"Hey," Daryl murmured, leaning against the cell door. It was the middle of the night, but apparently that hadn't stopped Murphy from being loud enough to wake up half the block. Or maybe Daryl just slept far too lightly. He had his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Connor who was sitting on the floor, his head lying on Murphy's pillow, his hand over his.

"Sorry," Connor said immediately, his eyes half closed from his tiredness. "Sorry about Murph. Nightmares."

"Right." Daryl said. "Just, uh, put a sock in him or somethin', the whole place is hearin' him."

"I know." Connor murmured, caressing Murphy's hand habitually. "M'sorry. Honest, I am. But he's sleepin' now."

"Good." Daryl said. He didn't know whether or not he was supposed to leave. He did know one thing, and there was the fact that he did not want to leave. "What does he have nightmares about?"

Connor sighed. "The governor, and the other group that found us."

Daryl frowned. "You should tell me what happened. Otherwise Rick is gonna ask him."

"I don't want Murphy talkin' about it." he said immediately, his voice raising a little. When Murphy stirred a little, he tightened his hold on his brother's hand and then moving. Connor sighed a little and lowered his voice. "Alright, I'll tell yeh. Now's a good a time as ever I suppose."

"I can tell Rick for you both." Daryl suggested.

Connor nodded, moving some of the hair back from his brother's sweaty forehead. "Well, you know what happened with the governor." he murmured. "A few days later though, this group found us, bunch of guys, kinda looked like our type, guys who knew how to get shit done, asked us if we wanted to go on with 'em."

"And you did."

"Nah, we didn't." he murmured. "And that didn't sit well with them."

"So they beat the shit out of you?" Daryl shook his head, feeling his anger rise. If he had been there, Daryl would have helped Connor and Murphy, he would have protected them. He would have killed anyone who tried to hurt anyone in this prison.

"And some." Connor whispered sadly. "They uh...they took Murphy."

"Took him where?" Daryl frowned.

"In front of me." Connor sighed.

It took Daryl a moment to understand just what Connor meant. That these pieces of shit did not only beat Connor and Murphy simply for refusing them, but they had raped Murphy, in front of his brother. Daryl's fists clenched.

"How'd you get out?" he asked angrily.

"Got into a fight with them all, managed to get my gun, shot one of them, and took Murphy and left as fast as we could." he looked away from his brother and to Daryl. "I know you gotta tell Rick, but please, don't tell anyone else."

Daryl bit the inside of his lip, nodding. "Sure." and then they stayed in the darkness, quiet, Daryl watching Connor and Connor watching Murphy. He had never seen brothers like this, it still blew his mind. Merle would have never sat by his bedside this way, especially while he was sleeping. Merle would have smacked him awake and tell him to stop being a pussy, to man up, and beat whatever dumbass fears he had inside his head.

Daryl knew he could not compare the way Connor looked at Murphy to the way Connor looked at him, but hell, he wished that he could. There was such adoration in his gaze, and where was Daryl? Standing in the doorway, pining over some guy who was an old school Christian which basically meant that every thought Daryl had about Connor was extremely impure for Connor. But even then, Daryl could not stop himself from wanting Connor's attention. Daryl was not a needy person, he didn't even want affection, and he just wanted acknowledgment.

And here he was, selfish as always, thinking about the attention he craved, rather than focus on the fact that he was in a room with two brothers who had to watch each other go through something that no one should have to go through. And still, they were close as ever. But of course, they could not afford not to be. Jesus Christ, Daryl wanted to find these guys and beat the living shit out of them. What kind of monsters did that to people, in an already crappy world?

"Daryl," Connor whispered. "Help me back up there." he motioned lazily to the top bunk. Daryl hadn't even noticed that they had spent so much time in silence. Daryl had been so busy looking at every hair on that blonde head of his, thinking of ways to make this place a better home for these brothers, that he hadn't noticed Connor was falling asleep.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Sure," he mumbled, pushing himself off the wall. He went over to Connor and leaned down; putting his arms under Connor's lifting him semi-gently. Connor stumbled back, almost not even letting go of Murphy's hand in the first place.

"Climb up the ladder." Daryl told him. Connor's head lolled back, completely limp in Daryl's arms. God damnit, he had fallen asleep. Or he was doing it on purpose just to piss Daryl off, which was working out just as well. He grunted and grabbed Connor best he could, encircling him with both his arms. He then turned Connor around, having to move his head since Connor's got a little too close to him. Daryl could not believe he was focusing on the way Connor's body was pressed up against him. Jesus, now was not the time to be thinking about Connor that way. Mind, Daryl thought as he hoisted Connor over his shoulder, shouldn't be thinkin' about Connor like that at all.

Daryl picked Connor up as best he could, groaning a little as he climbed two steps on the ladder, and then, with the greatest effort ever, threw Connor on the top bunk. He saw Connor grin a little, and Daryl almost hit him, he fucking knew Connor was playing with him.

"Asshole." he mumbled, deciding to in fact, punch Connor gently in the ribs.

Connor grunted and laughed a little, slapping Daryl's hand, his eyes still closed. "Thanks, Daryl."

"No problem." Daryl murmured. "Night."

"Goodnight, angel." Connor sighed, his hands slipping under his pillow.

Daryl walked out before he decided to sit on the floor and watch Connor sleep for the rest of the night. That had been hard for him to hear, Connor saying his little pet name for him in a sleepy sigh. Daryl went back to his own cell block, careful not to wake Carol and went to his bunk. He didn't bother going under the cover, he knew he wouldn't fall asleep for a long time anyway. And by the time he would fall asleep, it would be day time, and he would get hot and uncomfortable under the covers. He was very tired himself, they had a long day before they had retired to the prison. He had gone on a real easy run with Rick, Connor and Murphy, and as it turned out, the four of them had made a pretty good team. Daryl already knew Rick and he worked well together, but so did Connor and Murphy. So two groups of two people who did amazing work turned out to be what Daryl thought, would even be an even better team up than he was with Glenn and Maggie.

