I thank you guys for being so great with my timing and your kind words. I hope you enjoy. :)
The sky was just starting to streak with pink when Carol finally got up. She'd been lying in bed for a couple hours. Sleep did not greet her well, and when it did, she felt more exhausted. All she's been doing is running, even when they were camped. It seemed like nobody could catch a break, and when they thought they did, it ended up being more trouble. They thought they had found some sort of sanctuary, but they still weren't safe. There's hardly ever a chance to catch your breath for a few seconds without something else coming in the way.
She quietly headed for the front door, but stopped to see Carl curled up on the floor next to Herschel, who was on the couch. Glenn wasn't in the room, and she assumed he went back to his room sometime during the night. She walked outside, feeling the cooling Georgia air surround her. She sat next to the door and stared at the sky as streaks of pink, orange, yellow, and blue started filling the sky. She didn't want to deal with the aftermath of last night. As much as she liked it, she didn't need to be Daryl's drunken mistake. Carol got up and decided to check on Lori and Michonne before heading into the kitchen.
Michonne was still passed out, along with Maggie. Carol lightly knocked on Lori's door before opening it. Beth was slipping on her shoes when Carol poked her head in.
"Sorry. I just wanted to check on her." Carol whispered. Beth nodded, tying one of her laces.
"How was the night?" Carol asked. Andrea started to stir and Beth placed a finger on her lips, motioning for them to leave the room.
"It was alright. She woke up a couple times crying asking if he was really gone." Beth informed her. The girl looked so tired, dark circles under her eyes. Carol nodded, leading the girl to the kitchen.
"If you're still tired, you can go back to bed." Carol told her, going to the refrigerator.
"No. I feel like I haven't been doing as much as I could since the farm." The girl admitted. Carol looked up from the fridge giving Beth a look
"You can't be too hard on yourself about that. You lost a lot that night. Not just people either. You're a strong girl and I'm glad you're still here to help us." She told her, giving the girl a smile. She turned her attention back to the refrigerator, which was pitch black and warm.
"I think the refrigerator got unplugged somehow." Carol said, closing the door again. Beth looked behind but the outlet and plug were still intact.
"No. It's still plugged in. Maybe it's the fridge?" she wondered. Carol went to switch on the light for the kitchen but nothing happened.
"No. Maybe it's the generator. I'll go check." She told her before disappearing outside.
Everything seemed fine when she got to the shack. The generator had nearly a full tank and everything seemed to be in the right place. She couldn't figure it out. She'd tell Herschel or someone about it and maybe they'd figure it out. She was starting to leave, when she noticed the staircase. Everyone must have forgotten about it or just never bothered with it. She started for the steps when a voice came from behind her.
"What the hell do ya think ya doing?" the very familiar voice boomed right behind her, making her jump and clutch her chest. Embarrassed by being caught she turned to face him. Standing there with a scowl, bedhead and in flannel pajama bottoms, he looked like.. she stopped her thoughts right there.
"Well there was no power in the kitchen so I thought I'd check the generator." She answered. "How did you even know I was out here?" she asked.
"Asked Beth. You weren't in your room. Had to see where ya run off to. Of course you'd be the one to try and walk down the staircase of hell." His voice was irritated but not angry.
"I don't need checking up on. I'm not a child. And I wasn't going to go down there." She lied.
"Well I wasn't checking up on ya. And obviously you aren't a child." He told her.
"Well I need to go help Beth with breakfast." She said, making her way out of the shack.
"Are ya trying to avoid me?" he asked, matching his pace with hers. She felt herself go red but continued.
"No. Why would you think that?" she slowed herself.
"Because." He stopped in front of her causing her to stumble into him. He pulled her back and held her in place "You tryin' to run and half the time I can't get rid of ya ass." A silent laugh following his words.
"I told you last night. You were drunk." Carol said, shuffling in her spot.
"God damn woman! Am I not allowed to think for myself? And it would take a hella lot more than a couple beers to get me knocked off my ass." His voice was getting hard. "I meant it last night." He took a step back. "We'll talk later." He said nodding in the direction Beth was walking from.
"Everything alright?" the girl asked. Carol was picking what she could out of the now hotbox.
"Fine. Not sure what's wrong with it. The guys are going to try and work on it I'm guessing." She replied placing wrapped items on the counter.
"I didn't mean that. I mean when I accidentally interrupted you and Daryl." She said.
"You didn't interrupt anything." She told her.
"I know when I've interrupted something. He gave me the same look Maggie does when she's with Glenn." She laughed and Carol joined her.
"Good morning honey. Carol." Herschel greeted them, walking to the table.
"I see that the camping didn't last too long." Carol joked. Herschel chuckled.
"Yeah. About a whole couple hours and all of us were freezing." He told them.
"Not surprising. It's getting colder every day. It's going to be winter soon." Beth inputted.
"Yeah. So hopefully we'll have the power back on before that happens." Carol laughed.
"The power's out? It was on last night when we came back in." Herschel said. Carol shrugged.
"I don't know. It might just be an old generator that's lived its last life. Would you like a leftover sandwich?" she offered.
"I'll take one." Glenn said groggily, walking in the kitchen.
"Good morning." Carol said, handing the boy a sandwich. She looked at Herschel and he nodded.
