Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

53

"Daryl, I'm going, you're not gonna stop me. I can take care of myself. It's been long enough since I gave birth, Maggie looked me over, said it was okay." I argued with Daryl as I changed Faith.

Daryl sighed. "Look at her." He pointed to Faith. "She's the reason you should stay here, with me, so I know you're safe."

I finished putting Faith's diaper on and turned to Daryl, putting my hands on my hips. "You were never like this at the prison, even when I first got pregnant. Daryl, what's really going on with you?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "That was before I lost you. Before I thought you and Faith were...dead." His voice cracked and his lip quivered. "I can't...I can't lose you again. Please, stay here. Just this once, at least."

I sighed and wrapped my arms around Daryl's neck. He put his hands on my hips, letting his head lay on my chest. "I'll stay, baby. I'll stay. From now on, I need you to tell me when you're upset. Even though I know that's hard for you to do. Okay?"

He lifted his head and nodded.

"Lottie, you coming?" Rick called from the front door.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good. I'm gonna spend some time with Daryl."

~*~

3rd Person

It wasn't until later that day that Daryl realized how much Charlotte truly meant to him. Everyone was outside and Charlotte pulled him inside the church and into one of the rooms. It might seem wrong to others, but making love in a church seemed so intimate to Charlotte, although she would never admit that to Daryl. It wasn't until she was wrapped around him in every way possible, gasping and moaning underneath him while her fingers gently traced the scars on his back.

It was in that moment, that quiet, tender moment between the two of them that he realized that he didn't just love Charlotte. He was in love with her. This woman who had managed to break down the walls he had built so strongly around himself. He whispers it in her ear. "I'm in love with you, Charlie." He was embarrassed as soon as he said it, and his immediate thought was that Charlie would laugh at him.

Instead, she smiled against his skin, pressing herself impossibly closer to him. She felt tears prick her eyes, knowing how hard it was for him to say something like that. "I'm in love with you too." They finished together, gasping and moaning. Then they laid there in each other's arms, small smiles on their faces. Making love in a church seemed so intimate to Daryl, but he wouldn't admit that to Charlotte. Not for a long time.

~*~

That night, we ate almost as good as we had at the prison. Daryl and I chuckled as Faith tried eating applesauce, some of it spilling out of her mouth. That was her first attempt at eating real food and barely got any in her mouth, so I opted to breastfeed her instead, which she was more than happy with. "I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham announced, a glass of wine in his hand. "I look around this room...and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors!"

We all raised our glasses. "Survivors!" We cheered, taking swigs of our drinks.

"Is that all you want to be?" He continued. "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip."

I smiled as Faith reached for Daryl and he took her, a small smile on his face as she rest her head on his chest, closing her eyes. "Eugene, what's in DC?" Abraham asked Eugene.

He looked around, clearing his throat. "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for those little ones. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there...who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

We all looked to Rick. It was up to him. He looked around at us all, smiling. He looked at Judith, who was cooing quietly. "What was that?" He asked her. We all chuckled. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

I smiled, resting my head on Daryl's shoulder. Luke rest his head on my lap. Everyone started cheering and clapping. It quieted down after that and everyone started their own conversations. "Take her, I'm gonna go do a sweep, take care of any walkers outside." Daryl kissed me and handed Faith to me, grabbing his crossbow and heading out the door.

I smiled as Glenn came over, sitting in Daryl's spot. "You really changed him." Glenn smiled.

I cocked my head. "What do you mean?"

Glenn raised his brow. "In the beginning, Daryl only cared about Daryl. Now, we're a family."

I shook my head. "It wasn't all me, I mean, even if I never saw you in that alley, he would probably end up caring just as much."

Glenn scoffed. "You underestimate yourself. You played the biggest part. You kept him under control early on, he started caring about Luke like he was his own, you had a baby together, you got married. Without you, he would definitely not be the same person."

I smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Glenn chuckled, leaning back. "You know, Carl heard the two of you today, here in the church."

I felt my face heat up. "What? How?"

"Carol said she sent him to find you guys for something and he came back outside with his face red as a tomato. Said he heard moaning so he didn't interrupt." Glenn started laughing and I buried my face in my hands.

"Oh god..." I groaned. "He's never gonna look at me the same."

Glenn pat me on the shoulder. "Quite scandalous, having sex in a church. At least he didn't walk in on you."