Ava watched all the little streams of water running down the window, imagining small obstacles obstructing their way whenever they split or turned. She'd used to love thunderstorms as a child, spending them curled up next to the window while she waited for the lightning to strike. Then she would count the seconds, giddy with anticipation for the sky to roar. Now, she wanted nothing more than for it to stop.
She dared another glance at Daryl. He hadn't moved from his spot on the floor in the far end of the room, furthest away from her, and stared on a particular spot on the wall as if there was something there that only he could see.
Between them stood a couch that Ava reckoned had once been a deep green color. Since then it had been covered in blood at sometime, making it a patchwork of dark browns now instead of green. The smell from it was foul, and she suspected a roamer was responsible for that. Thus they'd both opted for the floor.
She stole another glance. He hadn't said a word to her since they got there.
His hair covered most of his face, clinging to his skin in wet, uneven tresses. He had a wild look about him, she'd admit to that. Like a part of him belonged out in the wild and not behind the walls of Alexandria. She suspected he'd always been like that, even before.
His looks were unconventional, but as she watched him now she realized she found him quite attractive. She chalked it down to her adrenaline rush after he'd saved her life. There was no way she would admit to a genuine attraction to that man.
He didn't say much, and Ava found that somewhat refreshing. Most of the people in Alexandria spoke too much she reckoned, herself included. She groaned mentally. Clearly he must've thought she was crazy by now.
A shiver ran through her and she shifted slightly. Looking down, her brow furrowed. Her jacket was soaked after the short trip from the car to the house. She lifted her arm carefully to remove the jacket, but stopped abruptly from the pain shooting trough her side.
The adrenaline had long since given way to the aftermath of her tumble with the roamers. Every breath hurt and she reckoned she'd be sporting a nasty bruise in the next couple of days. Steeling herself she started pulling on her sleeve, the wet fabric clinging unforgiving on her skin. A pain-ridden hiss escaped her lips.
She heard movement from the other side of the room and looked up to find Daryl staring at her.
'Ya hurt?' He said in a gruff voice and gestured to her side. She shook her head in defiance. He already thought she was stupid, she would not add whiney to his list.
'No, I'm fine.' She said through gritted teeth and resumed the struggle with the sleeve. She stifled a groan the best she could when the jacket finally caved and released her shivering shoulders.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Daryl stand up and make his way towards her.
'Let me see.' He muttered as he sat down next to her. Sighing she rolled up her sweater and exposed her ribs.
'What happened?' He asked as he inspected the area closely. His hands made contact with her skin and Ava jumped slightly at the feeling. They were warm.
'I fell onto the desk.' She said, embarrassed now that she realized how foolish she'd been. 'Knocked the wind out of me, that's all.' She looked at him with small grin in an attempt to lighten the mood, but he didn't meet her eyes, his focus remaining at her bruised side. Looking down, Ava could see a faint discoloration forming already.
'Does it hurt when ya breathe?' He asked.
'Yeah. A little bit.' She admitted softly.
His calloused fingers traced her ribs with an unnerving precision. She could feel his breath hot on her skin, the sensation causing goosebumps to form beneath his fingers. Ava bit her lip and looked away, fixing her stare on the wall behind him.
'Where's does it hurt?' he asked.
'Uhm. There.' She croaked and pointed to a spot under her right arm. His right hand sought it out and stilled on top of it.
'Take a deep breath.' He instructed and Ava complied. As her lungs filled with air he pressed along her ribs causing her to groan in pain.
'Sorry.' He muttered. 'It's badly bruised but it ain't broken. Ya'll be fine.'
He looked at her, meeting her eyes for the first time. They were impossibly blue she noticed now that she saw them this close.
'Thank you.' Ava cleared her throat. Daryl quickly averted his eyes and pushed himself away from her as if her words had burned him. His shoulders rose in an awkward shrug as he reached for his bag. He rummaged through it, looking at the different pill bottles.
'Here.' He said and handed her one of them along with a bottle of water, his eyes refusing to look at her. 'For the pain.'
Ava opened her mouth to object more out of habit than anything. Painkillers was a valuable resource these days. But looking at Daryl she thought better of it, not wishing to seem ungrateful for his help. She swallowed one pill and handed the bottle back to him.
'You seem to know an awful lot about these things.' She said, casting a shy glance in his direction. He seemed like a guy that would've been in a fight or two in his life she reckoned.
Daryl shot her a sharp look and resumed nibbling on his thumb, seemingly refusing to acknowledge her.
Ava let out a soft sigh and leaned back against the wall. Talking to this guy was like a social minefield.
'I'm sorry' she said. 'It's not my place.'
They fell into another silence and Ava returned her focus to her little window rivers.
'Why'd ya do it?' he asked suddenly, surprising her. When she looked over at him she was even more surprised to find him staring at her intently, waiting for her to answer. She´d come to believe that he'd probably reached his speaking quota for the day, but he'd proven her wrong.
'Well I wasn't trying to opt out as you put it.' She chuckled half-heartedly, before her brows furrowed. She weighed her next words for a few seconds, and realized that she hadn't really thought about the why part of it before now. The last days felt like a blur to her.
'I guess I needed to know that I could still do it.' She started slowly. Looking over at Daryl again she found that he was still staring at her. God, his stare was intimidating.
'That I could still survive out here.' She clarified and gestured to the space around them.
