Rick's group was slow to adjust to the idea that they could have holidays again. While few people in Alexandria were interested in Halloween (for obvious reasons), Rick's group was alone in avoiding Thanksgiving, and by the time December rolled around, Maggie decided the others needed a push.
"Secret Santa?" Carol questioned, sitting in their living room with the rest of the group. Maggie was standing in the center, bowl full of paper slips in hand.
"Yep," Maggie nodded firmly. "And you're all doin' it. Don't be a bunch of Scrooges."
Daryl, sitting on the couch next to Carol, raised a hand. "How're we supposed to find presents?"
"It can be anything! Go to community storage and pick out a new shirt for them, hell, give each other pinecones, just… do it! It'll be fun," the young woman declared. With that, she held the bowl out to Daryl, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
He huffed in resignation, grabbing a slip of paper. The bowl was passed around, the others accepting it with a similar attitude as Daryl's (except for Glenn and Tara, who both looked almost as excited as Maggie).
Once the group had dispersed, leaving Daryl and Carol alone, they exchanged a look before unfolding the pieces of paper. Reading his, Daryl snorted at the name he'd gotten. Glenn. Why the hell not.
Glancing over at Carol, he caught her smirking at him. "What? Who'd you get?"
Her smirk grew more pronounced. "It's a secret, pookie."
"Is it me?"
She pursed her lips and pushed herself off the couch. "Not telling," she sang, heading up the stairs.
Daryl snorted, sinking back into the couch and putting his feet up. It was too cold out to do anything else anyway.
Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, they reconvened for the gift exchange. They opted for an all-at-once go as opposed to one at a time like Maggie wanted, quickly handing out (mostly unwrapped) gifts. When Daryl came up empty, he glanced at Carol, catching her smirk and immediately understanding, smirking back.
"Dude, what the hell?" Glenn's voice broke his reverie, and he glanced back up.
"What?"
Glenn held up his gift, a package of rubber bouncy balls. "What even?"
"What? Accordin' to your wife, I technically could've gotten you a pinecone. They're toys. They bounce. Go nuts," Daryl shrugged.
Glenn opened his mouth to protest, closed it again, and seemed to reconsider. Finally, he shrugged as well. "'Kay."
The others snickered at that, and Daryl looked at Carol again, who was struggling slightly with the clasp on the bracelet Michonne had given her. Automatically, he went over to help her, squatting in front of her and hanging on to her hand after the bracelet was secure. She smirked again, leaning in.
"Yes, I got your name," she whispered, low enough so that the others wouldn't hear.
"Well, why didn't ya get me anything?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
Her smile grew devilish, and she leaned even closer to murmur right in his ear: "I thought we could have a… private gift exchange, later on."
He grinned at that and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Can't wait."