Work Text:
Finally, I saw people. They we're standing around a car and seemed to discuss something. I didn't know if they we're friendly but I needed to try. I had walked through the forest for so long and hadn't had any food for three days. I felt like I would starve any second now. I walked out of my cover with my hands raised above my head.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you all-"
A short haired man with an angry look on his face aimed his gun at me.
"What do you want?!"
I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to calm myself down. Then I answered slowly.
"I just wanted to ask for a little bit of food. I can work for it, if you want."
"Are you alone?"
The mean looking man asked when someone interrupted us.
"[Y/N]?!"
I and everyone else turned to face, who was calling my name.
"Darly?!"
The confusion, anger and loneliness I had felt, seemingly melted as I saw him. With fast steps I made my way over to him as he scooped me in his arms and hugged me close.
"Damn, didn't think I'd see you again."
I murmured against his chest as the mean looking man coughed, trying to get my attention back to him.
"You didn't answer me."
"I know." I replied and looked at him. "Yes, I am alone."
The man looked to another one.
"Rick, what do you say?"
"Daryl seems to know her, so I think we should let him decide."
I turned my head to look at Daryl again. For a second he made that stupid face where he tried to look like he was not sure, but in reality he just looked like he just ate a really sour candy. Then he let that face fall back to a soft smile and nodded.
"She can stay."
I smiled brightly while looking at him.
"Thanks, Big-D."
His face flushed a bit as he heard his embarrassing old nickname. I walked up to the group where I got an introduction for everyone, even those in the house or not around at the moment. So the mean guy that already annoyed every single vein in my body was called Shane. Good to know.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
When we were finished everyone started to do their work. I should wash clothes with Lori, Rick's wife. We washed the clothes in silence for a bit until Lori broke it.
"So how do you and Daryl know each other?"
"We were friends since I was... 5 I guess. He saved me from a few bullies back then and we kind of stuck together. I had a huge crush on him as I was around 16."
I laughed but Lori looked at me as if she wanted to hear more so I went on.
"And I told him I had a crush on him."
"And what did he say?"
"He left. He didn't say a single word and left. We didn't see each other for three years after that. When we finally met again I had a boyfriend and he was an even bigger emotional mess than before."
I laughed and stood up to stretch out my legs when I bumped into something.
"So I am an emotional mess?"
I turned around and grinned.
"Well, yeah. Or do you think something different?"
"Back then maybe, but now no."
Daryl had a tiny smile on his lips as he watched me struggle to find a comeback.
"And if I told you I had a crush on you? Would you still leave for three years?"
His eyes suddenly got cold as he turned around and left. Seemed like I had crossed a line there.
"Fuck.. Seems like I am an emotional mess too." I stated as I watched him leave.
As I turned back I saw Lori watching me.
"Do you?"
"Do I what?" I asked her, while kneeling down to keep on washing.
"Do you still have a crush on him?"
The shirt fell out of my hands and landed back in the water.
"Wha-No! Of course not! He's-He..."
I breathed in for a few seconds and looked at my hands.
"No, he never saw me that way, so there is no use in having a crush on him."
"But you do?"
Her voice was soft, somehow caring as if we we're friends for as long as I could think.
"I don't know."
That was the truth. I didn't know if the love I felt for Daryl was real. Man, I had told myself way to often that we would never see each other again so how was I supposed to know if I still loved him.
"Tell him when you know how you feel. It makes things easier."
I nodded but saw that Lori wasn't looking at me but Rick.
A few hours later we had finished our work and I told Lori I would search for Daryl to apologize for before. She told me I should just ask Rick where he was, he would knew if he was still in the camp or not. So I walked to him.
"Rick?" I softly asked, as I saw him studying a map.
He looked up to me, but turned his attention back to the map almost immediately.
"What's up, [Y/N]?"
"Uhm, do you know where Daryl is? I have to talk to him."
"He's gone searching for Sophia." Rick answered, without looking at me.
"Who's Sophia?"
"She's Carol's daughter and she has gone missing three weeks ago."
His answers were short and cold so I just nodded.
"Can I help search for her?"
Now Rick looked up to me and in my eyes for the first time.
"Sure, that'd be great. But tomorrow, yeah? The others will come back soon and then I can pair you with somebody for tomorrows run."
"Thanks." I said and left him to go look where I could sleep tonight.
Seemed like I had two options. In a tent with Shane, or with Daryl. The choice was obvious and so I brought my little backpack into Daryl's tent. It had gotten dark now and everybody was back. Everybody except for Daryl.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
"This is not the first time he is away over night."
Lori tried to calm me down the next morning. I didn't say anything. The fear that something might have happened was written in my face and I couldn't stop staring at the edge of the forest.
"Come on, the others want to discuss what we should do know."
I nodded and followed her to the rest of the group.
"We don't know who's out there, maybe it's a trap." Andrea said as we came closer.
"So you suggest that we just wait for him to come back? What if something has happened and he can't come back on his own?" I replied.
She turned to face me.
"Oh, so just because you have something going on with him, we should all risk our lives to bring him back?"
