Authors' Note: Soo sorry it's been so long, but thank you to those who have reviewed and are still reading. This is a good chapter and it's time to get the ball rolling on these two, so I hope you enjoy! Let me know your thoughts! :)

Chapter Five: No Other Choice

It had been hours of walking deep in the Northern woods, and we had yet to see a single deer in sight. I wasn't going to lie, my ankle was starting to throb and my feet were starting to hurt. I definitely expected to have some kind of observations written down by then.

"Well it doesn't look like we're seeing much of anything out here today" I suggested as we both paused and leaned against a large rock. I scooted myself on top of it, to relieve some pain off of my throbbing ankle.

"It's kinda' weird, I thought they'd flock over here" he pulled out a cigarette from his ripped jean pocket and placed it in between his lips, "…break out in song and dance, lift you up and help you walk, like those Disney movies" a mocking laughed escaped his lips as he lit his cigarette.

"Are you making fun of me?" I said as my face scrunched in every crease and I crossed my arms defensively.

He placed both his hands up and smiled, "Not judging" blowing a cloud of smoke from his mouth and chuckling a bit, "What's her name? Ah, Snow White… that's it" he said sarcastically as he turned his head a little with a smirk on his face, "Where's all the forest critters today?".

I couldn't help but laugh a little, even though I thought his comment was very mean. "Oh shut up" I said as a smile spread across my face, "and by the way, Snow White had black hair… I'm more like Aurora" I playfully corrected and he laughed again, "and you're a jerk, you know that?"

"You ain't seen nothin' yet" he laughed, "I've got pretty good talent for sarcasm"

"As do I" I snapped back playfully and he looked towards me with a grin and a raised eyebrow, a small laugh following.

"Good, we'll get along well then" he said and then turned back to finish off the remainder of his cigarette, "I think it's going to rain" he predicted as he scanned the misty looking sky.

"I checked the weather this morning, they said clear skies"

"I ain't never relied on no weather forecasters, they never know what they're talkin' about" he said confidently and I didn't say anything in return, "You see those flocks of birds…", he pointed up towards them and I nodded, "They flock together like that when they are outrunning a storm, they're flying east, which means there's a storm coming from the west"

"How do you know that?" I asked, still watching the flock of black colored birds.

"Just by observation, like I said, I ain't never rely on none of those weather forecasters to tell me what the weather's gonna' be like"

"Well, maybe we should head back then", I suggested, if he was right then I really didn't want to get caught in the middle of downpour, "doesn't look like I'm gettin' much observation today anyway"

His eyes finally traveled away from the sky and he dropped the cigarette but onto the ground, squishing it completely with his boot, "Aright, c'mon" he said as pushed himself off the rock and held a hand out to help me down from it.

I was hesitant to take a hold of it at first; however, I did need the help with my sore ankle, so I placed my hand in his and slid off the rock, eventually getting my footing on the ground and letting go of it, "Thanks" I said, barely looking up at him. He didn't say much, just a quick nod and then began walking back in the direction we came in.

After about an hour of walking, we could hear the thunder in the distance. We still had quite a while to go, so I couldn't lie, I was starting to worry that we were going to get caught right in the middle of it.

Silence lingered for a bit as he walked a couple steps ahead of me, until all of a sudden he came to an abrupt stop. "What's the matter?" I asked, looking around and feeling a bit of nervousness in my stomach, my initial reaction to not knowing what was going on.

"Shh…" he said, extending his arm out in front of me to stop me from moving, "C'mere", he grabbed a hold of my hand and quickly pulled me behind a tree with him, staying very quiet and still holding onto my hand tightly, "look" he whispered and nodded his head in the direction he wanted my eyes to observe.

To the left of us there was a small family of deer, the elk, with his very large antlers, the doe beside him, and three other small ones, the babies, walking beside them. The sight of this small family of five was beautiful, and observing them in their natural state, without fearing that humans were amongst them, was amazing.

