"And maybe that was love.

Being so vulnerable and allowing someone else in so far they could hurt you,

but they also give you everything."

― Christine Feehan, Water Bound

Cecilia's POV

It was already 10:00 and I still hadn't gotten out of bed, mostly because I barely slept last night. I just couldn't, not after what Rick said, I knew that the other day when the Governor attacked us was nothing, he could do so much more than that but we could also do more than what we did to Woodbury the other day, nevertheless I didn't want to go to war, I didn't want this.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty!"

I lifted my head and saw Maggie and Beth by the door, I just grunted at them and let my head fall back into the pillow.

"I'm already up," I muttered.

"Doesn't look like it," Beth said.

"I'm just... resting."

"You rested all night," Maggie exclaimed.

"Not really, I was up all night."

"Why?" Beth asked me.

"Couldn't stop thinking about the Governor and this war."

"That's why we should get ready and be prepared, we can't be taken by surprise again," Maggie told me. "Why don't you go take a shower, will help you wake up properly."

"I don't want to," I whined like a five-year-old spoiled girl.

I never got used to showering with cold water, even after about a year and when I was with Michonne and Andrea there were times we went about two or three weeks without taking a shower, disgusting I know, but the world is like that now. We brushed our teeth often tough, and when we found water we would wash our faces and sometimes armpits so we weren't that gross.

"When was the last time you shower?" Beth asked.

"Uh, two days ago, maybe?"

"Go shower, Cecilia!" Maggie told me in a motherly way. "You can help us after."

"If we die, it won't matter if I'm showered or not," I said, trying to reason with her.

"I promise I'll lock you up until you take a shower, so you better go now."

"Fine!" I exclaimed. "But I ain't washing my hair."

"Suit yourself."

Grunting, I got on my feet, grabbed clean clothes and a towel and walked to the showers room. I checked that no one was there before I undressed. I threw the dirty clothes to the corner of the room and stepped in.

The water was cold, as usual, and I hated it. I did wash my hair, though, deciding to get it over with, I applied a bit of Shampoo and conditioner we had and tried to finish as soon as possible.

I wrapped the towel around my body and dried myself, I was so cold, I didn't waste more time to get dressed and when I did I wrapped the towel around my head like I used to before the world went to hell and grabbed my dirty clothes.

I walked straight to Maggie's room and smiled real big at her, pointing my index fingers at the towel on my head.

"I showered," I announced. "I washed my hair too."

"What a good little girl," Maggie said sarcastically. "Did you brush your teeth too?"

"Actually I did," I said, smiling at her so she could see my clean and surprisingly still white teeth.

"See? Wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Yeah, it was," I admitted. "Now, I'll go."

There was a little room next the kitchen where we leave our dirty clothes, usually my mum, Maggie and Beth do the laundry with the help of some of the boys, sometimes I help too.

I put my clothes on this basket that was already filled with dirty clothes, since the Governor thing no one has cared about laundry.

I walked back into the kitchen, grabbed something to eat quickly and went back to my room, and once there I threw the towel on the floor and sat on my bed again, finishing the food I grabbed a few minutes before.

Ever since the apocalypses started, I had learnt to eat so slowly and very small pieces of food because sometimes it's all you have for a very long time and you have to taste it all before swallowing it, it had become a bit now.

Before I just used to eat fast, sometimes not even sit down to eat and I just grabbed a piece of toast and eat it on the way, not allowing myself to even taste it, just eating it to have something in my stomach.

But at these times food was a treasure, the most valuable thing you can find, next to the water and the weapons.

I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye, so I turned to look and saw Carl, who looked quite jumpy, he didn't smile at me.

"Cici, I need you."

"What is it?" I asked him, getting on my feet. He was getting me really nervous. "Something bad happened?"

"It's quite stupid, I know," he told me. "I was taking some boxes to this room and I think there was a rat or two and I just hate them so much, the others wouldn't understand but I know you would. Can you come with me, please?"

"Carl," I said sighing, mostly out of relief. "You kill walkers and you can't kill a rat?"

"Please, Cici, I need you, come with me, please."

