Full Time Job

The next morning, I had met Carol in the prison library, where she was watching a napping Judith. I set Vinny down on one of the chairs around the table in the center of the room with a few of his favorite comic books. I woke up and gotten Vinny ready and ate breakfast way after Daryl had gone out hunting with Rick. I started sorting through the new supplies that we had acquired on the recent supply run when a group of kids, some I knew… Lizzy, Mika, Patrick and Carl, some I didn’t know yet, started to file into the room and Carol had them start to sit around the table as she began reading a story, the younger kids listened to her intently as she read and Vinny ran over to me and insisted that I sit down next to Carol so he could sit on my lap, and he wrapped my arms around his body as he snuggled against me and I rested my back up against the back of the chair, holding on to Vinny and listening to Carol read.

Beth had strolled into the library just as Carol was finished the chapter and we all sat together as Beth, Carol and I passed around little pots as we started small seedlings that we would eventually move out to the garden. We all thought it would be a good thing to teach the kids how to grow their own food and the responsibility of caring for the plant every day. We started tomato, strawberry and cucumber seedlings and the kids painted their names on the little flower pots before we set them in the window sill.

Beth had taken Judy and Vinny to lay down for their typical nap and Carol had to leave a little early to help clear walkers that were piling up around the outer fences, so I began cleaning up the mess from planting. I noticed Josh was lingering outside of the glass wall and doors in the front of the library and I walked over to the door and opened it and looked up at him with a slight confusion on my face.

“Hey, if you’re wanting to pick out a book or something…you can come on in,” I said and he shook his head.

“Actually, I wanted to see if I could talk with you real quick,” he asked and I nodded hesitantly and went back to cleaning up the potting soil that was all over the table we were working on. He was quiet for a few minutes as I put the excess soil back into its container.

“How long have you been with Daryl?” he asked lightly and I looked up at him and he was gazing intently at me and I quickly looked back down to the table.

“About a year and a half,” I answered as I continued to tidy up the table.

“Are you happy with him? I mean, he seems to leave you here alone a lot,” he added and I started to feel uncomfortable about where this conversation was headed.

“Daryl leaves the prison to provide for us and to keep us safe…” I answered and I saw a smirk emerging from his lips.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said lightly and I felt my face flush a little.

“I’m in love with Daryl, of course I’m happy with him…” I answered. “I really don’t want to have this conversation with you right now…” I said, trying to sound firm.

“I’m just trying to be your friend, Gia,” he answered, his tone still light.

“So, when you asked me for dinner last night, you were asking as a friend?” I asked and his eye brows drew together before he answered.

“No, not as friends… I just want you to really think about it… I can make you happy, Gia… and I won’t leave you alone all the time…” he started, walking a little closer to me but I put my hands out in front of me.

“I think you need to leave, Josh,” I said uncomfortably and he smirked again.

“Just promise me you’ll think about it alright?” he said again and I just looked at him and folded my arms around my torso. I didn’t respond either when he said goodbye or walked out the door of the library. I sat down at the table and chairs that I had just cleaned off, resting my head in my hands and taking advantage of the stark quiet room, my head was starting to ache terribly as I tried to figure out how I was going to Daryl about this or if I should tell Daryl what happened. I knew he would be immediately upset and I didn’t want that or any drama in our new little community that we were trying to build.

I didn’t think that Josh would ever hurt me, so why would I bring it up to Daryl? He had enough that he was worrying about and I didn’t want to cause him any more grief. I had no idea what to do, and my head was starting to throb painfully. I heard the door to the library open and close and I raised my head that was resting in my hands as I sat at the table and saw Hershel hobbling into the small room and he smiled warmly at me when our eyes met.

“Hello Gianna, how are you today?” he asked in his typical Hershel hospitable tone.

“Hershel, do you think I could talk to you for a minute?” I asked hesitantly and his eyebrows crinkled together slightly before he slowly sat down across from me at the table.

“Sure… Is your wrist bothering you?” he asked and I shrugged and shook my head.

