"It's only when someone really shows their vulnerability to another,

and is accepted, flaws and all, can he or she really feel loved."

- Brownell Landrum, A Chorus of Voices: DUET stories Volume III - Adult Version

When I woke up I was on a bed, a blanket was covering my body up to my ribs. I was wearing the same clothes except they had taken off my sweater and my shoes.

"Cecilia," someone muttered softly and right after I felt warm lips on my forehead.

Daryl was sat next to me on the edge of the bed, holding one of my hands with both of his until I opened my eyes, when I did, he used his other hand to delicately caress the top of my head.

"Hershel injected you some of the antibiotics, you'll be fine," Daryl informed me. "He cleaned your wound on your face. He checked for some more on your body but he didn't find anything that bad."

"You saw it too?" I asked him weakly, I was ashamed of how my body looked, full of bruises, mostly on my arms, shoulders and face.

"No," he said and I knew he was being honest. "But he told me there were a lot of bruises, I'm so sorry."

Daryl kissed my forehead again as his eyes filled with tears, making me want to cry as well. This wasn't his fault, it was Sean's and if anything, it was mine too, for being so naïve and stupid.

"For what? You have nothing to do with this."

"I should have protected you," he said. "I should have let you come with me on that run, I should have been here for you."

"You can't always be here, Daryl. This is not on you. Sean's messed up, he planned this for months."

"How exactly did he do it?"

"What?"

"Got you away, Oliver said something," Daryl said as he looked right into my eyes. "Said you and Sean were told by Rick to go check the snares but Rick never told him that."

"I figured. I was so anxious to go out that I agreed to go with him and I saw Rick talking to Sean before he left so I assumed it was true," I said, remembering that day. "I should have stayed, why couldn't I see it?"

"This isn't your fault, he's a psychopath! He played with your head, he was... cunning," he told me. "What did he do to you, Cecilia?"

I just shook my head, not wanting to remember it or think about it, I looked down and saw my hands, there were bandages around my wrists like if I had made cuts on them, I knew how badly hurt they were due to the rope around them for days. I bit my bottom lip and took deep breaths, trying to stop some tears to come out of my icy blue eyes. Besides, everything was too embarrassing, I wasn't sure if I could tell Daryl.

"Alright, let's start little by little," he told me in a soft tone. "What happened to you in your face, that cut?" he said pointing to the side of my head. "What did he do?"

"He... he, uh, he hit me with the butt of the gun," I told him weakly, letting a tear falling down my face, which I wiped away quickly, as I remembered why he did that but I refused to tell Daryl, even when he asked, I just shook my head at him.

Short flashbacks of the last six days went through my head as it were a short movie. I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head but the images wouldn't go away, especially the events that followed that blow to my head.

"Cecilia, Cecilia!"

"I want to shower," I told him instantly as I opened my eyes and looked down at my body, I felt dirty, as never before.

"Hershel ran a towel through your arms, shoulders and face, I don't think it would be a good idea to take a shower now."

"I want to take a shower, Daryl."

"Alright, I'll take you."

Daryl put an arm around my waist and helped me up and continued to help me as he took me down to the showers. It was still dark outside which either meant that only some hours had passed or that more than a day had passed.

I stood in front of the shower, hesitantly to take my clothes off, not because of Daryl but because I was scared of seeing my own body.

"I won't go but I can turn if you want," he told me, I just shook my head at him.

"It's not that, it's just... my body looks awful. I don't want you to see it like this, I don't want to see it."

"I don't care how it looks, Cecilia, let's just do it so we can get it over with."

Daryl didn't allow me to wash my hair so he helped me put it in a high bun just before taking my shirt off, but once it was off, Daryl took a deep breath, calming himself but I could see the anger in his eyes. He said he didn't care but of course he did, my body was just a small view of what happened this last week.

