#;teasers

Time went by slower than molasses in January.

"What's that look for...?" 

I'd never seen Daryl look at me the way he did during that phone call. The look of sheer terror in his eyes as he looked me over was one I'll likely never forget. It was the kind of look that gave me chills, like he was looking at a ghost in my window. 

With a sterner voice, but a shaky one, I questioned him again. "Who was it, Daryl? What did they say?"

That wasn' the last call Beth got...

Eyebrows furrowing, the cat-like android soon slipped into the room, closing the wooden door behind him before taking another glance over to the aristocrat, soon noticing a small, gentle smile placed on his lips, as well as his expression had softened, too.

                                “Ah, Cyber.. Another nightmare, I presume?”

The second I laid eyes on him, I saw red...

"Get the hell away from me, Dixon" I hissed as I attempted to slam my front door shut. Just seeing him outside my door in his torn and bloody clothes felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly, like he was rubbing salt and every other abrasive construct into my already throbbing wounds. Just as I had finally stopped crying and gained my resolve, of course Daryl Dixon had to be waiting at my door. It was like the world was out to get me that night, and it wasn't going to stop until I was a broken mess crying in the corner of my apartment. However, before I could actually close it, he jutted his foot into the crack between the door and the frame, his black leather biker boots preventing my escape. I looked up at him with disdain. "I mean it, Daryl. Leave me alone."

"I ain't leavin' 'til you hear me out" he replied, placing his hand in the crack of the door. He knew I'd never slam the door and cause him physical pain, and I hated him for it in that brief moment it took me to open the door to allow him inside. The second I did, a small smile came to his lips as he strolled inside and went directly for my couch, patting the seat next to him. The last thing I wanted was such close, direct contact with the man who was causing me so much pain, o I sat directly across from him atop my coffee table instead. 

"Well I'll be damned..." 

I don't think I could have gotten dressed quicker. 

Merle's words rang in my head like a church bell. When the older, more aggravating Dixon brother had appeared at my door the last thing I wanted to do was to let him into my apartment. However, once he told me Daryl was at the hospital, I practically dragged him inside. "What happened?" I pleaded, my stomach twisting and churning as I felt the bile rise into my throat. Daryl had just been there, he'd just been asleep with me on the couch. We'd just had passionate sex on said couch. A part of me was in denial that something had actually happened, that Merle was trying to pull a fast one on me. I dropped him into my arm chair and narrowed my eyes at him, forgetting that I was still in my bathrobe. 

"Merle Dixon if you're screwin' with me..." I warned, my voice on the cusp of breaking. The thought of Daryl laying in some hospital bed hurt me more than I thought it would. "...if I find out that this is some cheap trick I swear I'll..."

"You think I'd fuck around 'bout my brother bein' in some hospital?!" Merle growled loudly, the alcohol incredibly apparent on his breath. His eyes were narrowed and staring into mine as if he were trying to break me down. He was trying to size me up and threaten me. Too bad for him that it didn't work out that way. "If ya think that, yer dumber than I thought." 

"I don't even have a car, Merle" I retorted as I bounded across the apartment to my room, cracking my door just enough that he couldn't see me, but he could still hear my voice. "What are we gonna do? Put you on the handlebars of my bicycle?"