Daryl was waiting at his house for Rick to show up and borrow some tools the following Thursday evening. Rick was supposed to be going with Lori to pick out a crib for baby Carl tomorrow and he didn't have what he needed to put it together. Daryl would more than likely be helping Rick put the damn thing together for the kid, except tomorrow was the day he was going to be to be leaving with Carol to go to that hunting convention.
The thought of going to the hunting convention sent a nervous tingle throughout his body and he could feel his stomach coil in knots. Things were different between them somehow now. Since he realized how he felt. Since they walked home holding hands that night. Something was just different.
He wasn't sure he knew what exactly it was that had changed or even if he was just imagining it, but there seemed to a sort of palpable tension in the air whenever they were together now. A thickness seemed to loom in the air, one that was full of anticipation, expectation, hesitation, and uncertainty. And Daryl couldn't help but feel anxious about how much that tension was going to manifest itself when they were alone together from Friday until Sunday a whole three hours away from home and everything he knew.
And the worst part was that it wasn't even like they'd been alone since that night, and that made him even more damn nervous. He'd gone to help her with her classroom on Saturday, but Maggie and Glenn showed up to. Then the four of them had ended up hanging out at Carol's place after and Maggie stayed the night with her. Sunday, Axel called Daryl and asked him if he could come help in to his body shop and help him catch up on some work because one of his guys had been out sick and he'd gotten behind. He was dog tired by the time he got back home and ended up passing out on the couch. Monday, Rick and Lori had invited the two of them over to their place for a grill out. On Tuesday, Carol has left to go visit with her friends Tara and Denise for a few days and she actually wouldn't be back until late tonight, which likely meant he wouldn't see her again until they were supposed to leave for their weekend trip.
And damn it if he hadn't fucking thought about her the whole time she'd been gone. He'd felt an ache in his chest at not being able to see her. At being so far away from her. At not being able to talk to her like he wanted to. Sure, she'd called him once. Once. That first night she'd been gone. She'd called him before bed, but Daryl hadn't ever been good at talking on the phone and that conversation didn't last long because all he'd really said the whole time was "Mhm" or "Yep" or some indistinguishable grunt.
All of this was so foreign to him. Missing her. Wanting to be around her. Being unbelievably attracted to her. Liking her. And it confused the fuck out of him. Because he didn't even know if he wanted to feel this way, but he couldn't stop it. He couldn't turn it off. And he damn sure didn't know if she felt the same way about him, or even if she could.
Why would she? She was about to give birth in a few months. She'd probably wanna focus on her daughter, on being a first-time mom, she wouldn't wanna be bothered with a mess like him. Would she? And shouldn't the fact that she was having a kid turn him off? Shouldn't it send him running for higher ground? Except it didn't. In fact, for some reason he wasn't sure he'd ever understand, the little girl she was carrying made him seemed to draw him in even more.
Even if the kid wasn't in the situation, what did he really have to offer her? He'd never been in a relationship before, he wouldn't know what the hell he was doing with her. Shit, he barely had experience with women period, he'd most likely be an utter disappointment to her.
The hum of Rick's engine pulling in his driveway startled Daryl out of his deep thoughts. He took one last drag of the cigarette he'd been smoking and stubbed it out on the brick steps he was sitting on. Rick got out of his car and the two spoke, then Daryl led his friend inside to lend Rick the tools.
"Why's she making you get the crib already anyway?" Daryl asked as he handed Rick a beer from the fridge. "Baby ain't due for another few months. Hell, Carol ain't even got hers yet and she's due before Lori."
Rick just shrugged and popped the tab on the beer. "She's excited. It's our first baby. She wants to enjoy all these little moments as much as she can. You know?
No, Daryl didn't know. Because he hadn't had ever had kids and he didn't know the first thing about a woman's first pregnancy other than it made them hurl when they smelled certain foods. Or in Lori's case, according to Rick, sometimes it transformed them into a raging hormonal spawn of Satan who'd apparently rather tear them a new asshole than have sex with the father of their kid. All Daryl really knew was Lori was always making Rick do something these days, and nine times out of ten it had something to do with the baby. "Carol's excited, too. Smiles all the time when she talks about her little girl moving around inside of her or getting to meet her for the first time. But she still ain't going out like you and Lori and doing all this stuff before she actually has to do it."
"Yeah, well," Rick paused and considered his choice of words, "you said yourself when you painted Sophia's room that it's a little different for her. She doesn't have someone to share that experience with. Maybe that's why she hadn't painted the room just yet. Maybe it wasn't just because she couldn't do it herself or needed someone's help, maybe it's just harder for her to do that alone."
Daryl took a long sip of his own beer, when he was done he brought his thumb up to the side of his mouth and chewed on the edge of his cuticle while starting down contemplatively at the silver tab.
Rick leaned against the kitchen counter and stared at his friend. He watched the unfamiliar flow of emotions wash over Daryl's face. He watched the troubled look fill his friend's eyes as they changed to a darker shade of blue. He set his beer on the counter and folded his arms around his waist. Silently, he watched Daryl waiting for his expression to change. When it didn't, he worked up the nerve to ask him something he'd been avoiding for a while now. "You like her, don't you?"