"Fine, let's go."
Carl actually grabbed my hand and pulled me with him, almost not giving me time to grab my knife and my gun, which I put in my waistband.

Carl was talking me further into the prison, to a place where we not often go, actually I hadn't been this far before but the place was secured and there were no walkers in here anymore.

"It's in there," Carl said, pointing to a door.

I opened it and stepped inside, grabbing my knife. The room was quite big, dark and it smelled weird but in fact there were some shelves in here and Carl had put some boxes on them.

"Are we there yet?" I heard someone asking, I turned just in time to see Daryl walking in, followed by Michonne.

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

"Michonne was also scared," Carl told me. "We were here together, I didn't know she was going to go for Daryl."

"Whatever," Daryl muttered. "Where are the rats anyway?"

"Michonne and I saw two in that corner," Carl said, pointing to the farthest corner in the room. "We heard more there."

I sighed and went to the second place Carl pointed, holding my knife tightly with my left hand. I was looking for the animals I hated so much when I heard the door slamming shut, I jumped around and ran to the door, which now was closed.

I tried to open it but it was locked, Daryl actually pushed me out of the way and tried to open it as well but there was no use, those two locked us in.

"Open the damn door!" Daryl shouted, banging the door with his palm.

"We won't open the door until the two of you fix things," I heard Carl's voice saying from the other side. "And don't even try to shout, no one will hear you."

"Carl, what the hell? Let us out, now!"

"Have fun!"

I actually could hear their footsteps as they walked away and I couldn't help but banged the door a couple of times as well, out of anger.

I leant against the wall and let myself slump down to the ground. I bent my knees and rested my elbows on them, and my head on my hands.

Daryl didn't sit, he paced around the room, running his hands through his semi-long hair, messing it a bit and at all costs, he tried to avoid to look at me and I did the same but I couldn't stop feeling so awkward about all of this.

I still couldn't believe Carl and Michonne set us a trap and locked us together and quite far from the group so they couldn't hear us, very smart of them, I might add, but still I wasn't in the mood to praise them or anything because I was the one locked in.

I let myself look up, and noticed the room had a single small window, making the room really, really dark and there was no electricity here to make it a bit more lighter, I just really hoped there really weren't rats in here.

I came to the conclusion that we were going to be here for a very long time so I lied down on my back, and raised my legs and rested then against the wall. I closed my eyes and put an arm over my eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Daryl snap at me.

"Getting comfortable," I muttered. "I advice you to do the same, we'll be here for quite a while."
"Thanks to you."

"I didn't ask them to do this!" I exclaimed, moving my arm and opening my eyes to look at Daryl. "We both fell in the trap, easy as that."

Daryl didn't say anything else but I heard him grunting, I closed my eyes again and imagined I wasn't here, I actually imagined I was in a beach in the Caribbean taking the sun but it was hard to concentrate as I kept hearing Daryl's footsteps as he paced from one side to the other.

"Can't you just sit down?" I asked without opening my eyes.

"No," Daryl grumbled, quite rudely.

I sighed. I was actually extremely sad and hurt by Daryl's attitude lately, I hated this side of him and I didn't even know what I did.

"We should pretend we are okay," I said. "Maybe Carl will let us out."

"And then I'll kill him."

Daryl kept walking around the room, I could hear him. I had to agree I wanted to kill Carl too and then Michonne, they wanted to help but by the looks of it, it really wasn't helping.

I was so sick of hearing his footsteps and not being able to take it anymore, I sat up, looking at Daryl, who kept ignoring me.

"I don't even understand what your problem is!" I exclaimed, making him glance at me. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I wish I hadn't kissed you, okay?"

"Of course you do," he spat. "Who would want to kiss me, anyway?"

"What?" I exclaimed, feeling a bit surprise he actually sounded hurt. "Is that what you think?"

"No, I know it."

"Well, if I hadn't wanted I wouldn't have kissed you!" I exclaimed, surprising myself with my own words. I actually wanted to kiss him.

"Just shut your mouth."

I wanted to keep arguing but what else would I say it? And I didn't want Carl to come back and hear us arguing, so I just crossed my legs and started to play with the tips of my hair, I had nothing better to do.

