Ugh, I have so much homework to do and tonight is "Patient Lifting" skill at EMT class so I have a feeling it's gonna be a good workout. Might be too tired to finish this chapter when I come home...but I'll start it now before I leave!
I put on my uniform for class the other day and my pants are too long so I tucked them in my S.W.A.T. boots and I looked in the mirror and was like "I look like freaking Shane!" but when I went to Wal*Mart I got hit on twice because of my boots...weird. I guess men love a woman in unirform just like we like men in uniform :)
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Daryl woke up just before the butt crack of dawn, his well tuned biological alarm clock woke his system slowly but effectively and he blinked in the darkness as his eyes adjusted. Sighing, he rolled up into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and yawning. When he realized he was completely naked he chuckled in the darkness and reached over to the side to run his hand over Carol's leg. Somewhere along the way in my completely fucked up life, I must have done something right.
He gathered his clothes from the floor where he remembered haphazardly tossing them the night before in his desperation to connect with his, and he could safely say this now, HIS woman. If she hadn't been before last night, that had changed...he knew from the way she had looked at him after, it was a look he'd only ever dreamed of seeing in a woman's eyes. The look of complete satisfaction. Not just necessarily sexual satisfaction, but satified with everything. He had expected some hurt, maybe some anger after the way he'd taken her, because he knew it had been a little painful for her and he wasn't dumb enough to think it hadn't, but she hadn't looked at him like he was an animal. She understood what he had needed, wanted, and she didn't have to let it happen. But she had chosen to.
He felt a little guilty for leaving this morning as he grabbed his bow and knife and half stood in the tent, but that was another thing about her he loved: she didn't expect him to snuggle or cuddle or be all lovey dovey, touchy feely. She understood his job as a hunter, as a provider and she let him do it without a single complaint. She let him be himself and never made any attempt to change him, and so he was more than happy to change himself to be what she needed and so he found himself cuddling and snuggling and being lovey dovey, touchy feely simply because he wanted to.
"Damn it, woman," he whispered as he leaned down to press his every morning goodbye kiss to her cheek, "If the world had to end for me to find you...I'm fuckin' glad all this happened."
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Carol woke as soon as the first ray of light shone through the material of the tent and she kicked it into auto pilot, putting her socks and shoes on, grabbing her morning toiletries (the Greenes were nice enough to let them use the bathroom in the mornings for showers, toothbrushing, etc.), and she added something new to her routine, she strapped her buck knife on her hip. Pulling it out, she looked at it with a grin. It was definitely smaller than Daryl's by a little, but it was sharp, serrated and fierce looking. The steel of the blade glinted in the sunlight as she turned it and she wondered vaguely if she would ever have the courage to use it.
"WOW!" her daughter's voice made her jump and she sheepishly looked over at her where she had come around the tent. "That's a huge knife!"
"Yeah, I found it the other day when we went to town," Carol admitted, "I thought it would be nice to have one."
"It looks like Mr. Daryl's," Sophia pointed out, "But his is even BIGGER! Remember when he tried to stab Rick when he found out they left his brother in the city?"
Carol remembered, she remembered VERY well. That Daryl Dixon had scared her, back when he was a time bomb just waiting to go off.
"Yes I do," Carol said softly, placing a hand on Sophia's shoulder, "But he's come a long way, hasn't he?"
Sophia nodded, grinning widely.
"I really like him now, mom," she stated, "If you're not gonna marry him, I'll take him!"
Carol playfully gave her daughter a push and they walked to the farmhouse laughing.
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Stupid. That was a stupid move.
Daryl pulled the deer with all his might, sweat dripped from his hair that was plastered to his face from the exertion of trying to get this heavy ass animal carcass back to camp. He mentally kicked himself, feeling stupid for using a gun and possibly attracting walkers but...damn it he wanted to try that rifle out so bad he'd just...HAD TO!
Even field dressed the deer was a heavy son of a bitch and every time an antler would jab him in the side, Daryl gave it's face a swift kick to take out his annoynace at himself. FINALLY, the edge of the woods was in sight and he gathered some more strength and continued hauling his catch.
