Hopeless

Chapter 19

When I wake up, I feel better than I had in a long time. I stretch, my eyes heavy with sleep. I feel safe here, this place, it could be a home. I could have the baby here. I smile, suddenly hopeful. I hear the water running in the bathroom, and figure Daryl's in the shower. I sit up and see my backpack sitting on the floor beside his crossbow. I rummage through it and pull out my black tank top and a clean pair of jeans. I look around the room for my combat boots, but they aren't here. I hear the water turn off, and Daryl comes out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, have you seen my boots?" I ask him.

"They're in the room we brought you to when we first got here." He answers. "There's a clean towel on the sink if you want to shower." He begins to drop his towel. I feel my face flush.

"What are you doing?"

"Gettin dressed." He answers nonchalantly. I gawk at him. "What? Ain't nothing you haven't seen before." He smirks at me and pulls on his clothes. I roll my eyes and head into the bathroom.

"You forgot something." I laugh as I throw his dirty underwear at him. It catches him off guard and they hit him in the face.

"Funny." He mumbles as I close the door. I take a quick shower. When I get out I realize that I left my clothes in the other room. I sigh, wrapping the towel tightly around me. I peak out the door and see Daryl laying on the couch, spinning an arrow between his fingers. "I got your boots." He says as I walk out of the bathroom.

"Thanks." I walk over to my clothes, not wanting to take off the towel. I turn around and catch Daryl watching me. He smirks at me. "Stop that." I say laughing.

"Stop what?" He asks, playing dumb. I roll my eyes.

"Close your eyes." I whine in a childish voice.

"Seriously?" He laughs. I give him a look, telling him I was serious. "Alright, Alright." I make sure his eyes are closed before I turn around and drop the towel. 

"No peeking." I remind him as I pull on my clean clothes. "Ok, you can open now." I say as I button my jeans.

"Took yah long enough." He mumbles, laughing at me.

"Oh shush it." I mumble as I pull my boots on.

"Ready for breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'm starving." He gets up off the couch and leads me to the dining area.  Almost everyone is already there except for Rick...and Shane. I sit in the empty seat next to Carl and T-dog scoops scrambled eggs onto my plate.

"Mornin." Rick says sleepily as he joins the rest of us.

"Are you hungover? Mom said you'd be." Carl asks him. I can't help but laugh.

"Mom is right." He says as he takes a seat at the head of the table.

"Mom has that annoying habit." I hear Lori mumble.

"Eggs?" T-dog asks him. He nods. "Powdered but I do 'em good. I bet you can't even tell."

"Where'd this all come from?" He asks as Dale tosses him a bottle of aspirin.

"Jenner. He thought we could use it." Lori smirks at him. "Some of us at least."

"Don't ever let me drink again." Glenn groans from across the table. We all laugh at him. I swallow hard on the eggs in my mouth, almost choking, when Shane walks in the room. I cough.

"You ok?" Andrea asks from beside me.

"Yeah, wrong pipe." I say taking a sip of water.

"Hey." Rick says greeting him as he takes a seat across the table from me. I keep my head down, trying to avoid him gaze. "You feel as bad as I do?"