“It’s sore, but alright, I just… I’m having a hard time with one of our new neighbors,” I started and Hershel raised an eyebrow at me and waited expectantly for me to continue.

“Well, Josh had asked me to eat dinner with him last night, but he didn’t know that I’m um, that I’m with Daryl…” I started and Hershel started nodding, he was there last night, he saw the awkward exchange.

“Did he hurt you, Gianna?” Hershel asked in disbelief and I quickly shook my head.

“No, no… he uh, he came by today to tell me that he thinks he could make me happier than Daryl and he said that if I was with him, he wouldn’t leave me here all by myself all the time…”

“Do you think that you would be happier with Josh than you are with Daryl?” Hershel asked hesitantly and I shook my head immediately.

“No, I love Daryl…” I answered.

“Well, then what’s bothering you so much about it?” he asked and I shrugged again.

“I feel like I should tell Daryl about this but I know that will make him pretty mad and I don’t want anything further to come of this…” I started and Hershel nodded in understanding and sat quietly in thought for a few minutes.

“Well, I understand what you’re saying… but can you imagine how angry Daryl would be if he found out and you didn’t tell him?” Hershel asked and I nodded in thought for a few minutes, my head started hurting again and I pressed my fingertips against my temples.

“Does your head hurt?” he asked and I nodded and he frowned slightly.

“You’re probably a little dehydrated, why don’t you drink some water and lay down for a little bit… Vinny is sleeping now with Bethy,” he suggested and I nodded and slowly stood up from the table.
“It’s going to be alright sweetheart, just talk to him. It’ll be just fine.” Hershel said, patting the back of my hand before I made my way out of the library.

“Thanks Hershel,” I answered sweetly and walked back to our cell block, pulling a water bottle from the shelf and downing half of it before trekking upstairs and laying down in bed. The cell block was silent as Beth, Judith and Vinny all napped downstairs.

I was woken up to Daryl gently nudging me awake, kneeling next to the mattresses spread across the floor.

“You alright, baby? Hershel said you gotta headache,” he said quietly, brushing some hair from my face as I yawned and sat up in bed.

“I’m alright, it feels much better now,” I answered groggily. “Did you guys shoot anything today?” I asked and he grinned and nodded.

“We found a big turkey nest in the field next to that old church down the highway,” he said proudly and I returned his small smile. I was happy that he was back. “Carol’s outside getting ready to start cooking…” he started.

“Where’s Vinny?” I asked, stretching my arms high above my head as I sat in bed and moaned softly into a yawn.

“He’s outside with Beth and Carl,” he answered before I felt his lips pressed against mine as I stretched. His rough palm held my chin and face close to his as he kissed me sweetly.

“You look pretty today, Princess,” he teased and I rolled my eyes but rested my hands and arms on his shoulders and he moved to hover over me as he nudged my shoulders down to the mattress. He rested his body in between my thighs, his hands still holding my face as he kissed me a little more rushed, taking advantage of the quiet cell block. I felt his hands move from my face down to my hips, running them up my sides and back down again as our lips worked together. I moaned lightly into his lips and he moved to kiss down my neck, causing my breathing to quicken and my heart to race.

“Mmmm, did you miss me today or something?” I giggled as his breath and tongue tickled my neck. Before he could answer, we heard the iron barred door to the cell bock swing open and Daryl groaned into my neck, but did not stop placing small kisses down my neck. “…Daryl, stop,” I said lightly after Rick had called out for him, and he started to tickle my sides he was holding mid kiss and I started giggling more.

“Daryl? I know you’re up there,” we heard Rick tease lightly and Daryl groaned again and pulled away and climbed from our bed and descended the stairs. I quickly made the bed that I had napped in and descended the stairs, carrying my shoes with me. I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw Josh standing near the door to our supply cell, giving me a small smile. What was he doing here? I saw Rick and Daryl emerge from the small cell that housed our supplies and he handed Josh a small pistol and magazine.

