Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Fifty-Six: It Fell Apart

"You sure this is where it headed?" Daryl asked as he looked down the road we were on. My eyes moved to where my water bottle sat, crushed. I nodded slowly and began walking down the road. "I'm sure. This is where it was going."

I tried to recall if the car turned on any of the dirt roads near us but I decided that it didn't. I saw it going straight before I was taken by Gareth's men. I was almost positive it never made any turns. Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder as he walked next to me.

"Why didn't you ever come back for me?" I asked as I glanced over at him. I didn't want to bring up the prison, but the air needed to be cleared. We both needed to understand why neither of us ever went back for each other. God knows I never went back for him and I hated myself everyday because of it.

"I don't know," he answered honestly as he kept his eyes on the road ahead of him. "The whole place went to shit and I knew you'd escape."

"And Beth?" I asked as I moved my eyes back to the road. I knew Beth had to have looked for somebody. She had to know that Maggie and I were still alive. She wasn't the strongest person, but she didn't give up on the ones she loved.

"She had hope," he replied, reassuring me. "Did you ever look for me?"

"No," I replied sternly. "I was looking for my sisters."

Daryl nodded, understanding where I was coming from. I had hoped I would find Daryl if I found my sisters, but he wasn't my main concern during that time. My main concern was confirming that my sisters were alive and well. If they were well, then I was well.

"That doesn't matter," I said as I shook my head. "The only thing that matters is that we're all together again."

I saw Daryl reach into his pocket and mess around with something before he pulled it back out with a shake of the head. I could tell something was on his mind but I didn't know what. If he wanted to say something he should've just said it. I ignored what he was doing and looked back to the forest. I got the feeling again that someone was watching us, but I tried to forget it as I felt Daryl's arm pull me in his direction.

Daryl spun me around to face him as I glared up at him with curiosity. I didn't know what he was doing, but I had a pretty good feeling about it. I watched as Daryl dug around in his pocket before pulling a ring out. My heart pretty much flew through the skies as he held it up so I could see it. It was dirty and scratched, but it was still a ring.

"Elizabeth-"

"Yes," I said, cutting him off. I already knew he was uncomfortable with doing this whole love thing. I didn't want him to stutter on his words with a big speech. He didn't have to do that for me. Daryl never once said that he loved me, but I knew he did. That was all there was to it.

"I already consider you my wife," he said as he looked down at the ring. "I ain't good with this stuff, but I just want you to be able to look down at this everytime we're apart."

"We wont be apart again," I whispered as I brought my hand to his face. I rubbed his cheek with a small smile as he looked back up at me. He slowly took my hand off of his cheek and gently slipped the ring on it. Luckily it was my size or something close to it. I smiled at the sight of it and attempted to hold back the tears in my eyes.

"I love you," he whispered.

I stopped breathing during that moment. Though I knew he loved me, it just felt good to hear him say it. I never knew how badly I wanted him to say those words until he finally spoke them. In that moment, nothing mattered but us being together. Everything else was nonexistent as I stared into his eyes. I felt as if it was our first kiss when his lips met mine.

Daryl pulled me close to him and held me for what felt like an eternity. I didn't mind this at all. Feeling his touch reminded me that we were together for once. Even after everything we had been through, we still found our way back to each other. And we always would.
But little did I know, we would be separated much sooner than planned.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'd like to propose a toast," I heard Abraham announce from across the room. I slowly lifted my head off of Daryl's shoulder to see what all of the commotion was about. Everbody began lowering their voices as all of our eyes moved to Abraham.

"When I look around this room, I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title," Abraham began with a small smile. "To the survivors."

I smiled and lifted up my glass along with the others. I felt Daryl slowly slip his hand around my waist as Abraham prepared himself to speak again. "That all you want to be?"

Daryl looked up at Abraham along with Rick and Michonne. Even Judith looked up at him with wonder. I smiled at the sight of her face.

"Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forge for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open? Rinse and repeat?" Abraham moved his eyes around the room, making sure to make eye contact with all of us. "You can do that. You got the strength, you got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender."

I watched as Carol moved her eyes to the door as if she had heard something. I slowly moved my eyes to it too. The terrible feeling began rising inside of me again and I held Daryl's hand tighter than ever before.

"Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip," Abraham said as he glanced over at me. "Eugene, what's in DC?"

All of our eyes moved to Eugene as he shifted uncomfortably. "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

Abraham offered him a small smile before turning his attention back to us. "However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there."
Abraham paused for a moment. "Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one," Abraham said as he looked over at Judith. "Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

I looked over at Daryl for a moment before resting my head back on his shoulder. He leaned his head against mine, assuring me that we would be okay. Judith cooed for a moment and Rick looked down at her. "What was that? I think she knows what I'm about to say."
Tyreese and I both let out a chuckle. "She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

Everyone let out laughter as Rick stood up, handing Judith to Tyreese. I smiled for a moment before looking back at Daryl with a smile.

"What?" he asked as he looked back over to me. We both watched as Carol and Bob exited the church without a word. I was curious, but I tried not to linger on it. I could tell that Daryl wanted to follow Carol so I wouldn't keep him from doing so.

"Go," I said as I planted a small kiss on his shoulder. "I'll go check on Bob. Go follow Carol."

"You sure?" Daryl asked as he continued looking at me. I nodded slowly as I began lifting myself up off of the ground. He stood up with me and I brought my lips to his before leaning up to whisper in his ear. "Meet me at the edge of the woods when you're done."

Daryl scoffed at me as we both began exiting the church. "Are you tryin' to seduce me?"

"Only all the time," I shouted at him as I watched him disappear into the darkness. I smiled at the sight of him before I moved my eyes to Bob standing at a tree, crying. I cocked my head at the sight of him.
"Bob, are you okay?"

I watched Bob slowly move his head to me before fear crossed his face. "Elizabeth! Watch out!"

"What?" I asked as I spun around. I saw Gareth's face coming towards me before I felt something hard hit my head, knocking me out.