Hey, everyone! Another headcanon that plays on the Caryl relationship through interactions with other characters has been served! I hope you enjoy it (and if you don't, please leave me a slightly irrelevant review so that I can get sassy to someone... It's three days 'til my first exam and i feel like sassing some people haha)
The rain pattered softly against the roof of the house as Carol lay in the empty bed. She was wide awake, her arm thrown around Daryl's pillow in a lonely embrace as she inhaled his scent and listened to the rain. It was nothing unusual, even though it was the first bout of rain they'd had as autumn gave way to winter, and it was a soothing distraction from the niggling doubt that nestled in her stomach.
She'd gone to bed early, almost as soon as the darkness outside had settled like a blanket across the farm. She had been in a fanciful, dark sort of mood, and the way the shadows had slipped down the stone wall had looked to her like gnarled fingers creeping over the top and into their sanctuary. Despite her imagination, she had crawled into the bed in her clothes and tried to sleep.
Sleep evaded her for almost an hour before she heard a soft rap on the door. She rolled off the bed and padded down the hallway in an oversized pair of Daryl's socks that she'd stolen that morning.
It was Carl, dripping water off the brim of his hat, in a damp shirt and jeans. When she opened the door after turning on the hallway light, he looked up at her and squinted.
"I didn't mean to wake you up." He said.
She reached for him and took him by the shoulder, drawing him out of the chilling air and into the warmth of the house. "You didn't… I don't really sleep when Daryl's away." She admitted, steering him towards the living room where the fire crackled. "Is something wrong, Carl?"
He shrugged. "Not really. Dad's kinda mopey with Michonne gone, and I just thought you might be missing Daryl so I wondered if I could hang out here?"
Carol was taken aback by his thoughtfulness. "Of course! What did you have in mind? I'm pretty sure I have a scrabble board somewhere." She suggested.
"Scrabble sounds… fun?" He tried.
She laughed. "How about some hot chocolate? I have some squirreled away for when the baby demands it."
"No," He protested softly. "It's for you, Daryl just about tore that store apart looking for it. You should have all of it."
"Sweet boy," She clucked. "You can't drink hot chocolate without someone to share it with! Come on…" She tempted him towards the kitchen.
Daryl stood in the dark store, staring intently down at the soft yellow baby-gro in his hands. He stroked the fabric with his thumb and placed it back on the shelf.
"Take it." Glenn advised. "Just in case."
"Ain't sure I should."
"Daryl, just take it."
"She might lose it. Happened before."
"Shit, man, you never said anything. I'm so sorry."
"Nah, not with me. Don' wanna get my hopes up, is all." Daryl shrugged, still looking down at the yellow material.
"It'll probably turn out fine. Maggie and Rory did. I was terrified, the whole time, but it all worked out. Carol and the bab-"
"Don't!" Daryl snarled. "You'll jinx it!"
"Whoa…" Glenn soothed. "I'll stop talking, okay? If it makes you feel better, I mean."
"Jus' don't say anythin' that'll fuck anythin' up."
Glenn squinted at him in confusion. "Never took you for the superstitious type." He commented, taking the baby-gro and shoving it into his own bag. "You always been such a spaz?"
Daryl smacked him around the back of the head. "Just don' wanna jinx it, y'know? S'my kid."
"I get it." Glenn shrugged, grabbing clothes for Rory to grow into. "I was scared the whole time when Maggie was pregnant. Not that you're scared, of course, just… That weird feeling, like you shouldn't get too hopeful? I know."
"I am." Daryl said shortly, pausing in his rifling to shoot Glenn a quick look. "Scared."
Glenn shrugged. "Fair enough."
They wandered down the rows of random things, grabbing anything they could use later. After a while, Michonne wandered back to join them, shoving a water bottle at them.
"This rain isn't going to stop until the morning, if then." She muttered, shuffling listlessly through the items in her own bag. "I think we should call it a night."
Glenn's torch flickered at the right moment to convince them.
"Hey." Daryl hedged as he unrolled his bedroll. "Glenn."
"Yeah?" Glenn asked distractedly as he yanked at the string holding his sleeping mat tightly rolled.
Daryl yanked on the right string and the mat unfurled. He then lowered himself onto his own, a few feet away, and squirmed around until he was comfortable.
"What?" Glenn prompted. "You were about to ask me something."
