Till Death Do Us Part: A Daryl Dixon Story (The Walking Dead)

35

It was too quiet. The day of the meeting between Rick and the Governor was upon us, and the first tell tale of a downward spiral was the quietness. I'm sorry, I just didn't trust the silence. It was just Rick, Hershel, Daryl and I that went to meet with him at the given spot. Rick and I took the Hyundai, with Hershel driving. Daryl followed after us on Merle's motorcycle. Maybe he couldn't stand to be in the same vehicle as me, maybe he just liked Merle's bike – I don't know. Rick hopped out the car as soon as we arrived (the place was deserted, thus my distrust in the whole affair) and he nodded at me to join him. Hershel remained in the car, and Daryl ran ahead of us, acting as our look out.

We made it to the warehouse, and low and behold, the Governor was waiting for us. He appeared from the shadows showing no emotion but a grim face. He stopped, held up his hands and flashed a wicked grin. It faded away when Rick showed no sign of reaction. Then, he looked at me, and another one of those all-knowing smiles appeared on his face. I looked around suspiciously, my hand on my sword, and found that the fool brought whiskey with. I turned to face Rick and took in his reaction on his first impression of the Governor. His face gave nothing away.

'We have a lot to talk about,' The Governor finally said.

Rick still didn't speak. The Governor looked from Rick to me, scoffed and raised an eyebrow.

'As much as I appreciate your presence, Erin, I think someone else might appreciate it more.'

I frowned a little bit.

'Go on.' He shooed me with a lame hand gesture towards the door.

Great. He was playing one of his games. I didn't look at Rick to see whether he wanted me to be a part of the negotiations or not, I just walked straight on out the warehouse and slid the vast door closed. I paused before turning around. I was met by Daryl and Hershel, armed and pointing their weapons in the direction of an all too familiar SUV. I cringed a little –I understood the Governor's reference now.

Andrea, Milton and Martinez filed out of the car. I stood frozen by the door. This was not going to end well.

'What the hell, why's your boy already here?' Daryl said.

'He's already here?' Andrea asked, and then immediately pushed pass me to get inside the warehouse.

The whole time I was very much aware of the stare I was being given by Martinez. At first he looked a little sad, but it was soon replaced by anger. I hoped to God Daryl wouldn't notice. Both men were already riled up from the tension of this meeting. I didn't need them to provoke each other over something as petty as me.

Martinez's face pulled into a smirk as he looked between me and Daryl –who was still aiming his crossbow at them. 'So, this is that husband then?'

I internally cursed. Daryl lowered his crossbow a bit and turned around to glare at me. I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible. It was probably Andrea who spilled to beans to her new crew that Daryl was (or had been?) my husband.

I chose not to answer. Martinez gave me one last rueful look before turning his attention back to Daryl.

'Your wife has a cute laugh.' He said to my doom.

Daryl's shoulders slackened and he stormed forward to Martinez.

'We don't need this.' Hershel spoke up. 'If all goes south in there, we'll be at each other's throats soon enough.'

Daryl and Martinez continued their stare down, but Daryl walked away exactly towards me. My eyes widened. He lowered his crossbow and grabbed hold of my arm, dragging me behind him around the corner of the warehouse. When he was sure we were away from earshot, he let go of me.

'Did you sleep with him?' He deadpanned.

My mouth dropped. I felt like slapping him. Instead, I beat his chest with my fists, my face scrunched up in anger. 'How low do you think of me? Asshole!'

Daryl looked a little surprised and a whole lot relieved as he took my abuse. He tried to stop me by gripping my wrists and I struggled against him for some time until he had me pinned against the corrugated iron walls behind us. I couldn't move.

'Relax,' He said, as I continued to strain against his grip.

I found that I couldn't look him in the eye, so my head was turned the other way. I was breathing heavy and my face was set. As I slowly began to calm down, Daryl's grip loosened but he didn't let go of me. I knew that he knew that I wasn't revealing the whole truth. I finally turned to look him dead in those eyes of his.

'I nearly kissed him. But I didn't.'

Daryl's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened once more. A muscle in his jaw tensed. He closed his eyes in what I assumed to be an effort to calm down.

'Why'd didn't ya?' He asked when he reopened his eyes. He had somehow moved closer to me, and when we spoke, it was as if we were sharing the same breath.

'Because I didn't.' I mumbled weakly, my eyes on the stubble framing his face.

'I asked why, Erin.' He began to grow impatient, his voice rising a bit.

I remained silent, my eyes watching his lips. Those same lips that must have kissed and worshipped their way across my entire body during the nights we couldn't sleep.

'Erin,' Daryl pressed on, pinning my wrists tighter against the wall behind me.

'Because I still love you, dammit!'

Daryl's grip on me completely slackened until he let go of me altogether. His face fell and he was about to say something when we both heard the groans of nearby walkers. We looked at the approaching walkers, then at each other and then immediately sprang into action. I pulled out my sword, but before I could assist Daryl, I saw that Martinez and Andrea had joined to help. My nose scrunched up as Martinez bashed a walkers head onto the side of the wall, gore spewing out in a disturbingly beautiful painting of red. I amusingly put my sword away when I saw that this walker bashing had turned into a pissing contest between Daryl and Martinez. I sighed a little as I turned my back towards them and joined Hershel out front.

I wondered if Daryl and I would continue our conversation later on. And I wondered what Daryl was going to say in reply to my pathetic declaration of love. My heart thumped erratically as I silently prayed that I could see Daryl's lips shape and move once more to form those few words I only want to hear from him, even if he didn't mean it.

I still love you too, Erin.