Chapter Two
Hands, Rough, callous hands. Hands that left so many scars and marks upon his body time and time again. Those eyes, those same eyes, those same eyes that held love and understanding, now held malice and hate. Those same eyes he fell in love with, he could no longer look at because there was nothing there. Soon those eyes grew a nose, nose grew a pair of lips, then cheeks, ears, head, arms, until the body was complete and pushing down upon him. And he struggled and twisted, turned just to obtain the slightest bit of leverage against his abuser. Suddenly he felt those same hands snake around his neck squeezing as hard as he could.
"No! No! Please no! Don't do this please!"- He felt himself losing consciousness, fearing that the last thing he would see were those cold, unforgiving eyes.
End of Dream Sequence
The blaring of the alarm clock was his wake up call, his savior from the continuation of the nightmare. He lied there, thinking about the last few nights in fact.
'It was the same one, only more in detail this time. Why? Why am I now having these nightmares?'
He began to lift his left hand to rub his tired bright as sky blue eyes but found strangely found it blocked, by something heavy lying on his arm. He turned his head and what he saw brought a smile to his face. Carl. His life, his joy, his baby.
"How'd you get in here, sweetheart?"-He whispered to himself.
Then he remembered, there was some lighting and thunder last night and he remembered that Carl hated those two things.
"The boy's about to be 11 in a few more months, he shouldn't be sleeping with his mama every time some lights flicker in the sky."-Merle said with a smirk
Daryl didn't need to look at the door way to see who was talking to him, the only man in the world that could talk crap about him and his son and say it with love was his older brother, Merle.
"You too old to let him go on like this. Boy's got Dixon blood in him, don't go makin' him into no pansy."
Daryl just laughed at his brother and his comments, every morning Merle just couldn't help but make stupid comments about how Daryl treated his son. Sometimes he thought he was babying his son too much, but he couldn't help it, Carl was his baby, his joy. He was the only thing that kept him going in the days he was with him.
"Yeah, yeah Merle. Did you want something or did you just want to go about your daily routine of being an asshole to n-n my son?"
"Well, I just came to tell his highness and the little prince that breakfast was getting cold."
"Merle, you can't so much as boil water let alone cook. So who really made the food?"
"Smartass, I ordered out. Now get ya' lazy asses out of bed and come –n- eat 'fore I give your share to the hogs."
"Uncle Merle, do you have to be so loud in the morning?"- Carl said with much sleep in his voice
Daryl knew that angelic voice from anywhere, it seems that his son was awake.
"Hell, boy. It's morning, worry about getting something to eat instead of someone being loud. Now git-n- come on."
Merle left the room whistling some song Daryl wasn't even sure existed. Things were quiet until Carl spoke, but Daryl had wished he didn't.
"Mom, did you have another bad dream?"-Carl said with a sad look in his eyes
It pained Daryl that his son knew of his discomfort, and it scared him that he knew what caused the nightmares.
"He can't hurt us anymore mom, he's gone. We don't have to deal with him anymore. Please don't be sad anymore."
'I wish it were that simple'- Daryl thought to himself.
"Don't worry your head sweetheart. You just worry about what you wanna do today?"
"You know I hate when you call me names like that. Sounds so girly, and I am not a girl."
"You're my boy. My baby, I'll always treat you like it, too."-Daryl said with a smile on his face
Carl groaned, he hated it when his mom said things like that. He knew the difference between a man and a woman, the traits each one should have but he did not care. The traits that a girl was supposed to have, his "dad" had, so what was the big deal, he called his "dad", mom. He acted like a mom so Carl called him mom.
"Hey, what do you want to do today? You wanna go to the dog park n look at all the dogs? You wanna go out for ice cream or what?"
Cark snuggled into Daryl's chest further, his accent making Carl want to go back to sleep, and feel safe and sound.
"My friend Duane told me about this thing at the local firehouse today. Can we go?"
Yeah, we can. If we can ever get up and ready."
