Part 2 for One Shot Together
"Daryl," You stop him by grasping his bicep as he tries to walk past you. "You can't be serious."
The sun beat down on the both of you as you stood out in the courtyard, the others in the group walking off with King Ezekiel.
"Ain't stayin here." His head lifts and looks at you, showing with his eyes that he is serious.
"Daryl, if you go back out there and Negan or one of his man finds you," You shake your head, unable to say the horrifying things that would happen to him.
"Can't sit round 'ere with my feet up," Daryl tells you and you let go of his arm. Letting it drop down by your side. "You're stayin, I can't."
Daryl begins walking away again but you follow after. King Ezekiel granted both of you asylum, you know you both can't just walk away from it. You both are walking targets to Negan. And this place, the Kingdom, was safe. It was plentiful and a place you could stay in peace just for the time being.
"You'll die, you know that." Your words halt him, and he turns around as you stop walking too. "You go out there, and they find you they'll kill you. No keeping you hostage to torture, no easy street or dog food sandwiches. Just Lucille, bashing your head in."
The words sting as you sat them, the images of Daryl laying dead like Glenn and Abraham makes you nauseous. The thought physically painful.
"That goes for you too," Daryl mumbles. "That's why ye gotta stay."
Daryl walks off again, and he almost expects you to continue going after him. But you don't. He's made up his mind, going and fighting so that you don't have to. And once that man's mind is made up, almost nothing can change it.
You instead walk in the other direction, towards the community garden. It was the thing you fell in love with when you got here, the beauty and freshness blooming in peace.
The weather is warm, there is a soft breeze but it only blows around the hot humid air. You watch as children run around in the late afternoon heat, smiling and laughing as they play. Not fearful of anything to come. You almost envied them, after all the things you saw and endured in the last week or two.
You watched as people chatted with one another while doing chores or walking down the street. It reminded you of the day you arrived at Alexandria. The community felt like nothing changed in the world.
You aren't sure how long you sit there under the white gazebo in the garden, observing the Kingdomers going about their daily routines. But the sky that was once pale and sun shiny blue has been splattered with pink and shades or purple. Like a painting across the wide open sky.
The soft breeze has turned cooler as dusk falls upon the Kingdom and the humidity has gone down. The streets are cleared slightly as people move on to the dinning hall or off to their homes. But heavy footsteps walking up the white wood steps into the shade of the gazebo, makes you head snap to the right.
And there he stands, tall with his hands shoved in his back pockets. You've still been getting used to seeing him in the plain navy shirt and pants, always seeing him in black and leather. But it was a good change, brought out a softer side of him you liked seeing. And you assumed that the lack of leather was better in the heat.
His dark brown hair hangs low over his face and hides away his beautiful blue eyes.
"Gonna stick 'round." He tells you, his voice that low and deep southern grumble. He stared down at his boots as he walks over to you, and the bench you sit on.
Swallowing, you look away from him and down at you hands clasped in your lap.
"Rick told you it was the best play, didn't he?" Daryl's silence is your answer.
"Don't pass his words off as your own to me Daryl." You shake your head and feel him sitting down beside you.
You hear him sigh and he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he looks straight ahead.
"I see ye, everytime I close my eyes. I hear ye screamin and cryin next to me. I feel what they did ta me, but I'm scared by what they did ta ye."
His words, his raw and quiet honesty, get you to look over at him.
"Look," Daryl stays in his leaned over position, but turns his head to the left to look at you. "I don't want ta be here, I want ta be out there gettin ready to fight."
"I do too, you don't think I want to be out there with the rest of them hunting the saviors down. Killing Negan and Dwight, all of them?" I ask, sliding closer to Daryl on the bench.
"But it isn't our time to fight yet, that's why we need to stay here. Stay where it's safe. When it's time to take them out, we'll go."
Daryl shakes his head, looking down at his hands. You can read his silence like a book.
"I know you think you need to protect me, hide me away while you fight like my knight in shining armor." You can't help but smile and Daryl looks at you.
"But you don't need to. I'm strong, and I want to fight. Just like you, I want to fight with you."
Your hand reaches out and clasps Daryl's, squeezing it gently and he leans back in his seat.
"You remeber what I told you, back there in that hellish cell?" You ask him and he nods. A slight sorrowful look in his eyes as he remembers the time you both spent as prisoners.
"We can get through this," You whisper. "But only together."
Daryl squeezes your hand back and makes your heart flutter. "We can fight Negan and the saviors, but only together."
