Daryl's hand found Carol's again. But this time, instead of grabbing her by the wrist, he timidly ran his fingertips up her digits before he finally intertwined their fingers together. He didn't dare look up into her face to see her reaction. He instead focused on how their hands looked together, her slightly paler one below his sun-kissed and calloused one. They had held hands before. Sort of. Both here and back home. But every time, he felt like his entire stomach was going to fall out in the utter fear of her reaction. This time, it wasn't quite as scary, maybe because of the alcohol, but he still felt that same fear of rejection.
"No, ya don't have to," he whispered, letting the unspoken keep your hands to yourself hang in the air. He licked his bottom lip, nervous as hell as he gave her hand a little tug to urge her to sit down. "Stay?" His voice was barely audible as he finally forced his blue-eyed gaze onto her face.