Day 700 something post apocalypse continued...

I'm not sure what to do or say. Daryl the guy who broke my heart is standing in front of me. Never in a million years did I think I'd see him ever again. Of course I thought about him many times over the years, hoping maybe he'd show up one day, but I'd lost hope long ago. Even after the world went to shit I still had moments where I'd see someone that looked like him and my heart would stutter. I knew in my heart that he was a survivor, because he's Daryl and I knew from the beginning how strong this man was and seeing him today proves that. He may be strong, but he looks lost and so damn damaged, worse than before. He's changed a lot, hell we all have in this crazy world. I bite my lip and look up at him. His eyes go to my face where I have a huge slice on my cheek. The blood has dried, but it still hurts like a bitch. Stupid me crawled under a fence and cut myself.

I can feel a knot forming in my throat, and I'm sure the initial shock of seeing him has worn off, and now I'm becoming emotional. I put away these emotions for so long and now after everything here he is. After Daryl left me I was messed up for a long time. He came in and out of my life so fast I never got a chance to really enjoy our time together. Now here he is several years and an apocalypse later standing in front of me.

"Liam?" he asks.

Let the waterworks roll. My eyes over flow with tears at the mention of Liam. He died when the outbreak first started, I lost him in a crowd and it was over. I never did get him back after they took him, but once he was eighteen we reunited and it was the best year of my life before everything went to shit. I watched him die right in front of me, and I've felt guilty ever since. I can never get the image out of my head and it's caused me some of the worst nightmares of my life.

Daryl steps forward and engulfs me in his arms. I wrap my arms around his lower back because he's so much taller than me, and sob into his chest. The woman he's with says something and he grunts at her. I've missed that grunt of his. I hear her walk away and when she does he takes my face in his hands and adjusts me so that he can look at me. We stand like that for a few seconds, his eyes pool with water.

I don't know how to feel right now, I want to feel relieved that he's here, but I also want to be angry. Angry at him for leaving me. I get that he did it to save me, and that family always comes first not matter how much of a dick they are, but it still hurt. There were days that I didn't even get out of bed. For all that hurt I pull back and start hitting his hard chest, it's something he's used to from me. He looks down at me as tears fall down his dirty cheeks. I keep punching him and he doesn't even flinch.

"I hate you Daryl Dixon. I hate you!" I yell in a whisper.

I've wanted to say those words to him for so long, and now that I am it feels so good. He grabs a hold of my arms trying to calm me down.

"No, you don't get to stop me Daryl. You fucked me up," I admit.

"You think you didn't fuck me up? I was perfectly happy before I met you!" he replies.

"How did I fuck you up? You didn't even care to contact me in some way. You just flat out left me huddled in a corner while you ran," I yell.

It was a really messed up situation with his brother and just thinking about it makes me upset. I feel sick to my stomach plus I haven't eaten in two days. I've had maybe two sips of water, I used whatever was left in my canteen.

"I did it to keep you safe. Did you want them to arrest me too? Because they would have." he yells.

"Of course not Daryl, but it would have been nice to have gotten a phone call, to let me know that you were okay. Or just to let me know that you were thinking about me," I say getting in his face.

"You think I didn't think about you?" he leans down.

"Well I don't know, but if you did there were ways you could have contacted me. I get why you did it, but fuck that hurt," I tell him.

"I was hurting too Chloe. I'd never felt like that for anyone, but it was for the best," he says.

"That's bullshit!" I yell covering my mouth.

I feel bile rising in my throat and try to push it back down. Daryl notices, I'm sure all the blood as drained from my face. I turn so that I don't throw up on him. Barely anything comes up as I dry heave into the crisp leaves. Daryl holds my hair back like he did the night I got drunk. He rubs my back gently and I shiver. I fall to my knees and he follows. Behind me he wraps his arms around my body and rocks me back and forth as I cry. Being here with him takes all the pain away, I hate that it does but I can't help it.

"I'm so tired Daryl," I confess with a sigh.

"You got anybody with you?" he questions, his voice suddenly calm.

I shake my head. I'd found a small group that I'd been with for a while after Liam, they saved me. They saved me from the heard and I was so thankful for that. I went out hunting with one of the guys and it didn't end well for him. We'd wandered far from camp, and I got lost. I'd been alone for a whole day until I found Daryl.

"I've got somewhere you can go, if you'll trust me."

"Trust you?" I laugh. "The last time I did that..." I start, but he covers my mouth gently with his hand.

He raises his brow, and scoops me up like a child cradling me in his arms. I put my arms around his neck like it's a natural thing to do, and my body just folds into him. He looks at me again and I reach up to touch his face. It's something familiar. He's all scruffy and dirty his hair is much longer now, but he's still got those same soft eyes he did then. He may act like a bad ass, but underneath it all he's just Daryl a broken boy from Georgia. He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them to find mine. I burry my face into him, even though all the sweat and filth he still smells like Daryl.