(A/N): So, I want to put a quick warning at the beginning of this chapter. There is mature content both sexual and possibly triggering. There is talk of torture, but it isn't too graphic.
Chapter 7: Soldier Dearest
Ryder looked up from Daryl holding her hand. She looked into his eyes. She could see so many emotions swirling around in them. She wasn't used to seeing him like this. She pulled her hands out of the big, rough ones that had hers captured. Taking a few steps back away from him she grabbed her machete and crossbow not bothering with any other weapons. Without saying anything she turned and walked out of the cell. She didn't hear Daryl coming after her or even saying anything. She was thankful that he wasn't trying to go after her. She needed to think and figure what the hell was going on.
The blonde woman busted through the door and was practically jogging down to the entrance to the prison. She couldn't look at anyone. She didn't want to look at anyone. Ryder was almost jogging down the gravel when she heard two small sets of steps behind her.
"Mommy?" Ryder paused in her movement not turning around. She couldn't face them, couldn't acknowledge that they existed.
"Where are you going?" This time it was the little boy that spoke. Slowly, she turned and was met with two pairs of crystals with tears in her eyes. The boy had a look of confusion written all over his face.
"Stay here." Ryder turned and started to walk away from the children standing behind her. She needed to get out before she started having a panic attack.
Before she could get too far, she felt a hand grab her hand. Without thinking she pulled her hand away from the smaller one. She looked down and noticed that the boy, Mason as Daryl had told her looked stunned at her reaction. Ryder sighed turning back around but making sure to keep her distance. "Go find your da… Daryl." She turned and started walking away making sure to keep going this time. She didn't see if the kids listened to her or not. She didn't really care at this moment.
Ryder started jogging again to the main entrance. She didn't even have to say anything for someone to open the gates. They smiled at her, but their smile was strained. They seemed worried. She scoffed as she ran through the fence and into the woods away from the prison.
The blonde entered the woods and ran. She kept running and running. She couldn't stop. Her mind was reeling with everything that had happened in less than 12 hours. She hadn't known how long she had been running when she tripped over a downed log and landed on the ground. Instead of getting up she rolled over onto her back looking up at the sky.
Her chest was rising and falling quickly as she was panting trying to catch her breath. The only thing that she could keep asking herself was what the hell was happening. For one she couldn't have kids. When she was in her early 20s, she had found out that there was something wrong with her ovaries. She could still get pregnant, but there was a very high chance of miscarrying. Around that time was when she decided to go into the army. Instead of worrying about pregnancy and everything surrounding that she had stopped the situation from getting out of control. She had surgery and fixed it.
Ryder laid an arm over her forehead covering her eyes as it started to rain on her. She still didn't bother getting up from the ground that she was still laying on. Even if she could have kids, she never wanted them. All her life she had been struggling, or it was spent in the army. Her life wasn't something that she would want to bring a kid into. She wasn't a good mother. She scoffed to herself again. If it wasn't obvious. Those two kids back at the compound seemed absolutely devastated, but she just couldn't do it. Then, there was the fact of Daryl. When did they get together? How long had they been together? Why were they together? All of the questions were swirling around in her head. She couldn't ask him though. She could see his feelings in his eyes. He didn't show his emotions, but his eyes always did. If she were to ask him, then she would hurt him as she had her kids. Her children? Victoria and Mason? Calling them anything other than those kids sounded so foreign to her. She was pissed off and stunned and so many more emotions. She couldn't even explain why she was feeling everything.
Just like with running she didn't know how long she had been laying on the ground. She did know that she was soaked to the bone. Her clothes were drench, and she was muddy from the water mixing with the dirt around her body. Ryder sat up with one knee up and the other laying on the ground. She leaned her elbow on her knee looking around. Should she even go back? Ryder sighed laying her head on her arm. Of course, she had to go back. She couldn't just run away from the life she had here… even if she didn't know what that life was.
