"Yer lookin awful cozy here boy." Trick called out, Daryl cringed moving away from the RV.
"Don't start, it ain't like that." Daryl grumbled, Trick cocked an eyebrow at him.
"What's it like then?" He asked, Daryl groaned wiping his face with both hands.
"She ain't got nobody, I'm just... Helpin take care a shit is all." Daryl mumbled, Trick looked over at his truck which was going on three days now without moving.
"Ya sleepin with her?" He asked, Daryl crossed his arms defensively.
"No, I ain't!" He ground out through his teeth, Trick nodded looking back at the RV.
"But yer sleepin in there?" He pushed, Daryl sighed, he didn't want to lie.
"Ya, that a fuckin problem?" He asked, Trick shook his head turning back towards the house to be.
"Naw, just treat that little angel right, and we're golden." He assured him, Daryl groaned in exasperation.
"Ain't like you lot have told me that a hundred fuckin times now or some shit! I... she... I'd never fuckin hurt her, so ya'll can drop this shit!" Daryl snarled, Trick laughed holding out Daryl's tool belt.
"Ya, ya, get to work." He deflected as the rest of the crew started filing in. Carol woke up a little after noon feeling very well rested.
"Oh, crap!" She scooted out of bed quickly to throw together some sandwiches and bring out chips and beer.
"Mornin sleepy head." Daryl teased quietly when he took his plate.
"Thanks pooky." She whispered nudging his shoulder, he chuckled nudging her back.
"Your phone's buzzin." He pointed out moving to sit at the table. She gasped pulling out her phone.
"Hello?" She asked, it had been a few day since she'd used her phone, it felt odd.
"Hello, Mrs. Mason? This is Herschel Green." She knew that when he said her maiden name, she had put it on her application.
"Oh, hi, is this about the job?" She asked, she could practically hear him smile.
"Yes mam, I just wanted to see when you could start." He told her, Carol gasped giving a little jump of excitement.
"I could start right now if you needed me!" She offered happily, Herschel laughed.
"No that won't be necessary, how about tomorrow, my Bethy can show you the ropes, she's just dyeing to get her summer started." Herschel offered, Carol beamed nodding enthusiastically before she realised he couldn't see her nodding.
"Yes, of coarse, that would be perfect!" Carol gushed, Herschel chuckled.
"I'll see you then." He told her, and hung up, she spun around looking like she might burst, which made Daryl smile, along with most of the crew.
"I got the job! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I never would have known about it if it weren't for you!" Carol gushed running over and hugging Daryl from behind. He froze turning fire engine red, and then she leaned over and kissed his cheek, and he thought he might spontaneously combust.
"Hell girl I would a hired ya on as a cook if I'd know that was the thank you!" Trick bellowed, which broke the whole crew into a fit of laughter.
"Well I won't be able to cook tomorrow, now that I have a job, but I might be back in time to feed you boys before you leave." She told them stepping away from Daryl before he burst into flames. There was a chorus of aws at the notion, but then Carol though of something.
"How about I bake you boys cookies tonight to make up for it?" Carol offered taking her seat next to Daryl, that perked them up.
"Hell ya momma!" One of the whooped above the resounding yeses. Daryl gave her a smile bumping her leg with his, she was practically glowing she was so happy.
"So what kind of cookies do you like?" Carol asked that night while she pulls out the ingredients, her grandmother loved cookies, and as predicted there were many cookie ingredients.
"Always like them ones with the butterscotch bits." Daryl told her, she smiled pulling out the butterscotch chips.
"Ooh oatmeal scotchies are delicious, but we need chocolate chip cookies too, hey how much milk do we have?" She asked pouring flour into a cup.
"I just got a gallon two days ago, we ain't even opened it. Does this mean I gotta cook dinner?" He asked, she shook her head.
"No check the oven." She instructed, inside the little oven he found a freshly baked lasagna. As soon as the smell wafted out Hunter started whining for a piece.