Eventually I divided my hair in half, which was still a bit wet, and started to braid one half first and then moved to the other side, luckily I had some hair ties on my wrist. I usually have two on my wrist in case the one in my hair breaks or I lose it.

"I don't care if you keep hating me, okay?" I found myself saying as I finished the second braid. "I just want to know why, a simple kiss couldn't make you this mad."

"You know nothing, do ya?" he spat at me but said nothing else, I finally got the hint he wasn't telling me anything.

"We are in danger, Daryl. I don't know if we are going to live another day and I don't want to die not knowing what I did."

"Don't use that crap on me, girl!"

"It's the truth," I said, standing up. "And I'm not leaving you alone until you tell me."

"Wanna know?" he exclaimed, walking to me with his finger pointed at me in an accusing way, he was quite intimidating but I didn't step back. "You fucking used me, Cecilia!"

"What?"

"Wanted to defy your mum so you fucking kissed me, didn't mean anything to you, you just used me, just like that."
"That's not true!" I exclaimed, feeling like shit because of what Daryl was telling me. "I never intended to make you feel like that."

"But you still did."

"I'm sorry, if I could take it back, if I could undo it, I would."

"I bet you are more than anxious to do that, erase the mistake you made."

"I didn't mean it like that but if not doing it means we would still be friends, then yeah," I said, nodding. "I'm sorry I made you feel like that, honestly."

"You could have used anybody else," he exclaimed, walking away from me, so I was facing his back now. "Sean maybe, or Oli..."

"I don't fucking like Sean!" I exclaimed angrily, going after him. "And besides my mother never mentioned him, it was about you. Kissing Sean wouldn't make a statement."

"See? You just used me."

"Fine, I'm sorry. But anyone would have gotten over that and move on already, why not you? Why can't you just forgive me?"

"Because you ruined it." I heard him say and I felt how my heart shattered.

"What did I ruin? Us?" I asked, not showing him how much his words hurt me.

"You just don't get it, do you?" he shouted, again, turning to face me and stepping only inches away from me. "I fucking like you, alright? There, I said it!"

"What?" I asked in disbelief after I recovered from the shock.

"I wanted to kiss you back at the lake," he said loudly, shouting right in front of my face. "I wanted it to be special, it's stupid and pathetic but I wanted that, so I was going to try again and then you just do that and ruin it all!"

Daryl walked away from me, running his hands through his brown hair even more frantically than before, while I just stayed there in the same spot, too stunned to be able to move or say anything.

"But don't worry, now I know you don't like me it was dumb to think you could ever like someone like me!" he shouted but this time he was a few feet away from me. "Now we can all go back to our lives and focus on what really matters, like the Gov..."

"How can you think that?" I said quite loud, this time being me walking to him, finally snapping out of my trance. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"I'm fucking trash, Cecilia! Always have been, I'm the kind of person mothers don't want their daughters to end up with, I'm fucking no one," he exclaimed. "Never was and never will, I was just..."

"I said there's nothing wrong with you!" I said quickly, interrupting him as I walked closer to him. "You..."

"Don't," Daryl said, walking away from me. "Don't say words just to make me feel better, I don't need your pity!"

I had enough of him. I went after him, put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around, slightly pushing him against the wall that was only about a foot away from him, I stood in front of him and stared right into his now, dark blue eyes.

"I like you, Daryl, goddamn it!" I almost shouted at him. "Couldn't you just let me speak?"

Daryl said nothing to me, he stared back into my eyes, his lips slightly parted. I was a bit surprised I admitted it to him and I said those words I realized how much I actually liked him and that I have for quite a long time, I was just too stubborn to admit it.

Everyone could tell, everyone knew, even Sophia did and that was almost a year ago, had I actually liked him that long? Did he like me since then?

"Don't say words you don't mean, Cecilia," he said and for the first time, he didn't shout.

"I like you," I repeated. "Just never thought you could like someone like me."

"What's wrong with you?" I just shrugged.

"You heard my mum," I said. "I'm damaged."

"We all are."

"So you are agreeing with her?"

"Well," he said and I could actually see his lips forming a slight smirk. "There's nothing I can't fix, is it?"

"I don't know," I said as my lips formed a smirk identical to his. "I guess, we'll have to find out."

