The next morning seemed to come all too quickly. Danielle knew she was awake, but decided to just lay there with her eyes closed and her arm draped over Daryl's bare chest. It wasn't until she felt his fingers running through her hair that she opened her eyes to look up at him. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing as if he was still sleeping. Moving as slow as she could, she slipped herself out from his grasp. She quickly dressed herself and took a moment to look Daryl over as he slept contently. He seemed so much more at peace then. Normally, he had a sort of perplexed look on his face like he was always trying to sort things out. When she saw him beginning to stir awake, she pursed her lips and hurried out of the tent before he had a chance to see her.
She walked quickly away from the camp area and up to the farm house where she knocked and waited impatiently for someone to answer.
"Come on in" she heard Hershel's strained voice bellow. She hurried to open the door and make her way to the kitchen where she found Hershel reading the same newspaper he had been reading since she got there. "Want some eggs?" Hershel asked pointing to the frying pan on the stove. Danielle smiled a little and nodded before grabbing a plate and putting a small portion of the food on it. She sat quietly in the chair across the table from the old man and began taking small bites of the food not really knowing what to do but eat at that point.
"Heard you blow up the other day" he mumbled putting the paper down, "You hadn't spoken since they brought you here, what made you suddenly speak up?"
"Frustration I guess" she answered with a shrug, "I have some trust issues. That's what usually keeps me from speaking. It was kind of you to allow me to stay, but I still felt a little uneasy about everyone. Daryl was the first person I trusted so he was the first person I spoke to. When I noticed how little everyone appreciated him, I decided to speak up."
Hershel nodded as if he understood what she was talking about, but Danielle was thinking that he wanted to get back to reading the news he had read about a million times before.
"Well, you're talkin' to me now" he muttered catching her off guard, "Guess you're settlin' in."
His words seemed empty of any sentiment like he was disappointed in the fact that she was getting comfortable there. She smiled a little and nodded as she stood up to take her plate to the sink. Maggie made an appearance giving Hershel a light hug before walking over to Danielle.
"Wanna come with me to let the horses get some exercise?" she asked bringing a bright smile to Danielle's face, "I'll take that as a yes. Meet me at the barn ASAP."
Moving quickly, she cleaned her plate and placed it in a cabinet before hurrying out the door and walking briskly to the barn. She glanced toward the campsite to see Daryl emerging from his tent with some fresh clothes. Trying her best to keep him from seeing her, she quickened her pace. It was all in vain, she had caught his eye anyway.
"Dani!" she heard him call. She stopped walking and forced a smile as she looked back in his direction to see him walking toward her.
"Good morning sleepy head" she replied playfully when he neared her.
"You didn't wake me up before ya left"
"Well, I'm helping Maggie with the horses this morning" she said nervously, "And you looked so peaceful, I didn't wanna wake you up just yet."
"Alright, well, I'm takin' Rick huntin' with me today. Don't know when we'll be back." He replied not really sure what to make of her sudden change of demeanor. She just smiled a little and nodded before leaning up to kiss his lips lightly.
"Be safe" she said quietly. He just nodded before kissing her forehead gently and walking back to the campsite where Rick was waiting patiently. Danielle bit on her lip as she turned to walk to the barn. Maggie had already saddled up both horses and was already getting to the point of annoyance when Danielle walked in.
"Sorry" she mumbled taking the reigns of a large brown horse from her. Maggie just raised a brow before mounting her horse; Danielle followed suit.
"I'm still getting used to you talkin'" Maggie said squinting over at Danielle as they walked the horses through the field. Danielle just shrugged.
"Your dad pointed that out this morning as well." She replied with a sigh. She went on to give the same explanation she had given Hershel earlier that morning. When she mentioned Daryl being the first person she trusted, Maggie let out a giggle.
"I knew you were into him. It was written all over your face." She said proudly making Danielle shift uncomfortably in her saddle. "Glenn and I even heard ya'll's little party last night."
Danielle's cheeks turned scarlet as she diverted her eyes. Maggie let out a loud laugh.
"Ya'll weren't exactly quiet about it and your tent ain't too far from the camper." She said through intense giggles, "It took all I had not to jump Glenn's bones ya'll soundin' all pleasured."
That was enough to make Danielle laugh nervously. She had been the one to try and keep Daryl from making too much noise and forgot to silence herself. Maggie shrugged still laughing at the situation.
"Guess he's pretty good in the hay." Maggie added with a wink. Danielle smiled a little and nodded before adding in, "Hell yeah."
They made one more circle around the field before taking the horses back to the barn to wash them down. Once the horses were safely back in their stalls, Maggie went off to help tend to the chickens and Danielle went to see if Lori and Carol needed help with anything. Most of the day was spent doing the laundry and trying to push the worry for Daryl in the back of her mind.
The feelings she had felt for him were wonderful in the moment, but now scared her. This fear wasn't like any other she had experienced before in her life. It wasn't a fear of any sort of physical pain but something much deeper. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she just knew that his feelings for her were not so strong. Daryl didn't seem like the type to settle down so easily especially with someone he had only known for a few weeks. When she made the choice to ask him to stay the night and when she chose to have sex with him, she thought it would be like any other time she had done it. She would wake up in the morning feeling empty of any sort of emotion and would be able to walk away from it, but that wasn't the case. She wanted to wake up in his arms every morning for as long as she could. Daryl Dixon was not a touchy feely guy. Deep down, he was still a hard as shit man who did what and who he wanted. Why would he waste any more of his time on the girl from the funny farm?