"Looks like we ain't goin hungry hu boy?" He teased the dog while he slid the pan out with just the tail of his shirt.
"Shit!" He cursed dropping the pan on the table, Carol pulled open the little fridge that was stuffed to the gills and handed him a cold beer for his now burnt hand.
"We have an oven mitt you know." Carol told him, he looked over at her from where he was clutching his beer in both hands.
"A what?" He asked, she held up the oven mitt that looked like a cartoon crow, it's yellow beak forming the mitt part of the glove.
"So you don't burn yourself silly." Carol said looking back at him where he was now eating the lasagna from the pan with a fork he happily shared with Hunter.
"Hey!" She called out swatting his shoulder with the oven mitt.
"Use a plate you heathen!" She scolded, he chuckled reaching around her to get a plate leaving them only a few inches apart.
"Bitch, bitch." He teased, she scoffed swatting his chest as he pulled down two plates.
"Oh, that's it! No cookies for you!" She threatened with no intentions of following through.
"Come on now, ain't mean nothin by it, ya can't take away my cookies!" He pouted as he invaded her space again, he'd never joked around the way he did with her. She just put him at ease.
"Fine! You can have cookies, but... You have to wrangle Mr. Ants in his pants tonight." Carol told him, pointing at Hunter who was sitting at the table, his tail wagging while he waited for food.
"I can do that." He smirked reaching over and dipping his fingers in the cookie dough.
"Hey, ugh, you two are impossible. Stir this, don't eat it." She told him passing him a bowl so she could grease the pan. He did as instructed for the most part, he ate a bit.
"Hmm, I probably shouldn't have made quite that much with such a little oven." Carol admitted taking a scoop of cookie dough on her finger.
"See, now ya wish I was eattin it." Daryl pointed out, Carol sighed sitting across from him so she could eat.
"I didn't make that much more then I should have." She teased, he chuckled handing her a plate, and leaning over to grab her some tea.
"Ya spoil me anyhow." Daryl relented, Carol smiled tucking into her food. Daryl put Hunter outside peeling out of his shirt and tossing it by his bag. Carol couldn't help but stare at the hard lines of muscle that ended in a v above his dingy jeans.
"Ya wanna shower tonight or in the mornin?" He asked, which pulled her out of her less then appropriate thoughts.
"Um, I'll shower in the morning, so I can fix my hair." She told him, he reached out touching her soft short curls.
"Ya ain't wearin it like that?" He asked, she leaned towards him without thinking.
"I usually wear it back when I work." Carol told him he nodded dropping his hand.
"I'm sure you'll look real nice, guess I'll scrub up tonight then." He told her going toward the bathroom, Carol sighed grabbing her skimpiest night clothes, she sank down onto the step petting Hunter.
"He is a beautiful man!" Carol mumbled to the puppy, who cocked his head at the sound of her voice. When she heard the water shut off Carol grabbed him boxers, and jeans, she really needed to get him sleep pants.
"Hey Ca... thanks." He mumbled grabbing his clothes, he'd open the door enough to stick his head out which gave her a peak at his better qualities. He had an amazing ass, and his half hard cock was already twice the size of Ed. Carol fanned her flushed skin at the accompanied ideas.
Daryl came out of the bathroom adorably ruffled, and damp, slipping straight into his bed. As soon as Carol flipped the light off Hunter started to whine. Carol groaned, she had known he would, and she knew the best thing would be to let him whine himself out, but she'd never get any sleep with him doing it.
"Hunter!" Daryl yelled, his voice breaking through the silence like a clap of thunder. The whining stopped, heck even the crickets stopped. Carol had to stifle a giggle, but after that she fell asleep easily.
Carol woke up and let a very pathetic looking Hunter in so he could eat before getting in the shower. Carol got out and realized that she'd forgotten her clothes.
