Whoop whoop, chapter thirty!

ya'll are in for it... winkwink

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Zeva ran around in the courtyard, but not from Lizzie and Mika anymore. Oh no, those two girls were long gone. Lizzie was the only one who had died, but she had taken Mika with her when she had left. It had been Carol who broke the news to the poor girl, and the expression on her face was heart-shattering. Everybody had lost somebody that day, but the biggest loss was loosing a little girl. 

However, Daryl wasn't worried about Mika... He was worried about Presley. It'd been four days since he had gotten back from Woodbury, and she hadn't said a word to him. Hell, she hadn't hardly even showed her face. Even Maggie didn't understand why the girl was acting so depressed. Nobody was about to ask her what was wrong, afraid of the wrath that she would unleash if somebody did find that courage.

The only person she really interacted with was Stefan.

As much as Daryl hated to admit it, he was happy that Stefan was here, because she had somebody to talk to. On the same note he hated Stefan, as he wanted to be the one to comfort her. He would never admit this jealousy, but it was hard to ignore the small flame that turned into a wild fire everytime he saw them together.

It wasn't until the morning of the fifth day that Presley showed her face in the cafeteria. At the sight of her Carol scooted over and patted the bench beside her, and the entire room watched as she came to the table with Zeva trotting at her heels. For once, her hair was left down, framing her face. She looked beautiful with her hair up, but Daryl noticed that she didn't look as intimidating when it was left down. She gave the people a meek smile, wrapping a tendril of hair around her finger and playing with it.

"Haven't seen you around much lately." Maggie teased, offering her a small smile. Presley shrugged, staring down at the table with a near-blank expression. Gods, she was beautiful. It was an effortless beauty, not like the models with the photoshop and parted lips and awkward poses. No, Presley simply was Presley.

"I've had a lot on my mind is all." She said simply, blue eyes lifting to meet Maggie's gaze. Maggie's expression said what everybody was feeling: disbelief.

"Soo..." Carol said, casually bumping her shoulder. "You and Stefan, eh?" Presley paused, looking at Carol before scrunching her nose and laughing. It was a radiant sound, even if it did seem a bit forced. It was a laugh, none the less. Hearing her laugh seemed to be a rarity recently. Daryl tensed at what Carol had said, pretending to become quite interested in his food, though he was listening quite intently.

"No, no of course not." She said finally, rolling her eyes. "He's not my type." Really? Because you treat him like he's damn perfect for you.

"You know, I'm curious..." Carl said, surprising the entire table with his sudden voice of question, "What is your type?"

Presley paused, looking at the young boy with a thoughtful gaze. "Somebody... Somebody who can match my fire, who isn't afraid to get their hands a bit dirty and can take care of themselves." She said slowly, selecting her words quite carefully. "I don't really have a selected type, but Stefan isn't it... And neither are you Carl." She teased, reaching across the table and pinching his cheek. She laughed when he swatted her hand away, cheeks burning with embarrasment. "Well, I guess, maybe if you were a bit older..." She said with humor, tapping her chin with her finger. That earned chuckles from the surrounding tables.

Glenn approached the table, placing a hand on Presley's shoulder in a casual, friendly manner. "Rick wants us to go on another run, running a bit short on food." He said. "He wants Presley and Maggie to go."

"I'll go." Daryl said, pushing himself out of his seat. Presley gave him a warning glare, but he ignored her. He didn't even look at her. "No sense in lettin' the women go."

"I am perfectly capable, thank you." Presley said, taking one of the strawberries on Carol's plate before standing. The table went silent, preparing themselves for the wrath of the two. They looked at the two, waiting. However, before Daryl could tell her to sit her ass back down, she was striding away.

"Presley!" She could hear him shout. She continued to ignore him, pulling her hair up with a ponytail. "Damnit, stop!" He grabbed her arm, wrenching her back. She stumbled in surprise, accidentally falling into his chest. He caught her, ignoring her angry glare as she pushed herself away from him. He hadn't been exactly rough, but she hadn't expected him to touch her, either. "You don't have ta go."

"I know." She said bitterly, dodging his hand when he reached for her arm. "But I want to."

"Well I don't fucking want you to!" Daryl said angrilly. Presley cringed a bit at his raised voice, but she said nothing. She simply shook her head. "Ye need to realize ye can't do everythin'."

"And you need to realize you can't protect me from everything. I won't let you and it's simply impossible." She said, forcing her voice to remain low. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, and head was spinning a million miles an hour. "So please, do yourself a favor and lay off."

