Chapter 26

Daryl had no idea that Dayna was a nervous wreck while she waited to see if the IV worked. The worst part was there was no way she could be completely sure that everything dissolved no matter what she told Daryl. He had fallen back asleep pretty soon after she added the antibiotics to the IV. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest for the next two hours. It looked so far so good, but she needed to take his temperature again to know if it was making a difference and to do that she needed to wake him up.

She leaned over the bed and shook him gently to wake him up. "Daryl," she called out softly. "Daryl, I need you to wake up."

"Hmm," he mumbled in his sleep. "Go away."

"No, Daryl I need you to wake up, I need to check your temp," Dayna whispered to him. She had a smile on her face at his reluctance to wake up. "C'mon hotstuff, wake your ass up."

"Hotstuff?" he murmured. "Is that how you wake up all your patients?" Daryl slowly opened his eyes to see Dayna standing next to him.

"Just the cute ones that tell me to go away when I try to wake them up," she laughed. "Now open up, I need to check your temp and then you can go back to sleep."

Daryl rolled his eyes at her comment about him being cute. He knew he wasn't cute or good looking. Cute was a puppy, hell he was too rough around the edges for that. He wasn't good looking either, he was more of just a mess most of the time, not caring how he looked or dressed. Without responding to her ridiculous comment, he just opened his mouth for the thermometer. It was a long three minutes until Dayna removed it. She brought it over to a light to make sure that it was an accurate reading. It was 101.4.

"Yes!" she cried out. "It's down almost two full degrees. I'll give you another does in two hours and it looks like you are finally on the way to recovery. The smile on Dayna's face was radiant. Daryl had always known that she was a beautiful woman, but her smile was captivating. It struck Daryl right in his jaded heart. No one had ever done so much for him before. Every day they went outside the gates, their lives were in jeopardy and he looked after others and they him. That was life now, but this was different. Everything she had done for him the last few days saved his life over and over again. He would never be able to repay that.

He did feel better than he had earlier, but he was still tired. "Hey, thanks for everything you did. I doubt I'd be here if it wasn't for you." He reached out and squeezed her hand. That small contact sent a flood of electricity through the two of them. Daryl had never felt anything like that before and it overwhelmed him, yet he didn't break the contact immediately. He finally dropped her hand without saying anything more to Dayna and closed his eyes. Dayna stood there shocked for a moment.

Daryl finally heard Dayna move away from his bedside, but he kept his eyes closed pretending he was asleep. What was it with this woman that touched him so deep inside? Never in his life had this ever happened to him before and he didn't know what to do. He knew he wanted her, wanted her more than he had ever wanted a woman before, but that damn voice in his head kept telling him to stay away. She didn't need a guy like him in her life to fuck it up.

Dayna walked over the sink to wash her hands. It was more to give herself something to do than out of need. What on earth had just happened? She had touched Daryl many times over the months that she knew him, but that unexpected electrical sensation had shot through her when he grabbed her hand had her tingling in places that left her breathless. She never had a guy make her feel that way before and it only made her want him more.

She turned to look at Daryl lying in the bed. She as pretty sure he was asleep again. "Damn it Dixon," she said softly. "Why do you make me feel this way when I know you don't? Why?" Little did Dayna know that Daryl wasn't asleep, he was just lying there with his eyes closed and heard everything that she just said. He wondered why things always had to be so hard for him before he finally drifted off again.

Denise came into the room about an hour later, rubbing her eyes as it was still the middle of the night. "How's he doing? Any better?" she asked.

"Yes, the fever is coming down, but I need to talk to you about that. Let's go to the outer room," Dayna told her. Once they were out of Daryl's room Dayna fully admitted what she had done to Denise who listened to her without interrupting. When she finished, she waited for Denise to respond. Dayna knew she had stepped way out of bounds of her parameters, but she would do it again for Daryl.

Denise thought for a few moments, before responding. What Dayna had done was irresponsible and under normal circumstances she would have brought up against the nursing board with her license on the line. Denise knew that the both of them were going to have to stretch the limits of their abilities to take care of the people of Alexandria. What she had done was dangerous, but Denise may have done the same thing if she thought of it.

"Okay, what you did was dangerous even though it looks like it worked. I need you and I to work together as a team, Dayna so I can't have you going out of the box without me being involved. If you had woken me up and we talked about, I think I would have helped you with it. I can't have you doing risky procedures without me," Denise told her. Dayna kept her eyes on the floor knowing she was wrong. "You are an excellent nurse and no one knows that better than I do., but we just need to be a team, okay?"

"I completely understand, Denise. I'm sorry that I didn't run this by you first," she apologized.

"However this played out, you probably saved his life. Daryl is one lucky man," Denise said trying to take the sting out of her reprimand. "When does he get the next dose?"

"In about forty-five minutes. Do you want to see what I did?" Dayna asked.

"Of course! Let's go check it out. Do you want me to spell you for a while, I can?" Denise suggested. She had already gotten few hours of sleep so she was refreshed.

"No, I'll stay with him. It's all I have with him, so I want to be there even if he is asleep." Dayna would take advantage of any time she could spend with him. This was better than nothing.

"Before we go back in, let's sit down and you tell me the story of you and Daryl. This will help me understand everything." So the two of them sat themselves down and Dayna poured out her story to Denise. Over the next half hour Denise learned about Dayna's heartache from the ups and downs of her non-relationship with Daryl. At the end she gave Dayna a hug, and told her "Maybe someday he will wise up and see what a great woman you are. If he doesn't he has no idea what a huge loss that is to him. I'm so sorry, Dayna."