"Daryl!" Carol called out, and got an answering bark from hunter. Daryl groaned looking down at the puppy beside him a little confused.
"Daryl!" Carol tried again, he sat up rubbing his face to clear the fog of sleep.
"Ya darlin'?" He asked before his brain caught up with his mouth, Carol grinned.
"I... I sort of forgot my clothes." Carol told him, he chuckled getting up and going towards her bag.
"See, it ain't so easy is it? Ya want somethin specific?" He teased, but he wasn't exactly qualified to pick out clothes for her.
"Anything nice is fine." She told him, he groaned, digging through her clothes and coming up with jeans, a little red tank top, a black lace bra, and a pair of matching thong cuts. He eyed the panties swallowing hard, while he tried not to imagine her in just her unders.
"Here." He held them out a bit embarrassed, she took them, and came out with a little chuckle, and a blush at what he'd chosen for her under things.
"What?" He asked poking at the sausages he was currently cooking.
"This is an under shirt." She fibbed a little about why she was laughing, but it was till true.
"Why?" He asked cracking two eggs into the pan, and flipping the hash browns.
"I... I don't know." She answered honestly, he looked her over with her hair back and her tanktop on.
"Ya look real nice." He told her honestly, she smiled going over to help with the mess he was making. The food smelled good, but everything else was a wreck.
"You didn't have to cook." She told him, he looked around at his mess.
"I ain't much use at this, but I was up, just hope it's edible." He explained, she leaned into him to sprinkle dill on the hash browns.
"It looks delicious." She assured him, she was just sad he had to put a shirt on to cook bacon.
"We'll see." He offered flipping the bacon onto a plate, Carol got him coffee, and poured herself some juice before sitting down to await the food.
"What do you think?" He asked as he took his own seat, it all tasted a little like bacon, but it was good.
"It's delicious as predicted, thank you for cooking." She told him, he shook his head eating his own food.
"Well ya ain't exactly hard to please." He dismissed, she grinned.
"A valued trait in a woman I hear." She quipped, he chuckled, but kept quiet.
"There's more lasagna for your lunch, or I could fix something now." She offered, he shook his head at her.
"I think I'll live, hell yer leftovers are twice as good as my cookin." He admitted, she bit her lip to hide her silly grin, and they ate in silence. She packed herself a lunch, and a small plate of cookies to share with Beth.
"Will you put these on the pick nick table for the boys, there's more scotchies for you in the cupboard?" She asked, pointing to where she hid his cookies.
"I got it, ya just get herself to work." He told her, she smiled leaning up and kissing him on the cheek.
"Thanks pooky." She said grabbing her keys, and the plate of extra cookies before hurrying out, Daryl blushed touching his cheek while he watched her go.
"Hi, oh I'm so glad yer here, you have no idea how borin some days are here. Not that it ain't hard work, Daddy likes us to walk the animals, and keep up on them too, but on real slow days it gets a bit dull." Beth gushed as soon as Carol came in the door, Carol smiled setting the plate down on the counter.
"I like dull, I brought cookies." Carol told her, she grabbed a scotchy happily.
"These are delicious, but you didn't have to bring nothin." She told her, Carol took the only other scotchy smiling about the idea of those boys eating every crumb of thy cookies she'd left behind.
"Oh these were just the extras, I was staying with my Grandma Sophie, and her place burnt down, but the construction crew fixing it has been so sweet to me. I've been cooking them lunch as a thank you, they were so sad to see me go, so I made them cookies." Carol explained, Beth gasped covering her mouth.
"That's awful, isn't that awful Daddy, you gotta let her take some extra time on her lunch to cook for those boys. Please Daddy!" She pleaded through the swinging door to the back, Carol went wide eyed.
"What, no I don't need..." She started, but Herschel cut her off mid sentence.
"Nonsense, we close for lunch any how, you just mark on the closed sign when you'll be back, and as long as you're back by then we'll be fine." Herschel told her carrying a bag so he could go on house calls.
