After dinner, when the others had finished talking and drinking and were making their way to bed, Maggie hung back, clearing the table, rinsing off the dishes. Sasha stayed with her for a little while, giving her those sliding glances every so often and saying things furtively like "Hot damn, girl." To which Maggie would lightheartedly tell her to shut up. Maggie kept making trips back to the front of the house to pick things up or straighten things out, every time giving herself half a second to look out the window and see him. He was standing on the porch, leaning over the railing. She couldn't help thinking it: that ass, Sasha had been right.

Sasha must have finally noticed that Maggie wasn't lingering downstairs just to spend the night cleaning because she gave Maggie a squeeze on the shoulder before heading out of the kitchen, saying, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Maggie didn't want to give her the pleasure of admitting to those exact thoughts, but she couldn't help her guilty smile. "I'm not so sure there's anything I could do to that boy that you wouldn't do…apparently."

Sasha gave her genuine smile. "I got Bob. That's all I need. Go get yourself something." And she was gone, leaving Maggie alone downstairs and Daryl still hanging off the porch railing, trying to look like he wasn't waiting for her outside.

Maggie felt like it was a different person who pushed open that screen door and stepped out into the night air. She hadn't bothered to put her coat on because she wasn't planning on spending more than a few seconds out there.

He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her when he heard the door open and she saw it already there in his eyes. She knew it was in hers too. She stood there like a stone, just watching the shadows cast by the moon crossing his sharp features, listening to her own slow breathing, heart hammering in her chest. Everything around them was silent. After what felt to her like an eternity, he pushed himself off the railing and moved towards her slowly, almost predatory. She didn't move a muscle until he was right up close to her. Then all she could do was swallow, feeling his eyes trace the slight movement at her throat. He didn't touch her, just reached one arm around her to pull the door open again. He walked right by her, pausing in the doorway, holding it open away from him. "You coming?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She followed him up the stairs, feeling like she was being led by an invisible rope. It was going to happen again, this time of her own volition, rationale intact. And despite this attraction that awakened so violently within her, she still wasn't sure how she felt about all this. She wanted him, no doubt. If she could truly separate the physical from the emotional, then this would be an easy decision. Well, the decision had already been made regardless. She was going for it, and her heart be damned.

He didn't stop at her door at the top of the stairs, but led her down the hall to his own room. She felt a brief flash of gratitude. She wanted her room to remain her own still, but she wouldn't have known how to explain that to him without sounding inhospitable and cold.

When he quietly opened his door, he looked back at her, actually reached for her hand. She let him gently grasp her, and he slowly pulled her into the darkness of the room. She didn't know what her face must look like to him. A mask? Emotionless, uncaring? It was so far from how she was actually feeling inside, but she just couldn't put all that into words. Not now. Not in this moment. She didn't feel sad, like she wanted to cry. No, she had felt that way so often lately, and being with Daryl definitely didn't make her sad. But she felt like this was a leave-taking, like she was saying goodbye to someone. To Glenn? The only man she had ever loved, and so truly, so very much like how she had imagined when she was a girl. Or to her old self? The girl who could believe in that kind of love, even in this new horrible world.

Truth be told, she wanted to feel sad about this. She wanted to welcome any pain that might come, to let it envelop her. Things were so much easier when everything was at rock bottom. But when she looked into Daryl's eyes now, all she felt was trust. It wasn't something she had naturally been expecting, but it was so right now that she had thought it. This man, above all the others, he could be trusted. Selfless. Ambitious in that he only wanted to keep them all alive. She couldn't help but feel complete security in his presence.

When she had entered the room, he shut it behind her, leaving them in darkness except for the full moon streaming through the windows. She watched him take off his coat and sling it over the back of a desk chair, and self-consciousness slipped over her at the surprising brightness in the room. She hadn't realized how much she had been banking on obscurity in the dark.

His eyes never left her face, but just as she was so uncertain of the look on her face, she couldn't read his either. Hungry, definitely, but she saw patience there too. She took a trembling breath and walked over to him. Willing herself to act boldly, she placed both her hands on his arms, feeling their hardness through his shirt, luxuriating for a moment in just that sense of masculinity. She leaned her head on his shoulder, breathing in the scent of his neck.

He shifted underneath her, his hands landing on her hips, bunching up the fabric there so that she could feel a sliver of her bare skin being grazed by his fingertips. His breath came hot against her cheek as his chin came down and towards her face. She could tell he wanted to kiss her, so she lifted her head up and parted her lips for him. She barely brushed his lips with her own, and he grasped her hips tighter, pulling her closer. She gave him a little bit more, slipping the tip of her tongue inside his mouth, and he did the same for her. She hadn't kissed anyone like this since she was a teenager, so delicately, so tentatively. It was almost magical, feeling that way again. She let her mind go, just concentrating on the feeling of his lips on hers, coarse and soft at the same time. He didn't pressure her, and she knew he was waiting for her to take things farther. But for now, she just wanted to luxuriate in this, in being kissed tenderly by him. Only his hands betrayed him, kneading the skin at her hips, fingers greedily sliding under the edge of her shirt.

Finally ready for more, she slid her hands up his arms, grasping his strong shoulders, letting him know he could kiss her more deeply. His arms came around her back and he pulled her into him. His breathing was harsher now, and yet she was feeling deliciously suffocated by his hungry embrace. Before she even knew what was happening, he had moved backwards to the bed, pulling her with him, pulling her down on top of him as he sat down abruptly on its edge. Her knees opened around him and she found herself straddling him, suddenly wishing these tight jeans were gone and she could comfortably envelop him. He was still sitting up, hugging her tightly to him, and she placed her hands on either side of his face as she continued kissing him, feeling the roughness there, so contrary to the way he was treating her. She let her hands glide through his hair, so long now, and he groaned, no, purred like a cat. She felt her own body respond to that, pushing against his chest with her own, starting to egg him on a little bit.

BANG!

Both of them looked up in surprise as the bedroom door flew open, crashing into the wall behind it. Candlelight from the hall streamed across them from around a human figure in the doorway. For a split second, Maggie was sure they were frightfully sure that they were being interrupted by a walker and she practically jumped off of Daryl, her feet clamoring for the floorboards. But then she realized with relief that it was only Carol. And then her relief was replaced with some small amount of horror again when that was fully registered.

Daryl was still seated on the bed, though he had his hand on the knife at his belt. "What's going on?"

As her eyes adjusted to the new lighting, Maggie could see that Carol's face wore a look of muted terror, but not from what she was seeing now. Carol was breathing heavily. She'd obviously just sprinted up the stairs. But what had she been doing downstairs? "There're walkers outside. Carl went after them. Rick followed him."

Daryl was already on his feet, and Maggie was glad they hadn't gotten far enough along to even take off their boots. Choosing to ignore any awkwardness that was now swirling in the air, Maggie followed the others down the stairs. Something about the situation wasn't quite adding up in her mind, but she figured that could wait until everyone was safe and sound again.