*Daryl's POV*
It wasn't long until I got Tana back to camp. You could feel the tension in the air. There was nothing but dead silence in the sunlight washed camp.
Eugene was still sitting on his ass close to where I had knocked him down. Maggie had her baby tucked tight against her side, her eyes trained on Eugene.
Tana was starting to coo softly when I took her out of the sling. Maggie offered me a small smile as I handed Tana to her.
"Hey Daryl. Welcome back. Is she....?"
"She's fine. Barely."
I could feel the anger sparking in my gut again. How could someone do this?
I decided to stop thinking about it before I killed the bastard.
My bow hit against my back as I walked slowly through the moonlit pines. All around me, there was peace. No walker grunting and moaning. No babies crying for milk. No yelling. Not even the sound of a deer walking through the woods.
Times like this were what I missed most about the old world. There were times, even when I was little, that I would come out into the woods to try to find some kind of peace from the craziness of life. It was harder to do that now.
*Sapphire's POV*
Somehow, he had managed to fall asleep in the woods. I stood there, shaking my head and smiling affectionately. He really had no idea how reckless he was. Then again, that was Daryl, wasn't it? He was so used to being this way because he always had been this way.
I felt his arms wrap around me in that instant. Of course, I already knew he was there. You see, in this world, or in his dreams I guess you would say, the sense of smell is extremely heightened.
Daryl smells like the woods. Like trees, like dirt, like mud, and sometimes like deer. But something else lies under that. The smell of the things that make up his personality, or maybe his mood.
He smells sweet underneath his woodland smell. You know the smell you get when you are baking brownies? Or maybe a cake? That's what love smells like.
"You came."
I smiled bigger. "I told you I am always here. Even if you can't see me."
His arms tightened around me. His arms were thick, corded the way they were in the real world. I found myself missing when those arms were wrapped around my bare back, his hands resting just above my bare tailbone. Not to mention the stuff that happened before the cuddling....
I must have sighed. Daryl stiffened and buried his face in my neck. "Sapphire...."
We stood like that for a while before he finally raised his head off of my neck. He turned me around to face him before resting his hands on the tops of my arms and pulling me closer.
"You saw what happened earlier, didn't you? With Eugene, and Tana?"
I winced. "Of course."
"Did you know that was going to happen?"
The truth was that I had. I knew something dire was supposed to happen, or nearly happen, to the tiny infant. But I also knew that it had to come to pass in order for everyone to get to safety.
"Daryl....I knew. But I am not allowed to tell you the events of the future. It would change way too much."
He let go of me, and took a couple of steps back from me. "She could have died. She could have been taken from me, the way you were. And you just let this happen?"
