He woke up before she did that morning. It was still dark outside, but the sky was no longer pitch black. Instead it was a faded blue color it gets as the sun is trying to come up over the horizon. His internal clock had him guessing it was between 5 and 6 a.m. He glanced over at her, she was sleeping peacefully beside him and one of her legs was intertwined with his. Even though everything had ended up shitty at his dad's yesterday and it briefly killed his mood, he'd never been happier than he had been the past two days.
Hell, he'd been happy the last few months just having her back in his life. It wasn't like his life had been bad in Virginia, it wasn't at all. But he still felt a void without her. One that he knew the moment he saw her again in Lori's café that he didn't want to live with anymore. No one could make him feel loved the way she had. Not ever. Even before he knew that she was in love with him, he still knew she loved him in a way that no one else did. Whenever he had been growing up and he was hurting, she'd always been there. And whatever hurt him affected her too. She'd cry for him when his dad hit him or said hurtful things to him. She'd encourage him when he felt like he couldn't do anything right, and he knew she wasn't just saying it to make him feel better. Anything good she ever said about him, she'd meant it. There was a level of sincerity in her voice when she spoke to him, one that no one else had.
He really didn't think he'd be where he was today without her. He wouldn't have made friends with Rick or Glenn or Maggie or any of the others. He wouldn't have given a shit. Not about anyone or anything. Hell, he'd probably be exactly who his dad expected him to be. He'd have probably ended up doing every stupid thing Merle ever did, and then some. If he hadn't of had someone like her to make him wanna do right, he'd have been right there with Merle. And Merle probably wouldn't have straightened up either if Daryl had been there fucking up with him.
So, as he lay beside her on this Christmas morning, he couldn't help but think that this was the best Christmas he'd ever had. He had gotten the best gift ever, her. He started thinking about New Year's Eve next week. He never got excited about the New Year before, it had always been just another day. But he found himself excited that the two of them were going to start the year off together, as a couple. It was easily setting up to be the best year of his life so far. He wanted more than anything to roll over and go back to sleep, but he knew she'd need to be up soon to help get things ready for Christmas lunch. He also didn't want to just follow her out of her bedroom that morning and then proceed to tell her parents they were together. He felt like it would lessen her importance to them somehow, even though they hadn't done anything at all last night. They wouldn't know, though. He just wanted it to be perfect. Her dad already basically told him he thought he was good enough for her and that they should be together, but he just didn't want to make him change his opinion of that. Surprisingly, what the man thought somehow meant a lot to Daryl. He was just going to chalk that up to his own daddy issues.
"Wake up." He whispered, as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
She sleepily looked up at him and shot her eyes to the window. She groaned. "Go back to sleep."
"I can't. I need to go home. You gotta be up soon to help your mom heat up everything and get stuff ready."
"So go back to sleep until then…." She replied, still groggy. "You spending the night isn't a big deal…We're adults….I pay all the bills here…we're together…..My dad just likes busting your balls….He didn't really care last time."
He sighed. "I know…but I just don't wanna tell them that way..I like that your dad likes me..besides, I still gotta go home and get your presents and the stuff I got your parents….and I should probably make sure my brother made it home alive." He joked.
She looked up at him and offered a sleepy smile. "I guess you can go since you have my presents there." She placed a quick kiss on his lips. "You feeling better this morning."
"Much better." He replied, then returned the kiss. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too." She smiled again. I'm gonna go make a cup of coffee and then I'll drive you home."
()()()
He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she put a pot of coffee on. He'd gotten dressed since he was going home, but she was still wearing what she'd worn to bed. A large sweater and some boy shorts. He let his gaze sweep up her long legs and, without thinking, he started making his way towards her. She was reaching up in the cabinets and grabbing some mugs when he put his hands around her hips and swung her around to face him.
She jumped a little and let out a gasp, startled by the unexpected contact, but smirked when she turned to face him. He looked down at her and smiled back, before placing his lips to hers. He pushed her back against the counter, his hips pressed firmly against hers and deepened the kiss. He lowered his hands from her hips, down to her things. She gripped his shirt and pulled him closer into her.
"I don't think you should unwrap that present in here." A gruff voice said, startling them both and causing them to pull apart.
They looked at one another and both turned beet red. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He looked at Carol and back to her dad. Unsure of what to say.
"Do you two have something you wanna tell us?" Her father asked, arching his brows. Her mother was standing behind him. Her eyes were wide.
Carol went to speak for him, but he took a deep breath and decided it was time to man up. He moved beside her and locked her hand in his. "I care about your daughter a lot…I have for a long time….she came over the other night and we were looking at some old pictures…it got us to thinking about a lot things…we both realized how much we've always meant to each other and we decided we wanted to be together." He stumbled with the words, he said them a little fast and he knew it was a short-handed version of their story that didn't even begin to describe their journey, but it was the parent appropriate one. He looked over to Carol and saw her eyes were lit up and a half smile played at her lips.
We were going to tell you both later today…." Carol added. "He had a rough Christmas Eve and Merle was gone. He just didn't wanna be alone last night…. I was going to take him home before you got up…..we didn't mean for you to see that.." She blushed again.