Andrea spotted him from the RV and T-Dog soon came out to help bear the burden. Together, they dragged it all the way to the tree where they had butchered the wild boar that time and Shane helped them string it up.
He spotted Carol and Sophia walking towards them from the house and he felt his chest puff up just a little when Carol gave him a proud smile and scanned the deer with awe.
"Thanks, Dog," he said as he left T-Dog and Shane to do the butchering, Carol's smile widenened even more. "What's that smile for?"
"I like the way you say "dog"," Carol said with a shrug.
"Yeah? How do I say it?" he asked, confused.
"Like...daawwg," Carol drawled dramatically and sent Sophia into a giggly fit.
"No I don'," Daryl defended, giving Sophia an annoyed glare. But the girl didn't flinch away or look down at the ground this time, she just giggled harder. "Ok, so maybe I have a bit of a drawl."
And when he said drawl, he could actually feel it on his tongue. Yeah...he guessed maybe he had a little more of one than the rest of them.
Carol leaned forward and he accommodated for the slight heigh difference by leaning down a little so she could reach his ear to whisper:
"It's sexy as hell."
He only smiled and gave her a wink before heading to the RV. He grabbed the gun cleaning kit from the closet and nodded for Carol to follow his as he headed for their target range. On the way, Carol stopped to get her bow so she could practice while he cleaned.
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Thump!
"You're getting way too good at that," Daryl commented as he took apart his rifle and arranged the cleaning supplies around him. "I'm gonna lose my livelyhood if you keep that up."
Carol eyed the bullseye she'd just hit with a proud smile. She nodded and nocked another arrow, taking aim at the other haybale "walker". She hit it too, only not dead center like the other...still, not bad.
"Daryl, no one can replace your hunting skills," she stated, turning to look at him as she took a break from shooting.
"Damn straight," he acknowledged as he stuck a piece of cloth on the ramrod and stuck it down the barrel of the gun. Carol scrunched up her nose at the smell of the chemicals and oil.
"You know," she said seriously, "That stuff can cause sterility in men."
Daryl stopped his ramrodding and looked up at her with an odd expression, finally he just shrugged and went back to work.
"Whatever," he stated darkly, "Not like I plan on reproducing anyways."
Carol put on her best shocked face and waited for him to look at her again. He soon glanced up at her and then did a double take when he saw the look she was giving him.
"What!" he asked, looking highly uncomfortable.
"You mean to say you don't want to make babies with me?" she tried her best to make her voice sound genuinely upset. "I...I thought..."
"Carol!" Daryl looked like a rabbit caught in a snare, his eyes were wide and his jaw went a little slack, "I...I didn't mean...I didn't know...wait, do you want me to?"
Carol couldn't hold it in anymore, she sat down next to him and started laughing. He was still looking at her with a mix of fear and unsurity when she finished her laugh so she kissed him right between the eyes softly and decided it was a good time to tell him the truth.
"Honestly...I would, but I can't," she admitted.
"Hell no you can't," he agreed, "Not when the world's like this."
"No...Daryl...I CAN'T," Carol stressed the word and comprehension dawned on his face. "After Sophia was born, Ed made me go get my tubes tied. So...there's no way."
She didn't know what to expect but she wasn't really surprised when the expression he got on his face was relief.
"Thank God," he said with a sigh, "I've been all worried about that because...well we haven't exac'ly been smart about it."
"Well...no worries," Carol shrugged halfheartedly.
Daryl's left side of his face twitched like it did when he felt bad about something or when he realized something suddenly.
"Carol..." he said carefully, "I'm sorry. That was a really stupid thing to say..."
Carol shook her head and smiled, kissing him gently on the lips to shut him up.
"I have Sophia," she said, "You're right, I couldn't handle bringing a baby into this world. And plus...I can have all the wild, nasty, dirty sex I want and not have to worry about a thing. Poor little fertile Lori, huh?"
