Daryl's POV
I tried to sleep but after barely dozing for almost an hour I couldn't anymore. If I stayed, I was gonna wake her up and she needs rest. I slip out of bed and get dressed. The room just feels too small and too hot and doesn't feel safe.
I scoop up my crossbow and check it over a few times before my hands finally stop shaking. It's too quiet and too dark. We are the only ones in the building which no one is watching the exits. I need to do a sweep and make sure we're safe.
I put my hand on the door knob when I stop and move my eyes to Dani.
She has rolled over onto her stomach into my spot. Her arm is thrown out and wrapped around my pillow which she pulls against her chest as if I was still there. The moon is bright tonight and is shining through the room. Her hair has fallen over half her face. It's the longest I've seen it since the beginning and I want to brush it away so I can see her face.
I tighten my hands into fists when I realise I've already taken steps towards her. I don't want to wake her. She's hurt and needs rest. If she woke up I would have to explain why I'm not sleeping. She's already worried about everything else I don't need her worrying about me too.
She looks so small laying in the bed. When she's awake her personality is larger than life but laying there she seems so small and vulnerable. She didn't say how she got hurt but I'm sure it's something to do with that bastard. Something he did to her to punish me.
My breath gets caught in my throat again and the room gets smaller. I tug at my collar and am surprised to find it not even touching my neck. I can't leave her in here by herself. Not when she's hurt and sleeping.
I move over to the desk below the windows and climb on top, leaning against the window frame. I shove open the window and the cool air blows in. My head clears a little and I feel like I can catch a breath. This gives me a decent view of at least this side of the building. Which isn't perfect but it makes me feel a little bit better.
I don't know how long I've sat here for, breathing in the night air, watching the wind through the trees and listening to Dani's steady breathing. The moon has moved to the other side of the building making our room dark again. I crack my neck and shift my weight. I'm restless again and want to be on the wall so I can look out for The Saviours but every time I look at her I settle back in.
I can't leave her.
Dani has always been a fighter and while I'm worried about her I've never realised how much worse it could be. I silently run down her list of injuries. Bruised ribs, mild concussion, stitches in her thigh and the cut above her eyebrow. Who knows how long it will be before her ribs are properly healed again.
I'm so focussed on her I know right away when she starts having the nightmare. At first it's surprises me, before I was taken, it was a long time since she's had one. Her breathing picks up like she's running or fighting.
My girl doesn't run from much.
She whimpers, clutching the pillow closer to her. "No." She mumbles, rolling over and getting herself tangled in the sheets.
I climb to my feet so I can nudge her. Hopefully I don't have to fully wake her up fully, just enough to disrupt her dream. I'm just reaching for her when she's gasps. "Negan, don't!" She cries out making me freeze. My mind starts tripping over itself as a hundred memories scatter. I close my eyes as my hands start shaking.
I'm going to kill that bastard.
When she whimpers again my eyes snap open and I reach for her again. As soon as I touch she jerks awake. She looks around breathing hard as her hands touch her neck making me confused. Her eyes land on me and launches into me, latching on to the back of my neck as she breathes out a sigh of relief. I wrap an arm around her bare back holding her to my chest and cup the back of her head with the other.
She's shaking.
"Shh," I whisper into her hair as I realise she's crying. "I thought-" she starts to say but cuts her self off and buries her face into the space between my neck and collar bone. She's trembling in my arms and I know exactly what she thought.
I tighten my arms around her to reassure her I'm here. "I'm right here baby, I ain't goin' no where." I promise her. I feel wetness on my skin and I know she's still crying. "I think ya need to tell me about your day now." I say gently but firmly.
She nods pulling away from me but I can feel her reluctance. When she doesn't start talking I clear my throat.
"I punched Richard in the face." I admit, figuring she would start talking if I told her about my day first. She looks up at me frowning, questions written all over her face. "He deserved it." I say defensively. "He ah- he knew where Carol was. I saw her today."
She seems both relieved and shocked that Carol is still alive. I wondered what had happened while I was gone. Why Dani didn't go looking for her....unless she couldn't. I need to ask someone how Dani was while I was gone but not her. Maybe Carl....
"She was here but she's wanted to be alone, so she left. Ezekiel put her up in a house not to far away so she can be alone. Richard wanted to use her to try and get Ezekiel into the war..." I glance towards the window not seeing anything and turn back to Dani. Her jaw is tightened and her attention is focused on my words.
"He wanted to bait The Saviours into attackin' her, so Ezekiel would join us...I couldn't let that happen so..." I trail off.
"So you punched him." She finishes for me.
I glance away, I need to tell her this next bit but it's tough. "She doesn't know what happened with Negan. She asked and I..." I draw off, my voice husky. I'm surprised I feel ashamed to tell her that I lied to Carol. "She told me she was done, she couldn't stay with us. She said if she killed anymore she would lose her self..." I drag off looking back at Dani. "And if stayed she woulda killed more."
Her eyes narrow as she nods at my words. "I understand." She climbs out of bed and walks over to the window, the sheet wrapped tight around her. She braces her hands against the frame and looks out at the community. "It's good you didn't tell her." She says tightly and I feel a weight in her words.
