Despite Rick's initial thoughts, the recreation room was full just before seven thirty that evening. Hershel and Beth were seated at a small table to the side playing checkers; Maggie and Glenn were snuggled together on a foam mattress against the wall; with Tyreese and Michonne sharing the worn leather couch directly in front of the TV. Rick and Carl had carried out their original plan of taking the watch; neither particularly interested in anything on offer. Sasha had also declined the invitation and had volunteered to watch Judith instead, stating that she was far happier with the baby and a good book. Carol was tucked away in a corner with a pile of clothes in a basket in front of her, going through items brought back that afternoon and setting aside anything that might prove useful.
Glenn had persuaded Tyreese to put on Dirty Dancing as he had officially declared the movie to be 'Date Night'. The movie was well underway when Daryl, sick of his own company, decided to drop in. He stood in the doorway, scanning the dimness of the room searching for that familiar silver flecked hair.
"Glenn, where's Carol? I thought that she would be here." He bent down to whisper into the young Asian man's ear. Glenn waved a hand over to the other side of the room and went back to snuggle with his wife. Daryl scanned the room again, not seeing Carol tucked away in the shadows.
"Where?" He asked again a little louder this time. Maggie and Glenn both looked up, pointed over into the corner and looking at each other they began -
"No-one puts…."
"Baby in the corner!" the rest of the room chorused, echoing a famous line from the film and erupting into laughter. Daryl shrugged his shoulders, he hadn't a frickin' clue what they were wittering on about. He made his way over to where Carol was sitting, smiling up at him in amusement. Daryl plonked himself down with a clatter and started to take out bits and pieces from the bag that he had brought along; earning him a few shushes from the group around him. They all received a glare back in return and he carried on laying out pieces of wood and feathers on the floor next to him. Carol continued sorting clothes, looking at the screen every now and then to keep up with the story; whilst Daryl whittled thin pieces of wood into sharp replacement arrows and ignoring the movie entirely. He noticed that her eyes lingered on the screen a little more often as the movie progressed and heard her sigh almost wistfully.
"I used to love to dance when I was younger, Ed didn't like to though, so that was the end of that." Daryl merely grunted in response and tried to concentrate on attaching feathers to the ends of his arrows with some thin fishing line.
"There was just something free in dancing…what about you, Daryl? Did you like dressing up and dancing the night away at your senior prom?" Carol teased playfully, looking over at the taciturn man beside her.
"Huh! Didn't go ta prom. Wasta time if you ask me…" Daryl kept his head bent down, the truth of the matter being that having Merle around growing up, he had never wanted to bring any girl he liked into his elder brother's vicinity. He had desperately liked one particular girl at school but after hearing Merle discuss with his friend's everything that he would like to do to her, Daryl had acted like going to the prom was no big deal and went on a bar cruise with Merle instead.
Carol stayed silent for a while after that, recognising that Daryl was not in a talkative mood that evening. She folded the useful clothes and placed them back in the basket and started to tear the others into strips to use as bandages. She didn't think that Daryl was paying any attention and was startled when he passed a small, sharp blade over to her. He shrugged his shoulders in dismissal of her thanks and turned his attention back to his arrows.
As the first movie finished to a round of applause, there were calls to put another one on. Beth and Hershel finished their game and decided not to stick around for the second feature.
"It's past time these old bones were in bed." Hershel stated as he awkwardly bent down to kiss Maggie goodnight. He had been bitten in the leg by a Walker during their first few days at the prison, and the only way to save his life was to perform a field amputation of the leg below the knee. Hershel had gone on to make a full recovery, but using crutches day in and day out wore him out earlier than before.
"Goodnight, Daddy. Night Beth." Maggie kissed her sister on the cheek and snuggled back into Glenn's side.
"Night, Maggie, Glenn. I'm going to walk Daddy over and then see if Sasha wants me to take Judith for a while. She's been teething lately and has been awful restless." Beth took her father's side and they left the recreation room to head over to the cells. Tyreese got up to change the DVD over and shook the empty bowl of corn.
"Anybody want more popcorn? No, okay let's start the movie." As everyone shook their head in refusal of more popcorn, Tyreese settled back against the cushions and stretched his arm out along the back.
"No funny moves there, mister!" warned Michonne softly, the old arm along the back cushion had been the standard play for many a teenager wanting to cop a feel in a darkened theatre. Tyreese snatched his arm back quickly and stuttered an apology.
"Uh – uh, just wanted to…had a bit of cramp…"
"Oh, shut up Tyreese! I was only kidding!" Michonne poked him in the side and pulled his arm across her shoulder and settled against his large frame. "Besides, you're more comfortable than the sofa any day!" Everyone laughed at her actions and sat back to watch the next movie. Tyreese had selected 'Oklahoma!' and soon the recreation room was filled with the full, rich sounds of the musical.
Carol glanced over at the screen as she was gathering the fabric strips together to form rolls of bandages; she noticed Daryl's suddenly tense face in the flickering light from the TV. He stiffened slightly as he realised what movie was playing and fought to control the emotions that were coursing through him in remembrance.
"You okay Daryl?" Carol whispered softly. He nodded slightly and then leant over to whisper in her ear.
"This used to be my Grandma's fav'rite picture. She was bedridden after a stroke and there was this one time when my folks were away that me and Merle were stayin' over. It was just me and Grandma at home…I couldn't have been more than five or six…." Daryl turned back to the screen, shifted position slightly and placed his arrows and bag further away from him so that he could stretch his long legs out in front and rest his back more comfortably against the wall. This brought him directly in contact with Carol's shoulder and he hesitated slightly; expecting her to pull away at the contact.
Carol didn't move, she just continued rolling those fabric strips as if nothing out of the ordinary was taking place at all. On the inside though, she was relishing the feel of his wiry frame pressed against hers. She could feel the warmth of his body seeping into her, the man was like a walking furnace! Carol echoed his pose; stretching her own legs out in front of her and leant over for another bundle of fabric strips. Laying them across her lap, she reached down to pick out another strip to roll, only to find her fingers tangled with Daryl's as he had reached over to do the same. Both of them held still for an endless moment before pulling their hands back to select another strip of cloth.
"It's like watching the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp." Maggie whispered to Glenn, pointing out the movement with a sideways motion of her head. Glenn sneaked a look over and nodded in agreement.
"I've never seen Daryl sitting so close to someone before…and look – is he actually enjoying the movie?" Maggie looked over again and saw that Daryl had stopped rolling the fabric and was now looking directly at the TV; she threw a piece of stale popcorn at the couple sitting on the couch in front of them. Michonne looked over her shoulder with a scowl and then flicked her eyes to the side when Glenn made a movement with his shoulder to make her aware of the other couple. A silent conversation was held and the decision made to give them some privacy.
Glenn and Maggie slid silently out of the room first, they were often slinking off for a little privacy themselves so Daryl paid them no heed. Tyreese then stood up and stretched his arm out exaggeratingly.
"I'm gonna get a refill of popcorn, want to give me a hand Michonne?"
"Sure, I'm up for a refill." She rose to her feet and reached down for the empty bowl. "Daryl, why don't you and Carol take the couch for a little while? Ty and I will be fine on the mattress when we get back." Carol waved them away, noticing that Daryl's attention was fixed firmly on the flickering screen and he hadn't even noticed that they were now completely alone in the darkened room…
