Ohhh so sorry, had writer's block with this chapter, and spent most of the week writing a future chapter instead of just getting words on a page for you with this one! Have made it long enough though that hopefully it makes up for the age taken to get it here! As always, thank you to everyone who is reading xx

(and to everyone who reviews, it absolutely keeps reminding me why I'm actually spending so much time writing this silly thing... especially looking at you Amy, ChooseJoy, kurucz. nikolett.94, Polkadox, Scarlyd. You guys are amazing x)

Chapter 48 - The swimming hole

"Gone?!" exclaimed Rick. "Where the hell would they have gone?!"

"I don't know!" replied Selena shakily. "But Elise's pack isn't in her cell."

Rick switched into no-nonsense leader mode. "Ok. Let's make sure we've checked the prison properly first. Selena – where did you just come from?"

"I was just down by the animals, no sign of them there."

"Right. I came from our cellblock. Tahly - can you check your block; I'll run through admin; Selena - the infirmary; Daryl - can you check down by the tool sheds then head to the front gate and see if you can spot any tracks out. As far as I know, apart from you hunting this morning, no one else was heading out today."

With quick nods all around, they set off to search the prison.

Tahlia cleared her cellblock quickly as it was still only half occupied, then, as she was on her way out, she had a thought and decided to detour to the library.

As she expected, Patrick was sitting on the pile of cushions in the corner, his nose buried in a book.

"Hiya, Patrick!" she greeted the teenager as she jogged up to him. "Whatcha reading?"

"Hello, Tahly." Patrick glanced up at her, pushing his glasses up a little. "This one's about the solar system."

"Looks interesting. Maybe you can summarise the best bits for me later. Hey, you don't happen to know where Carl's at, do you?"

Patrick's eyes darted around wildly. "Uh..."

Tahlia knelt down, her tone gentle. "Thing is, we can't find him, Elise or Irina, and people are starting to get real worried, so any clues as to where they've gone would be super helpful."

Dropping his gaze to the page he was on and picking at the corner, Patrick mumbled, "He didn't want me to say."

"I don't think he'd mind if you told me though, right?"

Patrick considered that as he looked back up at her. "Uh... I guess not. Ok. They... they've gone to the swimming hole. You know, the one you told him about."

"Goddammit!" cursed Tahlia as she stood up again. "Really?!"

"Yeah. They wanted to sneak out and spend the day there. I told them it wasn't a good idea, but I couldn't stop them." Patrick said apologetically.

"Don't worry, Patrick. You haven't done anything wrong. Actually, you've been an amazing help, so thank you!" Tahlia told him warmly. "We're gonna go get them back."

Setting off at a run, Tahlia made her way down to the main gates where Rick, Selena, Joel and Daryl were gathered, the latter pointing at tracks just beyond the fences.

"Someone's definitely been out there today."

"I know where they've gone." panted Tahlia as she arrived next to them. "They went to the swimming hole."

"Swimming hole?" repeated Rick in confusion.

Tahlia hung her head guiltily. "I'm really sorry. This is my fault. I told Carl about a swimming hole out in the woods and apparently they headed out there this morning."

"Right, let's go then!" Rick started towards the vehicle bay, wasting no time. "Tahly, come with me and tell me where to go."

"I'll come too!" called Joel, heading after him.

"No." Rick's tone was firm. "Just us. Don't need anyone else getting into any trouble out there."

As Tahlia and Daryl followed after Rick, Daryl asked quietly, "How'd they know where to find it?"

Tahlia shrugged. "It's not that hard."

Daryl still had a quizzical look on his face, so Tahlia continued. "Just before the hitchhikers' sign, you hang a left into the woods and then there's a patch of dogwoods and a clearing, and just beyond that, the bend in the stream. Follow the stream down for 10 minutes or so and then you get to the little waterfall."

Daryl looked impressed. "Maybe y'ain't as shit with findin' your way 'round as I thought!"

"I just play dumb so that you have to stick real close to me all the time." she smirked, and Daryl gave her a fond nudge just before she dove into the passenger seat of the station wagon and he jumped onto the Triumph.

"Follow me down!" Daryl called out to Rick as he gunned the engine and started for the gates.

