Never Have I Ever Fallen in Love

Chapter 5

"I love ya." Daryl said to me.

I lowered the bottle of water I saw drinking from my lips and looked over at him from where I sat, leaning against a tree. He was fishing in the river in front of me and I looked at him silently. He had said it so quietly; so casually that I thought he didn't even say anything at first. Must of been talking to that damn crossbow of his again. He had loved that thing since Merle had bought it him for his 11th birthday.

We'd been 'dating', you could say, for almost 2 years now and he had never said the word love to me.

"I love yer, Scout." he repeated and I sat there for a minute, contemplating on whether to shout it back, gleefully, after he had finally spoken the 3 words I wanted to hear the most or to just say it quietly like him. Cool, calm and collected.

I chose the latter.

"I...." 

"Did I hear that right? A fucking Dixon said love?" a hard voice came from behind me. After a minute of silence, the voice carried on talking after a man in dirty, torn clothes walked forward. He had a short buzz cut, huge hiking boots on and a stance that suggested that he wasn't in the mood to be messed about. Merle fucking Dixon.

"Well, ain't this cozy?" he looked towards Daryl "What, you her bitch now? Fucking catching and cooking her damn dinner? Learn that that's the woman's job. That, and fucking you whenever you want."

"Screw you, asshole." Daryl replied, not even looking up him. He just carried on staring at the trees several metres away from the bank of the river and didn't move. Just stared.

"Hey, sweetheart. Go give him a good time. He's seems...tense." he looked over towards me and chuckled then smirked, showing the row of yellow teeth. I quickly looked away and started studying the label on my water bottle. 

100% pure aqua from the mountains of Georgia. Contains: water. No shit.

"Don't fucking talk to her." Daryl growled. He was still sat on the river bank, still staring ahead but his shoulders were now tense and I could tell he was holding back.

"Or what? Damn, this fucking bitch changed you. You've turned into a right fucking pussy, boy. Jesus fucking Christ, I..." before he could finish his sentence, Daryl had leaped up from his seat and attacked him. They both sprawled across the ground, Daryl on top of Merle in a threatening manner.

"Don't talk about her like that." Daryl growled lowly at him. 

"Hell, even yer clothes are clean." he laughed a mocking laugh in Daryl's face. Daryl threw several quick, hard punches at him and it must have been a surprise as he suddenly shut up. Blood slowly started trickling from his nose and his eyes had turned dark.

"You're gonna regret that boy." A black eye was already forming on his face and he flipped them both over, got up, grabbed Daryl by the scruff of the neck and dragged him towards the river, ignoring the punches Daryl was throwing at his back.

"I better fucking teach you some respect then. Since this good for nothing bitch can't even do that right."

"LEAVE!" I heard Daryl shout before his head was shoved under the water. Merle had put his whole weight on his brother's back and Daryl started thrashing around madly.

"MERLE!" I screamed, jumping up from my place on the ground and launching myself at him. His rock hard body was no match for mine and I fell on the ground where Daryl's arrows laid. One of them pierced my cheek and I screamed in pain. I couldn't muster up the energy to get back up but Daryl's thrashing had got a lot more slower than before. Damn it, his own brother was gonna drown him.

"Get the fucking hell outta here, bitch!" Merle snarled and I scrambled up.

"You bastard!" I then proceeded to kick him in between his legs. He groaned, released Daryl then dropped to the ground. A bag half full of white powder fell out of his pocket and I rolled my eyes at him. He was high. How fucking predictable.

Daryl then wasted no time in climbing out the river, gasping for breath and walking as if he was drunk, grabbing his crossbow and arrows, grabbing my hand and running. 

Running...

Running...

Running...

"SCOUT! SCOUT!" someone that sounded far away was shouting my name, over and over again.

"SCOUT!" my eyes snapped open and I sat up, sweating. My throat was raw from, what I presume, screaming. 

I was still lying on the outskirts of the woods only now, it looked like the middle of the night.

"You're going to get yourself killed! C'mon!" Maggie helped me up then wrapped a patchwork blanket around me. "Damn. You're loud! I could hear you from the...barn." I shrugged and couldn't help but let tears form in my eyes. Daryl Dixon had almost died that day and I had promised to always keep him close ever since. 

To bad that doesn't go two ways.