A/N: Before I start this chapter, I just want to thank you all for the patience the last few months. You guys are so incredible and I can't tell you how much I appreciate how you've stuck with the story despite my hiatus lately. I'm officially done with extra circulars for the school year, so I should be updating more frequently hopefully. I'm on the homestretch of my school year with summer approaching and I hope to update even more during my days off.
Thank you all again! That said, here's the next chapter!
(BTW I finally have a song for the couple that also goes with this chapter. It's Whenever We're Alone by Brantley Gilbert)
Disclaimer: I own nothing from The Walking Dead. Only my original characters and plot ideas.
OOOOO
The only thing that broke Kayla and Daryl out of the frozen stance they stood in was the loud crack of thunder echoing through the sky. When the defining boom sounded, Kayla tore her eyes from where her hands covered her shoulder and looked to Daryl where he still stood in the doorway with his eyes glued to her. Despite the thunder, something she knew rattled her husband, he remained frozen. Before she could say anything, he did. "Move your hands, Kayla." he told her as he took hesitant steps towards her. Everything in his body made him want to crumble to the floor in tears. If she really was bitten, he didn't know how he'd move on it. She was everything to him. Imagining life without her bright smile, infectious laugh, tight hugs, and her presence alone made the hell he lived in already seem a hundred times worse. In the time he stood frozen, every moment he shared with her flashed in his mind. The day they met, the night she kissed him on top of Dale's RV, and everything between and after.
Looking back at her shoulder, she looked at the dark blood that was on her shirt and skin. A nervous breath escaped her lips as Daryl appeared in front of her. "I can't." she told him. "If I do…then this is real." If she moved her hands, if she saw torn flesh, then this was real. She was really bitten and she would really die. Looking at her terrified expression, Daryl felt his heart break even more. Seeing Kayla scared wasn't a common occurrence. She did her best be brave, but when the fear showed on her face, nothing made Daryl's heart ache more.
As rain began to pound against the roof, Daryl and Kayla remained standing in front of one another as Kayla refused to remove her hands. It wasn't until the adrenaline and shock of what happened wore away that Kayla noticed something. The blood on her skin and clothing wasn't the vibrant color of a living person's-it was dark. That and her shoulder didn't hurt. It ached a bit, but it definitely didn't feel like a hunk of her flesh was torn out of her shoulder. Plus, the feeling under her hand wasn't ripped, exposed flesh, muscle, and nerves; it was smooth as skin was supposed to feel. Hesitantly she pulled her hand away, both her and Daryl's eyes glued to her shoulder as it became exposed. When all Kayla saw was bloody skin she made quick work of using her flannel to smear it away, finding her skin in perfect tact with no signs of cuts, scrapes, let alone torn flesh. "Oh my God." she said as tears welled up in her eyes. That's when she remembered the teeth she saw on the bed when she first entered the room. She looked at where they sat on a bloody towel on the bed before looking back at the dead body on the floor. Going over to it, she crouched down and opened its mouth to find the teeth on the bed belonged to it. The man pulled his teeth out before he turned.
As she stood back up, Kayla looked at Daryl who looked more relieved than Kayla had ever seen him. Before she could say anything, her husband's arms were wrapped around her in a tight embrace, his face burying in the crook of her neck. At first, Kayla was stunned by his arms encircling her. It's been eleven days since he's done anything like this, but given the situation they were in she understood. Wasting no time, she wrapped her arms around him in response. Her hands found his hair as she held onto him to remind him she was alive and still with him.
After several minutes with only the sound of rain filling the air, Daryl picked his head up to look at her. He had tears in his eyes he tried not to let fall, but with Kayla, he didn't care if they did. Losing her was his biggest fear and it had almost just come true. He felt her hands slide to the sides of his face. "I'm alright." she told him. He nodded a few times before hiding his face away in the crook of her neck again. Even if she was alright, he wasn't.
OOOOO
Not wanting to head back to the house in the middle of a thunderstorm, Kayla and Daryl opted to remain at the motel until it passed. Once they cleared the place and scavenged what they could, Daryl not leaving his wife's side for more than a second, they found the cleanest room to take residence in. Once the curtains were closed and the dresser was moved in front of the door, the couple laid down on the bed as the storm carried on. Kayla sat up against the pillows, Daryl laying on his side with one arm resting across her stomach and the other around her back while his head was tucked into her shoulder. Kayla had one arm wrapped around him, the other hand resting on his back rubbing small circles to keep him relaxed. However, the thunder didn't seem to faze him.
