Chapter 14:
When she stepped away from Daryl he was looking at everything but her. She tilted her head to the side in a silent question but Daryl didn't answer, he just walked over to the side of the water where trees had cast a shadow over the grass. Sitting down he started pulling out their lunches and then looked back up at Girl when he noticed that she wasn't coming to sit next to him. "Come on," he said and her head snapped back up and she walked quickly over to him before kneeling bending to sit down. Daryl had turned back to the food when he saw her moving and the next thing he knew, she fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
Girl had been fighting with herself about taking off her sweat soaked sweat shirt but she felt awkward just taking it off in front of Daryl. She knew what her body looked like, and even though most of her was covered with band aids, she still felt ugly. When Daryl had moved and started unpacking, her eyes focused on the cool water and she dazed out. It wasn't until Daryl spoke to her that she snapped back to reality. The ground seemed to be tilting under her as she picked one foot up at a time and she felt like bricks were attached to each one. She could hear her heart beating in her head as she stood before Daryl, and as she bent to sit down, the ground rushed up to meet her and then everything went black.
"Hey," Daryl called moving quickly to her side. He picked her head up and checked it with his fingers and when he didn't feel anything abnormal he rolled her onto her back. Her face was flushed and the moment he touched her skin he knew what had happened. She hadn't eaten all day, he had made her trek through the woods, and she hadn't taken off that damn sweater. Quickly but carefully, he took off her sweat shirt and used a bandana out of his pocket. Dipping the bandana into the stream he pulled it out and rung out most of the water before he wiped it around her face as gently as he could before running it down her neck and over her exposed skin from her chest to her arms.
When he dipped the rag into the water again he saw her shift. He was back to her side in an instant. "Girl," he said placing the wet cloth over her face again trying to get her to open her eyes, "Come on Girl. Wake up." She flinched away from him but she hadn't opened her eyes yet and he didn't take it to heart. "Come on Girl," he tried again, "It's me. It's Daryl."
The first time she opened her eyes again the sun blinded her for a moment. "Tha's it," Daryl said, "Open 'em." Slowly her eyes adjusted to the sun and she blinked away the black spots that swam around in her vision. She looked up at Daryl with confusion in her eyes. "Ya overheated," Daryl said roughly brushing the wet hair from her face, "Passed out. The hell were ya thinkin? Why didn't ya take off that damn sweatshirt?"
Girl looked down and realized that he had taken it off of her and she brought her arms up to cover herself. She still had her shirt on, but with all of her cuts and bruises exposed to him she felt naked. "Ya worried 'bout them cuts still?"
When she looked away and nodded Daryl's hands curled into fists and he was gritting his teeth to keep from yelling at her. He took a deep breath and placed a hand on her arm before pulling it away from her body. At first she didn't let him pull her arm away, but when their eyes met she slowly let him move her arm away. "They aren't bad," he said putting her arm down to her side, "most of 'em probably won't even scar."
She cringed at the word and her arm started to move back up to cover her and Daryl knew that he had used to wrong word. "Yer ain't gonna look like mine Girl," he said and held his hand out to her, "Yer gonna great when yer all healed up. Ya want ta try and sit now?" Daryl asked hoping to change the subject, he felt as if he had said too much and he didn't want things to get awkward after he admitted that she looked good to him.
Slowly she slid her hand into his and he helped her up. She moved slowly and he didn't rush her as she sat up fully. "Wait," Daryl said quickly as he dropped her hand. He moved and grabbed his bow without making a sound and returned to Girl's side. They both watched and waited to see what would come through the bushes, neither of them made a sound.
"Ya gotta be kiddin' me," Daryl said with a hint of a laugh to his voice. Girl craned her neck to see and all of a sudden she saw a deer coming out of the brush. She gasped and Daryl actually jumped a little at the sudden sound. When he turned to look at her she wasn't looking at him. She was looking straight ahead at the young deer who had just come out of the bushes and over to the edge of the water for a drink. It looked at them for only a moment then returned to drinking the water. Daryl put his bow back on the ground before getting the rest of the food out from earlier while Girl continued to watch the deer with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
She couldn't believe it was the same deer, but by the look Daryl had given her, and the way that he had responded, she was certain that it was the same deer. She watched for a little while before the deer wandered off back into the woods. She almost pinched herself to make sure she wasn't back in her dream from earlier, this was just all way too good to be true. She waited for another moment before turning back to see Daryl had already started to eat. "Go on," he said motioning to the food. She smiled at him and cleaned her face of any leftover tears before she grabbed some food and started eating.
