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The Bargain	By : sugarkisses Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 12290 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything/anyone from The Walking Dead. I am making no money from this story. I do not know any of the people involved. This is a work of fiction.

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A/N: Just FYI, this story has spoilers from Season 2 in it, so if you haven't kept up with the series on TV, you might not want to read this yet... If you have, then please enjoy and review!

“I’m gonna go look for Sophia” Daryl announced at breakfast the next morning.

Rick and the others were silent, only Carol spoke up. “Daryl, you don’t have to…”

“I can track anything” he retorted confidently.

And so Daryl went out with some supplies, looking for Sophia.

Abby was in the barn with the horses when Nelly came back around noon. She had wondered who had taken “Nervous Nelly” out in the first place… she didn’t find out until Rick spoke up that Daryl had taken a horse to go look for Carol’s little girl. As Hershel and Rick argued about the fact that Daryl had taken the horse without permission, Abby’s heart sank… for god’s sake, Daryl was out there in the wilderness without a mount! She was tempted to saddle up Blackie and go look for him, but she knew that Hershel wouldn’t allow it, so she put the idea away…

That is, until it was becoming dark. The majority of the women were busy preparing a large dinner for the group, and Abby had done her share, mixing a salad, until the light began to drain from the sky. Then, Hershel be damned, she had decided that she would indeed take out Blackie and scour for Daryl. She was on her way to tell Rick about her plan when she heard the woman called Andrea yell “Walker!” from on top of the RV.

A walker, here? Abby was petrified, but she pulled her gun from its holster and joined Rick and his men as they headed out to confront the monstrosity. Shane tried to wave her off a few times, but hell no, she wasn’t going to be dissuaded.

Her relief was great when she and the group got close and she saw that it was Daryl… he was bloodied and dirty, limping, but alive. God help her, but she put away her gun and was about to move forward and hug him when a shot rang out… Andrea had fired, still thinking that Daryl was a walker.

Abby heard Rick yell “No!”… but her attention was on Daryl immediately. She crouched down on the ground beside him and checked his head. “It’s just a graze” she announced. It was the blood on his side that caught her eye… she ripped open his shirt and gasped. “We need to get him in the house, now!” Abby screamed, standing up and pushing at Rick.

Rick nodded and he and Shane picked up Daryl, carrying him towards the house.

“Go get Hershel!” Rick cried at Abby.

She was already gone, running across the property as fast as her legs would carry her…

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The clock ticked on the wall, the room was filled with the low light of the lamp. Daryl slept while Abby sat on a chair next to the bed, watching him.

Hershel had been able to stitch him up and give him some anti-biotics. The graze wasn’t that bad, but he certainly had gone through something while he was out in the surrounding land. Abby had cleaned him up and found bruises all over his body.

The others were enjoying dinner downstairs as she sat like a nurse… Carol had come by to thank Daryl for going out to look for her little girl, telling him that he was “every bit as good as them”. Oh, but she was right… Daryl had proven to everybody, including Abby, that he was just as good as the other men in the group.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Abby was taken from her reverie, realizing that Daryl was awake and had spoken. “I… How do you feel?”

“Sore as fuck” he responded, licking his lips. “Where is everyone?”

“Having dinner” she answered. Standing up, she poured him a glass of water and sat down on the bed, offering it to him.

Daryl winced with pain, but managed to lean up on his elbows and take the glass.

“Easy” Abby stated, watching as he drank. She took the glass from him before he could drink too much.

“How long do I have to stay in this bed?” he complained.

“Oh, I think a couple of days would be good for you. We need to let that wound heal a bit”

“Fuck” Daryl swore, lying back down. “Why the hell aren’t you downstairs at the party?”

Abby smiled and put the glass of water on the nightstand. “First of all, it doesn’t sound to me like it’s much of a party. Second, Hershel asked me to sit with you and watch you. I was in school to be a vet, remember?”

“I’m not some dog or a horse” Daryl snapped back.

“No, you’re not” Abby paused, reaching out to tuck the covers around him. “You should sleep”

“Don’t want to”

“Daryl…”

“Abby” he mocked back.

