Chapter 54 - The drag

Gone. Gone. Gone.

The word on repeat like a bitter mantra in Daryl's head as he shoved through the trees.

She was gone and had taken a massive part of him with her. Although, he reasoned, it was her who had unlocked that part of him, held the keys, so perhaps it was hers to take anyway. Not like he'd ever be needing it again.

His body was vibrating with emotion, and he wanted to move, to hunt, to run from it, but he just couldn't manage to push her out of his head. In his preoccupied state, he tripped over a tree root and fell heavily to his knees, then cursed and sat down.

The current of resentment and anger flowed high in his chest.

Fuck her.

It was better this way, anyhow. Now he could go back to how he used to be before she took up so much space in his life; go back to living each moment as it came and not having to bother about some stupid, reckless, annoyingly sunny, pain in the ass.

But below that, there was an eddy of hopeful supposition borne from the part of him that had awakened through his relationship with Tahlia. What they had was real and it was good and he knew she felt it too. She said herself that she was afraid of falling too deep, and if that was the reason she left, then it meant that she was just scared.

Michonne's words rang in his head.

You could find her.

Maybe he could. But she had at least 3 hours on him, and he probably drove over half her tracks on the way out of the prison. But, he could try. Against his better judgement, he would try, because despite the hurt, he knew he would never feel like this about anyone again. And if he found her and she didn't want to come back, didn't want him, then at least there would be closure.

Pushing himself up, he started trekking back to the bike, and as he walked, he realised that he might not have to track her after all.

If she was feeling overwhelmed and confused, there was one place out here that she'd said her head felt clear, where she felt at peace.

He might just know where she was.

It didn't take Daryl long to motor down to the dirt track that led up the winding, bushy path to the goat-clearing, and he ditched his bike at the bottom, jogging straight up through the trees. He didn't let himself think about what he would do if she wasn't there. All he focused on was putting one foot in front of the other and getting to the top of the hill.

Soon the trees thinned, and the clearing opened out like a lungful of fresh air in front of him.

And there she was, on her yoga mat in amongst the wildflowers, in some crazy pose with one leg tucked under her, the other straight out behind, her body folded forward with her forehead resting on the ground and her arms stretched out in front.

Upon seeing her, the initial flood of relief that Daryl felt was quickly replaced by a tidal wave of pain-borne anger, and his temper flared as he strode over to her, stopping a few feet away.

"The HELL ya think you're doin', huh?!"

Startled, Tahlia rolled sideways, scooped up a knife by her side and brandished it at Daryl as she lay on her back in the grass.

"Fucksake, Daryl! You scared the shit outta me!" she declared, dropping her head back onto the ground and dropping the knife at the same time. Then she lifted her head again. "What are you doing here?"

"More like, what the hell are YOU doin' here?!" Daryl barked.

"Yoga." she said seriously.

With an angry huff, Daryl started pacing back and forth. "Should have the damn decency to let people know ya leavin'! Not just take off without a goddamned word!"

Sitting up, Tahlia raised a hand to her forehead to shield the sun from her eyes as she gazed up at a clearly seething Daryl.

"I did! I told Tyreese on my way out!"

Daryl stopped suddenly and glowered at her. "Tyreese? That the only fuckin' person ya think deserves to know ya leavin?! Y'ain't never even said a word to m... Michonne!" He wanted to say me, but that felt too desperate, too telling.

Tahlia stared at him blankly. "Michy's been out for the last two days. I haven't seen her."

"Couldn'ta left her a fuckin' note?!"

Tahlia felt like she was missing something. "Uh... what is going on here?"

Shooting her a daggered look, Daryl crossed his arms. "Lotta fuckin' people who give a shit 'bout ya back there. Least ya coulda done is said goodbye instead of runnin' away like a coward."

"Running a-" Tahlia stopped mid-word as it finally dawned on her. "You thought I just took off?! You thought I left you? Without saying anything?!"

Daryl's frown deepened. That was exactly what he'd thought.

She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around him, although gave up on the attempted hug pretty quickly because it was clear he wasn't going to unfold his arms.

"I wouldn't do that to you."

Daryl was glaring at the ground.

"Hey!" Tahlia shoved him sharply. "I wouldn't DO that to you! Why would you even think that?"

