"Fuck." Was all that came out of Rhiannon Greene's mouth as she watched an unconscious Daryl get dragged to the house.

She felt her heart fall to her stomach at the sight of him. His limp body was covered in dirt and grime. A large blood stain was slowly growing on his side and his hair was matted with blood on his left temple.

"W-what happened?" She gasped, her hand reaching out to touch him but she hesitated and let it fall to her side in a clenched fist after noticing all the people around.

"He was shot." Rick panted. "It's just a graze, he'll be ok." He added quickly after seeing her eyes widen in fear.

"Shot? How did-why-?" Rhiannon stuttered breathlessly. Her mind was a jumbled mess. All she could concentrate on was the wounded man in front of her. All the anger she felt towards him was forgotten.

"I thought he was a walker." Andrea spoke up, guilt contorting her features.

"It was an accident." Dale spoke comfortingly, placing a hand on the woman's shoulders.

"You shot him? Seriously? What the fuck were you thinking?"

Andrea's timid expression suddenly turned to fierce anger. She stepped towards Rhiannon, placing her hands on her hips. "I was protecting the group."

"Really? By drawing in every walker within a mile with that gunshot?"

Andrea opened her mouth to argue but closed it quickly. She knew Rhiannon was right, there was no way to argue that. The oldest Greene daughter turned her back and quickly made her way up to the porch and inside the house, seeing that they'd already brought Daryl in.

She saw them hesitate at the guest bedroom. Carl was still in there.

"You can take him to my room." She spoke quickly, too quickly for her to register what she was offering. She didn't even have time to brush Beth off as she gave her a side look with her eyebrows raised.

Hershel looked at his daughter in surprise. He was confused to say the least. Maggie and her strange connection with Glenn made him weary and now he had to worry about Rhiannon and Daryl. The worry in his daughter's eyes was a clear indication that she cared about the man. That certainly didn't settle well with him.

Rhiannon walked behind Rick and Shane as they hoisted Daryl up the stairs. This time she had no shame in placing a hand on his back. She was sure both of the men could handle the weight of the unconscious man but she didn't care. She fooled herself into thinking this was just her way of helping.

"It's the door on the left." She directed them. She was about to follow them into the room but her Dad moved around her to step inside. She saw the tense look on his face which rooted her to her spot in the hallway. Deciding not add fuel to the fire, she stayed outside. She didn't want to give her a Dad a reason to lecture her, or worse, give her 'the talk'.

"Come on, why don't you sit down." Carol smiled warmly at her, putting a hand on her shoulder to guide her down the stairs. "He'll be fine." She whispered, smiling at her like she knew a deep secret.

Rhiannon looked up at her wearily. She understood what Carol was insinuating but she didn't know how she could possibly know the thoughts running through her head where it concerned the redneck.

"Rhiannon, the world ended. You don't have time to deny your feelings."

"My feelings?" Rhiannon scoffed in surprise. "Daryl and I are just friends, maybe even less. I don't even think he tolerates me."

Carol narrowed her eyes at her playfully. "I thought we already talked about this. Daryl cares about you. I don't know what you did to him but he's different with you."

Rhiannon looked pensive, like the thoughts in her head were too complex for her to even think about. Carol grabbed her hand, squeezing tightly. "Sweetie, I spent so much of my time settling for a man I didn't love. Don't waste your time. The world's gone to hell, may as well make something good of it." She spoke, motioning her head up the stairs to where the man in question was.

Rhiannon sighed in defeat and shook her head. "I don't even know what I feel. It's just a stupid schoolgirl crush." She shrugged and sighed again when she noticed the look on Carol's face. She was urging her to tell more. "I've never let anyone get close to me, but for some reason I feel so comfortable talking to him. I feel like I could tell him anything."

"I can't tell you how you feel, but that certainly doesn't sound like just a crush." Carol gave her hand one last reassuring squeeze before she made her way back into the kitchen to finish cooking dinner.

Rhiannon tapped her fingers against her thigh, contemplating her decision. She quickly stood up and began to make her way up the stairs, she had to see him, to make sure he was ok.

