Chewing on his thumb nail, Daryl walked the northeast portion of the gate. This place was too big for them to watch properly. 8 enormous houses, all with large, overgrown lawns, concealing bushes and trees at every turn, splayed out over 10 rolling acres of space. As he climbed the next low rise, it irritated him just how unprotected they were. Even if every person was on watch 24/7, they still wouldn't be fully protected. At least the prison had been mainly flat land, with fences blocking the unused portions, and guard towers placed within easy view of one another. This place... It just wasn't safe. Some asshole with a tank or a few strategically placed tear gas bombs could easily take them out.
The truth was, no where was safe, but the cabin, though cramped, had been more easily defendable. This... this sprawling neighborhood, needed 10 times the number of people they had. Following the fence line, he found four different places where a determined walker could squeeze through, and this was just along the portion of fence he was guarding. Sure, walkers slowed down in the cold, but they weren't the real threat, not anymore.
Later, as he met back up with Rick, Daryl saw the knowledge in Rick's eyes. This place was good for a short stay, but the whole winter? As the two men grasped forearms, having one of their wordless conversations, Beth was in the front yard, laughing at something Bob and Sasha were saying.
"We can fix the weak places," Rick told him out loud, but doubt was clearly on his face. Too much damn space to cover, Daryl thought, and Rick nodded. What to do?
As they followed Beth into the house, Rick announced a group meeting at the next shift change.
...
Rick told them his thoughts. He kept it simple. This place wasn't as safe as they'd hoped it would be.
"We have all those spikes we made," Maggie suggested, "we can put those in the weak places to stop walkers."
"True, but it's not just walkers we have to worry about. How does our small group protect a place this size?"
"We can chop down the trees and bushes that offer cover," Abraham suggested and Rick nodded.
The others chimed in with ideas. Bob suggested watch shifts of 5, rotating every 8 hours. Building a guard tower on top of the tallest house came from Abraham. Two guard towers, Glenn added, at both ends of the property.
Daryl met Rick's eyes, they were good ideas, yes, but would it be enough?
...
The next two weeks worked everyone to exhaustion. A person was either on watch, chopping down bushes or trees, or helping with the building of the watch towers. Other practical, household chores cut further into their sleep, and by the time Rick was satisfied that they'd done the best they could do, the first snow came.
...
It was too damn cold. It had been 3 days since the snow fell, and outside snow and ice still coated the surfaces. Rick and Daryl were in the north watchtower, and even though they'd managed to secure planes of glass on all four sides, a steady draft of cold poured in.
Rick knew Daryl still wasn't satisfied with their fortifications, and honestly, neither was he. His goal was to make it through the winter. As long as they weren't blindsided by some large group of armored vehicles, they may just survive until spring.
When Rick's teeth started chattering, Daryl unzipped his coat and then reached for Rick's zipper, "I'm fine," Rick told him, but Daryl only grunted, unzipped his jacket anyway, and pressed their chests together. The warmth was amazing, and Rick didn't protest when Daryl opened his scarf and pressed Rick's face into his neck.
Damn, Rick thought, how he loved this man! Unable to help himself, he began kissing Daryl's neck, the warm, salty, and now familiar taste and smell of the other man had his stomach fluttering wildly, and as he felt Daryl harden, the turn-on was instant.
Just then the trap door banged open and Abraham stuck his head through, and they separated, but not quickly or with any shame, as they once would have felt. Zipping back up their coats, they both headed to climb down the ladder, but Abraham stopped them, "A question."
...
Daryl glanced at Rick, who said, "Sure," so Daryl nodded too.
The big man stood there awkwardly, opened his mouth to speak several times, and tugged at his mustache. Daryl was getting antsy, shift was over damn it, but Rick patted his back, and Daryl found some patience.
"How do you deal...?" Abraham started, then paused again, looking back and forth between Rick and Daryl.
"Deal with what?" Rick finally asked, "how do we deal with what?"
"Jealousy!" Abraham spit out. Daryl had no clue what the big man was talking about, but Rick, as always, seemed to know.
"Our situation is a bit different from yours, I think," Rick said, then carefully asked, "Rosita is with you both, but you and Tara aren't together like that, right?"
"She would never let me touch her. Not that I'd want to," Abraham looked sad, though, and Daryl finally understood the situation.
