Chapter 25: Home Sweet Home

34-year-old television star Carol Mason was spotted ready to jet out of Los Angeles late yesterday evening with new husband Daryl Dixon. Mason was dressed in a pair of jeans and a loose fitting blouse, adding fuel to the swirling rumors that baby Mason-Dixon is on the way. Will she have her mother's sparkling blue eyes?

...

"Hi, baby!" Charlotte exclaimed, folding her arms around her daughter's shoulders. "Oh, you look good! Doesn't she look good, Joe?" A balding man with white hair and a tired smile came up and pulled his girl into his arms.

"Just as beautiful as the day she was born," Joe Mason chuckle, giving his daughter a squeeze, as Daryl loaded the luggage into the back of the Masons' car.

"Mama, Daddy, this is Daryl."

"Daryl Dixon," Charlotte chuckled, moving to pull Daryl in for a hug he'd been bracing himself for. Carol had warned him on the flight that her mother was a hugger, and she was not kidding. Charlotte enveloped him in a bear hug, and he hugged her back, catching a sheepish grin from Carol in the process. "Oh, I've read and heard a lot about you."

"Good things, I hope, ma'am."

"Oh, listen to him. So polite," Charlotte giggled, touching both sides of Daryl's face. He half expected her to pinch his cheeks and give him kisses like his granny Louise used to do. "You've been taking good care of my girl, I take it?"

"He takes good care of me, Mom," Carol promised.

"She takes good care'a me, too," Daryl replied. "Don't know what I'd do without her."

"Now, Daryl," Joe said, stepping up in front of his daughter's husband. "Charlie and I were surprised when we got the news that you went and married our girl without meeting us, first."

"Daddy," Carol chided.

"Now, Carol Ann, you know we're not mad. Just surprised. It was so sudden and not something we would have thought you'd ever do. It was so fast."

"I know, Daddy," Carol said quietly, "but I remember you telling me that you two got married after three dates." Carol crossed her arms across her chest, and Charlotte just laughed.

"She's right, Joe."

"I told her I'm not mad. I'm not mad, am I?" Joe asked, shrugging his shoulders and throwing his hands in the air. "Kids these days, going off and getting married like they're going to the office. No big deal. No muss, no fuss."

"Well, at least you didn't have to pay for the wedding, old man," Charlotte pointed out, giving her husband a squeeze on the hand. Joe paused for a moment.

"You know, I always liked you, Daryl," Joe said after a moment, getting a laugh out of the rest of the group. "I may not have met you, but I could tell by how Carol Ann talked about you that you two were a good match." Daryl smirked at that. "Now, I mean it. Don't get me wrong, my head's still spinning that my baby girl is a married woman, but I can see for myself that she's happy. And we can all get to know each other this weekend, can't we? After all, if you're gonna be the father of my grandbaby…"

"Daddy, stop! I'm not pregnant," Carol huffed. "You know better than to believe the tabloids."

"You're sure you're not pregnant?" Charlotte asked. "You look a little tired."

"Mama, I just got off a six hour flight after a three hour layover. I'm exhausted. But I'm not pregnant."

"You went to the doctor?"

"I did," Carol promised, as she and Daryl slid into the backseat of the car and the elder Masons got into the front. "They were stress headaches I was having. Too much happening at once, I suppose. And work's been grueling since Olivia's become more popular. I guess that's the price I have to pay for giving the fans what they want, right?"

Daryl gave Carol's hand a squeeze, and she gave him a tired smile.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Mason. Mr. Mason. She's restin' plenty when she gets off work."

"Good to hear it," Joe spoke up. "How's the house coming along?"

"Almost ready," Carol piped up, a little more enthused now. "The contractors think we'll be able to move in by the end of next week."

"Place is real nice," Daryl offered. "Quiet. Ain't too big or too small. But we still gotta have gates and fences."

"I hate that you constantly have people trying to pry into your life," Charlotte said with a shake of her head. "I worry about you, honey."

"I'm alright," Carol promised, reaching up to put her hand on her mother's shoulder. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't in any hurry to move. At least out in the country we'll have more privacy. The fences are lined with tall shrubs, so somebody would have to use a pretty tall ladder to peek over. And if they want to risk breaking their necks to do that, then that's on them."

