Sooooo….long time, no see, huh? Sorry guys! I believe I've mentioned it before, but I'm in a graduate program and sometimes life just gets in my way and makes it hard for me to find time, let alone the energy and inspiration to write. However, the recent return of the Walking Dead on TV has re-inspired me and I managed to crank out this pretty lengthy chapter with lots of Daryl goodness. Hope this makes up for this long hiatus and the inevitable ones that will come in the future. Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Healing hands
After my realization last night about Daryl, sleep had been hard to come by. I just laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering how this had happened so quickly. For God's sake, Liz, you barely know the man! Apparently, all it takes to woo you is a couple conversations and some blue eyes. Rolling over to my stomach, I groaned into the pillow and finally managed to fall into a restless sleep
A few short hours later, I woke up to the alarm buzzing. Wiping at my tired eyes, I squinted at the sun coming through the window, cursing everything that had kept me up so late and everything that made me unable to sleep in. Stupid sun. Stupid nightmares. Stupid Daryl and his weirdly charming, unfriendly ways. Rolling out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom to grab a quick shower before I started my day
Half an hour later, I made my way down the street towards the gardens. I had told Deanna the night before that I would stay in today and help with the crops. As I approached, I saw a few people already there, working away. Seeing a head of brown hair bent over some tomatoes, I eventually recognized Maggie. Changing my direction, I headed towards her. "Hey Maggie!" I said quietly as I approached in order to not startle her. She turned and smiled in my direction. "Liz! Hey! Are you helping out around here today?" At my nod, she continued. "Well, we could use the help. We've gotta get a couple of these fields weeded and planted today." "Well, I'm here to help any way I can. I'll grab some tools and get started," I said as I grabbed a shovel and headed a few patches over, deciding the quicker we got started, the quicker we could be done and get out of the blazing sun.
After a few minutes, Maggie made her way towards me and started working a few feet away. We started a quiet conversation, talking about everything and nothing. I asked her about her life before and she asked me about mine. When I told her I had just graduated from vet school, she did a double take and smiled. "My daddy was a veterinarian. It was amazing watching him work with animals. He had a pretty good touch with people too, though," she said as she scrunched her nose a bit and got a bittersweet look on her face. I smiled softly at her "I would have loved to meet him. He probably could have taught me a lot more than I learned in school," I said with a laugh. "In fact, he probably forgot more than I ever learned in school." We both laughed even more at that. Wiping my eyes, I guided the way back towards lighter conversation. Around lunch, the Korean guy from their group that I had noticed around town made his way into the fields toward us. Maggie smiled when she saw him and waved him on over. "Glenn! This is Liz, the girl I was telling you about the other day. Liz, this is my husband, Glenn." I gave her a quick glance, surprised she had talked about me, before I reached out to shake Glenn's hand. "Nice to meet you!" He smiled before giving me a quick glance up and down. "So, you're the girl who managed to tame Daryl." My eyes widened and I turned bright red. "T-tame? I don't know about all that. We've just spoken a couple times. Nothing major really…" I rambled on before Glenn started laughing and Maggie slapped his arm. "Glenn! Leave the poor girl alone!" Shaking her head, she turned back towards me. "Don't mind him. He likes to tease." I managed to let out a shaky laugh. Glenn looked at me again. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. But really, if you made Daryl like you, then I know you're a good person. He's the best judge of character I know."
Huh, second time I've been told Daryl is a great judge of character. Maybe there is a lot more under that tough exterior than I thought. I followed Maggie and Glenn over to where the other workers sat, taking a lunch break. As we found a place to sit, I glanced around. Actually, I wonder where Daryl is…I haven't seen him all day. Taking another look, I realized I didn't see several of the new group members, including Rick or the katana lady.
"…Who ya looking for?" Maggie's voice broke me out of my thoughts. Hesitating to ask, I slowly began "…You mentioned Daryl a minute ago and it made me realize I hadn't seen him all day….and it seems like Rick and possibly a few others of your group are also missing…" I trailed off, leaving it an open-ended question. Glenn immediately smiled and started laughing. "Aww, look who's worried about Daryl!" I turned bright red again as Maggie smacked her husband's shoulder. "I told you to leave her alone, Glenn!" Turning to me, she started again "Really, feel free to hit him. I don't mind. To answer your question, a few of our group went out on a supply run. They should be back this afternoon sometime." Giving her a smile in thanks, I nodded and went back to my lunch. While I was glad to know where they were, especially Daryl, it also put a knot of worry in my stomach. It seemed like they could handle themselves, but it was always dangerous out there.
Sighing, I finished my food and then got up to work again. Might as well distract myself from worrying too much, I thought to myself as I cracked my back and then headed into the hot sun again.
