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
Sorry about the uber late update, it's a little gooey too. Unexpected I know :D
Rain
Chapter Twenty Nine
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 crouched behind a fallen log, watching the walkers through the sparse leaves. He could take them out pretty easily, wouldn't even need to lose any arrows, but it made more sense to wait them out. He retrieved a hefty rock from amongst the dirt and broken leaves at his feet. There was a broken branch half dangling from a tree trunk on the other side of the clearing, it looked heavy enough to cause a racket, especially if he could land it onto a pile of rocks at the edge of a small incline. He took a breath, studied the branch and launched the rock. The branch wobbled and he cursed, searching for another rock. The branch gave with a loud creak, tumbling down and ricocheting into the pile of rocks. They scattered and rolled down the hill with a loud cracking sound as they bounced off each other. Daryl gave a satisfied grunt, climbing over the trunk and circling around the retreating walkers as they searched out the source of the noise.
He just had to hope they hadn't gotten themselves eaten in his absence. He could usually rely on Cassidy to keep her ass alive but he'd never seen her in such bad shape. Even after her encounter in the bunker she hadn't been this messed up. He could feel worry like a burning hot coal in the centre of his chest. It had taken a few weeks but she was mostly healed up, enough for her to be getting cabin fever and driving him up the wall trying to do something about it anyway. He'd gone on a hunting trip after they'd gotten down to the bare essentials in their current camp. They'd managed to find a small row of houses half hidden by the treeline, they'd cleared out the walkers without too much fuss and it had offered them a roof for a few days. It wasn't a long term solution but it would do for now. In the day and a half he'd been away from them, he'd managed to focus on nothing but the hunt, survival was what he did best and pushing distractions to the back of his mind was second nature to him, but she'd still been there. Niggling at the back of his brain, he hadn't been able to shake her. He could sense her presence a few miles back, a slender wire stretching between them pulled taut by the distance but not broken. He re-traced his steps through the trees, well aware that at this pace he'd never reach them before dark.
"Pretty easy to sneak up on the master hunter."
He whirled into a crouch, crossbow flicking up and levelling at her head. She rolled her eyes. He scowled, swinging his crossbow back onto his shoulder and giving her his most poisonous glare. Sometimes, it was like this girl had no sense of self-preservation at all. She manoeuvred herself down from the tree she was sitting in, moving carefully to accommodate her injuries. Every time he saw the bruises still faintly blooming on her smooth bronzed skin, his guts clawed at themselves angrily. He could feel his anger boiling in his throat and he turned away.
"What're you doin' out here alone?"
He could practically hear her shrugging as she circled around him and headed on down the vague path. She was moving easier, her movements more fluid than they had been although she was still blatantly protecting her ribs. Every time she ducked under a branch or hopped over a ditch in the ground, she hunched over her ribs practically broadcasting her weak spot. Right now he was pretty sure he knew her best in the world and he'd never figured out one of her weak spots before. That made him more nervous than her prancing around on her own. If anyone caught them she'd fight, that was who she was, but even an amateur wouldn't need more than a few minutes to figure out where to hit her so she went down for good.
"You're staring." She chirped over her shoulder without looking back, her hips swaying enticingly in front of him. "Not found us anything, huh?"
He didn't reply. It was obvious he was pretty much empty handed. It was getting colder and colder out, pretty soon there would be even scarcer pickings and they'd have to move on again regardless. He was brooding again. Rick had been unloading on him recently, pacing a hole into the floor and thinking out loud. Daryl was so silent and inconspicuous when he wanted to be, it was almost easy to forget he was there and Rick had been so wrapped up in his worries lately it had all just come pouring out. He blinked when Cassidy whistled quietly, waving her hand in front of his face. She cocked her head, her lips flickering into a smirk.
"You're cute when you're brooding. You get all intense." She popped up onto her tiptoes, brushing his fringe from his forehead and pressing her lips against the frown lines there. "It's adorable." She made a noise at the back of her throat. "Err… sexy. It's sexy. Not adorable."
He pushed her away with a scowl. She laughed it off, her green eyes sparkling in amusement. The sun was rapidly sinking beyond the trees and the temperature had dropped already. Cassidy, in her jeans and an over-sized black t-shirt, gave a delicate shiver. Goosebumps had crept over her bare arms and the patches of thigh bared by the slashes in her jeans.
"Redneck." Daryl flicked her a glance. "Can we go home now?" She slipped her arms around his waist from behind, her breath tickling along the hair at the nape of his neck. "I can think of so many better ways to stay warm."
He hesitated. He still didn't have enough squirrels to feed everyone and they only had a couple more days at the most before they'd have to move on. But the sun was almost fully down now, the temperature had plummeted as if someone had flicked a switch and her warm body was pressed so deliciously against his.
"If we leave now, I promise to give you that massage you like." She wheedled, leaning her chin over his shoulder, her lips just caressing his earlobe. "The one that always ends… messily."
