Daryl arrived promptly at five on the dot, this time arriving on his bike instead of his truck. He hoped Carol would be up for riding on his bike otherwise they'd have to take her car.

As he knocked on her door he found he wasn't feeling as nervous as he thought he would. The confidence that had left him since the other night had slowly started to creep back in since they'd made up.

He heard light footsteps padding towards the door and was greeted with a sight that immediately had him fighting a wide grin.

Carol fought off a blush as his gaze travelled down her and back up. It wasn't even like she was wearing something dressy to warrant those kinds of looks, not that she was complaining.

"Hey," she said quietly pulling on her leather coat.

"You look beautiful," Daryl spoke looking up to meet her eyes.

Again Carol could feel the blush coming back and she swallowed hard, "thanks, it's not anything special though."

Daryl said nothing more and side stepped so she could lock up the house.

"So do I get to know what we're doing yet?" she asked grinning at him as he gazed up from the bottom of the steps.

"Ya get to know part of it?" Daryl offered, "I mean unless you want to skip this part."

As he said this he presented her with a helmet and held it out towards her, glancing over at his bike.

"Wha-" Carol began but stopped when she saw his bike parked up next to her car.

"Is that yours?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Yeah I mean if motorcycles aren't your thing then that's fine, I just thought it might be fun?"

Daryl was trying to gauge her reaction as to whether it was positive or negative but so far her eyes hadn't left the bike.

"...Carol?" he asked pulling her out of her stare.

"Yeah- I mean yes, yes, I would love to," she turned back towards him taking the helmet eagerly, shooting him a bright smile as she did.

Daryl let out a small sigh of relief as he walked towards the bike, "you ever been on one?"

"No but I always wanted to," she stood at the side of the bike examining the impressive engine situated just under the seat.

"It's somethin' else," Daryl said before sliding on his helmet, "now you're gonna sit behind me but I'm gonna need you to hold on tight 'kay? I don't want you to fall off and end up in hospital on our first date."

He gave her a reassuring chuckle as a look of horror briefly crossed her face.

"You'll be fine, I won't go too fast, if you want me to stop just, I dunno, give me a squeeze."

"I'll be doing that anyway," Carol commented pulling on her own helmet.

"Alright, pinch me or somethin' then," Daryl smirked getting on the bike ushering her to do the same.

Carol slung her leg over the seat, her hands gripping Daryl's shoulders as she got comfortable.

She heard a muffled snort from Daryl as he turned around, taking her hands and using them to pull her flush against the back of him causing her to blush furiously. He took her arms and wrapped them around his middle, making sure she had a tight grip.

"I wasn't kiddin' when I said I didn't want you to fall off," Daryl yelled as he started up his engine, "you ready?"

Carol shouted back a response from within her helmet and Daryl set off.

As the speed increased so did her grip on him, it was exhilarating though and Daryl seemed to effortlessly move them through traffic as they headed towards her yet to be known destination.

Carol couldn't help focus on the heat she was feeling between her legs though as she was pressed up again him. She prayed to god he couldn't feel it since he seemed to be radiating enough heat to match her own. She had far too much hepped up sexual tension for her own good and this certainly wasn't helping.

After ten minutes he took a turn off the main road up onto a small winding side road. Carol frowned, she'd never been up this road before. A few minutes more of driving up the winding hill, getting higher and higher he stopped cutting the bikes engine.

He took off his helmet and helped her swing her leg back over the bike.

"Careful, legs might be a bit unstable," he warned wiping back the hair that was stuck to his face.

Carol scoffed but let out a yelp when her knee buckled as soon as she put her weight on it.

Daryl caught her with firm hands, lifting her effortlessly to sit her back on the bike.

"Maybe you wanna sit for a moment?" he asked smirking at her cocky confidence a few moments before.

"Yeah, uh thanks," she replied, still catching her breath from Daryl's effortless lifting of her.

She took a moment to view her surroundings, from what she could see there was nothing but thick, dark woodland.

"Is this where you're going to murder me?" she teased, looking back at the narrow road that only they had seemed to venture up, not a single other vehicle to be seen.

Daryl snorted as he peeled his leather jacket off, "don't ruin the surprise."