"Thank you both so much!" Carol thanked them genuinely, Beth grinned.
"Thanks Daddy, come on Carol I'll show ya the ropes." Beth told her beckoning her over. The day went by so fast, it was lunch time before she knew it.
"Did you want to come with, I'll make enough for you too?" Carol asked as she gathered her things, she had the stuff to make burgers, and potatoes on the grill, those boys loved when she got the grill out.
"I'd love that!" Beth agreed, Carol smiled leading her out to the car. Beth was chatty, and sweet, she imagined having a sister would be a lot like knowing Beth. Daryl looked up when he heard the crunch of tires on the gravel.
"Carol!" A resounding cheer covered Daryl's exclamation, he had figured she would eat at work.
"Hi boys, come meet my co-worker Beth. She was sweet enough to give me some extra time on lunch so I could come make you burgers, and grilled potatoes." Carol called out, Trick was the first to come greet her, Carol didn't know all of them, but they could all agree they loved her for her cooking.
"How is it, bein a workin stiff?" Daryl asked coming to stand beside her while she pulled all the ingredients out of the RV so she could put it all together on the table.
"It's great, I love helping the animals, and people are so nice! How did the cookies go over?" She asked, he gave her his little half smile.
"They lasted maybe ten minutes, you got them boys whipped." He told her, she giggled handing him the tin foil. He took it starting to wrap the potatoes she was slicing and seasoning so they could go on the grill.
"So who's this cutey?" Beth asked coming to sit on the picnick table.
"Daryl this is Beth, Herschel's daughter, Beth, Daryl." Carol introduced, Daryl looked over at her with a slight nod turning to light the grill.
"Well it sure is nice to meet ya." She said touching his arm as she spoke, he froze uncomfortably.
"Um, hey Beth, could you mix up the burger, and make patties?" Carol asked, Beth pulled her hand away grabbing the bowl of hamburger.
"Sure, you guys are probably pretty hungry hu?" Beth turned asking the other guys, who were happy to have her attention, and company.
"You miss me?" Carol asked quietly nudging Daryl with her shoulder. He looked over at her with a small smile.
"Might a, know I missed that sweet tea, hot as hell workin out here." He teased, she giggled leaning into him so their shoulders touched.
"You could have made some, or just taken your shirt off." She told him, he looked down at the grill sheepishly.
"Wouldn't a looked half as good carryin that picture a tea around." He deflected, she giggled picking at a lose thread on his sleeveless shirt.
"You'd look better shirtless thought." She pushed keeping her voice down, he gave her a look.
"So would you, ain't gonna push that shit though am I!" He growled, Carol gave him an apologetic look, and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Burgers are ready." Beth said swinging around to hand them the plate full of burgers. Carol took them fitting them on to the grill as best she could.
"Can I do anything else?" Beth asked leaning towards Daryl, Carol didn't think it was intentional, but seeing her flirt with Daryl made her hackles rise. She was jealous, and she had no right to be, but she wanted Daryl in a way she hadn't felt since highschool, and it was making her jealous.
"There's tea in the fridge inside if you could grab it." Carol offered, Daryl looked up at her, no one else ever went in there because Daryl's things were in there. He didn't care if blondy knew, but he didn't want the crew to know. Carol looked unhappy too though.
"You okay?" He asked, she blinked away whatever was bothering her.
"Ya, sorry, I just spaced." Carol smiled, it wasn't long before they had to get back, Daryl sighed picking up the paper plates and tossing them in the dumpster.
"Bye guys!" Beth called out as she got into the car, she was a sweet girl, but some of the guys were playing with fire chasing that jail bait.
"So Daryl is sexy, do you know if he's single?" Beth asked as soon as they were back on the road. Carol choked on her last breath at the question, she couldn't lie, but Beth was so beautiful, and young, and not damaged, how could Carol compete with that?
