ELLIE PACED DRAMATICALLY back and forth in the small room that Glenn has discovered, only he and Maggie had been standing hand in hand in seclusion. The two were whispering among one another, which only fuelled Ellie's irritation more. She continued to pace back and forth as she pondered their next move carefully, only to be disrupted by Glenn as he grabbed her arm once again.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ellie questioned as the man hauled both Ellie and Maggie out into the hallway, despite their objections.
"Rick!" Glenn cried, his voice croaked as though he had been crying for a long time. "Daryl! Bradley! Anybody?"
Ellie paused as she observed the frantic man as he called out to their group, leaving her to ponder whether it had been the safest move. It didn't matter to her in the slightest. She just wanted to get back to her daughter, and she was truly willing to try anything.
"Daryl!" Ellie screamed, her throat burned as she allowed her body to scream as loudly as it desired. "Rick! Brett! Shane!"
From a distant hallway, a blood curdling scream could be heard from Hershel, and a panicked hysteria surrounding him. Ellie immediately grabbed Glenn by his shirt, and darted towards the right, and followed the eerie screams from Hershel. They continued down the hallways until the screams became increasingly closer, and eventually revealed Hershel on the ground, bleeding profusely from his leg, a live walker accompanying him. Ellie lunged forth, and ploughed her blade deep into the walker's skull, and tore it away from Hershel's leg in a panic.
As the walkers surrounded the group, Ellie could hear Rick's distant cries from around the corner. She dropped to her knees in a panic and tore the bottom half of her shirt, and held it against Hershel's bleeding wound.
"Rick! We're in here, we need help, right now!" Ellie screamed out, and continued to apply pressure to Hershel's wound, and quickly levitated it off the ground.
As Rick and Daryl and the others approached the scene, Daryl shot down two of the nearby walkers, as Rick helped to clear many of them out of the way. Maggie had dropped to the ground in an inconsolable panic as she saw her father, only the walkers proved to be too much. Ellie shot to her feet, and grabbed a nearby stack of straw and papers, reaching into her pocket and discovering a lighter. She quickly lit the straw, and held it up high as a torch, and guided the group towards the cellblock.
Despite their best efforts, the walkers continued on their quest for flesh, and eventually led the group to a room bound by padlocks. T-Dog immediately cut open the locks, and pushed the door open, allowing them all to flow inside in fear. The whole group stood, or fell to the ground, panting from the running from the walkers. In unison, they each turned to face Hershel as he clutched his aching leg, and listened to his defeating whimpers.
Ellie squared up to Rick's face, and held up her necklace from her chest, "You have to save him. I wouldn't be here without him. Please."
Through perplexed eyes, Rick searches Ellie's for a sign of hope, and nodded, "I-I-I think I know what to do."
He immediately begun to search endlessly through the weapons in the room, until he came across a fire axe. He rapidly broke the glass with his elbow, and held the axe up with his strength. His eyes glazed over with regret as he glanced down at Hershel's bleeding leg, and sighed. He then heroically raised the axe, and hacked down onto Hershel's leg, resulting in a piercingly haunting scream. Ellie clutched onto the elder's hand as he endured the pain, and whispered soothing words through his experience.
As Rick repeated the ritual, Hershel eventually passed out from the immense pain, and then finally it was finished. The leg had been detached. The blood rapidly ran from the wound, and Ellie hurriedly tore more fabric from her under shirt, and begun to apply pressure to the wound. She clasped onto the wound with heavy pressure and glanced up at Rick through pleading eyes.
"We need sterile cloth, and something to stop the bleeding. We need to do something!" Ellie decried, shaking her head up at the man as she held onto his stump.
Ellie stood to her feet, and approached Rick, and grabbed onto his face, stopping him from pacing. She sniffled, and blinked her teary eyes, "Rick, we need you to help..." her voice trailed off as her eyes landed upon Daryl, whose crossbow was aimed directly at nothing.
