A quick moment to thank everyone for the amazing reviews and all the encouragement and love with this fic. I love you all. Enough of my yammering on now. Holy drama Batman! This chapter goes from slashtastic to dramatic. Enjoy. - saintsugarcyanide

Chapter 4- Tied Up and Gone

Daryl paused the kiss long enough to pull her camisole top over her head, leaving her in her bra and shorts. He slid one arm around her waist and pulled her back to him. She kissed him with everything she had while pushing his already open shirt off. The shirt tied around her waist was starting to bug her. It was bunching up and not letting her feel his hardness against her leg. She suddenly had an idea, glancing at the pole nearby. With a hard shove, she pushed Daryl onto the ground. His shocked expression almost made her burst into peals of laughter but she held back. "What da hell, woman?" She untied the shirt from her waist and held it in one hand as she moved to straddle Daryl on the ground. "I think I like being in charge." She ignored his shock this time and concentrated on tying his hands up with the shirt to the pole. Once he was completely tied up and slightly helpless, she smirked,"Yes, I like being in charge a lot."

"Not real sure I do." Daryl scowled at her, struggling with the tied material. She mocked a glare,"Do I really need to shove my bra in your mouth to shut you up, Dixon?" A wicked smile looked back at her,"I kin thinka some things I wouldn't mind in mah mouth alrigh'." She couldn't hold back the giggle this time. He had changed into something new with her. Brave and callous and sure of himself for once. Instead of the flinching, scared little boy he had been with her that first week. She was over the moon with how real he could be with her now. She just hoped it would carry over a bit when he was with his group. He needed to know how amazing of a man he was. Not sexually speaking, just him as a person. He was a hero, a protector, the alpha male, with a heart of gold, and needed to carry himself as such. Knowing the bad news she would need to tell him soon, she ignored all of those thoughts and went back to concentrating on him, on tonight.

She unhooked and removed her bra, placing it aside. Leaning down to press her overly warm bare breasts on his chest, slick with sweat and somehow cooling to her, she sucked his lower lip into her mouth gently before kissing him passionately. She pulled back and stared into his beautiful crystal eyes, the moonlight glinting in them, before placing tiny, loving kisses on the beauty mark on the corner above his mouth, to his grizzly cheek, his perfect model like cheek bones, finishing with a peck on his nose. "Enough of me being all sweet and sappy now, huh?" She blurted this out quickly as she saw what looked like tears begin to well in his eyes. She was near tears as well. They both knew this couldn't last but they couldn't think of it. Better to just let go of wishes for a future. There was no future in this life now. Just a hope for a tomorrow that might never come. There was only this, only now.

She removed her bottoms and his and straddled him again. The second she felt her sex against his, she moaned softly. He was hard as a rock and could have easily slipped into her, but she wanted to use his helplessness to her advantage first and drive him wild. Slick with her juices, she grinded against him. "Fuck, baby, yer so wet. Yer killin' me here. I wanna touch ya." She leaned down and thrust her breast into his mouth,"Shush. You talk too much." He sucked on her nipple for a bit before biting down, rather hard, causing a yelp from her. She sat up and stopped moving to glare at him. He smiled innocently,"Jus' wanted ta say how funny it is fer ya ta say that."

"What?"

"Talkin' too much. Spent mah life being told I didn't talk 'nuff."

She thrust against him hard, pulling the most delicious noise from his throat, "Interesting. And now you seriously. Won't. Quiet. Down." She accentuated each of the last words with a thrust of her hips. Her clitoris was rubbing perfectly against his dick now and she was close to coming. She needed more and couldn't wait. She reached down to guide him inside of her, slowly, painfully slow. His eyes slipped closed in ecstasy as he entered her at last. Hands splayed against his chest, she moved up and down, wanting to feel every last inch. He moved his hips in time with her motions until they formed a perfect rhythm, trying to make this last as long as they could. Voice choked with desire, he spoke up,"Untie it, babe. I need to touch ya." She slipped him completely inside and stopped moving,"Why should I? I'm enjoying having all this power over you." He planted his feet on the ground and thrust up so hard just then, she was lifted off the ground. She had to bite down on the back of her own hand to muffle the scream of pleasure that let loose. He lowered back down and did it a few more times until she gasped out,"You fucking win, okay."

