane and Nicole were not very close; they shared a mutual friendship with the Grimes family. When Nicole was teaching at King County Middle, she taught Rick and Lori's son for a few months before all hell broke loose.

   Nicole pulled away, looking up to the man. A smile was on her face. "Is Lori-"

   "Lori's fine. So's Carl. They're back at camp."

   Nicole let out a sigh of relief as she swept back her hair. "Thank god." Nicole looked back to the two men who sat curiously watching the reunion.

   "Mr. Walsh!" Cheyanne called out running over and engulfing his legs in a hug.

   "Hey, bug." Shane stroked her hair, before bending down to fully hug her. "Hey, Nikki. Who're they?"

   Nicole looked over to the brothers. "Merle and Daryl Dixon. They saved my life."

   Shane nodded as he stood up. "This is Glenn." he motioned to the Korean boy beside him. Glenn awkwardly said hello back to her. "If y'all follow us, we'll take you to our camp." Shane ruffled Cheyanne's curly brown hair.

   "Okay." Nicole gave a bright smile -- the first genuine one since Jess' death. Nicole and Cheyanne went back to the vehicle and hopped in. "He's one of my old friends. He has a camp up the mountain. Say's to follow him."

   Daryl simply grunted in response and shifted the truck into drive. Merle started to run his mouth again.

   "That your boy toy?"

   "He the one who got you knocked up?"

   "Y'all seem pretty friendly. I bet I could be friendlier."

   "We get to that camp, we should go an' sneak off."

"Damn, girl. You really saving yourself for the douche, huh?"

   Nicole eventually snapped, "Shut the hell up." Merle continued on until they got to the camp. Daryl shifted the truck to park; Nicole immediately got out. Cheyanne buried her face into her mother's side.

   "All right, Y'all. Got some new people joinin' us." Shane's voice announced to the camp as he got out of the Jeep.

   Nicole, Cheyanne, and Daryl met at the front of the truck. Merle sat inside, contemplating about god knows what. "This is Merle and Daryl Dixon and this is Nic-"

   "Nicole! Cheyanne!" a child's voice cried out as he ran over to the pair, embracing Cheyanne in the biggest hug.

   "Oh my God, Nikki." Lori appeared in Nicole's vision. A smile spear across her face as she engulfed her best friend into a crushing hug. "We thought you died."

   "Sorry to disappoint," Nicole chuckled as she pulled away from her brunette. Lori rolled her eyes before looking down to the two children hugging, who were still hugging.

   Nicole looked up to Daryl, whose eyes there trained on her. Happiness filled Nicole up for the first time in a month and a half; Daryl could see it. Part of him still wanted nothing to do with her, but the other half wanted to stay with her. Over the past month that they'd survived together, he'd grown attached to her. He wanted to survive with her.

   "C'mon. We'll introduce y'all to everyone." Lori smiled to Nicole and motioned for the other four to follow her. Nicole and Cheyanne, who was hand in hand with Carl, followed her graciously. Daryl and Merle shared a look, before following their friend.