Walking Dead 1. Restart Button

**Hello lovelies! And welcome to my ****new Walking Dead story!  
****I have wanted to get back into writing fanfiction, but I haven't had the inspiration to until lately. So, I'm hoping you will all enjoy this one because I love the show and I worked super hard!**

**The true title of this story is #Zombie Apocalypse.**  
**Unfortunately, I am unable to insert the #, and spelling out "Hashtag" just doesn't look right to me.  
So I will be changing the title, although, I am unsure as to what at this moment.**

**Yes, I did choose to start the story before the "shit hits", but I promise I will make sure to follow the story line as closely as possible (but adding the tweaks ****necessary****for my OC). Please remember that I do not own The Walking Dead, just my own characters.  
Time for the premiere of my new story! Please enjoy.**

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**Chapter One: Restart Button**

**Countdown to Apocalypse: 98 Days**

Stepping off the final step of the bus and onto the concrete sidewalk was the best thing to happen to Nicolette "Cole" Matheson in four days, the entire duration of her captivity within the small confines of the metal hotbox as it brought her across the country. She stretched like a lazy cat, raising her arms above her head, and even releasing a small growl of a sound before she finally returned her arms to their place at her sides. The bus driver moved at the pace of a sloth as he found his way to the side compartment at the base of the bus, pulling the door upwards and reaching for her duffel bag in the back. The decrepit bus driver passed her duffel bag to her and then made his way back to the worn in chair that had been his perch the entire journey, looking at her once more with a smile and a wave to wish her well.

She smiled and swung her bag over her shoulder as she started down the sidewalk, looking around and enjoying the slightly familiar surroundings, but also noting the drastic changes that had been made.

The quaint houses, all of them surrounded by picket fences and contained perfectly manicured lawns within, became monotonous after the first ten or so. The homes seemed like they were attempting to replicate the suburbs of the large cities, but all they ended up emulating was something out of the Stepford Wives: uniformed perfection with no hint of individualism or creativity of any kind. Cole found that the appeal of the smaller towns was that they tended to have wide open spaces and neighbors who were few and far between. Cole really hoped that her gran hadn't fallen prey to this bothersome trend; she had always preferred her gran's peculiar taste in decoration.

She had visited this town every summer until she was thirteen years old to see her grandmother, but that joy was cut off eleven years ago, the decision having come from her parents. She had thrown the fit of the decade – accompanied by the throwing of a multitude of stuffed animals and one very unfortunate lamp – when she found out she would not be able to return to the one place she had really felt at home.

Although, someone could have reminded her about the overwhelming heat in North Georgia; they were in the mountains, for shit's sake, wasn't it supposed to be a little cooler?

_Gran probably did mention it,_ Cole acknowledged to herself as she made her way farther and farther from her bus stop, now appreciating her choice in attire. Her light, workout tank top, jean shorts, and Nike running shoes had been the perfect choice since they allowed the breeze to cool off her entire body. Even with her light clothing, she still felt the light perspiration around her hairline and on the back of her neck where her mass of hair was currently tied back in a ponytail. Digging through her small cross body handbag that was slung low on her hip, she pulled out her favorite aviator sunglasses and was instantly thankful to escape the bright light from the glaring sun.

She continued down the road, eventually becoming bored enough to start humming some of her favorite songs from memory since she was unable to use her phone, the battery having died about halfway through the day. She had played her music on repeat from the beginning of the trip until about four hours before she was dropped off at her stop because one of the assholes on the bus decided to bring a rooster on the bus. Who the fuck brought a rooster on a bus ride? The stupid thing was made noise every ten minutes and crowed whenever he felt like, even if it was in the middle of the night, driving everyone insane. In the few hours without her music, Cole had threatened bodily harm on the rooster's owner and had to be held back by another passenger, just to make sure she didn't throttle him and toss him out of a window with his rooster.

Cole began to notice the houses thinning out, allowing for more room in between yards and the lawns becoming a little more natural, and the sidewalk began to look a little downtrodden. She sighed as a small amount of relief flooded through her, knowing that she hadn't become completely lost or traveled in the wrong direction to get to her Gran's place.

As she ran her hand deftly over her forehead to remove the small amount of sweat that accumulated, she tuned into a horribly loud sound coming from behind her, a roaring sound she had not heard in a very long time. A motorcycle. Of course she had seen them where she had been living before, but they normally made the sounds of a small kitten purring, while this one sounded like a lion's rough roar on repeat. She heard the sounds quieting momentarily before she heard a voice, "Hey there sweetcheeks, where in the world do ya think yer runnin' off ta?" Cole turned to acknowledge the man on the motorcycle and saw he had a bigger build with short, greying hair and a small amount of five o'clock shadow. He was on the tan side and wore a short sleeved shirt over a white sleeveless shirt that was left open, a pair of slightly dirty cargo pants, and a pair of worn in boots.

"I'm heading to my gran's house, but what's it to you?" Cole said with a smile as she continued walking, his motorcycle following at a slow and steady pace beside her, which wasn't a huge problem since there were no other vehicles on the road. She lifted her sunglasses onto the top of her head so that she could keep eye contact with him since she had always seemed to have the ability to sense someone's true intentions by keeping eye contact.

"'Cause, I can't just let a perty lady walk 'round here by herself. Some of these guys ain't the nicest," the man on the motorcycle said, his gruff voice accentuated by his accent. The man sounded like he had smoked multiple packs of cigarettes a day, since he was four.

"I think I'll be fine. I'm very good with handling men, especially the bad ones," Cole said with a chuckle and a playful wink in his direction, her tongue poking out of her lips to show that she was joking with him. She watched as his mouth pulled back into a grin and he began laughing whole heartedly, although it sounded more like a merging of laughter and wheezing.

She laughed with the man momentarily as she continued making her way down the sidewalk, dodging some of the pieces that had been lifted by roots pushing upwards, or maybe someone just decided to take a sledgehammer to the sidewalk.

"Well, if yer into bad men, ya found yerself one of the baddest," he chuckled to her, revving his motorcycle, as if the sound would somehow magically make her find him attractive.

"And here I thought you were just a Good Samaritan," Cole retorted, shifting her bag over her shoulder, a slight smirk on her lips at her witty response. Normally, she would not have been able to think up such a clever remark until after the conversation was over, but this man just made her want to keep on her toes. He laughed at her comment as well, but she noticed his patience waning quickly, which made her guess at the fact that women probably threw themselves at him and his bike. Too bad she was not one of those women.

"Now now hun, I was only tryin' to help ya find yer way and maybe offer ya a ride on my bike. Whatcha' might end up ridin' on later is up to ya," he grinned at her with a Cheshire smile, thinking his blunt innuendo would help his case. Cole couldn't contain her laughter as she burst into a fit of laughter and giggles, bending at the waist to grab onto her stomach, unable to believe that this man was really that forward. She heard him curse in her direction and she finally calmed herself down enough so her ability to speak returned, "Look, you seem like the kind of guy who can make those pickup lines work and I'm sure ladies throw themselves into your bed after hearing them, but I am not one of those girls. Although, I truly respect you for trying to pick up a complete and total stranger, which takes guts."

She watched as anger flared behind his eyes, but it dissipated as soon as it appeared, and the man chuckled once more. "Ya got some kind of balls turnin' me down and laughin' at me like that, but it's yer loss, sugar tits," he informed her with a shrug of his shoulders. He gave her a quick nod as a good-bye before revving his motorcycle once more, but speeding up down the road and away from her. Cole no longer heard the motorcycle after a few moments, revealing the speed of the motorcycle man, either fleeing from his embarrassment or from her.

