Weeks kept coming and going, and Dana seemed more and more integrated, even if she was still quiet and not a people's person, but she was one of them now...she still stayed at Daryl's side, though, and he couldn't say that he didn't enjoy it, because he did, even if those unwelcome twirls kept partying in his belly sometimes or his heart beat a bit a too fast now and then when they were together.
Daryl liked to go out to the woods with her, patrolling and tracking, hunting for their people, he liked to see her getting better at it each day, he liked their quiet conversations and he liked even more when it seemed like they were able to communicate without words. He liked it when he was working on any vehicle and she was sat down near, a silent presence, either reading or watching him working. He liked the way she smiled to him and the affectionate touches she sometimes gave him, even if it made his heart and belly do weird things.
They were in a run now, it'd been a big one and everything seemed to have gone well, Maggie and Glenn were happy with it, they had found stuff and they hadn't suffered any accident. Daryl was loading stuff into the bags attached to the bike when he felt something nudging his arm and he smiled, looking to the side to find Dana there.
"Hey, cat, you ready?"
She nodded, getting some more stuff into the bags, and then they got onto the bike. Dana wrapped her arms around him, at first she always held to the chassis of the bike , but for a while now, she'd been holding to him, and Daryl liked it more than he'd want to admit. They had been riding for a while, at the lead of the cars, when suddenly Dana tugged at his shirt.
"Stop."
Daryl did so, frowning, looking at her over his shoulder as she looked around. "What?" She didn't need to answer, though, he heard it then, growls of walkers not too far and what sounded like people fighting them. He jumped off the bike, waving at the cars. "Someone's in trouble!" He shouted at them before he ran towards the noise, already taking his knife, Dana behind him, getting into the woods.
They didn't have to go far to see a woman and a man fighting off walkers, but only the woman had a knife, putting down more walkers than probably she could alone, while the man seemed to try to desperately tug back a knife that by the look of it, had broken into a walker's skull. Daryl was already sinking his knife into a walker's head when he realized that there was another woman not far, on the ground, looking at everything with wide, scared eyes. Walkers were going to her but she wasn't getting up, and Daryl realized that she must be hurt.
He looked back and saw Maggie, Glenn, and the others, and he looked at Dana. "Take care of these ones." He waved at the walkers, he knew she could deal with them and she had the others to help now, and he rushed to put down the walkers going to the woman on the ground before they could get her. Once there didn't seem to be any threat around, Daryl looked at the woman, who was looking at him from the ground with wide eyes. "You okay?"
She shook her head. "I fell and I can't put weight on my ankle."
"Alright, come on..." Daryl reached down for the woman, helping her to get up and she leaned onto him, groaning and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Daryl helped her to walk to the others, feeling awkward, but he wasn't going to push her away, it looked like she had broken or strained her ankle.
There didn't seem to be more walkers around, and so Glenn asked the usual questions to bring people into their place, and it was decided they'd be taken in. The woman was still clinging to him, and so Daryl helped her to walk to their vehicles, even he still felt awkward.
"Thank you," the woman smiled at him. "For everything really."
"Ain't nothin'..." Daryl shrugged, looking down.
"It was, you helped us with those things, they were so many, and you certainly saved me!" The woman insisted, still holding to him, and Daryl just shrugged awkwardly again.
"Ain't the only one." Everyone had run to help. "And Dana's the one who heard you all." He nodded towards Dana, who was already sat down on the bike, looking at him.
"Is she your girlfriend?" The woman asked and for some reason, it made Daryl blush red, his heart and stomach doing that weird thing, and he could feel his face heating up, burning. He shook his hair, trying to hide his face, embarrassed. Why the hell did he had to get so flustered because of that woman asking if Dana was his girl and why it made him feel like that...no, he didn't want to think on why.
"No, she's...she's Dana...she..." Daryl stammered. "She's...uh..."
"Alright, guys, let's get going," Maggie said while Glenn helped the other people, who still seemed a bit in shock, into one of the cars, and so Daryl helped the woman into the car, careful so she wouldn't hurt her ankle more.
