Whale hello there! There's been a sudden increase of reviews on this story, I'm quite surprised actually :D Just 6 chapters but 56 reviews so far, that's a shitload! :D So thank you so much, people. For real. You are awesome. So this is it, what I promised. The first hints of the shippy. You probably know me and my writing by now, so you know that it's not going to be fluffy romance with loads of "I love you"'s and cuddling and kissy kissy like that. I want it to be 'real', complicated and true to their characters that I have built up in all my previous fics.

Ressurection

Chapter 7 - Intruders

"HELP ME! OH GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!"

Connor cursed under his breath as he ran right past the house to get to the nearby woods where the screaming was coming from. It was disgusting to run like that, because his body and briefs were still wet from swimming. His jeans and shirt stuck to him that way and made it awkward to move. And as if this wasn't annoying enough the woman had to keep screaming like a gutted pig, which certainly wouldn't just draw him and Daryl in, it was only a matter of time until walkers and other survivors would get to her as well.

So much for going on a quiet holiday.

"Leprechaun! Come on, man! Wait for me!" he heard Daryl yell somewhere behind him, but he wouldn't slow down at all.

Judging by the pitch of her voice the woman was in some real trouble, and although he had grown far more cautious during the past year there was no way he was going to let a woman suffer and not rescue her. Connor zigzagged his way through the maze of trees and ran up the close hill, only to stop for a moment so he could listen up. There was nothing for a while, and just when he was about to call out the woman started screaming again, louder than ever.

"HELP!"

The Irishman turned his head abruptly and stared to his right, and it really sounded like the woman was somewhere in that direction. He couldn't hear Daryl anymore and figured that he had outrun him. Since when could he possibly outrun Daryl fucking Dixon? he wondered, but there was no time to really ponder on that, because the woman wouldn't shut up.

He started running again and although he wanted to call out for her he decided not to do it. It wasn't the first time that he was crossing paths with women or children in trouble, like last year in Fort Benning when he'd walked in on a mass murder by what was left of the army. He knew now that it was best to keep quiet first so he could check out the situation instead of running into something unpleasant.

After running for maybe a minute longer he finally found the woman in need, and he was 'pleasantly' surprised to see that she was neither being raped nor getting attacked by a walker. Connor was now facing a petite redhead, who was sitting on the ground, both her hands pressed to her left leg with tears in her eyes. The woman wasn't just screaming for help, she was also wailing in pain because her leg was stuck in a bear trap.

The Irishman cursed and had a look around to see if there was anyone else or maybe walkers around, but it was just her. All on her own. Trapped and helpless.
He still wanted to keep hiding so he could wait for Daryl as back up, but it was already too late.

The woman was in the middle of another screaming session when she suddenly saw him and widened his eyes.

"Fuck" Connor hissed and tried to hide behind a tree.

"Oh thank god! Please, you gotta help me!" she begged and Connor growled.

He stepped out of the shadows and grabbed his knife and gun while approaching her slowly and carefully, eyes constantly switching back and forth between the heap of misery that was the woman, as well as their surroundings.

"I can only help you if ye shut it. Gotta keep quiet, alright? We don't want any of those lamebrains ta hear you" he hissed and turned around when he heard a creaking branch behind him. He worried about the walkers the most right now, but not because he feared for his own life. No, it was because he didn't fancy a bloody mess, another amputated leg or a panicking woman who was about to get eaten alive because she couldn't get out there and because he didn't have a clue how to open a fucking bear trap.

Speaking of traps. He turned around to see where his friend was, who happened to be an expert hunter.
He might be better with the ladies, but Daryl knew how to figure that sort of shit out.
Except that he couldn't see the hunter anywhere.

Fuck, where the hell was Daryl? Was that bastard still in the lake and couldn't get out of there because there was no ladder or something?

Connor turned his head again so he could look at the sobbing injured woman.

"How te fuck did you manage t'get yerself stuck like that, woman?"

He asked and approached her. He was about five more steps away from her when his day took a turn for the worse. When the Irishman placed his left foot on the underbrush he suddenly heard a strange click, which made him look down. Just then he heard the sound of a rope scraping along wood somewhere above him.

"Oh shi.." he tried to say, but it was already too late. A tight rope strapped itself around his left ankle. All the Irishman could do was let out a surprised gasp when his left leg was pulled back, which made him fall to the ground with an awkward grunt. The rope kept pulling on his leg with such a force and speed that he couldn't fight it or even realize what was happening. He was dragged back across the forest floor, and then he found himself hanging from a tree. Upside down, left leg tied up, right leg hanging at a weird angle, his shirt slowly sliding down his chest.