It took Cole another fifteen minutes or so before she finally found her gran's trailer. The siding was painted a shade of tan which paled in comparison to the front door that was painted a bright shade of teal with filigree designs painted on in other neon colors. The steps leading to her front porch were painted a bright orange, but the color was chipping and fading from wear. Her gran's small piece of land had a few trees spotted on it, so she'd taken her eccentric taste into nature as well, hanging color stained mason jars and small wind chimes on the available lower limbs. Cole smiled at her grandmother's ways, but also remembered that the home had needed some major work when she was here last; the roof leaked, the pipes dripped, the guest toilet wouldn't flush, and there were many more problems that she hadn't understood when she was younger. Inspecting the roof with sharp eyes, she was taken aback when she realized that her gran's roof wasn't just fixed, it was practically brand new. When had that happened? Who had fixed it?

_At least it's fixed. Now Gran won't have to worry all the time, _Cole thought, shaking her questions away and making her way up the porch steps and knocking on the door. "Hey Gran, are you in there?" She called out, waiting for only a few seconds before the door was flung open and she felt her gran's thin arms wrap around her, crying out something that sounded like, "My grandbaby!"

She laughed softly, dropping her duffel back onto the porch and hugging her grandmother, petting her back calmly, knowing her gran was probably crying or on the brink of tears. Cole began blinking away the tears that burned at the corner of her eyes, she hadn't seen her only grandmother in eleven years, and she had missed her dearly.

"Hey Gran, I've missed you too," Cole cooed to the woman, soothing her as best as she could. "Why don't we head inside? It's hotter than I remembered out here," she laughed, pulling away from her gran and directing her inside the door. She leaned down momentarily to grab her duffel bag, but she left it next to the doorway, leading her gran into the living room and onto the couch.

She sat her down on the bright purple sofa, smiling to herself as she realized no amount of Stepford houses would ever make her gran change; Gran would never deter from her quirky ways. The walls of the living room were an off white color and they were the least colorful things in the room. Gran's living room looked as if the color wheel just kept spinning and splattered all over the room; the couch and love seat were a matching set, but her side tables had been sanded and painted into a shade of yellow that went with the couch, in a strange way.

Focusing back on her family member, she reached out and handed a small box of tissues to the woman, watching as she wiped her face and dotted at the corner of her eyes where her tear ducts would be found. "I'm so happy to see you, sweetie. And Lord have Mercy, you've grown up so much!" Gran gushed as she put one a bright smile for Cole, her joy bringing a smile to Cole's lips as well.

"I'm really happy to see you too, Gran. Thanks for letting me stay with you for a while. I really needed to get away," Cole nibbled on her bottom lip nervously, wringing her hands as they were in her lap. She felt Gran's hand on her shoulder and she looked up at her, "Divorce is hard honey, I'm sure your mom and dad didn't mean to bring you in the middle of their war."

"I know they didn't, but it feels like they want me to pick one of them and never speak to the other again. They're the ones with the problems, not me." She growled about it, remembering the blow up of massive proportions the day before she left. She hadn't even told her college that she was leaving; she just packed up and bought her bus ticket the next morning, knowing she'd pick up the pieces of her life when she decided to return.

Her mom and dad had been fighting through their divorce for months. They fought over money, the house, the cars, and even her. She was their only child and she loved them both very much, but she was so thankful that she was 24 and wasn't going through this as a child. So, in their attempts to gain her favor, her dad bought her a car so her mother bought her a purebred stallion. When her parents found out she was gone, they decided to ship their presents – more like bribes – down with her. Her new car would come to her gran's house and her stallion would be housed in a local stable, all expenses paid.

"That's not what they're trying to do," Gran told her, but they both knew she was lying. Her parents were obsessed with keeping up appearances and their statuses in society; the talk of their divorce was spreading through their elite circle of people like a wild fire. They had split up most of their assets already, so whoever Cole chose to spend more time with would be the "winner".

Wanting to change the topic of conversation, Cole shook off her feelings before looking up at her grandmother, "I'll definitely go and look for a job so I can help cover some of my living expenses. I don't want to just squat in your guest bedroom."

"Oh sweetie, I already knew you would want a job, so I talked to Miss Terri at the bar and told her you were a bartender back home. You start tomorrow night," Gran smiled at her and Cole felt her eyes go wide.

"Gran, I worked in a bar back home, but I wasn't a bartender. I learned a few things, but I can't mix frilly cocktails or anything like that," Cole said nervously, not wanting to have her gran stick her neck out for her, only to fail.

"Nicolette, this the mountains of Georgia honey, do you really think anybody wants a martini? If you happen to encounter some snotty, little shit who does order one, Terri will take it and teach you how to do it," Gran said, making Cole's mouth drop in shock, apparently the south had made her gran a little tougher.

Lowering her head and laughing to herself, Cole couldn't contain her amusement. This was her carefree, peace-loving grandmother, spouting cuss words to her. It was just too funny! Inhaling and exhaling a soft sigh, she looked at her gran with a big smile, studying her features. Her gran was only shorter than her now because of her hunched back, her original height in her prime had been about 5'6, but she was now shorter than Cole's 5'4 height. At the age of 78, Cole was surprised with the fact that her gran's hair still had color in it, a pale shade of blonde with silver streaked in. Her green eyes were bright, albeit a little glassy from Cataracts, but her cheeks were still rosy and prominent. Normally, when someone in her family grew in age, they tended to become porcelain pale, but living in the Georgia sun had kept her grandmother's skin a soft tan.

"Alright Gran, I'll be there tomorrow. I will try my best," Cole told her, standing from her seat and grabbing her duffel from the door. "It's still okay to use the guest room, right?" She asked and her gran nodded, moving into the kitchen and Cole knew the woman was already cooking up dinner ideas in her head.

Heading down the hallway that was splattered with photographs of the family; she walked past the hall closet and opened the door after it, revealing the guest bedroom. It hadn't really changed, except for a few minor decorations. The room was a soft nude color, with dark wood side tables and a vanity in the corner, the full-sized bed adorned with a comforter set that looked as if the design had been painted onto it. Cole noted that the room, other than vintage perfume bottles as decoration, was devoid of her grandmother's usual styling. This room looked like it had been redesigned to suit her tastes and purpose.

She had to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes as she began to unpack, setting her clothes out onto the bed and the vintage trunk that sat at the foot of her bed, folding them properly or hanging others. Her grandmother must have scrambled so hard to redecorate this room when she had called a few days ago to let her know she was coming.

_Damn, I love that woman,_ Cole thought as she finished up packing, closing the door to the room as she left, following the delicious smell of food that was coming from the kitchen. "Gran, whatever that is, I am going to gorge myself on it!"

Cole had not expected the amount of food that Gran was making as she entered the kitchen. Was the woman trying to feed an army? Eight large, baked chicken breasts were cooling as Gran continued to stir some butter into a huge pot of mashed potatoes, and from the smell, the final large pot was filled with green beans. There were hot rolls already placed on the table in the middle of two table settings, but Gran had two other plates ready on her counter top. "Jeez Gran, are you trying to feed the whole town? Are more people coming to dinner?" Cole asked, taking a seat in one of the kitchen table chairs, grabbing a roll and tearing off pieces before she popped them into her mouth.

"No, just the two boys down the road. They don't really eat much and they'll forget completely if I don't bring them food," Gran said, scooping out a large serving of mashed potatoes and plopping them onto the plates; she did the same with the green beans and put two chicken breasts on each plate, along with two rolls.

"They aren't taking advantage of your kindness, are they Gran?" She asked, a little wary of these boys. Her gran had always been a bit too kind and trusting with others; Cole had watched her fall for several sob stories and end up in trouble, so now that she was here, she would make sure Gran would never get taken advantage of.

"No sweetie, not at all. The older brother is a bit rough around the edges and he'll attempt to weasel money out of me, but he knows when to cool his jets with me. The younger brother is hard worker and doesn't open up very well, but I'm cracking that surface, I know it. They've had a pretty rough life and no one really wants to associate with them that much, but they helped with fixing this old place of mine, so if they need a hot meal, they know they're more than welcome to get one from me." Gran said firmly, finishing up the plates and wrapping them in aluminum foil to keep them hot, then plating both of theirs with much smaller portions.

