AN: hi, this is a short story that was inspired from a pic I saw. Since my writers block has been so bad I thought I would wait and post when the story was complete...and it is :) five chapters, i'm going to post them all today.
I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead
Chapter 1
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It had been brewing for a long time. That undeniable need to break free, move away from this relationship before it broke him.
Life if nothing else had taught Daryl to protect himself, utmost before anything he needed to protect himself and his emotions. Never falter, never loose yourself in the need for someone, being vulnerable meant letting people in, letting someone in meant love, loving someone meant pain.
His heart told him it was bullshit, his mind was screaming to get out, his gut told him that Carol would never hurt him.
Tiny, delicate Carol. The girl he'd meet on the side of the road when the garage that the MC ran had sent him out on a tow call.
Carol had been standing there, in the rain, wearing some kid of leotard. Shivering in the rain.
She'd smiled shyly at his raised brow at her outfit. "I'm a dancer" she said "with The Metro ballet company." She said her lips shivering as she hugged her waist tightly.
Something inside him had come undone. Daryl had spent his life until that point with very little interest in the opposite sex. He'd screwed women, but those encounters had been nothing but usually drunken encounters, more often than not at parties held by the club. An itch that needed scratching. Daryl knew what he wanted in life, and Carol wasn't the kind of girl that fit into the plan. She wasn't what he wanted. But the problem was she was what he needed.
He'd shrugged off his leather jacket and propped it over her shoulders, she'd looked up at him and her eyes, her eyes had seemed to make him feel like he was a good guy, like he was her fucking hero. She made him feel like a good man. It wasn't something he was used.
"Thank you." She whispered.
He nodded uncomfortably. "Go get in my truck, I'll hook your car up for the tow."
He'd never stood a chance, somehow she'd made her way past all of his walls, winding her way into his soul. His heart had kept pushing him, towards her. His mind had been screaming to stop. She was trouble, somehow he'd just known she was it. He'd found the women he was meant to find. She was his soulmate. He could feel it in every moment they spent together. He knew it from The feeling in his gut when he was inside of her, arms braced on either side of her head, he couldn't stop staring into her eyes, getting lost in their depths while he found release.
The last time they'd been together, he'd bit his lip raw, holding back declarations of love, holding back a possessive longing. He'd wanted to mark her as his, he wanted to tell her he loved her, he wanted to ask her to marry him. He wanted to listen to his heart. He was done, it was time to pull away. Time to end it before things became any deeper. He was done listening to his heart.
Her eyes had almost done him in when he'd ended it, he felt as though he was causing her physical pain. She'd argued at first but when she knew that there was no changing his mind, she'd accepted it moving away from him. He'd practically been sitting on his own hands anyway. His body always betrayed him, wanting to pull her closer, wanting to touch her, soothe her, run his hands along the silk that was her skin. She'd been at his place, she simply bowed her head, got up nodded as though she'd expected it. She once told him that nothing good lasted for her, everything she loved was taken away. She loved dance and she was terrified somehow it would be taken from her, that's why she trained so hard. And now she looked sad, and resigned like she should of expected this, expected her heart to be broken. She got her things and went to his door opening it softly she stood in the doorway for a moment with her back to him before she whispered softly.
"Thank you, for showing me there are still good men in this world, for showing me I could love again." And then she'd walked out, the door clicking softly.
He'd sat there, staring at the door. She'd loved him, he realized in shock, he'd wanted to run after her, throw himself to his knees and beg her forgiveness. Tell her was an idiot, to throw her love away. But he let her go. It was better that way.
"You're an idiot, ya know that right?"
Daryl huffed under the hood of the car he was working on trying to make the continuous pain that seemed lodged in the pit of his gut go away. Merle wasn't helping his stomach feel any better, in fact he was only making things worse. Making Daryl doubt himself, wonder if he had done the right thing.
"Merle fuck off." He muttered getting back to the car he was working on. He needed to move on, he needed to forget her ; Carol. Daryl made his decision, he'd ended it. It was done, he'd burned that bridge down to the ground.
Merle looked incredulous from the car he was working on, Merle's mouth had been hanging open in shock since Daryl had mentioned in an attempt at casual conversation that he and Carol had broken up. Merle had liked her, Carol. Got to know her in the six months she and Daryl had been together. Teased him about the ball and chain.
"No Darylina...what the fuck? I ain't never seen two people that ...fuck Daryl, you're gonna make me go all Dr. Phil on your ass, but you were made for each other! She got you! You're stupid fidgety awkward ass! You go and mess that shit up. She was old lady material! You don't fuck that shit up! What the fuck is wrong with ya.." Merle paused as Daryl pushed away from the car, flinging over his tool box in a fit of rage.
"You want to know why! I'll tell you why" he screamed. "I ain't good enough for her! I never will be!"