For The Ones I Love | Negan #Wattys2017

Part 57

I walked in to see Daryl shoveling spaghetti into his mouth by the fork full.

"You enjoying that?" I joked, taking a seat across from him and grabbing a fork.

He nodded, finishing the food that was in his mouth, "Ya talk to Jesus?"

"Yeah," I said, twirling my fork in the noodles, reminding me of my first real day in Alexandria, "I just thanked him for helping us, you know?"

He nodded again, taking another bite of spaghetti, the air around us beginning to get tense as an uncomfortable silence overtook the room. We had so much we needed to talk about, and yet, neither of us were making any efforts to do so.
All I really wanted was to be near him again, and even though we're out of Negan's control, I still felt like I couldn't touch him the way I used to. Not because I was afraid of Negan, but because I was afraid of Daryl-- afraid of how he felt about me now. We hadn't kissed since the first time we tried to escape.. we didn't even kiss when we ran into each other in the stairwell; not that Daryl was the affectionate type to begin with, but I just thought there'd be something by now. We both changed a lot in the short amount of time that we were trapped by Negan, though, and not in a good way. I felt like I was half of who I used to be, even being back with some of my group, I felt like a piece of me got lost with Negan. But Daryl.. he felt more distant-- like how he was when we first met, and I didn't like it.
I just wanted to feel what I felt before, from the man I loved again.

"You know we need to talk about everything at some point, right?" I said lowly, avoiding any possible eye contact.

He nodded, now poking around at the spaghetti, "I don't really know where we'd start." He mumbled.

I sighed, "I knew him, Daryl-- the guy you killed when we were leaving."

"And?"

I shrugged, "His name was Joey and he was a good person-"

"A good person?" Daryl cut me off, his demeanor changing as he leaned forward, "You know he was the same person we attacked tryin' to get outta that place the first time? Or that he fed me fuckin' dog food when Dwight couldn't? Or maybe that he was one of the guys that beat the hell outta me that first time I tried to find ya?"

"Daryl, I-" I stuttered, speechless at what he was saying.

"But I'm glad he treated ya like a princess while all of it was happenin'," he cut me off again, "I'm glad I went through hell for ya."

"You?" I asked in shock, "Did you forget about everything I did to keep Negan from killing you? From killing more of our people?"

"No Liz, I didn't forget," he said standing up, "'cause every time I close my god damn eyes I see yous together!"

I felt my stomach drop at his mention of the one thing I dreaded talking about the most; everything that happened between Negan and I.

"Daryl.. I swear," I said shakily, now standing up as well, "Whatever happened between me and Negan was only to protect this group-- our group. I felt nothing for him-"

"Then why'd ya never pull away, Liz? Why'd ya always give in to him?" He interrogated me, with good reason.

I sighed, "Why'd you say you didn't love me?"

_____
Kind of short chapter, but wanted to leave you with a cliffhanger

Do you think Liz and Daryl will ever be able to have the relationship they used to have?

What do you think is going through each of their minds?