"He lives with me." She diverted, Beth gasped looking shame faced.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were dating, I thought you'd just gotten divorced. Oh, wow, is he why you left your husband, because let me tell ya, he looks worth it! That does explain all the wiered stuff in your place." Beth spouted off, but Carol couldn't just let her keep thinking that, it would be mean. Maybe if she'd just said oh, sorry, but Carol couldn't deny that she knew what Beth was saying.
"No, Beth we're not dating, we just both got misplaced at once, but Beth he's a little old for you don't you think. He's thirty only five years younger then I am, and you're seventeen." Carol told her, Beth grinned.
"Oh, okay, I get it you like him, that's so sweet, which is good because he obviously wants you." She teased her, Carol was turning bright red now, did he really like her?
"What, I... we... it's not like that!" Carol tried to explain, but it was lost on Beth. She talked about him for the rest of the day, and as much as Carol wanted to be annoyed, she liked talking about him with someone.
"Hey honey I'm home!" Carol called as she opened the camper door, Hunter jumped at her wagging his tail, but inside the camper looked amazing. Daryl had cleaned, and lit the little candle from the cupboard and put it on the table.
She could smell something cooking on the stove, she opened the lid wafting the smell of fried potatoes, as the microwave beeped.
"Carol?" Daryl called out from the bathroom, she opened the microwave pulling out green beans.
"Ya, I'm back, what is all this?" She asked, he came out of the bathroom in his Sunday best, his usually messy hair poorly tamed.
"I figured we ought to celebrate yer first day, I didn't know if ya'd wanna go out, so I fixed ya somethin. Wait here." He said pushing past her, she bit her lip sitting down at the table. Hunter hopped up beside her watching the door. He came back with a whole beer can chicken on a plate in one hand, and a beer bottle with a single white flower in the other.
"Here, um, it's a Cherokee rose." He told her, she smiled setting the bottle on the table while he set down the chicken to start cutting.
"It's beautiful." She whispered feeling it's velvety petals, he smiled loading up a plate.
"It ain't nothin, couldn't even find a vase." He told her, she smiled, she knew where the vase was, but this seemed too perfect.
"Thank you Daryl." She gave him that look that had him melting inside when she took her plate.
"So, uh... Beth seemed nice." He deflected sitting across from her, she giggled, covering her blushing face.
"What?" He asked seeing her turn red at the mention of her.
"She asked if you were single." She told him, he crossed his arms.
"What'd ya say?" He asked, genuinely curious how she saw them.
"That you live with me." She admitted, looking over her hands sheepishly. He chuckled taking a sip of his beer.
"Good, ain't lookin to start chasin jail bait." She smiled dropping her hands to look at him curiously, he caught her eye.
"What?" He asked wiping his mouth, Carol bit her lip.
"You don't mind her thinking that we're dating?" She asked, he looked around at the date he'd been setting up since Trick left.
"Ain't that what this is, a date?" He asked, Carol grinned, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen her look so happy as she did about this crappy date.
"Really?" She asked, he took another long draft of his beer.
"It ain't gotta be, your call." He told her, she blushed looking down at the food.
"No, it... it should be! This was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me Daryl." She told him, he smiled setting his hand on the table palm up.
"Ya don't got the highest standards hu?" He teased, she giggled putting her hand in his.
"I think I do pretty good." She whispered brushing her thumb over his calloused hand, he gave her that sweet little half smile that he seemed to save just for her. Her hand was so delicate, it seemed to fit in his perfectly, but now he had no idea what to say.
They ate in complete silence, never letting go of the others hand. Every once in a while one of them would rub their thumb along the other's hand. Neither of them wanted to let go.
"So now what?" She asked when they had finished eating, Daryl got up pulling her with him.
"I ain't out a tricks yet darlin." He assured her, she smiled letting him lead her out to the tree she had shown him before.

Sorry to cut it off before the good part, please tell me what you guys think so far.