Different Worlds |Daryl Dixon Fan Fiction- The Walking Dead|

Twenty One: Confess

                "You were pretty shaken up this morning, want to talk about it?" I gave Daryl a small smile as I shook my head no. As much as I appreciated his effort to be caring, he was the last person I would want to tell my dream to. "I thought giving you a kiss good night would give you good dreams." he chuckled. My heart sank, was he really blaming himself for this, too?
"Under different circumstances, it would've, promise. But, you know, I think it was just the fact that everyone was gone." I lied, helping him as he fed the horses.
"Well," he grunted, tossing a hay bale into Queen's stall, "if there's anything I can tell you that you may not already know, it's that Rick would never let anyone get separated from the group. Never again." There was something ominous about his words, and I assumed it was due to the fact that after they fled the prison and were torn apart, their meetup wasn't so great at Terminus.
"I believe that." I nodded, following him back to the house. "You know, I have to ask, since you brought up the kiss." Daryl stopped mid tracks and turned to face me. "What does that make us? Friends don't really kiss." I felt like a thirteen year old again. It was ridiculous trying to figure out this man.
"I would have hoped to take you out, but even before all of this, that wouldn't have happened. And, now, there's really no where for me to take you on a romantic date." it seemed like this subject had been troubling him, too. It'd been wracking my brain since I managed to clear it of my nightmare.
"I just want to know if we're building up to a relationship, or if this is just a- a... 'post apocalypse, nothing better to do, might as well hook up'-lationship." I rocked back on my heels, waiting for an answer.
"I'm not like that, you know. All those stories about Merle I told you, it's not like I left out the parts where I got a girl, I never did. Those parts don't exist. Just because the worlds ended, doesn't mean this-" he motioned between him and I, "can't be more than that. Look at Glenn and Maggie, they got married despite the world around them." it amazed me how much Daryl and I had bonded since months ago when he grunted his name as I handed him his crossbow. He talked to me differently then he talked to most people, and it made my heart swell. Although he was beyond close to Rick and the others in his group, what we had seemed different. Which suited us well. We were different, even from each other. We came from opposite ends of the spectrum, different worlds.
"I really like you, Daryl." I finally admitted, feeling the weight on my chest deflate. I wanted to laugh, laugh at how ridiculous I was for acting like such a kid, wanted to laugh because I felt free, I felt like I didn't have to hide anything from this man again.
"Grace," my heart jumped, I'd forgotten that his opinion still hadn't been openly stated. I suddenly felt nauseous, the giddy feeling disappeared. "I really like you, too." he said with a smile, grabbing my face in his hands and leaning down to plant a sweet kiss on my lips. It was no different than the one yesterday, it didn't lose it's fire, even after we separated. The good vibes flooded through me once more. I could've swore I just went through ten emotions in a matter of seconds.
"I'm glad this is finally in the open." I sighed, letting him hold my hands now.
"Me, too. I remember back in the woods, when you handed that crossbow to me, you took my breath away. And when we were caught in the armory, the anger I felt looking at those men have their hands all over you. I didn't know what I was feeling, why I felt so strongly about you." I could tell this was what Daryl had been dying to say, just the way that he let out his breath slowly, squeezing my hands as he spoke.
"Who knew you were such a romantic." I giggled, staring up at him. He let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head from side to side.
"C'mon, we have some work to do." Daryl never let go of my hand as he pulled me into the house. We washed dishes, then he headed back out to tend to the animals quickly, while I prepared him a lunch. I eyed the front yard every once in a while, not only to see if Daryl was alright, but half expecting a line of cars to pull in at any moment. However, they never did, not even after lunch.
I was tending to the garden before supper while Daryl did his own thing. I wasn't sure what that was exactly, since he refused to leave me alone to go hunting. All I knew was he was in the house. I filled my basket to the brim with potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, the works, then headed inside to finally find out what it was that he was up to. When I walked in, I could just hear him shuffling around in the kitchen. I headed back there, needing to wash off the vegetables anyways.
"Are you going to keep cooking, even after they come back?" I grinned, causing him to turn back and look at me. He backed up from the sink, giving it to me so I could clean up.
"No, but you were busy, so I thought I might as well." I nodded, knowing that probably wasn't the case. He liked to act sweet and do things for others, but never liked to admit that he was doing it for that reason.
"Thanks, my back hurts from bending over that garden all afternoon." I patted smiled back at him, watching as he cut up some of the vegetables that I had just finished cleaning off.
"Mhm." he mumbled, hard at work. I finished cleaning up just as he was tossing the cut veggies into the pot on the stove.