By the time they had finished their food, Girl had completely forgotten that she hadn't had a sweatshirt on, and she was actually comfortable. Daryl had watched her from under his long hair, glancing up through it only when he was sure that she wasn't looking. He had noticed that even with what had happened to her out in these woods, she didn't seem afraid to be out in them. At least when he was with her, he wondered if she would be as comfortable if he wasn't here.
Daryl had finished his food and had turned to face the water, still keeping an eye on her when he thought she wasn't looking. Girl, of course, hadn't seen him watching her. She had seen him looking at her every now and then, but she had brushed it off and just enjoyed being outside. And when she had finished her food she looked back to Daryl to find that he wasn't even watching her anymore, he was looking at the water. "It's hot," he said before pulling off his blue and black sleeveless button down flannel leaving him in a white wife beater. Girl watched as the shirt clung to his body and she felt a strange tightening in her lower stomach.
Quickly she looked away, she didn't want to have those feeling for the only person she felt comfortable around. She didn't want to make things awkward, not now, not with him. She sighed and turned her head back to him in time to see him sinking into the river. She felt her heart beat faster for a moment when she noticed that he had taken off his wife beater and his jeans laid on the ground folded with his bow on top of them within his reach. She felt heat rush to her cheeks and blamed it on the heat of the day before she reached for a pony tail holder and fixed her hair into a sloppy bun before looking back to Daryl.
"Why don't you cool down," Daryl said more than he asked. She knew that he was telling her that she needed to cool down, but she wasn't sure she would be able to be undressed so close to him, and in the day light where he would be able to see her every flaw. Picking up her arms and wrapping them around herself so shook her head no. Daryl sighed and looked at her while she looked at the ground. "Put that on," he said pointing to the ground at his button down shirt, "I won't watch. Ya can wear it in the water. I don't care." With the Daryl turned his back to her.
Girl sighed as she looked at his back. She could see many of the angry welts that were permanent scars on his back. She knew there were more than just the ones she could see from this distance, and she wondered if he had ever shown anyone his scars, other than her.
With that thought in mind she decided that his shirt would be long enough on her, and more than that, she could trust him. She knew that he wouldn't look at her until she was ready, but she was still moving faster than normal. She turned her back to Daryl and slid off her jeans as she grabbed the shirt Daryl had left on the ground. She slipped off her shirt, leaving her in her bra and panties, before slipping Daryl's shirt on. As she buttoned it up, thankful that it covered the bandages on her thighs, she caught Daryl's smell on the shirt. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and the smell seamed to calm her.
When she opened her eyes she found she wasn't as nervous anymore. She tugged the shirt down her thighs a little more and then turned and walked to the water's edge. Daryl still didn't look at her as she stepped on foot into the cool water. Slowly, she moved her body so that both legs were in the water and she wadded into the water. When she sat down the water hit her mid chest and she tried to get comfortable while the water pulled at her as if trying to drag her away from the thoughts and worries that surrounded her.
"Feel better?" he asked and she nodded as she leaned her head back and enjoyed the coolness of the water and the heat of the sun. Daryl didn't say anything after that, he just studied her while he could. Her head was tilted back, eyes closed, and she had a small smile on her face. His shirt was long on her, she almost looked like a child in his shirt, but the way that the shirt clung to her made him think of her in every way but a child. The water moved the shirt slightly over her thighs, he wasn't able to see far into the water, but he could see some sort of tattooed design there. He wanted to slide his shirt up and see what she had there, but he knew that was over stepping their boundaries. His eyes traveled back up her body to see where his shirt was pressed against her stomach and her chest. He was thankful the water was as cold as it was as his eyes rested on her chest for longer than he had planned. When he finally pulled his eyes away, he was disgusted with himself.
