Chapter 7

"You live in Michigan, and you never went campin' in your whole life?" Daryl asked, eyes wide and jaw slightly open as he stared at her from across the couch. Carol was sitting, facing him with her legs tucked under her. They'd finished off the whole pizza nearly two hours ago and hadn't even realized how late it was getting until Daryl had to get up to turn on a light. It was nearly supper time, but they were having such a good time the hours had flown by.

"Never. My dad's a preacher. He spent his weekends working on sermons. I was an only child, so I spent most of my weekends playing by myself or with one of the neighbor kids."

"That sucks," Daryl groaned. "Every kid should get to go campin' at least once."

"So you'll take our kid camping?" Carol asked with a little smile.

"'Course I will. I'll teach him everything I know about huntin' and fishin'. I'll also teach him about cars."

"What if it's a girl?" Carol asked, raising an eyebrow as she took a sip of her water.

"Every girl oughta know how to take care of herself. She also ought to know how to fix a car. Shouldn't have to depend on no guy to do that." There was a protective tone to Daryl's voice that made Carol feel warm and at ease.

"Would you take me camping?" A little grin pulled at her lips, making Daryl smile.

"I'll take you camping anytime. We could go right now if you didn't have to go to Michigan," Daryl said with a shrug. "Once the baby's born, we'll go whenever you want. After the first time, you'll be beggin' to do it again." He blushed at his own words, and Carol let out a little giggle.

"Now, that, as I recall, is very true." The red in Daryl's cheeks brightened. Carol's own face flushed, and she cleared her throat. She knew how it sounded, and just over a year ago, she would've been so embarrassed. Now, she found that while she was still a little shy, she loved getting a rise out of him. Making him blush almost felt like an accomplishment. The quiet, naïve preacher's daughter had grown up quite a bit since starting college. And she quite liked the way he was looking at her. She distinctly remembered her father warning her about men when she'd moved away. If only he'd warned her about assholes like Ed Peletier. "I was pretty sheltered as a kid."

"I wasn't. Hell, I probably learned way too young about a lot of things, but I guess that's what happens when you gotta grow up fast. My brother was always tryin' to get me to be like him with girls. But I watched him and my uncle and how they treated women, and I didn't wanna be like that." He looked at her. "My ex was the first girl I ever did anything with."

"The one that broke up with you after high school?" He looked up at her for a moment, a glimmer of surprise in his eyes at the fact that she remembered what he'd told her that night.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I guess I was so worried about not bein' like my brother that I tried too hard to be a good boyfriend. I dunno. I texted her all the time. Called her. She said it was sweet, but I started gettin' the idea she didn't like me always comin' around. 'Course, we did a lot of stuff that summer before senior year, and I didn't know what the hell I was doin'. But she seemed happy, and I wanted her to be happy. Was plannin' on proposin' that summer after graduation. Guess I dodged a bullet."

"I'm sorry, Daryl. You must have really loved her."

"I thought I did. 'Course, I didn't really have nothin' to compare it to. Just thought it was what I was supposed to do."

"What was her name?" Carol asked quietly. Daryl huffed out a sigh and ran his hand over his face.

"Lyla."

"She was pretty?"

"Yeah. She was. Used to think she was the prettiest girl I ever seen. But, that girl came along later."

"Oh?" Carol asked with a little smile.

"Yeah. Can still see them beautiful blue eyes and the way her nose crinkles up when she smiles," Daryl said with a blush. Carol blushed deeper as the grin spread across her face and her nose crinkled. "Still the prettiest thing I ever saw."

"Oh, stop," she laughed. "You're just saying that because you knocked me up." She winked at him to let him know she was teasing. Still, his lip quirked into a smile.

"M'sayin' that 'cause it's the truth," he insisted. Carol sighed and shook her head.

"You might not feel that way a year from now. Ten years from now. Everything happened so fast. We weren't thinking, and now…well, now we're having a kid together." Daryl shook his head. Daryl's gaze dropped for a moment before he looked back up at her.

"Just 'cause things happened fast don't mean this ain't somethin' worth holdin' onto." He scooted a little closer to her, his foot nudging her knee.

"You might find someone you really like, and…"

"I ain't lookin' for nobody," Daryl huffed out. Carol sighed and leaned her head back a little.

