Hello! Slowly moving along here. We're gonna figure out what Brother Merle is up to soon enough. Thanks for reading!
Chapter Thirteen
Daryl jerked awake, sitting up in the bed, blinking rabidly. The room was too dark. Usually he had to deal with the street light shining through the broken slats of the blinds that covered the window in his room. He wasn't sure what the hell had woken him...
He dropped back down when he realized where he was. He was almost in a state of disbelief that he hadn't dreamed up the day's events. But there was a warm naked body moving into his side and the sheets under his back were smooth and cool. He looked at the bedside clock and groaned. It was already two thirty. He'd have to get up and get ready to leave in an hour. He wished he could just do what she wanted and stay in bed with her.
He rolled over and discovered that she was sleeping with her back to him. Burying his face in her hair he breathed deeply. She wiggled further into him, grabbed his hand and pulled it so it was wrapped around her. He thought about going ahead and getting up but now it would take a crow bar to pry him out of the bed.
He had lain awake many nights wondering what it would be like to be with her again. Not just physically, even though earlier had blown his expectations out of the water. But he needed to stop thinking about that right now. No, he had wondered if things would return to their easy relationship that they shared out there or if they would have somehow grown apart over the years. Lucky him, things were even more intense than they had been out there. He had worried that if they found each other, neither of them would be able to live up to the others expectation.
When the alarm went off he cursed under his breath and turned it off as quick as he could but it wasn't quick enough. She sat up quickly, almost in a panic. "Daryl?"
"Sorry. Shoulda turned it off when I woke up earlier. Go back to sleep," he muttered.
"Yeah. I'll get right on that," she said and he could hear the smile in her voice.
He groaned when suddenly the lamp was turned on. Just like the night before most of the room was still in shadows but even the slight glow had his eyes aching. She was sitting up, her hair a complete mess and the blanket pulled up to her chest. Maybe she'd found a sense of modesty since becoming a mother. He remembered out there in the desert she was happy being naked all the time. And he was happy to be the guy lucky enough to get to be around for that.
Suddenly she leaned in and kissed him quickly before throwing off the blanket and sliding out of bed. His eyes went wide as he watched her walk towards the door. She picked up his clothes and tossed them onto the bed before flashing a grin and going to the closet. He didn't make a move for the clothes. He just watched her as she hurriedly threw on a shirt and a pair of jeans.
Finally he grabbed his clothes from yesterday and got dressed, even though all he wanted to do now was rip her goddamn clothes back off and...
"You hungry?"
He shook his head. "I usually skip breakfast."
She frowned. "That's horrible. The reason you're up this early is so I can at least send you off with a full stomach. You'll be more inclined to come back," she winked.
"You're an ass," he grumbled as her arms wound around him and she kissed him quickly.
She met his eyes and smiled. "You love me."
He held her gaze and nodded. "I do." This had him swallowing hard.
"I love you too," she said, kissing him one more time and then pulling him out of the room.
It hadn't occurred to him that they had never said it. Not the month they were out alone and not the day he left on the plane back to Georgia. It was there, a dense tangible thing between them, but it had never been voiced. He knew he loved her and he knew she loved him, somehow, despite time and distance and uncertainty it had held fast. Now he wished that he would have actually told her sooner. Much sooner.
"Where the fuck did you learn to cook?" He asked, his mouth full of some kind of fancy assed omelet that was probably the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life.
"I took a cooking class out in California last year. I learned a thing or two. Turns out, I'm a natural."
His mouth was too full to respond so he nodded.
"You have to tell them goodbye. If they wake up and you're gone, even though you told them you had to work..." She let the sentence hang in the air and he swallowed.
"I was gonna do that anyway." He'd been a little bit worried about the same thing. Them waking up and thinking he was gone again. It made him feel like shit but it wasn't anybodies fault. Not really. They didn't have any reason to trust him. They didn't know him. He'd done okay the day before and at least they seemed to like him. That was more than he had dared to hope for this soon after meeting them. Of course, they had known about him for a while now and to him, just the idea of them was still pretty terrifying.
He knew Carol. He knew where he stood with her now and he was comfortable. But he was still afraid of fucking this up with the kids.
She sat down across from him, a small smile on her face. "So, how many guys do you work with?"
He drained his cup of coffee and then shrugged. "There's eight on the job we're doin' now. Sometimes there's more than that. Right now we're about finished up. The next job was suppose to be this one."
Her eyes lit up. "I almost forgot about that! That's why Merle was here in the first place!"
He nodded.
"Well then, you don't have to quit yet. You can just do the damn job! That would give your boss time to find a replacement for you."
He snorted. "You want me to live here."
"Well, of course I do." She frowned.
"And you expect my boss to pay me, decent money, mind you, to build a goddamn pool and patio at my own house?"
She grinned. "You just called it your house! You're coming around so fast!"
He shook his head. "You know what I mean, damn it."
She nodded. "I do. You meant that you aren't going to put up a fight and you aren't going to be one of those infuriating pigs that refuses to call a home his own just because his successful girlfriend bought it. This is our house. And you just admitted it."
He sighed. "You're impossible, you know that?"
She nodded, pulling her legs up onto her seat and resting her chin on her knees. "I know."
He glanced at the clock and then sighed. "Bout that time I guess."