Carl with a giant smile on his face shot out of his mother's bed and ran to his room to get ready.
"Don't ready to wash your face!"-Daryl shouted to his son as he dashed for the shower
Daryl stretched his cat like body to work out those last few kinks in his body. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the lights. He gazed at his reflection in the mirror and decided that he didn't look any worse for the wear. His shaggy chocolate brown hair fell in waves around his face, which held both sharp and soft features. His chin, not pointed but rounded out his jaw which complimented his lips. His bright sapphire like eyes held no bags under them, which was a mystery to him considering the amount of nightmares he was having recently. He traveled to the rest of his body; his chest left unmarked lest for one small tattoo on his left pec. He shook any more thoughts from his head and proceeded to start his shower.
(20 minutes later)…
Daryl was dressed and descending the last flight of stairs when he heard laughter. As he turned the corner to head to the kitchen he saw something that truly made his heart warm to the top. There at the table was his brother and his son teasing each other and laughing their heads off,
"And that's what your ma' looked like running around naked as a jaybird."-Merle said with a giant shit eating grin on his face
Carl couldn't help but laugh at the pictures his uncle was showing him.
"So what's going on here? Showing him that picture of that time you dressed up as a woman for Halloween?"
"Well if you wanna know little brother. I'm showin' yer boy here what ya' look like naked as a young'un."-Merle said chocking on his saliva a bit
"Yeah, I was cute wasn't I?"
"And just as much of a smart ass as ya was then too."-Daryl laughed at his brother before sitting down beside his son.
"So, what are you two ladies up to today?"
"Mom and me are going to the firehouse, then the park. Then for ice cream."
"Is that so? Gonna take your boy to see some cute guys in tight uniforms?"-Merle said with a smirk
"No, merle. Duane, who is his friend told him about this thing at the firehouse and Carl wants to go and so we're going."
"Can we go now mom? I want to get there before anyone else."
"What time does this thing start, anyway?"
"I think around 11. It's 10:30 now. If we leave now we can just make it by the time it starts."-Carl said with a smile
"Alright, finish up your breakfast and we can head out."
"Done."
Carl said running to the sink to drop his dishes in.
"Hey boy, head out to the car. I wanna talk to yer ma' a little."
"Okay, but don't take too long please."
Daryl looked at his brother in a weird way, his brother was never one for conversation so it was unexpected that he wanted to speak.
"What's up, Merle?"
"I heard you and your boy talking?"
"And?"
"Boy, you really got shit for brains, huh? I know you were talking about him. That sum a' bitch baby daddy of yers."
"I don't want to talk about him Merle. It's over and done with. He ain't coming back, he ain't gonna contact us ever again."-Daryl said with unbridled, barely contained anger
"Yer damn right little bother, he aint gone never put his hands on you again or that boy. I make sure of it."-merle said to his younger sibling. He hated the fact that he wasn't there when Daryl needed him and to find out that he had a nephew as well.
"You aint gotta worry 'bout us Merle, we'll be alright. Let's just be happy for right now. Now I gotta head to the car and take your nephew to see some fire trucks."
As Daryl started to walk out the door, he heard Merle say "Watch your ass little brother."
Daryl just smirked at his brother. A loud honk, honk was all he heard.
"I'm commin' boy. Quite honking that that horn."
"C'mon on, mom. We're gonna be late."-As Daryl got into the car, he rolled his eyes at his son and started to drive away.
"And for your information, who said I was getting' you ice cream?"- Carl just looked at his mother and smiled as the car was started and driven away. As Daryl drove the car, he turned and looked at his boy, Carl was the only reason that he stayed for so long he feared he would be hurt. It didn't matter what HE did to him but once he touched Carl that was the end of it. He left and didn't look back and he hasn't regretted it, he vowed that he would keep Carl safe no matter what and he intended to keep that vow.
He just wanted his son to be happy, little did he know his chance for happiness was just around the corner.
Okay lovies, you know the drill. Read & Review pretty please.
