Breakdown
Endless list of OCs // Maggie Daley - Fear the Walking Dead [1/??]
“Mom-”
“No.”
“Mom-”
“I said no, Maggie!” Pat yelled, whirling round to face her youngest child. “We’re leaving, and that’s the end of it. This place has taken too much from my family-”
“Mom it’s not safe out there-”
“It’s not safe in here!” Pat interrupted. “Walker and his men, they’re coming. They’re going to attack the compound, we’re going to lose people… People we care about. I’m not letting anything happen to you, or to your brother. We’re taking what can carry, and we’re going.”
Maggie resisted the urge to scowl. “I don’t want to leave the ranch, Mom. We won’t survive out there, I’m telling you. You haven’t seen it, you don’t know what it’s like,” she shook her head, and Pat rolled her eyes at her daughter. Maggie hadn’t seen it, either. She hadn’t ventured too far outside of the gates since the outbreak had started. But she knew. She knew what was waiting for them out there.
Pain. Misery. Death.
She knew.
“We’re your family, Maggie Beth. You’re my daughter. You’re coming with us, even if I have to drag you,” Pat warned, turning her back on her daughter and walking towards the door of their cabin.
“What about the Otto’s?” Maggie asked, biting down on her bottom lip when she saw her mother slowly turn back to face her. “Are they not family, too? Dad was- Dad was a founder of this place. He and Jeremiah were like family. Troy and- and Jake-”
“Is that what this is about?”
Maggie blinked. “What?”
“Jake,” Pat narrowed her eyes slightly. “Is that what this is about? Is that why you don’t want to leave? Are you the reason Jake came to speak to me, to try to get me to change my mind about leaving?”
Maggie gulped, her stomach flipping. “Jake- Jake knows you want us to go? You told him?” she asked in a whisper, hurt flooding her as she wondered why he hadn’t spoken to her about it, given her some warning that this was coming.
“I told Jeremiah,” Pat crossed her arms over her chest. “He must have told Jake.”
“Oh,” Maggie looked down at her hands.
“Charlene loved him, Maggie.”
Maggie tensed at the mention of her older sister and her features hardened into a glare as her defensive gaze snapped up to meet her mother’s accusatory one.
“What are you implying?” Maggie asked with a scowl.
“I’m not implying anything, I’m saying you’ve been spending a lot of time with Jake since Charlene’s death, I’m telling you that people are beginning to talk.”
Maggie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “They have no idea what they’re even talking about,” she grumbled. “Jake’s… Mom… Jake’s been teaching me stuff. Like how to use more than a handgun. He’s just been looking out for me, that’s all, because he promised Charlene. If people here opened their damn eyes then they’re realise they were gossiping about the wrong brother-” she stopped, her eyes widening slightly as she realised what she had said and she looked away from her mother’s curious stare.
“What?”
“What? Nothing.”
“…Maggie-”
“I should go and do my chores before someone comes looking for me,” she interrupted, standing up and wiping her palms on her jeans. “I’ll see you later, Mom!”
“Maggie Beth,” Pat snapped, grabbing hold of her daughter’s arm as she walked past her. “You stay away from Troy Otto, do you hear me? He’s- he’s bad news. He’s trouble. He’s… You’re why he tried to stop us from leaving.”
Maggie quickly looked up to meet Pat’s angry stare. “What?”
“Your brother and I, we went down to the collect some supplies earlier on,” Pat explained. “He stopped us, told us we couldn’t take anything, not even what we put into this place. He told us we weren’t going to leave. You- you talk to him, Maggie. You tell him we’re leaving, that you want to come with us. You talk to Jake and you get him to keep Troy under control, do you hear me?”
“I’m not-”
“Do you hear me, Maggie?!”
Maggie looked down, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
Pat waited for few seconds before she slowly let go of Maggie’s arm and, throwing her youngest child a look of contempt, she turned and walked out of their cabin. Maggie sighed heavily, sitting back down on her bunk and letting her head drop into her hands.
She didn’t want to leave the ranch.
Charlene had told her stories of what it was like outside of the walls, Jake had told her, Troy had told her… Troy had stopped her from going on the last hunt with them because he knew she wasn’t prepared for what was out there.
And her mother was ready to pack up and leave, taking her two kids, the only family she had left, into the unknown?
They wouldn’t survive.
Maggie knew they wouldn’t survive.
Sure, since Charlene’s death she had toughened up considerably – Jake was teaching her everything she needed to know about weapons, Troy had taught her how to fight, how to get herself out of a sticky situation, how to fool people into thinking you weren’t a threat. But Maggie knew that, outside of the safety of the ranch, she wouldn’t make it. Not without them.
“Did you hear me?”
Maggie’s head snapped up and she jumped as she saw the younger boy stood in the doorway of the cabin.
“Jesus, Gabe, you scared the crap out of me. What’s up?”
