Daryl's mind over the next week was in turmoil.

Even as deep as he lived in the mountains, there was still some people that lived close enough that he could hear a whisper of their thoughts, along with anyone hunting or hiking nearby. So at any moment, there could be a stranger's voice in his head, which he'd grown used to over the years.

Now, that he knew what was possible through Paul, it's all he could focus on.

He'd burnt a stew he'd tried to make and had to throw it out, wasting the meat he'd worked so hard to hunt and prepare. He then sliced his thumb while carving some new bolts for his bow. Lastly, he'd fucked up the radiator hose on his truck when he'd been trying to repair it and now had to get a new one.

Yet without his truck, he was left with walking into town to get the part.

By the time he'd made it, he was dead tired and dripping sweat. It might have only been a thirty-minute drive from home to town, but on foot, the trip took just over 6 hours. He'd even started early hoping he'd make it there before the sun had time to heat the roads up, but it wasn't soon enough.

The last hour or so had been hot as hell and he'd long since drank what little water he'd brought along with him. So ignoring that people were cursing his return, he made a b-line for the first convent store he saw to get something to drink before he died.

Once his thirst had been somewhat quenched, he set back out for the auto store to get the part he needed before making the long 6-hour trip back home.

Paul spent the next week secretly looking for Daryl despite knowing he wouldn't find him any time soon. The man had said he didn't come to town but once every few months. So with any luck, it would be a few weeks before he would come back to town, but that didn't mean he would stop looking, just in case.

After they had parted the other day, he'd went back to his dojo and got ready to teach the kids class. Yet the whole time he was in front of them, he kept wondering what it was he'd done to make Daryl run off so fast. After all, by his own admission, he'd been having a good time, so what was it that made him want to call it quits?

When that class was over, and while he was handing out drinks to the kids, he'd overheard some of the parents talking about Daryl. They were discussing how it was unusual for him to return to town two days in a row, and so he decided to ask them. "Excuse me, but what was that you just said? About Daryl?"

"Oh, the wild man?"

"Is that what you all call him?" he questioned.

"Well, yeah, but only cause it's true." The women had said. "He lives out there in the woods all by himself and only comes to town a few times a year."

"Yeah, and when he does, he always glares at everyone or starts fights for no reason what so ever." A second mother told him.

"Plus, he always looks so dirty and grimy." The first lady adds, "Makes you wonder if the man's ever heard of a bath."

That's when things started to add up for him.

In the Sub Shack, Daryl had mentioned how he didn't like how two-faced people were, meaning he must have known how the town saw and spoke of him. So despite the fact they were having a good time, he must have thought that stigma would rub off on to him if they hung out, and distanced himself in an attempt to save him.

However, now that he had an idea as to why Daryl walked off like he had, it didn't make him feel better. If anything it angered him and made him want to reach out even more.

But with what limited information he had of the guy, he had no way of reaching out except waiting for the next time he saw him in town.

It was now the morning of the 8th day, and his hopes were not high that he'd find the other man today either. Mainly because that it was a Friday which meant that he didn't have any classes today. So he had no reason to go into town, further lowering the chances of finding Daryl.

Being it one of the only days of the week he has off, he spent most of it lying in bed watching TV till the rumbling of his stomach forced him out of bed. Shuffling out of his bedroom around 11, he heads to the kitchen and opens the cabinet to grab a bowl and the cereal. He then steps over to the fridge to get the milk but finds none.

"Oh right…" he sighs as looks at the 'To Do List' stuck to his fridge and glares at the words 'Get Milk' he'd written there 2 days ago. "Guess I could make eggs…" but higher on the list he remembers writing 'Get Eggs' 4 days ago. "Or I could just go to the store!" he sneered.

Heading back to his room to get dressed, he laughs at how absentminded he's been recent. "I can't believe I forgot to go shopping." He ties his shoes and grabs his keys to head out.

Diving through town to the store, Paul had his music playing and was singing along loudly. He's sure to those passing by that he looks and sounds ridiculous but he didn't care. He was having fun and that's all that matter to him. However, to be courtesy to those around him, when he pulled up to the red light, he turned the music down to patiently wait his turn like them.

