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(Not a) Bad Guy

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Warnings - Mention of rape (no details, not between reader x Negan), you hit your head a lot, angst. First time writing Negan so probably very ooc. 

Requested - anon - based of 09x9. When Negan leaves Alexandria, he comes across the reader hiding in the saviour’s old place about to be bitten by a zombie. When he realises there’s, nothing left for him he takes you back with him. Just go from there Angst & fluff w/ a happy ending please, thanks x

Prompts - “Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. That’s it breathe for me, it’s okay. We’ll sit here for as long as you need. You’re safe, I promise.”  & “You can’t sleep yet, kid, I need you to stay awake.” & "While there is life, there is hope.” &“Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy.” & “Sometimes it’s good to be scared because it means you still have something to lose…” & “I’ve never met someone so optimistic. It’s impressive, but how?”

‘There’s nothing out there for you, for anyone’ Judith had told him. Deep down he knew she was right but he ignored that part of himself, he had to leave, had to see for himself. He hadn’t had to lie to Judith when he told her she knew him better than anyone, that was the sad truth, his only friend was a kid who defied her mom to come talk to him outside of his little prison.

As he walked, the sun on his skin, a slight breeze around him, he was glad he took his chance. Maybe the kid was right, maybe there was nothing left out here for anyone but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to look.

After stopping in a deserted town, and a close encounter with a couple of dogs, he knew where he had to go, just needed to see for himself what had become of his Sanctuary.

“Home, sweet, home.” He murmured to himself as he gazed upon the place he once ran, a place where he was looked up to, a place where he was practically treated like royalty, especially in comparison to his position at Alexandria. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked.

Judith’s words ran through his head as he looked at the place. Empty and trashed, nothing at all like the Sanctuary he’d built for his people. He didn’t leave though, he looked around remembering everything that once was. Hearing a banging in the distance he followed it, recognising one of the Walkers made him grin, people stayed loyal apparently.

He walked deeper into the Sanctuary, hearing the occasional moan and clang. Each room brought back a different memory, some made him smile whereas many made him frown. He’d lost what he had built, of course he’d known that from the minute his throat was slashed and he was thrown in Alexandria’s prison but seeing the reality, well it hit hard.

Negan was pulled out of his head when he heard a loud bang echo down the empty corridor. He raised an eyebrow thinking it was nothing more than a stray walker until he heard a scream. He was running towards the source before he could even think about it. He found where the screaming was coming from quickly, taking note of the scene in front of him.

A girl with tattered y/h/c hair and various blotches of dirt covering her skin was huddled in the corner of the room, two walkers drawing in on her. From the looks of it she had no weapon. Quietly, he made his way over to the one closest to him before attacking, the pipe smashing down on the walkers head a few times before killing it, gaining the other walkers attention as he did so, he turned his attention to that one and made sure it was dead too before looking at the girl who was covering her face with her arms.

Negan knelt down in front of you causing you to look up at him in awe.

“Hey there.” He said as he reached out to touch a deep looking cut on your arm but stopped when you flinched away. “It’s okay, I ain’t gonna hurt ya, just want to take a look at that nasty cut there.” He told you, you hesitated before offering the arm to him.

“That a girl. I’m Negan by the way.” As he looked at your arm, he couldn’t help but wince, it was deep alright and looked like it was getting infected.

“Y/N.” You managed to croak out. Your throat was dry and you were hungry but that wasn’t new. Hell, you’d been on your own for so long, not trusting other groups of people after a few bad experiences with the few you had blindly trusted.

“Nice to meet ya, Y/N. You know,” he started, ripping a small piece of his shirt, “this place here used to be my home. It’s not anymore of course but that’s a story for another time.” You winced as he wrapped the torn piece of fabric around your cut.

“You get separated from your group or somethin’?” Negan asked, looking at you questioningly. You just shook your head causing his eyes to widen. “You’re on your own out here? Hell kid, you don’t even have a weapon.”

“‘M fine.” You whispered causing Negan to wince in sympathy, he didn’t have any water on him to give you either.

“Look, you don’t gotta trust me but come with me and we’ll at least try and find ya something to drink, yeah?” He could have left you; it would have been so easy for him to walk away but something about you made him want to help you. He could see you looked hesitant and your breathing had started to come out more rapidly than normal.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. That’s it breathe for me, it’s okay. We’ll sit here for as long as you need. You’re safe, I promise.” Negan said soothingly, slowing his breathing down and exaggerating his breaths a bit but it worked and soon you were copying his breathing. You couldn’t trust him, that had gotten you hurt in the past but he said this used to be his home so maybe he knew his way round better than you.

“Okay.” You told him, voice still barely above a whisper.

“Good girl.” He whispered back, standing up before holding a hand out for you to take. You hesitated before taking his hand and letting him pull you up. He gently grasped your shoulder in his other hand when you wobbled, dangerously close to falling over.

“Jesus kid, when was the last time you ate something?” He asked causing you to shrug, it had been so long. “C’mon, let’s go see if we can find you anything.” Negan said, moving his hand from your shoulder but keeping his other hand intertwined with yours.

-

-

-

“Listen, you gotta stay here until I come get you, don’t make a sound. You got it?” Negan asked as he led you outside and surveyed the walkers. You could probably get through them, there weren’t many but you figured this guy knew what he was doing so went with it.

“Okay.” With that he turned and walked towards the walkers, you swore you could hear him talk to the one in a plaid shirt but shrugged and focused on making sure none came too close to you.

Watching Negan kill, was that even the right word, I mean killing something that’s already dead sounds insane but these are insane times, should have been scarier than it was but for some reason you really felt safe around him. Hell, you didn’t want to trust anyone but you’d been alone for so long maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just stick with the older man, at least for a while.

You also were curious about Negan. Watching him now you thought he looked defeated, seemed like he’d lost a part of himself. It made sense, anyone who is still alive this late into the apocalypse has to of lost something, if not everything. You yourself knew that from experience.

“Come on, kid.” Negan called and you followed after him watching as he pulled a necklace or something out of his shirt. Leaning closer you realised it was a compass, you refrained from asking any questions when you saw Negan’s face. If this was before the apocalypse you would have avoided a man like Negan at all cost just because he looked like he could be trouble but after spending only a few minutes in his company it looked like he had more to him than that. He certainly let his expressions show on his face without hiding it.

“Damn kid was right.” He mumbled, still looking at the compass.

“Kid?” You asked, hesitation clear in your tone. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts, remembering you where there.

“Don’t matter. C’mon I know where we’re goin’” He told you before grabbing your hand again and gently tugging you along.

-

-

-

Your arms were wrapped tightly around Negan’s waist, your faced pressed into his back as he rode the motorbike to wherever it was the two of you were going. You hated the fact you were putting so much blind faith into the man, telling yourself over and over you couldn’t trust him but something about the man calmed you, you felt safe for the first time in a long time, maybe since this entire mess of walkers began.

Cruising down a road, your eyes were scrunched shut so you had no warning and no chance to prepare yourself for when the bike skidded and you were flung from it. You rolled down the hill at the side of the road, hitting your head hard causing you to groan in pain. You hated the damn apocalypse.

You heard Negan groan too and managed to look up to see what looked like a little girl stood with a gun pointing towards the man who saved you.

What the hell was going on?

“Alright slow down kid.” You heard him say as he sat up, his attention solely on her. “I know you said you’d shoot but damn.” He knew this kid? What had you gotten yourself into?

“Whole lotta people are out looking for you.” The girl told him. You lost focus for a moment, the world seemed to spin in and out of focus causing you to put your head down. You didn’t want to take your attention away from the girl who clearly had no problem using a gun but god you were in a lot of pain and she seemed more interested with Negan.

You heard them talking as you struggled to stay conscious, they were clearly familiar with each other and you felt so sick. Lack of food, water, potential infected cuts and now a bang to the head, things weren’t looking great.

“Yeah, cell and all.” Cell? Your heart raced, just who had you decided to let help you?

“There is nothing here for me, not anymore.”

Negan watched as Judith shrugged, letting him off the hook. He quickly turned his attention from her to you and frowned when he saw a cut on your head, blood pooling out of it.

“Oh shit.” He made his way over to you, propping you head up and calling your name. It took a few tries but you somehow managed to open your eyes.

“Hey there, pretty lady. Keep those eyes open for me, ya hear, we’re gonna get you some help. I promise.” You groaned, shaking your head weakly and turned it into his stomach as best you could.

“You can’t sleep yet, kid, I need you to stay awake.” Negan told you, sitting you up further making you groan in pain. “I know, I know, but you’re gonna be just fine.”

-

-

-

Negan managed to get you back to Alexandria, thankfully you weren’t too far from it. He ended up having to carry you despite your protests after you lost your footing for the fourth time. Judith kept looking at you and Negan but refrained from asking any questions.

The fuss over Negan when you got back concerned you. He’d mentioned a cell but you hadn’t been able to focus on that for too long with the pain. You were taken away from Negan and carried to their doctor who quickly began treating you.

You were given food and water, your wounds cleared and stitched before the little girl from the road walked in with another women.

“How do you know Negan? No lies.” She asked, tone hard as she glared at you.

“I-I don’t know him, not really-” You began but she cut you off.

“I said no lies.” She didn’t shout, she didn’t need to. The way she lowered her voice made her sound more dangerous than any raised voice, though the sword on her back did help with that.

“I’m not lying!” You protested, voice still sore and croaky. “He found me today. I was alone, he saved me.” You could see her mulling over yours words before looking at the kid who shrugged and nodded.

“You can stay but the first sign of trouble, you’re out. Understood?” She asked and you nodded. Relieved that you were granted permission to stay in this place that seemed like heaven compared to the rest of the world.

-

-

-

People talked about Negan but the story seemed to be different depending on who you talked to. You decided, after hiding away for a week, to go directly to the source. You were a little scared to go and talk to Negan, not because of what you’d heard of the man but because of the women who spoke to you in the infirmary, Michonne.

Deciding to risk it you left the house they’d let you stay in and found where he was being kept in what was Alexandria’s prison. From what you’d heard Negan had been in there for many years and you couldn’t blame him for running away, what you didn’t get was why he’d willing come back to a prison cell.

Noticing the bars on the small window, you sat on the steps next to it.

“Negan?” You asked, feeling slightly stupid.

“Y/N?” He asked back and you couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on your face. “Well don’t you sound better.”

“Thanks to you.” You told him and it was true. The people here had given you food and water, you had access to a shower which felt so good. You’d forgotten what it was to be a civilised person after all these years of just trying to survive each day.

“Yeah well, I’m just glad they didn’t kick you out on your ass for being with me.” He told you and from the way Michonne treated you every time she saw you, you knew Negan wasn’t exaggerating.

“So, what can I do for you? Sure, you’ve heard the stories by now.” So, there was no beating around the bush here. You didn’t mind, this conversation would be easier without trying to not be blunt.

“I’ve heard the stories but I also don’t believe everything I hear. Thought I’d come and see if you’d tell me what happened.”

And he did. You felt he was telling the truth too; he didn’t make himself out to be the good guy but he defended his actions and knew it would end bloody. He admitted he didn’t think they’d keep him alive but apparently that’s the sort of person Rick Grimes was. After listening to Negan’s story, you still decided that the man who had saved you for no selfish reason was okay.

-

-

-

It had been a month. You were healed, though you had a few more scars from where you’d been stitched. You never took any of the luxuries available within the walls of Alexandria for granted and you’d visited Negan daily. You could even admit you were beginning to trust him.

“So,” he started, breaking the comfortable silence the two of you had been in, “I told you my story, am I ever gonna get to hear yours?”

You mulled it over for a long while, looking over at him now that you were sat opposite him as opposed to sitting on the steps outside.

“I was alone when the apocalypse broke out. My family had gone to visit some distant family members and I hadn’t wanted to go. Two days into them being gone the world seem to turn. I called them and they said they were safe; they’d gotten to my aunt’s house and they were safe. The reception was lost sometime later in the week and that’s the last I heard from them. Hell, I don’t even know if they’re dead or alive. I stayed in the house as long as I could, mom had stocked up on food so I wouldn’t have to go shopping so I was good for a week or two but then the real panic set in with everybody. My neighbourhood seemed to get infected real quick and I was terrified. You couldn’t sleep with the screams and the banging on the doors, people begging to be let in but I couldn’t.” It had been so long since you let yourself remember the beginning and your eyes filled with tears. Taking a deep breath, you smiled as Negan stretched his hand through the bars and let him take your hand in his. He squeezed your hand encouragingly.

“I had to leave eventually. I nearly died just trying to leave my neighbourhood, I probably would’ve but someone pulled me away just in time for the walker to bite the air instead of my ankle. He said he was savaging for supplies and that he had a group. I trusted him and he took me to them.” Here Negan began rubbing soothing circles onto the back of your hand with his thumb as a single tear escaped your eyes. “A few days into being with this group, one of the men tried t-to,” your words were muffled by a sob but Negan understood and felt himself fill with anger. How dare someone try and cause any harm to you.

“I got away before he could do anything. I’ve been with a few groups since then because, well it was harder to be alone. Some groups were nicer than others but for the most part it all sucked. Before you found me, I was alone for months. Not too many people out nowadays and walkers are easy enough to deal with but supplies are so hard to come about now.” You finished lamely, shrugging as you turned your head to look at Negan. He pushed his other hand through the bars and wiped away the tears you hadn’t even known had fallen before squeezing your hand again.

“Damn, you’re tough as nails surviving this long on your own for the most part. Hell, even I needed people.” He said with a weak laugh.

“Yeah well, some people let the fear get to them I guess.” You said understandingly.

“You know what I don’t get though? Every time we talk, all the shit you’ve been through, you’re still so goddamn hopeful. I’ve never met someone so optimistic. It’s impressive, but how?” He asked and one look at his face you could see how genuine his was.

“I guess I just don’t want to believe that this is it for the world, ya know? Part of me still seriously believes it’s gonna change. Maybe we won’t find a cure, maybe we’ll be stuck with walkers forever but a part of me knows it’ll get better. Hell just seeing this place strengthened that belief. And I guess whilst there are people who want that future, who are working for it then there is hope. While there is life, there is hope.” You told him. He couldn’t help but smile softly at the way your eyes lit up, seeing the belief and passion that made you seem so damn innocent.

-

-

-

“You ever get scared?” Negan asked you one day out of the blue.

“Pardon?” You turned to him, looking up from the cards you held in your hands. You didn’t really know how to play but having Negan teach you was fun.

“Well you’re so damn hopeful for this bright future, you ever get scared? Not just that it won’t happen but just in general.”

You’d known Negan for a few months now, visiting the man every day. It pained you at first to admit that you trusted him but now you loved the friendship the two of you had, maybe even a little too much when you noticed the blushing that occurred on your cheeks when he held your hand or the way your stomach filled with butterflies.

“Of course I get scared but I think sometimes it’s good to be scared because it means you still have something to lose and, in this mess, having something to lose is surely one of the most important things in keeping you human.” You told him, noticing the way he grinned at you. He always grinned at you like that when you got a little insightful. Negan had told you once if he didn’t know what you had been through, he would’ve thought you were sheltered from everything to have that much faith and hope in a future.

“Do you get scared?” You shot back and he looked at you for a few moments before nodding.

“You know what? I do.”

-

-

-

“Negan!” You called. They were finally letting Negan out of his cell and putting him to work, though he still is under the watch of guards which made you roll your eyes but you couldn’t judge too harshly because you weren’t here when the two sides were at war.

“Hey Y/N.” Negan grinned, pulling you into his arms when you were close enough. People talked. Some didn’t mind that Negan was out whereas others protested it, not that they said anything to you about it. You’d been at Alexandria for over six months and people didn’t trust you because you liked Negan, though enough people had warned you about him. To this day people still hounded you over what kind of person Negan was.

“You know,” you started, pulling back slightly but letting your arms stay wrapped around Negan’s neck, “everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy.” You smirked causing him to roll his eyes.

“That so?” He murmured, dipping his head down so his forehead rested on yours.

“Yeah but see I think they have it all wrong, I think you’re a big ol’ softy.” You said, as serious as you could before laughing at Negan’s expression.

“I think you’re a big ol’ pain in my ass.” He told you as he placed a kiss on your head before pulling away.

“That’s not very nice.” You pouted before moving to help him with some of the plants he was tending to.

“Well maybe you should listen to people when they say I’m a bad guy.” He laughed before moving to your side.

Together the two of you worked, Negan teaching you some basic gardening skills and the two of you playfully flirting with one another.

Both of you were aware of the chemistry between you two but neither was brave enough to actually bring the topic up yet so the pair of you settled for shamelessly flirting with each other.

-

-

-

Michonne had sent you out with a group of people to collect some supplies, despite your many protests. You weren’t even allowed to say goodbye to Negan as she dropped it on you last minute though you knew that was done purposefully. She hadn’t liked you from the moment you’d arrived with Negan and since your friendship with the man continued to evolve she hated you more.

Thankfully her daughter promised you she’d tell Negan where you were.

Being outside the walls of Alexandria after so long felt strange. It was easy to forget the world when you were in your own little bubble that was Alexandria. You didn’t realise how much you actually depended on the place and that thought scared you. Maybe the people didn’t like you but you like it there though it probably helped that Negan was there too keeping you calm when you wanted to panic.

You were collecting some medical supplies when you felt something grab you. It pulled you down causing to smash your head on a counter. You groaned but tried desperately to kick the walker off of you but nothing was working.

“Help! Please! Please, help me!” You shouted, tears flooding your face as you kicked. The world around you became dizzy and just as the walker was about to bite you somebody brought a pipe down on its head killing it. That was the last thing you saw before passing out.

-

-

-

“C’mon y/n/n, you gotta wake up for me. You gotta, you can’t leave me. Who else is gonna put up with me every day, huh?” You heard Negan laugh weakly. You tried to open your eyes but they felt too heavy.

Negan held your hand in his, resting his forehead on linked hands. When Judith had told him Michonne had sent you on a supply run his blood ran cold. Flashbacks to when he’d first met you, defenceless and close to dying, invaded his mind and he made Judith promise to let him know the moment you stepped through the gates.

What he hadn’t expected was to see a pale Judith running into the jail, clearly out of breath panting that you were hurt and in the infirmary. When she told him that you weren’t waking up, he begged Michonne to let him out, begged her to let him see you. He’d do whatever she wanted; he’d stay in that cell forever if it meant he could be with you now.

He thanked every God he could think of when she let him out and he’d been sat at your side for four days. Still you showed no sign of waking up.

“God, I should’ve told you how I felt earlier, now I might not even get the chance. Because, damn Y/N, I like you. I haven’t liked anyone like this in a real long time. Even back at the Sanctuary I never actually felt anything like this, don’t think I’ve felt anything like this since before the world went to shit. So, you gotta open your eyes and tell me you feel the same and I ain’t ever gonna let you go sweetheart. But you gotta wake up.”

You heard every word and wanted to scream because you felt the same but you couldn’t move. Frustration kicked in and you tried your hardest to show him that you’d heard him but nothing worked and eventually tiredness caused you to slip into unconsciousness again.

-

-

-

“Damn princess, you’re killin’ me here. I’m a god damn mess.” Negan muttered to himself. It had been five days since Judith had told him you were back and six long days since he’d last seen your beautiful y/e/c eyes or heard you laugh. God he really wanted to hear you laugh.

“If you’re a mess I’d hate to see what I look like.” You managed weakly, a dry chuckle leaving you before you started coughing.

Negan shot up, helping you sit up before guiding a glass of water to your dry lips and helping you as you gulped down half the glass.

“Bout time you woke up, sweetheart. Had me worried there for a second.” He told you as he moved closer, his palm coming up to rest of your cheek. You smiled and turned into the palm, just closing your eyes and savouring the moment.

“How you feeling doll?” He asked softly.

“Think imma be ok. My head hurts but that’s about it.” You told him, keeping your voice low too, not wanting to disturb the peace that settled between you too.

“Listen now probably ain’t the best time to be confessing shit but…” Negan started, looking more nervous than you’d ever seen him.

“I heard you, when I was out. I like you too, Negan, a hell of a lot. Funny how it took me nearly dying again for us to finally admit it though, huh?” You laughed causing him to roll his eyes.

“Can I kiss ya, sweetheart?” He asked leaning closer so his forehead was on yours, you couldn’t help but grin up at him before nodding slightly.

“You don’t have to ask.” And with that he leaned in, slotting his lips against yours and it was so much better than you had imagined in your own head. You fitted against each other perfectly. Negan kissing you softly as you snaked your arms around him, one hand playing with the hair on the back of his head.

“Damn baby, I could do that all day.” He told you as he pulled back, letting his forehead rest against yours again.

“I’ll hold you to that.” You smirked before leaning in again.

The two of you kissed until you were interrupted by someone awkwardly clearing their throat, you groaned against Negan’s lips causing him to laugh and peck yours one last time before pulling away.

“Sorry about that, Doc.”

-

-

-

“You know when we first met,” Negan said after a peaceful silence had settled between you two. Your head was against his chest in his cell, somehow Judith had managed to convince Michonne to let you in. One of Negan’s arms were wrapped around your waist and the other hand was playing with your hair. “Judith told me there was nothing out there for me anymore.”

“Guess that’s why you were so willing to come back to this place then, huh?” You asked, shifting slightly so you could look up at him causing him to smile and kiss you.

“Turns out the kid was wrong.” He whispered against your lips as he pulled back, “You see if I’d have listened to her I woulda never have gone back to the Sanctuary and never of come across this beautiful woman who I’d soon fall in love with cause damn lemme tell you she is one hell of a chick.” Your eyes widened as you sat up slightly looking him right in the eyes.

“What?” You managed, mouth opening and closing but no other words coming out.

“Yeah, you see, the moment I met this girl I knew there was something about her. Then she came to visit me every day and she’s so damn hopeful about life and the future even though everything she’s been through should’ve made her bitter and angry at the world. The kicker of it all is for some reason she thinks I’m a good person despite everyone warning her that I’m a bad guy. How could I not fall for her?”

You felt your eyes fill with tears and let your head fall against his chest before letting out a wet laugh.

“Fuck Negan. I love you too, so damn much.” That was all he needed to hear before titling your head up and smashing his lips against yours and taking his time to show you just how much he loved you.

Be Brave

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Requested - Yes - Anon - Can I request 30 with Daryl please? Angsty but fluff and happy ending. They’re not together to begin with but they eventually get together. Can be set during any season.

Prompts - 30. “Be brave, and you’re gonna be fine”.

You hadn’t known the group for long, maybe a month or two, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of time. Daryl had been the one to find you, unarmed and two seconds away from becoming the chew toy of several walkers. He had taken them out with his arrows before coming to help you up. 

You smiled at the memory of meeting the man. All gruff and rough, barking questions at you about who you were and why you were alone, if you were alone. You’d answered him honestly, you were Y/F/N Y/L/N and you had somehow gotten separated from your group, you couldn’t remember when but it had been a long time since you’d seen them. He was silent for a long moment before deciding he’d take you to Alexandria. The pair of you climbed onto his bike with you gripping his waist tightly, eyes screwed shut the entire time.

Since then Daryl had been the person you had taken most of a liking to, whilst you got along and were civil to other members of the group Daryl was the one you would seek out, the one who made you feel safe. It had taken some time for him to soften up to you, even now after getting to know each other he put up that gruff exterior when other people are around. 

Now the two of you could often be found with the other, Daryl had taught you how to better use the camps weapons, he’d taught you how to track and was attempting to teach you how to use his crossbow. All in all, you were glad you had found Daryl even if it meant fending for yourself for a few months.

“Hey.” Daryl greeted as he came and sat next to you. 

“Daryl, hi.” You smiled over at him, earning a half-attempted smile in return. “Everything ok?” You asked in concern.

“Just this Negan business.” He told you, picking at the blades of grass you were sat on, “We don’t have enough supplies.” 

“Oh. Are you going?” 

“Yeah but you ain’t.” Daryl told you firmly, not leaving any room for argument but you ignored his tone.

“Daryl-” You began but he quickly cut you off.

“Nah, you ain’t coming. I don’t trust this, the saviours” Daryl spat, “are gettin’ more dangerous and I ain’t risking you gettin’ hurt, I-I won’t. You’re gonna stay here, Y/N/N.” Daryl looked at you, stern gaze watching you but there was something else, something you couldn’t quite make out. 

“If Rick says I can come, I will.” You fired back.

“Damn girl.” He groaned causing you to laugh slightly. “Y/N, just, I ain’t doin’ this to be an ass, if things go bad, I want you far, far away, you hear me?” 

“Ok,” you began, watching as he relaxed a little clearly thinking you’d give in. “And what happens if things go bad and something happens to you?” You asked.

“Won’t matter, s’long as you’re safe, that’s all I give two craps about.” The honesty in his voice had your eyes widening.

“Daryl,” you breathed out but couldn’t bring yourself to say anything else.

“Just, please, promise me you’ll stay.” You let out a deep breath but once you saw how it was making Daryl feel, how serious he was, you agreed, you didn’t like it but he was going with Rick and the others. 

You just hoped everything would work out.

-

-

-

You woke up in the middle of the night to find Daryl gone. This wasn’t the first time it had happened but for some reason panic filled you and you rushed outside. 

“Michonne.” You called causing her to turn around. She wasn’t your biggest fan for some reason but you didn’t care right now. Something was wrong.

“Daryl’s gone. We’re going to bring him back.” She said gesturing to Rosita who looked bored but there was a look of dread underneath that.

“I’m coming as well.” You told her.

“No, you’re not. Wait here in case he comes back. You saw him, he was a mess and he’s out for revenge. If he comes back, he’ll need you.” She said and before you had the chance to argue back, Michonne was gone.

Part of you knew she was right, if he came back you were probably one of the few people beside Carol and Rick who could calm him down and considering those two where away, it could only be you. The other part of you who knew Daryl knew he wasn’t coming back, not until he did what he needed. 

Decision made you snuck off, following the path Rosita and Michonne had taken.

-

-

-

You watched in horror for behind some trees and Rosita, Daryl, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, Rick, Carl, Sasha and Aaron were forced to their knees. Watched as Negan stepped forward with Lucille. There wasn’t anything you could do but watch in muted horror and fear.

You watched as Rick stared up at the man, something close to defeat in his eyes. It was disturbing to see that coming from a man like him. 

“You’re kid right?” You heard Negan say, watched the grin play out on his face and you pleaded to anyone that would listen that Carl would make it out of this, that they’d all make it out.

You watched as Negan strolled in front of the group, bat pointing at each person.

When the bat landed on Daryl you felt your heart stop. Only letting out a breath as he moved away from Daryl.

You just about kept in your scream of horror as you watched Negan bring the bat down on Abraham. The tears fell from your face as you watched the continued blows until there was little left.

You watched as Negan gloated, tossing the bat around so blood flew off. You couldn’t blame Daryl, you honestly couldn’t, you would’ve done the same. Still it was with fear in your heart that you watched Daryl as stood up and punched Negan right in the face. You gasped but nobody heard, all too focused on Daryl.

You stood there as Daryl fought against the men trying to restrain him, tears flowing faster down your face. Your head already playing out scenarios of that damn bat being brought down of Daryl’s head.

Fear consumed you as you watched a man run forward, Daryl’s own crossbow pointed at his head. It took everything in you to keep your feet planted on the floor but you couldn’t look away.

You let out a quiet sob of relief as the bow was moved but it quickly turned into one of horror as Negan turned around swinging the bat down on Glenn, watching as Maggie sobbed.

There was a long period in which Negan left with Rick but you couldn’t revel yourself, there were too many saviours. All you wanted to do was take Daryl and leave, just hide away from this absolute mess. You tried to avoid looking at the bodies but your eyes drifted to them far too many times. 

Finally, Negan came back, dumping Rick on the floor, letting out another speech. 

“Dwight,” you heard Negan call, “load him up.” You followed the bat as Negan lifted it, sobbing when you saw it was pointed at Daryl. 

He fought against him but he was exhausted, you all were and you knew Daryl would kill you for your next move, or Negan would, but you couldn’t let them take him, not Daryl.

“No!” You exclaimed as you rushed forward, knife in hand as you stabbed the saviour Negan had called in the shoulder. 

“Y/N!” Daryl shouted from the floor where had been shoved. It was only moments before you found yourself in the hold of three saviours, knife pried out of your hand.

Negan laughed, making him way to stand in front of you and crouching so he was eye level.

“Well, well, well.” He continued laughing, “just where have you been hiding, little lady?” 

“Take me.” You sobbed, looking past him and down at Daryl who had more than one gun pointed at his head. “Leave him alone, just, just take me. Please.” You flinched as Negan brushed his hand against your cheek to wipe away the tears, only for them to be replaced half a second later with more.

“Now that is a tempting offer darling.” He smirked, looking you up and down and what a sight you must have been. “But I want him.”

“No!” You screamed, thrashing against the saviours.

“Yes!” He yelled back, standing at full height and pointing the bloody bat in your face causing you to reel back as best you could in the others grip. “But because I’m so damn understanding, I’ll let you have a moment before I take him.” With that he gestured to the men and you were thrown down, landing roughly next to Daryl who quickly took you in his arms.

“The hell where you thinkin’?” He snapped at you but then shook his head. “Don’t matter. You ever do that again I’ll -” Daryl trailed of, eyes peering over you to the dead bodies.

“I’m sorry.” You sobbed, clutching at his shirt, “Please.” 

“I know, darling, I know.” He said hugging you close. “You listen to me, now, you gotta be brave. Be brave, and you’re gonna be fine. You gotta remember what I taught ya and for God’s sake don’t get into any more trouble. You hear?” He asked, a few tears making their way down his face. You nodded with sobs wracking your body.

“C’mere.” He said before cupping your cheek. Gently he lowered his head, leaning forward to press an urgent kiss to your lips. You kissed back, not thinking this would be how your first kiss with Daryl went. You let out a shout of surprise as you were forcefully pulled up and away from Daryl and he was shoved in the back of a van.

“Don’t say I never did anything for you sweetheart.” Negan smirked as he pointed Lucille in your face again. 