After several more hours of hot, sweaty work, we finally finished our jobs and went our separate ways. After waving to Maggie and Glenn, I immediately trudged home to take a shower, hoping it would soothe my aching muscles as well as clean me off.
After my shower, I went to grab some food from the kitchen and plopped down on my couch. I stretched out, finally feeling myself relax a bit…
I woke up with a crick in my neck from my odd position. I rolled over slowly, glancing out the windows to see that it was dark out. Jesus. What time is it? Sitting up, I stretched and rubbed my eyes as I got up. Locating a clock, I realized it getting close to 9. Well, there goes what little semblance of a sleep schedule I had. Knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep if I went to bed, I decided to head out into the neighborhood and take a walk again. Sliding on my shoes and grabbing my knife, I headed out.
As I walked, I remembered the new group hadn't made it back by the time I went home earlier, and I began to wonder if they had ever made it. Ok, lets be honest with our self here Liz. Yea, you don't want any of the new people to get hurt, but really you're wondering if Daryl specifically made it back" Scoffing at thoughts, I continued to meander around aimlessly, lost in a continuous loop of thinking about the group, then thinking about Daryl, then yelling at myself internally to stop thinking about Daryl so much, and then starting the cycle over again
I unconsciously ended up walking towards the gate as time wore on. As I got closer, I heard voices and some footsteps. Why are there so many people at the gate this time of night? Just as I was about to pick up my pace and go see what was going on, a figure rounded the corner towards me, holding one arm across their chest and looking down at it oddly. As my eyes focused, a cold stab of fear shot through me. The arm across their chest had blood all over it. Bit. They're bit. I've got to tell someone. Shit. Dammit. As the figure neared, they finally looked up to where I was standing in front of them. My heart stopped as their eyes met mine. Daryl.
No. No no no no. He can't be bit. He can't. Daryl had stopped when he realized someone was in front of him and he squinted towards me. "Liz? What the fuck are your doing out here again?" I couldn't reply, still in shock. After I didn't say anything, he seemed to realize something was wrong and started to take a step towards me. "Hey, what's wr-"he stopped suddenly when I tensed and took a half step back. I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering back down to his arm again. "What's got you so spooked, girl?" He finally seemed to notice how I kept looking at his arm and glanced down at it. "Oh..shit. It's not a bite, Liz. Just a cut."
…not a bite? Those words rang through my head. My chest loosened up and I gasped in a short breath. "It's not…" I swallowed and tried again. "It's not a walker bite?" He quickly shook his head and raising his arm slowly, took a step towards me and held it out towards me. "Look for yourself." Glancing at his face one more time, I shuffled closer to him and gently grabbed his elbow to get a better look.
It was hard to tell with all the blood and dirt, but it definitely looked like a straight cut with clean edges more than a bite wound. I slowly twisted his arm, getting a complete look at the wound. Unconsciously, I had moved even closer to him and was leaning over his arm. Satisfied, I straightened to look up at him and was a bit startled when I realized how close he was. One more small step forward and we would be toe to toe. We stared at each other for a split second before he tensed and took a half step back, pulling his arm out of my grasp gently.
"Believe me?" he grumbled out, not quite making eye contact. I nodded. "Yea. Sorry Daryl, I just…you came around the corner and all I saw was blood and a wound…I didn't mean to get all weird…I just got a bit freaked out…" He finally looked me in the eyes again for a few seconds before looking away again, bringing his uninjured arm up to chew on his nail. "Don't worry about it. Was smart of you. I would've reacted the same way." We looked at each other for a few more seconds before my gaze went back to his arm. "Let me clean that up for you. It looks like it might need stiches." I saw him tense and felt the protest coming. I jumped in again before he could say anything. "Nope. No buts. I may not be a human doctor, but I can tell when a wound needs to be treated." I could tell he was still trying to come up with an excuse, so I pulled out my last card. I took a step closer and touched his arm briefly, trying not to startle him "Please Daryl? It would really make me feel better if you let me get a good look at it." He glanced down at his arm again, chewing on his lip, then looked back up at me for a second, his eyes narrowed. I held his gaze, willing him to give in. Soon enough, I saw the fight leave his body. "Fine." I smiled brightly at him. Ha. He's susceptible to the puppy dog eyes just like everyone else. He rolled his eyes and gestured for me to lead the way. "Stop yer smiling and get a move on before I change my mind." Stifling a laugh, I turned and started heading back towards my house.
Daryl followed me back to the house and through the door without saying a word. I finally broke the silence once we were in my living room and I grabbed a couple lamps to light. "Let me go grab my med bag. Make yourself at home." He grunted as a reply, looking around the room slowly.
