All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 27

 I woke up to the sun shining through the window. I blinked, disoriented as I recalled last night's events. Daryl and I had kissed. He hadn't rejected me. And as I took in his figure beside me, one arm draped over my stomach, I remembered that he had stayed the night.

I looked at the clock and realized it was almost lunch. I couldn't believe I had slept so long. I hoped that Siddiq not coming to wake me up meant that nothing else had gone wrong in the night.

I felt movement as Daryl started to wake up.

"Mornin'," he said in a groggy voice.

I tried to bite my smile. "Morning."

"What time is it?" he asked as he slid his hand off my stomach and rolled over, sitting up in bed. 

"Almost lunch," I said.

He looked at me in disbelief.

I laughed. "You never sleep in, do you?"

He shook his head.

"I need to go to the town hall," I said as I started to sit up. Thinking about the illness that was spreading in Alexandria made me think of something.

"Uh, Daryl?"

"Mmhmm?" he murmured, his eyes closed as he leaned against the headboard. I didn't say anything for a moment as I studied him. His face was so peaceful. He had on a shirt with the sleeves torn off, allowing me a nice view of his strong arms. When I didn't say anything, he popped his eyes open and looked at me, catching me staring.

My cheeks felt warm. "I think you should isolate yourself from everyone else for a little bit..." I winced, feeling bad I put him in this situation.

He drew his eyebrows together, not following.

"Well, um. I could have the illness," I explained. "Which means I could have passed it to you because we, um..." I trailed off, my face going red. Why was I so nervous around him?

Daryl smirked. "I'll go huntin' in the woods for a couple days," he said.

"You sure?"

He bit his lip and nodded.

"Okay, thanks. But only for a couple days. And come back if you start to get any symptoms" I said as I threw the covers off me and got out of bed. I gasped as I realized I didn't have a shirt on, never having put one back on after Daryl had taken it off last night. I was so tired I had forgotten.

I still had a bra on, but I felt exposed. I covered my chest as I heard Daryl chuckle. I saw my shirt on the ground and bent down to pick it up, putting it on over my head quickly.

I turned back around to see him trying to cover up a smile.

"I'm going to go downstairs for, um, breakfast," I said embarrassed.

I turned and left the room, going downstairs into the kitchen. I looked through my food supply, and decided to make some oatmeal. I had just finished making it when Daryl came into the kitchen.

I concentrated on putting the oatmeal into two bowls so I seemed busy and didn't have to look at Daryl.

"Hey, um, sorry about last night," I said, remembering how out of it I was when I got back here after Florence had died. "I was really tired and wasn't dealing well with everything that had happened," I said.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Daryl said as he sat down at the island.

"But thanks. For listening," I said as I put a bowl of oatmeal in front of him and then leaned against the counter, eating mine.