The meal was fun and lively, the conversation never ceasing for more than a few moments so they both could eat bites of their dinner. Cole told her gran about her small apartment back home and how she had enjoyed living apart from her parents, about her college and how she loved the classes she took, and finally about the few friends she had made and would miss until she went back.

After dinner, Cole picked up all the dirty dishes and began washing them and putting them on the drying rack, but when Gran asked if she had wanted help, she shooed her away. Instead of battling it out with Cole's stubbornness, her gran decided to take the plates down the road to the boys, promising Cole she would return soon.

She finished the dishes and made her way to the bathroom, turning on the shower and undressing quickly and stepping into the hot spray. Her hair and body products had been waiting for her and she enjoyed cleaning the grime of her journey off of her body. When she was done, she dried off with the soft terrycloth towels and brushed her teeth for bed. She was exhausted and missed sleeping in an actual bed and since she had her first day of work tomorrow, she decided she definitely needed some kind of rest.

Plugging her phone into her charger, she waited for it to come back from the dead before she set a new alarm for herself for in the morning, wanting to wake early and go for her daily run. As she was climbing into the bed sheets, she heard Gran walking through the front door, calling goodnight to her. Cole returned the sentiment, pulling the sheets up to her neck, and burying her face into the pillow. It smelled like Gran's home and the Georgia summer. It smelled liked home. As that thought crossed her mind, she smiled before letting her eyes close and drifting off to sleep.

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**So, what did you guys think? I really want to know, so please don't hold back! Any kind of criticism is good criticism and will help me become a better writer. Remember to leave reviews, favorite and follow. You can even send me a private message - I will answer all/as many as I can.  
Until the next chapter, my dears!**

**Hugs and kittens,**

**cortneymonster**


	2. Cheers and Jack Daniels

**Hello everyone! Thank you so very much for being so patient with me! I have been through three kinds of hell these past few weeks. I got kidney stones and wound up in the hospital, then I ended up back in the hospital almost a week later, with a broken finger. I was do doped up on pain medicine, I didn't even know which way was up! I've finally become somewhat lucid, so I figured I needed to hurry up and get this story updated.  
**

**I'd like to thank my reviewers:  
y2j591: Thank you for your support in my title change. And do not worry, we shall find out who these boys down the street really are soon enough.  
To my three amazing guest reviewers: Thank you so much for your enthusiasm for my story, I hope I can keep receiving those positive reactions coming!  
**

**I do believe I have kept you all from my next chapter long enough, so please enjoy!**

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**Chapter Two: Cheers and Jack Daniels**

**Countdown to Apocalypse: 97 Days**

Cole woke up to the ridiculously annoying sound of the alarm clock on her phone, shrieking in her ears like a banshee and forcing her into consciousness. She groaned as she reached her hand out from the warm comfort of her covers to smack at her phone in an attempt to silence the noise. After a few weak taps to the screen, the noise finally came to a halt, but she was already awake by that time and that there was no going back to sleep for her. Forcing her body upwards, she raked a hand lazily through her hair as the covers slid down and away from her body, trying to convince herself that she shouldn't just pull the covers over her head and go back to sleep.

_No, just because you're living somewhere new doesn't mean you should start picking up bad habits,_ Cole reminded herself, twisting her body to the edge of the bed and planting her feet of the floor. After a few moments of the continual power struggle raging on inside her mind, she blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the lighting, and standing to move into the bathroom. She washed her face and brushed her teeth until she was completely awake, heading back into her bedroom to pull on a pair of black, compression running capris and a simple tank top. She sat on the edge of her bed to pull on her running shoes, lacing them up and standing from her bed.

Cole made her bed quickly and efficiently, not wanting Gran to think she wasn't going to pick up after herself, and also because an unmade bed drove her insane. Her apartment had been kept in pristine condition – especially when it was so small – everything had its place or the place would have seemed claustrophobic to her. Grabbing her phone and ear buds, she strapped on her workout arm band, settled her phone in its place and plugged her ear buds in. Tying her hair in a ponytail, high on the back of her head, she checked the clock on the wall that showed her it was almost half past seven in the morning before she walked out the front door.

She walked up to the closest tree after the front porch, putting one of her hands against the rough bark to use as a balance support, her other hand grabbing the toe of her shoe and pulling it to meet her side. She repeated the stretch on the other leg, along with a few other commons stretches to prevent her from spraining or pulling something on her run, and she really didn't want to end up in a doctor's office on her second day here. Placing her ear buds in their place, she tapped on her phone's screen a few times before music came pouring into her ears, sending her off on her run and into her own little world.

Running was something Cole had always been good at, she'd even been on the track team in high school, and she'd taken first place in several track meets. Her coach had once told her she ran with the speed and the grace of a doe, although she'd taken it as somewhat of an awkward compliment, she had ultimately thanked the woman for helping her keep her body in excellent running condition. She originally started running because one of her classmates had told her that running was a good way to think without any distractions, but for Cole it was more of a way to not think, to escape reality and all of her problems for a short amount of time.

Cole had followed the road down farther than her gran's house, passing the trailers without paying much interest, more focused on adjusting to the new terrain beneath her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she did take notice of the somewhat familiar motorcycle that sat in the path that resembled a driveway, next to an older model pickup truck. She laughed softly to herself, her eyes returning to the road ahead of her, seeing that there was a trail off to the right that led into the woods. Since she never really had the opportunity to run in the woods while in the city, she turned off the sidewalk and headed into the woods, picking up her pace as she dodged the fallen branches and jumped over logs. She stumbled at one point when some leaves made her slide on the ground, but she regained her footing easily and building her pace once more, and turning herself back towards the roads.

She arrived back at Gran's house, walking through the door and heading to the older woman's side, leaning down and kissing her cheek before being shooed away by her as she is captivated by one of her favorite soap operas. Cole choked back a laugh, heading back into her room to remove her sweat-covered clothes and shoes, wanting to get into a shower as soon as possible.

Quickly showering off, she changed into a pair of shorts and an over-sized tee-shirt, walking into the living room and tossing herself onto the couch. She relaxed into the worn-in material, her eyes on the soap opera's drama unfolding before her on the television, but she was more content with the fact that she was able to spend time with her gran. As the show came to its climax, with its predictable cliffhanger of an ending, she glanced back at Gran when she heard the curse words spilling from her mouth. "Stupid son of a bitch! You know you shouldn't have been fuckin' around with that shady bastard! Now look at cha!" Gran cursed, shaking her fist at the television, obviously very into soap opera's details, and Cole had to clamp her bottom lip in between her teeth to hold back her laughter.

"Wow, Gran, that's one special kind of vocabulary you have developed there," Cole said, her voice straining from holding back her laughter. Gran's head whipped around and stared at her, as if just realizing she was there, and her face instantly turned bright red. Cole was sure every neighbor on the street could hear her peals of laughter, her body contorting and curling up as she clutched at her stomach, the muscles in pain from the amount of laughter. She heard Gran fussing at her, although there was no real anger in her tone, but it took Cole a few more minutes to come down from her giggling fit. Wiping at the tears that had developed in her eyes, some having also slid down her cheek, she sat herself up on the couch and grinned at her grandmother.

"Gran, the south has definitely turned you into a bad ass," Cole said, grinning up at her, happy that she did turn out this way. Her parents used to talk about how Gran used to get duped and walked over all the time when they were in the early years of their marriage, saying that her grandmother was just "too nice". She had always wondered why being nice was a bad thing, weren't people supposed to be kind and helpful to others in need?

"Not really the south, more like the boys down the road," Gran chuckled and Cole's eyes went wide at the confession; her grandmother was cussing like a sailor because of young boys? If she had ever cussed around her parents before she moved out, they would've shoved a bar of soap in her mouth, even if she was a legal adult. Oh well, they weren't her kids, so how their parents wanted to raise them was none of her business.

