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Need You Now

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

The present: Still Saturday evening, March 3rd, 2012


After Eugene, Noah and Father Gabriel were left in the hands of the resident doctor in the makeshift infirmary that had been set up in a building near the town hall, the others were directed towards a store that held racks of clothing that had been collected from clothing stores and residences in the area, as well as on scavenging runs.

“Ya’ll go ahead and find something that fits and I’ll take you over to the gym for a shower.” Cassie said after she introduced herself, and then used her flashlight to locate the lanterns and lit a few before leaning against the counter to inspect her hand.

“Probably should have medical take a look at that.” Carol said as she looked over at Cassie’s hand. “That doesn’t look too good. What happened?”

“Just followed through on a promise I made a long time ago.” Cassie had no intentions of elaborating since Daryl was part of this woman’s group. “It’ll be fine. Not the first guy I’ve punched in my life, doubt it will be the last. I’m going to step outside, ya’ll holler if you need anything.”

Carol watched as the young woman stepped back out in to the street before turning around to find some clothes. Stepping over to a rack where Maggie was going through a section of shirts. “It’ll be nice to have some new clothes for once.”

“Been a while, that’s for sure. So, that lady, she hit Daryl? That’s brave of her.” Maggie grabbed a long sleeved red shirt and turned to face Carol. “Did you know he was married? To Sam Collins, nonetheless?”

“He never said anything to me about it.” Carol snagged a random shirt off the hanger and held it up against her to see if it might fit; not caring about what it looked like. She was still reeling from finding out that Daryl was married and could not help but feel like she had been betrayed by the secret. Over the years, she had confided in him her fears and her desires and thought he had done the same. She had heard about his childhood abuse, about his drunken father, how his mother had died and his love hate relationship with his brother. How could he not tell her that he was married? “So, you’ve heard of his wife? Know who she is?”

“Daddy took me and Beth to one of her concerts after we begged him for weeks about it. Beth was a huge fan, made me listen to her music so much that I eventually fell for it myself. She was never Faith Hill type of famous, but she was on her way there for a while, then just disappeared from the scene. Cancelled her tour and appearances, never put out another album. Broke Beth’s heart.” Maggie grabbed a pair of jeans and underwear from the bin that was filled with various styles of panties and bras. “You gonna come back with me to watch?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Carol followed suit and picked out appropriate undergarments. She figured Daryl would not be in the mood for company, certainly would not want to talk about what was going on, so she might as well check out his estranged wife; see what all the fuss was about.

“Daryl’s really married? Anyone else really thrown by that? I mean, I kind of sort of assumed he was…you know,” Glenn blushed so profusely that his reddened cheeks blazed in the dimly lit room.

“Gay? You thought Daryl was attracted to men? Seriously?” Maggie chuckled and handed him a baseball hat she had found on one of the racks; knowing Glenn missed his dearly. “He clearly had something going on with my baby sister, which I have no desire to know anything about.”

Once everyone had located clothing, and they had all thoroughly discussed the events of the evening, Cassie led them to the next building that was a fitness facility in a previous life. Rows of useless cardio machines lined the front room, their weary images reflecting back to them in the mirrors that hung on the wall as they made their way to the showers at the back of the building. Once there, Cassie sat her lantern on the sink and pointed towards the wall of lockers, “There’s towels in those. Feel free to use whatever is back there to clean up. We've got it rigged up with rainwater and pumps, it's a pain in the ass, but at least it's a shower, right? Wish I could say it was warm water, but it’ll at least get you clean.”

While a hot shower would have definitely been more welcomed, their group was not in a position to turn down a chance at a shower. It had been a long time since they had been given the chance to scour their dirt covered bodies with anything other than pond water, much less with soap, shampoo and conditioner. In their separate stalls, they each thoroughly soaped up and rinsed off and relished the feel of clean skin and hair; despite the chill bumps. Once everyone was cleaned up, they gathered up their tattered and filthy clothes and exited the facility.

When they came back outside to find their guide, Cassie looked to the old clothing piled in their arms and pointed towards a nearby trashcan. “Unless you’re attached to that for some reason, feel free to toss it. Ya’ll can keep the new stuff, that’s what it’s there for.” Crushing out her cigarette and threw it in the can after their clothing, “I’ll show you guys to where ya’ll will be sleeping. But, so long as Daryl keeps his distance, I don’t think there’s a problem with ya’ll coming back to the party with me. I’m sure you guys are starved.”

In the end, after they had been shown to a building across the street that clearly used to be a furniture store and was now lined with several rows of different sized beds with couches pushed up alongside the walls, everyone went back to the town hall with Cassie. The only ones missing were the two getting medical attention and Rick and Daryl, who were nowhere to be seen as the climbed the steps once more and entered the municipal building. Cassie showed them to an empty table and told them she would have someone from the kitchen bring out some food before she disappeared; clearly eager to rejoin the group of people she was sitting with earlier.