Trailing out the gates and down the road after Daryl, Rick's expression was tight.

"What the HELL was he thinking?!" he growled, leaning into the steering wheel as he followed the bike down the road. "Going out here without telling anyone!"

Tahlia could see that Rick was seriously stressed out and decided it would be better if she just kept quiet for now and concentrated on scanning the verge for any sign of the kids.

It wasn't long before Daryl pulled over onto the grass at the edge of the woods and Rick swerved in behind, jumping out of the car. In the relative quiet of the outdoors, they could hear bass thumping from somewhere through the trees. And over the top of that, piercing screams.

"The fuck? They got music goin'?! Dumbasses." said Daryl, shaking his head. "C'mon. Through here."

Daryl started off at a jog, Rick and Tahlia close behind as he moved fast, dodging his way through the trees like he was following a clearly signposted track.

The music got louder as they approached, as did the screams and the unmistakable snarl of walkers.

They were at the stream now, following it around the bend as it widened over the rocky steps to the top of the little waterfall, the swimming hole just below.

On one side of the pool the bank eased down a small slope into the water, and on the grass there they could see a boombox, a pile of clothes, a couple of backpacks, and two empty bottles of spirits. And just beyond that in a tree by the shore, Irina, clad in a bikini top and shorts, was perched in the lower branches clinging to the trunk for dear life, screaming her heart out as three walkers roamed around at the base, hungrily snapping their jaws and grasping at her ankles.

On the other side of the pool, the bank was a sheer clay face rising about seven feet above the water, a tangle of tree roots protruding from the side belonging to the small, thin trees only half rooted in the ground above due to erosion of the wall over time. One tree in particular was growing right on the edge of the bank and leaning at a precarious angle towards the water. Below this tree, a couple of feet above the water's surface, Carl was standing on a narrow shelf with his back pressed up against the wall, one hand holding tight to a tree root above him, the other arm wrapped around Elise who was swaying a little dangerously, her feet slipping on the crumbling clay. And on the verge above, two walkers were rasping and stretching eagerly towards the fresh meat below.

At the top of the waterfall, Daryl peered down into the clear water, and wrinkled his nose in distaste at the sight of the flailing arms of several walkers who had already fallen into the pool and sunk to the bottom.

"They fucked up our swimmin' hole!" he muttered in irritation.

"Carl!" yelled Rick as he started picking his way across the rocks jutting above the surface of the water at the top of the small waterfall, just as one of the walkers above Carl tumbled over the edge, nearly toppling straight into him, and fell into the water with a big splash.

"Dad!" Carl cried out in fright, staring down at the reanimated corpse that was now slowly sinking in the water.

"Goddammit!" exclaimed Tahlia as she threw her katana down on the bank, not wanting to lose it in the pool, and carefully made her way after Rick.

"I'll get the damn music." remarked Daryl as he jogged down to the boombox and kicked at the buttons on the top, silencing the CD. Then he raised his crossbow and made quick work of putting down the three walkers around the tree.

Fetching his bolts out of the undead heads, he glanced up at Irina who was still screaming hysterically, and he winced at the noise.

"Hush, now! Walkers all taken care of. Get down."

"Daryl!" she wailed. "They were trying to eat me!"

"And now they're dead. Climb down." he instructed gruffly.

"Please help me! Please, I can't..."

"Ya got up there, didn't ya? So get down."

"Daryl!" she cried dramatically. "Please help me!"

With an exasperated huff, Daryl dropped his crossbow and held his arms out, Irina not wasting a second before she threw herself at him. She was petite, but the force of her jump nearly knocked him backwards. That, and the strength of the vodka fumes she brought with her.

"Damn girl, you're lit!"

Irina just sobbed loudly and buried her face in his neck as she clung to him. "You saved my life! You saved my life!"

"Quit hollerin' like a damn banshee and tell me what happened." commanded Daryl, prying her arms from him, with some difficulty.

Irina sniffed, gazing up at him with wide brown eyes, slurring her words a little. "We just wanted to have a good time! Came here for some drinks and a swim. I was sunbathing there, Carl and Elise were in the water. Then those things came! Some fell in so Carl and Elise climbed up to that bit to get out of the water, and I climbed up the tree to get away from the ones that wanted to eat me!"