"She don't have a clue what she's missin'," Daryl grinned and went back to cleaning the gun, eyeing the cleaning fluid bottle and shaking his head. "Oughta let Rick clean all the guns so it don't happen again...or maybe Shane."
Their eyes met and they both burst into laughter.
"Oh...that's not very nice, Daryl!" Carol tried to sternly reprimand him but she couldn't keep a straight face. She smacked his shoulder in an effort to convery her disapproval.
"Don't even pretend you don't think it's true," Daryl said firmly, "The guy's a sex addict. You know he got Andrea too, right?"
"Andrea! Nuh uh!" Carol WAS surprised at that!
"Yup."
"You have no room to talk though," Carol stated, "You're a sex addict yourself."
"Me!" Daryl looked genuinely shocked, "You're the one who grabbed me under the table at dinner that time! You're more of a sex addict than me!"
"Psh! Daryl, please, don't try to deny your true self," Carol waved off his attempt at pinning it all on her. "You're the one who spent the entire day yesterday trying to get in my pants!"
"Didn't have to try too hard," Daryl's grin was evil as he looked at her from under his brow in that way that hade her weak in the knees. "I think you've got a little bit of a naughty side there."
Carol was pretty sure he hadn't the slightest clue the dirty things that ran through her mind when he was around...or when he wasn't. The things she thought about him, the scenarios in her head would make a prostitute blush. She was having a thought right now...and she was gonna show him just a hint of it.
"Show me how to clean that?" she asked, pointing at his rifle.
Daryl looked a little surprised at the sudden change of subject but he handed her the gun slowly anyway and told her the steps and what the different chemicals, cloth strips and metal pieces were for. She cleaned the small pieces honestly and well but this wasn't the part she was thinking of. But finally, he set the tiny pieces aside and he handed her the ramrod and patches.
Carol locked her eyes with his as she put some of the cleaner fluid on the patch and stuck it on the tip of the ramrod, then she gave him a wicked, wicked grin and picked up the gun, getting onto her knees and straddling the stock of it as seductively as possible. She broke the gaze then and popped her hips back as she slowly inserted the ramrod into the barrel and pushed it down inside then pulled it slowly back out again. She did that a few times before she started pushing it in a little faster, and a little faster, and a little faster until she was pretty sure she was violating some sort of law about indecency or sexual relations with an inanimate object. Finally, she pulled the ramrod out in one smooth motion and blew the patch of the tip, her eyes flicked over and she knew she was proving her point.
She repeated the ramrodding until the patch came out clean and then she backed off the stock and stood the gun up, barrel to the sky and held it between her knees as she sat back, butt to heels. She snatched the rag out of Daryl's back pocket without so much as a warning and he flinched like none other. She gave him wink and then turned her eyes back to the gun, her gaze locked on the long, smooth barrel as she put a few drops of gun oil on the rag. Then, tantilizingly slow, she gripped the top of the barrel with the rag and ran it all the way down to the back of the barrel, twisting her wrist in way she had learned back in highschool underneath the bleachers. She just as slowly ran the rag back up, running her hand all the way off the top before returning at the start.
She heard Daryl's audible gulp as she began to pump the barrel with the oily rag in her fist, stroking it firmly now, lovingly suddenly, quickly then. For good measure, she pulled her bottom lips between her teeth and looked up the barrel as she gave it one last powerful upward stroke.
She turned to Daryl then and handed him the well oiled, smooth metal weapon and rag. He took it from her without even blinking as he stared back at her, jaw tight and eyes dark and dilated. He set the gun frame on his lap and ran a hand down his face, looking over his thumb at her with disbelief.
"Holy shit."
"Shit ain't holy, Daryl," Carol stated simply. She gave him a smile and then rose quickly, grabbed her bow and skipped away, leaving him alone to consider just how much of a naughty side she might have.
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I've always found cleaning a gun very sexy. Whenever I clean my shotgun, I just LOVE the feeling of running the rag over the barrel and looking at it shine. Next time you clean a gun, I bet you won't do it with a straight face, huh? ;)
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