"So the generator finally quit?" Glenn asked in-between bites. Carol nodded, handing the man his sandwich.
"Thanks." He said.
"Yeah. I think it has at least. It has gas and everything seems to be in the right place." Carol explained.
"Can't really say though. We'll look at it later. First we got some other things to take care of." Daryl intervened, taking the sandwich Carol just finished. She scowled at him but started on another one.
"What things?" Beth asked.
"Stuff in town. There was a gun room back there and we got ta deal with." Daryl drifted off, leaving a tense feeling in the air.
"What about Lori and Carl?" Glenn asked, finishing off his sandwich.
"Figured we'd bury 'em first and then they could come." Daryl suggested.
"I want to go." Carl's voice came from the frame of the kitchen. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Even though this boy is only 12, he's been acting much older lately.
"Son. I don't think that's the best idea." Hershel said.
"But that's my dad. I want to help." He told them.
"You can help by staying here with your mother. She probably needs you with her." Carol explained. A small look of hurt flickered on his face but he nodded.
"Good. Now here's breakfast." She handed the boy one of the sandwiches. "If today goes well, maybe Herschel will let you help him with trying to fix the generator." She offered. He gave a small smile and nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich.
-
Once everyone else got up, Carol was able to get rid of most of the food in the fridge. She and Andrea had to practically feed Lori. Michonne ate and fell right back asleep. Herschel said she would be back up and moving by the end of the day. Lori on the other hand, is a wait-and-see. Daryl and Glenn decided they would go into town alone. Maggie and Glenn were saying goodbye to each other when Carol was ushering Carl to grab his schoolbooks to help him with his work. He gave a look, but did as he was told. Carol was trying to keep herself out of the room so the two could have a minute alone. She busied herself cleaning up in the kitchen, and didn't notice when Daryl came in.
"We're about ta leave." He said, causing Carol to jump again.
"That's the second time you've scared me today. Why do you have to act like a cat walking around?" she asked. He ignored the last part.
"Didn't me to scare ya. I just wanted to tell you we were leaving." He repeated. She stopped and faced him.
"Be careful." Her words were sincere.
"Always am." He said.
"Daryl." She took a couple steps forward "Can we talk first?" she asked. He looked her over for a second before nodding.
"I'll be right back. Meet ya upstairs?" he asked. She nodded and he left. She didn't want to have this talk right now, but it was now or never. She headed upstairs, unsure of which room to enter. She decided on his room. A couple minutes later he entered the room.
"Gotta leave in 15 minutes. What do ya want to talk about?" he asked, taking a seat on the desk.
"I'm not sure. What did you want to talk about?" she didn't really know what to say.
"Last night. You keep sayin' it was a mistake. Do ya think that?" he asked. It was so unlike his character. He's normally the one who's hard and cold and now they were having an intimate talk about them.
"No. I just thought you might regret it." She told him.
"Well I can think for myself. I told ya. It'd take more than a couple beers to knock me off my ass. 'Sides I woulda done it without the beers." He smirked, but got serious quickly. "Look. I ain't too good with this kind of shit. I don't really know what to say." He was looking down, fidgeting with his hands, embarrassed. Carol couldn't help but smile.
"Look. I like you. More than I probably should. And I know you do. I don't know why, but why don't we just leave it at that?" she offered.
"Carol. Ya put yourself down too much." He slid off the desk, walking to her.
"And you don't?" she retorted.
"Ain't nothing that's not true." He replied. She shook her head, stepping back.
"You don't get to do that. You don't get to tell me that when you do the same thing."
"You don't know what ya talking about." He explained.
"And neither do you. We both have our skeletons. That doesn't mean anything now." She reassured him.
"Can we stop talking about this?" he asked, taking 2 long strides till he was right in front on Carol.
"What did you want to talk about?" she reiterated. He shook his head.
"Then wha-" her words were cut off by his mouth. His mouth moved against hers. Less awkward than last night. Carol sighed against him, making him pull her closer. His mouth was a contradiction of hard and soft. His hands felt rough, but were soft against her back. He smelled of nature and man. Carol mind was so clouded she didn't register the knock at the door until Daryl pulled away. He muttered a small curse under his breath. She couldn't help but smile. He broke away from her hold and opened the door. It was obviously Glenn. They talked for a second before he closed the door. He hurried to grab his crossbow and knife before turning to carol, who was still standing in the place he left her, her face flushed.
"Gotta go" he smirked. She shook her head to clear the clouds.
"Be careful." She squeaked. His smirk got bigger.
"Always am." He said, disappearing out of the room.
"I should probably go find Carl." She told herself, trying to regain composure.
"It's going to be a long day." She thought.
Good ending? I hope so. I would have written more but I thought that was an appropriate stopping point. It's all happy sunshine and rainbows…For now ;)
I think I've watched too much Doctor Who now. Everything I read or write now, I think of it in an English accent. This is why my social circle is so small.
I thank you all for your opinions on Rick and his death. I agree with most of you about how he's escaped death time and time again. So I think he might be able to escape this one…Or maybe he's just walking around the world now dead. Who know? *Insert maniacal laugh here*..I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from. Already working on the next chapter. Should be out a.s.a.p.