Chapter 18

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Sam shoved Shane away, taking a few steps back herself. Shane's mouth turned up into a sly grin and he looked at Sam as if she was being over dramatic.
"What are ya on bout? You wanted me to kiss you! I read all your signals..."
Sam put her hand up for him to stop talking; she couldn't bare to hear his 'reasons' behind the kiss.
"I did NO SUCH THING SHANE!" Sam yelled, beginning to walk back to the Motel "Here I am, thinking that maybe, JUST MAYBE you had changed and were actually concerned about someone other than yourself! I actually opened up to you, but you just proved me wrong" Sam yelled over her shoulder back at Shane, as he walked after her.
Shane had caught up to Sam as she made it to the lobby of the motel, and grabbed her wrist before she could open the door. Sam swung around, instinctively slapping him hard across the face and kept her hand up as she pointed at him
"You have NO RIGHT! TO TOUCH ME! NO ONE DOES!" Sam had finally lost it – it was breaking point.

Sam darted up the hallway, banging her hand against the door across from her room. Glenn appeared, rubbing his eyes suggesting he had just been asleep.
"Hey Sam "he said groggily "What's going on?..."
Maggie was by his side momentarily, worry written across her face and Sam threw herself at her. Maggie could feel Sam's body trembling in their hug but couldn't understand what had happened from Sam's sobs and mumbling.

While Glenn had set off in search of Daryl, Maggie had managed to get Sam sitting on the edge of the bed, with her head bent over her feet "Just breathe... "Maggie cooed as she patted her back "tell me what happened...".
Once Sam had caught her breath back, she sat up straight and turned her body towards her friend "He's going to hate me!" Sam repeated a few times before managing more sentences.
"Who is? Daryl? Why would he hate you?" Maggie said in a confused manner. Sam put her hands to her face, trying to get a hold of herself.
"I would hate myself if I were him... if he ever found out... I just don't know what to do... I can't believe Shane would do that to me!" Sam blurted out and slowly, Maggie was getting the gist.
"Did Shane... did he..." Sam knew straight away Maggie thought Shane had done the unthinkable, had attacked her...she needed to be clear.
"We were out on watch, it was cold and I began talking about how I was feeling... like as if he would really care..." Sam said laughing at her stupidity "And that's when he kissed me! I was in utter shock! And when I realised what was happening, I pushed him off".
Sam with her blotchy eyes stared at Maggie who didn't know what to say, she had never trusted Shane since the barnyard massacre.

"I'm gonna kill him" Daryl's voice grunted through his gritted teeth as he and Glenn stood in the doorway, having just heard what Shane had done.
Sam stood up, trying to take his arm but he pulled it away from her and charged down the hallway, out to the lobby.
"Go get Rick!" Maggie yelled at Glenn as Sam ran off after Daryl, knowing exactly where he was going.

Shane heard a twig on the ground crunch, and he turned around instinctively to where the sound had come from. But before he could respond, he felt the weight of knuckles punch the left side of his face.
By being caught off guard, Shane lost his balance and fell to the floor. He looked up from the ground, and cradled his face while looking up at Daryl. Shane spat blood from the inside of his mouth after biting the inside of his cheek and stood up.
"How dare you touch Sam!"
Shane scoffed, moving his jaw back and forth "How dare I? C'mon Daryl, if anyone should be asking that… it should be me" He stated, as the two man began circling each other "How dare you touch Sam, after all I had her first."

Daryl could hear Sam calling out to them in the distance, but he ignored it – all his attention was on Shane.
"You like taking advantage of Sam when she's upset and hurt? What kind of man are ya Shane? Oh wait, we already know! You've shown it a million times!" He added sarcastically but then his tone became serious again
"And you were the one who wanted to leave Sam to rot with Dave? You don't care bout her! You never have!
Shane scoffed lightly, find the whole situation amusing. He, Shane Walsh getting an ear full from the likes of Daryl Dixon? Hell no!

"Do ya really think Sam would have given ya a second look if this whole zombie apocalypse wouldn't have happened?" Shane began to say, moving closer to Daryl, changing the subject from Dave to Daryl.
"I mean, look at ya for god's sake! You're just some filthy god dam red neck and that's all you'll ever be, and soon enough she will realise that and come crawling back to me."

That was the last straw, Daryl tackled Shane hard to the ground and both men fell with a loud thud. Daryl and Shane scuffled around, each getting a few swings in before Rick, T – Dogg and Kym broke them apart.
Shane and Daryl stood eyeing each other off, trying to catch their breath as Maggie stood with Sam, her arm around her shoulder
"That's enough!" Rick said, holding Shane back but was interrupted by Kym "I don't know how you guys deal with things, but that's not how we do things around here. Now you can either sort it out like me, and by that I mean not by your fists. If ya can't, then you know where the door is"
Kym said firmly to both Daryl and Shane and then to Rick, before walking off back to the lobby entrance where his wife Danielle was waiting. Elyse had been watching on from inside the lobby, holding onto the cross necklace she was wearing while Dino had come outside, to see what all the excitement had been about.
"I guess that's been a long time coming" Dino said to Glenn who simply nodded as both Daryl and Shane shook the men off them "You have no idea kiddo" Glenn replied. Daryl shoved T –Dogg away one last time before heading off back into the motel while Shane put his hands on his hips, taking in the judgmental faces staring back at him, which consisted of Rick and Lori.

Sam ran after Daryl, trying to make him stop as he walked up the stairs to the bedroom.
"Please just stop! We need to talk!" Sam pleaded with him. Daryl moved around so fast, Sam nearly ran into him "I don't think I can, I might say somethin' that I'll regret" He looked at her sternly in the eyes. Sam nodded, deciding to let him go off into their room alone. She didn't blame him for being angry, she would have been the same way. He just needs time.

