AN: So it's late here. That's what, four updates today?
I'm going to be a bad girl tomorrow and I'm going to be spending most of the day, probably, updating this fic because I'm still in my Sweet Junction mood. Sorry about that…LOL
I hope you enjoy!
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Daryl, Merle, and Tyreese were spending the day together with three trucks between them and the goal to visit three different towns to load three different pieces of furniture up. The only saving grace, really, was that Tyreese happened to have a nice utility trailer that he could pull behind his truck or no amount of magic and want to would have sufficed to get the dining room table and chairs that Carol had picked out back to her new house.
At first it had been a little odd for the three of them owing to their different personality types. Daryl and Tyreese were both eager to perform the actions and to do them as quickly as possible, but Merle, being Merle, wasn't thrilled with the idea and seemed to see it as some sort of conspiracy that the women had cooked up to prove that all three men were whipped in some manner. Daryl also assumed that it was a little odd for Merle to have to spend the day loading furniture with his boss.
The three different trucks, at least, meant that there was little interaction between the three men other than the actual time spent loading the items, and Daryl was thankful for that. As they left their final pick up location and drove in a line toward the house that was awaiting them, he thought that it was better that he didn't have to deal with Merle or any brotherly advice Merle might have for just such an occasion.
They'd all been at the little empty house this morning. Everyone had wandered around inside it, looking at it, praising it, and Carol had been so excited that it had almost been contagious. She acted like every single grain in every piece of wood was the most exciting thing ever. Daryl had been happy just to see her like that. After they'd spent a little time looking around, though, it was time to get to work. Tyreese had taken an extra key and they'd been sent off to get the furniture that Carol had been paying on since they picked it out some time back. The women were going to Carol's apartment to get everything all packed up there. At some point it would all come together.
The whole idea of Carol moving, though, was beginning to create a gnawing in Daryl's stomach that he couldn't begin to explain, not even if he'd tried to and he certainly wasn't going to try to explain it to anyone. Carol was so excited about it all. The house was a dream of hers, something very important to her, and Daryl wanted her to have it and to be happy, but he couldn't help but wonder if things were really going to change the way that Merle seemed to anticipate they would.
Carol hadn't made much of a big deal about the move. He noticed that when she talked about moving she used "we" and "us" a good bit. Tomorrow the furniture store was delivering the mattress for her bed, a mattress that she insisted Daryl go with her to pick out to make sure that he thought it was right for "them." It seemed, at least on the surface, that Carol intended for him to be spending a good deal of time with her at the house.
He worried, though, if once she got there, once she got settled in around whatever new neighbors might come, she might change like Merle suggested. She might begin to fit into the background around her. Daryl wasn't sure if he could fit there. Even the house made him a little uncomfortable.
The little house was so perfect. Right now it was brand new and nothing about it seemed less than pristine. He'd hardly even been in a place that clean and fresh before, less likely thought about spending the night in one before. It was an entirely different environment from the lifelong chain of run down trailers and shitty apartments that he'd found himself living in, and though he thought that a change like that would be a welcomed one, it was still a big change and it was a little troubling.
Daryl worried that no matter how much he might try, he might not fit in the house and he certainly wouldn't fit with other people who lived in the other little houses. The more he worried about it, the more he turned over and over in his mind what Merle had said. One thing at a time would change until she was tired of him and then it would be Daryl himself who got changed out for something new and better.
He tried to push it out of his mind as he drove back to unload the furniture. He tried to tell himself that Merle was just being Merle and that he was only reacting this way because change had a tendency to make him nervous, but he couldn't shake the thought entirely that Merle might be right.
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Carol hadn't expected to feel the way she felt at all. She had been super excited since she woke up, almost sailing through the day on a high. The men had brought the furniture and helped her arrange it, not that there was really much to be done with essentially three pieces of furniture in the whole house.
Michonne and Andrea had helped her pack the apartment and take everything to the house, and Michonne had taken her to buy a dresser and nightstand to go in the bedroom so she'd at least have some places to put a few things. They'd brought over everything that she'd gotten from the party that Michonne threw and they'd unpacked all of that as well.
The next day the movers would bring the new mattress that she'd bought and she would move into her house. It would be her first night in her little house…the first step toward making it a home…but that meant tonight was her last night in the little apartment. The place was empty of her things, nothing of hers remained except what was left for her to sleep in and shower in the morning, and the final things she'd take over for Lincoln when she went to the house the next day.
