First and Last

8/27

Daryl was again working on the bike. After meeting with Carol and Rick, he'd hunt for a bit and then he had come back, headed straight to the garage. He'd get the squirrels ready later, give some to Y/N...he wanted to see her and talk to her, but it also scared him and made him nervous, the images and feelings of his dream the night before were still in him.

As if he had summoned her, Y/N stopped in front of the half-closed garage door, though he could only see Jane's face, the door covering Y/N from the chest up.

"Hi, Daryl!" The little girl greeted, grinning, and then Y/N bent and peeked inside too.

"Hi, we thought you might be here again." She smiled and Daryl looked away, trying not to feel...whatever she made him feel. He didn't say anything,but yeah, she was right, where he could be if it wasn't there...he still didn't feel like he belonged in Alexandria, but in that garage he felt he had a place to be, he didn't feel out of place with Aaron and Eric...or with Y/N... Had she really come to see him? Did she want to see him and talk to him? There they were, those damn twirls in his stomach..."We don't want to bother you, though..."

"Ain't no bother, come in." He grumbled, and Jane was rushing inside, stopping next to him to watch him work.

"I'm going to say hi to Aaron and Eric first."

By the time Y/N was back, Jane was sat down on the dusty floor as he was working now there instead of on the table, some pieces were more or less ready and he wanted to start building up the bike. Somehow, he had managed to get grease on Jane's face again, but Y/N didn't seed to mind, as he walked in with Eric.

"I was telling Y/N that you all should stay for lunch."

"And I was telling him he doesn't have to bother."

"And I was telling her that is no bother," Eric laughed. "We would really like to have you, you too Daryl. I got a free day today, and so does Y/N, there's no school today, Aaron's not going out until you finish that bike...so I'd say, we could get all together before that. You work so much I'm sure you two will be riding out Alexandria in a day or two..." Eric let out a sigh, but he kept smiling.

"Are we going to have spaghetti again?" Jane asked.

"I uh...I got some squirrels..." Daryl hadn't realized he wanted to stay for lunch until he spoke...he hadn't even thought about lunch, he had just thought about spending as much time as possible working on that bike, focusing only on that so his mind would be clear of thoughts. He hadn't thought about going back to his new place until the evening, his family seemed to be all the time out and about in Alexandria after all, especially since most of them had jobs already

"I've never had squirrels." Jane looked at him with wide eyes.

"Me neither!" Eric chimed in.

"I have!" Y/N grinned. "With him, he cooked squirrels a lot of times."

"Woah..." Jane's eyes were now on her mother. "Are they good?"

"Yeah, pretty good...Daryl really can cook." Y/N smiled to him and he blushed, scoffing and shaking his head.

"Okay, we're having squirrel them!"

*

It wasn't awkward, like Daryl had half expected, even though he kind of felt at ease with Aaron, Eric, Jane and Y/N. He'd been nervous when cooking, feeling all their eyes on him, even if he knew they were just interested in learning how to get squirrels ready. He thought they might have noticed it, because they had moved away to talk, leaving only Jane to watch him, and somehow he didn't feel bothered or overwhelmed by all her questions.