And there he was.

The reason he'd forgotten to go to the store, just walking across the street as he himself waited for the light to change. But with a couple of cars between them, he was too to just call out to him. And he's all most certain that if he did, Daryl would do nothing but ignore him, if not run.

So when the light changed, he switched lane and followed the man. Keeping a safe distance of course.

Paul ended up following him all the way to the auto store that was on the complete opposite side of town than the one he needed to be on. "Well I've stalked him this far might as well see what he's doing." Paul reasons as he parks across the street before dodging traffic to be at the store's entrances.

Stepping in about 5 minutes after Daryl, he was sure that he could say it was just a coincidence they were there at the same time if he's spotted. So walking up the first aisle he grabs a basket to make it seem like he's there to shop.

Daryl had his back turned to look at something on the other side of the store, so Paul started to creep closer. Moving up and down each aisle acting like a shopper, despite not knowing what half the stuff in here was used for.

He'd made his way through the store till he was about 20 feet off from him, and thought "wow this is easy." Though almost as soon as he thought it is when Daryl suddenly looked up from whatever he was looking at and started to look around. Paul quickly dropped to the floor before he could be seen and acted like he was looking at something on the bottom shelf.

After a minute or two, he put the item back on the shelf and stood up to see if Daryl was still there. He wasn't. Figuring he might have been done with his shopping, he quickly looks to the front to see if he was in line but sighs when he's not there either. "He must have left." He thinks.

"Are you following me!"

Paul whips around to find a not so happy Daryl standing directly behind him. "I um, I'm just uh… no." Daryl just continues to glare. "So much for the coincidence idea," he thinks. "Okay yes, fine I was." He admits.

"Well stop it!" Daryl growls pushing past and going to get in line, "I told you to just leave me alone."

"No," Paul put the basket down in one of the holders at the end of the aisle, "No you said that we shouldn't hang out," Paul says following him through the store. "You didn't say anything about leaving you alone."

"Okay, fine then I'm saying it now; leave me alone."

"But why."

"Done told you why, didn't you listen?" Daryl puts his items on the counter for the man to ring up.

"To what? That half ass excuse, no I didn't."

"That'll be 58.30 sirs." The man says guardedly.

Daryl pulls out three 20 dollar bills and slaps them on the countertop. "Keep the change." Then grabs his bags and heads out.

"Daryl wait," Paul runs out of the store after him, "Come on just talk to me, please!"

"Why can't you get it through your thick head? I said no?"

"Please, just 5 minutes."

"Can't, I got shit to do." He continues walking down the street, trying to get away.

"Then let me drive you back to your car and we can talk on the way."

"Aint gotta car to drive me to."

"Then your bike or, or horse, or whatever."

"Jesus, fuck, what do you think I am a cowboy?" Daryl stops and turns back around to face him, "Look, the radiator hose on my truck busted yesterday, so I had to walk down here to get the parts to fix it." He holds open his bags to show the parts, "So you see, there's no car, or horse, for you to drive me to. Now leave me alone."

Paul looks down in the bag then swiftly takes his arm before he can walk away, "Then let me drive you home." he offers eagerly. "We don't even have to talk. I won't say a word if you don't want me to."

Daryl tilts his head in disbelief, "You were just following me, begging like a whore for me to talk to you and now you say you're going to drive me home and not say a word."

"If it will get you in the car, then yes." He smiles, hoping that his smile alone would sway him, but it failed to work.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Daryl fusses jerking his arm free, "I told you the other day that you'd be better off not knowing me but you wanna chase me down."

"Look, Daryl, I just wanna talk, okay." Paul would have to try a different tactic, "Truth is, I've been looking for you for the last week and this is the first time I've seen you so I'm not letting you get away till I say what I have to say. So please, just humor me and get in the car." He says pointing back at his car.

Daryl looks over in the direction he gestures and huffs, "Fine, if it'll shut you up I'll go with you. Beats walking for another 6 hours too, I guess."