Her hands were warm through his thin shirt, the sensitive skin of his belly tingling at the promise of skin to skin contact.
"Woman, you are-" He broke off as she ducked away from him, hooking her fingers into his belt and yanking him forwards, back towards the camp.
"I'd watch how you finish that statement if I were you, redneck." She purred sweetly over her shoulder.
Daryl felt her stirring besides him, thrashing suddenly and then stilling. He half cracked open an eye. She was facing him, her features contorted in her sleep. Her brow was all furrows, her eyes rolling beneath her lids and her mouth twisted into a grimace. He blinked fully awake in surprise. She occasionally had nightmares after everything that had happened but she always snapped out of them and went back to sleep with little trouble. She sighed, rolling onto her side and curling into a ball. He threw an arm around her waist, drawing her slightly closer. She gave a shiver that shook her whole body, sighing again.
"It's okay, Red." He mumbled, his voice raw from sleep. "Just dreamin'."
She didn't seem to hear him, shifting around beneath the sheet. She writhed wildly for a brief moment, squirming as if she was trying desperately to get out of something. She bolted upright, sucking in such a deep breath he was slightly concerned she'd never stop screaming if she let it out. She let out few a ragged breaths, panting as if she'd run a mile.
"S'ok." Daryl repeated sleepily. "Ya dreamin'. You're okay."
She lay back down and he could feel her trembling from across the mattress. He propped an arm around her waist and she curled into his side, shivering as if she were freezing cold.
"Nothin's gonna hurt you." He mumbled, pulling her closer until his lips brushed her forehead on the pillow. "I swear."
If he hadn't been ninety five per cent asleep already, he might have seen her smiling dozily at the romantic words so very un-Daryl-like. She snuggled closer, his heartbeat thudding steadily against her shoulder.
"I know." She muttered, letting his warmth and sense of safety wash over her.
Early morning light pierced through his eyelids at the same time Daryl became aware of a hand caressing his bare chest and belly, feather-light fingernails raking over the trail of hair covering the delicate skin below his belly button.
"What're you doing, Red?" He mumbled sleepily, throwing an arm across his forehead to block out the bright rays.
"I should think it was blatantly obvious by this point, Dixon."
He could practically feel her lips smiling against his other arm from beneath the sheets, her soft lips whispering along the tiny hairs on his arms as she shuffled further up the bed.
Daryl could feel her warm breath fanning against the back of his neck, her cool fingertips dancing along his ribs. Her body pressed against his back, soft and pliant yet firm and well-muscled all the same. He'd never met anyone like this girl. He'd never had anyone but Merle; no one to care for and no one who loved him, even in Merle's strange limited way. Whatever it was that made him want to protect these people, fight for them, even kill for them, it was nothing to what blazed under his ribcage when he thought of her. Or when she was groping him, as she currently was now, driving him to distraction as per usual.
"We don't have time." He muttered grouchily into the pillow.
She sighed and rolled away from him.
"I'm pretty sure you have time." She said pointedly, a wicked grin curling her mouth when he glared at her from under his arm. "I'm kidding!" She sighed and burrowed back down into the quilt. "I don't want to go anywhere, it's too cold."
"That's the point." He scrubbed his hands tiredly over his face. "It's getting colder. We're running out of food."
"This apocalypse just isn't what it used to be, huh?"
He flashed her a glare and she grinned.
"Why do we have to go?" She pouted sulkily, pulling the covers over her head. "Let somebody else go tramping through the trees looking for food for once."
He snorted derisively and she laughed.
"Let's go, before they wake up."
"No. It's too cold." Cassidy argued mutinously, coiling into a ball under the quilt.
She felt the bed dip and a cool draft replace his reassuring body heat as he slipped out from between the sheets. The room was eerily quiet for a few seconds and she tensed. She expected him to whip the sheets from the bed, instead she felt a warm strong hand wrap around her ankle and yank her unceremoniously out of the bed. With a startled squeak she tumbled off the mattress and landed in a heap at his feet. She glowered.
"You know if I'd wanted a load of people to take care of, I'd have had kids. Didn't need an apocalypse to land me with a bunch of them." She grumbled as he pulled her to her feet.
She continued to grumble as she washed in the cold water filling the bathroom sink and pulled on her clothes. Daryl let her grumbling wash over him, the familiar rumble of her voice like white noise as he dressed and checked over their supplies. She'd moved on to grouching about not even getting an orgasm out of the early morning wake up call when Glenn and Rick tapped lightly on the bedroom door and shoved it open.
"We're going to spread out today, try and make it around town. See if we can find somewhere." Rick summarised without preamble.
"Good." Cassidy snapped, emerging from the bathroom tying her hair in a messy topknot on top of her head. She cast the stink eye over Glenn when he blinked at the bare flash of exposed navel under her shirt. "I'll go with you guys, cover more ground." She strapped her knife to her thigh, rummaged around in Daryl's pack and yanked out one of his shirts for extra cover. "Hey baby, dinner on the table when I get back? Thanks, sweetcheeks." She slurred, swatting Daryl on the butt on her way past.
