With an eager grin, Nye skipped along down the concrete hallway, flanked on her right by barred windows, sunlight streaking through the metal beams from the early morning sun. Reaching her destination, she quietly crept through the door, out onto the outside catwalk. Walking on her toes, Nye's smile quivered in anticipation as she approached her victim.
Daryl sat on watch, unaware of the woman coming up behind him. His legs dangled off the side, rifle sitting limply in his lap as he took lazy drags from a cigarette.
Leaping to action, Nye flung her arms over his shoulders, her hands coming out from behind her back, and holding the item she had been hiding there, right in front of their faces. Daryl jumped, going stiff as a flash blinded him for a second, while Nye giggled over his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck and causing goosebumps to rise.
Remaining in a slightly stunned silence, he watched her move away from his back, scooting over to sit to his left, cradling the buzzing camera in her hands as a photo slowly pushed out the top. When it was done, she carefully took it out with her fingertips on the very edge, flipping it to face her. She waited for the white to fade into the captured image.
"D'you know shaking it is a myth?" She asked conversationally. "It doesn't do anything for the picture, and it's best to just leave it be."
"Where the hell did you get that?"
"Glenn snagged it on the run yesterday, and he let me borrow it."
Daryl hummed lowly, watching with her as the picture slowly appeared. When it finally did, he blinked at it as a slow blush rose up his neck.
In the photo, caged on either side by her arms, Daryl's eyes were wide in surprise, the cigarette falling from his mouth (only then did he realize it had fallen during the sneak attack) as he stared dumbly into the camera. But even though he was in the center of the photo, it was the least of his concern or focus. Because over his shoulder was Nye, face flushed as she beamed into the camera, eyes alight with mischief for obvious reasons.
The way her arms closed in around him in the photo, the way her dimpled cheek was just barely brushing his scruffy one, and the way both their faces were a hue darker than normal, made the picture read as, well, more than what they really were.
Grin falling to a soft smile, Nye stared at it a few seconds longer, before handing it to him.
"I think you should hold onto it. I've got enough photos weighing me down." She joked, standing and brandishing the camera. "Well, better get this back to Glenn. Later Hotstuff."
And as she walked away, he was too stunned by the new variation to his nickname that he didn't have time to argue with her, before she already disappeared through the door.
Looking back down at the photo, he swallowed and sighed, before very gently tucking it in the inner pocket of his vest.
He was more than aware of just how hot his face felt, and that someday that woman was going to be the death of him.
…
"It looks like…"
Toby's voice was small, and reminiscent, as the group stood before the RV Aaron had meant to drive them in.
Nye nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder as she looked back on memories of a man too good for the new world. A man that, for a long time, she blamed herself for losing, after not getting there in time. But somewhere along the line, she didn't know when, she had come to accept that the Walkers were to blame that night, not her.
Toby frowned, hand coming up and righting his bucket hat before he ascended the steps into the vehicle. His brother followed right behind, and Lydia rushed after them. Everyone but Rick, Michonne, Glenn, and Aaron got into the RV, finding themselves a place to sit. While the other four piled into Aaron's regular car.
There was a silent buzz of excitement in the RV as Daryl started it up, Tyreese taking the passenger seat with a map unfolded out onto his lap.
Sliding into one of the booths near the kitchenette, and bracing her arms on the table, Nye stared out the window, peeking through the shades. Across from her Mason, then Toby slid in, not intending to stray far from their mother. Lydia, with no room to sit by Daryl and Tyreese, sat down to Nye's right, too shy to find anywhere else. Samson swooped in and laid at the girl's feet, the dog's sheer size taking up most of the underside of the table.
"It's so clean." She whispered in awe, looking around at every shiny surface.
The boys snickered at her, while Nye draped her right arm over the girl. Pulling on the thin rope to the side of the window, Nye lifted the shades and revealed an equally clean window pane. As the RV picked up speed, the trees flew by in a dark blur, looking like just one big green streak made by a paintbrush.
"We're really doing this, eh?" Abraham huffed with a suppressed grin as he stared out one of the windows too. "Gonna settle down, live our lives again?"
Rosita leaned back in her seat, arms crossing behind her head as she smiled. "Sounds good to me."
"That's if he ain't lyin'." Daryl cynically remarked from up front.
Nye frowned and leaned to the right, looking over Lydia's head and glaring at Daryl through the rearview mirror. "He wasn't."
