You know the bed feels warmer
Sleeping here alone
You know I dream in color
And do the things I want

You think you got the best of me
Think you've had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone

Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone.


Another bug flies onto Annie's shoulder in the late afternoon air on that warm day. And she swats it, just like she did to all the other bugs that had decided to try and make a home on her body. She had had it up to here with mosquitoes. Any other bug she could deal with, but those little blood sucking monsters she wanted to just destroy them all. And of course they had no god damn bug spray in this fucked up world.

Right now, the two of them were walking through the forest, just looking for something to eat for the night. It had been a week since the tree incident and Annie found herself becoming more brave with each day. She had no clue why. She had no clue how. But she knew that one of the reasons was that Daryl was around her twenty four seven.

And over the past week, she felt like she was slowly breaking down his walls and getting to know him more and more each day. And to be true, she actually liked being in his company. When he wasn't a grumpy grouch around her. When he was that, she sincerely wanted to slap him. She swore this man had more mood swings then a pregnant woman.

But that didn't make her like him any less. He was a survivor. He knew fully well how to live in this kind of world. Granted, she kind of did too. But he seemed to know more. And to be true as well, she wanted to learn exactly how he was prepared. But she wasn't going to go deep into his past without him being comfortable. She didn't want to be that person.

And know she was actually with him right now, apparently tracking a deer he had found, and the bugs were eating away at her skin.

She looks at Daryl, who was focused intensely on the deer tracks on the ground. She could track, but she wasn't that good of a tracker. And apparently he saw invisible deer tracks. Cool.

But she couldn't help but admire the way he looked. His hands grasped his crossbow with ease, something she could probably never do well, even if she did know how to do it, and with every reload of an arrow when he shot a walker, she would see his muscles flex, and she would try really hard not to fangirl and to act like a fucking woman. But she couldn't resist the fact that he had really, really toned arms. She was always into guys like that. But in this world, romance usually wasn't an option, and she wouldn't want to throw herself into that at this point in her life. She was twenty seven, living life to the fullest. Well, as much as she could in this world.

She chuckles quietly to herself and looks around, making sure to stay high alert for walkers around them. About to step out, she is stopped when an arm shoots out in front of her and stops her in her tracks. She lets out a resounding 'oof' and looks up to see Daryl looking at her with 'be quiet' look. She looks around and sees they had finally found the supposed deer that they had been tracking. Wow. He wasn't imagining.

She nods and sees him load his crossbow, making sure to look away to hide her blush from him so she wouldn't look like a fucking high schooler, and then watches as he expertly fires the arrow into the deer's head, killing it instantly. She smiles.

"You're a damn good shot," she says. "I could never get that if I tried." He shrugs his shoulders.

"Not that hard," he replies, walking over. She furrows her brow.

"Not that hard?" she repeats to him incredulously. "I can never hit that. I'm not skillful. To hit that deer in the head straight on is impressive." He rolls his eyes.

"Stop the praise and come over 'ere and help me, woman," he says, gesturing his hands to the deer on the ground. She places her hands on her hips, shakes her head, and then walks over.

"You just can't take a god damn compliment, can you?" she chuckles, leaning down next to him, taking out her knife. "Maybe one day you could teach me how to use that crossbow correctly." He raises an eyebrow at her.

"Correctly?" he asks. She shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, I learned how to use one just by reading a shit ton of books in my orphanages library, but I've never actually…used one, you know?" She shakes her head. "I sound crazy," she dismisses with her hand. "Just ignore what I say," she chuckles. "Let's just get this deer skinned so we can eat." He nods and continues to start to cut open the deer.

To be honest, she was never really good with blood. Never had been. Hell, she only dealt with horror movies, never really liked them. But it was something she had adapted to in this world. And seeing deer's blood wasn't as gross as some of the other kinds of blood she saw those days.

"So…" she starts, throwing the skin to the side. "How long have you been hunting?" she asks. He's silent for a moment before replying.

"Probably since I was little," he replies, easily removing the skin from the deer's body. She sees the insides and cringes slightly, but she seriously needed to grow up and smell the roses. This was the apocalypse. She needed to get used to these.

"I just learned during this. I'm a fast learner. Who taught you?" she asks. She sees him tense up for a second, and she knew she had hit something personal from his past.

"My old man," he mutters. Before she could ask another question he cuts her off. "Nasty son of a bitch," he adds on. That shuts her mouth for a moment, causing her to look down at the dead animal, trying to hide the pity on her face. She knew he didn't want that.

