Heterochromia Iridum

Hello! If you haven't already, please let me know in a review if you'd be interested in a Negan story. Couple vague details about it at the end of the last chapter. So far most people have said yes to it, but I'm still on the fence about it, so definitely put your two cents in a review. :)

Thank you to Jasamfromthestart, Bub, BloodyKirai, Lilsuccubus, sillygabby, melissawtf, norcalpc, haloveangence, KioshiUshima, Kaiya's Watergarden, GawkyTC, Lorento, Charlie2193, Nirvana14, JenTen, Bactrian Camel, Bactrian C, Biasoul, Short But Deadly, addicted2memories, Suzzie, Jean, MicroSpider, Juniper, LoveFiction2016, Faelyght, Magpies, Lisieux Selwyn, Comingsummers, sue92178, jeanf and Lilmonkey1507 for leaving reviews, I love reading them! Thanks for all the new people that have added this to any of the alerts or favourites.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters associated with the franchise. I own the plot to this story and any original characters you may see, like Katty or Calum.

Chapter 23: Similes

Katty didn't think that anything had ever made her heart clench as hard or her stomach drop to her arse as fast as when she saw the two, skinny, pink lines on the pregnancy test. And judging by the little legend beside the tiny screen, that meant positive.

Positive.

Fuck Harry Potter, fuck wands, this bloody piss stick had the power to make or break lives.

Her hands quivered as she stared at the plastic piece of shit, and Katty shook it roughly, like it was a Magic 8 Ball and would show a different answer if you weren't sure you liked the first one.

"It's not going to change, Katty," Maggie said softly, and Katty could feel, rather than see, that Maggie was wringing her hands together nervously. Probably waiting for a reaction out of her that wasn't slack-jawed or mute.

What was her reaction? Did she deserve to have one just yet? Katty's mind was in overdrive, but somehow only sounded like a million bees, bouncing and running into each other, each a thought that was fighting to vocalize itself.

"Say somethin'," Maggie whispered urgently, her tone dancing around a pleading edge.

"Urrghnn," was the philosophic declaration that burst forth, Katty's tongue rolling uselessly and failing to form an intelligible response.

This was it. Her brain had officially melted. It was goo.

Maggie let out a noise that was midway between a giggle and a sob and Katty thought that that represented how she felt, maybe. Maybe add some screaming to the mixture and that was how she felt.

Maybe.

Carrying a child a few years ago, with modern technology and qualified doctors and tests and facilities, was difficult. Being pregnant in the apocalypse, that was a bloody nightmare. She was scared. There were so many things that could go wrong, and there probably wouldn't be any way of knowing anything until it was born. After that, it would just get harder. Her palms were sweaty and Katty shakily placed the test onto the counter as her mind ran through all the possible, horrific hypothetical scenarios that carrying an infant in a cruel world could have.

And it was, indeed, cruel.

Her eyes scrunched together and Katty rubbed roughly at her lids, causing colored dots to appear in the otherwise dark scene before her.

Did she have the right to think such awful things?

"Say somethin'," Maggie repeated, her southern twang wrapping prettily around the words. The whisper was gone, the intonation more urgent than before.

Rick had a baby. He managed, and that was before the group had made it to Alexandria. Katty never asked anyone what happened to Judith's mother; it wasn't her place, wasn't her business, and she wasn't sure she wanted the answer. But Judith was alive and healthy, and Katty knew that it had a lot to do with the tight knit group of people that surrounded her.

It was different, maybe. They had Alexandria, they had safety and walls and Denise in the infirmary and they had possibilities now.

Maybe, maybe there was a future.

Katty's lip trembled as a certain boy, stolen away, echoed in her mind.

"This is the beginning."

Katty lurched forward and grabbed Maggie. She was right; a noise halfway between a giggle and a sob suited it perfectly, and Katty couldn't help but let one escape as well as she clung to her friend. They held each other, and it felt like two rubber bands, stretched and taut and ready to snap. Her hands clenched in Maggie's shirt at her back and Katty knew her knuckles were probably white and Maggie was probably uncomfortable and Katty definitely didn't care about that right now.

"Congrats, Mags."

Maggie sniffed, and then pulled back. "Your turn," she grimaced at Katty.