"You're right it is his loss, because I am awesome," she said defiantly. "Let's go give him another dose so he can live with the fact that he missed out on the best thing that could have happened to him!"

"Good girl!" said Denise and they headed back into Daryl's room to do just that.

After they gave Daryl another dose of the antibiotic, Denise left to go back to sleep and Dayna returned to Daryl's bedside. She dozed on and off in the chair until morning. Daryl woke up while she was lightly sleeping. He felt bad that she was in that cramped position in that chair because she was babysitting him. He could tell the fever was down as he didn't feel hot and sweaty or drained like before. Daryl stared at her face for a long time. She was a natural beauty who didn't need makeup or anything to make her look incredible. How could someone like her be interested in him? It just didn't make any sense.

He was still astounded that she liked him. She was too pretty, too nice and too good for him. That's what the voice in his head would whisper. "She's too good for you Dixon," it kept telling him. "Even if you did get in with her, she'd drop your sorry ass in instant once she realized what a loser you are. Why risk it?" On the other hand, he wanted to believe that he was a better man now than he was before and he should take this chance before he loses it. For now the voice won out.

Dayna's eyes slowly fluttered open and she saw him staring at her. "Hi," she said sleepily. "Some nurse I am falling asleep on my patient."

"You needed it," he said simply. "I'm feeling pretty good."

"Awesome. Maybe we can get you up today?"

"I wanna go home today, back to my room," Daryl told her.

"Not so fast. You were in pretty bad shape last night. Denise will check you out today and make that call."

"What if I just go home?" he said firmly. He didn't want anyone taking care of him anymore. He could do it himself.

Dayna just smiled at him. She knew she had some leverage on him. "You need clothes to go home in and you don't have any here. When Denise says you can go, we'll get some clothes for you."

"What happened to my shit?" Daryl demanded.

"We had to cut most of it off you. But…" Dayna was interrupted before she could finish.

"Why about my vest?" he practically shouted.

Dayna gave him a look that brought many a medial resident to their knees. "If you had bothered to let me finish I was about to say that I saved your precious vest. The bullet even missed it. It's a bit bloody, but other than that… it's fine." Daryl's intense blue eyes met hers and they stayed locked together that for a moment with neither saying anything. "I know how much that vest means to you, so it's safe. I made sure of it."

Daryl's faced softened instantly. "Really, it's okay?" Dayna nodded. "It reminds me of…Merle and even though he was a dick of a brother…he was my brother. Thanks." Daryl's voice was thick with unexpected emotion and it touched Dayna.

"Don't worry I had your back," she told him quietly. "Always will." Dayna flashed him a gentle smile, before heading back to her nursing duties. Daryl's vitals were recorded and she had him propped up when Denise walked into the room.

"Well you certainly look better today," she said to Daryl. Dayna handed her the chart to review. "Everything is definitely improving."

"I can go home today, right Doc?" he asked hopeful.

"You were a pretty sick man just last night, Daryl. I think we need to keep an eye on you at least another day." Denise could see he was about to argue. "Doctor's orders. You were shot, lost a lot of blood, had surgery, developed and infection and fever and was in critical condition the whole time. Need I say more?"

"Is he giving you a hard time, Doc?" Rick asked from the doorway. Rick didn't let it show but he was ecstatic that not only was Daryl awake, he was being a pain in the ass. That was sure sign that he was doing better.

"Not if he knows what's good for him," Denise laughed. "C'mon in and keep him company, but don't let him talk you into helping him make a break for it. He needs at least one more day here."

Rick walked over to Daryl and sat down. "You look better, man. You had us all worried there for a while." Rick had learned to count on and respect Daryl. Their relationship now is very different than it was early on. The first day they met Daryl pulled a knife on Rick that could have ended very badly. Rick often laughed to himself that before the apocalypse he most likely would have been the one arresting Daryl, instead of being best friends with him. Now they were as close as brothers.

"Yeah, Dayna came up with an idea as the meds weren't working, but the fever is down now and I'm ready to get out of here," Daryl said. While he felt much better, Daryl still felt weak, but he didn't want to admit that to anyone. He just wanted to go back to his room for his privacy and to distance himself from Dayna. She was too much of a temptation.

Rick laughed at Daryl. "Since that ain't gonna be happening according to Denise, let me catch you up on what's been going on while you've been here taking it easy." Rick ignored the glare that Daryl sent him and they talked about Alexandria for a while.

Carol showed up shortly with breakfast for Daryl and Dayna. Rick left, with a promised to come back in the afternoon and Carol stayed for a while visiting. Denise convinced Dayna to head home to get some sleep. They decided that Daryl didn't need anyone overnight with him anymore, but Dayna would sit with him or be available during the evening hours.

During the day other members of their group came by to see how Daryl was doing. Denise didn't want him over doing it, so she held off on letting people in during the afternoon so he could rest. Daryl felt he was being treated like a baby, yet when he closed his eyes after Glenn left he feel into an exhausted sleep.

Dayna hadn't had much sleep in the last forty-eight hours so Denise practically ordered her not to return until six o'clock. Dayna actually slept until almost five. She had been surviving on the last limits of her energy and desperately needed to refuel. She took a leisurely shower and took her time getting ready. Dayna decided to leave her long hair down for a change, but she didn't want to look like she was trying to impress Daryl, when she actually was. They would be spending a couple quality hours together and she wanted him to really see her. Dayna was also hoping to get him to open up to her tonight on what happened coming back from the supply run. He did owe her an explanation, which she wasn't sure she wanted to hear, but she needed to know.

After a quick dinner Dayna walked over to the infirmary and took a deep breath before she entered. She was about to put a lot on the table tonight with Daryl and she had no idea how it would turn out, but it was something she had to do.