"Rhi, I need to talk to you." Maggie grabbed her arm making her jump. She hadn't even noticed her sister approaching. That damn guy was so distracting. Maggie dragged her out the door and the sisters began walking down the gravel driveway.

"What the hell's going on?"

"Daddy's not happy about this."

"About what, getting dinner made for him?" Rhiannon asked sarcastically. Maggie gave her an irritated look and ran a hand over her face,

"Rhiannon, this is serious! Daddy told me not to get close to them, he's says they're not stayin' here too much longer. You need to talk to him, he'll listen to you." Maggie yelled frantically as she paced in front of her.

Rhiannon scoffed. "Yeah, he's gonna listen to his daughter that's done nothing but rebel all her life. Do you think we could get Beth to do it?" It wouldn't be the first time the two of them used their youngest sister to manipulate their dad to get what they wanted. She was so innocent, their Dad folded every time.

"No, we've done that too many times. He's gonna catch on." Maggie continued to pace stressfully. "What the hell are we gonna do? Dad's gonna kick them out!"

"Maggie! You have to calm down." Rhiannon grabbed her hands, stopping her and making her look at her. "I told you I'd talk to him and I will. Dad's naive, he doesn't realize there's safety in numbers. And he's probably just bitter about the thought of you and Glenn together. You know how he gets about boyfriends."

Maggie let out a deep breath and nodded, trusting that her sister could take care of it. Her face suddenly scrunched in confusion as she thought over what she'd just said. "Glenn isn't my boyfriend."

"Clearly, not after what I heard this morning."

Maggie's face flushed. Her mouth hung open as she looked in horror at Rhiannon. "You heard that?" She whispered, now looking down at her shoes to avoid seeing the smirk on her sister's face that showed just how happy she was to see her so embarrassed.

"Oh yeah, heard everything. You never told me Glenn was a minute man."

"Oh my god." Maggie muttered, putting her head in her hands. "I-I was just doing what you taught me!" She defended herself, only to scowl as her sister laughed at her harder.

"I know and that's what I told him." Rhiannon said once she'd calmed down. Maggie eyed her suspiciously. "Maggie, that guys like you, a lot. He's nice and I honestly don't think you'd be able to score a better guy in the apocalypse. I say go for it."

Way to be a hypocritical bitch, she chastised herself.

"I know." Maggie smiled shyly. "Thanks." She hugged her tightly, finally allowing herself to relax.

The pair walked back to the house in silence, each of them worrying over how the situation would unfold. And Rhiannon was desperate to know about Daryl but she would never tell her sister that. She teased her enough about Glenn, she didn't want that thrown back in her face.

"I'm gonna help with dinner." Maggie told her.

Rhiannon nodded and watched her go. Her mind was now solely on Daryl. She slowly made her way up the stairs, trying to seem like she wasn't too eager. She rolled her eyes at herself, there's no one even watching me. Rhiannon never cared what people thought but now Daryl was making her paranoid.

Before she made it to her room, Rick was storming down the hall, his shoulders rigid and tense. He stopped, seeing her, and his body relaxed slightly.

"He's fine. He's just resting now." He told her before she could ask. Rhiannon nodded silently, watching Rick as he slumped against the wall. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"You know, being the leader doesn't mean you have to take on everything by yourself."

Rick looked up in surprise. He watched as the young woman leaned against the wall across from him. He quickly looked away, avoiding her eyes. He had a feeling she could get him to tell her anything and everything about his life. She had some kind of natural talent for that.

He raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking her to continue. "You're stressing out when you don't have to. This is a good group of people," Shane excluded, she decided not to say but she sure as hell was thinking it. "You have strong, capable people surrounding you. I'm sure they're more than willing to help you carry the burden."

Rick ran a hand over his tired face. "Shane thinks we should stop the search." He looked to Rhiannon, assessing her reaction. He'd noticed how she was closed off around his partner.