She lightly laughed and stood up, trusting her legs not to fail her now.

"It's a bit've a walk from here, but won't take too long," Daryl said beginning to pace towards the woods.

Carol followed closely behind him, clutching involuntarily at his arm when she stumbled on a tree root.

"Shit! Sorry," she gasped as her hand slapped against the skin of his arm, nails biting for grip.

Daryl let out a small hiss before laughing, "fuck got some talons on you, maybe we should be questioning who would murder who."

He shot her a toothy smirk that made her roll her eyes, unable to suppress a grin before elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

Before she pulled her arm away Daryl hooked his arm through hers making her glance up at him in surprise.

"Case you fall again," he explained as his eyes went back forward.

Carol couldn't help but smile to herself as she looked at their interlocked arms, she'd have to be careful here, she was already starting to like him much more than she should for the beginning of a first date.

Like Daryl said it didn't take them long to get to where he was taking her, it was a clearing on the edge of the hill they'd earlier drove up, giving them a full view of the expanse of the city. As she walked fully into the clearing she saw the view and her breath caught in her chest. The sun was just beginning to set, bathing the city below in a warm orange glow that reflected off of the glass windows of the taller buildings, causing them to shimmer and dance like fire. She stood at the edge of the hill taking it all in before turning back to Daryl, letting out a small gasp when she saw what he had set up.

There was a large checkered blanket set out on the ground covered with all sorts of food and a bottle of champagne resting in an ice bucket, a bunch of wild flowers now being scooped up into his hand.

"I know it ain't much, but when I get paid, I'll take you out for real?" Daryl spoke now with a nervous tone to his voice.

"Daryl this is more than enough, it's perfect, no one's ever put in this much effort for me," Carol responded, her hand resting over her heart.

"Wasn't nothing," he said, an undeniable blush rising in his cheeks as he offered her over the flowers coyly.

Carol grinned and took them without hesitation wrapping her arms around his neck in the same motion.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He gave her a shy half smile when she pulled back before ushering her to sit down.

"I ain't much of a cook so I got some of the chefs at work to cook us up some food," he said uncovering plates warm pasta dishes and fancy desserts, "did cut the strawberries myself though," he added with a smirk, holding them up to her.

Carol snorted before taking one and popped in her mouth letting out an over enthusiastic groan, "god damn, these are the best strawberries I've ever tasted."

"You don't mean that," Daryl teased back pushing lightly at her shoulder.

She let out a laugh and then began going in for the other foods he'd brought with him. Everything was so good and she had to give kudos to his choice in food, he'd even brought strawberry cheesecake which was by far her favourite dessert.

They'd stayed there until the sun was nothing but a slither on the horizon, talking about everything and anything, nothing of real importance but the conversation came so easily that is surprised Carol. She took a glance at the time as she sipped on her champagne during a moment of comfortable silence.

"Don't you have a party to get to?" she questioned looking over at Daryl who checked the time himself.

"No rush, but we might want to get back through the woods before it gets too dark, easy to walk in 'round circles in a place like that at night."

Carol nodded really not wanting to be stuck out here all night no matter how much she was enjoying it.

"Party time then," she said with a smile on her face although honestly she was feeling a little nervous.

Daryl must have picked up on her false pretence because when he stood to help her up he held onto her hand longer than he needed to.

"We don't have to go, really it's not a issue," he promised, his thumb absently brushing over the back of her hand before dropping it.

"No I want to go," she assured before pausing, "...what if they don't like me?"

Daryl scoffed at that as he bent down to pack everything away into the cooler, "of course they'll like you, you may come away from it not liking me though."

"Why?" Carol frowned.

"Because...they're a little overbearing, they'll ask you uncomfortable questions about us that honestly do not feel obliged to answer, and in their drunken state they'll probably tell you some god embarrassing stories about me," Daryl responded, his free arm naturally hooking around hers to start their journey through the now even darker woods.

"Gonna take a bit more than that to put me off liking you," Carol admitted, thankful that the shadowy woodland hid the blush on her cheeks.

Daryl tried to hid a grin as he focused on the ground ahead of him, "well, we'll soon see."