“Hey, G, is your head feeling better?” Rick asked when he looked over to me and I tried to relax a little as I nodded.

“I’m fine, thanks,” I answered and started pulling my shoes on. “Carl was a real big help today, we planted seedlings with the kids, so, ya know, tell him thank you…” I finished and Rick smiled and nodded and the four of us walked out of our cell block together, Rick and Josh lingering behind us as Daryl walked with me, his hand resting on my lower back as we walked.

“Do you think when you go out on Friday, you might be able to find me a set of fingernail clippers?” I asked sweetly and he gave a small smile down to me.

“Sure, baby,” he answered in monotone and I chuckled.

“…and maybe some peanut butter?” I added and he groaned.

“Gross…” he answered and I laughed.

“I’ve been craving peanut butter,” I answered lightly and he raised an eyebrow at me.

“When Lori was pregnant with Carl, she always craved peanut butter…” Rick teased as he walked with Josh behind us. I chuckled as Daryl’s eyes widened subtly.

“I am not pregnant… I just like peanut butter…”

“Nobody likes peanut butter…” Daryl responded and I shook my head. We had reached the prison yard and Rick announced that he was going to help clear the walker bodies from the fences, and asked if Daryl wanted to come. I glanced over at Josh who was staring at me, once again, lingering behind Rick who stood in front of me and Daryl.

“I’m going to hang around here for a little while, I mean, if you guys really need me…” Daryl answered and Rick shrugged.

“No, it’s good, I need to show Josh how to run the fence operation when we aren’t here,” Rick answered, and the two walked toward the fence together as Daryl and I walked towards the outdoor kitchen that Carol typically was if she wasn’t in the cell block or the library. Vinny was playing with Carl at one of the picnic tables that surrounded the area and he smiled and ran past me right towards Daryl, who smirked and scooped him up and kissed the side of his head. We sat around one of the picnic tables with Carl and Beth and I took Judith from Beth’s arms and snuggled her closely, giving Beth a break.

Beth scampered off to go talk to one of the younger teenage boys that had come to stay with us, Zach, who I figured she had a little crush on as she spent most of her time with him when she wasn’t hanging out with Maggie, me, or helping Carol or taking care of the kids. I started to feed Judith the bottle of formula that Beth couldn’t get her to take when they first came outside, and she started drinking sleepily and I smiled down at her sweet little face and kissed her forehead lightly and Daryl was sitting at the picnic table outside next to me, watching Vinny who had ran out to play catch in the open field with Carl.

“We’re gon’ need to do something about that fence,” Daryl mused, looking over at Rick and Josh, who had led the herd of walkers that were pressed against it back away from the fence, and were now clearing the dead ones into the two large smoking fire pits on either side of the prison. He was fiddling with his fingers as he stared towards them and I chuckled a little.

“Daryl, if you want to go out there and play with Rick, you don’t have to sit here and keep my company…” I said lightly and he looked over at me and smiled slightly, leaned back and wrapped an arm around my waist as I held Judith.

“No, I was gone all day, baby girl, it’s fine…” he answered and kissed my cheek lightly.

“How do we fix the fence problem?” I asked, laying my head on his shoulder and looking up at his face. He sat in thought for a few minutes.

“I think we should keep putting those wooden stakes along it so they can’t get close, like how we have around the gate? That would keep them off that chain-link…” he suggested and I looked over and along the long perimeter of the fence.

“That’s going to take a lot of wood and a lot of time,” I responded and he smiled.

“We’re surrounded by trees and I ain’t got nothin’ but time, darlin’,” he answered and I nodded, smiling a little.

A lanky, thin teenager came over as we sat on the last picnic table in the grouping, and I recognized him as Patrick, who came from the Woodbury group. He smiled proudly at Daryl and over at me.

“Hey, Daryl, and uh, Mrs. Dixon, I wanted to just say thank you to Daryl for bringing that deer in last night, and I’d like to shake your hand if I could…” Patrick said and Daryl looked at me incredulously, smirked and held his hand out and Patrick, who shook it and smiled at the two of us before walking off again.

