Feeling a lot more relaxed than he had done the day before, Daryl leaned back against the chair he was sat on in the hidden cabin in the woods. Resting one foot up on the table in front of him he was examining his crossbow carefully. It felt good to have it back in his hands as he worked in silence. The only sound was the running of the shower through the slightly ajar bathroom door.

He paused to flick back his hair, satisfied everything was in working order he put his crossbow down and sunk back to take a rare, quiet and thoughtful moment. Looking around at the basic but comfortable log cabin, buried deep within the woods with all it's hidden treasures below, Daryl could quite honestly say he would be happy to live out the rest of his days here. In peace. Away from the rest of the world. With Sienna.

A brief fantasy running through his head of coming back from hunting to find the fire roaring and the beautiful blonde tucked up in a chair writing into her notebook. Her huge dog lazed out at her feet. Just the three of them, living a simple life out here. No complications. Decent food, comfort, companionship and love-making. Lots of love-making. Bliss.

Sienna had asked him what he was surviving for, the day before out on the road. At the time he'd honestly had no idea, but now, here, he knew.

His attention turned to the sounds coming from the bathroom, where she was still getting cleaned up. He licked his lips, dirty thoughts suddenly filling his head for a second. It hadn't gone unnoticed that she'd left the door open a little. It would be easy for him to slip in, take a good look at her. Again. His groin started tingling. He'd seen her naked for real now and it wasn't an image he would be able to get out of his head anytime soon.

But he knew there was no time for any of that now.

The door to the bathroom swung open fully as Sienna appeared, she was fully clothed in blue skinny jeans, and a cream coloured cardigan. Her crystal blue eyes looked over at him as she dabbed at the ends of her damp long, blonde hair with a towel.

Daryl drew in a breath, realizing he was just staring at her.

"Bathroom's free," she said with a smile. "I've left some shower gel in there for you, if you want t."

"Thanks," he replied, swallowing hard. She smelled, sweet, fresh and clean again. A smell he thought he'd never get enough of.

…

Stripped of all his clothes, Daryl stepped under the shower. The pressure wasn't great and it was lukewarm at best. But he didn't care. The fact he had bothered at all was a miracle.

'What is it about this chick that makes me wanna clean up all the time?' he thought to himself as he allowed the water to bounce off his long hair, throwing his head to shake it from side to side.

Back on the road, and at the prison and Alexandria even, Daryl would have gone for literally weeks without going near a bar of soap if he could get away with it. He knew he was filthy, but he just didn't care. Carol had offered to wash his clothes for him on many an occasion and give his shaggy, greasy hair a trim, but he'd always refused. Feeling like a naughty, teenage boy again. Not that there had ever been anyone around that had given two shits about whether he'd showered or not when he had been a boy.

With Sienna though it was different. He knew in part the prospect of getting laid again was partly behind his reasoning to want to get clean. Dirt and stale body odour were hardly the most alluring things to the opposite sex. Not that she'd had much of a problem with it the previous night. But somehow she had also made him feel that he was worth more than just a greasy, redneck who didn't wash.

Part of him didn't want to wash the scent of her from him though. The scent of sex. It had awoken something in him, made him feel alive. His testosterone levels raised. He had no idea whether it would happen with her again, but if he had anything to with it, it would. That side of him had been shut down for a long time, but she had more than fired it up again.

His mind skimmed over how it had felt to be with her and he instantly felt himself get hard.

He lathered up the coconut and vanilla shower gel she had left out for him, massaging it across his scarred body. He could just see Merle's face in his head, mocking him. 'Growing a pussy there, baby brother, smelling like a lady boy?' But Daryl didn't care. Merle wasn't there. He knew it wasn't the most masculine of scents, but it was better than the sterile, clinical smelling soap they'd had at Alexandria. Besides he liked the smell, because it reminded him of the blonde that had given it to him. Making his insides twitch even more.

He switched the shower off and rubbed himself down quickly with a towel, trying to get his head straight. He knew they had to make tracks quickly and there were still plenty of dangers out there. He had to forget about the night before and switch back into survival mode.

...

He found Sienna crouched down stuffing some bottles of water and packets of food into her backpack. She looked up, and flashed him a smile. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail again and her skin looked flawless and dewy. He still had no idea how she managed to look so damn near perfect all the time.

