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

Rain

Chapter Thirty Seven

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

"I met your girlfriend."

Daryl froze, turning slowly towards his brother. He'd brought him breakfast and Merle had taken it with a sneer, swearing at him for keeping him locked in a cage like an animal. Daryl had let it wash over him. This was unexpected though. Merle was smirking at him through the bars, the look on his face making Daryl's stomach churn.

"She's a nice piece of ass." Merle made a squeezing gesture with his remaining hand.

Daryl took an involuntary step towards him, fury raging with jealousy burning in his belly.

"Got quite a mouth on her, too." Merle grinned. "I see why you came back. I don't think I could leave a gash like that behind, either."

Daryl gave him a disgusted look, loaded with loathing and stomped off down the landing.

"She promised me I could have my turn when she gets bored of ya'll!" Merle hollered at his back.

Daryl didn't stop but his words cut him to the bone. He knew where to go. As if guided by a sixth sense he found his angry marching feet heading for the chain link walkway. There she was. Perched on top of the links just as she had been the day he'd left. Her hair was coiled in a messy bun on top of her head, the breeze lifting the strands trailing down her neck and he breathed in, half expecting to feel her scent.

"Did you tell my brother he could have his turn?" He demanded, squinting up at her against the sun.

She remained silent but her back muscles had tensed so he knew she had heard him. Of course she had heard him, they were alone in the world up here.

"You stay away from my brother, you hear. He says things-"

"Are you kidding me?" She snapped suddenly. "You fucking abandon me without a second thought and this is the first thing you have the balls to say to me?"

Daryl recoiled, looking away from her. He couldn't stand her not looking at him.

"I thought about it." He murmured.

She didn't reply. He couldn't think what to say, how to tell her the things that had gone through his mind when he made that decision. How he'd said it to Rick in the heat of the moment, not realising until the decision was made what he was walking away from. He had known it every single second since he'd walked into those woods. He couldn't apologise. Taking back that decision would be like denying his brother. He needed her to understand, he just didn't know how to make her.

"I have no intentions of fucking your brother, Dixon." She half looked at him over her shoulder, a glimmer of emerald under her lashes. "Or you either."

Daryl had known she'd be mad, expected her to be furious but this? He walked away.

Walking back into the prison block, he practically tripped right over Lochie. She flushed red and was hurriedly apologising, until she saw who it was. Her mouth snapped shut with an audible clack, her lips and nostrils pinched together tightly and her eyes narrowed to mere slits. Daryl glared at her.

"Oh. It's you."

Daryl scowled. He was still reeling from Cassidy, he didn't have the patience for Lochie right now. She was, however, blocking his way.

"Move." He snapped, the niceties they'd developed over the winter months momentarily forgotten.

"Have you spoken to Cassidy?"

He ignored her. She slapped him. He was so taken by surprise, he hardly realised it had happened until his head snapped back. He had just opened his mouth to explode at her when she pulled back her little fist and cracked him right in the jaw. He actually saw stars. He had no idea such a little thing could pack such a punch. Jesus H Christ. He gaped at her. Her cheeks were brilliant fiery red but her eyes were full of tears.

"You bastard!" She hissed and his eyes flickered down to her hands balled into fists at her sides. "You broke her heart. Not even a goodbye! Not a message for Rick to pass on. Nothing! You son of a-"

She reached up to punch him again but a hand stopped her. Daryl didn't need to look, he knew that hand, knew every freckle and scar on the long capable fingers wrapped around Lochie's wrist.

"Lochie."

She glared at him, then dodged around them both and fled into the prison. Merle was absolutely laughing himself sick up in his cell. Howling about his little brother getting sucker punched by a girl. Daryl did his best to ignore him. Cassidy was standing beside him, so close he feel her body heat against his bare arm. He felt her fingers touch his sore jaw.

"She packs a punch." He mumbled, feeling his chest contract when he realised that she was finally looking at him.

"I taught her." Cassidy said simply.

"I-"

She shook her head, stepping away from him. He grabbed her arm, partly to reassure himself that she was real. He had barely been away from her for a few days but in this world every hour was a lifetime when it could be your last few moments on earth.

"No." She murmured, her gaze sliding away from his and her arm slipping out of his grasp. "No."

Merle was still chuckling, it echoed around the cavernous deserted room. Daryl glared up at his brother. He was up the stairs before he even realised he had started climbing them. He slammed his fist against the bars of his brother's cell until they rattled.

"Shut the hell up!" He snarled.

"Oh I don't blame you, baby brother. If I let a fine looking piece like that slip through my-"

"Don't you talk about her like that, don't you ever talk about her!"

Merle was almost taken aback; he had never seen his brother like this over anyone, especially not over some gash. Then again, what a woman. Merle was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"You left that behind, for me?" Merle sniggered. "I'm touched, bro."

