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

This may be the last drabble, MAYBE. New chapter will probably be up after I've seen the new episode.

Rain

Hiatus Drabble 8

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

"Whatcha keep looking at me like that for, kid?" Cassidy finally asked, swallowing her mouthful of whatever it was they'd been cooking over the fire all morning. She preferred not to dwell on what the stringy meat might actually be.

She sounded so much like Daryl that Andrea choked on her mouthful of food and glen giggled behind his hand. Carl jumped and his cheeks flushed pink. Lori was sitting besides him and she glared at Cassidy. Cassidy stared stonily back.

"Nothing." Carl said hurriedly, then he looked hesitantly at her from across the burnt out fire. "It's just, you look…" He scrunched his freckled nose up as he thought. "Confused." He finally offered, his brow wrinkled as though he wasn't sure he'd found the right word.

Cassidy chewed another mouthful as she mulled it over. Daryl's bright eyes were flicking between the two of them thoughtfully. He was starting to realise that Carl observed her just as closely as he did, not in the same way of course, Carl studied her as if she was some sort of magical mythical being who he couldn't hope to ever understand but he was just happy to have the chance to know her. The kid was right, though. Cassidy usually moved and spoke with absolute certainty, never hesitating and never second-guessing herself. She'd had a strange lost look on her face all morning, though.

"Oh." She finally said, fixing a shrewd look on the boy that made his fork falter halfway to his mouth. "I think it's my birthday today. Or it might have been yesterday."

There were general murmurs and congratulations around the camp and Cassidy shifted uncomfortably. She had only agreed to eat breakfast with them because Lochie had insisted on it.

"Happy birthday." Carl said brightly, beaming at her.

She smiled at him, one of those rare real smiles that lit her up.

"I'm quite old now." She sighed, leaning back in the canvas chair and frowning down at her empty plate. "Twenty five."

"That's not old." Carl protested loyally.

"It's the oldest I've ever been." Cassidy argued.

Carl giggled.

"Twenty five is closer to thirty than twenty." Lochie chipped in helpfully.

"And twenty is closer to brat than young woman." Cassidy snapped, nudging Lochie's bare ankle with her booted toe.

Lochie stuck her tongue out.

"Calm down, Grandma. Don't get your pacemaker all worked up."

Carl hurriedly shoved his forkful of food into his mouth to disguise his giggles. Dale looked as if he'd swallowed a lemon and Rick was peering between them in anguish. Cassidy rolled her eyes at the Sheriff. He was always in the middle, mediating arguments and disputes. He hadn't seemed to realise that this was just how they were yet, bickering was a fundamental part of their friendship. Since she was already looking at the Sheriff, and since she was good at reading people, she saw the change that came over his face. Apparently he took something of Lochie's age banter to heart because the blood seemed to drain from his face before flooding back almost immediately. His mouth drew down in a frown and his brows contracted.

Lori followed Cassidy's gaze and frowned. Being more possessive and jealous than observant, she didn't see whatever flickered over Lochie's face during the uncomfortable silence that followed, but Cassidy did. Cassidy got to her feet, sending a significant glance at a distracted Lochie. Following her silent orders, Lochie followed her away from the group.

"Don't say it." Lochie cut in before Cassidy could open her mouth as they made their way over to the buckets used for washing up.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Cassidy lied smoothly, dunking her plate into the bucket.

"Yeah, right." Lochie was not convinced. "Look nothing happened alright, I didn't make a move on another woman's husband. Not really anyway."

Cassidy snorted, scrubbing the plate with an old rag.

"Like I care if you upset her." She said scathingly, scrubbing a little more vigorously than she needed to. "Just… don't go getting your heart crushed."

Lochie stared at her in amazement. Not what she'd expected.

"I could say the same to you."

Cassidy laughed again, finishing with the plate and stacking it with the few other clean ones.

"No you couldn't. Daryl is… it's complicated. Let's just say we're not the falling in love type. But Rick…" She faltered and hesitated, mulling it over and searching for the right words. "He's the kind of guy you can't help falling for. So just be careful alright. Because I don't know about you, but I have no idea where to find a bucket of ice cream and a huge array of horror movies to get you over any heartbreak."

