A/N: Don't own (although I'd love to have my very own Norman Reedus :D) don't sue!

Lyrics are from 'Rain' by Patty Griffin

I think I've decided to post a few random drabbles while the season is on hiatus until February. They're just random scribblings that you won't necessarily have to read to keep up with the fic. It's mainly so I don't write myself into a corner when the second half of the season starts. Merry Christmas!

Rain

Hiatus Drabble 1

It's hard to listen to a hard, hard heart
Beatin' close to mine
Poundin' up against the stone and steel
Walls that I won't climb
Sometimes a hurt is so deep, deep, deep
You think that you're gonna drown
Sometimes all I can do is weep, weep, weep
With all this rain fallin' down
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holding on underneath this shroud
Rain
It's hard to know when to give up the fight
Some things you want will just never be right
It's never rained like it has tonight before
Now, I don't wanna beg you, baby
For something maybe you could never give
I'm not lookin' for the rest of your life
I just want another chance to live
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holdin' on underneath this shroud
Rain

Daryl winced at the sharp light glaring over his face, throwing one arm up to shade his eyes. When the light didn't fade, he blinked and squinted. He was on a bed, a rather huge bed. It wasn't fancy but it was ridiculously large. The sheets beneath him were soft and silky, cool white material against his bare skin. He pushed himself up into a sitting position. He couldn't see much of the room beyond the bed, it was like the bed was its own little island. The bed was a huge four-poster one with thick bronze curtains tied to each post.

He leant back against the pile of pillows behind him in puzzlement. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd ended up here but he wasn't complaining. He realised with a shot of surprise that he was naked… and very clean. His chin felt like he'd actually shaved too. He felt refreshed too, as if he'd actually managed to get a good night's sleep for once. Huh.

"There's the look of half-witted bemusement I'm used to."

His hands clenched automatically on the sheet, drawing it up around his waist. Cassidy had the look of amused affection on her face that he enjoyed most. She looked like he'd never seen her before. She was clean for a start, completely clean not just rinsed clean. Her hair was shining and curled, held back above her ears with pins and rippling over her shoulders. She was in a pretty, simple dress that fell in fluttery waves to her knees. It was cut quite high and halter-necked, exposing her bare shoulders. She saw him looking and she grinned.

"Do you like it?" She held the skirt away from her with both hands, floating it backwards and forwards until it swished in a completely girly move that was almost more shocking than the dress. "You must do."

He frowned, watching as she padded around the end of the big bed, one hand trailing along the wooden baseboard. Her feet were bare, her painted toenails flashing in the light.

"Green is your favourite colour."

He blinked in surprise, wondering how she knew that. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing they talked about. She turned away from him. The back of her dress was cut out to just beneath her shoulder blades. He was used to seeing her bare back by now, but it looked strangely vulnerable against the dark silk of the dress.

He licked his suddenly dry lips as she reached behind her, tugging the knot of the dress until it released. It slithered to the ground with a whispery sound as the silky material pooled at her bare feet. He wondered where she'd found the lingerie. It was green too, dark ivy green that made her eyes sparkle like emeralds. A delicate boned corset made of lace and matching underwear that gave him a tantalizing view of what was to come.

"Where did-" He swallowed.

She cocked her head to the side and looked him, her brow furrowed in confusion. She twirled in a circle, her hair swinging. She peeped at him over her shoulder and he swallowed.

"Don't you like it?"

He could only nod.

"Not what I expected." He finally managed to say. "Not you."

She smiled, her lips ruby red and glistening enticingly. Her tongue darted out and ran along her lower lip. He felt a bead of sweat trickle from under his hairline and running down his cheek.

"Of course not. You picked it."

He had absolutely no memory of ever laying an eye on those scraps of lace before but he was damned glad he had. She moved around the bed, stepping out of the dress at her feet delicately. He was intently distracted by the way her hand caressed the beam of the four-poster bed as she passed it. She used the beam to climb up onto the bed, quite a lot more gracefully than he would have expected. She ran the palms of her hands along the underside of the canopy above, wandering around the bed idly.

He was at a complete loss. He really had no idea. Maybe he'd been shot again… or banged his head… or maybe he was actually dead. Whatever it was, he really didn't care.

"Come here." He growled, having had quite enough of watching her moving just out of reach.

"Always in such a rush." She chided, not moving an inch closer to him.

She leant back against the beam, looking inordinately slender and pale against the dark wood.

"I got no idea what's happening but I'm gonna make the most of it."

She spun around quite elegantly again and then stepped towards him, weaving in and out of his legs step by step. She stood over him. He caressed the backs of her calves, the muscles flexing beneath his warm hands. He stretched up, stroking the backs of her thighs and tickling the silky lace there. She dropped down, straddling him. She ran her hands over his bare chest, using her thumbs to rub over the planes of his chest and stomach gently. He kissed her, his hands tangling in her silky hair. She murmured against his lips as he tugged gently, tightening his grip on the silken strands until she groaned. She leant back at his ministrations, exposing her throat to his probing lips. He loved her throat and she knew it, they'd never really had enough time alone for him to enjoy it quite as much as he'd like to. He lapped his tongue over her pulse point until it was fluttering like a trapped bird, then he sank his teeth into the delicate flesh until she shuddered.