And once again, Daryl could not stop looking at him while they were on the job. He watched Rick too, but not like he used to. Daryl only watched Rick's back now, making sure he was safe, that if Daryl needed to step in, he would be able to do so. But the way Daryl looked at Connor was wrong, he watched him for more reasons than just to protect him. He watched Connor's muscles tense and release themselves when the danger would pass, or how strong his legs were, when he would crouch down and not tremble from staying put for so long for more than a minute. And worse still, Daryl could not help but look at his backside.

He felt disgusting about the whole thing.

"Hell." Daryl mumbled, turning around, shoving his face into the pillow. He just wanted to sleep...for like seven years.


"Christ," Connor moaned as Daryl's hand trailed from his chest all the way down to his manhood, grabbing it. Connor was on top of Daryl's lap, his back to him, tilting his head back and grabbing Daryl's hair by curling his arm around Daryl.

"Yeh like that?" Daryl growled in his ear, thrusting into him. Connor moaned out loud, the feel of Daryl being completely in him like that was overwhelming. God, it was amazing, there was so much of him, so much skin, so much muscle, and a fucking huge dic−

"CONNOR!"

Connor bolted up from his bed, sweating, his hands flying over to his crotch, because God the moment he woke up he knew he had a hard on. And for a man, no less, which was unacceptable. Connor looked around at a grinning Murphy, who was looking at Connor hide himself.

"Who were yeh dreamin' about?" Murphy smiled.

"No one." Connor slapped his brother's face.

Murphy slapped him back. "Tell me!"

"No one," Connor shrugged. "I can't remember." he lied easily. Murphy shrugged and jumped down, removing his clothes to change. Connor sighed and put the heels of his palms to his eyes, leaning back on the bed.

Hell, he had not had a dream like that in a long time. Hell, Connor had never had a dream about a god damn guy before. And of all the freaking men, he had Daryl Dixon in his dream, the one friend he had made since he and his brother had got here. But it was just a dream, nothing to worry about, and Connor would forget about it swiftly enough anyway.

They had spent a lot of time together since his arrival at the prison, but this was a first for Connor. This was not like him. Connor liked women, Connor liked putting his penis inside vaginas and not anything else. And yet, here he was, trying not to think about a sweaty Daryl Dixon, naked, all over him, so that his one painful boner would go away.

Connor rubbed his face anxiously, thinking about the night before. Maybe it was because of what they had spoken about the night before. Even though that had been more traumatizing, the mention of sex with men was there, which, theoretically could have led to the dream that he had. Connor knew that he was reaching far out, but it made him feel a little better. Especially considering the fact that he had enjoyed it a little too much.

"You gonna get dressed?" Murphy shot his clothes at him. "Come on, you lazy ass."

"Shut up." Connor shot his clothes back at Murphy, but got out of bed anyway, swinging his legs over the bunk and jumping down. He took off his shirt and slipped on a new one, before changing his pants quickly. Murphy was sitting on the bottom bunk, looking at his brother and grinning all the while.

"Shut up."

"I ain't sayin' a word." Murphy laughed.

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

"Shut up." Connor repeated, frowning. He tousled his hair and pointed at him. "Go get us breakfast, I'm gonna see what's on the agenda for today." he slapped Murphy again, but was gone before his brother could get him back. He went on his way to Rick's cell, checking inside to see if Daryl was there. When he saw that neither Daryl nor the Grimes family were present he went over to Daryl's cell and peeked inside, where, there was no one either.

"Hey," Daryl said from behind. Connor jumped from surprise, turning around quickly, facing Daryl. There was almost no space at all between them, Daryl staring at him with a very confused look, his eyebrows scrunched together, looking like he didn't know whether or not he should smile. "What're you doin'?"

"Lookin' for you." Connor stepped aside so Daryl could cross. He only then noticed that Daryl had two bowls in his hand, and handed one to Connor.

"Breakfast." he nodded.

Jesus, now the guy was getting him breakfast? "Oh, I sent Murph." he said lamley.

"Saw him on the way, don't worry." he nodded, sitting down on the bottom bunk. "What'd ya need?" he asked.

For a moment, Connor needed to collect himself. He had just dreamt about this man naked, and was it possible, that now, when Daryl was fully dressed and looking more or less freshly washed (which, from what Daryl gathered, was quite an achievement), Connor's body was reacting even stronger to that. The fact that Connor didn't really know what was under all those clothes, how Daryl really looked, it made it all so much more exciting.

"Just wanted to know what's on the agenda today." Connor spat out, pinching his leg through his pocket, forcing himself to push back all those thoughts. He was a man of God, this was not how it was supposed to be! What would Murphy say? No, this was just a bad morning, that's all it was, a bad morning, from a stupid dream.

"Relaxin'," Daryl was picking in his bowl, shoving food into his mouth. "We're gonna stalk up next week, but today Rick said I could take the day off. We got enough, no point in goin' out if we don't need too." he pointed at him and got up, walking over to Connor. "What's wrong with you?" he nudged him lightly with his elbow.

"Nothin'," Connor shook from the contact. "Nothin', I'm great."

"Don't look it." he stared at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothin', I just had a bad dream."

"Bout what?" Daryl pursed his lips, and Connor wanted to slap it off of him.

"Nothin' important."

Daryl shrugged. "All right." he patted Connor's shoulder.

Connor thought he was going to die.