"Speaking of boys from around here, Gran, do you remember the boys I used to play with?" She asked, her head titling backwards to rest on the back of the couch, pulling one of her legs onto the couch and wrapping her arms around it. She remembered playing with a lot of different kids around the neighborhood and since her grandmother wasn't as spry as she once was, she had ended up making friends with kids her own age. Although, she did remember one boy she ended up trailing after, to his extreme irritation. He was a few years older than her friends, but she had been a boy-crazy teenage girl, and he had been the apple of her eye.

"Sweetheart, you played with a lot of boys 'round here. I couldn't keep them little snots away from you, trying to cozy up to my grandbaby like that," Gran said, folding her arms and releasing an irritated huff, since the boys of the neighborhood used to come to her door at all hours of the day, wanting to see Cole. It became a daily occurrence every summer, right up until the day Cole returned home.

Cole laughed at her grandmother's irritation, before trying to soothe her, "Well, at least we don't have to worry anymore. I don't plan on getting involved with anyone any time soon."

"Honey, I know you don't plan on it, but you never know," Gran said with a smile, sitting back down in her comfy chair as her next soap opera's opening sequence found its way onto the screen. Instead of listening to the dramatics of the soap, Cole stood from her place on the couch and headed back into her bedroom to take a nap. If she was starting work tonight, at a bar, she would most likely be up half the night and she would need it. As the thought of work drifted across her mind, she paused at the entrance to her bedroom, looking down the hallway of the living room where her grandmother sojourned. "Hey Gran, I start work tonight, right? What am I supposed to wear?"

"Terri said you can just wear jeans or jean shorts, she's not picky. Your uniform shirts are washed and already in your closet. Terri said you can have at those too, but remember that you're my grandchild and I do own a gun!" Gran called out from the living room, laughing joyfully, but she went silent mid-laugh and that was the signal of her soap coming back from commercial. Cole smiled, heading into her room and plopping onto her bed, instantly snuggling into the amazing mattress and thick comforter. Setting her phone on the night stand, she set an alarm so she would still have time to get ready and doll herself up for work; a pretty bartender was a well-tipped bartender, according to her old coworkers.

It was a relief when it only took moments for her to completely relax and drift off into her nap.

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The shrill noise of her alarm woke her up once more, but Cole had been drifting in between that state of sleep where one can hear everything, but they're still halfway asleep. She lifted herself easily this time as she reached over and turned off her alarm, sitting up and figuring out what she should do first to get ready for her first day at work.

She was going to start with her hair, since it tended to be a tedious task, especially with the mass of thick hair she had. Her hair tended to keep curls longer than it kept with straight hair – generally, if she straightened her hair and went outside, it took all of five minutes before her hair looked like she put her finger in an electrical socket – so she decided to go with her gut. Plugging her curling wand into the outlet near the vanity, she parted her hair with a large clip, and waited until she heard the styling tool beep its readiness before beginning her extensive task.

It took her almost an hour, a quarter of a bottle of hairspray, numerous squirts of her non-frizzing product, and a few runs to the bathroom to run water over her burnt fingertips before her hair was finally ready. Turning off her curling wand, she unplugged it and set it aside to cool down as she arranged her hair to perfection, running her fingers through the mass to loosen the curls and break apart some of Shirley Temple look-alike curls.

She noted the time on her phone as she began to pull out her makeup, decorating the vanity top with it, contemplating her makeup choices for the evening. She opened her music player on her phone, hitting play, and leaning forward to start on her makeup. She kept her choices a little simple: a thin line of black eyeliner on her top lash line, a very minimal amount of eyeliner around her bottom lashes that faded into her lash line, a pair of short yet thick false eyelashes to make her eyes pop, and a simple shade of lipstick to show of the curve of her mouth. All in all, she was pleased with herself and she hoped her resolve to look decent paid off in the end, with lots of tips.

_I think I better take a look at this uniform shirt,_ she thought, looking towards her closet as if a monster awaited her inside. What if her uniform was ugly? What if the bar was named after a hotdog and the shirts were tie-dyed? She knew she was being irrational about her fears, considering that they were in a small town and in the mountains of Georgia, but damn, she hadn't even been able to look at the place before she was hired.

Inhaling a deep breath and exhaling a few times, calming her ever-rising nerves, she walked to the closet and tossed open the door. She hadn't realized she had closed her eyes, in the way people do when they brace themselves for a punch they know is coming, but as her eyes fluttered open, she knew she would never receive that proverbial punch. Her uniform was kind of… cute.

It was a simple, black tee-shirt with a small, white logo printed on the front. In the middle of the circular logo, a fox was standing with his arms crossed, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a cigarette hanging from its grinning teeth. Next to the picture was the name, The Shady Fox, seemingly written by the fox's smoke. The name made Cole smirk as she turned the shirt around to see the same logo, but without the surrounding circle, the same yet now larger fox would lean against her right shoulder and the town's name and the state at the bottom. If the bar was anything like their uniforms, she felt like she would fit right in, and most likely end up enjoying her time spent there.

Even though she was told she could do whatever she wanted to her uniform, she decided that she should keep to the original first, at least until she could see the extent of her other coworkers' uniforms. As she checked the time and noticed how late it was getting, she began to rush around her room to get dressed, pulling on her uniform shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and her pair of worn-in cowgirl boots. Since her boots came up a little high on her calves, she also strapped her knife sheath around her lower calf, having always been used to wearing the blade even as she lived in the city. She had lived alone, walked to her car alone and just tended to be out and about alone, and even though she was staying in a small town now, she would not compromise on her safety.

She grabbed her small cross body handbag, checking to make sure her wallet and all of her necessities were inside, and checked her appearance once more in the vanity mirror before heading out of her room. "Hey Gran, how long will it take me to walk to this place?"

"Oh sweetie, you are **not** walking around here, by yourself. You're going to take Delilah," she said, tossing Cole her keys and smiling up at her.

_Oh no, not Delilah,_ she groaned in her thoughts, her hand gripping around the keys. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at her grandmother before heading out the door, and around to the simple car port that was at the side of the trailer. Cole groaned out loud when she saw Delilah for the first time again in years; the beat-up, 1980 Honda Civic with the chipping bright blue paint job, the rusting roof, and with one of the hub caps missing seemed to mock her as she stared at it.

She bit her tongue again, walking to the driver's side door and unlocking it, ducking into the car before putting the key into the ignition and struggling to turn it over. After three tries, the car finally revved to life and Cole shifted gears, heading out of the driveway and into the road. Within ten minutes, Cole was parked outside of The Shady Fox, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm her shaky nerves. The first day at a new job was always nerve-wracking; learning names, routines and procedures, remembering the products, and interacting with customers for the first times were all things that could go either really well or very bad.

Steeling her nerves, she opened the car door and locked it up tight once she was out, heading up to the front door and walking inside. The place wasn't bad at all. No, it wasn't the classiest place in the world – with its scratched up tabletops, the well-worn-in seats sporting some tears in the fabric, and the ever present smell of cigarette smoke – but it had a good bones. This was the kind of bar where the same people came in time and time again, the workers would know who their customers were, and the people of the town could form some semblance of a bond.

"Hello? Is anyone here? My name is Cole and I'm supposed to start working today?" She called out into the seemingly empty bar, noting only a few lights were lit, but the rest of the bar was dark. She took a few more steps into the establishment, looking for anyone who worked there or could point her in the direction of whomever she needed to see.

"Hey! I'm in the back; come on and join me!" A faceless voice resonated from the back of the bar, making Cole jump at the sudden presence of another person, but doing as she was told and moving to the back of the bar. She weaved through the small bar tables, looking around to note that there were three pool tables set off to the side of the bar, a small patch of space that was probably being used as a dance floor, and an old jukebox in the corner that just seemed like it was there for decoration. She passed the large bar, shaped like half of a rectangle, but while the end on the right met the wall, the left side stopped halfway so the bartenders could get in and out from behind the bar. She went through the opening near the left side of the bar and headed into the back, barely glancing at the kitchen as she attempted to find the stranger, stopping when she saw a body appear from inside the cooler.