Daryl dropped his thumb and his head jerked up. "What?"
"Carol," Rick chuckled. "You like her. Like, really like her."
Daryl's cheeks burned and he scoffed, his eyes flicking to the laminate wood floor below. "No I don't!" He spat out defensively, like a young boy would if his was best friend was teasing him about having his first crush.
Rick's brows rose. "Yeah? You sure about that?
Ever so slightly, Daryl peeked up. His voice rising just above a whisper. "Why? Did she tell Lori something? Does she like me?"
"I thought you didn't like her."
Daryl grunted. "Don't like her." It was one thing to admit it to himself, it was a whole other thing to start admitting it out loud to other people.
In response, Rick grinned and shook his head, guzzling down the last bit of beer. "Guess it doesn't matter either way then." He patted Daryl on the back and pointed to the door. "Listen, I gotta head out. Lori's making pot roast for dinner and she wanted me to pick up some carrots on my way home. I don't feel like getting chewed out if I take too long and she can't start on it when she wants."
"Alright," Daryl muttered, nervously bringing his thumb back to his lips and beginning to gnaw at his cuticle.
Rick grinned and picked up the tools he'd left resting on the table and headed for the door. "I'll bring these back on Monday. You and Carol have fun this weekend."
()()()
It was late Thursday night and Carol was exhausted. She'd been driving for a few hours now and was just getting back into town from visiting with Tara and Denise. After trying to have a child through artificial insemination unsuccessfully the couple had decided to adopt a child and the adoption agency they were using was conducting interviews with their family and closest friends. They'd asked Carol to be a reference for them and she couldn't say no. Not after how much Tara had helped her cope with her unexpected pregnancy in the beginning. She thought the interview had gone really well and she was hopeful that everything would work out for the couple.
On her way home, she decided to stop by her uncle Hershel's and drop the key to her place off with Maggie. She'd forgotten to do that earlier in the week and needed her cousin to water her plants for her while she was gone. She'd gotten Daryl to use his key and do it for her while she was at Tara's but he'd be with her this weeken. When she arrived and knocked on the door, Hershel was the one to answer, not Maggie.
"Carol? I didn't realize you were stopping by. Is everything okay with you and the baby?"
"Oh, yeah. We're fine," she assured him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you coming by this late. I was just getting in from my friend Tara's and needed to drop my key off to Maggie so she can water my plants while I'm gone. I didn't wanna forget before I left in the morning."
Hershel's brows creased and he looked at her with confusion. "Leave? You're just getting back."
That was when it hit Carol that she hadn't actually told her uncle she was going away with Daryl for the weekend. She was surprised Maggie or Glenn hadn't mentioned it to him, or for that matter Daryl or Merle. "I'm going to that hunting convention with Daryl for the weekend. I'll be back late Sunday night."
His hand swept through his thinning white hair and he whistled through his teeth. "You didn't think to tell me you were going away with Daryl for the weekend?"
Carol couldn't bite back the laugh at the protective tone Hershel just expressed. "I wasn't aware that I had to have your permission. I'm a grown woman, one who's seven months pregnant with her first child. Asking my uncle if I can go away with a friend for a weekend wasn't exactly my first thought when I agreed to go."
"Is that what Daryl is to you? Your friend?"
Carol's brows rose and she hugged herself, her elbows resting atop her swollen belly. "I'd say so. And he's been a pretty good one so far. I don't get it, I thought you liked Daryl. You're the one who said I should move into the place he and Merle were renting. You said he was a really good guy. And he is. Or he has been. He painted Sophia's room for me, Uncle Hershel."
"I think the world of Daryl. You should know that from everything I've said about the boy, Carol."
"Well, then why does it seem like you don't want me to go this convention with him?"
Hershel smiled, not his usual warm smile, but an almost weary one. "It isn't that I don't want you to go away with him. It's just, I wanna know what he means to you before you go away with him for the weekend. I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Carol felt floored, she'd damn sure never mentioned her crush on Daryl to Hershel. She hadn't even mentioned to Maggie that she realized how she felt about him, unless Maggie mentioned to Hershel Carol felt sexually attracted to him. That would be mortifying if her uncle thought she was going away with Daryl this weekend to get some kinda fix. "Listen, I don't know what Maggie told you, but I'm not going away with Daryl to….to sleep with him or something."
Hershel's eyes grew wide and he quickly held up a hand. "Maggie didn't say anything at all, damn sure nothing like that. That would've been the last thing on my mind. Although, now I might be thinking it since you jumped to that conclusion."
She bit down on the inside of her lip and grimaced, her cheeks burned fiery red and she averted her gaze away from Hershel and to the front lawn.
Hershel didn't waste any time getting straight to the point. "Do you like him? Daryl? Do you have feelings for him?
She moved her eyes without moving her head and swallowed, feeling like she'd choke on her own saliva as it made its way down her throat. "I…He's...Yes."
Hershel's smiled turned from weary to content. "Well then, I hope the two of you have a lovely weekend together.
