Noah
Hi! Here I come wih another one shot.
I hope you like it!
As always sorry for my english!
taglist: @phoenixblack89 @browneyes528 @lilythemadqueen @pncnsc
(If you want me to add you to the list, just let me know!)
Noah.
Daryl Dixon x FemReader.
Words: 5271.
Warnings: Fluff.
Era Alexandria, T11, non-canon.
Summary: your kid has a certain curiosity and admiration for Alexandria's quietest and grumpiest hunter.
You wake up that morning startled to hear the front door open and close with a small slam. You need a moment to process the sound and remember everything that has happened. You curse under your breath and rush out of bed stumbling over your feet as you get dressed.
Noah has left the house without telling you.
Noah is your son, he is a very special boy. After you lost The Kingdom he has become reserved, fearful, he doesn't speak unless necessary, sometimes you find hard to connect with him again, you know he doesn't do it on purpose, that his mind is dealing with many things, like everyone, so your patience is infinite when it comes to talking to him, however, you fear he might hurt himself or do something crazy if he goes out alone. After The Kingdom fell, just like Hilltop, now Alexandria wasn't safe either, the Whisperers had razed it to the ground and between all of you who had survived the war against Alpha and Beta, you were now in charge of fixing the fence that kept the Walkers at bay, looking for supplies and making sure the children had a safe place to continue developing themselves.
You pull your hair up into a high ponytail, pull on your boots and head out of the house. The first thing that strikes you is the dilapidated, neglected appearance of everything around you, the people are working hard to restore the fence, the mill to get water and electricity and raise the houses that have been destroyed but there is still a lot of work to be done. You settle your jacket against your body, it's starting to get cold, the harsh months are starting to set in and every day more supplies are needed to survive. This is the hardest time since the zombie apocalypse began.
You run through the streets of Alexandria looking for little Noah, you aren’t quite sure where he might be, but you stumble upon Jerry who tells you that the run patrol must be about to arrive and then you stop.
Noah has gone to the front door.
You thank the man for his information and turn around on yourself to run in the other direction feeling your heart beat a little harder and your cheeks flush, not from exhaustion, it's more from embarrassment. When you reach the front door you see what you feared. There is Noah with Judith and RJ, the three of them have approached the group that has just returned with new supplies that they are taking to the warehouse to hand out later. It's not much, but at least they haven't come back empty handed.
You stop and watch the scene; Judith and RJ hug the new arrivals as Noah plays with and hugs Daryl's partner Dog. Daryl Dixon has become a bit of an obsession for Noah and you don't understand why.
When he first showed up at The Kingdom, you were part of King Ezekiel's soldiers and you were also helping the kids practice with their weapons and studying. The shock of the first encounter with Daryl surprised Noah, the little boy bumped into him when you were showing him around. Daryl was never nasty to him, or any kids that were around him, you have to admit he is good at dealing with them and always has an eye on them, keeping an eye out. However when The Kingdom fell and you had to find shelter between Hilltop and Alexandria, Noah was much more attached to the man. Daryl didn't spend too much time in the community, he was still obsessed with looking for Rick, hoping to hear from him, but the time he spent at home, the kids would visit and Noah would talk to him. He talked non-stop. One of the times you even felt envious, because they were both sitting on the floor, while Daryl was fixing his crossbow, and Noah kept telling him things, some invented, others that only happened in his imagination, you heard him talking about the things that happened in the community and about you, which made you blush, but Daryl didn't seem upset, he just mumbled sometimes giving him cause to continue talking.
After those encounters Noah always came home more animated and even willing to talk to you, he talked a lot about the hunter and other things, but at least you got him to communicate with you again.
You don't know how many times you apologized to Daryl for all that, but he just shrugged it off. Somehow it seemed to you that they were more similar than you thought and you found it amusing.
After a while Daryl returned to Alexandria for good and Noah's obsession with being near him diminished, but he still hung around the man at least to say hello, plus now there was Dog with him too and Noah loved playing with the animal.