"I guess we'll have to start as soon as possible," he softly muttered, leaning in a bit. "Or the damage might be... beyond repair."

"I agree," I said, leaning in a bit as well, closing even more the distance between us.

We looked into each other's blue eyes for a couple of seconds, I could feel his hot breath on me and even when this wasn't technically going to be our first kiss and I wasn't nervous during the first, I was freaking out about this. I was feeling vulnerable and inexperienced and just very, very nervous, but all those thoughts about my insecurities vanished when Daryl finally closed the space between us and kissed me.

I kissed back immediately and I couldn't help but smile into the kiss when I felt one of his hands on my cheek, caressing it.

He pulled away, I looked up at him and he was already looking at me and had a big smile on his lips, which made me smile even more at him.

I couldn't deny how magical it felt and how happy it made me. For once I wasn't worrying about anything and I was truly happy, nothing else mattered, not right now.

I got that same feeling I had when I kissed him that day, and that same feeling I had gotten multiple times, like when he was showing him how to use his crossbow, or when we went on that run together, or when he sat on me on our way to Woodbury or even when he found me in the woods all those months ago, but this time it was stronger, way more stronger.

I raised my hands, held on to a part of his leather vest and pulled him closer to me, I smiled once again just before kissing him again, he instantly kissed back and seconds later he put his arms over my shoulders as I kept gripping his vest.

"So," I said, breaking the kiss, but rested my forehead against his. "Does this mean we are together?"

Daryl lifted his head and I seriously feared I had said the wrong thing but only a couple of seconds later I heard him chuckle.

"Yes, you silly," he muttered, grabbing my hands in his and pecking my lips once again. "Come on."

Daryl grabbed my hand as he walked closer to the door, he sat down and I did the same but eventually, I lied down and used his lap as a pillow, feeling extremely happy I could be this close to him again. As we talked, Daryl grabbed one of my braids and started playing with my blonde hair.

"Let me understand this," I said. "You were mad because I ruined our first kiss?"

"Yeah, well..." he said and then sighed. "Actually second kiss."

"What?" I asked in surprise, sitting up, facing him and looking straight into his eyes.

"The other day, that wasn't our first kiss," he told, looking at the ground.

"Uh, Daryl, I don't count the kisses on the cheek."

"Neither do I," he exclaimed in a duh tone. "Remember when we were in the CDC?" I nodded. "The day it exploded, we kissed."

"You're joking, right?" I asked in complete and utter shock.

"Nope, Jenner told us there was no hope, we went back to our room and we drank a whole bottle of wine, remember? Before opening the second, before the air and the lights stopped working, we..." He sighed. "We kissed."

"I don't remember," I admitted. "So, we kissed all those months ago and you said nothing!" I exclaimed, frustrated. "Why did you never mention it?"

"We were both drunk, I assumed it didn't mean anything!" he exclaimed, frustrated as well. "We thought there was no hope, so there was nothing to lose if we kissed, right? And since you never even mention after we got out of there, I thought it was just something meaningless."

"I can't believe it," I said with a small smile, trying to remember that day but all I could remember was the explosion.

I lied down again and put my head back in Daryl's lap, and this time it was me who started playing with one of my braids.

"We should pretend we are still mad at each other," he told me as he looked down at me with a smile.

"Don't you mean pretend that you are still mad at me?"

"Whatever," he said with a chuckle. "What do you think?"

"If that means Carl won't let us leave, then no, but we could try."
I wasn't sure how much it had passed but we eventually had nothing else to say and we were emerged in a comfortable silence.

I was almost falling asleep when I started hearing hushed voices, getting closer and closer, accompanied by footsteps and the sound of keys, bumping into each other.

"How could you even think of doing something like this?" Maggie exclaimed, probably at Carl and Michonne.

"I just wanted to help!" the sweet voice of Carl said.

Daryl, quickly lifted my head from his lap, stood up and walked over the other side of the room, sitting down again and crossing his legs, he grabbed an arrow and started to play with it, pretending he had been there all this time, while I got on the position I was at the start of this, I lied down on my back with my legs up, against a wall, I put an arm over my eyes and closed them.

