Hey guys, I am writing Chapter 5 of Soft smiles & tender kisses, so don;t worry about that. But I thought I'd just write a one shot reunion, random parts of this came to me bit by bit so I just put it all together. Enjoy :)
Title: Nice 'N Peachy?
Carol had her gun raised, pointing it into the darkness. She was curled up and cramped inside a closet, the safest place she could find when her time was limited because the sun was almost fully set. She listened closely, hearing floor boards creak and get closer to the closet she was in. Her breathing was harsh and panicked so she gulped; a failed attempt to calm herself. The floor had stopped creaking now but somewhere between concentrating on listening to the footsteps and trying to quiet herself, she'd lost track of them. She narrowed her eyes and pressed her ear to the door as if it would enhance her hearing. Before her brain caught up with her body she was stumbling to the ground as the closet door swung open. She grabbed for her gun and pointed it upward, only to be met with a crossbow pointed straight back at her, his crossbow. She lowered her gun slowly, taking the hand he offered her to help her up and she brushed the dust and dirt off of her clothes. Finally, she lifted her head to look at him and smiled, ready to say thousands of things she wished she did before Rick kicked her out.
"There room in that closet for two people?" Her smile faded.
"Uh, yeah." She hesitated, "be a bit cramped but it'll do for the night, it's safer here than it is in any of the rooms."
He nodded sharply. "If I tie some rope to tha' arm chair over there, we can pull it so it can block us in." He slung his bag from his shoulder and rummaged through it, pulling out some rope. "Make the place safer from walkers when we sleep, nothing can get in but we can push it away when we open the doors in the mornin'. She stood there, dumbfounded; watching him walk away and started tying the rope to the back of the arm chair. He paused and looked over his shoulder at her. "Ya gonna help?"
Carol shook her head, "yeah, sorry." and moved over to help him push the armchair close enough so the rope could reach through the gap in the door but far enough so that they could squeeze into the closet. Once they were both in, they pulled on the string hard and the armchair slid into place, Daryl then tied the rope onto a wooden beam high near the ceiling of the closet.
"Hungry? I've got some canned peaches, just under half a bag of Cheerios and some squirrels but well, we can't cook 'em so, that's off the menu."
She smiled weakly, "I'll have some Cheerios, thanks." Daryl placed the bag between the two of them and grabbed a handful for himself, shoving them into his mouth greedily. Carol, however, picked up a handful and ate them one by one.
He stopped and looked her up and down, "what's wrong?" he asked with only slight concern in his eyes.
"I killed Karen and David. It was me." She blurted out, her chin trembling.
"I know..." He bowed his head, "I know."
"Is that the reason you're acting like we're nothing but acquainted with each other, like everything that happened meant nothing to you?." She gulped down the lump that was rising in her throat, but hurt still coated her voice. "Like I meant nothing to you?"
He shook his head. "No. I know you did it, but that ain't you."
Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Then why? We've been here for almost an hour and you've hardly uttered a word to me."
"'Cause I care so damn much about ya, alright? Wish I didn't. If I didn't I wouldn't have stayed back at the prison lookin' over ya when I coulda been out helpin' Michonne, it coulda been different."
"What?" Her tone was low but he could tell she was frustrated because she didn't understand what he was trying to tell her, so he went on.
"Michonne don't know much about huntin', taught her some so she could help with animals for the food, people are different. Maybe if I went out there, I woulda found the Governor and put an end to it, then no one woulda died." He lowered his head and shook it slowly, reminiscing Hershel's death.
"Oh Daryl... You can't blame your-"
He cut her off with his angry words, "but I stayed back didn' I? Good little Daryl makin' sure ya didn't get yaself into any trouble, makin' sure ya were alright. Doin' pussy jobs when I coulda been out doin' things tha' needed to be done, things tha' mattered."
Carol cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed slightly as something inside her snapped. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare blame me! I didn't ask you to care about me, I didn't ask you to watch over me. I'm a big girl, Daryl. I can take care of myself, I was doing it just fine before you showed up." She spat, breathing heavily as anger washed over her.
"Nah. No, but ya do, I was always the one savin' ya ass. In the tombs, at the farm when everyone left who was there? Oh yeah, me. With Sophia... FUCK." Daryl had never felt a slap so hard in is life, it felt like the entire left side of his face had collapsed and his bones had shattered, his whole face right down to his neck was pulsating.
"I have spent my whole life being underestimated. My whole life, up until a few years ago, thinking that everything that went wrong was my fault. I'm certainly not going to start thinking like that again because it wasn't my fault Daryl. I didn't ask for this. You're just... Such an ass, Daryl." She turned her back to him, kicking the bag of Cheerios over, luckily not spilling any of the contents. She balled up her blanket and propped it under her head, leaving Daryl sitting in silence, shocked at her out burst. This was going to be a long night.
Daryl awoke with a soft grunt, squinting through the darkness. There was only a small amount of light in the closet because luckily, the closet was to the right of a window so the moonlight shined in. He looked over to her, she was kicking him in his sleep; a nightmare, he guessed."Even wants to beat me up when she's asleep." He muttered to himself, running his hands over his tired face. He looked around and sighed when he saw where it was, reaching for the bottle of water that was wedged between the wall and her back. As he tugged on it, she rolled over and pulled out her knife. "Woah, maybe I deserved tha' slap but gettin' stabbed for a bottle of water seems like a bit much."
She groaned and placed her knife on the floor, pushing herself into a sitting position, she sighed. "Sorry, bad dream."
"Figured." He said, taking a few gulps of water before handing the bottle to her. He watched as she drank slowly, her throat bobbing up and down as she did. "'M sorry."
She almost spat out the water, almost. Screwing the lid back on she looked over at him with a small smirk. "Daryl Dixon apologising, that's new."
He huffed and rolled his eyes, he should be used to her giving him a hard time and teasing him but it still frustrated him in some ways. "I do care 'bout ya. Sounded like I was saying you didn't matter but ya do. It's not your fault, sometimes it's just easy to blame someone y'know? Didn' think and crossed the line mentionin' Sophia. I am an ass." He agreed with her earlier words, "but I'm sorry."
"Did I hurt..." She gestured to his face.
"Fuck yeah, your hands made of steel or somethin'?" He grimaced.
She laughed and placed her hand on the left side of his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb. "I'm sorry, it hurt my hand too, it's still stinging actually. Is your face made of steel?" She teased.
He turned his head and kissed her palm. "Forgive me?" He ducked his head, ashamed that he'd fucked up when he had all these plans that if he ever saw again he'd pick her up and spin her around like something out of a damn romance novel.
Carol smiled and dropped her hand from his face, she was sitting opposite him now with her legs crossed. "You're an ass, Daryl Dixon." His head shot up and confusion covered his face as he noticed her lips curve into a small smile. "But you're my ass."
"Nice 'n peachy?" He asked nonchalantly, with a hint of innocence in his eyes.
She laughed loudly and one by one, tears tumbled slowly down her face, but she smiled through them. She pushed his shoulder, nudging him away playfully, "something like that, yeah."
Okay, I'm not really happy with the way this turned out but I didn't know what else to end it with. Anywho, let me know if you liked it or what I could improve on. I always like positive criticism that will help me make my writing better. Thanks for reading.