Looking up at her, Daryl saw that her eyes were closed as she began to drift off. As much as he didn't want to disturb her after the day's events, he needed to apologize for all he'd put her through. The amount of patience she had with him was immeasurable. He didn't deserve her, he's known that since day one, and the fact that she stayed with him for so long through so much made him fill with even more love and appreciation for her. If that was even possible.
"Kayla?" Daryl said quietly.
"Hm?" she sounded.
"I'm sorry."
The apology made Kayla open her eyes again to look at Daryl. "I'm sorry for everything I've been lately." he went on. "You haven't deserved any of it. It isn't fair to you."
Kayla gave him a half smile. "It's alright."
"But it ain't." Daryl replied as his hold on her tightened. "I don't deserve you…"
A frown formed on Kayla's face as she moved her hand to the side of his face. "Hey," she began as she made him look at her and ran her fingers through his long hair. "For better or for worse, remember? You're going through something and right now what you need is to know someone is here for you, not someone walking away from you. I'd never walk away from you in a million years. The same way I know you'd stand by me if there comes a time where I need your patience with me. I love you, Daryl. How many times do I have to keep telling you that until you believe me?"
Daryl knew she loved him, but that didn't mean he understood why. Before the world's end, a woman like her didn't go for men like him. She was educated, successful in a respectable field, and not the kind to be hanging around with a nobody from Northern Georgia. He looked up at her, those hazel eyes of hers staring back waiting for a response. Her hand brushed his hair out of his face and a smile forming on her face. He knew she was trying to ease the tension. "You really need a haircut." she told him, making him chuckle once. She always teased him about his long hair. "I remember how short it was when we first met."
"I believe you love me." he told her as he tucked his head into her shoulder again. "But I'll always wonder why."
"I'd never have enough to list all the reason of why I love you, Daryl. But you are worth loving every day."
Hearing her say he was worth loving made Daryl's breathing stop. Up until the end of the world, he didn't think he was worth the time of day to anyone let alone worth being loved. Merle was always gone, his father beat him that his mother made no attempt to stop, and he never had anyone care about him the way Kayla did. Picking his head up, he looked at her for a moment before leaning towards her and pressing his lips to hers. He felt her hand on the side of his face and he felt every ounce of stress and worry leave his body. Right now, it was just him and Kayla.
OOOOO
Daryl stayed awake into the night while Kayla slept soundly next to him as the storm ran its course outside. He ran his fingers up and down her bare back and smiled when she moved closer to him. Her skin was warm against his and he couldn't help but tighten his hold on her as he relished in the fact that she was all his. When he thought she was bit, his whole life since she came into it flashed before his mind. Every glance, smile, touch, kiss, embrace…all of it. She really was the best thing to ever happen to him and he'd be damned if anything took her away from him.
OOOOO
Early the next morning Kayla and Daryl walked back to the house the group was at hand in hand, not forgetting to pick up Daryl's bag he dropped the day before where they found all the dandelions soaking wet. "Oh well." Kayla laughed as Daryl dumped the weeds out of his bag. Kayla reassured him that they would find some more before they hit the road again.
When they arrived back at the house and explained what happened to the others, everyone seemed to understand the predicament of their extended absence. Everyone except Jonathan who was upset by Kayla's prolonged disappearance. "I didn't know where you went." Johnathan told her. "I was scared you weren't coming back." Before Kayla could reply, Daryl stepped in. "Hey kid, why don't you and I have a talk, yeah?" Jonathan looked to Kayla who looked at Daryl with a raised eyebrow. "I got it." Daryl told her. "Okay. Jonathan, go on with Daryl. I'll be right here." Kayla told Johnathan. Reluctantly, he followed Daryl outside to the front porch where the two sat down.
"Look kid, I ain't great at this kind of thing." Daryl told the boy. "I never had my own kids, so just bear with me."
"Okay." Jonathan replied.
"This is a cruel world. You probably already know that much, but it's also unpredictable. This isn't the first time you've been separated from Kayla and it won't be the last most likely. And in those moments, it's okay to be scared, but you also gotta be brave. Know that Kayla will fight like hell to get back to you and this group. She loves you like you're her own and would never leave you alone in this world. Hear what I'm saying?"
"You're saying it's okay to be scared, but I gotta be brave to get through it?"
"Exactly. Think you could do that for me and Kayla, kid?"
"I can try."
Daryl gave the boy a half smile and then stood up, Johnathan followed. "Good. Now let's go inside and see what's going on for the day."
The two went inside and Johnathan immediately ran over to Kayla who picked him up to hug. Daryl watched as she said something to him before kissing his forehead and setting him on the floor as she carried on a conversation with Rick in the dining room. He watched as she smiled with Rick as the little boy stood by her side. In that moment, he realized he not only had a wife, but the closest thing he'd ever have to a son.
