This was one of my favourite chapters to write so far, just a bit of fun - hope you like it too!
Chapter 22 - Playground
On their way back to the prison, Daryl and Tahlia had been driving for about an hour, when Tahlia sat bolt upright in the passenger seat.
"Pull over here! Stop, stop, stop!"
At the urgency in her tone, Daryl slammed on the brakes and swung into the rest area on the side of the road, gravel flying.
"What is it?! What's wrong?"
Tahlia fixed him with an impish look. "A playground."
"What the-?!"
But she was already out of the car, running around the driver's side and banging on his window, beckoning for him to follow. Daryl heaved a tortured sigh, and pushed himself out of the car, pulling his sunglasses off to make sure she experienced the full force of his withering look.
"What are ya - five?"
Tahlia bounded back over to him. "Come on! Look, I swear to God that if you let your hair down I promise not to ever breathe a word to anyone that you- "she glanced from side to side conspiratorially before leaning in and finishing in a stage whisper, "-actually had some fuuuuun."
Daryl gave a grunt of indignation, then a wave of childishness swept over him, and he shoved Tahlia out the way and bolted for the playground, taking a running jump at the monkey bars, swinging over them effortlessly as his muscular arms gleamed in the late afternoon sun, then swung up onto the high platform, dove over the rope bridge and threw himself down the twisty slide, landing with a whuuuumpf in the bark.
By the roundabout, Tahlia threw her head back in delighted laughter, and ran to join him, climbing the metal ladder onto the high platform, grabbing the flying fox and sliding down the runner, hitting the end so hard her feet flew up over her head before the momentum propelled her halfway back the way she came.
With a grin on his face, Daryl ran up the seesaw and down the other side, then met her by the swings. They both stood on the seat of one each, and wildly started to propel themselves in the air, until they were nearly horizontal.
"Wanna jump?!" shouted Daryl, a devilish glint in his eye. "Furthest wins!"
"Alright!" called Tahlia. "On 3! 1… 2…3!"
Daryl threw himself off the swings, arms windmilling as he propelled through the air landing with a hard bump on the bark, rolling forward to finally come to a skidding halt on his back.
"Fuck me!" he groaned, rubbing at his legs. "Ground shock." In the corner of his eye, he could see Tahlia still standing on her swing as it slowed down, and she gave a small, graceful jump to the ground.
"Hey!" he cried indignantly. "Well, you lose!"
Tahlia laughed. "I'm waaaaaay too old to be doing stunts like that! You're just crazy."
Daryl pushed himself to his feet and strode over to her, gripping her elbow and shoving her over to the small roundabout. "Well shit, guessin' ya don't know the Dixon playground rules! Losers get spun 'til they're inside out on the Wheel of Death."
"No, no, no!" protested Tahlia laughing, trying to pull away, but he held her firmly and pushed her onto the roundabout.
"Hold tight, sweetheart." he said with a wicked smile.
"Oh God." She gripped the bars tightly as Daryl started out at a run, spinning her round and round, then standing still, he pushed her faster and faster until she was a blur whirring past him.
"Arghh!" she shrieked, a hysterical giggle in her voice. "Stop, oh my GOD, stop PLEASE!"
"Say, 'I'm a loser'!'" he called out as she whirled past.
"I'm a loser! I'm a looooooser!" she screamed amid fits of laughter.
Daryl couldn't help but laugh himself, and caught one of the bars, halting the momentum. Tahlia slid straight off the roundabout like a soggy noodle, staggering sideways into him.
"You. Suck!" she gasped, trying to regain her balance.
He caught her in his arms and propped her up against his chest. "You're gonna hu-url!" he taunted her, laughter still at the corners of his mouth.
"God, you might be right." she mumbled, clapping a hand over her mouth.
"Ugh!" He pushed her away, just in case, and she leaned over, resting her hands on her knees to support herself.
After a few deep breaths, she waved a hand up at him.
"Ok, ok. I'm good. Shit, well I'm definitely too old for that one now too. I think I just need to… ooh yes, come on."
Grabbing Daryl's hand, she made a beeline for the basket swing, collapsing on to it heavily and lying back on the netting, staring up at the increasing dusk and gathering dark cloud.
"That's better." She beckoned to him. "So - give us a big push before you jump on, would ya?"
Hesitating for a brief moment, Daryl gazed down at her in apprehension. There wasn't a lot of room on that swing. They'd practically be on top of each other. But after the past 24 hours with her, that didn't seem like such a daunting thing anymore. So, he grabbed the rope supports of the swing, then ran it back and forth one, two, three times to get the momentum going before jumping on next to Tahlia, his body stiffening as he tried not to sink right into her, but the space was so limited he didn't have a choice.