"Oh," she finally said, looking out into the forest. "Well, even if I grew up in an orphanage, life wasn't easy there. My caretaker, Miss. Destiny, was such a bitch. She would push me down stairs just because I said a swear. I still have some scars from when I hit the back of a banister after she pushed me down the stairs for saying the word 'damn.'" She chuckles. She looks at him and finds him staring intensely at her. And she curses herself for blushing under his gaze.

"Why are ya telling me this?" he asks, and actually notices that he was confused that she was telling her all of this. She looks down and shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm telling you because I want to let you know you're not alone," she says, looking back at him, keeping his gaze. "Everyone has that shitty moment in their past. Everyone has scars. Some may be on the inside…while others may be on the outside," she says, lifting up her shirt a little to show one of the many scars that were on her stomach from the endless beatings at the orphanage. He stares at it for a second before looking back at her. "I understand you need space. Everyone does. But I'm just putting this out there. You don't need to hide anything from me, because I get it. I know what it feels like to be neglected and to be hurt. To be disloved by someone who was supposed to love you. And I DEFINETLY know what it feels like to feel like no one cares and that there's no hope. But there is. There always is. Whether it's big or small. And if you're thinking I'm giving you pity, I'm not. It's empathy. There's a difference-"

"I know," he replies, still staring at her. She smiles at him and doesn't turn away. He did know she was telling him her story, and he really did like it, but just the way she was looking at him made him want to just fucking take her right there on the forest floor. That wasn't something he would normally do, but with her…it just felt like he would. That one fucking smile, that one god damn thing, made him feel stuff that he never even knew he was capable of feeling. She had a damaged past, just like him, and just didn't want to be alone. Wanted to have someone to give a shit about her.

Well, she certainly had someone now.

He clears his throat and looks down. He needed to get these thoughts out of his head before they got out of hand and actually happened. Making his hands busy, he starts to cut up the deer. "We better get this deer cut up," he murmurs quickly.

She looks at him confused for a second. What had that been? Well, it was certainly over now. She simply shrugs her shoulders and continues to help him.


The two now sat around a small campfire they had made when the sun had eventually gone down. And both were eating freshly cooked deer. Every once and a while they would talk, but sooner or later, it would fall into silence again. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was nice. Like just two friends that could sit there and not say anything at all but still be saying a thousand things to each other. But righ now, she had a song stuck in her head.

And she needed to get it out.

She brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs, giving herself a comfortable position that she could lean her head back against the tree. She starts to hum and then little notes come out one by one.

'I'm sittin' in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one man band'

She feels her eyes close at the sound of her voice going easily through the song.

Homeward bound
I wish I was
Homeward bound
Home, where my thought's escaping
Home, where my music's playing
Home, where my love lies waiting
Silently for me'

When she opens her eyes again, she finds Daryl starting at her for probably the third time that day. She smiles at him. "What? No theme music aloud?" she jokes. He keeps the gaze for a few seconds and then a small half smile appears on his face. He shakes his head.

"Didn't think ya would know that song," he comments. She mock gasps.

"Do not say that about me. I know almost every single song to man. I was a music major in college as well as dance. Nothing can get past me," she replies, crossing her arms. "Hey, why don't you wake me up for watch? I can easily do it," she says. He shrugs his shoulders.

"Ya look tired. I can stay up." She raises an eyebrow at him, but shakes her head, dismissing the idea. "Ya have a nice voice," he quietly says. She looks up and smiles even wider at him.

"Thanks, Daryl," she says sweetly. "But I think you need a bit more sleep. I'm not good." He snorts.

"Ya are," he replies. "Don't question it," he adds on when he's about to fight back. She rolls her eyes.

"Goodnight…huh, funny. I was going to call you by your last name but I don't know it. What is it?" she asks.

"Dixon," he says without thinking. She smiles small.

"Dixon," she repeats. 'Daryl Dixon…has a ring to it,' she thinks. "Ok. Goodnight, Dixon."


Thanks for the amazing review I got from kaylaodinson. It made my day! Thanks for the new followers and favorites as well! Thanks for reading and feedback is always nice! Hope you enjoyed!

Song Lyrics: What Doesn'T Kill You (Makes You Stronger)-Kelly Clarkson

Homeward Bound-Simon and Garfunkel. (I first heard it on glee and fell in love with it!)