"You ready to go?" The gravely voice startles me for a moment, until I place the familiar rasp and my heart begins to beat a little faster, not entirely from fear, either.

I don't turn to face him, instead choosing to continue changing, "Where?" I ask innocently, tossing my blood-stained shirt to the floor before grabbing a clean tank top, pulling it over my torso slowly before finally meeting his eyes.

"Finish what you started yesterday.", is all Daryl says before walking away, like he's just expecting me to follow.

"Ughhh." I groan to myself, shouldering my rifle before chasing after him, "Damn redneck."

...

The silence is just plain awkward this time, as we walk the same coyote trail from the previous day. Like usual, I take the lead while Daryl trails behind, critiquing my work, but unlike usual, every move I make is wrong today, and he's not even attempting to sugar coat the disdain in his voice. Ignoring him far longer than any rational person would, I try to focus on the trail until we reach the same point as yesterday and like before, I feel my eyes straining for anything.

"C'mon, blondie. It's there, hell, a blind man could see that! So, why can't you?" He banters, and I curl my fists into painful little balls, my fingernails digging into the flesh of my palm.

I crouch down, seeing a tiny, nearly half-paw print veering towards the right, and when he doesn't say anything I exhale in relief. Honestly, not knowing if I can take another asshole remark right now. We follow it deeper into the dense underbrush, until it's truly lost this time at the mouth of a cave. Rubbing my face, annoyed and once again frustrated, "Must be the den." I state, looking back at him over my shoulder. He gives no indication of answering, instead brushing past me,

"There's no way I'm goin' in there.", placing my hands on my hips, I stare at the back of his head.

"Hell girl, you came this far, you gonna let it go now 'cause you afraid of the dark?" Daryl's still not looking at me, only inspecting the cave further. I throw my hands up, finding the nearest tree and plomp myself down at the base of it's trunk,

"Look, you want to go exploring in some random hole in the ground, go for it. I'll tell the others when you don't come back." I retort, throwing him an icy glare as he finally turns to meet my eyes.

He drops his hand to his side, giving me the usual look until both of our heads snap up, looking in the direction of crunching leaves heading our way. I pull my rifle up, staring down the scope, I see three walkers stumbling about. Looking back towards Daryl I hold up three fingers, not wantng to alert the group to our presence, when suddenly, loud moans boom from behind us. Before I turn to look, Daryl grabs my arm pulling me up and now, we're running in the opposite direction of the house, much further in the woods than we've ventured before. The three walkers we spotted first are now on our trail, and I still don't know how many my tracking teacher saw, but if he's running then it's probably for the best if I don't ask questions.

"There." He says, pointing towards a large hunting blind straight ahead of us. As soon as we reach it, Daryl's hands are around my waist, hoisting me high enough so I can grab on and pull myself up. With the ladder long rotted away, he jumps and pulls himself up as well, panting as he crawls to my side before aiming his crowbow down to the small group of walkers that are now pawing and reaching for the fresh meat just out of their reach. With the silencer firmly in place on my rifle, I follow his lead, and we take them out one at time until all that's left in a pile of disgusting corpses below us.

"Holy shit. That was a little too close for comfort." I say, breathing raggedly from our run and the adrenaline still surging through my body.

Looking around, I see discarded, empty cans and a pile a fabric towards one corner of the blind, a few articles of clothing and a smashed radio,

"Daryl, I think someone was staying up here." I state, crawling over to the abandoned items, sorting through them. Turning my head back towards where he was sitting, I notice his eyes moving over me and an out of place shiver courses over my skin, "Lose somethin' over here?" I ask sarcastically, still maintaining eye contact. Without another thought, I crawl back to our spot, watching him the entire time and I can see the look in his eyes, the war raging between his head and his body, because the exact same war is storming through me, too. Leaning back against the wall, our shoulders touching, I stare at my hands for a moment before looking up to see his eyes staring back down at me. And my self-control is out the window, nothing but animalistic desire driving my movements.

I move slowly, deliberately keeping my eyes glued to his as I sling my leg over him, straddling his lap. My hands start on his chest, creeping towards his neck and working themselves through his shaggy hair. Leaning down, my lips find his collar bone and gradually move up until reaching his jawline. I pull away, biting my lip as I wait for any kind of reaction from him, any sort of confirmation that the crazy things I'm doing right now are any where near okay. Tilting my head, I finally see the fighting behind his blue eyes cease as his rough hands grab my hips, pulling me closer. Our lips find one another and it's urgent and lustful and passionate all while being rough yet gentle at the same time.

