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Need You Now

Chapter 97

Previously: Cassie and Tyler had a heated discussion about their lack of relationship that led Daryl to step in and try to control the situation.


Friday, April 20th, 2012

At the sound of Cassie’s scream, a shrill cry that echoed down the hallway and filled the auditorium, Sam and Rick jumped from their seats and ran towards her cries, both pointing at their children beforehand to tell them to stay put. Running down the hallway, they burst outside in time to see Daryl and Tyler tumble off the patio to land on the grass below, landing with a loud thud that barely slowed them down. Fists flying, the sound of skin connecting powerfully with skin had Sam barreling down the steps towards Daryl and Tyler, fully intending to break up the fight before anyone got seriously injured.

Preoccupied with Cassie, having stopped to check on her to make sure that she wasn’t hurt, Rick was too late to reach out and grab hold of Sam before she ran headfirst into the fight. Knowing how unpredictable Daryl’s rage could be, or rather, how predictable he actually was in a fight, Rick yelled for Sam to stop. “Sam! Don’t! I’ll deal with them!”

“It’s not the first time she’s had to break them up.” Cassie replied in lieu of Sam’s silence. Rick’s hand was on her arm, her bare skin sizzled beneath the gentle touch as he made sure she wasn’t hurt. Nodding towards the brawl not ten feet away from them, Cassie reassured him that she was fine. “Go on. Help Sam.”

Trying to break apart two rage filled men probably wasn’t the best idea she had ever had, but the love she held for each of them had her reaching between them and yanking Tyler’s arm as hard as she could. Completely unprepared for his reaction, one that hadn’t happened the last time she’d had to disentangle them, she did not have time to duck when Tyler came around with his other fist and lashed out. His fist connected with her face, hitting her cheekbone with such intensity that her skin ripped beneath his knuckle and sent a trail of hot blood trickling down her face. Screaming, her hold on his arm broke and Sam stumbled backwards with her hand against her cheek.

Staggering back, the haze of rage cleared in Daryl’s eyes long enough to see what had caused Tyler to suddenly stop fighting. Seeing Sam holding a hand to her face, eyes wide with shock and blood seeping through her fingers from the cut on her cheekbone, Daryl realized what had happened and felt his body begin to shake with anger as Tyler reached out to comfort his sister. Growling low in his throat, Daryl’s body was tightly coiled with fury as he started towards Tyler once more. “You don’t fucking touch her!”

“Daryl! No!” Sam screamed, her voice shaking with fear as Daryl tackled Tyler. Both men tumbled to the ground, fists flying and blood dripping from both of them as they tore at one another fiercely. Tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the blood from the gash Tyler had inflicted to send watery rivulets dripping down her face to land in splotches onto her white shirt. Screaming at them to stop, relief washed over her when she caught sight of Rick running towards them with Tyrese and Abe in tow.

“Mind the knife!” Rick yelled out in warning, shocking Sam because she hadn’t seen Daryl pull the weapon from the holster on his belt. Risking his own life, Rick reached out and grabbed hold of Daryl’s shirt and tugged him backwards as Abe and Tyrese did the same to Tyler. Sliding his arms up, he wrapped them under Daryl’s arms and restrained him as best as he could, his hold tenuous as his friend bucked against him and snarled angrily. “Calm the fuck down, Daryl!”

Rick’s hold was slipping, the crazed beast of rage in his arms demanding to be cut loose to exact revenge on Tyler for hurting Sam. Stumbling backwards, his foot catching a root at quite possibly the most inconvenient time, he fell and felt his grasp on Daryl slip as he landed flat on his back; knocking the breath out of him. Gasping for air, cursing in between each wheeze, Rick scrambled to his feet and tried to grab hold of Daryl once more, but his fingers failed to snatch the frayed hemline of Daryl’s shirt. Darting forward, he had barely gotten hold of Daryl’s arm before he had to duck to avoid the knife that came whirling around towards him, narrowly missing his cheek. The upside to Daryl is that you didn’t want anyone else in the fight with you, but the downside was you didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his anger. Still ducked down, Rick rammed his shoulder into Daryl’s chest, tackling his friend with enough force to send both of them falling back on to the ground.

“He fucking hurt Sam.” Daryl ground out between his teeth, his jaw firm and tense. Fury flashed in his eyes, radiating blue fire, as he struggled beneath Rick’s weight. “Let me up!”

“Not ‘til you calm the Hell down.” Sprawled across his friend, Rick forced the hand that held the knife to the ground; his hand clenched tightly around Daryl’s wrist as he struggled beneath him. “It was an accident. I saw what happened, Daryl. Tyler didn’t mean to hit Sam.” Catching Daryl’s eye, Rick repeated himself until the fury that blue gaze eased a bit. “It was an accident.”

“What in the Hell is going on out here?” Bo Collins demanded, his deep voice booming from behind Cassie. Pushing past the crowd that had gathered just outside the doorway, Bo stomped over to the pile of men laying on the grass and cussed at the sight before him. Disgusted, he started towards Tyler, but stopped short when he realized that Sam was injured. Rushing to his sister’s side, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to her cheek after she moved her hand away so he could see the injury. “Who hit you? Was it Dixon?”

“No, of course not.” Sam cringed at the sting of pain caused from Bo pressing down on the gash with the handkerchief as he tried to staunch the flow of blood. She heard Daryl curse behind her and growl at the accusation, furious that anyone would think he would ever hit her. “Tyler and Daryl were fighting, I tried to break it up and Ty hit me. It was an accident, I promise.” She explained, more so for Daryl’s benefit than her brother’s, in hopes that he would finally realize that the incident was really just an accident, a misunderstanding.