So there he is now, waiting his turn to greet Daryl. The man has knelt on the ground letting Judith and RJ hug him. When they separate Noah seems to hesitate for a moment, but from your position you see Daryl gesture for him to come closer and finally snuggle against the hunter's chest as the hunter wraps him up and strokes his fur affectionately.
Slowly you approach them, trying not to disturb. The first to detect you, or at least to show it, is Dog, the animal barks greeting you, trots to your position looking for your hands to pet him. You rub his ears, turn your face away when he jumps up trying to lick you and laugh as you pull him off of you. You reach Daryl and the boys, the man has risen from the ground and Noah returns to your side, holding your hand.
"Hello, Daryl." You greet him with a shy smile, he shakes his head in greeting and grimaces. "I see you guys managed to find something."
"Yeah, it's not much, but we'll be able to eat for a few days..." He shrugs, his voice sounds like a growl and you feel goosebumps rise on your hair.
"I'm glad, anything is always welcome..."
"Mom..." Noah tugs lightly on your hand to get your attention. You lean toward him and look sideways at Daryl. "Can I ask Daryl if he wants to have dinner with us?" he asks as it's a secret, but he speaks loudly and you're sure the man heard him, he doesn't say anything, he's waiting for the boy actually ask him.
"Yeah, sure." You laugh low rejoining looking apologetically at Daryl, but he smiles a little.
"Daryl..." Noah calls after him and the hunter's blue irises fall on the boy. "Do you want to come home for dinner? Mom can make you your favorite dish, if you want." He proposes and tries to blackmail the hunter. You don't even know if Daryl has a favorite meal.
"Sure, if yer mom doesn't mind... but I have things to do first." He says lowering his tone of voice a little, turning it into an apology, Noah's huge smile disappears a little, but the boy nods his head.
"Okay..."
"Come on, Noah, Daryl needs to rest, he just got back from a long patrol." You try to make him understand and the kid nods again. "Why don't you go with Judith and Hershel and play with him for a while? I have to get to work." The little guy hesitates, but finally nods and wanders off a bit.
"See you later, Daryl!" he bids the hunter goodbye, running off in search of his friends. You sigh, he didn't even remember you.
"Thanks, you didn't have to... if you're really busy there's no need..." You try to explain, but he shakes his head.
"Okay, if ya don't mind... I have to talk to Gabriel and the others, distribute what we brought, establish a plan for the next patrol..." He explains looking at you out of the corner of his eye.
"No, it's fine, stop by anytime, Noah will be happy to see you and Dog too." You smile and pet the head of the animal sitting next to you.
"Okay." He nods and grimaces a smile.
You don't want to make him more uncomfortable, you know Daryl isn't an extremely talkative man so you apologize to him for having to get to work and let him leave, he even seems to you to sigh with relief. You get a little saddened, the last thing you want is the man feel obligated or forced to spend time with you. You don't want him to hate Noah.
The rest of the day you keep your mind busy working with the rest of Alexandria. You spend much of the morning fixing the fence along with Jerry, Alden Rosita and Magna, it is a rather large opening that you are trying to close as soon as possible to keep out the Walkers and also appease the harsh winter that is coming. By mid afternoon the sun is already quite low and you can't do much more, the few solar panels that remain functional start to light the houses and the wood fireplaces begin to leave small clouds of smoke in the sky, heating the homes. You stretch and rattle your bones, it's time to go find Noah and prepare some dinner for when Daryl comes to see you. At the thought you feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck and your cheeks flush. Noah may have a bit of an obsession with the hunter, but he's not the only one who was surprised by his presence when he arrived at The Kingdom. Not only physically you find him an attractive man, since Noah's father died you haven't been interested in another man in that way, Noah had always been a priority, however Daryl attracted your attention from the first day, not only because of the physical aspect, to be honest all that tangle of hair on his face made you nervous and you felt like taking scissors and cut his bangs, but the man proved to be loyal and faithful to his people, he was cunning and lethal when he had to be, he protected his comrades without caring about putting his life in danger. He was loyal to Rick searching for him desperately even though he might be dead, today you're sure he's still just as loyal to his friend even though he's not there. And not just to him, he has a very strict code with himself for everyone he considers his people, his family, he will never leave anyone behind. These are the things that got your heart to melt little by little, that and maybe a little bit the very special treatment he had with Noah. Daryl doesn't talk to you much, he basically communicates through Noah, you've always gotten the feeling that your presence bothers the man and you try to be as discreet as possible. You knew how to hide your crush, just because you felt that way didn't mean the man shared your feelings. You were sure that he had never given you any reason to make you think or believe that you might be an interesting person to his tastes.
