The first thought that entered Daryl's mind when he awoke was that his nose was itchy. Long strands of brown hair lightly tickled his skin and he was certain that they didn't belong to him. He cracked open an eyelid and saw the girl he had rescued yesterday, which jogged his memory and he remembered that they had fallen asleep in the tree together. Her body had finally relaxed and was nestled in his arms with her head was resting against his cheek, hence the hair in his face. He yawned and breathed in her scent, which was a sweet reprieve from the unwashed smell he had unfortunately grown accustomed to since he had been travelling with Merle for so long.

He tried to stretch, but was stopped by the rope, which still held one of his hands in place. His other hand was still wrapped around the girl, but it had risen higher on her body throughout the night, and was now resting just below her breast. Not thinking, he ran his thumb along its underside, following the curve of her body. She sighed in her sleep and shifted closer to him, rubbing up against his stiff cock that had come with the morning light.

He had to admit that she was pretty good looking for being an apocalypse survivor and probably cleaned up nicely. However, he was also sure that she wasn't the type to jump into bed with a random stranger. She had been very suspicious of him at first, and he guessed that as a lone female she had most likely had a few run-ins with some dishonourable men. As much as he would have enjoyed being one of those men, Daryl knew he wasn't that kind of person and he released her, pushing her away from him quickly with his recently free hand.

Alex was roughly jostled into wakefulness and blearily opened her eyes to the harsh morning light. She squinted in the brightness and turned to look at Daryl who was already working on untying the rope. He flicked his eyes up to meet hers and she was slightly surprised by the look he gave her.

"What?" she asked sleepily, still not fully awake.

He broke eye contact with her and kept working on the knot, "It's already mid-morning, we need to get going."

He got them untied and started to work his way down the tree, not waiting for Alex to catch up. She slowly followed and by the time she got to the bottom she was finally fully awake.

"You said you had food?" he asked when she eventually joined him.

"Some canned stuff in my backpack, and hopefully some rabbits or squirrels if I caught anything with my snares," she said.

Daryl snorted in disbelief, "You know how to make a snare?"

Alex rolled her eyes, "Do you think I would have lasted this long if I didn't know how to take care of myself?"

"Suppose not," he admitted.

He realized that she was right, most of the survivors that had lasted this long had to know something to still be alive. She was actually a nice break from most of the women he had encountered so far.

"Come on," she said, heading back to the trail that she had initially been travelling on the other day before she had literally run into Daryl.

He trailed behind her closely as they headed out into the open plain and she could feel his eyes watching her. It took some time, but they made it to the next grove of trees and to the snares she had set the previous day. Out of four snares, two held rabbits and the others were empty.

"One for you and one for me I guess," she mused out loud.

She made quick work of killing the rabbits while Daryl watched. She had gotten over her aversion for ending lives early on in the apocalypse, hunger winning over the social norms she was previously accustomed to. However, she was still careful not to get blood on her clothing, as the smell of death attracted he undead.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, "Most gals I knew wouldn't have touched those with a 10 foot pole."

"My grandad taught me, we used to go up north to the family cabin. The rules there were the same as the rules now, if you wanted to eat, you had to catch it and kill it yourself," she told him, surprising herself at how much she was sharing with a guy she had just met. Granted, he had saved her life without what seemed to be no ulterior motive. He could have easily let her keep running and save his own ass while she was torn apart by the undead.

When she was done she rummaged through her bag, grabbing what little she had left, including a pot and her last can of beans.

"You know how to skin a rabbit?" Alex questioned.

He nodded and held out his hands, not saying a word, but still keeping his eyes on her. She almost shivered, he had been watching her strangely since they had woken up. Nonetheless, she tossed him the rabbits.

"What else do you got in that bag of yours?" he inquired.

"Uhh, water and a few protein bars, but that's about it. I was thinking of going into Atlanta and doing a supply run," she replied.

Daryl shook his head, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The city's been overrun by walkers."

She sighed heavily, "great."

They were silent for a few minutes before he spoke up again, "You could join us at our camp, we could always use another hunter."

"We? You have a camp with other people?"

"Yeah, there's about twenty of us." he told her, glancing up at her from his work to watch her reaction.

She said nothing for a time, just kept working on opening the can of beans. Finally she looked at him, "That would be a nice change, but how do I know you're not leading me into a trap or something?"

Daryl actually laughed, "To be honest, I thought it would be a nice change too, most of the broads at my camp are too dumb to coordinate a trap."

Alex smirked at him, although she was cautious about completely trusting him, he seemed too cynical to by lying. She handed him the pot filled with half of the can of cold beans, "I'll think about it."

She also pulled out a plastic bag, "Put the good meat in here, it can be cooked later."

He did as she said, then dug into the beans. They both finished in a few minutes and he handed the empty pot back to her.

"So what now? You saved me, I fed you, we go our separate ways?" she inquired.

Daryl shrugged, "Or you could bring that rabbit to my camp, trade it for some other supplies."

Alex bit her lip, this guy kept nonchalantly giving her solutions to her problems, "You know what, fine. I'll go with you to your camp, but if anyone tries to pull any funny shit, I won't stay."

"Trust me, the shit they pull is never funny," Daryl grumbled slightly, pushing himself off the ground.

He offered a hand out to her, which she took. It was rough and calloused, and enveloped her own, but it was also gentle as he pulled her up.

"If we leave now, we can probably make it before night," he observed, releasing her hand somewhat reluctantly.

"Well, lead on," she said, and they disappeared into the wood together.

AN: Well this one was fun to write, I enjoyed starting the slow burn of their romance. Like Daryl noted, I don't think Alex is the type to jump into bed with every stranger she meets, so I am going to build up to super smuttiness.

Thanks to Mooka333 for the review! It motivated me to write more than I had originally intended, hence 2 chapters in 2 days!

ThreeFoldLaw :)