As Tyreese emerged from the shack with the baby girl in his arms, Daryl chose that moment to daringly take Eve's hand and gently tug her away a few feet to talk privately. As much as he longed to see Little Ass Kicker, that could wait. This couldn't.
They wandered away discreetly and Daryl didn't dare look at her, in case she was still pissed as hell at him for what he'd done and said. Thankfully, it seemed to be only simmering beneath the surface; her eyes were still a little strained, but her voice was calm when she asked him what he wanted to talk about.
"I wanted to apologise. I shouldn't have left you."
She gazed at him with such a stunned look, he felt a little offended. What did she think of him? Then he was hit with some of the things he'd said to her, all things that he'd only meant as far as his injured pride that the very thing he was trying to save was saving him instead.
"I … I don't care about that now. I know you could've handled it, probably. I just wish you'd told me."
"I know. Don't remind me, okay?"
She grinned at his injured lion routine. "Silly Daryl Dixon. You hoard guilt like other people hoard trash. They're out and safe because of you."
He could do nothing more than look at her beneath his hair, settled over his face as it hung low, and feel her confidence in him soak into him like sunlight. To think this girl saved him wasn't so humiliating now, because he allowed it to happen. Ever since he'd found her.
To think of anything happening to her made his stomach twist uncomfortably, so he did something he'd never been brave enough to do before then. Within seconds she was in his arms, clutching hers tightly around his neck as his snaked around her waist, clinging on for life.
...
"Daryl! Eve! Lets go!"
That was when the ever increasing group packed up what little belongings they had and began their journey, led by Daryl, who kept Eve close behind. They didn't talk much; the group was virtually silent for the small part of the journey, brooding on what had happened, where they would go to, how they would live together. How they would take precautions to make sure what happened at the prison never happened again. Rick took the chance to ask Daryl what the situation was when they took a short midday break.
When he approached him from the back of the group, Eve promptly left to rummage in their shared rucksack for water. Daryl stood waiting for him. "Eve has a storage facility a few miles out."
"It's secure?"
Daryl nodded. "It could be better, but with the man power we could build ourselves our own little Woodbury."
"And you're sure she's gonna let us just stay?"
At that moment Eve returned, followed closely by Carl and Michonne. To Daryl, the kid looked older. A lot older to when he'd last spoken to him.
Strong kid, his inner voice mused.
"Dad, Eve told us we have a place to go. Is that true?"
Daryl made eye contact with Eve, who had that tiny smile playing on her lips. He nodded curtly. "If she said so, kid."
His childish face broke from the serious mask he'd developed to a ghost of that childish happiness he'd left behind. "Good. I'll go and tell the others."
From then they resumed their journey, and didn't stop until they reached that familiar opening in the trees, with that familiar hoard of walkers still trying to cram themselves into the store down the street. It occurred to Daryl how much he and Eve must have seriously dawdled trying to find their way. The facility seemed undamaged, the shutters were down and intact. But he still had that episode with the roof hatch fresh in his memory. He prepared his hunter's knife as Michone and Rick stood either side of him.
"Rick, we'll go first. Michonne, you stick with Eve. She knows the building better than any of us."
He was answered by the smooth unsheathing of her samurai sword.
"And just what do we do?" a loud female voice called from the back. Daryl turned round to find it belonged to one of the new members; the girl with a cap. "Well just kill any walker you see, got it?"
She cussed under her breath as the group scattered to salvage what they could and kill any wandering piece of meat they came across, and the foursome left them to have their fun. Eve and Daryl exchanged a look as they pulled up the shutter together.
"We'll cover the bottom floors, you two cover the safes and the upper offices."
She nodded wordlessly, and he felt a warm bubbling in his stomach; dread. He knew, however, that she could take care of herself. She was just one of the incredibly strong women in the group.
...
They entered and split ways, and Eve was left with the intimidating woman trailing behind her. It came as no surprise that Daryl had chosen the Lost Samuari as her partner. It was obvious she, like him, was built to survive. It felt a little demeaning, because the only reason she was in here with her was as a guide.
Maybe she just wasn't over the event of that morning, yet.
"Daryl can be an ass sometimes, you'll learn to love that about him in time."
Eve glanced at the woman behind her. She almost began to believe that Michonne didn't have a voice.
She gave a small humourless chuckle, and said, "Yeah."
Her blade glinted as they passed a window in the upper floor staircase, catching Eve's tired eyes.
