3rd Person POV
Eve gasped and Daryl jumped, almost dropping the box on his foot, before she bolted off like she'd just remember she left the stove on, without so much as a glance in his direction.
He stared after, pure confusion etched all over his face and only spared a glance around just to see if anyone else had seen. Rick, Hershel, and T-Dog in the living room did in fact see it, but nothing except confusion was shared between the 4.
Her boots knocked on the hardwood under Eve's boots as she ran around the house like a jackrabbit being chased by a fox, looking for one short-brown-haired girl who knows all about kissing and everything Eve doesn't, like it's her only mission in life.
She checked all 4 of the upstairs rooms — including the bathroom, then raced downstairs and started checking every other room with much less tactics than normal and as she was running right past the in-home office caught a glimpse of the girl.
Slamming on the brakes, Eve slid almost half a meter and almost tripped before spinning on her toes — felt like a ballerina for a second — and ran back, both hands slamming on the sides of the door as she shouted, "Maggie!"
"UaAh!" Maggie screamed, jumping so hard she dropped the books in her hands, a rain of hard backs dropping like boulders onto her feet as she slammed her back into the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, hand on her heart and face like she just gave up the ghost.
"Oh my god," Maggie breathed, panting like she's gonna cry.
Footsteps thundered through the house like a storm and in half a second flat half the house surrounded them with various weapons. Including a frying pan, a lamp, several guns and knives, and a tennis racket?
Eve stared at the racket trying to figure out where it came from while Glenn moved past her into the room — stepping out of his way — to his girlfriend.
"Are you ok — are you hurt — what happened?" Glenn grabbed her hands, checking her over like a mother duck.
Eve bit her lips, turning to look out the window as unassuming as possible.
"T's alright, I'm fine. She just snuck up on me."
Eve immediately felt eyes on her back but she refused to look.
She got some looks but thankfully everyone dispersed back to whatever it was they were doing before, and was left with only one questioning gaze to answer.
And Maggie's burning eyes only had one thing to say. 'You better have a good reason for this.'
Eve sighed and motioned to the dusty leather arm chairs in the center of the room before going to the door and closing it.
Confused and concerned, Maggie took the unspoken invitation and took up a seat next to the one Eve dumped herself into, and watched the 30 year old woman pull her shoes off and fold her legs up like a little kid about to tell a secret.
Maggie set aside her amusement of Eve's — unsurprising — childish conduct and leaned on the chair arm, giving her full attention to the silent killer.
Maggie waited for her to say something but after what felt like ten minutes of silence, she sighed. Eve isn't a talker — except for when people are being 5 year olds and there are lives at stake — but it looks like Maggie's gonna have to start this conversation even though she was the one called.
"Are you ok?"
Eve opened her mouth but ended up just shaking her head. Trying very hard not to associate this scene with a therapist session. The leather chairs and the way Maggie's sitting, and the whole studious vibe of the room, despite the layers of dust on everything, is making it very difficult.
"What's this about?" Maggie prompted, trying to get the one person who doesn't like talking more than Daryl to use her words. She's been very agitated about it lately, and Maggie suspects it probably has to do with the fact that in recent weeks she's been forced to communicate more and more. And complex ideas, not things that can really get across with a few expressions and maybe a gesture or two.
The others kinda agreed to try not to push her (agreeing that it wouldn't be fun to find out what it would be like if she snaps), but circumstances.
Maggie scanned her face, trying to decipher how to speak Eve but ultimately, she ended up speaking Glenn. "Is this about the other day?"
Eve froze and looked at Maggie the same way she does when she's on watch and hears something.
"Glenn told me what happened between you and Daryl."
Eve's eyes moved to the bookcase in the general direction of where she imagines Glenn to be. 'You traitorous little—'
"Are you havin' trouble with it?" Maggie glanced at her fingers, picking at her fingertips. You'd have to be pretty out of it not to notice the two of them have been… for lack of a better word, uncomfortable.
Eve looked at her like a mind reader.
"It's pretty obvious." Maggie chuckled.
Eve curled up a little more, pouting and Maggie actually feels for her. She's freaking out over one little accidental kiss and to be honest, Maggie thought she & Daryl were already together, and were just keeping it to themselves cause they spend so much time together.
Glenn thought she'd lost her mind when he told her about this last night but come on, really?
They're concerned for each other's well-being, they flip their shit when either is — or was — in trouble, they get twitchy as an animal in a cage whenever they're more than 10 feet from each other, they've been practically attached at the hip since the day Maggie met them, they can have a whole ass conversation with just their eyes and like the slightest facial expression change.
And just for a cherry on top, they don't ever seem to mind each other's touch but as soon as someone else walks too close to them, Daryl acts like he's touched and electric fence, and Eve freezes like liquid nitrogen.
Maggie looked at her expression now though … she has no idea what it's like to like someone.
"Yer havin' a lot of trouble with this, aren't you?"
Eve deflated into her chair, like a balloon, planting her hands into her hair like tree roots. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to just wait? Get mad? — I don't feel mad — Are things just gonna go back to normal, do we need to talk about it, is it cool if we just ignore it, does it change anything, am I overthinking?"
"Oh yer definitely overthinking, but that's normal."
"Normal? How can that be normal?"
Maggie shrugged. "You can't really answer any of those questions yourself though. Have you talked to Daryl yet?"
Eve shook her head, shoving her palms into her eyes while Maggie glanced at the rat's nest she's turned her dark locks into.
"Why not?"
"Cause Ace told me to figure out how I feel about it first."
"Have you?"
"Oh yes, now I'm just waiting for the sun god to give me a chariot and a big sign so I can declare it."
"So that's a no." Maggie deadpanned at her before snorting.
Then she asked the million dollar question, "You care about each other right?"
Eve paused. "Well ... yeah but,"
"In my experience, that's all the answer ya need."
"Really? That's it?" Eve looked at her skeptically.
"What did you expect?" Maggie pulled her leg up, resting her knee against the tall leather armrest.
Eve shrugged. "Detailed step by step?"
Maggie burst out laughing. "That would sure be nice."
"We've been at this for thousands of years, a better question is, why isn't there?"
"Cosmo gave it their best shot." Maggie paused and they looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
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