Silent warrior: A Daryl Dixon Fan fiction

Chapter 20: Haunting Photos

My eyes open slowly, the crust around the corner of one of my eyes making it stick a bit more then the other. As I force it open a tear forms from the struggle.

"Hey" I get out with a scraped voice when I see Daryl sitting at the side of the bed hunched over.

He sits up straight "oh sorry. Yew been awake long?" He says rubbing his hand through his tussled hair.

"Just now" I return with less of a scratch.

"You kay?" He asks eyeing me. I look at him confused and he reaches up and wipes the tear from my eye.

"Oh, no I'm fine. Just tired" I move my hand to my eyes now to remove any lingering crust. "Have I been out long?" I ask.

"16 hours or so" he shrugs back.

I nod once before sitting up a little "ow" I say as my body aches with pain. I move my right leg over the edge of the bed and drag the left leg to follow suit.

"Where are you going?" He asks me standing up to help me.

"I've been out for 16 hours" I grunt as I stand, taking his arm for support "I really have to pee" I say blatantly.

"Oh. Right. I could call down to Maggie if ya want help. Maybe get ya some crutches?" He suggests as I begin to slowly move forward.

"No. I can do it, just needed to get up and moving. I'll be fine" I assure him letting go of his arm and moving forward on my own. Daryl lets me move forward without his support but stays close behind. I reach the restroom and he retreats back a few steps as I close the door. I walk in front of the mirror and finally get a look at myself. My lip is swollen with a cut where Flax hit me and there's a bruise on my right eye. The other scrapes are minor in comparison to those. I move my hand down my leg and lift up the hospital gown to see the injured leg. There is a bandage taped on and I remove it to take a look. It's worse than I thought. The bruise is every color one could possibly be. I run my finger gently over the dozen or so stitches that hold it together. The bruise hasn't reached around the stitches yet and it stays bright red. I use the restroom and wash my hands and face. When I open the door, Daryl moves from where he was standing before I closed the door to help me back into the room. I sit on the bed and move my left leg up first. I lift my right leg and wince in pain. I catch Daryl staring at my leg with a pained expression "not as bad as it looks" I try and convince him before flattening the gauze down again.

"Liar" he replies sitting back down in the chair. "I'm sorry bout that. I should've been more careful" he mutters out loud.

"I shouldn't have ran away. It's my fault and my fault alone." I argue in return to his apology.

"Damn it Shannon, just accept my apology, will ya?" He retorts back to me annoyed.

I give him a side glance "sorry" I say taken a back by his reaction.

He puffs out "s'fine" and stays slouched in the chair. I don't know what more to say so I lay down quietly.

A few minutes pass when Carol walks into the room "oh, you're up!" She smiles towards me walking to the side of my bed facing Daryl. "Hanging in there?" She asks while gesturing to my leg.

"Ya. Thanks" I say back.

"Well I was just here to tell Daryl that Rick is having a meeting with the group soon." She says now directing her attention to him.

"Ok." He says back to her.

She goes to leave "you can go Daryl, I'm okay" I tell him when I realize he was staying behind.

"Oh, he won't go anywhere dear" Carol says turning her head to me and giving me a smile. Daryl coughs then and my attention is directed back to him. "I'll keep you posted" she waves her hand as she leaves the room.