The Deep End

The knock at the door startled me out of my half-awake daze. I blinked toward the clock, rubbing my eyes before answering it. When I opened the door, Merle stood there with that signature smirk of his - part amusement, part trouble.

“They ready?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Who? What?” I replied, baffled.

Merle sighed, smirking at me. “Ya pussyin’ out?”

I squinted at him. “I don’t pussy out of anything, Merle. You know that. But you’re gonna have to tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Me ‘n’ Annie are takin’ the kids, remember? You and baby brother were headin’ to Hilltop. Ya forget your own damn plan?”

“Oh shit,” I muttered, instantly wide awake. “We were supposed to tell you we’re postponing. With those new people here, it didn’t feel like the right time. I totally forgot. Sorry.”

Merle raised an eyebrow, smug. “See? Pussyin’ out.”

“I am not pussying out,” I shot back. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea right now-”

“Mommy!”

Briar’s voice cut me off like a whip, and I jumped as she barreled into the hallway behind me, her face full of betrayal. “You told us we could stay with Uncle Merle while you and Daddy were away!”

“I know, baby, but plans change. Mommy and Daddy aren’t going away now.”

“But that’s not fair!” Briar whined.

“Not fair! Not fair not fair!” Sawyer echoed as he appeared from seemingly nowhere, joining the protest like a tiny riot starter.

“Not fair! Not fair!” They began chorusing together.

“The hell’s all the noise?” Daryl appeared in the hallway, hair sticking out in all directions.

“Mommy said we can’t stay with Uncle Merle now,” Briar huffed with her arms crossed.

“I forgot to tell them,” I admitted, guilt twisting in my gut as I glanced at Daryl. “And Merle.”

He crouched in front of the kids. “Hey. Ya’ll stay with Uncle Merle ‘n’ Aunt Annie another time, a’ight? Mommy ‘n’ Daddy aren’t going on their trip right now.”

“Why!?” Sawyer demanded, not letting up.

“Yeah, why?” Merle added, arms crossed, smirking like a damn teenager.

Both Daryl and I turned to glare at him.

“Because it’s not the best time,” I said through clenched teeth, hoping he’d catch the hint to shut up.

Merle just shrugged. “New people ain’t even stayin’.”

I blinked. “That been decided?”

Daryl looked to me, confused. I shook my head. None the wiser.

“Michonne ain’t waitin’ on no council vote,” Merle said with a scoff. “She’s sendin’ ‘em to Hilltop. Gonna see if Maggie’ll take ’em in.”

I rubbed my face as my brain tried to catch up.

“They need escorts,” he added with a pointed look. “So, might as well still get your trip.”

As if on cue, Briar and Sawyer gasped with excitement and shot upstairs, yelling about packing their things.

“Hold up!” Daryl snapped, eyes narrowing at Merle.

“Too late,” I muttered, watching their little feet vanish around the corner.

Daryl shook his head and turned to me. “Ya thinkin’ ‘bout it?”

I chewed on my lip. “I mean… we do wanna see Carol when she drops Henry off to start his apprenticeship. And we did promise Glenn and Maggie we’d visit...”

He nodded slowly. “We were lookin’ forward to it before them people arrived.”

“Annie’s really okay with the kids?” I asked Merle, crossing my arms. “She’s about to pop.”

Merle grinned, proudly. “She’s been talkin’ ‘bout it all week. Got snacks, activities, the whole nine yards. Hell, she kicked me outta the kitchen twice. She’s lookin’ forward to it.”

Daryl looked to me again, waiting.

I sighed. “Alright. Guess we better pack.”

“Ya sure?” he asked.

“The two of ya haven’t left those kids once. Let ‘em breathe, man. Go do sex ‘n’ shit.”

Daryl glared at Merle again, but now all I could think about was the opportunity to have uninterrupted alone time with my husband whenever I wanted for a few days.