“You need to go get that looked at, you’re gonna need stitches.” Bo winced as he pulled away the once white scrap of material that was now liberally soaked a deep red with Sam’s blood. Glancing over at Cassie, he waved her over to them and started barking out orders. “Take Sam, go find Krista and have her clean this up.”

She started to object, not wanting to leave Daryl, but one glance towards him had Sam changing her mind. Pacing back and forth with an angry scowl marring his beautiful face, danger gleamed in his eyes, Daryl reminded her of a caged animal; wild and fierce and looking for something to unleash its fury upon. Her gaze swept past him, flicking down to the ground to where his knife lay forgotten for the moment and a wave of nausea washed over her when she realized just what he had meant to do with that weapon, who he had planned to bury the blade in to. Turning away from Daryl, her stomach twisting at the realization of what nearly happened to her brother, Sam let Cassie lead her back in to the building to find her sister in law for medical attention.

Behind a thick swath of dark bangs, Daryl watched Sam turn away from him and disappear inside the building; leaning against Cassie while pressing the bloodstained handkerchief to her face. He had only wanted to protect Cassie from Tyler and somehow, everything had gotten completely out of control. Leaning down to pick up his discarded hunting knife, the one he had cherished since the day Sam had given it to him years ago, he cursed when Rick’s boot covered the handle and prevented him from wrapping his hand around it. Glancing up at his friend, his brother, he saw the flicker of distrust in Rick’s eyes at the thought of letting him have the weapon back. Straightening, he shook his head and mumbled, “I ain’t gonna do nothing with it. Just want it back.” That knife had been by his side every day since he’d received it and not having its weight in the sheath on his belt felt strange.

“I think its best I keep up with it right now.” Rick’s voice was even, steady and supposed to be reassuring, but only succeeded in pissing Daryl off further judging by the flare of anger in his eyes. Leaning over to pick up the knife, Rick stuck the blade between his belt and waistband of his pants. “What happened out here, Daryl?”

“I’ll tell you what happened! Dixon went crazy and attacked me.” Tyler spouted off from where he stood with his brother. Tyrese and Abe stood in the middle of the group, acting as barriers in case things between Daryl and Tyler got heated once more. “I was talking to Cassie and he flipped out.”

“The Hell I did!” Daryl snapped, taking a step towards Tyler with his lips curled in a snarl of disgust at the man’s blatant lie. Raising a hand, he jabbed a finger in Tyler’s direction. “You need to learn to keep your goddamned hands off women who don’t want ‘em there. She told you to leave her the fuck alone and you manhandled her.”

“What does Cassie have to do with this, Ty? If what Dixon’s saying is true, why were you allegedly manhandling her?” Bo asked, confusion marring his face at Daryl’s explanation of what had happened. While he normally didn’t second guess his brothers, he knew Daryl well enough to know that the man didn’t unintentionally provoke people. Of course, just because he rarely started the fight, didn’t mean Daryl wasn’t a willing participant.

“Because he’s been fucking her for years.” Daryl chimed in when Tyler remained silent and smirked at the look on Bo’s face. “Yeah, your fucking yellow bellied brother’s been diddling Sam’s best friend and was too damn ashamed about it to say anything. Like he’s even good enough for Cassie Delaney. Shit, he ain’t good enough to lick her damned shoes, much less be involved with her.”

“You shut the fuck up, Dixon! Don’t know shit about what was going on between me and Cass!” Tyler yelled, earning himself a glare of annoyance from his brother. “We were fine ‘til you showed back up. This guy started sniffing around and got Cassie all confused and she called things off with me.” Tyler snarled in Rick’s direction, a look of disgust on his normally handsome features that were now marred with deep red marks that would undoubtedly turn in to dark purple bruises by morning. Blood trickled down the side of his face from a cut above his eyebrow and was already starting to crust around the inside of his nose where it had been busted by the powerful blow from Daryl’s knuckles.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Bo demanded when Daryl stalked past them, heading in the direction Sam had just left. “We aren’t done here.”

The look on Daryl’s face when he glanced over his shoulder at Bo clearly stated just how done with the conversation he truly was. Turning back towards the building, he bypassed the back door in favor of darting around the side to head towards the infirmary since Krista would take Sam there to treat her injury. He rounded the corner as the trio of women exited out the front door and Daryl hurriedly crossed the patch of grass that separated them, concern etched across his face.

Seeing Daryl, Sam told Cassie and Krista to go on to the infirmary and said she wouldn’t be too far behind them. Their worried glances towards the ball of tension that was Daryl Dixon didn’t escape his notice and further darkened his mood. Lowering the scrap of material from her cheek, Sam wadded it up in her hand and crossed her arms over her chest. Glaring at Daryl, her own anger bubbled up and spilled over. Her voice was lowered when she spoke, but was heavy with the swirling emotions that raged inside. “What? Were you gonna kill Tyler if they hadn’t stopped you? He’s an asshole, but he’s still my brother, Daryl. What were you thinking?” Shaking her head at his silence, pissed that he couldn’t even come up with an excuse for his behavior, Sam simply turned her back on Daryl and left him standing alone in the street.

Notes

Thank you so much on the reviews and votes on the last chapter! I appreciate every single comment left for me and I love love love to hear from you guys!

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