"This? This can all be yours. You work for me, and your super hot girlfriend can live with you and it can be happily fucking ever after. All you gotta do is answer one simple question.

Negan moves closer to Daryl, who stares downward, his hair covering his face, refusing eye contact.

They stand in a small apartment in the Sanctuary. It's nicely furnished with items stolen from the communities. And it would be desirable to most, but to Daryl it's still a prison.

"Who are you?" Negan asks.

Daryl says nothing

"I'm gonna ask you one more time. Who are you?"

It is silent for a moment, before Daryl finally raises his head, looking Negan directly in the eye.

"Daryl." He responds.

Dwight raises his eyebrows and shakes his head in disbelief.

"Look, this is the only w…" Dwight blurts out

"Hey!" Negan interrupts, "It's cool D, he made his choice. Ain't my problem if he made a dumbass choice."

He gets closer to Daryl's face.

"You ain't ever going to see sweetheart princess again if you don't get your fucking priorities straight. Keep that in mind. Take him back D, he has a lot to think about."

Dwight grabs the back of his sweatshirt and leads him back to his cell. Opening the door, he shoves him back inside.

"You're gonna wind up in that room, or hanging on the fence!" Dwight roars.

"I get why you did it, why you took it. Why you sold us out. You were thinkin' about someone else. That's why I can't." Daryl grouses. His throat dry, and mouth painful from the beatings he's endured.

Dwight leans in, enraged.

"You are never gonna see her again. Get used to it. She's gone." Dwight slams the door, bathing Daryl in darkness.

She hadn't been in Alexandria the last time he was dragged. No one could tell Negan where she had gone, but Daryl figured that was more for her protection than anything. Everyone seemed to be playing dumb. If she were dead, he hoped someone would find a way to tell him.

Still,, the absence of her face was painful. Dwight had dragged him up to their room, made him sit in her absence. Made him marinate in it.

He overheard a hushed conversation between she and Glenn, that day she was beaten. He had tried to give her a sign of his approval.

And he hopes to God every day, that Glenn got her somewhere safe.

"The gates are closed." Maggie says.

"Wait, they're still loading up outside." Jesus replies.

Jesus had hidden Maggie, Glenn, and Ali inside a closet at Barrington House. The Saviors had come to collect, and Negan sent someone after Ali. A tall balding man with a large mustache, Simon, was sent to bring Ali to the sanctuary following her suspicious disappearance from Alexandria.

"Find that girl. She didn't just fucking disappear off the face of the goddamn motherfucking earth. He'll break a lot faster if she's here and I want that fucking badass working for me."

Gregory tried to turn Ali over, to save his own ass, but Jesus hid them in a different closet than the one suggested.

Jesus has been more than a friend. He's been her rock.

"We'll meet you back at the trailer." Glenn says to Ali, as he gently leads Maggie out the back door.

Ali stands beside Jesus, looking out over the small community.

"I know this is killing you." Jesus says.

Ali exhales slowly.

"If I could find words to describe the pain of his absence, they would probably kill me just to say them. He is everything to me." She bites the inside of her cheeks. Physical pain keeps her grounded.

Jesus places a hand on her back, and she closes her eyes. After a week, her bruises had faded some, and her eye was no longer swollen. But she still looked like she had been to hell and back.

"Can you find out, where Negan lives?" She opens her eyes and turns to face him.

"One of the trucks is going back there, so yeah, I can do that."

"This needs to stay between us. And if you find Daryl. Please tell him I love him."

"You're going to tell him yourself." He says, running to the back door.

She can't help but smile, the first one in a week.

She leaves the mansion and walks back to the trailer she shares with Jesus. It's old, and not much to look at, but it's got two beds, a table, a small kitchen, and it's safe. In her short time here, she had grown closer to Glenn, Maggie, and Jesus. Though, she didn't do much talking to the other residents.

Insomnia plagues her nightly and she spends them in pain. When her sadness isn't swallowing her whole, she's staring into the darkness, or smoking on the porch until Jesus drags her inside.

He gets her through the bad nights. Especially when he told her about losing his partner to this world.

She thinks about Aaron and Eric.

Aaron had promised he would come to Hilltop after helping Rick scavenge for supplies. With Daryl, Glenn, and herself gone, they were down three runners. He had no choice but to stay.

