my angel ➶ ➶ daryl dixon

t h i r t y t w o

Aspen's POV:
I struggled in and out of consciousness. I kept seeing Daryl's face, but I couldn't trust anything I thought I saw. If it wasn't him, it was snarling teeth. They were either tearing me apart, or the ones I loved.

First it was Daryl, then Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Carl, Thomas, Beth, Hershel, Carol... An endless circle of torment.

I often had the dream of Daryl turning away from me in the rain. I always tried to fight to get to him, but the walkers got to me in the end.

After one of the dreams, I shot up in a bed that I didn't recognize. At least, I tried to sit up. I was handcuffed to the bed on both sides and could barely lift my head. I saw that I was on the bottom of a bunk in a what looked like a... prison cell? I shifted and saw the room was fairly small. There was an empty desk, a toilet, and a chair right by the bed. There was also a suitcase in the corner and a curtain covering the bars, preventing me from seeing out.

I began to squirm, trying to free myself from the cuffs. I almost had one free when I heard footsteps coming towards my cell. I quickened my work and soon managed to free my left hand. I saw a screw on the floor and stretched to reach it, quickly scooping it up and moving my arm so you couldn't see that I broke free.

I laid as still as I could when the footsteps stopped outside of my door. I heard the person sigh and move the curtain to unlock the door. I shut my eyes and steadied my breathing to make them think I was still asleep. They entered the cell and I could hear them walking over to the chair. They sat down heavily and I could hear them breathing.

They sat like that for a while until they got up moved towards me until I could feel their breath on my face. They slowly pressed their chapped lips to my cheek which caused my eyes to shoot open, trying to stab them with the screw, but they quickly moved out of the way.

"Woah! Aspen! It's okay! You're okay!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Thomas? What are you doing here?" I asked, letting my guard down.

"This is where the group is staying now. Daryl found you in the tombs and you were brought here." He said, quickly trying to explain.

"Then why am I handcuffed? Where is the rest of the group? Is everyone okay? Where's Daryl? I want to talk to Rick! Is Maggie okay? What about Carl? Has Lori had her baby-"

"Aspen! Stop! I can answer all your questions if-"

"No! I don't want to talk to you! Where's Rick?" I couldn't be anything but disgusted with Thomas. I naturally held grudges for a very long time and the apocalypse just magnified that. I didn't want to talk to him anymore than I had to. I wanted my answers from someone I trusted.

I was about to start calling for Rick when he bursted through the door. "What's happening? I heard the yelling." He asked Thomas, before his eyes landed on me. "Aspen?" He immediately ran over to me and bear hugged me, squeezing all the air from my lungs.

"Rick, I can't breathe." I wheezed.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "I just can't believe you're actually here and alive." His smile was wider than I'd ever seen it before.

"It's glad to be back." I said, matching his smile.

"I bet you have a lot of questions, and I'll make sure we answer those as soon as possible, but let's get those cuffs off of you." He came over, pulling a key out and reached for my hand, but stopped when he saw it was already free. He gave me a questioning glance as I laughed.

"I didn't know who was coming, so I managed to free a hand to try and protect myself." I said, proud I managed to accomplish that.

Rick laughed. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever need to lock you up again." He quickly unlocked my other hand and I sat up, rubbing my wrists.

"So how is everyone?" I asked. Rick looked down at the ground, his smile quickly falling off his face. "Rick?"

"Everyone's... struggling. They'll be happy to find you awake. You missing hit everyone hard. And I mean really hard."

"Why? Did you guys not think I would make it by myself?" I soon became defensive. Did they not think I could make it by myself? Did they think I was that weak?

"No, I know you can handle yourself Aspen! We thought you were dead! All of us. The night you disappeared, Daryl found a walker that resembled you. It was dark and he wasn't thinking straight. We even had a funeral for you! We left the place where you disappeared and none of us have been the same since. We've all handled it differently, but many of us had been in a dark place before you were found, myself included." Rick said, my head pounding. The group thought I was dead! They actually had a funeral service for me, and all the people I had grown to love thought they had lost me! Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl...

"Does everyone know I'm alive?" I asked Rick.

"Only a select few including me and Thomas." Rick answered, drawing my attention back to Thomas who was standing awkwardly by the door watching me and Rick.

"We were planning on telling the rest of the group as soon as you felt well enough." Thomas said quietly. I just glared at him.

Rick saw my reaction and moved to leave the room. "I think you two have some talking to do." He said.

"No. I don't have anything more to say to him." I retorted, giving Rick a look that said I would not budge on this topic.

"Okay, well in that case, I have someone else who I think would like to see you." Rick said, motioning for Thomas to follow him out.

After they left, I sat in silence for a while until I heard heavy footsteps quickly walking toward my cell. As they stopped outside my cell, I saw the curtain move and I was met with the crystal blue eyes I never thought I would see again.

"Daryl..." I whispered as he entered my room and stood awkwardly against the wall.

"How do ya feel?" He mumbled after we sat in an uncomfortable silence.

"Like shit." I retorted, causing a small smile to pull at the corner of his lips.

"I couldn't say ya look much better." He joked.

"Did Daryl Dixon just make a joke? I do believe he did!" I said, laughing.

He walked over to me and wrapped me in a huge hug. I could barely breath, but I didn't want the hug to end.

We must have stayed like that for a while until Daryl finally pulled away. "I missed you." He said quietly, beginning to walk out of the door.

"Daryl, wait!" I hopped up out of the bed and ran over to him. "I just wanted to say, um thanks. For, you know, saving my life and all. I just missed-MMM." My blabbering was cut short when Daryl smashed his lips to mine.

I at first shrank back, surprised at his actions. But I quickly leaned into the kiss. He lips were rough and dry against mine, but I didn't mind. His hands found my hips and mine were tangled in his hair. The weeks of heartache and terror combined into one moment of passion.

I slowly pulled away, needing air. I rested my forehead against his, both of us breathing heavy. "You're welcome." He whispered, turning and leaving me alone in my cell.