He was too stubborn to admit; that he, Daryl Dixon; had any type of feelings for anyone. Everyone he ever had in his life has let him down in some way, shape or form. He was never able to allow anyone to get close.
His tragic childhood with spent with an abusive, alcoholic father; his mother who was never really there mentally, beaten into a shell of a person by her husband; and a brother was more concerned about getting his next fix; may it be a hit off a blunt, temporary hiatus from reality with a bottle of pills, or some tramp that would allow him to bury all of his issues into her for a short period of time.
His other brother Merle practically abandoned him as soon as he was able to. As soon as Merle turned 17, he was out the door. He had had enough of their father's abuse, leaving Daryl to be the old man's punching bag. Merle came back at the age of 22, when Daryl was 14, and walked into their father unleashing his drunken wrath upon Daryl.
Their father went to attack Daryl with his eager fist, when Merle jumped in and grabbed the older drunk man's hand. He twisted his father's arm behind his back, twisting him around. When the old man attempted to attack him, Merle quickly grabbed the empty beer bottle that was on the night stand next to the couch. The bottle collided with his father's head. The force of the blow knocked the man off his not so steady feet, causing him to stumble backwards, tripping over Daryl's legs behind him, and fell hitting his head on the coffee table behind him. An eerie crack followed, and he knew he just killed his father.
Daryl was able to shuffle quickly away before his father fell on top of him. He looked up at Merle in shock. He then turned towards their father. He looked at the good for nothing man, looked for a pulse, and confirmed what they both thought. He was dead. The man who fathered both of them, who also was responsible in their mother's death by suicide, was now dead.
Merle walked out the door, heading to the crumbling garage on the outskirts of the property. There he found a gas can. He returned to the house, pour gas all over the living room. Daryl looked at him, with a puzzled look, not fully grasping what was happening. Merle advised him to grab whatever he thought he would need to live, as he was about to torch this place and all the memories that this shack contained.
Daryl ran to his room, grabbed some clothes, and shoved it into an old beat up backpack. He also grabbed a picture of their mother from better times, when she was happy, before their father beat the life out of her. She was holding Daryl as a baby, and Merle was smiling a toothless grin. After confirming that Daryl got everything he needed, Merle dropped the cigarette he just finished smoking, and then soon found their "home" if that is what you wanted to call it, up in flames.
Now, almost 30 years later, he was alone in this world again. Merle was gone again. His mouth got him in trouble again, and it landed him handcuffed to the top a building in Atlanta. After He reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out that picture of his mother, staring at it. That picture definitely reflected happier times. Better than what he found himself surrounded by now.
No one ever thought that a Dixon would or could amount to anything. He has had that thought drilled into his head ever since he was born.
Now, at the end of the world, he found someone who was almost as damaged as he is. And he found it in a 40-something year old married woman, with a 12 year old daughter. He was finally no longer alone.