We contiue like this for a few minutes, our hands exploring the other's bodies until I feel him grab the hemline of my tank top, slowly lifting it while his fingers leave a burning chill in their wake as they slide easily over my skin. He pulls away, our eyes stuck together until my top is completely off and I can't stop my lips from crashing into his again. Letting a tiny moan escape my lips as I feel his hands running up and down my back, fingers digging into my flesh before unclasping my bra without a second of hesitation. Although, I think we're way past that point by now anyway, as he stands, his hands moving under my thighs for support and never breaking our kiss until he lays me in the pile of blankets.

Now, he's kissing my neck softly, moving to my collarbone, and over my breasts until he reaches my belt. In a way that tells me he's done it before, my belt, button, and zipper are all opened in one swift motion, and his hands pull the rest off with more urgency than before. After throwing my jeans to the side, I reach up, our lips moving fervently agaisnt the others once more as I lift his shirt over his head, exposing his very well defined torso, adorned with a small tattoo over his heart. My hands run up and down, nails digging into his back before finding their way to his belt. And even though I can't pull it off quite as graceful as Daryl's performance, I get the job done, leaving us both with nothing left but whatever dignity still remained.

Never breaking from our kiss, his hand moves to my thigh, pulling it up so that it hooks around his waist before lowering himself closer to me. For a single instant, he pulls away, leaving me wanting nothing more than to feel him even closer. His eyes say so many things that his mouth just can't, but I see only one question, and it's only a moment, but I feel my heart tighten up and I fight internally for an answer, seeing Jack for a split second before he's gone and all I see is Daryl. All I want, right now, is Daryl. I let the same question play in my eyes, and when he nods, I know there is no going back. While he's slow and cautious at first, the almost too urgent desire replaces that fear, and it's like our bodies were made for each other, fitting together like a puzzle piece. Everything he's doing makes my entire body shudder with pleasure, his more gutteral moans weave in and out with my softs ones, until we're both a sweaty, panting mess, limbs tangled together while his head lays limply against my heaving chest. Both us simply trying to recover from what just happen.

...

"So, what does Daryl Dixon fear?",

I ask slyly, twirling the small dagger in my hand. Looking back, my caramel eyes bore into his navy blue ones, and I just can't help the smirk that plays on my lips. Daryl looks up to me from his place in the heap of old quilts, giving his head a slight shake before snaking his muscular arm around my waist, pulling our bodies together once more.

"There ain't a damn thing I'm scared of anymore." He replies gruffly, letting my head fall into the crook between his neck and shoulder. My fingers trace the outline of a small tattoo on his bare chest, and I hear his heart beating underneath. The rythm is strong and steady, and as we lay there in comfortable silence, my mind wanders to how the hell I, or better yet WE, ever let this happen. It goes against every code I've made for myself. In these times, no one can afford to get this close to anyone. No, it's just too risky. Of course I know this, I know all it will ever lead to is pain and heartache, yet, my body's wants have somehow overruled my brain and well, here we are.

Our journey back to the country club is rather different than before. Although we don't talk much, it's not awkward like before, instead of the usual tension, I feel like it's more open between us. Yet, I have no idea how this is suppose to play out at all. What we did, well, it was great, wonderful even, and all my frustrations seemed to have quickly disappeared but what now? Do we act like nothing ever happen, just continue on our daily routine? It seems like the Daryl thing to do, and since we aren't like Maggie and Gleen or Bob and Sasha, we don't have to act like anything happen. Our little secret I guess, and Daryl is giving me abosolutely nothing to go on either, not even a look.

-Great.

I stop, tugging his arm, "Hang on a second. What was that?" I ask, meeting his eyes yet he doesn't keep them their long,

"Ain't a big deal, is it?" He asks, walking away again, causing me to scoff before following his trail.

As soon as we break through the woodline, we part ways like usual. Everything is exactly like usual, we bicker and throw insults back and forth, but I can't stop thinking about the hunting blind. And now, it's like nothing ever happen.