Chapter 36

Eleanor woke soundly the next morning with warmth all around her, feeling a gentle tickle underneath her fingertips and she slowly opened her eyes, seeing her hand resting on Daryl's chest and she tilted her head slowly up towards him.

"Morning" Daryl hushed his voice husky and Eleanor could feel him gently squeeze at her hip. "Morning" She returned the welcome, a small smile playing on her lips at his presence and she nestled closer towards him.

Daryl had waken about an hour before, this normally being the time where he'd sneak out and leave her to avoid having to confront the rest of the camp when he left her tent. However, when he'd woken up she had been burrowed soundly to his side, her small hand resting on his chest while one of her legs draped over his that he didn't want to leave, unable to stop himself from watching her as she slept, watching as her eyelids flickered and her hands twitched ever so slightly while she dreamt. The warmth that radiated from her half naked body was too inviting in itself for him to leave, so he laid there next to her watching and listening to her steady breaths, his fingertips tracing lightly over her arm as he reflected on the night before, how much he'd opened up, how much they both had and he recalled that unusual twinge that he felt in his heart when she kissed at his scars.

"Are we still going hunting today?" Eleanor whispered into his chest, her voice hazy from the deep sleep she'd just waken from.

"Yeah," Daryl mumbled, feeling her hot breath against him, "We'll leave after lunch." He added wanting to make sure she ate well before they left unlike the previous day.

"What time is it?" She yawned, peering up to him, her fingertips still tracing gently over the hairs that lightly littered his chest.

"Bout 8" He replied, his eyes closed while he let her gentle touch soothe him.

They lay together in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before Eleanor removed her hand from him, sitting up in the cot holding the covers to her as she scanned the tent searching for her clothes.

Daryl's eyes traced over her exposed back, the only thing covering it being her bra straps and his eyes drifted down her spine before they stopped at the small dimples on her lower back where the night before he'd ran his fingers over them but now in the morning the sun shining through the thin fabric of the tent casting onto her body where it revealed every gentle curve that he'd touched.

Daryl tried to keep his eyes away from her as she stood up from the cot leaving the covers with him and he questioned as to how she felt so comfortable being half naked around him in clear daylight, however his eyes continued to dart back to her petite body as she went to the corner of the tent, picking up her sweats and a tank top before she tugged them over her small frame.

She could feel him watching as she got dressed, his stare burning into her but she liked it, wanting him to look more. The night before had been a big step forward for them, for the first time Daryl feeling comfortable enough to initiate things and it couldn't have been any more perfect. However, she knew that if she wanted anything to go further that she'd be the one to do it which made it somewhat difficult for her, knowing that she had nothing else to base anything on.

Eleanor picked up Daryl's clothes from the floor before she sat back down on the edge of the cot handing them over to him where she watched him for a moment, their eyes meeting and she gave him a soft smile before leaving to allow Daryl to get dressed in private.

Luckily for them the majority of the group were still in their tents, the only people who had gathered being Dale and Glenn who had begun making breakfast knowing that it wouldn't be long before everyone else joined. Eleanor gave them a friendly smile as she approached them, helping with breakfast and started frying up some spam for the group, the smell of the already cooked food making her stomach growl.

They engaged in general chit-chat as they cooked, for once the conversation being light as it normally seemed to be when Glenn was around and Eleanor letting out the occasional titter as he rambled on, him being quite similar to her in that way. Slight movement caught Eleanor's attention as they chatted, her eyes quickly darting behind her where she saw Daryl exit her tent and make his way discreetly up to his tent, a small smile playing on her lips as she thought about the night before.

Eleanor returned her attention back to cooking; looking up to Glenn and saw him watching Daryl on his journey back to his tent before he looked at her with a questionable expression which soon turned into a smirk. Eleanor felt herself blush instantly, ducking her head and she gave Glenn a playful nudge making him laugh, wanting to tell him that nothing happened but knowing that there wouldn't really be any point.