The three younger deer started prancing around, kicking leaves up with their back hooves, and it reminded me a lot of innocent children at play. "They're so peaceful" I whispered to Daryl, and he smiled, his face just mere inches to the left of mine, but I didn't pay much attention to it, I just looked back at the deer, "This is a perfect view, we're so close" I whispered again, this time realizing at the end of my sentence that my hand was still tightly enclosed in Daryl's. I turned my head slightly to look down at his hand around mine, but before I even had a chance to think about how to react, the rain came pouring down around us. There wasn't even an drizzling to warn us, just a sudden rush of downpour and instantly within seconds we were drenched. I looked back up quickly and caught the last sight of the deer as they ran off into the woods, probably looking for somewhere to hide from the rain.

All of a sudden Daryl pulled my hand closer to him, and I looked up to see his rain soaked face, droplets traveling down his forehead everywhere. He was staring at me, not saying a word, and for a moment I felt butterflies swarm my stomach. I just looked at him, nervous and anticipated all at the same time. It felt like our gaze held for hours until suddenly he looked away and my hand dropped from his grip, "C'mon, let's get back before we catch a cold out here" he said as he took a couple steps away and barely turned back to look towards me.

I nodded, swallowing what little bit of saliva I had in my mouth from nervousness. I just followed him, a few steps behind like before. As we walked the remainder of the way back to the cabin, it was silent, neither of us saying a word. I must of mentally scolded myself a thousand times throughout the process, and I couldn't help the guilt forming in my belly as I thought about how much I sinfully may have wanted Daryl to kiss me back in the woods. I was a married woman, and just thinking about it was grounds for divorce, how could I be so adulterous?

When we finally reached the cabin the rain had stopped and the sun began to reappear; however, we were both completely drenched to the point that you could hear the swishing of water in our boots.

Feeling a bit awkward from our moment in the woods, I decided I would just drive home. Uncomfortable by his silence the entire way back, I was almost positive he wanted me to do the same.

"Well, I guess I should be gettin' back home…" I said as we approached my car sitting in the same spot as I left it.

"Like that?" he said with a raised eyebrow, "you're soaken' wet"

Surprised by his reaction I replied, "I didn't exactly think to bring a pair of extra clothes, but it's okay, I'll be alright"

"Nah" he shook his head, "Come inside for a bit, I'll give you something warm to put on and I'll put your clothes in the dryer"

"Oh you don't have…" I started, but he quickly cut me off.

"Stop, c'mon Snow white, let's get you dried up" he said with a mild chuckle.

I playfully tilted my head at his sarcasm and then nodded, "Okay" I said simply, and followed him in the house.

After a few minutes of waiting in his kitchen, he returned with a pair of sweatpants and a relatively big t-shirt, "This was the smallest I had, sorry"

I grabbed the clothes and shook my head, "No, this is fine, thank you"

"Aright well, the bathroom is down the hall and to the left, I'm gonna' go change too". I nodded, and then made my way towards it.

After changing out of the rain soaked clothing and slipping into the warm clothes Daryl had given me, I couldn't lie they were extra cozy and very warm. I had to pull the drawstring to the tightest it could go to fit my waist, but I managed. The t-shirt was pretty big, but it made due, at least until I waited for my clothes to dry.

As I exited the bathroom and made my way down the hall, I paused for a moment when I caught glimpse of Daryl in his bedroom, his door cracked open a few inches. He had already changed out of his pants, and had a pair of sweats on also, but he had no shirt on, and seemed to be searching his dresser drawer for one. There were still droplets of rainwater falling off the tips of his hair and onto his rather nicely sculpted shoulders and back. He had darkened lines across the top of it, scars of some sort; but not ugly or anything, just lightly grazed.

It was as if I couldn't stop watching him for a few minutes, something about his body was causing my eyes to become paralyzed in their sockets. Once again, I felt conflicted feelings of guilt and unremorsefullness all at once, yet I couldn't stop looking.

Then suddenly, once he found a shirt of his liking, he stood straight up and I'm almost positive our eyes made contact before I foolishly looked away and quickly returned to the kitchen, feeling like such an ass for staring in the first place. Great, he definitely seen me watching him like some weirdo, I thought as I waited in the kitchen with more nervousness in my stomach than ever.

He returned a few seconds later; but not once mentioned it. He probably tried to save me from the embarrassment, and I was glad he did so. He took a hold of my wet clothes and walked over to the small washer and dryer in the corner and began placing them inside of it. It was silent, neither of us saying a word. I felt almost sinful to admit it; but I couldn't seem to get the vision of him shirtless out of my mind, it was consuming my thoughts.