“I said, Mike and his family are leaving,” he breathed, glancing over his shoulder. “Troy’s trying to stop them, and Jake is trying to stop him. You better get out here, Maggie. Calm him down.”
“Which one?” she asked with a groan, and Gabe shrugged his shoulders before he ran back outside, Maggie close behind him.
She could see the campervan stopped by the gates and she could see Jake and Troy stood off to the side, a crowd of people surrounding them to see what would happen. Running her hand through her blonde hair with a huff, Maggie pushed her way through the crowd, just in time to see Troy’s fist connect with Jake’s cheek.
“Troy!” Maggie yelled, pushing her way forwards as Jeremiah darted towards his youngest son.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked, raising his hand and hitting Troy across the face.
“Dad, no!” Jake called, but his father wouldn’t listen as he continued to hit Troy.
“Stop!” Maggie called, slipping past Jake’s outstretched arm and putting herself between Troy and his father. “Stop, this isn’t-” Maggie stopped talking the second Jeremiah’s hand connected with her cheek, and she could do nothing but stare up the old man in shock.
Everything seemed to happen at once. The look of horror that spread across Jeremiah’s face as he realised what he had done, Jake pulling her out of the way and quickly inspecting her eye as Troy rushed towards his father, his face screwed up in rage.
“Troy, no!” Madison called, putting herself between them as Maggie had done. “No,” she told him, holding her hands up and glancing at Jeremiah over her shoulder before her eyes drifted over to Maggie. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Maggie nodded, ignoring the stinging in her cheek and trying her hardest not to wince and Jake took her face in his hands. “I’m fine.”
“Let me see.”
She was pulled out of Jake’s grasp by Troy as he spun her around, inspecting her eye where a red mark had already started to form. She was painfully aware of how close he was standing to her, of his fingertips tracing her cheek as he inspected her face. She could feel his breath on her face and she could feel the stares of everyone around them fixing on them both, but she couldn’t move.
She knew she should move, she knew she should get as far away from Troy as possible if they didn’t want anyone finding out just exactly what had been going on between them, but it was as if she was frozen to the spot.
Troy’s touch was soft, almost gentle, and it had unnerved her.
She had to hold in a snort. Troy was being nice to her, and it made her nervous.
How fucked up was that?
It was Jeremiah’s voice that snapped her out of her daze as he tried to apologise, but she ignored him and her fingers wrapped around Troy’s wrists as she pulled his hands away from her face.
“I’m fine,” she repeated to him and he looked down, nodded slightly as his eyes met hers. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.
Troy scoffed, pulling his hands out of her grasp and glancing at the dispersing crowd, a handful of people still stood around watching them. He could feel his father’s stare burning into the back of his head, he could see Madison watching out of the corner of his eye and he spotted Pat staring at them from further away, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
But it was the look of confusion, even hurt, on Jake’s face that made him do it.
He took Maggie’s face in his hands and he pulled her closer, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. She didn’t respond at first, so Troy pulled her a little closer to him and as her hands came to rest on his chest, he smiled against her lips before pulling away, resting his forehead against hers.
“I’m fine,” he murmured.
“How many people are watching us right now?” Maggie asked, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Troy’s chest.
“Uh…” He paused, glanced up and looking around. “Definitely less than everyone,” he told her, chuckling when she let out a quiet groan. “Come on, let’s do something about that eye.”
Maggie kept her eyes on the ground, avoiding Jake’s stare as Troy pulled away from her and took her hand, leading her towards the cabin he has claimed as his for when he wanted to get out of the main house, away from his father and brother. Once they were inside, Troy kicked the door closed behind him and grabbed a towel, tipping his bottle of water over it and handing it to Maggie. She took it off him and stared down at the towel in confusion.
“Uhm, thanks?”
“It’s for your eye,” Troy told her.
“I’m fine-”
“I know how hard my dad can hit, alright?” he frowned. “Just… Just humour me,” he grumbled as he continued to potter about the cabin, not really doing anything but avoiding the stare Maggie was shooting him. He didn’t want to do this. Not yet.
“…It’s your eye you should be worried about,” she whispered, placing a hand on his arm and feeling his tense under her touch. “Troy, come on,” Maggie sighed, grabbing hold of his arm and pushing him down on to his bed before moving to stand between his legs. Troy smirked, reaching up and placing his hands on her waist but Maggie huffed and pushing him away. “No,” she told him, gesturing for him to sit up properly. He did as she said (albeit reluctantly) and she balled up the small towel he had given her before pressing it against his right eye. He winced, but only for a second, and Maggie smiled softly. “It’s just getting back to normal after the spoon incident, and now you get hit. You need to be more careful.”
“People need to stop doing shit to me.”
“You need to be more careful,” Maggie repeated with pursed lips and Troy sighed, his hands once again landing on her waist as he pulled her closer, leaning his head against her stomach. “…Are you gonna tell me what that was about?” she asked quietly.
