Author's Note: This song went well with the chapter! Vickyl is so cute!

Theme Song: "All You Never Say" - Birdy

There was a silence between us now and Daryl was chewing on his cheek, mulling over the truth of my words. I could see it in his gaze. He was embarrassed and in the moonlight I could have sworn I saw his cheeks turn a shade of red.

"Why?" I bluntly asked him as he shrugged his shoulders yet again, not meeting my gaze, "Iunno." I sighed heavily and looked away. Not the answer I was expecting.

I started thinking about the time we shared together in the shack in the woods. I remembered the way he had been staring at me before we left, wanting to say something. But, when I had asked what it was he acted as if it were nothing. Typical Daryl.

"When we were in that house in the woods, you were going to say something to me. But, you brushed it off and said it was nuttin. What were you going to say?" I used his dialect on the word 'nuttin' and even impersonated his country twang.

He looked to me with a beady blue eyed stare and it hadn't gone unnoticed by him that I mocked him. He smirked lightly despite the serious conversation.

I smirked back and he sighed heavily, taking a huge swig of the bottle. "No more lying either." I said pointedly and he looked to me with an arch of his brow, clearly defeated.

"Member' when I told ya' the story about gettin' lost in the woods when I was a little boy?" I nodded, remembering the pain I felt when he had told the story about being lost, but completely forgotten back at home.

"Left the part out where I came 'cross a creek. Was stumblin' 'round for hours until I seen it." He paused for a moment and I could tell he was thinking about what he had seen. "A doe was drinkin' water and I just stood there watchin' 'er."

I smiled, despite the sad story, and let him continue. It was rare that Daryl ever spoke like this, so I didn't want to ruin the moment. Daryl looked up to me now, but his eyes drifted to my green ones.

He stared at them for a moment before continuing, "The creek wasn't anythin' I'd ever seen before, the colors I mean. Mossy green, kinda. Jus' was different, I guess. Could never put my finger on why tha' damn creek held my attention for so long. Guess it was cuz' I wasn't used to seein' anythin' so pretty."

He looked to me again and quirked a small little smile that he usually saved just for me, "When I went to bed tha' night, I thought 'bout that creek long after Merle had gone to bed." I furrowed my brows in confusion as he spoke and I couldn't understand what he was getting at with his story.

"I don't-I don't understand Daryl, why are you telling me this?" I turned to look him, shifting closer. My words softer than a whisper. Our shoulders still touched lightly, but unlike earlier in our conversation, I could feel the heat that radiated from him. The mere brush of his skin in contact with mine sent tendrils of warmth through my veins.

Unexpectedly, he turned to look at me. His blue hues reflecting something I'd never seen before. "Yer' eyes. Remind me of that damn creek." His voice was so low and unnaturally rough that I froze in my spot.

My eyes widened as I realized Daryl was telling me, in his own Daryl like way, that my eyes were pretty and they reminded him of something nice from his past. And it was more than that..I knew his words ran a lot deeper than just a compliment.

There was a shift in the mood between us and I could put my finger on that particular moment because it was the moment I knew just how much I truly liked Daryl. And not just because he paid me a compliment.

It was something scary that made me both excited and fearful. Daryl was not like other hot blooded men I had known in my past. Hell, it took forever for Daryl to be comfortable with me just being near him; merely brushing against him when we met made him skittish. Yet, here he was, his shoulder touching mine and our faces so close to each other I could smell the whiskey and chocolate.

Most men would have tried to make a move on me already, but not Daryl.

He was different.

Without thinking, I moved to be closer to Daryl. I shifted so that I was facing him and not the sky. My eyes held fast to him and he looked to me in an odd way. I watched as a strand of hair fell into his blue eyes and instinctively, I reached my right hand up and my fingers brushed the strand of dirty hair out of the way of his face.

I could tell that he had a dark sandy color to his hair, but overtime it had grown out and gotten greasy. This made his locks the dark brown everyone now saw him with. I quirked a rueful smile thinking how I preferred him slightly dirty.

When my fingers made contact with his hair and moved it out of the way, he froze. There was a brief moment where he sighed audibly as the touch of my fingers on his hair had relaxed him. It was so quick though, I almost wondered if it really happened.

My face was so close to his, I could see the fine details in his face. I started to inch closer to him, slowly as not to startle him. My heart thrumming away like a symphony was going on inside of me. I bit my bottom lip and was closing the distance before a rough hand reached up and gently grabbed my right wrist, startling me so that I backed up a fraction.

He didn't say a word to me, his hand on my wrist was a warning. A guarded gesture of someone shy and very much scared.

Despite his hand on my wrist, I leaned forward. And it was in that moment, I knew I wanted to kiss him. Maybe it was the whiskey that gave me my courage, I didn't know. He froze like a deer in the headlights and I took him unaware as I cleared the small gap between us and my lips sought his. I captured them quickly and the heat that spread throughout my entire body nearly took my breath away.

Daryl was frozen, his body unsure of how to handle such an intimate situation until his guard dropped a tiny bit and I heard a groan deep from within him. Everything I had felt for him came tearing to the surface, clawing to get out.