So you just enjoyed the little moments Daryl and Noah had.
You make your way to the main house where the kids spend most of their time, playing or learning, always watched over by some mother or some of the older boys, but never left too long alone. It is also the house where they keep the supplies and where the council meets to deliberate the next moves, there is also the cell where Negan spends the nights after helping to repair everything that he himself has caused to be destroyed. You enter the house and immediately your heart is warmed by the animated and joyful laughter of the children in the house, a small smile comes across your face as you discover them playing with Dog who is delighted to receive so much attention.
"Noah, it's time to go home, sweetie." You call to your child and he turns to you with a huge smile. Your heart is pumping hard, it's been a long time since you've seen him so animated. Noah runs to you and hugs you lovingly around the waist, you smile and kiss the top of his head. "Thank you for taking care of all of them." You say to Nabila, the woman smiles warmly shaking her head.
"Come on, Dog!" Noah calls to the animal and you frown a little, maybe Daryl is out there and is waiting for his master to return.
"Noah, we'll see him tonight, I'm sure Daryl..."
"Daryl told me if I could watch him while he went to a meeting." He explains and seems a little annoyed by your reaction. You sigh and nod.
"Okay, sorry, come on Dog, I still have to prepare dinner and it's going to be late in the end." You say goodbye to Nabila and the rest of the kids and head back towards home.
You don't have much in the kitchen, the supplies they gave you a few weeks ago are already starting to run low, but you also don't know when they will distribute what they have brought or who will have preference. You aren’t worried, the distribution has always been the same for everyone, no one has ever run out of anything, so you can wait another day or two to fill your shelves a bit. You open the cupboard above the kitchen and discover some cans of corn, some jerky, you also have some dried legumes that don't keep too badly, you also have some rice left, maybe you could prepare it with the jerky and some canned meat.
You shrug your shoulders and get ready to start getting everything ready when you hear a knock on the door. You feel your body jolt at the thought of knowing who is, the feeling increases as you hear Dog barking from your living room. You take a deep breath and put down the cans you wanted to prepare to go open the door. Noah is peeking out from the doorway of the small living room, holding Dog, hugging his neck.
You open the door and your mouth opens slightly in surprise. Daryl is on the other side, as you expected, but in his hands he's carrying a plastic box full of stuff, new supplies plus two rabbits on top of everything else covered with a few sheets of old newspaper and he's...he's washed his hair? You blink several times because you're sure you've just stared at him with a very stupid look on your face and you try to compose yourself and step aside.
"Good evening, Daryl, come in." You smile in a friendly way and see him respond with a grunt, he enters the house with the box leaving it on your kitchen cabinet, you follow close behind him looking curiously at what he has brought. Daryl shakes his head once again, pointing his chin towards the box.
"They're for ya... yer supplies for these days... Carol asked me to bring them to ya since she knows I was comin’ for dinner..." He comments lowering his voice tone with each new word.
"Thank you, it wasn't necessary, I could have gone tomorrow... but thank you." You stop because he has done you a favor and there is no need to be nasty.
"Never mind... also, the rabbits..." He starts talking again and bites his lip repeatedly. "I hunt them comin’ from the patrol, if ya want..." He shrugs and you can't help but laugh low, it's funny how easy it is for him to communicate with Noah and how complicated he makes it with you.
