It had become a game to her, he'd noticed. She loved to push his buttons, getting him all wound up.

And worse still, she did it in such small ways that he couldn't even call her on it, because if he did he would look like a total dick. Or worse, he could be totally wrong about the whole damned thing and look like an even bigger dick.

Besides, how could he complain that she smiled too fucking much? Or that she kept looking at him weird?

So instead he tried to stay away from her. Hoped it would make her stop. Mostly because he didn't know if he wanted her to stop. And he hated not knowing what he wanted.

But it turned out to be pretty hard to keep out of her way. Didn't really realise how much time they spent around each other. He had to stop himself from stopping by her cell in the morning. Which meant he missed out on hanging out with Lil' Asskicker. Usually liked to hold onto her whilst Carol rooted out diapers and clothes.

Then by lunch time, he had to make sure he sat at the opposite end of the cafeteria, get into a proper conversation with Merle so that she didn't disturb them. She'd looked at him in a way that had made him uncomfortable. Chewed her lip and sighed a little, making him feel guilty as fuck.

So in the end, he didn't even make it to sundown, just watching Carol, looking all hurt, was enough to send him to her cell after dinner.

She gave him that look, that sly little grin as he sat next to her on the sagging mattress, busying himself with fixing up some arrows whilst she patched up one of Beth's shirts.

The game continued. Every day, he'd start off with good intentions. Keep out of her way and get on with things. If he made it to dinner without talking to her, he considered it a good one. If he gave up before lunch, she'd give him that look, the one that told him she knew exactly what he was playing at and she did not care for it one little bit.

Then she went and upped the ante. The looks and smiles became starting points and she moved onto goddamn touches. That really had him freaking out. She'd pass him a plate at lunch, rest one hand on his arm, give him a squeeze before moving onto the next person.

When they were almost alone, just Beth and Carl in the corner playing with the baby, she passed by him to get to the water drum brushed her whole body up against his side as she did it. There had been no need to touch him, there had been plenty of space.

He turned and gave her a sharp look, she simply smiled sweetly and carried on walking.

Fine. Two could play at that. Daryl took in a breath, steeled himself. Carol came back with her pan of water and he was pretty sure he wasn't imagining the sway of her hips. She got closer, clearly intending to do as she had done before but just as her elbow brushed his back, he spun around, got right up in her face.

She took a step back, water sloshed over the side of the pan and slapped onto the concrete. Her lips parted, eyes widened a little in surprise and Daryl couldn't help but smirk.

He moved his arm as she regained composure and passed by, his thumb caught her stomach, he could feel her muscles under her camisole tense under the unexpected contact.

She didn't look back, but he swore the tips of her ears were a little pink. The flirting stuff wasn't as hard as he thought.

Game on.