Daryl snorted awake when there was a pounding on the door. The sun was streaming through the window, full light. "Shit!" he muttered.

The pounding continued, and then came Henry's voice, "Wasting daylight, mate! You should be at the truck already!"

"Shit!" Daryl rolled out of bed and began yanking on his clothes. He'd never slept past sunrise before. "Comin'!" he yelled.

Carol stirred awake, curling her legs up, her pretty blue eyes fluttering open. Christ, she was beautiful. She smiled as he buttoned and zipped his pants. "I was kind of hoping for some morning delight," she teased.

He buckled his belt. "Uh...how 'bout some afternoon delight? Probably be back at one. Ya ain't got to start cookin' til three or so, right?"

"That's a long time to wait," she said, sitting up and putting a hand on his belt buckle. She slid her other hand down the front of his pants, giving him one long, slow stroke.

"Christ, woman!" Daryl moaned. "Don't do that right now."

She smiled. "Why? You don't like this, do you?" She did it again.

He groaned and pushed her back down on the bed, crushing her mouth with his.

Henry knocked again.

"Comin'!" Daryl shouted.

"Are you?" Carol asked as she unbuckled his belt with a clang and eased her hand into the waistband of his pants and boxers.

"Oh fuck..." he groaned when she grasped him. "Stop it, woman." But she didn't, and he cupped her bare breast with his hand and squeezed it gently while she stroked him. "Oh God, sweet Jesus...oh holy..."

"Pinch my nipples," she demanded.

Daryl was surprised by her forwardness, given how shy she'd been in the past, but he was more than happy to comply. He loved the way she whimpered when he did it. Carol unbuttoned his pants while he continued to play with her breasts.

Henry, sounding very annoyed, called his name again.

"Meet ya by the truck in fifteen minutes!" Daryl shouted.

"Fine," Henry called back.

"Fifteen minutes?" Carol asked with a pout. "That's all I get?" She was unzipping him now.

"Yer the one who started this." He stood straight again and wrestled off his pants and boxers before pulling her to the edge of the bed where he could more easily lean over her. Daryl supported himself by his palms against the mattress so that only their lower halves connected and he could look at her naked breasts as he pushed into her with a thick moan.

Carol gasped in surprise.

He froze. "Sorry. Should I of waited?"

She wrapped her legs around him and began rocking her hips, which was answer enough for him. He groaned and started thrusting. "Fuck ya feel good, woman."

Maybe it was because there had been so little foreplay this time, or maybe it was because he kept redirecting his thoughts when he got too close to the brink, but Daryl held out. He didn't let himself go until she was crying his name and shuddering all around him.

He collapsed when he came, and then rolled off onto his back beside her, panting. He didn't know why sex took so much out of him. He could hike and hunt and run in the forest for hours, and he wouldn't feel this wiped out.

Carol rolled over and kissed his cheek. "You better get dressed. Henry's going to be angry."

"Does the Kingdom really need to eat every damn day?"

[*]

Daryl felt like all eyes were on him as he approached the truck.

"Good zing we don't hand out tardy slips," Jakob said.

"We may have to start," Henry suggested, with a twinkle in his eye. "Some people only respond to the carrot or the stick, and I think perhaps Daryl has an apartment full of carrots."

Daryl kept his eyes on the ground while he pulled open the rear door. He looked up before stepping in because he heard Gloria's voice. "You gentlemen haven't left yet?"

"Daryl was running a tad late," Henry told her. He pulled Gloria to himself, kissed her, and whispered something in her ear. She chuckled, slid a knapsack off her shoulder and said, "You forgot your lunch." Henry thanked her and climbed into the driver's side.

"How very sweet," Al said as he climbed into the front passenger's seat. Daryl slammed his door shut, as did Jakob next to him. "Your wife makes you lunch. Does she tuck you in at night as well?"

Henry tossed the back pack roughly at Al. "You can only wish a woman as beautiful as Gloria tucked you in."

Al put the backpack between his feet as Henry started the truck.

Jakob chuckled. "Or any woman for zat matter."

"It is not as if you are getting much attention at home," Al reminded him.

"Third trimester. And we have been married zirteen years. Gloria and Henry are newlyweds."

"Not that new," Henry said. "It's been seven months now."

"Has it been that long?" Al asked. "I thought she arrived in the Kingdom just eight months ago? And she had just lost her husband."

"Well, I'd also recently lost my wife," Henry observed.

Daryl couldn't imagine moving on that quickly to someone else, if he lost Carol. Of course, he couldn't imagine being with anyone else at all. "Ya convinced her to marry ya in four weeks?" Daryl asked.

"It was a whirlwind courtship," Henry said. "Which is all anyone has time for in this world."

"I don't know about zat," Jakob said. "How long has Daryl known Carol now?"

Al laughed and looked at Daryl in the rear view mirror. "But you have - how do you say it? Sealed the deal at last, no?"

Daryl glowered and didn't say anything.

"Leave him be," Henry insisted. He looked in the rear view mirror. "If you ever want to marry her, though, Daryl, there's a process for that here."

"If'n I do, I sure as hell ain't gonna apply to Ezekiel for a fuckin' license."

"There's no license," Henry said soothingly. "There's just a ceremony in the theater, and it's recorded in the Kingdom record book."

"And ze women," Jakob said, "they like ze weddings."

"How'd Gloria just get here eight months ago?" Daryl asked. "Carol said she was a music teacher at the school?"

"Yes, she used to be," Henry replied. "But she and her husband fled the city when the epidemic started. They went to hide out in their summer beach cabin in Ocean City. It was on a remote part of the beach and had generators and grills and a fireplace, and her husband could fish."

The pick-up dipped in and out of a pothole. Henry righted it. "But there was a hurricane," he continued, "and the cabin was destroyed. Half the shoreline, really. So they spent awhile wandering Maryland and looking for a peaceful camp to join. Her husband was killed by lurchers, and, ironically, Gloria's come full circle back to D.C."

When they arrived at the Royal Forest, they didn't break into groups this time. They were determined to work together to find the wild boar that had been alluding them all.

This was Daryl's first time hunting with Al and Jakob. He was impressed by Jakob's stealth - he could never tell where the man was unless he was standing right beside him. He also respected Al's eye for the sign, but he could always tell where that man was, because he talked constantly. Henry finally shushed him as the trail grew fresher.

The boar fled them after Daryl got an arrow in its side and Henry got a bullet in its hind. Al chased it down on foot, running with remarkable speed through the forest, and speared it, after which Jakob fired the killing shot to the brain to put it out of its misery.

They laid their kill on a drag sled, and Al and Jakob each took hold of a rope to pull it through the forest while Henry and Daryl walked behind the dead boar, armed and ready for any threat, though they didn't really expect any. The forest was usually peaceful and they rarely encounter walkers here, let alone people.

So it took them all by surprise when the sound of a gunshot rang out in the midst of the birdsong that surrounded them.