Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep doing this? *sighs* I do not own The Walking Dead, AMC, Norman Reedus (wait for it... angrily throws a vase against the wall), sorry can't resist.

A/N: I wanna thank my reviewers, eloquent dreams and Purple Dahlia (yes, i'm a sucker for reviews so everyone gets a thank you). I send you an electronical hug, um, {}. Sorry that's the best I can do. I apologize for my rambling, I tend to do it. Oh, btw, eloquent dreams, I may have my story planned out but I had an amazing dream last night with a crazy twist, can anyone say sequel? I know, I'm jumping the gun and I just have so many ideas bouncing around in my head and not enough time in the day to write them all down, rambling again. Enjoy!

Chapter Four:

"How amazing is this water?" Amy asked with flourish, diving uncoordinately back under the cool lake water. The sounds of the other people barely reached Arielle's ears. She was floating in the cool water, even though it was amazing, the coolness couldn't calm her nerves completely down. Her confrontation with Daryl left her feel cranky and utterly spent. She just contented herself with floating around, soaking up some Vitamin C from the sun's bright rays. Arielle couldn't help but feel slightly bitter at everyone else happily swimming around her. Off on the shoreline, Shane was playing with Carl, tossing him into the water and giving the little boy rides on his back through the water. Lori, was contently sunbathing on the shoreline, forever keeping a close eye on her giggling boy who looked happier than Arielle ever remembered him being. Amy, Andrea and Glen were floating around off to Arielle's left somewhere, debating on who would win in a fight: Gandolf or Dumbledore. Weirdos.

"I'm telling you it would be Dumbledore, he's got that special wand and he is old, like really old. He had plenty of time to bone up on his socerery." Glenn loudly explained, trying to point out his 'winning side' of the argument. Amy and Andrea exchanged a glance before turning back to the young man.

"Okay, Glenn, I love you as a friend and I care about you but I have to ask. I can't keep my mouth shut anymore. You've got to be a virgin, right? You just seem like the 'Dungeons and Dragons' kinda guy?" Amy asked while fighting back a fit of giggles. Arielle wasn't in the mood to join in on the harrassing of poor Glenn so she pushed herself further away in the water, just wanting an escape for a little while. She was happy that she had a group of other survivors to back her up and be there to help out but sometimes, she just felt overwhelmed. Arielle had been survivoring on her own in the woods for nearly three weeks and she almost missed the solitude that came with it. Since she was still 'the new girl', a lot of the others still came up to her all the time and wanted to ask her about her time in the woods by herself. Arielle knew that they didn't mean any harm by it but she felt like she never had any time to herself.

You mean time alone with him, a little voice in her mind spoke up, ripping through her current train of thoughts. Arielle pushed it away, not wanting to even think about Daryl at the moment. She just felt so hurt by his avoidance, they had been really good friends at one time and she realized that she needed that again. With her siblings gone, Arielle was alone, for the first time and it terrified her. She had pushed all these thoughts and feelings aside for so long that now since she was idle, they were slipping into her mind. Almost like a leaky faucet, every drip was another face, dead and gone, she would never see them again. Maria, her soft oval face smiling at her, her long corn silk hair always pulled back in a ponytail. Maria had always been a little more boyish than Satine, always playing sports in high school and getting into fights any chance she could. Arielle smiled, she could see what attracted Merle to begin with. She hadn't been as cruel to Arielle as Satine had been, being that she was the oldest, she understood that things went wrong in pregnancies in older women sometimes. Maria was sixteen years older than her and she had moved out of the house when she was eighteen, so, Arielle hadn't seen her around much until she was a little older. Maria finally softened towards her younger sister when she was in grade school, Arielle knew that it must've had something to do with the fact that she looked so much like her mother. Her father had hid most of the pictures of her mother away but Bobby had given her one when she was a child, she still had it and would pull it out from time to time, when life began to feel like to much for her. She would just take in her mother's smiling face, her beautiful mother who had given her life for Arielle's own.

Pulled out of her memories, Arielle felt someone swim slowly up to her left side, she felt the ripples in the water.

"Glenn? I swear to God, if you dunk me, after I kill you violently, you'll be reincarnated as a men's jock strap!"

Before Arielle had a chance to crack her eyes open, she felt hands roughly grip her shoulders and push her downward into the cool water, successfully dunking her completely under. She quickly righted herself and resurfaced, popping out of the water with a shriek of irritation. Sputtering, Arielle pushed her hair out of her face, completely ready to send her assailant to meet their Maker. Imagine her surprise when she spotted Daryl a few feet away from her, lightly treading the water and smiling evilly (and sexily) at her. She felt her insides melt into butter at the devious smirk on his face.

"Well, bein' that I ain't the chinaman, I shouldn' have anything' to worry about in my next life." He replied softly, circling around the enraged and confused woman. Arielle was torn on how to react. Part of her wanted to act on her threat and the other part, much larger part, wanted to throw her arms around him, being elated that he took her up on the offer to socially interact with her again. Deciding on the latter, or at least partially, Arielle splashed water in his face before giving him an innocent smile.