"That's enough. [Y/N] has a point. But I don't think we should go an search for him today. We'll wait until tomorrow morning and then we will keep on searching for Daryl and for Sophia."
Rick stated and everybody nodded and parted their ways.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
As it was nearly dawn I had enough. The waiting game killed me. I got up from the campfire I was sitting at and started walking towards the woods.
Nobody realized where I was going until Andrea screamed "Walker!" at a lonely body strolling through the grass.
"I got it!" I called to her, but she didn't even look at me, while she was trying to aim her rifle at the slow Walker.
I started walking a bit faster, worried she would make too much noise with that shot, as I got closer to the tumbling figure.
This was when I realized that the "Walker" wasn't dead... It was Daryl!
I ran as fast as I could, just fast enough to hook his arm around my shoulders and stop him from falling.
He was badly hurt an arrow sticking through his side and he seemed very dehydrated.
I saw Rick and Shane run up to me just as I heard a laud bang.
The next seconds where in complete slow motion.
I turned to face Daryl, trying to push myself in front of him and in the same time both of us on the ground but I was too slow. I saw the bullet hit the side of his head, felt as he was torn away from my arms and watched as he fell unconsciously on the floor.
I only stood there and stared at Daryl's bleeding body, as Shane and Rick passed me and got Daryl to his feet and carried him to the Greene house. I followed them, trying to get out of my state of shock as everyone shouted stuff or tried to explain things that didn't need any explaining.
Hershel told Rick to bring him to the upper floor while I kept on following them quietly, still trembling from the shock and my fear for Daryl.
A blonde woman came up to me just as we reached the upper floor.
"Hey, do you want me to stay outside with you? It's cramped in there and I know you don't want to stay in the way while Dad fixes Daryl back up."
I slowly nodded and watched as Shane walked back out of the room and down the stares without even looking at me.
As me and that blonde girl, who's name I didn't know, stood outside I tried to calm myself down. After about half an hour of silence Hershel and Rick came out of the room and looked at me.
"He's okay.." Rick stated "The bullet only grazed his head. He isn't awake at the moment but he'll be fine."
"Can I go to him for a second?" I carefully asked, fully knowing Rick didn't trust me yet, but I had to try.
He thought for a bit and eventually nodded. He saw the fear in my eyes as Daryl was shot, he knew I wouldn't do anything to him.
I walked past Rick and Hershel into the tiny bedroom and closed the door behind me. Only looking at Daryl I made my way to the bed he was laying in and sat down on his side.
He looked peaceful as he was laying there, making my fear subside and only smiling at him for a moment.
After a short while I stood up again, certain to let him get as much rest as he needed and quietly made my way out the room.
As I walked down the hall to the front door I thought about what just happened and how that stupid bitch Andrea didn't even see what was going on. I mean, who would try to help a Walker keep on walking, that was just stupid! And she could have hit me, too!
As I kept on ranting inside my head I walked down the last few steps from the house and saw Andrea sitting on one of the last treads. She was getting up from the stairs as she heard me and looked at me like a sad puppy.
"Is he gonna be okay? Oh my god I am so-" KRACK! The sound her nose made when I punched it most certainly meant that it was broken.
I kept on walking, as if nothing had happened, ignoring the cries of pain she made and walking back into Daryl's tent to finally get some sleep myself.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The next morning I had a weirdly proud smile on my face.
Especially since the moment I sat down at the campfire and Andrea gave me a very mad look, with her red and swollen nose.
I just ate my breakfast in silence before I got another plate of the bad tasting should-be-scrambled eggs.
"Hey, you can't eat that much!" Andrea barked at me, making me look up at her, still smiling.
"I know, but Daryl has to eat, too. Or do you want to starve him to death now?"
The coldness in my voice was remarkable, I had to admit.
Without waiting for a reply I got up with the plate in my hands and walked towards the door. I knocked and a very tired looking woman came up to the door and opened it for me.
"Hey, I just wanted to check on Daryl for a moment and give him some food. Is that okay?" I asked the woman, who I think was called Maggie.
She just nodded and let me inside the house.
"He's awake, dad already checked on him this morning to see if he needed something."
I thanked her and walked up the stairs and knocked softly on the bedroom door.
"Daryl? It's me [Y/N], can I come in?"
I first heard a grunted "yes" and then the bed creek as he shifted, just as I opened the door and got in the room. A soft smile appeared on my lips as I saw that he was doing fine and tried to sit up a bit to have a better look at me, I assumed.
"Brought you breakfast." I told him while coming closer to the bed and putting the plate down next to him.
While I walked around the bed to get on the other side I didn't see the smile that formed on Daryl's lips.
"Heard you broke Andrea's nose" his voice sounded very amused and he seemed to expect me to be embarrassed but I only nodded in return.
"So I did break it? Good."
He looked at me still amused while trying to read my face.
"So you really don't like her? Or was it 'cause ya felt like ya needed to revenge me or somethin' like that?"
"Maybe both." I smiled a bit "But I felt like it was kind of my fault that you even got shot so I felt like I had to do something. And than anger took a hold of me and well..."
