Hello! The cold is doing some serious damage to my internet service so this is late. I've managed to have connection for a total of an hour or so since Friday. Hope everyone is staying warm wherever you are! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Twenty Eight

Daryl had no fucking idea what he was doing. He was winging this. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't stand the look that that kid had been giving him. The accusations and the pain in her eyes had fucked with his head harder than anything else had in his life. And then she had started pleading, telling him that she would try harder to not get on his nerves when in reality he had never seen anyone try so hard in all his life. All the girl did was try.

She tried to make herself better and she tried to keep herself in good spirits. He hadn't been able to stand it anymore. He couldn't stand the thought of her thinking that he didn't care about her. It didn't matter that she wasn't his. It didn't matter that she made things a little harder than they had to be, because he cared. He cared so goddamn much that it hurt and every goddamn day he cared just a little bit more.

And it didn't end with her. God, it would make things easier if they ended with the girl but they didn't end there at all. He cared about Carol too. He didn't want to. He hated it but there wasn't anything he could do about it. The thought of her leaving fucking killed him because it meant that his chances were over. Whatever was happening between them, would come to an end and he couldn't let it happen. He needed to see her every day and he needed to make sure that she was okay and he needed to make asshole jabs at her out of spite. Maybe her and the girl made things more complicated but they also made things better. He felt good when he was with them and he knew that Damon felt the same. The kid adored Carol. It just made sense.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking?" Carol asked, all the fight seeming to drain right out of her.

He shook his head. "No but we have to do somethin' else. She can't go to Atlanta and you can't make it on your own just yet. This is the only thing we can do."

"I can't ask you to-"

"You didn't ask for it, okay. I am. Will you move in with me so your fucking daughter and my cousin don't have a goddamn stroke? Please?" Jesus, what was he doing? If they did this there was no way they weren't going to end up in bed together. And not like they were in bed together last night either. They would tear that whole fucking room apart eventually and then shit was really going to get fucking complicated.

"And you want this?" She asked, disbelief clear as day in her voice.

"Yeah. You ain't as god awful as all the other women I've met and you can cook and Damon wants to marry you. Why the fuck not? It's the best fuckin' thing we can do for them. He needs a woman in his life and Sophia needs me in hers and-"

Goddamn it. Why was she hugging him again? And why did it have to feel so fucking good? And why was it so easy to wrap his fucking arms around her? It shouldn't have been easy at all but it was and it felt right. More right than anything had ever felt before.

"Thank you. I don't even know what else to say. I-"

"What's goin' on?" Damon asked.

Carol pulled away, her wide eyes lingering on his, still in disbelief. Daryl rubbed the back of his neck. Fuck fuck fuck! What was he doing? In what goddamn universe was this situation okay? And it wasn't like he could recant the offer. He'd never do that. He didn't want to do that.

"Can somebody fill us in on what the hell the two of you are up to?" Damon asked again, his patience wearing thin.

Daryl opened his mouth but no words came out. He didn't know why he was so fucking silent now when he probably should have been this silent a few minutes ago.

"I think we're moving in," Carol said after it was pretty clear that Daryl couldn't form words anymore.

"What?" Sophia asked, showing up in the doorway. "Are you serious? When?"

Daryl felt kind of sick to his stomach. Especially when he remembered the conversation that he'd had with Buck yesterday. So he was moving one woman into his house and he was going to go on a date with another woman. He didn't even know what the hell they were! He wanted to screw her, that had been clear for a while now. Yesterday she had kissed him and he had kissed her right back. Last night they had shared a bed, and body heat. They weren't in a relationship, that was clear. But they weren't just friends either. That was just as clear.

Relationship? Why had that word even crossed his mind? He didn't do relationships. He'd never been in an actual relationship in his life. Did she expect to sleep in his bed again? That wouldn't make any sense. Not unless their clothes came off. God, that wasn't a good idea either. No, he was definitely keeping his clothes on, no matter where she slept.

"Are you two movin' in tonight?" Damon asked, looking between them.

"No!" Daryl and Carol both choked. He looked at her sharply. He knew why he couldn't have her move in tonight. He was going to be out with another woman, but why had she been just as quick to say no?

She was eying him just as hard and then she suddenly looked away. Was that guilt on her face? She looked at Sophia then. "It isn't like we need to rush. We have a lot of things to talk about before we start packing our bags. We'll stay at Andrea's tonight and..."

She didn't get to finish her sentence because suddenly the girl's arms were around her, hugging her hard. Carol looked stunned for a second and then hugged her back, her eyes closing as she held the girl. When Daryl looked up Damon was looking at him with an expression on his face that had Daryl feeling like he had made the right call here. God he hoped so.

"Can I stay here tonight? I'll sleep in the other room. I'll even sleep in the basement. It isn't even like a basement at all. Have you seen it? It's like one big huge room."