"Thank you!" Paul sighs and steps to the side for him to lead the way.

"Ya think I'm gonna run or something?" Daryl asks as he walks by.

"Well, at this point I wouldn't put it past you." Paul chuckles as he follows behind.

Once he'd finally gotten him to the car he turns to look at him and waits. Daryl sees him and starts to stares back at him for a moment before finally saying "WHAT?" but true to his word Paul doesn't speak, "What the fuck you staring at me for?" Paul still doesn't talk but has started to smile, "Oh, oh for fuck sakes, you can talk damn it." Daryl groans as he realizes what he was doing.

"Good," he laughs "was gonna be hard to ask what way to go without it." He starts up his car and pulls up to the exit of the parking lot. "So um… which way?"

"Left, then just stay straight till you get to the post office then take a right out of town."

"Alright, I can do that." He says pulling out on to the road.

While they drive through town, Paul watches him out of the corner of his eye and smiles. He acts almost like a dog watching every single person and place as they pass with curiosity filling his face. "Like he's never seen the town before." Then he remembers how little he comes to town and it sorta makes sense.

When he reaches the post office, he turned right like Daryl had told him and continued to drive till they'd gotten out of town. "Alright, what is it you wanna talk about?"

"Oh, well, there wasn't anything in particular actually. I just didn't like how you left without letting me get my two cents in last time." He admits, "But since then I've learned a bit and think I understand what you mean when you say 'we shouldn't be seen together'."

"Oh yeah, and what did you learn?"

"Well," he chewed on his lip as he thinks about what the mothers had said to him, "I learned how the people of town see you, and why you avoid them as much as possible." He says softly and Daryl looked away. "But, if it helps my case any, I think their dead wrong about you."

"It doesn't." he pledged, looking out the window again.

"Okay, well I *gggrrrrmmmbb* oh my god!" Paul throws his hand over his stomach and starts to laugh, while Daryl watches him, "I'm so sorry, I haven't eaten all day. In fact, I was on my way to the store to get food when I'd seen you walk across the street."

"I see." Daryl glances down at his hand still draped over his stomach

"Yeah, sorry that was so loud."

"It's fine, uh, turn here." He points out the window to the right.

Paul turned off the main road on to the older back road and noticed immediately the change. They'd been slowly moving up into the mountains, but this road was curvy and wound straight up it seemed like. "Wow, this road would be great on a motorcycle I bet."

"It is," Daryl whispers.

"Do you have one?" he asks excitedly.

"No, my brother does."

"You have a brother?" Paul gasps.

"Yeah, an older one."

"Cool, I always wanted a brother or sister, but I'm an only child."

"He was gone enough that I might as well be," Daryl says.

"That's a Que to shut up if I'd ever seen one," Paul tells himself as he watches the road twist and turns.

A few minutes later, Daryl points to the left and says, "That next turn there. That's my driveway." Paul turns accordingly and turns off the back road on to a gravel/dirt road. Moments later, around a large bend in the driveway, appeared a nice double wide traitor with a garage built off to one side and a greenhouse garden off to the other.

"Wow! This is amazing." He gawks out the window as he stops the car in front of the house. "You actually live here?"

"Ya say that like it's a mansion." Daryl scoffs as he gets out bags in hand.

"Might as well be compared to my place," Paul tells him as he looks around at the small clearing. "All I have is a one-bedroom apartment with noisy ass neighbors."

"Well, it's not the Hampton's but it's home." He says while walking up to the front door.

"Yeah, but I'd much prefer this to the Hampton's if I'm honest." He looks over to see Daryl unlocking his front door and takes that as a sign that's it's time for him to leave. "Well, I guess I'll see you around."

"Aren't you coming in?" Daryl questions.

Surprised, Paul looks up and over his car at him, "Can I?" he asks a bit too enthusiastic even for his option, "I mean, you don't have to invite me in to be nice, if you don't want to."

"You said you ain't eaten today?"

"Yeah, but,"

"Are you hungry or not!?" Paul nods and tries to fight the smile growing on his face, "Then shut the hell up, get your ass in the house, and let me feed you." Again, he didn't leave him any time to argue as he walked in the house leaving him standing out in the yard alone.

