𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
chapter fifty-three; Still With Her
" You said you wouldn't leave again, so don't. "

THE GROUP HAD been walking for miles before they approached a small pileup of cars on the road. A brief oasis in the sweltering heat.

  "I'm gonna head out in the woods. Circle back."

"I'll come with."

"Nah--"

"I wasn't asking."

Daryl looked at Vex momentarily, before turning and starting for the forest. She followed without another word.

There were hardly any signs of life at all. No squirrels, no footprints, no animal tracks. Not a damn thing in the dried-out dirt of Virginia.

Daryl slowed when he spotted a deer carcass. He inspected it, and the human remains at the base of a tree nearby, before standing again.

"Nothin'."

"Seems like all we can find lately."

Daryl grunted, starting his pace again.

Vex debated saying anything at all. She doubted he would be open to it after three weeks of silence, his distance from everyone.

It stung. Perhaps that's why it was so hard to face. Because facing it meant admitting that it hurt Vex because she cared about him. Facing it meant admitting her worry had tied knots in her stomach, and chased the idea of sleep away many nights.

"Zep misses you."

Daryl's pace slowed at her soft admission. He glanced out of the corner of his eye, but her gaze was trained on the forest around them. Anywhere but him.

"She'll be alright."

It was the weakest attempt to brush off the weight of the real conversation. The unsaid things that the statement carried. The reality of him already being in too deep.

"I miss you, too."

Daryl wished he wouldn't have frozen at that. He wished it didn't impact him the way it did. And when he looked at her, he wished she wasn't already staring at him.

Being vulnerable had never been his forte, and dealing with people who pushed emotional conversations and connections shook every emotion and thought up in his head until nothing made sense.

And Vex had always pushed the envelope. She had meant something to him before he knew those possibilities were even inside of him.

"If you. . . if you need space, tell me, but. . . Zep doesn't get it. She's sad and scared and tired and. . ." Vex let out a long, shaky breath, "I'm worried about you because I care about you. You said you wouldn't leave again, so don't."

He didn't know what to say, but it was okay because Daryl didn't have any idea if he was even able to talk. Not with her looking up at him the way she was; like he was something worth missing. Something worth being worried about. Like she had felt his absence, not just noticed it.

His face betrayed him, those emotions clear in the downturn of his lips and the slight knitting of his brows. Daryl nodded shortly; she didn't want anything from him. She didn't want him to be better or different or stronger or emotional. She wasn't going to force him to talk about Beth or how he was feeling about it.

Vex only wanted to know he was still there. He was still with her.

"I'm with you."

Her jaw tensed, every muscle tensing in a weak attempt to keep her emotions down at his quiet rough words.

But they were in the woods, alone, where neither of them had to mask any of it. So Vex took a single step forward and threw her arms around his neck and held him in protest. As if her embrace would mend it all and keep him there.

And Daryl hesitated, but after a moment, brought his hands to her waist. They were light, hesitantly resting on her. It only took another second for his hands to slide across her back, palms spread on either side of her ribcage, wrapping her up in his arms.

And he held her back. Resting his chin on top of her head as she buried her face in his chest.

They stood like that for a while. Alone, enclosed in the canopy of trees, only the sound of cicadas soundtracking the seconds that stretched into minutes.

"We should head back," Vex whispered.

"Mhm."

Vex closed her eyes, soaking up the feeling for just another moment. Just another second, another minute.

And then she let go. And so did he. And they went back to the road without sharing another word, but their arms brushed together with every step because Vex was walking closer to him than she had in a long time and Daryl let her.

Partially because he liked Vex Williams being that close. Because something about her made his mind a little quieter. Like he didn't have to be anything to exist around her; he just had to be there. Because Vex Williams, to this day, was the only person to ever come looking for him when he was lost. Because they had lived parallel lives and she understood him without words.

The other reason Daryl Dixon let Vex invade his space with each step, was because of a conversation he'd had with Beth Greene on the porch of a hunting shack.

Because Beth Greene had told him plain and simple while drunk on moonshine that he loved Vex Williams and Vex Williams loved him, but they were both too scared to do anything about it. Because Daryl had scoffed and brushed her off and Beth had only laughed and urged it further.

Because Beth had told him love was real, she had known it, and he shouldn't let it slip away. That if he ignored it because he was too scared to own it, one day he'd realize she had been right, but it might be too late.

Daryl was starting to think Beth Greene was a little too wise for her age. Or perhaps teenage girls had secret wells of knowledge that only a very few people listened to.

🗡

Nothing had been found save for a bottle of alcohol Abraham was now nursing. They sat at the edge of the road, needing even a moment of reprieve, when five dogs emerged from the woods, barking at the group.

It took seconds for Sasha to put them down one by one. Only a few more seconds to start preparing a fire.

They ate in silence. Some trying not to think about what they were eating. Others were so hungry it didn't seem to bother them at all.

They walked again the following day. Hope was a strange thing. It waxed and waned, swapped between members for different things in different ways.

Daryl began to depart from the group toward the forest but felt the watchful eye of Vex Williams. She was staring— not in anger or suffocating worry— just watching. Her eyebrows pinched just barely, showing enough concern that Daryl knew it was there.

He gave her a soft nod, one that eased Vex's worry just slightly, before taking off into the woods.

By the time he returned, the group had stumbled upon a cluster of water in the middle of the road with a note attached reading 'From a friend'.

Daryl accepted the paper from Rick, glancing around the area quickly.

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked.

"Not this," Rick said, "We don't know who left it."

"If that's a trap we already happen to be in it," Eugene said, eyes glued to the water, "But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."

"What if it isn't?" Carol said. "They put something in it?"

But Eugene lurched forward, grabbing one of the bottles and unscrewing the cap despite protests. And just as the water almost touched his lips, Abraham slapped the bottle from his hands.

"We can't."

Daryl joined Vex's side after a moment, and the woman let out a breath as if this eased all her worries.

She looked at the man, catching clear trails of tears through the thin layer of dirt on his face. Vex gave him a sad sort of smile, the one where she knew it was all she could offer, before checking him over for injuries.

Daryl attempted to hide his hand but Vex spotted it quicker than he could think.

He was ready for her to chastise him for it. Ready for her to go on about how it wouldn't help and it was a stupid thing to do.

But all Vex did was grab the hand with a fresh cigarette burn, making sure her fingers did not brush over it, and hold it.

Daryl's lips parted— he didn't know what to say but he felt like he had to speak. To say something.

"I'm with you."

Her voice was barely a whisper. Clear words only meant for his ears.

"I know."

"Okay."

And she kept on holding his hand like it was a normal thing.

They stood in tense silence for a moment. But it was broken by the faraway rumble of thunder.

And then all at once the sky opened up and poured down on them.

Zeppelin grinned instantly, tilting her head toward the sky and opening her mouth. Carl mirrored her actions, laughing and nudging her in excitement.

But then the thunder came quicker, the skies darkened, the rain grew heavier.

"Let's keep moving!"

"There's a barn."

"Where?"

Daryl led them to a small faraway barn. A portion of the group entered to sweep it, and it was minutes before it was announced safe for the rest to enter.