Title: Meteors

Author: GageWhitney

Rating: T

Pairing: Daryl/Andrea

Disclaimer: Very much not mine.

Summary: "Looks like there's a meteor shower tonight."

Andrea finds him stretched out in the back of his pickup one night, his right leg bent at the knee to rest against the rusty metal side of the truck. He has one arm folded up behind him, pillowing his head, with the other resting on his stomach, his fingers drumming absently as he gazes upward.

"Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" she asks, hands on her hips.

He gestures toward the heavens. "Watching the stars," he says. "Looks like there's a meteor shower tonight."

"Really?"

"Right time of year for it."

She throws her head back and stares up, watching for a shooting star. "Yeah, okay," she says after a minute. She tilts her head from side to side. "This is going to kill my neck."

Glancing at her, he thumps the empty space next to him. "Get on up here, then."

She smiles at the invitation and hauls herself up onto the rear of the truck, then scoots backwards until she can lie next to him. Close, but not quite touching. There's a folded-up old blanket stuffed into the corner, so she snags it to use as a headrest.

"Oh, wow," she breathes, taking in the clear, star-filled night sky.

"What?"

"I can't remember the last time I looked at the stars," she says quietly. "And I certainly don't remember there being this many."

"You're used to being in a city," he tells her.

"Yeah," she says. "I guess this is what they look like without light pollution, huh?"

Beside her, he chuckles. "Score one for the apocalypse, I guess."

After several long, silent minutes, she sighs. "Where are these meteors you claimed to see? I'm not seeing anything."

"Got to have some patience," he explains. He knocks his foot against hers. "It's still early on. The later it gets, the more you see."

"Oh," she says. "So you used to do this a lot, then? Watch meteor showers?"

She feels him shrug, his shoulder brushing hers. "Spent a lot of time outside, you know? Hanging out in the woods. Camping."

"With your brother?"

He snorts. "Merle could give a shit. Probably tease me if he knew I was out looking at stars," he says. His voice takes on a quiet, almost sad quality. "I was alone a lot growing up. Not much else to do in the woods by yourself."

She turns her head to look at him, studying his profile bathed in moonlight. She wants to ask more, wants to know where his parents were, why he was left to fend for himself so often.

Instead, she goes with, "Do you know any of the constellations?"

"No," he says. "Never learned."

"My dad tried to teach me a couple times, but it never really stuck," she tells him. She points and waggles her finger in one direction. "I think that's the Big Dipper, though."

"Where?"

She shifts slightly closer to him and points again. "See? How they kind of make a rectangle?"

He tilts his head and follows the end of her finger, squinting. "Oh, yeah. I could see that."

"It might be the Little Dipper."

"It's some kind of Dipper," he agrees.

A streak of light finally catches her eye as it darts across the sky, and she gasps and grabs at his arm. "Oh! Did you see that?"

He turns his head and smirks at her. "See? Patience."

"Yeah," she laughs. "Okay. That was worth waiting for."

After a minute, he speaks up again. "What did you want before?"

"Huh?"

"You came out here looking for me, didn't you?"

"Oh." She stops to think for a moment. "Yeah, I wanted to see if I could borrow a shirt. I got chilly."

Though the seasons have started changing of late, the group had yet to find a store to raid for warmer clothing, so for the most part, they're all having to make do with what they've got.

When she'd started to feel cold earlier, though, she'd remembered Daryl scrounging around the cars on the highway and gone to his tent, thinking he might have kept some extra shirts (and, with any luck, not cut their sleeves off).

He looks over at her appraisingly. "The shirt you're wearing right now, you mean?" He gently tugs on the sleeve and quirks an eyebrow.

Looking down at herself, the large sweatshirt swallowing her smaller frame, she smiles sheepishly. "Maybe."

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Andrea smiles and pulls her hands up into the oversized sleeves. "Oh, there's another one!" she cries, elbowing him. "Oh, wow."

"It's cool, huh?"

"Very."

They lie in silence for a while, watching the sky, and despite the warmth of the sweatshirt, the combination of the cold metal at her back and dropping temperature has her shivering before long. Beside her, he's perfectly still, and she turns her head to look at him and make sure he hasn't actually fallen asleep.

"It's getting pretty cold," she says to the side of his face.

"Mmph," he grunts.

She rubs at her nose, ignoring the impulse to pull the sweatshirt up over her face. "How are you not freezing?"

He shrugs. "I'm used to it. Spent a lot of time outside, remember?"

"Oh." Her teeth chatter.

He glances over at her. "You ready to call it quits?"

Another meteor shoots across the sky, and she shakes her head. "Not quite."

"You don't have to stay."

Her teeth chatter again. "I want to."

"Suit yourself," he says.

"I'm just…" She pulls the blanket from underneath her head. "Hang on." Under his watchful gaze, she shakes it out so that it covers them both. "See?" she says. "Much better."

"Yeah," he says, still looking at her.

On impulse, she presses herself against his side, just enough to feel the heat of his body against hers. Immediately, he stiffens up, and she's so afraid he's going to pull away.

She leans up on her elbow to look him in the face. "Is this okay?" she asks, hovering close to him. He doesn't speak, and she worries her bottom lip with her teeth. "Maybe I should go…"

Daryl glances at her lips before locking his eyes with hers, shocking her thoroughly when he tangles his fingers in her hair and pulls her down into a rough kiss. She makes a small sound of surprise and eagerly kisses him back.

He pulls back slightly. "It's fine," he mutters, and licks into her mouth.

Her hand curls against his chest as she leans into him, moaning softly. He pulls her in closer, a hand on her ass, fitting her tightly against the side of his body.

"You still cold?" he asks against her lips.

"I'm getting warmer," she says with a smirk. She moves on top of him, pulling the blanket over their heads as she settles in his lap.

"Me, too," he groans when she wiggles her hips.

Andrea laughs lightly. "So, is this your big move, Dixon?" She places a kiss on his jaw. "You invite all the girls out to look at the stars in the back of your truck?"

He chuckles against the side of her neck, warm air against her cold skin. "Only the smart ones," he mumbles, dragging his lips lower. "They all see stars, though."

She groans. "God. Aren't you charming?" She threads her fingers through his hair as he places wet kisses along her collarbone. He thrusts up against her and her breath hitches. "Oh!"

"Mmm," he moans.

His fingers start pulling the sweatshirt up, the top underneath going with it, and her skin immediately goes goosepimply. "Whoa! Hang on," she says, palms flat against his chest.

"Oh… Sorry," he says. He removes his hands from her body and the sweatshirt falls back down. "I thought –"

"No," she says, shaking her head. She takes his hands and places them on her hips. "It's just that it's so cold out here. If we're going to start taking each other's clothes off, can we at least move this inside?"

Squeezing her hips, he nods. "Your tent or mine?"