While her head was resting on her arm, there was a rustling in the bushes by her. Instantly she was on her feet looking around with her crossbow pulled up. A walker stumbled out of the branches, and it received a bolt through its head. Once it dropped, she walked over to it and pulled the bolt from its head. Before she could respond there were two other walkers pushing through the brush. Ryder dropped her bow pulling her machete. She back peddled from them giving her enough space but she tripped over the branch she had tripped on earlier. As she was going down, she yelled, "fuck." As soon as she landed on her back, both of the walkers fell on top of her. She used her machete to stab the one laying directly on top of her in the head. The already decaying head and brain matter practically exploded with the amount of force she used. She could hear the snapping of jaws while the other one tried to get a hold of something fresh. The blonde yanked her machete from the first one and stabbed the other one up through the jaw into its brain. Also, causing a rain of blood and brain matter to cover her.
Ryder's head fell back on the ground breathing heavy again. After composing herself, she wormed her way out from underneath the dead bodies. Looking down at herself she was covered in mud, soaked and now had blood and brain matter covering her face and a good portion of her shirt. All she could do was roll her eyes at her situation. She walked over and picked up her crossbow loading it, putting the bolt that she pulled from the first walker in the slot. Thinking she had been out there long enough, she started making her way back to the prison. This time she wasn't running. She was going to get back, and she didn't know what was going to happen, so it didn't make her feel like getting there anytime soon.
After about an hour of walking and three walkers later she was walking along the road with the prison in the distance. It wasn't too far. It was getting late now. It wasn't too dark, but it was a little past dusk. Her crossbow was down at her side while she carried her machete down in her other hand. The blade dripping with blood.
After another five minutes of walking, she noticed that there wasn't someone at the gate currently. She figured that they were changing shifts or something. Instead of waiting for someone to come to the gate she walked over to the spiked logs laying on either side of the entrance. She killed two walkers, one with her bow and the other with her machete. Once she dispatched the two walkers, she leapt over the logs making her way into the prison.
There weren't as many people around as when she left, but the people that were still outside were staring at her something awful. They almost looked scared of her. Those looks she was used to. She hadn't been used to the ones that they were giving her when she first walked through the crowd. Their looks were friendly and sincere. She walked past everyone scoffing at them and partially herself. Now they didn't hold the same emotions when they were looking at her. It wasn't like she cared what they thought of her. She looked like she did because it's the reality of what outside the fence looked like. Everyone who lived out there gets dirty and muddy. After a day, they become gross and greasy. Most of the time their clothes were also splattered with blood. Exactly how she looked at that moment.
Ryder walked into the block and was immediately met with steel blue. Daryl was sitting on one of the tables. Apparently, he had been waiting for her. She didn't even bother with saying anything. In truth, she didn't know what to say to him. She wasn't the woman that he fell in love with or whatever bullshit they had told each other. She walked further into the block, and she could tell that he was following her. They both walked up the stairs. The blonde went to turn right to go into the cell that she was used to. The cell where she was assigned when she had first shown up to the prison. Before she could get too far, she felt a hand on her wrist. She instinctually pulled away from his touch, but he had been expecting in and held onto her wrist tighter.
She turned looking at him. He seemed pissed off, but he was also worried. Since when could she read him that well? It wasn't hard, but it hadn't been this easy before. Without saying anything, Daryl pulled her in the other direction towards the cell that they shared together she assumed.
Daryl made her walk into the cell first. He didn't completely enter. He leaned his shoulder up against the entrance of the cell with his arms crossed. He was watching her. He was trying to figure out what was happening. Finally, he decided to speak up. "Where did you go?"
Ryder dropped her crossbow into the corner where it had been before. She took off her machete holder dropping it on the floor next to her tomahawk. She still didn't bother responding to him. She didn't feel like talking right now. She grabbed her shirt and peeled it off her body. If they had two kids together than she didn't need to feel embarrassed about changing in front of him.
"Darlin'." He called to her.
She froze. "Don't call me that."
"Why the hell not?"
Once her shirt was off her, she peeled her pants from her legs. She felt a towel hit her back that Daryl had tossed over to her.
Daryl just grunted in annoyance. "Ryder, fuckin' talk to me."
She turned around looking at him standing in only her bra and panties. He didn't seem phased by her current dress. "What the hell do you want me to say?" She walked over to a pile of clothes that she assumed were clean. She knelt rummaging through it trying to find things to wear.
