Lost ; Daryl Dixon

Chapter 21

You woke to the feeling of the sun on your face, the shadows of the leaves dancing over the backs of your eyelids, as you stretched, grateful for the strong arms that held you tight, cradling you against a warm chest that felt so comfortingly familiar. The events of the previous night felt fuzzy and far away, and your body felt heavy with contentment and laziness. The ghost of breath against your neck forced you to crack open your eyes, and you felt your body jolt at the realisation that you were so high up in the air, balanced precariously on a tree branch some way above the ground.

'S'alright, I gotcha.' The rasp of the archer's voice in your ear had every hair on your body standing on end as you relaxed back into his embrace, his lips brushing over your shoulder as you turned your head to nuzzle into him. It felt like the most delicious dream, and you squeezed your eyes tight shut, determined to sink back into it, whimpering in protest when Daryl fidgeted, dislodging you from your position curled against him. As you shifted your weight to steady yourself, you realised how much you ached, the backs of your thighs complaining about the continued pressure of the rough bark through your jeans. You had no idea how long you'd been up there but it must've been hours, and you knew Daryl must be feeling sore too. Inching along the branch, you gave him the space he needed to descend, following down closely behind him, feeling a wave of relief wash over you as your boots hit the ground with a satisfying thud.

For a long time you just stood and stared at each other, drinking in the features that were so familiar and so foreign all at once. You wanted to reach out and touch him, just to reassure yourself that he was actually there, but he beat you to it, trailing his fingers over the gash on your cheek before rubbing his thumb over your bottom lip as he cupped your chin, his eyes locked on yours as though entranced.

The rustle of leaves nearby broke you out of the moment, and you turned to see a walker emerging from the bushes, pulling your knife from its holster and sliding it easily into the corpse's skull. When you turned back to Daryl, he nodded his head towards the depths of the forest, and you gave him a small smile. Time to get going.

Neither of you spoke as you walked, though you kept constant physical contact with each other, fingers laced together or an arm around a waist. It was as if you were both so scared that this was all in your imagination, that if you said anything or let the other go, you might blink and find yourselves back in the nightmare of your realities. You couldn't help but sneak glances at him, your eyes roaming greedily over his rugged features, the broad cut of his shoulders and the defined muscles in his arms. He was every bit as gorgeous as you remembered and you longed to wrap yourself around him and reassure yourself over and over again that he was solid and real and here with you, but you knew that you needed to get as far away from the Congregation as possible. They'd come looking for you, you were sure of it. If you'd been right and Helena had survived your attack on her, you still hadn't taken a life. The thought had you tensing up, and you felt Daryl's grip on your hand tighten in response. You still couldn't quite believe that he was actually back at your side.

*****

Daryl had so many questions that he wanted to ask, but his beautiful girl looked too battered and bruised, too dead on her feet exhausted to be up to filling him in on where she'd been all this time, on how she was alive and walking beside him, shadowing him back to his camp as his mind reeled at this sudden turn of events. Plus, he was reluctant to break the silence, scared that this might all turn out to be just another hallucination, that he really had gone insane this time. But he could smell the floral perfume of her, the sweat that coated her skin, the copper tang of her blood as it dried and crusted over her cheek. He'd never pictured her in such a sorry state before, and in a sick way it reassured him that this was real, that Y/N had come back to him.