'Seeing all of you back in Alexandria made me realize that I haven't really been out here for a long time. Then I saw you guys out in the woods and Rick came by my house and I got scared. It felt like you had already taken it and I wasn't sure if there would be room for the rest of us there anymore.' Ava drew a deep breath and looked to the ceiling before continuing. 'I panicked. With Eric's injury and everything it suddenly felt like I was running out of time. I came up with this whole thing, the need for new books and everything, just so that I could see if I could still go on a run by myself.'
She paused. 'So I guess that does make me stupid, huh?' She chuckled slightly, daring a glance at Daryl to see his reaction. She certainly felt stupid now that she'd said it out loud.
Daryl watched her for a second before turning away from her, resting his head back against the wall again. 'Nah, I guess ya did have it'
A small smile played at the corner of his lips, and Ava realized that might be the closest she'd seen him smile.
Ava gave an unladylike snort. 'No, I was lucky you came when you did.' She smiled, staring down at her hands.
They fell into a comfortable silence until Daryl surprised her yet again by speaking.
'I told Rick we could trust ya.' His voice was so low that Ava could barely make out the words.
Her chest swelled, but his tone made her realize that he blamed himself at least partly for her folly. Ava bit her lip, uncertain of how to respond.
'Does he?' she finally asked.
Daryl shifted uncomfortably, and therein lay her answer. Rick didn't trust her, and Ava suspected he didn't trust anyone outside their group. From what she'd observed in the last few days this was a trait he shared with most of his group. It made her all the more grateful for Daryl's trust.
'He will.' Daryl muttered. 'He's… we've… some bad stuff went down before we got here.' He continued, clearly struggling to find the right words.
'You lost someone, didn't you?' Ava asked.
'Everybody's lost someone by now.' Daryl shrugged dismissively.
'Yeah.' Ava muttered. 'Doesn't mean it hurts any less though.'
She looked over at him and found that he'd resumed watching his magical spot on the wall and Ava realized that their conversation was over.
With Daryl returning to his stone shell she got up awkwardly, trying to move in a way that didn't hurt her side as much, desperately in need of something to do to pass the time.
She hobbled out to the kitchen, her body stiff and bruised. She found the kitchen and started rummaging for anything they could use, but the place seemed to have been cleared out by its previous occupants.
She got on her knees, hissing slightly as she stretched as far as she could to look in the back of one of the lower cabinets. It seemed to be filled with just pots and pans and Ava almost closed the door again before she spotted a black bottle lodged behind a large pot. Reaching in she pulled out what she found to be a bottle of red wine.
'Jackpot' she mumbled to herself. 'I guess someone didn't want anybody to know about you huh?'
It looked like it was some cheap generic brand and probably tasted like shit, but Ava couldn't care less. It looked like liquid gold to her now.
As she got to her feet her grin widened even more after she looked out the window. She turned around and hobbled as quickly as she could back to the living room.
'It's stopped rain-' She started triumphantly as she returned only to find Daryl up and ready to leave.
'Let's go' he grunted and headed for the door without looking at her. Shoulders slumped she got her things and followed him. At least something good came of this she thought as she felt the bottle of wine pressing against the back of her backpack.
Later that night Ava sat on her porch sipping to her cheap red wine while resting comfortably in clean, dry clothes. From her open window rang the low, soft tunes of David Bowie from her stereo.
She had almost started crying when she'd found a best of cd in a gas station along the road. At least that was what she'd told everybody else in her group at the time. The truth was that she had bawled her eyes out clinging to the cd as if it were a long lost relative. Grief worked in mysterious ways she'd learned over the last two years.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, trying to forget her sore muscles for a while. She groaned at the sound of approaching footsteps and raised her head slightly to see who it might be.
Her face relaxed when she noticed it was just Daryl walking down the road, most likely returning from Eric and Aaron's garage. She gave him a small wave and a small smile before leaning back in her chair again, expecting him to walk on by her.
She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard him walking up the steps to her porch.
He remained on the edge of the porch, half hidden in the shadows from the light above her.
'Hey.' She said softly.
While he didn't respond he did take a few steps towards her and reached his hand out. Looking down she saw that he was holding a book.
'I thought ya might want it.' He muttered with his eyes to the ground. Unsure of what to say Ava merely sat down her glass of wine and took the book from him. The cover read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She almost let out a laugh of disbelief but luckily thought better of it when she looked back up at Daryl.
He shifted uncomfortably where he was standing, his eyes darting anywhere but on her.
'I just found it lying around in our house and I thought since you're a girl and ya know, British and all, ya might want it. Or ya can throw it away or ya know, whatever.'
Ava had to admit she was absolutely baffled that he would know of Jane Austen, but knew better than to say that. Instead she smiled brightly at him. 'Thank you, Daryl.'
He muttered something she couldn't quite make out and turned to leave.
'Wait' She called out after him. 'Don't you want some?' She held up the bottle of wine in front of her when he turned back towards her.
'Please.' She smiled when she noticed his reluctance. 'Just one glass.'
A wave of satisfaction ran through her when he walked behind her to sit down in one of the chairs next to her. She got up and headed inside to get him a glass, marveling at the pleasant turn of events.
After pouring him a glass and offering him a cigarette she sat back down in her chair.
She took a small drag of her own cigarette, careful not to take too deep breaths and looked up at the clear night sky.
'I found it back in the house we stopped at.' She said after a short while.
'It's good.' Daryl mumbled to her left.
She gave him a sly grin. 'It's bloody awful is what it is.'
She saw his lips twitch slightly upwards. 'Yeah, it's pretty shit'
She chuckled lightly, letting her eyes linger on his face. He met her stare for a split second and she gave him a warm smile before turning back to the night sky. They fell into a comfortable silence after that and Ava realized that today hadn't been so bad after all.