The woman was taller than Cole by a few inches, standing around 5'8" and although she was thin, she saw that the woman was covered in muscle. She didn't have a body builder's kind of muscle, but the kind of muscle someone who has had to do their fair share of harder labor would have, and the way she was cut made Cole instantly think of one word: fighter. The woman's hair was cut short, the back of her hair was shorter than the front, and the front angled into sharp ends. The way her hair was cut brought out her cheekbones and caramel colored eyes, her skin seemed permanently set between tan and the pinkish red of sunburn. She wore the uniform shirt, although it had been cut to look like a tank to show off her arms, and a pair of dark washed jeans that encased her legs.

The woman finally noticed her and set down the cases of beer she has been hauling from the cooler, wiping her hands on her jeans before holding out her hand, "Hey, you must be Grannie K's granddaughter. I'm Terri, third generation owner of the Shady Fox, and your new all-around bad ass boss." When Cole saw Terri grin, she couldn't help but laugh as she put her hand in the woman's and shake it.

"Thank you so much for the job, even without really knowing anything about me," Cole said, pulling away from the handshake, leaning down to grab the cases of beer Terri had just set down, hoisting them up into her arms and looking back at Terri to see her smiling at her.

"I see I made the right choice," Terri responded, heading back into the cooler to grab two more cases, leading the way back towards the bar. Behind the bar, there were three large metal tubs, already filled with ice and ready to chill the coming beers. Cole and Terri set their cases on the bar, opening the cardboard boxed and pulling an array different types of beers, plunging each of them into their icy container. Terri explained how everything worked as they prepared for opening, pausing frequently so Cole could ask questions if she needed to, but Cole found that the way Terri elaborated on everything made it easier to understand.

They worked quickly and talked constantly as they stocked the bar, cleaned the tabletops, and filled small bowls of peanuts to be placed at every table and at the bar. Cole enjoyed talking with Terri immensely, hoping that she had found a friend for her duration in the small town, and maybe even after she left. Around forty-five minutes before opening, another two bartenders, two cooks, and a busboy showed up for work. The cooks, Keith and Jackson, both seemed like very nice guys, both of them trying to welcome her and treat her like they had known her for years. They both had brown hair and brown eyes, bright smiles, and they acted very similar. Had she guessed, she would've thought they were brothers, but they were best friends and had been for their entire lives. The busboy, Trent, was a scrawny blonde kid, who ended up getting in trouble a lot because he ran his mouth. His attitude didn't really bother her; he wasn't half as bad as some of the strangers in the city, who would try to fight someone for even looking at them in the "wrong way".

The other bartenders-slash-waitresses, as Terri put it, quickly got to work behind the bar as they each got ready for the shift in their own ways. One of the girls, a small red headed girl with pale blue eyes and a mass of freckles across her nose, introduced herself to Cole in a soft voice with a meek smile. Her name was Megan and Cole instantly felt like she needed to protect her from anything, like a big sister to the girl who most likely ended up calling trouble to her, but she definitely liked her sweet demeanor. The second bartender she met, on the other hand, she could not stand. With her bleached hair and thick eyeliner, she was just one of those tramps who thought they were better than others, and Cole immediately could not stand Paris. Seriously? Who really named their child that?

_Her name is probably Gertrude or something and she's trying to go by a horrible stripper name, _Cole thought will a roll of her eyes. Paris had attempted to make herself seem like the top dog around Cole, spouting about how her customers wouldn't want a newbie, but she bit her tongue and balled her fists to restrain herself from hitting her.

Terri quickly silenced Paris, putting her on waitress duty for the rest of the night, mentioning how all of Paris's customers were her customers at the end of the night. With Paris finally silenced, hopefully for good, Terri walked to the front door and turned on the "Open" sign. Within thirty minutes of opening, people were pouring into the Shady Fox, sitting at tables and at the bar, and some even asked Terri or Megan to make some change for them so they could play pool.

Cole was happy that she was welcomed so warmly by the customers, all of the older gentlemen having already known her grandmother, and she enjoyed introducing herself to everyone. The drinks were easily – a beer bottle here, a cold beer on tap there – and Cole was feeling a bit more confident in her work as the time passed. Terri checked on her every so often, but was happy to find Cole was so comfortable, so she left her alone to do her own thing. Although the bar had been loud in general, Cole had not really paid attention to the volumes of voices until she heard a slightly familiar one, at the end of the bar.

The motorcycle man from yesterday had a beer in front of him at the bar, his hand flat against the wood of the bar, but his other hand was currently encompassing Megan's small forearm. "Please l-l-let me go," Cole heard Megan plead softly, but the man did not relent.

"Come on, sweetcheeks! I know we'd have some good kinda fun if ya just gimmie a chance," he told her, his words slightly slurring and proving his intoxication level.

Cole knew Megan needed some kind of help, especially with someone who was three times her size, so Cole moved towards Megan's end of the bar. With a few swift movements, she lifted her leg and swiped her blade out of its resting place, bringing it down onto the bar top with a thud. Right in between the man's middle and ring fingers, inches from impaling his hand completely with the blade, and she kept her focus on the man's face. The man went quiet, realization spreading across his face, and his eyes went wide as he looked down at his hand before looking back at her.

"Let go of her, now," Cole warned, her voice holding as much warmth as the polar ice caps.

"And whatsa' lil' ole thang like ya gonna do witha big ole knife like that?" He challenged her in return, a drunken smile spreading across his lips, most likely thinking she didn't know how to handle her knife.

"I'll slice you open and gut you like a pig. And I won't even mess up my hair," Cole said, her eyes turning deadly as she stared back at the man. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Megan was released from his grip and her free hand arced outward, finding its way to Megan's side, and directing her to stand behind her.

The man finally moved, pulling his hand back and holding them up in submission, laughing loudly as if to make himself believe that this was all a joke. Cole pulled her blade out of the wood of the bar with ease, sliding it back home in its place on her calf, and stepping back with Megan.

"Yer too funny, kitten," the man smiled at her, taking a large swallow of his beer and smacking the glass back down onto the counter.

"If you think that's funny, just remember: Next time, I won't miss on purpose," Cole said with a cold smile, releasing her hold on Megan and smiling back at her. She was more focused on checking Megan to see if she was okay to see the blood drain from the man's face, finally realizing how serious she was.

"Merle Dixon, you know damn well not to touch my bartenders! They don't want your grimy ass hands on them!" Terri yelled as she moved behind the bar and into the man's face, calling him every curse word under the sun. Merle just chuckled as he was being yelled at, accepting her curses with a nod of the head and few words, as if he were agreeing with a child throwing a tantrum. Even though Cole was concentrating on calming Megan down, tears having welled in her eyes and were ready to spill, the name of the motorcycle man tugged at something in the back of her memories. Had she heard his name somewhere before?

Terri was still tearing into Merle when Cole sent Megan to the back to calm down and dry her eyes, turning back to the bar and filling everyone's orders, all of them having returned from the stupefied silence and continuing on with their conversations. No one looked at her scornfully nor with fear in their eyes; it was as if what she had done was an everyday occurrence, one of which she was grateful for. She threw away the empty beer bottles that were left on the bar, replacing them in front of her customers and giving each of them a bright smile filled with appreciation, and filling Paris's alcohol order for the customers on the floor with ease. She worked her way slowly down the bar to where Terri stood with her hands on her hips, still lashing at the man before her, but she had a grin on her face as if she couldn't take him seriously.

"Hey Cole, come here for a second," Terri called to her, wrapping an arm lazily around her shoulder when Cole stopped at her side, "Cole, this is Merle. Merle, this is my new girl, Cole." She nodded to the man who had seemed to have moved on from her threat just as easily as the rest of the people in the bar; people in this town just seemed like they all carried the gene for an extra kind of tough. Maybe it was due to years of desensitization, but it still astonished her that no one person really gave her actions a second thought.

