AN: Hi everyone! Here's another little chapter. I'll admit that it's not the best and probably not what I was even going for but I write around a lot of distractions these days, so I'm doing the best that I can!

I hope you enjoy, regardless! Let me know what you think!

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"Now it's not much…I don't have much yet," Carol declared as she stood in the doorway, blocking Daryl's access to the small house that he'd helped her pick out.

He laughed and leaned his arm against the outside door frame, his head against his arm.

"Ain't much, huh? More'n it was when it was empty?" He asked.

She pursed her lips.

"Not much more," she declared, shaking her head. "Alice and I found some things…she helped me get started, but I just don't want you to expect too much…"

"I got no expectations," Daryl said. "Nothin'…not a thing. You got anything in that house besides some sippy cups and a buncha diapers an' I'ma be shocked as shit."

Carol made a face at him.

"Where's Russ?" She asked.

Daryl raised his eyebrows at her.

"At the Greene house…same as Soph," Daryl said. "An' Merle an' Andrea pickin' 'em both up…takin' 'em ta get pizza an' play at the indoor playground…bringin' 'em by later."

Carol sucked in a breath.

"Andrea's OK?" She asked.

Daryl nodded his head. Andrea was literally due any day. She was overdue, actually, according to their little twin charts and such…and it had become something of a joke that she would never have the twins. But, as long as the babies were doing well, no one was pushing it until there was something to worry about. They were, more than anything, just trying to figure out how to coax the two newest Dixons out of their warm little burrow and relieve Andrea of the suffering of carrying around the weight of them.

"She's just fine," Daryl said. "She an' Merle said they ain't no trouble…an' soon as they get 'em both to the playground they ain't gotta do much more'n make sure they don't break they necks…"

Daryl had been doing all that he could to play by Carol's rules…for almost four months he'd done everything she had asked of him and he'd tried to remind himself that she needed her space…he'd tried to remind himself that it was something that didn't have anything to do with him.

And during those three months they'd had dinner from time to time during the week, but she never stayed the night…and they'd gone over a few times to Merle and Andrea's house so that they could get used to Sophia, not that she required much to get used to anyone…and they'd gone over to Carol's house so that Russ could spend time with the woman that he considered to be something a living superhero.

Once or twice they'd gone out to dinner together while someone kept the children, and like teenagers they'd stolen a few moments alone in Daryl's vehicle to neck here or there before they got themselves together and went to pick up the children from wherever they had to pick them up from.

They hadn't been together sexually since Carol had put a stop to the whole thing…and Daryl was starting to get a little anxious.

He'd helped her pick out the house. It was a small little three bedroom number that she'd gotten a really great deal on because it needed work. The couple that had owned it was an old couple that had the house sitting empty for quite some time. They'd once rented it out, but apparently that had long since fallen by the wayside when they'd failed to keep it up and they were simply looking to unload it for a good price.

And it was a good price since Daryl considered himself to be somewhat handy, and he had enough friends that he could force into being handy if they had to be, and much of the work that needed to be done was something they could handle.

So Carol had taken the house and she'd gone to work getting things set up with the bank. Her divorce seemed to be going well, she expected to get some money from it, though not a sum that was enough to do too much with, and she was happy at her job that, though it didn't pay much, did pay enough to cover the payments that she'd set up.

Daryl and Merle had cut the grass, essentially finding the house in the jungle of weeds and grass it had become lost in, and they'd fixed one or two things that she could have lived without but it wasn't necessary.

And then Alice had handled the moving in of Carol into the house.

Now, though, she was all moved in and the plan was that they would spend the afternoon together, alone, at the house and then they would have Russ and Sophia for the night. And Daryl and Russ were going to sleep over…an adventure in Russ's eyes and music to Daryl's ears.

But first she had to let him inside.

"You're not going to make fun?" Carol asked. "If it's not…very nice? Alice helped me get it together, but I couldn't afford everything in one swoop."

Daryl sighed.

"Carol…if you let me in this damn door…then I promise you that I ain't gonna say nothin' at all about nothin' at all! This is our time…remember? Only time we gettin' without the kids…an' I swear…ya house is gonna be perfect…you look like a damn goddess…an' I'm an asshole 'cause I shoulda brought flowers but I was too damn distracted tryin' ta figure out how ta pack Russ an overnight bag an' bring shit for Sophia that he outgrowed that I couldn't thinka nothin'!"

Carol smiled at him, cutting her eyes up at him, and then she backed out of the doorway and allowed him to pass into the house. Daryl followed her in and stayed on her heels as she gave him the grand tour. A small living room that had a couch, a second hand television courtesy of the Greenes, a video player to entertain the kids, a kitchen, a bath and a half with just enough towels that Carol would have to wash them almost daily in the second hand washer and dryer to stay ahead of the game, three bedrooms, the master bedroom with a queen sized bed, one of the bedrooms empty, and two twin beds in the other one…that's what the house consisted of at this point.