"Neither was I, but then there you were." Daryl reached out, tugging on the toe of Carol's sock. She smiled at the little gesture before he curled his fingers around her ankle. "I almost didn't meet you. It took a lot of convincing on Michonne's part. I didn't date before my ex. I stayed in, I didn't hang out with friends. My parents were strict and pretty much over-bearing. It didn't stop me from making out with my prom date before dad picked me up for the night." Daryl smirked at that. "I thought I was missing out on something, and I was so mad at my parents. Mom kept introducing me to boys from my dad's church, but then if one of them wanted to ask me out, I wasn't allowed to go, unless it was a chaperoned dinner and movie at my house. Of course, when I moved out here, they couldn't do much about it. I met Ed, and I just went a little wild. Ed would take me to parties, and I thought this was what I'd been missing out on, you know? Ed kind of tapped into that sheltered girl and helped her see what she'd been missing. I was crazy about him, you know? And I had this idea in my head of how things would be. I had this rose-colored dream in my head of us graduating college, getting great jobs, getting married and starting a family. Then, I found out he cheated on me."

"Shit. M'sorry."

"I tell people I broke up with him. I guess it sounds better than being the girl who got cheated on. Worse than that, he didn't even try to defend himself. He just said he met her and fell in love. And that was that. I mean, I told him it was over, but it was over for him the second he met her. I guess he just wanted to play it out a little longer. I mean, he came all the way out to Michigan to see me after he met her. He carried on like nothing had happened, and then I came back to L.A. to find him with her." She shook her head. "I should have known."

"Known what? That your boyfriend was gonna cheat on ya the first chance he got? Don't do that to yourself. He's the asshole."

"Yeah. And of course it had to be him. He had to be the first."

"First what?" Daryl asked. Carol looked up at him, one eyebrow raising. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"I'm better off. I know. I'm just mad at myself for wasting my time with him. I'm mad at myself for letting that breakup mess with me like that. He wasn't worth it. I see that now." She smiled a little. "Meeting you was…unexpected. That whole night was unexpected." She swallowed hard. "With you, I felt something I never felt before, and I didn't really know what to do with that. And I think part of me thought that after that night, everything would get better." Daryl gave her ankle a squeeze, and Carol looked down. "I'm pretty embarrassed to admit that I was miserable after that night." Daryl's face fell. "I was mad at myself, because I wasn't planning for you to get to me like that. You were leaving the next day, and it was…"

"A rebound thing?"

"No! Well, sort of. Not like that." She sighed heavily. "This is coming out wrong. I'm sorry." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I missed you when you left. And I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to freak you out. I didn't know what to do. I felt like I…like I lost something. And in a lot of ways, I felt worse than I did after Ed. I mean…I don't know. I just—"

"I missed you, too," Daryl admitted. "Don't know how many times I almost walked outta that airport terminal. But, I didn't wanna freak you out, either. Didn't want ya to feel crowded. Guess I thought I made that mistake with Lyla. Didn't wanna fuck things up in case we saw each other again next time I visited." He shrugged. "But I guess we're past that now, huh?"

"Maybe a little," she laughed. "So I'm not crazy?"

"Maybe we both are," he grinned. Carol's eyes lit up, and she let out a little laugh. Her nose scrunched up with her laugh, and Daryl leaned forward, gently sliding his hand against her cheek and then back into her curly hair. Carol closed her eyes when he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. She sighed softly when his fingers slid down her neck and sent a shiver down her spine. The kiss was brief but sweet, and when he pulled back, lips pink from his efforts, Carol took his hand in hers.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked softly.

"C'mere," he murmured, tugging at her hand. She squealed when he pulled her into his lap. His arms came around her waist, and she straddled his hips with her knees, grinning down at him, trembling and giddy from the rush. She traced her fingertips along his jawline and leaned down to kiss him again. Her hands trailed over his broad shoulders and up his neck, burying into his hair as his hands gripped her hips firmly for dear life. When she pulled back, she quirked an eyebrow and bit her bottom lip.

"Well," she breathed, shivering as he started tugging at the hem of her T-shirt. "That was a good start, Daryl. Now what?"

...

His fingers danced along the curve of her hip, and she smiled sleepily at him and snuggled closer.

"We're in trouble," she whispered. He answered her by kissing her nose and then her forehead. "I don't know how to do this."

"Me neither." He swallowed hard, and Carol gently pushed his hair out of his eyes. "I'm willin' to learn if you are." She buried her face against his neck, breathing deeply. His fingers curled into her hair, and she pressed soft kisses to the warm, damp flesh under his chin. "Hey." She pulled back a little to look at him. "M'crazy about you." Carol kissed him again, and she giggled when his hand slipped down her lower back and over her ass.