"I'm Kate, by the way," she said once she was seated next to his friends, smiling at him.
"Daryl."
"Thanks again, Daryl."
"Yeah, thanks!" The man next to her said. "To you all."
"'was nothin'..." Daryl murmured awkwardly again.
He went towards his bike where Dana was waiting. "You did well," he told her, reaching out to nudge her arm, though that woman, Kate's words, came to his mind, and he found himself flustered at the gesture, even if he had gotten used to sharing those little affectionate touches with Dana, that made him feel warm in a weird way. "Those people are alive 'cause of you."
"Maybe." Dana shrugged, and when Daryl got into the bike, instead of holding to him in the usual way she did, she wrapped her arms around him as if she were hugging him. It made him feel all sort of things in his belly, thoughts storming in his head, thoughts Daryl didn't dwell on, and Kate's words made it worse.
Daryl kicked the bike into gear and tried to focus just on the drive.
*
It was late when Daryl finally could go to his cell. They had to introduce the new people to Rick and the council, who had their own questions and explanations, then they had to be checked by Hershel, who confirmed that Kate had a sprained ankle, and somehow then Daryl had found himself helping her walk again, that time to the infirmary, since he'd been at the council even if he'd wanted to blur away.
Dana had been there too, even though she didn't like to be around so many people, but they'd wanted to ask her opinion too, and everyone else's who had helped in the rescue, and wanted to congratulate her for having heard the struggle. She just shrugged awkwardly and left to her cell as soon as she could, and Daryl wished he could do the same. He guessed someone else could help Kate to walk or find her some crutches or something, and so as soon as he could, he headed to his cell, though first he stopped at Dana's.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked and Dana nodded from her bunk, but then patted the spot near her, and so Daryl walked in, sitting down next to her bashfully, feeling all weird again, and he hoped he wasn't blushing like an idiot, like if they had never sat side to side before. "Somethin' wrong?"
Dana shook her head. "I'm a cat?" She asked, and Daryl frowned at her, confused at the question.
"Uh...yeah?" Daryl didn't know what else to say, and then Dana nodded and leaned towards him, as she began to rub her head against his shoulder, not nudging him like she sometimes did, but actually rubbing the side of her head against his arm. It made Daryl get flustered even if he didn't flinch, and he felt those damned twirls in his stomach as his heart did something weird, but he also couldn't stop his laugh at it. "The hell you doin'?"
"Marking you," Dana said, rubbing her cheek against the side of his head and it felt good enough that Daryl almost leaned into it before she pulled back.
"What you mean?"
"Mine."
"What?" Daryl blinked at her, feeling his cheeks burning.
"Mine."
Daryl didn't know what to say, flustered, and Dana wasn't saying anything else, just looking at him. "Let's uh...let's ..." He stammered, flustered. "Let's get some rest...let's go out huntin' tomorrow mornin', yeah? So...yeah...rest..." Dana didn't say anything, just nodded and lied down on the bed, looking at him. "Uh...goodnight."
Daryl got up and left her cell, closing the door behind him as he knew she liked, and went to his, next to hers, dropping on the bed. He was a damn mess, he knew it, and he didn't know what to do about it. If Kate's words earlier asking if Dana was his girlfriend hadn't messed him enough, Dana calling her hers had added more to it.
What did she mean? She meant hers as...as what? Yeah, he was her friend, her person to rely on, to support her, to care for her, yeah he was all that...was that what she meant? What was that about? Why now? Did she mean like...like hers in some other way...would that ever cross her mind...
Daryl hated how he was blushing all over again. He was trying to guess Dana's intentions when he couldn't even deal with his own emotions and feelings. When Kate asked if Dana was his girlfriend, how it made him feel...did he want Dana to be his girlfriend? Just the idea made him feel flustered and kind of like an idiot too.
