Hi you guys! Do I even have to comment on the last episode? They have totally mangled the characters in my opinion. It's pretty much doused my hopes of this being a better season than last. I'm beyond caring what happens now because I don't plan on watching it. It's better for my health since all it's going to do is depress the hell out of me. It's better to step away with decent memories of the character development so far and avoid watching them turn every character into a different person.
Anyway, I'm going to try to get this story and Dust finished as soon as I can! I'm working on it but I've been suffering a bit of writers block! Thanks to everyone that read the new one shot! And thanks for reading this =) Hope everyone is having a great week!
Foresight is 20/20
Chapter Twenty Seven
Carol was so happy that she had let him talk her into taking it easy for the day. She wasn't sure at first if it was the smart thing to do but after seeing how much Sophia had smiled today she knew it had been worth it. She had never seen her daughter so carefree and happy. Not since she had been a chubby cheeked toddler just learning the world. She had Daryl to thank for that.
She was still tired, since their day had started at the break of dawn and they had still put in a lot of work before Daryl had demanded a break. She slipped into her daughter's room to check on her one more time before going to bed. It was something that she did every night. She couldn't help herself.
They had taken the room a few doors down for now but Daryl said once everyone else moved in the two of them were moving to the attic. He would build them a room up there and Sophia a room at the other end and the rest of the space would be used for them to live. She argued that it wasn't very fair to the others that the three of them would be living in their own apartment of sorts while they were all forced to share the other floors. He informed her that the others could kiss his ass and she figured this wasn't a battle he would let her win. He did mention that if anyone else got the attic it would have to be Rick and Lori and if they did he would forever refer to Lori as the bitch in the belfry. It seemed the attic would belong to her and Daryl because she knew that he wouldn't hesitate to call her that out loud.
Sophia was sound asleep, like she had suspected, so she slipped back out as quietly as she could. When she made her way to their room she wasn't surprised to find Daryl sitting there on the edge of the bed, dressed in jeans, examining the crossbow she had picked up the day that they had gotten into that ridiculous fight. She knew he heard her come in but he didn't look up.
"She asleep?" he asked as he stood up and hung the bow from the mount he'd demanded she buy so it never got warped.
She nodded and stripped off her t-shirt. She was wearing a tank top under it but she may as well have been naked the way he watched her.
"You tired?" he asked as she stripped out of her jeans. She left everything on the floor and then crawled to the middle of the big bed.
"Not as tired as I usually am but still a little tired I guess. Are you tired?" she asked as she slipped under the blanket and rolled over to face him. He was still sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to her.
He glanced back over his shoulder and offered up that trademark lopsided smile. He shook his head. "Didn't have no crazy woman workin' me like some fuckin' mule all day. I ain't too tired."
Every night they crawled into bed and almost always fell instantly to sleep. She stretched and watched him as he collapsed onto his back next to her. He was staring up at the ceiling. "Don't forget, you should be nice to me after what you did today."
He chuckled quietly. "That was great."
"I'm glad I amuse you," she said dryly.
He nodded. "You do."
He reached over and turned off the lamp and did what he did every night. He pulled her closer, sliding her easily across the sheets until she was pressed right up against him. She hated the fact that tomorrow was going to be another busy day. She had enjoyed the day they had had and she wished they could have more like that. There just always seemed to be something more pressing to do. Like try to prepare to keep them all alive after the world ended. No pressure or anything.
He was lying on his side facing her but she was still on her back. She almost yelled when she found him on top of her, straddling her hips and jerking her arms until they were over her head. She wasn't even registering what was going on fast enough to put up any kind of fight. Not that she would have to fight him... or so she thought.
With mounting alarm she suddenly realized exactly why her hands were forced above her head, but she didn't react in time. Daryl was fast. Very fast when he needed to be. His reflexes were as good now as they had been at the prison. That hadn't been something that he learned there. That had been something that he had been born with and he used that skill now before she could do anything about it.