"Why your fault?" Now he looked confused, while he started to eat.
"Because of our fight you walked out there all pissed and stuff.. And I don't know I just felt responsible and shitty, okay? I'm sorry for what I said back then by the way."
I promptly said, convinced he would laugh about me being childish or something along the lines.
"I'm sorry too." Well I certainly did not expect that.
"I don't know why I got so pissed. Think I just hated the way I reacted back then."
He shrugged his shoulders, while he chowed down on his food.
"So how...How would you have liked to react instead?"
I knew it was stupid but I needed to know. This funny feeling in my stomach started as I pictured what he would say. Of course I wasn't stupid, I knew what this meant. My feelings for this guy never went away and maybe... Just maybe I should listen to Lori's advice.
Daryl meanwhile tried to keep his cool as he nearly choked on the scrambled eggs as I asked him my question.
"I don't know... Differently I guess..."
He avoided my gaze while answering only making me just a bit more nervous.
As he didn't keep going I took a deep breath and laid my hand softly on his. At first he looked confused and ready to pull his hand back but after a few seconds he relaxed under my touch looking up at me.
"And how would you react today? If I.. If I told you I still I loved you... And never really stopped...?"
He tensed up again but then sat up so he was a looking down at me.
"I'd do what I should have done back when you first told me."
"And that would be?"
One of his hands grabbed me clumsily on the back, the other one got my chin and lifted it up just enough that our lips briefly met.
As the contact broke he looked at me a bit unsure but I leaned forward and kissed him a bit harder this time. He didn't even try to break it and so the kiss grew more and more passionate with every minute it lasted.
Just as I wanted to break the kiss Daryl's hand found it's way under my shirt, startling me a bit from his cold fingers against my skin.
His hand carefully made his way up to my boobs and started softly kneading them through my bra. I felt my nipples grow hard at the nice feeling and pressed my upper body against his hand. After a few more seconds he broke the kiss and as I looked him in the eyes I saw the lust that overcame him.
His hand left my chest and gently tucked on the hem of my shirt, motioning me to take it off. I followed his request and oh so slowly took my shirt off, never not looking at him. The grin on his face grew wider and he looked at my body as I started revealing it to him.
"Your turn" I murmured as I threw my top on the bed and waited for him to take his off too. As he took of his shirt I carefully got closer to him and pulled his blanket away, revealing him only in his boxers and with a not that tiny tent in the middle. I giggled and as he realized what I was giggling at he grabbed my chin again and whispered in my ear "Don't tell me you're not just as wet for me."
It was true, I could feel how wet I was just by pushing my thighs together but I couldn't let him have that one.
"Maybe you should find out?" I said seductively and now also opened my bra. For a moment he ignored my tits so he could do just as I asked and began opening my pants and slid them down my legs including my panties.
After that he grabbed my hip and made me sit on his lap with each leg on one side of him. His bulge pressed against my entrance making me moan silently, as I moved up against it.
He grinned and dedicated himself back to my boobs and started to suck on my nipple, while his other hand found my remaining tit and squeezed it. I gasped a bit but kept on rocking against his bulge now soaking his boxers too. After just a short while he grabbed my hips and lifted me up just a bit.
"Hold still" his voice wasn't more than a grunt but it only turned me on even more. I hold myself up while he took of his last piece of clothing, making his erected penis poke at my entrance.
"You sure you'll be able to do this with your wounds?" I carefully asked now looking at the bandaged wound on his side.
"I waited so long for this, I'm not gonna wait anymore" His voice was still not much more than a grumble but he did sound very serious.
"Okay, but don't whine to me when you have a boo-boo that hurts later" I teased, making him grin up at me.
I slowly let myself down on him, holding his penis up so he could easily slip inside of me. As I was fully seated I let out a quiet moan.
He filled me perfectly, already brushing against my g-spot without even moving. After a few seconds I started to slowly lift my hip up and down using his chest to steady myself. Sweet little noises came out of his mouth as he just rested his hands on my hip and let his eyes fall shut.
I started riding him a bit faster now, needing more of that friction that he gave me, when he also begun to pump his hip up and meeting my rhythm perfectly.
I moaned loudly as he did that causing him to grab my chin and cover my mouth with his hand. Now I could only grunt against his hand, loving the way he hold me as he kept on moving faster inside me.
Suddenly I felt his hand on my clit rubbing in just the same pace as he was fucking me already pushing me above the edge and making me cum. My muscles tightened around Daryl and that was too much for him as well, as he came inside me without even trying to get me off him in time.
For a few seconds I just tried to calm myself down and got of him, spilling his cum on my and his thighs as I laid next to him on the bed.
"Next time, give me a heads up before you come." Daryl said exhausted and put his arm around my body, moving the cover up to shield our naked bodys from the cold.
"Sure" I murmured sleepily as I gave him a quick kiss.
Daryl rolled his eyes with a grin on his lips as he held me closer to him and planted a soft kiss on my head.
Now this world would be just a bit easier to live in.