But not for long.

Paul quickly closed the door of his car and rushed up the stairs to the front door. "Pardon my intrusion." He said as he stepped in.

Looking around briefly he sees the place is extremely clean and kept up just like on the outside. There was minimum décor, but it looked nice and inviting which was a shock seeing as the man who lived here was anything but.

There was some suddenly some noise off to his right and so figuring that is where Daryl was, that's where he went.

"I hope you like stew," Daryl says as soon as he'd stepped into the room. Paul watched as he spooned him out a bowl from the crock-pot and then placed it on the table for him. "I normally make enough food so I can eat off for a few days, so there's plenty if you want more." He explains while taking the items he'd bought out of the bag. "Just put the bowl in the sink when you're done and I'll wash it later."

Paul sits down at the table and takes a bite and is blown away, "Oh my lord this is," he turns to see Daryl had already gone outside, "delicious. Well, I'll tell you later." He says turning back to the bowl and to finish eating.

The more he ate, the more he understood what he'd meant when he said the subs were bland. His stew had so much flavor it was ridiculous. It was a bit spicy but not so much so that's you immediately grab for the glass of milk. Just enough to give it that perfect zing. There were also fresh vegetables, and chunks of meat to give it texture so it wasn't just the soup. In every sense it was perfect.

So taking Daryl up on his offer, after he finished this bowl, he made himself another one and ate it all too.

Once he'd finished his second bowl, he sat it in the sink, like he was told, then headed outside to find Daryl.

He found him in the garage with his legs sticking out from under the truck. "Hey there." He says announcing his presence, but Daryl doesn't say anything. "Just so you know, that stew was really good."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," he whispers, rocking back and forth on his feet. "So need any help?"

"Do you know anything about cars?"

"No, but I-"

"Then no, I don't."

Paul realizes he's pushing the limits on his welcome and decides to take his leave before making Daryl angry. "Alright, well I guess I'll be going now then. Thanks again for the food."

"Alright, thanks for the ride." He says without coming out from under the truck.

Paul gazes at him while he works for a moment then sighs and turns around to walk back to his car.

Daryl listens as Paul walks away, gets in his car, and then drives off before he slides out from under his truck. He'd actually finished putting the hose on his truck a few minutes after he'd started working on it but was scared to have Paul stay here any longer.

He hadn't planned on showing him exactly where he lived, but when his stomach had growled in the car, he felt bad and made the split decision to feed him as a thank you. If it wasn't for that, he would have asked to be let out at the main road and just walked the last part stretch up the mountainside. But his conscience just couldn't let the only man who'd ever been nice to him to go hungry.

Rising to his feet, he dusts his pants off and steps over to the cab of the truck to test it.

Turning the ignition, the truck turns over and revs to live. Watching the gages for a moment he's relieved to see the water temperature level staying where it should be. "Thank god." He sighs, before turning it off and heading inside.

In the kitchen, he tosses the bags from the auto store in the trash and then washes the bowl Paul had used to eat. With that taken care of and everything put back where it should be, he goes to the fridge to get a beer. Yet, on his fridge door, there was a folded up note with his name on it the front, that was not there this morning.

Jerking it off the fridge, he open's it up to read: " Daryl, I know you don't like people, but everyone gets lonely from time to time, so call me if you'd like some company one day. Even if it's just to share a few beers, first rounds on me. Paul." Then at the bottom of the note was his number.

Daryl scoffs, crumples up the paper, then tosses it across the room into the trash. He then goes to plop down on the couch and watch some tv.

However, the action nags at him the whole time he sits there. So much so that he's unable to focus on the show and continuously finds himself looking over into the kitchen where the trashcan was. And the more he tried to push it out of his mind, the more he thought about it till he groans, slams his beer on the table, and gets up to retrieve the note from the trash.

Pulling out his phone, he quickly types Paul's number in, saves it, drops the note back into the trash, and then returns to his spot on the couch. Taking up his beer, he finally can relax enough to enjoy the show that's playing.