Chapter 21

It was after dinner and Emma was cleaning up in the kitchen that she thought about how much her life had changed so quickly. She went from not having anything at all and being alone, even with the Saviors she still felt alone, to finding the man she never thought she would ever see again and living in conditions she never thought possible. She was beyond happy.

As she put away the last plate, Michonne popped into the kitchen. "Do you think Daryl's up for a visit?" she asked?

"Definitely. He's getting stronger all the time. I suspect tomorrow morning his shoulder will still hurt, but he'll be up and around on his own," Emma told her.

"Good. I'll get Rick and we'll come by the room, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll go make sure he's decent. He could use another distraction besides me," Emma said. "See ya in a bit." Emma went upstairs and was surprised to find Daryl sitting on the sofa dressed in pants and an open shirt. She had left him relaxing on the bed in his boxers.

"You made it on your own! How unsteady were you?" she asked sitting next to him. The last thing she needed was him to fall.

Daryl hated to be treated like a baby, and that's exactly what she was doing. "Em, I'm not a fuckin' kid…you need to stop babying me so much."

Emma realized that was exactly what she was doing, but she just wanted him safe. "You are right. I'm sorry, but I can't help worrying. Daryl, you were unconscious for a longtime this morning, so I'm a little overprotective. Forgive me?" she asked him with a pretty little pout.

"Course," he told her dropping a light lingering kiss on her lips.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Emma said we could drop by," came a voice from the doorway. Rick and Michonne stood there grinning at them.

"Rick turned to Michonne, "I'd say he's definitely feeling better."

"A lot better," she laughed.

They made themselves comfortable on the floor and the conversation flowed easily between the three old friends. Emma just sat back and listened. Daryl hadn't any friends back when they were together. He had always told her that Merle's behavior would eventually drive them away and since he was new to the area when he moved in, he hadn't had any time to make friends, except with her. Once they became a couple, he didn't need anyone else. This was interesting for Emma to see Daryl interact with Rick and Michonne. She could tell that they friendship was strong.

Rick caught Daryl up on what was going on in Alexandria. He also brought up what they needed to do before the Saviors arrived. "Tomorrow we need to strategize," Rick said. "Negan going to arrive at the gate soon and we're not giving him half of our stuff. We just need to for them to believe that it's half."

"We need to hide guns and ammo for sure," suggested Daryl. "And not where they are going to find it. Put them some place they would never think to look. Maybe in walls or under floorboards or some shit like that."

"Good idea. I'll ask Abe…" Rick caught himself. It was automatic to think of Abraham for this. He was good with construction and in fact led the crews that did that type of work around the community. However, he was dead now. "Tobin, I'll ask Tobin what he thinks."

The air hung heavy with the loss of their friend. Abraham would be missed in so many ways. Michonne was the first to speak, breaking the silence. She turned to Emma who had been quiet during their exchange. "So Emma, how did you meet Daryl?"

Emma flashed a smile at Daryl. "We were neighbors at the trailer park where we lived. He and Merle moved in right next door to me and a couple weeks later he was hanging his clothes in my closet. I never did get him to leave after that night he followed me home after work," she teased.

"She got that all wrong. She pulled the helpless female routine with a flat tire on me and I was stuck with her after that." Daryl leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest. It was easy to see he was teasing Emma right back.

"Oh no mister, it was at least a couple days later that you showed up at the diner you knew I worked at looking to sit in my section. And don't forget you also showed up at the Devil's Brew too." Emma turned to Rick and Michonne, "That was a bar I worked in the evenings. He was following me."

Daryl laughed. "I give you the diner, but the bar was completely accidental. You know I didn't know you worked there. But she is right, after that night in the bar I never left. Just couldn't." Daryl affectionately squeezed Emma's hand.

Rick glanced over at Michonne with raised eyebrows. This was not the always-serious-never-smiling Daryl that they knew. He was teasing Emma and was happy and relaxed. Daryl relaxed? Rick had never seen that before. He was pleased for his friend.

Carl poked his head into the room with Judith in his arms letting his dad know he was putting her to sleep for the night. "Oh can I see her?" Emma asked.

"Bring Lil Ass Kicker over here, Carl," Daryl called out.

"Lil Ass Kicker?" Emma said raising an eye brow.

"Yeah that's Daryl calls her," Michonne laughed.

"Oh lord," Emma said as she took the toddler from her older brother. She played with Judith for a few minutes before handing her back to Carl. Rick and Michonne followed shortly after and Daryl and Emma were left alone again.

They sat together on the sofa, with their fingers intertwined together and Emma's head on his good shoulder. "So were you really going to ask me to marry you?" she asked out of the blue.

"What?" Daryl said surprised. How did she know? He hadn't told a soul. "Umm…well yeah I was. How did you know?" Was she psychic or just fishing to see if it had been on his mind? There's no way that she could have known.

"Well…while you were gone with Merle I did the laundry and found a receipt in your pants for a payment on a ring at Emerald Jewelers."

Daryl closed his eyes and hung his head. "I'm such a dumbass."

Emma smiled at him, "Hey," she said softly causing Daryl to turn his head to look into her sparkling green eyes. "Maybe, but knowing that you wanted to marry me helped me get through all these years without you."

He hated that fucking ring. He blamed it for the reason he wasn't home with Emma when the world went crazy. "But that fuckin' ring cost us being together through all of this shit. The only reason I took that job with Merle was that it was good for five hundred dollars and I could pay off the ring, plus have a little left over for us. If I have stayed home, I could have gotten you at the diner when everything went bad." He still felt guilty for leaving her even after all these years.

