Sequel to Fight, Love, Live
**Complete**
Riley Dixon has had an... interesting nine months to say the least. She killed her zombified ex, found her supposed-to-be comatose brother, made some new best friends, found the love of her life, and had a ba...
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I nudged the door open, trying to be quiet as I threw down the rabbit and four squirrels I was able to catch, and I leaned my crossbow up against the counter, so it was close while I cleaned up the meat for breakfast. It wasn't until I stopped moving that I heard the crying coming from the living room.
It took all of two seconds for that sound to register in my head before I was sprinting to the couch, trying to figure out what was wrong, and who had died. I was surprised at what I found. Dale was nowhere to be seen, and Riley was hunched over crying her eyes out, while she pulled her hair so hard I wouldn't be surprised if clumps of hair came out when she finally let go.
"Riley? Baby, what's wrong?" I asked frantically, kneeling down in front of her and trying to gently untangle her hands from her hair without pulling out anymore than she already had. But she didn't even look at me. Her eyes were screwed shut so tight that it had to be painful, and she was sobbing, so loudly. I had never heard anything like that come from her. It made my heart ache in my chest.
"Riley? Riley look at me. Please, look at me." I begged, squeezing her hands in my own. It took another long moment before she finally opened her bleary confused eyes, and when they met mine, I watched her crumple even more.
"You're here. You didn't... you're here." She whimpered, throwing herself at me as another round of sobs started to rip through her chest, and I couldn't have been more confused.
"What? Of course I'm here darling. What happened? Where's Dale?" I asked nervously, wrapping my arms around her as she let herself dissolve into a puddle in my lap on the floor in front of the couch, her tears drenching the shoulder of my new flannel, but I couldn't find it in myself to car, I just didn't understand what was happening right now, and who I needed to murder.
"We thought... we thought you left. You... you were gone!" She cried, her arms tightening around me as she forced her words out past her sobs and I suddenly understood. I needed to murder myself. Of course I shouldn't have slipped out. I should have told her I was leaving to get some food. Why would I think that she wouldn't think I left? Maybe before, before everything she would have known I'd never leave her, but now, after everything I had done and everything that had happened... I could probably never just slip away again.
"I'm so sorry love. I just went to get breakfast, I should have told you. I'm so sorry. I'm never leaving. I promise. I'll never leave you again. I'm so sorry." I murmured into her hair, holding her as tight as I could without hurting her, and I rocked her, trying to calm her down. This wasn't good, she couldn't keep crying like this or she'd make herself sick, and we hadn't eaten enough the past few days for her to throw up. She needed to calm down.
"I'm so sorry I scared you love, but I need you to calm down. You're going to make yourself sick. Please, take some deep breaths. I'm here. I'm not going to leave again. Please calm down." I whispered, and I couldn't help but to relax as the sobs started to lessen, and her grip loosened, and eventually, even the tears stopped.
When she stopped crying, she rested there for a long time, just sitting in my lap, holding me close, but when she pulled away, I could see the anger and the desperation in her eyes and I knew I was about to get my hide chewed out.
"You can't do that to me again. You can't leave me again! Or Dale! God he's so upset, we need to go get him, tell him you're back. For fuck's sake! Daryl Dixon, I swear to God, if you leave I'll kill you. I can't..." She stopped, sucking in a shuddery breath, and I moved my hands from her waist, and gripped her head in my hands, forcing her to look at me for the second time in twelve hours.
"I swear I will never leave you. I love you, and I am so sorry that I left without telling you. I'm an idiot, and it'll never happen again. I love you okay? I can't be without you, not again. So no, I'll never leave." I said quietly, gazing into those emerald green eyes that I had fell in love with, that had become a little more sad since I had met her, but are still just as beautiful.
"I love you too. You stupid idiot." She grumbled, slapping my arm softly, and I chuckled, releasing her face so she could get up if she wanted to. What I wasn't expecting was for her to lean forward and kiss me. It was soft, and I was afraid to move, afraid to scare her away, like a bunny or a deer, but she didn't move, just softly pressed her lips to mine, and when she pulled away she looked like she was somewhere between fear and bliss.
"I love you too. Now, come help me find Dale. He was very upset that you had left." She mumbled, tears springing to her eyes again, but before any could fall she sucked whatever had happened back in, and practically leaped up to her feet, pulling me behind her. She led me up the stairs in the search of our son, and I couldn't help but think that I was the luckiest man alive to have this woman love me, even after everything that had happened, she still loved me.
A/N: Yay, I for one am super jazzed that they're back together! Okay, so everything is going good with them now, and I just want to let you all know that for the rest of the book they're going to be together. No more splitting them up or big dramas with them, they're going to be a pretty happy couple! I just wanted to let you all know because I know that some stories (like mine in the past, sorry) can make you really tense when you read them because you're worried about your OTP, but I promise, they're going to stick together from now on. Not to say they won't fight or have any sucky things happen to them, just that they're going to do everything together from now on :)
