Authors note: Thanks to everyone who has followed and added this bad boy to their favourites. It's truly encouraging. I have diverted quite a bit from the original story lines here, though I guess that's the beauty of fan fics is that you can do that! So don't hate me for it please! and please do comment if you can, it always keeps me motivated and makes me really happy to know that people are enjoying what I'm doing (or equally gives me things to improve on too which is also awesome!).

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 11

When Zoe emerged from her walk she was met with Daryl's glaring blue eyes, the muscles in his arms and shoulders tight with tension as he stared at her.

"What's wrong?" she didn't want to chance moving, though the piercing stare he was fixing her with was enough to make her wary.

"Why were you kissin' Crowley?" his voice was deadpan, not even a quiver of emotion coming through.

Zoe's eyes narrowed slightly, "why do you ask?"

The man shook his head a little, his gaze never once leaving her face, "are you two seein' each other?"

The girl's heart seemed to lurch, an involuntary smile crossing her tired face, "no, Crowley and I are a complicated sort of story."
"Is that why you were kissing him?" Daryl bit back.

"You kissed Crowley?" Sam's voice carried across the little clearly as he and Dean came to join them by the side of the church, "that's disgusting."

"Why would you…" Dean's voice trailed off as a look of realisation fell over his heavy features, "what did you do?"

Zoe shook her head slightly, her eyes pleading with the eldest Winchester.

"What did you do?!" Dean's voice rose as he stepped towards her, his green eyes still piercing even in the darkness.

"She made out with Crowley that's what," Daryl spat back, his voice tainted with discontent this time.

"No she didn't," Sam shook his head and looked to the ground sadly, "she made a deal."

Dean stepped towards Zoe, his jaw clenched as he came to stand directly in front of her, his voice strained as he tried to mask his anger, "what deal did you make?"

Zoe tilted her head back to look up at him, her blue eyes shimmering with barely concealed tears as she spoke, "I did what I had to do Dean. Like always."

She could practically see the words settling inside of his mind, his mouth twitching as the rest of his body remained stock still. A flicker of recognition and understanding passed across his eyes though, a glimmer of hope that he understood exactly what it was Zoe had felt the urge to do. She knew Dean well enough to know that he would have done exactly the same thing in her situation. It was almost like a Winchester family trait to be willing to give their own life to save the family, a trait that Zoe had unknowingly adopted in her time with the brothers.

"Where is Crowley anyway?" Sam piped up from behind the two of them.

Zoe's eyes closed as she let her head fall back slightly, her words coming out like a whisper on the wind, "he's gone to get that weapon he was talking about."

"At least he's keeping to one promise," Dean barked, "what exactly was the deal you decided to run off and make behind our backs?"

Zoe's teeth clenched as she stared back at Dean indignantly, "all I needed to do was convince you that you are the best candidate for some Mark of Cain or something and then you just need to kill Abaddon and you, me and Sammy get to walk away."

Sam's eyebrows raised in surprise as he spoke, "just like that?"
Zoe's blue eyes flickered over to where he was standing, the watery film that had been there before almost completely non-existent, "just like that."

Dean folded his arms over his chest, his green eyes watching Zoe closely as she shrugged to Sam, "so I have to get this, Mark of Cain, and kill some asshat of a demon and we're good to go?"

"As if anything is ever that easy," Sam scoffed, turning to look back at the church briefly.

"You're telling me Sammy," Dean agreed.

Sam looked across to where Daryl was watching the exchange with a furrowed brow, his shoulders hunched slightly as everything they were saying seemed to pass over his head. Sam cleared his voice and, when Dean glanced over his shoulder to his younger brother, nodded towards the church, "we should really head in and get ready for tomorrow though. Details can wait right?"

Dean's eyes fell back on Zoe who was still staring back at him fiercely, "I guess it can."

Zoe nodded her head as Dean leaned forwards, his body so close to Zoe that she could practically swim in the anger, apprehension and underlying fear flooding from him, his voice barely loud enough for even her to hear, "you better be damn sure this deal is worth it kid."

"It is."

Without so much as another word the older brother turned on his heel and stalked back towards the church, clapping Sam on the shoulder as he went passed and just like that Zoe and Daryl were left standing together in the cool Atlanta air.

Zoe closed her eyes briefly, taking a shuddering breath as she let her head fall forwards slightly and her hands rest on her hips. After a few brief moments of rather welcome silence she looked up to see Daryl watching her closely, his whole body radiating a sort of awkwardness that she wasn't used to.

"Go on then, get pissy at me for kissing Crowley," she grumbled, "you may as well be mad at me too seeing as everyone else is."

"Why would I?" he shifted his weight uncomfortably, "ain't like we're datin' or somethin'. You kissed me once, that don't mean nothin' and by the sounds you kissed him for a reason."

Zoe's eyebrows narrowed as he shrugged nonchalantly at her, "you seemed pretty annoyed about it just before though."

"I wasn't annoyed, I just don't wanna get involved in some twisted little who's fuckin' who game," his tone was clipped as he spoke, "there's enough bullshit drama around here without adding that crap to it."

