Firecracker

A very drunk Raine stumbled back into the bedroom after browsing through the rec room for a bit. She saw a clean Daryl lying on the pull-out couch with a bottle of whiskey in his hands. His blue eyes landed on her and they widened slightly, he knew that she was gorgeous but this was different. Her brown hair had dried in it's natural curls, making it look like she spent the time to do it herself, she wore no makeup but it looked like she was. The only thing she was wearing was a white tank top and her black, lace underwear. Daryl knew it was wrong to think about Rick's sister like that, but he couldn't help it. He blamed the alcohol.

"What?" Raine asked after a few moments of him staring at her. He cleared his throat and finally tore his eyes away, picking at the label on the whiskey bottle. He could handle her being practically half naked, but what happened next threw him off completely. She climbed into bed with him and her soft, smooth legs brushed up against his. There was a moment of electricity between them and it could have been because they were drunk, but they both felt it and in that moment they couldn't deny it.

Raine leaned over and hesitantly pressed her lips onto his. Daryl went stuff but after a few moments, he loosened up and kissed her back harder. Both of them knew this was a mistake, but they hadn't been with anybody since way before the apocalypse. They could die tomorrow, they deserved to have at least a little fun.

Daryl pushed Raine over onto her back, his hands gripping her hips so tightly there were going to be bruises. Her hands frantically gripped his shirt and quickly pulled it over his head. He did the same for her and before they knew it, they were getting lost in each other, feeding off of each others pleasure.

She was in total euphoria and she didn't want it to ever end, but she and Daryl reached their climax and he flopped over onto the bed beside her. Raine's chest heaved and her brown eyes were locked onto the ceiling, she had imagined sleeping with Daryl several times before but she never expected it to be as good as it was. While it was a mistake, she didn't regret it one bit, she just hoped that it wouldn't turn around and bit her in the ass.

"Look, uh, that was amazing but I don't want it to change anything between us. We don't need to act any different around each other. And my brother cannot know about this. He likes to think that his baby sister is still a virgin." Raine chuckled and she slipped on her clothes. Daryl snorted and rested an arm behind his head.

"Well, you ain't no virgin. Not with moves like that." He mumbled, looking away from her. Her cheeks turned bright pink and she ran her fingers through her tousled hair.

"Just keep your mouth shut." She teased and then picked the bottle up off the floor, taking a large swig. She screwed the cap back on and set the bottle on the nightstand, she lied down in the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Her eyes slammed shut and she fell into the best night of sleep she had ever gotten.



The next morning, Raine woke up and noticed that Daryl was no longer in the bed with her. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slipped out of the bed, quickly folding it back into the couch. After she was done with that, she got dressed and went to see what everyone was doing, she found them eating breakfast. The moment she entered the room, Daryl's eyes flickered up to her and he fought back a smirk. He remembered everything that happened last night.

"You slept for a while. Normally you're up before everyone else." Rick noticed as T-Dog handed her a plate of scrambled eggs. Raine cleared her throat and looked at her brother as she poured a mug of coffee.

"I haven't slept in forever, I needed it. Sue me." She didn't mean to snap, she was still tired and she suddenly felt like everyone knew hers and Daryl's secret. Of course they didn't, but it felt like it. Rick raised his hands in defense and chuckled. Before any of them could say anything, Jenner walked into the room and poured some coffee for himself.

"Morning." He said shortly, giving them all a curt nod.

"Hey, doc." Raine replied as she quickly ate her breakfast.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale started but Jenner cut him off.

"But you will anyways."

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea chimed in. Raine rolled her eyes and then Jenner gestured for them all to follow him into the main room. Raine found a chair to sit in and made herself as comfortable as possible.

"Give me playback of TS-19." Jenner said to the automated voice that had been named Vi. The voice responded and then the screen was lit up with a video of a brain.

"Few people ever got the chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said softly.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked as he walked over to his aunt and made himself comfortable on her lap. Raine wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on the top of his head.

"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V."

Jenner went on this long explanation for this virus and what it did. Raine knew that it was bad, but she had no idea just how bad it was. This thing could shut down your brain and then restart the brain stem. She didn't even think that was possible. The way Jenner was talking told everyone that there was no cure, that he had no idea how to fix it. He had been working on one but he had no fresh samples to use. He was slowly giving up hope which, in turn, was making the group give up hope. Not Raine, she refused to let this world beat her, no matter how bad she wanted to give up. She had to keep going...for Carl. If something happened to Rick or Lori or both, she needed to be able to step in.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but that clock...it's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asked, pointing to a large clock on the wall that nobody had really noticed before. Raine's eyes trailed up to the clock and a feeling settled into her stomach.

"The basement generators- they run out of fuel." Jenner replied quickly, he was trying to avoid something.

"And then?" Rick asked, taking a step forward. When Jenner didn't respond, he asked Vi.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

Rick's eyes widened and he, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog went to go check the basement while everyone else went back to their rooms. Daryl and Raine split another bottle of whiskey to try and drown out everything that Jenner had told them, but that was proving harder than they thought.