I had lots of bruises on my sides and on my back from the multiple times Sean pushed me down and I had more on my arms from all the times he gripped me and pulled me around, the worst though was the one on my face, when he slapped me and the one next to it, around the cut, from when he hit me with the gun.

I wanted to cry, I hadn't looked like this since I moved out of my parents' house and even then, my dad never touched my face, he was smart, I had to go to school and people would notice, my mum was another story though.

I slowly unbuttoned my jeans and Daryl help me pulled them off. I was still very sick and when I coughed I still got blood coming from my mouth but it wasn't as much as before.

My legs weren't that bad as the upper part of my body, I had small, faint bruises on different parts of them but the worst were my knees, the bruises on them were purple and bigger, I probably got them from all the times he pushed me down and I fell on them.

I kept my underwear on as I stepped under the cold water. Daryl handed me the soap and I didn't waste a second to scrub my whole body, I started slow and gently but as I remembered what happened I started to get rough, forcefully scrubbing my stomach first and then my legs, like if the dirt was glued to my body and just wouldn't get off and without noticing I started crying.

"Cecilia, Cecilia!" Daryl exclaimed as he grabbed my left hand stopping me from keep scrubbing my body. I allowed myself to collapse down to the floor and I just stayed there, crying on the floor, bringing my knees closer and hugging them as water kept falling on me.

Daryl knelt next to me and wrapped his arms around me, getting soaked in the process, I just cried in his arms even when I didn't want to show him this side of me, this weak, broken part.

"Give it to me, I'll do it," he said, taking the soap from my hands as I just kept crying and coughing every once in a while.

Daryl very delicately ran the soap all over my body to not hurt me, especially on my back where I couldn't reach myself. As I fell down some of my hair got wet but Daryl moved me forward a bit so not all of it would get wet as well.

I asked him to run the soap on my body again, not feeling clean enough yet. He did as I told him but told me this was the last time he was going to do it since he didn't think it was good for me to be like this for longer because I was sick. When he finished and the water washed the soap away, he kissed the top of my right shoulder and then turned off the water.

He quickly grabbed a towel nearby and wrapped it around my body, holding me close to him as he dried my body and unclasped my bra, allowing it to fall on the floor. He grabbed my dried shirt that previously belonged to the girl that lived on the house where I was held hostage.

He didn't allow me to put on the same jeans since they were very dirty but the shirt wasn't because I was wearing the sweater on top of it all the time.

We were in block D so all my clothes were back in my cell in C, so, with the towel wrapped around my waist, wearing nothing underneath it, he took me back to the cell where I woke up.

Daryl told me to wait for him as he needed to go back to C to not only grab a pair of trousers for me, but also to change because he was as wet as me.

Ten minutes later Daryl came back fully dressed in different clothes, he got for me a pair of grey sweatpants I sometimes use to sleep when it's cold. He helped me put them on and then used the towel to dry the wet strands of my hair and once he was sure he couldn't do anything else he used it to dry his own hair.

"So, who's Fletcher?" Daryl asked, trying to talk about something else.

"Was a girl," I muttered. "She lived in the house where Sean kept me these days, she was a swimmer."

"Where was that? Where did he keep you?"

"I'm not sure, some hours on foot away from here," I said. "I could show you, I could recognize the house if I see it."
"Cecilia, I'm sorry to ask but what did he do to you?" Daryl asked as he grabbed my hands. "Why did he take you?"

"He said he loved me, said you stole me away from him and said he was going to kill you. He... he wasn't abusive often just when he got mad, like when he slapped me, he did it because I talked bad of Shane. He, uh, he drugged me a few times, I was more out than conscious during the first two or three days. That day, we were going inside a store when he drugged me and hours later I woke up in a dark room."

"What else do you remember?"

"Unfortunately, everything," I said as I bit my lip. "It was not until the last days that he finally untied my wrists."