“You know what it was about,” Troy grumbled. “Vernon was leaving, his family were taking our stuff, our fuel, our food. I couldn’t let them get away with that.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Maggie replied, the tips of her fingers playing with Troy’s curls. “I mean you and Jake. What was that about?” she asked again, and Troy stilled. Maggie pulled back slightly, looking down at him with a frown. “Troy?”
“He- he can’t protect this place, Maggie,” he muttered. “He won’t protect this place. He won’t fight for the ranch, or for the people, not like I will. But my dad doesn’t see that. He’s gonna leave Jake in charge, you know? When he dies. Jake’s going to be the one running this place, and he’s not strong enough. Walker and his men are going to come and unless we prepare, unless we fight, they’re going to take everything we’ve built. They’ll kill us, Maggie, and Jake isn’t strong to protect the people here. To protect you.”
Maggie’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as she hummed quietly, trying to decide what to say to him.
“Are… Are you gonna protect me?”
Troy bristled. “Of course I am.”
“Do you think I need you to?”
“…No,” Troy admitted with a sigh. “Not anymore. Not- not since… Your dad… Charlene. You’ve… changed.”
“Yeah,” Maggie agreed quietly. “Only reason you looked twice at me though, isn’t it? Because I’ve changed,” her tone was teasing, but Troy knew there was a seriousness behind her words.
Before her father had died, Maggie had just been a girl who Troy grown up with. A girl who had very obviously had a crush on him when they were kids, and a girl he found annoying, if he was being totally honest. She had never really contributed much to anything when she first moved onto the ranch before the outbreak, she was Daddy’s little girl and Noah barely let her out of his sight. Troy had been sure that she would completely break down in this new world, but she hadn’t.
Her father had died, and Maggie had been forced to grow up almost overnight. Sometimes, Troy could still see glimpses of the old Maggie shining through, the little girl who wanted to be taken care of but she refused to let that girl out. Something had changed in her when she had lost her father. There was something there, an anger that Troy recognised, and that was what had drawn him to her in the first place.
He had been convinced that she would lose it when Charlene died, that she would be inconsolable and sink into the depths of depression, but she hadn’t. She had been the one holding her family together ever since. She had grown stronger, tougher. Her anger at the world had grown, there was a coldness in her now that hadn’t been there before.
They were the same now.
He thought they were, anyway. He trusted her, he knew that she had his back and she would stand by him no matter what. She didn’t want anyone else to go through what she had gone through after losing Charlene and that meant that they had to fight. Maggie would support him, Troy was sure of it.
He just had to keep her away from Jake. And probably the Clark’s, too.
He studied her carefully as she checked over his eye, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as she pulled the damp towel away from his face and ran her fingers through his hair, a small smile coming to her face as she looked down to meet his eyes.
“Careful,” he murmured. “People will think this is something more than it is if they see you taking care of me.”
He saw it flash through her eyes for a second. It was gone almost immediately, but he had seen it. Hurt. It made his heart drop knowing that he had caused it and he gulped slightly, but Maggie scoffed and pushed his head back before she stepped out of his grasp.
“Don’t worry, Troy. I’ll make sure everyone knows I only want you for your body,” she rolled her eyes. “God help us if anyone thought we actually liked each other.”
“That’s not what I-”
“Yes it is,” Maggie interrupted him, throwing the towel down on the bed next to him and moving to lean against the small window. “And it’s fine. I know this is just sex, Troy, and I’m okay with it. I’m not looking for some big love story, alright? I’m not looking for a husband and two perfect kids and a dog and even if I was, I know you’re not that kind of guy,” she shrugged her shoulders and Troy paused, leaning forwards and watching her as she turned and looked out of the window, her arms folded over her chest. “I should probably go.”
“Go?” Troy looked up quickly. “Go where?”
Maggie raised an eyebrow. “To talk to my mom…? She’s probably freaking out right now,” she told him, pointing to her eye as she pushed herself away from the window and started to walk towards the door. Troy reached out to stop her, taking hold of her hand and lacing his fingers through hers.
“She wants to leave,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off their joined hands. “Your mom.”
“Yeah…” Maggie looked at the floor. “She told me a little while ago. She also told me you tried to stop her and Dax from taking stuff from the pantry, you made them put it back,” she paused, her voice curious as Troy shrugged nonchalantly.
“Are you gonna go with them?”
“They’re my family,” Maggie bit her lip. “I don’t want to leave the ranch. I feel safe here. Out there…” she paused, glancing towards the window. “I’m not sure I could survive.”
“You could.”
Maggie frowned. “Do you want me to go? With my mom?”
“No,” Troy replied quickly. “No, I don’t, and… And I can keep them here, if you want them to stay. I can make sure they don’t leave the ranch.”
Maggie smiled softly, pulling her hand out of his as he raised his head to meet her eyes.
“Careful, Troy,” Maggie pointed a finger at him, walking backwards towards the door. “People might start to think you actually care about me.”