Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.
Note: I have not seen past Season 4, Episode 9: After.
Everyone knew that secrets were not easily kept in the prison. Sound traveled in the stark concrete hallways and with little other entertainment, even those that never gossiped before the turn found themselves spreading rumors like there was no tomorrow. So it was really no surprise that everyone knew that Daryl and Carol had finally stopped dancing around their painfully obvious mutual attraction. There was some pouting from some of the younger former Woodbury residents of both genders, congratulations for Carol, and some good-natured, if not recommended, teasing of Daryl. They bore it in good spirits, however, knowing anything that reminded the small community of hope for the future was precious.
What the prison didn't know, though, was how exactly they finally got together and Daryl was determined to keep it that way.
Glenn seemed to make it his personal quest to discover the particulars, if only to pay the hunter back for all the ribbing for managing to hook up with the farmer's daughter. He didn't bother to ask Daryl outright, having witnessed Rick trying that method with absolutely no success. Instead, the runner tried to get the story out of Carol via Maggie, but the short haired woman was never one to kiss and tell, even when gossiping with the other women. Suffice to say that they were officially together and pity anyone that thought it would be a good idea to visit them on watch for the foreseeable future.
Maggie took the disappointing news back to her husband who pouted. "I mean, it's gotta be a good story, right?"
"Sure." She agreed without looking up from her book.
"They've been dancing around for ages, since the farm at least." The asian paced the tiny room. "I'm gonna find out." He promised.
"Okay." Maggie just agreed, curious herself, but also more than happy to let the couple have some time to themselves first. The story was bound to come out eventually anyways.
Glenn threw himself down on the bunk and stared at the bottom of the mattress above him and tried to think of how to figure out what he wanted to know. He wanted to know if it was Daryl or Carol that made the first move. Were they uncoordinated and accidentally ended up in a compromising position? Or maybe Carol had gotten fed up and just told him how it was going to be. The Asian couldn't really picture Daryl actually breaking out of his shell to make the first move, so he was determined to know even if Maggie wouldn't help him.
So the runner took to lurking around the prison wherever Carol and Daryl were, hoping they would talk about how they came to be them, but he was out of luck as they were always either working or necking and there was no way he was going to stick around for that. It was bad enough that sound traveled in the prison like wildfire so he knew they were making the most of their newfound relationship. Not that he was disgusted by them by any means, he was actually more than a little jealous of Daryl's muscles, but Maggie was the only woman for him and he didn't really need any inspiration.
A break came in his quest to satisfy his curiosity when Glenn accidentally walked up on Daryl alone in his cell and caught him sitting on the bunk with a magazine. It wouldn't have been remarkable except for the quick way the hunter lifted the pillow and slipped the publication under it before laying his hand over the hiding spot.
"Whatcha got there?" Glenn acted as if he hadn't meant to glance into the cell.
"Nun'ya." The hunter eyed the runner, well aware of his obsession with finding out how he and Carol had finally gotten together.
"Hey, sorry." The younger man held his hands up innocently before continuing on his way down the line of cells. "See ya around."
"Unfortunately." Daryl muttered under his breath, making damn sure the other man was long gone before retrieving his magazine.
Glenn knew for certain that the magazine was important to the bowman, now it was just a matter of getting a look at it to figure out why. Of course, stealing the publication was much easier said than done. With how close everyone lived in the prison, there was hardly ever an opportunity to sneak into the cell unseen. But he was patient, and an opportunity presented itself when the dynamic duo were on watch and everyone else happened to be elsewhere. Except, Glenn didn't know where the magazine was stashed. Fortunately, there weren't many places to hide the publication and he quickly found it tucked carefully under the bottom mattress. The runner wanted to look right then at his prize, but he resisted on the off chance that someone might come along and catch him lurking in the hunter's cell. So he scampered back to his own cell and hid the magazine until he would have a chance to look at it in order to divine its importance to Daryl.
