"Hey, Daryl, I've got a run for you." Rick said, catching up with Daryl in the courtyard. Hershel wants you to clean out what you can get from that pharmacy. No one's hit it yet and he's running low on supplies. That's an important area for us to cover.
"Yeah, ok, I'll go." Daryl said.
"Take someone with you for backup, just in case." Rick said. "I'm sure we can spare Glenn or somebody."
"I'll take Michonne." Daryl said. It was nothing unusual. Everyone knew he liked doing his runs with her.
"Are you sure she's up to it, Daryl?" Rick asked. "She hasn't been up and about much in the past few days."
Daryl hadn't seen Michonne since the kiss that night. Honestly he'd been avoiding her. He had no idea what to do about her. It wasn't like he could offer to take her out to dinner, or take her to a movie. How was he supposed to move forward with this when they couldn't even have any privacy at all to even talk about it? It seemed like there was always someone breathing down his neck.
"Nah, she'll be fine. It's a pharmacy run, and that towns pretty well cleaned out as it is. I could go on my own if I had to." Daryl said. He knew that Rick was right. He knew that his request didn't make any sense to Rick because it didn't make any sense at all. He was choosing to take an injured person on a run with him. It was like choosing to take the weakest link. Still, he was confident that he could practically make the run on his own, and he needed to take her with him this time.
Rick shrugged. "Whatever…take whoever you want, but you better get started if you don't want to run out of light before you get back.
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Michonne knew why Daryl was taking her on this run. He hadn't said anything, but she knew it wasn't because she was the best option. She was healing, that much was true, but she wasn't back to her old self entirely. She was still sore and had a funny sort of hobble to her walk. Daryl wasn't taking her for backup, he was taking her because he hadn't been able to even speak to her since they kissed and he was hoping that getting away from the prison would make it easier. Michonne knew that, and she was grateful. She wanted to get out of the prison, and she wanted to be alone with Daryl.
Daryl wasn't talking in the car and it was obvious he was nervous. He kept drumming his hands on the steering wheel in quick spurts of energy. Michonne watched him out of the corner of her eye. His insecurity was endearing, but at the same time she realized that she was going to have to be in control. If anything was going to happen between them, it wasn't going to be Daryl who initiated it. She reached over and put her hand on his knee without saying a word. Daryl squirmed a little, but didn't say anything.
Her hand was warm on his leg. She had placed it there so naturally. Daryl hadn't expected something as simple as this to be so amazing. He was getting turned on just by having her hand on his leg. That's what this life had turned them into now. It had turned them all into people that were so detached from everything that even something as simple as a beautiful woman putting her hand on your leg felt like the most intimate thing possible. He swallowed, and took his hand off the steering wheel, placing it on top of hers. Her fingers curled around his hand.
They were going to raid a pharmacy for supplies they might need to help their "family" survive the winter. They would most likely encounter at least one or two Walkers during the trip, and he would put an arrow through one's brain, and she would run the other through with her katana, and they would congratulate each other on their kills. That's how the day would go, but right now they were holding hands. The humor of the situation didn't escape Michonne, but she liked holding his hand. It felt right. Holding hands was something, at least.
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"All clear." Daryl called out. The pharmacy was abandoned and there had been only one Walker outside. "I'm telling you, I think the damn things are hibernating somewhere."
"Let's just hope we don't find out where." Michonne said, stepping through the door. Someone had busted it out; the pharmacy wasn't as untouched as they thought it might be.
They looked around, walking up and down the aisles before they started packing bags with things that might be useful. It was one of those small town pharmacies that stocked a little of everything. Michonne took a bag and went back to the prescription area, putting everything she could see into the bag. She didn't know what any of it was, but it could be useful.
"It was Glenn and Maggie." Daryl called out to her.
"What?" She responded.
"It was Glenn and Maggie. They were the ones that broke in the door." Daryl said.
"Why do you say that?" Michonne asked, zipping up her bag and coming back around to help him finish filling sacks.
"'Cuz the only thing missing is a whole shelf of condoms and a rack of chocolate. The little assholes are sitting in their cell eating their stash of candy and fucking like jackrabbits." He said with a snicker.
"You gotta keep your strength up somehow." Michonne said. "You know…there might not be anymore condoms, but there is a little chocolate over there." She raised her eyebrow at Daryl and prayed that he wasn't going to make her spell it out to him. The quick increase in his breathing let her know that he might have picked up on her hint.
Daryl was pretty sure that he knew what Michonne was getting at. Suddenly he felt like he was facing his first time again. Michonne overwhelmed him to the point that he couldn't think very well when she was around, and now that she was looking at him like that, in a way he'd only allowed himself to even imagine once or twice, he wasn't even sure if he could remember what the hell to do in these situations. He broke eye contact with her and looked around. One thing was for sure, if they were going to do this, they were going to do it right. He wasn't making her get down on this filthy floor.
Daryl walked away without saying anything. Michonne stood there a minute trying to figure out what was going on. He called out to her and she picked up the bag from the floor beside her and walked around trying to find him. What she saw when she found him made her smile. He had found blankets, and he had piled several of them up on the floor.
"You know how to treat a girl right." She said, dropping the bags and taking off her katana. Daryl gave her a crooked smile and blushed a little.
"The floor was dirty." He said. Daryl didn't make a move, so Michonne sighed and took off her shirt. She unsnapped her bra and dropped it on the floor.
This is actually happening. Daryl thought. While he'd been arranging the blankets he had kind of thought that he was going to wake up or something and this would have all been a dream, but it wasn't and Michonne was standing in front of him, half naked…he felt frozen, like he couldn't move. This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. He was about to embarrass himself completely because he felt like he had no idea what to do. Snap out of it! She's going to think you're an idiot!
