A little AU Christmas fluff, set 4 months before the start of TWD S4. Enjoy!
Miss L's Toes
"So those are just some of the Christmas traditions that were actually borrowed from earlier pagan peoples." Carol finished her talk on holiday symbols and saw that Lizzie and Mikka, the two new girls who had come in with their father a month ago were quite adamantly debating something with Patrick, the boy with the Harry Potter spectacles. Patrick was a little older than the others, closer to Carl's age, but he still came to story time with the other children and had proved an attentive listener and usually had interesting questions on whatever the lesson of the day had been.
"Something I can answer for you Patrick?" Carol asked, raising her chin higher so she could see the three sitting in the back row more clearly.
"Just trying to explain why you would want to trick a boy into kissin' you." Patrick said, a bit of a blush coloring his pale face. He pushed his glasses up using his index finger in what Carol knew was more a nervous gesture than a need to see her more clearly.
"Mistletoes live on other trees—together in a sort of harmony, like a married couple, so I suppose getting someone you like to kiss you was the first step to having that kind of relationship." Carol explained, but the girls looked even more perplexed.
"All through?" Beth asked, sticking her head in the door of the Library. She was carrying Judith and looking thoroughly harassed. Carol took her watch out of her pocket, checked the time and saw it was a few minutes past when she had been supposed to relieve the girl of her babysitting duties so she could meet up with her boyfriend, Zack.
"Ok, kids, that's all for today. Remember, you need to finish up your gifts for the exchange tomorrow on Christmas Eve at the big Gathering. Let me know if you need any help wrapping."
"Miss Carol?" Luke, the small curly headed boy near the front raised his hand.
"Yes Luke?"
"Do you think Santa will really find us here?" he asked plaintively and all of the kids focused on her reply.
"I believe that he will, honey." Carol said and tousled his hair. The adults were striving to make the first Christmas in the prison into something nice for the children that lived there now. That included a secret sewing project she and several of the women had been working on after hours in their cells out of the way of prying little one's eyes. Speaking of which, she needed to make sure Hershel, Patrick and Carl came in for their final fittings tonight.
The children filed out, following Patrick, who was in charge of getting them back to the cellblock and their parents or guardians. Two of the newer ones had been found wandering alone, almost feral, half starved and untrusting of anyone or anything, but a few weeks of regular feeding and human contact had done wonders for them.
"She'd been kinda fussy all day." Beth told Carol as she handed Judith over and Carol felt the baby's head for any sign of fever, but her brow was cool to the touch.
"She's teething—god, I miss being able to just pop a gummy in the freezer to let her chew on it."
"Rick and Daryl are about to head out on a last check of the snares—have 'em bring you back a cooler of snow." Beth suggested helpfully. "They're in the supply room."
"Good idea—thanks, Bethie!" Carol said cheerfully. As far as she was concerned any excuse to spend more time with Daryl was not something to be passed up. She'd seen very little of him for the last few months while he'd been off with Michonne tracking down any whisper, trace or rumor of Phillip Blake, former "Governor" of Woodbury.
"Thought you'd like that suggestion." Beth said with a cheeky grin and Carol swatted her on the behind lightly as she headed back out the door.
"Smart ass." Carol said under her breath. Lori used to tease her about her feelings for Daryl and since her death last summer Beth had taken up the cause with able assists from both Maggie and Glenn. Daryl would be mortified if he knew the kind of innuendo and quips the young trio used to pull Carol's chain about him.
"Well, Miss Judith—how'd you like to go see your two favorite men?" asked Carol and then she leaned close and whispered in the baby's ear, "Tell you a secret—they're my two favorite men too."
Now that Rick had stepped down from his leadership role, he was concentrating his time on his children and helping to maintain the food supply. He and Hershel had quite extensive gardening and livestock plans they were working on together, and their work outdoors had only shut down in the last two days when a cold snap had hit, turning midwinter rains to snow. Rick had almost lost that air of desperation he'd had since his wife's death, channeling all of his love and caring into his kids and to the group as a whole. While Daryl was gone for extended periods, she and Rick had gotten to be closer friends. Like the others from the original group who had made it off the farm and survived this long, he knew how important Daryl was to her, and was actually the only person in whom she had confided the true depth of her feelings for the taciturn tracker.
