...in which stella finally gets some action! and some sweet, sweet action it is

The next day was murder. After how Daryl left last night, I wasn't sure if he was even still interested in seeing me again, but I also wasn't sure he WASN'T interested in seeing me. On the off chance he WAS interested, I had showered, shaved, fixed my hair, and spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide between the two remaining outfits I had. (Decided on jeans because it would be easier to ride in them just in case he came by.) All of this was done by ten a.m., and I then spent a few hours pacing my house, picking up a book and putting it down again, playing solitaire, and picking at a loose string on my jeans. Finally, I realized that sitting there was going to do nothing by drive me crazy, so I decided to head to work to make up for the hours I'd wasted in the past few weeks on my neuroses.

On my way, I came across Beth who was watching Judith and the other kids from the compound playing on the jungle gym. Unlike other things here, this actually was a real gym that had been scavenged from a nearby school. Beth waved as I approached, so I stopped to chat for a minute.

"I was wondering where they put you," I said. "Looks like you're at the school?"

"Yep. I'm glad because I was really missing all the kids at our old place," she replied.

"Did you have a lot of kids there?"

"Yeah." Beth frowned for a minute, but then changed the subject. "I LOVED hearing you guys play last night. It was so awesome to hear music again! I can't tell you the last time I heard someone actually playing songs. Maggie and I and some of the others used to like to sing together, but there's just something so right about having the music."

I smiled. "I know exactly what you mean."

"I was wanting to ask you, do you think I could come sing with you guys some time?" she asked.

"Absolutely! We would love that!" Beth was definitely a kindred spirit where music was concerned, and I was excited to be able to include her.

Beth expertly defused a squabble that developed over who was actually "it" in a game of tag. Then she said, "Daryl's leaving so weirdly last night had nothing to do with you."

At first, I started to pretend like I hadn't really spent all day worried about that exact thing. Then I dropped the pretense and laughed sheepishly. "Oh thank God."

"I think he's trying to avoid thinking about the past. Daryl was Rick's right hand man, but they really were more like brothers. He was with Rick when Rick got bit, and Daryl insisted he be the one to put Rick down when the time came." Beth paused for a second. "We tried to convince him he didn't need to be the one, but he insisted…."

"Oh my God." I couldn't think of anything more to say than that. My mind flashed to the last hours before Marie and I fled our farm. My throat tightened and I closed my eyes for a second and tried to clear my head.

Beth saw my expression and must have recognized a fellow survivor. She looked at the kids playing and said, "Hopefully this next generation won't have to make such awful decisions and carry around such horrible memories." We watched the kids in silence for a few minutes. "You know, I do think he likes you." She glanced over at me to see my reaction, which was a tremendous grin that I didn't bother to try to hide. "He's not exactly chatty when it comes to his feelings, but I've definitely noticed him keeping an eye out for you. There's something different about him when you're around."

Impulsively, I gave her a hug. "I have to get to work, but you need to be sure to come to our next practice."

She smiled and nodded. "Looking forward to it!"

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I was walking home from the garden, singing to myself, when I caught sight of Daryl waiting in front of my house. Of course, he wasn't just standing there like a normal person; he was casually straddling his motorcycle, smoking a cigarette, like some kind of redneck god. My stomach jumped up into my throat, and I had to work really really to maintain my oh-so relaxed and casual pace.

As I strolled up to him, he gave me that deadly half-grin. "What's up, Funny Girl?"

"Nothing much, Gun Show," I shot back.

He snorted at the nickname, and said, "Thought you were gonna keep me waiting here all day."

"Sorry, it was the things and the stuff, you know? They keep me pretty busy," I replied.

He chuckled. "So how do you feel about that ride?" We got on Daryl's bike, and slowly made our way to the gate. On the way we passed by Maggie and Glenn, sitting out in front of their unit enjoying the gorgeous spring night. Maggie was clearly ecstatic, and waved manically at us as we passed.

"Jesus," Daryl swore, "when did she become such a busybody?" Tom was there to open the gate as we approached. I felt awkward for a second, but he gave me a thumbs-up as we passed by. "Hang on," Daryl said, "here we go."

I was oh-so happy to oblige.

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The ride was incredible. We did spot some walkers here and there, but we were moving too fast for them to bother us. If Daryl was the kind of guy who killed them for fun, he thoughtfully resisted that urge for our first ride. In spite of everything, spring was still spring, and it was dazzling. Everything was in bloom, and once again I had the feeling that life was almost normal.