"Don't matter." Daryl grunted and rolled over so he was facing away from Glenn, towards the door.
"Come on," Glenn said. "Try me."
Daryl rolled over onto his back, barely discernable in the dark. "When Maggie was pregnant…" He fidgeted.
"Yeah?"
"Was she, uh… Y'know…" He rubbed at his scruff. "Uh… Friendlier than usual?"
"Ooh," Michonne chimed in as she joined them. "You've gotten to the fun bit!"
"Fuck off." Daryl muttered, covering his face with both hands as he lay on his back.
"Take advantage of it while it lasts…" Michonne said, her delight evident in her tone.
"She's right." Glenn said apologetically. "Hormones are terrifying, it's safer just to go with it."
"Cravings started?" Michonne asked, sitting cross-legged on her foam mattress, munching on some venison jerky Carol had packed for them.
"Not really." Daryl allowed. "She's after hot chocolate all the damn time, but she ain't goin' crazy or nothin'."
"All I wanted was fish sticks." Michonne mumbled around her mouthful of food. "I hated fish sticks."
"I'd kill for some fish sticks." Glenn sighed. "Did you find her hot chocolate?"
Daryl rattled his bag that lay near his head. "Found four tins. Last a couple months, maybe."
"Y'know, Dixon," Michonne said smugly. "You're kind of a catch." He snorted and Glenn chortled. "No, hear me out. You love her, and that's obvious. It always has been. But the way you spoil her means a lot to her even if you pretend it's not a big deal."
"What else am I s'posed to do? Shit, she's got a fuckin' person growin' in her, least I can do is get her some hot chocolate." Daryl replied, flustered.
"She was telling me about her ex-husband the other day." Michonne murmured in the dark as she shuffled around, laying down to sleep.
"Nasty asshole." Glenn shuddered.
"Should'a killed the bastard straight off." Daryl snarled.
"She said you let her bash his head in with a pickaxe." Michonne snickered. "Get tired of being the other man?"
"You're an asshole." Daryl grumped. "Nothin' happened 'til we got to the farm."
"Bullshit!" Glenn scoffed. "You had a thing since that first night at the prison." He heard Daryl fidget in surprise. "Yeah… I saw that little neck-rub." Daryl could feel the smugness radiating off of Glenn from the few feet away.
"That weren't…" He began, but both Glenn and Michonne scoffed simultaneously. "Whatever. Go the fuck to sleep, both'a y'all."
They laughed at him and silence fell.
Carl sat curled up on the sofa, nearest the fireplace. His damp clothes had been swapped for some sweatpants and one of Daryl's t-shirts, and the wet items hung on a rack to dry. Carol sat at the other end of the sofa, cradling a cup of hot chocolate to her chest, smiling at some story he and Mika were telling about the rabbits that had escaped their hutch. Mika was snuggled up to her, one hand resting lightly on the baby bump as she chimed into the story every so often.
She could feel the baby fluttering around, but Mika hadn't felt it yet. She prodded her belly gently and the baby kicked, making Mika gasp with delight mid-tale.
"It's kicking!" She beamed. "Carl, feel it!"
"Can I?" Carl asked from his seat.
Carol beckoned him over. He kneeled on the rug beside her and laid his hand against her belly, and she shifted his hand until he could feel it. The grin that lit up his face was fleeting but brilliant, until his face fell.
Carol sighed, knowing he was thinking of Lori. "He's getting ready to wake me up during the night." She smiled. "Jokes on him, I'm not asleep…"
"You think it's a boy?" Carl asked, a hopeful little smile on his face again.
"I don't know for sure… But I feel like this one's a boy. And Daryl says there's never been a female Dixon born, so I guess it's a boy. I'd hate to see what a Dixon girl would be like." She giggled.
"Like Mika," Carl teased. "But even more ferocious."
Mika nudged him with her foot. Carol laughed at the interaction.
"What're you going to call it? Him?" Carl asked, still feeling the soft bumps of the baby's hands and feet nudging her belly.
"I was thinking… Caleb? It means 'faith' or 'devotion'." Mika petted her stomach.
"I like it." She mumbled.
"It's a good name." Carl agreed. He yawned widely, still kneeling on the floor.
"It's late." Carol yawned in response. "You two should go on to bed."
"Okay." Mika sighed, sitting up and clambering to her feet. "I'll go rinse the cups out first."
