Chapter Twenty One

House Keeping

I woke with a start, being shaken awake by Daryl. He was hovering over me, a worried expression on his face. I sat up, pushing my hair away from my face. "What?" I asked quietly, noticing the others were still sleeping. I noticed then my face was wet, I reached up and touched my cheek.

"Ya were crying in yer sleep, mutterin' things. You started to shake 'nd thought you should be woken up." His voice sounded dry, but I could hear the worried tone through the blank.

"Thanks." I muttered, grabbing a cloth from my pocket to wipe my face. Daryl lifted my chin up, kissing my lips gently, tentatively grabbing onto my hair. I cringed, unsure what to do. Slowly, I kissed him back. Daryl must have noticed my slow reaction, frowning he pulled back.

"What?" He asked, letting me go.

"Nothing." I shrugged.

"C'mon, don't do that."

"Don't do what?" I asked irritated, could he give me five minutes to breathe.

"Don't pull away again."

I stated at him for a moment before sighing. "Look, you can tell me all you want that you and Carol are just friends. But you've treated me better than her for a while."

I could tell Daryl was angry, but for the first time I didn't care. " I fuckin' treat you fine."

"I don't see you massaging my shoulder." I replied hotly, glaring at him.

Daryl was taken aback, he glared back at me. "You're the one who ain't spoken to me in months!"

"I'm the one who got raped." I said dryly, walking away from him. The others had woken up and were gathering things together.

Daryl grabbed my arm."Tasha, I-"

"Just fuck off, Daryl." I muttered, biting my lip to keep the tears back. I walked away quickly, going over by Carl and Rick, as the others gathered around to figure out the plan.

"Glenn, Maggie, T-Dog, Daryl and I will go kill the ones in the courtyard." He said firmly, walking away towards the gate. I ran after him, grabbing his arm.

"Rick, what the hell? Why can't I go?"

Rick stared at me. "If something happens I need you here with the others."

I shook my head. "No, Rick. You need me with you. I'm fast, strong- I can so this, Rick." I pleaded, trying not to sound upset. I hadn't done anything for the group in weeks, and I thought this could be my chance to redeem myself.

Rick frowned for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, but be careful."

I smiled. "Thank you, Rick." I went over to Daryl's bag, grabbing my knife I had found over the winter. I walked over to T-Dog, Glenn and Maggie, talking to them about the plan more thoroughly.

"What the fuck do ya think yer doin'?" Daryl's voice came from behind me. Glenn's smile faded, Glen could see the anger on my face. I turned and faced Daryl, staring straight through him, well I was trying to, I ended up looking into his electric blue eyes.

"I'm helping you guys clear the prison."

"No ya ain't." Daryl said firmly, attempting to grab my weapon. I pulled back, stumbling back onto my butt. Daryl rushed to me to help me up but I shoved him off, picking my knife off the ground.

"Actually, I am, Daryl. Whether you like it or not."

Lori and Carol opened the gate for us, and we walked into the prison in a formation so we all had our backs to each other. As the walkers began to come towards us, we broke off, killing walkers individually. I stabbed one in the head, making it fall lifelessly to the ground. Another one came at my but before I could stab it, an arrow went through it's head. Daryl rushed by me to pick up the arrow, our eyes met for a moment.

"I was fine." I said quietly, a lot kinder than I had been all morning.

Daryl just shook his head as we went back into formation. A part of me felt bad for being upset with Daryl, but the rest of me was angry that Daryl thought it wasn't a big deal. I shook my head, trying to focus my attention on the walker. We broke off again, Rick ran to shut a gate which held dozens of walkers. Walkers emerged from behind a dumpster, they had some sort of helmets on. Daryl shot an arrow at one, but it bounced off the plastic. I walked up to it, swiftly shoving the knife up its throat and into its brain, making it collapse. Daryl was beside me in an instant, stabbing another that was nearing me. I glanced over at him, I couldn't help but give him a small smile. I looked back to the others, we had killed all the walkers in this section of the court yard.

"The prison has to have been overrun, right?" I asked Rick, pointing out a lady on the ground.

