Chapter Two
Daryl growled at everyone who he came into contact with in the prison yard. If one more person asked him whether he'd had any luck he would most likely give them a pounding. Rick saw him approach and wisely decided not to mention food but merely offered up a small bar of soap instead.
"Shower's free, everyone else is occupied at the moment. Why don't you go and get cleaned up and then we'll talk about our next options a little later. Maggie mentioned earlier that Carol was doing laundry earlier so there should be fresh towels just inside the door. I'll try and keep everyone away until you've finished and we've had a chance to talk." Daryl grunted in response and accepted the offer of being able to get clean in relative peace.
He stalked his way over to the shower facilities at the other end of the block, feeling tired to the bone. He knew that decisions had to be made soon about whether the group could afford to remain at the prison for very much longer. Food was growing scarce despite Rick and Hershel's best efforts into planting crops in the small grassed area outside the exercise yard. They were having to go further and further afield with every run for basic supplies and would soon have nowhere else within ten miles that they hadn't already wiped clean. Daryl sighed heavily to himself as he approached the shower block, already stripping out of his stained jacket as he walked along.
"Goddamn Walkers, probably ruined my best pants…" He was just about to strip down to his boxers when he realised that he wasn't entirely alone in the room and they hadn't noticed his arrival. "That's just great! Ain't no one else supposed to be down here…" He muttered and peered around the door into the cool shadows of the room. He couldn't see anyone but could definitely hear a familiar sounding voice singing softly in the far corner.
"….I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue….no there's nothing that I wouldn't do….to make you feel my love…" He recognised the tune as an old familiar Bob Dylan song and waited for the singer to reveal themselves, but they kept themselves occupied at the end of the room. Feeling the gunk congealing all over him, Daryl shifted on his feet and cleared his throat to attract their attention. Whirling around in shock, Carol almost dropped the fresh towels she was laying on the shelf and pressed a hand to her chest in relief when she saw that it was only Daryl. As she stepped forward into the light, she raised a hand to her lips in concern when she saw the state he was in.
"Daryl, are you alright? You're not hurt?" He waved her concerns aside and shrugged in his usual manner.
"Naw, just got a little too close to a Walker's last meal. Managed to ruin a perfectly good squirrel though…Might need my pants takin' a look at though, ripped clear through the knee."
"Okay, let me take a look."
"What, right now?" Daryl joked, hands going to his waistband in preparation to drop them down. "Might be going commando today, sure you want to risk it?" He watched Carol's face blaze with embarrassment as she realised exactly what he might have construed.
"Uh…..I'll…." She stuttered out and finally could find no words, she simply looked at him standing there in front of her waiting, and left the room.
"I'll take that as a no, then." Daryl smirked to himself as he dropped the dirty clothes in a pile by the door and strode naked into the shower stall. "Don't say I didn't offer…" He didn't know exactly what it was about Carol that made her so easy to banter with, he found himself saying things to her that he would never say to anyone else. He honestly enjoyed her company and loved the way she could still blush like a shy, young teenager whenever he said things with even the slightest sexual innuendo. It was clear when they first met BA that she had a strained relationship with her husband Ed, everyone in camp had an inkling that Ed beat her around but it was only when their former campmate Shane gave Ed a pounding at their campsite one day, that people realised just how bad things were between the two of them.
Carol was only just now beginning to come out of her shell since they had moved into the prison. She had faced incredible hardships over the past year; first losing Ed and then her daughter Sophia to the Walkers. She may not have mourned her life with Ed, but losing Sophia had made her toughen up in the realisation that she need to learn how to survive without them both.
As he scrubbed away the day's dirt from his skin, Daryl couldn't help but think of the yearning in Carol's voice as she had sung earlier and more of the lyrics sprang to his mind.
"I could make you happy, make your dreams come true. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, go to the ends of the earth for you…to make you feel my love." As he hummed along, he suddenly realised that it was completely true.
"Oh, man you are completely screwed….There ain't nothing you wouldn't do for that woman, but how exactly are you goin' to show her? She's so used to you jokin' about she will probably never think that you actually mean it." Daryl slumped back against the cold tile wall as he realised that his very actions had probably screwed him completely and that he was going to have to bite the bullet and ask for advice in wooing the lady in question. He was petrified at the very thought, having never been in this sort of situation before. "You've just gotta man up and stop bein' such a pussy 'bout it; if you want the woman you're gonna need help; even if it does mean crawlin' to Glenn and Rick…."