"For starters, where the hell did you disappear to?"
Ryder grabbed a shirt, and a pair of gym shorts that she assumed were hers. She also grabbed a pair of panties that were mixed in. She pulled off her bra and dropped her underwear. Picking up the towel she started to wipe herself off. She didn't have much blood on her. She was mostly soaked from the rain and dirty from the mud. "Out… in the woods. I needed to clear my head."
"You scared our kids leavin' the way you did."
Ryder paused for half a second at the words "our kids." "… I didn't mean to." She pulled on her tank top, underwear and shorts. She leaned her head to the side moving all her hair to one side of her head. She started drying her hair off as much as she could.
"What's goin' on with you?"
She stopped, throwing her towel with the pile of her clothes. "I have no idea. I… I don't remember this life." She sat on the bed looking up at him.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Before the Governor? Everyone in the cell block. Well, most everyone in the block came down with a flu-like sickness. Michonne, Bob you and I all had to go to a college about an hour out to get medication." While she was talking, she had noticed his eyes growing wide. "What?"
"Darlin'… that was about 13 years ago."
Ryder shot up from her seat looking at him stunned. "What!?"
"It happened when you first came here. Rick found you in the woods around the prison."
Ryder couldn't talk. She was in stunned silence. What the actual fuck was going on?
"Darlin'?" She looked up and noticed that Daryl had walked into the cell more. He was walking up to her slowly trying not to startle her any more than she already was.
She knew that he was going to touch her, but she didn't pull away from him. She felt him wrap her arms around her. She didn't respond. The only thing that happened was her bodies normal reaction to tense up when someone touched her. "I'm going crazy. I'm going absolutely insane. Out of everything in this world that could happen to me I'm losing my mind."
Ryder could feel Daryl's strong arms tighten around her. He didn't say anything. All he was doing was shushing her trying to calm her down. He pulled away just enough to look at her. She didn't bother looking up at him. She felt him lift her chin up forcing her to look at him.
His eyes bore into hers. He was studying her, studying her reaction. He slowly leaned forward capturing her lips with hers. It took her a minute, but finally, she responded to his kiss. She wasn't sure, but it felt like he relaxed into her kiss. Her arms came up and wrapped around his neck. She pushed her body into his. They had been together obviously judging by their kids, but in her mind, she hadn't been with someone for a long time.
They parted from their kiss needing air. She was looking into his eyes while they bored into hers. "I can't." Ryder started to pull away but Daryl wasn't having it, and he kept her pressed against his chest.
He leaned forward pressing his lips against her ear. "Stop lettin' your fear make your choices Darlin'."
"Daryl. You don't understand. I don't remember any of this. I don't remember Mason or Victoria. I don't remember the people here. I… I don't remember you."
She heard him shushing her again. "Let me remind you."
Ryder felt herself being pushed backward. Her hands came up to his broad chest bracing herself. Stepping back further her knees hit the edge of the bed. She dropped back onto the bed with Daryl over her body. He hadn't taken his eyes off her the entire time. His intense eyes bore into hers. His strong arms leaning on the bed around her, boxing her in. His body was laying between her legs, filling the space. She could feel the man's weight on her body.
Her hands were still on his chest. She didn't know what to do with them. It wasn't like she was a virgin, but she hadn't done this for so long, in her mind. She also never thought it would have been with Daryl. She didn't know what he liked. She didn't know how he reacted. She… didn't know anything. She closed her eyes turning her head away from him. She couldn't look at him. She was ashamed that if this was her life now, she had actually forgotten everything that had happened. She couldn't remember her kids even. She had known she would have been a terrible mother but how terrible would someone have to be to completely forget that she had kids.
Ryder felt a finger pushing her jaw back towards his face, but she didn't open her eyes because she knew what he was doing. "Look at me." She didn't open her eyes, only squeezing them shut tighter. "Darlin'… open your eyes." She felt his hand leave her face grabbing one of her hands pressed against his chest. Her eyes instantly flew open when she tried to pull away. She didn't want him feeling the metal, the inhuman part of her.