"Duck," Daryl commended through a whisper, to which Ellie immediately grabbed Rick, and dropped to the ground in a heap. In unison, Ellie's body dropped as Daryl moved his crossbow to aim at the stranger behind them, the dynamic between the duo was perfect.
"Holy shit," one of the inmates muttered, releasing a shaky breath, "What happened here?"
"Mind your own damn business," Ellie hissed, standing up and raising her gun at them. She glared darkly at the strangers, instantly flipping the safety off her gun as she demanded, "Who the hell are you?"
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed as Ellie inched closer to the inmate, and growled, "Back out of this, El."
The cockiest inmate stepped forward, stepping daringly close to Ellie as he licked his lips seductively at her. His emboldenment stunned the survivors, though only Ellie had the courage to express it. Ellie scoffed in disgust, and eased backward as she felt Daryl immediately drag her backwards away from the vile man. She smirked at his protectiveness, but allowed him to hide her behind him.
"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked once again, his voice low and like a growl as he had been more threatening than Ellie.
"Who the hell are you?" the cocky inmate mimicked Daryl's accent as he stepped forward, his inquisitive eyebrows raised.
"We've got to get Hershel back!" Rick declared strenuously, ignoring the inmates and looked directly at Ellie.
"Come on out of there. Slow 'n steady," Daryl ordered, his crossbow aimed directly at the inmates threateningly, his muscles bugling as his arms contorted.
The prisoners immediately emerged from the other side of the wall, their hands held up high in surrender, their faces etched with the utmost of shock. One of the inmates leaned forward in curiosity, and gestured down toward Hershel in confusion, tilting his head.
"What happened?" he inquired, his eyes widening at the amount of the blood he lost.
Ellie gritted her teeth, and viciously spat at the ignorant jnmates, "He got bit."
"What?"
"You got medical supplies?" Glenn inquired whilst walking into their room, not awaiting their response.
"What are you doin'?" one of the inmates asked in a slight squeak.
"Who are you people?" the small inmate with a moustache asked. "You guys sure don't look like no rescue team."
"If a rescue team is what you're looking for, then don't," Rick gritted in frustration whilst attempting to pick Hershel up. Ellie rushed to his aid and helped lift the man, but it wouldn't work with just the two of them. "We gotta go!" Rick exclaimed, which resulted in Glenn rushing to aid them as they carried Hershel with care.
T-Dog proceeded to pop the door open, allowing them all to flow outwards. Daryl and Rick carried the majority of Hershel, while Ellie assisted by holding up his legs with all of her strength. Ellie fumbled with her gun in her holster as a walker rapidly approached them, and eventually shot it dead in their pursuit. In his other hand, Daryl kept his crossbow aimed at the Hispanic inmate who had previously disgusted Ellie, because he knew he was trouble.
After a period of running through the darkness and guessing their way back, they eventually approached the gate to cellblock C, and Rick called out, "Open the doors, Carl! It's Hershel!"
As they hurried inside the cellblock, Rick proceeded with Hershel as he took him into a cell, placing him neatly on the bed to ensure comfort. Ellie remained outside in the eating area, where an uncomfortable silence had washed over herself, Daryl, Brett and the inmates. They all shared awkward eyes contact, until finally Daryl disrupted the silence.
"Don't want ya near them," Daryl muttered to Ellie, although his sight remained directly on the inmates as he kept his crossbow aimed.
As the man attempted to push at her hips to remove her from the room, Ellie swatted his hands away, and gritted, "Don't do this here. I am not going to follow your damn commands."
Stunned, Daryl stood with his sparkling eyes widened, his mouth hanging open slightly at her defensive response. Although his intention had been considerate, Ellie was tired of being made to feel like an invalid, and Daryl was the main perpetrator.
The Hispanic inmate stepped forward, and opened his mouth to speak as he approached Ellie, only for Daryl to aim his crossbow directly between his eyes, and growled, "S'far enough."
"Cell four. That's mine, gringo. Let me in," the innate stated with a smirk, nodding towards cellblock C.
