I hope you enjoy this long, Caryl-filled chapter! :)
This chapter has been rewritten.
Chapter Four
That night, Carol lay awake with Daryl close. They were talking softly with one another, which they did every night before one or both of them fell asleep. Carol knew that she needed to be closing her eyes soon since she had school the next morning, but she liked the way Daryl's chest rumbled under her cheek as he talked.
His voice could be rough, at times and his accent got more pronounced when he was made or excited about something. At night, before he slipped into sleep, his voice was soft and deep, like velvet, as he talked about his day. As he spoke, one of his hands would always brush along her spine and the touch was reassuring and gentle. It meant that Daryl was really there with her and not some kind of dream.
"Merle called me earlier."
His chest rumbled with the words and the corners of Carol's mouth tilted up. "Yeah? What did he want?"
"He was freakin' the fuck out." He chuckled.
Carol lifted her head to look at him properly. "Why? Is there something going on between him and Maggie?"
"Naw," he moved his head back and forth on the pillow. "He just thought that Maggie was pregnant." The way Daryl was talking about the subject made it seem like it wasn't that big of a deal. However, Carol thought differently.
"Pregnant! Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could have at least given her a call and asked how she was doing." She sat up in bed, unhappy.
"Hey," he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down to his chest. "It isn't a big deal. He told me that he would call me once they found out if she was for sure or not."
Carol only pouted for a second before snuggling back into her boyfriend's side. "Well. Is she?"
He shrugged. "Don't know. Merle hasn't called me back, yet. I have to figure that she isn't otherwise he would have called me already, cryin' and tellin' me I was goin' to be an uncle or some shit like that."
And I would be an aunt. The thought brought a smile to her face. It would be nice to have little Dixons running around. Even if they would be little Merle Dixons.
"He didn't think he would make a good daddy, so that was the main reason why he was freakin' out on the phone."
"Merle would make a great father." In the last five years, Merle had changed a great deal and for the better. Mostly because of Maggie.
"That's exactly what I told him. Don't know if he believed me or not. Our dad was fucked up and we didn't learn any good shit from him." There was a hard edge to his voice. It was always present when he talked about Buck Dixon, which wasn't that often. Thankfully. "But you best believe that if Merle has a kid, he's goin' to treat him right and they're goin' to have a great childhood."
Carol nodded. "I agree."
Daryl's grip on her tightened. "You should probably get some sleep. You have children to teach in the mornin' and they ain't goin' to learn much if all you do is yawn."
"But I hate getting up early," she whined into his shoulder.
He chuckled, chest rumbling. "Then why did you want to become a teacher?"
"June, July and August," she quipped.
He rolled his eyes. "Naw, it's because you love kids and you like teachin' them new things. You can't fool me, sweetheart."
Carol furthered buried her head into the crook of Daryl's neck. "Come with me to school. tomorrow," she whispered in his ear.
"Come to your school? What the hell? Do you want me to scare your kids?"
"You won't scare them off, Daryl," she giggled. "I've mentioned you a couple of times and they've wanted to meet you ever since. School is going to be out soon, so it would be the perfect time to come in."
"Can't tomorrow. I have to go into work early. Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all.
"How about Friday?" It was clear that she wasn't going to give up on having him visit. "It'll be show-and-tell and I really, really." She leaned up and nipped his earlobe. "Really want to show off my strong, handsome man."
Carol had him, then. "Fine," he grumbled. "But I'm only doin' it because you called me handsome."
Carol's alarm clock went off early the next morning and Carol was tempted to throw the annoying thing against the wall. It was how she felt every morning, though, and she had yet to do it. But, after getting over the initial annoyance of getting up so early, teaching her students was always worth it in the end. They were her first group of students and they would always hold a special place in her heart, even when they left her to move on to the next grade in the next few days.
"Hey, are you goin' to get your lazy ass up?" Daryl grumbled from his side of the bed. "Some of us don't have to be up for a couple more hours." Carol felt like sticking her tongue out at him, but she settled for a roll of her eyes before climbing out of the bed.
"You know," she said as she made her way to the closet to select her outfit for the day. "A perfect boyfriend would make his girlfriend breakfast as she got ready for her day." Pulling out some clothes, she looked over her shoulder to see that Daryl hadn't moved. His eyes weren't even open.
"Good thing I ain't a perfect boyfriend, then," he growled before flipping to his other side.
Carol huffed. Fine. If he wasn't going to be a good boyfriend this morning, then she wouldn't be a good girlfriend later that night. Let's see how he liked that! Quickly, she gathered her clothes and went to the bathroom to get dressed. After slipping on a simple pair of black slacks and a light blue shirt, she looked herself in the mirror and winced. She was having some serious bed head.
"I didn't even have sex last night," she mumbled and reached for a brush hoping that she would be able to tame it. If not, today may just be a ponytail day.
