No Tomorrow

.

"Do me a favor? You know where I live don't you?"

I nodded and he offered me a warm smile before planting a light kiss on the tip of my nose. I could feel the tremors shaking a little more violently now but they never seemed to reach my face.

"Good girl- go ahead and head there, I won't be long I promise."

He kissed my forehead this time but let me go and turned back around to face Daryl again, his fingers were flexing in and out of fists at his side.

"....you're not going to hurt him are you?"

I could see the smirk from the corner of his face but he said nothing else about it.

"No promises, but he's going to learn something important today."

I turned around and headed off down the road and waited about a third of the way before I stopped in the middle of the street and began to cry.

*

Jay's POV:

Daryl put some pants and a shirt on before he met me back out on his tiny porch with his arms folded over his chest, he was staring me down but the anger was almost too much; I had to concentrate on my breathing to keep the tremors in check.

"You've got about ten minutes to explain why the hell you cheated on her before I beat your fucking ass."

"You're not gonna believe a word I say anyway so what's it matter?"

I growled and he put a hand up in the air in self-defense.

"I know, I know. To say that I fucked up was an understatement....it was just a one time thing with someone I didn't even know- Belle wasn't supposed to be home until dark. I know that's not much of an excuse but it's all I've got. I didn't really think that whatever you two have was that strong....."

He shrugged, and then I couldn't help but to remember the pain that wrecked my mind when I'd lost Holly.

"I get that you might not have understood, I just don't see how you could do something like that to her in the first place. You two could have had a child by now if we hadn't been so stupid, she's been nothing but fair to you."

He hung his head a little bit.

"You think I don't know that? Maybe I should have talked to her about it, but it's probably too late. I know that you want to kick my ass, but if it helps, I won't go near her. Unless by some miracle she forgives me one day, I'll stay away from her."

Enough of my anger evaporated into thin air for me to be able to take a deep breathe and pinch the bridge of my nose between a few fingers.

"I wouldn't go that far because then she's gonna think that I put you up to it- you'll just have to solve your own problem. Anything more that I'm going to say on this though.....whatever she chooses to do on her own time from here on out is her choice."

*

Belle's POV:

In the span of over a month being here at Alexandria nothing else really happened other then one of the leader's sons dying on a recovery mission one week; when the dust and the tension settled down from that, Maggie and Glenn revealed that they were expecting their first child. Jesus had shown us another community they called the Hilltop and that's where she went for her checkups. Just the other day she showed me an actual sonogram of the baby and I felt happy for the both of them despite the deep ache in my chest. I moved in with Jay some time back but never really bothered to keep up with eating anything healthy, someone in this settlement had the means to make wines and hard alcohol and was more then willing to give me a bottle or two in exchange for some fresh meat at the end of each week.

"Alright, you've had five bottles this week alone, I'm cutting you off. You're not going to drink yourself to death over that idiot."

Jay snagged the small bottle of brandy off the table and poured it down the small sink and pulled me up from the table by my left hand. At that point I'd already drank most of it over the last few days.

"Come on....I haven't been a bother to anyone."

He let me go and grabbed my face in both of his hands before he gave me a little shake and pinched my cheeks, he had tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Please, Belle. I already lost one person that I loved, I'm not about to lose the person who has my soul. No more drinks, none. Please."

I tried to laugh off the part about his soul but suddenly his face was taut and his lips were slightly parted open.

"What's so funny about my soul?"

"N-nothing, I'm just not deserving of any of it.."

"You're kidding....right?"

"No, I'm Belle."

Jay glared at me and while I began to laugh he dropped my face and scooped me up over his left shoulder and started to carry me outside, I smacked at his back but he just pinched a part of my ass that was close to his face.

"I've had enough of your shit twinkletoes, you're sobering up right now."

"What-"

In my drunken stupor I saw a pool at one of the houses that was still empty and I thrashed around when he got closer to the thing, he held onto me harder before he threw me over the side into the water below; before I fully hit the water I snagged one of his ankles and yanked him down with me. He yelled as we hit the water but I had to admit that his plan to sober me up worked, though our high temperature bodies seemed to burn off alcohol too fast to enjoy it for long anyway. He popped his head up above the water maybe two feet from me and coughed while he swept some of the wet hair out of his eyes.

"You're such an asshole sometimes I swear to god."

I wiped some of my own hair out of my face and tried to think of a response but he'd already crossed to the ladder and vaulted himself over before he walked away, complaining about the state of his wet clothes and hair. I couldn't help but stare after him..the static had to end in my brain sometime, right?