Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

Soft Spots

It's been a little less than two weeks since Asher was saved by the Dixon brothers and left that nightmare house behind. Now she was holed up with them in another house miles from Montgomery, just outside of Atlanta if she read the rusted old sign correctly. She lay curled up in a corner of the roughed up living room as far from windows or doors she could get.

That's what Daryl always told her to do anyway.

The male was currently sitting a few feet away, his crossbow held at loose attention in case a walker catch their scent through the walls. She fought to stay awake, her eyelids fluttering against her glazed orbs. She had to stay awake, she couldn't fall asleep and be the reason that they get stuck in a hard spot.

"You can sleep, sweetheart, we won't leave you behind." She slid her eyes over to look at Merle as he spoke. Asher took comfort in his words and let her eyes close and sleep claw into her mind. Daryl made sure to keep an eye on the sleeping girl, she hardly slept and most of the time she was plagued by nightmares of her past.

"Little shit ain't slept in a week, surprised she hasn't dropped dead." Daryl lightly laughed as he glanced back to see her dead to the world. She shivered against the sudden breeze and curled in closer to herself for better heat. Daryl slid off his leather vest and draped the material over her thin body. Asher soaked up his body warmth and tugged the vest closer to herself.

"Must be the nightmares doin' a number on her." Merle nodded and leaned over to peek out a boarded up window to see if any walkers were nearby.

"Ain't nothin we can do about that, baby brother. But you took her in, so she's your responsibility." Daryl nodded and bit his lip as he worked to find a way to make her feel better. People weren't his strong suit- ask him to track a mouse to Timbuktu or identify the feeding habits of a coyote then he could with no problem- but when it comes to other humans besides Merle he was at a total loss. His limited skills were put to the test when Asher started to whimper in her sleep and seep small shiny tears.

"Asher? Hey, you gotta wake up. Asher." He reaches back and shook her shoulder, the girl jolting awake with a small yelp of terror. Without thinking, he grabbed her shoulder to try and comfort her, but his sudden grip only served to terrify her more. She shrank away with soft whimpers and the vest over her head for protection.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't hurt me." Daryl lowly grumbled under his breath and turned to focus on the terrified teen.

"Hey, ain't nobody gonna hurt ya. I'm sorry I scared ya I didn't mean to. Come on, sweetheart, breathe for me. Breathe for me, baby girl." Asher forced herself to match the man's breathing and try to calm herself down from her panic attack. It took a bit for her to return to a calm state of mind, and even longer for her embarrassment to subside enough for her to poke back out from under the vest.

"I'm sorry to bother you guys." The two brothers softly smirked at her meek apology.

"Can I come close?" Asher nodded to Daryl and focused on her fingernails as he slid across the wood slowly. Once he was closer he leaned down to catch her shy gaze. "We ain't mad, Asher. We don't expect you to be okay within the week from something like that. So you take all the time you need, sweetheart, we ain't gonna get mad or leave you behind. I made a promise to you, and a Dixon ain't ever gone back on their word." Asher softly smiled and nodded before whispering a soft thanks. Daryl smirked back and softly skimmed his index finger down the bridge of her nose.

"No problem, sweetheart. Best get some more sleep while you can." He leaned back against the wall and kept his gaze wide over the girl until she drifted off again.

"You've taken quite the shine to her, baby brother." Daryl rolled his eyes and glared across the small shack living room at his smirking older brother.

"Jealous?" Merle chuckled at him and his small smirk pulled wider.

"Of what? That you like little girls in piggy tails?" Daryl pointed an arrow at him angrily and his features marred with rage.

"You shut the fuck up, it ain't like that you sick bastard. She needs our help, jerk-off." Merle could only laugh more as he shook his head at his little brother. That little girl has already sniffled her way into his heart, he could tell already he had quite the soft spot for her. He didn't blame him, she was growing on him too- despite what he liked to believe about himself being a cold hearted killer who didn't need or like anyone but Daryl Dixon.

"Whatever you say, baby brother. But we gotta be leavin soon, we sittin ducks right here for them walkers and you know it." Daryl nodded and peeked out a window to check the surroundings.

"Give her a few hours, she needs it." The elder Dixon nodded and announced that since they weren't going anywhere anytime soon then he was gonna go hunting for some rabbit or squirrel. Daryl absentmindedly acknowledged his brother and sat in vigilant silence as he closed the door behind him. He quickly glanced over to check on Asher and ensure she didn't have anymore nightmares.

The frail girl was happily curled up underneath his vest, her thin fingers gripping tight to the hems like they were going to slip away if she didn't hold tightly. He noticed that she would also at random times pull the leather up towards her nose and take a deep breath of his scent.

"I can't imagine that smelling any good." He lightly laughed at his own jest, but left her to her sleep and sniffing. It seemed to make her happy and secure so he didn't mind. Daryl gingerly reaches over and run his calloused fingers through her long blonde hair.

"But we all have our own little soft spots."