AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
Just to let everyone know, I'm back to work, so I'll be updating when I can.
I also want to give a disclaimer that I'm not all that observant when it comes to scenery on television. That means that places are largely "designed" in my imagination and may not match anything you've seen on your screen. I'm putting this out here for those who are sticklers about things being just like they appear on the show. I'm begging suspension of disbelief as to the layout and design of things. Please and thank you!
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
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They all assigned themselves to different tasks and duties. Their new friends from Woodbury wanted to get started, and it was important to jump right in and make it feel like they were all working together. They didn't want to create an "us" and "them" situation, rather, they wanted the two groups to be able to blend. The first step toward making that blending possible was to let everyone start getting to know each other, to start discussing their interests, and to start showing off their talents.
Whether or not it was one of his talents, Daryl had a particular interest in the solar panels. Woodbury had a great deal of panels in storage and they knew where to get others—at least that's what Daryl's group had been told. They would start with what they'd brought on a trailer and, when they started to require more, they would be going on a run to acquire the necessary items.
Daryl wanted to learn how to install the panels. He wanted to learn everything about them. They interested him more than any other project that they intended to take on at the prison. His intention had been to immediately join the group that was working on them, but he'd gotten side-tracked when Hershel had asked for his help getting things going with those who were coming in to learn about their livestock practices.
Daryl was late getting to the solar panels, but he hoped that "better late than never" applied in this situation, and he hoped he could still catch up on everything he'd missed. Half a day, after all, couldn't possibly be that much time.
Daryl double timed his steps up the prison yard and stopped only long enough to take a piss behind the guard tower in order to save himself the effort of heading for their outhouses. When he was done, he washed his face and hands with some of the soapy wash water that was waiting out there for any worker that passed by and needed to rinse off a crust of dirt. As he rounded the corner of the guard tower, the group came into view that was responsible for preparing the prison for the solar panels and, later, for installing them. He seemed to have caught them on a bit of a break. They stood around talking with each other in pairs or small clusters of three.
Daryl's eyes were immediately drawn to Carol, like they were in almost any circumstance, and he noticed her talking with one of the men that he'd met before. The man's name, if Daryl remembered correctly, was Tyreese or Tyronne or something of the sort. He was one of the people who had stepped into an important role in the current leadership committee of Woodbury.
At the moment, he was drinking from one of the cups that was nearly bucket-sized. The cups that Carol carried around when she was taking water to everyone while they worked. Somewhere, nearby, if Daryl scanned for them, he'd find the rest of Carol's "crew" for the day. They'd likely be delivering clean water, as well, in the large cups and in five-gallon buckets.
The man was talking to Carol as he leisurely took his time drinking the water. Daryl stopped where he was and leaned against the side of the guard tower. The man wasn't just taking his time drinking water—which he was certainly allowed to do, and drinking too fast when you'd worked up a good sweat could be a bad idea anyway—and he wasn't just talking to Carol which, of course, was also allowed. He was smiling at Carol. And, immediately, Daryl knew that smile. His gut knew that smile.
And whatever he was saying must have amused Carol at least a little because the smile she was wearing didn't look as plastered on as it did when she was simply humoring someone.
Daryl couldn't quite believe it.
The man had been at the prison half a day and he was flirting with Carol. He'd been at the prison half a day and he was already putting the moves on Daryl's wife.
Of course, in all fairness, Daryl could admit that he might not realize that Carol was Daryl's wife, but it didn't make him feel any less incredulous at the moment.
Daryl wished he'd brought Sophia with him instead of leaving her down at the animal pens—where, arguably, she was happiest to be—so that he could walk over and have a reason to approach Carol and make a scene of their relationship. There was no better reason to introduce the fact that he was married to Carol than to bring their daughter and make the trade off to leave Sophia with her mother. It would be the perfect opportunity to mention that they were happily married and they had a family—and this guy had easily picked the wrong tree to bark up.
As it was, it would be obvious what he was doing if Daryl were to simply stroll over there, drop an arm around Carol's shoulder, and extend a hand to the man to introduce himself as Carol's husband.
Before Daryl could make a decision on how he wanted to approach things—or if he wanted to take a walk and try to figure out a better way to approach things—he saw Carol put her hand to her forehead and look around the prison yard. There were pockets of people busy with tasks all over and, without a doubt, she was searching for someone. Daryl stepped backward and ducked into the shadow of the guard tower until she'd finished her scan.
Maybe, even, it was him that she was looking for. Maybe she wanted to introduce him to the new person she was engaging in conversation. Maybe she was telling him, right then and there, that she was happily married to a man who could probably figure out the solar panels on his own if he had to.
Daryl saw when the man made his move. He saw him reach his hand out and catch the upper part of Carol's arm for an affectionate squeeze. He was smiling too damn much for any conversation that he needed to have with someone he'd just met.
He asked her something. Daryl saw the expression cross her face. She moved back, just a little. She smiled, but it was different than the smile from before.
Daryl smiled, too, when he saw her run her hand over the front of her shirt, pushing it down to show off the barely-mentionable baby bump that she enjoyed mentioning with great frequency—the baby bump that Daryl encouraged her to talk about as much as she liked.