Fifteen minutes later, after putting on makeup, Carol walked into the kitchen with her hair pulled into a ponytail. She'd have to leave soon and only had time to grab a granola bar. Hopefully, there was some left. However, when walked into the kitchen she was surprised to see Daryl standing there with his back to her. Carol hadn't even heard him walk by the bathroom.
Daryl turned around when he heard her footsteps into the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal in his hand. "Here's breakfast," he smiled and placed it in front of one of the seats at the table. He pulled out the chair and Carol sat down. She waited until he took a seat across from her with his own bowl before digging in. She had thought she would be making her own breakfast that morning, but was pleasantly surprised.
"So, am I still a perfect boyfriend?" He asked after taking a few bites.
"You just didn't want to get cut off tonight," Carol smirked and took a large bite.
His eyes widened and he clutched his chest in mock horror. "You would really do that to me, sweetheart? That's cruel."
Gripping the bowl with both hands, she slurped up the remaining milk in her bowl not caring that she looked like a slob. They had been together for too long to be self-conscious about something like that. "Maybe," she answered.
Glancing at the clock, she saw that if she didn't get a move on soon, she would be late. She stood and took her empty bowl to the sink, planning to clean it later. "I'll see you later," Carol said and bent down to kiss Daryl quickly on the cheek.
Daryl had other plans, though. With an arm wrapped around Carol's waist, he pulled her down into his lap. "A kiss on the cheek ain't enough. You know that." Without waiting for her to say anything, Daryl kissed her soundly on the mouth.
It almost made Carol not want to leave. Almost.
"I have to go," she said after a moment and pushed against his chest. "My students aren't going to teach themselves." Standing up, she gave him another kiss, this time on the mouth. "I'll see you when I get home. You can kiss me all you want, then."
"Plan on it," he said and with reluctance, let her go. This was their routine almost every morning. There had even been a time where Daryl didn't let her go until one of them had gotten off (her). That morning, she had gotten to school late and one of the other teachers had thought she was sick because of how flushed her face had been.
"Charlie's still sick," he called after Carol. "I don't know if I'll have to stay later at work today or not."
This caused Carol to stop and turn to face Daryl. "He's been sick for over a week, Daryl. That's unlike him. You should check up on him, sometime. Maybe you'll be able to convince him to go to a doctor."
He nodded. "All right. I can do that. If he ain't feeling in better in the next few days, I'll check up on him and make him see a doctor."
"Good." She smiled. "With him being sick, you have to work more and that's less time I get to see you." She pouted and finally walked out of the kitchen.
In their small town, there was only one elementary school and it, just her luck; it was on the other side of town. It opposite of their old high school and was only a one-story brick building with a small, fenced in playground in the back. There were only ten classrooms in the building. Each grade, kindergarten through fourth, had two classrooms. Each classroom had around fifteen students in each.
Carol didn't mind how small it was. With fewer students in her class, she was able to focus more on the students she had. Quickly, she was able to find out what their strengths, weaknesses and interests were. She loved every one of her students and they loved her in return.
"Good morning, Ms. Spencer." A small blonde girl named Emily greeted her when she walked through the door. Carol gave the young girl a bright genuine smile and returned the greeting. When she set her stuff on her desk and turned back to her class, she saw that all the desks were full. Except one.
"Has anyone seen Shawn recently?" It was rare that someone would be missing from her class when it wasn't the flu season and especially when it was the end of the year.
Emily raised her hand, nearly bouncing in her seat. Carol called on her with a nod. "The other day, my mommy was talking to his mommy and she said he was sick." With a bright smile, she lowered her hand back to the desk.
"Hmm. All right." Reluctantly, she checked his name off on the attendance sheet and placed it back on her desk to address her class once more. "Okay, everyone. Do you remember what we did when Sam was sick?"
They all nodded their heads eagerly, awake despite the early hour.
"We made him a 'Get Well Soon' card." Bending down to open one of the bottom drawers of her desk, she pulled a large piece of yellow construction paper that she kept their for such occasions. "We're going to make one Shawn, too."
An hour later, Carol held up the large piece of paper proudly. It was full of smiley faces, hearts, 'get well soon's and 'we miss you's. On the inside, all the students signed their names and Carol wrote a little note that said everyone had missed him in class that day.
"He's going to love this," she announced with a bright smile. "I'll deliver it to him after school today and tomorrow, I'll let you know what he says." She placed the card in a safe place on her desk and turned to address her students once more.
"Now, it's time to do some learning. Everyone please get out your spelling books and turn to page ninety-nine." They all did as she requested with no complaints, except for Emily, who had her hand raised again.
"Yes, Emily," Carol called on the girl.
"When are you going to bring your boyfriend in?" This was immediately couple with 'Yeah, we want to meet him' from several of the other students.
