Chapter 34
It was the aroma of food cooking that woke Emma up. Her stomach growled loudly in response as she realized she hadn't eaten in almost two days. She sat up in bed and looked around the room. It was empty, Daryl wasn't here. Emma swung her legs off the bed and noticed a box on the floor that she almost stepped on. She leaned over and picked it up. Emma's face lit up when she realized it was full of seed packets. Daryl had found her seeds!
The thought of fresh vegetables for their meals was exciting. She couldn't wait to show Maggie. Emma quickly washed her face and put on some clean clothes. At some point Daryl must have moved her boots and pants so she would be more comfortable while sleeping, because all she had on was her shirt and underwear.
The clock on the side table said it was going on six. It was dinner time. She had nearly slept the entire day, but she felt rested and good. In fact, better than she had in a long time. Emma was ready to get back to living again. As she pulled on her pants, she smiled to herself thinking of the many times Daryl had taken her clothes off. Had he remembered that when he was undressing her? She hoped he did, and then realized that was stupid. Of course he did, he was a guy.
As Emma was buttoning her jeans, she realized that the thought of Daryl and sex wasn't making her panic. While she always wanted to continue their sexual relationship, just thinking about the act of sex would make her breakout into a cold sweat. It wasn't happening. She was fine.
Emma sat back down on the bed and she started to smile. She was okay…really okay. Even though her kidnaping was a horrible ordeal to have gone through, Emma realized two things. She stayed strong throughout the whole ordeal. She never panicked or felt afraid. And the reason for that was Daryl.
She never doubted that he would find her and he did. He loved her so much that he would do anything for her and that included killing the men that took her. Before this crazy apocalypse happened, that would have frightened her into running away from him, but now it was a way of life. He was her life…her soulmate and he would never ever harm her. She realized that with every ounce of her being.
Even though she knew this before, it was different now. She had not just seen it, but experienced it. She was ready to share everything with him again….including her body. Emma was deliriously happy. They could get back to what they had before and that included a whole lot of sex. She couldn't wait for that intimacy again as Daryl could make her body feel things that she never thought possible.
The only bad thing was that she would have to wait, just a little while. She needed to join them downstairs and help them plan the elimination of Negan and the Saviors. Her information was critical.
Emma picked up the box of seeds and headed downstairs. As she entered the kitchen she could see Maggie quietly cooking and the rest of their group huddled around the big table talking.
Maggie saw her and smiled, "I'm so glad you are okay"' she told her. She stopped what she was doing to give Emma a hug, but the box was in the way. "What do you have there?"
"Daryl brought us a present from the last supply run, I think. Look at these." Emma put the box on the counter and showed Maggie all of the seeds inside. There must have been a hundred packets in there.
While Maggie was excitedly going through the box, Emma looked over at Daryl. He knew the second she came into the room and had been watching her ever since. He tilted his head silently asking her if she was okay, she nodded back that she was and blew him a kiss. The usually stoic Daryl, broke out into a big smile.
Rick saw Daryl smile and saw where he was looking. Emma had woken up and come downstairs. "Emma, good to see you up, we could use your help here."
"Let me grab something to eat and I'll be right over. I'm starving," she told him.
Daryl was watching Maggie help Emma make a plate, when he felt an elbow in his side. "What?" he growled at Michonne.
"That's better," she told him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked completely confused.
"You were smiling and that was scaring me. It's okay now, you are back to normal," she whispered trying not to laugh. Michonne loved teasing Daryl.
Before Daryl could get out a snarky retort, Emma was at his side. She held a plate with one hand and the other was now resting on his shoulder. All of the chairs at the table were occupied, so Daryl shifted back and indicated to Emma to sit on his lap.
Emma did just that and dove into her plate of food. She had no idea what she was eating, but it tasted good and hit the spot. In between chewing, she answered Rick's questions the best she could. Maggie took the plate away when she was done, as Emma had to draw the diagram of the church.
"It's quiet simple, really. Basic rectangular layout, with a small choir loft up here, like really small. They removed all the pews and add chairs and sofas so they could be comfortable. Negan has a big comfortable chair up where the alter used to be. Then to the right is a tiny vestibule with a staircase that leads down to an office and bathroom. That's it," Emma explained.
"What about windows and exits?" Daryl asked her.
Emma thought for a moment, "Pretty sure there are three long stain glass windows on each side. There's a big one above front door. The front has double doors leading in and there's a normal door leading out the back off the office." She leaned back into Daryl and he wrapped his arms around her small waist.
Rick looked around the table at everyone. He had known many of them for a long time and a handful from the beginning. He respected all of their opinions. "So…do we do it?" he asked. "Do we fight for Alexandria and our lives here or do we cave in to this tyrant? What do you guys want to do?"
No one said anything for a minute as the weight of this decision sunk in. Rick was starting to worry, when a voice spoke up, "We fight. We have too much here to lose." Everyone turned to Maggie who had spoken. "I'm not going back to living day by day on the road. I want to stay right here in Alexandria and to do that we need to get rid of The Saviors, so we fight."
Daryl already knew that was his vote, so he simply said, "We fight." Everyone at the table agreed from Glenn to Rosita to Gabriel. They didn't really have a choice, they had to fight. This time they had a good plan and Emma's inside information. They weren't going in blind.
"Good," said Rick. "We can do this. Tomorrow morning we assign everyone their responsibilities, tonight we eat and get a good night's sleep. The next two days will be exhausting to say the least."
