"Well, look who's on watch." Daryl said as Michonne limped into the tower.

"Yeah, how about that." She replied. She hadn't known she was going on watch with Daryl. She might have waited to request someone else if she'd known it was going to be him. Hershel had finally given her at least the OK to do some minor tasks, and she was urgent to get out of her cell.

"How ya feelin'?" Daryl asked. He hated to admit that he still felt guilty about the wound she had suffered. If he'd been quicker, it would never have happened.

"OK, I guess." She said, trying to settle into one of the chairs in the most dignified way possible.

Daryl tried to figure out how to continue the conversation, chewing nervously at his cuticles. "You know, I wouldn't have left you out there." He offered.

Michonne was a little shocked. "Thank you." She said. She'd already thanked him once, but his behavior showed that he might need it more than once. She decided to chalk it up to his earlier comment about his mother. Maybe he hadn't been thanked enough in his life.

"I was worried." He said, still glancing off at the distance, even though there were maybe ten Walkers to be concerned about.

"I'm fine." She said. What was it going to take? Did she need to send this person a stamped invitation inviting him to interact with her in order to get more than Walker talk? He clearly wasn't interested.

"I'm glad." He said. He finally turned to look at her. God, she was overwhelming to him. She was perfect. Everything about her was perfect. He wanted so bad to say that she was all he'd been thinking about. She was all that he could think about…but how would she take that? Michonne wasn't the sentimental type.

Daryl was clearly uncomfortable and unsure of himself. Michonne had never seen him like this before, but she recognized the signs. Maybe there was some hope there. Maybe he wasn't the same kind of narrow minded prick his brother had been

"I mean it, I'm really thankful that you saved me." She offered.

Daryl looked at her with an expression that she'd never seen in her entire life. It was desperate almost, and thankful at the same time. It was like she'd just done him a favor she could never repeat. He didn't respond, though, at least not verbally.

"Are you OK?" She asked. He nonchalantly answered her, biting so furiously at his fingers that she expected to see blood. If there was a time to test his reactions, she decided, now was the time. "I'm serious, without you I wouldn't have made it back to the prison. I owe my life to you." Michonne said.

Daryl knew what the Governor would have done to her. It disgusted him to think about it. The Governor's plans for her probably didn't include an ounce of humanity within them. He wasn't going to let that happen. No one deserved that fate, and Michonne certainly didn't.

"I'm fine." He said. He didn't know what else to say at this point.

"Daryl?" Michonne challenged…realizing she may be out of line completely, but not really caring for the moment. "Would you mind if I repaid you?" She asked.

"What you mean?" Daryl asked. He didn't really want repayment. He didn't want anyone trying to save his ass.

Michonne decided she was done with the game from her side. She was going to make the first move. If he responded she'd go from there. If he didn't, that was still the truth. She struggled to her feet and planted a kiss on his lips.

The kiss was long and lingering. It was unlike anything that Daryl had ever felt before. Kissing was something he'd done on his arm before high school and on girls that wanted nothing more than sex afterwards. The kiss from Michonne was different. It was a kiss that felt like the kiss was all that mattered. He didn't quite know how to respond, or know that he had even responded correctly, thought he had followed her lead the best he could and returned it.

Michonne pulled away from the kiss. He had responded, though not with the level of enthusiasm she had hoped for. Still, Daryl had a long way to go, in her opinion, and his response hadn't been as dramatically different from what she responded to lose all hope.

"Did you mean for that to happen?" Daryl asked after a minute or two had passed.

"Did you like it?" She asked.

"I mean, it was good. Did you mean for it to happen?" He asked again. He was in shock. The kiss was electrifying to him, but he knew that these days people did things out of reaction to their environment. They didn't necessarily want them to be taken the way that they might have been taken before. Maybe she'd kissed him because of the wound. Maybe she kissed him because she thought about how close she had come to maybe being shot in the head.

"Other than a few bullet wounds, not much happens to me these days that I don't mean to happen." Michonne said, trying to take her seat as nonchalantly as possible.

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Daryl spent most of the watch silent. He didn't know what to do. Should he kiss her back? Should he initiate more? Was it just her way of saying thank you? He sat on the floor, his back against the wall,, wishing something or anything would happen so he'd have an excuse to leave before someone else got there.

´Michonne didn't know what to do. Daryl had somewhat responded to the kiss, opening his mouth and accepting her tongue at the end, but now he was acting like a nervous school boy. Had the kiss freaked him out, or had she freaked him out? She didn't really know what to do other than keep quiet and keep watch, hoping he'd give some indication about whether he'd liked the kiss or if her suspicions were correct and he wanted her to leave him alone. She sat in her chair, hugging her katana between her knees, and wishing Daryl wasn't silently brooding in his corner and chewing annoyingly on his cuticle.