~Rebel's POV~

"Wake up, Rebel." I heard a rough voice whisper into my ear that had previously been covered by the scratchy fabric of my sleeping bag.

"No." I muttered to the voice that tried disturb my peaceful sleeping. After yesterday, all I wanted to do was sleep.

I heard a deep chuckle and I finally put a face to the voice that had disordered myself and my very own thoughts many times over the last few days. I felt the sleeping bag being peeled off of my warm body, letting the cold air bite at my skin.

"No!" I groaned, "Five more minutes! Please!"

"Well. Only because you asked so nicely." Daryl said sarcastically.

Again, I felt the sleeping bag being peeled back, but this time I felt arms wrapping around my legs. Daryl gripped my ankles and started to drag me out of the tent. 

"Daryl! Let me go, dammit!" 

Daryl didn't listen to me as he started to drag me towards the campfire, drawing attention of almost everyone in the group. I heard most of them start to laugh at me and I just scowled. Daryl finally let go of me and my feet fell to the ground with a low 'thud'.

"Thanks for the help, guys." I spat sarcastically to everyone that was laughing. It was kind of hard not to laugh, even Daryl was mocking me. You could see the tears that were bordering Shane's eyes and Rick was bending over, holding his stomach.

I used my back and neck to KipUp and land on my feet, standing up in the process. Carl stared at my swift movements in amazement, his bright eyes widening. I flashed a mischievous smile at him and dusted my hands off on my sweatpants. 

Daryl was still laughing and so were a few of the others, but he was my main target. I narrowed my eyes and launched my legs up, soaring into the air. I gripped Daryl's shoulders and pushed him to the ground, landing on him in the procedure. I heard the wind being knocked out of him and I straddled his waist, forcing him to stay on the ground. 

"Pile on!" Carl yelled.

He ran over and jumped on me, forcing my head to land on Daryl's chest. Sophia was next as she jumped on top of Carl, making Daryl grunt underneath all of our weight. This time, it was me who started laughing.

The group joined in one by one and soon, we had attracted the attention of Maggie and Beth. They stared at us confusedly and the laughter must've been infectious because they started giggling with the rest of us.

"We get a day off today, so feel free to roam the grounds, but don't stray too far." Rick said, gasping for breath. Slowly, the group dispersed to separate activities, all except for Daryl, me and Carl. 

"Carl. Up." Daryl groaned. Carl guffawed but did as he was told. He ran after Rick and Shane, trying to be apart of the big dogs.

Carl hadn't been gone for more than 10 seconds when I felt a shift in weight. Daryl flipped us over so that he was on top and he was the one straddling the other. I huffed and tried to cross my arms, but Daryl was sitting on them.

"I win." He said and pushed himself off of me. He held out his hand for me and I took it, he pulled me up and stepped away awkwardly. 

"Thanks." I muttered, picking up my bow and sheath of arrows.

"What were ye' planni' to do?" he asked me, rubbing the back of his neck while slinging his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Make some more arrows. You?" 

"I could join ye'. If thas' okay." he muttered.

"Sure." I told him, smiling at the ground absentmindedly.

I started into the forest, looking for thin, sturdy branches to carve in. I found about a dozen good ones and sat down on a shelf rock that jutted out over a stream. Daryl joined me shortly and we started carving our arrows in silence, the stream rushing past.

I had just started on my seventh arrow when Daryl started humming a song that seemed familiar. He hummed the same verses over and over again, shucking wood into the ongoing stream. The familiarity of the song dawned on me and I smiled at the arrow I was chipping.

"And I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am." I sung aloud. It was the first time I had done that since the pond incident.

Daryl stopped humming and looked at me, "Ye' have a nice voice." he told me honestly.

"Thanks." I smiled at him and resumed carving my arrow.

"About the other day..." Daryl trailed off, leaving the subject open for interpretation.

"More specific?" I asked him. 

"The motorcycle. Ye' got off 'fter a while, ye' seemed scared o' somthin'." Daryl interpreted

"Oh." I breathed.

"Wha's it 'bout?" he repeated.

"Um...nothing. I just don't like bikes." That was the truth, but not all of it.

"'S not the only reason." he prodded me. 

I didn't wanted to tell him my whole past, but it seemed like two much. After all, I was supposed to be ignoring him. If I told him, would he bug off? Probably not. Would he still like me? Does he even like me now? Probably not.

So why the hell not?

"Fine." I muttered.

"Last year, I was in love with a boy named Saxon. We had been together for two years and he was the best thing that had ever happened to me. He..um..he got in a biking accident. I-I was with him and he just d-died." Tears sprang to my eyes and my voice got croaky.

"We were driving down the highway and we got h-hit by a semi. He basically d-died on impact, but he.. he um.. gave me an engagement ring before he d-died. H-he said he loved me and to never forget that. It sounds cliché, but he was my first love and I watched him die."

I looked over at Daryl and he was gazing at me with sorrow in his eyes, he looked so vulnerable.

"I loved him." 

Daryl put down his arrows and sheathed his knife into his belt. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and pulled me closer to him. I was sitting between Daryl's legs and he was playing with my hair absentmindedly.

"I'm sorry." Daryl whispered into my ear,

"No! You're not! You can't be! You didn't know him and you don't know half the shit I've been through because he died! My sister hates me, my brother tried to kill me, and hell knows what's up with my other one! I wish I had never met him!" I screamed loudly.

I stood up abruptly, gathered my new arrows and walked away. I didn't feel the need to stick around, I didn't feel like I had the strength to. I trudged through the forest, wary of my surroundings. I moved past the tents and made my way to the campfire.

"You alright there, Trooper?" I heard Dale call from the top of the RV where he was taking watch.

I shook my head vigorously. 

"Why don't you come up here." Dale suggested. I made my way up the metal ladder and sat on the roof where Dale was resting in his camp chair.

"You wanna talk about it, Trooper?" he asked me, calling me by the nickname he had given me the first day I met him. He said "I can just tell that you're a trooper." From then on, he had never called me by my real name.

"N-no." I managed to stutter out.

"Okey-doke." he said, grabbing my hand. He squeezed it in condolence and resumed his watch, peering in his binoculars every so often.

After a while, Daryl came walking out of the area I had come in. Dale glanced down at me, making the small, yet obvious connection.

"Did he hurt you?" Dale asked softly as Daryl approached the camp.

"No. Daryl would never hurt me." I said quietly, not sure if he heard me or not.

Dale squeezed my hand again and I leaned my head against his knee. 

The sun began to set and I watched as the group started trickling back to camp one by one. Every single one of them glanced up at me, probably noticing my tear stained face. They looked, but they didn't comment or ask what happened, even Peter remained silent, and for that, I was grateful.

The night slowly drifted in and I felt myself dozing off on Dale's leg. He didn't move and neither did I. That's how I fell asleep, leaning my cheek against his knee and still gripping my sweaty hand in his.

This is what having father must be like.

_______________________________

Picture on the side is something I thought was funny, it's Dale :D

Vote, Comment, Fan if you'd like!