“Mrs. Dixon?” I chuckled and Daryl returned my light laughter.

“Well, I mean, basically, right?” he answered and I shook my head and held my left hand in front of me.

“Well, I’m not wearing a ring, so I’m definitely not married,” I teased and he scoffed and chuckled and returned his arm around my back and rested it on my hip and I felt my cheeks flush slightly in a blush. I couldn’t believe that I still blushed around Daryl, we’ve been together for what felt like ever.

“Yeah, that’s what your little boyfriend Josh must have been thinkin’ too,” he responded, teasing lightly and I felt the light smile that was across my face fade as I looked back down at the baby.

“Yeah…” I just answered simply. I had no idea how I could tell him what Josh had said to me and I didn’t want to ruin the good place we were in in our relationship. I knew it would make him angry… and I didn’t like angry Daryl so much… I felt a hundred different feelings at once as the conversation with Hershel earlier had been weighing heavily on my mind also.

“Yeah, what?” Daryl answered, still playful in his tone but he looked down at my eyes, trying to read my mood. I sighed a little bit and looked up at him and back down to the baby, and felt his intense glare on my face. “What is it, Gia?” he asked again and I returned his gaze.

“Daryl, I, uhm,” I started, and stopped talking and thought how I should word this.

“What, Gianna?” he asked again, impatiently.

“Okay, so if I tell you this you can’t do anything, alright?” I started hesitantly and he looked down at me with his eyebrows drawn together.

“Tell me what?” he asked and I shook my head.

“Say, I promise, Daryl,” I said sincerely, looking at him expectantly. He rolled his eyes and sighed impatiently.

“I promise… now what happened?” he asked again and I took a deep breath before speaking.

“Today, I was in the library, cleaning up the potting soil mess that we made with the kids and Josh was like lingering outside of the door, so I opened it and he said he wanted to talk to me…” I began and he did not look playful anymore. “And he asked me if I was happy being with you…”

“…and?” he said impatiently.

“…and I told him that I love you, and he was like, well he leaves you alone all the time,” I continued hesitantly and Daryl scoffed and shook his head. “…and I told him you have to leave to provide for us and protect us…” I answered truthfully and he sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Is that all?” he grunted out and I frowned slightly and shook my head. “What is it, Gia? Spit it out…” he said impatiently again and I bit my lip slightly as he spoke, a little frightened of what he was going to do next.

“Daryl, I’m a little scared to tell you right now…” I said quietly and he his eyes narrowed.

“Did he touch you? Gianna... if he touched you I’m going to…” he started and I shook my head.

“No, no… he just said that he could make my happy and I should really think about, uh, being with him…” I finished and he relaxed slightly, but not much.

“I’ll give him something to think about…” Daryl muttered angrily and I shook my head.

“Who cares, Daryl? I mean really… I don’t think he has the guts to try anything…” he said and Daryl shook his head in frustration.

“Gia. He said you are alone all the time… he’s throwing it right in my damn face…” he scoffed and I thought about that for a minute. “if I ain’t here he can do whatever the hell he wants… this guy has got to go… this ain’t gonna work like that…” he continued his angry rant. “I don’t know who in the hell he’s thinkin’ he is, but you’re going to come in my house and talk to my girl that way? Nah…”

“Daryl, you promised…” I reminded him and he scoffed.

“Just stay away from him, alright?” he said, taking a deep breath and glaring over towards the fence line where Josh and Rick were burning the walkers. I cuddled Judith against my shoulder and started gently patting her back before setting her empty formula bottle on the picnic table we were sitting at. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

“I really didn’t want to tell you,” I started and he looked over at me and frowned slightly.

“Why not?” he said, his voice a little gentler than the angry tone he had been using.

“Because I knew it would make you mad, and I was right…” I answered and he thought about that for few seconds before responding.

“Well, I can’t not be pissed off about this, baby…” he said, meeting my gaze.

“I know…” I answered, a little defeated.