It had been ages since I was on wheels of any kind. I spent so much time inside the fence that I almost forgot the town around us existed. After eight years, the buildings were really starting to fall apart, but there was still evidence that people had lived here. I started to get lost in thoughts about the past, so I instead concentrated on what I could feel of Daryl's taut stomach through his thin t-shirt. How on earth did I manage to pull this off? I marveled.

When we got back, he parked his bike in front of his unit and walked me back to my place. I had to ask the question that had been bugging me for weeks. "So I have to know, how the hell do you still have a motorcycle? We are able to scavenge gasoline once in a blue moon, and when we do, they hoard it like diamonds."

Daryl gave me a sidelong glance. "Are you a religious person?"

I raised my eyebrow. I had no idea if he was joking or serious. "Um, I guess. As much as you can be anymore. If God exists, he has a hell of a perverted sense of humor."

"No doubt about that," he said with a wry chuckle. "When we left the prison, I couldn't leave my bike behind. It has...sentimental value. Belonged to my brother. So I took it with me, pretty much thinking every day that I might end up having to ditch it when it ran out of gas. Weird thing is, every time it got close to empty, we ended up finding some abandoned car that had some left in the tank. We always filled up our car first, and then there was enough left to keep my bike going a little farther. Just feels like it's my brother or somebody looking out for me." He glanced over at me again to see my reaction. "Like the loaves and the fucking fishes or somethin'."

I smiled at him and impulsively grabbed his hand as a reply. I'm not sure if I believed it was his brother's doing, but I was seriously grateful that Daryl and his bike had made it here, however it happened.

As we approached my place, my nerves came back with a vengeance. Oh shit, now what? We stood awkwardly at my door. I thanked him for the ride. He said any time. Without thinking, I leaned in and kissed him. I pulled away and started to say something, but he recovered from his surprise and kissed me back. My knees almost buckled, and I braced myself on the door behind me. It was electric. It was like I was lost in a desert, and he was an oasis. It was like I was starving, and he was a buffet. It was like a whole bunch of other stupid analogies, but it didn't matter because he was kissing me and it was AWESOME. I pulled him inside and closed the door behind us.

Inside, we made out like a couple of teenagers. It was hands and mouths everywhere. He had me pressed up against a wall. His mouth was warm and wet and soft as he worked his way down my neck and onto my shoulder. He lifted his head and looked at me for a second, and I thought he might swallow me whole. God, how have I survived without this for this long?

We came up for air for a second, and I asked, "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure, sounds good," he panted.

I opened a bottle of Donnie's homemade wine and poured us both a drink. My mind was a blank and racing at the same time. While my back was turned, Daryl came up behind me and starting sucking on my earlobe. Again, the knees almost went and I had to brace myself against the table. He had found my kryptonite. Can't…resist…

I turned around, and he lifted me onto the table, and we picked up where we left off. He had a nipple between his fingers, holyfuckingjesus, and I didn't attempt to stop it. I groaned instead and took my shirt off. I grabbed his ass and pulled him closer. I licked his neck and he moaned. He took his shirt off, and I was enraptured by…those…arms…. He undid my jeans and slid his hand between my legs, and ohmygooooodddd. I lifted my ass off the table for a second while he slipped my pants off. Back up my between my thighs, his hand found the sweet spot. I left scratches down his back.

He stopped and looked at me for a second. "Do you wanna-"

"YES!" I searched frantically through the mess on the table to try and locate the condom that Marie had optimistically given me the day he showed up in town. Condoms are like currency here, so it was an extremely generous gift. I owe her big time for that one. While I was distracted, he slid his face between my legs and I almost blacked out for a second. Ohhhhmyfuckinggoooooddddddd.

I recovered enough to give him the condom, and as he got ready, I had a brief thought that I absolutely could not believe my luck. Yes, I owe Marie big time.

He picked me up off the table and laid me down on the couch. "Don't want to break your table," he muttered. He was ready to slide into me, but he took me by my shoulders and almost sheepishly said, "Sorry, I know this ain't going to take very long. You don't know how fucking long it's been."

I smiled and said, "Darlin', we've got all night."

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After we went through the condom I had and the one Daryl (THANK GOD) had in his wallet, we were lying on the floor. "Wow," I gasped.

He chuckled. "Damn straight. I think we were loud enough to wake the fucking dead."

"Don't worry, they were already up." For some reason, this made me start to giggle uncontrollably. Apparently, the laughing was contagious because he just started laughing this amazing, amazing belly laugh, and it quickly dissolved into near-hysterics between the two of us.

