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Forever Rising Phoenix	By : ImagineLayla131 Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 7150 -:- 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
- 63
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- 65
Hi everybody! 4 more days until my birthday! This chapter is to give some more insight on Delilah's life and career BEFORE the apocalypse, but this is all leading up to some VERY intense action! ;)
Please, please, PRETTY PLEASE check out Stubborn Love, my new Walking Dead story! It's a modern/AU love story revolving around Gareth, my original character Melody, Rick, and Lori. It needs some love, so read and review and follow and spread the word! Love you all! :)
Chapter Sixty Four: Winner Takes It All
"Sure, whatever, Christine. You want a clean slate, you've got it."
Christine smiled and wiped her tears. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you so much, Delilah! I promise with everything I have that I won't let you down. We're going to have the relationship you've always wanted."
"Uh huh. Just do me a huge favor, ok, big sister?"
She nodded. "Anything you want, you've got it. What can I do for you?"
"Stay the fuck away from me, k? Thanks a lot." With that, Delilah walked off for some much needed alone time, leaving Christine stunned into silence.
Thursday, October 31st, 9:15 PM
"Wow, what a night." Delilah sighed as she looked the tornado previously known as Leisure Zone.
Today was Halloween, and The Council agreed to have a party for the kids, complete with improvised decorations, costumes, makeup, games, and of course, lots and lots of candy. The outbreak had been a tragic buzz kill in the fun department, and the children deserved having a day of joy without having to worry about everything else going on around them.
Things had been pretty tense at Jellbany the past few days. As expected, the fight between Billy and Rick -in addition to the love triangle they were involved in with Delilah- was all anybody could talk about. Rumors were spread that Delilah had been with Billy since the first night they arrived and that Rick only beat him up because he's a closeted gay, which was ridiculous. Most of the people avoided Delilah, which hurt her a little, but she found it irrelevant. What they thought was the last thing on her mind, what mattered the most was Rick and Billy.
Tomorrow was the day she was expected to reveal her decision on who she wanted to be with. Delilah had spent some time with both of them the rest of the week, glad to have heard their sides of the story and achieved some level of calmness. Despite all of this, she still felt conflicted.
Delilah would always love Billy, he was the love of her life at one point and he proved his remorse, but could she truly forgive and forget? Perhaps he was the path she was supposed to take, but every time she saw the twins, their little faces were a painful reminder of the life Delilah and Billy had planned that was destroyed. She wanted to move past it, to stop torturing herself and moved forward, which is what she had done with Rick.
Rick was her second chance at love as she was for him, their loneliness brought them together and a romance blossomed. They had both grown from being with each other, finding out more about themselves everyday, but "Dark Rick" kept popping up in Delilah's thoughts. How he was beating Billy so brutally, the way he spoke to her afterwards, and their tryst later that night, it had been terrifying. What if something happened again and "Dark Rick" came out?
Her futures with them crossed her mind. Whomever she picked, there would be a second chance. Billy would get a second chance with Delilah after abandoning her, Rick would get a second chance after lying and Delilah would get a second chance with Rick after breaking his heart. It would be a while before things returned back to good for the three of them. Either way, somebody was going to be hurt, and it couldn't be Delilah any longer. She had endured enough agony to last five lifetimes.
"That was a smart decision you made starting the party in the afternoon, the kids got all the sugar out of them and passed out. I still can't believe they all got to bed by 9!" Madison laughed as she pulled the decorative crepe paper off the walls. While most of the Jellbany residents chose to ignore Delilah, it was obvious who her true friends were. Madison stuck by her side throughout this week, but had been uncertain about Delilah's decision to give Christine a clean slate, as were Gleggie, Scott, Avery, Abraham, Rosita, Carol, and Tara.
Ever since that day, Christine had been following Delilah around, it was starting to feel like that overdone story line where somebody saves somebody else and rescued person then devotes themselves to be at the rescuer's beck and call, wait on them hand and foot. While Delilah was tempted to take advantage of it, she still didn't care. Rick and Billy were bigger concerns to her than what personality her sister wanted to decide on.
"It's a good thing, now everybody can let off some steam and get drunk. I think I'm going to hit the hay early, I have a lot on my mind." Delilah's mind still wasn't made up, but she was pretty sure which way she was leaning.
"What? Nu-uh, Lila Loo. You need to unwind just like everybody else." Madison hadn't said too much about the love triangle, but she worried about who Delilah would choose since she knew how much both men meant to her.