I swallow as I watch how tightly she's holding herself. "What happened yesterday Nelle?"
She glances over her shoulder at me before she turns back to the window but not before I saw her jaw tighten. "A lot." She say tiredly as she shakes her head. "We were almost caught by a herd, faced Negan and fought a pet walker to earn some new allies." She bites out the last word.
I scowl at her. "Maybe you should start at the beginnin', the part where ya left here and...." I drag off quirking my eyebrow. She sighs dramatically, "We were on our way back to Alexandria and came across this huge trap The Saviours set for what turned out to be a gigantic herd."
I nod. "I remember them talkin' at it. Had 'em all worked up. Couple thousand...." I start to say but draw off and scowl at her. "So Rosita started working on unloading the explosives they had connected to the steel wire. Me and Jesus started working on moving the cars when Negans voice came through the walkie when he said he was going to Alexandria to look for you. Rick and Michonne had an idea and decided to go all 'fast and furious' on the walkers asses. They almost didn't make it because my dipshit of a brother got hurt."
She takes a breath like she's preparing on how to tell me the next part. "We went home and Negan showed up." She says in a low voice as I step towards her. She looks nervous about telling what happened making me confused. "He wanted to know where you were, his men tore Alexandria apart looking for you." She swallows and I can see indecision playing on her face. That's how I know I'm not going to like the next words out of her mouth. We don't keep things from each other but she's debating on whether to tell me this. "While they were searching for you, he took me outside the wall." She says calmly.
It takes me a minute to realise my hands are closed into fists at my side. I'm glad she's keep talking. I don't what happen if she stopped. I don't trust myself to not start spitting rage everywhere.
"He thought you were watching, keeping me safe, so he drew walkers to us and made me kill them all. He sat on this log behind me and banged on this hubcap with his bat. He called dozens." She glances down at the hands as she says the last words.
I love her hands. They're small but gentle and soft and capable of so much. They're the hands of a survivor.
She clears her throat, "I killed them." She tells me. "Course ya did." I respond, my voice husky but I feel like I need to say something. I need her to know I'm still here.
"Half way through, a walker got too close as I was killing another one and I fell backwards to keep it away but.....my knife slipped and it lodged into my thigh." She sighs before she continues. "I pushed my self up and continued. When I thought I was done, I tripped and fell landing on my ribs. I musta hit my head as well but I don't remember."
I feel my anger rising. He had done that to her. He took her out and nearly gotten her killed. Rick promised me he would keep her safe.
"He told me-" she starts to say before she abruptly cuts herself off. I frown at her. "He told ya what?" I ask harshly. She turns around and leans back against the window. She looks deep in thought as I step in front of her. "Nelle what did he tell ya?" I growl.
She glances up at me nervously. "That he likes me." She says in a whisper I barely heard her but I did. "He said what?" He better not have told my girl that he likes her. "He said he couldn't hurt me because he likes me, more than he should." She admits but I feel like she's hiding something else from me.
I breathe out harshly as she continues. "He took me back to Alexandria and didn't take his attention off of me, even when Simon was speaking to him. He sarcastically apologised for messing up our home to Rick but sincerely apologised to me before he left." I nod at her explanation although inside I'm fuming.
"Okay, and what happened with the cut above your eyebrow?" I ask trying to get the conversation of that bastard. "The Garbage people." She says simply. I frown at her, confused at her words. "They are a group that we found, Rick wanted to recruit them but I didn't want to. They wanted one of us to face this walker..."
"And ya fought it didn't ya?" I had to fight to keep my voice level. I am beyond pissed at Rick. There's no words for how mad I am at him. He may be her brother but I'm going to knock him on his ass the next time I see him. She's his sister and he let her fight a walker while she was hurt and limping. How does he justify that?
"Why not Rick or Michonne?" I challenge. She shrugs. "It was wearing a helmet and covered in spikes." She says as though that explains it all. "And sending someone in with a sword didn't make no sense to ya?" I snap a little more gruffly than I meant to. She scowls at me but there isn't much conviction behind it.
"Nelle." I shake my head and wrap my arms around her waist, tightly. "Ya volunteered didn't ya?" She nods, sighing as her hands run up and down my arms.
Dani isn't invincible and she needs to realise that.
"Baby, ya gotta stop. Stop protecting everyone else all the time." I say softly as she scoffs at me. "You're one to talk. You're always running into the line of fire to protect us, to protect me." She argues back.
"I know. Guess we're both as bad as each other." I say as I cup her cheek, as she snorts. "I just can't lose ya." I say softly. Her hands leave my arms and cup my jaw. "I can't lose you either." She gently says.
Her eyes lift to mine and they shine in the dim light. I press my forehead against hers. "I love you." I whisper as she smiles at me, softly. "I love you." She whispers back.
I bring my lips to hers and kiss her softly before pulling back. "Now, get ya ass back in bed. We're going to Hilltop in the morning." I growl against her lips. She chuckles. "Yes sir." She winks as she walks around me.
Sir...I like that.