Your Crying Shoulder

May Take A while

Mae's pov

The sun peeking through the window woke me from the best sleep I've had in forever. I slept with no worry and in the arms of no other than daryl dixon. Just thinking of that gave me butterflies. Last night everything was spoken. We both became vulnerable and let our guards down, completely trusting each other. Our feelings were thrown into the open and I honestly couldn't have been more happy about it. We both felt the same and now we both knew. This was a whole new start for me and daryl. Opening my eyes slightly,I stretched my arms and turned to rest my arm around daryl only to be welcomed with nothing but cool air. Sitting up straight in the bed, I looked and saw the bed empty on that side. That's weird. Sighing, I ran a hand over my bandage across my head and took it off. I ran a finger across the stitches to make sure they were still in tact. Smiling, I made my way to my feet instantly feeling dizzy and almost falling. Losing blood and then getting someone else's takes it's toll on you. Gaining my strength, I changed and then made my way outside. It was still early so most people were still asleep, but I knew daryl wasn't. With an extra pep in my step I started my way over towards his tent. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him sitting outside his tent sharpening his arrows. Smiling, I made my way over to him and plopped down right next to him,

"Hey" I smiled.

He just looked at me, scoffed and got up. Well I definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Umm...ok? So where did you go this morning?" I asked.

He said nothing, just grabbed his crossbow and started walking away. My insides felt like they were being constricted. My body started to shake with denial. No he was nothing to do this again. He was not going to treat me like this. Getting up, I stormed after him,

"Daryl!"

He said nothing which only made me grow more frustrated.

"Hey dixon!" I yelled finally bringing him to a stop.

"Don't do this...please" I said.

He turned,"don't do what?"

"Don't tell me you care about me and then ignore me" I said.

He shook his head,"must've lost a lot of blood there girl. Those words never came from my mouth."

My mouth dropped open in shock as confusion hit me,"you said them last night. You stayed with me last night!"

"Girl you musta been dreamin. What makes ya think I care about anyone especially you?" He growled.

I starred at him in bewilderment,"because you told me! I may have a head injury but I know last night wasn't a dream"

"Damn girl, you're crazier than I thought. Tell ya what? Why don't you go hang with Shane for a while? He'll show you what it's really like to be cared for" he growled.

My heart dropped. He just went there. I felt tears filling up in my eyes and my fists clenched at my sides. I wanted to scream. This is what he wanted. He played me. He made me feel like I was important just for him to push me down. He's done this multiple times.

"You're wrong." I whispered and stormed away.

Daryl's pov

I watched her eyes fill with tears. My whole body was rigid as I fought every urge to wrap her up in my arms. Nothin I was saying did I mean, but if I didn't do this Rick would force me out. This was my only way to be close to her and I was being selfish for that. At times I thought about asking her to just leave with me, but i knew she wouldn't leave Rick or the group. They are too much like family to her. It killed me to see her like this and I knew the Shane thing would end it all. It would get to her the most. Watching her storm away hurt worse than anything I had gone through when I was a kid. She made it all worth it. We understood each other. I never had anyone that did. I was like an open book to this girl and I could tell the she was the same to me. Hurting her was the only way to protect her. Growling, I made my way to the barn where they were keeping the Randall kid. I was so frustrated that this kid really didn't want to get on my bad side. Entering the barn, the kid had his hands tied and a cloth over his eyes. Just the sight of him pissed me off more. Setting my crossbow down, I watched the kid jump when he heard it drop. Smiling to myself, I knew I'd have fun with this being able to get my frustration out. Storming up to him, I hear him whimper as I snatched the cloth from his eyes. I glared down at him as he starred at me fearfully. I started questioning him and he wasn't telling me shit. Beginning to pace back and forth, Randal whimpered,

"I told you..." Until I cut him off,

"You told me shit!"

" I barely knew those guys. I met 'em on the road." He cried.

"How many in your group?" I growled.

Waiting for him to reply, he just whimpered and that pissed me off more. Growing impatient, I take my knife out of its place. I smiled when Randall's eyes widened,

"Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come on, man."

Deciding to mess with him more I charged at him and stabbed the knife right Into the ground next to his injured knee,"How many?!"

" Uh, 30-- 30. 30 guys." He broke.

"Where?" I growled.

"Uh... I don't know. I swear. We were never anyplace more than a night." He begged.

" Scouting? Planning on staying local?" I growled wrapping off his bandage causing him to scream,

" I-- I don't know. They-- they left me behind."

Not liking the answer, I placed the knife at the tip of his injury causing him to scream in both fear and pain.

"Did you ever pick off a scab?" I growled.

" Come on, man! I'm-I'm trying to cooperate." he cried.

Digging the knife in deeper,"Start real slow at first."

"No." He begged.

"Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off." I growled.

"Okay. Okay. We had a few leaders, tony, josh, Matt..."he cried.

My ears immediately picked up when he mentioned that sick name and I would bet he's talkin bout the same one.

He continued as I got up and started pacing again,"They have weapons...Heavy stuff, automatics. But I didn't do anything."

"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm, tried to take my girl! You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?" I yelled.

" Yes!" He cried causing me to face away from his face which was really pissing me off.

"These-- these people took me in. Not just guys-- A whole group of 'em. Men and women, kids too-- Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But... We go out, scavenge-- Just the men. One night, we-- we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters-- Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute."

My body hitched when he said that. Turning slowly, I looked into the kids guilty eyes as he continued,

"Their daddy had to watch while these guys-- they-- And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just-- They just made him watch as his daughters-- They just-just-- just left him there."

Instantly rage filled me. Images of what the group of his men would do to the women in our camp. What almost happened to Mae. Anger pulsed through me as he noticed my expression so he quickly shook his head,

"No, but-but-- but I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't to-

I cut him off by punching him in the mouth to shut him up. I couldn't contain my anger anymore no matter how much he begged. All I was seeing we red. All I was seeing was the fear in Mae's eyes when Matt tried to take her. Randall's face seemed to turn into Matts face and him crying, begging me to stop was like music to my ears.

"Please. Please. You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that" he cried as I pulled away.

Glaring down at the boy again, I still wasn't happy. Starting too punch him again, I knew I wasn't going to stop until I felt better. This may take a while.