"Today's your lucky day, fellas. You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia," Daryl responded sarcastically, keeping his crossbow aimed with dignity, "You're free to go."
As the inmate's expression immediately turned to anger, Ellie raised her gun, but kept a gentle smile etched on her face to prove she had a sense of mercy. She could tell the confusion of the apocalypse was what was bothering the inmates the most, but she remained silent in their dialogue.
"What's goin' on in there?" one of the inmates question, his sheepish eyes darting back and forth.
"Ain't none of your concern," Daryl replied to them through gritted teeth and a dark scowl.
The Hispanic inmate moved forward, staring at Ellie as a wide, maniacal smirk spread his evil lips, "How about you tell me?"
Daryl lunged forward, and placed the tip of his crossbow directly on the forehead of the man, and growled, "If you so much as look at her again, you'll get an arrow 'tween the eyes."
"We're free now, Tomas! Let's go!" a tall, African-American inmate cried out to Tomas in desperation, "We can go, man!"
"Yeah, we can leave!"
"You see, I'm starting to think there may be nowhere for us to go!" Tomas gritted his teeth, his frantic behaviour was beginning to irritate everyone.
Ellie scoffed, shaking her head as she connected her eyes with the inmates's, "You're gonna have to test that luck of yours, aren't you?"
"We ain't leaving!" Tomas yelled assertively, emboldened by their lack of civilisation over their stay at the prison. He would be damned before he would follow someone's orders.
Brett immediately raised his own weapon, and joined in as he held his gun up toward Tomas, "You're certainly not staying here, mate."
After a silence fell between the small group, shock suddenly encapsulated them as Tomas lunged forward, and aimed a pistol directly at Brett's head. Everybody widened their eyes in disbelief as they stared down at the gun aimed directly at Brett's temple, though his demeanour remained calm and collected.
Ellie growled as she approached Tomas, and placed her gun directly under his chin, and cocked her gun. She smiled menacingly as he connected his eyes with hers, listening to her whisper, "I'm not afraid to pull this trigger."
"Bullshit, chica," Tomas whispered, seductively glancing her up and down before he turned to face Daryl and Brett. He then erupted into a firework display of anger, "No — this is my house! My rules! I do as I damn well please."
"Let me tell you again," Daryl begun, his tone condescending and cold as he raised his eyebrows at Tomas' cockiness, "You ain't goin' nowhere near our people."
The door suddenly swung open in one hauntingly loud clatter, which alerted everyone from the hostility before them. Ellie immediately felt her entire body being pulled by a giant force, causing her to let out a scream, only to feel a handle muffling her desperation. She felt the cold steel of the barrel of a gun inching closer to her neck, until it landed there, and she simply waited.
Daryl observed as Ellie's sapphire eyes landed upon his own, her irises swimming with fear as her breath quickened. She was truly afraid, and her body shortly began to tremble as Tomas held her tightly against his body, the gun aimed directly at her neck, mirroring the same way she had held the gun to his chin.
Without a moment's hesitation, Daryl grabbed the gun out of his holster, a small glock, and immediately shot the ceiling, and then aimed his trembling hand at Tomas, "Let her go!"
The gunshot made several people jump, but Tomas remained still and dignified, with only a devilish grin to accompany his blank expression. Ellie's eyes darted back and forth between Daryl and Rick, who had entered the room through the open door and had already raised his machete to Tomas' face.
"You can't kill me without killing her, too," Tomas smirked, putting the safety off his gun, causing Ellie to gulp.
"I wouldn't wanna test that theory if I were you," Ellie whispered, her body radiated true fear, and it pained Daryl to know he couldn't save her without potentially damaging her. But he was determined that his love for her would save her. Ellie knew Daryl's true strength.
"Everyone relax! There's no need for this!" Rick yelled, pacing towards the inmates. He aimed his revolver at Tomas, glaring at him like he was a piece of filth, "Let her go."
