This Feeling (Daryl x Reader)

    It's been a few days now since all of you have arrived on the farm. You had to admit that you liked the peacefulness. It was as if the dead wasn't out there trying to devour all of you. Then again you knew deep inside that that wasn't true. Walkers were out there and poor Sophia was out there in the woods with them. You didn't want to admit it but you knew how slim the chances were of finding her alive. She was just a little girl and didn't deserve anything that happened to her. The only one who still had faith however was Daryl. Speaking of which...
 
    "Is everything alright between you and Daryl?" Carol asked as the two did laundry.

    "Why would you ask that?" You asked hanging up one of Carl's shirt to dry. 

    "Well the two of you get along pretty well and lately the two of you seem pretty distant." You sighed.

    "I don't know what you're talking about."

    "The two of you were basically stuck together like glue. The two of you were always going hunting together but now whenever you offer to go with him he declines."

    "I don't want to talk about it." You said frowning. 

    "You like him and I know you aren't happy with him pushing you away." She said making you gape.

    "I-I do not like him!" You stopped. "Well... maybe I do. Just don't tell him alright?" You told her. She smiled a small smile before continuing the laundry. You did like the redneck. As much as you tried to bury those feelings they always managed to surface. And now that he's pushing you away and distancing himself you couldn't help but feel pained. You just wished you knew what caused him to do this.

   ~Time Skip~

    Nightfall had come and you laid down inside your tent looking up at nothing in particular. You couldn't sleep. Even if the farm was safe you had become used to a small amount of sleep you usually got. Seeing as you weren't going to go to sleep anytime soon you got up and put on your shoes before leaving your tent making sure to take your gun and knife with you. Your eyes got adjusted to the dark fairly quickly and saw the vast amount of trees circling the farm. As you were looking around you spotted a familiar figure. He must be keeping watch that night. You might as well try to talk to him. The sound of footsteps made the archer turn around swiftly pointing an arrow at you.

    "Woah. Relax it's just me." You said raising your hands up in defense. 

    "What the hell you doing here?" Daryl asked lowering his crossbow. 

    "I couldn't sleep and I saw you keeping watch. I decided to come join you and keep you company." You told him offering a smile. He scoffed.

    "I don't need any damn help. I can handle this on my own."

    "But Daryl-"

    "Look princess I said I don't need your damn help alright? And I as sure hell don't want your company so why don't you go back to your tent and sing yourself a pretty little lullaby and rock yourself to sleep alright?" He told you before resuming his previous position with his back turned to you. Daryl was never like this before. On the contrary he would constantly tease you and flirt with you playfully.

    "Oh. Okay." You said trying your best to hide your hurt. "I guess I'll see you later then." He said nothing and you turned around and started walking away. You took a few steps before turning around to look at him again. "Listen Daryl." He didn't answer but you saw his head tilt to the side indicting he was listening. "I don't know what I did to make you upset or mad, but I want you to know that I'm really sorry." He turned his head away from you once more. You sighed before making your way back to your tent where you barely slept a wink. 

~Time Skip~

    "Damn it there's no ending this!" You exclaimed as you kept firing your gun. You and Hershel were both protecting the house while the others went off trying to kill as many Walkers as they could. Daryl had refused to let you go anywhere near the barn. You would normally argue with him but you didn't want him to get mad at you again. You did what you were told but still remained worried about him. 

    "(Y/n)! Have you seen Carl?" Lori asked you worriedly.

    "No I haven't." You said not bothering to look up continuing to shoot the Walkers approaching. "Isn't he in house?!" 

    "No and I've looked everywhere!" You heard Carol talking to her but Lori wasn't budging. 

    "Lori I'll go look for Carl alright?" You told her. 

    "But (Y/n) you can't!" Carol pleaded.