Glenn pulled out a chair for Maggie, whose eyes were misty as she looked up towards the stage with obvious excitement. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just can’t help but wish Beth was here, too. She would have just loved this.” Maggie wiped her eyes with a napkin that was laying on the table with silverware. The band was between songs as the newlywed couple was cutting their modest cake and Maggie felt herself wishing they would hurry up so the music could start again. “Daddy took us to hear her in concert years ago after Beth won tickets. She was only like eleven…maybe twelve, I guess. It was really nice, we had such a good time going out to eat and even got to meet her backstage.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of her songs” Glenn reached out to hold on to Maggie’s hand and lightly stroked her wrist in comfort. Losing Beth and her father so close together could not have been easy and he was concerned that her strong demeanor was really a façade.

“Sure you have, just probably not with her singing. Beth used to sing her songs all the time, or at least, until Daryl would tell her to shut up…which makes a lot of sense now.” Maggie smiled as a lady slid a plate of meat and vegetables in front of her and gave a very gracious thank you. “Ooh! They’re starting again!”

“Alright everyone, one more slow song for the couple, then how’s about we get a little rowdy in here? Maybe do some dancing?” Samantha smiled down at the couple on the floor in front of her as they once again wrapped their arms around one another. “This one’s an old one, but I’m pretty sure ya’ll will like it.”

Samantha waited a few beats, let the band get to her starting point and joined in on her guitar before starting to sing. “Dancing in the dark…middle of the night…taking your heart…and holding it tight.” Eyes closed, she swayed with the beat of the music and let it wash over her the way it always did. “Emotional touch…touching my skin…and asking you to do what you’ve been doing…all over again.”

Tears pricked behind her closed eyes as they always did when she sang the songs she had written eons ago, back in another lifetime when she was young and in love. It was hard enough to sing the songs on normal days, much less when the person she wrote and sang them for was suddenly burst back in her life again. Sam recalled with vivid detail the first time she had sang this particular song; sitting on the porch on Daryl’s lap, his arms wrapped around her waist and the summer sun beating down on her bare shoulders. “It’s your love...It just does something to me…It sends a shock right through me…I can’t get enough…And if you wonder…About the spell I’m under…Oh, it’s your love…”

From across the room, Maggie murmured along with Sam; the song still memorized even after all these years. The emotions the song evoked were different now than they used to be, now thinking about the feelings she had for her husband, instead of the romantic notions of a teenager. Putting her fork down, she reached over and took Glenn’s hand in hers and smiled at him with watery eyes. Although she had lost her father and sister, at least she was lucky enough to still have her husband by her side.

“Well, it’s no wonder Daryl didn’t want to hear that.” Sasha piped in when the song was over. “It is about him, right?”

“I guess. I mean, we don’t know how long they’ve been apart, but that’s one of her first songs, so maybe. Beth really liked the earlier songs, the gushy love songs. I preferred her later work, it was...less sappy, I guess.” Maggie drifted off and went back to eating her food as the band picked up the pace; playing an old cover from the eighties she vaguely recognized.

“As exciting as this is, I think someone needs to go to bed.” Tyrese tipped back his glass of water and polished off the contents before standing up with a sleepy eyed Judith in his arms. ”We’re going to head back. See you guys in a bit.”

“Come on, Carl.” Sasha stood up and held her hand out. “I want to dance and you’re my only candidate.” Without waiting for Carl to reply, she pulled him out of the chair and dragged him to the dance floor.

“Well, hell, might as well join ‘em.” Abe stood and held a hand out to Rosita, lifting her by the waist when she was on her feet to carry her towards the nearly full dancefloor.

“I’m going to go see if I can find Daryl and Rick.” Carol picked up the napkin where she had placed a few rolls and slices of meat inside for the guys. “Have fun.”

“I’m with them. I’m beat.” Michonne shoved the last bit of her dinner roll in to her mouth and gulped down her water, before standing up. “Good night.” She had barely made it out of the door when Tara popped up behind her, “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I just, well, I’m tired, too.”

“Well, my lady, care to dance?” Maggie giggled and let Glenn lead her to the dance floor. While she didn’t want to jinx the night, she could not help but smile in spite of all the bad things that had happened to them lately and hoped that things were looking up for her family. Yet, her heart could not help but yearn for her baby sister to be out there on the floor with her. Or, better yet, on stage with one of her idols.

**Song: Tim McGraw It’s Your Love**

Notes

Comments

@aphishinthec


Wow! Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it again. :)

Serenity Serenity
12/1/16

I binge read this too over thanksgiving weekend and literally could not put it down. I was a constant reader when the updates were regular, but sadly am the worst at remembering to review. Excellent story to binge read!!

aphishinthec aphishinthec
12/1/16

@Tripper


Squee! Glad you liked it just as much the second time around. :)

Serenity Serenity
11/28/16

So, I may have just gorged myself on this story and read it all over again in a few days. This is one of my very favourite stories of all time. So freakin' good. Thanks again for this wicked story!

Tripper Tripper
11/25/16

@Lunabelle4


Thank you so much!

Serenity Serenity
11/14/16