A/N: This is the first fic I've ever written and I love it so much that I don't know why I haven't translated it earlier. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it. This hasn't been edited and it's so late, so please forgive and ignore every possible mistakes!

The kitchen was practically dark, excepting two small candles that hardly illuminated the room. It was a clear and calm night: outside, you could only hear the crickets, and in the inside of the funeral home, there was only the sound of the pen against the paper and the spoon against the can of food.

"I'm gonna leave a thank you note" Beth said quietly as she kept writing.

"Why?" Daryl asked after a moment.

"For when they come back" she answered, as if it was obvious, "… if they come back. Even if they're not coming back, I still want to say thanks".

Even all this time surviving together, Daryl could still be surprised by the innocence and sweetness that the Greene girl showed, wanting to be polite even in a world when there wasn't a civilization anymore. His gaze lingered too long accidently. He could see her profile, those gazelle eyes slightly narrowed as she leaned over the paper, those lips pursed in a way that she only used when she was really focused, how soft her skin looked even from his seat…

He blinked a couple of times and looked down at his food. He hit his spoon too loudly with the can, feeling nervous for no reason.

"Maybe you don't have to leave that" he suddenly said. Beth turned her head to glance at him, and Daryl had to look away after a few seconds, "Maybe we stick around here for a while".

He saw her eyes widening, shocked. He'd been thinking all day about that possibility, and truth is it was their better option… or maybe the only one, if they discarded going back to the road. The funeral home was a good place. Dismal, maybe, but it was safe, and it had enough supplies for several weeks.

"They come back; we'll just make it work. They may be nuts, but… maybe it'll be alright" he finished, alternating sentences and looks at Beth while he moved the spoon around. Feeling her eyes on him, he couldn't help but think that he wasn't a boy to be acting like that, and he mustered enough courage to look up at her again. It was almost like being hit by a truck. He turned his head brusquely and took a spoonful. He could almost hear her smiling softly.

"So you do think there are still good people around?" she asked. She had such a blissful expression on her face that he was struggling not to gawk. He blinked again and shrugged, trying to downplay it, "What changed your mind?"

What had changed his mind? How could she be so naïve? After all those times she had told him that "there were still good people", "they had to keep hope alive", after all those sincere, kind smiles, after all the things they'd gone through together… what did she think had changed his mind?

"You know"

"What?"

"Dunno" he muttered so quickly that it sounded as a grunt. He thought for a moment that she could feel annoyed by his lack of response, but then her smile widened, as if she was having fun interrogating him. Maybe because she didn't even suspect what was his answer. Most likely, because even her craziest guesses were too far from the real reason.

"Don't 'dunno'" she countered, imitating his grunt perfectly. He felt blood rushing to his cheeks, but Beth didn't seem to notice. She leaned more over him and repeated her question, "What changed your mind?"

Fuck it, he thought, feeling suddenly brave. If not then, when? It wasn't like they had a lot of time these days.

But as soon as he looked at her gain, he understood why he had thought it was a good idea to pretend peanut butter was a lot more interesting in the first place. It was because of those damned… beautiful eyes that pierced him with an almost childish curiosity, with tenderness, with untainted candor. Those windows of her pure soul, crowned by long eyelashes that topped a perfect picture, he was totally lost in them.

It wasn't until he realized he had been staring at her for too long that he saw how her smile had faded and her face was turned in shock and something else that he couldn't decipher.

Now you know, he thought, just before he heard the knock in the door.

The walker groaned loudly just before the bolt pierced it. Daryl panted, exhausted, as he watched the five walkers that he had just killed. He had been in serious trouble this once. He had been caught by surprise while he took a piss, and he had had just two seconds to react and grab his crossbow to hit one of those monsters' head. The following two were clumsier and therefore, easier to put down, but the fourth and fifth looked fresher, so it complicated things. He unsheathed his knife and put it through what had been a woman's head, immediately after kicking the other walker to hit it with the bolt. He was trying to get away from there when that fucking freak had grabbed his foot and made him fall. Caught up in the moment as he was, he hadn't realized that the first walker was still alive. The crossbow fell with a thud in front of him, and the walker tugging at his boot didn't let him take it. He tried to reach the knife from the woman's head, but she was even further than the crossbow. He felt like shuddering. It was fear. He thought he was going to die there. However, he managed to throw off the walker's grip and take the crossbow.