"It's too quiet," I heard Carl saying. "You don't think they killed each other, right?"

"You better pray they didn't," a third voice said, it belonged to Oliver. "You will be in so much trouble if they actually killed each other."

I heard the door being opened but still didn't even open my eyes or move, I pretended I had fallen asleep. I actually heard Carl sighing out of relief when he saw we were both alive.

"About damn time!" Daryl exclaimed angrily as he stood up and walked to the door. "I was starving in here!"

It was then when I finally opened my eyes and saw Maggie, Carl, Oliver and Beth by the door and Daryl not wasting any more time to get out of the room and risking being locked in here again.

I stood up quickly, too quickly I actually blacked out for a few seconds but when I got alright again, I just glared at Carl, and where was Michonne?

"How long did you leave us here?"

"About two hours," Carl said in a small voice. "Maybe three."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Was it really that long? I luckily fell asleep."

"So you didn't fix things?" Carl asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

"Nope," I said, walking past all of them and out of the room. "He yelled at me at first then I just ignored him and fell asleep."

"Seriously?" Carl asked me, catching up with me. "So, I got in trouble for nothing?"

"You got in trouble?"

"Yeah, dad was looking for Daryl everywhere," Carl said looking at the ground. "After about an hour of making up excuses I had to tell him."

"Well, serves you right. That wasn't nice!" I told him, pretending to be upset at him, I actually was a bit angry at him, but just a tiny bit.

"I just wanted you two together, to fix things, to at least be friends again."

"Sorry to disappoint you, buddy," I said, ruffling his long brown hair. "And where is Michonne?"

"Helping around, dad doesn't know she helped me," he said. "He'll kill her."

By now Carl and I had gotten back to block C, Maggie, Oliver and Beth joined us soon but then went to the kitchen to keep helping. Merle was by the door, checking his gun as he had his back and one foot against the wall, he glanced at me and just smirked.

"Heard the little man here locked you up," he casually commented. "Had any fun?"

"Loads," I said sarcastically. "You should have joined us."

"If I had known, I would have," he said with a wink and I just rolled my eyes at him, knowing only filthy things were running in that mind of his.

Not long after that we all gathered in the kitchen area to eat, as usual I was next to Carl, who looked extremely sad and disappointed his plan didn't work out, well it did, but he didn't know that.

I stood up to serve myself some of the noodles, after I was done I almost bumped into Daryl, I was about to apologize and keep going when his soft expression turned into a fake glare.

"Get out of my way!" he snap at me and walked past me, he didn't shout or anything but everyone heard him, so far no one knew we weren't mad at each other anymore.

"Screw you!" I muttered angrily.

When Daryl sat down next to Rick, I could faintly hear Rick telling him to just get over it and start talking to me again, apparently everyone felt uncomfortable with the two of us like this, everyone except my mother, who at the moment was smiling a bit, probably at the fact we were fighting, and then she kept chatting with Axel.

My appetite was almost completely gone as I saw the two of them being so close, I had nothing against Axel, I just didn't like him bonding with my mum in that way.

Even when we were in the worst of terms with my mum, who I had started to call Carol instead of mum, still was my mother, like it or not, and I really was against her being with Axel.

As the pair kept laughing and having a nice conversation, I kept glaring at them but the final straw was when Axel rested one of his hands on my mum's thigh. I jumped out of my seat and stormed out of the room, I couldn't tolerate them, especially when I was eating.

Michonne went after me about five minutes after I stormed out, giving me some time to calm myself a bit, she demanded me to know what was wrong with me and even when I didn't want to say it, I needed to, so I ended up telling her about them and the horrible fight we had some days ago.

But after an hour or so I got to calm myself because no matter how bad things were no one was going to ruin this day, not even the Governor. I was extremely happy because Daryl and I got together and I had to enjoy that, cherish the few nice and pleasant moments we had and I was going to do that.

Well, there you go, what everyone was waiting for. I really do hope everyone likes it and I expect lots of you to comment and let me know what you think :D

On another note, I'm still sick :( I don't know what's wrong with me, I have so many symptoms and I feel so bad. But here's the update of this week.

Don't forget to review! 3