The night echoed around you as darkness flooded in. Calls of the cicadas deep in the trees and chirps from the crickets in the long grass swirled in the air, the soft breeze blowing the noises of nature towards you. The wind made goosebumps arise on your skin, but you weren't shivering yet.
Rick had started a fire on the other side of the car you lean against, allowing Carl, himself, Michonne and Daryl to feel relief from the cool night air with heat from a burning blaze. But you wanted to be alone, and so you sit on the other side of the car. Sheilded from the light of the fire and away from those you had finally found after all of this time.
Looking downward at your hands that are placed in your lap, you spot the bruises and the cuts on your skin. The dirt underneath your nails and the blood caked on your hands. Some from the cuts on your hands, and some from walkers you killed hours ago. The pain and discomfort of the bruises and cuts don't bother you as much as the internal injuries the men had inflicted on you.
The disgusting men that Daryl had been traveling with for some time for some reason. The men that attacked you all. Threatening your lives, but also willing to violate you first. You and Carl, a child with his head pressed into the gravel same as you, assaulted by the men that had come along seeking revenge and seeking death.
A hot tear rolls down your cheek. You thought that walkers were the real monsters in this world now. The dead coming back to life to take you with them... But you were wrong. The people you feared in the old world were still here, and unlike the dead they knew what they were doing. They knew every choice that they made. Yet these men were ready to assault you and Carl without a second thought.
"Ye hidin over 'ere?"
His voice startles you, causing your body to jump and your mouth to let out a small shriek. Clutching your chest, you turn your head to spot Daryl Dixon approaching you.
"Jesus Daryl," You breathe out, shutting your eyes at the feeling of your heart beating harshly inside of your chest.
"Didn't mean to scare ye." He mumbles, walking closer to you. Sitting beside you, and he leans back against the car like you do.
"It's alright," You whisper, shaking your head. "I guess I'm just extra jumpy after what happened."
Daryl nods, not saying anything. He just sits there for a minute beside you in silence. Listening to the wind rustling through the tree branches, and even from here you can hear the faint crackling from the fire burning behind the car.
Looking over at Daryl, he has his head tilted up and resting against the car door. His eyes fixated upward at the sky stretched vastly above you both. His arms hanging loosely over his bent knees in front of him. And you notice it on his knuckles, fresh blood coming from his flesh.
"You're bleeding." You whisper and Daryl looks down at his hands, then over at you.
"It's fine."
But it's not, you think to yourself. So you reach over and take hold of his right hand without even thinking about it and without asking him first. His hand is warm in yours, unlike your own hands that are slightly chilled from the cold night air. He has tough callouses lining his skin, but the blood that flows from his cuts makes his skin slippery.
Reaching into your jacket pocket, you grab hold of a rag you can't remember even putting there. But as you pull it out, you are thankful for it's random placement.
Wrapping it in your fingers, you begin to blot the blood staining his skin. Daryl grunts lowly in the back of his throat as you hit a raw patch of skin across his knuckles, but looking up at the redneck through your lashes you continue tending to his wounds.
"I never did thank you," You whisper to him, focusing your gaze back down on his hand. "For saving me back there."
Daryl mumbles something under his breath that you can't make out, making you think it was just one of his usual grunts. And he shrugs his shoulders as he looks down at the way you tend to the cuts on his knuckles.
"Thank you." You whisper, and your fingers fall still as you hold his hand in your own. And you look up through your lashes once again at Daryl, but this time you are surprised to find him already looking over at you.
Daryl stares at you for a moment, studying your eyes it feels but you don't mind. It gives you the chance to stare boldly into his as well.
"Ye welcome." He mumbles lowly, and suddenly you feel a certain level of shyness radiating off this strong muscular man.
Daryl moves his left hand, pulling your eyes to follow his slow movements. His left hand that is free from any hold moves towards you, and you spot a few short seconds where he pauses as if rethinking his actions. But soon, his hand touches the edge of your face. His finger grazing your skin every so gently, his thumb brushing against a bruise beginning to form against your cheek bone.
"Wish I could make it go away." He whispers as he stares at the mark on your face. The bruise caused by the man shoving your face into the gravel beneath you as he reached to pull down your jeans as he unbuckled his own.
"It'll fade." You assure him softly, and his eyes shift to meet yours. His fingers still touching your cheek gently.
"I'm sorry."
Your eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion, "Why are you apologizing to me Daryl? You saved me. You stopped that man from going any further and saved me."
"Shoulda never been 'round them. Put 'cha in danger."
You tilt your head to the side, and curl your bent legs closer to you as you hold Daryl's hand tighter in your own. "You say that like you're responsible for me."
Daryl shrugs and that's when his hand drops from it's spot on your skin. The warmth that once touched your cheek... Gone. His eyes fall to his lap and you know this is his way of avoidance.
"You worry about me Daryl?"
Daryl stays still, and you can feel through his hand the way his body tenses. But slowly, his head raises. And his blue eyes find yours in the dark night.
"Never not gonna worry about ye," He tells you timidly. "care too much."
Suddenly, the cold night doesn't touch you. The warmth of your beating heart spreads to every inch of your body. And Daryl is the cause of that sudden heat source. Releasing his hand, you wrap your arms around his bicep, and curl into his side. Feeling him tense slightly, but soon releax into your touch.
"I worry about you too, when you're out there on your own. Probably because I care about you too Daryl." You whisper to him and his left hand finds your knee. His touch resting gently against your skin.
No more words enter the air that night. No more words are needed.
You had tended to Daryl's physical wounds while Daryl tended to your emotional wounds. Trying his best to mend your heart and soothe your mind, and just by one word he used... Did he wrap you up like new. Care.
He cared for you, he cared about you. And you knew when you woke tomorrow to a bright new day, that you and Daryl would be something more. That this night and the emotions shared would not be forgotten. That something more than horrible memories would come out of a horrid situation. Something beautiful would bloom from the ashes... And that beauty started with Daryl.
A/N: This idea was requested from -Anime_For_Life-
I hope you liked it and met what your were looking for!💕 And my overall hope is that you all enjoyed it!
