Chapter 25

Eleanor peacefully woke the next morning, one of the few nights she slept all the way through without the interruption of nightmares. She stretched in the cot, a smile emerging on her face at last night. They'd kissed, their first kissed. The question of whether he liked or not was answered, she finally knew.

She sat up in the cot, Daryl wasn't there and she was kind of glad, she wouldn't have known what to do or say if he were. Eleanor looked over at the entrance, unsure about how she'd act around him now; even though they'd kissed she didn't know if it was safe to be a bit more forward with it or not in case it made him feel uncomfortable. What she was sure of though was that around the rest of the camp, they'd continue to act casual, like there were no feelings there, she knew Daryl certainly wasn't the kind of guy that liked to share his feelings and to express some kind of closeness to someone in front of everyone was just something he wouldn't do and she understood that.

She stopped by the entrance, unzipping it slowly so that she could peek outside. She silently cursed when she saw that everyone was around camp as breakfast was being prepared. There was no way she would be able to leave Daryl's tent without drawing attention from the others. She unzipped the tent and exited hastily, not looking at anyone in camp as she darted into her own tent, her heart thumping in her chest, she knew that they'd seen her and knew that at least one of them would question her about it.

Eleanor yanked on the jacket which she'd left in her tent and changed into the jeans she got for the last run, finally pulling on her converses and tying them securely. She took a deep breath before she left her tent, her stomach knotting with nerves. She glanced around at everyone at camp, saying good morning or giving smiles like she usually did but her eyes stopped when she looked at Shane who was frowning in slight confusion at her. She looked away and quickly climbed up onto the roof of the RV taking a seat next to Andrea who there also.

"Morning" Eleanor said quietly as she got comfortable in her seat.

Andrea peered over at her, a slight smirk on her face as she returned the morning welcome, "Did you sleep well?" She asked, arching her eyebrow.

"Ugh yeah, did you?" Eleanor replied casually, zipping up her jacket. Andrea let out a small snigger and gave Eleanor a nod and said nothing more. Eleanor was thankful; at least Andrea knew when to drop something, sparing her the embarrassment.

After breakfast everyone went on with their normal day. The tension was still present but for the moment Rick had reassured everyone that he would deal with it and talk to Hershel. The men as usual took to the roads to check for Sophia, while Daryl took to the woods to look. Eleanor did chores as normal; she hated doing them but in all honesty preferred the safety of remaining at the farm while the men went, mainly because she wasn't exactly a survival expert herself. She'd brag about how she survived in the woods for a couple of months but when it came down to it, all she did was eat what she could find and avoid every walker she came across, but she never told anyone that. It was one thing choosing to do chores but she didn't want to be made to felt like that she had to do them and she knew if she asked the men they'd let her go with them.

Eleanor collected the plastic water bottles from the camp; she decided she was going to use the manual water pump on the farm to fill them up for everyone. While she was collecting the bottles from everyone, placing them in a bucket she couldn't help but notice Carl watching her as she did so.

"You wanna come and help me?" She asked him giving him a smile, she figured he must be as bored as she was, and there wasn't exactly a lot to do for a kid around here. Carl glanced back at Lori who was behind him and she gave him a nod telling him he could help out.

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"So what do you think about the walkers in the barn?" Carl asked innocently as they strolled over to the pump.

Eleanor hesitated, unsure to answer him because he was only a child, "I don't know, what do you reckon?"

"I think we should kill them" He said casually as they continued to walk and Eleanor looked at him concerned. This world is changing this kid, she thought. She'd defiantly noticed a change in the boy in the short time she'd been there, he'd started to become somewhat cold and detached and it worried her slightly at what might come of him.

"Right, I'm going to pump this and you hold those bottles underneath ok?" Eleanor said giving him an encouraging smile and he nodded.

Eleanor struggled starting the pump, letting out a grunt as she pulled the lever down, however once it started going it lightened up. They giggled as the water spurted out splashing both of them while Carl attempted to fill the bottles up. It didn't take long until they soon became distracted and Eleanor would try and splash Carl as the water poured out and he'd return by playfully throwing some of the water from the bottles back at her making her squeal from its iciness, leaving her drenched. It was nice to forget about all the drama that had been happening lately and revert back to just having some light-hearted fun.

However, that fun was about to end when Eleanor glanced over towards the camp and saw Shane striding towards them and she let out a sigh, twisting a cap onto one of the water bottles when he finally reached them.