But it was a nice house, and it was what Carol wanted…and if it was what she wanted then there was time for things to be made into something more, something better.

"I thought, for the time being, that Sophia and Russ might like to be in the same room," Carol said. "I thought it might be easier on him…you know? Instead of sleeping in a strange room alone. But if you think he'd rather have the other room right now…"

Daryl chuckled at the concern washing over Carol's features at the moment.

He shook his head.

"It's fine…I think he'll like it better like this," Daryl said. "You done good…an' ya house? It's a nice lil' house."

"There isn't too much, but it is nice, isn't it?" Carol said.

Daryl nodded.

"Just got more space, that's all," Daryl said. "Real nice space too. Fix this up an' it's got a lotta potential."

Carol looked pleased with his praise and Daryl chewed at his lip to hide his own moment of pleasure at her expression.

He cleared his throat.

"I didn't get a good look…at the bedroom…you…uh…wanna show that one ta me again?" Daryl offered.

Carol laughed.

"The kids' bedroom? Or the empty one?" Carol asked.

She was teasing him and Daryl knew it. She wasn't good at hiding her smile when she teased and no matter how hard she fought it, the corners of her mouth curled up or her chin quivered slightly if she held them down. He stepped toward her and caught her around the chest, picking her up off her feet. She howled at him and her arms went around his neck so that he had to put her down quickly to keep her from choking off his air supply.

He nuzzled his face into her neck.

"'Fore I ever even bring our shit in…can we make the best a' this? 'Cause the damn luck we got them twins'll come 'fore dinner's over just ta run our asses outta here," he mumbled.

Carol pulled away from him and then brought her lips to his, her hands going on either side of his face, her fingers running into his hair.

"Yeah…" she said. "Yeah…we better make the best of it…you're right," she breathed at him when their lips parted.

She brought her lips back to his and he put his hands on her hips, guiding her the best that he could as he walked her toward the bedroom that she'd claimed as her own. She stepped with him, except for the few times she stepped on his feet, but he didn't complain. Having his feet walked on was worth it at the moment.

She turned away from him before they'd made the entire journey and walked in front of him, guiding him toward the bedroom. Before she even reached the space, she was coming out of her pants, wiggling suggestively as she pushed them down and walked right out of them.

And Daryl thought he might go crazy at the sight of it. He pulled his shirt off as he walked behind her, enjoying for just a moment the fact that they didn't have to worry…they didn't have to worry about someone needing to go to the bathroom…they didn't have to worry about someone needing a snack…they didn't have to worry about a bad dream or a video that needed to be restarted because the fact that they'd put it on "repeat" hadn't taken. They didn't have to worry about being walked in on…all they had to worry about at the moment was themselves and what they wanted out of the moment.

"Is this alright?" Carol asked, as she sat down on the bed and finished shucking out of her clothes.

Daryl was almost out of his clothes too.

Because even though they might have all the time in the world…even though they might have hours to kill being as slow and lazy about this as they could ever desire to be…there was something ingrained in both of them that made them naturally respond to everything in life as though time were of the absolute essence and they were on the verge of being "caught" and "stopped" at every single turn.

"This is damn near perfect," Daryl said, lunging toward Carol and pushing her back on the bed, drawing a yelp and a laugh from her as she wrapped around him, pulling him against her and tangling her limbs with his.

Carol seemed, at the moment, as hungry for him as he was for her. He'd thought that they might take their time with this, but now he was pretty sure that the best thing for both of them was simply to give into things as quickly as possible now…and then make the best of the time they had after that and their appetites were quelled a little.

Teeth caught his lip and hungry hands were all over his body. Daryl rearranged them both as well as he could and pulled away, rushing around and picking through the clothes they'd left on the floor to find his pants where he'd tucked the leftover condoms from his house into the pockets. When he came back, Carol reached her arms out to him, pulling him into her when he leaned down, kissing him again.

"You alright with this?" He asked.

Carol nodded her head.

"I thought you knew…" she responded.

Daryl smiled.

"Just makin' sure," he said.

When he finally sunk into her and her legs held him strong, he couldn't help but groan into the throat that he kissed out of the sheer satisfaction of being back where he wanted to be. When he noticed that she was holding herself back, out of practice or out of something else, he commanded her to let go…and it only took two times of commanding her before she listened, and she did let go and come undone around him entirely, pulling him after her.

When he finally collapsed next to her, their sweaty skin still touching, she rolled and kissed him, her fingertips tracing around his face gently while she smiled at him.

"I think…" Carol said. "That I might…be falling in love with you."

Daryl laughed to himself as a knee jerk reaction and then noticed the look that came over her face. She thought he was laughing at her.

"I'm sorry…" she said, shaking her head and starting to pull away from him.

He caught her, his arms around her arms, and shook his head at her.

"No!" He said. He swallowed. "I weren't laughin' at you…I was laughin' 'cause I think you finally catchin' up with me."