"I haven't prepared anything yet, I think I'll clean them up and make some rabbit rice." You look sideways at him expecting some sort of approval, but he doesn't say anything. "You can go to the living room with Noah if you want, it seems to me he hasn't had enough of you." You joke and hear him snort in amusement, then you notice that his clothes are clean, or at least he's wearing less dust than he was that morning, the pants are different and he's taken off his gloves. He's dressed up for dinner...
"Would ya like me to help ya with the rabbits?" he offers and you are about to accept his offer, simply to enjoy his company a little longer, but Noah enters the kitchen like a whirlwind accompanied by Dog and they take the man into the living room. You chuckle and get to work.
You take the rabbits carefully leaving them on the side of the kitchen counter, without taking them out of the newspaper so as not to stain too much, you take a look inside the plastic box and you are excited to see some vegetables, some carrots and even tomatoes, you take one of them and bring it close to your nose, the aroma of the earth, the characteristic smell of the tomato, of the branch, transports you to The Kingdom, to your home when you were a child and you helped your grandfather with the garden you had. Your eyes fill with tears from the memories and you have to put them aside, rinsing your eyes. You prepare a small snack with the carrots, some tomato and the dried jerky you had left on the shelf and take it to the living room for them to eat something while you prepare dinner. You are once again surprised to see Noah on Daryl's lap as he tells him about the trip they've been on, Dog smells the plate you've left on the table but goes back to lying at Daryl's feet.
Leaving them with their things you go back to the kitchen.
Once you have the rabbits cleaned you start preparing everything. They weren't very big and didn't have much meat so you'll use both of them for the rice. While you take care of that, you take out another pan to cook some of the unused rabbit to give to Dog, you are sure the animal will be delighted. While the rice is slowly cooking together with the meat and the few vegetables you have added, you lower the fire and start to put the rest of the things inside the cupboards. Most of them are cans, canned meat, pickles or dried pasta and legumes, things that last much longer in good condition. Your hand picks up a bar and when you glance at it your mouth waters as you discover it's chocolate. There's not much of it left and it's almost a privilege.
You bite your lip, unable to resist you open the paper and smell the chocolate, your stomach protests and you have to muffle a groan when you realize Daryl is watching you across the counter. There's a smirk on his mouth and your cheeks flare, embarrassed.
"Yer gonna start it without Noah?" he jokes, setting the peck plate down on the counter. You bite your lip and tear a piece in two and reach out your hand to him.
"Do you want to be my accomplice?" you wave your hand making the piece of chocolate dance, you see him smile and reach over to take it, your fingers brush for a moment before he takes the piece of chocolate into his mouth. You smile half smiling biting your share and continue to place the things in the box, leaving it empty on the side of the kitchen.
"Dinner's almost done, I've prepared some for Dog too." You tell him pointing to the rabbits heads and some organs.
"I think if ya keep feedin’ him like this he won't want to come home."
"I know someone who would be very happy." You joke taking the pot with the rice out of the fire and carefully set it down on the counter and reach for several plates. Daryl looks at you raising an eyebrow and you throat clears hastily explaining. "Noah...it would mean you'd be around more and well...you know how much he likes being with you..." You mumble feeling your hands shake a little. He lets out a nodding sound and stands next to you, out of the corner of your eye you see his nose twitch sniffing the air and you wait for his verdict.
"Smells good..." Is the only thing that comes out of his mouth and you feel relief in your chest.
"I hope it tastes just as good." You joke and start pouring the food onto plates. "Can you get Noah?" You ask and he nods going back into the living room to get the boy.
