AN: I LOVE YOU GUYS! It was amazing to get on here and see all of the reviews! And, again it makes me wanna write this one! I'm gonna give some shout outs to my reviewers…I've seen other writers do it and I think I'm gonna try it. Here goes:
Isnotamusedsir: Grumpy Shane. Kinda a scary thought, but could be pretty dern interesting. Though, I'm pretty sure Daryl could handle it
Hope and love: You seem to be with the majority about Daryl/Marie. We'll see where this chapter goes ;)
BloodMoonWanes: Their meeting was short…I wanted to make it longer but then I thought that Daryl wouldn't really be friendly. For this chapter, hopefully they'll get more time.
Krikim67: I am totally with you! I wrote such a lovey dovey chapter about what those two were like before and I kinda cursed myself there…now I feel like "oh they should be together" but then it's like "Crap no…what about Daryl!? I can't just leave him out!" So yeah…that's why I asked y'all lol.
Catchmeflying: Glad you think this is amazing. And, you too are with the majority on Daryl/Marie getting cozy.
Parldro42082: This is true, Daryl is really cute with kids! I loved seeing him with little ass kicker and Carl too. It would be really fun to write some stuff with Daryl being like that with Gavin.
ToniWalsh: First person to say just Shane…personally I love Shane's character, yes, he was a bit crazy towards the end of season 2 but, that was mostly Lori's fault. Although, since I know how hard it is to find a story that's just Shane I have one posted, you should read it (if you haven't already).
The group got their cars loaded to drive to the CDC. Shane his and Marie's bags from their tent and loaded them in the jeep. Marie started taking down the tent but was having a bit of trouble.
"Damn, stupid, piece, a-"
"Need help?" Daryl asked with an amused look on his face.
"No," Marie said stubbornly. She didn't like the fact that he automatically assumed she needed help taking down a tent. Though, she couldn't really blame him after seeing all of the women in this group. It didn't seem like they knew how to do anything but wash laundry and take care of their kids. After working with the tent a little more, she got it to come undone and put it inside the RV with the rest of them. Next, she walked out to Shane's jeep. That's when she realized there were only two seats, especially since there were bags piled in the back. Shane walked up with the final bag and threw it in the back.
"Hey Darlin'," Shane smiled, despite the fact that he was irritated at the fact that the group had choose the CDC over Fort Benning.
"Hey," Marie replied. "Uh, we have a problem."
"What's that?"
"Your jeep only has two seats."
"Yeah…the two of us."
"And Gavin?"
"Fuck. Uh…we could…"
"You and Gavin ride together, I'll ride with…someone else," Marie replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. He needs to spend some time with his dad."
"Okay. Who ya gonna ride with?"
"I'll find somebody, don't worry," Marie smiled lightly and pressed a ghost of a kiss to his cheek. She wasn't quite sure why she did it, but it just felt right.
Gavin toddled over to his parents, who were standing by Shane's jeep. Once he met up with them, Marie bent down to his level.
"You listen to your daddy, understand?" she said, pressing her palm to his face.
"Yes momma."
"I love you," she kissed his cheek and pulled him in for a hug.
"I love you too."
"C'mon little man, ya wanna have some fun?"
"Yeah!" Gavin exclaimed happily as Shane gave him a cheeky grin. Marie smiled lightly as she walked down the line of cars to the Cherokee Rick would be driving, Lori was putting some last minute bags in the car.
"Hey…do you think I could ride with y'all? Shane's jeep only seats two and I'm letting them ride together…"
"Carol and Sophia are riding with us…I'm not sure that you'll be able to fit…"
"Okay, um…is there anyone riding solo…y'know I'm kinda Closterphobic."
"I think Daryl might…other than that…there's T-Dog and Andrea…and the RV where Jim is."
"Looks like I'm gonna go talk to Daryl," Marie turned on her heel and walked back to the end of the row, past Shane's jeep.
Daryl was about to step into his old, beat up, ford truck when he saw a certain brunette approaching. He sighed and stepped away from the truck door. This better be good, he thought.
"Daryl…do you…" she had suddenly lost her voice.
"I ain't got all day," he replied.
"Can I ride with you?" she finally spit out.
"Why don' ya ride wit him?" he roughly gestured to Shane, who was getting into his jeep.