The absence of her brother is painful. He's been her security for so long.

But every day, she's changing. Hardening. Evolving.

She takes the red bandanna in her hands, and draping it over her face, she lies down on her small twin bed.

The sleep she so desperately needs, begins to pull her under.

A small knock at the door jolts her awake. She's not sure it even happened, until she hears it again.

Ali opens the trailer door, and immediately takes the person standing there in her arms. She doesn't cry, but they hold each other tightly.

"I was so fucking worried about you Ali! You just disappeared."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's not safe for me there right now. They're looking for me, probably to use me to hurt Daryl. Only Rick and Aaron know where I am. Well, now you too."

Enid

Jesus is not surprised when he finds the stowaway Carl in the truck. The kid has guts, a direct result of growing up in hell.

"We're getting close I think. The truck is going slow enough, lets get out here."

"But what if I screw up?" Carl asks.

"You won't, let's just go before we lose our chance."

"Okay, you go first."

Jesus jumps from the truck, rolls and runs off to the side. He ducks behind an old car and looks up to see Carl giving him a slow wave.

He scoffs, realizing he's been had.

Daryl works the wall. The outer fence of the Sanctuary is guarded by walkers chained and impaled. The people who cross Negan and manage to not be bludgeoned to death, end up being allowed to turn after death and secured to the wall.

The trucks from Hilltop pull up.

He looks up for a second, before returning to his job of moving old rotten body parts and garbage.

Scooting closer to the fence, he listens intently. He knows Simon was sent after Ali.

Negan emerges and confronts Simon first.

"Well? I'm guessing since she's not here, you didn't fucking find her."

"She ain't there boss. They're either bouncing her in between communities… or she's just gone." Simon replies, the slightest hint of fear in his voice.

"She's not fucking gone."

Daryl breathes, grateful she's not here, but still anxious that no one seems to know where she is.

Saviors file in to unload the supplies, when gunshots ring out.

"I only want Negan. He killed my friend. Nobody else has to die!"

The voice causes him to move back over to the fence for a better look, though he knows the person it sounds like couldn't be here.

Carl.

Dwight tackles Carl and puts a gun in his face, before Negan interjects.

"Dwight, back off. Is that any way to treat our new guest?"

Daryl gets as close as he can before a walker tries to grab him, causing him to duck and run.

"Kid. I'm gonna show you around." Negan pulls Carl up from the ground.

Carl glares at him.

"Really? You're not gonna take my fucking hand? You know, you're fucking lucky you even still have a hand. Same as your boy Daryl over here"

Daryl remains glued to the fence, ready to risk it all should anything happen to the kid.

"How's that shitty job going Daryl? Hot enough for you? Hell, it'd be fucking tough with one arm." Negan laughs quietly.

After noticing Daryl, Carl takes his hand hesitantly.

"Dwighty boy, why don't you grab Daryl, take him in the kitchen, and do a little grub prep. Bring it up to my wives. God damn, you know, I'm not even gonna have time to fuck any of 'em today."

Dwight grasps the back of Daryl's sweatshirt and leads him ahead.

"Well. Maybe I'll fuck just one. The best one."

He looks directly at Dwight, and Daryl can feel his hand tightening on his back as he shoves him into the building.

Each interaction Daryl witnesses between Negan and Dwight creates little fissures in the shell of hatred he has for the latter. He's just a man who thought he could save someone he loves. But the choices he made, were wrong.

He can't imagine the torture of seeing his wife with someone like that. A sacrifice she made just to keep him breathing.

He thinks of Ali, and how she can never end up at the Sanctuary. How he would take a beating every day if it meant keeping her away from Negan.

She's a gentle soul in a violent world.

They prep a tray of fruits, and bring it to the wives quarters.

Dwight says nothing as they reach the door, but Daryl observes his face. It's obvious the sight of Sherry ruins him every time.

Negan is kissing Sherry when they walk in. He stops and looks over smugly at both Daryl and Dwight, before walking over to take a look at the tray.

"Why you got the kid here?" Daryl asks.

"Whoa! Well what do you know, he speaks! It's none of your fucking business what Carl and I are doing. Now, follow Dwighty boy and let's get you a mop."

