Wings Part 4/?
A Walking Dead AU fanfiction by Ikkleosu.
Caryl
Rated: MA
Summary: Merle Dixon convinces his brother to help him rob the house of the Peletier family. Daryl Dixon isn't so sure it's a good idea. He thinks robbing people's houses makes you somehow get involved in their lives. He doesn't realise how right he is.
NB: This is a slow burner Caryl, don't be hoping for smut any time soon. :D
Author's Notes: Thanks to JackandHoney for the bird help. :D
Carol stared. The lurch she left in her stomach when she'd seen the sandy haired man in the yard had passed quickly. The sight of him with a knife in hand doing who-knows-what to the bird house should have terrified her, but almost immediately she sensed his demeanour was not one of violence.
She saw his relaxed shoulders, the tilt of his head and although she could only see part of his face she could tell he was smiling softly. That was, until he saw her.
She had almost forgotten their respective positions. In those few moments of observation she'd lost herself. She forgot he was an intruder; Forgot she was a victim. Now she was a voyeur spying on some private moment in this man's life. So when their eyes met and he balked she felt confused. And even when she flashed back into reality she was no clearer on the situation in front of her.
Why on earth was he scared? Why was he even here again?
As soon as vanished over the wall, she opened the back door and stepped into the yard and saw it almost instantly. Her mother's prayer statue was lying in the grass a few feet away.
Dew from the grass clung to the faded features of the girl's face, as she picked it up and dried it with the edge of her shirt. She rubbed the girl's head and remembered the thousands of times her mother had done the same to her. Every night she'd say a prayer with her and rub her head as she tucked her in. And every night Carol would turn over and look at the little brunette girl in perpetual prayer on her nightstand and she'd believe that little girl was carrying on Carol's prayers for her while she slept.
He'd returned it to her; the mystery man, the robber, the violent criminal who'd risked detection to punch her husband had brought back a worthless memento. She was more confused than ever.
She stood the figurine on the work surface in the kitchen and stared at it. What was that little girl praying for now?
In the end she took it upstairs and tucked her into her nightstand drawer, behind her Bible, behind her Valium and beside her vibrator. She'd be safe there. Ed would get to the Valium and never look further. It was as though Ed's guilt hid in the dark at the back of the drawer and he couldn't face exposing it.
"Carol, what the hell have you been doing to my birds?" Ed's harsh voice coming from the yard as the evening sun began to dip behind the trees. Carol had carried on her day as normal. She'd ran errands, cleaned the house, picked Sophia up from school and started on dinner. The man had never left her mind. It was though he was frozen in time, standing in the yard looking at her with those sad eyes of his. That image of him was constantly with her, like a soldier standing guard in her mind. But she'd forgotten about all about the bird house.
She ran out to the yard to see Ed with one of the birds in his hand.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Ed held the bird up to show her.
"His toes have been clipped, look!"
So, that's what he'd been doing.
"And look, the wire here's all bent. What the hell happened? I bet it was one of those damn neighbour kids trying to steal my treasures. They probably want to sell them for drugs or something. Wait until I get my hands on them."
He gently placed Captain Jack back on his perch. Carol had to think fast.
"I did it, Ed. "
His head whipped round to glare at her. "You did what?"
"He got caught in the wire. I had to do it to cut him free. He was going to hurt himself. I did it to save him."
Carol looked pleadingly into Ed's eyes, but was met only with cold rage.
"Save him? And what good to me is a deformed bird? I can't show him like that! He has to be perfect. You've ruined him, you stupid woman."
He grabbed hold of Carol's left hand and pulled it towards his body. Carol stumbled forward slightly and tried to stop herself bumping into him.
"Please, Ed, I'm sorry," she said quietly. They were words she'd said hundreds maybe thousands of times. Each time she hoped they would reach him and make him stop. But that time wasn't now.
"Sorry won't grow back his toes. I think you need to learn a lesson, maybe I should clip your toes... " As he spoke he bent back the fingers on Carol's hand that he held in his vicious grip.
Carol winced and just when she thought she might scream with the pain, another voice rang out.
"Daddy!"
Immediately Ed let go Carol's hand at the sound of Sophie's voice. They both look round to see Sophia standing at the door.
"Mr Sloane's on the phone. He says it's urgent," Sophia called from her position.
Carol stuffed her throbbing hand under her right arm and wondered how much her daughter had seen.
Ed grunted and stomped back into the house. He looked worriedly at Sophia but she didn't show any signs of understanding what she'd interrupted. Carol saw the little girl give her father a small smile as he brushed past her.
Sophia hopped down from the step and wandered over to her mother's side.
"Did something happen to Daddy's birds?" she asked as she gently touched the damaged wire and looked up at Captain Jack, who was in his usual spot.
Carol kept her painful hand tucked under her arm and moved position so it wasn't obvious to Sophia.
"He got caught up in the wire, so I had to cut his claws so he could get free. He'll be okay, they grow back," Carol reassured.
