It was a side of Daryl you had never witnessed before.

The man who lunged forward at the prisoner was filled to the brim with red firery rage. Plain and simple. Everything he had gone through, the pain and the torture and all of the loss, it flowed from him like blood. Hot, thick and with no intent of slowing down.

It shocked you, despite the fact that his reasoning didn't surprise you. He had valid reasons to charge at Dwight the way he did. He was tortured; treated like some kind of animal at the hands of that man. Dwight had taken so many people from him. Whether he was the one to truly kill Abraham and Glenn, it didn't matter. Not to Daryl. He did however, take Denise. And you knew Daryl still hung tightly to that unwarranted death.

Tara urged him to do it, and you couldn't blame her. She was still mourning. But looking at Daryl in that light, you grew fearful. You grew fearful of the fact that you knew Daryl would kill him.

It wasn't your place to stop him, you knew that. You knew he might never look at you the same way after you stopped him, but you were scared you wouldn't be able to look at him the same way after he did do it.

So moving forward past the others, you stood beside Rick who was the only person holding Daryl back. Your hand reached for his shoulder, and the moment you touched him Daryl looked downward at you.

His usually calming blue eyes were anyting but in that moment. They were no longer the steady ocean you remebered them to be. They had become a storming sea, waves of cold blue that threatened to turn black they were so dark.

"Don't do this," You whisper lowly in a voice only Daryl can hear. "Not now. Not here."

You saw the way his anger shifted slightly as outrage and disbelief towards you clouded his mind. He looked at you as though you were insane or had just betrayed him somehow. But you stood there strongly, praying to yourself that he would one day forgive you for stopping him.

The screen door bangs softly behind you as you step out onto the front porch. The night sky sprinkled with tiny stars as you walk out into the moonlight. But the moment you reach the railing, a shadow sitting on the top step draws your eye.

You know who it is far before taking the few steps forward to sit next to him. His presence was enough to give him away; you had grown to know when he was near.

"What are you doing out here so late?" You ask softly, anxiety racing through your veins as you fear saying the wrong thing to him.

"Could ask ye the same thing." Is all he responds with. His head raising not once to look your way.

Sighing, you look down at your hands that lay folded in your lap. It had been days, the longest days of your life it felt like since Daryl last spoke to you or even came near you. He had iced you out, just as you feared. But here he was now, sitting out on the porch of the house you both once shared. And that had to mean something.

"I know you're angry with me. I know it, I can see it. Hell, I can feel it. But what I did Daryl, it was out of love and out of good intention for you. You have to realize that."

"Do I?" Daryl quips and his head snaps up in your direction.

Blue had returned to his eyes, but something was still missing from them.

"Yes. You do." You bite back just quickly as he did.

Being with this man for as long as you have been, you've grown to pick up a thing or two from him. And not backing down from an argument was one of those things. You could fight just as well as he could.

"You may be angry with me Daryl, but I know you still love me. And because of that, you have to try and see it through my eyes."

"He killed Denise." Daryl snarls lowly and fearlessly you reach your hand out. Resting it on his knee gently, you look at him.

"I know."

"Things he's helped Negan do," Daryl shakes his head. And you watch as his long locks blow in the soft breeze.

"I know."

"Things he did to me..." Daryl's voice fades as memories over take him, and he falls silent before he shares a horror about his torture with you. Something he vowed never to do.

"I know." You whisper, squeezing his knee gently.

Daryl's head lifts and his blue eyes find yours in the night. "Do you?"

You nod, not daring to look away from his steady gaze.

"I do. He hurt you Daryl, and when someone hurts you I feel it." You say and you are thankful he's here and listening.

"You don't think I wouldn't love to go in there and bash his brains in like Negan did to Glenn and Abraham? Or stuff him in a cell and make him suffer everything he put you through?"

"It makes me sick that he's here. But he's here for a reason. He wants to help us, and right now Daryl, we can use all the help we can get."

"Even if it's him?"

Daryl's voice is low but you can feel that the anger coarsing through him is slowly calming.

"Even if it's him." You confirm with a stiff nod.

"And when this is all said and done," Swallowing the small lump growing in your throat, you look at Daryl with tears piercing your eyes. "Baby, you do whatever you feel needs to be done. I won't stand in your way."

Daryl's hand gently rests on top of yours, covering it in warmth and protection only Daryl Dixon could give.

