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Forever Rising Phoenix	By : ImagineLayla131 Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 7147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT, AMC, ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE. NO MONEY/PROFIT IS BEING MADE OFF OF THIS FANFICTION!

Chapter List
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE, JELLY BELLY, FEEL AGAIN OR IN TOO DEEP. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT AND AMC (TELEVISION SERIES), ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE (COMIC BOOK SERIES), DAVID KLEIN AND THE JELLY BELLY COMPANY, ONEREPUBLIC, AND GENESIS, RESPECTIVELY. I ONLY OWN MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS AND CHARACTERS.
Chapter Twenty Three: Feel Again
"Delilah, I promise you, that I'm not going anywhere. Me and my kids, we will always be here, no matter what happens, you'll never be without us again, me especially." He certified his promise with a kiss. They were family now. Even if the future was unknown, he still wanted to be with her, for as long as the gods of time and fate allowed them.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
"Cotton Candy."
Rick and Delilah were laying in her bed, with a bag of Jelly Bellys in between them and a scrapbook in her lap, "In Too Deep" by Genesis playing on the stereo. She was covering his eyes with one hand and having him guess what flavor Jelly Belly she had in her mouth by kissing him.
"That's pretty good, are you sure you're not peeking?"
Rick smiled, even with her hand over his eyes, he was still irresistible. Before he could answer, she cut him off with a sexy kiss. Delilah loved seeing that sappy grin, which he almost always seemed to have on his face whenever she was around. "Yes, I promise I'm not peeking. Next one."
"Ok, if you say so." She decided to trick him and put two in her mouth, trying everything not to start laughing as she kissed him, rolling the Jelly Bellys in his mouth. He looked a little confused.
"You put two in here, huh?"
Delilah started giggling. "Yes, I did. I couldn't help myself."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? I couldn't help myself from this, either." He reached over and smacked her little ass, which made her scoff laughingly.
"Rick! What's gotten into you?" Delilah didn't care, she actually liked it.
"You're a tease, Delilah, and you bring out a different side of me I've always kept contained."
She watched him smile, which almost always made her smile. They had both changed for the better since meeting, it was exactly what they needed. "Good to know. Now, which flavors?"
"Hmm… Peach and Mango."
"Close. Peach and Juicy Pear. One more, then I'll let you off the hook. Overall, I'm impressed." Delilah put the last Jelly Belly in her mouth and kissed him.
"Oh, yeah. I'm a real Jelly Belly scholar, alright. Apple."
"Red or Green?" It was another trick guess, she couldn't help herself.
He chewed a bit longer. "Definitely Red. Can I open my eyes now?"
Delilah rolled her own eyes before removing her hand. "Fine. Anyways, back to the pictures. Here's me with my mom." She picked up the scrapbook and pointed to a photograph of her and her mother at an ice skating competition when Delilah was eight years old, followed by another one of them in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland during Christmas time two years before the outbreak, the castle was all lit up in pink, purple, and blue and had twinkle lights strewn all over it. The next picture was of her mom holding a one year old Delilah, followed with a shot of the two of them with dolphins in San Diego when Delilah was fifteen. Rachelle was what Rick imagined an older version of Delilah would look like. "Isn't she beautiful?" Delilah smiled proudly and turned to Rick, who nodded.
"You look just like her. I bet you used to get that a lot."
"Mmhmm, we were mistaken for sisters more times than Christine and I were. All my boyfriends had the hots for her, I used to worry that they'd dump me for my mom, I knew Bill had a little crush on her. I started calling her "Mrs. Robinson" because of that." They both laughed.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about now."
Delilah nodded. "Yes, you're right, but I know she's still alive. I have a sixth sense about these kinds of things. I also have a sense about this." She reached over and started scratching his left shoulder blade. He looked a little surprised but started laughing.
"How did you know?"
She smiled. "I've always been able to know when somebody has an itch, even though humans have something like over fifty to a hundred different senses."
"Is that so now? That's interesting."
"It's like I have ESP. I've been feeling something recently, but maybe it was because of the whole Tyler thing." She stopped scratching his shoulder blade to turn the page and pointed to a glamour shot. "This one is probably my favorite picture, especially since I took it." It was a black and white picture of Rachelle smelling a rose, with the pink of the rose and the blue of her eyes being the only color in the picture. It was a little eerie how much they looked alike.
"I didn't know you did photography."
She looked over at him, perplexed. "Really? I thought I told you. I've been doing it since I was eight years old, starting with a Polaroid, moved up to a digital and then I've been using a Canon Rebel xsi SLR for five years. In school, everybody always wanted me to take their picture at the pep rallies, it was one of the only times I was popular. Since I finished school at sixteen, it gave me a great opportunity to expand on my photography, I even dabbled in makeup design and modeling." Delilah turned the pages, they were filled with different photographs of sporting events, rock concerts, runway shows, elaborate makeup designs, the last few being of Delilah. Her headshots and a few showcases she had done for a friend of hers that specialized in customized eyelashes, Delilah was wearing a Wonder Woman costume in one with red, blue, and yellow eyelashes, and another picture of her wearing a Gothic Lolita black dress with a long pink wig and bright pink eyelashes. Rick was extremely impressed with how many talents this girl had, she really was a one of a kind.
