Daryl Dixon knew something was wrong the moment he arrived at the gates to Alexandria.

For they opened with ease and precision as the people behind them rushed to get them open quickly for his return.

The sun had begun to set along the horizon behind him, and the last of the sunlight shown across the pavement in warm rays of gold. And the sunlight hit the feet of all those waiting for Daryl as the gates closed behind him.

Rick stepped forward, his face ashen as he approached the redneck hesitantly. The others stood behind him, silent and still as they waited for Daryl to hear the news.

"Daryl," Rick begins with a sigh, and Daryl tensed at his tone.

"How bad is she?"

Rick doesn't even need to say her name. He doesn't need to tell him she's been hurt, Daryl already knows. For he feels it... Like a punch to the gut. The part of himself that Daryl had given to her suddenly feels less somehow, and with that growing ache he knows without question or validation from Rick that something is wrong.

Daryl tightens his grip on his crossbow that is slung over his shoulder, as he waits for the answer. His knuckles turning white from the pressure and his feet shift his weight back and forth as he waits uncomfortably.

Rick's eyes lift to meet Daryl's awaiting blues, and with a shake of his head, he responds. "It's bad."

And that's all Rick can say before Daryl takes off down the street. His heavy footsteps carrying him further away from the group gathered and closer to the house she had begun to call home. And as his heart begins to beat with a rhythm that threatens to destroy him, he can only hope he isn't too late.

* * * *

Darkness surrounds you. Only a dim candle lit sits on the bedside dresser, it's flame flickering. Thin lines of orange illuminate the walls around you in the bedroom that once held such light. But the darkness is all you can handle right now, the light hurting your eyes as weakness takes over your body.

A loud thud sounds from the floor below, and listening to the stomps of footsteps on the steps, you close your eyes. Daryl... He was home.

And with a rush of air, the bedroom door bursts opens. The pale wood door almost hitting the wall he swings it open so harshly. The light from the hallway pools into the room as your eyes open to see Daryl standing in the doorway.

He doesn't have his crossbow with him; a rarity these days. But you suspect the weapon lays tossed somewhere on the couch downstairs as he stormed into the house and up the staircase. His hair is sweaty and strands stick to his skin, but its nothing new. And nothing that you haven't learned to love about his appreance. But the fear, clear as day in his eyes, that is something that shakes you about his sudden presence.

Squinting at Daryl as the pale light of the hallway grows too harsh, he soon picks up on your struggle. For his back turns and you hear the clasp of the door. Darkness engulfing the both of you in a tense hold as candlelight bathes over the redneck and the bed you lay in.

Daryl doesn't move once he turns around to face you again, his blue eyes still bright in the shadows. He stands there, his feet planted in the hardwood floors as his eyes burn holes up and down your body.

Swallowing a lump that had grown in your throat, you speak up and make the first move in the silence. "I hate that you had to come home to me looking like this."

You lay beneath layers of blankets as you shake with chills, yet your flesh burns with sweat from the climbing fever. Pillows lift you into a sitting position so that you are still able to rest back comfortably.

Daryl timidly takes a step across the floorboards that creak under his boots. And he doesn't stop until he reaches your bedside.

"Show it to me."

His voice is quiet; barely able to be heard even in the near empty room. And all expression is drained from his words.

"Daryl--"

"I need to see it." Daryl insists as you try to deter him from the sight. But sighing, you realize you should know better when it comes to Daryl Dixon.

Slowly, your hands find the edge of the covers and you pull them downward. Inch by inch, you reveal to him the inflamed and infected flesh you hide beneath the blankets.

You watch Daryl intently as he scans his eyes over your wound, and a single silent tears rolls down your face.

"I went out," You whisper to him, and his eyes flicker upward to meet your gaze. "I went out after you told me not to."

Daryl never wanted you in harms way when he was on a run, and keeping you within the walls was all he could do to have a small ounce of assurance that you were safe. And as much as you followed his wish when he was away, this time you failed to follow through.

"I thought I would be alright. I was, until it came out of nowhere. I tried to fight Daryl," You confess to him, your voice barely louder than a timid whisper. "I swear to you I did everything you taught me."

Resting your head back against the pillow, you shut your eyes as the memory of that moment over takes your mind. The rotten mangled flesh, the snapping of it's snarling teeth, and the pain. Oh how you remember the pain.

Opening your eyes, you look to Daryl who hasn't taken his eyes off of you this entire time. "I'm sor--"

"Shh," Daryl shakes his head as his hand finds yours within the tangle of sheets. And grasping your petite hand gently yet firmly, he calms you down in only the way he can. "Ain't nothin ye did wrong."

Daryl uses his hand not holding your own to pull the blankets back up to cover you in warmth, and he takes a seat on the edge of the mattress. The bed dipping from his weight.

Swallowing deeply, you speak up. "I'm glad we get to say goodbye."

It's then that Daryl's head snaps up and his blue eyes look straight at you. "Don't say that."