"Nothing up here," Eve quietly resolved, finding the ladder and lock still in place, just where they'd left it. Not a sound to be heard, not a door open. "All clear!" Michonne announced. The group reassembled in the garage, with the absence of Rick and Daryl.
As Eve glanced around and listened for any sign of them, a shadow passing one of the back windows signalled company. Daryl knocked on the window pane and motioned for the group to follow.
They found him and Rick in an arch way Eve didn't recognise, just behind the facility she'd been staying in for however many months. It was gated, a padlock keeping anything out, and the small amount of moonlight shone on what looked like a pond. A small pond in the centre of a patch of grass, surrounded by a selection of small shops. All in tact, all pitch black with no one home.
"Eve, did you know about this?" The girl looked to Rick, who was staring down at her with quiet impatience. His voice was tired with the day and yet, on edge. Eve stared in disbelief at the unfamiliar sight and shook her head. "Never. Kind of feel a little stupid, now," she whispered, and felt the cuff of Daryl's sleeve brush against the back of her wrist with a jolt.
"If nothing has got in yet, that means we could have an abundance of supplies."
"We could grow stuff," Eve added to Michone's suggestion, and smiled up at Rick. "No walkers got in, so theres no risk of contamination."
Rick turned his speculative face back to look through the bars again, and sighed. "We'll get a better look in the morning. Now, we need rest."
...
Every member went for a safe to sleep in; Rick kept his children close by, Maggie and Glenn roomed together, the newcomer's neither Daryl or Eve knew the names of yet took one together, and the others took individual rooms. Eve decided her bed was to remain as a shelf, and she prepared to sleep, laying in the foetal position, when she heard the sound of footsteps shuffling towards her.
"Here," a distinctly low voice whispered, and he placed something next to her head. Eve turned her head to see Daryl over her shoulder, his quietly intense eyes the only thing she could see in the silhouette he cast in the moonlight. She was used to the effect his appearance kept having on her now. She adjusted herself to move into a sitting position, bringing her knees up to her and leaning her chin on them, taking the bear clock in her fingers.
"Why did you pack it?" She asked, wondering why she'd not asked before. Maybe she'd just been scared to, in case he took it the wrong way. In case she didn't like what he said. Just...for it to be something as simple as to keep her neurosis at bay.
His shoulder shrugged, interrupting the grey rays that had settled there. "Dinner dates and shit." They smiled at each other, though Eve was disappointed that he reacted so flippantly. She wanted a little more than that, but he was gone before she could look to see another meaning in his eyes. She placed it back down gently and lay on her back, listening as the other occupant settled, too.
"We're talking about cordoning the area off, building walls in any weak spots."
Eve broke her staring contest with the ceiling above and a tear strolled into her hair. "Sounds good."
"Any input?"
She shook her head. "Its a good idea. Maybe a little ambitious, especially since we've got that little garden place to use."
"Hmm," he said after a thoughtful moment, "maybe. But it'll be safer."
Eve nodded silently. Her mind was far off now, back to a few hours earlier, in the woods. How Daryl's arms felt around her, how he felt in her comparatively smaller ones. The sheer fact that it'd happened made her heart race, her stomach flutter, her head swim, in way that she'd forgotten about. She'd stopped thinking it was possible now, that people could see each other in such a way. It crept up on her so steadily, she'd barely noticed when something had started. But it had. And it was longer ago than she wanted to admit.
"Eve?"
The girl peered over herself to find Daryl was leaning his back on the wall, sat in a similar way he did against the tree that night, the night during which she'd laughed for the first time in weeks. She pushed herself up to almost mimic his position, holding his eyes over the 12 feet between them.
"You killed it out there today."
Eve grinned to herself, toying with her sleeve. "Thanks."
He nodded, and rested his head back with a thud. Eve did the same, and began staring at the ceiling again. So much stuff hung between them now, it was impossible to tell what it was. But she resolved herself on one thing, and she just wasn't shy enough to keep it from him.
"Im never going to apologise for going against your orders, Daryl Dixon. Not when you're about to die." She lowered her head to see him, to find he was already staring at her. Then she did a bold move, and hopped from her spot to walk over to his isle, and made her way to the shelf right next to his, no partition between them. "As long as we're together, we can fight for each other. We're safer that way."
Daryl watched her lie down next to him as though she had taken some happy pills and professed to being a shark. But he did nothing in the way of protest, and she felt his eyes on hers as she closed them.
She heard and felt as he slid down to join her. "So stubborn," she heard him murmur out loud. That earned another smile from her as she felt sleep finally take her. "You're stuck with me."