"And then what were ya gonna do?"

That comment sparked a fresh bout of tears from Irina as she threw herself onto Daryl again. "I don't know, but you saved me! You saved me!"

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, get dressed."

He pulled her arms from him once more and steered her in the direction of the clothes, then he headed to the water's edge to see how the others were faring.

Rick had made his way to the top of the bank above Elise and Carl and was reaching a hand down towards them, while, on the other side of the tree, the walker there was still eyeing them up.

"Come on, Elise! Take my hand, I'll pull you up."

Elise just blinked up at Rick woozily.

Rick frowned and studied the two teenagers, then glanced back across to the other bank and the empty liquor bottles, then glared back down at them.

"Are you drunk?!"

Carl looked terrified, then snickered a little. "Nosssir."

"Fuck's sake!" cursed Rick as he grabbed Elise's hand and tried to drag her up the embankment, but she was too wasted to assist and Rick felt like he was pulling on dead weight.

"Tahly, come closer and grab her other hand!"

"Sure thing." Tahlia edged her way closer to Rick then lay next to him, half dangling over the drop-off as she reached for Elise's other hand.

Watching on, Daryl could see parts of the clay bank where Rick and Tahlia were lying start to crack and crumble, pieces dropping into the water below.

"Rick!" he yelled in warning.

But before he could say anything further, the walker that was reaching for Carl slipped over the edge of the drop and knocked into him on its way down, sending Carl off balance.

Then, like watching a movie in fast forward, everything seemed to happen suddenly and all at once.

Carl let go of Elise and shot out a hand to grab another tree root to steady himself; Elise slipped off the ledge, all her weight now dragging Rick and Tahlia forward. The crumbling clay bank beneath them gave way, and the tree leaning at a dangerous angle over the bank no longer had enough to hold it in place and began its nose-dive into the water.

Daryl cursed loudly as in a jumble of clay, dirt, grass and tree, he saw Rick, Tahlia, Carl and Elise all plunge into the walker infested pool.

In one swift movement he kicked off his boots and stripped off his shirt, heading for the water's edge.

"No, Daryl! Don't leave me!" cried Irina desperately, but by that time, Daryl was already mid-dive into the water.

Tahlia was the first to pop her head back above the surface, and it only took her one gasping second to realise what had happened and register that the others hadn't made it up yet, so before she could think twice, she sucked in a deep breath and dove back under. The churning water was murky now, and she couldn't see more than a couple of feet around her.

But then, a flash of pink.

Elise's bikini top.

Kicking herself deeper, Tahlia managed to grab hold of Elise's arm just before a strong hand closed around her own arm. Instinctively, she tried to pull away, thinking that a walker had a hold on her, but when she looked up she soon realised that it was Daryl, and he was dragging her back to the surface. Once their heads were above water, Daryl studied her face for a quick moment.

"Y'ok?"

Tahlia nodded, trying to catch her breath as she supported a now thrashing and whimpering Elise.

"Get outta the water." he ordered firmly. "I'll find the others."

And then he was gone again, and, helpless to do anything else, Tahlia gave Elise a sharp slap on the cheek to shock her into calming down a little, then supporting Elise under one arm, they swam for the shore.

Under the water near the clay wall, Rick was tangled in the thin branches of the fallen tree and struggled for a panicked moment trying to free himself. Finally kicking clear, he glanced about wildly in the muddied water trying to spot any sign of the others. Movement a few feet away caught his attention, and he saw Carl, eyes and mouth open wide in fear, arms flailing as he desperately tried to thrust himself upwards but the walker that had fallen from the bank had a tight grip on his ankle and was dragging itself closer to him, dragging them both down.

Snapping a sharp branch from the tree he'd just freed himself from, Rick propelled himself down towards Carl and plunged the end of the branch straight into the walker's eye, killing it in a second. Although the gnashing jaws were now no longer a problem, its hand was still clamped tightly around Carl, and the dead weight was pulling him down towards the bottom of the pool, down towards the grasping hands of the other sunken walkers who were hungrily reaching for their meal.