Her smile fell. "I really wish you were a lazy loser with no work ethic."
He stood up and took his plate the sink. "I bet you do. But not a chance. I get bored too easy."
"I could keep you occupied."
He growled at her on his way past. The last thing he needed to think about before going to face a hard days work in the sun was how many different ways she could keep him occupied. He already knew. If his memory served him correctly, at least a third of the time they had spent in the desert was spent keeping the other occupied.
He shook those thoughts away as he stepped into Jake's room and found him sprawled out on the bed, one leg hanging off and the blankets scattered around. He moved the boy's dangling leg back onto the bed and then sat down, ruffling his hair.
He rolled over quickly, sitting up on his elbows and then rubbing his eyes. "It's time to get up already?"
Daryl shook his head. "Too early for that. Figured I'd come tell you bye. I gotta go to work, remember?"
The boy nodded. "Can I go? I can work."
Daryl grinned. "I bet you could but I'd prolly get into trouble for bringin' a new guy onto the job without askin' my boss first."
The boy seemed to mull this over and finally nodded. "You're right. And since you're old I can probably work faster than you anyway. I wouldn't want you to look bad or anything."
Daryl laughed. "Yeah, that would suck."
Jake grinned. "When you get home can we go to the woods? Don't tell mom but she was pretty borin'. She wouldn't show me anything. She just said you'd show me when you showed up."
"I can show you a thing or two soon but it might be too late by the time I get home tonight," he said, wondering how the woman had had so much faith in him, but grateful that she did. "Go back to sleep for now, kid. It's too damn early."
Jake nodded and jerked the covers back up. "I'm gonna try to sleep late. Then I won't have to wait as long for you to get back."
"Good thinkin'."
He grinned and then closed his eyes. "I'm the smart one."
He shook his head and left the room, chuckling quietly. He left the door ajar and then slipped into Lily's room. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to be as easy on him as her brother had been. She was curled up on her side with her hands fisted under her chin. He'd seen Carol sleep like that plenty of times.
"Hey," he whispered, nudging her shoulder.
Just like her brother her eyes flew open and she rolled over. When she saw him there from the small glow from the night light she smiled wide. "Hi, daddy!"
There she went again, giving him that terrified feeling in his stomach and that fucked up fluttery feeling in his chest. Further cementing the fact that he was somebodies dad. It was disconcerting as fuck but in a good way, even if that made no sense. It was very surreal. "Mornin'."
She sat up and glanced at the windows, a frown forming between her brows. "It's still dark."
"Yeah, but I gotta go to work. Wanted to say bye before I left."
A troubled look came over her and then she surprised him by crawling onto his lap, her small arms going around his neck. "Are you comin' back?" She asked, her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm comin' back," he muttered, hoping that this wasn't something she worried about from now on.
"I wanna go too. We can all go. You'll get done and can come home faster. I help mama all the time, ask her. I'll be good." She pulled away but kept her hands on his shoulders, her eyes meeting his, large and wet.
"How bout you stay here, help your mama around the house and then when I get back we can find somethin' to do, okay?" Man, he felt guilty as fuck. Did she not think he would come back?
Her bottom lip wobbled and a tear escaped before her arms were around his neck again. Her brother was definitely more like him. He didn't know what the fuck to do with a crying little girl. He didn't even know what to do with a crying woman but this was different because this was his little girl and she was crying because him.
Mother fuck. How did he handle this? "Hey, don't do that," he muttered, a desperate edge to his voice that even he could hear clearly.
She sniffled and he grimaced cause he was pretty sure she was gonna get snot all over him, but that was the least of his worries. "I don't want you to leave. You just got here."
He wracked his brain, trying to think of something to say to keep her from crying but it was no use. She cried and he sat there, his fingers moving lightly over her back. After a while her arms grew slack and other than a few hiccups she was quiet.
"Thank fuck," he whispered to himself as he stood up slowly and shifting her so he could put her back on the bed. Once he had her covered back up he ran a hand through his hair and left the room. He nearly ran into Carol in the hallway.
"How did that go?" She asked, fighting a smile.
"This dad shit ain't easy," he grumbled, stepping around her. "You coulda helped me out with that one."
She followed him down the hall. "Nope. I figure the best way you can learn is to do it on your own. I'm not interfering."
He scowled. "She cried on me."
She reached up and ran her fingers over the tear stained collar of his shirt. "She's sensitive. She'll be okay."
"I think she thinks I'm not comin' back," he grumbled, reaching down and tying his boots. "I feel like a piece of shit asshole."
Once he raised back up she gripped his shoulders hard, meeting his eyes fiercely. "You are not a piece of shit and you are not an asshole. Stop saying that."
He sighed heavily, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her closer. "I gotta go."
She nodded, pulling his face to hers. She didn't kiss him quickly. She kissed him deeply, reassuringly. She didn't want him to dwell on things and really, he shouldn't. As of yesterday morning, he had one incredible fucking future to look forward too. When she pulled away she smiled and shoved a set of keys into his palm. "Drive safe."
He nodded and let her back away. "I'll be back around six or seven."
She waved and then he walked out the door. If he stayed a second longer he would have said fuck it and not left at all. But if he missed work again then the whole crew would end up paying for it and he wouldn't want anyone doing that to him. So he drove away from the house, feeling a little heavy hearted.