Tomas stared deep into Rick's eyes as he searched for sincerity, and eventually scowled as he had discovered it. He remained silent for several moments, as though he had been contemplating his next move. He then groaned, and released Ellie into Daryl's arms, where he welcomed her with the tightest embrace he could muster. He felt Ellie slowly begin to sob into his chest, and immediately cupped her head in his hand.
"How many of you are there?" Tomas questioned, gesturing towards Rick as he tucked his gun away.
"Too many for you to handle," Rick stated proudly, but his face remained emotionless.
"Why don't you take him to a hospital?" Tomas asked, referring back to Hershel who he had seen bleeding profusely.
"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?" Rick asked with a heavy sigh, irritated by their lack of understanding.
"Ten months?" Tomas declared, peering untrustingly between Rick and Daryl with uncertainty painted on his pale face, "One guard looked out for us, locked us in the cafeteria. Told us to sit tight and that he'd be right back."
"That was two hundred and ninety three days ago," the tall African-American man stated with a slight shake of his head.
"There is no army, not anymore. We've been to the military base in Georgia. We found one survivor," Rick explained as he placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head in defeat, and also bewilderment at their lack of knowledge.
"What do you mean?" Tomas asked, bitter disappointment creeping onto his face.
"There's no government. No hospitals, no police. Nothing," Ellie explained, her voice void of any emotion. "All civilisation as you knew it ceased to exist. It's all flesh-eating walkers now. Infested. The entire world..."
"For real?" the innocent inmate with the large moustache questioned, his eyes indicating he was close to crying.
"For real."
Ellie immediately stumbled back as the inmates approached her, bombarding her with questions such as, "what about my mom?" and "what about my kids? my wife?" to which she merely shook her head. She released a sigh, shaking their arms away as she muttered, "We've all lost people. It gets easier."
"Ain't no way," Tomas shook his head, his scary eyes glancing between Rick, Daryl and Ellie as Brett had remained silent in the situation.
The permanence of death was a reminder to Ellie that things really did get easier. When her time was up, and she was allowed to enter the afterlife, that would be her release. The very moment it were to get better would be when one was to face the ultimate fate — the sweet release of death. Fighting for survival had simply lost its weight, and ceased to mean anything to Ellie anymore.
"El, you comin'?" Daryl called, disrupting Ellie from her thoughts.
She tilted her head as she proved she had missed a chunk of conversation, gulping slightly before squeaking, "Uh, where?"
He raised a suspicious eyebrow at the woman, and gestured to the inmates, who were all looking at her too, "Outside?"
She nodded and plastered a false smile on her face, before she leaned up to plant a gentle kiss on Daryl's cheek. The inmates made seductive facial expressions and vulgar movements, but Ellie ignored them as she whispered, "I'll stay with Coda."
She slowly edged towards the perch, where Shane was sitting cross-legged, Coda sat playfully on his lap as she applied fake children's makeup to his face. He smiled a genuine grin at the child, and the two erupted into laughter as she decorated his nose with jewels.
"Having fun?" Ellie teased as she leaned against the doorway, her arms folded over her chest. Shane glanced up in embarrassment through widened eyes, but immediately the two erupted into laughter, "You look beautiful, Shane."
Shane nodded, and kissed Coda gently on the top of her head, "I've been tellin' her about my family and my life... before all this."
Ellie nodded, and curled herself to sit down with the two, folding her legs, "Have you been telling Shane about our family?"
Coda glanced up with a grin, and excitedly widened her eyes, "I was telling him about Buddy."
"The dog?" Ellie laughed, shaking her head at the child's vision of family. Buddy has been the neighbour's german shepherd, and Coda truly adored that dog.
Coda merely nodded, and shrugged, "Luke is gone, Ro is gone, Granny is gone and so is Grandpa."
Ellie frowned, and ran her hand through Coda's silky hair, "Luke and Ro will come back, don't you worry."
"If you don't mind me asking, who is Ro?" Shane asked sheepishly, his dark eyes glancing up at Ellie with eagerness.