She undid the ties and took his wrists to her mouth to kiss the small indentations she had caused. He sat up and clutched the back of her head with one hand, kissing her. His other hand moved down her back, feeling every part of her slick skin he could. They kept raping each others mouths as he gripped her ass in his hands and bounced her up and down on his member. He slipped a hand in between them somehow, she couldn't even imagine how since they were pressed so tightly together now, and began to flick a finger over her clitoris. The faster he moved his fingers, the faster she rode him. They were panting and moaning into each others necks now as their mutual orgasms arrived. "Oh god, Daryl!" she gasped out as he came as well. Her own cry of his name nearly drowned out what he said as he came. But she heard some of it. And the word "love" had been in there. They stayed clutching each other a few minutes, no words exchanged, her mind reeling, wondering if he had just said he loved her or not.

They pulled apart and went about getting dressed again, still not speaking. He wouldn't meet her gaze when she did try to look at him. He had said something he was embarrassed about. She recognized the signs. When they had spent that week together, he had told her some stories of his childhood. Some had been quite embarrassing ones involving his brother tormenting him. Bullying him, really. And he had done the same thing when he had told those stories. Avoided her gaze. He had also changed the subject quickly then, as if he was regretting every word he had told her. "Pretty night, ain't it?" Yes, he was definitely changing the subject. She murmured her agreement and sat back down on the ground, staring at the nearby dark woods. She had something to tell him but she didn't even know how to begin.

He sat beside her and casually put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him a bit. "Awful quiet. Ya ai'ight?" He had concern in his voice. It pained her even more. He had said it. That he loved her. And she thought she loved him too. But it didn't matter. They couldn't have love. The normal rules no longer applied.

"How long do you think we'll last?"

"Whadaya mean?"

"In this world, how it is now. The fucking geeks all over, the supplies running out eventually with no one to make more, no safe place to go. Shit, Daryl, one of your own group shot you. And Lori was saying something about her son getting shot. We are fucked no matter what. We're being killed by walkers and by each other even. How long can we last?"

"You n' me? Or all'a us, like human kind?"

"The human race. I guess that's what I mean."

"Ya can't jus' give up. 'Da fuck is with people jus' givin' up 'round here?"

He sounded frustrated, but she was more frustrated. She had given up a long time ago. She pulled away from him and stood to pace angrily,"Why shouldn't I give up? I wish I had just shot myself that day!" He looked at her with horror and confusion. She wasn't done yet, this anger and pain needed to come out. "You want to know why I gave up on everything, Daryl? It was Labor Day weekend when the reports hit my college. We heard about it all on the news. But Glenda, Anna, Tera and I had braved driving back to our homes to check on our families. It was too late for their parents and mine. We all saw our mothers and fathers torn to shreds. Glenda even watched one of those fucking things gnawing on her mothers arm. I killed it but that image doesn't just go away. Neither does the one of having to put a bullet into my fathers head. The man that worked his ass off to send me to college. The man that gave me and my mother the best of everything, even when he had to go days without sleeping so he could work 20 hour shifts then take me to ballet. The man that took care of my paraplegic mom after the car accident."

Daryl jumped to his feet and gathered her into his arms as she began to sob heavily. "Shh, baby, shh." She looked up, tears pouring down her face,"I put a bullet into his brain and then turned the gun on myself, Daryl. Glenda nearly got shot herself wrestling it away from me. I wish she hadn't saved me." She buried her face in his strong chest and wept. After she had calmed a bit, she heard him whisper,"Then I never woulda metcha. An' that's not okay." Sniffling, she looked up at him,"I have to leave at first light. You know that, right?" He shook his head,"I said yer stayin' wit' me. Nobody ever gonna hurt ya again." She backed away and wiped her tears forcefully off her face,"No Daryl. I'm leaving. You had to walk away from me that day and I accepted it. Now you need to accept this. My group needs me. We've been through too much together." He nibbled at his nails and spoke around them,"Ya all stay then."

"We both know that's not gonna happen. You have your group. Farm guy has his. I have mine."

"I'll go witcha then."

"That's not how my group works. It's just the four of us. We made a promise to keep it that way. I'm sorry. So fucking sorry."

He just looked at her, a mixture of pain, sadness and anger on his face,"Don' be sorry. I'm used ta it. Best a luck then." He turned then, grabbed his crossbow and stormed off. She walked him walk away again. The second time in a matter of days. She wished she was dead. Everything was completely insane and she couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't about to head back to the farm now. She decided to just wander around until the sun began to rise. With so much on her mind, she didn't even see where she was headed until she was in the nearby woods. Turning around, she could still see the field, so she wasn't lost. Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind. A large, grimy arm wrapped around her throat, cutting off her scream and her air. A thick Southern accent spoke low in her ear, sounding lewd yet amused, "I kin see why he likes ya, sugartits."