Daryl couldn't concentrate on guarding. Visions of Mara floated in his mind as he stared out in to the darkness surrounding the prison. Yussuf was chatting away happily, oblivious to his companion's silence. Daryl being terse was not out of the ordinary but he didn't want to think what Yussuf would say if he knew that Daryl had been doing with Mara a few hours ago.

Daryl hadn't spoken to Mara since. He saw her go for an afternoon run with Christine and Maggie. She was slipping back in to her routine. She looked totally at ease with her friends, all talking together as they stretched and cooled down. Mara didn't even send a glance his way.

Daryl felt a little disquiet creep into his brain. What if he had done something wrong? Mara had looked awfully serious right before Carl's appearance. What if she had hated it? Daryl had no evidence to support his growing pessimism but he always went to the worst case scenario.

"Don't think too hard, it'll start to hurt," a voice said from behind him and he jumped. The object of his thoughts was standing at the base of the bus, looking up at him amused. Daryl wasn't easy to startle. Daryl scowled back at her.

Yussuf reached a hand down to help Mara and pulled his fellow soldier on to the bus.

"How is it going?" she asked.

"You know how the saying goes," Yussuf answered, "its quiet, too quiet." He tried to inject a sinister undertone to his voice.

"It would be quiet if you'd stop chatterin'" Daryl grumbled but he agreed with Yussuf. The anticipation of an attack was worse than the actual fight. He found himself strung tighter than his crossbow, which he had semi raised as he sighted grasping walkers at the fence.

"Well Sarge says keep your eyes peeled. How long has it been since you did a perimeter walk?"

Yussuf checked his watch. "'Bout due for another one. You wanna go or should I?" He directed the question to Daryl.

"I did the last one."

"You're no fun," Yussuf teased and swung himself off the bus. "If you hear screams, I don't want you to disturb yourself. It'll just be me – dying!"

Daryl rolled his eyes.

Mara watched Yussuf walk away and as soon as his back was turned she ducked around Daryl's crossbow and kissed him.

Daryl's stomach felt hollow as a rush of adrenalin pounded through his veins. She kissed him hard and fast before quickly moving back to a respectable distance. No one who looked now would suspect anything.

Mara smiled shyly. "I know I shouldn't have done that while you're guarding but I didn't get the opportunity earlier."

Daryl's relief was immense.

Mara wasn't dressed for duty at the moment and she looked beautifully normal, standing there in pants and a tank top, hair unbound around her shoulders. There was a slight breeze was blowing on this mild evening and one strand of hair had curled over her cheek.

After a furtive glance to check that they were still alone except for the dead, Daryl raised a hand and tucked the strand behind her ear. His fingers brushed her cheek and he couldn't help thinking of his actions as propriety.

We're supposed to be friends; Daryl tried repeating in his head. Friends with extras, he thought emphatically. But in that moment Daryl didn't feel very friendly.

He wanted to gather her to him and pull her down on to the surface of the bus with him. Guarding be damned.

Out of her military get up she just looked like a regular girl. If he didn't have the crossbow maybe he'd look like a regular man; not two of the last people left in the country.

Mara was watching him closely. "I gotta get back inside. Try and remember what I said about thinking too hard." She raised her hand as if to touch him but then quickly withdrew it to her side, fist clenched. Mara's smiled seemed forced after that and Daryl couldn't figure out what might have gone through her head. She was off the bus and heading back towards the prison before he could even ask her.

...

Mara didn't look over her shoulder as she walked back towards the prison. She knew that an expression of longing would be painted all over her face. Kissing him had been risky enough but she was fighting the urge to run her fingers over his face, mapping every line and angle.

They had blurred the lines of friendship this morning and Mara didn't think that idly running her hands through Daryl's hair, just because she could, was going to do anything to establish boundaries.

Mara knew that was because she didn't have any. The second she felt their naked bodies pressed together, felt the rightness of it, she knew she'd give herself over body and soul to that brooding, damaged man. But Mara had enough sense of self preservation not to offer this. Because Daryl was not at a stage where he could take that on, even if he wanted to. Mara got the sense she had barely brushed the surface of his issues and while they had been intimate, they weren't close.