"Ya mind gettin' me anotha beer, kitten? Ole Merle here could use one right 'bout now," Merle said with a chuckle, pushing his glass towards her hands, and Cole noticed that he kept his hand away out of her reach. Now, _that_ had made her smirk as she ducked her head downward to fill the chilled glass with another beer from the tap, making sure to pour some of the foamy head from the beer into the small overflow trap located beneath the taps.

"Dammit Merle, can't leave ya alone fer one damn night and ya go off and wind up in trouble!" Someone yelled from behind Merle while Cole finished taking off the head of the beer, setting the beer down on the bar before Merle when she saw the man who had been yelling stepping up beside him.

He had short, roughly cut brown hair and a small about of five o'clock shadow above his lip, on his chin, and following his jawline. He was dressed in a simple plaid shirt, the sleeves had been removed to show off the tone of muscle in his biceps, and Cole couldn't help her eyes from wandering up the length of his arm. His jeans were slightly worn in, but they complimented his stature and she wondered if they did the same thing with his ass. The main feature on the man that caught her attention was his eyes; a gorgeous pair in a blue-grey color that she wouldn't mind staring into as he slid into…

_Down girl, you don't even know him!_ Cole conscious pulled the plug on her fantasizing and she returned back into the world that surrounded her. "Hey lil' bro, nice of ya ta finally join us!" Merle called, throwing his arm around the man and hugging him into his chest roughly. She watched as the younger brother escaped from his Merle's hold and pulled away from him, a slight scowl on his face, which she found kind of attractive, for some odd reason.

Cole was called away by a customer, but she continued to hear the younger brother attempting to corral Merle from getting on Terri's nerves and getting into trouble, but all he ended up accomplishing was getting Merle to move from the bar to one of the bar tables on the floor. She noticed that Paris immediately sauntered up to the today, her push-up bra doing most of the work to catch Merle's attention as he ordered another round for himself and a first round for his brother.

"Don't let Merle Dixon bother you, Cole. He's just drinks and does more drugs than his body can cope with sometimes," Terri told her with a small pat on her shoulder. "Now Daryl on the other hand, may be rough and tough like his brother, but he's always having to look out for Merle and trying to keep him out of jail. Daryl works himself into the ground to take care of his damn brother."

Cole had to grip onto the glass in her hands tighter to keep from dropping it all together, her eyes going a bit wide, looking back at Terri and then to the man at the table with Merle. Daryl. _Daryl Dixon_. Her first crush was alive and well, sitting twenty feet from her, and had no idea who she was. Of course she hadn't expected him to magically know who she was; she hadn't been back to her gran's since she was a kid and she had definitely grown up.

She set the mug of beer in front of another patron, running back and forth between the ends of the bars, filling drink after drink. The orders of alcohol kept her busy and kept her mind off of Daryl, who mainly kept to himself as his brother continued to guzzle down more alcohol and began to make an ass of himself.

Megan had finally rejoined her behind the bar when she heard the commotion on the floor, not surprised when she heard Merle's voice rising above the rest of the voices. He was yelling at some other guy, shaved head and buff, looking like a biker with a drug problem, and he also had Paris practically clinging onto his back. Merle stood toe to toe with the biker, just yelling before a fist went flying, and then the men attacked each other with full force. A crowd of people surrounded the pair, grappling and swinging on each other, blocking people from attempting to break them apart. Some people from the bar even left their beers unattended to try to catch a glimpse of the brawl that was currently underway.

Cole saw Terri barging towards the fighting ring, a large bucket filled with ice in her clutches as she tried to find a way into the middle of the fight, but she seemed to be making no headway. When she watched someone shove Terri away from the circle, obviously not wanting her to break up the fight, Cole started pulling glasses from the top of the bar and setting them in the sink. Megan watched her curiously, wondering what the woman could possibly be up to, but she didn't question her as she followed her example. Once the bar was clear, Cole pulled her phone from her back pocket, turning towards Megan and handing her the device, "This place has a speaking system, right? Go plug that into it and hit play."

Megan nodded, scurrying away as Cole took a few deep breaths, easing her mind and her rapid heartbeat. She walked around to the other side of the bar, smiling at a guy who was watching her, and holding out her hand for him to grab to steady herself as she stepped onto a bar stool and then onto the bar itself. A few people looked in her direction, most still focused on the fight that had now hit the floor, the men rolling around and throwing punches at the other when they had an advantage.

As music drifted across the speaker system that was not normal for the Shady Fox patrons to hear, Cole stepped into the middle of the bar, quickly switching her feet to strike onto the wood of the bar just as the music struck a hard note. That caused a few more people to change their focus as she began to move to the music that resounded through the base, her eyes lowering to focus on her feet beneath her and little else.

* * *

Daryl had been busy pulling and punching the friends of the tweaking biker away from his brother, knocking them back so Merle wouldn't end up being beaten by the whole gang. Of course Merle just **had** to go and flirt with Paris; everyone knew that bitch was a biker bunny. If you had a bike, she wanted a ride on your dick. Apparently Spider, Paris's current biker fuck, didn't appreciate Merle trying to make a move on his bitch. Merle didn't exactly make it easier on himself, talking about how the bitch had wanted it, and it had caused Spider to swing on Merle and started the full blown bar fight.

He hadn't really been paying attention to crowd – or anything else for that matter – until he heard the weird music pounding over the speaker system Terri had installed a few months ago. The music wasn't rock or country, like he was used to listening to, it had a woman's hypnotic voice mixed with strong beats and he wasn't sure how he felt about having to listen to it. He hadn't realized the purpose of the horrible music until he saw the woman standing on the bar, moving her body to its beats, and finally started appreciating the alien music.

Daryl saw that the woman was the bartender who had been next to Terri when he had showed up to get Merle under control. She had a massive amount of chocolate colored hair, all in curls, but he noticed a lighter shade poking out at the roots of her scalp. Even in her black work shirt, he could see the woman definitely filled out her bras, and she would fill his hands easily. He could see a small amount of skin as her shirt raised a few inches when she danced with her hands near or above her head, the skin as pale as the underbelly of a baby deer. Her toned legs were the same color, telling him that she was not from the south; otherwise she would have some kind of color to her skin.

Her eyes had been what had kept him at the bar with Merle for so long, hoping they would come into contact with his so he could get a better look at them. They were the brightest shade of green he had ever seen, surrounded by the dark color of her makeup, which only seemed to make them bigger to him. Now, as she twisted her body, coaxing the attention of everyone in the bar onto her, he finally caught her stare as she focused on him as she moved. She sent a coy smile in his direction, the final beat making the same statement as the first, and she froze in a playful pose and caught her breath.

As cheering erupted from all around him, Daryl looked around and saw that even his brother was cheering for the woman, finished with his fight for the evening. He watched from amongst the crowd as she climbed from the bar top and headed back behind the bar to continue with her work, acting like her performance had never happened. He smiled as he came to the reasoning behind her doing it in the first place: she'd been trying to get everyone to focus on her so the fight would end. He had to admit – he did not like to admit things about women very often – she was a smart one.

* * *

Cole was still catching her breath and she refilled mug after mug of beer for the customers who seemed to rush towards the bar after she had climbed down. She'd cleaned the bar top before setting the glasses down, plenty of people bombarding her with questions. Asking her out, asking her where she learned to dance, and some people asking if she would dance for them privately. Never going to happen.

Although she wasn't pleased with the aftermath of her dance, she was pleased with the fact that she had caught Daryl's eye towards the end of her dance and kept it until she climbed down. Terri had already thrown the biker out of the bar for the evening, then had come behind the bar to shoo her new groupies, and helped fill the final orders for the night.

Once it was last call and everyone had made their way out of the bar, all of the employees cleaned up the place, leaving smaller things to be dealt with the next day.

"I really could not believe you got everyone's attention away from a fight," Terri laughed, taking a swig from her beer bottle as they all began to unwind from the night's shenanigans.