He felt like he'd already stretched the boundaries the night before when she'd told him about her close encounters when she was alone. He knew she wouldn't have told him that if he didn't pry which made him feel like he'd taken advantage of her somehow. There was no way he could ask her about Shane, not yet.

Rhiannon could feel his intense gaze studying her. Yep, he was definitely a cop. She knew she couldn't hide her real feelings if she talked about Shane so she passed over the topic of the creep. "And what do you think?"

"I think we're getting close. Daryl found her doll, it cuts the search grid in half." He shrugged. "You're the one who'd be out there looking, what do you think?"

"I think that I'd never be able to look Carol in the eye if I gave up on her daughter. Even if Sophia...isn't..alive-" She took in a shuddering breath, images of the little girl in New York flashing in her mind. "She'd need closure. A place where she could mourn and move past her grief."

Rick nodded thoughtfully, thankful that she'd given him a straight answer, something Lori refused to do. He didn't understand why his wife was playing both sides.

"It's a missing kid. If it was Carl you'd never stop looking."

"You're right." Rick suddenly let out a breathy laugh. "You've given me better advice in two days than Shane has in a week."

Rhiannon couldn't help the victorious smile from growing. But she couldn't let Rick know how happy it made her that that asshole was finally showing how much of a douchebag he could be. "It's always harder to live with your best friends than to live with strangers." She shrugged, trying to look casual.

"I don't consider you a stranger." Rick said without hesitation. She gave him a shy smile and laughed.

"You don't even know my birthday."

Rick laughed, crossing his arms across his chest. "No, but I do know that that's you in the ladybug costume." He said, pointing to the picture frame beside her head.

Rhiannon's eyes widened and she spun on her heels. A loud groan escaped her lips when she saw the old picture of her first year in dance class. "Great, now I gotta take all the pictures down." She muttered making Rick laugh at her again.


Rhiannon scurried into the dining room and blushed when she noticed everyone was already sitting and shoveling food onto their plates. She snorted when she saw Maggie, Beth, Jimmy, and Glenn at a separate table off to the side.

She happily slid into her seat next to her Dad who was at the head of the table, and Dale on her left. He greeted her with a smile as she sat down.

"Well, look who gets to sit at the adult table." She spoke cheerily. Amused smiles were passed around at her teasing tone. "You having fun over there, kids?" She said, smiling wickedly at the glare Maggie sent her.

Her Dad sent her a warning look. "Oh come on, is it or is it not the kids table?"

Everyone at the table stifled their laughter except T-Dog who laughed loudly and pointed at Glenn who just glared at him in response. Rhiannon laughed and sent a sarcastic smile to her sisters. She turned her head and saw her Dad looking at with that scolding look she'd seen many times. Her laughter faded and she suddenly looked worried.

"Please let me stay at this table." She pleaded.

Hershel cracked a smile at his daughter and shook his head, going back to eating dinner and the table went back to silence. Rick sent Rhiannon a smile, he was grateful that she was still able to laugh and joke like in the old world despite everything she'd been through. His eyes travelled to Shane and he frowned slightly as he noticed him leaned back in his chair, his head turned to look at her. Rick could swear the look in his eyes was predatory.

He'd seen the signs before, Shane was clearly attracted to the oldest Greene daughter but this seemed like something else entirely. He knew Shane wasn't like that, he'd never hurt a woman. But the look he saw in his eye said something else entirely.

He'd have to remember to keep an eye on that.

Dinner was over quickly and of course, Rhiannon was left to do dishes with her sisters. Apparently it was her punishment for her stupid joke.

"So what did it say in the note?" Rhiannon piped up, causing Maggie to sigh and roll her eyes.

"Of course you noticed that." She mumbled. Beth laughed at both of them, she tended to stay out of the teasing and pranks that went on among her older sisters.

"So...Where are you guys gonna be doing it tonight?" Maggie almost dropped the plate she was holding and sent a startled look to Rhiannon. "What? I need to know so I can avoid that place."

Rhiannon smirked triumphantly at the annoyed look on her face. She finished drying the plate and went up on her tiptoes to put it away in the cupboard. Maggie came up behind her, taking the plate from her hands. "Don't worry, little one, I got this." She said, a pleased smile on her face as she effortlessly put the plate back.