She was trusting him to not look at her that way, yet here he was, getting turned on and staring at her like she was a prized deer and he had to have her to claim for his own. He went to turn away but saw the intricate tattoo on her left shoulder that faded down to her arm and stopped a little before her elbow. It looked like an intricate dream catcher formed on her shoulder and pink, purple and blue flowers surrounded it with delicate lines drawn through them making it seem like lace was tattooed there. How had he not noticed it before? He had seen her without her sweatshirt on before, so why hadn't he noticed it. That was when he saw the bright pink welt peeking out from under her arm and it stopped half way into the flowers of her tattoo.
Her shoulder had been wrapped then. He was happy that she was letting her wounds heal, but seeing them still made him angry. Angry that he couldn't find the men that did this to her, angry that he couldn't keep the bad from finding her, angry that she was so embarrassed by her body, and angry that there didn't seem to be a damn thing that he could do to really help her.
He was still studying her shoulder when she opened her eyes. At first she thought he was looking at her cuts and bruises, but then she remembered he had never seen her tattoos before. Suddenly his eyes snapped up to her and she swore he blushed before he covered his face with his hair and turned away. She smiled and, shakily, drifted through the water to sit next to him so that her tattooed shoulder was at his side. She nudged him with her shoulder and gave him a small, slightly awkward smile.
Daryl rolled his eyes but looked back down to her shoulder. It was even more beautiful up close. Here he could see the way the light and dark colors contrasted with her skin and it amazed him. His fingers twitched as they yearned to trace the dark lines on her skin. He curled his hands into fists at his sides and hoped that she didn't notice. When he looked back up at her face she was looking out into the woods and he sighed thinking that he had made her uncomfortable.
He started to pick up his hand to get her attention so that he could apologize, but that was when he noticed the water. Through the light current he could see bandaged trying to escape from her thighs, and then the water had tints of pink in it. Quickly he grabbed her arm and pulled her up out of the water. "Yer bleeding," he said as he got out of the water. She looked down to see the streams of pink running down her thighs.
"Come on," he said pulling her further out of the water, "We gotta stop it." When she wasn't moving on her own Daryl looked up at her face. "What?" he asked when she wouldn't meet his eyes, "Girl, what happened?" Daryl knew she had been cut up on her thighs, but he didn't remember anything that would bleed so easily right now. When she still wouldn't answer him he got frustrated, more so because she was starting to scare him. He walked closer to her and grabbed the hem of his shirt before thrusting it up to see her thighs.
She didn't gasp or pull away like he thought she would, instead, she just stood there with her head hanging down and her arms hanging limp at her sides. These cuts were new, and deep. "Bill do this?" Daryl growled. Girl didn't answer him. "Did Bill do this!" Daryl yelled at her snapping her back into the present. She shook her head no. "Then who!" he yelled and she looked away from him again. "Look at me Girl," he said dropping the shirt and grabbing her by the upper arms making her wince a little. When she finally looked at him in the eyes, he got all the answers he needed. "Ya did this to yerself," Daryl said and she looked away before slowly nodding her head.
(A/N – I'm sorry that this chapter is late! I had some family issues that I needed to take care of and in all honestly I wasn't sure when I was going to get this up. Luckily my amazing boyfriend helped me out today and I was able to sit down and relax for a few minutes. So I hope you enjoyed this! Special thanks to:
Danathakettu – I had actually planned on posting twice this week but things got so crazy… and I think I might have broken my tail bone so I haven't been able to sit down and work on this for a while. I'm glad that you are still here and reviewing! It makes me so happy that people are regulars to my story! But that's the thing about Violet, I want people to be able to see her hit rock bottom and then continue to grow. So many people deal with issues where there never seems to be a way up, but there will always be hope if you know where to look for it, and that's what I want her to find.
Corina27 – You can trust me when I say they will get closer to each other, but it is going to take some time, there are going to be some rather big setbacks. But hang in there!
Wild Wolf Otaku – Good to hear from you again! I'm glad you're still here and enjoying the story! It's alright if you don't know what to say, just letting me know if you liked the chapter or not is good to hear. Even just a 'hi' is better than nothing lol! It let's me know that you are still enjoying the story!
Kaybal3 – I thought so too! I know Daryl wouldn't be comfortable with that, but just picturing it in my head made me laugh a little as I saw him trying to be comfortable and trying to figure out what to do with someone like her.
CGirl143 – Thank you so much! I hope you keep reading!
As always I looooove hearing from you guys, so keep up the reviews!)