“Please.” You whispered as the saviours let you go causing you to fall to your knees. “Please.” 

Negan ignored you as he turned to the rest of the group, crouching down in front of Rick. 

“He’s got guts.” You heard him say and you couldn’t help but agree, hoping Daryl would cause Negan hell. “I like him. He’s mine now.” Hearing Negan say that caused you to pounce, well you tried to but Rosita saw it coming and dragged you down next to her. You thrashed and sobbed but she didn’t let go. Hearing him go on about how he’d cut pieces of Daryl caused your sobs to worsen, something you didn’t think possible.

Daryl had to watch you from the open van, not able to make a single move for fear of Negan pulling the bat out on you. He’d already done enough damage.

The saviours cleared out quickly, leaving a van, two dead bodies and a group of traumatised and sobbing people behind. You pushed away from Rosita, moving so you were a few paces away from everyone, crumbling behind a tree for the illusion of privacy. You rested your head on your knees as you sobbed. 

-

-

-

It was a while since you would see Daryl again. You’d spent the first few days alternating between sobbing and staring blankly at wall. Then you decided you wanted revenge. Going after Negan wasn’t an option yet, it’d take a while to get Negan but the other saviours were fair game. 

“Don’t.” Rick said as he watched you strut passed his house. He was sat on the porch stairs holding Judith close to him. 

“Don’t what?” You asked, stopping in front of them.

“Whatever you’ve planned, don’t.” He warned.

“I wasn’t going to do anything. I’m going on a run, no need to give that bastard any more incentive to hurt people.” You snapped.

“You’re like him, you know?” Rick asked, not looking away from Judith.

“What Negan?” You asked in disgust.

“Daryl.” Rick smiled; it was a sad smile. “It’s how I knew what you were going to do before you did because he’d do the same damn thing.” He told you fondly.

“He took him, Rick. You saw what he did to Abraham, to Glenn! Imagine what he’d do to someone he wanted to torment, to torture. Glenn and Abrahams death will look quick and easy compared to what he is capable off. I’m getting him back.” Your eyes filled with tears but you refused to let them fall.

“You think I don’t want him back? I’ve known him for years, he’s my brother!” He exclaimed, the change in tone startling Judith. He paused to shush her before turning to you. “Trust me what you’re feeling for Negan, so am I, so is everyone.”

“Yet you’re all just willing to sit on your arses and accommodate Negan’s every God damn need!” You yelled.

“He’s got Daryl over us; we fuck up then Daryl pays. You don’t want that and neither do I. Remember what he told you; don’t get into trouble.” Rick reminded you like you didn’t reply those last words in your head continuously.

“So what? I sat around here with my thumb up my arse?” You snorted, moving to take a seat next to Rick, smiling as Judith reached for you.

“No, I’m saying we play Negan’s game for a while until we have a plan. A smart plan.” He told you, passing Judith over to you.

You suddenly felt exhausted every bit of fight had left you. With a sigh you rested your head on Rick’s shoulder causing him to smile sadly down at you before wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you close.

“We’ll get him back, Y/N, I promise.” He swore, placing a kiss on top of your head.

“I know.” You told him. With or without his help you were getting Daryl back.

-

-

-

The next time you saw Daryl it was when Negan came to pick up his share of Alexandria’s supplies.

“Daryl’s here.” Rick told you causing you to look around but Rick stopped you, placing his hand on your upper arm. “No one is to talk to him, he said he’ll start cutting pieces off.” He told you regretfully, watching the tears fill your eyes. “I’m sorry, Y/N/N, I really am.”

“Fuck!” You exclaimed, kick the wall next to you.

You moved away from Rick, leaving him to deal with greedy saviours, and started looking for Daryl. The moment you saw him you gasped, trying not to cry. He looked terrible, drained, exhausted. It took everything in you not to run to him. 

You waited until Negan entered the house before sneaking over.

“Daryl.” You breathed out causing his head to snap around to you before looking to the house Negan just entered and then back to you.

“Y/N/N.” He whispered sounding worse than he looked.

“What has he done to you?” You asked, walking up to him and cupping his cheek. You smiled sadly as he leaned into the embrace.

“Nothin’ darlin’, don’t you be worrying. You just keep yourself out of trouble.” He told you with a smirk that held no energy.

“Now what is this?” Negan exclaimed as he walked out the house, that damn bat swung over his shoulder.

“Be brave for me, darlin’.” Daryl whispered before moving away from you. 

“I do believe I told all of you no talking to the help!” He yelled the last word, swinging Lucille in front of your face quickly causing you to flinch.

“I made an expectation for you once, sweetheart, tell he why I shouldn’t start chopping pieces of him off.” He demanded, swinging the bat in Daryl’s direction.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t, I was in the infirmary and I didn’t know he was here. Please.” You begged, not wanting the man to start swinging. 

“Last chance.” He warned quietly, coming close to you, leaning down so he could whisper, “one more move that I don’t like, your boyfriend is dead.”

You gasped as he moved away and beamed and you. A few tears made their way down you face as you stared at him in horror. Thankfully Rick had followed you down, knowing you would disregard his words, and wrapped his arm around him, nodding at Daryl as discreetly as he could manage.

Watching Negan’s smirk as he left with Daryl crushed you.

-

-

-

Somehow, you’d ended up at Hilltop with Rick and some members of the group. You suspected you’d only been allowed to go because Rick didn’t fully trust you yet, suspecting you’d go after Negan’s men alone which to be fair he wasn’t wrong. You went as a group because Rick had decided that they were ready to fight, they needed to fight Negan. It was the first thing you had agreed with for weeks.

He told Maggie how she was right and it was a heartfelt reunion for the group. You stood to the side watching, noticing how the group was down one vital member but hopefully when all was said and done, you’d have Daryl back.

You watched as Rick’s gaze strayed from Maggie’s to something behind her, too deep in thought though you didn’t follow his movement to see where he had gone. Not until Michonne bumped your shoulder. You looked up at her and saw the amazed smile on her face and followed her gaze when she nodded. You let out a choked sob as you watched Daryl leave Rick’s embrace and ran over to you. 

Daryl collapsed into your arms the moment he was next to you, laying his head on your chest even with the height different. You sobbed into his hair as he sobbed into your chest. Whatever Negan and his saviours had done it had broken the strong man in front of you.

The two of you ended up on the floor. You held Daryl close to your chest as he clung to you, neither of you willing to let the other go for even a moment. You looked up to find everyone around you in various stages of shock, most crying but with big smiles on their faces. 

For once everything looked like it could go in your favour.

-

-

-

That night you and Daryl lay in bed together. He lay comfortably on your chest and you played with the overgrown hair. He had told you and Rick about what had happened whilst he was at the Sanctuary and it broke both your hearts. 

You heard about his escape and couldn’t help but wonder why someone had helped him but didn’t dwell on it for too long because you had Daryl back. 

You weren’t surprised to hear the man had refused to join Negan’s side though. Thankful even because it showed Negan hadn’t broken Daryl, not completely. 

“Missed you.” You heard him mumble. The poor man looked exhausted but the relief and happiness to be back with his family, with you, was so visible on his face that you couldn't help but smile back softly. 

“I missed you too, baby.” You told him, voice barely above a whisper so not to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere that was there.

“Thought he was gonna kill me, kept thinkin’ bout you, bout the group. Those woulda been my last memories of y’all and I couldn’t- I couldn’t…” He trailed of as a sob wracked his body. 

You shifted so you could cuddle him, running a hand through his hair whilst whispering soft words of comfort. He was safe, you were safe, his family was safe. Everything was going to get better.

“Dunno why Maggie don’t hate me, I got Glenn killed.” Daryl whispered, almost like he didn’t want to admit it which was ridiculous because it wasn’t his fault.

“Negan’s a lunatic who doesn’t need an excuse to kill somebody but if the chance is there, he’ll take it. It wasn’t your fault Glenn was killed, ok, Maggie knows it, Rick knows it, I know it. Nobody blames you in the slightest, you can’t blame yourself.” You knew it would take more than one night to make Daryl see that none of this was his fault but for now the best you could do was hold him and tell him the truth.

“Dunno what I’d do without you baby girl.” He told you after he’d calmed down. The tears were gone and all that was left was sheer exhaustion.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you either. Can’t put me through that again.” You scolded causing him to laugh tiredly.

“Don’t think we ain’t talking about your little surprise appearance that night either, you’re still in trouble.” He warned, his body just slightly less tense than it had been.

“All the long nights filled with worry should be enough to make up for it.” You whispered to him as you watched his eyes blink shut for longer and longer each time.

“Long nights filled with this would be better, that’ll make up for it.” He told you before lazily lifting his head and pressing his lips against yours, drawing you into a soft kiss that made you melt.

“God, baby, I missed you so damn much.” He whispered against your lips as he pulled away, resting his forehead on yours.

“I missed you too.” You whispered back, pressing you lips against his briefly before pulling away and guiding him to lay back down.

“Go to sleep, baby. I’ll still be here tomorrow.” You told him as you resumed running your hand through his hair.

“Be here all the damn time, I ain’t ever letting you go again.” He mumbled before he drifted off to sleep.

It was a long road plagued with nightmares, tears, anxiety and more stress than one thought possible but eventually Daryl got better with the help of everyone around him and the two of you were closer than ever. Daryl had even officially asked you to be his girlfriend, after a kick up the ass from Rick. 

True to his word Daryl didn’t let your surprise appearance that night go but it ended with the two of you airing your frustrations out and admitting just how much you liked and cared for each other. 

It was good for both of you. 

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Fluff-uary Prompt - Hand Holding

Prompt - ‘The world doesn't feel quite so bad with your hand entwined with mine.’

The sun beat down uncomfortably as you made your way back up to The Sanctuary. All day it felt like you had been running back and forth, constantly being told you were needed here and there, do this, do that. You were just about ready to fall asleep where you stood, sweat clung to your skin making your skin crawl and you almost groaned in relief as you entered the main room, it was warm but still cooler than it was outside.

You walked through The Sanctuary, easily making your way around and desperately trying to stay as small as possible, moving as close to the walls as you could so that nobody called you for another favour.

It wasn’t long before you found an empty balcony, sitting down and letting your legs dangle over the edge as you rested your face on the railing, looking out onto the walker infested yard. Despite the heat from the sun you were thankful for the moment to yourself. You didn’t mind helping around, hell you were happy to aid in any way you could, but some days the reality of this new world seemed to weigh you down.

You were glad you’d found Negan all those years ago, damn lucky he’d found you. You remembered back then when you had been so frightened, so scared, so alone. By the time you had crossed paths with Negan you had just about given up fighting, not seeing the point in it anymore. If this was what the world was now how could you survive?

Negan had found you, near starved and dehydrated. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d come across another person, yet alone been with a group with supplies. Walkers had surrounded you and despite the fear of what was to come you did little to fight them off. Negan had watched from the sideline for a moment, then two, waiting for you to make a move, waiting for you to fight them but quickly realised you had accepted your fate.

He made quick work of killing the walkers, drawing their attention to him and using his bat to make sure they stayed dead this time, it was a brutal scene but then he had crouched down in front of you, eyes soft as he gave you a reassuring smile before pulling out a bottle of water and handing it over to you.

You hadn’t wanted to go with him at first, not used to people anymore, not sure what his motives were. Everybody had an agenda these days, if they took you in they wanted something and usually it wasn’t good. Negan though had been upfront with you, taking a seat next to you when he realised you weren’t moving and drawing his knees up as he turned his head in your direction. Then he had started talking. He spoke about wanting to build something out of this mess, wanting to build a safe place, a sanctuary.

You listened to his words, much as you hated it a spark of hope ignited in you as you did, wanting to believe that something could be built from this mess. You wanted to believe that there was still a chance for the world.

Eventually you agreed to go with him, agreed to help however you could. From there on you were always by his side, feeling emotions that had long faded as your fight slowly came back.

Negan watched it happen, watched as you smiled more, laughed more, the passion you spoke with now was such a drastic change from the person he had met all that time ago, ready to surrender to the new world. It wasn’t a shock to him when he found himself falling for you, he didn’t even try and deny the feeling to himself, knowing it was futile.

Over time the two of you grew close, a bond that neither of you had felt with another person before. That’s not to say Negan’s love for Lucille ever faded but the apocalypse had a way of creating a different kind of bond, one not a single person had felt before the world went to shit.

It started slow between you and Negan, both of you admitting your feelings to yourselves but not daring to say it to the other. It was easy to skip around as the two of you were in the process of building up The Sanctuary, coming across a building and clearing it out. It was the perfect place, and you were honestly surprised to find nobody had tried to take it over before.

Eventually though you and Negan got settled into this new life, the walls of The Sanctuary felt safer than any place you had ever called home before, whether it was because of the walls keeping the walkers out or because Negan was a constant presence there you wouldn’t say but at some point the two of you realised that you couldn't ignore it anymore.

The constant flirting, the glances when the other wasn’t looking, the need to say how you felt, the desire to be close to each other all the time. There was nobody you trusted more than Negan, even as people were brought into The Sanctuary and trusted by Negan, forming his inner circle, you trusted Negan above anyone else.

Of course just because the two of you knew your feelings that didn’t mean you could just come right out and say it. It took him nearly losing you before he confessed anything. It took what should have just been a simple supply run and ended with you barely avoiding being bit and Negan pushing away a new recruit in order to slam his bat down on the walker's head.

He immediately turned to you, pale faced and worry clear in his eyes. You watched, panting for breath, as he looked you up and down before he wrapped his arms tightly around you causing you to let out a breathy laugh before mirroring him. It was a while before he pulled away, only pulling far enough back so he could look down at you, his hand coming up as his knuckles ran gently along your cheek.

“Don’t you ever do that again.” He warned you, causing you to smile up at him.

And that smile was enough for him, that damn smile that could turn his mood around instantly, that smile that he would never say no to and never failed to calm him down. That was enough for him to lean down and press his lips to yours in a soft but desperate kiss, the kiss conveying his fear of almost losing you, his absolute love for you, his need for you to always be by his side.

You kissed back with the same force, hand resting on his chest as you did, feeling so happy as you finally knew what Negan’s lips felt like against yours. Now that you knew you never wanted to stop learning the feeling of them on yours.

When the two of you pulled away Negan rested his forehead against yours softly smiling down at you.

“You don’t leave my side.” He said, fear slowly creeping away as he held you close.

“Never.” You promised, intending to keep it.

You heard the door behind you open and barely resisted the urge to sigh as you let your eyes fall closed waiting for the next request to come. When nothing came you opened your eyes and looked up, squinting against the light from the sun, and smiled tiredly as you watched Negan take a seat next to you.

“Been looking all over for you, darlin’.” He told you as he let his legs hang over the edge of the balcony, looking from the yard over to you.

“Sorry,” You said, voice quiet, “busy day.”

“Huh,” Negan said, raising an eyebrow at you knowing damn well he hadn’t asked you to do anything around The Sanctuary but then again he knew how willing you were to help out when and where you could, “Doing what?”

“A bit of everything, helped on the supply run, then Frank needed help with the walkers, Lee needed help with food then there was an issue with the newbies,” you told him, the tiredness written across your face as you shifted to lean your head against his shoulder.

“Why the hell are they getting you to do it? Ain’t like there aren't enough people to do that shit, making my girl run around all day long.” Negan grumbled, turning his head slightly to press a lingering kiss to your head.

“You know I don’t mind.” You told him, moving your hand over to his and linking your pinkie fingers together before shifting and letting your hand slip into his, watching as his larger one covered yours, thumb brushing gently across the front of your hand.

You couldn’t help but smile down at your entwined hands, feeling yourself relax with each brush of Negan’s thumb. It was nice to have a moment alone with the man who was usually so busy making sure everything was running smoothly, nobody interrupting constantly.

Just you and him, together.

You tilted your head to look up at him before leaning up slightly to connect your lips. The kiss was slow and lazy, you feeling the last bit of energy draining from you as you relaxed in Negan’s presence.

Negan was the first to pull away, smiling down at you softly as he watched the way you struggled to pry your eyes open.

“Come on, baby girl,” He said, standing up and pulling you up with him, not letting go of your hand “Let’s get you to bed.”

You didn’t argue with him, couldn’t if you wanted to, just let him lead you through The Sanctuary, him glaring at anyone who dared to make a move in your direction. As you were being pulled along you squeezed Negan’s hand in yours three times, a long-standing tradition between the two of you, one squeeze meant focus on me, it was mainly used when Negan’s temper began to slip and he needed a something to focus on, two squeeze was a discrete signal that something was wrong, and three squeezes meant ‘I love you’.

You watched as Negan looked down at your hands before his gaze shifted up to you, a smile on his face that was always reserved for you and only you. His eyes softened as he squeezed your hand back.

No words were spoken as he gently pushed you down onto the bed, pulling the blanket around you causing you to smile up at him through half closed eyes. Negan allowed himself one more minute to sit with you, gently resting on the bed next to you as he brushed a stray piece of hair out of your face, watching as you sleepily leaned into the touch.

“Stay,” You mumbled, reaching your hand up to thread your fingers together again.

And who was Negan to deny that request?

He nodded at you, lifting the blanket up so he could slide into bed next to you, pulling you into his arms. You happily rested your head against his chest, the steady beat of his heart a comforting sound to lull you to sleep.

“I love you,” You heard him whisper, placing a soft kiss on your head.

“Love you too,” You whispered, bringing his knuckles up to your lips and planting a kiss to them before you fell asleep in Negan’s hold.

_________

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Febuwhump Prompt - blood loss

Prompt - ‘A world without you seemed impossible.’

You found yourself pacing the length of the room, getting lost in the repetitive motion of back and forth, back and forth. The dread of what was to come invaded your mind, you were unable to think about anything else. It felt like every time you closed your eyes all you could see was a pale, lifeless body lying there covered in blood.

You felt yourself shuddering as the image assaulted your mind once more.

You couldn’t say how much time had passed before a hand on your shoulder startled you. Your head snapped around to see Rick standing there, a kind smile on his face that did nothing to hide his own worry.

“He’s gonna be okay.” He told you but you could see how he doubted his own words.

Shaking your head, your bit your lip not wanting to direct your anger and fear at the wrong person. You’d seen Daryl hurt plenty of times, you’d been with him since the beginning, you’d seen him bleeding from deep wounds or simply covered in bruises but this…this was different.

This time you didn’t know if he’d survive.

Inside the clinic Denise worked hard to sew him back together, desperately doing what she could without an entire hospital supply room to support her. You and Rick had long been kicked out of the room, distracting her as you watched every move she made.

“You don’t know that.” Was all you managed to say, eyes flickering over to the closed door.

Daryl and a small group had headed out that morning on what should have been an easy supply run and returned hours later laying a bloody Daryl on the floor as they called for help. At that point you couldn’t see the injuries that were hidden by clothing but there was no hiding the blood that had stained most of his shirt.

You had watched as the gates opened, stood frozen once you saw him before running over to the growing group as fast as you could, cupping Daryl’s cheeks in your hands, desperately pleading with him to wake up. Rick was the one who pulled you away so they could get him up to the clinic.

Watching as he was stripped had you turning pale and your stomach twisting as you saw the wounds. There were deep slashes scattered across his torso, bruises forming in the shape of boots. You choked on a sob as Rick cupped the back of the head, hiding your face in his chest as you continued to cry.

It wasn’t long until the two of you were told to wait outside and neither of you were planning on leaving any time soon.

The hours dragged by, you’d gone from restless and pacing to collapsing into the chair beside Rick, the man smiling sympathetically at you as he wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into his chest.

The two of you sat in silence, neither having any comforting words for the other as you waited for any news on the man you both loved. Despite everything you’d been through since the apocalypse started you could honestly say this was one of the worst moments, completely helpless and not knowing whether the man who had been by your side since the beginning, the man who was the only reason you had survived this long, the man who had grumbled and muttered when you followed him from the walker infested warehouse but had somehow along the way ended up falling for you, would survive or not.

A world without Daryl Dixon seemed impossible.

The door to the clinic opening pulled you out of your thoughts as your head snapped up to see an exhausted looking Denise standing there, her mouth opening and closing a few times but no words came out.

You felt your blood run cold, mind jumping to one conclusion at her lack of words. Your eyes pooled with tears but thankfully Rick spoke up before you could spiral much further.

“Denise,” He prompted softly, not sure if he wanted to hear the next words out of her mouth either.

“He’s stable,” She started with causing you to let out a sob of relief, your hand covering your mouth. “But I can’t make any promises, Rick. He could be fine or it could be touch and go.”

You blocked out the rest of her words, the only ones you needed to hear were that he was stable, he was alive. That’s all that mattered. Daryl wouldn’t die, he couldn’t…he’d be fine.

He had to be fine.

“You can see him now.” You heard Denise say, Rick and you both standing before making your way into the room.

You paused in the doorway, more tears falling from your eyes as you looked at him. He looked completely lifeless, skin almost grey as he lay there, shirtless and bandaged up. Needles poked into him as they gave him what he needed to stay alive.

You forced a shaky smile up at Rick as he lay a comforting hand on your shoulder before you walked further into the room and took a seat on the edge of the plastic chair next to the bed.

You’d never seen him like this and you were terrified, hesitating as you lifted your hand, scared that one touch would be all it took before the heart monitor beeped to nothing. You closed your eyes and gently took his hand in yours, waiting for something to happen and breathing out a sigh of relief as nothing did.

“Daryl,” You whispered, leaning down and resting your lips against his hand before pressing a lingering kiss to them. “Please wake up, you have to wake up.” You pleaded with the unconscious man, aware your words would have very little effect but needing to say something.

You looked up as you heard another chair scrap on the other side of the room and watched as Rick sat opposite you, mirroring you as he took Daryl’s hand in his.

“You heard the lady,” Rick smiled, “You gotta wake up, brother.”

You and Rick sat together in near silence for the night, neither one of you wanting to leave the other or Daryl alone. It was a long night and lonely night when Daryl failed to move but you were glad to have a friend.

Days continued to pass without a hint of movement from Daryl. The whole time you refused to move from his side, Rick had to after the first night, too many duties to attend to but if it were up to him he’d have been in that room with the two of you. Though he did stop by often enough to make sure that you were taking care of yourself.

Which you weren’t.

You weren’t holding up and as each day passed you felt yourself losing hope. Food wasn’t even a thought in your mind and if it wasn’t for Rick stopping by several times a day with food then you knew you wouldn’t have eaten anything, even with Rick’s help you only had a few bites at most a day.

Thankfully some of the colour had started to return to Daryl’s face even if he had yet to wake up, Denise said that was a good thing, his body was working on healing itself. It showed Daryl was fighting.

He was also taking to the blood transfusion that she had had to administer. She spoke about red blood cell transfusion, gave you the rundown of the procedure but you tuned her out, could hardly stand to listen to her talk about how much blood Daryl had lost, about how he might still take a turn for the worst.

You spent most of the day just watching him, watching the weak rise and fall of his chest, watching his heart beat on the monitor, watching his eyes to see if there was even a flicker of movement. If you hadn’t had Daryl memorised before you did know, you knew the man like the back of your hand, hell better than that.

There hadn’t been a day that passed in which you hadn’t cried. Everyday that hope faded more and more until it felt like you were drowning. You refused to let go of Daryl's hand, praying that you’d feel it twitch one of these days, praying he’d curl his fingers around yours. Daryl’s hand in yours felt like an anchor, the one thing that kept you holding on.

“How’s he doing today?” Rick asked as he walked into the clinic, smiling sadly as you didn’t even look up at him.

You only had eyes for Daryl.

“Same as yesterday and the day before.” You said bitterly, wanting him to get better so you could leave and get your hands on the Saviours.

Rick watched your emotions play out on your face, understanding what you were feeling all too well. He wanted to rip the face of every saviour, wanted Negan’s head on a stick but he knew they had to be smart, knew that if they struck now they’d lose. Negan would be expecting them.

Rick was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard you let out a surprised gasp, he looked to you, a question on his lips when he paused, watching as your eyes lit up for the first time in nearly a week.

“Hey,” You said, huffing a laugh of absolute disbelief, “You’re ok, you’re ok,” You repeat like a mantra.

The feeling of Daryl’s fingers tightening around your own was just about the best feeling in the world. The complete feeling of relief that ran throughout your body made you feel lighter than you had in days, like a weight had been suddenly and breathtakingly removed from your back.

Rick watched in amazement as his best friend scrunched his eyes closed hard before he tried to pry them out, Y/N watching his every move like a hawk. It took a few attempts before Daryl managed to open his eyes, blinking against the harsh lights before his eyes settled on you.

At this point your eyes were filled, yet again, with tears but this time they were tears of disbelief, tears of happiness, tears of fear as you realised how close you’d come to losing the most important person in your life.

“Y/N,” He managed to grumble out before he started coughing, causing you to move, quickly grabbing your cup of water and guiding it up to his lips, helping him get the water down carefully.

Once he was finished you put the cup back and moved yourself onto the bed, being careful of his torso as you did so. He looked up at you, immediately noticing the dark circles under your eyes and the worry that was written across your face plain as day.

“Ya need t’sleep, baby.” He croaked out causing you to let out a watery laugh, the man nearly died and here he was still more worried about you than he was himself.

“Needed to make sure you were ok.” You told him, letting your hand gently reach up and cup his cheek, smiling shakily as he leaned into the touch.

“M’okay.” He assured you, turning his face into your palm and placing a soft, barely there kiss upon it.

“You nearly died.” You told him with a choked sob, desperately trying to swallow down tears.

Daryl’s gaze shifted from you over to Rick, who stood forgotten by the door feeling like an intruder. Rick shot him a shaky smile which was returned weakly before Daryl turned his attention back to you.

“S’gonna be ok, gonna get the bastards.” He told you, watching as laughed and nodded along with his words. “But you gotta sleep, darlin’.”

Those words had you falling in love with the man all over again, this idiotic, absolutely selfless man who put you before him every single day, even when he was practically on his death bed only days ago.

You couldn’t help but smile at him, a smile that was only reserved for him, eyes soft and lips upturned with a tilt of your head. It was the smile Daryl loved most, one only he could draw from you.

Carefully you leaned down, your lips brushing against his so softly. It was exactly what you needed, the feelings of his lips moving against yours, proof he was alive. You could finally breathe properly.

Eventually you pulled back, resting your forehead on his, causing him to smile up at you. He managed to lift his hand up, barely hiding a wince from you, and rested it on your cheek, letting his fingertips run along your cheekbone.

“I love you,” you whispered, swallowing hard around the lump in your throat, he was ok.

“I love you too, darlin’.” He told you, just as softly, the two of you in your own little world, so absorbed in each other you didn’t notice Rick slipping out of the room with a smile of his own, glad that his two best friends had found each other whilst the world around you went to hell.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1

That's My Job

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Febuwhump Prompt - No anaesthesia

Prompt - ‘Protecting you is the only thing I care about, it's my job to make sure you're ok.’

The rain hammered down, soaking you and your clothes leaving you shivering as you slumped against a tree. You knew it had been stupid to go off on your own, even stupider not to tell anybody where you were going, but you just wanted some time to yourself.

It hadn’t been easy to sneak out, what with the threat of the Whispers hanging about but you managed it and now you were paying the price. You were a skilled enough fighter especially compared to how you were in the beginning but you had been with this group months into the outbreak and, after he warmed up to you and accepted you weren’t going to leave his side despite his best efforts to pull away from you, Daryl had trained you himself.

He rolled his eyes one day as he watched you struggle with a walker before he put an arrow in its skull and grumbled about how you had to protect yourself better. You had smiled up at him and begged him to teach you how to use his bow and the look he gave you still made you smile despite the blood soaking your pants.

He’d started easy, hand to hand fighting then taught you how to use a knife, taught you how to track and then he finally taught you how to use the bow and arrow. Even though you joked and flirted your way through his lessons you had paid attention and eventually you were able to handle your own against walkers and humans alike.

Each time you used the skills Daryl taught you, you watched him smile over at you and nod proudly before turning back to whatever he was fighting.

So it wasn’t like you couldn’t deal with the walkers, you’d proved over and over that you were more than capable. What you weren’t capable of doing what watching out for obstacles as you pulled back from the walker and ended up falling down a steep hill, a sharp branch had dug its way through your pants and pierced your thigh from top to bottom leaving you slumped at the bottom of a muddy hill, crawling until you were slumped behind a tree, bleeding out quickly.

The rain was that horrible kind of rain, freezing cold coming down hard and fast, stinging the slice on your thigh as it did and you had to bite your lip to keep from crying out, tilting your head back as you arched your back against the tree in pain.

You really hoped Daryl realised you were missing sooner rather than later.

You didn’t know how long you sat there for, burning pain in your thigh, but eventually you felt your eyes beginning to drift closed. Your head nodded up and down as you pried them open, knowing that if you fell asleep now then you were as good as dead, either from the blood loss or from a walker bite.

But it was a struggle, the light headedness from the blood loss had you scrunching your eyes shut to fight against the spinning and you felt like you were going to throw up at any minute.

You felt your eyes blink shut heavily and couldn’t find the strength to open them again.

Daryl hadn’t noticed you were missing, too busy up making sure they were prepared for when the whispers’ inevitably made their move. It wasn’t until Judith came to find him, calling his name to get his attention that he knew something was wrong.

He made his way over to Judith, kneeling down so he was eye level with her.

“Everything ok?” He asked, looking her up and down but other than her flushed cheeks and panting breath she seemed fine.

“I can’t find Y/N.” She told Daryl, worry clear in her voice.

“What d’ya mean you can’t find Y/N?” He asked, scanning the area like that’d make you magically appear from around the corner.

“I looked everywhere and asked the others but nobody’s seen her.”

Daryl silently cursed as he stood up preparing to go out looking for you. He knew you liked to roam the perimeter sometimes but you’d be warned against as of late, no way did he want you out there alone, not with the Whisper’s getting cockier.

“I’m coming too!” Judith yelled as she ran after him causing him to stop in his tracks to look down at her.

“No, you ain’t, you’re gonna stay here and keep an eye on things.” He told her before he took off again, rolling his eyes in annoyance as freezing cold rain started pouring down heavily.