Reluctantly, he drew his steely gaze up to hers. "Coz that's what ya do, ain't it? And Ty said ya left without sayin' where ya goin'."

"Yeah, coz there was no point telling him. He doesn't know where this place is. But I told him I'd be back before midday."

Daryl bit the inside of his lip. Shit. In hindsight, maybe they should have asked Tyreese to relay the whole conversation.

"Why's ya damn cell cleaned out, then?!" Daryl challenged.

"Oh shit." Tahlia's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "Yeah, ok, I can see how that might look bad. I moved all my stuff to one of the big holding cells by reception yesterday. It was Maggie's idea. Her and Glenn moved into the one on the other side so that they had a bit more room, and she suggested that maybe I should claim the other one so that you know... I can set up a bigger bed." She gave a sheepish smile. "Her and Beth helped me move my all my things yesterday afternoon."

Daryl was still trying to get his head around what he was hearing. "Why didn't ya just tell me that then?! I saw ya last night and y'ain't said nothin' 'bout that!"

"You know, last night I was so goddamn tired that it completely slipped my mind. After talking to you, I went back to my old cell and stood there like an idiot for at least five minutes staring around and wondering what the hell happened to all my stuff before I remembered. And anyway," She wandered back to her mat and sat down. "I was going to surprise you with my amazing giant bed that you're not going to be able to throw me out of."

Daryl had dropped his arms to his sides now and was staring at her. "But... but why'd ya take off like that? Come all the way here? Had me thinkin' that... that..."

"Sorry. I'm so sorry, I - can you sit down, please? You're making me nervous towering over me like that."

He obliged and dropped down next to her mat, hugging his knees to his chest defensively with one hand and started ripping up blades of grass with the other. "Thought ya'd bolted."

Tahlia's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I do have a track record of prematurely shutting things down with guys in the past, but... did Michonne not tell you that she trashed my theory on that?"

"Nope." Daryl said tartly, realising that there seemed to be a lot of people that could have told him things that would have prevented this whole panic.

"Well," She picked up her knife and started spinning it deftly on her fingertips. "Michy made me see that actually I did that because my heart was never in it. And I was never anywhere near love before. I mean, I'm still afraid of loss, of hurt, but that's nothing in comparison to..." She stopped midsentence, then caught the knife and flicked her gaze to him curiously. "How'd you know to look for me here?"

He wanted her to backtrack and clarify why she was talking about love. He wanted her to at least finish her sentence. But he answered her question. "Said it was peaceful here. Clears your head. Thought maybe coz of the other times we been here it... it makes ya feel better 'bout stuff, maybe means somethin' to ya."

Tahlia nodded. "You're right about that. You're right a lot of the time, you know that? It's pretty annoying." she added with a smile. "I just came here to take a minute, get a little clarity. But I should have let you know where I was going. Although," she mused, "If I'd done that, you'd never have let me come here on my own, so we would have found ourselves here all the same."

Daryl stopped tearing at the grass and glared at her. "Yeah? Least then I wouldn't be worryin' my ass off thinkin' that you'd skipped out on m- us."

It was only just dawning on Tahlia how freaked Daryl had actually been that she'd done a runner on him, how much he obviously believed that was a possibility. She owed him an explanation. One that she wasn't really ready to give, but here they were, so there was no point in holding it back now.

She sighed and studied her hands as she decided where to start. "When I was with Kara, she told me a little about her and Yohan. How they had that big, once-in-a-lifetime-if-you're-lucky type of love. And there were a couple of things I couldn't get out of my head."

Daryl's gaze softened as he waited expectantly.

"She said that he was the part of her that she didn't even know was missing. She talked about how she felt with him. And without him. And..." Tahlia paused for a long moment as she stared at a faraway point over the treetops, then slowly fixed her gaze back on Daryl's. "I felt like I got it, you know?"

He didn't. Not for sure. And he really didn't want to speculate. He just wanted her to keep talking.

"I feel like now I can understand how one person can be your everything and even the thought of being without them is enough to- goddammit." Tahlia pressed one hand over her eyes. "Sorry. This is a really new thing for me so I'm still a bit of a mess with it."

Pulling her hand away she gave him a small smile as her eyes sparkled with emotion.

"It snuck up on me with you, you know. I wasn't expecting it. The intensity. I mean, for me, there was something there from the beginning. But I didn't know it would turn into this."