The little apartment would become Andrea and Merle's apartment. They were moving across the hall as soon as she, and hopefully Daryl though he didn't seem completely sure about things, were settled into the house. By tomorrow night everyone would be relocated. She knew she should be excited about everything that was happening, but oddly enough she felt a little sad.
There was something going on with Daryl too, something that she wasn't sure about. He had helped move things when asked all day, but he seemed somewhat distant. She'd asked him a time or two if he was OK or if he wanted to talk about anything, but he'd insisted that he was fine, and that there was nothing on his mind.
"Daryl," Carol said while they were lying in bed. "What do you think of the house?"
"I like it," Daryl said. There was no conviction in his voice, and Carol wasn't sure if it had something to do with the house or if it was simply because she'd asked him what he thought about a billion different things and he'd adopted that as his go to answer.
"Tonight's my last night here," Carol said.
"Sure is," Daryl said.
Carol wondered if she should tell Daryl that she was feeling sad, even though she couldn't explain it. The little apartment wasn't anything special, but it had been sort of special to her. It wasn't her house, but it had been the very first place that she'd been, all grown up and without Ed. It was the place where she lived while she got jobs and got on her feet. It was the place where she'd first been with Daryl, and the place that she'd first met Lincoln.
She knew that she was just being strangely sentimental, and that tomorrow Andrea and Merle would be moving in so it wasn't like she'd never come here again, but she could feel a chapter in her life closing…and as strange as it was to think it, it had been an important chapter, and for the most part, it had been a good chapter.
"Daryl," Carol said, getting his attention again, though she was sure that he was probably tired and wished she'd go to sleep.
"Yeah?" Daryl asked.
"Do you think…" she started. "I mean we don't have to if you don't want to, but do you maybe want to…"
She realized that she didn't know how to ask the question that she wanted to ask. She couldn't bring herself to ask it. She wanted to ask Daryl to have sex with her. Oddly enough it was that one last time thought that came to her mind. Except she didn't want to ask him to have sex with her. She wanted to ask him to make love to her, but she realized that love was something they hadn't discussed. It was something that she wondered if she felt, but she never let herself imagine if it was something that Daryl felt.
"Do I wanna what?" Daryl asked, finally, sucking her back into the reality of the moment.
"Nothing," Carol said.
"What?" Daryl asked.
Carol realized she just couldn't say it. She couldn't risk that it was too much for him at the moment and she couldn't risk running him out of her life right now. Not with all that she already felt that she was trying to understand at the moment. She couldn't scare him off with the words.
Carol rolled over, leaning over Daryl. She kissed him and returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her down against him. When she broke away, she moved, kissing his collarbone, licking it, and then she trailed down, nipping at his chest and licking his nipples. Daryl shuddered and she snickered at him. She heard his breathing speed up a little and he swallowed loud enough for her to hear it in the dark.
"That's what'cha wanted ta do?" He asked.
Carol didn't respond verbally. She went to the other side, nipping at his other nipple a little and slipping her hand down into the waistband of the worn boxers he was wearing, noticing that he was well on his way to being interested in what she was proposing. She wrapped her hand around him, stroking him for a moment to bring him to full attention.
Daryl reached down, running his hand down her arm and pulling her hand out of his shorts. Then he put his hand under her chin and leaned up a little, bringing his mouth to hers and reconnecting them in a kiss. He broke away long enough to take off his boxers and she pulled the t shirt she was wearing over her head and slipped out her panties, piling her clothes with his at the top of the bed so they could find them later before Lincoln decided to make a meal of anything there.
"I ain't never gonna tell ya no," Daryl said. He slipped one of his arms under her and she felt it pressing against her stomach as he pulled her on top of him. She helped him out with the gesture and raised herself up, straddling him and sliding down on top of him. His breath caught for a second and she leaned in, kissing him as she worked her hips. His hands went directly to her waist, attempting to help her in setting a rhythm that they both enjoyed and she broke the kiss, gasping and moaning.
Daryl leaned up a little, searching out her breast and sucking on her nipple, careful to maintain the rhythm they'd set as best he could. Carol couldn't stand the feeling any longer, and she ground into him, as hard as she could. He grunted at her and responded by thrusting up with the same force that she'd introduced. She gasped, a growl escaping her own throat. She responded, setting a new rhythm, one that was much more satisfying for her current mood.
