Twigs crunched beneath Daryl's boots as he made his way through the foliage toward the clearing where they had parked the pick-up. A string of rabbits, which was draped over his shoulder, swayed lightly from side to side. Behind him Al walked quietly, a satchel full of frogs slung on his left shoulder and his spear in his right hand.
Through the now semi-bare limbs of the trees, Daryl spied the truck. Sasha was leaned back against the front bumper. Henry stood in front of her, his hands flat down on the hood on either side of her hips. She smiled as he leaned in for a kiss.
Daryl whirled around and Al nearly bumped face first into him. "Hold up!" Daryl said. "Ya hear that? Think maybe that was a deer." He pointed behind Al, who turned.
"There were no tracks," Al replied.
"Could of sworn I heard a deer!" Daryl shouted.
Al blinked in surprise. "No need to be angry about it. We've caught much. They must have something, too." He walked past Daryl, who followed him into the clearing.
Sasha and Henry were now several feet apart. "Geese galore!" Henry shouted toward them. "And a few ducks. What did you find?"
[*]
"Feeling better finally?" Carol asked Maggie as she sat down next to Daryl and across from the expectant mother at the banquet table.
"I didn't think you were supposed to feel sick in the third trimester," Maggie replied. "Maybe it had nothing to do with the pregnancy. Might have been a stomach bug. I'm glad to be back at the table with y'all."
"I was lucky with Sophia," Carol told her. "No morning sickness at all, but my third trimester I just felt constantly bloated." It wasn't until the words were out that Carol realized she had mentioned her daughter aloud. It wasn't often she did that, and a sudden stab of pain twisted her heart. She gritted her teeth together, her lips trembling slightly, to ensure she didn't cry. She thought she was about to when she felt Daryl's hand land on her knee beneath the table.
He squeezed, just once, but it was enough. He slid his hand away and Carol's smile steadied. "If it is a boy, I bet Glen Jr. will have a playmate in Ben-oni," she said, nodding to the table where Al sat beside Rivka, holding the sleeping newborn against his shoulder with one hand as he ate with the other.
Maggie turned to follow her gaze and then looked back at Carol. "You'd think he was the father."
"He does seem a natural," Carol replied.
"Al had three little sisters and four little brothers," Daryl told her. He looked toward Maggie. "Sorry I left ya trapped talkin' to 'em in the hall yesterday."
"Why sorry?" Maggie asked.
"Uh...just...dunno."
Carol chuckled. She knew what Daryl was thinking - that women didn't like being caught in conversation with Al because he was a awkward and over-eager in his attentions. Not that Daryl was one to boast of social skill, but his own brand of social awkwardness generally resulted in leaving people alone.
"Seemed like a nice enough guy to me," Maggie said.
"Al is very nice," Carol agreed.
"I ain't sayin' he's not nice," Daryl replied.
"He's a little socially awkward," Maggie observed. "But you know I've never had a problem getting along with socially awkward guys."
Maggie made an expression similar to the one Carol had made when thinking of Sophia. Because she didn't have anyone to put a hand on her knee, Carol reached across the table and put a hand on her hand. "We all miss Glenn," she said.
[*]
In the Royal forest, Daryl and Al caught a six-point buck, which Al had pursued relentlessly and past their usual return time. "I will not be outdone by Henry today," he said as Daryl field dressed the animal, his hands growing wet with blood. "Do you think he impresses Sasha?"
Daryl paused in his work to scratch his nose with his elbow. "Dunno." He went back to pulling out the organs.
"You know her. What sort of man earns her fancy?"
Hell if Daryl knew. Bob and Abraham were as different as night and day, and Henry was someone else entirely. "Don't think she has a type."
"But she has an anti-type?" Al asked. "Me."
Daryl rose, opened his canteen, and poured water over his bloody hands. He closed it back up, dropped it on top of his pack, and yanked the rag from his back pocket to wipe his hands. "Jesus, man, there's probably twelve single women in the Kingdom. Plenty of fish in the sea."
"Perhaps, but none of them are biting."
"Well don't make so much damn noise when you're in the water."
"What do you mean?" Al asked.
"Just...dunno. Don't seem so eager. Fuck, never mind, I dunno. I'm the last guy to give relationship advice."
"You have a woman," Al reminded him.
"Yeah but that weren't through any effort of mine." Daryl picked up one rope of the drag sled and wrapped it around his wrist twice for an easier grip.
"You must have done something to win her." Al picked up the other rope, and they began dragging the deer back to the pick up.
"Ain't never done nothin' but love 'er."