Katty's period was late.

She realized it the moment that Daryl was made a move to undress her, and Katty immediately knew she had to go to the infirmary for a test.

She wasn't sure it was late, she didn't exactly keep track of it in the apocalypse, but she just had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. It had been a while, maybe a couple weeks before Aaron had convinced her to go back to Alexandria with him. Katty's period had never been regular. She lost it easily from stress before the end of the world, and when there was dead people walking, it was even less regular.

They had been fucking morons.

Twice. Twice they had fucked and neither of them had thought of protection, or even pulling out. Katty wanted to rip her hair out that they had acted like stupid, careless teenagers, not responsible in the slightest.

Needless to say, it had killed her lady boner in the moment that was tipping towards heated, and Katty had pulled her pants up faster than when she had been 14 and a random stranger had caught her pissing in the woods when she was camping.

So she gave Daryl a blowjob instead. Blowjobs didn't get people pregnant.

Katty figured that Daryl knew something was up; he had given her an inquisitive look when she said she had forgotten something at the infirmary. He didn't need to know, she figured. It would made him angry or make him panic, and Katty really didn't need that shit right now. She was angry and panicky enough without the pissy redneck adding to it. Katty wasn't sure what she would tell him or do if she was pregnant. Her jaw grated as she resisted planning out a dialogue to try to calm down what would indefinitely be Daryl exploding and tearing up Alexandria. There wasn't any point until she knew for sure.

She fiddled with some string in her pocket nervously as she approached the infirmary. Maybe if it hadn't been for the dead walking around, the impending supply run that she was supposed to be apart of, the uncertain current leadership between Rick and Deanna, the fact that her relationship with Daryl was both new and not entirely stable, and all around stressful life situation, Katty might have told him about it. Daryl definitely had a lot on his plate without her ovaries adding to it.

Or that's what she told herself. Underneath the surface, Katty knew a large part of it was that she both hated confrontation and didn't want to admit how scared she was in that moment.

The door to the infirmary had never felt as heavy as in that moment, and she opened it quietly, praying that it wouldn't suddenly develop a creek.

Denise wasn't here. Katty hadn't met her yet, but Deanna had informed her that the woman had reluctantly agreed to act as the doctor for Alexandria. The door had been unlocked, so Katty assumed that Denise was around, maybe she had left to get food?

Walking lightly and quietly into the back room, she immediately scanned the shelves for what she was looking for. Back when she first had gotten here, she had helped organize, record and put away a lot of the supplies in the infirmary, so Katty knew that they had some.

She looked around for Plan B, though she figured it was too late for that anyways, and gave up quickly when it didn't jump out at her. She had taken it once when she was seventeen, and the nurse had told her that every day that passed, it would go down in effectiveness.

The bring pink box caught her eye, and Katty grabbed the First Response™ box, flipping it around to look at the back. It hadn't been that long since the first time that she and Daryl had had sex, and Katty wasn't sure if she should wait a week or two or just take it. There were a few left, she supposed as she glanced back towards the shelf. It would ease her anxiety if the test said negative, and Katty could always take another one in a few weeks to double check.

She cringed. That would be a waste of resources, though. Her hands hesitated, flipping the box around as Katty thought about what she should do.

"Uh, hi, can I help you?"

Katty jumped and practically threw the pink box, uselessly fumbling it before the box slipped and bounced across the floor as she whipped around.

The woman, with a ponytail and glasses and a kind face, moved her apprehensive gaze from Katty to the box that was now at her feet.

Fuck me, Katty groaned internally.

"Sorry, no one was here so I just helped myself," Katty answered when she found her voice, shrugging with an apologetic look. This must be Denise.

"You're Katty?" she asked. Katty's eyebrows raised in surprise at the guess, and Denise continued. "I'm Denise. Maggie pointed you out to me when she came by yesterday and you were walking past."

Katty couldn't think of anything more uncomfortable than Denise introducing herself while the pregnancy test box lay at her feet.

"Nice to meet you," she chirped, hoping that it didn't sound as forced as it felt.

Denise crouched down quickly and grabbed the obnoxiously bright box from the ground. "Did Maggie need another one?" she asked casually, holding the box out to her.