    "I'll be fine. I'll meet up with Glenn and Maggie if I find Carl and Rick I'll go with them. Just get off the farm quickly!" You told them before you started running towards the direction of the burning barn firing your gun as you did. You kept calling Carl's name but you doubted that through the gunshots and everything he would hear you. You were running out of ammo and fast. You checked behind the barn and saw the RV there with walkers coming out with fresh blood. "Oh god no." You said thinking the worse. You were to late. Through the windows you saw Walkers in every inch of the RV. The Walkers nearby noticed you and started rushing toward you. You fired and soon you saw the vehicles start leaving the farm. "Hey wait!" You called waving your hands trying to get their attention. However your efforts were in vain as they left not noticing you. The Walkers drew closer and started to surround you. You lifted your gun and pulled the trigger however nothing happened. You gritted your teeth. "Damn it!" You saw a red car pass by and you were able to make out Carl inside with Hershel and Rick. They were alive! "Carl! Rick! Hershel!" You called. Carl hearing you opened the window and looked at you eyes wide. 

    "(Y/n)!" You let out a yell as you felt a walker tackle you onto the ground. "(Y/N)!" The young boy yelled as they drove further away from the farm and further away from you.

*****

    Andrea. Patricia. Jimmy. They were gone. The group was reunited but so far two were dead and ones status unknown. There was another person missing from the group as well. 

    "Where's (Y/n)?" Daryl asked trying to hide his fear. Rick looked at him and shook his head. 

    "She was surrounded and attacked before we could do anything." 

    "I'm going back." Daryl said getting on his bike again.

    "No." Rick said sternly. 

    "I'm going to go find her and bring her back. We just can't leave her and Andrea there."

    "They aren't there Daryl. They're either at some other place or they're probably dead." Daryl walked away aggravated no one daring to follow him. Once he was a good distance away he punched the hood of a nearby car. He didn't care how much noise he was making or if his knuckles were bleeding. You were dead. You were attacked and weren't able to make your way out of the farm. 

    "Why the hell did I push you away?!" He exclaimed remembering that night you tried keeping watch with him. "How the hell could I be so fucking stupid?!" Another punch. "I thought that by pushing away I would... damn it!" He fell onto the floor and placed his hands on either side of his head tears finally making their way down their cheeks. He sat there sobbing for a few more minutes thinking how much he wanted to take back everything he's done to you for the past couple of days.

*****
    
    As everyone sat around the fire near the highway quietly discussing Rick's leadership the sound of leaves rustling was heard.

    "What's that?" Beth asked as everyone stood up pulling their weapons out.

    "It's coming from the direction we came." Maggie said. The leaves rusted some more. They heard groaning and everyone prepared for the worse. The noise got closer and a figure made it's way through the trees limping. Daryl eyed the person. Their (h/c) hair was disheveled, their clothes ripped and bloody. Daryl's body froze.

    "No." He said to himself hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. The person lifted their head making everyone gasp. Your (e/c) eyes were of the dead your skin pale with blood smeared across it. You snarled at them and slowly headed toward them. Rick raised his gun. "No don't shoot!" Daryl said grabbing Rick's wrist.

    "She's one of them Daryl. She's a danger to the group!"

    "You can't shoot her!"

    "Daryl look at her she's not (Y/n) anymore." Daryl stopped and looked at you. He was right, you weren't (Y/n) anymore. Just like Sophia he wasn't able to save you. 

    "Let me do it." Rick looked at him cautiously before lowering his gun. Daryl took an arrow but left the crossbow. He walked toward you as you snarled and reached your hand out in an attempt to grab your next meal. Tears filled Daryl's eyes as he tackled you onto the ground. You hissed and tried grabbing his face to bite but Daryl pinned you trying hard to fight off the tears. His eyes met with yours and the both you stared intently at each other before you let out another snarl. "I'm sorry." He said before plunging the arrow deep through your skull. 

*****
    
    Daryl gasped as he woke up. He quickly sat up and looked around his surroundings panting heavily. He was in a tent. Your tent to be exact. He looked to his side and sighed in relief. There you were beside him sleeping. You were alive.

