When Connie woke up, her head was resting on Daryl's chest. Daryl was still sleeping. It was early in the morning, but rays of sunlight already made their way into the Sanctuary building. Connie remembered how they came back the day before, exhausted. She recalled that she patched Dog up, who was now sleeping soundly. She also remembered how Daryl was looking over her shoulder with anxiety, while she was treating Dog's cutting wound. She was so glad, Dog made it after all… that all of them made it. They were so tired the day before and after eating something, all of them almost instantly fell asleep on the floor, which was covered with blankets and pillows, they found inside the building. Harry and Nate, two of the Highwaymen who were still with them, agreed to take another shift at guarding the Sanctuary, while the little group was resting.
Connie watched Daryl sleeping for a while, with a smile on her lips. A lot happened yesterday, a lot of terrifying things mostly, but she tried to think about the better moments. About how Daryl was holding her tight in his arms after the fight, like he never wanted to let her go. How they were walking back and Daryl's arm was resting on her shoulder. She remembered his concerned look, when he saw she was hurt and how he carefully treated the wound on her head, when they came back.
Her head was still aching, but the pain was bearable. She stood up and went outside. It was another nice day, still warm even if it was almost winter. She breathed in, closed her eyes and enjoyed the fresh breeze. There was so much happiness in her heart. She felt alive and ready for everything to come. After a couple of minutes Daryl came outside too, yawning and stretching his arms out.
"Hey," he said to Connie and did a salute movement with his hand. Connie was pleased to see he remembered the ASL sign for "Hello" she once showed him. She greeted him with a smile.
There was a moment of silence when they were standing there in front of each other, not knowing what to do next. Connie wanted to tell him so many things, but she didn't even know where to start and she could see in his eyes, he felt exactly the same. She didn't know why she was shy like a High-School girl. Despite her handicap she never had a problem with approaching men and showing them how she felt. But being with Daryl was something new and different.
She was studying his face, wondering how it would be like to kiss him.
Then she took her notepad out, but before she could write something, Henry and Lydia came out of the building, still a little bit sleepy.
"A nice morning," Lydia remarked and Henry nodded.
"After yesterday we can consider us lucky to have another one of those," he said.
"Yeah", said Daryl absently, he was still looking at Connie and she wondered, if he was thinking about kissing her too.
"I'm so sorry," Lydia said. "That's all because of me."
"No," Henry objected, "it's not. We're in this together, remember? And if some of them will show up again, we'll show them!."
Lydia smiled a sad smile and said nothing.
Connie patted Lydia's shoulder. She was glad they were together, even if she wished for a private moment with Daryl.
She wrote Breakfast? On her notepad and everyone agreed.
They didn't posses much food, so they ate the apples they collected several days ago for breakfast, enjoying every bit.
"We should fix that damn fence," Daryl said while chewing his apple.
"And we need to secure the place more in case more of 'em assholes are comin'"
Connie wrote: What about food?
"Yeah, that too," Daryl said pointing at the notepad with his finger.
"I'll go hunting and we could check the surroundings for supplies."
Lydia and Henry were hardly listening. They were holding hands, whispering to each other and giggling.
"Harry and Nate must be tired, we should take their shift over," Henry suddenly suggested.
"Good idea," Daryl said, giving Henry two apples for the guards.
Henry took Lydia's hand and they went outside. Connie watched them. It was obvious, they wanted to spend some time alone and now she finally got a quiet moment with Daryl too. Again they were staring at each other not knowing what to say. Should they have a conversation or should she just take his face in her hands and kiss him? Connie couldn't decide and then the moment was over. Harry and Nate came in, eating their apples and talking loudly. The quiet moment was over too soon.
Nate proposed to help them searching the building for things they could use.
"You don't wanna rest?" Daryl asked surprised.
"I'm not tired. Don't need much sleep either," Nate answered.
"Alright."
Additional help was good, however Connie couldn't help but feel disappointed, that she couldn't be alone with Daryl.
