FuchsiaGrasshopper: Gotta love The Beatles! I really wanted to get that in there, and Carl and Ali bonding over music was one of my favorite parts to write. Music is one of those things that can unite everyone. Thank you for reading, and I always look forward to your reviews!

Emberka2012 and FanFicGirl10: It was nice to write about people helping each other in tough times, with situations they don't understand, just another way for people (especially those two) to get closer Thank you for reading and reviewing!

X23 Maximoff: Thank you SO much for that review. I've noticed that too and I really wanted to go in another direction for him. For how damaged his character is in general there has to be some weaknesses, things he just can't get quite right. I love that you got that and reviewed on it. Thank you for reading and reviewing

Sorry it took so long for my update, lots of holiday shopping to blame really! So glad I'm done with that. I hope you all like my new chapter!

Chapter Ten

Daryl…

He couldn't feel his fingertips, his arm completely asleep. As the sun began to make the prison walls glow orange he tried to make sense of his current situation, allowing the heaviness of her head to cut off circulation for a few more minutes. Daryl knew that this was dangerous. The night before seemed like a sweet, however distant, memory. Now that he was awake, staring at her slender silhouette, he was even more confused.

He hadn't left. Even if he had the option he probably wouldn't have. He wanted to be there, he wanted this girl, more than he'd ever wanted something in his life. It was fragile, their predicament. She wasn't like anyone he'd ever met, which made it even worse. He didn't know what to expect from her… so he wanted her even more.

He leaned up on his elbow and put his hand over her hip. His palm hovering about an inch over her skin, careful not to touch, careful not to wake her just yet. He kept his eyes fixed on the area his hand moved to next, down her leg to her knee, back up slowly. His eyes and hand lingered at strip of skin between her tattered jeans and white t-shirt. He moved up the side of her waist, her hand, arm, shoulder. Leaned over her, softly tucking hair behind her ear.

She shot her hand out quicker than he'd ever seen her move, twisting his fingers and turning to lunge at him, fear in her eyes. Daryl let out a pained holler, and as soon as she heard his voice she realized her mistake.

"Oh shit, oh my god I'm sorry." She whispered frantically as she scooted back up against the railing, wrapping her arms around her knees and shutting her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" He hissed back to her, frozen in place. "I didn't do nothin' to you girl."

"You startled me is all…" She let out a sharp breath. When their eyes met, however briefly, he could see hers were brimming, shining... "Did I hurt you?" She approached him slowly, moving over on her hands and knees. She sat on the 'bed' made up of folded sheets and towels, and gently took his hand in hers.

He stared, not knowing what to make of this strong girl who had weak moments… or was it the other way around? How would he know really… "Nah, doesn't hurt." He said quietly. He let her turn his hand over a few times, and then trail her fingernail across the back of it. He could feel his insides shiver.

"Okay good." She whispered. "I've got to get downstairs before Emma knows I'm missing, she'll freak out." He watched her talk and stretch at the same time, reaching her arms into the sun that was streaming in. In the golden light of early morning he could make out every mark on her skin. Covered in freckles, just like around her nose, soft and perfect… Except for this scar… it began at her elbow and spiraled down, winding around to the front, a mean one. He always found himself wondering where it came from, but he'd never ask… he knew that.

"Yeah that makes sense." He answered her. She reached up and pulled her long hair up into a pony-tail, loose tendrils fell around her eyes, landed on her collarbone. "Well, thanks for visitin'." He smirked; she looked over and smiled back.

She was so beautiful. Ali turned her body toward his, leaned in and pressed her lips against his cheek lightly. "Thanks for having me, Mr. Dixon."

With that she snuck back down stairs, he could hear her bare feet padding against the cement as she approached her and Emma's cell. Laying down he had full intentions of falling back asleep, but it just wasn't going to happen. Every time he closed his eyes she'd be there. The way her shoulders moved when she reached her arms over her head, her sleepy morning smile, her shadow on the prison wall as the light shone on her sleeping body. She had set up camp in his mind and wasn't budging.

Ali…

Upon re-entering her cell, Ali hadn't been able to fall back asleep, so when Emma began to stir in the bunk below her she inched her head over the edge. "Hey Em, you awake?" Nothing. "Emma? You awake?"

"Ugggggh… no, no I'm not…" She was whining, as she usually did when confronted with Ali: her trusty morning alarm! "I'm not awake, I'm sleeping right now… can't you tell?" Her voice muffled due to her shoving her face in her pillow.

"No, you're awake." Ali hopped down from her bunk and tugged on Emma's arms. "Come on, come outside with me. Let's go for a walk."

Emma pulled her face from the pillow and looked up at her, "Can't you go alone?"

