The cool breeze blew through your long locks, strands flying into your eyes that you have to keep tucking behind your ears. The wind blew through the foliage that coated the ground, picking the leaves and swirling them around in the air. Oranges and browns floating past you from tree to tree.
You loved this time of year. The season of fall; from the cooler weather to the changing colors in nature. None of it had been more prominent than here on Hershel's beautiful farm.
Today had been a sad day, Dale's funeral. You felt just as everyone else did, low and saddened by his death. To you, Dale stood as a pillar of what life could still be. That the world didn't have to turn you cold and heartless like it wanted to. You could still hold tight to your beliefs and the pure positivity in life. But then he was killed. Taken from you all in a fashion that was chilling and horrid. In a way that only this changing world could bring. In a manner that made you miss even more the way everything used to be.
The crunching of leaves behind you makes your head snap to the right, your eyes catching sight of the quiet and issolated redneck.
His crossbow, the thing you had hardly ever seen him without, was wrapped securely over his shoulder. His arms were clothed in dark denim and you could spot the vest he had been wearing more lately. It was a beautiful vest you had to admit. The stitching of angel wings on the back made you see hope, as if you had yourself a guardian angel protecting you and your family day in and day out.
"They lookin for ye." Daryl says as he steps closer to you. His voice is low, his eyes flickering between you and the nearest tree as if he can't hold eye contact with you for more than a few seconds.
You had gotten used to this behavior though, his shy and nervous demeanor when ever you were around. You had to admit that it was kind of cute. The way this big strong rugged man could be so... Adolescent.
"I figured they would be," You reply, turning your head and looking down at the blade of grass in your fingers. "I just wanted some time to myself."
"Up here?" Daryl questions and you lift your head again. Looking around, you realize you had ventured upward to the area Daryl had claimed as his own. A place far from the camp and a place he could have quiet peace.
Shaking your head, you look shyly at him. "Sorry. I can leave."
Wiping your palms on your jeans, you move to stand. But Daryl's timid admission stops you. "Ye ain't botherin me."
A small smile finds it's way to your lips and you glance at the uneasy man who stands a few inches behind you.
"You want to sit?" You ask, resting your hand against the grass beside you.
His eyes flicker up from his gaze on wherever to meet your eyes. The blue of his eyes speaks louder than he does. The bold beautiful color gives more away than he ever does.
His footsteps are slow, but soon he's bending down to sit beside you.
"How are you holding up?" You ask him, turning your head to the left to look at him.
You can see your question takes him by surprise, his eyebrows bending in slight confusion. "Why ye askin me?"
Shrugging your shoulders, your eyes stay still on him. "Because you were the one who had to put Dale down."
Your words make Daryl's head pop up and look at you, his eyes studying you as you continue.
"We all miss Dale, and it's been a hard day for everyone. But you have to be the one with the heaviest of grief on your shoulders."
Daryl shrugs and you watch the way he plays with a frayed string on his jeans in a nervous fashion. "I'm fine."
You can't stop your soft laugh, "Now I know you're a bad liar."
The edges of Daryl's lips twitch, as if he's about to smile but is holding back.
Silence fades over the both of you as the wind blows, the smell of the earth and fresh air swirling around you. But its a comfortable silence, and you understand even more why Daryl likes it up here. The view. The quiet. The peace.
"I miss him." You whisper. Your words entering the autumn air and seem to float off with the leaves.
Daryl's head turns to look at you, you can feel his eyes even when you don't look at him right away.
"I miss Dale and the way he made me feel like the old world wasn't too far away. I miss the way he made me feel like we didn't have to change who we were just because this world has."
Daryl listens to you intenly, his eyes studying you closely.
"I miss Dale and all the hope he brought me."
As you breathe in a breath of the fresh cool air, you can see in the corner of your eye Daryl digging in his jacket pocket.
Turning your head, Daryl shows what he was looking for. A flower. A slightly bent flower, yet still fully intact.
"It's a Cherokee rose," Daryl says, twirling the stem around between his fingers. "Symbolizes hope."
Daryl's eyes gaze over at you, locking with yours and the contact stays longer than it has ever lasted with him before. His hand reaches out as he offers you the flower.
Taking it with a small smile playing at your lips, you twirl it in between your thumb and pointer finger. The petals still full and beautiful.
"Jus cause Dale's gone, don't mean hope's gotta be."
His words take you by surprise and you look at him with tears piercing your eyes. Smiling at him, you reach your left hand out.
And it's your turn to take him by surprise, once again. Your left hand grasps his right, and feeling the warm callousness of his skin, you entwine your fingers with his.
This simple motion saying more than words in that single moment.
And as you stare out at the falling sun and down at the beautiful hope filled flower, you realize that the sudden hope you feel right now isn't just from the flower given to you. But from the man who gave it to you.
Daryl Dixon, in all of his quiet and standoffishness, is the embodiment of hope. The way a man like him, one who is seemingly meant for the tough callousness of this new world, can still find kindness and empathy inside of himself. Offering something to you as a thoughtful gesture and comforting you after a loss. There was hope that the old world wasn't gone forever, because that hope lies in Daryl.
A/N: Just a short sweet one for you all! It was another one I went back and forth on, but decided to post it and see what you all thought!
