NATE
Feeling a pillow under my cheek and not his arm? I quickly realise Dixon has made an escape at some point while I was out of it.
Can only hope he got enough Z's to settle his mood a bit. For everyone else's sake, not just his own.
My cheeks are damp, yet smooshed up thanks to a huge grin.
It was just the loveliest dream and I keep my eyes closed. So I can savour it for a little longer. My legs are still twitching as if the music is blaring out right now.
Carl always kept me company in the laundry. He knew how much I hated being on my lonesome anywhere inside the prison blocks.
Our ten minutes of being happy every day kinda stretched to well over an hour on those occasions. Yet neither of us ever felt a shred of remorse 😀
I'd connect a speaker to my tablet, let loose some tunes. And while a generator kept the washing machine churning we'd prance around the room. Careening off the walls as if we were a couple of hysterical goats....and danced like no one's watching.
Except someone always was.
Carl didn't spill until after our wedding ceremony.
He came and sat next to me. As we watched the rest of our family laughing and teasing an embarrassed, growly Dixon. Telling him he was a goner....totally under the thumb now.
"You and me were giving ourselves whiplash to that headbanger song I really like. Thought I heard a noise....a laugh? When I looked up, I saw Daryl. He was sitting in the corner of the guard walkway, whittling his arrows and watching us."
"Smiling."
"He just held his finger to his lips, so I kept quiet about it. Daryl was there almost every single time, Nate....in case I couldn't be. Right from the start. He wasn't gonna let you be alone in there either."
That's where Carl had been....in my dreams. So I won't be alone in them too. And while I slept he bounced around the laundry with me. Laughing and just being happy.
Hope that one day all my dreams and memories of him will make me smile. Even though I know I'll cry again too. Lots.
Fingers crossed that maybe Leo, Glenn, Blue, Sasha and everyone else will join in soon? We'll have ourselves a right old rave.
Though my royal travelling companion used to shake his buns like an epileptic gorilla. One who hopped about barefoot on a sea of Lego pieces while being swooped upon by magpies.
Lord Leo Charles Danforth, the last Earl of Beaufort? He always danced like no one's watching 🥹
*
My grotty clothes are now sitting on top of the RPG case and his pack is gone. I left it in plain sight for him to find. Now it and the secrets held within are safely back with their rightful owner 🥰
Got dressed and grabbed my weapons. Took a deep 'toughen the fuck up' breath then opened the door. Stepped out without looking and smooshed my nose into the middle of Jerry's back.
"Hey, my little dude. Daryl's gone off with Rosita and...." He spun around and my hand raised automatically to bump fists.
"So, did he put you on guard duty to stop people coming in or me getting out? What the....boy Oh boy Jerry....you and Nabila sure work fast huh?"
His fist didn't meet mine, because his arms are full of....baby? And his face is chock full of smile.
"Still got me some wooing to do yet, but we'll get there soon I think? Just putting in some practice. This is Gracie....you wanna hold?"
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Home Is Your Heartbeat ('Home Is' Book Two - Daryl Dixon)
FanfictionSemi-mature. Completed. Book Two picks up immediately from the last chapter of Home is You. Nate is an Aussie girl who was stranded in Georgia during the outbreak. She and fellow traveler Leo joined a group of survivors in Atlanta. Nate got her firs...