Glenn sputtered with laughter, sidling out of the room when Daryl literally growled at him. Even Rick cracked a smile, telling Cassidy he'd meet her out front and ducking out onto the landing. She turned to Daryl, watching as he checked over his crossbow one last time and slung it over his shoulder. She put her arm around his waist, drawing herself against him. He grunted in surprise at the unexpected display of affection, his hand resting on her waist. She let go almost immediately and he squeezed her bare waist as she drew away.
"Be careful out there, Rambo. I have a bad feeling."
He studied her for a minute, taking in the familiar planes of her face; the long-lashed almond shaped emerald eyes, the slightly turned up nose with its dusting of innocent freckles and the very very familiar mouth.
"Just don't do anything stupid." She snapped, tucking her fingers into a handful of his shirt and tugging on it for emphasis.
"Likewise." Daryl rumbled, untangling her fingers from his shirt and squeezing lightly.
She still didn't leave and he frowned at her. She was so sure of herself, it was disconcerting to see her on uncertain footing. They'd gone their separate ways many times of the weeks and she'd never had this reaction. That must have been one hell of a nightmare. He shifted uncomfortably, scrubbing a hand over his chin.
"You remember the night after you found us on the highway?" She cocked her head, a faint flush creeping over her throat. "Remember what I asked?"
Cassidy gaped at him. They'd been a little bit drunk, well hammered, and the conversation had been bizarre to say the least. But she remembered it. Every single, mainly-slurred, syllable. They'd been more asleep than awake, she'd coiled herself into his side and decided she didn't care if she got eaten as long as she could stay there until it was over.
"You asked me if I loved you." She said quietly, remembering his murmured words disappearing into her hair, that strange sensation when you can't remember if you've imagined it or not.
"You said you trusted me, and that was pretty much the same thing." His eyes were very very blue, his mouth contorted into a grim line and she knew that whatever he was trying to say was being dragged out of him with a rusty hook. "So trust me."
She stared back at him unflinchingly, his familiar bronzed face tilted towards hers, every angle defiant and strong. Her heart kicked against her ribs. These weren't their conversations, they never said things like this to each other it was beyond the two of them. They were relatively emotionally impaired.
"Are you two going to finish sucking face? Daylight's wasting." Lochie called through the door, rapping her knuckles on the wood so hard a few flecks of the chipped paint bounced off and littered the dusty floorboards.
Glenn was blinking at her in amazement, the idea of interrupting Daryl and Cassidy whether they were in the middle of an argument or making up making his stomach shrivel up and cling to his spine. Cassidy rolled her eyes, pressing her lips briefly against Daryl's and dragging a chortling Glenn away. Lochie was still in her pyjamas, literally a set of sky-blue flannel pyjamas with fluffy clouds all over them, her hair in a black cloudy tangle all over her head. She eyed Daryl, absently rubbing sleep from her eyes with one hand.
"What?" He growled grouchily, completely unnerved by the way she looked at him with baffled affection.
"You're so cute." She sighed, yawning widely and turning back down the hallway.
Rick and Daryl exchanged a look. Rick shrugged. The whole Lochie situation was completely baffling to him. He had no idea what was going on between them, Lori's burgeoning pregnancy making things between them awkward in a way it had never been before. In the same way Cassidy and Daryl had still never discussed what was going on between them or what they meant to each other, Daryl and Rick never talked about personal things. Especially relationships. There were some things that just didn't need to be said.
Rick exhaled tiredly, jerking his head towards the depths of the house. Daryl followed him, cracking his neck and mentally mapping out the next section of woods. Cassidy had Glenn in a headlock by one of the cars, Maggie perched on the trunk laughing as she kept watch. She cocked her head, half-turning towards him. They looked at each other for a brief moment, then Maggie said something and Cassidy turned away. He gave a last lingering look, then hoisted his crossbow onto his shoulder and headed into the trees.
H. Chris. H – thanks for the nice feedback :) I'll definitely check yours out when I get some time
GemmaTellerSoa – thanks
The Animal's Keeper – it wasn't a plot hole, chapter sixteen was a drabble to fill the gap during the break it was set before chapter eight
Ashvarden – thanks glad you liked it here's a very late update
LadyLecter47 – thanks very much :)
piratejessieswaby – I'm glad :D
SeverusSnape'sLove – Merle will be in it have no fear, once I've caught my fic up with the show
wellshit – thanks I'm glad you like it
DarylDixon'sLover – Lori and Carol are the worst, bleh.
Maddy-MarieXO – I know I hate people who just get rescued all the time yuck. To be fair who wouldn't try to get into Daryl's pants
Missy7293 – I think it'd take more than an apocalypse to get Daryl to talk about his feelings
MAR76 – thanks
hideher – thanks a lot, I plan to make it excruciating I hate Lori so much
lunasky99 – yup they will find the prison, not rushing into it just taking my time
Supernatural Believer – thanks she definitely needed it.