"His car seats two…and he's driving our son."
"Fine. Don' expect no talkin' from me."
"Thank you," Marie said shyly as she slipped into the passenger seat of Daryl's truck.
This is gonna be a long ride, Marie thought to herself.
As they drove down the deserted Georgia road, Marie couldn't get comfortable. She finally hugged her legs to her chest, giving up, Daryl was more aware than he'd like to be of the way her ripped off jean shorts, that were probably a little to short to begin with, slid higher up her legs with this action. But, she shifted again and dropped her legs on the floor.
"Can ya stop?" Daryl asked, annoyance clear in his voice.
"Stop what?" Marie asked, batting her eyelashes.
"I can't get comfortable," she stated.
"Well stop," he shook his head and kept his eyes on the road, his right hand on the steering wheel, the window on out the window.
"I can't. My ass keeps fallin' asleep, if you must know!"
Daryl rolled his eyes and glared at the road. He refused to look over at her. He'd just have to focus on the road and not the woman next to him. They continued to drive in silence for the next five minutes before Marie broke the silence again.
"Why do ya hate me?" she asked. Daryl didn't reply he just kept his eyes on the road. "Fine don't talk to me…I was just trying to pass the time, sheesh."
"I don' hate ya," his voice was so soft, and barely auditable that Marie had to strain to hear. She couldn't help but feel a little happy that he didn't hate her, because he seemingly hated everyone else in the group. More silence. Horns honked, and everybody came to a stop.
"What's going on?" Marie asked Daryl as they shared a look.
"Th'fuck should I kno'?"
"It was more of a rhetorical question," she said as she got out of the car. Alright, so Daryl may not have hated her, but he certainly didn't like her that much. Gavin ran to his mother's side and hugged her tightly. "Your dad wasn't that bad, was he?" Marie asked with her head over her son's shoulder into the hug, while sending a grin to Shane.
"We had fun, we was singin', mamma!"
"Oh really, what were you singin'?"
"Don't wanna close my eyes! Don't wanna fall asleep, 'cause I'd miss you babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing! Even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do, 'cause I'd miss you babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing…" he trailed off, no knowing the rest of the song. Marie had tears moistening her eyes. Shane walked over as she stood from her son. She sent him a glare, and wiped her eyes.
"That song, really?" she looked at him, pain evident in here eyes. That was their song. The night they picked it came flooding back.
"So," Shane said as Marie's head rested on his chest. They'd only been together for about a month and saw each other almost everyday, or at the very least called one another. It was Friday, meaning they didn't have to work the next day. So, Shane had come to Marie's house right after work, where she had dinner cooked and ready.
"What?" she asked as she ran her hand up and down the length of his arm that was farthest from her.
"We don't have a song…"
"Are we serious enough to have a song?" she asked. It was a valid question, because if you broke up with someone soon after it would just plain ruin the song.
"I wanna be," he said lightly.
"Okay…did you have any in mind?"
"Hmm…'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' by Aerosmith."
"Well I can see you haven't given this any thought at all," Marie said sarcastically.
"I was thinkin' 'bout it a few nights ago. Darlin', you're so beautiful when you sleep…"
"And I'm not when I'm awake?" she sarcastically gasped. "How dare you?"
"You sure got a mouth on ya tonight," he laughed.
"Eh, it's all this built up energy from not seein' ya since Tuesday morning."
"Oh, so you've got extra energy?" he grinned.
"Yup," he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
"What do you think a the song?"
"Perfect."
Since Marie didn't really know Jim, she wasn't involved in his decision. She just held Gavin tightlyand waited for everyone to make their way back to the cars. Once they did, she followed Daryl to his beat up pickup truck, sending Gavin back to his father. She wiped the tears from her eyes and closed the heavy metal door.
"Ya okay?" Daryl asked. "Didn' think ya was close wit 'im."
"It's not that…" she sighed.
"Whut is it?" Daryl's tone was soft and curious. It was very different from how Marie had ever heard him talk. It was kinda sexy if she was being honest.
She decided is she and Daryl were to be friends now or ever, maybe she should tell him what her problem was. They needed to trust each other. So, she sighed one last time and explained everything about Gavin singing the song and how deep down she was kind of irritated at Shane, but maybe it wasn't his fault, and how she felt bad for not agreeing to pick up where they left off.