Her hands were secured to the metal slats in the headboard.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed as she tugged at whatever bound her hands. It didn't hurt her. It felt like some sort of cloth.
"I'm not takin' any chances. You threatened to make somethin' painful and so you can't expect me to be able to sleep next to somebody that says something like that. I'm lookin' out for my own well bein' here."
"Daryl, I swear to God, if you don't..."
When he eased his body down a little and she felt the tips of his fingers caress the exposed skin between her tank top and the top of her underwear she stopped talking.
Wow.
"If I don't what?" he asked, his voice suddenly husky.
If it had been anyone else in the world putting her in this position she would have been beyond terrified. She had spent a large portion of her life being beaten and terrorized by a man so finding herself in a position where defense wasn't even an option should have reduced her to tears.
But there were no tears and there was no fear. Only a rush of anticipation that had her heart thundering hard in her chest and an intense heat pooling between her legs. This was not something she would have ever seen coming. There was no fear because she knew that whatever this man had in store for her wasn't going to hurt.
He moved off of her and ripped the blanket away. Her eyes hadn't even had time to adjust to the darkness so she squeaked in surprise when she felt his breath on her ear. "I can cut ya loose if that's what you want. Best make up your mind right now though cause I ain't plannin' on stoppin' no time soon after I start."
She was a grown woman and the mother of an almost teenaged daughter but in all honesty she was far from experienced when it came to stuff like this. She had had boyfriends before Ed, of course, but really she was just getting the grasp of what actual sex was like. It was stupid, she knew, but still the truth. But this? This coming from a man who had even less experience than she did was just crazy. But she went with it.
"Well?" he asked, still close to her ear.
She shook her head. There wasn't anything to be scared of here. It was just him and he wouldn't do anything she didn't want him to do. He wasn't going to hurt her.
"You sure about that?" he asked as he gave her wrists a gentle jerk.
"I never took you for the type to get kinky, Dixon. But I think I can handle it." She put more bravado in her voice than she actually felt.
"You're the one that made threats. I'm just protectin' myself," he whispered right before his lips met hers. He kissed her deeper and she went to wrap her arms around his neck, momentarily forgetting the bind she was in, literally. She made a frustrated sound and he pulled back.
She felt his lips on her jaw and then on her neck and then the base of her throat. She jerked her hands but there was no way she was getting out of those knots. This powerless feeling had her squirming and her heart pounding. She wanted to touch him but she couldn't and it nearly drove her mad.
"Ya know, I was actually just tryin' to scare ya," he muttered as his teeth met her shoulder, "But I could have fun with this."
Her breathing kicked up a few notches at that and she squirmed harder. When his lips left her body she clamped her mouth shut to keep from protesting. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She'd never seen an arrogant side to him but she had a feeling she was seeing it now. When it came to how he made her feel he was completely full of himself and he was actually flaunting it. She wasn't planning on letting him win this one though.
It was when he moved his body away that she couldn't hold her tongue any longer. "What are you doing?" From what she could tell he was pretty far away. The room was so dark she couldn't see anything. Not even where he had gone.
He didn't say a word and for a few seconds she was afraid that he had somehow slipped out of the room. She didn't hear anything. Not even the whisper of his breath. She jumped and cried out in surprise when a rough hand snaked out of the darkness and grabbed her thigh. That wasn't so bad. She could deal with a hand on her leg just fine. It was when she felt him move and then felt his lips on her thigh that she started squirming again.
She couldn't help but have a flash back to that night by the pond. It had been the last time they had had the energy to do anything and what he had done had been incredible. And this seemed to be headed to the same place. He used his teeth but not enough to really hurt her and then he would use his tongue to massage the sting away.
She was panting. He was right there. Very very close... And then he froze. There was a timid knock at the door.
"Mom? Your phone," Sophia said from the other side of the door.
