Lottie

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

Lottie approached the tent cautiously, she didn't want to anger or upset Daryl.

"Daryl?" Lottie whispered as she stepped inside the tent looking at him sat, head in his hands on his bed.

"What?" He sniffed, wiping his face and turning away from her.

"Oh my goodness," Lottie said zipping the tent up behind her, "Are you crying?"

"No." He snapped.

"Daryl look at me." Lottie said sitting opposite him, on her bed.

He turned slowly, his face red and his eyes puffy and wet. He sniffed again.

"It's hay-fever." He said, dismissing her.

"It's October." She said, correcting him.

He sighed "I want you to tell me the truth, and nothing but the truth." He said looking straight into her blue eyes.

Lottie nodded nervously, "Always." she said.

"Why did you make me go up the ladder first?" He repeated from in the car.

Daryl tried his best to keep his deep, scratchy voice from shaking. She looked at her feet, the tent was cold and the anxiety wasn't helping with the shivers.

"I um, I just, I couldn't have coped seeing something happen to you, ever." Lottie admitted.

"Why?" Daryl replied bluntly.

"I care about you." Lottie whispered.

"Like you care about the others huh?" He questioned.

"No, different to the others."

Daryl fell silent again and looked away in thought. He sighed deeply as the tent swayed slightly in the cool breeze.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "If I had missed that arrow, if you had-" He choked up.

"But you didn't miss that arrow, I didn't even get a scratch on me." She smiled trying to reassure him.

"And that walker, the walker that had your ankle, if you'd fallen you'd have, you'd have been gone!" he looked at the floor.

Lottie sighed. "Daryl," She said, sitting next to him on his bed, "Without you, I'd be dead."

He looked at her dead in the eyes, "Not true."

"It is."

"Its not"

"You convinced the group to come and find me, you carried me up to the house when I was unconscious, you pulled Shane away from me in the barn. Today you shot an arrow perfectly and saved my life again." Lottie's eyes started to well up and her voice wobbled. "You didn't even know me for the first two times, no ones ever been that kind to me, not even before the world ended."

Daryl looked away again, he was trying to find fault in himself, trying to find reason for Lottie being attacked. It was no one's fault but he just wanted to take the blame so no one else had to. Both on the verge of tears as the voices from the others grew fainter and the wind picked up a little more.

"You think you failed in protecting me, you did the exact opposite Daryl. I trust you, more than anyone I've ever trusted before. Literally with my life." She said as if begging him to see it.

After a moments silence, Lottie stood to walk back to her side of the tent, she thought he just wouldn't listen to her. However, as she did, Daryl stood too and pulled her into a hug like he had done in the street. This time though, it was warmer, it was less panicked and they weren't in danger of dying. His shoulder-length, brown hair hiding his face. Lottie's long, blonde hair hiding hers.

"I don't wanna lose you." He whispered.

"You won't, I'm not going anywhere." She whispered back. "Just talk to me, you don't talk enough."

For that night, they pushed the folding camp-beds together. They lay a bit apart but still facing each other. Daryl was quiet, Lottie was a little jumpy with the noises surrounding them but he comforted her with his small smiles. The canvas of the tent flapped against the poles as lights from the other tents slowly went out, one by one.

They were too tired to talk, so they both decided on an earlier night. Slipping into their bed clothes and climbing into their sleeping bags.

Lottie was lost in thought over Daryl. Even though his face was sunken slightly, his stubbly beard was dirty and his hair a little greasy, all from today's run, she felt at home the most there, inside that little tent next to him.

Lottie smiled, snuggling down into her sleeping bag. She drifted in and out of sleep, Daryl eventually dozed off too.

She became even more feeezing-cold and turned over, facing away from Daryl, looking into the darkness on the other side of the mesh window. Lying there shivering and she tried to avoid waking him up. She thought she may have gotten away with it until she heard a sleepy voice from behind her.

"Are you cold?" He asked sleepily. 

"A little." She lied, shivering like crazy.

A muscly arm silently reached around her side and hugged her tightly, pulling her closer to his own chest and after a couple of minutes, the shivering stopped. They lay peacefully. Lottie felt safe inside of Daryl's arms and they both finally drifted off back to sleep.