The Ðying Liƒe. »A Walking Dead Fanfic«

11. Wildflowers for Her Birthday

The next morning I woke up and found that I was alone. Daryl had gotten up before me and left the tent. Part of me wondered if he was worried about what the others would think about the two of us but another the part, the part that actually knew Daryl Dixon, knew he probably couldn't care less what people thought about him. I sat up and looked at the spot where he had been sleeping, running my hand over the blankets and I couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips.

I reached up to smooth my hair the best I could knowing it was always a mess in the morning and remembered I had gotten a comb from the pharmacy. Reaching for my bag, I turned it over and dumped its contents on the blanket in front of me. The greeting card fell out and landed on the blanket in front of me. I had grabbed it with the intention of giving it to Daryl as a joke, but for the moment I figured it would be best to hang on to it so I put it back in my bag. Grabbing the comb, I yanked it through my hair a few times and then tied a rubber band around it. Tossing the comb back into the bag, I found my toothbrush and stepped out of the tent. The sun wasn't too high in the sky so I knew it was still relatively early. Everyone was already going about their routine but it was getting old for me. There was a bit of restlessness in the pit of my stomach but I thought it best to just ignore it.

As I made my way to one of the large buckets that held our main supply of water, I searched the camp for Daryl but didn't see him anywhere. Kneeling in front of the bucket, I drew a cup of water from it and started scrubbing my teeth clean wishing for some actual toothpaste. I took a big swig of water to rinse my mouth and a pair of large boots appeared on the other side of the bucket. Glancing up and shielding my eyes from the sun I realized it was Daryl and I proceeded to choke on the water in my mouth. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly and he reached down to help me stand. "Hey," I sputtered between coughs. Inspecting my face, he sucked on his cheeks and then wiped the droplets of water from my chin. "Thanks," I chuckled and rubbed my jaw with the back of my hand. He made me so nervous that my lip was shaking, I'm sure he noticed but after he spent the night with me I honestly had no reason to be. "So, about last night? Thanks for that. I guess I forgot how nice it was to have someone to hold me," I confessed and felt warmth rising in my cheeks . A smile showed behind his eyes, "good to hear," and he bent to kiss my forehead and I felt all the nervous tension in my body evaporate.

"Nora!" Carl called to me as I walked up to the picnic table to grab some food. "Hey kiddo," I smiled brightly at him and messed his hair, "what's going on?" He took a second to cautiously look around and then motioned for for me to lean down to him. I bent and put my hands on my knees and he cupped his hand around his mouth to whisper to me, "tomorrow is my mom's birthday and I wanted to do something special for her. Do you think you can help me?" I knelt down in front of him and looked him in his eager face, "I'd love to." His face broke into a huge smile and he ran off.

Later that afternoon, I went to find Carl. He was with his dad near the house tossing an old baseball back and forth. I stood and watched them for a minute before Carl noticed I was standing near and ran up to Rick. "Nora was gonna help me make something for mom for her birthday, do you mind if we go walk behind the house?" He looked up at his dad, pleading with his big round eyes. Rick looked a little hesitant about letting his son out of his sight; I didn't blame him one bit after what happened to him out in the woods. "Well," Rick started to say. Carl took his dad's hand, "Please, please dad?" Rick looked down at his son and then at me. "I promise we won't go far and I'll keep him in my sight at all times," I reassured him. "Well, I guess you can go, but don't wander too far from Nora and you listen to her," he sternly told his son. "I promise, don't worry! Come on Nora!" Carl took my hand and started dragging me away.

"So, do you know what you want to make for your mom yet?" I asked as he continued pulling me along the driveway. "Yeah, I do. The other day, my dad and I were taking a walk near the woods and I saw a ton of really pretty flowers and I wanted to get her some!" he said in a big rush. I couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "OK, OK, but we gotta slow down a bit." I finally told him and pulled my hand from his grip. He lead me over to the edge of the woods to where little groups of flowers were peeking up all through out the tall green grass. "See?" his grin was contagious, "I told you they were pretty!" "You weren't kidding," I replied taking in the sight of all the rainbow colored wildflowers. Carl went off and started picking flowers at random and I sat in the grass and watched him. He walked up to each group of flowers, looked them over, and smelled them. When he knew he had the best one from each group, he plucked them from the ground and added them to the growing bunch in his hand. After a little bit, he ran over and proudly held up the bouquet of flowers, "do you think my mom'll like 'em?" Carefully I took the bundle from his hand, put my nose to them and breathed in the soft smell of the beautiful flowers. I had to admit that I wished someone had given me such a thoughtful gift. "She's going to love them!" I said and I grabbed some tall grass and neatly started to wrap them around the stems of the flowers.

"Nora?" Carl spoke after a few minutes of sitting in silence. "Hmm..?" I responded while still concentrating on the flowers. He didn't say anything for brief moment. "Do you suppose I'll ever get to go back to my house?" His question pulled me from my concentration and I put the bouquet down to give him my full attention. His kind, brown eyes were full of innocence but he'd already endured more than someone twice his age. How could I answer his question without breaking his heart? "So much has happened and the world has changed. I think, even if you were to go back home, it wouldn't be the same home you left," I told him. For a moment I wondered if he'd asked his mom or dad the same thing and if they had lied to him or told him the truth. Just because Carl was young, didn't mean he wasn't capable of understanding.

His face became very serious as I looked at him and he changed the subject. "Sometimes I have nightmares about when I was shot. I know I could have died, but, the thing is.. I wasn't afraid. I know my mom and dad were." I nodded, agreeing. "I think that if I wasn't supposed to be here, then I wouldn't have woken up. Just because the world has changed, doesn't mean its come to an end. Were all gonna make it, I know it." He gazed at the flowers in my hands. He didn't realize this, but he had just said so much with so few words. "You have got to be the smartest little kid I've ever met," I told l him. He smirked, "yeah, I know," he said and we laughed as I hugged him around his shoulders.