"Mother fucker!" Daryl hissed and then moved away from her. It only took a few seconds before she felt his hands on her wrists and then she was suddenly free.
"Mom?"
"Just a second," she said in a rush as she reached for the lamp. As soon as the light was on she was smacked in the face with her jeans. She rushed to get them on. He opened the door just as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry. I saw the number so I answered it," she handed Daryl the phone, her face looking apologetic and embarrassed at the same time. Daryl took the phone from her and grimaced at the screen.
"Rick, you asshole!" he barked.
Sophia scurried away after giving Carol a small wave and a smile. She remembered having her hold on to her phone while she went in and changed after Daryl's little comedy show earlier but she thought she had gotten it back.
"What?" Daryl said, a crease forming between his eyebrows. "What channel?" he asked as he walked out of the room, his earlier annoyance all but forgotten.
She followed him down the stairs and into the living room where he turned on the television and sat down on the edge of the couch. Her eyes followed his as a pretty anchor woman with a look of concern masking her otherwise cheery features was talking into a microphone.
"... and we're hearing reports that it could have possibly been gang related but so far police have no leads. Philip Blake was a single father who lived in this respectable suburb with his nine year old daughter, who is still missing..."
Carol didn't hear anything else the woman said. She had heard enough. She sank down onto the couch next to Daryl who was still holding her phone to his ear.
"I'll see ya in a bit then," he muttered before he hit the end button and sat the phone down on the coffee table.
"This doesn't make any sense," she said, only sounding a little bit hysterical. What did this mean? Philip wasn't suppose to die. She really didn't care that he had but this isn't what was suppose to happen. He lived and he formed the town of Woodbury and he tried his best to slaughter them at the prison. Philip Blake wasn't suppose to die until Merle killed him...
Merle.
She grabbed Daryl's arm and gave it a shake. "Merle. He's the only one besides us, Glenn and Carl that know anything about Philip Blake. We're the only ones that have dreamed that far. Rick and Lori only know about him because we've told them. It had to be one of us to kill him or he would have made it well after the outbreak."
Daryl met her eyes, a scowl in place. "Merle ain't no killer, Carol. The shit he did he did because..."
"Because Philip Blake made him? Do you not think he's dreamed about that already. He's eliminating the problem, Daryl. Jesus, he's killed the man."
"But where the hell is the little girl? Merle wouldn't kidnap a kid. He hates kids." Daryl sounded like he was trying hard to convince himself.
"Then who the hell else?"
He shook his head and then his eyes flicked to the doorway. Sophia was standing there, Glenn behind her with his hands on her shoulders. They had both heard everything. Glenn looked green and Sophia looked... well, she looked pretty normal.
"Sophia? Are you okay?" she asked.
Sophia nodded. "So, he took the girl? Penny?"
Daryl shook his head. "It wasn't him and once Rick and Lori get over here you best be agreein' with me on this. He wouldn't have taken the girl."
Sophia shook her head. "Him taking the girl doesn't make him a bad man, Daryl. If he took her then he saved her life. Carl told me about her. She was a walker that Michonne put down. If she's here with us then she'll be fine. Carl and I can take care of her. She'll be okay."
"Jesus, kid. Shit don't work that way. Somebody else did this. Somebody else had to have done this. Merle ain't stupid enough to kill that son of a bitch and then kidnap his daughter."
A humorless smile graced Sophia's lips. "Merle isn't stupid at all, Daryl. Merle isn't just smart enough to kill a man and then kidnap his daughter. Merle is smart enough to kill a man, kidnap his daughter and then actually get away with it."
Carol stared at the girl and even Glenn dropped his hands from her shoulders. Daryl cursed loudly and Carol flinched as he kicked the table.
"Not a word to Rick, y'all hear me? Not one fuckin' word. The last thing I need to do is have to rescue my brother from jail after this shit starts."