Instead of letting her pull away he gripped her hand tight. His eyes never leaving hers. He lifted her hand up to his face. He kissed the inside of her palm. She noticed that he made sure to focus on the areas there were metal. She sucked in a breath at his gentle touch on her hand. What was he doing? He knew? Of course, he knew. He was her… husband after all. She assumed that she would have told him everything.
She was watching him kiss her hand. He moved along her wrist to her forearm. It was like he was showing her that this wasn't her first time. He was showing her that this was real. His kisses continued up to her bicep, kissing along her tattoos. While he was kissing her arm, she felt his other hand trailing along her waist. His hand trailed under her tank top she had put on earlier.
Her body tensed up when he felt his rough, calloused hand over her waist moving up to her ribs. He kissed up her arm to her collar bone. Then, up to her neck. He made sure to spend some extra time sucking and kissing on her neck. Her tension in her body released with his attention. He knew that her neck was sensitive. He knew everything about her and her body.
Ryder's back arched slightly when he started sucking making sure to leave a mark on her neck. Her mind forgot about his hand on her body and focused on the feeling of his lips. She unconsciously brought her hand to the back of his neck, carding her fingers through his hair.
Daryl's lips left her neck and kissed along her jaw line leading up to her own lips. Her eyes dropped closed when his lips met hers. Their kiss was slow. She could feel that he was leading this, but he was letting her go at her own pace. She had told she didn't remember anything and she assumed he didn't want to scare her off since he was trying to remind her of everything. She appreciated that fact that he was going at her pace. Her heart seemed to swell at thinking about it. She could feel that she loved this man. Her mind didn't seem to know him, but her body definitely did. It responded to him in all the right ways. She hadn't felt this feeling in her chest before. The only thing that she could think of was she loved him unconditionally and that feeling she felt pulled her from being timid with him. She wanted to show him that even if she forgot who he was and what they were that her body didn't forget. She wanted to show him she loved him.
Ryder lifted her body into his, laying her chest flat against his. Her fingers in his hair tightened pushing him closer to her. She wanted to feel his body, she wanted to know what it was like. She swiped her tongue along his bottom lip. It took him a moment to respond to her. Ryder could only assume that she caught him by surprise with his forwardness. It didn't take him long to open his mouth and push his tongue in her mouth connecting with hers. She could feel that he was just as eager as she was.
While their make-out session became heated Daryl's, hand slide up along her waist bringing her tank top with her. His other hand found its way to the side of her neck pushing them closer together.
Ryder wrapped one of her legs around his waist as he pressed it down connecting with hers. She gasped into his mouth when she felt the friction he caused. Before she could think, her body was being pulled up. She landed on her knees straddling his lap. She felt both of his hands on her sides lifting her shirt up and over her head. She allowed him to take her shirt off. The piece of fabric was thrown behind him somewhere she couldn't see. She didn't dare take her eyes off the man in front of her. She wanted to see everything and feel him.
Ryder leaned forward capturing his lips in another kiss, her arms wrapping around his neck. She felt his hands come up and press into her breasts. He was massaging them, feeling her body. She couldn't take it anymore she pulled away from the kiss breathing heavy. Her hands found his leather vest and pulled it off his shoulders. Next, her hands went down grabbing the hem of his shirt pulling it over his raised arms.
Her eyes took in his appearance. His chest was also moving in and out rapidly from their heated kiss. Her eyes roamed over his body. She knew that his body was strong from always being out in the woods, hunting and taking down walkers. She looked up at his face seeing a smirk.
Ryder felt her face heat up. She had been checking him out when he was obviously watching her. She suddenly became self-conscious of herself. Even if she didn't remember having kids she knew that her body did. She must have stretch marks, and her tattoos were probably stretched on her sides. She didn't want to look down and see what the damage was to her body. Even before the outbreak, she hadn't been a confident person. She was an Army Ranger. She could kick ass like any other guy, but that also made her intimidating to the men. Most men didn't like it if their women could kick their ass. She wasn't exactly a guy magnet, so she didn't date. She felt, so inexperienced compared to him.
