Unattainable (A Daryl Dixon love story)

14

That night, Pepper was hesitant about going to dinner, but Daryl kept reassuring her that nobody is upset with her. As they neared everyone in the central part of the prison, Pepper stopped. “What is it?” he questioned.

“What if they want to talk about it? I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not-“

“Relax, they know not to say anything” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder and then quickly removed it, then continued after seeing the worry in her eyes “It’s an unwritten contract; we don’t talk about unpleasant things at dinner.”

His mind jumped to that afternoon, when he had snuck off while Pepper was napping to tell the others to not talk about the incident.

  He remembered going up to Rick with the words “Do you think we can just drop what happened today and just not bring it up in front of Pepper, and by we I mean everyone.”

“I believe I can make that happen, but hey, where is she? Hershel said you were with her” Rick said. “She’s sleeping” Daryl said, breaking his eye contact with Rick. “Oh, alright. Tell her I said hi” Rick said smiling, calling to Daryl who was walking away, sneaking back into Pepper’s bed before she woke up from her nap.

His mind was now back to the present, now focused on her.

She nodded and they continued walking. They were walking so close together that their arms and hands would occasionally brush each other, but neither of them bothered to move. Everyone had just sat down with their bowls of mystery meat and quickly quieted down a little when the pair entered.

After grabbing a bowl they both decided to sit alone with each other. Daryl looked to her then to their usual table with Rick and the rest and then back to her. “Shut up” she playfully said understanding exactly what he meant. “You can’t ignore them forever” Daryl said, staring into his half empty bowl.”Look who’s talking” she said, giving him a nagging look.

Before Daryl could counter, Carl had sat down next to Pepper. “Hey little man! How was your day?” she asked, hugging him tightly. “It was good. I missed you though. Tricia and Tyler are fighting so I had nobody to hang out with” he told her.

She felt almost guilty. Besides Daryl, Carl and the twins were like her only other real-ish friends there. “I’m sorry Carl, but I’ll tell you what; If your mom says it’s okay we can spend the whole day together tomorrow.”

“Come ask with me” Carl said, pulling her with him over to Lori.

“But, uh, Daryl?” she said as she was being pulled away, waiting for him to help. “Have fun” was all he said along with a slight smile.

Within seconds they were at Lori’s table. She looked at everyone at the table; Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and Carol. “Hey mom, can I spend the day with Pepper? We’re going to do cool things without the twins” Carl said, still grabbing Pepper’s wrist.

“Oh really? What are you two going to do?” Lori asked, looking up at Pepper. “I found some chalk the other day. I was thinking we could redecorate a few places here and there then try to get some reading done, then maybe try to get the twins to talk to each other again” she said, looking solely at Lori, avoiding everyone else’s stare.

“Of course, sounds great” Lori said smiling. “Thank you!” Carl said hugging his mother then running off to another table. “You know you two can come back to the table anytime you like, right?” Rick said smiling at her. “Thank you, I miss our talks, but you know that one over there” She laughed, referring to Daryl, causing the table to chuckle.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that… are you two… you know?” Maggie said with raised eyebrows. Pepper felt her face instantly redden. “We’re just friends” she choked out, not even knowing if that was an accurate description of their relationship, or even if they had any kind of relationship. She looked off at Daryl, who was staring at nothing, then back to the table. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll come over” she said waving and walking back to Daryl.

“How was it?” he asked immediately upon her arrival. “I have a date tomorrow” she said smiling.

Seeing her smile after two straight hours of hearing her cry made Daryl’s stomach turn.  He hated that she had this effect on him.

After dinner Daryl walked Pepper to her cell. He stopped, causing her to stop, in front of her doorway. “Do you want me to stay with you tonight?” he asked bluntly. She was surprised, especially since both times they had shared her bed it was her that asked.

“I wouldn’t mind it” she finally answered.

They both took their time getting ready for bed. Pepper only took off her shoes and jacket, leaving her in her jeans and black tank top, while Daryl only took off his vest. Pepper took her spot on the left side and Daryl squeezed in on the right after blowing out the lamp.

The two were stuffed under the cover tightly, slightly touching each other. “Daryl…” Pepper’s voice sounded so small compared to her usual commanding voice. “Yeah?” he grunted. “How do you usually sleep? On your back? On your side?” she asked, causing his eyes to open.

“It depends” he said drowsily. “Well how do you want to sleep tonight?” “Like this.” He was facing the left, laying on his right side, facing her. “Is it okay if I do the same?” she asked. “Pepper, I don’t care what you do, just go to sleep.” He was a little annoyed but couldn’t help but smile at the way she was acting. Her questions and voice made her sound like a child.

He felt her turn over. Her butt was now on his lower torso, all that could be heard was slightly heavy breathing.

The truth was he hated sleeping alone. He hated every lonesome night. He wanted to grab her and never let go, so badly he just wanted to reach out and actually feel someone there.

He slung an arm over her mid section and the other under her making them meet in the middle to pull her closer to him. He knew what he was doing, he knew how wrong it was, but he didn’t care. He finally felt a huge weight float off of him as he fell into a deep sleep along with Pepper.