"Is that why they were so badly hurt?" Daryl asked me as he looked down at my bandaged wrists. I just nodded at him. "By the way, I bumped into Carl when I went to C, he has been trying to see you since we brought you but he is not allowed to come because you are sick."

"Speaking of it, how is everyone?"

"Some people died," Daryl told me sadly. "But once we brought the antibiotics no more people died and all of them got better, there are still some here but about half have recovered completely."

Daryl raised my hands and brought them to his lips, kissing them softly and that's when I noticed his knuckles were bloody, I wanted to ask about them but I decided not to. Daryl was never this affectionate or delicate and I didn't want to anger him, I wanted to cherish this moment, besides, I knew I didn't want to know the answer.

"Cecilia, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Daryl told me, sitting next to me on the bed, facing me and looking right into my eyes, I didn't say anything or nod at him, just looked back at him. "You can trust me."

"What's your point?" I asked, looking down at the floor, avoiding his penetrative stare. I just heard him sigh and he gripped my hands more tightly.

"I really hate to ask you this but I need to know," he muttered, I had never seen such a serious expression on his face or heard that tone on him. "Cecilia, did he touch you?"

I said nothing to him but I shook my head as tears threatened to roll down my face but I prevented them from doing that, refusing to look back at Daryl. I jerked my hands away and crossed them in front of me, eventually hugging myself as I kept my head down.

"Cecilia," he said as calm as he could master. "I saw that on your neck, I can tell it's not a normal bruise. Cecilia, I know how you feel but you can tell me, you can trust me."

"I doubt you know how I feel and if you can tell it's not a normal bruise then, why do you ask?" I snapped, not meaning to. "Sorry," I muttered quickly.

"Don't be sorry, I'm sorry for making you relive it but I... I just need to know what I'm dealing with and I need to make sure you are okay."

I bit my lip and took deep breath but that didn't help stopping the tears from finally running down my face, my body slightly shook as I cried, flashbacks running in my mind. Soon, I felt Daryl's strong arms around me and I flinched.

"It's me, Cecilia. It's me!" he muttered when he noticed how tensed I got, I relaxed slightly but not completely.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I kept repeating, I wasn't sure for what exactly. For allowing to get kidnapped, for not trying harder to escape, for allowing him to undress me and kiss me, for being weak or just for everything.

"This isn't your fault, princess," he said as he kissed the top of my head and held me tighter.

I almost chuckled at the irony of that name. He teased me with it, knowing how much I hated it until he just called me that because it got stuck of him and I just got used to it. A princess needs to be saved, not being able to do so herself. I always told Daryl I wasn't like that but this time I truly was a princess, I was captured by the bad guy and waited until my prince in shining armour came to rescue me with his soldiers.

"I guess I'm actually a princess," I muttered with a sarcastic and emotionless chuckle, soon Daryl caught on why I was saying it. "Aren't I?"

"Stop it, Cecilia."

Daryl rubbed my back, being extremely careful with me as if I would break if he used just a bit more force. He kissed my forehead again and tried to get to calm me down.

"Alright, let go a bit slower, okay?" Daryl whispered to me, I didn't nod but I didn't shook my head at him either. "Did he kiss you?"

The time that Sean kissed my lips for the first time crossed my mind, followed by the other times and I started feeling the same way I was feeling back then, more tears filled my eyes as I just nodded at Daryl, still not being able to look him in the eye.

I could feel how Daryl tensed and he held me a bit more tightly, he said something under his breath but I couldn't understand what exactly.

Daryl already knew things happened but he wasn't sure how far it got and he wanted me to say it, like if I didn't confirm it then it meant it didn't happen. Or maybe he was hoping it didn't get so far and he finally could have peace if I said it was not more than a kiss. I knew Daryl was pissed off like never before but he was controlling himself because of me.

"Did he... did he do more than that?" he asked and I shakily nodded after the third time he asked me. He breathed hard as he let go of me and started to pace the room as he ran his hands through his long hair.