"Leave them, honey. I'll get them." Carol said, reaching and wriggling her fingers for Mika to help her up. Mika took her hands and hauled her to her feet, giggling. "The bed's made in the spare room, Carl. It's far too wet for you to go out there."
"Thanks." He yawned again. "Goodnight." And with that, he wandered down the hallway to the spare room.
Mika hugged her again. "You should try get some sleep." She suggested.
"I think that hot chocolate fixed me." She chuckled, and rubbed the girl's back. "Off you go."
As soon as Mika was in her bed, Carol wandered around the living room, feeling Carl's damp jeans and moving the rack further away from the fireplace. She gathered up the empty cups and stacked them in the sink, and re-wiped the bench and tabletop. Once the kitchen was organized, she checked on the half-grown puppy in the kennel that lived on the porch off the kitchen door, but he was snoring in his bundle of old blankets over the roar of the rain.
Eventually, she went back to bed and lay awake, cuddling Daryl's pillow tightly to her chest.
It was still raining heavily when the trio returned home the next afternoon. They pulled up at the gates, which were abandoned due to the torrential downpour, and pulled into the courtyard as close to the barn doors as they could manage. Daryl stepped out into the rain and threw the doors open, and began hauling stuff out of the back of the pickup, while Glenn pulled up next to him in the other car.
"Where's Michonne?" Carl called as he came down the passage in the barn to help unpack.
"Sulkin' in the truck," Daryl huffed. "She got her hair done this mornin'," He hollered in her direction where she sat in the cab. "Don' wanna ruin it in the rain!"
He and Carl laughed when she flipped them both off.
"Seen Carol?" He asked the boy, shaking like a dog to dislodge some of the water.
"She's at Beth and Tara's showing Beth some medicine stuff. She's been there all day."
"Reckon you can finish unloading with 'Chonne?" Daryl said, searching out the heaviest items to pull down so Carl wouldn't have to. "I'll go see Carol."
"Go on, loverboy," Michonne sighed, shaking the water out of her dreads just inside the barn doors. "We'll finish up here."
"Thanks," He said, letting her playful jab slide. "See y'all later." He took off jogging through the pouring rain towards the cottage where he hoped to find her.
"He's so whipped." Michonne grinned.
"They're happy." Carl shrugged, but grinned back at her.
Beth opened the door and hurried him inside, shoving a towel at him while he kicked off his sodden boots.
"Is everything okay?" She asked. "Why're you puffing?"
"Everythin's fine," He cracked a small smile. "'M getting' old, is all." Beth laughed.
"Carol's in the kitchen. She's been tryin' to teach us some of her homeopathy stuff all day."
"How's that goin'?" He quipped, following her up the hallway.
"About as well as you'd expect." She said dryly. "We've drunk a lot of tea."
She was facing the door, sitting at the kitchen table at an angle to Tara, cradling a cup of tea in her hands. She broke off their conversation when she saw him and he found himself grinning like an idiot in response to the way her face lit up at his presence.
"Good run?" She said, starting to rise from her chair.
"Don' get up." He said quickly, heading for the seat next to her on her other side. "Went a'ight… Got soaked but the truck's getting' unloaded now, stuff should still be okay. You good?"
She offered him her mug of hot tea but his fingers were too cold to hold it securely, so he let it rest on the table and warm his hands. "I'm okay." She said, bumping him with her shoulder. "A bit tired but it's been pretty uneventful around here."
The warm kitchen air wasn't doing enough to keep the chill off his damp skin and soaked clothing. Gooseflesh broke out on his exposed skin and she tutted.
"We should get home." She said, leaning on his shoulder to get to her feet and running her hand through his hair. He bristled internally at the soft coos of adoration the two girls gave out until Carol winked at him, unseen by the others.
"Good idea." He managed. "Have a nice evenin', you two." He called as they headed back down the hallway and prepared to dash for their own home.
"Where's Mika?" He mumbled as he detached himself from her lips for a moment on their front porch.
"With Maggie." She replied, fumbling behind herself for the door handle.
"Overnight?" He asked, kicking the door shut behind them and making her giggle.
She just wriggled her eyebrows at him and flounced towards the master bedroom.
I don't know what happened to the last part of this, tbh, but I wanted to get it posted. I hope you liked it, and reviews are ALWAYS appreciated!