She found Christine and Michonne comparing notes on swords and it was the most animated Mara had seen Michonne. To Michonne, the sword was more than a tool of survival, it was an art form. Mara conceded that Michonne's skill was far superior to hers or Christine's and so she could fully understand why Christine was picking her brain.

Mara slid in beside Christine but didn't join the conversation. Christine shot her a puzzled look. Spending all your time with a person meant you got pretty good at sensing their emotions but Mara wasn't ready to talk about what had happened with Daryl. For now it was hers. Just hers and his.

If Christine had asked her though, if she regretted it, Mara would have said she did not. Despite all her other worries, questions and cautions, that was one thing she was certain of. With that thought in mind Mara managed a convincing smile to reassure Christine.

Later that night, Mara heard Daryl come back in to the cell block. The second half of the night guard had been taken by Elias and Maggie. She could hear his boots on the metal steps, just barely a scratch of metal. Mara was envious of the light way he walked. In comparison she felt like she clomped along.

The rest of the cell block was quiet. Mara felt an impulse strike her like lightening and she was lying there fully awake. It was bold move even for her. Mara swung her feet off the bed and touched the cool ground. She padded to the entrance of her own cell. Moving slowly and carefully so as to not make any noise, she approached Daryl's sleeping form.

Mara wondered if he could sense her moving toward him. Mara was sure that even her breath had stopped in an effort not to make any noise. Daryl didn't move. She pulled back the covers and inched in next to him, cursing the thin mattress.

The next instant she was on her back with a knife pressed to her throat. Mara exhaled in a rush, her eyes wide. Daryl's blue gaze burned into her, seeming more furious when he recognised her. Despite her heaving chest Mara's words were calm. She raised an eyebrow at the knife.

"Kinky."

Daryl became aware that he was still holding the knife against her and quickly dropped it to his side.

"What were y'thinkin'? I coulda killed you!" Daryl hissed those words out.

Mara knew he was right and that the scolding was justified but for some reason his anger inexplicably turned her on.

Daryl was still caught in a tirade of admonishments. Mara ignored him, reaching down between them to press her palm against him. She knew she looked smug when he instantly stopped talking, his whole body tense. Taking advantage of his surprise, Mara rolled them so she was on top. They were off the mattress now and had made more noise then she would have like but Mara found it hard to care.

"How about you tell me off later?" Mara suggested softly.

...

Daryl woke up sprawled on his back alone; wondering if last night had been a dream. Mara had invaded every other aspect of his life, why not his dreams too?

He sat down for breakfast next to Beth and Carl. Mara walked into the room, discussing something with Nathan. Daryl stared at her profile; she was standing side on to him. He couldn't tell from how she was acting if she'd actually snuck in to bed with him.

Finished with her conversation with her sergeant, she turned to greet him. The movement caused her hair to flutter away from her neck just slightly and Daryl caught a faint glimpse of a red mark on her skin.

If he was anyone else, he might have just dismissed it but he knew better, because Daryl knew that was a bite mark and he had done it.

Images of last night ricocheted inside his head. Mara on top of him, legs wrapped around his waist as he sat up to gather her hair in his hands. It ran through his fingers like silk and he had pressed his hot feverish mouth to the arch of her neck and bit down. Not too hard but enough for Mara to clasp a hand over her mouth to muffle a little cry.

Now that Mara was facing him he could see that there was something in her smile and the light of her eyes that told him she was thinking about last night too. Daryl was concerned about the bite. Hopefully no one would notice the claim he had left on her skin.

An: I'm trying this thing where I write smaller chapters and hopefully update more regularly. It just seems by the time I finish those chapters, years have passed – which is an exaggeration obviously but you get the idea. Because I'm all about the feels over sex, I just didn't feel that needed more than a few glimpses of what happened, especially since I wrote it all out last chapter. I'm building up to big brother Dixon showing up but it's still a little in the future.

Thanks for everyone who reviews, faves and follows. It's my favourite holy trinity.

MD666