Lochie laughed, linking her arm through Cassidy's as they wandered back towards camp.

"That's how you get over break ups." Lochie pointed out. "Everyone knows the only way to get over someone is to sleep with his best friend."

Shane and Rick were passing by, discussing the day's plans, and the four of them looked at each other for a moment. Lochie turned bright pink and Cassidy struggled to keep her mouth straight. Shane levelled his dark gaze at the two of them. Like Daryl, he'd come to recognise that the two of them were more useful than most of their group put together.

"What're you two doing today?" Rick asked politely, fiddling with the rolled up map in his hands.

Lochie shrugged.

"I'm all yours, Sheriff." She said sweetly.

"What about you?" Shane asked Cassidy, cocking his head to the side.

"I'm not trawling through the woods on a pointless mission." She said firmly.

Shane looked as if he wanted to laugh but he gave her a grim smile instead, rubbing his hand over the back of his shaved head. Rick frowned and Lochie grabbed Cassidy's arm and yanked her towards their tent.

"You know how sensitive Rick is about this Sophia business." She scolded as she searched the small tent for her walking boots.

"And I have kept my mouth shut about it." Cassidy pointed out. "But I'm not putting my neck on the line, scouring the woods for someone that's probably already dead."

Lochie sighed. This was a familiar argument by now and it never got them anywhere.

"Anyway. If you did sleep with Shane to make Rick jealous, that would send Andrea into orbit. I approve." Cassidy said gleefully.

Since her shoulders were still delicate Cassidy had made the sensible decision to stay out of the sun, which was why she was searching through the RV looking for some form of entertainment. She'd read all the books she'd pilfered at least twice, including the manual for how to take a tractor engine apart and put it back together. She was now bored. She was drawing a blank in the RV though. A deck of cards was immensely boring when you were alone.

She pushed open one of the rather flimsy plastic windows and stuck her head out. Carl was trundling towards his tent with his arms full of relatively clean laundry. Cassidy let out an ear piercing whistle and he dropped the clothes in shock. There was a loud clattering from the roof, Dale and Glenn's voices faltered and Glenn's head appeared over the side of the RV above her.

"Busy kid?" Cassidy called across the camp. Carl shook his head. "Come on, I'll teach you to play poker." She swivelled and peeped up at Glenn, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun. "You too."

The temperature had climbed again and it was much too hot to be closeted inside the RV, even with the doors and windows open, so they settled on the grass outside in the shade cast by the bulky vehicle. Carl and Glenn settled cross-legged on either side of her forming a small triangle.

"Now, I could teach you to play real poker." She began as she shuffled the deck expertly from hand to hand. "Or I could teach you to cheat. Usually I don't approve of cheating but poker is a boring game without it so I'll make an exception." Glenn's eyes were transfixed, watching her nimble little hands as she worked the cards into a blur. "See? While I've been babbling you've been distracted enough for me to arrange the cards."

She shuffled the cards properly and then dealt them all in.

"What're we playing for?" Carl asked as he scooped up his cards.

Cassidy cast him an amused look.

"Here." She slipped the long beaded necklace she'd been wearing on her wrist off and snapped the thin string. She counted out thirty of the little beads each and left ten to one side. "Each bead represents a dollar."

"Just one?"

She laughed and ruffled Carl's hair.

"You're a little shark really aren't you?"

Carl grinned.

"I give up. Unbelievable. I don't know which one is worse. Bunch of cheaters-"

Rick, Shane, Lochie and Daryl frowned at Glenn as he passed them by, muttering irritably to himself and scowling darkly.

"What was that about?" Rick asked as Glenn waved off his greeting and stomped right past them.

Lochie pointed over to the RV where Carl and Cassidy were cackling like a bunch of old hens and apparently flicking something at each other.

"Dad, look!" Carl called as they approached, holding out a long piece of delicate string strung with dozens of beads. "Look what I won."

Rick examined the broken necklace in confusion.

