Hey guys! My nose is all better guys! I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving, and if you didn't celebrate it, for one reason or another, I hope you just have a happy life! This chapter is mostly just fluffy cotton candy-BUT DUDES I GOT SO MANY REVIEWS ON THE LAST CHAPTER! You guys are all the best people ever!

Please continue with the feedback. It makes me so happy. Let me know if you have any ideas for this Tory. I know it's kind of long and rambles a lot, but I love it, soooo... you're just gonna have to deal

Just kidding. I love you guys.

Enjoy!

Daryl POV

"I'm standing where the lightening strikes, and I know this doesn't happen twice. You must be my once in a lifetime."- Once in a Lifetime, Landon Austin

I had gone through this moment over and over in my head, trying to imagine what it would be like, what it would be like to grab her beautiful, delicate face, to have her soft lips connect with mine in a moment of pure. I hadn't planned on kissing her today. I hadn't really planned on kissing her ever, but seeing her so vulnerable, so raw in front of me… I had thrown all of my preconceived notions out the window.

And all I could say was wow.

I was prepared for her to push me away, to hit me in the face in her pure Nicole fashion. I already had my excuse planned out- I was sleep deprived going crazy from hunger, dehydrated. I didn't know what I was doing. I was ready to get on my knees to beg for her forgiveness,

But she didn't push me away. Instead, she pulled closer.

I leaned into the kiss, deepening it. She leaned in as well, putting her hand on my back. I moved my hands from her cheeks and into her hair, playing with her blonde curls. She put the other hand on my back and pulled me closer to her. She had to get on the tips of her toes to reach me, and I bent down slightly to make life easier. My eyes were shut, and I didn't want to open them, in the fear of ruining this perfect moment. If I could freeze time, if I could stay in a moment forever, It would be this one, this one perfect moment, where there were no walkers, no threat of starvation, no dead brothers, not constant fear of dying. All there was in this moment was me and her.

We pulled away after a few minutes giving ourselves time to breathe and get our bearings. She took a step back from me, breathing heavily. Her eyes shot up to my face, and I was worried she would freak out, but she didn't. She just looked at me, blue eyes wide and unreadable, larger than I had ever seen them.

"Daryl…" she said slowly, stepping closer to me.

"I'm sorry." I said quickly, cutting her off before she could say anything. "It's been a crazy couple of days. I'm tired and dehydrated and I wasn't…"

"Daryl!" She yelled, catching me off guard. I closed my mouth, and I looked down at her. She smirked slightly, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Shut up." I obeyed, keeping my mouth shut, even though I was screaming inside.

"Why did you apologize?" She asked, her icy gaze meeting mine, causing my insides to freeze. I raised an eyebrow, confused by her question. "Just now. Your first instinct was to apologize to me. Why?"

I thought for a moment. Why did I apologize? Why was my first instinct to shy away from these emotions? "I...I don't normally do things like that. I'm a pretty unpredictable guy, but in the sense where you won't know if I'll be there tomorrow. I'm not normally like this. I don't show much emotion, not this kind of emotion anyway. It's….it's stupid." I looked away, shaking my head. How had I been so stupid?

I heard a small laugh escape Nicole's lips. It was short and random, but then it gave way into a much louder, longer laugh. It was sweet, yet gravelly and low. I looked back at her, wondering what was so funny. A bright smile had spread across her face, reaching from ear to ear. Her eyes were squinted, with small tears pooling in the corners. Her whole face was flushed red. Her whole body was moving with the force of her laugh.

"What?" I looked around, trying to see what was so funny. WHen I saw nothing, I furrowed my brown in confusion. "Cole what is it?"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "It's not actually all that funny. It's just that, you're over here talking about how you can't show your emotions, even though I am one of the least open people in the world! You think you don't know how to show how you feel? Hah. I loved my brother, even though he was a dick… but then he died before I got the chance to tell him. And then, and then I had to kill him!" She was laughing really hard now, but it was past the point of humor. She was laughing crazily, almost painfully. Her eyes were wild and glazed with tears. "And I cut my step father's hand off, and I had to kill all of my friends, and Jack is probably dead and I couldn't even tell him…" She trailed off, taking a moment to breathe, her laughter subsiding. Her smile was replaced with a hard grimace, as her voice took on a darker tone. "They were gone. Before I knew it….they were all gone. All of them. Everyone I loved, all the people I had ever known, had disappeared…." She took a shaky breath, calming her nerves. "I've never been known as someone who could express their feelings. How can I tell people how I feel if I don't even know how I feel? And then you go and kiss me and confuse me and get me all messed up in the head….

…...and I didn't stop you." The last part was so quiet that I almost missed it, but I knew that i didn't. My heart kept in my chest at those words. She had let me kiss her. She had wanted me to kiss her. She hadn't stopped me, even though she could have.

