AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Daryl opened the door and commanded Russ to get in and buckle up, something the little boy was quite adept at for his age in Carol's opinion. She stood over to the side, holding Sophia still, while the little girl leaned on her shoulder and hummed at her, a sure sign that she'd be asleep before they even got back to the house.
After dinner things had gone well with conversation and Sophia and Russ entertaining them all by dragging out every toy known to man that Russ had in a toy box in the corner of Andrea and Merle's living room.
At first, Russ had been reluctant to share with Sophia, but after Andrea pretended to be horrified and grossly disappointed in his attitude, he'd become quite the little gentleman, offering Sophia all the toys simultaneously and calling out at intervals to make sure that everyone…especially Andrea…saw how good he was at sharing. And Carol, along with everyone else, had a hard time keeping a straight face at the boy's antics.
Russ got into his seat and held something out to Daryl who was leaning on the vehicle and making sure that it would be safe to shut him in soon.
"Can I have this?" Russ asked.
"No," Daryl said. Then he shook his head and held his hand out. "What the hell is it?"
Carol never knew what it was, but after examining it a moment, Daryl handed it back to Russ.
"Yeah…you can have it…now just hold tight," he said. He closed the door, leaving the little boy and whatever prize he had in the car, and then he turned to Carol, following her to her car where she started to buckle Sophia, who was unhappy with being put down and starting to cry, into her seat.
"You comin' back ta the house?" Daryl asked as he hovered around Carol.
She dug around in the cupholder of Sophia's seat and produced a pacifier that she kept there for just such an occasion and passed it to Sophia so that she'd squirm and fuss less. She was fine…there was nothing wrong with her, and Carol knew that. She had simply had a good time, gotten tired, and now she was going to be ill until she got to go to sleep.
Carol turned around as soon as Sophia was buckled in, leaving the door open so that Sophia didn't fuss even more for feeling ignored and made a face at Daryl.
"I have to work tomorrow…Friday…workday, you know?" She said with a teasing tone. Daryl smirked at her.
"So…had ta work this mornin' too?" Daryl said. "Everythin' turned out OK."
"I didn't bring any clothes with me," Carol said. "I intended to go back to my house…"
Now it was Daryl who made the face, and Carol bit her lip not to laugh at the fact that he and Russ had exactly the same expression of disappointment. It was a look that clearly showed they were disappointed, but it had something else to it…it had an element of "how oh how could you do this to me?" tucked in there as well.
Daryl reached his hand and ran his thumb across the car, looking at it as though there were more to look at than just dirt.
"How 'bout…you go get'cha clothes?" Daryl asked.
Carol made a face and motioned toward Sophia who had stopped crying and was humming again, looking drunk almost as she leaned in her seat and waited for whatever was about to happen to her.
"She's tired, Daryl," Carol said. She shook her head. "If I drive her around…try to get her out of the car and then back in? She's going to have a fit. It's better if we just go home and she goes to bed."
Daryl continued with the face of earlier.
"You could go get'cha clothes in the mornin'," Daryl offered. "Get up a lil' early…get ready, everythin' but'cha clothes…go change. Ya house ain't that far from the school, you said it yaself."
Carol shook her head again.
"But Hershel Greene's farm is a pretty good distance from the school, and from my house. I don't want to be running all over the place first thing in the morning," Carol said.
"So ya don't," Daryl said. "Sophia can wear what she's got…Jo Greene's got a whole mess a' play clothes for the kids 'cause that's all they need anyway…and I can take her an' Russ ta Jo's while you go home an' get'cha clothes an' go ta work."
Carol raised her eyebrows at him.
"So let me get this straight," she said. "You're offering to get the kids ready in the morning…with limited help from because I'll be getting ready…and take both of them to the Greene farm so that I can go and change clothes…just because you want me to stay tonight?"
Daryl blushed a little in the failing light and smiled the sideways grin, but he didn't say anything. He nodded slightly, but he wasn't giving any verbal commitment to this.
Carol smiled and raised her eyebrows at him again.
"Are you that," she lowered her voice, but she was convinced that no one was paying them any attention whatsoever and couldn't have heard them if she hadn't bothered to lower her voice, "horny?"
Daryl made a face at her and shook his head before he broke into the laugh that he'd been holding back.
"No…I just…like ya ass around," he said. "We go back ta the house now an' she's out right away…Russ, he ain't gon' be up too long…then we get like an hour before we go ta bed…"
"Mmmm," Carol hummed, deciding now to tease him. "So yes…you are. Because you're volunteering to have quite the morning…"
Daryl shrugged.