Everyone nodded and he seemed to relax. He snatched the phone up off the floor where it had fallen when he kicked the table and quickly dialed a number. Carol already knew who he was calling. Merle. But she had been trying to get a hold of him for days with no luck. She doubted that Daryl would be able to get a hold of him now.
He cursed after a while. She knew that was going to happen but she kept her mouth shut. She remembered Sophia saying something about not poking the bear. This was one of those cases where the bear didn't need to be poked. She was more concerned about Sophia at the moment. She seemed to be unaffected by the prospect of Merle killing a man. And that was exactly what Merle had done. He had killed a man. Philip wasn't the Governor yet. He hadn't spilled any blood. Not yet anyway and that had to mean something. It wasn't that she wasn't relieved. Deep down she really was. But she expected something like this to bother her daughter. She was just a little girl, regardless of everything that had been happening.
"Sophia, if Merle did this then you understand that he killed an innocent man, right? Philip hadn't done anything."
Sophia scowled. "He tried to kill every one of you!" she seemed outraged.
Carol glanced over but Daryl was only studying the girl. She looked back up at Sophia. "But he hadn't done it yet."
"That doesn't matter. He became that evil that fast then there had to have been a whole lot of evil inside of him. We don't know what kind of man he was. I don't really care. He won't be a threat anymore. As far as I'm concerned, Merle just did us all a favor."
Carol felt her jaw drop. Where was this coming from? She decided to let it go for now. She wasn't going to be able to change the girl's mind because she agreed with her. But for Carol it was different. Sophia was still a child and it scared her to think that she could actually be glad that someone was dead. Even if the man was the devil himself.
"Go on back to bed, honey. I'll be up there in a little bit." She said instead of voicing any of her concerns.
"Can I stay up and wait for Carl?" she asked, her voice hopeful.
Carol studied her for a few heavy moments and then finally nodded. "Yeah, but I want the two of you to go straight upstairs once they get here. I don't want you hearing anymore about this business until we know more about it, okay?"
She nodded eagerly.
Carol got up and headed towards the kitchen while Glenn and Sophia settled into the two reclining chairs in the living room to wait on Rick and Lori to get there. She didn't hear Daryl following her until he was right behind her when she was reaching up for the coffee.
"You alright?" he asked as his arms went around her waist from behind.
She glanced back over her shoulder and offered him a small smile. She nodded and then leaned into him, the coffee momentarily forgotten. "I'm just worried, I guess. Did you see the look on her face?"
He rested his chin on her shoulder. "You ain't the only one that changed. Neither am I. She ain't the same kid she was. How the hell can she be?"
She nodded. "You're right. If I'm gonna accept you the way you are I owe it to my own daughter to do the same."
He snorted. "Accept my ass. You like it."
"You smashed an ice cream cone in my face and tied me to the bed, Daryl," she said in a hushed voice.
"Okay, that's gotta be the freakiest thing I've ever heard."
They both spun around and saw Glenn standing a few feet away. His face was flushed and he looked like he was hovering between embarrassed and scared.
Daryl grimaced. "Not at the same time, dumb ass."
Glenn nodded. "Well, that's less freaky... I guess."
Daryl crossed his arms over his chest and stepped away from her, keeping his eyes on Glenn, who steadfastly ignored him as he sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs.
"I gotta say," Glenn said with a sigh, "After what that son of a bitch did to Maggie, I don't care that he's dead. Sophia is right. He was born a bad man if he could do something like that to a girl. He's evil if he can kill men that never did him any wrong just for the hell of it. Merle saved lives tonight if he's the one that did this."
Carol agreed but she kept her mouth shut and finished putting the coffee on to brew. She wanted to find Merle and talk to him. She had been wanting to do that for days now but with no luck. She guessed he wouldn't have time to do something like that if he was, say, planning a murder.
She couldn't help but wish he had talked to them first. They could have helped him understand the dreams better. She guessed hindsight was twenty twenty... or in their case, foresight. Jesus, she felt like the world was turning upside down.