"It was just dancing, Terri. I was an art major back home, performing arts and visual," Cole blushed, swirling the liquid around in her glass, her head leaning back against the wall of the bar as she sat on the bar top once more.

"At least we know what will get everyone's attention the next time," Megan joked, finishing her third beer, her quiet side disappearing with each drink she took from her bottle.

"Oh please, I was a half-dressed girl on a bar, dancing. You would have to have been blind to not have looked," Cole rolled her eyes, finishing of her Jack Daniels with a tilt of her head, and setting the glass into the sink. Sliding off of the bar top, she grabbed her purse from behind the counter, pulling it over her head and heading for the door.

She let the sober Jackson and Keith get her back home, Keith driving her back and Jackson following so he could pick up Keith, and she stepped into the house around 2 o'clock in the morning. She immediately headed for bed, pausing as she saw a note on the table from her gran, picking it up and reading:

_Cole,_

_The boys from down the street will be here in the morning to help me fix some stuff around the house, since it's Saturday. Just giving you a heads up! Night night!_

_Love,_

_Gran._

Cole didn't give the note much thought as she moved back into her bedroom, crawling into her bed after stripping off her uniform and shoes, barely having the energy to remove her makeup. She was asleep before she hit the pillow, her mind not really caring that two, little boys would be running around the house tomorrow.

* * *

**Thank you all so much for reading the second chapter to Incurable. Please, remember to review, favorite, and follow so I know I'm not just typing for my health. You are also more than welcome to PM me, I will respond to any/every one I can.**

**Until the next chapter my dears,**

**cortneymonster**


	3. Shower Buddy

**Hello everyone! Thank you so very much for being patient with me and my updating. If you read my other story, then you know that I recently lost my dog, who was my baby for most of my lifetime. I am still dealing and coping with the loss of him and I am trying to regain my urge to work on my stories. I will attempt to return to my quick updating, but until then, please continue to be patient with me.**

**I would like to take this time to thank my amazing reviewers:  
tiffani42112: I am so very glad you took a chance on my story. I admit, it's hard to work with Daryl's shyness sometimes, but I am definitely hoping that he'll open up soon. I promise the terrifying zombie apocalypse shall arrive sooner rather than later, so I have my fingers crossed that you'll stick with me!  
DixonMcManusReedusMama: I'm happy you found my story too! Oh snap, I'm really glad that Cole reminds you of yourself. I want Cole to be someone we can all relate too, so keep me updated on how you think her reactions to things are. **

* * *

**Chapter Three: Shower Buddy**

**Countdown to Apocalypse: 96 Days**

Another morning, another assault on her ears by the wailing of the alarm clock on her phone. Cole's hand shot out from under the comfort of her covers, smacking her fingers until silence settled throughout her bedroom once more, and her nerves finally coming down from high alert her alarm sent them into. Picking up her phone and lifting it towards her, she opened a single, squinted eye to check the time. **7:12 AM**. The clock mocked and she contained the urge to laugh, her thoughts becoming defiant at the thought of her morning run, _Yeah, that is definitely not going to happen_.

Setting her phone back on the night stand, Cole rolled over in her bed and decided to drift back off into her dreamland.

Her so-called dreamland was short lived as she found herself jolting at the sound of something crashing outside. She heard her gran's laugh from outside and immediately relaxed her nerves once more. What was up with her today? She was 0 to 60 in a heartbeat and that just was not like her. Glancing at her phone once more, she noted she slept for three more hours before she had been disturbed by the nerve wrecking crash. She heaved a sigh, the realization that she would most likely not be able to fall back asleep, and lifted herself from underneath her covers. She sat up on her bed, sitting cross legged as she adjusted herself to the reality of being awake, trying to motivate herself to get up and be productive.

The idea of a shower made her perk up, finally finding the energy to climb off of her bed and collect some clothes to change into afterwards. As she stepped outside of her bedroom, she didn't hear much noise from outside, which was a little odd to her. If Gran had invited the boys from down the road to help out, shouldn't there be some loud noises or the sound of them running around? Maybe they were the cause of the crashing noise and her gran was disciplining them, although that thought made Cole snort. Her gran disciplining a pair of kids? Not a chance.

She shook off her sleep as she pulled out a towel from the closet next to the bathroom, heading for her destination and closing the door behind her. The shower was one of those showers-slash-bathtubs that you saw a lot these days in apartments, where you could attempt to appeal to both kinds of people. After all, there were only two kinds of people in this world: bath takers and shower takers. Cole stuck her hand into the shower to turn on the water, wanting to let it warm up before she subjected herself to freezing cold water. She brushed her teeth while waiting for the shower to heat up, undressing and brushing out her hair before she stepped past the pale blue shower curtain. Her face met with the spray from the showerhead, forcing her eyes closed as she tried to situate herself so she could see.

Blinking away the water once she escaped the water barraging her face, she wiped at her eyes before she reached for her shampoo to begin her showering routine. Shampoo while she completed an in-shower facial cleansing, then onto using her favorite loofa to scrub her body with soap, after that she conditioned, and finally her body washing was followed by a small amount of baby oil to make her skin smooth.

Cole was rinsing the shampoo from her hair when she felt something against her foot, but assuming it was the suds from her shampoo, she ignored it. She was still getting used to showering in an unfamiliar bathroom so, of course, it would be natural to be hypersensitive towards what was most likely nothing. She washed her face of her cleanser and began to suds her loofa with her soap, running it across her arms, chest, and stomach when she felt something once more. She came to a complete halt, freezing her body where it stood, just to make sure she wasn't just overreacting once again.

There it was again, something brushed against her foot. Inhaling deeply, she let her eyes wander down the wall of the shower slowly as she attempted to find whatever was brushing against her foot.

_Oh, please just be a hair ball. Please be a hairball,_ she begged as her eyes continued to scan downward. As soon as her eyes found what was really touching her foot, Cole was scrambling out of the shower, still unaware that a scream had ripped from her lungs. As water ran off from her body and from the shower, her feet slipped on the wet floor and her bottom end up slamming again the floor, and she knew she would pay for her clumsiness later on.

She stared at the shower, the water still running and spraying onto the uninvited guest in her shower, when the door of the bathroom burst open and someone burst into the bathroom with her. She had been expecting Gran's tiny, older figure to burst in, but was surprised when a tall and muscular figure did instead.

Cole's eyes widened in shock as she finally recognized and met the eyes of Daryl Dixon in her bathroom, his blue-gray eyes widening in equal shock. When she noticed his eyes began to wander, she looked down at her own naked form, suds sliding down her skin and she squeaked in embarrassment. Grabbing onto the fuzzy bath rug that surrounded the bottom of the toilet, she used it to cover as much of her body as she could. His eyes finally came back into focus on her and his face suddenly turned redder than a tomato, his face jerking away and upwards to lessen some of the awkwardness of the current situation.

"Wha – I mean, why'd ya scream?" He asked gruffly, attempting to keep his eyes focused on anything but her. He had simply acted on instinct when he ran into the house from outside and busted into the bathroom without a second thought. He hadn't even considered that she'd be sprawled across the bathroom floor, looking like something he'd only ever dreamed up while self-satisfying himself at night.

"Shower…" she murmured, pointing to the shower and shivered. Daryl noticed her towel sitting on the counter next to the sink on his left, so he grabbed it and tossed it in her lap, able to catch a quick glimpse of her wet hair clinging onto her skin. "Cover yerself up, ya gran might come in and see ya," he ordered her, not wanting to bring up that Merle might also see her like that and that was a thought he did not want to become a reality.

She wrapped herself in the towel he'd given her before he took a few steps towards the shower and tossed the shower curtain back, peering into the bottom. She heard him chuckle as he reached into the shower and pulled away with the evil, little culprit in his hands.

"It's just a garden snake, girl. Ain't nothing ta be 'fraid of. Ain't poisonous," he stated like he'd pulled snakes out of his shower on a daily basis.