Katty froze, unable to think of a response. What? Maggie?

Denise noticed her hesitance, and waved a hand at her lackadaisically. "No, it's fine, I told her she should have grabbed two to be sure. Sometimes the second line is really faint and it's hard to tell."

What the fuck?

Katty's heart started to pound rapidly as she took the box from Denise with a nervous smile. "Yeah," she agreed, seeing her out and using it. "I said I'd pop by and grab it on my way back."

"Okay," the female said with a shrug. "Anything else you needed?"

"No," Katty stammered, and immediately started to make her way towards the door. Her mind was in overdrive now, and she suddenly felt claustrophobic in the medical unit. First her own pregnancy scare, now Maggie's?

Katty ignored the curious, concerned look that Denise was shooting her as she all but stumbled and ran out the door, quickly shoving the pink box under her shirt.

She had the sarcastic thought in the back of her mind that, hey, at least her and Maggie's kids would be the same age and would wind up being friends. Two friends-turned-mother's dream, it drawled lazily as she beelined back towards her house.

Katty wasn't sure if she felt entitled to an answer from Maggie, or if she just wanted some support from someone who might be feeling the same anxiety that she was. She contemplated just going to the second house and slapping Maggie with the pregnancy test box, but decided against it, in case there were other people there, which there likely was.

She looked around in surprise, not realizing that she had already made it to her house and was standing in the kitchen. The box felt like it weighed a ton, and Katty quickly placed it on the kitchen island, in front of where she decided to sit.

Her stomach twisted and turned uncomfortably, and Katty tried to ignore the nausea. Did morning sickness ever happen not in the morning?

Internal ramblings that didn't mean anything more than anxiety took over, and Katty sat motionless, staring at the box that looked too happy for how she felt.

"You stare at it any longer, you'll burn a hole in it," the voice, though soft, made Katty jump.

"This your pregnant-spidey senses tingling or some shit?" she droned at Maggie before Katty found her common sense to stop herself. She regretted it immediately when Maggie's face turned surprised and sheepish.

"How'd you know?"

Katty sniffed. "Denise said you were by and grabbed a test."

"I was comin' over to tell you," Maggie murmured, embarrassed, and Katty's heart wrenched.

"Fuck, Mags, I'm sorry," she groaned, "I ruined that for you. Damnit," Katty hissed her herself. She felt entirely selfish, taking away Maggie's news from her. Just because she felt shitty that she had fucked up, now Katty had taken it out on someone else.

"No, no, it's fine," the concerned look was back on Maggie's face. "I was just comin' to check on you since you hurried out and said you were going to the infirmary. Thought I'd tell you first, you know?" Katty's stomach dropped further; the fact that Maggie wanted to tell Katty first made her feel even more guilty that she had spoiled it.

"Let's pretend I don't know," she declared, and then got up and walked over to the sink, turning the faucet on. Katty busied herself and started to wash her hands for no reason.

There was no movement or sound for a stretch, and Katty looked over her shoulder at Maggie. The other woman had an eyebrow cocked, and stared at Katty as if she had lost her mind.

"Oh, Maggie, I didn't see you there," Katty exclaimed, overdramatically and unconvincingly. "What a pleasant surprise."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Maggie asked, her lips twitching as she stared at Katty, still not getting it.

Katty scowled at her, and turned back towards the sink. "We're roleplaying. I'm sure you've done this before with Glenn, seeing as how you're pregnant."

Maggie made a strange choking noise, and Katty winced when something hit her in the side of the head and fell to the floor. Sending an annoyed look Maggie's way, Katty glanced at the floor.

It was her turn to choke on her spit when she saw the white pregnancy test stick laying on the ground, face down.

"You did not just hit me in the head with that," she stared at Maggie, slack jawed. "Mags, you pissed on it."

"Oh, Katty, fancy seeing you here!" Maggie's tune changed with a flourish of her hand. "It seems that I have dropped something. Would you be a dear and help me pick it up?"

Katty snorted and rolled her eyes, crouching quickly to pick up the slab of plastic.

When she flipped it over and saw the two pink lines, Katty's breath caught in her throat. It was one thing to guess that Maggie was pregnant or trying, but to actually see a positive test, it made her throat constrict and all the words and snappy comments die before they reached her mouth.