Fuck do ya mean by 'this'?! Daryl wanted to demand, but forced himself to remain quiet.

"And Kara said it's a feeling so boundless you couldn't escape it even if you wanted to. She was so right. And that's why running away from this was never an option. Never will be. I'm in way too damned deep to ever be able to find my way out anyway." Tahlia gave a little laugh and paused again.

Daryl gritted his teeth. If she didn't stop speaking so goddamned cryptically and just say what she was trying to say in plain fucking English, he was going to lose his mind.

"So," she carried on easily, "Realising that scared the hell outta me, and..." She caught his perturbed expression and smiled. "Oh, I'm talking about being horrendously, ass over fucking tits in love with you. Just in case you didn't pick up on that."

Daryl's mouth dropped open and he stared at her for a second, and because his stunned brain was too slow to register the meaning of what she had just said or link it to the volcano of emotion inside him that was just about to erupt, he croaked blankly, "That's what's been botherin' ya?"

"Yes!" Tahlia exclaimed, throwing one hand in the air. "It's fucking terrifying discovering that the whole focus of your world has shifted and shit's all sideways and all I can damn well think about is..." She gave a pointed nudge of her head in his direction.

(Daryl gave a vague nod of agreement because he had a pretty good idea of exactly how that felt).

"AND!" Tahlia continued, her tone becoming a little more histrionic, as was her tendency to keep from ever sounding too serious, "I'm telling myself 'just play it cool, Tahly, you've only been together for five fucking minutes, take it down a notch', but you just keep being amazing and lovely and I am not cool at all, I'm..." She double-smacked her hand to her chest and left it pressed there, just like he had seen her do a couple of times over these past days, and Daryl finally understood what she was trying to convey.

"God!" She stared at him as if just remembering something. "And you thought I'd left you?! Shit, Daryl. Hate to break it to you, but that's never happening. I couldn't. Ever. Even if you asked me to leave I don't think I could. I'd just have to stalk you from a very short distance." She let out a quick laugh and shook her head. "And that is why I came here - to get my head around the fact that I am well and truly fucked. And it's scary, but so, so good. Incredible, actually. The best damn feeling in the world, being with you. So, I think I'll stay right where I am, deep as shit in love with you, Dixon. Sorry, I know this is a lot to drop on you, way too much way too soon. But honestly, I think if I'd tried to hold it in any longer I'd probably explode."

Tahlia caught her bottom lip between her teeth nervously. She definitely had not planned on telling him any of that today, but surely it was best to just be straight up... right? Perhaps not in this case, because Daryl was unmoving, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

Studying him carefully, Tahlia's heart sank a little and she silently admonished herself. She'd gone and done it again. Said too much. Went completely overboard. Goddammit, why couldn't she just rein it in sometimes? But no, she'd word vomited and completely spooked him.

"Hey." she said gently. "I know that's a lot to hear, and I won't blame you if you want to do a little running of your own. You just do whatever you need to do. I'm going to give you some space, pop down to the stream for a bit." She pushed herself to her feet and shot him a little smile before heading down into the woods.

Daryl stared, unblinking, at the space where she'd once been, still processing, still in shock. He couldn't speak. In fact, he wasn't even sure he was breathing. From starting that morning with the crushing thought that Tahlia had disappeared from his life without a word, to now hearing all of that... it was a total fucking mind trip. No one had ever said that they loved him before. No one in his whole life, family included. And he'd never expected to hear it.

But there it was. She'd said it.

And of course, she'd delivered it in typical Tahlia fashion – a mix of ease, light-heartedness and dramatic flair over top of sincerity. She'd let it all out so effortlessly, like there was a line straight from her heart to her mouth. Like she didn't have to think about it over and over and over, rehearse things a thousand times in her head like he did, to the point where words just didn't sound right anymore.

She had her heart on her sleeve and it was undeniably (even if still a little unbelievably) painted in the colour of him.

Finally, Daryl regained control of his limbs and floated to his feet, shaking his head in incredulity.

That goddamned girl.

Still able to take him by surprise after all this time. Still able to take his breath away.

She'd turned his world upside down since arriving in it, and he liked it this way now. Couldn't even imagine it any other way, and he wouldn't have to. Because she was gonna stick with him. She fucking loved him. And shit, she was right, it was the best damned feeling in the world.