"No, Mads. It's fine, really. I'm just gonna finish up here first."
"Need any help?"
Delilah looked up and smiled, seeing Rick and Carl had walked in.
"Yeah, that'd be great. Hey, Carl."
He nodded his head over at her, standing off to the side. "Hey."
Carl hadn't really spoken to Delilah much, which is why she was giving him his space, knowing that he'd eventually come around.
"Jeez, the kids certainly turned this place into ground zero." Rick said as he started picking up the trash. Things had been palpable, but since clearing the air with Delilah and confessing his side of the story, he felt much calmer. The darkness of his mind hadn't come out again and Rick hoped it would stay there, he was still troubled at how rough he had been with Delilah, but a part of him secretly thought it was hot.
"Yeah, it's the one day of the year where they get to be kids again, I'm glad that we were able to do this for them."
"You love those kids to death, that's why. Anybody else wouldn't have cared, that Halloween was just another day."
Delilah shrugged. "There's gotta be some reminder of how the world used to be and how it will be again one day."
"Hey, you guys."
They glanced over to see Billy walking in. Both his and Rick's bruises were healing nicely, as well as their noses being set in place again. Whomever Delilah picked, she planned on getting the two of them together to make peace, because it wasn't likely the one that wasn't picked would be leaving.
"Hi, Billy."
Madison watched the three of them, the way Rick and Billy watched Delilah move around and how she would sneak glances at one when the other wasn't looking. If only she could be with both of them…
"Delilah! Everything is ready!" Christine pranced down the stairs. While Rick had been the one encouraging Delilah to talk to Christine, Billy still didn't trust her. She had single handedly turned their lives upside down, how could she ever be forgiven by Delilah or anybody else for that matter?
"What's ready?"
"Home Movie Night! Eugene got the LCD TV to work and I wanna show all your videos!"
Delilah frowned and shook her head. "No, Christine."
"What, why not? You should want to show them to everybody, you accomplished so much! I won't take no for an answer." Christine grabbed Delilah by the hand and dragged her out of the cafeteria, motioning for Madison, Rick, Carl and Billy to follow. "Come on, you guys. Everybody's waiting upstairs."
Rick spoke up next. "We're actually in the middle of-"
"I'll clean this all up when we're done, you're in for such a treat!"
"Christine, I'm really not comfortable with this." Delilah still protested as she reluctantly followed her sister up the stairs.
"Once they start, it will be just like old times. Please, Delilah?" Christine turned around and smiled at her, really giving one hundred and ten percent in mending things with her little sister, hoping to make some kind of a start on the long road ahead of them.
Delilah heavily sighed. "Alright, fine, fine. Let's just get this over with." They walked inside to find everybody in Rick and Billy's groups, along with Tara, Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, Mac, Javier and Matt.
"Now that everybody's here, I can get started. Delilah, you sit in the center of the couch." Christine walked over to the TV as Delilah sat down. When Rick, Carl, Madison, and Billy walked in, there wasn't a lot of room. Without even thinking, Billy sat to her left and Rick sat to her right.
"Awww, how cute, Elle! You're sitting with your two guys!" Christine hadn't meant to say that aloud, but she had. Rick and Billy realized this and tried to get up to sit somewhere else, but Delilah grabbed them with either one of her hands.
"Don't. Just stay, please?" She looked up at them with semi-pleading eyes to ignore the comment. Rick and Billy looked over at each other in silent agreement before nodding.
"Alright."
"Sure."
They both sat down, not noticing Delilah still holding on to both their hands, but everybody else did and wasn't sure what to think of it.
"Ok." Christine cleared her throat. "Well, I've invited you all here for a little home movie night of Delilah's, so you can see the extraordinary young talent she turned out to be, who I'm so proud of." She smiled over at Delilah, who kind of rolled her eyes.
"Can we please start already, Chrissy?" More than anything, Delilah really wanted to get this over with.
"Of course." Christine nodded, starting the first video before sitting down in front of Delilah.
TWO HOURS LATER
"Wow, Delilah. I had no idea you were so talented!" Tara said with a smile.
"I did, I mean just look at that tight little body!" Javier chimed in, smirking.
"Alright, alright, settle down, everybody." Delilah said, finally coming around.
The last two hours had been spent watching all the videos of her youth and teens, with every single ice skating competition and dance performance. Everybody smiled at how charming she was performing to "Journey to the Past" from Anastascia in a lovely yellow dress, just like the film, or how she was a female Captain Jack Sparrow in one of her final competitions, or her last one when she skated to the score "Mulan's Decision" from Mulan.