Rhiannon scowled at her before shrugging her off. "Oh well, at least Dad didn't catch me pretty much sexting with my minute man boyfriend."

Beth's eyes went wide, suddenly feeling the need to scurry out of the room.

"At least I don't need a stool to do the dishes." Maggie countered without hesitation.

Rhiannon gasped dramatically and narrowed her eyes at her. "You bitch."

Maggie put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "I learned from the best."

"Mhmm." Rhiannon pushed her away playfully. "We can finish this, go have sex with your boyfriend."

"You guys are so annoying." Beth interjected, rolling her eyes at them. Rhiannon bumped her hips with hers and threw the tea towel she was holding at her. "You dry, I'll wash."

Maggie suddenly sprinted out of the kitchen without a goodbye. Rhiannon and Beth watched her go with confused looks.

"What was that about?"

Rhiannon shrugged. "I guess Glenn's really good in bed."

"Rhiannon!" Beth yelled, her cheeks going red.

"Oh, don't be such a prude."


Daryl laid in bed, her bed he was told. Did it make him a creep that he felt a little turned on at that? Probably.

He craned his neck to see the framed picture on the beside table for what was probably the tenth time. A smile involuntarily graced his usually hard features at the sight of a young Rhiannon and who he assumed was Maggie dressed up as princesses on halloween.

He turned his body slightly, wincing at the pull in his side, to stare at the door. He'd been wondering why she hadn't come in. He'd been there for hours and even Carol had come to see him.

You're every bit as good as them.

He inwardly scoffed at the woman's words. If he was such a great man like Rick and Shane he wouldn't have been such an ass to a girl who did nothing wrong.

He looked around her room, wishing he could get up to see the pictures on the dresser in the far corner. He noticed an old stereo with a pile of cassette tapes next to it. He gave a small laugh at that. If he wasn't so damaged they might actually end up being good friends.

Who was he kidding? He could never be friends with her, not with that voice in the back of his head that kept reminding him how beautiful she was. That would complicate things for sure.

A soft knock at the door startled him. He immediately pulled the blanket up to his shoulders as Rhiannon poked her head in.

"Hey. Sorry, were you sleeping?"

"Nah."

Rhiannon walked in and closed the door behind her. Daryl tried to ignore the way his heart beat faster at that.

"You were tryin' to warn me 'bout the horse, right?" Daryl spoke up making her look at him with a puzzled expression. "Today, when I yelled at you. You were gonna tell me to take a different horse."

She nodded, a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry about that."

"Why would you be apologizin'?"

"Because I was mad at you and I wanted Nelly to throw you on your ass. If I knew you'd be a total clutz about it I would've tried harder to stop you."

Daryl scoffed. "I didn't exactly make it easy for you."

Rhiannon eyed him thoughtfully and sat on the edge of the bed making Daryl shift his body further away. It was just too much for him to have her sitting on the bed he was in. Like a fucking teenager, he scolded himself.

"Is this how it's gonna be with us? You yell at me and storm off and later you apologize and we end up having a good time together but then you freak out that someone's getting close to you so you lash out again and we're caught in a vicious cycle."

Daryl was stunned to silence. He stared at her with wide eyes, his lips parted in surprise. He suspected she'd been aware of what he was trying to do but he never thought she'd ever be so open and brave to tell him that.

"'M sorry. I can be a dick."

Rhiannon laughed. "Yeah, you can." Her smile faded as she looked at the gauze wrapped around his head. "Are you ok?"

Daryl shrugged flippantly. "M' head hurts." He mumbled.

"It's a good thing Andrea's a shit shot. This could've turned out a lot worse."

Daryl huffed out a laugh. "You sayin' I'm lucky?"

"In a sense." Daryl narrowed his eyes at her. "C'mon Dixon, you have to learn how to look on the bright side." She said and immediately burst out laughing at the look of disgust on his face.