He did like what he had with Dana. He liked to be with her, in the woods, or around the prison, working on his bike...he liked to talk to her, even if there weren't that many words or big conversations, but she talked to him more than to anyone else, which made him feel all weird, and he liked their silences too, they could communicate like that. She made his heart do crazy things sometimes, and those damn twirls in his belly that he couldn't stop, and he looked at her or thought on her and that damn stupid smile would tug at his lips no matter what.
What he really considering that maybe he had a stupid teenager crush in Dana? Wasn't he too old for that shit? The idea made him feel like an idiot and made him blush even more furiously, his face felt like it was burning. Why did he have to think all that shit. Couldn't he be content with what they had, he loved his relationship with Dana, his time with her made him feel...he didn't know, but it was good, but was he really considering if maybe he'd want to have something like Maggie and Glenn had... He felt like such an idiot, he didn't think he could get even more flustered. He was a damn mess. Why had he started with all this nonsense.
Besides, the fact that suddenly he'd become a mess when thinking about Dana and their relationship, didn't mean that Dana would want anything like that. Why would she. Yeah, she spent time with him, cared for him, yeah, she was his friend, sure she liked him more than anyone else, and now she was saying that silly thing of him being hers...so...maybe...but nah, that didn't mean she'd like to, what? Be his girlfriend or some of that shit? The thought sent those damned twirls to Daryl's belly again and somehow he got even more flustered. Nah...all that didn't mean that she'd like to kiss him or whatever...and by the way, did he want to kiss her?
Daryl turned on the bed to bury his blushed, burning face onto the pillow almost as if to suffocate himself, or at least his brain. He wanted it to shut up, to stop all this nonsense. It was getting him crazy. Couldn't he just fall asleep and call it a day? It wasn't like he wasn't tired, it'd been a damn long day. Couldn't just his heart, belly, and mind shut up and let him sleep for once.
Damn, he wished he could shut down his brain.
*
Early the next morning, after not much sleep since his brain, indeed, didn't shut up, Daryl went to meet with Dana and go to the woods. He'd fallen asleep very late and he'd overslept, though it was still early enough, quite a few people were still sleeping, but later than their usual time to go to the woods.
"Lazy."
Daryl heard Dana's teasing voice as she approached him and he scoffed, nudging her shoulder with his, though he couldn't help his blush. If Dana knew the thoughts that had kept him awake, he'd probably die out of embarrassment. Everything came back to him, couldn't help it, and he cleared his throat, awkward, looking away from Dana. She tugged at his sleeve to make him look at her, though, and then she smiled, giving him a protein bar. Breakfast, Daryl guessed. Somehow it made him feel all weird all over again, those twirls in his belly, and that damn stupid smile tugging at his lips.
"Thanks..." He murmured, taking the bar and looking away bashfully as he removed the wrap and began munching on it. "Come on..."
They hadn't gotten out of the prison when Daryl heard a voice calling for him and Dana, and he found Kate sat down on a chair near the window, a pair of old fashioned crutches like Hershel's near her.
"Hey, you good?" Daryl greeted awkwardly while Dana nodded at the woman but remained silent.
"Yeah, I'm fine, much better thanks to you. You all." She grinned. "Hershel got me these crutches but I'm useless with them, I'm tripping all the time, I don't think I can trust myself with stairs or anything like that."
"You'll get better." Daryl guessed that was the good thing to say.
"Yeah...Hershel said my ankle should be better soon enough."
"Good." Daryl nodded awkwardly and turned to leave, but Kate spoke again.
"Hey, I was wondering...I bet you're busy, but today looks like it's going to be a wonderful day, and I don't want to be stuck inside now that I can be outside but safe, inside your fences," Kate said. "But I really don't trust myself with the crutches, so I was wondering...if maybe you could help me walk outside? Like to the orchard or something?"
"Oh..." Daryl frowned, looking around to see if there were somebody else non-busy around, with no luck. Anyway, it'd take him less than five minutes to walk Kate to the orchard, he and Dana could go hunting after it, it wasn't too late. "Okay."