"I knew that my charming and charismatic personality would win you over sooner or later." Daryl snorted.

"Yeah right. I was just worried that ya would end up snappin' one day and massacre the entire camp."

Arielle rolled her eyes while swimming up to him. She noticed him stiffen up slightly, continuing to watch her closely, wondering if she was about to do something bad. She stopped mere inches in front of him and smiled sweetly.

"Nope, just you, Mr. Dixon."

Moving quickly, she forced her leg between both of his, wrapping one of his up in hers and pulled roughly, pulling him slightly off balanced and pushed down on his chest as hard as she could. Arielle managed to only partially dunk Daryl but it was enought to rile him up. Regaining his balance, he attempted to grab her but she was already quickly swimming away.

"Girl, ya know better than that." Daryl caught up with her quickly, which didn't take much. He was a much faster swimmer than she was. Daryl snatched her up from behind, wrapping his strong arms around her waist, hoisting her up into the air.

"Daryl, no, please!" She begged, calling out between laughs. He had her held up in the air, pausing to build the anticipation. He chuckled lightly in her ear.

"Beggin' ain't gonna help ya, sweetheart, enjoy your trip." Daryl quietly said before flinging her into the air. Arielle landed in the water awkwardly, she resurfaced quickly, shooting Daryl a malicious glare. Daryl laughed loudly much to her extreme annoyance. His laughter however, faltered immediately, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. Arielle's expression quickly changed from angered to puzzled.

"What?"

Daryl had raised his eyes skyward, away from her, his cheeks burning red.

"Uh, ya kinda had a wardrobe malfunction there, Janet." He replied, still staring upwards. Arielle glanced down at herself and cried out, quickly ducking back into the water. When Daryl tossed her into the air, somehow the strap holding her top together behind her neck had come undone, giving anyone who was paying the two any attention a free peep show of her assests. Arielle quickly glanced around at the others while hastily tying her top back together. Thankfully, to her immense relief, it seemed that no one else besides Daryl had noticed Arielle's embarrassing moment. Not that having Daryl get a full view of her breasts wasn't horrible enough. Finally situated, she chanced a glance towards him. Daryl had his gaze locked on a small floating twig to his right, as if it was the most interesting thing on Earth. He was chewing on his thumbnail, the flush in his cheeks still evidant. Arielle tried to play the mortifying situation off coolly, or at least tried.

"Hey now, I'm sure that wasn't the first set you've ever seen." She joked, fighting to keep her voice even and internally winced when her comment came out a little high pitched. Daryl, not able to fully meet her gaze, shook his head.

"Ya know it ain', it's different with ya." Daryl visibly froze after the retort left his mouth, like he said something he shouldn't of.

Arielle tilted her head to the side, studying him. His comment burning through her very core. All the confusion, the repressed feelings, the silent hurting of watching Daryl and Satine together, even the awkwardness of late between them molded together into a hodgepodge of unbridled fury, burning through her veins. Watching her compassionless sister and the man that Arielle had fallen in love with, being together and knowing that to Daryl, he probably just viewed her as a kid sister, had felt like a punch in the stomach everytime she saw them together. The thing that had pissed her off the most was that Satine hadn't even really cared about Daryl at all. She used him as basically a fuck buddy, accepting gifts that he bought her with an easy smile. Even though she had been banging half the county behind Daryl's back. It had pained Arielle to know how horribly her own sister was treating him, the one person she had only ever wanted. The only thing that had kept Arielle from running to Daryl and telling him everything she knew was that when it boiled down to it, Satine was her sister. You don't do that shit to family. Arielle just couldn't bring herself to do it. It also didn't help matters that her sister knew about Arielle's 'crush' as Satine referred to it which just pissed Arielle off even more. She had more feelings for Daryl in her pinkie finger than Satine had in her whole being. So being if she did try to alert Daryl to her sister's unfaithfulness, Satine could easily play that card against her, which she did remind her of, alot.

Arielle always questioned Daryl what he saw in her sister. She knew that Satine could be downright manipulative and bitchy at times but even though Daryl ignored her questions, she already knew the answer. Satine had been a vision of beauty. Long shiny corn silk hair, the same shade like Maria and her father, delicate bone structure, perfect complextion, no trace of the annoying freckles that splattered all over Arielle's face. As much as she hated to admit it, if Aphrodite were real, Satine and her would've been neck and neck. There were times though where Arielle hated Daryl for his obvious shallowness. He dated a woman who, everyone knew, was cheating on him and he still came running back. Men.

With all these thoughts and memories swirling through Arielle's head, something inside of her finally snapped and her mouth opened before she could contain herself.

"And why is that? Is it that maybe everytime you look at me, you think of Satine? Or is it that I'm nothing but an annoying kid sister to you?" Arielle snapped, she felt her whole body shaking from the anger rolling through her. Daryl seemed shocked into speechlessness for a moment but he quickly slipped his mask of indifference back into place.

