Oh my God, you guys! Someone please explain to me why I have caved and posted a chapter, only a day after uploading!? The reviews, the favourites, the follows. When you guys ask me to upload quickly just so you can see what happens next, it makes me grin like an idiot! Also, I'm so much further ahead with the chapters, constantly writing and editing them, revising them and analysing them so that they're perfect. So now that I'm really happy with the chapters I've got, I'm working on the ending. I can't even grasp the fact that I'm there already, but that's why I'm caving today and letting you have this, because I love going back to the start and inspiring myself to wrap up the ending. As always, thank you so much for your continuing support. You rock.

The next morning, I didn't wake up alone. I glanced up at Daryl where I was lay on his chest, my stitched leg cocked up over his hip. He was still asleep, his lips parted and a light snore vibrating his chest, and me. I smiled and lay my head back down, tucking it beneath his chin and rubbing my thumb over his covered chest. His vest was off, leaving just a buttoned shirt with ragged short sleeves as if he had cut them off himself, which he probably had. Two buttons were open, leaving the tiniest slice of skin to my questing fingers. I bit my lip and slipped them beneath the opening, stroking the skin I could reach.

His breath stuttered and I stopped but didn't take my fingers out. "Mornin'," he muttered into my hair.

"Morning," I whispered back.

"Touchin' me up in my sleep?" He asked, and his voice was almost teasing.

I grinned where he couldn't see me, letting my fingers move in that small opening again. "You know you're so different when we're alone, compared to who you are with the group."

Daryl didn't respond for a moment and then his fingers began to stroke my shoulder. "That bad?"

"Course not," I denied because it wasn't. "I like it. Like I get a piece of you that no one else does."

His fingers slipped from my shoulder to my hair, combing through the strands. "Thought my hair had pissed you off?" I asked when it was clear he wasn't going to reply to my previous statement, then laughed as he got more enthusiastic.

"Nah, I like ya hair. Long, s'nice."

I bit my lip to stifle another splitting grin. "My whole body hurts and yet I'm smiling like someone just landed me with a bucket load of chocolate."

Daryl snorted. "'Cause I'm playin' with ya hair?"

"Mhmm," I agreed because we both knew that wasn't it, and before long, with Daryl's fingers sifting through my hair, I fell asleep again.

I woke up alone, the second time and there was barely any sun filtering through the sheet hanging over my bars. I frowned and sat up, my body thrumming in pain. I needed some more pills, and a shower was definitely on the cards for me tonight, Glenn, Maggie and their regular fucking spot be damned. Hobbling out, I found that everyone was eating in the makeshift kitchen. They all greeted me: Glenn gave me a side hug and Hershel gave me some more pills, advising me to eat straight away and agreeing that I could shower, so long as I didn't soak the stitches through because we didn't have many to spare.

I excused myself from Hershel and Maggie after thanking them for patching me up and went hunting for food. When I had a bowl, I glanced around for somewhere to sit and spotted Beth. Just as I was making my way over to her, Carol deliberately stepped in front of me. I stuttered to a halt in surprise, my bowl held aloft between us.

Carol smiled softly and tipped her head to the side. "Can I have a word?" She whispered.

I blinked in confusion because Carol rarely spoke to me, but nodded all the same. We moved a little way from the tables where the group were chatting amongst themselves. A quick glance around told me that no one was eavesdropping and so I looked back to Carol, indicating that she could go on with whatever she wanted to say to me.

"First of all, I want to say thank you. For bringing him home." She smiled, big and bright and I pushed the jealousy down.

"He brought me home," I corrected her. Then before I could stop myself: "is there something between you and Daryl?"

Carol laughed quietly, her hand reaching up to stroke at her throat. "Maybe in another life," and it was almost wistful, the way she said it.

I clenched my bowl tighter. "I don't understand," I admitted because if she wanted him, why didn't she try something?

Carol continued to smile. A soft, motherly one that made me wonder if she had children, before. "We've been through a lot, me and Daryl, together. The group are in littler groups, as you can tell, who they bond that bit more with. Beth, Maggie and Hershel. Glenn and Maggie. Rick, and Carl. Daryl and me… we're the outsiders."

I tried to understand, but I couldn't determine if they had shared something tragic or had simply bonded together because they were the two left over. Carol could tell I wasn't getting it because she grinned. "He's my best friend, and I think I'm his, or as close as he'll allow to a friend. There's not a word that does justice to the relationships people have anymore. They mean so much."

I nodded because I understood that. There weren't any decent words to use anymore, to describe an emotion or the way you cared for someone. Carol sighed and her fingers splayed across her throat again, her eyes drifting around the room. "I didn't understand his decision to bring you home, at first."