Daryl jumped onto his bike turning to Judith who watched him with wide eyes.

“Go on, you got your job, I got mine.”

He waited until she nodded before starting the bike and heading out, picking a direction and hoping it was the right one.

Daryl felt like he had searched every damn bit of the woods as he shut the bike off once more and started looking around, you still nowhere to be seen. He was soaked wet through and as more time passed the worry began to grow until it was consuming him.

He stepped over a fallen tree trunk, dealt with a walker and almost fell on his butt down a steep hill before coming to the conclusion that you weren’t here. He let out a frustrated string of curses, glancing around once more before he left and paused when he saw a walker laying dead in the distance.

He knew it was a long shot, knew anybody could have killed it and he should probably just head back to his bike and look somewhere else but with a sigh he headed over to it, frowning as he looked around and saw nothing more than the walker.

Then he heard a snarl coming from down the steep hill he’d almost fallen down before. He turned towards the sound and looked down before moving into action because there, faintly in the mud, not yet washed away by the rain, were marks created by somebody falling down the hill.

“Y/N!” He yelled, looking around and not seeing you.

His eyes darted in every direction before he spotted the walker, it was trapped under a tree but trying to grab something. Quickly, Daryl made his way over to it and almost collapsed in relief as he saw you sat against a tree but any relief he felt was washed away when he saw your closed eyes and bleeding thigh.

“Shit,” he cursed as he made his way over to you, sitting down on the wet and muddy floor and rooting through his pockets for anything he could use to stitch you up.

There was already so much blood, your entire upper right pants leg was practically stained red and the lower part had a fair bit of blood stuck to it too. He had no clue just how long you’d been out here bleeding, cursing himself for not realising you were missing sooner, but he knew he couldn’t move you, didn’t know how long you’d been unconscious for.

No, he had to stitch you up out here and then get you back. He just hoped like hell you’d stay asleep because giving you stitches without anaesthetic was something he’d only had to do twice and it was a nightmare he never wanted to experience again.

It took him a few goes to pull your jeans off, the blood and rain causing it to stick to the wound and he winced for you as he had to pull it off roughly causing more blood to leak from the wound.

Thankfully he had the supplies to help, knowing that even with his best attempts to stitch you up he needed to get you back home and to the clinic as soon as possible. He took a breath before placing the needle at one end of the cut and pushed it through the skin but didn’t get much further than that as your eyes shot open and you let out a whine of pain, hand reaching out to grab his wrist.

“Hey, hey, s’just me.” Daryl said, voice low and rough as he took your hand off his wrist, not wanting you to nudge the needle and hurt yourself even more.

“Daryl?” You slurred out, scrunching your eyes shut before looking at him through half lidded eyes.

“Yeah, baby, it’s me. I gotta stitch you up, Y/N/N.” He told you, moving your hand to the side and cursing everything that you’d woken up before he’d even started.

“No, it’s fine,” you told him, trying to push him away but too weak to lift your arms, “don’t need stitches.”

Daryl looked at your bloody thigh and thought differently and with an eye roll he shifted, spreading his legs out on either side of you and pinned your hands down underneath them causing you to whine again.

“Sh, quicker we do this quicker we get out of the damn rain and back home, yeah?” He said, turning his attention back to your thigh and pushing the needle through before tugging on the thread and glancing up at you as you let out a cry of pain, tears pooling up in your eyes.

“Please, Daryl, stop.” You begged miserably but Daryl continued, pushing the needle through again knowing you needed this despite how badly your crying made him want to stop.

“Doing good, Y/N/N,” he told you quietly, trying to block out your pained gasps and high pitched whines as he continued to stitch you back up. “S’that’s it, good girl.” He kept up the steady stream of praise, getting half way through before you sat further up.

He looked up at you, ready to gently push you back down until he saw your face and quickly moved his leg, gently tilting your head to the side just in time for you to throw up, crying miserably as you did.

“Alright, you’re alright,” Daryl assured as he rubbed your back gently waiting until you had finished vomiting to gently move you so you were slumped against the tree, completely soaked and shivering.

“Gonna get you stitched and then we’ll go home, alright?” Daryl asked, not expecting an answer.

He watched as you blinked at him tiredly and then turned back to the cut that was half stitched. He picked the needle back up and tried to go as fast as he could whilst making sure the stitches were good enough until you got back.

“Just a few more then we’ll go.” He murmured, eyes focused on the wound as he got lost in the repetitive motion.

The rain was washing away the blood now that your jeans were off and the wound was nearly stitched but even without all the blood surrounding it it still looked nasty and had Daryl wincing in sympathy. It ran diagonally from the top of your thigh and stopped just before your knee, the cut was jagged and some parts were deeper than others but he was pretty sure his stitches were decent enough to last at least until you got home.

It felt like hours to you but eventually Daryl was pulling away and looking at his work before he wiped his hands on his pants. He looked down at your jeans that were pulled down below your knees before he moved to take them off fully, leaving them on the ground and standing up before leaning down to pull you up as gently as he could.

You let out a pained groan as Daryl scooped you up in his arms, carrying you bridal style so as to not hurt the cut on your thigh even more, he already knew that the ride home would be hell on your leg, the speed of the bike on the uneven floor would make for a long, bumpy ride back.

It wasn’t long before he was placing you on the bike before climbing on himself, having to wrap your arms around him and warning you to stay awake and hold on.

He was right, it was hell on your thigh and you spent the entire ride back in more pain than you thought possible, your face firmly buried in Daryl’s back as you sobbed and cursed, feeling every bump and dent in the ground.

You felt yourself swaying with dizziness, the world around you seemed to spin as you tightened your grip on Daryl, fighting to keep your eyes open but felt them fall shut and you just barely managed to mumble Daryl’s name before you passed out.

“Shit,” Daryl cursed for the fiftieth time that day as he slowed down, holding your arms around him and doing his best to make sure you stayed upright on the bike as he continued to make his way home.

Thankfully you weren’t that far away, another ten minutes and you were pulling up, the gates opening for you as you did. Daryl made quick work of parking the bike before he picked you up again and making his way up to the clinic, hoping like hell Denise was already there.

Thankfully she was along with a worried Judith who sat on the bed, hopping off immediately once she saw you and Daryl.

“Is she gonna be ok?” She asked as soon as Daryl walked in.

“Course she will be,” Daryl told her before turning to Denise. “I stitched her up but I don’t know how long she was out for.”

“Let’s have a look then,” She said and pulled a glove on turning to you and poking and prodding at your thigh. “You did a nice job with the stitches, other than keeping her sugar levels up and getting some vitamins in her and letting her rest there’s not much else we can do. Keep her here tonight, we’ll keep an eye on her. Keep the stitches clean and she should be fine. Though she’ll probably have a bad cold as well if she was out in that storm.” She said, looking out of the window and seeing the rain pouring down, before looking back to Daryl who had taken a seat on the chair next to the bed.

“You did good, Daryl.” She said, patting his shoulder before heading into the other room to check her other patient.

“She’s gonna be ok?” Judith asked again in a small voice causing Daryl’s eyes to soften.

“Told you, she’s gonna be just fine.” He assured her with a smile as he took your hand in his. “Just gotta take real good care of her.”

“We can do that.” Judith nodded, walking over to Daryl and sitting on his knee, Daryl wrapping his free arm around her.

“Yeah we can,” Daryl agreed because at the end of the day that was his job, taking care of you was his main purpose and the fact that you managed to get hurt weighed heavily on him. “You should get home.” Daryl said as he noticed Judith lean against his chest and close her eyes.

“Know I’m here,” Judith mumbled him with a shrug, “I wanted to make sure Y/N was ok, I knew you’d find her, you always protect her.”

Daryl couldn’t help but smile at that because, yeah, he did and besides the few incidents like this one he had to say he thought he’d done a pretty good job about it.

“Go t’sleep, kid.” Daryl said and Judith was quick to follow his instruction.

Daryl sat in the chair, his eyes resting on you, watching your chest rise and fall letting him know you were ok. Eventually he felt his eyes get heavy and leaned his head back on the chair, letting them fall closed.

He didn’t know how long he had drifted off for but he woke up to you squeezing his hand and quickly opened his eyes to look at you. Before he could speak you shushed him gently, gesturing to Judith who was still asleep against his chest, before smiling softly at the two of them.

“How you feelin’?” Daryl asked quietly, voice barely above a whisper but you heard him fine, the only other noise to be heard was the howling wind and sound of rain coming from outside.

“Sore but better than I was.” You told him, shifting slightly and wincing at the pain that shot through your leg.

“Stay still,” Daryl told you with a fond eye roll, “the hell happened, Y/N/N?”

“I just wanted to clear my head for a bit, you know? The walker came from nowhere and I dealt with it but it caught me as it went down and I ended up slipping down that hill and slicing my leg on a branch or something.” You told him, wincing as you remembered the pain. “Thanks for stitching me up.”

“Make my job real damn hard, you know?” He told you with a smile causing you to laugh softly.

“Your job?” You asked.

“Keepin’ you safe, can’t do that when you’re sneaking off and falling down hills.” You looked at him for a moment, your face softening as you squeezed his hand again.

“Thank you,” You told him, swallowing past the sudden lump in your throat, “for protecting me. All these years and I never once thanked you for it. Hell, we both know without you I’d have been a walker's chew toy years ago.” You told him, chuckling quietly.

“You don’t gotta thank me, darlin’, s’my job.” He told you again and he was close enough that he could bring your hand to his lips and press a kiss to them without shifting you or Judith. “Even if you are a pain in the ass.”

“You know you love me.” You grinned at him, the grin melting into a smile at his words.

“I do, so damn much,” He told you honestly, “So no more sneaking off without telling me.” He warned.

“No promises.” You smirked, feeling happier than you should considering you were laying in a hospital bed with however many stitches holding your thigh together but when Daryl was around you just couldn’t help it.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1

Don't Stop Believin'

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Febuwhump Prompt - "How Long Has It Been?"

Prompt - ‘Don't you stop believin', once you do there ain't any damn hope for the rest of us.’

The night seemed to pass in silence and by morning it was no better, though what could anybody say? People had died, good people had died. Your gaze shifted over to Andrea who had yet to move from Amy’s body before you turned to look at Daryl, wincing as he brought a pickaxe down on another walker’s skull.

You heard the group talking, worried for the woman, and watched as the new guy, Rick, walked over to her, speaking gently only to have a gun pointed to his head.

“Hell,” You heard Daryl say as they continued discussing what to do, “I’ll take the shot from here.”

You rolled your eyes as you stood up, the statement was met with angry outbursts as expected.

“C’mon,” you said to him, grabbing his upper arm and pushing him away from the small group that was gathered only for him to shake you off with a glare as he marched over to Glenn, picking the axe up again only for a teary-eyed Glenn to start shouting at him about where the dead went.

You went to follow him but were stopped as a hand grabbed your arm. You felt your eyebrows pull together as you looked from it and up to Shane who shook his head at you. You glared at him before looking back to Daryl and pulling your arm out of Shane’s hold with a grunt, turning away from both men.

It wasn’t long before the arguing started up again, you glancing over when you heard Daryl shout.

“Y’all left my brother for dead, you had this comin’.” He told them.

“Hey,” You started but were cut off by Jacqui’s yell, all of you looking at her, eyes widening when she told you Jim had been bit. T-dog stepped forward, grabbing the man in his arms as Daryl lifted his shirt and upon seeing the bite he took moved over to you, gently pushing you back as he placed himself between you and Jim.

“I say we put him out of his damn misery right now,” Daryl said as the group argued over what to do next.

“You’d want that, would you?” Shane asked with a scoff.

“Yeah, and I’d thank you for it.” Daryl shot back, taking a step closer to Shane.

“I hate to say it, but Daryl’s right-” Dale began but Daryl cut him off.

“Thank you, someone with some damn sense.” He said before he launched himself at Jim, pickaxe swung and ready to kill but he was stopped when a gun was aimed to his head causing you to take a step forward.

“We don’t kill the living.” Rick said, causing you and Daryl to let out a joint scoff.

“He says with a gun to a man's head.” You said, watching as Rick turned to glare at you.

“Get him out of here.” He said to you, and you rolled your eyes at the man before you grabbed Daryl’s arm and pulled him away.

“You need t’calm down,” You told him as you pulled him away from everyone, watching as he looked at you in disbelief, “I know you’re pissed as hell for Merle, you have every right to be but now isn’t the time.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Daryl said with an eye roll as he swung the pickaxe down on another walker.

Eventually the group decided to head into the city and towards the CDC on nothing but a theory. The next morning you were all packed up, shoving your bag in the bed of the truck next to Daryl’s bike, the two of you leaning against it as the rest of the group said their goodbyes to the family who decided Birmingham was a better option, you couldn’t say you blamed them either. This CDC business didn’t seem like a sure thing, hell even Shane hadn’t been sold on it, but Daryl was going and that was good enough for you.

Shane gave the group a nod before he told them they should get moving. You climbed into the car with Daryl, glad it was just the two of you as you’d had enough of the constant arguing between the group.

You glanced over at Daryl as he drove, staring straight ahead and chewing on his thumb. You knew he was worried about Merle and hated that you had no words to say to him for the first time since he’d saved you.

Daryl had been out hunting alone one day and came across you, alone and tired and about to be bitten by a group of walkers. You only had a knife and couldn’t deal with them all, so with an eye roll Daryl lifted his crossbow and took them out easily leaving you panting and looking up at him with wide eyes.

From that moment on you’d become Daryl’s own shadow, a permanent fixture in his life, worming your way in without his permission. And it was without his permission because that man had put up every wall, snarled and snapped at you, tried to put as much distance as he could between the two of you, but you were nothing if not persistent and somehow Daryl found himself accepting that you were there to stay, accepting and finding that he didn’t mind.

Merle had found it hilarious, this girl who in the other world wouldn’t have given somebody like Daryl Dixon another glance was hanging around him like he was fucking Brad Pitt or whoever it was these days.

You couldn’t help but smile as you remembered Merle’s words, remember the slight pinkness that spread across Daryl’s cheeks as he shoved his brother's hands off of him with a grumbled ‘shut up’.

“What you smilin’ at?” He asked as he glanced over at you.

“The day we met.” You told him, watching as he looked away from the road and at you with a scoff.

“The day you nearly died, ya mean?”

“I had it under control.” Was the rehearsed response he expected, you’d been saying it since that day even though the pair of you knew it wasn’t true, without Daryl you would never have lasted this long.

“Sure ya did,” He chuckled, turning back to the road.

You turned in your seat, bringing your legs up to cross them together as you faced Daryl. He glanced at you questioningly but you stayed silent for a few moments.

“I’m really sorry about Merle.” You told him quietly, looking away from him and down to your hands, fiddling with your fingers.

“Don’t be,” Daryl said, tone hardening before he shook his head, “He’s a tough sonofabitch, he’ll be alright wherever he is.”

“We’ll find him,” You promised him, laughing softly at the doubtful look he shot at you.

It took a little over four hours before you arrived at the CDC, climbing out of the truck and scrunching your nose up at the smell of the dead. You walked over to the pavement, sticking with Daryl with your knife raised.

As you walked closer to the building the smell became worse, everyone coughing and you gagged, smiling gratefully as you took the red bandana from Daryl and held it to your nose, choosing to breathe in Daryl’s scent over this any day.

You watched, feeling any bit of hope you had leave you, as Rick banged desperately against the shutters, begging to be let into no avail.

“We gotta go, now.” Daryl said, turning around and grabbing your arm as he pulled you back in the direction of the vehicles.

“He’s right,” Lori said, “Rick, we can’t be in the city at dark.”

“The camera moved.” He said before he went back to banging at the shutters, Shane grabbing him around the neck and pulling him away, but you all froze as the shutters lifted and the door opened.

You let out a huff of disbelief, looking up at Daryl who raised an eyebrow down at you.

It wasn’t long before you were all sitting around a table, actual food and alcohol spread out before you. Daryl sat next to you, happily sharing a bottle between the two of you as everybody laughed and talked.

After getting some food, Jenner showed you all down to where you could sleep and shower causing you to all laugh in relief. Everybody went their separate ways, Daryl followed you and the two of you paused outside of one of the rooms.

You both turned to face each other, words on the tip of your tongues but nothing coming out.

“Together?” You managed to ask because something about sharing a room was different to sleeping close together outside.

“Together.” Daryl murmured and opened the door, holding it open for you to enter.

You laughed loudly as you flopped down onto the sofa, letting your eyes fall closed as you savoured the soft feeling underneath you, missing the way Daryl’s lips turned upwards as he watched you from the door before he shook his head.

“You want to shower first?” You asked as you sat up, gesturing towards the bathroom.

“S’all yours.” He told you softly.

That night you tried to offer the sofa to Daryl but he was adamant about sleeping on the floor, blanket bundled around him as he lay in your eye line.

“You think there’s a cure here?” You mumbled tiredly, the hot shower and alcohol running through your system were doing their best to make you sleepy.

Daryl scoffed into the darkness; arm flung over his eyes as he thought about your question.

“Nah, I don’t.” He told you, just as quietly as you had spoken.

“Me neither.” You admitted causing him to open an eye and squint over at you, out of the two of you, you were the hopeful one, the one with wonder and belief in a better future.

“Don’t you stop believin’,” He mumbled, and you barely caught the words but managed to make them out, a smile spreading across your face, “You stop believin’, ain’t no damn hope for the rest of us.”

“How long has it been?” You asked him quietly, “since you gave up on a cure?”

“Hell if I remember, Y/N/N, I knew the world had gone to shit long before damn walkers started roaming ‘round.” He told you honestly, practically feeling the frown he couldn’t see through the dark and for some reason he wanted to say something else, something to make you happy. “Then I met this dumbass who nearly got herself killed in the woods, damn walkers tryna take chunks outta her. The same dumbass got me believin’ that there must be somethin’ good left in this damn world.”

“I had it under control.” You told him after a few moments had passed, voice soft and a smile clear in it.

“Nah, you didn’t,” Daryl told you with a chuckle, “don’t matter though, I’ll deal with them all, gotta make sure you stay alive.”

“I’m terrified,” you confessed quietly, “of walkers, of there never being a cure, of what’s to come but there’s this part of me that’s glad for the damn end of the world because I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.” You told him with a laugh, letting your hand dangle off the edge of the sofa, stretching in Daryl’s direction.

You fell asleep that night with a smile and a warm feeling in your stomach that had nothing to do with the alcohol in your system and everything to do with the hand in yours.

Good things never lasted though and that warm, happy feeling was replaced with sickness and dread as you stared at the screen showing how the disease infected the brain, watched how the brain stems became active again though the human part remained dead. You felt your eyes tear up as you struggled for breath, looking over to Daryl who looked as unnerved as you felt.

“You’re not listening to him,” Andrea said, back against the worktable, “There’s nothing anywhere, no scientists, no cure…nothing.”

Her words sent ice through your veins, turning your blood cold as anxiety turned you sick and you struggled to hold back tears as you stared at the screen, watching as the walker was put down.

“Man, I’m gonna get shit faced again.” Daryl said into the silence causing you to let out a startled and slightly manic laugh.

“Count me in.” You said and followed him out of the room.

The two of you sat together on the sofa, the room sombre as you passed a bottle back and forth between you.

You didn’t know how long you sat there before an alarm sounded and the lights went off for a moment before the emergency power set in. You turned to Daryl with wide, scared eyes and he hated it. He hated that you always turned to him because he didn’t have an answer, all he knew was he had to get you out of there.

“We’re gettin’ out of here now.” Rick shared the sentiment it seemed and you all made your way down to the computer room, seeing Jenner sat there.

“What’s happenin’, doc?” Daryl yelled just before the door shut, sealing you all in the room.

Your eyes widened in panic as you looked from the door to Jenner and then to Daryl.

“You sonofabitch!” He snarled, lunging for the doctor. Rick barely caught the man before he got there and shoved him over to you, you catching him by the arm and digging your nails into his skin in fear.

“Jenner, open the door.” Rick demanded.

You listened with dread as Jenner explained exactly what the CDC was, just how many secrets it held, how many dangerous things that were contained within the walls.

“V.I, what’s H.I.T.S?” Rick asked and you let out a shuddering breath as she explained it, closing your eyes as tears escaped them.

“High-Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” The voice explained.

You choked on a sob as you turned into Daryl’s chest, the man tensing for a moment before he wrapped his arms around you.

“It sets the air on fire, no pain, no grief, just…nothing.” Jenner said and you felt Daryl tighten his grip on you.

“Open the damn door.” He said, his voice scarily calm.

“It’s better this way.” Jenner told you and you felt Daryl let go of you and picked the pickaxe up before making his way over to the door and began trying to break it open.

“It won’t work,” Jenner told him, voice devoid of emotions, “that door is designed to withstand a rocket launcher.”

You watched as Daryl flew down over to Jenner, pickaxe raised to swing down on him.

“Yeah, well your damn head ain’t.” He snarled but was, once again, held back and dragged away from the man.

“This is our extinction event.” The scientist said and your nose flared as you tried to keep the tears at bay but his words turned your blood cold.

You jumped, stepping closer to Daryl as Shane started shooting computers, sparks flying from them as Rick wrestled the gun off of him.

“You done?” He asked and Shane looked up at him in defeat.

“Guess we all are.” He said coldly.

Jenner started talking about test subject 19, his wife and you almost, almost, smiled as Daryl rolled his eyes before he picked up the pickaxe again and made his way over to the indestructible door and began hitting it.

You followed him over, taking a seat on the railings as you watched him.

“Daryl,” You called softly, and he paused for a second to look over at you,

“Could help, ya know.” He mumbled as he turned back to the door.

“Took us dying for you to let me use the pickaxe?” You asked, finding it wasn’t as hard as it should be to smile.

Daryl went to reply but before he could the door opened and relief flooded your system. Daryl grabbed your hand tightly, pulling you off the railing and out of the door, not sparing a glance back.

“Yeah, it did,” Daryl said, causing you to look at him questioningly before he tossed a pickaxe over at you. “Get ‘em open.” He gestured towards the windows.

You barely caught the axe but did as he said, running over to the windows and trying to smash them.

“Who throws a pickaxe at somebody?” You asked with a grunt, fear taking over as they didn’t crack under the pressure.

Pretty quickly the others joined you and Daryl trying to get out of the building, smashing anything they could find at the windows, firing bullets at it and finally Carol pulled a grenade out of her bag causing everybody's eyes to widen.

Daryl grabbed you and practically threw you onto the floor seconds before Rick set the grenade off, you all watching in relief as the windows shattered and quickly ran over to the truck, climbing in and looking over at Daryl.

“Holy shit.” Was all you could manage causing him to chuckle breathlessly as the two of you watched Dale and Andrea stumble out of the building.

“Get down,” Daryl yelled, and you did as he said just as the building exploded, watching in horror as the fire engulfed it and realising how close you were to being in that.

Daryl panted next to you, eyes darting over to you to assure himself that you were here, you were fine, you were alive.

He’d gotten you out, he’d gotten you out and you were safe.

__________

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Safe By My Side

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Prompt - ‘With your arms around me, what could I possibly be afraid of?’

You felt exhausted as you forced your eyes open, only to scrunch them shut seconds later against the brightness of the sun that shone through the windows. As much as you wanted to keep laying there, wanted to let yourself fall back asleep you knew you had to get up to swap watch shifts.

You let yourself lay there for a moment more before you shifted and tried to sit up, only to be stopped when the arm around your waist tightened. For that you opened your eyes, glancing down at the arm and letting your fingers brush against it as the bed shifted as Rick turned so he was spooning you, burying his face in your neck and smiling against it.

“Go back t’sleep.” He mumbled, causing your smile to widen.

“I can’t,” You groaned, giggling as he pressed kisses against the side of your neck and shifted to give him more room. “I have to go keep watch.”

“Rosita’s got it covered.” Rick told you, causing you to roll your eyes, the smile never leaving your face as you managed to turn around so that your head rested on Rick’s chest, tucked securely under his chin.

You let your fingers run along his chest, drawing shapeless designs into his skin as he pulled you closer and held you tight.

“Just go back to sleep.” He whispered against your hair causing you to laugh and pull back far enough to look up at him.

“I gotta go.” You grinned, leaning up to press a soft and slow kiss against his lips, only intending for it to last a second or two.

But then Rick’s hand came up to cup your neck, thumb brushing against your jaw as he deepened the kiss, still keeping it slow and lazy but you found all thoughts of patrolling leaving your head as Rick held you. It was only when the two of you pulled away, gasping for air, did you remember where you had to be.

Rick smiled down at your half closed eyes and swollen lips as he pressed his forehead against yours.

“I really have to go, now.” You smiled at him watching as he rolled back onto his back with a playful groan.

“No, Y/N.” He whined, dragging you back onto his chest, loving the way you laughed against him. “Just a little longer.” He promised but you were pushing at his chest and freeing yourself from his hold.

“I’m all yours,” You told him, watching as he leaned up on his arm and smirked at you as you pecked his lips, “After I do my shift.” Rick groaned at those words and let himself fall back onto the mattress.

“Anyone ever puts your name on the morning shift again, I’m throwing them out.” He muttered jokingly causing you to laugh as you pulled yourself out of the bed and began getting dressed for the day.

“Please do.” You said, throwing a smile over your shoulder as you headed into the bathroom leaving Rick staring at the empty space you had just occupied with a love struck grin on his face.

You felt like you’d been on your feet all day, the sun was beating down on you making the sweat pour off you and you were so ready to call it a day at four in the afternoon. You’d barely eaten anything, drank even less and it was beginning to take a toll on you.

“Hey,” You called, smiling over at Daryl as he tinkered with something on his bike, “You seen Rick around?”

“Nah, not for a while.” He told you, raising his arm to wipe at his forehead. “I’ll let ‘im know you’re looking for him if I see him,”

“Thank you,” You said, waving him goodbye as you made your way over to your house, calling out to see if anyone was home.

When you got no reply you made your way upstairs and stripped out of your clothes, leaving them in the hamper as you flipped the shower on.

You made quick work of cleaning yourself, relaxing under the water as the sweat was rinsed from your skin and it wasn’t long before you were rooting through the closet and slipping one of Rick’s shirts on with a smile.

You let yourself lay on the bed for a moment, closing your eyes with every intent of getting up and making some food for yourself but without meaning to you ended up falling asleep.

Rick had been sitting around the table all day, hours dragged on as they discussed what they were going to do about Negan, trying to figure out plans and strategies. He didn’t let the tiredness show on his face, knew he needed to seem strong in front of everybody, but right now all he wanted was to be home with you, Carl and Judith.

Eventually they decided to call it a day, everyone heading out and going their separate ways. As he was walking home he was stopped when he heard his name and turned around to see Daryl leaning out of the front door of Carol’s house.

“Hey Rick, ya girl was lookin’ for you before.” He called out and Rick smiled over at him.

“Thanks man!” He called back, raising a hand over to Daryl before he sped up in an effort to get home faster, Daryl watching him go with a smile.

“Y/N/N,” Rick called softly as he entered the house, toeing off his shoes before making his way upstairs before pausing in the doorway of your bedroom, standing there like an idiot as he smiled into the room, seeing you curled up against his pillow as you slept in one of his shirts.

Silently he made his way into the room, unbuttoning his shirt and tugging it off before he climbed onto the bed as gently as he could. Moments after he lay down you shifted in your sleep, automatically rolling closer to him making the smile on Rick’s face soften as he brushed a strand of hair from your face and wrapped his arm around your waist, holding you close to him.

Rick knew he should get as much sleep as possible but with the threat of Negan hanging over them he didn’t want to waste a single minute with you, not when he didn’t know what was to come. So he stayed awake, holding you close as you slept, cuddling closer to him like you didn’t have a single fear and how could you, so long as you had Rick with you, you felt like the most protected person in the world.

__________

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Going Nowhere

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Febuwhump Prompt - Won't Regain Consciousness

Prompt - ‘I thought I'd lost you.’

Despite the early morning, the sun was beating down causing sweat to bead on your forehead. You wiped at it with your arm as you headed down to where the rest of the groups were gathered, a map spread out in front of them as they pulled another day of searching for Sophia.

“I’m gonna borrow a horse,” You heard Daryl say to Rick, pointing at something on the map, “head up to this ridge there, gives me as good a view as any to spot her.”

Rick hummed as he glanced at the map, nodding as his fingers traced it.

“Looks good to me.” He said.

“Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there too.” You heard T-Dog laugh as you came to a stop next to Daryl and nudged him gently.

“You saw a chupacabra?” You asked over Rick who repeated the word, smiling as Daryl grunted.

“You’ve never heard the story? Course not,” Dale answered his own question with a shake of his head, “The first night in camp, we’re all together, Daryl tells us the whole thing reminds him of the time he went squirrel hunting and saw a chupacabra.”

“Cool,” You grinned as Jimmy laughed, Daryl turning to the kid with a glare.

“Somethin’ funny to you?” He snapped and Jimmy just smiled.

“You believe in bloodsucking dogs?”

“You believe in dead people walkin’ around?” You snorted and Rick rolled his eyes, though there was a fond smile on his face as he turned back to the map.

“Y/N, you can head down-” He began pointing somewhere to the left off the map but you cut him off with a shake of your head.

“I’m going with Daryl.” You told him, leaving no room for argument, though Daryl glared at you half heartedly.

“Like hell you are.” He said, causing you to grin at him, watching as he shook his head at you.

“Come on, you want me out there on my own?” You asked, watching as the glare fell from his face and he grumbled under his breath about how he should have left you to the walkers so he could have a goddamn minute to himself but still he nodded and gestured for you to follow him to the stables.

Daryl gave you a hand as you struggled to climb onto the horse but eventually you were both on, your arms wrapping tightly around Daryl’s waist, burying your face in his back as the horse took off in a run.

It didn’t take too long before you were nearly at the area Daryl wanted to scope out, him stopping a few times along the way to shoot some squirrels, taking great delight in the way you grimaced each time he did.

“Do you have to do that?” You asked him as the horse slowed down.