What was she supposed to say?

So, now it was her turn.

Maggie had insisted that for moral support, she had to be in the bathroom with her while Katty tried to pee on a stick. She had then reinforced her thesis with the copious movies Maggie had seen with women taking pregnancy tests; you weren't supposed to take it alone, she had explained.

Katty grumbled, but was secretly glad that Maggie was there.

Maggie hadn't berated her, scolded her, or given her any lecture about how she should have been more careful. She hadn't asked any details about her and Daryl, hadn't made any snarky comments or asked her what she was going to do if she was pregnant. She had simply chattered to her aimlessly while Katty peed, and laughed at her when she got it on her hand.

Katty couldn't ask for a better friend.

Peeing in a cup and sticking the test in it had been suggested, but Katty didn't particularly want to piss into a cup that she'd later be drinking out of, so she sufficed to peeing on her hand while she tried to navigate where the stick was.

It was painful, waiting three minutes for a result.

"I'd offer you a glass of wine to ease your nerves, but, you know," Maggie offered uselessly.

Katty snorted, "Thanks, Mags."

Maggie wrinkled her nose. "I hate when you call me that."

"So I can't name my first born Mags?"

Maggie rolled her eyes and glanced towards the timer. Katty followed suit. One minute left. Her heart leapt.

"I'd feel sorry for any child that was half you, half Daryl, but even more so if you punished it by naming it Mags."

Katty picked a spot on her chin while she deduced to herself that she disagreed with Maggie. Her and Daryl would probably have cute kids. They'd have nice eyes no matter who they took after, at least. Katty grimaced as she pictured herself and Daryl trying to raise a child. It's first word would probably be a curse and if it's accent was a mix between hers and Daryl's, the kid would probably sound quite weird.

"Oh my god," Maggie laughed, jerking her out of her thoughts. "You're picturing your kids with him right now, aren't you?"

"Am not," Katty snapped, but knew that the shifty look on her face concluded that her denial had been a lie.

The awful, grating noise of the egg timer going off stopped Maggie from saying whatever she was about to embarrass Katty with, and both women looked towards the stick that they had purposeful put face down on the bathroom counter.

"Our kids could have rhyming names; Mags and Gags. G for Glenn, of course," Katty suggested, because she wanted to prolong looking at the test.

Maggie ignored her stupid proposal. "Want me to look first?"

"Yes," she stated immediately, and watched Maggie's face carefully as her friend grabbed the test off the counter and turned it towards herself. Maggie's face remained neutral as she looked at it, flickering her eyes the tiny screen and the legend beside it multiple times.

"Well?" Katty wheezed, her throat feeling dry and constricted.

Maggie bit her lip, and looked up at Katty, unsure. "Looks like Mags and Gags ain't happenin' just yet."

Katty blinked stupidly, and then scrambled to grab the test from Maggie's outstretched hand when the comprehension dawned on her.

One line.

Negative.

Katty felt herself sit on the toilet lid as she stared at the reading screen, searching for any trace of another line.

One line.

Negative.

While she sat, there, trying to figure out how she felt, Katty blinked when she found Maggie's hand on her shoulder.

"I'll still name mine Gags, if you want. It's startin' to grow on me."

Katty managed a laugh, though she felt the funny comment deserved more than the weak chuckle, and smiled up at Maggie.

"Thanks," she said, more so for the fact that Maggie had stayed with her through it, rather than because Maggie offered to name her first-born Gags.

Maggie left shortly after, realizing that Katty wanted to be left alone. She wasn't sure how she felt or why she wasn't ecstatic. She wasn't pregnant. Katty should be jumping for fucking joy at the fact.

Part of her felt hollow.

It felt like something had been ripped away from her, a part that she didn't know was missing. That was a lie; Katty knew it had been missing. The test just now served as a reminder that she wouldn't – shouldn't – have children in this new world. She wanted them before, for as long as she could remember. But even reflecting on how life might be sustainable inside the walls of Alexandria, with doctors and medicine available to her now, Katty couldn't shake the feeling that she'd never feel secure enough to ever have children. To risk the heartache.

