The next week went by without event. Carol felt like she could really breathe for the first time in a while. It was nice, not having to worry about getting to school early to shower, or worry that'd she be okay sleeping in her van. It was nice to go to a house again, to sleep in a bed, and to be around Daryl more often.
They bickered at times, but it was never over anything serious. Over the past couple of months they had grown really close; something they both needed from each other. Just being around him made her feel okay, like all of the broken parts of her were slowly being pieced back together.
She avoided Merle like the plague, hoping to get on his good side, if he even had one, by staying out of his way. So far, it was working. She kept bringing food from the diner, and leaving it in the fridge only for it to disappear, which she took as a good sign. Daryl had convinced her to cut back on some of her hours at the diner, which Dale had agreed to, seeing as the diner wasn't that busy during the hours she had been working. She was now working after school, while Daryl usually worked at the local mechanic's. It worked out well enough that Carol was never at the house by herself, or worse, with just Merle.
Except for today. It was Saturday and Daryl had been called into work, agreeing to go after Carol said she'd be fine. He was only supposed to be gone for a few hours and promised they'd go to the store after and pick up everything she needed for the chili she was supposed to teach him how to make.
She ended up getting out of bed and strolling into the kitchen to make some breakfast. She almost crept back into the safety of Daryl's room, when she saw Merle sitting at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette. Deciding she wasn't going to live up to the nickname he had given her, she held her head high and walked in.
She went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs and a package of bacon. Merle eyes her curiously, but said nothing.
"Would you like some?" She offered quietly.
"Sure," he answered, taking a drag of his cigarette, still staring at her. She could feel his eyes on her even as she had her back turned to him. "How do you like your eggs?"
"Cooked," he answered. She rolled her eyes. "Sunny side up, scrambled, over easy?"
"Over easy," he answered again, before going silent. Carol nervously made the food, along with some toast. By the time she had set a plate down in front of him, he still hadn't said another word. She debated on bringing her breakfast back into Daryl's room, before remembering that she was determined not live up to the 'mouse' that Merle thought she was.
"Why're ya still here?" Merle asked, taking a bite of his toast.
"What do you mean?" She asked shakily, wondering where he was getting at.
"Nobody makes friends with Dixons, they just stay away. 'Specially pretty smart girls like you. Probably a spoiled princess, right? Nobody like you wants to be friends with a couple o' rednecks. Ya two ain't gettin' frisky, I can tell that much. I don't wanna be pickin' up the pieces for Daryl when ya leave him," Merle stated.
Carol felt her blood boiling at his assumptions. The thought that she'd ever hurt Daryl…It just wasn't even in the realm of possibility in her mind. Then again, she realized that Merle must have had his reasons for thinking that way, and that made Carol's heart sink into her stomach. The thought that he or Daryl felt that way…
"I'm not going anywhere, Merle," she said, looking him in the eyes. "No, Daryl and I aren't getting 'frisky.' We're friends. He tried to feed me the same bullshit too, but I told him I don't judge people. I could care less what other people say. Why would I want to be friends with him? Because he's the best person I know. He's rough around the edges, but he's better than anyone I've ever met. We didn't get along at first, until we had this project for school. Daryl's a very good friend to me, and I refuse to lose that. As for me being a spoiled princess, that's furthest from the truth.
'Everyone stayed away from me in school. I was an outcast, because my mom had left, and my dad started beating me. It only got worse when my sister and my dad's girlfriend died in a wreck that she caused."
Merle looked like he was about to say something, but she couldn't stop. Talking to him was weirdly cathartic. She stood and lifted her shirt up to show him the scars that marred her stomach, then lifted her shirt sleeves up to show him faded, circular burn marks.
"It was always in places that were easy to hide," she explained softly at his stunned expression.
"I-I didn't know," Merle answered.
"No, you didn't. I understand why you're worried about Daryl, about me hurting him…but I need him in my life Merle. I'm not- I'm not trying to take him away from you. I don't have some ulterior motive. Losing my sister," she breathed, trying to hold back tears, "I'd never try to separate two siblings."
Merle looked down, ashamedly.
"We can start over, if you want. I could use another friend," she said hesitantly. Recovering from his shock at her outburst and all of the information she had unloaded onto him, he looked up at her smirking.
"Guess I underestimated ya, mouse," he winked.
