Chapter 21

Dayna used the black pen in her hand to mark off another day on her handmade calendar that was taped to the wall in her room. Thirty days. Thirty long miserable Daryl-less days. He avoided her like the plague. Sure she caught glimpses of him walking down the street or leaving the room she had entered, but there were never in the same place at the same time except for very few occasions. Dayna refused to live her life chasing him. If he couldn't bring himself to accept what the two of them had, then it was going to be his loss. Dayna was not going to tiptoe around him. It was his problem, not hers.

Sure she was sad, make that devastated that he never came back to her, but she never showed it. That was something she would cry about in the privacy of her room, otherwise she was smiling and happy on the outside. She went where she needed to go and visited the other house and her friends over there when she wanted. It was rare for her to come across Daryl even though he lived there.

Oddly enough one of her greatest allies was Carol. She would let Dayna know what was going on with him, without her having to ask. Everyday conversation with Carol would include who was doing what that day including Daryl. From what Carol had been telling her Daryl was gone now a lot more than he used to be. If he wasn't recruiting, which Rick had allowed him and Aaron to begin again, he was out doing supply runs. That's exactly what it seemed like to Dayna that Daryl was running...running away from her and from himself.

The one thing that Carol never volunteered was why. Why was Daryl the way he was? Dayna had a feeling that Carol knew or at least had an idea, but there was no way she was going to ask Carol to betray her friendship with him. Dayna surely would be on the losing side of that.

Dayna checked her appearance in the mirror before heading out. It was wonderful to have to worry about that again and not who or what was trying to kill her. Knowing she looked as good as it was going to get, Dayna left the room and her house and headed to the house next door like she did every morning.

Maggie and Carol were in the kitchen as they were every day. "Hey girls," Dayna called out. "How's it going?"

"It's going," Carol responds with a smile. "Want something to eat?"

"Thanks, but no. I need to get to the infirmary soon. Denise and I are going over inventory today, but I wanted to stop in, say hello and see what's going on." Dayna folded and refolded the kitchen towel that was on the counter. This was the one time a day that she could talk to them about Daryl without really talking about him. She didn't want to be obvious.

Maggie looked at Carol before she turned to Dayna. "They didn't come back from the supply run yesterday, but that's happened before."

Dayna felt her heart drop. She was pretty sure Daryl had gone on that run. "Who's on the run?" she asked hesitantly. "Please don't be Daryl or Glenn," she silently prayed.

"Rosita, Heath, Sheri, Martin and….Daryl," Maggie told her.

Dayna eyes automatically shot to Carol. "I'm sure they're fine," Carol said trying to reassure Dayna and herself. "Runs don't always go according to plan, we all know that. It happened to you too. All we can do is sit back and wait. If they don't get back today, then maybe Rick will send out a search party, but I'm sure they are fine." Carol rinsed out the cup she had been drinking from. "Daryl can take care of himself better than anyone we know. He'll be back just fine."

"I'm…sure he will. The others too. I'm...not worried," Dayna lied.

"Bullshit," Carol said surprising Dayna and Maggie. "Of course you're worried, we all are, but I can see it all over your face that you are very concerned about Daryl. Of course you are, you're in love with him."

Maggie's eye got huge and kept looking between Carol and Dayna. While Dayna stood there with her mouth open, shocked that Carol knew what she never told another person. "How did…no wait Carol your wrong...I don't " and just before Dayna could say that she didn't love Daryl, Carol raised her eyebrows silently daring her to refute it. "Damn it Carol…of course I love that annoying, aggravating man. I have no idea why, because he hates me… but I do." Dayna sat down into a chair defeated. Her secret was no longer a secret.

"Wait," Maggie said. "You are in love with Daryl? Daryl Dixon…our Daryl? When, why and how did I not know this? I mean we all saw the looks between you both early on, but I thought that fizzled out."

"More like exploded," Carol said with a sly smile.

Dayna laughed at her friends. "To answer you Maggie, when...most likely since he saved me that day on the road. Why? I have no idea. I mean I do, but since he's acting like a jackass to me and avoids me at any cost, I have no idea why I still do, but damn it I do still love that stupid redneck. And the why I didn't tell you, I told no one."

"Carol knew!" Maggie responded. She was slightly upset that Carol knew and she didn't. She thought she and Dayna were better friends.

"Carol guessed, right Carol?" Dayna offered as an explanation.

"If you watched Dayna when Daryl was around she couldn't keep her eyes off him and Daryl was doing the same thing when Dayna wasn't looking. I also always suspected that something went on between them when they made that supply run too," Carol explained. She wasn't going to mention Dayna's sadness after that supply run and how she sent Sasha to help her. If Dayna wanted Maggie to know that, then she could tell her.

"Come to think of it, you're right Carol. I can't believe you didn't say anything to me, Dayna. We need good juicy gossip around here! So…" Maggie said with a sly smile, "What happened during that overnight run?"

Dayna thought for a moment. How much of her and Daryl's personal business did she want out there? "Well, let's just say that something started that was never finished and it looks like it most likely will stay that way and not by my choice."

"God, men can be so stupid sometimes!" Maggie laughed. "I know Daryl is a bit…different with some things, but you're gorgeous how can he pass that up? He was interested, right?"

Dayna and Carol both laughed along with Maggie. "Oh believe me he was interested, but something happened on the trip back here that I am clueless about and he won't have really anything to do with me now. It's sad and honestly it hurts," Dayna admitted losing her smile. "Oh no I'm late," she said quickly wiping her eyes from the unexpected tears. "I gotta get to work. Thank you for your support, ladies. It means a lot." Dayna flashed a quick smile at Carol and Maggie and headed out the door.

Maggie turned to Carol, "Is he stupid or what? She's perfect for Daryl."

"I know," Carol agreed. "I may need to do a bit of prodding, but he's been more closed off lately than ever. I don't know what's going on with him at all."

They both their heads turned as Glenn came down the stairs looking for Maggie. He was greeted with a kiss from his wife and they both said good-bye to Carol and left the house. Carol sat down for a moment pondering what to do with Daryl. He could be stubborn and his own way of doing things, but she knew he needed someone in his life. He needed to know what it felt like to be loved. At least she felt that way early on in her marriage to Ed, even though she ended up in an abusive situation. She had to find a way to get through to him and she knew that would not be easy.