"You good?" He asked, moving his still wet hair away from his eyes.

"Yeah," she replied, standing up and doing up her bag. The sight of a clean Daryl making her whole body flutter a little.

...

"Shame we gotta leave this place," Daryl mumbled without thinking, as he wedged the door to the cabin shut from the outside, they'd agreed not to mention it's existence to anyone else.

Daryl didn't have too many happy memories, and the one from last night had to be up there with one of the happiest, most incredible experiences of his life. Soon to be a memory. It had just been sex with a pretty girl, but the way she had responded to his touch, the way she had made him feel as their bodies had connected, that had been something else.

If he died tonight, he knew he would die happy.

"It's a place we can re-visit whenever we need to," she responded a little dreamily.

He narrowed his eyes for a second as he looked at her, confused. Before he got it. She wasn't talking about actually physically re-visiting it. He'd been referred to a shrink once, one of the conditions that had kept him out of jail. That mandatory shrink had talked a lot of garbage, but one thing she had said to him back then, was to always have a place in your head that you could go to if things got too much. The memory or thought of something that made you feel good. Daryl had thought that had been a crock of shit at the time.

Maybe now though all these years later, there had been a point to it.

"Come on," he said, cocking his head to signal for Sienna to follow him, he didn't want to dwell on it.

…..

The trek back to the truck seemed to go much faster than it had done the day before. Daryl had a new healthy stride to his step as they followed their tracks back to the road. Holding his crossbow high he fired at something moving in the greenery.

"Got you," he announced, darting over to tug his arrow out of a motionless squirrel.

Sienna folded her arms and shook her head, "You shoot everything that moves?" she asked, raising a brow.

He stood up and turned back to her, replying with a smirk, "Habit I guess."

"You've never had to survive out here, have you? Never had to fend for yourself," he continued, returning to her side holding the dead squirrel up.

"Nope, not exactly. But if I ever find I have to, I can see you're the man to know," she joked, raising a brow as she watched him stuff the squirrel into his bag. "Gross," she muttered. "You're not really going to take that with you, are you?"

He shrugged, "There's good meat on that."

She shook her head, smiling to herself some more, as they wandered on in a comfortable silence.

...

"You okay?" Daryl asked as Sienna suddenly stopped for a moment.

"Yeah, just thought I heard something," she replied, glancing around her, her face completely serious now. The woods were starting to give her the creeps.

"Nothin here," Daryl said, standing close to her as he looked around too.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's probably nothing, I've just got a weird feeling... We really need to get back to the others."

'We're nearly back at the road," Daryl reassured, as he touched her arm.

Sienna smiled again to herself, it was just a little gesture, but Daryl touching her arm like that wasn't something he would have done the day before. Things were different between them now. She had half wondered if Daryl would have appeared to have regretted what had happened between them the night before, but so far it was the opposite, he seemed to be more relaxed and open with her. Happier.

…

"Start it up," Daryl yelled, from where his head was in the hood of the engine after having fitted the battery with ease into their temporary truck, drinking from a bottle of water at the same time.

Sienna turned the key, firing up the engine immediately.

Daryl took a swig of water before slamming it shut and turning to open the driver door. "Move over, I'll drive," he said loudly.

Sienna shifted herself over into the passenger side, "What's wrong with my driving?" She asked with a smile.

"What's right with it," Daryl replied with another smirk, as they pulled away.

Sienna screwed her face up at him, before turning to wind down the window, allowing the breeze to blow the front of her blonde hair across her face. Calming her nerves a little now they were back on the road.

She looked over to where Daryl was sat next to her, he was wearing sunglasses with his long hair falling into his eyes, one hand was resting atop the wheel, the other was holding a cigarette. He looked so damn sexy, she was more than ready to climb on top of him and continue their unfinished business from earlier that morning, before they had been interrupted by Louis contacting her.

She bit her lip and looked away. Her thoughts turning back to her missing friends and her beloved dog. If she lost Suki out here she wasn't quite sure what she would do. She had sent her faithful, four legged friend, off with Sam and Amelia as she had sensed that it was the right thing to do. Now she wasn't so sure.

Daryl shifted his gaze away from the road for a moment and over to where Sienna was sat beside him gazing out of the half open window, her hair fluttering slightly, her eyes wide and vacant.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention, "You alright?" Concern appearing on his face from where he was looking at her behind his dark glasses. He placed his other hand holding the cigarette on to the wheel, freeing his other one up to gently touch her shoulder.