“Any kind of guy that tries to swoop in on a girl that he knows is with somebody… that is not the kind of people that we need here.” He mused and I nodded slightly in agreement and heard the baby finally burp and I smiled a little at how loud she burped for such a tiny baby. “I need to tell Rick…”

“Can you please do it when Josh is far away from him?” I asked and Daryl nodded and I shifted the shoulder that Judy was now sleeping on. Daryl looked back down to me and kissed my cheek.

“It’s alright, as much as I want to, I ain’t gonna hit him, Gia…” he teased and Glenn and Maggie approached the table from the open field.

“Hit who?” Glenn asked, sniggering as they sat down and joined us at the table.

“No one,” I replied quickly.

“Josh,” Daryl huffed out at the same time and I looked over at him, narrowed my eyes and shook my head slightly. Daryl chuckled a little. “C’mon baby, it’s just Glenn and Maggie, besides, I think Glenn should know, in case he tries it with Maggie…”

“Tries what with Maggie?” Maggie asked, speaking in the third person and Daryl looked at me and then over towards Glenn who sat across from us next to Maggie.

“He’s trying to tell G that she should date him instead of me…” Daryl answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I felt him rest his hand on my knee under the table as I held Judith. I looked up toward Maggie and she shook her head.

“Wait, did that happen before he asked you to dinner last night?” Glenn asked and I shook my head no.

“No, he came to talk to me again today…” I answered and Maggie scoffed.

“What a dog…” she answered, looking over towards Glenn who nodded in agreement.

“I seem to be a magnet for them…” I answered and Maggie and Glenn both chuckled and Daryl raised an eyebrow at me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked playfully and I shook my head and giggled.

“You know what I meant… besides, you hated me when you first met me…” I continued and Glenn nodded and chuckled again.

“Daryl hated everybody for a long time…” Glenn added and Daryl shrugged and I saw his eyes slightly narrow when Rick and Josh were walking across the field towards us and we watched as Vinny and Carl jogging towards them. My heart started to race as I saw Josh scoop Vinny up into his arms and I felt Daryl’s grip on my knee tighten also. I looked over at him, both of us uneasy as someone other than our family was so close to and hugging on my nephew.

Rick and Josh finally approached the table that Maggie, Glenn, Daryl and I were sitting at and I was relieved when Josh set Vinny gingerly on his feet, and Vinny immediately ran to me, and climbed up onto my lap and was looking over at Judith who was now sleeping, resting her head on my shoulder. Josh smiled gently over to us and I could feel the anger radiating from Daryl, but I was happy that he didn’t say a word, no matter how badly he wanted to.

“Hey, Glenn, Daryl, when we go out on Friday for that run, Josh is going to go with, he’s thinking he has a solution for the fence build up…” Rick started and Glenn agreed and Daryl just nodded, staring straight ahead.

“I’m going to go put Judith to bed,” I said quietly to Daryl and stood up from my spot at the picnic table.

“I’ll walk with you,” Josh suggested and Daryl scoffed out loud.

“I can take care of my girl just fine,” Daryl said defensively, standing up. “I think it’s best if you just stayed away from her…”

“Daryl, c’mon, please,” I said quietly to him, looking expectantly into his eyes as he stood up next to me. He silently scooped Vinny up and led me away from the table by pulling my hand into his without another word. The group was awkwardly quiet. Rick had followed behind us and started speaking when we were out of earshot of the group back at the table.

“What was that about?” Rick asked Daryl who had set Vinny down to walk once we were inside the prison. Vinny walked next to me, tugging on my jeans as I walked, carefully caring Judith, which I switched arms and held his hand.

“Rick, we need to talk about Josh…” Daryl said angrily and I looked over at the two of them as we walked to our cell block.

“Daryl, it’s just an innocent crush…” Rick started and Daryl was quickly shaking his head.

“Gianna, tell Rick what he said to you today…” Daryl said and I felt my cheeks start to flush.