In efforts to shake the picture from my mind, I said the first thing I could think of, "Thanks again for going out there with me, seeing that family of deer made the walk and the rain all worth it"

He didn't even turn back towards me, he just continued doing what he was doing and nodded, "Glad you got to observe something"

It was painfully awkward in the kitchen, my mind racing to find something to say, "And thank you for the clothes"

He finally shut the dryer and the machine turned on. He turned around to face me, leaning up against it, "Don't mention it" he said simply, his eyes examining me, "Sorry I didn't have anything smaller" he said with a small laugh, probably because I was basically swimming in his clothing.

"It's fine" I looked at myself, "it's pretty comfy" I laughed and he did the same.

"Want something to eat?" he asked as he made his way to the cabinet and pulled out both a jar of peanut butter and a jar of grape jelly, "It ain't nothin' spectacular or anything, but I can make a mean PB&J"

I giggled a little. "Sure… I haven't had one of those in years" I said, and I was being one hundred percent honest. I used to love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches growing up, they were one of my favorites. I hadn't had one since before Phillip and I got together, mostly because he was into fine dining, and peanut butter and jelly wasn't exactly in that category.

After a few minutes, he walked over towards me and handed me a plate with a PB&J cut in half on it, and he held his own, "Come in the living room, I'll see if something in on TV, my feet are killing me and I just want to sit for a little bit"

I nodded in agreement; in fact my ankle was throbbing so intensely that it seemed like a brilliant idea.

His living room wasn't huge; honestly it was probably the size of my walk in closet, which was kind of disturbing in a way. It made me realize just how superficial my life really had become, and how much I really enjoyed the simplicity of Daryl's home and life in general, I almost envied it.

We took a seat on a long brown couch, rested up against a single wall, with a TV across from it. Daryl turned on the TV and flicked through the channels, while taking pretty monstrous bites from his sandwich at the same time. He finally settled on some cooking channel. The woman glazing up some kind of chicken roast with a deep red teriyaki sauce. I wasn't sure if he was actually interested in it or if he had just given' up on searching for something.

"So you said you're from Atlanta right?" he finally broke the silence.

I hesitated for a second, reluctant to reveal who exactly I was, I liked not having someone know I was the Governor's Wife. "Yes, that's where I live now; but I'm originally from Senoia"

His brows furrowed a little, "So, you like being out in the woods and stuff; but you moved from the countryside to the city?"

"It's complicated" I responded, hearing how utterly stupid that sounded.

He seemed to stare at me for a few minutes, probably noticing the weakness in my voice, "So you don't want to be in Atlanta?"

I wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question, and to be honest, hearing someone actually ask it made it all too real that I really did hate living there, "I wouldn't say I'd prefer it over somewhere else"

"So then why stay?" he continued, and I really just wanted to change the conversation.

"I don't know" I bit my lip and looked over at him, "like I said, it's complicated"

I think at that point he got the hint that I no longer wanted to talk about that. He just nodded and we both finished the rest of our sandwiches.

"Have you ever shot a crossbow?" he suddenly asked, leaning back onto the couch.

I was kind of taken back by his question, it wasn't exactly something I expected him to ask, "Nope, never"

He looked over, and then suddenly stood up from the couch, "C'mon, I'll show you, we've got some time to kill anyway", I looked at him for a few seconds completely confused till all of a sudden he grabbed my hand and pulled me up, "C'mon Snow White, if you're good than maybe I'll upgrade your nickname to Pocahontas" he said with a sarcastic laugh.

I crossed my arms and followed him, "Such a jerk" I muttered jokingly as I trailed behind him and he just looked back at me and laughed.

We went out into the backyard of the cabin and he headed straight over to a small shed where he pulled out a huge crossbow from. It was brown and had a camo outline along it, with about four arrows pinned to it. He walked back towards me, slipped an arrow out and placed it in the middle. He focused hard on a tree a few yard away from us, "You have to focus on your target, get it inside the eye view, and then pull pack and release", an arrow shot forward and landed straight in the middle of the tree, "it's not hard" he said as he looked over and handed me the crossbow.

