This chapter covers two weeks. I could really spend a ton of chapters writing everyday domestic sweetness, but I don't want to bore you guys. Please let me me know what you think!
Two weeks passed after Amber's first therapy appointment fairly quickly and (relatively) drama free. She and Daryl tried to focus on each other and that 'normal boring shit' that they both craved. They used the time to find out more about each other and do things they didn't have time for before because they were too busy with sex. Amber found out, to her surprise, that Daryl was a bit of a neat freak in his own way, and that her massive collection of shoes unnerved him. She lost track of how many times he muttered 'how many fuckin shoes can a person need?'. She didn't tell him that the biggest part of her collection had been put into storage when she came home after she separated from Dante. Daryl found out Amber had a thing for internet shopping, even if she wasn't spending money, just browsing, and that she would become so engrossed he would have to close her laptop to get her attention. She also considered the kitchen her personal domain and took it personally if he tried to start a meal without her input.
Amber threw herself into her cooking, especially since she could navigate the kitchen better now on the crutches. Daryl still hovered but she ignored him, or put him to work cutting something. He didn't fight it, enjoying the majority of the results himself. He put on a little weight and it hit him in all the right places. Amber found herself noticing how his pants fit his ass better now and how his shoulders seemed almost wider. My god, if they did that much more, the man wouldn't be able to fit through the doorway without turning sideways. But the weight gain wasn't all of it. He carried himself a little different now, at least when at the trailer. Daryl was becoming the man of the home, or at least a man WITH a home. Amber didn't really see him really sink into himself the way he used to, at least not as much and it made her proud.
Daryl would drink a gallon of sweet tea a day if Amber would make it, in fact preferring it to his precious beer. She learned that she could use it as a gauge of his mood. The earlier he swapped over to the alcohol, the more 'stir crazy' and 'wood sick' (as she started calling it, as opposed to home sick) he was becoming. Both the times he cracked a bottle before supper, she sent him into the woods the next day when she had visitors. She used the excuse that she wanted game for supper but he wasn't stupid. He knew she was doing it for his own good though and loved her for it. He had his own secret. Amber greatly overestimated the time it took an experienced bow hunter to take down small game on a virgin acreage like that one. He would take enough for their evening meal just on his walk to and from the old homestead. Daryl would sit in the kitchen or living room of the old house, just thinking. He wouldn't even call it 'planning' in his own head, because planning meant you were going to do something, not just thinking about doing it, what it would take and how long. Once he did take a piece of scratch paper and the stub of a pencil, and sketched out a simple floor plan, estimating how much materials he would need for the interior skeleton of the structure. Then he figured up the cost, and it was frustratingly high, even with him using the prices he remembered from the last time he worked construction almost a year before and depending on the possibility of reclaiming nearly all of the interior floors, paneling, and cabinetry from the homestead. Daryl nearly balled up the paper and threw it against the kitchen wall but he hesitated, folded it crisply and put it in his back pocket. Maybe one day.
A couple of times Amber got stir crazy herself and begged Daryl to take her to the clubhouse until he relented. It felt good to just get dressed up and do her hair and make up. Plus she could go through the door under her own steam now, with her crutches and a scowling prospect behind her. Daryl still wasn't a huge fan of the things, but he went along with it, remembering what Jason said. They only stayed a couple hours each time, drinking at the bar and maybe hanging out with Kaye, Debra, and some prospects and members he and Merle had hit it off with. It was well worth the effort of getting in the door for Amber to get to see him make friends in that world. He was quickly becoming a Demon, despite how he still felt about the president. Barry wasn't much higher on his daughter's list at the moment either. She still hadn't talked to him since the night he tried to hit her. Barry found ways to be busy elsewhere besides the mainroom when they were there.
One night Maggie came over to spend time with Amber, while Glenn went back up north for the weekend to see his family. They had planned out an evening of girly activities. Amber convinced Daryl to go to the clubhouse with Merle for a bit, for some guy time. He still grumbled when he left her though. It happened that 'guy night' would turn out particularly bad.
The Dixon's headed straight to the bar as soon as they got there, Daryl missing Amber and Merle missing being at Jake's watching Beth. Within a half hour, skank twin #1 (the same one that earned Norm some time in the counselors office) decided that Daryl was free for the taking, since he didn't have a certain green eyed brunette on his arm that night. He gave her two warnings, the first a dirty look as he jerked his arm away, the second a rather loud "AINT INTERESTED, SKANK!". Merle just grinned at his beer, having dealt with her a week before. A third warning wasn't needed. Before she could touch him again he saw her jerked away by her hair behind him. Merle was already laughing as Daryl whirled around on his barstool to see what the commotion was. Debra and Kaye had skank twin on the floor, beating the shit out of her. All the other Demon's just looked on, not daring to grab the officers wives. The Dixon's, despite being prospects, were the only ones who could break it up.
Daryl took a drink of his beer, and looked at the fray, asking Merle "Reckon we outta stop'em?"
Merle nodded slowly. "Yeah. I guess." Neither made a move to get up.
"I'm finishin my beer first though." the younger brother said with a smirk.
"Yep. Me too."