"I didn' say that and don't put words in my mouth!" He snapped back, crossing his arms over his broad chest and clenched his jaw shut. Daryl glared at her in a way that said 'this conversation is over' but she would be damned if he was gonna brush her off that easily.

"Then what? What is it that you find so fucking unappealling about me? You know how I felt about you, hell, still feel about you and you just brushed me off as if I was just some silly, immature child! What is it then and what was so damn wonderful about Satine? Sure, she was beautiful but she was a bitch to you, she treated you like garbage! I would never have done that to you! Yet you kept running right back to her. Am I that repulsive to you?" Arielle half yelled at him, no longer able to keep her cool. She had completely forgotten about the other swimmers around her, everyone had stopped their own conversations and antics, unable to resist the urge to eavesdrop.

"Ya ain' repulsive,' Daryl replied in a low, serious voice, 'not even close." Arielle couldn't hold back the sarcastic laugh that escaped her lips.

"That's all? That's all I get as an answer? Then what's the problem with me, then and now?" Arielle begged, her voice dropping to a mere whisper. She couldn't take this back and forth dance anymore, she had to know if there was any chance that Daryl thought of her as more than an added on family member. Daryl remained silent, staring deeply into her eyes. Arielle held his stare steadfast, silently praying he would answer her. A moment passed and Arielle began to realize that he wasn't going to answer. She almost broke eye contact with him to head back to camp when she saw it, the slightest give. His eyes had softened, his jaw relaxed and he uncrossed his arms. Daryl opened his mouth but didn't say anything, his eyes quickly darting behind Arielle. His indifference mask slipped back on and Arielle felt her heart crack slightly. She looked behind her to see Shane approaching through the water towards them. His eyes darting suspiciously between the two of them before he spoke.

"Everything okay over here, Arielle?" She couldn't wipe the glare off her face. Daryl had been so close to finally opening up to her before the ex-police officer showed up.

"We're fine." Daryl barked before turning away without so much as a glance to Arielle and headed back to shore. As pissed as hell as she was, Arielle didn't waste the view of Daryl trudging soaked back onto shore, wearing only a pair of soaked through boxers. They clung tightly around his hips and outline his butt perfectly, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling stupidly. Once Daryl had thrown his clothes on and was out of earshot, Shane pulled her attention back to him.

"You okay?"

Arielled smiled lightly at him before responding. "Yeah, I'm good. We just started talkign about the past and things got heated. No biggie."

Shane just nodded, then placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that if anything happens, anything at all, if you feel unsafe with Daryl or Merle, all you have to do is just let me know and I'll handle it." Shane said reassuringly. Arielle felt her anger rise up at his request but quickly squashed it back down. He was just trying to be helpful.

"That'll never happen, believe me, I know them both too well. They would never harm me but I appreciate your concern, Shane." She replied evenly. Shane, however, didn't look so convinced. He was rubbing the back of his neck deeply.

"Are you so sure about that? I mean, being a police officer, I've had to deal alot with disputes. I'd get called to a house on a noise complaint and the woman would say that everything was fine then later on, I'd be arresting the man for beating the living day lights our of her.' He paused, seeing the flare up in Arielle's eyes. 'I'm not saying that they would hurt you but you never truly know. The Dixons' make a lot of people around here edgy and I just don't want anything happening to them or you."

Arielle couldn't believe what she was hearing. Just the thought of either Daryl or Merle hurting her just felt wrong, bizarre even. As tempted as she was to tell Shane off, well, you know what, fuck it, she thought to herself.

"You know what, Shane? Those 'Dixons' have done more to protect me than my own drunk, slap happy father ever did. Most of the time, that's who they were protecting me from. I know that sometimes they are as cuddly as cactus' but you don't know them, anything about them. If you people would get off your damned high horses and treated them like human beings instead of backwoods white trash, you'd see some true redeeming qualities in them!" Arielle didn't realize that she had been yelling until she had stopped. She could still hear her voice bouncing off the rock quarry walls. Shane had staggered back a few steps during her outburst. He was staring at her as if she just suggested that maybe the walkers were just misunderstood and needed a hug. Huffing loudly, she trudged through the water back to shore, ignoring the looks she received from Amy and Glenn. Not wanting to return to camp just yet, Arielle climbed up the side of a giant rock next to the lake. The top was basically flat so she laid out on her towel then relaxed on her stomach, wanting to sunbathe for a while. Mainly, to calm her nerves down before facing anyone any time soon.

~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~

Another one done, I love this! Writing stories (yes, I said STORIES) about the undeniably delicious Daryl Dixon has become a new favorite pasttime of mine. I hope ya'll liked this chapter, I know it's kind short but believe me, you're gonna LOVE the next one! Hey, get your minds out of the gutter, nothing has happened yet between them, at least, not yet... It's a flashback, yes, I know you have been waiting to know what the deal-o is. Anyway, please review and I just might get it out tomorrow. Rambling again, later gators!