COLLAPSED ᵀᵂᴰ¹ ✔

98. parting glass

It'd been like that every night since. She didn't even want to think about sleeping alone anymore, it was no longer an option. Her fear of pushing Daryl away by trying to bring him closer seemed to have been for nothing, because he wordlessly accepted the new situation, seeming more than content to wake up next to her every morning.

'I gotta go,' Daryl broke the silence once again.

A sigh left her lips as she opened her eyes to the golden sunlight. She turned around so she was facing him. Her eyes roamed over his face and she couldn't help but smile. She loved the way his hair was even messier than normal when he had just woken up. She loved his blue eyes, watching her just as intently as she did him. As though her hand had a will of its own, she reached out and traced the lines of his cheekbones, drawing a shaky breath from him that made her smirk playfully.

He reached out quicker than she could retrieve her hand and entangled her fingers with his own. 'Don't,' he warned, though his lips were curled up in a playful smile.

'Don't what?' She asked innocently.

He seemed close to rolling his eyes. 'Ya know what,' he spoke softly and before she could reply he leaned in closer and placed a quick kiss on her lips. Way too soon he pulled away from her and made his way out of bed.

'You're not leaving today are you?' She asked, watching him as he got dressed.

'Miss me when I'm gone, do ya, swan?' He teased, grinning at her while pulling his shirt over his head.

'Not at all, just thought you might trip without me out there,' she smiled at him while moving to the edge of the bed, carefully holding her arm. Most of the pain was gone, but it was still stiff and if she moved it too much the pain would come back. Denise told her she wasn't allowed to go on any runs in the near future, not until it was fully healed. Quinn was already bored out of her mind, especially when Daryl went out there and she remained stuck in here. When she finally got to her feet, Daryl was already dressed and walked up to her. He moved his hand to her cheek, his thumb rubbing small circles on her skin, setting her body aglow with flames.

'You ain't better yet,' he said, his voice low and filled with a worry so genuine that it made her heart flutter in her chest.

'I know,' she sighed, leaning into his touch. 'I'll be careful, I promise.'

'Good,' he nodded, then placed a kiss on her forehead and stepped away, gathering his weapons from the nightstand. 'I'm gonna work on the bike, see ya in a bit, kay?'

'Okay,' she replied, smiling at him as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

The bike he found in the building they attacked, the same one that had been taken from him by those people he met in the burnt forest. She knew he felt angry about what happened, about not being able to help them and instead having them turn on him despite his good intentions. She knew part of him believed he should've killed them when he had the chance but a much larger part of him simply wished he could've helped. He didn't like to talk about it but she'd never needed words to understand what he was feeling anyway.

And the same was true for him, Daryl never needed words to understand what was going through her mind. He knew something was eating her alive about that day she'd been kidnapped. She'd never said a word about what truly happened and yet he could see the ghosts haunting her and he knew it was about more than simply being taken. She hadn't even told Milo about running into their father but she feared telling Daryl even more because it would be Daryl's wrath the man would face, not Milo's. Of course Daryl knew something was up, but he was simply too good for her and so he waited for her to bring it up herself. She honestly didn't know what she'd ever done to deserve him.