Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

Safe Inside Your Arms

Everyone's heads shot towards Daryl, and Harley's face was so red he looked about ready to explode. "I thought you didn't do that shit. Then, just because there's some bitch, you're going to rob us all?"

"I told you before. You won't touch her again." Daryl spat, his hand tightly wrapped around the handle of his knife. "If you do, I'll cut off your damn hands." Joe laughed at the threat, but the other three took it seriously.

"Well, looks like that's resolved." He commented, proud of himself for keeping the peace. Len studied Parker wondering why he seemed to recognize her.

"She looks familiar," Then he gasped in realization, remembering why she looked so familiar. "She's the girl in the photo." Joe raised his eyebrows in question.

"Is that true?" Daryl didn't respond, so Joe sighed, once again taking his silence as a yes. "Well, we'll leave you two alone from now on. No one is to touch the girl or her belongings. She belongs to Daryl now, and it looks like she's belonged to him for a while now." Suddenly, the Claimers returned to their camp, and Daryl waited until they were gone before moving, watching as they eyed her supplies as if they were considering taking some of it. He could hear her trying to catch her breath, and before checking on her, he gathered all of her stuff and put it all back in her backpack. Grabbing everything in a hurry, he didn't even notice the pregnancy test, too angry to even consider what he was picking up as he stuffed everything into her backpack. Getting her gun, and the spare T-shirt she had. He knelt down in front of her, setting down the stuff he was holding. When he reached out to touch her arm she flinched, her face shielded by her hair as she shuffled backward, her chest rising and falling way faster than normal. Her shirt had opened back up when she'd moved away. Daryl quickly dropped his hand to his side.

"Don't touch me!" She cried out as she pushed herself back.

"Parker.." She looked up at him, her face hidden behind her hair, but her eyes said it all, whatever they had done had broken her and the idea of it broke Daryl's heart. Everything had flashed through his head, from hearing the familiar scream that reminded him of the night on the farm when Dale died. That scream led him to the sight of her fighting off three men who were trying to pull her pants down. If he'd arrived any later, who knows what would've happened. Daryl hated thinking about it. 

Meanwhile, Parker could feel her heart racing against her chest, the horror of what had happened momentarily replaced by the complete shock of seeing him alive. No matter how much she told herself that he was out there, she never thought she would actually see him again, and as she looked at him, she was still struggling to determine if he was real.

"Daryl?" She whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming.

"I'm here." He spoke softly, her breathing slowly starting to slow back to a normal pace. "You're safe." Parker's eyes filled with tears at his words and she hurried towards him, wrapping her arms around Daryl's neck and sobbing into his shoulder. He held her tightly to his chest, her body shaking in his arms as she cried. Daryl never thought he would see her again and although their reunion was not what he had imagined, seeing her alive was more than he could have asked for. She raised her head to look at him, and for a split second, there was a smile on her face. Daryl didn't have time to admire her because she pulled him towards her and kissed him like she would never have the chance to do it again. When she pulled away from the kiss, she lightly touched his face,  still trying to process the fact that he was real.

"I can't believe it... you're alive." Daryl nodded at her words.

"I'm here. I told you I'd find you." Parker let out a choked sob looking at her torn clothes, frayed threads now hanging where the buttons used to be.

"I'm glad you did."

"I'm so sorry," Daryl whispered, "I never should have let you go."

"You did what you had to do," Parker said, they didn't have much of a choice when the fight broke out. The Governor's men had gotten through the fences and they'd come back way more prepared than his first attempt. "And I'm okay. We're together now, but Daryl... why are you with these people? And what the hell is this 'claimed' shit they were talking about?"

"I didn't know what they were like," Daryl admitted. "I was only with them because it was safer and I was looking for you. And they have this shitty rule about claiming things." He explained to her briefly filling her in.

"Wait, so you claimed me?" Parker slowly asked, starting to process everything that had happened in the last few minutes. "But you.. told them you didn't do that?"

"I only did that so none of those pricks would touch you again." Daryl justified his reasons. "I had to do it to keep you safe." Parker nodded in understanding, not trying to blame him for anything.