Eventually he released the bruised red flesh, running his tongue over the marks he'd left there. She was leaning far back, as far back as she could in the restrictive corset, the expanse of her corseted navel and chest rising before him. Her cheeks had flushed and a rosy blush was spreading over her collarbone and across her chest. Her eyes were dark and heavy-lidded with desire. He had clearly risen to attention, the sheets tented before her but they had been creeping around having frenzied sex for days and now that he could, he had every intention of taking his time.

He went to work on the buttons of the corset, following each one with his mouth and tongue. By the time he'd fully unfastened it she was quite breathlessly squirming beneath his lips. Both of his hands around her waist pulled her forward enough so he could work on her chest. She sighed breathlessly. His hands worked the muscles of her back, massaging and rubbing where the corset had dug in. His tongue flickered over her nipple and she laughed, the genuine laugh of pleasure he rarely heard in the real world.

He rolled her over without breaking contact, revelling when there wasn't even a twitch of pain in his shoulder. Mindful of her complaining that he was always ruining her underwear, he hooked his thumbs into the lace at her hips and slid them slowly down her thighs, trailing his tongue in their wake. She obediently lifted her legs so he could discard them. He wasn't going to tell her that his fantasies often included her sprawled before him, flushed with desire with her huge, usually mocking, eyes glazed with hunger and need.

"If this was your fantasy." He murmured, his lips buried against her soft thigh. "Would it be different?"

"You want me to tell you my fantasies?" She breathed, her eyes had flickered closed and her fingers were grasping at the sheets. She caught her breath as he put a palm on each of her knees and pressed them fully apart.

One of the reasons he would never tell her why this was his fantasy, having her squirming and hot with desire against his mouth and tongue, was because he didn't want to contemplate what that said about how he felt about her.

"Daryl…" She eventually whimpered, her eyes so dark they were almost black as she raked him with them.

He felt a brief flash of triumph that she had finally handed herself over to him so completely. He was aching now though, so hard it hurt just brushing against the silken sheets beneath them. He clambered up the bed, pausing poised above her. He pressed forward gently, hissing between his teeth at the sensation of her against him, still warm and wet from her arousal and his saliva. She ran her hands through his hair, pulling his mouth down to hers. He thrust into her without warning and she bit down on his lip. Her nails dug into his shoulders and he shuddered. He had always been rather rough and hurried, too worried about walkers to take his time. Now he took it slowly, sliding almost all the way out of her before pushing back in gradually. She was shaking violently beneath him, her eyes closed and her head tossing on the pillows. He shoved into her suddenly and she grunted in surprise, her eyes flashing open and her lips tweaking into a grin.

She drew him down to her, her hands tangling in his hair as she kissed him almost desperately. This time when she came, he was eye to eye with her and he saw something flashing in her eyes. He didn't know what it was and he didn't have time to think about it because when she clamped tightly around him, he sank fully into her with a groan.

They lay entangled for a long time. After a moment, he rolled off her. He sighed and she looked at him sadly.

"This is a dream, you know."

He let his head fall back against the wooden headboard. Of course. Much too good to be true.

"You know what that means, don't you?"

He opened his eyes and lifted his head. She was peering at him through her feathery lashes, her hair coiling over one shoulder and tickling her cleavage. She leaned so close to him that his head started to reel. He could see all the golden flecks in her eyes, all the freckles on her cheekbones and dusting her breasts.

"I'm under your command." She breathed, her sweet breath fanning across his cheek. "No strings, no complications, no questions."

She made a very good point. No one to catch them, no one to judge.

"If this was your dream, would it be the same?" He asked.

She sighed and the wicked look he was growing so used to was back in her eyes.

"If this were my dream, Rick would be here."

He jerked and she put a restraining hand on his abdomen before he could struggle to a sitting position.

"With us." She amended cheekily, the smirk on her face quite unreadable.

He gaped at her. She looked innocently back at him.

"With us." He repeated, suddenly feeling quite dizzy at the baffling turn this dream had now taken.

"Yes." She leaned up and kissed his jaw. "With us. Sometimes." He blinked when he realised she was touching herself as she talked. Her gaze was fixed on him as she stroked herself lazily. "Sometimes it's just the two of you."

He swallowed. He really didn't know what to say. He was completely at a loss. If this was his dream then either he knew something of her real fantasies, or he was a very very fucked up individual. He didn't know which option was least appealing. He leaned over her, his hand joining hers. As she rubbed gently, his fingers slid inside her and she grunted.

"Really?" He said quietly into her hair.

"Oh yes." She breathed.

His pride took over then. This was his damn dream and this was his bloody woman, sort of… in the dream at least. Rick was not going to enter into it in any way, pun intended. The pace of his fingers increased. He was going to make sure no thoughts of Rick entered into her head at all.

LadyLecter47 – hope this is enough to tide you over for now

Dalonega Noquisi – thanks, hope you like this too

SaraLostInes – I do too :D I'm at a bit of a loss actually, if I put them somewhere specific it's going to clash with the second half of the season and then I'd be stuck so random drabbles it is for now. Hope you like it