"We can't play 'the what if' game, Daryl. It is what it is. We both survived these crazy years only to find each other again. Call it fate, but we're back together and that's all that counts." Emma covered a yawn with her hand. It had been a roller coaster night and day for her with really no sleep. Daryl had slept already as he needed it to heal and get his energy back, but since Emma hadn't any it just caught up with her. "Let's go to bed."

"Hot damn, now yer talkin'" he said with a sexy smile.

"Sleep Daryl, I need sleep and so do you…and you agreed to go slow for me. Please?"

"Yeah, I know, but it ain't gotta mean I like it." Daryl stood up slowly. He was tired, but he wouldn't admit it to her. He carefully made his way over to bed. He was definitely stronger than this morning, hell Judith was stronger than he had been, but rest and food certainly helped. Just having Emma back was the best medicine he could ask for.

He sat down on the bed and took the hem of his shirt in his left hand and managed to get it over his head and off. "I should change your bandage now," Emma suggested.

"It can wait till mornin'. C'mon I want to go to bed with you." Daryl saw the look that Emma flashed him. "Em, I just want to sleep with you in my arms again. That's it." As much as Daryl wanted to make love to her again, he really wasn't up to that yet. Soon, but not yet.

Emma walked over towards the bed. "I know I shouldn't be nervous, but I am. Isn't that stupid?" she admitted looking at the floor. This was her Daryl. The man she loved more than anything and the man she had missed terribly all these years. He knew her and her body better than she did, so there was absolutely no reason to be nervous especially when all they were going to do was sleep, but she was. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

"I am too Em, but we'll get through this," he told her with one of his sexy half smiles that lifted just the corner of his mouth.

Emma returned the smile, with a shy one of her own and then walked over the dresser. She pulled out a t-shirt she had gotten to sleep in out of one of the drawer and quickly told him she'd be right back as she closed the bathroom door behind her. She just couldn't change in front of him yet. This was all new, yet at the same time it wasn't. Emma quickly changed into the t-shirt and nothing else except her panties. She grabbed her clothes and took a look in the mirror behind the door before walking out. She wished the shirt was longer as it barely covered her butt.

This was so stupid she berated herself. Daryl had seen, touched and loved every inch of her for a longtime, so this was actually tame. They had slept together naked many a night, so there was no need to worry.

Emma took a deep breath and opened the door. Her bundle of clothes was clutched tightly against her ample breasts. It was the wrong time to remember what Daryl's mouth used to do to them. He could practically make her come when his mouth devoured them. That thought sent a shiver of excitement and fear through her at the same time.

She could feel her face flush at the memory as she walked back into the room. What she wanted and what she could handle was two very different things at this time. Trying to get her mind off remembering the wild sensations that Daryl's mouth could bring her, Emma looked for a place to put her dirty clothes. The room didn't have a laundry basket of any sort, so she simply dropped them on top of Daryl's clothes that were in front of the closet. A problem she would deal with tomorrow.

Daryl was already in bed and very confused. Why had she gone into the bathroom to change? He had seen her naked hundreds of times, what was different about now? How could she not be comfortable with him? "Fuck," he thought. "There's going slow and there's going backwards." He wished he knew what was going on with her.

When Emma turned towards the bed, Daryl had the covers pulled up to his waist showing his lean hard chest. He had certainly filled out since they were apart. "You're on my side of the bed," She teased him trying to ease her nerves.

"I know, but I can't lie in my right side and I want to hold you tonight, so we're switching up, you got a problem with that?" he smirked.

"Well in that case, I suppose this will have to work" Emma laughed. She lifted up the covers and slipped into bed with Daryl for the first time in almost three years. She cuddled up next to him and it felt so right, so normal to be doing this. Emma smiled up at him, but it was soon lost to a big yawn. She was exhausted.

Daryl kissed her forehead. "Roll over so I can spoon you from behind." Emma followed request and soon felt herself encased in his strong muscular arms.

Daryl wanted to pull her tighter to him, but he was lying on his stronger side and his right arm wasn't up to the challenge…yet. His shoulder was already aching like a bitch as it was. He wished he had taken something for pain before they went to bed, he didn't want to disturb them, so he figured he'd just wait till morning.

"Em move back against me," he told her. When she did, his hard frame molded to her soft curves. Emma giggled nervously as she felt his hard erection against the crease of her backside. "You will always do that to me," he whispered in her ear.

Emma felt her pulse start to race and her hands became clammy. A couple deep breaths and a constant reminding herself that this was Daryl, not the monsters that hurt her she was able to stop the impending panic attack. "I love you Daryl," she finally said in a soft voice.

"I love you too, Em."

Emma closed her eyes and instantly fell into an exhausted sleep. Her face had a small smile on it. He was back. They were back. Miracles do occasionally happen.

.


A/N- Bonus Chapter Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying Suddenly...GONE. The pace of the story has slowed down just a little bit as Daryl and Emma get to know each other again. I've picked up a lot of new followers and thank you for that! It surprises me on how worldwide TWD fandom is. I have readers from the usual places like the US, Canada and Europe, but countries like Russia, Malaysia, Argentina and Iceland i didn't expect. Thank you everyone!

For the new followers you will find that i post Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday. My stories are finished when i start to post them, so you don't have to wait for me to get inspired or make time to write. It's done. Nothing worse than waiting three weeks to get the next chapter of a favorite story.

Love to hear what everyone thinks of Suddenly...GONE. Thank you all you TWD and Daryl Dixon fans!

Walker Witch