"I was afraid that you wouldn't be home in time. But now, I wonder if it would've been better if you weren't here for this."

Daryl shakes his head at you, and his eyes look at you as though you've lost your mind. "Stop--"

"You saw it Daryl. You saw the bite with your own two eyes, you know there's only one way out of this."

He knew. You knew that he knew, because he had asked to see it. Daryl had to know you couldn't be fixed as you laid here in bed instead of in the infirmary with an amputated arm or leg instead. And you watch as the emotion that had drained from his face the second he stepped inside the room, slowly returns.

Pulling on his bottom lip slightly with his teeth, Daryl's head turns and hangs low. And by turning his face away from you, he takes away any insight you had into his mind and his thoughts.

"Can you do something for me?" You ask him, trying to keep your voice as steady as you can.

Preparing yourself to ask him the unaskable.

Daryl's head lifts slowly, his blue eyes finding yours.

"Can you give me your gun?"

As soon as the words leave your lips, it feels as though someone drained all air from the room. Leaving you both suffocating in the empty void.

Daryl scoffs softly under his breath, and the mattress lifts as he stands straight up. His back facing you as he walks towards the wall across from him.

"Daryl--"

"How can ye just give up like this?" Daryl snaps as he hits the wall with his hand.

"Because I got to tell you goodbye."

Daryl whirls around, and his eyes stare straight into you. He looks angry and overwhelmed with so many emotions in this single moment, but somehow you stay calm regardless. His anger and punch to the wall not deterring you from telling him the truth.

"I hobbled home with a wound in my side, the infection already overtaking my body. I knew the moment I felt the teeth sink in, this was it."

Swallowing a deep breath, you continue as Daryl listens to your shakey words. "I wanted to ask Rick when he greeted me at the gates. I wanted to ask him for his gun so I could go off and do it away from everyone. But I couldn't do it Daryl, not then. Because you weren't home yet. Because I couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you."

Daryl rakes a hand through his sweaty messy tangles and he turns as he can no longer look to you.

"As much as it pains me to have you look at me this way Daryl, I didn't want you to wonder. I didn't want you to go out searching for my body. I had to be here when you returned. I had to see you one last time. I had to tell you I was sorry for not listening to you. I had to tell you I was sorry for having to leave you." You cry softly to him, but as you listen to the quiet room you realize it's not just you crying anymore.

"I needed the chance to tell you I love you Daryl Dixon. One last time."

Daryl shakes his head as you hear the soft cries escaping him, and his hand digs in his back pocket. Pulling swiftly out his small hand gun, and he holds it in his hands as they shake slightly.

"And I've gotten to do that Daryl. That's why I'm done now, because I can do it knowing I got to see your face one last time."

Daryl chokes on a sob and the sound is worse than anything you had ever heard before.

"I can do it," He tells you suddenly, and his words are muddled by the sound of his tears. "Let me do it."

"Daryl--"

"I can... I can do it." Daryl says as he shakes his head harder as if in an effort to stop his tears.

"It has to be me."

Daryl holds tightly to the gun in his hands but his eyes still don't meet your gaze. 

"No Daryl," You whisper. "This time it has to be anyone but you."

Daryl's eyes look up then, and the tears that coat his eyes make the blue look bolder than ever before. A deep blue sea caught behind shimmering clear glass.

"You're always the first one to step up. You're always the one saving everyone else while carrying all the weight of the loss." You express to him softly. "I know you're going to carry this Daryl, I know you are. But I don't want you to have to carry around the weight of being the one who pulled the trigger."

"Please. Let me do this... For myself. And for you."

"Let me save myself so that you don't have to."

Daryl stares at you speechless as he watches you without a single blink of his eye. But soon the gaze you share is torn away as he looks down at his hands that hold his gun shakily.

Time seems to slow as he stares blankly at his gun and you at him. And you can almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he contemplates everything you said to him moments ago. But just as it slowed suddenly, time resumes as his blue eyes raise once more to look at you.

And slowly, his feet carry him across the wooden floorboards. Until he stands right beside you, his blue eyes looking down at your shadowed face in the dim light of the candle, as he passes to you his gun.

Your hand reaches out to take it from him, but before taking the weapon, you wrap his warm calloused hand in your own two soft awaiting ones.

"Thank you," You whisper to Daryl as he doesn't dare look away from you.

"I love you Daryl." You whisper to him; your voice incapable of becoming any louder than a soft hushed tone. For tears threaten to spill as you can feel them growing in your throat. But as best as you can, you smile softly at the redneck who looks to you--even now-- with nothing but love reflecting back in his stunning blue eyes.

You feel as you release your hold on his hand, the way he slowly begins to let go of the gun. Sliding the weapon from his firm harsh grasp into your own. The handle still hot from where his hand held onto it.

