Oh the woes of new love ;) This was a fun chapter to write. Thank you all for the reviews. I never thought anyone would like this story as much as me! Haha. I hope you enjoy this chapter! And have a happy Easter!
Chapter Twenty Eight
Carol sat in a chair that Maggie had brought in for her earlier while Hershel and Milton worked on Daryl. Milton looked completely at ease now. Like he was at home. They had injected Daryl with some liquid painkiller that Milton swore would ease a lot of the pain he was in. She learned that Hershel was actually a vet. But he seemed very competent. Hershel said that it was miracle that none of the pellets had severed any major veins.
She mostly kept her eyes either on his face or on her own hands that she kept clasped on the bed. When Milton or Hershel spoke to her she looked them in the eye and didn't look down at the blood.
"I must say, you two must be the oddest couple I've ever seen." Hershel said quietly.
Carol tried to smile. She wasn't quite sure if it worked though.
"You know, he's out of danger now. You don't have to look so worried." He said with a small smile.
"Her daughter is missing. That's what Daryl was doing when he was shot. There was a trail he was following." Milton said quietly so Carol wouldn't have to.
Hershel held her eyes for a moment and then looked away. "I see." He said quietly. "Rick said that there were children missing. One is his son?"
Carol nodded and then her eyes flew to Daryl's face when he groaned. His eyes were open now and he was looking around the room. He was tense and she was worried that she would have to try to hold him down like Rick had done earlier but when his eyes found hers he relaxed.
"The fuck happened to me?" he asked groggily. He raised his head a little and looked down at Hershel. "Who the hell are you?"
"You got shot." She said quietly.
"What? Did that asshole Shane actually shoot me?" he was frowning like he was having a hard time focusing.
"No. It was a boy. He was hunting and he shot you on accident." She muttered.
"Why do I feel like I just inhaled a weeks worth of Merle's stash?"
She had to smile a little now. She felt it tugging at the corners of her mouth. He reached up and grazed his thumb across her bottom lip.
"I'm so fuckin' trashed right now." He chuckled slightly and then winced. "Man, if Merle knew he could get this fucked up by bein' shot he'd of probly shot hiself a lot."
Hershel glanced up at him with a disapproving look but Milton seemed to be amused. He shook his head but he smiled. Maybe he was getting used to Daryl now. Or maybe he was just happy to be indoors doing something that was familiar.
Daryl looked at her again and a line formed between his brow. "Why do you look so sad?" He asked as he took her hands in one of his. "Oh, fuck. I'm gonna die, ain't I? That's why ya'll pumped me so full of the good shit. Goddamn it, Carol, I'm sorry. This is just fucked up. We didn't even get a chance to fu..."
She yanked her hands away from his and covered his mouth. "Daryl, you're not gonna die. Jesus, just stop talking." She shot a glance towards Milton and Hershel but both of them were looking away. She could tell by the movement of their shoulders that they were laughing. She removed her hands from his mouth and took his hand in hers again. "You'll be just fine."
He didn't remember what had happened. He didn't know that Sophia and Carl were still missing. She hoped he wouldn't remember for at least a little while. She knew he would fight them all to get up and go out to look for her. And he needed to heal. She may even try to talk Milton into keeping him drugged so maybe he could get better without anyone having to force him.
He reached up and brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. She hadn't noticed the tears but his thumb came away wet. "You sure I ain't gonna die?"
She nodded. "I'm sure. In a few days you'll be good as new."
"Then will you stop lookin' so sad?" he sounded like he was barely holding on. She wished he would sleep.
She smiled at him and nodded but he kept the frown on his face even after his eyes closed.
Milton and Hershel were done shortly after that. Milton was the first to leave the room and when he walked out Hershel turned to her, his eyes kind. "I'll be prayin' for your daughter tonight."
Carol looked up at him in surprise. "Thank you. You're one of the first people I've come across that bothers with prayer anymore." She whispered.
He gave her a smile. "You would think times like these would be the times people turned to it the most."
She glanced down at Daryl's pale face and met Hershel's kind eyes. "Thank you. For saving him."
Hershel nodded. "If you'd like we could set you up in another room. I'll stay close in case he wakes up again."
"No." She said quickly. I'll stay here."
Hershel's eyes sparkled a bit. "Looks like God is answerin' my prayers already." He winked and she felt a small laugh bubble up through the lump in her throat.
When Hershel shut the door behind him Carol kicked off her boots and gently laid herself next to him in the small bed. She wasn't worried about him waking up since he was so drugged.
She thought of her daughter outside in the dark. She thought of how close she had come to losing Daryl. She thought of how fragile this life was now. How fragile they all were regardless of how strong they all seemed. She listened to the slow steady beating of his heart under her ear and finally let herself drift off into sleep, dreaming dreams of lost children and gunshots.