"He has to be very handsome to have such a pretty girlfriend like you, Ms. Spencer," said a brown-haired boy named James bashfully. Carol had always suspected that he had a slight crush on her.
"Do you all really want to meet him?"
All of them responded with eager nods of their heads and Carol laughed softly, "Well, you all are in luck. He's agreed to be my show-and-tell on Friday!" The class cheered. If only Daryl could see how excited they all were to meet him.
"Is he going to bring his crossbow, Ms. Spencer? If he does, can I touch it?" Carrie, a red-haired girl with glasses, jumped out of her seat and bounced on her toes.
"I'm afraid not, Carrie." Carol frowned. "It's against the rules for him to bring that to school, remember?"
The room was filled with disappointed 'awws'. Carol couldn't help but roll her eyes good-naturally at them. "All right. Now, we really need to get to work on our spelling. No more stalling."
Once again, the room was filled with 'awws'.
The kids were gone for the day and Carol's feet ached from being on them all day. The chair by her desk was rarely used as she moved from desk-to-desk and around the room as she taught. She would never regret teaching, though. It had always been a dream of hers for as long as she could remember. But now, all she wanted to do was go home and soak her feet. Maybe Daryl would give her one of his wonderful massages...And afterwards, they could order a pizza and just veg out on the couch together.
First, though, she had to drop off Shawn's card at his house. Luckily, he only loved five minutes from their house, which was a plus. Pulling into a nice, two-story house, she climbed from her car with the car in hand and walked up to the front door.
Only a few seconds went by before someone was opening the door after she rang the doorbell. A tall, middle=aged woman with brown hair and light green eyes opened the door. She looked tired, but still managed to give Carol a welcoming smile when she recognized her.
"Ms. Spencer, how nice it is to see you!" Her eyes flicked down to the tell card in Carol's hand. "Is that for Shawn?"
"Yes, it is," Carol said and handed it to Shawn's mother.
"I wish I could have you come up and see him, since he would love that, but he's sleeping and I wouldn't want you to catch whatever he has."
"Do you know what he has? The flu or a cold?"
"I don't know," she sighed, looking even more tired. "He just started to get a fever last night, which had me deciding that he would stay home from school. This morning, he was up for an hour and I fed him some soup before he went back to sleep. I'm thinking it's the flu, which is odd for this time of year. Hopefully, he'll get better and be back at school soon."
"The class and I hope so, too. We all miss him." Carol gave the woman a sympathetic smile. "Now, you need to take care of yourself, as well. Okay?"
"I'll try. Thank you. I'll tell Shawn that you stopped by when he wakes up. He's going to be upset, but I know seeing the card will make him feel better."
"I hope so."
After a few more minutes of small talk, Carol finally said goodbye to Shawn's mom and was relieved to finally be on her way home to relax. However, another thought came to mind. Checking the time, a smile played on her lips. The garage closed in a half hour and Daryl would remain there for another hour afterwards to do some paperwork. Maybe she could give him a visit and sit on his lap as he did the papers.
Thoughts of soaking her feet went to the back of her mind as she pulled out from Shawn's driveway and drove in the direction of the garage.
Daryl was in for a surprise.
Daryl wiped his oily hands on the red rag in his back pocket and made his way to the office located at the back of the garage. The last client of the day had been returned his car, which ran like new now, and Daryl was ready to finish some paperwork so he could get back home to Carol. She would be home right about now.
When he opened the door to the office, a rush of cool air flew into his face. Daryl sighed in relief. Today it had been hot in the garage and a nice, cool shower sounded very appealing. But first, he had work to finish.
He settled down in the swivel chair in front of the large wooden desk and allowed his bones and muscles to settle before he picked up a pen. As his body relaxed, his eyes roamed over the desktop and landed on the manila folder he needed. Inside were papers he needed to look over.
The door to his office burst open and a few papers flew from the desk to the floor. Before he could register what was going on, Carol was perched in front of him on the desk. Her legs were crossed at the ankles and she gave him a sultry smile.
"What the hell are you doin' here, Carol?" He finally managed to choke out when he got over his shock of her being there. Carol never visited him while he was at work, mostly because she would be exhausted after her day of work to do so.
She pouted, making her look even sexier. "What? I can't visit my sexy boyfriend at work now? I thought that's what all good girlfriends did." She uncrossed her legs, leaned forward on the desk to get closer to him. "Do you want me to leave, Daryl?"
His eyes roamed over her figure, starting at her calves and slowly made their way up to her soft, pink lips, which were parted. "Hell no. Y-You can stay." Why the hell did he feel nervous all of a sudden? "Just don't get in my way, all right? I need to finish this shit." He reached for the manila folder where he placed but found it wasn't there.
"Looking for this, Daryl?" Carol held up the folder with a triumphant grin.