"Thanks, really." Kate grinned at him, getting up from the chair, supporting an arm on the wall and then already reaching out to wrap her other arm around him, and Daryl tried not to flinch despite being unable not to feel awkward.
"Hunting?" Dana asked.
"Yeah, just...let's get her to one of those picnic tables outside first," Daryl said. "Can you get her crutches?" Dana shrugged but picked them up, and slowly, Daryl helped Kate to limp outside and towards the orchard, and then he helped her sit down on one of the picnic tables that faced the plants in which Rick was already working. If Kate needed to move, he could help her. "There you go."
"Thanks again." Kate smiled, letting go of him slowly as she settled on the seat, and Dana dropped the crutches next to her on the table.
"Was nothin'." Daryl shrugged bashfully. "We're gonna head out huntin'."
"Thanks for that too, the food," Kate said. "Be careful out there."
"Yeah..." Daryl nodded awkwardly and then turned to follow Dana, who was already walking away.
They walked through the woods quietly, which wasn't unusual, but still, Daryl thought it felt different...or maybe it was all that stupid shit in his head, all those thoughts about Dana that had kept him awake for most of the night. Maybe...maybe Dana had realized it, somehow? Nah, that was even more stupid, it was impossible. Daryl peeked at her...she seemed to be looking around and looking for tracks, as always, but Daryl couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Still, he tried to stop it and stop his silly, overthinking mind, and focus on patrolling and trying to find something to hunt and bring back to the prison.
"She wants you," Dana said out of the blue after a while, and Daryl frowned, confused.
"What?"
"Kate."
"What with her?"
Dana rolled her eyes. "She wants you!"
Daryl felt his cheeks heating up when he realized what Dana meant. "She doesn't!"
"Pff..." Dana rolled her eyes again. "She does."
"She doesn't!" Daryl snapped again, embarrassed. "That's stupid."
"You're stupid," Dana retorted, walking faster, leaving Daryl more than confused. Was she mad? What was that stupidity of Kate wanting him? Dana wasn't making sense.
"Hey! The hell did I do to annoy you now?!" Daryl walked behind her but Dana didn't stop, just scoffed as she kept walking fast.
It was crazy, maybe she thought that he wanted something with Kate? That if he did, it'd mean that he would push Dana away, stop spending time with her? Nothing and nobody in the world could make him do that...but maybe she got that crazy idea in her mind? He'd just tried to help Kate around when she had needed it, like he tried to do for all their people.
"Dana, hey, wait! Wait a second!" Daryl reached out to hold her arm and she flinched it away, but she turned to look at him, seeming upset. "Hey, cat, come on..." Daryl chewed on his lip, shy and unsure about what to say. "She doesn't want me and anyway, I don't want her."
"No?" Dana frowned and Daryl couldn't believe that she was asking.
"No...and I wouldn't want to stop going out with you or...or nothing..." Daryl shrugged, shyly.
Dana nodded, seeming less upset, and then she turned to walk at a normal pace. "She does want you."
"Yeah, sure." Daryl scoffed, Dana was being ridiculous today. "Why would she." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
Dana scoffed too and turned to look at him. "Idiot."
"Whatever," Daryl murmured, and now he was the one who walked faster, he was starting to feel agitated about the whole thing.
Daryl felt Dana's hand on his arm and he went to yank it but she didn't let him, tugging at him, and Daryl turned to face her, about to snap at her to stop the nonsense and leave him alone, when suddenly Dana's lips were on his. Daryl made a sound of surprise, couldn't help it, almost move away in shock but at the same time, his body didn't want to, and his eyes closed on his own accord while those familiar twirls seemed to erupt in his belly and his heart went crazy, even though he was too shocked to return the kiss.
Dana pulled back, looking at him, but she kept her hands on his shoulders, and Daryl's skin seemed to burn under her touch, lips tingling after her brief kiss. "Why wouldn't she want you," she said and Daryl had a million reasons in his head as for why Kate or anyone else wouldn't want him in the way that Dana meant, but he couldn't care for it now, couldn't voice it, because the only thing in his mind after that kiss was the wonder of maybe, maybe Dana actually wanting him like that.
