Chapter 2: Later In The Evening
The soft snores and light movements of those sleeping around him were the only thing Rick could hear as he stared up at the top bunk in his cell. His nerves tingled under his skin, the blood pumping a heated pathway through his veins, and he could swear that he was laying on blazing hot concrete on an August day. Every part of him cried out for the cool of Daryl's touch, needed Daryl's lips to quell the thirst with kisses placed just right on his lips, his cheek, his throat, but he wasn't sure that now was the time to go to his hunter.
Was Daryl waiting up for him right now, wondering where he was? Was disappointment flooding his arteries as he curled into a cramped position on his slim prison mattress? Was this same need burning under his skin as he waited eagerly for Rick to appear in the doorway, and slide into bed beside him?
Rick shook his head of these unanswered questions, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He figured he'd waited long enough for all of the others to be asleep; he had to see Daryl right that second. He crept quietly to Daryl's perch, his bare feet slapping the concrete floor mutedly.
Daryl looked up when Rick's silhouette filled the entryway, then silently slid down the mattress to make room for the sheriff to sit beside him. Rick plopped down next to Daryl, cringing at the creak of springs shifting beneath his weight. Neither of them spoke, just stayed content to be in the other's company; this quiet was not awkward, as it had been in the guard tower earlier, but was actually pleasant, and they could feel their love for one another grow with their stretched-out silence.
Soon, though, the dark and the quiet gnawed a whole through Rick, until he felt he couldn't bear the stillness any longer. He didn't want to speak, not yet, so instead he slid his hand over until it was rest on top of Daryl's. The other man stiffened, but quickly relaxed once more, and turned his hand palm-up to clasp the sheriff's fingers in his own. Rick twined their fingers, the spaces between them filled perfectly with the other's skin, and neither could tell where one of them ended and the other began.
Daryl, fully relaxed with Rick's presence now, leaned back against the wall, his thin over-shirt unbuttoned to reveal his toned abdomen, tan from spending just enough time in the sun, and streaked with dirt from hard work in the forest. Rick swallowed roughly, wanting nothing more than to run his tongue over those sculpted muscles, and make Daryl tingle with the want that now flowed through him. But he kept his place beside the hunter controlled, save for his move into the same position as Daryl so that they could hold hands more comfortably.
"Can't say I didn' miss this." Daryl murmured softly, his eyes staring at the stars visible from his barred window.
"Miss what?" Rick asked, turning his head just slightly to look at the other man from the corner of his eye. Rick knew full well what Daryl was talking about, but he needed to hear him say it, just like how, once upon a time, he'd needed to hear Lori say she loved him, and believed in his decisions; she felt like such a distant memory now as Rick sat beside a man who was all muscle and rugged skin, with no soft curves or pale innocence.
Daryl's lips tightened into a thin line for a moment as he thought about how best to answer the question. "Missed just sittin' here with ya like this. Guess I needed the comp'ny more'n I'd care to admit to anyone else."
It was as close to one of Lori's 'I love you's as Rick was liable to get from Daryl, but he would take it and be grateful. He couldn't help but smile at the hunter's words, knowing exactly how Daryl had been feeling.
Perhaps it was because he was so used to the sheriff, or perhaps it was because he had seen Rick moving from the corner of his eye, but he didn't stiffen when Rick leaned closer and pressed his lips to the hollow of Daryl's cheek. Rather, he welcomed the gesture of affection, and had his defenses been just that much weaker he might have moved into the touch with a soft whimper; something inside of him had wanted to do that all along.
Rick's lips traveled their way along Daryl's jawline slowly, tracing every contour and committing it to memory; Daryl could tell that the sheriff was building up to a full-lipped kiss, and he was more than willing to oblige. So quick it was a blur, Daryl's face turned to Rick's, their lips pressed together in kiss that both cooled the fire that burned through his veins and ignited it all over again, and suddenly they were a tangled mess of clothes and blankets and groping limbs.
Daryl panted, his husky breath washing over Rick's face in a not unpleasant way, his want tugging at his jeans' clasp and pushing against the sheriff's thigh. Daryl's eyes remained closed, as if by not looking at his lover he could simultaneously hide all of his insecurities and short comings and just be everything that Rick ever wanted or needed or loved. Rick kept his eyes open, watching Daryl's every movement with perfect clarity, and he realized that what made Daryl so amazing was the vulnerability that he kept bottled up inside until it finally exploded when he collided with this one person he truly felt something for. The way Daryl's brows knit together as he squeezed his eyes shut, the way his nose scrunched up as he groaned ever so softly at Rick's searching hand, the way his full lips opened and closed as his warm breath slipped through and just looked so utterly kissable, drove Rick mad with desire.
Above all, though, Rick was a man of honor, and he needed to hear Daryl voice his consent before they went any farther.
"Daryl?" Rick pulled away just enough to look at Daryl's still closed eyes, waiting for them to open and stare back at him.
Daryl did open his eyes, and the rejection and hurt that surfaced in them felt like a stab right to Rick's gut. Daryl thought that Rick had pulled away because he didn't want this, even though the sheriff had made it perfectly obvious time and time again that he wanted this more than anything else.
"Daryl, I just… wanted to make sure you were comfortable with this, and that this is what you really wanted to do."
Daryl answered by kissing Rick passionately once more, and wrapping his arms around the other man's neck. When he finally broke the kiss he whispered a line from some long-forgotten song, "Hold me now, I need to feel complete, like I matter to the one I need."
That was all it took for Rick to pull Daryl's body back to his, skin to skin, for the rest of the night.