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Carol was always a light sleeper, but with the birds constantly chirping in the trees and the sounds of the camp coming to life outside of her tent, sleeping in would definately not be an option. She slowly began to open her eyes and rolled over to look at the man sleeping next to her. Ezekiel was gorgeous, he had a smoldering stare and a smile that brought his face to life just for her, his body was modeled and chiseled from a life that had started out as a zookeeper and had turned into a man that fought along side her. She, oddly, did not view Ezekiel as her equal, they were a couple, they were friends, they were lovers, but this man was not her soulmate. She felt guilt over this fact, he was head over heels in love with her and more often than not; after they would make love as Ezekiel was left sated and fell asleep her mind would drift to Daryl Dixon, her soulmate. Ezekiel was the polar opposite of Ed, he treated her good, said nice things, cooked for her, fought with her, worshiped her body into the wee hours of the morning but even through all these magnificent things she still felt that pull towards Daryl. When she first met Daryl he was so hot-headed, so immature; then he had turned into a man of honor, a man that could possibly one day be worthy of her; and now he was changing more, maturing, turning into someone that could learn to love and be loved. All of these changes were because of Carol.
Carol had to meet Daryl that morning to discuss plans and work on ways to further sustain their communities. He had distanced himself when he had found out about her and Ezekiel, he had take up residence at the Sanctuary. He came around often enough, everytime he came he spent time with her. They had been getting more and more back to their old selves but there was still a wall between them, even moreso with Ezekiel always lurking. Ezekiel and Daryl were not the best of friends, they would speak of nothing but small talk to one another and Ezekiel was usually coming around to invade their space when Carol and Daryl were alone, which was not often. Carol went to get out of bed, she tried to duck out from under Ezekiel's arm but as soon as she moved he embraced her tighter. "Where are you going so early?" he asked as he rested his chin on Carol's shoulder, his eyes still closed. "I promised Daryl I'd meet him to scout out the next place the communities will gather to search for edible vegetation and possibly a new farming site, the soil at the Hilltop seems to not be producing as quickly as our communities are growing...and plus, I can't sleep anyway. I need to get up and get going."
"Can't you stay?" he said as he turned her head towards him and took her mouth with his. "Breakfast in bed, a walk in the afternoon, maybe do something with Henry and then later we can come back here and take a nap" he continued trying to persuade her as he kissed slowly down her neck towards her collarbones. "You know how I am, I have to contribute, I haven't had a day off since I was staying in the cottage outside of the Kingdom, I wouldn't feel right and plus everything has turned around and is going so well. I want to keep it that way." Carol lifted his arm from around her, pulled back from him and kissed his hand. "I'll be back before you know it, we'll go see Henry this afternoon, don't you have training to do with Jerry this afternoon with a group, anyway?" Carol asked. Ezekiel rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Before he could even get out of bed Carol had already thrown on her button up shirt, cargoes, boots, and her knife and was ready to go. As she placed her hand on the tent's entrance to flip the cover back to depart Ezekiel spoke, "you look beautiful today, I love you". Carol gave him a small smile and rolled her eyes, "I'll see you tonight, have a good day" and was gone.
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Daryl opened the flap of the tent to find Carol already working. He had gotten up extra early today because he was so excited to be spending some time with her. She must have had the same idea because she was earlier than he was. She heard him open the tent flap and turned around and gave him one of her 100 watt smiles. His stomach filled with butterflies as she spoke, "morning, Pookie". He responded by walking over to her and lightly hitting her on the shoulder and responded "mornin'" in his rough southern drawl. "How'd you sleep?" she asked, "like we were back out on the road after the farm, not a damn wink. You?" and she simply responded "same".
He had walked to the other side of the table to begin working and went to reach for the pencil that was lying in the middle of the map at the same time as Carol. He did not remove his hand from her's when they connected. They both seemed to be in a sort of a trance. Both raised their eyes at the same time and when their eyes met Carol was met with a Daryl she had never seen before. His eyes were filled with something she could not quite place, was it longing, pain, sadness, lust? She had never been able to not read him. He slowly began stroking her hand with his thumb in small circles and Carol's breath hitched. She looked down at their hands and then back to him, he had no idea where his boldness came from but he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it slowly. He turned her hand over where her wrist was facing upwards and kissed the pulsepoint of her wrist. "You ever think about when we were on the road, how we spent time together, we were inseperable...I think about it all the time". Carol was speechless, where had this Daryl come from? Was he making a move on her? Now? She was rendered speechless and the moment was fleeting, Daryl placed her hand back on the table, grabbed the pencil and said "alright, let's get to work".