"I understand. But just so we're on the same page... I'm your property now?" The fact that these people could blatantly ignore the fact that the women left in the world were human and not objects was repulsive. Parker's skin crawled at the thought of what they were going to do to her before Daryl found them, and she shuddered slightly at his response.

"No." He instantly shut the idea down. "You're my wife. Not my damn property." Parker picked up the t-shirt that Daryl had grabbed off the ground.

"Just so we're clear, I kissed you first." She attempted to crack a joke before letting out a small sigh. "Could you.. make sure no one is looking?" Daryl nodded and Parker quickly started removing the torn clothes, shrugging them to the forest floor and pulling the new t-shirt over her head. She grabbed the long-sleeved shirt that didn't have buttons anymore, putting it over the other shirt, trying to use it as some kind of cover. Daryl was about to approach her, but at the last second, he decided against it and her face fell. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Give me space," Parker stated as if it wasn't obvious that he had backed away. "I've been alone for over a week. I need you. Please... please don't walk away." She walked over to him and hugged him, feeling safe in his arms as they wrapped around her and held her against his chest.

"What happened to you after you got out of the prison?" Daryl asked after a moment. Parker grabbed her backpack, took her gun out of it, and placed it back in its holster.

"Uhm.. it's a long story," Parker sighed, thinking of what to tell him. "I.. walkers followed me for a while." She sighed, scratching above her eyebrow. "I was going to stay and wait for you but there were too many of them. I found a few houses, a pharmacy, raided those for supplies. I spent a while in the woods, sleeping in trees. I sprained my ankle when I fell out of one of them this morning."

"How did you run into these people?" Daryl nodded his head in the direction they left.

"A bunch of dumb decisions... I heard walkers so I got out of there. I was trying to get around a few without them noticing and stumbled upon them sleeping. Led a walker right to 'em and then hid behind the trees. Then that Harley guy... saw me and.. well, you know what happened next." She trailed off not wanting to relive the events by talking about it.

"I'll kill them," Daryl said through clenched teeth. "If one of them even looks at you again, I'll kill them."

"Are we staying with them?" Parker managed to ask the question she was scared to know the answer to.

"They're tracking someone," Daryl told her, meeting her gaze. "A man killed one of theirs. I thought it could be one of ours."

"Are we staying with them?" She repeated, her voice wavering as she spoke. The last thing she wanted to do was be stuck with this group. She would much rather go back to being stuck on her own if this was the cost of finding people.

"I'll protect you," Daryl promised her. "I swear, they won't lay a hand on you." Parker knew she could trust Daryl, but those men were terrible people, and they were ones she didn't want to be around. Still, if it led to another member of their group, it was worth the risk. Parker tried to ignore the bruises that had formed on her wrist from where Harley grabbed her as she looked at Daryl.

"What happened to you? After the prison?" She finally asked, figuring he hadn't been with the Claimers the entire time. Also wanting to change the subject. "Where did you go?"

"I got out with Beth," Daryl started, thinking back to his time spent with her. "I shut down for a while. Thought I'd never see you again and she brought me back and we were good for a while. Then I lost her."

"Is she dead?" Parker whispered the question, not knowing if she would be able to handle the news if she was.

"She's just gone" Daryl answered, guilt filling his eyes. "They took her in a car, some white cross painted on the back. I don't know where."

"We'll find her," Parker told him, confidence in her tone.

"She kept telling me the same thing about you," Daryl said with a quiet laugh.

"She was right, wasn't she?" Parker offered a smile. "You found me, just like you promised. She told you I was out there and here I am."

"I have somethin' for you." Daryl took off his crossbow, untying something and holding it up to show her. Her green hat. Her eyes widened once she realized what it was.

"You found it! I thought I lost this."

"Yeah," Daryl laughed at her reaction, placing it on her head. "Wouldn't want you to lose that."

"I dropped this while trying to fight off walkers on the tracks. I can't believe you found this."

"Damn ugly hat," Daryl muttered causing her to smile.

"It's a fashion statement." She tipped the brim at him, a small smile on her face.