“Do ya want to eat?” He shot back, smirking over his shoulder as you looked at the dead squirrels with a frown.

The horse kept walking as you and Daryl looked around from atop of it, Daryl searching for any hint of tracks whereas you weren’t quite as skilled as him and looked for more obvious clues but looked back to Daryl as he brought the horse to a halt.

“Stay here a second,” Daryl told you as he climbed off the horse and made his way down to the lake, looking around at something you couldn’t see before he bent down, you raising an eyebrow as you strained to try and see what he had found.

“S’her doll.” He told you as he made his way back onto the horse, holding the doll in his hands like it was the most precious thing in the world and right now it probably was. “Let’s keep looking.”

The horse trotted on for a while longer as the two of you kept your eyes peeled before you were letting out a yell of shock as the horse reared up on it’s back legs and threw both you and Daryl off it.

You felt your head connect with a tree painfully hard, your eyes falling shut on their own accord and though you struggled to, you couldn’t bring yourself to open them, letting out a pained groan as you passed out.

Eventually you blinked awake, not sure how much time had passed but you glanced around, cursing yourself for passing out right where a walker could have gotten to you but then you tensed as you looked around, noticing both Daryl and the horse were missing.

“Daryl,” You called softly out, not wanting to be too loud in fear of attracting walkers, especially when Daryl wasn’t around to save you at the last second.

You felt fear flood through your system as you forced yourself up, leaning against the tree in an attempt to stop the world from spinning before you shakily took a step forward, wishing like hell you’d let Daryl teach you how to track because you were clueless right now as you stood in the woods without a single idea where to go.

You checked the entire area and saw no sign of the man and with a shaky hand you took your knife from your boot and started going in the direction you were heading, hoping Daryl had had the same idea and he just hadn’t been able to get back to you.

He was going to be fine, you forced yourself to think, trying desperately to shove the fear away and remember everything the missing man had taught you should you ever get separated.

You remembered laughing when he had told you that, remembered telling him you’d never get separated because you’d stick to him like glue, you remembered the eye roll you got for the comment but there was a softness to it. After months of working to break down Daryl’s walls, getting him to believe somebody could care about him, somebody could trust him, the two of you had actually become rather close and if anybody was looking for one of you they just had to find the other.

You felt sick as you thought of a life without Daryl and pushed the thought out of your head, blinking away the tears knowing that the man would smack you upside the head if he could see you now.

Daryl, himself, was struggling with his own feelings, cursing himself as he fell down the cliff he’d managed to get half way up, crying as the arrow in his side shifted painfully. Listening to Merle as he badgered on and on at him.

“I liked it better when you was missin’.” Daryl muttered as he pulled himself up another rock, grabbing hold of a branch to steady himself, looking down at how far he’d climbed again before glancing back up at Merle who waited at the top.

“Look at you, baby brother,” Merle laughed, “Bleedin’ from your side and ya still thinkin’ about that girly you left back there.”

“You’d best shut the hell up.” Daryl snarled, groaning as he climbed again.

“You gotta crush on the pretty lady, Darlylina?” He continued laughing and Daryl felt a surge of anger run through him, never liking when Merle spoke about you, cursing himself as he thought about you alone in the woods because of that damn horse. “She don’t care about you, hell nobody does. Ain’t nobody give a shit about you, baby brother, nobody but me.”

“Like to see you say that t’her face.” Daryl chuckled breathlessly, imagining your reaction to those words.

“Don’t think I’ll get the chance, I’m afraid,” Merle said, leaning further down as he lowered his voice, “Girls weak, she’s probably dead already.”

Those were the words Daryl needed to hear as he pulled himself up, blindly reaching for Merle as he struggled to get his body safely onto the flat bit of land, pictures of your lifeless body flashing through his mind, skin torn off as walkers fed on you.

You jumped as you heard a rustle to your side, snapping around in that direction with your knife raised only to let out a huff of relief as you saw the borrowed horse waiting in the bushes.

“S’alright, I’m not gonna hurt you,” You murmured gently, raising your hands non threateningly and pausing as the horse took a step back, “It’s ok, we’re good, take your time,” You told it, reaching one hand forward and waiting until the horse placed its head into it.

“Good job,” You praised as you brushed your fingers along her head. “No chance you know where Daryl is, huh? No? Suppose we better go save him for once then.” You smiled as you grabbed the reins and led the horse in a random direction, not quite ready to get back on it just yet.

You heard a noise in the distance, it sounded like somebody was talking faintly and you hoped like hell it was Daryl and not some random strangers ready to ambush you. You were only just about able to kill the walkers, you didn’t know what you’d do if you came across hostile people.

As you got closer you heard groaning and panting and slowed your steps, careful not to step on any twigs that would give you away as you scanned the area, not seeing where the noise was coming from until two arms appeared over the edge of a cliff and you watched Daryl struggled to pull himself up.

You quickly let go off the horse and made your way over to him, hoping he still had some strength in him because no way were you going to be able to carry him up on your own.

“Daryl,” you gasped, falling onto your knees and grabbing his arms, he let you grab onto him and used you to pull himself up, falling onto the ground with a groan and holding the arrow wound.

Your eyes immediately fell to the wound and you looked at him with wide eyes.

“What happened?” You asked, helping him sit up.

“Damn horse threw me off a cliff, s’what happened.” He groaned, taking a second to catch his breath before he turned to you, looking you up and down as he inspected you for cuts or bites. “What ‘bout you, you’re ok?”

“Oh I’m fine, me and nature are at one with each other now and just in case we’re counting, I totally saved your arse.” You grinned at him, hoping to relieve some of the tension in his shoulders.

And it worked, you watched as he relaxed upon seeing you were really ok before he let out a scoff.

“Saved my arse,” He grumbled before gesturing for you to help him up, “I pulled myself up that damn cliff but you missed it, too busy becomin’ one with nature.”

“Hey, you’re always telling me I need to!” You laughed as you pulled him up.

“No more complain’ about sleepin’ outside then, or eating squirrels?” He asked, thankful to see the damn horse as there was no way he could have walked back to the farm.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” You said, smiling at him as he helped you onto the horse before he climbed on himself with a wince, “more like less complaining when we have to walk through them.”

“I’ll take it.” He murmured, his lips tilting up into a smile as you wrapped your arms around him, weary of the wound but also not trusting the horse.

“So what’s with the ear necklace?” You asked as Daryl jumped off the horse and handed you the reins, you didn’t want to take the horse back to the stables alone but Daryl insisted.

“I dealt with walkers while you were napping.” He smirked at you causing you to roll your eyes as you knew he wouldn’t let you forget passing out for a while.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t forget I saved your arse.” You called as he made his way up to the farm and you continued through the woods to get to the stables.

As you were putting the horse back into her pen you heard a gunshot ring out and felt your blood run cold as you quickly locked the startled horse in and ran out as fast as you could over to where your group had set up camp, seeing most of the men already in the distance.

Your heart stopped as you saw where they were, knowing Daryl would come back in that way.

“Lori,” You yelled, causing her to turn around, “what happened?”

“I don’t know, Andrea shot at a walker but I don’t-” She began but you cut her off with a curse and took off running with tears in your eyes.

“Y/N!” She called but you didn’t stop to look back, just kept running until you were with Rick, Shane and T-dog and coming to a sudden halt as you saw Daryl on the floor, a sob leaving you as you fell to your knees and shook him.

“Wake up, c’mon Daryl, please,” Rick pulled you away from him, gently pushing you into Glenn’s arms where you turned and sobbed into his chest as Shane and Rick picked his limp body up.

“She just skimmed his head,” Rick told you, causing you to let out another sob, “He’ll be fine, he’s just passed out.”

“Hey guys,” You all turned to look at T-Dog who held the doll Daryl had found. “Isn’t this Sophia’s?”

Everybody looked at you and you nodded.

“Can you please just get him some help?” You managed to ask and you all made your way up to the house, Hershel already waiting for you at the door.

You tried to go into the bedroom with Daryl but Hershel stopped you with a hand on your shoulder and a sympathetic smile.

“I need space to work, I’ll call you when I’m finished.” He promised and nodded to Rick who gently wrapped his arm around your shoulder and led you downstairs to where most of the group were.

“Is he gonna be ok?” Maggie asked, looking at your pale face and the tears falling down your cheeks.

“He should be fine.” Rick answered and led you over to the sofa, watching sadly as you let yourself be sat down next to Glenn without a word, looking more lost than he’d ever seen you before.

“Did you find anything about Sophia?” Carol asked after a few moments of silence and you looked up at her in disbelief as your lower lip quivered.

“Seriously, he’s just been shot.” You managed but shook your head. “He found a doll.” Was all you said before standing up and heading out onto the porch alone, tears still falling down your face, missing the way Carol went to follow you but was stopped by Rick’s hand.

You didn't know just how long you stood outside for before Rick came to join you, sitting down next to you on the floor with your backs to the wall. Hershel had told him that whilst Daryl was stable he was still out cold and asked him what he wanted to do about you.

Rick had told him to leave it to him, though he hadn’t known you for long, it had taken only five minutes of observing you and Daryl to see how close you were, watching as the man always positioned you behind him, putting himself between you and any threat, watched as you followed him around, your smiley, cheerful attitude a stark comparison to his eye rollls and grumbled words.

It was obvious that in the world before you and Daryl would never have crossed paths but he was glad you’d found each other.

“Is he ok?” You asked quietly when Rick hadn’t said anything for a few moments.

“Hershel said he’s stable.” Rick said, voice as soft as yours as you watched the sky turn pink as the sunset.

“Can I see him?” In all the time you’d known Daryl he had never been hurt before, sure he’d had a couple of cuts and bruises but nothing more than that.

Now he was laying in the house somewhere because he had been shot in the head.

“Y/N,” Rick sighed, causing you to smile in an attempt to hold back more tears.

“You said he was stable.” You forced out.

“He is,” Rick assured, “but he’s not waking up.”

“What?” You whimpered, finally turning to face Rick who smiled sadly at your watery eyes.

“Hershel said that his body is exhausted, whatever happened out there took a lot of his energy and the gunshot didn’t help.”

You scrunched your eyes shut as Rick pulled you against his chest, his hand coming up to cup the back off your head and he held you close and let you sob against him.

You don’t know how long you cried but eventually you pulled away from him and wiped at your cheeks.

“Y/N-“ Rick began but you cut him off with a shake of your head before you stood up and headed silently into the house.

You stood in the doorway to the bedroom Daryl had been placed in, barely choking down a sob as you looked at Daryl who lay pale and still in the bed, a bandage covering the gunshot wound and a blanket covering his body.

It was a long few moments before you let yourself enter the room, carefully taking a seat on the bed, making sure you were on his uninjured side.

It was strange seeing Daryl like this and you blinked hard against the tears, as you took his hand gently in yours, brushing your thumb against the skin. Your mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to find some words but having none.

You weren’t aware of time passing, weren’t aware of anything outside of the room. You vaguely recalled somebody coming into the room, softly touching your shoulder as they left a plate on the nightstand for you but you didn’t acknowledge it, just focused on the rise and fall of Daryl’s chest, waiting for a sign that he was ok.

You felt exhaustion pull heavily at your eyes and you found it harder and harder to stay awake but knew you couldn’t leave Daryl, you just couldn’t do it. You carefully moved so you were laying down on the side of the bed, keeping space between you as you did.

“Wake up.” You pleaded softly, voice barely above a whisper.

Four days had passed by much the same way with you laying next to Daryl, watching closely as you waited for any sign of life but none came. People came in and out of the room, trying to get you to eat something and stay hydrated but you didn’t pay them any attention and didn’t notice yourself get weaker as each day passed, your focus purely on Daryl.

Maggie leaned against the door frame, smiling sadly in at you as she watched you hold Daryl’s hand, murmuring soft words she couldn’t hear.

“How’s he doin’?” She asked softly as she entered the room, making her way over to the chair at the side of the bed.

“Same as before,” You told her and she winced at how dry your voice sounded.

“You gotta drink something, Y/N.” She told you, holding a glass of water in your direction but you made no move for it, eyes locked on yours and Daryl’s entwined fingers. She suppressed a sigh and tried a new tactic, “How long have y’all been together?”

She watched as your eyebrows knitted together as confusion spread across your face causing her to tilt her head questioningly as you finally looked away from the unconscious man.

“What?” You asked, “We’re not together.”

Maggie felt her eyes widen in shock as she looked down at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course you are.” Maggie said like it was the most obvious fact in the world and you let out a huff of laughter as you shook your head.

“Daryl doesn’t like me like that, hell it took me long enough to get him to like me like this.” You smiled, trying to clear your throat but wincing in pain. Maggie held the water out to you again and you took it with a shaky hand, not letting go of Daryl’s with the other.

“Y/N, I’ve never, never, seen two people look at each other the way you and Daryl do. That man’d do anything for you without a single thought to himself and I’ve seen you follow him blindly, trusting his every move.” She told you with a smile, watching as you frowned and looked down at your joined hands again. “You love him, right?”

Moments passed as you thought over Maggie’s question, not that you needed to think about it, you already knew the answer. Of course you loved Daryl, you’d never met anybody like him before. Nobody, not even before the world ended, made you feel anything close to how Daryl Dixon made you feel and you had never felt this scared over the thought of losing somebody before, everytime you thought about all the ways things could go wrong, Daryl dying had never seemed like a possibility before.

You nodded slowly, looking back up to Maggie with wide eyes causing her to smile softly at you.

“Yeah, I do.” You confessed aloud for the first time.

“You should tell him,” She said, watching as you shook your head, “He feels the same about you, trust me.”

And with that she stood up, pausing in the doorway to see you’d already turned back to Daryl.

“Hey Y/N,” She said, watching you glance back at her with a soft hum, “Make sure you eat.”

“How are they?” Andrea asked as Maggie made her way down stairs.

“They’re going t’be just fine.” She told her with a smile on her face.

Two more days passed before Daryl awoke with a groan, scrunching his eyes closed before prying them open. Sunlight flooded into the room with a soft, golden glow as his eyes flickered down to you fast asleep on his chest, hand fisting his shirt as you did.

He smiled down at you before his eyes blinked shut again and he fell back to sleep, exhausted despite being out cold for nearly a week.

The next time Daryl opened his eyes, the room was brighter and you were still asleep. He savoured the feeling of you pressed against his chest as he lifted his arm and brought his hand up to your hair, running his fingers through it and smiling as you cuddled closer into him, mumbling something he couldn’t make out before humming happily into his chest.

He saw the exact moment you realised he was awake, feeling as you tensed against him before you shot up of his chest and looked down at him with wide, watery eyes before a shaky smile spread across your face as you flung yourself back down into his chest, hugging him tightly whilst being mindful of his injuries.

Daryl froze for a second before he let his arms wrap around you, his face buried in your hair as he held you close, listening as you sniffed back tears.

“I’m so glad you’re awake.” You mumbled into his chest.

“Sorry, I scared ya.” He whispered, tightening his hold on you and the two of you were more than content to lay in each other’s arms until you were pulling back far enough to look up at him.

“You okay? You need me to get Hershel?” You asked, your eyes flickering over to the gunshot wound on his head.

“M’alright,” He told you honestly because sure the wound ached but he didn’t want you leaving his arms any time soon.

You nodded and leaned back into his chest, listening to the comforting beat of his heart and relaxing for the first time in days.

It wasn’t long after that when Hershel checked in and gave Daryl the all clear, his wounds were healing nicely and he was told to keep hydrated and take it easy, advice you knew you’d have to force the man to listen to.

Hershel had offered to let Daryl stay in the bedroom as long as he needed but Daryl just shrugged him off, thanking him before he led you down to where the camp was set up, greeting everyone and assuring them he was fine before he headed towards his tent, you following closely behind.

“Ya okay?” Daryl asked softly as the two of you lay in the tent, Daryl’s arm around your shoulder as he held you close.

You let the question hang in the air for a few moments, Maggie’s words heavy in your mind. You wanted to tell Daryl how you felt but you didn’t want to ruin what you had with him now, the bond you two had was rare, it was something few people had and you’d be damned if you were going to screw it up.

But at the same time the only thoughts you’d had the last few days had been about Daryl’s dead body and it hurt you more than you thought anything ever could. You didn’t want to live with regrets, didn’t want to waste the time you had with him.

As you opened your mouth to say something you were cut off as the flap off the tent was pulled back and Andrea walked in with a guilty expression.

“I feel like shit.” She said, pausing in the entryway.

“Yeah,” Daryl huffed, “You and me both.”

Andrea watched as Daryl smiled and you glared, such a strong contrast to how the two of you usually were, usually Daryl was the one who glared and grumbled and you were the one always smiling and friendly.

“I really am sorry,” She told him, “If there’s anything I can do-”

“Nah, you were protectin’ the group,” Daryl told her, squeezing your shoulder as he did, causing you to look away from Andrea and bury your head in his chest. Andrea smiled and turned to leave, stopping when Daryl called her name, “Shoot me again, best pray I’m dead.”

“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on in that head of yours, huh?” He asked once she was gone and you shook your head, losing any bravery you had only minutes before. “C’mon, Y/N/N, ya can tell me anythin’, you know that.”

He was right you did know that but you didn’t know how to come out and say it - end of the world and you still felt like a kid with their first crush.

Daryl waited in silence, knowing you’d cave eventually and had to fight back a smile as you finally started talking after five minutes of silence passed.

“I thought I’d lost you,” You told him quietly and he stayed silent, knowing that if he interrupted you now you wouldn’t start again, “I thought I lost you and all I could think was he doesn’t know how I feel, he’s going to die not knowing I loved him more than anybody. Watching you in that bed, seeing you like that…I’ve never been more scared in my whole life, not when the dead started walking, not when I was surrounded in the woods alone, nothing has ever scared me more.”

“You love me?” Daryl asked softly, eyes widening as he pushed you away far enough so he could look down at you, hating the fear in your eyes as you nodded at him.

“Yeah, I do.” You forced out softly, feeling like your throat was going to close up any minute as you couldn’t read Daryl’s face.

Daryl let the words sink in, working through the shock that somebody as perfect as you could love a nobody like him. Thinking back to all those times you looked at him like he hung the damn stars in the sky. He’d known how he felt about you for months but was never brave enough to say it, even at the end of civilization you two were still from completely different worlds and he knew you could never feel the same way.

Yet here you were confessing your feelings to him and he felt his heart beat speed up as a smile finally spread across his face, his hand coming up to cup your cheek, thumb brushing your cheekbone before he leaned down, slowly and pressed his lips to yours.

It was the best thing you’d ever felt, that soft brush of his lips against your own as both of you nervously kissed each other, slowly gaining more confidence but the kiss stayed soft and slow until you were pulling away, foreheads pressing together as you looked at Daryl with the softest, most adoring expression he’d ever seen and didn’t feel even a little bit worthy of.

“I love you too,” He whispered the confession before leaning close to peck your lips. “Ain’t ever gotta worry ‘bout losing me, I ain’t going nowhere.” He promised as he pulled you into his arms, feeling you smile into his chest.

There wasn’t any chance in hell Daryl was ever going to leave you, he’d kill a thousand walkers, kill any person who even looked at you funny, to make sure the two of you lived a long, happy life together.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma

Hold Him Tight, Don't Let Go

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Febuwhump Prompt - Hidden Scars

Prompt - ‘You're quite possibly the bravest person I've ever known.’

You panted for breath, struggling to scramble up the hill only for Daryl’s hands to grab your upper arms and drag you up, you crawling alongside him before he pulled you up and took your wrist in his hand, pulling you behind him as he dealt with yet another walker.

The herd made its way closer to you both, a walker neither of you had seen grabbed your ankle from its position on the floor. You let out a scared yell as you tried to pull your leg out of its hold, Daryl pulling on you too only for the both of you to go flying backwards onto the floor. Daryl let out a curse as pain shot through his back but he didn’t have time to dwell on it as the walker on the floor crawled towards you, ready to take a bite before Daryl bashed its skull in, turning to look at the countless walkers surrounding you.

“We gotta go,” He told you, helping you up and taking your hand in his, leading you through the crowd as you both used your weapons to kill any walkers that got too close.

“Daryl,” You struggled, a shooting pain in your side as you ran, but the man just kept pulling you along roughly, knowing that if you paused, for even a second, it could make all the difference between life and death, and there was no way you were dying on Daryl’s watch.

“C’mon, there’s a building up ahead.” He told you, raising his voice slightly over the sound of walkers grumbling.

As you entered the gas station more walkers appeared and you and Daryl struggled to get the door closed, both covered in blood as he crushed one of their heads with the heavy door, the two of you leaning your backs against it as you panted for breath.

“Ya alright?” Daryl asked you and you nodded, eyes closed as you leaned your head back.

“I’m good,” You told him before your eyes shot open at the sound of more groans as three walkers appeared in front of you. Exhaustion ran through both of your bodies but you moved quickly together as you took them all down.

“Shit Daryl,” You cursed softly as you turned to the man, his back to you as you saw blood staining the back of his shirt.

The man turned around, looking you up and down to make sure you were ok and upon seeing nothing out of the ordinary raised a questioning eyebrow up at you.

“You’re bleeding,” you told him, moving around to survey the store and finding some needle and thread. You weren’t the best at patching people up but you were the only person here and with the amount of blood on his shirt you didn’t know if he would make it back home and no way could you carry his limp body. “Sit down.”

You gestured to the floor but he shook his head, your eyes becoming even more concerned as you took in his pale, slightly sweaty face as his eyes darted around, looking at anything but you.

“Daryl,” You said softly, reaching over to gently take his arm but he flinched away from you like your touch burnt him.

“Don’t need patchin’ up,” He told you, voice rough as he swallowed a few times.

“You do,” You told him honestly, keeping your voice soft and calm, like you were talking to a scared animal, “There’s a lot of blood, you must have caught yourself when I fell.” You realised, biting your lip guilty.

“Ain’t your fault,” Daryl assured you, “Damn walkers came outta nowhere.”

He was right. It should have been a simple run, you and Daryl leaving the bike hidden in the woods as you walked on foot to scavenge for food and supplies. You’d managed to get a few things but not nearly close to what you needed but your trip was cut short as you opened a door to an abandoned department store and a flood of walkers fell out, no amount of arrows or knives to the skull would’ve helped.

As you fled into the woods, more walkers seemed to appear, surrounding the pair of you as you struggled on the uneven land and now Daryl was hurt and you were fighting to stay calm.

“Will you please let me patch you up?” You asked, turning wide eyes on him.

Daryl looked at you for a long moment, shaking his head as he backed against the wall.

“Please Daryl,” You begged, “I need you to be ok.”

It took a while before Daryl responded, letting out a shaky sigh as he lowered himself onto the floor and shifted so his back wasn’t pressing against the wall. You smiled down at him softly but he avoided eye contact so you sat behind him, pressing a comforting hand to his bicep, giving it a gentle squeeze before you lifted his shirt off.

Your eyes widened as you looked down at the man's back, there were countless deep, jagged scars littered across his back. Your hand came up to your mouth as you tried to react as soundlessly as you could.

Daryl let his eyes fall closed, hating the tears that welled up in his eyes. He sniffed and shifted before he stilled under your fingers.

You reached forward, going to touch one of the scars before changing course and brushing below the bleeding wound, wincing at his winced.

You began cleaning the cut as carefully as you could, murmuring apologies but saying nothing else, eyes flickering over to the scars that covered Daryl’s back.

“You okay?” You asked him softly, voice barely above a whisper as you were half way through the stitches.

Daryl sniffed soundlessly, glad you couldn’t see his face, glad you couldn’t see the few tears that had slipped down his cheeks. A few moments passed before he nodded, forcing out a hum as he did.

More silence passed as you tied the thread before pulling away to sit back on your knees, looking at the fresh stitches before moving to the old but still painful looking scars and you didn’t even want to know how he’s gotten them but still you couldn’t help but talk.

“They look old,” you prompted softly, reaching out to touch the longest one that spread from just below his right shoulder down past his tattoo down to the middle of his spine. You traced the length of it, feeling him still under your touch. “I’m sorry.” You whispered, pulling away again.

A long stretch of silence passed before Daryl spoke.

“S’my dad.” He muttered, voice so low and rough you barely heard the words but you managed, feeling sick to the stomach at them before you touched one of the thicker, nastier ones at the bottoms of his back, the skin felt raised and rough under your fingertips but this time Daryl didn’t flinch away, just scrunched his eyes shut tighter.

“Beat on Merle more than he did me, after Merle left…” He forced out, trailing off and he didn’t need to finish the sentence, his back did the speaking for him.

Your fingers made their way across his back with a gentle, barely there touch. At some point Daryl found himself relaxing under your touch, head bowed as memories assaulted his mind.

“I’m so sorry,” You whispered, moving your fingers downwards before you wrapped both your arms around his waist, holding him in a tight but careful grip, mindful of the new stitches, before you rested your head against his left shoulder blade.

Daryl opened his eyes, looking down at your hands resting against his stomach as you held him. He felt your eyelashes flutter against his back, felt you press a gentle kiss to one of the scars and he finally let the tears fall, knowing he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of you, didn’t need to be strong all the time.

He let the tears fall down his cheeks freely, a few sobs making their way out of his throat as you squeezed him tighter and he placed his arms around yours, resting his head on his shoulder as you shifted further up so your hair tickled his cheek.

You didn’t know how long the two of you sat there for, you whispering words against Daryl’s back as he allowed himself to cry, gripping on to your arms like they were the only things holding him together.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma, @sadblueberry721

Always Look For Ya

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Febuwhump Prompt - "Does that hurt?"

Prompt - ‘I never doubted you, not you, never you.’

Sweat pooled on your forehead, slowly making its way down your face as you stood, panting, using all your strength to press against the door, desperately trying to keep it closed despite the horde of walkers pushing against it.

A desperate cry left your lips as you felt the door push open enough so that a few hands manage to slip through the crack and your eyes darted around the cabin you had found yourself in and a huff of relief left you as you saw a walker free exit, thankfully they hadn’t made there way around to it yet. The only problem was that you knew the moment you took your back off the door a swarm of walkers were going to flood into the room, you as their only target.

It was times like this you really wished you’d listened to Daryl.

Still you knew you couldn’t stay there and had to take a chance before the walkers started to block both exits, leaving you trapped in the cabin with nothing but your knife. You let your head fall back against the moving door, scrunching your eyes shut as you took a deep breath, knife gripped tightly in your hands before you pushed off the door.

You were halfway across the room when the first wave of walkers pushed their way in, most of them tripping over each other and falling to the floor but some were quick, moving forward to make grabs at you. You stabbed your knife into the skull of one who got too close for comfort before you pulled it out and struggled a few times to open the exit door.

It took a few attempts but eventually you were out of the door and running down the steps, walkers following you out as you looked around seeing nothing but trees and cursed yourself for never letting Daryl teach you the basics of tracking so you could find your way back to somewhere familiar.

Still, despite no clear destination in mind you took off running as more and more walkers made their way out of the cabin and over towards you.

You didn’t stop until you were forced to by the burning in your sides, panting as you slumped against a tree in an attempt to slow your racing heart. Looking up you grimaced as you saw the sun was beginning to set, the air turning cooler, a relief for your sweat stained skin, but you knew it wouldn’t be long until night, the walkers even more active as darkness fell.

You knew you had to find Daryl, you knew he would be looking for you, no way would that man ever leave you behind.

You heard a groan from behind you and quickly took off running again, feeling like you were getting nowhere as the scenery stayed the same and it wasn’t long before you were stopping again, though this time not on your own accord.

You barely even registered what had happened, only feeling the sharp pain against your forehead and a stinging in your hands as suddenly you were looking down at the forest floor. Your head shot up as you felt a tight grip on your ankle and the sound of snarling and teeth gnashing together but had to paused when a wave of dizziness spread through your head.

You pushed through it and turned to look at the walker who was hidden in the bushes, lower body missing as it tried to take a chunk out of your lower leg. You thrashed against its hold, a cry leaving your lips as you tried to pull your ankle away from it, eventually pushing yourself up and piercing its skull with your knife.

With a tired huff you let yourself fall back down, wincing as twigs and stones poked into your back but all the energy you had was drained from your body as you looked up at the darkening sky. You winced again and lifted your hand to your forehead only to frown at the blood that stained your fingers before your gaze shifted to the cuts littered across the palm of your hands from where you’d tried to stop the fall.

Your eyes fell shut as you once again cursed yourself for not listening to Daryl earlier that morning.

You had been sitting on one of the car bonnets, listening as Daryl and Rick spoke about supplies that were running low. Daryl had offered to go on a run, a building a few miles out that they hadn’t checked yet could give them what they needed.

You’d perked up from your position as you grabbed the chance to leave the prison but Daryl was shaking his head at you before you even opened your mouth, leaving you pouting over at him.

“Y’not coming, we don’t know anythin’ about this place.” He had told you but you’d just shaken your head right back at him, giving him your best pleading expression and watched as his stern expression crumbled. “It’s dangerous, Y/N/N.” He’d warned you but you didn’t back down, anything to have a few hours away from the prison and who better to spend them hours with than Daryl. “Fine,” He finally relented and you grinned over at him as no words were needed to persuade the man, “but you stay with me the whole time, no wanderin’ off.”

You’d agreed to his rules, not planning on going anywhere without him anyway. Though you had been a member of the group from pretty much the beginning you rarely went on supply runs because whilst you could deal with walkers it wasn’t your forte.

Losing Daryl hadn’t been your fault, not when the building you were in had caved in on itself and you searched everywhere for the man without success. You figured he’d be looking for you and when he couldn’t find you he’d make his way back to the bike you’d left a few miles back, the place he’d told you to go if things went south.

Too bad you weren’t half as good as he was at navigating yourself through the woods, you swore you knew exactly which way you’d come in from but somehow you’d ended up in the middle of a herd, finding the cabin before one of them bit you.

You knew you had to pull yourself up, knew you had to find Daryl and if not him then at least find somewhere safe to hole up whilst you waited for the man to use those tracking skills of his to find you.

With a groan you finally stood up, steadying yourself against a tree as you blinked away the pain in your head before picking a direction and sticking to it, knowing you were well and truly lost with only less than an hour of light left to find something.