When he did get a chance to actually look at the cover, Glenn almost took it straight back. No way some off-brand fap rag was of any importance to the hunter, especially considering he has the real deal in his bed every night. But now that he had the new reading material, he figured it didn't hurt taking a look, you know, just for ideas. Most of the features were relatively tame, belying the age of the publication, but even he had to admit that the centerfold was tastefully done. There was something to be said for a little subtlety when it came to porn, and the centerfold portrayed the young inexperienced woman with a desire to learn perfectly. She wasn't really his type with small breasts and limited curves, but her eyes were more than a little captivating.
Maggie ended up catching her boyfriend with the smut mag, teasing him mercilessly about not being enough woman for him before finally getting the magazine out of his hands. She flipped through a couple of the pages of generic poses but paused when she reached the centerfold. The brunette staring back seemed oddly familiar to the farm girl and she strained to recognize her. Just to be sure, she paged to a couple other shots of the same scantily clad woman but the sensation of familiarity didn't change. It was infuriating not to recognize something, but she came up empty until Carol fairly skipped down the hallway, laughing carelessly.
"Come on Daryl, I've got a treat for you." The short haired woman singsonged, letting the silver silk shirt she had picked up on that morning's run fan out behind her.
Suddenly it all clicked into place. The girl in the centerfold looked like she could be Carol's daughter or sister, or Carol herself, 20 or so years younger. She quickly checked the print date and did some mental math then slapped the magazine closed.
"You need to take this back, right now." The farm girl held out the publication to her boyfriend.
"What? Why?" Glenn was genuinely confused. It was just a soft core porn mag, so what was the big deal.
"Now, if you don't want Daryl to-" she was cut off mid sentence by a roar of anger from further down the block.
"Glenn Rhee you give that back!" Dixon's voice reverberated through the concrete prison, making everyone else fall silent as they waited to see if someone was going to get skewered by a bolt.
The runner just looked at his girlfriend with wide eyes. "It's just a magazine."
"Not to him. Now go give it back before he shoots you!" Maggie flapped her hands and got the Asian man moving.
Glenn reluctantly took the magazine and made his way guiltily down the block where Daryl was standing in the cell door, arms crossed and fuming. "Sorry, I just wanted to see what it was." He apologize quickly and held out the publication.
"Well, didja get an eyeful?" Dixon scowled. "Maybe ya'd prefer tha real thing?" He turned in the doorway and Glenn spotted Carol lounging on the bed in a silver button up, thankfully covered by a sheet from the waist down.
"No, I'm good. Sorry again." Glenn could face down a walker while tied to a chair, but he knew better than to fuck with the hunter. Lesson very well learned.
The only thing that bugged him as he skunk back to his cell, was the fact that Daryl had managed to talk Carol into the shirt when that's all the centerfold had been wearing. He understood having a favorite fap rag as a teen, and that always kind of influenced types later down the line, but it was odd that the short haired woman would be okay with playing along. Glenn puzzled at it until he reached his bunk and flopped down with his head in Maggie's lap.
"I don't get what the big deal was." He whined up at her.
The farm girl just shook her head. "You can be downright dense sometimes."
"Come on, just explain it."
Maggie blushed slightly. "Let me guess, Carol had on a silver shirt?"
"Yeah, which is just weird. I mean, who dresses up like some porn star?"
"She wasn't." She stared at Glenn pointedly and he just stared blankly back. "That was Carol in the magazine."
"What?" He yelped and sat up. "She said that?"
"She didn't have to, I recognized her and the math works out. She probably did the photos right after high school."
"Oh man, I saw those photos." Glenn screwed up his face and rubbed his hands over his eyes. "I can never unsee her lady bits."
Maggie couldn't help laughing raucously at his theatrics and he flopped back into her lap, muttering about lobotomies and bleach. He wouldn't be able to look at Carol for weeks without thinking about her soft bedroom eyes staring up from that magazine and if that wasn't confusing enough, Daryl seemed like a whole different person around the short haired woman. Glenn was used to him never smiling, never laughing, and never letting down his guard, but it seemed like she made him careless and the Asian walked in on the hunter's bare ass at least three times in the next week. He was sure it was payback for stealing the magazine, but he had definitely learned his lesson that sometimes curiosity was better left alone.
Author's commentary: I guess I just couldn't leave this one alone. Poor Glenn won't be able to look Carol in the eyes for months. Enjoy!