"I'm not sleeping with Crowley," Zoe hissed, a sick sort of weight in her chest, "we have a past but that's definitely not in it. He's repulsive."

"What past?"

Zoe let out a slow breath between her teeth, "years ago now, when he and I were cooped up together," she hesitated, "downstairs, we had a bit of a fling. We never slept together though, it was mostly just a lot of angry make out sessions and a bit of playful S and M."

She looked over to where Daryl was staring back at her, his expression unreadable, "S and M?"

Zoe couldn't stop the slight smirk that twitched at the edge of her lips, "yeah, you know. Bondage and stuff."

"But y'all never slept together?" he sounded sceptical.

"No," she ran an absent hand through her hair, "the King of Hell can't be sleeping with lowly little human souls."

In the silence of that little opening, Zoe suddenly felt very self-conscious, her hands wrapping across her body as flashes of her time in the dungeons with Crowley came flooding back like an explosion. She kicked at a piece of gravel on the ground trying desperately to push the thoughts away. It had been good for a while, when she had gotten in way over her head. When she had been enjoying flaying undeserving souls, had actually gotten some sort of twisted satisfaction out of the feeling of someone's bones snapping under pressure. That was before she remembered who she was, what she had done. Zoe felt bile rise in the back of her throat, her eyes tearing at the sourness it brought with it. When she looked back up Daryl was standing directly in front of her, his body merely inches from hers. She felt her breath get caught in her throat as the blue of his irises seemed to completely disappear behind his dilated pupils.

"So," he glanced down at the miniscule space between them, "this S and M stuff. Are you uh, are you still into that?"

Zoe couldn't stop the smirk that spread across her face, "well that depends."

Daryl swallowed hard, suddenly feeling utterly uneasy and uncomfortable, his uncharacteristic boldness disappearing instantly. As she stared up at him from under her eyelashes all he could think of doing was kissing her, feeling her body move against his as he explored every square inch of her.

"On," his voice sounded distant and shaky, "uh, on what?"

She stood on her tippy toes, all self-consciousness forgotten, her eyes nearly level with his as she leaned forwards and whispered into his ear, her breath sending shivers through him, "on what you wanna do to me."

His eyes squeezed closed as she slowly traced her hand down across his shoulder, over his chest and stopping just above the waistband of his pants. She carefully slid her fingertips across the top of his pants, just grazing against his skin as she edged her hand up against his stomach, tucking it underneath his top and smiling at the heat rippling from him. Zoe felt her breath catch as Daryl's body shivered underneath her hand his mouth falling open slightly as he tried to take a few deep breaths.

"Tell me," she whispered again, "what exactly is it that you had in mind for me?"

As if his body was working totally independently, Daryl's hands had slid up along the length of her arms, his calloused hands surprisingly gentle against her skin before tangling into her hair, pulling her towards him. He pressed his lips to her, tentatively at first, much like before, only this time around he seemed to get the rhythm much quicker. The nervous, uneasiness disappearing after a few very brief seconds and the almost primal side of him taking over.

His tongue pushed against her lips hungrily, delving inside of her mouth and exploring every square inch he could reach. He barely seemed to even flinch when Zoe groaned against him and pressed her body closer to his, her heart hammering against her chest as she slid her other hand beneath his shirt, her nails raking down along his abdomen. Without even realising he had done it he hissed against her, surrendering entirely to the feeling of her nails against his skin, the heat pulsing from her body and the way her mouth seemed to fit perfectly against his, moving in perfect time with his. He untangled one hand from her hair and slid it down her neck, his fingers aching to touch so much more of her, along the line of her spine before settling against her lower back, pressing her against him harder. She gasped at the sudden show of certainty and arched against him, her hands tracing a line around the waist band of his pants before slipping just slightly inside, her nails grazing against into his hip bone slightly. She sank her teeth into his bottom lip, just enough for him to feel it before moving her hips slightly against his, the friction of the material sending a ripple of pleasure through her. Daryl groaned at the movement, both hands coming to rest underneath her top on her hips, his fingernails digging into her skin as he stopped kissing her, his body overtaken by the feeling of her movements. After an achingly short second she stopped moving, her eyes wild and her breathing laboured as she watched him try and regain some sort of composure. His chest was heaving with every breath he took, his eyes still closed and his hands now only resting on her hips instead of gripping into them.

"I," he shook his head a little, his voice gravelly as he finally peeled his eyelids open, "I want to do um."

Zoe smiled up at him a little, her cheeks flushed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her whole body flush against his, her voice coming out far huskier than she had intended it to, "you want to do what?"

His hands wrapped around her waist in an attempt to steady himself, "I want to do everything to you. Before I miss out."

Zoe pulled back from him, her eyes reflecting the same raw desire as his, "there's an abandoned house just down the road," she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and smiled at him.

Before she had a chance to say anything more he planted a soft, lingering kiss on her lips and glanced behind him at the church before nodding.

"Lead the way."