~H~
The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that he was alone. And the second thing he noticed was that he hurt everywhere. His side, his stomach his head. Everything was throbbing. He took his time opening his eyes, leery of what he was going to open them too. His brain felt addled like he was coming off of a really bad drunk.
He tried to remember what was going on but when he tried to focus to hard on one thought it made his head hurt worse. The room was bright. Too bright for him and he blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted. He was in a bedroom. The sun was up and the white lace curtains didn't do much to keep it out of his eyes.
He remembered things in bits and pieces as he looked around the room. He remembered getting stuck on the road. There had been a pile up. He remembered T-dog walking by and calling him a wino as he siphoned gas. He remembered trying to talk Carol into keeping close.
Carol? Where was she? Hell, where was he?
He remember wanting to leave. He was going to leave the group. His mind had already been made up. But why would he do something like that? And then he remembered that he decided to do that because of Sophia.
He sat up in the bed and then hissed as a wicked pain flared up in his side. He had to ignore it, whatever it was. He had to find the kid. There wasn't time to be lying around. It had been close to nightfall when they had been looking for the kids trail. But the sun was definitely up now. How much time had passed? Why couldn't he remember anything past standing there in that creek.
Then he remembered telling Shane that he was done with Carol and the group. How could he have been so stupid? What the fuck had he been thinking? He couldn't leave her. Was he really going to leave her? He shoved the sheet away from him and looked down at the spot that was causing him so much pain. It was bandaged. There was blood on the sheet next to him. He recalled a gunshot.
"That asshole shoot me?" He asked the empty room.
His head came up when he heard the door open. An older man that he didn't recognize came in and stopped in his tracks when he saw Daryl sitting up in the bed.
"Where am I? Where's Carol?"
"She'll be right in. She's getting you somethin' to eat. I'm Hershel and you were brought here to my farm after you were shot."
"I knew it. I knew that son of a bitch shot me." Daryl growled.
"Are you talking about this Shane fellow?" Hershel asked as he came closer.
"Hell yeah. He's the only one that woulda done it. Asshole wants to move in on my woman and when he saw his chance he took it." Daryl was saying too much to this old man but for some reason he didn't care. He was pissed. And his head hurt and he was having trouble keeping his thinking straight.
"Son, maybe you should lay back for a while. It wasn't Shane that shot you. It was an accident."
Daryl scoffed. "Well Rick wouldn't have shot me. And I ain't layin' around in this room anymore. I got shit to do, old man." He wished he could remember what it was he had to do.
"I know you do. But you aren't going to be any good to that little girl if you don't let yourself heal." Hershel said gently.
"Sophia!" Daryl's head snapped up. That's what he kept forgetting. How could he forget that? He swung his legs over and then clutched at his stomach. He groaned.
"That isn't helping at all." Hershel grumbled as he hurried to Daryl's side.
"This ain't none of your goddamn business." Daryl growled as he tried once more to fight through the pain and get up.
"Daryl!"
He felt like a kid that got caught stealing. He looked up and saw her in the doorway, staring right at him with a disapproving look on her face. He could have dealt with that look but the look under that was what had him leaning back and listening to the old man. Her eyes looked haunted. They were still her eyes. Wide and clear and blue as the sky, but there was something about them that had his heart clenching up painfully. He looked away and finally let the back of his head hit the pillow.
Now he remembered, all to clearly why he had wanted to leave. Whether he found Sophia or not he couldn't risk something like this happening again on his watch. But when he looked at her again and she tried to give him a smile he knew that he wouldn't be able to do it. He'd stick around. Everything in him wanted to stay wherever she was at. And maybe he would get used to seeing that look in her eye every single time he let her down. And he knew he would.
Hershel sighed and turned for the door. "He's all yours."
He watched her set a tray down on the table and then she sat down and turned to him.
"How long I been out?" He asked as his eyes found a crack in the ceiling to focus on.
"A while. It's around ten I believe. I haven't been paying much attention to time." That look in her eyes matched the tone in her quiet voice and he forced himself to look at her. She was looking down at her hands but finally she looked up to meet his eyes. "You really scared me." her voice was as quiet as a breath but it seemed to ring in his ears.
The pain there was thick and heavy and he reached for her arm and pulled her closer, wincing at the sting in his side.
"Sorry." he said in a gruff voice as he cupped her face with shaking hands.
"I talked to Shane earlier." She said as she leaned her face over his. "You going somewhere when you get yourself healed up?"
He kept his eyes on hers, refusing to look away. "I thought about it." there was something there in her voice that had him growing nervous. He wasn't sure what it was. And the way she was looking at him wasn't quite right. Different somehow.