With the winter hard upon them, Michonne and Daryl had returned, but hadn't seemed to find their rhythm with the larger group again. It had only been a week, but they still tended to eat their meals alone together and pore over maps planning their next foray rather than mixing with the group as a whole. There were a lot of new faces in the mess hall, which probably also didn't help with those two, who both tended to be shy until they got to know you. They weren't sharing a cell, which was what Carol had half expected them to be ready for after having been out on the road together for almost two months this time. She had no idea what their relationship really was.
Carol was heartened that Daryl and Rick were spending time alone together, hoping that meant perhaps the men were renewing their friendship, which might help convince Daryl to stay a bit closer to home. When Rick had asked her why she didn't tell Daryl she wanted him to stay, Carol had sighed and asked how she could possibly ask him to stop looking for the man who had killed his brother.
"You always have understood him best." Rick had replied, "Right from the start—you liked him first..." ...because he'd tried so hard to find Sophia. The part of the sentence went unspoken between them. Rick still, right or wrong, shouldered the blame for leaving Sophia alone in the woods, for being unable to find her, for being the one to put her reanimated corpse down. Sophia was a name neither of them ever uttered to each other. They had worked hard to move beyond it, bonding over caring for the kids and building a community here in the shelter of the prison.
When Carol had wanted to have a real Christmas this year, Rick had been the first to come on board with the idea. He and Carl had gone off into the woods and come back with a ten foot tall spruce and everyone had been making ornaments in preparation for the Christmas Eve gathering. When Michonne and Daryl had returned and saw the large pine in the mess, they'd looked puzzled, which saddened Carol, realizing that they'd had no idea that it was only a few days until December 25th.
"Knock knock!" Carol called brightly as she and Judith arrived at the storeroom door down in the Tombs after first stopping in the kitchen to mix up a fresh bottle of formula. The unheated cells bellow ground made a perfect larder and Rick and Hershel were looking forward to seeing the first hams from their piglets hanging from the ceiling there in the spring. Carol swung the door open and was surprised to see Lizzie, Mikka and their father in a hushed conversation with Rick and Daryl, who wore a deeply bemused expression on his face.
"Thank you for explaining that to us." Lizzie said carefully. "That makes a lot more sense than what we thought."
"No problem girls." Rick said solemnly and then smiled happily as he saw it was Carol and Judith at the door. "Hey, there's my two favorite gals!" Daryl's brows drew together in a small frown at his friend's words. Carol carried Judith over to her daddy, but instead she reached for Daryl, which made his brow clear and his mouth settle into a smirk as he held out his hands for the baby.
"Hi Miss Carol!" Both girls chorused, looking quite smug, and Carol frowned at them as she handed Judith off to Daryl.
"Lizzie? Mikka? Is there a problem?" Carol felt like a teacher being reported to the principal for some reason. She worried that something she had told them in the lesson might have offended them—it was a lecture about pre-Christian symbols after all.
"Nope—no problem at all!" Mikka piped up with a grin and the two girls joined hands and looked up at their father, "Right daddy?"
"Right!" he nodded at them and then smiled at Carol. "Be seeing you." he gave her a little salute and ushered the girls out of the room as they all said quick goodbyes.
"What do you need, hon?" Rick asked Carol, deliberately baiting Daryl's scowl, a little annoyed that his daughter preferred the other man today and so getting back at him by using the southern endearment for his friend.
"Fresh clean snow—Judi's teething and it would help if I could ice one of those liquid teething rings you brought back from the last run." Carol replied, looking a bit wistful as she watched Daryl hold the child.
"That why she'd be gnawin' on me?" Daryl asked wryly, looking at the trail of drool running down the front of his vest as he tried to hold the baby face front, limiting her access to the leather.
"Maybe she just thinks you look tasty." Rick quipped, slanting a sly glance at Carol whose cheeks blushed pink at the idea of tasting Daryl...
