Please hold my hand || Daryl Dixon

𝟏𝟓.

Rick, Lori and Carl would be taking the master bedroom, Carol would be taking one of the smaller bedrooms, Hershel and Beth would be taking the room with two twin beds and Nina, Daryl and Daphne would be taking the last upstairs room.

Glenn and Maggie were taking the only basement bedroom and T-Dog was taking the pullout couch.

Obviously Nina did not get to choose her roommate, that was Rick, Glenn and T-Dog.

Just because Nina and Daryl weren't on the best terms doesn't mean Nina was going to be a dick or anything, or act cold, she was going to treat him like any other person.

Daryl drops his sleeping bag on the floor from behind Nina, the mother setting up the bed. Nina rolls her eyes at the sound. "You're not sleeping on the floor." Daryl looks up, just now noticing she was fluffing both of the pillows.

"I'm not letting you." She pauses in her actions, looking down at her hands.

Daphne's soft breaths are the only sound in the quiet room. The baby girl was sleeping in the crib they dragged in from one of the rooms.

"But you're not sleeping in the bed with your day clothes. There's clean clothes in the bathroom." Nina found some boxer shorts and a black tank top in one of the drawers when she was looking for pajamas. It was a pet peeve of hers, people in their nasty clothing on a bed- especially one she's in.

She was not about to let him sleep in the same bed as her in those dirty ass clothes that's covered in god only knows what.

When Daryl gets back from the washroom Nina is sitting up in the bed while reading a book, the candle on the nightstand gives her just enough light to see the words on the pages. Dixon climbs in and lies on his side, his back facing her as he closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

After a few more minutes Nina closes the book after memorizing her page number and blows out the candle, leaving the moon to illuminate the cozy room. Her back faces his.

Barely a moment later Daphne's silent cries make them both snap up thinking the worst. They rush to the crib, she must've had some sort of baby nightmare, it was hard to forget the faces that snapped at you for a taste.

Nina picks her up swaying side to side and whispering soothing words to her daughter. When she calms down Nina and Daryl sit on the bed, resting their backs on the backboard. 

The two adults coo at her, both of them holding one of the baby's hands. Daphne claps her closed fists, making their hands touch. Daphne stares at the two, nothing but adoration in her eyes as she looks at her parents.

Nina's free hand slips into Daryl's, intertwining their fingers and he gives her hand a squeeze. They lay down again, this time facing each other with a now sleeping Daphne in between them but their hands never break apart.

Nina smiles at him in the dark, the moon allowing him to see her face as she closes her eyes with a happy grin. He falls asleep soon after her, sleeping peacefully for the first time in a long time knowing his family was safe.

Waking up Nina found the bed empty making her quickly sit up, her heart clenching in worry for her daughter and Daryl as a spike of panic jolted in her chest.

Said man walks in with a changed Daphne arm, still in the clothes he slept in.

"Sorry. Didn't wanna wake ya up, did we?" He bounced Daphne, brushing her growing curls out of her face and getting a gleeful giggle in return.

Nina can't stop the safe feeling that always entraps her when it's just the three of them, it's hard to hold a grudge when he walks in like this. She gets out of the bed and makes her side before walking up to them. "Was she fussy?" She asks, smiling down at her baby.