"You're incredibly multi-talented."
Delilah smiled and snuggled closer into him, feeling her cheeks burn pink when she felt his arm wrap around her. "I'm just me, and all I've ever wanted to do was express myself to the world. Like I said before, I had big plans. Right before this, I even came up with the idea to have my own YouTube cooking show: "Delilah's Delights". Bill thought I should have gone with "Delicious Delilah".
"I like them both. Either way, you would have made it work, I'm sure. If and when the world goes back to normal, you'll be the brightest shining star in the galaxy, everybody will know who you are, I can see it now." They looked over at each other and smiled. Delilah loved how he believed in her so much, it really lifted her up, having a constant cheerleader, but they both knew that she was doing the same for him.
"Did you know I was going to kiss you that day?" Delilah hadn't meant to just blurt it out, but it happened before she could control herself. Rick looked over at her, inquisitive, before his expression changed to serious.
"Honestly? I wasn't sure what would happen. I remember having confused feelings that day, there was so much going on. I thought you were stunning and was immediately enthralled with you, but never thought I had a chance and figured you didn't see me as more than a person to rescue. Needless to say, I was happily surprised."
The question had always been at the back of her mind, especially since things between them progressed, but she didn't suppose it was going to receive an actual answer.
"Did you think I was going to respond?"
That question brought her back from her thoughts. "Well, I knew you had been checking me out since you saw me, and I was attracted to you. I decided to be spontaneous, I guess you could say I was willing for whatever the outcome was going to be, because I took a chance and kissed you. It's funny, because I thought I was the one that didn't have a chance with you. Our whole relationship is totally Marius and Cosette, since the beginning."
He once again gave her an questioning look. The names sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where from. "Huh? Who?"
"I'm guessing you don't know the story of Les Miserables?"
"Ah, now I remember. It's been a while, though, mind refreshing my memory?" Sometimes Delilah's vast knowledge went over his head, but he couldn't get enough of it.
"I'll fill you in on the whole story another time, but I'll tell the gist of the two of them now. They're the main couple in the story. Cosette is a beautiful and kind young woman, Marius is a young revolutionary student. One day, he sees her on the street and instantly falls in love, and she with him. That's how our relationship is like theirs, that instantaneous attraction upon first meeting. Not everything was perfect for them, you and I lucked out by not having an Eponine. Eponine was a girl that grew up with Cosette and was madly in love with Marius, but he only considered her a best friend. She ended up dying for him, which was pretty sad, but the way I think of it, most relationships have an Eponine. Angelo and Christine were the Eponines in my relationship with Billy, it sounds like Shane was the Eponine in your relationship with Lori. The only thing about those three was that Angelo was the one who didn't get anybody after all."
For once, he didn't even flinch at the mention of Lori and Shane. This was how the aftermath was supposed to play out, that he would find happiness. As if it were fate itself, she turned the page to a bunch of pictures of the two of them at various dance competitions. Angelo was every woman's dream: Tall, dark, and handsome, he looked like a fairytale prince or Rob Lowe. After seeing pictures of him and Billy, Rick had no idea why she wouldn't go with Angelo, since it was obvious that he cared for her more out of the two.
Rick saw her eyes tearing up and brought her in closer with an affectionate kiss. It seemed like every time they kissed and touched, it qualmed her woes a bit. He hated seeing her upset and would do whatever it took to make her happy, but he knew that being with him was all the happiness she ever needed. Delilah smiled up at him, her eyes were no longer watering.
"Thanks for that, but I'm fine. It was hard losing him at first. I actually sang "My Heart Will Go On" as I buried him in his backyard." It was always a song she had a love-hate relationship with, mainly because it was overplayed, but it was oddly fitting in that tragic moment.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you do it?"
She wasn't surprised with his question, rather, she was surprised she hadn't told him sooner. "There was this god awful Augustus Caesar head mold statue at his parent's house, I always made fun of it every time I went there. Angelo was coming at me and I saw the statue out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed it and smashed him in the head until he stopped, it was like out of The Talented Mr. Ripley." Delilah heavily sighed, but she knew that Angelo would want her to move on, and she found the best person to help her do that, somebody that had a mutual loss. "I'm stronger from my losses, so are you, Rick. It's difficult, but we prevailed and found each other. If Billy and Christine didn't abandon me, I wouldn't have come to Georgia or found Maggie, and that means that I would never have met you. It took me a long time to realize that, but I finally did. Them leaving me turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen, because I found the greatest guy that any girl could ever ask for. I knew I was falling in love when you were describing the dates you wanted to take me on, and how I deserved to be treated with respect. You proved that you cared about me deeper than a physical level, something I've always had to second guess when it came to relationships, but I didn't have to with you." She put her hands on his face and kissed him softly, bringing him down to her level. He was a little rough around the edges, but he was her guy, and nothing would change that. Rick moved the hair out of her face and stroked her cheek. It felt like every time they made eye contact, he fell more and more in love with her.