Daryl didn't bother to make a lot of noise when they emerged through the clearing this time. Best to rip the bandaid off, he figured. He let Al catch Henry and Sash in the act of kissing, which brought a dark red hue to Al's cheeks and put a scowl on his face. He said nothing, however, and simply got to work loading the deer in the pick-up.
Later, when all three were in the locker room, Henry shaving over one sink after his shower, Daryl still trying to get the last of the blood off his hands in the next sink, and Al merely leaning against a third, Henry said, "Look, Al, I'm sorry, but my not responding to her flirtations wouldn't have made her run to you."
"There is a code between friends."
"I'm not just trifling, mate. I really do like her."
"You are merely rebounding from Gloria," Al insisted.
"Yes, well, sometimes you make a good shot on the rebound."
Daryl turned off the faucet, grabbed the towel off the metal shelf above the sink, and began drying his hands. They were still the slightest bit stained. His palms were never really flesh colored these days.
"You are much too old for her," Al insisted.
"Good God, she's not a college girl. And I'm not geriatric. And don't tell me you didn't have an eye on Savannah at one time. And she is a college girl."
"But I am not old enough to join AARP!"
Daryl tossed the towel in the wastebasket and made a hasty retreat from the locker room, the door closing on the sound of their raised voices.
[*]
That night, as he sat on the love seat with Carol watching her choice of movie this time, she rubbed his shoulder and noted, "You're tense. Are you worried about the ceremony tomorrow?"
"Nah, not really. Ain't gonna be a lot of people. But Al and Henry are annoyin' the shit out of me, fightin' over Sasha."
Carol stopped rubbing and settled against him. He draped his arm around her. "It must be flattering, to have two men want you at the same time."
He peered down at her. "Like that an't never happened to you?"
"Not that I recall."
"Nah?" He took his arm off her shoulder and dropped it to his leg. "Me and Tobin?"
"I didn't know you wanted me."
"Like hell ya didn't," he muttered. "I kissed ya, didn't I?"
"Months before. And then...nothing."
"There was kind of a lot goin' on," he reminded her.
She sighed. "How are we back to this again? I thought we talked about this, that you accepted my apology."
"I did. I do." He shook his head and let out a sigh that was half a growl. "Just wish...just wish we was together sooner, I guess."
She turned slightly and put a hand on his thigh. "We're together now." She leaned in and kissed him. Her mouth felt perfectly soft, and her tongue tasted of wild raspberries. And when she slid that hand slowly and teasingly from his thigh to the front of his pants, he moaned and forgot why he was ever jealous at all.
[*]
Instead of using the theater for the ceremony, they opted for the gardens. Little Ass Kicker toddled down the cobblestone "aisle," throwing flower petals like she was throwing hand grenades, and shouting, "Wee! Wee!"
Daryl and Carol were suppressing laughter by the time they were standing face to face before the pastor. Carol wore a simple white dress and held a bundle of wildflowers Daryl had plucked from a field not far outside the Kingdom. Their friends were standing, too, spread among the orange and green and yellow squash, smiling.
The couple exchanged traditional vows, and, when the time came, Rick handed Daryl the wedding rings Savannah had retrieved on her last supply run.
When the pastor said Daryl could kiss his bride, he didn't expect it to feel any different than he usually did when his lips pressed to hers. But he found himself shivering just a little with the thought that this woman was now no longer merely his friend nor even his lover but his bride. He pulled away to the whooping of their friends with a blush reddening his face from ear to ear.
Michonne and Rick signed their names in the Kingdom record book, beneath Daryl and Carol's own signatures and the date of their union. Carol tossed the bouquet as she made her retreat, and it fell in Maggie's hands, who had reached for it instinctively. Maggie looked down at the flowers with a puzzled expression. Henry smiled and said, "Who knows what the future holds. We huntsmen may stumble across Prince Charming in the Royal Forest this week and bring him back to you."
"Or I could just bring you one of my frogs," Al said. "I hear all it takes is a kiss from a beautiful princess."
Maggie chuckled.
[*]
The wedding was a small affair, Carol thought, but it was just right. Fully satisfied with the beautiful simplicity of the ceremony, she was not expecting to find chilled champagne and another collection of wildflowers in a vase in their apartment when they returned. Giddy from half a bottle of bubbly on semi-empty stomachs, they made love playfully. Daryl, in the afterglow, pulled her close and whispered, "My Carol, my bride."
The moon painted faint lines on the cool sheets that draped their warm bodies, and sleep overtook them almost simultaneously. Outside the school the light of the stars blazed down on the Kingdom, like a promise of peace.
THE END
