It had been a few days since heâd arrived at Hilltop reluctantly. While he didnât recall a whole lot when it came to his arrival, he remembered too much about the last few days. Nothing extraordinarily terrible happened, but he felt cooped up and in all, quite useless. Two of his friends had died and he just sat around with a doctor, some asshole, and a few others that were nice enough but it didnât make him feel any better. Which meant in Darylâs mind, it was approximately time to leave and head back to Alexandria.
So, when he saw that Rick was about to leave and head home once again, Daryl only assumed that meant his time was up. Maggie would do fine in Hilltop, he figured if anyone could tolerate the â in his mind, insufferable Jesus, itâd be her. There wasnât much he could do at this place and while he ignored just how bad his shoulder was, he thought he was fine. A little bullet never stopped him before. A scar hidden by a mop of hair wouldâve proved that, too.
Still, his bullet wound had resulted in broken bones and hadnât been taken care of right away. He couldnât lift his arm high enough or hold a weight that would equal a crossbow. But, he thought heâd just let Rick now that when they had put some damn miles between this place.
Daryl approached Rick but waited until he had his attention to start talking. He felt a little calmer when the other man was around, the thought of him being like a brother to him mightâve been the reasoning behind that. Mostly, Rick was the one that always recalled that Daryl was, in fact, still a human being.
âI wanted to talk to you about something before we leave. Think I ought to say it before weâre too far from here.â
They'd gotten what they needed from the Hilltop. They'd gotten help for their people, they'd gotten a burial for Abraham (he'd have to speak to Father Gabriel about having a real service for him when they got back), they'd even gotten the food and supplies they'd asked for. He was over all grateful to the community-- Gregory could fuck off, but the rest of them he was grateful towards.
He was glad to be leaving though.
And he was about to call towards the rest of the group leaving with him that had congrigated all together on the steps of the Barrington House when he noticed Daryl instead. Someone he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be leaving with them. At least that was the information he was given by the Doctor. Still, he was glad to see him up and about that was always a good sign. He looked a little worse for the ware, but he hoped this was a sign that he would ultimately heal fully, and be in good shape in a couple of weeks.
Rick raised his eyebrows questioningly at the other man's words, mainly at the 'we' part of his sentance. Still he gave a nod and a small, "Okay," directing them both away from the larger group.
He didn't know what Daryl was going to say, but Rick would rather this happen not in front of people, "is your shoulder feeling better?" He asked before the other man could say whatever it was he wanted to say. "I heard it was pretty bad." Of course there was no shame in being hurt, or taking the time you needed to heal. But if there was anyone who probably wouldn't think that, it was Daryl.
Rick shook his head, and gave a sigh, "what did you need to say?"