"Hey… stop thinkin' darlin'." She felt him grab her hands and press them against his chest bringing her out of her thoughts. "Focus on me."
Ryder looked up to his face again. She felt his solid chest under her hands. Hesitantly she started to move her hand along his chest and down to his ribs. She could see his muscles contract at her touch as it moved along his body. She could feel the bulge in his pants where he was excited, but he was holding himself back for her. He was patient with her which she didn't know this man possessed a patient bone in his body. Her hands came up again moving over his chest and moving along his thick biceps. They reacted the same way. He unconsciously flexed and moved his muscles at her touch.
She leaned her body back down on the bed bringing him with her. Once her back was on the bed, she looked up at him and nodded her head. She needed to tell him that it was ok. "Make me forget everything… except you."
His eyes bore into hers. Her words sparked heat in his eyes. He nodded and captured her lips in another heated kiss. She felt his body move over her. He knelt down with his leg between her thighs. He rocked his hips into her waist intentionally rubbing his thigh along her heat. She moaned slightly leaning her chest into his. One of his arms was bracing himself by her head, but the other hand snaked down her body. She could feel his fingers moving through the valley between her breasts. They skimmed down over stomach over her belly button. They got to the edge of her shorts but didn't continue. He pulled away from her mouth moving his head down to one of her breasts. Daryl took one of her nipples into his mouth and started sucking on it. One of Ryder's hands found its way to the back of his head, gently grabbing a handful of hair. The other lifted above her head grabbing onto a metal bar from it. Her chest arched pressing more of her breast into his mouth which he didn't seem to mind.
She felt his hand move along her stomach but didn't descend further. He was teasing her, but his teasing was making her body react in all the right ways. After some time, he switched to the other breast and started sucking and biting on her other nipple. Ryder felt his teeth against her sensitive skin causing her to moan. "Daryl, stop teasing me."
Ryder felt him smirk against her breast but didn't pull away. Finally, she felt his hand move down pushing past the material of her shorts. It wasn't long that she felt his rough hands on her heat. "Daryl," she moaned feeling his touch.
His fingers moved along her slit pressing into her clit. He used his middle finger to rub around it, sending tingling sensations through her body. "Daryl… oh god." She hadn't felt like this in so long, and her body seemed to by hypersensitive since it was the man she loved giving her pleasure.
Daryl pulled his mouth away from her nipple and found his way back to her neck. He pushed his middle finger down into her core. She arched moaning louder into his neck. Her hand in his hair tightened, showing him that he was doing everything correctly. Her other hand wrapped around to his back digging her nails into his shoulder blade.
He added another finger into her making her dig deeper and hide her head in his neck trying to stop herself from being too loud. She moaned into his ear. "Harder baby. Please." His lips pulled away from her neck not being able to take it anymore.
Ryder whined slightly when she felt his fingers leave her. She looked up as Daryl pulled away from her body. She realized what he was doing when he ripped her shorts and panties down her legs dropping them next to the bed. She instantly leaned up kissing his neck and chest. Her hands fumbled with his belt. She undid the button and yanked down the zip practically ripping his pants down.
Ryder watched as Daryl stood up pulling off his boots and socks. He pulled his pants and boxers down stepping out of them. She didn't take her eyes off him and his muscles moving under his skin. His strong tan arms leaned back on the bed covering her again. He found his place between her legs while she wrapped her legs around his waist. She looked up at him. "Please, babe. I need you."
"You never have to ask me darlin'." His hand slipped down between each of their cores. Ryder's breath hitched when she felt him enter her. Her hands that had found her way onto his back again dug into his skin.
She was waiting for him to start moving after he had sheathed himself deep in her, but he didn't. Her eyes opened looking up at him. She could see that he was worried about her and how she would react. "Move," was the only thing that she needed to say for him to start thrusting in her.
She felt him moving deep in her. His length was moving along her walls sending her nerve endings into overdrive. She moved arching her chest into his. She looked up and saw that he was watching her. The harder that he thrusted into her the more her body was vibrating with pleasure.
Daryl leaned down grunting with his mouth next to her ear. "Missed you darlin'."