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They had been in the tent what felt like hours, neither one had spoken much after the pencil incident. One of the newer resident's they had found when they had gone to Washington, Peter, comes into the tent to confront Daryl about taking his gun. "Dixon, where the fuck did you put my gun? I know it was you. You are the one that keeps telling everybody I can't be trusted, now where did you stash it?" Peter walks around the table and begins getting in Daryl's face. Before Daryl can respond all of a sudden a chipper Ezekiel appears. Ezekiel comes barrelling in the tent with flowers. He grabs Carol around the waist, swinging her, picking her up off the floor and lays a big wet kiss on her in front of Daryl, Peter, and Jerry. Ezekiel keeps their lips locked for a solid 30 seconds before coming up for air "had to come see how my girl's day was going, I missed you. I brought you these. I picked them out from the new garden. It's getting to be so beautiful over there. Maybe we can go on a walk later tonight?" Carol is holding the flowers in her hand, jaw agape, looking between Jerry, Ezekiel, and Daryl. Daryl is staring at Ezekiel like he wants to kill him. "Hi Daryl, hope you are getting enough time in with my girl doing all this work. I want her to myself later." Ezekiel walks around the edge of the table to see what they have completed and smacks Daryl on the back "wow, this design looks really promising man, awesome work". Daryl looks across the table to Carol and tells Ezekiel that it was all Carol's design he was simply looking it over. "That's my girl" Ezekiel replies and Carol looks over to Daryl and he is looking at her with so much hurt in his face that she can't breathe. She doesn't know what to do, what to say. All of a sudden Peter chimes in, they had forgotten he was there "damn Dixon, I thought she was your girl. Didn't know she belongs to the King" and Daryl got up in Peter's face, "she don't belong to no one, she's her own damn person". Carol finally snaps out of it and walks in between Daryl and Peter, "ok boys, let's stop this. We've got work to finish, we'll be done shortly. If you all could give us just another couple of minutes we will be done for the night". Carol looks helplessly to Daryl and she feels tears coming to the surface. The pain in his face just keeps increasing the more time all these men continue to stay in this tent where they had created their safe space. Ezekiel leans in for another kiss as he leaves, slapping Daryl on the back as he exits "thanks for taking care of my girl today Daryl, see you later baby". Jerry and Ezekiel leave the tent while Peter continues just standing there.
"Can you take a hint dude, wait for me outside" Daryl says to Peter.
"I'm not going anywhere till you give me my damn gun back, Dixon"
"WAIT FOR ME OUTSIDE!" Daryl screams at Peter. Carol whips her head around, she had not heard that tone from him since he was looking for Merle at the quarry and was pissed at Rick and co.
"I'll be out there, I'm giving you 10 minutes dude, that's it and then I'm coming back in here, I'm not gonna be able to defend myself" and with that Peter stalked outside of the tent.
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Dead silence has fallen between them, neither one knowing what to say.
Carol clears her throat and continues to act like she is working, he knows better. Knows she is not doing anything and knows her brain is not on anything that has to do with vegetation.
"What the hell was that?" Daryl asks
Carol does not answer, just simply looks at him with tears in her eyes. "Does he do shit like that just to get a rise out of me? What the hell was that?" waiting on Carol to say something, anything.
"He was just being Ezekiel, showing his love with a grand display of affection" Carol begins packing up her supplies.
"Showing his love Carol, that's what we are calling what you have with him? It's love?" Carol is speechless again, she begins crying, "maybe, maybe it is Daryl. I have to go."