"If you need me, I'll be in the shower." I told him before running upstairs. I took off my clothes and wrapped a bathrobe over me, then headed back down to the bathroom. He didn't turn around as I passed the kitchen, just kept stirring his meal. I forced myself to stop staring at him, and headed into the bathroom, prepping a shower. I took my time, wanting to get all of the garden grit off of my skin. Even after I was done washing up, I stood there for a moment, just letting the peace and quiet be.
My splendid alone time was cut off as I heard a bang, and I quickly collected myself out of the shower. I wrapped a towel haphazardly around my body and swung open the door to the bathroom door open, and it bumped into something, causing it to bounce back. I looked around, trying to find Daryl, but found more than just him staring at me in amusement. My face heated, and I swore it was as red as the tomatoes I'd picked that day.
"Welcome back." I muttered, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to make the towel cover as much more of me as it could.
"Welcome indeed." Tyreese chuckled, earning a hit to the shoulder from Carol.
"I'm just going to, uh, yeah." I slid back into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I heard a few chuckles as everyone started moving around, and clanks as I heard bowls. The weirdest thought came to mind, just out of the blue, I wonder if Daryl made enough soup? I had to stop myself from laughing, as that was the oddest thing to think after what just happened. I shrugged it off, tugging on the sweatpants and tight t-shirt.
I walked back out to see everyone gathered in the living room, as there wasn't nearly enough room at the dining table for everyone. It was clear Daryl hadn't made enough soup, though they sufficed with a small bowl of it and a roll. After everyone had finished eating, Daryl made some room for me on the couch next to him, and I snuggled into the small spot, squished between him and Carl. I took Daryl's hand in my own, and played with his fingers as we waited for everyone else to settle down, so that someone could finally tell Daryl and I what took them so long.
"I was wondering when you guys would finally start dating!" Carl laughed, causing everyone to look at Daryl and I, their gazes resting on our hands.
"Leave for twenty-four hours, and I miss something." Rick shakes his head, patting Daryl on the shoulder as he walks by, then sitting in a chair. Everyone has a smile on their face, which warms my heart, knowing that everyone approved. I didn't need their approval, but it definitely helped, especially since my father seemed to hold a poker face the whole time.
It was only as I looked across the room that I noticed bodies were missing. I only counted Michonne, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Tyreese, my parents, and the two kids. "Where's Sasha, Bob?" I asked, looking around the room worriedly. This caused the smiles to fall and the mood to take a turn for the worst.
"There was some trouble, they didn't die in vain. They didn't suffer." Rick spoke quietly, and Maggie's face began to quiver. I quickly got up, abandoning my seat next to Daryl to envelope Maggie in a tight hug, pulling her close. She hugged back, stuffing her face into my chest and sobbing quietly.
"Maggie got cornered with Judith, they acted first." Glenn whispered, low enough that Maggie hopefully couldn't hear over herself.
"What else happened?" Daryl asked, I didn't notice but he'd gotten off of the couch, too, his hand laid on my shoulder as he spoke.
"We had to drive for a while, take a lot of turns. We thought we lost them, but apparently not, or there was a whole other group of them where we stopped for the night. After that, we were all pretty shaken up, and drove for a long while, wanting to lose them for good. Finally made our way back, though." I nodded, holding Maggie in my arms as she slowed her breathing and calmed down.
"We just stayed here, the whole herd pretty much followed you guys. We didn't have any troubles, it was like every walker for miles had followed you guys." I told them, though I looked at Rick while I talked.
"I'm glad neither of you were hurt. We didn't want to leave you behind, but you didn't seem so keen on getting in the car, and we couldn't even see Daryl." I nodded, remembering how I'd been pulled into the bushes by Daryl. To them it must've looked like I'd tried to hide on my own.
Maggie finally calmed to a point where I felt I could transfer her over to Glenn. Daryl led me back to the couch with Carl, and he wrapped his arms around my waist as we sat down together. Everyone began to give ideas on how to do a memorial for Sasha and Bob, and we all came to a decision to just hold a small funeral, and instead of burying them, as we had no bodies, we would just write their names on some crosses, and stick them in the field full of flowers by the house.
Tyreese seemed to be rock hard and emotionless, which was odd to me. Sasha was his sister, after all. However, maybe that was how he coped with his sorrow, ignoring it. Or maybe he'd already grieved. I couldn't see why not. Probably during the car ride back here.
After talking for a while, Judith was put to bed, and the rest of us decided we might as well go ourselves, as we couldn't make any noise with a baby trying to sleep. I took watch, since these guys hadn't slept for long since they left, and Daryl took it the night before. I grabbed my bow, my gun, and my dog Mattie, who I was thankful to see was injury-free as well as Barnie. I got her up into the hay loft above the barn, and we rested in our usual perch, watching over the farm.