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Like A Virgin

As days progressed it became part of supper for Lacey to sing before everyone went to bed, making her feel like a mother to everyone, singing them all to sleep, but in the back of her mind she hoped this nightly routine didn't take away from her badass qualities.

And as each night passed, she wondered about that shy kiss he'd given her, he didn't try it again after that night, though he seemed like he wanted to, he was too afraid.
And Lacey wasn't necessarily a shy person. I mean, as a kid, maybe, but she grew out of it quickly, not that she was a loud mouth or anything, but she had a fair level of confidence in her.
And she'd had a handful of boyfriends in the past, none of which were as shy as Daryl though...not that she thought of Daryl as her boyfriend...'Oh, God...I'm a teenager again!' her thoughts cried in annoyance.
"'Ey." she jumped at the sound of a voice so near to her, she'd been off in her own thoughts for who knows how long, looking around her she saw that apparently everyone had gone off and done their own thing, while she sat in a chair by the pit with her feet propped up on the stones. She looked toward the owner of the voice and internally rolled her eyes, 'Of course.'
Daryl raised a brow at her, "What's with the face?"
"What?" she snapped and touched her cheeks and forehead, "What's wrong with my face?"
"It was all scrunched up, looked like you ate an entire lemon." he explained and she put a hand over her face with a sigh, damning her body for reflecting her inner thoughts outward through facial expressions.
"What's up?" he wondered, but she was quick to sit up, "Nothing, I'm fine. Just thinking about...stupid stuff." she mummbled and stood up, brushing off the front of her pants, "What's up with you?"
"Gonna see if I can't catch somethin' for tonight. Startin' to run low on food, but your damn dog won't come with me without ya, just like I said." Daryl lifted his hand toward her tent and she turned to see Blondie seated inside, her face laying between her paws as she looked at them through her one good eye.
Lacey laughed, "So I have to come with you?"
"Don't have to make it sound like a chore or sumthin'." he grumbled and started for the trees.
She rolled her eyes, "C'mon, Blondie." she called and the dog sprung up quickly and followed her as she followed Daryl.

She felt like they were first graders, and it was ridiculous, she was 27 and he was...huh, how old was he? Well, she knew he wasn't a damn 6 year old, that was for sure, so why was he acting like it? Her voice in her head growled, why did she care anyway? It was just a kind gesture, nothing more...right? Fuck if she knew, Daryl may have told her a bunch of stories from his past, but she still couldn't quite figure him out. Why was this so difficult! Why was she making this difficult, why did it matter! Her thoughts fought back and forth in her head.
Just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean relationships can't be pursued.
Relationships? What the hell? A relationship? What are you thinking!
I don't know! It's stressful with the dead walking and the surviving and everything. Sometimes feeling like you can turn to somebody, have them hold you and tell you everything's gonna be alright would be nice.
Are you joking! You really think everything's going to be alright? Look around you!
Shut up! It's just a thought. And besides...look at those arms...they're...
Stop it. Don't even start. Daryl is your friend. Your friend. Nothing more.
But he kissed my cheek! Out of the blue, but like he was planning it or meant it. He did it on purpose, that's for damn sure. But why! I NEED TO KNOW!
"Got that face on again."
Her head snapped upward and she saw Daryl again, Blondie was off in the distance and she looked at him, "Just thinking about stuff again. It's nothing." she forced a smile, but saw that look in his eye that told her he wasn't about to back down, she saw Blondie approaching, a squirrel with an arrow through it in her mouth.

