Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

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Jo

After that the meeting wrapped up pretty quickly. The tension between Carter and the rest of our group was palpable. Carter looked ready to storm out but Deanna asked him to stick around after. Rick, Deanna, Maggie, Carter and Eugene all went out onto the front porch where they had set up a map so they could plan out where we needed to construct the necessary walls in order to funnel the horde where we wanted them.

Daryl and I walked together back towards the house. People were giving us a wide berth which gave us some privacy. I chewed on my lip as I debated what I wanted to say.

"What is it Jo?" Daryl asked after a minute.

I stopped on the sidewalk and turned to face him.

He was staring down at me, his eyebrows raised in expectation of what I was going to say. "It's-" I exhaled and shook my head. "I want to go with you," I finally said, looking down at the sidewalk. "I don't like the idea of you being out there alone...But-" I peeked up through my hair as I looked up at him. He didn't look judgmental as I had expected, instead he was listening thoughtfully.

"But," I continued. "I also feel like I need to be here. Sending four capable fighters as bait seems like...an ineffective use of resources.

Daryl snorted. "One way to look at it," he mused but then he waited for me to continue.

I sighed and shook my head looking off towards the fence. "I don't like the idea of you being out there with no one to watch your back."

He nodded chewing on his lip. "If ya don't come with me Rick will have ya in the woods..." he said dragging off at the end meaningfully.

I knew what he wasn't asking. I shifted my weight. "I won't be alone," I said. "And it won't be night." I touched the handle of my kukri and felt better. "Those...those are the things that would make it hard."

"They could use ya," he said looking around at the people around us. "Maggie ain't going out, Glenn will be on his own with them..."

I arched a brow. Glenn and I weren't super close. Not that I had an issue with him but we had never spent much time together. "Are you trying to pawn me off on Glenn? If you don't want me with you just-" I was teasing but Daryl stopped me.

Daryl reached out and caught my arm pulling me to a stop. "I always want ya with me," his eyes were burning with sincerity and I couldn't bring myself to look away. His voice was low and raspy and I instinctively took a step closer to him. "It's the only time I don't worry about ya. But if this is our home we gotta do what's best for it the group. They will need ya here more than I will. I got Sasha and Abraham, and if I run into trouble the bike ain't as maneuverable with two."

I sighed and looked down, kicking at the sidewalk with the toe of my boot. He reached out and lifted my chin lifting his eyebrows in a silent question.

I met his eye from only inches away and groaned. "I hate it when you're right."

He laughed out loud and the sound of it made me smile. He so rarely let himself smile and laugh like that. Other people had noticed and looked at us, startled. It made me giggle and I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his.