I ran up the stairs and into my bedroom, grabbing the case from under my bed. As I opened it to make sure I had all the supplies, my brain started to catch up to what was happening. Daryl is in my house. He's downstairs. Oh god, I'm gonna have to be close to him to fix his arm. OH MY GOD, I HAVE TO TOUCH HIM. FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD. I stopped, taking a couple of deep breathes to calm myself. Ok Liz. Calm down. You are a doctor and you are doing a job. Control yourself. I repeated this mantra in my head all the way down the stairs and as I turned the corner to the living room. At that moment, my internal chant came to a screeching halt. Dear Lord Jesus, take the wheel.
Daryl sat on my couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. The lamps I had grabbed were now lit and the light was reflecting off his skin, making him look more handsome then normal. His arms were on impressive display in this position and I had to remind myself to keep my jaw off the ground. He was staring at the floor, seemingly lost in thought, giving me ample time to admire him. He looked…damn good.
I must have made an unconscious noise because suddenly Daryl looked over at me. "Got yer shit?" Shaking my head to get rid of the hormonal haze I just been under, I started making my way towards him again and held up my bag as an answer. I set my bag down on the coffee table in front of him and then sat on the edge of the table myself, facing him where he sat on the couch. I gave him a slight frown. "Unfortunately I don't have any Lidocaine to numb the pain for you. Had to use the last of it a couple months ago." He gave a shrug, looking at the floor again. "Won't be the worst thing I've had stitched up with nothing to help." Raising my eyebrow, I decided that was story for another time. Turning slightly, I grabbed the suture material and cleaning supplies out of my bag and laid them on the table next to me. Turning back towards him, I reached forward to grab his arm. He flinched away from me, causing me to flinch in return. I pulled my hand back a bit as my gaze darted up towards his face. He was still leaning forward and looking at the floor, but from what I could see of his face it looked a bit red. He wordlessly held his arm out to me himself. Not taking my eyes of the side of his face, I slowly resumed my task and reached forward to grab his wrist. When he didn't react, I grabbed the gauze and cleaning solution from next to me to get to work.
As I cleaned, the cut started looking better than it had, but I had been right in thinking that it needed stitches. I cleared my throat a bit before I began speaking. "Not the worst cut I've seen, but it will definitely heal better with some stitches." He made a non-committal noise. Ok, not feeling too chatty I see. I glanced towards his face again. He was still staring a hole into my floorboards, chewing on his lip worriedly. My brow furrowed a bit. He seems…weirdly tense. Maybe this hurts more than he was letting on earlier. I focused again on his arm, deciding it was clean enough to start the hard part. I tossed the soiled gauze to the side and started to grab my suture supplies. I glanced towards him again. "You ready? I'll do my best to make it as quick as possible." He glanced in my general direction before nodding and looking away again. I took a deep breath before I pulled his arm forward and sat it across my legs. Glancing at him one last time, I grabbed my needle and started.
The only reaction Daryl showed was a slight twitch on the first pull through. After that, he sat stoically, not moving in the slightest besides breathing. As I worked, I let out a breath of a laugh, which cut through the silence of the room. After a few seconds, he finally spoke up "Something funny?" I couldn't help as a smile broke across my face. "I was just thinking…doctors don't know how easy they have it. This is the best suture job I've even done. Mostly cause you aren't a pissed off horse trying to run me over the entire time I'm fixing you." I snorted a little bit at the thought again. He made an amused noise and I glanced over to see a barely there smile on his face. I looked back down at my work and tried to think of a way to continue the conversation.
"So…you never actually told me what happened…" I trailed off, glancing up at him from the corner of my eye. "Got caught up in some walkers in a store we were looking through and caught it on a shelf as I was turning the corner…Stupid but hurt like a bitch." I smiled again, not looking away from his arm. "I can imagine. It's deep. I'm honestly impressed you did this by accident." We both sat in silence a bit more while I worked as quickly as possible to finish the job. Suddenly, I was startled by Daryl's voice. "You have more nightmares?" Frowning, I shook my head. "Why would you think that?" I felt him shrug a little bit. "You were outside again…" The frown eased off my face at that. "Oh, no! I just accidently fell asleep on the couch after working in the field all day and woke up after dark. Probably wasn't gonna sleep anytime soon, so just decided to patrol around a little bit. Lucky for you." I teased at the end of my explanation. I saw the corner of his mouth lift just a twitch.
I should thank him again for the talk last night…. Plucking up a bit of courage, I started again. "Actually, since you brought it up…I've felt a lot better today about the nightmares…about Katie in general really. Today was the first time I've been able to think about her and feel anything but guilt." I swallowed before continuing. "I know I said thank you last night, multiple times in fact. And I don't know you that well, but I can tell you're the type of person who probably gets uncomfortable with excessive thanks, but I'm gonna say it again anyway. You didn't have to go out of your way to listen to me, but you did. And it helped me. Really. So…thanks" Realizing I'd made a bit more a speech than I intended, I hesitated to look at him. I had felt his arm tense on my lap as I spoke, which I knew probably wasn't a good sign. Steeling myself, I slowly looked up.