"Squirrels," Lacey sighed, finding her distraction from the main topic, "it's always squirrels, can't you catch anything else?" she grumbled as Blondie dropped the squirrel into Daryl's open palm. He pulled the arrow out of it before adding it to the rope where two other squirrels hung. He patted Blondie before standing up and glaring fakely at Lacey when he saw the grin on her face.
"Shut up, woman. I expect you to appreciate what I give you." he spoke with a smirk.
"You're using my dog to get what you give me." she stated and walked past him.
"You gonna contradict everything I say?"
"That's a pretty big word for someone like you." she grinned stepping over twigs as she followed Blondie through the forest.
"Girl..." he warned from behind her.
"Easy," she raised her hands up in defense with a laugh, "Just teasing."
"Ain't one for teasin'."
"Oh, is that so Mr. Dixon?" she mocked.
"Yeah. If you're gonna tease you best be plannin' on finishin' the job."
"Ooooh, fiesty. Kitty's got his claws out."
"What is your deal, woman?"
She stopped and turned to him, "You kissed my cheek the other night, and I'm not really sure what to make of it. You act like a shy, little boy, and that makes me act like a shy, little girl. But I'm a woman and you are a man. So what's your angle."
"What? There's no angle."
"Then why'd you kiss me?" There was that confident woman in her, pushing that silly shy girl aside as she stepped forward to get her answers.
"I don't know."
"How can you not know! You did it knowingly, otherwise you wouldn't have done it! Out with it already!" she had a laugh in her voice, but that was only from the irritation from him evading the question.
"I care about ya." he finally supplied, loudly, since Lacey had sort of gotten into his face as she interrogated him, "...I guess. Honey and you."
Lacey took a few steps back, her eyes widened the sligthest bit, "You care about us?"
He gave a short nod, but then that angry Georgian came out just a second later, "Sorry if it bothers you, I know how everyone else feels about me, and my brother. Even though we hunt and kill the food they eat, we're just the white, racist, trash of the group. So, sorry, I ain't no Prince of Wales kissin' you."
Lacey smirked, but tried not to, though he was angry with her she only found it comical, Prince of Wales? It was very, very hard not to laugh.
"I never said it bothered me." she said and laughed, unable to control a small giggle from his little red faced performance.
His furrowed brow softened, and he looked slightly embarrassed and she laughed again, "I care about you too, Daryl. You and Merle, as far as I'm concerned, you two are the best men we could have in the camp. You two are strong and keep us all fed, without even a thanks from anyone. If there's ever trouble, my family will protect yours, that's a promise."
"Really?" he wondered in disbelief after a few long moments of contemplating her words in silence.
"Really." Lacey smirked and stepped forward, partially ignoring the flinch she saw from Daryl when she reached her hand up to his face. Leaning up she kissed his scruffing, dirty cheek, in the same place he'd kissed her, she pulled away, but her hand remained on him, falling from his cheek to his shoulder.
"You ain't gonna kiss Merle too, are ya?" he asked, his eyes looking into hers, his gaze bouncing between the left and right.
She shrugged, "Do you want me to?"
He shook his head, "No." and Lacey laughed, "I won't then."
Daryl nodded, looking away from her eyes for a moment, he cleared his throat, "What you said about, uhh... you bein' a woman and... and me bein' a man...did you mean...?" he trailed off.
With her being so close, she saw just exactly how his cheeks tinted with red, beyond the dirt and sweat, she smiled and nodded, "Yeah."
"Was that what you were thinkin' 'bout?"
Her smile fell, damn he was perceptive, but she nodded, "Yeah."
"So when I kissed your cheek, you thought I wanted some ass?"
She stifled a snort and nodded, "My ass, to be exact...and...yeah, kind of."
"Well... that wasn't exactly the message I was tryin' to send, but..."
Her stomach fell and rose to her throat with just that one sentence, once he mummbled 'but' she pounced.
Lacey crushed her lips against his, feeling him hesistate in shock for a second or two before reciprocating the gesture. She felt his cautious hands on her waist, noting every little shy detail he conveyed in his actions. He was gentle, far more gentle than she had imagined, and as she noticed this, she noticed how her actions must've seemed to him, needy and rough. Clearly, she thought, she should take it down a few notches, so she moved her lips slower, softly against his, after a minute or two, feeling he seemed comfortable enough, she slid her tongue along his bottom lip, and easily gained entrance into his mouth.
She wasn't sure how long they stood there, as much as she hated to say it, she found herself 'lost' in the kiss, but the sound of twigs snapping and bushing rustling pulled them apart just as quickly as Lacey had launched herself at Daryl.
Both were ready for what ever it was heading toward them, but then each sighed in relief at the sight of Blondie popping out a bush, a rabbit in her mouth, a few moments later.
"So, uhh..." she started after Daryl tied the rabbit to his rope, "we should probably head back now." she mummbled, noticing the pink tone to his face when he nodded.
"C'mon, girl." Lacey called and Blondie ran in front of them, leading the way back to camp.

The walk was quiet for a few minutes, which felt like hours to Lacey, as she sent the occasional side glance in Daryl's direction. She felt her own lips were swollen, and her upper lip was most likely red from the grazes of his mustache...she probably looked a sight at the moment and hoped it would fade away by the time they made it back to camp.
"So..." she spoke, Daryl just kept a steady pace, seemingly unaware she had even said a word, she grinned smally, taking his silence to her advantage, "have you ever kissed a girl before? Ya know, before back there?" she nodded behind them.
He head snapped in her direction, "Excuse me?"
"You just seemed really... confused...like I had to teach you. I don't know, you just didn't seem like the kind of guy that was still a virgin. It's admirable, don't get me wrong...but ya know." she shrugged, hiding her smirk from him.
"I ain't no virgin! Where the hell do you get off tellin' me that!"
"Well, you weren't talking, I had to get you out of your funk somehow. And the best way I figured was to piss you off with accusations...but now that I think about it...are you a virgin?"
"No." he growled, "I'm not."
"Then you're just normally confused and cautious. Got it." she nodded.
"Girl, if I have to lay you down right now and prove it to you-"
"Oh, don't tempt me, Mista' Dixon. I'll surely die from excitement." Lacey pulled a southern drawl and skipped ahead of him, catching up with Blondie.
"You're askin' for it, darlin'." he called after her, but didn't move to chase after them, "And I'm gonna give it to ya." he mummbled with a predatory smirk, hefting his crossbow over his shoulder, keeping Blondie and Lacey in his sight as they got closer and closer to camp.

Disclaimer: I do not own the show or graphic novel Walking Dead.

A/N: It's very short, I know, and I apologize for that, but I had to do it, because if I put this chapter and the next chapter as one chapter it'd be an overload of story progression and awesome, and I'm not sure you could handle it. So just enjoy this one, and I'm not normally one to ask for reviews, but I would really like at least 3 reviews before I put the next chapter up. They don't even have to be super long reviews, you could just give a 'like it' or something short or even a just a smiley face, just something. Please? :)