"I'll take the basement room. Sophia can have my room and then Carol can... Oh. Are you two like a thing, or not? I don't even know what the hell to think anymore?" Damon looked between them.

"We ain't a thing. Jesus," Daryl grumbled, sitting down.

Damon shoved his hair behind his ears. "You know, I'm all for this. This, this is fucking great and all but I think before the two of you move in together, you got some shit to figure out. Like, it's okay to make out and sleep together and all that but it ain't okay to put a label on it? That don't make any sense."

Daryl couldn't even say anything to that because it was the fucking truth. What in the fuck were they? What did he want them to be? What did she want? This was all too goddamn complicated. Maybe if she hadn't kissed him. Maybe if he hadn't been so dead set on keeping her in his bed. Maybe then things wouldn't be so fucked up.

"Sophia can stay if you don't mind," Carol said, turning and busying herself with the dishes.

He wracked his brain. How was he going to be able to sneak off on a date with some stupid ass woman when Sophia and Damon were there? Damn it. "I don't mind." What else could he say? "You gonna stay at Andrea's then?" He asked.

"I... I can come back later on tonight. I have some things to take care of this evening," she said, keeping her back to him. She was tense and he could see it. Did she know what he was doing tonight?

"Yeah, me too. I gotta... I gotta go to the shop and then Buck's and then-"

"Okay, so we'll both be back later then," she said, glancing over her shoulder. She smiled but it was brittle. She totally knew what he was doing but how did she know?

"Sounds good." He glanced at the kids, who were watching them both suspiciously. He wondered to himself what he could do to get the hell out of this. It was already going to cause stupid drama. "You... uh... Did you wanna do somethin' tonight. Maybe I can..."

"No!" She said quickly. "I really do have a lot to do. And I'm also going to look for another job. I'll stay at the shop until I find something else but then I'll go as soon as something comes up."

He frowned. "I thought you liked the shop?" He actually had fun working with her and that was odd because he never had fun at work.

"I love it there but as much as we fight now, can you imagine if we worked together and then had to come home together?"

He snorted. "We ain't that bad."

"Dude, you have a permanent scar on your neck in the shape of her teeth. You two are that bad. Even though I still don't think that was from fighting," Damon offered.

"He's right," Carol said, glancing over her shoulder and offering them a smile. "We really are that bad. So we'll work different jobs. No big deal."

"Right," he said, still trying to talk himself into just calming the fuck down.

~H~

Carol finished the dishes and then cleaned. She really cleaned. It was one of the things that kept her from showing her anxiety. This was insane. Why were they doing this? And what the hell did it even mean? And she was also sure that somehow he knew what she was really doing tonight and she felt bad. She felt confused that she felt... guilty. It wasn't like she was cheating on him.

Jesus, what a mess. Thankfully Daryl and the kids had left the room so she didn't have to act like she wasn't a nervous wreck. She pulled over one of the stools and climbed on top of it so she could clean off the top of the fridge that looked like it hadn't been dusted in years.

She had to dry dust it and then she had to spray it down to finish the job. She hoped he didn't think that she was already overstepping bounds here. This was his house. Hell, she didn't even live here yet.

"That's gross," Daryl muttered when she dropped another grungy paper towel to the floor to pick up when she was finished.

"Is this okay?" She asked quickly, looking down at him.

He shrugged. "If you wanna clean up after our dirty asses then by all means, have at it."

"Daryl, are you sure about this? This is a lot. I mean, this is crazy, right?" She asked suddenly, needing him to reassure her. She hated being that woman. The one that needs to be told that everything was going to work out, but at the moment, that was exactly what she was.

"I don't know," he said, leaning against the counter and shaking his head. "But we gotta try."

She took a deep breath and nodded, gathering up the dirty paper towels and climbing down from the stool. "If we're both willing to try then we'll be fine. We're tough. We're tougher than a lot of people."

The corner of his mouth turned up. "Yeah. We're somethin'. When do you wanna do this?"

She shoved her hands into her back pockets and tilted her head to the side. "When do you want us to do this?"

"I don't know. I figure, you're still livin' out of a suit case over there. You probably want your own room already."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, we aren't sharing?"

He looked up sharply and his expression made it hard not to laugh. His ears were red and his eyes looked panicked. "What?"

"I'm kidding. I figure, we can have our own space and all and when we're in the mood, we can just visit each others room." Finally she couldn't hold off on the grin and then he scowled at her.

"You're gonna make this hard ain't you?"

"Daryl!" She glanced around the room before meeting his eyes. "We don't need to discuss things like that in the kitchen. You can save the dirty talk for when it's more appropriate."

He rolled his eyes and pushed off the counter, scowling at her. "You're a horrible fucking woman, you know that?"

She nodded, feeling some of her worry ebb. She could get through tonight and her stupid date with Melvin and then she was home free to build a life out here with him and the kids. Tormenting him was just going to be an added bonus.