"Wait, you want me to like Daryl? You're…You're okay with it? You don't think it's absurd or I'm rushing things or that I have no business going after a man while I'm pregnant?"
"I don't proclaim to understand why certain things happen in life or why sometimes we're dealt the hands we're dealt. Sometimes life gives us things at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. I sure never would have dreamed I'd meet Annette so soon after losing Joanne, but I did and I'm glad I did. A lot of people said it'd be inappropriate for us to pursue something at the time, we were the talk of the town for a while." Hershel chuckled lightly." But it didn't matter what other people thought. It mattered what we felt. And we both knew how we felt about each other. I just ask you two to be sure of the same thing before you take this any farther."
()()()
"You heading out?" Merle asked Daryl the next morning when his little brother stepped into the kitchen from his bedroom with a small backpack on his shoulders.
"Yep." Daryl replied. "Carol's about to meet me out front."
"You two have fun this weekend. Don't do nothing I wouldn't do. In fact, for once, do something I would do." Merle winked at his baby brother.
Daryl rolled his eyes at Merle and headed for the front door. "Have fun in the mountains. Don't forget to lock the house up. Don't want nobody stealing my shit while I'm gone."
Merle pressed his index and bird finger together and rested them against his eyebrow before saluting. "Oh, I won't. Scouts honor." He watched as Daryl tossed up a hand and waved goodbye and he couldn't suppress the wicked grin that swept across his face.
He knew Daryl had realized how he felt about Carol after how he stormed off from work last week. He'd even gone to look for him because he'd been worried about how Daryl might handle realizing that. But then he'd kinda got side tracked after he'd come up empty checking their normal fishing holes and hunting spots and chanced trying to look for his baby brother at the bar. Instead of continuing his hunt for Daryl, he'd gotten a little tipsy instead and flirted it up with some blond.
Later, when that didn't go as planned, he'd gotten someone to drop him off at the end of their road and walked up on Daryl and Carol holding hands in front of their door. Normally, Merle would have used that as an opportunity to make a scene and embarrass the hell out Daryl by teasing him about it for days to come.
But not this time. No sir. Not this time at all. Instead, Merle realized that moment was an important one for those two and that he needed to step his game up to move things along for the two of them. His little brother needed to get him a piece of that while he still could before she got too far along to even consider letting him hit it.
()()()
When Daryl walked outside Carol was already waiting on him. He couldn't help the involuntary way his lips twitched into a grin at the sight of her after not seeing her for two days. He tried to bite down the excitement, but he couldn't force that lopsided grin away.
"You miss me?" Carol teased him.
Daryl shrugged, but his lips were still twitched upwards.
"I'll take that as a maybe," she giggled.
"You have fun?" He asked her, even though he really wanted to ask her if she'd missed him.
"I did. Tara was my best friend for a long time and it was good seeing her again. But uh, I think I might've missed home a little bit too."
"Guess you're about to be missing it again," he responded.
With closed lips, she smiled and shook her head. "I don't know about that." She nodded over her shoulder when he didn't respond. "You think you can help me with those?"
His eyes grew wide when he looked behind Carol and found three packed bags. "The hell is all that? You moving back to Atlanta or something?"
"Did you even bring a change of clothes?" She countered.
He turned around to show her his backpack. "Got everything I need for a few nights in here." He nodded to her stuff. "I don't think all your stuff's gonna fit on my bike."
"Your bike?" She shook her head rapidly. "We can't take your bike."
"What, you ain't rode one before? You ain't gotta be scared, I'm a good driver, I ain't gonna wreck. Especially not with you on there. Wouldn't ever do nothing to hurt you or the baby."
She smiled at his comment, her heart filling with a strange warmth at his words. "No, it's not that. I just can't ride the bike right now. The vibrations and all the bouncing can send me into early labor."
Daryl looked embarrassed, as if he should have known that. "Oh. Damn. I was looking forward to riding this weekend. Weather's real pretty and all. Wanted you to get to ride with me."
"I'm sorry we can't take it. I know you love your bike and we probably should have talked about riding arrangements beforehand." She pointed to her round belly. "Tell you what, soon as I pop her out I'll let you take me for a ride whenever you want." As soon as the words left her mouth she flushed and noticed Daryl was just as red as her face felt.
()()()
They ended up taking Carol's jeep, but Daryl drove because he knew where they were going. The two of them talked the whole way there and it wasn't filled with as much tension as Daryl had been expecting. In fact, there wasn't much really any tension at all, just easy conversation that he'd missed like hell the two days she'd been visiting her friend.
Finally, after three hours in the car, he pulled into the motel he and Merle stayed at every year. They walked in tandem to the front desk and got the key cards to the room. It was a different room than they usually stayed in, Daryl knew because it was on the complete opposite side of the building, but he didn't think much of it at the time, he just assumed the room they usually got was booked up and they'd be given a different one.
But Daryl was in for the shock of his life when he slid that key card into the slot and opened the door the of room the two of them would be sharing for the weekend. His eyes were wide as saucers, mouth gaping, as he dropped Carol's bags the moment the door opened fully and he saw that, instead of having two queen sized beds like her and Merle usually got when they stayed at this place, this new room only had one full sized bed.