Title: Above the Din
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead.
Summary: Carol hasn't slept right since the folks from Woodbury moved in. Daryl has a solution.
Carol leaned slightly into the chain link fence that surrounded the elevated bridge outside the prison. In the distance she could hear the walkers, but in the pitch black of night she could barely make out a thing on the ground. It was nights like these when she just looked up. Up, beyond the fences and the dead, and toward the stars.
She'd been taking these late night strolls a lot lately, ever since the folks from Woodbury moved in.
Sleeping in the dark, dank cell block was a fine way to get by during the apocalypse, Carol figured, but it didn't mean she had to like it. There was something about the way everyone's sleeping breaths seemed to reverberate off the walls that made her uncomfortable. It hadn't been that way when it was just the group. Maybe it was the familiarity of their sounds that made it better. This – living with the remaining people of Woodbury— made it hard for her to get any sleep at all. It wasn't just their breathing, it was the strangled gasps of the elderly, the snoring, the hacking, the whimpering of small, orphaned children... it was a cacophony of agony every night, and it was only highlighted by the stark stone walls of the prison that surrounded them.
How anyone slept in there was beyond her.
So she had taken to getting up at night, when folks were all sound asleep, and wandering. Not far, mind you, just far enough that she could hear herself think above the din.
Carol sighed deeply, her breath visible in the night air, reminding her that it was nearly winter again. This would be their second winter since this horror began. It would also be her second winter without her daughter. She closed her eyes against that thought, and grasped the chain link tight enough for the discomfort to overtake the pain inside. She popped her eyes back open and set her gaze on the sky, taking deep, cold breaths to calm her eternally frayed nerves.
"What you lookin' at, woman?" Carol jumped at the voice, not having noticed Daryl approaching from the other side of the bridge. She put her hand on her chest, as if catching her breath, and shot him an amused grin before pointing upward.
"Stars," she answered simply.
"You'd think you never seen 'em before," he grumbled.
"Guess I never really looked."
"What you think you goin' see out there?" She shrugged and looked out over the blackness of the yard, taking a deep breath and wrapping her arms around herself against the chill.
"Something nice?" she questioned quietly.
"Ain't nothin' nice left," he said firmly. She sighed and turned back toward him.
"There are still nice things," she countered. She could see his eyes roll in the dark and smiled a little to herself.
"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," he said quietly. "What you doin' out here so late anyhow?"
"Can't sleep."
"Y'alright?" She smiled, touched by his concern. She knew he didn't spare much, so it always struck her when he bothered to show her some.
"Fine. Just tryin' to get used to the new people," she admitted quietly. Since the Woodbury residents had moved into the prison, Carol had put on a good face, just like everyone else, but she didn't bother lying to Daryl.
"Yeah," he said, huffing a small laugh. "Sounds like a goddamn pack 'a wolves sleepin' in there." Carol giggled lightly at that.
"They're old," she excused.
"Hershel's old, he don't sound like a freakin' motorboat when he sleeps." Carol laughed again, a little harder this time with a twinge of cold and exhaustion induced hysteria to back it up. She wasn't surprised when she couldn't sneak that by her friend.
"You gotta get some sleep," he told her. She nodded.
"Yeah, I know. It's just hard in there." Daryl nodded, biting the inside of his cheek for a moment before reaching over and grabbing her by the wrist, tugging her gently.
"C'mon," he encouraged. She followed along.
"Where are we going?"
"Guard tower," he said. She didn't bother asking for an explanation – just let him pull her along, enjoying the feeling of his warm hand against the skin of her wrist.
When they finally made it to the top, Carol couldn't help but chuckle. The floor had been made up into a tidy little bed, complete with a mattress from inside, a pillow, blanket, and Daryl's poncho.
"And here I thought you were keeping watch all night," she teased, giving him a little nudge.
"I do keep watch," he said, with just a touch of irritation that she would question him. "I sleep here when Rick comes out for the morning shift."
"Makes sense," she allowed. He nodded toward the makeshift bed.
"Why don't you get some rest," he suggested.
"Won't I be in your way?"
"Pshh, you're always in my way, woman," he teased gently. The pair shared a small laugh at that, and Carol laid down, pulling the sheet over her. Daryl grabbed the poncho and laid it out over top of her as well. "Get's cold up here," he explained. She just nodded and closed her eyes, while he turned back out toward the yard to keep an eye out.
It was the first time in a long time that Carol was able to sleep soundly.
End
Just a little moment. Hope you liked it. Let me know.