She picked at her finger nails absentmindedly as the sadness crept up like frost on a cold morning.

Katty didn't think that any number of similes or metaphors could ever explain the conflicting feelings she was having.

Blood rushed in his ears, his heart beat uncontrollably, and Daryl felt cold and sweaty at the same time.

Was he close to passing out?

Maybe.

Was he hoping that he'd hit his head on the way down and forget about what he had just found?

Definitely.

After they had finished talking as a group about the supply run, Daryl had left to follow Kat. She hadn't been at the infirmary when he showed up at the doorstep, and Daryl moved on to the next logical place; her house.

Walking in, it was quiet and empty and Daryl hadn't been sure if he should even bother calling out for Kat. When something small and white had caught his eye on the counter, he had paused.

The hell was that?

It had taken him a minute, but when the realization had hit him like a fucking bucket of ice cold water, his attention quickly focussed away from Kat and zeroed in on the pregnancy test in his hand.

"I actually have to go grab something that I forgot from the infirmary," Kat's voice echoed in his head. The hesitance when he had moved to take down her panties. The counting. The evasive look when he had tried to ask what was wrong.

His hands shook as Daryl tried to decipher what the fuck two lines meant. Wasn't it supposed to be a positive or negative sign? Was this two negative signs? The fuck did it mean? His eyes landed on the legend beside the screen. It was simple.

One line. Negative.

Two lines. Positive.

Kat was pregnant.

He had gotten Kat pregnant.

The first emotion to run through him was panic. They couldn't raise a baby in the apocalypse. He wouldn't have been able to raise a kid before the end of the world, and now? With fucking dead people walking around? Holy shit. Judith was an exception. She never cried, never made a fucking sound when Walkers were nearby. Lil Asskicker was special and Daryl doubted that there would be another one like her. He couldn't be a father for fucks sake. He never had one in the first place that wasn't either pissed drunk or beating the shit out of him. How could Daryl possibly raise his own?

He was going to vomit.

A spark of anger took flare, and Daryl's mind ran with it, coaxing the flame. She had hid this from him. Kat had known, at least had an idea, and had purposeful kept him out of the loop. Was she ever planning on telling him?

He was fucking livid. How could she keep something like this from him?

How was she planning on explaining it when she had a baby bump? Was she going to kill it, and not tell him? Daryl's stomach churned, and he took off up the stairs, now both angry and scared.

It was his fuckin' kid. Hell if he didn't get a say in anything.

Daryl shoved open two doors before he found himself in a bedroom that he assumed was Kat's. It had her stupid, sequined shorts on the bed, at least. He looked around quickly. Fucking empty.

Daryl was about to rip apart the house looking for her, before he heard movement behind another door, in what he assumed was a bathroom. Whipping around, he stalked over to the white door, the color taunting him, and kicked it open. The door had been ajar, so it banged loudly against the wall as it violently swung open. Kat was sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

"Daryl," she spluttered, "What the bloody hell – "

"When were ya gonna fuckin' tell me?" he snarled from the doorway. Daryl wanted to storm towards her, grab Kat and shake the fuckin' stupidity out of her. But he didn't. He felt frozen, his feet like slabs of lead, weighed heavily on the ground. She was pregnant.

"Daryl, what – " her eyes were panicked, and Kat was shaking her head, and it made Daryl angrier that she could even think about playing dumb.

"Yer knocked up," he snapped, and threw the test strip at her feet. It bounced and slid across the tile, and Kat stared at it, her eyes becoming wider. Her head snapped up, her jaw opening and closing a few times before she found her voice again.

"No, that's – "

He scoffed, appalled that Kat had the indecency to lie to his face. She obviously thought so fucking little of him and his intelligence that she thought she could get away with it. Fuckin' bitch.

Daryl's eye caught onto a pink box, sitting on the bathroom counter beside Kat. He reached out an snatched it, waving the cardboard at her. She flinched away slightly at the quick, angry movement, and Daryl ignored when his heart clenched that Kat thought he might throw it at her. He was too angry to feel guilty right now.

"The fuck is this then? The box that Slut Barbie's Dreamhouse came in?" he spat at her, relishing in the fact that a glint of anger appeared in her previously surprised eyes. Daryl wanted Kat to be pissed off. He wanted a fight.

