The Reunion •Daryl Dixon• •Book Two•

Ten

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"We fight too much" Daryl sighed as he joined Olivia on the porch, she was sitting with her knees tightly to her chest, mascara stained on her cheek "i know" she replied in a whisper. He wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled into him, behind them in the trailer was a trashed home, plates smashed everywhere, pillows on the floor and photo frames in shatters in various places. It was a horrible fight they had, their worst, both hate filled and angry. Enough was enough.

"What are you thinking?" He asked and after a pause she answered "we got married too young" she was right, they had, it was all too much and too soon. "It wasnt as easy as we thought" he replied with sadness. "Everything went wrong" he added.

"Bills just came in too fast, we were always working opposite hours and I dont know, things just spiralled I guess" Olivia softly sighed "you thought I was sleeping with Jeff" she snapped, she didnt mean to, the words flew out of her mouth like word vomit. "Oh bullshit!" He snapped standing to his feet "you were being a closed book with him what was I supposed to think!" He yelled in response, his voice echoing across the trailer park "because I couldnt afford to lose my job!" She yelled back not caring a few curtains were twitching as they caught the attention of nosey neighbours "so you stayed with that pig just to pay bills?!" He spoke with a broken voice storming inside, she followed him "I thought he was a friend at first, until it was too late" she cried in response.

Daryl watched his wife tear up in front of him and he joined her "I just lost it when you came home that night crying for me. I had to protect you Liv and i'm sorry if it scared you but i had to do something, men like him just grab and take" he apologetically spoke "I thought I could handle it" she sighed, he opened his arms for her to come closer to him and she almost knocked him from his feet in doing so.

"Even if he was never in our lives we would still be fighting" she admitted and Daryl didnt push her away to deny it, he too knew they would of fought regardless of her ex boss trying his luck. His work for one stressed him out, but Daryl never had enough money to hire someone else to help take the load off. No honeymoon, no time away from the small place they called home, no date nights and no college for Olivia, it was like a catalyst after catalyst in their downfall.

Silently the pair began tidying the mess they had created, neither one saying a word just shuffling past one another to tend to different parts of the lounge. "Do you think some time apart will do us good? I read it in a magazine once at school and they say it helps" Olivia suggested which Daryl quickly shut down "we are always apart" out of ideas and tired of fighting they both stopped what they were doing and looked to one another again "I say I hate you more than I say I love you" she shrugged, "do you mean it?" he asked with his hands in his pockets "no. I don't know. sometimes" she replied uselessly. "Liv, ive been thinking this for the last few day now, we fight too much" he began but she sharply cut him off "I know but" this time he interrupted her, he had an urgency to get it out and it was never going to be a good time for it "I think we should get a divorce" he almost whispered. Olivia felt her heart drop. "But I can see it in your eyes everyday that you feel it too. I know you Liv, I know what you are thinking."

Everything around her became a blur, she zoned in on Daryl's saddened expression and went over the words he just spoke and without blinking grabbed her keys from the floor where she had previously thrown them at him in a rage and walked out slamming the trailer door behind them.

Had he just said that awful word? did he even mean it? was it such a bad idea? All of these questions spun round her mind a million miles an hour she didn't even feel Daryl gently tugging at her arm to sit down on the porch as he passed her a drink. Her mouth was dry, she didn't know what to say or even where to start so she asked the first random thing that popped into her mind. "Is there someone else? Is she nicer than me? Does she make you happy?" she jabbered almost shaking with nerves, Daryl quickly put an arm around her to calm her down "no there is no one else silly" he tried to lighten the mood but it didn't seem to work. "Liv, we are making eachother miserable right now, we have fought 70% of this marriage so far and being a couple years in it isn't a good thing sweetheart" he explained "I just keep thinking we will make up and it will go to how it used to be" Olivia replied wiping more tears from her face. "me too" he whispered.

"I don't want you to go off into the bedroom and cry yourself to sleep every night while I'm out here on the couch or working to avoid you, and vice versa, its not normal" he went on "I don't wish we never got married though" she spoke looking up to his eyeline, he rubbed her arms supportively "best thing I ever did was marry you" he said cuddling into her. "I still love you" she whispered before breaking down into sobs in his lap, he stroked her hair and placed a kiss on the top of head "I love you too" he replied. "It just wasn't meant to be" they seemed to both say together.

And that was that, the next day they started the proceedings for their divorce, with nothing worth value between them they were granted a relatively quick divorce and they went their separate ways, it was hard at first considering their circle of friends was one they shared between them but it was even harder seeing eachother on a group outing. So they both stopped showing up to avoid the pain of seeing one another.

On the final day of the divorce signing Olivia hoped to see Daryl to give him a letter she penned thanking him for the time they shared together but he never showed. Still, she couldn't part with tearing it up or throwing it in the trash so she placed it in a box she kept in the back of her closet which contained stuff from the 'happy' days of their marriage. They may be divorced but she would never divorce the memories.

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