Life I Left Behind (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Chapter Sixty-Two

 Gabe inhaled deeply and smiled again. “Smells good out here. Daryl must’ve caught something this morning.” He led the way around the side of the prison, to a small closed off area where we had set up a makeshift mess hall, complete with a place to cook outdoors. I watched Gabe out of the corner of my eye. It made me swell with gratefulness to see him so happy and at ease. For a while, I had wondered if I’d ever see him smile so easily again.

My stomach suddenly let out a loud grumble and I perked an eyebrow, rubbing my hand of the small bump there. “That makes two of us.” I said under my breath. I followed after Gabe and as I got closer, I could see Daryl and Carol both behind the grill. Daryl’s hair was even long than before, curling over the collar of his shirt and constantly falling into his eyes. He refused to let cut it, though, claiming that experienced warned him against ever letting me come near his hair with a pair of scissors. Even when I argued that it had only been one time, over almost two decades ago.

He must have felt my gaze on him because his eyes suddenly flickered towards me. I watched as one corner of his mouth perked just slightly in a lazy smile that always made my pulse jump and my stomach jolt no matter how many times I saw it. I felt myself automatically smiling back as I made my over towards him. The food line was dwindling, and just as I got closer, I recognized a kid from Woodbury extending his hand to Daryl. He had round glasses and untidy black hair. Patrick, I thought his name was. Although he could’ve been a dead ringer for Harry Potter.

“Thank you, Mr. Dixon.” He said, hand still outstretched.

   

I fought the smirk that was tugging at my lips, watching as Daryl eyed him with a look that was part amusement and part annoyance. Finally he quickly popped each of his fingers un this mouth, licking them clean before grasping Patrick’s hand tightly. Patrick’s eyes grew big behind his glasses, his nose wrinkling. I waited for him to try and snatch his hand away, but he held his ground, swallowing hard. Intimidation was clearly winning out. Most of the Woodbury people felt this way about Daryl and were careful to steer clear go him, which I already told him I found hilarious. There were many words that came to mind when I thought about Daryl, but intimidation wasn’t one of them. I attributed this to the fact that not only had I known the blue-eyed hunter for my entire life, but that I was also insanely in love with him.

When Patrick scampered off, I turned to Daryl and crossed my arms over my chest. “I think you scarred the kid for life.” 

He smirked at me. “Good.” He grunted. “Maybe he’ll leave me alone from now on.” Before I had a chance to say anything else, he was grabbing my hand and tugging me towards him. I felt his lips brush against the top of my head and I closed my eyes, rubbing my face into his shirt and breathing in his scent. Ever since we had finally come out about our relationship, Daryl had slowly been showing me a little bit more affection outside the privacy of our cell. I still wasn’t used to it and it always pleasantly surprised me. 

“Morning to you, too.” I mumbled into the fabric of his shirt.

“You okay, baby girl?” I felt his lips moving against my hair and I pulled away to look up him, my eyes sweeping over his rugged face.

“I’m good.” I assured him. I didn’t miss his eyes suddenly flickering down to my tummy and back to my face again. “We’re both good.” I added in a hushed whisper.