"The Barbie abortion clinic sold separately, or did ya already get that too?" he continued rudely when Kat opened her mouth to retort.

"Shut the fuck up, you don't know anything," Kat finally cut in when Daryl paused to breathe, air suddenly coming in short supply as he remembered that there was the possibility that Kat may have gotten rid of it already. How did they even do them? Was it a pill? His eyes snapped to the counter once again, wracking the marble top for any unidentified bottles that he had previously missed.

Not finding anything, Daryl strode forward and ripped open the medicine cabinet to the left, not entirely sure what he was looking for.

"Maggie – "

"Fuckin' fantastic. Maggie knew 'fore I did? Anyone else?" he snarled to himself as he rifled through the shelves. Daryl jumped back when the cabinet door suddenly slammed closed, barely missing his fingers.

He turned to scowl at Kat, freezing when he realized how close she was to him suddenly. Her hands roughly weaved themselves into his hair and snapped his face so it was level with hers. Kat's eyes were narrowed and angry.

"I'm not fucking pregnant. That one was Maggie's," she hissed into his face, her grip tightening in Daryl's hair.

Daryl's brow furrowed, "Why the box up here with ya, then?" he didn't understand.

"I took one too, but it was negative. Maggie's pregnant, not me," she reaffirmed, scowling at him.

Relief washed over him, but Daryl still found himself angry. She had taken a test without saying anything to him.

"Ya thought ya were pregnant an' didn't say shit," he snapped, narrowing his eyes at her. His neck had started to hurt, but Kat's grip didn't seem to be slackening anytime soon.

"Why would I tell you if it ended up being negative?" she asked incredulously, and Daryl scoffed, ripping away from her.

"Yeah, because I wouldn't deserve ta know, especially since it'd be mine," How was this such a hard concept for Kat to grasp, that he didn't want to be left out or treated like he was stupid. "If it is mine," he sneered, and knew it was an immature, low blow. Daryl knew had hadn't been screwing around behind his back, he just was angry and wanted to piss her off.

And piss her off it did.

"Get out," she commanded cooly.

Daryl paused, suddenly unnerved at the change in Kat's anger. It seemed to simmer just below her surface, and in all honesty, it freaked him out slightly. That she wasn't screaming at him, wasn't slapping him or pushing him out the door. Just calmly telling him to get out.

It wasn't the anger he was used to. Fists and belts and white hot ends of cigarettes. It unnerved him that the quiet kind of anger was more threatening.

He hesitated, perhaps a moment too long.

"Get. Out," she seethed at him through her teeth, and Daryl knew he had taken it too far.

He wasn't about to admit it, though, so Daryl just turned and stormed away, stalking heavily and loudly down the stairs and tearing through the bottom level of the house. The fresh air was muchly needed, and Daryl screwed his eyes shut as he leaned heavily against the porch banister. He didn't trust his own centre of gravity. He shakily pulled out and lit a cigarette as he tried to calm his nerves and his anger.

He wasn't sure how long he stood on Kat's porch, trying not to think. He wasn't sure if he was waiting for her to come out or if he just didn't trust himself to walk away just yet. Daryl put the lit cigarette between his lips and then massaged his temples.

Was Kat worth this bullshit?

He was in the middle of talking himself into avoiding her for the rest of his life, when he heard hesitant footsteps on the porch behind him. Daryl decided to ignore her, and screwed his eyes up tighter. The last thing he needed was her following him just to yell at him.

Or worse, that quiet anger.

Daryl tensed when he felt Kat place her forehead in the centre on his back, between his shoulder blades.

"We need to work on some shit," she murmured into his back. He felt himself snort. Not because he agreed; Daryl was still leaning towards the idea that he didn't want anything more to do with Kat. He snorted because it was a fucking understatement if he ever heard one.

Just when he was getting used to the presence of Kat's face in his back and Daryl felt himself relaxing slightly, he tensed up again when her arms wound themselves around his waist.