He stood there staring at the two of them. His wife looked up at him and then back at the new couple. She was smiling. He broke out into a grin too. "It's about damn time." He said, as he slapped Daryl on his shoulder. "But, I'd appreciate it if I never have to see anything like that again." He motioned between them and then to the counter.
()()()
He hadn't immediately gone home after that. He'd stayed in the kitchen with her and her parents and had some coffee. Her parents seemed happy they were together. Her mom had hugged him and told him she always thought they'd end up together. Her dad just winked at him, he knew Daryl already knew what he thought about him. He was happy that things went that well. Still extremely embarrassed that they'd seen them making out, especially since it was the second instance her mother had walked in on, but he was happy it had gone well overall.
After breakfast he checked his phone and saw that he had a voicemail from Merle. When he played it back it was letting him know that Andrea had come looking for him at the bar. He ended up going home with her and he was having dinner her family at Dale's today, instead of his original plan to come Carol's house. Part of Daryl was extremely worried about how that was going to go and what Dale knew about him and Andrea now. Dale wasn't stupid, he wasn't going to think he'd shown up with Andrea for no reason. In fact, he had no clue how it had been almost three months of the two screwing around and Dale hadn't seemed to know about it yet. He just didn't want Merle to screw things up with Andrea since they still owed Dale a good bit of money on the shop. The man loved his niece and he was a bit protective to say the least.
He'd gotten Carol to take him back to his place to get the stuff he had for her and her parents. While they were there they'd made good use of the time they had alone together and picked up where they left off in her kitchen. He knew she was going to miss her parents when they left Saturday, but between them and Merle walking in on shit, he was looking forward to knowing that they'd have a place to be alone. Sex wasn't all he wanted out of this, it wasn't all he thought about. Last night when he was upset it hadn't even crossed his mind to try anything. He'd just needed to hold her next to him then. But he did like the sex part….a lot…..and he felt like they needed to make up for a lot of lost time with that.
They'd gone back to her house and had lunch then the present thing. He'd gotten her parents gift cards. He'd figured they could use them while they were out on the road. They'd given him something too. A new duck call and knife. Her parents had loved the photo album she'd put together for them. He felt slightly guilty as the flipped through it knowing some of those photos had been on his bed Wednesday night. She also gave them a juicer and insisted her dad start using it and adding more fruits and vegetables into his diet and less red meat. She'd made sure had had stayed on top of his diet while he was here, and her mom had too. But she knew that it'd be different when they were traveling a lot again. Her parents had bought her more little odds and ends for the house. Picture frames, towels, throws, china sets. Just lots of different things like that. She'd bought him a scope for his gun and some arrows. She'd also given him a shower kit. One complete with deodorant, cologne, body wash and a tooth brush. He'd joked that he must smell bad and she had to be trying to tell him something. She'd laughed and said it was for when he stayed over with her. He'd gotten her a few more charms for that bracelet he'd given her a while back and a huge thing of her favorite assortment of coffee flavors from Starbucks. He knew she lived off of coffee when she worked 12 hour shifts.
The rest of the day had been pretty relaxed. They'd laid around with her folks talking about old times watching Christmas movies. Her parents on the big couch, while the two of them were curled up on the love seat. It was corny and most of the movies sucked, but he felt like this is what actual families did on Christmas. They sat around and talked and had traditions like watching horrible Christmas movies. No one yelled or bitched and it was….just nice. It was weird not seeing Merle today, though. He hadn't spent Christmas away from him in a long time.
Merle had texted him and told her he was going to stay with Andrea again. He wasn't sure exactly what to think about that. It caught him off guard for sure. Maybe the hard headed son of a bitch finally realized he liked the girl.
He'd ended up staying at Carol's again that night. He'd thought about going home, but he didn't want to. He was planning on it though, since it was her last night with her parents. He didn't want to intrude on any time they might want to spend together, especially since she had to work tomorrow and wouldn't get to see them before she left. She'd asked him to stay though, and surprisingly enough her dad asked him if he was staying. He vaguely remembered her waking him up to kiss her goodbye the next morning. He'd rolled over and gone back to sleep as soon as she left. They'd stayed up late with her parents and he had no clue how she was going to function at work today. He woke up later on, probably around 9. He got dressed and made his way to the back porch for a cigarette. He found her dad out there too, closely observing the backyard.
He must have heard the door close behind Daryl, because he turned to look at him. "You know….I'm really glad Carol was able to get this place back…I kinda missed it." He said, solemnly.
Daryl nodded and pressed the cigarette to his lips and lit it, taking a long drag. "I knew she'd want it as soon as I heard it was for rent. Rick told me she had a hard time when you guys sold the place."
"It was too big for us without her and a house full of neighborhood kids running around. She hardly came home to visit anymore…and we'd always wanted to travel…..I hated to sell it, but we felt like it was right at the time….I guess it all worked out though."
"Yeah…I guess it did." He pondered, as he nervously started shaking his leg and grew quiet. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"
"What's on your mind son?" Her dad asked, curiously.