A little morning after action here, along with some important personal revelations for our Caryl.

A bit of calm before the storm...

10. "Wishin' and hopin' and prayin'"

A steady annoying beeping pulled Carol from the best dream she'd ever had. It'd been about Daryl—and she'd had some pretty hot dreams about the quiet tracker before, but hell, holy Hanna and call the Pope, this one was...

"You gonna shut that fuckin' thang off er what?" said the man in question from his place curved around her side, his face pillowed against her breasts, his arms wrapped around her, his groin pressed against her hip. She felt his mouth find her nipple, licking delicately and then sucking it in between his lips and teeth, nipping lightly and then releasing it with a pop.

"Told you I'd wake you up—didn't need to set no alarm." he growled and stretched his long muscular arm up to find the offending watch and shut it off. He settled back down beside her and nuzzled her breast again.

He thought her breasts were about the prettiest ones he'd ever seen—they were soft and rounded and he liked kissing them, touching them—the way the pale pink centers hardened and turned cherry red as he suckled, the little gasping moans she gave, the way she held his head to her, the little hitch in her hips that told him she liked it...felt it all the way to her core.

When she didn't move or speak he paused, worried he'd overstepped—were there some sort of rules about morning after stuff he didn't know? He looked up at her and saw that her eyes were tightly closed, her breathing irregular and shallow.

"Carol? Is this ok? Are you?—I mean...am I..." he asked, all clumsy diffidence.

"You really are here." she said, opening her eyes. "I was afraid if I said anything you'd vanish in a puff of smoke..."

"Like some genie or sum-thin'?" he chuckled. "You got some wish I can make come true for ya, sweetheart?" he said, his voice dropping into a low down sexy drawl.

She loved it when he called her sweetheart. The endearment seemed to come so easily to him, as if he'd been saying it in his head all this time, but now finally had permission to give voice to it.

"Aren't genies supposed to grant three wishes?" she returned, gasping as his hands moved to cup her breasts, his thumbs softly gliding across her nipples. She felt his rising hardness against her hip and sighed.

"Might have to take a rain check on th'other two—5:00-sun's up and we need to get on the road...only got time for one. Your choice..." he told her. She looked at him consideringly and then seemed to decide something. She sat up and pushed him onto his back, making him release his hold on her.

Carol let her right hand drift down to his belly, grasping his cock firmly. She smiled at his sharp intake of breath. She leaned in and kissed his shoulder, his collar bone, his lightly furred chest, finding and circling his small right nipple with her tongue, all the while stroking him lightly, her whisper light touch maddening him. He reached for her, but she raised her head and told him no, to just lie there, to keep his hands at his sides. She kept her left hand on his shoulder, reinforcing her order to stay down, hold still...

Daryl frowned—what the hell was she doing?

Carol returned to his breast, kissing his other nipple now, licking in swirling circles until it rose almost painfully erect and she sucked down hard and then lightly bit down, feeling his cock jump in her hand. Daryl whimpered, the sensation exquisite, afraid he was going to pop just from what she was doing to him right now.

"Fuck woman—what're ya doin' to me?" he moaned and then her other hand cupped his sac and she slid down his body, enveloping the head of his cock with her mouth in one quick motion.

Daryl sat bolt upright and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her away from him, in shock.

"You ain't got to do that...you're a lady..." in his world what she had started to do for him was something that happened in back seats, a 'quick and dirty' furtive thing he'd seen girls do for Merle in exchange for a dime bag or a rock.

"It's my wish, isn't it?" she said, defiant now. She wanted, no needed to do this. She'd hated being forced to do it for Ed—it was too intimate, too personal a thing to waste on him. It was something you did for the man you loved.

Daryl frowned at her hard, shaking his head, not understanding.

"You really want to?" he asked her, and she nodded her head yes. "Why?"

Carol smiled slowly and looked at him with a twinkle in her eye.

"Because you'll love it..."

And he did, roaring loud enough to wake the dead when he came, humbled as she kept her mouth on him the whole time, until he finished, collapsing back, his chest heaving, still giving high pitched little whimpers as he tried to calm the hell down.

"I think I pulled a muscle..." he moaned. Holy shit she was good at that.