I grabbed a hold of it; it was heavy, extremely heavy. "I can't do that" I said, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Sure you can" he insisted, unlatching another arrow from it and handing it to me.

I looked at him kind of weary at first, but then rolled my eyes as I attempted to do the same. I looked into the eye piece and tried my best to focus on the same tree and follow what he said; but when I pulled back the arrow and shot it forward, it flopped and landed only about a foot in front of me. I laughed out of embarrassment and so did he, "I told you I can't do that"

He knelt down and picked up the arrow, still laughing and then stood back up and came behind me. His chest pressed up against my back, and his arms extended around me until his hands gently rested upon mine. I felt a hundred sensations run through me as the warmth of his body surrounded me, and his breath trickled across my right shoulder as he leaned his head next to mine. He placed the arrow in place, hand over hand, and pulled it back, "Now focus on your target," he said softly, his breath tracing my ear, "don't lose sight of it", I could barely concentrate on what he was saying, "Now pull back, and release", the arrow shot forward and it landed directly next to his inside the tree.

I felt excited suddenly, like I had accomplished something. Without thinking, I swung around facing him, his arms still extended around me to hold the crossbow, "Ha, I did it!" I exclaimed with a huge smile on my face; but within seconds I realized how dangerously close his lips were with mine, mere centimeters, and his eyes were so deeply engrossed in mine that it was sinful. I felt my breathing accelerate as my body froze in place, with only my eyes traveling back and forth from his eyes to his lips. I could feel his breath upon my mouth, and his chest against mine, we were so close to each other. I almost gave in, visualizing what it would feel like to kiss another man's lips… to kiss his lips; but I fought against the temptation, and I cautiously pulled myself from his grip, "I'm sorry" I whispered, just barely backing away, but his grip increased tighter around me and pulled me back towards him, his lips crashing onto mine as every sensation in my body fled out of control. I wanted to fight it, I knew it was wrong; but I just couldn't, the feeling was too strong. My lips parted and within seconds our tongues were fighting for dominance.

I heard the crossbow crash to ground behind me, but I didn't bother to turn away. I knew it was purposeful when I felt his hands start press into the curve of my back. His kiss swallowed me whole, and my body heat seemed to increase with every movement. I hadn't felt passion like that in a long time, a very long time. I felt him moving me backward as we continued kissing and my feet followed until I rested gently against the wood of the house, at this point my hands were anxiously trailing the outlines of his chest over his shirt, his teeth biting hard onto my bottom lip sending chills down my back and goose bumps up my arms.

Just as things might have gone too far, a loud cackling was heard not far from us. We both paused momentarily and when Merle appeared from around the bend, I slipped out of Daryl's grip instantly, wiping my mouth and feeling an intense wave of nervousness and shamefulness take over.

"Well, well", Merle skeptically looked at us both, it was probably way to obvious that something was going on, "Blondie is still here huh?" he looked at Daryl with a half smirk, who was also painfully obvious as he moved around trying to maneuver himself. Merle just scanned both of us, and I could feel him passing judgment as he did so until he finally let out another cackling laugh, "Well I've got dinner" he held up a bloody deer, and I felt my stomach cringe, "I'll go get started on it" he said almost mockingly towards me, before turning to walk into the back door of the house.

Once he was out of sight, I looked over at Daryl who was now avoiding eye contact with me, "I-I'm sorry, I- that was a mis-"

He cut me off before I could get the words out, "I'm going to go see if the clothes are dry" he said abruptly before walking away from me and into the house without even a second look.

I just stood there for a few minutes, my fingers tracing the outline of my lips; I could still taste him on them. The first couple of seconds I was infatuated in what had happened, but then moments later the reality set in. I cheated on my husband. I have become an adulteress, I've sinned. The nausea began rising as the fear of Phillip finding out about this settled deep within the pits of my stomach. He couldn't find out, he just couldn't. He'd never forgive me and I'd hate myself forever. That was it, once my clothes were finished and I left this small cabin in the Northern hills of Georgia, I was never to come back. I couldn't see Daryl again, I wouldn't allow myself to. This had to end, it had too.

I had no other choice.