Chest burning, Rick tried in vain to pull the hand free, desperation flaring in his belly as he saw that Carl's eyes had closed and he was no longer flailing, just swaying slowly with the ebb of the water. Just then, he felt a strong hand pulling him backwards and Daryl appeared next to him, knife in hand, lunging straight for the walker's elbow, ready to pry the joint apart. Rick, unable to hold his breath any longer, placed his faith in his brother and pushed for the surface, intending to get a fresh lungful of air before heading back under.

On the shore, Tahlia had managed to dress Elise, and the young girl was sitting sobbing quietly with her knees folded into her chest, Irina crouched next to her with an arm around her shoulders, while Tahlia waited anxiously on the bank, debating whether or not to go back into the water.

Abruptly, Rick burst up to the surface, and gasped in a huge breath, panting heavily. A long, tense moment passed, then just next to him, Daryl's head popped up as he dragged an unconscious Carl up with him.

"Thank God." muttered Tahlia as she watched Daryl support Carl under the chin and sideswim back to shore, Rick just ahead of him, then they both dragged Carl out of the water and up onto the bank.

Daryl and Rick moved back so that Tahlia could get in next to Carl, and she immediately started chest compressions.

As Daryl sat back on his knees, Rick dropped down next to him to throw an arm around his shoulders briefly.

"Thank you. Thank you." mumbled Rick, before standing back up to check on Carl's progress.

Daryl just nodded, staring intently with worry at the scene in front of him, barely noticing when Irina wrapped herself around him again rambling on about how he was a hero.

"Come on, Carl!" Tahlia said through gritted teeth as she pressed rhythmically on his breastbone. "Come on!"

Rick was pacing back and forth now, one hand rubbing at his jaw, an anguished look on his face as he gazed down at his son.

A gurgling noise sounded, and then Carl's chest heaved as he started coughing, water spilling from his mouth, and Tahlia quickly rolled him onto his side.

"That's it!" she encouraged, patting him firmly on the back.

Coughs racked Carl's chest, and then he sucked in a big breath before vomiting a stream of water and booze out onto the grass.

"Good work!" grinned Tahlia, relaxing back onto her heels, thanking her lucky stars that today wasn't the day that they lost one of their own.

"Carl!" Rick cried out in relief as he dropped to his knees and gathered his son into his arms, clutching the gasping boy fiercely against his chest.

Tahlia turned to Daryl, then raised her eyebrows in surprise at the sight of Irina in Daryl's lap, her arms around his shirtless shoulders and her face pressed into his neck.

Daryl, confused by the shadow that suddenly passed over Tahlia's face as she sucked on her top teeth, abruptly realised what she was frowning at, and hurriedly tried to pry Irina from him once more, but by the time he'd managed that, Tahlia had already turned back to Rick and Carl.

"Rick!" exclaimed Tahlia, moving closer. "You're bleeding!"

She snatched up Carl's t-shirt from the ground and pressed it to a gash on Rick's forehead where he'd collided with the tree.

"It's ok." Rick said, caring about nothing but the fact that his son was alive. "We're all ok."

Giving Carl a few moments to recover, Rick then hoisted him to his feet.

"Let's get out of here before we run into any more trouble."

They gathered up their things, and then Tahlia gently pulled Elise to her feet, wrapping one arm around her waist to support her, and it wasn't lost on her that, bringing up the rear, Irina was still tucked up against Daryl, refusing to move any further away from him and he had given up trying to make her.

After that close call, it was a tense, quiet walk back to the vehicles, and, once there, Rick quickly bundled Carl and Elise into the back of the car.

"Come on, get in." Rick motioned to Irina.

She quickly wrapped her arms around Daryl's waist, and his arms shot up in the air.

"Please, let me stay with Daryl!" Irina begged, a hysterical waver in her voice. "I want to ride with him!"

Just then, two walkers lurched out of the bushes and staggered towards the group, causing Irina to shriek loudly and press her face into Daryl's chest.

"Pipe down!" he scolded sternly. "Gonna draw all the walkers for miles with that damn noise!"