He takes the tray and hands it to Carl.

Before leaning close to Daryl.

"One more outburst like that, and I will kill him. And you'll get to think about that in your box every fucking night. Along with the fact that your woman bailed. She's either gone or she's fucking dead. And I'll tell you right now, when I find her, and find her I definitely fucking will, she's gonna wish she'd stayed gone. She's gonna watch you die, and then she's gonna join Sherry here, to pay for all the work I've done to find her ass and keep you alive."

He lets out a menacing chuckle.

"Come on kid, we've got more to see." He holds his arm out for Carl to go first.

Daryl turns behind him and looks to Sherry.

She's crying, thinking about the woman she betrayed and the lives whose ruin she set into motion.

Was it worth it?

No.

She looks Daryl in the eye, tears streaming down her face, as Dwight drags him from the room.

The darkness of the cell had become oddly comforting.

The things Daryl had witnessed at the sanctuary, made him grateful for the time he spent locked away from the horrors.

At least he had time to think about her.

A door opens peaking his attention. Footsteps in the hall come closer until they stop right outside his door.

"Tell her. I'm sorry." Sherry's quiet voice breaks the silence.

A folded note is shoved underneath that reads go now, a motorcycle key and a match are taped to the back.

Daryl sits there, turning the note over in his hands. Weighing the risks of attempting any kind of escape. Wondering if this is a trap.

He tries the door. And it opens.

So he takes off.

Out into the hallway, ducking into Dwight's room, he steals some clothes.

Running to the nearest exit, the door is held open by a matchbook to keep it from shutting and locking. He shoves it open and sprints out into the courtyard.

"Whoa!" A Savior nearly runs into him. A large man whose face Daryl remembers through the haze of his beatings.

He takes one look at Daryl, holding a pipe, filthy, sweaty, crazed, and throws his hands up in the air.

"Buddy, you can walk right out that back gate, and I won't say shit. Look, I'm just trying to get by, just like you!"

Daryl lunges forward and bludgeons the man to death.

He beats the man for beating him. He beats the man for locking him in a cell. For feeding him dog food sandwiches. For Ali. And the beating she took.

The image in his mind of her standing there in the street, bleeding and bruised. Her shirt torn open, revealing parts of her body she shares with him in the dark. The quiet way she stopped him from losing himself in the murder. It's all too much. It sends him over the edge.

He sees red. And he cries.

While he's pulverizing the man's skull, Jesus appears from around the corner.

"Daryl… Daryl!"

He stops. Looking up at Jesus, breathing hard, he speaks.

"It ain't about gettin' by here. It's about gettin' it all."

Before turning away, he checks the dead man for weapons and he finds a single gun.

Rick's Colt Python.

He throws the pipe down, takes the gun, and moves to the bike.

"C'mon, I got the key."

They leave.

And the heat of the day welcomes them.

Ali thought she heard a motorcycle.

But her mind dismisses the sound. She tells herself it's just what she wants to hear. It's not the first time that's happened.

Glenn, Maggie, Ali, and Enid sit down for dinner together.

Ali looks around at the faces beside her, and for a minute, she feels okay.

It's when she's alone that she spirals.

They spend their evenings telling her about their journey so far. They tell her about the farm. About the prison. How Daryl had named Judith "Little Ass Kicker". She hears about the active role he took in keeping them safe. How he went 70 miles with Michonne and some others to bring back medicine. Medicine that saved Glenn's life. They tell her about Merle, and how much Daryl has grown and changed since Atlanta. How he'd found the barn that sheltered them from that storm, when they were broken and hopeless.

Aaron had been watching him. And saw he was a good man.

They think they're helping. They think this will make her feel better.

But once she returns to her trailer, the pain sets in and late into the night, she cries in her bed. Until Jesus gets up and holds her.

She's lost so much more than her lover, she's lost her best friend.

So, she holds on to these people. Their memories and connection to him getting her through.

No matter how painful it is to hear.

There's a knock at the trailer door, and Jesus peeks in.

"Hi. Can I borrow Ali? It's urgent."

Anxiety swells in her chest. A cold sweat blooms over her body beginning at her neck. She nods weakly, and excuses herself from her friends.

"What is it?" She whispers when she's outside.