When they finally came, it was almost at exactly the same time and Daryl wrapped his arms around her, dragging her down against him as he finished. She stayed there, panting, not minding being held tight to his body.
When they'd finally broken apart, Carol didn't offer to move off of him. She put her head on his chest, listening to his heart pounding.
"Daryl," she said.
"Gotta gimme a few minutes," Daryl said with a chuckle.
"No," she said, "isn't that."
She leaned up a little but it was too dark to see him well.
"What then?" He asked.
"You're spending the night with me tomorrow night, aren't you?" She asked.
Daryl sighed and pulled at her a little so she inched forward a bit, still not offering to slide off of him. He leaned up and kissed her, his tongue exploring her mouth. She rubbed hers against his, holding the kiss for longer than usual. When Daryl pulled away, his head fell back on the pillow.
"If ya want me ta stay with ya, I reckon I can stay with ya," Daryl said.
Carol smiled, but she knew that he couldn't see it. She inched down a bit and rested her head on his chest again, feeling his chin against the top of her head.
"I want you to stay with me," she said.
Daryl wrapped his arms around her again, this time not squeezing so much as simply holding her there.
"Ya gonna sleep right where ya is?" He asked.
Carol turned her head enough to kiss his chest and then she rested back the way she'd been.
"I was thinking about it," she said. "Am I hurting you?"
"Nah," he said. "Ya ain't botherin' me none."
Carol sighed and closed her eyes, accepting that they probably needed to sleep. There were things that had to be done the next day. She had to get settled into the house…get Lincoln settled in…and it wouldn't be very nice of her not to offer to help Andrea move their stuff across the hall.
As she drifted off to sleep, she was thankful that Daryl was letting her sleep there on top of him, and she was thankful that he'd agreed to spend the night with her at the new house. She hoped that he would like it, and that he would want to stay there, but at least he'd promised her a night if nothing else.
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The next day was an absolute flurry of activity. Carol and Daryl got up and hit the ground running. Carol made them instant coffee with what was left in the apartment and while she showered Daryl took Lincoln for his morning constitutional around the apartment building.
When he got back inside, and Carol was dressed, Daryl helped her gather up everything that was left and would need to go to the new house. They both carried the last of the things down to her truck and then Daryl brought Lincoln and loaded him into the cab.
Carol drove the truck to the house with Lincoln riding shotgun. Daryl followed behind her in his truck to help her unload before he went about doing everything that he needed to accomplish during the day. Hershel had given him two days off of work to get it all done, and he didn't want to have to ask the old man for more time because he hadn't gotten everything finished.
When they got out at the house, Carol couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement again. This was it. She was officially moving into her home. Daryl put Lincoln in the little fenced in yard to give the dog a chance to get to know his new stomping grounds while they carried in the last of the things from the apartment.
Carol looked around the house, her few belongings now in place, and couldn't even wrap her mind around the fact that it was all hers. It was her home, and it was just as wonderful as she'd imagined. She walked, room to room, as she'd done at least a dozen times the day before, simply taking it all in. Daryl stood somewhat awkwardly in the kitchen until finally she'd rushed at him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a kiss. She knew that he wasn't as excited about it as she was. It was her dream and her home, but she hoped that he would grow excited about it as they settled in.
"The furniture store should be sending the mattress any time," Carol said, hugging Daryl. "I need to be here when they come, but I'm going over after that to help Andrea."
"I told her that I'd move that old mattress out'cha apartment an' move my new one in there," Daryl said. "I reckon I oughta go help do that."
Carol let go of him and smiled at him.
"You go do that, Daryl," she said. "I'll see you when I get over there to help her with the little things. I'll come over as soon as the movers leave."
"Sounds good," Daryl said, turning and letting himself out of the house. Carol watched from the window as he got in his truck and left, backing out of the driveway. For just a moment, she let herself imagine that this is what it would feel like to watch him leave the house for work in the mornings. This is what could be normal for her.
Carol set about unpacking the few things that she had left to unpack. She only stopped when she heard Lincoln's distinct howling from the yard. She made her way through the house, then, and let the movers in with the mattresses. Once the bed was set up, she thanked them and let them out again, watching as they left and Lincoln made laps in the yard from end of the fence to the other howling at their vehicle as it rolled away.