These thoughts made it difficult for her to concentrate on anything she was doing. She didn't even notice when Daryl and Rick had returned with a good sized buck. Rick had an extreme look of triumph on his face when they brought it to the campsite for everyone to see and Daryl had the same stern look on his. As soon as Danielle noticed Daryl's return, she quickly retreated behind the house not knowing what to do when he finally spoke to her. Word vomit was the worst things to ever plague her and she was afraid it would happen this time. She heard his hard footsteps as he stormed to where she stood.
"Why are you avoidin' me?" he asked sternly not exactly at the angry level yet. Danielle couldn't bring herself to act like she didn't know what he was talking about which made him a little more irritated. "I can't believe this" he mumbled.
"Believe what?" she asked genuinely curious.
"T-Dog was right." He answered looking at the ground and then back at her, "You're already through with me."
Danielle shook her head a little biting on her lip to hold back what she was going to say.
"Don't you shake your head at me. You ain't talked to me for more than five minutes today. Then I come back from my hunt and you just run off like a scared cat."
"Daryl, I—", she was cut off when he shook his head and walked away. She stood there frozen for a moment trying to process what had just happened. This whole time, she had been worrying that he would be the one to hurt her, but she was realizing that it was the other way around. Now she had to try to find some way to get him to hear her out. She sat on the pile of firewood behind her and held her head in her hands as she thought it through.
Two days passed and Daryl still hadn't spoken a word to Danielle. Even though everyone could sense the tension between the two, they really had no room to complain since Daryl's extra hunting trips were bringing in more squirrels than usual. While Daryl was dealing with the issue with the killing of small animals, Danielle had a little more trouble with taking her mind off of it. Every time she found something to do, she would always see Daryl out of the corner of her eye. She eventually just went into the barn and sat in the loft away from everyone including him.
She jumped a little when she heard someone coming up the ladder only to look and see Andrea joining her. Andrea's usually cold blue eyes had a bit of warmth to them as she took a seat opposite of Danielle.
"Trouble in paradise?" Andrea asked with a humourless smile. Danielle just nodded with a silent sigh. "Well, I'm no expert on psychology, but I think it's safe to say he's just as torn up about it" she added while Danielle stared out the window where Daryl usually took his kills for skinning; he wasn't there.
"He thinks that he doesn't mean anything to me, but he's wrong." She whispered before looking over at Andrea.
"Then get off your sorry ass and tell him." Andrea replied with a smile before leaving Danielle to her thoughts. Once she was sure she was alone again, Danielle let slip the tears that she had felt forming when Andrea was talking to her.
Meanwhile, Daryl had decided to take on the task of showing Carl how to gut a squirrel. The boy had been asking him to for a while and he had always just brushed him off, but this was something to keep his mind busy. Carl was just about to stick the knife into the squirrels belly when Lori snatched it out of his hand.
"Carl, go see what your dad's doin'. Now." She said sternly and Carl walked off in a huff, "What the hell are you doin' Daryl?"
"What?" Daryl asked a little annoyed, "I was the boy's age when Merle taught me how to do it."
"Well it ain't your call to make whether or not Carl is ready" was all she replied before storming away. Leaving Daryl to roll his eyes at how sheltering she was being.
"Merle isn't really someone to be taking parenting tips from" Danielle's voice rang from behind him. Letting out a gruff sigh, he turned to face her only to push past her to get to his tent. "You could at least talk to me."
"There ain't nothin' to talk about" he replied pulling his knife out from the trunk of a tree before turning to face her again, "I've dealt with a lotta shit in my life, Dani. Normally, I ain't someone to get all wrapped up in a woman and with the world goin' to hell around me, I ain't about to start now. A few days ago, I woulda done anythin' for ya. But—"
"I love you" Danielle blurted cutting him off. Daryl's face contorted into the all too familiar puzzled look as if he didn't really know what to do with this new bit of information.
"Don't say that" he muttered shaking his head and looking at the ground.
"Why not?"
"Because ya don't mean it."
"Yes, I do!" she shouted causing him to grab her by the arm to pull her away from the campsite and out of earshot of the others.
"Ya don't mean it, Dani" he repeated, "If ya did…love me, what was with the shit the other day?"
"I was scared."
"Why?"
"Because love is not something I have not had any luck with, Daryl." She spat angrily, "The people who were supposed to love me were the people who treated me like I was nothing all my life. For the longest time, I had no idea what it felt like to be loved or to love someone else. Then I met you and you scare me more than anyone has ever scared me before."
Daryl narrowed his eyes and just mumbled, "Why?"
"The feelings I have for you are nothing like I've ever felt before" she admitted sheepishly, "That means you're the one person in the world who can really hurt me right now. I mean really hurt me. And it's scary."
There was another long moment of silence before Danielle decided to just walk away. Just as she was turning away from him, she felt him grab her hand and lace his fingers with hers. She turned back to him blinking back her tears trying not to seem too weak in front of him.
"I-I love you, too" he muttered his blue eyes locked on hers. A small smile pulled at her lips as he pulled her close to him and kissed her lips gently. For the first time in both of their lives, they felt complete.
