I'm so happy for all my American friends that The Walking Dead returns today. I'll have to wait another day and I have to distract myself with writing. Here is the next chapter and I hope you like it. Have fun watching the new episode this evening. Maybe you can kill some time with reading *ggg*
I don't own TWD and never will but I love everything about it. Thank you AMC and Robert Kirkman.
It was after midnight when Daryl had been released from watch. He sauntered over the meadow towards the house. A slight smile played around his lips when he thought of Carol and what had happened between them a few hours before. All these feelings were new to him, but he liked these little butterflies in his stomach. He was startled when he climbed the steps to the porch. A slight noise attracted his attention and he raised his bow into shooting position. A large shape moved toward him. Tyreese stepped out of the shadow.
"Fuck! Almost shot ya," Daryl hissed.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Tyreese apologized.
"Pff, scare. I wasn't scared. What ya want?" Daryl asked tensly.
"I wanted to talk to you," Tyreese explained shortly.
"Nothing ta talk about," Daryl said, turning around to leave.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Carol. I really didn't mean to hurt her and I know that there's no excuse for my action back then. But at least I can try to make up to her. I don't know what happened to me after Sasha died. I'd spent so much time with Carol on our way to Terminus and uhm... I don't know. I'm alone, Daryl. I've no one left and Carol is like family to me," Tyreese explained in a sad and trembling voice.
Daryl turned around, facing the heavyset man. He was still angry about what Tyreese did to Carol. Her terrified expression had burned into his mind.
"Ya didn't mean ta. I get that, but ya better not try that shit again or I'll put an arrow in ya head myself. I'm not going ta tell ya what happened to Carol a few years ago but ya have ta know that I'll do everything ta protect her."
"It won't happen again, I swear. I just lost it, Daryl and I'm really sorry. I wasn't myself back then," Tyreese said, staring at the ground.
"Ya stay the hell away from her and I mean it. I won't let anything happen ta her."
"Yeah, I already noticed," Tyreese whispered, rubbing his chin," and I really hope you can forgive me at some point because we're in this shit together. We need to pull together."
Daryl just nodded, turning around again to enter the house. When he reached the door he turned around once more.
"Sorry about Sasha," he said shorty, disappearing into the farmhouse.
Carol was still awake when Daryl entered their bedroom. He placed his bow next to the bed and kicked off his shoes. Carol smiled at him when he plopped down on the bed beside her. Hannah lay next to her aunt, breathing deeply. This was the first time in a week that Hannah had gone to sleep before sunrise. Daryl gazed absently ahead of him.
"Are you okay?" Carol asked worriedly.
"Yeah, bumped into Tyreese," he said simply.
"Oh, okay. Is he still alive?" she teased.
"Didn't check his pulse," he shot back.
Carol chuckled, kissing his cheek lovingly. She rested her head on his chest, stroking his shoulder length hair gently.
"About what happened earlier..." she began but was cut off.
"Fuck ya Rosita," he cursed shortly.
"I wouldn't put it that way but yes, I was kinda thinking the same thing. You have to know that I don't want to push you, okay? We can wait, if you want," she said calmly.
"Did it look like I wanted ta wait? Fuck, Carol that was... uhm, ya know... I dunno...never felt that way and I so want ta do this right. I never thought that someone could make me feel that way. That a woman like ya could love me. My dad and Merle always let me think I was a bunch o' shit."
"Don't think so much, Daryl. You're the best man I've ever met. We have to leave the past behind us. I don't know what's going to happen in the future and I don't know how much time we'll have left. But I'm damn sure going to make the best of it," she stated, looking up at him.
"It's hard ta believe that ya want me, that ya want this. I'm damaged goods, Carol."
"Not any more than I am. I won't be able to make your scars disappear, but I can try to let them fade away. At least the scars on your soul. You've changed so much and I'm so damned proud of the man you'd become," she said lovingly, placing her head back on his chest.
"I love ya, ya know that right? Even when I'm not always able ta show ya the way ya deserve it. I'm so fucking scared ta lose ya. It's like a curse."
"You won't lose me, Daryl. It took us so long to get where we are. We'd lost so much on our way and I won't let anything or anyone separate us again. At least as long as it's in my power," she explained.
He kissed her forehead and then let his face slip lower until they looked into each other's eyes. Her loving eyes made him speechless. He'd never noticed how deep blue they were. He gently brushed his lips over hers but didn't deepen the kiss. Although the kiss was careful and cautious, Carol's body responded immediately to this gentle touch. She moaned and pressed her body firmly to his while he was carresing her back lovingly.
"We should get some sleep," he suggested.
"Yeah, I really hope Hannah's going to sleep through the night. She fell asleep when I read her a story. This situation reminds me of the past when Sophia was still alive. Sophia would have liked you, Daryl. I wish she would have known you better," Carol said in a trembling voice.
"And I wish I could have saved her. I thought for a long time ya blamed me, ya know? I failed ya back then. I'd let ya and Sophia down. It broke my heart to see ya that sad and desperate. Think that was the first time I noticed how incredible ya are."
"I have to show you something," she said, getting up hastily.
She searched her backpack and took out a book. It was the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which Lizzie had so enjoyed reading. She snuggeled back against Daryl's body and opened it. She found what she was looking for in the middle of the book, carefully taking out a dried flower. It was the Cherokee rose he'd given her years ago. A smile crept across his lips.
"Ya kept it all those years?"
"Yes, it means so much to me. It reminds me of you, risking your life for me and my daughter and saving me from dying of a broken heart," she explained, pressing the rose to her heart carefully.
After a while lying there in silence she put the rose back into the book. She placed the book under her pillow, treating it like a treasure. Althought they'd agreed to start over, Carol kept all memorabilia close to her. When Rick had banished her from the prison, Daryl had brought her backpack with him. It didn't only contain fresh clothes but also everything that was important to her. Sophia's doll, the knife Daryl gave her once, Lizzie's book and the Cherokee rose. All these things were a sign of a new stage of life and each and every part had changed her.