Carol had a cat that ate the canary grin on her face as she cuddled in next to him, and he looked down at her, shaking his head in wonder and then he put one finger under her chin, lifting it so he could kiss her deeply, tasting his own essence, amazed again at how this little woman loved him.

"Catch!" Carol said playfully, tossing a pair of black Ray Bans she'd found in her search of the shelves in the storm shelter at Daryl who was busy packing up their gear and what they had scavenged here to load into the Hyundai. He turned and smoothly plucked them out of the air, shooting her a questioning look.

"What's this?"

"Make you look like more of a bad ass." she said, eyes crinkling, cheek dimpling.

He stared at her, his right eye twitching, still not quite believing in the reality of this new facet of their relationship. She was still Carol—the best friend he'd ever been lucky enough to have—but now she was something else as well, his lover.

"More?" Daryl drawled, squinting and smirking as he looked over the glasses, remembering how many times she'd uttered that word last night, gasped it... screamed it. He'd been more than happy to comply with her lusty demands, grew hard again just thinking about it. Shit.

He pulled the expensive shades on and they sat perfectly on his face, his dark fringe of bangs brushing over the top, his mouth set in a firm line, chin thrust out.

"My sexy ass bad ass," Carol said in a low purr and was rewarded with a slight blush on his high cheekbones. She grinned at him and he snorted and ducked his head, pulling off the sunglasses, from bad ass to bashful boy again.

Carol came over to him then, put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. His arms came up around her, holding her close, awed by how natural it felt now, finding it hard to remember why he'd be so afraid of this for so long.

Then he released his hold on her and his face turned serious as he decided he needed to ask her about something that had been bothering him since last night.

"I need to ask you sum-thin'."

"What Daryl?"

"Last night...well...we didn't use nothin'... you know?" he said, embarrassed, but determined. "I mean, I ain't got no diseases or nothin'..." he let his voice trail off. Carol smiled a bit sadly and took his hand.

"I'm ok too. I haven't been with anyone since...you know...and I had a test every year." A fact necessitated by Ed's serial infidelity and refusal to use condoms with his own wife. It was marital Russian roulette and she'd tried to deny him, but he was just too strong, too violent... she'd had many reasons to pray for his death.

Daryl stood there, watching the expressions play across her face, knew she was remembering her sack of shit husband, needing to tell her the rest.

"...but if there's a baby..." Daryl finally got out, "I'd be ok with that." he said hopefully. Carol's heart clenched tight. Where had this man been all her life?

"After Sophia was born...I tried to leave him." Carol said, her eyes filling with tears. She'd only ever told this story to one other person, Lori. She'd lied to the doctors, the social workers, knowing that Ed would kill her or worse, kill Sophia and force her to go on living knowing she had caused her child's death.

Daryl waited for her to continue, running his thumb soothingly over the back of her hand.

"He came home early, caught me...hurt me..." The list of injuries included the compound green-stick leg fracture, 4 broken ribs, a bruised spleen and ruptured ovary. "When I was in the hospital...after...the doctors told me I'd probably never have another child. I never got pregnant again." her breath hitched and a tear ran down her cheek. Daryl pulled her into a hug.

"I never really cared." Carol said, resting the side of her face against his chest. "I was happy not to bring another child into my hell...but I wish...now..." she looked up at him, truly wishing she could give him a child.

"Wish he was alive so's I could kill him." Daryl said, shaking, his fury at the man who'd do such a thing to any woman, let alone this one, only barely controlled.

"Thank you." Carol told him, hugging him tightly, knowing that having someone willing to kill for her would've been unthinkable in the old world, but finding only comfort in the thought now.

"We need to get goin'." Daryl told her, his voice warm, but with a hint of sadness. "Finish this run."

"Kiss me." Carol said, looking up at him, his eyes as blue as the sky on a perfect summer day...but now their all too brief vacation from reality was over. Glenn needed them.

"Your wish is my command." his mouth quirked up at the corner and he captured her lips with his own.

Short, but with a little tiny bit of smutty Caryl sweetness for you all!

Don't worry, I will not kill either Carol or Daryl, but things are about to go seriously south for them, so be prepared for a bit of anxiety.

Again, thanks from the bottom of my heart for your reviews!