Everyone at the table started to get up to get something to eat. "I'll get you a plate," Emma told Daryl.
"You don't have to," he told her.
"I know, but I want to. Be right back."
Daryl gave her butt a swat as she headed towards the kitchen. "You gonna let her come with us?" asked Rick.
"Don't want to, but I want her there."
"She's stronger than you think, you know?"
Daryl grinned at Rick. "I know, I'd just feel better if I knew her fighting capabilities better."
"Take her behind the houses and run her through some maneuvers. She couldn't have survived this long without being able to take care of herself," Rick suggested.
"Good idea." Emma placed a plate of food in front of Daryl and he dug in. Everyone else scattered around the room, leaving just Emma, Daryl, Rick and Michonne at the table. Conversation was minimal as everyone ate and digested the enormous task they had just agreed to undertake.
Emma noticed dirty dishes piling up in the kitchen so she got up and started washing everything. When everything was cleaned up, she noticed Daryl had moved to an easy chair in the living room. It was just Rick and Michonne, Glenn and Maggie and Daryl and Emma left.
She dried her hands and headed into join the group. They were all good people and Emma was happy that they easily allowed her into their tight knit family. Even though there was plenty of seating in the room, Emma chose Daryl's lap again as her place of preference.
As she snuggled into him to get comfortable, he immediately felt the affect her round bottom was having on him. If she was feeling him harden underneath her, Emma didn't acknowledge it. Daryl knew that this could send her into a panic attack, so he didn't move and did everything he could think of to stop himself from getting an erection. Everything he tried to think about from his brother to killing Dwight didn't help. Nothing was working plus every few minutes Emma was shifting her butt in his lap and before he knew it, his dick was completely rock hard.
"What the fuck?" he thought to himself. "She has to feel it, there's no fuckin' way she can't, but she's acting normal. She's not getting nervous by it like she used to. What's going on?"
Emma wiggled her butt some more, then lay her head on his shoulder. "Hey," she whispered in his ear.
Then he got it. She was doing this on purpose. She was purposefully getting him hard in front of his friends and she was enjoying every minute of it. This is something the old Emma would have done. Damn, did this mean that she was okay? Daryl had no idea what to think.
"You know what you're doing, right?" he said softly back to her.
"You mean this?" she purred. Emma adjusted her position once again on Daryl and this time she placed her hand on his bulging crotch. Leaning back against him, her body hid what she was doing to everyone in the room, except Daryl.
He pulled her tightly to him. "We are going to get up off this chair and you will use your body to hide this fuckin' hard on you gave me, you witch. Upstairs you'll get what's comin' to ya," he told her in a low growl.
"Promises, promises!" she snickered back.
Emma got up off Daryl and he popped up right behind her. They said their goodnights and Emma did her damnedest not to laugh. She made it as far as the kitchen before she burst out laughing and Daryl made a beeline for the stairs.
Rick shouted over to her, "He'll get you back for that."
Emma looked at him in surprise. She didn't think that anyone knew what she had been up to. "I certainly hope so," she replied with a wink and followed Daryl up the stairs. Their bedroom door was ajar, so Emma entered and closed it softly behind her.
Daryl was standing by the bed looking amused. His erection was clearly visible in his pants. "Before we start sumthin' that I don't want to have to finish myself, you gonna tell me what's going on?"
Emma reached behind her and locked the door. Her eyes never left his as she walked up to him. Her hands reached for the hem of her shirt and she pulled it over her head, tossing it aside. Daryl stared at her breasts cupped in her white lacy bra. He had to remember to breathe.
"Are you telling me what I think you are telling me?" he asked her. He couldn't take him eyes off her breasts. Sure he had seen them, touched them, tasted them a hundred times, but this was now. This was years later and times had changed.
"I want you Daryl. I'm all in. I want back what we had."
He was almost powerless to resist her as she unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off his broad shoulders. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but wait just a second." He took a step back from her and almost landed on his ass on the bed. He forgot how close it was to him.
"I gotta get my head wrapped around this. Just a few days ago, you had a panic attack when it came to having sex. What changed?" Daryl wanted to make love to her more than anything in the world, but he wanted to make sure this was the right decision for both of them. It was hard to concentrate on anything but her magnificent breasts, but he was trying.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "All I know is that when I woke up this afternoon, I was no longer afraid to be with you. I think my brain finally realized that while you are a man, you absolutely would never hurt me. With us sex is about love, not violence. I need to feel that love again from you. I've missed it so much."
"Me too," he told her his words coming out in a soft whisper. Daryl opened his arms and Emma came immediately into them. Her soft breasts were pressed up against his hard chest.
She raised her head and looked into his blue eyes. "I love you," she told him.
"I love you too," he whispered into her hair. He had waited forever to get this moment back with her.
"Show me."
Daryl cupped her chin and raised her so she was looking directly sat him. "I plan on showing you over and over again tonight."
Emma's giggle, turned into a strong sexy stare as she watched him drop his pants. The hunger in his eyes matched hers. She reached out her hand to take his. "What are we waiting for then?" she asked softly.
"Absolutely fuckin' nuthin'" he answered, his voice deeper than normal. Daryl started with a deep kiss…a soul scorching kiss that started getting their lives back onto the right track.
A/N- Had to delete the chapter and reload it. Sorry about that everyone. Thank you Lady Dixon.