"I love you ye know." " He murmurs hesitantly into the night.

And smiling softly, you lean your head against his shoulder. "I know."

                        *  *  *  *

The night had grown cold, the breeze sending a chill down your spine as you walk along the empty street. A lamp lit the street some along with the shining moonlight. But it was still dark as it was barely early morning, and you walked the streets alone. Everyone else was indoors sleeping. You had even gotten Daryl to sleep for the night.

He followed you back inside the house after your heart to heart talk on the front porch. And you laid beside him under the blankets on the bed till his blue eyes fluttered shut and sleep found him. But hours later as you couldn't do the same, you left. Leaving him as quietly as you could, wanting the clearly tired man to get some much needed rest.

The heavy door creaks softly as you pull it open, reaching the destination you were heading for.

Stepping inside as you shut the door behind you, darkness engulfs you instantly. Not a single light fills the space except for a small dim ray from the moon that peeks through the bars. But it's just enough light for you to spot the man you came here to see.

He sits in the corner of the cell, back flat against the wall with his legs bent out in front of him. Only stepping closer can you spot his eyes open and wide awake.

"Can't sleep?" You ask and your voice echoes inside the small suffocating space.

Dwight straightens as he spots you, and you see the shadow of his shoulder lifting into a shrug.

"I'm sure we can get you some music if that would help," You offer sarcastically. "I hear Easy Street lulls you right to sleep."

It was a detail Daryl didn't know he let slip. The song they tormented him with, day in and day out. Every second of every day blasting into his ears. He let that fact slip in his sleep but you held tightly to the small detail. Any detail, no matter how big, allowed you to see a little more into what he had to go through.

"He send you? Daryl?" Dwight asks and just hearing him say Daryl's name makes you cringe.

"No," You say, shaking your head as your arms wrap around yourself slightly. "He doesn't even know I'm here. And I'm sure he wouldn't be thrilled to know that I was."

"Then why are you here?" Dwight inquires and taking a step closer you stare at him for a moment. The moonlight illuminating the burn that takes up every inch of the right side of his face.

"Because I wanted you to know that you failed."

Dwight rests his head back against the wall. "What?"

"You tried to break him. You tried to mess him up, but you didn't. In fact, it backfired on you because he's stronger now. He's got more anger and more fight driving him. You didn't break him."

"If anything, you strengthened him."

Your words bounce off of the cold prison walls and slam right back into Dwight.

"So, this is some kind of twitsted thank you?"

Scoffing, you take the final step closer to him. "Hardly."

"What you did to him--"

"What Negan--" Dwight begins to say but you cut him off straight away.

"No. What you did, didn't break him. The way you tortured him, never caused him to give up. He won't ever give up. The way you treated him, like shit after he helped you and your wife in the woods, it didn't dampen his spirit. It didn't pull the strength or the fight from him."

"He's strong, that man. And you," Shaking your head at Dwight, you reach your hands out and grasp the chilled bars. "You're weak."

"I'm here to help you."

"I know. And secretly, I'm thankful. But what you did to Daryl, to Denise, to all of us, it can't be forgiven."

Releasing the bars, you let out a sigh. "I'm not here thanking you for making him stronger, I'm not here to forgive you for what you did. I'm here to tell you how he is. I'm here to tell you that he survived you and Negan and the saviors. I'm here to tell you that you didn't break him. And I'm also here to tell you, that when all of this is over... You will be too."

Turning on your heel, you head for the door. But stop in your tracks when Dwight speaks up.

"Why not kill me now? I would if someone did what I did to the person I love."

Turning your head to glance back at him, the darkness seems to speak volumes.

"I'd love nothing more than to see you bleed out alone and turn into a monster. Left to roam the Earth for eternity. But it isn't my place. Its his. And I can't take that away from him."

And with a single step forward, you slam the heavy door behind you. Leaving Dwight behind with only your words to fill the empty cell.

Heading back to the one you love, you feel relief in getting what you needed to say off your chest. You wanted Dwight to know that Daryl isn't broken. That he isn't suffering anymore. That his spirit has been left untouched.

You wanted him to know that Daryl was going to kill Negan and the Saviors. And in the end, Dwight too.

A/N: This one shot came as a request from -Anime_For_Life- I hope you liked it! I hope you all enjoyed it because I actually quite like the way it came out!