"Want to go watch some TV while we wait for Daryl?" Carol questioned, grabbing her plate to go into the living room. Merle wordlessly followed. Carol sat down in the recliner as Merle searched for the remote that was hidden in the couch cushions.
He smiled smugly when he found it and pressed the power button. The news was on, talking about some new and unknown disease.
"The CDC says at this time there is no reason to panic-" Carol heard before Merle started flipping through the channels.
"Hate watchin' the news," he muttered.
Hours later, Daryl came home to find them watching some vampire movie on TV. They had made some more small talk, and Carol finally felt more comfortable around Merle. Their talk had been quite a turning point.
Daryl seemed happy to see them getting along, which in turn made Carol happy.
When they came back from the store, Carol promptly set Daryl to work, dicing the venison as she minced the garlic and chopped onions, getting them ready to saute.
"Damn," she muttered after nicking her finger on the blade. Daryl immediately dropped the knife he was using on the venison and went over to her, assessing her finger. "Gotta be more careful, woman," he admonished. He washed his hands then went into the bathroom and returned with a bandage to wrap her finger with.
"Thank you," she blushed. He nodded and turned back to dicing the venison as Carol didn't even try to hide the smile on her face.
Less than an hour later, the three of them were seated at the kitchen table with bowls of venison chili. Carol laughed watching how quickly Daryl and Merle made their way through their bowls, and after Merle complained about burning his tongue.
"I warned you that it needed to cool down still," Carol said to him.
"Yeah but it smelled good and I was hungry."
Carol shook her head and laughed at him. He was like a child, but she was glad to see this part of him come out.
"Ya gonna be cookin' for us all the time now? 'Cause I can't say I'd mind that darlin'," Merle asked before Daryl started to yell at him.
"Jesus Merle, she ain't a damn maid."
"It's okay," Carol answered. "I take it as a compliment and I like to cook," she smiled at Merle.
"See Darylina, jus' over-reactin'." Daryl simply rolled his eyes at him and they finished eating.
The next morning Carol swatted Daryl's hand away as he tried to wake her.
"Wanted to go huntin' with me, didn't ya?"
Carol opened her eyes, squinting at the sunlight shining through the windows. She yawned and stretched before falling back onto the bed.
"Fine, I'll go without ya. Got my part o' the project done."
Carol sighed before getting up and shooting him a look. "I'm up, I'm up," she muttered, rubbing at her eyes.
"Ya shouldn't have stayed up so late watchin' those horror movies with Merle," he said.
"What? You did too!" She exclaimed as she put her shoes on and gathered her hair into a high pony tail. He snickered at her reaction. "Yeah, but I was able to get my ass outta bed."
"Oh hush," she replied as they walked out the backdoor after Daryl grabbed his crossbow.
Before they made it into the woods, Daryl turned to her. "Ya need to be real quiet, and stay behind me, alrigh'? Otherwise we ain't gonna catch nothin'."
Carol nodded and followed behind him, trying to be as quiet as possible. After a while of walking around, she didn't have to try to be quiet; it had quickly become natural for her. Daryl hadn't said anything, focused completely on his surroundings. Carol didn't mind the comfortable silence. Being in the middle of the woods brought a kind of serenity that she hadn't experienced before.
Daryl suddenly stopped and held a hand up to Carol. She wondered why they stopped until Daryl bent down, looking at the ground.
"See this here? Deer tracks," he said softly. "It's rounded, so it's an older one," he said pointing it out the curve to her.
"These two deep ones, they're the hocks. This one's a heavy son of a bitch."
Carol nodded in understanding, still trying to be as quiet as possible while Daryl stood back up and started walking in the direction of the tracks.
Not much later, and they were heading back home with a large buck, as Daryl had promised. While Daryl stayed outside to skin and clean and do everything else he had to do to it, Carol was inside getting badgered by Merle, who was asking her what she was going to make out of it.
She laughed and named things off, making mental notes of Merle's reactions.
Life was pretty good right now, Carol had to admit. She couldn't recall having ever been happier.
AN: Every time I get a review, it's almost like getting a bear hug from Daryl. I sound like a broken record, but really, your kind words seriously warm my heart and really encourage me to continue with this, and I look forward to everything you have to say.
I am still not over that hug, and have lost count of how many times I've watched the episode, let alone the number of times I've watched the hug or at least looked at pictures of it and read analyses of it… This is seriously like, consuming my life right now.
Oh, and about next chapter... I think shit's gonna go down. :x