Her nails dug into his skin scratching up his back. Her other hand moved to his head grabbing a handful of hair. Her body was pressed into his, moaning into his neck. "Baby… I… oh god." She was close to her release.
"Let… go darlin'… I'm with you." He grunted into her ear. She could feel him swelling inside her. He was as close as she was. She felt Daryl's hand slide between them and rub against her clit. The stimulation was exactly what she needed to feel that sensation of falling over the edge. Her climax made her release a string of curses along with, "fuck, Daryl." Her walls clenched around him. With a few more thrusts into her, he was able to find his release not leaving her through his entire orgasm.
When they were both done, and breathing heavy his arms gave under his weight. He landed half on Ryder and half on the bed. He rolled over on his back pulling the blanket over both of them. "Haven't had that in a while." He smirked.
She turned looking at him. "What do you mean?"
His smirk faltered. "Nothin'. Don't worry 'bout it." Ryder felt him grab her hand rubbing his thumb over the metal in her hand. She tried to pull away again, but he was expecting it like usual. He didn't let her pull away. "It took you a long time to tell me what happened even after we got together."
Her eyes watched him while he was looking at her hand. She rolled over and laid her head on his chest feeling his chest rise and fall. He still had a hold of her hand rubbing his thumb over it. "I told you what happened?"
"Mhmm. It was hell considerin' you may be more closed off than I ever was." Ryder didn't say anything, so he kept going. "Said you were in Iraq. You were with your squadron tryin' to get out a couple POW that you guys had intel on. Somethin' went wrong with the extraction mission…"
"… me and another Ranger were grabbed by insurgents." She continued. "I was knocked out when we were taken. When I woke up, I was strapped to a chair. I had duct tape wrapped around my arms, and my legs were bound to the legs of the chair. I came around and noticed that my comrade was in the same position that I was in but he was still unconscious." She closed her eyes thinking back to the time she was in Iraq. "A single man came into the room. His face was covered, so I had no idea who he was. He was yelling at me in Arabic. I had no idea what he was saying. I could only assume that he was trying to get information from me since we were special ops. When I didn't answer him, he grabbed a hammer and started hitting my hands. I… I was being tortured." She scoffed to herself. "When in training they don't teach you how to handle yourself when you're being tortured. I knew that I couldn't say anything. I would rather die than be considered a traitor. Once my hands were rendered useless he moved on to other forms of torture. Some were barbaric making me think I was going to die. Other just made me hurt. At one point, I thought they were going to drown me. They kept pushing my head back throwing a towel over my face. They would pour water from a water jug not allowing me to breathe."
"Darlin'. Stop."
Ryder didn't hear what he was saying. In her mind, she was back in Iraq. "The longer that I went without telling him anything, the more pissed off he got. When… Matt woke up he was yelling at them to stop. I knew he wouldn't talk either. That bastard went over to him and held a gun to his head. He was done playing around. I watched as he held a gun to my friend. He was yelling, and I couldn't understand him, so I didn't know what he was saying."
She felt Daryl move under her pulling her from her thoughts. His hand came up and forced her to look at him. "Stop."
Ryder shook her head. "I need to get this out. I haven't… ever talked about it."
She heard him sigh. "You told me that you watched your friend look you in the eyes. He silently told you to be strong and not worry about him. That guy shot him in the head while you were watchin' tryin' to get you to talk. You didn't know how long you had been there, but there were loud sounds goin' off around you. When you saw your commander, your body passed out."
Ryder nodded. "When I woke up I was bruised, bandaged and sore. Both my hands were wrapped in a cast along with my left leg. I had stitches all over my body. I was a mess. The doctor said that I had to have reconstructive surgery to fix my hands." She pulled her hand off his chest. She turned it over looking at it. She flexed it seeing the metal move around. "Had to have metal bracings in my hand and in my left leg."
She felt Daryl wrap his arm around her back comforting her. "It's over. You ain't there anymore. You're here with me."
She turned her head smiling looking up at him. "Yeah, I guess I am." Ryder moved away from him. She grabbed her underwear and shorts pulling them back on. She found her shirt thrown haphazardly in the corner pulling it on. She threw Daryl a pair of his boxers. She looked over climbing back in bed with him, but he was smiling at her. "What?"