You watch as Daryl swallows deeply before he takes one last step closer to you. And bending down, his lips gently brush against the clammy skin of your forehead. The feeling of his lips kissing you softly on the forehead makes your eyes flutter shut. Relishing in the feel of this moment for as long as you can have it.

This was what love felt like... and you had found it against all odds. Everything the world threw at the two of you, only brought you closer together. It was something everyone looked for in life, and you had found it in Daryl without even trying.

Your eyes open slowly just as Daryl's lips begin to pull away from your burning skin, and looking up, you meet his gaze. Like a ray of sun breaking through the clouds, his eyes look down upon you. Spreading a warmth across your skin.

His right hand reaches down and takes hold of your left hand that is empty, and brings it up to his lips. Kissing it tenderly before setting it back down gently on the pile of covers. His fingers giving your flesh one last squeeze before his footsteps are heard against the creaking floorboards. Backing up slowly as he turns for the door with tears flooding his blue eyes.

And you watch, in the dim light of the now depressing bedroom, his hand pausing on the doorknob. His broad back is facing you as he stands with his head hung low, before he swirls around on his heel and you spot the tears cascading silently down his tanned face. Streaking the beautiful sun kissed skin of his cheek.

Daryl blinks several times as strands of his damp brown hair falls into his line of vision. But with a glance down at his feet, he looks back up at you. His eyes meeting your gaze instantly.

"I'm sorry." He cries out softly, his voice breaking in the dense silence of the room. And his words mixed with the raw emotion in his voice threatens to be your undoing.

His eyes drop as does his voice, "I'm sorry." He repeats it as he looks away from you, his tears flowing freely as his shoulders shakes softly.

"Its not your fault." You tell him.

"I'm sorry I can't save you from this." Daryl cries in a tearful admission.

"Daryl," You whisper into the darkness, your words almost becoming lost. "You can't save everyone. It's not possible. But I don't blame you, and I don't expect you to save me."

Daryl looks up at you. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked for your gun."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." He whispers.

"I'm not." You tell him right away. "I don't want that kind of image to replay in your mind when I'm gone. I want this, you and me, to be all that you see when I'm gone."

Daryl's eyes look like a river overflowing, the blue so vivid it looks impossibly blue.

"Letting me do this myself, you're saving me right there. Daryl," You pause as tears threaten to choke you. "I don't regret a thing with you and I can only hope that you don't regret a thing either once I'm gone."

Daryl shakes his head. "I don't."

His words make you smile softly, and for a short second his easy admission makes you forget about the pain ravaging your body.

"I love you Daryl Dixon. Thank you. For everything."

* * * *

Daryl stepped outside onto the front porch, the door shutting behind him softly as he looked to the sky that had turned to night long ago.

The sun that had graced the street was now long gone. Replaced by the blanket of deep blue with stars sprinkled within the darkness.

Silence surrounds him as he stands with his eyes shut tightly, his head tilted back slightly as he allows the chilled night air to blow across his warm and tear stained face.

It feels as though someone turned the volume of the world completely down, as though nothing had a sound anymore. For it was utterly silent in a way Daryl had never experienced before. Not even his heartbeat could be heard and he knew it was beating wildly inside of his chest. It hadn't slowed since the second he stepped foot inside those gates.

But just as Daryl begins to fade into the dark silence, a loud thundering shot rings out and his blue eyes snap open. He knows what it is before any other sound can flood his ears, he can feel it inside of himself. The part of her he carried around with him every moment of every day, was gone. A death rings throughout his bones and the sensation shakes Daryl to his very core.

She did it. She saved herself.

Tears roll down his cheeks as his eyes let the teardrops fall freely. Not stopping the cascade that burns his skin like acid. Sobs escape past his trembling lips, but he doesn't try to control them. He allows them to fall from his lips. One after another till he can't identify one cry from another.

Daryl feels his body sway gently as his legs give out beneath him. His body crashing down onto the wooden porch. His knees bent as he covers his face with his hands. Tears coating his palms in hot steam.

It feels as though the bullet didn't stop with her... but instead went straight through him as well.

Gasping for air, Daryl Dixon looks upward at the dark indigo sky above him as he cries out his breath. And as his vision blurs with burning tears and his body shakes with a frightening rhythm, he spots the bright twinkle of a single star above him. And within that single star, he finds a deep breath. One he couldn't find on his own.

Daryl knelt speechless with a rush of air in his lungs, and he couldn't help but feel the presence of something greater. As though the heavens themselves had opened up in front of him and shed a light down upon him.

He couldn't move... but Daryl could finally breathe again. And he knew it was her doing. Something only she could bring to him, peace in a moment he could never feel peaceful. And as Daryl's eyes look up towards the dark sky hung above him, he whispers a single phrase into the silence.

"I love you."

A/N: Wow. 😭I think this is the saddest one shot I've ever written... and that's saying a lot! I hope that you all enjoyed it even as your hearts broke. I'm so super proud of this one shot, as much as it pained me to write.💔😭