"Jeeeesus Christ," he said when he pulled it together. "I haven't done either of those things in for-fucking-ever."

I grinned. "Me, neither."

He grabbed a pillow off my couch for his head, and then put my head on his (incredibly sculpted) shoulder. We lay in silence for a few minutes, catching our breath. He ran his fingers lightly along my neck and arm, and it gave me goosebumps.

"You want to know what I'd keep?" Daryl asked. "Coffee. Doesn't matter if it's truck stop or Starbucks. I would kill for some goddamn coffee. "

"Oh shit, that sounds awesome," I murmured sleepily. "So what would you toss?"

"Any of that frappe café latte bullshit. Just want some black as mud, strong-ass coffee."

I yawned and stretched. "I don't know how you're still riled up after all the energy we just burned."

He pulled me on top of him. "Just realized what I've been missing for the past million years." He kissed me again and then put his arms around me while I rested my head on his chest. "So are you going to write a song about us, like – what was her name – that little blonde chick? The one who used to write songs about all the boys she dated."

"You mean Taylor Swift?" I laughed. "I don't think I have words to describe this experience. Besides, I don't really write songs anymore."

"Seems like a shame to let all that talent go to waste."

I glowed with the compliment. "Maybe I just haven't been inspired," I joked.

"Guess we'll have to change that." And he kissed me again. I would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of my life in this exact spot doing this exact thing with him. As we kissed, I could feel him getting hard again.

He dropped his head back on his pillow and sheepishly muttered, "Jesus Christ." I was amazed that it almost sounded like he was embarrassed. "It's just been me and my own hand for a long-ass time."

I giggled and reached down to get a more firm grasp. He groaned, despite himself. "Well, I hope I can compete with your hand," I said as I slid down the length of him, took him into my mouth and finished him off.

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Now we were both lying on our backs, and I had my head resting on his stomach. We were quiet, but my mind was racing with a million questions.

"So what were you doing a million years ago? Before the world went to shit?" Daryl asked suddenly.

"I'd just started grad school."

"Oh, I found me a smart girl," he chuckled. "What were you studying?"

Something about his choice of words made my insides all warm and gooey. "Biology. I was interested in developing drought-tolerant garden flowers. Not exactly the most useful skill now."

"Eh, it's not as bad as some. At least you weren't like your friend with the big mouth and her computer degree." I just smiled and thought that I couldn't wait to tell Marie how Daryl described her. He continued with his questions. I liked the fact that I was that interesting to him. "So when did you have time to be a rock star?"

Man, I really liked how he called me a rock star. I rolled my eyes. "I was hardly a rock star. I just hung out in the background while Marie hogged the spotlight."

"Ya don't say." He smirked and reached for his pants to grab his cigarettes. He lit one up and laid back. "So how did you end up here?"

Ugh, I was not up for the buzzkill this conversation was going to turn into if I answered that question. "Can I have a cigarette?" I asked instead. He fished one out of the pack and as he handed it to me, I asked, "OK, so where the hell do you find cigarettes? I haven't seen a pack in years." I took a drag, and I realized that this pack was probably a pre-ZA vintage. Stale stale stale. I made a face.

"Yeah, they're an acquired taste," he muttered and kissed me again.

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The sun was coming up, and we had at some point moved to my bed where we both conked out. Daryl jerked awake in the morning, waking me up. This was probably the fifth time he'd done that through the course of the night. I remembered those days. It was over a year before I was able to string together more than a couple hours sleep at a time. I definitely didn't miss that. This time, though, he jumped out of bed and started looking for his clothes. "Shit, fuck, fucking shit…" A stream of expletives flew out of his mouth.

I sat up. "What is it?" I got up to help him find the boot that had disappeared during the activities of the night before.

"I gotta work this morning. Fuck!"

"Oh shit." I pulled on a t-shirt and some shorts and watched him as he got dressed. It was kinda sad to see him get un-naked. He saw me staring and leaned over to kiss me.

"Gotta go," he said. I walked him to the door, and we made out for a few minutes before he finally broke away. "Sorry, Funny Girl, I really gotta go."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." As we were standing in the doorway, I saw Tom coming back from his guard shift. I was prepared to duck back inside to avoid any kind of awkward conversation but was shocked as hell when he came up to Daryl and gave him a high-five. Then he gave me a high-five and without a word went into his house. I had no idea what to think about that. One final kiss from Daryl, and he headed off for work. I went back inside to sit and marvel at my unbelievable luck, but then realized I was STARVING and headed to the kitchen instead for some breakfast.