A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one and the relative shortness of content. My 'subscribers' probably got an alert hours ago that this chapter has been posted, but I'd actually just finished a few corrections on Chap 10 and made the mistake of "Adding" the update to the series for some reason when I only meant to update that chapter, so in effort to keep the emails honest, I busted this bit out for an real new chapter in this series.


Daryl woke to the sound of shuffling steps as someone tried to quietly cross the room to the dresser. He tensed at first, but forced himself to relax when his numb right arm told him Carol still slept beside him and he didn't want to wake her.

There could be only one other person who'd think to creep in with breakfast; possibly two, but he discounted the idea of it being Andrea even before he heard the thud of foot connecting with dresser followed by a stifled male curse.

"You'll never make it in the ballet, twinkle toes," he drawled softly, careful to pitch his voice so Rick would hear the words, but Carol hopefully wouldn't be roused by them.

"I'm not here," the deputy denied, automatically pitching his voice to the same level Daryl had used. "I saw nothing. Carol left that food on the dresser last night."

"You trying to brainwash me now?"

He cracked an eye and turned just enough to be able to see the other man as he attempted with sneak out of the room with a grin.

"Just pointing out that you're obviously still asleep and having a dream that I am trying very hard to get out of before Carol wakes up," the man looked sheepishly at the woman to make sure the conversation wasn't waking her.

"If this was a dream, you'd be Daisy Duke and I'd have the General Lee waiting outside," Daryl scoffed, shaking his head at the deputy. "Try not to break anything on your way out."

"I was never here," Rick retorted.

A thud followed the man disappearing from Daryl's sight, followed by another soft curse from the fool. Daryl wondered what the other man had stumbled on or into. There was no excuse for such antics given the daylight that already lit the space around him.

He refused to believe that the sight of Carol in the bed with him could have so rattled Rick. Sure, if they'd been in a tangle of naked limbs, Rick would maybe have been rightly shocked, but Daryl damned well would have closed the door before any nakedness to keep the others from creeping in on such intimacy.

"Daisy Duke, huh?"

Carol's amused drawl drew him from his thoughts and he turned to meet her twinkling gaze as she shifted to prop herself up on her elbow beside him.

"Damn," he sighed, pushing himself to sit up against the wall. "Tried not to wake you."

"I appreciate the effort, but I tend to be up by this time anyway," she followed up in sitting up and stared at him thoughtfully. "Is Daisy Duke the kind of woman you dream about?"

"Been known to," he answered honestly, "when I was kid. That car, though? I'll always want a General Lee till the day I die."

She scoffed at that response and shook her head before looking past him to the dresser.

"We must be moving out," she mused, leaning over him to get the canned fruit and can opener that Rick had apparently brought in.

"Meddling nincompoop," he groused upon seeing the breakfast that Rick had woken them to deliver.

"I'm sure he just wanted to make sure you were ok."

He watched her bandaged fingers fumble with the hand held can opener for a moment before he took the device and can from her. He made short work of the task, cutting around the top of the can until the lid dropped down to quickly be swallowed by the thick syrup on the peaches they'd been given.

He fished the metal out, carefully sucked the sweetness from it then tossed it aside to the dresser along with the no longer needed can opener. Without thought, he put his fingers back in the can to bring up a wedge of soft fruit and offer it to her. She blinked at the gesture, looked past him again to the dresser and then scooted closer to take the peach into her mouth. While she slowly chewed her bite, he dug in for a slice of his own and popped it in his mouth.

Meat would have been preferable to start the day; something salty at least, but the fruit was a refreshingly sweet break from the norm.

"He brought us forks," Carol said with a nod toward the dresser after swallowing her peach.

"So he did," Daryl gave the utensils a passing glance and delved back into the syrup with his fingers. "Got a problem with this?"

She blinked at his again as he extended the slice toward her, but with a shrug and almost grin she moved to take the fruit from his fingers.

He enjoyed the slick slide of the peaches in his grasp. They were almost slimy with the liquid they'd been canned in, but it wasn't an unpleasant texture. Some foods were fun to play with and he deemed the peaches to belong in that category as he took turns feeding them both pieces from the can.

When they began to run low, Carol surprised him by tipping the can toward her to fish out a chunk with her good fingers. She extended it to his lips and he realized why she had blinked as he found himself doing that at her gesture.

Feeding one another was a pretty damned intimate thing to do. Add in the bed they still shared, no matter their fully clothed status, and the messy quality of the food they had and Daryl realized he'd made another miscalculation in their interactions. Having gone too far to turn for a fork at that point, he bent forward to take the slice from her fingers, sucking the peach into his mouth and feeling the brush of her fingertips over his lips.

A knowing smile curled her lips when he stiffened at the contact and she drew her hand away slowly.

"Jesus Christ, woman, are you trying to kill me?" he asked as she put her fingers to her mouth to suck at the syrup glistening on her flesh.

"Just giving Daisy a run for her money," she joked, blushing under the sudden fire in his gaze.

"Who the fuck is Daisy?" he snapped, putting the can aside on the dresser and grabbing the side of her neck to drag her in for a kiss.

"Look, Daryl, you should really be-" Andrea stopped her full speed charge into the sleeping quarters as he released Carol as quickly as he had grabbed her. "You really should not be disturbed," the blonde backtracks, forgetting whatever mission she had had coming in. "I was never here."

The woman fled the room and, thoughtfully, slid the door closed behind her.

"Can you imagine what a nice morning this would have been if they really hadn't come in?" Carol sighed, dropping her forehead to his chest.

Daryl could imagine that and more, but he sensed something happening among the group that he ought to be aware or part of so he forced himself to move away from her.

"I should probably," he got to his feet and jerked his head toward the door and whatever was happening outside the RV.

"Yeah," she nodded and moved from the bed to stand beside him. "Let's see what drama today will bring."

With that, she took his hand, pushed open the door and led him from the Winnebago while he was too dumbfounded to think of anything other than the warmth of her palm and fingers wrapped around his own. He felt the sticky residue of the peaches sealing their flesh together and decided that whatever was stirring in the camp, it would do nothing to ruin the way the day had begun for him.