They all went searching the place. The building was like a big haunted house. They could hear the sound of the wind whistling through the broken windows and as they went deeper into the building they had to get out their flashlights, because it was too dark. One time Connie almost tripped, but Daryl caught her and they exchanged a smile.
Daryl led the way, he was headed to the pantry. He knew they probably wouldn't find anything there, but it was worth a try. When they came to the storage rooms, they saw some of the shelves were broken and lying on the floor. Daryl gave Nate his flashlight before he tried to lift a big shelf which was in their way.
"You need help with that, Bro?" Nate asked him, but Daryl said no.
"I got this," he told him with a strained voice. He succeeded in lifting the shelf a little bit, but then he realized it was too heavy, so he had to drop it again. The shelf fell with a loud sound on the floor. The fall was so heavy, that another shelf, which was standing next to Daryl, shook a little bit. A bucket of white paint standing on that shelf fell down, covering Daryl's right shoulder with paint.
"Damn it," Daryl cursed, trying to brush the paint off his shoulder with his hand. Be he only made it worse and his hand was now covered in paint too. Connie giggled when she saw that. If he wanted to impress her with his strength, it definitely backfired. Daryl seemed to have learned from it. He asked Nate to help and they both were able to lift the shelf this time. The pantry was almost empty, the shelves were covered in spider webs and dust. Daryl only found a can of pickles and after he inspected it with the help of his flashlight, he grimaced.
"Guess no one's gonna eat that."
Connie picked up two bottles of whine she saw on the floor and showed them to him with a grin.
"Yeah at least we can get lit when things go to shit again," Daryl said. They went through a couple of other rooms, but didn't find anything, so they went back. After that Nate finally decided to get a short nap.
Daryl and Connie went outside where they saw Henry and Lydia kissing. Connie looked at Daryl and saw how his face turned slightly red as he noticed her look. He cleared his throat.
"Come down here, Romeo," he told Henry. And to Connie he said:
"I'll go get some boards with him to fix the fence. Can you take watch with Lydia?"
Sure. Connie wrote. And then: I'm glad you have some help. In case some evil paint buckets will try to attack you again. She grinned
"Funny," Daryl said, still a little bit embarrassed about the incident, but grinning too. He gave her a little touch on the shoulder.
When Daryl and Henry were gathering some boards, Lydia came to them. She whispered something in Henry's ear and Henry nodded. Then she quickly kissed him and ran away again. Daryl was looking at him, confused, but Henry only shrugged and they went to the fence to fix the hole.
"Connie really seems to like you," Henry said suddenly.
"I guess she does." Daryl smiled.
"You like her too?"
Daryl looked at Henry and nodded.
"That's great!" Henry shout out enthusiastically and Daryl couldn't stop to smile.
"Okay, this will hold," Daryl said then when they finished.
"Com' on. I wanna go outside. Check the surroundings."
Henry was glad Daryl wanted him as backup, so he happily followed him to the gate.
"We go outside." Daryl told Connie and Lydia. He pointed at the gate with one hand hand while he was shielding his eyes against the low sun with his other hand. He could see that Connie was frowning.
"Don't worry, we'll be back soon, just checking the surroundings," he assured them.
Daryl and Henry went outside, They looked for tracks of other Whisperers, who could have come to spy on them, but they didn't find anything.
In the woods nearby they saw a rabbit and Daryl shot it. After that he told Henry they should go back.
"Don't you want to look around a bit more?"
"Nah, it'll be dark soon," Daryl answered. He collected the rabbit and they went back.
When they came back, Harry and Nate were on watch again. Daryl and Henry walked into the building and they only saw Dog, who was still resting. He lifted his head when he sensed them. Daryl approached him and petted his head. Dog licked his hand and it appeared he was on the way to recover. Daryl looked around, but couldn't see Connie or Lydia anywhere.
Where were they? Daryl started to worry. He thought about the day before, how Connie disappeared and how it all ended, and his anxiety increased. It seemed like she was gone again.