"You do realize the next time you go past the fence I'm gonna be glued to your side. I don't think anyone would feel comfortable with you going by yourself, you'll need an escort at all times." She said sarcastically, reveling in the glare Daryl sent her way.

"Stop." He muttered.

"It's what's best for you. I mean, seriously, who falls on their own arrow? I'll babysit you to make sure you don't do something so idiotic again."

Rhiannon smiled even wider when she noticed Daryl smiling at her teasing. It felt like she was seeing the eighth wonder of the world, something so rare and wonderful that only she got the pleasure of seeing.

"Seriously though, I'm glad you're ok."

Daryl nodded at her and looked away. It was too intense for him to look her in the eye, he worried he'd say something embarrassing. "Dixon's are hard to kill." He shrugged making her laugh and in turn made him feel pride that he'd made her laugh.

"Of course you're too stubborn to let the apocalypse take you out." She teased him. Her face turned thoughtful and she eyed him with a wicked smirk. "So does this civil conversation we're having mean you can be a mature adult and we can actually be friends?"

Daryl glared at her again, but it faded as the smile he was trying to hold back began to slip through. "Yeah, we can be friends."

She smiled widely at him leaving him feeling light headed and he knew it wasn't from the gunshot. He couldn't help the pit in the stomach he felt. Just friends.

He'd just have to get over his attraction to her. He doubted it was possible but he figured it was worth a shot.

"Alright, well, I just came in here to get some clothes. I'm bunking with Beth tonight cause the invalid needs my bed."

Daryl pushed his leg out, gently nudging her. She stood, biting her lip to stifle her laugh. She practically skipped to her closet to pick out her clothes for the night.

"You a dancer?" Daryl asked, his eyes on her old pointe shoes that were hung on the closet door.

"Great work, Detective." She chided him sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her playfully, she sure had a hell of an attitude.

She walked back to the door, blushing as she felt his gaze on her. "Feel better, Clutz."

Daryl scoffed in amusement. "See ya later, Tinkerbell."

He could hear her laughter even after she closed the door behind her. He eyed the closed door for a moment before he slowly turned on his side, not even realizing the wide smile he had on his face.


Rhiannon wrung the water out of her hair. She would never be able to express how grateful she was that her Dad had thought to keep generators in the basement. The three weeks she went without a proper shower and hot water were horrible. She never realized how much she enjoyed them before.

She'd had a dopey grin on her face the whole time, her mind wandering to her conversation with Daryl.

Steam billowed around her as she opened the door. It had been a long day and all she wanted was to go to bed. She was thankful Beth wasn't a snorer.

Her body jumped, her back hitting the door jam as she spotted Shane leaning against the wall, a devious smirk on his face. "Sorry, were you waiting for the bathroom?"

"Nah, was waiting for you." He bit his lip, pushing himself off the wall to step closer to her.

Rhiannon was regretting the cotton shirts and tank top she was wearing, and not to mention the fact that she didn't have a bra on. She didn't fail to notice the way his leering gaze travelled up her bare legs to her chest.

She couldn't let him know how nervous he made her, she couldn't be weak in front of him. She rolled her eyes at him and continued down the hall. He quickly grabbed her arm to stop her. Her whole body tensed in response.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She snapped at him. He just smiled at her, it made her insides clench in fear.

"I see the way you look at me. I know you're...intimidated by me." His voice was low, practically a growl as his hand moved a strand of wet hair behind her ear. She shrunk back at his touch, her heart pounding in her chest. "I know you want me."

Rhiannon sobered from her fear and narrowed her eyes at him. "You think I want you? What gave it away, my obvious disgust that you're touching me right now?"

Her sarcasm only made him angry. His hand moved to the back of her neck and he started to squeeze tightly. Her breathing hitched but she wouldn't let her glare waver.

"I know men like you. You think you own me, that you'd be the best thing to ever happen to me, that you'd be the best fuck I'd ever have."

Shane only proceeded to laugh deeply, a vicious smirk on his face.

"I know you think you can get what you want but you're wrong. I don't care how hard you try, you won't break me."