~Flashback~

    "It's coming from the direction we came." Maggie said. The leaves rusted some more. They heard groaning and everyone prepared for the worse. The noise got closer and a figure made it's way through the trees limping. Daryl eyed the person. Their (h/c) hair was disheveled, their clothes ripped and bloody. Daryl's body froze. 

    "No." He said to himself hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. The person lifted their head making everyone gasp. Your (e/c) eyes looked tired you panted heavily and when you saw them you smiled tiredly.

    "I-I had a feeling you'd come back this way." You said before you started losing consciousness. Seeing this Daryl quickly rushed toward you and caught before you hit the ground just as you passed out. He moved strands of your (h/c) hair away from your face and stroked your cheek. You were alive. You actually made it out of the farm. 

    "Is she bit?" Rick asked walking toward where you and Daryl were.

    "I don't see any bites." Daryl said looking for any visible wounds. "I don't see any scratches either. Blood must be from the Walkers. Son of a bitches messed with the wrong girl." Daryl picked you up bridal style and sat down beside the fire so you wouldn't get cold. He remembered entering the church while looking for Sophia with the others and asked J.C if he was taking requests. His request of finding Sophia alive wasn't answered but it seems his request of being able to be with you again was answered. You were in his arms and you safe. 

~End of Flashback~

    "Damn girl knows how to scare the shit out of me." He muttered as he watched you sleep.

    "Mmm who?" You mumbled making Daryl's eyes widen. He saw your eyes flutter open before yawning. You looked up and saw a pair of worried eyes looking down at you. 

    "Damn it princess, you. You scared the hell out of me. I thought I lost you." Daryl told you as he helped you sit up so he hug you tight. You were shocked and didn't know what to do but after a while you brought your arms up and wrapped them around him. "How the hell did you escape? Rick said you were surrounded by walkers."  He asked as you pulled apart.

    "I had my knife in my pocket and used that to get rid of the walker on top of me. I saw a branch nearby and put the end of it in the fire before throwing it at the rest around me. It wasn't much but it bought me time. I ran and I figured you'll head somewhere from the highway and headed in that direction. I had to fight a few walkers along the way but I eventually made it back to all of you. I lost my gun though." Daryl nodded as he processed the information you had just told him. You sighed. Now that that was out of the way you had to ask. It was killing you to know. "A-Are you still mad at me?" Daryl looked at you truly surprised. 

    "You were almost killed by walkers and you worrying about if I'm mad at you?" Daryl asked slightly amused at your logic. You nodded making him chuckle and shake his head. After laughing for a bit he sighed. "I was never really mad at you." 

    "Then why... why did you treat me the way you did?" You asked. 

    "It's because whenever I was around you I would feel... strange. It wasn't a bad kind of strange it was a good kind of strange." He explained seeing as you had raised an eyebrow at his first sentence. "Whenever I was with you I felt this strange feeling in my heart. I didn't know what it was but when Glenn told me it was love well I didn't know how to react."

    "Wait Glenn knows y-you love me?!" You asked blushing. 

    "Hush I'm talking now princess." He said placing a finger on your lips. You glared at him playfully but he simply chuckled before continuing. "I didn't grow up in a love filled environment so I guess the thought scared me. I stayed my distance from you because I wasn't sure on how to deal with these feelings just yet, but when I thought you were dead..." You saw him flinch. "And when I thought you had become a walker I regretted keeping my distance and pushing you away. All I wanted was to tell you that I love you." You stared at him. "I love you (Y/n)." You smiled and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around you burying his face in the crook of your neck. The two of you then looked at each other before kissing each other passionately. You twirled your fingers around his locks of hair as he gently rubbed circles on your back. After a couple of minutes the two of you parted leaning your foreheads against each other. 

    "Don't ever distance yourself from me again." 

    "I won't."

    "And Daryl?"

    "Hmm?"

    "I love you too." He smiled and pecked your lips once more. There were bound to be obstacles in the future but by having each other you both had a reason to fight and to live and that was thanks to this little feeling called love.