He gazed back at her, the only part of his face visible being the sliver of inches between his cheeks and eyebrows, not providing her with enough to figure out what he was feeling, other than the increasingly familiar exhaustion in his eyes. After a few seconds, he relented, looking back down to the road and reaching to adjust the mirror, so he no longer could glance back at her disapproving face.
The only other person to acknowledge the exchange, frowned heavily as she eyed the two. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Carol stood and walked over to the front of the RV.
Daryl tensed as Carol stopped next to his seat, and put a hand on the back of it, while the other settled on her hip.
Shit.
"Care to share what's been going on?" She asked innocuously, quiet enough for anybody in the back to be unable to hear.
Tyreese glanced between the two awkwardly, clueless as to what was happening, and dearly wishing Sasha would come up and save him.
Daryl's eyes didn't stray from the road, but he noticeably stiffened. "I don't-"
"Three weeks." Carol cut him off, voice stern like a disappointed mother. "You two haven't shared a pleasant word with each other in three weeks, and it's not for lack of trying on her part."
Hands fidgeting on the wheel, Daryl finally looked up at her, face drawn in a minute scowl. "I ain't pickin' fights with her."
"I know. That's not what I said." Carol sighed, leaning a bit closer as her voice lowered even further to ensure her next words were not overheard. "But ever since what happened to Beth-"
Daryl flinched.
"-you have been pushing her away. I've noticed the tension between you two." She let go of the back of the chair, leaning back and crossing her arms with a tired sigh. "If I didn't know you so well I'd tell you to just take her into the back and relieve some stress the old fashioned way,"
Daryl took a sharp inhale, neck and face burning a dark red at the insinuation.
Tyreese's brows shot up, and he raised his hands, or rather hand and stump, in defeat. "Okay, nope. Not a part of this." He stood, setting the map down and walking away.
"But I know it's not that simple for you two," She continued on as if she hadn't just driven Tyreese away by casually talking about how Daryl should just go and rail Nye in the back. Though she was fighting down an amused grin. "But that doesn't mean you two don't need a moment alone."
There was something in her tone that put Daryl on edge. "What are you-"
"Nye," Carol turned around and called, gaining the brunette's attention. "Can you come here real quick?"
Daryl's head snapped up as he glared daggers at the woman. "Don't-"
Carol smirked, and winked.
He was screwed.
Nye without question hopped up, carefully stepping around Lydia, and walked over, coming to a stop next to the woman with a concerned look. "What's up?"
Any smug look on her face had disappeared, as Carol took on a look of innocent worry. "I think Daryl's coming down with something."
Said man was looking back and forth between the woman and the road, staring at her in disbelief. And when Nye's face fell in a look of concern, he tried ignoring the pang it shot through him.
"I mean, look how red he is." Carol pointed out behind Nye's back as the brunette stepped next to the driver's seat.
Daryl could hear the smirk in the woman's voice, as she used his earlier flustered complexion against him, as it had yet to fade.
Sometimes he forgot how scary she could be.
"Yeah, he does look flushed." Nye murmured, hands twitching as if she was fighting the urge to manually check his forehead.
"I'm fine-"
"You should take him into the back," Carol cut him off again. "I'll take over driving for now."
"I don't…" Nye trailed off, looking over the hunter in mighty concern despite the exchange that happened mere minutes ago. She was going to argue at first, but she noticed he had gotten even more red.
Unbeknownst to her, it was caused by Carol strategically mentioning taking him into the back.
"O-okay." Nye stammered with a relenting nod.
Daryl clenched his jaw. "I don't-"
"I think we both know this is your best option." Carol challenged, in other words saying "If you don't, then I will talk to her myself." And there were many problems with that, mainly consisting of how Carol knew more about his feelings for Nye than probably even he did.
Grinding his teeth, Daryl stopped the RV to let Carol switch out, before stiffly following Nye as she marched her way towards the RV's bedroom. The kids shot them a questioning look as they passed, but she waved them off with a smile. Whereas Daryl kept his eyes straight ahead as he internally swore to never confide in Carol again.
Stepping into the room, and closing the door behind him, Nye turned to Daryl with a sheepish look.
"To be honest, I've got no clue why Carol wanted me to take you back here, but I'm way too scared of that woman to deny her of anything." She chuckled awkwardly.
At her obvious discomfort, Daryl ducked his head guiltily, knowing it was his fault for damaging the ease the two had built between each other.