"Yes." He went to grab it from her, but she deftly held it out of his reach. Daryl glared at her, but her smile only brightened. Unfazed.
"If you want it, Daryl, you have to give me a kiss." She hid the folder behind her back and tilted her chin toward him and waited.
Daryl stood, letting him tower over her a little. "Just one kiss?' He asked and tilted his face down to hers.
"Just one and the folder is all yours." Her eyes slid closed and she waited.
"All right." His breath hit her lips as he drew neared to her mouth. All the while, he was reaching around her back for the folder. Before she could protest, he planted a kiss on her cheek and stepped back with his prize in his hands.
"I gave you your kiss," he said with a smug grin and sat back down in his chair to pull out the papers from the folder. Carol crossed her arms and huffed, irritated at being outsmarted.
"You know that wasn't the kind of kiss I was talking about, Daryl," she pouted, this time looking like a child.
Without looking up, he smirked, "Well, you should have been more specific, then."
If Daryl had been looking at Carol, he would have been able to spot the mischievous gleam in her eye and done something to stop it. However, once again, he was taken completely by surprise when she took the folder from his hands, threw it somewhere behind her and straddled his lap in the chair.
"What the hell are you doin'?"
Carol leaned her arms on his shoulders. "What does it look like Daryl?" She played with the hair on his nape. "I'm going to get that kiss you stole from me."
Any words he wanted to say were cut off when she pressed her mouth against his. There was nothing gentle or soft about the kiss and it took Daryl awhile to finally catch up with it. Carol had just slipped her tongue into his mouth before pulling away. Daryl quickly stopped a whine from leaving his throat.
Carol crossed her arms in front of her and pulled off her shirt, which went flying the same way as the folder. Her skirt was bunched up high on her hips showing a bit of the lace of her underwear.
"Carol," he hissed. "We can't do this here."
"Aw, why not?" She leaned forward and ghosted her lips along his neck, making him shiver. "The door is locked, Charlie is out sick and no one else is here." She nipped his earlobe before sucking it in her mouth. "This is the perfect time to do this, Daryl and you can't tell me you've never wanted to have sex in your office before."
"This ain't my office. It's Charl-" She cut him off with her lips and ground her hips against his.
"Is that a marker in your pocket, Daryl or are you happy to see me?" The line was cheesy, but the way Carol delivered it made him even harder. She slid a hand down and quickly unbuttoned his jeans. Fuck. He couldn't believe they were actually going to do it here. He would never be able to look Charlie in the eye, again.
"Come on, Daryl. Touch me." She took one of his hands and placed it over one of her breast. "I'm starting to think you don't want this. Don't you want this?"
He bucked his hips into her, knowing she could feel the evidence of his arousal. "Is that a good enough answer for you, sweetheart?" Her hand slipped under the elastic band of his boxers and wrapped around him. Daryl nearly lost it, then and groaned as he placed his head on her shoulder.
"You're fuckin' killin' me here," he mumbled.
Just then, her hand was gone and this time he allowed himself to whine at the lost. He reached for her, hating that the weight of her on his lap was gone. But she only smiled sweetly at him and started to pull down her skirt. Her underwear came down with it.
Oh.
In a fluid motion, she settled back in his lap, but he was on his feet in an instant, with her legs wrapped around his waist, and with one swipe of his arm, he cleared everything off of the desk. He placed Carol on the edge and she pulled him closer with her legs. "Someone's a little eager, aren't we?" She giggled.
"You complain'?" He reached behind her and unclasped her bra, which joined her other clothing on the floor.
"Course not." She tugged his jeans down.
As soon as he stepped out of his pants, he pulled her legs apart and thrust up into her. Carol threw her head back in ecstasy and wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him even deeper. "You know," he whispered in her ear. "When we're done here, you can help me clean this mess up."
All she could do was nod and circle her hips, urging him to move.
Slowly, he thrust into her, loving the way her face looked every time he hit that spot inside. Suddenly, she slipped her arms from his shoulders and leaned back on the desk. Daryl leaned forward, not willing to that far from her body, and this gave him a new, better angle. She whimpered every time he moved and with her rapid breaths, he knew that she was getting close. He was, too.
Daryl leaned one forearm on the wooden desk, holding himself up, and with the other hand, he buried it into Carol's curly hair. He kissed her hungrily just as stars exploded in his vision and he came. Carl followed quickly after.
They remained there, still joined, for several minutes as they tried hard to catch their breaths. "So," Daryl said with a smirk. "Do we get to do this on your desk next?"
"Hmm. Maybe in the summertime when there's no one in the building." Small tremors still rocked through her body and she sat up more.
"You know, I'm goin' to take you up on that offer." Finally, he slipped from her warm heat and moved to get dressed. She climbed off the desk on shaky legs and located her clothes that were scattered around the room.
"I know. I'll be counting on it."
Thanks for reading!