Daryl had gone hunting by himself the morning after, and had only spoken to Rick. Sam sat in the dining room area, playing with the bread in front of her, not hungry at all. She knew Daryl needed some space to think, but was it really necessary for him to be gone for 3 days? she was actually becoming worried. Carol sat down beside her
"You don't need to worry, he can look after himself" she said reassuringly. Andrea then spoke "Yeah he once told me about the time when he was a kid and he got lost in the bush for 9 days... he'll be fine".

Maggie appeared upset and once Sam had asked what was wrong, Maggie had told her Beth was acting distant and quiet... so Sam decided to get her mind off Daryl and see if she could find out what was wrong.

Beth was huddled in the lounge room area, staring at the blank TV when Sam sat down next to her "What's going on honey bunch?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.
Beth continued to stare at the TV and Sam half laughed, making herself more comfortable on the chair next to Beth "You know, starring at the TV won't make it turn on" Sam said jokingly, trying to make the blonde teenager smile but it didn't work.
"C'mon Beth, tell me what's going on in that head of yours… Maggie is worried about you, and so am I. You know we can talk about everything and anything"
Sam was pulling out all the tricks she could muster up from her psychology study , what she had learnt as a part of her criminology degree, but Beth didn't seem to budge. So Sam decided to take another route….
Whenever I couldn't talk to my sister about things, I'd turn to my friends.. or a TV show like One tree Hill or 90210 for the answers…. You know I am your friend right? You can tell me anything.

Suddenly Beth began talking so fast, it was hard for Sam to keep up...
"I was sitting here before, watching Maggie and Glenn, then Rick and Lori…." It became clear to Sam pretty much straight away where this was going "And it occurred to me that I would never have any of that…." Beth said finally meeting Sam's eyes.
"I'll never be in love, or have sex!"
Sam blushed lightly, surprised at Beth's outburst "I can't talk to Maggie about this type of thing. When I first found out she was having sex I was so angry! But now I see why it's so great. I see the way her and Glenn look at each other, the same way you and Daryl look at each other. And I'll never have that".

Sam saw Dino outside with T-dogg "What about Dino? He's around your age… he's not too bad looking… she said suggestively "And don't forget Carl…" she said playfully nudging Beth
"Carls so young! That would never happen…"
Sam stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling a bit happier after having her chat with Beth "Never say never" she said winking and left Beth by herself.

Night time had finally drawn upon the motel, yet Daryl had still not arrived back from his 'hunt'. Sam was clearing the table from after dinner with the help of Elyse, it was silence between them but it wasn't an awkward silence – there wasn't any forced conversation. Sam had observed Elyse over the past few days, analysing her behaviour – she loved people watching. Sam had been mighty impressed with how Elyse composed herself with all the drama that had gone on, and admired her. Although Elyse was quiet and kept to herself, Sam could see behind her eyes she was taking everything in, she seemed she would be an underdog, waiting for her chance to shine.
"I'm sure you and Daryl will work everything out". Elyse said and both of their eyes met "I may not say much, but I see the way you two are together..."
Sam laughed to herself... she was right about Elyse taking in her surroundings "I heard from the other women that you were studying criminology... trying to figure out why people act the way they do... by reading their behaviour..."
Sam nodded, intrigued by where the conversation was now heading with Elyse "I may only be a hairdresser by trade, but little do people know that my job is also reading people. And a lot of the time, I get told things, private because they don't have anyone else to talk to or they think I don't listen."

Sam held a few plates in her hands, which then began to tremble at their own accord. Elyse grabbed the plates before they fell, placing them on the table and then placed her hands over Sam's.
"We might be strangers, but I can see what type of person you are – you're so caring and loving, always thinking of other people which is why you try to keep your emotions bottled up because you don't want to upset others. But sometimes Sam, you need to do what's best for you... you have been through so much and you need to fight your fears, or else you'll never get over them."Sam knew what she had to do, and thanked Elyse for her words which she really needed to hear.

As she walked towards one of the sources of her problems, she stopped and took a deep breath and then continued on.
Shane – it was all Shane, she'd finally worked it all out. Back at Uni, he was the type of character they studied... unremorseful, only cared for himself... he is a sociopath.
"Shane"
Sam called out to him, facing one fear at a time. Shane smirked and leant up against the motel side entrance lowering his shot gun to his side.
"Come back for more?" He asked with a cunning grin. Sam shook her head and folded her arms over her chest
"I'm only going to say this once Shane, so you listen good. You know those Walker's out there? There not the monsters in this world, but you are. Dave, and any other men like you are the real monsters and always have been.
I see you for what you are, and I know that in the end you will get what's coming to you. That's the way it always is... what goes around, comes around."

For once in his life Shane was speechless, he had no words. Sam moved forward a tiny step, making sure he understood what she was about to say
"I love Daryl more than anything, and I will do whatever it takes to get him back. You will NEVER talk to me, TOUCH ME, ever again. I will do anything, and I mean anything..." Sam said and turned back away, walking towards the motel.

In distance, coming out of the bushland, Daryl had seen the whole show and could kick himself.
How could he have been so stupid? It was clear something was going on between Sam and Shane, and he had been too love struck to see it... He was done with her.

Will Sam be able to win Daryl back? Or has she lost him forever?
How can she prove her love for him?

To be continued...

Authors Note –

HOW WAS CHAPTER?!

Was it a let down or did you like it?

I couldn't stop writing.. I just kept going & going...

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE PART?

Finally there was a fight between Daryl and Shane! it's been a long time coming...

I know a few people thought Sam would get with Shane, but I couldn't do that to Daryl :( I love them so much together.

What do you think will happen next?

P.S who enjoyed the cute scene with Beth? I enjoyed that