Chapter 11

(Vibe: The Wisp Sings by Winter Aid )

She took all of the things she knew about him and put them away. She didn't dispose of them and she didn't force herself to forget them. But rather she put them into that place in her mind where she stored all of the memories of the people she had cared for, but were no longer here. And once she had committed herself to doing that, things got better.

It didn't just get easier for her, it got easier for Daryl too. It was as if he could sense that she didn't expect anything from him anymore. There were no rules, no regulations on what she thought he was, or how he was supposed to act. It was clear that Daryl was aware of that. He was free to do and be whatever it was that he had become.

Now that she had stopped making assumptions about what he was thinking, based on what she knew about him from before, he was actually a lot easier for her to read. And he was much more open and willing to let her in.

It was clear that in many ways, he was longing to pull her close, because he didn't want to be alone. Not really.

He'd smiled at her before he left, using that crooked smile that had always made her heart flutter in her chest. Then he'd given her a small nod, that she had taken as a "see you later".

He didn't need to use his words to let her know where he was going. She could figure that out on her own. She knew his routine.

He still dragged the bodies away from the camp and he still hunted down whatever he could for their meals. So, knowing it was nearing lunch time, she guessed that he was going to see what he could find.

She gave up on the few simple chores that she needed to complete. She decided that cleaning the dishes or tidying their space could wait, until after she had tended to a few of her own needs.

She took a long look around while she removed her clothes and dropped them into a pile of the ground. Daryl would be gone for hours and the area was clear. She hadn't seen a walker since morning, so she decided, as she walked into the water, that there was no better time then now.

The sun had been beaming down on her through the trees and she was happy that she had found some relief from the dry heat. Maybe that was why she let the time pass without much thought. She dropped herself below the surface and stayed there for as long as her lungs would allow.

She couldn't hold back the gasp when when she came back up and found him standing on the shore line.

That same crooked smile appeared and the next thing she knew he was unbuttoning his shirt without a second thought.

His expression was almost playful,…eager,…alluring. Primal.

She was sure that the sight of him like this had her looking like a shocked cartoon character. But even that didn't seem to bother him.

She had seen him shirtless more times then she could count, but it had always been for some unavoidable reason, or it had happened purely by accident. She had walked in on him while he was changing his shirt or she had helped him when he had suffered another injury, that he couldn't tend to himself.

But right now she couldn't say the reason was unavoidable and it definitely was not by accident.

But even with consent to look at him, all she could seem to look at now, was his face. The shame that had once been there, whenever he was caught without all of his clothes, was gone.

It had been one of those things that she had always dreaded seeing. It was one of the reasons she didn't like seeing him with his shirt off. She didn't want to do anything that would make him feel like that. It made her feel physically sick to know that he felt like that, let alone knowing that she was was the one causing it.

He had done nothing to deserve those scars. Those marks said more about how horrible people had treated him and said nothing about the kind of person he was. But he never viewed them that way.

He pulled his eyes from hers, but only to look down while he unbuttoned his pants and stepped out of them.

His wide eyes found hers again as his feet hit the stream. She smiled at him, knowing the chill of the cold water had surprised him, but soon the shock left his face and he waded through the stream towards her.

Daryl's brain couldn't connect the dots between what he had been and what he was. It couldn't join up the emotions that should have gone hand in hand when remembering something he had experienced. And that was never as clear as it was right now.

The coy expression on his face, the way his eyes were fixed hard on hers. It couldn't be described as anything but flirtatious. And she honestly had no idea what to do with that.

He smiled at her widely before he disappeared below the waters surface, leaving her to watch his form in the clear stream, grow closer and closer until he rose up in front of her.

He wiped his hand over his face roughly and focused his attention back on her, and she felt the need to fill the silence, because she didn't know what else to do right now.

"I thought you were hunting"

Daryl shrugged and the crooked smile he had been wearing, actually stretched out a little further.

"Snares. Got Rabbits." The words had barely left his mouth when she felt his hands grip her waist. And maybe should have been more focused on the physical contact, then she was on the sound of his voice. But contact? She got that from him daily, almost hourly. But his voice was rarely shared with her. She could count the words he said each week on one hand and she'd still have fingers to spare.

He let his eyes fall slightly, looking down at what he could make out through the water, before he slowly drew them back up to hers, slowly scanning what he could.

Daryl was no different to her, he'd seen her in her underwear more times then was probably appropriate. On the road he had kept watch for her while she cleaned up, and he had mistaken the mumbles of "almost finished" for "finished".

There were times when he had walked into a room that he didn't know she was using.

There were times when he had come into rooms that he had known she was using, but he was such a hurry to find her, that he hadn't thought to knock.

And when ever it happened, Daryl had seemed just as sorry as she had during those times that she'd accidentally caught a glimpse of him. He didn't want to embarrass her and he didn't want to be the reason she felt bad about herself.

But the smirk he was wearing right now, made it impossible to feel embarrassed. She couldn't quite pin point what she was feeling as he pulled her closer to him. Intrigued maybe? Maybe a little bit disturbed. Sometimes, like right now, she had to fight the urge to stop and ask him 'what the hell is going on, who are you!'

Slowly he pulled her back with him, deeper and deep her into the stream, hold her up of the ground against his chest. She wasn't sure why he decided to stop where he did, but she guessed it was because they were no longer covered by the trees that hung over the water. Now she could feel the sun on her shoulders. He didn't object when she curled her arms around his neck rested her head against the side of his. What she heard was a sigh, the kind you release when you've gotten yourself into the exact right position to fall asleep.

She knew if she tried to retell this to someone else, they would read to much into it. They would think that she and Daryl must have been flooded with heart pounding anticipation. That both of them must have spent the whole time waiting for the other to make a move. But it simply wasn't like that.

There was sleepy look in his eyes, that she could see when ever she pulled back to see his face.

He looked to her as though he had figured out a way to stop, just a minute, and take a breath.