Your knife was gripped in your fist as you walked for another half an hour, two walkers dead somewhere behind you as you kept moving, knowing that if you stopped the exhaustion would take over and you’d be done for.

You heard a rustle somewhere to your left, twigs snapped under shoes as they made their way closer to you and you could have cried at the thought of fighting another walker, tiredness flooding your system but you still gripped your knife tighter, not prepared to go down without somewhat of a fight.

Just as you stepped forward with your arm raised to bring the knife down into the skull of another walker you felt your wrist get grabbed in a soft grip before it was pulled down and the knife was taken out of your hand.

“Ya alright, s’just me,” your eyes widened as you let out a huff of laughter as relief ran through you at Daryl’s soft voice, letting your head lean forward to rest against his chest with a slight wince.

Daryl frowned down at you, somehow more concerned now that he had found you than he had been whilst searching the woods. He let go of your wrist and wrapped his arm around your waist, the other coming up to rest against the back of your neck as he held you close, letting you hold onto him tightly as you assured yourself that he was there.

He pulled away soon after though, not going far just far enough so that he could see your face. One hand stayed around your waist as the other came up to gently hold your chin as he tilted your head to the side so he could get a better look at the cut on your head, grimacing when you winced as his thumb moved to brush gently below it.

“Y’alright,” He told you again, forcing his grimace into a smile. “We’ll get ya patched up back at the prison, yeah?” He said, watching as your eyes squinted against the tiredness you felt before you nodded.

“C’mon, let’s get ya home.” He said keeping his voice soft as he tucked your knife away before taking one of your hands in his, ready to lead you back to the bike before a wince from you stopped him. “What’s wrong?” He asked, eyes darting across your body, trying to identify what had caused the wince.

“I’m fine, I just hurt my hands when I fell.” You told him, watching as he gently took a hold of your wrists and turned them so your palms were upwards. He winced down at the various cuts and let his thumb brush against your wrist.

“Let’s get ya home.” He repeated, moving so that his arm was around your shoulder and you didn’t stop yourself from leaning into him. Daryl looked down at you and couldn’t stop the soft smile that spread across his lips as he watched you turn your head into his chest, trusting him to guide you back to the bike.

And he did without failure, his grip secure on you and it wasn’t long before he took a helmet he had found months ago for you from the bike and lifted it as carefully as he could over your head.

“Does that hurt?” He asked, sure that he had positioned it so it wasn’t brushing against your cut but wanting to make sure you weren’t in pain.

“No,” You said, smiling tiredly up at him.

Daryl smiled back at you before he was helping you onto the bike and climbing on himself. The roar of the engine was the only sound to be heard for the next few miles, sometimes Daryl’s voice, slightly raised to be heard above the bike, cut through making sure you were still awake, assuring you that you were almost home.

It took just over an hour and a half before the gates to the prison were being opened for the two of you, the sky had long since gone dark and Daryl had felt your grip loosening repeatedly as your eyes drifted closed.

The sound of the bike’s engine being shut off had you blinking your eyes open, you hadn’t fallen asleep but your eyes had eventually become too tired to keep open. You felt Daryl move from in front of you before he pulled you from the bike and gently pulled the helmet off your head and looked at the cut.

It didn’t look too bad, not bad enough to require stitches but he’d still feel better getting Hershel to clean it before he finally took you to bed.

He grabbed the bag of supplies and wrapped his arm around you again, guiding you through the prison and into cell block C with the intention of sitting you down in front of Hershel but before he could Rick looked up and was over to the pair of you in a few strides.

You smiled as he copied Daryl’s actions from earlier, taking your chin in his fingers before he tilted your head up to examine the cut on your forehead before wincing.

“What happened?” He asked in concern.

“I’m fine.” You told him, smile still in place as you swiped his hand away.

“You two have been gone for hours?” Rick questioned, following the two of you over to the table where Hershel sat, supplies already being brought over to him as you were placed onto the chair next to him, Daryl taking a seat next to you.

“Ran into a herd of walkers and got separated, took me a while t’find her.” Daryl explained, rubbing a hand up and down your back as you winced from Hershel’s touch.

“You’re both ok?” Rick asked looking from you to Daryl, checking him for injuries.

“We’re fine, she just needs patchin’ up and some sleep.” Daryl assured, looking away from you to glance up at Rick, showing that his words were true, short of the cut on your head and a few scratches on your hands you were both fine.

“You make sure you get some rest too.” Rick said, patting Daryl’s shoulder before he did the same to you.

“Don’t worry,” You said, exhaustion clear in your voice, “I’ll make sure he sleeps.”

Daryl and Rick smiled over at you before Rick turned to head back to Carl and it wasn’t long before Hershel had given you the all clear, nothing serious, just a bump and some dizziness for the next few days.

You took Daryl’s hand gently in yours, mindful of the cuts that stung if you brushed them, and led him up the stairs and into your cell. It was the first cell on the landing and you’d picked it purely because on the first night at the prison Daryl had refused to sleep in a cell, refused to be caged up, so you took the cell as close to him as you could get.

It hadn’t taken you long to convince him into your cell, a tight squeeze on the single bed but the two of you made it work, mostly with you laying your body on him, on nights were he needed to be held he’d often find himself laying between your legs, head on your chest and your fingers in his hair.

Tonight, however, it was you who needed him and you lay with your back against the wall, Daryl’s arm wrapped tightly around you as he drew you closer, laying you so half of your body rested atop of his.

Your eyes felt heavy with exhaustion, felt even heavier than they had before now that you were in a bed, in Daryl’s arms. You felt him lean down until his lips touched your head, he felt you smile into his chest and enough of a silence stretched that you thought he’d gone to sleep when his voice broke it.

“You knew I’d find ya, right?” The words were barely there, whispered so softly that they were nearly lost in the silence, if you hadn’t been laying on top of him there was a chance you would have missed those words.

But you didn’t, you heard them as loudly and as clearly as if he’d shouted them. A smile stretched across your face without you meaning for it to as you registered his question and sure you’d been scared, alone in those woods, scared that you couldn’t handle your own against the walkers or whatever else lurked in the trees but never for a second had it crossed your mind that Daryl wouldn’t come looking for you.

“I never doubted it.” You told him honestly, your words just as soft as his and you heard the smile in his voice at his next words.

“Good, cause I’ll always look for ya.” He promised and you knew his words were truthful, knew that Daryl would hold himself to that promise for the rest of his life.

And that gave you hope, hope that even if the world didn’t get better, even if things stayed like this, it gave you hope that you could continue living and not just living but it gave you hope for a future.

A future with you and Daryl, the two of you getting to live your lives together no matter how and no matter what. You knew that whatever was to come that you’d be fine because you had something nobody else had.

You had Daryl Dixon.

“I’ll try not to lose you again.” You told him and felt the chuckle rumble through his chest as he kissed your head again.

“Never have to worry about that.” He assured you and you couldn’t help but smile wider, “Go t’sleep, Y/N/N.” He whispered and you nodded against him, shuffling in his arms so you were looking up at him and leaned up to press your lips together in a soft kiss, not lasting for more than a few seconds but somehow managing to leave you both breathless.

__________

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Stuck With Me

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Febuwhump Prompt - Blindfolded

Prompt - ‘No one inspires that kind of loyalty quite like he does.’

You thrashed against the strong arms that held you, unable to see your captor as the blindfold that had been tightly, too tightly, secured around your eyes remained in place. You had no idea how much time had actually passed from you being captured to being dragged outside, held firmly in place as people around you cheered, shouting insults as a deep chuckle sounded close to your ear, taking great delight in the chaos.

Your blood had run cold once you were dragged out, the heat from nearby flames doing nothing to warm you up as you heard the snarls and groans of walkers, dreading what was to come.

You knew that Daryl had to be nearby, you’d both been grabbed together and no amount of struggling from either or you, nor Daryl’s shouts and threats, had persuaded your captors to keep you together. Instead you were led far away from each other, his face being the last thing you saw before your vision was taken by the damn blindfold.

“What can I say?” A voice called out, settling the crowd. It was the man holding you who spoke, you could feel the rumble of his chest and felt his breath from how closely he was holding you.

Despite yourself you froze too, desperately trying to gather as much information as you could, trying to form any sort of plan that would get you and Daryl out of there. You listened as the man gave a bullshit speech about how your group were the bad ones…the terrorists. It was probably a good thing the blindfold was in place considering just how often you rolled your eyes, knowing it would probably get you a beating from them or a bullet in the head.

“I am afraid,” He continued and hell, if you were one of his people, one of the people so blinded by the safety of this town, you probably would have believed him too. ”That’s right, I’m afraid of these terrorists who want what we possess, who want to destroy us!”

Angry yells broke out and the Governor let them, a small smirk pulling on his face as he looked from the crowd and then over at his hostages.

“And what is worse is that one of those terrorists is somebody I trusted, somebody you trusted. Merle Dixon.”

You felt your breath catch as your head moved around on its own accord, not caring that the blindfold obstructed your view of everything as you tried to look for him.

“He led these people here to us tonight, he let them in to hurt you, to hurt your families.” The Governor paused, letting his words hang heavy before he continued. “We have some of the terrorist here with us tonight. Merle’s own brother and this one here is the brother’s girlfriend.”

There was another pause as somebody ripped your blindfold off and your eyes scrunched shut despite the fact that there was no sun to blind you, only flames to light the makeshift arena up as people around you expressed their anger, yelling threats as the Governor spoke over them.

“What should we do with them, huh?”

Those were the words that finally had you turning your head, locking eyes with Daryl who looked over at you guiltily but you shook your head at him, if you were going to die tonight you were not going to let Daryl blame himself for it.

He had yelled at you to leave him, to run, as he provided cover for everybody to make it over the fence, but you refused, not willing to leave until Daryl left too. In the mess of flash grenades though you and Daryl had both been taken but still you didn’t regret the decision to not leave without him.

You knew you’d make the same decision again and knew that nothing Daryl did would change your mind. You also knew you had to get out of here alive, all three of you, so that Daryl could kill you himself once you were safe.

Threats for the three of you to be killed were called out unanimously and you felt the man tighten his grip on you, watched as Daryl and Merle glared over at him and heard the words meant for Merle.

“You wanted your brother, now you got him.”

The sound of another voice had your head darting to the side, eyes wide as you looked at a ghost from the past, a woman thought to be dead.

“Let them go, Philip.” Andrea demanded but one of Philip’s men grabbed her, securing her in his arms like you were in his. “They’re my friends!”

“The people have spoken. You said you stand with us, prove it. Brother against brother!” The Governor announced, causing the audience to cheer and chuckle as your head moved back to look at Daryl, too many emotions playing across his face as he looked from you to Merle. “Fight to the death.”

“Don’t do this,” you said, voice cold and devoid of emotion despite the fact your eyes were watery as you watched Daryl shake his head. “Put me in there.” You pleaded.

“Oh don’t you worry, little lady, your time will come.” He whispered into your ear, voice low and deep, meant to be heard by only you.

“Don’t do this.” You repeated, eyes locked on Daryl as Merle began to give a speech about his loyalty to this town.

“You know, Merle told me about you and his brother,” The Governor told you, keeping his voice quiet, watching the scene play out  before him, “told me how his brother had a girl who trusted him with her life, who had managed to claim her loyalty, told me you never questioned him, never doubted him, just trusted his moves, his every decision. Loyalty like that is rare.”

You frowned as you listened to him, not disputing any of his words because yes, you did trust Daryl Dixon in a way you had never trusted anyone before, you trusted Daryl to protect you, but it was more than him saving your life more than once. It was about the bond you’d created with him, you trusted him deeply, knew that he made decisions for a reason and even if you couldn’t always see why he made them eventually you could.

Though you hated to agree with the bastard you knew he was right, the loyalty you had for Daryl was rare.

“I could do with some of that loyalty.” He told you, turning his head so his lips brushed against your ear, and you barely suppressed a shudder, taking a moment to take a deep breath, not speaking until you were certain your voice was strong and even.

“Daryl Dixon has my loyalty until the day I die.” You said, glad as your voice did as you had hoped, you were ready to leave it at that, but you continued talking, knowing that losing Merle had hurt him, hurt his reputation. “The reason a man like you doesn’t have that loyalty is because you don’t deserve it, deep down people can see what type of man you are and trust me when I say, Daryl Dixon is a hundred times the man you’ll ever be.”

Those were the words that struck a nerve it seemed. Just as Merle punched Daryl, sending him to the floor, the Governor pushed you away from him, not giving you a chance to move before his own fist connected with your face.

You let out a cry as you fell to the floor, your head turning away from the Governor’s continued assault just in time to watch Merle beating on Daryl as walkers were brought out.

The Governor continued punching at you before standing to his full height and letting his boot connect with your ribs causing you to choke on your breath as you hunched in on yourself, crying in pain as you were dragged up. The Governor held you in a choke hold and your eyes went wide as your hands flew up to his arm, desperately trying to claw him off you.

“Watch,” He growled in your ear, “Watch as the man you trust so damn much is killed, then see where your loyalties lie.”

“That’s your problem,” You choked out, struggling for breath but refusing to let this man win, “You think you can scare people into being loyal to you, you can’t.”

The man's grip on your neck tightened and you felt the panic running through you as you couldn’t get any air to your lungs and yet somehow you still managed to smile as Daryl and Merle stood back-to-back with one another, taking hits at the walkers that had been brought out.

“See,” You managed to choke out, lightheaded and desperately trying to keep your eyes open. “Another person loyal to Daryl Dixon.”

You knew you needed to shut up, knew that at least one of the Dixon brothers had a plan and your only job was to stay alive long enough for them to execute it. To your left you heard Andrea begging and pleading with the man for him to stop but you just chuckled as best you could as you watched the brothers move together.

The gunshots startled you as screams could be heard around the crowd as people fell down before smoke filled the air quickly and you felt the Governor shift before you saw the gun he pulled out and in the chaos of smoke and the crowd you lost track of Daryl as the Governor began to walk, dragging you along with him as he finally took his arm from your neck and grabbed your forearm instead.

You tried to pull away from him, desperately scratching and thrashing but you couldn’t get away from him, not until gunshots littered the space in front of your feet, stopping either of you from moving and the Governor threw you down to the floor and aimed his gun towards where the shots were coming from.

You wasted no time, quickly moving to stand and running in a random direction.

“Y/N!” You heard a shout and your head shot around as Daryl came up behind you, not stopping as he ran, grabbing your hand in his and pulling you along and you could do little else but let him, feeling nothing but relief flood you as he squeezed your hand in his.

The sound of gunshots could be heard echoing from inside the fence as you all ran out, Rick and Merle bickering over bringing the elder Dixon brother. It was too dangerous to be stood outside the gates, Daryl knew it too and urged everybody to follow as Merle led them into the woods.

Your neck was in agony as you made it back to Glenn and Michonne and as the fight over Merle’s presence broke out you took a step back to rub at the already forming bruises on your neck.

You listened as Glenn and Michonne argued with Rick, demanding to know why he’d been brought back, smiled as Daryl turned to Merle in an attempt to shut him up, watched as everybody’s face changed as Merle mentioned Andrea.

“Andrea’s in Woodbury?” Glenn asked in shock.

“Right next to the Governor.” Daryl told him and you nodded, remembering her words.

“Real close to him, she called him Philip.” You told them with a grimace, your voice coming out scratchy and barely above a whisper as pain shot through your throat.

Daryl immediately turned his attention to you as Rick questioned Michonne, the two of you shutting him out as Daryl stepped closer, letting his hands come up and his fingers brush softly against the bruises.

“Should have left when I told ya to.” He said, letting his head lean forward, coming to rest on your forehead.

You smiled and lifted your own arms and let them rest around his shoulders, fingers coming up to play with his hair.

“Would you have left me there?” You asked him softly, watching him wince at how painful the words sounded.

“Don’t be stupid.” He glared at you, and you couldn’t help but smile, you were supposed to leave him behind, but God forbid you even suggest he would ever leave you.

“We don’t leave each other,” You smiled watching as he looked into your eyes, searching for something, and clearly found it as he nodded against your head. “You’re stuck with me, Dixon.”

Daryl let himself chuckle, you were safe now and that bastard couldn’t hurt you.

“Stuck with me too, Y/L/N.” He murmured, giving himself one more moment of peace with his forehead against yours and your fingers in his hair before he pulled away and listened to what was being said, not leaving your side and you let your hand brush against his.

“Shut up!” Daryl shouted at Merle as he began to yell at the group but was quickly cut off by Rick knocking him out.

You all made your way out of the woods, Rick glaring at Michonne to stay at the car whilst the rest of your group walked away, trying to come up with a solution to the Merle problem, Daryl trying desperately to convince Rick to let him come to the prison.

“It won’t work.” Rick told him but Daryl shook his head as he argued that Merle knew the man who was without a doubt coming for you all.

“We don’t know who she is,” Daryl said as you all looked to Michonne and he was right you didn’t know her, you didn’t know if she would turn out to be a friend or another enemy to add to the list, “Merle’s blood.”

Glenn immediately disagreed and you couldn’t blame him, something more had happened when they’d been taken, something more than Glenn being beaten by Merle.

“My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison.” Glenn told him firmly.

“You’re part of that family.” Rick told him seriously, looking Daryl in the eyes and you could see him pleading with him, begging Daryl to go with them.

To choose them over Merle Dixon.

“Fine,” Daryl said as you turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow at the thought of him giving up on Merle so quickly, “We’ll fend for ourselves.” He told the group and you let your eyebrow drop because of course Daryl wouldn’t give him up.

“No him, no me.” He told them simple and you gave an inaudible sigh as you looked from Daryl to the rest of the group and over to Merle who was awake and leaning against a tree.

Great, you thought to yourself, back to sleeping in the woods.

You had never gotten used to being without a bed, sleeping on the floor, even in a tent you had never been fond of it. You’d grown used to the prison, the mattress may have been another form of punishment for the prisoners but after months of sleeping in a tent it felt like a cloud and now you didn’t know how long it would be until you slept on a bed again.

You glared at Merle as the group tried to persuade Daryl to stay.

As Daryl walked away from the group you let out a louder sigh and followed him.

“Wow, hey, where are you going?” Maggie asked as she grabbed your arm and out of the corner of your eye you saw Daryl pause as they all turned to you.

“Apparently I’m going to live in the woods.” You grimaced before gently pulling away from her and jogging over to Daryl who raised an eyebrow at you as he pulled a bag from the car.

“You don’t have to leave.” He told you quietly, but you just rolled your eyes at him.

“Yeah I do, we don’t leave each other, remember?” You smiled, watching as his expression shifted and he looked at you in disbelief.

“You don’t gotta do this.” He told you again and you just grabbed the bag off him, making your way into the woods before turning around so you were walking backwards.

“You’re stuck with me, Dixon.” You told him with a grin before turning away and heading over to Merle who grinned at you.

“You willing to give up a warm bed and food for Daryl?” Merle asked you, seeing how Daryl had frozen as he kept staring at your retreating figure.

“For Daryl.” You confirmed easily, meaning it with every fibre of your being.

“You must really love him then, huh? I still remember you moanin’ like a damn bitch over sleepin’ on the floor, eating squirrels…” Merle said trailing off with a chuckle.

“I do.” You confessed to Merle, voice soft as you glanced over your shoulder and saw Daryl making his way over to the two of you.

“Then he’s damn lucky.” Merle murmured quietly as Daryl neared, the words only meant for you.

“You really don’t have to do this.” Daryl told you for a third time and you smiled up at him, expression soft as you took his hand in yours and gave it a squeeze.

“Let’s go.” You said, nodding to Merle who nodded back before leading the way.

Daryl was wrong because you did have to do this. The Governor had been right in his assessment of you, his take on your blind faith in Daryl. He had been right that loyalty was rare in this world, but nobody had your loyalty quite like Daryl Dixon had and you knew that for as long as you should live nothing could break that and you would follow him blindly for the rest of your life.

__________

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Febuwhump Prompt - Friendly Fire

Prompt - ‘And when the walls come crashing down you'll realise home was never the walls around you, home was the people within those walls. Home was him."

You weren’t fully aware of just how you had gotten to where you were, sat next to a small fire, snake in your hand and Daryl sat as close to you as he could get, your sides pressed together as he continued to shoot you worried glances every few moments. You remembered the prison, remembered watching as The Governor used Michonne’s weapon to kill Hershel, watched as he had destroyed your home and for what?

You remembered losing track of everybody in the chaos and remembered not even seeing Daryl but feeling him grab your hand as he ran past you in a blur, not giving you a chance to realise what was happening but once you saw it was Daryl you had just let yourself be pulled along, trusting that he’d get you somewhere safe.

And of course he had, pulling you along for so long that your sides ached and the sounds from the prison faded into the distance, your home just gone like it was nothing, your family had lost each other and for what?

You didn’t say anything as you stared into the flames, thoughts running faster than you could keep up with. Your eyes scrunched tightly together in an attempt to slow them down but it didn’t work and with a soft groan you let your head fall to the side, resting against Daryl’s shoulder and found it helped.

Of course it helped because even though dead people were roaming the earth, even though you’d lost more people than you could count, even though you’d lost a place you thought you could call home, you’d lost your friends, friends who had become family, even despite all that you know it could get worse. If Daryl hadn’t found you, if he hadn’t pulled you along with him out of that prison, you would have felt like the world had ended again but ten times worse than now.

Daryl was your rock. He had been the one to find you wandering around alone in the city that had been taken over by the dead, a city that had been bombed by its own government. You’d been starving when he found you, dehydrated, covered in a mix of walker blood and your own. You smiled as you remembered him thrusting a crossbow in your face, barking out questions about whether you’d been bitten or not, whether you had a group. Eventually, he lowered the weapon causing you to breathe a sigh of relief and began walking away, gesturing for you to follow him with a nod.

In the first few months Daryl definitely regretted that decision, not used to somebody clinging to him like you had. You remembered his attitude towards you to begin with, remembered Shane’s gentle suggestions that you should join them instead of sitting off Daryl, should back away from the Dixon brothers but you ignored the warnings and it took a lot of time and patience before Daryl finally warmed up to you.

Once he had though you two had become inseparable, occasionally Daryl did still snap at you, sometimes needing time alone and not knowing how to tell you, he’d never had somebody like you in his life, somebody so good, so optimistic, who wanted to be around him. You always just smiled at the outburst though, a soft smile and a squeeze of the hand was all you gave him before you wandered off, giving him the time he needed until he came to find you, taking a seat with you and giving you a smile of his own.

“You doing ok?” He asked you, voice low to match the atmosphere around you. You stayed silent for a few moments, not quite sure how to answer the question before you took a steadying breath before asking a question of your own.

“You think we’ll find any of them?” Your voice just as soft as his.

Daryl’s silence was enough of an answer and you sniffed as you blinked away the sudden wetness in your eyes, taking another deep breath.

“I’m glad we’re together.” You told him and he couldn’t help but smile at that because he was thinking the same thing, he didn’t know what he would have done if he hadn’t found you.

Instead of saying anything though Daryl just hummed but you smiled into his shoulder, well versed in all things Daryl Dixon to know that it meant he was glad you were both together too.

“Where do we go now?” You asked him and he stayed silent for a long while before speaking.

“We go wherever we want.”

The next day the two of you set off again, Daryl suggesting you try to find shelter or failing that at least gather some supplies. By some miracle the two of you came across an old but elegant looking house, standing tall and seemingly safe.

“Stay behind me.” Daryl told you, pushing you behind him before he raised the crossbow and pushed the door open, banging against it as he did and waited for any sign of walkers. Daryl turned to you and you raised an eyebrow at him, he waited a few seconds longer before walking in, gesturing for you to follow closely behind.

It took a while to search the whole house both due to the size of it and because you kept getting distracted by all the trinkets and luxuries that the obviously rich owner possessed. Daryl had rolled his eyes as he watched you hold a necklace up, watching as the sunlight made the diamonds shine brightly but there was a softness to him as he fought back a smile.

“Wow.” You grinned when Daryl opened the cupboards, junk food lined up like they were prepared for the end of the world long before anyone else knew it was happening. “I’ve missed chips.”

“Help ya self.” He said as he searched through the cupboards putting some food out on the table and you smiled at his back before doing as he said, grabbing a variety of different snacks and placing yourself at the table and digging in.

It was weird how normal this felt, weird how easy it was to forget about the outside world as you and Daryl sat together, having long since made your way into the living room, the two of you on the sofa with Daryl’s arm resting against the length of it, so close to you that he could feel your hair against his forearm.

The two of you were sharing a bottle of something expensive between you, you laughing as Daryl spoke, missing how his eyes lit up at the sight of you so happy and carefree, trusting him completely.

Here, locked away in this house, only you and Daryl existed, no walkers, no Governor’s, no beheadings or fights…just you and Daryl. It felt like before the world had gone to hell. You could imagine it was like before except you knew that this would never be a possibility, knew that before this you and Daryl would never have crossed paths.

The thought seemed almost impossible now, it was hard to recall a time when Daryl Dixon wasn’t by your side and you couldn’t help but selfishly be a bit glad that the world had ended if it meant knowing Daryl.

You shifted closer to him as you wondered just how you’d gone so long without knowing him, how you’d lived your life everyday oblivious to the fact that Daryl even existed and hated that you knew if you’d met back then you probably wouldn’t have let yourself get to know him, knew Daryl wouldn’t let himself get to know you.

It was a strange feeling, being glad about the apocalypse.

“You ok?” He asked you, noticing your expression turn from happy to wistful.

“I’m really glad I met you, Daryl Dixon.” You told him, looking up and not realising just how close you’d gotten to him.

Daryl looked down at you, hesitating before lifting his hand to your head, letting his fingers brush a strand of hair from your face before they trailed down your temple to rest against your cheek. He could feel his heart threatening to beat out of his chest as he felt you smile under his hand.

“Glad I met you too.” He confessed, tone gruffer than he intended but it made you smile more, you didn’t know too much about Daryl’s romantic past but you knew there wasn’t much to talk about. It was good that he was nervous, it made you feel better knowing that it wasn’t just you.

“Daryl,” You whispered, so many thoughts in your head that you weren’t quite sure how to articulate them.

You didn’t have to though, you never had to really, because just as you were well versed in all things Daryl Dixon, he was just as good when it came to you, knowing what you wanted to say even if you didn’t.

“Me too,” He said just as quietly as you had been and you let your hand rest on his jaw, thumb brushing against his cheek before you moved closer, slowly giving him time to pull away if he wanted to.

He didn’t though, instead he met you halfway, letting your lips brush against each other’s softly and slowly, the movements slightly awkward but neither of you noticed or cared, too absorbed in each other, in how right it felt to finally kiss each other after months of back and forth flirting, months of testing the water before backing off, neither of you willing to risk the bond you had with one another.

Now it seemed foolish to wait so long, especially when you could lose each other any day, the events from the prison showed you that and maybe that’s why now was the time for it.

The kiss was interrupted when you heard a clatter from outside. Daryl pulled away with a soft groan, letting his forehead rest against yours as you both listened but the sound continued.

“Maybe it’s just somebody who lives here?” You whispered, watching as Daryl squinted and sighed, leaning forward to place a quick, slightly unsure, kiss against your lips before standing and picking his crossbow up, turning towards you with a stern look.

“Don’t move, stay here.” He warned and you nodded, pulling your knife from your boot, nervously playing with it as you listened to the sound of Daryl’s footsteps, praying that it was just nothing but knowing that you couldn’t be that lucky.

“Y/N, get outta here!” Daryl shouted, causing your stomach to drop.

You immediately shot up and ran towards the front door, watching as Daryl struggled to hold it shut as walkers piled up, pushing against it and trying to force their way in. Daryl watched you take a step towards him and immediately shook his head.

“Go!” He yelled at you but you shook your head back.

“I’m not leaving you here!” You protested.

“M’right behind ya, just get outta the house, meet me out by the road, yeah?” He said, nodding at you and watched as you nodded back before shooting him a desperate, pleading look.

“Stay safe.” You said and he smiled.

“Right behind ya.” He told you again, softer this time and felt relief flood through him as he watched you run.

You ran through the house, quickly making your way out of the back door that was thankfully free from walkers and continued to run, making your way over to the road as Daryl had told you too.

You made the mistake of glancing over your shoulder, looking to see if Daryl was coming when suddenly you felt the world tip before you cried out in pain as your head connected with the pavement, already feeling blood trickle down from the cut.

You blinked hard before you shot up upon hearing the snarls of a walker, having to pause for a second as the pain in your head blinded you, the feel of a hand on your leg causing you to scramble back as best you could but the walker was not giving up its hold on you.

You glanced around, looking for your knife and groaned when you saw it had ended up flung ahead of you, too far for you to reach. The walker continued to make its way closer to you and you tried to fight it off but you couldn’t, trying to keep moving back as best you could with its grip on you.

Just before you could call Daryl you were flinching as walker blood and brains splattered all over you as a bat was brought down on its head before you let out a huff of relief. The relief was cut short as you saw a man in a black mask gesture for two other men behind you to grab you.

“Daryl!” You yelled desperately as the men easily pulled you up.

Daryl had finally managed to fight his way out of the house and moved even faster as he heard your panicked cries calling for him. He ran out of the back door, not even hesitating with pulling the trigger on the crossbow, immediately taking one of the men down before he turned his attention to the other two.

They were both blocked by you but Daryl knew he could make one of the shots and keep you safe, he watched as one of them kept you in front of him, the two of you facing Daryl as he led you backwards towards the car, you silently pleading with Daryl not to let them take you.

The man not holding you tried to move quickly over to the driver's seat but he wasn’t quick enough for Daryl who released the arrow the moment he moved away from you. Then there was the one holding you, he was now looking towards his friend but quickly snapped his gaze back to Daryl.

Daryl glared as he tried to get a clear shot but he couldn’t, not without hurting you and he couldn’t do it. He waited, anxiety flooding through him as he saw tears make their way down your face before he finally, finally, had the shot.