Ali let go of the girl's arms, suddenly feeling foolish. Why did she want to drag Emma with her anyway? She should let the girl sleep. "I'm sorry honey, you're right. You need your sleep, I'll see you later, okay?" She turned to leave and heard Emma let out a groan.

"No, ugh, alright." She swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. "Hold on, I'm coming"

They unlocked the fence, took down a couple of walkers as they hurriedly gathered some fire wood After locking the fence back up, they returned to see Carl and Rick out by the fire pit, staring down at them.

"Were you plannin' on lettin' anyone know you were going past the fence?" Rick's face was serious, Carl looked uneasy, standing next to him and fidgeting.

Ali dropped the fire wood at his feet with Emma following suit. She gave him a look, and kept that look for a solid minute. He didn't drop his eyes, like most did when she pulled this. Ali had perfected it, staring down who ever crossed the line in her eyes, and Rick just had. He had no damn right to start in with her for… for what? Not waking anyone to get permission? She was a big girl and certainly need another man thinking he knew what was best for her.

"We went to get firewood, y'all were sleepin'." Emma piped in, her hands on her hips. "We weren't gonna wake you up, and we have been walkin' around those woods since before y'all even showed up, so don't."

Ali looked down at her young friend, impressed in way. What she was hearing was her eleven-year-old-self. She stood with Emma, and nodded at Rick "Girl's got a point there Sheriff, you gonna arrest us?" The corners of her mouth lifting into a mean smile. "You wanna put us in cuffs, take us down to the station? I can see it now: 'charged with performing chores no one else wants to do so everyone can sleep in'… what a terrible deed we've done." She got down on one knee, hearing Emma giggling lightly at her side, and bowed her head. "Please, don't take us to the gallows officer, don't stone us, we meant no harm. We're just your humble servants…"

"Alright Ali, I get it. Get off the ground." Rick barked at her.

She popped upright and put her hand to her forehead in mock salute. "Yes sir!"

Rick took a few steps closer, leaning in and speaking quietly, intensity in his voice. "Mighty fine example you're setting for Emma and Carl. Makin' fun of our rules isn't only going to get you nowhere, but its gonna teach these kids that it's alright to wander off without tellin' anyone shit about where ya' goin'. It's irresponsible, it's careless… you're embarrassing yourself. You're supposed to be an adult."

She could feel her face getting hot with rage. How dare he accuse her of doing anything but help him, these kids, any of them. She was just fooling, trying to get a laugh. Laughing helped, laughing was easy… she fucking missed it… Who did he think he was anyway? She put her hand on Emma's chest and pushed her backward, her body directly in front of Rick. Her fists were in tight balls, her teeth clenching. "Let me tell you something, Sheriff… The person you're describing?" Her voice was low, menacing. He flinched, for less than a moment, but she saw. Good. She thought. Fuck him. "That is not who I am, and I don't have to let you know every time I leave your sight to prove it. If you have a problem with the way I do things, the way Emma and I both go about our day, we can head on outta' here any time. No skin off my back. We'll head back to the tower. We were doing just fine before. I don't need you talking to me like a child in front of them." She motioned to Carl and Emma both. "The only thing that's embarrassing here is you pulling some pathetic, imaginary rank card… everyone else, you're there leader…" She stepped back, putting her hand to Emma's shoulder and squeezed for a second, reassuring. "You're not my anything Rick…. Get it?"

"Okay stop!" Carl hollered at her. They all turned to look at him. "I'm the one that got scared okay? So just leave him alone!"

Ali stood there, unmoving. "What?"

"I got up and looked in to see if Emma was awake yet… I was bored, and I saw that you were both missin', so I went and got my dad-"

"Son, that's not important-" Rick started.

Carl didn't let him get very far. "He knows you can take care of yourself, but I said I was gonna go out lookin' for you, cuz I was worried. That's all So can you both just… just shut up! You two fightin'… it's pointless… please just stop!" He threw his hat down and looked at Emma before stalking off toward the prison door. Daryl was emerging, crossbow over his shoulder.

Whatever… Ali was done with conversation anyway. What was the point? She took in a deep breath, let it out slowly. Rick followed his son, aggravated, but docile in a way… from the mouth of babes, Ali guessed. Clichés ring with truth on occasion

Later that night…

She was inching up behind him. Before leaving the cell block she had changed her clothes, tried to make sense of her mangled hair. She put on her most decent jeans and a flannel… it wasn't very flattering but it was clean. She tried tying it off at the bottom, wearing it off one shoulder, anything that might help. It was no use, this was as good as it was going to get. She looked at herself in the dirty mirror above her nearly rotted out sink, nodded at herself, and walked out the door. Ali was scared, for the first time in a long time, she was nervous as hell. He liked her, she could tell, but most of the time that didn't matter to her. This time it did, because she liked him too. God this is pathetic, 'do you like me Daryl? Check this box for yes, that one for no. This was a dumb thing to do…. Dumb.. DUMB.

