Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Crashing

I awoke the next morning to nothing. No sounds, no smells, no Daryl. I was still in his little sleeping area, but he wasn't there. In fact, I didn't think anybody was in the cell block. I didn't hear anything at all. I slowly sat up, keeping the sheet over me. I was still in my bra and underwear and I hoped daddy hadn't seen this little scenario.

If he would've saw me like that, Daryl was probably dead at that moment. I smiled to myself and pushed myself up, keeping the sheet over me. I didn't see my clothes anywhere, so I decided I would take some of Maggie's. Hell, she always took my stuff. What did it matter?

I quickly peeped over the ledge to make sure that nobody was down there. When I knew that it was clear, I began tip-toeing down the stairs to get to Maggie's cell. Okay, calm down. Nobody is around to see you.

I made it to Maggie's cell and it didn't take me long to spot her bag. Once I did, I began searching for something to wear. She didn't have much, but she had more than the rest of us. After a while of plundering, I decided on a brown tank top and a pair of jeans. Okay, put it on before somebody comes wandering in here.

Just as I was about to slip the jeans on, I almost screamed with fright. "Elizabeth?" I heard Lori yell. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. My eyes fell on the sheet that was very visible through the doorway. She already knew that I was in here, I knew that much. Then again, it didn't really matter. Lori wasn't going to say anything to anyone. I could trust her more than the others it felt like.

"Um..just a second," I yelled back, wrestling the jeans on. This only caused me to fall over, knocking a stand in the room to the ground. I cursed myself at the sound. I knew it would let Lori know that something was going on in the cell.

"Are you okay in there?" Lori asked, her voice hesitant. "Yeah, I'll be out in a second!"

I quickly slipped the jeans on, buckling them up and then grabbing the tank top. Once I was dressed, I slipped Maggie's boots on. After that, I took a rubbed band off my of hand. I attempted to put my hair in a tight ponytail, but the thickness was fighting me. I fought with that for a few moments before I successfully got it up.

I checked myself once more before heading out of the cell, coming face-to-face with Lori. Her hands were on her stomach, rubbing it. When I saw her, I gave her an innocent smile. I didn't want her to catch on even though I trusted her. I approached her, still keeping the smile on my face. I probably looked like a child that had just broken a vase or something. She doesn't suspect a thing. She doesn't know anything.

"Oh, honey," she quickly said, rushing towards me. I was confused as to why she was doing this. Once she reached me, she quickly look my hair down, distributing is evenly on each side of my body. I was still confused. Maybe I had put it up too messy or something.

"You gotta learn to cover those up," she stated, making sure my neck was covered. My eyes went wide as realization hit me. I have a hickey. How could he give me a hickey?

I stuttered, trying to find the words to explain what had happened. It was obvious that she knew what I had done. I knew that she wouldn't tell, but I was still embarrassed. "No, you don't have to explain it to me," she said with a small laugh. "I already knew somethin' was going on between you two."

Oh, great. She was more observant than the others. Lori began walking towards the doors, leading to the outside. I imagined that's where the others were. They were probably getting some work done or discussing things. "How?" I asked, now curious of her knowledge.

She scoffed at me as we both began looking at the others in the distance. "I see the way he looks at you. Rick used to look at me that way," she trailed off for a moment, her eyes moving to Rick. He was discussing things with the others, not aware of us. "When you got bit, he never left that room. Even at the farm, he was always watchin' over you. He was the one that came back for you out of everyone else."

My eyes drifted to Daryl. Now that we were closer, everyone was aware that we were approaching. My eyes drifted to Daryl who looked over at me after a moment. We kept the gaze as Lori kept speaking. "I've never seen Daryl act this way about someone. He cares about you a lot, Elizabeth. You'd better stick with him."

Lori slowly sat down on the ground, sighing as she did so. I could tell that she was having trouble. Once she was safely on the ground, I sat down next to her. T-Dog walked away from the group, heading towards the prison. I sat there taking in the sun. It felt wonderful to feel it on my skin. It felt wonderful to even be here. The safety of this place was making life that much better.

I looked over at Daryl who was talking to Rick, but keeping his gaze with me. I stared at him and wondered what our future held. Lori was right, I would have to stick with him. Daryl made it clear that he felt something with me. I didn't know if he felt as strongly as I did, but I knew he felt something. I would be there as long as he would have me. I wouldn't leave him. I would fight this world by his side.

I smiled at him, not caring if anyone saw. I knew that my dad had probably caught onto us, but I didn't care. I was in love with him. I wouldn't let anybody take that away from me. I didn't care how hard I got. Little did I know, it was about to get much harder. When I heard T-Dog's voice, I knew that everything was going to come crumbling down.

"Walkers!" T-Dog screamed loudly, trying to warn us all.

I didn't even have time to turn around before I heard the growls approaching us. Daryl's stare changed, it was now desperate and scared.

Everything was about to come crashing down.