"Hey Carl, why don't you get back to your mom real quick," He instructed, running his hand over his head. Carl glanced back over to Eleanor and she gave him a nod, handing him over a few of the full water bottles for him to take back and he walked back towards camp.

Eleanor stood up to pump more water but Shane stopped her, offering to do it for her. She knelt back down in her place, holding an empty bottle out while he began pumping.

"So did you think about what I said?" He asked, pushing down forcefully on the lever.

"There wasn't anything to think about," Eleanor replied, keeping her focus on the filling bottles, "I told Rick that I'm with whatever he decides."

Shane scoffed, shaking his head at her reply, "Well you're obviously ain't as bright as what I thought."

"Well I don't care about what you think," Eleanor hissed, standing up and frowning at him, crossing her arms over her chest, she had started to lose her patience with Shane.

"You gonna risk your life for these people?" Shane questioned, stepping closer to her and leaning down to eye-level.

Eleanor took a step closer to him, their faces were almost touching and she glared at him, "Yes" she said strictly.

Shane took a step back, shaking his again and looking away from her, a slight smile of disbelief on his face. He peered behind her seeing Daryl emerge from the woods and he thought back to when he saw her come from his tent this morning, "This about that redneck?" He asked glancing back at her. "Cos I seen you two sneaking around together, in and out of each other's tent," He said moving back to her, "… You know he ain't no good right? He won't look after you."

Eleanor let out a sarcastic laugh at his comment in an attempt to hide the burst anger that suddenly sparked inside her from his comment, "Oh and you would?"

"Yeah I would. I wouldn't be leaving you to go play around in the woods, I'd be right here beside you… Come with me, we don't need these people, just you and me." Shane pleaded softly, grabbing onto her shoulders tightly and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm not going with you Shane." Eleanor said firmly, pushing herself away from him, "And this isn't about Daryl, this is about the group. The whole group. If you don't like the way its run around here then you don't have to stick around, it's your choice."

Eleanor knelt back down quickly replacing the few remaining caps on the bottles and threw them in the bucket becoming slightly panicked at the way Shane was speaking to her, the way he held onto her but she relaxed when she felt the familiar burning of eyes on her back, regaining her nerve.

Daryl had seen Shane roughly grasping onto Eleanor's shoulders and he didn't like it one bit, instantly changing his direction to go to her. Eleanor felt Daryl's hand grip firmly onto her shoulder as she stood up but kept she her eyes fixed on Shane, "You need to sort your head out." She whispered harshly at him, picking up the bucket of water bottles before moving free from Daryl's grip, pushing past Shane and walking back towards camp. Daryl said nothing to Shane, his stare being worth a thousand words before he glanced back to Eleanor who was half way back to camp. He glared back at Shane one last time before staggering past him to follow her.

As Eleanor reached camp she placed the bucket next to the fire pit before returning to her tent. She lay down on her cot, pulling out the photograph of her and Harriet and stared at it, she was over what Shane had said to her, it wasn't even worth it anymore because his mind had become so warped and distorted from any real logic, but it did worry her. To what extent was Shane's struggle for power going to impact the rest of the group, what was it going to mean for Rick? And by Shane's latest performance what was it going to mean for her?

She ran her finger gently over the photograph, trying to remember the happy times when Daryl stepped into her tent. He hesitated when he saw her with the photo but Eleanor glanced at him, giving him a soft smile so he continued sitting himself on the edge of her cot and he was about to question her about Shane when she suddenly spoke.

"– It doesn't matter anymore. He's like a broken record; can we just forget about it?" She pleaded quietly, her eyes still on photo.

Daryl nodded but one question lingered in his mind and he had to ask her, "Did – did he hurt ya?" he asked softly, hoping she wouldn't get annoyed but she simply shook her head, "Good" Daryl gruffed.

Eleanor slipped the photo back under her pillow and turned her gaze at Daryl. Her eyes wandering all over his face and across his body as her mind calmed, he's beautiful and I got to kiss him, she thoughtand a smile crept across her face at the memory, the nerves she normally got in his presence were not there for once.

Daryl felt her eyes on him and he glared back at her, "What?" he muttered, the usual feelings of self-consciousness appearing whenever he felt her look at him.

"Nothing" She replied quietly the smile still apparent on her face and she turned her eyes away from him, she could tell she was making him feel uncomfortable.