"You did not teach him to play poker?" Lochie said, clapping a hand to her mouth to hide her giggles.

"I didn't need to." Cassidy argued with dignity. "Little sneak cleaned us out."

"How'd ya get Glenn's hat then?" Daryl chortled, slapping the peak of the hat until it tipped down over her nose.

She straightened it out and glared at him.

"Glenn's too sweet to play poker, he can't lie to save his skinny backside. I didn't even have to flash him any leg to distract him."

"You owe me three hundred dollars." Carl chipped in, waving the string of beads under her nose.

"Indeed I do not." Cassidy sniffed. "We agreed each bead was one dollar."

"Nuh uh!" Carl protested. "Each bead was ten dollars!"

"Well the point is moot because money means naff all nowadays." Lochie interjected helpfully.

"Absolutely not." Cassidy growled, glaring up at Lochie. "I always pay my debts. You'll get your money kid."

Carl grinned and dashed off after Shane for his shooting practice. Rick and Lochie took a seat on the grass besides Cassidy after some cajoling and Daryl slid down the RV on her other side. She liked the way he positioned himself so his bare sweating arm was pressed lightly against hers through the thin material of one of his shirts she'd commandeered.

"No luck, huh?"

It wasn't really a question, it was quite obvious they hadn't found the girl yet. She blinked in surprise when she realised that Daryl had slid his hand onto her bare thigh, his fingers had slipped into the gap between her thighs where one calf was crossed over the other. His thumb lightly brushed over her bare skin. It wasn't the caress that surprised her, it was the public nature of his touch. He'd never touched her in front of the others before, well not that kind of touch anyway, an almost possessive yet strangely gentle intimate touch. She found one of the beads they'd been throwing at each other and she rolled it between her fingers, then flicked it. It landed in the bucket used for washing up with a loud plop.

Lochie grabbed another discarded bead and mimicked Cassidy's action. The bead made a disappointing swoop and landed a few feet away. Cassidy snorted. Lochie swore at her.

"Go on, Sheriff. How's your aim?" Cassidy taunted, handing Rick another bead.

Rick flicked the bead and it soared across the camp and disappeared into the grass. Cassidy whistled.

"Nice action."

Rick looked embarrassed and she smirked. He was so adorable. Had she been in the mood she would have continued with the innuendo until she'd seen quite how pink he could blush. She didn't have the energy though, and Daryl's hand had tightened infinitesimally on her thigh. The thought sent an absurd swoop of pleasure surging through her stomach.

"We should get back to the search." Rick finally sighed after a good ten minutes of peaceful silence, rubbing his hand through his damp curls as he got up.

"You haven't eaten." Lochie scolded as she scrambled to her feet. "You said you'd eat."

"I'm not hungry-"

"Bullshit."

Rick gaped at her. Cassidy had the feeling that Lori had only ever whined at him when they argued, or screeched at him. Lochie was challenging him and he looked completely baffled. Rick was almost an entire head and shoulders taller than Lochie but he definitely seemed to be cowering as she glared at him, her hands on her hips, practically breathing fire.

"Let's go find something to eat." She said firmly.

"But-"

Her eyes narrowed and he smiled meekly, following her back towards the camp.

"That might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen." Cassidy observed.

She sighed and let her head fall back against the metal of the RV, fanning herself with Glenn's cap.

"Ya gonna keep that?"

She shrugged without looking at him.

"Might do. My trophy." She grinned when he didn't reply. "Nah, he can have it back."

He remained silent but she heard the striking of a match and smelt the sharp tangy scent as he lit up.

"Twenty five." Daryl grunted, blowing a plume of smoke into the air.

"Yup." Cassidy replied without opening her eyes, letting him guide the cigarette to her mouth. "I keep forgetting I'm still so young."

He slanted his gaze across to the side of her face but she looked serious enough. He never could tell when she was joking. She frowned, rubbing her neck with a grimace of pain.

"All these aches and pains, you'd think I was your age." She teased.

He glowered at her but she still had her eyes closed so the effect was somewhat diminished.