Then he looked helplessly up at Tahlia who had a dark look on her face as she strode towards the walkers and decapitated them both with one unnecessarily forceful swipe of her katana, blood spraying around her as she did so, making Irina squeal even louder at the gory sight.

"God's sake." snapped Rick, in irritation. "Daryl, just take her with you. Let's get these kids back to the prison."

Daryl looked unsure, but Tahlia just rolled her eyes as she walked to the car. "See you back there."

Back at the prison, Joel and Selena were pacing anxiously beyond the gates, and ran to meet the vehicles as they arrived back.

Crying with relief, Selena pulled Elise from the car, hugging her tight, as Tahlia helped Carl out of the vehicle.

Joel beckoned to Irina as she dismounted from Daryl's bike. "Come on, let's get you guys back up to the cellblock."

Irina threw her arms tightly around Daryl once again. "Thank you for rescuing us! You were amazing!"

Flushing, Daryl mumbled something unintelligible about having to help on the fences, then extricated himself from Irina and took off for the fence line without a backward glance, keen to go in the opposite direction of wherever she was going.

As Tahlia, Carl and Rick headed back up to the prison, the magnitude of what they had just experienced and the realisation of how lucky they had actually been descended on Rick and he turned to Carl, a tight expression on his face.

"What the hell were you thinking, Carl?! You could've been killed! You could've-"

"Rick." Tahlia interrupted him, her tone calm but firm. "Maybe you should go and have Hershel take care of that cut on your head, and I'll take Carl back to his cell and sort him out, ok? He probably needs a bit of rest, and then you can talk to him later, yeah?"

Working his jaw for a moment, Rick considered Tahlia's words before giving a terse nod of concession.

"Ok. You're right. Ok." Then, with a reassuring squeeze of Carl's shoulder, Rick headed for the infirmary as Tahlia steered Carl towards his cellblock.

In Carl's cell, Tahlia laid out some dry clothes for him, then went to find him some food while he got changed.

Sobered up now, but sporting a thumping headache, Carl gratefully swallowed the aspirin that Tahlia gave him and greedily chugged down a bottle of water.

"You need to eat too." she instructed as she pushed a bowl into his hands. "Miscellaneous meat stew."

Swirling the spoon through the chunks in the bowl, Carl took a long moment before looking up at Tahlia who was sitting next to him on the bed.

"I'm sorry."

"No need to be." Tahlia assured him with a warm smile.

"I shouldn't have told them about that place. I just thought it sounded cool, then they wanted to go, and Irina had stolen some of the booze from that night of the party, and... I know I shouldn't have gone with them, but..." he trailed off. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't get you into trouble."

Tahlia grinned and shrugged. "Part of the teenage rite of passage, getting yourself and others into trouble! And you managed to tick off a few other boxes today too! Sneaking out, getting drunk, getting picked up by a cop! Good effort!"

Carl laughed. "But I didn't go joyriding or set anything on fire, so I'm still not as bad as you, right?!"

"Right." chuckled Tahlia, and then remembered that she was an adult and should probably attempt to give some responsible advice. "Hey, I get you wanna do stuff like that, but there's a lot of shit out there that wants to kill you. So, next time, run it by me first, or at least let me know where you're going, ok?"

"I doubt there'll be a next time." remarked Carl gloomily. "I think I'm going to be grounded for life after today."

"There's always a next time." replied Tahlia flippantly. "I do dumb stuff on the daily. We all do. But it helps to have other people looking out for you, save you from your mistakes, and that's what we're all here for, so keep us in the loop."

Carl nodded. "Ok, I will, thanks, Tahly."

Then Tahlia stood up and added brightly, "Eat that then get some rest. You're gonna need your strength for the dad-lecture that's coming your way!"

Laughing to herself, Tahlia could still hear Carl's loud groan as she was halfway down the block.

On a search for Rick, Tahlia eventually spotted him down in the vegetable garden, vigorously pulling up weeds from one of the patches.

"Hi, how's the head?" She indicated the now bandaged patch above his eyebrow.

Rick stood up as she approached. "Fine, just a graze. How's Carl?"