"Me too," she whispered against his lips. It was a powerful feeling, being in his arms. She felt safe and happy and like nothing bad could ever touch her. She'd been hurt, and so had he, but somehow when they were together, that stuff seemed so inconsequential. Considering she'd been burying her feelings in the pages of her text books since Ed found someone else and cheated on her, she was surprised at how easily it was to just be with him. He made her feel good. He made her feel wanted. He made her feel like everything happened to get them to this moment. While an unplanned pregnancy was never something she'd counted on, being with him in that moment put her mind at ease. There was no telling what would happen tomorrow or next week or in seven months, but he was offering her the chance to build something with him. And damn it, she wanted it.

"You still here?" he asked, studying her face as her thoughts drifted. She smiled a little when his hand cupped her cheek.

"I'm here," she murmured. Daryl kissed her again. She smiled against his lips, and when he pulled back, he chuckled.

"Gotta make the most of the time I got with ya. Ain't lookin' forward to watchin' you leave when you go to Michigan." Carol's face paled.

"God. My parents," she groaned. Her heart thundered in her chest. "I don't know how to tell them." She sat up, tugging the sheet up over her breasts. Daryl sat up next to her, pushing the mop of hair out of his face and watching as the panic set in. He reached for her hand, and she was trembling.

"Hey, it's ok. You gotta breathe."

"I can't," she choked out. "What the fuck am I supposed to say?"

"They're your parents. You've known 'em all your life. You know how to talk to 'em."

"You don't understand. You don't know my parents. My dad will…God, I'll be lucky if he doesn't disown me."

"Hey," Daryl said quietly, squeezing her hand. "Your folks love you. You're their daughter. If they can't look past this, that's on them." Carol swallowed hard, and she nodded her head. "Hey. We're gonna be ok. You ain't alone." Carol's gaze met his, and she sighed softly, running her fingertips over his knuckles. "You ain't alone."

"You say that, but…"

"Hey," Daryl said quietly. "I know we're just gettin' to know each other, but I'm gonna show you I mean what I say, alright?" Carol took a deep breath, and Daryl squeezed her hand. "I'd go with you if I could."

"You would?" she asked with a little laugh.

"'Course I would. We're both in this, right?" He froze for a second. "I could go with you."

"Daryl, you don't have to do that."

"I know I don't, but I should. It's my baby, too. You shouldn't have to do it alone." Carol let out a shaky breath, and Daryl gently chucked her chin. She gave him a teary smile, and he leaned in to kiss her. When he pulled back, she met his gaze again. "Besides, they're gonna have to meet me sometime, right? Why not now?" Carol sat up a little straighter and looked him right in the eye.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" she asked with a nervous little laugh.

"You're havin' my baby. We both made a choice that night, and now we're havin' a baby. That ain't all on you. You shouldn't have to do this alone." He cleared his throat, and Carol gently put her hand on his knee. "Besides, I wanna be there. I wanna be with you. I wanna try to make this work somehow. Maybe it won't be easy, but I think it'd be worth it. If you want that, too, I mean." Carol let out a shaking breath and a little chuckle, and the flush in Daryl's face grew a little deeper. "I know it's a lot. Hell, it's probably too much."

"No," she sniffled. "I don't know what to say." Everything felt like it was moving at warp speed. Every piece of her felt like she'd woken up in some kind of fever dream. She'd had so much self-doubt for so long after Ed. Things had gone so fast so quickly, and she wondered if she wasn't being impulsive. She was in his bed. She was feeling things she swore she didn't want to feel again when she'd cried into her pillow over Ed. But the thing was, these feelings were bigger, stronger and more intense than she'd ever experienced in her whole life. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was the things he was saying. Maybe it was the fact that everything she'd expected had turned upside down from the moment she'd moved away for school.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm pretty sure I said too much," he chuckled. "Don't wanna scare you."

"It's a little scary," she admitted. "But it feels good." A blush filled her cheeks. "How can we make this work? I want to make it work, Daryl." Daryl's face lit up, and he pulled Carol back into his arms.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him. "We're having a baby. We want to be together. Don't we owe it to ourselves to give it a try?" The smile on his lips said everything, and when he pulled her back down against the mattress, everything faded away.