Clean Up
He was covered in blood, soaking in it. He'd done the most damage, he'd been so pissed off, he'd only seen red, and now he was covered in it. They'd won though, Terminus was theirs and the psychopaths were gone. He was helping Rick let people out of other cars when he heard her voice coming from inside. He normally wouldn't care what he looked like…but when he was covered in blood, after not seeing her for so long, he couldn't let her see him like this. "Rick, I'll be back." He walked off, not giving Rick an explanation, Glenn took over for him, but he was out of sight before they let her out. He needed to get cleaned up before she saw him again.
He walked back to the river and started to wash the blood from his face and arms. How the hell was he going to tell her what had happened? That he'd ran all night to try and find her, that he'd met up with more psychopaths…what had almost happened to Carl and Rick because of him. How could he tell her any of it? The truth was, he'd just about given up after he'd lost her. After realizing that he might love her and then losing her, he'd been a mess. He hadn't cared much. She was his light in the darkness, but he was afraid that if he got too close, his own darkness would snuff out her flame.
He washed all of the blood off. Changed his clothes. He wanted to shave a little, maybe do something with his hair, but for now, being clean of the blood was enough. He had no idea how long he'd been gone. Hours probably, his skin was wrinkled now. He slowly started to make his way back. He assumed he'd find everyone where the picnic tables had been set up. He was nervous, his fingers couldn't stop twitching as his eyes looked for her.
She was wrapped in a blanket, sitting with Michonne and Maggie. She looked weak, tired, dehydrated and malnourished. He was going to change that. Rick and Glenn looked at him. "Did you take a bath?" Glenn asked, smirking. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Daryl actually want to take a bath before."
Daryl rolled his eyes. "Fuck off, Glenn."
"Hey now, don't get that way. I think it's cute," Rick teased. She looked up, hearing his voice and walked over to him. "I just want to know why you took a bath?"
"Assholes." He looked down at her and the others started to piece things together as she reached up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He slowly pulled her against him, hugging her waist as she kissed him. "Shit, I missed you so much," he whispered so only she could hear him. She just smiled and rested her head against his chest as he held her close. "You're not leaving again."
"Never," she promised.