"It was instantaneous, and now you know that it was more than physical. Although, it's kind of hard not to be attracted to you in that way, you're drop dread gorgeous. Either way, you're beautiful inside as well as outside."
Delilah smiled. "Same goes for you, babe." She leaned up, kissing him passionately. Delilah remembered this feeling, she had it with Billy, the overwhelming feeling of not getting enough of the other person's touch and taste. Except this time, it felt even more magical with Rick than it ever had with Billy.
"I wanted to ask, when did you get a tan?"
"I didn't, it's a spray tan. Besides bar tending, Christine was a spray tan artist and taught me how to do it, too. Except now I'm reduced to the Sally Hansen stuff. You should let me do you, you would look even hotter with a tan." She couldn't help but start giggling at the look on his face, to which he scoffed.
"No way, that's for girls and I'm not one of those Jersey Shore grease balls like on that stupid show. Sorry, doll face."
Delilah had a sneaky grin on her face. "Sorry for now, but I'll make you change your mind some day. I'm very persuasive. What things do you miss pre-apocalypse?" It was always such a loaded question that reminded them all of the little things they had taken for granted, and if given the opportunity, they would never do it again.
"Where do I begin? Besides normalcy? Baseball and NASCAR, for starters. Nothing beats the thrill of your team scoring a home run or those cars racing around Talladega, screaming at the TV for both of them to go faster. Spending time with Carl and not have to worry about killing those freaks, going for a drive in my car."
"I miss pizza and hamburgers, steak in general, actual cake and ice cream, French fries. God, I sound like such a fat ass. What else? Being able to freely watch TV. When I lived at home and couldn't sleep at night, I used to make a big bowl of popcorn and sleep in my mom's bed, we'd watch TVLAND until we fell asleep. The King of Queens, The Golden Girls, Roseanne, The Nanny. She always said that everybody should watch comedy before they go to sleep for happy thoughts and happy dreams. I know it may seem like it was just the two of us, but it pretty much was. We tried to include Christine in whatever we did, but she wasn't having any of it. After Daddy died, she pretty much lived at our grandma's house, then whatever guy she was screwing. All I wanted was to have my big sister around." Delilah yawned, it was as adorable and peaceful as a sleepy kitten, and started batting her eyelashes tiredly. "You can't force somebody to stick around or love you. Honestly, I was always worried she would kill me one day because of how jealous she was. Jealous of what others praised me for. My brains, my beauty, my talent, the fact that I was a hula hoop champ or that I had a crazy obsession with mustard. She was the Rhoda to my Mary, Rick, but I loved her so much." She snuggled into him, closing her eyes and still talking. Rick watched her, unsure if she was blabbing or being serious. "If she didn't let jealousy get the best of her, she could have ruled the world right along with me. I always kept the spot next to me open for whenever she wanted to bury the hatchet and move forward, but it never happened. She was too enraged with greed and envy that it consumed her entirely. Christine is the epitome of good turned evil, but maybe she was always like that. I'll never know. Wanna spend the night?"
Delilah really was unique. While she obviously held a grudge, she still expressed the hope she once had for her sister. It was both touching and tragic. Rick shifted in the bed. "Sure, let me just turn everything off." He tried to get up, but she pulled him back down.
"No, it's fine. I've got it all taken care off." Delilah tiredly lifted her hands up and clapped them together, the lights and the stereo concurrently turning off. "Gotta love The Clapper." He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, inhaling the coconut apple scent of her luxurious chestnut locks. The conversation made them both wonder if the world would ever go back to normal, but if it did, they'd still be together.
"I love you, Rick Grimes." Delilah slowly started drifting off to sleep.
"I love you, too, Delilah Daltrey." He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes.
"My knight in shining armor, rescuing me. Nothing is better than being here in your arms."
"It wasn't all me, hun. You should be thanking Daryl, too."
Delilah thought she was hearing things. "Huh, what are you talking about?" Why would Daryl be part of this?
"I told you, Daryl helped also. He actually got in here ahead of me and pulled Tyler off of you. We both heard the song in the stairwell. Daryl was already two floors ahead of me, on his way to apologize to you for his behavior earlier. He's like my brother, Delilah. Give him a chance."
Rick drifted off to sleep as Delilah's eyes flew open, processing the information he had just revealed. She couldn't help but wonder if she had misjudged Daryl after all, if there was more to him than one would think.
AWWW! THEY HAVE SUCH A SWEET RELATIONSHIP, I LOVE IT! DELILAH REALLY IS A SWEETHEART. HOW WILL SHE REACT AFTER HEARING ABOUT THE PART DARYL PLAYED IN HER RESCUE? IN A FEW MORE CHAPTERS, SOME SURPRISE GUESTS, BOTH ORIGINAL AND WALKING DEAD, WILL BE POPPING INTO THE STORY, SO BRACE YOURSELVES! CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR, COMING SOON!
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE STORY FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND SPREAD THE WORD! NO FLAMES!
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Forever Rising Phoenix