Rhiannon swallowed thickly as he ran his hands down over her collarbone and travelled down the middle of her chest. She tried to ignore the way her hands trembled at her sides. Images of her abusive ex boyfriend flashed through her mind making her body shake even more.

"You know what I did to Otis, don't you?" He whispered in her ear, his hot breath on her neck made her feel sick. "You haven't told Rick, why?"

"Rick cares about you. For some reasons I'll never understand, he loves you like a brother and I don't want to be the one to hurt him by telling him his friend's a murderer. I'll wait until you mess up and Rick can realize what a waste of space you are on his own."

Rhiannon gasped as she was pushed back against the wall with a dull thud. Her chest rose and fell with each panting breath. She winced as Shane gripped onto her waist tightly.

"You got a smart mouth, don't you? Maybe I should put it to good use." Shane gently kissed her temple making her whimper softly. She stood still, her body tense as he pressed his hips against her. "I can take what I want. I could take you right here-" Rhiannon squeezed her eyes shut, her body trembling against his.

"-But I won't. I wanna take you somewhere else where I can hear you scream my name."

She felt his hard length against her as he ground his hips against her. "You say anything about this or about Otis and next time I won't stop." He whispered, his hand squeezing her breast. He gave her a slimy smile and stepped back, keeping his eyes on her as he walked backwards down the hall.

Rhiannon let a few tears fall after he was finally out of sight. She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart as she tried to calm her breathing before she had a full fledged panic attack.

She began to slowly walk down the hall on shaking legs. She didn't want Beth to see her like this but all she wanted was to bury herself under a mound of blankets and sleep for days.

"Ow, fuck." A pained groan was heard behind her closed door where Daryl was supposed to be sleeping.

She furrowed her brows and opened the door. "What the hell are you doing? Get back in bed." She scolded him as he was trying to step out of her bed, his face contorted in pain.

"I'm gonna kill that fucker." Daryl growled through clenched teeth.

Rhiannon felt the blood drain from her face. He'd heard everything. She pressed the heel of her palms into her eyes, willing the stinging of tears to go away. Daryl let out another groan snapping her out of her shock.

"Let me go." He hissed as she put her hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"No! You have to stay in bed, you're gonna hurt yourself."

"He threatened to rape you!"

Rhiannon shushed him, slapping a hand over his mouth. He flinched away, grabbing her hand it pulling it always from his mouth. He had no shame in the fact the he didn't let go of her hand.

"Daryl you have to calm down. It's not a big deal, he's just trying to scare me."

"Not a big deal? Are you fucking kiddin' me?" He snapped, trying again to raise himself off the bed.

"He's not gonna do anything to me, ok?"

"Damn right he ain't. I'm gonna fuckin' kill him before he can even think of touchin' you again."

Rhiannon tried to ignore the butterflies she felt at his words. She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "As long as I don't rat him out, I don't give him a reason to come near me."

"You don't give him a reason? You know how fucked up that sounds? It's not your fault he's a fuckin' creep."

"Daryl, you need to calm down." She spoke softly, placing a hand on his chest that was practically vibrating with anger. He didn't even flinch at her touch this time, he was so angry, he barely registered it.

"He touch you?"

Rhiannon hesitated which only made Daryl narrow his eyes at her quizzically. There was no way she'd ever be able to keep it from him, he wouldn't stop until she told him. "A little, nothing too bad. He just shook me up."

Daryl's jaw clenched, his face going red in anger as he finally found the strength to stand fully out of bed.

"Don't!" Rhiannon scolded him, pushing against his shoulders. Daryl relented, his anger diminishing at the feel of her hands on his bare skin. He let her push him back and he quickly laid back, still feeling pissed at the thought of not bashing Shane's skull in. He let out a loud groan as he accidentally laid on his wounded side.

He quickly turned over, sighing in relief as the pressure was taken off of his wound. He heard a sharp intake of breath that made his blood go cold. His hands were a blur as he pulled up the sheet to cover up his scarred back.