"Yea, that's a civilian." Daryl added. I looked over to him. He was staring directly at me.

"It's not like we can just rebuild the entire prison, what are we gonna do?" Glenn asked.

"We have to push in." Rick said dryly, walking towards a gated door. I looked over at Daryl, who walked over to me, standing by my side as we walked into the prison.

"Ya stay by me at all times, ya hear?"

I looked over at him. His eyes showed how serious he was. I nodded breathlessly, missing the way he stared at me. "If something goes bad, you run. I don't care what Rick says, you run back to the others, okay babe?"

I just stared at him. I looked deep into his eyes. I loved how caring he was of me.

"Tasha?" He asked, I blinked.

"Oh, sorry. Yes, Daryl. I will."

We walked up steps, to a hollow door. Daryl pulled it aside as Rick and him went through first, followed by me, Glenn Maggie and T-dog. It was dark, but there were enough windows that the sunlight kept remote parts of the prison light. Daryl scoped the place, crossbow high ready to fire: I walked beside him, my knife tight in my fist. Rick grabbed keys from one of the dead workers, signaling to us it was safe here.

We went into a cell block, looking carefully into each cell making sure there weren't any alive Walkers. I walked slowly behind Daryl. I was afraid. I jumped slightly as two walkers grabbed for us from behind a cell. Daryl stabbed them both in the head. It seemed other than that, it was secure. Glenn, Maggie and T-Dog went to the others and helped them bring everything in. I stayed with Daryl, moving a few dead corpses from the top of the block.

"Home sweet some." Hershel joked slightly, a smile on his face.

"For now." Rick replied, I could hear the happiness in his voice.

"We sleep in a cell?" Beth asked. I rolled my eyes. She should be thankful she had a place to sleep.

"I ain't sleeping in no cage, I'll take the perch." Daryl said as he made his way up. I couldn't help but frown, I thought that maybe he'd stay with me, but I guess I was wrong. I carried my bag up to a cell near the perch, in case he changed his mind. I reached in my bag to find a bottle of water, but realized Daryl had mine, too.

Slowly, I walked over to Daryl who was already laying down. He glanced at me before sitting up. "What do ya need?" He asked as he grabbed the bag from behind him.

"Just some water."

Daryl rummaged through his bag before coming across the water. He handed me it slowly, staring at me. I took it from him, smiling slightly. I ripped off the lid and chugged down the entire bottle of water. I handed it back to Daryl, walking back to my cell.

"You know-" I turned and looked back at him. "If you can't sleep well there you can always come in here with me." I walked into my cell quickly, frowning. I should've just asked him to come to my cell, that would've been so much easier.

I laid back on the bed, staring at the roof of the bunk. I tried not to think of the crimes the men who had slept in these beds had committed. I laid there for a while, just staring at the top bunk. I glanced over at the door and saw Daryl watching me.

"Hey."

"Hey, couldn't sleep?" I asked him, sitting up. Daryl shook his head, he came and sat beside me. He pulled off my sweater? Making me stop moving. "Daryl, what are you-"

"I'm checking." He mumbled, looking intently at my shoulders and arms. I realized then I still had walker blood all over me. He was checking for scratches or bites. I frowned, staring at the ground as he ran his fingers across my skin.

"I didn't get bit or scratched, I would've felt it, Daryl." I insisted, but he kept looking. He grabbed his red rag out of his pocket, and poured some water on it. Slowly he began to gently scrub off the blood. I sat there, watching him as he wiped the blood off of me. I could see the worry in his eyes. I reached my hand up, touching his cheek gently. At first he closed his eyes, then he opened them and went back to cleaning the blood off my skin. After a few minutes he had gotten all the blood off of me, except for on my clothes.

"Take off yer shirt."

"What?"

"You can wear mine tonight." He said quietly as he began to pull off his shirt. I looked at him for a moment before pulling off my tank top and passing it to him. He set my tank-top down, standing up and putting his shirt over my head. It was big on me, covered down close to my knees. Daryl looked at my pants, which had some blood stains on them. I sighed, pulling them off and handing them to him. He walked out of my cell, leaving me standing there confused.