"You didn't stop me." I repeated putting a hand on her cheek, feeling her warmth, the steady movement of her muscles, tensing and relaxing.

"I-I didn't stop you." She looked up at me, giving me a small smile. I laughed at her surprised expression, before ] pulled her close again. This time, there was no fear, no surprise, no nervousness. It was a burning fiery kiss like the first, but it was still as intense, Iike the glowing embers of a fire. It burned with every movement.

She smiled into the kiss, leaning closer to me, wrapping her arms around me. I pulled her face closer to mine, wanting her to be as close to me as possible.

Slowly, she pulled away, but immediately buried herself in my chest. My arms surrounded her like a protective blanket. I buried my nose in her curly blonde hair, breathing in the scent. She smelled like-warmth. If warmth had a smell, that's what it would be like. Sunshine and rain, gunpowder and trees, dirt and flowers, a mix of the beautiful and the ugly, the gentle and the painful, the timid and the bold, a mix of all the things that made Nicole, Nicole.

It was stupid. I was Daryl Dixon. I was the redneck loner who had joined this group purely for survival. I was brash and aggressive and separated and everything that made me the least likely person to help a group of people survive. I was cold, hardened by my years of struggle. I had resigned myself years ago to the fact that no one would ever love me, and not like my mother or Merle. No woman could ever love me in that way, and I would never be able to love anyone in hat wa either. I had learned from a young age that all love brought you was pain and heartbreak and struggle, with only fleeting moments of happiness in between.

Love is one nasty son of bitch, and he gets you when you're least expecting.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rick's POV

I tucked a hair behind Lori's ear, watching her body move up and down with each breath. I watched her like a hawk nowadays, waiting for the inevitable day where she went into labor. I was trying to put that day in the back of my find, but I couldn't avoid it much now. It was/going to happen soon. What if it killed her? What if she died? What was I going to do with a new baby if Lori wasn't there?

I had been so focused on Lori that I hadn't noticed how late it had gotten. We had chosen a small farm house to stay the night in. The others were scattered around, resting and scavenging. Cole and Daryl had gone hunting. I was sitting with Lori, who was asleep on the bed in the master bedroom.

I got up, shaking my head. I had to clear these thoughts from my mind. All I had to focus on was the present, the here and now. I couldn't afford to think like that. I was the leader of this group. They looked up to me. They followed me. The trusted me. I couldn't let them down.

The house was fairly quiet, with most people just lounging around. Carl was organizing his stuff in his pack, making it 'more efficient'. T was cleaning a few of the guns, having become a master at it, like Nikki and I. Carol was washing some of the clothes, which were now faded and torn, but we didn't care. It wasn't like anyone was really going to see us, or care about what we were wearing for that matter.

"Hey Rick." Carol smiled, nodding in my direction. "How's Lori?"

"Asleep." I answered. I wiped the little beads of sweat off of my brow, listening as my joints popped. "God, why do I feel so old?" I joked.

"Lord if I know!" Carol smiled, chuckling a little. She always amazed me with her positivity. She always kept her spirits up, even in the face of hard times, like losing her daughter. She bounced back so quickly. She was a survivor.

"I'm gonna go get some air." I said, rolling my sleeves up.

"I'll be here." She chuckled, going back to her chore.

I opened up the front door, holstering my gun, just in case. There was an old swing on the front porch, painted pale blue. I walked over and sat down slowly, careful not to break it. Gently, I began to push myself back and forth, trying to push my troubles to the back of my mind. Now was not the time to worry about that. I just let the gentle motion relax me. I had to be strong, for Lori, for Carl, for the baby, for all the others. I had to be the Rick they needed me to be.

A loud noise caught my attention. It didn't sound like a scream, or a yell. It sounded more like….a laugh. Yeah, it was a laugh. But...where was it coming from? It was coming from the other side of the house, to the left. I carefully placed my hand on the handle of my gun, at the ready in case I was faced with someone I did not know. Using all of my years of training, I carefully tiptoed around the house. The laughing cut off abruptly, and I was now faced with complete silence. Maybe they had left? With every step I was mentally preparing myself for the possibility of a group of strangers being outside the house. I grazed the silver trigger with my finger, before sharply turning the corner, eyes alert.

I saw nothing for a few moments, nothing out of the ordinary.

And then my breath caught in my throat.

There were two figures in front of me, one smaller, one much larger. The smaller one had long hair that was blowing crazily in the wind, surrounding the two like a cloud of curls. They were both covered head to toe in weapons and game bags and dirt.

And they were kissing.

Like full on, hands in the hair, tip-toes kissing.

It was Daryl and Nicole.

What the hell?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...