"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed and started kicking and moving, but it was useless.

He was trapped.

He was looking at the woman whose head was suddenly upside down. And the ground was the sky and the sky was the ground. He felt how the blood surged to his head because of the new position he found himself in, and soon he could hear it pumping and roaring in his ears. Connor was even more surprised when he saw how the woman wiped her nose with a nonchalant sniff and got back on her feet. She opened the bear trap like it was nothing, and although it was hard to see when he was hanging upside down like that Connor could still see that her leg wasn't injured at all. There was just..red stuff on it. Fake stuff.

"Oh that's simple " the red haired woman said and then smiled at him.

"I didn't get stuck at all."

"Leprechaun!" Daryl yelled once more and finally managed to get out of the water.

He was dripping wet and shook his arms and legs, a lazy attempt to get rid of some water.
When he finally looked up again he saw that Connor was long since gone.

"Son of a bitch" the hunter growled and then jogged down the landing stage, so he could back inside the house, where his crossbow was still waiting for him. He did have a gun and a knife on him, but he never really trusted those weapons when it came to incidents like this. There was no way he was going anywhere near a screaming woman in danger when he didn't have a decent weapon on him.

Daryl stormed inside the living room and got his beloved crossbow that was still lying on the table. He was busy putting a couple arrows in it when he got startled by noise that was coming from the garage. He froze right where he was and frowned. He had seen Connor disappear in the woods. The Irishman had made his way right past the house to get to the screaming woman right away, hadn't he? He heard another bang which sounded like someone had closed the trunk of their car. Then he heard the voice.

"Shit" it said, and Daryl was even more surprised when he realized that it was a woman's voice. He grabbed his crossbow tight and snuck up to the door that led to the garage. He managed to press his back against the wall just in time, because about a second later the door suddenly opened and a blackhaired woman stepped out of the garage to head for the living room.

Daryl was quite baffled to see that she was walking around like that, guard down and unsuspecting as she kept talking to herself and walked right past his hideout.

"I told her that that fucker's not going to have that..."

"I'd stay right there if I were you" the hunter greeted the woman and pointed the tip of his arrow at her back. She startled violently.

"FUCK! I thought it was just..." she exclaimed and automatically reached for her gun that she was keeping in her jeans, but Daryl clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Nah-ah-ah. You better move those up in the air, Missy. Where I can see 'em. No tricks. Mine's bigger than yours."

The woman snorted but obeyed. Daryl approached her in the meantime to get her gun while keeping his crossbow pointed at her back.

"You really gotta start a conversation with how big it is?"

"You like breaking into other people's homes?" Daryl countered and checked her gun, only to put it in the back of his jeans.

"Could ask you the same. I doubt a redneck like you'd live in a house like this" the woman said and slowly turned around so she could face the man who was pointing a weapon at her back.

"Not very wise to get all cocky with a man who could shoot your ass any second, lady" the hunter snarled and eyed her head to toe with an angry frown.

She just looked back at him and seemed far too amused and relaxed for his liking, which made Daryl even more conspicuous.

"What the hell do you want here?"

"Going on a little vacation. What's it look like to you?" she said and kept smirking.

"Don't go all smartass on me" Daryl muttered and they both startled when they heard some more yelling coming from the woods.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKIN BITCH!" they heard someone yell, and that someone was unmistakably Connor. His brogue was far worse when he was pissed off and yelling like that.

Daryl turned his head just for a moment to try to locate his friend, and that was enough for the woman to react. She suddenly darted forward and grabbed the hunter's crossbow while trying to kick his leg, but much to her surprise the hunter was actually faster than her. He held on to his crossbow and used it to shove it forward, which caused the woman to lose her balance. She missed his leg and started tumbling, and it took Daryl just one more shove to send her on her ass. She didn't get the chance to defend herself because then the hunter was already back on her, crossbow pointed at her head and ready to shoot should she start attacking him again. The woman let out a frustrated sigh, rested both her hands on her bent legs.

"Great" she growled and finally capitulated.