"Just, come with me."

And they walk.

"Is he dead?" Ali asks after a moment.

Jesus doesn't answer.

He walks up the steps to their trailer and opens the door.

Ali knows he's going to take her in there, and tell her Daryl is dead. He wants her to go inside so no one else has to bear witness to the tsunami of her grief. So he can stop her from drowning. She knows she'll never see him again. And her heart pounds wildly.

"I- I can't go in there." She says, voice panicky.

"Come on." Jesus nods towards the door, motioning for her to join him inside.

She takes shaky steps up and into the dim trailer.

And she freezes.

The air is sucked from the room when she sees him. She doesn't know if she's going to pass out, or vomit.

She finally takes in a painful breath.

He stands in the shadows. Sweaty, filthy, covered in blood. Dressed differently than she last saw him, he still looks not himself. He stares at his hands. He stares at her. He's vacant, and it scares her.

He doesn't speak. And neither does she.

"I'll give you two some time alone." Jesus says, awkwardly backing out of the trailer.

Ali stands on one end, Daryl on the other.

The shock of being in each other's presence, is all consuming.

His face crumples, and tears begin to flow. Her heart breaks for the man she gave it to.

"Daryl… I…" Her words cut off as a sob escapes her lips.

She covers her face with her hands, not wanting him to see her so weak anymore.

And suddenly, he's there. Strong arms enveloping her, holding her close and tight.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Tears freely falling, her words are messy and hard to get out.

"Are you okay?" She asks, not knowing what else to say.

He nods, as she pulls away to look at him. Gently inspecting his face with her fingertips.

The room is darkening, night is upon them. Through the shadows she can see he's been beaten. He's exhausted and he's broken, but he's still the same Daryl she loves so hard.

"Come on." She leads him over to the corner with the chairs and table. Hot water already collected in a bucket brought over by Jesus.

She works to undress him. Gently removing clothes that aren't his, and cleaning the grime off of his beautiful body.

He watches her. Watches the care she gives him. She's humming softly, and gently massaging his aching muscles as she cleans.

Her touch revives his soul. The hell he lived in was worth this moment.

Silent tears stream down his face, the gravity of being with her again, and the loving way she cares for him are too much to handle.

She notices, but says nothing.

When she's done, she helps him pull on a new black button down and some black jeans. Doing the buttons herself, as he stands there silent and unmoving.

She leads him over to the bed and helps him lie down. Taking her place next to him, she tucks herself under his arm, so carefully, and rests her head on his shoulder.

He wraps his arms around her.

And he doesn't let go.

They lie this way for a long while. Watching the shadows move across the trailer until it's entirely dark. She gently gets up for water, thinking he's asleep. Lighting a candle, she turns to find him watching her.

His eyes are dark, and she can't look away.

"Daryl. Please. Talk to me." She whispers.

"What you said. In Alexandria. Did you mean it?" His voice, raspy from exhaustion and crying, is the most beautiful thing she's heard in so long.

"I did- I do. Does that scare you?"

"No."

"I hated telling you right then, I shouldn't have waited that long, but I was afraid I would never have another chance."

He closes his eyes.

"It don't scare me."

Silence falls between them.

She makes her way over to the bed and sits down facing him. She picks up one of his hands and gently traces circles in his palm before gripping it tight.

He opens his eyes, and looks into hers.

"I'd have sold my fucking soul to see you again Daryl. To be with you. And after that day, in Alexandria. You killed a man. For me, because of me…"

"No man is ever gonna get away with hurting you again."

"I know…" She breathes.

"I'd do anything for you Aliana. Anything."

He surprises her when he closes the space between them, kissing her gently.

He pulls her into his lap. Straddling him, she grinds her center against his erection, lighting fire to his arousal.

He pulls her shirt off as she fumbles with the buttons on his. He laughs when he can't undo her bra.

He smiles. His smile. He's still in there.

The sight, so beautiful she could cry.

When her breasts are free, he runs his hands gently from her neck down over her sensitive nipples. Snaking his hands around to her back, he brings her closer and takes one at a time into his mouth, sucking and biting as she breathes hard, gripping handfuls of his hair.

He only has a brief moment to come up for air before her lips are on his again. She works at his belt as he opens her jeans. He moves her over onto her back to pull her pants off, and he stands to let his drop to the floor.

