The rain blew against the window with a harshness and it echoed inside the small house. The roof sounded as though it could cave in at any moment from the pressure, but you were thankful for a roof-- no matter how weak-- to allow you to rest your entire body that ached.
The last few days had been non stop traveling. Your legs burned while your feet wore blisters from where your shoes rubbed against your skin. You were tired, but you kept up pace with Daryl.
He was the only person with you after the prison fell days ago. He was the only one you knew of so far who had made it out alive, and he had gotten you out. He pulled you with him, not allowing either of you to slow or look back.
You were thankful it was him. As you would have worried yourself into a panic attack if you made it out and he hadn't. Or were stuck somewhere left to wonder if he was out there alive or not.
There had always been something between the two of you. What it was... You weren't quite sure. But you could feel it. Beating inside of your chest like a second heart beat. Daryl felt like a part of you almost; a piece of yourself you couldn't live without. You wondered sometimes, when you watched him from a far, if you loved the man who hadn't given you a second glance when you first met him ages ago. And as life went on with him by your side, you soon learned the answer.
You didn't know if Daryl felt the same way, but he gravitated towards you. That you knew. He was always there, for protection or safety. And he always checked on you himself, as if it made it easier for him to sleep at night. He watched you closely; sometimes not realizing you could see him doing so. He cared... That much you knew.
"There's extra blankets in there if ye get cold." Daryl's voice enters the dimly lited bedroom of the small farm house he found for you both to seek shelter in for the night.
He emerges from the bathroom connected to the bedroom, and stands by the doorway as he looks your way. His crossbow is strapped securly over his shoulder, and his hands are dug deep into the pockets of his ripped dark blue jeans. His hair hangs low over his face, but not low enough to cover up his beautiful blue eyes.
The wind howled outside the window you sat by, and the rain pattering the screen was relentless. But as you pulled your head away and faced Daryl's direction, the heavy beating of your heart grew louder than the storm outside.
"What are we Daryl?"
Your voice enters the humid air of the small dim bedroom in a soft vulnerable tone. And your eyes steady on him as you ask him the question you've been aching to ask for months now.
Daryl looks taken off guard by your inquiry. Shifting uncomfortably in the doorway, and looks away from your burning gaze.
Sighing under your breath, you nod as your gaze falls to your hands in your lap. You knew He wouldn't give you an answer. It wasn't in his nature, this type of conversation. Yet you asked anyway, even knowing the outcome most likely to happen. And this was it.
Suddenly the air seems thicker, stuffier and suffocating in the small safe bedroom, and you stand from your seat on the windowsill. Unable to keep sitting in the presence of a man who kept avoiding a question you needed answered.
Walking towards him, you brush past him gently as you pass in his doorway. Heading down the creaking set of wooden stairs, towards the front door you walked through hours prior.
"Where ye goin? Ain't lettin ye go out in that storm."
His heavy footsteps descend down the stairs after you, echoing off the walls of the old house. But your hand is already on the doorknob, and pulling it open you as met by the cold wind and rain. But you walk out regardless of the storm raging.
"The hell ye doin?!" Daryl shouts out at you from the porch as your body becomes drentched in seconds from the downpour.
"What are you so afraid of Daryl Dixon? Huh?" You scream through the blowing rain, as you turn on your heel to face the redneck feet away from you now.
Your hair falls into your face as the rain weighs it down and water runs down your face and soaks you to the bone.
"I ain't afraid of nothin!" Daryl responds defensively and you let out a short laugh. Not because it's funny, but because you were expecting it.
"Yeah? Well I am." You shout over the noise of the gusting wind and heavy rain.
"I'm afraid that every one is dead! I'm afraid that we'll never see those people ever again! That it'll just be me and you, till the end. And that in itself scares me Daryl because I can't hide my feelings for that long! I can't stand here any longer pretending that I don't love you! That I don't care about you and that I don't want to kiss you everytime something unusally kind or sweet falls from your lips! I can't and I won't! I love you Daryl, and I just want to know if you feel the same."
Your voice that had started out loud and boisterous to be heard over the sounds of the harsh storm had fallen by the end of your speech. It had fallen to a softer, more pleading tearful confession. And the raindrops and tears blended to the point your didn't know which was which.
Daryl stares at your for a moment as the rain pours down heavily on the both of you. Until he shakes his head, and looking away for a moment he speaks up.
"Ye want me to tell ye I love you too? Is that it? Ye want me to say that I ain't ever felt the way I feel as when I'm with you? Or that ye mean more to me than anyone else? Hm? Is that what ye want from me?!"
Daryl yells harshly into the night, and his face expresses anger but you know some of it is to cover up his uncomfortableness right now. He points his finger, he shakes his head and shouts with an angry time. But still somehow you know he isn't angry at you.
"I just want you to be honest with me, Daryl." You tell him softly and you know that some of the drop running down your face are teardrops. "Please."
Daryl stays silent as he watches you, and the two of you are completely soaked. Chilled to the bone and you know it will take forever to dry off. His head falls as he looks downward at his boots that stand in the mud collecting in the front yard. And looking back up at you, his blue eyes are like a lighthouse amongst all of the rain and darkness. Your guiding light.
"Let's get 'cha inside," He calls to you over the wind. "Get 'cha dried off and warm."
That was another moment where Daryl managed to say something so sweet and so meaningful without even realizing. And soon, you find yourself back in that small humid bedroom with Daryl Dixon. Drying your hair with a towel and in a new pair of dry clothes from your bag. He sits on the opposite side of the bed doing the same.
No words are said... You've both already said them all.
But laying down in the warm comfortable bed for the night, you can feel that that needed to happen. No matter how dramatic or silly yelling at each other in the middle of a rainstorm seemed... You both needed it. The release. The honesty. The moment to feel... Just for a second.
The room falls silent. Only the rain still heard against the roof as your eyes flutter shut. But you are not far enough into sleep to miss the feeling of the mattress dipping from Daryl's weight, and his head resting on the pillow behind you.
"Ye want honesty?" He whispers softly into your ear and you know he believes you're asleep.
"Well here ye go," He sighs softly and his warm breath fans gently over your skin. "I feel the same."
"I feel the same way ye do, and I shoulda been honest a real long time ago with 'cha. And since ye wanted honesty, I am scared of somethin. Losin ye, so if it's honesty ye want from me there ye go."
This time, you are certain it's a tear that trickles out the side of your eye and is absorbed by the pillow beneath your head. And the room falls silent and still once again.
And your heart beats in tandem with Daryl's as he presses the tenderest of kisses to the back of your ear before turning on his back to sleep. With a smile on your lips and a warmeness in your heart, you know no dream can compare to the reality that has happened tonight.
A/N: Absolutly love this one!✨