He came back with his bag, blanket and crossbow, which he set all of it in the corner. I walked up to him, leaning up and kissing him on the lips gently. Daryl slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his hands on my lower back. He kissed me back slowly, pulling my body close to his. He lifted me up, making me laugh as he carried me over to the bed. He laid me down on the inside, before laying down beside me.

I pulled Daryl closer, giving him a soft kiss on the lips. He kissed me back gently. "You wanna talk about it?" I asked, knowing by the way his eyes looked that he had slept, but must have woken up.

Daryl looked away, laying on his back. I rolled ontop of him, making him look at me.

"Don't make this hard, Daryl."

He grunted, "I fuckin' dreamt of you dyin' okay?"

I frowned, staring down at him. I touched his face gently, trying to get him to be less tense. "I'm not going to die, Daryl. I haven't yet. So much shit has happened to me, and I'm still here."

Daryl wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me down to him. "You can't die."

I smiled, brushing my lips against his. "I won't."

Daryl grabbed my waist firmly, kissing me passionately. I let out a quiet whine, missing the way he kissed me. His lips curled into a smile as he kissed me more, rubbing his hands up and down my back. Daryl began to pull my shirt off, I bit my lip nervously, looking away. I had scars on my sides, arms shoulders and neck. I had completely forgot until now. I know Daryl had seem them before, but each time I worried he would change his mind about me. Daryl reached a hand up, tracing his fingers along them. The scars were fading, but he and I both could see them. Daryl's fingers traced up to my face, caressing my cheek. "Hey." He said softly, I looked at him slowly.

"You're beautiful." He rolled my onto my back, slowly kissing the scars. I laid there, tracing my fingers across the scars on his back. I heard his breath hitch while my fingers roamed his body. Daryl kissed his way up my neck to my lips, kissing me passionately once again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his body tight against mine. I let out a quiet gasp as I felt him unclasp my bra. I looked up at him, rolling my eyes slightly. Daryl had a smirk on his face, gently removing my bra and tossing it aside.

I looked into Daryl's eyes as I reached down to his pants, tugging them down slowly. He let out a groan as I began to feel around his crotch. I smirked, reaching a hand down his boxers. He let out a breath, moving his hands down to my pants, taking them off quickly. I slowly moved my hand across his hard dick, smirking as he let out a moan. Daryl pulled back, quickly pulling off his boxers. Daryl slowly romed his hands down my body, his fingers grazing against my breasts, then my stomach, then down to my panties. I let out a soft moan as he slipped them off, arching my back slightly. Daryl positioned himself ontop of me, leaning down and kissing me gently. I let out a hard breath as he began to grind against me. He groaned, slowly pushing himself in me. I moaned louder, Daryl kissed me passionately to keep me quiet. I had my arms around his neck, pulling his body tight to me as he bang to thrust. I pushed my body back against him, making him quicken his pace.

"Baby." He groaned.

I pushed him over onto his back, climbing ontop of him quickly. Daryl moaned as I put him in me again, moving against him hard and slow. Daryl reached his hands up, cupping my cheeks as he kissed me. The kiss was gentle, but passionate. I had forgotten what it was like to make love to him, to feel every inch of his body against mine. I moaned louder, feeling something build up inside me.

"Oh- Daryl." I moaned against his lips, gripping his shoulder trying not to scream. I could feel myself cum as Daryl groaned.

"T-tasha." Daryl moaned as he released himself into me. I panted, running my fingers lightly through his hair. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his fast heart beat. Daryl ran his fingers across my back, causing goosebumps to arise,

I attempted to sit up, but Daryl held me tighter. "No babe, stay here." He pulled me tight against his chest. I smiled, getting into a more comfortable position ontop of him. The sunlight was still shining, and through it I could see a happiness in his eyes I hadn't seen in a while. I kissed him gently before resting my head on his bare chest. Daryl reached down, pulling his blanket over us. I curled into his body, my breathing becoming slow and quiet.

"I love you." Daryl muttered, running his fingers through my tangled, curly hair.

"I love you too, Daryl." I whispered, slowly drifting off to sleep.