He just shook his head. "Nothing. You may not remember, but that's your routine after we… you know."
She looked at him confused. "It is?" She took a moment to think about why she had gotten up. She actually didn't know why she had gotten up and gotten dressed. She wouldn't have minded laying naked with Daryl, but her body just automatically started moving. "Why?"
Ryder noticed he was about ready to say something but his eyes looked over her shoulder at the doorway. He nodded his head towards the area. She turned and noticed a blonde-haired boy and a dark-haired little girl standing in the door holding hands. The little girl was chewing on her thumbnail like Daryl did when he was nervous.
Daryl leaned up in bed looking over at them. "What's wrong guys?"
They didn't say anything, and neither did Ryder. She didn't know what to do. Mason decided to speak up. "Is mom still acting weird?"
Ryder unconsciously scooted closer to Daryl. He held out his hand to the children. "Come find out."
Both kids ran over to her. Victoria was faster than Mason, but they both jumped onto the bed with her and Daryl. Victoria found the courage to talk. She placed her small hand over Ryder's forehead. "Mommy, are you ok? You aren't sick, are you?"
Ryder looked down at Daryl who was smiling. He didn't say anything. He just nodded his head telling it was ok if she talked. Ryder looked back at her clearing her throat. "Yeah, sweetheart. I'm ok."
Victoria's blinding smile made her heart melt. "Good!" She threw her arms around Ryder's shoulders. The blonde flinched slightly at the sudden weight but her arms wrapped around the younger girl's frame.
Victoria pulled away and flopped down on Daryl's chest when he rolled onto his back. She heard him grunt. Ryder couldn't help but smile at them. She looked over at Mason who was still watching her. She could see that he was more reserved than the younger girl. "You were supposed to take me hunting today. When you didn't come out at your usual time, dad said that he would take me."
Ryder's eyes saddened. She could see that he had been looking forward to it. She laid down next to Daryl on her side leaving space between them. She looked up at Mason and patted the bed. Mason laid down between the two adults. Ryder leaned over kissing him on the cheek. "I'm sorry. I'll take you out tomorrow. Does that work?"
Finally, she was able to get him to smile. He eagerly nodded his head wrapping his arms around her neck. "I'm happy you aren't sick."
Ryder hugged him back looking over at Daryl. Victoria was laying on his chest now her head moving up and down with his breathing. He was looking over at her. Her breath hitched when she saw the adoration, trust and complete love that filled his eyes.
The moment was broken when Mason pulled away from her. She heard Victoria speak up. "Can I come too, Mommy?"
She was about to speak up, but Daryl cut her off. "What did we tell you? When you turn 10, you can go out with mom or me. Until then you stay in the fences." She pouted looking at Daryl who didn't budge when she shot him a puppy dog look. He grabbed her nose. "Not goin' to work on me V."
She wrapped her hands around his chest. She couldn't do much more since his shoulders and chest were much broader than her wingspan. "But daddy."
Ryder smiled when she noticed that Daryl was shaking his head. "No. Mason had to wait. You need to also."
She laid her head back on his chest closing her eyes. "Fine."
His big hand came up and started rubbing her back. "That's my girl."
Ryder laid down next to Mason pulling him into her. He didn't seem to mind. Instead, he moved closer to her. She closed her eyes about ready to fall asleep when she heard Victoria again. "Mommy?"
"What, sweetheart?"
"Will you sing the butterfly song?"
"I will if you both go to sleep."
She saw them both nodding their heads eagerly. She started to sing the lullaby that her grandfather used to sing her. She wondered how many times she had sung it to them. She smiled to herself. She could get used to this.
When she was done, she looked over and noticed that all three of them were sleeping. She laid her head on the pillow with Mason closing her eyes falling asleep.
(A/N): There's the end of Chapter 7. I really hope you guys liked it. This was my first time writing a steamy scene so let me know how I did. If you guys liked it enough and I didn't do a horrible job, then I might incorporate more in the future. Also, I finally was able to make Ryder give up some information about her past!
Thanks, everyone! Don't forget to R&R!