Rick grasped Abraham's shoulder, "Beth, Daryl, and I are a unit, so it's hard to offer advice or understand how hard that must be for you, but I do know when words aren't spoken, when people don't share what's on their minds, other people are left guessing, and that's never a good thing in a relationship."
"So I should tell them how I feel?"
Daryl sighed as Rick answered him. It was going to be a while before they could head home.
Below, poor Tyreese waited in the frozen wind, giving Abraham the moment he'd asked for.
...
Back in their room, the two men quickly shed their clothing. As had become their habit when returning from an a.m. shift, they laid on the far corner of the bed, waiting to warm up before wrapping around Beth.
Until tonight, they'd been too exhausted do much but warm up, snuggle into Beth, and pass out. But now, with both still a little aroused from their moment in the watch tower, they began kissing, rubbing, and touching.
Daryl loved the taste of Rick, he was so different from Beth's sweetness. Like everything about Beth, her mouth was small, and Daryl always kissed her with her delicacy in mind. With Rick, their kisses were more deep throated and their tongues battled and rubbed. It wasn't that kissing Rick was better, it was just totally different, and good all on its own. As he kissed his way down Rick's neck, to his chest, then across the rock hard muscles of his stomach, Rick grabbed his head and stopped him, "Let's try something different," Rick whispered.
Daryl was so aroused at Rick's suggestion that he forced himself to picture the rotting faces of walkers so he didn't come too quickly. Whatever Rick wanted to do was fine by him.
"Scoot down," Rick requested, then climbed in the opposite direction, and as Rick's thick maleness was in his face, he quickly caught on. As he sank his mouth down on Rick's hardness, Rick did the same to Daryl. As they sucked each other, the warmth of Rick's mouth quickly sent Daryl spasming, coming deeply in the other man's throat. As he came, flooded with pleasure, it was difficult to concentrate on sucking Rick back, but then a smiling Beth was there, "Let me."
Rick's dick was swallowed by her greedy little mouth. Daryl laid there, watching, attempting to catch his breath. Rick turned slightly on his side, angling better toward Beth's mouth, and Daryl began stroking the hard clenching muscles of Rick's butt, massaging as Rick pumped at Beth's mouth. Daryl ran his fingers over the area where Rick's ass met the tops of his thighs and was amazed as Rick parted his legs. He stroked his finger over the tight, slightly raised skin of Rick's asshole.
Daryl had never done anything like this, even with a woman. He knew Rick hadn't either. Though he really didn't know what to do, he decided to go with instinct. He licked his pinky finger and slowly inserted it into that tight, little hole. Rick shuttered wildly and Daryl knew Beth was drinking every drop of his come. Daryl removed his finger, and kneaded Rick's ass cheeks a few more times before they all moved to pile in the center of the bed like normal.
"Give me a few minutes, Beth," Rick told her, but she only giggled, "No need. Don't worry, seeing you two doing that, loving on each other, made me come hard before I even started."
Daryl met Rick's eyes, "Someday," he whispered and Rick nodded.
...
Groaning woke Rick, and his sweet little Beth was riding Daryl next to him. As she repeatedly ground down on him, Daryl's head was thrown back into the pillow, as his hands kneaded her breasts. Knowing how erotic it was to feel two mouths, Rick began licking at the muscled cords of Daryl's throat, and as their mouths met for a deep kiss, Rick felt Daryl come hard into Beth, who quickly hopped off Daryl and settled onto Rick's hard-on. Her little pussy was soaking wet from both her and Daryl's come, and Rick briefly thought of the condoms in the nightstand before Daryl began kissing him.
Afterwards, as they collapsed into a tangle of bodies, Rick shared Abraham's dilemma with Beth, who immediately expressed sorrow. Daryl just listened to them talk, grunting on occasion. This was part of their balance, that Rick and Beth spoke the closeness and Daryl breathed it in.
"When I woke up and saw you two, I was so excited that I barely had to touch myself. I can't imagine ever being jealous, it's like your pleasure is my pleasure," Beth needlessly assured them, but suddenly she slapped Rick on the ass, "but I do want to know what Daryl was doing down there that made you come like that."
Her happy grin practically split her face in two, "I can positively swear that I will never have the chance to grow bored with you two."