He released the trigger again, watching as the arrow flew towards the man holding you and watched as he turned, positioning you so you took the arrow to your thigh, a cry of pain leaving you as the man chuckled and opened the car door, pulling a gun out as Daryl went to step forward, instantly stopping him in his tracks.

Daryl felt the urge to cry himself but took a deep breath, not focusing on the fact that you had a damn arrow sticking out of you that he had put there, trying not to focus on your cries or the fear displayed clearly across your face.

Instead he focused on the man holding you, watched every move he made, watched as he got too cocky and turned away from Daryl. Daryl took the opportunity to move two steps to the left, barely noticeable but giving him full advantage.

He didn’t wait for the man to turn around, didn’t hesitate as he pulled the trigger a final time and watched with satisfaction as the man hit the floor before he even knew what was happening.

Daryl watched as you wobbled, the man no longer holding you up had you seconds away from joining him on the floor but before you knew it Daryl’s own familiar, comfortable, arms were wrapping around you and you buried your head in his chest, sobbing against it as he held you tight.

“You’re alright, I got you, not gonna let anyone take you.” Daryl continued to whisper reassurances into your hair until you calmed down.

Once your tears had subsided Daryl pulled back and cupped your cheek in his hand, his fingers brushing away some of the blood from the cut. You watched him frown before shaking his head.

“Damn lucky we packed the medical supplies.” He muttered as he moved around you to help you sit down on the backseat, apologising as you winced against the arrow in your thigh.

“I’m so sorry,” He said quietly, guilty.

“Don’t be, please,” You said, sniffing back more tears, “Please don’t be sorry, you saved me.”

“I shot you!” He exclaimed, angry at himself for taking the shot, for letting you go off alone, for letting you get hurt on his watch.

“Hey,” You called softly, getting his attention. You lifted your hand and brushed some hair away from his face, smiling as he leaned into your touch. “You saved me.”

You watched him look up into your eyes, searching for any hint of a lie, of resentment, of fear, of hatred, all things he would deserve but he saw nothing but trust and something else, something soft that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Ok.” He said simply, nodding before rooting through the bag, pulling alcohol, cloths, a needle and thread out, shooting you an apologetic look. “This is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

That was, quite possibly, the understatement of the century because as soon as Daryl pulled the arrow out of your thigh…there were no words to describe the pain, the burning sensation that seemed to spread through your entire body and you had to bite down so hard on your lip to stop from screaming that you ended up splitting it.

Daryl worked quickly but all his touches were gentle, trying to provide comfort where he could. The entire time he worked he spoke soft words of encouragement, watching as they seemed to help, giving you something to focus on.

“Ya doin’ great, nearly there, attagirl.” He continued to murmur and you kept taking deep breaths trying desperately to only listen to his words.

“All done.” He told you and you let out a loud sigh, a mix of relief, tiredness, pain and gratitude all rolled into one. Daryl kneeled up so he was face to face with you and let his hand brush your hair off your sweat stained forehead. “You did good.” He told you with a smile and you couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter as you leaned down and captured his lips in yours, feeling him kiss back.

The kiss stayed soft and slow, you were exhausted and Daryl’s nerves were too high but you both needed this, needed a minute to see that you were both ok, you were both alive and together.

“You saved me.” You whispered against his lips as the two of you pulled away and Daryl looked up at you with wide, wet eyes. You let your fingers go up to his hair, running them through and pulling gently at the knots. “Thank you.”

“Don’t ever have to thank me for that, we look out for each other, yeah?” Daryl asked and you nodded, smiling down at him brightly despite the tiredness pulling at your eyes and the pain in your thigh. “Get some sleep,” He told you, gesturing for you to lay across the back seat, “I’ll get us somewhere safe.”

“I’m good,” You told him both of you knowing it was a lie and Daryl smiled at you, rolling his eyes fondly as he gestured to the back seat again.

“Get some sleep, I’m gonna be right here.” He promised and you nodded, leaning down to kiss him once more before you finally listened to him and made yourself as comfortable as possible across the back seats of the car, smiling as you felt a familiar leather vest being placed over your chest.

Somehow, despite everything, you still felt safer than ever as you held the leather vest close, pulling it up and breathing in the scent that reminded you of home before you let your eyes fall shut, the sound of the engine starting as you began to fall asleep.

“I’m right here,” You heard Daryl promise again, softly as if he was speaking more to himself than you but you still let yourself smile, cuddling further into the vest before finally drifting off, trusting Daryl entirely.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma, @srhxpci, @jelliebeanss, @black-cat-hardy @fangirl-who-dreams, @fangirl-and-her-fantasies, @mrslizzyolsen, @lolmxria

Getting You Back

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Febuwhump Prompt - Restrained

Prompt - "You just took the one thing I care most about away from me, that makes me very dangerous and it should make you very scared."

You kept your eyes trained on the floor as you were forced onto your knees, not daring to look up. You missed Dwight opening the van, missed as members of your group were forced out of it and onto their knees beside you. You didn’t look up, you couldn’t look up, not when Glenn called for Maggie, not as Maggie sobbed and Dwight shoved Glenn down.

You didn’t look up, not until Rick nudged you, then you turned to him and watched as he nodded ahead. You let out a sob as you saw a bloody Daryl on his knees, watching you with wide, scared eyes.

You went to stand, not giving a damn about the amount of guns trained on your group, not giving a damn about anything other than getting to Daryl but Sasha saw the move before you could make it and grabbed your arm. She held you tight enough to bruise but it kept you in place even as you fought against her, not taking your eyes off Daryl.

“Don’t.” She murmured to you, quietly but her tone was hard, knowing that one wrong move was all it would take for you to be killed.

You watched as Daryl shook his head, barely moving it but you caught it and a silent sob wracked your body as you sat heavily back on your knees, body shaking as you stared at him, pleading with him for something, anything.

“Let’s meet the man.” Simon said and your whole body tensed but you refused to look away from Daryl, desperately blinking away the tears.

A man, clad with a spiked baseball bat and a leather jacket stepped out of the RV with a smirk but you refused to look at him, eyes trained on Daryl who looked back at you like somehow his gaze alone could protect you.

“Pissing our pants yet?” The man asked and you scrunched your nose up, trying to hold back tears.

“Which one of you pricks is the leader?” He asked and both you and Daryl glanced away from each other for a second as you looked at Rick out of the corner of your eyes as Simon pointed him out.

You listened to Negan talk to Rick, hating everything about him as you knelt there, hating the sound of his voice but you also knew that if he was talking, he was distracting himself and not hurting any of you.

You could hear Rick’s shuddering breath as Negan told him the new rules, the cocky jackass demanding all of your supplies, letting Rick know exactly who was in charge and letting you all know that none of you were safe.

“You didn’t really think you were going to get through this without being punished, did you?” Negan asked and you felt your blood run cold at the words, eyes shifting from Daryl to the baseball bat he carried. “I’m gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you.” Negan warned as he stared at each of you, swinging the bat around as he introduced Lucille.

You heard Negan talk to Abraham and Carl and then he was crouched down in front of you and you could feel your heart threatening to beat right out your chest as he followed your gaze over to Daryl with a smirk before he took your chin in his hand and gently turned your face so you were looking at him.

You immediately lowered your gaze, looking at the floor instead of at him but still saw the way he smirked.

“You wanna pay attention?” He whispered into your ear, his smirk widening as you shivered. “That your boyfriend over there, that sonofabitch killed a hell of a lot of my men, maybe I should introduce him to Lucile.”

Negan grinned as your gaze snapped up to him, eyes narrowing into a glare as no words were needed to get your threat across, don’t touch him.

“Oh, I like you.” He laughed as he looked you up and down with an approving nod before he stood back up.

He moved onto Maggie after that, laughing as Glenn jumped for him only to be stopped by Dwight holding Daryl’s crossbow to his face. You watched as Negan let the man off with a warning, raising an eyebrow as a tear made its way down your face, certain that Glenn’s outburst would get him a one on one with Lucille.

Negan watched your face change as you looked at him and laughed before he warned the group against any more daring moves.

Your gaze shifted back to Daryl, seeking comfort in his scared eyes. Daryl looked right back at you, a warning in his eyes for you not to look away as Negan started whistling, fear coursing through your whole body as you nodded at him, hating that it felt like time was about to run out.

“I simply cannot decide.” Negan told you all and you hated that he was getting what he wanted as the tension and anxiety continued to consume you and you desperately wished to be by Daryl’s side. “I got an idea,” He said before the bat was pointed in Rick’s face, then Maggie’s, then Abraham’s, then Michonne’s.

Your heart stuttered as he pointed it at Daryl, using it to turn Daryl’s face away from you and letting it linger there before he moved onto Sasha, Aaron, Carl and then you, continuing down the line before he finally stopped, you and Daryl staring at each other with matching fear as tears slid down your face.

“Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy’s other eye out and feed it to his father and then we'll start.” He warned before he brought the bat down and people around you screamed.

You choked out a sob, feeling vomit burning your throat as you watched the bat continue to thud down on Abraham. You continued looking towards Daryl as the tears poured down your cheeks and Daryl swallowed heavily as he took in the scene, hearing the noises and Negan’s enjoyment.

It took everything in Daryl to stay knelt down, knowing there were too many guns trained on your group, knowing that Negan wouldn’t give him an opening to get to you, to get you as far away from him as possible. Right now Daryl would give anything for you to be back home.

Then Negan started grinning and laughing, waving the bloody bat around, first in Rosita’s face, then Michonne’s, then Maggie’s before he stopped at you. Daryl watched as the bloody bat was ran along your cheek, leaving a mix of Abraham’s blood and your own blood that poured from cuts as the barbed wire nicked your cheek.

That’s when Daryl couldn’t take it anymore, that’s when he jumped into action. He was up before anyone even realised, taking two big steps towards Negan and punching him in the face with a grunt before Negan’s men had him on the ground, you crying out as Negan stepped close to him, holding the bat out towards him.

Sasha caught you as you went to stand up, pulled you into her and held you tight as you struggled against her, listening to Negan laugh.

“Stop,” She muttered into your ear, “You’re going to get him killed.” She hated the bluntness of her words but they worked, you stopped struggling and she let you pull away from her, you leaning forward as you cried, your forehead resting on your knees.

“That is a no-no,” Negan exclaimed and you lifted your head slightly, watching him crouch down in front of Daryl, missing the looks Rick and Sasha shot at you, Sasha ready to catch you again knowing that if Negan made one move you’d be up.

She wasn’t going to let him kill you too.

You watched as two of Negan’s men pinned Daryl to the floor and it took everything in you to listen to Sasha, to stay still even though every bone in your body was screaming to move, screaming at you to kill Negan.

“Do you want me to do it?” You heard Dwight say, aiming the crossbow at Daryl’s head.

“No!” You yelled and Sasha barely caught you as you leapt up only to have her pull you back onto the floor.

Negan turned to look at you, grinned as he watched you struggling and fight against your friend and let out a chuckle as he gripped Daryl’s hair.

“Get your hands off him!” You shouted and Negan looked between the two of you before he told Dwight no, shooting you a smile as he did.

You listened to Daryl grunt but breathed a sigh of relief as he was dragged back into the line up.

“I told you people the first one was free, then what did I say, huh? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions.” Negan exclaimed but you weren’t listening to him, you pushed yourself away from Sasha again and she let you go, keeping a hold of your shirt as her blood ran cold at Negan’s words.

You ignored the man as you turned to Daryl, Daryl already looking over at you, panting with fear clear in his eyes. You forced yourself to smile at him, it was a terrible attempt as your lips wobbled and tears continued to flow down your face but you watched as some of the tension left him as he smiled back just as badly as yours had been.

Neither of you listened to Negan, not until the sound of the bat connecting with a skull sounded. Daryl’s head snapped over to Negan as did yours, all of you watching in horror as Glenn was killed before your eyes, listening as Maggie sobbed and none of you were able to do anything.

You had to look away, your gaze turning to Daryl who kept his eyes locked on Glenn’s body, flinching with every hit and you knew he was blaming himself. You sobbed as the urge to kill Negan spread through your body, looking away from Daryl and lowering your head and not listening as Negan began to speak again.

“Give me his axe.” Negan said to Simon and you watched as it was passed in front of your face, Negan staring down at Rick before he stood and pocketed the axe for himself before dragging Rick away into the RV.

“I’ll be back, maybe Rick’ll be with me.” He said as he left and you closed your eyes, more tears making their way down your face.

You didn’t know how much time had passed before the sound of the RV coming back drew everyone’s attention but you kept your eyes scrunched shut and head down, not able to look up as Negan and Rick left the RV.

“Get some guns to the back of their heads.” Negan said and that made you raise your head, looking straight ahead.

You took a deep breath and let your shoulders square up, sitting straighter and preparing yourself for what was to come. You glanced over to your right, forcing a smile as you saw Daryl already looking at you, guilt, fear and anger clear across his face.

“Not your fault.” You mouthed to him, watching him shake his head.

“Kid,” Negan said and you watched as he forced Carl over to him, watched as he strapped the belt to his arm and felt sick as Negan forced him to the ground and realised what he was going to do, listening as Rick pleaded with Negan.

You gasped as Negan demanded Rick choose between your lives or Carl’s left arm.

You looked away from the scene, looked towards Michonne before looking past her at Daryl who’s horror was reflected in his eyes.

“Look at me.” He said and you swallowed, not looking away from him as you listened to Rick hand himself over to Negan.

Daryl repeated the words to you, making sure your eyes stayed locked onto his even as he glanced back over to Rick watching as his best friend, his brother, sobbed, begged and pleaded with the bastard. Daryl’s eyes couldn’t keep watching the scene but he couldn’t look away either, his eyes darting from you back over to Rick and Negan every few seconds, shaking his head when you tried to look away just as Rick picked the axe up.

Daryl felt himself let out a breath of relief, tension leaving his body as Negan stopped him from cutting Carl’s arm off. He nodded over at you again and you felt yourself gasp breathlessly, nodding back at him.

“Dwight,” Negan said and Daryl glanced over to him watching as the bat was pointed at him, feeling his stomach drop and he glanced over to you, glad you missed the action as you did as he said, not taking your eyes off him.

“I love you.” He mouthed, watching as your eyebrows knitted together.

“I love you too.” You told him before Negan spoke words that turned your stomach cold.

“Load him up.”

At those words though your head shot over to Negan and saw exactly who he was talking about, not even getting a chance to react before Dwight was pulling Daryl up and throwing him into the back of the van he was brought in.

“No!” You yelled, standing up and running over to him, clawing at Dwight’s back, desperately trying to tug him away from Daryl, screaming and sobbing when you felt a hand grab the back of your shirt before you were thrown onto the floor.

“Get your damn hands off her!” You heard Daryl yell as Negan held you against the floor, roughly holding your hair and chuckling as you struggled against his knee on your back, trying to fight him off of you.

“You people just don’t learn do you?” He asked with a grin, “You really want me to kill another person?”

“Take me,” You begged him, still struggling against his hold despite the fact it was getting you nowhere.

“Best get your hands off her or I swear t’God-” Daryl was still shouting and Negan looked over to Dwight with a sharp look.

“Shut him up,” He said and chuckled as Daryl fell silent whereas you were still pleading with him, tears slipping down your face.

“Please, please, just take me. I’ll do whatever you want, just, just leave him alone, please, leave him alone, don’t take him.” Negan relaxed his grip on your hair, brushing it out of your face and watched you look up at him with wide, pleading eyes.

“Shit girl, you’re almost making me feel bad.” He smiled, his fingers trailing across your cheek. “I like you but I want him, he’s mine now.”

“No!” You yelled, still trying to get his weight off of you.

“Yes!” He shouted back, sick of the group now. “I cannot make these rules more simple, you do as I say, I say he’s mine you smile and say yes Negan. I already let your people off with one warning, do not test me today.”

You watched as the door slammed shut on Daryl’s face and you sobbed as he gestured for somebody to take his place, the man pointing a gun at you as you turned around you were on your back and glared up at Negan.

“Want to try something else?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, “And the answer to that better be no because if one more person forgets my rules I’m going to start cutting pieces off…” Here Negan trailed off, looking towards his second in command. “Hell’s his name?” He asked and you felt anger burn inside of you as you sat up, trying to calculate if you could snatch the gun out of the man’s hand and kill Negan before somebody shot you.

From behind him you saw Michonne shaking her head at you, pleading with you to just let Negan do as he pleased.

“Daryl.” Simon said after a pause and you turned away from Michonne to glare at him.

“Wow, that actually sounds right.” He chuckled and crouched down next to you again, locking eyes with Rick as he spoke, “I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep or better yet I’ll bring him to you and have you do it for me.”

He turned his head towards you and gave you a grin before he leaned in close, whispering words meant only for you.

“Now I have a feeling you aren’t going to follow my rules so let me be very clear, I will not hesitate to hurt him, you make one move I don’t approve of, his death is on your hands.” He smiled as you turned to face him, so close to each other and he could see the hatred clear as day in your eyes as everybody watched you.

“Go to hell you bastard.” You whispered back, hearing your group gasp and cry as they expected Negan to retaliate.

“I like you.” He repeated with a smile, patting your cheek and standing you.

“I’m gonna leave you a truck.” He told you all, “We’ll be back for our first offering in a week until then,” Negan waved a hand at you all and you could do nothing but watch as they all left, your eyes not leaving the van that held Daryl.

You were going to get him back.

You had too.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma, @srhxpci, @jelliebeanss, @black-cat-hardy @fangirl-who-dreams, @fangirl-and-her-fantasies, @mrslizzyolsen, @lolmxria

After All This Time

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Febuwhump Prompt - Presumed Dead

Prompt - “I truly believe soulmates will always end up together. You lose each other to just find each other again...that's how you know someone's meant for you.”

You ran into the first building you came across after running through the woods for what felt like hours, slamming the door shut as your breath came out in pants and your sides burnt. It should have been a simple run, your group was running low on food and medical supplies so you and Daryl offered to go and scavenge whatever you could find, something you’d done a hundred times together at this point, always without major incident.

Today, however, something had gone wrong. Everything happened too fast for you to keep track of, one second Daryl’s hand was in yours, dragging you away from the door that opened to let out a flood of walkers and then the next the two of you had been separated, you screaming his name as you took down walker after walker before they overwhelmed you and you had to get out of there.

It seemed the noise had attracted other walkers who came out of the woods and they just seemed to keep appearing as you were forced further and further away from Daryl, getting completely disoriented and having no clue as to which way was home.

From there days passed as you tried to find your way back, becoming hungry and dehydrated as you desperately tried to get home but the woods were too large, too confusing and you weren’t nearly as good with finding your way around them as Daryl was, wishing you’d paid attention as your boyfriend insisted to teach you basic survival skills.

As more days went by you couldn’t stop your thoughts screaming that you had lost Daryl, you’d never see him again. You hated the sinking feeling in your stomach as you began to believe them, hating that you were giving up so easily and shook your head, desperately forcing those thoughts away, trying desperately not to focus on them.

I’m going to find him.

But then a week passed and another week and you found yourself still alone, no sign of any life as you passed through the woods, stopping at every building you passed to grab supplies to keep you going even though you were barely standing, sleep not coming easily as you dreams were plagued with Daryl who was usual the most comforting presence in your life, now the dreams turned your blood cold.

You entered another building, wincing as you put too much pressure against your injured ankle that you had twisted a day or two ago fleeing walkers. A noise from the distance had you pausing and tilting your head in an attempt to hear better but you didn’t hear it again. Still you raised your knife, ready to attack as you walked further into the building, rounding the corner and jumping, knife already moving as you came face to face with a tall man.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, I’m not here to hurt you.” The man said, grabbing your wrist to stop the knife plunging into him but his grip wasn’t tight and you were able to pull yourself away taking a step back from him and keeping your knife between the two of you.

“You look like shit.” He told you, smiling softly at you as to lessen the bluntness of his words. He couldn’t help but smile wider at the glare he received. “You alone?” He asked and you hesitated before you answered his question.

“Yes.” You told him, watching as he winced at how dry your throat sounded.

The man rummaged through a bag and pulled out a fresh bottle of water, reaching over slowly to hold it out to you, making sure you could see his every move. You hesitated again but the need for water was unbearable, you’d gotten too used to the luxury of food and water at your camp and now that you were alone…

“Thank you.” You said softly, unscrewing the lid and downing half the bottle in just a few sips, missing how the man looked at you, clearly intrigued by you.

“How long have you been on your own?” He asked, taking a seat on one of the chairs and kicking one out for you, watching as you looked from him to it before sitting on the edge of it, looking ready to flee any second.

“A few weeks.” He raised his eyebrows at you questioningly but didn’t ask as he saw you push back tears.

“I’m sorry to hear it.” He told you, sounding sincere. “I have a place, not too far from here, it’s safe, we’ve got plenty of food and water, a warm bed. I’d be more than happy to show you.” He smiled at you as he watched you eyed him with suspicion and raised his hands non threateningly towards you. “No strings attached, you leave when you want, I promise.”

You continued to observe him for a few more moments, the man letting you, saying nothing as the silence stretched between you before you finally nodded. You had no idea which way was home right now and it wouldn’t hurt to have somewhere safe to turn to as you continued to search for Daryl.

“Great,” The man exclaimed, a wide, friendly smile spread across his face as he held a hand out towards you. “I’m Negan.”

Months passed without you seeing a single sign of Daryl and you grew worse and worse as each day passed.

Negan had made good on his promise, allowing you to come to and from the Sanctuary, offering you access to the vehicles he had stored away and eventually the two of you drifted closer to one another. Eventually Negan began riding along with you each took turns driving miles out in hopes of finding something.

“So what is it about this guy, huh?” Negan asked you one day as he drove towards the newest location you’d found, feeling your hope lessen with every trip.

“I love him.” You told Negan simply because there was nothing else to it, that was the beginning and the end of it.

“Yeah but c’mon, Y/N/N, the way you talk about this guy, you knew him before the world went to shit right? What was it, high school sweethearts?” He guessed, recalling the fond way you spoke about him, the way a person would speak about somebody they’d known for years, when they felt they knew everything about each other. He also remembered the soft look that appeared on your face whenever you spoke about him and how heartbroken you’d looked the one and only time Negan gently brought up the idea that he could be dead.

“No,” You told him with a soft laugh, shaking your head as you spoke, “No, we met not too long after everything happened. He saved my life and brought me back to the group. It took a while but he finally warmed up to me and we’ve been together ever since.”

Silence filled the car after that as Negan realised just how much Daryl meant to you, realised good things could happen at the end of the world but it was with a heavy heart the two of you left the next location empty handed, no closer to finding Daryl than you'd had been before.

“I liked it better when it was just the three of us,” You groaned as you collapsed onto the sofa Negan occupied, Simon sitting in the arm chair laughing at your comment. It had taken years to build up the Sanctuary but now it stood tall and strong and Negan was always ready to defend your home.

You’d spent the whole day running back and forth as a new group tried to fight against you. Negan had finally had enough and now you were helping prepare for action, though you wouldn’t actually be allowed to join as Negan had requested you stay at the Sanctuary.

You were glad of the request though because as much as you hated that another group was challenging yours, you also weren’t the biggest fan of watching Negan assert his dominance. After bringing you with him twice Negan had decided against bringing you along to any more recruitments.

“You good here?” He asked as he stood outside the RV, smiling back at you as you smiled brightly up at him.

“Of course.” You told him and leaned into his touch as he cupped your cheek.

“Attagirl,” He grinned, patting your cheek and making his way in the RV and you watched them leave before heading back inside, still plenty of work to be done in Negan’s absence.

Negan liked this group of people, they had balls and that meant he got to show them who was in charge. He took great delight in watching Rick’s face as he forced one of his men into the van.

“I like him,” Negan said into Rick’s ear, loving the way his jaw clenched as realisation set in that he was no longer in charge, “He’s mine now.” He grinned before speaking louder so everybody could hear him. “If one more person thinks they can ignore my rules, I’m going to start cutting pieces off…” Negan paused, tilting his head towards Simon. “Hell’s his name?” He could feel the anger from the group and it only made it smirk, now you know who’s in charge.

“Daryl.” Simon told him and Negan paused for a second, raising an eyebrow at Simon who just shrugged back at him.

Hell no, Negan thought to himself, there was no way in hell this was your Daryl. It had been years since you were separated from your group but you still searched for him, Negan knew you missed him everyday, despite the fact that more years had passed than you had had with the man.

There was no way this Daryl was your Daryl, your Daryl was a man long since passed, nothing but a memory, alive only in your head.

“I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep or better yet I’ll bring him to you and have you do it for me.” He forced himself to speak as he glanced to Simon once more, the other man's thoughts echoing Negan’s.

He was going to be in the shit house if these people were your old group, if he had just taken your Daryl as a hostage.

You heard the sound of vehicles rolling up outside the Sanctuary and made your way onto the balcony, watching as Negan’s people flooded through the doors, smiling as you saw the man himself before it turned into a grimace as you looked at the bloody bat in his hand.

You made your way down the stairs, catching Negan’s eyes immediately and he looked almost guilty, it was a look you couldn’t ever recall seeing on the man's face and stepped closer to him, not speaking until you were in arms reach.

“What happened?” You asked him softly, watching as he lifted a hand towards the open door before the world around you seemed to freeze.

You watched as Dwight and Simon held a struggling Daryl between them, his eyes not looking away from his captors as you stared at him. You felt Negan catch you as your legs turned to jelly, your eyes instantly filled with tears as a hand came up to try and suppress the sobs that escaped you but you couldn’t, not even noticing when people watched you as your sobs echoed throughout the room.

You watched as Daryl paused in Dwight and Simon’s hold, watched as his head whipped around to the sound of crying before he too lost his footing, Simon easily catching him and holding him up.

You swallowed against the lump in your throat as your mouth opened and closed a few times, not quite knowing what to say.

“Y/N,” Daryl breathed your name and it was like the world began moving again as you ran across the room and crashed into his arms, Daryl caught you easily as Simon let go of him.

You wrapped your arms around Daryl’s torso as he wrapped his own around you, the two of you a sobbing mess as you realised this was real and not some terrible dream that would leave you cold and empty.

“I thought you were dead.” He whispered into your hair, “I looked for ya, never stopped lookin’.”

“Me too,” You told him, nodding against his chest, “People told me you were probably dead but I know you.”

“Can’t believe I found you after all this time.” He whispered, pulling back far enough so that he could look down at you, pressing your foreheads together as he watched you smile at him shakily. “The hell you doin’ with this bastard?”

“He saved me,” You sniffed, hand reaching up to cup his cheek, brushing tears away only for them to be replaced a second later. Disbelief ran through you because somehow, somehow, you had managed to find him despite the years apart, despite the odds being against you, you were here in Daryl’s arms. “When we got- that day, I couldn’t find you and they just kept coming. I was on my own for weeks when Negan found me and offered me a place to stay, offered to help me find you.”

“I don’t care ‘bout him right now,” Daryl told you cupping your cheek and leaning down to brush your lips together, “so glad to see you again,” He whispered, leaning back in a placing another soft, barely there kiss upon your lips and you smiled before pulling him down properly and slotting your lips together.

Even after years apart the two of you moved with each other like you hadn’t missed a single day. The kiss was familiar and new, it was breathtaking and hungry, desperately trying to convey all the words that could not be said and make up for all the time missed.

The two of you pulled away, panting for breath and Daryl wiped a tear that slid down your face causing you to laugh softly.

“I never stopped looking for you.” He repeated again, this time more urgently because he needed, he needed, you to know that. He needed you to know that not a day went by he didn’t think about you, didn’t mourn you.

“I never stopped looking for you either.” You told him, your tone softer than he had spoken but your eyes shone with so much honestly that Daryl couldn’t resist leaning down and capturing your lips against his.

He’d deal with Negan later, deal with what you being a part of their group meant, he’d deal with all that later. Right now his only focus was you, beautiful, amazing, alive you and nothing, not even Negan and his bloody bat could drag him away from you.

“Shit, I missed you so damn much,” He murmured against your lips, loving that he could feel you smile against his own and knew he would never let you go again, his girl was back from the dead and he did not intend to waste his second chance.

__________

Daryl Dixon Taglist (Click the link in my bio to add yourself!) - @lovinnholland, @canadailluminate , @janesofia7, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @classyunknownlover, @cole22ann, @levisbloodcut, @alexxavicry, @mystic-writings, @lizamango, @urbestgrrl, @morganaah, @kaitieskidmore1, @loki-laufeysons-wife, @am-wd-ma, @srhxpci, @jelliebeanss, Black-Cat-Hardy @fangirl-who-dreams, @fangirl-and-her-fantasies, @mrslizzyolsen, @lolmxria, @ladykxxx08

Better Together

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Prompt - @redneckstrash - 4 - Falling asleep on the couch, waking up to not only a blanket around them but their partner squeezed on with them & 7 - “Do you hate me?”

The rain hammering down outside matched the atmosphere inside the house perfectly as you stood on one side of the room, annoyance clear across your face as you glared at Daryl who was leaning against the door frame, watching you from behind his hair.

“I told ya I ain’t arguing with ya,” Daryl told you, his voice steady as you rolled your eyes and shook your head at him. “It’s too dangerous, I ain’t letting you go out there.”

“But it’s fine for you to go?” You snapped at him, the two of you running around in circles, the same conversation that had started over an hour ago when Daryl told you he was going out to see if they could find anything out about the latest threat to Alexandria and you had to stay here. “I can take care of myself, Daryl!”

“I ain’t saying you can’t!” Daryl shot back, anger towards the new group coursing through his veins for causing the two of you to argue, before this Daryl couldn’t remember the last time the two of you had been against each other. 

“So then I can go?” You asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction and scoffing as he shook his head.  “Course I can’t because in your head I’m just some idiot who can’t handle herself right, not like I’ve survived this long and taken out more walkers than either of us can count.” 

“C’mon Y/N, that ain’t fair and you know it,” He told you gruffly, shaking his head again, “Course ya can handle yourself, nobody’s saying you can’t but there’s other people headin’ out, you don’t need to be out there.”