"What yer smiling for?" He questioned, now becoming slightly concerned, his mind instantly going back to the night before, how when they kissed he'd been unable to control his body's reaction and he was unsure if whether she noticed or not, thinking that maybe she was laughing at him, mocking him. He'd never really thought about Eleanor in that way, everything between them although slightly awkward had felt completely innocent.

Eleanor blushed, her eyes glancing at him for only a second before turning elsewhere and she hesitated before speaking again, "Just thinking… about…" She couldn't continue her face reddened and the butterflies suddenly erupted in her stomach as she left out a small nervous laugh to calm herself.

Daryl watched as she squirmed, he'd never seen her quite like this but he knew that she was referring to the actual kiss but he still blushed himself, turning his eyes away from her and gave a nod to show he understood.

"Was… nice" She added so quietly that Daryl almost didn't hear it. She found herself unable to shake the nervousness she felt, scolding herself at how silly she was being but these feelings were all completely alien to her, she'd never felt them before and she couldn't help herself, however by the looks of it Daryl was struggling just as bad which gave her some degree of comfort.

She saw the flush of red in Daryl's cheeks as he nodded in agreement, his eyes still fixed away from her and he hesitantly stood up from the cot and moved out of her tent. Eleanor let out a girly laugh at his hasty exit, burying her face into her pillow to try and shade her embarrassment and regain control. Stop being silly, just stop it you're making him feel uncomfortable, she told herself.

However, it wasn't long before Daryl returned to her tent this time holding a pair of scissors. Eleanor looked at him with a concerned expression as he sat down next to her.

"Yer stitches" He mumbled, only glancing at her for a moment before his eyes fell to the neat stitches that were on her upper arm. Eleanor sat up in her cot, twisting her arm to get a good look, gently tracing her fingers over them. She'd forgotten about them and now the wound had almost completely healed.

Daryl sat back down beside her and he gently placed his hand around her arm, pulling her forward lightly so she placed her legs over the edge of the cot. He held her arm up, inspecting the stitches intensely and he concluded that it was time they came out, he'd been keeping an eye on them since she'd got them which just over 3 weeks ago. Daryl glanced up to her, looking for conformation and she gave him a small nod for him to continue.

Daryl readjusted his hand on her arm, clearing his throat before pulling her closer to him. He held the scissors, slipping them under the first stitch and carefully snipping it. Daryl peered back up at her, wanting to ensure that he wasn't hurting her and she gave him a reassuring smile. He continued, cutting each individual stitch slowly one by one, regularly glancing back up to her to make sure she was fine, but Eleanor didn't flinch. She watched as he cut through each stitch, her eyes moving to his face at the concentrated expression that was also littered with concern every time he looked up at her.

Daryl cut the final stitch, placing the scissors beside him on the cot and once again readjusted the position of his hand, quickly wiping them on his trousers as they started to become sweaty from his nerves. He gave her one final glance which she returned with a smile and he began gently pulling the stitches out from her arm. Eleanor let out a small hiss at the sharp twinge and Daryl tightened his grip on her arm to keep her from moving, the concentration still apparent on his face as he did what he could not to hurt her.

After Daryl pulled out the last stitch, he gently traced his thumb over the neat scar that was left, an unusual urge overcame him telling him to place a delicate kiss on it and he stared at her scar intently, contemplating the idea before loosening his grip on her arm letting it gently fall to her side, he couldn't push himself to do it, the fear of what her reaction may be being enough to put him off. They'd wander into each other's tent to chat, he'd watch her search for him during dinner so she could sit next to him, they'd shared the same bed a couple of times now and they'd even kissed the night before however with all those clues uncertainly and doubt still filled Daryl's mind, holding him back. The safety of the night being the only time he could force himself to do it, where he couldn't see her face and gather her reaction.

Eleanor twisted her arm once again to get a good look, rubbing her hand along the scar and where Daryl had gripped, her arm feeling slightly moist from where his hands had been. Daryl stood up from the cot, stepping towards the exit and Eleanor instantly followed him, placing her hand on his arm to stop him and he turned to face her.

They gazed into each other's for a moment before Eleanor broke it. She stood on her toes, her hand still gently resting on his arm to steady her and she moved slowly towards him, reaching up to place a soft kiss on his cheek, "Thank you" she whispered in his ear causing Daryl to swallow hard, hoping he could control his body as he felt her warm breath against him, his cheek tingling from where she had kissed him, knowing that removing the stiches wasn't what she was thanking him for. Her eyes met his once again, the urge to kiss her returning back to him however he simply nodded, turning away and exiting the tent, her hand gliding over his arm slowly as he left.