"We could get him a peg leg and a little crutch until they do, then he'd look like a real pirate, huh Mom?" Sophia smiled up at Carol for approval.
As always, the sight of Sophia's smile made all the pain go away.
"Ah but what kind of bird does a pirate parrot have on his shoulder?" Carol gave a little chuckle as she replied to her grinning daughter.
The phone call distracted Ed from his anger, as it was good news. A new store was opening and the area manager had had to pull out, so they wanted Ed to go over and supervise. It would mean a night or 2 in a motel which was news Ed broke to Carol as if it would come as a blow. She hid her delight well.
It was only when bedtime came and Ed had given the birds their night time check-up did he remember and dish out Carol's punishment. The immediate punishment she was used to, and she just kept focussing on Sophia's smile in her mind until it was over. As Ed rolled onto his side of the bed, he decreed that he felt she should take care of the birds for a while to teach her responsibility.
Carol took on this responsibility easily. She enjoyed the quiet methodical work of sweeping out, cleaning up, giving the darling littlecreatures fresh water and food. And every morning, after she'd finished she'd make a cup of hot tea and she stand at the utility room window drinking it, watching the treeline and yearning to see hands land on the top of the wall.
But days passed and he didn't appear. The image of him in her mind got pushed further back and replaced with laundry, calendars, grocery lists and meetings to attend. On Thursday, all the things in her mind seemed to be picked up and thrown about and the day fell apart.
Ed had been away 2 nights, and - as if to prove everything he said ever said was right - on the second morning she and Sophia slept in. Rushing around to get Sophia to school, she forgot all about her new morning routine. Only after a visit to the pharmacy, and a long conversation with Mrs Albany next door about the state of the schools did she remember the birds.
By now it was well into the afternoon. If Ed knew... oh if he found out. She grabbed the large bag of food and the broom and headed out to the bird house. Very quickly she lost herself in the chore, relieved with the cool shade, and tried to put her jumbled mind back together until she pushed open the door and came face to face with the mystery man.
He stood barely a foot from her, not meeting her gaze, standing like a scolded schoolboy outside the principal's office.
She held the large bag of bird feed against her chest, as if to protect herself, but her heart remained steady. She didn't feel fear, didn't feel anxiety and didn't feel the constant unease that came with her moments alone with Ed. This felt like a blank sheet of paper, and for some reason a smile tickled the corners of her mouth.
They stood in silence for a moment; the bird's trilling the only thing filling the space between them. She noticed the dead rabbit hanging from his waist, the blood and dirt on his hands that hung loosely by his sides and the mix of salt and pepper bristles that were patchy across his chin.
Finally he spoke.
"Just wanted to check you got your figure," he mumbled.
"I did, thank you," Carol replied, feeling like she was on the most awkward first date of her life.
He nodded and the silence continued again.
"Why did you come back? Before, I mean? Weren't you worried I'd call the police?" Carol queried.
He shrugged.
"It looked old, but it ain't worth nothing. Thought you might want it back. And then I saw the bird was hurtin' itself."
He looked up for the first time at the birds. The dirty, straggly hair fell away from his face and Carol saw his eyes; those eyes.
"He's fine now, the bird." Carol followed his eyes into the bustling flurry on wings and beaks behind the wire.
He nodded and the silence remained. What did he want from her, why did he keep coming back, should she ignore her instincts and fear him?
"I didn't want to do it," he said suddenly, as if continuing an earlier conversation. "It's not my thing to do that to folks. I ain't like that."
Carol was lost. Did he mean what he did to the bird, to Ed, to the house? Was this a rehearsal for what he'd say to his arresting officer or the judge who would put him away?
"I had to do it for my brother," he continued, and for the first time he looked her in the eye. She nearly stumbled backwards. He was pleading, begging for understanding, for her to read between the lines and see the whole picture. The jigsaw was still a jumbled mess for her but Carol realised he was handing her pieces one by one. She didn't know why but already she knew it was a puzzle she wanted to complete. For now, she just nodded and pretended she understood although at least she understood that his brother was the man who'd tussled with Ed.
"He was good to me," she returned, offered him a piece of her own puzzle in this conversation full of chasms.
The man simply continued to look her in the eye and didn't react.
Carol squirmed under his gaze feeling suddenly utterly exposed and a part of the puzzle fitted together.
"You exposed yourself to stop him, didn't you?"
The man's gaze dropped again and she saw him hide again.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
As she looked down, she noticed the time.
"Oh, I have to go. I have to pick up Sophia," she exclaimed and started backing away down the yard. The man visibly tensed but he raised his head to look at her.
"It ain't right. You don't deserve it. You don't have to take it," he said before turning and fleeing over the back wall.
That was when Carol noticed the back of his leather vest. Grubby, peeling white wings were painted across the shoulders.
"Thank you!" she called out again, and hoped her grubby angel could still hear her.