"That's right," Daryl said, smiling to himself when he saw the man's expression change. His smile, too, wasn't what it had been before. The pat he gave her on the shoulder wasn't the same as the squeeze from mere seconds before. "Yep—she's married, asshole," Daryl muttered to himself as he helped himself to a cigarette.
He waited another moment and watched the interaction just a little more from his practically covered spot. Carol continued to talk to the man. After all, she'd never really intended to do more than to talk to him. But he looked sorely disappointed and he was having a hell of a time hiding it.
The ratio of women to men in Woodbury was nowhere near even, and the women grossly outnumbered the women. The man had no need to come shopping for a woman at the prison. In fact, the number of people who lived at the prison was a great deal lower than the number of people who lived in Woodbury, and most of the women at the prison were already involved in a relationship.
There really wasn't much of a dating pool at the prison, and Carol certainly wasn't one of the available women for someone who was, perhaps, looking for a woman that they hadn't seen before.
Besides, Carol was married. Newly married and happily married.
Daryl stayed, smoking his cigarette, long enough that he could be sure that his arrival to where Carol and the man stood talking wouldn't coincide too closely to the man's disappointment, and then he strolled over to where they were. He wasn't sure, exactly, how to approach them and he feared that he would, without intention, make things awkward or give away the fact that he'd seen practically their whole interaction.
Thankfully, though, he didn't have to figure out how he wanted to approach Carol. She saw him coming and stretched out her hand in his direction, so he simply followed her lead and took it.
The smile that flashed across her face was familiar. It was a smile that he sometimes though of as being especially his.
"Daryl—this is Ty," Carol said. "Tyreese."
Daryl extended a hand in the man's direction and Tyreese shook it with a firm grip. Daryl was sure to return the favor.
"Nice to meet you," Daryl said. "I think—I think we mighta met."
"We did," Tyreese assured him. "When we came to discuss the arrangements for everything."
"I don't forget faces," Daryl said. "But I am known to forget names."
"Tyreese is heading up the solar panels," Carol said. "I told him you were really interested in learning about them. That's been your main interest since you discussed an exchange. But I didn't know where you were."
"Hershel asked for a hand," Daryl said. "Making introductions with the livestock and showing everyone a quick look at how we do things. I got tied up." He made his apology half to Carol and half to Tyreese, then he directed his attention to Tyreese. "But—I do wanna know about the solar panels. All about 'em."
"Yeah," Tyreese said. "Absolutely. You haven't missed much. We're mostly measuring and—just getting ready more than anything."
"You do this before the virus hit or…this some skill you picked up since then?" Daryl asked.
"I was a carpenter," Tyreese said. "I dabbled in bricklaying and solar panels. I dabbled in a few other things, too, but it's really been the carpentry that's come in handy since we got to Woodbury."
"We're happy to have you," Daryl offered. He set his face as well as he possibly could. "You married? Got any family?"
Something flashed across Tyreese's features. A smirk, perhaps, played at his lips. He looked at Carol and Daryl didn't entirely appreciate the way he looked at her. He didn't hide well the fact that he took in her, with a quick flick of his eyes, practically from head to toe.
She didn't seem bothered by it, though. She smiled at Daryl and then at Tyreese.
"No," Tyreese said. "I'm not married. Widowed, actually. We had a daughter. I'd rather not get into it all at the moment, though. I've still got—a lot of work to do."
"Of course," Carol said. "We understand. A lot of people don't like talking about their pasts."
"I've got my sister now," Tyreese said. "Sasha—she's going to be working some around here."
"And we're happy to have her too," Carol said.
"I lost my brother," Daryl offered. "But found him again—seems impossible to think about it. You know him. Merle."
"I remember him," Tyreese said. "I think everyone around here remembers Merle. Some more fondly than others."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"Hey, you ain't tellin' me nothing," Daryl said. "Carol's my wife. I didn't marry her until—well, just recently," Daryl said. "But we've been together for a long time."
"Since after the outbreak," Carol said.
"My point is," Daryl said, suddenly feeling a little bad for privately rubbing Tyreese's nose in the fact that he had damn near everything he could dream of, especially now that he was really remembering how very lucky he was, "that—the past is behind us. For better or for worse. But there's a lot of damn future ahead of all of us. Especially now that—we're all workin' to really build something worth having."
Tyreese smiled, sincerely this time.
"Yeah," he said. He handed Carol the water cup he'd been using. "Thanks for the water, Carol. Daryl—what do you say you start up the ladder with me while everyone's finishing up? I'll catch you up on what you missed."
"I'd appreciate it," Daryl said. Tyreese started off toward the prison and Daryl quickly turned and pecked Carol's lips. She smiled at him. "Don't you go off getting into no trouble," he teased. "Remember—you're a married woman."
Carol laughed to herself.
"So, you were around," she said.
"Were you thinkin' of doin' something if I weren't?" Daryl asked. She narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed. "I gotta check. But—just remember, I'm always around."
He pecked her lips again and left her with a smile as he headed toward his next job of the day.
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AN: I just want to note that, in regard to characterization and character backgrounds, I usually write Michonne and Tyreese as a hybrid of comic, television and my imagination. I hope that doesn't bother anyone too badly!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think!