"Hey Daryl?" She had walked up behind him at the fire,, only a few others lingered outside. "Can I talk to you?"

He turned in her direction, set his plate full of food down and nodded. As he swallowed a mouthful of powdered eggs he managed to get out "Sure, yah… 'bout what?"

She sighed. "I need to explain something to you… me staying with you last night… I've got to talk to you about it."

He looked nervous, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to ask you to be my boyfriend Daryl… shit." Here it came, her meanness, her asshole sense of humor, making a second appearance already. It wasn't even nine a.m. As much as she wanted to stop, she couldn't, she was riddled with defense mechanisms, humor was her go-to… even when she didn't want it to be. "Maybe I can wear a fancy ring you make out of broken barbwire? We can give each other trashy prison tattoos, pretend we're getting married under the bright lights of Vegas… it's every girls dream!" She batted her eyelashes at him in the most mocking of ways.

His suspicion didn't waver, his eyes narrowed further. "Can't ya just tell me here… if it ain't a big deal?"

She stayed quiet for a few moments, looked around like a confused puppy, and finally sat next to him on the grass. She started tearing the blades out in little handfuls, rolling them in between her fingers, tossing them away. He didn't push her to speak, she'd give him that much. He sat quietly and finished his breakfast while she pulled the ground apart. Her hands were covered in dirt by the time she took full notice of what she'd been doing. Not thinking, she reached up to move the hair out of her face, feeling herself smear mud on her cheek. Great, nice Ali, way to make sure you look good like you wanted, you dumbass.

She heard him let out a muffled laugh. When she glared in his direction he was staring right at her… not so much smiling with his lips as with his eyes. "What?" She reached up and tried to wipe at where she thought the dirt might be. His smile spread wide, shaking his head. "Oh my god… whatever. I look like an idiot. See ya." She readied herself to stand and walk away, when she felt his hands on her legs, pushing her down before she had the chance to run off.

"Come on, I'm just messin' around." He reached in the pocket of his leather vest and pulled out a handkerchief that almost passed for clean. "Well, come'ere will ya?" She sat in front of him, facing him, watching. Her eyes followed his hands as he dipped the corner of the cloth in the cup of water at their feet. His planted his hand underneath her chin and turned her face gently, wiping at the streak on her face. When he was finished he kept his hand at her chin. "See? Good as new… perfect" His smile was slight as he let it drop away. She kept her eyes locked on his… just trying to figure this all out.

She couldn't understand how someone who was so distant and detached was capable of moments like the one that had just passed. He was the same man who fought her to near death, the same guy who flinched at someone's touch, would never share his own thoughts with another human being.

But he was Daryl… the man who had slept under her bunk for two days straight when she couldn't move, couldn't do anything for herself. The man who was teaching Emma how to fish. And the night before, what was that?

"Well?" He twisted his body back toward the fire, watching it flicker and die. "What did ya' need to ask me?"

"Last night was nice." She blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut. When she finally opened them again he was still staring at the smoldering pit.

"Yeah, it was alright…" He answered her finally. He cocked his head to the side, looking at her. "It was nice…. That's what ya needed to explain to me? I already knew that Ali."

She shook her head vigorously, wanting so badly to be one of those people that knew how to communicate exactly what was on her mind. Everyone else was spread out, no one within earshot, this was her chance. She took in a deep breath and began; "I meant to say, last night was nice, but it can't really happen again."

He nodded, looking straight ahead, face bearing no emotion.

"It's just that… well now a days it's not the smartest thing to go around getting attached to others… Emma's the one I have to worry about, ya know?" She swallowed, willed herself to continue. "I don't want to get… I don't know what the word is…"

"Distracted?" Daryl asked quietly.

Ali nodded. "Yeah, distracted." She closed her eyes, imagined back to the night before. Felt his arms resting on her hips, face buried in her neck, hot breath against her skin. She looked over, and he was watching her intently. "You're too distracting, Daryl Dixon."

He didn't wait for her to say yes, didn't even ask. Almost instantly his mouth was on hers. His hand in her hair, the other one holding her arm gently, keeping her there… although it probably wasn't necessary. When he pulled away she couldn't move her eyes away from his. He dropped his hands from her body and stood up. "Promise Ali, that'll be the last time I distract you." He threw his crossbow over his shoulder, and she swore she could see a trace of sadness on his face. "And just for the record, you ain't too good for me neither."

As she watched him walk away she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. What the hell was going on with her? She didn't cry over men… or the idea of a man. He had done something to her… he had to have, for her to be feeling this way.

Then again, it had always been easier to blame someone else for her feelings… this time she was pretty sure it wasn't anyone's fault but her own.