"Could be..." Daryl said blandly, looking down at Judith and pacing in a circle with her, preoccupied with keeping the baby from turning back around and grabbing a hold of his vest again.
"Just hope no one else thinks that." Daryl added, meaning walkers, but Carol winced as if he'd slapped her and turned away. Rick saw her distress and put his hand on her arm comfortingly and she leaned into his touch, grateful as always for his understanding.
When Daryl finished his circuit of the room he saw them standing closely together and scowled.
"Here—better have her back now so's we can go get your snow." Daryl said gruffly, and Rick released Carol's arm so she could take the baby from the other man. Daryl's fingers inadvertently brushed against the side of her breast as he handed Judith off and her eyes rose to him in shock, but his expression was even more confusing—instead of the embarrassment she expected, he was looking at her with narrowed eyes and an ever so slight smile on his intense face, as if he'd done it on purpose and was gauging her response.
Carol blinked up at him, all big blue eyed puzzlement and he tilted his head at her and took a step back and gave Rick a comradely smack on the shoulder, knocking him slightly forward with the force of it, so that the former sheriff's deputy stumbled a bit.
"You ready?" Daryl asked Rick, who snorted and flashed Carol a grin that she had no idea how to interpret. Rick took two steps towards Carol and the baby and leaned in to kiss the top of his daughter's head and then also kissed Carol's cheek before he stepped back.
Daryl scowled again and looked intensely at Carol.
"Stay safe." the tracker said to her quietly before he swept out of the room, a chuckling Rick in his wake. A very confused Carol watched them go, wondering what that strange little game of ups-man ship had been all about.
"You are a fucking idiot!"
Carol heard Rick's angry voice berating someone from all the way in the cell block and came running. He was in the mess hall from the sound of it and she almost slid past the door because of the amount of ice and snow someone had tracked in to the hallway. Carl was standing guard outside the door, with instructions to keep people out, but he allowed her to pass. When she entered the room she saw Hershel had Daryl seated atop one of the metal tables while both Rick and Michonne looked on in concern.
"What happened?" Carol asked a bit breathlessly, trying to see around Hershel.
"Fell and dislocated his shoulder." Hershel said, holding Daryl's right arm up, the hand braced against his chest as he palpated the younger man's shoulder.
"Fell? Fell off what?" Carol asked, skirting around the table so she was standing to Daryl's left. She lifted her right hand to touch his left one which was braced, gripping the table, but her fingertips just grazed it. Then his hand came off the table and held hers tightly.
"A tree." Rick said, sounding disgusted. Daryl made an inarticulate sound of pain as Hershel continued to carefully examine him.
"Shit." Hershel said morosely.
"What?" Carol asked anxiously.
"Collar bone's broken too." Hershel told them with a sigh.
"Well, that's just great." Rick bit out.
"How long's he gonna be laid up?" Michonne asked flatly. "We were planning on heading out again after New Year's."
Carol glanced sharply at Daryl. This was the first she'd heard of it. She tried to pull her hand from his, but he wouldn't let go.
"At least a month before he'll be able to hold a rifle, six weeks or more depending on how fast the bones knit 'til he heals up enough to draw his bow or control the bike. Won't be much use to you out on the road." Hershel pronounced in that slow no nonsense way he had of making medical assessments.
"The hell you say." Daryl said miserably, looking apologetically at Michonne who grunted and left the room in a huff.
"Looks like you'll both be stickin' close to home after all." Rick said, his eyes shifting from Daryl's unhappy face to Carol's, and then he flashed her a quick grin and then went after the warrior woman.
"Carol, I'm gonna need your help getting' this back in, especially with the collar bone complicating it." Hershel told Carol, looking down at the couples' held hands and concealing a grin.
"I've done it before." Carol told him and gave Daryl's hand a squeeze before she released it.
"Got him all tucked in?" Carol asked as he saw Rick and Carl come out of Daryl's cell later that evening. After they'd put his shoulder back in and rigged an immobilizing sling Hershel had ordered bed rest so the Grimes men had helped him to his cell while Carol was pressed into service with the final preparation for the next night's festivities.