He takes in the sight of her. Laying on the bed. Naked aside from her panties. Wavy dark hair an absolute mess. Face flushed from arousal.

"You're beautiful." He says quietly. Shyly.

She reaches out to him, taking his hands and pulling him to her.

"I love you, Daryl." She says, looking him in the eye.

He doesn't have time to respond before he's lost in her kiss again.

She pushes him gently to his back, and begins to stroke his hardened shaft, bringing him in her mouth.

He grips her hair, eyebrows knitted in ecstasy.

Stopping before he finds release, she moves to kiss his lips.

He reaches down, pulling her panties aside, gently stroking and pressing rhythmically against her heated sex.

When his fingers find entrance, she gasps and he gives her his half smile.

The gentle pressure nearly sends her over the edge, and she's unable to wait any longer.

Desperate to feel him, she straddles his lap. Guiding him inside her, and they move together.

Ali quickens the pace, and he brings his hands up to wipe her sweaty hair out of her face. He leans in close to her ear, and the warmth on her neck causes an eruption of chills.

"Go slow." He says shakily, trying to catch his breath. And he traces his hands down her back and over her thighs. "We got time."

She pulls back and looks him in the eyes. Stormy blue meets warm amber. This man holds her heart and her soul, and he knows it. And in this most intimate moment of his life, he wants to make it last as long as possible.

So he helps her set a pace.

He worships her body, and she, his, until they both come so hard they can barely breathe.

Then they lie together, bodies trembling and exhausted, but finally reconnected.

Spiritually, and physically.

He holds her in the darkness. Eventually her breathing evens out, and he realizes she's asleep.

Looking towards the trailer's tiny window, he watches the bright moonlight filtering in. Checking her watch on the table beside him, it's 2am.

Any fear he had of loving her, and of having her know it, are the only things he did lose in his time as a prisoner of the Saviors.

He did not lose himself, he did not kneel.

For her.

"I love you." He whispers into her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Ali awakens. It's still dark, but she realizes she's alone.

His knife is gone, pants, and boots too. But his shirt remains on the floor.

She pulls it on, her panties, then her boots.

She opens the back door, as quietly as she can. Finding him bathed in moonlight, on the tiny porch of the trailer.

Smoke dances like ghosts around him and he turns to look at her briefly before facing forward again.

His scars appear darker in this light. Rib cage peppered with bruises from the beatings he took in his refusal to comply.

She reaches out, ghosting her hands over the plane of his shoulders and back, before stepping around in front of him.

He hands her the cigarette, then pinches up the hem of his shirt resting on her upper thighs.

"Looks better on you anyway." He smirks.

She smiles, before letting her face fall.

"We're going to war." She says, resolute.

"I know." He looks at the porch rail where his hands rest.

"I'm not leaving you, for any reason. We go together. We fight. Together." She asserts.

"Me too."

They stand there quietly.

"I love you Aliana."

It's the first time she's heard it from him. And the sound of those words has her feeling high.

"They beat me every day. Told me that, if I'd just kneel, you could come there and live. With me. But when you went missin', his tune changed. He was gonna kill me in front of you, and make you his wife. He's got some nasty hard on for you, and he'll stop at nothin' to find you."

"What?" She breathes. She knew they were searching for her, but she didn't know the extent of it.

"Sherry's his now. And Dwight is payin' for that every god damn day. Every day."

She grimaces at the thought, and he can see the empathy in her face. In her gentle soul.

"That ain't gonna be you. I'll die before I let that happen. I almost did."

She tucks herself under his arm, and he turns to pull her entire body into him.

They stand there as one a while longer before retreating inside.

She pulls him down on the bed, and into her body.

And he goes without hesitation.

They know not what horrors the morning will bring. But for the rest of the night, they forget about the war. Forget about those that want them dead. Forget about the pain and the fear and the grief.

The cloak of darkness hides the lovers, who give their hearts.

And no one can stop them.

Hi again, I hope you're still enjoying the story! I do have one request. Please remember to review. I'm serious about writing this, and improving my writing in general. So if you have anything to comment, anything, I'd love to hear it.

If you have made it this far, I'm just very interested to know what you think.

Xx