Heading into the woods, he soon caught sight of her by the stream, and, leaning against a tree, he watched her for a while.

She was down by the bank attempting to skim stones like the last time they'd been here. She was still shit at it. And still a total jackass. Flicking her hair over her shoulder, she did a little flouncy bowling-style step towards the stream, kicking one leg behind the other as she attempted to skim again.

Plop. Straight in the water.

"Motherfucker!" she cried out in faux-rage, raising her fists to the sky. Then she swooped down and hoisted a huge rock above her head, Hulk-style, and shouted, "Skim this!" as she heaved it into the water, followed quickly by "Goddammit!" as the backsplash soaked her pants.

A huffed laugh escaped Daryl's lips as he watched her with eternal fondness.

"Ain't holdin' 'em right. Doncha remember anythin' I showed ya?"

Tahlia jumped at the gravelly voice not far behind her.

"Shit, Daryl!" Her hand flew to her chest as she whirled around. "I thought maybe you'd... you'd..." She started laughing, "...thought maybe you'd had a heart attack and died after finding out that someone was in love with you!"

He ducked his head with a blush and a grin. "Ain't I always said you're batshit crazy?"

But he was glowing. A warm, golden light pulsing from him. Certain that if anyone were to look down from space, they'd spot him in an instant.

"I am sorry." she said, somewhat sincerely. "I really didn't mean to come out with it all like that, just dump it on you, but you know that I have some difficulty keeping things in my head from coming out my mouth."

"Ain't that the damn truth." he said wryly as he crossed the ground to stand in front of her, taking her hands in his, his eyes on their fingers.

"Have I completely freaked you out?"

His lips quirked. "Naw."

What he really wanted to say was, 'Been in love with ya for a long time, babygirl, 'bout time ya caught up and joined me here'. But the words were already disappearing even as he thought them, slipping straight out of his grasp. There'd be no way he could express anything like that to her today, not with his emotion running so high. Anyway, he didn't want to tell her that off the back of what she'd said to him. As a response. He wanted it to be a stand-alone profession, said in a way that would leave her no room for even a breath of doubt that he felt exactly the same as she did.

So, instead he took a leaf from her book and kept it light by saying, "Not freaked out. The opposite. Whatever that is. It's good though. Real damn good. And here I was these past couple days thinkin' that maybe you ain't into this."

Tahlia tipped her head to one side and flicked her brows. "Think you should be more worried about me being too into this."

"Hmm. Like the sound of that." He took a deep breath. "Tahly-"

"Stop! You don't have to say anything! It's not like that, I don't want you to feel like-"

"Shuddup, girl!" he scolded. "Was just gonna say, ain't never thought anyone'd ever say somethin' like that to me. And sure as hell not someone that I... I wanna hear it from."

"You wanted to hear all that so soon?! Could've told me that a couple of days ago." grumbled Tahlia good-naturedly.

"And you coulda just damn well told me then 'stead of actin' all weird then takin' off!" countered Daryl, squeezing her hands.

"Hold on." Tahlia suddenly said in realisation. "So, you thought that I'd just skipped out on you, and you came looking for me anyway?!"

"Only came to find ya so I could kick your ass." shot Daryl with a pointed look.

"Aww!" Tahlia pulled her hands from his so she could clasp them at her chest as she batted her eyelashes. "You are so romantic!"

Daryl immediately growled at that. "Right. Really am gonna kick your ass now."

"Ooh, shit!" Tahlia jumped back as he lunged at her, then she ducked under his arm and darted off around a tree.

Daryl started after her, but she was faster and lighter on her feet and evaded him easily. As she went to dodge around another tree, Daryl picked up a large branch and threw it just in front of her, making her squeak and stop in her tracks, which was enough time for him to leap up behind her and grab hold of her.

"Gonna get it now, girl." he told her as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the stream as she giggled and struggled and protested.

"No, please! It's really fucking cold!" pleaded Tahlia through her laughter as she realised his intention.

"You're goin' in." replied Daryl resolutely as he hoisted her higher, preparing to throw her.

"No! Please don't! Because... because..." Tahlia racked her brains for a good reason to avoid a dunking. "Because... I love you!"

As if on cue, Daryl immediately lowered her, cradling her against his chest now as he gazed down at her, his expression wondrous at first, then quickly morphing into indignation.