"Fine too. Had some food, and is now having a little rest. Feels bad about what happened today." Tahlia puffed her cheeks out in a sigh before looking up at him. "And so do I. Rick, I'm really sorry. This was all on me. I talked to Carl about having a hard time being a teenager, not being able to do the stuff that we all did like sneaking out and getting drunk. And then I told him about the goddamn swimming hole. So, I basically orchestrated this whole thing without even realising it. I'm such an idiot. This was all my fault and it could've gone so much worse than what it did and... and... I'm just so sorry." said Tahlia, hanging her head apologetically.

Rick studied her for a moment, then shook his head.

"No, Tahly. It's not your fault. I've been treating him like a kid without really letting him be a kid, so I should've seen something like this coming. Should've found other ways to let him blow off steam. And he should've known better! But today I was reminded of how much I could still lose, how easy it could be. And that scared me. Shit, Tahls. Sometimes I just don't know what the hell I'm doing. I feel like I've got all this shit up in the air and something is always bound to drop. I just don't ever want it to be him again."

Tahlia nodded in understanding. "I get it. We're all just stumbling through; flying by the seat of our pants. But, we're all here together, and we'll be sticking close by to catch whatever shit you drop." She grinned at him, and Rick smiled back gratefully as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Thank you. But I'm still gonna tear him a new one when he wakes up."

Tahlia laughed as she pulled back. "Best part of parenting, right? Getting to sit up on your high horse and lecture your kid for doing the exact same shit you woulda pulled at that age!"

Chuckling, Rick gave her a little shove. "Sure is. Don't tell him that, though."

Later that evening, Daryl had waited until he was certain that Irina had left the courtyard before he headed there because he didn't think he could cope with any more of her overenthusiastic hugging and effervescent over-the-top praise about him saving her life.

Deeming the coast to be clear, he slunk in and took up his usual perch by the concrete wall, sparking up a cigarette, and letting his gaze drift to Tahlia who was standing with Eleanor, nodding and smiling at something the older woman was saying. He hadn't seen her since they'd arrived back from the shitshow at the swimming hole, and already that felt like too long to be away from her.

Patting Eleanor on the shoulder as their conversation wrapped up, Tahlia looked up and caught Daryl's eye, and he gave a little nudge of his head.

C'mere.

With that contradictory mix of excited anticipation and cooling calm that she always felt when she saw him, Tahlia headed his way and dropped down heavily on the seat next to him, holding her hand out for his cigarette.

Passing it to her, he fixed her with a long look. "Y'ok?"

"Yeah." she said, a disheartened note in her tone. "Just feel guilty for what happened today. I put those ideas in Carl's head. Could've gotten him killed."

"Ain't on you, Tahly." Daryl assured her. "Stupid kids doin' what they did. Just one of them things. Lucky that shit worked out the way it did and everyone's ok. But it ain't on you."

Tahlia just nodded as she took a long drag, tipping her head back as she exhaled the smoke into the night sky.

"And what else?" Daryl asked, watching her carefully.

"Nothing." she replied, acting a little surprised.

"Somethin'." he elbowed her. "Somethin' else botherin' ya."

Passing the cigarette back to him, Tahlia shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"Y'ain't. Can read ya like a book, Tahly. A real damn easy one with lotsa pictures and small words." he told her matter-of-factly, smiling a little at the indignant glare she gave him at that.

Then he took a long draw on his smoke and waited patiently because he knew that Tahlia couldn't hold anything in for long, so whatever was bothering her would soon be on its way out to join them.

He didn't have to wait long.

Tahlia kept her eyes on the ground as she dragged the toe of her boot back and forth on the concrete. "You enjoy yourself out there today?"

"Huh? Ain't nothin' enjoyable 'bout what happened today."

"But it must feel pretty good to be a hero, right?"

"What?! Ain't no-" Daryl stopped midsentence as it dawned on him what was bothering her. "Ah."

Tahlia stopped worrying the ground with her boot and peeked up at him with a sideways look. "Irina certainly thought you were a hero."

"Mm-hmm." hummed Daryl, suppressing a smile at Tahlia's irritation.

"She was practically wearing you like a second skin!"

"She was drunk. And y'know what? She ain't the first girl to get drunk and throw herself at me. This week." said Daryl, a little smugly, nudging her thigh with his own.