"Hell…what kinda mornin'? Doin' the same damn thing I gotta do anyway with Russ, just throwin' Sophia in there too. Ain't like it's gonna be some big surprise ta me," Daryl said. "You survived takin' both this mornin', didn't you?" Daryl said.
Carol sucked in a breath and looked back at her child who was, for the most part, asleep, but not asleep enough yet to drop the pacifier.
"I'm spending the night a lot with you…people are going to talk," Carol said.
Daryl chuckled.
"What people?" He asked.
He nodded his head in the direction of the house and Carol realized that Merle and Andrea, if they realized that they hadn't left yet were probably wondering what the hell was going on in their yard.
"Them? They ain't gon' say shit," Daryl said. "Hell…they just decided they first date was a date after they went on the next on…first date was a one night stand, but it didn't take."
Carol shook her head slightly and chewed her lip. What he was proposing could very well work…Sophia seemed fond enough of him that she really doubted that she'd give him any trouble taking her to the Greene farm, especially not if she were bribed with something like a sippy cup of milk and the promise of something to pet and hold when she got there.
And Alice hadn't really said anything to her about Daryl. Alice was rarely home and when she was home she was pretty much dedicated to not doing too much that was exciting. Work took it out of her and her few days off here and there were precious to her. If anything, she was promoting that Carol go and do and be with Daryl.
And Carol liked being with him. She liked that he was easy to be with. There wasn't a lot of expectation there. She didn't feel like there was some kind of ideal that she had to live up to. He didn't seem to have any grand expectations of her, and if he did he hadn't let her know about them, beyond the fact that she would actually just be there.
But she couldn't stop the guilty feeling that she was so newly separated and here she was, having spent more nights with Daryl than she'd spent without him lately. She almost felt like she needed to pull the reins in on the whole thing…like she needed to tell him that it wasn't right and it wasn't proper and it they were moving too fast. But she couldn't bring herself to do it because it wasn't what she wanted. If she did it, she would be doing it entirely because of appearances…and so far, she couldn't figure out who exactly she was afraid of judging her too harshly.
"What about the Greenes?" She asked. "What are they going to say?"
The Greenes…they seemed like really wholesome people, not the kind to approve of a newly single mother spending all her nights with a man while her two year old slept in a portable crib.
Daryl chuckled.
"Hershel an' Miss Jo?" He asked.
Carol nodded her head.
"They ain't gonna say nothin'," Daryl said. "Hell…they been married since dinosaurs roamed around…but they don't have too much ta say 'bout nobody that ain't hurtin' nobody else."
He sighed.
"Fine…" he said. He shrugged. "You don't wanna come over…don't come over…but I wish you'd just say ya don't wanna come an' don't tell me it's 'cause some damn body's lookin' at us cross-eyed. I've heard a lotta people talk an' I've heard all kinda shit they can come up with ta say…but I can tell ya somethin'…besides hurtin' my feelin's from time ta time? Ain't really done shit ta me."
Carol sighed to echo the sound that he'd made.
"I know…that it shouldn't matter what people think," she said. "But…I can't help but worry what people are going to say…and I don't want that to do anything at all to affect my divorce."
Daryl shook his head.
"You ain't gotta explain," he said. "You don't wanna come, don't come."
He leaned to offer a kiss to Carol and she took it, but she could tell from the way that he kissed her that he didn't entirely mean what he said. Yes, it was "fine" that she was saying that she wasn't going over…but he wasn't happy with it at all and he wasn't great at hiding his feeling, no matter how much he might think he was.
He accepted the peck from her, though, shoved his hands down in his pockets and started toward his vehicle again where Russ was waiting, possibly asleep by now as well or either entertained with the lifetime supply of toys in the car.
"Daryl…" Carol said, catching his attention. He stopped and turned back to look at her. "I'll follow you?"
Daryl smiled and then quickly and purposefully wiped the smile off his face. He nodded his head without offering a single word and then turned back to his car. Carol closed Sophia's door as gently as she could and she got in the car, sucking in a breath and wondering if she was doing the right thing or if she was making a mistake by letting things go so fast so soon.
She picked up her phone, checked for messages, and found that Alice had texted her, asking if she was coming home or not. She texted her back that she was going to Daryl's house, again, and didn't wait for any kind of response…not that she really expected one. She knew that Alice was just checking in…and if there were some kind of emergency or something she would have called and not just texted.
Carol cranked the car and followed Daryl out of his brother's driveway, glancing in the rearview mirror just long enough to see that Sophia had fallen asleep so well that she'd lost her pacifier and was now slumped in her seat, mouth open, apparently uncaring that she would spend yet another night in the living room of Daryl's tiny house, curled up asleep in a travel crib.