That last performance was the one where she was only a tenth of a point from going to the Olympics, Christine and Rachelle on either side of Delilah, watching the scoreboard and cheering, only for Delilah to give the actual winner a hug when her score was then revealed. It all felt very nostalgic and made her think of a happy time, even when she watched the clips of her performances with Angelo. There would never be a day that went by that she didn't think of his tragic demise. In a sick way, since Angel was already turned, Delilah did the right thing.
Following those were her acting roles, guest spots, on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, True Blood, Dexter, NCIS, and White Collar, amongst many others. The reel also included the Barbra Walters interview, both pageants, commercials, runway shows, and behind the scenes footage from the various ad campaigns she shot.
"So, what's next?"
Christine turned around, beaming. "Your big debut to the rest of the world!" She laughed and popped in the next DVD.
Again, Delilah's smile disappeared. "Christine, just skip it."
"What's she talking about, Delilah?" Rick asked. Overall, he was very impressed with what he had seen so far. Delilah was incredibly talented, she was born for stardom, and she was pretty close to getting it before the outbreak. When she performed, there was a gorgeous light that enveloped and made her shine further. Strutting down the runway in her gown and smile in the Miss Teen USA 2009 pageant, she really stood out amongst the other girls. Although, Rick couldn't help but cringe when he noticed that Billy was right about Angelo grabbing Delilah, especially during their "Friend Like Me" routine that almost ruined their dancing careers. Even from a young age, Delilah exuded sexuality with underlined innocence in her movements and costumes, in particularly the fur two piece outfit for "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Quite frankly, both Rick and Billy wouldn't mind seeing her with that little of clothing now, either.
Delilah heavily sighed before replying. "Well, Miss Teen Usa wasn't my only claim to fame. Before that, following a year of doing mainstream competing, Angelo and I were recruited for Dancing With The Stars. We each did four seasons, he won his second season and I won my last two, it further catapulted my career into modeling and acting."
The room was stunned silence except for Billy and Carol exchanging a smirk at one another.
Maggie slapped Glenn on the arm. "See! I TOLD YOU I recognized her!"
Delilah rolled her eyes and laughed. "It's not that big of a deal, really."
"Not that big of a deal?! It's Dancing With The Stars, Delilah!" Rosita said a little high pitched, surprising everybody.
"Let's just watch the tapes." Delilah bowed her head as they watched her getting excited and shouting "Shamany!" over a large man walking into the room.
"Is that the guy from King of Queens?" Carl asked, to which Delilah nodded.
"Yep, Kevin James, my first partner and season." She giggled, watching them doing the Cha Cha Cha to "Pacific Coast Party" by Smashmouth. "Bless his heart, he actually had some good moves, but the judges were too hard on him because of his weight. We still made it to the last four though, I did for all the seasons I was on. The show is rigged."
"What?" Avery asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah, the whole thing is fixed, why else do you think Bris-dull Palin lasted as long as she did? That chick couldn't dance to save her life."
"Oh, my gosh. I can't believe it." Beth said quietly. She still wasn't thrilled with all the drama surrounding Delilah, but she had been a little less cold towards her as the days went on.
"Nobody can, it's why it's kept a secret. But, since it's all irrelevant, there's no point in hiding it now. Even if it weren't for that, I still would have won the two times I did. I had the time of my life on that show. Every time we walked down the stairs with the band playing, it felt like Christmas morning. it's the most exhilarating feeling in the world. Indescribable, really." Delilah laughed. "Like I said, Kevin was my first partner, Angelo lucked out with Vanessa Williams as his partner, that was a sure win. After him was Elijah Wood." She nodded her head at the screen, watching the two of them doing The Jive to "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Fountains. "That was actually a challenge considering we were the exact same height, he had to have shoes custom made."
Christine smiled over at Delilah. "Remember when Mom kept saying you two looked like brother and sister? She said it all the time when you were littler, too."
Delilah laughed. "Yeah, it was embarrassing both times."
"Cute and embarrassing. Now that I'm looking at these, you actually do, Elle. Same eyes and hair color."
They watched the next season where a tall and attractive man walked through the door, to which Delilah shrieked and jumped in his arms, both of them laughing.
"OH MY GOD! ZACK MORRIS WAS YOUR PARTNER?!" Madison exclaimed, which made the others laugh.
