I. Winner

Daryl was sitting on the cold floor with his back against the wall. Blood was pouring out of his nose and he could feel its metallic taste in his mouth. Almost every part of his body was aching. The stinging pain in his chest was the worst and he was sure he broke a rib or maybe more than one. The fight was over but he didn't feel like a winner.

As soon as he saw Beta, he knew he couldn't win. Not with his fists at least. But even his knives didn't help him much. Beta was by far superior to him and during the fight Daryl knew Beta was going to kill him. And he was ready to die, ready to sacrifice himself for Connie and the kids. During his fight with Beta, they would have a chance to escape and they could survive. He wanted to protect them with his life, but in the end it was them, who saved him. Lydia came back and pleaded for Daryl's life. She distracted Beta and in the meantime Henry and Connie came and rescued Daryl. They ran away, ran until Daryl's feet didn't carry him anymore, so they had to hide in one of the buildings.

Now Daryl was sitting on the floor, catching his breath and starring into space. Dog was sitting next to him, licking his hand and whining quietly, almost like he could sense Daryl's pain. Henry and Connie looked outside the window to check if there was somebody chasing them. But either they left the Whisperers far behind or the Whisperers didn't have the intention to follow them, once they got Lydia back. Daryl heard that someone was approaching him. He knew it was Connie, but he didn't look up. He felt a deep shame, felt like he had failed her. He knew she wanted to save Lydia and he felt bad for the girl, who had to go back to those monsters because of him. Connie crouched down in front of Daryl. She took a tissue and small bottle filled with water out of her bag and tried to wipe the blood out of Daryl's face. He instantly turned away from her and brought a grumpy "Don't" out which sounded harsher than he intended. But this didn't scare Connie away. Quite the opposite, she took Daryl's chin softly between her fingers and turned his head back, so he had to face her. Their eyes met and for one moment it was like time was standing still. Daryl felt like he was drowning in her dark eyes and overwhelmed by her faint smile he couldn't help but sitting still and starring at her while she gently cleaned his face from blood.

Henry came over to them, telling them that he didn't see anyone and maybe they were safe.

"I don't think so." Daryl made an attempt to get up and immediately regretted it, because the sharp pain drove through his body making him grimace. Connie must have noticed it, she made a movement with her hands, palms down to the floor, telling Daryl to sit down. Driven by pain Daryl obeyed.

"Okay, a couple more minutes, but then we're gone." He couldn't suppress a groan that followed his words. He was in pain.
While Henry returned to the window, Connie took out her notepad and wrote something. She showed it to Daryl.

You are hurt. You should rest.

"No." Daryl couldn't accept that, but he could see the protest in Connie's eyes.

"Listen, they could still be out there..." he pointed with his finger outside, "...following us. It's not safe." He tried to make the last three words sound as clear as possible. The sharp pain in his chest returned and while he put one hand on his chest, he turned his head away, so that Connie wouldn't see the expression of pain in his face.

"Maybe you should..." he muttered mostly to himself.

Then he faced her again. Connie looked concerned.

"Look. You should go. Go back to Hilltop and tell 'em what happened. I stay here."

Connie just shook her head.

"YES," Daryl insisted.

Connie wrote a NO in capital letters and three exclamation marks behind it on her notepad and showed it to Daryl. Dog barked suddenly like in agreement with Connie.

Daryl sighed.

"Don't be stupid," he told her.

Connie underlined the NO! and showed it to Daryl.

Then she wrote: We're not leaving anyone behind. THAT'S STUPID!

"Yeah, and what 'bout Lydia?"

Henry turned his head as he heard Lydia's name.

"You should've run away. All of ya. Instead of savin' me," Daryl said dryly.

"She wanted to be back with her people." Henry suddenly interfered.

"She realized that she belonged with them, not with us." There was a lot of sorrow in his voice as he spoke.

"And we couldn't leave you behind. We need you. People back at Hilltop do, my mom does. Everyone."

Connie nodded approvingly.

Daryl looked at them. He didn't think Henry was right and he didn't feel like he deserved that people cared about him. But there wasn't time for self pity right now, he had to focus and to find his strength again. They also needed a plan.

"Alright," he said thoughtfully. He stood up and the movement took almost all his strength, but he tried to ignore the rising pain in his body along with Connie's protests. He went to the window and looked outside. Dog got up and followed him loyally.

"It's getting dark," Daryl noticed. Then he checked the streets. There was only one walker wandering between the houses, everything was calm. He checked the surroundings and realized they picked a good hiding place. There were several exits they could take to escape if they noticed something suspicions. The good thing was that the Whisperers never ran. They always kept pace with the walkers and even if Daryl thought he probably couldn't outrun a walker in the physical state he was in, it was the best idea to stay until the night was over, instead of running through the streets in the dark.

"Okay, we spend the night here. And tomorrow we go back."

Both Henry and Connie agreed.

"We take watch, still need to see what's happening outside, "Daryl continued.

"I take the first shift," Henry said.

"You sure?" Daryl asked him.

"Yes, you both should rest and you need the rest the most."

Daryl knew Henry was right.

"Alright, but no stupid shit like running away again."

"No, I promise." He made a pause "I get it now. It WAS pretty stupid."

"Yeah." Somehow Daryl felt sorry for Henry who looked very depressed. And he still felt bad for Lydia.

"Hey." Daryl put a hand on Henry's shoulder. Henry turned to him.

"We'll get her back," Daryl told him calmly.

Henry's face lit up.

"Really?" he asked and Daryl nodded.

"But how?"

"I dunno yet… But we figure sumthin' out." Daryl looked in Connie's direction, she smiled and nodded.

Daryl didn't even notice that he was smiling back. Her smile seemed to ease the pain in his body a little bit.

"Let's get some sleep," he said finally.

Connie and Daryl sat down on the floor next to each other. Dog lay down at Daryl's side. Connie took her bag off and handed it to Daryl. He took it and looked a bit confused at her, so she put her palms together holding her hands beneath her ear implying that he could use the bag as a pillow. Daryl understood and before he could contradict her, he saw the look on her face that told him she tolerated no dissent. Daryl felt too exhausted to argue, so he just told her "Thanks" in a soft voice. He put the bag under his head before lying down on the floor. Connie lay down next to him.

Even though he was exhausted and had a hard time to keep his eyes open, Daryl couldn't sleep.
The pain in his body became a bit numb but it was still prominent, the floor felt hard and uncomfortable and the thoughts in his head were bothering him. He felt guilt because he couldn't safe Lydia. But there was also something else. Between all the pain and guilt there was a glimpse of hope rising in him. No matter how bad all of it seemed, somehow he was confident that they would be able to safe Lydia again. They went through hell and lost so much, but this time... this time they would win.

Daryl finally fell asleep but it wasn't for long and when he opened his eyes, Connie was lying next to him, facing him and opened her eyes almost in the same moment as he opened his. She was so close, he could smell a faint sweet scent coming from her. And then they were just lying there and looking each other deep in the eyes. No one even dared to move. Daryl almost forgot to breathe, because he was so caught up in the moment.

It's because of her, he slowly realized. She gives me hope, makes me more confident. She's so fascinating, a deaf woman surviving in this world and she has always that smile on her face. That smile. It says everything's possible.

Her face was only centimeters away from his and suddenly he had this thought that he could touch it. Gently run his fingers through her hair. He almost laughed out loud because this thought seemed so ridiculous and crazy to him.

And then, almost like she had read his thoughts, she reached out and her hand touched his cheek gently, like a butterfly touches a flower. And in this moment Daryl felt like a winner.