She looked back at me with another small smile. "But I do now. You're one of us, Danielle. The others maybe don't see it yet, but I do. Daryl does. I think maybe even Rick is getting there. You're a lot like Daryl, you know. You match."

A flush filled my cheekbones and flooded down my throat, but I grinned back at her because it was a humbling compliment. "Thank you," I whispered sincerely, meaning it.

Carol's fingers moved from her throat to cup my cheek, and the movement didn't even surprise me the way I would have thought. She was a mother hen, Carol, and I was even more positive that she'd had children, before. My heart broke for her. "You look after him, Danielle. He's so fragile, more than he looks."

I nodded again and her hand fell from my cheek. "I'm sorry to hold you up, your dinner will be getting cold."

Holding my bowl out to the side, I quickly pulled Carol in for a hug. She hugged me back just as tightly until I gasped at the pressure on my ribs. "Go on, go eat." She shoved me gently and I laughed, taking myself over to sit beside Beth.

The minute I sat down beside her, she started gushing like a school girl, not even asking what Carol had pulled me aside for. "Seen you and Daryl snugglin' this mornin'." She waggled her eyebrows and I laughed around my food.

"You like him dontchu?" Her voice was so sweet, and her accent made me grin.

I dug in with my fork, tossing it around my plate a couple of times before I began to eat it. When I had swallowed, I shrugged. "It's not as simple as that, anymore. Hard to just like someone, have a crush on them. Especially when stuff happens, like yesterday. We could die at any second. You like someone, you have to act on it before it's too late. It's a shit scary decision to make."

Beth stared for a second, her blue, blue eyes swallowing up her milk-white face. "You're right." She paused and then grinned. "Thanks."

I frowned and it pulled on the stiff cut on my forehead, making me wince. "What for?"

"You don't baby me. The others do. 'Specially Maggie, she's the worse, more than daddy." Beth frowned into her food, picking it apart with her fork.

"Can't afford to baby anyone. I never did to my sister, and she was just twelve."

My stomach clenched. Maybe I should have done that, and then I wouldn't have turned her into a terrified, nervous wreck who cried loudly and drawed the attention of every walker for miles, and eventually the ones that had killed her. I clenched my eyes shut, pushing it away.

"But you do like him, dontchu?" She asked again.

I opened my eyes and grinned, my dark thoughts redirected as the man in question came in the cafeteria and looked our way. "I suppose I do."

I promised Beth I would be as quick as I could with my shower, now that the sun was setting and I had already made her wait a whole day for her fire. The others all gathered blankets to take out as I was leaving for my cell. Rick thought it was an unnecessary risk at first, something he made clear to Hershel and Glenn until Carl started complaining about how childish it was. His face took on that tight look like he was seeing his little boy get washed away in the new world and it was scaring the shit out of him. That seemed to inspire his mood change because he told Carl to get an extra blanket for Judith so that she didn't get cold.

I left with a smile, retrieving my fresh clothes and my one luxurious towel from my cell, then made my way to the showers. There seemed to be an unspoken system in the prison, where the men showered later in the evening because they tended to get in later from watches, or runs than the women. Although that didn't truly apply to Rick, or Carl because they were up at early hours tending to their crops and livestock, or Glenn, who pretty much always joined Maggie. Other than that, the women showered any time before or after, to avoid the embarrassment.

Three weeks into living with them all, I'd seen a bit of everyone's skin and they had sure seen mine, especially after last night, despite Daryl's subtle attempts to block the view. It couldn't be avoided a lot of the time. People stripped for bed and you walked in for one last word, or their clothes got torn in a walker fight. Just last week Maggie had quite literally torn the shirt from her back and the front material had slithered right off, leaving her completely topless. Glenn had nearly lost his shit because Carl was there and couldn't seem to keep his growing hormones in check, or his eyes away from Maggie's bare skin.

So, then I'd gotten an eye full of a topless Glenn all the way home since he had donated his shirt to his wife. Still, bits of skin were nothing compared to a fully nude body, so the shower rota was a unanimous decision all round. Which was why I jumped out of my fucking skin when I heard footsteps enter the bathroom. My hair was in my eyes, and I was midway through washing it with my back turned to the door, so I didn't have any time to grab my towel. The footsteps stopped and my whole body flamed, knowing someone was looking at my nude backside.

I was just about to demand who the fuck it was since they were silent for long enough to get a good eyeful when they spoke. "Fuck. Sorry. Didn't know ya was in here, thought ya went with the others."