You place the plates on the table, prepare some water that you had boiled that morning and take Dog's food that has already cooled a bit and put it on another plate, on the floor, but close to the table where you guys are going to have dinner. The three "men" enter the kitchen sitting on the free places, Noah looks excited, it's been a long time since you prepared a rice like that, it lacks many things to be as good as the ones your mother used to make, but Noah has always liked it. You eat dinner quietly, the boy doesn't stop talking between spoonfuls, Daryl listens attentively, but he doesn't stop eating either, a little rougher than Noah, in a hurry, as if he was afraid someone was going to take it away from him, you just observe the dynamic that the two of you share, you eat in silence feeling that you are in family after a long time.
You have finished dinner and with some baking powder that you have saved, you have prepared some flan, so you take it out for dessert for whoever wants it. Noah devours it filling his cheeks with flan, Daryl watches him not very convinced but he eats it slower than the rice and it doesn't seem to bother him. You get up to clear the dishes and wash them as Noah and Daryl finish their flan.
When you return to the table Noah is falling asleep cuddled up to Dog and you smile warmly.
"It's time for bed, buddy." You tell the boy and he nods, but doesn't move.
"Mom, can I ask Daryl if Dog can stay over?" he asks you, but again loud enough for the man to hear as well.
"Sure, but if he tells you no, don't get mad, Okay? Dog's back from a run and he's tired."
"Okay..." He understands in his own way what you want to tell him and turns to Daryl who smiles amused, he could answer him without waiting for the question, after all he heard it perfectly, but he just raises his eyebrows and rests his hand on his chin, waiting. "Daryl, can Dog stay over? I promise I'll take him to the main house tomorrow." He assures him in the most sincere voice he could find amidst the sleep.
"Sure, champ, Dog loves bein’ with ya, and he loves sleepin’ in the bed."
"No, he doesn't." You refuse seeing them giggling at his jug-like arms. "Dog on the carpet." You warn Noah, but you know he's no longer listening to you, he's still hugging the animal and seems to be telling some secret plan to your ear as Dog wags his tail excitedly. You smile and ruffle your son's hair affectionately. "Come on, to bed and go to sleep."
"Yes, good night, Mom." He comes up to you for a kiss on the cheek and you hug him.
"Good night, sweetie."
"Goodnight, Dad." He then says to Daryl giving him a hug too and you freeze.
"G’night, buddy." The man replies nonchalantly and you both watch as the boy goes to his room followed by Dog.
You don't know what to say, you feel embarrassed about what just happened. You know Noah hasn't been aware of what he has said, his mind has been working automatically, too asleep, you are sure that if he had heard himself he would have apologized to Daryl for calling him dad, however the hunter hasn't said anything about it either, he has just stood there finishing his flan. You try to think of anything, you don't want the situation to suddenly become awkward or for Daryl to start avoiding your son because of what he said.
"H-How did the meeting go?" you think to ask, sitting back down across from him. Daryl shrugs and pushes the finished cup away and folds his hands on the table surface. Your gaze falls on them, Daryl's hands are large and strong, weathered and calloused by work and the passage of time. You shudder at the thought of how they will feel on your body and redden.
"Well..." His voice forces you to snap out of your own fantasies and focus on the conversation. "We found a small military base not far from here, Lydia gave us directions, it had been guarded by Whisperers and Walkers, but now it's clear." He explains and your gaze lights up with excitement. A military base can mean a lot of supplies.
"That... that sounds great, are you guys going tomorrow?"
"That's what we were talkin’ about this mornin’, the sooner we can get our hands on those supplies the better, so we want to get as many people together as possible..." He purses his lips, licking his bottom lip, his gaze lifts to you and you sense some nervousness, he clearly wants to ask you something but doesn't know how to go about it.
"Do you want me to come with you?" you dare to guess his thoughts and he nods his head with a mumble from his throat.
"In The Kingdom ya were helpin’ Ezekiel, ya were part of the patrols... We could use more people and..." He tries to explain, something inside you swirls, he still remembers when you were part of the King's units. You smile and nod your head.
"Sure, yes, I'd love to help. I can drop Noah off at the main house with Nabila, he loves to play with Judith and the rest of the kids." You tell him feeling your heart pumping hard inside your chest.