I had managed to stop crying but I started again as soon as he stood up, thinking there was a chance he could be disgusted by me. I was disgusted by myself, why wouldn't he? I bent my knees and hugged them, burying my face in them as I cried.

"Cecilia..." he said softly as he stopped pacing and looked down at me, putting a hand on my back but I instantly tensed and he removed it. "Did he, uh, Cecilia, did he rap...?"

"No!" I exclaimed quickly not wanting to hear that word. I lifted my head from my knees, looking up at him for a second before burying my head again, mostly in shame. "But almost," I whispered that but Daryl heard me.

"Almost?" he asked even in a more softer way. He sat next to me again, facing me, looking sadly at me. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "He just... he just kept going and..."

I started to shake, I knew Sean didn't rape me but he touched all my body, he kissed me, he humiliated me, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was just so defenceless and so... exposed. I couldn't do anything about it.

A part of me was so ashamed of what happened I just wanted the virus to kill me already and the other part wanted to tell Daryl, to get it off my chest and finally tell him so he would never mention it or bring it up again, so I could finally block it and move on from it, if I could do that.

I quickly moved to the edge of the bed and stood up, attempting to leave the room but I wasn't quick enough. Daryl stood up too and instead of grabbing me, he stood in front of me, blocking the exit. I tried to pass through a little gap between the wall and him but he just moved in front of me, I tried to push him then but he didn't even move an inch, instead he put his arms over my shoulders, very carefully because I had bruises there.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?" I asked loudly, daring to look into his eyes for only a second before looking down to the floor.

"You need to get it out," he said. "You can't keep it in, it will destroy you."

"Want to know why he hit me here?" I asked angrily, pointing to the side of my head where he hit me with the butt of the gun. "He was trying to kiss me and I kept fighting back, I was on the floor and he just hit me because he got sick of me struggling under him!" I didn't mean to yell or be so angry, I wasn't angry at Daryl but at Sean, at me. "I was bleeding and barely conscious!"

I turned so my back was facing him now, I took deep breaths to calm myself, I didn't want the whole block or even the whole prison to hear, if anyone had to know that was Daryl, not anyone else, not even my mother or Rick, at least not now.

"He tied me to the bed," I whispered, lowering my voice a lot, I wasn't even sure if Daryl could hear me or not. "He... he... he ripped my shirt and my jeans and he just..." I stopped as my voice starting breaking, I took a deep breathed and coughed to compose myself. "He just kept kissing me, running his hands through my body, he was about to take my bra off when I just snapped... just lost my mind and he stopped."

I broke down again almost falling down to the ground. Daryl approached me without me noticing and he just wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder as he just allow me to cry.

"That was it?" he whispered in my ear, I just nodded at him, not finding my voice. "He didn't do anything else?" I shook my head. "If he did, you know you can tell me. You don't have to keep it from me."

"He didn't, alright? So stop asking me that! Now just let go of me, you must be disgusted by me, just let me go!" I shouted the last part as I struggled in his arms but he didn't let go of me.

"I'm not disgusted by you," he told me. "Sean," he said and I felt myself tensing at the sound of his name. "Is the one that makes me sick. He's nothing but a piece of shit and you didn't deserve what he did, none of it."

"How can you not be disgusted by me?" I mumbled, not believing him, as I wiped away some tears. "I am! I am... I'm disgusting."

"I love you, Cecilia," he told me firmly and without hesitation as he turned me around so he could face me, putting his hand under my chin, making me to look up at him as he stared right into my eyes, which now were bloodshot and filled with even more tears. "And, you aren't. I will never find you disgusting and I'm so sorry for what he did to you. You have no idea how much I wish I could go back in time and kill him before he laid a hand on you, but I can't. But we'll make it through, we'll... fix you, together. We'll change those memories for happy ones and we'll replace these horrible feelings for good ones, I promise. I'll never, ever, leave you again."

"You won't tell anyone, right?" I muttered.

