Something To Savor

Monthly Notice Pt.2

Watching Connie make her exit, disappearing from his view, Daryl stood there looking at the doorway where she'd left him. It wasn't like her to be upset at him like this. Usually if she had a problem she would talk to him straight forward, but this was different. It seemed as if the past few days she'd been a bit antsy around him.

She woke up later in the mornings. More tired than usual and Daryl understood the exhaustion of hard work. Here and there she would seem impatient and a bit dismissive around him. Kinda avoiding him in a way where she'd rather be with her group than with him and he understood that too. He knew family was important, so that didn't bother, but when she'd leave he always noticed something about her.

She was secretive. Hiding something maybe and he couldn't put a finger on what she was hiding. He was good at observing others. Being on his own for so long and keeping no one close, he watched others and how they acted. People would come and go and he'd size them up from a distance and see how they moved and talked. He had damn good judgment in the words of Michonne.

Though with his curious knowing also came a wave of insecurity. He didn't want to bother her. He wanted to be there for her, but not in the way of what she'd had planned for the day. His eyes fell to the floor beneath him taking a moment to gather all his thoughts before he turned to the cabinet.

He saw her closing the cabinet when he'd made his way back to the kitchen. She hadn't known he was standing there until seconds before she turned around. This was his moment to see what she had been doing. Wasting no time he reached for the handle of the cabinet before swinging it open. Inside revealed a cupboard of plates stacked perfectly on top of each other while standing right beside those plates was a faded orange pill bottle that was tucked just far enough to reach for.

Grabbing the bottle, he brought it to view. Written on a dusty white label in marker was "pain killers". Closing the cabinet, he kept his eyes on the small bottle in his hand. There was about four white tablets inside. With a questioning gaze he continued to further examine the medicine until a pair of foot steps were heard from the hallway.

Swiftly, Daryl tucked the orange bottle into his back pocket before the foot steps made their way to the doorway revealing Judith with wide eyes and a curious look as she made her way towards him.

"Did you find out what was wrong with Aunt Connie?"

Daryl shifted his footing, feeling a warmth rise to his face from Judith's new proper name for her Aunt Connie. Instead of dwelling Daryl gave a shake of his head.

"Nah."

Her brows furrowed questionably," Why? Was she fine then?"

"Don't know" Daryl mumbled," she didn't say. I'm guessin' somethin's not right." Digging into his back pocket, he pulled out the small bottle and showed Judith who curiously scrutinized the bottle.

"Pain killers" she read a loud, eyes raising back to Daryl's," Doesn't sound like she's okay. Maybe she's hurt."

Maybe, but Daryl didn't know how. If she was hurt then why wasn't she telling him? What was hurting her so bad to a point where she was taking pain killers? He hadn't seen any sign of injury from her and it caused lots of questions to bounce within his mind. Glancing at the bottle once more, he shoved it back into his pocket.

"I'll take care of it." Daryl gruffly assured," I'm gonna visit a friend. Promise me you'll watch Rj while I'm gone?"

With a warm smile dancing upon her lips, Judith gave a nod," Promise." With a brief smile Daryl had plans to figure out what was going on and how to get some help. He had someone he could trust in mind. Someone he could go to for anything and would help him with this mystery of a bottle.