Daryl followed the woman through the woods. They were heading for the place where he could still hear his friend yell about, and now that he knew about the women he wasn't exactly surprised that Connor was doing it. Of course he had to be the idiot who got his ass beat by a fucking woman. Although he couldn't even see the mess yet Daryl still had to roll his eyes. He knew about his friend's 'no women, no kids' rule, but it looked like those women knew about rules like that as well. And they knew how to take advantage of that knowledge.

She had told him all about herself and her accomplice on their way to Connor. What they were doing, how they were doing it, why they were doing it. Apparently her name was Zoey and she was working with an other woman called Kimberly. Their speciality? Fooling loners and robbing them blind. Zoey had told him that they would always split up. One played the damsel in distress, the other jumped the guy when she got the chance or she would, like in their case, use the time to loot whatever their victims brought with them.

He looked at the woman who was still walking in front of him and didn't know whether he should feel disgusted or impressed. He thought it was pretty cruel and nasty to rob unsuspecting people like that, especially when food and ammo was scarce. But he still had to acknowledge their smartness and their ability to make seeming disadvantages like petiteness and the fact that they had a pair of breasts an advantage.

It didn't take too long until they finally reached the spot where the other woman and Connor were, and Daryl couldn't hold back the gentle snort that escaped his mouth when he saw his friend. Great, so the dumbass had managed to get himself hung up on a tree like a Christmas ornament.

Oh he was going to make fun of him because of that for a looong time.

The woman who held his friend captive had not noticed the two of them yet and was busy taunting Connor, who still wouldn't shut up and kept struggling. She was standing right behind the Irishman, with her back turned on Daryl and her partner as she searched Connor's clothes for anything useful. The hunter let his gaze wander for a second to make sure that there were no more surprises waiting for the two of them. All he could see was the bodies of a couple of dead walkers on the ground. He was pretty sure that more of them would be coming soon, but it wasn't like he and his friend had to worry about that. No, right now they just had to worry about these two little thieves.

"You wouldn't believe how easy it is to fake shit with all the stuff we got from this film studio. I gotta say, I don't blame you that you fell for that. Certainly my best work so far" Kimberly said as she kept searching Connor.

Daryl noticed the bear trap on the ground. It actually was the real deal, but the sticky red slime on it seemed to be fake blood.

"Oh, fuck you! Let me down!" the Irishman exclaimed in his fit of rage and tried to use all the muscles he had to lift his upper body up so he could free his tied leg, but Kimberly wouldn't let him. She grabbed him by his torso and then let her hands travel up which, in his case, meant down his body.

"Nice gun you got there, cowboy" the redhaired woman noticed and grabbed the gun from Connor's belt.

"Don't you fuckin touch that!" the Irishman roared and got even more angry, because now she was touching his brother's gun.

Back when they had returned to Woodbury after the war at the prison Connor had actually found them again, stored in Woodbury's armory after they had taken them from him the day Daryl had found Merle. The hunter tensed and aimed the crossbow at her, ready to shoot the woman should she decide to harm his friend with his own gun. He thought that he still had everything under control, and relaxed a bit when he saw how the woman continued to hold the gun but lowered it and wouldn't point it at his friend. But still. The fact that she had a gun when his friend was unable to defend himself meant serious business. He was just waiting for the right opportunity to reveal the fact that he was right there. She just needed to shift a bit more, because he didn't exactly want to hit his friend with an arrow.

"I said you don't fuckin touch that! I swear t'fuckin god, I once said I'd never hurt a woman, but I think 'm gonna screw that if you don't keep yer mits off that thing" Connor snapped and struggled even more.

"Come on, don't be like that. I promise that if you stop struggling, we can make this worth your while" Kimberly said and leaned forward, so she could get closer to Connor's face which was bright red by now. But not because he was embarrassed, it was red because of all the blood that was now gathered in his head because of his hanging position. And he got redder with every second that he got angrier with the woman.

But she obviously seemed to enjoy herself, because she let her hands travel further up to the Irishman's hips and bottom.

Daryl's mind went blank for a moment as he watched the scenario, then he felt a sudden wave of extreme anger rush over him. He was actually quite confused and taken off guard by his own rage. When he had seen her hold a gun and the Irishman had obviously been in danger he'd kept his cool, and now the woman just needed to touch the blonde like that and he saw red. He watched how the touch went from searching to something purposely more flirtatious and intimate, and it didn't just made Connor explode, it also made him explode.

"Fuck off!" Connor yelled and struggled, whereas Daryl gritted his teeth and clenched his fists around his crossbow.

The situation escalated when Zoey, who had been watching the whole scenario just as baffled, suddenly decided to call out.