She turned her head and the feel of his hand lingering on her a little longer than would have been appropriate before, made her instantly smile back at him. "Yeah," she replied, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Aint no point worrying yourself, we'll be back there soon enough," he said calmly, his voice a little softer than his usual gruff tone. He didn't want to bullshit her, he know well enough that anything could have happened, but he also knew at times like this you needed to keep your head.

"Mmm.." she mumbled.

His hand lowered and he found hers, wrapping her fingers in his for a moment, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Sienna felt a rush of warmth. She couldn't deny she didn't like this new side to Daryl. He just seemed a little more confident and less uptight after the night they had spent together. Perhaps that had just been what he had needed to chill him out a bit. Sex. Incredible sex at that.

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment as she was hit with a heady rush, and delicious flashback to the night before. To Daryl's sweaty, muscular body on hers. The dull ache between her legs reminding her she had most certainly not imagined it.

The thought of it happening again, was creating all sorts of further sensations in her too, as her emotions flipped between excitement at that, and genuine concern for her friends.

Having Daryl by her side though seemed to make everything just that little bit better.

He could have left her back at the truck to go back to his people, but he hadn't. Showing Sienna he did genuinely want to be here with her. Which she was more than glad about. This couldn't be the end. She knew she was falling for him now and she hoped he was falling for her too.

She reached for his hand again, causing a jolt of electricity to hit them both as they drove on in silence.

Sienna slid out the truck, tightening her blonde ponytail. She could clearly see Munroe and most of the other guys stood around the stationary military vehicles. Her heart-rate sped up as she searched for her friends.

As she approached them with Daryl behind her, she spotted Louis.

"You made it back," he said with a relieved grin. Giving her a friendly hug.

Sienna's eyes warmed as they broke apart. It wasn't often she got separated from her two work buddies and a smile appeared on her face to see Louis's kind eyes and smile.

Her wide, blue eyes then scanned the rest of the group. Her smiled widening, as she spotted the groomed, light brown hair of Sam, with Amelia and Suki behind him. She rushed over to Sam first, wrapping her arms around him tightly, crushing him. A hit of relief rushing through her to see her friend was alright. She never would have forgiven herself if anything had happened to him, after she had gone off with Daryl two days before to help him locate his bike and possessions.

Daryl stood back and watched as Sienna hugged her friend.

"Easy, you might want to buy me a drink first," Sam joked, a little taken aback and secretly flattered at the depth of emotion she was hugging him with. They had become close friends out here.

Daryl narrowed his eyes, he didn't quite get the British sense of humour, but he could tell Sam was really happy to see her too.

As the hug broke apart and Sienna turned her attention to Amelia and Suki. Sam's eyes met Daryl's. "Good to see you back here, man," Sam said, offering his hand to Daryl. He didn't have to say anything more as Daryl took his hand and shook it briefly. Sam was Sienna's friend and he was grateful to Daryl that no harm had come to her.

"Yeah, you too," Daryl responded, with a nod of the head.

Daryl stepped back, lighting up a smoke as he quietly took in the sight of Sienna reuniting with her group some more. He knew he should feel like an outsider, he barely knew them, they had different accents, backgrounds, clothes, life experiences - but there was something he liked about them.

He then thought back to his own group, the people he had been with since the beginning of all this. Rick, Carol and the others. He knew he should feel guilty that he had barely thought of them over the past 24 hours, but he hadn't. He missed them, but he didn't miss how he had felt when he was with them. Bleak, a little lonely, and for the most part quite desperate. His only goal to stay alive another day, even back at Alexandrina he had never quite been able to picture a rosy future. Something had felt off.

Maybe now he was still on a slight high from the night before, from getting laid by one of the hottest girls he had ever laid eyes on. But, here, with these people, Daryl felt like there could be a chance of a better future.

"Dixon, you made it back. You had us worried there for a moment," Munroe suddenly appeared by Daryl's side and said. "Heard you had a run in, took out a couple of rebel's."

Daryl looked over at the ex CIA agent. "Was nothin," he replied, playing it down, blowing out smoke in front of him.

"Maybe to you," Munroe replied. "But you saved one of ours, I don't call that nothing."