Carol went back to the bedroom and unpacked the sheets and comforter that had been bought for the bedroom. It wasn't the nicest quality bed set that anyone could imagine, but she liked it and she thought it had a nice homey feel to it. She made the bed quickly, stuffing the new pillows into their cases last and arranging them. She thought the bed looked nice and inviting, and she thought that Daryl might like it.
Finally, she crossed the house and slipped into what would eventually be an extra bedroom, but was essentially just where she'd been keeping whatever hadn't been unpacked already, and she pulled one of the stair sets that Tyreese had given her into the bedroom and pushed it against the bottom of the bed. It was the perfect height to allow Lincoln to climb in and out of bed as he pleased and she hoped he would think it was as exciting as she did. Before she left for the apartment building, she moved the other stair set to the end of the couch so that it could easily allow him access there as well.
Carol arranged Lincoln's bed and put his food and water down in the corner of the kitchen before she called him into the house and let him explore his space. He ran around and around, his nose to the floor and she only got his attention by rattling the top of his cookie jar. At the sound he abandoned his exploration and bounded toward her in anticipation of his treat.
"Be good while I'm gone," Carol told him, offering him two bones instead of one. He packed them in his jaws like he normally did, preferring to eat his treats in private instead of at the instant when they were handed to him. "Keep the house safe and don't tear anything up. We'll be home in just a little bit."
She didn't know how much the dog was capable of understanding in reality, but she felt like he could understand her. When she stood up from scratching him behind the ears, she watched as he trotted off and smelled his bed for a moment before deciding it was still something he could lie on to eat his treats, even if everything around it was different.
Carol slipped out of the house then, locking the door and almost skipping down the walkway to crawl into her truck and head to the apartment building to help Andrea and Merle get situated.
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It took a lot less time to move Andrea and Merle into the apartment than Carol would have imagined. Merle had protested the move the entire time, complaining that it was unnecessary and that Andrea was getting too big for her britches and all the like, but Carol couldn't help but noticed that for all his complaining, he looked pleased.
They formed a human chain, essentially, to pass everything from one place to the other, and then Daryl and Merle disappeared under the pretext of going to pick up a few things that Andrea sent them after to allow Carol and Andrea to go about unpacking everything and actually making the place liveable.
"This apartment is so much nicer than ours was," Andrea said. "I mean it doesn't even smell." To demonstrate her statement, Andrea took a big breath of air. "Well," she said, "it does smell a little like Lincoln, but it'll do."
Carol smelled the air. It just smelled like her apartment.
"It doesn't," she said. "Lincoln doesn't smell." She protested as an afterthought. She helped Andrea to put clean sheets on the bed in what used to be her room and what would now be Andrea and Merle's bedroom.
"Lincoln does smell," Andrea said.
"He's clean!" Carol protested.
Andrea chuckled.
"Even when you bathe him he still smells. You just have some sort of doggy mother nose and can't seem to pick up on that distinct hound dog odor," Andrea said.
Carol rolled her eyes.
"Geez, even the bed in here is nicer than ours, and I don't just mean that it's going to be nice to sleep on a mattress that isn't older than I am," Andrea said.
Carol smiled.
"I hate to feel like I'm giving you my hand me downs, but I'm glad that you've got the apartment now and that you like it," Carol said.
"And how about you and that fancy house?" Andrea teased. "It's beautiful and I can't wait to see what it looks like when you get to really fix it up."
"A little at a time, right?" Carol said.
"That's it…just like life, a little at a time," Andrea said.
They finished in the bedroom and Andrea sat on the bed a minute, looking around.
"Do you think we need to make up Daryl's bed?" Andrea asked.
They'd moved all of Daryl's things into the extra room that would theoretically be his, but Carol really hoped that it wouldn't stay that way. She hoped that he'd stay at her house, having already brought over for him the little "getaway" bag that Andrea had packed for him, and that he'd like it so much that slowly he would start to bring his things there and move in without even really realizing what he was doing.
"It's probably a good idea," Carol said. "I mean just so it's there."
Andrea nodded her head a little.
"Yeah, so it doesn't look like we're just throwing him out or something, right?" She asked.
"Right," Carol replied.