“Why not? I can help, Daryl!” You were never one to sit back and let the fight pass you by, especially not when your people, your friends, were being hurt and killed. Watching as a group Aaron had gone out with return bruised, bloody and broken had you cleaning your weapons, ready for what was to come and now Daryl was the one stopping you from helping.

“I ain’t risking you!” Daryl snapped, pushing away from the door frame and taking a step towards you. He watched as your nose flared and your eyebrows knitted together as you took in his words before you let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh.

“But it’s ok to risk yourself?” You asked him, all the anger seemingly draining from your voice. “You know I can handle myself.”

“Against walkers.” Daryl said, lowering his voice and desperately wanting to take another step closer to you but he knew you wouldn’t let him get close right now.

“So you don’t think I can handle myself?” He watched as you looked away from him, turning to face the window and looking out towards the gate where the car was being loaded.

“I already said I know ya can but we don’t even know what we’re dealing with, we know nothin’ about these people. I don’t care if ya hate me for it, Y/N/N, but I ain’t risking you, no way.” Daryl told you and watched as you shook your head again but didn’t have a chance to answer as a knock sounded from the front door.

“Daryl? You ready to head out?” You heard Rick call from outside and glanced over your shoulder, watching as Daryl looked from the door and back to you with a pleading expression across his face, one that would usually have your glare softening into a smile but this time you just gestured to the door with a nod of your head.

“You should go.” Daryl barely found himself suppressing a flinch at the coldness of your tone but he stood by his decision, he’d rather have you alive and hate him than dead and not able to love him.

Daryl moved over to you, hating the way your whole body tensed but still he leaned in close and pressed a kiss to your forehead before he pulled away and headed towards the front door, glancing back over at you, a soft sigh leaving his lips as he grabbed the door knob.

“Love you.” He said quietly into the tense silence and didn’t give you a chance to reply as he slipped out of the door and past Rick who watched him go with a concerned look before following after him. 

Days seem to pass by in a blur and you found yourself out of the house more than you were in it, unable to sit around without letting the last conversation you had with Daryl invade your mind, constantly playing like it was stuck on a loop. You hated that he hadn’t let you go but now you hated that he’d left and you hadn’t told him you loved him, hated that something could happen to him and the last thing he’d remember about you would be an argument. 

You shook your head as you sat on the steps to Rick’s house, blinking hard against the sudden wetness in your eyes as you held Judith closer to you, letting your head rest against hers. Two days wasn’t long but it felt like an eternity right now and it took every ounce of self control you had to not leave the walls and search for Daryl.

“You ok?” You heard Carol ask as she came closer to the house but you couldn’t look up, still trying to fight back the tears that threatened to spill. “He’ll be back before you know it.” She told you, taking a seat next to you and letting Judith grab her finger.

“I know,” You sniffed, finally pulling away from Judith and looking up at Carol who smiled sympathetically at you. “He thinks I hate him.” You said quietly, voice barely above a whisper and frowning as she laughed.

“No he doesn’t.” She said making it sound like even the idea of Daryl thinking you hated him was ridiculous. “You two have survived too much together for him to ever think that.” 

“I didn’t tell him I loved him.” You said miserably and Carol rolled her eyes but her tone was soft as she spoke, knowing this was one of the first real times in yours and Daryl’s relationship that the two of you had been on bad terms.

“He knows.” She said easily, “He knows you love him and you know he loves you, more than anything in this world. That’s why you’re here and not out there, he knows you’re safer in here than you are outside of these walls-”

“I’m safest wherever he is.” You cut her off, not doubting your words even a little bit causing Carol to smile at you.

“Yeah, you’re probably right but he won’t look at it that way, his job is keeping threats as far away from you as he can, that’s his priority.” Carol told you and you nodded along as he spoke, knowing she was right but still not happy.

“Why can he go out there and risk his life but I can’t?” You asked her, looking at her with wide, watery eyes.

“Because if you die out there he wouldn’t come back from it,” She told you honestly, watching how your eyebrows knitted together as you took her words in before you looked away from her. “If you’re safe here, that’s all that matters to him.”

“And if he dies out there?” You managed to choke out, a single tear managing to slip down your face at the thought.

“Then you’re safe here.” Carol answered and you let out a choked sob as you shook your head.

“He can’t live without me but if he dies I’m supposed to, what, carry on without him?” You asked angrily. “I’m not doing this without him, Carol.”

“I’m not saying he’s right but I do know he’s doing what he thinks is best for you, that’s all he’s ever done. He doesn’t care what happens to him but if anything ever happened to you..” Carol said, trailing off and looking away as she thought of a world without you, knowing exactly how Daryl would react.

“That’s why I should be with him, he watches out for me, I watch out for him.” You told her, eyes pleading with her causing her to laugh softly.

“It’s not me you have to convince, it’s him and trust me that’s a fight you don’t stand a chance in. That man would do anything you asked him but he won’t do anything that puts you in harm's way.” She told you and you knew she was right, loathe as you were to admit it.

“I just want him to come home.” You said softly, resting your cheek on Judith’s head as she leaned against your chest. “I hate fighting with him.”

“He’ll be home before you know it.” Carol promised, her hand resting on your knee and giving it a gentle squeeze.

You sighed as you stepped into the silent house in the early hours of the morning after a long shift on the watchtower, not quite ready to spend another night alone in bed. With another sigh you pulled your shoes off, not bothering to change out of your clothes as you walked into the living room and lay down on the sofa, drifting off to sleep moments after your head hit the pillow.

Daryl was glad to see the walls of Alexandria, exhausted and ready to collapse into bed with you after two days of searching for any signs of the newest threat. They’d found a small group of members who had all been killed when it became clear that they would not be giving up their plans or information about their group. 

With a quick goodbye to the rest of his group Daryl walked up to the house and opened the door as soundlessly as he could, not wanting to wake you at such a late hour. Standing in the hallway he slipped his boots off before walking further into the house, intending to head upstairs and into bed with you before a noise from the living room stopped him. 

Pulling a knife out, Daryl gripped it and made his way over to the doorway, eyes darting around, quickly adjusting to the darkness before a smile made its way onto his face and he pocketed the weapon. 

He didn’t know just how long he stood in the doorway for, smiling dumbly over at you as you slept but eventually he made his way upstairs, quickly changing into something less bloody and tugged a blanket from your bedroom over his shoulder before he made his way back downstairs.

The sofa definitely wasn’t big enough for the two of you but somehow Daryl managed to shift you enough so he could lay down before bringing you close to him, laying you on his chest and wrapping the blanket around the pair of you before his arms wrapped around you. He couldn’t stop the soft smile that spread across his face as you mumbled something he couldn’t make out and gripped his shirt in your fist.

With a lingering kiss to the top of your head Daryl let his eyes fall shut and drifted off to sleep, glad to finally have you back in his arms. 

You woke up as light force its way past you closed eyelids causing you to groan slightly as you cuddled further into the warm chest underneath you, only to tense a moment later when you registered that there shouldn’t be a warm chest underneath you unless-

Your eyes opened and a tired smile spread across your face as you tilted your head to look up at Daryl who was still asleep with his arms wrapped around you, probably for the best considering how close you were to the edge of the sofa.

Daryl scrunched his eyes together as he woke up, frowning as he felt something against his chest. Upon opening his eyes a smile appeared on his face as he watched you trace shapeless patterns into his chest. He continues to watch you for a few minutes before he shifts and places a kiss on your head.

“Mornin’,” He greets, voice thick with sleep and you tilted your head to face him, smiling softly up at him

“Morning, you okay?” You ask him, smoothing your palm against his chest and looking over his face again as he nods.

“All good, Y/N/N.” He assures you, his thumb brushing up and down against your hip.

There was a silence that stretched between the two of you, an uncomfortable silence that neither of you had experienced with each other since the early days when you’d just met and weren’t too sure of each other yet. Daryl hated that one fight seemed to tip you both off balance so much, you hated it too.

“Do you hate me?” Daryl finally forced himself to ask, the conversation from before he had left not once leaving his mind the entire time he was gone. He watched as you rolled your eyes at the question before you shifted so you could see him better.

“I don’t like the fact you won’t let me come with you,” You told him honestly, for so long it had never been an issue, the two of you outside together but now you had stable walls, you had safety and you knew Daryl’s top priority was your safety. “We’re better together. You know I can handle myself and you can trust me to watch your back.” 

“S’not that,” Daryl replied, voice quiet as he spoke, “I trust ya to have my back and I know ya can fight, ain’t nobody doubting that. I just-” Here he trailed off as he shook his head, taking a moment to compose himself before speaking again, “I can’t lose you, not you, Y/N, anything happened to you…”

“You can’t protect me forever.” You told him softly, smiling as he scoffed at you with an eye roll.

“Yeah, watch me.” He told you, causing you to let out a soft laugh.

“Surely I’m safer with you then, I mean what if you’re gone and something happens here? I like it here, Daryl, but I don’t want to be here all the time. I’m meant to be out there, I’m meant to be with you.” You watched as Daryl closed his eyes and knew your words were having the desired impact.

“Hate it when you’re right.” He grumbled causing you to grin up at him and he opened his eyes before letting his forehead thump gently against yours.

“Does that mean I get to come next time?” You asked, watching as he rolled his eyes.

“Damn pain in my ass, you know that?” Daryl told you and you couldn’t help but laugh as you nodded, causing him to smile and lean over to press his lips to yours in a soft kiss that lasted only a moment or two, the two of you pulling away with matching smiles and eyes that held so much warmth.

“But you love me.” You stated watching as the man’s smile grew and he leaned down again for another quick kiss.

“Damn right I do.” He confirmed as he pulled away briefly before connecting your lips together again, deepening the kiss as he pulled you as close as possible.

It wasn’t long before the two of you were pulling away, foreheads resting against each other as you gasped for air, one of Daryl’s hands coming up to brush against your cheeks and you turned your face so that you could press a soft kiss to his palm.

“I love you too, Daryl.” You whispered against his hand, swearing that no matter how mad you were in a moment, you would always say those words to him. 

__________

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Then and Now, We’ve Got Each Other

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Prompt - ‘Let’s leave this nothing town behind us, we don’t need anything else, we’ve got each other.’

Daryl Dixon wasn’t somebody who enjoyed his life. His dad drank himself stupid every day, beat on their mom until she went and got herself killed. Their dad, when he could stand straight enough, beat on him and Merle so much that both of them had learnt from a young age to hide their marks, at least until they realised that nobody cared.

Merle was the first to drop out of school, nobody fought much to get him back there either. It wasn’t like their dad gave a damn about where they were and the teachers saw the Dixon boys as a troubled pair that would amount to nothing. Merle was always involved in some sketchy business but Daryl learnt not to ask what it was, especially not when it meant Merle sometimes snuck him the occasional sandwich when their dad was passed out.

Daryl had stuck school out for longer than Merle but it didn’t take much longer for him to leave either. He was ready to leave when Merle had but something happened that made his life different, he still didn’t enjoy it, he wasn’t happy but he felt…different.

You had moved states and ended up at a new school. You hadn’t even been there a few days when you’d heard the whispers of the Dixon boys and it hadn’t taken long to realise who they were talking about, the boy in your class with long, dirty hair and even dirtier clothes. You assumed he had a brother who looked equally as dirty and scrawny and felt your heart ache as people gossiped about the pair.

He never spoke to you but he felt less sad when you smiled at him. He knew people spoke about him but he had never cared, nothing these kids said could hurt more than his dad’s fists but still, you made it better.

He lasted a few months before dropping out and you worried the whole week he didn’t show up for school. You weren’t stupid, you had seen the bruises that nobody else seemed to care about, seen the cuts and the way Daryl swiped food so quickly it had taken you a while to notice, you had started bringing extra food in after you had though and leaving it in your place after you left.

You were worried sick that whoever was hurting Daryl had gone too far but there wasn’t anything you could do. You didn’t have a phone number for Daryl, didn’t know where he lived, didn’t know who his big brother was to ask about him.

When the next week rolled around and Daryl still hadn’t been seen you started asking around, ignoring the odd looks people gave you and eventually pieced together enough to figure out where Daryl lived.

After school you walked to where Daryl should live, it was out of the way, run down and had you glancing over your shoulder as you walked down the street trying to find any sign of Daryl. You had only been able to get the street he lived on, not his actual house number, so short of knocking on every house there wasn’t much you could do and sighed to yourself feeling helpless.

The rundown street was surrounded by woods that only made the place seem even more dangerous but just passed it all there was a river and without meaning to you found yourself walking towards it. Twigs and leaves crunched under your feet and you jumped at every sound in the distance but the river was quite nice considering the area and once you were out of the trees it was actually quite peaceful.

You walked for a while before stopping, eyebrows knitting together as you saw a figure in the distance sat alone staring out at the river. You hadn’t ever spoken to him but you’d spent more than enough time looking at him to know it was Daryl and felt a small smile pull at your lips.

At least he was alive.

You made your way over to him, trying to keep your footsteps light even though unbeknownst to you Daryl had heard you long before you had seen him. Daryl had that feeling again, he hated his life, there was nothing good in it but here you were and suddenly it felt different again.

You didn’t say anything when you finally joined him, just sat down on the floor next to him and Daryl couldn’t help but glance at you out of the corner of his eyes. Here you were, clean and neat sitting on the dirty, muddy floor with him.

It made it easier to breathe somehow even as his ribs ached from his dad’s boot.

The two of you sat side by side for a while in peaceful silence, neither one of you knowing what to say and yet it didn’t feel awkward. It was weird to Daryl, he wasn’t used to having somebody with him, not even Merle came out here with him. He was used to being alone, it was better that way and yet for some reason he didn’t hate that you had joined him.

“You didn’t come to school.” You finally said, breaking the silence but keeping your voice soft.

You hadn’t asked a question, there was no reason for Daryl to say anything, he didn’t owe you an answer, didn’t need to explain himself to you but you had come to find him and he had wanted to talk to you for a while.

“Dropped out.” He finally muttered, not looking at you as his voice came out weak and croaky…he wasn’t used to speaking much.

You didn’t know what to say to that and kept looking ahead at the river in front of you. Daryl looked even skinnier than when you had last seen him and this time he had a split lip and black eye that made you wince.

You wished you could do something to help him but you figured Daryl wouldn’t exactly be the type to let you call the police for him. People whispered about the Dixon family, they knew full well what was going on, if somebody was going to step in they would have long before you showed up in town.

So maybe you couldn’t get Daryl away from his house, maybe you couldn’t stop whoever was hurting him but you could do something. You could be a friend to him, give him somebody to talk to who wouldn’t judge him and use it to gossip, you could be there for him and bring him food and make sure he had somebody on his side.

“I brought this for you.” You said, turning to root through your school bag and pulled out a sandwich, a chocolate bar, and an apple as well as a bottle of soda.

You held the items out for Daryl who finally looked at you properly, he hid it well but you could see the shock on his face, the surprise that somebody was helping him.

“Don’t need y’to feed me.” He muttered, turning back to face the river and you bit back a sigh.

“I know you don’t.” You told him honestly because to get as far as Daryl had in his house he had probably had to fend for himself, he would see any small act as charity. Sure he had been fine swiping the half a piece of sandwich you left at lunch or the candy you left behind but he would struggle to accept something being outright given to him. “It’s for you though, you don’t have to eat it but it’s there.”

You left the food on the floor in between you and went back to sitting in silence. It was less than ten minutes later when Daryl’s hunger won out and you heard the wrapped being pulled from the sandwich and you had to bite back a relieved smile, watching as Daryl practically inhaled the food, glad to know he had something in him for the day.

It went on like that for months, every day after school you would walk down to the river, though walking through the woods still sent a shiver down your spine, especially when the winter meant that it got dark earlier. Each day you and Daryl would sit together, you always brought food for the two of you and mostly the silence would be filled by you. Daryl liked listening to you talk, it didn’t matter what you were saying he just liked listening. He spoke too, not much but whenever he did you always gave him your full attention, listening to every word he said like it was important.

He always walked you home, by the time you were standing to leave it was well into the night, sky dark and Daryl didn’t feel right letting you walk alone. So he led you through the woods and watched as you glanced around like something was going to jump out at you, it never did but even if something were to happen Daryl wouldn’t let anything hurt you.

By the time he had walked across town to your street, and the first time he had seen where you lived he flushed with embarrassment at the big house in the nice part of town, and walked back to his house his dad was usually passed out and Merle was either nursing his wounds with a beer or out doing whatever he got up to.

Daryl’s life still wasn’t good, it wasn’t enjoyable but the few hours a day he got to steal with you made it easier, it made him see that maybe there could be good in it, maybe he was allowed to feel happy.

When he started working on his bike, months into knowing you, he had to smile when you first saw it. You had looked at him like he was crazy and he probably looked it, split lip that kept bleeding when you made him smile, one eye swollen shut and all kinds of black and purple as he sat surrounded by a rundown bike and even more run down parts and tools.

“There’s no way you’re riding that if you ever build it.” You had told him as you sat down next to him and he felt his lip sting again as he smiled over at you.

“Course I am,” he told you confidently and chuckled as you shook your head, “you’re comin’ on it too.”

“Like hell I am!” You protested, pulling a face at the mess of a bike that lay on the floor in the middle of you.

“Sure ya are, not like I’m gonna let anything bad happen to ya.” Daryl said as he swiped at his lip with his tongue before screwing something into the bike, so focused on what he was doing that he missed the way your face softened into a smile as you could do nothing but stare at him for a second. “‘Sides this bike’ll be the best once I get it runnin’.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m getting on that death trap, even crazier if you think I’m letting you on it.” Daryl just grinned at you again as he put the spanner down and wiped his forehead with his arm. “How long have you been working on this thing anyway?”

“Couple hours? I dunno.” Daryl shrugged and you gave him a look that made his smile grow.

He still wasn’t used to that, it had been nearly a year since you had decided to join him out by the river and he still wasn’t used to smiling so damn much.

“Take a break, Dixon, time to eat.” You told him and he nodded at you as he moved around the bike to sit next to you, reaching over to wash his grease covered hands in the river as you pulled food and drinks out of your bag.

“Why the bike anyway?” You asked as the two of you were eating and Daryl shrugged before finishing his bite.

“Gotta have a way to get outta here someday.” He told you and the answer didn’t shock you, you knew Daryl wanted out of this town, wanted plenty of distance from his dad.

You couldn’t blame him, you were surprised he had stuck around this long but you supposed it wasn’t like he had the money to just up and leave. Part of you wanted to leave with him when he finally put this town behind him, just because your family lived in the nice part of town, just because you had money and food, didn’t mean that your parents were great people. Of course you didn’t have it as bad as Daryl, your parents didn’t hit you, didn’t starve you and let you go however long without a shower or didn’t give you a warm place to sleep. Your parents were just cold people, the kind that weren’t really meant to be parents but it was what was expected of them and you were expected to follow in their footsteps.

“Getting ready to leave me behind?” You asked jokingly but both of you could hear the sadness behind it and Daryl shook his head fiercely.

“Like hell imma leave you in this dump, ya coming with me.” Daryl told you and you couldn’t help but smile over at him, Daryl smiling right back at you and it was then you realised that you had already made your decision without thinking about it because you would follow Daryl Dixon wherever he went.

“Not on that thing.” You laughed and just like that the serious moment was gone and Daryl’s smile widened even as he rolled his eyes.

“Just wait, it’s gonna be great.” He assured you just to hear you laugh again.

It was anything but great. The thing roared to life and spluttered causing Daryl to groan and kick it before the engine ran properly and you gave him an incredulous look when he turned to face you.

“It’s gonna be great.” He told you again, repeating the words he had told you months ago.

“It’s a death trap!” You exclaimed, causing him to laugh and pick a helmet up off the floor before making his way over to you.

“I tested it before you even saw it ‘cause I knew you’d bitch about me gettin’ on the thing.” Daryl told you and you glared at him as he stopped in front of you. “Trust me, it’s good.”

With that he lifted the helmet and settled it over your head, smiling at the glare still on your face. He made sure the helmet was properly on you before he climbed onto the bike and held a hand out to help you on.

“Daryl-” You began but he cut you off.

“Trust me, you really think I’d let ya on here if I didn’t think ya were gonna be safe?” He had a point, Daryl might have had no regard for his own safety but when it came to you…God was he protective.

Daryl grinned when you sighed, knowing he had won and felt your hand in his as you got onto the bike, slotting behind him perfectly. His smile softened as he chuckled in amusement when your arms went around his waist, holding him in a death grip before the bike had even moved.

“Relax.” He told you over the noise of the engine and you just shook your head before he felt the helmet rest against the back of his shoulder. He didn’t need to look at you to know your eyes were screwed shut and he laughed again as he began to move the bike and your arms tightened even more around him.

“I hate this!” He heard you call over the sound of the bike speeding through the road and he smiled widely, one hand coming off the handle to squeeze your arm before he put it back, he was serious when he said he wasn’t going to let anything happen to you.

Daryl had known you for long enough now that he struggled to remember his life without you by his side, he remembered a time where he struggled to think of one good thing in his life, struggled to remember what being happy was like, if he had even felt it before.

He knew he had never known true happiness before you arrived, before you broke past every wall he put up and made sure you were a part of his life despite the rumours and how it would have been better for you to stay away from the Dixon boy.

Now, in this moment, the bike carrying you two away from his street, your arms around his waist as you tucked yourself against his shoulder, he knew this was true happiness. You were his happiness and he would do everything he could to make sure you were happy too.

He had been ready for this moment for years, ready to leave everything behind and get away from this town. He had nothing left here, Merle had packed up and left years ago and his dad would soon be nothing but a distant memory.

He would have left so long ago but he refused to leave without you and even though you had been ready to leave with him he wanted to make sure you at least graduated first, you were smart, smarter than him and had a chance of a future doing whatever you wanted. He wouldn’t let you throw that away. If you wanted to come with him that was great, hell Daryl wanted nothing else, but if something happened one day and you wanted to leave then he was going to make sure you had a backup plan.

Daryl had the bike, he’d been working on it for ages now and it was a proper functioning bike. You had insisted on helping build it up, you were getting out of town on it and you’d be damned if it fell to pieces on you. Daryl had scoffed and told you it’d be fine only for you to show up the next day with all kinds of new, shiny pieces, you had no idea what they did but Daryl had been able to upgrade the bike even as he glared at you.

Daryl waited outside the school on his bike, the two of you had no real destination in mind but you were finally ready to leave. He watched you come out of the building and scan the area before your eyes landed on him and your whole face lit up as you ran over to him, Daryl’s hand already out for you to slide yours into as you climbed on the bike.

“Ready t’get the hell outta here?” Daryl asked as he passed the helmet back, ignoring the way you pushed his shoulder because he refused to wear one with a smile on his face.

“More than ready.” You told him as you secured the helmet on your head and wrapped your arms around him, thumb brushing up and down on his stomach as you rested your hands against him.

Things like this had been happening more too, touches between the two of you. You were usually the one to instigate them unless Daryl was feeling brave but they were there and Daryl was hyper aware of them all.

He knew he liked you, he’d be an idiot if he didn’t. Some part of him figured you liked him too, God he sounded like an idiot with all this does she like me does she not crap, but he was never quite brave enough to ask, to make a move. Instead he told himself the lingering touches were enough.

For years the lingering touches were enough, they had to be because whilst the two of you were brave enough to leave your town behind neither of you were brave enough to make the first move. For years you and Daryl had been at each other's side, travelling the country on Daryl’s homemade bike that had broken down plenty and despite all your protests to use the money you’d both earned doing odd jobs to buy a new bike Daryl refused to budge.

You don’t know what was different about tonight. Maybe it was because you’d made your way out to the west coast, the air cool as the sun had long since set and the moon cast a soft glow over the water in front of you and Daryl.

Maybe it was because it reminded you of a time many years ago when you had first realised you had like Daryl. It wasn’t much different than this night except instead of the massive stretch of ocean it was a river and where there had been nothing but twigs and dirt here there was warm sand.

Back then Daryl had been covered head to toe in bruises whereas now his skin was clear with the exception of a few scars that would never heal, scars that still ached him to this day.

Maybe it was just the kind of night where you reminisce and feel a sense of longing for a future that could be, a sense of regret for all the lost moments because neither one of you were brave enough to just tell the other how you felt. It was the kind of night where you realised that one day things could change before you knew it and you’d kick yourself for wasting the opportunity to tell Daryl how important he was to you, hate yourself for letting so much time pass where he didn’t know that.

Or maybe it was just the kind of night where you’d had too much to drink.

Either way you were ready, you were ready to say those words to him and you weren’t scared, you had never been scared in the whole time you had known Daryl. You were always safe when you were with him.

“You’re my best friend,” You found yourself saying, they weren’t the words you wanted to say, they weren’t the only words you would say tonight, but they felt like the right ones to start this conversation.

“You’re my best friend too, Y/N/N.” Daryl murmured, turning his head slightly to press his lips to your hair and you were both content to fall back into a peaceful silence, your head on Daryl’s shoulder as you stared at the water.

“Thank you,” You said after a long stretch of quiet and you lifted your head to see Daryl looking at you questioningly. “I never thanked you for getting me, for getting us out of that town. I’m glad we did it together.”

“Don’t gotta thank me for that.” Daryl told you and he smiled at you, this smile was maybe your most favourite one. Daryl didn’t smile for most people but for you he had a whole variety of smiles, this one though, the shy, almost flustered smile was your favourite. “But I’m real glad we left together too, can’t imagine doin’ this without you.”

“And you’ll never have to. You’re stuck with me, Daryl Dixon.” You grinned at him and his smile turned softer as he lifted his hand to your cheek and brushed his thumb along your cheekbone.

“Ain’t no one else in the damn world I’d rather have.” He told you and the two of you just smiled stupidly at each other for a long moment before you were both moving closer at the same time.

Daryl’s lips were slightly chapped as they brushed against yours, your eyes falling shut at the first touch. Neither of you had much experience and the kiss was slow and a little uncoordinated but felt like everything you had been waiting all those years for. It was every cliche in the book finally getting to kiss Daryl and you practically melted against him as you kissed until the need for air was too much and even then Daryl chased after your lips and placed small kisses against yours as you both tried to catch your breath.

“Waited so long to do that.” Daryl murmured against your lips, leaning forward to place a soft kiss against your lips again.

“Me too.” You breathed out, eyes finally opening as you leaned your forehead against Daryl’s and the two of you looked at each other with flushed faces and smiles pulling at your lips.

You had just met up with Merle back in Georgia when things had gone south. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal, just find some shelter, and stay inside for a few days which then turned into cities being bombed and communications being shut off and the dead roaming the streets.

If you had thought you were attached to Daryl’s side before this then it was nothing compared to now, you were practically his shadow, his hand always gripped in yours unless he needed to use his crossbow which made you wince each time.

Daryl knew you were scared, hell he was freaked out too though he had to do a damn good job of hiding it to make sure you didn’t panic more than you were. It had been easy at the start, he had told you it was just a virus or something, that it’d be fixed in weeks and the two of you would be back on the bike in no time.

Instead you’d somehow ended up with a group, being told that the cities were dangerous and bombs had been dropped. The first night in the camp you had cried for the first time in years and Daryl felt helpless, this wasn't something he could fix but he could damn well protect you, in all the years you’d known Daryl one of the things you had always told him was that he made you feel safe and that wasn’t about to change now.

So he did what he could to keep you safe. This time it was his job to make sure you were fed, when supplies ran low he gave you his share of food and water, you didn’t know of course, God he could already hear the argument if you were to find out. Any time there was danger, whether it be the walkers or fighting in the group, Daryl was always quick to put himself between you and it, much to the amusement of Merle but Daryl didn’t give a damn about whatever his brother had to say so long as you were safe. He kept you close to him, you were never out of his eyeshot, when night came he spent it waking up every few hours to make sure you were still safe and tucked against his chest.

Daryl didn’t know what the hell was going to happen, the world had fallen apart in front of them with no sign that it was going to fix itself. Daryl wasn’t holding out much hope of a cure like the rest of the group were, he could tell you wanted to believe in it but didn’t want to get your hopes up. He hated seeing the realisation on your face when you figured this was it for the world now but then he watched you look at him and some of the despair faded.

The world might have gone to shit but you and Daryl still had each other. Families had been separated but you and Daryl had been lucky to still have the other, something you would never take for granted. You didn’t know how you were meant to survive this, especially not when months later you’d all found out there really was no cure. You were still that scared kid from all those years back who jumped at every noise heard in the woods leading to the river but then, just like now, you had Daryl.

Daryl had one job, he promised himself it years before the world fell to pieces, and that was to keep you safe. It was a promise that was more important now than ever before. He trained you to track, something he had tried to do throughout the years but you always laughed it off, this time you listened to what he had to say because you knew it really was the difference between life and death. He taught you how to use a gun and he hated seeing you with it but he knew it had to be done just in case something happened to him and he couldn’t get to you.

Daryl had one job and that was to keep you safe and he would damn well make good on that promise and get you to whatever hope there was in a future after all of this, and there had to be something for you at the end of this, he’d make sure of that too.

__________

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Out Of The Woods

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Prompt - ‘When the sun came up, you were looking at me.’

Requested - Yes - @cinnamonmurda

If you had been asked years ago to describe your relationship with Daryl you would have said it was anything but simple. At the beginning, all those years back in the earlier days before Rick had even joined back in Atlanta, Daryl hadn’t liked you, of course Daryl hadn’t liked anybody back then but you he especially had a special dislike for. There was something about you that made him even angrier, even more hot headed and defensive than he had been around the others, years later he knew that his old self hated you because he saw you as a liability. If there was ever a person not made for this new world, it was you and Daryl knew it, you were too damn kind, too naive to survive long.

You hadn’t thought too much of Daryl either, the man far too quick to start a fight, too ignorant, too harsh. You hadn’t wanted to be around him back then, both of you going out of your way to put distance between you and yet you were always the first to call each other out. Whenever Daryl voiced his intolerant views, whenever you made a move that he deemed unsafe, whatever it was you and Daryl were always the first to point out the others flaws.

Things didn’t change much until the prison, well for you they changed earlier than that. For so long you had thought Daryl wasn’t capable of caring for anybody else but watching how determined he had been to look for Sophia, watching him go night after night without sleeping, sneaking away to look some more after doing the same all day, something about it changed something for you.