"No, I would never do that," he told me sincerely. "Do you feel better now?"

I hadn't noticed but in fact I did feel better now, I was more calmed, just a bit but I was, I wasn't feeling anymore like someone was chocking me from inside and like if most of some heavy weight had been lifted from me, I felt like somehow, everything was going to get better.

"So... you won't, uh, leave me?" I asked him, that was what scared me the most, that he was so disgusted by me that he wouldn't be able to look at me anymore and just walk away.

"What? Are you deaf or something? I love you! I do, I could never leave you, especially now," he exclaimed in surprise and then he kissed my forehead and quickly pecked my lips.

"I'm sick!" I exclaimed, pushing him away. "Don't kiss me now!"

"Couldn't help it," he said with a small grin.

"Daryl?" I asked, looking right into his beautiful blue eyes.

"Hmm?"

"I love you too," I whispered, I involuntarily smiled as I said and he grinned at me as he wrapped me in his arms.

For the first time in about a week I felt truly happy and I couldn't help but smile. We had never said those three words ever, and I felt a new, warm feeling inside of me. I hated that we said those words after something so horrible happened but it was still special and we both meant it, maybe it was the right time to say them, all I knew is that now I felt like I would be okay and I felt... safe.

"I know," he told me, allowing a small chuckle to escape his lips.

I lifted my head and looked at him with an eyebrow raised at him and still with that smile on my lips, I really didn't expect that answer. He loosened his grip on me slightly, looking down at me with a smirk, he raised one of his arms and pinched my left cheek, right where my dimple should be.

"I love that dimple," he told me.

"What do you mean that you know?" I asked him, slapping his hand away from my cheek.

"Two reasons, one you talk in your sleep, you said it just before you woke up," he told me, the smirk only getting bigger and I just blushed at him. "And two, because the other night when you stayed in my cell, you thought I was sleeping and I wasn't and you said it."

"You heard me?" I asked in surprise, remembering that night.

"Yeah," he said chuckling. "I wanted to say it back but I kind of lost the right moment, you know?"

Our special, romantic moment was interrupted by my annoying coughs, I turned around so I wouldn't infect Daryl, when it ended I looked down at my hand and there was blood in it. I wiped it on the inside of my shirt and turned around, now, with a fake smile. I couldn't help but worry about it even when I felt a lot better now.

"You don't have to pretend," he told me. "I saw the blood too and you'll be fine, I promise."

"I freaked out the first time it happened, I remembered about Patrick and... I just didn't want to die."

"You didn't and you won't," he said as he put his hands on my shoulders. "Why don't you rest, you need it."

I allowed Daryl to lead me to the bed, I lied down and Daryl covered my body with the blanket and sheets, I smiled at him and grabbed his left hand, kissing it.

"You should go, you need to rest too."

"You crazy?" he exclaimed with a chuckle. "I said I won't ever leave you again and I won't. I volunteered to keep an eye on you, to make sure you just wouldn't stop breathing or something like that so I can't just leave you even if I want to."
"But I can make you sick and..."

"I spent a whole week with sick people, I buried them, I still haven't got it and I'm sure I won't get it from you and if I do, well we have the antibiotics now," Daryl told me, lying down next to me, using my stomach as a pillow. "I'll be fine, Cecilia."

"I know," I whispered as I started running my hand through his brown hair. "You always are."

"We always are," he whispered.

"Daryl?"

"Hmm?" he muttered, half-asleep already.

"Thanks for staying here with me."

"Always."

I rested my hand on his shoulder when I heard his deep breaths, meaning he had fallen asleep with his head on top of my stomach and an arm around me. I never sleep on my back but having Daryl so close to me and knowing I was safely back in the prison, made me fall asleep almost instantly after him.

Hello!
Sorry I couldn't post last week. I was dying. High fever and kept throwing up. I was sick for 5-6 days and it was hell but here's the new chapter :P