They went into the little room that Carol hadn't actually been in since they cleaned the apartment the first day that she'd moved in. Andrea brought out some of the sheets that they had and they began making up the bed so that Daryl would have a welcoming place to sleep if he did decide to stay there.
"He's staying with you, though, right?" Andrea asked.
"Tonight he is," Carol said. "He hasn't exactly said anything about staying for good, but I'm hoping that it'll just sort of happened…like it happened here."
"It probably will," Andrea said. "He didn't need a lot of urging to up and stay here."
They finished making the bed in silence and then made their way into the living room to sit on the couch and wait for the boys to get back. Andrea sighed once they were sitting there.
"You know, it's going to be kind of strange living here," she said.
"You think so?" Carol asked.
Andrea chuckled.
"Yeah, I mean this is 'Carol's apartment,'" Andrea said, looking around.
"But soon it'll be Merle and Andrea's apartment," Carol said, even though she agreed that the whole changing locations would be an adjustment for all of them.
"I know…just like your house will really feel like your house when I go there and not just seem like some strange new house that you're going to stay in," Andrea said. "Still, it's an adjustment."
Carol nodded.
"It's that for everyone," she agreed.
"I'm going to miss you being across the hall," Andrea said.
Carol looked at her and realized that Andrea was sincere. She also, for a moment, looked a little heartbroken. Carol smiled.
"Hey! I'm moving just across town, not to Mars," Carol said. She could feel a tightening in her chest, though, just from looking at Andrea's face and it dawned on her how much she was going to miss it too. She hadn't realized how much she'd gotten used to having them just across the hall. Even the smallest things, like running over there just to tell Andrea something, were things that she was probably going to miss at some point. "Look at it this way," Carol said. "My phone gets hooked up tomorrow and you're keeping the line here. We can call each other even when we're too lazy to drive."
Andrea nodded. She still looked sad and Carol wondered for a moment if she was going to cry. She hoped not, because she had the distinct feeling that if Andrea cried she would too, and Daryl and Merle would never be able to wrap their minds around that if they came home in the middle of it.
"I know," Andrea said, picking at the sheet that Carol had left to cover the gross couch that hid below it. "It's just…I don't know…I never had that best friend, you know? I never had that growing up…and I guess it just felt like having you across the hall…it was like having that friend I didn't have before."
Carol realized then that whether or not Andrea cried she was going to do the honors of starting it. She choked back a sob and wrapped her arms around Andrea, pulling her to her.
"Hey," she said, "I can be your best friend just fine in the house. It's really not going to make things that much different, OK? And you need to get away from Merle, you can come any time. I might not have a lot of furniture, but I've got more than enough for a well needed girls' night."
She didn't let go of Andrea and she heard when Andrea chuckled at her and the chuckle broke. Andrea wrapped her arms around her, hugging her hard.
"I feel so stupid!" Andrea said. "I know it's not a big deal, but it just feels like it is."
Carol finally pulled away and wiped at her face while Andrea did the same.
"It's not stupid," Carol said. "It's a change, even if it isn't a very big one. You're allowed to feel however you want."
Andrea smiled then.
"We better get control of this," she said. "Merle can't handle the whole emotional thing."
Carol smiled, wiping her face again.
"I don't want Daryl to see it either," she said. "He's weird enough right now about the move that he doesn't need the emotion on top of it."
"Come on," Andrea said. "Let's make some sandwiches for lunch. Then we can kill two birds with one stone. We'll have something to feed them when they get back and it'll take our minds off all this moving mess."
Carol smiled.
"Sounds like a good idea," she said, getting up and helping Andrea.
She knew that soon the men would be back. They'd eat lunch together and probably hang out for a little bit, and then eventually she and Daryl would drive back to the house with the excuse that poor Lincoln, no matter how good he wanted to be, could only hold it so long. Then they'd leave, closing the book on this chapter of Carol's life…and apparently on a chapter of Andrea's. She didn't know, really, if the men felt about things the way that they did.
Tonight, though, she'd be sleeping in her new bed in her new home, and she'd be opening a new chapter…one that she hoped she could share with Daryl, as well as with the people that were becoming dearer and dearer to her every day.
She smiled to herself at the thought. One step at a time she was slowly living her dream, and even though the change was a little sad, she had to admit that the future prospects were pretty exciting.