That lasted all of thirty seconds, until Daryl saw Debra bring her boot up to reach for something in the side of it. He figured the mother was the same as the daughter so he quickly jumped up and grabbed Debra around the waist, telling her to put the blade up. Merle took that as his cue and got Kaye up off the floor where she was beating a bleached blond head into the oak flooring. Barry and Norm came in from the firing range at that moment, to find their 'angels' turned into a couple of snarling she wolves being restrained by the Dixons and a bleeding semiconscious whore below them. Debra was yelling that she was going to gut her if she came near ANY of the men in her family again (it wasn't lost on Daryl that she had included him) and Kaye told her she was going to do her a favor and pull that horrible hair out of her head if she touched Norm or "baby girl's old man" again. The president and sergeant at arms did what any smart husbands would do. They sided with their wives and had Tyreese eject the battered blonde out the door, with a warning to never return. Daryl and Merle released the women as soon as she was out. Debra whirled around and hissed at Daryl. "You better be glad I saw you turn her down, prospect. Or it would have been you I had down in the floor." Daryl just nodded. The woman had just called him a member of her family, and he agreed with her. If he ever even thought about cheating on Amber, he needed his skull beat in. Kaye just gave Merle a haughty look and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she walked over to Norm. She grabbed his hand and drug him back to one of the side rooms. He didn't resist, like I said, he had become a much smarter husband lately. Daryl and Merle had had enough so they decided to call it a night.
Amber knew about it before Daryl got home, her mother having texted her. She just waited until Maggie left, a few minutes after he came in, and looked at him expectantly. Daryl wouldn't look at her, just lighting a smoke and kicking off his boots to flop down on the couch and lay with his head in her lap. Amber ran her hand through his hair.
"Anything you want to tell me, prospect?"
Daryl shrugged. "I think I'm gonna take my ink just so y'all can shut up callin me that." Amber saw the curl at the corner of his lip.
Amber frowned down at him. "You think you're funny?"
"And you think your smart. I figured yore mama called ya, or Kaye one."
"Anything you want to add?"
"Nope."
Amber went to push him off her lap and Daryl stayed put, snorting with laughter as her hands dug into his shoulder and side. "FUCK GIRL! I'm just messin with ya! Ya mama tell ya I told that whore I wasn't interested?"
Amber stopped pushing at him. "Yes, I just wanted to hear it from you." she pouted.
Daryl pushed up so that there faces were only inches apart. "I done told ya that last week when she tried that shit with Merle. Ain't but one bitch I want on the back of my bike, ever." he stopped, obviously thinking that was enough. Amber just looked at him with her eyebrow raised and Daryl sighed and shook his head.
"Good lord. You, smart ass, I only ever want you on the back of my bike. With ya black hair, green eyes, an' ass and titties that go on forever and the way ya smell. Ya happy now?"
Amber smiled. "Yes, yes I am. And remember that or I'll make a necklace out of your nuts."
"Don't I know it." Daryl muttered just before leaning up on one arm, supported by his hand on the couch next to Amber's thigh. He kissed her harder than he had been, the excitement of the evening and her playfulness reminding him of how things were before. Amber matched him, having become frustrated with how easygoing he had been in that department. She appreciated what he was doing, but doubts about whether he still wanted her had begun to creep in. The kiss became heated, Amber biting Daryl's lower lip, making him groan. His free hand had slipped into her hair, using it to tilt her head so he could take advantage of the angle. He hadn't truly taken her mouth until now and her taste was making him forget the limits he had set for himself.
Her hands went to the hem of his shirt and lifted, Daryl broke the kiss just long enough to jerk his shirt over his head, the vest being removed as soon as he came in. He was shirtless with her all the time, wasn't anything wrong taking it off now, Daryl told himself. Amber's hands played over his chest and he pressed into them, moaning when her palms brushed over his nipples. He knew if he wasn't careful, he was going to come in his pants on that couch for a second time.
Daryl pulled back from the kiss and began to make his way down her jaw, kissing and tasting her, moving down her neck as Amber sighed under him, tugging on the back of his hair that way that made him crazy, letting him know she was enjoying what he was doing to her. Then he felt one of her hands start sliding up the inner thigh of his jeans and his own hand shot out, his fingers encircling her wrist to stop her a split second before she made contact with the member that was almost painfully straining against his zipper.
"Uhuh, girl. Don't ya dare." he warned, swallowing, his face still buried in her neck.
"Daryl,..."
"I said no. Ya cain't do nothin anyway."
Amber looked at him pleadingly. "No, I can't have SEX. Doesn't mean we can't do ANYTHING. You telling me you haven't had to rub one out since we been home?"
Daryl shook his head firmly, despite his body pleading otherwise. "THAT DON'T MATTER." He could feel the tell tale blush creep up his cheeks and mentally cursed it. "We gonna wait ta do anything till tha doctor says ya can. An even then we gonna take it real slow."
"I'm fine. I want to. My god Daryl, it's just a hand job..."
Daryl closed his eyes, precariously close to agreeing to it. But then he remembered what she looked like the early morning before, waking up screaming, and his resolve strengthened. Even though she had one full night of sleep after the clubhouse a week before, she had woken up at least once the nights afterward, better than before but still bad.
He took the hand that was in his and brought it to his lips to kiss her finger tips and lay it over his heart. His body was screaming and pleading with him for her hand to be in the front of his pants but Daryl didn't listen. "No, a'ight? Please, girl. Ya might be alright with it now, but once we got started, or even finished ya might not be. An' I can't take that. Ya worth more ta me than jus' gettin off."
Amber sagged against him frowning, and he released her hand to tilt her chin up. "I love ya. I promise, we gonna get there."
Amber nodded, "I love you too. My doctors appointment is tomorrow." she said hopefully.
"And ya know it ain't been but a month. They ain't gonna give ya the go ahead for nothin. Now c'mon, let's go ta bed. We got a lot ta do tomorrow. I got to see the doctor about my arm after you get out. You walkin or am I totin ya?"
Amber smirked. "Walking. You can't screw your arm up the night before you see the doctor."
Daryl nodded and kissed her quickly before pushing up off her lap to grab her crutches. He handed them to her and she pushed up slowly. Daryl let her lead the way to the bedroom as he willed his cock back down. There would be no shower tonight, it was clear she was on to him.