"I get it. I fucked up when I took the test and hid it from you. I didn't mean to freak you out," her voice vibrated against his skin, and Daryl was annoyed when his body relaxed against his will at Kat's arms around him. She shifted her face so her words weren't muffled by his vest. "But you can't talk to me like that, can't call me names, or accuse me of shit like that. You fucked up too," she concluded, her arms tightening around him like she figured he would rip away from her.

He didn't.

Daryl sighed through his nose, and puffed a few more times on the cigarette between his lips before he answered.

"Ain't think yer a slut," he said, and thought it sounded like a pathetic apology.

"Doesn't matter. Don't say it again," she said firmly, stiffly.

Kat sighed when he didn't reply right away, and unwound her arms from his middle. Before she could step away, Daryl strung his arm around her ribcage and pulled her in front of him. Kat was trapped between his arms, which were resting on either side of her on the railing, her back pressed to his chest.

"Sorry," he stated gruffly and quickly, not wanting her to go. He didn't want her upset with him, even if he had just been contemplating ignoring her again. Daryl knew that he wouldn't have been able to do that at this point. It was all just talk.

She let out a deep breath that she'd been holding. "I'm sorry too," Kat replied lightly.

"We got shit ta work on," he reaffirmed her words from earlier, and felt her body move when Kat snorted.

"Guess we should cool it for a while," Kat stated casually, bringing a hand up to pick at her fingernails. "Unless you were quite keen on the idea of a tiny, angry redneck running around with a British accent."

Looking over her shoulder, she laughed at the cringing, uncomfortable face that Daryl pulled without realizing it.

"Nah," he gruffly replied, feeling heat creeping up his neck. "'Specially if it ends up with yer creepy-ass eyes." He didn't mean that, but felt like deflecting his embarrassment into a soft jab at Kat was the only way out of it. The idea of having kids with her was fucking preposterous. Daryl was still sure, even though she disagreed, that Kat wouldn't have given him a second look before the apocalypse and before the now limited options. It was still embarrassing though. His anger felt shameful now, and he wondered how Kat was so quick to joke about what had just happened. Maybe it was her way of moving past it.

Kat let out a light laugh that almost sounded sad, wistful. She was silent for a while afterwards, and Daryl was struck by the odd thought that maybe she was. Why, though?

"Ya good?" he spoke into the crook of her neck, relishing in the goosebumps that appeared in the wake of his words.

"Yeah," came her short reply.

Daryl didn't believe it, but he was scared to push it and find out what she was thinking.

He felt selfish and unsupportive and entirely unfit to be anything to Kat. But she still wanted him somehow. It was goddamn baffling. Daryl knew anger. He didn't know patience and talking shit through and anything that would help him be with her.

But he wanted to try.

Even in his arms, small and cold and unintimidating, she felt dangerous. Like an ocean that would suck him out. That wasn't right, he thought to himself as he leaned heavily on her, practically squishing her against the railing. That didn't suit Kat. Rough winds and white capped seas, crushing boats and sailors; that wasn't her. He didn't think he could ever imagine any number of similes or metaphors that, wound together, would describe Kat properly.

But he wanted to try.

"You actually think my eyes are creepy?" Kat asked suddenly, a laugh bubbling up as she voiced the question.

No. "Yup."

He hissed in pain when her heel purposeful and gratingly scraped against the front of his shin.

"Arsehole," she laughed, and Daryl thought it sounded like windchimes and morning birds and a clap of thunder. Daryl snorted to himself.

Definitely not enough similes.

A/N: I hope I tricked some of you at least with the opening bit. Wanted the people that guessed a pregnancy scare to at least be worried for a little bit haha!

Ended pretty cute, right? They've still got a ways to go before I'd even consider throwing a baby at them, don't worry. I think they'd fall apart if that happened. And I personally get bored reading stories after the main characters have kids, so I'm not sure if I'd keep the story going past that point. Who knows?

I'm thinking I will do a Negan story eventually as well, but I want to make sure I have it fleshed out properly with where I want to go with it. I thought for a long time about this one, and I don't want to just shit out another one right away because another character is getting popular.

All the encouraging words are amazing though, you lot are the best!

Thank you and don't forget to leave a review!

-Submechanophobia

Next Time: Something was wrong, she knew it. It didn't make sense why so many people were going on the supply run for some goddamn seeds.

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