Carol felt Daryl sweep his thumb over her knuckles then, and she squeezed his hand.

"Your room is still just the way you left it," Charlotte chirped. "We still have all of your ribbons from 4-H."

"You were a 4-H kid?" Daryl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I raised rabbits," Carol said proudly. "That was until I turned fifteen and discovered acting." She grinned at him." Then her face paled. "Mom, you don't still have all of those yearbook photos up, do you?"

"Of course," Charlotte said with a smile. "Honey, you were the pride of the drama department, you know."

"Oh God," Carol groaned, thinking back to the photo of her playing Juliet with her hands clasped at her chest and the wistful, angsty look on her face. God, she was embarrassed already.

"Oh, wait'll you see those baby pictures. We might be biased," Joe said with a chuckle, "but our Carol Ann was just the cutest little thing. She won a couple of contests."

"You were a pageant kid?" Daryl asked with a smirk.

"What? No! God, no. It was that silly department store thing. I think mom just literally walked in with me on the day they happened to be doing a 'cutest baby contest' and I got the grand prize." She rolled her eyes.

"Now, I saw that," Charlotte balked from the front seat, staring at her daughter in the rear view mirror. "You were a beautiful baby. And you grew into a beautiful young woman."

"Oh, Mom," Carol groaned, as Daryl squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"Oh, you'll see. One of these days, you'll be a mother, and you'll understand. Just wait."

"Why is everybody so focused on what is or isn't in my uterus?" Carol whispered, leaning over toward Daryl. "I mean, really." He just gave her a little smile and ran his thumb over her knuckles again, helping her relax for the rest of the ride.

...

"Shit, you weren't kiddin'," Daryl chuckled, as he heaved their luggage onto Carol's old bed. "This place is almost a shrine to ya."

"Well, I was a kid when I left home," she said with a shrug. "Mom put the pictures up, though. She was so proud."

"She's got reason to be," he pointed out, as Carol shut the door and toed her shoes off. The plan was to get rested and changed before supper. He nodded toward the bed. "Your mama put a new bed in here? This thing's gotta be a King size."

"Nope. All mine."

"But you're tiny. I mean, you're like this big." He held his thumb and forefinger apart, and Carol rolled her eyes.

"What can I say? I was an only child. I was a little spoiled." She chuckled a little, and Daryl watched as she turned to look at the pictures on the wall. "God, it feels like a lifetime ago." Daryl stepped up behind her, tucking his arms through hers, wrapping them around her waist. She smiled when he nuzzled the back of her neck.

"That you?" He pointed to a picture of an infant with wild, red hair and a big, bright smile. Carol laughed and nodded.

"Oh yeah, that's me. My hair's changed a little."

"God, you were a cute little shit," he snickered, as Carol laughed and rubbed her hands over his arms. "No wonder your mom wants ya to have a kid so bad." His hand ghosted over her ribs and her stomach, and she sighed. "You wanna make one?" Carol turned in his arms then, and his hands went to her hips.

"Yeah, I do," she said with a grin. "But on our terms. I don't want our kid having to pay the price of my job." She shook her head. "Maybe when the show's over and people forget about me."

"You kiddin'? You ain't the kinda girl folks forget about," Daryl pointed out, as Carol sighed and ran her hands up his chest and over his shoulders. His thumbs rubbed gentle circles over her hipbones, and she leaned in to kiss him. She hummed softly against his lips.

"I love you, you know that?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it's nice to hear it anyway," he replied with a chuckle. "So we're waitin'?"

"Just a little while," she said with a nod. "I want this. I do. I just need the timing to be right." She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head against his chest.

"You tell me when, and we'll do it." Carol laughed against his chest. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I really do." And then they settled down to rest for a little while, simply enjoying the quiet as they lay in each other's arms.

...

Breaking News: Great news for Apocalypse, California fans. The hit show has been picked up for another three seasons, and there are talks of a spinoff revolving around one very popular female character. As far as the cast is concerned, our sources tell us that contract negotiations are set to begin when filming hiatus ends. Will your favorite be sticking around?