"Naw! That's cheatin'! Can't use that as a get outta jail free card!"

"But it's true, baby!" Tahlia wheedled, wide-eyed. "I do love you. So much."

Daryl stared at her for a moment longer, then gave an exasperated huff. "Goddamn, Tahly. I know ya playin' me, but... shit."

Then, because her arms were around his neck, in one deft move he swung her around into a piggy-back and started back up to the tree line, rolling his eyes at Tahlia's triumphant giggle.

"Ain't gonna work forever, y'know. Gonna get real bored of hearin' it." groused Daryl even though they could both hear the smile in his voice because what he'd said was so far from the truth.

Tahlia laughed again and kissed the side of his neck. "Yeah? Well, I guess we'll just have to see about that."

Carrying her easily up the slope into the sunshine, Daryl dropped her unceremoniously next to her mat, then turned immediately to catch her in his arms, one hand tucking around her waist while he raised the other to stroke her cheek. And he could see as she stood in front of him that she really had let go of everything that she'd been holding tight to, she'd opened herself up completely, and that little shadow between them was gone now because of the full force of that goddamned light of hers shining on him.

God, he wanted to tell her something. Everything.

"Tahly, I..."

But whether it was the words that refused to come out or the lump in his throat that was stopping them, all he could manage was a brief, small, shake of his head. So, he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her with an intensity that made the ground disappear under her feet and colours pop behind her eyes, then he laid her down on her yoga mat amongst the wildflowers and told her all those somethings in the only way he could right now.

Told her with his body the words he couldn't voice. Told her with his hands as he undressed her, caressed her. Told her in the patterns he drew with his fingertips on her skin, in the way his mouth followed. Told her with searing kisses, breathless sighs. Told her with the weight of his body, the fervor of his embrace. Told her slowly and deeply and undeniably, again and again, and she heard every single thing.

Afterwards, Tahlia was lying on her back gazing up at the sky, watching the cotton wool clouds move and morph as they lazily stretched across the blue, while Daryl had propped himself up on one elbow next to her and was picking grass and flowers and decorating her bare stomach.

"Don't. Move." he warned, with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth.

Only then did Tahlia glance down to see what he was working on. He'd made a big love heart out of daisies and buttercups that spanned her entire midsection, and inside he'd written his initials with blades of grass and then laid a stick 'arrow' diagonally through the whole thing.

"Oh my God! Get over yourself!" exclaimed Tahlia in mock-irritation as she swatted his chest.

"Well, you sure ain't never gonna get over me, huh sweetheart? Bein' deep as shit in love and all that." teased Daryl with a smug grin.

He was going to make the most of ribbing her about her recent declaration because he knew that, without a doubt, when she found out that he'd been up to his eyeballs in love with her since before they were even together, she'd have a damned field day and he'd never hear the end of it.

"I'll get over you right now." retorted Tahlia as she swung herself on top of him, sandwiching his art between them and peppering his face with kisses.

"Get off!" laughed Daryl as he raised a hand to his face to shield himself from her sudden assault.

With one last lingering kiss on his lips, Tahlia rolled off him, and let out a contented sigh.

"Guess we should think about heading back." she said, reluctantly pushing herself to her feet and retrieving her underwear. "Although I think this might be my favourite place in the world."

"Yeah?" replied Daryl as he stood up and pulled his pants on. "Seems to be a pretty good place for us here, huh?"

"We have definitely done a lot of bonding here." Tahlia agreed. Then she arched a brow. "Maybe we should just stay and do some more bonding."

Chuckling, Daryl tossed her t-shirt at her. "Damn girl, you'd be bondin' 24/7 if I let ya! Gonna have to put y'on rations."

"Like you could." scoffed Tahlia. "You're just as bad. Can't keep your hands off me."

"Huh. Like this, ya mean?" Daryl was in behind her now, his hands pushing up under the t-shirt she'd just put on, his mouth a burning brand on her neck.

Reflexively, Tahlia moaned and lifted a hand to his head, tangling her fingers in his hair as she pressed her body back against his, then she spun around in his arms, one hand dropping to his belt as her mouth hungrily sought his out.

Daryl grinned against her kiss, and abruptly pulled back from her. "See? Don't take much to get ya goin'. You're way worse than me."