I turned to Daryl, smirking. “Let’s go do sex ‘n’ shit.”

~

The kids had basically scrambled out of the door to get away from us. Daryl and I had to chase them to get our fill of hugs and kisses before we left. I was nervous as hell about being away from them, Daryl was too, but Merle was right - we’d not had a night alone just the two of us since Sawyer was born, despite Merle and Annie’s constant requests for them to sleep over.

The rhythmic clop of horse hooves against the cracked road was almost soothing. I shifted in the saddle, trying to get comfortable, but the weight of leaving the kids behind pressed heavier than my pack.

I glanced sideways at Daryl, reins in one hand, crossbow on his back, squinting at the horizon like it had answers. “You think we did the right thing? Leaving them?”

He didn’t look at me, just gave a small grunt. “Merle won’t let anything happen to ‘em.”

That was true. Merle had his rough edges sandblasted down over the years, but when it came to family, the man was all in. Still, I exhaled through my nose, uneasy.

“It’s kinda nice though,” I admitted after a pause. “Just us, for once. We only talked yesterday about me joining you again. Guess there’s no easing back in, huh? Just jump in at the deep end.”

Daryl finally turned to look at me, a faint smirk pulling at his lips. “Ain’t that how ya like it?”

I shrugged with a smile of my own. Maybe.

Behind us, the cart rattled along. Magna was already grumbling. Something about her knives - my belt now held two of them. She hadn’t stopped complaining since we left. I could hear her through the wooden slats of the cart.

“She’s got my damn blades,” she hissed to her group. “All of ‘em.”

“She’s just upset about Bernie,” Yumiko – the woman who’d had the head injury told us, English accent gentle. “That’s all this is.”

Connie was signing something to her sister, Kelly. I caught a few words, but not enough to make out the conversation. Kelly nodded but didn’t push. Sometimes people needed silence more than questions.

The ride wasn’t long, but the tension stretched it. When we reached the old camp where Magna’s group had stored supplies - we’d promised they could stop at it on the way, the stench hit us first. Then the wreckage.

The shipping container that had held their gear had been burst open, overrun. Walkers had scattered everything - torn packs, broken crates, blood. Magna spotted something on the ground and froze. Maybe something belonging to the Bernie guy they’d just lost.

Daryl took one look and muttered, “We should grab more of their weapons.”

That set Magna off again. Luke started pacing, his voice rising in frustration. Yumiko stepped between them and Daryl, calm but firm.

“We’ll follow your rules,” she said to me, meeting my eyes. “But only if you don’t treat us like prisoners.”

I nodded. “We’ll find shelter for the night. We’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”

We ended up in a half-collapsed factory, the kind that smelled like rust and ghosted memories. It was cold, but dry. Daryl found a quiet corner and pulled me down beside him, wrapping one arm around my waist. Siddiq and joined us on the journey and Daryl had reluctantly let him take watch.

“Well,” I said, leaning into his shoulder, “not exactly how I imagined our first night away from the kids.”

“We’ll make up for it at Hilltop,” he smirked, kissing the top of my head. “Can’t wait to have ya all to myself.”

I fell asleep thinking about Briar and Sawyer back home. The mom-guilt was heavy, but I knew they were safe - probably living their best lives being spoilt rotten by Merle and Annie.

But sleep didn’t last long. A scraping noise jolted me up, hand on my machete before my eyes even adjusted. I crept around a stack of old shelving and saw a shadowed figure, back turned, holding something.

“Drop it,” I said, stepping closer. “Turn around. Now.”

“I can’t,” Luke said, voice cracked.

That was all the warning I had before he turned slightly - and instinct kicked in. I kicked hard.

It wasn’t until the crack of wood echoed off the factory walls that I realized. He wasn’t holding a weapon. He was holding a violin. Or… what was left of one.

“Shit,” he breathed, staring down at the splintered halves like I’d gutted a friend. The others were waking up now, confusion and grogginess turning into disbelief. Daryl was at my side in seconds, eyes wild.

