The next morning Daryl awoke with a start to find he had fallen asleep reading-or trying to read-the book Eric had given him. He hadn't gotten much beyond the fourth page, feeling frustrated and confused at the language. He'd flipped through the book quickly, noting there were no pictures of any kind in it.
He sighed and placed the book on the bedside table. He normally didn't sleep in the bedroom he had claimed as his-he preferred to sleep on the porch or in the living room where he could keep an eye on the doors and act as a sort of guard just in case. But that damn book had worked better than any sleeping pill ever could. He sighed again and rubbed his hands over his face. No doubt about it, he was going to have to ask Eric to explain this shit to him. He'd be dead or an old man before he ever read that whole book, much less understood any of it.
He went into the bathroom and cleaned up before heading down and out the door to let the pups out. They waited each morning by the front door until he let them out and then went about marking their yard. He usually sat on the steps waiting for them to get done before heading over to Lucy's so they could together take the dogs on their morning run. He let the dogs out and stopped dead as he saw them jump up on Lucy eagerly. She was sitting on the top step. She laughed and hugged each dog and kissed their necks and patted them in greeting before each one jumped down into the yard to stretch their legs.
"Mmmm, hey," he muttered. He fumbled for his cigarettes and quickly lit one, surprised to find his hand shaking ever so slightly. He grimaced at himself. God he was glad Merle wasn't here to see this.
Lucy looked back at him and smiled. "Hey yourself," she replied. She waited while he settled on the rail of the porch. "I saw you on the porch last night when Eugene was over, why didn't you come over and join us?" She looked at him, her forehead crinkled in a frown.
Daryl shook his head and set to biting his thumb. "Figured you was having a private conversation, didn't want to interrupt."
Lucy turned, a look of confusion on her face. "What? Why would I be having a private conversation with Eugene?" Daryl shrugged and leaned started pacing agitatedly on the porch. "We were talking about something he'd read years ago and that I'd attended a conference on. You could've come over and interrupted, for pete's sake. I was hoping you would," and she huffed out a breath of exasperation.
Daryl stopped pacing and glanced at her, back to biting his thumb. "Whatta ya mean?" he mumbled.
Lucy stood up and walked over to stand facing him. "I mean Eugene is a nice person, and very intelligent, but he is NOT who I want to spend my evenings talking to." And here she smiled softly at him. Daryl's eyes widened in surprise. "Unless of course I'm mistaken, and it's you who doesn't want to talk to me?" And she lifted a brow at him.
Daryl cleared his throat and shook his head wordlessly. He thought of that damn book and how he could mention it to her without looking stupid. But she solved that problem for him.
"Hey do you think I could go out on a run sometime soon? I want to look for some books and some music and maybe some pictures. This stuff here in the houses is okay if you like hotel paintings, but if I can have anything at all in my house free, then I want something that's museum quality." Daryl's mouth dropped open.
"Ya wanna go to a museum?" He asked incredulously. That was the last place he would've ever thought of going. No food there, or supplies so no sense in going in one.
Lucy nodded. "Sure. The world may have gone to shit, but now that I'm someplace where there's electricity again I intend on having what I want to look at or listen to or read." Daryl noticed an absolute glow about her as she spoke. If she really wanted to go to a damn museum for pictures then he'd take her to one. He himself had never been in a museum of any kind-it would definitely be interesting to say the least.
Daryl nodded, thinking. "We can get a map and look up what's near here. We'll hafta take a van or car to carry the stuff back." He hummed as he thought it out. Lucy stood patiently, watching him think. "There's some stores in a mall near here where we can get ya some music and books, hell there's a library not far from here where we can get ya some books," he continued to mutter. Lucy smiled. "Let's go walk the dogs and we'll make a list of what ya want to look for," he said finally. Now that she had given him an idea of what to do for her, he could deal with the reading and all that other stuff. He might not be able to understand all of it, but he could get it for her. And then he could ask her about it like Eric had suggested. He smirked. He could keep everyone away from her porch if he brought her enough stuff.
Daryl jerked his chin toward the pups, who had settled down on the lawn watching Lucy and Daryl expectantly. Lucy followed him down the steps and they started off on their walk silently-Lucy making a mental list of everything she wanted to look for, and Daryl thinking about how happy this would make Lucy. Without realizing it, he swung his hand out and caught hers and they continued to walk hand in hand around the compound trailing the pups, lost in their musings.