After breakfast Eleanor decided to get a head start on the washing before her and Daryl would go hunting after lunch, grabbing her dirty clothes from her tent along with a spare tub, soap and washboard from the camp before she strolled over to one of the water pumps to fill it up.

Eleanor heaved the lever down repeatedly; familiar with its usual pattern and the water soon began spitting out. She let out small grunts with each pull, her muscles sore and aching from the strenuous day before when she went hunting with Daryl but was still determined to go again today regardless, knowing it would be good for her in the long term.

As the tub filled Eleanor slumped to the floor next to it, dunking in her blood stained jeans and she rubbed it vigorously against the washboard with the help from the bar of soap.

After about 5 minutes of scrubbing Eleanor could feel the frustration in her build as the stain remained persistent in her jeans that she didn't hear someone approach from behind.

"Stubborn stain?" Eleanor instantly recognised this voice as Shane's and she could feel her muscles tense, dreading what he had come to say to her and she dared to glance back at him with a slight frown.

Shane let out a short chuckle, running his hand over his shaved head as he stepped to Eleanor's side, "Ah man, those are the worse." He mocked.

She let out a tedious sigh, recognising that he was making fun at her and decided to remain silent, ignoring him as she continued washing.

"Few weeks ago you were out with me shooting guns, out there learning how to survive and now what?" Shane scoffed with a smirk, "You some kind of domestic servant now?"

Eleanor could feel the anger in her grow; rubbing her jeans roughly against the washboard in an attempt to keep her mind from him, knowing that he was only saying it to get a rise out of her. "I was out yesterday, learning to hunt." She added, trying to keep her voice calm to not show that he was getting to her with his condescending demeanour.

"Oh yeah right, right…" He sneered, "With that redneck piece of trash but I doubt you two were doing any hunting out there."

Shane raised an eyebrow at her, that smug grin still on his face as Eleanor stopped what she was doing. That was all it took and she threw her jeans down into the tub, standing sharply to her feet and glared back at Shane with harsh frown across her face, "What do you want Shane?" She demanded firmly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Randall" He simply said, now becoming more serious and Eleanor let out a sigh, she knew what Shane wanted, he wanted Randall dead, simple as that and he came to her in the hopes that she would too, she'd agreed with him with the walkers in the barn, she had wanted them gone the only thing stopping her from helping to get rid of them being because it would jeopardise their place at the farm however that was no longer the case with Randall.

"He isn't a walker" Eleanor said knowing exactly what Shane was thinking.

"But he is a threat" Shane retorted quickly.

Eleanor didn't know what to say back to it, he was right, Randall was a threat to their group however the decision to simply kill him didn't sit well with her, it just seemed… cruel. Rick had spoken about just leaving him somewhere far away from the farm however that plan still held a certain amount of unease in Eleanor and for once she really didn't know what she wanted to happen.

She let out another tiresome sigh, giving Shane a shrug showing her indecision about the situation and sat back next to the tub continuing with what she came there to do.

Shane shook his head, not satisfied by her lack of a verdict and knelt down beside her, speaking quietly yet firmly, "We do whatever has to be done to survive right?"

Eleanor peered up to him the sadness apparent in her eyes, knowing it wasn't because of Randall specifically however more the fact about agreeing to sentencing a person to death, "But he's a person, a living person."

"Yeah, a person who if given the chance wouldn't hesitate to kill you" Shane replied.

"It just seems so…harsh" Eleanor whispered, directing her eyes to the ground.

Shane moved closer, placing a hand on her shoulder, knowing what his finally words would be, thinking that this would be what changed her mind, "The way it is now it's either you or him… us or them."

Eleanor stared up at him, she knew he was right but something was stopping her from agreeing with him, "I don't know" She muttered, taking her eyes off him and heard Shane scoff as he stood up, obviously annoyed with her reply before he strode away from her, back to camp.