Tahlia gave him an abashed look before dropping her elbows to her knees, her face in her hands. "Oh my God, listen to me!" she groaned. "I'm already getting all jealous and possessive! I'm sorry! You should run. Get away from me while you still can."

The smile on Daryl's face grew smugger. "I like it. And I ain't goin' nowhere."

Scrubbing her hands over her face, Tahlia sat up again, leaning her head back against the concrete wall and heaving a sigh.

"And y'ain't got nothin' to be jealous 'bout." Daryl shifted closer to her and lifted one ankle to rest on his other knee, dropping his thigh over one of hers, then surreptitiously caught her hand in his and held it just under his crossed leg.

"Ain't no girl in the world that could turn my head away from ya."

"Well, that's not saying much." retorted Tahlia huffishly. "There's hardly any girls left in the world anymore!"

"Shuddup." He gave a little laugh as he squeezed her hand tight. "I mean it."

Tahlia dropped her chin to her shoulder and looked up at him with an angelic sheen in her big green eyes and a tiny smile hovering on her lips, only serving to further cement what he'd just told her as his chest tightened nearly to the point of discomfort with affection for her.

"Hey." he said, the laughter fading from his face. "Let's get outta here. Go somewhere quieter."

Tahlia groaned. "Would you believe it - I'm on watch real soon. Actually, I probably need to go now."

"Now? Ya still got a bit of time, don't ya? Sasha's shift ain't done yet."

"Yeah, but when our shifts are back-to-back, whichever one of us is taking over will go up early and bring coffee and we hang out for a while before shift change."

Daryl shook his head fondly. "Course ya do." He squeezed her hand. "Alright, I'll see ya."

Up in the watchtower, Tahlia was walking around the outside platform, the cool night air helping to keep her alert, when the sound of the tower door slowly opening made her jump a little, until she saw that it was Daryl who stepped through.

"Hi! What are you doing here?" she asked happily as he made his way over to her.

"Waited for Sasha to leave, waited a little more, then came up to keep ya company."

Tahlia wound her arms around his neck. "Thought you said it was too distracting to be up here together?"

"Ain't my shift. You're the one keepin' watch. I can get as distracted as I like." Daryl grinned before kissing her slow and deep, feeling her grip around his neck tighten because she couldn't rely on her legs to keep her standing.

Then he moved her back to the platform railing and turned her around so she was facing out into the night.

"So, watch." he said, his voice low and gravelly in her ear as he stepped flush in behind her. "Pay me no mind."

Leaning her forearms on the railing, Tahlia sucked in a shaky breath as Daryl's hands travelled slowly but purposefully from her hips, up her sides before cupping her breasts, massaging them gently as his lips ghosted a tingling trail up and down her neck. Her eyelids flickered, but she did her best to keep them open as she reflexively pressed her ass back against him. Without moving his mouth from her neck, with studied pace he ran his hands back down her body, then slid under her top before repeating the same upwards path a second time. The feel of his rough fingers on her skin had her trembling, and heat radiated low in her belly, pulsating to a low and needy throb in her core. By the time his hands had repeated that track for a third time, Tahlia was barely able to hold herself up and wasn't aware of the moans spilling from her mouth as she rubbed back harder against him, and she sure as shit wasn't aware of anything that was going on beyond the guard tower.

Abruptly, she pivoted in his arms and his mouth immediately locked onto hers, kissing her needfully as they clung tightly to one another. Guiding her inside the guard tower, Daryl pushed her jacket from her shoulders then whipped her t-shirt over her head, a low rumble sounding from his chest at the sight of her standing before him in her black satin bra. And in the next moment his hands and his mouth were back on her again in hot exploration. Breath shallow in her chest, Tahlia dropped her hands to Daryl's belt, fumbling for a moment before managing to flick it loose, feeling one of his hands popping the buttons on her jeans in response. Daryl let out a lustful growl against her mouth as his fingers slipped inside her pants, teasing at the tender spot below her hipbone for a moment before dipping lower, gently tracing over the lace of her panties, and Tahlia drew in a ragged breath, her skin on fire, flaming for him.