She wriggled a little to make room for him, completely unfazed by the fact that they were jammed up against one another, and eventually he started to relax. As he grew accustomed to the heat of her against him, the scent of her around him, he became aware of an unfamiliar but not unpleasant sensation in his chest - an ache; a feeling like he was holding his breath; like he was displaced and grounded at the same time; like he was teetering on the edge of a precipice staring into an abyss; like he wanted to jump.
He tried to focus on something else. "Looks like rain's on the way."
Dark clouds crowded above, the air heavy with the smell of dampness.
As they lay staring up at the sky, swinging back and forth through the air, sidebodies pressed firmly against one another, Tahlia sighed.
"Nice to be able to forget about all... that out there, and pretend that this is all there is for a second. Just normal, peaceful life." And then she sought out his fingers and interlaced them loosely in hers, aware of the stillness of his hand as he tried to decide whether to leave it there or pull away.
Daryl froze and shot a nervous glance at her, but her eyes were lost in the clouds. And once again, he realised there was no suggestion in the gesture. It wasn't loaded with anything. It was just her offering a connection. And he could hold tight or let go and she wouldn't bat an eyelid either way.
So, he found himself squeezing her hand in agreement, warmth spreading through his belly as he relaxed into the surprising comfort of being physically close to someone with no expectations, just existing in the moment. And as he tucked his free hand behind his head, that imagined breath he was holding was suddenly expelled and he felt like he was falling, tumbling into that abyss, a feeling like no other, terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
The swing eventually lost momentum, but they continued to lie there comfortably for a long while, until abruptly, the black clouds overhead opened, and a sudden onset of big fat raindrops cascaded down around them.
"Shit!" squealed Tahlia, sitting bolt upright, then sliding off the swing. She held her face to the sky for a minute, letting the rain wash over her, cleansing away the day, then snapped back to reality.
"I guess that's our cue to leave!" She made to head for the car, but Daryl grabbed her hand, tugging her in the other direction.
"This way!"
Leading her back to the main body of the playground, he climbed a shoulder-height ladder and crawled inside a red plastic tunnel, Tahlia following close behind. They sat in the tunnel, facing one another, spines curved, knees bent, feet halfway up the cylinder. The rain echoed on the structure, pouring down now, and subconsciously, Tahlia pressed in closer to Daryl. He was glad she didn't question his reasoning of taking shelter in the tunnel instead of in the car. All he knew was he didn't want this to end just yet.
"Thought it might be nice to let off a little steam after the couple of days we've had. I knew you'd have fun." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You give off that serious vibe, but I knew there was a big kid deep down in there, just itching to get on this playground with me!"
He bumped her with his thigh, but didn't respond for a while. "Ain't been to a playground since I was a kid."
"Really? You never came down at night to get wasted with your mates and do dumb dares?"
Daryl shrugged. Actually, come to think of it, him and Merle and their buddies did do that a few times. It just seemed so long ago that it was like it was someone else's life.
"Reminds me of my brother." he said with a curious glance at her, somehow feeling like she knew it would.
It was her turn to bump her thigh into his, in empathy, and they both sat in silence for a while, contemplating their lives before.
All of a sudden, a decaying hand reached up into the tunnel, grasping at Tahlia's thigh, that familiar snarling echoing around them. She gave a startled gasp and toppled sideways into Daryl's legs. As the yellowing curled fingernails clawed at her leg, an otherworldly groan coming from below them, Daryl reached over Tahlia, deftly unsheathed the knife from her hip, and leaned over her lap to stab the walker through the skull, dropping it to the bark. Pushing himself back up, he made a show of wiping the blade clean on her jeans, before tucking it back in its sheath.
"My hero!" she faux-simpered, then made a face at the fresh blood stain on her thigh, as he inclined his chin in smug acknowledgement.
The rain pelted down harder now, the sound deafening on the tunnel roof. She gave a sigh. "I guess we'd better head back, the others might start to worry."
"Guess so." agreed Daryl reluctantly, wishing that they could just stay curled up in this playground tunnel in the pouring rain, just the two of them, for the rest of the night. But Tahlia was tapping at his arm.
"Ready?"
"Hold on!" He started to shoulder his vest off. "Rainin' pretty hard, so-" He held it out to her, gesturing for her to put it over her head.
"Are you kidding me?" she laughed incredulously. "You just wiped rotting walker blood all over my pants, yet you don't want my hair to get wet in the rain?! Well gee golly, ain't you just a true gentleman, Mr. Dixon!" she mocked in a southern drawl, laughing too hard to move, so Daryl rolled his eyes and punched her in the thigh before crawling out of his side of the tunnel onto a platform.