I relaxed, recognising Daryl's voice. "Nothing you haven't seen before. Well, apart from the new stitches in my leg, and head. Oh, and my lovely bruised ribs."

I finished washing the soap from my hair and turned to face him. Thing was, he had seen it before and yet turning to face him, putting myself on display for him beneath the hot shower made my body temperature ramp up several degrees. It felt different from the creek. A lot different. It had been dark, with only moonlight. Now there was dim lighting, but certainly enough to see by. Enough for him to really see. The air in the block seemed to have been sucked right out and he wouldn't stop looking. Not at my face or in my eyes, but all over me. My hips, and thighs. My shoulders, stomach. My breasts. Between my legs.

I swallowed, my nipples tightening beneath his intense stare. "I thought you were meant to be shy?" I finally spoke, my voice a rasp in the silent room.

"I ain't fuckin' shy," he answered aggressively and proved it by casting a heated glance at my hard nipples.

The water was still running over me, hot and insistent. Doing nothing for my nerve endings, which were on fire under his gaze. I was slick and wet, and it wasn't just the water. "Where did you run off to earlier?" I asked to distract myself from the looks he was giving me.

Like he wanted to devour me.

He swallowed and his eyes moved from my breasts to my ribs, staring at the bruises I had barely glanced at myself. "You needed ya sleep. Had to be on watch an' stuff. Rick said ya didn' have to come out for a couple days though."

I nodded, a smile tugging my lips as I squeezed the water out of my hair, preparing to finish up. "You come for a shower?" I asked, trying to appear nonchalant.

He nodded, that quick half nod and he looked about ready to burst out of his skin. "So, shower." The minute the words come out of my mouth, it sounded like a challenge, as if I was really saying: shower with me.

I noticed his hands clench by his side, and his mouth tightened as if he was really considering it. "Nah, I'll jus' catch one later."

I shrugged like it made no difference to me, but disappointment curled hot and ugly in my stomach. "Don't leave on my account, I'm done." I shut off the shower and reached for my towel, wrapping it securely around me.

Daryl didn't move, and I bit my lip at the weighted silence. Why wouldn't he get naked in front of me? That's what it seemed to boil down to anyway because he didn't seem to mind having sex with me or pulling his trousers down. If it wasn't his lower half, was it his top half? Was there something he didn't want me to see? And who could I ask about it, if anyone?

"Is there something…" I paused as I cast around in my mind for the right word. "Wrong?"

He shook his head, but he was shredding his fingers. "I told ya, I ain't good at this shit."

I frowned. "What, you think that inviting you to a shower means you have to have sex with me?"

He glanced away and then back again, his ears going red but his gaze hot. "I would wanna."

My skin lit on fire. "Then why not? Was it… not good enough, before?"

He huffed out a laugh. "I wouldn't wanna if it was a shit fuck."

My cheeks tinged hot but I laughed, relieved just a little. "Then what's the problem?"

He bit the inside of his mouth before he answered, and when he did he went pink like it embarrassed him. "I like it… rough. Girls don't like tha' stuff, and you got hurt too. Caint be all gentle an' shit like ya need. Don't know how to."

I huffed a breath of annoyance. "It wasn't rough when we met, at the creek?"

He shrugged.

"You want it rougher?" I asked.

Daryl chewed his lip again, and I almost smirked. "I like it rough too you know, and I know how much I can take. None of this," I paused to indicate my body of stitches and bruises. "Matters."

He shook his head in denial and I sighed, taking a step towards him and gripping his face, ignoring his flinch. "I want you," I stated firmly. "I've already had you. Jesus, Daryl, we nearly died yesterday, so what are you holding back for?"

He yanked his face from between my hands, taking an angry step back. "Ain't holdin' back, fuck. I ain't shy!" He spat it out like it was dirty, making me flinch. "Jus' don't wanna hurt ya, alrite?"

"Fuck sake, Daryl." I sighed, pushing my wet hair out of my face. "You're fucking whiplash. You meet me and fuck me within the same hour, then don't speak to me for three weeks! Then you're telling me you're 'no good' at 'this' like there even is a this. Then you're telling me that you want to fuck me, but won't! I don't fucking get it! Stop overthinking everything!"

His mouth tightened into a sharp pucker of anger. "I'm jus' fucked up, alrite? I jus' fuckin' am!"

He blew out the shower room in a hurricane of anger, slamming and punching everything in his wake. Men. I hurried to get dressed and go after him, smooth things out but I was still confused as fucking hell. What was I meant to do? What did he want from me? I didn't understand him one fucking bit. He was hot, and interesting, and mysterious, and God I wanted him, but I didn't know if he was worth this headache.

Lord fucking help me.