You're excited to get back out there, to go on the road again, you're a little rusty, but you can still be of help. Daryl watches you for a few seconds and smiles again nodding his head.
"It won't be a difficult mission, if enough of us go we can take care of all of them and maybe by night we'll be back... Noah won't notice yer gone." He assures you downplaying the matter and a chuckle escapes you. It's tender to think that he cares that Noah misses you.
"Thank you..." He smiles sheepishly and you wring the cuffs of your sweater, it's starting to get cold and even though the wood fire is doing its job, you now feel your fingertips cold, it always happens to you when you're nervous. "Hey, about Noah said earlier..."
"Don't worry, I understand." He stops you and shakes his shoulders, lowering his head, he looks shy now too. "I guess he misses him... What happened? If I may..."
"With Noah's father?" You raise an eyebrow and he nods again, diverting his gaze to his own hands. He looks nervous, but at the same time you've detected a spark of curiosity in his eyes. "He never makes it to The Kingdom..." You whisper, it's been several long years of that, but it still hurts to remember him. "Noah never met him, I found out I was pregnant a few months after he was, well... gone..."
"I'm sorry..." He mumbles looking back at you out of the corner of his eye. You sigh with a forced smile and a small saddened chuckle escapes you.
"I guess I understand some things now..." You say more to yourself than to Daryl, but he looks at you confused. "When Noah asked me about his father the first time, I told him that he... hadn't come to The Kingdom, that he didn't make it... he was too little, talking to him about his father's death was complicated and... I don't know, I think you suddenly showed up with Rick and the others and... confused things. I'm so sorry." You end up saying, covering your face with both hands. Now dead embarrassed.
"Ya mean Noah thinks I'm his father?" he asks with a great tone of confusion in his voice, he has a raised eyebrow and a strange grimace.
"I think his mind wants to believe it... He could have chosen any of the ones who came with you; Rick, Jesus..." You try to figure out yourself what had been going through Noah's mind.
"I don't... I don't care, I mean..." His cheeks redden and he clears his throat. "Don't worry."
"I-I'll talk to him." You assure him but Daryl gestures again downplaying it.
The atmosphere becomes awkward between you after this. You wish you could say more but you're processing the information yourself. Daryl gets up mentioning that he has to go to bed and you walk him to the door to say goodbye. Again there is hesitation between you and you smile leaning against the door.
"See you tomorrow Daryl, thanks for coming to dinner." You tell him squeezing his arm as he walks past you.
"Thanks, and I'll see ya tomorrow." He says goodbye as well.
You nod watching him slowly walk away, you sigh scratching the back of your neck and close the door to go to bed, it's time and tomorrow you have an important mission. After a long time. You are about to leave when you hear the door again. Maybe Daryl has left something behind. You retrace your steps and open the door again.
"Daryl?"
"No, sorry, you were...oh...you were expecting...you were expecting Daryl?" Maggie is on the other side of the door and you feel your cheeks burn as her smile widens exaggeratedly.
"No, no, it's just that he came over for dinner and I thought that..." you fall silent again not knowing if that can fix or spoil whatever it is Maggie is thinking more. "Is something wrong?s do you need me for something?" you decide to change the subject radically, but the woman gives you one last amused look before shaking her head.
"I guess if you've talked to Daryl, you already know about the route we're taking tomorrow. I was coming to warn you that you're coming with me... though if you'd rather go with Daryl's group..."
"No, no, with you it's fine, Daryl told me about a military base, are you going to different places?"
"No, but we'll cover the entrances with different groups to get rid of any Walkers and Whisperers that might be inside."
"That's a good plan, so we'll be quicker and keep more from coming..." You understand and Maggie nods again.
"I'm counting on you tomorrow, good night." She says goodbye to you, but before leaving she smiles and looks at you teasingly. "And sorry for not being Daryl." With that said she walks away and leaves you standing there, red as a tomato and blocking like a fish.
I hope you liked reading it!!
I'll see you in the next story!