"I'm willing," I whispered into Daryl's shoulder. His arms tightened around me.

"Then we hammer this plan out." he whispered back, face pressed into my hair.

I moved to get up from his lap, but his arms tightened, holding me firm. "Keeping me hostage, Mr. Dixon?" I asked him, turning my smiling face to his.

"Plan on holdin' ya forever." He answered, a soft smile on his face. "Not gonna stop today. We can plan fine right here." He kissed me gently. Our foreheads touched and I stared into his blue eyes.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" I asked, humbled by him and his devotion to me.

One of his hands came up to cup my cheek. "You were just you, Jessa." His thumb brushed against my skin, calloused and rough, but still so gentle. "That's all, and it's more than enough."

We went back to planning. "Negan rarely visits me more than twice a week." I said, in the middle of our decisions. I ignored the slight growl from Daryl at the image that raised. "He does ask me to go to him so I can advise him about different aspects of Sanctuary business. Hopefully, with your people being warned," I closed my eyes at the terror they must feel. "We'll have a few days before he calls me to him again." He nodded, clearly used to planning missions more complicated than this, but I doubted as sensitive. "Tomorrow, we start leaving the rooms. You need a rough layout, just in case," I felt him tense up.

"It'll work." He said, not willing that in this new world plans went to shit with regularity.

I fought the urge to introduce reality into the situation. Daryl needed reassurance, so I'd give it to him. "Well, we might want real food for once. And I need to restock my own cupboard. Plus, I'd like to show you something."

He raised an eyebrow, which was almost hidden by his bangs. "I ain't good with surprises at the best of times, babe."

I chuckled. "Thought I'd show you the armory." He smiled. "You won't be able to participate, BUT I can show you my skills." The smile broadened. "I want to show you that I can do more than talk my way out of bad situations. Just because I'm kept in the tower, doesn't mean I can't keep my skill set fresh."

"How often?" He asked, smiling at the thought of me training.

"Few times a week. I like to go when no one else does." I answered, grinning at him. "Night time, usually. Negan's people like to appreciate their safety, so unless they're on duty, they're napping." He nodded and I swear I felt him growing hard beneath me. "Seriously?!" I chuckled. "Are you getting hot and bothered by the thought of me fighting?"

He bit his lip. "Depends." Grin turned to a smirk. "What weapon ya usin'?"

I laughed quietly. "You tell me." I answered, whispering against his ear and hearing him gasp at the hot air against his lobe. I was curious at how well he could read people.

His hands curled around my body. "What do I get if I guess right?" He almost groaned.

He liked being rewarded. "How about this- closer the guess, I remove an article of clothing?" He started chewing his bottom lip and I noticed how dark his eyes were growing.

"Turnabout," he answered, coming up with his own addition. "You guess mine too. Same terms."

I studied him for a moment. "Primary weapon of choice? Or any we are trained in use of?"

He chuckled, "Primary. Otherwise, I have a feeling we'd both be naked and fast. Wanna make it interestin'."

I nodded, and stood up and he followed suit. "Since you wanted to know first, you get to ask first."

He brought his thumb to his mouth and bit the side, thinking. "Knife."

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Yer turn." He gestured at me. I bit my bottom lip. Think, Jessa. He's a hunter, rifle would make the most sense. If he found one with a scope or had one with a good enough one, he'd be damn well dangerous. "Rifle."

His smirk returned. "Nope." He mimicked my tone. He studied me with a tilt of his head, seeing how I was squared off and studying him back. "Bat."

"Baseball or fanged?" I asked, with a giggle. He glared at me and I gave another shake. "No, that's Negan's thing."

Still thinking about the hunting and tracking. He'd need silence, guns make too much noise even with the dead staying dead. And if he were planning on bagging more than one piece of game he'd need that silence. "Bow." I answered, and he took off his shirt, but nothing else.

"Close, but not fully right, Jessa." He said, conceding at least a partial victory to me.

"Might not be fully right, but I'm still fully clothed, Daryl." I said, mocking him with a sweep of my hand. I watched him think on it and his eyes finally glowed.

"Bow." He guessed and I nearly groaned, damn it.

I shimmied out of my pants, and then my panties, and then the shirt, and the bra. "Damn it, how did you guess?"

He grinned and closed the gap between us. Lifting me with a swoop into his arms and carrying me to bed. "Got no poker face, when you mentioned the bow, your hand twitched. Just like an archer might when they were preparing to move to their quiver." He shrugged and gave me a kiss as he set me down on the bed. "Archer, huh?"

My turn to shrug. "The damn things HEAR everything, so it made the most sense." I could see that Daryl didn't buy that being the whole story. "Plus, my grandpa taught me when I moved in with him and Grandma. He was shocked at how good of a shot I was at the targets. Laughed his ass off when he took me hunting and I threw up during my first kill. Turkey, it was gross."