“He just told me that he would make me happier than Daryl and he wouldn’t leave me alone like Daryl does… and I should think about dating him…” I said in a small voice and Rick was quiet for a few minutes.

“Well, you told him today to stay away, if he keeps it up, we’ll go from there…” Rick said authoritatively. I felt slight relief and Daryl shook his head again.

“So you just expect me to give him the chance to keep it up?” Daryl responded as we entered our cell block. I walked directly to the Grimes’ cell and laid Judith down in her portable crib.

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Rick asked sarcastically. “Gia is always around one of us, Daryl… no one would let him hurt her, c’mon…” I heard them speaking as I tried to calm Judith who was fussing slightly as I transferred her into her bed.

“I don’t want him here…” Daryl said simply.

“Daryl, I’ll talk to him if he does anything further…” Rick finished dismissively. I started rubbing Judith’s back as Daryl and Rick’s conversation shifted to how they were planning on fixing the fence problem. The baby finally fell asleep and I walked out to day room and took a seat in between Rick and Daryl at one of the open tables. We heard loud thunder rolling in and the sky visible through the high windows of the cell block showed the gray blue clouds taking over.

“I’m going to go help Carol finish cooking really quick and we’ll eat inside…” Rick announced and stood up from his seat, and agreed to take Vinny with him, who was pleading sweetly as he loved to cook with Carol. Our cell block was immediately very quiet after the two had left and I hated the frown that was scrawled across Daryl’s face as he stayed seated at the table next to me.

“Daryl,” I said sweetly while I climbed up onto his lap. He held my hips as I straddled his lap, but still would not make eye contact with me and still wore the frown that I hated.

“Baby…” I continued in a light voice and started to place small kisses along his neck and beyond his ear. He squeezed my hips gently and I felt his breath start to quicken a little.

“I love you, please don’t be upset anymore…” I said quietly into his ear and he pressed his lips against mine, his hands moving up my body and holding the back of my neck. He pulled back and pressed his forehead against mine.

“I’m sorry, darling… I guess I can be a little overprotective…” he kissed my lips again.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” I responded in a light whisper. “I just hate it when you’re angry,” I admitted.

“Never at you, little miss…” he answered and playfully kissed my neck and cheek. Thunder shook the cell block and I jumped suddenly. Daryl started chuckling and wrapped both of his arms around my back. “I’ve got ya…” he said lightly and started kissing and sucking on my neck behind my ear. I moaned softly, loving the way his rough lips were moving gently over the sensitive skin on my neck. His strong hands were travelling up and down my back as he held me close to him.

We heard Glenn clear his throat obnoxiously loud after we heard someone enter the cell block, and my eyes fluttered open and I saw Glenn, Maggie, Carl, Beth and her friend Zach, and finally Hershel walking into our cell. I started giggling after I tried to push Daryl’s head away, which he pushed back and continued placing small soft kisses on my skin. He finally quit after Carol and Rick and Vinny rushed in the cell, carrying the huge tray of turkey that Carol had finished cooking, and the three of them were soaked from the rain. Vinny ran up to me, giggling wildly and Daryl stood up to help them carry stuff in.

“Zia, we got stuck in the rain, damn it!!” Vinny sang out and I covered my mouth immediately so he couldn’t see the smile on my face before I scolded him.

“Vincenzo, we do not talk like that, where did you hear that?” I started, trying to make my voice sound firm. He looked shocked and a little distraught before he answered.

“I heard Rick say it when we were outside, I’m sorry Zia…” he said quietly and I pulled him into a hug.

“It’s okay, baby, just don’t say that word again, alright?” I said softly down to him as Daryl returned to his spot at the table next to us.

“What word?” Daryl asked and I turned and mouthed the word to him and he nodded, a tiny smirk playing on his face. I stood up and announced that we were going to go put Vinny in dry clothes and Daryl nodded.

For the rest of the evening, the cell block was lively as we stayed together, talking, eating and listening to Beth sing. The storm that was blowing around the prison never hampered the happy mood we were all in before we fell asleep, warm in our beds.