"Stop talkin'." Daryl ordered, knowing it would never happen.

"Doesn't matter now. She's never gonna talk to you again." Merle taunted. "You heard that blonde thing. You broke her heart, boy." Merle walked further into his cell, glancing over his shoulder at his furious brother. "Imagine having somethin' like that, and breakin' it." Merle shook his head. "Tragic."

Daryl could feel his blood boiling, not least because his goddamn brother was right. And he didn't have the first clue how to fix it.

She wasn't giving him the cold shoulder anymore. That was something. Probably. She didn't ignore him exactly, she just looked right past him whenever he appeared in a room and spoke to the room in general if she had to talk to him at all. In the hallways she walked past him as if he were a potted plant. He was pretty sure he preferred it when she was just ignoring him, treating him like a complete stranger was somehow far worse. At least if she was ignoring him, she was making a conscious effort to register his existence and erase it from her life. He was pretty sure that if he tried to talk to her, she would listen, but he didn't know what to say. He never knew what to say. Not his brother's problem apparently. Merle would not shut up about how hilarious it was that Daryl had believed he could have a happy ending with a girl like Cassidy. All of the niggling fears and doubts he'd ever had, Merle happily voiced as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

Surprisingly Cassidy seemed to have taken to Merle somewhat. She took the time to speak to him, anyway, and she clearly wasn't the slightest bit afraid of him. Merle was no longer confined to a cell but the group was a long way from trusting him. Jealousy niggled at Daryl like a toothache. He knew nothing had happened between them, no matter what Merle might claim. But she talked to him. About what he had no idea, Merle merely threw up a whole array of disgusting perverted suggestions when he asked. Cassidy also, surprisingly, got on with Michonne. She worked with her to regain her strength from her injury, the two of them working daily in the gym and taught each other new techniques for their workouts. It was a very bizarre friendship; two people who utterly refused to socialise or trust taking a shine to each other. She flat out refused to take part in the discussions about the Governor and Woodbury. She reassured Rick that whatever happened she would remain with them, but she had no opinion about what they did. Both plans had their merit and she offered tactical suggestions for both when Rick asked, but she would not side either way. That was what he heard from Glenn, anyway. She still hadn't talked to him beyond a murmured politeness when he took over her watch, or a necessary message passed on for Rick. He hadn't even tried to talk to her, couldn't raise the courage.

Daryl was hovering outside the gym. He could hear Cassidy advising Michonne on her injury and a specific stretch that would help it heal while still allowing her to exercise. He didn't know what he was going to do. Rick's meeting with the Governor was in two hours and he knew he could not go out there and risk not coming back again without speaking to her. He moved into the doorway. He knew she'd registered his arrival, her body tensed up and her breathing hitched a fraction. Michonne looked from one of them to the other suspiciously. He didn't ask to talk to her, he merely stood and looked at her. She nodded, leading him away from the gym and down the dark hallway. He followed behind her instead of beside her, captivated by the wave of golden red hair braided down her back, the way her hips swayed as she walked and the muscles of her shoulders shifted with every step. He'd never felt so distant from her. She stopped in a bare patch of hallway completely unremarkable but far enough away from the others to make interruption highly unlikely. He felt heat pooling in his belly. Normally they would have taken full advantage of their isolated position for something far more exciting. As if she could read his mind, her lips quirked briefly but it didn't last.

"I know you're going to this meeting." She pre-empted him, folding her arms across her chest.

Daryl remained silent. Now that he had her alone, he was coming up empty. He couldn't formulate the words. He didn't know what to say to her.

"You comin'?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer. He knew the plan and everyone involved like the back of his hand; Rick had been over it enough times.

She didn't reply. She was finally looking at him, her gaze so intense it was almost making him uncomfortable. He hated this wall between them. Hated that he'd put it there. Hated that he didn't know how to break it down. He shoved his hands into his hair in frustration.

"I can't trust you."

Daryl flinched. She wasn't being hurtful, he could see in her glimmering cat eyes that she wasn't trying to hurt him. She was being truthful. She was explaining what he had done to her, to them, to what she'd thought they had.

"I trust you with my life. Still." She shook her head, her mouth twisted up. "But I don't trust that you'll be there in the morning. Not anymore." She pushed her bangs out of her face in frustration.

Daryl was at a loss. Daryl took her by the upper arms and pulled her against him. She didn't fight him at all; she folded into his arms and clung to him tightly as if she were drowning. They were locked together, her hands clutching his shirt and her mouth feverish against his.

"Goddamn you, Dixon." She cursed shakily, her eyes still closed as she drew away from him. Her lashes were wet and she was trembling wildly against him.

She pushed on his chest until he let go of her, stepping away from him. Daryl stared at her. She was glad he was back, he could see it written all over her face, had felt it when she collapsed against him, but he was not forgiven. It was a step.

"Be careful, redneck."