It had been close. One more second and he would've ended up being those fuckers' lunch. He stood up, collected his bolts and the knife. He was going to come back when he heard something dragging itself and crunching the fallen leaves. Daryl knew it was a walker due to the careless way it moved, not caring if anyone heard it or not. He lifted his crossbow, ready to shoot.

"I wonder if it's the 'Attack Dixon Day' today" he grunted.

But what appeared from the woods wasn't a walker, even thought it might as well be. Daryl almost dropped his crossbow when he saw a short girl approaching him. She was white as a ghost, in contrast with her hair, dark and thick, falling all tangled over her face. He was doubled shocked when he noticed that even though it was cold, she was just in her underwear. Daryl also saw the wounds. It seemed like she had just received a brutal beating. He had a pretty ugly cut in her left brow, and bruises decorated her body as if they were tattoos. His blood ran cold when he looked at her neck, which looked like a necklace made of hematomas. It was like someone had had fun with her and then tried to strangle her.

And she was so young… she probably wasn't older than sixteen. Daryl scanned his surroundings, not knowing exactly what to do. For what he could see, the girl wasn't aware of his presence. She looked dazed, and was trying to keep moving, but she wasn't succeeding in that. She leaned against a tree trunk and panted.

"Girl" Daryl muttered, "Hey, can you hear me?"

Her head lifted lightly, just so her amber eyes could find his. He shuddered. It was like a storm was unleashing behind them. Her lips parted, whispering something. Daryl tried to listen to it, but as soon as he approached her, she fainted.

He bent over and moved her towards him. He felt an immense relief when he felt her weak yet constant respiration. He slid his crossbow over his back and picked her up in his arms, still not knowing what to do.

Daryl started walking towards the opposite direction from where she had arrived. He weighed his options. He discarded almost immediately taking her back with Joe's group: he could try to play along their stupid rules and "claim" her, but honestly, he didn't think they'd accept burdens. And that poor girl was. He was shocked by how thin she was. Her bones were sticking out, and he could carry her easily. He stopped suddenly when he thought he had heard something.

The other option, risky and irrational, was to look for a place to stay until the girl recovered. It was madness and he knew it, but he just couldn't leave her there in the middle of the woods. Other walkers, attracted by the sound of his earlier struggle, wouldn't take long to arrive there and make sure her body disappeared. Daryl looked down at her face, for where a tiny blood drop was sliding down until it reached her chin, leaving a reddish track all along her skin.

No, he couldn't come back with the others. They'd rape her and they'd kill her, and if he protested they'd kill him too.

Feeling more determinate, and since nothing else appeared through the trees, he resumed his walking. He had seen a small cabin not far from there. The other ones hadn't noticed it, and Daryl hadn't mentioned it. He didn't think they would find anything good in it, so deviating from their route for shit wasn't helpful.

He walked for what it felt like an eternity until he finally saw the cabin. The girl was still unconscious, and Daryl suspected she'd be like that for a long time. He shifted her weight to start climbing the small elevation to get to the cabin. When he reached the door, he looked at the girl again. He didn't know what to do next. He couldn't leave her on the floor while he checked the cabin, and he doubted that he could carry her if they had to run, but he couldn't just check the cabin with her in his arms. Maybe if he tried to wake her up…

"Kid" he muttered, "hey, c'mon".

He hit her cheeks really lightly to make her react, but she was still K.O. He damned himself internally for being such an imbecile. If he got himself killed that night he would have it coming. Daryl noticed the little rocking chair in the porch. It was dirty and looking like it was about to crumble, but it was that or the floor. So he left her there as carefully as possible. He approached the door and opened it slowly, which didn't stop it from creaking loudly. He hit the doorframe a few times and whistled, as always. He waited patiently until a moan answered his question.

Daryl looked around him, checking for walkers near the cabin, and looked down at the girl one last time, totally lax in that old rocking chair. He entered the cabin and found the source of the noises: a walker in a suit struggled to reach him, but the thick rope that hung him impeded it. Daryl wondered what was doing a guy like him in a lost cabin in the middle of the woods, but it wasn't like it mattered anymore. There was nothing he could do for it.

He lifted his crossbow and aimed for the head. He had the unpleasant sensation that it was looking at him before he shoot it. Daryl checked the rest of the rooms before he went outside again to get the girl. She sighed lightly when he picked her up again. She looked like she was regaining consciousness, judging by how her eyeballs were moving beneath the eyelids and the shivers running through her. He closed the door behind him with a kick and went to the bedroom. He left her in the dusty mattress and turned to open a small wardrobe to look for something to cover her. She must be near hypothermia. He was feeling slightly cold and was wearing several layers of clothes, so she must be freezing.