"He was out before his head hit the pillow—I think Hershel slipped him some cattle tranquilizers." Rick told her with a placating smile.
"So what was he doing up in a tree? Scouting ahead? Was there a herd?" Carol asked quietly, with a nod towards the cell. She'd been imagining all kinds of scenarios, each more dangerous than the last.
"Can't say." Rick shrugged noncommittally, putting his hands on Carl's shoulders. "Hey—don't you need this guy for his fitting?" he asked, distracting her from her line of questioning.
Carol looked over their shoulders to the cell behind them, and Rick could tell she had come up to check on Daryl, but he was under strict instructions to not let her in.
"Carol?" Carl asked, putting a bit of a whine into it. "It's ok if you don't want me—I'm not exactly thrilled to be—"
"Oh no—you're not getting out of it that easily. Come on." and she took the boy by his forearm, pulling him away from his father, but after only a few steps she stopped and turned back to Rick.
"Thank you—for getting him back here in one piece." she told him.
"A little worse for wear." Rick admitted ruefully.
"He's alive—that's all I need." Carol said and then looked embarrassed. "All we need." she amended quickly and then turned and strode forward, heading down the stairs with Carl in tow. Rick turned back to the cell behind him and went back inside. Daryl was sitting up in his bunk, but he was clearly in pain, his face pale, pinched and drawn.
"You ready to take Hershel's cattle pills now?" Rick asked his friend.
"You gonna do what I want?" Daryl asked, squinting up at him. "Won't say a word?"
"Said I would. You don't trust me now?" Rick asked impatiently. "Hauled your ass outa the woods after you pulled that fool stunt. Could a left you for walker bait." he handed Daryl the big pill and a bottle of water that he'd set on the wall shelf earlier.
"An' you'll come get me—make sure I don't miss it? Hershel said this could knock me out for almost a day." Daryl asked somewhat anxiously. After all the trouble he'd gone to, he didn't want to miss the fruits of his labors.
"I promise." Rick said solemnly, and then he smiled. "She's gonna love it." He added softly as Daryl took a big gulp of water, swallowing the pill down. Rick flashed back on their little foray into the woods earlier.
"Those girls!" Rick laughed as he and Daryl made their way through the woods surrounding the prison wearing the snow shoes that Glenn had come up with using old tennis racquets they'd scavenged from Woodbury. Neither of them could remember this much snow in west Georgia this close to Christmas. There was a good two feet on the ground and more falling, easy to see in the light of the full moon.
"Kids mishear stuff all of the time." Daryl grumbled, still a bit pissed off at Rick for his casual kiss with Carol earlier. Yea, it had just been on the cheek, but the obvious comfort that the two had with one another's touches had made Daryl feel as antsy as hell and he didn't like it.
"But wanting to know which walker along the fence was 'Miss L'? Man, that's priceless."
"Those kids all need to stay away from the fences." Daryl said with a sour look. The snow had one good effect on the walkers—it made it harder for them to get around. Their flesh and joints froze up and slowed them down, making them easier pickings, their pathetic blue faces and lack of understanding at what was happening to them making them pitiful.
"They wanted to do a nice thing for Carol—I think that's sweet...just like she is..." Rick said leadingly, back to baiting Daryl.
The tracker stopped, lowering his cross bow. The fluffy white snowflakes caught in his long eyelashes and frosted his long dark hair as he glared at Rick.
"Awright—give it to me straight—you two havin' a thing?" Daryl growled.
"Are you an' Michonne?" Rick countered challengingly.
"Hell no!" Daryl said with a frown, his head going back in surprise. He and Michonne were like he and Rick—warriors, comrades, brothers.
"She thinks you are." Rick said.
"Carol? Carol thinks Michonne and me...that why she's with you?" Daryl asked angrily.
"You care?" Rick asked curiously, canting his head at the other man. "You ain't been around much. A good woman like that gets lonely..." Rick knew he was running a big risk here. It was 50/50 whether Daryl would just shrug and wish for the two of them to be happy together or punch him in the face.
"You kissed her." Daryl said.
"Yeah." Rick said, crossing his fingers at the white lie—the brotherly kiss on her cheek today had been the first.