"Ro is a nickname for my little sister," Ellie sighed, scrunching her eyes shut as she thought of the last time she had seen her sister. It pained her to be separated from her for so long. "Coda couldn't say her name to begin with, and settled on Ro."
"Were you close to her?"
Ellie nodded and smiled reminiscently, her eyes twinkling with hiraeth, "I was much older than her. I was around thirteen when she was born; roughly her age now. My dad died, and my mom moved on pretty quickly. It was hard to see, but my sister was one of the best things to happen to me."
Shane flashed a warm smile, and nodded, before he sighed, "I didn't have any siblings, but I'm glad I got to meet you."
Ellie remained silent as she tearfully glanced over at Shane. She hadn't been able to fathom the words to describe her connection with Shane, she just knew he was family. There was a far more profound connection that neither could quite explain, though he had proven to be dangerous. His ends always justified the means, and sometimes, that sort of reckless behaviour became necessary.
"Shane," Ellie whispered, blinking away the tears in her eyes, "family isn't always blood. Family is chosen, the people who mean the most and matter the most. And that's you, to us."
Coda giggled, and glanced up at her mother innocently, "Shane is quite funny. But, Ro is so funny."
Ellie laughed through her sniffles, and nodded, "Ro is very funny, you're right." Ellie turned to face Shane, and merely shrugged, "Sarcastic little shit, but she's a fighter. She's had the worst luck, and she's so young. I just hope we find her, and it isn't too late."
"It ain't," Daryl's voice boomed through the perch. As his presence became known, Coda immediately ran up to the man, and he scooped her into his arms adoringly, "Kiddo, you're gettin' heavy."
"She'll be seven in a couple of months," Ellie muttered, bowing her head down in shame as time truly felt as though it had flown by.
Daryl sighed as the thought of all the birthdays that he had missed, how they haunted him daily in all the empty spaces where memories should be. He wished more than anything he could've been present for her first birthday; her first words; her first steps. He wanted nothing more than to be the father he was supposed to be, and couldn't help but feel like a failure.
"I'm excited for my birthday because you're here this time, Daddy," Coda giggled as she curled her arms around his neck. She squeezed him tight, and Daryl immediately sunk into the embrace, "I'm gonna be old."
Daryl laughed and leaned his forehead against Coda's, clenching his eyes shut as his adoration for her begun to overwhelm him, "Even older than Hershel?"
Coda erupted into a fit of giggles, and jokingly slapped Daryl across the face, "Hershel is really old, like Santa was," she thoughtfully tilted her head to the side as she giggled, "I hope he's safe from the walkers! I guess it's too cold for them there."
"Okay, okay," Ellie smiled as she hushed the hyper child, and glanced down at her smashed watch. It had become late, and it was the perfect time to settle Coda down, "Bed time."
"No," Coda simply stated, and folded her arms across her chest, mirroring her mother's behaviour. She raised her eyebrows at her mother, emboldened entirely from having copied Ellie so often.
The trio gasped at Coda's reaction, but followed it up with harmonious laughter. They stared ahead at Coda as she sassily pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at Ellie, shaking her head as she thought of her bedtime. Coda would prove to be even more defiant than her mother and father combined.
"Oh, really?" Ellie questioned rhetorically, and turned to face Daryl, "Where is she getting this attitude from?"
Daryl raised his eyebrow as he glanced down at the woman's folded arms across her chest, and her hip that stuck out slightly and smirked. He shrugged his shoulders, and muttered, "Guess we'll never know, huh?"
"Coda, there you are! I found this really cool—" Carl's voice boomed through the perch, although Coda immediately held her hand up to silence the boy.
"Show me right now," she ordered, and gestured for Daryl to place her down on the floor. She glanced up at her parents and flashed them a quick grin, before she grabbed Carl's hand, and flashed down the stairs without a moment's hesitation.
The trio were left in silence as they watched the children's figures becoming smaller. The two men turned to face Ellie, and flashed the widest smiles they could muster.
