CHAPTER NINE: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
We had grilled venison that night and it was delicious. This time, when I told Daryl he did a great job he thanked me and passed me another piece. I sat between the Dixon brothers and engaged in light conversation with everyone. Andrea kept giving me the most ridiculous looks that I tried my best to ignore but had to explain when Merle asked about them. He laughed a little too loudly, I rolled my eyes and blushed, and the others just looked on, bewildered. Daryl snickered to my right, having heard the explanation. "Not helping," I told him sternly.
"You all had a bet on how long it'd be before we fucked?" Merle asked Andrea and Carole. Both women blanched at being called out and Glenn looked horrified at the prospect. The look on his face made me giggle.
"I so did not want that image!" Glenn shook his head rather violently, like he was trying to shake loose the idea. Shane nodded his agreement, scowling.
"Neither did I," Daryl grimaced beside me. Merle reached around me to punch his shoulder with a snort. I shook my head and continued eating my portion of venison. There was more than enough to go around for once so we all could eat our fill. Right after dinner, Merle and Glenn went to patrol and the rest of us set to cleaning up again. Daryl asked me to help him take care of the meat instead of cleaning up the cooking apparatuses like the night before. He showed me how to pack the meat in salt (where he found so much was a mystery to me) and how to stack it in a crate he found. He explained that since they didn't have all the right tools that this was the best we were going to get as far as preservation went. In the morning he said he was going to pack it in another container and bury it underground where it would be cool. I took him at his word that it was the right thing to do since I had no clue how to preserve meat.
"It's weird isn't it?" I asked while handing Daryl a slab of meat.
"What is?"
"How easy it is," I motioned to everyone working together on some job. Daryl looked around too and nodded.
"Yeah," Daryl said and closed the top of the crate. He walked over to a bucket of water that someone had set aside earlier and started to wash up. I followed and joined him, we took turns dipping out hands in the cold water and passed the bar of soap back and forth until our hands were clean. I struggled to get some deer bits and salt from under my fingernails and Daryl was nice enough to stick around and keep my company. He didn't say anything, he just sat there and let me talk. I prattled on, talking about any subject really and Darly would nod every now and then. He and Merle were so different in that aspect. Merle liked to talk, a lot, which I enjoyed because I was a rather talkative person as well, and Daryl was far more laconic. When my hands were finally cleared of deer and salt I shook them in the air to dry them and Daryl jerked back. "Watch it will ya?" He snapped, wiping the water off his face. Smirking, I flipped water at him again. And again. With an eerily Merle-like growl, Daryl dunked his hand back into the bucket and swung a handful of water at me. Shrieking with laughter I returned the volley and pretty soon it was an all out water fight that ended with Daryl slinging the whole bucket at me. I sat there, sputtering and trying to wipe the water from my face while Daryl laughed with triumph.
"Not fair," I pouted, pushing my now sopping wet hair back. Great, I was going to have to sleep with wet hair. The jumpsuit wasn't exactly comfortable wet either.
"You started it," Daryl pointed at me accusingly. He wasn't nearly as soaked as I was, his tank top having taken the majority of the hits.
"Still," I titled forward and twisted my hair, wringing out as much water as I could. Daryl chuckled and rose to his feet. He gave me a hand up and offered to walk me back to the van to make up for his cheating. I declined and waved good night to him as I walked to the van. Inside I peeled off the wet jumpsuit, making a face at the feeling and pulled on my nightgown. Instead of getting into bed right away I sat on the edge of the cot and stretched a little. I also braided my hair tightly, not caring if it was going to frizz in the morning, at least it wouldn't be too uncomfortable at night. Merle stepped into the van just as I finished knotting the end of the braid.