"Kim, watch out!" she shouted, shock showing in her voice.

Kimberly turned her head abruptly and raised Connor's weapon, but once again Daryl was faster. He was so pissed at her and wanted her to keep her disgusting mits off his friend that he shot an arrow at her hand before she got the chance to point the gun at him. The arrow traveled right through her palm, which caused her to drop the gun. The woman let out a surprised shriek and then started screaming in pain and shock, but not without looking at her abused hand first. The arrow was still stuck in there and the wound wouldn't start bleeding right away.

"You fuckin monster!" Zoey yelled and tried to turn around so she could punch the hunter's face, but Daryl pointed his crossbow at her as well.

"You take your friend and get the hell outta here!" he spat because he was finally fed up with their games.

"Fuckin finally!" Connor exclaimed and tried to get the rope to twist so he could face his friend.

For the second time today Daryl was really surprised by his own actions, and part of him didn't even understand what the fuck had just happened. Whatever the fuck it had been, at least he knew one thing for sure: no one got to put their filthy hands on the leprechaun. At least as long as he was around. Kimberly was still wailing in pain, and when Zoey rushed to help her she suddenly got angry as well and grabbed a knife from her boots.

"You fuckin...!" she yelled and ran right at Daryl, knife ready to stab, arrow still stuck in her hand. But the hunter stayed where he was and pointed his crossbow right at her chest.

"You stay right there or the next thing 'm gonna shoot won't be your hand, yah hear me?" he snapped and Kimberly froze.

She still looked extremely pissed and furious, but she refrained from attacking him. She just snorted.

"You ain't just gonna shot someone in cold blood. You'd have killed Zoey and me ages ago otherwise, asshole" she snapped back, pain more and more obvious in her voice.

"Try me" Daryl snarled and glared at her. The crossbow stayed where it was, pointed right at her heart rather than her head.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? That's my girlfriend you're pointing your thing at! In case you didn't notice: we don't want to hurt you both, you fuckin psycho! We just wanted to steal your shit and.."

"Shut up, Zoey" Kimberly interrupted her girlfriend and wouldn't stop looking at Daryl, who was just looking at the women, completely still and ready to react.

"But you can't just...!" the black-haired woman protested, but Kimberly wouldn't let her finish.

"I said shut up!" she spat and then raised both her injured and armed hands.

"Alright. We're leaving...this...never happened" she said to Daryl and started walking backwards.

"You don't have to do this" she went on and dragged her girlfriend with her, who didn't seem to like the idea of just leaving. But the two women kept walking like that, eyes fixed on Daryl, walking backwards, while the hunter followed their movements with his crossbow.

And he was actually shocked when he realized that there was a tiny part of him that wanted to shoot them. Just so he could get rid of some of that frustration and anger that kept eating him up these days. He tried to calm down and reminded himself that he was never going to do that, because he wasn't like Merle or the people from Woodbury. Angry or not. But it was pretty hard not to do it right now, because he was so pissed.

"I suggest you take those to some other retards and ambush them" he said and kept pointing his arrow at the woman's heaving chest, finger on the trigger, just in case.

"Fuck you!" Zoey spat and tried to get to him again, but Kimberly still wouldn't let her.

"Pick that up" she demanded instead and pointed at the bear trap. Zoey did it after giving her girlfriend an angry glare, and after keeping an eye on Daryl for a little while longer the two women finally started running. The hunter watched them leave until he couldn't see them anymore, but he still kept his crossbow ready in case they came back.

He turned his head when he heard Connor grunt. Somehow the Irishman had managed to heave himself back up. He was holding on to his tied leg with awkward gasps as he tried to cut the rope with the tiny pocket knife he always kept in his shoe. For a moment the hunter had to acknowledge the fact how strong his friend had really become, considering how much strength it took to get himself back in an upright position like that and holding on for so long while cutting a rope.

After a couple of more abrupt movements with the knife the Irishman finally managed to cut himself free and fell on his back with a loud and pain filled gasp.

"Jesus fuckin Christ" he exclaimed and looked up at the sky while trying to gather his strength and breath.

"What te fuck was that" the older of the two friends went on and Daryl finally lowered his crossbow.

"You alright?" he asked and approached the Irishman, who sat up and started rubbing his left ankle.

"Aye. Fuckin bitch just caught me off guard's all" he growled and seemed extremely pissed because of the attack.