"She's just like you, you know," Shane announced, gesturing down towards the young girl. "You must've been exactly like that as a kid."
Ellie laughed, and rubbed at her temples, before whispering, "I was, but she's almost a mirror image of my brother. She is just like Luke. And definitely a bit of Daryl."
Shane nodded over at Ellie, a certain pain hitting his chest at the thought of his old colleague from King County, "We're gonna get him, the bastard. He'll come back."
"Hear, hear," Daryl muttered as he shot a polite nod in Ellie's direction. He couldn't help the blush that crept to his cheeks the moment Ellie looked at him; just like he could never help but look at her so often.
"He was so quiet back in work," Shane spoke, his voice soft as he thought back to his youth at work. Luke had been a common face seen around the station, but he was always alone. "We never thought to bother him unless he came to us first. Like a cat."
"A pussy more like," Ellie hissed, rolling her eyes at her antisocial brother's behaviour. Although a beautiful, twinkling grin of reminiscing danced on her lips. Luke shunned any closeness between individuals; that was his trauma of losing his father manifesting itself. He didn't believe that. Ellie did.
"I promise we'll find him, El," Shane asserted as he gripped at Ellie's arm. It was gentle enough to notify her of his intention, but it still hurt. "I promise."
With that, Shane huddled out of the room as though he was beating a timer, and finally a cell door slamming could be heard behind him, leaving Daryl and Ellie alone once again. The two stared at one another in silence for several moments, before Ellie immediately leaned upwards and leaped onto the man, pulling him into an embrace she had been dreaming of all day. The warmth; the familiarity. It was blissful.
"The baby will be here soon," Ellie muttered into the embrace as she felt Daryl draw small circles along the ridges of her spine.
Daryl nodded, and she felt his scraggly beard roughly press against her forehead as he muttered, "I know."
Ellie sighed into the embrace, and sunk into Daryl's warm chest before she declared softly, "I hope things stay good for a while. I don't know if I have much fight left in me right now."
"We deserve a break," Daryl agreed quietly, before he slowly peeled himself away from Ellie, and leaned down to peck her nose, "Rick puts too much on you. We can handle it without ya."
Ellie's lips curled into a frown, her eyes squinting shut to demonstrate her irritation, "Do you think I can't handle this pressure?"
"Ellie, it's not your job to take care of everyone all the time," Daryl reasoned, his voice raising by impulse. He desperately attempted to bury his rage, but to no avail.
The moment his words hit her skin she felt its poison leak into her veins. His words bore no well intention, he simply wanted to pacify Ellie; to remind her of her place. Her anger knew no bounds, particularly due to Daryl's inability to accept that she was a soldier -- she was going to be on the battlefield right beside him, and that terrified him.
Ellie allowed a wry laugh to escape her lips, simply trailing her eyes up to his as he evaded her eye contact, "What is my job?" she bellowed, shaking her head in disbelief, "I am always going to be out here, right by your side. If you can't accept that, then you can leave."
Daryl scoffed, shaking his head in anger as he flailed his arms in the air before he boomed, "Do you even know who I am?"
"Keep them coming, big guy," Ellie snarled, backing in close to his face as she backed into his face, a vehement glare painted on her face, "I'm not afraid of you, Dixon."
Daryl froze. The entirety of his body locked securely into place; each joint in his body knitted tightly in the spot; the clenching of his muscles ached out as he felt the burning of his body roam freely. It was almost as though he was being unravelled, slowly and surely, piece by piece. She wasn't afraid of him. It was that simple. And yet, Daryl couldn't fathom how her thoughts had fallen so deeply. Why would she ever think he would want that?
"Why would I want you to be?" he whispered, his face falling as low as it could, the epitome of defeat. "Is that what you think of me?"