Marie and Daryl both kept their eyes on the road in front of them, the constant white line on the right and yellow in the middle helped Marie focus so that she could actually confess all of her problems. It felt weird saying them out loud, not even her mom knew everything that went down between herself and Shane. She just thought it was a one night stand sort of thing. Daryl stayed quiet until she finished. She wasn't sure if he was blocking her out, or actually listening, either way, somehow she felt relieved to tell someone.
"And, it's not like things were perfect between us. We fought all the time, it was mostly over stupid shit, but I mean…still," she took a deep breath and hugged her knees again.
"How old were ya when ya got knocked up?" he asked. That was the one question that was bothering him. She looked so young…like she was maybe twenty at most, and Shane must've been like forty? But, then again, Daryl was always kind of bad at estimating people ages.
"I was twenty-five. Why?"
"There's no way," he said. That made her like thirty! She didn't look it at all.
"How so? I'll be thirty at like the end of this month…"
"Ya don' look that old."
"Oh? So thirty's old?" she asked playfully. "You wanna compare ages? How old are you then?"
"Don' matter."
"Can I guess? And you tell me if I'm right?"
"No."
"Aw…you're no fun. C'mon Daryl, I just told you all my fuck ups in life and you can't tell me your age?"
He didn't reply yet again. Marie sighed and stared out the window. Talking to him was like walking on thin ice, if she stepped wrong she'd drown in the cold winter pond below.
The caravan pulled up on a white multi-story building. This must be the CDC, Marie thought. Wordlessly, the two stepped out, and Marie made her way to her son and ex-boyfriend. Shane was grabbing bags from the back of the jeep and Gavin was smiling happily.
"Mamma we had lots a fun. Daddy was tellin' me 'bout how you, him, and Uncle Rick used ta get inta trouble."
"Was he? What did he tell you?"
"Bout dis one time when you beat up Uncle Rick for takin' yer stuffed bunny rabbit."
Five year old Marie was sitting at her little table having a tea party with her stuffed toys in her bedroom. Eight year olds, Shane and Rick were running around the house, causing trouble as usual. She assumed they were playing cops and robbers or some other game with guns. They loved to pretend to shoot guns. Suddenly, her bedroom door burst open and Shane came sprinting in.
"Don't tell him I'm in here," was all he said as he climbed under her bed.
"Okay," she replied. She didn't mind Shane, he was nice to her, unlike Rick and the rest of rest of his friends. If it had been anyone of them, she would've sold them out. But, instead she just continued to drink her invisible tea, and even poured some more for her favorite stuffed toy, a black and white bunny with long flopy ears and large black eyes. His name was Mr. Cuddles. She even held him close to her side when she slept.
"Where are you, Shane! I'm gonna find you!" Rick shouted from the hallway. He opened Marie's wooden door quickly.
"Are you too stupid to know how to knock?" she asked.
"Are you too stupid to know there isn't any tea in those cups?" Rick sneered back.
"Get our of my room, you stupid head," she took one of the cups and threw it at him, hitting him hard in the forehead, which would surely leave a bruise later.
"Ow! That hurt!"
"Haha!"
Shane snickered from under the bed. He couldn't wait to see Rick try to explain the bump on his head to the guys at school.
"Haha this," Rick picked up Mr. Cuddles and was holding him hostage.
"No! Not Mr. Cuddles!" she exclaimed. "Put him down, or you'll regret it!"
Rick just shook his head, Marie tackled him and punched him once, with all of her strength, causing him to relinquish Mr. Cuddles.
"Mommy!" Rick ran from the room back to the kitchen.
Marie cradled her prized possession and whispered, "It's okay Mr. Cuddles, that mean old stupid head won't hurt you again." Shane was on the floor he was laughing so hard at the display before him. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Do you know how many years I made fun of him for that?" Shane asked while still laughing.
"He heard it from our dad too," Marie laughed.
AN: Not what I had planned. Neither of those flashbacks were planned but whatever lol. Please let me know what you thought about the little bit of Marie/Daryl stuff that occurred in this chapter. I loved reading y'all's reviews and it made me make this chapter 2,577 words. Thanks for reading.