Daryl chuckled. "Field dressin' a turkey sucks." He nodded in agreement.

"Ugh, all those damn feathers." I said with a grimace. "So you said that a bow was close." I squinted and contemplated. "Crossbow?"

He nodded, his hands running down my sides. "Yeah, been through damn knows how many, but I like the balance of em." I gave a gasp when his hands reached my stomach. "Ya like that?" He asked, letting the pads of his fingers scrape along my abdomen. I bit my lip. "Like me touchin' ya?" I nodded. "Good, cause I'll die 'fore I stop."

He dropped his head to run his nose along my neck. "Daryl?" I sighed, wanting to go on, but enjoying getting to know him. He hummed for me to ask my question. "Your brother? What happened to him? Is he living in your community?" I felt him still against me. "You don't have to answer, I'm sorry."

He raised his head to look at me. "Don't apologize. I want to tell ya everythin' 'bout me." He sighed, and lay his head against my chest. My arms wrapped around him. "Merle's dead. We, our group, my family, we had a place before Alexandria. We'd made a life there, safely, and were plannin' for a long stay. There was this guy, called himself the Governor." He snorted. "Evilest bastard I ever seen. Merle worked for him, we'd gotten separated earlier, out of Atlanta." My arms tightened. "The Governor he captured me, tried to force me and Merle to fight. We got out, together, but eventually my dumbass brother decides to right all his wrongs at once. Tries to take him out himself. Got bit. Probably the Governor's doin'." His hands gripped at my sides at the memory. "I had to kill him myself." I could feel his tears on my chest, and I ran a hand through his hair. Trying to sooth away the terrible memory.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." I whispered, kissing his head. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

He moved to look up at me. "Never apologize for wantin' to know me, Jessa." He moved back so we were face to face again and kissed me senseless. "I want ya to know everythin'. I told ya. No secrets."

I nodded. "I just don't want to ask too much, not while we're here." I said, sweeping his hair back from his face. "I don't want your people to be in danger." I said, searching his eyes for his understanding, showing him I was taking his fears about Negan and me seriously.

He smiled sadly. "I know you'd never hurt my people, Jessa." He whispered, leaning down to brush our lips together. "And I love ya for it." He smiled down at me.

Sex was forgotten while we held one another. His head on my chest, I ran my fingers through his hair, thinking about how many layers one human could have. Daryl had so many. The largest, by far, seemed to be his passion for things. For his people, for his world, for me. Passion that Negan would hate to lose. I thought about what was supposed to happen when we played "Guess or Strip" only minutes before and how it turned on a dime with just one curious question from me.

As my fingers ran through his silky hair, I chuckled. Feeling him stiffen against me, I looked down as he looked up. "Do I know how to kill the mood or what?" I asked, smiling at him.

Daryl smirked back. "Damn girl, the mood ain't nowhere near dead." His eyes were still dark and I had a vision of him in the woods stalking his prey. Before the image passed, his mouth claimed mine. Our moans dueled as our chests collided. Skin on skin. How we should always be. The naturalness of it, made me breathless. Like Adam and Eve.

My focus on trivial matters dimmed. Daryl's mouth, my hands clutching in his hair, his skin against mine, that's all that mattered in my world. Suddenly I felt more of his skin against mine and couldn't process how he managed to take his pants off without me noticing. Filling me, all other thoughts went away, all that I cared about was us. How perfect and right it felt to be together. Peace filled me as he did. Skin on skin, arching into him, was my heaven.

The act of making love with Daryl would never grow old. Never become mere duty. Every time would feel different, new. This time it was feverish, frenzied. The need to come together overwhelmed us. When we came, both of us had to bite into the other's skin to mask the screams of completion threatening to overtake us both. After, we curled together, face to face unable to stand being separated. Even as he softened within me and was forced to withdraw, we clutched against one another.

Covered in sweat, limbs tangled, we smiled tiredly at one another. I felt his fingers on my shoulder, tracing where his teeth had marked me. "That's gonna leave a mark." I could see a bit of apology mixed in with his obvious pride. He leaned in and kissed it softly.

One of my hands brushed his hair out of his face, while the fingers of the other traced my own bite. "I gave you one to match." I smiled as he tried to see it. "I swear, one day, we're finding a place where we can let the fuck go."

His smirk answered my grumble. "That so?" His eyes were growing hungry again. "What we gonna do in a place like that?"

I rolled him onto his back and straddled his body. Looking down, I smiled. "I have a couple ideas, Daryl Dixon." Leaning down, I kissed him until we had to part to catch our breath. "Want me to tell you about some of them? Or should I show you?"