Daryl goes to her side of the table, "I don't want you to go, this discussion isn't over. Do you love him?" Carol looks up at him, he grabs her arm to pull her back, "dammit Carol, do you love him?" She sees the pain in his face, either way someone gets hurt. She's dying inside. "I have love for him, I'm not in love". He begins pacing, "I can't do this anymore, I can't watch him kiss you, I can't be around you knowing that you are sleeping in his bed at night, I can't do this"
"Why do you care about all that Daryl, you let me know my place with you a long time ago. You have no right to do this to me, NOW!" Carol began throwing her supplies back in her bag.
"You know I care, I've always cared. You're my best friend and it kills me to see you not being the Carol that I know"
She's not paying him any attention now, she lost him at "friend". She's packing up, she's furious, she's late for her evening with Ezekiel, she didn't get her plans done like she wanted, now she's fighting with Daryl, could this day get any worse or more confusing. She wants to run away again. She slings her bag over her shoulder and goes to leave but Daryl isn't having it. He pulls her back towards him, he rips the bag off of her arm and he pushes her against the table they had been working at. He puts one hand on her neck and the other hand goes to her hip. She gets more angry, she lifts her arm grabbing his hand from her neck, "don't touch me" and goes to pull away from him. His hold on her hip tightens as he places the other hand alongside her face, "look at me, Carol" and when their eyes meet she is enraged even more than before. She brings both of her arms up this time and pushes at his chest with both of her hands full force, it knocks him back a breath. His eyes darken when she does this and she goes to walk away again, this time he grabs her wrist, spins her back against his chest. They are both breathing heavily, her back against his chest with her arm locked behind her back. He moves his other hand up to cup her neck and turn her head towards him. "Look at me!" she is still pissed but she allows him to turn her head towards him, their eyes meet and his thumb begins caressing her cheek as the tears begin to fall down her face. She begins calming as he brings her back to connect with his chest. She can feel his heartbeat, it is soothing, bringing her peace. He is wiping her tears with his thumb and she looks up at him. He's never been able to resist her and those eyes. When their eyes connect in this moment, the anger she was feeling has submerged for now. He leans in, both of their hearts speeding up, he places a chaste kiss to her cheek to catch a tear as it falls. He begins kissing away all the tears that fall down her face and then he takes a chance. He places his heart and soul on the line and catches her lips with his. The moment their lips meet in their first kiss it is the culmination of years of unbridled passion, sexual tension, fear, anger, happiness, euphoria, ecstasy, sadness. Everything they have ever felt in their soul is poured into this kiss, creating explosions, a fusing of souls. They are soulmates, they have always been. The kiss intensifies, he lowers his hand to gently caress her neck while his other hand pulls her hip to bring her body closer to his. He craves her, to be close to her; as close as two people can be. He pushes her mouth open, seeking admittance to her tongue, he wants to taste her. As she slowly opens her mouth to grant him access their tongues begin fighting for dominance. His wins, he worships her mouth with his tongue, brushing across every surface inside and out. She begins to roll her hips and push her ass back into him, against him. He moans into her mouth as they begin creating a fire together that if they keep going will not be able to be put out. He continues his assault on her mouth and he begins kissing her neck, down towards her collarbones, she is still grinding against him as she lifts her arm up to wrap her arm around his neck to ground his head to where he wouldn't be able to stop kissing her neck.
"God, you are all I have ever wanted, I want you, sweetheart", when Daryl says this it brings Carol back to the present. Her anger comes flooding to the surface again at his words. "You want me now Daryl, now that I'm with someone else. How dare you! You have owned my heart for years, why now? Because now you want what you can't have?" She has stopped kissing him, brought their heads together and whispered this to him. All of a sudden that hand that was gently teasing and pulling his hair tightens and twists his hair to bring his ear down to her mouth, "you said it yourself, I don't belong to anyone." Carol jerked his head back and pushes away from him.
She walks towards the side of the tent, not staring at him but staring at blankness. He gives her one last look at the back of her head as he storms out and sees Peter with a smirk on his face. He had heard the whole entire thing. He lunges towards Peter and begins punching him, over and over. Taking out his frustration, his anger, his loss on this man. Carol is wiping the tears from her eyes, composing herself to go back to their tent and face Ezekiel when she hears the commotion outside. She lifts the flap of the tent to find Daryl in a brawl with Peter. Daryl continues to pummel Peter as she exits the tent screaming at Daryl, "Daryl, stop it!"
...to be continued