Daryl's body was tense like a statue. He was readying himself to hear the slam of the door as she left the room. He turned his head slightly at the silence that followed. He quickly turned his head back once he realized she was still standing behind him. He refused to make eye contact with her, he didn't want to see the look of pity on her face.

"How long has it been since you took a pain pill?" Her voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Couple'a hours" His voice was a low growl. He was more than a little confused, it wasn't what he expected her to say. He watched her come around to the other side of the bed where he was facing. He shrunk back slightly as she stood in front of him.

"Here, take another one." She handed him a pill and a glass of water that was left on the bedside table.

He swallowed the pill, handing her the glass back. Rhiannon took it without a word.

"You ain't gonna ask 'bout it?" He asked quietly, his voice gruff. He knew she'd seen them, the horrifying reminders of his terrible childhood.

"No. You obviously don't wanna talk about it, so I'm not gonna ask about it." She shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed. This time Daryl didn't move away.

He looked up at her in awe. She never failed to surprise him. "Why?"

She exhaled loudly, biting her lip. "A lot of people have scars they're ashamed of. I'm not gonna make you relive it."

Daryl watched her curiously, her words resonating in his head. Did they have a deeper meaning he didn't understand?

He nodded at her, grateful that he didn't have to tell her about his father and his awful past. He was glad he could get more time with her before he scared her away and she realized how damaged he was.

"Thanks for trying to protect me." She whispered, pushing her damp hair away from her face. Daryl just shrugged, avoiding her eyes as he felt his cheeks flush.

"Wasn't gonna let that happen to ya."

"I know. You're one of the good guys."

She smiled down at him. She didn't even know how to describe what she felt as they held eye contact. His eyes shifted down shyly and he smirked as he noticed something on her leg.

"That another tattoo?"

"Yep." She said casually, holding her leg out so he could get a better look at the little saturn tattoo she had on the side of her knee.

"Why'd you get it?"

"I got drunk after fighting with my dad. Wasn't my best moment but It's grown on me."

"I like it." Daryl mumbled. He had to stifle his grin when he noticed her blush. "You only got the three?" He'd seen the two she had on her inner bicep and forearm and now the newly discovered one.

"No, I have ten."

His eyes widened in surprise. She laughed at his expression making him blush. "They all drunk mistakes?"

She scoffed and shoved him gently as to not hurt him. "Only a few." She responded vaguely.

Daryl scowled at her bullshit answer. He obviously wanted more details. Rhiannon giggled. "I told you Dixon, I'm not telling you anymore about me until you tell me something about you."

He just groaned in response making her laugh. She eyed him for a moment, biting her lip. She couldn't even begin to describe how much she'd enjoyed her evening with him, despite everything Shane had done.

"I should go."

Daryl nodded and pulled the covers down as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Uhh, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna walk you to your sister's room. Don't know where that asshole went, don't wanna risk it." Daryl told her, his eyes fierce as he thought again of what Shane had tried to do to her.

Rhiannon placed a hand on his bare chest to stop him. She could feel his heart beating rapidly beneath her palm. "I'll be fine." She whispered. He shook his head, refusing to let her go alone. "Daryl," She grabbed his hand and squeezed, making him look at her. "I can walk down the hall by myself." She laughed making his breath quicken.

He nodded silently, his eyes trained on hers like he was in a trance.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

He only nodded in response and immediately felt disappointment as she released her grip on his hand and stood from where she sat. His eyes trailed her as she walked out of the room. A harsh breath expelled from his lips after the door closed behind her and he was left alone.

He threw his arm over his eyes, his mind whirling with what had just happened. It was so strange for him that he enjoyed someone's company so much. He wasn't used to it. The relief he felt that she didn't push him to talk about his scars was overshadowed by the anxiety he felt that someone had seen them.

That feeling was even overshadowed by the intense anger he felt at that sleazeball Shane. His fists clenched at the thought of him and what he'd tried to do. He vowed he'd never let him touch her again. He'd never be able to live with himself if she got hurt and he couldn't stop it, especially if it was him that had hurt her.

There was no way he'd ever let that happen to her.


Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! Hope you all enjoy this one xx