So... Many... Deadlines... All right, time for something different. Not gonna say the prompt ("boots") stumped me, but... This one was heavily inspired by a Garth Brooks song of the same name, and I'm not saying you have to listen to it, but it makes more sense with context. Plus, it's a hecking amazing song. Enjoy!

Sometimes things happen. Sometimes they make sense. This wasn't one of them, at least as far as Daryl was concerned. Not laying awake while the woman beside him slept on, not his coming to her home and her bed in the first place, and definitely not his feeling that it was time to leave again.

She sighed in her sleep and he turned onto his side to look at her. Long blonde hair, tousled from the night's endeavors, spilled across her shoulders, hiding half of her face. Her hands were tucked under the pillow, and the covers had started out tucked under her chin but they'd fallen down halfway to her waist. He moved them back into place, seeing her naked body in his mind's eye as he'd seen it earlier that night, rising up to his with eager abandon and taking as much as she gave. And she gave more than she even knew, in bed and out of it.

He didn't question what had first brought them together, or regret a single minute. But it was so unlike him to come running to anybody, much less the same woman over and over again, and he had to wonder what Beth had that made him come back the way he did. He'd always preferred being alone, never staying in one place too long and definitely never with somebody, but now any time spent away from her left him lonely. Lost. Like a compass that didn't point north. He just didn't feel right without her, always hurrying back to her and whatever piece of himself he'd left behind.

He should go, but he couldn't leave right now. Not while she was still asleep, with no word of goodbye. He'd done that before, and felt empty and guilty every second after until he saw her again. He could wait to say goodbye until she woke up.

Brushing her hair away from her face and kissing her forehead, he pulled her into his arms and held her to his chest, feeling her breathe against him as the sun came up outside her window.

She stirred awake as the light in her bedroom pushed back the dark of night and took on dawn's glow. Nestling deeper into his arms, he heard her hum of contentment before she lifted her head and met his eyes. Surprise and delight lit up her face, and she smiled. "Morning," she greeted.

"Morning," he replied, kissing the top of her head.

"Thought you'd be gone by now," she said.

He smiled a little. "You trying to kick me outta your house?"

She shook her head, making a sleepy noise of dissent. "I've wondered what it would be like, waking up and seeing you first thing."

"And?"

She smiled again. "I like it."

Something clenched around his heart. There she went again, tightening her hold on him without lifting a hand. The restless part of him that always had to leave before first light was still loud in his mind, but seeing her so happy was worth the delay. He wouldn't have missed seeing that for anything.

"I'm gonna...gonna grab a shower," she said, slowly drawing away from him. She kept glancing at him, taking her time getting out of bed and walking to the door, and everything in her voice and her eyes told him she didn't expect him to be there when she got out. He'd stayed until morning, which was more than he'd done before, and it didn't seem likely he'd stay even longer. She lingered in the room for as long as possible, until she gave him one last look and reluctantly walked away.

He sat up and looked around for his clothes, discarded carelessly the night before and strewn around the room, along with everything she'd been wearing when he showed up on the doorstep. He should get dressed and get going. He'd stayed long enough.

The sound of running water reached him from the bathroom, along with that of the shower curtain being drawn. She had braced herself for his absence, he'd seen that in her eyes before she left and, well, he didn't want that to be his last image of her...

He rose from the bed and moved silently to the bathroom door, the transition from soft carpet to cool linoleum under his feet registered only because it meant he was that much closer to her. She hadn't turned the light on, relying on the morning light through the glazed window above the shower stall, and he hardly noticed the dim shapes in the bathroom, focusing only on that shower curtain and thinking only of what stood behind it. Without making a sound, he moved it just enough to step into the tub before drawing it closed again.

She was humming quietly to herself so she didn't hear him at first, but she turned at the touch of his hand on her shoulder. One look at him standing there, still with her, had her speechless, but he saw amazement and joy clear and bright as the morning sun in her eyes and he didn't need any words, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

Maybe it was her pressing herself against him under the warm water, but he could have sworn she was melting into him. Maybe she already had, changing everything inside him until he couldn't recognize himself from the man he used to be. That guy would have left by now, he wouldn't be holding her close and sliding his hands into her hair, kissing her deeper until he'd lost himself inside her. He didn't know who that guy was anymore and he didn't care. That guy didn't have Beth.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her and he held her tighter for a moment before reaching down between her legs; she was wet, and it wasn't the shower. Her soft sighs filled his ears as he slid his fingers inside her, stroking gently and moving in and out. She whispered his name and met him in another long, unhurried kiss, lips and tongues dancing together while his fingers brought her to a slow, sweet climax that had her clinging tighter to him and moaning against his lips. He withdrew his fingers and she brought his hand to her face, kissing his palm and holding his eyes as she put his fingers in her mouth and sucked them clean.

A shiver made its way down his spine and she released his hand before she kissed him again and dropped to her knees in front of him. Just the sight of her kneeling there, looking up at him with her intentions written in her eyes nearly undid him, and he braced himself with one hand against the shower wall as she stroked her fingers along his shaft before slowly taking him into her mouth.

His breath caught in his chest and it felt like music through his veins, the way euphoria started rising and rippling in every cell of his body. She brought him along slow and steady, letting him get higher and higher, melody lines cresting and receding as they moved closer to the crescendo, and before the music could break he stilled her with his fingers twisting carefully into her hair and guiding her away. He took her hands and drew her to her feet, pulling her as close to him as she would go, one hand running down her thigh to guide her leg around his body. She propped her foot on the edge of the tub as he aligned their bodies and they held onto each other as he thrust inside her once again.

Their rhythm was measured, rocking gently and slowly, like they had all the time in the world. He could have stayed there forever, the two of them moving together under the falling water while the world fell behind, suspended in time and lost in each other. She was in no hurry, the fleeting thought passing through his mind that she was still preparing herself for his leaving, making this last as long as she could before then, and he held her tighter to affirm to them both that he was still with her, still in her arms.

She was wound around him so closely he was sure she'd never come apart from him again, and he didn't want her to if he was honest. He should tell her, he should let her know why he kept coming back to her, why it was so hard to leave, why he was still here with her. He should tell her but the words wouldn't come, so he just held onto her and loved her, the best he could, holding nothing back from her and giving everything he had until-

The release that swept through him would have sent him tumbling to the floor if he hadn't been holding her up. She fell against him as she came with him, and there was no way in hell he was going to let her go, cradling her against his chest and leaning against the shower wall, feeling her tremble and trying to catch his breath. It felt too perfect. He'd never met anyone like her, someone who felt like home the way she did.

She was quiet and pensive when they were out of the shower, drying each other off and taking the time for more kisses and caresses. Her heart was in her eyes and weighing heavier by the minute, and he knew what she was thinking as they dressed. But when they both moved through her house and saw his boots waiting by the door, he knew he couldn't do that to her. To either of them. There had never been walls high enough to hold him or chains strong enough to tie him down, no place on God's earth that ever felt right, but she did...

"I guess you're leaving, then," she said softly, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

He shook his head as he made up his mind, first to himself and then more assuredly. "Beth," he began, taking her hand, "Beth, sweetheart...what if I stay?"

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