"How could you think about it?" There was anger there now although her voice was still very quiet. Her face just a few inches above his. "How could you be so selfish?"
He didn't want to talk about this right now but she wasn't going to let this go. He'd hurt her. He could see it. "I ain't goin' anywhere."
"But you wanted too." She accused.
"I didn't want to. I just thought it'd be for the best. And you're right. I'm a selfish mother fucker and that's why I ain't goin' anywhere."
She frowned but didn't say anything else.
"I need to get outta here. I have to find that trail." He said as he finally tore his eyes away from hers.
"You can't. All you'll do is hurt yourself more. Rick and Shane are out there now. Have been for hours."
He shook his head. "Rick and Shane don't know what the hell they're doin' out there. I can find that trail again and this could end today."
She shook her head. "They told me this morning that it wasn't just the kids trail you were following. There were Walkers too and then you found another trail. There's another group out there somewhere."
Daryl growled. They shouldn't have told her about that. All that was going to do was worry her even more. And then he knew that it was only one of them that would have told her. He scowled. "I thought I told you to stay the fuck away from Shane? He don't know what the hell he's talkin' about."
"You pretty much gave me to him, from the sound of it. Don't tell me not to talk to a man that you want me to be with. I'll talk to him if I want."
He dropped his hands from her face. "Is that what you think I did?"
She didn't say anything.
"That ain't what I meant, Carol."
"You want to sit up so you can eat?" She said finally as she pulled away from him.
He stared at her as he made slow progress of sitting up again. He moved back so he was leaning against the cold headboard. She handed him the tray of food and then stood up and walked to the window.
He watched her as he ate. He didn't even look down at the food to see what it was he was eating. Man, had he fucked up. This was bad. Now she was pulling away and he couldn't even blame her. But he was panicking yesterday. That's why he had said what he did to Shane. He should have known that the fucker would run and tell her everything.
When his plate was finally empty he sat the tray back on the table. She had stayed there in front of the window with her arms crossed and her back to him.
"Carol?" His tone was unsure.
She turned around and gave him one of those fake smiles he'd seen her give to other people. "You done?"
He nodded and she walked over like she was going to take the tray but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her roughly towards him. Pain be damned. He wasn't going to have her walking away like this. He had to fix this before it turned into something bigger. Before she really did consider running off to Shane.
"Let go." She said firmly.
"Don't be pissed, okay." He said as he dropped his hand from her arm.
She didn't leave which he took as a good sign. Instead she sat down on the edge of the bed and turned her head so she could look at him. "You think I'm angry?" She laughed bitterly. "Daryl, my daughter is lost in the woods. She's being hunted by Walkers. She's probably cold and hungry. I can't stop thinking about that. And then today, I hear that you're leaving me. You give Shane the okay to be with me. And you're telling me not to be pissed." She shook her head and looked away. "Well, I'm not pissed Daryl. I'm hurt. It hurts." her voice cracked.
"I'm not leavin'." he said but it sounded generic even to his own ears.
"Does it really matter at this point what you do?"
That stung. He didn't know what he could say. This was all new territory to him. "Does it matter to you?" He asked.
She shook her head which caused his heart to pound with fresh panic. But then she turned her wet eyes back on him. "Of course it matters, you matter. You're not stupid Daryl. Every goddamn decision you make matters to me. You have to stop thinking that you call all the shots here. It isn't just about you anymore. Once you love someone you can't do stupid selfish shit like decide to leave. I need you. More than I ever needed anybody in my life and if you can't deal with that. If that's something you can't cope with then fine. Tell me. Don't run off half cocked like some jackass."
He didn't know what to say to all of that. She was right and he knew it.
"And you still don't have anything to say, huh?" She said, clearly exasperated in his inability to have this conversation with her. She blew out a frustrated breath and then stood up angrily. "Just forget it." She was about to storm off but he once again grabbed her hand.
"I love you." He said simply. "I'm gonna fuck up. You think this is bad? This ain't shit. But I love you and I'm gonna try, okay? Just give me a fuckin' break woman. I think I've done okay so far."
Her eyes widened and he could have sworn he saw a glimpse of that old spark, and then she was back on the bed, sitting sideways so she could look at him. The ghost of a smile touched her lips and he knew then that the storm was over.
"One time." She growled. "I'm letting you use the love card one time but that's it. Only because I'm a sucker for it. But next time you do somethin' so stupid I'm going to shoot you myself. Do you understand me?" She leaned in so her face was just a breath away from his.
"Yes, ma'am." He smirked.
She shook her head and finally kissed him. He didn't realize how much he needed that until her lips were right there, but he had needed it bad. It felt warm and familiar. Comforting. It felt like home.