Lips and cheeks flushed, Tahlia gave an outraged gasp. "Tease!"

"And ya fell for it like a ton of bricks." He couldn't help but laugh at her expression as he shouldered her belongings then reached for her hand. "C'mon. Let's get back. I'll make it up to ya in that new big bed of yours."

Unhurried, they made their way back down the snaking track to where the Triumph was waiting, and Daryl motioned to the motorbike.

"Give y'a ride home?"

"Oh my God, yes please. It took me ages to walk here."

As Tahlia took her pack and mat from him and slung them over her back, Daryl caught her forearm, his expression serious.

"Wish ya hadn't come out here by yourself. Dangerous. Couldn't stand it if anythin' happened to ya."

Tahlia nodded. "I know... but, I needed to do this. Needed to clear my head and needed to... remind myself that I can come out here and it's ok."

His turn to nod now. He understood that. "Still woulda preferred to be with ya, just in case."

"Daryl! I can't just rely on having you by my side forever to protect me!"

"But Tahly," he said, gazing down at her with unwavering blue sincerity, "That's exactly where I'm gonna be."

Arriving back at the prison, Daryl caught sight of Michonne further down the fence line standing with her hands on her hips giving him an exaggerated eyeroll and a pointed I-told-you-so look as she watched him and Tahlia drive through the gates, and Daryl just sent a sheepish smile and shrug her way as they passed by.

"Alright," Daryl said as they headed up to the prison buildings, "Show me to this new room of yours."

Leading him into the admin block, Tahlia skirted around the admissions desk and down the end of a short corridor to one of the holding cells.

"Ok... here it is!"

The cell was three times bigger than the cellblock rooms, the bars and sliding door taking up one whole side, over which Tahlia had hung privacy curtains. Two of the walls had steel bench seats affixed to them, the shortest of which held an array of candles and a few trinkets that Tahlia had picked up on her travels, and above these on the wall she'd tacked Daryl's drawings and a couple of other scenic pictures that she'd pulled out of a National Geographic from the prison library. Her things were piled tidily along half of the other seat, with the remaining space empty. Against the right-hand side wall, she'd made a bed base out of wooden pallets and stacked two sets of four mattresses on top to make a double bed, held in place with single sheets sewn together to fit over the top, and finished it off with some cosy looking cushions and pillows.

"Well, shit, this is a whole lot better." remarked Daryl appreciatively as he gazed around the room. His eyes landed on the empty side of the bench seat, and he nudged his head towards it. "That a space for me to put all my shit in?"

"It's just a space for putting any shit in." Tahlia replied airily with a noncommittal shrug.

He elbowed her. "Come help me move my stuff then."

Tahlia gave a dramatic gasp. "Are you suggesting that we move in together?!" she questioned in an aghast tone. "Daryl." she shook her head and attempted a look as serious as she could manage, although that permanent twinkle of amusement in her eyes betrayed her efforts. "That's a really big step and I'm just not sure that we're ready for it. I don't know if I can offer you that kind of commitment. I really don't think that we-"

The rest of her sentence was replaced by a squeal as Daryl swept her up into his arms and tossed her onto the bed, diving straight on top of her.

"That so?" he asked as he pinned her down and began his standard torture of tickling her. "Can't commit? What, there someone else 'round here you're deep as shit in love with that I need to know 'bout, huh?!"

He was surprised when her body stilled and her expression grew serious, causing him to still as well.

"No." she said with unexpected, absolute candor. "Never has been and never will be. Just you."

He stared down at her as her words and crisp sincerity sank and settled deep within him for perpetual preservation, the air between them thick and sparkling with her sentiment.

Then, snapping them out of it just as quickly as she had dropped them into it, Tahlia gave Daryl a hard smack on the butt.

"Now, let's go get your shit."

Daryl broke into a grin as he pulled her to her feet and slung his arm around her shoulders as they headed out of the cell.

"Sounds like ya might be committin', girl."

And Tahlia smiled at that, and at the ferocity of the drag in her chest.

She welcomed it now.

That agonizingly, exquisite drag that only comes from the feeling when your heart is no longer your own.

Surprise! It turned out to be puke-worthy fluff (come oonnnnn, she wouldn't leave him!)

Liked it? Too much? Want to curse me for being so mean with the previous chapter? Let me know :D