"Suit yourself!" he called, pulling his jacket back on, then gave a loud "Oh shit!"
Reaching back into the tunnel, he caught Tahlia's ankle and unceremoniously dragged her, feet first, out on to the platform.
"What the hell?!" she protested, covering her face against the sudden onslaught of rain, but Daryl was already heaving her to her feet, spinning her to face the woods behind the playground.
"Oh shit!" she echoed, eyes alighting on a group of about 20 walkers that had emerged from the woods and were stumbling through the playground towards them, the first of the pack nearly on them already, their rasping drowned out by the sound of the rain.
Daryl swung onto the fireman's pole next to them and slid to the ground landing squarely on the shoulders of the first walker to reach them, knocking it to the bark and driving his boot right through the back of its skull. Tahlia jumped down after him, but immediately tripped over the body, falling chest first into a big puddle.
"Goddammit!" she spluttered as Daryl dragged her to her feet once again.
"C'mon, klutz!" he urged, pulling her to a run as they made a dash for the car.
Once safely inside the car, speeding down the highway away from that group of the undead, Tahlia laughed. "Shit, another close call! Definitely time to get back to the prison before our luck runs out."
"What did I tell ya?!" crowed Daryl. "Bad juju!" He glanced at her, then did a double take. "Whoa, whoa! What're ya doin'?! Can't ya keep ya damn clothes on?!" he cried, as she started to strip her top off.
She stopped as her top was around her shoulders, her toned midriff on display. "What?! I'm freakin' soaking wet! This top is coming off. So, beware Daryl Dixon, you might see a lady in her underwear again today. Shock horror."
"I sure don't see no lady anywhere 'round here." grumbled Daryl, raising an elbow to block a swipe from Tahlia.
Tahlia stripped down to her black satin bra, then rifled through her pack at her feet looking for her spare shirt. When she found it, it took a few moments to turn it the right way out before she could put it on.
Daryl tried his best not to look, but it was impossible to keep his eyes on the road ahead and not see her in his peripheral vision. When he added the current view of her lithe upper body and the inviting swell of her breasts under the soft material to this morning's mental image of her bending over in her barely-there panties, a carnal lusty fist punched him hard in the gut and he felt like he was going to explode. He shoved those thoughts to the side as best as he could, reminding himself it was totally inappropriate to think about her like that, and instead tried to picture the goriest walkers he could think of to quell his desire.
"Ok, I'm decent." she announced, doing up the last buttons on a short-sleeved plaid shirt, to Daryl's relief. "My pants are pretty soaked too, but I don't have a spare pair. Just wanna gauge how important pants-wearing is to you on the way home? Or can I just ...?" she tugged at the waistband of her jeans, that jesting lilt in her voice.
Daryl shot her a deadly stare. "Don't even think about it."
Night had fallen as they arrived back at the prison, and they were welcomed back with huge relief from the others after their run had gone on a day longer than anticipated. Although they didn't have too much to show for it, they did have an entertaining story to tell – made all the more so as Tahlia insisted on wearing her Christmas glasses for the retelling. As Daryl and Tahlia ribbed each other good-naturedly for their stupidity, watching on, Michonne smiled in satisfaction to herself at the obvious shift between the two of them, pleased to note that Daryl had clearly softened towards her friend, just like she had always been sure he would, eventually.
A while later, Tahlia stood up and stretched.
"Alright, I'm shattered. I'm going to bed."
It was still early, but she didn't think she could keep her eyes open any longer. She bade goodnight to the group around the fire, pausing by Daryl who was leaning against the wall with his cigarette.
"I had a good time out there – apart from all the near-death experiences, of course. Thanks for coming with me."
He looked at her through a cloud of smoke. "Glad I did."
"Let me know if you need a pillow tonight." she joked slyly, patting her thighs.
Daryl socked her lightly in the arm as she chuckled. "If word ever gets out 'bout that, I'ma kill ya."
As she started to walk away, he called after her on a whim. "Hey!"
She turned back to face him, eyebrows raised in question.
"Wanna hug it out?" he asked, his tone gruff but a twinkle in his eye.
Tahlia's face lit up like a kid at Christmas time. "Oh my God, I knew it! You're a closet hugger!" She bounced back over to him and gave him an overzealous squeezy hug.
Shaking his head as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, he said, "Y'always gotta make it weird."
"Get used to it, Dixon." She gave him a cheeky smile as she pulled away and headed off to her cell.
He sighed helplessly.
Goddamn if he wasn't already.