His hand stayed around my wrist and I leaned into him a bit more as I deepened the kiss. I had to tame the desire in my belly because I didn't want to startle him. His lips started to become a little less stiff and I could feel the hum of electricity between us as he lost himself for a brief moment in the kiss.

Our position next to each other was a little awkward and the kiss felt like kissing someone that was kissing for the first time, though that was far from the truth. Innocent was the best way to describe the way we explored each other.

It wasn't hot and heavy, or primal by any means. It was something else, something different than I had ever felt before. We both treaded with hesitance and caution.

His whiskey breath upon my mouth started to make my insides spin as the butterflies were out of control in my stomache. Then, just as quick as it all happened..he was pulling away from me.

His breath coming in quick as his chest heaved up and down rapidly. His eyes were wide, guarded and startled. I could tell he was trying to figure out how the hell this had happened. My lips parted to speak, but I couldn't form words. My body was on fire and I saw the deep pools of his blue eyes were filled with desire and hunget.

I looked to Daryl now as he furrowed his brow, the heat in his blue eyes was fading quickly. It was replaced by a look of sadness, "I ain't that guy, Vicki. I can't be him, sorry." Daryl murmured roughly, but his calloused hand still held fast to my right wrist and the touch still sent fire straight to my belly. He swallowed thickly and if I didn't know better I could have sworn he was trembling ever so slightly.

I frowned, realizing I had overstepped my bounds and I couldn't help but feel a bit foolish. Did he truly not want me in the way I wanted him in that moment, or was he just scared?

He must have seen my rejected face because he sighed lowly, our eyes meeting the fact that his hand was still upon my wrist.

He pulled away quickly, but his eyes looked so torn between what he was feeling. I knew the last thing I needed to do was get mad at him. He was honest with me..how could I be mad about that?

There was a heavy silence between us and I really just wanted to go back to my cell now. My breathing was still heavy and my heart still thrummed in my ears, despite being rejected by Daryl. "I think I should get back and maybe head in for bed." I muttered lamely.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek before nodding silently. We both climbed down the watch tower and headed back into the cellblock. Our cells were both upstairs and he walked with me silently.

Well, this was a little awkward.

I took it slow due to my ankle still being a little sore, "Think it'll be alright sooner than later?" He asked nodding down to my ankle as we walked down the hallway together. I nodded politely back to him, but kept silent.

He was trying to carry on as if what had happened didn't bother him, but when he turned to look at me I saw his eyes held so much more than he was giving away.

And for once I could actually see straight through his stoic gaze! Where I could never see it before, I could now. It was as if the blinders had been lifted and now it didn't annoy me so much since I could see.

He was scared to have something meaningful come into his life that he pushed it away when things got to to be too much for him.

He had lost so much and was deathly afraid of letting people in. Daryl was the type of guy that would deny himself anything that would make him happy because God help him if he lost it. Guess he figured it would be best to keep me at arm's length, that way he didn't get hurt and neither would I.

I was unsure of what exactly Daryl and I were. There was not a label in the world that could be slapped on us. We weren't a couple by any means, but we were something.

And I knew that he felt a way about me that he didn't with anyone else here. The kiss kind of solidified that, despite his immediate rejection.

I bit my lip in silent thought as we came to my cell and I pushed back the curtains before looking to Daryl with an intent gaze. My mouth spoke before my mind could stop myself.

"You're wrong, Daryl. You are that guy. It's not that you can't be him, it's that you won't allow yourself to be." I smiled sadly at him as he stood still, taking in my words and looking down at to the bottle of whiskey in his hands. I dared to reach my hand out to gently touch his chin and he allowed me to lift his head up to look at me. He wasn't going to get away that easy, I needed to say this to him and he needed to hear it.

"You might not see it now, but one day you will be that guy. And I'll still be here." I dropped my hand back to my side and he shifted awkwardly. He was not broken by any means, but he was torn. Torn about me. Torn about his feelings.

We lingered there for a beat longer, unsure of what to say to each other so he started to turn back towards his cell to walk away. I couldn't help but smirk now, "But you know.." I started to say and he turned back to me a little more quickly than normal.

"One of these days you won't be able to resist me." I knew I sounded haughty, but it was true. I knew it in my bones. He made a pfft sound with his mouth and the playful banter between us ensued as normal.

"Oh ya', how ya' know that?" He challenged, raising a brow at me and slowly walking backwards towards his cell.

"Because I just know." I quipped back with a triumphant smile on my face.

Despite being rejected by Daryl, I knew the best thing was to turn it into a positive. The last thing I wanted were things to be awkward between us. After all, we were adults.

He merely shook his head at me as if I was crazy, but he did smile shyly and that was something. We retreated to our cells and I plopped down on the cot as the day's events hit me at once.

I lay awake for a little while that night thinking about the kiss I had with Daryl. I fell asleep with a smile on my face that night as I made a mental note to add kiss Daryl again to my post-apocalyptic bucket list

Author's Note: I know people imagine kissing Daryl as hot and heavy, but in my opinion the first kiss would not be like that! Considering his personality, I think the first kiss would be a little awkward. & it's typical for him to be like 'nah I can't do this' out of fear. So of course he is going to reject her. I think Daryl is someone that would need time to open up.
Let's be real.. lol