During your stay at the prison though Daryl had watched as you offered to go on a run with Rick and before Daryl could shoot that idea down Rick had agreed to let you go only for you to show back up not long after dark with a bleeding head and holding your aching side.

Something changed for Daryl there, he had no idea what it was but he had waited a few days, tried to talk himself out of it but eventually gave in. He waited until you were alone to approach you, feeling awkward as he did, despite being around each other for so long Daryl could safely say in that time you hadn’t had one civil conversation.

So when he came to you with an offer to teach you how to shoot and defend yourself it made sense for you to jump to defensiveness, accusing him of messing with you because of the incident a few days ago that had resulted in Hershel giving you a line of stitches on your forehead.

It had taken some time for Daryl to finally manage to convince you that he was serious but eventually you gave in, knowing that if you wanted to survive then Daryl was right you needed to learn to protect yourself, even if it meant spending time with the man.

Of course learning to protect yourself didn’t come in too handy, how could it when at even the slightest sign of danger Daryl stepped in. At first it started off with him taking a shot at a walker when you froze, only moving again when an arrow shot passed your head and Daryl knocked into your shoulder to retrieve it. From there though it grew, as you spent more time with each other Daryl started putting himself between you and whatever danger was there before you could even raise your gun, whether it be him grabbing your arm and shoving you behind him or taking out the target from the other side of the fight.

By the time you arrived at Alexandria the two of you were best friends, rather than jumping to point each other's flaws out now you were the first one to defend the other, always ready to take a swing or go head to head with anyone who had something bad to say about the other. It was easy to ignore the change in your relationship, glaring at anyone who dared mention the shift from worst enemies to the best of friends.

It wasn’t until Alexandria you were forced to admit something had changed, when everything was settled and your group was moving in and you and Daryl were both offered separate houses. Immediately your gaze fell to him upon hearing the new living arrangements only to find he was already looking your way with a glare, though the glare wasn’t meant for you.

For the longest time it had been you and Daryl, you’d slept practically within arm’s reach of each other since sorting yourselves out and forming a friendship and now you were meant to sleep in a whole different house? You had hated the idea, despite how things had started between you, you felt safe with Daryl, when he was around you knew you were going to be ok. To suddenly not have him next to you left you feeling unsettled.

Daryl hated the thought of you not being near him. A while back he would have done anything to be away from you and now the idea of it made his skin crawl, he already didn’t like this place all that much but to take you from him, to move him to where he couldn’t protect you, no he hated that.

Daryl was the one to voice his displeasure to your shock, you had known he wouldn’t have liked it but you hadn’t expected him to actually say anything, especially not in front of the whole group but he had and it was worth it when you placed your bag down on the bedroom floor.

Both houses you had been offered only consisted of one bedroom but neither you nor Daryl had complained about it. Daryl would never have admitted it out loud but he was secretly glad for it, not ready for you to be away from him. It wasn’t even just the fact he wanted to protect you but he knew you both felt safer together, knew you both slept better knowing the other was right there.

And so it went on like that, the two of you living together and despite having kept close quarters for some time now this felt different, it was more intimate, more domestic. Once the door shut behind you it was easy to forget that the world had fallen apart, it was easy to just fall into a world that only existed for you and Daryl, one where the two of you left your baggage at the door and just let yourselves be.

Of course it wasn’t all perfect, how could it be? The world outside was still a mess and you were insistent on helping however you could. There was a run coming up, one that Eugene had mapped out and called a suicide mission. Once Daryl had found out you had volunteered he had stormed into the house full of demands that you stay behind whilst he went.

His argument hadn’t gone down well, you shooting back why he should be allowed to go and put himself in danger whilst you stayed behind, you yelling that you were perfectly capable of defending yourself and that you didn’t need him to treat you like a child.

It was rare you and Daryl argued, it had happened a lot in the early days but since the prison you could count the number of times you had on one hand. When you did fight though it was ruthless, both of you knew exactly what buttons to press, knew exactly what words would hurt most and neither of you held back.

This fight lasted a while before Daryl ended it by storming out of the house, the echoing slam of the door silencing you as you listened to the roar of his bike before you were left alone.

You couldn’t say what it was that had gotten both of you so riled up, recently things had been more tense, not between you and Daryl but between Alexandria and the outside world. It had put Daryl on edge and he’d been hovering around you more than usual, always quick to snap at anybody who even looked at you for too long.

The hovering had been starting to get to you a bit but now that Daryl had put space between you, you found you hated it.

You didn’t know how long you stood in the living room for, silently staring at the door as if you could make Daryl to walk through it but Daryl was long gone and you tried to push the bad feeling in the pit of your stomach away. With a sigh you turned and made your way up to your bedroom, sinking onto the bed.

Your eyes fell on to the nightstand, a small huff of laughter escaping you as you saw the polaroid that rested there, reaching over to gently pick it up, your thumb brushing against the photograph, remembering the day you had taken it.

It had been a quiet day, one where you both got to stay in bed later than usual, you held against Daryl’s chest with his fingers brushing against your skin, holding you close. Neither of you had told the other how you felt, both far too scared but content with what you had now, it didn’t need to be defined but some days you did wish it was out there, that you could run your finger through his hair and pull him in for a kiss.

Once you had finally managed to pull yourself out of bed for food you ended up laying on the couch together, music playing softly from the old record player that had been here when you moved in. Daryl’s arms wrapped around you as you traded secrets of lives that didn’t exist anymore and soft laughs whilst entwined together.

As you tilted your head to laugh your eyes fell on the polaroid camera Daryl had managed to find for you on a run a few months back, you hadn’t used it yet because there wasn’t much film left and you wanted to save it for something special.

You and Daryl had done this since moving to Alexandria, whenever you’d go on runs you’d both bring each other gifts back, some with the intent to just make the other laugh, some that made you smile and get slightly teary eyed, some that he accepted with a mumbled thanks but his smile showed how much it meant to him. At some point because of this the house you shared had become a home filled with pieces of you and Daryl littered throughout it.

“Where you goin’?” Daryl had asked as you wormed your way out of his arms and walked the few steps between the couch and the shelves to pick up the camera. “What you doin’ with that?”

You didn’t answer him as you got back on the couch, his arms immediately circling around you again and you smiled up at him widely, shaking the camera at him and laughing as he groaned.

“Please!” You begged before he had the chance to protest, turning further in his hold to pout up at him.

“Nah, save it for something.”” Daryl said, holding back a smile as you shook your head.

“Come on, Daryl, please. I wanna remember this.” You told him, causing him to scoff. “I wanna remember you.”

“You don’t need no dumb picture to remember me.” He grumbled, his face softening even as he rolled his eyes causing you to laugh. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

“You know that’s not the point!” You pleaded with him, watching as he narrowed his eyes with no real heat behind the action and you could see the way his lips twitched as he fought back a smile. “C’mon just let me take my dumb picture.”

More pleading had followed but eventually the sound of a shutter going off filled the room and as you looked at the picture you couldn’t stop your gaze from falling onto Daryl’s smile, one that was reserved only for you in the privacy of your house.

You couldn’t say for sure how long you sat in bed, fingers brushing against the photograph in your hand but at some point you knew you had to go track Daryl down, knowing full well he’d be too scared to show his face back at the house for fear of you wanting rid of him, as if that could ever happen.

The snow had been falling steadily the past few days so you made sure to shrug a jacket on before heading out of the house and taking one of the cars, only stopping to pick a radio up before you put the tracking skills Daryl had taught you to use and headed out.

Daryl had no real destination in mind when he had sped away from Alexandria, cursing himself for picking a fight with you and hating that he had left without making things right. He couldn’t turn back though, he wanted to give you some space, afraid to face you again in case you told him to leave.

He hated that even after all these years he was still so unsure around you. He knew you were his best friend, he knew you loved him like that but he never knew if there was anything behind those lingering touches, the way you’d brush his hair out of his face or hug him tight when he’d been gone longer than planned.

He knew he loved you, more than anything in this world, you were the best thing in his life. It might have taken the world ending for you to meet but Daryl couldn’t say he was sorry for it, he knew in a life long gone you and him would never have crossed paths and even if by some miracle you had there was no chance somebody like you would have wanted anything to do with someone like him.

Sure to begin with things hadn’t been easy between you but at some point you had come to mean everything to him. He knew if he had to he’d turn the world upside down for you, kill without a second thought if you were ever in trouble. He loved you and he was too much of a damn coward to ever tell you.

Eventually he stopped the motorbike, climbing off it to take a moment and catch his breath. Thinking about his feelings for you always made him feel unsteady, he wished he were brave enough to just tell you but he could never tell if you felt the same.

At some point during Daryl’s musing the twigs around him snapped, footsteps coming closer to him but he was so deep in thought he didn’t hear them, not until he heard a gun click.

He whipped around and glared hard at the two men before him, both pointing a gun at him and he cursed himself again for being so stupid and not grabbing his crossbow before he had stormed out of the house.

“We don’t want no trouble now.” One of the men said, causing Daryl to scoff.

“Yeah, sure as hell don’t look like it when you’re pointing that damn gun at me.” He shot back, looking around for something to use as a weapon but coming up empty.

“We ain’t gonna use ‘em if you don’t give us a reason.” The other man sneered, walking slowly towards the bike. “We’re just gonna take this bike and be on our way.”

“Nope, you stay right where you are, mister.” The first man said when Daryl took a step towards them but Daryl was never in the mood for people like this on a good day and today was not a good day.

He swung his fist, feeling a sense of satisfaction as it connected with the man's nose and blood immediately sprayed from it but it didn’t last long as the other man swung for him and sent him staggering back. It only lasted for a few minutes but punches were traded until Daryl was bruised and bleeding, only falling to the floor when one of the men got a well aimed kick in.

He hissed in pain but still went to get back up, falling straight to the floor not a moment later, the sound of a gunshot ringing through the woods and Daryl clutched his side, feeling his shirt soak with blood immediately.

“Told you we wouldn’t use it less you gave us a reason.” The man said as he gestured for his friend to get on the bike and Daryl struggled to keep his eyes open as the sound of his bike faded.

By the time you found Daryl the snow was coming down hard and fast, you struggled to get the car through it but eventually you were jumping out of it, leaving the keys behind and the door wide open when you saw a patch of blood in the snow.

“Daryl?” You called out, not giving a second thought as to who or what could be lurking in the woods. “Daryl!”

A small groan of pain came from somewhere to your right and in an instance you were falling onto your knees in the snow, cradling Daryl’s bruised face in your hands before your eyes fell onto his blood soaked shirt.

You cursed softly as you patted his cheeks, pleading with him to open his eyes. He didn’t move for a second but his eyelids fluttered open for a moment before falling back shut.

“Alright, you’re gonna be alright, I’m gonna get you home.” You promised him, moving to stand up and drag Daryl to the car when you heard a door slam from behind you.

Your head shot around just in time to see a man quickly reversing out of the small clearing in the woods before you could even stand up, leaving you staring at the empty space the car had been wondering how on earth you were meant to get Daryl home.

As if it couldn’t get any better, it was then you heard the groans and snarls.

“Shit.” You cursed again, eyes darting in every direction as you wondered how on earth you had managed to miss the horde of walkers closing in from all around.

With all the energy you had you managed to get Daryl up off the ground, swinging his arm around you as you carried his weight and winced at the pained groan that slipped past his lips as his wound brushed against his shirt.

You had no idea where you were or where you were going but you knew you had to move, apologising as you practically dragged Daryl away from the hoard of walkers.

As you fought against the snow, cursing as you nearly tripped a few times, having to stop several more to hoist Daryl more securely around your shoulder, you fought to get the radio you’d left attached to your belt and desperately hoped somebody was listening.

“Is anybody there?” You asked, waiting for a response but there was only silence. “Come on, come one, somebody answer please.”

“Y/N, is that you?” Eugene finally answered back and you felt your knees almost give out in relief as you forced your feet to keep moving through the snow.

“Eugene, thank god! Listen I need help, I’ve got Daryl but we ran into some trouble and shit, shit, shit.” you cursed again as you tripped on something in the snow, nearly sending you and Daryl to the ground but just about managing to right yourself.

“Y/N, what happened? Are you alright?” Eugene asked as you turned around and your eyes widened as more of the herd broke off to move in your direction before you glanced down to see what had tripped you, taking a shaky breath and pulling Daryl along when you saw a walker on the ground reaching for you.

“Eugene, there’s too many of them, we’ve got no car, no bike and no weapons, you gotta send help.” You pleaded into the radio, voice breaking as you forced yourself to stare ahead, to not look back as more and more walkers followed after you.

“Do you know the whereabouts of your location?” Eugene asked and you frowned before telling him what route you had taken, trying desperately to remember everything.

“You have to hurry, Daryl, he’s hurt and I can’t do this on my own.” You pleaded with him, voice cracking as a few tears made their way past your eyes and down your cheeks.

“Rest assured Y/N, we will find you.” Eugene promised and then the radio turned silent again whilst you prayed you and Daryl could hold up long enough for help to come.

You carried on dragging your feet through the snow, freezing but breaking out into a sweat from having Daryl’s entire weight on your shoulders and almost cried in relief when you saw a small shack not too far in the distance.

With a final look behind you you forced yourself to move faster as you saw more and more walkers moving in your direction, practically panting by the time you had the door shut and Daryl set gently on the floor.

The shack was small, barely big enough to fit both you and Daryl in but you didn’t care, it was a safe place that the walkers would hopefully walk right past, leaving you and Daryl alone until help came.

You crouched down in front of Daryl, ripping your jacket off despite the cold and balling it up before lifting Daryl’s shirt up to see the gunshot wound. You winced at the blood leaking from it and pressed your jacket against it with as much pressure as you could causing Daryl to jolt awake with a pained hissed, his hand coming up to weakly try and push you away but you caught it and gave it a soft squeeze.

“You’re alright, it’s just me.” You murmured, watching as he forced his eyes open with a frown.

“Y/N?” Daryl slurred your name out and you forced a shaky smile onto your face. “Wha’da hell you doin’ out ’ere?”

“Rescuing you apparently.” You laughed, watching as Daryl frowned when the sound came out more like a sob.

“S’meant to be my job.” Daryl huffed, another pained groan escaping him causing your panic to worsen.

He was right, rescuing you had always been his job, even back in those early days when you hadn’t gotten along. You remembered when you had gone out on a run into the city, determined to prove yourself to Daryl as he scoffed at you. He had told you it was a suicide run for someone like you and yet when you failed to come back after storming off he was the one to track you down, he was the one to pull you out of the room surrounded by walkers.

Once you were friends Daryl made it his mission to protect you but sometimes you wandered off, sometimes you just managed to get yourself into situations that lead you to needing to be rescued. No matter how many times Daryl grumbled about it he was always the first one to notice you missing and the first one to bring you back.

“Thought I’d have a go at the rescuing this time.” You smiled and watched as he chuckled before his face scrunched up in pain. “You’re gonna be alright, the others are already on their way.”

You watched as Daryl’s eyes slipped shut again and let out a shaky breath, squeezing his hand again and feeling the smallest bit of relief as he squeezed back before he forced them back open to look at you.

“M’sorry,” he said after a few beats of silence passed between the two of you and you frowned, looking at him questioningly. “For before, for pickin’ a fight, was damn stupid.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” You assured him, knowing that the blame didn’t lie solely on him, knowing that you hadn’t needed to fight back but had anyway. “All that matters is that you’ll be alright, we’re gonna get outta here and you’re gonna get patched up then we can just lay on the couch until you get better.”

“Yeah,” Daryl chuckled a bit breathlessly, “yeah we can do that.”

You smiled to yourself, letting your thoughts fill with how many nights had passed with the two of you in the living room, too tired to pull yourselves off the couch as your bones ached and you were comfortable resting against each other.

The first time it had happened you remembered waking up to a flustered and apologetic Daryl, you quickly blinking awake to realise you had fallen asleep together, at some point in the night after a long run away from Alexandria you had ended up against Daryl’s chest with his arms around you.

You had avoided each other for most of the day after that, your thoughts on how much you liked being in Daryl’s arms, how safe you had felt, how easy it was to sleep and how well rested you were.

From that night it happened a few more times until eventually you both stopped waking up flustered and avoiding each other, neither one of you even pretended to be bashful about it anymore, both content with lying on the couch, safe in each other’s arms, easily drifting off to sleep with Daryl’s heartbeat against your ear.

You were startled out of your thoughts when you felt Daryl’s hand on your skin, his fingers lighting brushing against the top of your chest where a necklace rested.

“Forgot to bring my damn bow.” Daryl grunted as he tried to sit up straighter and you were quick to help him before letting him pull you down next to him, making sure you were still applying pressure to his wound. “This one ain’t much help.”

You laughed again, resting your head on his shoulder as you looked down at the necklace, it was well worn at this point, you had hardly taken it off since Daryl had given it to you.

You could still see the nervous look on his face, all week he had been nervous, he kept opening his mouth as if he had something to say but always let it fall back shut and turned the other way. You had gone to say something to him but decided against it, you didn’t want to pressure him to talk about something he clearly wasn’t ready to discuss.

So you were surprised to say the least when Daryl eventually grew impatient with himself, unable to find a way to give it to you without feeling painfully awkward so he had settled for just thrusting a chain at you. Your eyes had widened in shock when you took it off him, noticing the small archer's bow hanging from the chain before your expression morphed into a grin, pushing the necklace back into his hands and turning around, urging him to put it on you.

Once you turned back around and saw the smile on Daryl’s face, a barely there pull of the lips and his eyes softer than you had ever remembered seeing them, you wished you had had your camera then because you wouldn’t have hesitated to capture him in that moment.

You remembered that time clearly because it was the first time you had thought to yourself that you were in love with Daryl Dixon.

“I’d take this one any day.” You told him softly, tracing the bow with your fingers as you looked up at him, desperately praying to any force that was listening that the others would hurry.

Daryl was pale, a sheen of sweat covering his face as he fought to keep his eyes open, letting out pained hisses and groans every few minutes as you kept your jacket against the bleeding wound.

From outside you could hear leaves crunching, branches snapping, each sound sent a new wave of fear running through you, your mind running wild with different scenarios of the monsters lurking outside.

You shifted your gaze back to Daryl, lifting your hand to gently brush strands of hair from his sweat coated forehead, smiling slightly as he leaned into the touch. Your thumb brushed over a scar that was barely visible anymore, faded with age and only visible if you really looked but you knew it was there, you had been there when he got it. It had been during a bad run, you had come across another group who had immediately gotten the jump on you but Daryl had managed to get you both back in the car, tearing out of the parking lot and speeding down the road long after he had put distance between you and them.

All it took was Daryl glancing away to look at you, assuring himself that you were alright before he turned back to the road, foot slamming onto the brakes at the sudden hoard in front of you. The next thing he knew he was cursing in pain as he was thrown forward before he passed out.

You had immediately gone into panic mode as you so often did whenever Daryl got hurt, now that you were looking back on it it was a wonder you had remained oblivious to your feelings for the man for so long. When Daryl refused to wake up you cursed, looking between him and the walkers and knowing you didn’t have long.

Somehow you managed to drag Daryl into the back seat, ripping your sweater off and pressing it to his bleeding forehead, not unlike how your jacket was pressed to his side now, before jumping into the driver's seat and taking over, getting him back to Alexandria and into the small clinic.

They had asked you to wait outside for them to patch him up, telling you his injury would need a few stitches but when you were finally allowed to see him he was awake and looking at you apologetically.

“M’so damn sorry, Y/N/N,” Daryl had started to say but you cut him off immediately.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, you’re alright, that’s all that matters. You are ok, right?” You asked, sliding into the seat next to him and taking his hand in yours, brushing your thumb against his knuckles softly.

“Yeah, m’alright, few stitches but Y/N I could’ve got you killed.” He was clearly feeling guilty for something that wasn’t his fault and you knew nothing you said would stop that, looking back on it it was obvious Daryl had feelings for you, he had always put your safety miles above everyone else’s, if you got hurt or if there was even the slimmest of chances you could have gotten hurt then that was on him no matter how much you tried to convince him otherwise.

“Daryl, I’m fine, I didn't even get hurt. You’re alright, we’re alright, okay?” You asked and watched him hesitate for a moment before his face crumpled.

In all the years you’d known Daryl you could count the number of times you’d seen him cry on one hand, so when you saw his eyes turn red and teary you couldn’t stop yours from doing the same as the morning sun filtered through the window and you clung to each other.

Daryl caught your hand in his, pulling it away from his scar and entwining them together. Your gaze shifted to meet his eyes and saw his pupils were bigger than usual, a tiny ring of blue barely visible as he looked at you, clearly struggling to stay awake and alert.

“Thanks for coming t’get me.” He whispered, suddenly sounding exhausted but shushing you as you went to sit up in panic. “M’alright, that’s what you always say right, I’m alright, you’re alright, we’re alright. We’re gonna be alright ain’t we, Y/N?”

“We’re alright, Daryl, I promise. You just gotta hold on a little while longer for me, you hear? I can’t do this without you, you promised me I wouldn’t need some dumb picture to remember you.” You told him, watching as his lips pulled into a shaky smile.

“I meant it.” He told you, squeezing your hand weakly. “I meant what I said but just in case, m’glad you have it.”

“Shut up, you’re gonna be alright.” You told him as tears began to slide down your face.

“Doesn’t feel like it.” He winced, shifting to pull you close enough so that he could rest his lips against your head. “Should have told you years ago, was never brave enough though.”

“Don’t do this now.” You pleaded with him but he shook his head.

“Just in case.” He repeated and you sniffed as more tears fell down your cheeks. “Should have told you how pretty you were, every damn morning when I got to wake up next to you, the sun shining on ya, so damn pretty. Should have told ya how much I wanted to kiss ya, all those nights on the couch but I really should’ve told ya how much I love you, should’ve told you you made this world worth livin’ in.”

By the time he finished his voice was barely a whisper, his breathing becoming fainter and fainter and you were sobbing, shaking his shoulder with your free hand in an attempt to get him to open his eyes but they stayed shut.

“I love you too, I love you so much, Daryl. We both know I’d have never made it this far without you, not just because you protected me all these years but because you made this world worth living in too.” You told him, desperately hoping for him to wake up but he didn’t move. “Please Daryl, you can’t do this, I won’t do this without you, please.”

Your sobs filled the shack as Daryl refused to wake up. There was nothing left to believe in and yet you still prayed to any force, any god, anything that would listen that you could keep your promise, that the group would find you and Daryl would be just alright. He had to be because you weren’t sure how you were supposed to go on without him.

By the time you heard the sound of boots outside you sobbed even harder, you couldn’t say how long had passed since you found Daryl but his breathing had gone faint not too long ago and you were both freezing, the small shack and your lack of jacket doing nothing to ward off the winter chill.

“Told you we’d be alright.” You whispered to Daryl even as he stayed motionless, letting your cold lips press against the scar on his forehead. “We’ll be alright.”

“Help him.” You pleaded with Rick once the door opened, his eyes soft and sympathetic as he nodded, gesturing for Maggie to help you stand whilst he got Daryl.

You made a noise of protest when you felt yourself being moved away from Daryl but were quietly shushed as a warm arm wrapped around your shoulder and led you out of the small shack you’d found.

When Maggie led you out though you couldn’t help but look around, noticing that there were no monsters out here, not anymore, just the wide stretch of trees that towered over you, full but still not able to block the rising sun and you let your gaze fall to Daryl.

He would be alright.

The two of you were placed in the back of the car where you pulled him close, brushing his hair with numb hands and letting yourself relax as you were finally on your way home.

It took a couple of days for Daryl to wake up, you hadn’t moved from his hospital bed, sleeping in the chair and not caring how uncomfortable it was, not when the other option was to leave Daryl whilst you slept in your bed alone, without him. The others had tried to get you to leave but you refused, wanting, needing to be here when he woke up.

When he did open his eyes it was when the sun was just beginning to rise over Alexandria, the golden rays shining into the hospital room and making it look less cold, less unwelcoming.

Daryl’s eyes found you straight away and he let himself take a moment to just look, to watch as you played absentmindedly with the necklace around your neck with one hand whilst the other held his, your thumb brushing soothingly across his knuckles. He could see the dark circles formed under your eyes and knew you hadn’t gotten much sleep since being rescued but he couldn’t blame you much there, whenever it was you in his place nobody could drag him away from you.

Despite looking exhausted and despite clearly having been crying at some point during the night Daryl couldn’t help but think you looked more beautiful than ever and he gave your hand a gentle squeeze, smiling as surprise filled your face as your head shot up to look at him, both of you soaked in the morning sunlight.

“I’m alright.” Daryl said first, watching as a smile spread across your face as you chuckled breathlessly.

“You’re alright.” You confirmed, unable to stop your smile from widening. “We’re alright.”

“Are we?” Daryl couldn’t help but ask, remembering his confessions to you when he had doubted if he would open his eyes again, his only thoughts being how much he needed to tell you and how much he hated that he was going to leave you alone.

“I meant what I said, I love you, I love you so much. Without you I wouldn’t have wanted to make it this far into this world but having you with me, it makes everything else worth it. I love you and you were right, we should have said it earlier.” You told him honestly, watching as his lips pulled into a smile reserved just for you.

“I love you too, I know we didn’t start great but what we got now, I love that, I love getting to wake up with you every morning and sleepin’ at your side every night. I love you, Y/N/N, I’d tear the whole world apart for you.” Daryl said, feeling lighter than he had in years now that it was finally out there, now that he finally knew where he stood with you. “Can’t wait to go home with you.”

If you were asked to describe your relationship with Daryl you would have said it was simple. It was the simplest thing in the world, you loved him and he loved you. It didn’t matter that that hadn’t always been the case, not now, not when he was finally given the all clear and the two of you practically fell onto the couch, Daryl pulling you close against his good side, your head against his chest with his heartbeat in your ear. It was the simplest thing in the world when he pulled you close and pressed your lips together, it was simple in the way he held your hand and you brushed strands of hair from his face.

It was simple because you had made it out of the woods and it had been enough for you and Daryl to finally say how you felt, to say the words that had been held back for so long. Even if nothing really changed between you except for the fact you knew how his lips felt against yours or that you knew every part of his body and he did yours, except for the fact you finally knew how the words I love you sounded coming from the other. It was all so simple and even if it had taken years longer than it needed you had finally got there and everything was alright, the two of you had each other and it was more than enough.

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Thank you so much for reading!🤎

Confused Feelings- PART 3

Carl Grimes x Reader

Part 3

Summary: The group move on from the barn in search for somewhere permanent. Y/N wants to resolve things with Carl desperately but knowing what she knows about Carls feelings and her own… Can it be that easy?

Word Count: 4,052 (sorry they are getting longer and longer haha)

Warnings: None again yay :D

A/N: Part 3, woohoo! I have no idea whether anyone is actually enjoying reading this series but I’m really liking writing it so it’s cool haha! Things are starting to move along at a quicker pace for Carl and Y/N now but I still want to make it realistic. I mean you would have your doubts in that world and nothing ever happens over night :) Anyway I hope you like it!

“Alright then!”, Rick began as we were all finishing up with breakfast. Well… if tiny amounts of leftover canned peaches counts as breakfast. 

“We’ve all had a chance to rest and recharge. Let’s pack up and head on out. I wanna get goin’ and find somewhere that can be permanent for us…”, he paused looking down at the ground, then back up, “I know we can find somewhere. We have to”. 

“And we will.” Michonne added, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Keep reading

This is so cute!!! I want this right now. ❤️❤️❤️😫😫😫

Normal Morning With Norman

inspired by this prompt - early morning kiss - a kiss that’s a wake up call, it’s barely even a lips touching, more like they’re kissing your chin because they’re so tired in the early morning haze (0.5k)

warnings - none, just fluff and a sleepy norman

daryl dixon + norman reedus works main masterlist

It was unusual for you to wake up first, Norman’s schedule forced him to set alarms to resurrect him from his slumber at the most ridiculous times. You had adapted to the sound to the point where you could now easily sleep through them, however you frowned as you realised that one hadn’t gone off, and your eyes had peeled open on their own accord.

The room was dark, much like it had been when you had gone to bed, and so your hand blindly fumbled in the pitch black, searching without vision for your phone. It’s glare made your eyes squint when you found it, the digits on its lock screen stated that it was 6:53. It was much earlier than you had anticipated to wake up, and you knew that you would probably struggle to fall back asleep again.

And so you continued to lay in your bed beside Norman, sliding closer to his sleeping form as he unconsciously pulled you into his arms so that you were relaxing with your head on his chest. Each blissful moment in his embrace was truly a gift, one that you never dared to take for granted.

He was here, at home, with you, finally free from a day from working so hard. You couldn’t remember the last time that you had spent a morning with him like this, doing absolutely nothing other than melting into the mattress.

There was always a rush, condemned by a strict routine that controlled your lives. But not today, instead you had plentiful time to close your eyelids and know that Norman would still be alongside you when you awoke. But despite you being unsuspecting on your route to a perfect slumber, your affectionate partner shuffled beneath you, releasing a drowsy groan. And so you fought off the tiresome devil within yourself so that you could watch his eyes flutter open, the blue hues in his irises illuminating your whole morning.

“G’morning.” Norman mumbled like a turning walker, running his large and inked hand through his thick locks, his lips spreading in a warm and heart fluttering smile that you sensed despite the darkness in the room. You leant yourself to be heavier on his chest, your fingers tracing the defining muscles at his throat., as you ogled up at his vague shadow like a love struck fool. Your hair was a swarm like mess, and you hadn’t yet brushed your teeth, but you didn’t care as you held the side of his face in your palm.

He pressed a peck to your flesh, his other hand gripping your waist as you slightly shuffled up his body, the tips of your noses almost touching. Norman leant in closer, and you shut your eyes, feeling his breath across your lips. One of his hands gently held your hair, as he went to kiss you, however his Arun never landed upon your lips. Instead he had kissed your chin, and you laughed lightly at the sweet accident. “I think you need some more sleep handsome.”