“I thought-”

“It was a Stradivarius!” Luke exclaimed, voice pitched with heartbreak. “I brought it from our camp. Do you have any idea what this was? Music is what made us human. It brought people together, it-”

“I’m sorry,” I said, quiet.

“She didn’t know.” Daryl defended, his voice raspy with sleep. “Ain’t her fault ya were creepin’ around.”

Luke just nodded, still cradling the broken violin.

~

The next morning, the way forward was blocked - walkers shambled through the overgrown lot outside. We fought our way through them. I landed a few kills, but not fast enough. Daryl stepped in, clean and brutal.

“I’m out of practice,” I muttered when there was a momentary break in the onslaught, wiping gore from my face.

“Yur still a badass,” he reassured me. “It’ll come back.”

Magna was yelling again, demanding her group’s weapons back. I hesitated, then gave in. There were too many walkers and not enough of us fighting them.

The group quickly scattered into action. Luke fought with a weird mace-type thing, Kelly and Connie with slingshots. Magna and Yumiko with knives.

But it was a man - undead, stumbling toward us - that stopped them all cold.

“Bernie.” Magna choked out.

Her blade trembled. She couldn’t do it.

Daryl did.

It was quick, but it left her empty-eyed. We cleared a path and moved on.

As we rode in silence, I felt Daryl watching me.

“Ya okay?”

“No. I’m pissed. I used to be faster.”

“It’s been a while,” he said. “Don’t be hard on ya’self.”

I stared ahead. “You think it’ll be weird? With Maggie? Glenn? We haven’t seen them since Alexandria shut the gates.”

“It’s Maggie and Glenn,” Daryl said. “Still them. Still family. He smiled a little. “I’m lookin’ forward to seeing Carol. Been too damn long.”

“Me too,” I agreed. Distance had grown between Alexandria and the other communities after we locked down following Jocelyn and her band of murderous kids. I knew how much Daryl missed Carol - I did too. That’s how the Hilltop trip had ended up being planned in the first place. She sent a letter to say that she was taking Henry - who her and Ezekiel had adopted as their own after they married – to the Hilltop to train as a blacksmith. Daryl and I had decided then and there that it was the perfect opportunity to reunite with lots of our family at once.

Hilltop finally rose into view, the tall fences and watchtower standing like a promise. As we approached, people ran to open the gates, weapons at the ready.

Shit. I guess they hadn’t had any warning that we were bringing newbies.

Dianne - who’d relocated from the Kingdom to Hilltop -stood at the post, bow already raised. “Drop your weapons.”

We were just about to argue.

“It’s Daryl and Athena,” someone said beside her. Glenn. “We trust them.”

I smiled before I even slid off the horse.

Inside, there were hugs. Maggie wrapped her arms around me tight. “I’ve missed you,” she said, smiling so wide it hurt.

“Have you seen Beth?” I asked quickly.

“She’s good. Enjoying Oceanside.”

“Good! We miss her at Alexandria. Where’s Hershel?”

“He’s in school. You’ll see him later. How are the kids? I can't believe I still haven't met Sawyer!"

Tara, Jesus and Enid appeared next. More hugs. More smiles.

Maggie glanced at Glenn when I explained about Magna’s group, about Alexandria, about Michonne’s hope that Hilltop would take them in. Their looks were cautious, but they promised to think about it.

Aaron found us then, urgency in his step.

What on Earth was he doing here - he was supposed to be at Alexandria..?

“No time to explain,” he said. “Rosita’s here - hurt, but okay. Eugene’s missing.”

Huh? They were supposed to be at Alexandria too... What the hell was going on?

“What happened?” I asked, concerned.

“Trouble setting up a new communications system. We need to find him.”

Daryl glanced at me. I nodded. Guess the deep end wasn’t done with us yet.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! ❤️