"You uh...you..." He stammered with his words, shy and nervous as he swallowed hard, part of him was as tense and on alert as to when he fought walkers, urging him to flee or fight, but another part of him didn't want to flee neither to fight that thing, that scary thing in his belly but that also felt oh so good.
Dana seemed to know what he meant and she nodded. "I want you."
Daryl swallowed hard again, trying to regain his sense, trying to fight those damn twirls in his belly, if those were of excitement or fear, he didn't know, his pulse was picking up, and hell, he wanted to kiss her so bad again, why hadn't he realized how he wanted to do that before. All that mess of emotions that he'd been feeling and wondering about just got worse, way worse, almost too overwhelming. Part of him still urged him to fight it, it sounded scary, something dangerous, a bad idea, urged him to run away, but he didn't.
"You uh...want...want me...want me how?" He stammered, forcing himself to ask, looking down and blushing up to his ears, feeling like his face was about to burst into flames.
Dana had just kissed him, so that couldn't mean that she wanted him as only a friend? Right...even if the idea of her wanting to kiss him and...and whatnot, felt crazy. But what did she want? Did she want them to kiss and make out and...and whatever, or did she want like an actual relationship? Daryl wondered how could he feel such panic at the idea while at the same time feeling such longing for it, a longing he hadn't realized he felt but that now hit him with so much force, it was almost overwhelming.
"Want to be with you," Dana murmured, shrugging, but before Daryl could force himself to ask how, again, she smiled as if she realized what was going through his head. "Want me to ask you out?" She said teasingly. "To ask you to be my boyfriend?"
Daryl scoffed, pushing away from her, everything felt like too much, too overwhelming, he felt silly and vulnerable in a way that he hated, and he felt as if he couldn't deal with it anymore, everything was too much, and the idea of maybe Dana being just messing around made his throat tight, which just made him feel more agitated and like more of an idiot. Then, he felt Dana's arms wrapping around him and her pressing herself against his back, hugging him, and he couldn't fight it, couldn't move away.
"Be my boyfriend," Dana said quietly and Daryl turned to frown at her, his heart beating so fast, he couldn't believe that they were really having this conversation. Dana frowned too as she looked at his face. "Don't want to?" She began to let go of him, but Daryl did want it, even if the idea was scary and overwhelming, even if it made him nervous as hell, he couldn't ignore the way in which she made him feel, he didn't want to fight it, not anymore, and he reached to hold her hands before she pulled away.
"I want it," he rasped, forced himself to push past his shyness and fear to say it aloud.
"You sure?" Dana asked him and Daryl swallowed hard, nodding.
"And you?" He asked back and Dana nodded, smiling softly. "Really?" Daryl couldn't stop himself from asking, couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Dana actually wanting something like that with him, to be with him like that, a relationship, not just the friendship that they had.
"Really." Dana snorted but she smiled at him in a way that gave him those out of control butterflies again, even more when she reached out to caress the side of his head, pushing his hair away, and Daryl couldn't help but lean into her touch. "You're not stupid or an idiot," she said quietly. "But you can be silly. Sometimes."
Daryl snorted, he didn't know what to say, feeling nervous but at the same time, his heart was out of control and butterflies were throwing such a party that it almost embarrassed him. He didn't need to say anything, though, because Dana was kissing him again, and this time, he kissed her back.
"You still sure?" Dana whispered when she pulled back and Daryl nodded.
"Yeah..." He hadn't even opened his eyes yet, leaning to hold his forehead against hers, not that Dana seemed to mind as she held him closer to her, and Daryl wondered why he hadn't done that before, if it meant that he got to feel the way in which he was feeling now, a way in which he hadn't felt before, and no matter it was still scary, it just felt so damn good.
Notes:
Finally together! I love them so much!
If you liked this and have a moment, please leave me a comment with your thoughts.
As always, excuse my English, it's not my first language.