"Let's go before they come back with back-up" the hunter muttered and then gave his friend a hand to help him up.

As soon as he'd made sure that Connor was back on his feet he walked past him so he could avoid any further eye contact.

The Irishman cleaned his jeans, grabbed his gun from the ground and then freed his ankle from the rope. He'd always liked rope and thought that it was a very useful thing, but just for a moment he decided to hate it because it had been too fucking useful today. Getting him trapped and hung on a tree like a pig in a meat locker certainly wasn't a good thing about rope.

"You were pretty rough with them. If that woman hadn't just fuckin molested me, then I'd give you shit fer that, but right now I gotta say...well fucking done, man. Well fucking done" Connor said and looked at the cut rope, only to decide that it couldn't exactly do any harm when they took it with them. Because you never knew when you were going to need it. He looked up only to see that Daryl was already gone and heading for the hill that led back to the house where they kept the car and the rest of their stuff.

"Hey, wait fer me!" he called out and followed his friend, confused because of the lack of words or a reaction.

"Then move your ass! I don't want more people to come!" Daryl snapped and couldn't control his fit of rage any longer.

He walked even faster to get away from his friend, because he needed to be on his own for a moment, so he could make something of what the fuck had just happened, what he'd done and thought. He knew that Connor could give him shit for hurting a woman, because he was pretty much the same there and because he would give himself shit for that as well. But he'd overreacted and he couldn't change that now anyway. All he could do was forget the reason why he'd done it so it wouldn't happen again, although this was going to be quite hard.

He knew what had happened now. The reason for his reaction had been sheer jealousy. Nothing more. And he hated to admit that. He'd -known- that these women weren't dangerous and that they certainly wouldn't have harmed or killed them. They had been way too weak for that. But he'd shot her to keep her from touching Connor, and not just touching in general, but to actually keep her from touching his friend like that. He'd wanted them to leave because he didn't want any women close to the Irishman.

Because women were a potential threat to their relationship, and it didn't matter that those two women had been in a relationship themselves. He remembered all his talks with Connor, the fact that the Irishman had indeed been with a couple of women, that it was the apocalypse and they were men after all. Sooner or later everyone wanted to be in a relationship for a while, or maybe some of them just wanted to fuck like Andrea or Shane. And judging by all their talks and despite Connor's religion, the guy obviously wasn't indifferent to the idea as well. But then there were people like him, Daryl. He too had to admit that even he wanted something like that again. Some day, although it had always been kind of hard for him. He'd only been with one woman in his life and it had been awkward as hell, which was another reason why he had reacted to them like that.

It wasn't like he hated women. After the farm incident and getting back to the group he'd even considered getting into something with Carol, but truth was that he was far too damaged, awkward and afraid of women to ever start something with them again. Sure, he liked them and he wouldn't be lying if he told anyone that he'd never had a look inside one of Merle's raunchy magazines, and it wasn't like he wouldn't sneak a peek at a nice pair of breasts when he saw them. He knew that the whole man-woman, woman-woman or even man-man relationship and sex thing was something that goes without saying because it was just natural. Despite Merle's constant tries to keep reminding and teaching him that it was not, that it was disgusting. Maybe that was the very reason why he was having so much trouble with it now, why he was having such a hard time with anything that went further than group mentality and friendship. He saw everything else as something unpleasant, even as a threat.

Especially when it involved Connor and women.

And this knowledge made him both so confused and incredibly angry. Because jealousy meant that you envied someone's ability to do something you obviously wanted but couldn't get yourself. He was jealous and furious because Connor had become the person with whom he had the tightest relationship he had ever been in, the tighest friendship that was the next closest thing to an actual relationship. And he wanted it to be exclusive with no one between them. Back in the old days he had spent hours complaining about how clingy Connor had been when they had found him, now he didn't want to share, now he didn't want to let him go or be with anyone else.

It was selfish and he knew it. Maybe it even was a bit psycho, but he didn't care. The Irishman had changed him for the better, made him feel like he was actually worth something, he had saved his life more than once and they were always together. So he shouldn't be surprised that he felt so possessive of him, should he?

But he was.

Because it was weird, wrong, pathetic and disgusting. He tried remind himself of that at least.

And once again he couldn't help but remember Merle's words, his brother's constant mocking.

Who I hang out with ain't none of your concern, he'd told him.

And Merle was laughing at him, seeing right through him.

Hang out? This is what yah call hanging out? You ain't foolin no one, Darylena.