I hurried to pull the blanket across my front and Merle chuckled. "You don't have to cover up," He said, waggling his eyebrows. I made a point of wrapping the blanket tighter around myself. Merle raised his eyebrow, sensing a challenge, and advanced slowly. Supressing a giggle and scooted back on the cot, the look on Merle's face a perfect combination of seduction and joking. He dropped to his knees in front of the cot and grabbed my ankle before I could tuck it under my body. Laughing I let him pull me to him until my legs were on either side of his chest. I held the blanket to my chest and leaned down, kissing him lightly. Merle tried to deepen the kiss but I pulled back before he could. "What's-" Merle started but I stopped him by pressing a finger to his lips.
"We're going to take this slow, okay? Really slow," Merle narrowed his eyes at me and leaned his elbow on my thigh, resting his head on his hand.
"Why?"
"Merle, how long have we known each other?" I asked. Merle stopped and leaned back, his face a perfect mirror for whatever was going on in his head.
"Damn, has it really been a week?" Merle fell back on his heels in disbelief. I nodded. "Damn," Merle frowned and stood up. He scratched his ear like he did whenever he was thinking hard about something. "Feels like longer," He said.
"I know," I leaned forward again and kissed his cheek. "Come on, let's go to bed," Merle nodded his head and gathered his clothes. Thankfully, this time he went to the cabin to get changed. I took that brief moment to get everything ready, including shutting the door. I straightened up from latching the door and squeaked when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind. I felt Merle nuzzling my neck, just below my ear, as we swayed in place.
"I like this night gown of yer's," Merle whispered into my neck, causing me to shiver. He kissed my shoulder.
"Of course you do," I replied loftily. Merle turned me around in his arms, I wrapped my arms around his neck, and we danced like we did to the old records.
"I want to touch you Callie," Merle said softly, running his hand up and down my back. I bit my lip and almost groaned. That was so damn tempting.
"I want that too, but I need time to adjust. Just like the whole cuddling thing, I'm not used to it," Merle gave me a suspicious look.
"You ain't a virgin are ya?" He asked slowly. I was taken aback by the question, offended and shocked that he would ask that.
"No! I just haven't had sex in about two years," I answered stiffly. Merle looked just as surprised at my answer as I had felt at the question.
"Just making sure," Merle shrugged and pulled me closer to him. "Ya said ya weren't used to cuddlin' and sex so I figured...wrong, obvisouly, but still," Merle danced us to the bed and sat himself down, pulling me into his lap without giving me a chance to complain or resist. He gave me a wide grin and asked in as innocent a way as Merle could manage, "I get to hold ya tonight?" I shifted uncomfortably and thought about it. I suppose I could always try it, if I didn't like it I would just move away from Merle, or Merle away from me, whichever was easier.
"I guess," I said shyly. Merle let go of my so I could crawl into bed, all while keeping my arm across my chest. I could care less if Merle saw my underwear (daisy today) but I wasn't quite ready for him to see anything else. Merle check his shotgun, switched off the lantern, and climbed into bed behind me. Like we had last night, I faced the wall and Merle curled himself around me. Sighing I let myself relax against him and found it to be very comfortable. Merle fell asleep almost right away behind me but I stayed up for a bit, listening to him breath. It was odd but serene and perfect. It was the sort of thing I had dreamed about happening in my normal life when I had a moment. I had always dreamed about marrying someone, settling down, having a few kids. Merle wasn't exactly the type of guy I had expected, or wanted, but I didn't regret it happening like it had. I ran my hand over Merle's arm as I thought. Sure, he wasn't prince charming and sooner or later, there'd be some blow out that we couldn't just get over but I was ready for that. I played with Merle's hand that rested on my stomach, tracing the long fingers and the broad palm. He shifted behind me and I stopped, thinking he might wake up, but he didn't. Smiling, I released his hand and turned over so I faced him. I couldn't see him since it was so dark but I could see his face in my mind's eye. He looked his age when he slept. I ran my hand over his sharp cheekbones and square jaw. Not a beautiful face but one I had come to love to see. "Merle?" I whispered as soft as I could. When he didn't move, I kissed him gently and tucked my head under his chin. "If I'm not careful I'm gonna end up falling in love with you too,"