"So, um… are you okay?"
Daryl nodded, looking over the bed to his left in an effort to avoid meeting Nye's searching eyes.
"Alright, uh, good." She bit her lips together, linking her hands behind her back and rocking on her heels. "That's, yeah, that's good."
He watched as she winced, shaking her head to herself, as if mentally berating her lack of conversation skills. Believing herself to be the problem, and cause of their current communicational issues.
Hating the biting silence that fell over the room, Daryl clenched his fists sporadically as he gnawed on his bottom lip. With a harsh breath, he moved to breeze past her, and go back out into the main part of the RV. As he side-stepped her though, she caught him off guard.
Face falling as soon as she realized he was going to walk away without a word, Nye's hand shot out, latching onto his left one, mouth opening to tell him to just "Wait a second". What she didn't expect was for him to tense and hiss in pain, pulling his hand away immediately.
Nye's eyes widened, as she held her hand midway in the air, still poised to reach out to him, but frozen in fear at the pained sound that came from him. Daryl however, was rigid, back ramrod straight as he kept it to her, breath hitching once or twice without his consent. Finally snapping out of her shock, Nye grabbed his arm right below his elbow before he could make an escape, pulling it towards her. Very delicately, she took his wrist, holding it up close to her sternum to inspect the back of his hand. All while she did this, completely silent, Daryl kept himself angled away from her, so she couldn't see the look on his face. He knew that he could pull away, he was stronger than her, and there was no way she could keep her hold if he decided too, but something about her feather light touch, and concerned eyes made him stay put.
Green eyes locked onto the red and inflamed dot marking his hand, blistered and painful looking. But with a sharp inhale through her teeth, she noted the size and shape. The only thing the new looking burn could possibly be from, was a lit cigarette. And the only one in the group who smoked, and let alone had any cigarettes, was the same man with the burn.
"Daryl." Her voice rasped, barely above a whisper. "When did you… when did this happen?"
It was soft, and the part that got him was that there wasn't an ounce of judgment in her question, only genuine worry. Shoulders deflating, he slowly looked over at her to his left, sighing inaudibly in defeat.
"Before the night in the barn."
Nye frowned, brows furrowing in a telltale sign he knew how to recognize on her too well at this point. Guilt. For the simple fact that she didn't notice.
Before she could say anything, or apologize for god-knows-what, he let the overdue words come bubbling up to the surface.
"I'm sorry."
Looking up from his hand, she blinked her misty eyes in confusion. "What? Why?"
Daryl swallowed, wishing not for the first time that he could just convey all he needed her to know through looks, but even Nye wasn't attuned enough to him for him to get away with silence all the time.
"You… after Gareth-"
He hated the way she instinctively winced, hand flying down to her stomach. And once again regretted not being in the church that night, missing the chance of killing the bastard himself.
"And after…" He trailed off, voice catching much to his chagrin after trying and failing to say the young Greene's name. "I thought… maybe you…" He hung his head and swore angrily under his breath, trying his damndest to force the words out. It should have been simple, but her gaze felt so heavy, and tight around his throat. That's how it always was with her. But he wouldn't let it be that way this time.
With a steeling huff of air through his teeth, his head snapped up and he looked her in the eyes.
"I couldn't do this if you weren't here. And I thought maybe I could make that part of me go away, but it ain't leavin'. You're always in my head and it's gonna be the death of me."
Mouth hanging open, Nye's eyes flitted between his rapidly, pupils blown wide. Despite what others may have guessed, that was the closest thing to an admission the two had ever achieved, and it showed.
Daryl was huffing, almost like he had just ran a marathon, and he was struggling to keep looking back at her as he finally let himself catch up with the word vomit he just spewed.
Nye was gaping like a fish, squeaks falling from her mouth as she tried to form a single coherent word. Her face slowly bloomed a cherry red color, spreading across her cheeks and reaching her ears. And even in the most awkward silence of their lives, Daryl found himself appreciating the way the red made her eyes seemingly shine a brighter green.
Jesus, they were pathetic.
Her mouth snapping shut, Daryl watched in trepidation as Nye swallowed, and stood straighter. A heavy tension built as she stared up at him with a suddenly hardened expression. She looked like she was either preparing to hit him, or-
"Fuck it." She snapped under her breath.
Hands shooting out, and knotting into his leather vest, Nye took and step forward. Her hands shook against his chest, and her face somehow became redder, as she pulled.