Daryl squinted at him through his hair, confused how Munroe could have known already about what had happened with Sienna.

"Take a walk with me," the older man said.

Daryl dropped his cigarette to the ground, stomping on it with his boot as he nodded and turned to follow him.

As Sam, Louis and Amelia fired questions at her, Sienna looked up to see Daryl had disappeared. She looked through the rest of the people stood around, catching the sight of Alex leaning back against one of the vehicles watching her. He looked slick and handsome as he casually stood there.

He gave her a genuine smile as she caught his eye and she looked away.

"I've got some awesome footage to show you," Sam said, holding his camera up to Sienna, as she turned her attention back to him and the other's. A sudden uneasy feeling hitting her. The plan was to camp out in the same spot they had stopped at on their first night here, before heading back to the base. But what if Daryl had decided to head off now? He hadn't said anything to her, about staying here with them tonight.

She chewed down on her thumbnail, distracted, as she saw Alex heading her way.

"Good to see you back blondie, heard you had a run in," Alex said, his tone sincere for once, as his dark eyes looked her over.

Sienna had wanted to snap something sarcastic back, but something about his tone stopped her as she simply replied. "Thanks, you too." He might be a total ass most of the time, but when it came down to it, she knew he cared.

Daryl followed Munroe into the back of one of the trucks, the one parked furthest away.

"Have a seat," he said to Daryl.

Daryl perched down as Munroe handed him an electronic device. He looked down to see there was a screen on it displaying a photo of the two dead wolves he had killed the day before.

"Scroll through," Munroe said.

Daryl flicked through to see more shots of the same thing. He looked back to Munroe for an explanation.

"We'd been tracking those two sonofabitches for a day, when we went past there yesterday evening and found them like that." Munroe explained. "We didn't realize it was you that had taken them out, but the look on your face now certainly confirms it. The first guy, the one on the right, he's one of the leaders we think. He killed two of my men before he got to you. He's a tough mother fucker. You did well, Dixon."

Daryl looked back at the image. It was the man that had been tormenting Sienna, and a surge of anger hit him again as he remembered vividly what had gone down, what would have happened had he not got there when he had.

Daryl sniffed, putting his hand up to his jaw. "He had it coming," he replied in a low, rough voice.

"We're not sure who the other one was with him, but we know there is still a group of them out there, further south of here. Dozens possibly, taking over everything they can. We managed to capture a group of them, they told us that much."

"What you gonna do?" Daryl asked, thinking back to the old woman he and Sienna had met and her story. A sudden feeling of anxiety hitting him as he thought of Alexandria and how vulnerable they could possibly be.

"We're going back to the centre for back up, this area isn't safe anymore. The infected are coming in. The only way that can be happening is if the rebel group are killing people and turning them." Monroe explained seriously, referring to the wolves.

Daryl's eyes narrowed as he processed what the other man was telling him.

"But that isn't the only thing I wanted to talk to you about," Munroe went on to say. "You did good out there, Dixon. You led my men when you needed to, you kept Kavannagh and her group safe."

Daryl flinched at the mention of Sienna's surname. He'd only heard someone refer to it once before. But it sounded official. A heat spreading up his cheeks, thinking of her, as he forced himself to re-focus on Munroe.

If Munroe had any inkling that there was anything going on between him and Sienna he didn't let on, as he continued, " I knew it the first moment I saw you. You have skills out here that we haven't seen in a long time. Most survivors we pick up, have either turned psychopathic or are damaged beyond all repair. But you know exactly what you're doing, you're tough, level headed. We need you, Dixon, so we want to offer you a job."

Daryl blinked several times as he stared back at Munroe's serious face. No-one had ever said they wanted to offer Daryl a job like that before and he was a little speechless.

"I'm not going to lie to you, these last few days were a sort of test, but you've more than proved yourself." Munroe said, to a still quiet Daryl. "This doesn't just stop at me either, there are people much higher up in command. The world might not be operating how it was before, but you can use that to your advantage. We are taking steps into something that will sooner or later resemble our old way of life, and if you work with us now to be a part of that, they will see you are taken good care of in the end."

Daryl narrowed his eyes some more. None of this was making much sense to him. But he was ready to listen further.