Pulling his head back from hers for a second, wanting to drink in the desire he knew was blazing in her eyes, in his peripheral vision Daryl also saw the crumbling guard tower walls, the stained concrete, the litter on the floor from previous guards, the grime around them from years of use, the rasping walkers just beyond the fences, and lastly, in contrast, the beautiful girl before him, ready and willing to surrender herself to him.

Suddenly, he stepped back from her, a pained look in his eye as he skimmed their surroundings, then he caught her hands in his and held them down by her sides.

"Naw." he panted. "Not here. Not like this."

"Oh." said Tahlia, surprised, and undeniably disappointed. "Oh, sure."

Letting out a slow breath, she quickly floated back into her lighthearted disposition as she glanced back up at him.

"I might need a bucket of cold water to cool me down after that, though!" Then rubbing her thighs together and wriggling her hips a little, she added wryly, "And a fresh pair of panties."

Daryl chuckled at that as a flush of pride tinged his cheeks, then he picked up her t-shirt. "C'mere."

Pulling it over her head, he then helped her back into her jacket too before drawing her tightly into his arms, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head.

Flush against him, Tahlia could feel that he was still rock-hard inside his jeans, and she pulled back a little to arch a cheeky brow at him.

Daryl's lips twitched as he gave an apologetic shrug.

"Yeah. That ain't goin' down any time soon. Not with you this close to me, pain in the ass." Then he waved a hand around at the tower, his tone dropping to a serious note. "I just... just... not here, babygirl. Not here."

Quietly relieved that, although he had called a stop to their affections, at least it was clear he was attracted to her, Tahlia smiled and nodded. "Just so you know, I don't have high standards as to where we do this, but... it's definitely a good call."

He laughed and kissed her again before leading her back out onto the platform where he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she leaned her elbows on the railing and gazed out at the writhing mass of walkers just visible by the fence line in the inky darkness.

Tahlia pushed her ass back against him, rubbing a little and Daryl groaned and pressed back for a moment before dropping his hands to her hips, gripping them tight and stilling her.

"Be good, girl." he rasped, nipping the back of her neck before moving to lean against the railing next to her.

"Wanted to take you back there."

"Where?" Tahlia asked, gazing up at him.

"Swimmin' hole. Wanted to take ya back under the waterfall. Do some of the things I was thinkin' about doin' when we were there the first time."

"Really?" she breathed. "Like what?"

"Guess y'ain't never gonna know now." he said loftily, with a cheeky half smile.

Tahlia pouted a little, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I screwed that up, didn't I?"

"Nah, girl." Daryl nudged her. "Loads of beautiful places in the woods. We'll just find ourselves another one. Just for us. One that y'ain't gonna go tellin' any teenagers 'bout."

Laughing, Tahlia nodded. "My lips will be sealed from now on."

Daryl looked down at her. "Woods tomorrow?"

"I thought you wanted to take a bit more time before heading back out there together?"

"Probably should." he shrugged. "But don't wanna wait no longer. Want some time with ya, away from everyone else. Wanna go back out, just you and me, like we always done."

"I'd like that." replied Tahlia softly, warmth radiating through her body despite the chilly air. And even more so after Daryl took her in his arms again and they stood quietly for a long while pressed up against one another, keeping watch in the night.

Eventually Daryl spoke up again.

"Who's up next?"

"Glenn."

"He come up early to have a coffee with ya too?" teased Daryl.

"Oh, no." replied Tahlia with a little smile. "He prefers tea."

Daryl stared down at her. "You're fuckin' serious, ain't ya?"

"Yep!" she said breezily. "He'll be here soon."

"Gawd. Guess I'd better go."

Tahlia squeezed his hand. "You could go and keep my bed warm, if you want...?"

Sucking in a sharp breath, Daryl considered the offer and a faraway look misted his eyes as he thought about that for a long moment before reluctantly giving a slow shake of his head.

"Not tonight, girl."

He looked like he was about to say something else, but instead he pressed a kiss on her shoulder, then disappeared out the tower door, leaving Tahlia feeling fizzingly happy despite the fact that she had the biggest case of blue ladyballs that she'd ever had in her whole life.