In a single breath, he was stooped down half a foot, hands quickly moving to the desk behind her to keep balance, coincidentally caging her in front of him in the process. She never broke away from his eyes, pinning him in place with her expression of determination, and impatience.
Finally, when her eyes fell from his, it only made his chest stall further, as it was now his mouth she was intently focused on. Feeling like she had set off some factory reset, Daryl found himself frozen as he felt her breath sweep across his chin. But even if he could move, he didn't think there was a chance he would have.
With one last swallow, to try to banish the nerves, Nye closed her eyes, and tipped her head. In the darkness of her eyelids, it felt like an eternity as they both closed the last few centimeters together.
Heart skipping, probably unhealthily for her, Nye felt the barest brush against her lips, and then-
"Shit!"
The RV lurched in a sudden turn. Momentum causing items to fly off counters and shelves, but more importantly, it threw anyone not seated off balance.
With a girlish squeak, Nye fell to the left, saved only by Daryl's arms still locked on the desk behind her. He immediately wrapped both arms around her, as the tires squealed, sharp and jarring turns rocking the vehicle.
Panting, the two stared back at each other in shock, still gripping one another in a white knuckled hold. Any heated air between them slowly evaporating as they could hear everyone outside the room talking hurriedly and yelling orders.
"Follow them!"
"I'm trying!"
Then, as Daryl carefully let her go, Nye snarled at the door.
He touched her arm in concern. "You okay-"
"You gotta be kidding." She barked in disbelief, glaring at the door like it had caused this. "Of all the times for something to happen, it had to be right fucking then?"
Clearing his throat, Daryl took a mindful step back, suddenly remembering where the two were just seconds ago as the concern for her hitting the ground faded.
The RV swerved several more times, but expecting it, neither Nye or Daryl stumbled and fell. They could hear Abraham swearing up a storm, and Mason's surprised and rather high pitched exclamations. Soon it became obvious why, as Walkers flew by past the windows, one after another. The RV finally came to a screeching halt, as the herd became too thick to drive through.
"They're getting away!"
"Yeah, I'm aware!"
Marching towards the door, Nye grabbed the handle like she expected it to fight her, wrenching the door open violently.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Carol glanced at them over her shoulder, hands still gripping the wheel despite the vehicle no longer moving. She blinked, glancing between the two suspiciously for a solid second. Their red faces and wide pupils clueing her in. As much as she may have wanted to, Carol sadly couldn't interrogate either of them in that moment.
"Fun's over kiddos, we've got a situation."
Nye scowled at her for a short moment, before spinning on her heel and pointing a finger roughly into Daryl's chest.
"This isn't over." She growled quietly, eyes narrowed. And while he knew he wasn't what she was angry at, it still drove him to nod stiffly in response.
The underline promise of what that meant, had him swallowing thickly. It certainly didn't help that her voice was probably the lowest, and sultry he had ever heard from her. The sound of it alone doing an embarrassingly strong number on him.
Turning back around, Nye marched past the rest of the crew, landing herself back into the bench that held Lydia, across from her boys.
The kids, who of course picked up on something being wrong. Toby leaned towards her with his elbows on the table. "You uh, were in there with Daryl awhile. You wanna tell us what-"
With a glare hot enough to melt stone, Nye hissed at her son quietly. "One more word and you're grounded for life."
Mouth closing in a fearful smile, Toby gave her a nod and a wordless double thumbs-up. Mason, knowing that teasing was futile, just sat back with a mildly intrigued squint at their mother.
And as she listened with half an ear as Abraham argued with Carol on what road to take, now that this one was cut off by the herd, Nye faced the disappointing knowledge that unresolved sexual tension was just as stress inducing as resolved sexual tension was at soothing.
They were absolutely continuing that conversation. She didn't know when, but she knew there was no way she could just go back on living life like she didn't feel something worryingly strong for the hunter. Not like she had before.
"So not over." She hissed under her breath, ignoring the clueless looks her kids sent her.
To be fair, I did warn you guys at the very start that this would be the slowest slow burn you'll probably ever read. Until I publish something else, that is. On the bright side, we're almost at the arguably best arc of TWD, And I plan to milk it.
P.S, I have a quick question to ask you guys. Should, when the time comes, I take the M rating all the way? I've never written smut, but I think I've read enough to have a pretty good grasp on it lol
Just let me know if that's something you guys want to see :)