"When things start to calm down a bit, you'll be re-paid handsomely, provided with a place to retreat to somewhere and given privileges. You're in a good position, Daryl. Your experience surviving out there has done that."

"I dunno," Daryl responded eventually, he was pretty taken aback. He felt in a way that he wanted to be a part of what was going on here. But he couldn't just sign his life away, he couldn't just forget about his original group, and he wasn't ready to give away their exact location yet either.

"Think about it, you don't have to give me an answer yet," Munroe stated, buying Daryl a little more time. "When we get back to the centre we can talk again."

"Soup?" Sienna offered Amelia, as they sat outside their newly pitched tent and she offered her some from the pan she'd heated up over the small fire they'd started. It was just the two of them and Suki.

"Thanks," Amelia replied, taking the steaming cup.

"So, I've told Louis he has to share with Kyle tonight as I'm going in with Sam." Amelia announced as she clutched her soup.

Sienna raised a brow as she blew on her steaming cup. Wondering why her friend was making a point of telling her that.

"So, you'll be on your own in there tonight, I'm afraid," Amelia continued, gesturing towards their tent with her head, before taking a sip of her soup and quirking her lips up slightly. "That's if there isn't anyone else you wanted to share it with!"

Sienna shot her friend a suspicious look, Amelia knew about her and Daryl.

"I'm sure Bear Grylls would be happy to oblige," Amelia added with a smirk this time.

"What?.." Sienna questioned, hesitantly. Trying not to laugh at Amelia's nickname for Daryl, she wondered if he would even know who Bear Grylls was.

"It's written all over your face," Amelia quipped. "Plus the tension was getting a little unbearable before you two took off together alone. Hopefully you've worked through all that now."

"It wasn't like that," Sienna protested.

"Like what?" Amelia teased some more.

"You know, I didn't plan it or anything, it just happened," Sienna continued as she sat crosslegged, clutching her soup in both hands.

"Well, as long as you know what you're doing, I know how weird you are about guys and stuff," Amelia said a little more seriously.

"He's not what you think, he's a decent guy," Sienna spoke up in defence of Daryl, she knew he could appear rude and a little rough around the edges, but there was another side to him that she wanted her friends to see too.

Amelia sipped her soup, her exotic dark eyes studying Sienna's face for a silent moment, before she spoke slowly, "I believe you..about Bear Grylls….. and lets face it he has that whole rugged, sexy unwashed been living in the outdoors thing, going on…" she added with a twinkle in her eye.

Sienna let out a loud laugh, causing Suki to stir her head upwards from where she had been dozing on the ground next to her, just as a dark figure approached them and Sienna looked up to see Daryl stood in front of them.

"Umm.. Hey," he said a little awkwardly. Looking from Sienna to her brunette doctor friend.

"I'm gonna go and catch up with the others," Amelia said, excusing herself to get up and leave Sienna alone with Daryl.

"Something funny?" Daryl asked brusquely as he perched down next to Sienna.

"Not really," Sienna replied, "You want some soup?" She asked, spooning some into a cup for him.

"Thanks," he replied, relaxing a little as he sat closer to her, he had to admit it was good to see her more relaxed again and back with her friends.

"Where did you go?" she asked, watching him sip his soup, hugging her arms around her knees, her blonde hair falling down around her face.

"I was with Munroe. He's offered me a job," Daryl blurted out, his tone a little awkward and hesitant.

He had already had a chance to think about Monroe's offer, his head was telling him one thing, his heart another, and he wanted to hear what she had to say, without her thinking he was being too clingy all of a sudden. As far as he was concerned she thought he was going back to his group, perhaps that was how she wanted it? The insecure side of Daryl couldn't help but think.

"Oh," she responded, her blue eyes shimmering in the dark. "I thought he would. You've impressed them."

He shifted and put his hand up to cover his mouth, "What do you think I should do?" he asked, his dark blue eyes meeting hers straight on.

She held his gaze for a moment, her heart leaping out of her chest a little, before she said, "I can't tell you what to do, Daryl. It has to be your decision."

He nodded once and looked away into the night, feeling a twinge of disappointment. But he wasn't sure exactly what he had expected. She was hardly going to beg him to stay and take it...

TO BE CONTINUED.

A/N - Second half of this chapter will be uploaded soon, with some more hot action. It turned out quite long so I thought best to split into two! Thanks again for reading, reviewing and following/fav. x