"More?"
"Not yet." Rick said evenly.
"Hold this." Daryl said, thrusting the cross bow at Rick and bending to untie his make-shift snow shoes.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked, but Daryl didn't respond. Instead he looked at a tall tree in front of them, barren of most of its leaves, but with a smudge of dark round patches near the top. Daryl muscled his way through the snow until he was at the tree's base and then started climbing it. He made it to the top and pulled out his big knife and methodically cut several of the large bunches of green leafy balls away from the tree and dropped them the good 15-20 feet to the ground. He put away his knife and started back down, but unfortunately one of the branches he was using as a hand hold was dead and let loose with a crack, plunging him down. The snow helped break his fall, but he was obviously in pain. Rick plowed through the snow, carrying the bow, his rifle and Daryl's' snow shoes.
"What the hell, Daryl! You could a broke your fuckin' neck!" Rick said in an angry but quiet voice, not wanting to attract anyone or anything's attention. Daryl scowled at him, but just before he passed out he reached to the side with his good arm and stuffed one of the clumps of foliage into the front of his coat.
"Ho, ho, ho!" cried the jolly old elf in a red suit made from a set of red velvet theater curtains Glenn and Maggie had found in an abandoned movie house. Hershel was born to play the part, especially with the way both his beard and his hair had grown over the last few months. Looking a little less jolly, dressed in green velvet with pointy shoes and hat was his chief elf, Carl, who was busy lining up the kids for their turn sitting on Santa's lap, with aid from assistant elf Patrick.
Carol stood to one side of the door watching all of the happy people gathered together in celebration, Tyreese and Karen, Beth and Zack, Maggie and Glenn, Rick holding Judith as he stopped by the tables of new and old residents alike. The food was ready, the decorations were done and she was exhausted, but it had all been worth it. She had donned her new red velvet dress sewn from the same curtains as Hershel's coat and pants. She'd foregone the white faux fur trim and black belt, not wanting anyone to think she was Mrs. Claus. The cut was simple, hugging her slender figure, with a swinging full skirt that fell to just below her knees. For once she felt festive and pretty. She scanned the room for that certain person, but didn't see him. Michonne was also not present and Carol felt her heart sink, wondering if the swordswoman was with Daryl, trying to convince him that she'd wait until he was healed before going back out.
"Hey." a quiet voice said from behind her and she turned towards it. Daryl was standing just at the threshold to the room. In deference to the occasion he wore black jeans and he'd had Rick help him put on a long sleeved black shirt which he wore buttoned to the top with a silver bolo tie adding to the formality. He hadn't been this dressed up since Glenn and Maggie's wedding. His fringe of bangs was even a little under control, combed back off his forehead to the side. Daryl shifted from foot to foot, but didn't come any further into the room. He was a little awed at how beautiful she looked tonight; all dressed up, the lady in red...
"Carol?" he asked, looking at her shyly, a muscle in his left cheek just under his eye twitching.
"What is it Daryl—are you ok?" she asked with concern. He really probably shouldn't be up and about yet, she thought with worry. Carol moved towards him, coming close so she could hear his soft voice above the din of excited children behind them.
"So...uh... you believe in all them Christmas traditions you been teachin' the kids about?" Daryl drawled, reaching out with his left arm and tentatively letting his hand rest at her waist. When she frowned at him he let his blue eyes rise skyward. Carol lifted her chin so she could see where he was indicating and then looked back at him, wide eyed, just as his lips met hers.
"That's it!" Lizzie and Mikka cried in delight when they saw the sprig of leafy green and little white berries hanging in the doorway to the mess hall, the plant that Daryl had climbed an oak tree in the woods to get the day before. "Miss L's toes!"
The girls looked conspiratorially at Rick and their father, who were both grinning as they watched Daryl maneuver Carol under the mistletoe and then proceed to kiss the hell out of her.
Happy Holidays everyone!
If you are a follower of my other WIPs, I'll be working on updating them over the winter break, but wanted to get this out to you as my Holiday card of sorts. Take care & Caryl on:)
DD1