"That's it" he muttered when he found a blanket hidden under a few jeans. He covered her thoughtfully until he could only see her face. She curled up underneath that blanket like it was the most valuable thing in the world.

Now that he didn't have anything to do, Daryl felt uncomfortable there. He got out to check all the doors and windows and dragged the walker out of the house. He then opened every drawer and cupboard available, searching something to eat. Daryl hadn't been wrong when he had ignored the cabin in the first place. It was obvious that someone had already taken everything. He turned to face the bedroom's door, and felt even more stupid.

"Fuck, Dixon, what are you doing?" he whispered to the dark. It had been dumb from him, trying to save her. It was obvious that she was with someone against her will, and it was pretty likely that that someone was still after her. Or maybe she wasn't just with one person. He didn't even know her, how could he know that the door wasn't going to be kicked open any time soon to take her and kill him? Almost as if he actually believed that someone was going to appear, he made sure the door was locked up tight. He doubted that it would stop a herd of walkers or a group of angry dudes, but maybe it'd give him time to get out of there it the shit hit the fan.

On the other hand, he hadn't been considering his… Joe's group. They must be looking for him too. Joe himself had told him once that he knew he'd leave, but that had happened shortly after Daryl had joined them. Daryl doubted that they'd just let him go. And that taking for granted that they wouldn't want the girl. Yeah, he was positive he would be such an idiot that he'd try to help her and that would be what killed him. Any scenario in his head ended up with him dead. What had he been thinking?

He left the crossbow on the kitchen table and came back to the bedroom to check on the girl. He went still when he saw the empty bed. And just an instant after, he felt someone throwing him to the floor.

The knife's blade shone, bathed with the moonlight. Daryl held the girl's wrist to stop her from beheading him, and he was surprised to find that she was strong. But strong and all, she was just a kid, and he was a man. He wasn't going to be stabbed by a child whose ass, by the record, he'd just saved.

He wanted to be careful, but there were no half measures. He raised his free hand and slapped her so hard that she shook violently before she collapsed beside him. He stood up quickly and took the knife. She started backing up until her back hit the door, and started sobbing, trying to protect herself with her arms.

"Please, please… don't kill me…"

Daryl was shocked. It was her who had tried to murder him, and fuck, she had almost made it. He sheathed the knife, wondering how she had managed to take it without him noticing it, and approached her. She flinched again, still shaking. She couldn't even look up at him. Tears were sliding down her face while she kept saying "please, please".

"'m not gonna kill you" he said dryly. Daryl saw how she stopped shaking, and then she lifted her head to glaze at him. She seemed confused.

"You… you're not…"

"But if you try to stab me again, I assure you I'll rethink it" he barked. He took another step and offered her his hand. She looked reluctant to accept it.

"How do you know you're not gonna hurt me?" she asked.

"You've been blacked out for a while, dontcha think I would've already done it?" he countered. Not looking fully convinced, she took his hand to stand up. She got into the bed difficultly as Daryl handed her the blanket. He felt like a babysitter. What would be next? Reading her a fairytale?

He moved away brusquely and came back to the kitchen to take his backpack and crossbow. He took a glimpse of the outside before he headed towards the bedroom. There weren't walkers or people around. Maybe Joe and his group weren't looking for him after all.

Feeling a bit calmer, he got in the room and dropped his backpack. He left the crossbow beside him and lay down, using the backpack as a pillow.

He had been staring at the ceiling for a few minutes when he felt the girl looking at him. Daryl turned his head and found those amber eyes piercing from the other side of the room.

"Sleep" he ordered her.

"What's your name?" she asked. Daryl scanned her for an instant before he answered.

"Daryl" she nodded, "You?"

She moved under the blanket, making dust appear again. She sneezed before she looked at him again, but she didn't answer. He had just saved her (twice, actually) and now she didn't even trust him.

"Suit yerself" he grunted, turning his back to her.

Even with his eyes firmly closed, he could feel her moving and turning around, incapable of sleeping. She was getting on his nerves. And then, just before he could fall asleep, he heard her whisper:

"Thanks for saving my life".

Daryl was asleep before he could answer.

A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!