Daryl looked up from cleaning his bows to see Carol emerging from the house in the damn-near stupidest, most trophy wife outfit he'd ever seen. He hated it. Those stupid clothes did nothing to show off how strong she had become over the last few months. She was a survivor. Not some stay-at-home mom. He scoffed and returned to his cleaning until she started talking about junior league and cooking and shit. What the hell? This wasn't his Carol. She headed down the front porch stairs as he followed her with his eyes. Damn. Those pants did give him a nice view of her perfect ass. He guessed it wasn't the outfit so much as who she was pretending to be in the outfit.
A few days passed and Carol's outfits kept getting more and more . . . domestic. He couldn't take it much longer. While pacing around the outskirts of Alexandria, Daryl found himself in front of that Deanna chick's house. He stepped in, not sure why. He meandered into the living room where he found her alone. He grunted to make his presence known.
She greeted him with a warm, political smile, "Hello, Daryl. What brings you here?" Daryl didn't really know what brought him there, but without thinking, he replied, " 'S wondrin' if I could see Carol's tape." With a quirk of an eyebrow, Deanna nodded and went to the back of the room. She set up the camera and hit play.
Daryl watched motionlessly as he watched Carol reminisce about her "loving husband Ed." Daryl scoffed, wondering what she was playing at. As the tape finished, he nodded in thanks to Deanna and left without a word. He roamed along the edge of the town for a few minutes before ultimately deciding to go hunt. Though he doubted he'd catch anything, he needed to clear his head.
What was going through her mind? Why did he care? Maybe she wanted to start over. But he couldn't - wouldn't - accept that. The woman she had become was strong, resilient, and she damn sure wasn't no junior league bullshit. Lost in his thoughts, Daryl almost missed the wide-eyed doe practically staring him in the face. Making eye contact with the animal, Daryl didn't make a move. He readied his cross bow but dropped it, deciding to let the animal live. He wasn't in a killing mood today.
Just as dusk was approaching, Daryl headed back to Alexandria. He scaled the gate in the back and snuck around to the house the group was sharing. No one appeared to be home yet, so he decided to take a look inside the house for himself. He headed upstairs. Begrudgingly, he stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Daryl took a few seconds to figure out the shower nozzle and let the water warm as he took off his sullied clothing. Damn woman, he thought, I'm not showering because you told me too. Or to impress these domestics neither - he added as an afterthought. But the steam rising from the shower felt like heaven, so he hopped in.
From the next room, Carol smirked. She snuck into the bathroom without his knowledge - she was getting pretty good at this stealth thing - and took his dirty clothes from the floor, leaving in their place a fresh pair of sweatpants and t-shirt. Smiling, she shut the door behind her.
After what felt like forever, Daryl reluctantly shut off the water. Damn, why had he waited so long? He reached for a towel as he stepped out of the shower onto the plush bath rug. He drew the towel over his face, wiping it dry. When he uncovered his eyes, he noticed the clean clothes laid out for him. He smirked. She's been pulling this shit long before we got here. He finished toweling off and got in the clothes. In search of Carol, he walked down the hall. She was putting clothes into drawers for everyone. Well, maybe she is suited for this junior league shit, but she has so much more to offer than that. There. That was the rub. He knew her potential and thought it was wasted in suburbia. She looked away from her task and smiled, a "thank you for showering finally" in her eyes. They stood that way for a while - he leaning against the door frame and she mid-fold. He finally decided to take a step into the room, shutting the door behind him. Wondering over to the bed, he sat and patted the space behind him. She obeyed but then flopped downward in a laying position with a huff. He chuckled and followed suit.
They looked at each other with a smile. Things were normal for Daryl in that brief moment where he was able to lose himself in her eyes. The same frosty blue eyes that kept him going every day. This was home. Not this stupid house with running water. Just her eyes. But then she asked, "so what did you do today? Pace around the place all day while the rest of us worked?" He looked her straight in the eye and asserted in a serious manner, "I watched your conversation with Deanna." Carol threw him a look that screamed "What the fuck?" He continued, borderline angry, "What the fuck, Carol. "I miss that man everyday?" What shit are you trying to pull here?"
Carol stoop up with a start. She opened her mouth to explain, but he cut her off as he stood too, "You want to give up the last couple of months for some Post-apocalyptic Pleasantville? Everything we went through was just a way to get back to the way things were before the whole world went to shit? You just wanted to forget the person you've become?" Carol, clearly peeved, calmly replied, "First of all, even if that was the case, so what? That would be my decision. And second of all, for your information, Daryl Dixon, I'm just putting up appearances. People don't worry about a former housewife that doesn't have anything to offer the group." Daryl countered, "But you're so much more!" And Carol stated firmly, "But they don't know that Daryl. If this place turns out to be a trap of any kind, they won't worry about me. I can catch them by surprise. Honestly, Daryl. Use that head of yours every once in a while, won't you?"
He was a fucking idiot. That was such a Carol move. Who did he think she was turning into? No matter what, she would always be the one who saved the whole group by blowing up fucking Terminus single-handedly. He looked her in the eye, apologetically. Respect for her unending cleverness apparent in his gaze. But her eyes were unreadable. He'd seen that look from her a dozen times but could never place it. Slowly, he walked right up to her, desire burning in his belly. Daryl thought, just maybe, that look was the same one he gave her every time she stood up to someone like that. The same look he gave when that familiar feeling of desire swelled in him. He placed a hand on her cheek and softly pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he snuck his free arm around her tiny waist.
Why had he waited so long for this? Maybe because she was so important to him, to his survival, to his life. Maybe it was finding this place. Sure, he didn't like it that much. But, this was a place where he could take her every night and never worry about the group, or walkers for that matter, interrupting. This was a place they could build a relationship. This was a place they could be happy.
With that in mind, his kisses became fiercer, more urgent. She reciprocated in kind. He placed the hand on her check at the base of her neck and pressed her against him as close as possible. She squeezed herself against him. The hand at her back brushed the skin under her stupid cardigan. Ran his hand up to her bra, but then down to her pant's waistline. His hand, of its own accord, found its way to the tender flesh of her rear end. He stiffened against her and bucked his hips. Carol moaned in response, biting his lip and pulling it. She broke the kiss to look into his eyes. Daryl wasn't sure what she was searching for, but she must have found it because she initiated another kiss; this one rougher, harder and tender all at the same time. She swirled her tongue around his while he slowly started unbuttoning her blouse. The buttons were tiny, so he opted for ripping the shirt apart and brushing it off her shoulders. They started kicking off their shoes at the same time. Carol ran her hands down his chest, removing his vest and letting it drop to the floor with a thud.
"GROUP MEETING! Everyone in the living room!"
The couple broke apart, exasperated. "Fucking Rick," Daryl grumbled, resting his forehead against hers. Carol giggled before giving him one last sweeping kiss. He looked into her eyes and promised, "this ain't over." She smiled, trying to salvage her shirt. After righting themselves, they headed out the room, Daryl giving her a firm smack on the ass on the way out.