Cole moved back from the snake when he moved in her direction, watching the scaly demon with wary eyes, "Well, it shouldn't have tried to cozy up to me in the shower."

"Could ya blame the little guy?" Daryl chuckled again, a small smile on his face as he made his way out of the bathroom, closing the door on his way out. Cole sat on the floor, her mind still reeling from what had just transpired in her bathroom a few moments ago. Daryl Dixon, her first and apparently current, crush had just seen her naked and freaked out on her bathroom floor from a snake that supposedly wasn't even poisonous.

As she gathered her bearings, Cole slowly stood from the wet floor, mopping up the soaked floor with her towel, and tossing it in the hamper near the door. She fixed the shower curtain, poking her head inside of the shower to make sure no other critters had found their way inside, then stepped inside and finished up her shower.

She quickly ran through her routine before jumping out of the shower, using the towel she had designated for her hair to dry her body and changed into her other clothes. She used the towel on her hair, allowing it to join its match in the same hamper and opened the bathroom door.

"Cole, is that you?" Gran had called from the living room and she cringed slightly. She really didn't want to admit the fact that she had been terrified by the snake, let alone the fact that she was seen by a naked man who barely knew her, and saved her from aforementioned snake. "Yes, Gran, it's me," she called back, heading into her room to place her dirty clothes in their own hamper – she would have to do laundry soon – before heading back down the hallway and into the living room where her grandmother was currently situated on her chair with Daryl and Merle Dixon on the couch.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I should have mentioned that we get the occasional visitor in here from time to time," Gran told her, sympathy and apology sounding in her voice. Cole smiled at her, leaning down and brushing a kiss against her cheek, "It's alright, I'll just have to make sure to secure the room I'm trying to go in before I settle in." Her grandmother tossed her head back and laughed at Cole's attempt to lighten the creepy and awkward situation.

"Or have one of us come save ya from the lil' critters," Merle laughed, a beer cradled in his hand, while Daryl kept his head downward. His elbows were balanced on his knees, a beer also in one of his hands, and he either found her grandmother's carpet fascinating or he couldn't look at her because he didn't even spare her a glance.

"Thank you very much for helping me, Daryl," she said softly, giving him a weak smile if he did decide to look at her. He didn't.

"S'nothing," he muttered, taking a swig of his beer. Oh great, she horrified the man to a point where he couldn't even look at her.

She perched herself on the arm of Gran's chair and rested her arm on the back of the chair, "So, Gran, when are these boys supposed to get here and help you out?"

The older woman laughed at her grandchild, giving her a large smile as she gestured her hands towards the Dixon brothers, "They are the boys. I've known Merle and Daryl since they were youngins."

"Ah jeez, I thought you were talking about a pair of twelve year old boys or something," Cole said with a laugh, looking at the guys on their couch.

She remembered her grandmother saying something about the older brother always trying to weasel money out of her, but he knew when to pump his brakes. That definitely seemed to describe Merle Dixon, especially from what she'd witnessed from their previous encounters. He didn't seem like all that bad of a guy, but he definitely was not the poster boy for wholesome, small-town living. Her gran had also hit the nail on the head when describing Daryl, he was definitely was not an open book, and he didn't seem to be all that big into letting people get to know him.

"Ya pissed ya ain't gonna have two punks runnin' 'round, gettin' all hot and horny over ya?" Merle mocked, his wheezing laugh permeating the room before he lazily lifted his beer to his mouth to take another swallow.

Cole gave Merle the sweetest, most sultry smile she could manage, her eyes becoming slightly hooded as she gazed at him. "Merle, you're a full grown man and you were 'hot and horny' over me before you even knew my name. I think I'll be just fine," she said, matter-of-factly, her smile turning into a devious smirk.

The next thing she knew, her grandmother was laughing hysterically, bending over and clutching at her stomach. Merle soon joined in with her grandmother, not even offended about her comment, just laying back on the couch and laughing. She even noticed Daryl laughing for a few moments, finally giving herself the approval to laugh at her own joke.

Her gran recovered first, sitting up and wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes, looking at Merle with a grin that made her resemble the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "You better watch yourself Merle, my grandbaby definitely isn't like the other ladies around here," she said and Cole covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a small laugh.

"Grannie K, you know I wouldn'ta messed with her if I'd known she was yer kin," Merle retorted, finishing off his beer with his head thrown back to catch every last drop. Daryl had already finished his beer and was waiting patiently in silence, the bottle still clasped in his hands. Cole stood from her place on her gran's chair, moved around the coffee table and grabbed Merle's empty beer, taking a few steps away from him to stand at Daryl's side. She held out her hand silently, waiting for Daryl to give her the empty bottle and silently hoping that he would finally look at her.

Daryl caught the movement of her hand out of the corner of his eyes, as if he hadn't already been hyperaware of her presence in the room the entire time she'd been in the room. As he lifted the bottle into her awaiting hand, he glanced up at her face and saw her already smiling down at him, making his cheeks burn at the attention.

She smiled to herself as she took the empty beers into the kitchen and tossed them in the garbage, opening the fridge and pulling out a pair of new bottles. She brought them back into the living room and handed them out to the brothers, returning to her spot at her grandmother's side just in time to hear her grandmother's response. "Yeah, otherwise you'll end up staring down the barrel of my shotgun," Gran spat back at Merle, trying to sound comical, but there was an underlying threat in her tone that even Merle would not chance.

Cole enjoyed talking with Daryl and Merle – who ended up joining her and her grandmother for lunch – Merle was always joking and playful, while Daryl attempted to get involved in conversations a few times, but he didn't talk very long. Cole did notice that when Gran brought up the topic of hunting, Daryl's eyes seemed to brighten and he talked more during that conversation than he had the entire time.

"My son used to love hunting when he was younger. Did he ever end up taking you?" Gran asked her and Cole's smile faltered slightly, the thought of her dad and the lack of his presence in her life growing up was always a sore spot for her.

"No, he promised to take me out one day, but then he got called into work…" she responded, hanging her head and fiddling with her fingers. "Well, maybe we can get the boys to take you out one of these days," Gran asked and her smile regained its shine as she looked up once more.

"As long as I wouldn't get in their way, I would really like to go sometime," Cole looked up at the brothers, mainly at Daryl, hoping they wouldn't shoot the idea down completely. She caught his gorgeous blue-gray eyes once more and her heart fluttered when the side of his mouth tilted up in an attempt of a smile.

"Yeah, we'll see. Ya got anythin' to go huntin' with?" Daryl asked and she bit the inside of her cheek, a sign of her acknowledging that she couldn't go hunting if she didn't have anything to hunt with. Daryl picked up on her worried face and sighed, "Lemmie check and see what stuff I got. Maybe somethin'll be small enough for ya to use."

"You tryna bring a girl on our huntin' trip, liddol brother?" Merle snapped at him, give Daryl a sharp look. No way in hell did he want some whiny female out in the woods with them, complaining about every other thing that popped into her pretty, little head.

"You tryna tell him he can't, Merle Dixon? I wonder what the hell ya'll'd end up eatin' if I don't bring ya'll some food," Gran's voice snarled slightly, her eyes staring daggers into Merle's face.

"Alright, alright, Grannie K! I get it! We'll bring her along sometime, jeez." Merle said in a huff, apparently more worried about eating that get the solitude he desired on their hunts. He said they'd bring her along sometime, but he sure as hell didn't say that it would be any time soon.

"Thank you all for the opportunity. I really can't wait," Cole said excitedly, a beaming a bright smile in their direction. _Bet she could stop fuckin' traffic with that damn smile,_ Daryl thought, reveling in the knowledge that he helped bring that smile about and he knew that he would probably do just about anything to see it again.

* * *

**So, what did you think? Please, let me know whatever opinions, ideas, critiques, or anything else you may have! Review, favorite, follow, or even Private Message me! I'll answer all or as many as I possibly can. Until next time, my Walking Dead soulmates.**

**Hugs and kittens,**

**cortneymonster**


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