"Funny." He grumped moodily; the age gap was still a sore point as far as he was concerned, even if she laughed it off whenever he mentioned it. "What's that one? Wrestling a gator?"

She laughed, finally cracking open an eye and peeping at him in amusement.

"Nothing as dramatic as that." She sighed. "Slipped on the stage, cracked it on the pole. Fractured my clavicle."

Daryl choked on the smoke he'd just inhaled, gaping at her with his mouth hanging open.

"P-pole?" He managed to get out between wheezing gulps for air. "You were a stripper?"

"I was a pole dancer." She corrected haughtily. "No nudity involved. It was a very high class place too."

"Oh I bet."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Pole dancing is an excellent form of exercise, thank you very much. Six months of it had me in the best shape I've ever been in."

He took the opportunity to run a hot gaze over every inch of her. The denim cut offs concealed very little and one of his favourite shirts had been tied under her breasts to expose her navel.

"How old were ya?"

She shrugged, her eyes flitting closed again.

"Nineteen."

"Paying your way through school?" He grinned.

She jabbed him sharply with her elbow.

"Hardly. Undercover, I suppose. Surveillance." She fell silent.

"You fell." He said slowly, sounding slightly puzzled. "Slipped. Fell."

"Yes, Dixon. I'd explain it further but I can't think of any words that small." She quipped, looking at him strangely.

"Can't see you slipping." He snapped defensively. "Ya do all that dancin' and fancy stretching and sparring with Lochie. You never fall."

She turned quite pink and she avoided his eye awkwardly.

"I used to be very clumsy, one of the reasons I wasn't very good at ballet. Besides, dancing in stilettos is not easy." She gave him an assessing look. "I'm assuming you don't know that from experience."

He looked at her, not quite sure if she was referring to the strip joints he'd visited or indicating that he'd physically tried dancing in eight inch heels.

"Of course I'm sure you couldn't afford to frequent the kind of place I worked."

He opened his mouth irritably but she pre-empted him by placing one warm hand on the back of his neck and drawing his mouth down to hers. Usually when they kissed it was a prelude to what came next, which was mostly hot nasty and somewhat hasty. This time he decided to keep his hands where they were and enjoy the heady mix of her body pressing against his, her lips moving with his and the delicious scent of her hair. Her hands had slid up, tangling in his hair and pulling lightly sending prickles of pleasure surging through him.

She broke away only when she couldn't last any longer without a gasp of oxygen. She rested her forehead against his slick throat, his pounding pulse a steady beat through her head. She didn't usually condone public touching, or touching at all unless it would result in a climax for one or both of them. He was slightly disturbed by the content throb pulsing through him. He wondered briefly if she expected him to stroke her hair or her shoulder or something, but she'd never displayed any girly behaviour before.

"I don't even remember the last time I just made out with a guy." She said a little breathlessly against his neck. "Err, not guy. I mean a man. A huge tough testosterone-fuelled man."

He could feel her smiling against him.

"Shut up." He said gruffly.

"Just making sure your ego is nicely flattered. Did I mention how well endowed you are? Don't want you feeling like I'm challenging your masculinity or anything. I've told you how well you pleasure me, haven't I?

"Fuck off." He snapped, although he couldn't quite keep the grin from spreading over his face. She could always make him laugh.

"Are you busy, Dixon?"

"Why?"

"Because I plan to spend all afternoon with my tongue down your throat." She purred, rubbing her cheek against his like a cat. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No ma'am."

LadyLecter47 – I can't wait

VileMalapert – it wasn't very realistic really, as if anyone could ever refuse Daryl Dixon :D

SaraLostInes – did Daryl ever strike you as anything other than the jealous type lol? Hmmm I guess it is, it was mainly meant to be snapshots, behind the scenes stuff that didn't make it into the chapters.

AudioRKO – the way I saw it was that Daryl was silent because he didn't have anything to say to them really, they are strangers after all. He is the embodiment of sexy cocky, yum :D I adore Kenzie, I'm tinkering with a Kenzie Dyson fic at the moment, can't decide whether to publish it or not.

undeadangel – thanks I'm glad