Ellie's bottom lip quivered instinctively as the lump in her throat metastasised, leaving her with the bitter taste of regret on her tongue. She reached out gently, curling her gentle fingers around his tight forearm, "My job will always be what I say it is. And what I've always said it's to keep you both safe. You know it's the same for you, too, so tell me, Daryl, why can't I have that, too?"
Daryl simply shook his head. His bowed as low as he could muster, and a silence befell them briefly, until he had the courage to announce, "Because nothin' scares me more than the thought of you not bein' here to argue that! Can't you fuckin' see that?"
Ellie allowed herself to be swallowed whole by his words. They drowned her. But, not by some thickly stirred tar, but by the everlasting burn of love. It casted sail long ago into her heart, and manifesting only in that moment had been the love she had painfully been longing for. She didn't need any other bit of confirmation, other than the gentle words he spoke.
"That's deep," she muttered, her eyes widened as she had been stunned by his comment. Daryl knew he had caught her off guard, and with each moment she remained silent, it served as a reminder that he was afraid of rejection.
Daryl allowed himself to release a true chuckle at Ellie's comment, and finally rest his head against her chest as they sunk onto the mattress below them. He trailed his cold finger along the lining of Ellie's cotton shirt, and gently tugged at the trimming. Typically, his actions mirrored the indicators of wanting sex, however Daryl truly surprised the blonde as he continued to lift his finger. He gently slipped his fingers underneath the fabric, and danced his finger along her stomach.
"What are you doing?" she questioned, glaring down at Daryl as he jokingly pranced his fingers across a fake dance floor on her skin.
Daryl remained silent. He simply continued to trail his finger once again, until it proceeded to circle her deep scar from the stab wound at the farm. Embarrassed, Ellie cleared her throat as she attempted to sit up, acting as though the collision of his finger with the scar was a mere accident. Daryl immediately pushed the woman back down, and held his index finger to her lips.
He then leaned down with his lips, and planted tiny kissed along the lines of the scar, and held at her hips adoringly with his hands. Ellie couldn't help but sigh in relief as she felt his lips slowly trail down the line of her thigh, and eventually lifted his head to smile at her.
"What are you doing?" Ellie questioned, her cheeks flushing red as he held her thighs in his hands. He lifted her shirt higher, and continued to kiss her scar once again, despite Ellie's attempts to hide her face, "I don't like looking at it anymore. It's ugly."
"Ya may not like 'em, but they're for life. But that don't mean they're ugly," he told her softly, and gestured towards his back. He slowly removed his shirt to reveal his many scars on his back. "They remind us that we got out of whatever it was that wronged us."
"I don't want to be reminded," Ellie whispered, shaking her head. She then sighed, and bowed her head, "One day, if this is all over, I don't want to be reminded of the time we struggled for so long. I want to be free from pain one day. Living right now, that's pain for me."
Daryl frowned, and immediately pulled Ellie to lie on his chest as he stared upward, propping his head up with his other arm. He leaned down and kissed Ellie on her temple, allowing the kiss to linger slightly.
"No matter how hard it gets, we're together," Daryl replied, shrugging his shoulders as he attempted to mask the sincerity of his comment. Ellie's heart plummetted deeper, but she wasn't afraid anymore.
It wasn't that her heart was falling, nor was it in any danger. It was awakening. It was breathing once again, allowing the inflow of love to encapsulate it. For the girl who grew up alone, she had ended up with far too much love to know what to do with it. It was mesmerising. Liberating.
Ellie nodded, and begun to draw small patterns on Daryl's chest in silence. She then finally plucked up the courage to announce, "I think I might love you, but I just need some more time to figure it out."
Daryl's entire body froze. His heart skipped a dozen beats all at once, and his eyes almost popped out of his skull. He had waited an eternity to hear those beautiful words roll from Ellie's sugary tongue, and it had been just as beautiful and lyrical as he had always dreamed. She was incredible, and there wasn't anything he wasn't willing to do for her. He had to prove it.
"Okay," Daryl simply replied, and slowly fluttered his eyes shut, a small smile growing at his lips, "I'll be here when you're ready."