Oh, but she was angry with him for going out alone and risking his life like that! From what she could tell from his bruises, Nelly had tossed him. “Don’t start with me” she warned.

“No one’s making you sit here” Daryl retorted, sensing her hostility. “Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

She knew full well what he was up to: he was trying to block her out, to hurt her before she could hurt him… but Abby wasn’t having it. “I’m not going anywhere. Hershel asked me to watch you”

“Yeah, but I didn’t ask you to watch me. I don’t need you hovering over me”

“The fuck you don’t” Abby whispered angrily. “You’re hurt and you need help. Why can’t you just accept it?”

Daryl stared back at her icily. What could he say to get this bitch off of his back?

Abby spoke first. “I’m staying” she stated firmly.

He didn’t answer, he was just too tired. He just rolled onto his good side so that he didn’t have to look at her and closed his eyes.

She had won for the moment… Abby sighed in relief and went back to the chair, watching him as he fell asleep.

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Daryl left the house the next day, tired of being poked and prodded. If it wasn’t Abby checking his pulse and looking over his wound, it was Hershel.

He rejoined his group for breakfast just in time to hear Glenn tell Rick that the extra barn on the property was full of walkers.

“Fuck did you just say?” Daryl asked.

“There are walkers in the barn” Glenn repeated guiltily.

The group went wild: Rick had to put his hands up and yell to get them to calm down. “Everybody relax!”

“Relax?!” Shane asked. “Are you kidding?!”

“Look, I’ll talk to Hershel”

“What’s there to talk about, Rick?”

“Let me handle it!”

Daryl walked away from his group, pissed off and worried…

Abby was brushing Blackie in the horse barn, humming to herself. The day had dawned nice and warm… When she saw Daryl turn the corner and enter the barn, she had to bite back a smile: she was so happy that he was alive, so happy that his wounds weren’t as serious as they had at first looked… Oh, but the second that she locked eyes with him, she knew that something was wrong. “Daryl?”

“Get away from that stupid horse and come talk to me” he demanded.

Abby nervously put the brush down and walked over to him…

Daryl grabbed her roughly by the upper arm and pushed her further inside the barn, which made Blackie whinny.

“Daryl… ouch” she cried as he shoved her up against the inside of an empty stall. “You’re hurting me!”

“There are walkers in the barn?!” he yelled.

“Shh!” Abby replied, her voice low when she answered him. “Hershel doesn’t like it when you call them walkers…”

“Fuck Hershel!” Daryl yelped. “Is it true?! I said, is it true?!”

She couldn’t hold up under his angry assault. Abby nodded sadly.

Daryl let go of her and slammed his fist into the wood of the stall. “Fuck! You kept this from me?!”

“Daryl, you don’t understand” Abby stated, crying. “They’re friends, family… Hershel is holding them because he’s waiting for a cure…”

“There is no fucking cure!” he answered in a vicious whisper. “You’ve seen them, Abby… you know better!”

“Daryl…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What do you mean? Look at how you’re reacting!”

“I’m pissed off because those THINGS only do one thing, Abby! They kill people! Don’t you understand? Can’t you get it through your college-educated skull that they could kill us? They could kill you!”

Was he trying to say, in some convoluted way, that he cared about her? Abby wasn’t sure: all that she knew was that she was shaking and crying, and over in her stall, Blackie was whinnying. “What are you going to do?” she asked timidly.

Daryl put his hands on his hips and sighed, looking down at the ground. “Rick says he’s going to talk to Hershel, get it all sorted out”

“Okay…”

“You” Daryl ordered, pointing at her, “You don’t tell anybody that we know… and you don’t keep a secret like this from me ever again, or our bargain is through”

Abby felt miserable as she watched him walk away. Putting her head in her hands, she slid down against the wall until she was sitting on the ground. All that she could do was cry…

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Abby was in the kitchen eating her lunch when she heard the commotion outside. Running to the front door, she saw Hershel and Rick walking two freshly-captured walkers towards the big old barn… and swarming them as they came in were Rick’s people, Daryl included.

“Oh, shit!” she cried, racing out the door, Maggie and the others on her heels. She managed to come up beside Daryl: he pushed her behind him protectively and raised his shotgun once more at the walkers. “Daryl…” she pleaded, afraid of what would happen.

