𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 , the walking dead

[44] a kiss is a thousand words

A KISS IS A THOUSAND WORDS
———

ON THE STEPS OF HIS PORCH, Daryl played with toy that Denise had given him. The moments of yesterday haunting him, seeing Denise get shot and then walking Kai get taken away, he stills blames himself for all of it. It had kept him up all night, leaving him restless and exhausted now.

As Daryl is deep in though, he hadn't even noticed that Maeve was approaching him until he felt her presence standing in front of him. When he looked up, she saw her eyes were looking at the object in his hand, and he saw the guilt in her eyes.

"How are you holdin' up?" Maeve asked, awkwardly holding her hands in front. All Daryl responded with was a small grunt, not in the mood to be yelled at anymore. Maeve got the message, but she didn't want to just walk away from him, "I'm sorry about Denise."

Once again, Daryl said nothing, he didn't even look at her anymore.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Daryl, I shouldn't have done that." Maeve apologized, with a sincerity in her voice that Daryl recognized.

This time, Daryl spoke, "Y'know, we do a whole of sorry's. Maybe that's a sign."

"A sign?" Maeve frowned her brows, a painful feeling as she heard his detached voice. Not the same man she was in bed with yesterday. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, a sign that we were a mistake." Daryl stated, then his eyes turned up to her, staring at her blankly.

"A mistake?" Maeve asked in a sudden shock in her voice, not expecting the conversation to turn in this direction, "That's what we're gonna call it? A fucking mistake?"

Daryl jumped to his feet in a sudden rage, his voice raised with partly clenched teeth, "What do ya want me to say, Maeve? Would ya really want to be with a coward like me?"

Maeve sighed, and shook her head, "I didn't mean that, you are so far from a coward, Daryl. You know that, and you should know that I don't blame you. I was just mad."

"One of us is always mad, one of us always says dumb crap just to piss off the other. Ruining everything, we have a pattern, Maeve. Might as well cut our loses and move on." Daryl stated, shrugging his shoulders as if he was giving up. A look in his eye of exhaustion, he wasn't made for this. The end of the world, sure, he's good at that—but he isn't good at what he is doing with Maeve. So, he turned from her, turned his back on her and began to walk up the steps, Maeve watching him as he went.

She won't let something good slip from her grasp, not something as good as Daryl Dixon. Not without putting up a fight at least.

So, Maeve chased him up the steps, stepping in front of him before he could enter his house and blocking his path to the door. He looked at her, and sighed as his eyes dropped from her intense gaze, he was tired of this game they play. Tired of the back and forth, enemies one seconds then friends and suddenly—whatever this is.

"Daryl, look at me. Look at me and tell this was a mistake, tell me to go away and I will." Maeve started, for once putting her heart on the line, putting herself in a position to be hurt. "I will walk away and we'll never speak about it again. But if there's something here wroth fighting for, I will fight like hell for you, Daryl."

Daryl shook his head, "Ya say that now, then when I screw up you'll tell me to get out."

"I was scared, Daryl. You—this is terrifying. So I got scared, and I saw an opportunity and I wanted to push you away because I'm the coward, not you." Maeve admitted, fully putting everything on the table. "I'm sorry."