Couple: Daryl/Carl

Genres: Romance, horror, supernatural

Important story note: The setting for this is at the location of the quarry that was in season 1. Carl is 14.

My Baby Boy

A Walking Dead fanfic

Chapter 1: Meeting the One

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It was a nice afternoon. Well….as nice as it can be with an apocalypse on your tail. It was warm, clear skies, and best of all, no walkers. None of them bastards being around is a good day in itself these days. Daryl had just joined a group of survivors yesterday, was now getting more comfortable and familiar with his new location and surroundings. Since he was told there were 17 of them, he hasn't seen all the survivors yet. He's only seen Amy, Andrea, Shane, T-Dog, Carol and her daughter Sophia, and the Morales family. That's all he's seen so far. He's not particularly driven to meet all of them, so it doesn't matter to him that he hasn't met all of them. He's not one for company much even though he joined a group. He mainly did that for the sake of logic. If you're in a group, you have more of a chance of surviving than you would on your own, so that's what he did.

After he came back to the camp after hunting and they all ate dinner, though, that's when he met the whole group. He noticed there was yet another kid to the group, Carl. He looked a little older than the other kids. 14 while Sophia was 10 and the other two girls – which belonged to the Morales family – were 11 and 12. Daryl is surprised Carl doesn't have one of the little girls sitting by him since he's quite the looker.

'huh….probably shy little things.' Daryl thought.

Once dinner was over with, some of the woman went to the lake behind the forests to wash the dishes while everyone else did their daily duties or relaxed, some playing with the kids. Daryl decided on tending to his crossbow since he had nothing else to do otherwise. So he sat on a stump near the RV and began inspecting his crossbow to make sure everything was up to par. After a few minutes passed, the kid...Carl walks up to him. Daryl looked up when he felt a shadow come over him.

"Hey," Carl said in greeting with a small smile. "Got any clothes to wash?"

Daryl lifted a brow in curiosity. "Yeah, I do actually."

Carl smiled a bit more. "Kay, I'll take them. It's my job to be cleaning clothes today."

Daryl gave a nod of understanding and got up to go to his tent so he could collect his dirty clothes. Once he came out and walked back over to Carl, he handed his handful of clothes to him.

"Thanks….um…"

"…Daryl."

Carl smiled. "Thanks, Daryl." Then Carl walked off to deposit the clothes back at the pond where he was washing and went to the next person for their clothes to wash.

Daryl watched him in thought as he walked all over camp collecting laundry. 'What an interesting kid.'

He didn't know why, but the kid was interesting to him for some reason. He stuck out more than the rest, which he was surprised and confused to note. Later that day, once Daryl caught some squirrels and a rabbit and was washing them with a cup of water, Carl came up to him.

"My mom said I should help you."

Daryl met his eyes. "Kay…" He looked at one of the squirrels. "You can clean that one there, you up for it? It can get a bit messy."

Carl nodded. "Yeah, I can handle messy." Carl then took it in his hands and began cleaning it like Daryl would.

Daryl was impressed. The kid was a bit sloppy with it, but he had the overall technique.

"Where'd ya learn how to clean a kill, kid?"

Carl looked up at him with a proud smile. "My dad taught me."

Daryl hummed positively in response. "Smart man."

Carl grinned. "Yep, that's my dad."

That was the start of what got Daryl more comfortable to spark more conversation between them. They smiled and even laughed while they talked over cleaning meat. That day….a bond was formed. When it came dinner time and everyone gathered around the fire pit to eat, Carl sat next to Daryl this time around. That made Daryl smile….of which no one noticed but Carl, thank goodness. For the next few days, Carl and Daryl spent time in each other's company, Carl always being happy and enthusiastic when he was with him. Daryl must admit, he was pretty happy spending time with him too.

They fished together, did chores together, spent night watches together, spent their free time together, Daryl even took the kid huntin' with him a couple times, Carl even making the kills. He was an okay shot for his first time with a crossbow. One afternoon in a nice area of the woods where it could be just the two of them, Carl decided to play tag. Daryl hasn't played something like that since he was 11. Once Carl knew that, it made him want to play the game with him even more. Daryl couldn't find it in himself to refuse – him having a soft spot for Carl somehow – so he went along with the game. Whoever gets caught 3 times loses.

"I am so gonna beat you." Carl said playfully smug.

Daryl grinned at that. "Oh, I see. Since you're smaller and lighter, you think you will out-run me, huh?"

Carl smiled confidently. "That's the plan."

Daryl huffed. "Well, kid, you forget who yer up against." Daryl hunts for a living even before the apocalypse happened, so he's learned to be smooth and quick to the upmost degree. He doesn't think Carl will be coming out of this a winner, hands down, but he'll let the kid dream a little.

"We'll see about that," said Carl. "Aaaaand….go!"

They decided that Daryl would be the chaser first, so Daryl took off after Carl got a head start, of which he allowed since it was an unfair match, but in the kid's mind, he was so incredibly fast, he got away from Daryl easily because of his size and light weight. That made Daryl laugh fondly. Boy was he going to get a surprise. Daryl chased Carl through the forest, and before long, Daryl caught him.

"Aw! Okay, I'm gonna really get you." Carl stated with a playful smile.

Daryl laughed then took off, Carl taking off after him. Daryl used the trees as obstacles to get in Carl's way by weaving in a zigzag around them. It did throw Carl off and prevent him from coming close to him, but Carl soon had an idea and weaved through the trees at just the right time to cut in front of Daryl to cut his path off. This made them crash into each other and they went rolling in one ball across the forest floor. When gravity slowed their velocity and halted them, Carl was laying on top of Daryl, chest to chest. Neither of them realized it yet since they were more focused on getting their breath back.

Carl seemed to catch his breath before Daryl and he lifted his head up from his chest. When he did, he then realized he was on top of Daryl, only inches between their faces. Carl stared down at Daryl, scanning his eyes over his face more thoroughly, not being use to being so up close. Daryl didn't notice what was happening still since his eyes were currently closed and he was still finishing with catching his breath. After a few seconds more, he caught his breath and he gradually opened his eyes. He then noticed Carl was on top of him and looking down at him….just staring. Daryl was about to voice his questioning thoughts, but when he was about to, he saw Carl begin to lean forward. Daryl took back the idea to speak and waited to see what the kid was doing. Carl leaned closer to his face and met his lips with Daryl's in a kiss.

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End chap. 1

I love that kind of romantic scenario, don't you? x3 It's so cute to the 100th power! xD So what do you all think? I'm always interested in what my audience thinks of my work, so don't hesitate to let me know. So will Daryl except Carl and kiss him back, do you think? Or will he push him away and be disgusted? Till next chapter. ^ - '