The men were arguing… but it was Shane who lost it first, pulling his gun and sending rounds into the female walker that Hershel was holding.

“Why’s it still coming?!” Shane demanded angrily. “If it’s alive, why is it still coming?!”

Abby’s heart was in her throat: she wanted to stop this, but it was all just happening too fast. She stayed behind Daryl, unable to do anything but watch the events unfold.

“That’s enough!” Rick yelled, struggling to hold his own walker.

“Yeah, you’re right man, it is enough!” Shane retorted, shooting the female walker in the head.

Finally dead, the female walker dropped to the ground, motionless. Abby saw the look on Hershel’s face: something had snapped inside of him.

Shane was still yelling, going on about how it was enough, enough looking for Sophia, enough of living by a barn full of walkers…

Abby put her hand on Daryl’s back to steady herself: he allowed the contact, only glancing back at her quickly before he returned his attention to the walker that Rick was holding.

Shane was at the barn door now, knocking it open even as Rick and the others begged him not to. It was too late… the barn door opened, and the walkers inside came spilling out…

Maybe it was sheer fear, or maybe it was a desire to stay alive… but Abby found herself pulling her .45 from its holster and lining up with the members of Rick’s group. At Daryl’s side, she fired, making headshots as best she could. The sound of Daryl’s shot gun rang in her ears, nearly deafening…

They killed the walkers as they came, a little more than a dozen people… but the horror wasn’t over. Thinking it was done, Abby lowered her gun and tried to catch her breath. She instinctively reached out to Daryl, placing her left hand on his right arm in an attempt to steady them both.

Sound of something rustling, a low growl…

When the final walker stepped out into the sunlight, Abby thought that she was going to pass out. It was a girl, no more than ten years old…

“Sophia?!” Carol cried from behind them. “Sophia!”

Carol came running forward: Daryl barely had time to grab her around the waist and keep her from running to her infected daughter. The emotionally wounded mother wailed as Daryl brought her down to the ground. Dear god, Abby sank to her knees, overcome by the situation.

It was Rick who stepped forward and drew his gun, training it on the little girl. He shot Sophia through the head as Carol cried…

“Abby” Daryl called. “Abby…”

Somehow, his voice broke her out of her stillness: she turned to Daryl. “Yes?” she asked, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Help me with Carol”

Abby nodded, the nursing part of her personality taking over. She holstered her gun and helped Daryl get Carol to her feet, the two of them leading the grieving mother away from the scene.

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Abby couldn’t stop the tears. She had managed to help Daryl get Carol inside of the RV and had then gone outside to get some air. For a moment, she thought that she would throw up, but the nausea left her as quickly as it had come…

Daryl came out of the RV, walking up to Abby. The two of them just stared at each other for a moment.

“I want to hug you” Abby confessed softly, “but I know you won’t like it”

Daryl’s eyes softened and he raised his right arm towards her. He felt just as awful as Abby did, maybe worse… he could understand her need. “Come here, girl…”

The tears came harder as she walked into his embrace: she muffled them against his chest. Oh, but Abby wanted to kiss him, to hold onto him, to fuck him… anything to make the pain go away. Hershel’s wife, Josephine, had been amongst the walkers, as well as other people that she knew… oh, and the little girl, that had simply been too much…

“Buck up” Daryl whispered into Abby’s ear. “You’re stronger than this”

She nodded slowly, wiping at her tears as he released her. “I… I should go check on Hershel. Will you be okay?”

Some of the others were making their way out to the RV, wanting to make sure that Carol was all right.

“I’ll be fine… you go check on Hershel…”

Abby couldn’t help herself: moving forward, she kissed Daryl, deeply but quickly. “See you tonight” she promised, walking away.

Daryl was spellbound: he hadn’t been expecting that kiss at all. Yet, for some reason, he didn’t care if all of the others had seen it, he didn’t care what anyone thought. Damn it, but there was something about the girl, something that made him want to comfort her and receive comfort in return, even if that comfort was as simple as fucking her brains out. He was starting to feel for her, and it was dangerous…

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TBC
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The Bargain