"No." Daryl said, pushing her against the wall. She sucked in a sharp breath when his large hands pinned her shoulders against the wall. He was a bit rough this time, but not hard enough to leave bruises. She could feel the rough brick wall against the material on her back. The two stared at one-another for a long moment, before Daryl made the first move.

Presley surprised them both by not stopping him.

The kiss... Was estatic, to say the least. Fireworks erupted and for once in her life, she felt weak in the knees. She was suddenly glad that the wall was behind her, otherwise she probably would have toppled over. His lips moved slowly, as if waiting for her to recoil and smack him. While she didn't kiss back, she couldn't bring herself to pull away, either. After only a few moments his grip loosened and he pulled away. The separation between them didn't last long, as Presley grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him back in, their movements more passionate. At last the two of them parted, both of them breaking heavily. Presley's eyes remained close and she brought her head back to rest against the wall. His hands slipped down to hold her arms by the bends of her elbows. He couldn't quite bring himself to pull away just yet.

"Now I'm really not letting ye go.." He said finally. Her eyes flashed open and she shook her head, shoving him away quite forcefully. It stung, but her fire had been unleashed. That simply kiss had made her realize something that she hadn't brought herself to admit before. She said nothing as she walked away, having every intention on going on that run.

- - -

Rick had discovered an abandoned plantation just a few miles from here. While it was no town, they could hope that it did have some supplies left to scavange. While Presley hadn't been able to totally get away from Daryl, she did manage to let herself go on the run. Glenn drove while Maggie sat in the passenger's side, and Daryl and Presley took up the back, leaving a large foot of space between them. The vehicle was silent.

"I miss radio." Glenn said suddenly. Presley paused, leaning forward and opening the center console and rummaging through for a moments. At last she revealed a dusty CD, laughing at the irony of the singer. "Whadya know, it's Elvis." She said, handing the disk to Maggie to play. She sat back, drawing her knees up to her chest. "My mama's favorite singer."

"Is that who you were named after?" Glenn asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly.

"Yep. She died giving birth to me, so my dad tried his best to name me to 'live on her memory'." She snorted a bit at that, picking at the dirt that had gathered beneath her nails. "Named me after her favorite singer, and her favorite flower. Presley Iris. Doesn't really flow." She shrugged, glancing out the dusty window. She didn't particularly like her name, but she did like that it was uncommon. She was practically one of a kind in most parts. 

There had once been a kid in gradeschool whom had a crush on the girl. He had sworn that he would marry her and they would name their children after her, and if he didn't marry her, he would still name his children after her. She smiled a bit at the memory.

"Do you have any siblings?" Maggie asked. 

"Nope. Just my dad." She replied simply, chewing on her bottom lip. 

"What happened to him..?" Maggie gave Glenn a warning look when he answered that question, but Presley at least seemed unaffected by it.

"I reckon he's still kicking. Old fool doesn't know how to do anything but survive. He's probably even looking for me." She said, more quietly than before. That was the truth. She hadn't gone back to Washington for one reason: he would be coming down to find her, anyways. She doubted he would find her, but there was no doubt he wouldn't try. 

"So why are you here, then?"

"Because he'll come to me." Presley said, glancing at Glenn, and then Daryl. 

"How can ye be so sure?" Daryl asked.

"Because unlike you guys, he knows me. He knows my habits, my weaknesses, when to stop pushing me..." Presley said, a hard edge on her voice. The two up front remained silent, sensing more meaning behind the words that she said. Daryl's fists clenched, but she turned away before he could say anything. "He knows what I can and can't do."

"You think that you can take on everything, but you can't." Daryl spat. "Ye can't sit here and act like that when ye know I am te only damn person here who's really lookin' out for ye."

Presley rolled her eyes, pushing open the door once the car rolled to a stop. She slung her quiver over her back, knocking a single arrow into place and plucking the string. Zeva hopped out of the bed of the truck, brushing past Daryl and standing beside Presley. They stood before the building.

"Ready?" Glenn asked.

"Ready." 

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Not the longest update ever, but it'll do.

As ya'll know, school has started, so updates are gonna be a bit slow... And probably a bit short. You'll mostly see them on the weekends. Today is an exception. Everybody does random updates on Tuesday, right..? No? Okay. 

ONE WAY YOU CAN GET UPDATES FASTER: by commenting. Even a simple 'update' or 'nice chapter' will do. Hearts are also motivation, but comments really get the muse flowing.

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