Daryl was looking straight at me with an expression I couldn't quite place. For the first time since he got to my house, he didn't break eye contact. We both sat there, frozen, just looking at each other. I suddenly became hyperaware of everything at once. The heat of his arm in my lap, the fact that I was closer than I had previously thought, with my knees sitting against one of his. The way he was looking at me like he couldn't quite figure me out. I was just starting to feel like I couldn't breathe when he suddenly blinked and looked away, releasing me from the weird spell I had just been under.
Was that…did we just have…a moment? Flustered and confused by what had just happened, I quickly finished the last knot on my suture and grabbed some antibiotic cream and some gauze to wrap the now fixed up cut in. Wrapping it up quickly as I could, I refused to look at Daryl. From what I could see in my peripheral vision, he was also trying to avoid looking at me at all costs. Dammit. Why did I have to go and get all serious with the thank you. Now Daryl is uncomfortable and it's all weird and…ugh.
Mad at myself for making things awkward, I stood up, moving away from Daryl around to the other side of the coffee table. I should probably actually tell him its ok for him to go now. So he can hightail it out of here as fast as he can. I cleared my throat. "Alright, I'm done. You should be able to take that bandage off in a day or two. If you need it re-wrapped between then, you can come get me.." I risked a glance up as I said that and saw that he still wasn't looking at me, "Or go to the doctor's office if you don't wanna come here. That's fine too. You're free to go." I saw him nod once and he stood up and bolted out of the room in a few steps. I heard the door open and shut a few seconds later.
Standing there for few seconds to collect myself, I clenched my fists at my sides and took a few deep breaths. Whatever Liz. It's fine. So what if you scared him off? It's not like you had an actual chance with him romantically anyway. And as far as friends, you've made some other friends now! Feeling a bit better, I started to clean up the mess left over on the table. I had just gone to throw away the used gauze when I heard a knock at the door. Confused, I reached down to my waist to make sure I still had my knife before I approached the door. Taking a deep breath, I slowly cracked it open and peered out. then opened the door completely when I saw what was on the other side.
Daryl stood on my front porch, hands at his sides, looking uncomfortable. He looked up as I opened the door and then immediately looked down again. Even more confused now, I started to speak when he suddenly interrupted me "Thanks." Startled, I just looked at him. He finally looked back up at me and kept my gaze. "For, ya know, fixin my arm," he continued as he gestured a bit vaguely towards my living room. Stunned, I finally managed to speak. "You-you're welcome. Really, it's no problem." I gave him a small smile. He seemed to relax a little bit and started to turn before he hesitated. He seemed to be going through some sort of internal fight with himself before he turned back towards me. "Also…sorry. For getting weird and running out after…that."
Wait, did he just acknowledge that there was a moment?! It wasn't all me?! Screaming internally, I managed to keep my external reaction down to a small blush as I looked down at my hands. "No…I, uh, yea. I was also a bit, uh, panicked I guess, after…yea." I rambled out incoherently. I managed to look up at him and our eyes met briefly before we both looked back down, me chuckling semi-uncomfortably.
After a few more seconds of awkwardness, I finally looked up and met his eyes and kept them. Dragging up what little courage his return had given me, I threw my cards out on the table. "I'd like it if you came by tomorrow. I would like to look at your arm again…but…I'd also just like to see you. If you want to, that is. Obviously." I shut my mouth before I could say something stupid. He continued looking at me, wearing the same expression he had been before in the living room. I was just starting to think I had read this whole thing wrong and overstepped my bounds when he finally nodded. "Ok."
Ok? That's a yes? He said yes! I was unable to keep the smile from spreading across my face at his answer. I was pleasantly surprised to see a half smile spread across his face in return. "Ok then….I will see you tomorrow, I guess." He nodded again before he quickly turned and headed down my front stairs and out to the sidewalk. He turned to look back at me as he reached the street, then shoved his hands in his pockets and headed towards his house.
I stood there a few seconds before I finally was able to go back inside and shut the door. As soon as the latch clicked, a huge smile broke across my face and I couldn't help but laugh a little. Guess I had more of a chance than I thought.
There it is! Hope you guys enjoyed it! As always read and review if you'd like. I appreciate both constructive criticism and praise alike. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the inspiration going and write a few more chapters for you guys soon! Until next time.
A/N: As I was re-reading through previous chapters of this to get the flow of the story again, I realized I had accidently autocorrected my name in instead of my character's name at least once, probably more. *face palm* Guess that's what I get for making our names start with the same letter. Anyway, if you do ever notice it, just skip right over it and have a laugh at my expense. Let's be honest, it'll probably happen again since I write and edit these myself. Thanks guys!