Michonne took off her pants. Daryl was just standing there. He was visibly sweating and looked like he might hyperventilate. Michonne was fighting hard not to laugh at him, worried that laughing at him would most likely make him run away right now, and she didn't want that. She walked up to him and kissed him while she fumbled with the button on his pants.
"You can touch me if you want." She said, barely moving her lips away from his. "It's going to work out a lot better that way." She had never done this before. She'd never had to be the one in charge, and she had to admit that it was turning her on even more than the prospect of the sex they were probably going to have if she could ever get that damn button undone.
Daryl snapped out of his trance a little and kissed her again. She looked down and he realized she was desperately trying to unbutton his pants with little success. He took the cue and shucked them himself. He couldn't get his boot off. There was a knot in the lace and he sat down on the pallet he had made to try and get it off. Finally he yanked it off and took his shirt off. Michonne lowered herself to the pallet beside him.
Daryl snickered. "How come people in movies never had this much trouble?"
Michonne laughed at him. "It doesn't matter."
Even if Daryl wasn't the smoothest man on the planet, it didn't take an expert to tell he was extremely turned on right now. Now that all of the obstacles were out of the way, he was beginning to loosen up a bit as well. Finally he took some initiative and Michonne gladly handed the reigns over to him. He kissed her, and cupping her breast he pushed her down onto the pallet. She winced and he remembered that he had to be mindful of her right leg. Daryl moved a hand between her legs, and Michonne bucked.
"Don't worry about that." She panted. "I'm ready." Daryl could tell that she was ready. There was no mistaking that she was already going there in her mind, and he had to admit that it was driving him crazy. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to hold it together. He pushed into her and she moaned, her fingers digging into his back.
"You OK?" He asked, trying hard to think about anything else besides the situation. He didn't want to embarrass himself and end this coupling this quickly.
"Give me a second; it's my first time in a long time too…" Michonne said. She hadn't really imagined that Daryl would feel as big as he did, and it had been an uncomfortable surprise.
"We may not have much longer than that." Daryl said apologetically. Michonne understood him and bucked her hips in response.
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Daryl had not underestimated his ability to hold out. Michonne hadn't minded. She had expected that it being his first time in probably a very long time, that it wasn't going to be the sexual encounter of the century, but she hadn't expected him to take it so bad. He was lying on the blanket next to her, sulking.
"You know some people cuddle after sex." She said.
"I'm sorry." Daryl said. He was mortified. He wanted to impress Michonne, but he was pretty sure instead he had given her about two minutes of the worst possible sex imaginable. The only thing that surprised him was that she seemed lighthearted about it. She was almost jovial, or at least as jovial as he figured Michonne ever got.
"I told you to stop apologizing. It's normal really. I had a good time." Michonne had been going through in her mind trying to come up with all the things that someone could say to make a man feel better after sex. Apparently she was going to need to use them all on Daryl.
"You did not have a good time." Daryl said in a pouty tone.
Michonne laughed. "Ok, Daryl, you're right. I didn't have a good time. It doesn't matter though. You'll make it up to me next time." She said, getting to her feet and walking unashamedly across the store.
"You mean there's gonna be a next time?" Daryl called out to her. She reappeared opening a box of baby wipes. She took some out and handed the box to Daryl.
"Here, clean up. We don't want to get back to the prison smelling like sex." She said.
"You mean there's gonna be a next time?" Daryl repeated, taking the box and watching her wiping herself down.
"I assumed there would be a next time. I hope that's not all I'm getting out of this." Michonne said, not looking at him. Daryl smiled. Before his eyes she was transforming again, back into the Michonne he'd known before.
"You know, I like sexy Michonne." He said. "She's a lot softer, and I think she likes me more."
Michonne started to get dressed without saying anything, but Daryl did notice that she smiled. He followed suit and got dressed as well. They didn't say anything else to one another while they were in the store. They loaded up the bags in silence and started back toward the prison.
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"Well, we ain't gettin' back smellin' like sex, but we are gettin' back smellin' fresher than Lil' Asskicker." Daryl said when they were driving.
It was true. The smell was a bit much in contrast to the other scents around them. Michonne didn't respond, though. She was actually thinking about the fact that she was sore and was glad that the wound on her thigh would keep anyone from wondering why she was moving a little stiffly.
"We tellin' anybody about this?" Daryl asked. He wasn't sure what was going on with Michonne right now. He hoped she wasn't regretting what they had just done.
"Do you want to tell anyone about it?" She asked.
"Not really." Daryl had to admit that this hadn't exactly been his moment of glory and he'd be quite happy without sharing it with everyone at the prison.
"Well then." Michonne said.
"What about us?" Daryl asked.
"What about us?" Michonne asked back.
"Well, is there an us?" Daryl asked.
"Do you want there to be?" Michonne was looking out the window and Daryl couldn't see her face, but he thought he heard a little hopefulness in her voice.
"I kinda like the idea of an us." Daryl said. He held his breath, waiting to see how she would respond.
"Then I guess there's an us." She said. Daryl was relieved. He reached over and took her hand. She intertwined her fingers with his.
"'Chonne...are we gonna tell 'em 'bout us?" Daryl asked.
"Let 'em figure it out for themselves. I don't think we need to make an announcement." Michonne said. She hadn't missed the fact that Daryl had taken her hand this time. He hadn't needed the prompting that he needed before. If Daryl was feeling bolder, it wouldn't take them long at the prison to figure out that they were giving this a try. No one would really care anyway, except maybe Carol. Michonne was a little concerned about how Carol was going to take it. For now, she was just savoring the moment. This felt easy, and that was a feeling that she hadn't had in a long time.