The next day the clean-up duty was left in the hands of Shane, Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl and Nora. The five of them went around various parts of the farm to take down whatever walkers had stumbled their way upon the land to feast upon the cattle. The task was a long and tedious one, given the fact that the Greene's property was quite large. But the group completed their mission in just under a couple of hours before returning to the house.
Daryl had restationed his tent back with the others a few days prior and was on his way to it when they had returned. His crossbow was strapped over his back and he was thankful for that night that Nora and He had spent making a dozen of new arrows, because he would definitely be needing them. His hand was at its usual place around the strap as he strolled across the lawn, passing by the members of their group as they gathered around the camp in various spots to prepare for lunch. His eyes moved in different directions as he silently observed each of them, only to stop as they rested upon Nora, who was seen not too far off to the side, further away from the group. She seemed preoccupied as she tried to deal with something that seemed to be wrong with her hand. Daryl half paused in his step as he noticed this before quietly making his way over to her out of curiosity.
Upon approaching her, he quickly noted the blood that had stained the palm of her hand and could clearly see a gash positioned diagnally across it. She was trying to take care of it herself and Daryl felt compelled to return the favor that she had done for him last night. He squinted his eyes as he silently reached over, intrudingly but without a care, as he grabbed at her hand. Though he did it surprisingly gentle as he examined her wound more closely. "Ya ain't s'posed ta be clumsy like the rest of 'em." He quipped, though it was evident he was only joking with her. He released her hand from his hold and dug into his back pocket, where he removed a red rag.
Ignoring the stares she would most likely be giving him, Daryl returned his hand to hers, lifting it up higher and closer towards him as he began to clean at her wound, much like she had done for him, only with much less grace.
Nora watched as Daryl put an end to Dale's suffering. Brother. Dale's shocked face could barely comprehend all that was going on. The innocence splayed on his face only furthered Nora's memories of her discussion with him about Randall. Naivety was not a good trait to have around these parts. Dale was an idiot and went out on his own. As much as the young Brannigan woman wanted to call him an idiot for doing something so stupid, she couldn't. All she could do was bow her head as she felt those painfully familiar tears sting her eyes. One actually managed to trek from the corner and trickle along the alabaster flesh of her cheek, only to fall from her chin and become forgotten in the sea of blood and gore on the ground.
"Sunovabitch." Nora mumbled to herself as she bit into the short fabric, attempting to tie it around her hand. Sure, she was a skilled fighter. She'd even gained kudos from T-Dog, Shane and Andrea herself on her skills after she had finished off a walker who was coming up behind the trigger-happy blonde. Though she barely cared for the last, she was proud enough to have made a bit of a name for herself.
But even the strongest warriors had their wounds. Nora's came from a stray nail in one of the boards of the wooden fence when she hopped it to attack a walker. Of course, she had done her best to hide it from the group. It was a decent-sized gash, but it was nothing she couldn't handle on her own.
She glanced over when the Beast approached her; a bit of the fabric still clenched between her teeth as she tried to tighten it around the wound.
"Hi." She muffled out against the cloth, grunting slightly as she proceeded with the garment.
But it was when Daryl had bravely reached out to grasp her hand that her eyes had gone slightly wide in shock. She stared at him as he revealed the gash and began tending to it properly, murmuring something about her clumsiness. A breath of a laugh escaped her and a hint of a smile played upon her lips.
"Aye. But every superhero has an off day, right?" She replied, studying his movements and noting his poor attempt to be as graceful as she. "Ouch!" She hissed when his fingers brushed over a tender spot near the wound, almost tempted to jerk her hand back from him.
The Redneck made no effort to respond to her superhero comment, but instead silently continued to clean her wound, only to stop half a moment when she had hissed at him as he accidentally brushed a calloused finger across a portion of her cut. He mumbled out an apology, "Sorry..." before he finished wiping the blood off. His eyes shifted to meet hers as she studied him, his hands moving to wrap the red rag around her hand, before his eyes returned to watch what he was doing. He tied the red material snug to her palm before lifting his hues to rest upon her again, where he noticed that she was still gawking at him curiously. But that wasn't just it. There was more to it. There was more behind her gaze that he couldn't quite put his finger on, because he had never had anyone look at him in such a way before.
Hearing his apology startled her, having never heard such a phrase exit his lips before. Nora's eyes traveled to the work he was doing now and then, but those cerulean orbs couldn't seem to pry away from the concentration riddling his features. That little twitch he got in the corner of his mouth when he was faltering and the look in his eyes when he finally clashed their hues together. Her mind was off the pain by now; only settled firmly upon the heat behind his touch and the way he displayed his soul in the surface of his gaze for her to search.
She wanted to open her mouth; to say her thanks... but no words former upon her lips. Instead, she was caught up in the moment of realization. He was... handsome. Something she had never bothered to acknowledge before.
Her tongue drew along her bottom lip somewhat, then nibbled it slightly as she ignored her urges to lean in just a little further.
It was new to him and he didn't exactly fancy it. It made him uncomfortable, but for reasons he didn't understand why. The Redneck awkwardly removed his hand from hers, as if he was shying away from her as he ripped his sights from her to look at her wrapped hand that he gestured to. "You should be more careful next time." He bravely returned his blue orbs to hers for a second, before he quickly took a few steps back from her before turning his backside to her completely as he stalked off to escape the unbearable feeling of being suffocated.
Nora had opened her mouth to reply, but he had left before she'd had the chance. So, she merely sat; stumped and speechless for the first time in her life. While she watched his back retreat, she gulped hard; eyes wide, chest now heaving as though she'd run a marathon and her heart beating so hard against the marrow bars of her ribcage that she was almost positive it would burst through and plop into her hands.
"I'll try." She murmured before she forced herself up and got back to work.