As Maggie fell asleep on her shoulder, Tara kept her eyes wide open, her cheek still resting against the top of Maggie's head as the heavy rainfall began to seep through the treetops slightly more than it previously had been. The thick, heavy raindrops fell directly on Tara's head, dripping down the side of her face as she wiped them away with her fingertips every few seconds. She didn't mind all that much, as she knew that at least Maggie wasn't being bothered by the rainfall.
Letting a heavy sigh escape from between her parted lips, Tara began to stare down at her feet, pulling her knees to her chest, just as Maggie had done before she had fallen asleep. She wrapped the arm that wasn't placed around Maggie's waist around her own legs, clearing her throat awkwardly as a strangled sob escaped from her throat. Tara quickly bit down on her trembling bottom lip as she restrained herself from making any more noise, not wanting to wake Maggie.
Tears began to spill from her large brown eyes as she allowed them to flutter shut, small whimpers still managing to escape from her mouth, even as she tried to keep herself completely silent for Maggie's sake.
After a moment of allowing herself to cry in silence, Tara quickly picked her head up off of Maggie's, bringing a hand to her face to wipe away her tears. "No," she whispered to herself, knowing that the only reason she was crying was that she felt sorry for herself. "Pull yourself together…" she muttered, keeping one knee close to her chest as she outstretched the other leg in front of herself. "You need to be stronger than this…"
Tara exhaled shakily, allowing her head to fall back against the hard surface of the tree with a slightly painful thump, keeping her eyes wide open as she remembered the possibility of a very real danger: an unwelcome appearance from walkers.
With the sudden remembrance of danger, Tara's hand instinctually moved to the handle of her knife that was resting at her hip inside of its sheath. She pulled it free, her dark brown gaze continuously scanning the wooded area for walkers.
And Tara remained this way: throughout the entire night, just sitting up against the tree, one arm placed around Maggie's waist, the other resting on her own leg, her knife gripped loosely in her fingers. "C'mon," she whispered eerily, daring the undead monsters to reveal themselves from their hiding places, needing to kill them; needing to let all of her anger and frustrations out by stabbing and bashing their rotting skulls.
But, none came. The night was quiet and dark, nothing more, no "excitement". Just Tara sitting up against a tree in the silence, waiting for something that would never happen.
As the dim light of the sun began to shine through the thick treetops, Tara felt the slight movements of Maggie's body as she began to wake. Feeling a bit awkward that her arm was still placed around the other woman's waist now that it was morning and the temperature was beginning to rise, Tara retracted her arm back to herself before Maggie had woken completely.
"Morning, sunshine," Tara teased Maggie as the other woman lifted her head up off of her shoulder, her eyes squinted in the light.
"Mornin'," Maggie muttered groggily, using the backs of her hands to rub the tiredness from her eyes.
"You sleep okay?" Tara asked, her tone more serious now than it had previously been.
Maggie nodded, turning her face into her own shoulder as she stifled a yawn. "Yeah. Did you?"
Tara shook her head weakly, the pesky strand of hair falling out from behind her ear and hanging in front of her face once again as the movement of her head caused it to slip. Quickly, she pushed it behind her ear again as she let out a soft sigh, her gaze lowering to the knife that was loosely held in her grip. "I stayed awake the whole night…watched out for walkers, you know?"
Maggie nodded once again, this time in understanding at Tara's words. "You must be tired. Y'should get some rest before we start walkin'...or whatever we're gonna do today," she muttered, stretching her legs out in front of her as she let out a soft groan.
"No, I'm fine, really," Tara said, pushing herself up to her feet as quickly as she could in an attempt to prove to Maggie that she was ready for the day and didn't need any sleep. "C'mon," she urged Maggie, extending her hand down to her and gesturing for her to take it.
A weak but genuine smile worked its way onto Maggie's lips as she grabbed onto Tara's hand with her own, allowing the other woman to assist her to her feet. "Jus' gimme a minute," Maggie muttered tiredly, rubbing at her eyes again with the heels of her hands after she had released Tara's hand from her own. "My eyes are so puffy."
Keeping her gaze fixated on Maggie as she rubbed at her eyes, a small smile had formed on Tara's lips. "You look beautiful," she said honestly, lightly nudging Maggie's upper arm with her elbow.
Maggie couldn't stifle the small chuckle that slipped out from in between her lips, lowering her hands as she looked directly into Tara's eyes. "Are you hittin' on me?" she asked, her tone playful, but her question was completely serious.
Tara's cheeks had turned a light shade of pink as she averted her gaze to the ground, avoiding Maggie's question and clearing her throat awkwardly. "We should start walking…"