"Yes, Madison, Mark Paul Gosselaar. I remember the judges told me to tone it down, to not be showboating, which I wasn't. I cried afterwards and told Mark that we had to put our all into it, and this was the routine where we got a perfect score in Week Four, which was Movie Week." Delilah blushed, watching herself wearing a colorful yet skimpy beaded outfit, dancing The Samba to "Jump In The Line" by Harry Belefonte while Mark was in a black and white suit a 'la Beetlejuice, with the audience and the judges going crazy once it was finished, followed by the two of them cheering when they received all tens. It was easy to see where one would think that she was "showboating". The purpose was for the celebrity to wow the crowd with their dancing, but as far as Delilah went, she stole the show.
"Billy, did you ever miss a performance?" Scott inquired.
"Nope, I was there for every single taping and every single practice." Everybody had noticed that Billy was in the background of most of the DWTS tapes, intently watching her.
"Yeah, I'd say that out of all my partners besides Angelo, Billy was the most jealous of Mark." Delilah playfully elbowed him, to which he laughed.
"Hey, he was America's heartthrob in his Saved By The Bell days and looked pretty good afterwards. Of course I was worried about his newly divorced ass taking my girl." Billy ruffled Delilah's hair, making her laugh. They watched as it was down to Delilah and her partner and Maksim Chmerkovskiy and his partner Traci Bingham, with Delilah and Mark being declared the winners. Delilah began squealing as she watched them cheering.
"Yeah, and Maks, who I actually dated at one point. I still get butterflies whenever I see this or even think about it, same for when I won with David Boreanz."
"Oh, my god! What's Maks in person?!" Rosita asked. "He is a fine hunk of a man."
"Hot. We dated for a little bit when Billy and I broke up before the outbreak. He's actually really down to earth. Again, his aggressive personality was also a put on act"
Daryl scoffed. "So basically your big claim to fame was shaking your foxtail around in skimpy outfits? Doesn't sound like it takes much talent to me."
Carol looked over at him. "Daryl…"
"What? I'm serious. Shit like this can be seen at any strip club. I'm out of here." He abruptly got up and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Delilah couldn't help but feel a little insulted. Even though it may have seemed that way, Daryl was wrong. She worked really hard with everything she did and she earned her success. Rick could sense her disappointment and grabbed her hand.
"That's just how Daryl gets sometimes, don't pay him any mind. If it helps, I think that you were exceptional."
Delilah smiled and squeezed his hand. "Thank you, that's sweet." More than anything, she wanted to snuggle up and kiss him, just like she used to, but she wanted to with Billy, also. After tonight, only one of them could be her choice, the other would have to move on without her.
NOVEMBER 1ST, 8:30 AM
Delilah woke up, looking out the window to see that it was grey and bleak outside. After a relaxing night watching her home videos, Delilah spent an hour with Rick and a separate hour with Billy before she went to bed. It was pretty simple, just talking about past achievements and sneaking some kisses in. When she saw all the footage of her and Billy, Delilah almost wanted to cry of what used to be.
More than anything, she wanted to be with both of them. Surely she could considering the world was not what it once was, but it wouldn't have really been fair to either Rick or Billy. That was nothing more than a fantasy, but after a week of anguish, she woke up in a good mood for once.
Delilah smiled to herself in the mirror, wanting to burst into a series of giggles over the gleeful feeling she currently had. This hadn't been an easy decision by any means, but her selection was the one man who was the best fit for her now and the future. The only hard part would be breaking the news to who she didn't pick. In the end, Delilah hoped that one day, things would be peaceful between the three of them.
She was about to leave her room, ready to break the news, when another thought crossed her mind. Today was a day of rejuvenation, for moving forward. Currently, all of Delilah's woes seemed to be at ease. Rick, Billy, Christine. Except there was one other bridge she needed to make sure was still standing, it was something she had been meaning to do for a while, but the whole fight threw her off track.
It won't kill you to find out. Maybe you'll get lucky.
With a heavy breath, securing her boomerang blade holster on her hip, Delilah grabbed the Iridium phone and sat down on the bed. Hesitating, she slowly dialed the numbers, digit by digit, feeling her breath hitch in her throat as the phone started ringing. When the ringing stopped, indicating that the other line had been picked up, she felt her heart drop into her stomach over the voice that answered.
"Hello?"
"Mommy?"
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Forever Rising Phoenix